NAPOLEON'S ADVICE TO A YOUNG AMERICAN.

held in the solar rays, directly opposite the sun, it | particularly to teach them to investigate the causes collects the rays into a focus before it, so as to act of every appearance that may seem mysterious or as a powerful burning-glass, and in this way a hole inexplicable, and not to ascribe to occult or supermay be burned in a thin board. 3. When hung at natural causes what may be explained by an invesan elevation of about five feet, and a person placed tigation of the established laws of nature; and to opposite to it, at 6 or 7 feet distant, he will see his guard them against drawing rash or unfounded conimage hanging in the air in an inverted position, clusions from any subject or phenomenon which they betw him and the mirror, and if he approach a have not thoroughly explored, or do not fully comlittle nearer the mirror, and hold out his hand to- prehend. wards it, the image will appear to do the same, as if about to shake hands, and if he stretches his hand still nearer the mirror, the hand of the image will appear to pass by his hand, and approach nearer his "You soon depart for the Western, and I for the body. 4. Such a mirror is of use in explaining the Eastern hemisphere. A new career of action is now construction of a reflecting telescope. When it is opened before me, and I hope to unite my name with held opposite to a window, the image of the sash new and great events, and with the unrivalled greatand the objects without the window will be seen ness of the republick; you go to unite yourself once depicted in its focus on a piece of white paper held more with a people among whom I behold at once between it and the window, which represents the the simple manners of the first ages of Rome, and manner in which the first image is formed by the the luxury of her decline: where I see the taste, the great mirror of a reflecting telescope;-and the sensibility and science of Athens, with her factions; manner in which the small speculum of a Gregori-and the valour of Sparta without her discipline. an reflector forms the second image, may be shown "As a citizen of the world, I would address your by holding the mirror at a little more than its focal country in the following language: Every man and distance behind a candle, and throwing its magni- every nation is ambitious, and ambition grows with fied image upon an opposite wall, in the same way power, as the blaze of a vertical sun is the most as the lens, fig. 1, p. 278, by refraction, produced the fierce. Cherish, therefore, a national strengthenlarged image, C D. 5. If a bright fire be made in strengthen your political institutions-remember that a large room, and a very smooth, well-polished ma- armies and navies are of the same use in the world hogany table be placed at a considerable distance as the policy in London or Paris, and soldiers are near the wall, and the concave mirror so placed that not made like potter's vessels in a minute—cultivate the light of the fire may be reflected from the mir-union, or your empire will be like a colossus of gold, ror to its focus on the table, a person standing at a fallen on the earth, broken in pieces, and the prey distance towards the fire, but not directly in the line foreign and domestick Saracens. If you are wise, between the mirror and the fire, will see an image your republick will be permanent; and, perhaps, of the fire upon the table, large and erect, as if the Washington will be hailed as the founder of a glorious and happy empire, when the name of Bonaparte shall be obscured by succeeding revolutions."

table had been set on fire.

Various illusions and deceptions have been produced by means of concave mirrors. Pagan priests are supposed to have rekindled the vestal fire by this instrument; and with the same instrument, on a large scale, Archimedes is reported to have burned the Roman fleet. When the mirror is concealed

from the view of the spectator by certain contrivances, he may be easily deceived, and tantalized with a shadow instead of a substance. He may be made to see a vessel half full of water inverted in the air without losing a drop of its contents. He may be desired to grasp what appears a beautiful flower, and when he attempts to touch it, it vanishes into air, or a death's head appears to snap at his fingers. He may be made to behold a terrifick spectre suddenly starting up before him, or a person with a drawn sword, as if about to run him through. An exhibition of this kind was sometime ago brought before the publick, which was effected by a concave mirror. A man being placed with his head downwards, in the focus of the mirror an erect image of him was exhibited, while his real person was concealed, and the place of the mirror darkened; the from his hand, which in an instant was dexterously spectators were then directed to take a plate of fruit changed for a dagger or some other deadly weapon. It may not be improper occasionally to exhibit such deceptions to the young, and leave them for some time to ruminate upon them till the proper explanations be given, in order to induce them to use their rational powers in reflecting on the subject, and

