Petrifactions-coralite, entrochite, ostracite, belmaite, orthocerite, terebratulite, enchrinite: ammonite, pectinite. mytilite, serpulite, turbinite cardites chamites, ammonoides.&c. Together with madripores, tubipores, gorgonite. spongiæ, &c. Dr. Hosack presented to the Society a head of Sir James Edward Smith. President of the Linnæan Society of London. On motion of Dr. Francis, resolved, that the bust of that distinguished naturalist and philosopher, Sir James Edward Smith, be placed over the Linnæan herbarium* in the apartment of this Society devoted to natural history. The small sturgeon of Lake Erie, according to the author, remains yet to be described. He supposes that several sunall species may also be found in lakes Michigan, Huron, Superior, and Winnipeg, but they require the eyes of able observers. "I have no doubt," says Mr. R. "that twenty species, at least, of this genus, inhabit North America, on the east and western lakes and rivers, and that as many dwell in the eastern continent." His Excellency the Minister of Portugal, M. Joseph Correa de Serra, LL.D. F. R. S. F. A. S. &c having honoured the Society by his presence, the presiding officer, Dr. Hosack, officially communicated to him the decision of the association in unanimous. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SO. ly electing him an honorary member at a CIETY OF NEW-YORK, A report of the Mineralogical Committee was read, and the several objects which it embraced adopted. A communication was received from Mons. Garin, entitled a Report of the Engineer commissioned to examine into the possibility of uniting by a canal the navigable waters of the Hudson with those of Lake Champlain, and to draw a plan for the same. This paper of M. Garin contained numerous facts of a geological nature relative to the western part of the State of New York; but particularly to the tract of country through which the canal of the State is now determined to be made. The formation of the river Hudson and the union of its waters with those of the Lakes at a remote period seems to have been a state of things established upon the surest evidence. A paper, entitled "Addition to the Observa tions on the Sturgeons of North America," from Mr. Rafinesque, was read before the Society. In this memoir Mr. R. stated seve rally the discoveries of M. Le Suer, whose new species belong particularly to the genera salmo, cyprinus, silurus, anguilla, bodianus, perca. clupea, &c. Mr. R. gave it as his opinion that the lake sturgeon is a perfectly distinct species,to which the name of accipenser fulvescens could be given, as it is entirely of a dark fulvus colour. It reaches six tect in length, has a very obtuse and short snout, a falcated dorsal fin a smooth skin, five rows of shields; the lateral rows composed of a great number of small shields, upwards of forty, &c. * Through the kindness of the governors of the New-York Hospital, the Historical Society bas become possessed of the Herbarium formerly belonging to Dr Hosack, and originally the property of Sir James Ed Smith. This collection of dried pants, brought to this country by Dr Hosack, is in excellent order, and is composed chief ly of duplicates taken from the original Linnæan Herbarium, formed by the great Swede himself. meeting held on the 13th July, 1815,-in answer to which his excellency inade a be-coming reply. LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Silling of June 23. Dr. Mitchill, President of the Lyceum, reported that he had taken an opportunity afforded in the excursion on board the steamfrigate to the Narrows, to present the President of the United States the diploma of membership voted to him by the Lyceum as a testimony of their respect, which was received in a manner gratifying to the feelings of the representative of the Society. Dr. M. also presented from Dr. Jesse Torrey a number of plants collected by him at Bedford Springs, Fennsylvania. Dr. Mitchill presented a collection of fossils in lime-stone from Jefferson County, NewYork. They were a donation from Dr. Le Baron, Apothecary-General of the army of the United States, and were gathered at Sackett's Harbour, and the adjacent region near Lake Ontario; which abounded in marine productions, such as pectintes, madrepores, and an extraordinary large species of orthocerite, in many curious forms. He laid on the table the snout, tail, and fins of a Sword-Fish, (Ziphias Gladius) eleven feet long, which had been harpooned near Sandy Hook, and brought to market. The body of the fish being very savoury food, had been sold for 