The Mammals of the Sub-Himalayas and Tibet. 107 



the geese, ducks and fowls, previously seized and devoured by these 

 fully fed eschewers of the fleshpots ! Facts of similar tenour, from 

 another witness, may be found in No. 176 of the Asiatic Journal, 

 pp. 245 and 250. 



April 15th, 1847. Philolethes. 



Note. — We disapproved of the critique alluded to, conceiving it as we said 

 at the time, to be quite uncalled for. Our observation as to fairness, was in- 

 tended merely to imply that every remark published in our pages, should 

 be open to animadversion, relying of course on the good taste and feeling of 

 our correspondents ; when these are violated, which rarely happens, the error 

 will correct itself as in the present case. — Eds. 



Professor Brande on the properties and uses of Gun-cotton — An- 

 nouncement of Professor Schonbein's Process. 

 The weekly evening meetings of the members of the Royal Institution 

 commenced for the season on Friday, the 15th instant. The theatre 

 was completely filled with the members and their friends, the subject 

 proposed for the lecture being the principal source of attraction. 



Prof. Brande commenced by observing that, within the last few 

 months, the manufacture and uses of gun-cotton had received an 

 unprecedented degree of attention, not merely from scientific men, 

 but from the public in general. So soon as the discovery had been 

 announced, the honour of making it was claimed by various indivi- 

 duals. It was unnecessary to dwell upon their claims : a simple 

 statement of the facts would, however, show to whom the merit of 

 the important applications of the discovery was really due. In the 

 year 1833, Braconnot first announced, in the Annales de Chimie, that 

 he had procured a new substance, possessed of very singular pro- 

 perties, by acting on starch, saw-dust, linen, and cotton, by concen- 

 trated nitric acid. The product from starch was a white powder, 

 without any acid reaction, and looked like the original starch unal- 

 tered. It differed from it, however, in being exceedingly inflammable, 

 taking fire at a comparatively low temperature, and leaving scarcely 

 any residue. A portion of starch thus prepared was placed on paper, 

 and held over a lamp, when the whole was speedily consumed. 

 Paper which had been soaked in concentrated nitric acid, washed, 



