37'8 ' Miscellanies. 



he surprising if it should be found that this display is chiefly limited 

 to the northern hemisphere. The inhabitants of the southern hemi- 

 sphere may, however, at other seasons, be favored with meteoric dis- 

 plays which are to us invisible. E. C. H. 

 New Haven, Conn. 



3. New edition of Eaton's Manual of Botany. — The eighth edi- 

 tion of this popular Manual will be published in the course of the 

 spring of 1840, by Mr. Elias Gates, bookseller, Troy, N. Y. The title 

 in full, is North American Botany ; comprising the Native and Com- 

 mon Cultivated Plants North of Mexico : Genera arranged accord- 

 ing to the Artificial and Natural Methods. In this edition. Prof. 

 Eaton is associated with John Wright, M. D., Prof. Veg. and An. 

 Phys. in Rensselaer Institute ; Mem. Yale Nat. Hist. Soc, &c., from 

 whose labors the public may justly expect that the book will receive 

 much increase of value. It will contain indications of the medicinal 

 properties of plants, from Lindley's Medical Flora; with numerous 

 other valuable additions and improvements, and will constitute a vol- 

 ume of about 550 pages, large 8vo. 



4. Experimental Researches in Electricity; by Michael Fara- 

 day, D. C. L., F. R. S. Reprinted from the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions of 18.31-1838. London : R. & J. E. Taylor, 1839. 8vo. 

 pp. 574. 8 plates. — This volume comprises the fuurteen series of 

 Experimental Researches which this distinguished author has pub- 

 lished in the Philosophical Transactions, and which are now reprinted 

 in order to supply the series, accompanied with an Index, in a conven- 

 lent form, for a moderate price. These Researches have. -contributed 

 greatly to the advancement of the science of Electricity, and are too 

 well known and appreciated to need any commendation at our hands. 



5. A New Comet. — At 28 minutes after 3h. A. M., December 9, 1839, 

 (civil reckoning at Berlin,) a new comet was observed by Encke, at 

 the Royal Observatory at Berlin, Prussia, at which time he found its 

 right ascension to be 13h. 42m. 44s.; and its southern declination, 

 11' 30". 



At 6h. 31m. 13s. A. M., December 10, (civil reckoning at Altona,) 

 Professor Schumacher, at the Observatory of Altona, determined the 

 comet's place to be in R. A. 13h. 43m. 45s. ; N. Dec. 8' 18"; at 6h. 

 2ra. 42s. A. M. of the 11th, according to the same observer, the com- 

 et's place was in R. A. I3h. 53m. 19.27s. ; N. Dec. 27' 57.7". 



At the Observatory of Hamburg, December 15, at 4h. 21 m. 55.38s. 

 A. M. (civil reckoning at Hamburg,) M. Rumker found the place of 

 the comet to be in R. A. 14h. 32m. 59.49s.; N. Dec. 1° 39' 33.49".— 

 Extract in N. Y. Jour, of Com. Feb. 1, 1840. 



