150 
are performed gratuitously. The object 
is to supply the deficiencies of other 
public establishments—to assist the poor 
man in health that is destitute of em- 
ployment, and if sick, to provide medi- 
cal advice and aid. Economical Soups, 
and a Dispensary, have been instituted. 
There are hardly 500 subscribers, but 
the Society has been strenuouely sup- 
ported by the king, royal family, and 
government. Of soups, more than a 
Spirit of Philosophical Discovery. 
[Sept. 1, 
million have been distributed annually 
in eighteen years. Of indigent. sick, 
relieved with medicines, surgery, &c. in 
fourteen years, 1,300 per annum, and, 
latterly, more than 2,500. The relief 
has been afforded in their own houses ; 
and, it is well known, that the propor- 
tion of patients cured in dispensaries, is 
much greater than of those cured in 
hospitals. ‘ 
SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY, AND OF THE 
VARIOUS SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 
HE principal difficulties in exploring 
for salt mines, in the department 
of the Meurthe, have been surmount- 
ed, the waters being so far drained 
that the workmen can continue their - 
soundings. . These labours, which com- 
menced in 1818, are now continued night 
and day. On the 31st of August last, 
they had penetrated to the depth of 102 
feet; and unless unforeseen obstacles 
arose, they expected to arrive at strata 
of salt in the course of a few months. 
Different soundings have been executed, 
on different remote points, to ascertain 
the extent and richness of the mine.— 
1. At Rosiéres aux Salines, to the depth 
of 201 feet, the sounding perforated 
three beds of salt, which, united, would 
be 30 feet in thickness.—2. At Mulcey, 
salt was met with at the distance of 150 
feet; and further advances carried the 
works to the depth of 300 feet, passing 
through several very thick strata of salt. 
—3. At Petoncourt, on the right bank 
of the Seille, salt was met with at the 
depth of 270 feet; and advancing to the 
depth of 324 feet, a fresh bed was dis- 
covered, 34 feet in thickness, the works 
not passing through it. A fourth sound- 
‘Ing has been taken near Meziéres, on 
theroadiromParis to Strasbourg, through 
Metz; but the sounding, though pushed 
to the depth of 356 feet, had not come 
to any salt. Another sounding is com- 
menced near Habondange, beyond Cha- 
teau Salins; and should it prove suc- 
cessful, this labour will complete the 
researches over a surface, nearly oblong, 
of about 14 square leagues. 
The tin known by the name of Banca 
is of the purest sort, and in great circu- 
lation as an article of trade. There are 
mines of it in the peninsula of Malacca; 
but it chiefly abounds in the island of 
- Junk Ceylan. More than 800 tons are 
annually exported; but the highest 
prices are given for the tin of the isles 
of Banica and Singin. It mostly goes 
to China, where it is preferred to the 
tin of Cornwall. The crews of the ves- 
sels that convey it from the Malay ports 
take methods for purifying it, as it is 
sometimes mixed with dirt and pebbles. 
For this, a large iron frying-pan is used, 
of Chinese manufacture, wood being the 
combustible. At Junk Ceylan, the mi- 
neral is piled in mortars made of wood; 
the pestles, that are armed with iron, 
are fixed to a lever seven or eight fect 
in length, which one man can move with 
his feet. Couchers or layers of brush- 
wood, and of the mineral, are placed 
alternately in ditches of certain dimen- 
sions, and then submitted to the action 
of fire. A considerable quantity of pure 
tin is obtained by the former process. 
The mines resemble spacious caves, and 
being formed by nature, they afford sin- 
gular facilities to the requisite labours. 
This, as a secondary cause, accounts for 
the low price of the mineral; the pri- 
mary one being its greater abundance. 
More than 200 sago trees are in a 
course of culture and vegetation at the 
French plantation of Cayenne. This 
herb is not only useful in medicine, but 
forms a wholesome and abundant article 
of food to most of the islanders in the 
great Asiatic Archipelago. There have 
been also imported thither the varnish 
tree from China, the strellated anis, the 
Chinese mulberry tree, the abacas, and 
the pepper tree; the betel and the coffee 
tree are in a thriving condition. 
Dr. Paolo Sair, Adjunct to the Pro- 
fessor of Botany, in the university of 
Pisa, has discovered, in certain parts of 
tie Tuscan Appennines, and particularly 
at Mugello, a new species of terrestrial 
salamander; so remarkable, from its 
figure and colours, that he considers it 
as a nondescript, He designates it as, 
Salamandra 
