pedition. Some of them were men of eftablished celebrity; fuch as Bertholet and Dolomieu; but by far the greater part were not diftinguished in the annals of the learned.

When this is known, and when it is alfo confidered, that the business and fatigue of war allow little leifure for obfervations, experiments, or difcoveries, and that a free communication with the inhabitants was cut off, and that it was even dangerous to go beyond the lines of the army, we shall not only be led to be moderate in our expectations as to the early acquifitions of thefe fcientific adventurers, but fhall alfo judge with candour and indulgence the part they have performed.

The work before us confifts of a number of memoirs on different fubjects. These were brought by Bonaparte to France, prefented by him to the National Inftitute, and gleaned, arranged, and publifhed by that body. The papers are numerous. They relate to objects of natural history, arts, antiquities, and the manners of the modern Egyptians. Some of them are interesting and well-written; thefe we fhall notice. Others are too haftily drawn up to prove fatisfactory; and fome are below criticifin. Our readers will doubtless pardon us for paffing over thefe in filence.

The first of those papers which are interefting is by Andreoffy, on the preparation of gunpowder. In this we are informed, that the faltpetre, which is there obtained from trenches cut in the land, is very pure. The gunpowder is formed by means of manual labour, and is compofed of 8 parts faltpetre, 2 of fulphur, and 2 of charcoal. This material is triturated in ftone mortars. Each mortar contains 15 pounds of the material. It is grained by preffing it through a grating. To this paper fucceeds one by Shulkonfki, relative to the road from Cairo to Ifalchkych; and another, from the Physician in Chief to the Army, Defgenettes, to the medical men, recommending them to draw up a phyfico-medical topography of Egypt.

In the report on Pompey's Column, which follows, there is nothing interefting.

The next paper, which is by Monge, relates to a fingular optical illufion, frequently met with in Egypt, called the mirage, of which the following description we hope will be acceptable.

"The country of lower Egypt is nearly a level plain, which lofes itfelf, like the fea, in the clouds at the extremity of the horizon: its uniformity is only interrupted by a few eminences, either natural or factitious, on which are fituated the villages, thus kept out of the reach of the inundations of the Nile; and thefe eminences, lefs ufual on the fkirts of the defert, more frequently to be seen on the fide of the Delta,

and

and which appear like a dark line on a very tranfparent sky, are rendered ftill further vifible by the date trees and fycamores, oftener to be met with in fuch fituations than elsewhere.

"Both morning and evening the afpect of the country is exactly as it ought to be; and between you and the laft villages which prefent themselves, you perceive nothing but land; but when the furface of the earth is fufficiently heated by the rays of the fun, and indeed until it begins to get cold towards the evening, the land no longer feems to have the fame extenfion, but to be terminated, to within the diftance of about a league, by a general inundation.

"The villages placed beyond that, appear like fo many islands ftationed in the midst of a great lake, from which the fpectator is feparated by an extent of land, more or lefs confiderable, according to circumftances. You then behold the image of each of thefe villages reflected exactly as if it were exhibited on a clear furface of water, with only this difference, that as the reprefentation is at a confiderable diftance, the fmaller objects are invifible, and the maffes alone diftinct; in addition to this, the edges of the reverfed image are rather ill defined, and fuch as they would be if the furface of the reflecting medium happened to be a little agitated.

"In proportion as one approaches a village, which appears to be placed in the midst of an inundation, the margin of the water feems to recede, and the arm of the fea, feparating you as it were from the village, fhrinks back by degrees: it at length difappears entirely, and the phenomenon which now ceafes, in refpect to the first village, is inftantly reproduced by a new one, which you discover at a due diftance in the rear. Thus every thing contributes to complete an illufion, which is fometimes cruel, more especially in the defert, because it tantalizes you with the appearance of water, at a time when you experience the greateft want of that element." P. 75.

The explanation of the phænomenon is not only ingenious, but alfo fatisfactory; it is too long however to be inferted, and cannot be well condenfed.

The next paper is on the Wing of the Ostrich, in which the author, Geoffroy, proves a very great refemblance in general structure and habits between the oltrich and quadrupeds. Then follows a paper on Opthalmia.

A paper on the mode of dying cotton and flax, by means of the Carthamus, although very fhort, is by no means uninterefting. The difference between the proceffes employed in Europe and in Egypt confifts, 1ft, in ufing water, which is in a flight degree alkaline, to extract the yellow colour from the plant; 2ndly, bruifing the Carthamus with wood afhes, that is, incorporating an alkali with the colouring matter, by means of mechanical power; and, 3dly, ufing warm water instead of cold, which is employed in Europe.

The next memoir relates to the Lake Menzaleh, and is written by Andreoffy, General of Artillery. It is a long and

learned

learned paper, but to us appears very uninterefting: it contains an account of the prefent ftate of the Lake; its formation; the drying up of the Lake; the nature of the tongue of land which feparates it from the fea; an enumeration of the towns which communicate with it; and, an analysis of the conftruction of the Charts of the Lake. The fame Andreofly was charged with the protection of the commiffion appointed to vifit and inveftigate the Lakes of Natron, of which lakes he has given an excellent topographical account. The paper relating to the natron itself, by Bertholet, is interefting, inaf much as it throws light on the fingular formation of that alkali; he thinks it is not formed in the foil, as any one who has not been on the spot would at firft imagine; the foil he found not to contain natron, except in union with the muriatic acid; he remarks that, in the midst of some of the lakes, the waters of which contain fea-falt, there are iflands and spots where the natron chryftalizes. Natron is only found where the foil is a carbonate of lime; and Bertholet therefore concludes, that it is this fubftance which decompofes the muriate of foda. The time requifite for this procefs appears to be about four years, for if the natron be removed, it is not reproduced until the expiration of that term.

