for 1791. It is found between the blocks of granite; its texture is scaly and rather soft, and its specific gravity is only 2.816. It has been referred to the gypsums or the zeolites, but M. KLAPROTH's experiments exclude it from both those genera. It contains 542 per cent. of silex, 381⁄2 of alumine, with the loss of 6 of volatile particles, phlegm, &c. Its colour seems owing to a minute portion of brown iron ochre, amounting to per cent. The fusibility of this stone is the more remarkable, since it has no admixture of lime, and only the slightest tincture of metallic oxyd. Feldspat, as M. KLAPROTH observes, melts easily in the fire; yet porcelain clay, which is formed by the weathering and decomposition of that substance, proves most refractory. Does fusibility, he asks, proceed from some volatile principle? The name which he has compounded for this new fossil is expressive of its obvious character, viz. from λemis, squama, and los, lapis.

20. Chemical Inquiry into Cimolite. This fine species of clay is the Cimolia Creta of Pliny, and abounds in Cimolo, now Argentiera, one of the islands on the coast of Greece. It was famed among the antients for its medical uses, and for its property of cleansing garments. As a detergent, it actually excels our fuller's earth, and is therefore, even at this day, commonly employed by the natives in washing and bleaching. Specimens of this remarkable substance, brought from the East by M Hawkins, have happily afforded an opportunity for M. KLAPROTH to ascertain its qualities, and to subject it to chemical analysis. It is of a greyish white colour, but takes somewhat of a reddish shade by exposure to the air; which renders it probable that the Cimolia ad purpurissum inclinans is really the same with the candida. Its surface is smooth and fatty to the touch, but its fracture is earthy and uneven, and though soft it is not easily broken. Its specific gravity is exactly double that of water. A hundred parts of cimolite were found to contain 63 of silex, 23 of alumine, of the oyxd of iron, and 12 of water. It ranks therefore with the clays, and its qualities as a substitute for soap probably arise from the extreme fineness of its integrant particles.

21. Chemical Inquiry into Magnesian Spar. This curious fossil is also named Rhomboidal Spar. It occurs in the mountains of the Tyrol and Saltzburg, for the most part in talky whetstone. Its crystals are greyish, but perfectly transparent; internally most resplendent, though externally of only moderate

It deserves notice that our composition of soap with oil and alkali was unknown to the antients. By that term, they meant nothing more than a pure fat earth.

lustre. The specific gravity is 2.48. By analysis it gave 25 per cent. of carbonated lime, 45 of carbonated magnesia, and 3 of brown ochre. It seems to have been known before, and to have been examined by Wolfe in the Philosophical Transactions for 1779, under the name of compound spar. It is found also in Sweden. A specimen from Taberg in Wermeland contained the same elements in the proportion of 73,25 and 24.

22. Examination of the supposed Muriacite. The miners of Hall in the Tyrol call this the scaly gypsum, from which it is distinguished principally by its superior hardness and its much greater difficulty of solution in water. The Abbé Poda has considered it as lime neutralized by the muriatic acid; but M. KLAPROTH'S experiments refute that opinion, and shew it to be a compound of gypsum, common salt, and carbonated lime, with a large proportion of sandy residue.

23. Inquiry into the natural Alum from Misena. This substance is continually generated in the grotto of the Capo di Miseno in the vicinity of Naples. The celebrated Spallanzani describes it in his "Travels into the Two Sicilies," and justly reproaches the inattention or indolence of the people in neglecting a production so useful, and so near a state of perfection. The materials on which M. KLAPROTH has performed his experiments were collected by Mr. Hawkins. They seemed to be a natural alum, though completely decayed by the injuries of the weather; in small and slender fibres, white, and of a silky gloss. The whole was readily converted into crystallized alum. The saline powder, being dissolved in water, afforded, without addition, 47 per cent. of aluminous crystals, and the remainder was likewise brought to crystallize by the help of potash. It must, therefore, have previously contained the portion of sulphurated potash, or vitriolated tartar, which was required for the partial crystallization: but how an alkali, which is confessedly of vegetable origin, could occur in the cavities of a volcanic tufa, is a question not easily resolved.

