1820.] Scientific Intelligence. 149 



II. Aereolite. 



The following analysis of a meteoric stone which fell at Jonzac 

 on June 13, 1819, has been made by M. Laugier : 



Oxide of iron 36-0 



Silica 46-0 



Alumina 6*0 



Lime 7*5 



Oxide of manganese 2-8 



Magnesia 1*6 



Sulphur I'O 



Chrome 1*0 



102-4 



The increase of weight is attributed to the oxidizement of the 

 metals during the process of analyzing. 



The author observes that the above stone is not only remark- 

 able from the absence of nickel, but also for the proportions in 

 which its other constituents exist, the quantity of sulphur and 

 magnesia being much less than usual, and that of the alumina 

 and lime greater. The author is disposed to believe, from the 

 experiments hitherto made, that the presence of chrome rather 

 than of nickel is to be considered as characteristic of meteoric 

 stones. — (Annales de Chimie et de Physique, xiii.441.) 



III. Curious Atmospherical Phenomenon. 



The following account of a very rare appearance has been 

 taken from the Cambridge Chronicle as a circumstance worthy 

 of being recorded : 



" One of those very singular and curious atmospheric pheno- 

 mena which are occasionally seen among the Hartz mountains 

 in Hanover, and have once or twice been observed on Souter 

 Fell, in Cumberland, has been seen in Huntingdonshire. About 

 half-past four o'clock on Sunday morning, July 16, the sun was 

 shining in a cloudless sky, and the light vapours arising from the 

 river Ouze were hovering over a little hill near St. Neot's, when 

 suddenly the village of Great Paxton, its farm houses, barns, 

 dispersed cottages, trees, and its different grass fields, were 

 clearly and distinctly visible in a beautiful aerial picture, which 

 extended from east to west about 400 yards. Nothing could 

 exceed the astonishment and admiration of the spectator as he 

 looked at this surprising phenomenon from a gentle declivity in. 

 an opposite direction at the distance of half a mile, or his regret 

 at its disappearance in about 10 minutes." 



IV. Compressibility of Water. 

 Mr. Perkins, the ingenious inventor of the siderographic art, 

 or of multiplying engraved impressions by transferring them from 



