Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 823 
the coke and water required to raise steam for the engines, and car- 
bon points for the lamp in the lantern. 
The lamp is a delicate arrangement of machinery, holding the two 
carbons between which the electric light exists, and regulating their 
adjustment; so that whilst they gradually consume away, the place 
of the light shall not be altered. The electric wires end in the two 
bars of a small railway; and upon these the lamp stands. When the 
carbons of a lamp are nearly gone, that lamp is lifted off and an- 
other instantly pushed into its place. The machines and lamp have 
done their duty during the past six months in a real and practical 
manner. The light has never gone out through any deficiency or 
cause in the engine and machine house ; and when it has become 
extinguished in the lantern, a single touch of the keeper’s hand has 
set it shining as bright as ever. ‘The light shone up and down the 
Channel, and across into France, with a power far surpassing that 
of any other fixed light within sight, or anywhere existent. The 
experiment has been a good one. There is still the matter of ex- 
pense and some other circumstances to be considered ; but it is the 
hope and desire of the Trinity House, and all interested in the sub- 
ject, that it should ultimately justify its full adoption. 
XLII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 
BORACIC ACID IN THE SEA-WATER ON THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA. 
UPHE following interesting paper on boracic acid in the sea-water 
of the Pacific, on the coast of California, was read by Dr. John 
A. Veatch before the California Academy of Natural Sciences. The 
facts presented may lead to important results in various ways, and 
deserve attention from scientific men.. The Doctor said,— 
The existence of boracic acid in the sea-water of our coast was 
brought to my notice in July 1857. I had, in the month of Janu- 
ary of the previous year, discovered borate of soda and other borates 
in solution in the water of a mineral spring in Tehama county, near 
the upper end of the Sacramento valley. Prosecuting the research, 
I found traces of boracic acid—in the form of borates—in nearly all 
the mineral springs with which the State of California abounds, 
This was especially the case in the Coast mountains. Borate of 
soda was so abundant in one particular locality, that enormous 
crystals of that salt were formed at the bottom of a shallow lake, or 
rather marsh, one or two hundred acres in extent. ‘The crystals 
were hexahedral with beveled or replaced edges, and truncated 
angles; attaining the size, in some cases, of 4 inches in length by 
2in diameter, forming splendid and attractive specimens. In the 
same neighbourhood,a cluster of small thermal springs were observed 
holding free boracic acid in solution. A few hundred yards from 
these a great number of hot springs, of a temperature of 212° Fahr., 
rose up through the fissures of asiliceous rock. These springs held a 
considerable quantity of borax,as well as free boracic acid. Many other 
localities furnished similar indications, but in a less extensive form. 
In progress of the examination I found that the common salt 
(chloride of sodium) exposed for sale in the San Francisco market, 
and which, it was understood, came from certain deposits of that 
