as well as the extirpation of weeds. I do not see that a man has any better right to keep a magazine of evaporable moisture to hurt his neighbours, than he has to keep a magazine of weeds, or a kennel of mad dogs. In some very fertile hollows in Ayrshire, the crops are frequently blasted, from this cause. I observed the larix tree very much destroyed in many parts of the west of Scotland, by a small black insect, which devours the leaves and tender twigs. The mischief is not so much occasioned by what the animal feeds on, as by the extravasation of the. sap from its numerous punctures, which, coagulating into turpentine, appears like hoar-frost on the leaves and branches. I wish some of your correspondents who have skill inthese matters would take this malady into consideration; for, if the ravages of this insect are not soon counteracted, it threatens to extirpate that beautiful and valuable tree. Lord Eglintoun is an excellent farmer, and deserves great praise for the energy and ability he displayed in laying out and reducing into cultivation the waste lands on his patrimonial estate. He always takes an active part in every project which has for its object the improvement and prosperity of the county. He has procured an act of Parliament, and is getting an excellent harbour constructed at Ardrossan, which will be of incalculable advantage to trade, and contri bute highly to the improvement of the county of Ayr. The hill of Ar. drossan is not commanded by higher ground. It may be cut perpendicular all round, and converted into an impregnable fortress, to defend the harbour, and the surrounding country. . His Lordship farther proposes to connect this harbour with Paisley and Glasgow, by a canal. Had the Magistrates of Glasgow known what they were doing, they would have made this their harbour ab initio, and would have made a canal, instead of deepening the Clyde. But the great capitals sunk at Greenock and PortGlasgow, must continue to attract a considerable share of trade to these places; tho' this harbour, from its superior accommodation, must come in for a part. In fact, there is no occasion for rivalship in the case; for, by opening new facilities to trade, the general amount of trade will be increased, and each port may have as much as it can accommodate, without interfering with the others.— The invention of the cotton mill did not, as was apprehended, diminish the numbers employed in that manufacture; but, by enlarging the amount manufactured, increased them an hundred fold. The Independent of any foreign trade, it is thought by some that the canal will prove a lucrative concern, from the internal trade of the country through which it is to pass. whole tract abounds with manufac turing towns and villages, which must occasion an ample conveyance of per sons, and of goods. It also abounds with coal, lime, and iron stone, and other minerals, which the canal will render valuable, while they, in their turn, increase the trade upon the ca nal. These points the gentlemen concerned have not yet brought fully into view, so as to impress the public with their importance; but it is presumed they will do so as soon as may be convenient. As this canal will infallibly give rise to new manufacturing establishments, to operate on the minerals of the country, as well as increase the number of those already established, it will, evidently, improve agriculture, by affording a more extensive market for its produce.It will also facilitate the conveyance of manure, and of other articles, from the towns, and of the produce of land in return. CELES " CELESTIAL PHENOMENA for June tude 36' North. His declination is 1806. Sunday, June 1st. THE MOON will eclipse e Ophiuchi, a star of the 4.3 magnitude, situated in longitude 85..18°..40′.. 51", and latitude 1o..48'..35" South. The star will appear to come in contact with the Eastern and enlightened limb of the Moon, or the occultation will commence at 30 minutes after 1 o'clock in the evening, at which time the star will be 14 minutes South of the Moon's centre. After continuing eclipsed for the space of 1..21', the star will emerge from behind the dark limb of the Moon at 51 minutes after 12 o'clock in the evening. About the middle of this occultation the Moon's horizontal parallax will be 55'..25", her horizontal semidiameter 15'..6", and she will come to the meridian about 31 minutes after 12 o'clock in the evening, a few minutes after the occultation ends. Tuesday, June 3d. The Moon will be in conjunction with the planet JUPITER about 26 minutes after 10 o'clock in the morning. Wednesday, June 4th. The second satellite of JUPITER will immerge into his shadow at 27 minutes and 42 seconds after 1 o'clock in the morning. Saturday, June 7th. The planet SATURN is at present situated in longitude 6..22°..0'..15", and in latitude 20..40′ North. His