4)3 



tween different velocities of rotation in these instruments and the 

 corresponding effects : first, with regard to the deflection of a mag- 

 netic galvanometer ; secondly, with regard to chemical decompo- 

 sitions; thirdly, with regard to the production of sparks; and lastly, 

 with regard to the intensity of the shock communicated to the hu- 

 man body. He compares the effects produced by the magnetic 

 electrical battery, first, when the coil consisted of one continuous 

 length of wire ; secondly, when the coil was doubled upon itself so 

 as to constitute two sets of conductors of half the length of the 

 former j thirdly, when, upon being again doubled, it composed four 

 conductors of one quarter of the length of the first; and lastly, when, 

 on being doubled a third time, the electric current was made to pass 

 through eight wires, each one eighth of the original length of the 

 single wire. It was found that by thus multiplying the channels of 

 conduction, although both the magnetic and the luminous effects 

 continue to be produced with scarcely any sensible difference of 

 intensity, the power of effecting chemical decompositions becomes 

 more and more impaired, and the physiological influence is weak- 

 ened in a still more remarkable degree. In the four-stranded coil, in- 

 deed, no shock whatever could be produced, however rapidly the in- 

 strument was made to revolve. The author endeavours to account for 

 these variations of effect by the diminution of velocity in the elec- 

 tric current, its quantity remaining unaltered, consequent on its 

 division into several streams by the multiplied channels offered to 

 its progress. He also tried the effects of conjoining the magnetic 

 electrical machine with ordinary voltaic combinations ; sometimes 

 acting in cooperation, and at other times in opposition to one an- 

 other; and notices the corresponding results, which were sufficiently 

 accordant with theory. 



17. " Welt Mechanik." By M. Kropalschek. 



The object which the author has in view, in this paper, is to over- 

 turn the theory of universal gravitation, as regulating the planetary 

 motions. The memoir is divided into two parts ; in the first, he dis- 

 putes the accuracy of Kepler's law respecting the description of 

 equal areas in equal times, and endeavours to confute the funda- 

 mental doctrines of astronomy relating to the elliptical orbit of the 

 earth, the difference between solar and mean time, and the whole 

 theory of the motions of the moon and the planets. In the second 

 part, the author enters into a detailed exposition of his own views 

 of the mechanism of the heavens ; and devotes 215 closely written 

 pages to the development of a perfectly new hypothesis, which he 

 advances, founded on a supposed variation of the progressive mo- 

 tion of the planets, in an orbit perfectly circular, and by which he 

 thinks he can explain all the phenomena they present to observa- 

 tion. 



1 8. " Plan et Esai d'un nouveau Catalogue Sideral, avec une re; re- 

 sentation graphique. et une loi de simple et reguliere distribution 

 des etoiles autour du Pole, qui pourra fournir plusieurs avantages a 



