SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 3|3 



September; beaten like flocks, does not retain moisture, or Its advantages. 

 form into lumps like them ; is little liable to decay ; and 

 costs only the price of the labour, so that four mattresses 

 made with this moss will cost less than one of wool. It is 

 only necessary to dry it in the shade, to preserve its fra- 

 grance. 



Mr. Michel observes, that neither sweat nor urine prp- 

 duces any fermentation in this moss, as it does in wool: 

 but, lest moisture should occasion it to germinate, he re- 

 commends steeping it in limevv'ater, which destroys its 

 power of vegetation. 



The idt^a of employing moss for this purpose, observes Mr. ^^^ superioi 

 Parmentier, is by no means new ; for, if we may trust the to wool, 

 poets, it was common among the ancients. It is a mistake, 

 however, that vegetable substances cannot propagate con- 

 tagion, for cotton is notoriously in bad repute on this ac- 

 count : and if we were to have recourse to the mosses to 

 supply the place of wool in stuffing articles of furniture, as 

 there -are but few species adapted to the purpose, we should 

 soon be at a loss for an adequate supply. 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



.R. von Humboldt informs us, that between Valladolid, Native muria- 

 in New Spain, and the lake of Cuisco, which is impregnated ^'cacid. 

 with muriate of soda, in a space of forty square leagues, 

 there are a number of warm springs, the water of most of 

 which contains nothing but muriatic acid, without any me- 

 tallic salt. 



The presence of fossil shells in gypsum is so rare, that Sea shells in 

 several naturalists have questioned the fact. Messrs. Cuvier gypsum. 

 and Brongniart, in their first paper on the geographical 

 mineralogy of the environs of Paris,- say, that freshwater 

 shells have been found in the upper strata of gypsum, 

 and the marles immediately upon them; but they say no- 

 thing 



