1800. ] 
remaining. They confit of the trunks of 
larch, birch, alder, and afpin trees, with 
their roots in perfect prefervation. Their 
appearance is fuch as to convince C. Vil- 
Jars that they vegetated onthe very {pot 
where they are now buried. But from 
what caufe has the cold become fo Yntenfe 
as to, prevent trees of the fame kind from 
now -growing but at a very great dif- 
tance below this elevation? 
It isto be found, according to C. VIL- 
LARS, in the degradation of the fufnmits 
of the mountains, and the wafhing away 
of their foil by rains, and in the improvi- 
dent deftru€&tion of their woods by the 
hands of man. 
C. PoireT has communicated to us a 
no lefs curious fa&t. He has difcovered 
the fpoils of frefh water fhell-fifh under 
beds of turf, covered over with other 
ftrata containing marine fhells. It thence 
refults that the ground which exhibits 
thofe appearances was firft wafhed by a 
river, and afterwards inundated by the 
fea; though it is now fituated in the midft 
ofa continent. 
C. Beauvolis, an affociate, has brought 
to us from Northern America proofs of 
equally aftonifhing changes in the ftate of 
theearth. The fpoils of enormous qua- 
drupeds, totally unknown at prefent, had 
been already found inthat country. But 
C. Beauvois has fhewn us bones very 
different from thofe which had been for- 
merly dug up. ) 
In every climate frefh proofs are daily 
found of the revolutions which the globe 
muft have undergone, and which are inde- 
libly imprinted on every part of it. 
In the Botanical department, the clafs 
has received from C. BroussoNeT fome 
valuable obfervations on new or uleful 
plants of Moroccoand the Canary iflands. 
In the latter the mefembryanthemum cryf- 
tallinum is cultivated, on account of the 
foda obtained from it, and which amounts 
to no lefs than one third of its original 
weight. C. Brouffonet is of opinion 
that this plant might be cultivated in the 
plains between Montpelier and the fea, 
and in ifles on the coat of the department 
of Var. : 
C. Tessier has communicated fome 
obfervations onthe difeafe which he calls 
charbon, as it affects millet, the produce 
of which it frequently diminifhes one half, 
{tis contagious, and is propagated by 
communication. 
C. DesFonTaines has prefented the 
fecond and laft volume of his Flora of 
Mount Atlas. This book, which erudi- 
tion, correétnefs of defcription, and fine 
MontTuiy Mag. No. 58 , 
National Infiitute. 
377 
plates, render- equa! to the moft diftin- 
guithed botanical works, is a ftriking 
proof of the author's zeal, who felected 
his materials in the midft of deferts, and 
by conftantly expofing himfelf to dangers, 
C. VENTENAL has communicated an 
extenfive work on the Linden tree. He 
has proved that the T. Europza, of Lin- 
nus includes two diftinét {pecies. He 
defcribes fome new fpecies, natives of 
America, which may be naturalized in 
our gardens, particularly one which will, 
doubtlefs, be preferred to the common 
Linden, on account of its leaves being 
thicker, more pulpy, and better calcula- 
ted to refift the heats of fummer. Its 
flowers are likewife more numerous, 
f{weeter, and continue longer than thofe 
of the ordinary kind. 
The anatomifts have been principally 
employed in dejcribing the organization 
of two animals, the moft fimple and the 
moft diftant from man. 
One of thefe animals, called the Medufa, 
floats in the fea. It does not, like almoft 
all known animals, feed by one mouth, 
but receives its nourifhment through a 
multitude of fmall tubes, which may be 
compared to the roots of a plant. Its 
ftomach performs the office of the heart, 
and diftributes the nutritive juices through 
veflels which ramify into every part of 
the body. 
The fecond, to which C. Huzzarp 
has called the attention of the clafs, is 
found in the brain of fheep, and no where 
elfe. It is impoffible to conjecture whence 
the animal comes, or how it penetrates 
into this manfion, But it produces a 
mortal difeafe, the fymptoms of which 
confift in convulfive bounds and whirl- 
ings. ‘The body of this animal is a fin- 
gle veficle full of water; it has feveral 
heads and as many mouths. A fpecial 
committee has been appointed to difcover 
the means of deftroying this fingular pa- 
rafite in the living fheep. 
Such is an account of -the purely theo. 
retical labours of the clafs during the laft 
quarter. But thofe of more dire& utility 
have not been negleéted. 
C. CHAFPTAL has communicated to us 
a new methed of bleaching cotton, an acy 
count of which will be given in the courfe 
of this fitting. 
C. LoisEL, an affociate, has publifhed 
acomplete treatife on all the pra&tical 
branches of the art of glafs-manufaéture. 
C. SapaTiER has proved that it is 
frequently poffible, in cafes. where the 
head and neck of the humerus are attack- 
ed with caries or exoftofis, or where the 
ZC undey 
