Scientific Intelligence. — Meteorology 381 



3. Sudden agitation of the Sea, — His Majesty ''s ship Hotspur, 

 in 1813, whilst cruising in the Bay of Biscay, under easy sail, 

 with moderate weather, was in a moment nearly overwhelmed 

 by three successive seas. The quarter-deck bulwarks were 

 carried away, one gun washed overboard, the wheel un- 

 shipped, several men lost, and the ship rendered unmanageable, 

 and in imminent danger of foundering, in consequence of the 

 quantity of water shipped. Immediately after, all appeared 

 calm, as if nothing happened ; and it was the opinion of those 

 who witnessed this, thai it was occasioned by a momentary and 

 very partial agitation of the sea. — MrDrummond., Surgeon^ R.N. 

 4r4.4. Aurora Boreal'ts at Paris. — The following are the magnetic 

 observations made at the Paris Observatory on the aurora, 

 which was visible here on the night of the 7th January. The 

 aurora caused a deviation of the magnetic needle in variation, 



A declination equal to 1° 6' 47" 

 In inclination equal to 0° 28' 00" 



N. B. — The variations of the magnetic needle, in declina- 

 tion, can be appreciated to 5 seconds at the Paris Observatory. 

 Throughout Scotland the Polar lights, from their brilliancy, 

 have excited intense interest among the populace ; — but, strange 

 to say, the natural philosophers of Scotland, who are well pro- 

 vided with magnetical apparatus, sleep on without once thinking 

 of tracing out the connection of these interesting phenomena 

 with the magnetic needle. 



GEOLOGY, 



6. Gold Mines in the Uralian Mountains. — The produce 

 of the Ural mines amounted, in 1827, to L. 651,420 ; in 1828, 

 to L. 672,416. Gold is also found in the Rhine; but the 

 quantity is so scanty, that the washer considers it a good day's 

 work, if he succeed in collecting to the value of five or six shil- 

 lipgs. From the official accounts of the yearly produce ob- 

 tained from that stream in the Grand Duchy of Baden, we ob- 

 serve that the value was, in 1821-2, L. 603 ; 1826-7, L. 808 ; 

 1827-8, L. 943. The last produce, small as it may appear, 

 for it scarcely exceeded 17 pounds in weight, shewed so consi- 

 derable an increase upon preceding years, that a great impulse 



