Paris Academy of Sciences^ — Cannel Coal. 423 



specimens of the rare Rhynchites cupreus, by Mr. S. Stevens. 

 The President alluded to the destruction caused by the white ants 

 and other insects to the wooden sleepers of the railroads in India ; 

 and the kyanizing process having been alluded to, Mr. J. F. Stevens 

 mentioned that he had observed Thanasimus unifasciatus on palings 

 at Camberwell, but that they avoided the kyanized staves. A letter 

 from Captain Boys, addressed to the secretary, was read, containing 

 notes' ' On the Economy of Dorylus myrmeleon,' a species of Tetrix, 

 which swims with great agility, and other Indian insects, and also a 

 paper by Mr. Westwood, ' On a new genus of Carabidae from Ceylon.' 

 — Athenceunii June 21, 1845. 



Paris Academy of Sciences. — June 9. — M. Babinet read the report 

 of a committee appointed to examine an apparatus for the production 

 of artificial ice, the invention of M. Villeneuve. M. Villenueve pro- 

 duces the cold by dissolving sulphate of soda in chlorhydric acid. The 

 process appears to be rather tedious. It requires an hour, and an 

 expenditure of about two francs, to produce seven or eight pounds of 

 ice. — M. Arago informed the Academy that he had received a letter 

 from M. Colla, the director of the Observatory of Parma, informing him 

 that on the 2nd inst., at about two in the morning, M. Colla disco- 

 vered in the constellation of Perseus, a few degrees above the head of 

 Medusa (B), a comet with a very brilliant nucleus and a tail of 

 very nearly a degree in length, almost visible to the naked eye. — Three 

 communications of systems of atmospheric railroads were made 

 this day. — A communication was received from M. Ducard, relative 

 to a new system of electrical telegraphs with the aid of mercury. — A 

 letter was received from General Dembinski, giving an account of a 

 simple, but powerful ventilation in use in Hungary. It is a girouette 

 (weathercock,) the hollow cylindrical tube of which communicates 

 with the apartment. This cylinder is connected with another hori- 

 zontal cylinder, leaving a small round space between the two surfaces. 

 The wind rushing into this space, puts the column of air of the internal 

 cylinder in motion, and rapidly aspires the foul air of the apartment. 



Cannel Coal. — It is not generally known that Cannel coal can be 

 employed in the Fine Arts, and that for the bases of statues, plinths, 



3 i 



