~ 
434 
ing all its vigour, in. a foil. where others 
cannot exift. It is never damaged by ani- 
mals. In the piantations fituated in the 
lower part of the two Carolinas, the pro- 
prietors keep it to ferve. for fhelter to the 
eattle. Its tufted foliage\is impenetrable 
to the rays of the fin, and the umbrage of a 
fingle tree cften covers a. fpace of more 
than thirty toifes. Its fruit (in abun- 
dance) is lefs four. than. that of the other 
fpecies. We_are told that the favages 
obtain from it an oil which they mix with 
their food, It wood is of an excellent qua- 
ity. In the athe of the United States, it 
3s employ red with the greatef advantage in 
the co nftruction of fhips, which laft for a 
Jong time. The foil of Lower Carolina 
and of Georgia bring of the fame nature 
as that of the tandes of Bourdesux; the ma- 
ritime oak is worthy to fix the attention 
ef the French. and Sp anifh Governments. 
Tt offers a means of giving a value to 
the lands which berder on the Mediter- 
.¥anean and the ocean. Ia the introduc- 
tion, Citizen André Michaud makes .a 
mumbcr of curious remarks on oaks in 
general, on their ufes: and their culture, 
and on the knowledge which the ancients 
had of them. This work excites a lively 
dere to fee the Flora cf America. 
According to the obfervations made by 
the Academieian Krarrt, the city of 
St. Peterfburgh, on an average of ten 
years, has annually 97 bright days, 104 of 
vain, 72 of fnow, and. 93 unfettled. 
here are every year from 12 to 67 Rerms, 
which, fometimes, when they ‘proceed 
from the weft, occafton inundations. From 
an experience of more than fixty years, the 
ree Of the river Neva never breaks up be- 
fore the 25th of March, and never later 
than the 27th of /roril; the earlieft time 
ef its freezing is the ofh of October, and 
the lateft hes rfiof December. . 
M. Zincx, the Co-regent of Heffe 
Homburg, has invented an inftrument of - 
mulic, to which he bas given the name of 
Harmonica Celsfina. "This infrument is 
in the {nape of a Spinnet, or fmall harpfi- 
chord, with three rews of keys. As he 
has only u’ed it in public to execute fome 
Feces of mufic, the German journalifts do 
pot give any details relpeding its interior 
mechanilm.. Ke drews from it the found 
ef the orgsn,the fiute, the lyase -forte, of 
fevera! een infruments, ard of 
led the harmonica. He can derive thefe 
’ founds either fingly or collectively, at plea- 
fure. The purchafer of this inftrument, 
which we are affured is capable of one hun- 
dred changes, is the Emprefs of Germany.’ 
“Literary and Philofophical Intelligence 
f that cal- 
7 
- 
(Dec. 3, 
. Citizen LALANDE has addreffed the fol- 
lowing note to the Editor of the Moxiteur: 
—‘ The afrologers alarmed Europe, in 
the year 3186, by announcing a comjuxe- 
tion of all the planets, which was to occa- 
fion very extracrdinary ravages. I men- 
tioned the circumftance in the. Preface ta 
my Aftronomy, but was anxious to alcer- 
tain whether this rare and fingular pheno- 
menon aétually tock place in ie ceurfe of 
that year. Citizen FLANGERGUEsS, an 
“\ffociate member of the National Infti- 
tute, anda zealous aftronomer, took the 
trouble to make the requifite calculations, 
and the refnlt-certainly was, that on the . 
15th of September, A: D. 1186, all the 
planets were comprehended within from‘ 
fix fens to fix figns, ten degrees, of longi- 
tude. - This, however, was nat an exadé 
conjunctions bat perhaps many thovfand 
years may elapfe before they y again fo near 
ly approximate each other.’ 
The Prince. Royal. of Teast has 
lately eftablifhed a Board of Longitude, at 
the Univerfity of Copenhagen, ‘the chief 
employment of which will be to calculate. 
Ephemerides in a nautical almanack, as. 
likewife the moon's diftances from the 
planets, Venus,. Mars, Jupiter, and Sa. 
turn, and thereby to increafe and render 
lefs difficult thé methods for finding the 
longitude at. fea. This commifiion is to 
coniut of Proteflor ByGGe, of an extra- 
ordinary profefior of aftrononomy, and. 
two adjun&ts. The director of the com- 
mifion muft annually deliver a diftin€ly 
written copy ‘of the Ephemerides calculat- 
ed by them, together with the’ moon’s dif- 
tances from the above planets, to the di- 
reCtor of the depdt of fea-charts, who is 
to fuperintend the printing and pablitieaay 
of hick. 
Four years ago, an Academy of Archi- 
teCiure was infistutéd at Berlin, in which 
one hundred fiudents learn the higher 
branches of the fcience; and for the’ pure . 
pofe of initiating youths in the firft prin- 
ciples thereof, and preparing them for ad- 
miffion into the Academy, provincial 
ichools of architecture, and the ar¢s there- 
with connected, have been erected at Bref- 
lau,. Magdeburg, Halle, and Konigtberg, 
and are to be erected in feveral other - 
towns of the Pruffian dominions. In 
thefe {chools, pure and mixed mathema- 
tics, geometry, the economical and higher 
branches of architecture, the forming re- 
lievoes in clay, éc: are taught gratis ; and 
artifis and handicrafifmen connected with ° 
architeGture are inftruéted in a variety _ 
of uleiul knowledge, neceflary towards 
ai.) 
-P* 
