70 
ftinctive energy; that new and fuperior 
fpecies of apples may he produced. from 
fred: and that impregnating, the. pollen 
was found to be an advantageous fubiti- 
tute for grafting. He then alluded te 
the. new and. very valuable, fpecies of 
pears produced by Mr. Knight, and to a 
new fpecies of vines, which bear grapes 
pot only fuperor in flayour.to others hi- 
therto known, bot which are capable ef 
arriving at perfection, eyen in the moft 
adverfe feafons, in our climate. For 
thefe, and other difcaveries ably enume- 
~ rated by the learned Prefident, the Cop- 
Jeyan Medal was adjudzed to Mr. Knight, 
whofe fuccefsful labours in this branch of 
natural hiftory, have probably furpatied 
thofe of any other philofopher, in deve- 
loping the economy of vegetation, and 
the laws of vegetable hfe. . 
Dr. Rosertsoy, Savilian Profeffor of 
Gcometry at Oxford, has lately preient- 
ed to the Royal Society, a Paper on 
* The Preceffion of the Equinoxes ;” in 
which he has fuggefted fome new me- 
thods of afcertaiming, with greater.accu- 
racy than has hitherto been done, the 
calculations of compound rotatery motion, 
_ Mr. Sarrru exhibited.to the Society of 
Antiquarians, a filver ring about an inch 
in diameter, with twelve points, refem-, 
bling the teeth of a wheel in clock-work, 
in one of which was a rowel, which pro- 
jected a little more than the others. Mr. 
S. imagines that this ring was ufed as a. 
chaplet in the days of the catholic reli-. 
gion in this country ; and that each point 
was to indicate a prayer, asa help to 
the memory, or to thofe who could not 
read. as ke 
The Literary and. Philofophical So- 
ciety at Newcatile-upon-Tyne,. continues 
to flourifh: many valuable Papers were 
communicated and read_to it in the 
courfe of the laft year. Much of the 
profperity of this Society muft be referred 
to the labours and zeal of the Rev. Wil- 
- ham Turner. th es 
Mr. CumBErtanp has lately given to_ 
the public a defeription of .a very. fimple 
and ufeful feale for. dividing the vanith- 
‘ing lines in perfpettive. It 1s.thus form- 
ed; take a fheet of paper, and having 
made an horizontal line, fix on a pomt, 
as a centre, called the point. of fight 5 
this point is crofied with diagonal hines 
in various directions ; and thus an inftru- 
ment is prepared, that will be a fure 
guide to an inexperienced eye, in taking 
the perfpeétive lines of all objects placed 
at right angles, fuch as ftreets, buildings, 
\ 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
Egypt. ; | 
rreb. t, 
churehes, apartments, hy merely placing 
jt under ‘the leaf to be drawn on. To 
render the inftrument more complete, a 
of plate glafs fhould® be added, of the 
fame fize-as thé leaf of the drawmeg-book, 
-on'which the dark tines fhould be drawn. 
Mr. Donatpson is preparing for the 
prefs, a Treatife on Commercial Law. 
The fecret of the Taviiible Girl has 
lately been fuppofed to have been dif- 
covered, from: which it fhould feem, that 
the whole deception’ confilts in a yery 
trifling addition to the mechanifin of the 
fpecking buft ; which contiits of a tube 
trom the mouth of the buit, leading to a 
confederate in ‘an adjoimmg room, and 
another tube to the fame place, ending 
in the ear of the figure. By the lait of 
thefe a found whifpered to the ear of the 
-buft, 1s immediately carried to the con= 
‘federate, who in{tantly returns an anfwer 
by the other tube ending in the month 
of the figure, who feems to utter it; and 
-the invifible girl only differs in this cir- 
‘eumftance, that an:artificial echo is pro- 
duced by means of certain ‘trumpets; 
and ‘thus the found does not proceed in 
its original direction, but is completely 
reverfed. ae lhe f 
Mr. Cumperrtann and Sir James 
Branp Burcess will thortly publihh a 
Poem, entitled; the Exodiad. The 
fubjeét is the departure of Hrael from 
‘Mr. Sovrurry has in the prefs a Tran 
Jation of the Chronicle of Cid, from the 
Spanifh. 
Dr. Matrsy has undertaken to fuper- 
‘antend a new edition of Morell’s Thefuu- 
rus Grace Poeféos ; a work long wanted 
~by the claffical feholar. 
‘ The London Medieal Society, pro- 
pofe to- confer the Fothergillian gold 
medal upon the authors of the beft cays 
on the following fubjects. 
Queftions for the year 1807.—The heft ac- 
count of the epidemic fevers which have pre- 
vailed at feveral times in Nerth America, 
Spain, and Gibraltar, fince the year 1793, 
and whether they are the fame or different 
difeafes >? : YS 
For the year 1808 —W hat are.the beit me- 
thods of preventing and of “curing epidemic 
dyfentery >? : ie j 
- For the year 1809.——W hat are the criteria 
by which epidemic’ difordeérs that ave not in- 
fe€tious. may be difinguifhed trom thofe that 
ate ee sage 
For the year 1810.—What.are the qualities 
in the atmofpher¢ moft to be ‘defired under thie 
various circunritances “of puimorary con- 
fumption ? 
The 
