1809.] 
storms of thunder and lightning. Tt oc- 
gurs in crystals weighing from 40 to 100 
grains, of a conic shape, with a cavity at 
the base, extending about a fourth part 
down to the centre of the erystal. Its 
colour varies from grey, brown, brownish 
red, to almost black, semitransparent. 
They are generally discovered solitary by 
the husbandmen when at plough, or 
turning up the earth in any other way. 
When scratched with a knife, this stone 
has a strong alliaceous or urinous smell. 
Its cross fracture is fibrous, with the 
striz diverging nearly as from a common 
centre, Its longitudinal fracture is glit- 
tering, with the strie parallel. It ts mo- 
derately bard, and of the specific gra- 
vity of 2,663. Its properties, as ascer- 
tained by examination, areas follow :— 
4. When heated upon charcoal before 
the blow-pipe, its colour disappears, but 
it is infusible. 2. With phosphate of 
soda it is difficultiy soluble, and fuses into 
an enamelled bead. With borate of soda 
it dissolves more readily, and fuses into a 
semitranslucid white globule. 4. With 
caustic soda it could be only partially 
fused into a white enamel. 5. The sub- 
stances of which, by analysis, 100 grains 
were found to be composed, are :— 
Carbonic acid gas - 48,55 grs. 
Lime - ~ - 53,95 
Oxides of manganeseandiron 40 
Water and loss - 2,10 
100 
A correspondent of the Philosophical 
Journal, alluding to the feats exhibited on 
the continent by Signior Lionetto, com- 
monly called the incombustible man, ob- 
serves:—“ I have repeatedly seen a 
friend of mine pass over his tongue, with- 
out any covering, a red-hot poker; and 
this experiment, which he.has performed 
hundreds of times, to the great astonish- 
ment of dinner and tea-parties where he 
happened to be, I ventured, on his assur- 
ance that no hurt would ensue, to repeat. 
T found that it may be done with the 
utmost safety; the only effect is a slight 
taste in the mouth of carbonated hydro- 
gen, anda very slight soreness for a short 
tme. It is only necessary that the 
tongue be wet with saliva betore it is put 
ont of the mouth, and that the poker be 
of course quickly passed over it. The 
cause of this phenomenon T conceive to 
be that the saliva is vaporized, and in 
fact it prevents the tron from ever touch- 
ing the cuticle.” [n addition to this, 
the conductor of the above-mentioned 
Journal subjoius the following facts :— 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 
569 
‘ Flaying mentioned to a plumber whom 
I had employed to repair a lead cistern, 
some of the particulars of the incombuse 
tible man, he expressed but littie surprize. 
Any one, he said, might draw their finger 
through melted Jead, if they did it some- 
what quickly; and having in his hand a 
ladle full of melted solder, he instantly 
passed his finger through it. He said he 
had often passed a piece of red-hot iron 
over bis tongue, and seen others do it 
without injury. In the first experiment, 
he said, it was necessary that the finger 
should be perfectly dry, otherwise the 
person might get what he called a thim- 
ble ; that is, some of the metal would ad~ 
here to the finger, and produce a severe 
burn. {n the experiment of passing @ 
red-hot iron over the tongue, the iron, he 
said, should be very red; if only of a 
black heat, nearly, but not quite red-hot, 
it was sure to burn the tongue most see 
verely. I shall here*state another fact, 
which may perhaps be explained, but not 
quite so satisfactorily, on similar princi- 
ples. A gentleman informs me that he 
has seen an iron-founder skim melted ° 
iron with his hand. The founder stated 
he could only do it when the iron was 
boiling hot ; if of a lower heat, it would 
burn him.”—We shall be glad to receive 
communications to the Monthly Maga 
zine on these subjects. 
About the middle of this month will 
be published, m two vols. 8vo. Outlines 
of Mineralogy, containing a general his- 
tory of the principal varieties of mineral 
substances ; together with a particular 
statement of their physical characters, 
and chemical analysis; by J. Krop, 
M.D. Professor of Chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Oxford. 
FRANCE. 
The first division of the antiquities 
from the palace Borghese is arrived at 
Paris. They were conveyed on large 
carriages made on purpose, especially for 
those supposed to be the most liable to be 
broken, such as the Gladiator, the Faun, 
the Borghese Vases, &c. © An ambula- 
tory forge attended each smaller division, 
in order to repair such accidents as might 
happen. The carriages were two months 
and a half in passing the Alps, 
ITALY. 
The celebrated Danish sculptor THor~ 
waLpsew has lately exhibited, at Rome, 
a model in plaster of his statue of Adonis, 
which, according to the general opinion, 
deserves to be classed among the most 
. beautiful 
