VOL. XXVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 501 



Thus provided, the clapper was made to strike the bell, whose sound was some- 

 what less by the interposition of the glass than it would be when made in the 

 open air ; however it was very audible, and might be heard at a considerable 

 distance; it appeared to the ear to be very harsh, in respect to the tone it 

 yielded. But now, when the water came to be poured in, and the inner re- 

 ceiver surrounded by it, at least an inch and a half from the nearest part of the 

 outer glass, the clapper again was made to give the sound ; which it did, seem- 

 ingly very little less in respect of its audibility, but much more mellow, sweet, 

 and grave, at least two or three notes deeper than it was before. 



j4n Explanation of the Figure of a Pagan Temple^ at Cannara in Salset. By 

 Mr. Alexander Stuart. N°321, p. 372. 



Fig. 3, pi. 12, represents the rocky mountain Cannara, in the island of Sal- 

 set, belonging to the Portuguese, with the temple and caverns, a is the tem- 

 ple and sacrificing place, like the choir of a church, arched and supported by 

 45 pillars, all cut out of the rock ; b the altar in the farther end, also cut out of 

 the rock ; with a narrow canal about the foot of it, I suppose designed to be 

 filled with water ; cc unknown characters engraven on the rock, on each side 

 of the square entry ; ddd &c. various irregular paths of ascent, some cut out 

 in steps as stairs; 1, 2, 3, &c. various caverns, mostly of a square figure ; some 

 large, others smaller, cut out of the rock ; whose roofs are cut plain, like a 

 plastered room ; at the door of each without, is a large cistern or two, cut out 

 of the rock, full of rain water, at least I could not perceive them to be springs. 

 On the sides of the doors of some of the caverns, are characters like those of 

 the templesr- 



Experiments on Metals, made with the Burning-glass of the Duke of Orleans^ 

 By Mans. Geojffroy, F.R.S. N° 322, p. 3/4. 



This burning glass is 3 feet in diameter, and it collects the rays of the sun 

 at 10 feet distance, where it forms a focus of about 3 inches over, which is 

 again contracted, by means of another glass lens, to an inch diameter, and 

 consequently is rendered three times as strong.* 



There was a great diflSculty to find any matter capable of holding metals in 

 fusion in the focus. Charcoal, which is commonly used, is indeed a very proper 

 substance ; but it is impossible with it to vitrify any one of the metals : the par- 

 ticles of the metal, when held any long time in fusion in the focus of the glass, 



• It should be said 9 times, because circles are as the square of their diameters, and the square of 

 3 is 9. 



