218 Miscellaneous Intelligence, 



opposite direction ; something in the way that the tide sends the 

 bore up a river. The tremendous explosion of the Stobb's powder 

 mills, in 1824, showed, in a very striking light, how feebly and to how 

 short a distance sound moves against the wind, whilst it is prodi- 

 giously strengthened to leeward. A moderate breeze then blew 

 from the south-west, and although in the opposite direction, the 

 report was loud, and the houses sensibly shaken to the distance of 

 thirty miles, yet very few heard it, and that feebly, three miles to 

 windward. — Jameson* s Journal, 1827, j:;. 105. 



5. New Material for Paper. — According to the French papers, 

 M. Julia Fontenelle has estabhshed a manufacture of paper from 

 liquorice root. It is said to be very white, to require no sizing, 

 and to be manufactured at a price much less than that made from 

 rags. 



6. Zinc Roofs. — Roofs covered with malleable zinc are very nu- 

 merous in the Low Countries, but have one bad quality which is 

 against them. In cases of fire, the zinc being very combustible, 

 causes the dispersion of inflamed portions of the metal, which falling 

 all around, occasion great danger to those who approach the build- 

 ing. — Polytechjiique Journal, 



7. Method of ohtairmig the Figure of a Plant. — A piece of paper 

 is to be rubbed over with powdered dragon's blood, in the manner 

 practised by engravers, and then the small branch or leaf of which 

 the design is required, is to be laid upon it: by means of slight fric- 

 tion it soon takes up a small quantity of the powder, and being 

 then laid upon moistened paper, an impression is to be taken in 

 the manner practised for lithography without a machine. This pro- 

 cess may be usefully employed for preserving certain physiognomi- 

 cal and characteristic features, which cannot be retained by drying 

 the plant.— J3m//. Univ. E. viii. 339. 



8. Assamese Method of blasting Rocks. — The Assamese close the 

 mouth of the hole by driving in with a mallet a stout wooden plug 

 some inches in length, through which a touchhole is bored. Be- 

 tween the powder and the lower part of the plug an interval of 

 several inches is left ; the communication is perfected by means of 

 a tin tube filled with powder, and passed through the centre of the 

 ^\ug.— Monthly Mag. v. 200. 



9. On the Effects produced on different Substances by powerful 

 Magnets. — In experimenting upon the action exerted by powerful 

 ?nagnets on different bodies, M. Becquerel found that the magnetic 

 efl^ects produced upon steel and soft iron by the influence of a strong 

 magnet differed essentially from that produced on bodies in which 

 the magnetism is weaker. In the lirst, whatever are the directions 

 livjiich they tak« relative to the magnet, the distribution of mag- 



