Volume 7 / Part 1 — VI. Report upon the New or Rare Plants which flowered in the Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, between March, 1825, and March, 1826. Part 1. Tender Plants. By John Lindley, Esq. ◊ (continued 2)

Whilst passing the chlorine into the alcohol, M. Vogel observed [p205] that if the sun shone upon the substances when the action was nearly complete, each bubble of chlorine as it entered the alcohol produced a bright purple flame, a dense white vapour, and caused violent concussions in the liquid; another curious instance, in addition to the many that are known, of the power of solar light over chemical action.—Journ. de Pharm. 1826, p. 627.

11. Test for the Presence of Nitric Acid.—The following method is one devised by Dr. Liebig, for the detection of this substance, which it will effect, he says, when there is not more than a four-hundredth part of the acid present. The liquid to be examined must be mixed with sufficient sulphuric solution of indigo to acquire a distinct blue colour, a few drops of sulphuric acid added, and the whole boiled. If the liquid contains a nitrate, it will be bleached, or, if the quantity is very small, rendered yellow. By adding a little muriate of soda to the liquid before applying heat, a five-hundredth of nitric acid may easily be discovered.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 80.

12. Peculiar Formation of Nitre.—The leaves and stems of beet root contain oxalate and malate of potash. Some leaves were tied together and hung up in a warm and slightly-humid place, where there was but little light, to dry. Being examined at the end of several months, they were found penetrated with, and covered by, an immense number of minute crystals of nitre. The oxalic and malic acids had been replaced by nitric acid; but whether from animalized matter naturally in the leaves of the plant, or from the action of the air, or in what manner, is not known.—M. HENRI BRACONNOT, Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 260.

13. Experiments on Fluoric Acid and Fluates, by M. Kuhlman.—These experiments were made with dry sulphuric acid and fluor spar, with the intention of proving that fluor spar is truly a compound of fluorine and calcium, and not of fluoric acid and oxide of calcium. A quantity of anhydrous sulphuric acid was prepared with great care, and collected in a glass tube; the latter was then connected with a platina tube charged with fluor spar, which had previously been calcined in a platina crucible, and a glass tube was connected with the other end of the platina tube for the purpose of conducting and facilitating the collection of the gas evolved over mercury. The fluor spar was heated to redness, and then the temperature of the sulphuric acid raised so as to cause a stream of it in vapour to pass over the fluor spar; but there was not the slightest reaction, the sulphuric acid recondensed in part in the farthest tube, and no trace of fluoric acid was produced. Dry sulphuric acid was then put, in the liquid state, in contact with dry fluor spar, but there was no decomposition, and no portion of the spar was converted [p206] into sulphate of lime. The first experiment was then repeated, with the difference of using hydrated sulphuric acid of specific gravity 1.842, and there was instantly much fluoric acid produced, which acted upon the glass.

As Berzelius found 100 parts of fluor spar, when acted upon by sulphuric acid, to yield 175 parts of sulphate of lime, equal to 73.553 parts of lime, or 52.819 of calcium, it follows that 100 parts of fluoride of calcium should contain 47.181 of fluorine and 52.819 of calcium. By the assistance of this result, and further experiments, M. Kuhlman proceeded to ascertain the composition of hydro-fluoric acid. Dry muriatic acid gas was passed over calcined fluor spar heated to redness in a tube of platina; the fluoride of calcium was decomposed, free hydro-fluoric acid was evolved, and chloride of lime remained in the tube. The hydro-fluoric acid acted upon the glass tubes, but being received in water was entirely dissolved, with the exception of the silica it had separated from the glass: no trace of hydrogen appeared. One hundred parts of fluoride of calcium thus treated became 143.417 parts of chloride of calcium, the 52.819 parts of calcium having united to 90.598 parts of chlorine. But this latter quantity must have liberated 2.511 parts of hydrogen, which must, therefore, have combined with the 47.181 parts of fluorine in the spar, to form 49.692 parts of hydro-fluoric acid. This latter body, therefore, consists of 94.941 fluorine, and 5.059 of hydrogen per cent. A small quantity of chlorine was set at liberty during the experiment, the author thinks, from a little manganese in the fluor spar.

M. Kuhlman found that all the chlorides, when subjected to the action of anhydrous sulphuric acid in vapour, resisted decomposition, except the chloride of sodium, which gave a small quantity of sulphate of soda, and a double salt of soda and platina, crystallizing in fine needles of a yellow colour. No doubt is entertained that, in the latter case, the common salt and sulphuric acid were not perfectly dry.—Bull. Univ.

14. Crystallization of Phosphorous.—By the fusion and careful refrigeration of a large quantity of phosphorus, M. Frantween has obtained very fine crystals of an octoedral form, and as large in size as a cherry-stone.

15. Solutions of Phosphorus in Oils.—The solutions of phosphorus in fixed oils are so luminous as often to be resorted to for the exhibition of this peculiar property of phosphorus; but M. Walcker has remarked, that the power which they ordinarily possess is instantaneously destroyed by the addition of small quantities only of certain other substances, as the essential oils. The rectified oils of turpentine and amber, the oils of rosemary, bergamotte, lemon, camomile, angelica root, juniper berries, and parsley seed, [p207] the oil obtained by the distillation of the nutmeg, all produce this effect when their quantity is not more than one-fiftieth part of the luminous oily solution of phosphorus. The same effect is produced by adding about a fifth of the oils of anniseed, cajeput, lavender, rue, sassafras, fern, cascarilla, mint, orange flowers, fennel, valerian, cherry laurel, or bitter almonds, or balsam of copaiba; but the oil of cinnamon, rectified petroleum, balsam of Peru, and camphor, have no such effect.—Annal. der Phys. 1826, p. 125.

16. On the Inflammation of Powder when struck by Brass, &c.—Iron has been excluded from powder-works as subject to cause sparks by a blow, and brass and copper have been recommended in its place. M. le Col. Aubert has remarked, that brass on brass can inflame powder, and has made experiments on the subject before a committee, the result of which is as follows:—Inflammation of the powder takes place when the blow is given by iron against iron; iron against brass; brass against brass; iron against marble; lead against lead, or against wood, when the blow is produced by a leaden ball shot from a fire-arm. As yet the powder has not been inflamed by the blow of an iron hammer against lead or wood.—Bull. de la Soc. d’Encouragement; Bull. Univ.

17. Cementation of Iron by Cast Iron.—Pure iron, when surrounded by, and in contact with, cast iron turnings, and heated, is carbonised very rapidly, so as to harden, to temper, and, in fact, to exhibit all the properties of steel. M. Gautier finds this a very advantageous process in numerous cases, especially where the articles to be case-hardened, or converted into steel, are small, as iron wire, or wire gauze. The temperature required is not so high as that necessary in the ordinary process of cementation, and the pieces to be carbonised are not injured in form. The kind of cast iron used should be the gray metal, and the more minutely it is divided the more rapid and complete is the operation. By covering the mass of cast metal, in which the iron to be carbonised is enveloped, with sand, oxidation, from contact of the air, is prevented, and the cast metal may be used many times. Plumbago experimented with in the same manner does not produce the effect.—Jour. de Pharmacie, 1827, p. 18.

18. On the Preparation of Ferro-prussiate of Potash, by M. Gautier.—Numerous investigations induced M. Gautier to conclude, that, i. When animal matter is calcined alone it yields but little cyanogen. ii. That when mixed with potash it gives more, but the cyanuret is not ferruretted. iii. That ammonia is then produced in large quantity. iv. That the substitution of nitre for potash, and the addition of iron or scales of iron, augmented the production of cyanogen, and gave a ferro-prussiate. The following is the process of manufacture to which M. Gautier has ultimately arrived, [p208] and which he has practised for some years. The proportions of the materials are—

Blood, considered as in the dry state, 3 parts

Nitre 1 part

Iron scales 150 of the blood employed.

The blood is first to be coagulated in a large copper cauldron, and the serum being separated by means of a press, the coagulum is to be returned to the cauldron with the nitre and iron. The quantity of water contained in the blood is sufficient to liquify the salt, so as to allow of an uniform mixture being effected. The mixture is then removed, and exposed in an airy situation to dry, the putrefaction of the blood being prevented by the nitre. When the desiccation is complete, the mixture is charged into cast iron cylinders, which are fixed in a reverberatory furnace, and in all things resemble those used in the preparation of animal charcoal. These are to be raised to a brown red heat, until no more vapour is disengaged, and then left until nearly cold, after which the contents are to be withdrawn and put into a wooden vat, with twelve or fifteen times their weight of water, for an hour. The fluid is then to be filtered through a cloth, and evaporated until of 32° of Beaué (specific gravity 1.284.) Being then left to cool, a large quantity of well-crystallized bi-carbonate of potash is obtained. M. Gautier says he has not, as yet, been able to explain how it is that this bi-carbonate has been formed at so high a temperature; a portion also appears to be decomposed during the evaporation of the solution, which, at first but slightly alkaline, becomes sensibly so by a prolonged evaporation.

As the same product is not obtained when potash is used in place of nitre, it is probable that the elements of the nitric acid perform a particular part in the operation.

The solution which has given the crystals of carbonate of potash contains a little carbonate of potash, and much ferro-prussiate of potash. It is to be concentrated to 34° (specific gravity 1.306), and placed in wooden vessels lined with lead. In the course of some days a greenish crystalline mass is obtained, which being redissolved in a fresh quantity of pure water, and evaporated to 32° or 33° (specific gravity 1.295), is to be recrystallized.

Sometimes, when using potash, M. Gautier has mixed nitre with it, and has always obtained a richer product than when potash alone had been employed.—Jour. de Phar. 1827, p. 11.

19. Sulphocyanide of Potassium in Saliva.—MM. Tiedemann and Gmelin have observed the existence of this peculiar compound in saliva, in two cases; the one when the fluid was secreted during smoking, and the other when no such stimulus was applied.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 266.

20. Decomposition of Sulphate of Copper by Tartaric Acid.—M. [p209] Planche has observed, that when sulphate of copper is dissolved in wine vinegar, for the purpose of preparing a corrosive liquid to be applied to corns on the feet, that the tartaric acid present in the vinegar displaces the sulphuric acid from a part of the salt, and an insoluble acid tartrate of copper is produced.

