might suggest various agricultural, and other improvements, and works of general utility; to which, in the actual circumstances of the country, such labour might be directed, both with present and permanent advantage; and it can scarcely be necessary to declare, that, in cases of this nature, it will afford peculiar satisfaction to the Committee, not only by their funds, so far as their resources will allow, but, also, by their established connections and correspondencies, to forward the accomplishment of such useful undertakings. On the whole, the Committee are persuaded, that the liberality of the Public, judiciously applied, in aid of such plans as shall be locally adopted, may produce extensive and beneficial effects, in multiplying the occupations, supplying the wants, and diminishing the sufferings of their fellow-subjects, during the present severe pressure. On these grounds the Committee now confidently appeal to the known benevolence of the Public, and venture to request that the desired asistance may be granted with that distinguished liberality which has often relieved the sufferers of other nations, and with that promptitude which the present exigency so urgently requires. (For the Resolutions, and the Subscriptions already received, vide the Cover of this Magazine.-EDITOR. To the Editor of the European Magazine. SIR, TH THROUGH the medium of your widely-circulated Magazine, I beg to ask of your Correspondents, If there is any Fine to which a special Juryman is liable on non-appearance, when his name is called over by the Officer of the Court, and that Juryman has been regularly summoned ? In a majority of the causes tried in London and Middlesex, at the Sittings after last Term, either the plaintiff or defendant had gone to the no small expense of striking a Special Jury (and which expense must be borne by the party applying for it, unless the Judge in open Court" certifies" that a Special Jury was proper). Yet I may venture to assert, that not more than three or four (though twelve are necessary) appeared in each of the causes, out of the twenty-four summoned to attend by the Sheriff. In the Indictment against Lord Coch rane, tried at Guildford on the 17th, it appears a Special Jury was struck, and yet only two (out of twenty-four sum moned) appeared, notwithstanding it must, I think, have been generally known to the Jurymen summoned, that the cause would excite public interest. A Special Jury Cause is always appointed to be tried on a particular Day, as in the indictment alluded to above, and therefore the Juryman knows when it will be heard-and I need not add that every Juryman receives his guinea. It is, therefore, not only a disappointment to the party in not having his cause tried by persons he selected, as being conversant with the subject matter in issue, but I thing it is evident much of the time of the Court is taken up in calling over twice, in every cause, the list of Jurymen. I have a slight recollection that Sir James Mansfield, a few years ago, threatened to inflict a fine on the nonattendance of a Special Juryman, when name is called. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, T. C. T. his Prospecl-terrace, Gray's-innroad, Aug. 20, 1816. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. No. XXVIII. INSOLVENT DEBTORS ACT. THE amended Act for the relief of Insolvent Debtors in England materially changes the provisions of the first law. By the new Act it is said, "That from and after the passing of this Act, if it shall appear to the court established by virtue of the said recited Act (the Act for the relief of Insolvent Debtors) upon the examination of any prisoner, or otherwise, that such prisoner has acted with gross injustice to wards his or her creditors, either in contracting any debts, or entering into any engagements, without any fair pros pect or probable means of paying such debts, or fulfilling such engagements, or by squandering or otherwise impro perly disposing of his or her monies, effects, or other property, which he or she might have applied in paying such debts or fulfilling such engagements, either wholly or in part, such prisoner shall not be entitled to his or her discharge by virtue of the said recited Act, unless the whole of the creditors of such prisoners shall consent to his or her discharge, or such prisoner shall have been confined within the walls of any prison for the space of five years, to be computed from the time when such prisoner shall have applied for his or her discharge." PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, After the Christmas vacation, the society met on Thursday, the 11th of January, when a paper communicated by Sir Humphrey Davy was read, giving a further account of the construction of safe lamps for coal pits, his earlier enquiries connected with this subject having already been submitted to the society at the meetings of the 9th and 16th of November. The present paper relates chiefly to the singular effect produced by surrounding the flame of a lamp with wire gauze, which enables us to burn it without danger from explosion in mixtures of fire damp, which, on the contact of naked flame, would instantly detonate. This paper was followed up by a second on the same subject, read at the meeting on the 25th of January. