fpects but little removed from thofe of the most unpolished. nations in North America. Like them, in their feafts they eat voraciously; the braveft hero was allowed a large joint as a reward for his peculiar merit. Poultry, vegetables, and fifh,. were unknown or despised, and the ufe of lambs and kids esteemed a blameable luxury. We perceive likewise an almost total ignorance of the rules of architecture, for which Greece was afterwards fo famous; not even marble is mentioned. When Ulyffes is described as building his veffel in the isle of Calypfo, and Homer feems defirous of difplaying his mechanical knowlege, and enumerates all the † tools with which that + hero wrought, the fquare and faw, inftruments peculiarly neceffary, are omitted. Again, as to the art of war, though we cannot fuppofe Homer would conceal any knowlege of that kind, we find it quite in its infancy. Nothing is faid of any military machine. It does not appear that the walls of Troy were even furrounded with a ditch; and they were fo low that Patroclus afcended them without the help of a ladder. We meet with no pre-concerted plan of attack, no judicious manœuvre, no fcheme formed to cut off the provifions, or prevent the Trojan allies from getting into the town. They fometimes indeed formed an ambufcade, which feems to have been confidered as a chef d'œuvre in the art of war; and the American favages entertain the fame opinion; the fhouts and cries of the Trojans rufhing to battle, bear likewife a strong refemblance to their war-hoop. Many other inftances might be given of the rude ftate of Greece in the heroic ages, but their knowlege, at least Homer's, in the art of defigning and blending metals, appears moft wonderful by the defcription he gives of the fhield of Achilles. Our fubject is of a very fafcinating nature, and we trust it will not be confidered as foreign to it, if we proceed to obferve, that, in our opinion, we are still deftitute of a proper tranflation of the Grecian bard. We pay all due respect to Mr. Pope's verfion; it feldom mifreprefents the fenfe of the original, is truly fublime, fpirited, and harmonious. It may however be with greater propriety called an illuftration or paraphrafe, than a tranflation. It is too highly ornamented, and its beauties are not the beauties of Homer. It gives too much the idea of his heroes, the waμeres Acwv, dressed in a modern uniform; or Cato's theatric appearance in his long wig, flower'd gown, and lacquer'd chair.' We need not mention other tranflations. The manner we would recommend is adopted by Dr. Blair, in rendering a Il. xxiv. 262. + Odyl. v. 234 Il. avi. 702. few few paffages, which are inferted in his Differtation on the Poems of Offian. The ftyle fhould be free and elegant, the original fenfe ftrictly adhered to, but not fervilely copied; the most valuable notes to Pope's tranflation might be preferved, and a judicious felection of others added. Such a performance would be a valuable acquifition; and, though many beauties muft of neceffity be obfcured, afford the mere English reader, with that allowance, a competent knowlege of the respective merits of the original. To juftify and enfure fuccefs to the undertaking, three qualifications are however abfolutely neceffary; fcholarship, tafte, and elegance of diction. The Monoftrophics, which the author has fubjoined to his Differtation, are forty-four in number, and, as far as we can judge, not inferior to thofe in his first publication. Philofophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol. THE HE conclufion of the volume of the Tranfactions for the laft year is of greater importance than the first part. The articles are more varied, the fubjects are more interesting, and the details are more fatisfactory. But we muft, as ufual, review them im their order. Article XVII. On the proper Motion of the Sun and Solar System; with an Account of feveral Changes that have happened among the fixed Stars fince the Time of Mr. Flamftead. By William Herfchel, Efq. F. R. S.