21. Separation of Arsenic from Nickel or Cobalt.—The following process by M. Woehler seems among the best of those intended for freeing nickel or cobalt from arsenic in the dry way. It is founded upon the circumstances that many alloys, when heated with sulphuret of potash, become changed into a mixture of sulphurets, and that sulphuret of arsenic is very soluble in sulphuret of potash. One part of kupfernickle, fused and reduced to fine powder, is to be mixed with 3 parts of carbonate of potash, and 3 parts of sulphur, in a covered Hessian crucible. The heat is to be gradually raised to redness, and until the mass is just entering into fusion, and by no means so highly as to fuse the sulphuret of nickel which is formed. When cold, water is to be added, which will dissolve the sulphuret of potash, and leave a yellow crystalline powder, which is sulphuret of nickel, retaining, perhaps, a little copper or cobalt, but no arsenic, if the operation has been well performed. When, however, the object is to have the nickel perfectly pure, it should be fused a second time with sulphur and potash.

The method of freeing cobalt from arsenic, is the same as for nickel; but it is then necessary to perform the operation a second time. The cobalt (that of Tunaberg) has never been perfectly freed from arsenic by one operation, but has never retained any after the second.—Archiv für Bergbau, 1826, p. 186.

22. Compounds of Gold.—According to late experiments of Dr. Thomson, peroxide of gold consists of

1 atom gold 25

3 " oxygen 3

28

and is consequently a teroxide. Muriate of gold consists of

2 atoms muriatic acid 9.25

1 " per oxide of gold 28.

5 " water 5.625

42.875

Edin. Journal, p. 182.

23. Chemical Researches relative to certain Ancient Substances.—M. Vauquelin has analyzed, i. A poignard blade formed of copper only; ii. A mirror, which was found to consist of 85 parts of copper, 14 of tin, and 1 of iron per cent.; iii. A blue colour found in a tomb: [p210] it was composed of silica 70 parts; lime 9; oxide of copper 15; oxide of iron 1; soda mixed with potash 4. A blue identical with this, both in colour and composition, was found in the bottom of a furnace in which copper had been fused at Romilly.

M. D’Arcet has examined a bone from the fore part of an ox, which had been placed as an offering to the divinity in an Egyptian tomb, and found that it contained as much gelatine as recent bone, although rather less is obtained by muriatic acid, (20 per cent. instead of 27) because of a deterioration of the bone. When burnt, it gave an animal black as deep in colour as that from recent bone.

M. Le Baillif has examined some grains of corn, which were so well preserved, that when put into boiling water iodine produced the blue colour dependent upon starch. He also made some experiments on a gummy substance, and on two cords from a musical instrument; the latter were of animal substance.

M. Raspail examined some grain which was supposed to be wheat, but found it to be torrified barley; it was covered with a substance communicated probably by the oil and incense with which the grains were bathed when consecrated. Similar grains were obtained by roasting common barley.

The account of most of these researches is given in the Catalogue raisonné et historique des Antiquités découvertes en Egypte, by M. Passalacqua.—Bull. Univ. A. vii. 264.

24. On the Bitter Substance produced by the action of Nitric Acid on Indigo, Silk, and Aloes, by M. Just Liebeg.—The process by which M. Liebeg obtains a pure and uniform substance from the action of nitric acid on indigo, is as follows:—A portion of the best indigo is to be broken into small fragments, and moderately heated with eight or ten times its weight of nitric acid of moderate strength. It will dissolve, evolving an abundance of nitrous vapours and swelling up in the vessel. After the scum has fallen, the liquid is to be boiled, and nitric acid added, whilst any disengagement of red vapours is occasioned by it. When the liquid has become cold, a large quantity of semi-transparent yellow crystals will be formed, and if the operation has been well conducted, no artificial tannin or resin will be obtained. The crystals are to be washed with cold water, and then boiled in water sufficient to dissolve them. If any oily drops of tannin form on the surface of the solution, they must be carefully removed by touching them with filtering paper. Then filtering the fluid, and allowing it to cool, yellow brilliant crystalline plates will be obtained, which will not lose their lustre by washing.

To obtain the substance perfectly pure, the crystals must be re-dissolved in boiling water, and neutralized by carbonate of potash. Upon cooling, a salt of potash will crystallize, which should be purified by repeated crystallizations.

On mixing the first mother liquor with water, a considerable brown precipitate will be obtained, which being dissolved in boiling [p211] water, and neutralized by carbonate of potash, will furnish a large quantity of the potash salt. All the potash salt obtained in these operations is to be re-dissolved in boiling water, and nitric, muriatic, or sulphuric acid added; as the solution cools, the peculiar substance will be observed to form very brilliant plates of a clear yellow colour, generally in equilateral triangular forms.

Sometimes crystals are not formed after the action of the nitric acid on the indigo, in which case the liquor must be evaporated, and water added, when the substance will precipitate, and must be purified as already described. Four parts of indigo yield one of the pure substance.

When the substance is heated, it fuses, and is volatilized without decomposition; when subjected to a sudden strong heat, it inflames without explosion, its vapours burning with a yellow flame, and a carbonaceous residue remaining. It is but little soluble in cold water, but much more in boiling water; the solution has a bright yellow colour, reddens litmus, has an extremely bitter taste, and acts like a strong acid on metallic oxides, dissolving them, and forming peculiar crystallizable salts.—Ether and alcohol dissolve the substance readily.

When fused in chlorine or with iodine, it is not decomposed, nor does solution of chlorine affect it. Cold sulphuric acid has no action on it; when hot, it dissolves it, but water separates the substance without alteration. Boiling muriatic acid does not affect it, and nitro-muriatic acid only with great difficulty.

These results show that no nitric acid is present in the substance, and other experiments prove that no oxide of nitrogen exists in it; it contains no oxalic or other organic acid, for when its salt is boiled with chloride of gold, the latter is not reduced.

When heated to redness with oxide of copper, it gave a mixture of nitrogen and carbonic acid, in the exact proportion of 1 volume of the former, to 5 of the latter. This was a constant result, and in no case was any sulphuric or muriatic acid left in the copper. 0.0625 grammes of the substance thus decomposed, gave 45 cubic centimeters of the mixed gases, estimated at 0° C. (32° F.) and the pressure of 28 inches of mercury, according to which the acid would be composed of carbon 32.392; nitrogen 15.2144; oxygen 52.3936 per cent. From the mean of several experiments, it appeared that the following might represent the composition correctly.—

1212 atoms of carbon 93.75 or 31.5128

212 " azote 43.75 " 14.7060

16 " oxygen 160.00 " 53.7812

297.5 100.

100 parts of the acid neutralize a quantity of base equivalent to 3.26 of oxygen, which is to the oxygen of the acid, as 1:16; the equivalent number of the acid derived from the analysis of the [p212] barytic salt was 306.3; by adding only 14 per cent. to the quantity of baryta obtained in the experiment, 297.5, or the number expressed by the above formula, would be obtained.

When a salt of potash or baryta was decomposed by oxide of copper and heat, the quantity of carbonic acid produced was a little short of five times the quantity of nitrogen; but, upon adding that retained by the alkali or earth, the proportion became exactly the same as in the former cases.

Welter’s bitter principle was prepared by acting on silk with ten or twelve times its weight of nitric acid. The liquid, slightly coloured at first, acquired a deep yellow upon adding water. It was neutralized by carbonate of potash whilst hot, and left to cool, and the salt of potash thus obtained, decomposed by muriatic, nitric, or sulphuric acid. This acid, crystallized like that from indigo, formed the same salts, and was composed in the same manner. Silk furnishes much less of the substance than indigo. Dr. Liebeg has called this substance carbazotic acid. The most important salts formed by it have the following properties:—

Carbazotate of Potash—crystallizes in long yellow quadrilateral needles, semi-transparent and very brilliant; it dissolves in 260 parts of water at 59° F., and in much less, boiling water: a saturated boiling solution becomes a yellow mass of needles, from which scarcely any fluid will run. Strong acids decompose it; yet when an alcoholic solution of carbazotic acid is added to a solution of nitre, crystallized carbazotate of potash, after some time, precipitates.—Alcohol does not dissolve it. When a little is gradually heated in a glass tube, it first fuses, and then suddenly explodes, breaking the tube to atoms; traces of charcoal are observed on the fragments. This salt precipitates a solution of the protonitrate of mercury, but not salts, containing the peroxide, or those of copper, lead, cobalt, iron, lime, baryta, strontia, or magnesia. The slight solubility of this salt supplies an easy method of testing and separating potash in a fluid. Even the potash in tincture of litmus may be discovered by it; for, on adding a few drops of carbazotic acid, dissolved in alcohol, to infusion of litmus, crystals of the salt gradually separated. The saturated solution of the salt at 50° F., is not troubled by muriate of platina. The salt contains no water of crystallization. It was analyzed by converting a portion of it into chloride of potassium by muriatic acid: its composition is,—

Carbazotic acid 83.79

Potash 16.21

100.00

Carbazotate of Soda—crystallizes in fine silky yellow needles, having the general properties of the salt of potash, but soluble in from 20 to 24 parts of water, at 59° F.

Carbazotate of Ammonia forms very long, flattened, brilliant, [p213] yellow crystals, very soluble in water. Heated carefully in a glass tube, it fuses, and is volatilized without decomposition; heated suddenly, it inflames without explosion, and leaves much carbonaceous residue.

Carbazotate of Baryta, obtained by heating carbonate of baryta, and carbazotic acid with water. It crystallizes in quadrangular prisms of a deep colour, and dissolves easily in water. When heated, it fuses, and is decomposed with very powerful explosion, producing a vivid yellow flame. The explosion is as powerful as that of fulminating silver; a solution of chloride of potassium to which carbazotate of baryta has been added, produces a precipitate of the potash salt, and not more than 112 per cent. of potash remains in solution. 100 parts of the crystallized salt contain,—

Carbazotic acid 69.16 oxygen of the acid 16

Baryta 21.60 oxygen of the earth 1

Water 9.24 oxygen of the water 8

100.00

Carbazotate of Lime, obtained like the salt of baryta, forms flattened quadrangular prisms, very soluble in water, and detonating like the salt of potash.

Carbazotate of Magnesia forms very long indistinct needles, of a clear yellow colour; is very soluble, and detonates violently.

