tain and general principles. He confiders fire and pure air as two elementary principles which have a remarkable affinity to each other, and whofe different combinations form all the aeriform fubftances that have been obtained by the operations and experiments of modern chemifts. The details into which he enters, relative to these combinations, and the different kinds of air, or aeriform fubftances, that are derived from them, are curious and interefting: they exhibit feveral new facts, and are fingularly recommendable for the method and precifion of their arrangement.

ART. XV.

De l'Esprit du Gouvernement_œconomique, i. e. On the œconomical Spirit of Government. By M. BOESNIER DE L'ORME. 8vo. Paris. 1786.

THOUGH we cannot adopt all the opinions held forth in

this work, yet it abounds with ingenious points of view, and contains a variety of observations and facts, which a wife ftatesman may turn to his profit, and that of the public. The Author's great object is national felicity, and we believe him fincere in his zeal for its advancement. To point out its true fources, he treats fucceffively of the right of property, and the origin of fociety; of agriculture, arts, manufactures, and commerce; of the union of the different operations of induftry in one great end; of the functions of government; and the advan tages that arife from the unequal diftribution of landed property.

ART. XVI.

Voyage en Suiffe, ou Tableau hiftorique, civil, politique, et physique de la Suiffe, i. e. Travels through Switzerland. By M. MAYER. 2 Vols. 8vo. Paris and Amfterdam. 1786. (7 Livres 4 Sols.)

THE

HE motto of this book, if we were to devife it, would be, multum in parvo, much folid matter in a small compaís. M. MAYER is not one of thofe fuperficial travellers who are pleasantly expofed in the following comparison :

Never by tumbler through the hoops was shown

Such skill in paffing ALL, yet touching NONE.

Far from it: he bears all the marks of an attentive obferver, an acute reafoner, a fpirited painter of the objects he exhibits; but his political reflections on the Helvetic conftitution are, undoubt. edly, the moft fhining parts of his work. He has profited, indeed, confiderably, by the travels of his predeceffors, particularly the accurate and judicious Mr. Coxe, and he does not difdain to make an ample ufe of their labours; but he has added more than the widow's mite to the treasure of information which we already poffefs with respect to Switzerland. He has gone over the ground, with their books in his hand, and with ardent curi

ofity in his eye. In fhort he writes away, adding, correcting, and modifying; and exhibits a complete view of Switzerland, as if nobody had defcribed it before him.

ART. XVII.

Leçons elementaires de Mechanique, i. e. Elementary Lectures on Mechanics. By the Abbé JANTET, Profeffor of Philofophy in the College of Dole. 8vo. 454 Pages. With 9 Plates. Paris. 1785. IN this work, remarkable for the perfpicuity, precifion, typo graphical neatnefs, and the extenfive knowledge of mechanics, which it displays, the Author fets out by laying down the elementary principles of the fcience of mechanics. He deduces from one fingle propofition the general laws of the balance he afterwards points out the center of gravity, the laws of uniform motion, the principal difcoveries of Galileo, -and the defcent of heavy bodies. He explains the theory of central forces, and the application of that theory to motion in conic fections: he demonftrates that, by the laws of gravity, the planets can only defcribe conic fections: he treats alfo of the motion of the center of gravity, of the percuffive powers of bodies, and the obftacles with which bodies in motion may meet.

The principle of equality of pressure (which is proved by all the experiments made upon fluids, though not perhaps fufceptible of demonftration by reasoning) is a truth whence the whole science of hydroftatics may be deduced. It is, accordingly, from this principle, that the Abbé JANTET derives the laws of the equilibrium of incompreffible or elaftic fluids, fubjected to the free action of their gravity, and the laws of the equilibrium of fluids with the folid bodies, which are immersed in them. A general view of hydraulics, with fome of the plaineft doctrines relative to the motion of fluids in the various directions that are obfervable in water-works, to the percuffion of fluids and the refraction of the rays of light, which pass from one medium into another, terminates this ufeful work.

ART. XVIII.

Idylles, ou Contes Champêtres, i. e. Idyls, or Rural Stories. By Mademoiselle LEVESQUE. 16mo. Paris. 1786.

IF

the name of this young lady was not prefixed to her work, we might have conjectured that Gefner was her fire; for the foul of Gefner feems to breathe in her charming poems. The fweet ferenity of the rural fcene, the various beauties which it exhibits, the mild and peaceful virtues of which it is the afylum, the lovely affections that conftitute the comfort of domestic life, are the subjects on which this virgin mufe, in her fixteenth year, pours forth her chafte, tender, unaffected Atrains. Thele trains,

L14

though

though in profe, have all the foft and affecting melody of pastoral poetry: they are dedicated to her parents; and what tender and delightful emotions must fuch an offering, from fuch a hand, have excited in their breasts * ?

Tbe fubject of the firft of thefe idyls is, The dangers of love, which, though reprefented with a tender naïveté, feem rather to be painted from fancy than from feeling. The titles of the following idyls are, Filial Love-the Dream-the Birtb-day— Lifts and Alexis-the Spring-the Midnight Converfation.

ART. XIX.

Collection univerfelle des Mémoires particuliers relatifs à l'Hiftoire de France, i. e. A general Collection of particular Memoirs relative to the Hiftory of France. 10 Vols. 8vo. Paris.

ΤΗ

HIS valuable Collection comes forth fucceffively, and exhibits a circumftantial view of characters, events, and revolutions, accompanied with interefting notes and obfervations on all the most important points of French hiftory. The tenth volume goes no farther down than to the first book of the memoirs of Philip de Comines, fo that a multitude of volumes is yet to be expected.

ART. XX.

