470 - Scientific Intelligence. [Dzc. 
V. Ancient Aérolite. 
A Danish journal mentions a fact (taken from the Speculum Regale, 
a book written in the thirteenth century under the reign of the Danish 
king Snorro, and by some supposed to be written by the king himself), 
of which it would be interesting to ascertain whether any trace 
remains yet in Iceland. In this book, is told that in the church of 
Kloena, in Iceland, an anchor is kept, which had fallen from the air ; 
and, adds the Danish journalist, it is probable that it was an aérolite in 
form resembling an anchor, or that an anchor had been made of this 
meteoric iron. 
VI. Mathematical Laws of Electro-Magnetism. 
Mr. Barlow, who has so successfully reduced the laws of induced 
magnetism to mathematical principles, has been equally fortunate in 
rendering electro-magnetism a matter of computation. The battery 
he employed was on the-principle of Dr. Hare’s Calorimotor, and the 
experiments were made by means of a rectangle of stout brass wire, each 
side of which was four feet. One side of this was open, so as to make 
the connexion with the battery, and the other vertical side was passed 
through the centre of a table, divided into the points of the compass, 
and round which, therefore, a magnetic needle might be placed at 
any azimuth. The two horizontal sides of the rectangle might be 
slipped up and down on the vertical wires, whereby the length of the 
conducting part of the vertical wire might be changed at pleasure ; 
and the distance of the compass itself from the vertical wire might 
also, in like manner, be varied ad libitum, by merely sliding to and 
from the centre. From his experiments with this apparatus, 
Mr. Barlow has drawn the following general conclusions, viz. “ that 
every particle of the galvanic fluid in the conducting wire acts on 
every particle of the magnetic fluid in a magnetized needle, by a force 
which varies inversely as the square of the distance; but that this 
action is neither to attract nor to repel either pole of the magnetic 
particles, but a tangential force, which is reciprocal between the two 
fluids, and which tends to place the poles of either at right angles to 
those of the other, and to the right line which joins them,” This 
theory is said to be applicable to every phenomenon that has yet been 
observed in this new branch of natural philosophy.—(Edin, Phil. Jour. 
vii. 281.) 
VII. Azotic Springs in North America. 
In the south-east corner of the town of Hosick, Rensselaer county, 
New York, are three springs comprised within about four or five acres 
of ground, from which issues an incalculable quantity of pure nitrogen 
gas. It seems to rise from the gravel-beds beneath the water ; by press 
sing upon a surface of the gravel equal to five or six inches square, @ 
guart of the gas may be collected in an inverted jar or bottle in ten 
seconds.—(Ibid. p. 387, froma Geological Survey of the County.) 
VIII. A new Mineral called Gibbsite. 
This substance, named after a celebrated American mineralogist, 
was discovered by Dr. E. Emmons, in a neglected mine of brown he- 
matite in the town of Richmond, Massachusets, It occurs in irregular 
