1816.] Scientific Intelligence. 315 
He has shown that in this interval the produce has increased more 
than fourfold. This work, very important for the administration, is 
accompanied by a very interesting chart, exhibiting the extent of 
our coal districts, the principal mines at present working, and the. 
direction of their diferent levels. It has been inserted in the 
Journal des Mines. 
Ashower of stones has fallen this year likewise in the neighbour- 
hood of Langres, with all the usual circumstances. _M. Pistollet, 
physician in that town, has collected some of them. They are 
quite similar to other stones of the same origin, except that their 
fracture is perhaps a little whiter. 
M. Vauquelin, who had been charged last year with the exami- 
nation of the aetolites of Agen, has presented some reflections on 
the state in which the principal elements occur in this sort of stones. 
A portion of the silica appears to him to be in combination with the 
magnesia. Sulphur is present united to iron; for the mineral gives 
sulphureted hydrogen, when dissolved in the acids. As to the 
chromium, it appears in a separate state, and sometimes in pat- 
ticles so large as to destroy all idea of combination. 
(Lo be continued.) 
Articte XI. 
“SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE; AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS 
CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. 
J. Flexible Sand-stone. 
Some fishermen, upon the east coast of China, near the province 
of Chincheu, brought up a considerable piece of stone in one of 
their nets. Observing something peculiar in its appearance, in- 
stead of throwing it overboard, they carried it to Canton to tempt 
the curiosity of the Europeans in that place. It was purchased by 
Mr. Garratt, the purser of an East Indiaman, who supposed from 
its appearance that it was a petrified buttock of beef, and on that 
account gave a considerable sum of money for it. It is at present 
in the possession of Mr. Mawe, mineral dealer in the Strand, 
where I had an opportunity of examining it. 
It is an irregular shaped mass, weighing, when dry, 23 pounds 
four ounces avoirdupois ; and when soaked in water, 24 pounds 
four ounces. It has certainly some faint resemblance in shape to;a 
buttock of beef. One part answering to the bone and another to 
the flesh. But this appearance is owing to an external coating of 
ochre, and does not hold internally. On one side of it there is.a 
coating of small quartz crystals. The stone is full of small round 
holes, placed at unequal distances, and not penetrating deep. 
Colour partly snow white, partly wine yellow. 
x 2 
