ten Labours are explained by the same method, and on the same principles. M. Dupuis acknowledges that the application of astronomy to this purpose is not a new idea ; he observes, how ever, that it was never demonstrated before he took it up. It iss! mentioned, by the scholiaft on Hefiod, and Eufebius in his Praem paratio Evang. Book III. chap. 11. expresses himself in the fol-i lowing manner, Solem Heraclea aut Herculem appellarunt, quem etiam duodecim certaminum labore defunEtum effe fabulantur, coeleftis orbis in duodecim Signa divisionem fymbolo hoc declarare cupientes. This ? relation of the labours of Hercules to the signs of the Zodiac, was placed among the other hypothetical conjectures of the an: cients concerning the fabulous or allegorical history of that hero; but it was reserved for our Author to prove the point by astronomical principles; with this difference, however, that the anë cients attributed to the sun, what he attributes to his genius, or to the intelligence that was supposed to accompany and direct hiscourse.

So then Hercules, the laborious Hercules, is reduced to a constellation, and was sung and celebrated as such above 2000 years before Herodotus, and more than 1200 before the period in which the son of Alcmena is supposed to have lived.

This Memoir of M. Dupuis is followed by the supplements, which the progress of astronomy, daily enriched with new observations and curious researches, has induced M. DE LA LANDE" to add to his work published in 1971, in order to render it still more complete. He'oblerves juftly, that a treatise of aftros nomy, which contained an accurate account of that science, as far, as it had advanced in the year 1771, might, at the end of ten years more, betray into mistakes those who should confide in it with security, as comprehending the present state of aftro nomical science. And, as the recent improvements that are difai persed in a multitude of journals, academical' memoirs, and particular works, are collected here, thefe fupplements will be well received,

A'R T. X.
Cours complet d'Agriculture Theorique, Pratique, Occonomique. &c.

ie Acoinplete Course of Theoretical, Practical, and Econo-
mical Agriculture, and of rural and veterinarian Medicine ; or å
Universal Diâionary of Agriculture, followed by a Merbod of
Budying Agriculture by scientific Principles. By a Society of
Husbandmen, and digelled by the ABBE RUZIER. Vol. I. 4to.
Paris, 1781.

HE name of the Abbé Rozier will naturally raise the

expectations of the Public pretty high with respect to the merit of this work; and, if we may judge by the volume be

fore

T

fore us, these expectations will not be disappointed. There is. a common detect among the writers on gardening and the different parts of agriculture, that they always speak of the district or province they inhabite, as if the method oblerved there was practicable and adviseable every where else. Our Author or Compiler has avoided this, as far as was poffible, and has taken great pains to render this work of universal utility, by thewing how the Georgical precepts in each article may be modified, and accommodated to different foils and circumstances. Each article in this first volume is a complete treatise upon its subject. The articles Abeille, Agriculture, Air, and Amendement, are the most important, and deserve to be perused with particular attention.

ART. XI. Verhandeling van het Bataviaach Genootschap des Consten en Weten,

schappen, &c. i e. Memoirs of the Society of Arts and Sciences of Batavia. Vol. I. Printed at Batavia. Large Octavo. 1779.

A

a new phenomenon that must naturally excite an agreeable surprize. The communication of the European nations with the East Indies has not hitherto enriched the annals of history with many relations honourable to humanity. Gain, plunder, despotism, wars, artifice, and injustice, make up more than two thirds of the history of the European settlements in India; and, if we except some improvements in astronomy, and natural history, it may be affirmed, that navigation, which has been the means of our connection with these d stant regions, has been little better to humanity than a second box of Pandora, with some feeble hopes, perhaps, left at the bottom. However that be, we are glid to see a literary society erected at Batavia; whether or not it will contribute to enlighten the Indians, we cannot tell, but it will naturally produce good effects in various ways. It will, at least, dignify the paltry aspect of mere commirce, which, when undig oified with morals; taste and knowledge, is a very sorry business, though in a certain degree it may be necessary to give us conveniently, meat, drink, and clothing

The society under consideration was founded at Batavia under the adminiftration of the late Governor General De KLERK, and has great obligations to its president Mr. RADERMACH R, who has generoufly furnished it with a valuable library, and a great variety of mathematical inftruments. The end proposed by is founders, is to encourage the arts and the branches of industry that may be of the greatest utility in that part of the globe; and all the fubjects and questions, to which the fociety have annexed prizes,, aşe conformable to shis-pura

pole,

pose, and are relative principally to manufactures, agriculture,
all the branches of medicine, and partly to belles lettres,' hilo
tory, and the antiquities of India. Besides thefe discourses
there are memoirs composed by the members of the society.
Thofe contained in the volume before us are as follows:

lis An accurate Account of the Pofeffions of the Dutch Eaf
India Company, together with a Description of the Kingdom of
Jaccatra, and of the City of Batavia. By Messrs. ŘADER=
MACHER and HOGENDORP. The facts contained in this
Meiroir are to be found, with very few exceptions, in the
General History of Voyages, published formerly at the Hague,
and at Paris; and whole enormous and ill-digested mafs was
lately reduced to twenty volumes, in large ovo. by M. De
LA HARPE, whose elegant abridgment was mentioned in a
former Review. They are also to be found in the Abbé RAY-
NAL's Philosophical and Political History. But the Authors of
the Memoir before us are more worthy of credit than either of
these writers, as they are nearer the sources of information, not
to mention other reasons known to us.

