Scientific Intelligence. — Metecyrology. 389 



netic meridian, and its crown, that is to say, the focus toward 

 which the rays of flame, which seem to proceed from the hori- 

 zon, or from the arch itself, dart, always occurs nearly in the 

 prolongation of the inclination of the needle. The compass is 

 not only agitated in the places where the aurora is visible, but 

 also at great distances, at Paris and Wilna, for example, even 

 when there are no traces of the meteor to be perceived in the 

 sky. But, in general, the agitation is greater the nearer the 

 phenomenon is, and the greater intensity it displays. Thus 

 we are told that the compass of the Paris Observatory of- 

 ten experiences, in the day or in the night, a sudden deviation, 

 which occasionally extends to one degree, without any appa- 

 rent cause being discoverable ; and it is afterwards learned that 

 the compasses of London and Petersburgh have at the same 

 time experienced similar motions, and that in the northern 

 countries some brilliant aurora has been observed. An observer 

 in his cabinet, says Pouillet, is therefore apprized by his com- 

 pass, of what is taking place in the polar regions, just as he 

 learns, from his barometer, what is taking place in the higher 

 regions of the atmosphere. 



4. Effects of Rarified Air of Mountaifis on the Pulse. — Dr 

 Brunner of Berrie, read last year to the Helvetic Society of 

 Natural Sciences, the second part of the account of his journey to 

 Etna, in the year 1826, in which, after describing the mountain, 

 and speaking of its volcanic phenomena, he entered into minute 

 details respecting the limits of the snow upon it, the circum- 

 stances of which he did not well know how to explain. He then 

 spoke particularly of the phenomenon of the acceleration of the 

 pulse, and of the changes in the beatings of the pulse, produced 

 by ascending high mountains. He mentioned the more remark- 

 able examples of the two phenomena, and related what he had oc- 

 casion to observe himself with respect to them. He did not him- 

 self sufter at the summit, which is 10,152 feet above the sea, 

 and in an extremely rarefied air. At the edge of the sea his 

 pulse beat from 62 to 65 times in the minute ; at Nicolosi, si- 

 tuated at the height of 3200 feet, 72 ; in the Casa Gemellara, 

 9^00 feet high, 80 ; and at the summit, 84. He concluded his 

 narrative with expressing the wish that, in order to acquire more 

 correct ideas regarding the height of mountains, these observa- 



