Miscellaneous Intelligence. 293 



The determination of the chlorine contained in the ashes is, of course, 

 to be made beforehand. The substance is to be charred in a well 

 closed Hessian crucible, then completely extracted with water, and the 

 chlorine determined from that solution. In my analyses, I used to an- 

 alyze this solution by itself. I then proceeded to extract with hydro- 

 chloric acid, and analyzed this solution separately and also the residue. 

 I did this at the request of Prof. Rose, who on the ground of these re- 

 sults founds a theory which he will soon publish." 



"I give below the result of my analysis of the feces and urine of 

 man, which 1 have tried to make interesting by enabling a comparison 

 to be made between the inorganic matters they contain, and those con- 

 tained in the food at the same time. 



I carefully collected for four days the solid and liquid excrements of 

 a young man. The sum of the constituents in both can without doubt 

 be regarded as equivalent to the corresponding quantities in the food. 

 •The following quantities are calculated for the period of twenty-four 



hou 



rs. 



The faeces of one day contain The urine of one day contains 



NaCl = 00167 grammes = 89243 grammes. 



Na O = 00185 " = " 



KC1 = " = 0-7511 " 



KO = 0-5455 " = 2-4823 



CaO :- 0-5566 " = 2245 



MgO = 0-2781 " = 0-2415 



Fe, 3 s= 00544 " = 0048 



PO~ ~= 0-8072 " = 1-7598 



U 



it 



41 



(4 



44 



3 



S0 3 — 00293 " = 03864 



SiO„ = 0375 u = 0691 



2 3438 148438 



The difference in the proportions of potassa and soda in the feces 

 and urine, is remarkable. The quantity of soda in the feces is in no 

 Proportion to that which is secreted daily in the body as bile, and shows 

 that the bile must be removed from the body by another way than 

 the faeces." 



3. Aurora Borealis of Nov. 17, 1848.— The display of the Aurora 

 "orealis seen in the United States and even as far south as Cuba, (see 

 P- 127 of this volume,) on the night of November 17, 1848, was proba- 

 bly as wide spread as any to be found on record. A letter from Rev. 

 Samuel J. Parker, Ithaca, N. Y., communicates his observations, which 

 show that the exhibition has rarely, if ever, been surpassed in these 

 regions. I give a single extract, "At one time the circular spot south 

 of the zenith (the corona) was the only part of the heavens destitute 

 °f the aurora; indeed for two hours most of the time, this was the 

 case. The rays of course ran from the horizon to this spot, — from the 

 southern as well as the northern horizon." 



The same phenomenon was observed in Smyrna, Salonica and 

 Odessa. The subjoined description of its appearance at Odessa is 

 taken from VImpartial of Dec. 1, 1848, a newspaper of Smyrna, for 

 ^'hich I am indebted to Rev. Henry A. Homes of Constantinople. It 

 ^v r as also observed at San Francisco, California, by Rev. C. S. Lyman, 



