Aatde my of Sc'ten ccs a t Berlin . 387 



broken up for the wine-cellars, 19 inches in thickness. 

 Hempseed-oil froze in the vessels containing; it 3 and in 

 taverns the common brandy formed a crust of ice on the 

 Bides of the casks ; two things never before seen in that part 

 of the country. Most of the fruit trees in these districts 

 were frozen to the roots, and snow fell in an unusual 

 quantity. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT BERLIN. 



On the 9th of August the academy, in honour of hi* 

 majesty's birth day, held a public sitting, which M. Me- 

 rian, the dire c.Tor, opened with an appropriate speech. 



The director then announced that only two papers had 

 been received on the question respecting the state of the 

 arts, of oratory and design in the middle ages, one of which 

 was written in German, and the other in Latin 5 but as 

 neither of them fulfilled the expectation of the academy, 

 this interesting question is continued, with the prize of 100 

 ducats, till the month of May 180G. 



The mathematical class has repeated the question on the 

 obliquity of the ecliptic, with a prize of 150 ducats. The 

 answers to be transmitted to the academy before the above 

 period. 



The physical class has repeated the questions proposed 

 for the year 1804. 



1st, on Mariott's law. 



2d, on the disease of the spleen among horned cattle. 



3d, on the structure of the lungs. 

 And the philosophical class has repeated the question on the 

 property of analysis, and the analytical method in philosophy. 



A foreign literary man of rank has proposed a prize of, 

 fifty louis d'or on the following question, to be determined 

 by the aeademv : " Whence comes it that the civilisation 

 of the human race is found only in the East, and that in all 

 the countries discovered in the West, and in the numerous 

 groups of islands in the South Seas, scarcely any traces of 

 civilisation have been observed }" Answers will be received 

 till the month of May, 1805. They may be written either 

 m French, Latin, or German. 



Mr. liode read a paper on the real and apparent revohif- 

 tions of the two new planets Ceres and Pallas, and thur 

 connection \Vith each other, which he illustrated by draw- 

 ings and a model. M. Hufeland closed the sitting by read- 

 ing a paper on the influence which the atmosphere and 

 situation of a place have on the life, health, and physical 

 character of the inhabitants. 



LXIV. Intel- 



