in the interior of the marble, about which the workmen penetrated the rock, and found a cavity much larger than usual, lined with crystals, and containing above a pound and a half of the fluid in question. In this cavity there was seen also with astonishment a protuberance as large as the fist, transparent, and which appeared to have all the other characters of rock crystal. M. del Nero delighted to find himself possessor of one of the finest specimens of hyalin quartz which had ever been seen in the country, endeavoured to raise it at the base, but to his inexpressible surprise he found an elastic and pasty substance, which took any form he pleased under his hand, but which was not long becoming hard, and taking on the appearance of calcedony or porcelain. Provoked by the circumstance, the proprietor threw it from him amongst the fragments of the rocks, where this specimen which would have interested the curious so highly, was lost. He affirmed to me, and his assertion was repeated by other witnesses worthy of confidence, that the same fact has occurred more than once, and I made him promise that if he again had the opportunity, he would impress some seal on the soft matter, and when hard send it to me at Florence, with the water which the cavity might contain." This is a very extraordinary account, but it is given with every appearance of ingenuousness and conviction.-Bib. Univ. xviii. 203. 4. Phenomenon attending the Earthquake at Zante.-At the time when the desolating earthquake that occurred in Zante, in the end of 1820 took place, a remarkable circumstance was observed just preceding the shock. Three or four minutes before there was seen at the distance of two miles from the point or promontory of Geraca, which is to the S.E. of the island, a kind of meteor burning and almost swimming on the sea, and which continued luminous five or six minutes. At the distance from which it was seen, it seemed to be five or six feet in diameter. Could this be hydrogen gas emanating from some volcanic submarine cavern, and which issuing out of the water in an aëriform column, sought to come in contact with the electricity of the atmosphere? This gas taking fire, continued to burn till the inflammable matter was consumed.-Edin. Phil. Jour. vi. 22. 5. Preservation of Anatomical Specimens.-Dr. Macartney of the Dublin University, has for some time employed a solution of alum and nitre, for the purpose of preserving anatomical preparations. He finds that it preserves the natural appearances of most parts of the body more completely than spirits or any other fluid heretofore used. The proportions of the alum and the nitre, and the strength of the solution require to be varied according to circumstances; and, in order to thoroughly impregnate the anatomical preparation, the liquor must for some time be occasionally renewed. The solution possesses such antiseptic powers, that the most putrid and offensive animal substances are rendered perfectly free from fœtor by it in a few days.-Med. Rep. xvii. p. 169. 6. Use of Phosphoric Acid in Jaundice.-Dr. Caleb Miller has in Silliman's Journal, stated the success he obtained in cases of jaundice, by the use of phosphoric acid. His practice is to give a cathartic of calomel and julip, or some of the neutral salts, and then balm-tea moderately acidulated with the phosphoric acid, which is to be continued till it operates as a diuretic, and until the urine becomes clear, or nearly so. patient had taken eight pints in twenty-four hours. In general the yellowness disappears in three or four days from the urine, and in a few days more from the skin. Dr. Miller has met with but one case, (a person eighty years of age), that had not yielded to this treatment. One 7. Use of Sub-nitrate of Bismuth in Intermittent Fever.-Dr. Henkesew, a physician at Hildesheim, has been in the habit of prescribing this remedy in agues, for several years. He considers it to be a powerful febrifuge and anti-spasmodic. He exhibits this salt in the dose of four grains, with a few grains of sugar every two hours. 8. Height of the Mountains in Owhyee and Mowee.-Captain Kotzebue found the height of these enormous masses to be as follows: Island of Owhyee-Merino Roa. 2482.4 toises. Merino Kaah 2180.1 Island of Mowee--Highest peak 1669.1 9. On the Existence of Mercury in the waters of the Ocean. By M. PROUST.-1. Hilaire Rouelle remarked, a long while. ago, that whenever he purified the crude salt of the customhouse in silver basins, they became covered here and there with those spots which are particular to mercury. 2. The same salt, decomposed by sulphuric acid, always gave, in the top of the retorts, small quantities of a sublimate decidedly mercurial. 3. The fact generally known of whitening yellow metals, by putting them for some time into crude or rough salt, added to the preceding results, determined Rouëlle to announce that there was no doubt of the existence of mercury in marine salt. 4. Among the preparations which came to me from Paris to Spain, to furnish the laboratory of the artillery there, were a dozen bottles of fuming muriatic acid, which had been prepared in the laboratory of the druggist, Charlard: all these bottles contained mercury. I at first perceived it, from an amalgam of tin and mercury being left on dissolving some tin in the acid; and afterwards I directly ascertained its presence by purifying the acid in the usual manner, and examining the residuum left; it contained mercury mixed with oxide of iron. It was sufficient indeed to pour a few drops of the proto-muriate of tin into the acid to precipitate the mercury in powder. Hence, then, mercury incontestably exists in the custom-house salt of France. 5. In Spain, the government put to sale the rock-salt of the mines of Cordova and Minglanilla. The first time that I purified the salt sold at Madrid, in a silver basin, I remarked the same spots as those noticed by Rouëlle. 6. Having used all the muriatic acid of Paris, I procured some from the manufactory of acids at Cadahalso. That which was sent to me, had been procured by means of calcined clay. It contained iron, and, to my surprise, mercury also. From that time I remarked, in my course of lectures, the singular accordance between the salt of France and Spain in this respect. The presence of mercury in rock salt is not astonishing, but when it is found also in the salt produced by evaporation from sea water, there is greater difficulty, because it must be supposed to be in solution. There needs not, I think, more facts or better proved ones, than those mentioned to establish with certainty the existence of mercury in the sea water of this period, and that it has existed also in those which, by evaporation or condensation, have given rise to the deposits of rock salt. All the chemists of the last century, but one, speak of the mercury of marine salt, probably from observations analogous to those I have mentioned, and Rouelle remarked it before me. There is nothing as yet demonstrated in the origin of rock salt; nevertheless, if it should ultimately be proved that the principal known mines contain mercury, it would be a new demonstration that the waters of the ocean had concurred in producing them; a consequence which has been already drawn from the discovery of potash in the waters of the ocean, and in rock salt. An experiment I have desired to make for a long time, but for which the opportunity has not yet offered, is to attach a plate of gold, of two or three inches surface, to some part of a ship, where it would be continually plunged in the water. Half an ounce of gold laminated, would be amply sufficient; all that is required is, to ascertain whether, at the end of a long voyage, it had become amalgamated; but the person who would successfully make the experiment must not forget that if the plate is lost, it is probably because it would readily detach itself, nothing scarcely being so fragile as gold penetrated by mercury. As to the expense, I shall readily bear it with pleasure. Application may be made to M. Lucas, agent of the Institute, who will immediately give the value to any person willing to take charge of the experiment.-Memoires du Muséum, vii. 479. |