DISCOVERIES SINCE 1766.

of

THE old steam-engine improved, 1769. Ancient religion in India, 1774. Patent bird-shot, 1775.— Spinning by steam, 1782. Air-balloons; Herschell's telescope and four new planets; to unstop the lachrymal duct; recovering drowned persons; suspress and telegraphs, 1794. The back operation penders; umbrellas and cut nails, 1792. Hydraulic for the stone, 1800. Percussion powder; Galvanism; the names in chymistry, 1803. The Argand lamp; boring for water, coal, &c., 1804. Roman cement; gas light, 1808. Sugar cultivated in Louisiana, 1809. The Nautical Almanack; navigation by steam, 1813. Printing by steam-power; stereoof beet; anthracite coal; lithographick impressions, type plates; the circular saw; sugar from the root 1816. Musical boxes, 1817. Safety-lamps; chaincables, 1820. Chronometers perfected; powerlooms for cloths, stockings, &c.; tread-mills for Steam-guns and carriages, 1832. prisons; the stomach-pump; railways; lead and coal mines in the U. States; craniology, 1828.—Gum-elastick shoes and boots 1833.

Experience is the mother of science.
Learning refines and elevates the mind.
Pursue useful and profitable studies.

MISCELLANY.

CURIOUS RELICK OF ANTIQUITY.

4, at

in Georgia. 2, on Cumberland river, near Rock Castle. 3, on the Ohio, fifty miles below Pittsburgh, and two miles below King's or Indian creek. We have now before us a very curious and interest- Kenhawa and Elk. 5, on the Allegany, fifteen a spot within four miles of the confluence of the ing specimen of ancient art, presented to us by a miles below Venango and seventy miles to the southfriend, the work probably of a people who inhabited this country previous to the present race of aborigi- is not very hard, is sculptured, on the side facing the ward of Lake Erie. A rock, of which the substance nes; for it displays a perfection in the arts far sur-river, with figures of various animals, and with lines passing the rude state in which they at present exist and curves, of different forms. The lines which among this people.

This relick was found in Michigan, in one of those compose them are about the tenth of an inch deep ancient fortifications which are scattered over our and a quarter of an inch broad. 6, on the Housacountry. It is a piece of sculpture, the material of tonic, at Schaghticoke. 7, on the Connecticut, on which resembles, somewhat, black slate, but is as a pine tree in Wethersfield. 8, on the same river, hard as flint. A knife will make no impression up-rock on the bank of a cove, near its confluence with on rocks at the Great falls. 9, on West river, on a on it. It evidently must have been carved when in the Connecticut. 10, in Narraganset bay, Rhode a softer state than the present. It was probably Island, near Newport, on the lands of Mr. Job Almy. formed of some earthly material into a proper consistence to be cut, and was then hardened by baking. Almy, on the Peninsula of Paucatuc, on the east side 11, in the same, on the lands of the late Colonel The figure is that of a female sitting on the ground, of the bay, and six miles from the shore. 12, in the in an attitude and air of sadness and despondency, leaning her head upon the back of her left hand, the same, at Tiverton. 13, in the same, on Taunton river. elbow resting on the top of a small vessel in the form of a cask; the right hand resting on the knee and holding something which appears to have engraved on it some written characters, but which are too small and indistinct to enable us accurately to discern their form. Over the head is thrown a loose

drapery, falling down upon the shoulders and back, leaving the left arm, on which she reclines, and the left breast naked; but folding across in graceful folds over the right arm and breast, and covering the front part of the figure. On the forepart of the head, which is not covered by the drapery, the hair is gracefully parted, and a portion of it hangs down in tresses upon the left breast. The little cask on which she leans, shows the staves in regular order, with three hoops at the top, and two at the bottom. The head of the cask comes up even with the chime, and seems to be formed of narrow strips like the staves; on the front part of the cask there appears to have been something attached like a handle, but of what form is not distinguishable, as a portion of the front part of the figure is broken off.

