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THE ALCHEUIBT. 
ncTDU Hiii«D Bi laitai. {See p. tS.) 



Thii^ not generally Known. 



CUEIOSITIBS OF SCIMCB: 

^eronlEi Scries. 
A BOOK FOB OLD AND TOUKQ. 



Br JOHN TIMES, P.S.A., 

rHiras hoi GmEU.i.Y xsows ;" im idk 



LONDON: -■ 
LOOKWOOD & 00., 7, STATIONEBS' HALL OOtT" 



lUAiithiirrtunt$a*rieliltfiHiamitiii§»lnnilalmiiifl>iH WarJt, 






T A CO., norm, bho* uai, * 



TbU Second 8«nei of " Cdsiositikb op Scibhcb " completes 
llie anecdotic iUostrationt commenced in the FinC Series ; at the 
Mine time it forms the Sixth Toiiuna of "Taisos not qenekix,lt 
Knows pamlijiblt Explused," snd concludes that design. 

The present Tolume is devoted, in the main, to CttEUiSTHT, its 
Stodenta utd Frofeesora. In the plan, the otgect has not been 
(jslematic tuition ; although the sequence of subject haa been 
kept in view, ao far aa could be appropristelj realised. The 
««riy portion of the volume ia retrospective and historical, illus- 
tratLag the profession of Ai^hbkt in brief biographical notices 
of its pracdtioners ; then tracing the transition from Alchemy to 
Uodem Chamiatrj, and attempting to diatingiush the esjl J Chemists 
from the Alchemists — the real from the ideal — the founders of a 
great scienoe from the charlatans of Ion artifice and imposture. In . 
this sectioa of the worfc an attempt haa been made to sketch the 
fates and fortunes of the Alchemists, brieSy and without recourse 
to the ihtbbokth of titeir art i special regard being had for the 
iudividoal charafteristics of the practitioners, titeir portraitures 
uid habiti and true hiatories. 

Undor "Hodbsh CaEwsTBT" and "Oinebai, Sciekob" 
striking Facta and Phenomena are popularly recorded, — often by 
way of anecdote, — keeping in view the recreative object of this littie 
volume, which, in accordance with others of the Series of which it 
forms a portion, seeks U> impart infismation and entertainment in 
the same moment, respecting " Tsimos hot obnbballt Kmowh." 

In preaenting you with this volume, I reoor with grateful feel- 
ings to tbe large share of public favoor which contiuaes to be 
extended to the entire Work. Its m^ idea — that of seizing upon 
topics imperfectly understood, and conveying, in an attractive farm, 
information Ewyond commonplace — has been purloined and parodied 
io a lepon of shapes, and often with such disfigurement as gipsies 
inflict upon stolen children. Nevertheless, the DDfiii^ging interest 
taken by the reading public in the portion of " TeivaB hot obmb- 
RAIXT Known" already pnbliibed, leads me to hope that the like 
&TOnr may be extended to the present volume. 

I. T. 

jwu iseo. , 

iK,,-,-.,C_.oo^^lc 



Alchemy ahu Chehistey- .... 1-47 . 

Modern Chemistbt .'^ 48-101 

Chemistry of Metals 102-127 | 

Poisons 128-142 I 

HiPPOCBATBS 143-147 I 

Fhtsiolooical Chewstbt . , . . 148-165 

Chemistey of Food 166-170 

The Laboeatoby 171-185 

Chemioai, Mai(ufagtubes .... 186-208 
Genebal Science ... . . 204-229 
A Chafteb oh CHLOBonXBH .... 2S0-236 
Appendix 237-242 



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THE ALCHEMIST, PADTrED BI TENIEBS. 
Thn igra fliparimenlaliBt in *< tlie more Hublime and occult part of 
cbeoiiitij" is tlie principal %nre In a piotore hyihe yoanger Teniers, 
frtim tha Orlenna Gallery. It is characteriatio of the attantjon paid to tha 
AlchemisCs and their labours in the ptveent work ; and when it is re- 
mambered haw mnoh ChemiatB owa to Uia Alcbemiata, the details of 
Uisirartand myBterytnaj-fsirlybe nomhered amongthe " Curiosideii 
of Bdanoo." (See pp. M7.) 



Sf|C Vigitctlt. 



DECOIfPOSmOIT OF WATEB nNSEB THE OXYHT&BOGEK 
QA3 mCBOSCOFE. 

The DecompodtioD of Water by ohemioal acUon presents a very 
cnriooa appearance under Uie Gas Ujcroscope : it was eihibited at 
ttie Boyal Oaliery of Prootioal Scienoe, Strand ; at the Folytechaio 
Institution in Begea( Street ; and other ««tablishmen(a of this class, 
wliich have so lon^ gratified a healthy tute amongst the people for 
the msTTels of modem salenoe. The prooess ia thui described by Hr. 
Edward M. Clarke, in his Directiotu for uting Pkilmophical Apparaitts 
t» Frivaii Etuarek and PublU ExhUniiom. The Author will be re- 
membered as a manufacturer of UathemaUcal, Philosophical, and Opti- 
cal Apparatus, in tha Btrand. He supplied many of tlie instruments 
at the Adelaide Gallery, at the Colosseum in the Regent's Park, and 
at the Polytechnic Institution ; and to Mr. Clarke's untiring industry 
wsa msjnly due tlie establishment of the Fonoptican in Leicester Square ; 
■n enterprise which, unfortunately fbr the public as well as the pn>- 
prieton, did not prove commercially successM. It is, however, due to 
a man of Mr. Clarke's energetic character to stats these &cta, that the 
oierlioDS of one who laboured lo zealoualy for tha pubUc gratification 
may be ligbtly apprecdatad. In Ihigland Scientific Eihibitiaus are left 
to the ehanoei of oidinaiy Bpeculatdon; and little is done by the State 
in Uiia grat oountry tt the Steam-en^^ne to giatEfy the desires of the 
people for Bt^entiflo study or reareation, unless the scheme be recom- 
mended by some prospecte of patronage and panonal influence. If, 
however, it were rightly considered bow much the sdentiSc colour 
of public amusements ia calculated to benefit the iatalltgenee of llie 
people, more attention would be paid to the Buti)ect. 

The Decompodtion of Water ia efbcted by the adaptation of a gli 



Vlll TEE TIQHETTE. 

trough to the mioroeaope (introduoed horiaoatAllym the msoner of a 
slider), coDtaJDing dilated BOlphniia acid, similar to Hut employed in 
the preparation othfdrogeD gaa. Onafewpleoeaolfresh-broksn liiio 
being dropped into the diluted aoid, deoompoaition of the water initantlj 
oommences. Ila oxygen gu combines unqtereeired with the linQ, whioh 
then dinolTes gradually in the Bolphnrio add ; while the hydrogen gaa, 
set free at the same instant, rapidly riaea in bubble* throuf^ the liquid, 
and escapes at the surfiMte. These bubbles, magnified, present a most 
extraordinary appearance, fanning a series of whitish Inmicons globalee, 
descending in the Quid (for every thing appears reversed In tbe micro- 
ecopio exhibitions] &om an opaqae sur&ce, and swelling enormously 
as they struggle, under tiie trebly eip^naiTe powers of heat, oombino- 
tion, and lessening prossore. 

By means of the glass troughs, made without joinings in moulds, 
Mr. Clarke was enabled to adapt with fine effect Sturgeon's inierestdng 
experiment of the Decompoaition of Water tya Tollsio oirotdt ari^ng 
from the action of Flatiaom on amalgamated Zinc, in the following 
manner. The trough, cout^ning diluted sulphuric acid, as in the pro- 
vious exhibition, ii introdaced horisontaUy, and held fast in its place 
like a slider by the internal spring. A piece of amalgamated zino is 
then dropped into the liquid, but no action takes place. A [uece of 
platinum wire ia then thrust into Uie liquid, hut if kept iipart from the 
amalgamated zinc, still no action is apparent. The moment^ however, 
tliat the wire is brought into contact with the amalgamated lamp, 
pearly bubbles of gas are seen to form on all parts of the platinum. In 
the engraving, Z is the lump of anulgamated lino seen In dark profile 
on the illuminated disk, and the equally dark serpentine line in contact 
with it ia the platinum wire. It will be observed, that Dotwitlwland- 
ing the platinum wire ia covered wiUi gas, not a single Imbhle is ^ven 
off from the amalgam. If the wire ii lifted from its contact vrith the 
latter, all chemical action and formation of bubbles instantly cease. If 
agaiu allowed to touch the amalgamated zinc, the gas is generated aa at 
first. 

Other modes of the Deoompomtion of Water, with details of ths 
celebrated eiperiment of 1781, will be found at pp. 77-T9. 



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CURIOSITIES OF SCIENCE. 
(eEcoim SERiEa) 

^ncfiems ana ^finnistrs* 



VHAT TEE CHEHIBIS OWE TO THE ALCHEUISTS. 

IkebtixabiiE benefits have accrued to mankind from the ancient 
practice of an art which is now considered, but with some 
injustice, to have heen a low deluuon and iinpoature. " Look 
into the books of the alchemisU, and some idea maj be fonned 
of the effects of experiments. It is true, these persons were 
guided bj &1se views ; jet tbej made most useful researches," 
and thus laid the foundation of experimental soience and 
modem Chemistry. 

Chemistiy has bem traced to the cradle of ciTilisation ; the 
name itself I>eing derived b; Cuvier from the word CMm, which 
was the ancient name of Egypt. He states that minerals were 
known to the Egyptians " not only by their external characters, 
bnt also I9 what we at the present day call their chemical eha- 

Suidas derives the name from the Greek dixmeia, " the 
making of silver or gold," or what is now more generally 
known by the name of Alchemy. Suidas adds that Diocletian 
burnt im the ancient books in Egypt on chemistry, in order 
that the Egyptians might no longer be able to acquire wealth 
by the practice of this art, and tiius be encouraged to resist 
the Romans. Thb accords with Cuvier's idea that chemeia is 
an Egyptian word ; audits resemblance to Cham or Chem, thn 
genuine name of the countiy, is a confirmation of the sup- 
positioD as to its origin. The word indicates literally Egyptian 
art, the art of the black land. The inscription on the Bosetta 
stone has the word Chim. 

Among the chemical knowledge of the Romans under the 
Bmpire, we find a few eiperiments by Dioscorides, and the tech- 
nical &rt of collecting fluids by the process of distillation. 

This &mous Greek wrote on Materia Uedica, — tlie Istle of tu prin- 
dpal work,— and few books LaTe ever enjoyed such laag and uulTersal 



Things twt generally Known. 



oelebrity. For nxcoen ceaturiea and more Uiia vork waa referred h> 
OS the lountain-head of all authority by every body who studied either 
botany or the mero virtues of plants, Dioscorides collected bia msls- 
riaU for this work by travelling through Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, and 
flome pikrtB of Gaul, gBithering plants in hifl Journey, and acquaintdnff 
himeeu with their propertieii r^ or reputed. He llkewiae uucmbled 

from countries not visited by himself, especially from ^dia, nhich at 
that time fumiahed many drugs \o the western markets. From Buoh 
materials he compiled his Materia Hidica, wherein between 600 and 
600 medical plants are named and briefly desaribed. With this work, 
up to the commencement of the aoventoenth century, the whole of 
academical or private study en such subjects was begun and ended ; 
and it was only when the rapidly inoreaaing nnmbera of new plants, and 
tbe nmeral advance in all branches of physical knowledge, compelled 
people to admit that the vccetable kingdom might contain more thingB 
than wore dreamt of by Dioscorides, that hii authority ceased to be 
ooknowledged. It should be added, that although his work shows the 
amount of Materia Medina knowledge in bia day, it must not be admitted 
as evidence of the state ef botany at the same period ; for Dioscorides 
has no pretension to be ranked among the botanists of antiquity, oon- 
ddoring that the writings of Theophraatus, four centuriea earlier, aboir 

distinct &om the ari^ of tha herbalist. 

But Chemistry oannot be said to have begum until men 
learnt to obtain mineral acidB, and to employ them for the 
solution aud liberation of subetanceB ; and it is oa this aocoimt 
that the distillation of sea-water described by Alexander o£ 
Aphrodisia,* under Caracalla,ia bo worthy of notice, Itdeaig- 
nates the path by irhich man gradually arrived at a knowled^ 
of the heterogeneous nature of aubstancea, their chemical com- 
position, and theit mntuai affinities. — SuTnioldt's Cotnuit, vol.ii. 



EGYPTIAH ALCHEMY. 

The late Sir William Drummond wrote in the Claittad 
Journal an elaborate defence of Egyptian Alchemy. He first 
asserts that the ancient Egyptians could not have poBseeaed 
gold by any ordinary modes, imumwih a» tkey had no minei, 
and were not addicted to commerce ; yet they constructed vast 
buildings and public works — such as the Labyrinth, the Lake 
Mceris, the Pyramida, and the tomb of Osymandias, the golden 
circle in which Sir William values at I4,OU0,000i. sterling. He 
quotes Herodotus' statement, that the charge for onions and 
xarlic furnished to the labourers on the Pyramids amounted to 
1600 alver talents, t. e. about 600,000f. sterling. " Gold," ob- 
serves he, " was so plentiful that the hunter formed his wea- 

■ Allhougli Alemnder of Aplirodtgi», properly Bpwking, gi"* ™l)' a =li^ 



Curiosities of Science. 



pons and the lalioareT his tools of thia precious metal." After 
noticing the great hatred mth which the Egyptians regarded 
Cambyaea and his Persian followers, he states that the priests, 
who alone pOBBesBed the power of making gold, coacealed it 
till the accession of the House of Lagus, when the; again made 
known their acientifio knowledge. Such are a few of the 
assumed facts upon which a defence of Alchemy is founded, 
and such are the arguments by which it is supported. But, 
fiist, tJu! ijJiabitania of Egypt had gold-mines, and vestiges of 
them exist to this day ;* next, many learned meu deny that 
the Lake Mceris ever existed, and that the circle or pknisphere 
of gold over the tomb of Osymandias, not being mentioned by 
Herodotus, is of very questiocable existence ; nor does he ex- 
plain how Cheops raised the money to build the great pyramid ; 
and the amount of the chaises for food, clothing, tools, and 
refi'eshments is ridiculously ^lall ; while Herodotus shows that 
the Egyptian monarohs sunered from an exhausted exchequer, 
which tney need not have done had they made their own 
gold. Such are the arguments fey which Alchemy has been 
Ai^oricaUff supported. They are not much better than Bor- 
raohius's syllogism — that because the ancient Egyptians hatched 
eggs in ovens, they therefore possessed the Philosopher's Stone 
wa the Universal Medicine. — Abridged from tjie Rev. Mr. 
Christmaa's Cradle of the Turin Qiana, VoL ii. 

METALS SHOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. 

Oold was the iSun, and was i^ireeented thus O 
Silver „ Mooti „ „ } 

Mercury „ Mercury ,, „ 5 

Copper „ Venaa ,, „ 9 

Iron „ Mca-i „ „ g 

Tin „ Jupiter „ „ !(. 

Lead „ iSatum „ ,, h 

Tbe names of planets were diosen from being supposed to 
have some mysterious relation ; and each metal was denoted 
bv a particular symbol, representing both the metal and the 
planet. This planetaiy designation, as adopted by the alche- 
mists, forms the basis of some chemical and medical terms 
now in use. Thus we have Linnar Caustic, or fused nitrate of 
silver; ifariiai pyrites, or native sulphuret of iron j Mercury is 



le gold-mines of Egypt, IboDgll menUoned 



the Teini lura beta picked out 5t tha fiuues 



|B31 A.D.I ind ST8 A.H. (969 I.D.). 
tgvpdaDawork for thBDieuI, tiiit 
and brokea inlo suwll bugmeatii. 



Things not generally Known. 



even now as much & term as quickalver ; uid Saturnine paia- 
IjBia ia paraj^sU caused by nita of UaA,~Farad<a^t Leatttre: 
Note by Scoffem. 

The above eiploina the uuoi&tiou of Aitrolog; and Alchemy. An 
Oxford ProfbBSorliaa remarked : "Itiinota little renutikable bow fre- 
quently the disooTBries of modeni days ha'a serrod to redeem th» 
bneiea of medisraJ times from the charge of absurdity. If the directioD 
of a bit of Bteel suspended near the eartli can, aa Colonel Sabiae haa 
proved, be influsDced by the position of a body like the moou, situateif 
atthedistanca &om it of more than 200,000 mile^ who shall aay that 
there WOB any tiling prepovteronsly eEbvTag;ant ia theoonceptiOD, how- 
arer little Bupport it may reoelie from ezpeiienoe, in the influsnoe 
aacribed to t&e itan oier the destiniea of men by the aBtrologen of 
olden time V'—Dt. DauitKy, FJL3. 



THE ARABS,— 

Hitherto we bare only referred In part to the origin of the- 
name Alekemy, from the Greek ; whereas, the fint n'll&ble, 
td, denotes the probabilitj of the Arabic origin of the art. 
Dr. Thomson supposes it to*have originated with the Arabs 
irbea the; began to turn their attention to medicine, after the 
establishment of the Caliphs ; so that if it had been previously 
colUvated by the Greeks, as there is some reason to suppose, it 
was taken up by the Arabians, and reduced by them into regu- 
lar form and order. 

The Arabs, we know, eserciBed & most powerful influence 
on general natural phy^cs by the advances of chemistry, a 
science far which this race created a new era. It must be ad- 
mitted that alchemistic and new-Platonic &ncics were as much 
blended with chemistry as astrology with astronomy. The re- 
quirements of pharmacy, and the equally urgent demands of 
the technical arts, led to discoTeries which were promoted, 
sometimes designedly and sometimes b^ a happy accident de- 
pending upon alchemistical investigation into the study of 
metallurgy. 

Qeber, the Arab phyndan, who lived in the seventh centnij, 
is one of the earliest alchemists whose works are extant ; but 
their genuineness is doubted. He implicitly adopts the prin- 
ciples which lie at the bottom of alchemy ; but ae does not 
attempt to make gold artificially, nor admit the possibility of 
converting the baser metals into gold. Qeber also treats of the 
tJniversal Medicine, Tincture, Elixir, and the Philosophw'a 
Stone. J>r. Johnson supposea that the word GAberiih, anciently 
written Oderish, was originally applied to the language of QebOT 
and his tribe, and quotations from his works justify the etymo- 
logy. Geber was an alchemist in the most comprehensive sense 

' word, and his works abound with the abstud and mys- 
ases of the art ; but his chemical labours were directed 



Curiosities of Science, 



to the imprOTement of medioine ; he deBcribcB and depicts for- 
naces, crucibles, alembics, and other useful chemical apparatus, 
of which be is thought to have been the inventor ; andThe treats 
of distillation, sublunation, caldnatiou, and various other ohe- 
mical operations. To him we also owe the first mention of 
corro^ve sublimate, the red oxide of mercury, nitric acid, and 
the nittate of silver. His sun of "perfection," or instructions 
to stadents to aid them in the laborious search for the Stone 
and Elixir, has been translated into most of the languages of 
Europe: an English translation, bj a great enthusiast in al- 
chemj, one Richard Russell, was published in London in 1686, ' 
the prefece of which is dated from Newmarket. 

Thus the preparation of nitric acid by Qeber dates back 
more than 500 years before Albertus Ma^us and Raymond 
LuUt, and almost 700 years before Basil Valentine ; although 
the alteaierj of these decomposing (diHSoIving) acids was long 
ascribed to the three last experimentalists. 

Razes gives the rules for the vinous fermentation of amylum 
and sugar, and for the distillation of alcohol, or al SoAcda, 
which in Arabic means the sulphuret or common ore of anti- 
mony used by the Arabian women to blacken their eyebrows. 



ardent spirit, beliering that a hisUy concentrated spirit w_ 
the result : hence the word Alcohol, a corruption of al Ka- 
hala. 

HEBMES TRISHEGISTUS. 

Hermes Trismegistus is generaUy mentioned as one of the 
earliest alchemists ; from him alchemy has been called the H«r- 
metie art ; and the word hermetic, still in common use, is derived 
from Hermes, and employed to denote perfectly close, so that 
DO air can escape ; but the ancient htrm^ic atal was formed by 
fusing the month or extremity of a vessel so as to close it en- 
tirely. Still the writings bearing the name of Hermes are un- 
doubtedly spurious. With the view of gaining en 
alchemy, it was also tailed the Egyptian science ; 
Cuvier, the art of transmuting meti^ was a mere 
the middle ages, utterly unknown to antiijuity i 
tended books of Hermes are evidently supposititious, 
written by the Greeks of the lower ilmpire." 



Passing over less celebrated alchemists, we come t 
Hagnos, a Gterman, bom in 12SS. In his treatise De 
he describes all diemical sabatances known in hit 
was wiell acquainted with ohemicftl apnaratus, and 



Thingt not generaUy Known. 



method of puri^dng the predous mettilB. He inugined that the 
metalB were oompmed of mercmy and sulphnr, and accounts 
for the diyereity of them by tie difference in the proportion of 
their constituents and their purit]'. His writings are in geni- 
tal plain and intelligible ; Thomas Aquinaa is believed to have 
been the pnpil of Albert. He wrote three works on alciiemy ; 
and the word Anudgam,* signiffins a compound of mercury 
and another metal, occurs, and probably for the first time, in 



BATMONH LCLIT. 

Nearly half a century earlier, in 1234, was bom, at Majorca, 
Bajmond LuUy, stated to have been the scholar and the friend 
of Roger Bacon. His reputation as an alchemist was very high : 
he was well acquainted with chemical compounds, and their 
action upon each other ; he obtained nitric acid by distilling a 
mixture of nitre and green vitriol, observed its power of acting 
upon metals genially, and of dissolring gold when mixed witE 
sal ammoniac. He appears to have taken Geber for his model 
late in life. 

LuUy's hialor; is ^lecaliBiJ; intereatiog to the Eogliih reader from 
his biograpliers' stating that, upoQ the inTitatioQ of the sovereigD, he 
wttled ui England, and ui apartments aaaigned for hig use in the Tower of 
Lonijoii refined much gold ; superintended the coinage of mst-iKAla, 
and made gold out of iron, quiotrilver, lead, and pswter, to the amount 
of Bix millions I That he came to England is ntteated in a work attri- 
buted to him on the Tiansmutation of Metals, though it is not cleKr 
whether he came at the intercession of Edward L or IL That ho was 
employed in refiuiog gold and in ooiniag, "in the chamber of St. Katha- 
rine," in the Tower, ig reasonable enough ; and rumouc maj- haie as- 
signed to him the possession of the arand secret^ which he did not 
contradict. He left many learned works, among which were trealiaeH 
on physics, SBtronomy, medicine, and chemistry. 

From 'this it is inferred that Iiully lived in the Hospital of 

St. Eatherine, so as to be near the Mint-works in the Tower. 

In the TOK-wible the image of the sim, surmounted by the 

mysticalflower, as well as the inscription on the obverse, "Jesus 

antem transiens per medium illorum ibat," must, according to- 

the adepts, be considered as denoting Uie art which formed 

the precious metal. Lully was hospitably received by Abbot 

Cremer in the Abbey at Westminster; and many years after 

is decease, a little chest, filled with the powder ottransmuta- 

'u, was found in the cell which he had inhabited. Lully had 

ised to make any more money for the king, who had broken 

condition — that it should be employed in making war upon 

ids and unbelievers ; whereas Edward had spent the sup- 



imalffqn, ai 

WbUhOiR 



Curiosities of Science. 



J lies in his wiUB with the Scots. In Uie dispute nhich UA- 
)n'ed, tho king waxed wroth, and, aa Aahmole relates, conGoed 
Lull; in the Tower, where he remained for a loog time, and 
at length escaped in the disguise of a leper. 



In the thirteenth century arose for the first time the idea 
that the Philosopher's Stone had the power of healing disease 
and of restoring ^outh. This idea was developed from the 
Opinioii that the ntal process was nothing else than a chemical 
process. With the Philosopher's Stone it was possible to heal 
metals of their maladies, to render them healthy, and convert 
^em into gold ; and tiie idea that it must have a like effect 
upon the human body naturally su^ested itself. Hollandus, 
in his Opue Saiumi, says of the healmg virtues of the Stone : 
" A portion of it, the size of a grain of wheat, should be laid in 
wine, and then given to the patient. The action of the wine 
irill penetrate to the heart, and spread itself through all the 
juices. The patient will sweat, and therefore become not 
more weary, but even stronger. and more cheerfuL This dose 
should be repeated every mnth day, when the patient shall 
think he is no loneer a man, but a spirit. He shall feel as if 
he were nine days m Paradise, and living on its fruits " Solo- 
mon Trimousin maintains that, when an old man, he renewed 
his youth by means of a grain of the Philosopher's Stone 1 His 

EUow wrirJdes became emooth and white, his cheeks rosy, 
1 gray hairs black, his back, bowed with age, became erect. 
He restored, as he asserts, perfect youthfulness to ladies ninety 
years of age ! 

