add that the record of a few short characters is calculated to convey only superfluous information to adepts, and no adequate or available instruction to the uninitiated. The allotment of a volume, also, to each of the kingdoms of nature, when the relative extent of each is considered, and the adjustment of the mineralogical nomenclature to the dimensions of a minikin table, will strike the discerning reader as somewhat too Procrustesian. With regard to the account of Rocks, which is squeezed within the compass of eight little pages, we may, without any breach of critical charity, be permitted to assert that it is rather deficient in Useful Knowlege. At the same time, nothing is farther from our intention than to defraud Mr. Bingley of that tribute of commendation, which is due to the exercise of diligence and fidelity in the processes of compilation and abridgment. Novelty of observation, and richness of sentiment, are alike foreign to his purposes who labours to compress into a regular series the statements of matter of fact that lie scattered in many volumes. Hence a certain degree of dryness of manner unavoidably attaches to compositions of this description: but, in the present instance, it is amply redeemed by the comprehensiveness of the topics embraced, and by the clear and unaffected language in which they are communicated. We ought, likewise, to bear in mind that systematic epitomes of any department of knowlege are not framed for continuous perusal, but for study at stated intervals; and that they sufficiently fulfil their destination when they contribute to guide the exertions of the learner. Mr. B. observes:

It must be remarked that the reader will not find here inserted an account of every production of nature, which is employed for the use of man, nor even all the uses of such objects as are described. The most important of the productions, and the principal of the uses, are all that he trusts can reasonably be required in a work of the present extent. On this ground it is that a great number of animals, which are in request only for food, have been wholly omitted.

The figures that are inserted have been drawn upon as small and economical a scale as was compatible with a sufficiently accurate representation of the objects to which they relate.'

Though avowedly incomplete, therefore, and presenting few allurements of taste or elegance, these volumes may be safely recommended, especially to the young, as an introduction to the study of natural history, with a reference to the applications of that science to the purposes of life. In this respect, they are well deserving of the attention of parents and the teachers of youth; for they contain much, varied,

and

and authentic information, in a very tangible shape, and divested (as far as it may be) of technical phraseology. — A few extracts, from different parts of the work, may suffice as a sample of the general manner in which it is conducted.

CARBON is a name given to the pure inflammable part of charcoal. It is very plentifully diffused throughout nature, since it enters into the composition of several minerals, and of all animal and vegetable bodies. The purest form under which carbon is known to exist is in that most inestimable of all gems, the diamond (50). It may, however, be obtained sufficiently pure for all common purposes by burning a piece of wood, covered with sand, in a vessel called a crucible. In combination with oxygen (21) it forms carbonic acid (26). It is a chief component part of pit-coal (122), petroleum (117), and other bituminous substances.

The properties of charcoal are the same, from whatever wood it may be made. One of the most singular of these is, that it is not liable to decay by age. Hence it was customary with the ancients to char or burn the outside of stakes, or other wood, which were to be driven into the ground, or placed in water. It may be preserved without injury for an almost indefinite length of time; and in the ancient tombs of the inhabitants of northern nations entire pieces of charcoal are at this day frequently discovered.

Besides the great use of charcoal in the composition of gunpowder, and to artists and manufacturers of different kinds, it has lately been employed with considerable success in correcting the rancid and disagreeable smell of train oil, so as to render it fit to be burnt in chamber-lamps; and several manufactories of this oil have lately been established in the neighbourhood of London. Newly made charcoal, if rolled up in clothes which have contracted a disagreeable odour, will effectually destroy it; and if boiled with meat beginning to putrify will take away the taint.

'This substance is used by artists in the polishing of brass and copper-plates, for the drawing of outlines, and numerous other purposes. When purified it forms perhaps the best tooth-powder that is known. The mode of doing this is to reduce it to powder, wash it repeatedly with pure water, and then dry it by means of a strong heat in close vessels. This heat expels the foreign contents with which it is impregnated; but however intense, if the vessels are closed, it in no respects alters the quality of the charcoal.

