402 Sckntific Intelligence. ^--Geology, 



from Lake Erie, after proceeding to the depth of 197 feet, tlie 

 auger fell, and salt water spouted out for several hours. After 

 the exhaustion of this water, great volumes of inflammable air 

 issued through the aperture for a long time, and formed a cloud ; 

 andj^ by ignition, occasioned by the fire in the shops of the work- 

 men, consumed and destroyed every thing in the vicinity. — 

 Trans, of the Phil. Soc. of New YorJc. 



12. Inflammable Gas from Salt Mines, employed Jbr prodnr- 

 cing Light — In the salt mine of Gottesgabe, at Rheine, in the 

 county of Tecklenbourg, there has issued, for sixty years, from 

 one of the pits (which has, on this account, been called the Pit 

 qf the Wind), a continued current of inflammable gas. The 

 same gas is produced in other parts of the mines. M. Raeders, 

 the inspector of the salt-mines, has used this gas for two years, 

 not only as a light, but as fuel for all the purposes of cookery. 

 He collects it in pits that are no longer worked, and conveys it 

 in tubes to his house. It burns with a white and brilliant flame. 

 Its density is about 0.66. It contains only traces of carbonic 

 acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, and therefore should consist of 

 carbonetted hydrogen and defiant gas — Journal of Science. 



13. Analysis of Peat. — Bergsma has published, in Buchner'*s 

 Repertorium, xxi. p. 498, an analysis of peat. He found it 

 composed of the following substances : — Woody matter, 49.2 ; 

 ulmin, 13.00; resinous matter, 1.80 ; oxide of iron, 0.42; silica, 

 3.8 ; sulphate of lime, 4.5 ; phosphat of lime 2.7; water, 12.5. 

 Berzelius remarks, that the substance named ulmin by Bergsma, 

 is nothing more than the extractive matter of soil, which, on ac- 

 count of its properties, is precipitated by acids. This peat af- 

 fords, by distillation, 0.25 of empyreumatic ligneous acid, and 

 0.37 carbon. 



14, Geology of the Himalaya Mountains. — " A very extensive 

 report upon the geology of the Himalaya Mountains, by Cap- 

 tain Herbert, superintendent of the Geological Survey, was com- 

 municated by government to the society. The copiousness of 

 this report did not admit of its being read, and the attention of 

 the meeting was restricted to some of the principal results. 

 The paper consists of an introduction and five sections. The 

 first is chiefly geographical, and describes the physical aspect 

 and arrangement ; the second furnishes geological details ; the 



