isk, Riousa, by professors Goldbach and Panthner, attached to the repository for charts at St. Petersburgh. The latter has also established, at the expense of the society, barometers and thermometers at the above places, in order to obtain some useful observations.

M. Fischer undertook the natural history department: he was accompanied in his excursion by M. Drouginine, secretary to the society; and by M. Gorke, one of the pupils at the university of Moscow. From the lateness of the season they procured but few plants or insects, but they were more fortunate in their mineralogical pursuits. Petrifactions of all kinds, several mineral springs rich in iron and carbonick acid, a good clay for earthen ware, Labrador stone, garnets in granite and in gneus, granatite in gneus, and a new earthy substance, were procured by them. This new substance is of a very fine lavender blue, and is found in veins several lines thick between layers of cimolite, which in some places forms the transition to a true mountain cork. Sometimes it is found on round masses of flint, sometimes fossil shells are found in it, and pectinites which are wholly black and changed into flint. This substance contains, according to the analyses of Messrs. Helm and Muller, lime, alumine, and phosphorick acid. It forms, therefore, a new species adjoining the Apatite, and it has been designated by the name of Ratofkite, from the place where M. Fischer resides.

Mr. Davy's experiments.-M. Jacquin in a letter to M. Fischer informs him, that in concert with his friends the director Schreibers, colonel Tihursky, and M. Bremser, he repeated the recent experiments of Mr. Davy with success. They generally made use of a battery with vertical piles composed of 1300 pairs of disks, which where generally three inches in diameter, and formed together 70 square feet of surface in contact: the experiment succeeded however with 300 pairs of disks, and it was even perceptible with 70 pairs. One of the processes adopted by the above gentlemen seems to be somewhat novel they placed in a wine glass a small piece of alkali moistened in the air, on a small plate of platina which communicates with the hydrogen pole, and which was entirely covered with rectified petroleum. Finally, they placed on the alkali a thin plate of platina, and pressed it with a metallick rod com

municating with the oxygen pole. The effects being remarked, bubbles of air were extricated as in the first experiment; sometimes there were trifling detonations; and some time afterwards they found the whole of the inferiour surface of the alkali strewed with small scales having a metallick appearance like those which are seen floating in the petroleum. This preparation is very beautiful, particularly when placed in the microscope. It is not combined easily with mercury; for a globule adhering to the point of the brass wire, when plunged in mercury, was not detached, and afterwards detonated in water as before.

In the experiment last described, the place of the platina may be supplied by a flat piece of charcoal. The diamond and sulphur are not conductors of the electrick fluid, and produce no effect. The experiment does not succeed better in vacuo than in the open air. "What is this substance (M. Fischer asks) which resembles a metal? Is it the alkali reduced, or one of its constituent parts, which being combined with oxygen represents it, as Mr. Davy seems to think? or, Is it hydruret of potash? But whence this metallick appearance ?"

From the London Medical and Physical Journal.

During last winter, a phenomenon, which would appear incredible, were it not attested by a great number of persons of known veracity, occurred in the vicinity of Placentia. On the 17th of January, red snow fell upon the mountains in this department, and especially upon that known by the name of Cento-croci. A coat of white snow had covered the tops of these mountains, when several peals of thunder, accompanied with lightning, were heard. From this moment, the snow that fell was red; this continued for some time, after which white snow again fell, so that the red was inclosed between two strata of white. In some places, this snow was only of the colour of peach-blossom, but in others of deep red. Some of it was collected, and the water which it yielded, when melted, retained the same colour. The analysis of it by M. Guigotti, a chemist of Parma, promises interesting results. This phenomenon seems to furnish us with the means of explaining the showers of blood, which are mentioned by the ancients in their

histories. We have already ascertained the existence of pesinites, or stones fallen from the atmosphere, which the Greeks and Latins have spoken of; and now it is impossible to deny the reality of showers of a blood-red colour, which are described by the same authors.

Accounts from Santa Fé, in New Grenada, dated August 19, 1809, mention the death of the celebrated MUTIs, the friend of Linnaeus, and one of the greatest botanists of the age. This venerable and worthy man had devoted upwards of fifty years to the examination of the vegetable productions of America. Attached at first as physician to the viceroy, the count of Casa Flores, he began at his own expense to have drawings, made by native painters, formed by himself, for the Flora of Bagota. This grand work will he continued, and is greatly extended since he was appointed director of the botanical expedition of New Grenada. He had collected in his house considerable herbaries, more than 1500 coloured drawings of new plants, philosophical and astronomical instruments, and a collection of botanical works, inferiour only to that of the illustrious President of the Royal Society of London.

