[ 483 ] 
LATE INTELLIGENCE FROM EUROPE. 
We have just received the Madras Herald, which contains the proceeding's of the British 
Association. Such are the important discoveries — and science in the management of bal-* 
loons, that we have delayed our publication in order to enable us to lay the whole before 
our readers in our present number. 
The Exnmbier, Sepiemher, 4, 1836. 
BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
The various sections ot ilus [hiio-ophic 
congress— -would that such “ congre^se.'” lor 
ever took place oF such as Euiopc has been 
most familiar with — assenu le'l on Friday, the 
2€th ult. We select tor notice a ponion of 
discu.ssion in the geological ^eclioll, not only 
ascuriousin itself^ but a-; exhibiting the de- 
gree of lurking science in ( xistence, which 
meetings of this kind may biiag to day. After 
some remarks on the change in the chemical 
character of minerals, pioduced by galvanism, 
made by Mr. Fox, the Chaiiman (Mr. Mur- 
chison) said, it had been observed to them 
last evening, that the test of some ol the higli- 
est truths which philosophy had brought to 
light was their simplicity. He held in his 
hand a blacking-pot, which Mr. Fox had 
bought yesterday for a penny, a little water, 
clay, zinc, and copper, and by these humble 
means he had imitaie<l one of the most secret 
and wonderful processes of nature~her mode 
of making metallic veins. It was with peculiar 
satisfaction he contemplated ithe valuable re- 
sults of this meeting of the association. There 
was also a gentleman now at his right hand, 
whose name he had never heard till yesterday, 
a man unconnected with any society, but pos* 
sessing the true spirit of a philosopher; this 
gentleman had made no less than twenty-four 
minerals, and even crystalline quartz. (Loud 
cries of“ Hear,”) He (Dr Buckland) knew 
not how he had made them, but he pronounc- 
ed them to be discoveries of the highest order ; 
they were not made with a blacking pot and 
clay, like Mr. Fox’s, but the apparatuswas 
equally humble; a bucket of water and a 
brickbat had sufficed to produce the 
wonderful effects which he would, detail 
to them. Mr. Cross, of Broomfield, Somer- 
set, then came forward, and stated that 
he came to Bristol to be a listener only, 
and with no idea that he should he called 
upon to address a section. He was no geo- 
logist, and but little of a mineralogist ; he had, 
however, devoted much of iris lime to electri- 
city, and he had lately been occupied in 
improvements in the voltaic power, by which 
he had succeeded in keeping it in full force for 
twelve months by water alone, rejecting acids 
entirely. (Cheers.) Mr. Cross tlien pro- 
ceeded to state* that he had obtained water 
from a finely crystallized cave at Holway, 
and by the action of the voltaic battery had 
succeeded in producing from that w'ater, in 
the course of ten days, numerous rhomboida! 
crystals, resembling those of the cave ; in 
order to ascertain if light had any influence in 
the process, he tried it again in a dark cellar, 
and produced similar crystals in six days with 
one*fourth of the voltaic power. He had 
repeated the experiments a hundred times, 
and always with the same result. He was 
fully convinced that it was possible to make 
even diamonds, and that at no distant peiiod 
every kind ot mineral would be formed hy tlie 
ingenuity of man. By a variation of his ex- 
peiimenis he had olrtained gray and blue 
ca rbonate of copper, pliosphaie of soda, and 
twenty or thnly other specimens. If any 
meiwbeis of the association would favour him 
with a visit at fiis liouse, they would be re- 
ceived with hospitality, though in a wild and 
savage region on the Quantock Hills, and he 
should be proud to repeat hi.s exp-eriments in 
their presence. Mi. Cross sat down amidst 
long continued cheering.- Professor Sedg- 
wick said he had discovered in Mr. Cross a 
friend, who some years ago kindly conducted 
him over the Quantock Hills on the way to 
Taunton. The residence of that gentleman 
was not, as he had described it. in a wild and 
savage region, but seated amidst the sublime 
and beautiful in nature. At that time }ye was 
engaged in carrying on the most gigantic ex- 
periments, attaching voltaic lines to the trees 
of the forest, and conducting through them 
streams of lightning as large as the mast of a 
74 gun ship, and even turning them through 
his house with the dexterity of an able 
charioteer. 
Sincerely did he congratulate the section on 
what he had heard and witnessed that morn- 
ing. The operations of electrical phenomena, 
instances of which had been detailed to 
them, proved that the whole world, even 
darkness itself, was steeped in everlasting 
light, the first born of heaven. However M 
Cross might have hitherto concealed himself* 
from this time forth he must stand before the 
world as public property.— Professor Philips 
said, the wonderful discoveries of Mr. Cross 
and Mr. Fox would open afield of science in 
which ages might be employed in exploring 
and imitating the phenomena of nature. 
On Saturday, the 27th ult. the attention of 
the scientific persons assembled at Bristol was 
invited to the laying of the first stone of ti e 
Clifton suspension bridge. The Marquis of 
Northanapton, officiating as President of the 
Association, in the absence of the Marquis of 
Lansdowne, laid the stone with the usual 
ceremonies. A great concourse of spectators 
attended, and it is said the beautiful rocks 
and town of Clifton never presented so ani- 
mated and interesting an appearance. The 
following were given as the dimensions of the 
bridge : — Distance between the two points of 
suspension, 700 feet ; length of suspended 
roadway, 630 ; height of roadway above high- 
watermark, 230 ; total width of floor, 34. The 
architect is Mr, Brunei. In the evening, the 
last meeting for the transaction of the genera! 
business of the Association was held in the 
theatre at Bristol, when the thanks of the 
Association were voted to divers public bodies 
in that city for marks of attention respectively 
paid to it.— The Rev. Vernon Harcourt read 
a list of the various invitations that had been 
sent fromdi&reat places to solicit the attend- 
