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ART. 6. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Supplement to DR. MITCHILL's "Observations on the Geology of North-America," just published by Messrs. Kirk & Mercein, in the Description of a Fossil Elephant, discovered in Wythe County, southwest of the River Ihanhawa, in Virginia, written by Dr. John Stranger, to lieut. Wm. L. Brownlow, of the U. S. Marine Corps, stationed at N. York, dated Wythe County, March 10, 1818. DEAR SIR,

Your letter has been received some weeks ago, after my return from NorthCarolina, which should have been answered before this time, had I not been at a loss to know, what particular information Dr. Mitchill wishes with regard to the teeth and bones found on Mr. Kinsa's land. However, that you may not think your friendly application to me disregarded, I will now comply with your request, as well as I can. The place where the discovery was made, is a small marshy piece of ground, not more than 40 feet square, in a field which has been for more than 20 years in cultivation, and has previous to that time, as I am informed, been used as a lick by horses and cattle, a small spring of mineral taste oozes from the spot. The owner of the field observed repeatedly in the summer season, in dry weather, after a refreshing shower, that the place was covered with a white substance like salt. Under this impression he began to dig in search of salt water. The ground being opened a few feet in depth, he found a few uncommon teeth and small round bones, about 4 inches long and about 1 1-2 inches in diameter, solid and somewhat larger in circumference at each end, like joints of a tail, or toe. The news of this discovery induced several persons to visit the spot: I also went, and being desirous to make a farther search, I obtained permission to make a larger opening, say 12 feet square, and found a number of still larger teeth and bones, belonging, in my opinion, to two different species of animals, larger than any we now have within our states. The bones were so much decayed, that they would generally fall to pieces, when exposed to the air; the teeth I preserved, and some time afterwards put them in the possession of Dr. John Floyd, (a member from Virginia in the present congress) residing in Montgomery county, who probably, sent them to some Museum. The soil was so strongly impregnated with the mineral, that it tasted like copperas itself. The

position in which the teeth and bones were found, was somewhat remarkable. The large teeth, two of which weighed 161b, each, and several more of less weight and size, were deposited in a manner by themselves, and deeper in the ground, according to their gravity: round about those, some little distance off, were the teeth and bones of the lesser animals, placed in a semicircle; of the latter I found several jawbones with their teeth sticking fast; and in one upper-jaw I found besides a tusk, about 20 inches long, shaped like a cow's horn, round, crooked, tapering off to a point, hollow at the base, and pointing forward towards the nose, also a couple of ribs and shoulder blades. The smaller animals I judged to have been of the carnivorous, from the shape of their teeth, which had a double row of high conic processes, three to each row, between 3 and 4 inches from the bottom of the root to the top of the tooth, and each was about 3 inches long. All the teeth of the large animal (I found no bones of this animal) were flat, and ribbed transversely. This remarkable position of the different bones and teeth, made me suppose, that the large animal had died in a conflict with the smaller ones. Or why should I have found several sets of teeth and bones of the one kind, and all in that semicircle, and but one set of teeth of the large animal opposite to them. None of these teeth were deeper than about 6 feet in the ground, when a flat limestone rock commenced, which rock must have been once nearer to the surface, for I found pine-knots, and pieces of rotten wood within two feet above it. This, sir, is all the information I can think of, should Dr. Mitchill be desirous to know any other circumstance relative to this affair, I will cheerfully give it, if in my power.

I am, Sir, respectfully,
Your humble servant,
JOHN STRANGER.

To the Editors of the American Monthly Magazine.

THE salivating qualities which our pastures seem to possess for these last ten or fifteen years, so distressing to horses and neat-cattle, I have long wished to see philosophically investigated and publicly announced. The farmer, however, is still left to his own vague conjectures, and there is not a species of grass or herb which will grow in pasture land, but has

been accused of producing this deleterious effect. Now, permit me to suggest, (which I can do with much confidence,) that it ought not to be attributed to any vegetable whatever, but to that species of spider which, weaving a thick horizontal web near the surface of the ground, covers, in some pastures, one-tenth of the surface during the greater part of the

GENTLEMEN,

summer months. Should this suggestion induce the curious to an investigation of the properties and rapid progress of this insect, and a plain publication of the same, with the best method of counteracting its baneful effects, its object will have been attained, and the suggestor highly gratified, D. D. Marcellus, April 2, 1818.

