44 REPORT — 1851. 



On a Diamond Slab supposed to have been cut from tJte Koh-i-Noor. 

 By Dr. Beke. 



In the year 1S32, llie Persian army, under Abbas Meerza, hereditary prince of 

 Persia, undertook tlie subjugation of Khovassan, which province, thougli nominally 

 forming a portion of the Persian empire, had been virtually independent since the 

 death of the great Nadir Shah, in the year 1747. The success of the campaign was 

 complete. The important fortresses of Aineerabad and Coochan were besieged and 

 taken, and the other strongholds of the Toorkomans destroyed ; and the Persian sway 

 was entirely re-establislied. 



At the capture of Coochan, there was found among the jewels of the Harem of 

 Reeza Kooli Khan, the chief of that place, a large diamond slab, supposed to have 

 been cut from one side of the Koh-i-Noor, the great Indian diamond now in the pos- 

 session of Her Majesty. It weighed about 130 carats, showed the marks of cutting 

 on the flat and largest side, and appeared to correspond in size with the Koh-i-Noor. 



The only particulars that could be obtained respecting the past history of this stone 

 were, that it had been taken from a poor man, a native of Khorassan, in whose family 

 it had served for striking light against a steel, in the place of a flint; and one side 

 of it was, in fact, a good deal worn by constant use. The diamond was presented by 

 Abbas Meerza to his father, Futteh Ali Shah, and is presumed to be now among the 

 crown jewels of Persia. The Armenian jewellers of Tehraun asked the sum of 20,000 

 tomauns (16,000^. sterling) for cutting it ; but the Shah was not inclined to incur this 

 expense. 



The foregoing particulars were furnished to Dr. Beke by his brother Mr. William 

 G. Beke, late Colonel of Engineers in the Persian service, who took part in the 

 Khorassan campaign. 



On the Cause which maintains Bodies in the spheroidal state beyond the 

 sphere of Physico-chemical Activity. By M. Boutigny. 



The author referred to his former and well-known experiments on the peculiar 

 state induced in liquids when in contact with any hot metals, and regretted he had 

 not the means for exhibiting the experiments, as they 'required apparatus he had not 

 at command in the Section, such as for the application of the spheroidal state of 

 water to the purposes of the steam-engine. He referred to the experiments first 

 shown at Cambridge, and their extension since, to explain some of the effects of ancient 

 oracles. Alluding to the disputed points in the explanation of his experiments as to 

 the repulsion of metals and fluids, and whether the effects were really entirely or not 

 to be attributed to the properties of the thin stratum of vapoui', Prof. Boutigny pro- 

 ceeded to show by experiment that when platina wire was coiled up in the form of a 

 flat spiral and made hot, and aether or alcohol fluid placed on it in the spheroidal state, 

 the liquid would not pass through between the spaces, while thevapour readily did so*. 



On the Dangers of the Mercurial Vapours in the Daguerreotype Process, 

 and the means to obviate the same. By A. Claudet. 



In practice it is found that in that process where heat and mercury are required to 

 bring out the image, so much vapour of mercury was produced as seriously to aflfect 

 the health of the operators. M. Claudet described tlie means of protection. — The 

 mercury apparatus is enclosed in a closet of iron placed outside the room through the 

 wall, and having two sliding glass shutters communicating with the room. These 

 shutters being constantly kept shut, and the iron closet being supplied with pipes at 

 the top, and with two large iron shutters placed one on each side, all the vapours of 

 mercurj' are immediately carried out or condensed. The mercury bo.x is placed on 

 a water-bath, heated by a gas burner. The supply of water to the boiler and of gas 



* The members of the Chemical Section had the opportunity of seeing M. Boutigny pass his 

 hand through a stream of liquid red-hot iron as it passed from the furnace at the works of 

 Messrs. llansome and May, and afterwards scooping out portions of iron from the casting 

 ladle, until the fluid sunk to the mere red-hot fluid state, when danger might be apprehended 

 from the falling of the temperature causing the iron to adhere. 



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