at the lithographic press of the public seminary, called Feyertags-schule (Holyday-school), at Munich, will be rendered highly interesting by the information which it will afford respecting many manuscripts very little known in the libraries of Münich, Vienna, Gotha and Wolfenbüttel, illustrative of the laws and manners of the middle ages. It will be printed in French and German, in numbers con taining six plates each, and the publication will commence as soon as 150 copies are subscribed for. The works which have been published in Germany, in consequence of the Tricentenary of the Reformation, by Luther, are almost innumerable. Our German papers teem with announcements and reviews of such publications. The Maurerische Buch-handlung-a single house in Berlin-bad 95 of them on sale. BROCKHAUS, a very respectable bookseller in Leipzig, published his Urania, a ladies pocket almanac for 1818. Hitherto his annual volume excited unusual interest. However, as he expresses himself relative to the Taschenbuch nach immer hoherer Vollkommenheit desselben strebend, he offered, in April, 1816, three prizes for a poetical tale, a poetical epistle, and an Idyl. The attempt to enrich the pages of his Urania in this way, was successful. Among several very superior productions, presented in the volume for this year, the poetical tale by ERNST SCHULZE is peculiarly fine, and obtained a handsome reward. This beautiful piece is entitled, Die bezauberte Rose-the enchanted rose. The just commendations of this exquisite specimen of German poetry contained in a la'e German jour nal, are before us; but we wave them, in order to introduce an article upon the same subject from a late number of the London New Monthly Magazine. "It (the above mentioned poem) is written in the manner of Wieland's Oberon, except that the stanzas are more regular; the whole is more delicate, and, as it were, of pure etherial texture. It combines all the magic tones of melody. The publisher has announced a separate edition of this poem, on which he designs to bestow every possible typographic and chalcographic embellishment. The young poet died at Celle, in the Hanoverian dominions, in his 28th year, a few days after receiving intelligence of the success of his performance, and just as he was preparing to set out for Italy. He contracted the disease which proved fatal, during the siege of Hamburg, in 1813, when he served as a volunteer in the Ja. gers. We are promised his posthumous works, together with a memoir of his life, by Professor Bauterwech, of Gottingen." The first two volumes of a highly curious and important work have been published at Cassel, by Mr. U.F. Kopp, with the title of Tachygraphia Veterum exposita et illustrata, or the Short-hand Writing of the Ancients explained and illustrated. These volumes contain 12 distinct plates, and about 14,000 other engravings on copper and wood. It is a truly important and clas*sical work, and has this farther peculiarity that a great portion of the mechanical department was executed by the author, who not only made the drawings of all the figures but also engraved them, and composed with his own hands the most difficult parts of the letter-press! PRESENT STATE OF THE GERMAN UNIVERSITIES. From the distinguished part which Germany is taking in the pursuits of science and literature in our times, the annexed summary of her learned establishments may be acceptable. Germany had, before the year 1802, the following 36 universities: Heidelburg founded in 1386, Prague 1348, Vienna 1361, Cologne 1388, Erfurt 1389, Wurtzburg 1403, Leipzig_1409, Ingolstadt, 1410, Rostock 1419, Treves 1451, Greifswalde 1456, Freiburg 1456, Tubingen 1477, Mentz 1477, Wittenberg 1502, Frankfort on the Oder 1505, Marburg 1517, Dillingen 1549, Jena 1557, Helmstadt 1576, Altdorf 1576, Paderborn 1592, Giessen 1607, Rinteln 1619, Salzburg 1622, Munster 1631, Osnaburg 1632, Bamberg 1648, Duisburg 1655, Kiel 1665, Innspruck 1672,Halle 1694, Breslaw 1702, Fulda 1734, Gottingen 1734, Erlangen 1742. Of which there have been dissolved since 1802: Cologne, Erfurt, Ingolstadt, Treves, Mentz, Wittenberg, Frankfort, Dillingen, Helmstadt, Altdorf, Rinteln, Salzburg, Munster, Osnaburg, Bamberg, Duisburg, Innspruck, and Fulda; and in their stead only the following new ones founded: Landshut, merely a continuation of the Ingolstadt university; Breslaw, as a mixed university, to which the professors from Frankfort on the Oder were removed; Ellwangen, but which since the year 1817 is united with Tubingen; and Berlin, the last founded of the German universities. There exist at present in Germany only 19 universities, viz. in the Austrian-German Hereditary States, 1. Vienna, Catholic, with 957 students; 2. Prague, Catholic, with 880 students. In German-Prussia, 3. Berlin, Evangelical, 1817, with 600 students; 4. Breslaw, for both