Mr. Rea, one of Mutis's pupils, is the present director of the botanical garden of Madrid. His nephew, Don Sinforosa Mutis, has been commissioned by the government to complete the Flora of Bagota, for which no more than 566 descriptions of new species have been found drawn up by the deceased. Messrs. Mutis and Rixa, two distinguished artists, natives of Santa Fé, are finishing the numerous drawings that were begun. M. Mutis, who in his old age had embraced the ecclesiastical profession, was equally distinguished for the variety and solidity of his attainments, and for the liberality and elevation of his sentiments. Previous to his death, he directed that his library, collections, and instruments, should be applied to the publick use of his fellow-citizens.-Europe is indebted to him for the important discovery of the quinquina of New Grenada. The orange-coloured quinquina, of Santa Fé (cinchona lancifolia) which is not inferiour in quality to the bark of Loxa, (cinchona condaminea) has become an important branch of commerce, at the ports of Carthagena, and Santa Martha.

THE principal object of our jaunt was to visit the celebrated

We sat

convent of Arrabida, on the mountain of that name. out on this expedition at an early hour, while dewy drops hung trembling on the tree. We embarked on board a boat in the river, down which we proceeded. About a league below the town we passed Atun Castle which commands the entrance of the Sado. Our boatmen rowed through a narrow pass between the shore and two huge insulated rocks, whose overhanging craggy cliffs seemed every instant ready to precipitate themselves upon us. Their summits were covered with shrubs. On one of them was erected a monumental cross in memory of a man who was dashed to pieces as he was climbing in pursuit of birds. In the other we saw the mouth of a vast and hideous cavern. We landed not far from this and began to ascend the mountain. As we drew near the summit the extraordinary and singular beauties of this romantick spot increased at every step. Nothing could surpass in sublimity and wildness the scenery around. Below was the Atlantick ocean. At the foot of the mountain lay St. Ubes with its harbour and fertile plain. Before us rose a high, naked and stony ridge of mountains, apparently inaccessible to human footsteps. To

the right the prospect stretched across the black desert waste of Alemtejo, beyond which we distinguished in the distance the spires of Lisbon and the crowd of shipping at anchor in the Tagus. Close to the sea, in a hollow surrounded by steep and naked rocks appeared the small town of Cezimbra. About six miles from St. Ubes the range terminates in the promontory of Espichel. We saw lapwings, storks, and wild ducks in great numbers, and many eagles planing over head. Our guides led us down a flight of steps into an obscure and gloomy cavern consecrated to St. Catharine. It is illuminated only by the light which ascends through an aperture in the rock below, where the sea enters. As we descended, we saw nothing but the sea and rocks over which the waves broke with tremendous violence. The gloom and solitude of the place, and the unceasing roar of the waters, imposed a sort of feeling not unmixed with awe. I was not surprized to see Balthazar and the boatmen on their knees before the image of St. Catherine. The ascent to the mountain was very steep, and grew more laborious as we approached the summit. Rude crosses were erected on almost every crag. We were often obliged to stop and rest. As we ascended,

"Oft did the cliffs reverberate the sound

Of parted fragments tumbling from on high,
And from the summit of the craggy mound
The perching eagle oft was heard to cry,

Or on resounding wings to shoot athwart the sky."

Several little chapels were built on the top of the mountain. A few pines and cypresses grew at intervals. Among the crevices of the rocks the laurestinus, gum cystus, and other shrubs flourished luxuriantly. As we climbed up, the air seemed impregnated with the fragrance which they threw around.

"E'en the rough rocks with tender myrtle bloom,
And trodden weeds send out a rich perfume."

The convent stands nearly at the summit. It is a singular, irregular pile, inhabited by the bearded Franciscans. The walls of the great chapel were covered with votive offerings to our lady of Arrabida, whose miracles are without number. We saw waxen ears, eyes, arms, legs, noses, fingers, toes, and almost every part of the human body suspended in token of the