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Bunzlau Curiosities

and on the other, of all Europe: they are placed according to their respective geographical bearings. The names of the towns are written on a small square piece of paper, and fixed in a slit on the top of a peg, which is stuck into the table. The remarkable mountains are shewn by some pyramidical black stones; and little white pyramids are stationed at all the spots which have been distinguished by any great battle, or other remarkable incident. The man himself, in explaining his work, shews abundance of learning, relative to the ancient names of places, and the former inhabitants of the countries to which he points; and amused us with anecdotes of various kinds, connected with the lands he has marked out.

Thus, in shewing us the Alps, he pointed to the very spot over which the French army of reserve so lately passed, and where Buonaparte so fortunately escaped being taken by an Austrian officer; and then he gave us a short comment of his own, upon the character and extraordinary good fortune of the First Consul. In a second room he has a large machine, representing the Copernican system of the universe: it is made in such a manner, that the whole firmament of fixed stars moves round our solar system once in every twenty-four hours, and thus always exhibits the stars, in the exact position, relative to our earth, in which they really stand. Internally, he has stationed all the planets which belong to our system, with their several satellites, and all the comets that have been observed during the last three centuries. In a third room he has another machine, exhibiting in different parts the various phases of the moon, and those of Jupiter's satellites, the apparent motion of the sun round the earth, and the real motion of the earth round the sun. "In his garret he has another work, upon which he is yet occupied, and which, being his last labour, seems to be that in which he takes the most delight. Upon a very large table, similar to that in the first room, he has inlaid a number of thin plates of wood, formed so as to represent a projection of the earth under Mercator's plan. All the intervals between the plates of wood designate that portion of the world which is covered with water. He has used a number of very small ropes of two colours, drawn over the surface in such a manner as to describe the tracks of all the celebrated circumnavigators of the globe. The colours of the ropes distinguish the several voyages which claim especial pre-eminence above the rest. To Columbus, Anson, and Cook, he has shewn a special honour by three little models of ships bearing their names, which are placed upon the surface of his ocean, in some spot of their respective courses. The names of all the other voyagers, and the times at which their voyages were performed, are marked by papers fixed at the points of their departure. Such is the imperfect description I can give you, from a short view of the labours of this really curious man. He must be nearly, or quite seventy years old, and has all his lifetime been of an infirm constitution. But this taste for the sciences, he told us, was hereditary in his family, and had been common to them all, from his great-grandfather down to himself. His dress and appearance were those of a common weaver: but his expressive countenance, at once full of enthusiastic fire and of amiable good-nature, was a model, upon which Lavater might expatiate with exultation. The honest and ingenious weaver, on our taking leave, made us smile by exclaiming, that now, if he could but have a traveller from Africa come to see his works, he could boast of having had visitors from all the four quarters of the globe."

ARTIFICIAL FLYING. -The art of flying has been attempted by several persons in all ages. The Leucadians, out of superstition, are reported to have had a custom of precipitating a man from a high cliff into the sea, first fixing feathers, variously expanded, round his body, in order to break his fall. Friar Bacon, who lived near five hundred years ago, not only affirms the art of flying possible, but assures us, that he himself knew how to make an engine, wherein a man, sitting, might be able to cenvey himself through the air, like a bird; and further adds, that there was one who had then tried it with success: but this method, which consisted of a couple of large thin hollow copper globes, exhausted of the air, and sustaining a person who sat thereon, Dr. Hooke shews to be impracticable. The philosophers of King Charles the Second's reign were mightily busied about this art. Bishop Wilkins was so confident of success in it, that he says, he does not question but, in future ages, it will be as usual to hear a man call for his wings, when he is going a journey, as it is now to call for his boots.

The art of flying has in some measure been brought to bear in the construction and use of balloons.