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At fix, being laid on the snow, it fell to 13° below o.
At nine, it sunk to 14', and at one, the next morning, continuing in the same situation, the mercury had fallen to 23° below o; nor does it appear to have risen more than 2 or 3 degrees at any one period from that time till 8 o'clock: a thermometer suspended at the same time, in the open air, appears constantly to have indicated a degree of cold much inferior to that indicated by that which lay on the snow. Thus, when the former stood at 12° below o, the latter stood at o; and while the former was 23° below o, the latter stood at -7, that is, 160 degrees higher.
By blowing on the snow contiguous to the ball of the thermometer, by a pair of bellows properly cooled, when the mere cury stood at 22 below o; the cold was so far from being increased, that at the end of two minutes the mercury had risen no less than 10°; for it now pointed only to 12° below o. Dr. Irvine affifted at this experiment, which was made with a view to try whether the snow might not be still further cooled, by an evaporation at the furface, promoted by the action of the bellows.
In the experiments made on the following day (January 23), when the cold was not so intense, it appears that the thermometer in the air was constantly from 6 to 10 degrees higher than that laid on the snow. Thus when the former ftood at +14°, and afterwards at +5°, the latter at the same times was funk to +4°, and -3. A thermometer which had been sufpended a little above the leads of the observatory, being laid on some hoar-froft, three fourths of an inch deep, which had settled on a piece of thin board, never failed to fink at least 6 degrees; but when it was laid upon pieces of stone, from which the hoar frost had been brushed away, the mercury funk very little. Article 30. - Account of an extraordinary Pheasant: By Mr. John
Hunter. The subject of this account is a hen pheasant, with the feathers of a cock. The Author, after offering several general observations, concludes, that it is most probable that all those hen pheasants which are found wild, and have the feathers of the cock, were formerly perfect hens; but that they are now changed by age, and perhaps by certain constitutional circumftances.' Article 31. A Letter to Joseph Banks, Esq; P. R. S. &c.
from Daniel-Peter Layard, M. D. F. R. S. &c. relative to the Distemper among the Horned Cattle.
In this Paper the Author lays before the Society the result of his observations and correspondence, with respect to the contagious distemper among the cattle, since the year 1769; when he was called upon by government to aslist with his advice to stop its progress, on its breaking out in Hampshire. The falutary
orders then and afterwards issued, to kill the infected cattle immediately, by strangling, and to bury the carcases whole, together with their litter, &c. have effectually extinguished the disease in this country, as well as in Flanders, Picardy, and the South of France ; where the British system was adopted.
In Denmark, where the disease has become naturalised and general, the government have adopted the regulations issued in Great Britain, and have likewise pursued the practice of inoculation, which appears to have been successful. The Author af. firms, that this disease is an eruptive fever, of the variolous kinds bearing all the characteristic symptoms of that disorder ; with this distinctive property, that no beast which has had it, either naturally or by inoculation, is ever attacked by it a second time. Article 34. Thermometrical Experiments and Observations: By
Tiberius Cavallo, F.R. S. The Author having been appointed to write the annual Difsertation, pursuant to the institution of the late Mr. Baker, has chosen for the subject of it certain experiments made with thermometers three or four years ago; particularly with respect to the effects produced by painting their bulbs black, or of different colours. It will not appear strange that a thermometer, the bulb of which had been painted black with Indian ink, should, on being exposed to the sun's rays, indicate a degree of heat about 10 degrees above that shewn by a similar thermometer, which had not been painted : but it will appear remarkable, that when the thermometers were only exposed to the strong daylight, the mercury in the former constantly rose one-third of a degree, and sometimes even three-fourths, or even a whole degree, above that in the latter.
