The telescope. (Columbia, S.C.) 1815-1818, August 20, 1816, Image 2
, tho royalist* to writ? ?uoh libels an no govern*
mcnt can permit) niul exhorted the republicans
ta attack, so that his houtte was tho enemy's
camp. lie is miiI to have promoted the war in
La Vendee) but of this charge there does not ap
J*?ir sufficient proof. After the battle of Wa
terloo, Fouchc was named president of tho go
verninent) and was entrusted with the conduct
of the negociationr. Whatever doubt may exist
as to hi* Intentions before, there can exist none
atto hU conduct nfter the abdication of Nano
lenn. He atone acted,and tnannged to keepni*
colleagues in a state of entire subserviency.
They feared they might impede his measures
bv acting without his directions) and hit mode
of paratiring their efforts, was to absent him
self whenever measures were likely to be pro
posed by any other person. It was known he
was gone to lord Wellington) delay was the
consequence,?-and Fouchc gained a day, which
was Inst to his country! Thus he got over the
time, from the 2Cd Juno to the Tth July, with
out Riving any explanation to his colleagues,
nor to the chambers, nor even to his intimate
fa iends, whose lives were in danger from hit im
penetrable silence.
A? to the negociutions with the allies, he had
but one proposition to make,-?but one remedy
for all evils:?4 Make me minister?I answer for
the rest.' He stipulated neither for France, nor
for her constitution, nor for individuals?one
single individual excepted. To him, without a
doubt, is owing the return of the ltourbons
without anv condition whatsoever. Any other
man at the fiend of the provisional government*?
backed bv the national representation, which
was devoted to liberty, anu by an army of se
/enty thousand men, with eight hundred pieces
of cannon,?bv the national guard well disposed,
as their attachment to the tri-colour has since
proved,?would have saved the liberty of his
country, even with the present dynasty. Ilut
Fouchc looked only to himself) and ns his first
idea in 170-1 was to recover theplaco in society
which he had forfeited by his crimes, so his last
thought in 1815 wns reconciliation with the
court which he had so grievously offended. In
one word, Fouchc having become a rich and im
> Ttant personage, under the auspices of usurp
ed dominion, was desirous to complete his titles
offer the fashion of ligitimacy. Accordingly,
he betraved hit, country,?abandoned his friends,
??signed the warrants for their death, And the
lists of their proscription,-anti succeeded, as
such persons usunlly do, for a time. Ilut at last
lie found himself alone in the wilderness lie had
created. He would then have returned to a
better system; but it was too late. His reports
are eloquent and able, but they accelerated his
downfall. He was the minister of Louis XVIII.;
but he had been the judge of I<ouis XVI.; and
he is now wandering over the fare of the earth,
perhaps less respected than any one of whom
ne had, but a few weeks before, delivered to the
vengeance of the court.
TIIP. ANTIQUARY,
By the Author of 44 Waverly," and " Guy
Mannering.''?In throe voIh.?T%?linl>ur^li print
ed.?New-York, reprinted by Van Winkle and
Wiley.
There is nothing to damp one's joy over these
volumes, excopt a declaration in the preface?
" that the author is not likely, again to solicit
the favor of the public." The word 44 Ukclu,"
leaves* the door of hope a little open; anu it
wuuld be strange indeed, if a writer, who is
distinguished in almost every other particular
from trie generality of modern authors, should
now procecd to complete the exception by lay
ing aside his pen. If he per "cres in the re*
solution set forth in his manifesto, we shall on
ly remark, that as M increase of appetite grows
from what it feeds on," we shall he more in
clined to censure him for discontinuing to write,
than thank him for what he has already written.
The genius of the author has soared higher
and crept lower in the Antiquary than in either
of his preceding works, lie sometimes aspires
almost to the sublimity of Homer,and occasion
ally descends to the vulgarity of liudibras.
These opposite characteristics are very well ex
hibited in the first and seventh chapters?two
parts of tho work, which, if perused in imme
diate succession, would hardly appear to be the
-effusions of the same pun.
