SPECTABILIA.

PHENOMENA OF EARTHQUAXES.—M. Gay Lussac, in a late number of the Annales de Chimie, remarks, that the vibration of the earth during an ex-

tensive earthquake, is precisely similar to that of the vibration of the air from the striking of a string ; and that the motion is propagated through till im- mense extent with even greater celerity than the propagation of sound by the air. M. Lussac illustrates the theory by comparing the vibration with that of a long beans of wood, which being struck with the head of a pin at one cud, the vibration will be distinctly felt at the opposite end ; and he enter- tains an opinion, that earthquakes are most violent where the interior of the earth is the most solid ; a theory at variance with the generally received opinion of these phenomena being caused by explosions of the gases in vast caverns in the interior of the earth, owing to the irruption or infiltration of water into the recesses of volcanic mountains. Indeed, the production of earthquake seems to be so completely dependant on volcanic agency, that we are rather surprised so acute a philosopher as M. Lussac should seek for any other hypothesis.

THE SIAMESE LIZARD.—ThiS disgusting reptile is domesticated in Rangoon and Java, and is tolerated on account of its hostility to vermin, like our household cat. This lizard, like the ferret, never lets go its hold without tearing out a piece of the flesh with its teeth. It utters a cry much resembling the cackling of a hen, followed by a clear sound of tuk-kcc (by which. name the reptile is known in the East), which cry may be heard to the distance of a quarter of a mile.

DIURNAL VARIATION OF TIIE BAROMETER.—ft has been proved by two experiments, of the late Colonel Beaufoy of Bushey Heath, and other ob- servers, that the barometer experiences a periodical daily variation which is very sensible in a series of observations continued for a month, with the mean results noted. The maximum elevation of the mercury was found, both by Col. Beaufoy, and by M. Bouvard of the Paris observatory, to be about nine, or between nine and ten o'clock in the morning ; after which it falls until three in the afternoon. From this hour it again rises until nine in the evening, though not to an equal altitude as in the morning. From nine at night, it perceptibly descends till about three o'clock ; and then again ascends to its maximum at nine. This daily variation of course follows the general variation in the altitude of the mercury, being somewhat greater in the months of January and February, when the barometer usually stands high from the superior density of the atmosphere, owing to the minimum of moisture and low temperature. It appears, however, to be quite independent of the general changes of weather, and to have some reference to the posi- tion of the sun in our diurnal revolution. With the view of determining this interesting fact in natural philosophy, philosophers might construct a ba- rometer filled with water or some other fluid less dense than mercury. It is well known, that while the atmosphere will only sustain a column of mer- cury at thirty-one inches, it would sustain a column of water at thirty-three feet, and a column of alcohol at about thirty-six feet elevation. And al- though it might be impossible to obtain a perfect vacuum at the upper end of a tube filled with these fluids, yet a sufficient approximation to accuracy might be obtained, with the decided advantage of having the variations of the density of the atmosphere exhibited on ascale ten times.greater than that of the common barttmeter.

SINGULAR DIRECTIONS FOR HIS FUNERAL, BY TIIE LATE DR, PARR —" My hands must be bound by the crape hat-band which I wore at the burial of my daughter Catherine ; upon my breast must be placed a piece of flan- nel which Catherine wore at her dying moments at Teignmouth. There must be a lock of Madelina's hair enclosed in silk, and wrapped in paper, bearing her name; there must be a lock of Catherine's hair, in silk and paper with her name ; there must be a lock of my late wife's hair, preserved in the same way ; there must be a lock of Sarah Wynne's hair, preserved in the same way. All these locks of hair must be laid on my bosom as care- fully as possible, covered and fastened with a piece of black silk to keep them together."—Field's Life of Dr. Parr, VOL II.

EFFECTS or POISONOUS Ant ON Veccearma.—It has often been observed

that the vegetation of trees and shrubs about our towns and cities is neither so

verdant nor so luxuriant as in the country ; and we have also had occasion to remark, that it is not so tine as the vegetation in similar positions in the towns of the Continent whose climate is the same. It is scarcely to be doubted that this difference chiefly arises from the use of coals in Britain as fuel, which give a greater number of products of combustion than eharceal, which is mostly used abroad. Among these products is sulpiturious acid. Most of our readers must have often observed, especially in coal of an inferior quality, films of a substance having a brass yellow colour, and the lustre and appear- ance of metal. This substance, named iron pyrites, is a compound of sulphur' and iron, which decomposes when exposed to heat, the sulphur flying WV into the air. Immediately on leaving the iron, it unites with the oxygen or vital part of the air, and thus united, it floats about, constituting a gas which, ira a concentrated state, suffocates ani and bleaches vegetable colours; and that when even in very minute quantitie,, it proves irritating and injurious tot

plants, proved by some of the experiments above alluded. to, of which tire following is an abstract. The sulphurous acid gas appears to be exceedingly deleterious to vegetables, even in very minute quantity and proportion.