This was, however, the abuse of the preeminence which 
the scientific men of that early age had obtained, "The ex- 
pectations of the alchemists to find a Universal Medicine were 
not altogether irrational and useless. The success of the 
Arabian physicians in the use of mercurial preparations natur- 
ally led to the belief that other medicines still more general in 
their healine powers might yet be brought to light ; and we 
have no doubt that many important discoveries were the result 
of such over-strained expectations ; but when the alchemists 

Siretended to have obtained such a medicine, and to have con- 
erred longevity by administering it, they did equal violence to 
reason and to truth." — Sir JO. Breaster. 

In all metata (layB liabig), according to tha creed of tbe aloliemists, 
Ibere is containod a prinoiple which eives to them tlie metallic charao- 
t*r. Thia is the nurcuTv <& Oil adipta. To inoreaBs the proporHoD of 
thi« principle in the bassr metals, is to ennoble them. If we ortraot 
this motalUo principla from any body or metal, if we inoreaaa iW power 
byreflnioe it, and thus produeo the qointaMBoe of aU sutoKwKy (to 



Thingi not generally Known. 



aoin a wonl), we li&Te the Staae, whioli, vban made to aot on base or 
unripe metalg, matures and ennobles thsm. Tbe mode of action of the 
FhiloKjj^er'a Stone tfaa considered bv macy afl analogoue to that of & 
ferment. " Does not jeast change the juice of planes or a aoluti 
i new arran^ment of their particlefl, into tbe youth-g 



au^r, by a new arran^ment of their particlefl. Into tbe youth-^ving 
and iDTiKiratinc- water of life {aqua nta, alcohol) T Does it not efbct 
Uie eiptilsion ofall impurities ? Does not a ferment (sour dough) con- 
Tsrt floor into uomiBhing bread?" — GiorgeBippd, IStbcentuiy. 

In its utmost perfection, as the univeriait, one part, according V- 
Soger Bacon, sufficed to tranamute a milHon parts, accardiofr to Bxty- 
mond LuUy, a thousand billions of parts, of^a base metal into gold. 
Acoording to Basil Valentine, the power of the Philosophez'fl ^oue 
extends only to serenty parts ; and Dr. Price, the last ^chemist aod 
gold-maker of tbe eighteenth ceDtury, desoiibes it as transmatiDg only 
from thirty to sixty parts of base mataL — LiAi^i FamUiar LeUert on 
ChaniilTy. * 

The preparation of the Philosopher's Stone ia thus briefly 
given by Isaactis HolIanduB : From the adamite esrth — virgin 
earth — to be found every where, but on certain conditions 
knows to the initiated alone, "the pbiloaopher obtains, first, 
the meroui; of the adepts, which oiffera from the ordinary 
quicksilver, and is the qumtessenoe — the first condition— of the 
creation or procreation ofall metala. To this is added philoso- 

Ehical gold, and the mixture is left for a long time in an incu- 
atory, or broodtjpg furnace, which must have the form of all 
egg. There is thus obtained a black Bubetance, the raven's 
h^, or eapvt eorvi, which, after long exposure to beat, is con- 
verted into a white body. This is the white swan, nygnia 
ofitM. After this has been long and more fiercely heabed, it 
becomes yellow, and finally bright red, and now tbe great work 
is consummated. " 

Tet, although tbo esiBtenae of the Stone was regarded for 
(»ntnries as im eatablished truth, no one possessed it \ each 
adept only maintaining that it was in the poaseasiou of another. 

BOGEB BACON. 



chemy, he made its study secoudary to other pursuits after 
universal knowledge : indeed, his astrology and alchemy are 
usually called the two great biota on his character. He is the 
" Friar Bacon" of the story-books ; and the cirouioGtanoe of his 
being a Franciscan destined him to many years' persecution on 
account of bis discoveries during his lifetime, and to the low 
reputation of being an impostor for centuiies after his death. 
But he was not on^ tbe greatest man of his time, but was many 
centuries in advance of his age. He was bom about 1214, and 
wns educated at that seat of early science, Morton College, Ox- 



Curiosities of Science. 



ford. "Neglecting oonunon opinion," he studied physiology, 
nuLthematics, and chemistrj ; spent ten ^ears on geometry, and 
ten others on the cognate sciences ; while he laid out 2000/., 
an enormous sum in those days, in the purchase of booka, the 
oonatruction of instruments, and the training up of young 
scholars to BBBist him in working out his calculations. Bacon 
theo became a Franciscan. The order at first felt proud of pos- 
sessing the greatest scholar in Christendom ; but the monks soon 
grew jealous, and he was forbidden to teach, or even to study, 
until Clement IT. OTerruied the friars, and Bacon soon pro- 
duced his Opus Majjit, the first portion of a work to convey the 
totality of science. This was succeeded by two other treatises, 
the Opus Minus and the Opat Tertium. After Clement's death. 
Bacon's order again imprisoned him on account of " some sus- 
pected novelties ;" he Uved until 1292 ; but bis enemies still 
feared him, and his manuscripts were locked up by the monks, 
and left to be eaten by insects 1 

Bacon was a great founder of physical science by his wise 
doubts and reverence for facts. He speaks of experimental phi- 
losophy as more perfect than all the natural Bciences ; '' for it 
teaches us to test by trial the noble conclusiona of all the sci- 
encee, which, in the others, are either proved by logical argu- 
ments or are examined cm. the imperfect evidence of nature ; 
and this is its prerogative.'' As a workman in the laboratory, 
and with lenses, he himself discovers the history of explosive 
compounds, confirms the properties of burning-glasses, and the 
principle of the camera. His knowledge of medicine even os- 
tended to dietetics. In physical science he almost predicts 
the steam-boat and the nulway-ennne and the beam-cridge ; 
Bacon believing that " engines of navigation may be made 
without seamen, so that the greatest river and sea ships, with 
only one man to steer them, may saO swifter than if they were 
fiilly manned. Moreover ohariois," he thinks, " may be made 
BO as to be moved with incalculable force without any beast 
drawing them." "And such things might be made to infi- 
nity, as, for instance, bridges to traverse rivers without pillars 
or any buttress." Although in these iastances Bacon may 
have been rather a prophet than a teacher, he is admitted to 
have been by bx the truest philosopher ofthemiddle ages. One 
of the charges made against him was that of practising mw<^ 
which was then frequently brought a^iust those who studied 
the sciences, and particularly chemistry. Yet in his tract 
DeNidliCaU Ifagirs Bacon declares that experimental science 
enables us to investigate the practices of magic, not with the 
intent of confirming them, but that they mav be avoided by 
the philosopher. Even his astrology and alchemy are, when 
considered by the side of a later age, irrational only because 



Thtnffs not general^/ Known. 



unproved; uid ntuther impoBsible, nor an^Torthj of the inves- 
tigatton of a philoBopher in tho abseuc« of preceding e^eri- 



ABNOLD D£ T 

Somewhat later than LuUr lived Arnold de Tilleneuve, bom 
in 1 240, and who was not only an alchemist, but an astrologer | 
and magician, a phTaioian, and ncU skilled in the Bcieucea of I 
his time, ^a Bosariam ia a compendiom of the alchemj of I 
hiaday: the second part professes to treat ofthemaking of the 
Fhilosopher'B Stone, out is quite unintelligible. Like his pre- 
decessors, he considered meroiir; as a constituent of metaU, I 
and professed that he could increase the Philosopher's Stone at I 
pleasure. He and LuUj inspired men of all ranks with a taste 
for alohemv ; among whom was Pope John XXIL, who professed 
and described the ui of tnuunntitinK metals, and boasted that ' 
he had made 200 ingots of gold, each weighing 100 pounds I I 

ALCHEMISTS OF THE 14TH AND UTH CENTDBIES. 

The fonrteenth centary produced man; al^emute ; but the 
fifteenth century was still more productive in ade^ — a term, by I 
the way, which has passed from the technology of alchemy to , 
that of chemistry, and thenc« into our language to denote 
persons completely skilled in the secrets of art. About 1406 
flourished two kinsmen named Holiandus, who wrote several j 
treatises on chemistty remarkable for clearness and precision ; 
Boerhaave ^insidered the kinsmen skilful chemists. 

In England, a le^sktive blow was aimed at Alchemy in 
1404, when on Act of Parliament was passed declaring the mak- 
ing of goldand silver to be felony. This shows the general belief 
in the art, since the law arose from the fear that some fortunate 
alchemiet should succeed in his pnnect, and thus bring ruin on 
the State. This alarm soon subsided ; for in r4£S Henry TL, 
by advice of his council and parliament, granted patents and 
commissiona to several knights, citizens of London, chemists, 
monks, roaas-priests, and others, to find out the Ptulosopher'a 
Stone and Kliiir, " to tlie great benefit," said the paten^ " of 
the realm, and the enabling of the king to pay all the debts of 
the Crown in real gold and silver." No gold, of course, was 
ever made. The kin^ appointed a commission to inquire whe- 
ther the transmataUon of metals were piacticable ; but their 
report is not extant. 

In this reign, at the east end of the road subsequently known 
as Pall Mall, stood a large low Oothio building, called the Rook- 
ery, belonging to the monks of Westminster. At the Refor- 
mation, when this building was demolished, there is a tradition 
that in acomer of an inner apartment tite remains of a smithy 



Curiosities of Science. It 

ynt6 fcnmd, with a timber roof thickly inorusted with bitu- 
'minoufl smoke. This Bmith; or forge was reputed to have been 
erected by order of Eeniy TI., that he might tliere attempt 
to repieniah his empty coffers by alchemy : the record of thi» 
propoBition coatoioB solemn asseverations of the feasibility and 
virtne of the Philosopher's Stone; andtbedocumentispresumed 
to have been communicated by Selden to bis friend Ben Jonson, 
when be was writing his comedy of the AlcAtmiii, which, like 
AUmmazar (inDodsley's collection), satirises pretended adepts. 
Upon the site of the amithy in Pall Mall was built the first 
Carltoa House. 

GEOBQE SIPLET. 

In the succeeding reign, Oeorge Ripley, the canon of Brid- 
lington in Yorkshirey protended to have discovered the secret. 
He wrote the MeduUa Alckymia ; and, in rugeed rhyme, Tkt 
Compmead of Alchemy ; or, the Thudve Oaies leadiriff to th^ DU- 
eovay of the PhUoaopher'a Stone, which was dedicated to Ed- 
ward IV. These gates Kpley described to be "calcination, 
solution, separation, conjunction, putrefaction, congelation, 
dbation, Hublimatlon, fermentation, exaltation, multipUoation, 
and projection." He left afewothercompositions on Alchemy, 
ithicn were printed by Ashmole. "They have no other merit 
(says Warton) than that of serving to develop the history of 
chemistry in England." Ripley is said to have been bom at 
Boston, by others at Ripley in Yorkshire. His discovery of the 
Stone is dated 1470. Sdden says: "Ripley, the alchemist, 
when he made gold in the Tower, tiie fii^t time he found it, 
spoke these words, "Pf medium eoram, that is, per mediwih 
wnii et ttdphurii." He turned C^rmehte at St. Botolph'B in 
loncolnahire, and died an anchorite in that fraternity, in I490> 
(Thompson's jBw(o»yan<fJj«is;uiiie« of Boston, \%bQ.) Ripley 
iq>pears to have repented of his wasted life, to have acknow- 
lei^ed that his studies were nothing worth, and requested that 
all men, when they met with any of his books, would bum 
Shaa, or afford them no credit, as they were " false and vain." 
Such U the statement of Fuller, in his Worthiei of £!ngland. 



Basil Talenline, a Benedictine monk of Erfdrt in Germany,, 
bom about the end of the 14th century, was the next famous 
professor of the hermetic philosophy, and was likewise a skilful 
experimentalist in chemistry. He was of opinion that the 
metals were compounds of salt, sulphur, and mercui^ ; and that 
the Philosopher's Stone was composed of the same ingredients. 
He was acquunted with many of the properties of several 
metals, and with the effects of their chemical agency. He first 



IS Things not generally Known, 

introduced tkotiinoii]' into medioine, and knew most of the pre- 

Ctioue of it which at present exist in the phanuacopceias of 
>pe. In his famous Currat THumjihalii AiuiTnoaii, he eays : 
" Antimonj, like onto merciiry, ma; fitly be compared to a 
round circle, of which there is no end ; in which the more dili- 
gently any man aeekg, the more he £nda, if process be made by 
him in a right and due order. Fet the life of no one man it 
euffioiad for him to learn all the mysUritt thereof." With what 
astonishment would Basil, if be could revisit the earth for h^ 
-an hour, hear of antimonioua, antimonic, and metantimonic 
acids ; of antimoniuretted bydrogen, penta-sulphide of anti- 
mony, stiblo-methylc, stibio-ethyle, and the like. The coaches 
of bis day did not differ more from the lailway-carriBges of 
ours than bis "CumiB Triumpbalis" does from such a Tri- 
umphal Chariot of Antimony as Ho&nann, if he chose, could 
mount upon literal; wheels at the present day. Yet Ho&nann 
'Could find no better motto to put upon the panel of his chariot 
than Baeil's words, "Ho one knows all the virtues of Anti' 
mony ;" and I may add (b^b Dr. Wilson), no man ever will; 
nor is the chemist better on in respect to other things than he 
IS in respect to Valentine's favourite metal.* His works con- 
tain the first aocurate mention of the nitric, muriatic, and sul- 
phuric acids, with intelligible directions for preparing them ; 
and he was acquainted with a very considemble number of 
metallio salts and compounds. 

AGRIPFA. 

Cornelius Agrippa, bom in Colore in 1486, b^an in his 
youth the study of chemistry and philosophy ; and at the early 
age of twenty was so &jnous an atchemist that the principu 
adepts of Paris invited him to settle in France, and aidthem 
is experience 

.._a professedly _ ^-^ —, 

regarded as an alchemist, an astrologer, 

titioner of magioal arts. He died in poverty in 1535. 

FA£AGE£S0S. 
Paracelsus, "thezenithandrisingsunofaU theaJcbemiBts," 
was bom near Zurich at the close of the fifteenth centurj. 
He was early initiated into the secrets of astrology and tJ- 
cbemy by his fether, who was a physician, and by the Abb6 
^ritbreim. He passed his jrouth in visiting mines, curing 
diseases, foretelling the future, and seeking tiie Piiilcsopher'B 
Stone, He is said to have learned a few secrets of alwiemy 

com some Tartars, by whom he was made prisoner in Poland ; 

id he obtained some further mysteries in a journey to Egypt. 

■ Fnin Dr. Georga Wllxm's mdntliBble £sut cm Chemlul FIn&l Cmieei 

lUbuTihEtavt, lese). 



CurioHties of Science. 13 

He read little, but talked and listened to all classes. Alchemje 
was at this time Mling into discredit, when Paracelsua under- 
took to revive and reliabilitBte the atudj. In 1S26 he returned 
to Switzerland, where a luck; and striking cure led to hia 
b«diig appointed Profeseor of PhyBio and Surger; at Basle. He 
there set himself in opposition to all doctors, past and present,. 
when the students joined him in his attack upon the Schools, 
and burned the writings of Hippocrates, Galen, and Ayicennain 
the very court of the University, Some lucky cures confirmed 
his reputation, hut it lasted only a short time. Heflew to dis- 
sipation, became a wandering quack, and died iu hia forty- 
eighth year. As a medical mormer, he propounded a novel 
and strCting Physiology. Nevertheless he broke down in his 
two great pretensions ; for this boasted possessor of the Philo- 
eopher's Stone and the Ehiir of Life died in poverty at uv 
early age. His discoveries were, however, important. To 
him wo owe the idea of employing poisons as medicines ; he 
made known to Europe various preparations of antimony, i 



as medicaments. "The vaunts of Paracelsus of the power of 
his cjiemical remedies and elixirs, and his open condemnation. 
of the ancient pharmacy, backed as they were by many sur- 
prising cures, convinced all rational physicians that chemistry, 
could fiimish many excellent remedies unknown till that time. 
A number of valuable experiments began to be made by phyd- 
dans and chemtata ; and the chemi^ and metallurgic arts,, 
exercised by persons empirically acquainted with the secrets, 
be^aa to be seriously studied, with a view to the acquisition of. 
rauonal and useful knowledge." 

Paracelsus therefore gave a most important turn to phar- 
maceutical chemistry; and calomel, with a variety of mercu- 
rial and antimonial preparations, as likewise opium, thence- 
forth came into general use. He had learned the properties of. 
r' im from Turkey ; the physicians of his time being afraid of 
drug as "cold in the fourth degree." Tartar was like- 
wise a great &vourite of Paracelsus, who gave it that name, 
" because it contains the water, the salt, the oil, and the acid 
which bum the patient as hell (Tartarus^ does." Such was- 
the influence of Paracelsus, that a sect of Paiacelsists sprang 
up in France and Germany to perpetuate his extravagant doo- 
tnnes, and the term Paracelsio was afterwards applied to tha 
vocabulary of alchemists. His magical doctrine appears to 
have been founded upon the supposed esistence of the Philoso- 
pher's Stone. He muntained that the Bible was the key to- 
the theory of all diseases, and that the Apocalypse shows the 
agnificotion of modem medicine. The man who could identify- 



14 Tkingt not generally Known, 

himself with the celestial intelligences possessed the FhiloBO- 
phcr's Stone, he could cure all diseases, and prolong life aa 
many centuries aa he pleased ; it being b; the veiy sanie means 
that Adam and the antediluvian patriarchs prolonged theirs. 
In the stomach of every man there dwelt a demon, or intelli' 
gence, that was asori: of alchemist, andmiied in their due pro- 
portions, in his crucible, the various aliments that were sent 
into that grand laboratory the belly. ParaselauB was proud of 
the title of magician, and advocated potable Kold and the 
Elixir of Life. He im^ned that gold could cure the ossification 
of the heart, and, in iact, all diseases, if it were gold which bad 
been transmuted ^m an inferior metal by meana of the Phi- 
losopher's Stone, and if it were apphed under certain conjunc- 
tions of the planets. Thus wo see that bis application of the 
Stone was to the caring of diseases. 

BAPTISTA POETA. 

Porta, in the book of his Ifatv/ral Magic which he devotes 
to " Alchemy," is strangely inconsistent. He acknowledges 
that be neither promised the Stone nor the Slisir, which are 
mere dreams. He commends Diodesion for having destrojed 
the treatises on Alchemy ; and agrees with Demetrius Fhale- 
reus, " that what the alchemists should have gotten, they got 
not ; that what thej had, they lost ; and the transmutation 
which they sought took place, not in the metal in their fur- 
naces from lead to gold, but in their own circumstances from 
good to bad.'' Yet, in the very nest chapter, Porta treats 
" of tin, and how it may be converted into a worthier metal ;" 
and he even tella na how to chan^ silver into gold, though 
Bometimea he seems to consider his recipes as genuine, and at 
other times as clever impositiona. He next treats of counter- 
feiting precious stones, not by solution and reciystaUisation, 
but by colouring glass, and putting coloured foU under the 

ALCHEMISTS AHIl COINEKS. , 

In the reign of Elizabeth, certain persons who, by the ptae- 
tice of Alchemy, proposed to add to or imitate the Queen's 
coin, were committed prisoners to the Tower of London. 

"The chief of these was Cornelius dc Launoy, an alchemist, 
who gravely proposed to the Queen to put in operation the 
Wonderful Ehxir, and to make any metal into gold and gems. 
He Eo far succeeded with her as to be allowed to carry on his 
works at Somerset House. Of course he failed : on being re- 
ported to have greatly abused the Qaeea's confidence, he was 
committed to the Tower in 1566, where he still professed to be 
able to perfect his experiments, had it not been for the ob- 
ataoles tluxiwn in hia way. 



CurioHtieg of Science. 16 

" In July lfi70, two other alchemiBtB, who had been in- 
clined to piactise on their own account, were also &Toured 
with an af? liun here : they were John Bidkeley, a atudent at 
Oxford, and William Bedo, a stationer, who propoBed to oast a 
figure for the recovery of lost money, and professed to have 
many alchemical secrets for diminishinK and lessening the coin 
of the realm by sweating, &o." — M. W. Durrani Cooper, Ar- 
ckteologia, vol, xxxvii. 

DEE AMD KELLY. 

St. Dee, and his asmatant Edward EeUy, were more noto- 
rions as praotitionen of magio than of alchemy. Dee, when at 
Oambridge, quitted the mathematics and the pniauits of true 
philosophy for alchemy, astrology, and magic, and thereby 
rendered himself obnoxious in the authorities of Uie University. 
He was so^iected of sorcery ; and to avoid persecution, he fled 
to Louvain, where many followers of ComeliUB Agrippa encour- 
aged him to gipe himself up to the search for the PUlosopher'a 
Stone. Upon his return to England, he settled in London as an 
astrologer, casting natlTities, telling fortunes, and pointing out 
lucky and unlucky daja. He was charged with attemptiugQueen 
Maiy'a life b^ means of enchantment, and narrowly escaped 
burning in Smithfield. Though Dee lived by astrology, his heart 
— is in alchemy. He deeply studied the Talmudic mysterf"" 

, ..,.._... ..... vjg f ^j ji ,, 



and bdieved that he might hold converse with spirits and 
angels, and learn from them all the mysteries of the universe. 
He persuaded himself that an angel appeared to him, and gave 
him a crystal, in which spirits would appear to him : and he 
similar^ employed a "show-stone," a piece of polished cannel- 
coaL He then employed Kelly to take down in writing the re- 
velationa he received bom the spirits ; but the man was much 
more of an impostor than his master, Meanwhile Dee, who 
had enjoyed the &vour of the Princess Elizabeth, was coun- 
selled Dj him aa to her coronation-day, and Elizebe^ supported 
him when queen : she consulted bim at his house at Mortlako 
upon state matters, and thither crowds flocked to have their 
nativities cast. He pretended to have found a vial of Elixir 
Vita among the ruins of Olastonbuty Abbe; ; but he is stated 
to have spent so much in drugs and metals to work out his 
trausmutations that he never became rich. He made a long 
tour on the Continent, and gajned dupes even amoug crowned 
heads : while there, he sent to Queen Elizabeth a round piece 
of silver, which he pretended he had made of a portion of brass 
cnt out of a warming-pan. At length he parted with Kelly ; and 
thrown Upon his own resources, began in earnest to search for 
the PhiloGOpher's Stone : he worked incessantly smong his 



16 TTiitigs not geaerally Known. 

faniaccB, retorts, and crucibles ; he consnltedbis ciTStaL* Bat 
Itaving parted with Eellj, who had been the main-spring of the 
imposition, the Epirits nould not appear ; he trit»l other help- 
mates, but without success; he could get no information on 
the Stone or Elixir, and so fell into want. Durine his absence 
from England, a mob hud pillaged his house at Mortlake, and 
had burnt his books, and destroyed his instnunents and curi- 
oEitiea in his museum, accusing him of being a necromancer 
and wizard. For this damage oe claimed oompenaation, but 
received only emaU sums from the Queen. He, however, was 



Hortiake, where he died in poTerty in 1608, and was buried in I 
MorUake church. Dee had a son, Arthur, whom he employed as 
a thyer, or inspector of his magical glass, when h« was a bor. He I 
wrote a tract on Alchemy, or the Hermetic Science, putmshed 
in 1631. I 

Sm THOUAS BROWNE ANO THE ALGHEUISTS. i 

Sir Thomas Browne, in letters to Lilly and Ashmole, bears 
testimony most uaequivooally to the sincerity of Dr. Arthur 
Dee's b^ief in the power of alchemy to transmute the baser 
metals into gold and silver, which he assured Sir Thomas he 
had "ocularly, nndeceivabl^, and frequently" beheld. He 
was even on the point of going to the Continent in pursuit of 
Buoh riches, had not the death of the artist, with whom he was 
about to hazard his property, moat opportunely prevented him. 
Sir Thomas had also another zealous Blchemist among his cor- 
respondents. Id the person of Sir Robert Paston, with whom he 
communicated from 166a to 1672, principally on experiments 
which Sir Eobert was making in alchemy. But Browne him- 
self did not place any reliance upon alchemical studies, which, 
however, he r^atded as the cradle of chemistry. , 

SEBVICES OF ALCHEUI TO UEBICIHE, 

The Fharmaoopceia of the Galenical school contained no 
chemical preparations, and consisted exclusiveiy of or^nic 
substances : musk, rhubarb, castoreum, camphor, tamarrnds, 
^Dger, zedoary root, and the like, were the chief remedies. 
Pharmacy then coimsted in the art of bringing these matters . 
into the form of bjtuob aud electuaries ; herbs, barks, and 
roots were administerea in the form of decoctions or of powders. 
On the authority of Qalen, all metallic preparations were up to 
that time banished from the Pharmacopceia. He regarded 
mercurial preparations simply as poisons. Avicenna, it is true, 

* Bee tba aceDDiit of Dee's CiyBtsl In i^ipuiar Erron ^Scpdina^ p. US. 



