The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-27 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.

At the last sitting, M. Chales presented a series
of 60 new theorems all relating to curves of double
curvature of the third order, viz., such as are pro-
duced by the intersection of two cones of the second
order, and in general those th it a plane cannot
meet in more than thiee points, two of which may
be imaginary.—M. Delesse presented a geological
map of the subterranean strata of Paris, compiled
from observations made at various excavations,
chiefly those executed at different points by MM.
Degousee and Mulot. In a paper annexed to the
maps, M. Delesse gives as account of the various
layers constituting the soil of Paris. Chalk forms
the bottom of the basin in which the tertiary soil
of the capital is deposited. Next follow plastic
clay, calcareous strata, sand, &c. The strata of
gypsum have nearly disappeared, and are now
only to be found on tha northern and north eastern
sides of Paris.—M. Bertsch exhibited photographs
of objects magnified by the microscope. Among
them were globules 9f human blood magnified 500
times, crystals of salicine viewed in polatised light,
&c.—The secretary announced the arrival of a copy
of the lunar tables constructed on the Newtonian
principle of universal gravitation, by P. A. Hansen,
being a donatiOn from the British Admiralty.—M.
Leverrier communicated further observations of the
4th comet, by various asironomers, viz., by Dr.
Peters, at the Dudley Observatory, Albany (US.) ;
by Father Secchi at-Rome, by M. Bruhus at Berlin,
and by M. Littrow, at Vienna.—M. w von Villar •
ceau sent in further corrections of the parabolic ele-
,ments of the same comer.—M. Maisonneuve com-
municated an account of a most dangerous opera-
tion, the abstraction of the whole lower jaw-bone,
executed by him with complete success on the 30th
of June last. His patient, a girl of 18, was per-
fectly cured at the end of a fortnight, with scarcely
any visible deformity.—M. Herpin sent in a paper
on the application of anaesthetic agents to the de-
struction of insects in corn. M, Herpin admits
that anaesthesia or stupefaction takes place when
carbonic acid, fur example, is introduced into a re-
ceptacle filled with grain ; but this, he contends, is
not sufficient to kill the insect ; a complete asphyxia
must'be produced to effect that. In corroboration
of this assertion be states that a number of weevils
wqich he had kept 'completely immersed in alcohol
at 18 degrees for several days, revived and
escaped from the saucer as soon as the alchol was
dried up by spontaneous evaporation. In order
effectually to destroy the insects which infest corn,
he recommends ammonia in a gaseous form, which
may be very economically produced by mixing sal
ammoniac with quicklime. The members of a com-
mittee for a monument to Dr. Jenner to be erected
in France had addressed a letter to the Academy
requesting its patronage for theirundertaking.—M.
Elie de Baumont, one of the perpetual secretaries,
communicated a letter which he hid received from
M. Bodes Deslongchampe, in which the writer an-
nounced that large quantities of natural phosphateq;
which might prove valuable for agriculture, exist
on certain points of the Straits of Magellan. The
discovery was made some years ago by a Havre
seaman, who, on landing there, was surprised to find
the coast allcovered, not with stones or pebbles, but
with au immense quantity of fragments of bones of
all sizes. He picked some up and brought them
home. The bones appeared all to belong to amphi-
bious animals, such as phocm, morsel, &c. It is not
unlikely, the writer thinks, that large deposits of
bones may be found on the numerous islands with
which the Straits of Magellan are studded and as the
bones of the animals alluded to are superior ta guano
as manure, it might be desirable to ascertain the fact.
—M. Tison submitted an apparatus of his inven-
tion for the distillation of gas, consisting of a re-
tort which, instead of being fixed, is impressed
with a rotatory motion. The advantages of this
apparatus are that the accumulation of tarry mat-
ter is prevented by the rotatlon of the vessel, so
that the distillation of the coal is complete ; that,
the retort itself lasts longer. because, iustead of
receiving the action of tii. fire at one point only,
the rotatory motion exposes each part of the bot-
tom in turn to the heat of the furnace ; and that, in
case of accident, the retort may ba removed for
repair without pulling down the masonry. A letter
was read from M. Hericard Ferrand, on the sub-
ject of an earthquake felt in 1776 in a coal-pit near
Bayeux, the chief point of interest being that the
shock was more violent at the bOttom of the mine
than at the surface. This shock occurred 21 years
after the Lisbon earthquake of rim, and 20 years
before that felt at Littry on the 25th Jan., 1796.
M. Quetelet, perpetual secretary to the Academy
of Sciences of Brussels, wrote to propose the re-
sumption of the great plan of uniform meteorologi-
cal observations which had been agreed upon by a
scientific conference before the breaking out of the
Eastern war. This conference had met on the
invitation of the United States, and consisted of
delegates from most of the maritime nations of the
world ; the chief object was to establish a uniform
system of meteorological observations at sea, in
order to ascertain the direction of the winds and
currents of the ocean. When the Eastern war
broke out these observations were in a great mea-
sure interrupted, the nations which had ben among
the foremost promoters of the plan being precisely
those engaged as principals in, the war ; neverthe-
less, the naval officers of some powers continued
their observations. M. Quetelet believes that the
time has come when the original plan might be re-
sumed, and solicits the co-operation of the Academy
of Sciences of Paris.