376 Foreign Literature and Science. 



This unequal distribution of the land and water, exercises 

 the greatest influence upon the distribution of heat at the 

 surface of the globe, upon the inflections of the isothermal 

 lines, and upon the phenomena of climate in general. With 

 reference to the inhabitants of the centre of Europe, the 

 aquatic hemisphere may be called western, and the terrestrial 

 hemisphere eastern, because in proceeding westward, we 

 come sooner to the former than to the latter. Until the end 

 of the fifteenth century, the western hemisphere was as little 

 known to the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere, as a half 

 of the lunar globe is at present, and probably, will always 

 remain, with respect to us. — Humboldt, Ed. Phil. Jour. 



1 3. Notice regarding steatite or soapstone, and its princi- 

 pal uses. — Steatite is, as is well known, a variety of the talc 

 genus. Its color is white, green, or grey ; it is also some- 

 times, though rarely, red and yellow. Its specific gravity va- 

 ries from 2.60 to 2.66. It is a compound of silica, alumina, 

 magnesia, and oxide of iron and water, which vary according 

 to the locality. It is very common in Cornwall and Germa- 

 ny. As it is fusible only at an exceedingly high temper- 

 ature, and is easily wrought, excellent crucibles may be 

 made of it, which are further hardened by fire, and which 

 are only with great difficulty penetrated by litharge. It is 

 also employed in making moulds for melting metals. In 

 England it is used in the manufacture of porcelain. M. Vil- 

 cot, an artist of Liege, made several trials of it, with the 

 view of finding out whether it might not be susceptible of 

 being employed by the lapidaries. He prepared cameos of 

 this substance, the color of which he brightened in the fire, 

 and which he rendered so hard by the elevation of the tem- 

 perature, as to give sparks with steel. They were then col- 

 ored, yellow, grey, or milk white, by different solutions. He 

 polished them upon the stone, and ended with making them 

 assume all the lustre of agate. Some pieces even resem- 

 bled onyx in color, but a serious inconvenience was, that the 

 markings were easily altered by the fire, and could no longer 

 be restored. Steatite has a great affinity for glass ; it is also 

 employed, in the manner of paste, reduced to a fine powder, 

 and mixed with coloring matters, for painting upon this sub- 

 stance. It also serves for a sympathetic crayon for writing 

 upon glass ; the traces seem effaced when a piece of woollen 

 cloth is passed over them, but they reappear immediately 

 when moistened by the breath, and again disappear when the 