The vapour of burning charcoal is extremely pernicious; and persons exposed to it in confined rooms are sometimes destroyed in a very short time. The best remedy is immediately to take them into the strongest draft of cold air that can be obtained, to loose all their garments, and apply volatile spirits to their nostrils.'.

ALOES are an extensive tribe of plants, some of which are not more than a few inches, whilst others are thirty feet and upwards, in height. All the leaves are fleshy, thick, and more or less spinous at the edges or extremity.

'These

These plants, which are chiefly inhabitants of hot climates, have flowers of a single petal, the mouth expanded, the base nectariferous, and the filaments of the stamens inserted into the receptacle.

Some of the larger kinds of aloes are of great importance to the inhabitants of countries in which they grow. Beset as the leaves are with strong spines, they form an impenetrable fence. The negroes of the western coast of Africa make ropes and weave nets of the fibrous part of these leaves. The Hottentots hollow out the stems of one of the kinds into quivers for their arrows. In Jamaica there is a species of aloe which supplies the inhabitants with bow-strings, fishing-lines, and materials from which they are able to weave stockings and hammocks. An aloe which grows in `the kingdom of Mexico is applied by the inhabitants to almost every purpose of life. It serves as hedges for inclosures: its trunk supplies the place of timber for the roofs of houses; and its leaves the place of tiles. From this plant they make their thread, needles, and various articles of clothing and cordage; whilst from its juices they manufacture wine, sugar, and vinegar. Some parts of it they eat, and others they apply in medicine.

The juice of aloes was formerly used in eastern countries in embalming, to preserve dead bodies from putrefaction; and as the resinous part of this juice is not soluble in water, it is sometimes adopted in hot climates as a preservative to ship's bottoms against the attack of marine worms. One ounce of it mixed with turpentine, tallow, and white lead, is considered [as] sufficient for covering about two superficial feet of plank; and about twelve pounds [as] sufficient for a vessel of fifty tons burthen. In proof of the efficacy of this method, two planks of equal thickness, and cut from the same tree, were placed under water, one of them in its natural state, and the other smeared with this composition. They were suffered to continue in the water eight months, and when, at the end of that time, they were taken out, the former was perforated in every part, and in a state of absolute decay; whilst the latter was as perfect as at first. In the East Indies the juice of these plants is used as a varnish to preserve wood from the attacks of destructive insects; and skins, and even living animals, are sometimes smeared with it for the same purpose.

There is a tract of mountains about fifty miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, which is wholly covered with aloes. Among the Mahometans, and particularly in Egypt, the aloe is a kind of symbolic plant: it is dedicated to the offices of religion, and pilgrims on their return from Mecca suspend it over their doors, as a declaration that they have performed that holy journey.'6 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, or RIVER-HORSE, (Hippopotamus umphibius) is an African quadruped of immense bulk, with large head, extremely wide mouth, strong teeth, and thick and short legs, each terminated by four hoofs.

The body is of brownish colour, and covered with short and thinly set hair. One of these animals, which M. le Vaillant killed in the south of Africa, measured nearly eleven feet in length, and about nine feet in circumference.

In the immediate neighbourhood of rivers in several parts of Africa, even as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, the Hippopotamus is occasionally seen. Notwithstanding his bulk and strength he is an animal of considerable timidity, and whenever he is surprized he plunges into the water and walks about at the bottom with great ease, rising to the surface about once every ten minutes to breathe. He feeds on plants of various kinds, and sometimes proves very destructive in the plantations, not only by the quantity of food which he actually devours, but also by his treading down and crushing with his feet much more than he eats.

