176 Miscellanies. 



vionsly vaccinated had suffered severely, it had been a matter of so- 

 licitude with many medical practitioners to revert to the original source 

 for vaccine virus. Mr. Estlin, of Bristol, having succeeded in obtain- 

 ing some lymph from a cow laboring under cow-pox, inserted it in the 

 arm of a young lady, in August last, and from her the disease was 

 subsequently propagated. Some of the virus, obtained at ten removes, 

 was sent to Dr. Dunglison by Messrs. Estlin and Carpenter of Bristol. 

 This has been used in several cases, and the disease produced by it 

 appeared to him to be more satisfactory than that which results from 

 the old virus. 



Dr. Dunglison stated that there was reason to believe that a sufii- 

 cient supply of the new virus would soon be obtained for distribution 

 through the country. 



Professor A. D. Bache stated to the Society that observations had 

 been made on the night of the 12th — 13th of November last, by Pro- 

 fessor Henry, at Princeton, Professor W. B. Rogers, at the University 

 of Virginia, and Professor R. P. Smith, at Kenyon College, Ohio, 

 neither of whom had noted an unusual number of the meteors com- 

 monly called " shooting stars." 



January 18, 1839.— Professor A. D. Bache made a verbal commu- 

 nication relative to an extraordinary instance of the rapid corrosion 

 of a chain cable in sea- water, reported to him by Lieutenant George 

 M. Bache, of the U. S. Navy, and showed the Society a link from a 

 portion of the cable. 



The chain cable, of which this was a part, was used to anchor the 

 Light-boat off Bartlett's reef, near New-London, Connecticut. The 

 portion between the hawse-hole and the bridle of the anchors, about 

 eleven fathoms in length, is particularly exposed to corrosion. In a 

 few months the links, or the keys of the shackles attaching the chain to 

 the bridle, become so much oxidated as to lose the requisite tenacity. 



The link, presented as a sample of the chain, is irregularly oxidated 

 and worn, presenting semi-spheroidal cavities, and the fibrous structure 

 of the iron is very distinctly developed. "While this is the case with 

 the wrought iron part of the link, the cast iron stud which strengthens 

 it is not materially acted on. The raised letters upon the stud are per- 

 fect. 



The circumstances in which this chain is differently situated from 

 others, used in similar situations, result from the peculiar construction 

 of the Light-boat, by which the copper sheathing rises above, and is 

 in contact with, the cast-iron hawse-pipe, through which the cable 

 passes. This cast-iron pipe has on its exterior a lead pipe. The cop- 

 per sheathing is bright. 



