388 Proceedings of the 



sun. The thermometer marked 25 (Reaumur), and the barometer 

 27 p. 4 1. The wind was easterly and the weather calm ; the heat 

 had not the stifling character peculiar to stormy weather, nor was 

 there any sign of thunder. During the day the objects exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun had been observed to assume a bluish tint. 

 M. Arago remarked, that from letters which he had received from 

 Perpignan and Bordeaux, it appears that the same atmospherical 

 phenomena were observed throughout the south of France. At sub- 

 sequent meetings various letters were received, which proved that 

 the same phenomenon was visible in Italy, and several other parts of 

 Europe. A similar phenomenon was mentioned by M, Roulin, as 

 having occurred a few years since in South America. After the 

 conversation on this subject had terminated, M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire 

 read a letter which he had received from M. Lambert, of Colum- 

 miers, stating that at five o'clock in the morning of the 16th instant, 

 the servant of M. Fimmerman, of the Chateau de Moral, saw a con- 

 siderable volume of flame, unaccompanied by smoke, issue from the 

 ground at the foot of an old and large pear-tree. The same phe- 

 nomenon was witnessed on the same spot a few days afterwards by 

 another servant, and by M. Fimmerman himself. The spot from 

 which the flame issued, presented the appearance of a hole similar 

 to that occasioned by the passage of gas which has forced its way 

 after fire has exhausted a portion of inflammable matter. The cha- 

 teau is situated at the base of a long chain of mountains, the height 

 of which is about one hundred and fifty toises. 



New Work by M. de Humboldt.On. the 12th of September, 

 M. de Humboldt presented a new work to the Academy, entitled 

 ' Fragmens Asiatiques.' The following is an analysis of its con- 

 tents: General sketch of his voyage in Central Asia. Notice on the 

 discovery of diamonds on the western declivity of the Oural. Account 

 of the quantity of gold and platina obtained from the Oural, between 

 1814 and 1830, presenting a total of 24,000 kilogrammes; and an 

 average, during the later years, of 15,800 kilogrammes of gold, and 

 1700 of platina, mixed with osmium and iridium, per annum. Several 

 routes in Central Asia (from the southern frontier of Siberia, to 

 Kachkar, Yorkend, Ak-Sou, and Eachmis), collected at Semipota- 

 tensk, on the borders of Chinese Dyongaire, from a comparison of 

 the accounts of various native Asiatic travellers. A notice of the 

 astronomical position of several places in the south of Siberia, and 

 of the position of the Chinese post of Rhonimailokhou, to the north 

 of Lake Dyayzan. A series of observations of magnetic inclina- 

 tions (the mean inclination of two needles) made during the journey. 

 Considerations on the mountainous systems of Central Asia ; the 

 great depression of the soil around the Caspian Sea and the Lake 

 Aral, determined by barometrical observations ; situation of volcanoes 

 which have emitted streams of lava at a distance of between three 

 hundred and four hundred leagues from the sea. Notice of the fires 