'The hippopotamus is one of those animals whose tusks are used as ivory; and from their always preserving their original whiteness and purity, they are considered even superior to the tusks of the elephant (21). They are from twelve to fourteen inches in length, and weigh from six to ten pounds each. Dentists sometimes manufacture them into artificial teeth, for which they are well adapted. Of the hide, which in some parts is nearly two inches thick, the inhabitants of Africa make excellent whips, which after a little use become very pliable. The flesh, when the animals are in good condition, is said to be tender and well flavoured, particularly that of the parts near the breast. It is even sometimes admitted to the tables of the colonists at the Cape of Good Hope. The Hottentots consider it so great a delicacy that they will eat it even in a half putrid state. Professor Thunberg states that he one day passed a Hottentot's tent, which had been pitched for the purpose of consuming the body of an hippopotamus that had been killed some time before. He says that the inhabitants of the tent were in the midst of such stench, that the travellers could hardly pass them without being suffocated. The feet are considered peculiarly fine eating; and the tongue, when salted and dried, is in great esteem at the Cape.'

Mr. Bingley would have laid the student under still greater obligations, if, at the beginning or end of each article, he had pointed out the authentic sources of more detailed information; and if he had specified the precise proportions of ingredients employed in the different mixtures or manipulations to which he alludes. His inaccuracies and defects of thought, or expression, when compared with the amount and diversity of the ideas communicated, are far from numerous. Should he be inclined, however, in the event of a second impression, to avail himself of our friendly suggestions, the ensuing annotations are very cordially at his service.

Vol. i. p. 22. 'It [Strontian] occurs in great abundance in different parts of the world,' &c. The carbonate of this substance is by no means a fossil of common occurrence; and it has become scarce even in the repositories in which it was first observed. The sulphate, or celestine, has been found in a greater number of places; yet it is far from being very plentifully diffused.-P. 49. From the list of topazes remarkREV. JUNE, 1817. L

able

able for their weight or dimensions, those which were discovered some years ago in the north of Scotland, and which considerably exceed the largest formerly known, should not have been excluded.-P. 118. Roche is stated to be a village in Styria; a clerical error, perhaps, for Syria, in which country the first alum-manufactory, it has been often alleged, was established, at a place called Rocca: but no such Syrian town or village seems to be known to the most accurate geographers; and the conjectures of the learned are divided between Racea, on the Euphrates, and the present Edessa, which was formerly called Roha, Raha, or Ruka, and still retains the occasional appellation of Roccha. Both these places are situated in Mesopotamia, and not in Syria: but the latter division may, some centuries ago, have been understood with greater latitude of acceptation than in modern times. The rock-alum,

or, more correctly, roche-alum, which is still imported from the Levant, is manufactured at Foya Nova, near Smyrna, and also in the vicinity of Constantinople.-P. 155. Idria is incorrectly placed in Bohemia.-P. 170. That the Psalmist, in the passage here cited, evidently alludes to the falling of meteoric stones,' may justly be questioned. The ingenious Mr. Edward King, indeed, gives the same interpretation to the expression coals of fire; and the term avogaxes, employed by the cautious Seventy, may be supposed to countenance the conjecture that real hard bodies, in a state of ignition, were intended to be denoted. In the verse immediately preceding, however, the same expression occurs, and obviously requires no such interpretation; and the phrase seems to have been only a figurative mode of intimating vivid lightning, as, even in the sober latitudes of the north, and in our ordinary unimpassioned discourse, we talk of thunderbolts and balls of fire, without any reference to solid matter. In the eleventh verse of the tenth chapter of the book of Joshua, which Mr. King also cites, the expression great stones is less equivocal than coals of fire: but the concluding clause scarcely leaves room to doubt that these great stones were really hail-stones, or rather, perhaps, lumps of ice, consolidated in the colder regions of the atmosphere; such as occasionally fall in hot countries, and such as actually alarmed the inhabitants of Paris and its neighbourhood in the spring of 1788. At all events, the slaughter of the Canaanites is represented as resulting from the special interposition of Divine power; and the consideration of real miracles is irrelevant to the present question. P. 214. The alleged principal cause of the bitterness of sea-water, namely, the putrefaction of animal and vegetable particles, is scarcely in unison with the statement in the next paragraph: Sea-water, taken 13

from