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the value of these communications, either on account of the new philosophical truths which they announce, or their much more important application to the practical purposes of the miner, the council of the Royal Society, seeing the propriety of giving speedy circulation to such inquiries, having liberally sanctioned their immediate publication. On the 25th of January, the reading of a paper by Dr. Wilson Philip, of Worcester, was commenced; which was continued on the 1st of February, and concluded on Thursday, the Sth; it related principally to the influence of the nerves upon secretions; a subject which has long attracted the attention of physiologists, but upon which, from its extreme difficulty and intricacy, very little light has hitherto been thrown by experimental investigation. It has been long known that when the nerves which supply the voluntary muscles are deranged or divided, the powers of the muscle are interfered with, and that any injury done to the terves which supply the organs of secretion, interrupt or modify the functions of the gland and the composition of the secretion. A remarkable instance of this very often occurs where the action of the kidnies is interfered with by damage done to the spine, in which case the urine is secreted, turbid, and alkaline, The consideration of these and many similar facts have long led physiologists to regard the nerves as presiding over secretion in general; in 1806 such a doctrine was maintained by Berzelius, in his work upon animal chemistry; and, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1869, and in the Philosophical Journal for the same year, Sir Everard Home and Dr. Wollaston have each adduced evidence in its fayour. The latter experimentalists, too, have shewn, that it is more than possible that electricity may be concerned in the hidden agencies of the nerves. This notion is adopted and strenuously defended by the author of this paper; a great part of which is taken up in the detail of harsh and unsatisfactory experiments upon living rabbits. That the function of digestion is connected with the operation of the eighth pair of nerves, Dr. Phillip proves, by feeding rabbits with parsley and immediately after dividing those nerves in the neck. After some hours the animal was killed, and the parsley found unchanged in the stomach. In another experiment, the rabbit was fed, and the nerves divided as before their extremities were covered with tin foil, and the hair oppo site the stomach been removed, a shilling was laid upon that spot-the foil and the shilling were then connected with a battery of 47 four-inch plates, the action of which was continued by dilute muriatic acid for twenty-six hours, when the animal was killed, and the parsley was as perfectly digested, says Dr. Philip, as in the stomach of a healthy rabbit. Hence, Dr. Wilson Philip concludes that nervous influence and galvanic influence are identical. These conclusions are by no means verified by the researches of other experimentalists, who, by similar means, have been led to very different results; nor does Dr. Wilson Philip seem to have made them with sufficient precision to justify the inference drawn from them. On the 8th of February, a letter to the President, from Dr. Brewster, was read, relating to some optical properties of Buor spar and common salt. February 15, two mathematical papers were communicated by the Rev. Dr. Robertson; the one shewing a mode of calculating the eccentric from the mean anomaly of a planet; the other containing a demonstration of Dr. Maskelyne's method of finding the longitude and latitude of a celestial object from its right ascension, and vice versa and shewing some errors to which this method is liable. Thursday, Feb. 22, Sir Everard Home presented an account of the feet of those animals whose progressive motion can be carried on in opposition to gravity. It is well known that the house-fly is capable of walking upon the ceilings of rooms, in which situation its body is not supported on the legs; but the principle upon which it does so has not been explained, because the animal is too small for the feet to be anatomically investigated. Sir Everard was not aware that any animal of much larger size was endowed with the same power, till Sir Joseph Banks told him that the lacerta gecko, a native of the island of Java, was in the habit of coming out of an evening from the roofs of the houses, and walking down the smooth hard polished chunain walls, in search of flies that settle upon them and then running up again. Sir Joseph, while at Batavia, was in the habit of catching this animal, by standing close to the wall with a long flattened pole, which being made suddenly to scrape its surface, knocked it down. He proeured Sir Everard a specimen of a very large size, weighing five ounces three quarters avoirdupois weight, which enabled him to ascertain the peculiar mechanism by which the feet of this animal can keep their hold of a smooth, hard, perpendicular wall, and