Acadeihy of Dijon. 177 



connoitre this ifland in order to take poflfelTion of it. Tt3 

 figure, colour, and particularlv its fituation, in the hne 

 wliich joins Malta and Mount ^tna, made C. Dangos footi 

 perceive that it was nothing elfe than the appearance of the 

 fummit of that mountain, always covered with fnow, which 

 fome extraordinary caufe had brought confiderably nearer, 

 lowering it at the lame time very much below the level ot 

 the water. 



The publicity of this phaenomenon did not permit 

 C. Dangos to oblerve it with more precifion. A multitude- 

 of curious fpedators, whom he could not get rid of, crowded 

 the terrace. But this aftonifliing fpetlacle appeared again 

 on the 17th of April 1785, at fix in the morriing; a lime 

 when the indolent, not being awake, could not interrupt the 

 dilicent philofopher in his retreat. 



On this occafion, the apparent ifland, which was better 

 defined than that of 1784, feemed to be 15' 17" below the 

 horizon, which correfponds to a diftance of about 18000 

 yards : it feemed then to recede and to rife up ; after which 

 it became confufed for a moment, and J2tna re-appeared in 

 its real place. The coafi:s of Sicily, which had been hitherto 

 concealed, were fully feen, and remained vifible during the 

 reft of the day. 



C. Dangos, without attempting to explain this phaeno- 

 menon, thinks that the humidity of tlie atinofphere, of which 

 he that day perceived very fenfible figns, had a great Ihare in 

 it ; and that obfervations of the hygrometer ought not only 

 to be added to thofe of the thermometer and barometer to 

 determine the refrangent force of the atmofphere, but fome 

 day may fupply the place of each other. 



Going back to the begitining of the laft century, we find, 

 in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, " that the 

 mountains of Corfica, fcen from the coafts of Genoa and 

 Provence, feem at certain hours to plunge into the fea." 

 The author of the memoir which we here analyfe, faw the 

 fame appearance when at the Ifles d'Heycres in 1778: but 

 this pha:nomenon was not fo well defined as that which he 

 relates. . . 



[To be continued.] 

 ACADEMY OF DIJON. 



In the public fitting on the 6lh of September laft, this 

 fociety, after adopting the plan of its labour and fixing the 

 nature of its occupations, thought proper to change its title 

 into that ui Aca.lnny of the iicuncfs. Arts, and litU':s-L€lhes. 

 It wasof opiiiion that this denomination, more general and 



Vol. XIV. No. 54. M "iorc 



