&6 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



Models of ships ; of a ventilator; of Italian banditti, and various 

 works of art, were placed in the Library. 



June 1. — Mr. Turrell described the various useful and oeconomi- 

 cal applications of the diamond ; with the methods of cutting, po- 

 lishing, and setting it, either for ornamental purposes, or in chrono- 

 meters, or for engraving, &c. &c., and illustrated his details with 

 numerous specimens of the gem in various states, and many works 

 performed by means of it. 



Inthe Librarywere a series of insects from the Caucasus, andseveral 

 birds which had been presented to the Museum : also engravings on 

 wood by the celebrated Tobias Stinimus, andsomerare literaryworks. 



June 8. — Mr. Millington took a rapid but clear survey of the 

 steam-engine, and the recently proposed improvements ; and also 

 of the means for obtaining motive power from the gases. The latter 

 part principally referred to Brown's gas-engine, of which a large 

 working model was set in operation in the Lecture-room. 



Specimens in Natural History which had been presented during 

 the week to the Museum, and new literary works, were laid upon the 

 Library table. 



June 15.— Mr. Faraday gave An account of the progress and 

 present state of the Thames Tunnel. It was illustrated by Mr. 

 Brunell's drawings and models, and comprised a particular account 

 of the recent entrance of water upon two occasions, and the means 

 by which the ingress of the fluid had been stopped. 



In the Library were two Guanches from Teneriffe, belonging to 

 Mr. Brettell. Specimens of rock-salt, being a complete series, from 

 Cheshire. New literary works, and works of art. 



These meetings were then adjourned until the next season. 



XV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



FLUOR SPAR AND ANHYDROUS SULPHURIC ACID. 



MKUHLMANN, professor of chemistry at Lille, has disco- 

 • vered that fluor spar cannot be decomposed by anhydrous 

 sulphuric acid. This is an additional fact in favour of the opinion 

 that this substance is a fluoride of calcium. — Ann. de Chini. et de 

 Phys. Feb. 1827. 



RHEINE, A PECULIAR SUBSTANCE IN RHUBARB. 



M. Vaudin, by treating one part of rhubarb with eight parts of 

 nitric acid at 35° (Baume) with a gentle heat, and then reducing 

 it to the consistence of a syrup and diluting it with water, observed 

 that a |)eculiar substance was precipitated, which he has called 

 Rheine, and which has the following properties when dried. It is of 

 a yellowish orange colour, devoid of any peculiar smell; its taste is 

 slightly bitter, and it is almost entirely soluble in alcoholand aether: 

 these solutions become yellow by acids, and of a rose-colour by 

 alkalies. Rheine burns like other vegetable bodies, especially like 

 starch. Rhubarb treated directly by sulphuric a;ther yields a sub- 

 stance which is perfectly similar: — this proves that the new substance 



exists 