Carbazotate of Copper, prepared by decomposing sulphate of copper by carbazotate of baryta: it crystallizes with difficulty, the crystals being of a fine green colour; it is deliquescent; when heated, it is decomposed without explosion, and even without inflammation.

Carbazotate of Silver.—Carbazotic acid readily dissolves oxide of silver, when heated with it and water; and the solution, gradually evaporated, yields starry groups of fine acicular crystals of the colour and lustre of gold; the salt dissolves readily in water; when heated to a certain degree, it does not detonate, but fuses like gunpowder.

Proto-Carbazotate of Mercury, obtained in small yellow triangular crystals, by mixing boiling solutions of the carbazotate of potash or soda, and proto-nitrate of mercury. It requires more than 1200 parts of water for its solution: for its perfect purification, it should be heated with a solution of chloride of potassium, the insoluble portion separated whilst the liquid is lost, and the peculiar salt allowed to deposit as the temperature falls. When heated, it behaves like the salt of silver.

All these salts detonate much more powerfully when heated in close vessels, than when heated in the air; and it was a curious thing to observe, that those with bases yielding oxygen most readily, were those which exploded with least force. By heating some of the salts previously mixed with chloride of potassium, &c., to retard the action, it appeared that no carbonic oxide, but only carbonic [p214] acid and azote were evolved during their decomposition by heat.

On the Bitter Principle from Aloes.—Upon distilling 8 parts of nitric acid from 1 part of the extract of aloes, and adding water to the remaining fluid, a resinous reddish yellow substance precipitated, which, by washing, became pulverulent—it was discovered by M. Braconnot. Upon evaporating the liquid separated from the precipitate, it gave large yellow rhomboidal crystals, not transparent, and but slightly soluble. These crystals, at first mistaken for a particular substance, were soon found to be a combination of oxalic acid with the bitter of aloes. The bitter substances of aloes dissolved in 800 parts of water, at 59° F., but in a smaller quantity of boiling water. This solution has a superb purple colour. Silk boiled in it acquired a very fine purple colour, on which neither soap nor acids effected any change, except nitric acid; this changed the colour to yellow, but it was restored simply by washing in water. All shades may be given to this colour by proper mordants. Wool is dyed black in a peculiarly beautiful manner, by the same process, and light has no influence on the colour. Leather acquires a purple colour; cotton, a rose colour; but the latter will not resist soap. Dr. Liebeg thinks that this is the only substance from which a permanent rose dye for silk may be expected.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 72.

25. On the Existence of Crystals of Oxalate of Lime in Plants.—M. Raspail has read a memoir to the Academy of Sciences, to prove the analogy which exists in arrangement between the crystals of silica, which are found in sponges, and those of oxalate of lime occurring in the tissue of phanerogamous plants.

The latter crystals were observed, for the first time, by Rafn and Jurine, who regarded them as organs of which they knew not the use. They were then observed by M. de Candolle, who called them raphides, and gave a figure of them, which, however, is inaccurate. These crystals are really very regular tetraedrons. In many plants, as orchis, pandanus, ornithogalum, jacinthus, phytolaca decandria, mesembryanthemum deltoides, &c. they are very small, not being more than 1200 of a millimetre (.0002 of an inch) in width, and 110 (.004 of an inch) in length. But, in the tubercles of the Florence iris, they are as much as 150 (.0008 of an inch) in width, and 13 (.01312 of an inch) in length, so as to be easily capable of examination.—Bull. Univ. B. xi. 376.

26. Fallacy of Infusion of Litmus as a Test, by M. Magnus.—When pure water is heated for a sufficient time with infusion of litmus, reddened by an acid, it restores the blue colour. It is supposed that the heat gradually causes the free sulphuric acid, which had occasioned the reddening, to combine with the excess of alkali contained in the infusion, and thus to cause the restoration of the blue colour. Hence this preparation cannot be used to test the [p215] presence of ammonia in a solution, as water alone produces the effect anticipated from the alkali. The earthy salts contained in ordinary water also produce this effect.—Jour. de Pharmacie.

27. Tests for the Natural Colouring Matter of Wine.—M. A. Chevalier states,—i. That potash may be employed as a re-agent, to ascertain the natural colour of wines, which it changes from red to a bottle green, or brownish green—ii. That the change of colour produced by this substance upon wine is different for wine of different ages—iii. That no precipitation of the colouring matter takes place, the latter remaining dissolved by the potash—iv. That the acetate of lead should not be employed as a test of the colour of wines, because it is capable of producing various colours with wines of a natural colour only—v. That the same is the case with lime-water, with muriate of tin mixed with ammonia, and with subacetate of lead—vi. That ammonia may be employed for this purpose, the changes of colour which it produces not perceptibly varying—vii. That the same is the case with a solution of alum to which a certain quantity of potash has been added, and which may, therefore, be used for the purpose.—Annales de l’Industrie.

28. Test of the Presence of Opium.—Dr. Hare says he can detect opium in solution, when the quantity is not more than that given, by adding ten drops of laudanum to half a gallon of water. The following is the process:—a few drops of solution of acetate of lead is to be added to the solution containing the drug; after some time an observable quantity of meconiate of lead will fall down: from six to twelve hours may sometimes be required, and the precipitation is best effected in a conical glass vessel, for then, by gentle stirring now and then to liberate that which adheres to the side, the insoluble salt may be collected together at the bottom. About thirty drops of sulphuric acid are then to be poured on to the meconiate by means of a glass tube, after which as much of a solution of red sulphate of iron is to be added in the same manner. The sulphuric acid will liberate the meconic acid, and thus enable it to produce with the iron the appropriate colour, which demonstrates the presence of that acid, and consequently of opium.—Silliman’s Journal, xii. 290.

29. Denarcotized Laudanum.—Thinking it important to ascertain whether, by the removal of narcotine from opium, the unpleasant effects which, according to the opinions at present entertained upon that subject, are produced by that drug would be removed, Dr. Hare prepared some opium with ether, guided by Robiquet’s statement that narcotine was soluble in that fluid: the opium was shaved by rubbing it on the face of a jack-plane, and subjected four times successively to as much ether of the specific gravity 0.735 as would cover it, the operation being performed in a small Papin’s digester, at a temperature near the boiling point of ether, and each [p216] portion of the fluid being allowed twenty-four hours for its action. A crystalline deposition was soon observed in the ether which had been removed from the opium, and, allowing the stopper of the vessel to remain out, nearly the whole of the liquid evaporated in a few days, and left much coloured crystalline matter. This, Dr. Hare has no doubt, was narcotine in an impure state. The opium was afterwards subjected to as much alcohol as would have been required to convert it into laudanum, had it been in the ordinary state; and this being administered medicinally, was found to occasion none of those uneasy and unpleasant sensations which often follow the use of ordinary opium.—Silliman’s Journal, xii. 291.

30. Extraction of Morphia from Dry Poppy Heads, by M. Tilloy.—Make an aqueous extract of the heads, add alcohol to the extract, separate the alcoholic solution, and distil it; by this means the gummy matter is separated. An extract like syrup will be obtained by the distillation, which, being heated to make it thinner, and of the consistency of treacle, is to be again treated with alcohol; a separation of more gum, with much nitrate of potash, will be effected. The solution being withdrawn, is to be distilled, and the extract which will remain is to be acted upon by a sufficient quantity of water, and filtered, to separate the resinous matter present. The morphia may then be separated from this liquid, either by ammonia, carbonate of soda, or magnesia. Ammonia does not precipitate all the morphia; carbonate of soda precipitates a large quantity, but, it separates resinous matter also, which is found mingled with the morphia. Magnesia is preferable; but as the liquid contains much free acetic acid, it is expensive to employ the necessary quantity of pure magnesia: the liquid may, therefore, be partly saturated, whilst hot, by carbonate of magnesia, or even by carbonate of lime. A judgment, when no more must be added, must be formed from the effervescence; then pure magnesia is to be added, which will cause the liberation of ammonia; the whole is to be left for twenty-four hours to cool: being then filtered, the precipitate is to be washed, and, when dry, acted upon by alcohol. Operating in this manner, morphia may be obtained from all kinds of poppies.—Bull. Univ. E. viii. 10.

31. Preparation of Morphia.—Some curious experiments have been described to the Académie de Médecine, by M. Robinet, relative to the preparation of morphia. Having operated on the residue of opium by muriatic acid, and precipitated the morphia from the muriatic solution by lime, he wished to ascertain whether the mother liquor contained any morphia that had escaped precipitation. He, therefore, passed a current of carbonic acid gas through the solution, to precipitate the lime in excess: this precipitate being washed, dried, and acted upon by alcohol, was found mixed with a very large proportion of morphia, which could [p217] be thus separated. The washings of the precipitate being examined, were found free from morphia.

M. Henry observed, at the same time, that, from experiments made at La Pharmacie Centrale, it appeared that much more morphia was obtained in those processes in which lime had been used to precipitate the morphia, than in those in which magnesia had been used.—Bull. Univ. C. xi. 225.

32. Easy Method of obtaining Meconic Acid, by Dr. Hare.—If to an aqueous infusion of opium we add subacetate of lead, a copious precipitation of meconiate of lead ensues: this being collected by a filter, and exposed to sulphuretted hydrogen, meconic acid is liberated: the solution is of a reddish amber colour, and furnishes, by evaporation, crystals of the same hue. A very small quantity produces a very striking effect in reddening solution of peroxide of iron. Instead of sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphuric acid may be used to liberate the meconic acid: the presence of the former in excess does not seem to interfere with the power of reddening ferruginous solutions, but any excess of sulphuric acid may be removed by whitening, which is not acted upon sensibly by meconic acid; Yet, the acid procured in this way did not crystallize so handsomely, or with so much facility, as that obtained by sulphuretted hydrogen.

