tral Asia, from Orenbourg to Meshed, over a space of 20 degrees in breadth, the annual temperature seldom falls to 6° Centigrade; at the southern limit of the first terraces described above, date trees grow and produce fruit in abundance, from which we must conclude that the annual temperature here is not below 18° Cent.; hence, in this direction and in moving toward the equator two geographic degrees only, the mean annual temperature acquires an increase equal to that gained to the north of Meshed by a progress of 20 degrees along the meridian. M. Khanikoff calls the attention of the Geographical Society to this point, that the rapid elevation of the degree of the annual temperature cannot be explained by the astronomical and hypsometrical coördinates alone, of the regions where this increase has been observed. He thinks that one of the essential causes to which it should be referred is the dryness of the air, which rapidly increases from the southern shore of the Caspian Sea to the frontier of Béloutchistan, so that in the desert of Lut the atmosphere contains onlyths of relative humidity.

After entering into detail relative to the probable limits of the highest temperature, determined from the softening observed in the stearine which was in the baggage of the members of the expedition, M. Khanikoff has described some of the most striking atmospheric phenomena which he has himself studied in Khorassan. He mentions, among others, waterspouts and whirlwinds of dust, the dry mist, the atmospheric fluctuations, the mirage, and finally, observations upon the zodiacal light, which was seen by the expedition while traversing the space between Anarderré and Kirman. In conclusion, M. Khanikoff presented to the assembly the whole trigonometrical network, by aid of which the sketches which he has traced were drawn, adding the details of the circumstances which accompanied the operations. For want of time he reserved to another meeting the enumeration of the ethnographical labors of the expedition.

ART. XXXVII.-Correspondence of Prof. Jerome Nicklès, of Nancy, France, dated Feb. 26th, 1860.

French Academy of Sciences, Public meeting and distribution of the prizes. This meeting was held Jan. 30; it was concluded with the eulogy upon Thénard, pronounced by Flourens, one of the Perpetual Secretaries. The following is a summary of the principal prizes awarded.

Prize for Astronomy.-This prize was awarded to Robert Luther, for the discovery of Mnemosyne, the only new planet of the year 1859. Mnemosyne is the 57th of the group of telescopic planets between Mars and Jupiter, and the 8th of those which are due to Mr. Luther. The

Academy has already four times awarded the prize to this astronomer for the discovery of the five planets, Thetis, Proserpine, Bellona, Leucothea, and Fides.

The prize for Mechanics was awarded to Mr. Giffard for the invention of a new feeding apparatus for steam boilers, which he calls an "automatic injector." The report, made by Combes, gives great praise to this apparatus. The injector very advantageously replaces the feeding pumps of steam boilers. In addition to the fact that it avoids all loss of heat, other than that which results from the cooling of the exterior of the tubes in which the steam and hot water circulate, the absence of any movable solid parts, exposed to wear and derangement, the extreme facility with which the quantity of water supplied can be regulated between limits sufficiently narrow, &c., render it very valuable for locomotive machines. Accordingly several great railroad companies have already applied it to machines of this kind.

The automatic injector takes its origin from an observation made by Savart in 1832, in his experiments upon the fall of liquid veins; a current let fall from a vessel where the level is maintained at a given height, penetrates directly and quite unbroken into a vessel where the surface is less elevated.

The observations of Savart; the phenomena, long known, of the communication of lateral motion to fluids by which is explained the action of those blowing machines called trompes; the forcible drawing in of air through the intervals which separate the bases of the tuyeres of high furnaces; the effects of the blast pipe of locomotive engines, &c., have given Mr. Giffard a hint which has led him to the invention for which the Academy have just awarded a prize.

Mr. Giffard, who is a person of very earnest spirit, is known in France by his attempts at guiding balloons. Some years since he obtained evident results in directing them, since he succeeded in making his balloon move against the wind, at the Hippodrome in Paris. This fact was stated in a report signed by intelligent men. Although without means to continue his researches upon this point, Giffard was not discouraged. Instead of making a show of his misery, and representing himself as persecuted by science, or as a martyr to an idea, he left balloons for the time and set about the construction of locomotive machines; he thought of his injector, and put off his researches upon ballooning until by his labors he should again be furnished with means to continue them; complete success crowned his investigations; he has now placed himself in a condition to take up again his favorite pursuits.

