service, as well as this same cold duty you talk of ?'

"Surely, my lord, it doth not become me to speak; but he that hath seen the fields of Leipsic and of Lutzen, may be said to have seen pitched battles. And one who hath witnessed the intaking of Frankfort, and Spanheim, and Nuremberg, and so forth, should know something about leaguers, storms, onslaughts and outfalls.' "But your merit, sir, and experience, were, doubtless, followed by promotion."

"It came slow, my lord, dooms slow,' replied Dalgetty; but as my Scottish countrymen, the fathers of the war, and the raisers of those valourous Scottish regiments that were the dread of Germany, began to fall pretty thick, what with pestilence and what with the sword, why we, their children, succeeded to their inheritance. Sir, I was six years first private gentleman of the company, and three years lance-speisade; disdaining to receive a halbert, as unbecoming my birth. Wherefore I was ultimately promoted to be a fahndragger, as the High Dutch call it, (which signifies an ancient) in the King's Lief Regiment of Black-Horse, and thereafter I arose to be lieutenant and ritt-master, under that invincible monarch, the bulwark of the Protestant faith, the Lion of the North, the terror of Austria, Gustavus the

victorious.'

"And yet, if I understand you, Captain Dalgetty, I think that rank corresponds with your foreign title of ritt-master,

"The same grade preceesely,' answered Dalgetty; ritt-master signifying literally file-leader."

"I was observing,' continued Lord Menteith, that, if I understand you right, you had left the service of this great Prince.'

"It was after his death-it was after his death, sir,' said Dalgetty, when I was in no shape bound to continue mine adherence. There are things my lord, in that service, that cannot but go against the stomach of any cavalier of honour. In especial, albeit the pay be none of the most superabundant, being only about sixty dollars a month to a ritt-master, yet the invincible Gustavus never paid above one-third of that sum, whilk was distri

buted monthly by way of loan; although, when justly considered, it was, in fact, a borrowing by that great monarch of the additional two-thirds which were due to the soldier. And I have seen some whole regiments of Dutch and Holsteiners mutiny on the field of battle, like base scullions, crying out Gelt, gelt, signifying their desire of pay, instead of falling to blows like our noble Scotch blades, who ever disdained, my lord, postponing of honour to filthy lucre.'

"But were not these arrears,' said Lord Menteith, paid to the soldiery at some stated period?'

take it

"My lord,' said Dalgetty, I on my conscience, that at no period, and by no possible process, could one cruetzer of them ever be recovered. I myself never saw twenty dollars of my own all the time I served the invincible Gustavus, unless it was from the chance of a storm, or victory, or the fetching in some town or doorp, when a cavalier of fortune, who knows the usage of wars, seldom faileth to make some small profit.'

6

"I begin rather to wonder, sir," said Lord Menteith, that you should have continued so long in the Swedish service, than that you should have ultimately withdrawn from it.'

66 6 Neither I should,' answered the rittmaster; but that great leader, captain, and king, the Lion of the North, and the bulwark of the Protestant faith had a way of winning battles, taking towns, overrunning countries, and levying contribu tions, whilk made his service irresistibly delectable to all true-bred cavaliers who follow the noble profession of arms. Simple as I ride here, my lord, I have myself commanded the whole stift of Dunklespiel on the Lower Rhine, occupying the Palsgraye's palace, consuming his choice wines with my comrades, calling in contributions, requisitions, and caduacs, and not failing to lick my fingers, as became a good cook. But truly all this glory hastened to decay, after our great master had been shot with three bullets on the field of Lutzen; wherefore, finding that fortune had changed sides, that the borrowings and lendings went on as before out of our pay, while the caduacs and casualties were all cut off, I e'en gave up my commission, and took service with Wallenstein in Walter Butler's Irish regiment.'

His account of his posterior doings in the Imperial service under Wallenstein-and in the Spanish troops in the Low Countries, is equally edifying.

