you reach the point, as you approach it on the land side, sinks suddenly to a perfect level. The country through which you pass before you arrive near the Temple is hilly and undulating. There are now no groves of aged trees, nor spacious meadows. It is perfectly bare, and without wood as far as the eye can reach.

The city Croto, now Cotrone, has dwindled to an insignificant village, confined within the walls of what was its ancient fortress. There are some inscriptions said to be in the castle, but as the commander of the forces stationed here was confined to bed by sickness, we did not consider the gratification of our curiosity sufficient to justify us in disturbing an invalid. It required an order from him to enable us to enter the precincts of the castle. The ancient city extended a mile. to the north towards the rivulet Esarus, which is only worthy of notice as being the scene of some of the most beautiful bucolics of Theocritus. The valley through which it flows is at present neither beautiful nor picturesque. In this vicinity there was another Petilia, not to be confounded with the town of the same name in Lucania. It sustained a memorable siege in the second Punic war, when it refused to follow the example of the other Bruttian cities in joining the Carthaginians. Itaque Hannibali non Petiliam, sed fidei Petilinæ sepulchrum capere contigit,' says Val. Maximus (vi. 6). Its ruins are found at the small village of Strongoli, where the author places it, about three miles from the coast on the pinnacle of a rock. There are several sepulchral inscriptions in Greek characters, and the inhabitants point out the ruins of a building which they call the Temple of Philoctetes, by whom the city is said to have been founded. We observed several pillars of beautiful cipollino marble lying before the cathedral, and one of the inhabitants brought us a curious silver medallion which had been discovered here. On one side is a warrior offering up incense on an altar, with a galley in the distance, and the following inscription: EXSOLVVNT GRATES CAESAR ET IMPERIVM. On the reverse is a warrior seated at the side of a stream, with some buildings at a short distance, with this inscription: HAC TANDEM FESSVS MARS AD THERMAS ABLVISSEM. We do not pretend to be in the least acquainted with the subject of ancient medals, but if this be rare, it must be very valuable, as it is in a perfect state of preservation. It looks, in fact, as if it had only just issued from the mint.

The site of the luxurious Sybaris was long a subject of dispute among antiquaries, nor indeed is it yet clearly made out.

Sybaris is said to have been destroyed by the inhabitants of Croton turning the waters of the Sybaris into the spot where it stood. The Crathis and Sybaris, which once flowed into the sea by separate channels, now unite at the distance of about one mile from the sea. Being on the right bank of the Crathis, we were anxious to cross, that we might proceed down to the junction, where the facts stated by Strabo (vi. 263) have led antiquarians to look for the ruins of Sybaris. The Crathis is here confined within narrow banks, and as the soil is soft, it has worn for itself a very deep channel. We were obliged to ascend a couple of miles before we reached a ford, and we had then to penetrate through thick brushwood to reach the point of junction, which is called Abbottatura. We did not discover a fragment of antiquity in any part of the Piano di Gaddella, as it is called, though we were afterwards told that, when the water in the river is low, they observe at the bottom the remains of ancient walls. We cannot, however, vouch for the truth of this statement. The ruins of Thurii are found at a spot called Turione, about two miles from Terra Nuova, and four from the junction of the two rivers. Coins and vases have been discovered, more particularly in the field called Stragolea, and there is now to be seen the fragment of a marble pillar. The ruins of Cossa, before whose walls Milo fell, are found at Cività, three miles from the modern village of Cassano. Proceeding along the coast, we reach the river Siris, now Sinno, on the banks of which it is said by the inhabitants that the people of Heraclea in ancient times had formed their gardens. This idea has arisen from the variety of plants and flowers which are every where found in its vicinity. The beauty of the spot struck us forcibly, and this tradition we afterwards discovered to prevail among the inhabitants. We attempted to penetrate to the mouth of the river where the town Siris, said to be the port of Heraclea, must have stood; but the thickness of the brushwood, and the marshy nature of the ground as we descended the banks, compelled us to return. Heraclea, remarkable as being the seat of the general council of Greek states, is said by the author to have been placed at Policoro, but more correctly, at the distance of about one mile from this miserable village, where a few fragments are seen of this celebrated city.

We cannot now proceed to an examination of the province of Apulia, and we have perhaps already extended this article to too great a length, but the interesting nature of the subject must be our excuse. Till something better appears on the topography of ancient Italy, we must be satisfied with Dr.

Cramer's work, which we cannot however help regretting should not have been compiled with more care and attention. Its chief merit is the collection of passages from classical authors to illustrate the history and antiquities of the ancient cities; but the references are not by any means to be depended upon. We have collected upwards of forty mistakes on this head alone in the first volume, and of course we do not pretend to have exhausted the subject *.

ELEMENTARY WORKS BY M. QUETELET.

Positions de Physique. Par A. Quetelet. En trois Volumes. Bruxelles, 1827.

Physique Populaire. De la Chaleur. Par A. Quetelet. Bruxelles, 1832.

