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sold at the great fairs held at certain seasons of the year, at Frankfort, Leipsig, Brunswick, and Nuremberg. The Easter fair at Leipsig is justly celebrated for the immense quantities of British manufactures sold there. Toward the latter end of March, numberless bales of printed and other coloured cottons, of the finest cambrics, and of the most beautiful muslins, are sent from Glasgow, Paisley, Rutherglen, and other manufacturing places, to Ham burgh. The manufacturers proceed themselves, or send their agents forward to Leipsig, where Macnab, a descendant from the celebrated family of Highland blacksmiths in Glenorchy, is now the principal agent of all the Scottish muslin manufacturers for transacting their business at those fairs. Besides Macnab, there are generally the agents or principals of from ten to twelve other Scottish commercial houses, among whom Guthries from Glasgow particularly distinguish themselves.

The Manchester manufacturers also transmit large quantities of their cottons, &c to Humphries, their principal agent, besides whom several other merchants go themselves with the goods to the fair. It is astonishing to see the loads of leather, cloths of every kind, steel and iron wares, the thousands of buttons, buckles, needles, stockings, and a variety of neat patent inventions, which are for months before prepar

ed and collected for their Leipsig customers by the speculating and enterprising merchants of England. From London in particular, large quantities of the produce of the East and West Indies are shipped for Hamburgh and Bremen, to supply the wholesale dealers of those cities who visit Leipsig.

Stettin, in Pomerania, has lately become a great market for British goods, which pass there, into the

Prussian and Saxon dominions, without danger of seizure by the French. Soon after the commencement of the present war, Embden became the depot of British produce and manufactures intended for the Ger man market, which induced the French commercial Agent Chevaliere to remove frem Hamburgh to the former place, where he practised all kinds of chicanery, to impede or obstruct the passage of British troops to the interior of Germany: being unable to effect this, he advised his government to take possession of Meppen, a neutraltown, which they accordingly did, and in eonsequence produced an actual scarcity of English goods at the succeeding fairs of Frankfort and Leipsig; but on the King of Prussia acknowledging Bonaparte in his new capacity of Emperor, Meppen was evacuated by the French troops, and Chevaliere was recalled. During the stay of this disinterested republican at Embden, he contrived to make a handsome sum of money, by granting certificates, stating that British goods were Prussian property, which were seldom obtained under several louis d'ors each. In justice to this citizen it must be observed that for money he refused nothing, and sold even French passports to British subjects, with which they and their goods passed unmolested through Hanover, Holland, and even on the French side of the Rhine.

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sword drawn. In eight small medallions, surrounding the principal figure, are depicted his most celebrated achievements; as, for example, the battle of Marengo, the bridge of Lodi, &c. Underneath this picture is the inscription Achievements of Buonaparte the general. The second drawing is a companion to the former. In the center is Buonaparte in his imperial regalia. He is again surrounded by eight small medallions, in which are represented the following subjects: 1. the murder of the duke d'Enghien: 2. the conversation with Lord Whitworth; 3. the building of the flotilla for the invasion of England; 4. the institution of the legion of honour; 5. the seizure of the English minister at Hamburgh; 6. reception of the mayor who, in his harangue, said "God created Buonaparte, and rested from his labours ;" 7. his parting from his brother Lucien ; 8. his coronation. Under the whole is the inscription: Achievements of Buonaparte the ruler of France. Who would imagine that the rudeness and audacity of an artist could proceed to such lengths? Fortunately he will never meet with an engraver who will venture to multiply his illmannered productions.

Memoirs of the Progress of MANUFACTURES, CHEMISTRY, SCIENCE, and the FINE ARTS.

of Eisenach. The metal is volatile, and different from Mercury, Bismuth, and the other volatile metals. M. Tromsdorff concludes from his experiments, that the fossil is a combination of sulphur with a metal hitherto unknown.

As we

A new air pump, which exhausts and condenses at pleasure, has been invented by Mr ELIZUR WRIGHT of Connecticut, America. cannot convey an idea of MrWright's improvements without the aid of diagrams, we must refer the reader to Nicholson's Journal, vol. 12. p. 306.

It appears from the experiments of M. GIOBERT, that the magnesian earth of Baudissero contains in 100 parts;-magnesia 68, carbonic acid 12, silex 15.6, sulphate of lime 1.6, water 3.

M. DODUN has discovered that factitious puzzolana may be made from ironstone, and superior to the Italian kind. See Nicholson's Journal, vol. 12. p. 33.

