into the constitution of the vegetable substance. When vegetable matter is not exposed to moisture or air, its decay is much slower; but in the course of ages its elements gradually re-act on each other, the volatile principles separate, and the carbonaceous matter remains.

Of the MSS. the greater number, those which probably were least exposed to moisture or air, (for till the tufa consolidated air must have penetrated through it,) are brown, and still contain some of their volatile substance, or extractive matter, which occasions the coherence of the leaves; others are almost entirely converted into charcoal, and in these when their form is adapted to the purpose, the layers may be readily separated from each other by mechanical means. Of a few, particularly the superficial parts, and which probably were most exposed to air and water, little remains except the earthy basis, the charcoal of the characters, and some of that of the vegetable matter, being destroyed, and they are in a condition approaching to that of the MSS. found at Pompeii, where the air, constantly penetrating through the loose ashes, there being no barrier against it as in the consolidated tufa of Herculaneum, has entirely destroyed all the carbonaceous parts of the Papyrus, and left nothing but earthy matter. Four or five specimens that I examined were heavy and dense, like the fragment to which I referred in the introduction to this report, a considerable quantity of foreign earthy matter being found between the leaves and amongst the pores of the carbonaceous substance of the MSS., evidently deposited during the operation of the cause which consolidated the tufa.

The number of MSS., and of fragments originally brought to the museum, as I was informed by M. Ant. Scotti, amounted to 1,696; of these 88 have been unrolled, and found in a legible state; 319 more have been operated upon, and, more or less, unrolled, and found not to be legible; 24 have been presented to foreign potentates.

Amongst the 1,265 that remain, and which I have examined with attention, by far the greatest number consists of small fragments, or of mutilated or crushed MSS., in which the folds are so irregular as to offer little hopes of separating them so as to

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form connected leaves; from 80 to 120 are in a state which present a great probability of success, and of these the greater number are of the kind in which some volatile vegetable matter remains, and to which the chemical process, referred to in the beginning of this report, may be applied with the greatest hopes of useful results.

One method only has been adopted in the museum at Naples for unrolling the MSS., that invented in the middle of the last century; it is extremely simple, and consists in attaching small pieces of gold-beater's skin to the exterior of the MSS., by means of a solution of isinglass, suffering the solution to dry, and then raising, by means of thread moved by wooden screws, the gold-beater's skin, and the layer adhering to it from the body of the MS.; this method of unrolling has the advantage of being extremely safe, but it is, likewise, very slow, three or four days being required to develop a single column of a MS. applies, likewise, only to such MSS, as have no adhesive matter between the leaves; and it has almost entirely failed in its application to the class of MSS. which are found to have Roman characters, and where the texture of the leaf is much thicker. It requires, likewise, a certain regularity of surface in the MSS.

It

The persons charged with the business of unrolling the MSS. in the museum, informed me that many chemical experiments had been performed upon the MSS. at different times, which assisted the separation of the leaves, but always destroyed the characters. To prove that this was not the case with my method, I made two experiments before them, one on a brown fragment of a Greek MS., and the other on a similar fragment of a Latin MS., in which the leaves were closely adherent; in both instances the separation of the layers was complete, and the characters appeared to the persons who examined them more perfect than before.

I did not think it proper to communicate the details of my method to the operators in the museum; for though it possesses great simplicity, yet it must be performed with care, and is a gradual process, and might be injurious in unskilful hands, and ought to be executed by an accurate manipulator, and one acquainted with the science of chemistry. My only motive for deferring the publication of it has been the hope of rendering it subservient in a secure way, and upon an extensive scale, to an undertaking which, without some such method, seemed a bequest to posterity or to future ages.

I brought with me to Rome some fragments of Greek MSS., and one of a Latin MS.; and experiments that I have made upon them indulge me to hope that a modification of the process just referred to will considerably assist the separation of the leaves, even when they are not adherent; and that another modification of it will apply to those specimens containing earthy matter, where the letters are not destroyed.

Every thing I have seen or done confirms my opinion, that the resources of chemistry are applicable, in a variety of instances, to this labour; but it must be always recollected, that after the separation of the leaves, there must be great care, great nicety of mechanical operation, and great expenditure of time, in preserving them, in attaching them to a proper basis, in reading and copying them; for, in their most perfect state, they become mere broken layers of carbonaceous matter, upon which the charcoal of the characters is distinguished only by its difference in lustre or in shade of colour.

