198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF 



tlii? apparent anomaly by attributing it to several causes, but more particu- 

 larly to the great quantity of water, under the form of elastic vapor, held by 

 the atmosphere in tropical regions, especially in countries but little remote 

 from the sea — vapor -which, it is known, poss(;sses the property of intercepting 

 in a higli degree the dark fieat emitted by the ground, and which would 

 thus contribute! to render so much less apparent the efiects produced by the 

 nocturnal radiation. 



Couununications on chemistry proper have this year been less numerous 

 than usual. We have scarcely anytliing to cite but some remarkable researches 

 of Professor Marignac on the tungstates, the fluo-tungstates, and the fluo- 

 borates. The subject, although of great importance, and treated in a masterly 

 manner, is too special to allow of my presenting here even a summary analysis. 

 We may, besides, direct the reader for a detailed extract of the memoir to the 

 compfcs rcndus of the Academy of Sciences, in anticipation of its appearance 

 in cxtcnw in early numbers of the Annalcs de Chimle ct de P/njsique. 



Dr. W. Marcet has drawn the attention of the Society to investigations made 

 by him on the digestion of fats, particularly on the mode in which the emulsion 

 of those substances is effected by means of the bile, and probably also of the 

 phosphates, which occur abundantly in animal food. The same chemist also 

 communicates experiments, which he has recently undertaken, on the compo- 

 sition of the gastric juice, and on the changes which it undergoes as to the 

 degree of acidity during the act of digestion. 



NATURAL SCIENCES. 



The natural sciences, and more especially geology and paleontology, have 

 this year had a large share in the labors of the Society. We should mention, 

 in the first place, several important communications of Professor A. Pavre ; 

 and, first, his geological chart of portions of Savoy, Piedmont, and Switzerland, 

 in th(! neighborhood of Mont-Blanc — a chart drawn on a scale of -js^tyu-ocr' ^^^ 

 which is the result of persevering and conscientious labors pursued since 1840. 

 ]\I. Favre has also presented us with the geological chart of the Jura mountains 

 pertaining to Basle — the first published at the expense of the confederation, 

 under the care and direction of M. Miillcr. It is designed on a scale of 5 oooo- 

 There is reason to fear, however, that the enterprise cannot be continued in 

 such wide proportions, and that it will be necessary to return to the scale of 



i— 00*0 077- '^^^^ chart is accompanied by a publication in two series — one for the 

 ura, the other for the Alps. 



I\I. Favre alf^o read to the Society a memoir containing a detailed description 

 of the mountain of the Voirons, of which he has determined the succession of 

 the dilFerent strata. This memoir will soon appear in the text which will ac- 

 company the chart of Savoy. 



The same geologist read to the Society a critical analysis of MM. Koechlin- 

 Schlumberger and Schimper on the transition deposit of the Vosges — a deposit 

 referred at present to the old carboniferous series. He also presented, in the 

 name of M. Studer, a geological memoir on the Balligstock and the Bi'atcnberg, 

 situated on the borders of the Lake of Thoune — a memoir which has been pub- 

 lished in the Archives of the Physical and Natural Sciences. 



Professor ]^ictet read to the Society a note containing critical observations on 

 the sul)ject of a new stratum, which IM. Coquand proposes to introduce into the 

 series of cretaceous formations— a stratum already known under the name of 

 ♦'alpine neocomian," and to which he proposes to give that of " baremian" 

 consi.lering it as the equivalent of the yellow stone of Neuchatel. M. Pictet, 

 witliout disputing tlie propriety of a new name, does not admit, between the 

 bari'mian and the yellow stone of Neuchatel, so precise and restricted a paral- 

 lelism. 



