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part than another, that part, by the circular motion, is prefently transferred to the oppofite fide, and then it acts the contrary way; and fuch irregularities rectify one another; fo that the ball will always go right forwards.

This may be explained by the motion of an arrow; for if an arrow that is not feathered, be shot from a bow, its motion will be very irregular; for if it be the leaft crooked imaginable, it will move towards that hand where the concave fide lies. But when it is feathered truly, to give it a circular motion and make it fpin, the concave part is turned every way, fo that it will always fly ftraight forward. See Exam. 36th, Fig. 220, of my Mechanics, 4to.

But in your common guns that are not rifled, I know no way to prevent that deflection, but to polifh the infide of the barrel, and oil the bullet when it is charged; for by this means the friction within the barrel will be made as fmall as poffible; except you chufe to fhoot with an oblong bullet, as before-mentioned.

An eafy and effe&ual Remedy for the Head-ach, and Alleviative for the Afthma. From Dr. Percival's Philofophical, Medical, and Experimental Effays, lately publifhed.

N the 19th of OЯober, 1774,

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us, was affected with a fevere headach in confequence of having been difturbed in the night. At two o'clock in the afternoon he took eighteen drops of laudanum, and immediately afterwards three dishes of very irong coffee. He lay

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down upon the bed, and endeavoured to compofe himself to fleep. His pain abated in half an hour; and in an hour was entirely removed: but he felt not the leaft difpofition to fleep, although he is often drowsy after dinner, and fometimes indulges himself in fleeping at that time,

November 1ft, he repeated, on a fimilar occafion, the use of laudanum and coffee in the like quantity as before. The effects were precifely the fame; eafe from pain, but no difpofition to fleep.

Nov. 16th, he took eighteen drops of laudanum when under the head-ach, but without coffee. The opiate compofed him to fleep in an hour; but did not entirely remove the pain in his head. These facts confirm a remark which Dr. Percival made in a former volume, that coffee is taken in large quantities, with peculiar propriety, by the Turks and Arabians, becaufe it counteracts the narcotic effects of opium, to the ufe of which thefe nations are much addicted.

The Doctor then informs us, that having learned, by a letter from Sir John Pringle, that an ounce of the beft Mocco coffee, newly burnt, made immediately after grinding it, and taken in one difh, without milk or fugar, is the beft abater of the paroxyfms of the periodic afthma; and that Sir John Floyer, during the latter part of his life, after the publication of his book on the afthma, had con

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ANTIQUITIES.

General State of the Roman Empire, in the Height of its Profperity, with regard to the Number and Greatness of its Cities, and the eafy Communication between them by Sea and Land. From The Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Efq.

E have computed the inha

they had been attracted. Those parts of Italy which have fo long languished under the lazy tyranny of priests and viceroys, had been afflicted only by the more tolerable calamities of war; and the firft fymptoms of decay, which they experienced, were amply compenfated by the rapid improvements of the Cifalpine Gaul. The fplendor of Verona may be traced in

Wbitants, and contemplated its remains; yet Verona was lefs

the public works, of the Roman empire. The obfervation of the number and greatness of its cities will ferve to confirm the former, and to multiply the latter. It may not be unpleafing to collect a few fcattered inftances relative to that fubject, without forgetting, however, that from the vanity of nations, and the poverty of language, the vague appellation of city has been indifferently beftowed on Rome and upon Laurentum. Ancient Italy is faid to have contained eleven hundred and ninety-feven cities; and for whatsoever æra of antiquity the expreffion might be intended, there is not any reafon to believe the country lefs populous in the age of the Antonines, than in that of Romulus. The petty ftates of Latium were contained within the metropolis of the enpire, by whofe fuperior influence

celebrated than Aquileia or Padua, Milan or Ravenna. II. The fpirit of improvement had paffed the Alps, and been felt even in the woods of Britain. York was the feat of government, and London was already enriched by commerce. Gaul could boaft of her twelve hundred cities; and though, in the northern parts, many of them, without excepting Paris itself, were little more than the rude and imperfect townships of a rifing people; the fouthern provinces imitated the wealth and elegance of Italy. Many were the cities of Gaul, Marfeilles, Arles, Nifmes, Narbonne, Thoulouse, Bourdeaux, Autan, Vienne, Lyons, Langres, and Treves, whofe ancient condition might fuftain an equal, and perhaps advantageous comparison with their prefent ftate. With regard to Spain, that country flou

