184 Scientific Intelligertce. 
Almost every house in the commune of Gaiss has experienced 
some damage. In some districts, the roofs of the houses have 
been carried away, a great number of barns, destroyed, and im- 
mense portions of the forests laid waste by the storm. Similar 
calamities were” inflicted on the Rhinthal. — -BibL Univers, 
Jan. 1822. 
27. Inundations accompa7iying the Jail of the Barometer . — 
In almost all those places where the hurricane was experienced, 
deluges of rain accompanied it. In Piedmont, the bridges, the 
roads, and many houses, have been carried away by the floods. 
The Royal Road from Tortona to Plaisance was submerged, 
and also the road from Turin to Novi. The roads to the east 
and west of Genoa have suffered great injury. Savona was 
surrounded with the inundation, and all communication cut off 
with Genoa and Nice. The province of St Nevero has been 
almost entirely covered by the sea, and its olive trees destroyed. 
At Trieste, all the low streets were under water. At Venice, 
they w ere obliged to cross the Place of St Mark in boats ; and 
at Leghorn and Genoa the sea penetrated into several magazines, 
and occasioned great loss. — Bibl. U^iivers. Jan. 1822. 
28. Earthquake accompanying the Fall of the Barometer.-^ 
On the 25th December, about half past eight o’clock in the even- 
ing, a slight shock of an earthquake was felt at Mayence. 
II. CHEMISTRY. 
29-. Nitrate of Soda discovered in the district of Tarapaca in 
Peru. — This discovery promises to be of great use in the che- 
mical arts, ^particularly in the manufacture of nitric acid and salt- 
petre. More than 60,000 quintals of this salt, purified by 
dissolution and crystallisation, have been sent into the ports of 
Conception in Chili, and Iquiqui, a port in the south of Peru, 
from both of which it is distant only about three days journey. 
This salt forms a bed several feet thick, which in some places 
appears at the surface, and which occupies an extent of more 
than 40 leagues. It is sometimes in a state of efflorescence, and 
sometimes crystallised, but more frequently mixed with clay 
and sand. Its taste is fresh and bitter. It is deliquescent, and 
l)urns like nitre. It contains a little sulphate of soda. Accord- 
