from the summit to the base, into one sheer precipice; and there are enormous masses of naked perpendicular rock, standing upright before it, the apparent altitude of which is not much less than that of the mountain itself. Beyond this, towards the east, extends the long line of aiguilles, amongst which the stupendous forms of the Geant and the Grand Jorasse are conspicuous. There is no slope rising from the valley towards these mountains. The rock appears to spring at once from the soil, and to rise upwards until it ends in a point. The lower extremity of the valley is closed up by the Great St. Bernard, and presents altogether the most wondrous group of scenery that it is possible to conceive.-Polytechnic Magazine. NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE NATURE, FOR JANUARY, 1846. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "THE keener tempests rise; the fuming dun, Heavy they roll their fleecy ward along, And the sky saddens with the gathering storm. Through the hush'd air the whitening shower descends, At first thin waving; till at last the flakes Fall broad and wide, and dimming fast the day With a continued flow. The cherish'd fields Put on their winter robe of purest white. 'Tis brightness all; save where the new snow melts Bow their hoar head; and ere the languid sun THOUGH January and the other winter months do not possess much to please and interest those who take a general view of nature, yet the close observer will find enough to afford him pleasure and instruction, so that he may, in the words of Ben Jonson, "With some delight the day outwear, The first half of the month.-The dormouse, squirrel, bat, and hedge-hog, are at this time torpid; but in mild evenings the bats, of which there are several British species, fly about. The sarcelle and tufted duck, the merganser, the snowfleck, pine-grosbeak, and the aberdevine, are occasionally, but not regularly, seen; their appearance and departure depending on the severity or mildness of the weather. "The country is now frequently one white sheet of snow; snow as white and spotless as a lily. It is then we are presented with a scene possessing much beauty, though not altogether free from a little of the grotesque; for the branches of trees when oppressed with high heaps of snow, certainly have a strange appearance. But when what is called hoar-frost settles upon the face of things, and decorates them with its sparkling brilliancy, we are afforded a truly beautiful spectacle. The lowly blade of grass, the lofty tree, the shaggy coat of the sheep, the spider's net, and almost all other objects, great and small, are then a-twinkling. The extended net of the geometric-spider is particularly conspicuous when thus bespangled with hoar-frost. The regularity with which its delicate silken lines are disposed, and its occasional tremulous movements, render this a most elegant object when the hoar-frost is glittering upon it. In the economy of nature, snow performs many important offices, especially that of causing the dead remains of animal and vegetable matter to return to mould, capable of nourishing the new-born infants of the spring. But snow is not often destructive, however, to living beings, as is proved by the numerous instances of persons having been, accidentally, completely embedded in it for several days, during which time they have not taken any food whatsoever, and yet have been none the worse when they were released from this premature entombment."-Parthenon. The last half of the month.-The wren, tom-tit, song-thrush, blackbird, woodlark, chaffinch, and nuthatch, may occasionally be heard to sing; but this appears to depend more on the health and spirits of individual birds than on the state of the weather. The goldencrested wren (regulus cristatus) is now most easily observed as it flies from branch to branch of the leafless trees. Whin-chats and stonechats may be observed on our commons, when the winter is not extremely cold, as in that case the former migrates. The blackslug, the grey-slug, and the earth-worm, come forth chiefly at night in open weather. The winter moth, winter gnat, great water-beetle, and boat-fly, may be seen in their respective haunts, particularly on fine days. The last mentioned insect I have often seen through the ice, on ponds, &c., at the end of January, sailing along, when the sun has broken through the clouds, and given a cheerfulness to the water. The cockchafer about this time attains its perfect state, but defers its appearance above-ground until the month of May, when after having passed four years of subterranean life in its egg, larva, pupa, and its present perfect state, it quits the earth and flies about on its ample wings. Cockroaches, house-crickets, wood-lice, and spiders are observed in houses. "In defiance of the cold, several of our native plants put forth blossoms, though they rarely, if ever, at this season, perfect their seeds. Among these we may mention groundsel, (senecio vulgaris,) chickweed, (alsine media,) the barren strawberry, (fragaria sterilis,) red dead-nettle, (lamium purpureum,) and furze (ulex Europaus). It is highly probable, we think, that these and the other flowers which brave severe cold, have the power of generating organie heat; for many of them are so delicate in texture, that no plausible supposition could be made respecting the rigidity of their fibres, or their sap-vessels. Some plants, indeed, manifest a degree of heat sufficient to affect the thermometer, and all vegetables are some degrees warmer than the surrounding air; a circumstance which enables them to resist the colds of winter. The same fact holds true of seeds which have been self-sown the preceding summer and autumn, and remain through the winter on or near the surface of the ground, retaining their life in defiance of the frost, till the reviving warmth of spring invites them to germinate. The check given to the flow of sap, and increase of growth in trees, by the winter's cold, is the cause of those circles which appear on cutting a tree across, and by which its age may be counted. That cold is the chief cause of this, appears from the circles being more broad and distant on the northern side of the tree."