216 Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. [Oct. 1, 



afcendcd again bj h.mfelf, and was loft fcarcely believe that they all begin anew 

 at au imnicnfc elevation, the degree of at the end of '280,000 years ; but he ha< 

 whicii cannot be ilated, becaule the ba- convinced himfelf that the author is 

 roincitT -■•.a;:; broken in his previous dc- r.ght. r ^- ,• , rr , 



fcent. lie riii!;tiLed betwec. Trebbm The bociely ot Oorlitz has olicrcd a 

 ail'! iveundo.f, iive GcniKin nnles and a prize of 30 crowns for the beft folution 

 hah irora iici'iiu. M. .tuny;ius returned of the folkwing queftion : " In cloudy 

 the next day to ihe capital, and iuunedi- weather it never freezes but when Reau- 

 atcly proceeded to Charlotteuburg, wiiere mni's thermometer has dcfcended to ze- 

 the Kin" and Queen were dciirous of ro, or at Icall very nearly to that point, 

 hearing bom his own mouth an account Why, tlien, docs it freeze, in fcreiie 

 of his experiments. M. Jungius is pro- weather, when the fume thermometer 

 feffor of phylics at the college of Frede- ftands at three or four degrees above 

 ric William, and had before executed a zero ?" 



fuccefsful afcenfion, on the 16th of Sep- The Royal Bohemian Society offers 

 teuiijer laJt year. 700 ducatsi'or the belt anfwcr to the fol- 



Gf.rmuny. lowing queltion : " By what method can 



A German bavin" devoted himfelf to the various adulterations of the different 

 the (tudy of allionomy and mathemati- neceffiirics of life be beft al'certained or 

 cal geography, made a calculation, fifty leiVened, by radical examination or other- 

 years ago, with a view to determine the wife V 



courfes'^of the planets round liie fun, At one of the late meetings of the 

 which he conlidcred as the exact lolution Royal Academy of Sciences at Munich, 

 of the <:reat r.ioblem of the C'ychc or ProfelVor RiTtEii communicated a itric* 

 Platonic year. The author of this hyiJO- of ex))eriments, which have a direCt rc- 

 tliefis iupiiofcd that the iix planets, lation to the nature of magnctifni. The 

 known' at that time, linilhed their courfes rofuits ot' his experiments areas follow : 



1. livery loadltone is equivalent to a pair- 

 of heterogeneous metals joined togetlier ; 

 its different poles reprefent different me- 

 tals. 2. Like them it gives cledtricity, 

 namely, one of the two poles pofitive ami 

 the other negative electricity. 3. By 

 following the fame procefs, a certain num- 

 ber of load-fumes, like a certain number 

 of pairs of metals, have furniflied electri- 

 city ; and by thefe means he has been 

 y^'are all the planets of our fyliem will enabled to reprefent on the elcttrometer 

 bave finifncd the great folar cycle, fo as the eleftricitics furniihed by the poles of 

 to have all arrived at once at the points ilifieient loadfior.cs. 4. By means of 

 from which they began their refpective thefe electricities, one of thefe batteries 

 coiufes. It is importible to liate the mo- of loadftoncs, in proportion to its fircngth 

 ti\ es which induced him to adopt the or wcakncfs, produces on dead and liv- 

 cvde of '280,000 of oin- folar years for ing bodies all the phenomena which are 

 vlic bafis of his calculations. However, produced by a Voltaic pile of the ordi- 

 adopling this cycle, either by accident, nary kind, and of the fame force. 5. 

 or, more problibly, in confcquence of The experiments wliicli prove this de- 

 previous calcnhaions, -which are, un- nionftrate, that in magnetized iron the 

 doubtedly, loli, ho i'ound that during foiiih pole gives pohtive elec^iicity, and 

 this period of 280,000 years, the planets the north pole negative electricity : but 

 of our fyliem will revolve round the fuu, that in magnetized Iteel, on the contrary, 

 Tiwcs. the north pole gives politive electricity, 



Mercury l,162,.'i77 and the fouth pole negative elettrieity. 



6. Tlio fame inverfe dilb-ibution is like- 

 wife ohffived with refpert to the polar 

 owdabilities of the ni.n'gnetized body, 

 tlie cliajige of which is produced by the: 

 magnetization. In magnetized iron the 

 M. de Lalande has fouml thefe rcvolu- fouth pole is moft oxydable, and the- 

 tibiis to be nerfectly accurtite. lie could north pole the lead fo j wliercas, it ia- 



found, 



