1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 155 



coast of Arabia, and several islands in the Persian Gulph, and 

 was accompanied by specimens collected in the countries which 

 he describes. On a voyage from Bombay to Bushire (near the 

 head of the Persian Gulph), Mr. Fraser had an opportunity of 

 examining the country round Muscat, and for a distance of 

 some miles in the interior ; where there is a considerable extent 

 of serpentine and of stratified calcareous rocks. He landed also 

 on the island of Rishm, consisting of a formation probably very 

 recent; while the rocks on Ormus seem almost wholly primitive. 



Two letters were read from W. Hamilton, Esq. his Britannic 

 Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Naples, to Dr. 

 Granville, MGS. giving a description of the late eruption ol 

 Vesuvius. 



Dec. 20.— Part of a letter to Dr. Wollaston, VPGS. from Dr.. 

 Fitton, was read, containing an account of the geology of the 

 vicinity of Boulogne, and notifying the author's intention to 

 present a memoir on this subject to the Society. This notice 

 was accompanied by a map and sections of the district included 

 by the chalk, from the place where it leaves the sea near Wissani, 

 to where it rejoins it to the west of Neufchatel and Samer. 



A paper from George Cumberland, Esq. was read, describing 

 the strata round Dursley, Stroud, and other places on the Banks 

 of the Severn, and in the county of Gloucester, with a descrip- 

 tion of some fossils found in several beds of the oolite formation^ 



Jan. 3. — A letter was read from the late Rev. John Wright, 

 rector of one of the principal parishes in Nassau, en the Bahamas, 

 transmitted to Professor Buckland, in compliance with a late 

 circular letter from Earl Bathurst to the colonies, giving an 

 account of the geological structure of the Bahamas. 



These islands, which stretch in length not less than 600 miles, 

 appear to be a very recent formation. They are all calcareous, 

 and have a strong resemblance to each other in their general 

 features. A very full and interesting account of their physical 

 structure, products, and geographical relations, is furnished by 

 Mr. Wright's paper, with a description of some curious caverns 

 and valuable salt lakes in which many of them abound. 



Article XI. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIG ISNCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS 

 CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. 



I. Electro- Magnetic Experiment. By Prof. Oersted. 



Although there are many proofs that every point in the circumfe- 

 rence of a round galvanic conductor has an equal action on the mag- 

 netic needle, yet it appears that several authors are of the contrary 



