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Egypt never tranfaéted business on the 3d day of the week, and abítained even from food till the evening, because on that day Typhon, who was confidered by them as the caule of every evil, was born. The 17th of the month was alfo deemed unfortunate, as on that day Ofiris died. The Greeks, too, had their unlucky days, which they denominated apades The Thuriday was generally confidered by the Athenians as of fo unlucky an import, that the affemblies of the people which happened to fall on that day, were always deferred. Hehod enumerates the days when it might be proper to commence certain undertakings, and thofe, when it was neceffary to abftain from every employment. Among the

latter he mentions the 5th of every month, when the infernal Furies were fuppofed to beftride the earth. Virgil

has the fame idea

ne

Quintam fuge :-pallidus Creus Eumenidefque fatæ tum partu terra fando Caumque lapetumque creat, fævumque Ty. phos,

Et conjuratos cœlum refcindere fratres.

1 GEOR. 279.

The Romans alfo demonstrated in their calendar, the implicit faith they placed in this diftinction of days. The fortunate days were marked in white, the unfortunate in black. Of thefe were the days immediately after the Calendæ, the None, and the Ides. The reafon was this: in the 363d year from the building of Rome, the military tribunes, perceiving the republic unfuccefsful in its wars, directed that the caufe thould be inquired into. The Senate having applied to L. Aquinius, he anfwered "That when the Romans had fought against the Gauls near the River Allia, and had experienced fo dreadful a defeat, facrifices had been offered to the Gods, the day after the Ides of July, and that the Fabii, having fought on the fame day, at Cremera, were all destroyed." On receiving this, aufwer, the Senate, by the advice of the pontiffs, ordered that, for the future, no military enterprize fhould be formed on the days after the Calends, the Nones or the Ides. Vitellius having taken poffef tion of the fovereign authority on the 15th of Auguft, and on the fame day promulgated fome new laws, they were ill received by the people, because' on that day had happened the difaftrous battles of the Allia and Cremera.

There were other days efteemed un

happy by the Romans, fuch as the day of facritices to the dead; of the Lemuria, of the Feria Latina, and of the Satur nalia; the 4th before the Nones of October, the 6th of the Ides of November, the Nones of July, called Caprotina, the 4th before the Nones of Auguft, on account of the defeat at Canne, and the Ides of March, efteemed unlucky by the creatures of Cæfar. There were befides days which every individual confidered as fortunate or unfortunate for himself. Auguftus never undertook any thing of importance, on the day of the Nones.

Many hiftorical obfervations have contributed to favour thefe fuperftitious notions. Jofephus remarks, that the tem ple of Solomon was burnt by the Babylonians on the 8th of September, and was a fecond time deftroyed on the fame day by Titus. Emilius Protus alfo obferves, that Timoleon, the Corinthian, gained mot of his victories on the anni verfary of his birth.

To thefe facts, drawn from ancient hiftory, many from more modern times may be added. It is faid, that most of the fucceffes of Charles the Fifth occur red on the feftival of St. Mathias. Henry the Third was elected king of Poland, and became king of France, on Whitfunday, which was alfo his birth-day. Pope Sextus the Fifth prefered Wednefday to every other in the week, because it was the day of his birth, of his promotion to the cardinalate, of his election to the papal throne, and of his coronation.

Louis the Thirteenth afferted that Friday was always a favorable day to him. Henry the Seventh of England was partial to Saturday, on which most of the happy events of his life had taken place.

