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VARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC AND MISCELLANEOUS. 



[JAN. 



Progress of Science in India. We have 

 occasionally communicated to our readers 

 phenomena of an interesting description 

 which have taken place in India, and ex- 

 pressed our regret that so many observa- 

 tions which might be of use to the advance- 

 ment of science and which we were in- 

 formed had been made in India, should be 

 lost for the want of some channel through 

 which they might be conveyed to the public. 

 Since we first alluded to the subject, various 

 societies have been established in the great 

 Eastern portion of the British dominions 

 for the cultivation of physical knowledge. 

 The first volume of the memoirs of the Geo- 

 logical Society of Calcutta, has just reached 

 England, containing several papers not 

 only of local but of general interest. As 

 the first fruits of an enlightened love for 

 science, we regard this work with excessive 

 pleasure, and doubt not, from the well known 

 zeal of our countrymen in the East, that 

 each succeeding volume will increase in in- 

 terest. An enlightened friend to science in 

 all its branches, as well as an effective patron 

 of it, Sir Edward Ryan has exerted him- 

 self to establish a scientific journal as a de- 

 pot for all the floating observations which 

 may be made in India. In the present 

 humble form of this small pamphlet, we can 

 perceive the germ of future excellence. An 

 original paper on indigo, which it contains, 

 would do honour to the first scientific publi- 

 cation in Europe. It is not suited for our 

 pages, but we doubt not it will meet inser- 

 tion from some journal more exclusively 

 devoted to scientific subjects, and we hope 

 that due acknowledgment may be made of 

 the obligation. Now that a commencement 

 has been made in India, and the example 

 has been set by the first presidency, it is to be 

 expected that Madras and Bombay will not 

 remain behind. The advantages that must 

 result from this are incalculable, for exten- 

 sive as our dominion is in India, the natu- 

 ral history of the country is but imperfectly 

 known. In exploring its more remote dis- 

 tricts, some travellers have been eminently 

 successful, and the results of their inquiries 

 have been made known to the world ; still 

 there are many provinces which have been 

 rarely trod by the foot of an European, and 

 the notes made concerning them being too 

 hasty or too few to form a volume, have 

 been perused only by the friends of the au- 

 thor. The establishment of a journal, in 

 which all such productions may find a 

 place, must form an epoch in the history of 

 British India. As the increase of its con- 

 tents will necessarily lead to the appearance 

 of articles of the highest interest, we shall 

 always make such known to our readers, to 

 whom we ourselves have frequently sug- 

 gested, that as the interests of science are 

 greatly advanced by the immediate insertion 

 of observations, we should always feel happy 



to receive into our scientific varieties any 

 communication, of which the truth of the 

 facts it contains can be properly authenti- 

 cated. 



Artificial Preparation of Ice After nu- 

 merous trials made by M. B. Mujlmk with 

 different salts, for the purpose of converting 

 water contained in a tin vessel into ice, 

 during their solution, he ultimately gave the 

 preference to a mixture of four ounces of 

 nitrate of ammonia, four ounces of sub- 

 carbonate of soda, and four ounces of water. 

 This mixture in three hours produces ten 

 ounces of ice, while with the mixture of 

 sulphate of soda and muriatic acid, he ob- 

 tained ice only after seven hours. 



Process for preserving Milk for any 

 length of time. This process, invented by 

 a Russian chemist named KirkofF, consists 

 in evaporating new milk by a very gentlt 

 fire, and very slowly, until it is reduced to a 

 dry powder. This powder is to be kept in 

 bottles carefully stopped. When it is to be 

 employed, it is only necessary to dissolve 

 the powder in a sufficient quantity of water. 

 According to M. KirkofF, the milk doss not 

 lose by this process any of its peculiar 

 flavour. 



Cypress Wine. To eighty pints of water 

 add ten pints of the juice of elder berries. 

 The berries are to be lightly pressed : each 

 pint of the liquid will contain three ounces 

 of juice, and to the whole quantity add two 

 ounces of ginger and one ounce of cloves. 

 Boil the whole for an hour. Skim the liquid 

 and pour it into a vessel which should con- 

 tain the whole, throwing in a pound and a 

 half of bruised grapes, which leave in the 

 liquor until the wine is of a fine colour. 

 This wine bears such a resemblance in 

 colour, flavour, and aroma to the best Cy- 

 prus wine, that the most experienced Pari- 

 sian connoisseurs have been deceived by it. 



Sacred Beetle of Egypt The following 

 curious statement is from the notes of a 

 traveller in the Libyan desert. October 12. 

 Being on watch this night, I caught, for the 

 first time, the scarabceus ateuchus sacer, or 

 chafer, with which the imaginations of the 

 ancient Egyptians so frequently busied 

 themselves. My attention was attracted by 

 a noise close to my side ; and through the 

 darkness I discovered a large rolling ball. 

 Conceiving it to be a crab or land tortoise, 

 I took it into my hand, but found it to be 

 nothing but a lump of horse-dung; and 

 immediately afterwards I perceived a similar 

 ball come rolling towards me. Upon put- 

 ting my lantern down and minutely exa- 

 mining this strange machine, I found that 

 it concealed a large black chafer, who drove 

 it forward by means of his long hind legs ; 

 and as it proceeded, it gradually increased 

 in size by the continual accumulation of 

 sand. This, indeed, became so consider- 

 able at last, that the insect itself was scarcely 



