348 Miscellanies. 



The Association was divided into six sections, which met daily 

 between 11 and 3 o'clock. 



Section A. Mathematics and General Physics. 



B. Chemistry and Mineralogy. 



C. Geology and Geography. 



D. Natural History. 



E. Anatomy and Medicine. 



F. Statistics. 



Able men were appointed to take charge of each of these sec- 

 tions, which held daily sessions, and reports were made, from time 

 to time, to the general meeting. 



Our limits will not allow us to follow them in detail ; we can pre- 

 sent only a few notices of more important and interesting things. 



Aurora Borealis. — Sir John Ross read a paper on the origin of 

 the Aurora Borealis, the result of twenty five years of reflection on 

 the subject ; he having frequently noticed that the aurora took place 

 between two not very distant ships, also between the ship and an 

 iceberg. He concluded, long since, that Wollaston's opinion, that 

 this meteor takes place at great altitudes, must be erroneous ; and 

 he came to the conclusion, that it was caused by the sun's rays stri- 

 king on the circumpolar fields of ice and glaciers, and then reflect- 

 ed from very thin clouds aloft in the atmosphere. 



A theory of a similar nature, was presented by a correspondent in 

 Vol. xix, p. 235 of this Journal, with the omission of the effect of 

 the icebergs. 



Protection of Iron from the action of salt water, by attaching to 

 it portions of zinc, to alter its electrical state. Experiments were 

 detailed by Mr. Davy, made at Sbingstown, upon wrought iron 

 buoys. Such experiments, originally suggested by Sir H. Davy, 

 have been successfully made by Dr. Revere in this country. 



Strong attraction for the magnetic needle, was stated by Mr. 

 Fox, to be exerted by iron cooled down to a low red heat, while the 

 same metal running in fusion produced no such effect. 



Mr. Fox considered this fact to be of great importance in geolo- 

 gical discussions respecting the central heat of the earth. 



Carbonate of magnesia discovered in lava, immediately after the 

 recent eruption of Vesuvius, was considered by Dr. Daubeny as the 

 result of sublimation by the volcanic fire. 



Suspension of respiration by the whale. — Dr. Houston in a paper 

 on peculiarities in circulating organs in diving animals, stated it to 



