LITERARY

AND

PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Great Britain.

British Association for the advancement of Science.-The idea of this Association was first suggested by Sir David Brewster, of Edinburgh. It was carried into execution by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, particularly by the efforts of Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt. The first meeting was held in York in 1831; the second in Oxford in 1832; the third in Cambridge in September last; the fourth will be held in Edinburgh in September of the present year. The effect of such a union of scientific men throughout the kingdom, will be not only to give connection to the efforts of insulated inquirers, but to link the Societies themselves together in unity of purpose and in a common participation and division of labor. There are many important questions in philosophy, and some whole departments of science, the data of which are geographically distributed, and require to be collected by local observations extended over a whole country. No society has ever pretended to collect observations on a regular system, nor to form a national catalogue of the scattered particulars of any one science accurately detailed. When individuals meet for scientific objects, the effect of the general effort, emulation, and example, is to produce a spirit of exertion which gives to such meetings their principal value. In short, to come to a common understanding on subjects of general interest; to fix the data on which important points of theory hinge; to collect and connect extensive series of observations. The following are among some of the most important proceedings at the last meeting at Cambridge. A great majority of the members, together with several hundred others, having arrived on the 24th of June, an arrangement was made of provisional committees, of sections. 1. Mathematical and General Physics, Sir D. Brewster, Chairman; Rev. Geo. Peacock, deputy Chairman; Prof. Forbes, Secretary; 38 members, among whom were Barlow, Babbage, Whe well, Herschell, Baily, Airy, Lardner, Dollond, Christie, Powell, Corrie, Brisbane, &c. II. Chemistry, Mineralogy, &c., Dr. Dalton, Chairman; Prof. Cumming, deputy Chairman; Prof. Miller, Secretary; 16 members, among whom were Daubeny, Miller, Faraday, Turner, Prout, Ritchie, Harcourt, &c. III. Geology and Geography, Mr. G. B. Greenough, Chairman; Rev. Dr. Buckland, and Mr. R. I. Murchison, deputy Chairmen; Messrs. William Londale and John Phillips, Secretaries; 18 members, Conybeare, Sedgwick, Boase, Fitton, &c. IV. Natural History, Rev. W. P. L. Garnons, Chairman; Rev. L. Jenyns, deputy Chairman; Messrs. C. C. Babington, and D. Dow, Secretaries; 17 members. V. Anatomy, Medicine, &c., Dr. Haviland, Chairman;

Dr. Clark, deputy Chairman; Dr. Pond, and Mr. Paget, Secretaries; 19 members, Sir C. Bell, Drs. Alderson, Mayo, Prout, Roget, Paris, &c.

A discussion was commenced in the physical section in the morning, and resumed at a general meeting in the evening, on the phenomena of shooting stars, and of the aurora borealis, in which Robinson, Dalton, Airy, Herschell, Whewell, Christie, Scoresby, and Gilbert engaged. It was stated by some that the aurora was never elevated more than from three to seven miles above the earth's surface, while others contended that its altitude was 90 or 100 miles. June 25, a meeting of the general committee took place at ten o'clock. At eleven and twelve, meetings of the sections were resumed. Remarks were made on atmospheric phenomena, naval architecture, isomorphism, pith of plants, mines, spiders, nervous system, &c. At one o'clock, a meeting of the Association was held. Dr. Buckland, president of the meeting at Oxford, made some brief remarks, and resigned the office of president to Prof. Sedgwick. Prof. Sedgwick then addressed the meeting. He announced that Mr. Whewell had, at his request, prepared a review of the reports on the progress and present state of various branches of science, which had been presented at the meeting of last year, and also announced, that the government had conferred on Dr. Dalton a pension out of the civil list. Mr. Whewell then addressed the assembly at great length. At the evening meeting, Mr. John Taylor read a report on the subject of mineral veins. There are three leading hypotheses; first, that which supposes metallic veins to have open fissures, caused by some eruption, and filled up with various matters, by aqueous solution from above; the second theory is, that these fissures were formed by violence done to the strata, and filled up by matter from within the earth, forced up by heat, and becoming a mineral substance; the third theory is, that the whole formation was contemporaneous with the rocks themselves.

June 26th. At the sectional meetings, the following, among other communications, were read. Action of glass of antimony on light; account of a barometer cistern; account of a new reflecting telescope; compressibility of water; specific gravity of gases; account of experiments relating to sulphur salts; action of light on plants; ordnance maps geologically colored. At the general meeting the chairman read a report of the proceedings of the different sections.

