1 834.] Miscellaneous. 3 1 1 



With regard to the tides, Lieut. Burt appears to have rather overestimated them, 

 for the height of the mean lunar tide wave is about five feet, and of the solar, two feet, 

 so that the total spring-tide, unaffected by local causes, will be seven feet, instead of 

 12^. Also the mean depth of the sea is usually estimated at much more than for even 

 than 1 mile, but it is difficult to perceive any connection between this depth and 

 the height of the tide ; for were the whole earth a globe of water, it would, I con- 

 clude, assume the same figure, when acted on by the same forces, as in its present 

 state; supposing, of course, gravitation to remain unaltered. But if the height 

 of the tide be T Jj 5 X the depth of the fluid, it is evident that Lieut. Burt has 

 made an error in his calculation ; for in that case, the mercury in the barometer 

 will be raised to T ~ X its own height, or 30 inches ; now f 5 | = jg, or more than -J, 

 instead of 3 'o inch. This mistake has arisen apparently from the indirect mode of 

 calculation which he has used, thus unnecessarily increasing the number of figures, 

 and of course the liability to error; in the quotient of 5% -f- 138, the decimal 

 point is wrongly placed. 



It is certain, however, that the tide does not raise the mercury 0.2 inch, but if 

 the barometer be carefully observed at the times of high and low water, it is pos- 

 sible that a very small difference may be perceived ; which, however, will be ac- 

 counted for by the fact that at these times the height of the observer above the sea 

 is actually changed, or in other words, the atmosphere is raised and lowered by 

 the tide of water, so that strata of different densities are brought in contact with 

 the mercury. 



I cannot conceive how the moon's attraction, by opposing gravitation, could 

 increase the weight of the air or any other body ; it would produce a contrary 

 effect, and cause the mercury to fall, were it not that its weight also is diminished 

 in the same proportion with that of the air, so that the one will continue to coun- 

 terpoise the other, as if acted on by gravity alone. It is evident, then, that the 

 barometer is utterly incapable of indicating either the amount or existence of a tide 

 in the atmosphere. 



As Lieut. Burt does not know the temperature of red-hot iron, it may be well 

 to bear in mind that the zero of Wedgewood's pyrometer is fixed at the lowest red 

 heat visible in day-light. [This instrument has been proved greatly incorrect.] 

 Soolkee, Feb. 10th, 1834. I remain, &c. 



The Burmese philosopher prince seems to have excited the talent of many 

 champions of science. A writer in the Madras Literary Gazette has taken up a 

 new ground in his reply, and insists that a comet is as cool and habitable when 

 shiningon the solar disc as when wandering in its aphelion darkness. We shall ven- 

 ture no remark ourselves, as we think the prince has now had enough of a discus- 

 sion which any of our standard elementary works would fully explain to him.— Ed. 

 Asiatic Society of Paris, 2nd Sept. 1833. 

 A letter was read from Mr. Lewis DaCosta, presenting a prospectus and speci- 

 men of a work on Universal History, translated by bim into Persian. The author 

 at the same time presents a copy of Nares' Elements of Natural History, ancient 

 and modern, translated into Hindustani, by Mr. DaCosta. Both works were refer- 

 red to the Journal Committee. 



Mr. Mohl, in the name of the Committee, appointed last Meeting, pro- 

 posed to admit as Honorary Members of the Society, Messrs. Prinsep and 

 Harkness, Secretaries, one of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, the other of the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal— (read London; a curious mistake to occur in an Orien- 

 tal Journal). This proposition was carried. 



