Scientific Memoranda. 333 



the water, was so easily separated as to admit a pole of con- 

 siderable length to be run down it, with a slight pressure. The 

 cavity in which they were, and which apparently was formed 

 by them, was so placed that the water of the spring flowed 

 through it, and prevented their feeling the effects of the frost. 

 In cleaning ditches or stagnant ponds during the winter, I have 

 never seen any but at the bottom of ponds, in which, I am 

 told, they are common. Are we not to infer from this, that they 

 instinctively seek springs, as the water is less liable to freeze? and 

 as they were in the instance mentioned, capable of moving, that 

 they do not hybernate, or become torpid during the winter, but 

 that they respire in water, or in their hiding places ? I have 

 never observed them in ditches. or pools, until near their spawn- 

 ing time, viz. ; after a few warm days in February or March, 

 when their " croaking" is considered the precursor of spring, and 

 provocative of sport to " boys ;" after which the embryo frogs 

 appear as black spots in a large mass of gelatinous matter. 



J. F. B.—Mag. JVat. Hist. Vol. 3. p. 93. 



Paganini. — On the 16 th of May, Dr. Bennati read a physio- 

 logical notice of this extraordinary man, in which he gives it as 

 his opinion, that the prodigious talent of this artist, is mainly to 

 be attributed to the peculiar conformation which enables him to 

 bring his elbows close together, and place them one over the 

 other ; and to the elevation of his left shoulder, which is an inch 

 higher than the fight one, — to the slackening of the ligaments of 

 the wrists, and the mobility of his phalanges, which he can move 

 in a lateral direction at pleasure. Dr. Bennati also alluded to 

 the excessive developement of Paganini's cerebellum, as connect- 

 ed with the extraordinary acuteness of his organs of hearing, 

 which enables him to hear conversations carried on in a low tone, 

 at a considerable distance. M. GeofFroy St. Hilaire remarked, 

 that he had been particularly struck with the prominence of the 

 artist's forehead, which hangs over his deeply seated eyes like a 

 pent house. — R. Acad. Scien. Paris. ^ 



J^ew plan of drawing, for Charts. — M. Coplin presented a topo- 

 graphical chart of the islands of La Perouse, in which, by a new 

 plan of drawing, in imitation of relief, he has succeeded in so well 

 availing himself of the process of shading, that not only the geo- 