Gtriositieg of Science. 17 

bad ascribed to gold and silver powers of pnri^ing the blood ; 

but these metale, as a general rote, were used onl; in the form 
of leaf to cover pills ;* and so lato as the end of the fifteenth 
century, the external use of mercurial ointmentfi, prepared witb 
&t, enoountered the fiercest opposition. 

The viensof Qalen as to thecause of diseiise and the aotioa 
uf remedies, after haring been for thirteen centuries regarded 
" 1 impregoable truths, in the sixteenth century yielded t< "* " 



new discoTerits seemed to be opened up by the ideas of the 
alchemists, and by the use of chemical preparations in medicine. 



One of these aocuments records, on Not. 7, 1607, Napier's con- 
ference with Mr. Daniel Muller, Doctor of Medicine and 
Student in Alchemy, at whose bedside Napier declares himself 
to have been many years a very earnest student in alchemy ; 
and to have received from a credible friend, whom he sent to 
the mines of Histria, a Venetian province at the top of the 
Adriatic, ' ' a little piece of the eartlt of those mines, about the 
q^nantlty of a haz^-nut, which, as he brake, there appeared 
scales of quicksilver within the some, and the crude mercury 
flowed forth without the fire. With this (says Napier) I per- 
fected the philosophical work, as you may do with the like ; for 
this mercury, being taken with fine silver which never did find 
fire, and enclosed in. a matrix, will become black within the 
^nce of forty days, and thereafter will become wiiite ; and 
then is the point and term to loose it, if you do not join it with 
fine gold tliat never did find the fire, when instantly that which 
was taken of mercury and Ivna (or silver) will devour up the 
ffold ; and at this conjunction or fermentation endeth the first 
work, called opui lunce (the silver operation), and begiiineth 
unmediately the second, called opus aotit (the golden operation). 

In this Dperem/uyourworkbecomea blacker Uian in Optra fuiur, and 
then white, and at lait red. 

Both these works are parfomned in a year, to wit, two months and a 
half in open lunai, and nine months and & half in opert solii. 

And for potidera I take nine of crude mercury ior one of crude luna 
{or direr), and thia 1 coqjom "with one of sol (or ^Id) in tKundo open. 

So luna is the medi-um cotijangetiidi ; and hereof cometh three moc- 

• The U013 or tHe Medici of FlDience were ttaiee gilded pUls. In illnslon to 
the pmfeseionil origin of their naioB. Indeca, meSiMl algm wore genenlly 
elided; as the Odim Ety, Oilen's Heads, and a.t OcUat PttOe aiid Mortar. 
We remeiDber thd latter slpi In Fall Mall, at the hoiiBe neil to whlcn llTed Br. 



18 Thingg not generally Known. 

curiea, to wit, the first, which li vieratrita ervdui, &nd a oalled tacm- 
rinujrigidiu, aeetum, oiercuriiu minwolu; the woond, which is ttaia 
diesolTed in erode mercui? to the point of wbiteneaB, is called mereuriia 
'■-lidiu, acttMm, aetrrimvm,, mercariuj ^Mgttafiilit, gviia /uno at pionla 
1 Bilrer in the root) ; the third, wUah is >ol diuolTed tsj iba 

\a called mtrcutiiu ealidiu, ni«retmw aninalit. 

.her,'aaidho(Dr.Mul 

duQa FhiloBOphigj Henueties, 



(becauBi 



farther,' aaiA he (Dr. Muller), 'the little amher-table entitled "Me- 



B, citing teitH ont of Clangor Bucoin», 
' re the premises, and eapecialiy 

., ^„ c , d glass which I did see was in 

.er, throughout all its texture, coloured with Ha stuff' which 
he made in tJ:iat same glass. 

Further, he spake lo the Iriplici tUK tapidw, after Paracelsus : first, 
intransmutatious of metals; secondly, in curing diseases; and thirdly, it 
is iapia divin-iu, for magical oaes. 

Now when 1 heard these thinga and had sud unto him, 'My lord, 
that matter is marvelloun, if you be sure of the truth thereof by pr&c- 
tioe, ' ha answered, with eamestness, ' In Uvth 1 have practised it to 
the end, and made projection, and found it true.' 

Again, when I demanded of him how it fortuned that he did not 
multiply his stuff, and keep the same, he answered, ' I lacked crude 
mercury, without which it cannot be multiplied again. ' 

Upon the 9bh of NoTember, I conferred with him anin anent some 
doubts, quodfoTutrakit rtge^jgl nonrex/oTtlnn, andsodolho^ua Tiffia; 
but vulgar mercury, on the contrary, non trahit toUa,, ted sol euml Ho 
answered, that whatover Tulgar mercury or orudo mercury do, yet this 
mercuiT philosophical, of crude mercury and silver, will inatanuy diluk 

Zgoli^ and draw it in, initio itatndi operia. Then I demanded when 
>uld the second work begin, and what wns the sign before the pt^nt 
of danger to the work. He answered, that after perfect whiteness 'vt 
opere prima, there would appear, in an instant, a small hair-like circle 
surrounding the mattor, and attached to the sides of the vessel ; then in- 
stantly ferment with gold, and it will presently eat up all tha gold, and 
that circle will vanish ; but if you stay lon^ in fermenting, the work 
will become all cUrintt and more dry than it can dissolve tJie gold ; for 
t^ gold most be sown tn terrain aibamfoliaiam, 

lAien I demanded what terra albafoUata was. He answered, that 
at the point of whiteness, in the first operation, the matter of mercury 
and Zuna became like the small scales of a fish- Then £ remembered 
that my father showed me that he made a work which became terra 
olba foliaia, moat like the leaves of a book sat on edge, of Kit, hina, 
agua regit, and agvajartit. 

Thereafter, about the 16th day of March 1608, the doctor showed 
me that he had reoeited glad tidings of the safe return of Lionel 8tni- 
thers, his said friend, from Eistria, to England ; and he showed me a 
certain antique figure, with certaia ver^ of congratulation which lio 
hod made, and was sending to him in joy of his safe return. 

So, nithin ten days, he came to Ediubm^h to the Soctor.and brought 
with him great store of mineral mercury, which never had felt fire, and 
Bome nnfincd, easy to be wrung out &om his ore. The Doctor gave me 
lecretly a smidl portion both of the one and of the other ; as also a very 
imall part of funa mineral unSned ; hut I purchased more, both of 
tcotoh and Gorman tuna. As for sol [gold) mineral, we have enough 
1 Scotland, rests time and opportunity to eoteipriae the work, nitli ua 



CtiTuaities of Science. 19 

bleanng of Qod to perform tlia umc^ to hto gloiT tu>d ooiolbrt of hia 
lemuits, whioli the Almifrhty grajit to ua, nhoae hoij bkoB be praisad 
and nsf^iified for erer and erer. Amen. 

From another Ms. preBsrved in the Napier charter-Cihest, 
iniHen suhBequentlj to the death of the inventor of logarithim 
bj his jounger eon, Robert Napier, Mth in alchemy would ap- 
pear to have been on the increase. The son had toiled far 
more devotedly than his somewhat sceptical iather. Robert, 
by extracting the marrow of all the hermetic philoEophere and 
authors who preceded him, [irofeBsed to bequeath to his son the 
gntnd secret itaelf! It la written throughout in I^tin. In the 
pre&oe he states : 

It haa been ordained InDiTinenvvidanoe that Oiia loieiice aboold 
betr&iismitt«d to-iufroiii Honnea, its fiist inTentor, down even to these 
tdmes, a period of nearly four thoiuand years, through the Landa of tho 
Iflflmed — the majesty of tiie great mjatery behig proteoted in a oaba- 
liitdc form. That such a ecieuoe exists has also been made known to 
njs Uirou^ books ; but thefle, for the most jinrt, are so full af enigmas, 
^egoties, and figures of speech, nay of &l8itjes, m^ntificationa, and 
oontradictions, tbat thoy seem raiher to have bean written for naislead- 
ing than for instructing. Long would be the tjme, and weaiy the wan- 
dering in error, ere this divine art could bo aoqmred by any one from 
the books of the philocophets, without a faithful guide, 

SIB ISAAC KEWTOn's BELIEF IN AICHEMT, 
We gather from a chapter in Sir David Brewster's Life of 
Sir Itaac Beaton some testimony to Sir Isaac's belief in Al- 
chemy, and Ms early taste for practical chemistry, which he 
donbtlees first acquired during hia residence with Mr. Clait 
the ^wthecary at Grantham. In April 1669, he records the 
pnrcaase in London of "aqua fortia, sublimate, ojle pink, 
fine diver, antimony, vinegar, spirit of wine, white lead, salt 
of tartar, ^, together with a furnace and an air-furnace." 

Sir I^vid says, "in Newton's chemical studies bis mind was 
impressed with some belief in the doctrines of Alchemy, and 
he certainly pursued his experiments to a iate period of bis 
life, with thenope of effecting some valuable transmutationa." 
Among the sabjeots which he requests his young friend Mr. 
Aston, about to make a tour on the Continent, to pay atten- 
tion to, there are several which indicate this tendency of New- 
t4»k'B mind. " He desires him to observe the products ofnatnre, 
espedollj in mines, with the drcumstances of mixing and of 
extracting metals or minerals out of their ores,, and refiuing 
' ihem : and, what he conddered of &r more importance than 
this, he wishes him to observe if there were any transmuta- 
tions ont of one species into another ; as, for example, out of 
iron into copper, out of one salt into another, or into an in- 
Bpid body, &o. Such transmutations," he adds, "are above all 
ouierB worth his noting, being the mott Itici/eroft), and many 



30 Things not generally Knovm. 

times hieiftToiis experimxMs too, in p/tHoiophy/" He aJso 
names "a certain Titriol which changes iron into copper," 
and which is said to be kept a secret for the luerative purposea 
of effecting that transmutatioD. He ia to inquire also whether 
in Hungary, or in the mountaiiiB of Bohemia, there are liveis 
whose waters are impregnated with gold, dissolved by some cor- 
roeive fluid like aqua regis ; and whether the practice of lay- 
ing mercury in the rivers till it he tinged with gold, and then 
Beparating the gold by straining the mercury through leather, 
be stOl a secret or openly practised. There was at this time 
in Holland a notorious alchemist of the name of Bory, who, as 
Sir Isaac says, was some years mnce imprisoned by uie Popt^ 
in order to extort from Mm secrets of great worth both as to 
medicine and profit, and who made hie escape into Holland, 
where they granted liim a guard. " I think," odds Sir Isaac, 
"he usuidly goes clothed in ^reen. Pray inquire what you 
can of him, and whether his mgenuity be any profit to the 
Dutch ! " Whatever were the results of Mr. Aston's inquiries, 
they did not damp the ardour of Newton in his chemical re- 
searches, nor eitonguish the hope which be seems to have 
cherished of making "philosophy laciferoua by transmuting 
the baser metala into gold." 

The Bev. Mr. Law has stated that there were found among 
Sir Isaac's papers large extracts out of Jacob Bebmen'e works, 
written with his own hand ; and that he had learned from 
undoubted authority that in a former part of his life he was 
led into a search of the Philosopher's Tincture from the saine 
author. He afterwards etataa in a private letter that his 
Touchers are names well known, and that they have assured 
him that " Sir Isaac wae formerly so deep in Jacob Behmen, 
that he, together with Dr. Newton, his relative, set up fumaoee, 
and were for several months at work in quest of the lecture. 
That this statement is substantially true is proved by I>r. 
Newton's own letter, in which he says : ' About sis weeks at 
spring, and at y° fall, y' fire in the elaboratory scarcely went 
out, which was well furnished with chymical matermls, as 
bodyes, receivers, heads, crucibles, &o., which was made very 
little use of, y' crucibles excepted, in which he fused his metals. 
He would sometimes, tho' very seldom, look into an old mouldy 
book which lay in his elaboratory. I think it was titled Agn- 
cola de MeiaUis ; the transmuting of metals being his chief de- 
sign, forwhich purpose antimony was a great ingredient. Near 

his elaboratory was his garden His brick furnaces, 

pro re nata, he made and altered himself, without troubling a 
Bricklayer,' " 

Sir David Brewster has seen, in Newton's handwriting, The 
Metamorphoits of On Planets, by John de Monte Snyders, i] 



Curiositiet of Science. 



liity-two pages quarto ; also, a Key to the 8 



pages of alchemist p 
jntine's Myiierg of \ 
copy of SecreU Eevaatd ; or, an ojfen eMrance to the ShiU Palact 
<^ the Kiwj,'' which is covered with cotes in Sir Isaac's hand, 
iu vhich great changes are made apon the language aud mean- 
ing of the thirty-five chapters of which it consiste. Sir David 
has likewise found amongst Sir Isaac's paperaabeautifiilljmit- 



wnting entitled Thaaurut Thtamironi/m ti 

Newton too left behind him, in Ms note-books and sepa- 
rate Mss., copious extracts from the writings of the alchemists 
of all ages, and a very large /ntJex Ckemicat and SuppUrMvium 
IndiHt Chaniei, with miiiute references to the different subjects 
to .whi(^ they relate. 



BOYLE 3 PEOCESS EOB " MULTIPLYIHa GOIJ). 

In 1692, while Newton was in coireapondence with Locke, 
the process of the Hon. Robert Boyle for " multipljing gold," 
by combining a certain red earth with mercury, became the 
subject of discussion. Boyle had, before his death, communi- 
cated this process both to Newton and Locke, and procured 
for them some of the red earth. It ia obvious from letters 
citant that both the philosophers were desirous of "multiplying 
gold.'' Newton says that several chemists nere engaged in 
tTTing the process, adding that Mr. Boyle, in commiaiioating 
it to nimself, "hod reserved a part'of it from my knowledge, 
though I knew more of it than he has told me," 

This mystery on the part of Boyle (says Brewster) is very 
remarkable. In " offering his secret to Newton and Looke, he 
imposed conditions upon uiem, while, in the case of Newton at 
lea^ he did not perform his own part in the arrangement" On 
another occasion, when he communicated two experiments in 
retnmfor one, "he numbered them," says Newton, ''with such 
drcomstances as startled me, and made me a&aid of any more." 

It is a curious fact, as appears from this letter, that there 
was then a company established in London to multiply gold by 
this recipe, which Newton " takes to be the thing for which 
Mr. Boyle procured the repeal of the Act of Parliament against 
multipliers." The pretended truths inalchemy were received by 
men like Boyle on the same kind of evidence as that bj whidi 
the phrenology and clairvoyance of modem times have been 
supported. Although Boyle possessed the golden recipe for 
• Bj W. C, Lond., 1899, Bvo. " Compoaea by k most funom Engllahm™. 
rtjliug JdmBelf Antmymm, or Eunmeu P/alainlut, who, by fruplnUon Bud ntd- 



Thinfff not generally Known. 



twenty jears, yet Newton oould not find that he hiid " dther 
tried it bimaeU, or got it tried successfully by anv body else ; for," 
he says, " when I spoke doubtingly about it, he confess thU 
he had not seen it tned, but video, that a certain ffoUleman wot 
noiaaioulit, and it tweeeedtd very iBtU, to far ai At had gone, a^ 
thai all tAe iigna appeared to vxU that I need not doubt'of it." > 
Bojle, in hia pbydoJ Inquiries, iiudsted upon tha importanos of iD-l 
idi^ eiperimenta, uiil uie oomporadTS tmimportance of the betA 
wbioh on oart&in mbjinU antiquity hai himdsil down. Humboldt w^\ 



dlvidi^ eiperimenta, and Uie oomporatiTe tmimportanoe of the & 
wbioh on oert&in mbjoota antiquity hai himdsil down. Hv— '-'" - 

calls hiia "the oootiouauid doubdnK Robert Bojle." He ^ — . 

hii moat popular work the title of TAe Sceptical Cknnitl, implying haw , 
■oepUcal ha was of the seience uf his own time ; auiI he ofteu aiowi his ' 
doubt and diffidence of the opiDions he incliQea to. Yet amidst tlus 
le^on efdiffionlUesof bdief, Bovle believed in tbe efflcaoy of Valentine 
^^atrakea's mire of the Evil, and oTen oontributed to Uie PkiloiopMcal 
Traataetiont, No. 256, an account of Qreatrakea, founded upon hi3 own 
letter addreaaed to Boyla A century and a halt since. Boyle's Worii, 
trom their popularity, were becoming scarce ; and Dr. Johneoa, in the last 
century, conudering how much of our philosophyis derived from Boylo'i 
diKiOTecies, held his writings to be neglected, though his name was tere- 
ranced. A reootion in the demand for his IForit has sprung; up ; and 
at the time we write (I860], in accordancs with the inquiring, not to 
■ay Bceplaoal, spirit of the times, Boyle is again in great request. A 
baadsome editicn of his Occaiional BfjUdieni was reprinted at IjUle- 
more, and published at Oxford in 1S4^ and is olroadT scorae. lb is * 
delightful " occasional " book J worth a cartload of light literature, 

BELIEF OF GBEAT MEN IN ALCHEHY. 

There is no problem (lajs Sir David Brewster) of more dif- 
ficult solution than that which relates to the beli^ iu Alchemy, 
and to the practice of its arts, by men of high chacKcter and 
lofty attainments. 

^Then we consider that a ^;as, n fluid, and a aclid may comsit of 
the very same ingredients in different proportions ; that the same ele- 
ments with one or more atoms otwater form different substances ; that 
a virulont poison may differ from the most wholesome food only in the 
difference of quantity of the very some ingredients ; that gold snd ulver, 
and, indeed, sll the metala, may bo eitrsctod from transparent orystalB, 
which scarcely differ in their appearance fi'om a piece of common salt 
or a bit of sugar-candy ; that Alvminiuja, e. metal with almost all the 
valuable properdes of gold and platJiium, can be eitrootod from clay ; 
that light of the most daszliug colours con be obtained &cm the com- 
bustion of oolourloBS salts; that gas giving the moat brilliant light re- 
sides in alump of coal or a bloct of wood ; that several cf the gems can 
be cryHtsllised team their elements ; and that diamond is nothing more 
than charcoal, — -weneednot wonder that the most extravagant expecta- 
tions were entertained ofprocuring from the basest materials the jpre- 
cioLis metals and the noblest gema In the daily experiments of the 
olohamist, his aspirations after great disooveriea must often have been 
encouragwl by the singular phenomena which be encountered, and the 
startling results at which he arrived. The most ignorant compounder of 
simples could hardly ihdl to witness the abnost magical truuformationa 

hemical bodiea ; and every newprodoct whieh be obtained must havs 



Curiosities of Science, 23 

added to the probabililr tbat the tempting: doublst of gold and Bilyec 
won'd be thrown from the dioa-boj: with which he gambled. When any 
of tha preoiouB metals were aotoally obtained &om the otee of lead and 
ottoT minemlH, it won not unreasonable to Buppoae that they had been 
lormed during Uie prooecs ; and men act diepoBsd to speculate mif;ht 
hrre thuB embarked in new adrentures to procure a more copious supply, 
wLthoat any insult bein^ oSered to sober reosoD, or any injury iaflicMd 
m loilDd moioUty. — Life o^iSir Jtaac JVeutDn, roL ii. pp. 372-3. 

Sir David BrewBter maintaina that the Alchemy of Boyle, 
Newton, and Locke must not be considered to have been 
prompted either b; the ambition of wealth or of praise, but 
a love of truth alone, a desire to make new diecoveries in che- 
iliisti7, and a wish to test the extraordinary pretensions of their 
predecessors and their contemporaries. In so far as Newton's 
mquiriee were limited to the transmutation and multiplication 
of metals, and even to the discovery of the Universal Tincture, 
we may find some t^logy for his researches ; but we cannot 
anderstand bow a nund of such power, and so nobly occupied 
with the abstractions of geometry and the study of the material 
world, could stoop to be even the copyist of the most contemp- 
tible alchemical poetry, and the annotator of a work the OD- 
vious production of a fool and a knave. 

Leibnitz, Newton's ^reat rival, was also an alchemist ; he 
joined a society of Rosicrucians at Nurembe^, in the pursuit 
of the Philosopher's Stone. Leibnitz, however, soon renounced 
his &ith in the mystic art ; and there is reason to believe, from 
one of Newton's letters to Locke, that he had also learned to 
bftve but little coniidence even in the humbler d^>artment of 
tha mnltiplicatioD of metals.* 

VAN HELMONT. 

Ton Helmont worked most ingeniously in the illustration of 
Alchemy. When Thales had asserted ttuit water was the first 
of the elements, and that all the visible creation deduced 
therefrom its origin, it was said in subsequent a^es that the 
Janets, according to their own power and their position in fiery, 
aii7, etuthy, and watery signs, so acted upon the fluid mass as 
to produce that qnateniion of elements alone, for a long time, 
admitted by the philosophers : 

arhfi*iiTki.Nevioa wlghed blm la tuBert the BHood ud third put of ena of 
Boyla'i leoipai I tba 0nt port of whlah woi to obtain " a mercury Chit would 
grow bot wloi gold"), and wUeb Boyle bod eMnmBniuted M him on eaodiUon 
that they ilunild be published after hli death. In making this lequeat, Newto- 
'■deiireJ that It migbt not be known that It ciiqe tbmigh Us handi." And I 
adds : " One of tliem eeemi to be a coutderable eiperboenl, and may prore 
good oaa In madioine la analysing bodies. The other la only a knaok. lu dl 
•uadlng you bom l» baity a trial of Ibis recipe, 1 have rDrbanw to Hy any (bii 
gainst multlpUcation In general, beeaose you eeem perauadcd of It. tbouj 
there Is one argument against It which Iconld never Andan answer to. and vblc 
If ran will let me haTO your opinion about It. 1 will sendyonlnmyitext." IhO' 
Ur to Locke, Aug. X, 103 : Loid King's H/io/LaAi, Tol. 1.) 



Things not generally Known. 



Air, and ye elemants, tiie oldset Urtji 
Of Ntttura's womb, that in qufttBrrdoB run, 
PerpetuBl drcle, Eaultdform, and mii 
And nourieh oil tbingE. MiHon. 

Van Helmout took up this doctrine of Thales, and attempted 
'' i correctness by the following experiment ; He 



to prove its correctness by the following experiment ; He 
tooE a vessel of earth, carefully levigated, and which weighed 
exactly two hundred pounds. In thia he planted a wiflow^ 
which weighed five pounds. After the lapse of five years, ho- 
took the willow from the earth, and weighea it : it had inoreasedV 
to 164 pounds. He also weighed the earth, which had not\ 
increased or decreased in weight. Prom this he argued, that, as 
he had oarefollj prevented any thing from heing put to the 
earth hut water, and aa the earth in the vessel had lost nothing 
of its quantity, — the wood, the Bap, and all the materials o^ 
which the tree might be found by analysis to consist, were 
^ composed of water alone. "Hence," aaid he, "we need 
nothing but water to form sold ; since, by means of thia ele- 
ment, we make a tree, a jpant, an animal, even an entire 
world.'' The reasoning used by Van Helmont must have 
been unanswerable in his day, for the solution of the pheno- 
menon required a far more advanoed state of chemical science 
than at that time existed. Van Helmont pretended to have 
once performed with success the process of transmuting qniok- 
silver, and was, in consequence, invited by Eudolph ft. to fix 
his residence at the Court of Vienna, 

With a much greater show of reason he noticed some of the 

Eroperties of, what he calk, eas Bylvestre, or carbonic-acid gas : i 
e observes tiiat it ia invisible, but that it was fixed in bodies; I 
and he attributes the phenomena of the Qrotto del Cane to ita 



GIJI.UBEB AKD BRANDT. 
Qlauber, the laborious German chemist, who died in 1688, 
although an alchemist and behever in the Universal Medicine, 
greatly improved man^ chemical processes. He discovered the 
salt which yet bears Hs name ; he greatly improved the manu- 
fecture of nitric and muriatic acids ; and in his work is a rude 
representation of the implement now known as Woulfe's Appa- 
ratus. To Qlauber we also owe the first production of pjro- 
ligneous acid ; the distillation of ammonia from bones, and ita 
v>nversion into sal ammoniac by the addition of muriatic acid ; 
\e preparation of sulphate of ammonia, and its conversion into 
unate by the ageni^ of common salt ; and the production of 
Iphate of copper by acting upon green rust of copper wi6 
phuric acid. 

