SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 297 



AJlronomy. 



M. Pictet has made an obfervation of an occultation of the M. V\€ttt on 

 pleiades by the moon, on the 19th of November, 1804, from ofthTpHadeTby 

 the Obfcrvator^ of Geneva. the moon. 



An account of an occultation of v fcorpion, obferved on M. Mechain o 

 the 17th of July, 1803, from the fummit of Cafuteta, a^^^J 

 mountain in the kingdom of Spain, was found among the 

 papers of the late M. Mechain, which will appear in the 

 6th Volume of the Memoirs of the French National Inflitule : 

 this is the laft obfervation of this kind made by a man of 

 fcience, whofe premature lofs thelnftitute will long regret. 



A long fucceffion of obfervations was alfo found among and of the comet 

 his papers, relative to the comet which he had difcovered m , 793« 

 from Barcelona in 1793, which will alfo appear in the fame 

 publication. 



Geography, 



M. Humboldt has read before the Inftitute Nationale, A The longitudeof 



Memoir on the Longitude of Mexico, the capital of the king- Mexico deter- 

 . ,. „ . * mined accurately 



dom to called. by M. Hum- 



Geographers difagree with regard to the pofition of this holdt. 

 important point. The confiderable difference which M. 

 Humboldt found between his firft obfervation, and the laft 

 which had been formerly made by others before him, engaged 

 him to repeat it as often as he could, and by different methods. 

 The distances of the moon from the ftars, and feveral eclipfes 

 of Jupiter's moons, always gave the fame refult, which is 

 doubt! efsly preferable to all thofe which have appeared 

 hitherto. 



Electricity. 



Since the difcovery of electrical conductors by Dr. Frank- Conductor con- 



lin, many philosophers have repeated experiments to eftablifh trived t0 .P re * 

 . . . . r r ' . , - * ,. , , . , . A vent accidents, 



the identity of electrical nre and lightning, by experiments 



with iuch infolated conductors. , 



Thefe experiments fucceeded to the wifti of all who tried 

 them ; but it was foon perceived, that they were attended 

 with much danger : and fince the death of Profeflor Richman, 

 of Peterfburg, who was ftruck by lightning from his con- 

 ductor in 1753, few ha,ye ventured to repeat the experiment. 



M, Beyer 



