192 



Miscellanies 



pass off. A thunder cloud attracts another which is at no great dis- 

 tance, and causes it to deviate from its course. There is reason to 

 believe that the action is reciprocal. A cloud attracted by a larger, 

 accelerates its motion as it approaches the principal cloud* When 

 there is an affluent cloud, which was committing ravages, it some- 

 times suspends them on approaching the principal mass, which is 

 perhaps a consequence of the acceleration of its course, but after 

 the union the evil generally increases. Twenty one thunder storms, 

 whose course has been distinctly traced, have extended from N. N. 

 W. to S. S. W. No destructive thunder storm has come from any 

 other points of the horizon. Lastly the position and form of the for- 

 est of Orleans, Blois, &c. satisfactorily accounts for the frequency 

 of hail storms in certain communes, and their rare occurrence in 

 others. — Bulletin des Sciences physiques. 



STATISTICS 



1. Mortality of infants. — It has been well ascertained in France 

 and other countries that the mortality of children within the first month 

 is much greater in the cold, than in the temperate seasons of the 

 year. The opinion entertained by some persons that the constitution 

 of a child is strengthened by plunging it soon aftei* birth into cold 

 water, is exploded by every sound physiological principle, and is be- 

 lieved only by the ignorant. In a paper read at the Academy ot 

 Sciences in Feb. 1829, by MM. Villerme and H. Milne Edwards, 

 the following table is given of the deaths of children in France under 

 three months old in the years 1818 and 1819. 



Months. 



1818. 



January, one death in 7.22 



February, 



March, 



April, 



May, 



June, 

 .luly, 



August, 

 September, 

 October, 

 November, 



December, 



7.67 

 8.33 

 8.57 

 9.S0 



9.81 

 9.48 



7.81 



8.38 

 8.88 



7.86 



1819. 

 8.11 



8.18 

 8.55 

 9.68 

 9.99 

 9.62 



9.81 

 8.29 

 7.76 



hie 



s.io 



7.82 



Mean. 



7.6G 



7.92 



8.44 

 9.12 



9.88 



9.71 



9.6» 



8.05 



8.07 

 S.;'»3 



8.84 

 7.84 