The story of the Antiquary is by no means a
novelty I but it is not too intricate fur the most
superficial reader, and is developed to the Inst
with the case and skill of a master. The se
cond volume is by far the heaviest: precision
seems to have been sacrificed to the necessity of
completing tho requisite number of pages i and
it accordingly contains some details which are
quite too episodical for the thief story, and
quite too voluminous for an episode. If we
were to consider IjOvcI as the hero of the piecc,
too?-we should certainly censure hi* disappear
ance in the commencement of the second vo
lume, and his absence thenceforward to the ca
tastrophe t but we are reminded in the title
page, that Oldcnhuck is the burden of the story,
ami indeed we seldom lose aight of the Anti
quary, who travels on to the last, like an ele
phant, with tlse persons and fortunes of a whole
village and its posterity on his back t
" Attollens nuroern tamnm et fats nepotum.''
But it waa not ao much the object of these vo
lumes (as the author tells us) to exhibit a regu
lar and complete narrative, as to delineate the
characterintica of the various personages whom
he haa chosen to represent) and, excepting one
or two poetical works whoso names will imme
diately suggest themselves to our readers, we
have seldom teen any book, in which the appro
priate part of each individual is more happily
selected or moro uniformly sustained. The au
thor, whoever he Is, possesses in ore than any o*
4her recent writer, tne faculty of noticing the
minutest outward Indications of internal feeling,
and of observing the most tardy as well as the
most rapid motions of nature* There is in the
Antiquary one character which to us at least is
entirely original t we allude toBdie Ocheltree,
the mendicant. " To beg from the public at
Urge, he considers at independence, in compa
riHon to drawing his whole support from (he
bounty of an individual. He is so far a truo
philosopher as to bo a contemner of all ordina
ry rules of hours and times. When he is hun
giy ho cats; when thirsty he drinksi when
weary he sleeps t and with such indifference
with respcct to tlie means and appliances about
which ?cw make a fuss* that I suppose, he was
novcr ill dined or ill lodged in his life. Thou
he in, to a certain extent, the oracle of the dis
trict through which ho travels?their genealo
gist, their newsman, their master of the revels,
(heir doctor, at a pinch, or their divine. " I
promise you (says the Antiquarian, vol. iii. p.
160) he has too many duties, and is too zealous
in performing them, to bo easily bribed to aban
don his calling.*' lie was also a soldier and had
served in America?but all this gives a meagre
account of his omnigenous character, which can
Only be learned by a perusal of the whole work.
The author of it, we are informed, is a Mr.
tireeulicld, a Scotch clergyman.
ORILVIK'S KSSAY8.
Mr. Ogilvie is assiduously devoting the lei
sure and mental energy which returning health
affords, in preparing tor the press a return vo
lume, which will make its appearance in a few
weeks. The essential publicity of his pursuit*,
will, he trusts, render any apology unnecessary,
for explaining, through the medium of the prett's,
the object of This publication. Ho has recontly
cuunocted a course of lectures on Ilhetorick (ac
companied by oxercises in Composition, Criti
cism, and Elocution) with oratorical exhibitions
on the rostrum. He has delivered this course
of loctures, during the preceding year, for the
first time, to a class of students in the College
of South Carolina, and intimated his intention
of delivering the same course to successive clas
ses, formed in other American universities. At
so advanced a stage in the prosecution of the de
sign he has undertaken, it will, he conceives, be
proper to afford the intelligent nart of the public,
the means of deciding how far lie is qualified to
discharge the duties of a philosophical lecturer,
by evidence more unequivocal and direct than
the favorable testimonials of any faculty or
board of trustees, however intelligent and res
pectable.
It '.h the primary object of this volume toafford
this direct and unequivocal evidence. The
fiirat?on the nature, extent, and limits of hu
man knowledge. The second?on the cardinal
importance of the study of Mathematical Sci
ence, as a branch of liberal education, and as
connected with the attainment of superior abili
ty and skill in the exercise of Oratory. The
third?on moral fiction, in which he has endea
vored to analize and illustrate the nature and
objects of moral fiction, as contradistinguished
History, Biography, and moral Philosophy } to
ascertain the rank it it entitled to claim, as a
medium for illustrating the principles and incul
cating the lessons of practical morality, and to
furnish a criterion, for discriminating fictions
tliat are instructive and salutary from such as are
useless and noxious.
It will, he trusts, be admitted that the subject*
of these essays are fairly chosen in reference to
the view, with which tills volume in committed
to the proas ; they are subjects in the highest
degree interesting and important and fitted to
exerciso the ingenuity ana task the strength of
the most penetrating and cultivated intellect:
lu an attempt to illustrato these subjects, (if it
should attract any degree of public attention,)
no elegance of diction, no splendour of decla
mation, no artifico of rhetorick can, in an age
like this, veil superficial thinking, or protect ele
mentary error, from certuin detection and igno
minious exposure.
