value of 20 ducats, to any person, in any part of the world, who should first discover a comet, not known, nor visible to the naked eye.

Congress of German Philosophers.-The meetings of this convention of philosophers have been held at Berlin, Hamburgh, Heidelburg, Vienna, and Breslau. Dr. Okens, of Munich, first suggested a plan for an annual meet ing of all Germans who cultivated the sciences of medicine and botany. The first meeting of about 40 members took place at Leipzig, in 1822, and it was successively held at Halle, Wurtzburg, Frankfort on the Maine, Dresden, Munich, and Berlin. The obvious advantages of these meetings secured an extension of the plan, and other departments of natural knowledge were admitted. At the meeting at Berlin, Alexander de Humboldt was president; professor Lichstenstein, secretary. The number of members present was 378, of whom 172 belonged to Berlin.

Siebold's Japan.-The literary world are now looking with great interest for the appearance of this work, which was announced for publication in Germany, a few months since. Dr. Seibold is a physician, and was employed by the Dutch at Nangasaki, the only port in Japan visited by foreign

ers.

While there he collected 62 chests of rare natural productions which were forwarded to Leyden. Having procured some charts of the islands from a native astronomer, he was thrown into prison for life by the government, but was unexpectedly treated with mildness, and after some time liberated. While he was in prison, the Dutch residents at Nangasaki forwarded to Europe a document written in German by Siebold, concerning Japan. This was submitted to the Asiatic Society of Paris, who referred it to a committee, consisting of Eyriès, Saint Martin, and Klaproth. This committee made an elaborate report upon it in July, 1829. They consider Siebold's facts as of great importance, though they pointedly condemn his attachment to theory. Siebold's inquires at length, 1st, Whether the Japanese are descended from the Chinese, 2d, Or from the Tartars, 3d, From mixed races, or 4th, Whether they are aboriginal. He decides in favor of the third hypothesis, though the committee with good reason dissent, and consider it to be established that the Japanese are aborigines.

Klaproth resided in 1807 and in 1808 at Irkutsk, where Catharine II. had established a school, and where there were a number of resident Japanese, who had been shipwrecked on the coast, and who were not permitted to return home. By aid of a native, named Sinsu, and a Japanese and Chinese Dictionary, he acquired the language. He considers the accounts of Kaempfer a German, and Thunberg a Swede, particularly the former, as having furnished the only trustworthy and entirely accurate accounts of Japan. They belonged to the Dutch establishment. In the appendix to the History of Japan, published in six volumes at Paris, in French, in 1754, there is a list of 106 authors, who had written on Japan. Among the principal, besides those already mentioned, are Marco Polo; William Adams, pilot of a Dutch fleet, who landed in Japan in 1598, and was there detained till his death in 1620; and Capt. Krusenstern, 1804, 5—6.

Japan lies between N. lat. 29° and 41', and E. long. 129° and 143. The principal islands are Nippon, Kiusiu, and Sikokf. Japan is there pronounced Nippon. It is of Chinese origin, Jih-pun, or "origin of the sun." Many of

the mountains are volcanic. The rivers and lakes are small. That the Japanese are different in their origin from the Chinese, appears not only from the striking differences in their external features, but from the fact that the radical principles of the language are different. According to Klaproth, the general history of Japan commences 660 B. C., with Sinmu, or the divine warrior, the first of the family Dairis, and probably of Chinese origin. He divided time into years, months, and days. The history, is, however, in a great degree fabulous, till A. D. 284, under O-zin-ten-o, when the introduction of literature may be dated. Two kinds of writing were then in use, the ideographic characters of the Chinese, and a system of 47 syllables, represented by a different series of signs. As the language differs materially from the Chinese ideographic, a syllabic alphabet was introduced in the early part of the eighteenth century, composed of portions of Chinese characters.