25 cents a pound; and for the remains of this individual, now known to be an inhabitant of our waters, be was indebted to the generosity of Enoch three and four feet long. Johnson, jun. Esq. The sword was between Dr. Mitchill further presented to the Lyceum a biographical memoir on John A. De Reimarus, late Professor of Natural History and Physics in the Gymnasium of Hamburg, written in the Latin language by the celebrated C. D. Ebeling, the famous American Geographer, and Professor of History in the Gymnasium of that Imperial city. It con- land, and some of them were extremely beautains an account of a man, who studied pby- tiful. sic at Gottingen, under Brendel, Richter, Haller, Roederer, Detlef, &c. and their associates; and who afterwards became famous by his writings on scientific and professional subjects, between the years 1757 and 1815, when he was called away from the theatre of action in this world. Silling of June 30. Dr. Mitchill laid on the table, a parcel of warlike arms and domestic utensils, from the Sandwich islands and Otaheite, presented for the Institution by Major James Mitchill. He exhibited also a polished piece of marble, from a quarry in Swanton, Vermont, near Missisqui Bay, where considerable quantities are raised and polished for the Canadian market; offered by Henry Hoffman, Esq. The President further reported, that the saw-shaped rostrum or snout of a fish, brought forward at the last meeting by Mr. Clements, belonged to the Squalus Pristis, or Sawfish, a species of the shark family. Dr. Benjamin Akerly presented several specimens of fish, which he had obtained in Wallkill Creek, and which appeared to be undescribed species. Dr. B Akerly also reported a rermės vicess, an animal which is said to infest the trachea of chickens, and cause asthmatic symptoms, commonly called the gapes. It was accompanied by a sketch by Dr. S Akerly. Dr. Mitchill presented the second number of the journal published by the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. It was forwarded by Reuben Haines, Esq. their corresponding Secretary; and it contains the continuation of Thomas Jay's description of American fresh water shells; descriptions by the same of several new species of North American insects; observations by Thomas Nutall, Esq. on the genus Erigonum and the natural order Polygoreœ of Jussieu; and a biographical eulogy upon the late John Fothergill Waterhouse, M.D. a member of the Society. The President read to the Lyceum a letter from Simeon De Witt, Esq. Surveyor General of the State, describing certain fossils also displayed, of Pectinites. Cardiums, and Ostreas, from the Poplar-Ridge Road, about four miles east of the Cayuga Lake, and between one and two miles south of the Sene Dr. Mitchill made a report on the character of the Hessian fly, which had been brought from the country by Mr. Clements, in the state of chrysalis uestling in the young and growing wheat plants, and in the state of imago as evolved from the same. His opinion was, that the pernicious insect was a Tipula; and as it was attached to green and vegeta- ca turnpike. ting wheat, he had given it a specific name derived from that circumstance, distinguishing it as Tipula Tritici, or the wheat tipula. He also presented for examination a piece of oak timber, derived from the British frigate Hussar, sunk a little beyond Hellgate in the year 1778. The wood was remarkably solid, excepting that it had been pierced by the zoredo, or pipe-worm. The copper sheathing was very little impaired. The ship lies in seven fathoms water, and the piece of timber had been raised by aid of a diving bell in 1811, after a submersion of thirtythree years. This interesting specimen was offered by Major James Mitchill. Dr. Mitchill presented a letter from James Low, M.D. Secretary of the Society for the promotion of Arts in this State, accompanied with a mineral specimen found among the lime-stone west of Albany These were referred to a Committee for consideration, and M Schaffer reported thereon that the substance was that form of the sulphate of Strontian, called Fibrous Celestine. Sitting of July 7. A letter was read from Dr. Eddy, containing an account of a number of minerals of various kinds, presented to the Lyceum by Mr. Eastburn. They were procured in Eng Silling of July 14. Dr. Mitchill made a detailed report on the ichthyology of the Wallkill, from the specimens of fishes presented to the Society at the last meeting by Dr. B. Akerly, in behalf of the committee of exploration. They consisted of several sorts of CYPRINUS, OR CARP. 1. The Corporal or C. corporalis, a splendid silvery fish, inhabiting that stream, the sturgeon of Albany and the western waters.