but the exact law is not yet determined, and the result is a compli cated one, and depends upon circumstances which require to be ascertained by experiment. Thus the ratio of the elastic force, dependent upon pressure, is to be combined with that of the expansive force dependent on temperature; and the greater loss of radiant heat at high temperatures, and the developement of latent heat in compression, and the necessity for its re-absorption in expansion (as the rationale of the subject is at present understood) must awaken some doubts as to the economical results to be ob tained by employing the steam of water under very great pressures, and at very elevated temperatures. No such doubts, however, can arise with respect to the use of such liquids as require for their existence even a compression equal to that of the weight of thirty or forty atmospheres; and where common temperatures, or slight elevations of them are sufficient to produce an immense elastic force; and when the principal question to be discussed is, whether the effect of mechanical motion is to be most easily produced by an increase or diminution of heat by artificial means." Assisted by Mr. Faraday, Sir H. Davy made several experiments with this object in view. Thus, sulphuretted hydrogen, which readily condenses at 3° Fah., under a pressure equal to that which balances the elastic force of an atmosphere compressed to 1-14th, had its elastic force increased so as to equal that of an atmosphere compressed to 1-17th, by an increase of 47° of temperature. When we consider the great difference which is found in the increase of elastic force in gases, under high and low pressures, by similar increments of temperature, it seems to be beyond doubt, that in proportion as the vapour is denser, or the gas more difficult of condensation, the greater will be its power under changes of temperature as a mechanical agent. On these grounds, Sir H. Davy concluded, that carbonic acid would be remarkably powerful in its effects; and he found accordingly, that its force was nearly equal to that of air compressed to 1-20th at 12° Fah., and of air compressed to 1-36th, at 32°. Fah. If azote could be obtained fluid, he does not doubt that it would be much more powerful; and hydrogen in such a state, he conceives, would exert a force almost incalculably great, and liable to immense changes from the slightest variations of temperature. We copy the important remarks with which the paper concludes. "There is a simple mode of liquefying the gases, which at first view appears paradoxical, namely, by the application of heat: it consists in placing them in one leg of a bent sealed tube, confined by mercury, and applying heat to ether, or alcohol, or water in the other end. In this manner, by the pressure of the vapour of ether, I have liquefied prussic gas and sulphurous acid gas, the only two on which I have made experiments; and these gases, in being reproduced, occasioned cold. There can be little doubt that these general facts of the condensation of gases will have many practical applications. They offer easy methods of impregnating liquids with carbonic acid and other gases, without the necessity of common mechanical pressure. They afford means of producing great diminutions of temperature, by the rapidity with which large quantities of liquids may be rendered aëriform; and as compression occasions similar effects to cold, in preventing the formation of elastic substances, there is great reason to believe that it may be successfully employed for the preservation of animal and vegetable substances for the purposes of food." An appendix is subjoined, containing an account of some further experiments for ascertaining the rate of expansion or elastic force, in atmospheres in different states of density. We are sorry that the length to which our remarks have been carried on some of the foregoing topics, prevents us from entering upon the subjects of several other papers of no inconsiderable interest. We must content ourselves with merely enumerating them. On physiological subjects, there are two papers by Mr. Charles Bell. No. 15. On the motions of the eye, in illustration of the uses of the muscles and nerves of the orbit; And No. 21. A second part of the enquiry, being a continuation of the important researches, of which some account has been given in a former number. No. 27. An account of the effect of mercurial vapours on the crew of H.M.S. Triumph, in 1810, by W. Burnett, M.D., one of the Medical Commissioners of the Navy. No. 29. Observations on the air found in the pleura, in a case of pneumato-thorax, with experiments on the absorption of different kinds of air introduced into the pleura, by John Davy, M.D. F.R.S. In mineralogy and geology, we have No. 25, On fossil shells, by Lewis Weston Dillwyn, Esq. And No. 30. On bitumen in stones, by the Right Hon. George Knox, F.R.S. On physical geography there is an interesting communi cation. No. 19. On the temperature of the Caribbean sea at considerable depths, by Captain E. Sabine, F.R.S . ART. V. Warreniana; with Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By the Editor of a Quarterly Review. 