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the modifications of the clouds according to Mr. Luke Howard's plan; and the different animals seen, the appearance of the ice, and other incidental circumstances.

At the same meeting there was read a letter from Mr. William Nicol, Lecturer on the Philosophy of Natural History, addressed to Professor Jameson, giving an account of a bed of flexible floetz limestone, observed by him on the coast of Durham county, near Tynemouth castle. Fine specimens were exhibited. This limestone is very distinctly of a lamellar structure. When a thin bar of it is thoroughly wetted, it is very flexible; when evaporation has proceeded a certain length, it becomes rather rigid; but when the water is completely exhaled, it regains its flexibility, nearly to the same extent as when saturated with water.

There was also read a short account of the different strata cut through in sinking the pit to the coal at Brora in Sutherlandshire, communicated by Mr. Dempster of Dunichen.

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ARTICLE VII.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE; AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS

CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE,

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I. Lectures. Mr. SINGER will commence his Lectures on Electricity and Electro-Chemistry, at the Russell Institution, on Monday the 16th of January, at 8 o'clock in the evening. The Lectures will be continued every succeeding Monday at the same hour. A syllabus may be obtained of the secretary, at the institution, Great Coramstreet, Russell-square; or of Mr. Singer, No 3, Princes-street, Cavendish-square.

Dr. Clarke and Mr. Clarke will begin their next Course of Lectures on Midwifery and the diseases of women and children, on Monday, January 23d. The Lectures are read every morning, from a quarter past ten to a quarter past eleven, for the convenience of students

. attending the hospitals. For particulars apply to Dr. Clarke, New Burlington-street, or to Mr. Clarke, 10, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens,

Medical School of St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals.-The Spring Course of Lectures at these adjoining Hospitals will commence the beginning of February, viz.:

At St. Thomas's. —Anatomy aud the Operations of Surgery; by Mr. Astley Cooper and Mr. Henry Cline. - Principles and Practice of Surgery; by Mr. Astley Cooper.

At Guy's.- Practice of Medicine; by Dr. Babington and Dr. Curry.—Chemistry; by Dr. Babington, Dr. Marcet, and Mr. Allen.-Experimental Philosophy; by Mr. Allen.— Theory of Medicine, and Materia Medica ; by Dr. Curry and Dr. Cholmeley.

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Midwifery, and Diseases of Women and Children; by Dr. Haighton.-Physiology, or Laws of the Animal Economy; by Dr. Haighton.-Structure and Diseases of the Teeth ; by Mr. Fox.

N. B. These several Lectures are so arranged, that no two of them interfere in the hours of attendance; and the whole is calculated to form a complete Course of Medical and Chirurgical Instruction. Terms and other particulars may be learnt at the respective Hospitals.

II. Important Chirurgical Operation. A new method of operating for the cure of Popliteal Aneurism has been employed in Dublin with the most complete success, which seems to open new and important views with respect to the treatment of diseased and wounded arteries in general.

The operation was performed by Mr. Crampton, Surgeon General, at the King's Military Infirmary, near Dublin, on the 15th of October. The following particulars respecting the operation are extracted from the Hospital Journal. " The femoral artery was laid bare at the usual place, by an incision three inches in length and compressed, (but not tied circularly,) by a narrow tape, so as completely to obstruct the current of the blood with the least possible disturbance to the artery, or injury to its coats. The ligature was by a peculiar contrivance applied in such a manner as to enable the operator to tighten or to relax it at pleasure, without interfering with the wound. In two hours and a quarter the ligature was gently relaxed, but not completely loosened; no pulsation in the ham. In twenty-four hours the artery was relieved from all compression ; but as a measure of precaution, the ligature was left in the wound. In forty-eight hours the ligature was withdrawn, and the wound was united by adhesive plaster.” • The patient was examined on the fifth day by several professional gentlemen; his health was not in the least degree deranged. The tumor, which had decreased by one half, was without pulsation, and nearly incompressible. The temperature of each foot was 84o.

On the 14th day the wound was nearly healed, and the man went about the ward on crutches.

On the 18th day the wound was healed, and the tumor which could be seen only in the extended position of the limb, was incompressible, and altogether free from pain.

The advantage of Mr. Crampton's operation consists in its imitating in the most favourable way the process of nature, in the spontaneous cure of aneurism,

Ist. By interrupting the course of the blood through the ruptured artery, the Auid contents of the aneurismal sack are allowed to coagulate, and the circulation is thrown upon the collateral branches.

2d. The subsequent obliteration of the artery is effected by a natural process, which protects the patient from the long train of sufferings, and of dangers necessarily attendant upon the permanent

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contraction of a great artery, and its separation from the ligature by the process of sloughing or ulceration.

The details of this important case will no doubt be speedily communicated to the profession, through some of the usual channels of scientific intelligence.

