ration of tee vitriolic acid ouly. 
£38 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
DID not see the number of your Ma- 
gazine for November last in time to 
make an earlier reply to the request of a 
fu eopendent, relative to a preparation 
ef the vitriolic acid, for cleaning tanned 
Feather, 
The receipt was intended for a prepa- 
The 
mustake arose from putting down the 
nitrous, instead of the vitriolic acid: the 
receipt ought to have ruy thas:— 
Take half a pint of water, a quarter of 
@ pint of vitriolic acid, &e. 
The specific gravity of the acid should 
be 1,850. 
I hes leave also to repeat, that it will 
be more safe on all occasions to go over 
the leather first with soft water, which 
having In some measure saturated it, 
prevents any corroding effects which other- 
wise might be experienced from too fre- 
quently repeating this powerful men- 
struum. Tam, &c. 
Hinckiey, ate. We 
December 2, 1806. 
et 
Zo the Editor ef the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAVE somewhere, in the course of 
my reading, learned that the sun- 
Hower, by a proper process;is capable of 
producing an ol equally excellent as 
that which ts brought from Florence, and 
used here for sallads, &c.: ; that the dregs 
or husks which then remain are superior 
te many other articles for fattening pigs 
and poultry ; and that the flower, when 
growing, possesses in a great degree the 
properties of purifying foul air. 
Lhe air of my neighbourhood not being 
salubrious, Ihave succeeded in recom- 
mending its growth to my neighbours. 
Those which [ have ever since annually 
raised in my own garden, I have found tu 
produce seed which by my fowls has al- 
ways been preferred to their ordinary food ; 
bnt the ex eee of extracting the oil} 
have never made, though not from a diss 
belief of its possiblity. I am, &c. 
J..M,. FLIspALy, 
; — eS 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
F any of your readers could give me 
information on the origin of the cus- 
‘tom of placing sprigs of holly and 1 ny ill 
our churches, and: tke nies of our 
dwelling houses, at Christinas, I should be 
greatly obiiged by their communicating it 
through the medium of your: vaiuable 
Miscellany. 
- 
I 
On the Sound of the Diphthong ea. 
[June I, 
I should also be glad to Enow if any 
account has been published of the natu- 
rai history of the mahogany tree; and, if 
any, mn what work it may be met with. 
Derby, Your's, &c. B.A. 
December 25, 1806. 
Sa 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SER, 
Mi ; . Walker, in the Principles of Pro- 
f ‘f nunciation prefixed to his Dictio- 
hary, says that the regular sound ef the 
diphthong ¢ €a is that of ee; and gives the 
following in a catalogue of w ordsi in which 
that sound is heard: :—sea, tea, mead, 
plead, bespeak, freak, appeal, heal, beam, 
cream, clean, dean, cheap, reap, dear, 
tear, pease, tease, beat, heal, “sleazy, 
uneasy. 
Tn the words which come that. ca- 
talogue, I have ever considered the diph- 
thong ca as a strictly praper diphthong ; 
which (aecording to Mr. Smith’s defint- 
tion, quoted by Mr. W.) is, “‘ two simple 
vocal sounds uttered by one and the same 
emission of breath, aud joined im such a 
manner, that each loses a portion of its 
natural length: but from the junction 
producetha : compound sound, equal in the 
time of pronouncing to either of them 
taken separately, and so making still 
but one syllable:” and with all defe- 
rence to such Ingh authority as_ Mr. 
Walker, and the late Mr. Garrick (wha 
could not find any diderence in the 
sounds of flea and flee, meat and meet, 
though we in Yorkshire can), 1 am 
nevertheless of opinion, that ea is a pro- 
per diphthong, according to the pre- 
ceding very accurate definitions and 
ough it, in every word of the cat: alogue be- 
fore mentioned, to retain the sound, which 
to me, appears to be so essentially its 
own; and which, f think, will be found, 
on comparison, equally agreeable to the 
ear as its substitute ee; and besides, it 
tends to keep up a just distinction be- 
tween words of different meanings. 
Your’s, &c. 
KNARESBURGENSIS: 
ae v 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sie 
M ENTION having been made more 
than ence in your Miscellany of 
some late legislative measure respecting - 
inhumanity to animals, I shall be obliged. 
to any one who will inform me w hat that 
measure is; for I know not of any mo- 
tion, oreven notice of a motion, on that: 
subject in either House of Parliament, 
during last session. Cert tainly there may, 
have been such netic ey and I may uot have’ 
seen 
