418 Miscellanies. 



ley of the Connecticut. The arrival of these bones, and of a fine col- 

 lection of the American foot-prints in the rock forwarded by Prof. Silli- 

 man to Dr. Mantel I, on behalf of Dr. Deane, have produced a decided 

 conviction on the part of Dr. Mantell and of Mr. Murchison, the presi- 

 dent of the Geological Society, as well as of the society itself, that the 

 impressions in the valley of the Connecticut, and also certain others 

 found in the red sandstone of New Jersey, and forwarded by Mr. Red- 

 field, are genuine, and that birds both small and gigantic, once walked 

 over the surface of the rocks in question, when they were soft. 



The bones of birds from New Zealand were found in an alluvial for- 

 mation, and a tradition still exists among the natives, that only within a 

 century past have the birds themselves become extinct. The bones have 

 been referred to Mr. Owen, who will report on them at an early session 

 of the society. Bones of the Mastodon have also been received in Eng- 

 land from New Holland. 



2. Passage of two or more Electrical Currents over the same Conduc- 

 tor without interference ; — extract from a letter of Prof. S. F. B. Morse, 

 dated Jan. 17, 1843. — Prof. Fisher and myself made an important dis- 

 covery just before we left New York, namely, that several currents of 

 electricity will pass upon the same wire without interference, either in 

 the same direction, or in opposite directions. You will understand me 

 from the following diagram. 



V, 



ri J Jifi&a^.. £ 



o/o 



A 



A A', batteries; B B', electro-magnets; C, wire for both circuits; a, 

 broken part of circuit of A battery; b, broken part of circuit of A' bat- 

 tery. 



If a be closed, a current passes of course through C, and B' becomes 

 a magnet; now if b be also closed, B becomes a magnet, and a current 

 is detected in C also; showing that two currents independent of each 

 other occupy the same wire without interference. This discovery I have 

 at once reduced to practice. The wire for the two circuits which I use for 

 my two instruments in the Capitol, is composed of three instead of four 

 threads. 



3. Account of an exhibition of Shooting Stars, seen in the day time. 

 (Communicated to Professor Olmsted.) 



Winchester, Virginia, August 23, 1842. 

 Sir — I take the liberty of sending you a short account of a shower of 

 shooting stars, seen in this neighborhood on the 22d of August. Mr. 

 Nathan Lapton, an intelligent gentleman of the society of Friends, and 



