to M. MEIEROTTO, was constrained to accommodate his History, both in matter and style, to the prejudices of his countrymen. We perceive, however, no reason for believing that Herodotus departed from his own taste and judgment in his compositions. If he took Homer for his model, it may have been simply the result of his admiration of that poet; it was a sufficient deviation, for a first attempt, that he wrote in prose; for the earliest historians in almost all countries have composed in verse. M. MEIEROTTO has discovered, however, a much more extraordinary analogy. He informs us, in a note, (p. 588.) that Herodotus has employed as much art in the connection and the transitions of different parts of his history, as Ovid has lavished on the regular and admirable composition of his Metamorphoses! We could scarcely suppose, at first, that the writer was serious in selecting, as an instance of excellence in Ovid, a circumstance with which the best critics reproach him; the Fambling collection of monstrous absurdities, which he has been too ingenious in exhibiting. The false refinement, and extravagant conceits, of the Latin Poet are widely distant from the beautiful simplicity of the Father of History. In some additions to this Memoir, the author endeavours to shew that Herodotus had in view one action, in the course of his History, which was the victory of the Greeks over Xerxes; that his object was to instruct his countrymen; and that he employed his descriptive powers merely for the purpose of attracting their attention, and of stealing on them with more serious information. The remarks of M. MEIEROTTO, on the different phrases by which Herodotus discriminated wellattested facts from vague reports, are just and useful. The whole essay evinces, indeed, an intimate acquaintance with the works of the historian; which would have been shewn to more advantage, if it had been unencumbered with a theory which may be plausible, but for which we can see no necessity. " Fourth Memoir on Literary Mistakes, in which their influence on history is farther considered. By M. ERMAN.We have formerly noticed the preceding parts of this paper, which does not altogether equal the promise of its title. The subject is, indeed, immense and perhaps beyond the powers of any individual: but we should have expected an author who undertook to explore it, to have fixed on more important researches than M. ERMAN has attempted. The first part of the present essay, for example, is occupied in proving that the Green Lover (l'amant vert) of Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximilian I. was a parrot. If we were inclined to contest this weighty matter, we might observe that the word vert, in old French, does not only imply imply green, but lively, lusty; or, according to our familiar language, jolly. There might still be some equivoque intended, therefore; even if the princess did keep a parrot. After some criticisms of a similar nature, on some uninteresting points, the author undertakes to solve the celebrated problem respecting Pope Joan. He supposes that this was a term of reproach applied to John VIII. on account of his weakness in the contest with Photius; as our ancestors used to say King Elizabeth, and Queen James. All that we can say of this conjecture is, that it may be so: but we must add, with our old friend Sir Roger de Coverley, that much may be said on both sides. M. ERMAN afterward inquires whether Charlemagne was really unable to write, as the well-known passage in Æginhard is commonly supposed to imply. He is inclined to think that the historian meant only to record that the Emperor could not succeed in forming the ornamented initial letters, then commonly inserted in manuscripts. His principal argument is drawn from Eginhard's phrase, that Charlemagne wrote some antient barbarous verses,-M. ERMAN adds, de sa propre main, -which is an interpolation. The whole passage, which we shall quote from Eginhard, will shew that the verses were probably written, like other pieces, by order of the Emperor. "Omnium tamen nationum, quæ sub ejus dominatu erant jura, que "scripta non erant, describere ac literis mandari fecit. Item bar"bara et antiquissima carmina, quibus veterum regum actus et bella "canebantur, scripsit, memoriæque mandavit."-M. ERMAN has acknowleged that his conjecture was derived from M. Schmincke's notes on the Utrecht-edition of Æginhard. In some of the succeeding observations, the author shews himself a worthy successor of Palæphatus, of punning memory. The mistakes of mures for muri, and of phaisans for paisans, would make a better figure in a jest-book than in a philosophical discourse. It has often been remarked that the German writers are more happy in their title-pages, than in the execution of their works. We have strongly experienced the force of this observation, in perusing the essay before us; a more fortunate subject could scarcely be devised, and it would be difficult to treat it more indifferently. We shall take an early opportunity of noticing the remaining papers of this volume, under the class of Experimental Philoso phy; and also another volume, published by the Berlin Academy for 1794 & 1795, which we have received. [To be continued.] ART. Fer...r. ART. XII. Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique, &c. i. e. The Natural History of the Birds of Africa. By FRANCIS LE VAILLANT. 4to. Paris. Imported by De Boffe, London. אן Na former article (vol. xxvii. p. 532) we made our readers acquainted with the appearance of this splendid and useful publication, and detailed to them the plan which had been pursued by the intelligent author. The first six Livraisons had then reached us, and we now are furnished with three additional numbers. From the last of them, with which the second volume commences, we shall make an extract, as an additional specimen of the work. The plates continue to be eminently beautiful. The Corbiveau *. • This African bird is similar to the raven in the shape of his body, his feet, and his claws: his middle claw is united as far as the first articulation, by a membrane, to the inner one; and the feathers on the lower part of his beak are turned upwards, and cover his nostrils: but he is unlike the raven in his back, in the length of his wings, and in his graduated † tail. This bird appears to occupy in part the space which is discoverable between the genus of the ravens and that of the vultures; though he resembles the former in a greater degree than the latter.