the title-page. After this it contains feveral remarks on the propofals of premiums and other encouragements for the propofels of ufeful difcoveries and encouragements in the various arts; it briefly mentions, with a fhort eulogy, the papers, accounts, &c. that are contained in the prefent volume; and invites the induftrious of both fexes to fecond, with their endea vours, the views of the Society, for the advantage of the Britifh Islands, and of mankind at large.

The Preface is followed by an account of the additional improvements made by James Barry, Efq. to the elegant pictures, executed fome years ago by the fame eminent artist, in the great room of the Society.

The papers, accounts, defcriptions, &c. which form the contents of the volume, are arranged under the following heads Premiums offered in 1801; Papers in Agriculture; Papers in Chemistry; Papers in Polite Arts; Papers in Manufactures; Papers in Mechanics; Papers on Colonies and Trade; Rewards bestowed; Prefents received; Catalogue of Models and Machines; Lift of Officers; Lift of Members; Index.

With respect to the Lift of Premiums, it is mentioned in the Preface, that

"the premiums ufually propofed by the Society have, during this feffion, undergone a minute inveftigation: feveral are difcontinued ; and many, relative to objects in planting, hufbandry, &c. offered, for fome fucceeding years, in the laft volume of Tranfactions, ftill remain open to claimants, until the times there noted are expired, though not particularized in the prefent volume."

Under the title of Papers in Agriculture, we find the fol lowing articles:

1. The account, with certificates, of a fuccefsful plantation of elms, by Henry Vernon, Efq. of Hilton-Park, near Woolverhampton; to whom the premium of a gold medal was adjudged.

2. A fhort account, confirmed by certificates, of the plantation of a great number of ofiers in a field of twenty-one acres, made by Mr. Thomas Selby, of Otford-Caftle in Kent; to whom the premium of thirty guineas was adjudged by the Society.

3. An account of the plantation of a vast number of timber trees, and acorns, by Thomas Jones, M. P. of Hafod; who was rewarded by the Society with the gold medal.

4. An account of the management of feveral fields of fpringwheat, belonging to Mr. Robert Brown, farmer at Markle, near Haddington; to whom the reward of twenty guineas was granted by the Society.

This communication is particularly recommended to the attention of the farmer, when bad feafons prevent the autumnal fowing of wheat.

5. An account of the method of making clover-hay, invented by the Rev. Mr. Klapmeyer, of Wormen, in Courland. 6. A method of harvesting corn in wet weather, by Mr. John Palmer, of Maxftock, near Colefhill, in Warwickshire; which was rewarded with the filver medal.

7. The account and certificates relative to the improvements made by Thomas Fogg, Efq. of Bolton in the Moors, Lan cafhire; for which that gentleman received the premium which had been offered by the Society for improving land lying wafte, namely, the gold medal.

8. The defcription of a drain-plough, prefented, together with a model, to the Society, by his Grace the Duke of Bridge water; for which the thanks of the Society were voted to his Grace. This defcription is accompanied with an elegant engraving of the plough.

9. The defcription, illuftrated by a delineation, of a drillmachine for fowing turnip-feed, invented by Thomas Andrew Knight, Efq. of Elton; for which the Society prefented him with the filver medal.

10. A communication on the deftructive effects of the aphis and blights on fruit-trees, with useful obfervations for preventing them, by the fame gentleman; who received the thanks of the Society.

11. The account of an implement in husbandry, called the Cultivator, and newly invented by Mr. William Lefter, of Northampton; who received the filver medal from the Society. This account is accompanied with certificates, and a delineation of the inftrument.

12. Defcription of a drill-machine, ufeful in fowing of turnip-feed, by the Rev. T. C. Munnings, of Eaft Dereham, in Norfolk; who was rewarded by the Society with the filver medal and ten guineas. This defcription is accompanied with a plate, and certificates relative to the ufe of the machine.

13. Defcription, accompanied with a delineation, of an augre or peat-borer, for draining boggy land, invented by Thomas Ecclefton, Efq. of Scarefbrick-Hall, in Lancashire; who received the thanks of the Society.

14. The account, with certificates, of the plantation of 133 acres of waste moor-land, made by Nicholas Ashton, Efq. of Woolton-Hall, near Liverpool; for which Mr. Afhton received the gold medal from the Society.

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BRIT, CRIT. VOL. XXI. FEB. 1803.

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15. A communication on the deftruction of the grub of the cockchafer, by Edward Jones, Efq. of Wepre-Hall, in Flint fhire; for which he received the thanks of the Society.

16. A communication on the preparation and application of compofts for manure, by Mr. John Horridge, of Raikes, Lancathire; who received the filver medal from the fociety.

The fection under the title of Chemistry, contains two pa pers only; namely,

1. Defcription of a method of preferving fresh water fweet during long voyages, by Samuel Bentham, Efq. of Queen Square, Westminster; for which ufeful contrivance he received the gold medal from the Society.

The principle of this invention is to keep the water in con tact with things which are not capable of being acted upon by the water itself, fo as to become a caufe of contamination.

"Accordingly," fays the account," on board the two fhips here alluded to, the greater part of the water was kept, not in casks, but in cafes or tanks, which though they were made of wood, on account of ftrength, were lined with metallic plates, of the kind manufactured by Mr. Charles Wyatt of Bridge ftreet, under the denomination of tinned copper-fheets; and the junctures of the plates or fheets were foldered together, fo that the tightnefs of the cafes depended entirely on the lining, the water having no where access to the wood. The fhape of thele cafes was adapted to that of the hold of the ship, fome of them being made to fit clofe under the platform, by which means the quantity of water towed was confiderably greater than could have been flowed, in the fame space, by means of casks; and thereby the ftowage room on board ship was very much increased.