To Brandt, the alchemist, of Hamburg, we owe the dis- 
ery, in 1669, of the elementary non-metidlic body phos* 



Curiorities of Science. 25 

phoroB, irhich he procured from mine, while Bearchiog for 
some substance capable of transmuting silver i:ito gold. He 
kept the mode of preparation for a long time secret ; but as 
he could not conceal the &ct of its being obtained from urine, 
Konckel, another alchemical adept, tned to obtain it from 
the same source, and aacceeded. Kunokel also left a valuable 
treatise on Qlass-makingp 



[ ANDH 

In the eighteenth centuir some operations trere made 
which for a while reviTed the Dopes of hermetic students, and 
led them to consider " the great secret as almost withia their 
gmsp ;" and these bright hopes were encouraged by Qeoffroi 
and Homberg, the latter a seeker, and, as he himself once 
thought, no imsuccesaful one, of the Philosopher's Stone. 
About the Tear 1735, there was establi^ed at I^s a manu' 
&ctoi7 with the object of chan^g iron into copper ; and, as 
it was indubitable that a quantity of copper was actually sent 
out of this manu&ctor^, and it was equailj certain that nothing 
but iron and a certun vitriolic solution was need, this was 
believed to be but the first step of a series of transmutations i 
ranee he who began bj transmuting iron into copper would 
doubtless soon transmute that copper into silver, and the silver 
into gold. Much capital was invested in the Paris scheme ; 
but &e manager of the works soon disappeared, leaving behind 
him oolv a smaU quantitrof iron, and some blue vitriol, or sul- 
I^te 01 copper. The mystetv was now cleared up; uie cop- 
per centred in the vitriol had been precipitated upon the iron, 
which had been dissolved in turn, and thus the appearance of 
tnuisformation had been effected. A short time before this, 
M, Geoffroi had declared that by a certain union of clay and 
linseed~oil iron had been formed. The Alchemists of course 
rqoiced : if it were possible, even without a metal, to make 
iron, easier was it to make gold bv means of an inferior 
metal. But M. Qeoffroi had overlooked the &ct that iron 
already existed in the clay as a colouring oxide, and he can- 
didly acknowledged bis error. Pive years previously, M. 
Homberg had declared that he had not transmuted lead or any 
infnior substance into gold, but the change of gold itself into 
glass. Stilly no other person was able to proauce the same 
results. Among those who attempted was the lAndgrave of 
Hesse Cassel, who had apparatus made for the paipose ; hut 
neither he nor any one who tried succeeded, save Bombeig 
biinself. 

BEBOHAttH AND THE ALCHEMISTB. 

Bergmann, the distinguished chemist, bom in West Qoth 
land in 173S, in his Sitlory of Chemitby dtirmg the Midil 



I%ings not generally Known. 



^S"i Sivcs a number of caaea in nhioh gold has been supposed 
to be formed by the use of the Pbilosopher'B Stone. They 
were unquestionably the result of fraud, by secretly Introdudng 
into the crucible gold, which they pretended to have obtained 
by transmutation. But Bergmann observes respecting the pro- 
faabihty and possibility of transmntation, that although most 
of the itamttives are deceptivej and many nnoertain, some bear 
Bucb character and testimony, that, unless we reject all histori- 
cal evidence, we must allow them entitled to confidence. * ' For, 
doubtless," he adds, "if a person who has no faith in the 
changes of alchemistty should obtain by chance a small piece 
of the Fhiloeopher's Stone, and, on making the experiment 
alone in his closet, procure a quantity of gold heavier than tha 
StoDe, will it not be difficult to explam in what manner he was 
deceived V Before the difficulty is required to he explained, it 
must, however, he placed on incontestable evidence. 

SB. PRICE THE ALCHEMIST. 

Towards the close of the last centuty. Dr. James Price, 
a medical practitioner in the neighbourhood of Guildford, 
Surrey, acquired some notoriety by an alleged discovery of 
methods of transmuting mercury into Kold or ulver. He had 
beea a student of Oriel College, Oxford where he obtained the 
degree of Bachelor of Physio. In 1782 he published an ac- 
count of his Emeriments on Mercury, Silver, and Gold, per* 
formed at Guildford, in that year, before Lord King and others, 
to whom he appealed as eye-witnesses of his wonder-working 
power. It seems that mercury being put into a crucible, and 
neated in the fire with other ingredients (which had been 
ahown to contain no gold), ho added a red powder ; the crucibla 
was again heated, and being suffered to cool, amongst its con- 
tents, on examination, was found a globule of pure gold. By 
a sinular process, with a white powder, he produced a globule 
of silver. The character of the witnesses of these manifestar 
tions gave credit and celebrity for a time to Price, who was 
honoured by the University with the degree of Doctor of Physic J 
and he waa also elected a Pellow of the Boyal Society. Dr. 
Price had now placed himself in a perilous position ; for persons 
acquainted with the history of alchemy must have conjectured 
bow the gold and silver in his experiments might have been 
procured without any transmutation of mercury or any other 
substance. The Royal Society authoritatively required that 
the pretensions of the new associate should be properly sifted, 
and his claim as a discoverer be clearly established, or his chx- 
racter as an impostor exposed. A repetition of the Doctor's 
experiments before a committee of the Royal Society was com- 
manded on pain of expulsion ; when the unfortunate man, 



Curiosities of Science. 



rather than sabmit to the ordeal, took a draught of lauret- 
trater,* aad died on Jul^ 31, 1783, is hia tneuty-fifth yeax. 



[]g i>i Luij pnaicub ui^bury, mime p^rrwiiut in 
I thought fevourablj of Alchemy. Professor 
Rohison, writing to James Watt, Feb. 11,^ 1800, says : "The 
analysis of alkalies and alkaline earths mil preeently lead, I 
thii^, to the doctrine of a nciprceai am,vertiiility of all things 
iatoaU; . . . and I expect Co see alchemy remve, exiiboeavm- 
TCrBttlly studied as ever."* 

^T Walter Soott, in hia eioellent paper on Astrology and 
Alchemy in the Quarterly Beoiew, 18S1, relates that about 1601 
an adept lived, or rather starved, in the metropolis, in the 
person, of an editor of an evening ioumal, who expected to 
compound the alkahest if he could only keep his materials 
digested in his lamp-fumace for the space of seven years. The 
lamp burnt brightly during ^x years, elaven months, and some 
odd days besides, and then unluckily it went out. Why it went 
out the adept never could guess ; but he vras certain that if 
the flame could only have burnt to the end of the septenary 
cycle, his experiment must have succeeded. 

PETEE WOUUE.' 

The last true believer in alchemy, accor<^ng to U r. Braude, 
wasPet^Woulfe, the eminent chemist.aasociated with Woulfe's 
Apparatus, for oondensing gaseous produote in water, and a Fel- 
low of the R^fal Bociety. Among his contribntioDS to the 
PhUotqphical Trantactiotu are "Eiqieriments to show the nature 
of Aurum Moeaicnm. " 

Wonlfe was a tall, thin man ; be died hi Baraard's Inn, Eolborn, in 
1S05, and his lost momeDta were ramarkable. By hia desire, his lain- 
dnw ahnt dp his chamben, and left him, but returned at midnight^ 
when Woulft wm lUll alive : next moraiiig, however, Bhe found him 
dead ; hia conntenanoe was calm and serimo, and, apparentlv, he had 



taed to affix wntten prayers and innriptioDB of 

' J Providence. His bhambers were so filled with fiunaoeiar 



^laratDS that it was difficult to reach hia fireside. Dr. Babinrton laid 
Ur. Braude that he once pat down liig hat, and never Doald find it 
inin, Bucb was the oonlWon of bales, paoksgee, and parcels that lay 
■hout &B room. His breakfaat-haur was four m the morning ; a few of 
his seleeC Wends were occasionally invited, and gained entr»noe by a 
■ecret dgnal, knocking a oertaln number of times at the inner door of 
the chambers. Ee had long vainly searched ibr the Elixir, sod attri- 

aWaa, 



Thing» not generally Known. 



want of due preparatJon by pious 
lislied to break aa acqualntajice oi 
auppoaod injurieg by eendiog a 
i>i>»oui. HI uiuuuDiiJer, and never BoeiDg him afterwards : theae presanls 
■ometimes oooBistod of an eiponBiva chemical product or preparation. 
He had a heroic romed; for ilhis8B, vhich was a journey to Edinbui:g:h 
and bacic by Che mail-coach ; and a cold taken on one of these expo- 
dilJDaa terminated in inflammation of the lunga, of whidh he died. 

KELIEBMAN. 

In 1825 Sir Richard PMl]ipavimted"MialcIieinigt" named , 
Eellerman, at the village of Lillej, between Luton ttud Hitchio. i 
He vas believed by some of hia neighbours to have discovered | 
the Philosopher's Stone and the Universal Solvent. 

Hia room wkb a realiaalion of the wall-known pietura of Temer'i 
Alchemist. The floor was strewed with retorti, oruciblea, alemlne^ I 
jam, and t>ottles of various Bhspea, intenninged with old books. I 

Sir Biohard proceeds to rd&te ; | 

Be RAve meabistoryofhiB studies, mentiooed some men in Londtm I 
whom 1 happened to know, and who, he alleged, hod assured him that 
tboT had made ^Id. That hariuK, in conaeauence, ezamiDed ttie 
works of the ojunent alohemista, and discovered the key which t^ey 
had studiously concealed from the multitude, he had pursued their 

rem under the influence of now Ughts ; end, after aufiering numerous 
ppointoiientB, owing to the ambiguity witJi which they describe their 
processes, he had at length happi^ succeeded ; had made gold, and 
could make aa much more as he pleased, even to Uie extent of paying 
off the National Debt in the coin of the reabu. 

Seilerman then enlarged upon the merits of the andent alchemists, 
and on the blmiders and impiniinent aaamnptions of modem chemists. 
He quoted Eoger and Lord Bacon, Parsoelsus, Boyle, Boerhaave, 
Woutfe, and others, tojuBtify hia pursuits. As to the tierin Philosopher'i 
Stone, he alleged that it was a mere figure to deceive the vulgar. Ho 
appeu^ to give full credit to the silly story of Dee's finding the WiTir 
st Glastonbury, by means of which, He be said, Kellf for a lenslh of 
time supported himself in princely splendour. Eellerman added, that 
he had discovered the blacker than llack of ApolloniuB Tjanus ; it was 
itself "the powder of projection for produdng gold.'' 

It fiirther appeared that he had lived in the premises at Lill^ for 
twenty-three jeaie, during fourteon of which he had pursued his al- 
chemical studies with unremitting ardour ; keeping eight assistants for 

■ii hours : that he had exposed some preparations to intonee heat for 

many monriia at a time ; but that all eieept one crucible had burst, and 

that, Eellerman said, contamed the true " blacker than black." Odo 

-( his assistants, however, protested that no gold had ever been fbnnd, 

d that no mercury bad ever been fixed ; for he was qnito aora Keller- 

-1 could not have concealed it from his asdstants ; while, on the oon- 

V they witnessed his severe disappointment Bt ths neolt Of his 

. elaborato eiperimonta.* 



UdKiiiaAm, 
rrMy tnatn. 



p. iK; snd " rhs PhUow^ha'* 



Curiosities of Science. 



DIALECT OF THE AI^HEUISTS. 

The literal iuterpretatioii of the Eermetio treatises, and 
tflmt may be termed their " Shibboleth," has probablj led to 
AlchemjDeing overwhelmed with the reproaches of the modem 
world. Sometimes, in their dialect, man tras designated as 
the Stone, antimony, lead, zinc, or arseaio ; but tbej point to 
Uie means of his perfection, as animated mercurr_, the serpent, 
the green lion, shark, water, or virgin's milk, Figuier, speak- 
ing of this element, says that none of the alchemistB have 
ever discovered it. The ^irit of fire, transmuting all things, 
the salt of tartar, the spuit of wine driven to the centre by 
cold, and the efisential salt of vipers, remain mysterieB in the 
nermetic dialects. Artepbius wrote on antimony, but was ille- 
gibly obscure ; and spoke of the salt of the sun and moon to be 
made homogene with other imperfect bodies of argent vive, — 
the water of life, azoth, and the true tincture, Basil Valentine 
adds'the unicorn's bom, *'the aguish magnetified needle." 

If Bishop Berkeley faiew what Alcahest meant, and if Euno- 
kel was wrong in his application of a physical law to demon- 
strate its impossibility, it may be saiely affirmed that no one 
has ever reduced to common sense the works of Qeber the 
Arabian. Of course, the language of the Adepts was not de- 
signed, for ordinary readers, heing emresBly de^nated as the 
magic language, and the laugiiage of angels. Tais, however, 
does not prove it to have contained any philosophy more prac- 
tical than that which occupied itself in studying the secret of 
transmutation. What was of a mixed nature, between fixed 
and not fixed, and partook of a sulphurazurine ) What was a 
raw, cooling, feminme fire t or the lustra! water that cleansed 
the earth t Pure gold, violet, citrine, virgin's milk, purple, 
and transcendent redness, prove that, as Erynseus says, "this 
art is very cabalistical " 

Qrew thus points to the importance of gold in the art : 
" EveiT alchemist knows that gold will endure a vehement fire 
for a long time without an^ change ; and after it has been 
divided by corrosive liquors mto invisible parts, yet may pre- 
sentlr be precipitated so as to appear in its own form."* 

The students of the art were, however, told that under its 
enigmatical language was concealed the direction for a very 
easy and simple process. Baymond Lully remarks: "In the 
art of our macistery nothing ia hid by the philosophers except 
the secret of the art, which it is not lawful for any man to re- 

I FlAccfl, which Juon and the Argonanti 
10 Colobla) uofc, tOEalhei vllh Uedes, is 
-" "— "1 flUiiB, (eKchlsg how gold 

ID ucoimt D/iU pMt ImportiutM." 



30 Thi^t not generally Knoum. 

Teal, Eind wMoh, if it were done, he should be cursed, and should 
incur tiie indi^iatdoa of the Lard, and should die of an apo- 
plexy." The oonclosion of Chaucer's " Chanon Yeoman's Tale" 
IS much to the same purpose, except that the poet advise^ 
since there is so great a secret, which is so b; the especial pro- 
Tidence of God, man shall not attempt to discover it. The 
Alchemists, on the contnuy, say tliat it ia only intended to 
be conceal^ from the pro^e; and that if any man by long 
etudj do attain to its knowledge, then to him it is revealed by 
the divine fitvour ; and thig mixture of religion and Alchemy 
will be found pervading evety treatise on the subject. Hermes 
VrismegistuB, m one of the treatises ascribed to him, directs 
the adept to catoh the flying bird, and to drown it, so that it 
fly no more ; by wdioh is meant the fixation of quicksilver by 
a combination with gold. It is after this to be subjected to 
the action of aqua Ttffia, by which its soul will be dissipated, 
and it will be united to the red eagle (muriate of gold). This 
is enigmatical, says Mr. Christmas, but it promises something. 
On the other hand, Ellas Ashmole, who, if not iiimself a work- 
ing alchenust, called the adept Backhouse "&ther," and studied 
Hebrew that he might follyillustratethe Hermetic philosophy, 
and the Fhilosopher'B Stone, — has, in his Theatrwm Chendcwm 
Britannieiaa, preserved this Aagment of banter : 

I asked FhilDsopbv how 1 should 

Have of her the thing I would. 

She BUBwered me, when 1 waa able 

In make the water niBJleabls ; 

Or elM the way if I could find 

Then shalt thou hare thine own deure 
When thou canst wei^h an ounoe oF fire : 
Unlew that tbou canst do these three. 
Content thyself than gett'st not me. 

Mr. Christmas describes a manuscript of the seventeenth 
oentury, in the Cambridge University Library, illustrated by 
coloured drawings of dragons, eagles, crucibles, and alembics ; 
and speaking of the formation of precious stones, and implying 
the discovery of the second great object of the alchemist, viz. 
the Universal Solvent, or the Alkahest ; the absurdity of which 
notion was exposed by Lavoisier. He inquired, if the solveui 
were univeraol, what vessel would hold it. The idea afforded 
only this one absurditj, that of supposing the solvent universal 
as to its effects. The experiments of Becquerel in France, and 
of Crosse in England, amply demonstrate that the operations of 
nature in the formation of minerals may, on a small scale, be 
performed by the electrician. The Alchemista did not e^ect 
to make di^ond^ or even to make gold, out of that wni<j> 
was an essentially difi'erent substance. The baser metal was to 



GiriotUiet of Science. 31 

be intriiisically purified; that terreous miitter which caused it 
to differ ttom gold waa to be "bnmt and purged awaj," tiie 
fntgmenta of the diamond were to be dissolvea and reunited, 
or the ordinarj flint nas to be treated like the baser metal. 
The Mb. above quoted aamimea also that the three great objects 
of the philoaopher'a eearch, namely, the transmuting agent, the 
universal solvent, and the universal remedy, — in other words, 
the Philosopher's Stone, the Alkahest, and the Elixir of Iiife, — 
were essentially the same body, causing by its purifying power 
the base and imperfect substance to cast adde its impurities, 
aod exhibit itseU in the most simple and perfect state, brinmng 
back health and youth to the shattered constitution, and when 
pore, dissolving and decomposing all the bodies in order to 
exhibit them in a renovated and more complete form,* 

The phenomena of life, death, and resurrection were illos- 
trated by thelanguage of Alchemy, the science of the period : 

We poor mortals (i&ys Buiil Talentine) are, tor our tduB' bere, by 
means of ttuit death which we have well desBrred, pickled in the 
earthly, that is, the kingdom of earth, till in prooeu of time wo be- 
come putrid una rot ; and then ore once moro awakened, oUrifled, and 
Eiiblimed by rirtue irfUie heavenly fire and heal, even to the celeatial 
■ublimatiou and elsraUon ; for all our droea, sini, and impuiitiea u» 
auudered &om ur. 

Luther^ in tus Canomea, pmiaas Atohemy, " b^ reason of the ^ori- 
oasand fair reeemblaocea whioh it has to the rai«ng of the dead j for 
even aa fire Ihim each kind of thinK doth extract tbat nhjch is beat, 
and doth sunder it from the bad, and thus dotb cany the spirit itaeJf 
tqiwani, so diat it shall have the iwper place, whereas matter, like untO' 
a dead body, doth renudn below lyioe on the earth, so also will Ood, 
at the last day. Bunder tba (rodleBi and tmiighteous from the righteous 
and godtr. Tbs richtwiue will ascsod to heaven, but tba unriditeoos 
vriU abide below in heU. 

Id old diaries we find occamonally curious entries of the 
aroana. Aubrey relates that there lived at Wilton, in his day, 
one Mr. Boston, a Salisbury man, who was a great chemist, and 
did great cures by his art. But after long bbm^ for the Philo- 
Bopher's Stone, he died at Wilton, having spent his estate. 
" After his death, they found in hia laboratory there two or 
three baskets of egge thellee, which I remember Oeber saith is 
a principal! ingredient of that Stone." 

The delusive character of the art has been cleverly epigram' 
matised. Libavius, whose name is more familiar as a chemist 
than as an adept, has this " rime " of Alchemy : 
Alohymia eit an slue arts, 
Cujus scire eat para cum parte. 



• Tlu OraSt qfiM Twin aiaiOt, Si 



Things not generally Known. 



Th« Dame of Alchemj h&s been applied to the modification 
of bniM, suppoaed to have been occauonallj formed by the 
Alchemist. Fletcher, in his PvrpU Idaitd, c. vii, haa 

Bnch were his axsim, false gold, true alchemis. - 
Milten uses it for trumpet-metal : 

Four qnedf chsrubiiiiB 
Put to their moutha Ibe saunding alcbemy. 

Paradut laO, li. fil7. 

MinAull {Euay, p. 23) mentions " liDss and chaines bou^t at 
fit. Martin's,* toatweaTe&ire for a little time, but shordj after 
wiD prove alchemy, or rather pure copper," 

The word alchemy was corrupted into Occamy or Oekamy, 
when it was appUed to an imitation of silver. In Nash's 
Ltnlen Siuffe we read, "PUchards are but counterfeit to her- 
rings, as copper to gold, or ockamie to cdlver ;" St«ele, ia the 
Ovardian, Mo. 26, speaks of an occamy ipocn ; and the term is 
not yet quite disused among some classes. Johnson describes 
it as a " kind of mixed metal used for spoons and kitchen 
utensils." 

Bacon, in his Phytieal Bemaitu, however, distinguishes it 
thna : " white alchemy is made of pan-biass, one pound, and 
arsenicum, three ounces ; or alchemy is made of copper and 
auripigmentum." 

Alchemy was the science of this period ; and hence, by de- 
grees, alchemistical forms of ei^resaion for terrestrial processes 
passed into the language of onEnary life. The words tpirit of 
wine, tpirit of »alt, tpirit of nitre, and so forth, sufficiently be- 
speak a genial belief in Bupemstural or occult agencies. 

Ebenezer Bibly has published two quarto volumes on medico- 
astrological science ; and speaks mysteriously, if not profoundly 
also, of alchemy ; bis reanimating Solar Tincture and his Lu- 
nar Tincture epeak by their titles {Chrittmat). Of the same 
ftatemity b taffy's Elixir, from the Elixir Vitce. 

The chemistry of the Indians, embracing alchemistic art^ 
is called nzfi^na (nua, juice or fluid, also quicksilver; and 
aydaa, course or process), and forms, according to Wilson, the 
seventh division of the Ayjir- Veda, " the science of life, or the 
prolon^tion of life." (Royle, Stjuiw Medicine.) 

' 'mg of alchemy, says, that, " congenial to the 
mian heart, it was studied in China, as in 
lal eagerness and with equal success. The 
iddle ages ensured a favourable reception to 
r wonder; and the revival of learning gave 

nnd ITU, nodi > leiT tuts period, naUd foi ICi munbii- 
ire, IB litten aod copper artlclea, St. Hirtin's eopnr-Uce, 
ths ndjaiolng Alderagtu Hid Crlpplegnts ue, (i> U>Itd*ri 



Curiotities of Science. 



of commerce and industry." — Bedine and Fall, voL i 



THE GOLDES CHAIN OF HOMEH. THE HEKMETIC OB 

MEKCUEIAI. CHAIN. 

t Upon thifl bmons wonder of the AndentB, we find in NoUm 
and Qiiaia, Second Series, Nos. 56, 57, and 58, by an anony- 
mons Correspondent, & pap«r of extraordinaij interest, the 
leading points of which we have condensed, selecting those 
which ^le more directly relate to Alchemy. 

There esists a very curious book of Hermetic lore, entitled 
Awrea Catena H&meri (or, the Qolden Chain of Homer), ori- 
gnally published in German, and translated into Latin by Dr. 
favrat ; for the loan of which when in Ms. 100 dollars were 
sometimes given, or for informatiion concerning it. The au- 
thor, who lived iu the 17th century, was one FiUdang Leopold 
Codrus, who describes himself as a poor, persecuted plongbioBU 
and peasant. 

The work may be in few words characterised as a treatise on 
the doctrine of a Graduated Chain of Nature, or Chain of Being, 
in two parts— (1) Of the Qmeration of Thingt, (2J Of thi Cot- 
I nipiiOTi d/ Thingt, and their Anatomy ; the author loUowing the 
Egyptians and most ancient usages in regarding Nature as a. 
Series of Rings, or BevDlviiig Circles, forming a vast chain, 
which links the Deity with his humblest creatures. However, 
Codrus deals not so much with the Scale of Creatures as with the 
Protean Chain of Metamorphoses and Transmutations, which 
unites in one the Dyads or Bipolarities of Life and Death, 
Generation and Corruption, Corruption and Begeneration, 
Coagulation and Dissolution, Evaporation and Condensation, 
Volatilisation and fixation, &c Or, in the author's words, 
" How Nature herself dissolves and coagulates, resolves and 
r^^eiates. For what Nature makes, and by what means she 
makes it, through the very same means she destroys all a^n. 
Thus every thing has' its Coagulator and Resolver, its Life 
snd Death, withui its own self, through which it is produced 
and sustained, and again broken up and destroyed. For from 
diversities of operation and of modes of operation proceeds a 
different working of effect," 

In Part II. we have a curious passage on Transmutation, or 
expansion of the idea in the Rdigio Medici, as follows : " ' AU 
Arab is grass ' is not only metaphorically but literally true ; for 
all these creatures wo behold are but the herbs of the field 



34 Thingt not generally Known. 

diserted into flesh in them, or mora remotelj camified in ouf<- 

aelves." — Rdigio Medici. 

