fixed ftars. And as this latter immenfe ftarry bed is not of equal breadth or luftre in every, part, nor runs on in one straight direction, but is curved and even divided into two streams along a very confiderable portion of it; we may likewise expect the greatest variety in the ftrata of the clusters of stars and nebulæ. One of thefe nebulous beds is fo rich, that, in paffing through a fection of it, in the time of only thirty-fix minutes, I detected no less than thirty-one nebulæ, all diftinctly visible upon a fine blue sky. Their fituation and fhape, as well as condition, feem to denote the greatest variety imaginable. In another ftratum, or perhaps a different branch of the former, I have seen double and treble nebulæ, variously arranged; large ones with small, feemingly attendants; narrow but much extended, lucid nebulæ or bright dafhes; fome of the shape of a fan, refembling an electric brush, iffuing from a lucid point; others of the cometic shape, with a feeming nucleus in the center; or like cloudy ftars, furrounded with a nebulous atmofphere; a different fort again contain a nebulofity of the milky kind, like that wonderful, inexplicable phenomenon about Orionis; while others fhine with a fainter, mottled kind of light, which denotes their being resolvable into stars.' There are many other curious particulars in this paper, but we have already extended our account of it far enough. Art. XXXIV. An Account of a new Species of the BarkTree, found in the Island of St. Lucia. By Mr. George Da vidfon,In the fixty-feventh volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions, p. 504. we received an account of a species of cincona, found in Jamaica. This feems very much to resemble it, fo far as we perceive from the imperfect defcription in that volume; and both are varieties of the Cincona Caribbæa of Linnæus, in the last edition of the Species Plantarum. Its properties we had occasion to describe in our review of Dr. Kentifh's pamphlet, vol. lix. p. 15. Art. XXXV. An Account of an Obfervation of the Meteor of August 18, 1783, made on Hewit Common, near York. By Nathaniel Pigott, Efq. F. R. S.-This is the fame meteor obferved by Meffrs. Cavallo, Aubert, Cooper, and Blagden, of which we have already given a full account. Art. XXXVI. Obfervations of the Comet of 1783. By Edward Pigott, Efq.-This comet was obferved the 19th of November, 1783. It had exactly the appearance of a nebula, and its light was very faint. Mr. Mechain, at Paris, discovered it the 26th of November, feven days after Mr. Pigott's firft obfervation. Art. XXXVII. Experiments on mixing Gold with Tin. By Mr. Stane by Alchorne, of his Majefty's Mint.-Dr. Lewis had obferved that the fmalleft proportion of tin and lead, or even even their vapours, though they did not add weight enough to the gold, to be fenfible in the tendereft ballance, rendered it fo brittle, that it flies in pieces under the hammer. Mr. Alchorne has examined this fubject by experiment, and found that even one twenty-fourth part of tin did no very essential injury to the malleability of gold, and the fumes had no effect. The mixtures grew more hard and harsh, in proportion to the quantity of alloy; but not one of them had the appearance of what workmen call brittle gold. Mr. Alchorne therefore thinks, with great reason, that the brittleness arofe from the impurity of the tin. Twelve grains of regulus of arfenic will deftroy the malleability of as many ounces of gold. Art. XXXVIII. Sur un moyen de donner le Direction aux Machines Aëroftratiques. Par M. Le Comte De Galvez. -On the Means of directing Areoftatic Machines. By the Count of Galvez. The count of Galvez having communi'cated to us his ideas on the means of directing areostatic machines at pleasure, by a certain rhumb-line in the air, founded on different obfervations on the ufe which birds make of their wings in flying, and fishes of their fins and tail when they fwim, We the underfigned certify'What? that we failed on the canal of Manzanares in a boat with very little wind, by the help of moveable fails like wings. Adieu Meffrs. and, in return for your laborious certificate, and the very accurate plate which accompanies it,-may you receive a fuperior portion of difcernment, and a little more philofophical accuracy! Art. XXXIX. An extraordinary Cafe of a Dropfy of the Ovarium, with fome Remarks. By Mr. Philip Meadows Martineau, Surgeon.-The quantity of water drawn from this poor woman was greater than that related to have been taken from lady Page. The whole was fix thousand fix hundred and thirty-one pints, or upwards of thirteen hogfheads, On an average, she might collect about two-thirds of a pint each day, and fometimes probably between two and three pints. She lived, in this ftate, twenty-five years, and was tapped 80 times. On diffection, all the parts were much thickened by the preffure; but generally found, except the left ovarium, which was the original feat of the disease, and was enlarged into an immenfe pouch.' Art. XL. Methodus inveniendi Lineas Curves ex proprietatibus Variationis Curvature. Pars fecunda. Auctore Nicolas Landerbeck, Matthes. Profeff. in Acad. Upfalienfi, This is the fecond part of the author's Method of find ing Curves, from the Properties of the Variation of Curva ture. The former was inferted in the laft volume of the Tranfactions, and we mentioned it in volume fifty-eight, page 339 it is incapable of abridgement. The volume is, as ufual, concluded with the lift of prefents and the names of donors; but thefe afford no fubject of remark. Planting and Ornamental Gardening; a practical Treatise. 8vo 8s. in Boards. Dodiley. W E cannot agree with this intelligent author, in thinking that the two arts, which are the fubjects of his work, are fo ultimately connected as to become an unity.' That plantations are a part of those ornaments, which modern tafte has admitted into gardens may be allowed, and confequently that they are nearly allied; but, in this way, one part of the fubject of planting, viz. the disposal of the various trees, is only the object of the ornamental gardener. There are many others very remotely connected with it. This is not the only part where our author has expreffed himself inaccurately, probably from not being accustomed to compofition. There are many profeffed book-makers in the metropolis, who would have avoided thofe errors; but they would have been unable to entertain and inftruct their readers with a volume fo full of useful information. 