186 Foreign Literature and Science. 



power of six hundred horses. Admitting that on an average, 

 they are equal to twenty five horses each, the total strength 

 of these engines would amount to that of three hundred sev- 

 enty five thousand horses. Now, agreeably to the estimate of 

 Mr. Watt, a horse is equal to five and a half men. England, 

 therefore, possesses in these engines, a force of about two 

 millions of men. It may be fiirther observed, that as each 

 horse requires annually, the produce of two acres of land for 

 his nourishment, the inhabitants of that nation have, by 

 means of steam engines, seven hundred and fifty thousand 

 acres more at their disposal than if the same labor were exe- 

 cuted by horses. — Ihid. 



36. Crystal Bed. — The public have been hastening to the 

 palace de Tameda, to see a bed of massive crystal, destined 

 to be sent as a present to the shah of Persia by the emperor 

 of Russia. This magnificent bed, the only one of the kind 

 perhaps in the world, is resplendent with silver, ornamented 

 with columns of crystal, and ascended by steps of blue glass'. 

 It is constructed in such a manner that there can be made to 

 issue from it, on each side, jets of odoriferous water, whose 

 murmuring sounds may excite an agreeable slumber. It re- 

 flects by the light of flambeaux a dazzling splendor resem- 

 bling myriads of diamonds. There is no doubt that this 

 piece of furniture will astonish even eastern luxury and mag- 

 nificence. It was made in the Imperial manufactory of St. 

 Petersburg. — Aiinales patriotiqiies, Oct. 1825. — Ibid. 



37. Compressibility of water, by Prof. Oersted. 

 1. As far as the strength of my apparatus allowed me to 

 urge the compression of water, (viz. to seventy atmospheres,) 

 I have found the compressibility proportionate to the com- 

 pressing force. The compression produced by a single at- 

 mosphere, already discovered by Canton, is about forty five 

 millionths of the whole volume. Mr. Perkins has obtained 

 by a pressure of one hundred atmospheres, a compression of 

 one hundredth of the entire volume, which is much more 

 than can be inferred from my experiments. Calculating 

 from the results I have obtained with pressures below seven- 

 ty atmospheres, I obtain for one hundred atmospheres only 

 0.0045. Finding that my results differed so widely from the 

 distinguished mechanician's who preceded me, I have re- 

 peated my experiments with the greatest care, and they are 

 SO simple that I can entertain no doubt of their correctness. 



