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m POETRY. THE MURDERED TRAVALER. When Soring, to woods and wastes around, Brought bloom and joy again; ■ The murdered traveller’s bone* were Found, Far down a narrow glen. The fragrant birch, above him hung Her tassels in the sky, And many a vernal blossom sprung, And nodded, careless, by. The red-bird warbled, as she wrought Her hanging nest o’erhead, Ai^ fearless, near the fatal spot, ter young the patridge led. •But there was weeping far away, And gentle eves, for him, With watching many an anxious day, Grew sorrowful and dim, They little knew, who loved him so. The fearful death he met, When shouting o’er the desert snow, Unarm’d and hard beset. Nor how, when round the frosty pole The northern dawn was red, The mountain wolf and wild-cat stole To banquet bn the dead. Nor how, when strangers found his bones, They dress’d the hasty bier, And marked hisgrave with nameless stones, Unmoistencd by a tear. But long they looked, and feared, and wept, Within his distant home; And dreamed, and started as they slept, For joy that he was come. So long they looked—but never spied. His welcome step again, Nor knew the fearful death he died Far down that narrow glen. Bryant. From the Boston Courier. ALEXANDER VOLTO. The last number of the Journal- of Science and the Ai ls, contains an 0- bituury. notice of this great Italian philosopher, who died at Como on the 5th of March, 1827, at the age of 82 years. He was born in Como in 1745; was appointed professor of philosophy, at Pavia, & in that city, during 25 years taught the true principles of elec tricity, &. ornamented that science by many valuable discoveries. In 1782, he made several journeys in Europe, with his illustrious'colleague, Scarpa, & received a gold modal from the Roy al Society of London, for the discovery ■®ofhis condenser. In 1801, he was in Paris, where he explained the na ture, properties, and effects, of the pile which bears his name, and where a gold medal was decreed him as a ' testimony of admiration. Advanta geous offers were made to draw him to other great European capitals, but he preferred his country to the brill iant prospects which were offered him, and he retired to his native place, occupving himself till near the close of life with philosophy, and particular ly with meteorology. In early life, Volta devoted him self to the study of electricity and che mistry. At a later period, he applied himself to perfecting the instrument for measuring electricity, and to the Invention of new ones. The Electro- phorus and Condenser, owe their ori gin to him. The last apparatus is to the science of electricity, what the microscope is in natural history, in permitting us to appreciate the quan tities of that fluid, which, by their fee ble effects, would have entirely es caped the means formerly known.— His hypothesis of the formation of hail is ingenious, and his observations upon the periodical return of clouds are not without interest. It was Volta who discovered the inflammable gas of marshes, and fur nished an explanation of the wondrous fires, & of those ingenious phenomena, sometimes produced on the surface of the ground. He showed that they re sult from the combustion of this gas by means of electricity. It was on the discovery of an inflammable spring, that he suspected the true cause of this phenomenon, and which he attributed to the formation of a gas bv the fermentation of vegetable & an imal substances in contact with water. By the observations just alluded to, Volta was led to the discovery of the electric pistol, in which, by means of electric spark, the sudden combustion of hydrogen produces a loud explosion. This gave birth to the hydrogen gas lamp. That discovery which contributed most to his.fame, and which will al ways remain a monument to his gen ius, is a new method of producing e- lectricity. Galvani, being engaged in some anatomical experiments, per ceived, that two heterogeneous met als,’connected b3’the intervention of a IJrog, produced in the *uscle of this animal a sudden commotion, similar to an electric shock. Struck with phe nomenon!, Galvaui and some other dliilosophers, endeavored to explaiu it by a fluid avi generis, which they call ed animal electricity. Volta's opin ion was widely different. He contend ed that the fluid was nothing more than common electricity, developed by the contact of two metals, and that the frog acted the part of con ductor &• electroscope. He had been admired for the indefatigable per severance with which he endeavored to prove the truth of his explanation. He succeeded in his experiments, and replied victoriously to his adversaries, tviio no longer opposed him in making to the scientilic world the invaluable gift of the apparatus known by the name of the Voltaic Pile. Having discovered that the conduct of differ ent metals, called a pair or voltaic element, produces a certain quantity of electricity, he w r as enabled to in crease this quantity by the un union of several of these ele ments to one another.by means of wa ter holding in solution a sal.t or an a- cid. It is the union of all these coup les which is called thc N Voltaic Pile, and which forms an apparatus capa ble of producing electricity with a force to which no one has been