Mr. Dyot Bucknall, perceiving this method very likely to succeed, requested I would help to give a recital, the heads of which we wrote on the spot, and he assured me he had sent them to you: but, lest he may have made any mistake, he wished I would send the account myself.

The experiment being made in the spring of 1794, a minute inspection at this time must determine the fate of it; and permit me to assure you, it has succeeded far beyond my expectation: the slips adhere as close, and are as full of sap, as the rind on any other trees. They are now in their full blossom, strong, and vigorous, apparently as if they had received no injury. But I must observe, were I to make the experiment again, I could do it more dexterously; and I must mention an error I was guilty of in my haste, by placing some of the slips the wrong way upwards; consequently the sap could not circulate.'

Mr. Bramley, of Leeds, suggests an idea which we think well entitled to public attention, respecting the application of the system of puddling, in embankments made near to the sea, and liable to be overflowed at spring tides:' an idea which, he says, originated in reflecting on the solidity attained in the puddled banks of canals.

Mr. Eager, of Graffham Farm near Guildford in Surrey, has received fifty guineas as a bounty for communicating to the Society his simple yet effectual method of relieving cattle. and sheep, when, from eating too voraciously of clover or other succulent food, they become swollen, or hoven.' This he effects by an instrument formed of a knob of wood, turned in a lathe, suitably to the size of the species of animal to be relieved, and fastened to the end of a rod of common cane, six feet long for cattle, and three feet for sheep, which is thrust down the throat, to remove the obstruction at the entrance of the paunch. The shape of the knob appears to us to be very injudicious, it being much too thin and sharp at the edge: the oesophagus of cattle is liable to be rent (longitudinally) by rude treatment: we

have seen an instance of its being so. If wood be proper to be used in this case, a knob in the shape of an egg, with part of the larger end cut evenly off, would be found a much safer instrument, whether in passing downward or in returning, than that which is here recommended:- but the soft ravelled end of a stiffened rope, as described by Mr. Marshall in his Minutes of Agriculture in Surrey (30th Jan. 1776) is perhaps still better adapted to the tender organ to which it is applicable.

Mr. Ball, of Williton, obtained fifty guineas (we think, very deservedly) for preparing opium from poppies grown in England. The method is simple and easy. His account is this:

• Nothing can be more simple, or attended with less expence, than the making or extracting the pure and genuine Opium from the large Poppies, commonly called or known by the name of Garden Pop

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pies;

pies; the seeds of which I would advise to be sown the latter end of February, and again about the second week in March, in beds three feet and an half wide, well prepared with good rotten dung, and often turned or ploughed, in order to mix it well and have it fine, cither in small drills, three in each bed, in the manner sallads are sown, and, when about two inches high, to thin them one foot apart; or otherwise, to sow them in beds in the broad-cast way, and thin them to the same distance (if the weather should prove wet at that time, those that are taken up may be transplanted; but I do not suppose the transplanted ones will answer, having but one spill-root, and will require frequent waterings): keep them free from weeds, they will grow well, and produce from four to ten heads, shewing large and different-coloured flowers, which, when the leaves die away and drop. off, the pods then being in a green state, is the proper time for extracting the Opium, by making four or five small longitudinal incisions with a sharp-pointed knife, about one inch long, on one sideonly of the head or pod, just through the scarf-skin, taking care not to cut to the seeds: immediately on the incision being made, a milky fluid will issue out, which is the Opium, and, being of a glutinous nature or substance, will adhere to the bottom of the incision; but some are so luxuriant, that it will drop from the pod on the leaves underneath. The next day, if the weather should be fine, and a good deal of sun-shine, the Opium will be found a greyish substance, and some almost turning black: it is then to be scraped off the pods, and, if any, from the leaves, with the edge of a knife or an instrument for that purpose, into pans or pots; and in a day or two it will be of a proper consistence to make into a mass, and to be potted.

