1810.] 
place the bust of Jenner beside that of 
Hippocrates.” 
ITALY. 
A very simple contrivance has been 
invented by M. Fasront1, for transform- 
ing any good common. balance into an 
hydrostatic balance. It is a moveable 
column, which, being placed in a vessel 
proper for the purpose, beneath any ba- 
lance whatever, provided it be exact, 
renders it capable of giving specific gra- 
vities, without the necessity of recurring 
to the extraordinary and expensive me- 
thods with which the machines now called 
hydrostatic balances are attended. 
M. Gonzarrr has discovered a liquid 
which instantaneously extinguishes fire. 
The following experiments were publicly 
made with it at Venice. Some resin and 
oil were set fire to, and scarcely hada 
few drops of this liquid been poured on 
the flame, when it immediately dis- 
appeared, leaving behind not the least 
trace of fire. Billets of wood, besmeared 
with pitch and resin, and afterwards 
dipped in this liquid, resisted the action 
of the hottest fire, to which they were 
exposed for several hours. The inventor 
affirms, that a few applications of this 
gomposition to wood-work would pre- 
serve it from all danger of fire. He has 
not thought fit to publish the manner in 
which this composition is prepared ; but 
it is probable that a solution of alum, 
pot-ash, and vitriol, is one of the ingre- 
dients. 
By a decree of the government of 
Lucca, a school of sculpture is to be 
established at Carrara, to which. will 
be granted revenues for founding prizes, 
and for assisting young sculptors. 
The celebrated sculptor Canova has 
erected a funeral monument to the 
memory of his friend and fellow-citizen, 
Giovanni Volpato, an eminent engraver. 
Tt consists of a beautiful marble tablet, 
sculptured in demi-relievo, and repre- 
senting the portrait of the artist; before 
him, Friendship, seated, mourns the loss 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. £63 
which she has sustained. The bust is 
placed on a cippus, or the shaft of a | 
column, supported by a simple pedestal, 
and adorned witha garland. Friendship, 
personified under the form of a young 
and beautiful female, is in a pensive and 
sorrowful attitude. She is raising to 
her eyes a corner of her garment to dry 
her tears. The drapery is well con- 
trived; notwithstanding its fullness, and 
the quantity of folds, it shows the con- 
tours of the figure. The portrait of 
Volpato is a striking resemblance ; and 
the whole composition combines grace 
with simplicity. Itis to be placed in the 
vestibule of the church of the Apostles. 
By an imperial decree, the museum of 
sculpture, of Turin, is to be restored. 
M. Sparxa has been appointed director, 
and sculptor to the emperor, with a pen- 
sion of 6000 francs. 
AMERICA. 
The following circumstance, related 
on the authority of an officer of his ma- 
jesty’s ship Dedalus, occurred while 
that vessel was lying at Samana, St. 
Domingo.-—Early in the forenoon of 
20th November, 1808, several sharks 
were seen swimming about the ship in 
expectation of prey. A hook and bait 
were put overboard, which one of them 
immediately seized with the greatess 
voracity. A rope being passed over its 
fins, it was hoisted on board by twenty 
men. In its maw was found a calf that 
had been thrown overboard a few hours 
before. The length, from the snout to 
the extremity of the tail, was ten feet, 
and the eircumference of the body pro- 
portionate. 
were successively- caught; in the last 
were found sixty-two living young ones, 
a turkey, and a live hawk’s-bill turtle, 
two feet six inches in length, and one 
foot nine inches broad; which, immedi- 
ately after its release, swam aboutin a 
tub of water, apparently not in the least 
injured by its confinement. 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 
Substance of « Lecture read before the 
Bourd of Agriculture, by their Secre- 
tary, on the Advantages which have 
resulled from the Establishment of that 
Institution. 
FLYER observing in the introduc- 
tary part of his lecture, that the 
theory of this establishment was, that of 
concentrating in a focus the knowledge, 
talents, and abilities, which were scat- 
tered, in'men of a certain rank, through 
the kingdom, Mr. Young proceeds to 
detail its more immediate practical pur- 
poses, and its actual benefits :—~ 
As a board of reference, to receive 
; requisitions 
Three others of equal size . 
