Miscellanies, 395 



shoe ; it is then pressed in a pair, of dies to give its surface the de- 

 sired pattern, but previous to pressing, both the piece of horn and 

 the dies are to be heated : the piece of horn is to be introduced be- 

 tween the dies and pressed in a vice, and when cold, the pattern 

 or impression will be fixed upon the horn. 



But the dies are to be so made that the open ends of the horse 

 shoe piece of horn, after being pressed, shall have at one end a nib, 

 and at the other a recess of a dove tailed form, corresponding to 

 each other ; and the second operation in forming this ring of horn is 

 to heat it and place it in another pair of dies which shall bring its 

 open ends together, and cause the dove tailed joints to be locked 

 fast into each other, which completes the ring, and leaves no appear- 

 ance of the junction. 



In forming the handles of table knives and forks, or other things, 

 which require to be made of two pieces, each of the pieces or sides 

 of the handle, is formed in a separate pair of dies ; the one piece is 

 made with a counter sunk groove along each side, and the other 

 piece with corresponding leaves or projecting edges. When these 

 two pieces are formed by being first cut out of the flat horn, then 

 pressed in the dies in a heated state, for the purpose of giving the 

 pattern, the two pieces are again heated and put together, the leaves 

 or edges of the one piece dropping into the counter sunk grooves of 

 the other piece, and being introduced between another pair of heated 

 dies, the joints are pressed together, and the two pieces formed into 

 one handle. 



In making knobs for drawers, which have metal stems or pins to 

 fasten them- into the furniture, the face of the knob is to be first made 

 in a die, and then the back part of the knob with a hole in it ; a 

 metal disk of plate iron is then provided, in which the metal stem or 

 screw pin is fixed, and the stem being passed through the aperture 

 in the back piece, and the two pieces of horn put together, they are 

 then heated and pressed in dies, as before described ; the edge of 

 the back piece falling into the counter sunk groove of the front piece 

 and by the heat they are perfectly cemented together. — Ibid. - 



4. Thunder Storms in France. — The Count de Triston has made 

 observations on the direction of the thunder storms which have de- 

 vastated the department of the Lorich for the last sixteen years. 

 The following general inferences have been made by him respecting 

 the progress and intensity of thunder storms in plain countries, inter- 