In manufactures, the Japanese rival the Chinese. They work in iron, copper, steel, porcelain, silk, cotton, and watches. They have made paper since the 7th century, and printing since 1206, 250 years before it was known in Europe. There are three religions professed in Japan. 1. Sinto, or Sinsiau, most ancient and pure, founded on the worship of spirits and divinities. It includes a belief in the immortality of the soul, and in a distinction of rewards and punishments. The temples are large, and prayers are offered at stated periods to the founder of the empire. 2. Buddhism, introduced into Japan from Corea and China, in 552. It was several times persecuted till 628, when the royal family embraced it. In 1805, the Daïri, caused images of Buddhu to be placed in the imperial palace. He received Buddhist baptism. The two kinds of worship are now confounded in the minds of the vulgar, though the more intelligent understand the difference. In one temple, there are 333,333 idols. A bell in one temple weighs 2,040,000 lbs., being five times the weight of the heaviest in Moscow. 3. The religion of Confucius.

The government is monarchial, despotic, and feudal. In 1822, the 121st Dairi was on the throne. The empire is divided into 8 grand divisions, 68 provinces, and 622 districts. Intercourse with foreigners was forbidden by an edict of 1637. Nangasaki only is open, and that only to the Coreans, Chinese, and Dutch. The two former are allowed to send ten junks annually, and the latter three ships. The internal trade is very active.

Oriental.

Professor Fraehn, to whom oriental literature in Russia is under great obligations, has induced the Academy of St. Petersburgh to offer a prize of 200 ducats for the best history of the dominion of the Mongols in Russia, chiefly compiled from the works of oriental historians, corrected by, and compared with the notices scattered throughout the ancient chronicles of Russia, Poland, and Hungary, and the numismatical remains of the Mongol dynasty. A dictionary of the Mongol language, with explanations in Russian and German, by professor Schmidt, of St. Petersburgh, will be published in the course of this year.-A second edition of Jaubert's Turkish Grammar

is in the press, with corrections and additions.-The celebrated linguist, Bopp, has just published the first part of a comparative grammar of the Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, and German languages, in which he treats of the sounds, the comparison of the root, and the formation of the case. A second part will complete the work.

Persia.

The following persons have been employed by the East India Company as residents or ambassadors in Persia, for the last thirty-five years. The expense of their mission is subjoined.

These missions have been mostly undertaken for the purpose of guarding against the encroachments of Russia, whose power, it is apprehended, will ere long come into collision with British rule in India.

annum.

Windoostan.

The population of Bombay is now 229,000, of whom 938 are Englishmen, 8,020 native Christians, 10,738 Parsees, 25,920 Mohammedans, and the remainder Hindoos. The number of dwelling houses is 15,474, valued at £3,606,424. There are natives of great wealth, intelligence, and respectability. Some of them are engaged in civil offices at a salary of £500 per The chains of caste are not yet greatly relaxed, though there is less attachment for the brahmins than formerly. Among the Parsees, there is very little distinction of rank. The Company contribute annually to education in Western India, £4,000 F. Warden, Esq. from whose statements we have gathered the preceding facts, highly commends the conduct and success of the American missionaries at Bombay.-Captain Merley lately instituted a suit against the proprietors of the Oriental Christian Spectator, for a libel. Damages were laid at 25,000 sicca rupees. The accusation was that he had built a Hindoo temple at Ahmednuggur in commemoration of an illicit intercourse. It was proved that he had built a tomb over the grave of his mistress, and that the Hindoos had changed it into a temple. About 150 rupees were given as damages. It has been determined that the servants of the Company, who are on the sick list, may come to the United States for the recovery of their health. It is probable that many will avail themselves of the privilege.-Bishop Wilson has issued a long circular in which he requires that all native Christians shall cease to regard the influence of caste. -Hon. Alexander Ross has been appointed a member of the governor general's council.-The subscriptions for the steam navigation by the way of the 27

VOL. III.

