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to a miserable dungeon, where they could be but so imperfectly seen.

We regret our inability to do more, on this occasion, than to recommend to the attention of our readers some additional pictures which we had marked for especial notice. These are No. 8. Gathering Sea Weed, and other pleasing landscapes, by F. R. LEE, A; No. 29. Portrait of Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole. J. LINNEL; No. 30. Portrait of Mrs. Henry Wickham. C. H. EASTLAKE, R.A.; No. 53. Portrait of the Hon. Miss Caroline Montagu (now Mrs. G. Hope). H. P. BRIGGS, R.A.; No. 80. Portrait of Allan Cunningham. W. BOXALL; No. 73. Juliet and her Nurse, with several other of the charming imaginative pieces, (which, how ever, set the powers of description at defiance) by Turner; No. 207. The confessional of the Black Crucifix. T. UNWINS, A.; Ne. 293. Portrait of a Gentleman. R. ROTHWELL; No. 307. Portrait of Sir Robert Peel. J. WOOD; No. 312. View in Yorkshire. T. CRES

WICK; No. 338. Portrait of Lord Brougham (a very correct likeness). A. MORTON; No. 371. The Death Warrant. C. W. COPE; No. 377. Peasants on the Banks of the Rhine. W. J. MULLER; No. 391. The Death of Cardinal Wolsey. E. P. STEPHANOFF; No. 400. A summer noon. T. S COOPER; and last, though not least, No. 445. Captives detained for a ransom by Condottieri. J. H. HER.

BERT.

Some remarks on the architectural drawings shall be giren in our next.

The Designs for the New Houses of Parliament.-In the course of the last month very energetic measures have been adopted, by the unsuccessful competitors, for the avowed purpose of obtaining a reversal of the decision of the commissioners. The public have been appealed to through the medium of the press, by separate articles in the daily newspapers, and more than one pamphlet has been published on the subject.

On the 7th of June a meeting of the Architects was held at the Thatched-house Tavern, St. James-street, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament on the subject of their alleged grievances. Charles Robert Cockerell, esq. R.A. was called to the chair; and the meeting was addressed by Mr. White, Mr. Burrell, Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Hopper, Mr. Savage, Mr. Robinson, Mr. Cottingham, and Mr. Benham. After some general observations, condemnatory of the Commissioners, the meeting, to use their own language, "resolved resolu

tions" to the effect, "That the selection of the successful designs by the Commissioners had not received that approbation from the public which it ought to have elicited; that the selection had not been made with due regard to the merit of the other competitors; that the incompetency of the Commissioners, being amateur gentlemen unassisted by scientific knowledge, was apparent; and that a petition should be presented to Parliament praying for a competent commission to revise the whole of the proceedings."

On the 21st of June, a petition founded on the foregoing resolutions was presented to the House of Commons by Mr. Hume. It immediately called up Mr. Tracy, one of the Commissioners, who was proceeding to justify the conduct of himself and his brethren, when he was reminded that the proper time for discussion had not yet arrived. Here the matter dropped for the present; but it is worthy of notice that on presenting the petition the honourable member intimated his intention to recommend a plan very different from that of the Commissioners, for erecting, as soon as possible, convenient and suitable buildings for both Houses of Parliament.

It is particularly unfortunate for the petitioning Arheitects, that their champion should have merely made the petition a vehicle for bringing forward his plan, which, for the honourable Member for Middlesex is not a professional architect, may probably bring upon him some portion of the attacks which are at present levelled against the Commissioners, and through them at every amateur who may venture to express an opinion upon a work of architecture, without being duly initi ated into the mysteries of estimates and contracts.

