408 Miscellanies. 



ed by receiving samples of the more remarkable ones, carefully cork- 

 ed and sealed on the spot, and in quantity not less than a pint. They 

 may be addressed to the Chemical Laboratory, Broad-street, Oxford, 

 for, Sir, your obedient humble servant. 



Charles Daubeny, 

 Professor of Chemistry, Oxford. 



10. Diluvial Furrows and Scratches, 



Extract of a letter from David Thomas, Esq. one of the chief Engineers of the Erie 

 Canal to Professor J. Griscom, dated Greatfield, 9 mo. 20, 1829. 



In a late number of the Journal of Science, there is a notice of in- 

 formation laid before the New York Lyceum, relative to the worn 

 appearance of rocks m situ, with parallel scratches, (such as heavy 

 harrows might make in soft slate,) and the writer speaks of them as 

 being in a southeasterly direction. 



Appearances precisely similar occurred in excavating the Erie 

 Canal above Lockport, on hard limestone, with a direction of the 

 lines about north 25° east. 



Similar marks were found on uncovering hard sandstone in the 

 Erie Canal not far from Brockport, and nearly eighty feet below the 

 former level. At my request. Dr. Whippo, the resident engineer, 

 ascertained the direction of the lines 7iorth 80° east. 



Nearly on the same level with the last, on the east side of the Gen- 

 esee river, and also on the line of the Erie Canal, similar scratches 

 occurred on the hard limestone, but I know not the direction. 



I have also found similar traces on the Montrose and Milford turn- 

 pike, south of the Great Bend of the Susquehanna, in Pennsylva- 

 nia, probably 1000 feet above any of the before mentioned localities, 

 and in all cases on hard rock in situ. 



I see no difficulty in referring this attrition of the surface of rocky 

 strata, to the Deluge, — a period when all the loose matter of the 

 globe appears to have been in violent commotion ; but on the cause 

 of L'nes so regular and so deeply engraved, I have nothing to offer. 



1 1 . Economical Process for Chlorate of Potash, hyA. A. Hays. — 

 Add to a quantity of chloride of lime, or bleaching powder, four times 

 its weight of rain water, and agitate it occasionally ; after two hours, 

 decant the clear liquor, and repeat the operation twice on the undis- 

 solved part, using one half the quantity of water ; mix and measure 

 the solutions. Prepare a solution of pearlash, by adding six parts of 

 cold water, decanting the clear liquor, and washing the residue with 



