1827.] 



Varieties. 



433 



paint in the chamber was turned of a very 

 dark colour, with a metallic cast; the paper 

 was red and blue; the red, excepting near 

 the floor, has entirely disappeared. There 

 was no lightning-rod on the house. [Since 

 writing the above, the chimney has been ex- 

 amined. A hole, an inch long, is found in the 

 garret, four feet from the ceiling of the 

 chamber where it came through : no crack 

 or any other fracture is to be seen. The 

 rending effects of the lighting were not more 

 conspicuous than they often are in similar 

 cases ; but the delicate selection made of me- 

 tallic articles, the manner in which they were 

 affected, and the minuteness of the ramifica- 

 tions of the fluid through the apartments 

 were very remarkable] . 



Scourges of Agriculture in the Isle of 

 France. It is well known that all the 

 islands in which the sugar-cane is cultivated 

 are subject to the most destructive visitation 

 of rats, which multiply in an almost incre- 

 dible degree, and attain the most extraordi- 

 nary size and ferocity. Besides this scourge, 

 the latest accounts from the Isle of France 

 inform us, that it has been ravaged by grani- 

 vorous birds, which, at the time of harvest, 

 entirely stripped the fields of rice ; and to such 

 a height had the twocalamities increased, that 

 the colonial government offered a reward to 

 those who would assist in the destruction of 

 these two species of animals. In execution 

 of this measure, eight of the arrondissements 

 of the island transmitted to the governor, in 

 a single month, 830,473 rats' tails, and 

 930,549 heads of birds, as a proof of the 

 destruction of 1,769,022 individuals of these 

 two destructive races. 



Level of the Ocean. A gradual subsi- 

 dence of the waters of the Baltic in parti- 

 cular, and perhaps of the ocean generally, has 

 been asserted and denied by many very emi- 

 nent natural philosophers. That an eestuary 

 formerly extended nearly to Canterbury seems 

 evident upon an attentive examination of that 

 part of Kent; and tradition and historical do- 

 cumentary evidence support the hypothesis. 

 Very many other places might likewise be 

 pointed out, as situated on the water's edge, 

 which are now more than ten miles distant 

 from the sea. Mr. Robberds, who has re- 

 cently published some Observations on the 

 Eastern Vallies of Norfolk, has now been led, 

 both from physical and historical proofs, to 

 conclude that all the eastern vallies of Nor- 

 folk were formerly branches of a wide 

 aestuary, and that their present rivers and 

 lakes are the remains of that large body of 

 water by which their surface was overspread 

 even in times comparatively recent, a change 

 resulting from a depression of the German 

 Ocean itself. 



Natural History. In some of the earlier 

 numbers of this journal for last year, we 

 announced the discovery of some new species 

 of Batracian animals. A new species of 

 Siren has recently been discovered in Ame- 

 rica, by Captain Le Conte, who has deno- 

 minated it "Siren Intermedia." In its colour, 

 M.M. New Series. Vol.. III. No. 16. 



it resembles the S. Lacertina : and in its gills, 

 S. Striata. 



Rural Ecortomy. An eminent foreign 

 journal has stated that the result of the fol- 

 lowing experiment upon feeding cows has 

 been entirely successful, and that animals 

 fed in this manner have yielded the same 

 quantity of milk in winter and in summer 

 without its quality being deteriorated : 

 Take a bushel of raw potatoes, break them, 

 and place them in an upright barrel, a layer 

 of potatoes alternating with a layer of bran 

 a small quantity of yeast being introduced 

 into the middle of the mass; allow this to 

 ferment during eight days, and before the 

 vinous fermentation has ceased but when 

 the taste thence arising has pervaded tha 

 whole mixture let it be given to the cows, 

 who will eat it with avidity. 



Atmospheric Phenomenon. Mr. Atwater, 

 an eminent American naturalist, in a paper* 

 relating to the state of Ohio, published in 

 Professor Silliman's Journal, has recorded the 

 following atmospheric phenomenon. Before 

 a storm here (Ohio), I have often noticed in 

 an evening of the latter part of autumn, and 

 sometimes in the winter, a phenomenon not 

 recollected by me to have been seen on the 

 east side of the Alleghanies : some one spot 

 or spots near the horizon, in a cloudy night, 

 appeared so lighted up, that the common peo- 

 ple believed there was some great fire in the 

 direction from which the light came. I have 

 seen at once two or three of these luminous 

 spots not far from each other ; generally 

 there is but one ; and a storm, invariably 

 proceeding from the same point near the 

 horizon, succeeds in a few hours. 



Disputed Inventions. We really think 

 Professor Leslie one of the most unfortunate 

 beings in existence. For some time after 

 the appearance of Dr. Brewster's Edinburgh 

 Journal, a section of almost every number 

 was devoted to the investigation of the 

 learned Professor's claims to different inven- 

 tions, which were uniformly adjudged to be 

 untenable. In the Annals of Philosophy for 

 April 1826, an account was given of an in- 

 strument for ascertaining the specific gravity 

 of powders, recently contrived by Mr. Leslie. 

 The Annals of Philosophy (incorporated 

 with the Philosophical Magazine) for March 

 1827, contains an extract from Ferussac's 

 Bulletin des Sciences, &c., in which it is 

 stated that this streometer was invented, 

 twenty-nine years ago, by a French en- 

 gineer of the name of Say, who fell in 

 Egypt; that drawings and a complete de- 

 scription of it are contained in the 23d vol. 

 of the Annales de Chimie ; and that it has 

 been frequently used, and still exists in the 

 Ecole Polytechnique. All this may be true, 

 and the Professor be guiltless of piracy. We 

 do not believe that a man who has so much 

 of which to be justly proud, would endea- 

 vour to defraud another of his right. We 

 do not think that any man possessing com- 

 mon sense, could have acted with the degree r 

 of weakness which his opponents ascribe 

 3 K 



