Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris. 165 



Jacqueminot censures the name of Valley of Dhoon, given by the 



English to the valley at the entrance of the Himalaya, as being a 



mere pleonasm, the word Dhoon signifying valley. The Valley of 



Dheynia is its proper name: it is a longitudinal valley, hollowed 



between the foot of the Himalaya, properly so called, and the raised 



diluvial earth. Thence he visited, on foot, the sources of the Jumna. 



In this expedition he passed over heights of an elevation of 5550 



metres (18,208 English feet). He penetrated more than once into 



the Chinese territories ; and, in returning towards Ladack, he slept 



at a village called Ghyournneul, situated on an elevation of 5000 



metres : on the Indian side of the Cordilleras, he did not observe 



any village at a greater elevation than 2700 metres. Cultivation, 



also, on the south side, stops 2000 metres below the level which it 



attains on the Thibetian sides of the descent. This difference arises 



not so much from the temperature as from the state of the sky, 



which is cloudy and rainy on the Indian side, and pure and free 



from humidity on the other side, of the Himalaya. From a variety 



of geological observations, M. Jacqueminot is induced to think 



that there exists a difference in the age of the Thibetian and southern 



chains of the Himalayan mountains ; an observation which M. de 



Beaumont had already made relative to different chains of the Alps. 



M. Jacqueminot also mentions the uncertainty of correspondence in 



that part of the country, as, in addition to the ordinary casualties 



of letters, the couriers between Benares and Calcutta are occasionally 



devoured by the tigers en route. 



Paganini. On the 16th of May, Dr. Bennati read a physiological 

 notice of this extraordinary man, in which he gives it as his opi- 

 nion, that the prodigious talent of this artist is mainly to be attri- 

 buted to the peculiar conformation which enables him to bring his 

 elbows close together, and place them one over the other, and to 

 the elevation of his left shoulder, which is an inch higher than the 

 right one to the slackening of the ligaments of the wrists, and the 

 mobility of his phalanges, which he can move in a lateral direction 

 at pleasure. Dr. Bennati also alluded to the excessive developement 

 of Paganini' s cerebellum, as connected with the extraordinary acute- 

 ness of his organs of hearing, which enables him to hear conversa- 

 tions carried on in a low tone at a considerable distance. M. Geoffroy 

 St. Hilaire remarked that he had been particularly struck with the 

 prominence of the artist's forehead, which hangs over his deeply- 

 seated eyes like a pent-house. 



Oil Cloths. On the 23d of May, M. Chevallier pointed out a 

 very simple method of removing the unpleasant smell which has 

 hitherto militated against the use of oiled or varnished cloths and 

 stuffs. It is merely to expose them to the action of a chloric fumi- 

 gation in a close room. 



Prevention of Falsification of Written Instruments. The atten- 

 tion of the French government has long been directed to the possi- 

 bility of rinding some means of preventing writing being chemically 



