ving uttered this absurdity our man has the amazing modesty to acknowledge that he is an extremely bad judge on this point.' The confession was superfluous The next article is a billingsgate abuse of the tragedian Kean Now, although we ourselves were never very percipient of the powers of this great histrionic humbug, yet we should despise ourselves if we could ever condescend to make the meanness of his birth the object of most tedious and laborious ridicule. Then follows some poetry.Mr. Mullion's letter to Baron Cornwall is an admirable specimen of impudence and ignorance harmoniously amalgamated. A most desperate attempt is made to raise a laugh at some passages in Mr. Proctor's Review of Shelley's poetry in the last Edinburgh. The most successful joke is the following Proctor says of Shelley (after having given him high praise for his poetic genius) that the fumes of his vanity rolled volumes of smoke, mixed with sparkles of fire, from the cloudy tabernacle of his thought." Mr. Mullion should have recognized the source of this allusion. Instead of doing so, he caricatures this passage in the following style Henceforward when I call my boy after dinner, it shall be thus: Ho, flunkey of mine, bring me my cloudy taber nacle, that I may roll a volume of smoke.' And this is wit! The reader need scarcely be told that Mr. Mullion's abuse of Shelley arises entirely from the circumstance that this gentleman was an enemy to legitimacy. Mr. Timothy Tickler's letter is next in order. It is enough for us to say that the Tales of a Traveller are here seriously reviewed as the results of three years of literary la bor! The next thing of Neal's. The contribution to the journal must have sadly fallen off when a man who could not find a reader in America, goes to England, and ranks first quill among the journal-writers. Neal swears that there are only three original American writers, and these are Neal, Brown and Paulding! After twaddling about the laws of nature, flowers, pyramids and dia. monds, and such small ware,' through seven long columns, Neal gives a catalogue raisonné of American writers. John Quincy Adams (whose election Neal says nobody doubts) is abundantly lauded for all sorts of perfections. Neal has unaccountably omitted a notice of the Fourth of July oration. Paul Allen is put down as a man who might have been. (had it not been for the causes that prevented it) the first writer of the age.-We also are of this opinion. • William Cullen Bryant is no poet,' says Neal in this thing of his He is a poet,' says the same Neal in his Randolph. Neal thought that what was said in his novels was as good as not said at all Let him not lay that unction to his soul.' We have achieved the reading of Fandolph, and conten plate undertaking Seventy-six, Logan, Errata, and peradventure, Keep Cool; for we are informed that much of the learning of Neal's things in Blackwood is transferred bodily from these printed common-place-books of his. We shall discourse Neal again on New year's day. ་ The next articles are Chapters on Church-yards,' and the Man-ofWars-Man.' They are thrust together with most admirable taste. The Archbishop of Canterbury, and a drunken jack tar quietly reposing in the same truckle-bed together, would not be a more edifying spectacle. As for the " Man,' we can't tell what it is throughMan-of-Warsout, for we could not succeed in reading it, or in getting any body else to read it. Something, however, was to be done; so, we rolled up our sleeve, held our nose, thrust our hand down into the middle of the puddle, and plucked up the following specimens of filth: "Why old Flushy fists, here is one, forsooth, that swears he can't and won't turn himself up, until be cleans out his coppers; and this here fine fancy man of the cabin is another, and he says as how he can't let go his pots and gimcracks for a minute without completely spoiling the captain's dinner Damn your custards, and kickshaws to boot, you pie-making lubber! cried the Boatswain D'ye bear there, dirty Dick of the coppers? come this way my cleanly beauty-by the hookey, you're used to the game, you know -jump up there, my fine greasy fellow, d'ye hear me, old ship, jump and bear a hand.'— But, come, let us be after taking our bodies below, Ned, for you see it's all over now, and we may palaver here long enough without knowing any thing of the matter at all at all. Besides I'm most savagely hungry, and mean to tuck into me as much as will keep me from starving for the first twelve hours to come-do you the same darling; and don't let your small guts be cursing you for a niggard ere you once more get hold of the breadbag.' If our readers could possibly have stomachs to go on after this, and if some of them were not females, we would present them with a specimen of Morgan O'Dogherty's Maxims Suffice it to say, that they consist of slang vulgarisms raked up by the worthy baronet from the vilest grog-shops and brothels of auld Reekie.' After the monthly list of new publications, comes the Price Current for September 11th. This is decidedly the best thing in the book. It gives some useful information. (a little too late, however,) and being merely a list of prices, there is no room for cant, twaddle or obscenity. V. V. United States Literary Gazette. Cummings, Hilliard & Co. Boston, 1824. -There is much taste as well as talent displayed in the pages of this unpretending little journal. The articles are arranged under the four heads of Reviews, Miscellany, Poetry, and Intelligence. The Reviews are, of necessity, very limited in length, consisting, for the most part, of short notices of the designs, and brief critiques on the merits of recent publications They are generally written in good taste and with due discrimination; and the conductor exhibits as much judgment in the choice of contributions, as his contributors have shown in their selections from the authors they review. We cannot help desiring however to see a still greater proportion of native publications among the subjects of their criticism; for the time, we think, has come, when notices of foreign writings should occupy a