The remainder of this volume is made up of memoirs on the following fubjects: Obfervations on certain Proceffes for correcting the Defects of particular Kinds of Steel and CaftIron. Report on the Oafes. Remarks on the Ufe of Oil in the Plague. Obfervations made to determine the geographical Polition of Alexandria. Analysis of the Slime of the Nile. Remarks on the Management and Produce of the Land in the Province of Damietta. Obfervations on the Fountain of Moses. Extracts from the Geography of Abd. er-rahid El-Bakouy, on the Defcription of Egypt. And, A Difcourfe of Citizen Denon, to be read at the Inftitute of Cairo, on his Return from Upper Egypt. Of these it is impoffible to make a fatisfactory extract, without going into a minute detail of matters of "science, which would carry us to a difproportionate length, without being very interesting.

ART.

ART. VI. A Familiar Treatife an the Phyfical Education of Children, during the early Period of their Lives. Being a Compendium addreffed to all Mothers who are feriously concern ed for the Welfare of their Offspring. Tranflated from the German of Chriftian Auguftus Struve, M. D. Phyfician at Görlitz, in Saxony; Honorary Member of the Royal Humane Society of London, and of feveral Literary Infiitutions. To which are prefixed, Three Introductory Lectures on the fame Subject, by A. F. M. Willich, M. D. Author of the Lectures on Diet and Regimen, &c. &c. 8yo. 449 pp. 8s. Murray and Highley. 1801.

THE Treatife is ufhered by three preliminary difcourfes, or Lectures, by the tranflator, which were read, he says, to fmall but refpectable auditories. In the first he gives hiftorical fketches of the manners and cuftoms prevailing among different nations, as the Greenlanders, Laplanders, Tungoofes, &c. In the fecond, a differtation on the errors and prejudices prevailing in the treatment of children, with hints towards radical but gradual improvements: and, in the third, ftrictures on modern fystems of education, particularly that of Rouffeau, concluding with an abftract of Profeffor Hufeland's opinions relative to the food, drink, fleep, and cries of children. As thefe Lectures are rather declamatory than argumentative, the merit of them will be best understood by giving a fhort extract from each of them.

"The limits allotted to this (firft) Lecture," he fays, "will only permit us to take a curfory view of those remote nations which exhi bit a remarkable difference in their bodily ftructure, and habits of life. I propofe to elucidate the following account with occafional remarks on the refpective manners, and phyfical character, of different nations; for by fuch comparative reflections, we may perhaps acquire fome additional knowledge of the prevailing errors, or negative improvements, in modern education.

"The Greenlander feldom attains the height of five feet; and the Efquimaux, his brother, who dwells farther to the north, is still shorter. But, as the vital power operates towards the exterior parts of the body, it has compenfated in warm and folid mufcular fubftance, what it could not beftow in afpiring height. His head, in proportion to his body, is large; his face broad and flat: for Nature produces beauty only, when acting with temperance, and in a mean betwixt extremes; The could here not round a foft oval; and still lefs allow the nofe, that ornament of the face, to project. As the cheeks occupy the chief breadth of the vifage, the mouth is small and round: the hair is ftiff; for the fine penetrating juices neceffary to form foft filky hair, are wanting: no mind beams from the eye. In like manner the shoulders grow broad, the limbs large, the body corpulent and fanguine; the

hands

hands and feet alone remain fmall and flender. As is the external form, fo' are the irritability and the economy of the fluids within. The blood circulates more flowly, the heart beats more languidly: hence the defire of the fexes, which rifes to fuch a height with the increafing warmth of other countries, is here lefs violent. It awakens not till late; the unmarried live chately; and the women almoft require compulfion, to take upon them the troubles of a married life. They have but few children; whence they compare the amorous and prolific Europeans to dogs. In their connubial ftate, as in their general way of life, a calm fobriety, and an habitual stillness of the paffions, prevail. Infenfible of thofe irritations which a warmer climate, and more volatile animal fpirits produce, they live and die peaceable and patient; contented from indifference, and active only from neceffity. The father educates his fon to that apathy which he esteems the grand virtue and happiness of life; and the mether fuckles her infant for a length of time, with all the profound, tenacious affection of animal maternity. What Nature has denied them in irratibility and elafticity of fibre, fhe has given them in permanent indefatigable ftrength; and has clothed them with that warming obesity, that abundance of blood, which render their very breath fuffocating hot (f) in clofe habitations." P. 29.

The defcription of the perfons and manners of the Greenlanders is taken, we are told, from Herder's outlines of a philofophy of the hiftory of man. The rhetorical ornaments,

the father educating his children to that apathy which he efteems the grand virtue and happiness of life; and the mother fuckling the infant with the profound, tenacious affection of animal maternity," are probably the additions of the lecturer.

Before the child is fcarcely two months old, the author fays, in the fecond Lecture,

"I have often had the mortification to observe, that over-wife nurfes begin to try experiments on its legs. As the bones, however, have not yet acquired fufficient firmnefs, it may be eafily conceived what injury must be done to the formation and growth of the child, by attempts equally prepofterous and detrimental." P. 55.

But this is conjuring up errors, in order to fhow our skill in combating them. It is certainly by no means cuftomary, in this country, to put children on their feet at this age. They have generally, in fact, long clothes, which effectually prevent the nurses from attempting it. But he goes on to say,

"There are other very injudicious cuftoms, which deferve severe animadverfion, I allude to the ftrange habit of taking very young children to places of public worship or amufement; fending them to fchools, with the view of making them fedate, or confining them, efpecially during cold weather, in hot and fuffocating rooms. By fuch deftruétive means, the foundation is laid for that plethoric habit, which difpofes them either to apoplectic or eruptive diforders, to convulfions,

pally,