-(new.) 2. The mud-fish, or C. atronasus, so called from his having a black stripe from tail to head, and encompassing the nose. (new.) 3. The Red-fin, or C. cornutus, having elegant scarlet fins and knobs, or long protuberances over the head. (new.) SILURUS, OR CAT-FISH. 1. The common Silure, or American S. catus; a steady inhabitant of our fresh rivers and ponds. 2. The frog Silure, or S. gyrinus; having but a single dorsal fin, and a lanceolate tail resembling that of a tadpole when full grown. (new.) LABRUS. 1. The Sun-fish, or S. anutus, with the scarlet fins to the gill covers. 2. The Brown Labre, or Labrus appendix ; so called from the black appendages to the gill covers broader and longer than the preceding species, and with various other marks of difference. (new.) ESOX, OR PIKE. 1. The white-bellied Shilli-fish, or Esox pisciculus, of his memoir on the fishes of New-York. The descriptions by himself and the drawings by Dr. S. Akerly, are all com pleted. Dr. Mitchill also demonstrated the character of the Sturgeon Loricaria, or S. plecostomus, from a specimen procured and laid on the table by Mr. E. R. Baudoine. Messrs. Rafinesque, Knevels, and Torrey, the Committee appointed by the Lyceum to explore the Fishkill and Catskill mountains, made an interesting report, describing numerous new botanical species, and containing much information in Zoology and Geology. Dr. Townsend, of the Committee appointed to explore the region lying between the Catskill mountains and the highlands for the discovery of fossil remains, made a detailed report of the interesting observations made on collections obtained on their expedition, accompanied by botanical, zoological, and mineralogical specimens, many of which appeared to be new or very rare species. THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. bridge, on the 27th of May last, the following At the meeting of this Society, at Cam gentlemen were elected its officers for the ensuing year:-Edward Augustus Holyoke, M. D. President. John Thornton Kirkland, M.D. L.L.D. V. President. Hon. George Cabot, Caleb Gannett, Esq. Rev. James Freeman, D D. Aaron Dexter, M.D. Hon. John Davis, L.L.D. Hon. Thomas Dawes, Rev. Henry Ware, D.D. Charles Bulfinch, Esq. W. D. Peck, Esq. Hon. Josiah Quincy, Counsellors. John Farrar, Esq. Recording Secretary. Hon. Josiah Quincy, Corresponding Secretary. Thomas L. Winthrop, Esq. Treasurer. Jacob Bigelow, M.D. Vice Treasurer. Charles Bulfinch. Esq Librarian. John Gorham, M. D. Cabinet Keeper. This Society have the management of a fund for a premium for the most important discovery on light or heat, made in America, founded by the late Count Rumford, and which now yields between five and six hundred dollars per annum. No premium has yet been adjudged, though several have been claimed. It was the wish of the donor that the premium should consist of a medal of the value of two or three hundred dollars, and should the fund accumulate, that the balance should be paid in money. ART. 7. LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE. GREAT BRITAIN. British ministry have refused the permission requested by Sir Richard Phillips, Proprietor of the London Monthly Magazine, to make proposals to Buonaparte for the manuscript of the Memoirs which it is understood he is engaged in writing. Dr. Drake, the author of Literary Hours, &c. has a new work in the press, entitled Shakespeare and his Times; including the biography of the poet and his literary cotemporaries, criticisms, &c. Mr. John Bell has in the press a new work, entitled The Consulting Physician. An Essay on the Variation of the Compass, has been published by William Bain, an intelligent Master in the British Navy. Major Peddie, who commanded the other division of the expedition, of which the detachment under the late unfortunate Captain Tuckey, formed a part, is also dead. He fell a victim to the climate before he reached the banks of the Niger. The command has devolved upon Lieut. Campbell. Enough has been ascertained by these ill-fated enterprises, to convince us that no advantage can result from them, beyond the solution of a geographical problem. A new periodical work has been com menced in London, entitled A Complete Course of Collegiate Education, indicating the Courses pursued at Oxford and Canbridge, and referring to the proper books to accompany them, being intended for the benefit of those who have entered the professions without