secondary place among the literary speculations of our journalists. Under the head of Miscellanies, we find a variety of articles, belonging to the lighter sorts of literature. Short essays on the more inviting subjects in morals or in letterssprightly and well-written speculations upon such topics as are suited to the purposes of the Gazette-and now and then some Tale, in which, as far as possible, brevity and interest are united. The principal attraction of this Journal at least, in our opinion, consists in the extremely beautiful and highly finished pieces from the pen of William Cullen Bryant, to be found under the head of Poetry. We It is delightful to us to see the tales and traditions of our fathers acquire, as they gradually recede into the depths and the darkuess of antiquity, that dimness of outline and softness and mellowness of tint without which they will offer but unpromising subjects for poetical delineation. feel deeply indebted to the bard of Green-River for the aid which his poetry is lending to the influence of time, in hastening the empire of the Muses over the scenes and events of our matter of-fact history. It is the province, and it ought to be the pride of the true poet, to spread around the cold realities of life, the warmth and the motion, the odor (so to speak) and the influence, the winning graces, and the hallowing associations that belong to the genuine materiel of song. It is an error very much to be deprecated, to suppose that the physical and moral features of the new world are too cold, too rigid, and too accommodating to be moulded or transformed to the airy forms and magic attributes of the bright essences of the imaginary world. Nor is it true, that there is reason to believe that with the gradual improvement of society, and the increased exercise of the more masculine and useful faculties, the imaginative powers will be neglected and debilitated in proportion. The imagination is an attribute essential to our nature. Modifications, and improvements in civil institutions may give a different impulse and direction to the faculties which furnish the taste-delighting products of the mind, and may thus change the character and course of the imitative arts; but no disposition of society which does not change our very nature, can destroy the sensibility of taste to its appropriate food and stimulus; for that faculty can never be extinguish ed by the highest cultivation of the others. The difficulties which oppose, just at this moment, the rapid growth of poetical literature in America, are undoubtedly very serious. Perhaps one of the greatest is the circumstance that our taste is formed from models which are framed out of materials to which we ourselves cannot easily gain access. The prevailing taste in Britain is for the sensual and romantic. This taste, with English writers, being generated by the pre sence and the influence of legendary fictions and associations, can easily obtain the indulgence it requires. But our taste, resembling that of England, in consequence of our study of English models, and not in consequence of the same operating causes, is deprived of the means, while it feels the desire of imitation This is obviously an obstacle, only to be surmounted in one of these two ways: either by a fortunate exertion of imitative talent (a talent of no very elevated order) or by gradually determining the taste of our own countrymen to the study of such modes of beauty as the materials we possess will enable us to equal. Without pretending to assert that Percival or Bryant have succeeded in presenting new objects of poetical contemplation, or new sources of imaginative gratification, we do think they have done much towards effecting a purpose so desirable. The latter poet in particular, has directed, in his poetical creations, the full force of his fine talent to the employment of such scenery, such imagery, and such associations, as lie within the reach of his own readers; and for this he deserves, and will eventually receive the sincere thanks of every genuine American. For ourselves we are unfeignedly thankful for what he has already done; and he will not, we are sure, deem us too exacting, if we ask him to accomplish by a strong concentration of his powers what he is slowly and not certainly effecting by a series of divided efforts; for these are inevitably weakened and distracted by their separate insufficiency of force, and diversity of application. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. FOREIGN. Mineralogy.-Masses of native or pure metallic iron have have been lately discovered near Bogota, in South America. They were found on a hill of secondary sandstone in masses of different sizes, from a few H. pounds to several hundred weight. They are generally supposed to be of meteoric formation, and an analysis gave the same substances with those found in iron, known positively to have descended from the at mosphere. The largest of the above masses weighed about fifteen hundred weight. One of the largest masses known, may be seen in the rooms of the Lyoeum of Natural History of this city. It weighs 3000lbs. and is the property of Col. G. Gibbs, a gentleman distinguished for his zeal in the cause of science. of Brazil. He has added three new species to the genus Cinchona and described another plant which grows in great abundance and possesses properties equal if not superior to the Peruvian Bark. It belongs to the genus Strychnos, which hitherto has been found to embrace those plants only highly deleterious to man. Among these we may particularize the nux vomica or poison nut. M. St. Hilaire during a six years residence in that country made a collection of more than 7000 species of plants, 2000 of birds, 130 of quadrupeds and 16000 of insects. He will be aided in the publication of his costly works by the liberality of the French government. Zoology.-The English naturalists are beginning to turn their attention to this hitherto neglected department of Natural History. The works of Mr. Horsefield and Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles illustrating the Zoology of Sumatra and Java are spoken of in terms of great commendation. The preservation and reproduction of the common leech has been made the subject of a memoir by Mr. Noble of Versailles. Botany.