234 Scientific Intelligence. [SEpr. 
combinations, while Greek terms are employed for the combina- 
tions of the different oxides, all ambiguity is avoided. Both these 
modes of naming I have employed in the tables of the. salts pub- 
lished in the preceding numbers of the Annals of Philosophy. 
V. Howard’s Nomenclature of Clouds. 
The same Correspondent suggests the necessity of giving an ex- 
planation of the terms employed by Mr. Howard in his Meteorolo- 
gical Journal to denote the various modifications of the clouds. I 
beg leave to inform him that this has been done already. He will 
find it in the Annals of Philosophy, vol. i. p. 80. 
For an explanation of the term polarization, which he also re- 
quests, I refer him to the Annals, vol. i, p. 302, where he will find 
one already given. 
VI. New Amalgam of Mercury. 
I lately received the following piece of information in a letter 
from M. Van Mons :— 
“* M. Dobereiner decomposed water in contact with mercury by 
means of the galvanic battery. Oxygen was evolved at the positive 
pole, but no hydrogen from the negative pole. Instead of it there 
was formed a solid amalgam of mercury, not decomposed by agita- 
tion ; but, when heated, resolved into running mercury and hy- 
drogen gas. M. Dobereiner considers hydrogen gas as a metal dis- 
solved in caloric, and constantly in a state of expansion. The 
absence of caloric, and the nascent state of the hydrogen, enable it 
in the above experiment to amalgamate with mercury. 
‘© M. Dobereiner has likewise made sulphur undergo consider- 
able changes, having obtained it in the form of a blue powder, 
similar to ultramarine, by depriving it of its hydrogen by means of 
a process which he does not describe. Phosphorus changes into a 
scaly matter, having the brilliancy and colour of gold when burnt 
under a glass while exposed to the direct rays of the sun.” 
VII. New Galvanic Experiment. 
(To Dr. Thomson.) 
_ SIR, ; 
The following experiment on animal galvanism to me is per- 
fectly new; if it should be so to you, perhaps you will give it a 
place in your Journal. At present I shall merely state the experi- 
ment, though the importance I attach to it arises solely from the 
theory by which it was suggested. After trying every experiment 
mentioned in most systems of animal galvanism, I made a pile of 
thin slices of brain and muscle, which by a single piece of metal 
produced the most violent agitation in the frog, inconceivably 
greater than any other usually exhibited. It even produced a slight 
effect without any metal; but I have never been able to succeed in 
any of Aldini’s experiments without metal, as he asserts. 
Iam, Sir, yours most respectfully, 
Edinburgh, July 20, 1815, M. A. 
