1807.] 
east from Paris. From it we also learn 
that the Baltic sea diminishes forty-five 
inches in one century, and that it is ge- 
nerally supposed by ‘Russian navigators, 
&e. that there is a junction between 
Asia and America. 
The pyramid of Mont Rouge, at Paris, 
which is intended to serve as a mark for 
the meridian glass, was finished on the 
sist of October ; the trees around it are 
cut down. 
The Board of Longitude has induced 
the minister to re-establish the observa- 
tory of the College of France, which 
proved so beneficial from the number of 
able navigators and astronomers, which 
for thirty years past were sent into the 
world by the professors. Science is 
much indebted to the zeal and intelli- 
gence of M. Vaudoyer, the architect of 
the government, who has constructed the 
present observatory on a new and im- 
proved plan. It was he who furnished 
the design for the halls of the Institute in 
Mazarin college. 
A French translation of Mechanical 
Physics, by E. G. Fischer, honorary mem- 
ber of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, 
and professor of Mathematics and Phy- 
sics in thesame city, has lately appeared. 
It is enriched with notes by M. Biot, 
member of the Imperial Institute of 
France. By this translation, which is 
executed by Madame Biot, a very essen- 
tial service has been rendered to science. 
This work treats of the properties of the 
motions of solids and of fluids; of elec- 
tricity, magnetism, the phenomena of 
light, the theory of achromatic glasses, &c, 
M. Biot, in one of his learned notes, 
regrets that the German language is not 
more generally cultivated in Frarce, and 
that Gehler’s Dictionary has not been 
translated. 
The important researches of M. 
Volta, respecting the Galvanic Effects 
of Electricity, and, the work of M. 
Chladny, on the Vibrations of Surfaces, 
remained unknown till several years after 
their publication, and the production of 
the last of theseauthors, On Stones which 
had fallen from the Clouds, was likewise 
wholly neglected, till the meteoric stone 
at Aicle attracted the public attention 
to aérolites; though the reality of the 
fall of these masses had been established 
by preceding tacts, and by the accurate 
reasonings of M. Chladny. I have my- 
self several times complained that the 
German language was not much re- 
garded among us; and indeed, were it 
not for the Ephemerides, of Berlin, by 
M. Bode, and the Journal of M. de 
Zach, we should remain in a great mea- 
Query, on the luminous Appearance of the Sea. 5 
sure ignorant of the astronomy of Ger- 
many. For the knowledge we possess 
on this subject, we are indebted to Messrs. 
Burckhardt and Delambre, who furnish 
us with a view of German astronomy in 
the same way, that we are made ac- 
quainted with the labours of the British, 
through the medium of the “ Bibliotheque 
Britannique.”—( Lo be continued. ) 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
SHOULD esteem it a favour if some. 
J of your Correspondents would inform 
me where the best account of the cele- 
brated opera of the Orfeo of Politiano 
may be found; or whether or not a trans- 
lation of that opera has appeared either 
in the French or in the English language. 
Your’s, &c. Q. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T is well known that various sub- 
stances diffuse, under different cir- 
cumstances a phosphoric light, more or 
less vivid and permanent. Such are the 
fluate of lime, and some kinds of phos- 
phat of lime when thrown in powder on 
heated bodies. The Bologna phosphorus, 
after being exposed to. light, emits it 
again in the dark. Some sulphurets of 
zinc, when strongly rubbed with hard 
bodies, rotten wood, certain fishes and 
other animal substances, when in a state 
of putrescence, display also similar phe- 
nomena. Dr. Paley supposes, (in his 
Natural Theology) that the light of glow- 
worms proceeds from phosphorus, be- 
cause phosphorus emits light. But light 
separated by the worms is totally differ 
ent, and shines very brilliantly im the 
rain. There is a phenomenon common 
to the observation of mariners, which I 
should be glad if any of your philoso- 
phical correspondents will explain: it is 
the lucid appearance which is chiefly 
seen in summer nights on the surface of 
the sea, whose dashing and foaming — 
waves make a transient, but beautifully 
brilliant appearance. It is well known 
that this may be excited by aslight quick 
stroke with a small rape or stick on the 
surface of the sea, and is most vivid in 
the darkest places. Because this marine 
light, as far as it can be ascertained, is 
withowt any sensible heat, and appears 
chiefly in the summer nights, some have 
strangely supposed that it may be a spe- 
cies of the ignis fatuus. But f expect to 
meet through the medium of the Monthly 
Magazine, a philosophical and satistac- 
tory solution of this phenomenon. G, B. 
