The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-01-30
NATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Refsr' on the pros-ess Of the Sciences ren, IKE Is
foeh Of the Hexch Revolafion (17s9) TO the yedr
1903 n,ads ~ a sommiss'on Of she Instisate 81
France. ~ ~ar, q fhe Kmp~or Napoieor,
His Majesty being in council. deputation
from the ca., OF Ms,hefIsticaf aud Physical Sci
ences ct the Institute, composed of M NJ. z l.
gsiuvile, president of the Institute Terror,
vice president; Delambre, Culver, secretaries /;
M. M Lagrange, Mongc, Me>sier de Fleerieu,
Ch-c'es beriholiett, HauS, J.anarck, Thou;n,
de Lacepede. and Dessesarts. members of the
Institute was presented by his xcele,,cy the
minister of tbe home department, and admitted TO
the bar of the conncil. fesS
Zn.redac..y .tsreh II NJ Bsagaineiiir, FSe.i
eent 81 the Instirnte,
Your imperial and royal msiesty ha. ordered
that the several classes of the Institute should
appear in your council. and report to you on the
present state of the sciences, literature, and the
arts, and on their progress since the year 1889
The class OF the mathematical and physical
sciences now perform that duty, and IN presenting
myself At the head of the learned men who
compose 1t, Fam indebted to my age for that no
nor.
But, sire, such is the variety of objects with
which ths class has been occupied, that even
WITH attthe conciseness of which profound know
ledge and spirit OF analysis afford facility,
Sfgrext extent.
II is therefore only the sketch of their la
bors that NJ M Deambre and Cuvier are about
10 read.
shall make only single observation, which
rs, that at the same time that the period from
1879 TO 1903 will be, for political and military
events, one of the most memorable in the annals
Of na,ions,it will also be one of the most brill
ant in the records Of the arts and sciences.
The share which the French have had in the
Improvement of those analytical methods, which
have led to the great discoveries of the system
OF the world, and even to those OF the three
Kingdoms OF nature, will shew that it the mfiu,
cnce of one man alone has made heroes OF
all our warriors, our learned men, honored by
the protection OF your majesty, whom they have
seen in their ranks. have claim to add some
rays to the national glory.
Here follows VI. Dciambre, Secretary OF the
Class, for The Mathematical Sciences-we shalt
pass over what he says to the progress of the
e!e'nencv mathematics, and their application to
rational and Practical nlechaics, and astronomy
and go on to what is more Ineligible and IN
terestng TO the generality Of resdersl
AArH.nAricAL YAyslcs.
The revolution effected in chemistry, within
eur time, must, III come measure, have Diverted
from their hab,tuGl pursu natural philoso-
piers, who perceived an a science, so nearly re-
lated to their own, career opened before them,
shall, however, have To relate, in physics, some
curious labors and interesting inventions.
the balance OF TOrs'on, with which Couloinb
so successfully determined the law of electrical
attractions and repuls'ons, wss sufficient for him
to prove, hat the magnetic phenomena are sub
lect to y similar law; to measure the smallest
effects of magnetism to find high degree of
temperature, which causes them totally To dis.
sppear to Shew that magnetism not, as it
was supposed, 3 property peculiar to certain bo-
Dies, but that it exists IN all, even to those which
appear the most destitute OF it. BY means Of
tie ssne balance, he measured the resistance
which fluids oppose to motion, the law Of which
10 expressed by two terms, OF which Newton
had found only the first, because the second
becomes sensible only in very slow motions.
Coulomb devoted his whole life to the i'm
proremcnt ct dipping and declining compasses-
Il las. dip was particularly d icuit to obtain be
Cause Nj. NJ. Couion5, Lapiace and Borda, had
no, yet giventhe caAons calculated to determine
NJ by the number ofoscillations and because the
ccmpasses were Inaccurate. NJ Giipin has lust
published, IN the philosophical transactions, .
long series OF observatoGs, she wing that The IN
clinst.on dip il subject 10 diurnai and secular
variations, and that the annual dim;nuton is now
five minutes. NJ. Cassmi observed the diurnsl
ineq L,iities of the defamation with compasses of
his oMr invention NJ gfo. has attempted to de.
] ter mne, by the observations of LaypArouse and
M Humooldt, Che position OF the magnetic e.
.qua.Cr and It's intersection with the terrestrial
equator M Humboldt i'll his turn, verified M
Biops theory, b. new observations made con-
Jointly with M Gray Lussac. They found, that
neither the great chains OF mountains nor vol
caaoes, even when burning, mad any sensible in
.huence ON the magnetic force that this force
diminished Progresajye!y in proportion to the
disence froId the terres.;al equstor. ri NJ Bi.
OF and Gay Lussac remarked, in their sreostatic
sscensions, that the III tsnce from the earth calIs
7 ed no perceptbe dii,i.nution in TIE intensity of
magnetism, although VI. Gay Lu5sac, in the last
OF these sscensioDs, rose TO the grestest height
to which any one ever reached, as 1t exceeds
that Of all the mountains of the globe.
DIR. WoiiastOn had cottrved an extremely
simple apparatus, by means of which he messur
ed, with accuracy, the refFaction and reflection
Of transparent substsnces Nj. Malus, by "a We
ny ingenious addition, extended the use of il to
Opaque substances; and lis analysis has ems
bied MIN TO discover error which had escs-
ped Dr. Wollsst0n, who hsd not the means of
submitting 10 experiment that part of his tleo-
ny
N Earnond, Of the Pyrenees, had discovered
very slight correction To be MAIDEN the co eff
Gent ofthe canon Of NJ a1lace ,f.,c measuring ths
height Of mountain, whicb barometlic oh
seryation is made NJ Biof, in repeating the
physics al experiments on which Nj, Laplece had
fOnn,led bis theory, discovered that the corrcc-
fpn Was necessary ard these experiments of
NJ Blot gave him tie cy.eifcent of NJ Ramona,
IS they gave the refrn ton OF NJ Delambre.---
THIS ssale labor led T. Other interesting conse-
qdences, on the reirActng power Of the differ.
ent gases, and to nsthod of estimating, with
more precision th,1 even by lchernicai processes,
the composition. OF various substances such, for
instance, AS the diamond, which he thinks to be