1804.) 
the Aldi, carefully compiled by. M, Re- 
nouard, has given rife to a with in fome of 
my friends, that I fhould write upon the 
Manutii, fomething worthy of them, I 
fhall comply the more willingly with their 
folicitations, as I have already colle¢ted a 
great mats of materials, that would re- 
main éver buried in obfcurity, unlefs I 
fhouid myfelf produce them forth to the 
light. A Venetian bas more facilities 
than a foreigner, to difcufs a fubjeét of 
this nature. It is no {mall difcovery, that 
of the fir a& of, the Clytemuefira of 
Sophocles, efpecially in a library where 
M. Schweighcevfer had collated fome 
manufcripts, for the edition of Brunk, It 
fhould feem that M. Mathcei is fortu- 
nate in difcoveries, as we were already in- 
debted to him for the hymn to Ceres. 
Neverthelefs, I am not very forward to 
place implicic credit in fuch things. M. 
Mathcei has, himfelf, publified fome 
pieces, already in print, taking them to be 
unpublifhed. I recolleét, alfo, that 
Ruhuken caufed me to make fome un- 
availing refearches for the Metapbra/fis of 
the Odjffey, by Demofthenes of Thrace, 
fuppofing it unpublifhed. For my own 
part, I thought myfelf obliged to unde- 
ceive the public, with refpect to a tragedy 
faid to be recently difcovered, and attribut- 
ed to Varius. More than one learned 
man fell into the fnare; yet it was no- 
thing but the Progné of our compatriot 
Corrano, as I announced to our friend de 
Villoifon, by a printed letter, which is 
doubtlefs known to you. Thus it be- 
comes proper to verify the difcovery in 
gueftion, as a number of intelligent per- 
fons, and who have a high reputation in 
letters, are interefted in it,”—‘* With re- 
{pect to this lait paragraph,” fays M, 
Chardon Ja Rochette, ‘* namely, that 
which relates to the pretended difcovery 
of Heerkens, it is well known that it is in 
his Icones, or Portraits, in elegiae verfe, 
printed at Utrecht, in 1727, and publifhed 
the year following, in France, under the 
falfe date of Paris, (gr.in vo.) that he 
has founded the ridiculous romance, by 
which he pretends to maintain his difco- 
very, and to attribute this tragedy, to 
which he gives the title of Tereus, to 
Lucius Varius. I had colleéted, at the 
head of my copy, all the original pieces of 
this fingular procefs, without forgetting 
the printed Jetter of M. the Abbé Morelii. 
So long as M. Heerfkens lived, I did not 
~ with to trouble his repofe, and fo much 
the more, as he was, in other refpects, a 
man of merit; but now that he is no more, 
4 hope his fhade will not be offended, if J 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence. 
355 
fhould publith this literary anecdote, and 
accompany it with certain details aad 
other pieces by way of juftification. 
In a chemico-medical diflertation, Jate. 
ly publifhed at Leyden, the author treats 
of the diminution of the number of perfons 
affliéted with the ftone, in Batavia. He 
firft traces an outline or hiftorical fketch 
of the above complaint, in his own coun~ 
try: he then fhews tliat this cruel malady 
was not formerly fo common as it has been 
fince: inthe 17th century it became more 
frequent, fiace that time the number of 
perfons fubject to the calculous malady kas 
diminifhed gradually, as is demonftrated 
by tables communicated to M. ScuuL- 
TENS, by the learned boianift, M. 
Vrolick ; according to the above tables, 
the following is the number of the opera- 
tions performed at Améterdam: From 
1701 tO 17255 220—=1726 tO 17505 159——- 
1751 0 17553 64—-1775 (0 1300, 39- It 
would be interefting to afcertaia the caufe 
of this diminution, it would léad per- 
haps to the difcovery of a remedy for 
the ftone, or the means of preventing it. 
M. Schultens gives a chemical analyfs of 
the calculi, which he has obferved, and of 
the urine of patients that had lived upon 
different aliments: he has remarked, that 
the different kinds of malt liquor produce 
a great quantity of phofphoric acid, in 
thofe that were not accuftomed to it; 
whilf a moderate, but habitual, ufeof the 
fame liquors produces lefs of the phof- 
phoricacid and more of the uric acid; he 
confiders wine as the caufe of the forma- 
tion of the glutinous matter which com- 
bines the uric acid, and produces the cal. 
euvlous. Animal fubfiances appear like. 
wife, to him, to be very proper to form 
the uric acid; while, on the contrary, a 
vegetable nourifhment conduces to the 
formation of the phofphoric acid, the ac- | 
tion of which is always freed, feparate, 
and repugnant to that of the uric acid, 
which produces the calculus. It refults 
from thefe obfervations, that calculous 
patients, or perfons afflicted with the fone, 
ought to drink water and live upon vege- 
table fubftances. 
The Emperor Or Russia has grant- 
ed permiffion to difpofe of, by lottery, a 
large colleétion of Ruffian books, worta 
500,000 roubles. The printed catalogue 
extends to 145 pages, and contains the 
titles and fhop price of 2612 books, in 
the Ruffian language. The winner of 
the higheft prize will be entitled to 10,000 
roubles worth of books. 
An igneous meteor obferved at Befort, 
by citizen Loyis ORDINAIRE, correfpon- 
: a dent 
cad 
