and State of New York and to the Southern Atlantic States. The work before us embodies a good deal of information and many useful observations respecting it, and deserves the attention of all who are so situated as to find it difficult or impossible to procure a supply of pure water. A considerable part of the work before us is occupied with a minute statement of all the experiments that have been made to obtain water by boring the earth, and the degree of success with which they have been made. In many of these instances the most complete success has attended the operation, and the water has been made to overflow at several feet above the surface; in others, the water has been brought to within a few feet from the surface of the ground; in others, the experiment has been left unfinished. This part of the work is exceedingly valuable; the remainder is occupied with some suggestions towards forming a new theory of the rise of waters. There are certainly some difficulties in the present theory of the fountains and rivers that issue from the earth, and the author has stated them with great ingenuity and force. A variety of facts are marshalled to show the imperfection of the old theory, and to support the new one which the author has suggested. This theory is that of a great central effect, which not only keeps matter from gravitating too near the earth, but also forces gases and fluids towards the surface. As a corollary from this doctrine, it follows that water may in all cases, by boring deep enough and by inserting a tube, be made to overflow at the surface. The instances in which this experiment has been successfully made, are certainly somewhat extraordinary, and seem to justify great perseverance on the part of those who undertake enterprises of the kind. Whether, however, the theory, which the author attempts to deduce from these and other facts, be well founded, we must for the present be permitted to doubt; but the subject is a curious one, and deserves consideration. In the mean time, the pamphlet before us has no small practical value, independent of its theoretical ingenuity.

An Oration pronounced at New Haven, before the Society of Phi Beta Kappa, September 12, 1826, "On some of the Considerations which should Influence the Epic or Tragic Writer in the Choice of an Era." By JAMES A. HILLHOUSE. New Haven. A. H. Maltby & Co. 1826. 8vo. pp. 32.

In this Discourse the author divides the history of poetry into three eras, the Scriptural, the Classic, and the Romantic, and endeavours, with great ingenuity, to define and distinguish the different influences of these eras, and the associations connected

with them, upon the art. We have not time, at present, to follow him in tracing this distinction, nor to examine into the soundness of the views he takes of his subject. We have no hesitation, however, in speaking of this performance as the work of one who has reflected maturely on the nature of poetry, and the modes in which it is affected and modified by religious belief and the state of society in different ages of the world. The preference of the orator for scripture subjects in epic and dramatic poetry is not extraordinary; the author of "Hadad" is entitled to cherish and to avow such a preference; and even if it were not justified by his own success, the examples of some of the greatest of modern poets are a strong practical argument in its favor. The Discourse, whatever may be thought of some of its general conclusions, contains many striking and beautiful speculations on the subject, delivered with great force and eloquence.

Recollections of the Life of JOHN O'KEEFFE, Written by Himself. In Two Volumes Philadelphia. H. C. Carey and I. Lea. 1827. 8vo. pp. 216 and 234.

THIS book is much in the style of Kelly's Reminiscences, full of garrulity, and contains but little valuable or even amusing matter. The greater part is mere table talk, and very silly talk too. Occasionally we meet with an anecdote worth preserving, but not worth the trouble of wading through the flood of idle prate which surrounds it. It strikes us as rather singular, that such a book should be reprinted in this country. In England indeed, it may have a certain sort of interest from the great number of personages introduced, living or but lately deceased, in many cases known to the public, and in most to a large circle of acquaintance. But the spirit of the stories evaporates in crossing the Atlantic, and little remains but dregs. It is not very creditable to the taste of the public, that such arrant chit-chat is tolerated. We may expect to have the reminiscences of decayed actors and second-rate dramatists thrown upon the world by hogsheads, when they find that the very ghosts of their past follies may be transmuted into solid coin by the aid of paper and print. Boswelliana are very good things when the subject of them is a Johnson, but a very different commodity when made up of the orts and ends of Mr. O'Keeffe's experiences. The last generation of dramatic biographies is exceedingly puny, and it will be no great loss to the world when the stock is entirely run out, as they are usually little more than compends of folly and vice. These "Recol

lections" contain perhaps forty or fifty pages worth reading; but the remainder is about as valuable as an equal amount of the conversation of a bar-room.

The French Genders taught in Six Fables; being a Plain and Easy Art of Memory, in which the Genders of 15,548 French Nouns may be learned in a few hours. By the Master of a Grammar School. Revised by the Instructer of the Boston Lyceum. Boston. Monroe & Francis. 18mo, pp. 48.

We like the plan and execution of this little book, although we think we could somewhat simplify the one, and correct some errors in the other. If the fables be thoroughly committed to memory, which will not be a very serious task, and rendered perfectly familiar to the mind, by a constant application of them in reading and writing,-one important, and in some respects difficult step will be taken in the acquisition of a correct style of writing and speaking the French language. The typographical errors, which are exceedingly numerous, should be carefully corrected before the book is studied.

INTELLIGENCE.

Fine Arts at Rome. Whether Rome can continue to be a school for the cultivation of the Fine Arts, seems to be becoming every day more problematical. The Pope, and a new set of purists, have begun a crusade against all nudities in sculpture and painting. Venuses must now be decently attired in shoes, stockings, petticoats, and high bodies; and the chaste Diana (the huntress) must cover herself all over with a cloak. Cupids are condemned to drawers at least, Apollo to nothing under hussar trowsers; and the Graces, Muses, et hoc genus omne, are recommended to appear in court-dresses.

