1803. ] 
every part of the'world.—3. To find the 
different feafons, and the length of day 
and night.—4. The fun’s place in the 
ecliptic, and the day of the month-—5. 
The phates of the moon, her age, place 
of the nodes, eclipfes, &c. &c.* The 
fame gentleman has invented and de- 
{cribed a new pendant planetarium. 
M. ForneretT, of Laufanne, and 
others, have lately afcended to the fum- 
mit of Mont-Blanc: but the cold was fo 
great (6° below the freezing point), 
and the wind fo high, that they were 
obliged to return without having effected 
any ufeful purpofe. 
M. Ramonp, well known for his re- 
fearches in natural hiftory, has been at 
the top of Mount-Perdu, the giant of 
the Pyrenees, as Mont Blanc is that of the 
Alps. This mountain, covered with 
eternal fnows, is about 3600 yards above 
the level of the fea, and ri‘es higher than 
all the granitic Pics, except Mont-Blanc, 
but it contains the remains of {ca animals 
and quadrupeds. Ramond is the only 
perfon who has reached the fummit of 
this mountain; it prefents on all fides 
threatening projections and fteep preci- 
pices. He promifes to publifh, f{peedily, 
an account of his journey. 
Some curious and valuable remains of 
antiquity were lately difcovered in Iftria, 
Dalmatia, and Albania, and have been 
fent to Vienna by his Imperial Majefty’s 
Commiffary in thefe provinces. The ar- 
ticles found are, x. A naked warrior 
feated on the trunk of a tree, on which is 
placed his war-drefs. This ftatue is in 
the moft fublime Grecian ftyle, and is 
evidently the work of one of the firft 
miafters of antiquity. 2.A Minerva, of 
Corinthian brafs, in the Greek coftume, 
with an helmet, an gis, and a Medufa’s 
head on the breaft: the holds a lance in 
her left hand, and acup intheright. 3. 
A Madonna with an infant Jefus afleep, 
painted on a plafter.ground. 4. A naval 
battle, painted in oil; and 5. A buft of 
Sanétorinus. 
'M. CavezzaFi, of Lodi, gives the 
following procefs for preparing the Black 
Oxide of iron. Make a‘pafte of iron. filings 
and water, adding moreto fupply what 
is lo& by evaporation. About the fifth 
day the mafs {wells and gives out hydro- 
gene gas. When this fermentation has, 
ceafed, which is ufually about the 16th 
or 17th day,the mats is repeatedly wafhed, 
to procure the finer parts of the oxide thus 
peimed. The refidye is dried, pulverized, 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence, 
201 
and wafhed, when more oxide is obtained. 
Laftly the remaining iron is again formed 
into a pafte, as before, and in this way the 
whole of the iron becomes converted inte 
black oxide, and gains an increafe of 
weight equal to about thirty-five per cent. 
It has been afcertained by various ex- 
periments made by M. Coulomb, that 
the beft magnetic needles are thofe which 
are long and broad, but not thick. 
At Wolfenbiittel, a compofition has 
been invented to prevent combuttible fub- 
ftances from taking fire. It confifts of a 
powder, made of one ounce of fulphur, one 
of red ochre, and fix of copperas. To 
fortify wood againft fire, it is firft to be 
‘covered with glue, over which the powder 
is {pread. This proce(s is to be repeated 
three or four times. For linen and paper, 
water is ufed inftead of glue, and the pro- 
cefs repeated twice. If this powder be 
thrown on fubftances actually incombuttion, 
in the proportion of two ounces to a {quare 
foot, it will inftantly extinguith the fire. 
The King of Sweden has rewarded an 
artift with a gratuity of 1ool. for the in- 
vention of a new optical inftrument, by 
means of which bright objeéts may be feen 
at a depth of fifty-three feet in the fea, 
and opaque ones at twenty-feven feet. By 
this contrivance the obferver can look as 
deeply into the water in dull and cloudy: 
weather as in that which is clear and 
bright. 
Dr. Bainit has difcovered that the 
ftrength of gunpowder may be confiderably 
increafed by the addition of about one- 
fifth part, in weight, of pulverized quick- 
lime. No preparation is neceffary but to 
fhake the whole together till the white co- 
lour of the lime difappears. 
Dr. Brack ufed, in his le€tures, to 
recommend the formation of the freé of 
Saturn in the following manner. Into a 
quart decanter put four or five ounces of 
cryftallized acetite of lead. Fill the de- 
canter with water, and fhake the mixture, 
Let it fiand fifteen or twenty minutes, till 
the greateft part of the fuperabundant fale 
be precipitated. In this folution flightly 
agitated, fufpend a piece of zinc, by means 
of a filken or other thread faftened to the 
ftopper of the decanter. Place the de- 
canter in a place where it will not be 
moved, and in about three or four weeks 
the decompofition is completed : the zinc 
fufpended in the midf of the liquor, (then 
become tranfparent), is covered with a kind 
of metallic vegetation of a very brilliant 
appearance, which frequently fhoots to the 
ee bottons 