religions, with 366 students; 5. Halle, Evangelical, 1816, with 500 students; 6. Griefswalde, Evangelical, with 55 students. Add to these the Catholic university of Paderborn, but which has only two faculties. In Bavaria, 7. Landshut, Catholic, with 640 students; 8. Wurtzburg, Catholic, 1815, with 365 students; 9 Erlangen, Protestant, with 180 students. In Saxony, 10. Leipzig, Protestant, 1816, with 911 students. In Hanover, 11. Gottingen, Protestant, 1816, with 1132 students. Wurtemberg, 12. Tubingen, Protestant, with 290 students, now increased by the addition of Ellwangen, for both religions. In Baden, 13. Heidelberg, Protestant, 1817, with 303 students; 14. Freiburg, Catholic, 1817, with 275 students. In the Electorate of Hesse, 15. Marburg, Protestant, 1812, with 197 students. In the Grand Duchy of Hesse, 16. Giessen, Protestant, 1813, with 241 students. In Holstein, 17. Kiel, Protestants, with 107 students; Weimar, 18. Jena, Protestant, 1817, with 600 students. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 19. Rostock, Protestant, 1817, with 159 students. Of these 19 universities, there are therefore 5 Catholic, 2 mixed, and the rest Protestant. In all there are about 8500 students. If we take the population of all Germany at 294 millions, there will be 288 students for every million. NORTHERN EXPEDITION.-The arrangements for the vessels about to explore the Arctic Regions are now nearly completed, and it is expected they will leave the river about the 24th of March. Every precaution has been taken for the general comfort of the crews; fixed bed places are fitted, with sliding doors, for the men to sleep in, housings to form roofs over the ships in the event of being frozen in, a liberal supply of vegetables, and a proportion of six months beef, slightly corned, with some preserved meat, will be supplied. The Isabella and Alexander are intended to proceed in a N. W. direction to Davis's Straits, and explore there for a passage through into the great Pacific Ocean, by the American continent. The Dorothea and Trent, proceeding to the eastward of Greenland, will take a northerly direction, in the hopes of reaching the Pole, and from thence to Behrring's Straits. The Issabella is of 382 tons, and has a complement of 47 men: captain John Ross, commander. The Alexander is of 250 tons, complement 33 men: lieutenant W. Edw. Parry, commander. The Dorothea is of 369 tons, comple: ment 47 men: captain David Buchan, commander. The Trent is of 250 tons, complement 33 men: lieutenant J. Franklin, commander. be provided, and three months advance of minate about September 1819. If it be If unsuccessful, it is expected to tersuccessful, and the navigators return by the Indian Seas, a reward of 20,000l. will be distributed amongst the crews. Notwithstanding this, and an allowance of 31. per month, a difficulty is found in obtaining suitable hands for the voyage, and the Orkneys, the great rendezvous of seamen vessels are to complete their crews at the for the Greenland service. covered across the Polar Basin, the pas"If an open navigation should be dissage over the Pole, or close to it, will be science that ever occurred. It will be the one of the most interesting events to first time that the problem was practically graphy are sometimes puzzled-that of solved, with which the learners of geogoing the shortest way between two places lying east and west of each other, by taking a direction of north and south. The passage of the Pole will require the unapproaching this point, from which the divided attention of the navigator. On northern coasts of Europe, Asia, and America, and very part of them, will assist him in determining his course d bear south of h, nothing can possibly keeping on the right meridian of his destined place, but a correct knowledge of the that time will be afforded him. The only time, and yet no means of ascertaining time he can have, with any degree of certhe Pole, must be that of Greenwich, and tainty, as long as he remains on or near meters; for from the general hazy state this he can know only from good chronoof the atmosphere, and particularly about the horizon, and the sameness in the altitude of the sun, at every hour in the four and twenty, he must not expect to obtain tine, by observation, and he will have no an approximation even of the apparent ing the heavens, and the reckoning of his stars to assist him. All his ideas respecttime, will be reversed, and the change not the west, or the contrary, but instantanegradual, as in proceeding from the east to ous. The magnetic needle will point to its unknown magnetic Pole, or fly round from the point of the bowl from which it is suspended, and that which indicated north will now be south; the east will become the west, and the hour of noon will be that of midnight. AFRICAN EXPEDITION.