33. On a New Vegetable Acid.—This acid is crystallizable, but the forms have not as yet been determined: it is less soluble in cold water than tartaric acid; its aqueous solution precipitates lime water in white floculi, just like tartaric acid, but the precipitate, if dissolved in muriatic acid, re-appears on adding ammonia, whilst that produced by tartaric acid does not produce this effect. The new acid has a greater affinity for lime than muriatic or nitric acids, for it precipitates the muriate and nitrate of this earth in the manner of oxalic acid, but it differs from the latter in not precipitating a solution of sulphate of lime. With potash it forms an acid salt, slightly soluble in cold water: it precipitates acetate of lead, and the precipitate holds much water in combination: the tartrate of lead, on the contrary, is anhydrous. Notwithstanding these circumstances, the equivalent number of this acid is within a few thousandths of that of tartaric acid: when distilled, it is decomposed, and produces an acid yellow liquid like tartaric acid, leaving a light charcoal burning without residuum. M. Gay Lussac is engaged in developing the chemical history of this substance.—Bull. Univ. A. vii. 327.

34. Altheine, a new Vegetable Principle.—M. Bacon gives the following directions for the preparation of this substance, which he has discovered in the Althea officinalis. An extract of the roots of the plant is to be made by means of cold water, and, when concentrated, [p218] acted upon by boiling alcohol: the latter will dissolve the acid malate of altheine, oil, &c.: the different alcoholic decoctions are to be put together and will throw down a crystalline deposite as they cool; the latter is to be separated and dissolved in water, and the solution, when filtered, is to be evaporated by a moderate heat, until like a syrup, and then set aside to crystallize. The crystals procured are to be washed with a small quantity of pure water, to separate the yellow matter from them, and then dried upon paper. These crystals appear, to the naked eye, like grains, needles, and feathers, but under the microscope present a hexaedral form. They are of a fine emerald green colour, transparent, brilliant, inodorous; unaltered in the air; they redden litmus paper, are soluble in water, and insoluble in alcohol. The aqueous solution of these crystals, acted upon by cold magnesia and filtered, then restores the colour of reddened litmus paper; renders syrup of violets green; and when evaporated furnishes the altheine free from malic acid. When thus pure, the substance crystallizes in regular hexaedral forms or in rhomboidal octoedrons; it affects litmus and violets as just described: it is transparent, of an emerald green colour, brilliant, inodorous, slightly sapid, unaltered by air, very soluble in water, not soluble in alcohol, soluble in acetic acid, with which it forms a crystalline salt.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxiv. 201.

35. Rheine, a new Substance from Rhubarb.—By acting upon one part of Chinese rhubarb with 8 parts of nitric acid, s. g. 1.32, at a moderate temperature, reducing the whole to the consistence of syrup, and then diffusing it through water, M. Vaudin obtained a precipitate which possessed peculiar characters, and to which he gave the name of Rheine. When dry, it is of an orange yellow colour, without any particular odour, and slightly bitter. It dissolves in water as well as in alcohol and ether: the solutions become yellow by acids, and rose red by alkalis. It burns nearly in the manner of amadou. Rhubarb acted upon by ether only gave a similar substance, a circumstance which proves that Rheine exists ready formed in rhubarb, and that it is not acted upon by nitric acid.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxiv. 192.

36. On Dragon’s Blood, and a new Substance which it contains, by M. Melandri.—Pure dragon’s blood is, according to M. Melandri, a scarce substance; the drops in which it occurs are rarely transparent, generally opaque, and with a rough fracture: its colour is blood red. Besides being soluble in alcohol it is entirely soluble in oil and also in hot water, though a large quantity of the latter fluid is required for the purpose. The aqueous solution is bitter, astringent, and of a fine purple colour; by cooling, it becomes milky and red. Gelatine does not alter its appearance; a proof that the substance contains no tannin. Sulphate of iron forms a pale reddish precipitate, so that no evidence of gallic acid is afforded. [p219]

Supposing that this substance might contain a principle analogous to that latterly observed by M. Pelletier in logwood, &c. a portion of it was dissolved in strong alcohol, the solution evaporated until very concentrated, and then poured into cold water, an agglomerated spongy substance was precipitated, which, after being washed with cold water and filtered, was triturated with water containing 1100th of sulphuric acid, and exhibited traces of chemical action at a temperature of 22° (61°.6 F.) It then deposited a substance upon the sides of the vessel, and the liquid became yellow and very acid. The sediment, being carefully washed with water, was of a fine red colour, varying according to the state of aggregation; it had no taste or smell; was flexible between the fingers, and was quite fluid at 55° (131° F.). This substance, which the author has called Dracine, has some analogy with the vegeto-alkalis, although its affinity for acids is but slight. The sulphate may be obtained, he says, by adding sulphuric acid diluted with alcohol to an alcoholic solution of dracine, precipitating the mixture by cold water, and then applying a little heat; the sulphate of dracine collects at the bottom, is to be washed with cold water until the latter no longer reddens litmus paper, and then dissolved in hot water. This solution becomes red by the smallest quantity of alkalis, and may be used as a very sensible test of their presence. Dracine is also a good test for acids, assuming a yellow colour with them. The small quantity of carbonate of lime in filtering paper may be detected by sulphate of dracine, the yellow solution instantly becoming red from its action, and thus showing its presence.—Bull. Univ. C. xi. p. 157.

37. Purification of Madder, by the Separation of its Yellow Colouring Matter.—The experiments of MM. Kuhlman, Colin, and Robiquet36, have induced M. G. H. de Kurrer to publish the means which he has resorted to for the purification of madder, by the separation of the yellow colouring matter from it; and thus rendering it more fit to supply the various red, lilac, violet, and brown colours which are required upon wool, silk, cotton and linen. Three tubs or vessels are placed by the side of each other: in summer they may be in the open air under shelter, but in the winter should be placed in an airy cellar where the temperature may be retained at 18° or 20° R. (73° to 77° F.). The first is that in which the soaking and fermentation is to be effected: it should be 2 feet 8 inches deep, and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter, for from fifty to fifty-five pounds of madder. The second, or washing vessel, should be 512 feet deep, and 3 feet in diameter; it should have three wooden cocks fixed into it, the first 2 feet, the second 3 feet, and the third 4 feet from the bottom. The third tub is for deposition; its height should be 412 feet, and it should have a cock at 112 foot from the bottom. [p220]

On commencing the operation, 50 or 55 lb. of pulverised madder are to be put into the first vessel, water is to be added, and stirred into the mass until it stands 112 inch above the madder. The whole is then to be left until fermentation comes on and has formed a coat of madder at the surface; this usually takes place in 36 hours, and at latest in 48 hours, according to the temperature. The mass should now be transferred into the second vessel, which is then to be filled with water, and being left for two hours, the madder will fall to the bottom. The upper cock is then to be opened, after that the second, and then the third; and the water which runs from the two latter is to be put into the third vessel, that the rest of the madder may separate from it. The madder in the second vessel is then to be washed a second, third, or fourth time until the washing water is colourless. Thus purified, the madder may be used in the processes of dyeing, according to the known methods; but it is important in summer that it should be used immediately, that a new (the vinous) fermentation may be avoided. The madder deposited in the third vessel, when washed and deposited, may be used like the rest. The liquid first separated after the fermentation may be used in the preparation of hot indigo baths, &c. instead of madder.—Bull. Univ. P. vii. 352.

38. On Indigo and Indigogene, by M. Liebeg.—112 part of pure indigo, 2 parts of proto-sulphate of iron, 212 parts of hydrate of lime, and from 50 to 60 parts of water, were digested together for 24 hours in a close vessel, which had previously been filled with hydrogen. The clear liquor over the sulphate of lime and oxide of iron, had a yellowish red colour, and was separated by a syphon filled with hydrogen, and mixed with diluted muriatic acid, containing some sulphite of ammonia dissolved; a dense white precipitate was formed, becoming blue in the air. This was gathered in a filter without contact of air, and washed with boiled water containing sulphite of ammonia in solution, and dried at 212°, in close vessels, through which a current of hydrogen was continually passed. The upper surface of the mass became of a blue colour, but the lower remained of a dull white.

This white substance was called Indigogene. It did not change colour in dry air, but under water became of a deep blue, which by drying, assumed a coppery appearance. The blue substance volatilized by heat without leaving any residue, forming purple vapours, which condensed, when cold, into crystals differing in nothing from sublimed indigo. Indigogene dissolves in alkalis without neutralizing them: it is also soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water or acids.

A given quantity of this indigogene was acted upon by ammonia, and the weight of the undissolved blue portion ascertained, it appeared that the weight of the pure portion dissolved was 0.404 grammes (6.224 grains.) The solution was put into an inverted [p221] jar, over mercury, and oxygen gas gradually passed in until absorption ceased, and then the liquid containing the precipitated indigo was evaporated to dryness at 212°. The weight of the substance was increased to 0.047, i. e. 11.5 per cent.

Not having obtained indigogene perfectly pure, M. Liebeg did not attempt to analyze it for the ultimate composition. He remarks, that indigo is, perhaps, the only organic body from which one of its constituent parts may be taken without total decomposition; and which, by oxidation, passes to the state of an indifferent body, having much analogy with peroxides.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 269.

39. On the mutual Action of Ethers, and other Substances.—From experiments made by M. Henry, he concludes that when metals easily oxidizable, or oxides which unite with acetic acid, are put into sulphuric ether, they produce larger or smaller quantities of acetates, probably, not by decomposing the sulphuric ether, but the acetic ether which is always mixed with it; and that it is in consequence of the saturation of the acetic acid set free from the ether by this decomposition, that sulphuric ether does not redden litmus paper when evaporated, whereas it acts differently when being slightly heated, the quantity of acetic ether contained in it is allowed to decompose by the action of the air.

Nitric and acetic ethers are described as being easily decomposed by the action of many bodies without the assistance of heat, if aided by time. Amongst the products of the action are the acids of the ethers, acetates, and alcohol which dissolves the salts formed.—Jour. de Chimie Méd.

40. Faraday’s Chemical Manipulation.—The kindness of a friend at Bristol has pointed out to me an error in the directions relative to alkalimetry, which I have given in the above work: this I am desirous of correcting, and, by permission of Mr. Brande, have the opportunity of doing so in the Quarterly Journal of Science.

The mistake, which arose from using the wrong specific gravity of two that were required in calculation, occurs in the paragraphs (599, 600,) but fortunately is prevented from occasioning any experimental error by the directions given in (602). The acid of specific gravity, 1.141, directed to be used, is too strong for the quantities marked upon the tube. The substitution of one of specific gravity 1.127, will correct the error, and may be obtained very nearly by mixing 19 parts, by weight, of strong oil of vitriol, with 81 parts of water.

