1028.] 



Proceedings of' Learned Societies. 



199 



bert for the place lie holds. A man may 

 be estimable in his private life, upright in 

 his public conduct, distinguished for his 

 philosophical attainments, and yet be ill 

 suited to take the direction of a public 

 body, unequal to the weight, and incompe- 

 tent to the management. Mr. Gilbert com- 

 mences with a panegyric upon the Fellows 

 deceased within the preceding year : men 

 no doubt respectable in their situation in 

 life but what does Europe know of them ? 

 To be entitled to an eulogy from the official 

 organ of the Royal Society, an individual 

 should rank among the first of those who 

 have extended the domain of the human 

 understanding. Custom may be pleaded as 

 an excuse for this but it is not too ancient 

 to be abrogated, originating, as we believe it 

 did, with Sir John Pringle. Speaking of 

 the loss the society had sustained in its 

 foreign members, Mr. Gilbert remarks, in 

 the passage concerning Volta, that " Gal- 

 vani has not affixed his name to the science 

 of which he is in a great degree the parent," 

 yet adds a few minutes afterwards, < gal- 

 vanism was then unknown." Of La Place, 

 he says, " the time is not arrived, nor can 

 I presume to assign to this extraordinary 

 man his rank among those that are no 

 more. Yet . . . Newton holds, and ever 

 must hold, the highest station in the fane 

 of philosophical renown. That to him non 

 viget quicquam simile aut secundum. But 

 although the second niche must remain un- 

 occupied, yet one approximating to that of 

 Newton will hereafter become the elevated 

 station of La Place." We admire the ele- 

 gance of this passage as highly as we think 

 of its correctness. We long ago pointed 

 out the iniquity of the principle which, in 

 direct opposition to the recorded opinion of 

 the council, regulated the first distribution 

 of the Royal medals that in fact it was 

 plundering the present generation for the 

 benefit of the past the principle is in ope- 

 ration still the first medal was awarded 

 to Sir H. Davy a paper communicated to 

 the society in the course of last year served 

 as a pretext what was in that paper ? 

 nothing at all : it was. a recapitulation of 

 the past. ' Sir H. Davy, as a chemist, 

 held the highest rank but he was no more 

 than a chemist -in that character he was 

 lost to the world by his elevation to the 

 chair of the Royal Society, and placed upon 

 science as an incubus. The other Royal 

 medal was betowed on Mr. Struve this 

 selection, if it reflect honour upon the dis- 

 tinguished individual, is equally creditable 

 to those who made it. The Copley medals 

 were adjudged to Dr. Prout and Mr. Foster 

 an award equally well timed and judi- 

 cious. From the labours of the former, 

 chemistry and medicine have much to ex- 

 pect ; and as a skilful -and indefatigable 

 observer of natural phenomena the second 

 ranks in the highest class. We may inci- 

 dentally mention the credit due to this 

 gentleman for the candid and open manner 



in which he avowed an error into which he 

 had been led by Captain Sabine, and the 

 total destruction of all confidence in the 

 results presented by the last, from the fact 

 of his having employed an instrument during 

 several months without a single experiment 

 to determine the value of its divisions. 



ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 



This enterprizing and useful society re- 

 commenced its meetings on November 9, 

 when Mr. Baily presented a paper on the 

 right ascension of y Cassiopae. This ac- 

 curate astronomer having found a difference 

 of one second of time in the r. a. of this 

 star, as it appears in the catalogue published 

 by the Society, and in that in the Nautical 

 Almanack, was led to investigate the cause, 

 which he considers to be a typographical 

 error in Piazzi's catalogue, which had been 

 employed in the computation of that with 

 which this society has enriched the scientific 

 world. A paper was read on double object 

 glasses, by M. Littrow of Vienna ; in a prac- 

 tical point of view, the results being rather 

 questionable, we see no advantage in insert- 

 ing them. Some valuable observations of 

 the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, and of 

 some occultations, were communicated by 

 M. Slawinski, astronomer at Wilna. 



FOREIGN. 

 INSTITUTE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Paris October 22, 1827 MM. Le- 



gendre, Lacroix, Fourier, and Damoiseau, 

 made a report on the memoir of M. Binet, 

 relative to the determination of the orbit of 

 planets and comets. 29. MM. Desfon- 

 taines and Mirbel reported on a botanical 

 work of M. Despreaux, entitled essay on 

 the laminaires of the shores of Normandy. 

 The genus " laminaire", which belongs to 

 the great class of hydrophytes, and which 

 has given its name to the family of " lami- 

 naries," was established by Roussele, brought 

 to perfection by MM. Lamouroux, Agardt, 

 and Bory de St. Vincent. The work of 

 M. D. received the approbation of the Aca- 

 demy. MM. Cordier and Brochardt de 

 Villiers, in their report on the work of M. 

 Serres, " Notice of the extinct volcanos in 

 the South of France, of which the eruptions 

 have been posterior to the deposit of the 

 second fresh water formation of MM. Cu- 

 vier and Brougniart," recommended this 

 able geologist to continue his researches, 

 and communicate the result to the public 

 Nov. 5. M. Savart was elected a member 

 of the Academy, in the section of general 

 physics. MM. Bouvard and Mathieu re- 

 ported the utility of preserving a field work 

 erected at Melun for the conservation of one 

 extremity of the base measured for the tri- 

 gonometrical survey of France. A favour- 

 able report was delivered by MM. Gay- 

 Lussac and Cordier, and approved by the 

 Academy, on a memoir, by Dr. Gendrin, on 

 the hot springs of Plombieres. M. Cauchy 



