French National Injlitute. 93 



The exiftence of ornitholites in ftrata of fubmarine forma- 

 tion, is ftill contefted by feveral naturalifts. The celebrated 

 Fortis has even publifhed a memoir in which he proves that 

 no well afcertained inftances of this circumftance had ever 

 been known. Mention had indeed been made in feveral 

 works of thofe found at Montmartu; but fome doubts ftill 

 remained. 



C. Cuvier, however, has lately prefented to the Inftitute 

 a foffil which feems to have all the characters of an orni- 

 tholite. It is a leg compofed of a portion of the femur, 

 a tibia, and a tarfus, in one piece; three toes, one of which 

 has three, the fecond four, and the other five articulations, 

 and the veftige of a fpur. Thefe members are not found but 

 in the claTs of birds alone. 



This leg was incrufted in that kind of gypfum which in 

 large ftrata occupy fuch an immenfe fpace around Paris. It 

 was found at Ville-Juif, in the third mafs, that is to fay, 

 about fixteen yards lower than the ftrata which contain the 

 bones of quadrupeds already defcribed by the fame author. 



C. Vidron, mufic matter at Paris, having announced a 

 difcovery he had made, by means of which perfons born deaf 

 could be enabled to hear mufic, Haiiy, Lacepede, and Cu- 

 vier, were appointed to examine this difcovery, and to make 

 a report on the fubjecl to the Inftitute. It appears from this 

 report that the apparatus employed by C. Vidron confifts of 

 a fteel rod, one end of which he places on the lid of a harp- 

 fichord, and the other between the teeth of the deaf perfon. 

 This rod is furnifhed alfo with a branch terminated by a 

 knob, which refts in the pit of the ftomach, and fometimes 

 alio with a fecond, applied to the cranium. The commif- 

 fioners mentioned that feveral authors have announced that 

 certain deaf perfons had been made to hear mufical founds 

 by eftabiifhing a communication between their teeth and the 

 inftuument by means of a rod, goblet, or other body.i Of 

 thefe authors they mentioned Fabricius ab Aquapendente, 

 Schi.llhammer, Buerhaave, Winkler, and Joriffen. 



They endeavoured, in particular, to determine how far this 

 invention might be of utility cither in regard to the different 

 kinds of deafnefs, or in regard to the different kinds of found, 



which 



