54 
the operation as long as appears to ‘be 
needful. 
A very important improvement has juft 
been made in the building of manufaéto- 
ries liable to danger from fire, by Meffrs. 
Benyon and BaGe, of Shrewfbury. 
Thefe gentlemen have juft finzfhed a fpa- 
cious flax-fpinning mill, 
proof. The materials confift wholly of 
brick and iron; the floors being arched, 
and the beams and pillows being formed 
of caftiron. We hope in an early Num- 
ber to be enabled to prefent our readers 
with a defcription of this new and lauda- 
ble undertaking more at large. 
Mr. SKINNER, furgeon, has lately 
extracted a confiderable portion of animal 
albumen from the potatoe. The only ani- 
mal matter hitherto noticed as contain- 
ed in the vegetable kingdom ig the gluten 
of wheat. By the above difcovery the 
animal and vegétable kingdoms are ap- 
proximated, and a clofer analogy eftab-— 
hifhed between them. Mr. SKINNER has 
obiained from the fame plant fome other 
curious products, and is at prefent engag- 
€d in atrain of experiments which pro- 
m fe t> be of much public utility. 
Constant DuMERIL lately read to 
the Philomatic Society, at Paris, fome ob- 
fervations on the. Auwnbricus terrefiris, ta 
French dombric marin. This animal 
is fpecifieaily characterized by bunches of 
furs, very perceptible, featreredall aong 
its beck. It poffeffes the fingular pro- 
perty of exuding on the furface of ‘its 
body a vellow undtuous liquor, which ap- 
pears to be fulceptible of chemical com- 
bnation. He propofes to make experi- 
ments on the properties of this liquor, one 
@* which he. conceives to be tanctorial. 
He further obferves, that large quantities 
pf ic may be obtained cheaply, as thé 
fifbermen lay the /ombrics in pots, where 
they difgorge the aumour copioutty, fo) 
When the 
the liquor is 
as to fubmerge themteives. 
gomrics have been- ufed, 
thrown away. 
DuMER?IL turther communicated fome 
ebfervations on a fpecies of maritime peas 
¥pifam maritimum LINN.) 
Gait, profeffor of Greek literature tn 
the college of Pranec, in his Tranflation of 
the Idylils of Theoeritus, has introduced 
@ great number of correétions and im- 
provements, made with eleyance and 
fitelitv. In 2 preliminary aderauan, 
re profeffor difeuffes the gucition, 2 whether 
toe poets foouwd be iranfated imo profe ? 
and decides it in the affirmative, although 
he prefers tranflations executed in the {pi- 
rit and ftyle of Fenelon. On thts occation 
the boldly repels the comtemptuous ex- 
| Varieties, Literary and Philofephical. 
which is«fre-- 
[July, 
preffion of Voltaire, fpeaking of that 
writer: I/ a allumé fa bougie au flambeau 
des anciens. ‘ He lighted. his taper at the 
flambeau of the ancients.”——* | think i 
can prefage,” fays Gatt, ® that the Hen- 
riade will be extinguifhed the fir, &c.” - 
Phere has lately appeared at Leipfic, 
the 12th number, in 8yo. of a periodical 
work, entitled, ‘‘ Nea Annuals of Botany, 
edited by Dofor Pavius Ust ert.” This 
journal contains, ‘like the preceding, inte- 
refting unpublifhed pieces, reimpreflions, 
fhort differtations, reviews, and general 
news relative to botany. it begins with 
the Herbarium Moauritianum of F. R. 
WILLEMET, to which arefubjoined fome 
original letters of that unfortunate learned 
man. To this fucceeds a differtation by 
father Rocca, profeffor of botany in the 
gatden of Mantua, in which he gives @ 
{cenography of the garden, with a figure, 
reprefenting the plan and elevation of the 
buildings ; after this follow fome experi- 
ments of JEAN SENNEBIER, relative te 
vegetable phyfiology. Among the reim- 
preffions of rare works, we find fome 
botanical obferyations on the “‘Fapone/e 
Flora, of TuHuNBERG, taken from the 
fecond xclume’ of the Memeirs. of the 
yinnzan Society of London. M. UstTErt 
gives an extraét’ from thefe memoirs im 
what relates to botany, as well as from 
many other nev works. 
VAUQUELIN and ALEXANDER 
BRONGNIART hate lately made fome ex- 
periments on the glutinous matter. ef 
wheat, and on the animal fibre. M., 
VaLtti, alio, on this fubjeét, advances 
certain pofitions which may be noticed 
here; 1. After Keffel-Meyer, that the 
gluten of wheat, treated by the accti¢ 
acid, changes into fediment, and the ante 
mah fibre, by the fame operation, into gel- 
ly; and, 2. phat rhe farina or mcal ss, 
of ail alimenta. -y fubftances, one which 
contains the mot phofphate of lime. 
Although the fir facis have been already 
pronotinced inexaét by the chemifts, the 
fociety, defirous to have the experiments 
repeated with precifion, directed Vau- 
QUELIN and BRonGNIART to perform 
the fame. The glutinous matter, tritu- 
rated or abforbed in acetous acid, diffolves 
very welle This diffolution keeps a long 
time; It is not, however, tranfparent. 
By gently’ evaporating the diffolution,. 
or infu ‘ing into it fomie drops of alcali, 
the gluten appears again with all its pro- 
perties, fo that it may be preferved, by 
this means, without alteration, for othe 
chemical experiments. ‘The animal fibre 
treated in the fame manner, Vado a the 
ame 
