230 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



Hence there are many precautions to be taken to avoid tlie 

 errors that would result from these unestimated complicated 

 actions. At the same time that experiments are made on the 

 moon's rays, the effect should be observed of other parts of the 

 heavens of equal altitude, terrestrial objects being equally re- 

 moved in both cases, the temperature of the focus should be 

 compared with the temperature out of the focus, both being 

 equally sheltered from the earth ; and there are many points in 

 the manipulation which will suggest themselves to an attentive 

 philosopher, as requiring great attention from the same causes. 

 —Bib. Univ. SIX. 35. 



III. Natural History. 

 § Geology, Medicine, &c. 



1. Elevation of the Ocean. — Among the observations that 

 Mr. Brocchi lately made on the different formations of rocks in 

 Sicily, there is one which merits particular attention. On 

 Mount Pellegrino, near Palermo, he remarked at different 

 heights, above the level of the sea, a number of holes which were 

 formed by the mytilus lithophagus; they are often to be met 

 with in such large quantities, that they resemble honeycombs. 

 They were found even to the summit of the mountain, which, 

 according to the observation of the astronomers of Palermo, 

 rises 1850 French feet above the level of the Mediterranean, 

 and proves how much that sea must have subsided. M. Brocchi 

 observed, that this mountain was a complete nilometer. He 

 also says, that he has met with the same appearance at the 

 height of thirty and forty feet above the sea in Hither Calabria, 

 between Fuscaldo and Scalea, towards the promontory of 

 Palinurus, and also in ulterior Calabria on the coast of the 

 Ionian sea. 



2. Encroachment of the Sea. — On the east coast of America 

 the sea appears to encroach upon the land more and more, 

 from north to south. At Cape May, where the Delaware falls 

 into the Atlantic ocean, a house is built, on the wall of which 

 are inscribed the following important observations : 



Distance of the sea from the house. 



Fecf 



1804 334 



1806 3'24 



1807 294 



1808 . . .' -273 



1809 267 



1811 259 



