ES. Se 
Pe a a Ee 
ane 
~ 
Jae 
Foffil Wood found at a great ricignt. 299 
III. The following prize queftions are again propofed :— 
r. A natural hiftory of the whale; in order to furnifh 
hints for its being more eafily difcovered and caught, and 
afterwards converted to ufe. This queftion to be anfwered 
before the 1ft of November 1802. 
_ 2. What has experience taught in regard to the ufe of cer- 
iain animals which in the Netherlands appear to be hurtful ; 
and what means are to be employed for extirpating them ? 
For this queftion no period is defined. 
3- What indigenous plants, the virtues of which have 
been hitherto unknown, might be employed im the. apothe- 
caries fhops in Holland to fupply the place of foreign medi- 
eines? The virtues of them mutt be eftablithed, not by fe- 
reign teflimony, but by the teftimony of natives of the coun- 
try. peri time for anfwering this que {tion is indefinite. 
4. What indigenous plants, not yet employ ed, might be 
introduced into ai as good and cheap food? And, what fo- 
reign nutritive plants might be cultivated for the fame pur- 
pole ?—No definite time. 
FOSSIL WOOD FOUND AT A GREAT HEIGHT. 
In a paper lately read before the French National Inflitute, 
it appears that C. Villars, Profeflor of Natural Hiftory, of 
Grenoble, faw, near a glacier in the department of Here, fome 
foffil wood buried among turf at the height of 2320 metres 
above the level of the fea, and 850 metres above the moft 
elevated Jine at which wood grows at prefent. The moun- 
tain on which this interefling Se ery was made, is that of 
Lans, in the canton of eae The trees found there are, 
mountain-afh, birch, and the common larch. ‘The roots and 
part of the trunks can be plainly diftinguifbed. The Jaft of 
thefe trees docs not grow at prefent in the neighbourhood.— 
The author of this memoir afcribes the greater degree of cold, 
which now prevails on thefe mountains, io two principal 
-caules: firft, the valleys becoming deeper, which has changed 
the elevation of the fummits in regard to their bafes and the 
furroundivs countries: the fecond is the deftruction of the 
ancient are fis, which had gradually extended themfclves to 
great heights, but which, when once deftroyed, cannot grow 
Qq 2 up 