The Signor Baruzzi at Rome, one of the most distinguished disciples of the immortal Canova, with a view to honor the memory of his master, has just finished, at his own expense, a colossal marble bust of the great artist, and this monument of pious gratitude has been placed in the Hall of the Capitol, betwixt the figures of Michael Angelo and Raphael.

Depth of the American Lakes. Lake Erie has about thirty-five fathoms of water above its lowest bed, though it is not often more than twentyfive in depth. Lake St. Clair is shallow, rarely exceeding four fathoms. Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, are, in places, nine hundred feet deep, sinking about three hundred feet below the level of the ocean.

American Mines. The mines in Spanish America had been brought to their fullest height of production by the end of the last century, and continued to give to the world annual supplies of unprecedented magnitude till the year 1810. It was then the disturbances broke out, originating in the struggle for independence, and partly from the conflicts of rival parties, which desolated the country, and interrupted the mining operations, especially in Mexico, Peru, and Buenos Ayres. The degree to which the produce of the mines fell off, has been thus given in a recent publication, "Tooke on High and Low Prices." Annual produce of American mines in dollars--

Thus the quantity of precious metals derived yearly from these sources, was reduced one half in consequence of the war.

Ann. Reg., 1825.

Wolves in Russia. The following is the official account of the devastations committed by the wolves in the government of Livonia only in the year 1823. They devoured, horses, 1,841; foals, 1,243; horned cattle, 1,807; calves, 733; sheep, 15,182; lambs, 726; goats, 2,545; kids, 183; swine, 4,190; sucking pigs, 312; dogs, 703; geese, 673.

Ibid.

Greek Captives. The French papers contain communications from Mr. Eynard to the Greek Committee, announcing that the number of women and children taken by the Egyptians in Western Greece was so great, that they were sold as cheap as the lowest cattle. In consequence of this, he had sent forty thousand francs to redeem as many of them as he could; and he invites all christian nations and individuals to subscribe for the same purpose, and to restore to their families, their freedom, and their God, the helpless creatures dragged into slavery, and doomed to violation or apostacy. New Monthly Mag.

New Mines of Platinum. M. Roussingault, a celebrated French chemist, has recently discovered a mine of platinum at Antigua, in the department of Cundinamarca, in Columbia. Hitherto this precious metal, so valuable in the arts, has only been found in the Uralian Mountains in Russia, in Brazil, and in the provinces of Choco and Barbacoas, on the coasts of the South Sea, but always in alluvial lands, where it could only be met with accidentally; but in this case there can be no doubt that the metal exists in real veins in the valley De Osos, (being very near the province of Choco from which it is separated only by a branch of the Cordillera of the Andes, which circumstance accounts for the presence of the same metal in the alluvial soils of the valley De Osos); and it is sufficient to pound the materials which these veins contain, in order to obtain from them, by washing, the gold and platinum which they contain. Mines of platinum have recently been

found in the Uralian Mountains, in the government of Perma, in Russia, so extremely rich, that the price of platinum fell nearly one third at St. Petersburg; and hence we may reasonably expect that this valuable metal will cease to bear that high price at which it has hitherto been sold.

Russia. It appears that the population of the empire of Russia, at the death of Catherine II., in 1796, amounted to about 33,000,000; and in 1825, at the death of Alexander, in consequence of conquests from the Turks, and recaptures of dominions in Poland, the amount was 50,000,000. In the course of three centuries and a half, the power, in point of population, of the Russian empire, has multiplied itself more than eight times, while in extent of territory it has been increased nearly twenty times.

The Stadium. Scientific men have differed much, with respect to the extent of the stadium, of which Strabo and the geographers of antiquity availed themselves, to indicate the distances between different places. It is evident, that the only way of determining the point, was to examine the existing distance between places, the position of which had not changed, and by the result to estimate the length of the ancient measure. A large and exceedingly accurate map of Turkey, by M. Lapie, lately published in France, has completely resolved the problem; and it is now proved, that the stadia of the geographers of antiquity, were, according to the opinion adopted by Gosselin, and rejected by D'Anville, seven hundred to the degree. Thus, Strabo reckoned, that it was two hundred stadia from Corinth to Argos; and Pausanias, that it was six hundred from Sparta to Olympia. These distances, allowing seven hundred stadia to a degree, are precisely those in the new map; an additional proof of the accuracy of the ancient geographers.

Lady-birds. The Hampshire [English] journals give extraordinary accounts of flights of lady-birds being seen near Southampton; one of them was two miles long! The same phenomena have been remarked in and near London. The shipping in the river has been swarming with these insects; and a party of gentlemen one day visiting the top of St. Paul's Church, were surprised to see the dome literally covered, and so red with their flame-colored corslets glancing in the sun, as hardly to admit of being looked upon.

The Bush-Vine. "A vine," says Mr. Waterton, "called the bushrope by the wood-cutters, on account of its use in hauling out the heaviest timber, has a singular appearance in the forests of Demarara. Sometimes you see it nearly as thick as a man's body, twisted, like a corkscrew, round the tallest trees, and rearing its head high above their tops. At other times, three or four of them, like strands in a cable, join tree and tree, and branch and branch, together. Others, descending from on high, take root as soon as their extremity touches the ground, and appear like shrouds and stays, supporting the mainmast of a line-ofbattle ship; while others, sending out parallel, oblique, horizontal, and perpendicular shoots, in all directions, put you in mind of what travellers call a matted forest. Oftentimes a tree, about an hundred feet high, uprooted by a whirlwind, is stopped in its fall by these amazing cables of nature; and hence it is, that you account for the phenomenon of seeing trees, not only vegetating, but sending forth vigorous shoots.