Description of a Gravimeter, by M. Guyton ;- Description of the improved Air-pumps of Prince and Cuthbertson;-Varicus Accounts of the Appearance of Objects seen double, or inverted by terrestrial Refraction;-On the Mechanical Construction and Uses of the Screw-The Method of Lowitz for obtaining very pure Crystals of fixed Alkali ; — Experiments on Detonation; M. Berthollet on the Compounds of Oil with Earths, Alkalis, and Metals;-The Combustion of the Diamond;-Improvements in Telescopes by the Addition of an Iris ;-A Memoir, with Tables of the new System of Weights and Measures in France;-Investigation of the Motions of Camphor on the Surface of Water ;—M. Vauquelin's new M thod of analysing Steel;-and The Production of an artificial Rock Crystal, by M. i rommsdorff:-are among the new articles of philosophical information which, for the sake of brevity, we can only mention.

An Account of the Fata Morgana, or the Optical Appearance of Figures in the Sea and the Air in the Faro of Messina; with an Engraving. This astonishing phænomenon, described by Brydone, Swinburne, and many other writers, some of whom call it the castle of the Fairy Morgana, appears to want no evidence with regard to its truth. Mr. N. has followed Minasi in his Italian dissertation published at Rome in 1773. This author describes the appearance as follows: "When the rising sun shines from that point whence its incident ray forms an angle of about forty-five degrees on the sea of Reggio, and the bright surface of the water in the bay is not disturbed either by the wind or the current, the spectator being placed on an eminence of the city, with his back to the sun and his face to the sea; -on a sudden, there appear in the water, as in a catoptric theatre, various multiplied objects; that is to say, numberless series of pilastres, arches, castles well delineated, regular columus, lefty towers, superb palaces, with balconies and windows, extended alleys of trees, delightful plains with herds and flocks, armies of men on foot and horseback, and many other strange images in their natural colours and proper actions, passing rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea, during the whole of the short period of time while the abovementioned causes remain." The philosophy of this striking appearance is still in a very imperfect state. That the atmosphere in calm weather becomes separated, by subsidence, or otherwise, into various strata of different densities and refractive powers, which, when quite undisturbed, produce the appearance called Looming, and when disturbed may for a short time afford surfaces capable of reflecting and refracting the light under small angles, appears to be sufficiently ascertained:

-but

-but on the whole of the facts of atmospheric illusion there is certainly much room for speculation and research.

On the cold Winds which issue out of the Earth. Professor De Saussure, M. Chaptal, and others, have given an account of caves in various countries, out of which a cold stream of wind issues during the hot season; which is more rapid and of a lower temperature, the hotter the external air is: but which in the winter changes its course, and is directed into the earth. In the present memoir, we find an account of a considerable number of these caves, by that accurate observer M. De Saussure; who has given a theory designed to account for the effect. On this theory, Mr. Nicholson makes several remarks which shew that it does not agree with the known facts. He himself thinks that this effect is simply the consequence of the slow heating and cooling of the materials of a porous hill. If these materials be supposed to require the greatest part of the summer to cool them, there will be a descending current within the hill, which will flow out at the base; and, on the contrary, when the external air becomes colder than the internal porous mass, the air in the interstices being less dense will ascend, and be followed by a converging current round. the foot of the mountain. He directs his reasoning to the Mont Testaceo near Rome, which is intirely artificial, being composed of broken pottery; and he points out various familiar incidents in common dwelling-houses, in which currents of the same nature are produced.

We have now gone through nearly the first half of this curious and entertaining volume; and here we must stop. If we have opportunity, we may perhaps return to the latter portion of it: but various accidents have so long delayed this article, that more than an additional volume has since been presented by Mr. Nicholson to the public; and what we have already said will afford our readers an adequate idea of the nature and value of his very commendable labours.

ART. IX. EYPINIAOY EKABH. Euripidis Hecuba, ad fidem Manuscriptorum emendata, &c.

ART. X. IN EURIPIDIS HECUBAM Londini nuper publicatam Diatribe extemporalis. Composuit Gilbertus Wakefield.

Ακτ. ΧΙ. ΕΥΡΙΠΙΔΟΥ ΟΡΕΣΤΗΣ. Euripidis Orestes, ad fidem Manuscriptorum emendata, &c.

⚫ [Continued from p. 207.]

