French National Inst itule. 183 
except that of their being of an oval figure, and composed of 
calcareous stones, some of which were 14 feet long, and 
would weigh about five tons. In one of these kistraens eight 
skeletons were found, the bones of which were sufficiently per- 
fect and entire, but were deranged in the act of opening. Others 
of the kistraens contained one, two, four and six skeletons, 
in general all of them well preserved; and a jaw-bone con- 
taining all the teeth white and perfect, was submitted to 
the inspection of the society.- In one of the most distin- 
guished kistraens some things, resembling the beads worn by 
the savages in the South-sea Islands, were found in a posi- 
tion as if they had been suspended round the neck of some 
of the bodies. From this circumstance, as well as the oval 
figure of the kistraens, it was conjectured that these tumult 
must have heen erected prior to the invasion of Britain by 
the Romans, and at a period when the people were in a 
state almost totally savage. 
FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
At the meeting of -the Institute, on the 7th of July last, 
M. Cuvier, the perpetual secretary, read the following ana- 
lysis of the labours of the class of physical and mathe- 
matical sciences, from the 20th of July 1805 to-the first 
of July 1806. 
The productions of nature have such an intimate con: 
nection with the climates which produce them,, and are so 
essentially modified by the variety of climate, that no branch 
of natural history can make any solid progress without a 
correct acquaintance with geography : thus the latter science 
ought to be cultivated as assiduously by naturalists as by 
astronomers. We know well how much we are indebted 
to naturalist travellers; and M. Olivier has given us new 
proofs of their utility in a topography of Persia with which 
he has presented us. 
He describes the chains of mountains, the course of the — 
rivers, and he explains the nature of the productions by 
that of the climate. The almost absolute aridity prevents 
any more than a twentieth of this-vast empire from being 
cultivated. Whole provinces have not a single tree which 
, M 4 has 
