to every 15 barrels of salt, which is about the average amount manufactured per twenty-four hours. We have been able with our present establishment, to manufacture 10 to 15 pounds of bromine per day. It also contains iodine but not in sufficient quantity to justify its manufacture, there being only about one ounce in ninety gallons. We attempted the manufacture of iodine, made a few pounds, but were obliged to give it up, the cost overrunning the profit. 11. Bosphorus.-From the late extensive observations of M. Hommaire de Hell it appears that there is no appreciable difference of level between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora; and consequently, there is no real current flowing out of the Black Sea through the Bosphorus. He attributes all apparent currents to the winds, which being mostly from the north, produce generally a flow towards the south. This is compensated for by the strong currents flowing to the north during the southerly winds. 12. American Association for the Promotion of Science.-On the 20th of September, 1848, the first meeting of this Association will be held, being the ninth annual session from the origin of the Association of American Geologists. The organic change in the name and purposes of the Society made at the last meeting, held at Boston, had been in contemplation for some years previous. A committee appointed at the Boston meeting have issued a circular with an enlarged constitution and plan of organization, together with a full statement of the reasons which have led to the change. This committee consists of Professors H. D. Rogers, Benjamin Peirce, and Louis Agassiz. As this circular has been sent out very generally to all followers and friends of science in the country, it is needless to repeat its contents here. We cannot doubt that with the new plans and enlarged sphere of action, now before it, the next meeting of the American Association, on the 20th inst. at Philadelphia, will be one of great interest, and numerously attended. The officers are Erroneously stated in the circular to be Prof. B. Silliman, Jr. 13. TABLE of the periods when the Hudson River opened and closed at Albany, so far as the same can now be ascertained. 14. HEAT AND COLD OF UTICA. A table showing the mean or average temperature of each month of the year for eight years, from 1840, to 1847 inclusive, from observations taken daily at sunrise, 1 P. M., and 9 P. M., by S. Aylsworth. 43-92 May, 55-24 June, 68-3960-9563-23 1840. 1841. 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845. 1846. 1847. 23-10 21-88 24-04 35-13 52-71 46-37 50-44 28 27 41.00 59-48 54-09 60.37 58-00 66 22 July, 71-78 67-13 68.58 69-13 70-90 70-39 70-80 72.00 August, Annual means, 46-95 45-67 46-37 30-08 | 28.94 | 22-24 45-42 47-48 47-73 48-72 46-13 Extreme cold during the above years in the following months: 26-45 31-43 The preceding Tables are from the Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, made March 22, 1848. The asterisks in the first table indicates those numbers which are derived from authentic records or personal observations. Utica, N. Y., is situated in latitude 43° 7′, longitude 75° 13′, where the extremes of heat and cold are as great as in any part of this country in the same latitude. 15. Atmidoscope, (L'Institut, No. 751, May 24, 1848.)-M. Babinet presented to the French Academy in May last an Atmidoscope constructed by M. Lerebours to indicate, from the dryness of the atmosphere, its temperature and its movements, the quantity of evaporation which takes place in a given time. As in Leslie's instrument, it is a reservoir made of porous plastic earth and filled with water, the consumption of which is measured by a fall in the level of the water in a recurved tube communicating with the reservoir. M. Babinet mentioned various uses of the instrument in hygiene, meteorology, agriculture, &c. 16. Magnetic Perturbations, (L'Institut, No. 751.)—M. QUETELET gives the following list of magnetic perturbations at Brussels during the year 1847. January, 20, 21, 30. 17. Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London.-The gold medal of this Society has been awarded to CAPTAIN CHARLes WILKES, U.S.N., Commander of the late U. S. Exploring Expedition. The President of the Society, Mr. W. J. Hamilton, after remarking upon the various explorations of the Expedition under Captain Wilkes, thus addressed Mr. Bancroft on putting the medal in his charge. "In addressing you for the purpose of placing in your hands the medal which has been awarded by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society of London to your distinguished countryman Captain Wilkes, for the valuable work which he has published under the title of the United States Exploring Expedition,' I rejoice in being the organ of expressing to you the sentiments entertained on this side of the Atlantic of the merits of Captain Wilkes. This is the second occasion on which our medal has been awarded to one of our transatlantic brothers, and I feel no small gratification in being thus enabled to give to the whole civilized world this additional proof, that the pursuit of science operates as a powerful inducement in knitting the bonds of friendship still more closely together between the two great nations of the Anglo-Saxon race. May this union long exist, and may they in their continued harmony and good fellowship continue to point out by their enlightened institu tions the value of that sound practical common sense for which they are both so preeminently distinguished. May I request you to convey this medal to Captain Wilkes, with the expression of the best wishes of the Royal Geographical Society of London for his future prosperity and success." 