declination is 6°..7', and he souths about 8h..20 in the evening. His ring may be distinctly seen with a magnifying power of 40, and is gradually opening. Wednesday, June 11th. The GEORGIUM SIDUS is situated in longitude 6..21°..41', and lati 7.54" South, and he comes to the meridian about 8 o'clock in the evening. He is placed about 2 degrees to the South-east of Saturn, and, in a telescope with a large field, may be seen at the same time with that planet. Friday, June 13th. The first satellite of JUPITER will immerge into his shadow at 39 minutes and 6 seconds after 11 o'clock in the evening. Monday, June 16th. VISIBLE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. The MOON will make her first impression on the SUN's disc, or the eclipse will begin, at 28 minutes after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the time of greatest obscuration will be at 10 minutes after 5 o'clock. The visible conjunction will take place at 5h..19', and the eclipse will end at 48 minutes after o'clock. The digits e5 clipsed on the Sun's south limb will be 3..28', and the point of the Sun's disc, with which the Moon seems first to come in contact, will be 10. degrees from his lowest point on the west side. should be in filings, or in brass, or reduced to small pieces, by pouring it, when melted, into cold water. Mr JOHN DALTON has deduced from Dr HOPE's experiments on the the density of water is a maximum at contraction of water by heat, hat 36° of Fahrenheit. Mr EARNSHAW has received from the commissioners of longitude, the reward of 3000l. for his new timekeepers, by which the longitude can be ascertained within the limits prescribed by the act. An account of the experiment of his time-pieces may be seen in Nicholson's Journal, No. 54. P. 419. Although the Galvanic Society at Paris failed in the production of the Muriatic Acid by the Galvanic decomposition of water; yet it appears, from subsequent trials, that the experiments of Dr PACCHIANI of Pisa have been perfectly correct. It appears from some late experiments of Fourcroy, that ox bones contain solid Gelatine 51.0 ;-Phosphate of lime 37-7;-Carbonate of lime 10.0;-and Phosphate of mag nesia 1.3. A work is at present preparing by Drs Faust and Thenold, in which, they attempt to prove, that, with the exception of the lancet used in inoculation, every surgical instrument ought to be dipped in oil before proceeding to the operation, and should also be heated to the temperature of the blood. By these precautions they imagine that the pain of the operation will always be diminished. A subscription has been opened at Ratisbon, for a monument to the memory of the celebrated KEPLER. It is to consist of a Doric temple, 32 feet high, and is to be placed in the Slembergian gardens. D. B. 1 TEN years had elapsed since Vesuvius had interrupted the tranquillity of the inhabitants of the neighbouring fields; but this repose, says the Duke, was only apparent, and the volcano was preparing in its bosom new aliments to its fury. In fact, on the 11th of August, that terrible eruption broke forth, which continues to extend its ravages over these unhappy countries. Changes in the form of this mountain, and of its crater, will be the necessary consequences of this eruption. To satisfy the curiosity of naturalists, the author begins by describing the state of Vesuvius before this event. Its medium depth, on the west side, was then about 500 palms †, and its borders might be 11,500 palms in circumference. Its internal form was that of an oval almost circular; externally it was a cone, whose medium height, from the base to the summit, taken on the west side, rose to about 4000 palms. Its greatest inclination was to the south and south west; its greatest elevation to the east and north-east. The bottom of the crater resembled a vast and deep plain, in the middle of which rose three hillocks, of the size of 5c palms, which, in the month of February 1799, vomited flames and burning stones, visible at Naples during two days; a proof, by the bye, that the volcano has not, as many pretend, remained in total inaction since 1794. We saw, We saw, still exhaling, from the mouths of these hillocks, fumes of sulphur and of ammoniac gas; about them were formed saline-sulphuric incrustations, abounding in a variety of very brilliant crystals. Comparing these measurements with those of M. Breislak, made the 2d of July 1794, the author shews that the bottom of the crater had risen 100 palms since that period, and that its borders had gained 2900 in circumference; changes which the author ascribes to the substances, which, in the feeble and short eruption of 1799, fell back into the interior of the crater, and to the fall of its banks, which happened in many places; thus the bottom rose, the borders sunk, and the perimeter of the cone became more spacious. Such