-Mr. Herschel has employed his extraordinary powers with a fuitable dili gence, and has examined thofe minute and diftant objects, which feem to twinkle, with little effect and lefs utility. On comparing the stars as they now appear, with the observations of Flamstead, a confiderable change feems to have taken place in them. Large ftars have disappeared, or feem to be diminished; others have increafed in fize and fplendour; and new ones have become vifible: even those stars, whofe appearance has continued with little variation, have changed their pofition, both with refpect to their right afcenfion and declination. Mr. Herschel does not attempt to account for all thefe irregularities: the change of appearance he is contented with remarking; the change of pofition he makes a fimple and fuccefsful effort to explain. It is already known that, thoughthe fun is the reputed center of the folar fyflem, yet in reality this body, with the feveral planets, revolve around their common center of gravity, which is only at a flight distance from its furface. In this fituation, if we fuppofe the fun to have only an inconfiderable progreffive motion, whether in its moon round this common center, it really moves in an elliptical 1 orbit, or actually changes its pofition in the immenfe space in which it is placed; in either cafe, a flight alteration of pofition will nearly coincide with all the variety of appearances that have been remarked. If every ftar be a fun, and the center of a system, as we shall have occafion again tó insist on, it is highly probable that each has its own peculiar motions; and fo far from expecting that a little motion in our system should account for all the appearances, it is furprifing that it explains fo many of them. We ftrongly fufpect that the apparent motion is a compound of the contrary motions of the two fyftems taken together; as for inftance, the apparent motion of Arcturus is the fum of the motions of that fun and ours, which will be more fenfible if their tendency is oppofite. If it be not fo, we must neceffarily fuppofe, with Mr. Herschel, that the folar motion cannot be less than that which the earth has in her annual orbit. If it be contended, that the nearer a given ftar feems to be to our fyftem, the more apparent its motion is, we may reply, that the motion of fo few of the ftars has been yet attended to, that no general conclusion can yet be drawn from their appearance. Add to this, that the fuppofed motion of the fun anfwers fo nearly to the phænomena, that without fuch an allowance we must confider the other to be comparatively fixed. Mr. Herfchel's future obfervations may probably contribute to elucidate this intricate fubject; and we shall add the cheerings of our fincereft applaufe.. Article XVIII. Some Experiments upon the Ochra friabilis nigro fufca of Da Cofta, Hift. Foff. p. 102; and called by the Miners of Derbyfhire, Black Wadd. By Jofiah Wedgwood, F. R. S. Though we fufpect that we have already described this mineral, yet it may not be fuperfluous to add that, in Mr. Wedgwood's own account of his analyfis, twenty-two parts of it contain two of micaceous earth, one of lead, nine and a half of iron, and nearly an equal quantity of manganefe. Article XIX. A Memoir on the Method of making the fufible Salt of Urine, white and pure, with the leaft poffible Lofs, and the phofphoric Acid perfectly transparent. By the Duke de Chaulnes *, F. R. S.-There is fo great obfcurity in the writings even of modern chemifts on this fubject, that we are glad to receive clear directions for the process. The great outlines of his grace's directions are, to ufe ftale urine, to evaporate with a boiling heat, to feparate the fea falt during filtration, to refine the fufible falt by means of fpirit of wine, and afterwards completely to purify it by a fecond folution and cryftallization. The laft operation is of the greatest con*This article is in French. fequence; féquence; for, during it, an able chemist has remarked, that the fufible falt difappears, as if by enchantment: in fact, the most confummate address has not hitherto been able to prevent a confiderable lofs, The duke, after many trials, fucceeded by using a very fmall quantity of water, and hindering the evaporation; he compenfated for the quantity of the menftruum, by keeping the whole in a boiling heat. From the fufible falt, thus purified, the glaffy phosphoric acid is procured by fimple calcination. Article XX. Experiments for afcertaining the Point of Mercurial Congelation. By Mr. Thomas Hutchins, Governor of Albany Fort, in Hudfon's Bay.