278 



Scientific Intelligence. 



for, and under the direction of, Dr. Hofmann), as well as of other brine- 

 springs, and the waters of certain seas. 



The extreme saltness of this and the neighboring lakes would appear 

 to arise from the separation, at some remote period, of these masses of 

 salt water from the main ocean, together with the great Caspian and Aral 

 lakes ; and the continued evaporation by constantly diminishing their 

 volume (as has been proved by observations on the spot) has caused them 

 ultimately to become, as they are, perfectly saturated brines : and Mr. 

 Loftus states that there are other lakes in the neighborhood which have 

 completely dried up. leaving nothing but a great bed of salt. 



8. On the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, (from the Proceedings of the Ashmo- 

 lean Society, Feb. 12, 1855). — The Secretary (M. Maskelyne) made a 

 communication on the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. After re- 

 counting the fabulous and traditionary accounts of it existing still in In- 

 dia, whereby its antiqnity was carried back to the Indian hero Bikram- 

 aditya, 56 B. C, and even to the fabled age of Krishna, he drew attention 

 to the account of a large diamond described by Baber. the founder of the 

 Mogul dynasty, in his memoirs, the authenticity of which is unquestiona- 

 ble. He mentions it as a part of the spoil taken by his son, Humayun 

 at Agra, after that battle of Paniput, in which Ibrahim Lodi fell, and 

 with him his ally or tributary the Rajah of Gwalior Bikramajit, custodian 

 of the fortress of Agra. It is reported by Baber to have come into the 

 Delhi treasury from the conquest of Malwa by Ala-ed-deen in 1304. 



Baber gives its weight as about 8 mishkals. In another passage he es- 

 timates the mishkal at 40 ratis, which would make its weight 320 ratis. 

 It is singular that Tavernier describes a diamond which he saw in 1665 

 among the crown jewels of Aurungzebe, as having exactly this weight, or 

 rather as weighing 319-J ratis. To this diamond, however, he assigns an- 

 other history, making it identical with a huge diamond said to have been 

 given by Meer Jumla, the King of Golconda's Minister, to purchase the 

 good will of Shah Jehaun, preparatory to his exchanging into his service 

 from one in which it was no longer safe for him to remain. This dia- 

 mond is alluded to by Bernier also, and seems to have had a real exist- 

 ence, though Tavernier's account of its cutting admits to its having been 

 greatly injured, and possibly leads to the inference that it was ruined in 

 the process. In order to make out which of these two historic diamonds 

 is the Koh-i-noor, Mr. Maskelyne went minutely into Tavernier's descrip- 

 tion, comparing it with his drawing of it, and with his own language in 

 another place. He showed that Tavernier's accounts of the exhibition to 

 him of the jewels of Aurungzebe differed slightly in themselves, and en- 

 tirely from his drawing of the diamond ; but that the former, on the 

 whole, represented with singular fidelity the original appearance of the 

 diamond now in England, supposing it to be mounted in such a manner 

 as to conceal the lower part of it. It seemed probable, however, from 

 another reason, that the diamond Tavernier saw was not the one he im- 

 agined it to be, and of which he had doubtless heard descriptions in the 

 mines of Golconda, but the diamond of Baber. Aurungzebe held his 

 father a state prisoner. Shah Jehaun had been asked by his unfilial con- 

 queror to give him some of the splendid jewels which he retained in his 

 captivity ; at first, indignantly refusing, Shah Jehaun threatened to de- 



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