SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



Kcro Metal Columbium 



181 



The Icariffd Millin, member of the French Institute, in his Ore of colum- 

 Magasin Eacyclopediae, for December last, page 388, relates l^ii^"^- 

 'the following particulars concerning the mineral to which Mr. 

 TIatchett has given so much celebrity; (see our Journal XX. 

 23()). Tliey were communicaled to him by Mr. Valentin, 

 piiysician at Marseilles, who is v\eli known- as a cultivator of 

 natural philosophy and history. 



The mineral exam.ined by I\Ir. Hatchett was found in a 

 spring in the American province of Massachusetts. The spring 

 iis in the town of New London, in the state of Connecticut. Tt 

 is near the house where Governor Winthorp lived, at the 

 J<istance of about three miles from the sea up the harbour. 

 The place was formerly called Nantneague. Mr. Francis B. 

 Winthorp, of New York, has obligingly forwarded to ihc His- 

 torical Society of Massachusetts, the manuscript paper of his 

 ;-ncestor relative to the place, and the minerals which he pre- 

 sented to Dr. Hans Sloane, at London. It is to be hoped, 

 Kays our author, that other specimens of this mineral will be 

 obtained. 



Sudden Eruption of Wafer near Como. 



A remarkable phenomenon has excited the curiosity of the A new spring 

 inhabitants of the vicinity of Como. In the commune of'""^^' 

 Laorca, in the territory of Alleco, a subterraneous spring all at 

 once burst forth, which immediately overthrew two houses, 

 and in the course of fifteen or twenty hours a forge which 

 stood in its way. This spring is loaded with a thick chalky 

 matter, which mixing with the water has rendered the lake 

 into which it falls quite turbid. M. La Carte, officer of en- 

 gineers, who visited the spot, attributes the accidents which 

 have happened to a subterraneous excavation made by the 

 water, and he judges that the extent of further damage will 

 depend on the actual magnitude of the cavity. 



Prvssiaa 



