1829.] Varieties. 317 
water and cold spring water. As much dif- flame is well known, and has been beauti- 
ference in the efiect, as has usually been 
represented, was experienced when the dif- 
ference in temperature was scarcely per- 
‘ceptible by the hand or tongue. These 
trials led to the following inquiry by Pro- 
fessor Eaton. The experiments of Black 
and others have shown, that when. water is 
brought to the freezing point, a quantity of 
‘caloric sufficient to carry the thermometer 
through many degrees, may be imbibed or 
given off without affecting the thermometer 
or the sense of feeling. May not the state 
_of ice water be such, that though it seems 
to be but little colder than spring water, it 
‘will take much more caloric from the sto- 
mach ? Would not this inquiry afford am- 
ple materials for a medical graduate’s disser- 
tation ? 3 
New Salt Pans.—A patent has been ob- 
tained for an admirable improvement in the 
‘construction of salt pans, which consists in 
raising what might be called the bottom of 
the boiler up to an angular form in the 
middle, like the two upper sides of a prism, 
in order that the crystals of salt as they 
become concentrated by the evaporation of 
the water, may descend down the inclined 
planes, thereby preventing an inconvenience 
called or known to salt makers by the name 
of pan scratch, and fall into boxes or troughs 
placed in recesses below the fire, and may 
thus allow the salt tobecome cool. Which 
boxes or troughs when they are full, may 
be drawn up by the cords or chains attached 
to them, and the salt discharged without 
drawing off the brine from the interior. 
New Constant of Aberration.—From 
a mean of 4119 observations made at the 
Royal Observatory at Greenwich, during the 
years 1825-6-7-8, with the two mural circles 
of Troughton and Jones, on the stars most 
affected by aberration and the least affected 
by refraction, whereby the errors of observa- 
tion have the least possible influence on the 
result, Mr. Richardson has determined 
20°5035 as the most probable value of the 
constant of the aberration of light. 
A medical fellow of the Royal Society, 
much distinguished by his ingenious re- 
searches regarding mummies, was detailing 
at one of the meetings of that society, the 
celebrated characters who had attended to 
witness his labours. Among others Dr. 
Wollaston was mentioned; the latter al- 
though in a different group, was within 
hearing, and briefly inquired “ What is it 
-you say, Sir?’’ “ Only that you were pre- 
sent at my last examination of the mum- 
my.” “ Sir; I was not present.’’ ‘ Yes 
you were, Dr. Wollaston, and made such and 
such remarks.” ‘Sir, I never was in your 
house in my life—Sir, I do not even know 
were your house is situated,’ said Dr. W., 
turning his back with indignant astonish- 
‘ment at the other’s singular misconception 
or unparalleled effrontery. 
Intense Light.—The intense light pro- 
duced by igniting lime in the oxy-alcohol 
fully applied in the construction of geode- 
sical signals, by Lieut. Drummond. It is 
said that an easy mode of exhibiting it on a 
small scale, is to place a small piece of lime 
on charcoal, lighted at the spot by a little 
piece of tinder, and throw a jet sof oxygen 
from an ordinary blow-pipe aperture upon it. 
Antiquities.—The report just published 
by the Royal Society of Northern Anti- 
quaries, at Copenhagen, giving an account 
of its labours for the years 1825-6-7, makes 
mention of a discovery of some interest for 
the history of northern navigation. A stone, 
engraved with Runic characters, was found 
in 1624 in the island of Kingilktorsoak, 
on the western coasts of Greenland, bearing 
an inscription, of which the following is a 
‘translation by Dr. Ragn, secretary to the 
society. “ Erling Sigvatson, Bjarne Thor- 
darson, and Enride Oddson, erected these 
heaps of stones, the Saturday before the day 
called Gagndag (April 25) and they cleaned 
the place in 1135.” M. Kragh, a Green- 
land missionary, saw three heaps of stones 
on the spot where this inscription was found, 
each of these three individuals having ap- 
parently erected his own. This stone, ac- 
cording to Dr. Ragn, is of great historical 
importance, as it proves that so early as the 
twelfth century our ancestors had pushed 
their navigation on the western coast of 
Greenland up toso high a latitude. 
Meteorite Phenomenon.—An uncommon 
phenomenon appeared at Malacca, on the 
evening of May 14, 1828, between seven 
and eight o’clock, which produced a curious 
sensation among the inhabitants. A meteo- 
ric globe of fire, of about the size of the 
full moon when seen in the horizon, ap- 
proached fzom the south-east and passed over 
the town in a north-west direction, at a 
height apparently not much above the tallest 
trees. It was followed by arattling, rumbling 
noise, somewhat resembling that of thunder, 
produced, we suppose by the bursting of 
the ball, which took place at some distance 
from the town. The oldest people in Ma- 
lacca say they never witnessed such a thing 
before, and many, not knowing its real na- 
ture, consider it a portentous omen for evil. 
Fossil Osteology.——- Among the fossil 
bones discovered by Mr. Mantell, of Lewes, 
during the present year in the Hastings 
strata of Sussex, are two specimens, which 
M. Cuvier has determined to be the ungueal 
bones, or those which support the nails of 
the Iguanodon. The largest is four inches 
in length ; while the corresponding part in 
a recent Iguana three feet long, is but two 
fifths of an inch. 
Antiquities.—At a recent sitting of the 
Socicté de Géographie at Paris, M. Warden 
communicated an extract from a letter, ad- 
dressed to the Marquis de Fortia, by M. le 
Comte Saqui,. from which it appeared, that 
in digging a weli in Cuba, about twelve 
leagues from the Havannah, at the depth of 
about one hundred French feet, a vase was 
