236 Intelligence and Miscellaneoiis Articles. 



DISCOVEUY OF COAL NEAR LEICESTER. 

 A report was made in Sept. 1827, by Mr. Francis Forster, mineral 

 surveyor, on the probable existence of coal in the vicinity of Leices- 

 ter, arising from the supposed extension of the Ashby coal-measures, 

 under the nevv-red-sandstone formation, from Ibstock near Ashby, 

 by way of Bagworth, Desfond, Kirby-Muxloe and Glenfield towards 

 Birstall ; thus passing within about two miles of Leicester. The opi- 

 nions expressed in this report have since been confirmed in great 

 measure by the discovery of a seam of coal, by boring near Bagworth. 

 A detailed extract from the report, accompanied by a sketch of the lo- 

 cality, will be given in our next. 



SITUATION, CONSTRUCTION, &C. OF THE BAROMETER REGI- 

 STERED BY THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Horticultural Society's Garden, February 12, 1829. 

 For the information of S. S. of Canonbury, I send you the following 

 notes relative to the Horticultural Society's barometer. It has been 

 fully described in a paper printed in the Transactions of the Society, 

 vol. vii. p. 97 — 99. But as S. S. probably has not seen that paper, 

 I subjoin partly from it what refers to the instrument in question. 

 1st. Its position is nearly 14 feet above the mean level of high- 

 water in the Thames at Chiswick. 

 2nd. A thermometer is inserted in the mercury of the cistern to 

 mark its temperature, which is noted at each observation, and 

 for which the necessary corrections are made, as well as for 

 capillary action, and the capacity of the cistern. The former 

 being '009 inch, which is constantly added ; and the latter being 

 one hundredth of the difference between the height of the baro- 

 meter at the time the observation is made, and 30' 136 inches 

 the neutral point (or the level from which the height of the mer- 

 curial column was first measured), which is either added or sub- 

 tracted, according as it may be above or below that point ; so 

 that the entry in the register is the actual pressure of the atmo- 

 sphere at the station as it would be measured by a column of 

 mercury of the temperature of 32° of Fahrenheit. 

 3rd. I . The cistern is a covered one; it is turned in mahogany 

 and lined with iron. 



2. The proportion which the surface of the mercury in the tube 

 bears to that in the cistern is as 1 to 1 00 ; so that a rise or 

 fall of one inch in the former makes a difference of O'Ol inch 

 in the latter. 



3. The diameter of the inside of the tube is 0*45 inch. It dips 

 1 • I inch below the surface of the mercury in the cistern. 



4. I am not sure that 1 rightly understand the two queries of 

 S. S. in his 3rd. § 4. But if they are meant as 1 take them to 

 be, my answer to the first is, that the point from which the 

 true height is measured, is 30* 136 inches ; to the second, that 

 the temperature at which this is correct is 60° Fahrenheit. 



W. B. BOOTH. 



