Scientific Intelligence — Meteorology. 373 



The days on which lightning occurred are 13 more than in 1844. There 

 have been two solar and three lunar halos, and two remarkable appear- 

 ances of the aurora borealis. 



The winter has, so far, been as remarkable for its mildness, as the spring 

 and summer were for their low and un genial temperature. Carnations 

 have continued to bloom throughout the season, and numbers of wild 

 strawberry plants in flower, have been noticed in the immediate vicinity 

 of the town. J. F. Miller. 



Whitehaven, 24eA January 1846. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, 



METEOROLOGY. 



1. Sensation at Great Heights. — Dr Le Pileur has submitted to 

 the Paris Academy of Sciences a paper on the sensation experienced 

 at great heights ; and which has been called by various medical 

 writers the mal de montagne. De Saussure, Humboldt, Boussin- 

 gault, and many other travellers, have related the sensations which 

 they felt, and which, generally speaking, were acceleration of the 

 pulse, prostration of strength, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and 

 other symptoms similar to those of sea-sickness. Dr Le Pileur, iu 

 giving an account of the ascent of Mont Blanc, which he accom- 

 plished with Messrs Bravais and Martins, in August 1844, confirms 

 the description given by other persons of these sensations when at 

 great heights above the level of the sea. The Doctor and his com- 

 panions suffered most during the first hour after their arrival at the 

 summit of the mountain. In the second hour they felt better, and 

 after that they suffered very little, but they had no appetite during 

 the whole of the time that they were at a height exceeding 4000 

 yards. The author distinguishes between the sensations created by 

 the mere fatigue of ascension, and those which are caused by the 

 atmosphere in elevated positions — the latter are the acceleration of 

 the pulse, the loss of appetite, and sometimes somnolency. — (Athe- 

 neeum. No. 916.) 



2. Die Meteonteny or Meteorites in the Imperial Mineral Cabi' 

 net at Vienna. By Paid Partsch, pp. 162, 8vo., with a plate, 

 Vienna^ 1843. — The Vienna cabinet of meteorites contains two hun- 

 dred and fifty-eight specimens ; they are from ninety-four distinct 

 meteorites, twenty-five of which are of meteoric iron. Their physical 

 characters are fully described by M. Partsch, and much informa- 

 tion is added with regard to their geographical history. A table 

 exhibiting their commercial value, appended to the work, increases 

 much its interest. 