II, Researches concerning the Nature of the Small Pox
at Batavia, tog ther with Obfervations on Inoculation, as it has
been practised in that City. By M. VAN DER STEEG, It ap-
pears from this Memoir, that cbe fmall.pox which attacks the
Europeans in that warm climate with less malignity than in
their native land, makes dreadful havock among the flaves and
the natives at Batavia. This M. VAN DER STEEG attributes
partly to the manner of treating the disorder usual among these
latter, who, during the fever chat accompanies the variolous
eruption, make ufe of heating diet and medicines, and plunge
themselves in cold water in the hotreft fits, but principally to
the density and callofity of the cuticle or epidermis of this class
of persons. Inoculation appears to have met with much oppo-
fition to its progress in the Isle of Java, whose inhabitants are
not more free from narrow prejudices in this respect, than many
of our enlightened European cities and provinces, who, in enu-
merating the victims of this dreadful malady, do not seem poffef-
fed of arithmetic enough to know the difference between one
among eight, and one among a hundred ; and who are afraid of
offending God, by performing salutary acts of beneficence to

For the rest, the Author of this Memoir seems to be a
generous and intelligent operator, as well as a successful one,
and, by his disinterested proceedings, has given a progressive mo-
tion to the cause of inoculation.

III. Concerning the different Methods of calculating Time,
that are employed in different Parts of Asia, together with a Com-
parison of their kesults, for the Years 1779 and 1780. By M.
RADERMACHER, This Disquisition is accurate, and may be

2

man.

useful;

useful; but it is not susceptible of abridgment. It is concluded by an observation that deserves notice. It relates to the very imperfect manner of reckoning which is employed by the Chic nese, and the Gentoos, whose intercalations are irregular, and whose year is composed sometimes of 354, and at other times of 384 days, and is thus founded on no fixed astronomical prin.

ciples. It is no wonder, therefore, as M. RADEK MACHER -* juftly observes, that these two nations carry up their chronology

beyond the food, lince their defective manner of reckoning muit naturally expose them to the most extravagant errors.

IV. The Commencement of a Javaneje Hiftory, entitled, Sad. jara Radja Djawa; with a Preface. “By M. Van IPEREN, This is a fable that seems to belong to the sacred history of the Javanese. But we cannot make much out of it, as we do not fee the end of it; and if we did, perhaps we thould not be much wiser. There are passages in ic that carry some distant fimilitude to incidents and pafiages in the Mosaic history, and to the circumstances of initiation into the Egyptian myfterics; but these affinities a:e too feeble to admit of any conclutions of consequence to the illustration of sacred philology.

V. A Dissertation on the present State of Agriculture in the Country about Batavia. By John HOOYMAN. This Writer is really eloquent, but not laconic; he is, however, well-informed and instructive, and his Memoir seems to exbibit a very accurate, judicious, and interesting account of the subject he treats. It contains eighty-nine pages, and of thefe, seventy-four are employed in an ample description of the sugar plantations and mills, in which the natural historian, the manufacturer, and the merchant will find both curious and useful information. Our Author proposes continuing the subject in the second volume. In that now before us, he begins by an eulogy of agriculture, well composed, and happily expressed. He thews, that zeal for its improvement was the character of ancient states and kingdoms in the true periods of their grandeur; and that the Dutch have done more to encourage and propagate it in their colonies, than any other nation. He does not deign to compare the Dutch improvements in the island of Java, with those that are observable in the meagre colonies of the French and Danes; but he compares them with the rural improvements and ceconomy that are carried on at Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, and other parts of the British empire in India, and afferts their superiority. He gives the Abbé Raynal a rap on the knuckles for his account of Batavia; observing, however, chat a man must be on the spot, in order to give an accurate description of that city and the adjacent country. The Chinese, who traded in several parts of India, before the discoveries of the Portugueze, and the fettlement of the Dutch in that country, were numerous in the Isle

of

of fava, before the arrival of the latter there. They were also active and industrious; and our Author gives an account of the progress that was made in agriculture in that settlenient from their time to the prefent.

VI. A Description of the Ifand of Timor, as far as it is hitherto known. By M. W. VAN HOGENDORP. The Acade. mician divides this iliand into four diflricts, those of the Hollanders,--the black or inland Portugueze,--the white or European Portugueze, and the original natives, who have no dependance hut on their own kings. After an historical account of these different nations, he treats of the nature of the climate, the rivers, the gold and copper mines (which are not worked, from a superftitious' notion, that their treasures are the property of certain subterraneous inbabitants); the trees, plants, and pearls, that form objects of commerce in that island; the complexion, character, clothing, and nourishment (which is very poor) of the ignorant and lazy inhabitants; the fruits that grow in the country; the tobacco and indigo which it produces in large quantities; and animals and insects, among which ferpents, scorpions, and poisonous flies are very numerous.

VII. A Description of a white Negro in the Island of Bali. By M. VAN IPEREN. This is a curious piece for the lovers of natural history; it overturns the hypothesis of certain authors, who think that the white-negro forms a distinct and permanent species, for the man animal in question was born of black parents. He is married and loves nis wife.. His breast resembles that of a woman : the lower part of his body is covered with hair, his feet excepted ; and his head is almost hid under a load of hair, whose colour is a mixture of white and red of a yellowish hue.

All things considered, this first Volume is a proof of the merit, and an omen of the future success of the Batavian fo. ciety, which confifts of 192 members; of this number 103, besides the 16 directors, reside in Batavia. : Tbeir undertaking is intitled to the applaufe of all who have a zeal for the progress and improvement of knowledge, in the dark corners of our globe ; and we hope the return of peaceful times will concribute to the success of their generous efforts.

AR T. XII. Journal d'un Voyage fait en 1775 et 1776, dans les Païs Meridio.

naux de l'Europe. i. e. The Journal of Travels through the Southern Countries of Europe. By the late M. John GEORGE SULZER. 8vo. Hague. 1781. THATEVER bears the name of this excellent philofopher, this good man, has a claim to the attention

W