1829.] 
deck available for fuel, of which the vessel 
will be capable of carrying enough for full 
thirty-five days’ consumption, there will be 
one small cabin on deck, in which the com- 
mander, officers, and crew, are to mess and 
sleep, until the expenditure of coals may 
make room for them below. The crew will 
consist of one commander, one mate, two 
engineers, one boatswain, one carpenter, 
six seamen, and six stokers. Forty tons of 
the coals will be filled in tanks, and, as they 
are consumed, the tanks will be filled with 
water, which will by a peculiar contrivance 
run into the vessel, and be thrown off by 
the engine ; and by these means she can be 
lightened and deepened at pleasure. It is 
proposed to have three or four depéts for 
coals on the passage, so that whenever steam 
is used, the full power may be employed. 
In the S.W. monsoon, the packet will touch 
at Madras, as the wind and current favour 
her on the western side of the bay at that 
season. In the other monsoon, she will not 
touch on the coast. The packet will carry 
nothing but the mails and small parcels; 
letters four shillings each the single letter, 
parcels four shillings per ounce. 
Russian Coinage of Platina.—A report 
which has been for some time in circulation 
is now confirmed, that the Russian govern- 
ment has resolved to coin a large sum in 
Siberian platina. It appears that Count 
Denidoff, the proprietor of the locality where 
the platina was discovered, has disposed of 
the quantity of that metal which had been 
collected, to the government. He has sent 
four young Russians, destined for official si- 
tuations in Siberia, to be educated at the 
Mining Academy of Freyberg. 
Straw Paper.—A manufactory for the 
fabrication of paper from straw was estab- 
lished some years since in the neighbour- 
hood of London, but was shortly abandoned. 
Mr. Cobbett has recently been calling the 
attention of the public to the same subject, 
only proposing to substitute the stem of the 
Indian corn for that of wheat; while an 
American gentleman has taken out a trans- 
atlantic patent for the same object. The 
last process is this: take any quantity of 
Straw, hay, or other vegetable substances, 
and boil it in a solution of salts of ley pot 
or pearlash, or other alkali or lime, in the 
proportion of one hundred and fifteen pounds 
of the former to from fifteen to twenty 
; pounds of the latter ; boil them about thirty 
Minutes, or steep the materials in the solu- 
tion a few days, or until saturated; then 
draw off the water, and put them into a 
common engine, to be manufactured like 
Tags into paper. 
ganic Remains.— The jaw of an enor- 
mous unknown fossil animal was dug up a 
short time since at Eppenheim, canton of 
Avirrey, on the left bank of the Rhine. 
Many teeth, similar to those contained in 
this, had been previously found. These 
teeth square, and with two transvers pro- 
tuberances, very like those of the tapir, 
Varieties. 
95 
had given rise to the belief of the antedilu- 
vian existence of a gigantic species of these 
animals ; this, however, appears not to have 
been the case. The animal to which these 
valuable remains belonged, is a new genus, 
of which the dimensions were truly extraor- 
dinary. For supposing that the head bore 
as small a proportion to the body as in the 
case of the hippopotamus, the quadruped 
of which the proportion between the length 
of the head and that of the body is the least, 
the total length of this animal must have 
been nineteen feet. The most bulky qua- 
druped hitherto known is the megalonix, a 
gigantic sloth, of which the length was only 
twelve feet. 
Artificial Diamonds.—An American pro- 
fessor, bearing the unlucky name of Silli- 
man, announced some two or three years 
since, that he had succeeded in the chemical 
production of diamonds; a repetition of his 
experiments in Europe proved their fallacy, 
and in that quarter at least the subject has 
not been further heard of; while in France 
a distinguished chemist, M. Cagnart Dela- 
tour, who, as appears from a sealed packet 
left with the Institute of that nation in 1624, 
and which has recently been opened, has 
been engaged for several years in the at- 
tempt, has at length succeeded in erystal- 
lizing carbon, and has submitted to the 
inspection of the Academy some tubes filled 
with diamond dust (crystallized carbon), 
and one tube containing a perfectly dia- 
phonous crystal, of which the pyramidal 
form is evident, and the weight four centi- 
grammes. These, however, are only to be 
regarded as the result of his first attempts, 
and he hopes in a short time to be able to 
submit to the Academy some specimens of 
from three to four lines in diameter. This 
eminent experimentalist has further suc- 
ceeded in crystallizing silex by one of his 
processes. At the time that the communi- 
cations on this head were made to the Aca- 
demy, M. Arago stated, that an acquain- 
tance of his had endeavoured to obtain the 
same result, by decomposing carbonat of 
sulphur with the voltaic pile. Hitherto, the 
want of conductibility in the carbonat of 
sulphur had presented an insurmountable 
obstacle to success, but still hopes were en- 
tertained of ultimately obtaining a different 
result. It is but right to state, that the 
process employed by M. Cagnart Delatour, 
is totally different from one which has re- 
cently been tried and published by M. 
Gannal. 
Winds in Northern Europe.—¥rom the 
numerous observations and researches of 
Professor Schonen on the direction of the 
winds in Northern Europe, it appears that 
westerly are more frequent than easterly 
winds ; this rule is without exception. But 
the westerly winds diminish more and more 
in proportion as we approach the centre of 
the continent; they are more frequent in 
England, in Holland, and in France, than 
in Denmark and the greatest part of Ger- 
