130 



Progress of Foreign Science. 



nication was established by the wire of the multiplier. The 

 thermo-electric circuit afforded no sensible taste, when it was 

 made to act on the tongue; but on a prepared frog, it exhibited 

 the effect of two metals slightly dissimilar. This result shews the 

 electroscopical delicacy of the nerves of the fro"-. 



Ti<?A. 



->d 



These philosophers conclude, that the thermo-electric circuit 

 will afford a quantity of electricity incomparably greater than 

 Avhat could be derived from any other apparatus hitherto invented. 

 " If, by means of the ancient circuits," say they, " water, acids, 

 and alkalis have been decomposed, it is not beyond the limits of 

 probability to suppose, that by the new ones, the metals them- 

 selves may come to be decomposed ; and dius the great revolution 

 in chemistry, commenced with the pile of Volta, will be com- 

 pleted." — Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., xxii. 375. 



18. On the Climate of the Canaries, by M. de Buch. 



In this long memoir, which we have no room to extract, we find 

 the following table of the mean temperatures for each month, at 

 Sainte-Croix-de-Teneriffe. It is the result of very exact observa- 

 tions, made by Don Francesco Escolar. 



Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., xxii. 281. 

 19. Reflections on Volcanoes. By M. Gay Lussac. 



Two hypotheses may be framed concerning the cause which 

 maintains volcanic phenomena. According to the one, the earth 

 should be still in a state of incandescence at a certain depth below 

 its surface, as the observations recently made in mines, on the 

 progressive increase of its temperature, would seem to indicate ; 

 and this heat should be the principal cause of volcanic phenomena. 

 M. Gay Lussac assigns valid reasons for the rejection of this hy- 



