Varieties. 



[JULY, 



without a question being raised ns to the 

 propriety oi the appointment, or any proof 

 required of his practical knowledge : E. 

 would make the professorship of geometry a 

 ladder to the chair of divinity, and F. of 

 chemistry a stepping-stone to something else, 

 nndso on ; " one foot in the stirrup, and I nm 

 soon in the saddle." What results from this 

 system ? Why, that local cabal, and petty 

 intrigue, and boisterous pretension, and fatu- 

 ous self-sufficiency prevail over modest and 

 unassuming ability ; that men of honour and 

 of real talent retire with disgust from a con- 

 test which degrades them ; that the title of 

 professor is sneered at as synonymous with 

 charlatan ; and that in the scientific annals 

 of Europe, for the nineteenth century, En- 

 gland enrols such discoveries, as that Grego- 

 rian telescopes cannot be made of glass ; 

 that the mean density of the earth exceeds 

 that of gold ; and that the human body, even 

 when in no state of unnatural excitement, 

 evolves so much caloric as to derange the 

 operation of a transit instrument. 



French AchromalicTeleseope. The mag- 

 nificent achromatic telescope which we no- 

 ticed, some time since, as having been con- 

 structed by the late M. Fraunhoper for the 

 observatory at Dorpat, has awakened a strong 

 spirit of emulation in France; and M. Cau- 

 choix, a Parisian optician, has nearly com- 

 pleted an achromatic telescope, about nine- 

 teen feet focal length, and of twelve inches 

 and three-quarters aperture, from some flint 

 glass of the late M. Guinaml. It is reported 

 that some remarkable appearances h;ive been 

 observed with this instrument, in the ring of 

 Saturn, by M. M. Arago and Mathieu, of the 

 Royal Observatory at Paris ; an account of 

 which will be published when they shall 

 have been fully verified . Have they seen the 

 phenomenon remarked last year by Captain 

 Kuter, viz. that the external ring consists of 

 several concentric ones, of which an account 

 appeared in this journal at the time ? 



Spiders. To our readers in general, and 

 to entomologists in particular, we conceive 

 that the following instance of ingenuity in a 

 spider, which was witnessed by the writer of 

 this article, will not be uninteresting.- A 

 web was observed to be tightly stretched 

 across a garden path, about five feet in 

 breadth, the reticulated portion occupying the 

 centre, and one of the principal threads to 

 which this part was attached, had a vertical 

 direction ; upon examining in what manner 

 this was fastened to the ground, it was 

 found that the ingenious insect, instead of 

 having permanently fixed it to the gravel 

 path, Lad coiled it round a stone a little 

 larger than its own body, and had raised 

 this about a foot from the walk, where it 

 was swinging in the air, giving the neces- 

 sary degree of tension to the net- work of 

 the web, but not affording a sufficient resis- 

 tance to the wind to occasion its destruc- 

 tion. 



Sugar from Melons. To render France 

 icJt pendent of tfce co'ooies for a Mipply of 



sugar, was a favourite object with Buona- 

 parte, and the extraction of it from beet, in 

 some measure justified his hopes : it would 

 seem that, nt the present time, the subject, is 

 not altogether overlooked by the chemists, 

 as M. Payen has succeeded in extracting 

 from one hundred parts of the juice of the 

 melon, 1,5 of well crystallized sugar, pos- 

 sessing all the properties of that from the 

 sugar-cane. 



Bugs. A sort of prejudice exists in Eng- 

 land, in London especially, that while all. 

 ohl houses swarm with bugs, the newly-built 

 ones are exempt from this execrable annoy- 

 ance. Without stating the reverse to be the 

 fact, it will be found, that in no part of the 

 metropolis are these noxious insects to be 

 met with in such abundance as in the rie\v 

 houses erected in the Regeut's-park, into 

 which they have been introduced in the 

 American timber employed in their con- 

 struction. On examining this timber, ys if 

 comes from the ship, it will be found that 

 the bugs absolutely fill up the crevices. 

 Could no prohibitory duties be laid upon 

 their importation ? 



Steam, Boilers. In our last number, or in 

 the one which preceded it, we gave an ac- 

 count of the various causes which had been 

 assigned of the explosion of steam-boilers, 

 by Mr. Perkir.r, in the London Journal of 

 Arts, and by Mr. Taylor and others in the 

 Philosophical Magazine ; in the number for 

 June of the last mentioned work, Mr. Moore, 

 of Bristol, has stated, that steam-engines 

 have often exploded on their being stopped ; 

 and that the immediate cause of explosion in 

 these cases is, probably, an additional strain 

 on the boiler from within, produced by the 

 steam, which previously had a free passage, 

 being prevented from escaping any where 

 but at the safety valve ; the aperture of 

 which, compared with the content of the cy- 

 linder into which the steam passed before, is 

 very small. Mr. Moore also suggests, for 

 the purpose of obviating accidents from such 

 a cause, the application of a large valve on 

 the tube adjacent to the part where the stearu 

 is prevented from passing to the engine. 



Zooloyy. No where is the difference re- 

 sulting from the public museums being in 

 the hands of government as in France, and 

 of private individuals as in England, more, 

 apparent than in the Zoological collection 

 m the Jurdin ties Plantes at Paris. To this 

 unrivalled collection, an American condor 

 was added in the course of last year ; and, 

 after great apprehension that it could not. 

 survive the winter, this, we believe, unique 

 specimen, is in perfect health, und in full 

 plumage. 



Discovery of an ancient Monument in 

 Sicily. In constructing a bridge near Syra- 

 cuse, and at some distance from the church 

 of Saint John, where the ancient catacombs 

 are found, an ancient stew or warm-bath 

 has been discovered. It is in breadth 10 

 palms, about 8-5 feet English. In height, 

 to the springing of the vaul^ 7 palms, uliout 



