337 
Paper on the Length of the Pendulum. 
The preceding ‘observations suggest to us the advantage that 
would be likely to accrue, by having the pendulum constructed 
without wood, on account of its being more susceptible of mois- 
ture than the metals. 
Custom-House, Penza^^ce, 1 
mh May 18ia j 
Art. XVIII. — Notice (f Scientific Travellers in Bi'azil^^ 
Prince Moritz of Nassau., George Margrave, Von Eschwege^ 
and Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, 
fj OHN Earl Moritz, afterwards Prince of Nassau, was sent by 
the Dutch Government, in the year 1636, to Rio Janeiro with 
a military force, to protect the Batavian settlements in Brazil 
against the Spaniards. He was accompanied by several learned 
men, of whom the most distinguished were the astronomer 
George Margrave, a German, and William Piso, a Dutch 
physician. During a residence of eight years in Brazil, the 
Prince was actively engaged in collecting objects of natural 
history from all parts of that vast country. Intelligent men 
were sent out in every direction, in order to collect animals and 
plants, also to study the nature of the climate, and of the diffe- 
rent productions of nature. This inquisitive and active com- 
mander even employed part of his suite in examining the opposite 
coast of Africa. Margrave, who was ordered on this service, fell 
a sacrifice to the climate of that country, at Paolo de Loanda, in 
the year 1614, at the early age of thirty-four. The Prince, on his 
return to Europe, brought with him the most extensive and va^ 
luable collection of the natural history of the New World ever 
seen in Europe. It was so great, that it not only completely 
“filled the cabinet of the Prince, and the museums of two uni- 
versities, but afforded abundant and rich supplies to various 
private collections. 
Margrave, the most active of all the Prince’s attendants, left 
behind him an extensive series of papers on astronomical sub- 
jects, which appear, however, to have been lost. His obser- 
vations on the natural history of Brazil, which were numerous 
and important, had a more fortunate fate. They were pre- 