A considerable part of the interest, however, turns upon Allan Macauley, a Highland gentleman, endowed with the second sight; but this gift, upproducing a very impressive effect, alon the whole, is not the means of though he has otherwise a good deal to do in the story. A more profound feeling is awakened by Ranald Maceagh, one of the last survivors of a clan nearly extirpated-the "children of the mist," as they are expressively called-one of the races of lawless freebooters or caterans. In him we have a specimen of the wildest and most primitive species of mountaineer of which any remained in the time of Montrose. Ranald, being mortally

wounded, calls his son to receive his last words, and charges him to continue the same mode of life as had been practised by his forefathers. He tells him to sow no grain, to enclose no pastures, nor, in any respect, to follow the vocations of civilized life, but to live by hunting, and if that should fail, to prey upon the flocks of those clans that now occupied the original territories of his ancestors. The words in which this dying command is delivered are full of poetry, and carry the imagination far back into antiquity. And now before concluding, we must again protest against the resolution which the author professes to have formed of giving us no more of his novels. Our consolation is, that in

that sort he has heretofore been more than once a sad vow-breaker. For the time, however, we have no doubt he is quite sincere in all that he says and in nothing more sincere, we will believe, than in the high compliments he bestows upon a certain unknown author or authoress (his words are, " a brother or a sister-shadow,") whom he considers as well qualified to follow in the same field which he talks of as abandoned by himself.We hope this commendation-the highest commendation that could have been bestowed-will not be without its due effect as a stimulus upon the accomplished person, of whatever sex, to whom the world is indebted for the tale of "MARRIAGE."

College Muscum.-Thirty or forty years ago this museum was neither extensive nor splendid. It contained, as we are well informed, an enormous and very ill looking white Greenland bear, a few distorted stuf fed birds, an old black skeleton or two, a wretched looking alligator, (fit for an apothecaries study,) some equally miserable snakes, and a heap of the more common and coarser minerals. Sir Robert Sibbald, it is true, left a considerable collection of natural curiosities, which were presented to the college, but these, in the course of time, disappeared. Many, through neglect, became useless, and others, from want of cases, were appropriated by curious collectors with the view of adding them to their own stores, as interesting memorials or relics of the college museum. This collection is again on the increase, and ere long promises to be one of the most scientific and beautiful in Europe. The classical zoological cabinet of Dufresne of Paris has been purchased for a great sum by the college, and is now on its way to Edinburgh. The sale of Bullock's museum in London was attended by a gentleman on the part of the University, and he, we understand, has made purchases to a considerable amount. Every month collections and specimens are pouring into the museum from different parts of the world, as donations by those who feel an interest in the advancement of natural history, and in our national museum.

Trebra on Central Heat of the Earth. Very long ago, the aged Trebra, now cap tain-general of the mines of Saxony, conjectured that all the decomposition and recombinations which he fancied to be taking place in the interior parts of the earth, were

The heat thus appears to increase as the depth increases, in the ratio of one degree of Reaumur for every 150 feet of depth; from whence it results, according to Trebra, that at the depth of 1,196,250 feet, iron would be in a state of fusion. The worthy captain-general has thus landed us on the confines of the Hell of the Volcanists, but not in the warmest part, for he assures us, it must be infinitely hotter farther down. Unfortunately, this mode of discovering the actual situation of the internal burning regions, is highly unsatisfactory; for the facts stated by Trebra, prove not the existence of a central fire, but of a sun which warms the surface of the earth.

Coal not of Vegetable Origin.In the Wernerian Memoirs, it is said that common coal is an original chemical deposite, and therefore is not formed from vegetables. This opinion, which is fully warranted by the geological relations of coal, has been further confirmed and illustrated by the experiments of John of Berlin, and of Dr Thomson of Glasgow. Dr Thomson, we understand, has planned and exe

cuted a most beautiful and interesting series of experiments on the different coals of our coal fields, from which it results that coal is essentially different from vegetables, whether in their perfect or altered state; and also possesses characters very different from those which vegetables exhibit when exposed to heat in close vessels or under compressions.

The

Humboldt on the Geography of Plants.ALEXANDER Count Humboldt has submitted to the Institute a curious paper, on the laws observed in the distribution of vegetable forms over the globe. Botany, long confined to the simple description of the external forms of plants, and their artificial classification, now presents several branches of study, which place it more on a footing with the other sciences. Such are the distribution of vegetables, according to a natural method founded upon the whole part of their structure; physiology, which displays their internal organization; botanical geography, which assigns to each tribe of plants their height, limits, and climate. terms alpine plants, plants of hot countries, plants of the sea-shore, are to be found in all languages, even in those of the most savage nations on the banks of the Oronoko. They prove that the attention of men has been constantly fixed on the distribution of vegetables, and on their connexion with the temperature of the air, the clevation of the soil, and the nature of the ground which they inhabit. It does not require much sagacity to observe, that on the slope of the high mountains of Armenia, vegetables of a different latitude follow each in succession, like the climates, superposed, as it were, upon each other.