Obfervations fur les Obftacles qui s'opposent aux Progrés de l'Anatomie, i. e. Obfervations on the Obstacles that retard the Progress of Anatomy. By M. TENON, Regius Profeffor in the College of Chirurgerie, and Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. 4to. 47 Pages. Paris. 1786.

BUY

UY the book, anatomical Readers! it is fmall, and cheap; it is judicious, and therefore worthy of a perufal. It is published with the approbation of the whole anatomical Faculty, and alfo of the Academy of Sciences; and all this, furely, is fufficient to recommend it.

Recherches fur la Direction du Fluide magnetique, i. e. Inquiries concerning the Direction of the magnetic Fluid. By M. BRUNO, Master of the Ceremonies to MONSIEUR, the King's Brother. 8vo. 2c6 Pages. With 8 Plates. Paris. 1785.

UR Author flatters himself, that after a long feries of experiments made on a variety of natural and artificial loadftones, he has at length arrived at the knowledge of all, or almost all, the laws to which the magnetic fluid is fubjected.

The father of this lady is M. LEVESQUE, Author of the Hiftory of Ruffia (of which we have given an account), who has been lately promoted to the profefforship of history at Berlin.

This knowledge has led M. BRUNO to form what he calls a new idea, and new indeed it is to us, and will appear probably fo to many of our Readers. This idea is, that we are all mirtaken when we fay or think that the magnetic fluid is emitted from one pole or extremity, and circulates to, and enters the oppofite one: for our Author's experiments have convinced him, on the contrary, that this fluid, or effluvia, precipitates itself toward the poles, through all the points of a fpherical circumference; that it afterward re-unites itfelf at one common center, and that at this center a re-action is produced toward all the points of a spherical circumference. He may be in the right or in the wrong for aught we know; for we do not well underftand him but we are tempted, by analogy, to apprehend, that he is in the wrong, when we fee him affirming, in another place, that the inclination of the earth's axis may be explained by the action of the magnetic fluid on our globe.

As to the attraction and repulfion of the magnet, our Author attributes them to the elafticity and preffure of the air and the furrounding fluids. Thefe impel the iron towards the part where it will find the leaft refiftance; and that part is the space occupied by the magnetic fluid, in which there is a smaller quantity of air (or of any other groffer fluid) than that which as upon the loadftone. We fhould be glad to fee the experiments that led to fuch results.

ART. XXII.

Defcriptions des Machines electriques à Taffeta, &c. i. e. A Defcription of electrical Machines made with Taffeta, with an Account of their Effects, and their various Advantages. By M. ROULAND, Profeffor of Experimental Philofophy in the University of Paris. With Plates. 8vo. Paris.

A GENTLEMAN, furprized at the beauty and brilliancy of the electrical pencils and corrufcations which he had produced by rubbing, in the dark, with a cat's fkin, two large taffeta curtains, conceived the idea of employing filk in his electrical machine. M. ROULAND caught the idea, and in a large machine has employed taffeta inftead of the two plates of glafs that are used in the machine of M. Van Marum, of whofe prodigiDus effects we lately gave an account. The construction of this machine, in which there is no glafs, and which is much lefs expenfive, and lefs liable to accidents, than that of the Dutch philofopher, has been examined by commiffioners appointed for that purpose by the Royal Academy of Sciences: and their report is, that the machine of M. ROULAND is ingeniously conftructed, and exempt from the accidents to which others

*See Appendix to our 73d volume.

are

are exposed that it opens a new field for electrical experiments, and is adapted to produce the greatest effects. This report, given into the Academy by Count de Milly, Meffieurs Leroi, Briffon, and de la Place, is every way worthy of the confidence of the Public.

ART. XXIII.

Etudes de la Nature, i. e. The Study of Nature, or rather Studies of Nature. By J. HENRY BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE. 3 Vols. 12mo. With Plates. Paris. 1785.

THIS

HIS is a first-rate publication. Its plan is irregular, but moft extenfive; for it takes in the whole compass of nature (that is, what we can fee or conjecture of it), both in the phyfical and moral world. It is, in point of originality, one of the moft remarkable productions we have met with; for, befide a multitude of new ideas, the old ones acquire an afpect of novelty in paffing through this Author's pen, and we do not recollect any writer who has drawn fo conftantly from an internal fund of native genius and deep obfervation. Ancient systems, eftablished principles, fage authority, received notions, new difcoveries, are nothing to him, until they have been melted down in his crucible (if we may ufe that expreffion), and examined in all their conftituent parts. He attacks, without respect of perfons, what he looks upon as erroneous; but his attacks are always conducted with decency, candour, and amenity: he pulls down many new fyftems, and revives feveral old ones: he feems, indeed, to be over-fond of deviating from the beaten track but he never quits the main path of genuine religion, though he feparates from it the fpirit of fanaticifm, that gives it an odious afpect, and the follies of fuperftition, which would render it contemptible. His ftyle is eloquent, animated, and often picturefque and poetical. He deferves to be tranflated-but who fhall tranflate him? as we may apply to him the Hibernicism in the batho:

None but himself can be his parallel.

ART. XXIV.

La Religion défendue contre l'Incredulité du Siecle, &c, i. e. A Defence of Religion against the Attacks of modern Infidelity; containing a Summary of Sacred Hiftory, and fome preliminary Reflections, relative to the Design of this Work. 12mo. 6 Vols. Paris. 1785. THO

HOUGH we need not foreign aid to repulfe the adverfaries of religion, it is nevertheless an interefting, and may fometimes prove a useful object of curiofity, to know how a controverfy of fuch moment is carried on by our neighbours, and particularly in a country, where a bold and pernicious affociation of fophifts have been long undermining or endea

vouring