To these essays will lie annexed extracts from
the orations, and a few of the Hpecimeus of cri
ticism, which he has delivered from the rostrum.
When, independent of the direct and uueoui
vocal evidence which this volume will exliilnt,
how far he is qualified to perform the arduous
and responsible duties of a teacher of oratory un
der a popular government, it is recollected, that
the style and peculiarities of his elocution have
been tor six years displayed on the rostrum in
every part of the United States, it will he ad
mitted, that his pretensions will. be fairly and
fullv before the public.
Tim undivided attention, which tho revision
and transcription of the materials for this vo
lume exacts, will suspend his exhibitions on the
rostrum, until it issues from the press, lie will
then deliver from the rostrum three discourses
on oratory, in Philadelphia, Now-York, Huston,
Baltimore, and in the City of Washington, pre
vious to the repetition oHiis course of lectures
in any other American College, previous also to
the repetition of this course, tie will accomplish
his long-delayed visit to liritain.
F. H. Kditorsof newspapers generally, those
more especially with whom Mr. Ogilvie lias the
pleasure of being personally acquainted through
out the United States, are res|K'ctfully request
ed to givo the preceding communication a place
ill their respective papors.?Mill. True Jlmer.
American Qimrierli/ Journal.?The publisher
of the Analectic Magazine has issued proposals
for a new periodical work under the above title.
In addition to tho motives of literary exer
tion arising from a just sense of national pride,
he ofTert the pecuniary inducement of three dot
tamper page for evory original articlo that may
be deemed worthy of insertion.
M The work will bo under tho direction of
competent editors, whose names, however, will
remain unknown, in order that they may exer*
cise their functions with perfect indenendence
towards both the writer* for tho Journal, and the
authors .whose works are reviewed.
" It is intended that the original articles in
the work shall be of a miscellaneous nature) but
relating chiefly to subjects connected with the
interests of our own country, uninfluenced by
the views of any sect or party in religion 01
politics.
" The proprietor designs to publish the first
number simultaneously, on tho first day of Ja<
nuary next, in all our principal cities, and con?
tributors tortt ore requested to forward their re
spective article* u early as the tut of October*
?accompanied, if they please. with a soparato
note, containing the name* of the author*, to
aether with direction* an the manner in wnich
they choose to receive the compensation. Tho
proprietor pledges himself that tlie seals of such
notes shall not bo broken, if tho communication
itaelf be rejected; and that the name of no wri
ter shall bo disclosed, if on his part lie request
it to bo kept a secret.
' ?mtmmmmmmm?m
SCIENTIFIC.
IMOM Till. r?R?HO.
Remarks oh the uses to which h.atina is appli
cable in the various arts.
Platina was formerly procured at CAeco, a
province in Spanish America, and was called
Juan Manca, or white gold, and Flantiuo del
pinto, little silver of pinto.
It v;*s believed that IMatina was unknown in
Europe until the publication of Dun Antonio de
(Jlloa's voyage, printed in the year 1748. But
it is mentioned by Kcaliger, in u book printed at
Frankfort, in the year ltiol, as being found at
Honduras, a district between Mexico and Da
rien. Since that period, we believe, it has been
found at several other places in South America,
and has become an article of considerable im
portance in commerce.
Ou the first introduction of this metal into
Europe, much difficulty was experienced, and
great labor and expense were incurred, in the
various attempts that were made to reduce it to
a state in which it could be rendered subservi
ent to the purposes of the arts.
The celebrated Turgot, so eminent for the
servos which he has rendered to scionce, con
ceiving that it would be of the utmost importance
to the arts as well as to the sciences, interested
himself in obtaining, through the agency of Mr.
Doinbei, (a celebrated botanist, employed for
the purpose) as much Platina, at least, as would
be useful to the meuof science in their research
es. lie foresaw the iininenso value of a metal
indestructible ill its nature, in the construction
of various instruments used in astronomy, navi
gation, flic.
