No. 244.] 301 



AprU 11, 1848. 

 Judge R. S. LiTiNGSTON, in the chair. Henry Meigs, Secretary 



Mr. Wakeman presented a letter from the proprietor of the Far- 

 mer and Mechanic, which contained an article on Metallic Fire Proof 

 Paint, from Mr. Blake, of the town of Akron in Ohio 



Mr Wakeman also presented a letter fiom the Hon. Edmund 

 Burke, Commi.^sioner of Patents, which was read. The Commis- 

 sioner asks for information as to all Agricultural Societies, their 

 place, presidents and secretaries, desiring to obtain from them quar- 

 terly reports as to the condition, extent, Sec-., of agricultural pro- 

 ducts. 



Mr. Meigs. — The request must be gladly complied with. How 

 pleasing to see Congress order one hundred and fifty thousand 

 copies of the Comiiiissioner's annual report to be printed! So much 

 for the benefit of farmers. Better than so much for gunpowder. 



Mr. Wakeman read a letter from Joseph Cowdin, Esq., U. S. 

 Consul at Glasgow,, acknowledging the receipt of the information 

 that he was elected corresponding member. 



Mr. Wakeman read an extract from a member of Congress, sta- 

 ting that the report made by John Clowes of the Am. Institute, on 

 the subject of the explosion of steam boilers, &c., was much liked 

 for its scientific, and practical character. 



Revue Scientifique, &c., Pauis, Nov. 1847 



Mr, Meigs. — I translate some extracts from a letter written by a 

 physician in China to a druggist, his father in Paris. He travelled 

 4 or 500 leagues in China and paid particular attention to their 

 apothecary shops. "The aspects of them are every where the same 

 as to their disposition and mode of arrangement varying only in 

 their relative magnitude and importance, so that when you have 

 seen one you have seen the whole. This remark also applies to al- 

 most everything in this singular country. The front of the Chinese 

 apothecary shop (which is unusually extensive) is ornamented with 

 collosal signs placed perpendicularly and fronting the two extreme- 

 ties of the street .so that they strike the eye in all positions nearly. 

 China writing is iead, you know, from top to bottom. The charac- 



