VARIETIES. 
175 
portion  of  the  sodium  from  being  partly  evaporated  and  partly 
burnt  by  the  heat  of  reduction.  With  a  little  practice,  however, 
the  maximum  that  is  to  be  obtained,  may  be  reached.  From  the 
author's  observations,  he  values  this  at  65  against  100  of  sodium 
employed. 
To  combine  small  fragments  of  manganese  into  larger  masses, 
or  to  work  up  imperfectly  reduced  specimens,  the  following  is 
the  best  mode  of  proceeding  : — 
The  metal  is  pounded  in  a  steel  mortar  into  a  coarse  powder, 
this  is  mixed  with  twice  its  volume  of  anhydrous  chloride  of  sodi- 
um, and  exposed  to  a  white  heat  for  10  minutes  in  an  earthen 
crucible. 
A  refusion  of  this  kind  is  always  advisable.  Metal  which  has 
not  been  fused  a  second  time  acquires  small  spots  on  its  surface 
when  polished  and  kept  for  a  considerable  time,  and  these  appear 
to  be  due  to  impurities.  By  a  second  fusion  the  latter  pass  into 
the  slag, — Chem.  G-az.,  Jan.  1, 1858,  from  Dingier' s  Poly  teclin. 
Journ, 
Scientific  Mission  to  India.—  An  important  paper  has  just  been  read  to 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  on  a  mission  sent  to  India  and  Upper  Asia  in 
1854  by  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  East  India  Company.  The  members 
of  the  mission  consisted  of  three  brothers,  MM.  Herrmann,  Adolphus,  and 
Robert  Schlagentweit,  two  of  whom,  MM.  Herrmann  and  Robert,  returned 
in  June  last ;  the  third,  M.  Adolphus,  is  still  among  the  Himalaya  moun- 
tains, and  is  expected  soon  to  return,  via  the  Punjab  and  Bombay.  During 
the  winter  of  1854-55,  these  enterprising  travellers  visited  the  regions 
lying  between  Bombay  and  Madras  ;  in  the  following  summer  M.  Herrmann 
explored  the  eastern  parts  of  the  Himalaya,  the  Sikkim,  Bhootan,  and  Kossia 
mountains,  where  he  measured  the  altitudes  of  several  peaks.  The  highest 
of  all  the  summits  known  throughout  the  world,  appears  by  his  measure- 
ments, to  be  the  Gahoorishanka,  situated  in  the  eastern  portion  of  Nepaul — 
the  same  announced  as  such  by  Colonel  Waugh,  but  called  by  him  Mount 
Everest,  because  he  had  been  unable  to  ascertain  its  real  name  in  the  plains 
of  Hindostan,  where  he  effacted  his  measurement.  This  peak  is  somewhat 
more  than  29,000  English  feet  in  height,  and  bears  another  name  in  Thibet, 
Chingopamari.    The  other  two  brothers,  MM.  Adolphus  and  Robert,  pene- 
