1799.) Authentic Experiments on the Phenomena of Galvanifm. 18g 
Under this laft title, Charles V. became 
poffeffor of it ; and here he eftablifhed the 
religious order of St. John of Jerufalem. 
The knights took poffeffion of the ifland 
in 1530, under the grand raalter, Villiers 
de Lifle Adam, (having loft Rhodes a few 
‘years before) ; and remained proprietors, 
or fovereigns of it, till its late fudden and 
unexpected furrender to the French Ge- 
peral BUONAPARTE *, 
In teftimony of the original conceffion | 
of this ifland, the Grand Maiter was 
obliged every year to fend a falcon to the 
King of Sicily, or his viceroy ; and on 
every new fucceflion, to {wear allegiance 
to the Sicilian monarch, and to receive 
from his ‘ands the inveftiture of thefe 
iflands. 
' The Maltefe nation has for many ages 
kept up the fpirit for commerce and {pe- 
culation of its Phoenician origin, together 
with the fame fort of indifference for lite- 
rature and the fine arts. Of late years, 
however, they have begun to cultivate 
sthe arts with fome fuccefs ;. and they have 
now among them mulicians, {culptors, 
and painters, not devoid of merit. About 
twenty vears ago, one of the grand matters 
founded a mufeum, which was to be the 
property of the order: in this were fome 
ictures and marble bas-reliefs, (Roman 
Forks) found in the country. They 
- have fince added to it a number of fpe- 
cimens of fculpture and medals found 
here, fo that it is now full of curiofities 
and antiques; and the palace of the grand 
matter abounds with paintings of the moft 
famous Italian matters: his library alfo 
contains a number of manufcripts, rare 
editions, and beautiful defigns. There 
is alfo a public library here, which is al- 
ready of fome coniequence, and was daily 
increafing by the additions of the private 
collections-of the knights, &c +. 
“ 


* The curious reader may find, in the 
works of the Abbe de VWertot, and in the 
Modern Univerfal Hiftory, interefting details 
relative to the famous fiege in 1565, under 
Solyman, and the reft of their hiftory. 
-+ Some of the. copper coins of the Pheni- 
cians are ftill to be found here, which repre- 
Yent a female head, and the deities Orus, Ifis, 
and Ofiris, upon the reverfe. Carthaginian 
coins have been alfo found here, with Punic 
infcriptions. The Romans, when in poflef- 
fion of this ifland, {truck coins with Greek 
infcriptions on one fide, and Latin on the re- 
verfe.* Inthe mufeum are two monuments 
highly interéiting and curious, on account of 
their antiquity, wiz. two broken pieces of 
marble candlefticks, with Phenician infcrip- 
tions upon the pedeftals in perfett preferva- 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT of EXPERIMENTS made ta 
afcertain the phenomena of GALvVaA- 
NISM, by @ committee of the phyfical and 
mathematical clafs of the NATIONAL 
INsTITUTE of France*, 
HE report of thefe experiments, very 
properly, prefents them, not in the 
order in which they were made; but, ina 
fort of claffification, by means of which 
their general refults are more eafily to be 
underttood. 
The procefs for producing the very fin- 
gular and extraordinary phanomena of 
Galvanifm, is now well known to all the 
phyfologifts in Europe. It confifts in 
effecting, by the ufe of the exciting ap- 
paratus, a mutual communication be- 
tween any two points of contact, more or 
lefs diftant from one another, in a fyftem 
of nervous and mufcular organs. ‘The 
{phere of this mutual communication 
may be regarded as a complete circle, 
divided into two parts. That part of it 
which confifts of the organs otf the ani- 
mal under the experiment may be called 


tion, They have been tranflated as follows, 
by the Abbe Barthelemi: 
‘6 Abdaffar and Afferemar, fons of Affe- 
remar, fon of Abdaflar, have made this vow 
to eur lord Melerat, titular God of Tyre: 
may he blefs them, after having led them 
aftray.” 
The fecond infcription is in Greek :— 
‘¢ Dionyfius and Serapion, of the city of 
Tyre, fons of Serapion; to Hercules, fur 
named Archegetes.” 
Thefe fragments were difcovered in the 
Villa-Abela, at the bottom of the great har- 
bour, where formerly a temple of Hercules 
ftood, of which nothing now remains.—A 
marble ftatue of that hero has alfo been found 
here, which is highly valued at Malta: it is 
two feet in height, but has been injurioufly 
handled by the {culptor whoretouched it.o- 
In the mufeum are a great number of vafes, 
lamps, and lachrymatories, which are either 
Phenician, or of the pofterior ages, as they 
do net pofiefs the elegance of the Grecian 
vaies. It likewife contains a beautiful glafs 
vafe, found in the ifland, and exaétly re- 
fembling thofe difcovered at Pompeii; from 
which it is fuppofed to be Roman.—Among 
the Grecian coins, one has been found of the 
ifland of Gozaitfelf; reprefenting a head of 
Diana, with a crefcent wpon it, and on the 
reverfe a foldier armed with a fword and 
buckler, in the very onfet of attack. 
* The members of the committee were 
Citizens Coulomb, Sabatier, Pelletan, 
Charles, Fourcroy, WVauquelin, Guyton, 
and Hallé. Citizens Venturi, De Modene, 
and M. Humboldt, afifted in the experi- 
ment. 
the 