June 27. The treasurer reported that the total receipts of the Association were £1,430. The number of members when the meeting commenced, was 680. The number of new members was 689. The chairmen of the different sections then read reports. Messrs Christie and Whewell communicated some papers. In the evening meeting, Messrs. Whewell and Farish read reports, the former on the tide wave, the latter on rail-ways and steam carriages.

June 28. The several sections met at ten o'clock, and at one o'clock, the last public meeting was held in the senate house. Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Henry, and Prof. Jameson were elected members. The reports of the sections were read. Mr. Challis communicated a paper on the theory of fluids. It was announced that at the next meeting at Edinburgh, Sir Thomas Brisbane would be president, and Drs. Brewster and Robinson

vice presidents. A number of gentlemen having addressed the meeting, it was then dissolved.

Royal Society-February 13. A. P. W. Phillip, M. D. read a dissertation on the "operations of the different causes which produce death." The forms of death are five. 1. The only natural and simple mode of death is that of old age, when the powers of life become exhausted by the continual operation of the agents which had excited them., 2. Continued action of stimulants producing a diseased condition of the sensorium, which by sympathy communicates an influence to the vital organs. 3. Causes acting as direct sedatives, impairing excitability with previous excitement. 4. Impairing the operations of the vital organs, by depriving some of those organs of the stimulants on which their force depends. 5. Such causes as directly debilitate the organs themselves. J. W. Lubbock, vice president of the Society, read an article "on the tides." The theory of the tides, he remarked, is now in the same state as that in which the theory of the moon and planets was a century since. There can be no tables of tides formed, without that liberal patronage from government and learned bodies, to which the excellent tables of the planets are owing.

Zoological Society.-April 1. It was stated that there had been 10,000 visitors at the gardens and museum of the Society, during the month of March. The eighth number of Gould's work on the birds of Europe, a great and valuable undertaking, was presented.

Royal Asiatic Society.-March 15. Some account was given of M. Schulze, a native of Hesse, Germany, who was deputed by the French government to make antiquarian researches in Persia. Contrary to the wishes of his friends, he left Tebreez to penetrate into a part of Kurdistan. He was there murdered by the khan of Albagh. Some of his notes were sent to France.

Captain Ross-The results of captain Ross's expedition to the northern regions are the following. The discovery of the gulf of Boothia, the continent and isthmus of Boothia Felix, and a vast number of islands, rivers, and lakes; the undeniable establishment that the north-east point of America extends to the 74th degree of north latitude; and valuable observations of various kinds, particularly on the magnet. The object of the expedition was to solve, if possible, the question of a north-west passage, from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, particularly by Prince Regent's inlet. The expedition sailed from England, in May 1829, and on the 13th of August reached the beach on which his majesty's ship Fury's stores were landed. The boats, provisions, &c. were in excellent condition, but there was no vestige of the wreck. On the 15th, they rounded cape Garry, where their new discoveries commenced. They then passed the latitude of 72° N. in longitude 94° W. On the 1st of October, their progress was arrested by an impenetrable barrier of ice. The winter was passed in making surveys, and in intercourse with the natives. The following summer, there was no disruption of the ice, and the vessel was removed only four miles. In the winter of 1830 and 1831, the thermometer was 92° below the freezing point. During the winter, it was fully proved that there could be no passage below the 71st degree. The following winter was very

severe, and in the succeeding summer, they were able to move the ship but 14 miles. The ship was abandoned, and the winter was passed at Fury beach, where their sufferings were very severe, for want of clothing, bedding, and animal food. On the 25th of August, they reached the Isabella, which had been sent for them. They soon after arrived in England.

Miscellaneous.

A series of philological works on scriptural subjects are in a course of publication in England, under the title of the "Biblical Cabinet." Six volumes are published, containing Ernesti's Principles of Interpretation, translated by Rev. C. R. Terrot; Tracts on the Philology of the New Testament, by Pfannkuche, Planck, Tholuck and Beckhaus; Tittman's Syntagma of the New Testament; Tholuck's Commentaries on the Romans and on the Sermon on the Mount, translated by the Rev. R. Menzies.-The Life and Correspondence of the Traveller, Henry Salt, F. R. S., in two volumes, by John J. Halls, Esq. has just been published in London. Also Remarks on Transportation for Criminal Offences, by Archbishop Whately, addressed to Earl Grey.-The Poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in three volumes octavo, with many new poems, is publishing.-M. Longford, LL. D., of the Whately professorship of Political Economy at Dublin, has published a course of lectures on the subject.