-A letter from Sierra Leone mentions the return to that place of the scientific expedition for exploring the interior of Africa. They were completely unsuccessful, having advanced only about 150 miles into the interior, from Rio Nunez. Their progress was there stopped by a chief of the country; and after unavailing endeavours, for the space of four months, to obtain liberty to proceed, they abandoned the enterprise, and returned. Nearly all the animals perished. Several officers died, and what is remarkable, but one private, besides one drowned, of about 200. Capt. Campbell died two days after their return to Rio Nunez, and was buried, with another officer, in the same spot where major Peddie and one of his officers were buried on their advance. RUSSIAN VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY.--Captain Krusenstern in a letter to captain Burney, dated Revel, Oct. 1, 1817, informs him that letters had been received a few days before from lieut. Kotzebue. On leaving Kamschatka in July 1816, he sailed through Behring's Straits, and succeeded in ranging the coast of America to latitude 67°, when he discovered a large inlet extending far to the eastward. He was obliged to quit it without exploring the whole, but intends to resume the labour this year. Captain Krusenstern does not himself believe that a communication exists between the North Pacific and the Atlantic, but remarks that the discovery of this inlet does hold out some hope that one may be yet found. ANIMAL FLOWER.-The inhabitants of St. Lucia have discovered a most singular plant. In a cavern of that isle, near the sea, is a large bason, from twelve to fifteen feet deep, the water of which is very brackish, and the bottom composed of rocks. From these, at all times, proceed certain substances, which present, at first sight, beautiful flowers, of a bright shining colour, and pretty nearly resembling our marigolds-only that their tint is more lively. These seeming flowers, on the approach of a hand or instrument, retire, like a snail, out of sight. On examining their substance closely, there appear, in the middle of the disk, four brown VOL. III. No. 11. 18 filaments, resembling spiders' legs, which move round a kind of petals with a pretty brisk and spontaneous motion. These legs have pincers to seize their prey; and upon seizing it, the yellow petals immediately close, so that it cannot escape. Under this exterior of a flower is a brown stalk, of the bigness of a raven's quill, and which appears to be the body of some animal. It is probable that this strange creature lives on the spawn of fish, and the marine insects thrown by the sea into the bason. LITHOVASA.--This name is given to a new but useful article, made of a peculiar kind of stone, in the form of vessels adapted to cool wine, preserve butter, &c. They owe their properties to the power of absorption and evaporation possessed by the stone; and are superior to earthenware articles applied to the same purposes, being entirely free from that clayey smell which belongs to unglazed pottery. The wine coolers require only to be steeped for ten minutes in cold water, when they are fit to receive a decanter of wine.-The butter preservers steeped in the same manner are ready to receive a vessel containing the butter, and will keep it cool in the hottest weather, and retain their moisture for a day or two. The Elegant stone pyramids for growing excellent anti-scorbutic salads, require only to be saturated with water. seed equally distributed in the external grooves, the central hole filled with water, (and the waste daily supplied,) will, in eight or ten days, produce a fine green crop of very superior quality, which may be eaten clean and fresh from the pyramids placed on the table.-When the crop is plucked from any number of grooves, and the loose seeds brushed off, new may be sown and successive crops obtained. A curious and interesting MS. of the celebrated Dr. King, of St. Marys, Oxford, has lately been discovered, containing anecdotes and reminiscences of his own times. The fourth and last Canto of Childe Harold, is positively announced to appear on the 14th of April. The Russian poet Shacowsky, who conducts a journal at St. Petersburg, has received from the emperor of Russia, a pension of 4000 roubles for his last work, the Bard of the Ruins of the Kremlin. Madame de Stael's work on the French Revolution will shortly appear; it forms three volumes, and 36,000 francs were paid for the manuscript. A very fashionable journal has lately been commenced at Naples, under the title of the Iris. It is adorned with lithographic engravings. Important Surgical Operation.