The vegetables, says he, which cover the vast surface of the globe, present, when we study by natural classes or families, striking differences in the distribution of their forms. On limiting them to the countries in which the number of the specics is exactly known, and by dividing this number by that of the glumacea, the leguminous plants, the labiated, and the compound, we find numerical relations which form very regular series. We see certain forms become more common, from the equator towards the pole, like the ferns, the glumaceæ, the ericineæ, and the rhododendrons. Other forms, on the contrary, increase from the poles towards the equator, and may be considered in our hemisphere as southern forms: such are the rubiaccæ, the malvaceæ, the euphorbia, the leguminous, and the composite plants. Finally, others attain their maximum even in the temperate zone, and diminish also towards the equator and the poles; such are the labiated plants, the amentaceæ, the cruciferæ, and the umbelliferæ. The grasses form in England 1-12th, in France 1-13th, in North America 1-10th, of all the phanerogamous plants. The glumaceæ form in Germany 1-7th, in France 1-8th, in North America 1-8th, in New

Holland, according to the researches of Mr Brown, 1-8th, of the known phanerogamous plants. The composite plants increase a little in the northern part of the new continent; for, according to the new Flora of Pursch, there is between the parallels of Georgia and Boston 1-6th, whereas in Germany we find 1-8th, and in France 1-7th, of the total number of the species, with visible fructification. In the whole temperate zone, the glumaceæ and the composite plants, form together, nearly one-fourth of the phanerogamous plants; the glumaceæ, the compositæ, the cruciferæ, and the leguminosa, together, nearly one-third. It results from these researches, that the forms of organized beings are in a mutual de pendence; and that the unity of nature is such, that the forms are limited, the one after the other, according to constant laws easy of determination.

The number of vegetable species described by botanists, or existing in European herbals, extends to 44,000, of which 6000 are agamous. In this number we had already included 3000 new phanerogamous species enumerated by M. Bompland and myself. France, according to M. Decandolle, possesses 3645 phanerogamous plants, of which 460 are glumaceæ, 490 composite, and 230 leguminous, &c. In Lapland there are only 497 phanerogamous plants; among which are 124 glumaccæ, 58 composite, 14 leguminous, 23 amentaceous, &c.

The

Mr Pursch has made us acquainted with 2000 phanerogamous plants which grow between the parallels of 35° and 44°; consequently, under mean annual temperatures of 169 and 7°. The flora of North America is a mixture of several floras. southern regions give it an abundance of malvacea and composite plants; the northern regions, colder than Europe, under the same parallel, furnish to this flora abundance of rhododendrons, amentaceæ, and coniferæ. The caryophylleæ, the umbelliferæ, and the cruciferæ, are in general more rare in North America, than in the temperate zone of the old continent.

These constant relations observed on the

surface of the globe, in the plains from the equator to the pole, are again traced in the midst of perpetual snows on the summits of mountains. We may admit, in general, that on the cordilleras of the torrid zone, the boreal forms become more frequent. It is thus that we see prevail at Quito, on the summit of the Andes, the cricineæ, the rhododendrons, and the gramineous plants. On the contrary, the labiatæ, the rubiacea, the malvacea, and the euphorbiacea, then become as rare as they are in Lapland. But this analogy is not supported in the ferns and the composite plants. The latter abound on the Andes, whereas the former gradually disappear when they rise above I800 fathoms in height. Thus the climate of the Andes resembles that of northern Europe only with respect to the mean tem

:

perature of the year. The repartition of heat into the different seasons is entirely different, and powerfully influences the phenomena of vegetation. In general, the forms which prevail among the alpine plants, are, according to my researches, under the torrid zone, the gramina (ægopogon, podosæmum, deyeuxia, avena); the compositæ (calcitium, espeletia, aster, baccharis); and the caryophylle (arenaria, stellaria.) Under the temperate zone, the compositæ (senecio, leontodon, aster); the caryophylleæ (cerastium, cherleria, silene); and the cruciferæ (draba, lepidium.) Under the frozen zone, the caryophyllæ (stellaria, alsine); the eri cineæ (andromeda), and the ranunculaceæ. It has been long known, and it is one of the most interesting results from the geography of animals, that no quadruped, no terrestrial bird, and, as appears from the researches of M. Latreille, almost no insect is common to the equatorial regions of the two worlds. M. Cuvier is convinced, by precise inquiries, that this rule applies even to reptiles. He has ascertained, that the true boa constrictor is peculiar to America; and that the boas of the old continent, were pytons. Among the plants, we must distinguish between the agama and the cotyledoneæ and by considering the latter between the monocotylodens and the dicotyledons. There remains no doubt that many of the mosses and lichens are to be found at once in equinoctial America and in Europe. But the case is not the same with the vascular agama as with the agama of a cellular texture. The ferns and the lycopodiaceæ do not follow the same laws with the mosses and the lichens. The former, in particular, exhibit very few species universally to be found; and the examples cited are frequently doubtful. As to the phanerogamous plants (with the exception of the rhizophora, the avicennia, and some other littoral plants), the law of Buffon seems to be exact with respect to the species furnished with two cotyledons. It is absolutely false, although it has been often affirmed, that the ridges of the cordilleras of Peru, the climate of which has some analogy with the climate of France or Sweden, produce similar plants. The oaks, the pines, the yews, the ranunculi, the rose-trees, the alchemilla, the valerians, the stellaria, the draba of the Peruvian and Mexican Andes, have nearly the same physiognomy with the species of the same genera of North America, Siberia, or Europe. But all these alpine plants of the cordilleras, without excepting one among three or four thousand which we have examined, differ specifically from the analogous species of the temperate zone of the old continent. In general, in that part of America situated between the tropics, the monocotyledontal plants alone, and among the latter almost solely the cyperaceae and the gramineæ, are common to the two worlds. These two families form an exception to the general law

which we are here examining,—a law which is so important for the history of the catastrophes of our planet, and according to which, the organized beings of the equinoctial regions differ essentially in the two continents.

Variation of the Magnetic Needle.-The mistake seems to have prevailed, pretty generally, that the western variation of the direction of the magnetic needle from the meridian or true north, had sometime ago reached its maximum, and was now decreasing, and the needle, at a very slow rate, approaching again towards the true north. The reverse of this seems, however, to be the case, from the recent and delicate observations of Coll. Mark Beaufoy, made at his seat near Stanmore in Middlesex; whence it appears that the variation uniformly increased from the month of April 1817 until January 1819, and has fluctuated since. The total of increase in two years to the 31st of March, as deduced from the monthly means of all the observations, is 2′ 25′′;-the mean of all the observations made in the first quarter of the present year, shows the variation to have been then 24° 37′ 0′′.

Medical Properties of Hydrosulphurate of Iron.-Professor Van Mons has discovered that the hydrosulphurate of iron, produced by iron, sulphur, and water,, possesses, when taken internally, the property of making salivation instantly cease as if by enchantment; and when administered externally, of curing the worst of scabs and sores. Journal de la Médecine de la Belgique.

Receipt for Making the Purple Enamel · used in the Mosaic Pictures of St Peter's, Rome. One lb. sulpher, 1 do. saltpetre, 1 do. vitriol, 1 do. antimony, 1 do. oxide of tin, 20 lbs. minium, oxide of lead 40 lbs. ; all mixed together in a crucible and melted in a furnace it is next to be taken out and washed to carry off the salts: afterwards melt it in the crucible, add 19 ozs. rose copper, oz. prepared zaffre, 14 oz. crocus martis made with sulpher, 3 oz. refined borax, and 1 lb. of a composition of gold, silver, and mercury: when all are well combined, the mass is to be stirred with a copper rod, and the fire gradually diminished to prevent the metals from burning. The composition thus prepared is finally to be put into crucibles and placed in a reverberatory furnace, where they are to remain twenty-four hours. The same composition will answer for other colours, by merely changing the colouring matter. This composition has almost all the characters of real stone, and when broken exhibits a vitreous fracture.

The above receipt was received from an Italian clergyman who has considerable chemical knowledge, and he had it from one of the persons cmployed in St Peter's during his residence there at college.

Paper from Beet-Root,-A M. Sinisen has published at Copenhagen, an account of a series of experiments which he has made

for ascertaining the practicability of manufacturing paper from the pulp of beet-root. As a proof of the success of his experiments, he has printed his work on paper manufactured from this material.