But if it were neceffary to adquce examples against a fentiment fo contrary to reafon and common fenfe, it would be eafy to enumerate inftances of good and ill fortune occurring on the fame day. Pompey was aflaffinated on the day of his former triumph over Mithridates. Alexander, who had received better inftructions from his preceptor Ariftotle, once ridiculed with ipirit an obfervation of one of his officers, who reprefented to him that the kings of Macedon never commenced a march in the month of June, and that he might encounter fome unfavourable event if he neglected to follow the ancient custom. (faid he) for once to infringe the custom; "It is neceflary I therefore order that this June, which is fo much dreaded, fhall henceforth be

called

called the fecond month of May." Lucullus replied in the fame manner to thofe who endeavoured to diffuade him from engaging Tigranes on the Nones of October, because the army of Cepio had on that day been defeated by the Cimbri. "And I for that very reafon, (faid Lucullus), will render it for the future a favourable day for the Romans." He attacked the king of Armenia, and defeated him. Leo the Tenth was inaugurated Pope on the anniversary of his imprisonment the year before. Oliver Cromwell had always confidered the 3d of September as fortunate for him. On the 3d of September 1650, he defeated the Scotch at Dunbar, and on that day, in the following year, he gained the battle of Worcef

ter; but on the 3d of September 1658, he expired.

Though this diftinction of good and evil days be in reality as abfurd as it appears to be, I much doubt if it be yet entirely eradicated. When it is confidered how many things concur to keep up an error of this kind, and that among the great, as well as with the vulgar, opinions as puerile as this are not only received, but even made a rule of action, it may be inferred, that in every age and every country, however civilized, fuperftition always maintains its influence, though it may occafionally vary in its ob ject aud naine. The human mind, alternately wife and weak, indifcriminately adopts error and truth.

NEW PATENTS LATELY ENROLLED.

MR. G. A. ECKHARDT's and MR. J. LYONS'S for a new Mode of boring Pipes.

HIS invention, if fuch it may be call

Ted, confifts in forming fhort pipes, and

uniting them to one another instead of making them of the whole length of a tree. The ufual mode of boring pipes from elm or other trees is now very generally known; this is totally rejected by the patentees, who form thort lengths from timber, fomething in the fhape of the ftaves made ufe of by coopers, but with a lefs degree of curvature. Pipes formed after this plan are made of a conical fhape, in order that the feveral parts may be the more readily bound together by iron hoops and thefe parts may be dove-tailed, and the hoops faftened on the pipes by means of wedges. The patentees have alfo mentioned the mode of uniting the fmal ler pieces of pipe fo as to form one long one, and the method of painting or pitching or varnishing them, both within and without, but as thefe cannot claim any title to novelty, we prefume the invention, as fuch must be in the union of the staves or other pieces of wood into the form of a hollow-pipe, instead of boring it out of folid wood. Upon this part of the fpecification we must be allowed to obferve, that the principle which these gentlemen have applied to water pipes, has many years been adopted by Mr. George Smart in the construction of his hollow-mafts, and therefore it may be doubted how far their title to an exclufive right can be maintained.

MR. JOHN FLETCHER'S (CICIL STREET, STRAND,) for a Compofition, for Agricultural Purposes, which acts as a Manure, and is efficacious in the Deftruction of the Fly in Turnips and other Infects.

The compofition here defcribed confifts in mixing 1000 bufhels of pulverized gypfum, 100 bushels of pulverized oysterfhells, and five hundred weight of the No account is fulphate of barytes.

given of the mode of application; of the quantity to be used in a given portion of land; or by what means it is destructive to the turnip-fly, and other infects, whe ther by prevention in mixing the feed with the compofition or otherwife. In thefe and other particulars we deem the fpecification deficient, at leaft as far it is intended, as all fpecifications fhould be, for general utility.

MR. JAMES WINTER'S, (STOKE-UNDERHAMDON) for a Machine for fewing and pointing leather Gloves.

The drawings attached to Mr. Winter's fpecification are neceffary to the full explication of his invention. The princi pal apparatus confifts of jaws made e ther of wood or metal, and are intended to hold the gloves for fewing, and indices for the direction of the needles. Thefe indices are made with grooves on their faces, and contain from 18 to 30 grooves in an inch. They are of different lengths and breadths, and are varied in shape. either ftraight or circular, corresponding

to the part of the glove to be fewn therein, and may be formed of ivory, bone, brafs, &c. The grooves in the index muit be of the depth required for the futch, the leather being placed even with the face or top of the index, for its proper fituation for fewing.

