, “33 heey SM Ae 
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SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY, AND OF THE 
VARIOUS SCIENT IFIC JOURNALS. 
— 
R. Bryce, of Edinburgh, directs 
-as atest of vaccination, that the 
other arm be vaccinated from the pus- 
tule on the affected arm; and, if the 
effect is complete, both pustules will 
ripen at the same time. 
English Culture of Opium.— Early in 
the spring of 1821, Mr. J. W. JEsron, 
surgeon,of Henley-on-Thames selected 
a quarter of an acre of alight, gravelly, 
and poor, soil, near that town, and 
divided it into beds four feet and a 
half wide, with an intervening path 
one foot and a half wide; and, having 
selected two pounds of the seed of the 
white and the semi-double purple 
varieties of the papaver somniferum, he 
intimately mixed these seeds with four 
ounces of nitre in fine powdcr anda 
bushel of ashes; which mixtare was 
in February dibbled in by women, five 
rows in a bed: soon the seeds vege- 
tated well, and, although the worms 
destroyed many of the early plants, 
such was the superabundance of these, 
that, after twice thinning and hoeing, 
they stood at a foot distance from 
each other, and in June came into full 
bloom. On the 18th of July, the 
searifying of the poppy-heads, aud col- 
lecting of the raw opium by boys, 
commenced, and terminated on the 
10th of August; on six days two boys 
being employed (with several inter- 
ruptions from wet days and Sundays,) 
and on ten days one boy, who together 
collected 102 bottles-full, containing 
about two-thirds of an ounce each, 
weighing in the whole 153 ounces of 
recent opium: the pay of the boys for 
ihis service was eight pence per day, 
and, a penny on every bottle-falb of 
opium collected, by way of encourage- 
ment money. In the following year 
an unsuccessful attempt was made to 
raise, in a similar manner, an acre of 
poppy-plants ; but the worms and slugs 
so far destroyed the plants on half this 
space, that the giound was dug up, 
and potatoes planted upon it. The 
gathering of opium on the other half 
acre commenced, on the 28th of June, 
and ended the 18th of July.. The col- 
lective results of these two years stand 
as follows, viz. by the labour of filty 
days of a hoy, 240 bottles of raw opium 
was collected, weighing 360. ounces; 
and this, when properly dried, pro- 
éneed 170 ounces of most excellent 
and merchantable opium. 
details will be found in the “Transac- 
tions of the Society of Arts,” which 
lately appeared ; but we can find room 
for only one further remark, viz. that 
by a close attention to the plants in 
the last experiment, Mr. Jeston dis- 
covered a variety of the white poppy, 
with high crowns and smooth capsules. 
(the see eds of which he has selected for 
his next sowing,) which grew usually 
four to twelve heads, and produced a 
much larger quantity of the milky 
tears than the other white-ilowered. 
plants. 
It is determined that the diurnal 
observations are contrary on opposite 
sides of the magnetic equator, 
Dr. THIENEMANN, of Iceland, states 
that the Aurora Borealis is silent, 
governed by light clouds, and always 
in action in those regions, without any, 
fixed connection with the earth. ‘The 
Juaminous ice of mixed oxygen and 
hydrogen may be produced under 
water, the flame being globular. 
Cuvier lately visited England, to 
view the organie remains in the bed of 
blue lias at “Ly me, which he regards as 
most wonderful.. 
Muriate of Lime as a Stimulant of 
Vegetation.—M., Dubuc, an apothecary 
of Rouen, in France, bas discovered, 
as the result of a great many experi- 
ments, that the solution of onc. part 
(by weight) of dry muriate of lime, in 
sixty parts of water, marking two 
degrees onthe French hydrometer, in 
an astonishing manner promotes the 
growth of plants, the soil of which is 
watered by this saline. solution, The 
ground intended to receive the vege- 
tables is first watered with the solution, 
then the seeds and plants are again se 
watered when planted; and, three or 
four times afterwards, this is repeated 
during their growth, Jf any cheap 
and easy mode is known to our 
chemical readers, either generally, or 
where limestone rocks appear en the 
shore of the ocean, or can be suggested, 
for preparing this liquid muriate of 
lime, they may probably effeet much 
good by communicating it through eur 
pages. .M. Dubuc’s experiments on 
cultivating maize, potatoes, the sun- 
flower, and several shrubs and fruit, 
trees, are detailed in the “ Annales. 
de Chimie.” 
The 
Farther. 
