396 Foreign Literature and Science, 



placed under the disk of copper, while the air of the bellows 

 was issuing from the circular border of the two opposite disks 

 of equal diameters, the inferior disk remained suspended, and 

 fell immediately when the bellows were stopped. Hachette 

 has obtained similar results in causing water to flow between 

 disks of various forms in a fall of about sixteen feet. 



An experiment was made by M. Baillet, some time since, 

 which confirms that of M. Clement, on the valves of steam 

 engines and blowing machines. It shows, that when an elas- 

 tic fluid moves in a tube of a widened form, or in a conical 

 adjutage, the pressure of the fluid on the interior sides of the 

 adjutage may be less than the atmospheric pressure ; he adds, 

 that this fact being admitted, we ought to infer from it that 

 when the sides are flexible, they may be crushed by the 

 weight of the atmosphere : this is in fact what has occurred 

 in M. Baillet's experiment. This experiment consists in giv- 

 ing to a sheet of paper the form of a funnel, or a horn, open 

 at each end, and in adapting to the little end the nozle of a 

 common bellows ; as soon as the bellows are worked, the 

 paper cone becomes flattened and the expelled air escapes 

 into the atmosphere by an opening less than the primitive 

 opening of the cone. — Bull. d'Encour, Avril, 1 827. 



6. Rare Insects. — There exists in Livonia, a very rare in- 

 sect, which is not met with in more northern countries, and 

 whose existence was for a long time considered doubtful. It 

 is the Furia Infernalis, described by Linneus in the noveaux 

 memoires del 'Academie d'Upsal, in Sweden. 



This insect is so small that it is very difficult to distinguish 

 it by the naked eye. In warm weather it descends from the 

 atmosphere upon the inhabitants, and its sting produces a 

 swelling, which unless a proper remedy is applied, proves 

 mortal. 



During the hay harvest, other insects named meggar, oc- 

 casion great injury both to men and beasts. They are of the 

 size of a grain of sand. At sunset they appear in great num- 

 bers, descend in a perpendicular line, pierce the strongest 

 linen, and cause an itching and pustules, which if scratched, 

 become dangerous. Cattle, which breathe these insects, are 

 attacked with swellings in the throat, which destroy them 

 unless promptly relieved. They are cured by a fumigation 

 fyom flax, which occasions a violent cough. 



Rev, Ency. Juillet, 1827. 