-This article confifts of a defcription of the inftruments, and a very particular account of a fet of curious and interefting experiments, conducted with care, and related with precifion. Their object was to afcertain the point of congelation of quickfilver. Article XX. Obfervations on Mr. Hutchins's Experiments for determining the Degree of Cold at which Quickfilver freezes. By Henry Cavendish, Efq. F. R. S-This paper should, we think, have preceded the former. It explains many parts of the apparatus, which are not intelligible in Mr. Hutchins's article, and is an ample as well as a fatisfactory commentary on the experiments. We fhall, in a few words, give the substance of the whole. Quickfilver was long thought to be effentially fluid; at leaft no one had feen it in any other form. Profeffor Braun once faw it congealed; but the cold, apparently neceffary to produce the congelation, was fo confiderable, that many diftrufted the experiment, and fome attributed the event to the impurity of the metal. At last, the experiment again fucceeded, with different obfervers; but though the cold, pointed out by the frozen quickfilver, feemed enormous, and totally incompatible with other circumftances, yet a fimple and eafy clue occurred to explain thefe contradictory appearances. It was fufpected, that when the quickfilver funk to 300, 500, or even 600 degrees below o, thefe degrees were by no means an index of the cold, but that this extraordinary contraction was owing to the condensation of the metal, after it had been frozen. The laws, by which a fubitance contracted by cold, after it had loft its fluidity, were known to vary confiderably. To ascertain this fubject, the experiments were inftituted at Hudfon's Bay; and they have fucceeded completely. Mercury is now found to become folid, when it is cooled to 38 degrees below the beginning of Farenheit's fcale. Like water, it seems to give out fome heat about the point of congelation, but soon afterwards it becomes folid, with an appearance of cryftallization at the furface. In the denfer parts it is of a bluish white, im perfectly malleable; but there are ftill fome doubts on this fubject, I fubject, fince it fo foon returns to an imperfect fluidity. After congelation, it contracts nearly of its whole bulk, or so much as would require 500° of heat to expand. This occafioned the marvellous relations of profeffor Gmelin and others; for we have no reason to fuppofe, that any natural obferved cold ever exceeded minus 45° of Farenheit. For the particulars, we muft refer to the volume; we may add only, that artificial cold can fcarcely be produced in a greater degree than that which is neceffary to freeze quickfilver. This paper is full of very valuable information on the subject. Article XXI. Hiftory of the Congelation of Quickfilver, By Charles Blagden, M. D. F. R. S.-This History is very interefting, as it fhows how difficultly even a philofophic mind lofes its prejudices and prepoffeffions. Many of the facts related are unknown in this kingdom, and many have been long unheeded. In the first part, Dr. Blagden relates the profeffed experiments on the fubject; in the fecond, the circumftances in which quickfilver has been accidentally frozen. We fhould be more diffuse in our account of his hiftory, if it were more new; but this paper has been already pretty generally circulated among the author's friends; and indeed it deserves a separate publication. We shall infert only the laft inftance, in which quickfilver was frozen, chiefly to explain the caufes of the circumftance which has fo much perplexed philofophers. The mercury, when frozen, is often fixed in the tube; fo that, if brought to a warmer atmosphere, it melts before that in the bulb, and falls down to fupply the vacuity occafioned by the condenfation. - "During twelve years," fays M. Törnften, "that I have refided here in Iemtland, the cold had never but once brought the thermometer fo low as 36°, till the last day of December, 1781, when it fell in the evening to 54°. The following new year's day it was funk to 56° at eight in the morning, and by ten to-62. Here it continued stationary feveral hours, but at half paft four in the afternoon it was observed at 116°, and by eight the fame evening it had rifen to 31°. Although the quickfilver," continues M. Törnsten, "thus fell to -1169 on the first of January in the afternoon, I am of opinion that its defcent ought not to be ascribed to a proportionable increase of cold, but on the contrary proceeded from the fudden change to milder weather, which came on that afternoon. For the preceding evening, when the thermometer was standing at - 54°, I remarked, that, upon bringing it into a warm room, the quickfilver fell on a fudden entirely into the ball, which was about 130 degrees below o. This experiment I repeated feveral times with fuccefs, but obferved the following difference, that if I had not kept the thermometer in the heat long enough for the quickfilver to begin to rife again after it had VOL. LVIII. Oct. 1784. funk |