292 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
tion with tannin, and have succeeded in making compounds which can 
be mixed in all proportions with gutta percha or india rubber without 
altering their characters. By the foregoing it will be understood that 
a great number of compounds of the gutta percha and india rubber 
class may be formed by mixing starch, gluten, or flour with tannin and 
resinous or oily substances. By mixing some of these compounds with 
gutta percha or india rubber, I can so increase its hardness that it will 
be like horn, and may be used as shields to protect the soldiers from 
the effect of the Minie balls, and I have also no doubt that some of 
these compounds in combination with iron, may be useful in floating 
batteries and many other purposes, such as the covering the electric 
telegraph wires, imitation of wood, ship building, &. 
. On the Artificial Propagation of Salmon at Stormont, re 
Dr. Esdaile. On that occasion, Mr. Thomas Ashworth, of Poynton, 
explained to the meeting the nature of the operations which had been 
carried on at Outerard by his brother and himself, and strongly recom- 
mended the adoption of similar measures in the Tay, under the direc- 
ing boxes and the construction of ponds. The Earl of Mansfield, who 
was chairman of the meeting, and who has shown much interest In 
the success of these experiments, gave permission to the committee to 
make a selection of any portion of his extensive estates on which to 
carry out their operations. The situation selected was at Stormontfield 
‘Mill, near his Lordship’s residence. A gentle slope from the stream 
which supplies the mill offered every facility for the equable flow of 
water through the boxes and pond. Three hundred boxes were laid 
down in twenty-five parallel rows, each box partly filled with clean 
gravel and pebbles, and protected at both ends with zinc grating to eX- 
clude trout and insects. Filtering beds were formed at the head and 
foot of the rows, and a pond for the reception of the fry was con- 
structed immediately below the hatching ground. 
: ' 23d of November, 1853, operations were commenced, and 
by the 23d of December 300,000 ova were deposited = the boxes. 
he 
nating the bva at Outerard. So soon asa pair of suitable fish were 
-captured, the ova of the female were immediately discharged into @ 
tub one-fourth full of water, by a gentle pressure of the hand from 
the thorax downwards. The melt of the male was ejected in a similar 
manner, and the contents of the tub stirred with the hand. After the 
4 lapse of a ee aos: 
was 
impregnated spawn. The ova were placed im boxes as nearly 
