622 



Proceedings of Learned Societiet. 



[May, 



particulars of a race of men hitherto but 

 little known. 



George Palmer, Jun., Esq., was elected 

 a member of the Society. 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF PARIS. 



Meeting of 2d January— The following 

 persons were admitted members of the 

 Society :— M.Adrian Dupre, French Con- 

 sul at Salonica; M. P. A. Kunkell, of 

 Aschaffenbourg, in Bavaria ; M. de Torcy, 

 chief in the office of the minister for foreign 

 affairs. 



Mr. Huttmann transmitted to the So- 

 ciety six Chinese coins of the reigning dy- 

 nasty of Tsing. M. Chezy announced that 

 the transcription of the death of Yadjna- 

 datta, was completed. M. Jambert com- 

 municated a letter from M. Fontanier, an- 

 nouncing that this traveller is employing 

 himself in the researches pointed out to 

 him by the council. The same member 

 likewise communicated some parts of a 

 letter from M. Desbassyns de Richemont, 

 which intimate the intentions of the writer 

 to concur in the execution of the objects of 

 the Society during his stay in the East. 

 M. Dureau de la Malle, in the name of M. 

 Guayraard the naturalist, who is to accom- 

 pany Captain Durville in his voyage round 

 the world, proposed to remit to this tra- 

 veller an intimation of the points on which 

 the Society may desire to obtain informa- 

 tion. M. de Comte Lanjuinais, in the 

 name of the committee nominated at the 

 last meeting, read a report on the proposal 

 for printing the text of the Hindu drama of 

 Sacortala. The conclusions were adopted 

 by the Society, and the printing of this 

 work is stopped. The inscription in San- 

 scrit characters, referred to at the last meet- 

 ing, was returned by M. Chezy, with a 

 note pointing out the date. M. Gragerat 

 de Lagrange read some observations on 

 Oriental Uterature. 



FOREIGN. 



FRANCE. 



Dijon — The academy of sciences, arts, 

 and belles-lettres at Dijon, has proposed as 

 the subject of their prize of eloquence(?) for 

 the present year, " a comparison between 

 saint Bernard and Bossuet in respect to 

 their writings, their character, and the in- 

 fluence which they respectively exercised 

 over their contemporaries." 



Paris. — Proceedings of the Institute. — 

 At the meeting of the academy of sciences 

 in January, favourable reports were made of 

 the work of M. Moreauc'e Jonne's " Con- 

 siderations on militaiy proceedings in the 

 West Indies," and on the memoir of M. 

 Puissant on the determination of the figure 

 of the earth by terrestrial and astronomical 

 measurements. M. Chateauney presented 

 a memoir on the influence of vaccination 



on the population of France. M. Vicet 

 one entitled " New facts to assist the the- 

 ory of calcareous cements." Messrs. 

 Gay Lussac, and Navier, reported that 

 the invention of M. Andre Neuville for 

 propelling boats was not superior to any 

 others where steam was not employed. 

 M. Geoffrey Saint Hilaire presented a 

 monster which he had found embalmed 

 among the mummies which M. Passalaqua 

 had brought from Egypt, and read a notice 

 on the subject. Tlie rest of the proceed- 

 ings were of minor importance. On the 

 9th of February the French academy met 

 for the reception of the new member, the 

 Duke Mathieu de Montmorency, whose 

 appointment is considered by the nation as 

 an inexpiable disgrace to this learned body. 

 The inaugural oration of the duke was, to 

 the astonishment of his auditors, an eulo- 

 gium upon de Vincent de Paul and works of 

 Christian charity. In the course of the pro- 

 ceedings M. de Chateaubriand followed in 

 nearly the same strain, and it is now becom- 

 ing but too apparent that, wherever it can be 

 effected, every literary institution in France 

 \\\\\ be perverted from the purpose for 

 which it was designed, to the dissemina- 

 tion of the opinions of the dominant Je- 

 suitical party. 



A society of private persons proposed a 

 prize last year for the best poem hi cele- 

 bration of the voyage of General La Fayette 

 to America, on the 14th of January last : 

 the gold medal was awarded to M. Eugene 

 Label, and presented to him by the hand 

 and at the house of M. Lafltte the presi- 

 dent. 



AMERICA. 



New York. — A horticultural society has 

 recently been established at New York. — 

 It is proposed to form a garden containing 

 from ten to twenty acres, in the neighbour- 

 hood of this city, dedicated to the ad^'ance- 

 ment of the science of botany in general, and 

 particularly to experiments upon fruit trees : 

 a museum, and library and professorship, to 

 be attached to the institution, is already in 

 contemplation, and the whole is on a scale 

 worthy of that free and enlightened people. 



ITALY. 



Leghorn. — The Academia Labronica is 

 proceeding with zeal. At the meeting in 

 February M. Francisco Pistolesi presented 

 numerous additions to his catalogue of 

 earthquakes. M. Santoni examined the 

 opinion of Dr. James Johnson on the vir- 

 tue denominated probity. On the 19th of 

 March, professor Palloni, president of the 

 academy, directed the attention of its mem- 

 bers to the consideration of the influence 

 of commerce in increasing the power of 

 nations. Dr. Vivoli read a fragment on 

 human destiny. 



