164 Proceedings of thti 



Egyptian calculations, it is evident, that for 5000 years the distri- 

 bution of the terrestrial heat on the surface of the earth has remained 

 the same, as any change must have affected the periodical rains of 

 Upper Ethiopia, the rising of the Nile, the duration of the inunda- 

 tion, &c. 



Protection of Firemen. On the 4th of April, M. Gregori com- 

 municated some details of the experiments recently made in Italy 

 by the Marquess Origo, the commandant of the firemen at Rome, 

 with a view to guarantee them from the effects of entering houses 

 while a prey to conflagration. Acting on the received opinion that 

 the Romans employed a mixture of clay and vinegar to extinguish 

 flames, he tried that mixture in every manner, but it produced no 

 satisfactory result. He then dipped two complete suits of firemen's 

 dresses, including boots, gloves, and two cowls, made of the same 

 cloth as the dresses, in a solution of sulphate of alumine and sulphate 

 of lime, and, when dry, saturated them with soap water. Two 

 firemen were clothed in these dresses, and their faces covered with 

 incombustible masks, covered with cloth saturated with a saline 

 solution ; the openings for the eyes were covered with a web of 

 amianthus, and small damp sponges were placed in their mouth and 

 ears. Thus protected, they entered a house, 23 feet long and 3 

 feet wide, filled with burning wood, which they traversed ten times 

 without the slightest injury. Their clothes were not damaged, 

 although they had remained fifteen minutes exposed to the action 

 of the flames. The only effect produced on the men was the increase 

 of the pulsation from 70 to 125. These dresses cost but two pounds 

 sterling each ; and are, therefore, in that respect, more eligible than 

 those composed of amianthus, as recommended by the Chevalier 

 Aldini. M. Origo also extinguished flames of considerable violence 

 by playing on them with the solution of sulphate of alumine and 

 clay, by means of a common engine. 



Transport of Edifices. On the 9th of May, M. Gregori alluded 

 to a circumstance mentioned in a late Number of the ' Journal des 

 Artistes,' of a rock of granite, 42 feet long and 27 high, having 

 been transported from the bay of Finland to St. Petersburgh, to serve 

 as a pedestal to a statue of Peter the Great. He stated that a 

 much more remarkable fact had occurred at Crescentino in 1776, 

 when a common mason, named Serra, succeeded in transporting a 

 brick belfry (which he had contrived to cut from its base without 

 injuring' the walls) from one church to another, at a considerable 

 distance. While it was being moved, a man inside rang the bells. 

 A model of the machine, employed in the transport, was deposited 

 in the library of the Institute, 



Travelling in India. At the same meeting, M. Elie de Beau- 

 mont read extracts from two letters, which he had received from M. 

 Victor Jacqueminot, a French naturalist, travelling in India, M, 



