A hose iss ih 
[July 1 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
eS ee 
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
FRANCE. 
NOTICE of the LABOURS of the CLASS of 
MORAL and POLITICAL SCIEN eeS, 
during ‘the laff QUARTERLY SITTING 
of thz YEAR 9, by CIVIZEN LEVESQUE, 
SECRETARY. 
ITIZEN ANQUETIL confecrates 
his leifure to the colle€ting of curious 
particulars included in the Membirs 
which have been prefented to the Academy 
of Inferiptions and Belles Lettres, for 
competiticns of prizes. He has commu- 
MNicated to the Clafs the analyfis of three 
Memoirs, which in 1744 dilputed the 
academic crown on this gueftion:—What 
“was the fiate of the Sctences in ‘France 
during the Reigns of Charles Vl.and ofCharles 
VII? It refults from the refearches that 
the candidates have made, that, in ipite 
of the troubles occafioned by the lunacy 
of Charl-s VI, and notwithftanding the 
wars which affiéted the kingdom under 
Charles VIJ, the fciences acquired fome 
growth in the midft of public difafters, 
Univerfities were eltablithed in fome pro- 
Vinces, and the rays of rifing light were 
not concentrated in the capital; books, 
Jong immured in the gloom of cathedrals ~ 
and cloyfters, adorned the library of 
princes, and were communicated to ftu- 
dious individuals; the laity began to 
cultivate letters, and brought to their 
ftudies a mind free from profeffional pre- 
judices and interefts ; the French language 
was introducd into the bar, and into the 
difcufiion of public affairs; it was en- 
riched, becaule it was applied to a greater 
number of ideas ; and it became more re- 
gular and uniform, becaufe it was obliged 
to exprefs them in an intelligible manner. 
‘The ufe of the compafs, and the inven- 
tion of printing, prepared the prcgre!s of 
the human mind. Gunpowder appears 
to be rothing but a deftrudtive fcourge ; 
and reverthelefs, we muft acknowledge 
that it has contributed to the {weets of {o- 
cial life, and to the progre!s of light and 
of civilization. ‘The illuftration cf this 
truth fhould be the fubjeét of a particulsr 
Memoir; this Memoir, however, does not 
appcarin the number of tholfe of which 
Citizen Anquetil has communicated the 
extracts. 
Citizen Duron t (of Nemours) has 
fent, from the United States of America, 
to the Inftituie, a Memoir on the Theory 
of the Winds. The refult cf this work is, 
that, according to the rationale of very 
conftant rules which direct their courfe, 
their nature is to vary always. .But the 
author does not with to inter from thence 
that meteorological obfervations are of no 
ule. . 
Citizen Ferurieu, who lately pub- 
tifhed the Relation of a Voyage made 
round the World by Captain Eri£nNeE 
“Marcuanpd, has enriched it with uletul 
and learned remarks on currents. They 
excite a defire for the work that Citizen 
Rome, an Affeciate-member, and Pro- 
feffor of the, Mathematics at Rochefort,’ - 
has communicated to the Clafs. It is @ 
Colleion of all the Obfervations which 
have been made till this Day on the Winds 
-and- Currents that are met with im 
difercnt Seas of the Globe. Scattered 
throughout a great number of relations of 
voyages, thefe obfervations remained un- 
prefiiable to the generality of navigarors, 
who can only be provided with a fimall 
number of books. We are. acquainted 
with the influence of the winds and cur- 
rents on the fwiftnefs and the dircétion 
of veflels; and Citizen Romme, im col- 
le&ting ail that the moft fkilful mariners 
have faid of it, has de‘erved well of 
commerce and of navigation. His labour 
will form only one volume, which ought - 
to becc me the manual of all navigators. ~ 
This Affociaie prefented at the tame 
time to the Clais a very particular table 
of obfervations of the tide at Rochfort, 
which he continued for a year together, 
and repeated at different hours of the day. » 
It is the moft complete collection of ob- 
fervations of that kind which has been 
hither‘o made. - 
Citizen Buacnue read fome Geographi- 
cal Iliuftrations on fome Parts of the lute- 
rior of Guiana, and efpecially on ihe Courfe 
of theMaroni. It imports fo much toe mere 
to be weli acquainted with this river, as 
it forms the limit of the French and Dutch 
peffefiions. The lat charts by the 
French engineers of Cayenne give only a 
part of its courfe, and treat the reft of it 
as unknown, as likewife its fources. It 
is_thus that Citizen Buache had himflf 
reprefented it, in a general chart of 
Gutana, which he publifhed in the year 6. 
But he has found in the Hifory of the New 
Werld, by JaEN DE LakT (book xvil. © 
chap. 15.) a delcription of the Maroni, 
which conveys more extenfive information. 
As it was made-according to the memoirs 
of the Enghfh Captain Harcourt, who 
afcended a part of this river in 1608, it 
is mes its 
