1807.] 
has obtained a prize given by the Na- 
tional Economical Society, for a new in- 
vention of engraving in imitation of chalk, 
and the Society of Haerlem has bestowed 
another on Worsrock, a painter of Alk- 
maer, who has found out a method of 
‘rendering water-colours more durable. 
The number of students in the univer- 
sity of Leyden does not at present ex- 
ceed tWo hundred, and those of Utrecht 
three hundred and sixty. 
The brary of the University of Ley- 
den is celebrated through Europe for the 
many valuable specimens of Oriental li- 
terature with which itabounds. Golius, 
on his return from the East, and who af- 
terwards filied with great reputation the 
Arabic professorship of the university, en- 
riched tis valuable depository of learn- 
ing with many Arabic, Turkish, Chaldean 
and Persian manuscripts. 
liger bequeathed his valaable collection 
of Hebrew books to it. The precious 
manuscripts contained here are said to 
exceed eight thousand. Since the last 
-war commenced, no addition of English 
publications has beén made fo this li- 
brary, which contains the Transactions 
of the Royal Society, and of the Society 
of Antiquaries of London, and the Histo- 
ties of Gibbon, Robertson, and Hume. 
The king of Spain presented this library 
with some magnificent folios, descriptive 
of the Antiquities of Herculaneum. Most 
of thé books are bound in fine white’ 
vellum, and decorated with consider- 
able taste and splendour. There is a 
Museum of Natural History, principally 
collected by Professor Allemand, con- 
taining some fine ores, corals, and peb-. 
bles, and also some rare quadrupeds and 
amphibia; also a young ostrich in the 
ego; the nautilus with the animal in it, 
and some papilios. In the anatomical 
theatre are the valuable preparations of 
Albinus, and amongst them some speci- 
mens of the progress of ossification in the 
foetus. 
The King of Holland has appointed a 
director-general of the Fine Arts, to 
whom will be committed the care and 
superintendance of the Royal Museum, 
and of those in the departments. He 
isto be president of tle Academy of 
Arts, and editor of a Journal, a number 
of which is to appear every month; and 
will endeavour by all ineans in his power 
to attract celebrated artists to the Hague. 
Every year the Academy will adjudve a 
prize of 3000 florins for the best picture, 
the subject of which is to be taken from the 
national history, and one of equa! value 
- 
Montury Mac., No. 158. 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
Joseph Sca-_ 
885 
for the best piece of sculpture; a prize 
of 2000 florins for the best engraving, 
Eleven pupils are to be sent to Rome 
and Paris, and are to reside two years in 
each of those cities. 
The Lectiones Attice, a MS work of 
M. Lussac, which was intended for the 
press, has been saved from the dreadful 
catastrophe of Leyden. M. Lussac him- 
self perished in the ruins. A great num- 
her of Arabic MSS. have been destroyed 
by the same unfortunate explosion. 
ITALY. 
There had long ‘been in the city of Ge- 
noa, an hexagonal vase, known by. the 
name of Sacro Cutino (the sacred plate), 
which was supposed to be an emerald, 
and, consequently of inestimable value, 
On plundering Italy during the Revolu- 
tion it was sent to Paris, and deposited 
in November last, by the Emperor’s ot« 
ders, in the cabinet of antiquities in the 
imperial library. This vase was consi- 
dered as a precious relic; and Father 
Gaetano, a learned Augustine monk, 
published in 1727, at Genoa, a Disser- 
tation, in which he inserted all the au- 
thorities that tended to prove that this 
was the very vase in which the Paschal 
Lamb had been served up to Christ and 
lis Apostles, on the even of his Passion. 
He accounted for fts falling into the 
hands of the Genoese in the following 
manner; these people distinguished them- 
selves in the first Crusade, and particus 
larly at the taking of Casarea in 1101, 
An immense booty was found in this 
place, which was divided into three 
parts, one of which consisted of nothing 
but the Sacro Catino. All the Crusaders 
agreed, that the Genoese should be re- 
compensed for their intrepidity in first 
entering the town by having the first 
choice ; and they chose the Secro Catino. 
They kept it with the most sacred care, 
in a receptable made in the wall of the 
cathedral at Genoa, the keys of which 
were deposited with the most distinguish» 
ed personages of the republic. No per- 
son was permitted to touch it, and it was 
shewn to the faithful only twice a year, 
at a great festival. Thus it was not pos- 
sible to examine whether the vase was an 
emerald or not; but this examination 
has just taken place by a committee of 
chemists from the Institute, Guyton, 
Vauquelin and Tatly. They have -de- 
_clared that the Sacro. Catino is nothing 
more than a piece of coloured glass, but 
they think it worthy of preservation on 
account of its having been such an object 
ef devotion, and beeause it is a curious 
AF specimen 
