OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 253 



scattered over an area more than a dozen rods in diameter. 

 The great ditTerence in the effects produced by lightning in 

 these two instances Mr. Abbot attributed to a remarkable con- 

 ducting power possessed by the red-cedar, and perhaps by 

 other evergreens. 



Mr. Bouve remarked that those present were probably aware 

 that a substance has been at times taken from the iron furnaces 

 of England and Scotland, appearing in minute cubic crystals, 

 having the color and more than the lustre of metallic copper, 

 and which mineralogists had hitherto considered the pure 

 metal titanium. 



" Having in my possession the finest specimen perhaps ever ob- 

 tained, which I received from one of the furnaces of Scotland, I 

 would, in exhibiting it, call the attention of those interested to the 

 remarkable fact lately made known by Wohler, that, instead of this 

 substance being pure titanium, as has been believed, it is in fact a 

 nitruret and cyanuret of titanium. 



" Considering the nature of nitrogen, that it is one of the most 

 evanescent of known elements, it is certainly a matter that may 

 well surprise chemists, that it should be found a constituent part of a 

 body formed under circumstances of such intense heat as exists in a 

 blast furnace. 



" The specimen just presented exhibits crystals of great beauty, 

 havinof the color of copper and a brilliant lustre. Some of them are 

 nearly one eighth of an inch in size." 



Professor Horsford referred to a compound of nitrogen and 

 boron, as nearly allied to the crystals exhibited by Mr. Bouve. 

 He announced the discovery of iodine in the ammoniacal 

 liquor of gas-works, by Mr. Storer of the Lawrence Scientific 

 School ; and also the discovery of manganese in urine and in 

 the tea-plant. 



Mr. James Hall gave some account of his investigations, 

 during the past summer, on Drummond's Island, and the 

 north shore of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, in connection 

 with the geological survey under the direction of Messrs. 

 Foster and Whitney. 