carry up so large a weight as that of its own body. Sir Everard particularly described the anatomy of the foot of this lizard, which is so constructed as to enable it to produce a number of small concavities, which act like so many cupping glasses, and atmospheric pres. sure retains him in his position. The author having ascertained the principle on which an animal of so large a size as this is enabled to support itself in progressive motion against gravity, felt himsef more competent to examine into the mechanism by which the common fly supports itself with so much facility in still more disadvantageous situations. An account was then given of the structure of the fly's foot, which shewed that it possessed concave surfaces capable of acting in the same manner as those of the lacerta gecko; and that, therefore, its progressive motion against gravity was effected by the same means. March 21. Sir Everard Home communicated some experiments to ascertain the mode of action of specific me dicines: they related principally to that A paper, on the composition and er. Dr. Thomson verifies his conclu sion by reference to the analysis of phosphate of lead, and by taking a mean of methods, ultimately considers phos phoric acid as consisting of 100 phos phorus + 123,37 oxygen. He then proceeds to examine the compounds which the phosphoric acid produces by combining with lime, the phosphates of lime, of which, he conceives, there exist no less than six varieties, each of definite constitution: they bear the following names; 1. Quadrosteo-phusphate; 2. Binosteo-phosphate; 3. Bige. -phosphate; 4. Osteo-phosphate; 6. Gephosphate. The constituents of many other phosphates are detailed in this communication; but as it would be indecorous to criticise a paper not published, and as without criticism the details would be of little avail, it is unne. cessary at present to pursue them. Dr. Thomson infers from his numerous experiments, that the atomic doctrines of Berzelius are not worthy the confidence which he once put in them. (To be concluded in our next.) EAST INDIES. Madras, Oct. 14, 1815. The following regulation is published for general information :— A. D. 1815.-REGULATION IV. A Regulation for modifying some of the provisions at present in force, for the collection of customs on certain articles of commerce in the territories immediately dependent on the Presidency of Fort William, passed by the VicePresident in Council on the 26th of August, 1815, corresponding with the 12th Bhaddoon, 1222, Bengal era; the 7th Bhaddoon, 1222, Fussily; 18th Bhaddoon, 1222, Willatty; the 6th Bhaddoon, 1872, Sambut; and the 20th Ramzan, 1230, Hidgeree. Whereas it has been considered expedient, with a view to encourage the exportation of the staples and marine stores of Great Britain, that the import duties now payable at this Presidency on sundry articles should be abolished, provided that the articles be imported from Great Britain or Ireland, on British register ships, or Indian-built ships, trading under the provisions of the 30th section of the Act, 53d George III. cap. 155, and other subsequent Acts; and that the duties on other articles, being the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, should be modified. And whereas it has further been deemed expedient to modify and alter the duties now levied on goods, being the produce of the British territories under this Presidency, on their exportation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on British and Indian built ships, to make certain other alterations in the Regula tions for the collection of the customs; the following rules have therefore been enacted, to be in force throughout the territories immediately subject to the Presidency of Fort William, from the date of the enactment of this Regula tion. IMPORTS. II. Woollens, including cloths of sorts, blankets, hose, Guernsey shirts, caps, and generally all articles manufactured from wool, or worsted thread or yarn, which may be imported from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on British registered ships, or Indian built ships, trading under the provisions of the 30th section of the Act, 58d George III. cap. 155, and other Acts containing similar provisions, shall be exempt from duty; any thing contained in any former Regulation to the contrary notwithstanding. III. Copper, tin, iron, steel, lead, and all other metals, in an unmanufactured state, being the produce of the United Kingdom, if imported in the manner specified in the preceding section, shall also be exempt from duties. IV. Canvas, cordage, and other marine stores, being the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom, if im ported in the manner specified in sec. tion 2, shall be exempt from duties. V. First. All articles, the produce or manufacture of the United Kingdom, not specified in the preceding Sections (with the exception hereafter stated) on importation at the ports of Calcutta, Balasore, or Chittagong, shall be charged with a dutyof (24) two and a half per cent. to be adjusted according to the provisions established by Regulation IX. 1810, or any other regulation in force.. Second. All articles, the produce