Coleridge, too, in the eondtiBioii of his Aidt, speakiiig of 
the magio metamorphose* wrought by the oconlt power of Ai- 
timilation, has this eloquent pasBage : 

Tha germinal power of tbe planet trBiumQlM the fixed air and 
ibe elemeDtarj' base of water ioto gnrm or loaves ; and on theiae tl» 
orgfinic principle in the ox or the elephant exeroiaes an alchemj still 
more stupendous. As the unseon agencr weaves its magio eddies, Uie 
foliage becomes mdiSerentlj the bene and its morrow, the pulp; brus, 
or the solid ivoiy, be — Aidi, voL L* 

A parallel to this doctrine may be found among the Bur- 
mese, who appropriately call the world " Logha," which Bigoi- 
fies ^Cemaie Deatructiim and JieprodveUon. In Ovid ^ef. lib. 
XV.) no have a good specimen of the old Egyptian pmloso;^ 
on this head, as taught by Pythagoras, 

The best and shortest Eumraaiy that could be given of the 
contents of the Aurea Catena Homeri may be attained by qnot- 
ing the following passage from an old Hermetic treatise, called 
The Secret of Seartt, ascribed to a certain King Ealid : — 

We have taught hew a bod; is to be changed into a spirit, and 
again how the spirit is to be turned into ft body, 1131)101;, how the fixed 
is made volatile, and the volatile fixed again : how the earth is turned 
into water and air, and the air into fire, and the fire into earth again: 
then the earth into fire, and the fire into air, and the air into water, 
and the water again into eart^. Now the earth, which was of llie 
nature of fire, is brought to the nature of a quint«seneo. Thus we 
have taught the ways of transmuting performed through heat and 
moisture ; making out of a dry a moist thing, asd out of a mcnst a 
dry one : otherwise natures wmch are of several properljw or families 
could not bo brought to one uniform thiDK, if (unless f) the one shoidd 
be turned into the other^s nature. And tms is the perfection according 
to the advice of the philosopher. Ascend from the earth into heaven, 
and descend from heaven to the earth ; to the intent to make the bod; 
which is earth into a spirit which is subtil, and then to reduce that 

the treasures of tiie whole world.f 

The Aurea CaieTui Bbtneri derives its lUUDe from the cele- ! 
brated passage at the beginning of the 6th book of Homer'e 
Miad (Cowper's translation), commencing thus : i 

Let ;e down the Goidtn Chain \ 

From Heaven, and puU at its inf^or linlm 
Both Goddesses and Gods. 

The alluuons to this Homeric Chmn in old writers are veiy j 

• Cnleridie, possibly, bsd in 



Cvnosities of Science. 



nnmerous. la Para^se Lost Chaos observes ia his speech to 
Satan, 

Now lately HoaTan and Borth, anotbar World, 
Hung o'er my realm, liuk'd Iq a Qolde^ Chaiit 
To t£at side Heaven from whence yonr legions fell 

Book ii. 1. lOCi. 

And in the same book, 1. 1050, Milton ag^n aJliides to it : 

And Gut by, banging in a Golden Cbain 
Tbis pendent World, in bigceaa as a Star 
Of amalleat magnitude, close by the Moon. 

The Golden Chain of Sympathy, this occiilt,*ftll-pervading, 
all-connecting influence,* is the sonrce of all Magic, and is called 
ly a 750617 of names — auch ae. The Vital Maqnelical Seriea, 
Jacob's Ladder, Anima Mandi, Mercariut PhUoaop}u>rv.m, the 
Maaician's Fire, &c. The Chain, as we find it in the moat 
enunent philosophers, may he thus shortly concatenated : Om- 
nia e( Pmo, Omnta in Uno, Omnia ad Unum, Omnia per Medium, 
et (hnnia in Ommbas. 

" Every thing," says Plato {Protag. 260), " resembles every 
other tbing in some respect." 

Tbns, too, Hippocrates : " There is one confloz, one con- 
miration, and all tnings sympathise with all." 

And MaCTobius : 

There will be fbond, on a oloaer iiupecl^oD, from the Supreme Qod 
down to the lowest dregs of things, one miicterrupted chain of connec- 
tion, mutoall; binding tbem together. 

Oswald Crollius, the Paraceleist, observes : 

Plaio'i Rin-^! and Somet't CAaisea are Dothiog but a Divine Series 
and Order servmg Providenco, a gradual! and concatenate SympatAj/ of 
Oungi. This visible and invisible Fellowship of Nature is that OolJen 
Ckmm so much commended, this is the marriage of heaven and ricbex, 
these are Ptato's Ringt, tUs is that dark and olose Phylosopby so hard 
to be known in the most inward and secret parts of Nature, for the 
guning whereof DemocrituB, Pythagoras, Plato, Apollanius, ha., have 
travelled to the Brachmans and Gymnosophiata in the ImUea, and to 
Hwmes his pillars in Egypt, This was that which the most ancient 
PhykBopbers studied, &c.— rts Admonitory Frefact, translated by 
Pinnell, 1667. 

Sir Thomas Browne remarks : 

In a wise supputatioQ, all thiugs buna and end in the 
There is a Dearer way to Heaven than Htyotey'i Chain ; an c 
may oonjoiD a heaven and earth io one argument, and, with 
a sorites, resolve all things to God. For though wo chris 
their most sen^ble and nearest causes, yet is God the true 
of all ; whose concourse, though it be general, j 
tself into the particular actions of every thing, a 



lOile 



Things not generally Known. 



e not only BUbnata, but perfomu 

Sir John Doviee, in hia noble poem on the Immortalttj' of 
the Soul, thuB speaks of *' Ood'B Eternal Law :" 

Could Eve's weak hand, aitended to tlie tres, 

Id auDder rend that AdamatUint CtatH, 
Whose OoUUh Linii, iffidt ami catua be; 

Aod whinh to Qod's (jwn cb^ doth &xei remain. 
Ob, oould ws sse how causa from csiue doth spring t 

Hon mutually they linked and folded are 1 
And iieac !iow oft one disagreeiug rtring 

The bariDoiiy doth ratbar moke Chan mar I 

.The following passage is from a Treatiae enliUed Scheia a 

Secda NcUwib: 

Nature doth not lead thee towards GoD b? a br-fetehed and 
winding compass, but in a short and straight line. The Sun waits (qnn 
the-itoiB, the Bain upon the Grau, the Qroit serves the CoOtl, tis 
CaOel serve tKtt ; and if thou serve Qod, then thou malteit good the 
blgbest Link in the Golden Chain, vhertby Heaven u jtiirud to Sarlh; 
then tbou standest where thou oughtest to Bttrnd, in the uppermost 
round of the Divine Iddder, next to the Most Hiffb : then thou ap- 

SOTCSt thyself to be indeed what thou wert designed by Qod to be, the 
igh-Prie«t and Orator of the DniTarso ; because thou alone, amongst 
oU the creatures here below, art endowed with uHderalanding to know 
Him, and speecb to eipresB thy ImowledgB of Him in thypraises and 
prayers (o Him. 

' The mystic Chain of Homer is called " golden" not merely 
as an epithet of eminence, but the term has an occult and 
peculiarly appropriate significanoe, especially in Hermetic works. 
In the first place, Gold was at once a Symbol of God and a 
Symbol of the Sun. 

The Mystical PhiloBCphera and Alchemiata, genera!^ Epeak- 
ic^, reearded gold as a concretion or concentration of Light, or 
rather Fire. Van Helmont calls the Sun " a living and spiri- 
tual Gold, which (Gold)iB a meer Fire, and beyond all, thoroughly 
refined GiW," Barton,Hpeakingof "the properties of JJemmftii 
Fire or jEiAer," quotes "an eminent [>hiloBoper and divine" to 
the same purpose : " Fire is the universal fountain of life, 
order, diatiuc^OB, stability, and beauty of the universe. It b 
not only in the Sun and other heavenly bodies, but it makes 

part of every lump of matter upon and in our globe. 

Odd is no more than Mercary with {Aundance of Light or .fire 

m it, as appears from an experiment. So quick in its 

mottoDS, BO subtle and peuetrating in its nature, so extensive in 

its effects, it seemeth no other than the Vegetative Soul and Vitd 

i^irit of the world." — TA^ Atuiloffy of Divine Wiidom, 1760.* 

• Bea slao J. WebBlei's XilallogTaplaa ; or, s Hiilai? of UetslB ; slso tlie 

difficult question B belonglw to UyiUcia Clianilttry, sa ol ths Philosopher' Oold, 
Ahetr Morcurj, tke Liquor llkaheit, Adiuu Foinblls, and snoti lllu. UBl. 



Curiosities of Science. 



MoreoTer, Fhilo sajs : 

nicwe who praise Gold dvell on two especial points as moat partiea- 
larty imporlant aud sxoellent : one, that it does not reoeire poison ; tlie 
other, that it can be beaten out or melted inlo the thiDoeat possible 
plates vMle atill remaining unbroken. Therefore, it is very natunJly 
taken an an emilem of thai Orealer Jfaturt, nhlch being extended and 
diSiDed every where, so as to penetrate in erery direetioa, ia wholly full 
oCtnaj thiDH:, and also connecta all other things with Ihs most admirable 
tutmiony. — On &t Heir <if Divini Tkingt, 

Oswald Grolliue sajB to the suue effect : 

Nature is that medium which by an harmouicall cansent joyneth 



the lowest things to the highost, and 

Umea Vsgetahls, Bometimee Mineiall, according to the diTersity of the 
lulject or reoeptaolo. Those who diligenUy seeic out the Hermotio 
Phyloeophy and tbo marrelbus works of Ood, know that that same 
Spirit aud minerall Nature whioh produueth Gold iu the bowella of the 
eartti is also iu Man. That Spirit iu Gold is the same with the Oene- 
rating Spirit of all creatures, nnd is the same and ouely QeueratiTo 
Nature, difiused through all things. This Spirit cow hath aesomed a 
Natnrall body : It is that which first moveth and ruloth Nature in all 
aatutall things, it proscrreth all things, and all inferior things by a kind 
of harmouicoll consent are govemea by It, Albertua Magnus, in his 
Book ofMineralla, salth that gold may be found every wherOr There is 
oat, saith he, that thing elementated of the Four fllements in which 
gold naturally may not be found in the last Bubtdliatiou thereof. And 
therefore t!^ Phyloaophers say that the Matter of theur Myateiy may be 
had every where, because it condstoth in every Elementated UiiDg. 

Gold has been alwaja myetiaallj connected with the Divine 
and Heavenly. Tbua the Scveu Hearena of the Eindooa 
(induded wita the mttural heaTena and the earth into one 
svatem) are surrounded by a broad circumference of gold. 
This Golden Circle is the symbol of the Bun's sphere, and un- 
deratood spiritualh, it is the Divine Love, surrounding and 
containing all. The Wedding Ring represents the same thing 
in miniature. Thus, too, with the Jens, among the sacred 
vestments of the High-Priest (which hieroglTphically repre- 
aented the nniverse}, the Golden Breastplate was .fastened to 
theEphod by Golden Ringsand Golden Chains; eudtheEphod 
itself was girded on the High-Priest with a gorgeous cincture 
called the Golden Circle. 

The Golden Chain of Homer ia sometimes called the Her- 
metic or Mercurial Chain, from Hermes, or Mercury, among the 
Andents being the personification of that pure .Jlther or in- 
vit&ble Fire which ensouls or concatenates all things in Hature : 
tfai^ Intellectual and Winged Spirit which illuminates, vivifies, 
and flashes through all thingB ; that Universal Being or Plas' 
tic Spirit in Nature : that mysterious, all -pervading, all-con- 
Etnining Magnetic Influence, which being itself One, unites in 



Thingt not generally Known. 



One the Protean Forms of the Univeree through which it paaseB, 
— that Informing, UuifyiDg Spirit, ofwhichVi]^Bpeak£^-~ 

Principio ciElmn, ao tarrm, oiiiapo»que liquentes, 

LucsDtamqile Glotnuu Lun», Titoniaque Bstro, 

SpiritOB intus oliC ; tatsmque inf usa per artus 

Mem agitat molem, et magna ae corpore nuicet. — ^s. Ub. tL 

Euan first that heaTen and earth's compacted frame. 

And flowing waters, and the atarr^ flame. 

And both the nuliant lights, one oommoD saui 

losplrss and feeda, and animatea the whole. 

This BctivB miad, infiia'd through all the apace, 

Unitea and minglei with the mighty masi. Dryden. 

Bcre, then, we have the Jfj/itic Fire of the ^lastem Sages, 
tke Astral Spirit in Man, of ParacelsuB, the Anima Mundi, (ht 
Oolden Chain of Homer, the Mercury of tke Pkilcsop/ier*, th 
Oold oflfie AlcMr>ii^,ihe Magical Quinteieeaoe, for accordins to 
the old maxim, "All is iaMennir? which the Wise mense^" 

The remainder of the paper relates to the doctrine popu- 
larly known as " The Chain of Being." 

In conclusion, we maj observe, that within the last ten 
years has been printed in England a volume of cornddetable 
extent, entitled A Siufgeative Inquiry into the Bermeti/! Mga- 
tery, London, T. Saunders, 1850. This work, which the Cot- 
respondent of Nota and Queries describes as " a learned and 
valuable book," is by a lady (anonymous), and has'been si^ 
pressed by the author. 

By this drcuTDstance we are reminded of a concealiueut of 
alchemical practices and opinions, some thirty years dnce, 
wheu it came to our knowledge that a man of wealth and 
position in the metropolis, an adept of Alchemy, was held itt 
terrorambyan unprincipled person, who extorted from him con- 
siderable sums of money under a threat of exposure. 

Hevortheless, Alchemy has, in the present day, its prophetic 
advocates, who predict what may be considered a return to its 
strangest belief. 

The nineteenth century has not yet passed away ; and Dr. 
Christopher Qirtanner, an eminent professor of Gottingen, hss 
prophesied, in a memoir on Azote, in the Anrialei de GhimU, 
No. 100, that it will give birth to the TrantmiUation afMeid*! 
" In the nineteenth century," says the Professor, "the trans- 
mutation of metala will be generally known and practised. 
Every chemist and eveir artist wiU make gold : kitchen aten- 
sib will be of silver, and even gold, which will contribute more 
than any thing else to prolong life, poisoned at present by tbe 
oxides of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily swallow with 



Curiosities of Science. 



ALCHEUIGAL EXf EKIMEHTS OH THE TBAKSUUTATION OF 
METALS. 

In 1857, Dr. J. W. Draper, of New York, commnnioated to 

the IiOjidan PAUoiophical MagasAne the following remarkable 
and HuggeBUve paper : "No one who has used a Tittionometer 
(for measuriiig the cliemical action of light) can have failed to 
notice the diBturbiog eSecta of minute quantities of eitraneoiiB 
gases mingled with chlorine on pboto-cheniical induction. Mj 
attention nas been directed to that subject in its more gene- 
ral Bspeot ; and I will ingenuously confess that 1 have made 
seTenu attempts at the transmutation of metals, on the prin- 
ciple of compelling them, \>j the aid of solar light, to be diaen- 
ei|Lged from states of combination in the midst of resisting or 
aistarbing media. 

The following is a deBCTit)tion of these alcliemioid attempts 
In the focus of a barain|^-lens twelve inches in diameter, was 
placed a glass flask two inches in diameter, containing niti'io 
acid diluted with its own volume of water. Into the nitric 
acid were poured altematelj small quantities of a Bolntion of 
nitrate of silver and of hydrochloric acid, the object being to 
cause the chloride of silver to form in a minutely divided state, 
so as to produce a milkj fluid, into the interior of which the 
brilliant convergent cone might pass, and the currents gene- 
rated in the flask bj the heat might drift all the ohbride 
successively through the light. The chloride, if otherwise ex- 
posed to the sun, merely blackens upon the surface, the interior 
parts undergoing no change ; this difficulty I hoped, there- 
fore, to avoid. The burning-glass promptly brings on a decom- 
position of the salt, evolving, on the one band, chlorine, and 
disenga^g a metal on the other. In one experiment the ex- 
posure lasted from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ; it was therefore equal to 
a continuous mid-day sun of seTenty-two hours. The metal was 
disengaged very well. But what is it ! It cannot be silver, 
once nitric add haa no action upon it. It burnishes in an agate 
mortar, but its reflection is not like the reflection of silver ; it 
is yellower. The light mvsC therefore have so tranemvitd the 
original silver as to enable it to exist in the presence of nitric 
add. In 1837, 1 published some experiments on the nature of 
this decomposition in the Jownal of t/ie Franklin Institute. 

Though this experiment, and several modifications of it, 
wUob I might relate, fail to establish anypermanent change in 
the metal under trial, in the sense of an actual transmutation, 
it does not follow that we should despair of final success. It 
is not likely that nature should have made fifty elementary 
sabstanoes of a metallic form, many of them so closely resem- 
bling one anoUier as to be with dif&culty distinguished : more- 



40 Things not getieraUy Known. 

over, chlorine and other elementary subetancea can be changed 
by the inflnence of sun-light, in Bome respects permanently ; and 
if silver has not been thiu &i transniuted into a more noble 
metal, as platinum and gold, it has at all events been trans- 
muted into iom^ing which u tiol tilver. Those who will reflect 
a little on the matter cannot fail to observe that the eaa'a rays 
posseaa many of the potvers once bbulously imputed to the 
Powder of Injection and the Philosopher's Stone." 

ALCHESIlf AND ASTEOLOGY. 
lUghtly to appreciate and judge of the true nature of At- 
chemy, we must remember, that tiU the sixteenth century the 
earth was regarded as the centre of the universe, and that tha 
life and destiny of men were believed to stand in the closest re- 
lation to the motions of the heavenly bodiea. The universe was 
a vast whole, an or^nism, the members of which stood in an 
uninterrupteid relation of reciprocal influence. " From all the 
ends of heaven the creative forces radiate towards the earth, and 
determine earthly destinies." {Boger Bacon.') "When a man," 
says Paracelsus, ' ' eats a bit of bread, does he not therein con- 
sume heaveu and earth, and all the heavenly bodies^ inasmuch 
as heaven, by its fertilising rain, the earth by its soil, and the 
sun by his luminous and heat-giving rays, have all contributed 
to its production, and all are present in the one substance !" 
All that happened on earth stood written in starry characters in 
heaven, ill that was thuswritten in heaven must ofnecessity 
happen on earth. Mars, Tenus, or some other planet, rules from 
birtn the actions and the fortunes of indiridual men ; while 
comets, lawless in their appliance, were the threatening sym- 
bols of want and woe to entire nations. — Lid>ig. 



TSANSITION FSOU ALCHEMY TO C 

When in the simple notions of the elements of the Alche- 

misfc— inflammability (sulphur), fiiity (salt), and volatility 
(mercuty) — men oame to include the special qualities of inflam- 
mable, flsed, and volatile bodies, according as these were ob- 
served (oily, fet, earthy mercury ; oily, isX, earthy, easily or dif- 
ficultly inflamni^ble sulphur; earthy, fusible, vitreous salt; in- 
flammable, fat, oily, mercurial earth, ibc), then the signifioance 
of the original notion was lost. Becoming too wide and ex- 
tended, it no longer included observed fects ; and when Boylo 
searched after the sulphur, mercury, and salt of the Alchemists, 
these elements no longer esisted. ' The idea was worn out. At 
a much later period, the notion of a suffocating property was 
dedgnated by mdphureous, the combustion of a ^ed body by 

._f ^v- . i.v.1. ;.^ these things possessed one property in 

-" "■'"••"- ')r with limestone {ealxf. 



Curiosities of Science, 41 

Henoe it is no loiiKer possible to give a, definition of the 
terms "acid" and "siut" wUch shall include all those bodies 
iriiich are called acids or salts. We have acids which are taste- 
less, and which do not redden vegetable blues, nor nentraliBS 
the alkalies ; there are acids of wMch osjgen is an ingredient, 
and hydrogen is absent ; others which contain hydrogen and 
no oxygen. The notion of a, salt at last became so perverted, 
that chemists have gone so far as to exclude from the clafB of 
tme aalta, by their definition, common sea-salt, the salt of idl 
salts, to which all others owe their very name. 

We can readily see how easily a simple, defined notion be- 
comes undefined by the addition of other notions. In the place 
of the worn-out ideas, we obtain, when we beg^n to distin- 
goJBb, a number of new and more defined and scparato ideas- 
It is even possible that the original idea, all but its name, may 
be lost ; and the time may c(»ne when we shall no longer find 
an acid or a salt, justas weoouldnot find the sulphur and mer- 
cury of the Alchemists, when these ideaa were no longer neces- 
sary to science. Formerly their existence appeared obvious to 
every man ; and th^ were only sought for when mankind had 
DO further oocasion for them. 

Humboldt has the following comprehensive view of Al- 
chemy, embodying a note by Eopp ; 

The DJchsmiatia opinions ofthe middle egea regardiiig tho compo- 
£tiaa of metals, and the loss of their brilliaQcy by ooml^tion in uie 
c^ien sJr (incinorntioD. culciimtiaii), led toadeaire of inrestigating the 
cxmditions by whiDh this proceES mm attended, aDd tiie changas ei- 
periencod by the calcinod metals, and by the air in contaat viia them. 
Cudanus, as earl; as 1553, had notiood the increase of weight that 
■ooon^iaiiiea the oiidation of lesd ; and, parfeotly in accordance wili 
th« Idea of the myth of Fhlogiaton, had attributed it to the escape of 
a " celestial fiery matter" csusiiig levity ; ojid it was uct until eighty 
jaait altermu'da that Jeau Rev, a remarkably sUliiil eiperiiaeuter at 
Bergeroc, who had inyeatigated with the greatest care the increase of 
weight during tho calcinatiim of lead, tin, and antimony, arrived at the 
important oonclnsioii that this increase of weight must be asoribed to 
the access of the air t^ the metallic cult. Rey, striotly speaking, only 
rosntioiiB the access of sir to the oxides ; he did not luiow t^t the 
otides tDemselvGfl (which were theit called the earthy metals) ore only 
combkiatious of metals and air. Aceording to him, the nir makes "tba 
metallic calx heavier,. as sand increases in weight when 
about it." The calx is susceptible of being saturated wit 
work, indeed, contains the first approach to the better 
of a phenomenon whose more complete uudeistaiiding 
exercised a favourable influence in reforming the whole oi 

Hen iad now diicover^ Iks path which vol lo Itad Uien 
ittry r^CAfl praeTil day; and through it to tho knowledge 
coamical phenomenon, viz. the ccnuection between the t 
atmosphere and vegetable life. — See Catmoi, voL iL pp. 7! 

Aloliemy, sayaLiebig, is one of the three perioi!' i 



4S Tkingi not generally Known. 

iatry. In the first, all the powers of men's minda were devoted 
to Boquiring a knowledge of the properties of bodies ; it wu 
necessary to discover, obBerve, ana ascertain their pecuUaritiee. 
TMa is the alchemistical period. The second emhracea the 
determination of the mutual relations or connections of these 
properties ; and this is the period of phlogiatic chemistr;. In 
the third period, in which we now are, we aBcertain by weight 
and measure, and express in numbers, the d^pree in which the 
properties of bodies are mutually dependent. The inductive 
sciences begin with the substance itself ; then come just ideas ; 
And lastly, mathematias is called in, and with the aid of num- 
bers completes the work. 

ALCHEMY AHB ALLOTEOPISM. 

The importance of Allotropism,* t. e. the esistence of the 
eainc body under more than one form, is thus illustrated \s3 
Faraday : " In what does chemical identity consist ! in what 
will the wonderful development of Allotropism end t whether 
the Bo-oalled chemical elements may not t>e, after all, mete 
allotropio conditions of fewer universal essences ! whether, to 
renew the speculations of the Alchemists, the metals may be 
only so many imitations of each other, b_y the power of science 
mutually convertible ) There was a tune when this funda- 
mental doctrine of the Alchemists was opposed to known ana- 
logies ; ti ii now no longer opposed to than, but oydi/ lame xtages 
itT/ond their present deouopment." 

which U. ^ 

those of the Alchemists, is the relation between chlorine, iodine, 
and bromine. Already have we aeen that it is possible for one 
body to assume, without combination, two distinct phases of 
manifestation j therefore, such of the so-called elements as are 
subject to AUotFopism are not the uncha,nging entities they 
were once assumed to be ; and now we find, after our attention 
has been led in the direction, that the triad of chlorine, bro- 
mine, and iodine not only offers a well-marted progresaion of 
cert^ chemical mnnifestationa, but that the same progression 
is accordant with the numeral expouents of their combining 
weights. We seem here to have the dawning of a new light, 
indicative of the mutual convertibihty of certs,in groups (^ 
lilements, although under conditions which are as yet hidden 
rom our scrutiny. 

