Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 551 



All the sections were well attended, and the audience appeared 

 interested, and at times greatly delighted, especially during the 

 most animated discussions. 



In the geological section, and probably in all the other sections, 

 the results of long and laborious investigations were brought for- 

 ward by their authors. Professor Sismondi of Turin, the president 

 of the geological section, exhibited to the members of that section 

 his accurate and valuable map of the geology of Piedmont ; Pro- 

 fessor Savi of Pisa explained his views, to the same section, respect- 

 ing the formation of the mountains near Pisa, with which he had 

 long been familiarly acquainted, and M. Pasini exhibited his map of 

 the Alps to the north of Venice, accompanied with a regular series 

 of rock-specimens from numerous localities in that portion of the 

 Alpine district. 



On the 8th October the second general meeting of the Scientific 

 Association was held, and papers were read by the President, or by 

 some other distinguished individual, from each section. Great ap- 

 plause was elicited from the audience by the concluding sentence of 

 one of these scientific papers, in which the author, who was an emi- 

 nent Grecian geologist, stated, that " in ancient times the inhabit- 

 ants of Italy were accustomed to visit Greece in search of know- 

 ledge, but that, at the present time, the inhabitants of Greece were 

 in the habit of coming to Italy to acquire additional knowledge." 



A magnificent dinner was given by the Grand Duke of Tuscany 

 to all the scientific members of the Association on the 10th Oc- 

 tober, and about three hundred philosophers sat down to this ban- 

 quet, at which the Governor of the city of Pisa presided. After 

 dinner, the health of Leopold II., the Grand Duke, was drunk with 

 evident gratification, and verses were recited in well-merited praise 

 of his liberality. 



On the 14th October, the sectional meetings terminated, and on 

 the 15th October, the last general meeting of the Association was 

 held, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany took his seat at the right 

 hand of the President. Reports were read from each of the sections ; 

 the laws of the Association, drawn up by the committee of the pre- 

 sidents of the sections, which formed the governing body of the 

 Association, were declared ; and it was announced that the next 

 meeting of the Italian Association would be held, in 1 840, at Turin, 

 and that the meeting in the following year, 1841, would take place 

 at Florence, 



LXXVIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



CHLOROSULPHURET OF MERCURY. 



MC APITAINE prepares this compound (which he calls a chlo- 

 • rohyposulphite of mercury) by mixing accurately ninety-four 

 parts of bichloride of mercury and six parts of sulphur. The mixture 

 is to be put into a platina capsule, covered with a funnel, and very mo- 

 derately heated ; an efflorescence rises from all the points of the sur- 

 face and a thick crust is formed ; the capsule is to be taken occa- 