T 'HERE now remains, it is believed, only one of Mr. Wakefield's manifold charges against Mr. Porson's Hecuba, which demands examination. This is an objection, indeed, on

Y 4

which

which he appears to lay great stress, as may be conjectured from its having been frequently repeated in the Diatribe. The rule itself, on which the charge is founded, was originally laid down by Mr. W. in his Silva Critica, has been adopted in his philological writings, and is practically exemplified in his Tragadiarum Delectus. The following are the passages in the Diatribe:

P. 5. • Primum mirari subit, V. D. qui summo jure MSS. et editionis Aldine testimonia tanti fecerit, auctoritates gravissimas passim contemp tui habere, toties appingendo finalem, si litera consonans sequatur; quam vis manifestissimum sit, et multis exemplis evincendum, librarios, qui istud additamentum invenissent, nusquam fuisse omissures; sed omissum, propter inanem de metro timorem, multo facilius invecturos. Probant MSS. probant editiones auctorum vetustissime, hoc fgmentum a Grecorum priscorum consuetudine prorsus esse alienissimum, ac scribis recentioribus unice deberi : biatui solummodo occludendo serviens, non autem producendis syllabis. Exemplo sit ver. 236. hujusce dramatis :

ουδ' ώλεσεν με Ζιυ;

--

Ita V. D. edidit; Aldus autem et MS. Harl. luculentissime exhibent who: neque aliter fere passim. Si quis quærat, quomodo versum legam bujuscemodi, eum interrogem vicissim, quâ ratione ver. 9. legendus sit:

Φίλιππον λαον ευθύνων ΔΟΡΙ:

aut Lucretii consimilis, iv. 271.

- certe penitus remota videtur ;

nam libri veteres MSS. literam non geminant. Hinc nimirum voci scienter modulata nullum negotium facessitur; nec, nisi suo periculo, miramque per inconstantiam, prudens editor has leges violat, quas grammatici, scholiaste, MSS. cum scriptoribus antiquis, citantibus poëtas, cumulate sanciunt. Nobismetipsis saltem nihil antiquius est, quam ineptias qualescunque, (et bene multis etiamnum procul dubio obsidemur) aliis quibusvis dedocentibus, dimittere, atque ablegare; nemo rursus, nobis hanc inscitiam plus semel damnantibus et irridentibus, videtur aut refutare velle, aut relinquere. Pergant igitur, si velint, in errore longe crassissimo, nimium amantes sui; vere doctis et aquis judicibus tamen, sat scio, sponte abjudicando, librisque veterum serius ocyus, cum unanimi consensu literatorum, expellendo.'

P. 25. • Editi de solito ayɛv; at enim te, finalis N! cum tuâ importunitate magnus perdat Jupiter!'

P. 27. OIAE is thus proposed by G.W. for OIAEN; et odio sum illum N finalem,

Εχθρος γαρ μοι κείνος όμως αἴδιο πυλησί me hortatore rejice, secutus Aldum scilicet ' Ρ. 33. ΕΚΙΝΗΣΕ πόδα, for εκίνησεν πο

P. 35. EIPPKEN. Ad ingenium redit heic quoque V. D. offam putidam, N finalem dico lectoribus ingerens; auctoritates licet tam Ald. ed. quam Stobai, simul inde, prout centies, conculcentur. Nobis non licet esse tam disertis.'

Thus far the Diatribe. The passages from the Silva Critica, which relate to the rejection of the N final, shall also be produced in the words of their author.

SILVA CRITICA, I. p. 81. where Mr. W. is examining this line of Sophocles, Ed. Tyr. 1280.

ΟΜΒΡΟΣ χαλάζης ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ ε εγγείο,

as he is pleased to read it; and we have not time at present to state our objections; he adds these observations: "Metrum certè in tuto est. Ultimam enim pedis lambri syllabam, quamvis sit natura brevis, non dubitant tragici passim producere, quoties cum illa finiatur verbum."

Mr. W. then quotes from the Aldine edition of the Phamissa four examples of the omitted N final: "288. polari δόμοις. 290. δωμασι πελαζείε. 933. Που 'στι Μενοικευς. 1446. Elonyaye σopioμa." He next censures Musgrave, "qui non semper, ut sape, hanc scripturam servaverit ;" and recommends all future editors of the Greek Tragic and Epic Poets to banish this final N, as it is passim omitted in the passages which are quoted by the Grammarians and others. He then proceeds,

"Ultima vocis asporo syllaba ob pausam in Sophocle [1. c. ex Oed. T.] producitur pari jure quo Binos in Homero.

Αύλας επειδ' αυλοισι ΒΕΛΟΣ εχεπευκες εφίεις.

Nec mihi videntur de metro cruciari merito Valckenarius et Musgravius ad Eur. Hipp. 234. ob hanc ipsam causam, vim scilicet pausæ in syllaba postrema vocis, si pedem finiat in anapasticis et iambicis, aut incipiat in heroicis; quá syllabâ, si modo consonans sequatur, semper debet exulare finalis N.

