1S13.] Scientific Intelligence. SdJ 



15th of September, containing the following information, which 

 the writer says was first communicated to the public in a provin- 

 cial newspaper. He does not give the date ; but merely quotes 

 the following passage from the newspaper, in the words of the 

 anonymous writer of that article. " Last week, having occasion 

 to go to Malpas (a village 15 miles from Chester), I witnessed a 

 very singular phenomenon. About one o'clock in the day, from 

 the great heat and the calmness of the air, I apprehended a 

 thunder-storm, and supposed my apprehensions were going to 

 be realised, when I beheld a bright cloud, out of which fell some 

 large stones, which were soft and intensely hot at first, but after- 

 wards acquired considerable hardness." 



I am not aware that any of the stones in question have been 

 brought to London. These phenomena have been of rare occur- 

 rence in Great Britain of late : but five or six examples of simi- 

 lar falls on the Continent, during the years 1811 and 1812, have 

 been recorded, and the stones subjected to chemical analysis. 

 As some of the results of analysis are curious, I have been 

 intending to lay them before the readers of the Annals of Phi- 

 losopliy, but have hitherto been prevented by want of room. 



IV. Swedish Agriculture. 



I take this opportunity of correcting a very important mistake 

 which occurs in my Travels in Sweden, relative to the quantity 

 of grain produced annually in the kingdom. In page 426' of 

 that work I have given an official table exhibiting the quantity of 

 ground in tillage, and the annual produce in spanns ; and I say, 

 below the table, that the Swedish spann contains 28 kanns, or 4 [ r 

 English wine pints. This statement I took from a Swedish 

 dictionary, published at Stockholm in 1807. 



But I have received a letter from a Swedish gentleman in 

 London, stating the following to be the real amount of the 

 Swedish measure-, from his own personal knowledge, which X I 

 have no reason to call in question. 



1. The Swedish tunn consists of two spanns heaped as much 

 a* can be laid on the top, and is the only lawful measure of the 

 country. It amounts to 



French cubic English cubic 



inches. inches, 



8810 94S8'8 



The Swedish kann is 182 1 19*9 



aw a Winchester bushel i- 2150' l_' Cubic inches: therefore 

 1 Swedish tunn, according to the preceding statement) i* 

 4-.'. 193 '*. inchester bushels, and the Swedish spann is 2'194G5 

 Win ! er bushels; bo that these measures are above 40 fold 

 iter than I made them. This removes the extraordinary bar- 

 which appeal very striking according to my 



original 1 ej so that the tuuuland (\ [■ acre) products 



