172 Foreign Literature and Science. 



borer as well as the philosopher, the Jew as well as the chris- 

 tian, are so well known, and so evident, that no reasonable 

 person can entertain the least doubt with respect to it. 



This declaration of the principles which govern the socie- 

 ty, renewed by M. Chasson, one of its secretaries, at the 

 meeting of the 27th of September, 1 827, was followed by a 

 report upon the situation of the society and the results al- 

 ready obtained. Afflicted by the fury with which so many 

 persons yield to an excess of gambling, and the misery occa- 

 sioned by this detestable passion, the society ordained a prize 

 for the best work against this shameful vice. The number 

 of competitors was considerable ; but the prize was adjudg- 

 ed, and the society doubled its value for the next year. It 

 will be three hundred francs. 



The society had conceived the project of forming, in Prov- 

 ence, a colony composed of Greeks expelled from their coun- 

 try, without a home and without resources ; but circumstan- 

 ces, which could not be foreseen, occasioned the postpone- 

 ment of this interesting project ; but the hope is cherished 

 of resuming it next year. In the mean time, the society has 

 extended its care to the young orphan Greeks, and it is esti- 

 mated that a capital of one hundred and forty-four thousand 

 francs will be necessary for this charitable purpose, within 

 the year. But this sum is very small compared with the 

 number of unfortunate beings which require assistance, and 

 the society of Marseilles invites the other inhabitants of 

 France to unite in this work of mercy. — Rev. Encyc. Dec. 

 1827. 



IG. Fissure of the Earth. — M. Biot read a memoir on this 

 subject, before the Institute, on the 3d of November last. 

 His own observations, confirming the results at which many 

 others have arrived, have induced him to admit that the ac- 

 tion of gravity is not the same at all points on the same par- 

 allel, and that there is not a uniform variation on the same 

 meridian. He has discovered that at Paris, particularly, the 

 annual variation is sufficiently great to occasion a daily varia- 

 tion of five seconds in the going of a clock. He thinks that 

 this variation in the force of gravity on the same parallel, is 

 the cause of the diflferent measures assigned to the flattening 

 of the earth. He points out the manner in which it will be 

 proper hereafter to direct observations on the length of the 

 pendulum, to render them as useful as possible. Every isola- 



