_ 1804.) 
ringraziarla vivamente dell’ una; e dell’ altro. 
Senza infuperbirmi ; né credere alle non me- 
ritate iod ; che la di lei gentilezza le dettava, 
ho ammirato nel fuo foglio la efattezza delle 
* correzioni,e varianti, che ella fié compiaciuta 
con tanta fua pena inferiroi, e farranno aggi- 
unte’al libro. Hoammirato in lei altresie il 
fuo fcrivere, e lo affafforare caldamente il nof- 
tro Poeta, ( Dante) pregi oramoi rari pur troppo 
nell’ addormentata Italia, che fe fleffa, e le 
fue ricchezze e forge non fente. Mi rallegro 
dungue di cuore d’aver trovato uno dij pid, 
che fente il bello, e fpero al mio ritorno di 
Scozia, per dove parto a giorni, di nuvamente 
rallegrarmene feco di bocca. Intando me le 
profeffo di cuore 
Londra 13, 
Luglio, 1721. 
Suo Devotmo. Servo. 
ViTTorio ALFIERI. 
Proceedings of learned Sacieties: 
561 
As the Italian literati will now be very 
bufy in colle&ting all that is extant of 
that immortal poet, pray, Mr. Editor, 
communicate them the above J/etter (by 
the means of your invaluable mifcellany) 
-although addreffed to an infignificant 
member of the literary world, whofe abi- 
lities are confined to giving. fome Tufcan 
leffons, mufing over fome Chinefe vo- 
Jumes, and reading the Monthly Magazine 
for a mental recreation. 
. Antonio Moxrucci. 
Pancras, April 21, 1804. 
P.S. Any of your readers defirous of feeing 
the original of the above letter, will be wel- 
come toa fight, by applying to me. 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
Lia 
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
FRANCE, « 
MEMOIR on” the OBSERVATIONS which 
it is of importance to make on the 
TIDES, ia the different PORTS of 
the REPUBLIC, read i# the siTTING 
of the 26th FLOREAL, YEAR XI, 
(May 16, 1803.) 
ie its fitting of the 12th Floreal laf, 
the clafs, 1. e. the third clafs of the 
Infticute had named a committee, con- 
fitting of the Citizens La Place, Rochon, 
and Levéque, for the purpofe of drawing 
up a plan of obfervations to be made on 
the tides, in the different ports of the re- 
public. The following memoir contains 
the views and reflections of the commiffa- 
ries on this important object. 
In the natural {ciences, theories are at 
_firft, only an explication, more or lefs 
ingenious, of the phenomena,. which is 
neceflarily fubordinate to the number of 
known fafis, and to the accuracy with 
which they have been obferved. Properly 
{peaking, it is only a fpecies of outline, 
more or lefs extenfive, which embraces all 
that is known on the fubjeét treated of. 
We commonly remain long attached to 
thefe firft theories, or rather thefe firft 
f{ketches ; time and the authority of au- 
thors, confer a fort of fan&tion qn them, 
the effeét of which is to difpenfe with fur- 
ther obfervations, and by that mean to 
render the fcience ftationary, during con- 
fiderable intervals of time. 
MonTuHty Mac. No. 116.. 
It is only when the mafs of fatts be- 
comes convincing and plaufible in the ag- 
gregate, that premature explications are 
abandoned, in order to adopt other prin- 
ciples. Experience is the firft and the 
principal initrument of all our phyfical 
knowledge ; neverthele({s, before this can be 
well eftablifhed, the human mind muft have 
made a confiderable progrets ; of courfe, 
experimental philofophy is a {cience quite 
modern. 
But if the number and the accuracy of 
obfervations can alone give rife to true 
theories, it 1s equally evident that we do 
not perceive the neceflity of good obferva- 
tions, until we become acquainted with 
the true laws of nature; it is only at this 
point of time, that in every part of the 
natural fciences, the art of obfervation 
makes real progrefs and extends its do- 
minion. 
Amongft the great phenomena of na- 
ture, that of the flux and reflux of the fea 
has always been an object of admiration 
with all men, and of meditation, and even 
painful inveftigation, for philofophers. 
Pitheas conjectured that the tides were 
regulated by the moon. Strabo has toler- 
ably well defcribed the principal pheno, 
mena ; and, from time to time, different 
opinions have been propagated as to the 
caufes of the flux and reflux of the fea, the 
moft remarkable of which, by the number 
and charaéter of its partizans, is that of 
Deicartes. We find, in faét, fome paf- 
4D fages 
