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DREAMS AND ANESTHETIC AGENTS.-In a very ex- with the donor, and a new call has been made for cellent lecture on "Sleep and its Associated Pheno- 21st December, 1849, in the hope that then the prizes mena," delivered by Mr. James Hibberd, at the may be awarded. The new proposals are;-a prize Finsbury Literary Institute, he said:-The brain of 2,500 francs for each of the following four works does not act as a whole, but particular parts are em--Introductions to the Study of Physics; of Chemisployed in particular manifestations. So, if we con- try; of Mechanics; and of Astronomy. They are sider that portion of the brain which is employed by to be in the form of elementary treatises; are to the mind in a particular class of mental operations make known, abridged, the history and philosophy -that, for instance, which is employed in the con- of the sciences, and the methods adopted to arrive at ception of the marvellous, or, in phrenological lan- the conclusions they set forth; and are to serve for guage, the organ of wonder-to be thrown into a the instruction of the masses, and to prepare for a disturbed state during sleep, while every other part deeper study of the Sciences. The works sent in for of the brain remained quiescent, then wonder would competition must be unpublished, and legibly writmanifest itself without reasoning powers to control ten in Italian or French. The contest is open to the it. May it not be so when we behold phantoms of Savans of all countries."-Lit. Gaz. every form and variety of dimensions, and picture forth in the apparent substance of vivid reality, ROYALTY IN TROUBLE.-There must be some scenes of the utmost absurdity. But if the organs common cause for the striking fact that so many of judgment and reason become also disturbed, the members of the royal classes are out of work just dream assumes a more consistent character. And now. To say nothing of branches that have been if it take place to an extent sufficient to throw the set aside, like the legitimate branches of Spain and brain as a whole into a state of disturbance, sleeping Portugal, or of those individuals who have been would cease, and walking would result. After disgraced by the reigning sovereign, like Don Enhaving brought forward many highly important and rique of Spain or the Prince of Capua, there are original views in regard to the philosophy of dream- several reigning sovereigns and heirs-presumptive ing, the lecturer said a few words on a topic of in- more or less in the state of having been discharged, terest at the present moment; he alluded to the use-Louis Philippe of France and all his heirs, Ferdiof anesthetic agents in producing sleep; the sleep nand of Sicily, the Dukes of Modena and Parma, produced in this manner was morbid, and must of Louis of Bavaria, William of Prussia, the reignnecessity prove injurious. The lecturer exhibited ing Duke of Schleswig, and now Ferdinand of the chemical composition of the various agents employed to destroy pain, from the experiments of Davy on nitrous oxide, to the modern use of ether and chloroform; he perforined some experiments to illustrate the mode of action of these agents, and denounced them all as a futile effort on the part of man to thwart the operations of nature; he showed that the chemical changes induced in the blood were of the most alarming and destructive character; he would treat the subject boldly and decisively by an appeal of facts. When human life or suffering was the subject for consideration, we should lay aside prejudice, and seck for truth without bias. In this case the sense of pain ceases, because the organs of sensation are paralyzed.

Austria; besides various ministers who were the Achateses of these princes. It is strongly to be sus. pected that so many princes and ministers cannot have been turned out of place without some great overriding error. Possibly it was that they actually did not understand their business-the business of royalty in the nineteenth century.-Spectator.

