1828.], 



Varieties, 



201 



the communication is perfected by means of 

 a -tin tubule filled with powder, and passed 

 through the centre of the plug. The ope- 

 ration and effect of this method will be 

 readily understood by the analogy of the 

 bursting of a gun when the ball or charge 

 of shot is not properly rammed down. 



Diminution of the Waters of the Aral 

 Lake One of the most singular circum- 

 stances recorded in the account of the Rus- 

 sian Embassy to Buckharia, is the manner 

 in which the waters of the Aral Lake have 

 diminished. It would seem that this re- 

 trocession is prodigiously rapid, for some 

 Kirguisians assured the members of the 

 embassy that their fathers yet remembered 

 to have seen that sea in places where it is 

 now distant about sixty versts, or nearly 

 forty English miles. One of the bays of 

 the Sir had, in the space of one year, di- 

 minished three versts, or nearly two Eng- 

 lish miles, in its eastern direction. It was 

 on the borders of this sea that Bernardin de 

 Saint Pierre, in his youthful and wild reve- 

 ries, hoped to found a republic. 



Antediluvian Footsteps In the red 



sand-stone quarry of Corncodale Muir, about 

 two miles to the north of the town of Loch- 

 maben, in the county of Dumfries, are 

 numerous and distinct impressions of feet, 

 which leave no doubt that this rock, while 

 in a soft state, had been traversed by living 

 quadrupeds. Casts taken from some of 

 these prints are in the possession of several 

 geologists. The simple inspection of the 

 tracks make it impossible to doubt in what 

 manner they have been produced. The 

 great number of the impressions in unin- 

 terrupted continuity the regular alterna- 

 tions of the right and left footsteps their 

 equidistance from each other the outward 

 direction of the toes the grazing of the 

 foot along the surface before it was firmly 

 planted the deeper impression made by 

 the toe than by the heel, the forcing forward 

 of the sandy matter of the rock, by the 

 downward and scarcely slanting direction in 

 which it is remarkable that all the animals 

 have traversed this singular acclivity and, 

 in the largest specimen found in a different 

 part of the quarry, the sharp and well-de- 

 fined marks of the three claws of the ani- 

 mal's foot, are circumstances which imme- 

 diately arrest the attention of the observer, 

 and force him to acknowledge that they ad- 

 mit of only one explanation. 



Medical Virtues of the Spider's Web. 

 Dr. Jackson, in his work on fever, pro- 

 nounces that the web of the spider prevents 

 the recurrence of febrile paroxysms more 

 effectually than bark or arsenic, or any other 

 remedy employed for that purpose. It is 

 administered in pills of five grains every 

 fourth or fifth hour, the patient being pre- 

 viously prepared by the usual evacuants. 

 It is said to be useful also in spasmodic 

 affections of various kinds, asthma, periodi- 

 cal headaches, and general irritability, also 

 as an application to ulcerated and irritable 



M.M, New Series VOL. V. No. 2G. 



surfaces. The web "should be that of the 

 black spider, found in cellars, and dark and 

 damp places. 



Lenses for Single Microscopes An 



ingenious artist, by name Pritchard, having 

 succeeded in producing a small diamond 

 lens for a single microscope, and its incon- 

 testible superiority being manifest, has in- 

 duced him to apply himself to the formation 

 of sapphire lenses for the same purpose ; 

 experiment having proved that after the 

 diamond, it possesses a stronger refraction 

 than any other substance, capable of giving 

 a single image, while its dispersive power is 

 very low. The faint blue tinge of the sap- 

 phire is not felt in thin small lenses formed 

 of this substance, which thus comes next in 

 order to diamond ones, and forms an excel- 

 lent substitute for the use of those persons 

 unable to afford the expense of the latter. 



Novel Application of Hydrogen Gas. 

 In the salt mine of Gottesgabe, at Rheine, 

 in the county of Tecklenbourg, there has 

 issued for sixty years from one of the pits, 

 which has on this account been called the 

 Pit of the Wind, a continued current of 

 inflammable gas. The same gas is pro- 

 duced in other parts of the mines. M. 

 Roeder, the inspector of the salt mines, 

 has used this gas for two years, not only as 

 a light, but as fuel for all the purposes of 

 cookery. He collects it in pits that are no 

 longer worked, and conveys it in tubes to 

 the house. It burns with a white and bril- 

 liant flame ; its density is about 0-66 ; it 

 contains only traces of carbonic acid and 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, and therefore should 

 consist of carbonated hydrogen and olefiant 

 gas. It may be added, that in America, 

 the village of Fredonia, on the shores of 

 Lake Erie, is lighted every night by in- 

 flammable gas, from the burning springs, 

 as they are called, in its vicinity. 



Antiquities. Two very interesting dis- 

 coveries have recently been made in the 

 south of Russia, by M. de Blaramberg,' 

 director of the Museums of Antiquities, 

 established at Odessa and at Kertch ; at one 

 verst to the south of the town of Symphe- 

 ropol, he found the remains of an ancient 

 edifice. Among the ruins were some bas- 

 reliefs and Greek inscriptions : among the 

 latter is a dedication to Jupiter Atabyrius^ 

 and in another the name of king Scilurus is 1 

 legible. It is probably the famous Scilurus, 

 who waged war against the generals of 

 Mithridates Eupator, and who, according to 

 Strabo, possessed in the interior of Tauris 

 the castles of Chavrem, Neapolis, and Pala- ' 

 cium. The recently discovered remains may 

 have belonged to one of these places. Among 

 the bas-reliefs is one representing the face 

 of an old man with a thick beard, and' 

 wearing a singular head-dress. A perfect 

 resemblance of this same countenance is 

 found on an unpublished medal in the cabi- 

 net of M. Blakenberg, on the reverse of 

 which is the name of king Scilurus. The 

 bas-relief, therefore, doubtless, is the likeness 



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