176 Foreign Literature and Science. 



9. Russian EstabHshments. — Count Romanzof (the same 

 person that charged himself with the expense of the expedij 

 tion of M. de Kotzebue) who is possessed of an immense 

 estate in the government of Mechilof, with a view of provi- 

 ding for the education of the children of the peasantry, has 

 erected a beautiful building for a school and dwellings for 

 masters. It is destined to receive three or four hundred pu- 

 pils, who will be instructed in reading, writing, calculation, 

 geography and some knowledge of natural history. They 

 may also acquire the elements of useful trades. The name 

 of Romanzof is one that cannot be pronounced without 

 mentioning some new act of beneficence. jRer. Enc. 



10. Lunar Volcanoes. — Dr. Olbers observed on the 5th 

 of last February, the phenomenon which some philosophers 

 have attributed to volcanos in the moon. He declared that 

 he never perceived it more distinctly. The spot called A- 

 ristarchus, threw out a very vivid light, and appearad like ;i 

 star of the 6th magnitude, placed on the north-east of the 

 moon. The evening of the 6th unhappily was not so fine 

 as that of the preceding day, and Dr. O. could not pursue 

 his observations, but the English journals announce that 

 Capt. Kater had made on the 7th of Feb. a report to the 

 Royal Society of London in which he affirms that he had 

 seen a lunar Volcano in actual eruption. Dr. Olbers thinks 

 that the observations of Capt. K. coincide exactly with his 

 own, but he differs from him with respect to the cause. He 

 does not admit the existence of a volcano in the moon ; he 

 thinks that the phenomenon which Capt. K. regards as such, 

 is produced by the reflection of the light cast by the earth on 

 the open immense rocks of a smooth surface, situated on the 

 part of the moon called Aristarchus. Should these rocks, 

 says Dr. O. send back only a tenth part of the light which 

 they receive from the earth, (our mirrors return one half 

 of the incident light) the effect would be equal to a star of 

 the sixth magnitude. It is in this way that Dr. Olbers ac- 

 counts for our always seeing those spots in the same place, 

 and also why they do not show themselves at each lunation. 

 On the 6th of March, Dr. Olbers could distinctly see all the 

 spots of the moon; Grimaldi, Copernicus, Kepler, Manidius, 

 &ic. Aristarchus, was particularly remarkable, but it was not 

 so splendid as on the 5th of February. 