The chief novelty laid claim to in this invention, is the application of the index for the fewing and ornamenting of gloves, and the cafy method of holding them by means of the jaws. The advantage gained is the ftrength of the fewing, for "nothing" fays Mr. Winter, "is fo well adapted for that purpose as the machine defcribed." What is called double fewing is with glovers only an increafed number of ftitches; but the fewing with this machine is really double, as the glove is fewn over twice, the fecond fewing having no connection whatever with the airft.

MR. HENRY FOURDRINIER'S (SHERBORNE LANE), for a Method of making a Machine for manufacturing Paper of an indefinite Length, laid and wooe, with jeparated Moulds.

The moulds, which are fimilar to thofe commonly used, except as to the thinnefs of the framing, on each part of two oppofite fides, by which means any number of them may be brought into contact fo as to form one long mould, upon which the paper is to be made. Instead of the deckle being applied to each mould, there is an edge bar, joined by hinges to each of thofe fides of the moulds which are not intended to be applied to each other. This bar may be railed to perform the office of a deckle, by preventing the paper, &c. from flowing beyond the fide edges, and the edge-bar is by weights, fprings, &c. made to affume a perpendicular polition, excepting when it is wanted to be depreffed or turned back. Another principal part of the engine is a platform upon which the moulds are to be supported during the time of work, in fuch a manner, as that the moulds fhall be at liberty to flide alorg in one direction and in no other. The patentee has here given the details of his mode of operation in, which our limits will not fuffer us to follow him.

Above the platforin, he difpofes a vef fel, containing the paper ready to be made in theets, in fuch a fitnation as to allow the moulds to be fucceffively introduced in their places upon the platform

MONTHLY MAG. No. 156.

behind each other. On one fide of the vellel there is a trough, which receives the materials of the paper through holes, each of which is provided with registers to regulate the supply of the faid materials which are agitated in the trough, while they pafs or flow to the outer edge over which they fall upon the moulds beneath.

Upon and near the other extremity of the platform, which is moft remote from the place of agitation, is a cyhader, having its axis parallel to the furface of the moulds, and in a plane at right angles to their course. The cylinder is fupported by, and connected with the platform, fo that the agitation does not alter the relative fituations of the cylinder, platform and moulds. There are other cylinders, and their ufes defcribed in the fpecifications, but thefe, we are told, are not effentially neceffary.

The procefs of the manufacture may be thus defcribed: a feries of moulds is duly placed and connected upon the platform, fo as to occupy the fame. The machinery is then thrown into gear with the first mover, which caufes the cylinder, and alfo agitating axis, to revolve at the fame time that the paper, stuff, or material is permitted to flow from the trough and fall upon the moulds. The cylinder which is connected with the platform, rafts upon the moulds, and, by means of its felt, takes hold of that mould which may be immediately beneath it and caufes the whole feries to advance by an uniform motion the edge bars of each mould; being thrown and kept back by an obftacle or projecting piece on each fide of the platform previous to its arrival at the cylinder. As the moulds advance, a workman who ftands near the agitated end fupplies and connects other moulds in fucceffion; the moulds are alfo difengaged and taken away in fucceffion by a workman who ftands at the other end of the platform. By the continuance of this procefs the moulds which have received the paper, ftuff, or material, which is duly diftributed upon their furfaces, do arrive beneath the first cylinder of which the felt web takes off the paper, and conveys it to the first pair of prefling cylinders, whence it proceeds to the fecond pair, and afterwards to any fit place of recep tion. And by continuing the faid procefs, the faid paper, whether laid or wove, may be manufactured of an indefinite length with feparate moulds.

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PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES.

