i of the title of a French book, L'Esprit des Journaux. The old word Quintessence would have been preferable to Spirit. We are informed by the editor, that the collections of scraps cut out of newspapers suggested to him the idea of this collection; and that, in making it, recourse has seldom been had to publications of an earlier date than the year 1793 *. In the advertisement to the first volume, we are told that far the greater part of the essays are of an anti-ministerial tendency; not, however, owing to any partiality, but from the superior exuberance of wit and humour of the opposition faction; and that, in the second, the proportion would have been greater, had it not been for a particular publication, which has furnished him with some sprightly papers of considerable merit on the ministerial side of the question. The editor avows himself the author of a number of the articles in the present collection, though he does not particularly point them out. The news-papers which have chiefly contributed to this miscellany are, The Morning Chronicle, the Times, the Morning Herald, and the St. James's Chronicle. SINGLE SERMONS. Art. 54. Preached at St. Mary's, Nottingham, Sept. 4, 1798, before the Governors of the General Hospital. By Edward Pearson, B. D. Rector of Rempstone. 8vo. Is. Rivingtons. 1799. The general principles, which form the first part of this sermon, were published by the author in 1786, when he had occasion to apply them to another very important mode of distributing the education and religious instruction of indigent youth †. As that publication has been long out of print, it is conceived that some purposes of good may be answered by again bringing those principles before the public in this new connection.'-This discourse, like the former, bears for its title, The Measure and Manner of distributing, from Tim. vi. 17, 18. It is a sensible and judicious performance. While it shews that the present state of man must of necessity produce an inequality of condition, it at the same time pleads for the greater opportunity and advantage which such a situation affords for the exercise and practice of virtue Art. 55. On Cruelty to dumb Animals; preached at the Free-church, now called Christ's Church, in Bath, on the Sunday before Lent, 1799. By the Rev. Charles Daubeny, Minister of Christ's Church, Author of the "Guide to the Church." 12mo. 3d. Vernor and Hood. This discourse is said to be printed by particular desire.' The subject is certainly important, and always seasonable; and the writer considers it with a suitable warmth and affection. He places the strength of his argument on Christian ground; and here, indeed, it is well supported: for most assuredly, whether men will regard it or ** In the advertisement to the second volume, the editor informs us, that some persons having lamented that he had carried his researches no farther back than 1793, he has in that volume selected from publications of an antecedent, and, in some few instances, rather a remote period. † M. R. for Jan. 1788, vol. lxxviii. p. 87. not, " 224 not, wars and combats, and cruelties of every kind, are wholly repugnant to the instructions and spirit of the gospel. Nature and reason supply some 'arguments on the subject, but Christianity strengthens, enforces, and increases them. Speaking of man in a state of nature, Mr. Daubeny says, 'In this condition, cruelty constitutes one principal feature of his character. The natural man knoweth no mercy; because he is unacquainted with that religion which is founded in mercy. Yet, we may recollect instances of humanity and compassion among those who had never heard of Christian truth; and, sad to say! we may produce proofs of even savage barbarity from among those who have known and professed our holy religion, and are considered as zealous in its cause. Look to the inquisitions, to the fires at Smithfield, to numerous other facts in antient and more modern times, both among Papists and Protestants, which too clearly testify oppression and cruelty. Mr. Daubeny renders it sufficiently evident that a man of such temper and practice can be no Christian. We hope that his animated and well-designed labours, now cheaply circulated, will have the good effect of awakening and strengthening sentiments of benevolence in general, and exciting his readers to the exercise of gentleness and mercy to dumb animals, as well as to their fellow creatures! Art. 56. A Discourse delivered at Rotherhithe Church, May 29, 1799, for the Benefit of the Royal Humane Society, instituted for the Recovery of Persons apparently dead. By the Rev. T. Haweis, LL. B. and M. D. 8vo. Is. Chapman. The scientific author warmly pleads the cause of this benevolent institution, and recommends it by powerful motives.. We are sorry to apprehend, from some expressions which occur, that its expences are very considerable, and its funds greatly impoverised. The remark offered in the advertisement is very just, viz. The living monuments of the divine benediction, on this singular humane institution, are the noblest recommendation, seen and read of all men.'- From one part of this discourse, (p. 17,) it appears that, on application, an apparatus has been furnished by the Society for the late Mission to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The appendix contains the customary accounts or descriptions relative to the charity; reduced, we think, into somewhat of a more regular form than we have in other instances observed. It is remarked, at the close, that ten of its most zealous and respectable governors, whose names are mentioned, have died in the course of a few months. CORRESPONDENCE. 1 Our information of the fact in Natural History, concerning which a correspondent who signs & requests farther particulars, came from a private source; on the authenticity of which we can rely, but from which we cannot now derive the circumstances that are the object of this writer's inquiry. Letters signed Indagator, and G. S. C. are just received. ' 'xith Art.' read last, line, for ، THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For MARCH, 1800. ART. I. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Londons for the Year 1799. Part II. 4to. Elmsley. MATHEMATICAL and PHILOSOPHICAL PAPERS. Essay on the Resolution of Algebraic Equations: attempting to distinguish particularly the real Principle of every Method, and the true Causes of the Limitations to which it is subject. By Giffin Wilson, Esq. T "o those who are conversant with the higher branches of algebra, the difficulties attending them are well known. The resolution of equations is confined within very narrow limits. Those of the third degree frequently present an irreducible case; and though biquadratics have, by several methods, been reduced to cubics, no formula exhibiting to the eye the actual resolution of a biquadratic has yet appeared. With respect to others of the fifth degree, and all of a higher class, no mode of general resolution has hitherto been suggested; notwithstanding the united and successive efforts of the most ingenious mathematicians, for several centuries. The object of the elaborate essay before us is an investigation of the true principles on which the resolution of equations of any degree depends; in order to determine with what probability, and by what means, if possible, we may expect that other methods of solution may be devised, or those which have been already adopted may be rendered more perfect. With this idea, (says the author) I shall take a concise view of the nature and resolution of equations in general; pointing out the common difficulty, and by what circumstances that difficulty is, in certain cases, lessened or removed; confining myself always to the principle of each step, and a strict analysis of the result, avoiding all detail of mere operation; and, without pretending to much novelty upon a subject already so beaten, I persuade myself, such an investigation will lead to some conclusions which have not been remarked, and which are both curious and important.' The essay is divided into two chapters, and extends through 39 pages. The reasoning is of so abstruse a nature, and is VOL. XXXI. illustrated illustrated by such a variety of analytical processes, that no abstract or abridgment of it, which would not far exceed our limits, could be intelligible, much less interesting to our readers in general. Those who are accustomed to direct their attention to subjects of this kind will recur to it, when they have opportunity, and they will peruse it with satisfaction and advantage. The author has suggested hints which may be usefully pursued by persons of ability and leisure; and he closes with observing that the proper method of proceeding, in inquiries of this nature, seems to be, ' Abandoning all projects for the general resolution of equations, to inmestigate regularly the abstract properties of each separate order or number of quantities, turning them into all shapes, sifting all their combinations, and constructing and examining the equations of different complex functions of them, in order to see if latent peculiarities be not to be traced out in some of them. Wherever any distinguishing property is found, it will, by principles here explained, infallibly lead to some method for the degree to which it belongs; and, whoever may be fortunate enough to discover any such property, in five, six, or any higher order of quantities, will have the honour of removing the important and hitherto impenetrable barrier, which has so long obstructed the farther improvement of algebra.' the An Inquiry concerning the Weight ascribed to Heat. By Benjamin Count of Rumford, F.R.S. &c. The experiments recited in this paper were made in the year 1787. They were occasioned by those of Dr. Fordyce, which are recorded in the 75th volume of the Transactions; and from which he concluded that water acquired an increase of weight by being frozen into ice. Having provided the necessary apparatus, which consisted of an excellent balance and two glass bottles, resembling our Florence flasks, made of thin glass, and of the same shape and dimensions, the Count put into one of them a certain quantity of pure distilled water, and into the other an equal weight of weak spirit of wine; and having sealed both the bottles hermetically, he suspended them in the arms of the balance, and placed the apparatus in a large room at the temperature of about 61° of Fahrenheit. When the bottles had been in this situation long enough to have acquired the temperature of the air, he wiped them dry, and brought them to the most exact equilibrium. Having left them in the same situation for about 12 hours, and finding no alteration in their respective weight, he removed them into a room, the air of which was at the temperature of 29°, and left them there for 48 hours. On returning to examine them, he found that the bottle which contained the water very sensibly preponderated, and that the water was frozen into a solid body of ice; while the spirit of wine in the other bottle manifested no sign of freezing. The result was very different from what the author had expected. When the apparatus was removed into the temperature of 61°, the ice gradually thawed, and the two bottles were restored to their original weight.-The experiment was repeated with the same result. Having satisfied himself with regard to the accuracy of his balance, the ingenious author resumed his investigations of the increase of weight which fluids have been said to acquire on being congealed. Dr. Fordyce's fact having been cors roborated, as he imagined, by his own experiments, he conceived that the increase of weight, which the frozen water had acquired. could be owing only to the loss of the latent heat which a fluid is known to evolve when it congeals; whence he concluded that, if the loss of latent heat added to the weight of one body, it must produce the same effect on another; and, therefore, the augmentation of the quantity of latent heat must, in all bodies, and in all cases, diminish their apparent weights. In order to examine the justness of this conclusion, he provided two bottles similar to those which he had before used, and put into one a determinate quantity of water, and into the other an equal weight of mercury; and, suspending them to the arms of a balance, he brought them to a perfect equilibrium in the temperature of 61°, and then removed them into the temperature of 34°, where they remained 24 hours. During this time, neither of them seemed to have acquired or lost any weight. Hence it appeared, ' that the quantity of heat lost by the water must have been very considerably greater than that lost by the mercury; the specific quantities of latent heat in water and in mercury having been determined to be to each other as 1000 to 33; but this difference in the quantities of heat lost produced no sensible difference in the weights of the fluids in question.' This experiment confirmed his suspicion that the apparent augmentation of the weight of the water, on being frozen, arose from some accidental cause. In the farther investigation of this matter, he provided three bottles, resembling those which he had before used; into the first, he put a certain quantity of water, and a small thermometer; into the second, he put a like weight of spirit of wine, with a similar thermometer; and into the third, he put an equal weight of mercury. These bottles were hermetically sealed, and placed in a room of which the constant temperature for 24 hours was 61°; and the contents of the two first-mentioned bottles appearing, by their inclosed thermometers, to be exactlyat the same temperature, they were carefully wiped, and suffered to remain 2 hours longer; they were then all weighed, and brought 2 |