Physical sciences.-A prize has just been divided between Daubrée, Dean of the Faculty of Science at Strasbourg, and Delesse, mining engineer at Paris. The question proposed for competition was in respect to the Metamorphism of Rocks. The report of the committee will not convey to the readers any more knowledge than they have already obtained from this Journal which has often made mention of the labors of Messrs. Delesse and Daubrée.

The Prize for experimental Physiology has been awarded to Pasteur for his researches in regard to fermentation. They bear upon alcoholic fermentation, lactic fermentation, and tartaric fermentation, and of their

isomeric compounds. The report of the committee has particular reference to the physiological side of the question; it was edited by Claude Bernard, an emimently distinguished physiologist. The following extract is from the report:

Following the example of Cagniard Latour, Pasteur considers the yeast of beer an organized body; he regards the modifications which it undergoes during alcoholic fermentation as of a nature essentially vital, and he shows that the chemical phenomena of fermentation are connected with a perpetual renewal of the yeast; whence it follows that, during the alcoholic fermentation, the sugar not only gives origin to chemical substances which disengage themselves or remain dissolved in the liquid, but at the same time, there is still a portion of the sugar which is taken up by the yeast in the form of cellulose, and another portion in the form of fatty matter, while the nitrogen of the old yeast serves to regenerate the new. Pasteur has made in this respect an experiment which, so to speak, reduces physiological conditions to the most simple relations which can connect living beings with mineral nature. Но has shown, in fact, that the globules of yeast develop and multiply, and that the sugar ferments, when a quantity of the globules, so to speak, imponderable is sown in a medium composed at the same time of: 1st. A solution of pure candied sugar. 2d. An ammoniacal salt, the dextrotartrate, for example. 3d. Mineral substances containing phosphates. The ammonia is seen to disappear and to be transformed into the complex albuminous matter of the yeast, while at the same time, the phosphates give up their mineral constituents to new globules. The carbon which is one of the constituent elements of the yeast, is evidently furnished by the sugar. Before Pasteur, the lactic yeast was generally considered as organic matter in process of alteration, but not as organized matter. Our author has discovered and pointed out the special character of a lactic yeast, which is much more minute than the yeast of beer. During the lactic fermentation this yeast buds and multiplies, behaving in the matter of reproduction very much like the yeast of beer. In regard to the fermentation of tartaric acid and its congeners, Pasteur has arrived at very unexpected results, having a high chemical and physiological interest. Putting into conditions of fermentation with albuminous matter, and at a suitable degree of heat, the racemate of ammonia, which is formed by the union of the right- and left-handed tartrates of ammonia, and which has no effect on polarized light, it was seen that the phenomena of fermentation finally manifested themselves, and that new chemical products were formed at the expense of the racemate of ammonia. But it is remarkable that only the elements of the right-handed tartrate separate or ferment, to give rise to the products of fermentation, while under the same conditions the left-handed tartrate remains unaltered in solution in the liquid, which then acts very energetically upon polarized light. In this fermentation there is produced a yeast peculiar to the right-handed tartaric acid, which developes itself in presenting the characteristics of a mycodermic vegetable.

This example proves, in the plainest manner, the influence of the molecular dissimilarity of organic bodies, in the phenomena of fermentation. It is, indeed, impossible otherwise to interpret the marked differ

ence which, in this respect, the right and left tartaric acids exhibit, since both have exactly the same physical properties, the same chemical composition, and they differ only in the interior arrangement, which gives to their constituent parts a rotatory power equal, but in opposite directions, and which corresponds to the dissimilarity which is reproduced in their aptitude or inaptitude, to be influenced by ferments.

In short, Pasteur regards the chemical phenomena of fermentation as being always correlative to the vital phenomena of organization, and to the development which takes place, at the same time, in the organized yeasts which have the power to excite it.

The committee judged that the author, in thus pursuing the physiologic study of the yeasts, in the direction which he had chosen, would bring new light to bear upon a series of organic products, which are related to the phenomena of nutrition and histogeny.