24. Examination of the natural Saltpetre from Molfetta. This singular curiosity was discovered in 1783 by the Abbé Fortis, at Pulo, in the country of Apulia. The spot was afterward visited by several men of science. In March 1788, Mr. Hawkins, accompanied by Professor Zimmermann and the Abbé Fortis, examined the nitrous cavern, and collected samples which he communicated to M. KLAPROTH. The saltpetre appeared finely granular, forming a thin crust on the pieces shivered, hard, and light-coloured limestone, which forms the basis of the mountains of Apulia. A fibrous gypsum was found sparingly interspersed on the limestone. By a delicate

9

analysis,

1

I

analysis, it was inferred that 1000 parts of the saline matter contained 425 of pure prismatic nitre, 304 of lime, 254 of selenite, and 2 of muriated potash. Since potash is an essential component of nitre, it furnishes, M. KLAPROTH thinks, an answer to the foregoing query; and he infers, as a position in the highest degree probable, that this alkali can be produced beyond the limits of the vegetable kingdom :-but, with all becoming deference, we are inclined to draw a very different conclusion. The other component of nitre, its acid, contains azote, which is the distinguishing mark of animal substances. Ammoniacal compounds, in which azote is essentially embodied, are known to abound in craters and the environs of volcanoes. The mineral oils, bitumens, coals, &c. likewise yield, by chemical resolution, ammonia, or volatile alkali; thus betraying their animal origin. The theory might be pushed to great extent, and corroborated by numerous illustrations: but this would be foreign to our purpose. The general conclusion is, that the subterranean fires, of which volcanoes are the spiracles, are fed by the wrecks of anterior worlds, or ganized and inhabited; and hence the circle of existence is maintained, by the perpetual succession of renovation and decay.

25. Chemical Inquiry into the Mineral Springs at Carlsbad. One of the most famous watering-places with which Germany abounds is Carlsbad in Bohemia. Ever since its discovery in 1370 the source has continued to flow without any sensible variation. Of the three principal springs, the Sprudel, the Neubrunnen, and the Schlossbrunnen, the first is the most remarkable, and indeed a very great natural curiosity. The heat of the Sprudel is 165 degrees of Fahrenheit, that of Neubrunnen 140, and that of Schlossbrunnen only 120. They were examined by M. KLAPROTH in July 1793, and afforded by analysis carbonated soda, and common and glauber's salt; also carbonated lime, silex, and an atom of iron, with carbonic gas. A hundred cubic inches from the Sprudel, which may serve for an example, contained 39 grains of dry carbonated soda, 70% of dry sulphurated soda, 34% of muriated soda, 2 of silex, about of iron, in all 1583, with 32 inches of carbonic gas, The other springs gave almost the same results, but with nearly double the quantity of carbonic gas.

26. Chemical Inquiry into the Salt-springs of Konigsborn, and their Products. This memoir was communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Berlin in 1794. The subject is treated circumstantially, with a view to the improvement of salt works. A brief statement will now suffice. The richest of

five springs that M. KLAPROTH examined had a specific gravity of 1.039. It contained 882 grains of saline matter in every 50 cubic inches, the proportion being of common salt 798, of muriated lime 46, of selenite 25, of carbonated lime 12, and of magnesia 1. The specific gravity of the least productive spring was 1.023. It held in each 50 cubic inches 4641⁄2 of commen salt, 20 of muriated lime, 13 of selenite, 10 of carbonated lime, and of iron earth. In Germany, an ingenious method is used for concentrating the brine, by exposing it extremely divided to the influence of evaporation. It is made to sprinkle, and drop, along the extensive surfaces of lofty galleries constructed with twigs and brush-wood. As the operation is repeated more than once, the brine is denominated the first, second, or third graduation. The specific gravity corresponding to these different states was found by the author to be augmented from 1.039 to 1.060, 1.079, and 1.086. This strong brine is then boiled, and yields nearly one-tenth part of its weight of common salt, with a small mixture of impurities.

