264 



Correspondence of J. NickUs. 



Akt. XXIII.' — Correspondence of M. Jerome NicMes, dated Paris f 



July, 1856. 



Academy of Sciences. — Death of M. Binet. — The Academy of Sciences 

 has just lost its President for the year 1856 — the geometer M. Binet, the 

 pupil, associate, and friend of Laplace, and better acquainted with his 

 ideas and works than any of his cotemporaries. He took an active part 

 in the publication of the Mecanique Celeste, and wrote several memoirs 

 on this subject which will always be consulted with profit. Besides this, 

 he is the author of the Treatise on Eulerian Integrals, and had an inti- 

 mate knowledge of the works of very many geometers both ancient and 

 modern — knowledge which was always at the service of others, but now 

 is lost to the world. From 1816 to 1830 he was Director of the Poly- 

 technic School, when he was replaced by the distinguished physicist 

 Dulong. He entered the Institute in 1843. He died on the 12th of May 

 last at an advanced age. 



Agricultural Universal Exhibition. — It is ten years since this kind of 

 exhibition or fair began, and extended to the different regions of France ; 

 and now since the idea of Universal Exhibitions has been introduced, the 

 Agricultural fairs are taking a more liberal range. This exhibition was 

 not as well attended as was hoped, and France was but moderately repre- 

 sented, there being hardly 150 French contributors. The animals ad- 

 mitted were cattle, sheep etc., pigs, and fowls. There was also a horti- 

 cultural exhibition of unusual beauty, where the Azaleas were combined 

 in great perfection of taste, with Rhododendrons and Calceolarias. The 

 ornamental trees were inferior to those of the Horticultural exhibition of 

 last year. 



The department of Pisciculture was a new and interesting feature in this 

 exhibition. There were several basins or reservoirs where the apparatus of 

 Pisciculture of the College de France and the products of the establish- 

 ment founded at Huningue (Haut-Rhin), were exhibited : — including sal- 

 mon from the Danube and Rhine, the French salmon, trout, etc. etc., 

 comprising various species which have been acclimated without difficulty. 

 Two years since the experiment was begun towards stocking the artificial 

 lake which the city of Paris has made in the Bois de Boulogne, which is 

 supplied with water by means of a great steam engine; this lake, which 

 has no communication with other waters, is now filled with trout and 

 salmon of the finest kinds. 



Another department, adding to the interest of the exhibition, was that 

 of Apiculture — or bees, and the manner of raising and treating them. A 

 part of the exhibition was the same as that in the great Crystal Palace 

 Exhibition. 



Fecula of the Horse-chestnut. — Among the products in the Agricultural 

 Exhibition, the different kinds of fecula were of prominent interest, and 

 especially the fecula of the horse-chestnut (^Esculus hippocastanum). 

 The exhibitor of it, M. Callias, has been honored with the silver medal, 

 because of the simple and economical method of extraction which he has 

 brought into use, permitting the fecula to be sold 25 to 30 per cent less 

 than other related products. 