The Prince George.-Two highly-finished mezzotinto prints have just been published by Crawley, Leadenhall street, representing the Prince George, 72 tons, commanded by Mr. John Roach, on her voyage from Hastings to Sydney, New South Wales, in latitude 5 N. long. 24 W. chasing the French ship Victorine, in order to put letters on board (who made all sail from her, taking the cutter for a pirate) and subsequently in lat. 39, long. 78 E. encountering a tremendous hurricane, which she gallantly weathered. The successful accomplishment of so long and hazardous a voyage, by a vessel of so small tonnage, is reckoned by nautical persons an almost unparalleled feat, reflecting the highest credit on the seamanship of the commander. The vessel was

employed as a revenue cutter in his Majesty's service, in which she still remains on the Sydney station. Achievements like these, in the bosom of peace, still assert the dauntless character of the British seaman, and the title which it has prescriptively claimed of the " 'imperium pelagi." The prints are executed with great spirit, after drawings by Huggins, marine-painter to His Majesty, and are dedicated to Prince George of Cumberland, who was godfather to this little craft, at her launching at Hastings. The Prince on that occasion threw the bottle of wine at the vessel's head, which fell unbroken, and he observed " what a hardy bark she would be!" So the event has proved.

Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, &c. illustrated. 4to. Parts I. II. (Fisher).—The commencement of a new series of oriental landscapes, in the first style of line engraving, and fully equal to Finden's beautiful illustrations of the scenery of the Bible. This is alone high praise; but it must be added, that, whilst the latter were derived from the sketches of travellers, improved by artists at home, the present views have been taken, for the immediate object of publication, by artists commissioned for the purpose. These were Mr. Bartlett, well known by his "Picturesque Views of English Cities," published by Mr. Britton; and Mr. William Purser. The descriptions are by John Carne, esq. a gentleman whose "Letters from the East" have already established his literary reputation.

The Shakespeare Gallery, containing the Principal Female Characters in the Plays of the Great Poet, under the direction of Mr. Charles Heath. 8vo. Part I. -It is an evident proof that the several series of female heads that have been recently published, have been well approved by the public, that we are now presented with a fresh series. Shame indeed were it, say the projectors, if the creations of our master poet were neglected! but the truth is, they are neither "portraits," nor "characters" at all; but only very pretty female heads, which would pass as well under one name as another; and certainly nothing can surpass the delicacy with which those before us are engraved.

The Dream of the Bottle, a humorous German poem describing the varied diablerie which haunt an intoxicated brain, is illustrated in a design by Schroedter, forming a combination of fancy, drollery, and elegance, such as we have never seen surpassed. The English copy does much

credit to the lithographic pen of Mr. H. Abbott, which has produced a plate hardly inferior to the best etching. It is accompanied by another design by Neurether, illustrating Goethe's drinking song called Vanitas Vanitatum Vanitas, an idea not very different to Shakspeare's "seven ages;" this exhibits considerable fancy and skill in design, but its merits are very inferior to the former.

Stanfield's Coast Scenery, Parts VII— X.-With these parts the volume is completed, consisting of forty beautiful views by that acknowledged master of marine scenery, Mr. Clarkson Stanfield, R.A. They consist of fifteen on the western coast of England, seven on the southern, three on the Isle of Wight, two on the coast of Guernsey, and thirteen on that of France. Here there appears to be a pause, at least for the present: this series forms a volume, complete in itself. We should be sorry if the work has stopped for want of encouragement: but, even if so, we doubt not that this volume, a most pleasing selection of subjects, will obtain many purchasers, when the public discovers that so beautiful a book is scarcely more expensive than the ordinary Annuals.

Dutch Etchings.-The Trustees of the British Museum having recommended to the Lords of the Treasury the purchase of Mr. Sheepshanks' collection of Dutch etchings, the same, we understand, has been bought for the sum of £5000. The utility of this collection to British artists has been long known and acknowledged. Mr. Phillips has lately sold, at his rooms in Bond-street, a very important collection of etchings by Rembrandt and his pupils, collected by M. Robert Dumesnil. Some of them were extremely rare; all, curious and interesting.

Mr. Parke's Drawings.-The valuable collection of original measured sketches of the monuments of Italy, Sicily, and Egypt, made by the late Mr. Henry Parke, architect, during his travels in those countries, are now deposited in the Institute of British Architects, where they are to be bound up in volumes. They consist of between five and six hundred drawings, some of them drawn out to a scale, and many finished off in a most masterly style in chalk and Indian ink. The naval drawings, paintings, and sketches, as also his more elaborately finished Egyptian views, which were among the happiest delineations of these subjects ever made by either his own or any other pencil, were dispersed by the hammer of Sotheby on the 19th May.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC New Works announced for Publication.

