198 Miscellanies. 



metal in connexion with the strap, but it is oiled- If you present 

 your knuckle to the strap above the point of crossing, brushes of elec- 

 trical light are given off in abundance, and when the points of a prime 

 conductor are held near the strap, most pungent sparks are given off* 

 to a knuckle at about two inches ; I charged, says Mr. D., a Leyden jar 

 of considerable size in a few seconds by presenting it to the prime con- 

 ductor. The gentleman who told me of this curious strap has fre- 

 quently charged his electrical battery in a very short time from it, 

 and he informed me that it is always the same, generating electricity 

 from morning to night without any abatement or alteration. If this 

 strap had the advantage of silk flaps and a little amalgam, it would 

 rival the machine in the lecture room in Albemarle-street." — lb. 



20. Great Scheme for Magnetical Observations — The Joint Phy- 

 sical and Meteorological Committee of the Royal Society of London 

 — of which Sir J. F. W. Herschel is president — have agreed to re- 

 commend to her majesty's government the establishment of regular 

 observations of the magnetical intensity, dip and variation on the fol- 

 lowing stations : 



In Canada, St. Helena, Van Dieman's Land, Ceylon, and the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



The observations to be made hourly with magnetometers during 

 three years from their commencement. 



That on certain selected days, and upon a common plan concerted 

 with each other and with European observatories, " the fluctuations of 

 the same elements shall be observed during twenty-four successive 

 hours, strictly simultaneous with one another, and with intervals of 

 not more than five minutes," &c. &.c. 



As it is uncertain whether the government will adopt the plan pro- 

 posed, we omit the remaining details. — lb. 



21. Action of Spongy Platina. — M. Kuhlmann has described sev- 

 eral new reactions determined by spongy platina. Among which are 

 the following : 



1st, Ammonia mixed with air on passing at a temperature of about 

 572° Fahr. over spongy platina is decomposed, and the azote which 

 it contains is completely converted into nitric acid by combining with 

 the oxygen of the air. 



2nd. Cyanogen and air, under similar circumstances, occasion the 

 formation of nitric acid and carbonic acid. 



3rd. Ammonia, when combined so as to form a salt, acts in the 

 same way as free ammonia. 



4lh. Free azote cannot in any case be combined with free oxygen, 

 but all the compounds of azote, under the influence of spongy platina, 

 yield nitric acid. 



