Foreign Literature and Science. 399 



the species can be easily recognized by their position, their 

 bark, the form of their fruits, seeds, and capsules. In the 

 argillaceous soils, the trees are much better preserved, espe- 

 cially where the ground is moist, and it is in these cases that 

 they are often found petrified. It is singular that trees 

 which lie along side of each other are not equally well pre- 

 served ; and there are some petrified at one extremity and 

 still tender at the other. The oaks which are not petrified, 

 are susceptible of being split mto staves, and the country peo- 

 ple convert them into axle trees, and cabinet makers em- 

 ploy them on account of their hardness. A remarkable fact 

 is, that these oaks are found in a country where none at 

 present grow, and which has been cleared from time imme- 

 morial. It would be very interesting to discover the epoch 

 in which these trees were buried, and by what events they 

 were overthrown and buried. Perhaps it was by the same 

 force that transported so many blocks of granite in the north 

 of Russia — and perhaps at the same time in which the en- 

 tire race of the mammoth was annihilated, animals which 

 might have had their abode in these sombre forests. The 

 tops of the trees are inclined either towards the south east or 

 south west, and consequently the force which destroyed 

 them must have come from north to south. 



These fossil trees are found in the whole of northern Rus- 

 sia, not only near rivers, but at a very considerable distance 

 from their borders. 



45. Cooking Apparatus. — Thenard & Fourier made a 

 very favorable report, on the 26th of August last, to the 

 French Institute, relative to a new boiler (nouvean calefac- 

 teur) invented by Lemare. It appears to consist of a bot- 

 tom or grate which contains charcoal, and from which the 

 healed air ascends into the space between two concentric 

 cylinders both of which contain water. The water in each 

 vessel is heated at the same time, and that in the interior 

 vessel, being surrounded by another vessel of hot water 

 will retain its elevated temperature a great length of time. 

 By means of a damper, the combustion of the charcoal can 

 be regulated at pleasure. The current of hot air can also 

 be intercepted or left free as necessity requires. The ex- 

 terior vessel has but three small openings. One at the top 

 for pouring in water, one at the bottom with a cock for draw- 