Τι του αν παραφρον έρριψας επις 339

Such is the Metrical Canon which Mr. Wakefield has promulgated in his Silva Critica; and which, as was mentioned, he has exemplified in his philological disquisitions, and in his annotations on some of the Greek Tragedies. It has not, however, been followed, nor even mentioned, by Mr. Porson in his Notes on the Hecuba; and to this neglect, or silence, may be attributed the censures conveyed in those passages which have been just quoted from the Diatribe.In the Professor's remarks on Orestes, indeed, there is an observation which must be considered as referring to this new law of prosody. As we gave the reader an opportunity of perusing Mr. W.'s statement of the rule in his own words, we shall now let the Professor also speak for himself.

OREST. 64.

παρέδωκεν τρέφειν.

• Cur N finalem in ἐπέκλωσεν, V. 12. [ᾧ θερμαία ξήνασ ̓ ἐπέκλωσεν θεά] et similibus addiderim, nemo nisi qui communi sensu plane careat, requiret. Sed erunt fortasse nonnulli, qui minus necessario hoc factum arbitraturi sint in Tagedwner. Rationes igitur semel exponam, nunquam posthac moniturus. Quanquam enim sæpe syllabas natura breves positione producunt Tragici, longe libentius corripiunt, adeo ut tria prope exempla correptarum invenias, ubi unum modo exstet productarum. Sed hoc genus licentia, in verbis scilicet non compositis, qualia ríxvov; Ilargò, ceteris longe frequentius est. Ra

rius multo syllaba producitur in verbo composito, si in ipsam juncturam cadit, ut in nonxevoos Andr. 2. Eadem parsimonia in augmentis produ cendis utuntur, ut in rexhwor sup. 12. xxλich Sophocl. Elect. 366. Rarior adhuc licentia est, ubi præpositio verbo jungitur, ut in anóĘSTOL Phan. 6oo. Sed ubi verbum in brevem vocalem desinit, eamque dua consonantes excipiunt qua brevem manere patiantur, vix credo exempla indu bie fidei inveniri posse, in quibus syllaba ista producatur. Ineptus esset, quicunque ad MSS. in tali causa provocaret, cum nulla sit eorum auctori tas; id solum deprecor, ne quis contra hanc regulam eorum testimor in abutatur; MSS. enim neque alter alteri consentiunt, neque idem MS. sibi ipse per omnia constat. Quod si ea, que disputavi, vera sunt, planum cas, in fine vocis addendam esse literam, quam

addidi.'

This note is worthy of its learned writer; and from the laws which it lays down, and from Dawes's Canons respecting the power of the Tenues, Adspirata, and Mediæ consonantes, when followed by the liquids and preceded by short vowels, a certain rule for the insertion of the N final might be derived. As to the omission of it in the last syllable of an Iambic foot, when a simple consonant follows, the voice of the Professar declares, ex cathedra, that it is not to be allowed; and that no one would ask the reason, nisi qui sensu communi planè careat.

It is to be lamented that Mr. Porson did not probe this canon of Mr. Wakefield " even to the quick." Our readers probably expect that an examination of it should be attempted in the Review: yet, in following the Professor, our feelings, we confess, resemble those which Plato attributes to Socrates, when he is detained by Callias in order to dispute with Protagoras, and allows that he is inclined to grant the desired gratification. "In the present instance, however, (he subjoins,) you might as well request me to follow the vigorous steps of Criso, or to enter the course with any other racer. I should then exclaim : Πολὺ σῖν μᾶλλον ἐγὼ ἐμαυτον δέομαι θέουσι τίύλοις ἀκολουθεῖν· Αλλ' i yap dilaual." Plato. Protagor. vol. i. 336. A.

The canon of Mr. Wakefield, we believe, may be thus stated: "The last syllable of a word, though naturally short, may be considered as long, by the influence of the pause, if it terminate a foot in Anapestics or lambics; or if it begin a foot in Heroics. From this concluding syllable, if a consonant follow it, the final N ought always to be banished."

This canon is evidently founded on a rule which has been adopted by some of the later editors of the Greek Heroic Poets with what propriety, we shall not attempt, on the present occasion, even to examine. It is thus mentioned by Ernesti, in his Note on Homer. Iliad. A. V. 2. [One.]

"Edd. Vett. on. Recte. In litera N vel addenda, vel demenda, parum diligens Clarkius fuit, et constans, non satis consultis libris. In MSS. et Edd. Vett. melioribus, ut Flor. et Ald. pr. in fine versus fere additur s