GENEROSITY OF AUTHORS.-The sight of a learned man in want made even the Satirist Boileau so uneasy, that he could not forbear lending him money. The prudently economical Addison for some time freely opened his purse to remove the difficulties of his friend Steele, produced by foolish extravagance. There does not seem to exist the slightest confirmaSALE OF LOUIS PHILIPPE'S WINES.-On Friday tion of the story of Addison having put an execuJune 16, commenced, at the Palais Royal, the sale tion into Steele's house to recover a sum of money of some of the wines, in wood, of the ex-King Louis which he owed him. In a letter to his wife, written Philippe. There were about 700 hogsheads, includ- in August, 1708, Steele mentions that he has "paid ing nearly 130 of Beaugency, 160 of Macon, 50 of Mr. Addison the whole one thousand pounds;" and at a later period he says, "Mr. Addison's money you Beaune, and nearly 400 of Bordeaux, (Claret,) of second quality, with eight or ten hogsheads of Sillery, will have t-morrow noon." It is related of GoldLunel, &c. The prices were low, though the wines smith, whose heart adored humanity, that he enwere excellent in quality, being principally of the larged his list of pensioners as his finances increasfine vintage of 1846. The sale is expected to pro- ed, and that his charity extended even to his last duce 100,000fr. (£4,000) but it will not benefit the guinea. Once having visited a poor woman, whose estate nor injuriously affect the ex-King, for it is sickness he plainly perceived was caused by an said that none of it was paid for, and that the grow- empty cupboard, he sent her a pill-box containing. ers from whom it was purchased for him have, by a ten guineas, bearing the inscription, "To be taken short law process, impounded the proceeds, and will as occasion may require." He was frequently dereceive them. Á similar observation is said to apceived by imposters, who worked upon his generous ply to many other articles of property found in the sympathies with fabricated tales of the most lamentpalaces, and transferred for the moment to the credit able misfortunes; but no feeling mind will harshly of the Republic. The debts of the ex-monarch are censure him for his unsuspecting credulity and reported to amount to an immense sum, and are due overflowing humanity. In his unbounded philanto every imaginable class of contractors. It is said thropy he exclaimsthat all the bottled wines were sent to the hospitals."Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall, To see the hoard of human bliss so small; LITERARY PRIZES.-"The donation of 10,000 And oft I wish, amidst the scene, to find francs, by M. Piilet-Will, in 1842, to the Academy of Sciences at Turin, for four prizes for scientific works, not having been distributed, neither of the works sent in meriting a prize, the primitive conditions have been modified by the Acadamy, in concert

Some spot to real happiness consigned;
Where my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest,
May gather bliss to see my fellows blest.""

Gray, in one of his letters, written in 1761, says that

Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, the writer on natural tion; in the course of which he wrote a draft, which
history and agriculture, "lives in a garret in the he folded up and presented to her as his subscrip-
winter, that he may support some near relations who tion. She did not of course look at the paper while
depend upon him. He is always employed, always in his presence, as his conversation was too delight-
cheerful, and is an honest worthy man.' Voltaire ful to be relinquished for a moment; but on her
was ever happy to assist persons in distress, especi- leaving him, she inspected it, when to her joy she
ally young persons of talent struggling with diffi- found it was a draft on his banker for fifty pounds.
culty. The granddaughter of the great dramatic Roscoe humanely devoted the profits of his amus-
poet Peter Corneille, being destitute of money and ing "Memoir of Richard Roberts" to the use of that
friends, attracted the sympathy of Voltaire, who sup- singular, helpless, and half-witted person, well
ported her for three years; and having by that time known in Liverpool from the extraordinary number
finished her education, he married her to a gentle- of languages which he could read, self-taught. After
man. Voltaire not only gave her a marriage-por- the publication of Roscoe's work, the poor, and, till
tion, but he wrote, and published by subscription, for then, dirtily-clad linguist, might be seen properly
her benefit, a commentary on the works of her cele- clothed, with his portable library stuffed, as in former
brated grandfather, whereby she obtained in a short times, between his shirt and his skin, for he still dis-
time fifty thousand livres. The king of France sub-dained a fixed abode.
scribed eight thousand livres, and some foreign

