(92) 
[ JAN. 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
INSTITUTE—ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
Paris.—July 21, 1828.—MM. Dumeril 
et Cuvier delivered a report on the memoir 
of MM. Audouin and Milne Edwards, econ- 
cerning the respiration of crustaceous ani- 
mals. The details of this report, which ex- 
tended to a considerable length, tended to 
show, in the most satisfactory manner, that 
the organization of the crustacee offers the 
strictest analogy to that which has been ob- 
served among certain fish ; and the highest 
approbation of the Academy was bestowed 
upon these accurate and ingenious natu- 
talists. MM. Cordier and Beudant reported 
favourably on a memoir by M. Bonnard, 
relative to the locality of the Manganese of 
Romaneche, in the enyirons of Macon, 
which was ordered to be printed in the 
Recueil des Savans Etrangers. M. Arago 
communicated a letter of M. de la Rive, in 
which this philosopher details several new 
facts, which appear to him favourable to the 
exclusively chemical theory of the yoltaic 
pile. M. Dureau de la Malle read a paper 
on the fabrication of sugar from beet-root by 
M. Beaujeu, at Veaulories, near Rimalard 
(Orne). M. Milne Edwards communicated 
some observations he had made on the cir- 
culation in the Nymphon gracilis. M. 
Cauchy read a memoir on a new principle 
of rational mechanics. M]. Virey presented 
the discourse which he had pronounced at 
the funeral of M. Bosc, and declines pre- 
senting himself as candidate for the vacant 
place in the section of medicine. M. Ras- 
pail communicated an experiment, which 
appeared to him to explain the circulation 
in the chara, and made some remarks on 
the use of Amici’s microscope. MM. 
Arago and Mirabel express an opinion the 
direct contrary of that of M. Raspail.--28. 
A letter was read from Doctor Alibert, who, 
while he expresses the highest respect for 
the Academy, declines appearing as candi- 
date for the place vacang by the death of 
M. Chaussier. Upon a ballot for the elec- 
tion of a member in the section of medicine, 
the numbers appeared for M. Serres thirty- 
eight, M. Degenettes five, and the other 
yotes were divided among MM. Double and 
Segalas, the former was of course elected. 
M. Brongniart read an extract from a, letter 
of M. Julius Delanoue, which states his 
having found in the grotto of Miremont 
(Dordogne) fossil bones, for the most part 
like those which have been discovered in 
the caverns of Germany, France, and En- 
gland. M. Dutrochet read a note on the 
clearing away of the heath called da Gatine, 
in the department of Vienne.—August 4, 
M. Thenard gave an account of his exami- 
nation of a substance, which, it was pre- 
tended, had fallen from the sky in Persia, 
and which turned out to be a moss.—ll. 
M. Dominico Bocchini, advocate at Naples, 
transmitted to the Academy a philosophical 
and historical account of Sirrens, which 
was ordered to be presented to the Academy, 
of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres. M. de 
Mirbel was elected for presentation to the 
minister, to fill the place vacant by the death 
of M. Bosc. M. Moreau de Jonnés read a 
memoir, entitled researches on the botanical 
geography relative to maize, the synonym 
of this vegetable, its original country, the 
extent of its cultivation, and its antiquity 
among the aborigines of the new world. 
A note by M. Adolphe Maller on the perio- 
dical oscillations of the barometer was then 
read. M. Cagnart Latour read an abstract 
of a memoir on the action of hissing, when 
that sound issues from the human mouth. 
—18. M. Moreau de Jonnés gave an ac- 
count of different earthquakes, and of an 
epidemic disease resembling rheumatism, 
and the scarlatina, which afflicted the island 
of Martinique. 
VARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
Geography.—That the grandest disco- 
veries of one age should be melted into the 
elementary knowledge of the succeeding 
one, is what, if the bounds of the human 
intellect are to advance, must necessarily 
ensue; and though the writings of ancient 
philosophers must for the most part justly 
be neglected, yet the names of their authors 
live to attract the admiration of a grateful 
posterity. Except by the curious, the works 
of the old sages are rarely seen ; life is too 
short for those really interested in the pro- 
gress of the mind, to waste their time in 
ascertaining how little their ancestors knew ; 
and while they feel grateful to those who 
first cleared the path they are labouring to 
pursue, they likewise experience that they 
have themselves too many obstacles to sur- 
mount, to allow of their looking except te 
the infinitely distant goal before them. The 
success of an author must depend much 
upon the nation for whom he ‘writes ; the 
sound, sober sense, and profound researches 
of a sombre German, would scarcely be no- 
ticed in France; the mercurial, superficial 
flippancy ofa Frenchman, would be scouted 
in Germany ; in either country, if any for- 
tuitous circumstance rendered current what 
was suited for the other, the force of habit 
or feeling would soon overcome the power 
of fashion, and the author and his works, 
however valuable, when their ephemeral po- 
pularity was gone, be consigned to the 
“tomb of the Capulets.”? ‘This has been 
Pe ee eee = a 
