452 
The people of London, who ran with fo 
much eagernefs to fee a foreigner get inte 
a quart-bottle, have, during the prefent 
month, been attra&ted in crowds to fee an 
exhibition of optical images at the Lyceum, 
in the Strand. Thefe gholts and {pectres, 
as they are called, are the fimple produc- 
tion of a commen magic-lantern, the ob- 
jeéts from which are thrown upon the far- 
ther fide of a tranfparent {ereen, which is 
hung between the lantern and the audience. 
When the lantern is brought nearer the 
{creen, the object is diminifhed. in fize, and 
appears to retire ; when taken farther off, 
the objeét is-encreafed in fize, and appears 
to approach the fpectator. . Thé exhibitor 
who deferves the praife of great ingenuity, 
would however do himfelf more credit 
as. a philofopher, and as a deteétor 
of impoftors, if he-weré to bring forward 
his apparatus after his exhibition, and ex- 
plain to the ignorant part of his audience 
that the illufion arifes fimply from the ap- 
plication of a magic lantern. 
The following is an account of the cu- 
rious experiments for lifting fhips in’ dock 
to put in a new keel, which was lately 
tried fer the firt time on the Canopus, of 
$4. guns, in Plymouth Dock, by Mr. 
SrpBins, the builder’s firft afiftant. By 
means of wedges driven againtt the blocks 
on each fide of the keel, and the ufe of the 
catapulta or battering-ram applied to 
them,’ the blocks are forced out much 
eafier, and with Jefs danger. Fewer 
fhores are required to fupport the fhip, 
which alfo ftrains lefs, and hangs, as it 
were, in flings: by this fimple operation, 
forty men, in twelve hours, can perform 
~as much work as ufed to take, on the old 
principle, three hundred men three days ; 
aithough fome fhips, in the old method of 
knocking out the blocks under the keel, 
have fettled from eight to ten inches, the- 
Canopus only fettled one quarter of an 
inch, by this new method. A numerous 
concourfe of artifts and others attended 
to fee the experiment tried on the Canopus, 
and were perfectly fatisfied with its ufe- 
fulnefs and fimplicity. ; 
Beech-nuts are not only excellent food 
for pigs, but they are now known to yield 
an oil fit for all ordinary purpéfes. Ma- 
jor’ Marsac, who occupies the houfe at 
Caverfham, formerly belonging to Lord 
CapoGan, lately told the beech-nuts on 
his eftate for sol. to a perfon at Reading, 
for the purpofe of extracting oil from them. 
By the accounts of theGencral Mifionary 
Society, publifhed at their anniverfary 
sheeting in June laft, it appears that the 
gub{criptions, donations and collections 
Literary and Philsfophical Intelligence. 
[ Dec. J ry 
for the laft year, amounted to 1783]. 
ros. 3d. 3 thatthe Diretors purchated 
during the year, z800l. four per cents, 
and roool. three per cents.; and that 
their prefént fund confiks of 16,000). three 
per cents.; 90371. four per cen's.; 33001. 
new five per cents. ; 1000}. old five per 
cents. and sool. in an Exchequer-bill. 
Thefe modern miffionaries do not feem to 
emulate the poverty of the apoftles! 
An Engiifhman has lately obtained leave 
to eftabiih a paper-manutactory in Portu- 
gal, by which it is likely he will make 
immente profits, He manufactures the 
paper from the delicate white {kin of the 
aloe, which grows wild in that country, in’ 
The paper is of 
a prodigious abundance, 
a beautiful texture, and extremely whitey ~ 
and he can feli it at half the expence that, 
imported paper is bought here. The pa-. 
per is of a quality {uperior to any at 
prefent. manutactured in this “country. 
Early in May next will be publithed,. 
by Mr. W. SHzaRnown, a new ‘Map of 
the Country round Doncafier, extending 
from eait to welt.60 miles, by 46 miles north 
and fouth: the {eale two miles to am inch. 
Travellers in the Levant.—Letters from 
Vienna contradiét the reports that were 
circulated laft ‘fummer about M. vow 
HaMMER, an Hungarian, who ftudied inv 
the Oriéntal Academy at Vienna, and was 
afterwards with the Imperial Ambaflador 
at Conitantinople. It had been faid by 
fome, that he had been drowned: Mr. 
Keir, indeed, private-fecretary to Sit 
SipNey Smita, thus loft his lite at the. 
entrance of the Nile: but luckily Mr. 
Hammer was not on board the fhip. Equal- 
ly falfe is the report, that .the Capitan 
Pacha had caufed him to be beheaded at — 
Rofetta. M. Hammer has made fome li- 
terary difcoveries m Paphos, and in a 
library at Rofetta, where he found a com- 
plete manufcript’ copy of the Arabian 
Tales, or Thouland and One Nights. 
Kare has. lately been’ three weeks 
in Troas, and his obfervations very much 
‘agree with thofe of Hammer. 
It has long been the opinion of man 
learned men, that the Fables ufually ‘ 
afcribed to Efop probably belong to the. 
Abyfinian Fabutit’ Lokmann.—A Ger- 
man Correfpondent informs us, that in 
Germany, a perfon of the greateft.credibi- 
lity at prefent afferts, that he had fecn in _ 
Syria a manufcript, with the fuperfeription, 
«* Lokmann’s Works,’ which contained, 
befides thé Fables, Proverbs, Maxims, 
and: Mora! Do&trines, and was divided 
into feétions, in one of which he found ° 
the Fables hitherto afcribed to Efop. _ 
: The 
~ 
, 
