390 Miscellanies. 



latation of the pupil alluded to.- — Additional conclusions, to which 

 the author has arrived, by experiments not yet published ; especially 

 by experiments with the pupil of his eye preternaturally dilated for 

 that purpose. 



Applications. — 1st. Bright objects never appear of their true 

 shape, circumstances which affect this and other illusions. 2nd. Stars 

 apparently situated on the moon — one definite position most favora- 

 ble for red light ; three others favorable under other circumstances. 

 3rd. Appearance of the new moon. 4th. Reasons why a telescope 

 changes the relative apparent magnitudes of the fixed stars compar- 

 ed with the planets, and of the latter compared with each other.— 

 5th. The scintillation of the fixed stars affected by irradiation, on 

 which their apparent magnitudes chiefly depend. 



16. " The United States Naval Lyceum.'^ — This Institution has 

 been recently established at the Navy Yard near New York, and 

 its officers request the favor of an introduction, to the readers of the 

 American Journal of Arts and Sciences. 



The objects of the members of this Association, are contained in 

 the following extract from an article prefixed to the Constitution of 

 the Society. " We, the officers of the Navy and Marine Corps, in 

 order to promote the difR.ision of useful knowledge, to foster a spirit 

 of harmony, and community of interest in the service ; and to ce- 

 ment the links which unite us as professional brethren, have formed 

 ourselves into a Society, he." 



It is hardly possible that an institution created for such purposes, 

 can interfere with the interests or views of any other similar associa- 

 tion ; but may, and in all human probability, will in time, contribute 

 largely to the cause of " useful knowledge." As mere collectors of 

 specimens in Natural History, and Curiosities, illustrative of the 

 manners and customs of distant nations, which the members in the 

 discharge of their official duties to their country, may be called upon 

 to visit, they possess some advantages, that they are not only willing 

 but anxious to improve. In this way much has already been done, 

 and the evidence may be found in almost every public collection of 

 the kind in the country. But much more by far, of what has been 

 thus procured from abroad, has become almost a total loss to the 

 cause of science, for the want of some place of general deposit. — 

 Such a depot now exists, and its utility has already been rendered 

 apparent, by the contributions received from the officers of the U. 