The malleability and ductility of zinc, at a certain temperature, which we stated to have been lately discovered by Messrs Hobson and Silvester, appears to have been known long ago to Mr SHEFFIELD of Somers Town, who drew considerable quantities of zinc into wires, and laminated it into plates 1-200 of an inch thick, long before the annunciation of Messrs Hobson and Silvester's patent.

Dr Joseph Baronio has published at Milan, an account of a galva

A New Island was lately discover- nic pile, composed of vegetable sub

ed by Captain Crocker of the ship Nancy, Boston, New England, when on his way from Europe to Canton. It is situated in latitude 50..12' north, and longitude 162°.. 58' east of Greenwich. It is 11 or 12 miles long, the land high, and mountainous in the middle.

A new metal has been discovered by M. TROMSDORFF, in a fossil, found in a mass of rock, by M. THON Jan. 1806.

stances. The discs are made of horseradish and beetroot about two inches in diameter, and between each pair of these is interposed an equal disc of walnut-tree wood, so raised at its edges as to contain a little solution of acidulous tartarite of potash in vinegar, in which they have been previously boiled, in order to free them from the resinous principle contained in the walnut tree. By means

of

of a pile with 60 pair of these discs, Dr B. obtained galvanic effects in a prepared frog, the spinal marrow of which he made to communicate with the base of the pile by means of a leaf of cochlearia, while by a double band of grey paper, well moistened in vinegar, he made its muscles communicate with the top of the pile. Instead of horse radish and beetroot, discs of other vegetables may be substituted with success.

The new Comet, which we mentioned in our last memoir as having been discovered by Mr Firmager of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on the 8th December last, was like `a star of the 1st magnitude, when covered by a cloud thro' which it might be faintly seen, or rather like Jupiter in similar circumstances: But when viewed thro' a night glass it seemed to have a bright nucleus, surrounded by a coma. It passed the meridian at 6h..24'..7" mean time, with right ascension, 11..23..6'.. 49", and south declination 230..41'.. 8". On the following evening it could not be seen, tho' the sky was favourable. It is therefore very probable that it may be moving towards its perihelion, and if this be the case, we may expect to see it again in its return from the sun.

A curious paper has been laid before the Royal Society by Captain FLINDERS, relative to the differences in the magnetic needle on board his Majesty's ship Investigator, arising from an alteration in the direction of the ship's head. The Captain in-, fers, 1. That there was a difference in the direction of the needle when the ship's head was East, and when it was West. 2. That this difference was easterly when the ship's head was West, and vice versa. 3. That when the ship's head was North, or South, the needle was not affected by the ship. And, 4. That the error in variation was nearly proportional to the number of points which the ship's

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been always numbered among those whose labours in the cause of science have been most valuable and useful. He made several important discoveries; and rendered himself still more serviceable by divesting mechanical science of its rugged and repulsive aspect, and by illustrating it in a manner familiar and easily understood. This is par ticularly the case with his lectures, which, as the Editor observes," have enjoyed an uncommon share of public patronage; and we hesitate not to affirm, without the fear of contradiction, that no book upon the same subject has been so generally read, and so widely circulated, among all

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ranks of the community. We perceive it in the workshop of every mechanic. We find it transfused into the different Encyclopædias which this country has produced, and we may easily trace it in those popular systems of philosophy which have lately appeared." Pref. p. x.

At the beginning of the first vol ume we find a very interesting account of the author's life written by himself. He was born near Keith, a little village in Banffshire, of parents in the lowest rank of life. His father taught his children to read and write, but before beginning to teach James his letters, was agreeably surprised to find that he had learned to read, by merely listening to his brothers. He then gave him farther instructions, and put him three months to the grammar school of Keith; all the education he ever received.

"My taste for mechanics (says he) arcse from an odd accident. When a bout 7 or 8 years of age, part of the roof of the house being decayed, my father, desirous of mending it, applied a prop and lever to an upright spar to raise it to its former situation; and, to my great astonishment, I saw him, without considering the reason, lift up the ponderous roof, as if it had been a small weight. I attributed this at first to a degree of strength that excited my terror as well as wonder; but thinking further of the matter, I recollected that he had applied his strength to that end of the lever which was furthest from the prop; and finding, on enquiry, that this was the means whereby the seeming wonder was effected, I began making levers. P. xxi.

