1853] SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 45 



gia, and Florida, by Lieuts. Commanding Craven and Moffit, IT. S. N. green or red glass, to take off tlic great glare of sunlight, the instrument 



Assistants of Coast Survey. being adjusted to focus on the planet Venus. This comet was dis- 



Dr. F. A. Geuth and Dr. W. Gibbs: On a remarkable class of con- covered on the 10th of June by Mr. Kliukerfues, of the Observatoiy at 



junct bases containing Cobalt and the Elements of Ammonia. Gottmgen, but was not bright enough to be seen without a telescope, 



D r v at tj , -f ,.,1 n .1 „ a 1; -i;i:„„ ( ;„„ „f ♦!, n „.„i ,.„„f, „f until about August 13. In a letter copied into the Times a lew days 



1 rot. E. JN. lluisiord On the Solidification of the Loral leeis ot e :,,„ D o:,. w.-n; , i- < <..i -i -v. r ..1 ■ ^ • .1 . T , J i 



m •. ... - ,-, 1 , ,. „. ,, f „ ,1, since, bir Williain hints at the possibility ot this being the cornet I had 



Florida aud the 31u.ee of Uabon.ite ot liine in the groivth ot corals . t,«m .~«rf» n i.„» r » 1 if r .1 <- . ;,;. 



Been expecting, but 1 avail myself 01 the present opportunity of stating 



Dr. W. I. Burnett, of Boston: On theblood Corpuscle— Holding Cells, that such is not the case, the elements of the orbits having no resem- 



and their relation to the Spleen. blance. The comet referred to will probably reappear between the 



On the Formation and Mode of Development of the Renal years 1858 and lSGl, and, if the perihelion passage takes place during 



Organs in Vertebrata. the summer months, we may expect to see a body of far more imposing 



On the Formation and Functions of the Allantoic aSpect than the oue at P resent visible." 



Researches on the Development of the Viviparous Aphides. Railway Accidents— The following table shows the comparative 



On the Reproduction of the Toad and Frog, without the Y^rkT^vl^rT^^V 1 !* raih f d * f Great ? rita ™ aild New 



intermediate stage of Tadpole. * 0lk ' ln P 1 °P 01tlou to thc whole uumber ot P ersons ^veiling : 



On the Signification of Cell Segmentation. V^, S er S killed ^TBMM . . llu 286,179 



Prof J. Riddell, New Orleans: On the Histology of Red Blood. Employes killed 1 in 742,797 1 in 124 010 



On the Origin of Capillary Blood Vessels. Others"killed 1 in 1,392.714 .. ] in 45,929 



On the Structure and Transformation of Oscillaria aureliana. Passengers injured 1 in 234,568 .. 1 in 90,739 



c- w o c j m -ii ni • n • i ■ • ■ a Employes mimed 1 in 1,128,427 _. 1 iu 83.603 



S. N. Sanford, of Granville, Ohio: On some points in the Others injured 1 in 3,301323 1 in 79 155 



History of Gordius. Total killed _ 1 in 412,665 .. 1 in 43,454 



R. Howell, ot .Nichols, New York: On the Wheat Fly, and its Ravages. Total injured 1 in 183,406 .. 1 in 28 078 



Prof Alphonso Wood, of Cincinnati: du Six New Species of Plants. Killed and injured. lin 126,973 -. 1 iu 17^425 



(5.) Ifisccllaneoiis. t&OK Sleepers. — Messrs. Day & Laylee, of Ashford, have recently 



Prof. E. Loorais, of New York: On the Measurement of Heights by takeu out f a P ateQt for senii -tubular wrought and cast-iron transverse 



the Barometer sleepers tor railways. Thc sleepers are laid with their concave side. 



D , T1 ' , , , '..,_,,. „ , . downwards, and iu those of wrought-irou an opening is left in the cen- 



Prot. John Brocklesby, of Trinity College, Hartford: On the Rising t re of them, for the purpose of facilitating the perfect packing of the 



of Water in the Springs immediately before Rain. sleeper, for passing other rails for crossings, and also for convenience 



W. H. B. Thomas, of Cincinnati: Indications of Weather, as shown of drainage. In the cast-iron sleeper this is accomplished by casting 



by Animals and Plants. it iu two pieces, and connecting them by means of wrought-iron bars. 



Prof. E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, Mass.: On the fatal effects of Openings are left in the wrought-iron sleeper to receive the rail seating, 



Chloroform which is of cast iron, in two pieces, a wooden key being used to tighten 



Prof. S. S." Haldeman, of Columbia. Pa.: Investigation of the power S" ?? f^ f Ual man '! er - Iu *° Casl 1f. u sl ?^P,f ' ,* e "**??& 2 r 



ofGreekZ,by means of Phonetic Laws. ' cum and the sleeper are in one casting. It is said that to each 15 ft. 



