SCIENTIFIC NEWS, ^7 



In the Phllofophical Magazine for Nov. 1804, page 120, Hauy'sobf*. oi^ 

 we have Mr. Haiiy's obfervations on the eledtricily of metallic ^^^^^^^^ " ' 

 fubfiances: he does not inform us what fiiape his filter pieces 

 were, or whether they were pure or with alloy ; he however impcrfett. 

 does not hefitate in pronouncing of it to be politively ele6lri- 

 fied by fridtion ; fo that it does not feem that he has entered 

 very wide into the fubje^l, or he would have perceived fome 

 remarkable changes to take place in that metal by fridion. Singular effeft 

 and particularly in coins. They will change from pofitive to° '" in^cems, 

 negative, and vice verfUf without any vifible caufe. If a dol- 

 lar and a half-crown be ftuck to the ends of two (licks of 

 fealing^wax, and rubbed feparately upon woollen cloth, they 

 will be found, after the friction, fomelimes pofitive and fome- 

 times negative, and fometimes one pofitive and the other ne. 

 gative, without varying the manner of friction. If pure filver, 

 or iilver with different proportions of alloy, be melted down 

 to a button, and ufed in that ftiape, or hammered flat, repre- 

 fenting coins, they are for the mod part pofitive by fridion. 

 Thefe experiments upon metals are not new; I believe they 

 were firft begun by Mr. Henly, and inferted in the Philofo- 

 phical Tranfadions ; but I have not the data at hand, and I 

 do not not remember that he had obferved the above-mentioned 

 property of this metal. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS, ACCOUNT OF BOOKS, ^e. 



Note on the New Planet Juno, 



1 HAVE not had any late account of the new planet an- Planet Janm 

 nounced at page 301 of our 9lh volume (Dec. 1804.) in a let- 

 ter from M. Bode. The difcoverer's name, who is Mr. Hard- 

 ing of Lilienthal, near Bremen, was not then mentioned. 



For the prefent I give the following notes from the Journal de 

 Phyfique, Thermidor laft. 



On the 5th of September, 1804., its right afcenfion was 

 \^ 52'; declination 0« J 1' north. M. Burckhardt obferved it 

 on the 23d of September at 359® 7' and 4° 6', whence he 

 concludes that the duration of its revolution is five years and a 

 half. Its inclination 2\° ; excentricity one quarter of its ra- 

 dius; mean diflance from the fun three times greater than that 

 of the earth, 



Iti 