Transplantation of the Periosteum.-Honorable mention was also made of Mr. Ollier, in reference to his interesting experiments on the transplantation of the periosteum, preserving its property of renewing the osseous tissue. The author showed, that if a strip of the periosteum is detached from the bone of a living animal, and is transplanted to the subcutaneous cellular tissue upon the same animal, or upon another individual of the same species, the fragment of periosteum becomes encrusted, and continues to live in such a manner that vessels are formed in its substance, and communicate with those in its vicinity, as can be proved by careful injection after death: Ollier has likewise proved that, several hours after death, the possibility of this transplantation of the periosteum still remains.

Prize relative to the unhealthy Arts.-This prize was awarded to the inventor of a lamp suitable for giving light to laborers at work beneath the surface of water. It is a lantern, consisting of a thick cylindrical covering of glass fixed between two iron plates. A reservoir, containing a mixture of alcohol and turpentine ("burning fluid") is placed in the interior. Where the apparatus is plunged into water, the air necessary to support combustion comes to the bottom of the lantern through two iron tubes opening up into the atmosphere. The products of combustion are likewise removed by means of a tube fitted to the centre of the upper plate, which is also prolonged so as to open into the atmosphere, and of which the section is double that of both the tubes, through which the external air is supplied.

The inventor of this apparatus was a simple workman, named Guigardot. With this lamp it is possible to work under water to the depth of twenty metres. It has been used with success at the works of the monumental bridge built over the Rhine, at Strasbourg. It illuminates a circle of 2m 50 radius, even in turbed water.

Medical Prize. In the preceding years we gave much praise to the committee in charge of the medical prize. They sometimes expended even 90,000 francs in prizes of all kinds, awarded even to chemists whenever their labors were important to one of the branches of the healing art. This year the committee have been economical, one knows not why, inasmuch as important works are not wanting. They have awarded only honorable mention to physicians for the labors of their profession.

Prize for Organic Chemistry.-The opposite state of things appears in the department of chemistry, which for the first time has awarded a prize to living chemists. A sum of 6000 francs was divided between Messrs. Wurtz and Cahours; to Prof. Wurtz for his researches upon glycol and its derivatives, and upon the new bases containing oxygen recently discovered; to Prof. Cahours for his labors in reference to the organic radicals. Be it understood, there is no question as to who is the discoverer of the composite radicals (Liebig), nor of the organo-metallic radicals (Loewig).

Bréant Prize. This prize is in reference to cholera and contagious diseases. It has not been awarded. The pieces sent for this concours were mostly mere letters, containing medical formulæ, all, according to their authors, infallible for the cure of the cholera, and all wanting, both in practical observations in regard to this dangerous disease, and in rational deductions as to the nature of its attack, and the symptoms which accompany and constitute it. The following are the principal questions proposed for the concours of 1861 and 1862:

1st question. "Discuss carefully and compare with theory, the observations upon the tides, made in the principal ports of France."

2nd quest. "To complete in some important point the geometrical theory of polyhedrons."

3rd quest. "Establish the general equations of the movement of the earth's atmosphere, taking into consideration the rotation of the earth, the calorific action of the sun, and the attractive forces of the sun and moon."

4th quest. "Study of any question, at the option of the candidates, relative to optical phenomena."

5th quest. "At different points of the thermo-electric scale and for a difference of temperature reduced to 1° C. to determine the directions and compare the relative intensities of the electric currents produced by different thermo-electric substances."

6th quest.

"Determine by experiment the causes which influence the difference of position of the optical and photogenic foci."

7th quest.

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Comparative anatomy of the nervous system of fishes." 8th quest. "Study of the hybrid vegetables, with respect to their fecundity, and the perpetuity or non-perpetuity of their character." 9th quest. "Study of the mode of formation and of the structure of spores and of the other organs which contribute to the reproduction of fungi, their physiological office, the germination of the spores, and particularly with reference to parasitic fungi, their mode of penetration and developement in other living organized bodies."

Each of these prizes consists of a medal of the value of 3000 fr.

10th quest. "Essay upon carefully made experiments, to throw new light upon the question of so-called spontaneous generation."

11th quest. "Experimental study of the modifications which can be effected in the developement of the embryo of a vertebrate animal by the action of external agents."

12th quest. "Study of the distribution of the vessels of the latex in the different organs of plants, with particular regard to their relation to or connection with the lymphatic or spiral vessels, as well as with the fibres of the liber."