Zoology. lai 



land. — Dr Daubeny of Oxford has discovered Iodine in more than one of 

 the Cheshire salt springs, and in several waters containing purgative salts^ 

 such as those of Cheltenham, Leamington, Gloucester, and Tewkesbury. -. 



He has obtained bromine in a separate state from one of the Cheshire 

 brine springs ; and he is of opinion that it is not absent from any of the 

 English springs which contain much common salt, except that of Droit-* 

 wich in Worcestershire. 



Our countryman MrMurray seems to have preceded Dr Daubeny in these 

 discoveries. He long ago discovered iodine in the mineral waters of Chel- 

 tenham and Gloucestershire. He also discovered iodine and bromine ia 

 the brine springs at Ingestrie six months ago. See his Manual of Expe* 

 riments illustrative of Chemical Science. — See Ann. of Phil. September 

 and October 1829. 



6. New principle in Albumen. — M. Couerbe has discovered a new 

 principle in albumen by exposing to a cold of 32° Fahr., and a few der 

 grees below it, concentrated solution of white of egg. At the end of ^ 

 month the mass became thicker, and yielded a membranous net-work, 

 which is solid, white, translucent, insipid and inodorous, and easily redu- 

 ced to powder. That muriatic acid is the best solvent of it, and wheu 

 water is added, it becomes of an opaque white, and deposits a powder of a 

 very high degree of tenacity. — See Ann. de Chim. vol. xl. p. 323-325. 



7. Jbecomposition of the Carburet of Sulphur by small electric forces. — 

 M. Becquerel has succeeded in this experiment. He places in a tube som6 

 carburet of sulphur, and above it a solution of nitrate of copper, which 

 has a less specific gravity. A plate of copper is then plunged in both li-i 

 quids. This assemblage forms a pile. The carburet of sulphur is decom- 

 posed, and also a part of the nitrate. There is formed a great quantity oi' 

 crystals of the protoxide of copper on the plate of copper, and a depositioii 

 of carbon on the sides of the tube in very thin plates having a metallic as- 

 pect.— Jw?i. de Chim. Tom. xlii. p. 76. 



III. NATURAL HISTOEY. 

 ZOOLOGY. 



8. Notice of the appearance of Fish and Lizards in extraordinary cir- 

 cumstances. By Joseph E. Muse. — In the course of the last summer, 1 

 ordered a ditch to be cut of large dimensions, on a line of my farm near 

 Cambridge : the line was a plane, ten feet above the level of the neigh- 

 bouring river, and at least one mile from it, at the nearest point of the line ; 

 a portion of the ditch being done, the work was interrupted by rain for 

 ten or twelve days ; when the work was resumed, on examining the per- 

 formance, I discovered that the rain water which had filled the ditch, 

 thus recently cut, contained hundreds of fish, consisting of two kinds of 

 perch which are common in our waters, the "sun perch," and the "jack 

 perch /' the usual size of the former is from six to twelve inches, the lat- 

 ter varies from ten to fifteen inches long ; those in the ditch were from four 

 to seven inches. By what possible means could these fish have been tran- 

 sported so far from their native waters } There is no water communicalibn 

 on the surface lo conduct them there ; the elevation and extent of the plafie 