was the state of Vesuvius in November 1803. The night of the 22d of May last they experienced, at the hermitage of Salvatore, and in the neighbouring places, three shocks of an earthquake, accompanied with a hollow sound; the last was the strongest, and the hermit having at this moment turned his eyes on the mountain, saw issuing from it a thick smoke, which lasted many hours. The same day, and about the same hour, this phenomenon was felt in the provinces of Abruzzo. The month of July following, the author was informed that the waters had in part failed in the wells and cisterns of Vesuvius; that the level of the sea was even visibly lowered near the coast situated between Torre del Greco and l'Annunziata. He went thither immediately, found these facts correct, saw wells absolutely dried. up, particularly at Resina, tasted the water of such as still retained it, and found in it a very sensible smell of sulphur. Having poured, upon a small quantity of this water, a light doze of tincture of turnsole, he saw its colour change into red; a clear proof that sulphur was combined in it, raThe Neapolitan palm is 8 inches ther in the state of acid vapour, 7 lines. than in its pure state, F that May 1806. *Annales du Museum National. ima time he foresaw an approaching eruption of Vesuvius, and believed he discovered a symptom of it in that sudden diminution of the waters, which, drawn into the bosom of the volcano, may be decomposed by means of the bituminous, sulphuric, and pyritose substances which exist there, and may thus give occasion to all the volcanic phenomena, At last, on the night of the 11th August, they heard, at the hermitage of Salvatore, and in the neighbourhood, subterraneous noises, attended with a slight earthquake. In the morning of the 12th, they saw, issuing from the summit of Vesuvius, a thick black smoke, which, descending upon the mountain, covered the whole of it. A person who went thither, perceived at the bottom of the crater a swelling, with a mouth of the size of 15 or 20 palms, whence rose the column of smoke, and a quantity of dust mixed with small stones. He heard on the south side a considerable boiling of substances, and often felt the earth trembling under his feet. Towards evenng, a very strong explosion took place, and from Naples they saw darting up a pillar of fire and of burning stones. The Duke della Torre went thither next morning before day-light. "I experienced, says he, from the foot of the mountain to the top, a con. tinual shower of black ashes and small stones; I heard the bottom of the crater resounding in an extraordinary and dreadful degree. Arrived on its borders, I continued there for the space of an hour, and shall state all that I was able to observe, amid the admiration and the fear, inspired by a spectatle as majestic, as it was terrible and fatal. The bottom of the crater appeared to me much raised and more unequal than I had seen in the month of November 1803. I judged that this rising, these inequalities, arose as much from the substances actually thrown up, as from the ebullitions and fermentations which must take place in the heart of the volcano. A gulf of about 100 palms diameter had opened on the south-west side; so bright a fire issued from it that my eyes could not endure it for any length of time. This fire rose like a pillar, in the middle of which I distinctly perceived burning stones, darted up with great. impetuosity, and which almost all fell back into the crater.Two only fell near me, and being cooled at the end of two minutes, I made them be gathered by my guide. They were masses of lava, petro siliceous, blackish, not very weighty, spongy in some places, with shining and scoriform surfaces. There were in their cavities crystals of olivine, of mica, and other little white siliceous crystals, whose nature and quality I had not time to determine. The noise made by the explosion of fire and stones was like the roarings of the most horrible tempest, and the blustering of the most impetuous whirlwind: the eruptions followed each other with an astonishing rapidity; at the same time a reddish substance, fluid like melted glass, broke out from the mouth of the gulf; it was the lava, which rushing forth, flowed south towards the walls of the crater, distant about 300 palms, stopt there, returned, and gra dually filled the empty space of the crater. Around the gulf were already formed a variety of hillocks, which swelled more and more by the matter thrown up. I observed the temperature of the atmosphere with a thermometer, in which the distance between the freezing point and that of boiling water was divided into 100 parts. At my. departure from Naples, it was at 26 or 27 degrees; at Salvatore 24-degrees, and upon the mountain it rose in a quarter of an hour to 36°. I placed the point of an electrometer, upon |