Miscellaneous Intelligence. 305 



morphia is added, is placed in it. All soon becomes solid ; and thus 



an excellent stopping and a powerful anodyne are applied at the same 

 time. 



15. haliiie Silver in Norway. — It is reported in the Swedish official 

 paper of the 27th of October, that at the King's mine, at Konigsberg, 



I two lumps of native silver, severally 238 and 436 pounds, were obtain- 



ed within the preceding two months. This mine was offered for sale 

 in London twenty years ago for ,£10,000, but failed of purchasers. It 

 now brings to the government more than this sum annually. 



16. Naphtha Spring near Alfreton, England. — A valuable spring of 

 mineral oil has made its appearance near Alfreton, in a coal pit. The 

 oil has a dark tarry color ; but on distillation it affords a volatile liquid 

 which has been found to be a good substitute for chloroform as an 

 agent for acting on ihe nerves of sensation, besides a colorless inflam- 

 mable oil, excellent for lamps, and solid paraffine. 



17. Prizes. — The Belgian government has instituted two prizes, one 



of five thousand francs with a gold medal, and the other of one thousand 



irancs — the first for the best work on agriculture, and the second for the 



best treatise on the potatoe-disease. Foreigners are invited \o compete ; 



• manuscripts are to be sent to the Ministry of the Interior before the 

 1st of January, 1850. 



18. Chloroform, as a solvent. — Chloroform dissolves abundantly the 

 various fatty and resinous substances, and generally all highly carbon- 

 ized compounds. With copal it forms readily a good limpid varnish. 

 It is now known to dissolve caoutchouc, and leaves it with its original 

 properties, on evaporation. 



Appendix. — Observations on California, from the correspondence of 



the Rev. C. S. Lyman. — (Continued from page 292.) 



The letters from which the following extracts are made, were put 

 ^to our hands at a late hour. They are not as recent in date as some 

 that have been published in the pubfic papers within the fortnight past: 

 but our acquaintance 'with Mr. Lyman enables us to vouch for their 

 Kteral accuracy, and this may give them value in the estimation of our 

 readers. He left the country for his health, and after a residence for 

 a while at the Sandwich Islands, went to California, hoping to be bene- 

 fitted by the climate, and at the same time to engage in surveying. 

 He had been occupying himself in this pursuit for about nine months, 

 when the discovery of gold carried off his chain-men, " who exchanged 

 $25 a month for as much a day," and he was compelled thereby to 

 suspend his surveying labors. 



Gold Mines on the American Fork of the River Sacramento, } 



Upper California, August 6th, 1848. ) 



Finding I could do nothing at surveying; and wishing to examine tho 

 gold region, I started thither early in June and was two weeks getting 

 here, on account of the flooding of the river San Joaquin. I had little 

 or no expectations of obtaining gold myself, as I supposed the reports 

 of the richness of the mines altogether exaggerated. But when I 

 reached the ground I found the half had not been told. A company 



Secontj Series, Vol. VII, No. 20— March, 1649. 39 