able to find a limit, since there is no limit to the size and number of the elements which can be thus brought together. The writer of the article, from which we have made this hasty ab stract, is enthusiastic in his panegyrics upon the genius and learning of Volta, and the services lie rendered to sci ence. He placed in tlie hands of ex perimenters an inexhaustible mine of rich discoveries, in giving them the pile, and established legitimate claims upon their gratitude and their regret. The obituary concludes with a statement of a coincidence as sad as it was singular. The same month and the same.day of the month, which ter minated the life of Alexander Volta, were the month and the day which witnessed the death of Lpplace. “A singular concurrence between two of the greatest geniuses of the age, so different otherwise in the paths which they followed in the pursuit of science. If one by his inventive genius has open ed a new career to the sagacity of the human mind, the other, by a force of conception which raised him to the most sublime generalizations, has traced a route which no person, per haps, will attempt to follow. The theory of the world, begun by New ton, can expect no future Laplace, that of electricity, which owes its great progress to Volta, has a right to ask a Laplace.” any one to receive them; 6ut, on the contrary, we, by the word of the Lord, of almighty authority, require and command all, in the finest manner, that not one visit them, nor do them any sort of service, or furnish them a- ny sort of assistance whatever, to pro tract their stay in these parts or any other. Lei no one receive them into his house, pr into any place whatever that belongs to hitn, but let all avoid them, in eVeiy'Way, in all things tem poral as well'as spiritual. And who ever, in his stubbornness, shall dare to act in opposition to this our order with regard to Brd, and his children, and his own famih, shall fall, ipso fac to, under the grea\ excommunication, whose absolution \s reserved to our selves alone, in thc\ame manner as has happened to the miserable Latoof El Ashi and his sons; film which may the Lord preserve you a|, and his bless ing be upon the obeclent. The ignoble JIseph Peter, Patriarch of the JlntioUi all the East. August 4, 1827. SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Extract of a letter irom the Rev. John Armstrong, an English clergy man at Buenos Ayres, to the English Church Missionary Society. With a view to draw the attention of the committee towards those parts, and in the hope that ultimately you will be induced to make some missiona ry attempts this country. I forward to you aji fKtract of a letter which I have latelyj received from a friend, who is traversing these countries for scientific aid commercial purposes; to which hi adds another object of still greatef importance—that of a- vailinghimjelf of his opportunities of doing goodjwherever he can. He is a medical m:n—a Swede—and one that fears God He writes as follows, from Mendoza, the capital of one of united provinces of Riu de la Plata— Nothingrcmarkable occurred du- the cou\se of 23 days’ journey, MISSIONARY PERILS. Denunciation of the Patriarch of Anli- och, against Rev. Mr. Bird. “Proclamation to all our children, the people of the villages of Eliden and Zgarta, and to all our children, the inhabitants of the district of Gib bet, Besharry, clergy and laymen, ru lers and subjects universally, to wit: “That vve have knowledge of the infernal hardihood, to which the un happy wretched Latoof El Ashi and his Sons have arrived, in having dared to associate themselves with that de ceived man and deceiver of men, Bird the Bible-man. They aid him in his object and have brought him to Ehden against the severe prohibitions which vve had before issued, threatening ev ery one who opposed our orders with immediate excommunication. We, therefore, make known to all, that those sons of wickedness, Latoof El Ashi and his sons, together with all the rest of his family, male and female except domestics, have fallen under the heavier excommunication; and now We, by the word of the Lord which is Almighty, confirm upon them this excommunication. They are therefore, accursed, cutoff from all Christian communion: and let the curse envelope them as a robe, and spread through all their members like oil, and break them in pieces like a pottor’s vessel, and wither them in pieces like tffe fig-tree cursed by the mouth of the Lord himself: and let the evil angel rule over them, to torment them day and night asleep and awake, and in whatever circumstances they may be found. We permit no one to visit them, or employ them, or do them a favor, or converse with them in any form; but let them be avoided as a putrid member, and as hellish dragons. Beware, yea, beware of the wrath of God. “And with regard to Bird, and all his children, and all his family, we in like manner grant no permission to except somelfevv stoppages to give as sistance to sick people. I now left the Tropa (k troop of carts,) in order that I mightjvisit that peaceable tribe of Indians wlich traffics with the in habitants of ihe provinces of Cordova and Punto Sin Luis. A Portuguese apothecary, tv'ho has for some years traded with Ihem, gave me some de scription of taeir customs. When I fell in with tliem, they were on their journey towards the Pampas, on Ac count of the drought, seeking pasture for their horses. Their tents are of hides; and their clothes consist of pouches (a kind of mantle,) and a gir dle round the waist: their'arms are lances, leaden halls, and lassos—long ropes, made of hides, which they throw most dexterously, and, by a noose at the end, catch either their cattle, or men, whom they may wish to secure. Many of them speak Spanish, and are industrious and fond of commerce; but have very dark and confused ideas a- bout religion, even worse than my Ta- poys in Brazil, [another tribe which lie visited and resided among for some months, two or three years ago.]