464 Scientific Intelligence. [Dec. 



Extract of a Letter from Prof. Santi, in Pisa, to Hastings 



Robinson, 



" Allorche io faceva quei miei viaggi per la Toscana, a lei non 

 ignoti, io trovai quei mil erali fino allora non scoperti da altri, e 

 li descrissi nei ragguagli pubblicati dei miei viaggi, prima col 

 nome descrittivo di stallattiti silicee, poi con quello di amatiti, 

 dal nome della bella e gran montagna gia volcanica detta il 

 Montamiata. II Prof. William Thomson di Oxford vidde nelle 

 mie mani le amiatiti, seppe da me il luogo, ove io le aveva tro- 

 vate, .se ne provvidde, e ie coinmunico subito alia Soc. Reale di 

 Londra, e all' Academia delle Scienze di Parigi, dando ad esse 

 il nome improprio di Jioriti, da quello di un piccolo castello non 

 vicino. In questa maniera egli (forse senza volerlo) si usurpo' il 

 piccolo pregio di quella scoperta, senza nominarmi. Io non gli 

 feci guerra, ma cessai allora di aver con esso quella corrispon- 

 denza, che passava fra noi. Se queste quisquilie non le sem- 

 brano degne della sua dotta attenzione, forse esse potrebbero 

 non dispiacere al Sig. Clarke, egregio Professore di Mineralogia 

 nei!' Universita di Cambridge, ed a lei senza dubbio notissimo." 



Pisa, Muggio 9, 1818. 



XIV. On the improper Mode of managing Dung-hills in England. 



By Mr. Dinsdale. 



Oct. 3, ISIS. 



On reading the letters of your correspondent Mrs. Ibbetson, 

 in the numbers of the Annals for April and August last, I could 

 not help making a determination to trouble you myself on a 

 branch of the same subject. 



She has doubtless made similar observations to what I am 

 about to offer, her experiments having embraced this peculiarly 

 neglected part of agricultural chemistry. 



1 wish to draw the attention of your readers to the inconsistent 

 practice of farmers in general (at least to my knowledge of the 

 farmers of Lincoln, York, Essex, and Suffolk), with respect to 

 manures, both in the making and application of them. 



It is very common to see their men sweeping dry straw, chaff, 

 and frequently the dressings of their gardens and orchards on to 

 the -dung-hills, which are mostly situated in a corner of their 

 yards, sometimes walled in and sometimes not, but generally in 

 an elevated situation, from which, as well as from their stables, 

 cow-sheds, and piggeries, the liquid and most valuable part is 

 suffered to drain away, not uncommonly forming a filthy drain, 

 or stagnant pool, the exhalations from which cannot be healthy 

 either for themselves or cattle, and occupying what might be 

 made an useful portion of their premises. 



These heaps of dung and dry matter are, by numbers, suf- 

 fered to lie until they are wanted for the land, perfectly undisturbed ; 

 and even by those who do turn them, they are seldom disturbed 

 more than twice ; consequently when they are carted to it, 



