200 Foreign Literature and Science. 



while those on the ground floor were generally preserved 

 from it. 



10. The preservation of Potatoes has been lately held up to 

 view in France, as the best security against famine. An 

 account has been given by Cadet de Vaux, of an establish- 

 ment of M. Ternaux at Saint Ouen, for the economical 

 preservation of grain, potatoes, &c. 



The potatoes are pared, (the parino;s being given to hogs 

 and other animals) boiled in steam, spread while hot upon 

 a table, divided by a light instrument, which enables the 

 moisture to evaporate, cooled, and then passed through a 

 granulating sieve, and thoroughly dried in a stove, con- 

 structed advantageously for this purpose. The dry mate- 

 rial when taken from the stove has the form of vermicelli. 

 It may easily be reduced either to coarse or fine flour, by 

 grinding. It is called by M. Ternaux polenta, and requires 

 nothing but a little warm water and salt, to convert it im- 

 mediately into an agreeable and savoury potage. Two ta- 

 ble spoonfulls, which cost only the hundredth part of a 

 sous, are suflicient to make two plates of soup. When 

 added to bouillon, no time or preparation is necessary, and 

 it is superior in this respect, to vermicelli or flour. 



At Moulins, 550 individuals reduced to want, were fed 

 during 18 months at the rate of two centimes and a half, 

 (about -1- of a cent) per day. This Polenta, and the gela- 

 tine of bones, are in the art of beneficence, a true philoso- 

 pher's stone. We may therefore apply to the Potatoe an 

 observation we have seen in les annales Europeans, " A 

 single vegetable, when its importance comes to be proper- 

 ly appreciated, may work an entire change in the fortune, 

 the habits, the enjoyments, and happiness of a people." 



1 1 . Zodiac of Denderah — This remarkable and curious spe- 

 cimen of antiquity, transported with so much labor and ex- 



{)ence from upper Egypt to Paris, has been purchased by the 

 ^ing, and will be placed in a suitable position in the Louvre. 



Mr. Griscom's communications on foreign literature and 

 science, excepting the above articles, came too late for in- 

 sertion in the present number; the remainder are una- 

 voidably deferred. Editor. 