? t7i , ^ „r , • ^ , ^ , , r . ., rail, the bearing surface ot the sleepers will be 1 1 !.< ft. It is presumed 



Loren Blodgett, of Washington: On the Earthquake of April 29, '5?. that by this plau the maintenance of the permanent way will cost less 



Lt. E. B. Hunt: Remarks on Lithography and Lithographic Trans- than one-half that of a line where ordinary wooden sleepers are used, 



fers. The ready means of packing at the two ends, aud from the central 



Project of a Geographical Department of the Library of opening will, it is said, save labour ; and the bearing surface of the 



Congress, sleeper being near the top of the ballast, a less thickness will suffice 



t>° i i t t>-jj i at „r\i r> *i n- ^ u- ~ The form of the sleeper, too, it is thought, affords facility for a more 



Prof J. L. Riddel, New Orleans: On the Binocular Microscope. „„„f„„* j „■ „ n •*•■< ,-j °-i i , t , ■ , ./ £ ; 



' ' perfect drainage than it it were solid ; added to which the seating for 



Capt. Wilkes: Account of Experiments on Sound. the rail being 10 inches long, a greater bearing is obtained than with 



Notice of Bradford's Machiue for separating metals by their the ordinary chairs. — Mining Journal. 



specific gravity. Improvement of Railways.— The Crystal Palace Railway from New 



Andrew Brown, of Natchez, Miss. : On the effect of the Reclamation Cross to the Exhibion is to be constructed in accordance with the plans 



of the annually inundated Lands of the Mississippi Valley, upon the of the Permanent Way Company, which, amongst other improvements, 



general Health of the country, aud the navigation of that River. consists in making the rails into a continuous bar, called fish -jointing. 



Rev. P. R. Lynch, of Charlston: The Artesian Well, Charlston. This method is not altogether new, it having been adopted for some 



Herman Haupt, Supt. of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, Philad : whi , le - wh f re the res . ults , wl r'' e singularly convincing and economical, 



On the resistance of the Vertical Plates of Tubular Bridges.— Sil. Jour. as shown by the various half-yearly reports ot the cost of maintenance, 



nearly titly per cent, ot the labour being spared ; and the entire ab- 

 sence of accidents testifying to its more vital principle of safety. To 



The COMET.-Mr. J. R. Hind, in a letter to the London Times, gives the read "'j c ™ ra ; s « in a railway carnage was formerly a matter of diffi- 



following particulars respecting the Comet :-■' The comet which has cul1 ?' b "* ^ this system neither is any longer a task. This fact is 



been so conspicuous during the last week, was very favourably seen exemplified upon the Brighton hue where a little below Croydon, and 



here on Saturday, aud again on Sunday evening On the latter oc- before reaching the Merstham Tunnel, there is about a mile ot the new 



casion, allowing for the proximity of the comet to the horizon, and the lme , Iald ' We ale . u ,° ( sooner ° n l4 tliau , U, f . cha "S? 1S " 10st Perceptible: 



strong glow of twilight, its nucleus was fully as bright as an average exchanging an oscillating motion and clicking noise, lor a sraoolh road 



star of the first magnitude ; the tail extended about 3 degrees from the aild a »««*»«"» «»"»<* of much less intensity, so that both conversa- 



head. When viewed in the comet seeker the nucleus appeared of a tl0 ' 1 aad rea T d . 1D ,8 " la ^ be lud »% ed lu J" h comparative ease. The 



bright gold colour, and about half the diameter of the planet Jupiter, ]>™ tloa ^ch has wrought tins comfort and security is a patent 



which was shining at the same time in the southern heavens, and bel °„ g ?§ t0 a ? W e . u S luecls . of g leat Poetical experience, who have 



could be readily compared with the comet. The tail proceeds directly enrolled hemselves man association termed the Permanent Way Com- 



from the head in a single stream, and not as sometimes remarked, in P'^' w ! th fl the xmv 0± 'endering the use of this and o her patents be- 



two branches. The distance of this body from the earth at 8 o'clock hn S m S to tllera more accessible to the pnbhc.-l tludrutcd London iW 



last evening, was 80,000,000 miles ; and hence its results, that the Mauvaises Terres (Bad Lands.) — After leaving the locality on Sage 



actual diameter of the bright nucleus was 8000 miles, or about equal Creek, and crossing that stream, and proceeding in the direction of 



to that of the earth, while the tail had a real length of 4,500,000 miles. White River, about twelve or fifteen miles, the formation of the Mau- 



and a breadth of 250,000, which is rather over the distance separating vaises Torres proper bursts into view, disclosing as here depicted, one 



the moon from the earth. It is usual to assume that the intensity of a of the most extraordinary and picturesque sights that can be found in 



comet's light varies as the reciprocal of the products of the squares of the whole Missouri country. From the high prairies that rise in the 



the distances from the earth and sun, but the present one has under- back-ground by a series of terrrces or benches, towards the spur of 



gone a far more rapid increase of brilliancy than would result from the Rocky Mountains, the traveller looks down into an extensive valley, 



this hypothesis. The augmentation of light will go on till the 3rd of that may be said to constitute a world of its own, and which appears 



September, and it will be worth while to look for the comet in the day to have been formed partly by an extensive vertical fault, partly by 



time about that date : for this purpose an equatorially mounted teles the long-continued influence of the scooping action of denudation. 



cope will be required, and I would suggest the addition of a light The width of this valley may be about thirty miles, and its whole 