When four, or even only two, cubic inches of this gas were introduced, along with a young mignonette plant, into the air of a glass jar, of the capacity of four hundred and seventy cubic inches, the leaves of the plant hecatne greeni.eh- grey, and drooped much in less than two hours and a half; and, though then taken out and watered, the plant soon died altogether. The effect of this. poison seemed to tesemble considerably the ordinary decay uf the leaves ha autumn.—Blackwood's Agricultural Magazine..

THE DOMESTIC A 'tenors:erten: OF ENGLAND.—After the cessation of tile. wars of the finalities of York and Laucaster, the fortified style of architecture was gradually abandoned in England; and as we had no other model of domes- tic achitecture than tine gable-crud cottage, by the duplication of this simple form, in various positions, was constructed what has been called the old Eng- lish manor-house style. If we take a centime) two-floored English gable-end cottage, add to it one, two, or three cottages, side by side, of the ,atne size ; and, in order to gain rootns out of the roof on tile sides of this double or triple cottage, raise gable ends, either projecting fronts the ground to the top of the roof, or merely raised from the eaves-drop ; if we insert broad low windows, divided by simple wooden or stone mullions in these projecting gable.ends,. and similar windows at the ends of thie, double or triple cottage; ornament the inclined sides of the gable-ends above the eaves-drop by steps, or small pinnacles, or both ; then add a parapet, plain or embattled, we have a. manor-house in the most florid style. Many such houses came afterwards to- be adorned by a centre of architectural decorations, in which Roman,, Grecian, and Gothic, were strangely mixed. There is, however, a certain, degree of antique-like grandeur in such houses which produces a very seaking,,- impression. This step towards a better style took place before the tittle:0Y Initso Jones. * Ini,go Jones, our first architect of taste and genhes, in- troduced the mixed Greek and Roman architecture, and often added_ them to our own national style ; but at a long interval, Lord Burlington showed us the beauty of die pure Palladian architecture. * To the Pidladian villas succeeded the Roman style, inn which the two brothers, thcAdams, excelled beyond all competitors. For domestic application, the Italian is decidedly the most useful, and within the reach of our comforts and habits ; and in these objects, we consider the Grecian quite out of place fin a country residence. But in passing from the Italian decorated style, we MU iDIO tine opposite ex- . treme and the most clumsy thass of ma.sonry that any country ever produced was adopted. It was a tasteless heavy cube with no other claim to any style. than a pediment projecting a few inches beyond the centre division of the front wall, generally unsupported either by columns or pilasters; and this . architectural elevation was termed the Grecian style. To this style (not yet. entirely banished) have succeeded tine castellated, termed Gothic, and the, priory styles ; and, in many cases, a mixture of both, where the castle, the, cloister, i.nd the chapel, are joined together in a manner not very intelligible;. where the towers are mere staircases, the cloisters public rooms, and the• chapel is a good useful kitchen. Either on account of expense, or by the incongruity of the building, this style also is at a stand, and the irregular country house is likely to be inn fashion.--Mr. Laing Irleason's Landscape Architecture °fate Great Painters of Pay.

TUE LATE EARTHQUAKE AT LimA.—We have seen a letter to a mercantile house in the City from Valparaiso, the writer of which describes the late earthquake as much mere extensive than was at first apprehended, IN de- vastations were not confined to the district in the environs of Lima. its. influence extended to the seuth as far as Stahigo on a branch of tile Rio Plata.; and how far it has been felt towards the interior is not yet known, though accounts had been received of its having extended to Villa Rica.. about midway across the whole peninsula of Smith America, from the Atlantic • to the Pacific. It is also stated to have extended northward unto the pro- - vince of Quito, though no authentic accounts had been received at Val-

Pa -

raieo of its having reached beyond Truxillo; but front its severity in that . ueighbourhood, no doubt can be entertained that the mountain districts in the interior have also greatly suffered from this awful visitation. " From the - difficulty of intercourse (says the writer), it will yet be many months before, all the particulars of this calamity can reach us ; but great apprehensions are entertained that the Anglo-Peruvian mining districts have greatly sufferedi by the convulsion. The loss of property inn the district of Lima alone has. been estimated at four millions sterling; in some places scarcely a -wail, is left standing six feet in height. The loss of life, though considerabls>,is. RCA so much as might have been expected, owing to die repeated waening.s the inhabitants received of their danger, from the subterranean noisae,. resem- bling distant thunder. These rumbling noises and vibrations succeeded each other with great rapidity in the district of Arica, extending aprarently from east to west, and in most cases accompanied by tremor more or, less violent, which is said to have been felt many leagues at sea. Accounts have not yet reached us of any actual volcanic eruption, or any opening of tine surface of the earth ; but no doubt is entertained here that these terrific phenomena have occurred among the Cordilleras in the interior ; and, judging of tine duration of the noise and vibration at intervals from the 28th March to the 10th April, the devastation must have been extreme where this volcanic agency found a vent, whether in the formation of a fresh aperture, or in finishing its way through one of the old craters of that volcanic district."

