1802.] 
The Bookfellers of London have fo far 
fucceeded in-their application for the re- 
duction of the duty upon printing papers, 
as to have fecured the favourable decifion 
of the Minifter, who has promifed to re- 
commend their intended petition to a 
Committee of the Houle of Commons. 
The Critical Review has, of late, de- 
voted a part of every Number of its Ap- 
pendix to an examination of maps and 
. charts; a branch of criticifm hitherto 
uncultivated in Great Britain, and feldom 
attempted on the Continent; but which 
the growing importance of the {cience of 
geography feems importunately to de- 
mand. Geograpny, as a fcience, is, 
nevertheleis, {till in its infancy. Jt has 
long, indeed, formed a department of li- 
beral education, and we have multitudes 
of maps and charts almoft daily iffuing 
from the prefs; but for want of that cri- 
tical fuperivtendance which has prefided 
over every other branch of literature, we 
have tew deligns, even at the prefent, that 
will bear the ordeal of rigid ferutiny ; and 
perhaps fewer ftudents in the fcience who 
are capable of applying fucha teft. How 
far the geographical ftriiures which are 
meant to be continued in the Critical Re- 
view may accomplifh thefe important ob- 
jects, muft be left to the public to deter- 
mine. Itis obvious, however, that lineal 
geography is yet totally deftitute of fuch 
a prefiding power; and it is prefumed, 
therefore, that this fir attempt to fup- 
ply fo ferious a defeét, will meet with 
f{upport and affifiance. 
here are few enquiries that have more 
excited public attention than that con- 
cerning the author of ‘ Junius.”? Be- 
tween him and the late Mr. WiLkes 
feveral letters are known to have patt. 
’ Mr. Wilkes; befides his legetimate daugh- 
ter, and another acknowledged by him 
and bearing his name, left alfo a fon, a 
Mr. Smiru, a gentleman of great opu- 
lence in India. By information commu- 
nicated through him, the difcovery of the 
real author of Junius’s Letters, fup- 
poied to have been made by the Rev. Mr. 
Brackin, is faid to be gieatly confirmed. 
Some papers on the fubjeét are preparing 
for the prefs. 
The great national work of Cattle 
Plates, inicribed by permiffion to his Ma- 
jetly, about to be publifhed by fubferip- 
tion by Mefirs.Poypext, isin confiderable 
forwardnefs. It will coniift of upwards 
ef two hundred drawings of portraits 
painted from the life, of all the various 
diltinguifhed breeds of cattle, fheep, horfes, 
hogs, deer, &c. at prefent upon this 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence. 
39 
ifland; with defcriptions characteriftic of 
each genus, and its varieties, their-ufes, 
merits, defects, &c. and their appropriate 
advantages and difadvantages, as to fitw- 
ation, foil, and climate. The houfe of 
Boydell, with that high fpirit of liberality 
fo well known throughout Europe, have 
{pared no expence to render this truly 
patriotic undertaking complete in all its 
parts. Lord SOMERVILLE has conde- 
{cended to undertake the fuperintendance 
of thewhole. The paintings, &c. by Mr. 
Warp, and the mot eminent matters. 
The defcriptions of the cattle, by Mr. 
LawRENCe, veterinary and agricultural _ 
writer, authors of the New Farmers’ Ca- 
lendar, &c. Of the horfes, by Mr. Moor- 
CROFT, veterinary furgeon. 
The Travels in Italy ofthe Abbé Bar- 
THELEMY, author of the Travels of 
Anacharfis, have lately appeared in Paris, 
and a tranflation will {fpeedily be pubkifhed 
in London, They are contained in a feries 
of Letters addreffed to the celebrated Count 
CaytLus, and abound in the moft curious 
and interefiing obfervations. 
A telefcope of the value of 11,000l. 
fterling, has been lately fhipped in the 
river Thames for the Royal Obfervatory 
at Madrid. It was made under the di- 
re€tion of Dr. HERSCHEL, and it fills fo 
many packages as to freight great part of 
a fmall fhip. Another teiefcope is alfo 
about to be completed, under the fame 
direction, for the Academy of Sciences at 
St. Peterfburgh. This lat inftrument 
will coft about soool. 
Mr. Prart, of Suffolk, who has been 
formerly in Egypt, has lately produced a 
clutch of 67 chickens, without the eggs 
being ever fet upon by hens. ‘Themethod 
he ufed was the fame as that which has 
long been purfued in Egypt, by moderate ~ 
heat. The little animals are now about 
three weeks old, (in the middleof January) 
and by preferving a proper temperature 
of heat, feem not to thrive a whit the lefs 
for being motherlefs. This plan will be 
particularly eligible in the breed of tur< 
kies, as they are extremely tendér and dif- 
ficult to rear, being peculiarly fulceptible 
of the tranfitions of the weather. Mr. 
Pratt laid theeggs in fine fand, in a hot- 
houfe, the heat of which he regulated by a 
thermometer. 
A difcovery has been lately made by 
Meflrs, LanctiFFE and W. Hawkes, 
jun. of Newcaftle-upon-Tyne, which 
promifes not only gratification to the cue 
rious, but confiderable utility to che- 
mical feience. . The difcovery confifts in 
the combuition of the oxygen and hydro- 
12 - gen- 