The alterations required may be made in the volume with a pen, as for errors of the press, by reading “1.127” for “1.141” in lines 25 and 30 of page 276, and lines 2 and 13 of page 277; and “nineteen” for “one” in line 27, and “eighty-one” for “four” in line 28 of page 276.—M. F. [p222]

III. NATURAL HISTORY. ◊

1. On the Supposed Influence of the Moon, by M. Arago.—There is an impression very general with gardeners, that the moon has a particular effect on plants, especially in certain months. The gardeners near Paris gave the name of the lune rousse to the moon, which, beginning in April, becomes full either at the end of the month, or more generally in May. According to them the light of the moon, in the months of April and May, injures the shoots of plants, and that, when the sky is clear, the leaves and buds exposed to this light become red or brown, and are killed, though the thermometer in the atmosphere is several degrees above the freezing point: they confirm this observation, by remarking that, when the rays of the moon are stopped in consequence of the existence of clouds in the air, that then the plants are not injured, although the temperature and other circumstances are the same.

M. Arago explains this observation of practical men, by a reference to the facts and principles established by Dr. Wells. He has shown that, in a clear night, exposed bodies may frequently have their temperatures reduced below that of the surrounding atmosphere, solely by the effect of radiation, the difference being as much as 6, 7, 10, or more degrees, but that it does not take place when the heavens are obscured. M. Arago then observes, that the temperature is often not more than 4, 5, or 6 degrees above the freezing point during the nights of April and May, and that when the night is clear, consequently when the moon is bright, the temperature of the leaves and buds may often be brought by radiation below the freezing point, whilst the air remains above it, and consequently an effect be produced, which, though not dependent upon, accompanies the brilliant unobscured state of the moon—the absence of these injurious effects, when the moon is obscured, being also as perfectly accounted for by these principles, from the knowledge that the same clouds which obscure the moon will prevent the radiation of heat from the plants. Hence, as M. Arago observes, the observation of the gardener is correct as far as it goes, though the interpretation of the effect which he generally gives is incorrect.—Annuaire du Bureau des Long. 1827, p. 162.

2. Luminous Appearances in the Atmosphere.—An account is given at page 242 of our last volume, from Silliman’s Journal, of certain spots in the air near the horizon, which have been seen highly luminous in Ohio, United States, by Mr. Atwater, and which often induce the supposition that fires exist in their direction. Mr. Webster says—“I have observed similar phenomena in New England: I recollect one instance, when I resided at Amherst, in Hampshire County, Mass., a bright light in the north-east, near [p223] the horizon, appeared as the light of a building on fire appears at night, at the distance of several miles. I expected, in that instance, every hour to hear that some building in Shutesbury, or New Salem, had been burnt, and, so strong was my belief of it, that I repeatedly asked my neighbours whether they had heard of any such event. At last, I met a gentleman who had just come from one of those towns, who told me he had heard of no fire from that quarter, which convinced me the phenomenon was merely atmospheric.”—Silliman’s Journal, xii. 380.

3. On the Determination of the Mean Temperature of the Air.—This subject has been investigated by M. G. G. Hallstrœm, who gives the following algebraic formula, which correctly represents the mean temperature for all Europe.

v = 12 (x f + xe)−0.33 + 0.41 sin. [(n−1) 30° + 124° 8′] v = mean temperature. n = the ordinal number of the month for which the temperature is to be calculated (thus, for March, n = 3). 12 (x f + x e) = the mean temperature taken as the mean of observations taken at ten o’clock in the morning and evening. In winter 12 (x f + x e) = v very nearly; whilst, in summer, this quantity is 34 of a degree greater than v at Paris, Halle, and Abo.—Annal. der Phys. und Chem. 1825, p. 373.

4. Indelible Writing.—As the art of man can unmake whatever the art of man can make, we have no right to expect an indelible ink: however, a sort of approximation to it may be made as follows:—Let a saturated solution of indigo and madder in boiling water be made, in such proportions as give a purple tint; add to it from one sixth to one eighth of its weight of sulphuric acid, according to the thickness and strength of the paper to be used: this makes an ink which flows pretty freely from the pen, and when writing, which has been executed with it, is exposed to a considerable, but gradual, heat from the fire, it becomes completely black, the letters being burnt in and charred by the action of the sulphuric acid. If the acid has not been used in sufficient quantity to destroy the texture of the paper, and reduce it to the state of tinder, the colour may be discharged by the oxymuriatic and oxalic acids, and their compounds, though not without great difficulty. When the full proportion of acid has been employed, a little crumpling and rubbing of the paper reduces the carbonaceous matter of the letters to powder; but by putting a black ground behind them, they may be preserved, and thus a species of indelible writing is procured, (for the letters are, in a manner, stamped out of the paper,) which might be useful for some purposes, perhaps for the signature of bank-notes.

5. Peculiar Crystals of Quartz.—Mr. W. Phillips has met with some remarkable crystals of quartz, which occurred imbedded in the [p224] limestone of the Black-rock, near Cork. They are from the fourth to the half of an inch in length, and about half their length in width: they are smooth, externally, for the most part, and sometimes considerably bright; they are of the colour termed smoky, or brown quartz, externally, and may easily be separated from the limestone, leaving a cavity of their exact form. On trying to cleave them, they yielded parallel to one or other of the planes of the pyramid, like common quartz, but at such fractures appeared to consist of alternate and concentric prisms of smoky transparent quartz, and of gray opaque, and somewhat granular limestone. On applying muriatic acid to the surface, effervescence occurred along the gray parts, proving the presence of limestone, but soon ceased: after an action continued for some weeks, the gray parts became cellular, and so soft, as to admit of being scraped by a knife. Mr. Phillips says, it seems reasonable to conclude that such part of the gray substance as does not yield to the action of the acid is siliceous or quartzose; and that the prime difference between it and the smoky quartz surrounding it consists in the different circumstances of crystalline aggregation under which they are deposited. The crystals, with the somewhat analogous case of the Fontainebleau sandstone, may serve to assist in the illustration of some points relative to the laws of affinity, as operating in the formation of crystals.—Phil. Mag. N. S., ii. 123.

6. Native Iron not Meteoric.—The following notice is by Mr. C. A. Lee. Native iron, on Canaan mountain, a mile and a half from the South Meetinghouse (Conn. U. S.). This is particularly interesting, as it is the first instance in which native iron, not meteoric, has been found in America. It was discovered by Major Barrall, of Canaan, while employed in surveying, many years ago. It formed a thin stratum, or plate, in a mass of mica slate, which seemed to have been broken from an adjoining ledge. It presents the usual characters of native iron, and is easily malleable. For some distance around the place where it was found the needle will not traverse, and a great proportion of the tallest trees have been struck with lightning. Whether these phenomena are connected with the existence of a large mass of native iron, I leave for others to determine: the facts, however, may be relied on.

The specimen has been examined chemically, by Mr. Shepherd, at Yale College. It is invested with highly crystalline plumbago, and splits by the intervention of plates of plumbago into pyramidal and tetrahedral masses. It is not equal to meteoric iron in malleability, toughness, and flexibility, and has not the silvery white appearance of that iron. Its specific gravity is from 5.95 to 6.72. It has native steel intermingled in it, but contains no nickel, or any other alloy.

Major Barrall has only been to the place where this iron occurred once, and no other person has ever been to the place, or knows where it is.—Silliman’s Journal, xii. 154. [p225]

7. Native Argentiferous Gold.—M. Boussingault, who has had the opportunity of examining numerous specimens of argentiferous native gold from the Columbian mines, thinks that they are atomic; he has found 1 atom of silver united to 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 atoms of gold, and considers it probable that the other combinations to complete the series may occur. He has assumed 24.86 as the number for gold, and 27.03 as the number for silver. The following are some of the experimental results:—

Native Gold of Marmato.—Pale yellow octoedral crystals:

Gold 73.45 3 atoms 73.40

Silver 26.48 1 " 26.60

Loss 00.07

Native Gold of Titiribi:

Gold 74.00 3 atoms 73.40

Silver 26.00 1 " 26.60

Native Gold of Malpaso.—Yellow irregular flattened grains:

Gold 88.24 8 atoms 88.04

Silver 11.76 1 " 11.96

Native Gold of Rio-Sucio.—Deep-coloured large irregular grains:

Gold 87.94 8 atoms 88.04

Silver 12.06 1 " 11.96

Native Gold of the Otra Mina.—Pale yellow octoedral crystals:

Gold 73.4 3 atoms 73.40

Silver 26.6 1 " 26.60

Native Gold of Guamo.—Brass-yellow indeterminate crystals:

Gold 73.68 3 atoms 73.40

Silver 26.32 1 " 26.60

Native Gold of Llano.—Small flattened grains—reddish:

Gold 88.58 8 atoms 88.04

Silver 11.42 1 " 11.96

Native Gold of Baja.—Porous:

Gold 88.15 8 atoms 88.04

Silver 11.85 1 " 11.96

Native Gold of Ojas-Anchas.—Yellowish red plates:

Gold 84.5 6 atoms 84.71

Silver 15.5 1 " 15.29

Native Gold of Trinidad, near Santa Rosa de Osos.—A solid piece of 50 grains:

Gold 82.4 4 atoms 82.14

Silver 17.6 1 " 17.86

Native Gold of Transylvania (Europe).—Pale yellow cubic crystals:

Gold 64.52 2 atoms 64.77

Silver 35.48 1 " 35.23

Native Gold of Santa Rosa de Osos.—A mass weighing 710 grains:

Gold 64.93 2 atoms 64.77

Silver 35.07 1 " 35.23

M. Boussingault has remarked a singlar deficiency in the [p226] specific gravity of the native alloys of gold and silver when compared with calculation, or with the results obtained from an alloy similar in composition prepared by fusion; thus the native gold of Marmato has a specific gravity of 12.666, whereas, by calculation, it ought to be 16.931. The gold of Malpaso, by experiment, is 14.706, by calculation, 18.223, and by fusion, 18.1. The gold of Santa Rosa, by experiment, is 14.149, and by calculation, 16.175. This difference, M. Boussingault says, is not due to porosity in the native gold, as he has observed it in the granular and fine varieties, but a peculiar character of the metal in this state. Such an enormous difference, however, is one that can be admitted only upon repeated experimental proofs, made in the most unexceptionable manner; and, considering that it is only in some of the metals that any permanent difference in specific gravity can be established, and even with them to but a small extent, would be a fact so important as to be worth extreme trouble in the verification.—Annales de Chimie, xxxiv. 408.

