368 Scientific Intelligence. — Meteorology. 
cavities and caverns, and even forming part of the elements of 
minerals, that Professor Meinecke attributes the greater number 
of meteors, while that insignificant body of air disseminated un- 
der the form of vapour, and which we have hitherto named the 
atmosphere, contributes at the most but a small part toward 
their production. As he attributes the barometrical pheno- 
mena to the inferior atmosphere, he in like manner denies the 
influence of the moon upon the weather. 
4. Light of Haloes. — M. Arago,from observations made on the 
11th April 1825, with the instrument which he has invented for 
the examination of polarised light, has discovered that the 
light of haloes (luminous circles which sometimes appear round 
the sun, and whose apparent diameters are 22t|° and 4 5°), is not 
a reflected, but a refracted light ; a result which gives much pro- 
bability to the explanation of the phenomenon proposed by Ma- 
riotte. This philosopher supposed that the solar ray is refract- 
ed in its passage through the drops of water frozen and sus- 
pended in the atmosphere. M. Arago is of opinion, that the 
observation of haloes might lead to the discovery of the true 
law of the decrease of temperature in proportion as we rise from 
the eartlfs surface, a law which hitherto has had no other foun- 
dation than a single aerostatic ascension of Gay Lussac. — Bullet . 
Univ. May 1825. 
\ 5. On Aerolites . — Mr Rose of Berlin has succeeded in sepa- 
rating, from a large specimen of the aerolite of Javenas, well 
marked crystals of augite, of the figure 109 of Haiiy’s Minera- 
logy. The same specimen appeared also to contain crystals of 
felspar with soda, — that is, of albite. He also finds, that the 
olivine of the Pallas meteoric iron is perfectly crystallised ; and 
that the trachytes of the Andes, like the aerolite of Javenas, is 
mixed with augite and albite. 
6. Leslie's Experiments . — Professor Leslie, we understand, 
is at present engaged in a course of striking experiments, on the 
deposition of humidity from damp air. 
7. Humboldfs Tables . — Humboldt has constructed a set of 
tables, which shew the horary variations of the barometer, from 
the level of the sea to the height of 1400 toises. 
