Helvetic Society.—Chemistry.—Steam-Boat. 71 
stitution by Mr. Singer, on Monday the 5th of February, punc- 
tually at Eight o’clock in the Evening. 
These Lectures will be continued on the succeeding Mondays 
at the same hour:—they will embrace the most important fea- 
tures of this interesting branch of Natural Philosophy, with oc- 
casional observations on the Sciences with which it is most 
immediately connected. 
Tickets and a Prospectus may be had of the Secretary at the 
Institution, Great Coram Strect, Russell Square. 
XVI, Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
‘Dae Natural History Society ef Geneva has invited the na- 
turalists of the whole of Switzerland to attend a public meeting 
at Geneva, in order to lay the foundation of a general society un- 
der the name of ‘‘ The Helvetie Society fer the Natural Sciences.” 
M. Badeigts Laborde, a seafaring gentleman of the depart- 
ment of the Landes in France, has ascertained by repeated ex- 
periments, that the resinous trees of France are capable of 
yielding rosin and tar not inferior in quality to those which are 
brought from the north of Europe at a great expense. M. Lae 
borde has also ascertained that the French products contain the 
same constituent parts with those of Sweden; and that their 
inferiority is entirely owing to the imperfection of the furnaces 
in which they are prepared, their defective preparation, and their 
mixture with a certain quantity of water and heterogeneous 
matters, and particularly from the want of essential oil, which is 
burnt in the French operation for extracting rosin and tar. 
Finally, it is easy to purify the French articles so as to render 
them equally perfect, and at the same time far cheaper than 
those of Sweden. 
Oe eee 
The public will be gratified to learn, that the British Ministers 
are prepared to avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by 
the restoration of peace, to attend to the interest of science, 
and add to the stock of general knowledge. A small expedition 
is now about to proceed to explore the course of the Congo, in 
the south of Afriea. A transport, accompanied by a steam- 
boat, will proceed to the mouth of the river, where it will re- 
main while the last-mentioned vessel is dispatched to follow the 
course of the Congo, to ascertain how far it is navigable, and 
the character of the inhabitants of its shores; as also that of the 
Y animals 