In this Paper the Author describes a very easy and expeditious method of graduating thermometers of various lengths or fizes; by by means of a board on which a piece of white paper is pafted, and on which a right angled triangle is drawn, one side of which is divided into equal parts, or degrees. This inftrument may be considered as a universal scale, and must be very useful to those who are engaged in experiments that require the use of a great number of thermometers : but a more particular description of it cannot well be rendered intelligible, without the affistance, of the plate in which it is delineated.
METEOROLOGY. Under this class are comprehended only two articles; the first of which contains an abstract of a register of the barometer, thermometer, and rain, at Lyndon, in Rutland, 1779, by Thomas Barker, Esquire :-and in the second is contained a journal of the weather at Senegambia, during the prevalence of a very
fatal putrid disorder, together with a few remarks on that country.
The Astronomical and Mathematical Articles will appear in a following Review.
IS. 6 d.
ART. VII. The Royal Suppliants. A Tragedy. As performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane, 8vo.
Bowen, 1781. To this tragedy the Author (the Rev. Dr. Delap) has pre
fixed the following Advertisement : * It may perhaps be necessary !o acquaint the reader, that Euripi. des has written a tragedy upon the same subject. In his Heraclida, Macaria is sacrificed in ihe second act, and never afterwards mentioned ; and Acamas is a mute, Indeed the whole conduct of this play is so entirely different from that of the Greck poet, that the author is hardly conscious to himself of having borrowed any thing more from him, than the general idea of the Suppliants taking refuge in the temple, and Macaria's voluntary offer of her own life,
There are few dramas, among the remains of the ancient tragic ftage, that seem to afford less temptation to a modern playwright than the Heraclidæ of Euripides. The fable is not, like Medea, dipus, Philoctetes, Iphigenia, &c. founded on one of those popular classical stories, with which every dabbler in antiquity is luperficially acquainted. The Prologue, indeed, has called it, the tale that Bufby taught :' this may be true of the Adventures of Hercules ; but we will venture to affert, that many a school-boy has left Westminster, without ever having heard of the sacrifice of MACARIA. The Greek play itself too, though written in a vein of pathetic fimplicity, is constructed on rather too severe a model for the English Itage. Our Author, however, has borrowed more from the Greek poet than he handfomely acknowledges. Not only the general idea of the Supe pliants taking refuge in the temple, and Macaria's voluntary offer of her own life ;' but, among other matters, particularly the character of Alcander, though under another name, and the death of Eurystheus by the hand of Hyllus. In Euripides, indeed, ' fcamas is a mute.' Acamas, by Dr. Delap, is transformed into a lover; one of those infipid gallants, those Drawcansir amorosos, that over-run our modern tragedies. The same dramatic craft is exercised on the oracle, a falsification of which is aukwardly produced, by an unnatural connection bctween the Herald of Argos and the Priest of Athens. By these means, the regal cares of Demophon are degraded, the filia! paflions of Macaria are weakened and divided, and the touching fimplicity of the ancient drama is ill exchanged for the una interesting complications of a modern tragedy.
The following is, we apprehend, in the Author's estimation, the capital scene in the piece : • Solemn Mufic. Allow Proceffion. MACARIA dreft like a Victim, at
tended by Priessa Demophon.
Holy men, approach,
Virgin, thou there discern'ft
Conducts thee to the altar,
Macaria cannot. Without pause,
[She walks, attended; towards the Temple, with folemn mufic. Demophon.
Now, my son,
DEIANIRA and Iolaus from the Temple,
Of sad folemnity? and lo, attired
Shall bring the Furies with him.
Priests, do your office
Demophon. Had I not patience beyond mortal man
Injurious Queen! what wert thou :-Goes she not,
Thy wretched being ?-Seize her!
What dreadful profanation !
Within a father's breaft! But to behold
If one most die !-Sound, found for sacrifice !
To start the powers of heaven!! clasp thy knees !
And freely shall it flow.
The impious hand,
It braves the thunderer's bolts !
Regard not her,
And here the poignard plunge!
Tempt not, rash Kinga
Plunge here the poignard !
Sound to sacrifice,