III. Air Volcano. The Europeans who are not seasoned to the climate are accustomed to leave Carthagena (in South America) during the heats of summer, and to spend that season at Turbaco, an Indian inland village, delightfully situated on the top of a hill. Mr. de Humboldt and his fellow traveller M. Bonpland, spent the month of April, 1801. in this village. During their herbalizations, they were informed by their Indian guides, that there existed a country not far off, in the midst of a forest of palms, to which the name of volcanitos (little volcanoes) was given; that its surface had been formerly covered with fire; that a priest had extinguished the combustion with holy water; and that now it emitted nothing but water. On going to the spot, our travellers found in the middle

a vast plain, eighteen or twenty small cones, about 24 feet in height. These cones are formed of a blackish grey clay, and have an opening at their summits filled with water. On approaching these small craters, a hollow but very distinct sound is heard at intervals, 15 or 18 seconds previous to the disengagement of a great quantity of air. The force with which this air rises above the syrface of the water, may lead us to suppose that it undergoes a great pressure in the bowels of the earth. Five explosions generally take place in two minutes, and this phenomenon is often attended with a muddy ejection. According to the Indians, the forms of the cones undergo no visible change in a great number of years; but the ascending force of the gas, and the frequency of the explosions, appear to vary according to the seasons. Mr. de Humboldt examined this gas, and found that it was azóte mixed with less than one thousandth of its bulk of oxygen gas. Here is a phenomenon well worth the attention both of geologists and chemists. Whence comes this azotic gas? How is it produced ? Does there exist in this place an immense magazine of ammonium, which by means of water is converted into azote? We are far indeed from being able to philosophize in the present state of our knowledge, respecting the changes that take place under the surface of the earth.

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IV. Mathematical Problem.

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(To Dr. Thomson.) SIR,

Plymouth, Nov. 21,-1814. I beg, through the medium of your Journal, to present to the attention of the mathematical part of your readers, the following

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Theorem, originally proposed by the celebrated John Bernouilli, and which I have exracted from Bossut's Calcul. Integral, tom. i.

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The learned author, from whose invaluable work I have taken it, has not given the investigation; and I therefore solicit the favour of your inserting it, in hopes that some of your correspondents may be able to furnish a solution to it. I am, Sir, your humble Servant,

GEORGE HARVEY.

Theorem. * Let A 4 B be the semi-circumference of a circle, of which AB, the diameter, is equal to the two semi-axes, A. C, BC, of a given elipse. Divide the semi- А circumference, A4 B, into a number, 2, 4, 8, 16, des of equal parts; draw straight lines from the pxent C to all the points of division : take the arithmetical mean of all the straight lines drawn to the points of division denoted by odd numbers, and also the arithmetical mean of the sum of all the lines drawn to the points of the even numbers, and B the half of A B; these two arithmetic means shall be the radii of two circles, the circumference of one of which shall be less than that of the elipse, and the circumference of the other greater." Required the demonstration ?

V. Burning Gas in the Appenines. Sir Humphry Davy lately discovered, in the Appenines, a jet of gas burning with great brilliancy, and forming a column of flame six feet high. The gas was pure carbureted hydrogen. This is a fact of considerable interest in a geological point of view. The Appenines consist chiefly of limestone, and belong, unless I am misinformed, to the floetz formation. It would be of importance to know, whether any coal exists in the neighbourhood of this flaming jet of gas, or whether it proceeds from a great depth under the surface. This gas is formed in great abundance at the bottom of dirty stagnant water during the summer time. But that fact throws no apparent light on the formation of the gas iu the mountains of the Appenines.

VI. Weather in Iceland during the Winter 1813-14. Some of my meteorological friends are anxious to know through the medium of the Annals of Philosophy, whether there was any thing peculiarly severe in the last winter in Iceland. If any of my readers happen to be acquainted with the matter of fact, it would be considered as an obligation if they would communicate what they know.

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VII. Chromate of Iron. Chromate of iron occurs in the Bare Hills near Baltimore, in North America, in great abundance. These hills appear to be serpentine, so that the situation of this mineral is the same in America as in France. The chromate of iron occurs in these hills in three states: 1. In compact masses of considerable size, mixed with talc, steatite, &c. In this state, which is I presume the same nearly with the French chromate, it has some resemblance to brown blende. 2. In grains from the size of a mustard seed to that of a pepper corn, imbedded in steatite. 3. Crystallized in regular octahedrons. The colour of these crystals is black, inclining to steel grey. Surface smooth. Lustre vitreous. Fracture conchoidal. Opake, except some specimens which transmit a blood red light. Infusible before the blow-pipe, without addition. Magnetic in a considerable degree. Mr. Hayden, from whom this account is taken, believes that many specimens of supposed octahedral iron ore are really chromate of iron.*

VIII. Magnetic Pyrites.
Stromeyer has lately subjected this mineral to a new analysis,
and as he was at uncommon pains to attain the mineral in a state of
purity, it is probable that the result which he obtained is a close
approximation to the truth. Mr. Hatchett published the first ana-
lysis of this mineral, and made us acquainted with its true nature.
It was analysed by Proust, and experiments on the artificial com-
binations of iron and sulphur were made by Vauquelin. The fol-
lowing is the result which they obtained :-

Iron.
Hatchett

100 + 57.48 sulphur.
Proust.

100 + 60 Vauquelin

100 + 28.22 Stromeyer.

100 + 67.08 "If my number for the weight of an atom of iron be correct, and

if magnetic pyrites be composed of one atom iron and two atoms ca sulphur, its constituents should be

Iron.

100 + 55.99 sulphur. This circumstance throws some doubt

upon

the
accuracy

of Stromeyer's analysis. He informs us, that magnetic pyrites usually contains a mixture of metallic iron and of cubic pyrites. If this be the case, the chance of error in such an analysis was considerably

IX. Whitestonc. Among some minerals which I lately received from Freyberg, there is a specimen of the true whitestone of Werner. This rock

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* Bruce's American Journal, No. iv. P. 243,

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