with a brief notice of some of the principal improvements of modern days, and some forcible and truthful observations on the power of the press for the good of the people.

ROYAL ACADEMY ANNIVERSARY.-Saturday fortnight being the eightieth anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Academy, a general assembly of the academicians was held at their apartments in Trafalgar Square, when the following distribution of premiums took place :-To Mr. Frederick Cowie, for the best copy made in the school of painting, the silver medal; to Mr. E. Eagles, for the best drawing from life, the silver medal; to Mr. William Jackson, for the best model from the life, the silver medal; to Mr. John Bidlake and Mr. Charles Augustus Gould, silver medals were awarded for drawings of the Whitehall front of the Banqueting House; to Mr. Francis Clark, for the best drawings from the antique, the silver medal; to Mr. John Kirk, for the best model from the antique, the silver medal. In consequence of the continued indisposition of Sir Martin Archer Shee, the president, the premiums were distributed by George Jones, Esq., the keeper, who delivered a short address to the students. The General Assembly afterwards proceeded to appoint officers for the ensuing year, when Sir Martin Archer Shee was unanimously re-elected president.Council New List: Charles West Cope, William Dyce, Edwin Landseer, and Richard Cook, Esqrs.-Visitors in the Life Academy, New List: Charles West Cope, Wm. Dyce, Fred. R. Lee, and C. Landseer, Esqrs.-Visitors in the School of Painting, New List: A. Cooper, C. W. Cope W. Dyce, F. R. Lee, and C. Landseer, Esqrs.-Auditors re-elected: W. Mulready, Esq., Sir R. Westmacott, and P. Hardwick, Esq.

BURFORD'S PANORAMAS.-Mr. Burford's splendid paintings of Vienna and Paris still continue to attract the lovers of art. Those who have never visited the imperial city of Vienna can have no conception of its peculiarity: The town itself is but a village in comparison with its vast suburbs, which spread around on every hand, rendering resplendent the dark plains of the Danube. As ancient Rome was a city of palaces, so is Vienna a city of gardens. The ramparts, the glacis, the roads, the hills, the plain,-all seem laid out by the hand of the horticulturist. The style of domestic architecture, however, seems rather heavy; the houses are large, and built much on the plan of those in Edinburgh, i. e. in "storeys "

or "flats;" but the magnificent cathedral, with its tall spire towering over all, forms an object of grandeur, combined with light tracery, which amply relieves the prospect. The dome of St. Peter's is also a noble object; but in the present troubled times, the eye still returns to the scenes of the late conflict. The palace, the bridges over the Vien, where the struggle commenced, and the Hungarian barracks, are all prominent objects in the picture.

The picture of Paris is altogether differently constructed to the other. In Vienna we stand upon the dome of a lofty church, and look down upon the city as it spreads out beneath us its map-like view of town and suburbs. In Paris we stand near the Place de la Concorde, and nearly on a level with the actors in the busy scene, and, as we turn around, recognise each well-defined and haply well-remembered object. The Place de la Concorde is indeed a noble spot: perhaps unrivalled in beauty and adornments by any other site in Europe. The deep foliage of the Tuileries on the one side, and the Champ Elysées on the other, lend the charm of vegetation to the ornamental labours of man; while the magnificent Rue de Rivoli, and the Seine with its fine bridge, and the Chamber of Deputies, give a classic interest which makes a deeper. impression on the mind than the mere beauty of the ornamental devices. Upon the steps of that building is represented the mighty act which hurled a dynasty from a throne, and set an example to the world of the facility with which a resolved people can overthrow all the meshes of artful policy, or of subtle tyranny. Lamartine stands bareheaded, in order to address the surrounding multitude, who are well grouped around. The banners and gay dresses give an extremely lively and peculiarly French appearance to the scene; and two or three of the grim-looking "red republicans" occupy the foreground. Through the Place de la Concorde is proceeding a procession of the tree of liberty. The thousands assembled there are engaged in far too important a drama to heed the sparkling fountains, whose waters glitter in the sunshine like a shower of crystals amidst the columns, the obelisk, and the statues of the city.

As an exhibition of art these Panoramas need yield the palm to none, and the lovers of the beautiful need only repair to Leicester Square in order to enjoy one of the most delightful illusions that the mind can possibly indulge in.

JANUARY, 1849,-NO. I. VOL. XI.

