1820.] Sdentific Intelligence. 393 



in old trees. He mentions some facts that have been stated to 

 him by Col. Perkins, of Boston, and which seem entitled to 

 attention. Several ships built at Boston have been salted, or 

 filled in between the timbers with salt, while on the stocks, and 

 after the lapse of 10 or 15 years the timbers have in every case 

 been found to be perfectly sound. A large ship belonging to 

 Col. Perkins which had been salted (14 years old) required 

 repairs, new decks, and new iron work. Considering the ao-e of 

 the ship, it was important to examine the frame in every part. 

 The ceiling was, therefore, ripped up, and a complete examina- 

 tion took place. The result was, that the timber and plank were 

 found completely sound in every part. A vessel of 500 tons 

 required oUO bushels of salt, and two years after being built, 1 00 

 bushels were added to fill up the space of the salt dissolved. — 

 American Journal of Science and the Arts, ii. 114.) 



It would be of importance to know whether the iron works in 

 such ships did not sooner decay than in ships not salted. It 

 would be desirable likewise to ascertain whether salted ships 

 have any bad effects upon the health of the crews. 



VI. Canthavadin. 



It appears from a set of experiments made by Dr. J. Freeman 

 Dana, of which he gives an account in Silliman's American 

 Journal of Science and the Arts, vol. ii. p. 137, that the lytta 

 vittata, or common potatoe fly of North America, contains a 

 quantity of cantharadin as well as the Meloe vesicatoria. The 

 lytta of America, Dr. Dana informs us, possesses vesicating 

 powers in a higher degree than the Spanish fly. The experi- 

 ments were made on rather a small scale in consequence of the 

 difficulty of procuring the fly in sufficient quantity ; but a sen- 

 sible portion of cantharidin seems to have been obtained. 



VII. Foml Bones in Old Red Sandstone. 



In North America, the old red sandstone formation, as we are 

 informed by Prof. Silliman, extends from the sea shore at New 

 Haven to the state of Vermont, and intersects the states of 

 Connecticut and Massachusetts. It is more than 110 miles 

 long, and varies in breadth from three miles to twenty-five. On 

 both sides it is bounded by primitive rocks : the northern 

 boundary consists of mica slate and clay slate. Mr. Solomon 

 Ellsworth, Jun. of East- Windsor, in Connecticut, while blasting 

 this rock for a well 23 feet below the surface of the earth met 

 with a number of I'ossil bones completely enclosed in the sand- 

 stone. Unfortunately before Mr. Ellsworth came to the know- 

 ledge of what was going on, the skeleton had been blown to 

 f)ieces with the rock which contained it, and several pieces of 

 )ones had been picked up and lost. The specimens seen by 

 Prof. Smith, of Vale College, were still enclosed in the rock. 



