IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES IN ABYSSINIA.

M. ROCHER D'HERICOURT, who has lately returned from a voyage to Abyssinia, has brought with him above a score of manuscripts in the Ethiopian language, all of vast antiquity and great literary value. They are folio in form, bound in red leather, with the Greek cross and strange ornaments on the covers. In some of them the writing runs right across the page; in others it is in columns; in nearly all it is firm and bold in character. Some of the manuscripts are on history, religion, and science; one is a complete and very curious treatise on the mystery of Eastern astrology; and one, which appears to have been written at the beginning of the 11th century, contains a copy of the Bible, which differs in some respects from the ordinary version. — Literary Gazette.

NEW STATUE DISCOVERED AT ROME.

DURING the month of November, in the course of some excavations in the Transtevere, in Rome, a statue of a wrestler was discovered, wrought in Greek marble. It is of a semi-colossal size, and many artists, who have examined it, say that it is in merit at least equal, if not superior, to the Apollo Belvedere. It very much resembles a statue described by Pliny. - London News.

TOMB OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

A FRENCH paper gives the following details relating to works for the tomb of the Emperor Napoleon. An immense circular crypt has been dug beneath the dome; within which, on three shafts of green marble, the sarcophagus containing the Emperor's coffin will repose. A huge block of porphyry, presented by the Emperor of Russia, is destined to cover the sarcophagus. A lower gallery, paved with mosaics, and lined with marble bas-reliefs, representing the principal events of the Emperor's life, will admit the public to move around the sarcophagus. Twelve colossal statues, in white marble, will sustain `an upper gallery, whence the sarcophagus may be looked down on and its details examined from above. These allegorical statues, from the chisel of Pradier, represent the principal branches of human activity, science, legislation, war, arts, &c. A magnificent altar of black marble, veined with white, rises in front of the tomb. Four large and beautiful columns, also of black and white marble, support the canopy of carved and gilt wood. Ten broad steps, each cut from a single block of Carrara marble, lead up to the funeral altar. Beneath this altar is the passage to the lower gallery above spoken of; whose entrance is guarded on either side by the tombs, in black marble, of Bertrand and Duroc, dead marshals keeping wait at the door of the imperial dead. The marbles employed in the construction of this tomb cost not less than a million and a half of francs ($300,000), in the rough; the sculptures and bas-reliefs cost six hundred thousand francs ($ 120,000). The block of porphyry, for the

covering of the sarcophagus, weighs 45,000 kilograms (50 tons); its extraction and carriage to Paris cost one hundred and forty thousand francs ($28,000). It comes from the shores of Lake Onega. Between the tombs of Bertrand and Duroc a shrine will be erected to receive the sword of Austerlitz, the imperial crown, and eighty standards captured under the Empire. - London Athenæum, March.

SUBTERRANEAN MAP OF PARIS.

A SUBTERRANEAN map of Paris, commenced in 1844, is, it is said, nearly completed. It will form an atlas of forty-five sheets,- - corresponding to a superficies of five hundred by three hundred metres. It will exhibit, quarter by quarter, all the labyrinthine sinuosities of the ancient quarries and catacombs over which Paris is built, with the corresponding edifices, squares, and streets above ground. The labors of the engineers in the execution of this work have been, says the Journal des Debats, of the most tedious and delicate nature. This may be imagined, when it is understood that every subterranean point has its corresponding exterior point, and that a double calculation is necessary for the precise marshalling of objects without over the tortuous lines (empty or encumbered) within. The map has been coordinated on the supposition of two axes; one figuring a meridian passing by the wall of the observatory, the other a line perpendicular to the first.

COMPARATIVE COST OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

THE following table of the comparative cost of public buildings in the United States is extracted from a work entitled "Hints on Public Architecture,' ," by the chairman of the Building Committee of the Smithsonian Institute, Hon. Robert Dale Owen.

