58 
befides, a great number of defcriptions, 
many nautical and geographical difcuf- 
fions, with political and commereial con- 
fiderations. In a fhort extraét of a work 
of this extenfive nature, we can only ra- 
pidly trace the route which Captain Mar- 
chand took : 
The Solide fet fail from Marfeilies the 
14th December, 1790, and after having 
doubled Cape Horn, came-to in the port 
Madre de Dios, in the ifland of St. Chrif- 
tina, one of the ifles of the Archipel de 
Mendoca, difcovered by Mandana im 
3595, and vifited by Captain Cook in 
3774. In quitting thefe iflands, and 
making way for the north-weft, Captain 
Marchand difcovered, in this dire€tion, a 
fecond Archipelago, until then unknown. 
"Thence, after having taken a plan of this 
new clufter of ifles, the fhip run before 
the wind towards the north-weft coaft, 
and they anchored in the Bay of Guada 
lupa des Efpagnols, named fince by the 
Englith, Norfol/e Bay, and a trafic for 
fkins and furs was entered into. The So: 
lide next vifited Queen Charlotte Iflands, 
to which the Englith have added alfo this 
name, although Peyroufe made the firft 
difcovery of itin 1786. The feafon was 
too far advanced for Captain Marchand to 
continue to trade on the coaftof America. 
He refolved to goto China: after having 
paffed through the Sandwich Iflands and 
the group of Marianne Ifles, he iet go 
the anchor at Macao. © . 
An imperial edié&t had. juft prohibited 
the introduétion of fursin China. He 
was compelled to renounce the defign of 
exchanging the cargo for the merchandize 
of Afia. Thus after having repaired and 
viétualled the thip, Captain Marchand 
Betook himfelf by the Strats of Ga/pa, and 
by thofe of the Suda to the port in the 
north weft fide of the Ife ae France. 
‘There he let the crew enjoy fome  re- 
pofe, who, during thirteen months and a 
half, had kept the fea, and had been but 
thirty days in harbour all that time. The 
Solide left the Ifle de France the r1th-of 
April, 1792, touched at the Ifland of Sr. 
Helena the 4th of June, and, oa the 13th 
sof Auguft, caft’ anchor in the road of 
Toulon. 
This voyage is remarkabie for the 
fhorinefs of ume the Solide ‘ook up in 
making the teur round the world, in tak- 
ing her route by Cape Horn, and making 
her return by China. The duration of 
the voyage was only 608 days, and even 
only 498, if we fubtraé the days paffed in 
harbour ; and the fpace run over, is 14,328 
fea leagues, or 18,000 common leagues. 
Proceedings. of the College of France. 
(Ja 
It is farther to be remarked, that in the 
courfe of twenty months, in the midft of 
fatigues and privations, infeparable from 
an expedition of this nature; traverfing 
all the climates, experiencing all the va- 
riations of the temperature, the Solide out 
of fifty men, which compofed her fhip’s 
crew, loft only oné man, who died ina 
fit of apoplexy. bine Kher Be 
“It became neceffary to awaken the at- 
tention of the French navigators to the 
ufe, too much negleéted among them, 
of aftronomic ;methods. This relation, 
which the prefs is going to render pub- 
lic, will fhow them that it is tothe con- 
ftant employment of the exaét methods, 
adopted by Captains Marchand and Cha- 
nal, that they’ owe the fafety of their 
courfes, the fhortnefs of their voyage, and 
the advantage of making land with pre- 
cifion upon thofe points which they de- 
figned to touch at. : 
CoLLEGE OF FRANCE. 
On the 15th of November laft, this in- 
ftitution opened its courfe of ftudy, in 
the prefence of the minifter of the home 
department, the greater part of the fo- 
reign minifters, and a full affemblage of 
{peétators. . 
’ “The fitting was opened by Poiffonnier, 
who pronounced an eulogium on this an- 
cient-afylum of the fciences, which, fince 
the time of Francis 1, has conftantly pro- 
duced great men, and which, like a rock, 
always immovable amid the ftorms and 
tempefts of the revolution, has furvived 
the ruin of all the other eftablifhments. 
’ Lalande proceeded to defcribe the fitu- 
ation of the exaét fciences, their progrefs, 
the difcoveries made in them, .and the 
labours of learned and fcientific men dur- 
ing the laft year, 
Francois, aflifted by his wife, Lalande’s 
niece, cbferved, during the laft year, 
6,000 new ftars, which brings the number 
of thofe hitherto obferved to 42,700. 
Thefe aftronomers truft that they will 
focn be enabled to carry them to 50,000. 
A new comet, difcovered this year, 
brings to ninety the number of thofe 
whofe orbits have been calculated up to’ 
this time. Tables of the moon, publifhed 
by Delaplace, and an analyfis of the great 
labours executed to compicte the meaiure 
of the earth, make up the inventory of 
aftronomical acquifitions. 
A letter from Buonaparte to Lalande 
was read. In this letter, the general af- 
fures him that the funds of the fociety of 
Verona will be refpe&ted, and that its ob- 
fervatory, damaged by the bomb-hhells, 
will be repaired. Buonaparte . farther 
ftates 
