1804. | 
on the concave fides The, opportunity 
afforded by thefeglaffes of looking round 
at various objects, it is thought may not 
improperly be exprefled by the name of 
Perifcopic {pectacles. 
Mr. R. Winter, of Red = Crofs 
Wharf, London Brisge, has, from the 
oblervations made by Ptolemy, A.D. 130, 
December 13, and by Caffini, Flamfead, 
Hornfby, Mafkelyne, Bradley, and Mayer, - 
during the two laft centuries, calculated 
the leneth of the folar year to be 365 days, 
5 hours, 48 minutes, 47 feconds, and that 
of the fidereal year will be 365 days, 6 
hours, g minutes, 14 f{econds. 
Mr. CHENEV1x has comtruéted a new 
Wiind-furnace, the fides of which are in- 
verted initead of being perpendicular, fo 
that the hollow {pace is pyramidical. The 
furface at the bottom is thirteen inches 
fquare, that at top. only eight, and the 
perpendiculdr height is feventeen inches, 
This form appears to Mr. C. to unite the’ 
following advantages:—r1. A great fur- 
face is expofed to the air, which, having 
an ealy entrance, rufhes through the fuel 
with great rapidity. 2. The inclined 
fides aét in fome meafure as reverberating 
furfaces; and 3. The fuel falls of itfelf, 
and is always in clofe contact with the 
crucible placed near the grate. 
The cultivation of the- annual fun- 
flower is recommended to the notice of 
the public, as pofleffing the advantages 
of furnifhing abundance of agreeable fod- 
der for cattle in their leaves. When in 
flower, bees fock to them from all quar- 
ters to gather honey. The feed is valua- 
ble in feeding fheep, pigs, and other 
animals: it produces a ftriking effeé&t on 
poultry, as occafioning them to lay more 
egos; and the dry ftalks burn well, the 
nity affording a confiderable quantity of 
alkali. 
The Emperor of all the Ruffias has’ 
founded an Univerfity, on a very compre- 
henlive and liberal fcale, in Lithuania, for 
the Cultivation and -Diffufion of the Arts 
and Sciences in that Part of the Empire. 
—Mr. FLercHer CaMPBELL, a Scotch 
gentleman of confiderable note as wellas 
talents and accomplifhments, has, on com- 
miflion, been beating up, as it were, for re- 
crus at Edi burgh, Aberdeen, and Glai- 
gow, to fill the new profefforfhips. It ma 
_eafily be imagined, which is in fa& the cafe, 
that in a country where learning is fo 
common, and the young men, from tem- 
per as well as neceflity, fo adventurous, 
Mr. Pletcher’s labours have not been in 
Vain, 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence. 
» > Ot 
. The celebrated Prazzs is faid to have 
difcovered another néw planet. 
The Chinefe charaGers, cut in wood, 
which had Jain above fixty years in the 
National Library at Paris, have been 
lately transferred to the Printing Office of 
the Republic, for the ufe of Dr. Hacar. 
Before their removal, they were counted 
by a Commiflary of the Library and a 
Commiffary of the Printing Office; and 
the number of them was found to amount 
to 86,417. They are contained in 236 
boxes ; and M. pe La Rue, one of the 
above-mentioned commiffaries, Is claffing 
them according to the 2:4 elementary 
figns, and arranging them in a cabinet 
appropriated to that purpoie. In the 
mean time, Dr. Hagar has written a Ca- 
talogue and Deicripticn of the Kare 
Chinefe Coins in the N:tional Cabinet, 
which, it 1s expected, will foon be print- 
eo 
M. LaNncGLes is employed upon an 
edition of the Arabic Original of the 
Travels of two Mahometans to China, 
of which RENavpoT publifhed a French 
Tranflation at Paris in 1718, but the 
learned then doubred of the exiltence of 
the original, M. Langies intends to en-= 
rich his edition with numerous annota- 
tions. 
Don RaFaELye, a learned Maronite, 
from Cairo, has been appointed aififtant to 
M., pe Sacy, as Profeilor of the Arabic 
Language in Paris. | 
M. ITirsinGu, formerly Dutch Ame 
baflador to the courts of China and Japan, 
has prefented to the National Library 
in Paris a part of the Japanefe books, 
which he had colleéted during his refi- 
dence in that country. 
M. DE LA Tour, a wealthy bookfeller 
in Paris, who had for many years carried 
on an epiftolary correfpondence with the 
Miflionaries in China, and received from 
them a great number of curiofities from 
that country, has lately printed a Defcrip- 
tion of his Cabinet, and various Articles 
of Intelligence relative to China. The 
remainder of his numerous MSS. have 
been put into the hands of the Abbé 
GrosiER, whois preparing, from. them, 
for the prefs an improved and enlarged 
edition of the * Delcription Génerale de 
ja Chine,”? which hitherto formed the 
thirteenth volume of the ‘* Hiftoire Gé- 
nérale’? of Father Moilla. The natural 
hiftory of China, with which we have hi- 
therto had but an imperfect acquainiance, 
will in particular be enriched by thele 
materials. 
M. CHEVENIZ, 
i 
