1807.] 
matter does not adhere to the furnace, 
but is carried to a great height in the at- 
mosphere, M. Vauquelin, conceives it 
possible, that it may concur towards the 
formation ofaérolites The enly dithculty 
attending this explanation, seems to be 
how these subluned metals could enter 
into: combination in the atmosphere, so 
as to forimsuch large masses, as several of 
the stones in question, 
HOLLAND, 
A journal cailed the True Hollander, 
is publishediat the Hague m the French 
language which gives an account of the 
politics, literature, science, and the fine 
arts of Holland. This journai, from the 
circumstance of its being in French, is 
- rendeied much more interesting, because 
more accessible, than if it wére written 
in the Dutch language. 
{TALY. 
At Casuighone, in the kingdom of Etru- 
ria, there isa lake of about two leagues 
in diameter which communicates with the 
sea, and produces great quantities of salt. 
The reservoir contains 4,859,000 cubic 
feet of water, which. after evaporation 
leaves, 11,000,000 pounds of salt. 
According to a recent census of the po- 
pulation of Rome, the number of inhabi- 
tants is dimiuisied in a very striking 
degree; it is ‘at present enly 134,973 
persons of every age and condition. It 
was in 1788 upwards of 165,000, and in 
1794 it was more than 167,000. The 
principal diminution appears to have 
been first perceived in 1798, in which year 
the number of inhabitants was 151,000. 
The Museun Borgianum at Rome is 
now become one of the most considerable 
which remain at this time in that city. 
Tt was founded by the uncle of the late 
Cardiual Borgia, who died at Lyons in 
1804, and contains among a great num- 
ber of curious articles, a manuscript of 
the second century on a roll of Egyptian 
papyrus which has been described by 
Schon; an inscription in the Volscian lan- 
piace, the only one remaining m the dia- 
ect of that people; twelve Etruscan vases 
anciently used in sacrifices; these have 
been engraved and published under the 
cardinal’s direction; upwards of 5000 
Greek coins; more thana thousand Cutic 
coins, the most remarkable of which have 
been described by Adler; an Arabic 
globe, described by Asseman; several 
Manuscripts in (he Arabic and Syriac lan- 
guages, &c. &c. As secretary to the so- 
ciety of the Propaganda, Cardinal Borgia 
increased in the printing-office of that in- 
Stitution, often at his own expence, the 
number of founts of types of foreign lan- 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
171. 
guages. Among others he gave a fount 
of Etruscan types, and encouraged Ra. 
phael Turki, the Egyptian bishop, to print” 
his Coptic Grammar, and also promoted 
that of the language spoken by the 
Curds, of which Garzoni was the aus 
thor. | 
PORTUGAL. . 
There are upwards of two hundred 
warm springs in this country; and it de= 
serves to be particularly remarked, that: 
the greater number and the hottest of 
them issue from granite. ‘iit 
On the little river Prisco a lead mine 
was discovered in 1740; but though the 
ore yields 92 per cent, and the vein is 
very large, it has never been worked with 
permanent advantage, owing to the 1yju- 
dicious interference of government. A 
colliery at Capo de Buarcos will probably 
be lost to the public from bad manage- 
ment aud neglect, some of the works 
being already under water. 
There is only one iron-foundery in Por- 
tugal, which is under the direction of 
Antonio Braga, who has mtroduced some 
important improvements in the process 
of converting the ore into metal. M, 
Braga also discovered piumbagoat Venti- 
zello, but he was enjoined by that suspi- 
cious government to desist from his re- 
searches. j 
AMERICA. : 
The strata of coal in Virginia he near 
the surface of the earth, and are very 
thick. One stratum was lately discovered 
of the astonishing thicknesss of forty-two 
feet, and so near the suriace, that the 
earth is merely taken off, and the coal 
dug out without undermining. 
It is not much known, that vessels of 
considerable tonnage are built at Pitts- 
burgh, on the river Ohio. . One of the 
principal dockyards is on the Mononga- 
hela. Vhe timber employed in the con- 
struction of these vesseis 1s the white oak 
(yquercus alba), the red oak” (quercus 
rubra), the black oak (quercus tincto- 
ria), aspecies of walnut (juglans pig- 
nut), the cluster cherry-tree (Cerasus 
Virginiana), and @ species of pine which 
is used for masts, and also for such parts 
of the vessel as require a lighter wood, 
The cordaze is manufactured at Redstone, 
or at Lexington in Kentucky, where two 
good rope-waiks are established, which 
also supply the ships built at Marictta and 
Louisville. There were lately a three- 
masted vessel on the stocks at Pittsburg, 
of 260 tons, anda gallot of 90, which, 
when finished, were to go down to New 
Orleans, on the Mississippi, a distance 
now ascertained with great precision to 
be 
