1825.] Col. Beaujoy's Astronomical Observations, Jt 



I exposed some of it in a cast iron crucible, in the same fire- 

 place, and the door open as before. This crucible was only 

 three-tenths of an inch thick, and had occasionally been exposed 

 for short periods to the greatest heat of this fire-place ; not 

 expecting, therefore, that it would receive any injury in the 

 present instance, I left it unnoticed for about 20 minutes, by 

 which time the ivory-black had ceased to emit any more gas. It 

 was then taken out, but unfortunately not in the condition in 

 which it was introduced. Nearly half the circumference of the 

 crucible for one and a half inch upwards, and a large part of its 

 bottom, had run into a complete slag upon the opposite side, 

 which happened to have fallen lowest in the fire, and the ivory^ 

 black was almost consumed, from the access which the air thus 

 acquired to the inside of the crucible. The cover and upper 

 parts of it had suffered no injury. 



From the great heat which brass and particularly cast-iron 

 require for their fusion, and the low degree of it employed in 

 these cases, little doubt can be entertained of the superior 

 agency of animal charcoal as a flux. Both the crucibles it must 

 also be noticed had been formerly used for the very purpose of 

 procuring charcoal from wood in a common grate, when it is 

 conceived the heat was little inferior to that in the present 

 instance, and the chances of their fusion then otherwise equal. 

 It might, therefore, be worth the trouble for those whom it may 

 concern, lo make one or two comparative experiments on this 

 subject, with greater accuracy than the preceding, in order to 

 determine it decisively. F. 



Is it not probable that in the experiments above detailed, the 

 metals were converted into phosphurets by the decomposition 

 of the phosphoric acid ? and if so, the increased fusibility would 

 probably be derived from this circumstance. — Edit. 



Article VI. 



Astronomical Observations, 1824. 

 By Col. Beaufoy, FRS. 



Bushetj Heath, near Stanmore. 



Latitude 51° 37' 44*3" North. Longitude West in time 1' 20'93". 



Nov. 15. Emersion of .Jupiter's third US'" 20' 5^" Mean Time at Bushey. 



satellite (\2 22 13 Blean 1'ime at Greenwich. 



Nov. 21. Immersion of .Jupiter's first J 15 2t 2-2 IMean Time at Bushey. 



satellite ^15 25 43 Mean Time at Greenwich. 



Dec. 7. Immersion of Jupiter's first (13 ."8 52 IMean Time at Ilushey. 



'■\ 



satellite \\'3 40 13 Mean Time at Greenwieh 



Occultation by the Moon. 

 Oct. 29. Immersion of X Pisces 0^ 01' 36-5 " Siderial Time. 