THE EMPEROR Noniosas-.—When with the armies in France and Germany he was scarcely twenty years of age, and, not being heir to the crown, attracted little observation. His fondness, however, for the kingly profes- sion of arms, or at least for the semblance of it, military organization and arrangement, especially in the higher and more scientific branches, have been constantly and unequivocally displayed; while his personal intrepidity and firmness were no less conspicuous during the insurrectionary movement at the period of his accession; and which, it is averred, (by those who appear not unacquainted with the state of that country,) had considerable ramifica- tions ; but the immediate explosion of which we may certainly attribute, in a very great degree, to the fermenting inaction of the army. A large unem- ployed army is every where a dangerous implement. The remedy has been now adopted. On the accession of Nicholas, an opinion, pretty nearly in the following words, was expressed by one of the highest functionaries of the empire, whose name, were it right to be mentioned, would carry with it, even in this country, a degree of authority. " Russia has now an Emperor, whose character is marked by much stronger traits, and who is of a far higher ambition than distinguished hie late brother ; hut those qualities will not suddenly reveal themselves. They will be gradually disclosed by his public conduct." The truth or inaccuracy of this opinion will soon, from the greatness of the pending events, be resolved.—Colonel Evans's Designs of' Russia.

ANCIENT DUELS.—In the twelfth century, duels in France had become so frequent as to require particular enactments for their prevention; as, for example, when the debt about which the dispute occurred did not amount to five-pence. The regulation of the mode in which this barbarous custom might be maintained had engaged the attention of several of the French Kings. In 1205, Philip Augustus had restricted the length of the club, with which single combat was then pursued, to three feet ; and in 1260, St. Louis abolished the practice of deciding civil matters by duelling. With the revival of literature and of the arts, national manners became ameliorated, and duels necessarily declined. It was still, however, not unusual for the French to promote or to behold those single combats over which the pages of romance have thrown a delusive charm, and which were, in early tunes, hallowed, in the opinion of the vulgar, by their accompanying superstitious ceremonies. When any quarrel had been referred to this mode of decision, the parties met on the appointed day, and frequently in an open space, overshadowed by the walls of a convent, which thus lent its sanction to the bloody scene. From daybreak the people were generally employed in erecting scaffolds and stages, and in placing themselves upon the towers and ramparts of the adjacent buildings. About noon the cavalcade was usually seen to arrive at the doors of the list,. Then the herald cried, " Let the appellant appear;" and ills summons was answered by the entrance of the challenger, armed cop-a-pie, the escutcheon suspended from his neck, his visor lowered, and an image of some national saint in Ids hand. He was allowed to pass within the lists, and conducted to his tent. The accused person likewise appeared, and was led in the same manner to his teut. Then the herald, in his robe embroidered with f/enr-de.tie, advanced to the centre of the lists, and ex- claimed, " Oyez, oyez ! lords, knights, squires, people of all condition, our sovereign Lord, by the grace of God, King of France, forbids you, on pain of death, or confiscatiou of goods, either to cry out, to speak, to cough, to spit, or to make signs." During a profound silence, in which nothing but the murmurs of the unconscious streamlet, or the chirping of birds might be heard, the combatants quitted their tents, to take individually the two first oaths. When the third oath was to be administered, it was cus- tomary for them to meet, and, for the Marshal to take the right hand of each, and to place it on the cross. Then the functions of the priest began, and the usual address, endeavouring to conciliate the angry passions of the champions, and to remind them of their common dependence on the Supreme Being, may have tended to benefit the by-standers, although it genersdly failed of its effect with the combatants. If the parties persisted, the last oath was administered. The combatants were obliged to swear solemnly that they had neither about them nor their horses, stone, nor herb, nor charm, nor in- vocation ; and that they would fight only with their bodily strength, their weapons, and their horses. The crucifix and breviary were then presented to them to kiss, the parties retired into their tents, the heralds uttering their last admonition to exertion and courage, and the challengers rushed forth front their tents, which were immediately dragged from within the lists. Then the Marshal of the field having cried out, " Let them pass, let them pass," the seconds retied. The combatants instantly mounted their horses, and the contest commenced.—Poreigte Review, No. 3.