22 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



[1853. 



may yet bo restored to their families, their friends, and to the world. 

 Against this probability are only to be placed the mutations and 

 chances to which, under ordinary circumstances, human life is every- 

 where liable; for it is almost certain that Sir John Franklin and his 

 noble crew could not have not been exposed to danger arising from 

 any catastrophe; icebergs iu the region to which he has been traced, 

 are things unknown, nor yet are there seas there, in a nautical sense, 

 by which their lives would be imperilled; the only accident that could 

 befall them, would be from the sudden closing iu of the ice, character- 

 ized by the term of "nipping," but even from that there are almost 

 always time and means to afford escape; and consequently, a carefully 

 formed opinion, based on reliable data, is now entertained among sci- 

 entific and experienced men — such as Sir Roderick Murchison, and 

 Commander Parry of your own nation, and of numbers among us, 

 whose practical knowledge of those regions adds weight to the author- 

 ity, — that this little baud of martyrs to science, or at any rate, the 

 greater part of them, are still alive, and, if the search be faithfully per- 

 severed in, that they will yet be found.— Speech of Dr. Kane, of l/ie 

 Grinncll Arctic Expedition. 



Progrrss of the Electric Telegram. — The Mediterranean Electric 

 Telegraph Compauy, propose to unite Europe with Africa by continu- 

 ing the electric wires, which now run without interruption between 

 London and Genoa, to Spezzia. From the latter port they will cross 

 the Mediterranean to Africa, passing by the islands of Corsica and 

 Sardinia. It is further proposed to construct a subterranean line from 

 Algeria, along the coast of Africa to Alexandria; and, with the support 

 of the British Government and the East India Company, it will be easy 

 to prolong the wires to Bombay, where they will meet the great line 

 of 3.C0U miles now iu course of construction by the East India Com- 

 pany. The farther end of this chain may ultimately be carried to 

 Australia. 



Sanitary Properties of "Wool. — Professor Simpson, of Edinburgh, 

 has been the means of bringing to light a curious corroboi ation of the 

 sanitary value of the ancient practice of anuoiuting with oil. It ap- 

 pears, that the learned Professor, when recently visiting the manufac- 

 turing town of Galashiels, was casually informed that the workers in 

 the wool-mill in that place were exempt from the attacks of consump- 

 tion and scrofula. On inquiring of the medical men in the vicinity, 

 the truth of the statement was confirmed, and it was then deemed ex- 

 pedient to pursue investigation on a broader scale. Communications 

 were accordingly sent to physicians residing in Dunfermline, Alloa, 

 Tillicoultry, Inverness, and other districts where wool-mills are in 

 operation; and iu the case of all, it was ascertained that similar immu- 

 nity was enjoyed from the fatal diseases mentioned. It further appear- 

 ed that, in some of the localities, scarlatina, only preserved health; but 

 children of delicate constitution were sent to the wool-workers for the 

 express purpose of acquiring strength — a result in almost every instance 

 attained. 



Extract from Dr. Owen's Report on "Wisconsin — It had been usu- 

 ally believed, up to the date of my Annual Report of 1848, that the 

 lowest members of the sandstone formation of which I am now speak- 

 ing, were devoid of fossils. The geologists of our own country had 

 set down the Lingula beds of the New York Potsdam Standstone as 

 the oldest fossilferous rocks in the United States. And, in Europe, 

 with the exception of the Obohts Appolinis of Eichwald, abundantly 

 found iu the inferior sandstones of the protozoic strata of Russia, no 

 fossils whatever, (according to any established system) had been de- 

 scribed or discovered beneath what has been usually regarded as the 

 equivalent of the above named Lingula beds. I am now able to exhi- 

 bit a new and interesting geological feature with regard to this forma- 

 tion. The present survey has brought to light the- fact, that in Western 

 America, are found stratra underlying coarse Lingula grits, and at a 

 depth of seventy-five to one hundred feet beneath them, which are 

 highly fossiliferous, and contain not the Lingula and Obolus alone, but 

 Orbiculus, Trilobites, and compressed subcorneal bodies, resembling 

 some forms of Cephalopoda, but probably not actually of that order. 

 The sedimentary strata, in which, on the Mississippi and most of its 

 tributaries, these fossils occur, either rest immediately on the igneous 

 rocks of Wisconsin, or are separated from them by an inconsiderable 

 thickness of chlorite and ferruginous slates; and are, in all probability 

 the oldest fossil bearing rocks yet brought to light iu any part of this 

 Continent, if not of the world 



Dr. Owen's Description of a new mode of Drawing Fossils. — 

 The fossil itself serve as a guide and model to work from. After 

 the specimen is fixed permanently on the machine, ore arm, pointed 

 with steel, traverses all its inequalities of surface, in close parallel 

 waving lines, and imparts a corresponding movement to a diamond 

 point, in contact with the steel plate, which cuts similar lines through 

 the prepared asphaltum surface down and slightly into the steel plate; 

 subsequently these lines are corroded deeper — iu the language of the 

 engraver, bitten — into the metal by means of dilute nitric acid. Thus 

 is produced an engraving, in a delicate silvery effect of light and sha- 



dow, capable of giving, if desired, 100,000 impressions of as perfect a 

 counterpart of the original as can be accomplished by the daguerreo- 

 type process, provided the subject has not too great relief and can be 

 placed in a horizontal position in the machine. 