The following is taken from a Glasgow paper of the 20th of January last; if you deem it worth a place in your useful magazine, you can give it one.

P. H.

"SIR-Allow me to submit to you, a reference to the curious coincidence of the figures 1818, which denote the present year, viz. that the two first are 18, the two last 18, and the sum of all

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just portion. And, when we speak in general terms of any individual people, or "regions of the globe;" when we presume to make estimates of individual and national character, let that which is exceptionable and commendable, equally claim our consideration. As to "achievements in literature, science, and the arts," England, though eminent, is by no means transcendent. Some of the most beneficial inventions and discoveries were introduced into England from other countries. Many indisputable facts might be advanced to prove this assertion. How ever, for the present, the following may suffice as a reply to the erroneous statements set forth in the review.

"In the year 1769, kine-pox was described (in a weekly paper: Allgemaine Unterhaltungen, published at Göttingen,) as a well known disease here in this country' (Germany) which infects persons who attend the dairies and prevents the infection of small-pox." Dr. Jenner, (an Englishman with a German name) first published his "Inquiry into the causes and effects of Variola Vaccina," &c. in 1798, twenty-nine years later.

Some have attributed "the invention of Logarithms" to lord John Napier, a Scotchman. But there is greater reason to believe that a German clergyman, Michael Stiefel was the inventor of Logarithms, in 1599."'

"In 1793, Walther, a citizen of Nürnberg, first observed astronomical refrac

tion."

"In 1604, John Kepler, a German, established a theory of refraction."

"In 1609, the same predecessor and pioneer of the immortal Newton, discovered that the courses of the planets are eliptic, &c. &c. He made some calculations of the proportionate motions of the celestial bodies; suspected a power of gravitation and attraction universally and mutually operative among the planets."

"On the 29th of December in the same year, Simeon Marius (Meyer,) at Ansbach, first observed the satellites of Jupiter; and in 1618, Kepler made some further discoveries relative to the revolution of the planets.'

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"The first account of a Steam-Engine is given by Matthesius, a clergyman in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, in the year 1562," a long time before the Marquis of Worcester was born.

Every person acquainted with literature in general, knows very well that on the European continent, there is as bright a constellation of "men of letters, and in the sphere of divinity" as ever shed a

lustre on England. And it would be an easy matter to quote names and works to prove the fallacy of the assertion: "compared with the strain of the British muses, the poetical productions of their continental rivals lose almost the whole of their attraction." K.

Though we do not intend to open the door of discussion, in regard to the correctness of opinions stated in the reviews which appear in this miscellany, yet we have no hesitation in giving place to corrections in regard to statements of facts. The review of Ellis's book is from the pen of a gentleman of talents and learning, whose contributions frequently enrich our pages. Having a just confidence in his abilities, and not imagining that he could make the subject, of which he professed to treat, an occasion of offence, we permitted his sheets to be sent to the press without our inspection. There were many assertions, in that article, besides those complained of by our correspondent, which, had we had an opportunity to revise it, we should have expunged. The extravagant eulogium on British genius was entirely misplaced in an American publication; and some of the literary opinions advanced by the author of that review are opposed to those previously expressed by ourselves. EDITORS.

To the Editors of the American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review.

GENTLEMEN,

One of your correspondents, in the Magazine for last month, communicated remarks on the method I proposed for finding the latitude by altitudes of the sun taken at a distance from the Meridian. For my communication entitled, Hints on the Methods of determining the Latitude and Longitude of places on the Land, your readers are referred to the Magazine for December last. Your correspondent from New-Bedford, is entitled to my thanks for the kind remarks he has made upon it, and the friendly manner in which he undertakes to convince me of my supposed error. On a review of the same, it is frankly acknowledged, that the example or case alluded to, was stated, inadvertently, in such a manner as to give a wrong impression of the use I made of it. The altitudes taken Aug. 6, 1817, were intended for the correction of a patent lever watch, not well regulated, and for obtaining the apparent time a nearly as possible for other observations. The mean of these gave the time per watch, 8 b.