displayed in its ruins. Laodicea collected a very confiderable revenue from its flocks of fheep, celebrated for the fineness of their wool, and had received, a little before the conteft, a legacy of above four hundred thousand pounds by the teftament of a generous citizen. If fuch was the poverty of Laodicea, what must have been the wealth of thofe cities whofe claim appeared preferable, and particularly of Pergamus, of Smyrna, and of Ephefus, who fo long difputed with each other the titular primacy of Afia. The capitals of Syria and Egypt held a ftill fuperior rank in the empire: Antioch and Alexandria looked down with difdain on a crowd of dependent cities, and yielded, with reluctance, to the majefty of Rome itself.

rished as a province, and has de, clined as a kingdom. Exhaufted by the abufe of her ftrength, by America, and by fuperftition, her pride might poffibly be confounded, if we required fuch a lift of three hundred and fixty cities, as Pliny has exhibited under the reign of Vefpafian. III. Three hundred, African cities had once acknowledged the authority of Carthage, nor is it likely that their numbers diminished under the adminiftra tion of the emperors: Carthage itfelf rofe with new fplendor from its afhes; and that capital, as well as Capua and Corinth, foon recovered all the advantages which can be feparated from independent fovereignty. IV. The provinces of the Eaft prefent the contraft of Roman magnificence with Turkish barbarifm. The ruins of antiquity fcattered over uncultivated fields, and afcribed, by ignorance, to the power of magic, fcarcely afford a Thelter to the oppreffed peasant of wandering Arab. Under the reign of the Cefars, the Proper Afia alone contained five hundred populous cities, enriched with all the gifts of nature, and adorned with all the refinements of art. Eleven cities of Afia had once difputed the honour of dedicating a temple to Tiberius, and their respective merits were examined by the fenate. Four of them were immediately rejected as unequal to the burden; and among these was Laodicea, whofe fplendor is ftill

All these cities were connected with each other, and with: the capital, by the public highways, which iffuing from the Forum of Rome, traverfed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. If we carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus to Rome, and from thence to Jerufalem, it will be found that the great chain of communication, from the north-weft to the fouth-eaft point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty Roman miles. The public roads were accurately divided by mile-ftones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very

The following Itinerary may ferve to convey fome idea of the direction of the road, and of the distance between the principal towns. I. From the wall of Antoninus to York 222 Roman miles. II. London 227. III. Rhutupia or Sandwich 67. IV. The navigation to Boulogne 45. V. Rheims 174. VI. Lyons 330 VII. Milan 324. VIII. Rome 426. IX. Brundufium 369. X. The

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very little respect for the obftacles either of nature or private property. Mountains were perforated, and bold arches thrown over the broadeft and most rapid ftreams. The middle part of the road was raised into a terrace which commanded the adjacent country, confifted of feveral ftrata of fand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large ftones, or in fome places, near the capital, with granite. Such was the folid conftruction of the Roman Highways, whofe firmness has not entirely yielded to the effort of fifteen centuries. They united the fubjects of the moft diftant provinces by an easy and familiar intercourse; but their primary object had been to facilitate the marches of the legions; nor was any country confidered as completely fubdued, till it had been rendered, in all its parts, pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror. The advantage of receiving the earlieft intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the emperors to establish, throughout their extenfive dominions, the regular inftitution of pofts. Houfes were every where erected at the diftance only of five or fix miles; each of them was

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conftantly provided with freth horfes, and by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel an hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads *. pofts was allowed to thofe who claimed it by an imperial mandate; but though originally intended for the public fervice, it was fometimes indulged to the bufinefs or conveniency of private citizens +. Nor was the communication of the Roman empire lefs free and open by fea than it was by land. The provinces furrounded and enclosed the Mediterranean; and Italy, in the fhape of an immenfe promontory, advanced into the midst of that great lake. The coafts of Italy are, in general, deftitute of fafe harbours; but human industry had corrected the deficiencies of nature; and the artificial port of Oftia, in particular, fituate at the mouth of the Tiber, and formed by the emperor Claudius, was a useful monument of Roman greatnefs. From this port, which was only fixteen miles from the capital, a favourable breeze frequently carried veffels in feven days to the columns of Hercules, and in nine or ten to Alexandria in Egypt.