12mo. 208 pp. 6s. 6d. Longman & Co. 1824. IF all the leviora which the press of our own day so rapidly furnishes, were conceived in as good-humoured a spirit as that of the greater part of the volume now before us, even those who are objects of such innocent and playful satire, might reasonably be condemned as sour and severe, if they refused to join in the laugh, though it be raised some little at their own expence. The editor of the Quarterly Review (maximus fratrum), is perhaps the only person noticed to whom strict justice is not meted. We do not think that the character of his writing is at all happily caught, and we do think that the important support which this veteran chief of the Republic of literature, has now so long afforded to good morals, good order, and good taste, should have preserved him inviolate and unapproached by the shafts of ridicule. Perhaps, however, the contributers to Warreniana have in their own persons been treated with what they think too little consideration by the hand of the critic, and they take this opportunity of offering re-payment in kind. Who hath not heard of Warren? Him at whose incarnation the Immortals themselves wished they could be permitted to discard their attribute of nepodism (ådávatoi dè καλεῦνται θεοὶ νέποδες γεγαῶτες) in order that they might hope to glisten in eücnemidal glory. Him whose brilliant qualities every Briton must record while he has a leg to stand on. Him, without whose finishing polish no foreigner, "Nuper in hanc urbem pedibus qui venerit albis " Before dare approach the confines of civilized society. whose effulgence all lesser lights pale their ineffectual lustre ; to whom Day is but as moonshine, Martin himself is all Betty. But we must pause; for if we venture to proceed in this strain with this volume before us, we cannot but feel that in some degree we are poaching upon another man's Warren. The editor has had the singular good fortune to collect a great body of Testimonia clarorum virorum in favour of the mighty manufacturer, whom he wishes to celebrate and several of the most distinguished of our. cotemporaries have lent their aid in saying or singing the praise of a person whose acquaintance, in spite of the Horatian precept, every one who has any regard for appearance will sedulously cultivate; although at the same time he may pronounce that above all others in all his works-hic niger est-blackest among the blacks. Mr. Gifford leads the way by an introduction, which is a parody on the memoir of his own life, prefixed to his translation of Juvenal. Now we have always regarded that memoir as a model and exemplar of the most difficult and dangerous species of writing, Auto-Biography. It is executed with truth, with feeling, and with modesty; it details events which, to a highly-toned and nicely-adjusted mind, cannot but be sources of the most honourable pride; and which ought to have been sacred from all venom but that with which it is a merit to be bespattered, -the froth and slime of the Hunts, and their coadjutors. We should gladly therefore dismiss this introduction and its adjuncts, from the little volume which we are reviewing; they are the only parts which diminish our pleasure in its perusal, and which leave any impression upon our minds that the bright polish of its wit has been at all dimmed by an infusion of gall. Mr. Washington Irvine comes next in order. His essay is quite ad vivum. Messrs. Wordsworth and Hogg, in the "Old Cumberland Pedlar," and "Warren in Fairy Land," are equally redolent of themselves. But for perfect identity, we must refer to the Cockney school. "A NURSERY ODE. BY L. H. "N.B. The following Nursery Ode was originally written for private "AH, little ranting Johnny! And the Naiads tie, All underneath the sky, Their garters with crisp posies. Of daffodils and roses. } Johnny, Johnny, Johnny! And throw, with cunning glee, There but words are vain, John- You turn us into laughter. Of harum scarum divo, And though, you tricksy wizard, You daily stuff your gizzard With sugar-plums of full size, And lollipops and bull's-eyes, The Muse, through me, shall shed, now, Her blessings on your head, now. "May your hours of childhood, Like roses in a wild wood, Shed native sweets around you, |