8 m. 38.8 sec. the mean altitude corrected 32° 24′-3.5", and in this instance, the polar distance was reduced to the time per watch. It may not be improper to remark, that having taken the latitude of my school-room and observatory, at No. 331 Broadway, in Sept. 1816, it was found to be 40° 42′ 58′′ N. In August and September, 1817, great pains were taken to verify or disprove its correctness. To effect this, altitudes were taken near the meridian, and when possible, the meridian altitude. And after I had found to my satisfaction, that all the best observations tended nearly to the same point; several sets of altitudes which had appeared to be very correct, and first taken for obtaining the true time, were now selected to verify the latitude by the method your correspondent alludes to. In the foregoing example, the watch being 7 m. 35 sec. slow, the polar distance was now reduced to the apparent time, and from these elements the latitude came out essentially the same as before. In three or four experiments of the same kind, the variations from 40° 43′ was not more than two or three seconds; hence it was concluded, that the latitude, times, and altitudes, were all very nearly correct. This method, it is believed, will prove an assumed, or supposed latitude, to be true when it is actually so; and if I am not much deceived, will discover whether it is materially incorrect. And, although it is admitted, that the problem as it stands in my former communication, can be of no great value in discovering the true latitude, I cannot agree with your correspondent that it will prove fallacious.

Let us suppose the true latitude, for an example, to be 40° 43′ N. and the longitude 74" W. the altitudes truly taken at the time aforesaid, would correspond to this only. And if the observer had supposed it to be 40° 40′, the apparent time deduced from this would differ from the former about 44 seconds, and instead of reproducing the latter, would bring out 40° 38'. Now perceiving that 40' is too far to the southward, let him try 41', 42'

and lastly 43', he will discover the last to
be true, because all the elements, or data,
are in harmony with each other. It is
confessed, that at the time, I was reason-
ing in a circle of my own formning, and
seemingly had a right thus to reason, hav-
ing found the centre. But this being
done, it ought to have been my care to
go out of it, and give the problem its pro-
per limitations. Hoping it is not too late,
in some measure to atone for this omis-
sion, it is thus stated: The longitude of
a place on the land, and the true time be-
ing known, to determine the latitude of the
same, by altitude of the sun, taken two or
three hours before or after noon, with a
sextant and artificial horizon, when the
meridian altitude is too great to be mea-
sured by those instruments. Your cor-
respondent will doubtless admit the pos-
sibility of obtaining the true time inde-
pendent of the latitude; and may be in-
formed that there is no necessity of taking
the altitudes so near the horizon, as to be
very sensibly affected by the difference
between the true and mean refraction;
and also, that the errors arising from this
source, may be so diminished, as to be-
come almost insensible, by the use of the
Barometer and Thermometer. It will be
seen, from what has already been stated,
that I still differ in opinion from your cor-
respondent in several particulars; and I
cannot agree with him where he says, "A
small error in the altitude, taken at a dis-
tance from the meridian, will cause a con-
siderable error in the latitude." I think
he will be convinced by a little reflection,
that an error of the meridian altitude, will
cause an error of the same amount in the
latitude; whereas the absolute error in
the other case will be less than the small
error of the altitude. In matters of sci-
ence, truth, and not strife, should be the
object of its votaries. Under the impres-
sion of a similarity of feeling, between
him and myself, in this respect, I remain,
Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant,
M. NASH.