X. The navigation to Dyrrachium 4c. XI. Byzantium 711. XII. An. cyra 283. XIII. Tarfus 301. XIV. Antioch 141. XV. Tyre 252. XVI. Jerufalem 168. In all 4080 Roman, or 3740 English miles. See the Itinera ries published by Weffeling, his annotations: Gale and Stukeley for Britain, and M. Danville for Gaul and Italy.

In the time of Theodofius, Cæfarius, a magiftrate of high rank, went poft from Antioch to Conftantinople. He began his journey at night, he was in Cappadocia (165 miles from Antioch) the enfuing evening, and arrived at Conftantinople the fixth day about noon. The whole distance was 725 Roman, or 665 English miles. See Libanius Orat. xxii. and the Itineraria, P. 572-581.

+ Pliny, though a favourite and a minifter, made an apology for granting poft horfes to his wife on the most urgent bufinels. Epist, x. 121, 122. A general

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A general Review of the Rife, Progrefs, and Amount of the Roman Revenues.-From The Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Efq.

TH

HE fiege of Veii in Tufcany, the first confiderable enterprize of the Romans, was protracted to the tenth year, much leis by the ftrength of the place than by the unfkilfulness of the befiegers. The unaccustomed hardfhips of fo many winter campaigns, at the diftance of near twenty miles from home, required more than common encouragements; and the fenate wifely prevented the clamours of the people, by the inftitution of a regular pay for the foldiers, which was levied by a general tribute, affeffed according to an equitable proportion on the property of the citizens *. During more than two hundred years after the conquest of Veii, the victories of the republic added lefs to the wealth than to the power of Rome. The ftates of Italy paid their tribute in military fervice only, and the vaft force, both by fea and land, which was exerted in the Punic wars, was maintained at the expence of the Romans themselves. That high-fpirited people (fuch is often the generous enthusiasm of freedom) cheerfully fubmitted to the most exceffive but voluntary burdens, in the juft confidence that they should speedily enjoy the rich harvest of their labours. Their expectations were not disappointed.

In the courfe of a few years, the riches of Syracufe, of Carthage, of Macedonia, and of Afia, were brought in triumph to Rome. The treasures of Perfeus alone amounted to near two millions fterling, and the Roman people, the fovereign of fo many nations, was for ever delivered from the weight of taxes. The increafing revenue of the provinces was found fufficient to defray the ordinary establishment of war and government, and the fuperfluous mafs of gold and filver was depofited in the temple of Saturn, and referved for any unforeseen emergency of the state t.

Hitiory has perhaps never fuffered a greater or more irreparable injury, than in the lofs of that curious regitter bequeathed by Auguftus to the fenate, in which that experienced prince fo accurately balanced the revenues and expences of the Roman empire. Deprived of this clear and comprehenfive estimate, we are reduced to collect a few imperfect hints from fuch of the ancients as have accidentally turned afide from the fplendid to the most useful parts of hiftory. We are informed, that, by the conquest of Pompey, the tributes of Afia were raised from fifty to one hundred and thirty five millions of drachms; or about four millions and a half fterling. Under the laft and most indolent of the Ptolomies, the revenue of Egypt is faid to have amounted to twelve thousand five hundred talents; a fum equivalent to more than two millions and a half of our money,

See the 4th and 5th books of Livy. In the Roman Cenfus, property, power, and taxation, were commenfurate with each other.

+ See a fine defcription of this accumulated wealth of ages, in Lucan's Pharsalia, 1. iii. v. 155, &c.

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