* 
} 
t 




degrees of heat, with hydrogen; and, laftly, 
eh fulphurated hydrogens (bepatic 
632 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
THE FIRST AND SECOND SITTINGS 
oF THE NaTIONAL INSEITUTION | 
“AT PARTS #, 
a a 
EThe CoznduLtors of the Monthly Wocaxine 
ave happy it 1s in their power to prefent 
the Public with fo early a report on the 
procecdings of the moft [plendid, and un- 
ortant cfiablifhment for the promotion of 
Pnowledge that perhaps bas ever exified. 
. They propole to continue thefe reports as» 
early as pifftle after coch fithug of tbe 
difittuiion, and cecafonatly io injert at 
length, the ntore intercfling and "Ufcful 
me =f) 
¥ 5 
First srrrin@,, Théisth of Germinal 
_ (April4) 1796. 
i : a. 
ITIZEN Lalande read a memoir, 
fhowing, that, in confequence of his 
Jate labours and obfervations, e. orbit of 
Mercury, fappefed the meit ult to be 
known, is now that the moft, accurately 

determined. all x 
Citizen Berthollet deferded the French 
vj 
» chemical the@ry from the attacks of three” 
German chemifts, who had direéted their 
ea, thofe aeriform fubftances, 
which make { eat a figure in chemical 
operations, particularly againft the oxy- 
thollet completely ovefturned the founda- 
tion of their objeétions, by ‘relating the 
refult of his experimefits upon pholpho- 
rus diffoived in azotigueas. 
Citizen Fourcroy, after having m- 
pared with the theories" of modern the. 
mifts fome difcoveries, very little known, 
which were madegby John Mayow, an 
Englith phyfician, more than a century 
ago, defended, in like manner, the French 
principles of chemifiry. Citizen Vauquelin 
and he gave an account of a great number 
of experiments they have made upon phot- 
phorus with pure azote, with azote mixed 
with oxygen, and fubmitted various 
‘genous * ‘azotic gaffes. » Citizen ™“Ber- 
J 
air). This laf fubMance forms with 
phofphorus, /x/phyrco-pbofpborous gas, on 
which Meflrs. Wauquelin and reroy 
promife to make farther experiments. © 
Citizen Van Mons, of Bruffels, fent a 
memoir to the clafs, in which he likewife 
fupporis the principles of medern che- 
milftry, and refutes the opinicn of @ foreign 
a 

* For an account of this great Infiitution, fee 
our Magazine, p. ti9, No. Il. 
Important Proceedings of the National Infiitution. 
f Sept.. 
chemiit, who looks upon the muriatic acid 
as a cempound. ; ; 
Ciuzen Guyton proved, that the jacinth 
of France is the fame as that of Ccylon, 
and that jr contains, im like manner, an 
earth already noticed by Klaproth. ‘This 
earth being of a diftinét nature from any 
of the five fimple earths, admitted by 
chemifts, forms a fixth, to which he con- 
tinues to give the denomination of Z:r- 
con! . . 
Citizen. Guyton moreover ‘prefented ‘to’ 
the clafs, the model of an inftrament for 
determining the fpecife gravities of both 
folids and fluids. He calls it a eravmeéter 
Pod 5 
and demonftrated its fuperiority over the 
the arcomeiers, for which commerce and 
th arts are indebted to Nichelfon and 
Fahrenheit. 
_ Citizen Cuvier, after reading a memoir 
upon the circulation of the blood in cold- 
biooded animals ; and after pointing out 
the remarkable variations that eceur in the 
ane a j . 
number of mufcles cf the hand, upon 
which the agility and addrefs of the 
fingers depend, . proceeded to fhow the 
mechanifm c> the organs of hearing in. 
whales and other cetaceous animals, the 
true firuéture of which had before efcaped 
the refearches of anatomifts. 
Citizen Laifus pointed out an eafy mean. 
‘of curing a difcafe hitherto deemed in- 
curable—a fwelling and eleneation of the’ 
‘tongue, of which the extremity fometimes 
defcends tothe Chin. 
In the clafs of mora! and political {ci- 
ences, Citizen Grégoire repelled a charge 
gpoosht againft the French government 
y the emigrants and the cabinet of St. 
Jamés’s, who accufe it of having dettroyed 
the philanthropic fettlement which was 
formed at Sierra Leone, in order to re- 
move the caufe of flavery. 2 
Citizen Dupont de Nemours thence 
took occafion ta. obferve, that this efta- 
blifhment, of which England is fo juftly 
proud, was firit projected by, a French- 
man. In the Lpbémerides du Chioyen, he 
had himfelf demonftrated, as long ago as 
1771, that the labour of a negro flave 
cofts more than that of a free white; and 
that it was poffible to form an eftablifh- 
ment on the coaft of Africa, where the 
fugar-cane is naturalized, and where it 
might be cultivated by free blacks. In 
1774, he laid his pian before Turgot. 
who approved of it; but it was rejected 
by the council of the king. 
Citizen Dyanniere read fwo memoirs, 
which fhow,.that the author has en- 
deayoured .to brieg political economy, as 
ited nearly 
” 