The annual expenditure of the state and of the civil list, for the several establishments in favor of learning and the fine arts in France, may be estimated at £122,000, a sum ten fold of that which is expended for similar purposes in Great Britain.-The number of Bibles sold annually, in Scotland, is rather above 60,000. The number printed annually in England, by the king's printers and the two universities, is 240,000; making in all about 300,000, exclusive of about as many Testaments.-A journal of a three years' residence in Abyssinia, by the Rev. Samuel Gobat, has just been published in London. Also the sermons and other remains of the Rev. R. Lowth, D. D.

Continent of Europe.

About a dozen newspapers are now published in Copenhagen, Denmark, all under the control of the censor.-On the 1st of April, 1834, the annual exhibition of sculpture and paintings of the Danish Academy of Arts was opened to the public. It comprises 305 subjects, of which 217 are pictures and drawings, 44 pieces of sculpture, and the rest studies in architecture. Thorvaldsen alone contributed thirty-seven specimens.-A new series of the annals of natural sciences has commenced at Paris, with this year, edited in the zoological department by Audouin and Milne-Edwards, and in the botanical by Brogniart and Gillermin.-Labaume, author of Napoleon's Russian campaign, has commenced the publication of a history of the French Revolution, in 21 vols. 8vo.-A political and military history of the revolution in Poland in 1830 and 1831, is now publishing in French, translated from the German of Dr. Spazier of Leipzig. It is a popular work, having gone through several editions in German.-That vast undertaking, the

Encyclopedia Methodique, was completed at the close of 1833. It consists of 40 distinct dictionaries, extending to upwards of 200 volumes, and illustrated by upwards of 6,000 plates. At one time, it had 6,000 subscribers. It was commenced in 1782, by Pankoucke, and continued by his son-in law, M. Agasse, and his widow.-In the Encyclopedia des Gens du Monde, are oriental articles by Klaproth, Reinard, Champollion-Figeac, Depping, Golberry, &c.-A biographical dictionary of musicians has been announced by M. Fetis. A history of book-selling has been announced by M. Metz, of Darmstadt, who has been employed on the subject for the last ten years. It is for the literary world in general.—A journal has commenced at Leipzig, under the direction of a committee of the booksellers of that city, to be devoted to all matters, connected with the interests of the book trade in that city.-Professor Poeppig of Leipzig, will publish in the course of this year, the first volume in 4to. of his travels in Chili, Peru, and along the Amazon, in the years 1827-32. He is the only German who has visited these countries for scientific purposes.-Dr. Mendelsohn, of Bonn, is preparing for press a work on Great Britain.-Professor Ranke, of Berlin, will shortly publish a history of the Popes, for which he discovered many hitherto unexplored materials during his residence in Italy.-Dr. Gervinus will speedily publish a history of the poetical literature of the Germans.-Aloys Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, died at Munich on the 25th of February.— Salis, a poet of the class of Thomson and Haller, died at Malans on the 28th of January last.-A committee has been appointed by the king of Sardinia, to superintend the publication of a collection of the historians of that island. -The Archæological Society of Rome, have established three periodical publications for the promotion of its interesting objects.—The excavations at Pompeii are continued with increased vigor. New buildings have been disinterred, and some beautiful Mosaic pieces, representing historical events of the wars of Alexander the Great, have been brought to light.-The German professors of the university of Dorpat, Russia, have commenced a periodical in the German language, which is made the vehicle of much curious information respecting Russia.-Lenz, who studied the oriental languages under Bopp, has been allowed to reside two years in England at his Russian majesty's expense.

King of Denmark. The present sovereign of Denmark, Frederick VI., has displayed an ardor and a liberality in the cause of science in which he has not been surpassed by any other prince. In addition to the learned men and the scientific establishments that he munificently supports in his own kingdom, he has rewarded in a most disinterested manner distinguished philosophers of other nations. He presented the late general Mudge, superintendent of the ordnance office; general Muffling, director of the topographical survey of Prussia; Krusenstern, the celebrated Russian circumnavigator; Alexander Humboldt; Baron Lindenau, &c., with gold chronometers, executed by the Danish artists, Jurgensen and Keffels. He gave to Fallon, the director of the Austrian survey, a superb pendulum clock by Jurgensen and a gold medal to the English engineer, Troughton. He conferred the order of Dannebroga on Reicherbach, Fraunhofer, Gauss, Arago, Olbers, Bessel, Encke, Struve, &c. In 1832, he offered a gold medal of the