398 : Miscellanies. 
tained then a slight deviation of the needle which was due to the 
calorific rays, which being less refrangible than the luminous rays, 
pass by the side of the obstacle.—L’ Institut, Mars, 1835. 
ASTRONOMY. 
1. Comet of Biela.—Prof. Santini, of Padua, who has been much 
occupied with this comet, has made many researches to determine 
exactly the orbits of 1826 and 1832, and to assign according to all 
the observations of 1832, and considering the perturbations, the new 
elements for 1839. ‘These new elements are accompanied with an 
ephemeris, comprising thirty-five positions of the comet, with its log- 
arithmic distance from the earth and from the sun, every four days 
from the 20th March to the 3d of October. 
Elliptical elements of the periodical Comet of Biela, having regard 
to the planetary perturbations, without taking into account the 
resistance of the ether. 
1826. 1832. 1839. 
Passage to the perihelion—mean time at Padua 770.445152 331d.153170 204d.03907 
Longitude of perihelion 109°45'59//53 = 1) 0900/5505 110°06/16/33 
03 “node 251 2831 69 248 1536 09 248 13 18 59 
Inclination upon the ecliptic 13 33 51 09 13 1300 92 13 12 24 49 
Angle of the eccentricity 48 1739 70 48 4234 96 48 4316 80 
Logar. of the semi-diameter of the larger axis 0.5516037 0,5483436 0.5483436 
Mean sidereal diurnal motion 527'19599 533/1736084 533! 938407 
Longitude referred to the mean equinoxe 9. Mar.1832. 0. Jan. 1833. 23, July 1839. 
LT’ Institut, Mars, 1835. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
1. Introduction of Frogs into Ireland.—It is not generally 
known that the introduction of frogs into Ireland is of comparatively 
recent date. In the seventeenth number of the Dublin University 
Magazine, there is a quotation from the writings of Donat, who was 
himself an Irishman, and bishop of Fesule, near Florence, and who, 
about the year 820, wrote a brief description of Ireland, in which the 
following passage occurs : 
“Nulla venena nocent, nec serpens serpit in herba; 
Nec conquesta canit garrula rana lacus” 
“« At this very hour,” says our respected contemporary, ‘“‘we have 
neither snakes nor venomous reptiles in this island ; and we know, 
that, for the first time, frog-spawn was brought from England in the 
year 1696 by one of the Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, and 
placed in a ditch in the University park or pleasure-ground, from 
