1820.] Scientific Intelligence. 73* 



It is very difficult to reduce to powder, and it is hard enough to 

 scratch glass. This mineral has been lately subjected to a che- 

 mical analysis by Dr. Brandes, who found its constituents as. 

 follows : 



Silica 54-00 



Alumina 28-50 



Protoxide of iron 16-18 



Magnesia 0-50 



Oxide of manganese 0-25 



Water 0-25 



99-68 



The constituents of iolite, as determined by Gmelin, are the 

 following : 



Sihca 42-6 > 



Alumina 34-4 



Magnesia 5-8 



Lime 1-7 



Protoxide of iron 15-0 



Oxide of manganese 1-7 



101-2 

 (Schweigger's Jour. xxvi. 90.) 



XII. Death of Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. 8fc. 



We have this month to announce, with no common feelings of 

 regret, the death of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ranks, Bart. 

 President of the Royal Society, See. &c. He died at Spring 

 Grove in the morning of Monday, June 19, at the age, we believe, 

 of about 77 years. In him science loses all that it can lose in a 

 single individual. The whole of his time and the whole of his 

 fortune, which was very considerable, were devoted to the pur- 

 poses of science. His liberality was universally known. It was 

 no uncommon thing for travellers in foreign countries, when 

 reduced to pecuniary difficulties, to draw upon him for money, 

 and he was generally accustomed to honour such draughts by 

 ordering immediate payment. His library, which was kept up 

 at a very great annual expense, was rich in almost every depart- 

 ment of science ; and in some of the most expensive depart- 

 ments almost complete. This library was open to every man of 

 science, who was not merely at hberty to consult the books in 

 the library, but to carry them home to his own lodgings> and 



Eeruse them at his leisure. As a President of the Royal Society 

 e stands unriv'alled. No former President ever filled the chair 

 with such advantages to that learned body, nor is it at all likely 

 that the same rare union of qualities for that most important 

 situation will again occur. 



