VOL. XV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 113 



of it will be immediately conveyed through the siphon into the other vessel. 

 And in like manner may be exhibited the other phaenomena, as above-described 

 in the book. The largest machine of this kind that has been hitherto made 

 does not exceed 20 feet in height.* 



^Miscellaneous Catalogue of common and cheap Experiments. By Sir J'Villiam 

 Petty, President of the Dublin Society. N° 167, p. 849. 



1 . The weight of a cubical foot of sea water, fresh river water, spring water, 

 and rainwater; as also of ale, wine, brandy, metheglin and Spanish wine^ olive 

 oil, rape oil, and train oil. — 1. The weight of a cubical foot of wheat, bar- 

 ley, peas, oats, &c. — 3. The quantity and weight of juice that 10 pounds of 

 apples, pears, gooseberries, mulberries, peaches, and grapes, will yield, in 

 order to make drink. — 4. The weight of a cubical foot of oak, ash, ehn, fir, 

 willow, alder, birch, yew, pear-tree and box-timber, and the difference between 

 the weight of the said timbers, extremely green and extremely dry. — 5. The 

 weight of the shell, white, and yolk of an eg^, viz. of pigeons, hens, ducks, 

 geese, and turkies, and the proportion between the weight of the Ggg and the 

 hen, &c, — 6. The weight of a cubical foot of wool, tow, feathers, hay, &c. 

 pressed down with several weights. — 7. The weight of several bottles and casks 

 which are in common use. — 8. The weight of a cubical foot of lime, sand, 

 and mold. 



With many other experiments proposed on a variety of practical subjects. 



On a new Way of cleaving Rocks. By Mr. J. Beaumont. N" 167* P- 854. 



About the year l683, at the lead -mines in Mendip hills, the miners found 

 out a new way of cleaving rocks with gunpowder, which is in the following 

 manner: The first instrument they use is called the borer, expressed fig. l), 

 pi. 3, made of iron, and is 2 feet 2 inches in length; it is 1 inch square at the 

 steeled end from a to b, and somewhat less in the other part; the use of this 

 instrument is to make a hole in the rock deep enough to receive the powder. 

 The second instrument, called the gun, fig. 12, is 6 inches in length, \\ dia- 

 meter, and has a hole drilled through it to receive the priming powder. The 

 first instrument is managed thus : one man holds it on the rock and turns it 

 round, while another beats it down with a hammer of 5 or 61b. weight; when 

 the hole is made somewhat deeper than the length of the gun, they dry it with 



• M. Reisel afterwards acknowledged to the Royal Society, that the above-described siphon was 

 exactly the same as that of Wurtemburgj as we shall find by a paper to be inserted from N° 178 of 

 the Philosophical Transactions. 



VOL. III. Q 



