192 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



12. Exhalation of Water during Respiration. — Dr. Paoli and 

 Professor Regnioli have had an opportunity of ascertaining the 

 disputed point, whether the water exhaled in the act of respi- 

 ration came from the lungs, or was owing to the exhalation formed 

 in ttie aerial and nasal passages, as has been asserted by M. Ma- 

 jendie. Theresa A ■ had undergone the operation of tracheo- 

 tomy, and it was observed that the air passing from the wound in 

 the trachea through a canula, became visible by the condensation 

 of the aqueous vapour, at 4° R. A glass was applied, four inches 

 distant from this canula, and was covered with moisture. 



M. Paoli enters into long discussions on the hypothesis usually 

 advanced on this subject, and comes to the following conclusions : 

 — 1. That the aqueous vapour, which accompanies the act of 

 breathing, is formed from the whole surface of the respiratory 

 organs. 2. That it takes place from simple exhalation from the 

 mucous membrane investing these organs. 3. That all the oxy- 

 gen gas, consumed in respiration, is employed in the production 

 of carbonic acid. 4. That the formation of this acid begins in the 

 lungs, goes on in the arteries, and in the circulation, is brought to 

 the lungs with the venous blood, and that by this means the ani- 

 mal heat, produced by the combination of oxygen with the carbon 

 of the blood, is extended to the whole animal economy. — Med. 

 Journal. 



] 3. Prize Questions proposed by the Royal Academy of Sciences. — 

 Mathematics. — A method of calculating the perturbations of the 

 elliptical motions of comets, applied to the determination of the 

 approaching return of the comet of 1759, and to the motion of that 

 observed in 1805, 1819, and 1822. The prize, a gold medal of 

 3000 francs value, to be adjudged m June, 1826. 



Natural Philosophy. — To determine by a series of chemical and 

 physiological experiments, what are the successive phenomena 

 that occur in the digestive organs during digestion. The prize, a 

 gold medal of 3000 francs value, to be adjudged, June, 1825 . 



Mathematics.— \.. To determine, by multiplied experiments, the 

 density acquired by liquids, and especially mercury, water, alcohol, 

 and ether, by pressure, equivalent to that of many atmospheres. 

 2. To measure the effects of the heat produced by those pressures. 

 The prize, a gold medal, 3000 francs in value, to be adjudged, 

 June, 1826. 



M. Alhumbert's prize. — A gold medal of 300 francs value, to be 

 adjudged in 1825. Subject. To compare, anatomically, the struc- 

 ture of a fish and that of a reptile, the two species to be at the 

 choice of the candidates. 



A second medal of 300 francs value, will be adjudged in 1826.— 

 Subject. To describe, with precision, the changes to which the 

 circulationof the blood in frogs is subject during their different me- 

 tamorphoses. — Amu de Chim. xxvi. 196. 



