446 



Bihliography. ' 



vance of discovery, they are partly mystical, and widely at variance 

 with the system of existences around us. 



Alexa.nder de Saluzzo, President of the Academy of Sciences at 



Turin. 



Mr. William Nicol, the inventor of the single image prism of cal- 

 careous spar, known as. Nicol's prism, and a frequent contributor to the 

 Philosophical Journal. His age at death was 83 years. 



Basopj de Silvestre, at Paris in his 89th year. He was onQof the 

 founders of the Philomathic Society, a member of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences, and Perpetual Honorary Secretary of the Central National So- 

 ciety of Agriculture, of the list of whose members at its foundation, he 

 was the sole survivor. 



Dr. KoNiG, for many years in charge of the Mineralogical Depart- 

 ment in the British Museum. He died suddenly in August last. 



r« 



IV. Bibliogeafhy. 



1. United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838-1842, 



'""""' """' ----- ^ • Meterology^ 



Philadelphia, 



if Charles Wilkes^ U, S, N. vol. xi. 

 by Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., with 25 illustrations 

 1851. — This volume consists of a series of tables containing the me- 

 teorological observations made in the course of the cruise of the Expe- 

 dition, preceded by an introductory chapter of 58 pages, treating of 

 the general results, and illustrated by colored plates. On these plates, 

 diagrams representing the track of the vessel, the changes in the tem- 

 perature of the air on deck and at mast head, of the ocean, and of the 

 barometric pressure, are given for the whole course of the cruise : and 

 as the different lines are colored, the facts are brought out with un- 

 usual distinctness, and are convenient for comparison and study. 



As the cruise occupied nearly four years, and extended over all the 

 oceans of the globe except the Arctic, it is evident that the observations 

 have no small interest. We have space to cite only the following from 

 among the facts here registered. On Mauna Loa, at a height of 13,440 

 feet, the wind, for. the most of the time passed at the summit, blew from 

 the southwest, while it was from the north and northeast at Hilo, at the 

 eastern fool of the mountains. All the gales experienced, seven in 

 number, occurred at night, being mof?t violent between the hours of 11 

 P. M. and 4 A. M. : only one of these gales was felt at Honolulu on 

 Oahu to the west, while at Hilo none was experienced. Clouds were 

 seldom seen above the height of 8000 feet, except during stormy weath-' 

 er ; the vapor plane, or height at which the clouds usually remained, was 

 about 5000 feet above the sea level. The sky instead of having the 

 blackness spoken of by some travellers appeared of a beautiful blue. 

 One of the most striking phenomena observed was the shadow of the 

 mountain thrown at sunset on the eastern sky, looking like an immense 

 dome bounded by an outline of a light amethystine tint, and deepening 

 to a dark purple towards the center* 



In the remarks on the barometric observations, it is observed that the 

 results show a genera! depression within the tropics, a bulging in the 

 temperate zone, and again a depression on advancing towards the Arctic 

 and Antartic circles. 



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