A Critical Inquiry into the authenticity and historical value of the principal English and Scottish Historians, printed and in manuscript, to the accession of Henry the Eighth. By JOSEPH STEVENSON. Esq. Sub- Commissioner of Public Records.

The Sixth and Concluding Portion of Mr. FISHER'S Collections for Bedfordshire will soon be ready for delivery to the Subscribers. This portion of the work contains Thirty-five Plates in imperial quarto.

General Statistics of the British Empire. By JAMES M QUEEN, Esq.

The Friend of Australia, in which a plan is laid down for successfully explor ing the interior of that vast Continent. By a retired Officer of the East India Company's Service.

Sketches of the Coasts and Islands of Scotland, and of the Isle of Man. By LORD TEIGNMOUTH.

Of the Government by the Mind; under which is also considered and shewn the Elementary or Original Principles of Property, and the General Claim which Society has on it, and the Rights of the Poor for Relief. By G. A. VINCENT.

The Magazine of Zoology and Botany. Conducted by Sir W. JARDINE, Bart. To be continued every alternate month.

Beauty; illustrated chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Woman," &c, by the author of "Physiognomy founded on Physiology," with drawings from the life, by Howard, &c.

Alfred the Great, a Poem, in Nine Books. By Mr. NEWNHAM COLLING WOOD, author of "Life and Correspondence of Adm. Lord Collingwood."

The Tribunal of Manners, a Satirical Poem.

The Opinions of the European Press on the Eastern Question, By DAVID Ross, Esq.

The Adventures of Captain John Patterson, of the 50th, or Queen's own Regiment, with Notices of the Officers and Regiment, from 1807 to 1821,

ROYAL SOCIETY.

May 19, R. I. Murchison, esq. V.P. Read: 1. On the application of glass as a substitute for metal balance springs in chronometers, by Messrs. Arnold and Dent, communicated by Capt. Beaufort, hydrographer to the Admiralty. 2. On the valuation of the mechanical effect of gradients on a line of railroad, by Peter Barlow, esq. 3. On the connexion of the anterior columns of the spinal cord with

INTELLIGENCE.

the cerebellum, illustrated by preparations of these parts in the human subject, the horse, and the sheep, by Samuel Solly, esq.

May 26. Davies Gilbert, esq. V.P. Read, a discussion of the magnetical observations made by Capt. Back, R.N. during his Arctic expedition, by S. H. Christie, esq. M.A.; and, On the supposed origin of the deficient rays in the solar system, being an account of an experiment made at Edinburgh during the annular eclipse of the sun, May 15, 1836, by Professor J. D. Forbes.

June 9. F. Baily, esq. Treas. V.P.

Mr. Christie's paper was concluded, and these other communications read: On the safety valve of the right ventricle of the heart in man, and on the gradations of the same apparatus in the mammalia and in birds, by J. W. King, esq.; Some account of the appearances of the solar spots, as seen at Hereford during and after the eclipse, May 15 and 16, 1836, by Henry Lawson, esq.; and, The brain of the negro compared with that of the European and the ouran-outang, by Fred. Tiedemann, M.D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at Heidelburg.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

April 23. The conclusion was read of the memoir on the physical features, geological structure, and organic remains of Colebrook Dale, by Joseph Prestwich, esq. F.G.S.; and a letter on Mineral Veins, by R. W. Fox, esq.

May 11. Read, a paper on the Dudley and Wolverhampton Coalfield, and on the formations connected with it, followed by a description of the Lickey quartz rock, by R. I. Murchison, esq.

May 25. Several papers were read :1. A general account of the structure of Devonshire, between the Exe and Berry Head, by Mr. Alfred Cloyne Austen; 2. A notice, by Mr. Murchison, on fossils, agreeing specifically with well-known shells of the lias of Lyme Regis, but procured at West Bay, Fernando Po, Accra, and Sierra Leone; 3. A notice on Maria Island, on the east coast of Van Diemen's Land, by Mr. Frankland, Surveyor-general of that colony; 4. A letter from Mr. J, Robinson Wright, accompanying a sheet of the Ordnance map, comprising about 168 square miles to the south-west of Daventry, coloured geologically; 5. A notice on the occurrence of marine shells in a bed of gravel at Norley Bank, Cheshire, by Sir P. G. Egerton, Bart.; 6. On the distribution of organic remains in the upper lins, shale, and marlstone of the Yorkshire coast, by Mr. Louis Hun

ton; and 7. On the discovery at Thorpe, near Norwich, of a tooth of the mastodon angustidens, in the bottom bed of crag, resting upon chalk.

