388 Scientific Intelligence. 



therefore be doubted that the crystal which has left its trace was a dia- 

 mond. On the posterior face of the crystal there are two other cavities 

 of less depth also showing strias, and one of them even exhibits traces of 

 three or four different crystals. On the same side of the crystal there is 

 a flat part where the cleavage appears, and which M. Dufrenoy considers 

 to be a fracture, and possibly as the point by which the diamond was at- 

 tached to its matrix. From these facts it appears that the " Star of the 

 South" has been only one of a group of diamonds similar to the groups of 

 rock crystal, calc spar, or any other crystalline mineral. The diamond 

 is about to be cut, and will be shown at the French Exhibition, but it will 

 then have lost its scientific interest. — (Comptes Rendus, vol. xl., p. 3.) 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Relative Levels of the Red Sea and Mediterranean. — The French 

 engineers, at the beginning of the present century, had come to the con- 

 clusion that the Red Sea was about thirty feet above the Mediterannean, 

 but the observations of Mr Robert Stephenson, the English engineer, at 

 Suez, of M. Negretti, the Austrian, at Tineh, near the ancient Pelusium, 

 and the le veilings of Messrs Talabat, Bourdaloue, and their assistants, 

 between the two seas, have proved that the low-water mark of ordinary 

 tides at Suez and Tineh is very nearly on the same levels, the difference 

 being, that at Suez it is rather more than one inch lower. — (Leonard 

 Horner, Proc. Roy. Soc., 1855.) 



An Uprise in the South Sea Islands. — Mr Royle, missionary at Aitu- 

 taki, in the South Sea Island, describes a dreadful hurricane which took 

 place on that island on the 6th February 1854. He states " that the 

 physical aspect of the lagoon, inside the distant reef of the island, is com- 

 pletely changed by the hurricane ; so much so that he is inclined to sus- 

 pect that some volcanic violence was at work. Some ten miles of new 

 beach is raised up, composed of coral rock, sea shell, and rough sand, 

 where before there was nothing but deep water." 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Uncertainty of Preserving Records in Walls or Foundations of 

 Buildings. — It is a common practice to place the coins of the time, news- 

 papers, and other documents or records in sealed vessels, under the foun- 

 dation stones, or in some marked situation in the walls of new public or 

 otherwise important buildings. At a meeting of the American Philoso- 

 phical Society in April last, Dr Boye stated that, " On recently opening 

 the corner stone of the present High School building of this city (Phila- 

 delphia), erected fifteen and a half years ago, in order to deposit its con- 

 tents in the new building about to be erected, the papers, coins, &c. 

 which had been deposited in a sealed glass jar were found to be in a 

 perfectly decayed and corroded condition, and saturated with water. 

 Dr Boye' stated, that after a careful examination he is satisfied that the 

 water must have got in from the outside by infiltration, fir*st through the 

 mortar into the cavity, and afterwards from this through the sealing 

 wax, with which the glass-stopper was secured. The corner-stone con- 

 sisted of a block of blue marble, in which a rectangular excavation had 

 been made, which was closed at the top by a marble slab sunk down into 

 the stone and secured by common mortar. The lime used appears to 

 have acted upon and corroded the sealing wax. The corrosion of the coins 

 is ascribed to the sulphur in the glue or sizing in the paper. — (Proceed. 

 Arner. Phil. Soc. v., p. 323-325.) 



