292 
awardéd to CHARLES ANTOINE CALLA- 
MARD, of Paris, a pupil of Payou. The 
second prize, 1. To AIME MiLHOMME, 
of Valenciennes, in the department of the 
North, and 2 pupil of ALLEGRAIN. 
2. To Jean Lovis DuVAL, of Paris, a 
pupil of BorzoT. 
111. Architetture. Subject, plan of 
_publie granaries for the fupply of a large 
city, fituated on the banks of a river. 
The grand prize was adjudged, 1. to 
Louis AMBROISE DuBUT, of Paris, a 
pupil of Lepoux. 2. JEAN ANTOINE 
Coussin, of Paris, a pupil of the late 
BELIZARD. Second prize, 1. To ELOo1 
LABARRE, 2 Native of Ourfcamp, in the 
department of L’Oife, and a pupil of 
RArMOND. 2. MAXIMILIEN Hur- 
TAUT, of Paris, a pupth of PERCIER. 
Thofe pupils who obtained the grand 
prize, ate to fet out for Italy to perfect 
themfelves in the arts, at the expence of 
the republic. 
M. QUATREMER DIsJONVAL, whofe 
Ingenious difcoveries in araneology we 
noticed in our VARIETIES for January 
jaft, has, in a fubfequent publication, 
treated of the great utility of {piders in- 
protecting cattle, and more efpecially 
horfes, from the bite of flies and gnats. 
It is a common prejudice, he obierves, 
that fpiders are noxious animals ; whereas, 
in fact, a more ufeiul appendage to a fta- 
ble, or a cow-haufe, cannot be found. It 
is well known, that horfes which are kept 
in a ftable during thefummer months, fuf- 
- fer from the gnats and “flies, in an equal, 
and even ina greater degree, than thofe 
which are employed in the field, or for the 
purpofes of travelling. The reafon of 
this is obvious: the vapours which exhale 
from the animals, added to the ftrong 
fmell of a fable or a cow-houfe, naturally 
attraét the flies in numbers to thofe places. 
If, therefore, fpiders, inftead of being 
fwept away and deftroyed, were rather en- 
couraged, they would offer an effeétual 
remedy to this inconvenience, by ftation- 
ing themfelves in ambufh atthe doors, the 
windows, and other apertures of places 
deflined for the reception of cattle and 
horfes, and thus deftroying their enemy 
at his very firft onfet. M. DisjonvaL 
concludes in the following words: “TJ 
readily acknowledge, that fpiders and 
their webs are no proper appendage to 
the habitations of men; but I require, 
that they be left m full and undifturbed 
poffeflion of all places deftined forthe re: 
ception of cattle and horfes.-In:a word, as 
revolution feents to be the erder of the 
day, Idemand, that the innevation lately 
National Inflitute. 
adopted im the adminiffration of thé penal 
code, by tranfporting, inftead of execit- 
ing the profcribed deputies,’ be adopted 
likewife with refpect to fpiders ; and that 
‘their punifhment, when found in our rooms 
and houfes, confift not in*death, but in 
banithment to the ftables, or other appro- 
priate places.-— M. Disjonvat has 
fudjoined to the above remarks, a very 
curious faét, of which himfelf, together 
with Citizen: MERCIER, a2 member of 
the council of five hundredy and General 
BELatrr, were eye-witneffes. The fpider, 
s 
it feems, is not only a proghofticator of 
the weather, but likéwife an amateur of 
good mufic, and will leave his Jurkin 
place, when an initrument is fkilfully 
played. A very large fpider in the houleé 
of M. DESMAINVILLES, neaf the barrier 
of Clichy, on hearing the found of mu- 
fic, immediately left his retreat, and 
continued to traverfe the floor of the 
toom, following exattly the motions of 
the performer. This experiment was fe- 
veral times repeated, and always with thé. 
fame effect. Hence, inftead of terming 
the ipider a noxious and offenfive animal, 
we ought rather to join in the panegyric 
beftowed upon this ingenious infect by 
Ovid: fctres a Pallade dofiam. — 
— 

GuyTon, in the 71ft number of the 
Annales de Chemie has introduced the fol- 
lowing intereftine obfervations on the 
acid of tin, and the analyfis of its ores: 
It has long, he fays, been obferved, that 
the concentrated nitric acid oxidates with- 
out diffolving tin: for this metal has fe 
{trong an afhnity for oxygen, that it im- 
mediately decompofes the nitric acid into 
oxygenand nitrous gas. If the acid be 
mixed with water, the oxidation of the 
metal is fill more rapid, accompanied with 
the evolution of nitrate of émmoniac, pro- 
duced by the hydrogen of the water, and 
the azote of the nit. gas, united with 3 
{mall portion of nitrous acid. Ifnitrous 
acid be added, as lone as it continues to 
be decompoféd, the oxide of tin at length 
affumes the charafters of an acid, and is 
converted ‘into: the flamnic acid. If toa 
folution of gold in nitro-muriatic acid, 2 
few drops of the ftannic acid be added, 
a purple powder is precipitated, formerl 
called purple powder of caffias, and whichy: 
in reality, is (laxwate of gold, produced by 
fingle elective attraétion. In KLAp-. 
ROTH’s analytfis of the ores of tin, parti- 
cularly that fpecies which is ealled: wood 
tin, he was unable te caufe any portion of 
it to diffolve in the muriatic acid ;- this he 
attributed te*an excels ef exygen in the 
Ores 