As soon as you have taken away all the Opium from one side of the pod, then make incisions on the opposite side, and proceed in the same manner. The reason of my not making the incisions all around at the first, is, that you cannot so conveniently take away the Opium; but every person, upon trial, will be the best judge. Children may with ease be soon taught to make the incisions, and take off the Opium; so that the expence will be found exceedingly trifling.

The small white seeds in that state will be found very sweet and pleasant, and may be eat without the least danger; and it is the custom in the East to carry a plate of them to the table, after dinner, with other fruits.'

Well attested certificates of its good quality are subjoined; sanctioned particularly by the names of Dr. Brocklesby, Dr. Latham, and Dr. George Pearson.

Mr. Boswell, of Barnstaple, likewise received fifty guineas for the invention of a loom for weaving fishing-nets.

Mrs. Wyndham, of Petworth, has been honoured with a silver medal, for her ingenious contrivance of a method of using, to the best advantage, the power applied to the cross-bar lever, for raising large weights-and Mr. Upton, of the same

We wish that the wooden cut accompanying this paper had been more like the lever which it is intended to represent.

place,

place, obtained a reward of thirty guineas, for his contrivance of a moveable barn-floor. We consider this as a valuable invention. The floor consists of leaves, that hinge on either side of the floor-way, and, when let down, join in the middle of it, and rest on moveable timbers, placed to receive them. In summer, more particularly in harvest, the leaves are turned up against the racks on either side, and, the bearers being removed, the loaded waggons are drawn into the barn on a gravel or stone road formed beneath. The thrashing-floor receives no injury from the treading of the team, and the weight of the load; consequently, the strength of timber required, as well' as the wear, is much less than when the floor is fixed, and the load is drawn on it.

Wherever it is the custom to draw laden carriages into barns, (a practice which is declining in the North of England,) and especially in countries in which small barns and small floors are in use, this will be found a very valuable improvement, in Agriculture. It is here classed under the head MECHANICS.

Mr. Hancock, of Birmingham, received fifty guineas for the forming of a metal rope or chain, to answer the purpose of an hempen rope, in large manufactories, collieries, &c. Its real value does not appear to be yet ascertained.

Le Chevalier de Betancourt Molina was presented with fifty guineas, for his contrivance of a machine for cutting weeds in navigable canals and rivers. Of the practicability of it, however, we find no certificate.

Lastly, to Mr. Wissett, of the India House, the gold medal was voted, for having been instrumental in promoting the organzining Bengal silk in England.'-Mr. W., in his letter to the Secretary, says,

At the sale last week, twenty-nine bales, weighing four thou sand pounds, thrown principally at Macclesfield, sold at very encou raging prices, which has fully established the practicability of the measure; and when I inform the Society, that even this small essay has given employment to upwards of five hundred persons, that would otherwise have been destitute of means of subsistence, they will, I flatter myself, view it as a national object not unworthy of their favourable notice.'

Mr. W.'s claim is attested by Mr. Scott, Deputy Chairman of the India Company.

On the whole, we may venture to announce this volume as a productive publication.-May success attend the various exertions of a Society, instituted for the improvement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, the good effects of which may extend not only to this country, but to every other civilized nation, placed in similar circumstances and situations, on the face of the habitable globe!

Mars..ll.

ART. III. Observations upon a Treatise, entitled the Plain of Troy, by Monsieur le Chevalier.' 4to. pp. 49. 38. Cadell, jun. and Davies.

A Description of By Jacob Bryant. 1795.

WE are informed that Mr. Bryant purposes to give to the

public a second treatise on this subject, more extensive than the present; of which the design is to take off all undue impressions that might arise from objections made by M. le Chevalier to the author's opinions concerning the war of Troy, In defending his own cause, Mr. B. undertakes also to vindicate the reputation of Dr. Pococke, Mr. Wood, Dr. Chandler, and the Greek geographer Strabo, against the unwarranted severity, and treatment that cannot be esteemed liberal,' of M. le Chevalier and his translator, Mr. Dalzel. Mistakes,' he observes, will sometimes happen; and these gentlemen should have shown the greatest candour and moderation to others, that the like return might be made to themselves.'

