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Miscellaneous Intelligence. 301 



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Professor of botany at Pisa until his death,— Joseph Meneghini profes- 

 sor of mineralogy and geology,— Piria, the chemist, are all names of 

 jusl celebrity, and we found them most agreeable and enthusiastic men. 

 Prof. Meneghini is a young man and has held his office only two years 

 in place of his unfortunate predecessor Prof. Pila, who was shot in one 

 of the republican battles of 1848. He is also a zoologist and bofanist, 

 and has edited '' Observazione Postume di Zoologia Adrialica del Prof. 

 Siefano Andrea Rcnier, Venezia, 1847, containing 16 plates in folio, 

 principally occupied with figures of sponges." — Correspond, of B.S.^Jr. 



5. Fish of Ml Bolca. — At Padua we found the most complete col- 

 lection of the fossil fish of Ml. Bolca, probably in the world ; over 500 

 specimens, generally presenting both sides, some of ihem five or six 

 feet long, and all remarkably perfect. We visited this celebrated lo- 

 cality last Friday. It is in a very wild and romantic region, surrounded 

 by lofty mountains. Mt. Bolca itself is 2000 feel high; and to the 

 north and east, ihe Tyrolese Alps rise abruptly, leaving a profound and 

 steep valley between them and the base of Bolca. Columnar basalt in 

 regular forms crowns the summit and intrudes between the vertical ^ish- 

 hQds.— Correspondence of B. Silliman, Jr., dated Milan, June 30, 1851. 



6. The Werner Festival at Freyherg^ (Architect; from the Athe- 

 naeum, June 21, No. 1234.)— The memory of the great founder of 

 geology is becoming dearer lo his numerous disciples every year. 

 Thus, the late commemorative festival ^was very numerously attended. 

 After the procession had been formed in the halls of the Mining Acade- 

 ^y-> it proceeded by torchlight to the ancient cathedral. Passing the 

 venerable piles of the huge cloister, it arrived at the monument of 

 Werner, richly decorated ; and by the portal of Byzantine origin en- 

 tered the wide halls of the church. Prof. Breilhaupt, as senior of the 

 professors, delivered an oration in honor of the man whose pupils are 

 now spread over the whole globe. The procession was then joined by 

 700 miners, attired in their mediaeval costume. When Werner became 

 professor in Freyberg, it was exclusively a Saxon institution ; but, under 

 him it embraced, besides 981 natives, 700 foreigners, and amongst them 

 236 not Germans, and 33 pupils from all parts of the globe— some 

 among them now occupying the highest rank in the mining profession. 



7- MonticellVs collection of Minerals at Naples for sale.— This 

 collection, now in the hands of a nephew of the late Monticelli, the 

 distinguished Italian mineralogist, is offered for sale. It contains 4000 

 specimens. There are over 400 Vesuvian specimens, containing the 

 largest and finest suite o{ Vesuvian species and varieties extant, all 

 thoroughly labelled. Besides these, it includes also a beautiful series 

 of Elba and Sicilian minerals, and a general collection rich in the spe- 

 cies of the most celebrated European localities. Farther information 

 rnay be had by applying to the editors of this Journal. 



8. Correct ion.— The following note has been received for publica- 

 tion from B, A. Gould, Jr.— Prof. Airy has most kindly called my at- 

 tention to an important error in the publication of my Report on the 

 Velocity of the Galvanic Current in Telegraph VVires, and which is 

 due solely to my own inadvertence. On page 92 of the Proceedings 

 of the American Association at their New Haven meetmg; page 156 

 of the last volume of your Journal, and page 20 of the extract m paai- 