— They live principally on the flesh of mares, colts,. deers, and armadillos; but like bread, vvhen they can ex change their own produce for it. They are, moreover, thoughtful and inquisi tive: so that it would be very easy for a man living among them to introduce art; and, with arts, civilization and religion. Mr. Martinez, the apothe cary, has an Estancia (a landed prop erty) among them, and lives in perfect good understanding with their chiefs. Any person understanding different trades would be very useful among them; aud, witliou: doubt, would suc ceed in civilizing them. NAPOLEON’S LETTER revive the Sentiments of bur nature, and we live for our children. Yes, madam see in this very moment how they open your heart to melancholy; you will weep with them—you will bring them up from infancy—you will talk to them of their father, of your sorrow, of the loss which you and the Republic have sustained. After hav ing once more attached your mind to the world by the ties of filial and ma ternal love, set some value on the friendship and lively regard I shall al ways feel for the wife of my friend.— Believe that there are those who de serve to be the hope of the afflicted because they understand the poignan cy of mental sufferings. The following table will show % immense destruction effected by the. American tire, compared to that of a- ny other nation. The first column is a rough calculation of the engaged, and the latter is an accurate statement; of the killed aud wounded: 3,206 1,060 1,100 704 1,400 300 1,110 895 1,550 1,597 170 391 I TO THR WIDOW *F ADMIRAI. BRUEYS. Your husband has been killed by a cannon shot, while fighting on his deck He died without pain, and by the bes^ death, and that which is thought b soldiers most enviable. I am keenly sensible to your grief. The moment which severs us from the object wfelove is terrible; it insu lates us from all the earth; it inflicts 4>n the body the agonies of death: the faculties of the soul are annihilated, and its relation with the universe sub sists only through the medium of a hor rible dream which distorts every thing. Mankind appear colder and more selfish than they really are. In this situation wo feel that if nothing obliged us to live, it would be much better to die; but when, after this first thought, we press our children to our hearts, tears and tender emotions EFFECTS OF LAUGHTER. The different grades of Joy have performed wonders in medic^e. Ma ny striking instances are recorded of its salutary effects when it has ope rated in laughter. Children, it is said, have been cured by it of the rickets.— Voltaire relates a story of a lady who was supposed to be in the last state of an acute disease. Her mother, who stood weeping by her bedside, prayed for her life, and offered to her Maker all her other children, if the sick one should be spared, A son-in- law, who had married another of her daughters, and who sat by the bedside, very gravely said—“l hope, madam, you mean of one sex only,” moaning her female children. The lady who was ill was so struck with this speech that she burst into a fit of laughter, and from that time recovered.—This gentle and pleasant emotion i>f the di aphragm and its contiguous muscles, produced the same effect upon the Cardinal in Rome. In a similar situ ation, laughter was excited in him, while he lay in his bed, by seeing a fa vorite monkey put on his pontifical robes, and strut about his bed chamber with which he had often seen his mas ter perform his public ecclesiastical duties. SUNSET ON THE ALPS. At the height of 1,422 toises above the level of the sea, the beauty of the evening and the magnificence of the scenery which the setting sun present ed, consoled me for the bad weather which I had experienced. The Va pors of the night, which, like fine gauze moderated the splendor of the sun, half concealed the extent which w r e had under our feet, while it form ed a girdle of the finest purple, em bracing all the western part of the horizon. On the other hand, towards the East, the snows at the base of Mont Blance, tinged with this purple light, exhibited the most magnificent and singular spectacle. In propor tion as the vapor fell, on account of its condensation, this girdle became narrower and more colored; it appear ed, in fine, of a blood red, and, at the same instant, the small clouds which were rising above this cordon, emitted a light of greater vivacity, so as to ap pear like stars or fiery meteors. I returned thither when night was entirely shut in; the sky was then per fectly clear and without clouds; the