Hitherto there have been no systematic attempts to examine in detail all the MSS. which contain characters, so as to know what is really worth the labour of unrolling and preserving; but this clearly is the plan which it would be most profitable and useful to pursue. The name of the author has generally been found in the last leaf unrolled; but two or three of the first columns would enable a scholar to judge of the nature of the work, and by unrolling a single fold, it might be ascertained whether it was prose or verse, or historical, or physical, or ethical. By employing, according to this view, an enlightened Greek scholar to direct the undertaking, one person to superintend the chemical part of the operation, and from fifteen to twenty persons for the purpose of performing the mechanical labour of unrolling and copying, there is every reason to believe, that in less than twelve months, Sand at an expense not exceeding 2,500l., or 3,000l, every thing worth preserving in the collection would be known, and the extent of the expectations that ought to be formed, fully ascertained.

It cannot be doubted, that the 407 papyri, which have been more or less unrolled, were selected as the best fitted for attempts, and were, probably, the most perfect; so that, amongst the 100, or 120, which remain in a fit state for trials, even allowing a superiority of method, it is not reasonable to expect that a much larger proportion will be legible. Of the 88 MSS. containing characters, with the exception of a few fragments, in which some lines of Latin poetry have been found, the great body consists of works of Greek philosophers, or sophists; nine are of Epicurus, thirty-two bear the name of Philodemus, three of Demetrius, and one of each of these authors, Colotes, Polystratus, Carniades, and Chrysippus; and the subjects of these works, and the works of which the names of the authors are unknown, are either natural or moral philosophy, medicine, criticism, and general observations on the arts, life, and manners.

It is possible that some of the celebrated long-lost works of antiquity may still be buried in this collection; but the probability is, that it consists entirely of the works of the Greek sophists and of Roman poets, who were their admirers. When it is recollected, however, that Lucretius was an Epicurean, a hope must arise with regard to the Latin works; but, unfortunately, the wretched and mutilated appearance which they exhibit (they are in a much worse condition than the Greek works) renders this hope extremely feeble: for no powers of chemistry can supply lost characters, or restore what is mechanically destroyed.

At all events, an acquaintance with the contents that remain of the whole collection, must afford much curious and useful information, respecting the state of society, literature, science, and the arts, amongst the ancients, and particularly in the Greek colonies of Magna Grecia and Sicily; which, at one period, were the rivals in civilization and glory of their illustrious mother country; and when so small an expenditure will probably be required, the undertaking, surely, is not unworthy the attention of a great and enlightened government. Much of what has been already done

has arisen from the munificent patronage of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and under his auspices; and in the present prosperous times and happy relations of the British and Neapolitan Governments, the enterprise might be resumed with every prospect of success. These MSS. have not, like works of art, any external value; as long as they remain untouched in the museum, they are mere masses of decayed vegetable matter, and the only glory and use in possessing them, depend on their contents being made known to the literary world *.

Rome, Feb. 12, 1819.

ART. XXI. A few Facts relative to Dr. Wilson Philip's Attack on the President and Council of the Royal Society.

DR. WILSON PHILIP, in the 279th and following pages of the second edition of his Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions, has made an attack upon the President and Council of the Royal Society, for having had a paper pinned into the copy of his experiments and observations, which is preserved in their archives; and desires to know how it came there. The Editor of this Journal hopes the explanation that follows will prove satisfactory, and exculpate the Council from any intention of hostility towards Dr. Wilson Philip.

When the paper was read before the Society, there were many members who thought it was right that one of the experiments should be repeated. Three members of the Society undertook this task, one conducting the galvanic part; another, the anatomical part; and the third, who was not made acquainted which was the galvanized rabbit, was called in after the experiment was over, to

* It is probable that many of the works in the collection at Herculaneum, the names of the authors of which are not mentioned by Greek or Roman writers, were composed by natives of Magna Grecia. In a collection made in Magna Grecia, such works would not be neglected; and in cities like Tarentum, Crotona, Posidonia, Pompeii, &c., the state of civilization implies a state of activity, both in literature and in science : the schools of Pythagoras and Archytas, alone, must have furnished numerous works.