380 



•SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



Other commu- 

 nications. 



Culture of Je- 

 rusalem arti- 

 chokes. 



Prize for flax- 

 spinning ma- 

 chine. 



Grape sugar. 



bUrgh. After describing the magnitude and diredtioti of flue 

 ▼alley, and the shape and height of the monntaius sur- 

 rounding it, the Professor stated as a probable conjecture^ 

 that it Mvk^ formed by a lake, which had emptied itself by a 

 lateral valley that traverses its south side. He next enu*. 

 merated ^nd described the various rocks of which it is com- 

 posed, and gave a full detail of their geognostic relations* 

 Four sets Of tocks Were described as occurring in this val- 

 ley; transition rocks, as sandstone and conglomerate 

 rocks, — rocks of trap-tuff, — wacke, — amygdaloid, &c. ; 

 and rocks of the clay-stone series, as clay-stone, porphy- 

 roid, com pact- feklspar, &c. 



A^ the meeting on the 9th of March, the Secretary read 

 communications from Dr. Thomas Thomson, c^ontaining an 

 atralysis 6f th6^ni.'oVfe- from Greenland; from Dr. Edmonds 

 ston, Shetland, on the larus glaucus ; and from Dr. Brarclay, 

 x)n the structure of the cells of bees and wasps. 



The Free Society of Arts of the Department of the Sarthe, 

 •has "offered prices for those who shall have cultivated with 

 most success Jerusalem artichokes, and mangel wurzel, not 

 less than an acre of each. It is observed that the Jerusalem 

 artichoke is particularly advantageous as winter food for 

 Merino sheep, which are exceedingly fond of them. They 

 are best given in the proportion of two pounds with one of 

 dry fodder. A field, that would produce but 1600 i-ations 

 of lucerhe, will yield 5000 rations of Jerusalem artichokes. 

 The stalks are good fuel^ or when green may be givcfn to 

 trattfc. CoWs, hogs, afnd horses, cat the root as well as 

 *ihee^. The plan% is liable to no injury from drought in 

 summer, or frost in winter; and no insect or disease has 

 been found to check its vegetation. 



In May last the Emperor Napoleon published a decTCP, 

 dated from Bois-le-Duc, in which he offers a prize of one 

 million of francs [.^41666] to the inventor of the best ma-, 

 chine for spinning flax. The prize is offered without any 

 restriction in regard to time, or to the country of the 

 inventor. 



Mr. Proust having extracted from the sirup <of grapes a 

 concrete sugar; and Mr. Fouques having found tneans of 

 whitening it, and giving it the colour and consistency, 



though 



