^58 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 



changing it into carbonic acid. Messrs. Fremy and Feil arc more com- 

 mercially happy, in producing rubies, sapphires and corundums, which, 

 like amethyst, emer.y and adamantine spar, are but varieties of alumina. 

 Artificial rubies had been previously prepared, but only in the lorm of 

 something like dust; aibite and other varieties of feldspar have also been 

 artificially prepared. The processes consist in subjecting a mixture of 

 alumina, an alkali, an acid and a coloring matter to an intense heat during 

 three weeks. This great temperature is but a tiny sample, at best, of that 

 gigantic furnace — the earth's central heat, which melts, solders and petrifies 

 rocks, to project through fissures to the surface. Is the discovery of Messrs. 

 Fremy and Feil the philosopher's stone ? They have produced specimens of 

 rubies and sapphires, suflicient to satisfy watchmakers aud jewelers, who de- 

 clare the artificial to be superior to the natural gems. The base of the former 

 is alumina, and when it is submitted along with its compounds to a long and 

 intense furnace heat, it crystallizes; the crystals will scratch quartz, and 

 the rubies, when subsequently heated, will lose their color, re-acquiring it, 

 however, on cooling, as is the case with the natural precious stone. Eock 

 crystal, agate and jasper are only oxides of a metal called silicum, but it is 

 still crystallized silica ; rubies, sapphires, &c., are but oxides of the metal 

 aluminum, or clay, but this clay is crystallized. All the diff'erence thus 

 resides in the arrangement of the constituent atoms. Precious stones are 

 but crystallized pebbles. There is a strong tendency in France to prosecute 

 investigations respecting the combinations of minerals. 



By means of a recent discovery of the valuable properties of the Brazil- 

 ian plant jaborandi, the most refractory constitution can be made to transpire 

 a quart of perspiration in the space of an hour. But what is not the less 

 remarkable, another medicament, sulphate of atropine, can prevent that 

 transpiration. Strange results from two drugs successively administered. 

 If when the beads of perspiration are rolling most profusely, a dose of the 

 atropine be administered, these beads will be stopped as if by enchantment 

 and so well that if the individual were to enter a Turkish or vapor bath the 

 skin would remain perfectly dry. The atroj)ine is administered in very 

 small doses, as a pill, and with great prudence. In pulmonary consumption, 

 for example, the importance of this drug in checking night perspiration, is 

 incalculable. 



The wine merchants of Paris appointed a committee of practical and 

 scientific judges to examine if salicylic acid, an excellent antiseptic, could 

 preserve wine from fermenting, &c., without altering its taste or quality. 

 The fact is, we know very little that is certain about this acid. The report 

 states that the acid acts differently, following the origin, strength and man- 

 ner in which the wine is conserved, if in bottle or wood. In the case of the 

 thin wines of the centre of France, it alters them profoundly, and renders 

 them disagreeable to the taste. It has no favorable action on red wines, and 

 the good it has been said to effect in white wines is but small. It is not within 



