49(^ Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



8. Composition of Apatite. — According to M. Rose, the apa- 

 tite from the following localities g^ave the annexed proportions of 

 chloride and fluoride of calcium, the rest being phosphate of lime 

 with occasional traces of iron and magnesia: — 



S. O. Ohio. Calc. Fluor. Calc. 



Annales de Chimie. 



9. Burmese Petroleum Welb. — *' The gentlemen of the mission 

 examined carefully the celebrated Petroleum Wells, near which they 

 remained for eight days, owing to the accident of the steam-vessel 

 taking the ground in their vicinity. Some of the wells are from 

 thirty-seven to fifty-three fathoms in depth, and are said to yield at 

 an average, daily, from 130 to 185 gallons of the earth-oil. The 

 wells are scattered over an area of about sixteen square miles. The 

 wells are private property, the owners paying a tax of five per cent, 

 of the produce to the state. This commodity is almost universally 

 used by the Burmans as lamp oil. Its price on the spot does not, 

 on an average, exceed from fivepence to sevenpence halfpenny per 

 cwt. The other useful mineral or saline productions of the Burman 

 empire are coal, saltpetre, soda, and culinary salt. One of the 

 lakes affording the latter, which is within six or seven miles of the 

 capital, was examined by the gentlemen of the mission.'* Craw- 

 ford's Mission to Ava. — Jamesoris Journal^ 1827, p. 366. 



10. Direction of the Branches of Trees. — Professor Eaton remarks 

 that all trees with spreading branches accommodate the direction 

 of thfe lower branches to the surface of the earth over which they 

 extend, as may be seen in orchards growing on the sides of hills, 

 and in all open forests ; and inquires what influence can the earth 

 have upon the branches on the upper side of a tree, which causes 

 them to form a different angle with the body of the tree from the 

 angle formed by the branches on the lower side, so that all the 

 branches hold a parallel direction to the earth's surface. — Silli- 

 mans Journal, xiii. 194. 



11. Effects of Light on Vegetation. — The following observations 

 by Professor Eaton are dated Rensselaer school, Troy, April 30, 

 1827. " Clouds and rain have obscured the hemisphere during the 

 last six days. In that time the leaves of all the forests which are 

 seen from this place have greatly expanded. But they were all of 

 a pallid hue until this afternoon. Within the period of about six 

 hours, they have all changed their colour to a beautiful green. As 

 the only efficient change which has taken place, is that we have a 



