398 Miscellanies. 



61. Liquefaction of Carbonic Acid. — In Vol. xxxv, p. 346, we repub- 

 lished from the Franklin Journal an account of the liquefaction of car- 

 bonic acid by Prof J. K. Mitchell. Dr. Hare, Dr. Torrey, Dr. J. W. 

 Webster, and Prof Bailey have labored with success on this subject. A 

 letter from Prof Bailey contain the following remarks : 



I have had several fine trials of Prof Mitchell's apparatus and can now 

 manage it with perfect ease. I have repeatedly made masses of the solid 

 CO- as large as two fists, and have frozen by means of it as much as four 

 ounces of mercury into one mass. Several of my students have had 

 blisters raised on their hands by pressing the solid into close contact with 

 the flesh. 



West Point, January 21, 1839. 



62. A new mineral. — Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, has just 

 discovered a new mineral among those which he brought from Chessy 

 copper mines in central France. He was led to analyze it in conse- 

 quence of its resemblance to the artificial crenates of copper which 

 he had formed while analyzing peat and soils ; he then discovered 

 that it was a native Crenated Hydro-Silicate of Copper. 



Composition, Silica 21-0; Oxide of Copper 46-8; Crenic acid 

 15-8; Water 10-0; Al. and Ox. Iron 4-4; Carb. Acid 2-0= 100. 



Dr. Jackson names this new mineral Beaumontite, after the cele- 

 brated Prof. L. Elie De Beaumont of Paris.* 



63. Progress of the U. S. Exploring Expedition. — We learn from the 

 National Intelligencer that letters were received in August last, stating 

 that the vessels of the Exploring Squadron which departed from Tierra 

 del Fuego Feb. 26, 1839, had succeeded in pushing their explorations to 

 a point farther south than American enterprizeor the exploring vessels of 

 the French and the Russians had ever penetrated. They returned to 

 Valparaiso about the middle of May. The officers and crews of the 

 different vessels were generally in excellent health and spirits^ notwith- 

 standing the fatigues which they had undergone. 



By more recent intelligence it appears that the Relief arrived at Callao 

 on the 5th of June, and that the other vessels had sailed for Juan Fer- 

 nandez. 



64. 3Iechanical Vaporization of Earths by distillation ; extract of a 

 letter to Prof. Silliman, from Willis Gaylord, dated at Otisco. — My 

 inquiry of you respecting distilled water, or whether distillation completely 

 separated it from all earthy ingredients, arose from the manner in which 

 some writers have spoken of the effects of watering plants with distilled 



* Not less linown for his scientific attainments than for his courtesy to strangers, 

 especially Americans. 



