7 
72 
the pofition of the ovary fituated at the 
bafis of the tube of the calyx, and the 
Ripes which carries. the ovary, which 
‘Jengthens it confiderably after flowering, 
are {o many facts that naturalifts were en- 
tirely ignorant of. Your commiffaries 
have verified this obfervation, which does 
the greateft honour to the fagacity of Ci- 
tizen Poiteau, and they have found it to 
be extremely correét, and to be exactly re- 
prefented on the defign made by the au- 
thor in prefence of one of them. 
ee ray 
GENERAL MEETING of the ACADEMY of 
SCIENCES, BELLES-LETTRES, and 
ARTS, of DIJON, held the 19TH FRUC- 
TIDOR, 1roTH Y#HAR. 
T this meeting the above title was 
A ee as a more proper denomina- 
tion, and better fuited to recal to our me- 
mory the illuitiious Society to which the 
preient has fuccesded. In the Report made 
of the labours of its Members, we remark 
an account of the phenomenon of {cintil- 
Tation, produced by the conculhon of car- 
bonified wood. Three explofions had 
taken place in the powder-mills of Von- 
ges in the {pace of tour months, notwith- 
fianding every precaution being ufed to 
prevent it. In conlequence of this remark- 
able repetition, C. Lemaitre, In{pector 
General, was ordered to repair to the {pot, 
and inquire into the caule of this accident. 
The Infpector General, al:eady known to 
the world as the author of many_ inte- 
refting memoirs in natural hiflory, &c. 
made a number of experiments in order to 
fulfil the objeét.of his. miffion. The re- 
porter, C. Lifchevin, was prefent at ma- 
ny of them ; andto his account the Aca- 
demy is indebted for a knowlcdge of the 
fingular phenomenon of ftrikimg fire by 
the collific of carbonifiel wood with any 
other wood. For a more detailed account 
it is neceflary to read the hiltory of the. 
experiments, which prove this faét in the 
moft indubiiahle masner It realifes the 
fufpicions already conceived of the danger. 
of ufing charoval in fircks in the fabrica- 
tion ot gunpowder. C. Litchevin termi- 
nites his Memoir with the tollowing re- 
flection :—** Light and heat, when difen- 
gaged from combultibie bedies, being fo 
much the moe abundant as the combina- 
tion of oxygen with tiie body is greater, 
in a given {pace of time, it thould {eem, 
from tne circumftances of the phcneme- 
non juit related, that a imall degree of 
heat cnly is neceflary to: produce the com- 
bination of oxygen with charcoal, and the 
combuftion of the latter.” 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
[Feb. r, 
The Academy has propofed the follov- 
ing queftion as the fubject of a prize for 
the enluing year: “¢ Catarrhal fevers are 
become more frequent than they ever have 
been; inflammatory fevers are become 
more rare ;_ bilious fevers are le{s frequent : 
It is propofed to afcertain the caules 
which have given rife to this revolution in 
climate and temperament.”” The value of 
the prize is 500 livres ; and the conteft is 
open to every one. but members of the 
Academy. Bilious and inflammatory af- 
fectious, which ttamped a charaéter on 
mott of the acute difvafes of which the an- 
cients have tran{mitted a faithful account, 
have. evidently given way to the ca- 
tarrhal fever. Duteafes of this order are, 
in fact, much leis common in our days 
than formerly. It was about the middle 
of the 15th century that they took on that 
train of fymptoms which at prefent cha- 
racterize them; and they. have fince been 
oblerved, at different periods, to run over 
many countries of Europe, and give rife 
to many epidemical dileates, more or lels 
mortal : fuch were thofe of the year 1775, 
and 1780. Such a change occurring in 
the fyftem of difeafes which aiffliét man- 
kind, depends, no doubt, on the co-opera- 
tion of a variety of caufes, as well phyfical 
asmovral. It would be defirous to d@@er- 
m:ne the defcription of individuals parti- 
cularly fubje& to thefe difeafes, and whe- 
ther or not they are thofe of weak confti- 
tutions, either natural or acquired. De 
we not daily obferve that women, chul- 
dren, and the aged, are more particularly 
attacked? Struck by thefe confiderations, 
and debrous to contribute all in their 
power to throw light on a fubject of fo 
much general importance, the ancient 
Academy propoted this as the fubject for 
the prize at their public meeting, 25th 
Augutt, 1788. The memoirs which were 
delivered in confequence, were not judged 
to anfwer completely the intentians of the 
Academy 5 the Revolution (ufpended the 
further profecution of the fubject, and the 
prelent Acidemy, actuated by the fame 
motives as the former, have renewed the 
queftion as a fubjeé&t of general medical 
inte:eft.—Memoirs, written in the French 
_or Latin languages, to be addreffed, poft« 
pa'd, toC. Vallor, M. D. Secretary of the 
Academy, before the 1ft Meflidor, an. 12. 
An account of calculi, of confiterable fize and 
~ weight, extracted from the fojja navicu- 
laris, by C. DuMERIL .—Exiraéed from 
the Tranfa&tions of the Philomathic Society . 
The young man from whofe urethra 
theie calculi were extracted, was twenty- 
E one 
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