Though the plates in this work are the first application of this art 

 to the representation of fossil remains, it has been a wonderfully suc- 

 cessful experiment which will doubtless be the means of its introduc- 

 tion whenever the form and character of the subjects admit of its 

 application. All structure visible to the naked eye can be brought out 

 by this process; and minuter structure, indistinctly visible to the unas- 

 sisted eye, can be worked up by a skillful artist, after the plate comes 

 from the machine. 



Loss of SuxniUR in Smelting Ores. — The Cornwall Gazette, after 

 quoting our description in the Journal, of 19th March, of Mr. Andrew 

 Crosse's patent for extracting metals from their ores by electricity, 

 alludes to the great advantages which would ensue nationally were 

 measures adopted for securing the sulphur contained in a majority of 

 the copper ores, now dissipated in the atmosphere by the present mode 

 of roasting the ores for smelting. The principal portion of the copper 

 ores of Cornwall are pyrites, containing in addition to the copper and 

 earthly matters, a considerable portion of iron and a large amount of 

 sulphur. The iron is comparatively of little value, and would not pay 

 for recovering; but taking the copper pyrites at 12,000 tons per month, 

 probably near the average, 18,000 tons of sulphur are wasted per an- 

 num, which, by proper chemically scientific principles, might be saved, 

 increase the mineral wealth of the counties of Cornwall and Devon by 

 £150,000 a year, render us to a certain extent independent of Sicily 

 and the copper smelting works cease to be the destructive nuisances 

 which they are at present. "We have, on many previous occasions, in 

 former years inserted valuable correspondence on this subject from 

 Messrs. Leishton, Prideaux, Birkmyre, and others; and still consider 

 it of much national importance, and worthy of scientific and experi- 

 mental research. — Mining Journal. 



Permeability of Metals by Mercury. — M. J. Nickles, in experi- 

 ments on the metals, has discovered that those which will form an 

 amalgam with mercury are easily permeated by it. Horsford and 

 others establish the permeability of tin, lead, gold, silver, zinc, and 

 cadmium, to which M. Nickles adds copper and brass. This fact was 

 discovered by accident — he was using a Bunsen's battery ; the con- 

 necting pieces of copper were rivetted to the zinc, aucj on amalgamat- 

 ing the latter metal it often happened that the mercury spread itself 

 over the copper, and after a certain time this latter metal became brit- 

 tle, having a white fracture, proving itself an amalgam. With a stylet, 

 he then traced a furrow on plates to be experimented on, and placed a 

 little mercury thereiu. In order to hasten the amalgamation, a drop of 

 bi-chloride of mercury, acidified with hydro-chloric acid, is introduced 

 By this means the amalgamation takes place instantly, and the surface 

 is fitted to retain at once the quantity of mercury necessary to produce 

 the effect. 



Occasional Readings 



Of two Thermometers, one with blackened bulb, the other unblack- 

 ened, laid on the grass in front of the Provincial Observatory door, fating 

 South, with the tops of the Thermometer slightly raised, and corresponding 

 readings of the standard Thermometer in the shade, with Northern aspect. 







Snn. Sun. 



Sh'de. 



August, 1853. 



Time. 



Black ! un- 



Stand. 









Rnlb. bl'Ued 



10th. 



o 1 



o 



Mean 76 ° 93 



Noon 



130 5! 111.4 



87 -5 





12 15 



136-2 1145 



SSO 



M^S S f-6 £R'ge23 = 6 

 Min.bo- -0 $ 3 



1238 

 12 45 



112 6 100 2 

 130 S 1178 



87-9 

 8S-2 





1-00 



132 5 



118-5 



88 4 



11th. 



11.00 



129 4 



111.2 



859 



Mean 79 = -25 



12-00 



123 8 109 2 



S8-1 





1230 



131 1130 



89 



Min.69 = '4 S 



1 00 



116-8 10i3-5 



S92 



2 30 



119 2 110-8 



91 6 





3 30 



103.S ( 98-5 



89 9 



12th. 



1040 



1170 



106 



870 



Mean 79 " '83 



iroo 



126-0 



112 4 



8S2 





1130 



110.0 



100 



S6 8 



Max.l ° 6 ? „, 993 , 

 TIT- enn X t rt 'ge M J 1 

 Min.69° o J -> 



noon 



1 ISO 



1044 



87 6 



12 30 



125 



109 



90 





10 30 



1110 



104 



836 



13lh. 



10 50 



1 is o 



110.0 



S4-2 



Mean 7S = -53 



11 30 



122 



1120 



84.7 





12-00 



123-0 



1150 



86-2 



Max.90=>-3> Ro , Tosg 

 Min. 71 = -0 \ Ks e ' 



12 20 

 1240 



121 



122 



113-0 

 10S-0 



87 6 



87-7 