8. Prothéeïte—a new Mineral.—This mineral was discovered in 1826, at Rothenkoph, in the valley of Zillerthal, Tyrol. It occurs in rectangular prisms, generally without distinct summits, and rough at both ends. The angles are very seldom truncated, the faces are striated longitudinally. The crystals are of various sizes, some being very small, but they have occurred 5 inches in length, and two in width; the longitudinal fracture is lamellar, the cross-fracture conchoidal. The substance is usually fissured, nearly opaque in large specimens, translucent or diaphanous in small masses. Its colour is crysolite green or white, or between the two; its lustre between that of glass and the diamond; it is heavy; a good conductor of heat; hard enough to scratch glass; infusible before the blowpipe; highly electric by friction. The white crystals have a fibrous texture, which, as well as the colour, seems the result of decomposition. When cut and polished, the mineral assumes a great variety of aspects; the green parts then resemble the finest crysolites, but the fibrous white parts, when cut of a round form, present one or two reflections on a transparent ground which move as the stone is moved, just like those from the cat’s eye; these reflections are very brilliant, and are accompanied by numerous iris colours, which move like those on the opal. This phenomenon is often observed in the rough stone, which, when exposed to light, exhibit certain deep red tints of a cupreous colour, and metallic lustre on all the faces.—Bull. Univ. B. xi. 42.

9. Volcanic Bisulphuret of Copper.—M. N. Covelli, during his examinations of Mount Vesuvius, has observed some particular actions going on, especially in the fumeroles on the eastern side of the mountain, and within the crater. Speaking of the former, he says, “Here there are fumeroles in which pure chloride of lead [p227] sublimes into white and yellow crystallizations, which fusing in the hotter places form nacres, gum, and stalactites. In many parts the sulphuretted hydrogen, evolved within the fumeroles, reacts on the chloride, and forms sulphuret of lead, dispersed in small scales through the scoria. Other fumeroles produce very thin scales of the black oxide of copper; these are very brilliant, metalloidal, and flexible, and are produced by the action of the vapour of water at a red heat on the chloride of copper, which may be observed on disturbing the fumeroles. Here and there the reaction of aqueous vapour on the perchloride of iron produces metalloidal scales of the peroxide of iron; whilst further on, the same vapour, acting on mixtures of the two chlorides, produces oligiste iron in small crystals, aggregated on the scoria. The muriatic acid resulting from these actions, and the sulphuric acid which is formed by the decomposition of hydrosulphurets and sulphates, attack the iron, lime, copper, alumine, potash, &c., in the lavas and scoria, and hence result a number of other productions which line the passages of the fumeroles”.

M. Covelli descended into the crater, until within 300 feet of the edge of the large eastern opening, from which the great current of lava flowed in 1822. Here the fumeroles presented the most beautiful crystallizations of sulphate of lime and sulphur. On examining the scoria they were found incrusted and covered with a substance, having all the shades of colour belonging to blue, green, and black. Sometimes it resembled a spider’s web in appearance, sometimes soot deposited in the cavities of the scoria. Many specimens were collected, and also a portion of water condensed from the vapours which issued forth, and which evidently contained sulphuretted hydrogen and muriatic acid. The temperature of the vapour was as high as 85° C., in some places, and even up to 90°, at half a foot beneath the surface.

The water being examined was found to contain only a little sulphuretted hydrogen, and a little muriatic acid. The black substance was soon ascertained to be a pure sulphuret of copper. Being analyzed, 100 parts yielded 32 parts of sulphur, and 66 of copper, a loss of two parts being incurred, which accords very nearly with the composition of the bi-sulphuret of copper. The blue and bluish-green substances were found to be mixtures of this sulphuret with sulphate and hydro-sulphuret of copper.

M. Covelli concludes that this substance has been formed by the action of sulphuretted hydrogen on the sulphate and muriate of copper evolved by these fumeroles; and observes, that its composition accords with such an opinion, the deutoxide being that which forms the Vesuvian cupreous salts.—Ann. de Chimie, xxxv. 105.

10. Fall of the Lake Souwando in Russia.—This lake, situated in the parish of Sakkola, in the Russian government of Wibourg, and surrounded by the lands of the Barons Friedrichs, was near [p228] 40 versts in length, and had the form of a Γ, or Greek G. Before the year 1818, it was separated from the lake of Ladoga by an interval about a verst in width, called Taipale, on which was a sandy hill; its waters flowed into the river Wuoxa, which united the lakes of Saima and Ladoga. On the 14th May, 1818, the waters of the lake Souwando, increased by the thaw and the tempests, overcame the natural dyke at the foot of the lake, threw down the hill of sand, rapidly flowed into the lower lake, carrying away all the surrounding grounds, and for ever destroyed the barrier which had previously separated them. A chapel and a countryman’s house were carried away with the pastures and meadows; the waters of the lower lake were much disturbed, and the surface covered with ruins. The level of the lake Souwando fell 1212 archines, and its length is now only 15 versts. Its waters no longer flow off by the Wuoxa, but pass into the lower lake by several falls through a deep canal. The land which has been uncovered by the water is already cultivated, and the beauty of the surrounding country said to be increased.—Bull. Univ., F. x. 133.

11. Vegetable Torpor observed in the Roots of the Black Mulberry-tree.—A very old mulberry-tree was broken into four quarters by the wind in 1790. Two of the quarters were destroyed, the other two remained growing for a few years, but the last of them was removed in 1802. An elder-tree grew in the place of the mulberry-tree, without doubt from berries which had fallen into the middle of the old trunk of the latter. This elder-tree died in 1826, and at the time of its languishing about a dozen of mulberry shoots started forth to the day. M. Dureau de la Malle ascertained that these did not spring from seeds, but from the roots of the old mulberry-tree, which had thus lain in the ground in an apparently inactive state, for 24 years, to send forth shoots at last.—Ann. de Sciences Nat. ix. 338.

12. Method of increasing the Odour of Roses.—For this purpose, according to the author of the method, a large onion is to be planted by the side of the rose tree in such a manner that it shall touch the foot of the latter. The roses which will be produced will have an odour much stronger and more agreeable than such as have not been thus treated, and the water distilled from these roses is equally superior to that prepared by means of ordinary rose leaves.—Œkonom. Neuigk.;—Bull. Univ.

13. Pine Apples.—A great improvement may be made in keeping pine apples by twisting off their crowns, which are generally suffered to remain and to live upon the fruit till they have sucked out all the goodness. It will be very easy for fruiterers to keep a few crowns by them in water, which can be pegged or stuck on with dough, for show, when the fruit is served up, or artificial ones [p229] may be made. A pine apple will keep for a long time when its crown is removed, and will also be greatly improved in flavour, for the more aqueous parts of the fruit gradually evaporate, and leave it much more saccharine and vinous in its flavour; which natural process is totally destroyed by the vegetation of the crown, just upon the same principle that an onion or carrot loses its flavour when it begins to sprout in the spring.

14. Mode of Condensing and Preserving Vegetable Substances for Ships’ Provision, &c.—The quantity of liquid matter which enters into the constitution of vegetables is very great; when they are deprived of it their bulk is very trifling. That preparation of animal food called pemmican, in which six pounds of meat are condensed into the space of one, is mainly effected by abstracting all the fluid from it. Vegetables may be treated in the same way: let them undergo the process of boiling over a fierce wood fire, so as to preserve their colour when completely cooked; grind them into a complete pulp by some such means as are used to crush apples for cider, &c.; then let them be subjected to the action of the press, (being first put into hair bags, or treated as grapes are in wine countries,) till all the fluid matter is separated from them; the remainder of their substance becomes wonderfully condensed, and as hard as the marc from the wine press. Then let it be rammed hard into carefully glazed air-tight jars, (or tin cases, if preferred,) and subjected to the Appertian process for preserving animal and vegetable matters, (well known, by-the-by, to our grandmothers, who preserved gooseberries in this way from time immemorial.) If jars are used, they may be sufficiently secured by having two pieces of bladder tied successively over them; when the air within is absorbed by heating the inclosed substance, their surface becomes concave by the pressure of the atmosphere, and as long as it remains in this state the matter within is safe. If it should be thought requisite to preserve the flavour of the vegetables entire, an extract should be made from the expressed liquid, and added to the marc. But spinage, cabbage, and many others, have abundance of flavour in them in their dry state without this addition. The preparation of the vegetable matter for use is accomplished by adding a sufficient quantity of milk, water, gravy, lime juice, &c., to the marc, and warming it up. Let the government, and the dealers in ships’ provision, look to this; a sufficient quantity of this vegetable pemmican would be the greatest luxury to a ship’s crew, and render the scurvy utterly obsolete. It is worthy of remark, that the most irritable stomach is not offended by vegetables treated in this way.

15. Rewards for the Discovery of Quinia, and for Lithotrity.—The Académie des Sciences has adjudged a prize of 10,000 francs to MM. Pelletier and Caventou, for their discovery and introduction [p230] into use of sulphate of quinia; and another prize of 10,000 francs to M. Civiale, for having been the first to practise lithotrity on the living body, and for having successfully operated by his method on a great number of persons afflicted with the stone in the bladder.

16. Upon the Gaseous Exhalations of the Skin.—M. Collard de Martigny, having experimented on this subject, has obtained results which tend to reconcile the differences existing between previous observers. The Count de Milly first announced, in the year 1777, that an aëriform fluid escapes in great quantity from the surface of the skin, and he considered the gas as carbonic acid. Cruikshank, Jurene, and Abernethy participated in this opinion. Ingenhouz, on the other hand, maintained that the air so secreted was azote. M. Frousset adopted the opinion of Ingenhouz, and endeavoured to confirm it by experiments. Lastly, Priestley and Fontana questioned the reality of a gaseous exhalation from the skin; and Fourcroy positively denied it.

