The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-11 00:00:00

DISCOVERY OF THE CYCLE OF THE PRICE OF

GRAIN.

[From the Inverness Courk►.]
Mr. Mackenzie, whose ingenious Cycle of the Weather
we have had frequently occasion to notice, has just made a
most important discovery regarding the variations in the
prices of grain in the country, which appear to be subject,
like the winds, to a fixed rule of succession—the changes,
however various, being all periodical, and returning, after
stated intervals, nearly in the same order! The circular
letter which follows has been laid before several members
of his Majesty's Government, and, however startling the
statements in it may at first appear, Mr. Mackenzie assures
us that " the calculations will convince any one at sight.
as I have every reason for confidence in them, from trials
made among tny intelligent neighbours here." Until we
have seen these, or the figure of the new Cycle, we cannot
say how far a conformity is established between theory
and observation ; but we hope to be soon enabled to lay
some farther information before our readers, on a subject
which must 'be peculiarly interesting to many of them, and
which, if established, may prove as valuable an acquisition
to political economy, as La Orange's discovery of the pe-
riodical inequalities in the orbits of the planets waa to
physical astronomy.
CIRCULAR.
_ _

The Parliamentary proceedings of the 11th of May ult., when
allusion was made to the truth of the effect of the weather upon the
harvests of the last eleven years ; and the Reports of the House, at
the same time, furnishing the list of the prices of wheat during the
late years. which was wanting to complete the series, have directed
the attention of the author of the Cycle of the Weather more par-
ticularly to the subject of prices ; and lie has, in consequence,
sithin these few days, detected the rotation of the variation of
prices, which, in arrangement. is precisely upon thename general
principle of construction, and possessing every property of a cycle,
and is equally simple and definable in character: and what is rather
remarkable, the rotation of the prices throw much light upon the
weather itself, although its cycles have been some time known, and
that the disposition of the variation of the prices is wholly of an
unexpected description, and perfectly original in kind.
The discovery of the disposition of the prices may be the more
readily relied upon, that the observations, or list of prices-leading
thereto, have been in the possession of the public for ages, and have
not, in any degree, been prepared by the author of the present com-
munication. It is scarcely nece-3ary to mention that, in regard to
the general interest, this new system is of much greater and more
immediate importance than the discovery of the Cycles of the M'ea-
ther, and it is also much easier understood : the one in company
with the other renders the account of the system of the weather
every way satisfactory. It is proposed to designate this discovery
the " Circle of Prices."
The Circle of Prices is a proof of the Cycle of the Weather ; and
the Cycle of the Weather has proved the means of detecting the
circle of variation of the prices. When the knowledge of these
matters is spread abroad, political economy will become a science.
Dornoch, Sutherlandshire, 26th June, 11126.

Thursday a poor Irish woman, with three children, one
about four months old, in a state of complete exhaustion
from hunger and fatigue, sat down on some steps near the
bottom of Mosley-street, Manchester, where she was found
by a gentleman, soon afterwards, apparently dying. As
soon as he discovered her situation, he had her carried to a
public-house in the neighbourhood, and sent a surgeon to
visit her; but notwithstanding every attention which
could be paid to her, she died on Saturday.