Pyroligneous Acid.-A discovery of great importance engages at this moment the attention of the physicians, the chemists, and the government in France. A person named Mange has discovered, that the pyroligneous acid, obtained by the distillation of wood, has the property of preventing the decomposition and putrefaction of animal substances. It is sufficient to plunge meat for a few moments into this acid, even slightly empyreumatic, to preserve this meat as long as you may desire. Cutlets, kidneys, liver, rabbits, which were as far back as the month of July last, are now as fresh as if they had been just procured from the market. I have seen, says Mange, carcases washed three weeks ago with pyrolig neous acid, in which there is yet no sign of decomposition. Putrefaction not only stops, but it even retrogrades. Jakes exhaling infection, cease to do so, as soon as you pour into them the purifying acid. You may judge how many important applications may be made of this process. Navigation, medicine unwholesome, manufactories, will derive incalculable advantages from it. This explains why meat merely dried in a stove, does not keep, while that which is smoked becomes unalterable. We have here an explanation of the theory of hams, of the beef of Hamburgh, of smoked tongues, sausages, red herrings, of wood smoked to preserve it from worms, &c. &c. &c.

Paper from the Alga Marina-This is not a new invention, but it is possible that in the improved state of manufactures, and especially of chemistry, some alteration may have been made on the process before used. It is also well known, that there are several other plants, at present of no use, from which very good paper might be made, but the expense has not yet been ascertained.

Oil from Pumpkins.-The seeds of pumpkins are commonly thrown away; but abundance of an excellent oil may be extracted from them. When peeled they yield much more oil than an equal quantity of flax. This oil burns well; gives a lively light; lasts longer than other oils, and emits very little smoke. The cake remaining after the extraction of the oil may be given to cattle, who eat it with avidity. The oil, when cold, is greasy, soft and pure; it docs well for frying, especially fish.

New Metal-Dr Vert, professor of chemistry at Gratz, has discovered in the mine of Nickel, at Scaldmig, in Styria, a metal, differing from all those hitherto known. Its principal characters are, that it is not reducible, except when combined with arsenic; its oxides are white, as are also the salts resulting from it. He proposes to give it the name of Vestium.

Cast-Iron rendered Malleable.—The So

ciety for the encouragement of Arts, &c. (in France) has for these fourteen years past proposed premiums for a process by which cast-iron could be rendered malleable, and proper to be made into common utensils, such as boilers, stew-pans, &c. usually made of copper, the use of which is dan gerous, and often attended with accidents. This interesting problem of domestic economy has been solved by Messrs Baradelle and Dedor, and the Society in consequence decreed to them, on 23d September last, the premium offered for it.

The Marquis de St. Croix, who is a member of the Society, has since turned his attention to the application of this discovery; and he has just had experiments made in the manufactory of Loulans, upon pieces of this iron, which leave no doubt of their malleability, and of the advantages which result from it. Pots, vessels of different kinds, nails, keys, spoons, and forks, were first rough cast, then submitted to the process of malleabilisation. The malleabilized pieces not only resisted shocks which would have fractured the brittle cast iron, but were not even broken by falls from the height of ten feet and more on the pavement. They could not be broken without letting them fall upon stones from the height of 20 or 30 feet. These pieces were turned and filed with more facility than pewter. The broken parts, the grain of which is fine and nearly the same as that of steel, were bronzed and perfectly well soldered; the keys answered in the hardest locks as well as the usual iron keys; the nails did not rivet well, but entered easily and without breaking the hardest wood. The vessels designed for tinning received it very well; lastly, the malleabilised cast iron exceeds in strength by more than one half the cast iron hitherto in use.

Chinese Stone Yu.-Many of our readers are aware that there is a stone of a greenish white colour, and considerable hardness, to which the Chinese give the name of Yu, and which they prize more than any other stone. It is said to cccur in the form of nodules, in the bottom of ravines, and in the beds of torrents, and in larger masses in the mountains themselves, especially in Yunan, one of the most northern provinces of the empire. It has been long known in this country under the name of Chinese jade or nephrite; but Professor Jameson, in the last edition of his Mineralogy, Vol. 1, page 505, assures us that it is prehnite. The following are the characters of this mineral, as given by Mr Clarke Abel, in his Narrative, &c. p. 134.

"Its colour is greenish white, passing into greyish green and dark grass green. Internally, it is scarcely glimmering. Its fracture is splintery; splinters white. It is semi-transparent and cloudy. It scratches glass strongly; and is not scratched by, nor scratches rock crystal. Before the blow-pipe it is infusible without addition.