-An operation for Subclavian Aneurism was performed in the New-York Hospital, on the 10th of May, by Dr. Valentine Mott, one of the surgeons of that institution, by tying the Arteria Innominata: the patient has reasonable prospects of recovery.This bold and important operation, which it is believed was never attempted before, not only reflects honour upon the fortunate operator, but is a triumphant step in operative surgery. Messrs. James Eastburn & Co. of NewYork, have published a catalogue of a valuable and extensive collection of standard and rare books, with numerous bibliographical notices, indicating as well the authenticity of the editions as the estimation of the works. Something useful.-Mr. Anthony Tiemann, of this city, has obtained letters patent for the application of the agency of DOGS as a new power to various useful purposes, such as, for pumping water, irrigating meadows, gardens, &c. grind ing paint, corn, bark, and other articles, turning the grindstone, the lathe, carding and spinning machines, washing machines, working churns, assisting rope makers, threshing and cleaning grain,cutting straw, tobacco, shingles, dye-wood, &c. chopping meat, &c. and for a great variety of purposes where the intelligence and activity of the dog will prove highly economical and profitable. The requisite machinery is simple, and constructed with little expense. Able dogs can easily be procured and trained for this object. Those which Mr. Tiemann has employed for some years, have invariably been healthy and robust, and apparently delighted with their employment. It is said that the saving of labour and expense is almost incalculable. By these means a very interesting portion of the animal creation, hitherto more or less prescribed, is made subservient to some of the most useful purposes. Canine agency, applied as before stated, is already in operation in this city and neighbourhood. Mr. Tiemann intends to apply the same power for propelling boats, for which he has also obtained a patent. Nawful sound, and strange, such as till now By me was never heard, afflicts my ears. I turn my eyes to seek the dreadful causeA turtle from the water crawls; ascends The bank, and seeks the city's widest street. The street at first is broad enough; his flappers Annoying passengers on either side, Who seek the doors at his approach. Ere long His monstrous bulk increases, and he swims, Heedless of streets. His fins above the clouds Throw houses, stables, horses, men and women. From such a spectacle I fly aghast: And, swift as sight, "smooth sliding without step," Where winds the stream of James the vales along, Just o'er the water's surface, seek the sea. 'Twixt Cape May and Cape Charles, from land afar, Palpable odours stop my further course: Palpable odours; such as if, were all Arabia's fragrance, from the time when first From Chaos womb Earth came, each year distilled, And kept confined, hermetically sealed, Far from her flung its folds; with such an eye As only heaven can give--a lady comes, Gales of tempestuous pleasure from the north arms, We seem recumbent on the gentle ocean, Or on the swell, or sunk in easy vale. She drives away the wolves. What fair forms these? Ladies of tender looks. Oh! what an eye "What, will the list stretch out to th' crack of doom?" Still they succeed each other; beauteous all; At what are yonder horses laughing there? The horse-laugh's common; but a grinning horse Till now I never knew. Begone, begone. -She's gone! Heaven help me, she has left my There is a Madagascar bat, that bites arms, And sunk-I strive in vain to follow her- I grow at once earth's half in bulk-one foot stars, The planets and their master spirit Sol, What stands before me? 'Tis an aged oak I rest. What figures play about the tree? Heads without bodies. Lo! the chin of this Touches his eyebrows. There another flits, Whose ears grow from his shoulders. Round the trunk Walks one whose head two ankle necks support, All face and feet. And there stands one whose visage Is horizontal, ever looking up, Stuck on a neck that never turns, though turns Constant the head, round, round, and round again. Here is a foot race. See the youthful look Of that, prepared to start: he has six legs, And his competitor but one, or two made one, Like two snakes twisted close in lust or rage. The sexiped is distanced. There's a sheep With long green wool, how glossy, like the silk Fendent from cartop of the rip'ning corn. One of these laughing steeds-Lord, how he bites. Deaths here I see, six, eight, a dozen deaths, A score of deaths with horns: in each right hand Is a dead infant, in the left a goblet Full of black wine. Black, broadbrim'd, flapping hats They wear. See how with glee they dance; how shake Their loose and rattling bones. They vanish all, "Searing my eye-balls." Now, with lightning speed On skates I haste; the same smooth sea before me; The planet Venus right ahead. Stop, stop: I seem to take a nap; and, dozing, dream And nameless others, seeming all within traets Of new land have been clearing: after burning I'm much impeded by a thousand swarms |