1810.] 
may have contracted their deleterious 
properties from the state of the atmos- 
phere, 
For some time, the curiosity of the Pa- 
risians has been gratified, by Messrs. 
Francont, witha spectacle truly extra- 
ordinary ; that of the most shy and timid 
animal, a stag, tamed and trained to the 
same performances as the most docile 
and courageous horse. Led by his ‘in- 
structor, the docile animal advances into 
the arena, looking round on every side 
with an air equally expressive of gentle- 
ness and intelligence. At the command 
of his master, he bends his.knees, and 
respectfully bows his head. M. Fran- 
coni gets upon his back, cracks his whip, 
and fires pistols, at which the animal 
shows neither fear nor alarm. After 
this first experiment, he is left to himself, 
and made to perform the exercises of 
the manége, like the best-trained horse. 
He sets off at full gallop: turns and stops 
at the word of command. He leaps 
over rails with wonderful agility, and 
even clears two horses at once. After 
every performance, he stands still, fixes 
his eyes on his master, and endeavours 
to discover from his looks whether he is 
satisfied. M. Franconi then goes up to 
him, pats him, and bestows other ca- 
resses, for which the gentle animal testi- 
fies the highest gratitude. In the last 
place, a triumphal arch, charged with 
fire-works, is erected in the middle of 
the air; it is set on fire: and the stag, 
impatient for the signal, starts off, -as 
$000 as it is given, and passes twice un-' 
der the blazing arch, amidst the shouts 
and applauses of the spectators. 
M. Cuaprau has recently made ex- 
periments to ascertain the nature of 
seven specimens of colour, found in 
a colour-shop at Pompeii. No. 1, the 
only one which has not received any pre- 
paration from the hand of man, is a gréen- 
ish and saponaceousargil, in the stat€ in 
which Nature presents it in various parts 
of the globe, and resembling that known 
by the name of Terra di Verona.— 
No. 2, is an ochre of a beautiful yellow, 
all the impurities of which have been re- 
moved by washing. As this substance 
turns red by calcination with a gentle 
fire, the yellow colour, which it has pre- 
served without alteration, affords a new 
proof, that the ashes which covered 
Pompeii retained but a slight degree of 
heat.—No. 3, is a brown red, like that 
employed at present for coarse work, and 
is produced by the calcination of the 
preceding.— No, 4, 1s a pumiceestone, 
Moxtury Mac. No. 193, 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
617 
extremely light and white; the texture 
is very fine and close: the three others 
are compound colours, which M. Chap- 
tal was obliged to analyse, in order to 
ascertain their constituent principles.— 
From his experiments on No. 5, which 
is of a deep blue, and in small pieces of 
the same form, it appears to be com- 
posed of oxyde of copper, lime, and alu~ 
mine. It tesembles ash-blues in the na- 
ture of its principles, but differs from 
them in its chemical properties, Ie 
seems to be the result, not of precipita- 
tion, but of the commencement of vitri- 
fication ; and the process by which it was 
obtained by the ancients, is lost.—No. 6, 
is a sand of a fight blue, mixed with 
some small. whitish grains. On analysing 
it, M. Chaptal discovered in it the same 
principles as in the preceding; indeed, 
it may be considered as a composition 
of the same nature, in which there is a 
greater proportion of line and alumine. 
—No. 7, is of a beautiful roseate hue: 
it is soft to the touch; is reduced be- 
tween the fingers to an impalpable pow- 
der; and leaves upon the skin a pleas- 
Ing carnation colour, Trom M. Chap- 
tal’s experiments, he looks upon it as a 
real lake, in which the colouring princi- 
ple is united with alumine. In its pro- 
perties, its hue, and the nature of its co- 
louring principle, it has nearly a com- 
plete analogy with madder lake. The 
preservation of this lake for nineteen 
centuries, without perceptible alteration, 
is a phenomenon which cannot fail to 
excite the astonishment of chemists, 
HOA ah 
A Roman peasant recently discovered 
in a field at Monterosi, a coin which is 
thought to be the most ancient of any 
extant. It is conjectured to have been 
struck under Servius Tullus the Sixth, 
King of the Romans, who died in the 
year of Rome, 218, and must conse- 
quently be 2,300 years old. Its weight is 
eleven ounces, 17 dwts. and its diametg 
two inches, ten lines. On one side is i@ 
head of Minerva, seenin profile, with a 
helmet (Pallas galeata), and on the 
other an ox, with a small 1. denoting 
the first of the Roman figures. On the. 
exergue is inscribed, in large characters, 
Roma, This type is the same as that 
described by Ptiny, Plutarch, and Varro, 
and ascribed, by those authors, to the © 
time of Servius Tullus. Ia Cardinal Ze- 
ladas’s collection of cuins, there is a spe« 
cimen of a similar ‘type to that lately 
found; but the antiquaries, who have 
examined it, have found, that it was not 
4a Wh of 