Around the

cask lengthwise, over the hoops, passes something like a band, which was designed, perhaps, for the purpose of carrying it.

the "Bug Light," about a mile from town, a brass A RELICK.-A citizen of this place lately found near arrow-head, about an inch in length, sharp at the lar. It is well known that the Indians formerly edges, and in the centre not thicker than half a dolof silex, or other hard stone, wrought into shape with inhabiting this island did make use of arrow-heads of the kind of which we have yet had any knowledge. great labour; but this metallick specimen is the first Near to the centre is a perfectly round hole, of sufficient size to admit an ordinary darning-needle; and in every respect it resembles those described by the writer of an article in the American Monthly Magazine, on the subject of the antiquities of North

America.

Nantucket Inquirer.

IMPORTANT ANTEDILUVIAN DISCOVERIES.-Doc

tor Kilppstein, a German savant, who has long devoted himself to the study of geology, and who is at present directing the excavations in the neighbourhood of Alzei, (a small town in Rhenish Hesse,) lately made a most valuable discovery for natural where numerous fossil bones had been found, has history. In digging 28 feet below the soil, near EpFrom the size of the vessel, compared with that pelsheim, about a league distant from Alzei, he found of the figure, we should judge its use was to carry a dino therium giganteum, probably the most colossal in a state of the most perfect preservation the head of water. Every part of the figure and its appendages, of the antediluvian animals, whose existence was is very distinct, and the sculpture admirably perform-first indicated, and nearly specifically determined by ed, and yet the whole height by exact measurement, Doctor Camp, the learned zoologist. The head is but one inch and one eighth. The head, which displays very perfectly the features, and even a counten-measures six feet in length, by three and a half in ance indicative of wo, is not larger than a good-sized the head was found an humeral bone, six feet long, breadth; and its weight is nearly five quintals. Near pea. What this tiny figure was meant to represent, weighing two quintals, appertaining apparently to when was the age in which it was made, and who were the people whose ingenious artists could produce such works-are interesting inquiries, but will probably never be satisfactorily answered.

Genesee Farmer.

In a late number of the Family Magazine we gave n account of the inscription on Dighton Rock, Massachusetts. This, however, is not the only monument of this kind in the United States. They are ound-1, on the Alatahama, called also Ooakmulgee,

the same animal. No remains of this kind have
ever been found before.
Gazette Allemande.

PHENICIAN RELICK.-The Society of Antiquaries, in London, possess a cylindrical vessel of granite, decorated with a peculiar Grecian ornament on a hoop-like circle, which surrounds the exteriour. It was brought, many years ago, from the Moscheto shore of Čentral America, and is considered an additional proof that the shores of the western continent were peopled by the ancient Phenicians.

The Three Eras of the Life of Woman. BY ELIZABETH ELTON SMITH. Two volumes in one. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. Another of the fifty-cent series, and much superiour to the book mentioned above. The three eras in the life of a woman which are considered important enough to form the groundwork of a novel, are, as a maiden, a wife, and mother. The work contains much fine delineation of character, written in rather a spirited style, and the language is frequently elegant

and eloquent.

a vignette, designed by Weir. It is from the press of the Messrs. Harper.

DR. DES BERGER by an English Physician. We have glanced The Marriage Almanack, Translated from the German of over the pages of this little volume which contains much that is interesting to the young married female. It is imported from London by William A. Colman, Broadway, New York.

Letters to Young Ladies. By MBS. L. H. SIGOURNey. Thinl edition. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1836. This series of letters here addressed to young ladies, by one of the most distinguished of her sex, is extremely valuable and has already been favourably received by the publick; the fact that a third edition is called for shows that their value is appreciated. Among the different subjects on which this volume treats, we notice, the value of time, religion, knowledge, industry, domestick employments, health and dress, manners and accomplishment, sisterly virtues, books, friendship, cheerfulness, conversstion, benevolence, utility, &c. We commend it to our readers.

