650 



Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



[JUNE, 



FOREIGN. 



INSTITUTE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Paris. January 14 M. Biotread a me- 

 moir on double refraction, and M. Ozenne, 

 one on a new obstetric apparatus 22. The 

 minister of war requested the communica- 

 tion of an old report on ovens heated with 

 pit coal. Ordered. M. Arago made some 

 observations, verbally, one relative to an Au- 

 rora Borealis, invisible at Paris, but which 

 he had predicted from the agitations of the 

 magnetic needle, and which was observed 

 in England on March 29, 1826 ; the other 

 regarded the singular effects produced on a 

 vessel struck by lightning in its passage 

 from America to Liverpool, an account of 

 which had been forwarded by Captain 

 Scoresby; while some experiments of M. 

 Savary explained the phenomena. M. Ch. 

 Dupin, read a notice regarding elementary 

 instruction in la Touraine, and replied to 

 many remarks contained in a memoir read 

 by M. Duvau, at a former meeting. M. 

 Warden read a letter relative to some isles 

 newly discovered by Captain Coffen, near 

 the coast of Japan. M. Legendre, who had 

 recently brought under the notice of the 

 Academy some new discoveries made in the 

 theory of elliptic functions by M. Jacobi, 

 announced, that in number 127 of the Astro- 

 nomical Journal, of Altona, there was a 

 memoir by this young mathematician, con- 

 taining the demonstration of a very general 

 theorem for the transformation of elliptic 

 functions of the first order. M. Arsnedson, 

 residing at Stockholm, was elected a corres- 

 pondent of the Academy, in the section of 

 chemistry. M. Cauchy presented a me- 

 moir on the remainders of functions ex- 

 pressed by definite integrals 28. M. Deles- 

 sert communicated to the Academy a letter 

 he had received from America, containing 

 news of M. Bonpland. M. de Blainville 

 another from MM. Quoy and Gaymard, 

 concerning different zoological observations 

 made on the coast of New Zealand. M. 

 Arago read for M. Becquerel a note in which 

 this philosopher detailed some experiments 

 he had made on the electric properties of 

 Tourmaline. The same member also com- 

 municated a letter from M. Valz, of Nismes, 

 containing the elements of the last two 

 comets. The orbit of one of them has some 

 resemblance to the comet of 1780, calculated 

 by M. Dehain ; and the writer expressed his 

 intention of investigating the question of 

 their identity with great care. MM. 

 Girard and Navier made rather an un- 

 favourable report on M. Endormy's memoir 

 entitkd " Researches on the Weight and 

 Dimensions requisite for the Sails of a 

 Windmill, to produce their greatest effect. " 

 M. Geoffroy read a memoir on the Trochi- 

 los and Bdetta of Herodotus and of the 



service they render the crocodile. February 

 4. MM. de Jonnes detailed the effects of 

 the numerous earthquakes by which the 

 Antilles had been desolated during the last 

 six months of 1827- M. de Freycinet read 

 a letter addressed to him by MM. Quoy 

 and Gaymard, dated Tonga Tabou (one of 

 the Friendly Islands), May 14, 182?. M. 

 Arago added to the communication he had 

 made at the preceding meeting, that M. 

 Schwerd had remarked before M. Valz that 

 the elements of the comets of 1827 resembled 

 those of the one of 1780, calculated by 

 Dehain. MM. Latreille and Dumeril 

 made a highly favourable report on the me- 

 moir of M. Bretonneau, entitled " Notice 

 on the blistering properties of some insects 

 of the family of Cantharides," and recom- 

 mended it for publication in the Memoires 

 des Savans Etrangers. MM. Sylvestre and 

 Coquebert-Montbret reported on a memoir 

 by M. Duvau, called a statistical essay on the 

 department of the Indre-et-Loire, and the 

 Academy recommended him to continue his 

 researches. M. Gay Lussac announced, that 

 M. Guinet had succeeded in manufacturing 

 ultra-marine according to the process of 

 MM. Clement and Desormes, and had pro- 

 duced a colour more rich and brilliant than 

 the natural lapis-lazuli. 11. MM. Cor- 

 dier and Brudant reported favourably on a 

 memoir called " A Geognostic Description 

 of the Bas-Boulonais," by M. Roset, a geo- 

 graphical engineer officer. MM. Cuvier 

 and Dumeril reported on the manuscripts, 

 drawings, and collections, sent to the Aca- 

 demy and Museum of Natural History, by 

 MM. Quoy and Gaymard, and the Academy 

 recommended them to the Minister of Ma- 

 rine, as worthy of all the support the govern- 

 ment could bestow. MM. G. St. Hilaire, 

 Dumeril, and Boyer, reported on a paper 

 by M. Lisfranc, detailing the process by 

 which, from cutting the skin of the forehead, 

 he had succeeded in forming a new and effi- 

 cient nose for a patient submitted to his care, 

 and recommended its insertion intheRecueil 

 des Savans Etrangers. 18. The director of 

 the Veterinary School of Allort sent the under- 

 tooth of an elephant, found fifteen feet below 

 the surface of the ground, in working a stra- 

 tum of moss and flints near the villages of 

 Alfort and Maisoiis. A favourable report 

 was made by MM. Legendre, Poinsot, and 

 Cauchy, on a memoir of M. Pouchret, as a 

 continuation of one on the centres of har- 

 monic means. 25. MM. Geoffroy, St. 

 Hilaire, and Dumeril reported on the me- 

 moir of MM. Audoin and Milne Edwards, 

 concerning the nervous system of the crus- 

 tacae, and recommended its insertion in 

 the Recueil des Savans Etrangers. M. Des- 

 fontaines made a report on the New Flora 

 of the Environs of Paris by M. Chevalier. 



