4 
‘Gae o* 
by covering the threads with paper 
pulp, and using fine pipe-clay in the 
bleaching; also, that the interstices of 
fustians are often filled with. glue. 
Soaking a small piece of either of these 
fraudulent fabrics in warm water will 
‘detect the cheat; and, without this, 
the mere smell of glued fuStians is 
generally sufficient to expose them. 
Professor OrnmMsTe£AD, of the univer- 
sity of North Carolina, has made a 
discovery, that the petals of the garden 
Tris, or blue lily, will produce a dye 
superior to all the known blues. It is 
coloured red, like the towrnesol, by cir- 
culating about it a current of carbonic 
acid gas. It is better suited to the 
purposes of dyeing than the violet, 
from the quantity of colouring juice 
that each of its flowers yiclds, and the 
‘colour produced is finer. ‘The pro- 
fessor is about publishing the particu- 
lars of his process.. . 
Improved Hot-houses or Conserva- 
ories.—Mr. JAMES WALKER lias disco- 
vered, and experimentally proved, that 
great advantages result in a more 
equable diffusion of heat than hereto- 
fore has been effected by the single 
flues of hot-houses: he uses an inner 
flue of,dron, encased with a brick flue, 
in such a manner, as to allow a free 
circulation of the air between these 
flues, after its being much heated 
near the fire, to the remoter parts of 
the house. 
The Vinerys, constructed on the 
pian of Mr. ATKINSON, of Paddington, 
are found, after several years’ exten- 
sive use, to be so very.perfect in their 
ventilation, as to supersede altorether 
the necessity of movable sashes; by 
which, great expense in first erection, 
and of annual breakage of glass, and 
wear and tear, are avoided. Mr. 
Thomas Tredgold, the writer on the 
“Strength of Cast-iron,” &c. in order 
to introduce the great advantages of 
iron rafters for hot-houses, and obviate 
their chief objection in such situations, 
as too perfect conductors of heat, has 
proposed to the Horticultural Society 
to encase the iron rafters in wood ; and 
make them flat, rather deep in sub- 
stance, in order the less to intercept 
the oblique rays of the sun to the 
Icayes and fruit of the vines beneath. 
A Roman household Corn-mill, of 
great antiquity, is preserved in the 
Museum at Parma, and is of the most 
simple construction, such as were 
wrought by women slaves, prior to the 
invention of water-mills and flat round 
Spirit of Philosophical Discovery. 
‘ [Jan. 1, 
mill-stones, like ours. This ancient 
‘mill, of which a figure is given ih the 
“ Mechanics’ Weekly Journal,” prin- 
‘cipally consists of two masses of grey 
limestone. The vreater of these masses 
forms the immovable support of the 
other, and has the shape below of a 
short cylinder, surmounted by the 
frusium of a-cone, the top of which is 
neatly rounded off. The smaller mass 
is perforated vertically by a conic 
hole, fitting so as to slope on tothe sides 
of the cone already mentioned: from 
which perforation a cylindrical hole 
‘proceeds up through this stone to its 
top. On the opposite sides of this 
perforated mass, forming the upper 
mill-stone, are the holes, into which 
wooden handles or levers were in- 
serted, for turning round the upper 
stone. The coru was put into the 
‘cylindrical hole, or rather, we believe, 
into a wooden hopper, which fitted 
into it; and, on turning round the 
upper stone with a horizontal motion, 
‘the grains insinuated themselves be- 
tween the conic surfaces, aided, pro- 
bably, at first by a slight lifting-up of 
the upper stone, and were crushed and 
sufficiently ground for the meal used 
in those days. ‘The latter fell out be- 
neath, around the lower stone, and 
within a wooden case, which appears 
to have surrounded it. The height of 
the two ‘stones, when combined for 
action, is about twenty-nine inches: it 
seems probable, from the engraving 
on anvancient gem, that this was the 
kind of mill dedicated to Eunostus, 
the god of mills, 
An Barthquake felt at Sea.—The 
East India Company’s. ship Winchel- 
Sea, being on her passage to England, 
on Sunday, the 10th of February, 
1823, at 1h. 10m. P.M. in lat. 52° N. 
and long. 85° 33’ E.; when some hun- 
dred miles from any land, and out of 
soundings, experienced a strong tre- 
mulous motion, as though grazing 
over a coral rock; a loud rumbling 
noise being at the same time heard. 
The captain, being astern, looked over 
into the sea, which was so clear, that 
any shoal or rock must have been 
seen, but nothing was visible; the 
ship at the time was going about two 
knots-an hour. Without doubt, we 
think, an eruption from some sub- 
marine volcano occasioned these 
effects. 
Crucibles made from the Clay of Ant- 
hitls.—It is related, by Dr. Davy, of 
the Cingalese jewellers of the east, 
~ that 
