Bringier on the Region of the Missis sipjyi, ^'C. 45 



sas, told me it was very common on ihe Ohio, and all over 

 Kentucky, but none could tell me the name. The bark of 

 the tree is rather whiter, and the leaves very deep green, re- 

 sembling the live-oak and the pin-oak, as I have before re- 

 marked. Some trees will yield from one hundred and fifty 

 to two hundred pounds of caoutchouc. I have observed, 

 that this wood, when dry, is very electric ; like the caoutch- 

 ouc if rubbed on a body which is electric, particularly in 

 a cold day, the body rubbed will adhere to the wall; a quill 

 for example, will be attracted six inches from the wall, and 

 stick fast to it, until all the fluid is dissipated. But the elec- 

 tric excitement of this substance differs ftom the common; 

 it has not only the property which the idio-electric bodies 

 possess, but it communicates the same properties to the an- 

 electric bodies. The gum elastic drawn several times on a 

 quill, produces the same phenomena: these experiments 

 made in a cold winter's day, afibrd some amusement. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



Although this communication might be much farther ex- 

 tended, I will close it with a few miscellaneous facts and ob- 

 servations. 



On the head of the river Trinity, longhude from London, 

 95" 10", and lathude 32° 7",* are, or were, several blocks 

 of native iron, from one thousand to seven or eight thou- 

 sand pounds weight — one of which was taken to New- 

 York, weighing twenty-five hundred ;f it is now in that city.f 

 It is very malleable, and equally good as the Swedish red 

 short iron. How did these masses come into that prairie.'* 

 (for they are in a prairie,) is a question worth resolving : for 

 what process in nature can reduce iron ore to a state of 

 ductility, except the hammer. 



It is observable, that there is a kind of varnish, which 

 covers them all over, and prevents their oxidation. I must 

 rest on the suspicion, that they proceed from meteoric bod- 

 ies ; and this is countenanced by the manner in which they 

 are scattered about over an extent of about seven or ten 



See Melish's Map of the United States. 



t Over tliree thousand — Editor. 



i It was afterwards bought by Col. Gibbs, and deposited in the Museum 

 of ftie Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York. — Editor, 