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AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.-Dr. Ryan has been engaged in delivering a course of popular lectures on the important subject of agricultural chemistry, suited especially to farmers, who, at this season of the year, visit the metropolis in such numbers. He confined himself principally to the food of plants, and the sources from which that food is derived." "Plants," he stated, "are composed of organic and inorganic constituents. That which escapes during combustion is the organic portion; that which remains in the ashes is the inorganic matter. It will, therefore, be seen that the inorganic constituents bear but a small proportion to the whole weight of the plant. The organic constituents, although so predominant, are entirely obtained from the atmosphere. The inorganic constituents come from the soil." Dr. Ryan proceeded in the next place to explain the nature and character of the organic constituents-carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. "The great source of the carbon of plants," he proceeded to show, is the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, a substance which is produced in enormous quantities during the processes of respiration, combustion, and animal and vegetable decay. The same matter also escapes in great abundance from many natural springs, as in the Valley of Poison,' in the Island of Java; the Grotto del Cano, near Naples, &c. From the lake at Laachen no less than 600,000 lbs. weight of carbonic acid gas are given off per day. Now this substance is a deadly poison to animals-a very small per centage in an atmosphere is sufficient to destroy life. How beautifully, therefore, is the balance kept up between the animal and vegetable world! That which is poisonous to animals is necessary to the existence of vegetables, and, therefore, they are during the day constantly engaged in decomposing the carbonic acid-assimilating the carbon to form the future wood, and setting free the pure oxygen into the air. Were it not for this circumstance, the atmosphere would in time become so loaded with this poison as to be no longer respirable. It is an interesting fact that reproduction treads so closely on the heels of decay, and that amid the apparent destruction of matter by burning or decomposition, so valuable a compound should be produced; and that even the very breath of an animal should be required for the sustentation of its future food." Dr. Ryan then proceeded in the next place to explain the sources of the organic constituents, oxygen and hydrogen. These, he stated, were derived from the atmospheric water, which the plant had the

power of decomposing. He then pointed out the abundant sources of the supply of this water, which, like the carbonic acid, was the product of respiration, of combustion, and of decay. The last organic element, the nitrogen of plants, Dr. Ryan stated, existed in the atmosphere in great abundance, forming four-fifths of the whole; but he believed that plants did not derive the nitrogen directly from the air, but from the carbonate and nitrate of ammonia existing in the atmosphere -the results, also, of decomposition, or of certain electrical conditions of the air. During the discussion of these important points, Dr. Ryan illustrated the subject with numbers of striking experiments. The second part of the course was devoted to the consideration of the inorganic portion, or the ashes of plants, and the sources of their supply. For purposes of illustration, he chose the most constant constituents, such as silica, potash, soda, lime, oxide of iron, phosphoric and sulphuric acids. After explaining the nature of silica, and its common existence in the form of sand, flint, &c., he explained the process by which nature renders the silica soluble by its union with potash, soda, or lime, so as to enable the plant to take it up. He also explained, at considerable length, the action of carbonic acid on chalk, in rendering that substance soluble as a bi-carbonate. In speaking of oxide of iron, Dr. Ryan made some remarks which are most important to farmers. He showed that iron may exist in a soil in two states of oxidation, or, in chemical language, as a proto or per oxide. The proto is the lowest degree of oxidation-the per is the highest state. If the iron be in the soil in the lowest state of oxidation, it has so strong an affinity for oxygen that it takes up the free oxygen of the air, or that which is in solution in rainwater, and thus deprives the plant of one of the most impor tant adjuncts of vegetation. "In those places," the doctor remarked, "where fairy rings existed, and where vegetation was evidently weak, it was generally found that the soil contained the protoxide of iron, instead of the peroxide." speaking of the sources of the inorganic constituents of plants, Dr. Ryan proved that they existed in all rocks in greater or smaller quantity; and as soils are formed by the disintegration and comminution of rocks by air and moisture, it is evident that the soil will partake of the peculiar character of the rock over which it is deposited. Thus he gave as an instance, that felspar, by decomposition, yielded between fourteen and fifteen per cent. of potash. In the concluding por

In

tion of the course the lecturer explained the principle of artificial manuring, and insisted upon the necessity of the chemical examination of the soil, and its comparison with the requirements of the future plant, before manuring could be applied systematically and with certainty. In conclusion, Dr. Ryan congratulated his hearers on the removal of much of that prejudice which formerly existed against the application of chemical science to farming; and although he still occasionally found distrust in the minds of some, yet the best proof of progression was the fact that all our best educated and influential agriculturists were not only availing themselves of the aid of the chemist, but were endeavouring, both through the press and at every agricultural meeting, to overcome the prejudices of their brethren.

ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.-The monthly meeting of this society was held on Wednesday night week, at their rooms in Saville-row. The chair, in the absence of the president, Dr. Prichard, was taken by Admiral Sir Charles Malcolm. A biographical sketch of the late African and Mexican traveller, Mr. Ruxton, a fellow of the society, was read by Dr. King. Dr. Latham then laid before the society the results of his critical examination of the numero-pronominal theory of Bopp. This theory was adopted by the above-named professor, who is one of the first Sanscrit scholars living, as a means to determining, with something approaching to accuracy, the relative connection of languages and dialects with the Indo-European group. But as the machinery by which Bopp works his problems under this system necessarily breaks down and widens to an indefinite extent the present prescribed circles within which the several groups are now placed, Dr. Latham is of opinion that the system is one which ought to be received with great care and applied with corresponding hesitation. For himself, he said that he had been unable to work the theorem on these principles with any satisfactory result, but it had been worked extensively by Mr. Donaldson in his new cratylus, and by Professor Key in his comparative philology. After reviewing the argument, and after a careful examination of Bopp's late works, he (Dr. Latham) was of opinion that, notwithstanding his wonderful knowledge of the Sanscrit, all of Bopp's later labours in philology had been of a decidedly retrograde character. In the course of a conversation which followed, Dr. Latham said that, although the pre