These and other collateral circumstances are examined by M. KLAPROTH with minute accuracy:-but we shall no longer trespass on the patience of our readers. We have already extended this article to a sufficient length.

Les

ART. XXIII. De l'Influence des Passions, &c. i.e. On the Influence of the Passions over individual and national Happiness. By the Baroness STAEL DE HOLSTEIN. 8vo. pp. 380. Lausanne. 1796. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 5s.

THE

HE daughter of Necker, the wife of the Swedish Ambassador at Paris, has naturally been a very close spectatress of the revolutionary phænomena of that city. Worthy from her talents to counsel mankind, and formed by the graces to influence their conduct, she has often been suspected of taking a direct part in the affairs of France, and has incurred abuse from the vulgar insolence of Louvet, and other periodical

writers.

Condemned (says she) to celebrity without being known, I feel that the world ought to be furnished with some documents by which my character may be estimated. Incessantly calumniated, but too unimportant in my own eyes for me to resolve on speaking of myself, I yield to the hope that, by publishing this work, the fruit of my meditations, I may give some idea of the habits of my life, and of the nature of my character.'

She seems to regret the consolations of religion, in her motto: Quæsivit cœlo lucem, ingefuitque reperta.

This volume is only the first of an intended series. It is divided into three parts: of which the first treats of the passions

properly so called, and appropriates separate chapters to the love of glory, to ambition, to vanity, to love, to gaming, drinking, and avarice, to envy and revenge, to party spirit, and to crime. The second analyzes those sentiments which form a medium be tween the passions and the internal resources of men, and treats of friendship, of filial, parental, and conjugal affection, and of religion. The third discusses the internal resources of happiness, under the heads disappointment, philosophy, study, and beneficence. The whole is written with a smooth propriety often bordering on elegance, but never aspiring to eloquence: yet it is sufficiently enriched with new, sensible, and valuable reflec

tions and observations.

We shall extract a few paragraphs.

• P. 12. An individual may be found exempt from passions: but a nation is an assemblage of a certain number of characters, of all kinds mixed in ascertainable proportions, whose average irritability may be estimated. The circumstances, even, which are most depend ent on chance, are capable of being calculated when frequently repeated. In Bern, the number of divorces in the course of ten years is usually the same. In some towns of Italy, the annual number of assassinations has been reckoned, and regularly justifies the calculation. So that all events, which are the result of a multitude of com binations, have their natural periodical revolutions; although it re quires a proportional number of observations to infer their recurrence.'

P. 126. Far be it from me to deter women from serious occupa tions: I wish only to prevent them from making themselves the object of their efforts. When the part which they take in great concerns arises from their attachment to him who should direct them; when sentiment alone dictates their opinions and inspires their actions; they are not wandering from the course of nature: they love: they are women:-but, when they assume an active personality;" when they aspire to refer events to themselves, to their own exertions and influence, and to consider them with respect to their own interests, scarcely do they merit even those ephemeral applauses which form the buzzing triumphs of vanity. Women are never respected on account of any class of pretensions: the very distinctions of mind obtain for them, from the men, not the esteem of equals, but another sort of incense to their vanity. The cause of this judgment, just or unjust, is that men see no general utility in encouraging the success of wome in this career; and that every encomium which is not founded in utílity is neither intense, nor durable, nor universal.'

P. 180. The elementary cause, perhaps the only enjoyment, of all the passions, is the pleasure of emotion, the desire of being stimulated. We love in life only that which makes us forget it. If emotion could be a durable state, philosophers would agree to call it the sovereign good. The man of self-command will find out useful and permanent amusements: but the vulgar, when desirous of escaping their common enemy,-the irksomeness of life,-throw themselves headlong into a sort of inebriety, which confounds realities.

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