Cotton. — Travels. — Pyrosoma Atlanticum, 371 



Dijon ac ad einy in 1784; a Collection of Fugitive Poetry; 

 and of several Reports to the Convention, and Speeches made 

 while President of the Directory ; all of which have been 

 j)rinted and extensively circulated. M. Carnot was born 

 the 13th of May, 1733. 



COTTON. 



M. Louis Dupoy, a colonist of St. Domingo, lately ar- 

 rived in France with a variety of seeds and specimens of 

 the cotton plant. The seeds have been distributed among the 

 members of the agricultural society of Paris; and at a late 

 meeting, several reports were read from members who had 

 attempted the cultivation of this commodity in France : all 

 these reports concur in giving a most flattering account of ' 

 the success of the experiment. In Provence and Languedoc 

 in particular, the crop of cotton was very abundant, and 

 equalled in quality the production of the West Indies, as has 

 been certified to the Frfnch legislature by several colonists. 



TRAVELS. 



M. Michaux, the author of Travels through North Ame- 

 rica, has been recently sent by the French government, a 

 second time, to explore the forests of that vast continent. 

 He is now actively engaged in fulfilling the object of his 

 mission, and has transmitted to the professors of natural 

 history in the French Institute, several specimens of seeds, 

 with a view to the cultivation in France of the American 

 oak and other useful trees. 



PYROSOMA ATLANTICUM. 



M. Peron, in his late voyage, observed this animal, not 

 described before by naturalists, in between the 3d and 4th 

 degrees of N. latitude. Its luminous property renders it 

 one of the most splendid of all known zoophites. The 

 darkness was intense when it was first discovered, the wind 

 blew with violence, and the progress of the vessel was rapid. 

 All at once there appeared, at some distance, a vast sheet 

 of phosphorus floating upon the waves before the vessel. The 

 ship having passed through this brilliant part, the crew disco- 

 vered that the light was occasioned by an immense number 



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