June 8. Read, A notice respecting a piece of recent wood, partly petrified by carbonate of lime, with some remarks on fossil woods, which it has suggested, by Charles Stokes, esq.; On the structure of the neck of the Icthyosaurus, by Sir P. G. Egerton, Bart.; and, An account of the Whitehaven and adjacent Coal-fields, by Professor Sedgwick.

The Society then adjourned to Nov. 2.

MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY.

May 11. The anniversary meeting was held at the Royal Institution, when Earl Stanhope, the President, delivered his annual address. The rooms were adorned with numerous growing specimens of exotic plants, as the camphor tree, the cinnamon, cardamoms, pimento, zeddary, several species of cactus, and numerous others; most of them sent from the Royal Garden at Kew by Mr. Aiton. Another room presented a splendid assortment of genuine foreign articles of the Materia Medica, and with these were contrasted the ordinary ones, such as are usually found in the shops, which shewed how enormously our officinal remedies are sophisticated. These specimens were provided by Mr. Battley. At the conclusion of the noble President's address, thanks to him were moved by Sir H. Halford, Bart., seconded by G. G. Sigmond, M.D., and it has since been printed for distribution amongst the fellows. Its leading aim is to give a retrospect of the transactions of the society during the past year, and to define the main objects which should be kept in view for the advancement of medical botany, pharmacy, and therapeutics. After defining the connection of botany and chemistry with the theraupeutic art, and enlarging on the utility of the objects to which the society is devoted, he makes some judicious and well-timed observations on the system of superficial trifling pursued by some emi. nent botanists, who are incessantly searching for new plants (so termed) but which serve no other purpose than to swell the catalogues with bare descriptions of their external characters, or to confuse the subject with affected new names and arrangements, and this without any regard to their intrinsic properties or uses. fection of the present nomenclature and The imperclassification, is evinced not only by the multitude of synonyms, but also by innumerable cases in which plants are arranged by some botanists in different genera.

Amongst the numerous communica

tions that have been read at the various meetings of the society during the past session, may be noticed that of Dr. Rosseau, of Paris, on the employment of which gained last year the society's silver holly and ilicine in intermittent fevers, medal; that of Dr. Hamilton on the pisGeneva, on the use of a preparation of cidia erythrina; that of Dr. Lombard, of acourtum napellus in rheumatism ; and that of Mr. Maynard on the Buchu plant, from the Cape of Good Hope, in the same complaint; those of Dr. Hancock on the waik root, and on the coonoparu, the leaves of which are used for intoxicating fish by the Indians of Guiana, as well as two others on the quassia and nux paration of cubebs; of Mr. Bafka on the vomica; that of Mr. Judd on a new prechamomile; of Dr. Ryan on the secale indefatigable secretary, Dr. Sigmond, on cornutum; and one by the learned and endermic medication. On the present

vegetable remedies, and disengaging the rage for isolating the active principles of alkaloid from those combinations on which its medicinal efficacy may wholly or in part depend, the noble Earl makes some every practical pharmacologist. In illusjust comments, which ought to be read by tration of this he instances the very complex composition termed mithridate, which was ridiculed, and at length expunged from the pharmacopoeia; whilst it has been stated by several English physicians of eminence that it was found in many cases to operate as an anodyne, when all other remedies had failed. It may indeed be doubted whether the boasted refinements of modern science have not been of disservice to medicine, by causing many useful and valuable remedies to be expunged from the Materia Medica. The allusions to the recent decease of several eminent members, amongst whom was that ornament of humanity and his profession the late Professor Burnett, and Professor Geiger, of Heidelberg, are feelingly made, together with a brief notice of their scien tific labours.

ASHMOLEAN SOCIETY, Oxford.

