XIII. On the Ventilation of Covent Garden Theatre. 300 XIV. On the increasing Populousness of England. 305 XV. Observations on the Geology of the West India Islands, from Barbadoes to Santa Cruz, inclusive. By William XVI. On the original Formation of the Arabic Digits. 323 XVII. History of Dr. Brewster's Kaleidoscope, with remarks on its supposed resemblance to other combinations of plain XVIII. An Account of the New Alkali lately discovered in XIX. Observations relating to the Operations undertaken to determine the Figure of the Earth. By M. Biot, of the 1. Mathematical Prize Question for 1820. 2. Astronomical § 2. Architecture, the Arts, Agriculture, &c. 1. Incombustible Storehouse at Plymouth. 2. Mr. Feetham's Description of an apparatus for sweeping Chimneys, without the aid of Climbing boys. 3. Telegraphs. 4. Roller Pump. 1. A Letter to Mr. Brande on the Subject of the Pharmaco- poeia, from Thomas Young, M. D. F. R. S. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians; with Mr. Brande's Answer. 2. Reduction of Chloride of Silver by Hydrogen. 3. Prize Question of the Academy of Sciences at Paris for 1819. fodine. 8. Radiant Heat. 9. On a Mode of preserving some Vegetable Remedies. By Marshall Hall, M. D. 10. On the spontaneous Combustion of Cotton Goods, which have been imbued with Linseed Oil. By Marshall Hall, M. D. 11. On the Moiré Metallique, or Fer blanc moiré. 12. Reduction of the Oxide of Silver by Ammonia. 13. Chinese mode of making Sheet Lead. 14. Ignited Platinum Wire. 15. Explosion from Fire-damp. 16. New Products from Coal. 357-70 § 2. Meteorology. 1. Rain of earthy Matter. 2. Halo. 3. Meteoric Iron. 4. Earthquake. 5. Ice from the North. 6. Description of the Lake which has been found in the Valley of Bagne, in the Valaise. III. NATURAL HISTORY. § I. Zoology, Botany, &c. 371-4 1. Zoophytic Animals. 2. Hoopoe. 3. White Spoonbill. 4. Osprey. 5. Pied Fly-catcher. § II. Geology, Mineralogy, &c. 1. New Mineral-Hydrate of Silica and Alumína. ferous Sub-sulphate of Alumine. 375, 6 2. Silici 6. Zircon. 3. Sliding Mountain. 4. Fossil Remains. 5. Imbedded Diamonds. § III. Anatomy, Medicine, &c. 376-8 1. Anatomical Prize Question for 1819. 2. Newly discovered Membrane in the Eye. 3. Medical Prizes for 1820. 4. Use of Tar in Pulmonary Consumption. 5. On the Use of distilled Sea-water. 6. Medical properties of Salt. 378-81 IV. GENERAL LITERATURE AND MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 1. British Museum. 2. Pompeia, Herculaneum, &c. 3. Herculaneum MSS. 4. Model of Roman Measures. 5. Roman Station. 6. Temple of Castor and Pollux. 7. Ancient Sepulchre. 8. Remains of an ancient Building at Paris. 9. Ancient Sarcophagus. 10. Ancient Mausoleum. 11. Antiquities at Avignon. 12. Ancient Amphora. 13. Ancient Coins. 14. Antique Gold Ring. 15. Puget's Head of the Saviour. 16. Mosaic Art. 17. New Metal. . . 381-8 XXII. Meteorological Diary for the Months of March, April, and May, 1818, kept at Earl Spencer's Seat at Althrop, in Northamptonshire. 389 A Select List of New Publications during the Three last Months. Index. 392 396 TO CORRESPONDENTS. We regret, that the Political and Statistical Table of the United States of America came too late for Insertion. The experiments contained in the communication from Great Totham seem to want repetition; their publication therefore has been deferred. G. C. H.'s Observations on the Arabic Digits, with his permission, in No. XI. F. M.'s Astronomical Observations have not reached. Page 85, line 166, ERRATA. 16, for radices, read radius. 6, omit the comma after atoms. 1 THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND THE ARTS. ART. I. Signor MONTICELLI'S Report to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Naples, upon the Eruption of Vesuvius in December 1817. THIS eruption of Mount Vesuvius began on the 22d, and terminated on the 26th of December last. On the 23d I was at Resina, and on the 24th at Torre del' Annunciata, so that I had an opportunity of observing the two currents of lava, one of which ran towards the plain of Pedimentina, the other towards Mauro. On the 24th, I remarked that the small conical hillock which stood near the centre of the edge of the crater had disappeared; it seemed swallowed up by the same ignivomous aperture which raised it in 1816. The other smaller hillock upon the western ridge of the crater had also fallen in, and was swallowed up by a very large rent upon that side of the Volcano.-Instead of these hillocks, I found the recent lava curiously disposed in the manner of a wall, fortifying, as it were, the ancient crater upon the east and west sides; convex, and very irregular upon the north and south. Of this wall some parts are quite even and regular, looking exactly like our terraces; the whole was extremely hot, and apparently incandescent in the interior, as seen through some of the holes and fissures. I have little doubt that parts of these walls were hollow, not only from this appearance, but from the sound occasioned by throwing a large stone upon any VOL. V. P part of them. Upon the south, all former appearances are destroyed, and there has been produced a very gently inclined plain, covered with fine sand; indeed it would have been impossible here to have recognized the former edge of the crater, were it not for two large blocks of stone which were thrown up in the eruption of 1812, and which, though much changed by the action of two small fumarolee underneath them, which have burned since the year 1815, still serve as landmarks. This plain is often traversed by long fissures more or less perpendicular, running east and west. On the second of March we counted round the crater fourteen apertures, most of which were still smoking; one of them was circular, and about two feet in diameter; it was perfectly quiet, and appeared of an unfathomable depth. The largest of them is on the northern side of the crater, at a little distance from the great fissure which rent the cone asunder during the eruption of 1813, and which has been entirely obliterated, or at least covered by the late formation of lava. Upon the northeast side, a little above the sandy plain, is the new crater, which poured forth the lava that cut the cone of the volcano, and took the direction of Mauro. This lava spread round the ancient Somma, and upon the east side of that mountain descended through a wood, and passing before a house belonging to the prince of Ottaiano, reached to within a very short distance of the principal street of Mauro. On the 26th of December, while we were observing the progress of the torrent, from a small wood of oaks near the Prince's Casino, we were suddenly surprised and alarmed by the motion of the ground we were standing upon, and immediately afterward, three small jets of flame made their appearance at a few feet only from us; we therefore hurried away to a place of safety, expecting a repetition of the same phenomenon, but we only observed jets of smoke here and there in the wood. Whilst observing Vesuvius on the 24th of December, I remarked lava flowing from five apertures, which augmented the current that formerly issued from the south side of the cone previous to the destruction of Torre del Greco, and in which |