Intelligence and Miscella7ieous Articles. G7 



mass was impregnated with a substance resembling oil, which had 

 been formed by the union of the carbon of the iron with hydrogen 

 and oxygen, probably during the action of the water. 



June 3. — Mr. Ritchie on Electricity, as the probable cause of all 

 the phaenomena of artificial and terrestrial magnetism. — Mr. Ritchie's 

 object was to bring forward a connected and illustrated view of what 

 had been done by Biot, Ampere, Barlow and others, in support of the 

 hypothesis here announced. 



June 10. — Mr. Faraday on the arrangements of particles on the 

 surfaces of vibrating elastic bodies. — This was the same subject as 

 that of the paper, by Mr. Faraday, read lately to the Royal Society ; 

 and though treated experimentally and very differently at the Royal 

 Institution, yet as the philosophy of the two communications is the 

 same, a reference to our report of that paper, which will be found 

 at p. 42, will be sufficient here. 



Mr. Faraday announced that since the reading of his paper, he 

 had reason to believe that the principles there referred to, combined 

 with the cohesive force of fluids, vvould enable him to explain the 

 crispations that form on water lying upon similar vibrating plates. 

 He is now engaged in these experiments. 



This was the concluding evening of the Session. 



VI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ACCOUNT OF AN AERIAL VOYAGE MADE IN A BALLOON ON 

 SATURDAY THE 30TH OF APRIL 1831, BY T. FORSTER, M.B. 

 F.L.S. &C. 



r\^ Saturday, April 30, 1831, Dr. Forster, who had long been 

 V.-^ desirous of pursuing his observations on the clouds in the lofty 

 regions of the air, engaged to ascend with Mr. Green's balloon ; 

 and at half-past five o'clock in the evening, the air being calm and 

 fine, and the barometer standing at 29-29, thermometer 63°, wind 

 variable and gentle, the aeronauts proceeded to the gardens of the 

 Dominican Friars at Moulsham near Chelmsford, and at a quarter 

 before six they left the ground, amidst the huzzas of hundreds of 

 spectators. The balloon, which was forty eight feet in vertical and 

 thirty two in horizontal diameter, and filled with carburetted hy- 

 drogen from the gas-works, rose at first with a gentle motion, and 

 was carried by a mild easterly breeze over the village of Writtlc. 

 At the elevation of about a thousand feet they hung out the anchor, 

 which is found to give additional steadiness to the car ; in a few 

 minutes more they perceived the balloon checked in its velocity, 

 and a change of current was evident; by this current they were 

 carried nearly back again, the balloon still ascending and i)ro- 

 ceeding, though very slowly, in a remarkably gentle S.W. current : 

 when they had got beyond the N.E. end of Chelmsford, and 

 at the elevation of probably about four thousand feet, when nearly 

 over the Convent of New Mall, the current again changed; they 

 threw out some more ballast, and the balloon began to mount ra- 

 pidly in a sort of irregular spiral course, but so gently as to be 

 K 2 scarcely 



