1803.] 
that is affigned to him, to fubmit thefe 
obfervations to the judgment of their a!- 
fociates, and to publifh them periodically, 
when they {hall have been approved of by 
the Society. The proteecings of .thefe 
Memoirs will be confined to Natural Hif- 
tory, but ic is to Natural Hiftory con- 
fidered in its enfemble :—anatomy, che- 
mifiry, culture, and all. other means 
Whereby a knowlecge of the productions 
of nature may be promoted, will be ad- 
mitted into the journal, as well as into the 
eftablifhment ; fuch as zoology, botany, 
and mineralogy, properly fo called. ‘The 
Memoirs of foreign naturalifts will be re- 
ceived on the fame conditions as thofe of 
the Members of the Society. No particu- 
Jar torm of compofition is prefcribed, nor 
any particular fyftem of nomenclature or 
terminology ; perfpicuous defcriptions, 
and an, accurate fynonymy, will be rigo- 
roufly expected ; other matters will de- 
pend on the tafte and the views of the au- 
thors. I: is likewife intended to publifh 
engravings of the immenfe collection of 
miniatures on vellum, that was firf begua 
for Gaiton, brother of Louis Mili. and 
whicii has been augmenting ever fince, and 
whicn is depofited in the Mulcum. Pvo- 
feflor VAN-SPAENDONCK has undertaken 
to fuperintend the whole department of 
defigns and engravings. Citizen Davu- 
DIN, naturalift, is appointed to colleé& the 
Memoirs, and to fuperintend theic publi- 
cation. And, lafily, a Hiftory of the EC 
tablifhment will be given, to ferve as an 
Introduction to the Journal, together with, 
a Topographical Defcription of its pre- 
fent ftate, of its gradual Avgmentations, 
Embellifhments, and Ameliorations, both 
in the Buildings, in the Collections, and 
the Order of the Leftures, and of the 
Labours. A general Pian of the Gar- 
den will accompany the Topographical 
Defcriptions ; and every important al- 
_teration will be reprefented by particular 
plans, and, if itis neceflary, by elevations 
and views in per{pective. TheAnnalsof the 
Mufeum will appear regularly on the 15th 
of every, month. The firft number will 
appear in Vendemiaire, year 11. Each 
number will contain ten printed leaves, 
and. four or five plates. Size, quarto. 
The type will be the new Cicero of Di- 
dot. The figures to be defigned by the 
Citizens RepouTeE, brothers, by Ma- 
RECHAL and OupinotT; and_ engrav- 
ed by Citizen Bouquet, Profeffor at 
‘the Prytaneum of Paris; and thofe of 
anatomy by Citizen CLoqueT. The 
price to fubfcribers, twenty-feven francs 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 523 
for fix months, or forty-eight francs for 
the year. Memoirs to be addrefled to 
Citizen Daudin. 
The ROYAL sOCIFTY of EDINBURGH. 
(Conciuded from page 429-) 
E have already given fome account 
of the philofophical tracts in this 
work. Two effays remain now to be 
noticed: the firft is intitled ‘* Remarks on 
a mixed Species of Evidence in Matters 
of Hittory; with an Examination of a 
new iuftorical Hypothefis in the Memoires 
pour la Vie de Petrarque, by the Abbé de 
Sade;.by ALF. Tytler, Efg.” 
Mr. Tytler obferves, that in matters of 
hiftorical re‘earch there is a kind of cir- 
cumftantial evidence, which arifes from 
the combination ot known or authenticat- 
ed facts, with critical argument on the im- 
port of doubtful paflages of authors, 
which the reafoner endeavours to inter- 
pret, by bringing together, comparing, 
aod making the one illuitratethe other; {fo 
as to draw from the whole a degree of po- 
fitive and certain information, which thofe 
authenticated fasts arenot of themfelves fuf- 
ficient to convey, and which thofe paflages, 
taken feparately, are incapable of furnifh- 
ing. He then Jays down certain rules, 
which he conceives may with propriety 
be applicd to all inveftigations, where the 
evidence is of this mixed and circumftan- 
tial nature, and where belief is the confe- 
quence, not of authority, but of argument. 
Such is the hypothefis of the Abbé de 
Sade refpeéting the celebrated Petrach. 
Although the works of Petrach bear 
teftimony to his great abilities as a politi- 
cian, theologian, and philofopher, and by 
thefe he was chiefly diftinguithed by his 
contemporaries ; yet it is not on thefe 
foundations that the lafting ftrugture of 
his fame has been reared. It is to thofe 
incomparable verfes, in which he has cele- 
brated the accomplifhments, and bewailed 
the fate, of the beautiful Laura, that Pe- 
trach has been indebted for a permanent 
reputation. The hiftory of the poet’s 
paffion for his lovely miftrefs muft ever 
-be regarded as forming the moft interefting 
portion of his annals: his charaéter, in 
fast, tock its tone from that predominant 
affection, which influencedhis ftudies, his 
habits of life, and all his purfuits and oe- 
cupations. A love fo pure, fo ardent, and 
fo fafting, is dificult to be paralleled in 
the hiflory of human nature. 
By the various biographers, to the num- 
ber_of at lealt 15, befides a ftill more nume- 
Le, Ge: rous 
ooo 
