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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



of colour to appear. These phenomena continued in succession, without any noise. 

 They were in their greatest splendour between five and six o'clock in the morning. 

 During the same night, and nearly at the same hour, an appearance I'qually remark- 

 able was witnessed at Hitzkaja-Saschtschita, about seventy-five miles to the south 

 of Orenburg. Two white columns rose from the horizon equidistant from the moon, 

 which at the time had not risen far; about the middle of -their height they appeared 

 very brilliant, and considerably curved. Several horizontal bands sprung from this 

 point, the most brilhant of which extended towards the moon, in which they seemed 

 to unite, so that in this way they appeared to form a great H. In the town of Ufa, 

 the seat of the government of the same name, situate 380 miles to the north of Oren- 

 burg, a phenomenon similar to that which was observed at Hitzkaja-Saschtschita was 

 noticed, which, however, according to the accounts which have been given, was less 

 brilliant in its appearance." 



Remaukaele Shower of Hail. — After a violent storm at Clermont, MM, 

 Bouillet and Lecoq found a number of hailstones bs large as hens' eggs, and some 

 others as large as those of turkeys. They were all of an ellipsoidal form, and seemed 

 formed of a multitude of needles, united at the extremities of the great axis. They 

 were from eight lines to two inches long. Those needles, on which the fusion had 

 not made much impression, still showed traces of hexagonal prisms, terminated by 

 prisms of six facets. In a spcond storm, others fell which were not larger than 

 hazel nuts, and these were formed of concentric layers, more or less transparent, 

 rounded, or slightly oval, and possessed a powerful horizontal motion ; they were 

 heard to hiss in the air, as if each hailstone rubbed against the other, and their ro- 

 tation was extremely rapid. 



Betwixt the hours of one and two o'clock, on Saturday the 30th April 1836, a 

 heavy shower of hail fell at Edinburgh. Professor Jameson and several members of 

 the Wernerian Society examined the hailstones, and ascertained that they were 

 crystallized in the form of doable six-sided pyramids, and at the same time of larger 

 size than usual. 



On the FonMAtioN of Aerolites, ke. — M. J. L. Ideler has discussed, with great 

 learning, the formation of Fire-balls, and of the Aurora Borealis ; and the facts 

 brought forward lead to the following conclusions : — 



1. The fall of Aerolites generally takes place in summer, and at the period of the 

 equinoxes ; that is, in the season of the most abundant rains. 



2. The frequency of this phenomenon diminishes from the equator to the poles, 

 whilst in general the annual quantity of rain diminishes with the mean tempera' uve of 

 localities, allowance being made for the considerable influence of the direction of the 

 winds. 



3. The formation of Aerolites in a cloud, having their colour, is analogous to that 

 of rain ; as it rains with a clear sky, so in the same manner Aerolites descend unat- 

 tended with the appearance of clouds. 



4. The luminous appearance and the noise resembling thunder, are produced by 

 electricity, which appears in all atmospheric phenomena. The different colours of 

 fire-balls, during their descent, are the effect of the disengagement of different kinds 

 of electricity. It is very likely that Aerolites may fall without being preceded by fii e- 

 balls, as it rains very powerfully, without lightning, when the temperature of the 

 aeriform column is below the point of thawing. 



5. Aerolites sometimes fail without noise, becaiise the electric explosion has taken 

 place in very elevated regions ; there are analogous cases of lightning at the zenith 

 without thunder. 



The author, therefore, regards the formation of Aerolites in the atmosphere as 

 the most plausible theory, and recurs to the same idea expressed by Aristotle and 

 Seneca two thousand years ago. 



Not satisfied with these observations, M. Ideler adds others in support of his the- 

 ory. Thus, he quotes certain hail storms, in which the hailstones possessed a metallic 

 nucleus resembling aerolites, is preceded by more or less glimmerings (leceurs} of 

 light, and that the phenomena in question are connected with atmospheric changes, and 

 these again with revolutions which take place within the interior of the earth. The 

 siaiultaneous fall of meteoric stones in different countries is also in favor of their 

 atmospheric origin, and it often takes place during storms. 



J\I. F. G. Fisher has published in the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin a Me 

 moir upon the Origin of Aerolites, in which he adopts the foregoing ideas, and sup- 

 poses that electricity performs an important part in the phenomenon. 



Concerning Shooting Stars, M. Ideler endeavours to prove by facts, that they are 

 merely precipitations of animal and vegetable matters disseminated through the at- 

 mosphere. 



Finally, with respect to the Aurora Borealis, he supposes that the precipitation 

 formed by the dry vapours in the elevated portions of the atmosphere take place in the 

 reo'ions of the magnetic poles, under the form of the Aurora Borealis, from the rea- 

 son that the ferruginous particles arrange themselves about the pole, in an order si- 

 milar to that of iron filings around a magnetic oar. Future observations upon ter- 

 restrial magnetism will aid in explaining the anomalies of this phenomenon. 



The vaporization of a^l solid and fluid bodies goes on under every degree of tem- 

 perature. When the maximum of density in the vapours is passed, a precipitate occurs, 

 and clouds, cirri, or mists, are formed, which rest upon the earth, or a concretionary 

 formation takes place. The latter case happens partly from the condensation of clouds, 

 sometimes under a clear sky, sometimes without electric explosion (^ aerolites), or with 

 the phenomena of electricity (fire-balls) ; finally, the fall of those bodies takes place 

 in small particles, or agglomerated into masses of a larger size, and analogous to hail. 



If such are the phenomena beyond the Polar regions, near the magnetic poles, the 

 precipitates, being attracted, would continually be undergoing an arrangement in a 

 circular series, and thus produce the Aurora Borealis. This kind of precipitation 

 might take place contemporaneously with aqueous precipitation, in which case there 

 would occur rains attended by foreign mixtures. 



