318 Scientific Intelligence. [Oct. 



by Lieutenant Svanberg, a pupil of the Swedish chemist. No osmium 

 was detected, but it contained : — 



Iridium, 76*85 

 Platinum, 19-64 

 PaUadium 089 

 Copper, 1*78 besides a trace of a substance 



supposed to be titanium. 



99-16 (Pog^. Ann. xxxiv. 377.) 



VI. — Remarkable Flight of a Bird. 



Madox, in his Excursions in the Holy Land, mentions that, in 

 the course of June 1825, a hawk was killed at Damascus, with a piece 

 of wood attached to its neck, upon which were the words Lands- 

 berg in Preussen, 1822. The interest of the fact induced Professor 

 Ehrenberg to insert a notice of it in PoggendoriF's Ann. xxxi. 

 576. It attracted attention, and by the exertion of his Excellency 

 President Hr. Schbn, two documents were forwarded to Professor 

 Ehrenberg, which establish the fact of the flight of the bird from 

 Landsberg. The first is from Hr. Kob, a clergyman of Landsberg, 

 the second from an old beadle in the town, Deukel, by name. From 

 these it appears that Counsellor Ribbentrop (since dead) formerly a 

 neighbour of Hr. Kob, placed in his garden, in the year 1822, a golden 

 eagle and two goshawks, which had been caught young. Labels, 

 bearing the words above mentioned, were attached to their necks. 

 They were allowed to go at liberty, and were fed daily by Dunkel. 

 After they grew up, they successively took flight, about 1823 and 

 1824. These documents are now in the possession of Professor 

 Ehrenb e. (Pogg. Ann, xxxiv. 183.) 



VII. — Black Mud from Common Sewers. 



At the time when cholera was prevalent in the south of France, it 

 was deemed expedient to cleanse the common sewers of the town of 

 Nancy. Braconnot took advantage of the opportunity to examine 

 the mud derived from them. With dilute muriatic acid, a lively 

 effervescence was produced, and carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen were disengaged. The supernatant liquor contained iron and 

 lime in solution. Hence, the colouring matter of the mud appears 

 to have been sulphuret of iron, the composition of which seems pro- 

 portional to the peroxide of the metal. The sulphuret of iron, which 

 forms the colouring matter, is obviously derived from the contact of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen, produced by the decomposition of organic 

 substances, with the peroxide of iron contained in the earth ; most 

 substances, it should be observed, which were extracted from the 

 sewer, such as bones, wood, calcareous stones, were penetrated by the 

 sulphuret of iron, which gave them a deep black colour. No crys- 

 tallized pyrites was, however, observed. He conceives that the wood 

 found in marshes, ditches, &c., possessing a dark colour, owes this 

 tinge to the action of sulphuret of iron. 



The mud of sewers, when boiled with water, scarcely colours it ; 

 and, by the evaporation of the filtered liquid, a small quantity of 

 animal matter remains, which is yellow, inodorous, easily soluble 

 in a little cold water, from which it is precipitated white, by the in- 

 fusion of nut-galls, and by nitrate of silvej ; and, after combustion, 

 affords some traces of muriate of soda. 



