e value of the mechanical power
is less essential than the facility of producing instantaneously and at
pleasure the power itself. In this point of view electro-magnetic power
comes to complete, not to supersede, that of steam."

In the papers of the celebrated Lalande, recently presented to the Paris
_Academy of Sciences_, by M. Arago, there is a note to the effect that so
far back as the 25th of October, 1800, he and Burckhardt were of opinion,
from calculations, that there must be a planet beyond Uranus, and they
occupied themselves for some time in trying to discover its precise
position. This is a very curious fact for astronomers.

RECENT DEATHS.

JOEL R. POINSETT, LL.D., long distinguished in society and in affairs,
died at his residence in Statesburg, South Carolina, on the 12th of
December. The first American ancestor of Mr. Poinsett came to this country
from Soubisi, near Rochelle, in France, soon after the revocation of the
edict of Nantz. His father was a physician, and served in the Revolution
under Count Pulaski. He himself was born at Charleston on the second of
March, 1779, and, after having passed some time at the school of the Rev.
Timothy Dwight (afterward President of Yale College), at Greenfield,
Connecticut, he was sent, at the close of the Revolution, to England, to
complete his studies, and for the advantages of foreign travel. Returning
in 1800, when he was twenty-one years of age, he commenced the study of
law in the office of Mr. Desaussure, afterwards Chancellor of South
Carolina, Before his admission to the bar, he again embarked for Europe,
extending his travels to Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, and the northern
countries of the continent. At St. Petersburg he became acquainted with
the Emperor Alexander, soon after his accession, and was received by him
with marked partiality, and often questioned respecting the peculiar
institutions of this country. On one occasion, after he had been
expatiating at large on the advantages of America, the Czar exclaimed,
"Were I not an emperor, I would be a republican." Declining the offer of a
place in the service of the Emperor, he commenced a tour into the East,
travelling through Persia and Armenia, and, returning to Europe, resided
for some time in its principal capitals. On the breaking out of
difficulties between the United States and Great Britain, in 1808, he
returned to his own country, and applied to Mr. Madison for a commissi