vapor was seen only in the bottom of the glens; the stars shone clear, but destitute of every kind of scintillation, and shed on the summits of the moun tains a light extremely feeble and pale, though sufficient to distinguish their masses and their distances. The calm and profound silenoe which prevailed in this vast extent, raised the imagi nation still higher, and inspired a sort of terror. I thought I had survived the universe, and saw its ruins under my feet. Yet sad as such rellectious really are, they possess an attractive interest which it is difficult to resist. I turned most frequently towards the obscure solitude which was on the side of Mont Blane, where the snows gave a clear phosphorescent-like light and imparted still the idea of motion and life; but the keenuesg of the uir on tliis insolated peak soon forced me to retire to my cabin.—Suusure Voy- vges dans les Jilpes. Lord Howe’s victory Lord Duncan’s Lord St. Vincent’s The Nile, Trafalgar; American frigates, So that the sanguinary battle of Cam- perdown did not cost us twice our loss in engaging four American frigates, and nearly the same may be said of the most desperate of all naval fights on record—that of the Nile. The Java Frigate of only thirty six guns, when taken by the Americans, lost within one as many as the Temararie, 92 guns; and within a few as many as the Royal Severeign of 100, in the .battle of Trafalgar; and yet the Victory and Royal Sovereign weVe Lord Nelson’s and Lord Collingswood’s flags ships and bore the brunt of the battle.” ’ The plague at Cairo in Egypt.—The plague followed the scarcity, and the contagion completed what the famine had begun. The human form was swept away from the surface of the land, like the shadows of the darkness which the dawn puts to flight. Towns and villages innumerable, were bereft of their tenants to a man. The living became too few to bury the dead.— Their own houses remained their ce- metaries. Where long strings of cof fins at first had issued forth, not a sol itary funeral any longer appeared.—- Hundreds of families, who had fled from famine to Syria were overtaken by the plague in the midst of their journey, and with their dead bodies marked their route through the desert. E- gypt smitten by the two fold visitation almost ceased to appear inhabited: and both plagues at length disappeared, for want of further victims to slay. TURKISH LIBRARIES. There are thirty-five public libra ries at Constantinople, one at every" imperial mosque. They are built with taste and elegance and contain lrom 1000 to 5000 volumes, bound neatly in red, green, and black moroc co. Excepting on Tuesdays and Fri days, these libraries remain open to tho public at all times of the year.— Each library is under the care of three or four librarians, (Hafiz Kutub,) who spend the day there, and receive most politely whoever enters. Every body is permitted to use what book he pleas es, to make extracts, or even copy the whole book, provided it be done in the library, for the rules of these institutions do not allow books to be carried out of the building. At each of the libraries a very exact catalogue of the books is kept, containing the title and subject of every volume.— The Sultan’s library contains about 15,000 volumes'. A writer in the London Morning Chronicle holds this language: “There is no denying the vast su periority of the Americans to the En glish in gunnery; and the reason is ob vious. In America the officers must learn the naval service—in England the relations of the officers must learn their Parliamentary service, and this makes all the difference. The Guer- riere, Java, Macedonia and Shannon, lost in their actions with American frigates more by oue third than our whole fleet in the great Victory of St Vincent*. ‘ A Dog's Jeois-harp.—A brace of Paddies having recently landed in the United States from Emerald Isle, went to a tavern and called for dinner. The landlord informed them that they had np victuals prepared but apple dumplings, which were accordingly set before them. One says to the other—“what kind of meat, is this, I never saw such meat iu Ireland.”— “Arrah, by my shoul,” says the oth er, “I”il soon find out if its poison,” and threw one of the dumplings under the table to a large dog, who instant ly swallowed it. The heat of it se« verely burning the dog’s throat, tho animal began to whine and howl and paw his mouth with his fore feet.— “There by St. Patrick,” says Paddy, “they are dog’s jews-harps, 6ee how swately he plays on it.” Anecdote of the Revolution •—During the momentous contest for Liberty and Indepeudence, the society of Friends, generally adhering to their known pacific principles, would not take an active part 'therein. Two of- their members, residing in New Jer- 6y, conversing on the subject, one ob served, that, considering the men in power distrained much more of their property than the demand, he was dis posed to submit and pay, especially as the Scriptures said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, v The other inquiring who was Caesar? “Why, in ancient times- there were several, as Augustus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, and Julius Caesar; and if thou refuses! to pay the military requisi tions, tho constable will be thy ( See- sure