-Dr. Horsefield has examined at some length the history of the Bohon Upas, or poison tree of Java. In 1780, Foersch, a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company's service, published the first account of this tree, and the many absurdities and falsehoods with which he adorned his story, have hitherto passed currently in the scientific world. Poets have made frequent allusion to this wonderful tree.* Party orators have liberally compared their opponents to this poisonous production of nature, and it is has even been made the subject of a drama. Devested of all the falsehoods and exaggerations with which its history has been enveloped, the following appear from the experiments of Dr. Horsefield to be the real facts. A tree called by the natives Artshar, grows on the eastern part of the Island to the height of 70 or 80 feet. It is well known that this useful Its trunk exudes a milky juice, from little animal dies speedily when prewhich an active poison is prepared. served in the usual mode, in glass There is also a creeping shrub called vessels. Mr. Noble succeeded in Tshetik, which produces an equally preserving them completely, by copowerful poison. They are both inhab vering the bottom of the vessel with itants of the forest, and may be safely clay, of the consistence of soft paste, cut and handled with impunity. The and placing a stout piece of linen over juice is used by the natives to poison the top. The water should be chantheir arrows, and they destroyed great ged at least once a week, and if posnumbers of the Dutch soldiers e- sible without disturbing the soft botfore a remedy was discovered. This tom. The same paper contains severemedy is the root of the Crinum ral curious facts connected with the Asiaticum, which, if timely applied, reproduction of these animals. They counteracts, by its emetic effects, the deposit in the soft clay an oval body, force of the Upas. Several kinds of about the size of a hazel nut, from poison are prepared from these two which at the end of twenty-five days plants, one of which is so powerful as the young are seen to issue. By to kill a strong healthy man in fifteen taking proper precautions Mr. Nominutes. ble was enabled to raise as many leeches as his business required. Our medical brethren in this country M. Auguste St. Hilaire has commenced the publication of his Flora *«Chained at his root two scion demons dwell."-Darwin. might profit by these hints, and dispense, in future, with the necessity of importing annually so many thousands of these expensive but useful animals. Arts.-To eulogize the Steam Engine has become common place. Its value to England may be estimated from calculations which show that the Steam Engines there, represent the power of 320,000 horses, equal to 1,920,000 men, which being in fact managed by 36,000 men, add actually to the power of the population of England 1,884,000 men. Medical remains found at Pompei.-M. Choulanet has published in a work entitled "De locis Pompeianis ad rem medicam facientibus," an account of the different objects relating to the medical art which have been discovered at Pompeii. M. Choulanet describes successively the temple of Esculapius, the amulets, surgical instruments, pharmaceutical apparatus, &c., found in the midst of the ruins. Amongst the surgical instruments were some nearly resembling those made use of at the present day; as for instance, elevators for the operation of trepanning, lancets, spatulas catheters, instruments for the application of the actual cautery, &c. There has not been found one single building which could be regarded as a school of surgery or anatomical mu seum. Value of Literary property in Scotland forty years ago.-Cullen was paid 12007. for a new edition of his 66 First Lines," and Smellie received 1050/. for the first edition of his Philosophy of Natural History in one 4to. volume. We have few instances in our country of authors be ing paid so well for mere professional works. It has been stated, however, that Kobert T. Paine, of Boston, received, for a short poem of a few hundred lines, entitled "The Invention of Letters," $1400; and it is within our own knowledge that $5000 have been offered and refused for the first edition of a small work not exceeding 400 pages, which was not many years since printed in this city. Trade, &c-England during the last year manufactured 600.000 bags of Cotton, France 200,000, and all the rest of Europe collectively 60000, About making a total of 860,000. 100,000 bales of the cotton manufactured by England is made into yarn, and re-exported in that state for the use of the manufacturers in the North of Europe. The great and surprising extension of the cotton plant in the United States here may be understood from the following facts:--In 1792, the total quantity exported amounted to 140,000 lbs., in 1824 it was estimated that 160,000,000 lbs. were raised within the United States. Physiology.-Autenreich of Tubingen has recently published the result of his observations on the egg of the common fowl. It is well known to housewives that when an egg is held up to the light, one of the ends appears to, and in fact is, filled with air. Those with the aircell exactly at the apex of the larger end all produced males, and those with the air-cells not on but near the apex, all produced females. Many thousand eggs were hatched to verify these observations, and the results completely satisfied Autenreich of their accuracy. DOMESTIC. Zoology. The appearance of a white bear in the western part of the State of New-York, has given rise to many speculations which have been gravely passed from one newspaper to another throughout the Union. According to these papers, the animal in question is a polar bear, which has been driven from his usual haunts by the approach of a hard winter; consequently we are to expect an unusual proportion of cold weather. These fearful prognostics are however without any |