ART. XIII. Observations on the presumed Analogy of certain Organs of the Embryo, in several distinct Races of Vascular Plants. By JOHN YULE, M.D. F.R.S.E. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edin. 270 XIV. A Description and Draught of a New Invented Ma- chine, for carrying Vessels or Ships out of or into Harbour, Port or River, against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm. By JONATHAN HULLS. With a Plate, 274 XV. Reflections on Volcanoes. By M. GAY LUSSAC, 278 XVI. On the Refractive and Dispersive Power of different Species of Glass, in reference to the improvement of Achromatic Telescopes, with an Account of the Lines or Streaks which cross the Spectrum. By JOSEPH FRAUENHOFER of Munich. With a Plate, 288 XVII. Description of Vettie's Giel, a Scene in Bergen-Stift, in Norway. By the Rev. U. F. BORGESEN, XVIII. On the Heights of the principal Snowy Peaks of the Himálaya Mountains. By Captain J. A. HODGSON, XIX. Sketch of the Geognosy of Madeira and Porto Santo. XX. Account of Mr RONALD'S Pendulum Doubler of Elec- XXII. Account of Mr PERKINS' method of applying his New XXIII. Mineralogical Description of some Aërolites which XXIV. Observations on Double Stars. By M. STRUVE of Dorpat, and Professor AMICI of Modena, XXV. Journal of a Tour to the Coast of the Adriatic Sea, and to the Mountains of Carniola, Carinthia, Ty- rol, Saltzburg, and Bohemia. By Dr DAVID HEN- RY HOPPE and Dr HENRY HORNSCHUCH. (Con- XXVI. Observations on the arguments adduced in support ART. XXVIII. Observations on the difference of the Shell of In- XXIX. Reply to Mr Brooke's Observations on the Con- XXX. General View of the Geognostical Structure of XXXI. On the Anatomy of the Ornithorynchus Paradoxus XXXII. Abstract of Mr FARADAY's Experiments on the XXXIV. Celestial Phenomena, from October 1. 1823 to XXXV. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. (Continued from p. 188.) XXXVI. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, 359 361 372 377 381 384 387 389 391 I. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. ASTRONOMY. 1. History of the Rediscovery of Encke's Comet. 2. Longitude and Latitude of Paramatta. 3. New Elements of Encke's Comet. 4. Observatory of Dorpat in Livonia. 5. Measurement of a Degree in Livonia. 6. Eclipse of the Sun of 7th February 1823, observed at Bushy Heath. 7. Rev. Dr Pearson's Introduction to Practical Astronomy. 8. Change in the Declinations of some of the Fixed Stars, 391-393 OPTICS. 9. Paranthine and Wernerite. 10. On the Defective Vision of the Horse, ACOUSTICS. 11. On the Polarisation of Sound. 12. On the Oscillations of Sonorous Chords, ELECTRICITY. 13. Improvement on the Electrical Machine. 14. On the Production of Electricity by Pressure. 15. Development of Electricity by two pieces of the same Metal, 393 394, 395 395, 396 MAGNETISM. 16. Improved Ship's Compass, MECHANICS. 17. Mr Babbage's Calculating Machinery, METEOROLOGY. 18. Remarkable Balls of Snow at Brunswick. 19. Quantity of Rain in America. 20. On the Periodical reappearance of Thunder-Storms. 21. Periodical Rise and Fall of the Barometer. 22. Influence of Atmospheric Pres- sure on the Bulbs of Thermometers. 23. Whirlwind at Scar- 25. Observations on the Two New Fluids in Minerals. 26. Crystallization of Acetic Acid by Pressure. 27. Conversion of Atmospheric Air into a Fluid by Pressure. 28. Persul- phate of Iron and Ammonia. 29. Boracic Acid in Tour- maline. 30. Varying quantity of Boracic Acid in Tourma- line. 31. Professor Silliman's Additional Observations on the Fusion of Carbonaceous Bodies. 32. Dr Wollaston on MINERALOGY. 38. Sale of the Collection of Minerals of the late Abbé Haüy. 39. Professor Lenz's Works on Mineralo- gy. 40. Non-occurrence of Chalk in the Island of Creta, 404-406 ZOOLOGY. 41. Electricity elicited from the Domestic Cat. 42. Mammifera of Scandinavia. 43. Swedish Ornithology. 44. Sharks and Rays. 45. Fossil Tortoises, ENTOMOLOGY. 46. Progress of Entomology in Sweden. 47. 51. Probable Origin of certain Salt-springs. 52. Method of Cutting Steel by Soft Iron. 53. Mr Barton's Iris-Metal Or- naments. 54. Destructive Volcanic Eruption in Java. 55. Artificial Mahogany. 