396 Organic Remains. — The Palent Water Engine. 



known to be a fungus, whose roots being in the straw of the corn, 

 cannot, therefore, be very deep ; if I sprinkle the corn with a so- 

 lution of salt, why should not the fungi languish and die as well as 

 weeds when properly dosed at their roots with salt ? The expe- 

 riment was tried, and the result such as was anticipated, and 

 without any injurv to the wheat, salt having no injurious effect on 

 fibrous matter, whether vegetable or animal. The expense in this 

 case ceases to be any object ; for six or eight bushels will serve 

 an acre, which, at the price of salt applied to agriculture, will be 

 under twenty shillings, and this will be more than repaid by the 

 improvement of the manure arising from the salted straw. Two 

 men, one to spread, and the other to supply him with the salt 

 water, will get over four acres in a day. The operation of the 

 remedy is very quick : in less than eight-and-forty hours even the 

 vestiges of the disease are hardly discernible. Its efficacy has 

 been completely verified by more recent experiments. 



ORGANIC REMAINS. 



The Calcutta Mirror of 23rd March last contains a letter from 

 Dr. Tytler, announcing that in an expedition to Kallingar he 

 picked up a fossil oysler-skell on the summit of a high hill, above 

 the village of Bheeamow, in union with gra?iite and basalt rocks. 

 " This proves that these hills were formerly all under water." 

 Dr. Tytler has met with something still more wonderful. " In 

 the bed of a river near Russur, I also found," says he, " the fos- 

 sil remains of the first joint of a human finger. It is evidently 

 the first phalanx of a finger, and I think the first finger of the 

 right hand." The bed of a river might be considered rather a 

 doubtful place for such a fossil; but we imagine, no doubts what- 

 ever will remain respecting the real value of this singular dis- 

 covery, when we add what thevviiter further says respecting this 

 bone: " It is more than twice the size of the joint of an ordinary 

 man ; ergo, the person it belonged to must have been at least 

 twelve feet high." These two singular curiosities he was about 

 to dispatch to the Asiatic Society. 



THE PATENT WATER ENGINE. 



This machine, the invention of Mr. Dickson, engineer, Edin- 

 burgh, is in its principal parts no way different from the com- 

 mon steam engine, receiviux water by a pipe from a higher re- 

 servoir, instead ot steam from a boiler, and discharging the wa- 

 ter by another pipe, answering to the eduction pipe of the steam 

 engine. Of course, if the reservoir be higher than the atmo- 

 sphere would balance (say 34 feet), it will work with the same 

 power as the steam engine, — provided the eduction pipe be also 

 of 34 feet in height, that the discharge may be instantaneous, like 

 that of steam when opened to the condenser. If of less height, 

 there will be a proportionate reduction of the power of the engine. 



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