result, as I had of that of fruit trees, which will be not only to preserve the oak till he is fit for ship-building, but likewise increase the quantity of both wood and bark. FINIS BOOKS PUBLISHED By WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, 64, SOUTH BRIDGE-STREET, EDINBURGH. KERR'S VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND GENERAL PLAN OF THE WORK. PART I. Voyages and Travels of Discovery in the middle Ages; from the Era of ALFRED King of England, in the Ninth Century, to that of DON HENRY of Portugal, at the Commencement of the Fifteenth Century. PART II. General Voyages and Travels, chiefly of Discovery; from the Era of DON PART III. Particular Voyages and Travels, arranged in Systematic Order, Geographical and Chronological. Note. This Part will be divided into Five Books, comprehending,-I. Europe. -II. Asia-III. Africa.-IV. America.-V. Australia and Polynesia; or the prodigious Multitude of Islands in the great Pacific Ocean. And all these will be farther subdivided into particular Chapters and Sections, correspon dent to the Geographical Arrangements of the several Divisions of the Globe, PART IV. General Voyages and Travels of Discovery during the Era of GEORGE III. which were conducted upon scientific Principles, and by which the Geogra phy of the Globe has been nearly perfected. Historical Deduction of the Progress of Navigation, Discovery, Colonization, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the earliest Times to the present Pe riod. CONDITIONS. It I. The work will not, it is expected, much exceed twenty volumes, handsome. II. It is published in numbers, or half volumes, one of which appears regularly III. Each number contains sixteen sheets of letter-press, and two of these form a full-sized volume, exceeding 500 pages. *Nine Volumes of this Collection of Voyages and Travels are now before the public. The favourable reception this work has already experienced, and the increasing patronage it daily acquires, while they afford a satisfactory proof that its plan and execution have been generally approved, demand the grateful acknowledgments of the publisher and Editor. In proportion as the work advances towards the great commercial, colonial, and political objects of the present eventful era, its contents will become more and more useful and interesting; and the numerous subscribers may be assured, that no pains or expence shall be spared, which can render it deserving of public favour and approbation. A 1 Books printed for William Blackwood, Edinburgh. THE EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPÆDIA, Or, DICTIONARY of ARTS, SCIENCES, and MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE. Conducted by DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. F.R.S. and F.A.S. EDIN. with the Assistance of Gentlemen eminent in Science and Literature. CONDITIONS. I. The Work will not, it is expected, exceed Fifteen Volumes, and is handsomely printed in Quarto, with a new Type, and with the best London Ink, on a fine wove Demy Paper. The Engravings are executed by the first Artists in London and Edinburgh, from original Drawings, by Mr Peter Nicholson, Mr Farey, jun. Mr Provis, Mr Ro bertson Buchanan, Mr P. Syme, Mr J. Duncan, &c. II. It is published in Half Volumes, one of which appears every three months, price One Guinea in boards.-A few Copies are printed on the finest Royal Paper, with Proof Impressions of the Plates, price £2:12:6. III. To prevent imperfect Copies from being left in the hands of the Publishers, every Subscriber must take the whole Work. The principle of selection which was adopted, for the first time, the EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPEDIA, enabled the Editor to treat the leading branches of Science at a much greater length than in works of a larger size, and to make room for many new articles of useful information, which had hitherto been completely overlooked. No subject, however, of real importance has, on this account, been omitted, or superficially discussed; and wherever it became necessary to condense and abridge, the reader has been carefully supplied with the most copious references to the best authorities. In the execution of this new Plan, the Proprietors have succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectation. Every article, even the most unimportant, has been composed expressly for the Work by Gentlemen eminent in Science and Literature, and from the most recent and unexplored sources of information. Many of the Geographical Articles have been either written by eminent Travellers, who have been long resident in the Countries they have described, or have been enriched with the new information which they have communicated. Numerous original views in Science and the Arts, the result of new and laborious experiments, various inventions, and some discoveries of no small importance, distinguish the Volumes that are already published; and the high reputation of many of the Contributors, is a sufficient pledge that the subsequent Volumes will be characterised by the same originality. For a proof of the justness of these pretensions, the Proprietors must refer to the Six Volumes of their Work which are now in the hands of the public; and those who have neither leisure nor opportunity to make such an examination, may be enabled to form their opinion from a short Analysis and List of the Articles treated of 'in these Volumes, which may be had of the principal booksellers of the United Kingdom. The irregularity which has occasionally attended the publication, has been a subject of regret to the Proprietors; but it is evident that this irregularity, by which they themselves are the greatest sufferers, must have been produced by causes over which they had no controul. Indeed, it has been almost wholly owing to the very circumstances which constitute the peculiar excellence of this Work, its ENTIRE ORIGINALITY, and the care bestowed even upon its minutest articles. Had it been a mere reprint, like the new edition of an Old Encyclopædia, now republishing, (and of which five volumes were actually printed before the property was bought by the present publishers,) the Volumes might have appeared faster than the Subscribers would have received them, and the period of publication might have been adhered to with undeviating regularity; but in a Work like the EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPÆDIA, Composed wholly of original articles, such mechanical punctuality was quite impracticable. The Proprietors, however, have now reason to expect that they will be able to publish four Half Volumes in the year: an exertion which those only can appreciate, who know the difficulty of bringing together the labours of a great number of authors, many of whom reside in the most remote parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Books printed for William Blackwood, Edinburgh. PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS. A TREATISE ON NEW PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS, for va rious Purposes in the Arts and Sciences. With Experiments, on Light and Colours. By DAVID BREWSTER, LL.D. F.R.S. & F.A.S. Edin. Handsomely printed in one large Volume Octavo, with 12 Plates. Price 18s. boards. This Volume contains the description and method of using a variety of New Instruments for different purposes in the Arts and Sciences. Some of these instruments are particularly useful to military and naval officers, travellers, and surveyors, who require an easy method of measuring angles and distances with accuracy and expedition; and with the properties of a trigonometrical instrument they combine all the properties of a common telescope. The other instruments are chiefly astronomical, optical, mineralogical, geological, and trigonometrical. This Work contains also an extensive set of experiments on light and colours, copious tables of refractive and dispersive powers, and an account of several new properties and affections of light. The different instruments deserved in this volume are made and sold by Messrs W. Harris and Company, 50, High Holborn, London. M'CRIE'S LIFE OF KNOX. The LIFE of JOHN KNOX: containing Illustrations of the History of the Reformation in Scotland; with biographical Notices of the principal Reformers, and Sketches of the Progress of Literature in Scotland, during a great Part of the Sixteenth Century, to which is subjoined an Appendix, consisting of Letters and other Papers, never before published. By THOMAS M CRIE, D.D. Minister of the Gospel, Edinburgh. Second Edition, corrected and greatly enlarged, in 2 Volumes Octavo, with Portraits of KNOX and REGENT MURRAY. Price 11. 1s. boards. "How unfair, and how marvellously incorrect these representations (of Knox's character) are, may be learned from the perusal of the work before us;-a work which has afforded us more amusement and more instruction, than any thing we ever read upon the subject; and which, independent of its theo. logical merits, we do not hesitate to pronounce by far the best piece of history which has appeared since the commencement of our critical career. It is extremely accurate, learned, and concise, and at the same time very full of spirit and animation; exhibiting, as it appears to us, a rare union of the patient research and sober judgment which characterize the more laborious class of historians, with the boldness of thinking, and force of imagination which is sometimes substituted in their place. It affords us very great pleasure to bear this public testimony to the merits of a writer who has been hitherto unknown, we believe, to the literary world, either of this or the neighbouring country; -of whom, or of whose existence at least, though residing in the same city with ourselves, it never was our fortune to have heard till his volume was put into our hands; and who in his first emergence from the humble obscurity in which he has pursued and performed the duties of his profession, has presented the world with a work which may put so many of his contemporaries to the blush, for the big promises they have broken, and the vast opportunities they have neglected."-EDINBURGH REVIEW, No. XXXIX. "Every page of his book gives full testimony that the writer of it is, by natural constitution, from habit and on principle, a cordial lover of civil and religious liberty. He is a learned man, and an independent thinker "-" No Scotsman should ever pronounce the name of Knox without veneration and gratitude. Beyond all question or controversy, be was the greatest benefactor to his native country whom her history records.”—Christian ObSERVER, January 1813. Books printed for William Blackwood, Edinburgh, LESLIE ON HEAT AND MOISTURE. A short Account of Experiments and Instruments, depending on the Relations of Air to Heat and Moisture. By JOHN LESLIE, F.R.S.E. Professor of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. Neatly printed in one Volume Octavo with a Plate. Price 7s. 6d. boards. SOMERVILLE'S SERMONS. SERMONS BY THOMAS SOMERVILLE, D.D. F.R.S.E. Minister of Jedburgh, and one of his Majesty's Chaplains in Ordinary. In one Volume Octavo, price 10s. 6d. boards. The following Works by the same Author. I. The History of Political Transactions and of Parties, from the Restoration of King Charles II. to the Death of King William. In one Volume 4to, price 11. 1s. II. The History of Great Britain during the Reign of Queen Anne. With a Dissertation concerning the Danger of the Protestant Succession; and an Appendix containing Original Papers. In one Volume 4to, price 11. 6s. SCOTTISH ADVENTURERS. THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURERS; OR THE WAY TO RISE. An Historical Tale. By HECTOR MACNEILL, Esq. Second Edition, with Alterations. Two Volumes 12mo. price 12s. boards. By the same Author, I. Poems. The Third Edition, corrected and enlarged, beautifully printed in 2 vols small Octavo, with Plates, Price 12s boards. II. Bygane Times and Late-come Changes, or a Bridge-street Dialogue, in Scottish Verse. Third Edition, Price 2s sewed, or fine Paper, 3s od Boards. WILLDENOW'S BOTANY. THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY, AND OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. Translated from the German of D. C. WILLDENOW. A New Edition, with the Author's last Corrections and Improvements. In one large Volume Octavo, illustrated by Eleven Plates. Price 14s. boards. "We have not hitherto had any introductory botanical treatise which comprehends all the branches of botanical knowledge. Lee's Introduction to Botany, which has been longest in use in this country, contains merely an explanation of the system of Linnæus, and of terms employed by him. Berkenhout's Botanical Lessons is nothing more than an explanation of the Linnæan terms, arranged in alphabetical order. But the author before us, besides explaining the Linnæan method, and the terms used by its followers, likewise gives a very full account of the different natural and artificial systems that have been proposed by different botanists previous and subsequent to that of the Knight of the Polar Star; together with vegetable physiology, explained according to principles established on the latest discoveries in chemistry; the diseases of plants, and the history of botany. In short, his work, which we understand has superseded all other elementary treatises on the Continent, contains almost every thing connected with botany. Upon the whole, however, it is our duty to say, that the same diligence and judgment is displayed in this volume that we already have had occasion to ascribe to M. Willdenow, when pronouncing our opinion of his edition of the Species Plantarum of Linnæus; and we venture, without hesitation, to recommend the Principles of Botany and Vegetable Physiology to those who wish to become acquainted with the science, as the most complete introductory treatise on the subject hitherto published."-Edinburgh Review, No. XXI. 1 |