Memoir on the Discovery of a new Inflammable and Detonating Matter, formed by the Action of Nitric Acid on Indigo and Animal Matter. By the Same.-The nitric acid dissolves indigo with facility, and converts part of it into a substance of a deep yel low colour, and of intensely bitter taste; which, when gently heated, has the property of detonating with considerable vio lence. A substance, possessed of similar properties, had been formerly procured by other chemists, from different animal matter, and M. Welther had even observed its detonation.

Memoir on the Phenomena and Products which Animal Substances afford, when treated with Nitric Acid. By the Same.The action of nitric acid on animal substances was first accurately noticed by M. Berthollet, and led to some important discoveries respecting the composition of these bodies. He, however, principally directed his attention to the gaseous products that arise from this action; while, in the present paper, the authors give a minute account of the change that is produced in the animal matter, and in the acid. These both acquire a deep yellow colour, which appears to be owing to the formation of a peculiar acid substance, considerably similar to that which is described in the preceding paper. The fluid is found to contain sulphate of lime, and oxalate of pot-ash, and likewise a quantity of the malic acid.

Tuo Memoirs on Crude Platina, on the Existence of several Metals in it, and on a new Species of Metal in this Mineral. By the Same. These papers contain a number of accurate experiments performed on platina, which, when they were read to the Institute, must have appeared interesting and important. At the time, however, that the French chemists. were engaged in these researches, Mr. Tennant and Dr. Wollaston were examining the properties of platina, and carried their discoveries to a considerably greater extent. The properties of the new metal, to which Mr. Tennant has given the name of iridium, are pretty clearly indicated by MM. FOURCROY and VAUQUELIN; and they notice some phænomena which must be attributed to the presence of osmium, the other of Mr. Tennant's new metals, but they do not appear to have had the least suspicion of its existence. They conjecture that palladium may be a compound of the new metal, i. e. iridium, and platina. They find that crude platina also contains titanium and chrome; the former existing in the state of an oxid, the latter in that of an acid. They also detected the sulphuret of copper.

Remarks on the Membranous Bag which the Peritoneum furmishes to the Uterus. By M. TENON.-This paper may be con

Hh3

sidered,

sidered, in some respects, as a sequel to a preceding memoir by the same author, which we noticed above. (P..468.) After having observed that the back part of the bladder is in immediate contact with the neck of the uterus, he supposes that the urine may transude, and act on this part. We have already expressed our opinion of M. TENON's experiments, and we are obliged to pass an equally unfavorable judgment on this application of them.

Memoir on the different Kinds of the Mammiferous Genus, named Fourmillier or Myrmecophaga, or Ant-eaters. By B. G. E. LACÉPÈDE.-The name of this writer, so celebrated in zoolagy, will draw the attention of the naturalist to the present paper. He observes that all the animals belonging to this family are remarkable as well for their habits as their forms, and particularly for the small aperture of the mouth; for the length, roundness, and thinness of the tongue; and for the facility with which they can extend it beyond their mouth. It is here stated that this genus Fourmillier contains but three species known to naturalists, viz. F. Tamanoir, (M. Jubata,) F Tamandua i, (M. Tetradactyla,) and F. Didactyle, (M. Didac tyla). Specimens of each of these may be seen in the National Museum of Natural History.

Memoir on the Measurement of Heights by the aid of the Bars meter. By L. RAMOND.-In order to ascertain the height of mountains with precision, by means of the barometer, many experiments must be made in different states of the air, and in different degrees of cold and heat. M. RAMOND seems fully aware of the numerous errors to which this mode of mensuration is subject, and has sedulously endeavoured to obviate them. He has chosen the seasons most favourable for the operation, has employed the best instruments, has corrected the temperature of the mercury by the thermometer, and has scrupulously compared his results with those that have been obtained by other philosophers. It is impossible for us to give the calculations and tables contained in this very elaborate and extensive paper; which sufficiently proves that, by due attention to all circumstances, measures may be taken by the help of the barometer, with a great degree of exactness,

We have not yet received the other parts of this VIth Vol. of the Society's Reports; and indeed such is the present state of the continent, that it is with difficulty and hazard that any foreign publications are now procured in this country.

ART.

ART. III. Histoire de France, &e; i.. The History of France, from the Time of the Gauls to the Fall of the Monarchy. By M. ANQUETIL. Vols. X. to XIV. inclusive. 12 mo. Paris, 1805. Imported by de Boffe. Price 11. 58.

THE

HE character of M. ANQUETIL 2s a pleasing and judicious narrator has been long established: but if he had yet to acquire that reputation, the present work would ensure it to him. It is now brought to its close; and though unequal in its several parts, it continues on the whole to deserve the same favourable account which we have given of the former volumes. The first of those now before us concludes the account of the brave and noble minded Henry IV. and introduces the interesting reign of Louis XIII; than which few in the history of France, or that of any other country, more deserve to be studied, since it offers to our view that great master in state affairs, Cardinal de Richelieu. Before him it was only when the reins were placed in vigorous hands that France could be said to have a civil government; when this was not the case, the nobles mocked the royal authority with impunity, civil wars were perpetually occurring, and the protestants formed a sort of imperium in imperio: but the haughty and resolute Cardinal introduced the other extreme. This perhaps it was very difficult to avoid on any occasion, but absolutely impossible in the inftance of a minister who enjoyed for a long time but uncertain credit with his master. While no one, who casts his eye over the annals of this period, can deny that he was sanguinary and unrelenting, it is but fair at the same time to consider the necessity of his situation, and that much of his conduct was laudable. What minister ever discerned more clearly the foreign interests of the state than Richelieu; or who ever pursued them with more ability and success? He acted on maxims of broad and enlightened policy. In the Valteline, he shewed no respect to the standards of the Pope; and if he weakened the power of the protestants and annihilated them as a body politic at home, he never was guilty of any infringement of their civil and religious rights, while he was the zealous and efficient ally of the protestant cause in Germany: he, followed by Mazarin, prepared the epoch which a monarch of only moderate abilities was able to render most splendid and imposing. It is as struggling with and triumphing over court intrigues, that this writer principally exhibits the cardinal; and not as connected with those plans of foreign policy, and of internal administration, which display the vast scope of his mind,-the extent of its resourses, the perseverance, the daring, and the address by which it was characterized. If the reader can guard