■dy HS they (hit Ut«n1 tmn^Utioa into EnglUh, nllh tbe eipreiilon. anMir 



f 



BithongliQi 



Curiosities of Science. 43 

The points or remarkable features of chlorine, iodme, and 
bromine ma^ he thus aketched. Their daugerouB activityirbea 
UQOombined, their quietude when heid in combination, the 
aimiliirit; of their qualities and fuuctions, their gradation ia 
colour and cohesiau, and, more than ail, the curiouB law which 
the consideration of their atomic weights unfolds, — these appear 
to be the espeinal features of this iuteresting triad of non-me- 
tallio elements. 

Liebig, iu his ^tniiiar Lettert, obserrsB : In what a singular 
portion do these E&cts place science of the present daj, when 
compared with the opinions of the old philosophers and with 
Alchemy. The first taught that the properties of bodies were 
variable; and the Alchemists believed that all metals had in 
common a fundamental proper^, and that they were actually 
convertible. We show that two things, under certain circum- 
Btanc^, are one and the same, and tliat we can convert the 
one into the other as frequently as we choose. 

One of the most remarkable eiamplaB of metamorphoaia in tha pro- 
mrtdeB of a compound inorganic body haa been discoi'ered b; Walter 
Cnim, at Glasgow. He found that "vj oontinuouB ebnllitioa ol acetate 
of alumina the salt nos completely decomposed, and the acetic acid vo- 
latilised. 

Alumina in its ordinaiy state is insoluble in water, yery Boiuhle in 
acida and alkahea, and ahaorba colouring matters from soliitlona. But 
tbe modlficaWoo of alumina disoovered by W. Crumia soluble in water, 
is entirely precipitated from a watery solution by dilate acids and 
alkalies, and does net form lakes with deooctiona of dye-woods, but 
is thrown down by them iu a gelatinous, translucent form. Further, 
by coQceutrated acids and alkEUies, the Bolnble alumina is agidn trans- 
forrned into the insoluble. — Appendix to Liebi^t Letterg. 
Faraday has this important conclusion i 

The atFsnge condition of AHotropism awakens within us an extraor* 
dinary train of speculation. There was a time, and t^at not long ago, 
when it was held amongst the fundamental doctrine of chemistry tHat 
the same body always manifested the same chemical qualilias, excepting 
only such vaiiationa as miglit be due to the three conditions of solid, 
liquid, aud gas. This was held to bo a canon of cbomical pbiloaophy 
as distinguished from Alohemj' | and a belief in the posflibiiity of trans- 

damentol tenet. But wo are now conTersaut with many examples of 
the contrary ; and strange to say, no less than four of the non-metallic 
elements, namely, oiygcn, sulphur, phosphorus, and carbon, are Bub- 

idone contjced to compound bodies, — that is to say, bodies made 
up of two or more eiemei^, — we might eaoly frame a plausible hypo- 

takan place in Uio arraneement of their particles. But when a simple 
body, such as oxygen, is concerned^ this kind of hypothesis is no longer 
open to us ; we hare only one kind of particle to doot with, and me 
theory of altered position is no loneer appiioable. In short, it does not 
seem posalMo to imagine a rational hypothesis to explain the condition 



Things not generally Known, 



of AUotropisin aa r^arda rimple bodiea. Wo can only accept ii 
&at not to bo doubted, and addthe disooTery tothatlooglut of t 



LZEBIQ ON THE CONNECTION OF ALCHEMY AND CBEMISTBY. 

In our day (pbaervee the great chemist of Oiessen.) men are 
onljtoo much aiaposed to regard the views of the disciples and 
followers of the Arabian School, and of the late Alchemists, re- 
specting transmutation of metals as a mere hallucination of the 
humau mind, and, strangely enough, to lament it. But the 
idea of the variahle and changeable correnionds with univer- 
sal experience, and alwaja precedes that of the unchangeable. 
Before the introduction of the balance, and the development of 
chemical analysis, there were no scientific grounds for the 
opinion that iron existed, as such, in a red stone, or copper in 
a blue or green stone, -and were not produced by the processes 
followed for their eitraction. If the metals were products, 
i. e. formed by the processes, and were not educte, i. e. alrea^ 
existing, and only separated by the procees, — then were the 
metals capable of transmutation. Every thing depended on the 
process employed. The notion of bodies chemically . simple 
was first established in the science by the introduction of the 
Daltonian doctrine, which admits the existence of solid parti- 
cles not further divisible, or atoms. But the ideas connected 
with this view are so little in accordance with our experienoe 
of nature, that no chemist of the present day holds the metals, 
absolutely, for so many simpie, undecomposable bodies, for 
true elements. Only a few years since Berzehua was firmly 
convinced of the oompound nature of nitrogen, chlorine, bro- 
mine, and iodine ; and we allow our so-called simple substances 
to pass for such, not because that vre know they are in reahly 
imdecomposable, but because they are as yet uudecomposed ; 
that is, because we cannot yet demonstrate their decompos- 
ability so as to satisfy the requirements of science. But we 
all hold it possible that this may be done to-morrow. In the 
year 1807, the alkalies, alkaline earths, and earths proper, 
were regarded as simple bodies, till Davy demonstrated that 
they were compounds of metals with oxygen. 

It is the prevailing ignorance of chemistry, and especially 
of its history, which is Uie source of the very ludicrous and 
excessive estimation of ourselv^ with which many look back , 
on the age of alchemy ; as if it were possible, or even conceiv- 
tble, that for more tHan a thousand years the most learned aud 
icute men, such as Francis Bacon, Spinoso, and Leibnita, 
Mjuld have regarded as true and well founded an opinion vwd 
)f all foundation. On the contraiy, must we not suppose, ssa 



Curioiitiet of Science. 45 

matter beyond a doubt, that the idea of th« transmutability of 
metalB stood in the most perfect harmony with all the obserra- 
tionB and all the knowledge of that age, and in contradiotion 
to none of these ! 

In the first stage of the development of Heieace, the Alcb» 
mists could not possibly have any other notions of the nature 
of metals than those which they actually held. No others were 
admissible, or even posmbla ; and their views are consequently, 
by natural law, inevitable. We hear it said that the idea of 
the Philosopher's Stone was an error ; but all our views have 
been developed from errors, and that which to-day we regard 
as truth in chemistry may perhaps before to-morrow be re- 
cognised as a follacy. 

Almost every word in a Manual of Chemistry egresses an 
observation or a phenomenon. These observations did not pre- 
sent themselves to the observer ; they were laboriously sought 
for and obtained. What would be the present position of 
sdenoe without sulphurie acid, which was discovered by the 
Alchemist more than a thousand years aso ; without muriatic 
acid, nitric acid, ammonia, the fiied alkalies, the numberless 
compounds of metals, alcohol, ether, phosphorus, or Prossiau 
blue! It is impossible to form a just conception of the diffi- 
culties which the Alchemists had to overcome in their re- 
searches; for they were of necessity the inventors of the ap- 
paratus or instruments, and of the processes, which served iax 
the production of their preparations ; and they were compelled 
to mi^e with their own hands every thing which they em- 
ployed in their experiments. 

Alchemy, Liebig maintains, was never at any time any 
thing different from Chemistry. It is utterly unjust to con- 
found it with the gold-making of the I6tb and 17th centuries. 
Among the Alchemists there was always to be found a nucleus 
of genuine philosophers, whooftendeceived themselves in their 
theoretical views ; whereas the gold-makers, properly so-called, 
knovringly deceived both themselves and others. Aldiemy 
wae a science, aod included all those processes in which che- 
mistry was tccbuically appUed. The achievements of such 
alchemists as Glauber, B5ttger, and Eunckel in tMs d 
may be boldly compared to the greatest discoveries 
century.* 

The dreams of the Alchemists (says Sir John Hersc 
them in the path of experiment, and drew attention 
wonders of Chemistry, while they brought their advoc 
must be admitted) to merited cont«mpt and ruin. But 
case it was moral dereliction which gave to ridicule a 

* Selected *iid abrid^fld from lieblg'a FamHioT Ltotrg on Chtrr^ttT 



46 Thi^t not generaUy Known. 

and power not necessarUj or naturally belonging to it. Bat 
among the AlchemistB were men of auperior minds, who rea- 
soned while they worked, and who, not content to grope alwa^ 
in the dork, and blunder on their subject, sought carefully m 
the observed nature of their s^nts for guides in their pursuit 
To these we owe the creation of experimental pfailosopfaj. 

EABLS EGYPTIAN CHEMISTBT. 

In 1852, Mr, W. Herapath, of Old Park, whilst unrolling a 
mummy at the Bristol Institution, found on three of the band- 
ages bieroglyphical characters of a dark colour, as well defined 
aa if written with a modem pen. Where the marking-fluid had 
flowed more copiously than the characters required, the texture 
of tho cloth had become decomposed, and small holes had re- 
sulted. Mr. Herapath had no doubt that tbe bandages were 
genuine, and had not been disturbed or unfolded. The colour 
of the marks was so similar to that of the present " marking 
ink," that Mr. Herapath was induced to tty if they were pro- 
duced by silver. With the blowpipe he immediately obtained 
a button of that metal ; the fibre of the linen he proved by the 
, microscope audbycheTnioaireagentBto he linen. It is therefore, 
he adds, certain that the ancient Egyptians were acquainted 
with the means of dissolving silver, and of amilying it as a 
permanent ink ; but what was their solvent t I knew of none 
that would act upon the metal, and decompose flax-fibre but 
nitric acid, which, we are told, was unknown until discovered 
by the Alchemists in the 13th century, which was about 3200 
years after the date of this mummy, according as its super- 
scription was read. A very probable speculation might be 
raised upon this to account for the solution of the Golden Calf 
bf Moses, who had all his mundane knowledge from the Egyp- 
tian priests. It has been supposed that he was acquainted 
with and used the sulphuret of potassium for that purpose: 
how the inference arose, I know not. But if the l^yptians 
obtained nitric acid, it could only have been by the means of 
snlpburio ooid, through the agency of which, and by the same 
kind of process, they could have separated hydrochloric acid 
from common salt. It is therefore more probable that the 
priests had taught Moses the use of the mixed nitric and hy- 
drochloric acids, with which he could dissolve the statue, 
rather than with a sulphuret, which we have no evidence of 
their being acquainted with, 

_ - TheyellowcoloucofthefinelinenclothSjWhiohhadnotbeen 
staineii ^ the embalming materials (says Mr. Herapath), I found 
to be th^na^tural colouring matter of the flas. The Egrptians 
therefore, if we judge from this specimen, did cot praotisebleach- 



' Curioaities of Science. 47 

ing. There were in EOioe of the bandageB, near the Belvage, some 
twenty or thirtf blue threads : these were dyed by ind^o ; but 
the tint was not bo deep nor so equal as the work of the modem 
dyers ; the colour bad been given it in the akein. One of tb& 
outer bandages was of a reddish colour, which dye I found to 
be Tegetable, but could not individiutliBe it. My son, Mr. 
Thornton Herapath, analysed it for tin and alumina ; but 
could not find any. The face and internal surfaces of the 
orbits had been painted white, which pigment I ascertained! 
to be finely pondered chalk. 

To the above views Mr. Denham Smith has objected, inas- 
much, he Bays, as there is no evidence to prove the Egyptians 
were ever acquainted with the art of distillation. 

Mr. Thornton Herapath next examined with a mioroscope- 
the Btained fibres of the bandage ; and on nutUng company 
tive experiments with a piece of the linen wrapper, recently- 
"msrbed " in the nsnal way with a solution of nitrate of silver, 
the fibre presented a very similar appearance to that of the 
amnent stained doth. Hence it is concluded that the Egyp- 
tians were really acquainted with nitric acid, and employed 
tlte nitrate of sCver as a marking-fluid. In this view Dr. W. 
Camps has also coincided, in a paper read to the Syro-Egyp- 
tian Society. " If," adds the Doctor, "this were admitted, wa 
must then allow the Egyptians to have had a more intimate 
acquaintance with chemistry and chemical preparations than is 
generally ass^ed even to these vety clever, intelligent, and 
anraent people." 

The Sgyptian loonu were famed for their fine cotton and wootlen. 
fobrics ; and man; of these were worked with patterns in briUiant 
colcratB, which on drMaea worn by woman were ybtj Taried, They were 
mostly worked with the needle ; but some were woTea in tbo piece. 
Of tbeee last were the linen and cotton fabrica with blue borderSt the 
tkreada having been previously dyed with indigo ; and stripea, or aome 
other Bimple devicea, wore generally put into the stuff on the loom. 
Some of the stripes were oC ((old thread, alternating with red linea aa a 
border. It was also uauaJ to embroider patterns in the staircaae style 
aonuaon in our norsted-worlc ; and some were made out vdth 1od(; 
Btltchea ttat laid down the flgurca or deyioea on tho surface. Some of 
these are in the Louvre. They are mostly cotton ; and although their 
date is uncertain, they aufBce to prove that the manufacture was f^yp- 
tian; uidtheman; dresses painted on the monuments of the dgliteenai 
dynasty show that the most varied pattema ware used by the ^fyptiana 
more than 3000 years ago, as they were at a later period by the Baby- 
lozkians, who be^^me noted for their needlework. 

The Egyptians had also the secret ofdveing cloths of various eoloun 
by means of mordauta — a fact satiafactorUy proved by the verj- manner 
hi which Pliny describes a process which ha evidently did not under- 
■tuuL— Sir Oardner 'Wilkinson, Tlie £gyptiant in tAe timi of t/ie Plia~ 



Thirtgi not generally Known. 



ittoDnn CilfmiiStcg. 



, THE GREAT AGENTS OF CHANGE. 

Thebs are gnvitation, cohesion, motion, chemical force, heat, 
and electncitr, nhioli must, from th&t hjpothetical time 
when the earth floated a. cloud of nehulous vapour in a state of 
gradual condensation, up to the present moment, have heen 
exercising their power and regulating the mutations of mat- 
ter. — Huat't Poetry of Science. 

The quantitj of work produced by chemical force 4S in 

Ceral very great. A pound of the purest coal (pves, when 
nt, sufficient heat to r^e the temperature of 8086 pounds 
of water one degree of the oentigiade thermometer. From 
this wo can calculate that the magnitude of the ohemioal force 
of attraction between the particles of a pound of coal and the 
quantitj of oxygen that corresponds to it, is capable of lifting 
a weight of one hundred pounds to a height of twenty miles. 
Unfortunately, in our stetun-engines we have hitherto been able 
to gain only the smallest portion of this work, the greater part 
being lost in the shape of heat. The best expansiTe ennnes 
give back as mechanical work only eighteen per cent (5 the 
heat generated by the fuel — Profettor Meimhslti. 

UIPEBFECTION OF CHEMISTKY. 

The phenomena of chemistry are still more complicated 
than those of the science of the stars. Indeed, chemistry is 
still so bi from perfection that the chemist cannot construct a 
particle of sugar or any other organic suhetance, although he 
Knows the exact quantities of charcoal and water of which 
it is composed. 

WHAT 18 AFFLIEI> CHEMZSTET ? 

A knowle^e of the composition of bodies, which enables 
chemists to solve questions which a few years ago were sup- 
posed to be beyond their powers. The discoveiy of the com- 
position of soils and of the ashes of plants enables them to see 
the reason why one and the same plant, grown without manure 
jn the same soil for three, anouier for seven, ten, or mora 
years, at length cease to flourish on it ; why one field produces 
wheat, but not beans ; barley, but not tobacco ; and why from 



Cvritmlies of Science. 



another a rich crop of turnips, but so clover i» obtained. 
Chemistrj explains the operation of manureB, and teacheB the 
mode of rostoong fertility to an exhausted boU, This is Applied 
Chemiatty. 

Hitherto scarcely any demand has been made upon the 
srience of chemistry by arts, manu&oturea, or physiology which 
haa not been responded to. Every question clearly and deG- 
niUtl; put boB been Batisfactorilj answered. Only when the 
inquirer had no precise idea of the problem to be solved has 
he renudned unsatisfied. 

ChemiBtry is the foundation of agriculture, and we cannot 
hope to ^ve a scientific form and I^UB to this important art 
without a knowledge of the constituents of the soils and of the 
substances which constitute the food of plants. Tet the cbe- 
mist was not able until lately to decompose water, and he still 
labours in vain to build up, out of water, carbon, and atmo- 
Gpheiic air, most of the precious compounds which the as yet 
myBterions actions of Tegetable and animal life present to us. 
He caonot yet chemically make opium, or wheat-flour, or sugar ; 
bat progress is being made in that direction, for be not only 
knows that the foul, horribly offensive water which has served 
to wash or purify coal-gas at the gas-works contains the ele- 
meatsof lavender, camphor, attar of roses, and other perfumes, 
but he can now extract a near approximation to some of them ; 
and, strange to say, he can now produce by his art the exqui- 
site flavour of the strawberry and pine>apple, in any climate 
or scene, without aid irom giuden-beds or sun^iine. 



I thus grouped these invaluable ^ds to dvilisa- 

A century ago no person on earth knew that there existed 
in nature the substance which, since Br. Priestley's discovery 
of it in 1774, has been named ftiwn ( ao named because of 
its early perceived relation to ados), although now students 
Boon learn that it forms a large proportion, by weight, of a 
majority of the things — whether solid, liquid, or aenform, 
living or dead — which men have yet encountered on this globe- 

Kor did any one then know that Water is a compound of 
eight parts by weight of this oxygen and one part by weight of 
another element, called Eydrogen (so called because of its re- 
lation to water) ; both of which elements, when in their sepa- 
rate or insulat^ state, and at the temperature of the earth, exist 
in the form of ait oreas, and might therefore serve as stuffing 
for lur-cushions. !^drc^n is now popularly known as the 
chief material burned in our street-lamps, and as what, being 
very light, is used for filling balloons. 



50 Thingii not generalUf Known. 

Nor was it known that all vegetable bodies — trhether wood, 
leaveB, or flowers, or fruit or seed— oonaiBt chiefly of these two 
elements of water combined in different proportionB with an~ 
other elementary mibstance, which has got the name of Car- 
bon (so called because it was first known as being the chief part 
of coal). 

Nor was the truth suspected that animal flesh, and soft ani- 
mal substances eenerally, conust chieflr of the three component 
parts of v^etaWfiS just named, with the addition of a fourth, 
called Nitrogen (so called because first obtained from nitre) ; 
which last, when ensting separately, also appears as an air or 
gas, and which, when mised with one-fourth part by weight of 
oxygen, forms our common atmospheric air. 

Nor were people aware that the whole of the countless 
variety of the material substances, including minerals, yet 
known to man are compounds of a very few simple elements ; 
of these the four above spoken of are a very important portion, 
joiaed, atoms to atoms, in different proportions and ways, some- 
what as all the words in all the languages used on earth are 
composed of a few simple sounds recalled by the letters of a 
general alphabet ; which atomic elements, while in themselves 
absolutely imch^geable and indestructible, assume in combi- 
nation or alone the three forms of solid, liquid, or gas, accord- 
ing to the quantity of heat pervading them. 

Nor, lastly, was it known that the heat and light accom- 
panying rapid combustion are effects of the intensity of action 
with which two or more combining substances are at the 
moment uniting into chemical compounds, one of the burning 
substances generally being oxygen ; the same substance, how- 
ever, being also capable, under other circumstances, of com- 
bining slowly and quietly, with scarcely seusihle increase of 
temperature, and no li^t, as when the osjgen of the air is com- 
bining with exposed iron and converting it gradually into rust. 



IT OF FAMINES. 

Those frightful famines by which Europe used to be ravaged 
several times in every century have ceased (in the 11th, 
12th, and 13th centuries, the average was, in England, one 
famine every fourteen years) ; and so successfully have wc 
grappled with fiimines, that there is not the slightest fear of 
their ever returning with any thing like their former severity. 
Indeed, our resources are now so great, that we could, at worst, 
only suffer from a slight and temporary scarcity ; since, in the 
present state of knowledge, the evil would be met at the outset 
Sj remedies which chemical science could easily suggest. 5ir 

ohn Herschel and Cuvier consider &minei in the present state 

' chembtiy, " neit to impossible," 



Curiosities of Science'. 



NOTHDJG L03T IN THE WORLD. 

Throughout the chanKes which are canBtantl;f takiiig place 
ia the substance of our globe, and iu the living inhabitants of 
its surfoce, otie Aing remaim ujich/mged — the aBsolute quantitj 
of each of the elementary fonos of matter j for whatever may 
be the new chemical combinations into which they enter, what- 
ever the new physical artangementE to which they are subjected, 
their aggregate is the same now as it was at first. The te- 
searches of modem chemistry have most clearly established 
that the annihilation of matter is aa impossible to man as its 
creation ; and that in every instance in which such a destruc- 
tion seems to be effected, there is in fact nothing but a change 
of form. Thus, in every act of ordinary combustion, the dis- 
^pearance of the combustible is simply due to the formation 
of new compounds between its elements and the oxygen of the 
air, and to the diffusion of these compounds through the at- 
mosphere ; the decay of organised bodies being merely a slower 
kind of combustion, whose products sue eesentially the same in 
kind, and arc disposed of in like manner. When we inquire 
into the nature and origin of either class of substances, we find 
that this dissemiijatton of their materials through the atmo- 
sphere merely restores to it what was originally taken from it 
by the agency of living beings; thus completing a cycle of 
most marvellous nature. — National Bemew, Ho. 8. 

WHAT IS AN ELEMENT "i 

Mr. Faraday, in his admirable Iicctures on the Non-metallic 
Elements, says ; " Let me remark that the word ' Element' is 
only to be accepted in a provisional sense. Chemists are not 
witiiout a hope^a hope that we trust is not irrational — of 
being enabled to effect changes on some of these so-called ele- 
mentary forma. The phenomena of allotrupism seem to afFoi'd 
rational Kround for tins hope ; and thus we are unconsciouely 
brought Dack into tracks of thought and action having some 
dmilttude to the doctrines of alchemy;— similar, though not 
identical ; not the transmutation of base metals into gold, but 
transmutation nevertheless of a certain kind. 

In pursuing this field of speculation, there is reason to be- 
lieve we should derive much information aa to the intimate 
nature of these non-metallic elements, if we could succeed in 
obtaining hydrogen and nitrogen in the liquid or solid form. 
Many gases have been liquefied : one, carbonic-acid gas, has 
been solidified ; but hydrogen and nitrogen have resisted all 
our efforts of this kind. Hydrogen, in many of its relations, 
acts as though it were a metal ; could it be obtained in a liquid 
or solid condition, the doubt might be settled. This great pro- 



Thirds not generally Known. 



or Bhould we look with 

_ ._. . , B reflect with wonder, 

and, as I do, almost with feai and tremhling, on the powers of 
inveatigating the bidden qualities of these dements — of quee- 
tioning them, making them disclose their secrets and tell their 
tales— given by the ilmigh^ to man !" 

Di. George Wilson haa thus stated the ease : " Our globe, 
including the atmosphere, and the ocean with its trjbutaiy 
waters, consiBts, in very unequal proportions, of some asty- 
three aubstaaces, which, according to our present knowledge, 
are simple or elementary. Of these chemical elements, less 
than a third are found distributed throoghout the entire Vege- 
table and Animal Kingdoms. Of this fractional third, one-half 
occur oul; in small quantitj, so that the greater part of tbc 
hulk and weieht of pmnta and animals ia made up of one-fifth 
or one-sixth^ the whole elements ; saA the ffreatest part con- 
sists hut of three, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen." 

" THE ONE ELEMENT." 

Curious relations (says Mr. Hunt), which can be traced 
through certain bodies, lead us to believe that they nay be 
only modified conditions of one element. Flint and cfaanxial 
do not at first appear allied ; but carbon, ia some of its states, 
approaches very near to the condition of silicon, the metallic 
Inse of flint. When we remember the differences which are 
evident in three forms of one body — coke, graphite, and dia- 
mond, — the dissimilitude between flint, a quartz crystal, and 
carbon will cease to he a strong objection to tbe speculation. 
. — Poetry of Sciettee, 

In 1842, Mr. Oruve said, in a lecture at the Roysl Institu- 
tion : "Light, heat, electriidty, and magnetism, motion and 
chemical affinity, are all convertible material affections : a»- . 
suming any one as a cause, one of the others will be the effect. 
Thus heat may be said to produce electricity, electricity to 
produce heat ; magnetism to produce electricity, electncity 
m^netism ; and so of the rest. Cause and effect, therefore, 
in their relation to such forces, are words solely of conveni- 
ence i we are totally unacquainted with the generating power 
of each and all of them, and probably shall ever remain so. We 
can only ascertain the normal of their action. ; we must humbly 
refer their causation to one Omnipreeent influence, and con- 
tent ourselves with studying their effects, and developing by 
experiment their mutual relations." 

