NaiuraUHisiorical Collections. 57 



On the 13th March 1825, the temperature of the air being for some time at 

 >^ 4° cent. BI. Raucourt made several openings in the ice, in a place where the 

 breadth of the river was about 1000 feet, and its greatest depth 63 feet. 

 . At his first station, 400 feet from the bank, the water being G3 feet deep, and 

 the velocity of the current near the bottom twenty inches in a second, the tem- 

 perature of the water at the surface was at zero, and at the bottom at — 2" cent. 

 The bed of the river in this place was formed of large gravel ; no ice could be 

 observed. 



At a second station, where the depth of the river was 41 feet, its velocity near 

 the bottom some inches, the temperature of the surface being always at zero, that 

 of the bottom was found to be — 1° cent, and pieces of ice of many inches in thick, 

 ness, detached from the bottom, were brought to the surface still coated with sand. 



At a third station, 70 feet from the bank, the depth of the water being 26 feet, 

 aud its velocity at the bottom absolutely nothing, very compact pieces of ice, of 

 6 and 8 Inches in thickness, were detached from the bottom. They were com- 

 posed of crystals more and more separated, which made the ice d'xU, light, and 

 friable. 



At his fourth station, the opening having been made still nearer the margin of 

 the river, in a place where the water was absolutely stagnant, M. Raucourt found 

 the whole mass of water filled with detached crystals of ice, like salts in their 

 water of crystallization. 



By direct observations on a stagnant pond, M. Raucourt found that the tem- 

 perature of its waters did not present any variations, and that the surface being 

 at zero, the bottom would be at 3° or 4° cent. 



JM. Raucourt repeated his observations on the temperature of the Neva in 1826 

 and 1827. One day the mean temperature of the air being — 6° cent, the bot- 

 tom (at 63 feet) was 3° belov/ ice. In spring the temperature of the bottom of 

 rivers approaches more and more nearly to zero, as the weather becomes less rigo- 

 rous. During a thaw, the whole mass of the water is at zero, and then the tem- 

 perature rises in summer without presenting any novel variation. 



Phrenology— Opinions of scientific men. No. II. — Dr. Alison, professor of 

 the ItisHtutes of Medicine in the Edinburgh University. 



In our last number, when giving the remarks made by Dr. Hope on the sub- 

 ject of phrenology, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, we mentioned our 

 intention of collecting the opinions expressed by men of scientific repute, on the 

 merits of the phrenological theory ; and we have received from a correspondent 

 the following notes of Dr. Alison's lectures on physiology, wherein he alludes to 

 the philosophy of mind. 



1. With some striking exceptions, the most intelligent of the vertebrated ani- 

 mals have the largest brains. 



2. Probably men of talent have generally large brains, as ideots generally have 

 small ones ; but there are exceptions to both rules. 



3. We can very often observe something peculiar in the foreheads of men of 

 genius ; but peculiarities, thought by some to be characteristic, may be observe<l 

 also in the forms of other bones. 



4. Pathological observations make it probable that a part of the cerebellum is 

 concerned in the emotion of sexual desire ; but experiments and observations show 

 that the cerebellum, as a whole, has other functions, and besides, it seems to 

 attain its full size some time before puberty. 



5. Attempts to ascertain the precise parts to which the diflTerent mental powers 

 appertain, are highly laudable ; and the supposition of this allotment to different 

 parts, is neither irreligious nor absurd. 



6. Phrenologists speak confidently of the organs behind the frontal sinus, 

 which must always be doubtful. 



- 7- There is not sufficient evidence adduced by phrenologists, to establish what 

 they profess to have discovered ; and the results of obsen'ations, by competent 

 VOL. II. H 