graduation. The Right Hon. Sir Wm. Drummond has in the press, Odin, a poem. The author of the amusing 'Tour of Dr. Syntax,' is engaged upon a new poetical work, entitled The Dance of Life, to be accompanied by engravings. Riley's Narrative is reprinted in London. This work is very handsomely noticed in the Quarterly Review. Dr. Coote is printing the History of Europe from the peace of Amiens, in 1802, to the peace of Paris, in 1815, forming a seventh volume of the History of Modern Europe. The second volume of an Introduction to Entomology, or Elements of the Natural History of Insects, by the Rev. W. Kirby, M.A. F.L.S. and W. Spence, Esq. F.L.S. is nearly ready for publication. A medico-chirurgical and biographical Chart of Medical Science, from Hippocrates to the present time will speedily be published. Mr. Leach, of the British Museum, has recently printed a very complete Catalogue of Birds and Quadrupeds, which are natives of Great Britain. The London Medical Journal mentions that Datura Stramonium has been exhibited with success in the form of tincture, in asthmatical and catarrhal complaints; an extract of Stramonium has been found efficacious in a violent case of sciatica and tic douloureux. A new General Atlas, constructed from the best authorities, by Arrowsmith, will speedily be published. Dr. Mills's long expected History of British India, is in the press, and will form three quarto volumes Dr. Spurzheim is printing Observations on the Deranged Manifestations of the Mind, or Insanity. Lieut. Edward Chappell is about publishing a Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, containing some account of the North-east Coast of America, its inhabitants, &c. A Translation of M. de Pradt's Work, on the Spanish Colonies, and the present state of the American Revolution, is in the press. Mr. Wilson has found that the bladders of animals are very susceptible of changes of humidity, and has on this fact discovered a very accurate bygometer. He filled the gall bladder of a sheep with mercury, and on immersing it in water of the same temperature, it immediately fell, and rose again in variably to the same point on being hung up to the air. From various experiments he found the bladder of a rat the most accurate, as well as most convenient. The Rev. F H. Wollaston has invented a thermometer for determining the height of mountains, instead of the barometer. This is founded on the principle of the levity of the atmosphere. In proportion as the pressure of the air is diminished, water will boil with less heat. By boiling water at different heights, the difference between the pressure there, and at the level of the sea, will be shown by the thermometer. Lord Byron is about to bring out a new Drama entitled Manfred. His Lordship it is said is also engaged in writing an Armenian grammar, and is for that purpose improving himself in that language at an Armenian convent at Venice. A new novel, called Rob Roy, by the author of Waverly, Guy Mannering, &c. has been announced as in the press. FRANCE. covery by the French government, will take fresh water for the first fortnight only, and coals, with a proper apparatus for distillation, to supply her the remainder of the voyage, and which will occupy but one sixth of the tonnage. Light infusions of ginger alone, taken twice or thrice a-day, have been found very efficacious by the French surgeons in rheumatic affections. At first they increase the pain, but afterwards perspiration follows, which produces relief. Mons. Dorion has discovered a means of clarifying sugar by the bark of the pyramidical ash, powdered and thrown into the boiling juice of the cane GERMANY. the Mythological Traditions of the Greeks, Mr. Richter has published a Collection of Romans, Egyptians, Indians, and Persians, in 3 vols. with 200 engravings from the antique. Göthe has produced the fourth volume of whimsical title of Truth and Fiction. his life, which he is publishing under the Professor Meusel has commenced a work under the title of Miscellanies Historical and Literary. The first volume contains Biographical accounts of Joseph 2d, Maria Theresa, Count Ranzau, Count Beniowsky, and CaroLeopold 2d. Prince Kaunitz, Marshal Lascy, line, queen of the Two Sicilies, The existence of nickel and chromium in meteoric stones has long been known, and The grand desideratum of rendering sea- an experiment of Klaproth led to the suswater potable, seems at length to have been picion of the existence of cobalt in the same attained by simple distillation. The French minerals. This conjecture has been