214 Miscellanies. 
of an inquiry into the superior sailing qualities of the veut of war 
in the French and Spanish services. She was commenced at Wool- 
wich in 1746, launched in 1756, and, after bearing a very high char- 
acter as a ship of war for twenty six years, was accidentally sunk at 
Spithead on the 29th of August, 1782. From an examination of the’ 
various portions of the wreck recovered by the operations of Colonel 
Pasley, Mr. Creuze states, that the great agent in the work of destruc- 
tion, during the fifty seven years since the loss of the Royal George, 
has been “the worm,” which has, gradually, by its innumerable per- 
forations on every exposed portion of the wood work, reduced it to 
such a state as to enable the constant wash of the tides to abrade it 
layer by layer. The portion of the ship which has been thus re- 
moved, is considered to be the whole of the upper part, inclading the 
topsides above the line of the middl@ deck ports. The portions of 
the recovered timbers which had been buried in the mud were per- 
fectly sound; and Mr. Creuze is of opinion, that ihe bottom of the 
ship, which is thus protected, and too deeply inhumed to be affected 
by the explosions, will last for ag ome portions of the cop- 
per have undergone so little chang everal whole sheets aver- 
age the same weight per square foot as those now used in the Royal 
Navy. This state of preservation, Mr. Creuze is of opinion, may be 
accounted for on the principle applied by Sir Humphry Davy to the 
protection of the sheathing of ships. The cast iron guns which have 
een recovered, were so much softened as to be easily abravled by the 
finger-nail, to the depth of one-sixteenth and one-eighth of an inch} 
but they gradually hardened on exposure to the atmosphere. The 
brass guns are as sharp in their ornamental castings, and apparently 
as sound, as at their first immersion. A piece of two and a half inch 
cable layed cordage, made from a specimen of tarred rope; possibly 
part of the ship’s old junk for sea store, or of one of the cables used 
in an attempt to weigh her soon after she sunk, was found to bear al 
ewt., 3 qrs., Tlbs.; while a similar cable, made from yarn spun ™ 
1830, bore only 20 ewt., 1 qr., Tlbs. Mr. Creuze then states some 
peculiarities in the structure of the Royal George, and concludes with 
a descriptive catalugue of a series of specimens which accompanied 
the paper.—IJbid. 
16. New process for making Sulphuric Acid.—M. Provostay® of 
Paris, has proposed the following process: He recommends introau 
cing into the leaden chamber sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and eet 
por of water. To understand what takes place under these circum” 
stances, a current of sulphurous acid may be passed into a flask con 
taining nitric acid; this should be made, by means of a bent tube, 1 
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