Among those who were engaged in this im
portant pursuit, Theodore SeneHer was, per
haps, the lirst who was able to reduce to a stute
of fusion tliut metal which Scaliger tolls us wit*
44 never yet brought to a state of fusion by Are,
or by any of the arts employed by the Spani
ards*." llis experiments were published in the
memoirs of the Swedish Academy, for the year
1731. The fusion was accomplished by means
of arsenic. Tillot and Sickeugen were likewise
engaged in researches on this subject; the lat
ter of whom added much, by his labors, to the
knowledge already acquired, lie communicat
ed the result of his discoveries to Alexis Kochon,
Director of the Marina Observatory at Hrest;
who, by his further labors, was enabled to ap
ply it to the important purpose of facilitating va
rious pursuits iu science, such as constructing
the specula for telescopes, sextants, and other
instruments used in determining the longitude
at sea, Ike.'
The hitherto difficult and tedious method of
reducing Platina to a manageable state, ami the
immense advantages which it promised to tho
arts as well as science, together with the exor
bitant price at which it was sold, (being the
oaine as that of gold) induced a great number of
scicntilic characters to engage iu laborious re
searches, with a view not only to become better
acquainted with its attributes, but to simplify
ana facilitate, if possible, the means of over
coming it.
In the Philosophical Magazine for February,
1800, there is a paper by Mr. ftichard Knight,
Member of the llritish Miueralogical Society, on
the process of rendering Platina malleable)
from which we extract the following) ** To a
given <|uuntity of crude platina, I add fifteen
| times it weight of nitric muriatic acid (compos
ed of equal parts of nitric and muriatic acids) in
a tubulated glass retort, with a tubulated re
ceiver adapted to it. It is then boiled by means
of an Argraiui'n lamp, tilt the acid has assumed
a deep saffron color: it is then poured off*) and
if any platina remains undissolved, more acid
is added, and it is again boiled until the whole
is taken up. The liquor, being suffered to rest
till quite clear, is again decanted < a solution of
sal ammoniac is then added, by little and little,
till it no longer gives a cloudiness. Jfy this
means the nlatina is thrown down iu the ionn of
a lemon colored precipitate, which having sub
sided, the linuor is poured off', and the precipi
tate repeatedly washed with distilled water till
it ceases to give an acid taste: (too much water
is injurious, the precipitate being in a certain
degree soluble in that licpiid)?tho water is then
poured off, and the precipitate evaporuted to
dryness.
* No far my process is in a great measure si
milar to that which Rome other* have al#o fol
lowed ; but my method of managing the subse
quent, and which are indeed the principal mani
pulations, will he found to |>oxse*s many advan
tages over any that has yet been made public.
The best process hitherto followed, has been to
give the precipitate a white heat in a crucible,
which in some measure agglutinates the parti
cles | and there to throw the mass into n red hot
mortar, or any similar implement, and endeavor
to unite them oy using a pestle or stam|>cr. Hut
the mass is so spongy that it is hardly possible
to get a single stroke applied to it before the
welding heat is gone) and though by peculiar
dexterity and address, some havo in tnis way
succeeded, it has been found to require such
innumerable heatings and hammerings, that
most of those who nave attempted it* nave ei
ther failed entirely, or given it up as being too
laborious and expensive. I have succeeded in
obviating all these difficulties, by adopting the
following simple, easy, and expeditious method :
" A strong, hollow, inverted cone of crucible
earth being procured, with a corresponding
?topper to fit it, made of the same materials,
the point of the latter is cut off1 about three'
fourths from the base. The platina, tiow in the
state of a light yellow powuer, is pressed tight
iuto the cono, and a cover being fixed slightly
on, it is placed in an air furnace, and the fire
ra'^cd gradually to a strong white lioat. In the
mean time the conical stopper, fixed in a pair of
irou tougn suitable for the purpose is brought to
a red, or to a bright red li'jat. The cover neing
then removed from the eooe. the tongs with the
heated stopper is introduce through a hole in
the cover of the furnace, and pressed at first
gently on the platina, at this time in a state
nearly as soft as dough, till it at length acquire
a more solid consistence. It is then repeatedly
struck with the stopper^ as hard as the nature of
the materials will admit, till it appears to re
ceive no further impression. The cone is then
removed from the furnace, and being struck
lightly with a hammer, the platina falls out in a
metallic button, from which state it may bo
drawn, by repeatedly heating and gently ham
mering, into a bar fit for slutting, urawing into
wire, plnnishing, &c.
