a 
Boh 
GAUTHEROT read a difcourfe, at the 
Lyceum of Arts, in November, ona 
plan of an organized harpfichord, the 
initial parts of which were conftrucied 
by CH!IQUELIER. The mechanifm of 
this inftrument is fuch, that all the airs 
played on the keys may be inftantly 
traced on paper; fo that the fugitive 
thoughts, which the impulfe of compo- 
fition may fuggeft to the artift, will not 
be loft, and may be recovered without 
the care and fatigue of noting them.— 
When the medal was prefented to the 
ref{pectable, yet indigent old artiit, a col- 
le€tion was alfo made. for him, on the 
fpot, amounting to 4200 livres. 
From fome experiments made, laft 
year, by Doétor ATTILIO ZUCCAGNI, 
it appears, that the culture of indigo has 
been fuccefsfully introduced into Tuf- 
cany. Out of about fix pounds of freth 
indigo, fermented in the Indian manner, 
he obtained fix ounces of fediment, vary- 
ing four different degrees in colour and 
goodnefs. The culture of this plant has 
been attempted fince, with equal fuccefs, 
‘by other agriculturifts. 
In confequeuce of a fearcity of the tan 
ef oak prevailing in Hanover, Mr, 
Counfellor WEuRs recommended to.a 
ikilful tanner, at Linden, near Hanover, 
to endeavour to afcertain, by experi- 
ments, whether any other indigenous 
trees of the country might not offer the 
faine refources for tanning, as the bark 
ef the oak. A feries cf experiment was 
made, accordingly, en the bark of the 
Sumach, or Rbus Coriaria, a tree very 
common inthe eleétorate, and the refult 
has proved highly fuccefsful. Calves’ 
fkins, tanned by this procefs, have been 
_. pronounced equal to real Englith leather ; 
and the tanners and fhoe-makers pay, 
without hefitation, two florins for a 
pound of the fame, while the beft Hano- 
verian leather commonly fells for only one. 
CHRISTOPHE.GULLET, a French 
agriculturift, recommends, as a prefery- 
ative againft the ravages cf caterpillars, 
butterflies. yellow flies, and other infects, 
to lafh or fcourge with rods of young elder, 
the plants of cabbages, and the branches 
of trees, &c. It appears, from his ex- 
periments, that the plants thus lafhed 
were never vifited by the butterflies, &c. 
(being driven away by the itrong and 
naufeating effluvia of the elder) although 
they frequently uttered about, and_ 
lighted on the other plants. He alfo re- 
commends to fprinkle trees, corn, tur- 
nips, &c. every eight or ten days, with 
a ftrong infufion of elder. What the 
farmers call the yellows in corn, and is 
Varieties, Literary and Philofophical. 
[ April, 
confidered by them as a fpecies of mil- 
dew, Mr. GuULLET maintains to bea 
{mail yellow fly, with blue wings, nearly 
of the fize of a gnat, and generating 
worms almoft invifible to the naked eye. 
By the help of a good microfcope, he 
afiures us, that he counted ’forty-one 
yellow worms alive in the 4a/e of a fingle 
grain,of wheat.—He is of opinion, that 
the dwarf elder (/e fureau yebie) ex- 
hales a fcent more offenfive than the 
common elder. 3 
BITAuBE, a celebrated French poet, 
has lately publifhed an imitation of the 
fixth fatire of the fecond book of Horace, 
wherein he has happily clothedthe Roman 
poet in the Gallic coftume, ‘kilfully 
adapting his ideas to modern manneys 
and circumftances. . 
A lady of the name of Aagely, and two 
other women in inferior circumftances of 
life, have lately preferred a claim on the 
generofity and gratitude of the French 
ration, as theonly furviving defcendants of 
Corneille : the former is the daughter of 
- Madame Dupu:s, originally Gornertle, well - 
known as having beem the pupil of Vel- 
taire, and greatly carefled by him; the 
two other women are fifters of Madame 
Dupuis, and aunts of Madame Angely : 
ene of thefe fubfifts’ upon alms im an 
hofpital, at Geneva; and the other earns 
her maintenance as an ailiftant to a poor 
mantua-maker in the envirors of that 
city. The French refident at Geneva 
has laudabiy exerted himfelf to verify the 
illuftrious defcent and poverty of thefe 
laft-mentioned perfons, and has com- 
menced, himfelt, the career of public 
generolity. : 
About. fifty rare wild beafts, moft 
of them of the larger fize, have. been 
lately imported into France, from Africa, 
‘by order of the government, for the 
purpefe of completing the menagerie 
of the mufeum of natural hiftory, at 
Paris. A. fine young lion, however, 
and one of the two white bears, have ~ 
died fince their arrival, in confequence, 
as is believed, of being incommodiouily 
lodged or provided fort Paris. 
The French minifter of the interior 
has juft addreffed a circular letter to the 
adminiftrators of the departments, in 
viting them to undeceive the people, 
relative to the common practice of fuf- 
pending perfons apparently drowned, 
by the feet, in order to compel them to 
difgorge water. ‘This method, far from 
proving falutary in any inftance,-is here 
reprefented as being, of itfelf, fufficient 
to produce inftant death to the perfon on 
whom it 1s applied. 
. REVIEW 
s 
