Miscellaneous Intelligence. 141 
as waves of sound were reflected echoes, so he conceived they must 
suffer refraction; though the observing of this was attended with ou 
imental difficulties ; but that these waves were diffracted, he conceived 
no one could doubt who would attend to the varying sound of a cascade, 
as you approached it round a bending course, it being at first hidden 
from sight by interposed rocks, banks or other obstacles: 
3. Weather—M. Araco ina recent memoir, (Jameso n’s Edinb. Jour., 
xli, 2,) announces and supports the opinion t that “ whatever the e pr 
of the sc sciences, never will observers who are trustworthy te careful of 
their reputation, venture to foretell the state of the weather.” In a pre- 
vious memoir he had shown that the influence of the moon and of comets 
is not nant and that predictions ef*the tS apapel cannot therefore 
be nch of astronomy properly so ca 
14, Nort Pala —Capt. Parry and Sir Joie Barrow urge the impor- 
tance and Srectioubility (Jameson’s Jour., xl, 295) of reaching the North 
Pole. The plan proposed by Capt. Parry i is to leave the ship at Hakluyt’s 
Headland (where a previous winter had been spent) in the month of 
April, when the ice would present a hard, unbroken surface. It is sup- 
15. Dust on: Vesselside, This pebodiedl is 
most Geomeinn ai the Cape Verds, and it is shown by Mr. Darwin, ( Pro- 
cee | o. 5, p. 27,) to be derived from the African 
coast bre found sixty-seven ippiviavot infusoria in 
by this traveler and Lieut. James, ‘hey were with one exception of 
nown species, and all but two were of freshwater origin. Tt was re- 
marked that among them were African species, but no characteristic Af 
ee forms. 
steamer hae in which the statement is made that Cape} Robeees 
was the first who ever crossed the Atlantic in a steam ship. A reference 
to Vol. XXXVili, p. 155 of this Journal, will show the error of this asser- 
tion. e steam ship Savannah, ‘Capt. Moses Rogers of Savannah, Ga., 
in 1819 successfully crossed and recrossed the Atlantic, using steam eam du- 
ring the greater part of her voyage. It was nearly twenty years after 
Un saben that Capt. Roberts made his first voyage in a steam ship to the 
nited Sta 
Our asidviion was called to the assage alluded to, in the Gentle- 
man’s Magazine, by a letter from William ei Esq., of New York, 
author of “The Social History of Great Brit 
17. o ah Meteorites; (L’Institut, No. 666, Oct 7.)—A fall of me- 
teorites took place, on the 8th of May last, on both banks of the river Po- 
tenza, in aly, to the northeast of the village of Monte-Milone, eight miles 
from Mac A cages! if A. M. there was a violent report heard, 