" Besides the comparative facility of this
process, it lias the farther advantage of render*
my; tho platina much purer when red hot iron is
obliged to bo had recourse to s for platina, when
of u white heat, has a strong affinity for iron,
and with whatever care it may have been previ
ously separated from that metal, Will bu found
to liuve taken up a portion of it, when it is em
ployed of n red heat, to serve to unite the parti
cles of the platina. To the superior purity of
platina, rendered malleable by the process be
fore described, I attribute the greater specific
gravity of that which 1 find it to possess than
that pnmosed by other methods. Having taken
the special gravity of about ten penny weights of
it, which 1 had previously passed repeated I r
through a slatting mill, 1 found it to be 22,26."
Another method of rendering platina mallea
ble, was discovered by Count Apollos Moussin
Poushkin, and published in Nicholson's Jour
nal for October, eighteen hundred and four.?*
Hut as it was not so simple nor so effectual as
that just described, it will be unnecessary to
take notico of it.
A latter method and one which i? now gene
rally practised, was invented by Mr. T. Cock.
The platina is dissolved in the mtro muriatic a
cid, as by Mr. Knight, and the liquor filtered
through clean white sand. The solution is then
decomposed by sul ammoniac, and the precipi
tate collected, well washed and dried. 1 lie pre*
cipitate thus prepared, is exposed in proper ves
sels, to u low red heat until tho platina assume*
its metallic state, becoming a spungy mast of
grey color. " About half an ounce of tfie platina.
hi tliis state is to be nut into a strong iron mould
about twound a halt incites long by one and a
quarter wide, and is to be couiiircsbcd as forci?4
bly as possible, by striking witfi a mallet upon a*
wooden pestle, cut so as accurately to tit the
mould; another half once is then* added, and
treated in the same manner, and so on until 6
ounces have been forced into the mould ; a loose
iron cover, just capable of sliding down the
mould, is then laid ujion the platina, and by
means of a screw press almo.it every particle of
air is forced out. This is a part of tne process
that requires especial care, for if any material
quantity of air is left in the mass, the bar into
which it is formed is very apt in the subsequent
operation*, to scale and l>e full of Haws.
The pressure being duly made, the mould is
to be taken to piccos anu the platina will be
found in the form of a dense compact paralello
pedid. It is now to be placed in a charcoal forge
lire, and heated to the most intense white heat,
in order completely to drive oil' the remaining
ammoniacal muriate \ thin being done, it is to be
quickly placed on a clear bright anvil, and gent
ly hammered in every direction by a clean ham
mer. This to bo repeated several times, at the
cud of which the mass will be perfectly com
pact, and fit to lie laminated or wrought in any
other manner that tho artist chooses. It is to
observed, that while the platina is heating it
must Ire loose in the fire, for if it were held by
the tongs, they would infallibly become wedded
to the platina, and thus greatly damage it. B/
the time that tho platina is thus drawn
down to a compact bar, it will be covered by a
somewhat reddish semivitreous crust, proceed
ing chiefly from particles of the ashes, melted
down upon it, and extended over its surfai
the hammer. To remove thh, the bar, I
made red hot, is to !>? sprinkled over with
veri/ed glass of borax, and then kept for i
minutes at a white heat; when moderately
it is to be plunged into diluted muriatic uci
which the oorax and other vitreous matter
be dissolved, leaving tho platina with a perf
clear white surface.
Such is the labor, and such arc the proce
of rendering this invaluable metal subservie
the purposes of the arts. It is now usod in
riety of cases, in which it was formerly nec?
ry to use the gold. It has been used by Mr.
bins in watchmaking) and M.Cotteau, an i
nious enameller, did not hesitate to give
preference to all other metals in his line,
landes, likewise applied it to the nurno*
forming crucibles for the fabrication of (lint gl
and it is now almost universally used) ins
of gold, for the bushing of guns, a? being n
harder, and less liable to be affected by tin
tion of the powder. Much yet remains t<
known concerning this metal whose utility nt
no donbt, bo rendered much more exter
than at present. It is only by continued
searches ami repeated experiments that we
arrive at a proper estimate of its importanrc
The establishment of a public observatory
long been fin obioct of much anxiety with
of Science in till* country, and with thnae
without claiming that character, can in h
degree appreciate tho a(l\antai{e? uhich m
bo.anticipated from it. We learnt a few ?
ago, that a celebrated Mathematician in
employ of the government, Mr. lla*lor,
returned from hurono with a complete sr
Astronomic.*! ami other instruments, whiel
had procured for the public u*e. It wan rr.por
and wo w ere flattered with the belief of
report, that an observatory wan to be estublift
at thin place ; the neat of the government,
centre of the Union, and tho iiuclcu? .no