Professor Gruithuisen has lately been occupied with the origin of Aerolites and 

 Shooting Stars ; and supposes he has proved, by mathematical calculations, founded 

 upon physics, that these bodies must necessarily be formed beyond our atmosphere, 

 in thi? interplanetary space, where the metals and the metaloides, he says, are still held 



in solution, by means of hydrogen, and where they exist continually for the formation 

 of these opaque bodies. 



According to Herschell, the observations of the shooting stars may be useful for 

 the determination of longitude. The height of the meteors seen by M. Quetelet is 

 estimated at from ten to eighteen leagues from the earth, and their motions at from 

 five to eight leagues per second ; results which correspond with those of Brandes 

 and other German philosophers. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Acetic Acid, — A most important improvement has recently been introduced into 

 the manufacture of vinegar, which is already extensively practised on the Continent. 

 The introduction of this improvement is chiefly due, we believe, to Jlitscherlich. It 

 is founded upon the principle that alcohol, by absorbing oxygen, is changed into ace- 

 tic acid and water For, two alcohol-]- four oxygen^one acetic acid-|-three water 

 (6 ir-t-4 C-{-2 0)-f 4 0=3 H-f 4 C-j-3 0)+3 (H-f O.) 



This oxidation is promoted by the process of fermentation — and, when the fcrraen- 

 ta'.ion has begun, is much accelerated by the pressure of acetic acid. The oxidation 

 is effected entirely at the expense of the oxygen of the air; to accelerate the process, 

 therefore, by producing as many points of contact as possible between the liquid and 

 the air, the following arrangement is adopted: — A large cast is taken, placed upright, 

 with a stop-cock at the bottom, and a series of holes, half an inch in diameter, bored 

 one in each stave, a few inches above it. It is then nearly filled with chips or shav- 

 ings of wood, previously steeped in strong vinegar till they are perfectly saturated. 

 Within the upper end of the cask a shallow cylindrical vessel is placed, nearly in con- 

 tact with the shavings, the bottom of which is perforated with many small holes, each 

 partially stopped with a slender twig, which passes an inch or two beneath the per- 

 forated bottom of the cylinder. The alcohol, diluted with eight or nine parts of wa- 

 ter, and mixed with the fermenting substances, is now poured into the cylinder, 

 through the bottom of which it trickles, drop by drop, upon the shavings below, be- 

 comes oxidized in its passage, and runs out at the stop-cock beneath, already con- 

 verted almost entirely into vinegar. The air rushes in by the holes beneath, and 

 passes out by eight glass tubes, cemented for that purpose, into the bottom of the 

 cylinder — and so rapidly is it deprived of its oxygen, when it escapes above, that it 

 extinguishes a candle. During the process much heat is also developed; so that, 

 from the temperature of 60° (that of the room), the interior cask rises as hio-h as 

 86° of Fahr. In the proper regulation of this temperature much of the difficulty 

 consists. 



A second transmission of the acid, thus obtained, through another smaller cask, 

 finishes the process. The whole is concluded in a few hours ; foui--and-twenty are con- 

 sidered amply sufficient to convert a given quantity of alcohol into vinegar. 



Origin of Amber. — M. T. Aessi says that amber is a resin of the Conifers. He 

 has examined particularly that of Castrogiovanni in Sicily, and he cites, though not 

 with perfect confidence, a specimen of amber containing a land shell. M. Graffen- 

 auer has given to the Strasbourg Society of Sciences a monograph on amber, which 

 he supposes to have originated in extinct species of trees. 



PuRiFiCATiOK OF Water. — In Order to precipitate the earths mechanically sus- 

 pended in water, it is recommended to employ the silicate of potash, gelatinous silica, 

 or phosphoric acid. The last is an excellent reagent for throwing down the oxide of 

 iron, without introducing any foreign principle into the water. 



Temperature of Aerolites. — Most philosophers are of opinion that aerolites 

 and meteoric iron are elevated to a high temperature while traversing the atmo- 

 sphere ; nevertheless, there is but little agreement concerning the degree of heat ob- 

 served in them immediately after their fall. Recently, an experiment of M. Bier- 

 ley, repeated by M. d'Arcet, has rendered this high temperature doubtful; a bar of 

 iron, heated to whiteness, was held in the current of air from the blowing-machine 

 of a forge. — the metal did not cool, but burnt brilliantly, throwing ofi" gloTving parti- 

 cles in every direction. The temperature of the iron rather increased than dimi- 

 nished under the influence of the current of air. 



African Diajionds. — The Sardinian Consul at Algiers, M. Pelusa, lately pur- 

 chased from a native three diamonds, which were found in the auriferous .sand of the 

 river Gumel, in the province of Constantine. 



OBITUARY. 



John Pond, Esq. — This celebrated Astronomer died at his house in Greenwich, 

 on Wednesday the 21st September 1836. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a 

 Corresponding Member of the French Institute, and an Honorary Member of most 

 of the Astronomical Societies in Europe. During the period of nearly twenty-five 

 years, Mr Pond filled the high and important office of Astronomer Royal, from which 

 a hopeless state of ill-health obliged him last autumn to I'etire; but his regret at 

 quitting a situation, in the duties of which he had taken so great an interest, was 

 lessened on finding himself succeeded by one of the greatest Mathematicians of the 

 age. Professor Airy — a Philosopher eminently qualified to maintain the character 

 and uphold the dignity of the appointment ; to carry forward the improvements in- 

 troduced by his predecessor, and to extend the boundaries of Astronomical Science. 



Errata. — Animal. Kingdom, page 64, col. 1, hne 6 from the bottom; page 

 67, coh 1, line 45 fi'om the top; and page QQ, coh 1, line 36, for Martin read 

 Marten. 



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