THE boundary-line between the United States and Canada, run in accordance with the Ashburton treaty, cost the labor of three hundred

men eighteen months. "For three hundred miles a path was cut through the forest, thirty feet wide, and cleared of all trees. At the end of every mile is a cast-iron pillar, painted white, square, four feet out of the ground, seven inches square at the bottom, and four at the top, with raised letters on its sides, naming the commissioners who ran the line, and the date."

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE.

-

THE annual meeting, for 1849, of the American Association for the Promotion of Science, commenced at Cambridge, Mass., on the 14th of August, and continued until Tuesday, the 21st, being the longest session yet held by this body. A large number of scientific gentlemen were in attendance from all parts of the country. The division of the Association into two sections 1st, of General Physics, and 2d, of Natural History-took place on the second day, and before the close of the meeting, a further subdivision was made into four sections, of Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Zoology. "The great improvement, both in quantity and quality of the matter offered, over that of any previous year, was very observable to those who have followed the sessions of this body from its origin, in the convention of geologists at Philadelphia, in 1840, to its present enlarged and comprehensive form of usefulness. It was obvious that the Association had now become truly national in character, and had taken deep hold of the feelings of men of science and investigators in all departments of knowledge. This manifestation is the best earnest of the future energy and prosperity of the institution, and gives encouraging hope for further progress and greater usefulness." The officers of the Association were Professor Joseph Henry, President, Professor E. N. Horsford, Secretary, Dr. Ellwin, Treasurer.

The whole number of papers read before the Association amounted to one hundred and sixteen, many of them of considerable length and of great interest. The time was also partially occupied with dis

cussions.

The next annual meeting of the Association is to be held at New Haven, Conn., according to an invitation from the officers of Yale College. There is also to be a semiannual meeting held at Charleston, South Carolina, in March. The President for 1850 is Dr. Alexander Dallas Bache, the Secretary, Edward C. Herrick, Esq., and Dr. Ellwin, Treasurer. The session will commence on Monday, August 19th, 1850.

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS.

WE extract the following well-merited notice from the November number of Silliman's Journal.

"The proceedings of the American Association for the Promotion of Science were published at length in the Boston Evening Traveller, the reports of the discussions and papers being exceedingly accurate and full. We may add a word in behalf of this daily paper, pub

lished in Boston, as we have long appreciated its excellence. The various scientific and literary addresses and lectures of Boston and its vicinity are reported by it in full, and by stenographers that rarely miss a word that falls from the speaker's mouth. We are indebted to the editors in this way for the publication of Agassiz's lectures on embryology, which we have been assured, by those who know, are given with remarkable accuracy. The Lowell Lectures, of Boston, by men of the highest standing in their departments, may, through this paper, be enjoyed in distant portions of our country. We may hope, therefore, that the Boston Evening Traveller will widely travel, for it is one of the most important means in our country of disseminating scientific and literary information."

A similar praise to that awarded to the publishers of the Evening Traveller should also be given to the proprietors of the New York Tribune, which also reported the proceedings of the Association, but at less length. - Editors.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

THE British Association for the Promotion of Science held its 19th annual meeting at Birmingham, on the 13th of September, 1849. The weather was extremely unpropitious, and not more than one thousand persons, including strangers and members of the Association, were present. The Marquis of Northampton made a few opening remarks, after which Professor Robinson delivered an address, in the course of which he referred to some of the works which the Association has accomplished since its establishment, eighteen years ago. They have published a Catalogue of 8,400 stars, of which work no one can form an adequate conception, without reflecting that the determination of each star involved upwards of 400 figures and above 50 arithmetical operations. This great work cost $10,000, and was completed with the aid of such men as Herschel, Bailey, and others, whose labor is above all price. The Association has expended about $75,000, and in all cases the members have rendered their services gratuitously.

PATENTS.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER

OF

PATENTS ISSUED DURING EACH

MONTH IN THE YEAR 1849.

[The classes into which they are divided are arbitrarily taken, and each class includes all patents in any way relating to it, which are not placed in a class by themselves. This and the following tables are compiled from the weekly lists which appear in the New York Scientific Ămerican, and Farmer and Mechanic.]

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED TO CITIZENS OF