56. Etching on Glass by Fluoric Acid. 57. Important Improvement in Tanning. 58. The Christian Philosopher, or the Connection of Science with Religion. 59. New Voyage of M. Kotzebue, THE EDINBURGH PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. ART. I.-Biographical Notice of M. Le Chevalier DELAMBRE, Perpetual Secretary for the Mathematical Sciences in the Institute of France, Member of the Board of Longitude, Professor of Astronomy in the College of France, Officer of the Legion of Honour, and one of the Honorary Members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, &c. &c. *. M. DELAMBRE, one of the most learned and active astrono mers of the last century, was born at Amiens on the 19th September 1749. At the Gymnasium of that town, he acquired his knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and had the honour of being a pupil of the celebrated French poet the Abbé Delille. When Delambre was pursuing his studies at his native place, the expulsion of the Jesuits from France left vacant several of the professorships in the College, and these vacancies were filled by Professors sent from Paris. Among these was the Abbé Delille, a Repeater of Syntax in the College of Beauvais, who had already attempted to translate the Georgics of Virgil. The citizens of Amiens, who were attached to the interests of the Jesuits, refused to admit the new Professors into their society, and Delille was thus left to associate only with his pupils. Under these circumstances, he soon distinguished Delambre, and a friendship thus commenced between the mas * This notice has been drawn up from an Eloge of Delambre written in Dutch by our learned correspondent Professor Moll of Utrecht, who was one of his pupils, and from M. Dupin's Notice Necrologique sur M. Delambre, published in the Revue Encyclopedique, December 1822. VOL. IX. NO. 18. oct. 1823. ter and his pupil, which was afterwards renewed in Paris, and which terminated only with the life of the poet. In the year 1782, in the thirty-third of his age, M. Delambre became acquainted with the celebrated French astronomer Lalande, who observing his aptitude for the study of astronomy, advised him to devote his attention to that science. Influenced by this advice, he became the pupil of Lalande, who afterwards used to say that Delambre was his best work. One of the first papers published by Delambre was his account of the occultation of Venus on the 12th April 1785, which appeared in the 3d volume of the Nova Acta Petropolitana; and in the same year he contributed to the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin a dissertation on the Elements of the Solar Orbit, a subject which he afterwards pursued with such distinguished success. The greater number of our author's papers, however, were published in the Connaissance des Tems; and from 1788 to 1817, almost every volume was enriched with a valuable memoir from his pen. The discovery of the Georgium Sidus by Dr Herschel in 1781, directed the attention of astronomers to the determination of its orbit. In this new field, Delambre obtained great distinction. He constructed the most accurate tables of the motion of the new planet; and in 1790, the prize given by the French Academy was awarded to him for these labours. In 1792, he obtained another prize for his Tables of the Satellites of Jupiter; and he soon afterwards presented to the same learned body his Tables of the Motions of Jupiter and Saturn. In consequence of these valuable contributions to the science of astronomy, he was unanimously chosen a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1792. In the same year, he was appointed, along with Mechain, to measure an arc of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona, an operation which, though often interrupted by the events of the Revolution, was finished in the most successful manner in 1795. An account of this great undertaking he afterwards published in his Methodes Analytiques pour la determination d'un Arc du Meridien, one volume 4to, 1799, and in his Base du Systeme Metrique decimal, which appeared in three volumes quarto, from 1806 to 1814. These valuable works could not fail to obtain the highest approbation from the Insti |