From the experiments of M. Collard de Martigny, he deduces,

i. That a gaseous exhalation really takes place from the skin.

ii. This exhalation is not morbid: it is observable in health.

iii. It is composed of carbonic acid and azote, in very variable proportions. The following experiment was frequently made. The bubbles of air which are disengaged from the skin were received into a funnel, the top of which was closed: they were then passed into a graduated tube, and agitated with a solution of potash. The height to which the solution rose in the tube indicated the quantities of carbonic acid that had been absorbed. All these operations were made at the same temperature and pressure. Neither hydrogen nor oxygen gas were discovered in this air.

iv. It does occur continually; but very often we may vainly attempt to discover it, which has been the cause of error in the results of Priestley, Fontana and Fourcroy. It is especially suspended after exercise long continued in the middle of the day, or immediately after taking an abundant meal. Sometimes it is suspended without any apparent cause.

v. The quantity also is very variable; but it was observed to be constantly in an inverse ratio to the cutaneous absorption.

vi. The proportions of the two gases vary very much, and sometimes the exhaled gas consists almost entirely of azote: in other instances the predominance of carbonic acid is so great that it appears to be the only product.—Med. Rep., N. S. v. 75.

17. Effects of Galvanism in Cases of Asphyxia by submersion.—M. Leroy d’Etioles has addressed a letter to the Académie de Médecine, in reply to an assertion made by M. Thillaye respecting the inutility of galvanism in cases of asphyxia. The former says, that when a short and fine needle is inserted in the sides of the body between the eighth and ninth ribs so as to come in contact with [p231] the attachment of the diaphragm, and then the current of electricity from 25 or 30 pair of inch plates passed through them, that the diaphragm immediately contracts, and an inspiration is effected. Upon breaking the communication, and again completing it, a second inspiration is occasioned, and by continuing these means, a regular respiration may ultimately be occasioned. This power thus applied has always succeeded with him in experiments on drowned animals.—Bull. Univ., C. xi. 213.

18. Recovery from Drowning.—M. Bourgeois had occasion accidentally to give assistance in a case where, after a person had been twenty minutes under water, he was taken out, and by a very common but serious mistake, carried with his head downwards. The usual means were tried unremittingly, but unsuccessfully, for a whole hour, but at the end of that time a little blood flowed from a vein that had been opened, and a ligature being placed on the arm, ten ounces of blood were withdrawn: the circulation and respiration were then gradually re-established, horrible convulsions, and a frightful state of tetanus coming on at the same time; copious bleeding was again effected, after which a propensity to sleep came on: a third bleeding the following morning was followed by the recovery of the patient. Hence M. Bourgeois concludes that the means of recovering a drowned person should never be abandoned until the decomposition of the body has commenced.—Bull. Univ., C. xi. 213.

19. Preservation of Cantharides.—It is stated by M. Farines that the active part of cantharides exists only in the soft organs of the insect; that these are the parts which are attacked by a species of acarus, and that in this way the cantharides are injured. Camphor has no power of preventing the attacks of the acarus; but M. Farines believes that pyroligneous acid will be found effectual, and proposes to prepare cantharides with it, and even to kill them at the time when they are collected by submersion in it.

20. Chloride of Lime in cases of Burns.—The good effect of chloride of lime in cases of burns is confirmed by the experience of M. Lisfranc. He has applied it in many cases of that kind, sometimes immediately after the accident, sometimes after the application of emollient cataplasms. Lint is moistened in a solution more or less strong of chloride of lime, and then applied to the place, being covered over with waxed cloth. The cure has been singularly hastened under its influence and in one case where almost the whole of the lower limbs, the arms and face, had been burnt, the use of the chloride recovered the patient from the stupor into which he had fallen at the end of four days, and a perfect recovery was effected two months after the accident.—Bull. Univ., C. xi. 77. [p232]

21. Cure of Nasal Polypi.—Dr. Primus of Babenhausen asserts, that the saffronised tincture of opium (of the Prussian Pharmacopœia) possesses the property of gradually destroying nasal polypi when applied to them. Certain cures, which have been thus effected, have already been published, and a striking one occurred in January, 1826. A man, 46 years of age, had one in each nostril. The tincture was applied several times a day to the bases of the polypi, by means of a small hair-brush or lint roll. In eight days the tumours had assumed a paler appearance, and lost a little in volume; a serous secretion from the nose, which had existed for a long time, was diminished, and the pituitary membrane had acquired a more lively tint, as if in a sub-inflammatory state. The application was continued, the tumours continued to decrease, and at the end of three weeks had entirely disappeared.—Mediz. Chirurg. Zeitung, 1826, p. 13.

22. Bite of the Viper.—M. Jacopo Sacchi, of Barzio in Valsasina, having had occasion to take charge of some cases in which injury had been inflicted by the bite of a viper (Coluber Berus), transferred his observations upon them into the hands of Professor Paletta. From these it appears that ammonia, recommended by Dr. Mangili, in 1813, although an excellent remedy in many cases, is by no means sufficient in all, but must occasionally be seconded by every possible means. Although sometimes nature alone has power sufficient to overcome the bite of a viper, yet, at other times, the injury is so great and sudden as to resemble the effects of hydrocyanic acid. In these cases he recommends that the patient should be put into a hot bed covered with woollen clothes, and the most powerful sudorifics with some tonics administered internally. Friction should be applied all over the body, and at the same time the wounds are to be enlarged, cupping-glasses applied, and tow, dipped in ammonia, applied to the spot.

23. Experiments on the Poison of the Viper.—M. Desaulx confirms the fact that dogs can swallow with impunity even large quantities of the poison of vipers. He observed also that when this poison was withdrawn from the vesicles it soon lost in power, and after a certain time became inert: a portion ten days old being introduced into a fresh wound of a living animal, only caused slight tumefaction on the part. Mangili, on the contrary, found it, when hermetically sealed up, to retain its virulence for many months. The species of viper from which M. Desaulx obtained his poison is not mentioned.—Bull. Univ. C. xi. 142.

24. Destruction of Moles.—The following method of destroying moles is asserted, by the Count de Boisseulh, to be excellent. Grounds much infested by these animals have been perfectly freed from them by means of it. A number of worms must be procured, killed, and powdered with pulverised vomica-nut; the whole is to [p233] be mixed and left for twenty-four hours. The mole-tracks are then to be opened, and two or three of these worms placed in each hole. If the meadow is large, they cannot be placed in every hole; but by multiplying them as much as possible, a good result is sure to be obtained.—Ann. de Agricul. de la Charente.

25. On growing Salad-herbs at Sea.—On long sea-voyages, whatever esculent roots, or fruit, or whatever vegetable essences may be stowed in the steward’s stores, whether for the use of the officers or crew, nothing can be a greater treat to the former, especially within the tropics, than a dish of fresh salubrious salad-herbs. The want of such an addition to the ordinary fare on board a ship has often been a cause of disease, and misfortune, and even death!—it is needless, therefore, to insist on the usefulness, or to state the antiscorbutic, and consequently sanatory qualities, of fresh vegetables in such situations; and however limited the means to supply such a want as is described below, yet, as it may be highly useful to convalescents, and in individual cases, the publication may not be deemed altogether valueless.

Provide one, two, or three deal boards, made of well-seasoned inch stuff, sixteen inches square, with a ledge all round, rising one inch above the smooth surface of the board; and as it is intended to hold water, the ledges must be closely and neatly fitted: at each corner a nail, or small hook, should be placed, with strings tied into a loop above, by which the board may be slung in the necessary horizontal position; a thin covering-board, made of the same material and dimensions, is also necessary, and which will serve for all the boards.

Pieces of the thickest flannel must be had for each board, cut so as to fit exactly within the ledges. These flannels require to be well soaked, and repeatedly washed in boiling water, before they can be used, to discharge from them whatever is pernicious to vegetation as they come from the manufacturer’s hands.

The board and flannel thus prepared, dip the flannel in water, and place on the boards; sow the seeds pretty thick and regularly; sprinkle them lightly with the hand, till all are moistened and the flannel completely saturated; in which state it should always be kept during the growth of the plants. Too much water floats the seeds when first put on, and are thereby shifted from their places by the motion of the ship. The cover-board must now be put on, and the whole hung up in its place. The use of this board is to assist the vegetation of the seeds, which it will do sufficiently in the course of twenty-four hours; after which it may be laid aside.

The board must be frequently examined, and when the moisture thereon is diminished by evaporation, or imbibed by the crop, a supply must be given, just enough to keep the flannel in the proper saturated state.

In six or seven days the crop will be (if the weather has been favourable) two inches high,—it is then fit for use. The produce [p234] of one board yields about as much as will fill a middle-sized salad-bowl, and when dressed up with the usual condiments of onion, salt, vinegar, and oil, a most agreeable salad will be composed, and a most acceptable treat to the guests at the captain’s table.

It is necessary that the board, as well as the flannel, be scalded, well washed, and dried in the sun, before it can be used again;—and as one board yields one crop per week, two, or even three boards may be used at the same time, in order to secure a regular supply. Larger boards are not so convenient, because they can only be hung in some by-corner of a cabin, quarter-gallery, or state-room, where they may not only be out of the way, but out of the sun and currents of air.

The herbs suitable to be raised in this way are, radish, mustard, and common garden-cress. The two first answer best within the tropics; the last does not, being too delicate and diminutive;—but this does very well when the ship is no nearer the equator than thirty degrees of latitude. One peck of radish, another of mustard, and two quarts of cress, will be sufficient for an India and China voyage,—a supply of which may be had in China.

I. M.

26. Chinese Method of fattening Fish.—The Chinese are celebrated for their commercial acumen, indefatigable industry, and natural adroitness,—in making the most of every gift of nature bestowed on their fertile country. Useful as well as ornamental vegetables engross their every care; and animals which are the most profitably reared, and which yield the greatest quantity of rich and savoury food, are preferred by them for supplying their larders and stews. Their hortus dietetica would form a considerable list; and though they do not use such a variety of butcher’s meat and fowl as Europeans do, yet in the articles of pork, geese, and ducks, they surpass, in the use of fish they equal, us, and in their domestication and management of them they excel all other nations.

A few observations on their piscinas, or fish-stews, is the design of this paper; not merely as an historical description, but as an object for imitation in this or any other country.

