NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 193 



the under one is attached the end of the connecting chain. When 

 there is a calm, then the point of contact is at the fixed weight, and as 

 the wind presses against the pressure-plate it causes the chain to lilt 

 up the levers, and then the point of contact moves along towards the, 

 other end, indicating the strength of the gale, the levers returning by 

 their own weight as the. pressure of the wind subsides. To the end of 

 the under lever a string is attached, 'carrying a pencil to and fro along 

 a cylinder in the direction of its length, revolving on its axis by clock- 

 work once in 24 hours, upon which the pencil will trace, on the paper 

 rolled round it, the pressure of the wind for 24 hours. The velocity 

 of the wind is shown by a "gaining clock." The pencil-string at- 

 tached to the end of the under lever is connected with its regulator, 

 and is so arranged that as the wind blows more or less strongly it 

 pulls the regulator towards the fast end, and accelerates the gaining 

 of the clock. A counterpoise weight brings the regulator back as the 

 pressure decreases. 



INDICATIONS OF OCEANIC CURRENTS. 



Capt. Belcher of the British navy, has recently published a state~ 

 ment, respecting the information gained within the last ten years 

 concerning the curious voyages of bottles thrown into the sea by 

 navigators. A good many bottles cast into the sea next to the 

 African coast, found their way to Europe. One bottle seems to have 

 anticipated the Panama route, having traveled from the Panama Isth 

 mus to the Irish coast. Another crossed the Atlantic from the Cana- 

 ries to Nova Scotia. Three or four bottles thrown into the sea by 

 Greenland mariners off Davis : s Straits, landed on the northwest coast 

 of Ireland. Another made a curious trip, swam from the South At- 

 lantic Ocean, to the west coast of Africa, passing Gibraltar, went 

 along the Portuguese coast of France, and was finally picked up on 

 Jersey Island. One bottle was found after 16 years 1 swimming, 

 one after 14 years, and two after ten years. A few only traveled 

 more than one year, and one only five days. This was sent off by the 

 Captain of the Racehorse, on the 17th of April, in the Carribean Sea, 

 and was found on the 22d, after having gone through three degrees of 

 longitude (210 miles) western direction. Captain McClure of the 

 Investigator threw a bottle into the sea in 1850, on his voyage to 

 Behring's Straits. It swam 3,500 miles in 200 days, and was picked 

 up on the Honduras coast. 



NELATON'S PROBE. 



In the examination of gunshot wounds by means of the probe it is 

 often a matter of no little difficulty for the surgeon to decide whether 

 an obstruction met with, results from the presence of a ball or from 

 a portion of bone. This was the case in the wound of Garibaldi, 

 the most eminent surgeons in attendance being unable to decide the 

 question as to the presence of the ball inflicting the wound, or, as- 

 suming its presence, of its exact location. To remedy this difficulty 

 M. Nelaton the celebrated Parisian surgeon, has invented a form of 

 probe which is able to give the most unerring information in regard 

 to the matter in question. The construction of this ingenious probe, 

 which has since come into general use, is as follows : To the end of a 