-Companion to the Almanack. Thunder and lightning, frequent in other seasons, are not entirely unknown in winter. Several of the readers of this periodical will recollect the tremendous thunder-storm that passed over London, Greenwich, &c., on the morning of the 3d of January, 1841. had thunder and lightning at Greenwich also on the 13th of January, 1843. "The flash at midnight! 'twas a light Loud, deep, and long the thunder broke, And closed as in the tomb. An angel might have pass'd my bed, "So life appears ;-a sudden birth, So fame the poet's hope deceives, A name-to be forgot; Life is a lightning flash of breath, We MONTGOMERY. During the revolution of this month, the Christian observer of the works of the Almighty will be led to reflect on the words of the Psalmist, "He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels stand before his cold?" (Psal. cxlvii. 16, 17.) who can BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES, FOR JANUARY, 1846. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "THERE take thy stand, my spirit ;-spread Methinks I muse on Nature's tomb, MONTGOMERY. THE celestial scenery of our planet during the day is, on account of the atmosphere, exclusively confined to the Sun, occasionally to the Moon, and not very unfrequently to the planet Venus. Though the light of these latter is faint and feeble, we hail their soft brilliancy; for the beautiful crescent of the one, and the mild splendour of the other, either herald the King of day, or marshal the starry host to shine with resplendent lustre on the starry plain of night. When the glorious Sun has withdrawn his effulgence, and the milder splendour of the Moon has sunk below the horizon, the noblest scenes are revealed, and "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy work." The stars, pure and beautiful, bend down their brightness to these lower realms of space;-Aries, with his sparkling train, leads the way on the Sun's glorious path; Taurus, with eye of flame; and the lovely Twins, follow, serenely beautiful in their perpetual union. The cloudy Cancer, the majestic Lion, and the bright-zoned Virgin precede the mystic Balance and the red-starred Scorpion. In the train of the Archer follow the bright-browed Goat, the silverstreamed Aquarius, and the glittering Fishes. The SUN rises on the 1st at nine minutes past eight, and sets at fifty-nine minutes after three: he rises at Edinburgh on the same day at thirty-six minutes past eight, and sets at thirty-two minutes after three. The Sun rises at Greenwich on the 17th at eight o'clock exactly, and sets at twenty-one minutes after four he rises at Edinburgh on the same day at twenty-four minutes past eight, and sets at fifty-six minutes after three on the 20th, at nine in the morning, he enters the sign Aquarius. The Moon, being a beautiful crescent on New Year's-day, descends below the western horizon at a quarter past nine at night, and on the 3d she sets at forty-six minutes past eleven. The Moon is half-full on the 4th, and is due south at six in the evening she passes the meridian, or, in other words, souths, on the 6th at about half-past seven, and on the 9th at ten o'clock at night. The Moon is full on the 12th, at two minutes past two in the afternoon; and on the evening of the same day presents her silvery orb in the eastern horizon at sunset: she rises on the 13th at a quarter to six, and on the 15th at seven minutes before eight, in the evening: she rises on the 17th at ten o'clock at night, enters her last quarter on the 20th, and rises on the 21st at half-past one in the morning. The Moon changes on the 27th, at twenty-three minutes after nine in the morning, and exhibits her fine narrow crescent in the western skies after sunset on the 28th, and sets on the 29th at seven minutes past eight. The Moon sets on the 30th at twenty-five minutes after nine, and on the 31st at a quarter before eleven at night. MERCURY is invisible. VENUS is a very splendid object throughout this month she gilds the western skies every clear evening with lustre beautiful to behold: she is now visible even at noon-day, and her light is such after sunset as to cause shadows to trees, buildings, &c. On the 1st and 30th this brilliant star is in the neighbourhood of the Moon. MARS appears above Venus, and throughout this month sets about midnight on the 4th he is in the vicinity of the Moon. JUPITER is a splendid object in the southern part of the heavens when the evening twilight has vanished away on the 5th he is in conjunction with the Moon. The following phenomena will entertain the telescopic observer:-The 6th day, at seventeen minutes past six, the second satellite immerges into the shadow of Jupiter, and emerges from the same at forty-three minutes after eight: 7th, at twenty-five minutes past seven, emersion of the first satellite 13th, at fifty-three minutes past eight, immersion of the second satellite, and emersion at nineteen minutes after eleven: 14th, at twenty-one minutes past nine, emersion of the first satellite: 23d, at forty-six minutes past five, emersion of the first. satellite: 30th, at forty-two minutes after seven, emersion of the first satellite: 31st, at forty-nine minutes past five, emersion of the second satellite; and on the same day, at ten minutes after seven, emersion of the third satellite. SATURN is to be seen in the evenings of the first half of the month below the planet Venus. URANUS on the first day is very near the planet Mars: at nine o'clock at night the right ascension of Uranus is 0h. 25m.; and that of Mars is also 0h. 25m.: the declination of Uranus at the same time is 1 degree 56 minutes north; and that of Mars is 2 degrees 38 minutes north. Uranus is eighty-four years in re volving round the Sun. NOTE.-January 1st, 1801. The asteroid Ceres was discovered by Father Piazzi, of Palermo, when engaged in verifying the places of Dr. Maskelyne's thirty-six stars. He named it Ceres in honour of Sicily, as that island was, on account of its fertility, anciently consecrated to the goddess Ceres. It is remarkable that it was again discovered on the 1st of January, 1807, by Dr. Olbers, of Bremen.-January 14th, 1742, Dr. Edmund Halley died, aged eighty-six years. This great astronomer was of a happy constitution, and preserved his memory and judgment to the last, as he did also |