252 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Lignite in Turkey. — A large deposit of lignite has been discovered at the 
Jumonassi station of the Ottoman, Smyrna, and Aiden Eaihvay, thirteen 
miles from the city of Smyrna. Two other deposits are known and worked 
near the line ; these approach the character of lignitic coal, like that of 
Chili, but the Jumonassi variety is a pure lignite. It is found in abundance 
to the depth of five feet, and then water is encountered. It burns freely, and 
is now under trial in Smyrna. From specimens recently discovered near 
Ephesus and Azirieh there is strong reason to believe the existence of 
minerals of lead and antimony in the Ephesus pass, near the great tunnel, 
and of iron at Azirieh. 
Improved Method of Cooling Iron. — In manufacturing cast-iron articles, in 
which great toughness is required, combined with considerable hardness, 
Mr. N. M‘Hafiie, of Glasgow, mixes white pig vdth mottled or grey pig iron, 
which if cast in the ordinary manner would be too hard to be conveniently 
cut and worked. The metal is run into a mould of fire-clay, or other 
material, which is kept heated to redness, or even higher, and is 
then gradually cooled down in the furnace. This gradual cooling of the 
metal insures uniformity of structure throughout the mass, and although the 
metal is still hard, the article can be afterwards turned or shaped, and if 
necessary it can also be hardened and temj)ered in the same way as steel. — 
Vide The Mining and Smelting Magazine, November. 
Decomposing Peat by Potash. — This is done by a recent process devised by 
M. Eleury, of Brussels. The peat is treated with calcined carbonate of 
potash, by which means the mineral substances and woody fibres are de- 
composed and dislodged. Both the decomposed and undecomposed peats 
are converted into heavy fuel, the pulp being compressed and dried in the 
ordinary manner. 
Improved Blasting Powder. — Herr Nobel, of Stockhohn, some time since, 
proposed to increase the effectiveness of ordinary blasting powder by the 
addition of nitro-glycerine. The latter is a very clear, oily fluid, which 
ignites at about 170° centigrade, and burns slowly and with a peculiar 
crackling noise. When added in certain proportions to blasting powder it 
increases its power to three or four times that which it originally possessed. 
When proposing the new addition, Herr Nobel little dreamed what the 
result of his experiment would be. On the 24th of September the works 
which he had recently erected near Stockholm for the manufacture of this 
article were totally destroyed by an explosion. Several persons were killed, 
among them Herr Nobel’s son, and many seriously injured. — ^Vide Mining 
and Smelting Magazine, No. 35. 
An ancient Mining Wheel, upwards of 20 feet in diameter, and 11 feet 
6 inches breast, has recently been exhibited at the Academy of ‘‘Arts et 
Metiers ” at Paris, by M. A. Sanson, who states that it was discovered in a 
Portuguese mine, and was doubtless employed by the Eomans to raise water 
in the operation of draining the mine. Eight other of these wheels have 
lately been discovered by the miners, who are now working the same old 
mines. These wheels are made of wood — the arms and felloes of pine, and 
the axle and its support of oak, the fabric being remarkable for the lightness 
of its construction. It is supposed that these wheels cannot be less than 
1,450 years old, and yet the wood is in a perfect state of preservation, owing 
