Foreign Lnterature and Science. 391 
53. American Skunk.—A chemical examination has been 
‘made by J. L. Lassaigne, of the fluid which produces the 
intolerable odour of the American skunk, (viverra putorius.) 
It is contained ina sack of the form and size OF a walnut, 
situated between the tail and the anus, having two exterior 
orifices. .The fluid is,emitted only as a defence von the 
animal is provoked. _ It consists of ae 
ie a volatile oil, extremely powerful. ane 
. 2d, Of a fat oil. 
—— gir Of a colouring matter. : 
‘ 4th, Of sulphur, combined with fatty matter in thie pro- 
portion.of ;3,. 
bth, Ofa small quantity of hydro sulphuret of ammonia. 
| 4. French voyage of discovery— The No. for April last 
‘of the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, contains a very 
“interesting report of a committee of the Institute, consisting 
of Humbold, Cuvier, Desfontaines, de Rossel, Biot, Then- 
ard, Gay Eussae, cal Arrago, relative to the voyage of 
‘Captain Freycenet in the Corvette Uranie. This expedi- 
tion was fitted out by the government, and sent under the di- 
rection of the Royal Academy (Institute,) for the purpose 
. of making researches in the..two hemispheres, respecting the 
_ figure of t the earth and the elements of terrestrial magnetism, 
__and. at the same time to embrace every occasion of extending 
~_ their observations to Meteorology,Geography, Hydrography, 
and the various departments of Natural History. The'corvette 
“sailed from Toulon onthe 17th of September, 1817, and alter 
touching at Gibraltar and Teneriffe, proceeded to Rio Janei- 
_ro, thence to the Cape of Good Hope, Isle of France, Bour-- 
bon, ‘Timor, New. Guinea, Mariannes, and Owhyhee ; thence 
_ to Port eon in New South Wales and to Terra. idl Fu- 
C80), whence the vessel was driven by a violent storm, and 
_In six days after, namely the 13th of February of 1820 ‘they 
‘were shipwrecked on one of the Falkland Islands. From 
this perilous situation in this desert Island they were happi- 
_ly relieved by an American ship ; and without much loss of 
the products of the voyage; they sailed again the 27th ; 
stopped at Monievideo and Rio Janeiro and arrived at Hav- 
re on the 13th of November 1820; having: been absent 
_ three years and nearly two months.” "Phe ° experiments 
made with the pendulum and magnetical apparatus are very 
. Aumerous, and the collections Ve home are’ Heh in 