against bias studiously attempted to be given, he can no where learn so fully what Richelieu was, as in the tedious pages of the protestant Le Vasseur, the bitter enemy of the Cardinal.

Scarcely ever has any mortal lived who at some moments has not been found off his guard; a remark which applies even to the unbending and vigilant minister of Louis the Just, The Cardinal's adversary saw his opportunity, and availed him. self of it; and Richelieu felt the disgrace so sensibly, that his firmness had nearly given way. It has been said that he was even meditating a voluntary descent from that elevation on which he appeared to such advantage, and which it cost him so much to reach but the Pêre Joseph, as is conjectured, roused him to a conduct worthy of his fame. By the advice of that capuchin, he shewed himself openly in the streets of Paris, flattered the people, rallied them on their fears, and spoke as a man prepared for the crisis, and confident of success. This affected security dispelled the apprehensions of the Parisians, the face of things immediately changed, the enrollments filled rapidly, and an army respectable in point of numbers soon turned out: but the error of the enemy "did more for Richelieu than either his own address or his measures; since, had the Spaniard duly improved his advantages, the capital must have been brought to imminent peril, and the Cardinal have been disgraced. This surprize of Richelieu is a lesson to all ministers never to rest too confident of security, but to be always prepared for critical emergencies.

When Louis XIII. heard that the Cardinal was no more, he merely obferved," Echold a great statesman dead.”

'This short funeral oration,' says the present author, embraces all that can be said of him, as it respects his administration. He first adjusted a balance of power in Europe, in which the house of Austria had in anterior times possessed too great a preponderance. He reduced the French protestants to a situation in which they could no longer render themselves formidable. These were the two chefs d'œuvre of his administration: but they cost France a multitude of lives He humbled the great, whom he drew from their castles, in which they were surrounded with a power and influence which had been frequently employed to disturb the state, and transmuted them into mere courtiers. He is accused of having reduced the authority of the high noblesse more from personal interest than from a regard to the good of the people, and with having laid snares for those whom he purposed to ruin, an imputation by no means improbable. There is one kind of praise due to him with which no censure blends, viz. that of improving and advancing the marine, the discipline of the army, foreign commerce, and many other administrative brauches. He protected letters, and neglected nothing

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that could give lustre to the mation: but it is difficult to believe that he really in his heart wished to render the people happy, when we consider how he loaded them with burdens, and when we call to our recollection those acts of authority which often excited the murmurs of the clergy, of the magistracy, and of other orders of the state. His ministry was indeed brilliant, but it was oppressive.

His imperious conduct towards the rest of the world, and even towards his sovereigns, was the effect of that decisive, peremptory, and inflexible cast of character, which in him extended even to obstinacy. Persuaded of his own capacity and superior talents, he made pretensions to all sorts of reputation. He wrote a book of theological controversy, employed himself on dramatic poetry, and was a self-created judge of authors; the most celebrated of whom incurred his jealousy and disgrace, when they were not so complaisant as seasonably to yield to him. His confidence in his own powers satisfied him not only that he did all well, but that nothing was well which was not done by him. Consequently he appeared in characters the most foreign to his profession, such as in commanding armies in person, instituting criminal prosecutions, ordering the accused to be brought before him, and interrogating them himself. In truth, few persons possessed so completely as he did a turn for detail united with grand views, and a knowlege of the means proper to ensure their success. This is to be collected from his dispatches, from his instructions to ambassadors, and above all from his letters to the king. Their style is lofty, pure, and sententious; they display singular address in the mode of introducing what it was his aim to have favourably received, and in anticipating and obviating objections: so that whether he spoke or wrote he was sure to succeed in having his ideas adopted by his master.'

The Pêre Joseph so naturally presents himself by the side of the great Cardinal, that we are tempted to submit to our readers another specimen of M. ANQUETIL's pencil. He rejects the stories which ascribe the death of the capuchin to the jealousy of the first minister; he thinks that their friendship never suffered any interruption; and he quotes the exclamation of Richelieu on hearing of his death: "J'ai perdu mon bras droit :"*

The Pêre Joseph was an indefatigable man. In managing enterprizes, he had all the activity, versatility, and perseverance which were necessary to make them succeed. He had rendered himself fami liar with difficulties and fatigues, in missions with regard to reforms in the houses belonging to his order: labours to which his early life had been devoted. In this occupation, he acquired the habit of paying no regard to the views, tastes, and inclinations of men, and of using compulsion when persuasion would not suffice. He pene trated into the interior of cabinets by boldly setting himself for