♦ 10 



Monthli/ Review of Literal tire, 



[April, 



of the RutacecE. M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire 

 commenced the reading of a memoir en- 

 titled, " On the beings of tlie intermediate 

 degrees of tlie animal scale which respire 

 both in the air and iinder water, and \^'hich 

 possess respiratory organs of two kinds, 

 developed to a certain extent." He pre- 

 sented a specimen of the Birgiis Latro, 

 in which, besides branchiae, there are organs 

 which M. Geofltoy regards as lungs. 



19th. — M. Geoffroy read another me- 

 moir in continuation, on the above subject. 

 M. Foulhious read a memoir on a law by 

 which the arteries and nerves are governed 

 in their respective relations. M. Costa 

 read a memoir on the epidemic typhus 

 which ravaged the commune of St. Laurent- 

 des-Ardens and its environs, during six 

 months of 1823. A memoir on the com- 

 position of new hydraulic mortars, by M. 

 Girard, was referred to a committee. 



26th.— M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire exliibited 

 several living specimens of the common 

 crab, C. mcenas, and detailed verbally the^ 

 results of his researches on the respiration* 

 of the Crustacea. 



Oct. 3d. — M. F^burier read an account 

 of his experiments on the electricity of 

 oxygen gas. M. Ch. Gemellaro commu- 

 nicated a memoir, in Italian, on the soil of 

 Mount ^tna, with illustrative specimens. 

 MM. Q.uuy and Gaymard read some 

 zoological observations on the corals made 

 in the bay of Coujjang, at Timor, and in 

 the isle of Guan, in the Mariannes. 



10th. — M. Dulong read a paper entitled 

 " Researches on the Refractive Powers of 

 elastic Fluids." M. Lenoir, jun. read a 

 memoir, by his father and himself, on the 

 new instruments called levelling circles, 

 which they have constructed. 



i7tli. — M. Damorseau read a paper on 

 the comet, with a short period. M. Diipetit 

 Thonars read a report on M. Gaudichaud's 

 memoir respecting cycas circinalis. jM. 

 Geoffroy St. Hilaire read a memoir on a 

 foetal monster. 



21th.— MM. Vauquelin and Thenard 

 made a report on M. Langier's paper on 

 the Fer resinite of IHaiiy, from Freyburg. 

 M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire read a paper on the 

 olfactory organs of fishes. M. de Grandpre 

 read a paper on the means of sounding the 

 ocean in order to discover the vallies which 

 give rise to currents. 



An interesting communication has been 

 presented to the academy since our last 



number, by M. Chomercau of Rennes, re- 

 specting an impermeable and incombustible 

 cement, wliich, applied cold, serves for 

 iniiting marbles, earthenware, glass, &c., 

 and which he, the inventor, had used with 

 success, — byM. Boryde St. Vincent, who 

 informed the academy of his having suc- 

 ceeded in the work which had engaged him 

 during the j'ear, the object of v^hich was 

 the classification and history of microscopic 

 animals. 



PRUSSIA. 



Berlin. — The Academy of Sciences of 

 Berlin has proposed, as the subject of the 

 prize which is to be decided July 31, 1827, 

 an important question " On the instinct of 

 animals." Since the time of Descartes, 

 Leibnitz, and Locke, nothhig has been at- 

 tempted on this subject especially, and as 

 no particular line of investigation is pointed 

 out, and no sort of opinion is prescribed, 

 much \aluable information will probably be 

 throvni on the subject. 



ITALY. 



Lucca. — At the last meeting for 1825 of 

 the academy of sciences, literature, and arts 

 of this city, among numerous communica- 

 tions which were made, was one from S. 

 Giulio di S. Quintino, conservator of the 

 Museum of Egyptian Monuments to the 

 king of Sardinia. This learned member 

 detailed the progress which had recently 

 been made in the art of decyphering Egyp- 

 tian manuscripts, and exhibiting the facsi- 

 mile of a very valuable papyrus, he shewed 

 that the Egj^Jtians of the remote period to 

 which it belonged, ^rote the fractional 

 numbers nearly in the manner at present 

 employed. This discovery will be inserted 

 among the other works of the same gentle- 

 man, on the system of numeration of the 

 Egyptians. At the conclusion of his dis- 

 course M. S. Q. complained of the in- 

 exact and falsified account of his labours 

 which had been given at Paris. " I have 

 been accused," he said, " of appropriating 

 to myself the labours of the yoimger Cham- 

 ])ollion. Up to the present time I left to 

 my writings to refute this accusation, but 

 as it has been spread over the whole of 

 Italy, while my writings are but little 

 known, I have yielded to the advice of my 

 friends in insuring the triumph of tnith— 

 such is my aim in the observations which 

 I submit to your impartial judgment." 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



AiESANDPM I. Emperor of Russia, or a 

 SJietch of Ilia Life, and the most important 

 Events of his Reign, hy H. E. Li.oyd, Esq. 

 — The rapidity with which this book must 

 have been written and printed excites oiu- 

 iistonishment, and would, if we were in- 



clined t« play the censor, completely disarm 

 us. The author, with becoming modesty, 

 entitles it a Sketch : he is right in giving 

 his work that appellation. It is the sketch 

 of no mean hand, since the outline is com- 

 prehensive and firm, and the i)arts so dis- 