" I have long held an opinion," said Mr. Faraday in 1845, 
"almost amountiEgto conviction, in common, I believe, with 
mauy other lovers of natural knowledge, that the various forms 
nder which the forces of matter are made manifest have a 



Curiosities of Science. 



oonunon origin, or, in other words, are bo directlj related and 
mutuallj dependent, that the; are convertible one into an- 

, MATERIALS OP THE GLOBE. 

The metallic elements constitute a lai^ majority of tbe 
whole, onl; thirteen of the sixtj-three being DOD-metaUic; and 
from within tlie limits of this narrow range ofonlj sixty-three 
has Omnipotence selected the materials which compose our 
^obe, and the living beings which inhabit it ; out of these all the 
diTersified forms and beings of the worid are made. From the 
dense masses of rode and moimtains amongst inanimate things, 
to the fleeting atmosphere which aurrounds us ; from the eimpler 
forma of niiima.1 or vegetable life to the most higlilj organised, 
however different one from another in aspect or in functioDS, 
— thej have all been created out of these elements in the asty- 
three. Nor is this all. Bj a wonderful power of adaptation, 
which bespeaks Omnipotence, our earth and its inhabitants are 
not made up of these sixtj-three bodies equally distributed- 
but by far the greatest portion of terrestrial matter is composed 
of the tliirteea non-metallic elements ; and, yet more strange, 
neaily two-thirds of the whole material terrestrial imiverse, 
organic and ino^anio, are composed of one alone of these sim- 

K' i non-metallic elements — OxiaEN'. How great, then, must 
the power of adaptation imposed on these elements, by 
which they are made to discharge so many fuuctions, and to ap- 
pear under so many different forms ! — Faraday. 

An acute writer in the ^aZiontd Btview, So. 8, has thus 
illustrated this view : " When the term of the existeuoe of 
vegetation, either wholly or in part, has been completed, if air 
be partially secluded, the proems of decay is l^s complete ; 
various new compounds are formed, which are rich in carbon 
and hydrogeu, but poor in oxygen, and are therefore eminently 
oombustibTe : yet these have a character of permanence which 
indisposes them to spontaneous change ; and the products of 
the partial decay of a past vegetation may remain stored up in 
the depths of the earth for an unlimited period, until the inge- 
nuity of man turns them to his own account. There are com- 
paratively few to whom It oceurs, when they are wanning them- 
selves over the winter-fire, or watching the fuel thrown into 
some vast steam-engine, that the combustion that cheers them 
by its genial glow, or generates a power of a thousand horses, 
is giving baok to the atmo^bere, in the form of carbonic acid 
and water, the identical carbon and hydrc^en which were drawn 
from it by the luxuriant vegetation of the primeval world. 
Yet nothing is more certain Uian that all coal was once air, 
and that it was the flora of the caihoniferous period which soli- 
dified it." 



lyings not generally Known. 



HARMONY or CEEATION. 

The world with its ponderable couatituentB, dead and liviiig, 
is made up of natural elements, endowed with nioelj-balauced 
affectioDB, atttsctions, of forces. Elements the most diverse, 
of tendencies the moat opposed, of powers the moat vaiied, — 
some so inert, that, to a casual observer, thej would seem to 
count for nothing in the grand resultant of forces ; some, on 
the other hand, endowed with quahties bo violeut, that thej 
would seem to threaten the stability of creation ; yet when 
scrutinised more narrowly, and examined with relation to Che 
parts they are destined to f ulfil , aU are found to be accordant 
with one great scheme of harmonious adaptation. The powers 
of not one element could be modified without destroying at 
once the balance of harmonies, and involving in one ruin the 
economy of the world 1 

Look, for example, at the shells of sea moUusca : nearly one- 
half of their weight is carbonic acid. Qraduallj it has been 
collected from the Burrounding medium, has pervaded the ^B- 
fems of these dehcate oreatures, has circulated in their flmd% 
has combined with lime, and finally been deposited by their 
mantles iu the form of a shell. Had carbonic acid been corro- 
sive, this could not have been. Carbonic acid would have, iu 
that case, become totally unadapted to the performance of its 
destined end. — Faraday. 



a FOEGES IN OKEATION. 

Br. Maury thus strikingly illustrates the admirable system 
of compensation, and the beauty and nicety with which things 
and principles are meted out in directions apparently the most 
opposite, but in proportions are exactly balanced. Thus, bj 
the action of opposite and oompensating forces, the earth is 
kept in its orbit, and the stars are held in suspension in the 
azure vault of heaven ; and these forces are so exquisitely ad- 
justed, that, at the end of a thousand years, the earth, the bud, 
and moon, and every star in the firmament, is found to come 
and stand in its proper place at the proper moment. 

When tho little snowdrop was created, the whole mass of 
the earth, from pole to pole, and circumference to centre, must 
have been taken into account and weighed, in order that the 
proper degree of strength might be given to its tinj fibres. 

NUMBERS IN NATDRE. 

Physical Science shows that numbers have a significance in 
every department of natm^. 

Two appears as the typical number in the lowest class of 
plants, and regnlates the purii^ or maniage of plants ai^ 



Curiosities of Science. 55 

TAree ie the ohaiocteristio nmnber of that class of plants 
irhich has parallel veined leaves, and is the number of joints in 
the typical digit. 

Four ie the significant number of those beautiful crystals 
which show that minerals as well as stars have their geometry, 
^'iwia the model number of the highest class of plants, with 
TStioulated veins and branches ; is the typical number of the 
fingers and toes of vertebrate animals, and is of frequent oc- 
cmrence among Etar-figh. 

Six is the proportion number of carbon in chemistry, and 
3 X 2 is a common nnmber in the Soral organs of monocotyle- 
donous plants, such as lilies. 

Seven appears as significant only in a single order of plants 
{HeptaTidrid) ; but has an importance in the animal kingdom, 
nhere it is the number of vertebrse in the neck of mammalia ; 
and, according to Edwards, the typical number of rings iu the 
head, in the thoras, and in the abdomen of Crustacea. 

Mffht is the definite number in chemical composition for 
osygen, the most universal element in nature, and is very com- 
mon in the organs of sea-jellies. 

Jfine. seems to be rare in the organic kingdom. 
Ten, or 6x2 is found in star-fishes, ana is the number of 
digits in the fore and hind limbs of animals. 

Without going over any more individual numbers, we find 
multiple numbers acting an important part in chemical compo- 
ritiona and in the organs of flowers ; for the elements unite in 
multiple relations, and the stamens are often the multiples of 
the petals. In the arrangement of the appendages of the plaut 
we nave a strange series, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 21, 34, which was 
Buppoeed to possess virtues of an old d^ite, aud before it was 
discovered in the plant. In natural philosophy, the highest 
law, that of forces acting from a centre, proceeds according to 
ihe square of numbers. In the curves and relative lengtli of 
branches of plants there are evidently quantitative relations 
which mathematics has not been able to seize and express. 

TJtaTY OF THE DEirY. 
In examining the human structure, and comparing it with 
that of animals in general, a new and grand evidence has been 
afforded of the unity of the Divine action ; supplying the last 
argument required, and left untouched by the famous Cudworth, 
to refute the old atheistic doctrine of tiemocritus and his fol- 
birers, who, it will be remembered, resolved the existence o:' 
men and animals into the fortuitous concourse of atoms — b] 
demonstrating the existence, in the Divine mind, of pattern, 
or plan, prior to its manifestation in the creation of man. 
" The evidence of unity of plan in the structure of animala 



BG ThiTig* not generally Known. 

teatificB to the oneness of their Creator, aa the modifications of 
the plan for different modes of life illustrate the beneficence 
ofthedeaigner."* 

Atan is no longer retarded as thongh he were distinct in hia 
anatomj from all the r^ of the tmimat creation ; but hia atrac- 
ture is perceived to be an exquisite modification of many othv 
structures, tlie whole of which have been now recognised is 
modifications of one and the same general pattern. Every one 
of the 260 bonea which ma; be enumerated in the humaa 
alceleton can be unerringlj traced in the skeletons of man; 
hundred inferior unimil' ; and the human anatomist of our 
day b^ins to comprehend the nature of his own structure in a 
waj never dreamai of by his predecessors, — S. Warren,'* Lee- 
ture on Itadltctval and Moral Veii^opmml of thMprttent Age. 

Nearly sixty years since PaJey wrote : "Of the unity of the 
Deity, the proof is the uniformity of plan observable in the sys- 
tem," bespeaking "the aame creation and the same Creator;" 
almost prophetic words, which have been bo Btrikingly illua- 
trated by the superior science of the present day. 

WHAT IS ATMO&PHEKIC AIK? 

The term Atmospheric Air conveys to themind of the chem- 
ist the idea of a number of properties. No mortal eye basever 
eeen a partide of air ; for sight presup^ees a certain effect 
produced on the eye, which particles of air are quite incapable 
of producing. They possess, however, other properties, whioh 
chemistry brings to view, and by which the chemist not only 
ascertains their presence when they escape the notice of others 
but he is also enabled by them to show that this invisible, im- 
palpable material consists of several other equally invisible sub- 
stances. By his exact knowledge of the properties, he can sepa- 
rate them from each other, weigh them, and make their presence 
manifest to others. He is able to show that the air which bunu 
in our street-lamps consiEts of five or six totally different ain. 
Ho points out, in a constituent of atmospheric air, employed vl 
respiration, one of the most indispenBable requisites for animal 
life ; and in a product of respiration, one equally important to 
vegetable life. He exhibits the intimate connection between 
the visible and invisible material world, of the existence of 
which our ancestors had no idea. He is enabled to do all this 
by his knowledge of the pecuhar properties of these bodies, 
acquired by the means of visible phenomena, or such as can be 
recognised by the senses. He must first bnng these substances 
in contact with others to render these phenomena manifest ; 
but when he has done this, they then become more distinct 



Curiosities of Science. 



than the tones of a chord when struck, and as intelligible as 
the black lines and characters which oonvef to a &r distant 
friend our invisible thoughls. — lAebig't FtcnrUiar Letters. 

CHEUICAI. COMPOSIXIOK OF THE ATMOSPHEEE. 

When we reflect upon the number of gases and vapours 
that are disengaged on the sur&ce of the globe from all tho 
decompositioDS of the ^reat animal snd vegetable kingdoms, 
together with all the poisonous matter of infectious disease, we 
might expect, at least, to find a long Ust of elements in the 
analysis of the atmosphere. But not bo. Oxygen, nitrogen, 
vapour of water, and a Email fraction of carbonic-add gas, are 
all at present detected. This is the same in town or county, 
on the plain or the mountain-top ; or perhaps it would be 
more correct to say, chemistry is not yet sufficiently advanced 
to detect the difference. Surely the air that sweeps the Pon- 
tine njarshes, branding the native of that treacherous climate 
with the appearance of age in his youth, or that air which sur- 
rounds the pallid sedentary mechanic in the densely populated 
city, cannot be the same which gives the sailor and the rustic 
&rnier such a ruddy countenance. Therefore, at present, the 
best test of the purity of an atmosphere is its effect on the con- 
stitution. In 100 parts of atmospheric air there are twenty- 
three parts of oiycen gas, and Beventy-seven of nitrogen (Dumas 
and BouBsingault). The quantity of carbonic-acid gas is vari- 
able : irom the mean of various experiments it exists in the 
proportion of one volume in 2000 of atmospheric ur. This 
proportion is greater near the level of the sea in summer than 
in winter, and greater during the night than during the day, 
and rather more abundant on the summit of mountains than 
on the plains.— Joitmtti of PvUic HetdA. 

daw's eablt sream. 
Humphry Davy, when nineteen summers old, among other 
things, concluded that oxygen, as it exists in the atmosphere, 
is a compound of real oxygen and a matter of light ; that when 
a taper bums, this light is set free, while the wax unites with 
the actual oxygenous principle of oxygen, and melts "into 
thin air." That when a man inspires, this " phos- oxygen" 
(such was the name he put upon the ordinary oxygen of the 
atmosphere) is absorbed by the blood, carried to the Drain, and 
there decomposed into true oxygen and light; and that the 
light thus liberated within the most intimate recesses of " ihe 
golden bowl," from which the stream of higher life appeared to 
permeate the body, is the nervous energy, and the proximate 
cause of sensation, perception, and emotion. In sad and sober 
truth, the enthusiast was then a materialist; and this dazzling 



77dngt not generally Known. 



tMod, which GUDotified the divinity of nature to bis kindled 
imaginatioa, nas a compromise between his impersonal piety 
and the eminently practical but brilliant science bj which he 
waa taken oaptive.^iTortA Srituh Bevieur, No. 3. 

UATESIAIJTY OF HEAX. 

How much the progresa of science depends on the mode in 
which phenomena are interpreted 1^ the first observers, is 
BtrikingV illustrated in the case of certain espetiments of 
Robert Boyle. He observed that when copper, lead, iron, and 
tin were heated to redness in the air, a poreion of calx irea 
formed, and there was a constant and decided increase of weight. 
{Expennientt to make Fisv and Flame ponderaUe, 1673.) This 
experiment he repeated with lead and tin in glass vessels ber- 
meticaJly sealed, and found still an increase of weight ; but 
obeeryed further that when the " Eealed neck of the retort was 
broken off, the external air rushed in with a noise." (Addi- 
IwTud SaperiTTunti, Ko. v. ; and a Ditcovtry of the Pemimimeu 
of Qlait to ponderaMe parit of Mame, eip. iii.) From this he 
reasoned correctly, that in <^cination the metai lost nothing 
by drying up, as was generally supposed, or that if it did, " by 
this operation it gained more weight than it lost." (Coroll, ii.) 
But this increase of weight he attributed to the fixation of beat, 
statii^ it as "plain that igneous particles were trajected 
through the glass," and that " enough of them to be manifestly 
ponderable did permanently adhere." Had he weighed the 
sealed retort before he broke it open, he must have concluded 
that the metal had increased in weight at the expense of the 
enclosed air. He stood, in fact, at the very brink of the Pneu- 
matic Chemistry of Priestley ; be had in bis hand the key to 
the great discovery of lavoieier. Hownearly were these philo- 
Eophers anticipated by a whole century, and the long inter- 
regnum of phlogiston prevented '■ On what small oversights 
do great events m the history of science, as of nations, depend 1 
— Prof. Johnstone, Proc. British Auoc. voL vii. 



L AGENCIES OF LIGHT. 

In by for the larger number of cases in which light is 

evolved, its manifestations can be directly traced to chemical 

combinations ; whilst, oonversely, light is often a most powerfhl 

agent in brinRing about chemical change. In fact, it may be 

doubted whether light does not alter the structure or com- 

ositiou of all matter through which it passes, or on vrLich it 

'Is. Upon such an alteration depend not only all the pbeno- 

na of photography, and numerous chemical changes of a 

St important character, but also the sustentation of all 

inic life and our own sensibility to visual phenomena. For 



Curiosities of Science. 



it is bj the extraordinary influence of light upon the aur&ce of 
the growing plant, that it ia able to eeparate the inorganic ele- 
ments of water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, and to unite them 
into those new and peculiar compounds— starch, oil, albumen, 
and their derivativea, which serve not only for the exteneion of 
the Tegetahle fabric, hut also for the nutrition of the animal 
body; so that without light, as Lavoisier tiruly said, nature 
were without life and without soul. That the influence of 
light is exerted in providing the material for vegetable growth 
by quasi-chemical action, is capable of proof by the direct 
experiment, that, c^eru paribus, the quantity of carbonic acid 
decomposed by a plant in a given time is proportioned to the 
amount of light that has Mien upon it. — Natiimal Beview^ 
No. 8. 

EFFECT OF COLOUKED LIGHT ON GEBMIKATION. 

Mr. LawHoa of Edinburgh has been accustomed to ascer- 
tain the commercial value of seeds by experimental germina- 
tion, and so to determine their value in the market. ITie 
process ordinarily occupies from twelve to fifteen days : but 
Mr , Lawson found that by using blue glau he was enabled to 
determine the value of the seeds in two or three days, which is 
to him a eavinK of SOOf, a year. 

Mr. J.H.Gladstone gives us the results of hyacinths grown 
vmder very varied influences of light, and solar heat, and 
ohemical acency : that the yellow ray diminishes the growth of 
rootlets and the absorption of water ; the red ray hinders the 
proper development of the plant ; and total darkness causes a 
rqiid and abundant growth of their rootlets, and prevents the 
formation of the green colouring -matter, but not that of the 
Uue flower, nor of the other constituents of a healthy plant 

It has been observed that blue rays retard germination at 
first, although they probably accelerate the growth of the plant 
afterwards ; the act of germination being attended with absorp- 
tion of oxygen, but the process of development bein^ on the 
c(ttitrary, attended with tie extrication of this gas. 

COLORIFIC EFFECT OF THE EDn'S RiVS. 

The power of the solar rays in developing fine colours is 
perhaps best seen on. the sides of apples, peaches, i&c., which, 
exposed to the midsummer sun, become highly coloured. 

During the winter of 1851, a wall-flower afforded Mr. Adio 
of Liverpool a proof of the like effect : in the dark months 
there was a slow succession of one or two flowers of uniform 
pale-yellow hue ; in March streaks of n darker yellow colou 
appeared on the flowers, and continued slowly to increase, tl 



Thing* not generally Known. 



THE COLOOHINa OS FIOWEEB. 

M . Fritsch, the Oermaa botaniBt, has ahoirn that the colour- 
ing of flowers is intimately connected with the altemationa of 
the waBODB. In Gemmny, he finds that inTOriably the number 
of flowers increases from December to July. White flowers an 
the most nomerous during the whole of the year when plants 
are in blosaom ; then come yellow, orange, blue, Tiolet, green, 
and lastly, the indigo flowers, which are the moBt uncommon. 

The law of the increase of flowering is closely connected 
with the mean temperature ; but from tune to time anomalies 
are exhibited which change of temperature alone can explain : 
such is the rapid decrease of the number of flowering plants 
from the end of July to that of August. From January, when 
aU the flowers are white, to the vernal equinox, the relative 
number of white flowers rapidly decreases ; after which the pro- 
portion increases till the middle of May, and then insensibly 
diminishes till the season of frosts. Settiiig aside the veij few 
yellow flowers which appear in February and March, the pro- 
portion of flowers of that colour increases from the beginning 
of April to the end of June ; then it remains stationa^ till the 
middle of August, EkTter which it increases again till the frosts. 
The proportional number of red flowers gradually diminishes 
from February to the end of April ; increasing till the end of 
August, after which it decreasea till October ; it then rises 

Tin till November, when most of the cultivated flowers are 
that colour. The green or greenish flowers diminish in 
number from March tiU the end of May, after which the 
proportion is about uniformly m^ntained till winter. Bine 
flowers increase till the middle of April ; then decrease till 
the summer solstice, and next ascend to the number reached 
in April, after which they rapidly decrease, and totally cease 
on the arrival of frosts. 

A table of these observations shows that each colour rises 
twice, and deareases twice. Whenever the white flowers in- 
crease, the yellow decrease, and viee versd. The red and green 
always correspond, as do the blue and violet flowers. In con- 
clusion, these laws apply to species, not to individuals. 

TH£OBY OF BEEPIKATION. 

A man's chest contains nearly 200 cubic inches of air ; but 
in oidinaiT breathing he takes in at one time and sends out 
agtun only about 20 cubic inches, the bulk of a full-axed 
orange ; and ho makes about 15 inspirations in a minute. He 
vitiates, therefore, in a minute about the sixth part of a cubio 



Curitmtiet of Science. 61 

foot ; but which, misuig, as it escapeB, with many times as 
much of the air around, renders unfit for respiration three or 
four cubic feet. The removalof this impure air, and the enp- 
plv in i\a stead of fresh air, is accomplished thus ; the air 
which issues from the cheet, being heated to near the tempera- 
ture of the hvinz body, viz. 96 degrees, and being therelrf di- 
lated, is Iight«r, Dulk for bulk, than the aurrounding air at the 
ordii^iy temperature ; it therefore rises in the atmosphere, 
to be diffused there, as oil set free under water rises : in botk 
oases a heavier fliud is, in fact, pushing up and taking th^ place 
of a lighter. This beautiful provision of nature, without trouble 
to the person, or even his being aware of it, is rehevinp him at 
every iiistant from the presence of a deadly though mvisible 
poison, and replacing it with pure vital sustenance ; and the 
process continues while he sleeps as while he wakes, and is as 
perfect for the unoonsdous babe, and even the brute creature, 
aa for the wisest philosopher. In aid of this process come the 
neater motions in. the abnosphere, called winds, which mingle 
the whole, and favour agencies which mainttun the general 
puritj. — Dr. Neil AmoU. 

BttPOBTANCE OF TENTILATIOM. 

That the importance of the constant substitution of pai« 
ur taken from the general atmosphere for the contaminated air 
of enclosed localities has been so lately understood even by 
scientific men, andis still so little understood by the mass of the 

Cple, is explained by the fact, that a hundred years ago no- 
y on earth knew any thing of oxygen and nitrogen ; or that 
theiur we breathe, consisting of these, isasmach a material sub- 
siance as the water we drink or the food we eat, — indeed, con- 
uBts of similar elements, only in different combination and form, 
— and that it can carry poison like these. Then, aJthough 
men have long been aware that arsenic, prusstc acid, and the 
other solid and liquid poisons, may all be rendered harmless,— 
nay, in certain cases may even be used as medicines when co- 
piously diluted with pure water, — many have yet to learn that 
aerial poisons also can be rendered quite harmless by large 
admixture of pure air. In a locality where a deadly contagion 
prevails, the atmosphere at a short distance above it is no more 
contaminated by it than the deep stream of the Miasisaippi is 
contaminated by a ciiild washing a foul rag near its bank : and 
mechanical art can now draw down pure air from the sky, and 



gas-hotder of a town. 

The reasons of this imperfect ventilntiou are, that ur under 
common circumstances is inviuble ; that scarcely two hundred 



€2 Things not generally Known. 

jears have parsed aace scieatiGc meii began to suspect that air 
was at all a ponderable space-occupying substance; and onl^ 
in our own daj — since it has been used as stuffing for air-pillows, 
and oue kind with the name of coal-gas has been distributed 
and sold bj measnre from pipes, as water is. Hence people 
generally conceived of it as being truly a thing ; that only 
about one hundred years ago did chemists leam that a.tr or gas 
is not a distinct subatance of a permanent nature, but is one 
-of the three forms called solid, liquid, and aeriform, which 
cert^nly most, probably all, elementary substances may as- 
Bume under different degrees of beat, compression, and com- 
bination : that the particular substance, for instance, to which 
the name of osygen was given soon after its discovery, by Dr. 
Priestley in 17S3, and which in its separate state, at the tem- 
perature of our earth, exists only as an air that might serve as 
a stuffing for cusbioas, yet constitutes eight-ninths by weight 
of all the water on our globe, about one-fourth of all the eiu^h 
and stones, and a large proportion of the flesh and other parts 
■of all animnls and vegetables. — Dr. Neil Arnatt, 

ANALYSIS OF ATMOSFHEKIC AIB. 
Professor Liebig diseovered, in 1850, a beautiful process for 
analysing atmospheric air. He found that one part of pyro- 
gallic acid dissolved in five of water, and added to a solution of 
potassa, gives a Uquid that will absorb ox;^gen tdr as rapidly as 
a pure potassa solution does carbonic add. Availing himself 
. of this fact, he has been enabled by a simple process to make 
analyses of atmospheric air equal to the best heretofore obtained 
by other processes. 

PLANTS IN BLEEPING-EOOMS, 

Plants are generally understood to be hurtful at night both 
in sleeping and sitting rooms, but beneficial by day, by two 
contrary operations, which are thus explained in iiimp'a Hand- 
■iook of Gardening : 

' ' Plants convert osygen and carbon, whicb they receive 
from the soil and air, into carbonic acid, which they exhale at 
night. This being a deadly and dangerous gas to human beings, 
plants and flowers are not considered h^thy in a sitting or 
bed room during the night. In the day they give off oxygen, 
especially in the morning, which is reputed to render the 
morning air so fresh and exhilarating. They are veryuseful 
in absorbing from the air the carbon which is so injurious to 
xniraal life ; and they purify stagnant water in the same way," 

Br. Sexton, in a communication to Notes and Queriei, Sd 
jries, No. 29, thus illustrates this vexed question : 

Tliere are two dLrtinct and apparontly opposite proeessas gmng on 



Curiosities of Science. 



