564 
VARIETIES. 
amphitheatre,  inclosing  the  new  arboretum  with  its  floral  temples,  groups 
of  patriarchal  elms,  lofty  pines,  stately  oaks,  spreading  cedars,  woodland 
glades,  and  noble  avenues,  bounded  by  the  calm,  flowing  river,  which  seen 
at  high  water  from  an  eminence  (Victoria  Mount,)  has  the  appearance  of 
an  extensive  serpentine  lake — the  stream,  reflecting  the  bright  azure  of 
the  lovely  sky,  realizes  the  idea  of  a  splendid  sheet  of  lapis  lazuli,  or  an 
immense  turquoise,  enwreathed  with  emeralds,  variegated  with  the 
most  costly  gems— is  beautiful  and  picturesque  almost  beyond  the 
power  of  language  to  depict;  no  written  description  can  convey  to  the 
reader  its  enchanting  loveliness  and  surpassing  beauty ;  the  prospect, 
from  its  magnitude,  loneliness  and  solitude,  approaches  sublimity — it 
must  be  seen  to  be  enjoyed  and  appreciated.  This  glorious  and  perfect 
panorama  is  universally  allowed  by  competent  judges  to  be  unrivalled  as  a 
specimen  of  English  landscape  gardening  and  river  scenery  throughout 
the  world. — Athenaeum. 
Preparation  of  Carbonic  Acid. — Messrs.  Meschelynck  and  Lionnet  have 
devised  a  means  of  preparing  large  quantities  of  carbonic  acid  from  car- 
bonate of  lime,  at  a  comparatively  nominal  cost.  The  operation  consists 
in  passing  the  vapor  of  water  over  carbonate  of  lime.  It  is  well  known 
that  chalk  undergoes  decomposition  at  a  moderately  high  temperature, 
and  that  the  change  is  much  promoted  by  the  presence  of  steam  ;  but  the 
authors  indicate  that  if  the  chalk  be  subjected  at  100&  to  a  current  of 
steam,  the  whole  of  the  carbonic  acid  is  disengaged  with  sufficient  rapidity 
to  render  the  process  a  convenient  one  for  use  upon  the  large  scale. 
The  authors  recommend  the  following  mode  of  operating  : — .Refractory 
earthen  retorts,  filled  with  chalk,  are  heated  to  dull  redness  in  a  rever- 
beratory  furnace.  Currents  of  steam  are  then  passed  through  the  retorts, 
when  large  quantities  of  carbonic  acid  are  immediately  evolved. — Lond, 
PJiarm.  Journ.  Oct.  1860. 
Detection  of  the  Adulteration  of  Citric  with  Tartaric  Acid.- — The  simili- 
tude of  the  physical  characters  of  those  acids,  when  the  crystals  are  bruised, 
permits  of  this  adulteration  in  commerce.  It  is  easily  detected  by  pouring 
over  a  horizontal  glass  plate  a  thin  layer  of  a  slightly  saturated  solution  of 
caustic  potass,  and  then  projecting  on  this  a  portion  of  the  mixture  of 
doubtful  crystals.  In  a  few  seconds  the  tartaric  acid  crystals  whiten,  be- 
come opaque,  being  covered  with  microscopical  crystals  of  bitartrate  of 
potassa.  The  citric  acid  crystals  continue  diaphanous,  being  partly  dis- 
solved in  the  alkaline  solution.  The  relative  quantities  of  the  two  acids 
may  thus  be  easily  appreciated.  The  same  means  may  be  applied  to  a 
powder  formed  by  exactly  mixing  the  two  acids.  The  object-glass  of  a 
microscope  being  wetted  with  the  solution  is  then  powdered  with  some  of 
the  suspected  substance.  A  crowd  of  minute  acicular  crystals  is  produced 
from  the  tartaric  acid,  while  the  diaphanous  citric  acid  disappears  in  the 
solution. — London  PJiarm.  Journ.  from  Bulletin  de  Iherap. 