Μα

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, R. GRIFFITHS has, by the medium of Sir Jofeph Banks, laid before the Royal Society, a Defeription of a rare Species of Worm Shells, difcovered at Battoo, an iland north-weft of Sumatra, Thefe fhells were procured in a final heltered bay, with a muddy bottom, furrounded by coral reefs. It appears that the animal throws out tentacula from the two apertures of the apex of the hell, that refemble the final actiniæ adhering to the rocks about Padang, and that the body of the fhell is filled with a foft gelatinous flesh, fimilar to that of the teredo navalis. Mr. Griffiths did not obtain a fingle perfect fhell, the longeft that came into his poffeffion was five feet four inches in length, and the circumference at the base nine inches, tapering upwards, to two and a half inches; the colour on the outfide was milk-white, the inner furface rather of a yellow tinge. This fpecimen was nearly perfect, having a small part of the lower extremity entire. In almost all the fpecimens the fhells had adhering to them, about a foot or more from the top, the fmall cockfcomb oyfter, finall ferpulæ, &c. confequently they must have been at that distance, protruded from the hard mud, in confequence of a violent earthquake that had happened previously to the difcovery of the thells. Thefe tube fhells differ much among themfelves, not one of them being correfpondent in fize and thickness to another. The large end of the fhell is completely clofed, and has a rounded appearance; at this part it is very thin. The fmall end or apex is very brittle, and is divided by a longitudinal feptum running down eight or nine in ches, forming it into two diftinét tubes, inclofed within the outer one, from whence the animal throws out tentacula; the fubftance of the hell is compofed of layers having a fibrous and radiated appearance, covered externally with a pure white cruft, and internally is of a yellow tinge; the external furface is frequently interrupted in a tranfverfe direction by a fudden increafe of thicknefs which probably indicates different ftages in the growth of the thell, although they are at unequal diftances, fometimes at fix inches, at others at four in the fame fhell. Thefe interruptions bear a rude end unfinished appearance, and do not extend into the radiated fubftance, but are

merely on the out-fide fhell which has rather a fmooth furface, but impreffed with the irregularities of the fubftance with which it was in contact. It is the great length and fize of thefe fheils which are the largeft of the teftacea of a tubular form yet difcovered, and the divifion of the upper part, which conftitute their principal peculiarities.

In a few weeks after the foregoing defcription was read, Mr. HOME commonicated fome obfervations on the Shell of this Sea Worm, proving it to belong to a fpecies of the Teredo, with an account of the anatomy of the Teredo Navalis. By analys Mr. HATCHET found that the hell was compofed of carbonate of lime, and an animal gelatinous fubftance, which is greater in quantity than in the chama gigas, but lefs than in the common oyfter. We cannot follow Mr. Home through all the minute anatomical defcription that he has given, but felect fome of the more interciting obfervations, The heart is fituated on the back of the animal; in the middle between the mouth and the lower end of the ftomach: the ftructure is fuch that it admits of only a fingle circulation, as in other animals which breathe through the medium of water, but the mode of its being perfor med is different from that in tithes; in the teredines the blood paffes directly from the heart to the different parts of the body, and returns through the veffus of the breathing organs to the heart, while in fithes it goes firit to the breathing organs, and then to the different parts the body. This peculiar circulation becomes a link in the gradation of the modes of expofing the blood to the air in diffe rent animals, it appears to be lefs per fect than in fifhes, but is more perfect than in caterpillars.

of

The mode in which the breathing-organs of the teredincs are fupphed with water, makes it evident that all feaworms, as well as other foft animals, which have no cavity for the reception of fea-water, muft have breathing-organs placed externally. This is the cafe with all the affinic inet with in the Weft Indies, called animal flowers; and the beautiful membranous expansions they difplay, refembling the petals of flowers, are in fact breathing-organs, not tentacu la for catching food. The teredo gigu tea, when arrived at its full growth, clofes up the end of the thell.This the teredo na

valis does alfo, hence it has been inferred that the animal, by this act, formed its own tomb, fince it could no longer deftroy the wood in which it was contained. Mr. Home, however, has found that in the teredo gigantea, death is not the confequence of this feclufion from the fubitance in which it is imbedded. He has adduced a variety of facts to prove that this teredo when arrived at its full growth, or when prevented from increafing its length, clofes up the end of its theland lives a long time afterwards, furnished with food from the fea-water which it reçeives like the actiniæ.