New-York, April 10, 1818

ART. 7. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

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polished rectangular or triangular plates or mirrors at one of their edges, that their surfaces may form an angle of about 18° more or less. The plates are from 5 to 10 inches long, according to the local distance of the eye, and are placed together in a tube, one end of which is left entirely

open, and the other nearly closed, except a small aperture. The eye is fixed at the latter; the object being then placed at the other extremity is seen in the form of a brilliant, luminous circle, which is divided into as many sectors (each containing a representation of the part of the object seen,) as the number of times the angle of the reflector is contained in 360°. When the object is tinged with different colours, and in motion, more numerous and beautiful forms and colours, all of perfect symmetry, play around this extremity of the reflector, having a most pleasing effect, and more than verifying the projected occular harpsichord of Custillon. The instrument may be adapted to take in large objects at a distance, and to vary the figure from that of the circle to a square, &c. It is of great utility to ornamental artists in multiplying their arrangements and combinations of colours, figures, &c. as pattern makers, gilders, jewellers, &c. almost precluding the labour of design.

See Patent. Repertory of Arts, &c.
Nov. 1817.

GERMANY.

It is confidently asserted that the University of Berlin is to be located at Wittenberg, that very ancient seat of the sciences; or at Bonn, an ancient German city on the Rhine.

Baron Von Sack intends to make a scientific tour in Egypt. He will be accompanied by Mr. Wilhelm Müller, agent of the Academy of Berlin.

In the month of July, 1817, the turfdiggers near Friedleburg, in the Parish of Etzel, East Friesland, discovered a human skeleton below the stratum of peat, or turf, which seemed to have been superinduced subsequent to the interment of the body, which reposed on a stratum

of sand. Simultaneous evidences which this discovery presented, warrant the conclusion that the human body, of which the skeleton is still entire, must have lain there upwards of 2000 years!

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

At a meeting of the Hon. the Board of Regents of the University of New-York, held at Albany, on the 24th of March last, JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of New-York, was also elected to the Professorship of Forensic Medicine in the same Institution, recently made vacant by the death of Professor James S. String

bam.

The Annual Commencement of the

The

College of Physicians and Surgeons in the University of the State of New-York, was held on the 7th of April last. degree of Doctor in Medicine was granted to the following thirty-five gentlemen who had been students of the University, had undergone the several examinations required by its laws, and publicly defended their respective Inaugural Dissertations. After the candidates had received their academic honours, the venerable and learned President, Samuel Bard, M. D. LL. D. delivered an interesting address to the graduates.

John B. Aycrigg, of New-York, on Sphacelus.

Abner Alden, of New-York, on Plu

ritis.

Charles P. Allen, of New-York, on Diabetes.

Joseph Baxter, of Massachusetts, on Cutaneous Perspiration.

Ezekiel Robins Baudouine, A. B. of New-York, on the Diseases of Dentition.

Remi Seraphin Bourdages, of Canada, Sur l'inflamation aigue du systeme mu

queux.

Frederic Burnham, of New-York, on Assimilation and Life.

Joseph Canby, of Ohio, on Tetanus. Stephen C. Farrar, of Virginia, on Emetics.

Jeremiah Fickling, of South Carolina, on Phlegmasia Dolens.

Thomas Fortier, of Canada, Sur Les phenomenes de la puberte, chez la Femme. David H. Fraser, A. M. of New-York, on the Medical Police of the Navy. John F. Henry, of Kentucky, on Puerperal Fever. the Secale Cornutum. Herman L. Hoffman, of New-York,

on

Benjamin F. Hickman, of Virginia, on Typhus Fever.

Abraham Hopper, of New-Jersey, on Epilepsy.

Abraham T. Hunter, of New-York, on the Plethora of the Aged.

Jesse Isler, of North Carolina, on the Epidemic, as it appeared in Tarborough, North Carolina.

John G. Lance, of South Carolina, on the Yellow Fever of Charleston.

Thomas G. Mower, of Massachusetts, on Gangrene.

Jacob C. W M'Donald, of South Carolina, on the Yellow Fever of Charleston. Archibald Nicholson, of Georgia, on Hepatitis.

Richard B. Owen, of Tennessee, on Hydrocephalus.

James M. Pendleton, A. B. of New: York, on Puerperal Fever.

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