284 
FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
construction of porous cells for batteries; in fact, he seems to 
have used battery cells in some of his experiments. He states 
that with the employment of this medium, he has obtained 
all the important results described by Professor Graham, to¬ 
gether with several which it would have been impossible to 
realize with parchment paper. The following are some of his 
experiments, which are interesting and suggestive, although 
not sufficiently numerous or precise to be conclusive:—A 
porous vessel filled with pure water was placed in a solution 
containing gum and sugar; at the end of twenty-four hours 
a great part of the sugar had traversed the porous vessel and 
passed into the water, but not a trace of the gum. 
Caramel and bichromate of potash were in a similar man¬ 
ner rapidly separated; the salt passing through the porous 
vessel into the pure water, and leaving the caramel behind. 
A drop of the mixed solution allowed to fall upon the porous 
porcelain, gave a browm spot, surrounded by a yellow circle 
of bichromate, which the author considers evidence of the 
greater diffusibility of the salt. 
A porous vessel of pure water was placed in an ammonia- 
cupric solution of cotton; the water became blue, while the 
cotton remained in the outer liquid. 
Experiments were also made to replace water by other li¬ 
quids, such as bisulphide of carbon, and essence of turpentine. 
Iodine, sulphur, and naphthaline pass through porous earthen¬ 
ware with very different degrees of rapidity, when dissolved in 
bisulphide of carbon, the first being much behind the others. 
Mummy Wheat.— ThePresse Scientifque des Deux Mondes 
contains a description of a series of experiments made in 
Egypt byFigari-Bey on the wheat found in the ancient sepul¬ 
chres of that country. A long dispute occurred a few years 
ago, as to what truth there might be in the popular belief, 
according to which this ancient wheat will not only germi¬ 
nate after the lapse of tliree thousand years, but produce ears 
of extraordinary size and beauty. The question was left un¬ 
decided; but Figari-Bey’s paper, addressed to the Egyptian 
Institute at Alexandria, contains some facts which appear 
much in favour of a negative solution. One kind of wheat 
which Figari-Be}^ employed for his experiments had been found 
in Upper Egypt, at the bottom of a tomb at Medinet-Aboo, 
by M. Schnepp, secretary to the Egyptian Institute. There 
were were two varieties of it, both pertaining to those still 
cultivated in Egypt. The form of the grains had not changed ; 
but their colour, both within and without, had become I’ed- 
dish, as if they had been exposed to smoke. The specific 
