1826. ] 
country, formerly under the dominion of 
Spain, may .be estimated at 2,000,000, of 
whom the natives compose one-half; the 
Mulattos and whites, about equal in num- 
ber, form the other half, for the negros are 
so few that they need not be taken into 
consideration. 
Soup from Bones.—The various means 
of extracting gelatine hitherto published 
require no inconsiderable attention and 
expense. The managers of the hospital of 
Montpellier have succeeded in a more eco- 
nomical method, viz. The bones are bro- 
ken with a hatchet into pieces from one 
inch to one inch and a half long, with 
which an earthen pot is made two-thirds 
full ; water is then added, an earthen cover 
is adjusted, and the pot is placed in an 
oven immediately after the bread is with- 
drawn. After remaining four hours, the 
pot is found to contain very fat and gela- 
tinous soup. ‘This being poured off, the 
pot is again filled with water, placed again 
in a hot oyen, and affords, after an expo- 
sure of six hours, broth Jess rich thau be- 
fore, but still of good quality. It is filled 
a third time with water, gnd being heated 
seven or eight hours, yields a fresh supply. 
These three portions are then mixed toge- 
ther, and being properly seasoned with ve- 
getables, the whole affords a very nutri- 
tious and yaluable article of diet. 13 1b. 
3 oz. 14.dw. of bones extracted from coarse 
meat produce 46 lb. 50z. 9 dw. of broth, 
which is a sufficient quantity for dealing 
out to four hundred and forty of the hos- 
pital poor. There is no process which re- 
quires less skill and is more economical, 
for it saves even the expense of fuel.— 
Bulletin. Universel. 
Population of New York.--According to 
an enumeration recently made the city of 
New York contains 162,391 inhabitants.— 
Silliman’s Journal. 
Erie. Canal.—It is mentioned on good 
authority that the tolls on the New York 
canals for this season (January 1826) will 
amount to at least 500,000 dollars: this 
will be 100,000 more than was estimated by 
the commissioners of the canal fund. Last 
year the amount of tolls was 289,320°58, 
thus giving an increase to this year of at 
least 210,000 dollars. — Silliman’s Journal. 
_ Lead Mines of the United States.—The 
total quantity of lead received from mines 
belonging to the United States is 192,113 
pounds—108,855 from Frozen River,83,255 
from Missouri. The business is yet in an 
incipient state, and the product of the next 
year, it is estimated, will yield the United 
States about 350,000 pounds. The mines 
are leased at the low rate of ten per cent. 
on the lead produced.— Silliman’s Journal. 
. Cicade.—The cicada, or locust, when 
he first rises from the earth, is about an 
Jneh and a half in length, and one-third of 
aminch in thickness. While making his 
_ ~ Way to the surface, he has the appearance 
a 
oy 
; 
4 
of a large worm or grub: the hole which 
Philosophical, Chemical, and Scientific Miscellanies. 
195 
he makes is about the same diameter with 
his body, perpendicular, and seems to be 
made with equal ease through the hardest 
clay or softest mould. When they first rise 
from the earth, which is invariably in the 
night, they are white and soft; they then 
attach themselyes to some bush, tree or 
post, and wait until the action of the air 
has dried the shell with which they are 
enveloped; the shell then bursts on the 
back for about one-third of its length, and 
through this opening the cicada creeps as 
from a prison. Their bodies are then yery 
tender, and they can neither fly nor crawl 
to any considerable distance. In this state 
they remain until morning, their wings 
gradually unfolding; and as the day in- 
creases they, by little and little, and fre- 
quent attempts, learn to fly for a few feet : 
so that by night they are able to fly for 
several rods. In their efforts to disengage 
themselves from their shell or envelope, 
many of them lose their lives, either from 
a want of strength to burst away, or from 
the narrowness of the passage occasioned 
by their coming to the surface of the 
ground too early, and the action of the air 
drying, burst their covering before their 
bodies were prepared for the change. For 
this original information relative to the 
habits of the cicada, which occasions such 
ravages in America every fourteen or se- 
yenteen years, we are indebted to Pro- 
fessor Silliman’s Journal. 
Imitative Gold.—M. Dittmer has shown, 
in the Hanoverian Magazine, that the fol- 
lowing mixture, compounded by Dr. Herm- 
stadt, may be substituted for gold, not only 
with respect to colour, but also to specific 
gravity, density, and ductility: sixteen 
parts of virgin platinum, seven of copper, 
and one of zinc, equally pure ; place these 
metals together in a crucible, cover them 
with powdered charcoal, and melt them 
completely into a single mass. 
Paper.—The Brothers Cappurino, paper- 
makers at Turin, have found the means of 
supplying the want of rags, by the fabrica- 
tion of a new kind of paper from the thin 
bark of the poplar, willow, and other kinds 
of wood. The Academy of Sciences haying 
examined the specimens thus produced of 
writing, printing, and wrapping paper, ac- 
knowledge the goodness of them, and praise 
the invention: so that his Majesty has 
granted to the brothers an exclusive privi- 
lege, for ten years, for the manufacture of 
paper from ligneous materials. —Journal de 
Turin. 
Printing upon Zinc.— At the book-store 
of Leake, at Darmstadt, has appeared the 
first great work whose prints are taken 
from plates of zinc; it is a collection of 
architectural monuments, which will con- 
sist of twenty numbers. The drawings are 
made upon zinc as upon stone, and the 
expense of engraving is thus avoided. ‘The 
editor is, in consequence, able to sell each 
number, containing twelve folio plates, at 
2C2 