"The quantity of water kept in this manner on board each ship, was about forty tons divided into fixteen tanks; and there was likewife, on board each of the fhips, about thirty tons ftowed in casks as ufual.

"As the ftowing the water in tanks was confidered as an experiment, the water in the cafks was ufed in preference; that in the tanks being referved for occafions of neceflity, excepting that a fmall quantity of it was used occafionally for the purpofe of afcertaining its purity, or when the water in the casks was deemed, when compared with that in tanks, too bad for uie.

"The water in thirteen of the tanks, on board one ship, and in all the tanks on board the other, was always as fweet as when first taken from the fource; but in the other three of the tanks, on board one fhip, the water was found to be more or lefs tainted as in the cafks. This difference, however, is eafily accounted for, by fuppofing that the water of thefe tanks was contaminated before it was put into them; for in fact the whole of the water was brought on board in cafks, for the purpofe of filling the tanks, and no particular care was taken, to gate the water at the time of taking it on board.

" After

"After the water kept in this manner had remained on board a length of time which was deemed fufficient for experiment, it was ufed out, and the tanks were replenished as occafion required: but in fome of the tanks, on board one fhip at leaft, the original water had remained three years and a half, as appears by the certificates herewith inclofed. About twenty-five gallons of the water, which had remained this length of time in the fhip, are fent to the Society, in two veffels made of the fame fort of tinned copper with which the tanks were lined." P. 192.

2. A communication concerning the production of opium from lettuces, by the Rev. Edmund Cartwright; for which he received the thanks of the Society.

It appears from this account, that the milky juice of lettuces, according to the common opinion, has a narcotic property. Mr. C. happening to have in his garden a bed of lettuces running to feed (in which ftate they are known to be more particularly lactiferous) collected a fmall quantity of the milky juice, which in a day or two became infpiffated fo as to af fume a folid form. In this ftate, Mr. C. (for the purpose of trial) gave the whole of it to Dr. George Pearfon, who, having administered it to a patient, found, as decidedly as can be deduced from a fingle cafe, that the efficacy of it as an anodyne, is at leaft equal to the dried poppy juice, commonly called opium, if given in adequate dofes.

The fection on the Polite Arts contains one paper only; namely, a rather long communication on the nature and preparation of drying oils for painting pictures, by Mr. Timothy Sheldrake, of the Strand, London; to whom the thanks of the Society were voted. This paper, which Mr. Sheldrake divides into three parts, is confidered as a continuation of another paper on the fame fubject, written by the fame author, and publifhed in a former volume of the Society's Tranfactions.

The papers, which relate to Manufactures, are as follows: 1. A fhort account, with certificates, of Mr. Thomas Willmott's having formed into paper the materials from which the bags called Gunny-bags are made, fuch as are brought with fundry goods from India. Thofe materials are the parts or fubftance of a vegetable called the Paut. Plant, two fpecies of which are cultivated at Calcutta; namely, the Corchorus Olitorius, and the Corchorus Capfularis of Linnæus. Mr. Willmott was rewarded by the Society with the fum of twenty gui neas. A fpecimen of the paper is inferted as a leaf in the volume.

2. The mode of cultivating the English Chichoree plant, Cichorium Intybus of Linnæus, as recommended by the Chicoree coffee manufacturers at Drefden.

This plant has been cultivated upon a very extensive scale in Germany, for the ufe of its root, which is an excellent fubftitute for coffee, and for the advantage of its herbage in feeding cattle.

The papers under the title of Mechanics are as follows: 1. The defcription (accompanied with a plate and certificates) of a machine for railing water, conftructed by Mr. H. Sarjeant, of Whitehaven, in Cumberland; for which communi cation Mr. S. received the filver medal from the Society. The principle of this engine is not new, but its construction is tolerably fimple, and its effect confiderable. It is worked by a fall of water of about 4 feet; and it raises the water, through an inch pipe, to the height of about 420 feet.

2. The account, with certificates, of the method of taking whales by means of the gun harpoon, practifed by Mr. Robert Hays, harpooner to the fhip Ipfwich, who received the furn of ten guineas from the Society.

3. Defcription, accompanied with certificates and a delineation, of a newly invented underfhot water wheel, by Mr. J. Befant, who received from the Society a bounty of ten guineas.

4. Defcription of an improvement in the method of driving bolts into fhips, by Mr. Richard Phillips of Briftol. This communication is accompanied with certificates and an engraving, and was honoured by the Society with a reward of forty guineas.

5. Defcription of a machine for raifing ore, &c. from mines, invented by Mr. Thomas Arkwright, of Kendal, who received from the Society a bounty of twenty guineas. This defcription is illuftrated by a plate.

6. An account, and certificates, of the difcovery of a quarry of burr-ftone proper for mill-ftones, made by Mr. Field Evans, of Pool-Quay, Montgomeryshire, to whom the Society voted the fum of fifty pounds.

7. Defcription, illuftrated by a plate, of an improved mill for grinding hard fubftances, conftructed by Mr. Garnet Terry, to whom the filver medal was adjudged by the Society.

8. Defcription, with a delineation, of an improved draw. back lock for houfe doors, conftructed by Mr. William Bullock, of Portland-ftreet, who received a bounty of fifteen guineas from the Society.

9. Defcription, accompanied with a plate, of a newly invented crane for raifing and delivering heavy bodies, by Mr. Thomas Gent, of Homerton, who received from the Society the fum of fifteen guineas.

10. The account of the method, invented by Sir George Oneliphorus Paul, Bart. of Grofvenor-street, for the ventila