We have received our monthly number of the Western Literary Messenger. It is filled as usual with interesting matter; and is one of the cheapest magazines published in this country. An agency for it has been established in Boston, with Messts.

James Munroe & Co.

The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane. Translated from the French of LE SAGE. BY T. SMOLLETT, M. D. To which is prefixed a Memoir of the Author, by THOMAS ROSCOE. Illustrated by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. In two volumes. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. A new and very elegant edition of a most amusing and talented book, which has been made the subject of much dispute; the French maintaining that it must have been written by one of their countrymen, or it could not have delighted them so much, while the Spaniards regard it as derived Homer, Translated by ALEXANDER POPE. New York: Harper originally from Spanish manuscripts, several of which belonged & Brothers, 1836. The twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twentyto Cervantes, the popular author of Don Quixote, and consid-seventh volumes of the Classical Library, contain Pope's popular er Le Sage to be merely as it were a worker in mosaick, deriv- translation of Homer. We are glad to see these standard works ing a pebble from this author, and a jewel from that. Be of antiquity put within the reach of every one. this as it may, the book as is well known is one of the most amusing in the English language. This edition too is extremely well executed, and is ornamented with twelve illustrations by Cruikshank, which are admirable. Gil Blas is uniform with Tom Jones and Humphrey Clinker.

The September numbers of the Petit Courrier des Dames are uncommonly lively and entertaining. This periodical, although devoted to the fashions, frequently contains much that is amusing. The plates are extremely well executed. It is published by Behr & Astoin, at 94 Broadway, New York.

The Fairy-Book, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. One of the prettiest gifts for children that we have seen for many a day; embracing some of the standard juvenile tales, as Cinderella, &c., and in addition many which have been translated from the French expressly for this work. It is embellished with numerous wood-cuts by Adams. The frontispiece designed and drawn on the wood by Mr. J. G. Chapman, is truly a beautiful specimen of art, equal to any thing of the kind ever seen in this or in any other country.

The Merchant's Clerk, and other Tales. BY SAMUEL WAR REn, ll. d. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. A new volume by the author of that fascinating book the "Diary of a Physician." The tales now presented to the publick for the first time in their present shape, are equal in interest to any of this writer's previous productions. The question, as to the authorship of the " Diary of a Physician," is now, we presume, settled.

Home, by MRS. STICKNEY. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836. A well-written work, and one too which bids fair to be extremely popular. We commend it to the attention of parents, satisfied that if read with care, the moral which it inculcates may be the means of preventing much unhappiness.

We are happy to learn that the Mecsrs. Harper have in press a new novel from the pen of that admired novelist W. GILMORE SIMMS, Esq. This book, which will be issued soon, is intimately connected with the history of our country, and will as is usual with the productions of this writer, be purely American; it is one of the series promised us in the preface to his last produc tion, "The Partisan." The title of the new book is Mellichampe. We predict for it an extensive sale.

The same gentlemen have in hands, a little work, which we think will be highly useful to medical students and practitioners. Its title is, the Anatomist's Manual, Translated from the French of J. L. BAYLE by A. SIDNEY DOANE, A. M., M. D., of New York. The book contains a concise and clear account of the human body,

Poems, by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. This new and improv-expressed in very simple terms, and accompanied also with ed edition of Mr. Bryant's poems will be welcomed by all his admirers. It contains, in an extremely neat and elegant volume, not only what was comprised in the former editions, which have met with a rapid and extensive sale, but many choice scraps, now collected for the first time. The book is embellished with

practical directions for preparing the different parts for dissection. Its size fits it particularly for the lecture-room or anatomical theatre, and the price of it will be much less than that of other books on the same subject. The work has already passed through four editions in France.