7 
-Animalibus. 
A350. « 
tenebrous et lon ne voie eftoile ni lune, poet 
li mariner tenir droite voie.] 
This difcovery, which appears ufeful 
in fo great a degree to all who travel by 
fea, muft remain concealed until other 
times ; becaufe no mafter-mariner dares to 
ufe it left he fhould fall under a fuppofi- 
tion of his being a magician; nor would 
even the failors venture themfelves out to 
fea under his command, if he took with 
him an inftrument which carries fo great 
an appearance of being conftruéted under 
the influence of fome infernal foirit. A 
time may come when thefe prejudices, 
which are of fuch great hindrance to re- 
fearches into the fecrets of nature, will 
probably be no more ; and it will be then 
that mankind fhall reap the benefit of the 
jabours of fuch learned men as Friar Ba- 
con, and do juftice to that induftry and in- 
telligence for which he and they now meet 
with no other return than obloquy and re- 
proach. 
a The readers of the Monthly Magazine 
muft certainly be obliged to its ingenious 
Correfpondent, who under the fignature D. 
has, in the Number for May, p. 315, given 
an account of the elephant, from a work in 
Latin (whether manufcript or printed, is not 
faid) intitled Beffiariem. The Tranflator_of 
Brunetto Latini perfectly agrees with D. in 
thinking his author to have borrowed the 
account of the elephant contained in Letter 
the Third, from that work. But is not this 
work, intitled Beffiarium, partly a tranflation 
from the Greek of Ariftotle,who wrote a Hif- 
tory of Animals? Brunetto Latini was well 
acquainted with the writings of Ariftotle, 
which he had read in a Latin tranflation, and 
expre{sly quotes, in one place, this work De 
If D. will, agreeably to his pro- 
mife, be fo obliging as to give a further ac- 
count of this exceedingly curious work, and 
particularly what is faidin it of the dog (to 
illuftrate Brunetto Latini’s account of that 
animal, Monthly Mag. May, p. 356.) it mutt 
certainly confer a further obligation on the 
readers of that ufeful and entertaining Mifcel- 
lany, and it will do fo particularly on 
The Tranflator of Brunetto Latini. 
THE SCIENCE OF LOGIC. 
It is a prevalent opinion, that Ariftotle 
was the firft who inveftigated the princi- 
ples of logic ina philological manner, and 
reduced it to a regular fyftem. This 
opinion feems to receive fome countenance 
from his own declarations. ‘* Concerning 
the art of rhetcric (fays he) the an- 
cients have left us numerous treatifes : 
but previous to my own attempt no au- 
thor has ever treaied of {yllogifm.”’* 
This affertion, however, does not amount 
* De Sophift. Elench, cap. xxxiv. 
From the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
[Jane 1, 
to any pofitive proof, that before his time 
the art of fyllogizing was unknown in the © 
different fchools of phiiolophy eftablithed 
in Greece An art or fcience may be 
perfectly underftood, although its princi- 
ples have never been digefted and ar- 
ranged by any author. Nay, it is even 
certain that, before the days of Ariftotle, 
feveral feéts were a€tually in pofleffion of 
a regular fyftem of ‘logic. That this 
fyftem received many important improve- 
ments from his furprifing exertions, can 
not at all be doubted. Yet he cannot be 
regarded as the original inventor. 
Tt is highly probable, that the Greek 
philofophers derived their knowledge of 
this {cience from the Eaftern fages. In 
the works of the excellent Sir William 
Jones there are fome obfervations which 
would induce us to conclude, that the 
Brahmans are in poffeffion of a fyftem of 
logic fimilar to that unfolded in the Or- 
ganum of Ariftotle. If this pofition is 
juft, an obvious conclufion may be de- 
duced from it. It is well known that 
many of the philofophers of ancient Greece 
had an intercourfe, either mediate or im- 
mediate, with the Indian Brahmans. That 
they derived the rudiments of their know- 
ledge, concerning many fubjects, from 
this great fource, is equally certain. Thefe 
circumftances properly confidered, it will 
feem more natural to fuppofe, that the 
Greeks were indebted to thefe learned 
Afiatics for the principles of logic, than 
that the Brahmans were originally in- 
debted to them. 
It is to be regretted that Sir William 
Jones did not beftow upon this fubje& a 
thorough inveftigation. He was fully 
adequate to the tafk, and the fpeculation 
is curious and interefting. 
PUNISHMENT OF CRUELTY. 
Early in the fifteenth century, a High- 
land robber having taken two cows from 
a poor woman, fhe fwore fhe would wear 
no fhoes till fhe had complained to the 
king. The favage, in ridicule of her 
oath, nailed horfe-fhoes to her feet. 
When her wounds were healed, fhe pro- 
ceeded to the royal prefence, told her 
fiory, and fhewed her fcars. The juft mon- 
arch inftantly difpatched orders to fe- 
cure the thief, who being brought to 
Perth, and condemned, the king com- 
manded that he fhould be cloathed in a 
canvas frock, on which was painted the 
figure of a man faftening horfe-fhoes to a 
woman’s feet. In this drefs he was ex- 
hibited through the ftreets of the city for 
two days, then dragged at the tailofa 
horfe to the gallows, and hanged. —  ~ 
2 ORIGINAL 
