158 Miscellanies. 
serving at the spring in October, 1827, I should think it decidedly of 
the same class with the Buffalo water, and from the geological struc- 
ture of the country in that region, it is highly probable that the springs 
- have a similar origin. 
At Avon, I observed that the silver watches of the attendants were 
rendered almost perfectly black, by the influence of the fetid gas, 
pervading the apparel and filling the air around, for a considerable 
distance, with the characteristic odor. 
7. Loss of vessels in the Gulf Stream.—In noticing frequently the 
loss of vessels coming from sea, by their running on shore before the 
captain supposed he was near it, it appears to me that such loss might 
easily be avoided, by the use of the thermometer to get the tempera- 
ture of the water, which is always colder on soundings than off sound-— 
ings. I came upon our coast last April, from the West Indies, with 
dull hazy weather ; and the captain told by the thermometer, very 
accurately, when he got upon soundings. 
We crossed the Gulf Stream on the 19th, in lat. 36°; the tem- 
perature of the ocean to the eastward had been 66° to 68°, in the 
Gulf Stream it was up to 75°; the air at the same time was 61°; as 
soon as we had crossed the Gulf Stream, the temperature of the wa- 
ter was down to 62°; air 62°. Lat. 38°, next day, the water wés 
down to 58°; air 59°. Lat. 39°, the water continued near 58° 
through the day, until at eight in the evening we found it to be only 
42°; the captain immediately said he was on soundings; he ordered 
the lead to be thrown and found bottom accordingly, at the depth of 
forty three fathoms. He threw the lead every two hours during the 
night, until at three in the morning he had twenty two fathoms, and 
at four he had only seven fathoms, which placed him upon Nav- 
tucket South Shoal. He immediately tacked ship and in fifteen 
minutes run out into deep water, and the next day arrived in Boston. 
The temperature of the ocean from Nantucket to Boston, take 
every hour, was 41° to 44°, Al passenger on board. 
New York, Dec. 8, 1830. 
8. Improvement in the Reflecting Goniometer; by A. EatoN-— 
Whoever has used the reflecting goniometer, has experienced 
considerable inconvenience in adapting some crystals to the instru 
ment, by the use of the common crank, &c. Four years 2g I di- 
rected an artist in this city to make a reflecting goniometer, with an 
