13^*.] 



Spirit q/" Philosophical lyiscovery. 



station, was settlod beyond nny doiiljt or 

 iiiicertaiiity. The result lias hccn, (lint 

 SIS to all places on the south coast of 

 JEnglaud, 1" of longitude for every 4' of 

 longitude westward of Greenwieh, re- 

 quires to be added to the results derived 

 Ironi the Trigonometrical Survey, in 

 »iider to obtain the true longitudes. Wc 

 hope that tlic goveniment-chroiiometcrs, 

 nnem|)loyed during the present season 

 of pcaue, will in this manner be ren- 

 dered available for the actual determi- 

 nation of the longitude of every impor- 

 tant station on ihc British coasts ; and 

 that the formulas and calculations of 

 the Trigonoinotrical Survey may be 

 revised, and. if necessary, the observa- 

 tions connected therewith repeated, 

 until consistency is obtained in these 

 results, so importantly useful for the 

 |)nrposes of navigation anil astronomy, 

 nnA towards a knowledge of the exact 

 figure of tiic earth. 



Improved Alhu/s of Steel. — The expe- 

 riments of Mr. Fakaday, on eomltiiiiug 

 small proportions of silver with the cast 

 steel intended for t!ie nicer cutlery 

 purposes, have latuly been repealed and 

 varied by Colonel Fischer, vvjio has 

 fonnil the welding projierly of the best 

 of the argenlifcrous steels riol to bo 

 at all inferior to that of common steel, 

 and their uses in cutlery to be most 

 valuable. By combining artificial plum- 

 bago or graphite with steel. Colonel F. 

 produced a singidur variety, IhelVactuie 

 «f which was grcyisli-whitc, more re- 

 sembling porcelain than metal ; but 

 which graphitic steel was, nevertheless, 

 found capable of being wrought into 

 pen-knives, which proved excellent; and 

 small bars of this steel, when hardened, 

 perfectly resisted the best gravers and 

 flics, and readily scratclied the hardest 

 steel implements in use. 



The buller of the cow is always a 

 mixture of pure butter and butter-milk; 

 the latter being a fluid, worthless, and 

 deteriorating tothcbuUcr in which it is 

 mechanically mixed : it abounds greatly 

 hi butler taken fresh out of the churn, 

 and the skill and care of the dairymaid 

 is mainly (!isj)laycd (next to rigid 

 clcaiiliiiess,) in expelling by her manual 

 operations, called maldvg of the butt-, r, 

 llial snperllnity of butter-milk, which 

 otherwise would be visible, in numerous 

 small cells, in the substance of the but- 

 ter, and which, by soon becoming sour, 

 and at length putrid, would prevent the 

 Imtter from keeping, or preserving its 

 Iresli properties, a sidlicient number of 

 tliijs. AI. CuiiVRiiUL, who lately has 



453 



made a series of experimcats on this 

 subject, found that 100 [larts by weight 

 of butter, from the most eminent dairy- 

 ing district in France, consisted on the 

 average of — 



Pure butter 83*75 parts« 



Buttcr-niilk 16's;5 



100 00 

 Sliowing, tliat very near one-sixth of 

 the weight of good fresh butter is i\ 

 useless article ; and of less- perfectly 

 made butter, often one-fifth thereof or 

 mure is butter-milk. 



RI. GnoTTHUS, chemist, during Iiis 

 residence at Rimie, investigated the 

 phuspkurescent organ of the Lampijris 

 itiUica, Italian lainpyre or gloivworin. 

 This insect, when plunged in the water, 

 remained luminous for several hours ; iri 

 oil of olives, tlie light grew less in a 

 (juarter of an hour, and totally disap* 

 pearcd in twenty minutes. Nearly the 

 same effect took place in hydrogen gas 

 and carbonic acid. On taking these 

 insects from the gas, and removing 

 llicni, instantly after the extinction of 

 the light, into the air, the phosphores- 

 cence immediately returns. Somelam- 

 pjrcs, in wliicli the jihosphoresccnce 

 was extinguished, so as not to be reco- 

 verable in oxyg<;n gas, regained it in an 

 atmosphere of nitric vapours. In contact 

 with rulilant gas, the abdomen of the 

 insect shines uilli a greenish colour, 

 that slowly becomes brighter, turns 

 u bite, and accjiiires a dazzling bright- 

 ness. This only lasts a moment, and 

 takes place whether the insect be dead 

 or alive. 



The green colour that oysters, when 

 laid up in artificial reservoirs, acquire 

 at certain seasons of the year, and a 

 particular taste which they impart in 

 that slate, render them an object of 

 preference to epicures. The cause of 

 this alteration or amelioration, has long 

 been a matter of enquiry with naturalists, 

 and diderent hvjiotheses have been 

 framed on the subject. M. B. Gaillon, 

 of Dieppe, from a continued series of 

 microscopical observations, has ascer- 

 tained th'it (his viridity emanates from ' 

 certain infusory aniinaleules, of the 

 genus Vihrioti, which breed by myriads, 

 at particular times of the \ear, in the 

 water of the reservoirs; and which the 

 oysters feed on, with the water they 

 imbibe. 



Professor Oeiisteo, among his other 

 discoveries on (he aj/imti/ between elav- 

 iricilif and galvanism, has yscerlaineil 

 the iin]iorlant fact, (hat ta proJuce an 



active 



