Meteorology. Yii 



points of meteoric iron, which are abundant, and some of the 

 sulphuret of iron, rather rare. Its colour is variable, it passes 

 from the common grey to the yellow of oxide of iron, and af- 

 terwards to a blackish brown." M. Dubuisson concludes by 

 expressing his conviction of its being a meteoric stone. 



2. Prize Question in Meteorology. — The Academy of Sciences, 

 Arts, and Belles Lettres, at Dijon, proposes the following 

 question as the subject for a Prize, in 1821 ; — " How far is it 

 possible, in the present state of natural philosophy, to explain 

 aqueous meteorological phenomena'" 



3. Earthquake. — It is mentioned in accounts from Rome, 

 that a violent shock of an earthquake was felt at Corneto, on 

 the 26th of May, which considerably damaged several edifices, 

 but no lives were lost. Tlie celebrated cupola of Castello, re- 

 markable for its antiquity and its Gothic architecture, was thrown 

 down ; and the church of the minor friars, of which it formed 

 a part, was so much damaged as to prevent the performance of 

 service in it. The shock is stated to have been felt along the 

 whole coast of the Mediterranean. 



4. New Voltaic Pile of two Elements, Sfc, by M. Zamboni.-^ 

 M. Zamboni has constructed a new voltaic pile, containing only 

 two elements, the one a metal, the other a fluid. He has 

 called it the binary pile. In its construction it is necessary that 

 the fluid should be an, imperfect conductor, as, for instance, 

 water ; and that the two elements should be in contact by un- 

 equal surfaces. The following is the most simple process : — 

 Small square pieces of tin-foil, half an inch in the side, are 

 to be cut out, having a very fine slip, or tail, of the metal, two 

 or three inches long, left adhering to them ; these are the me- 

 tallic elements of the pile. Place thirty watch glasses in 

 a circle, on a well insulated surface, and fill them to a cer- 

 tain height with distilled water; communicate them one with 

 another, as in the couronne de tasses, by placing the pieces of 

 metal across the edges of the two contiguous glasses, always 



Vol. VIII. N 



