1881.] Scientific News. 933 
rine elevation running almost up to Hatteras, it would seem, is 
virtually to extend the Gulf stream basin of superheated water 
up to the North Carolina coast, thus giving the stream much 
and every investigation which enables the hydrologist more ac- 
curately to gauge its thermal power is important. 
If the view we have here taken, suggested by the preliminary 
report of the Blake's recent work, is sustained, the agency o 
Arctic stream in cooling down the Gulf stream south of Hatteras, 
which figures as a very considerable factor in Dr. Carpenter’s com- 
putations of Gulf stream heat, must be regarded as much feebler 
than it is generally supposed. It is to be hoped that when the 
details of the late exploration are reduced the results will be 
fully published. Surveys of this kind are of great value to navi- 
gation and science, but they ought to include each summer exact 
determinations of the temperature of certain sections of the Gulf 
Stream. If we could ascertain every season the temperature, 
th surface and sub-surface, of this great oceanic artery at fixed 
points, it would be easy to deduce therefrom the great anomalous” 
changes in the temperature and resultant weather of the northern 
hemisphere, as General Sabine years ago proposed to do, and 
thus be in position to forecast the general features of approach- 
ing seasons.— New York Herald. 
— The following process is recommended by Abbass for pro- 
ducing metallic castings of flowers, leaves, insects, etc.: 
The object, a dead beetle, for example, is first arranged in a 
natural position, and the feet are connected with an oval rim of 
wax. It is then fixed in the center of a paper or wooden box by 
means of pieces of fine wire, so that it is perfectly free, and thick- 
er wires are run from the sides of the box to the object, which 
subsequently serve to form air channels in the mould by their re- 
moval. A wooden stick, tapering toward the bottom, is place 
upon the back of the insect to produce a runner for casting. The 
box is then filled up with a paste of three parts of plaster of paris 
and one of brickdust, made up with a solution of alum and sal 
ammoniac. It is also well first to brush the object with this 
paste to prevent the formation of air bubbles. After the mould 
thus formed has set, the object is removed from the interior by 
first reducing it to ashes. It is therefore dried slowly, and finally 
eated gradually to a red heat, and then allowed to cool slowly 
to prevent the formation of flaws or cracks. The ashes are re- 
Moved by pouring mercury into the cold mould and shaking it 
thoroughly before pouring it out, and repeating this operation 
Several times. The thicker wires are then drawn out, and the © 
