732 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



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trains which meteors leave behind them. A remarkable 'result o 



his observations appears to be that the metal sodium, in the state 

 of vapor, is present in the trains of most meteors. 



Hot- Water Plant. 



The Reese River Reveille states that in the hot -water of Hot 

 Creek district is found growing a very delicate vine-like plant, 

 almost as tine as a hair, which holds myriads of tiny leaves nearly 

 imperceptible to the naked eye, and of a bright emerald green. 

 This plant seems to thrive only in Avater so hot that the hand can- 

 not be held in it. 



Pneumatic Express. 

 From recent experiments conducted l)y the London pneumatic 

 compau}^, it appears that 128 tons of goods can l)e sent through 

 eighteen miles of tul)es every hour, by means of atmospheric 

 pressure, at a cost of not more than one penny a ton per mile. A 

 part of the economy of this mode of conversance is due to the fact 

 that the partial vacuum in the tu])e is produced by means of large 

 stationary steam engines, in which steam is generated most cheaply, 

 and applied with the least waste. 



Aerolites. 



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An iron meteorite, weighing nearly 1,600 pounds, which fell in 

 Mexico, has lately been transported to Paris. There is one in the 

 cabinet of Yale college, brought from Eed river, which weighs 

 1,635 pounds, and contains about 91 per cent of iron, with 9 per 

 cent of nickel. Palhis discovered ore in Siberia of nearly the 

 same weight. The most extraordinary masses have been found in 

 South America. One in Brazil, in size, is equal to 28 cubic feet, 

 and weighs 14,000 pounds ; another, discovered in the district of 

 Chaco-Gualamba, is estimated to weigh oO,000 pounds. 



Sources of Error in Solar Observations. 



Mr. Dauge, of the Academy of Science at Brussels, thinks all 

 the striking phenomena noted by recent observers of the sun may 

 be owing to the refraction of the emergent rays in the atmosphere 

 exterior to the sun's photosphere ; and he shows that such refrac- 

 tion may augment the apparent diameter of the sun, and the mean 

 period of its rotation, as well as retard the apparent motion of a 

 spot in proportion as the same recedes from the center of the sun. 

 If these and other phenomena are found, on further experiment, 