For twenty or thirty miles round Canton, and as far as the eye can reach on each side of the river on which that city stands, the general face of the country appears nearly a level plain, with but little undulation of surface. The level is, however, richly studded with beautiful hills, which diversify the landscape, and seem to rise out of the plain so abruptly, that they form the most picturesque features, united with the most pleasing combinations. The soil of the plain consists of a pure alluvial earth of great fertility and depth, and very retentive of water; which, by the by, is a proof that, notwithstanding their claim to high chronological antiquity, the waters of the deluge remained much longer (perhaps for ages) on this portion of the continent of Asia, than it did in the interior: and the circumstance of many of their hills being cultivated to the [p235] very top, their numerous water-plants, and their almost amphibious habits as to their domiciles, are still further proofs that the country was, once, more of an aquaium than it now is. Hence the facility of making canals, which are their high-roads (as wheel-carriages, and beasts of draught, are too expensive appendages, for the systematic economy of the celestial empire!) and hence the ease with which a pond may be made in any otherwise useless corner. Such tanks, or ponds, are generally met with in market-garden grounds, where they serve the double purpose of a reservoir, and a stew for rearing and fattening fish.

When a pond is made for this purpose, and filled with water, the owner goes to market, and buys as many young store-fish as his pond can conveniently hold; this he can easily do, as almost all their fish are brought to market alive. Placed in the stew, they are regularly fed morning and evening, or as often as the feeder finds it necessary; their food is chiefly boiled rice, to which is added, the blood of any animals they may kill, wash from their stewing-pots and dishes, &c., indeed any animal offal or vegetable matter which the fish will eat. It is said, they also use some oleaceous medicament in the food, to make the fish more voracious, in order to accelerate their fattening; but of this the writer could obtain no authentic account.

Fish so fed and treated, advance in size rapidly, though not to any great weight; as the kind (a species of perch) which came under observation, never arrive at much more than a pound avoirdupois; but from the length of three or four inches, when first put in, they grow to eight or nine in a few months, and are then marketable. Drafts from the pond are then occasionally made; the largest are first taken off, and conveyed in large shallow tubs of water to market: if sold, well; if not, they are brought back and replaced in the stew, until they can be disposed of.

This business of fish-feeding is so managed that the stock are all fattened off about the time the water is most wanted for the garden-crops. The pond is then cleaned out, the mud carefully saved, or spread as manure,—again filled with water, stocked with young fry, and fed as before.

An intelligent Chinaman, from whom the writer had the above detail, and who showed him as much of the process as could be seen during a residence of three months, declared as his belief, that a spot of ground, containing from twenty to thirty square yards, would yield a greater annual profit as a stew, than it would in any other way to which it could possibly be applied.

That fish may be tamed, suffer themselves to be caressed, and even raised out of their natural element by the hand, has been long known to naturalists; witness the famous old carp formerly in the pond of some religious house at Chantilly, in France, with many other instances on record. But it is probable no people has carried the art of stew-feeding fish, and practising it as a profitable concern, to such lengths, as is done by the Chinese at this day. I. M.

METEOROLOGICAL DIARY for the Months of June, July, and August, 1827, kept at EARL SPENCER’s Seat at Althorp, in Northamptonshire. ◊ The Thermometer hangs in a North-eastern Aspect, about five feet from the ground, and a foot from the wall.

FOR JUNE, 1827.

Thermometer. Barometer. Wind.

Lowest Highest Morn. Eve. Morn. Eve.

Friday 1 47 65 29.50 29.50 SW SW

Saturday 2 42 62.5 29.60 29.43 S WbS

Sunday 3 44 63 29.67 29.67 W W

Monday 4 44 62 29.70 29.79 W W

Tuesday 5 47 59 29.70 29.59 W W

Wednesday 6 47 58 29.47 29.60 W NW

Thursday 7 43 60 29.78 29.88 W NW

Friday 8 36 63 30.02 30.07 NW W

Saturday 9 45 72 30.13 30.17 W W

Sunday 10 48 68.5 30.17 30.10 NE NE

Monday 11 46 70.5 30.09 30.02 NE NE

Tuesday 12 46 66 30.02 30.02 NE NE

Wednesday 13 51 65 30.02 29.94 NE NE

Thursday 14 48 65 29.89 29.78 NE NE

Friday 15 51 60 29.70 29.60 NE NE

Saturday 16 52 71 29.60 29.57 NE S

Sunday 17 54 73 29.66 29.66 WSW W

Monday 18 54 72.5 29.78 29.79 W W

Tuesday 19 50 68 29.79 29.69 W W

Wednesday 20 48 65 29.65 29.67 W WbS

Thursday 21 44 66.5 29.70 29.73 SW W

Friday 22 43 64 29.80 29.88 W W

Saturday 23 48 63 29.90 29.94 W W

Sunday 24 43 66.5 29.94 29.97 W W

Monday 25 49 66 29.97 29.90 WNW NNW

Tuesday 26 46 69 29.90 29.86 W WbS

Wednesday 27 53.5 67 29.80 29.69 SW SW

Thursday 28 56 66 29.48 29.46 SW SW

Friday 29 56 70 29.46 29.53 SW SW

Saturday 30 52 72 29.59 29.68 W W

FOR JULY, 1827.

Thermometer. Barometer. Wind.

Lowest Highest Morn. Eve. Morn. Eve.

Sunday 1 55 69 29.60 29.63 E SW

Monday 2 49 66.5 29.70 29.60 S SW

Tuesday 3 49 69 29.63 29.78 WbS WbS

Wednesday 4 48 73 29.99 29.99 W WbS

Thursday 5 58 67 30.06 30.20 NE NE

Friday 6 42 70 30.29 30.27 E WNW

Saturday 7 55 75 30.27 30.26 WNW WNW

Sunday 8 53 74 30.26 30.21 WbN WbN

Monday 9 54 73.5 30.19 30.08 W W

Tuesday 10 54 72 30.02 29.87 W WbN

Wednesday 11 55.5 67 29.90 29.98 NW W

Thursday 12 45 68 30.02 30.04 W ENE

Friday 13 44 73 30.06 30.04 E E

Saturday 14 46.5 71.5 30.04 30.00 ESE E

Sunday 15 45 71 29.98 29.91 E NE

Monday 16 47 71.5 29.91 29.90 E E

Tuesday 17 46.5 77 29.90 29.88 SE WbS

Wednesday 18 57 72 29.83 29.87 WSW W

Thursday 19 51 68 29.87 29.71 W SW

Friday 20 57 69 29.59 29.62 W W

Saturday 21 50 69 29.77 29.80 W W

Sunday 22 45 64 29.82 29.80 ESE SE

Monday 23 57 73 29.83 29.88 EbS W

Tuesday 24 58 75 29.90 29.89 W WbS

Wednesday 25 60 72 29.82 29.82 SW WNW

Thursday 26 46 69.5 29.92 29.78 W SSW

Friday 27 54 74 29.90 30.00 W W

Saturday 28 58 79 30.00 30.02 W W

Sunday 29 54 78 30.04 29.92 ESE SE

Monday 30 65 75 29.62 29.80 SSE W

Tuesday 31 52 72.5 30.03 30.10 W W

FOR AUGUST, 1827.

Thermometer. Barometer. Wind.

Lowest Highest Morn. Eve. Morn. Eve.

Wednesday 1 51 72 30.04 29.95 W

Thursday 2 46 77.5 29.82 29.67 W

Friday 3 56 74 29.60 29.50 SW W

Saturday 4 58 71 29.48 29.63 SW W

Sunday 5 53 66 29.91 30.06 W NE

Monday 6 51 67.5 30.13 30.18 NE ENE

Tuesday 7 42 70 30.18 30.10 E E

Wednesday 8 40 68 30.04 29.98 E E

Thursday 9 41 70.5 29.93 29.80 EbN SE

Friday 10 57 70 29.60 29.48 SW W

Saturday 11 47 66 29.48 29.44 W W

Sunday 12 50 62 29.55 29.67 WSW WNW

Monday 13 46 67 29.76 29.73 W WbS

Tuesday 14 51 70 29.53 29.43 SW SW

Wednesday 15 60 68 29.22 29.25 SE WbS

Thursday 16 51 67 29.30 29.36 S NE

Friday 17 56 68 29.60 29.76 NE NE

Saturday 18 54 60 29.87 29.87 NE NE

Sunday 19 48 65 29.89 29.90 NE NE

Monday 20 42.5 59.5 29.90 29.90 NE NW

Tuesday 21 56 67.5 29.90 29.95 NE NE

Wednesday 22 51 59 30.03 30.10 N NW

Thursday 23 48 68 30.20 30.20 NW NW

Friday 24 52 63 30.14 30.08 WNW WbN

Saturday 25 49 60 30.00 30.04 WNW W

Sunday 26 44 58 30.08 30.08 NW N

Monday 27 42 67 30.12 30.16 N NW

Tuesday 28 47 64 30.16 30.16 W NW

Wednesday 29 50 63 30.24 30.24 NNE NW

Thursday 30 47 63 30.18 30.07 W W

Friday 31 52 63 30.12 30.20 N NE

CONTENTS. ◊ Oct.–Dec. 1827.

On the Means generally used with the Intention of curing a Stoop. By the late Mr. SHAW 237

A Critique on the Aplanatic Object-glasses, for diverging Rays, of Vincent Chevalier, ainé et fils. By C. R. GORING, M.D. 248

On the Existence of Chlorine in the Native Black Oxide of Manganese. By JOHN M’MULLEN, Esq. 258

Modern Improvements of Horticulture 261

FARADAY’s Chemical Manipulation, reviewed 275

Statistical Notices suggested by the actual State of the British Empire, as exhibited in the last Population Census. Communicated by Mr. MERRITT 283

On the Modern Ornaments of Architecture, &c. 292

De l’Influence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie. Par W. F. EDWARDS, D.M. &c., reviewed 296

Experiments on Thought 308

Hieroglyphical Fragments, illustrative of Inscriptions preserved in the British Museum, with some remarks on Mr. Champollion’s opinions. In a letter to the Cav. San Quintino 310

On the Naturalization of Fish. By J. MAC CULLOCH, M.D., F.R.S., &c. 320

WADD’s Nugæ Chirurgicæ or, a Biographical Miscellany, reviewed 329

Nugæ Canore, by UNUS QUORUM, reviewed ib.

WADD’s Mems., Maxims, and Memoirs, reviewed ib.