princes followed his example: the Duke de Choi- EARLY ENCYCLOPÆDIAS.—'
-The difficulties which,
seul, the Duchess de Grammont, and Madame de before the invention of printing, the expense of copy-
Pompadour, subscribed considerable sums. M. De ists opposed to the assemblage of many separate
la Barde, the king's banker, took several copies, and manuscripts, produced in the middle ages, when
greatly increased the sale of the work by his zeal after the thirteenth century the circle of ideas be
in promoting the benevolent intentions of Voltaire. gan to enlarge, a great predilection for encyclopædic
To an unfortunate bookseller at Colmar, whose af works. These works are deserving of particular
fairs were much deranged, Voltaire made a present attention in this place, because they led to the gene-
of his "
Annals of the Empire," and also lent five ralization of views. There appeared in succession,
thousand livres. Two brothers, respectable citizens one work being in great measure founded on its
of Geneva, having invited him to print his produc- predecessor, the twenty books De Rerum Natura of
tions there, he complied, and made a present of his Thomas Cantipratensis, Professor of Louvaine in
works to them in the same handsome manner as he 1230; the Mirror of Nature (Speculum Naturale)
had done to the bookseller at Colmar.
which Vincent of Beauvais (Bellovacensis) wrote
for St. Lewis and his consort Margaret of Provence
in 1250; he "Book of Nature" of Conrad of Mey-
genberg, a priest at Regensborg in 1349; and the

Shenstone was one day walking through his ro-
mantic retreat, in company with his Delia (Miss
Wilmot), when a rather unpleasant intruder rushed
out of a thicket, and presenting a pistol to his breast, Picture of the World" (Imago Mundi) of Cardinal
demanded his money, Delia fainted, while Shen- Petrus de Alliaco, Bishop of Cambray, in 1410.
stone quietly surrendered his purse, anxious to see These encyclopædias were the precursors of the
the back of the man as quickly as possible. The great Margarita Philosophica of Father Reisch;
robber seized the money, threw his pistol into the the first edition of which appeared in 1486, and
water, and immediately decamped. Shenstone or- which for half a century promoted in a remarkable
dered his footboy to pursue him at a distance, and
observe whither he went. In a short time the lad
returned, and informed his master that, having
traced the man to his home, he peeped through the
keyhole of the door, and saw him throw the purse to
his wife, and then taking up two of his poor children,
one on each knee, he said to them he had ruined his
soul to keep them from starving, and immediately
burst into a flood of tears. Having learned that he
was a laborer, repute i honest and industrious, but
oppressed by want and a large family, Shenstone
went to his house, when the man, kneeling down at
his feet, implored mercy. The poet not only for-
gave him, but provided him with employment as
long as he lived.

manner the extension of knowledge. We must here dwell a little more particularly on the Imago Mundi of Cardinal Alliacus (Pierre d'Ailly). I have shown elsewhere that this work was more influential on the discovery of America, than was the correspondence with the learned Fiorentine Toscanelli. ~ All that Columbus knew of Greek and Roman writers, all the passages of Aristotle, Strabo, and Seneca, on the nearness of Eastern Asia to the Pillars of Hercules, which, as his son Don Fernando tells us, were what principally incited his father to the discovery of Indian lands ("autoridad de los escritores para mover al Almirante a' descubrir las Indias"), were derived by the Admiral from the writings of Alliacus. Columbus carried these writWhen Lord Byron resided in the Albany, Picca- ings with him on his voyages; for, in a letter writdilly, a young lady, an unsuccessful poeless, who ten to the Spanish Monarchs in October, 1498, from was friendless and involved in difficulties through Hayti, he translates word for word a passage from the misfortunes of her family, whose distressed state the Cardinal's treatise De Quantitat Terre Habideeply preyed upon her mind, resolved, on the plea tabilis, by which he had been profoundly impressed. of authorship, to introduce herself to Byron, and so- He probably did not know that Alliacus had on his licit his subscription to her poems. From a perusal part transcribed, word for word from another earlier of his works, she concluded that he was of an ami- book, Roger Bacon's Opus Majus. Singular peable disposition, and much misunderstood by the riod, when a mixture of testimonials from Aristotle world. His kind reception of her fully confirmed and Averroes (Avenryz), Esdras and Seneca, on the her opinion; for, having simply stated her motive small extent of the ocean compared with the magnifor coming to him, he in the most delicate manner tude of continental land, afforded to monarchs guaprevented her from dwelling on any painful troubles, rant es for the safety and expediency of costly enterby immediately beginning some general conversa- prises!-Humboldt's Kosmo,

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