18. Beavers; by D. D. PHARES, (from a letter dated Whitesville, Miss., May 8, 1848.)-Some months ago, I noticed in the Journal of Science and Arts, an article in relation to the southern limits of the habitation of the beaver. I am in latitude 31° 2′, being just two miles north of the boundary line between Mississippi and Louisiana. I have seen for the last twenty years a number of Beaver dams in this vicinity; and there is one family of them now within one mile of me, and two other families in two or three miles of my residence. Members of these families have been caught from time to time. I saw one alive a few days ago, and have now before me the skull and jaws of one of them caught within a mile of this place. I know of other colonies in other vicinities. They dwell as far south as latitude 31, perhaps farther. 19. F. Markoe's Mineralogical Cabinet.-The mineralogical cabinet of F. Markoe, Esq. has been purchased for the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, for $2,000. It has been esteemed one of the most valuable private collections in the United States, and is a great acquisition to the means of instruction at West Point, where they had before almost no mineralogical collection. 20. Meteorite of Arkansas.-The account of the meteorite of Arkansas, cited in this Journal, vol. v, p. 293, ii series, from a Philadelphia paper, proves to be false. There has since been an account of a recent Pennsylvania meteorite going the rounds of the newspapers, which is found to be a fabrication. 21. OBITUARY.-Death of J. Richardson.-This gentleman, who was the author of a popular work on geology, and one of the Curators of the British Museum, died by his own hand in London in July last. VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1. DE Bow's Commercial Review of the South and West; a Monthly Journal of Trade, Commerce, Commercial Polity, Agriculture, Manufactures, Internal Improvements and General Literature, conducted by J. D. B. DE Bow, Prof. Polit. Econ. and Statist. in the Univ. of Louisiana, New Orleans. This monthly journal is in its fifth volume. It embraces practical science and literature to some extent, and is especially full in information relating to mining and commerce in the west, and whatever from a foreign source bears upon these interests. It is conducted with ability, and each number abounds in articles, both readable, practical, and economically important. The number for April contains the fol lowing articles:-I, Northern Arkansas and its Natural Advantages;II, Essay Writing and the Press;-III, Texas Sugar Lands;—IV, Silk and the Silk Culture;-V, The Science of History ;-VI, Description of Soleil's Saccharometer;-following these, are various shorter articles on the Products of Florida-the Cotton Region of the United States -the Commerce and Prosperity of several Western Cities-the Lakes and Western Rivers-Natchez Manufactures-Southern Railroads― American Copper and Iron Ore-Sugar Culture in Singapore-U. S. Imports, Exports, Trade, &c.-Agriculture of France, &c.-with Bibliographical Notices. 2. Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, made to the Legislature, March 22, 1848. 310 pp. 8vo. Albany, 1848.-This valuable report—the sixty-first annual-contains the usual statistics respecting the schools and colleges of the state of New York, together with various tables and observations in Meteorology in its different departments. This latter subject receives so much attention, that the report has become a Journal of Meteorology for the State, of high importance, as well as a register of educational statistics. The number of students in general literature and science in the colleges for the year ending, from July to October, 1847, was 957, which is 156 more than those of the preceding year. The number of students in the academies stands as follows for the last four years. The whole number of academies, subject to the visitation of the Regents, is 184. Of these, 153 academies reported the possession of 63,365 volumes in their libraries, making an average of 414 volumes to each. 3. Letters on Geology; by DAVID CHRISTY. 84 pp. 8vo. Oxford, Ohio, 1848.-The letters here collected into a pamphlet and enlarged, were originally published in the Cincinnati Gazette. The author in his preface modestly claims for them "no very great merit either as literary or scientific productions;" adding that "The reader will be able |