May 20. Dr. Buckland communicated an interesting notice on some very curious recent discoveries of fossil footsteps of sandstone of Saxony, and of fossil birds in unknown quadrupeds, in the new red sandstone of the same formation, in the valley of the Connecticut. The sandstone which bears the impressions of these footsteps, is of the same age with that in which, in the year 1828, Dr. Duncan discovered the footsteps of land tortoises, and other unknown animals, near Dumfries. In the year 1834, simi

lar tracks of at least four species of quadrupeds were discovered in the sandstone quarries of Hesseberg, near Hildburghausen. Some of these appear to be referable to tortoises, and to a small webfooted reptile. The largest footsteps mark the path of a large quadruped; probably allied to Marsupialia, or animals that carry their young in a pouch, like the kangaroo. No bones of any of the animals that made these footsteps have yet been found.

Another discovery of fossil footsteps has still more recently been made by Professor Hitchcock, in the new red sandstone of the valley of the Connecticut. In three or four quarries of this sandstone he has ascertained the existence of the tracks of at least seven extinct species of birds, referable, probably, to as many extinct genera. Many tracks are often found crossing one another; and they are sometimes crowded, like impressions of feet in the muddy shores of a pond frequented by ducks or geese. All these fossil footsteps most nearly resemble those of Grallae (waders). The impressions of three toes are usually distinct; that of a fourth, or hind toe, is generally wanting. The most remarkable among these footsteps are those of a gigantic bird, twice the size of an ostrich, whose foot measured fifteen inches in length, exclusive of a large claw measuring two inches. There are also tracks of another gigantic bird, having three toes, of a more slender character. These tracks are from fifteen to sixteen inches long, exclusive of a remarkable appendage extending backwards from the heel eight or nine inches, and apparently intended (like a snowshoe) to sustain the weight of a heavy animal walking on a soft bottom.

Professor Powell afterwards gave a short account of the progress of his researches in light.

June 3. Mr. Tancred read a paper on the rules to be observed in taking observations respecting temperature, and on the differences of climate arising from situation, height above the sea, and other circumstances which modify the sun's influence. He concluded with some suggestions for the advancement of meteorology, which the co-operation of members of the Society would be requisite to carry into effect; and particularly recommended that an hourly register of meteorological phenomena should be made in Oxford, on those four days of the year (one of which occurs on the 21st of the present month) which Sir John Herschel has suggested should be set apart for cotemporaneous observations of this description, in various parts of the world.

Dr. Buckland afterwards gave an account of a fossil ruminating animal, called the sivatherium, approaching the elephant in size, lately discovered in the Sivalic or sub- Himalayan range of hills, between the Jumna and the Ganges. The jaw of this animal is twice as large as that of a buffalo, and larger than that of a rhinoDr. Falconer arid Capt. Courtley have published a detailed description of it, as a new fossil ruminant genus, which fills up an important blank in the interval between the ruminantia and pachyder

ceros.

mata.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY.

June 1. The prizes for the present year have (with the exception of the Latin Essay, which is not awarded) been decided as follows :

Chancellor's Prizes.- Latin Verse"Alexander ad Indum." W. Dickinson, Scholar of Trinity.

English Essay." The effects of a national taste for general and diffusive reading." H. Halford Vaughan, B.A., Fellow of Oriel.

Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize.-For the best composition in English Verse.— "The Knights of St. John." Fred. W. Faber, Scholar of University.

June 6. Mrs. Denyer's Theological Prizes. The subjects for the year 1837 are- On the divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;"" On original or birth Sin, and the necessity of new birth unto life."

June 7. The following subjects are proposed for the Chancellor's prizes for the ensuing year, viz.

For Latin Verse." Marcus Crassus a Parthis devictus."

For an English Essay.-" The concur ring causes which assisted the promulgation of the religion of Mahomet."

For a Latin Essay." Quibus de causis fiat plerumque ut instituta ac mores Orientalium ægrius mutentur quàm nostra."

Sir Roger Newdigate's Prize. - For the best composition in English Verse, not limited to fifty lines, by any under-graduate who, on the day above specified, shall not bave exceeded four years from the time of his matriculation-" The Gipsies."

The Theological Prize (Dr. Ellerton's Foundation) on "The evidences of our Saviour's resurrection," has been awarded to Edward Elder, B. A. Scholar of Baliol.

June 9. Theological Prize." The mission of St. John the Baptist."-The subject above stated, as appointed by the judges for an English Essay, is proposed to members of the University.

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