292 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



The action of solvents is also similar with the two substances. Wa- 

 ter and alcohol have no effect : ether and most volatile oils produce 

 only imperfect solution. The true solvent is oil of turpentine, which 

 produces a clear and colorless solution, from which the Gutta Percha 

 may be obtained unchanged, by evaporation. 



The specific gravity of Gutta Percha is 0-9791, that of caoutchouc 

 being 9355. 



Prolonged exposure to a temperature of about 300°, produces trans- 

 lucence and a deeper gray color; but hot or cold water gradually re- 

 store the primitive appearance. 



An application suggests itself to us which we have not as yet seen 

 mentioned. We refer to its use as a substitute for cork and other ma- 

 terials for air-tight closure of chemical vessels, through which tubes, 

 &c. are to be passed. There is no doubt that in the hands of the 

 chemist, this substance will soon become one of his most valuable 

 materials. 



3. Smelting Copper Ore. — There are establishments for smelting cop- 

 per at Boston and at Baltimore. At Boston the smelters have long been 

 extensive refiners and manufacturers of copper, and they manufacture 

 the product of their smelting works. At Baltimore the ores have been 

 chiefly obtained from Cuba ; at Boston, principally from Cuba and Chili* 

 The Swansea (Welsh) method of smelting, with reveberatory furnaces, 

 both for calcination and reduction, has been adopted, but they use 

 equal parts of anthracite and bituminous coal. At Boston, the German 

 method, with calcination in the open air, and reduction in the small up- 

 right blast furnace, with anthracite coal alone, is preferred. In Balti- 

 more they have six or eight furnaces in operation, with an experienced 

 manager from Swansea. In Boston the arrangements are on a much 

 more extended scale. Freights from Cuba to Boston or New-York are 

 much lower than from Cuba to Wales. It is suggested that the best 

 method for smelting would be, as in England, to carry the ores to the 

 coal. What is the nearest place to the mines on Lake Superior, where 

 there are anthracite coal mines? It is estimated that a ton of anthra- 

 cite coals will reduce two tons of 20 per cent. ore. About $55 are paid 

 per ton, at Boston, for 20 per cent ore ; freights from Cuba are over 

 $6, and from Chili $15. We publish at page 276, an account of the 

 process of smelting copper ores by means^of electricity— a process 

 which, however, cannot with any propriety be called smelting- n 

 might more properly be called the reduction of copper by the wet 

 rneihod. 



4. 



yf Cylindrical Masses of 



(A 



letter from Charles Clouston, dated Sandvvick Manse by Stromness- 

 Feb. 11th, 1847, to Richard Taylor, Esq., published in Lond., Edin. ana 

 Dub. Phil. Journ., April, 1847, p. 301.) 



The following notice derives an additional interest from the circum- 

 stance that a similar phenomenon was described twentv-seven yea 

 ago, in this Journal, vol. ii, p. 132, by the late Rev. Daniel A. ClajJ* 

 as having occurred in Morris Co., New Jersey, in January, I s " ' 

 The author of this notice in describing the circumstances to me id 

 year 1825, remarked that he was led to consider the phenomeiioo 

 one of singular peculiarity, as the description of it by himself » 



1308 



the 



