1826.] Pfiilosophical, Chemical, and Scientific Miscellanies. 



619 



are derived all the 'subdivisions into ruces 

 and varieties. 



Eurthr/iuike. — At the Jiour of seven in 

 tlie morning of the sevcntli of January, 

 an earthquake was felt at INIartinique. 

 There were two shocks, the one weak, 

 the other violent, wliich produced much 

 consternation among tiie inhabitants, but 

 occasioned no mischief. 



Improved Shower- lialh. — Mr. Murray, 

 of Glasgow, has constructed a shower-l)ath, 

 in whicli the column of water in the vase 

 above is supported by the resisting atmo- 

 splicre ; and tlie superiority of Jiis imj)rove- 

 nient consists in the numerous rejjctitions 

 which may be made from the same supi)ly 

 of water. The intervals may be shortened 

 or prolonged at pleasure, while the duration 

 of each is under the complete control of 

 the patient, and the water may be suffered 

 to fall in a continued shower of any re- 

 quired division of the streams, attenuating 

 even to a gentle dew. 



Russian Canals. — The Russian govern- 

 ment has ordered that navigable canals shall 

 be commenced to unite: 1st, the Moskwa 

 and the Volga ; 2d, the Scheksma and the 

 Northern Dwina, by which there will be a 

 direct communication between the port of 

 Archangel and that of Petersburg, and a 

 road will be opened to the Baltic for native 

 merchandize ; .3d, the Niemen and the 

 Weichsel across the kingdom of Poland. — 

 Revue. Encijc. 



Safetji ill Truvellinfj. — A patent lias 

 been o!)tained for an ingenious contrivance 

 to prevent carriages from overturning, and 

 consists in the adaptation of a hanging arm 

 on each side of the coach, with a small 

 wheel at bottom, which arm, in the 

 event of the coach being raised on one 

 side, is instantly thrown out on the op- 

 posite one, and forms a prop or support 

 for the body of the carriage to rest upon, 

 and which is thereby prevented from falling 

 over. 



Silver Coinage.— The following table is 

 extracted from the London Journal of the 

 Arts: — The Tower pound was coined in 

 tlie year 1066 into 20s. Od. 



1.300 

 134.4 

 1346 

 1353 

 1412 

 1464 

 1527 

 15G0 

 1601 



20 

 22 

 22 

 25 

 30 

 37 



42.2.5 troy lb. 45s. 

 56.3 — 60 

 58.1-5 — 62 

 Ancient Coins. — A great number of Cu- 

 phic coins, among which are some ex- 

 tremely I'are and very valuable, have been 

 discovered in the government of Mohilef, 

 in Russia. Their dates are from the years 

 639 to 815, and consequently anterior to 

 the reign of Rurik. Most of them were 

 struck in Spain and in Africa, and it is 

 conceived were brought into this part of 

 the world by the Variagucs or Normen, 



about the middle of the ninth century. 

 Many more of these deposits, it is pre- 

 sumed, might be discovered in Russia, and 

 would throw much light upon the govern- 

 ment of the Arabian princes in Mesopo- 

 tamia, of the Mameluke saltans of Egyjit, 

 and on the Norman kings of Sicily. 'I'hc 

 Academy of Sciences of St. I'etcrsbui'g 

 has obtained this rich collection. 



Historical A^otice. — Professor Geycr, of 

 Upsal, has obtained from the Swedish go- 

 vernment a pension of 6,000 florins until 

 his History of Norway shall be finished. 

 Temperature of Mines. — ]\Ir. Moyle hav- 

 ing instituted numerous experiments on the 

 subject, announced some time since tiiat 

 the earth in general possesses and preserves 

 the mean annual tcmperatine of the la- 

 titude. During the last summer and au- 

 tumn most of his former exjieriments on 

 the water, in some of the old and relin- 

 quished mines in Cornwall, were repea'ted 

 by himself, and the result has confirmed 

 his former opinion. 



A Corkcutter.—h. very simple macliine, 

 which is attended by a child only, and cuts 

 four to five hundred bottle-corks per hour, 

 has lately been invented in France. Ano- 

 ther machine cuts and prepares the sheets 

 of cork into ribs, which are made round by 

 the finishing machine. 



Comets. — It is now certain that the. 

 same comet has appeared in our system 

 in 1786, 1795, 1801, 1805, 1818, and 

 1825. It appears never to go beyond 

 the orbit of Jupiter; its period, which is 

 the shortest known, scarcely exceeds three 

 years and a quarter, and its mean distance 

 from the sun is about twice that of the 

 earth from the same luminary. It seemg 

 to be particularly connected witli our sys- 

 tem, and traverses its orbit more than sixty 

 times in a century, so that vvlien its nu- 

 merous revolutions, since the commence- 

 ment of the world, are considered, it may 

 readily be conceived to have had some effect 

 upon the changes oiur globe has undergone. 

 M. Olbers, the celebrated astronomer of 

 Bremen, who has been particularly occu- 

 pied with tlie theory of comets, has been 

 endeavouring to subject to calculation the 

 possibility of the interference of one of 

 these bodies with the destiny of the earth, 

 and he finds that in 83,000 years a comet 

 will approach to within the same distance 

 of the earth as the moon is at present ; in 

 four millions of years it \\\\\ come within 

 7,700 geographical miles, and then, if its 

 ' attraction equal that of the earth, the 

 waters of the Ocean will rise 13,000 feet, 

 that is abo\e the summit of every Eu- 

 ropean mountain, with the exception of 

 Mont Blanc. The inhabitants of the 

 Andes and those of the Ilimalayah chain, 

 alone can escape this second deluge ; but 

 then- safety will last only for 216 millions 

 of years more ; for it is likely that at the 

 end of that time, if the return of the comet 

 take place, our globe being then in its 

 4 K 3 



