op 886°) 
[Nov. ] 
SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY, AND OF THE. 
VARIOUS SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 
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ACUPUNCTURA TION. — This ope- 
ration, which has long been prac- 
tised in Hindostan, principally prevails 
among the Chinese, or more especially 
the Japanese. It has been introduced 
into this division of the globe, where 
_ the general practice has been to in- 
’ sert steel needles only:—Asiatic example 
would induce the introduction of needles 
of gold and silver. To this therapeutic 
operation the attention of the faculty, in 
France particularly, has been repeatedly 
called by expermments ; and by the detailed 
eases of many individuals, who have been 
reported to have been cured of the most 
excruciating and intense rheumatic pains, 
in a few months, days, or even hours, by 
the application of this barbarian operation. 
It appears, though the subject i is not yet, 
perhaps, understood in all its bearings, that 
the operation may be performed on any 
part of the body, avoiding the arteries and 
nerves; that, this care being taken, the more 
vital parts, as the heart, lungs, &c., may be 
pricked (M.M. p. 61, vol, 59) without appre- 
hension of fatal results, or dangerous con- 
sequences ; and that, inthe majority of cases 
in which the experiment has been tried, a 
mitigation of sufferance, atleast, has resulted. 
Pakfong, or White Copper.—The fol- 
lowing proportions form a grayish alloy, 
but little malleable when cold—when heated, 
not at all; viz. copper, 41°75; nickel, 
» 82°25; zine, 26°00 ;—but if copper, 50°00 ; 
zine, 31 25; nickel, 18°75—be mixed, a 
white malleable metal; susceptible of a 
beautiful polish, and sonorous like silver, 
will result : again, if a third mixture be 
compounded—viz. 53°39 of copper ; 29° 13 
of zinc, and 17°48 of nickel—it will ap- 
proach, in colour and sound, still nearer to 
silver, but exceed that metal in ductility, 
tenacity, and also hardness: spec. gray. 
8°556 at 15° 4 of Reaumur. It seems 
not impossible that these results have 
assued from experiments that have been 
made in consequence of the invention of 
Dr. Geitner (M. M. vol. 58, p. 439), of 
Schneeherg, Upper Saxony? or, perhaps, 
his own results haye been similar to one, 
‘or, successively, to each of these ? 
Magnetic Experiments. —Professor Bar- 
low, in addition to interesting and important 
eonclusions on this topic, which we have, 
at divers times, detailed (see particularly p. 
437 of our 58th, and p. 45 of our 59th 
vol.), has found that the magnetic power 
may be imparted merely by rotation. Hay- 
»ing circular plates made of iron, copper, 
zine and other metals, and being set in 
rapid revolution by means of a lathe, all 
metals possessed more or less influence in 
deflecting a needle from its true position ; 
but the iron plate, as might be expected, in 
a@ much greater degree than the other metals, 
In order to shew that there exists a slight 
magnetic influence, even in copper or brass, 
Mr. Barlow having, by means of his inge- 
nious arrangements, very accurately neu- 
tralized a magnetic neegle—he applied the 
end of a brass ruler to one end of the 
needle, when the attraction was sufficient 
to draw the needle several degrees from its 
position. On withdrawing the ruler, so as 
to allow the needle to oscillate, and again 
applying it at the instant of the returning 
vibration, it was drawn out several degrees 
further, and at length the needle was 
made to perform an entire revolution :— 
by alternately applying and withdrawing 
the brass bar, the needle performed very 
rapid revolutions. ‘These interesting expe- 
riments* prove that there is yet an ample 
field. for investigation in this important 
branch of natural phenomena. 
Pure Potass may be obtained by the fol- 
lowing process, according to Mr. Donovan 
of Dublin:— Dissolve the carbonate cf 
potass of the shops in water, at the tempe- 
rature of 100°; filter the solution, and place 
it near 2 fire, in a flat dish—when crystals 
of the pure bi-carbonate will be obtained in 
a few hours.—These crystals are to be 
again dissolved in pure water, and boiled 
with their own weight of hydrate of lime, 
for a quarter of an hour. The solution 
being again filtered, we have a solution of 
pure potass. f 
Light occasioned by Crystallization.—A 
splendid light was given out, during the 
sublimation of benzoic acid in combination 
with pulverized carbon—the experiment 
being performed in a tall glass cylinder, 
placed on the head of a stone. Duti 
the whole period of the sublimation, au 
uninterrupted succession of sparks of viyid 
light ascended from the bottom of the 
cylinder. Professor Deebereiner is of opi- 
nion that this property of emitting light i is 
peculiar to those salts which contain little 
or no water of crystallization. 
Mr. Faraday, in noticing the well-known 
violet colour which is observable in many 
specimens of plate glass, observes that the 
oxide of manganese is added partly to 
neutralize the green tint which otherwise 
would be conferred from iron: (frem the 
ferruginous character cf many kinds of 
sand) ; - but, notythenias this, some 
glass, to which oxide of manganese has been 
added, still possesses a greenish tint. Many 
specimens of plate glass, though all contain 
mangariese, are thus tinged with green. 
On exposing some samples of this glass to 
the action of the solar light for twelve - 
months, it had lost great part of its green 
tint, and become altogether much amelio- 
rated in colour; while some pieces, from - 
the same specimen, which had been kept 
in the dark, had undergone no sensible dif- 
ference 
