2800. } 
ment fhould be formed in each central 
fchool upon the compofitions offered for 
reward, which rewards, whether of palms 
or beoks, fhould be diftributed ina fo- 
lemn manner at a public exercife. The 
works crowned fhould be afterwards ad- 
dreffed to the minifter, who will appoint a 
jury of fcientific men, men of letters, and 
artifts, to examine all the works, to com- 
pare them carefully, and defignate the 
beft. By thus tying in one common knot 
of emulation the primary with the central 
{chools, and thefe with the fpecially efta- 
blifhed ones, the interefted in this grand na- 
tional undertaking reckon upon a fuccefs 
never before witnefled in any undertaking 
of this nature. 
The aftronomer LatanpeE has lately 
publifhed the following note on the difco- 
very of anew comet: * Onthe sth Nivofe, 
(Dec. 26,) Cit. MECHAIN, to whom we 
are indebted for the difcovery of feveral 
comets, obferved another, at four in the 
morning, near the ftar Sigma; it may be’ 
diftinguifhed by the naked eye ; its tail is 
about a degree; and it advances towards 
the fouth ; this is theninety-firft, accord- 
ing to my aftronomical catalogue.”” 
‘The Adjutant-general CLAUZEL, while 
with the army of Italy, was prefented by 
the King of Sardinia, at the moment of 
his abdication, with the celebrated picture 
of the Man in a Dropfy, by Gerrard Dow. 
He has made a prefent of it to the National 
Muf&um. 
CavANILLES, the Spanifh botanift, 
continues with equal fuccefs and perfever- 
ance, his fine work upon plants, of which 
four yolumes have been publifhed already. 
He has now brought the fifth to a clofe; 
wherein, befides the rare plants, we find 
in this volume the defcription of a multi- 
tude of new fpecies, and ten new genera. 
The literary horizon of Spain begins to 
irradiate from more than one point, as it 
fhould feem from the laft annual prize 
gueftion propofed by the Royal Academi- 
cians at, Madrid, which was, ¢* The influ- 
ence which general literary inftruétion 
might have on the happinefs of a peo- 
ple.” 
In SCHAFFER’s Trayels through Ita- 
ly, &c. 1788, the following paffage is de- 
ferving of notice; —‘* When I vitited the 
aétive, the indefatigable Hofer, I found 
him employed in the chemical examination 
of an aikaline water, which had lately 
been difcovered in Tufcany, with the 
view to’ determine, whether with oil he 
aight not make foap of it. On my return 
from Rome, he fhewed me an ounce of 
very beautiful firm foap, perfedtly fimilar 
}- 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence. 
6r 
to the Spanifh ; and which he had obtain- 
ed from a pound of this alkaline-water 
alloyed with a little lime.”’ 
MozartT’s compofitions have been 
publifhed lately at Leipzig by fubfcription, 
at the moderate price of about five fhil+ 
lings per number, each delivery confifting 
of from 25 to 39 fheets. Haypn’s works 
are now publifling at the fame price to 
fub{cribers, under his own direétion. 
The following improvements in the Art 
of Hat-making have lately been publifhed 
in the Journal Politechnique. The manu- 
facture of Hats may be divided into fous 
general procefles, viz, felting, fulling, dy- 
ing, and finifhing. During the fecond of 
thefe operations the felt is repeatedly dip- 
ped in boiling-water, hoiding tartar in 
folution, which tartar requires to be ncca~ 
fionally renewed. The editor of the En- 
cyclopédie attributes the ufe of the tartar 
to the alkali which it contains ; this, how- 
ever, appears to be a total miftake, for if 
a piece of blue paper be dipped in the tar- 
tar bath, it will be immediately changed. 
to red, thus fhewing an excels of acid, 
which from the analyfis of tartar is well 
known to be the cafe; moreover the tartar 
requires to be renewed in proportion as it 
Jofes its acid. From this circumftance 
Cit. Chauffier was induced to fubftitute 
fulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) inftead of 
tartar, and found it anfwer every purpofe 
of the tartar, with the peculiar advantages 
of being much cheaper, les difagreeable to: 
the workmen, requiring water of a tempe- 
rature not higher than 70 deg. to dilute it 
with, and therefore faving much of the ex- 
pence of fuel, and aliowing a leaden boiler 
to be fubftituted in the room of the copper 
one. There is a ftill further fuperiority 
in this new method: the colouring mu- 
cous matter of the tartaris partly abforb- 
ed by the felt, and beaten out with much 
labour. After the dying in this operation 
a vat quantity of black duftis difengaged, 
prejudicial to the workmen, and which 
being charged with colouring matter from 
the dye vat, caufes a confiderable watte 
in dying materials, and prevents, in fome 
degree, the felt from taking the colour. 
By the fubftitution of fulphuric_acid, a 
perfectly clear bath is prepared for the 
fulling of the felt, and all the above incon~ 
veniences are entirely obviated. The fi- 
nifhing of a hat confifts in impregnating 
the felt with mucilaginous matter, in order 
to make it retain its fllape, and to be Jefs 
permeable to rain. The fize commonly 
made ufe of is amixture of glue and com- 
mon gums ; by this the hat is rendered 
hard and apt to crack. An important im- 
; provemene 




