' EXTRACTS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 157 



'on a sand bath ; he poured on the fluate of lime some sulphuric 

 licid ; this drove oif the fkio-hydric acid, which, passing through 

 ;,he reeds in the retort, entirely deprived them of tlicir silica, which 

 silica was precipitated in the glass tiirough the lead tube, in a 

 gelatinous deposit. Tn this way most beautiful paper could be made 

 ))f cane poles, or common reeds; as tough as bank note paper, 



iind quite white. Fluor spar was iour cents a pound. It is a good 

 node of analysis, also, and only occupies about five minutes. We 

 :an use straw or grass, &c., instead of poles, and we have also 

 bund that milk of lime first passed through the cylinder will take 

 p much of the silex from g7-een cane poles. 



Mr. Redfield said that Gov. Reed of Bermuda had sent out to 

 lim a quantity of the fibres of the arrow root plant, after the 

 rrow root had been pressed out of it ; and that if any one want- 

 d to make paper out of it, he should be happy to supply them 

 ;ith any quantity. 



Dr. Jackson then introduced a specimen of Kenkrenite and one 

 f Nepoline, found at Litchfield, Maine ; the same, precisely as is 

 )und among the gold, &c. of the Ural Mountains. They are the 

 rst specimens ever found here. 



Dr. Jackson then gave the result of his analysis of the Rosen- 

 ale cement, and the Connecticut hydraulic lime ; and stated 

 lat the best quality of these was when the oxygen of the bases 



as in such a proportion as to form a bi-basic compound. He 

 Ided that the presence of manganese, of sulphuric acid, of pot- 

 jh am! of soda had been too much overlooked in these com- 



unds. 



Prof. Rogers read a paper on the slaty cleavage of rocks, and a 



per by Mr. Storer of Boston was read on the " Fishes of 



merica. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



AFTEROON SESSION. 



Prof. Coffin read a brief paper relative to the prevailing winds 



North America ; and pointed out the fallacy of making observa- 



ns by the old mode ; for example, out of twelve observations, if 



four instances the wind blew from the north, in three from the 



uth, two from the southwest, one from the west, and one from 



le southeast, the prevailing record w^ouldbe that the wind mainly 



iw from the north for ^ given time ; when in fact the prevailing 



nds would be from the southward. He also pointed out the error 



calculating surface winds, and various other erroneous matters 



which ignorant men, self-styled " wund-regulators," have 



len. 



The winds follow a uniform track from a point nearly west ; 

 Id then from the north, toward the Rocky Mountains. But we 



