SSi Volcanoes, — Ether ly Fluoric Add, 



VOLCANOES. 



Among the many curious facts which the celebrated 

 Humboldt collected in the course of his travels, one of the 

 most surprising is that which he lately communicated to 

 the National Institute. Several of the volcanoes in the 

 Andes throw up, from time to time, a muddy substance 

 mixed with large quantities of fresh water ; and what de- 

 serves to be particularly remarked is, an astonishing number 

 of fish. The volcano of Imbaburn, near the town of Ibarra, 

 threw up once such a quantity that the putrid effluvia pro- 

 ceeding from them produced diseases. This phaenomenon, 

 however, is not singular. The most remarkable circum- 

 stance is, that the fish are not injured. Their bodies appear 

 to be very soft, but do not seem to have been exposed to a 

 great heat. The Indians assert that fish still alive are found 

 at the bottom of the mountain. These animals are ejected 

 sometimes from the crater of the volcano and sometimes 

 from lateral apertures ; but they always come from the height 

 of from twelve to thirteen hundred toises above the level of 

 the plains. Humboldt is of opinion that these fish are bred 

 in lakes in the interior of the crater. As fish of the same 

 kind are found in the rivers and streams which flow at the 

 bottom of the mountain, this circumstance is a strong con- 

 firmation of this opinion. They are the only animals in 

 the kingdom of Quito which live at the height of 1400 

 toises. This species are entirely new to naturalists. Hum- 

 boldt has assigned to them a place in the system, and calls 

 them P'unelodus Cyclopum ; that is, thrown up by the Cy- 

 clops, a denominatiqii which refers to their origin. They 

 will be found in the first number of his Zoological Obser- 

 vations, which will soon appear. 



ETHER BY FLUORIC ACID. 



M. Gehler, in a letter to M. van Mons, says, "Since my 

 last on the formation of ether by fluoric acid, I have made 

 an experiment which gave me very singular results. I 

 subjected to distillation in a proper apparatus, 15 ounces of 

 fluoric spar brought to a red heat, and pulverised with a 

 mixture of 10 ounces of pure alcohol, and as much sul- 

 phuric acid, of 1 -860. I distilled the whole to dryness. I 

 obtained a large quantity of gas, which by the smell n)ight 

 have been taken for phosphorated hydrogen gas, and which 

 burned with a blue flame, emitting some vapours of fluoric 

 acid. The distilled li(}uid was rectified, making only the 

 half to pass over, and mixed with an equal volume of 

 7 water, 



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