4^5 ArtofHat-tnalwg.'-^ChemicalDetonattotis, 



■on a bufinefs but little known ? And probably, amongft your fubfcribers, tbey may be 

 anfwered through the fame medium. — How, and at what time, was hat-making invented, 

 and by whom ? — Were there ever any engines made ufe of in that bufinefs ? — Are there 

 any at prefent ? And if fo, in what part of the country arc they made ufe of? And how 

 far do they go in the procefs ? — Are there any machines for the cutting of hare, rabbit, 

 or beaver (kins ? And if any, where are they worked ? — Your inferting the above in your 



next number will oblige, Sir, yours, 



N. L. 



There is no mention made of the above, either in the Tranfa£lion3 of the Royal Society 

 of London, or in Beckman's Hiftory of Inventions. 



THE above did not come to hand early enough for me to make any enquiries refpe£t- 

 ing the invention, hiftory, and practice of the art of hat-making. Refearches of the kind 

 pointed out by this correfpondent are peculiarly adapted to the views and intention of a 

 Journal of the Arts ; and I hope he will not be difappointed in his expeftations from 

 others of my readers, whofe purfuits may have enabled them to throw light upon the 

 fubjeft. At all events, I fliall certainly have fome information to communicate in the 

 ijext number, which, for want of time, I cannot at prefenc arrange and digeft. 



W. N. 



X. 



New Obfervations on the Method of producing very loud Fulminations with various Bodies^ by 

 Means ofPhofphorus^'. £y Qii. BrvgnaTELLI. 



J. WAS aware that the oxygenated muriate of potafh produces efFefts fuperior to nitre, 

 when mixed with charcoal and fulphur and converted into gunpowder ; that it detonates 

 by percuffion or trituration with a great number of combuftible fubftances; but I did not 

 cxpeft to produce effects much more confiderable by ufing the fimple nitrates, and even 

 the metallic oxides mixed with phofphorus and ftruck with a hammer. 



Experiment 1. I took a gros of the cryftallized nitrate of fdver, which I placed on an 

 heavy anvil, and laid a very thin flice of phofphorus in the midft of the cryftals. The tem- 

 perature of the atmofpbere during thefe experiments was not higher than 6° above the 

 zero of Reaumur's thermometer. The materials being thus difpofed, I ftruck the mixture 

 rather fmartly with a hammer. The confequence was one of the moft terrible detonations 

 I everwitnefi'ed, which {hook the anvil and its wooden fupport. Streaks of filver were ob- 

 served upon the anvil five or fix lines in length. One of the edges of the hammer was 

 bended and turned upwards. I was perfeQly ftunned, and my clothes were torn in various 

 places. 



••Tranflated by Van Moiis from the Italian manufcrlpt of the author into French, and inferted in the Anna- 

 Je« de Chimie, xxvli. ji. ; from which work the prefent tranfiation is made. 



^ I have 



