Present State of the Ruins of Babylon. 213 



When the existence of iodic, acid is suspected in a salt, add to 

 a solution of this salt a little of the water of chlorine ; a reddish- 

 brown colour will immediately appear, from the iodine dissolving 

 in the muriate ; by adding a little starch-water, a deep blue co- 

 lour will be obtained : if an excess of chlorine is added, the red- 

 brown colour disappears, and the starch-water is no longer co- 

 loured blue ; — the water thus coloured, loses itself all its colour 

 by the addition of a httle water of chlorine. The very marked 

 development of the muriatic acid denotes that the oxygen 

 passes to tiie iodine. When in these experiments the iodine 

 is in a greater quantity than the starch, the colour is of a 

 deep caerulean blue; — if, on the contrary, the starch is in excess, 

 the colour is of a brownish black ; and at the point of saturation 

 it is a beautiful violet. A particle of water containing iodate, 

 dropped on paper which has been starched and placed above a 

 bottle containing chlorine, produces instantly a beautiftil blue 

 spot. 



Such have been hitherto the results of our experiments, which 

 we purpose yet to extend as far as the object will allow. 



XXXI. Present State of the Ruins of Batylon. By Captain 

 Edward Frederick*. 



J. HE interesting descriptions given by Captain F. will doubt- 

 less have great future importance in guiding travellers to the site 

 of these famous ruins of the East, the way to which he shows 

 very accurately. He observes, '' that the ruins of the mounds he 

 on the left, a short distance off the direct road from Hillah ; and 

 a traveller merely sees Bclus's tower as he rides along, and must 

 turn out of his way if he wishes to examine it, which will occupy 

 a longer time than the travellers generally have leisure for, as 

 appears from their own acknowledgements, not to notice their 

 dread of being surprised by the wandering Arabs. 



" As to the other travellers who have visited this celebrated 

 spot, it wduld be carrying complaisance too far to place implicit 

 confidence on their relations, as they appear merely to have passed 

 over the ground, and sometimes not even to know that they were 

 amidst the ruins, until their guides told them it was Babel they 

 were riding over. They of course had no time to examine the 

 heaps of rubbish. Other travellers visited only one bank of the 

 Euphrates, not caring to risk meeting with the Arabs while gra- 

 tifying their curiosity on the other. From Beliis's tower (which 

 is four miles from Hillah in a direct line) there are no more 



* From the Transactions of the Literary Society pf Bombay. 



O 3 mounds 



