232 Scientific and General Memoranda. 



sparkling dark brown powder when dry. None of the stones or 

 cinders thrown out, appeared more than half a foot in diameter, 

 and most of them, much smaller. 



" From the time v^'hen the volcano was first seen, till after I 

 left it, the barometer did not fall or rise; the sympiesometer un- 

 derwent frequent, but not important changes, and the tempera- 

 ture of the sea did not bespeak any unusual influence. 



" After sunset, on the 18th, soundings were tried for every hour, 

 to the average depth of eighty fathoms— no bottom. The wind 

 was N. W., the weather serene. 



"On the forenoon of the 19th, with the centre of the volcano 

 bearing by compass, S. by W. f W. one mile distant, good sights, 

 for the chronometer gave the long. 12 deg. 41, E. ; and at noon, 

 on the same day, when it bore W. by ]V. ^ N. by compass, the 

 meridian altitude of the sun gave the latitude 37 deg. 7 min. 30 

 sec. N. ; an amplitude of the sun, the same morning, gave the 

 variation of 1^ point westerly. It is worthy of remark, that on 

 the 28th of June last, at 9, 30, P. M., when passing near the 

 same spot, in company with the Britannia, several shocks of an 

 earthquake were felt in both ships. (Signed) 



" C. H. Swinburne, G)mmander." 



Discovery of Rionium ( Vanadium) in Scotland. — In the Journal 

 of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, for August, 1831, it is 

 stated, " Mr. James T. W. Johnston, has discovered Vanadium in 

 Scotland, in a mineral from Wanlockhead, resembling in ap- 

 pearance, an arseniate of lead ; and it is a remarkable circum- 

 stance, that this new substance has been discovered by three dif- 

 ferent persons — Professor Del Rio, Professor Seftstrom, and Mr. 

 Johnston — in three different countries, Mexico, Sweden, and 

 Scotland, nearly at the same time, and without any knowledge, on 

 the part of one, of what the others had done." 



By referring to page sixty-nine of our Journal, in the August 

 number, it will be seen that Professor Del Rio discovered this 

 mineral about twenty -nine years before it attracted the attention 

 of any Europen mineralogist; and that he consented to withdraw 

 the name he had given to it, out of deference to the opinions of 

 Messrs. Humboldt and Descotils. All, however, admit it now to 

 have been a new mineral ; but so long a period has passed over, 

 since Professor Del Rio made the discovery, that his particular 



