Scientific Intelligence. 353 



10. Most of them decrepitate when heated, and in the flame of a candle 

 are combustible, throwing out bright white sparks, and leaving a dark 

 brown residue. The salt of bary tes melts without sensibly burning ; 

 and that of lead burns silently like tinder, giving minute globules of me- 

 tallic lead. 



13. On a Mass of Native Iron from the desert of Atamaca in Peru. 

 By Mr Allan. — This paper is reprinted in this Number, p. 259. 



14. Observations on the Structure of the Fruit in the Cucurbitacece. By 

 Dr Francis Hamilton. — As this paper is entirely the description of nu- 

 merous figures, it will not admit of any abstract. 



Art. XXVIL— SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



I. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 

 ASTRONOMY. 



1. Remarkable Double Stars in the Southern Hemisphere.-— Mr James 

 Dunlop communicated to the Astronomical Society on the 9th of May last 

 a valuable memoir on the approximate places of double stars in the south- 

 ern hemisphere for 1827, as observed at Paramatta. The following are a 

 few of the most remarkable : — 



* Crucis. This double star resembles Castor both in the magnitudes 

 of the two stars, and in their mutual distance. 



a Centauri. This star consists of one of the first magnitude, accom- 

 panied by one of the fourth, — a combination which does not occur in our 

 hemisphere. Their distance is about 20". 



/ k Argus. This star consists of stars of the sixth and eighth magni- 

 tudes, the large star being blue, and the small one dusky red. This is the 

 only instance known of a combination of two considerably bright stars dif- 

 fering decidedly in magnitude, where a marked excess of the less refrangi- 

 ble rays appears in the light of the smaller star, and of the more refrangi- 

 ble rays in the larger one. Its R. Asc. is 8 h 4 m , and its declination 42 s T 

 south. 



Another double star, unnamed, has a deep red purple colour, which 

 occurs also in our hemisphere. It is of the seventh magnitude, and is si- 

 tuated in right ascension l h 19 M 43 s and declination 33° 31 south. See 

 Phil. Mag. July 1828. 



2. Curious Phenomenon in Saturn's Ring. — On the 21st December 1827, 

 M. Schwabe observed that the dark space between the body of Saturn and 

 his ring appeared larger on the eastern side of the planet than on the 

 western side. Mr Herschel and others were also of opinion that the east- 

 ern space was the largest ; but from his observations and those of Mr 

 South's, it appears that there is no difference. Thus, 



Western space, - 3"532\ lst J et 



Eastern space, - 3 607 ( 35 Qbs 



