Chemical Science. 187 



were deposited upon wooden planks in a cellar at Lyons, on 

 the 8th of July, 1815, in order to conceal them from the armies 

 which then over-ran France. In the manufacture of the cloth* 

 25lbs. of oil were used for a quintal of wool, and the cloth 

 was quite greasy, each piece weighing from 801bs. to 901bs. 

 The cellar had an opening to the north, which was carefully 

 shut up with dung, and the door was concealed by bundles of 

 vine props, which freely admitted the air. On the morning of 

 the 4th of August, an intolerable smell was felt, and the person 

 who entered the cellar was surrounded with a thick smoke 

 which he could not support. A short time afterwards he re- 

 entered with precaution, holding a stable lantern in his hand, 

 and he was astonished to perceive a shapeless, glutinous mass, 

 apparently in a state of putrefaction. He then removed the 

 dung from the opening, and as soon as a circulation of air was 

 established, the cloth took fire. In another comer of the 

 cellar lay a heap of stuffs which had been ungreased and 

 prepared for the fuller, but they had suffered no change. The 

 above particulars were carefully established by M. Cochard. 

 Comte rendu des Travaux de la Soc. Roy. d' Agriculture, &c. 

 de Lyons pour, 1817. — Edinburgh Journal. 



16. Evaporation of Spirits, — Mr. Ritchie, of Perth, has pub- 

 lished a curious statement respecting the evaporation of mix- 

 tures of alcohol and water. He commences by the following 

 theorem, — " The degrees of cold, induced by the evaporation 

 of spirits of different degrees of strength, are proportional to 

 the strength of those spirits, reckoning from the degree of cold 

 induced by the evaporation of water." This is established by 

 the following experiments : — 



" Having made three very delicate hygrometers, according 

 to Leslie's construction, I moistened tlie bulb of one of tlieni 

 with strong whisky, the bulb of another with a mixture of 

 equal quantities of the same spirits and water, and the bulb of 

 the third with , water. I watched the descent of the fluids 

 in tlie stem till each had gained its maximum of coId> aafi 

 marked the cold induced by the water 40, by the dilute spirits 



