1801. | 
received feveral plants of the violet fugar- 
cane from Batavia, and the white from 
Otaheite. Thefe are known to yield a 
greater product than the common fort cul- 
tivated in the Welt Indies. ‘The plants 
have thriven fo well as to be able to furnifh 
next {pring a number of fhoots to be fent 
to Egypt, where they can hardly fail to 
rofper. . 
The three young lion-whelps of the me- 
nagerie continue to grow faft, and have 
already got their cutting teeth, and jump 
and play round their dam. No change 
‘has yet taken place in the marks of their 
{kin. The mother has fo much confidence 
in C. Fevix, the keeper, as to allow him 
to take them from her, and to convey them 
out of her fight. 
The learnea FABBRONI, director of the 
Mufeum of Natural Hiftory at Florence, 
has lately difcovered between Arcidajo and 
Cafiel-del-Piano, in ‘Tiifcany, an earth fi- 
milar to that mentioned by Strabo, Vitru- 
vius, and Pliny, of which were made bricks 
that floated on the water, and were in high 
efteem for various purpofes ; and the earth 
of which was likewife procured from a 
mountain in ancient Etruria. Fabbroni 
has found the fame levity in bricks made 
with this earth, and alfo has afcertained.the 
important fact, that they are of all known 
fubftances the wortt conductors of heat, 
fo that one end of the brick may be made 
red hot in a forge-furnace, and the other 
end held_in the hand without inconve- 
nience, ‘This difcovery may be applied to 
the important purpofe of fecuring the pow- 
der-reom of a. veffel from explofion when 
a neighbouring part is on fire; and to prove 
it this experiment was made—on the hold 
of an old vefiel a fquare chamber was 
made with thefe bricks; that was filled 
with powder, and the top arched in: after- 
wards the chamber was covered with fag- 
gots that were feton fire. The combuttion 
was fo thoroughly made, that the veffel 
burnt away al] round the powder-chamber, 
till the latter, being no longer fupported by 
the timbers, funk through without explod- 
ing. Fabbroni found in the cabinet. of 
Faujas a fimilar earth, which was collected 
in Ardeche, and the latter has had the 
fortune to light upon a confiderable bed of 
the fame earth, in a very acceflible place, 
four leagues fram the Rhone. It is found 
between ftrata of bafalt of confiderable 
thicknefs, and contains very perfec re- 
mains ¢f many well-known plants, fuch as 
the chefnut, maple, poplar, &c.. 
The large aloe (Agave Americana) 
which is commonly cultivated and thrives 
well in the South of France and Spain, is 
beginning to be employed at Barcelona to 
- 
4 
Literary and Philofophical Intelligence. 
165 
make thread and corda¢e, in the fame wa 
as it has long been ufed in the Eaft Indies. 
The large leaves (which are the pare 
ufed) are cut in Spain about the end of 
February. The longeft are feleSted, and 
are taken from thofe ftalks which are ex- 
pected to flower. In France the leaves 
thould not be cut till the end of March or 
in April. The preparation for thread is 
very fimilar to that of hemp. ‘The aloe- 
leaves are prepared in three ways: The 
firft is to throw them into ftagnant waters, 
or pits where they are covered with fea- 
water, or where this cannot be had with 
dunghill-drainings ; they are left there for 
a fortnight, then dried in the fun, and ex~ 
pofed to the air till the colour changes toa 
yellow or brown. When dry, the plant is 
carded in the fame way as hemp-ftalks, but 
with wider and ftronger teeth to themachine, 
The fecond method is, “fir to {trip. the 
_ fibres from the freth leave by a knife-blade 
held againft the thumb, and then to rot it~ 
in fea or dunghill-water as before. The 
third method is to drefS the fibre merely 
dried in the fun without other preparation ; 
but this Jaft gives a thread of very inferior 
_ quality, which has neither the fupplenefs, 
whitenefs, nor finenefs of that which has 
“Jain in the preparing water, which breaks 
down and diffolves out of the ftalk all its 
mucilaginous matter.. A very ftrong heat 
is requifite thoroughly to dry the lcaves. 
In Spain, that of the fun is fafficient, but 
in France it mutt be affifted by ftoves. 
Dr. Nowe Lt of Boulogne, one of the 
phyficians who affited Dr. WoopViLLE 
in the introduction of the vaccine inocula- 
tion at-Paris, continues to find ail the ad- 
vantages in the new inoculation which it 
firft held out, and’ has “given a very fatis- 
factory account of the numerous trials 
which have led to its introdution at Bou- 
logne. | 
By the late analyfis of the Houey fione, 
by KLAPROTH and VaUQuenLin, this 
mineral appears to be a compound of alu- 
mine, with a peculiar acid, nearly re(em- 
bling in moft of its properties the oxalic. 
The-two eminent chemifts above men- 
tioned have alio been making experiments 
on the gadalinite and chryalite. In the 
firt of thefe a new earth called ytria has 
been found in the proportion of about 60 
per-ct. The fecond confiils of foda 36, 
alumine 23.5, fluoric acid and water 40.5, 
and is the firft example of {oda compokng 
an effential integral part of any earthy fub- 
fiance. 
‘C. BADOLLIER ‘has difcovered a new 
and economical proce{s fer the preparation 
of acetic acid ; this confits in dittilling 
from a glaJs retort, by a fand-heat, equal 
parts 
I ae 
— 
PR hs BC 
= 
a 