verified chemists have ascertained that one cask of by professor Stromeger of Göttingen, who coals will serve to dis il six casks of water,free has analyzed a specimen of meteoric iron from any particle of salt or soda. A vessel from the Cape of Good Hope, sent to him by about to be despatched on a voyage of dis. Mr. Lowerby. He did not detect it, how ever, in his experiments upon specimens from press, with ten coloured engravings, copied Siberia and Bohemia. RUSSIA. Baron Ungern-Sternberg began many years since to make collections of documents to complete and illustrate the History of Livo nia. The nobility of this province afterwards appointed Dr. Hennig to go to Konnigsberg to prosecute these researches. The emperor after vards undertook to defray the expenses attending this labour, and the Prussian government have afforded every facility to its accomplishment This enterprise is at length completed, and 3160 documents on subjects of interest for the history of the north have been rescued from oblivion. They are to be used as far as requisite by Karamsin in his History of the Russian Empire, and then deposited in the Archives of foreign affairs. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The Hon. Asahel Stearns has been appointed the University' Professor of Law in Harvard College, Cambridge. The Hon. Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of the Common wealth, is ‘Royall' Professor of Law in the same institution. There is besides a professorship of Natural Law and Mora' Philosophy, the chair of which is filled by Levi Frisbie, Esq. The University has instituted a degree of Bachelor of Laws, to be conferred on students who shall have attended the academic course of legal lectures, not less than eighteen months, and shall have completed their term in the office of some Counsellor of the Supreme Court, or at the University. The students have access to the College Library, are permitted to board in Commons, and to have rooms within the walls. They will be under the same regulations and enjoy the same privileges as the resident graduated students Medicine and Theology. The lectures commence in October. The Rev. William Allen has been chosen President of Dartmouth University, and the Rev. Thomas C. Searle Professor of Ethics, Metaphysics, and Logic in the same Semina from nature, and executed in a superior style. The price to subscribers will be two dollars and fifty cents, for each number in boards. The established reputation of the Editor is a sufficient pledge of the value of the publication Wells & Lilly, of Boston, have in press 'Comic Dramas,' by Maria Edgeworth, author of Tales of Fashionable Life,' &c. James Eastburn & Co. of New-York, have announced as in the press, the Armata,' a Fragment, from the second London edition, with additional notes, received by the publishers from Lord Erskine, for the American edition. Edward Earle, of Philadelphia, has in press, a supplement to a treatise on pleading, containing a copious collection of practical precedents of pleadings and proceedings in personal, real, and mixed actions, by J. Chitty, Esq. Proposals have been issued for publishing the 2d volume of Doctor Trumbull's History of Connecticut. It is presumed that the high reputation of the author will procure a handsome subscription to the work. Mr. H. C.Southwick has lately published at Auburn, a new work, entitled The Western Gazeteer, or Emigrant's Directory,' containing a geographical description of the Western States and Territories; the constitutions of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Indiana, and a digest of Indian Treaties, &c. by Samuel R Brown. C. F-Rafinesque, Esq. is about commencing a periodical work in New-York, entitled Annals of Nature. An interesting statement has lately been made in the papers in regard to the hiber nation of swallows. Joseph Wood, Esq. of Marietta, states, that when he first went into the Western Country, in 1785, he resided at Belleville, on the Virginia side, for several years. and that during his residence he observed a number of swallows who were collected in a cluster one evening in the Autumn, dive into a large hollow sycamore tree, at an aperture about seventy feet above the ground. They came out for several successive days, and returned again at night in the same manner. The following year the tree was cut down,-the hollow was about six feet in diameter, at bottom, and was filled six feet deep with bones, feathers, and other remains of dead birds. Mr. W. afterwards saw two other trees with similar appearances. E. |