Dr. Hare's Dejiagrator and Caiorimotor. Ill 



the ignited arch of flame, which is formed when the points 

 are withdrawn a little distance ; when it arrives at the pes- . 

 itive pole, it there concretes in a fluid, or at least in a soft or 

 "pasty" state. 



But the most interesting thing remains yet to be stated. 



On examining with a magnifier, the projecting point of the 



positive pole, it exhibited decisive indications of having un- 

 dergone a real fusion. 



The projecting point or knob, was completely different 

 from the charcoal beneath. Its form was that of a collection 

 of small spheres aggregated ; exhibiting perfectly, what is 

 called in the descriptive language of Mineralogy, botryoidal 

 or mamillary concretions. Its surface was smooth and glos- 

 sy, as if covered with a varnish ; the lustre was metallic, 

 the colour inclining to grey, exhibiting sometimes irides- 

 cent hues, and it had entirely lost the fibrous structure. In 

 short, in colour, lustre, and form, the fused charcoal bore the 

 most striking resemblance to many of the beautiful stalacti- 

 ticai and botryoidal specimens] of the brown hcematite. 

 The pores of the charcoal had all disappeared, and the 

 matter had become sensibly harder and heavier. 



I repeated the experiments, until I collected a considera- 

 ble quantity of these fused masses; when tbey were placed 

 contiguously, upon some dark surface, with some pieces of 

 charcoal near them, they appeared when seen through a 

 magnifier so entirely different from the charcoal, that they 

 would never have been suspected to bave had any connex- 

 ion with it, had it not been, that occasionally some fibres of 

 the charcoal adhered to the melted masses. The melted 

 and unmelted charcoal, differ nearly as much in their ap- 

 pearance as pumice-stone and obsidian, and quite as much 

 as common stones do, from volcanic scoriae, excepting only, 

 in the article of colour. It is to be understood, that the ex- 

 amination, isin every instance, made by means of a good mag- 

 nifier, and under the direct light of the sun's rays, as the dif- 

 ferences are scarcely perceptible to the naked eye, especial- 

 ly in an obscure light. The portions of melted charcoal, are so 

 decidedly heavier than the unmelted, that when fragments 

 of the two of a similar size are placed contiguously, the lat- 

 ter may be readily blown away by the breath, while^ the 

 former will rpmain behind ; and when the vessel, containing 

 the pieces is inclined, the melted pieces will roll with mo- 