In the same way he discovered the axis in peritrochio, and made drawings of these machines, which were now, he conceived, invented for the first time, but was much surprised to find them already known. Being then put to the employment of a Shepherd, he

amused himself in the night with viewing the stars, and in the day time with making models of mills, spinning wheels, and other things which he happened to see. A Farmer, whom he served next, was so indulgent as often to take the threshing flail out of his hands and work himself, in order to allow him leisure for his ingenious operations. He then, spent some time in the family of Mr Grant, of Achoynaney, and received a great deal of instruction from Mr Cantley, his butler, who, like himself, was a self-taught genius, and to whom he was so much attached, that, on his leaving the family, young Ferguson could not be prevailed upon to stay any longer.

The following is an account of his next atchievement.

From

He had made me a present of Gordon's Geographical Grammar, which at that time was to me a great treasure. There is no figure of a globe in it, although it contains a tolerable description of the globes, and their use. this description I made a globe in three ball thereof out of a piece of wood; weeks at my father's, having turned the which ball I covered with paper, and delineated a map of the world upon it; made the meridian ring and horizon of wood; covered them with paper, and graduated them; and was happy to find, that, by my globe (which was the first I ever saw) I could solve the problems.

But this was not likely to afford me bread, and Icould not think of staying with my father, who I knew full well could not maintain me in that way, as it would be of no service to him, and he had, without my assistance, hands sufficient for all his work. P. xxviii.

He next spent a year with a miller, where he hoped to have enjoyed a good deal of leisure time; but was kept constantly at work, and got nothing to eat but a little oatmeal and water. As soon as he had recovered from the weak state to which this regimen reduced him, he went to a Dr Young, who promised to teach him surgery, but instead of

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that, made him work so hard, that in three months he was almost disabled, and it required a long stay at his father's to recruit him.

During his convalescence he amused himself with clock and watchmaking, and as soon as he was able to go abroad, carried his globe,clock, and some maps, to Sir James Dunbar of Durn, who he had heard was " a ve. ry good natured, friendly, inquisitive gentleman." Sir James received him with great kindness, and made him take up his residence in his house. As he discovered a talent for portrait painting, Lady Dipple, sister to Sir James, carried him to Edinburgh, and procured him employment among her friends. Thus, says he, "a business was providentially put into my hands, which I followed for six and twenty years." He acknowledges, however, that he never strove to excel in it, because his mind was " always pursuing things more agreeable."

After a fruitless attempt to become a medical practitioner, he returned to his astronomical studies. While residing at Inverness, partly from recollection, and partly from immediate observation, he contrived his Astronomical Rotula, and shewed it to the Rev. Mr Macbean, one of the Ministers of Inverness. This gentleman advised him to write to Mr Maclaurin, professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh, who approved of it so highly as to procure a handsome subscription for its publication. The author then returned to Edinburgh, and was received in a very friendly manner by Mr Maclaurin. Having seen an orrery in the possession of that celebrated mathematician, Mr Ferguson, of himself, discovered the machinery by which it was moved, and made one, which he shewed to Mr Maclaurin, "who commended it in presence of a great many young gentlemen who attended his lectures. He desired me to read them a lecture

on it, which I did without hesitation, seeing I had no reason to be afraid of speaking before a great and good man who was my friend."

He went soon after to London, with a recommendation to Mr Poyntz, who had been preceptor to the Duke of Cumberland, and of whom he speaks in the highest terms. This gentleman had a mathematical school in view for him, and wrote to an eminent professor of that science, requesting him to take Mr Ferguson into his house, and give him the necessary instructions. But after a favourable answer had been received, the author suggested the difficulty of maintaining his wife during the time he must be under tuition.

What, says he, are you a married man? I told him I had been so, ever since May in the year 1739. He said he was sorry for it, because it quite defeated his scheme; as the master of the

school he had in view for me must be a

batchelor. P. xlix.

He had therefore recourse again to drawing pictures. His next adventure we shall give in his own words.

Soon afterward, it appeared to me, that although the moon goes round the earth, and that the sun is far on the outside of the moon's orbit, yet the moon's motion must be in a line that is always concave toward the sun and upon making a delineation, representing her absolute path in the heavens, I found it to be really so. I then made a simple machine for delineating both her path and the earth's, on a long paper laid on

the floor. I carried the machine and

delineation to the late Martin Folkes, esquire, president of the Royal Society, on a Thursday afternoon. He expressed great satisfaction at seeing it, as it was a new discovery; and took me that evening with him to the Royal Society, where I shewed the delineation, and the method of doing it.

In the year 1747, I published a Dissertation on the phenomena of the harvest moon, with the description of a new orrery, in which there are only four wheels. But having never had a

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