or manufacture of foreign Europe (with the exception of wines and spirits), on importation at the ports of Calcutta, Chittagong, or Balalore, or British registered ships, or Indian-built ships, trading under the provisions of the 30th Section of the Act, 53d George III. cap. 155, and other subsequent Acts, shall be subject to a duty of five per cent. Third. Wines and Spirits of every description, imported from Great Britain or Ireland, shall continue subject to the same rate of duty with which they are chargeable, under Regulation IX. of 1810, and any other existing regula tions. VI. It is to be clearly understood, that the articles specified in the preceding sections, if imported otherwise than according to the provisions of the acts of parliament regulating the direct and circuitous trade between the United Kingdom and India, shall continue subject to the payment of the duties now in force under the existing regulations. VII. If the established duties on goods specified in the preceding sections, shall have been paid, at any port in the territories subject to the British Government in India, no further duty shall be levied upon their transit from port to port, within the same territories. A regular certificate of such payment, under the signature of the principal officer of the custom house at which such duties may have been levied, shall be furnished to the collector of customs, or other proper officer, at every port, to which such goods may be brought, after the first payment of duties. EXPORTS. VIII. First. Indigo, the produce and manufacture of the territories immediately dependent on the Presidency of Fort William, shall be allowed a drawback on exportation on British registered ships, or on Indian-built ships, trading with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, directly or circuitously, under the provisions of the Act of the 53d George III. and subsequent acts, equal to the whole amount of the duty payable under the existing regula tions. Second. Indigo, the produce and manufactures of the territories of his Highness the Vizier, or any other native Power, shall be allowed a drawback at the same rate only as that article, the produce and manufacture of the British territories, although the duty levied may have been higher. Third. It is to be clearly understood, that the drawbacks mentioned in the two preceding clauses, are to be allowed only on indigo exported by sea to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and that no drawback will be allowed on the carriage of indigo to any foreign settlement in Asia. IX. On colton-wool, hemp, and sun, the produce of any part of India, a drawback of the whole amount of the duty shall be allowed, on exportation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. X. On the exportation to the United Kingdom of all other articles, including salt petre, which are liable to duty un der existing regulations, such a drawback shall be allowed, as may reduce the duty actually receivable by government to (24) two and a half per cent. But no drawback shall be allowed in any instance, unless the application for drawbacks shall be made at the time when the goods are exported. XI. Section V. Regulation VI. 1814, is hereby rescinded. It is however declared, that all applications for drawbacks shall be accompanied by the rowannahs or rowannah, covering the goods intended to be exported, as provided in Section XX. Regulation I. 1812. XII. In modification of the rules contained in Clause First, Section XII. Regulation IX. 1810, and Section III. Regulation I. 1812, it is hereby declared, that the amount of inland or transit duty to be levied on cotton-wool, both in its cleaned and uncleaned state, shall not exceed five per cent. upon the value; under this modification, therefore, the fixed rates of twelve annas per maund in its cleaned state, and four annas in its uncleaned state per maund of ninety-six Calcutta sicca weight, will be reduced to a rate equal to five per cent. on the value, whenever the rates before specified may exceed that amount. XIII. With the above exceptions it is hereby declared, that nothing contained in the present Regulation is to be construed to affect the inland and transit duties payable under the provisions of Regulation IX. 1810, and Regulation I. and XIX. 1812, and Regulation VI. 1814. XIV. First. Nothing contained in this Regulation is intended to apply to the trade conducted on foreign bottoms, the duties on which, as specified in the existing regulations, as well as the rules, by which that trade is governed, are to remain on their present footing, until all the arrangements consequent on the treaties of peace shall have been com pleted. Second. Neither is any thing contained in this Regulation intended to apply to deposit made previously to the date of this Regulation for the payment of duties on goods imported, the accounts of which have not yet been adjusted. All deposits made previous to the date of this Regulation shall be adjusted according to the existing rates of duties. Published by Order of the Honour. able the Vice-President in Council. W. M. BAYLEY, Sec. to the Govt. Fort William, Sept. 13, 1815. |
