declivity opened an immense crevasse. Fearing the result of any attempt to descend to me for the rope, I succeeded in throwing it up to Coutet; but the moment I gained the foot of the parapet, he also fell, and threw me down; having, however, previously fixed my baton into the ice, and receiving the assistance of a guide, who had now arrived, we were both saved. Near this place we found a bee, which lay upon the snows; but, one of the guides keeping it for some time in his hand, it revived, and flew away.

On our arrival at the Grand Plateau, the ropes were again fastened round us, in the same manner as when we ascended, and in this way we rapidly advanced to the Grands Mûlets; the guides, who had suffered so severely during the ascent, now easily keeping pace with the rest of the party. Placing ourselves in a sitting pos ture, we slid down, with great velocity, several embankments of three and five hundred feet in the line of descent. This expedient was not attended with danger, as there were no visible crevasses; and our velocity would have carried us over any which might have been concealed. In some places, our footsteps left a hole in the snow, and once my foot sunk into a deep cavity; so that we probably passed over some hidden abyss, which was sometimes suspected by a long water-coloured streak. If, in these cases, the traveller throws himself down, and holds his baton horizontally, and at right angles with the crevasse, he will add greatly to his security; since crevasses, whether visible or invisible, are generally at right angles with the line of ascent. We had not rested since we left the summit;

and my guides wished to repose awhile under the cool shade of an overhanging mass of snow-a pleasure I declined. We arrived at the Grands Mûlets at half-past one. The guides made a hearty dinner; I still had no appetite, but drank freely of the clear water, which rilled down the rocks. During nearly the whole of my stay, I was occupied in taking a parting leave of the scenery around me; and whilst our dangers were forming a subject of merriment, suddenly a sound as of reiterating peals of the most tumultuous thunder, or the roar of the ocean, bursting its boundaries, and hurling in its progress vast fragments of rock, struck the guides mute with astonishment; and at the moment, a cloud was seen resting upon the summit. We afterwards learned, that an avalanche had fallen upon the Grand Plateau, burying beneath its ruins much of the path we had traversed. It was perceived through a telescope at the distance of ten miles by a party on the Col de Balme. The fall of the avalanche, and presence of the cloud, proved that my plan had been timed nearly to the hour; for after this period, we had a series of lowering weather, and the heights of the mountain continued to be obscured.

The thermometer in the sun was here at 70°. We left the Grands Mûlets at three o'clock, and had still to encounter several dangers. In passing down its rocks, a guide dropt his baton into a crevasse, and my rope was attached to him, by which two of us held him during his descent. His passage was to be effected under a huge fragment of ice, which lay upon the mouth of the chasm, and was so slightly supported, that by the mere strength

of the arm it might have been dislodged. The present insecure state of the glaciers, produced by the heat of the day, required our most cautious advance; indeed, their general appearance was so changed, as to be scarcely recognized. Thousands of rivulets, intersecting each other, mingled around us their murmuring tu mults; while, at intervals, heavy piles of loosened glaciers crumbled down the rocks.

At half past five we quitted the ice, and all our dangers being over, the guides again regaled themselves; but, for myself, I had still no desire for solid food. At a short distance from this spot, we found a cloth, neatly spread upon the ground, and an earthen basin of milk for each, brought hither by an interesting peasant girl. I partook but slightly of this repast, being anxious to reach old Favret's cottage, where we soon arrived. The old man was quite astonished and overjoyed at our success, giving us the most hearty welcome; and feasting me on brown bread and delicious cream, while his son went forward to announce to the villagers our safe return. We soon after rapidly descended the rest of

the mountain; the peasants anxiously waited our arrival; and hailed as we passed them, the happy fortune of their companions.

We again pursued our route through the woods, in darkness, and completed the expedition by gaining the priory at half-past seven, after an absence of two nights and two days.

The ascent occupied twenty-two hours; the descent, eleven; the latter only being more rapid than usual. Saussure's expedition employed him four days; he was, however, retarded by his baggage, his philosophical instruments, and experiments. Other travellers completed the undertaking in three days; but as, upon the first night of ascent, they all slept upon the mountain, our night-march gained over them the advantage in time.

I rose at five the next morning in a state of general fever, and with a blistered face, occasioned by the little use I had made of my veil; and in a few days lost the skin of my fingers and toes. David Coutet's right foot had been frozen; and one of the guides, who had naturally weak eyes, became blind for a few days, but, afterwards, perfectly recovered.

PATENTS.

M

ARINE Animal.-A marine animal was exhibited in Kendal, which had been found adhering to a vessel lately wrecked on Duddon sands. The whole consisted of an assemblage of flexible and tubular bodies, which seemed to have no mutual connexion, except that they all sprang from an extended surface of the substance already mentioned. When each body was separately examined, it appeared to be a tube, which was widest at the base and narrowed away at the opposite extremity, and had an aperture surrounded by serri or a tassel of loose threads. The bases of these tubes were smooth and elastic; they were also filled with a fluid, and were transparent, being of a light yellow colour. No signs of animation appeared in these parts, but

each was wrinkled about twothirds of its length downward, and this part exhibited evident signs of animation, by voluntary contraction and various changes of position. The preceding remarks seem to connect the animal in question with the genus of worms which is denominated triton; but a difficulty occurs in this place; for a compressed shell of an ovate figure and a bluish white colour enclosed the lower extremity of each tube with its serri. The narrower end of this shell was much more compressed than the rest of it, and the valves, which were apparently entire, each consisted of two valves connected by their respective hinges, the lesser of which on both sides cut the whole diagonally about one-half of its length, when they were closed, in which state

they exhibited the appearance of a bi-valve, when in reality it was a multi-valve.

Sea Serpent.-Mr. Beers, a resident of Middletown, county of Monmouth, New Jersey, states, that a monstrous creature, between thirty and forty feet in length, and eighteen feet round, was captured on the 15th of June, in a Cove at Brown's Point. The monster was discovered for two or three days previously, having the appearance of a large log floating, with two bunches, which afterwards proved to be fins. Two men shot balls into him from muskets, which had no effect. He continued flouncing about, but was unable, from the shallowness of the water, to get off. Five or six boats were then rigged and manned, and went in pursuit, and succeeded in putting five harpoons into him, which drove him on the shore, where they lanced and killed him. The creature has been skinned, and it required two horses and six men to drag the skin about two hundred yards, which is to be stuffed. A number of old whalers and other seamen have been to view it, and they all declare, that they never have seen any animal of the same kind; and from the description given of a sea serpent, they consider it one of that species. It had no entrails, or heart, but it had a liver which produced four barrels of oil, and six rows of small sharp white teeth. The upper part of the tail is about seven feet, and lower about three feet; the skin is a leadish colour, and will sharpen a knife like a stone. The throat is large enough to pass a large Dr. Mitchell says this animal is neither whale nor flesh, but absolutely fish, of the shark species. He conjectures it to be what is fa

of

man.

The globules of blood also vary in form. In the mammalia they are spherical, while in birds they are elliptical, and vary only in the length of their greater axes. They are also elliptical in all cold-blooded animals. The colourless globule which exists in the centre of the particles of blood, has the constant diameter of of an inch in all animals, and whatever be the form of the globule that contains it.

In their experiments on the transfusion of blood they obtained many interesting results. When animals were bled till they fainted, they died when they were left alone, or when water or serum of blood at the temperature of 100 Fahr. was injected into their veins. If, on the contrary, the blood of an animal of the same species was injected, every portion of the blood thrown in re-animated the exhausted animal; and when it had received as much as it had lost, it began to breathe freely, to take food, and was finally restored to