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M. le Chevalier places Troy on a hill near the village of Bounarbachi, about thirteen miles from the sea. Mr. B. thinks this distance far too great to be reconciled with the operations of the Greeks, as described by Homer; who makes them advance from their ships to the city, and return from the city to their ships, twice in the same day; a distance according to M. le Chevalier of 52 miles. Homer, in his xxth book, v. 215. places Troy, not on a mountain, nor at the foot of the mountains, but at a distance on the plain; and Homer is surely better authority than M. le Chevalier. The account given by this gentleman of the situation and extent of the Grecian camp is also combated by Mr. B. The situation of it could not have been such as is described, because the marshy river Scamander is supposed to run through it: for who could ever think of forming a camp with an unpassable morass in the middle? Neither could its extent have been so great as M. le Chevalier makes it; for Agamemnon, when he called out from his ship in the center, was heard at the two extremities; Il. viii. v. 222. This would have been impossible, Mr. Bryant says, had the camp extended three miles. The tombs of the Grecian heroes, which M. le Chevalier fancies he saw in the Troas, Mr. Bryant says are antient Thracian barrows, founded prior to the æra of Troy.

Our bounds will not permit us to enter into this controversy. Each party is more successful in disproving the assertions of his adversary, than in confirming his own; and neither of them can boast of that precision and perspicuity, and of those powers of entertainment, which could make us travel with them agreeably through the plains of Troy, even though Homer himself

is sometimes reluctantly of the party. As to Mr. Bryant, he might have spared himself the labour of much minute disquisition, had he earlier inserted the following [sentences with which his work concludes:

There are certainly some seeming inconsistencies in the Ilias, and subsequent poem, which it may not be easy to reconcile. For, as I have in another place observed, a fable of any length will never be consistent and I look upon these poems of Homer concerning the expedition of the Greeks, and the rape of Helen, to be mere fables. I am persuaded that no such war, as has been represented, was carried on against Troy: nor do I believe that the Phrygian city, so zealously sought after, ever existed.'

For the cogent proofs' of these extraordinary opinions which Mr. B. says he could adduce, we must look to the work which constitutes the following Article.

ART. IV. A Dissertation concerning the War of Troy, and the Expedition of the Grecians, as described by Homer; shewing that no such Expedition was ever undertaken, and that no such City of Phrygia existed. By Jacob Bryant. 4to. Pp. 196. 7s. 6d. Sewed. Payne. 1796.

THIS

Gil...s.

HIS is the work which Mr. Bryant promised at the conclusion of his Observations, &c. which occur in the preceding Article; and the present completely supersedes the use of the former publication; since, if Troy never existed, M. le Chevalier could not have been fortunate enough to discover its situation. The conclusion of Mr. Bryant's present treatise will explain to the reader, in few words, the nature of the arguments which he employs to disprove facts attested by the most extensive and most brilliant evidence, and the motives by which he was led to engage in an undertaking seemingly so hopeless.

My original purpose was to shew, that the expedition of the Grecians against Troy was a mere fiction, that no such armament ever took place: nor could any general confederacy, among the various and remote states of Greece have been made, especially in such early times. There is reason to think, that many of those states did not exist; or if any such were founded, still they were humble, and limited, and excepting by inroads and plunder, they kept up little correspondence with their neighbours. Among many other arguments, I have mentioned, that the magnitude of the armament. renders it incredible. For it is found to be superior to that which was sent out many ages afterwards, when Greece was in the height of its power, and engaged with a very formidable enemy, at a time, when their lives, and liberties, and all that could be dear to them, were in the utmost danger. I have likewise introduced the evidence of two persons of great consequence; Metrodorus of Lampsacus, and Anaxagoras of the same place, who was the preceptor of Socrates. They

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both