Astronomie Elémentaire. Par A. Quetelet. Paris, 1826. We have already noticed the little treatise on the theory of probabilities, by M. Quetelet. The second work in our title is in continuation of a series of elementary works on physics; and the first is a general outline of the results of natural philosophy, comprising only enunciations of facts and laws. The third is a popular explanation of the principal points of astronomy. We shall, in few words, describe, rather than review, these three treatises.

Our language does not abound in works of which the object is simply to state results, without reasoning or illustration. If we except Playfair's Outlines of Natural Philosophy, which, most excellent as it is, is now of too old a date to represent the present state of science, and is moreover too mathematical for the general reader, we know of no work of authority which confines itself to the object above mentioned. This is to be regretted, and perhaps rather to be wondered at, because such a work, well executed, would be as useful to the discoverer in his closet or laboratory, as to the student in the lecture-room. The latest and most correct numerical determinations, which the discoverer would be glad to see collected in a small space, would not be in any way disadvan

*We have not included the examination of Dr. Cramer's map in our notice of his description, and we subjoin this note in order to prevent any reader from supposing that our general silence as to the map is to be taken as indicating our ignorance of the errors which it may contain. Without entering into a particular examination of it, we cannot fairly pronounce an opinion here. We have, however, examined it carefully as to many parts of the coast-line, and as to many astronomical positions, and we are of opinion that, as a physical map of Italy, it is very incorrect.

tageous to the student. The facts might be stated in a shape which would be convenient for the former, and useful information for the latter; and to such a form the treatise of M. Quetelet approaches, with this limitation only, that it seems rather to have been intended for the student than the experimenter, though the precision with which numerical results are given is well adapted, so far as they go, for the latter.

This treatise embraces the whole course of experimental philosophy, with the exception of astronomy. The defect arises probably from the continental practice of distinguishing between astronomy and what they term general physics.' It would certainly be advantageous to supply the omission by another volume: for there is no part of science in which the elementary books are so ill arranged as astronomy, or which so much needs such a short dictionary as is here supplied for general statics and dynamics, acoustics, electricity, magnetism, and optics. We hope to see a new edition of this work; we should say, many successive editions; both to supply what is now wanting, and also to keep pace with the growth of knowledge. As the state of science advances, such a work soon becomes insufficient: new discoveries are made every day; and it is surprising how slowly they find their way into general circulation. One or two works, executed as is the one before us, and brought into such repute as would render frequent editions necessary, would produce much reading on these subjects.

6

The Positions de Physique' is in three small 18mo volumes, of about two hundred pages each. Our object in mentioning it is to bring the fact of its existence to the knowledge of those who are curious about natural phenomena, in which definition we should be glad to count all our readers. We are convinced that any one who buys it on our recommendation, will have reason to thank us for a very large accession to his power of getting at the actual state of knowledge on any of the subjects therein contained.

The second treatise on our list, on the theory of heat, is as like the one on probability, reviewed in a former Number, as it can be, allowance being made for the difference of the subject. It is an 18mo volume of two hundred pages, containing only the most elementary results, stated in a very simple manner. Nevertheless it would give a valuable lesson to the unobservant mind it could not fail to show how many striking facts lie in the reach of every one, totally unobserved, or at least unthought of, unarranged, and unremembered. What we have said in praise on the treatise on probabilities will also apply to the one of which we are now speaking.

The treatise on astronomy is a duodecimo volume of three hundred pages. It goes more into detail than the preceding, and has the advantage (as appears in every chapter) of having been written by a person thoroughly acquainted with the present state of practical astronomy. M. Quetelet is himself at the head of a public observatory: and though we believe he was not in such a position when this work was written, it is most evident that he then knew the heavens otherwise than through books. When we recollect what sort of instruction in such matters was the only one attainable in our school days, and see that the silly quotations from all manner of poets have given way to numerical explanations of phenomena, and that the suppression of difficulties for the purpose of rendering explanation more easy has been superseded by successful attempts to meet and overcome them fairly, both in this treatise and others, we cannot help feeling that, much as is yet to do, much has been done. The false attempts to excite astonishment have disappeared, or rather, we should say, the admiration of the student is directed to the order of the system, and to the simplicity and general laws which govern the motions of its parts, not to the large round numbers which are necessary to measure celestial distances, when we use our own little mile as the unit. We remember when a boy's book on astronomy gave about as much notion of the subject, as might be gained of zoology from the harangue of the red-coated savant who exhibited wild beasts, both descriptions being of the same character.

We should like to see a good English translation of this work. It might be put into the hands of a young person previously to reading the work of Sir John Herschel. Perhaps a very few pages in explanation of the most usual geometrical terms would be a desirable preliminary. But unless the work met with a translator who knew how to preserve the clearness of expression of the original, which is a talent of the author, and a peculiar feature of the language in which he writes, we should decidedly recommend instructors to prefer the French work in all cases where it could be used.

In so short a sketch we have no opportunity to criticise details. We can only, therefore, in recommending all three works, express generally our sense of the service M. Quetelet has rendered, and is likely to render, to the diffusion of scientific knowledge, by employing the attainments which have made him so well known to philosophers, in the instruction of the merest beginner.