'Man,' he fays, must be employed; and how more agreeably than in converfing with nature, and feeing the works of his own hands, affified by her, rifing into perfection,' In this fentence, we fufpcct the works to be thofe of nature, and the affiftance that of art. There are fome other inaccuracies of this kind; but they are venial ones, and the merit of the work is confiderable enough to obfcure them. The introductory difcourfes contain the elements of planting, viz. concife directions for propagating, in the various ways ufually employed, planting, training, and tranfplanting. These are new and judicious. The outline of the Linnæan fyftem, taken from the English tranflation, follows; and we entirely agree with the author in thinking, that if Linnæus had founded his distinction of the claffes and orders on the anthere and piftils, as parts of the flower, and not as fexual organs, he would have faved himself from a host of enemies.' We do not perceive how he would have rendered his fyftem infinitely more fimple and fcientific, and confequently more. ufeful than it really is.' The fame distinctions would have remained, though under different titles; not to add, that the diftinction of the orders of the clafs fyngenefia, are better remembered membered when once learned in this (perhaps fanciful) language, than they probably would have been in a more floral fyftem. The vegetables employed in planting and ornamental gara dening are next arranged in an alphabetical order. The author tells us, and, on examination, we find his information juft, that, fo far as it relates to timber trees and other native plants, as well as to fome of the more ufeful exotics, the remarks are either his own, or contain fuch additions as have refulted from his own obfervation and experience. The defcription and management of ornamental exotics is, in fubstance, taken from Hanbury, with some additions from other authors. After this extended catalogue, the rest of the fubject is explained in detached articles. Thofe on timber, hedges, and woodlands, are new and valuable. Those on grounds are new in form; the fubftance is fometimes taken from Wheatly and Mason, and their ideas are often corrected and limited by a careful examination of the effects, from actual obfervation. In this part the author displays a correct and cultivated taste. In the catalogue of plants, the author, under each genus, defcribes the different fpecies, with their ufes, and the method of propagating them. There are various paffages which have excited our attention; but we fhall felect the following account of the Tortworth chestnut-tree, to correct a very general er ror. The largest (chestnut tree) we know of in this country ftands at Tortworth, near Berkley, in Gloucestershire. Sir Robert Atkins, in his Hiftory of Gloucefterfhire, fays, "By tradition, this tree was growing in king John's reign;" and Mr. Marsham calculates it to be "not lefs than eleven hundred years old." Sir Robert makes it nineteen yards, and Mr. Marfham forty-fix feet fix inches in circumference. With great deference however to the authority and veracity of thefe gentlemen, we have every reafon to believe that what is called the Tortworth chestnut is not one, but two trees: fuppofing them to be only one, its dimenfions are by no means equal to what are given above. We have the highest opinion of Mr. Marfham's ingenuoufnefs and accuracy; and fortunately, in this cafe, he has furnished us with a proof of his candour, in faying, "As I took the measure in a heavy rain, and did not measure the ftring till after I returned to the inn, I cannot fo well anfwer for this as the other meafures." We will venture to add, that had the day been fine, and Mr. Marsham had viewed the field fide as well as the garden fide of this venerable ruin; had he climbed upon the wall, and feen the gable of the old building, adjoining, clafped in between the two ftems; and had further afcended to the top of the old stump, which is not more C4 than than twelve feet high, and, looking down its hollowness; feenits cavity tending not to the centre of the congeries, but to the centre of the old tree, we are convinced he would not have fuffered fo inaccurate, an account to have been published with his fignature, as that which appears in page 81 of the first volume of Papers of the Bath Agriculture Society.' The article on the oak is particularly entertaining and yaluable. Under that of firs, the author mentions that Mr. Marsham faw feveral firs, in the dock-yard at Venice, forty yards long, and that they came from Switzerland. Perhaps it is not generally known, that the main-yard of the late Royal George confifted of a fingle tree, and was a hundred and twenty feet in length. Those will be moft aftonished at this furprising height, who will compare it with that of any known building; and we have reafon to believe that this ftupendous tree may now be equalled. While we are on this fubject, we shall also select the account of the Boddington oak,' as we believe, with our author, that it does not appear any where on record. This oak grows in a piece of rich grafs land, called the Old Orchard Ground, belonging to Boddington manor-farm, lying near the turnpike road between Cheltenham and Tewksbury, in the vale of Glocefter. The ftem is remarkably collected and fnug at the root, the fides of its trunk being more upright than thofe of large trees in general; nevertheless its circumfe, rence at the ground, as near to it as one can walk, is twenty paces: meafuring with a two-foot rule, it is fomewhat more than eighteen yards. At three feet high it measures forty-two feet, and at its fmallest dimenfions, namely, from five to fix feet high, it is thirty-fix feet. At about fix feet it begins to fwell out larger; forming an enormous head, which heretofore has been furnished with huge, and in all probability extenfive arms, But age and ruffian winds have robbed it of a principal part of its grandeur; and the greatest extent of arm at prefent (1783) is eight yards, from the ftem. From the ground to the top of the crown of the trunk is about twelve feet; and the greatest height of the branches, by eftimation, forty-five feet. ftem is quite hollow; being, near the ground, a perfect shell; forming a capacious well-fized room; which at the floor meafures, one way, more than fixteen feet in diameter. The hollowness, however, contracts upwards, and forms itself into a natural dome, fo that no light is admitted except at the door, and at an aperture or window in the fide. It is ftill perfectly alive and fruitful, having this year a fine crop of acorns upon it. It is observable in this (as we believe it is in moft old trees), that its leaves are remarkably fmall; not larger, in general, than the leaves of the hawthorn,' The Under |