374 SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS OF CARLSRLTIIE. 



Now, in operating simultaneously with a prism of rock salt, and 

 another of glass, M. Muller has ascertained that the calorific intensity 

 of the curve obtained with these two prisms, is sensibly the same as 

 long as the experiment is confined within the limits of the visible spec- 

 trum; but, on the contrary, the intensities differ when we pass beyond 

 those limits. 



M. Muller has determined the index of refraction and the length of 

 the wave of the extreme calorific rays; he has studied the manner in 

 which the heat is distributed in the different spectrums, and has 

 summed up his researches in a series of curves which we cannot here 

 reproduce. His labors will, without fail, be published in one of the 

 special journals of Germany. 



We have thus recapitulated the principal communications in physics 

 and chemistry which were submitted during the six days the confer- 

 ences lasted. However imperfect our report, the reader will have per- 

 ceived that the meeting was an imposing one, both in its relations to 

 science and to the interest excited in the society of Baden ; in fact, if 

 the scientific discussions were not more numerous, this was owing in 

 great measure to that hospitable and enthusiastic spirit which led, not 

 Carlsruhe alone, as might have been the case with any other capital, 

 but every petty city of the Grand Dutchy, to make a point of receiving 

 and feting the distinguished body of Naturforsclier , whom the occasion 

 had brought together. As regarded one of its principal aims, the in- 

 troduction of men of science to a personal and friendly acquaintance 

 with one another, the Congress must be considered as having been 

 eminently successful. Old attachments were refreshed and new rela- 

 tionships contracted ; misunderstandings were cleared up, and scientific- 

 differences dispelled by a frank and courteous discussion. Outwardly, 

 everything conspired to promote this spirit of fraternization: the 

 streets festooned with flags, the mottoes everywhere inscribed in let- 

 ters of gold, constantly reminded us that we are the artificers of a 

 common work and all engaged in the pursuit of the same object. 



To perpetuate the remembrance of this Congress, the Grand Duke 

 caused a commemorative medal to be struck and presented to each of 

 the enrolled members. Decorations were, besides, conferred on some 

 of the admitted leaders of science. Of these, two were designated for 

 foreigners, one of which, bv an incontestible right, fell to the share of 

 M. Despretz, the preeminent representative on this occasion ot French 

 science; the other was allotted to M. Stas, the learned chemist of 

 Brussels. 



The whole duration of the Congress was eight days. At the general 

 session which closed it, a letter from M. de Caumont was read, inviting 

 the savants of Germany to take part in the scientific reunions of 

 France, the next of which is to assemble at Limoges. As these meet- 

 ings are always held from the 1st to the 10th of September, the writer 

 of the letter argued that between the closing of the French and open- 

 ing of the German Congress there would be time enough for members 

 to repair from one to the other. 



This may well be doubted, since five days seems a rather uncertain 

 apportionment of time for the transit from Limoges, for instance, to 