Red sea to Europe, amount in Calcutta to 151,798 sicca rupees. Number of subscribers 2,189. Considerable difference in regard to the subject prevails at Calcutta and Bombay. The Hugh Lindsay steam boat is employed at the latter place; and the Forbes is about to be employed from the former.

OBITUARY NOTICES.

WILLIAM SOTHEBY, F. R. S.

MR. SOTHEBY, the oldest of the English poets, died Dec. 30, 1833, aged 76. His principal works were "Oberon," a very faithful translation from the German of Wieland; "Poems;" "Battle of the Nile," the best produced on that occasion; "The Georgics of Virgil," flowing and harmonious; "Polyglot of the Georgics," including several modern translations in various languages; and the "Poems of Homer," with Flaxman's Illustrations. He was honorably distinguished in the second class of poets. His private character was very good.

DR. FREDERIC SCHLEIERMACHER.

THIS great divine finished his course in Berlin, Prussia, Feb. 12, 1834, after an illness of only five days. He was born in 1768, in Breslau, Silesia. His parents were attached to the church of the United Brethren, and their son was sent to the school at Hiesky. At Barby on the Elbe, he commenced the study of theology. In 1787, he forsook the retirements of his cloister, joined the Lutheran church, and entered the university of Halle, where he listened to the instructions of Nosselt, Knapp, and Wolf. Unfortunately, he adopted Spinoza as his model, and imbibed many of the fundamental errors of his pantheistic system. He commenced his public life, first, as a preacher of the gospel, and afterwards as professor of theology at Halle. His most prominent characteristic was the uncommon energy with which he engaged in all his pursuits. This led him to examine almost every science and penetrate every department of human knowledge. In his sixtieth year, among other countries of Europe, he rambled through France. Upon another occasion, he visited England. At the close of the past summer, he undertook a solitary

journey partly on foot to the lofty mountains and splendid waterfalls of Norway. In a short time he also designed to cross the Atlantic. Notwithstanding his pantheism, he firmly believed in the depravity of man, and in the vicarious sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since the opening of the university of Berlin, in 1810, Schleiermacher has occupied an important post as ordinary professor of theology. In the Biblical Repository he is said to have been a man "of great simplicity of manners, and one of the deepest thinkers of the day, who wanders at will over the whole field of theology. He seems to stand between the rationalists and the evangelical party, being however more distant from the former than the latter."

THOMAS TREDGOLD.

This distinguished and self-taught civil engineer was born at Brandon, near Durham, England. From the age of fourteen to twenty, he served an apprenticeship. He then employed five years as a working carpenter in Scotland. For the ten following years, he had an architect's office in London. Notwithstanding very fatiguing labors, he acquired an extensive knowledge of chemistry, geology, geometry, and mathematics. His greatest merit lay in applying scientific information to the practical advancement of his profession. He was the author of several excellent treatises, such as that on Joinery in the Encyclopædia Brittanica, Principles of Stone Masonry, Construction of Rail-roads and steam-carriages, Warming and Ventilating of rooms, Essay on the steam-engine, &c. He died of debility produced by excessive devotion to his pursuits. As a son, husband, father, brother, neighbor, he was most exemplary, ever anxious for the happiness of all around him. England, America, and France, united in testifying to the value of his services. He died poor.

BISHOP JEBB.

THIS prelate was born at Drogheda, Ireland, September 27, 1775, and died in January last. He had an excellent domestic education, and graduated at the university of Dublin with high honors, receiving two of their divinity premiums. He had a great number of distinguished fellow-collegians, among whom were Charles Maturin and George Croly. He became, successively, curate of Swanliber, rector of Abingdon, and in 1823, bishop of Limerick, one of the most extensive and difficult dioceses in Ireland. He soon became deservedly popular and beloved, disregarding aristocratical distinctions, and patronizing working and humble curates. He made but one speech in the house of lords, and that was in 1824, on the subject of the church of Ireland. It was well received, and led to