Miscellanies. 213 



with the handles of wood or bone, to which the savages fastened them 

 for their use. They are also desirous of receiving patterns of the tools 

 employed in fabricating their arms, with information concerning their 

 manner of using them. 



The Society has made arrangements that the books presented to its 

 library shall be accessible not only to the members, but also to all the 

 friends of science, and thus be rendered as extensively useful as possible. 

 In the case of duplicates, one copy of such works as the managing com- 

 mittee may find suited for that purpose, will be sent to the public library of 

 Iceland, founded in 1818. 



All communications are to be addressed to Professor Charles C. Rafn, 

 40 Crown Prince street, Copenhagen, 



13. Level of the Dead Sea. — We learn that among other travellers 

 lately arrived in London, is Mr. Russegger, who went on account of 

 the Pasha of Egypt to Fazoglo, and to whom we are indebted for a 

 barometrical observation on the remarkable depression of the Red 

 Sea, which he states at upwards of thirteen hundred feet below the 

 Mediterranean. Mr. Isenberg, also from Shoa, has reached London, 

 and brings a very favorable account of the prospects of the mission to 

 Ankobar, to which place he journeyed in company M'ilh M. Krapf. — 

 London AthencBum, May, 1840. 



14. Preservation of Timber. — At a recent sitting of the Academy, 

 M. Boucherie presented a memoir " On the Preservation of Timber, 

 by a method peculiar to himself." That method consists in intro- 

 ducing pyrolignite of iron by absorption into the tissue of the wood, 

 immediately after the fall of the tree, or even while it is yet standing. 

 This simple operation is said to be remarkably efficacious : 1st, in 

 protecting the tree against rot, dry or humid ; 2d, in increasing its 

 hardness ; 3d, in developing and preserving its flexibility and elas- 

 ticity ; 4Lh, in preventing the cracks which result from variations of 

 the atmosphere when brought into use ; 5th, in reducing its inflam- 

 mable and combustible characters; and, Gth, in giving it colors and 

 odors at once varied, and enduring. M, Boucherie laid before the 

 Academy several specimens prepared by this method, the examination 

 of which was referred to a committee. — Ibid. 



15. Preservation of timber 'long sunken under water. — "Remarks 

 on the structure of the Royal George, and on the condition of the 

 timber and other materials brought up during the operations of Col. 

 Fasley, in 1839," by Mr. Creuze. The Royal George was the first 

 ship built on the improved dimensions, recommended in consequence 