The teredines in their anatomical ftructure are inore perfect than many of the vermes, and have a portion of redblood. They turn round in their fhell, with which the body has no attachment, and with which their covering only has a fight connection, at one particular fpot, to prevent the external tubes from being ditturbed. This motion of the animal is for the purpose of boring. Their moft triking peculiarities are having three external openings instead of two: the ftomach being unufually large and the breathing-organs having an uncommon conforniation. As the teredo gigantea bores in the mud, on which it cannot be fuppofed to fabfitt, it is become a question whether the teredo navalis receives its fupport from the wood it deftroys, or is fupplied with food from the fea, Mr. Home produces arguments and facts in defence of the lait opinion, fuppofing that it forms its habitation in a fubftance from which it receives no part of its fuftenance: and that the faw-duft conveyed through the inteftines is not digested, particularly as that examined by Mr. Hatchet had not undergone the flighteft change: when burnt, the finoke had the odour of Wood; and it formed a charcoal easily confumed, and was converted into white athes in every refpect like vegetable charcoal. The ftraight courte of the inteftine in the teredines makes it probable that the faw-duft retards the progrefs of the food, fo as to render convolutions unneceffary. In Lane of the actinee the inteftine is fo much convoluted, that it appears to be wound round a central cylinder, in clofely compacted turns.

SOCIETY OF ARTS, COMMERCE

AND MANUFACTURES.

HE gold medal has been awarded to Dr. COCAM of Baits, been a cution of a Drag for railing the Bodies of Per

fons who have funk under Water. In his defcription the inventor fays that he diflikes the construction of drags hitherto in ufe both in this, and in other countries. Thofe ufed in Holland cannot without much danger be applied to the naked body, and are applicable only in cafes in which the fubjects fall into the water with their cloths on. The drag ufed in London is clumfy and dangerous. To remedy thefe defects Dr. Cogan has invented two drags; of which one is recommended on account of its cheapness; the other is applicable to every cafe and is fo conftructed as to multiply the chances of laying a fecure hold of any part of the body without the poflibility of an injury. "Had the dimenfions," fays Dr. C," been finaller than they are, the drag would not encompass every part of the human body; and without the partition and curvatures at the extremities, the distances would be too great, and the body of a child might fall through the intermediate fpaces. By means of the fliding hooks at the ends, the inftrumeat is adapted both to naked bodies, and thofe which are clothed. As bathers are naked, the harp-pointed extremities might lacerate, in a difagreeable manner, or, by entering the fkin, they might impede a firmer hold. They are, therefore, made to recede."

The upper extremities are made both with a focket and a loop to be used either with a pole or cord, or with both which are preferable to either fingly, becaufe it has been proved by experiment, that a cord tied to the ring or loop, and paffing through a hole made at the upper end of the pole gives a double advantage. The drag with a pole attached to it may be projected feveral yards further than without it; and in drawing forward the drag, till the end of the pole is brought within reach of the hand, the subject may be raised above the furface of the water in the moft proper direction.

"We have not," fays Dr. Cogan, as yet had an opportunity of trying thefe drags on the human body; but upon an effigy made in every refpect as like as potible in form to the human body, both clothed and unclothed, they have answered in the most fatisfactory manner. The effigy was brought to the furface in various directions, without once flipping from the hold. I fhall add, that with two drags and a boat, affistance given in time would almoft enfure fuccefs. A hook catching a single flaread, will, it is well known, be fufficient to bring a hu

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