-He is similar to the African vultures which I have already described, in the size of his wings; which when spread are three inches longer than his tail; in his graduated tail; in the form of his beak, which is compressed sideways, convex above, crooked and rounded; that is to say, raising itself like that of the Caffree and Oricou, its whole length, and then progressively becoming crooked. These particulars distinguish the corbiveau from all the species of ravens hitherto described; and if travellers in future should discover birds very similar to this, they may always ascertain the corbiveau, by the white patch on the nape of his neck, which strongly contrasts with the glossy black that constitutes the rest of his plumage; except a white mark which separates the sides of this white patch on the back of his neck, and encircles the neck. This stripe, (cordon) in itself not very apparent, is formed by a single row of white feathers, or half-white, of which the outer border is alone visible. The throat is of a less decided black than the rest of the body, and the feathers which cover it are forked; the beards extending beyond the stems as if the points had been cut off; a very remarkable circumstance, and such as I have had an opportunity of observing in very few birds. The tail of the corbiveau, which is less than that of the great raven, and larger than that of the grey raven, is (étagée) graduated, and the feathers on the sides are very short; the feet are black, and so is the beak, which however has a white end to it; the iris is From Corbeau, a raven. The French word is étagé, for which we cannot find any English term more analogous than graduated, brown, brown, like an hazel nut. The claws of the corbiveau, it is observable, are stronger and more hooked than those belonging to the generality of ravens. This description of the corbiveau shews that this species of raven, if I may so call it, has some resemblance in point of form to hirds of prey. The following observations on their manners and mode of life will confirm the resemblance. Noisy, voracious, daring, social, and dirty, he resembles the raven in his taste for carrion, which constitutes the chief part of his food; and he frequently assembles in large and noisy crouds. These birds raise hoarse and hollow cries, not unlike those of the raven; and which singularly conform with its shape and manners to the disgusting ideas which we entertain of savage animals, in general, from the aggregate of their repulsive and mournful characteristics. To the habits which I have just mentioned, the corbiveau joins a marked appetite for live prey; he attacks and kills lambs and young antelopes, and devours them after having pulled out their eyes and tongue; he may be seen following troops of buffaloes, oxen, and horses, the rhinoceros, and even the elephant himself. The love of the flesh and the blood leads these birds to pursue such great quadrupeds, on whose backs they are frequently perched in great numbers. The corbiveau would be a dangerous and fatal bird of prey to these animals, if he possessed strength sufficient to kill them: but, unable to penetrate their strong and solid hides, he contents himself with plunging his beak into the soft parts of the body of the animal, and where the skin has been injured by the vermin who deposit their eggs there. If these quadrupeds then permit the corbiveau on their back, they really derive a benefit from his sanguinary instinct; a benefit, which they receive with considerable pleasure, in suffering him to remove with the point of his beak the sanguineous larva; of which the number is so considerable on certain animals, that I have seen many perish from the extreme waste which they occasion. The corbiveau flies with great strength, and raises himself very high by means of his long wings. He builds his nest in October, and constructs it in thickets, or trees: the nest is large and hollow, composed of boughs, and furnished in the inside with softer materials. It lays four eggs,. greenish, spotted with brown. The corbiveau is not a bird of passage, but continues the whole year in the country where he was born. I have seen him in every part of my African travels, though in some places more frequently than in others, and particularly among the Grand Namaquois. He is less common about the city of the Cape, but is to be found in great numbers in Swarte-Land. The female is less than the male, the white of her neck less extended, and the black less glossy, more inclining to a brown colour.' We shall with pleasure turn our attention to the succeeding numbers of this magnificent work as they make their appear ance. kas S.R. ART. ART. XIV. Annales de Chimie, &c. i. e. Chemical Annals. Nos. 92, 93, 94. 8vo. Paris. 1799. IN Na paper entitled Observations on the Treatment of Iron Ores with Coak, by M. GAZERAU, we find some remarks on the different sorts of coak afforded by various kinds of coal, which are just and pertinent: but, at the same time, they are obvious, and by no means calculated to give our iron-masters any farther insight into this important branch of metallurgy. Memoir in Areometry, by J. H. HASSENFRATZ. Of this paper we shall speak hereafter, when the author has brought his valuable labours to a close. Analysis of the Spinel. By M. KLAPROTH, translated by M. Tassaert. We have given a summary of the present paper in our account of M. KLAPROTH's second volume :-see Rev. N. S. vol. xxv. p. 579. Extract of a Report on the Means employed to obtain Antimony from its Ores, by J. H. HASSENFRATZ. Three distinct processes are employed to obtain antimony from its mineralization by sulphur. The sulphuret is first separated from its matrix by simple fusion. The second process is the sublimation of the sulphur in a reverberating furnace, gradually heated : -the metal becomes oxydated during the vaporization of the sulphur, and the grey oxyd of antimony is obtained. The third process consists in placing the oxyd of antimony in a crucible, with half of its weight of tartar. The acid of tartar is decomposed on the application of heat; while the potash in contact determines the fusion of the antimony and its union in a mass. In determining the action of the tartar, the author observes that it does not depend merely on the carbone and hydrogene of the tartar; as appears from the effect of dis-oxydation by charcoal, fat, and grapes. Again; it does not depend on the antimony in fusion being covered by the melted potash; as appears from the effect of a combination of vitrifiable salts and earths with charcoal. The combination of earthy glasses with iron, and the existence of potash in some stones, might suggest the possibility of a similar combination between antimony and the potash of the tartar but repeated solutions of antimony in the nitrous acid have not afforded any vestige of this alkali. Nevertheless the tartar, by its action on the oxyd of antimony, fixes it in some way. Does this fixation arise from the decomposition of the potash; from the action of one or of several of the ingredients of the tartar; or from some new com bination |