In the plant. First, the decompodtion at oarbonio acid, tlie Qxation of 
the carbon for the purpoee of building up ita own tissues, and the 
liberation of the oxygen. This constitutes vegetable nutritlDu. Second, 
the exhaling carbonia acid, the result of ^e union of the oiy^n of the 
fttmoflphere with tbe carbon of the vegetable tissuee. This is onslogous 
to reapiration. 

The first of these processes is not only beneficial to auimal life, but 
absolutely essential to ita existence ; for as the anim^ iuhalee oiygeu 
and exhales carbonic acid in the process of respirBtioc, if some agency 
did not work oat the reverse change, the whole of the oxygen in the 
atmosphere would be used up in a certain length of time (800,000 
years, accordiog to Professor I>umas}, and animal life consequently dis- 
appear. But, as it is, animals and plants are thus mutually dependent 
upon each other ; and this is the case, not merely with regard to car- 
boDic acid, but also some other compounds, such aa ammonia, water, 
&0., which ore formed In animala and decomposed in plant& So &r, 
Uwn. It is healthy to hare plants in rooms. 

Bat there is Uie second process— a kind of decay, or by some looked 
upon as a true respiration ; and aa this is prooisely what occurs in aui- 
inals, it musC of ccime add to the carbooic acid of the atmosphere, and 
thus produce an effect prejudicial to animal life. If both these pro- 
cesses were carried on to the same extent, the onewould as amatterof 
course counteract the other, and neither would produce either good or 
evil as to its effects upon the atmosphere. But aa tbe former, under 
general circumstances, preponderates excessively over the latter, it is on 
the whole healthy to live among plants. 

There arc circumstancea, however, in which the respiratory process 
is aotive, and tbe nutritive at a stand-still ; where the influence of the 
'Vegetable iqion the atmosphere will be injurious to animal life. One of 
these circumstances is the absence of sunshine, or daylight, as these 
■tiniuli are necessary b) the carrying on of the process of nutrition in 
the plant. It is therefore Injurious, more or less, to sleep in a room 
in which there are plants. 

NotwithBtanding thia minute inquiry iuto the matter, in 
the Quarterly R!eiev!,V[o.iaa (Art." The Flower Garden"), we 
find the fear of exhaUtions from floners at night treated as a 
popular error. 

7IBE AND PHLOGISTON. 

The fiction that Fire ia a substantial, thoush subtle, mate- 
rial element of nature, had been promulgated b; Empedocles 
more than four centuries B.e. ; handed down to the polyphar- 

tnaoista, it had played but a small figure in their doct^ne ; 
brought to Europe ouce more, the AIchemiBts had written not 
a little about it, but had made nothing of it as a theoretic 
centre : but now it was destined to quicken the whole maas of 
a growing chemistry, and to give that unity to all its parts, of 
-which they stood more in neS than ever. In fine, the ancient 
Greek, if not Egyptian, matter of fire, the empyrean element 
of the old quittemion, wae at length recogniaed, aet apart and 
consecrated by the ) ■ • - " 

•indet the dafwical n: 



Things not generally Known. 



Here is a. ^miliar illuBtration of thici positiTe cheniiBti7. 

A lighted caudla buraa till it is done, pving out flume or matter rf 
flraall Uie while: — for irbatreaaoti, but beiauBe & csjidle is a compound 
of oandlo-mattar and phlogiston, because that compound is daoomposod 
when it bums, and because phlogiston is thereby set free and shows 
itself in tlie SuDe from the b<^wQUig to the end of the procees I The 

Euro apblogisticatod caDdle-msttar is also liberated of coone, little 
7 little, OS the taper burns from top to socket ; that candle-matter 
turning oat to hi carbonic-acid gss and water, ns diBcavored by later 
methods of research ; so that, according to the phlogistio chemiirtiT. 
tallow shoold have been tabulated as a compound of Gro with water and 
fixed air : cauntiugthe cshes of the wick and oil, this was neither more 
nor leea than the eiperimant of the Greek physiologists, after all : — 
phlogiston or Gre, carbonic acid or air, moitituro or water, and ashes oi 

earth 1 Again, a st"'- -' '■~ — ' — ' '"- - ^'"~ " ■" - 

snffocatinK yapour, 

aoid ; in the language of the phlogist. , 

two tMngs, sulphurous acid and phlogiston ; and when it is suSbrad to 

bum, it gives out its phlogiston, or flame of fire, and there reniaiiis its 

depblc^tlcated sulphur, or sulphurous acid, in the separated state. 

'What a thing fire must have been to the primitive man the fint 
time it fiaslied upon him I Say that he kept watoh over his people ; 
that at the chilliest hour of the night, just l»toro sunrise, he notjced 
how a dry stick grew warm when rubbed against his club ; that he 
rubbed them again more stoutly still, and it Decomo hot : at it again, 
with the wonder of a child, and the strength of twenty men, he fiungit 
down, for it scorched his hand ; yet be could not choose but try ag^n, 
and it smoked ; again and agun, quicker and quicker, longer and lon^, 
ha pursued the wild oiperimeDt until it burat mto fiajne. — Ifortk SntiA 
lUirietc, No, 85. 

THE FATE OF LATOISIEB. 

Antoiue Laurent lavomer, " the French lawgiver of che- 
mistiy," was bom at Paria in 1743. He waa educated at the 
College Mazarin, and having studied mathematica, aatronomj', 

and botanj, he took lessons in chemistry from old Bouelle, and 
to this science he dedicated himself, determined in his choice 
b; the recent brilliant discoveries of Dr. Black. When onlj 
twenty-one years of age, he obtained the prize offered by the 
govemmeut for the beat essay on lighting the streets of iWa ; 
and to enable himself to judge of the intensity of the light 
afforded by lamps, he kept himself aix weeks in total darknes^ 
in order to intensify the senaibility of hie eye. He now re- 
nounced Parisian society for the secluded pursuit of science ; 
and put himself upon short commons of bread and mUk, when 
he found that the want of air and eiercise did him harm. In 
1766, he was admitted an asaociate of the French Academy; 
and hndine that he needed a good income for his studies, he 
obtained the appointment of a farmer-general of the pnblic 
revenues. The chemieta now eaid he had foraaken chemist^, 
and the farmers looked upon him aa an interloper; but nc 



Curiosiliet of Science. 65 

eventually proved the beet of famiers, and the greatest of the 
diemists of his daj. He was nest appointed to superintend 
iba government saltpetre works, and in 1790 «aa made a mem' 
ber of the famous commisdon on weights and mcasureB. 

Meanwhile the revenue -farmer was working out a vast 
scheme of chemical disooverv and doctrines, upon which he 
published forty memoirs within fifteen years. It is also re- 
corded of him that he engaged in some of the most re- 
pulsive of chemical investigations from motives of humanity. 
Vet all his services and aU his fine qualities could not save him 
from the revolutionary scaffold. Upon some paltiy accusation 
of having authorised or winked at the putting of too much 
water on the Republic's tobacco, a number of the fermere- 
general were condemned to death : and Lavoisier was one of 
them. To avoid arrest, he secreted himself far some days in a 
cabinet of the Academy } whence he was dragged forth, like a 
skulking male&ctor, insidted by a mock trial^ and condemned 
to death. In answer to a request for a respite of some days, 
in order to finish certain experiments, which he stated were of 
importance to the interests of mankind, he was coldly informed 
bytbe public accuser that the Republic had no n«eio/cA«niuf«, 
and that the course of justice could not be delayed : he was then 
led to the guillotine. May 6, 1794. 

The truly pathetic circumstance connected with this homi- 
cide was the fact, that the discoverer wasiust at the middle of 
]us work, aa he su}>posed. These are the last two sentences he 
ever wrote ; " This is not the place to enter into any details 
concerning organised bodies ; indeed, I have purposely avoided 
that subject, and that is the reason why I have refrained from 
speaking of the phenomena of respitation, sanguification, and 
animal heat. I shall return some day soon to these subjects." 
He never returned in the body ; but his spirit is with us still, 
the nobler portion of the legacy be left to bis disciples. 

It is impossible within our limits to trace the succession of 
particulars in the progress of Lavoisier's career. The crowning 
moment was, perhaps, the foUovring discovery : Oxysen had 
been discovered by IMeatley and by himself: he had ascer- 
tained that it is the oxygen of the atmospheric ur that becomes 
fixed (or absorbed and combined with) when brimstone is 
burnt, or a metal calcined ; so that the calx of quicksilver was 
known to contain at least mercury and oxygen, whatever else 
it might contain, He therefore took a known weight of mer- 
carial met, and drove the oxygea out of it by beat (for simple 
heating decomposes that oxide), but did so in such an appa- 
ratus as enabled him to catch and retain that oxygen, as well 
as to preserve the liberated quicksilver. He next recalcined 
tliia same mercnrr, by means of the same oxygen as bad been 



66 Thirds not peneraUy Known. 

jiut expelled from the original oalx employed ; and he therebj 
obtained the Bune weight of the calx of mennuy aa had been 
introduced into the apparatun at the beginniiig of the experi- 
ment. This yna an express illustration of the feot that the red 
nut of quicksilTer is a compound of nothing ponderable bnt 
merouT]' and oxjmn, instead of quicksilver being (aa had been 
BO long and lapSij believed) a compoond of its own calx with 
the pontiveir Ught phlogiBton. Wnen it was made out that 
the Bom of the weigfata of the mercur}' and the oijgen, obtun- 
able by heat from an; known weight of mercurial calx, ia ez- 
actlf equal to that weight, the expefimental demoustmtioa 
was complete. Tet it ia a atrange mistake to suppoae that the 
histoiT of true Chemistry reaches no further back than the 
period of this great reform. Ages were required to collect the 
world of phenomena of which ObemiatiT consisted before La- 
voiaier appeared. It required innumerable obserrations befoie 
'-'e to attempt theexplanalion of that most striking 

they could » 

that the rusting of iron in the air, the bleaching of v^etable 
colours, and the respiration of animals, were all dependent on 
ihe same cause aa the combustion of inflammable substances. 
—Ahridgtdfrmn, the North BrititK Beview, Ho. 35. 

COLODBED miES. 

Mr. F. A. Abel, director of the Chemical Establishinent of 

the War-Department, has found the most important materials 
for producnng Coloured Fires to be — 

The oxide and sulphide of copper, Bud the ohlorate of copper and po- 
tasaa ; the nitrate of lead, the Bulpiude of aneDio (omiment) ; the siil- 
pUde of ineroui7 (EUiiof miiunii), and the sub-chloride (calomd) ; 
lino, aatimony, and iron, ee metals, m the state of filings, fto. ; the 
ou-banate, nitrate, and chloride of baryta ; and the oarbonat« and M- 
ixato of Btrontia. Chloride of potassa is largely Bmpl<^ed to inereaia 
the vohemeiice of the combuBtioa of many compodtiODS ooiitaliilng 
Golouring Hubfltances, wheretiy the tniUiancy of the resultiag tints is 
much heightened. The chlorate of baryta has lately been prepared oa 
a Tery large scale fbr pyroteohnio oompodtiooa. In endeavouring; to 
prepare a compound of the chlorate of copper with ammonia (similu' 
to IJ16 BO-ocilled ammonio-mtrate of copper), as a material for a brilliant 
purple fire, Mr. Miaholson has obtained a Imutifullj crystalline com- 
pound, of so powerfully eiplosiTe a character that Bten its sjrum 
solution detonates sharply whoD slmck with a hammer upon an anviL 
The substance in question is more dangerous to manipulate with IhsD 
fahninato of mercury, but it undergoes gradual decompointjon on oi- 
poscro to air, accompanied by a diminution of its espioMTe properties. 
This compound has led to the observation that the ammonio-nitrate of 
oopi>er, when thoroughly di7, also possesses slight detonating pro- 

In distilling the metal magnenum, which resembles nn^ if 



Curtantiex of Sctence. 67 

the current of hydrogen is too strong, & little metidlio powder 
is carried oat of the apparatus alone with the hydrogen gas. If 
this powder is ignited, it bumg with one of the moBt heautifdl 
flames it ia poaaible to im^ine : this experiment would make 
a charming exhibition for alecture-room. 

AUUHfS FmE-FKOOF DB£6SES, 

In Bavoy, Oonrioa, Cornwall, and Scotland, ia found a fibrous 
minmal, which when woven produces a fire-proof cloth ; whence 
its name Atbatoa, unconsumable. Ab the ancients were ac- 
quunted with the art of weaving this cloth, it was probabl)b 
employed in the performance of some of their miraoleB — in en- 
aUmg the victims of superstition to undergo without hazard 
the mal of ordeal by fire, when clad in asb^toa garments and 
gloves made to imitate the human ekin. 

Xa our own times, by similar means to the above, the art 
of defending the hands and face, and, indeed, the whole body, 
from the action of intense Are has been applied to the nobler 
pnrpoBes of saving hfunan life, and rescuing property fi^m the 
fiamea. Sir Humphry Davy had long ago ^own, in his safety- 
lamp for lighting mines, tliat the flame, being gorrannded with 
wire-gauze, was prevented setting fire to the inflammable air 
without by the conducting and radiating power of the wire- 
gauze carrying aS the heat of the flame, and depriving it of 
its power. The Chevalier Aldini of Milan has applied this 
material, with other badly conducting substances, as a protec- 
tion gainst fire. The incombustible pieces of dress which he 
used for the body, arms, and legs were formed of stout cloth 
steeped in a strong solution of alum ; while those for the head, 
fe«t, and hands were made of asbestos, or mountain-flax. The 
head-dress was a cap enveloping the head down to the neck, 
having perforations for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The stock^ 
ings and cap were single; but tie gloves were made of double 
asbestos cloth, to enable a fireman to handle burning or red- 
hot bodies. Over these was worn a metaUic dress of five 
pieoes, made of iron-wire game, the interval between its threads 
Eieing the twentieth part of an inch. These pieces were a cap, 
with a mask large enough to leave a proper space between it 
and the asbestos cap; acuirasa withbraaBets; a piece of armour 
for the trunk and tilths ; a pair of boots of double wire-gauze ; 
and an oval shield of wire-ganze Bb«tched over a slender iron 

To prove the safety of this apparatus to the firemen, Aldini 
ahowea that a finger first enveloped in asbestos, and then in a 
double case of wire-gauze, mif^t be held a long time in a flame 
of a spirit-Itunp or candle before the heat became Inconvenient. 



ThtTigs not generally Knom 



A fireman wearing a double aabestoB glove, and the pahn pro- 
tected bya piece of aabestos cloth, seized with impanit]' a la^ 
piece of red-hot iron, and carried it deliberately 160 feet, in- 
fiamed straw with it, and brought it back to the furnace. On 
other occasions, the firemen handled blazing wood and burning 
BubstanceB, and walked during five minutee upon an iron grat- 
ing placed over flaming fagots. In order to show how the 
^ h^, eyes, and lungs were protected, the fireman put on the 
asbeBtoa and wire-gauze cap and the cuirass, and then plunged 
his fiice into a fire of sbavmgs ; and in another trial at Fans, 
a, fireman placed his head iu the middle of flaming baj and 
wood, and resisted the fire t«n minutes. In another trial, a 
fireman safely carried a child in a wioker-bastet covered with 
metallic gauze (the child only wearing a cap of amianthine 
cloth) through a narrow place where names from fegote aud 
straw raged eight yards high. 

Sir Dftvid Brewster observes in his Natural Magic: " It is a 
remarkable result of these experiments, that the firemen are 
able to breathe without difficulty in the middle of the flames. 
This effect is owing not only to the heat being intercepted by 
the wire-gauze as it passes to the lungs, in consequence of 
which the temperature becomes supporbtble, but also to the 
singular power which the body possesses of resisting great 
heats, and of breathing air of high temperatures."* 

ASBESTOS. 
Nearly two centuries Mnce, the fire-proof properiiy of As- 
bestos was publicly proved in England. £r. Plot records 
that, at a meeting of the Royal Society in 1676, a merchant 
lately come from China exhibited a handkerchief made of Sala- 
mander's wool, or Linum Asbetii, which, to try whether it were 
genuine or no, was put into a strong charcoal fire, in which, 
not being injured, it was taken out, oiled, and put in again. 
The oil being burnt off, the handkerchief was taken out again, 
had only lost 2 dr. 6 gr. of its weight, but was more brittle than 
ordinary ; but when it had grown cold, it nearly recovered its 
tenacity aud weight. The merchant stated that he had received 
- the handkerchief from a Tartar, who told him that among the 
Tartars this sort of cloth was sold at SOI. sterling the China ell, 
which isleas than our ell i be added that the Chinese greatly used 
this cloth in burning the bodies (to preserve the ashes) of great 
pereoDB ; and that in Tartary Asbestos is " affirmed to be made 
of the rimt of a tree." 

Sir Hans Sloane possessed in his museum a purse made of 
Asbestos, which he purchased of Dr. Franklin, who thus relates 
" Bee " Protection from lntonse Hekt," in CuriogitiM ofSvienatt FErat Sniu. 
1i.l»l,192. J —• 



CurioHties of Science. 



^e drcuinstance in one of his letters : " Sir Hans Sloans heard 
of it, came id Bee me, and invited me to his house in Blooms- 
bur; Square, showed me all hia curio^ties, and persuaded me 
to add that (the Asbestos purse) to the number, fur which he 
paid me handaomelj." 

CHEHISTBY of i. BLAST-FDSHAGE. 

Had the results of ramhuBtion not been volatile, the com- 
bnEtiTe action would have been continually impeded. There 
can Bcarcelybe conceived a more beautiful balance of power 
designed for a, specific end than this ; yet bo familiar has the 
resnlt become to ns, bo nnnoticed by its very perfection, that 
an effort of chemical reasoning is required to enable us justly 
to appreciate this point in relation to the chemistt; of carbon. 
The enormouB quantity of ponderable, yet invisible, carbon 
removed in the drau^t of our larger fireplaces is, on its firat 
announcement, starthng ; yet nothing admits of more satis- 
fiMtory proof. ThrouM an avera^e-siMd iron bkat-famaco 
there rushes hourly no less a Quantity of atmospheric air than 
six tons ; canring off SG-lOOtns, or more than half a ton, of 
carbon in the form of carbonic acid. — Faraday. 

A. striking instance of economic talent, says a writer in the 
Britiih Qwirtcriy Review, came to our knowledge in the district 
of Alston Moor. From the smelting earths of one " house," 
an arched tunnel conducts the smoke to an outlet at a distance 
from the works, in a waste spot, where no one can complain 
of it. The gathering matter, or "fume," resulting from the 
passage of the smoke is annually submitted to a process by 
which at that time it yielded enough of lead to pay for the 
construction of a chimney. A similar tunnel-chimney, three 
miles in length, has been erected at Allendale. Its fumes will 
yield thousands of poimds sterhng per annum. Truly, here it 
may be said that Bmoke does not end in smoke. 

PBODCCTS OF COMGUSTIOH IN GAS AND OIL UlHPS. 

Mr. Faraday has shown that oU and gas each contains car- 
bon and hydrogen, and each requires the addition of oxygen 
to bring about combustion. The light is one of the indications 
of the intensity of this union, and the substances which result 
from it are mainly two — -wata; by a combination of some of 
the oxygen with the hydrogen, and carbonic acid, by the com- 
bination of more of the ozygenwith the carbon. The quan- 
tity of these two substances produced, owing to the enormous 
absorption of oxygen during the combustion, would by mar 
persons be deemed quite extraordinary. 

A pint of di], when burned, pnduns a [dnt uid a quarter of WB 



J%i^s not ffonerally Known, 



md of mi, n 



lynn io form water. A Londan Argand gai-laaip. In a closed xlup- 
inaoir, will prodnoa in ibor hgnra two plow and a hmit of water. A 
Duad of oil auo produoea nearly three poundi of oarbosic add ; Bod a 



I of gaa, two and a half pounds of oarbonio at 
fbot of gaa Iwnied, rather mote than a oaMo foot of oartMoio acid is 
produoM. 

Ae the water produced deadens the effect of the flame, and 
as the carbonic acid is vei^ deleterious to the lun^ Mr. Fata- 
daj has ooitriTed a verj ingwiious mode of carrying both kS, 
without allowioz them to mix with the air of the room. Air 
is admitted to feed the flame nearlj in the usual waj ; but 
when the producta of oombostion have arrived at the top of 
the glass ohimnej, their progress is arrested by a covering of 
talc, and the; ere made to pass down between the ohimne; and 
another larger glass chimne; concentric with it. The open 
space between the two chimnejs communicates with a pipe, 
which is conducted into the open air. The oarbonio acid, 
aqueous vapour, smoke, and other emanations from the flame, 
have no means of escape except through this tube, and they 
are thus wholly cut off from contact with the air of the room ; 
while the light is brighter, the space around the lamp cooler, 
and tKe air of the room leas vitiated, than when common open 
burners are used. This imiwovement was first devised for the 
lighting of the Athenraum Club, and has since been adopted in 
Buckingham Palace. 



AKIUAL HEAT AND CHEMICAI. P 

To the builders of the automata of the last centmj, men 
and animals appeared aa clockwork which was never wound 
up, and created the force which the; exerted out of nothing, 
Tne^ did not know how to establish a connection between the 
nutriment consumed and the work generated. Since, however, 
we have learnt to discern in the steam-en^e this origin of 
mechanical forces, we must inquire whether something Bimjlar 
does not hold good with regard to men. Indeed, the continu- 
ation of life is dependent on the cunsumptioa of nutritive 
materials : these are combustible substances, which, after di' 
gestion and being passed into the blood, actually undergo a 
slow combustion, and finally enter into almost the same com- 
binations with the oxygen of the atmosphere that are produced 
in an open fire. Aa the quantity of heat generated by combaB* 
tion is inde^ndent of the duration of the combustion and the 
■tepa in which it occuni, we can calculate from the mass of the 
oonaumed material how much heat, or its equivalent vrork, is 
thereto generated in an animal body. Unfortunately tM diffi- 



CurioHtiet <j^ Science. 



valty of the expenMcnta is still very great ; but, within those 

limits ofaoooisojwhioh have been asjetsttaimible, theezpeii- 
tnents show that the heat senerated in the anim^ body cot- 
respondB to the amount which would be generated 1^ t^ 
t-lmmii-nl proceBses. The animal body, therefore, does not differ 
from the ateam-engine as regBide the miumer in which it ob- 
tains heat and force,* but does differ from it in the manner in 
which the force gained is to be made uee of. The bod; is, 
berides, more limited than the machine in the choice of its 
fuel : the latter could be heated with sugar, with starch, dour, 
and butter, juat as well as with coal or wood ; the ji-niirm l body 
must dissolve its materials artlficallj, and distribute them 
tlirough itssystem. It must further perpetuallj^ renew the used- 
up materials of its organs ; and as it cannot itself create the 
matter necessary for iMa, the matter must come from without. 
Idebig was the first to point out these various uses of the con- 
Bomea nutriment. As material for the perpetual renewal of 
the body, it seems that oertain definite albumiuous substances 
which appear in plants, and form the chief masa of the t"'i n)tl 
body, can alone be used. They form but a portion of the mass 
of nutriment taben dmly ; the remainder, sugar, starch, &t, 
are really only materials for warming, and are perhaps not to 
be superseded by coal, dmply because the latter does not per- 
mit itself to be dissolved. 

If, then, the processes in the animal body are not in this 
Tcepect to be distinguished from inorganic processes, the ques- 
tion arises. Whence comes the nutriment which constitutes the 
source of the body's force I The answer is, from the T««etable 
kingdom ; for only the material of plants, or the flesh of plant- 
eating animals, can be made use of for food. The nnimw lH 
which live on plants occupy a mean position between oami- 
vorous animals, in which we reckon man, and vegetables, which 
the former could not make use of immeduitely as nutriment. In 
h^ and grass the same nutritive substances are present as in 
mealandnour, but in lesaquantit^. As, however, the diKeativa 
organs of man are not iu a condition to extract the email quan- 
tity of the useful from the great excess of the insoluble, we 
submit, m the first place, these substances to the powerful di- 
gestion of the oz, permit the nourishment te store itself in the 
animal's bodv, in order in the end to gain it for ourselves in a 
more ^reeaule and useful form. In answer to our question, 
therefore, we are referred to the vegetable world. Now when 
what plants take in and what they give out are made the sub- 
jects of investigation, we find that the principal part of the 
former conaiBts in the products of combustion which are gene- 



SBKraUn Ktumji, Flnl SeriM, p>«e 88 



i-fineiofl KDd tlia Hunun Bodf coiDpar«d,* ip 
SeriM, p>«e~ 



72 Tkingi not generally Known. 

rated bj the animal. They take the oonmimed oarbon, girdD off 
in respiration an carbonic acid, front the air, the oousuiaed 
hydrogen as water, the nitrogen, in its amplest and closeet 
conbinatioD, as ammonia ; and from these materials, with the 
oesistance of small ingredients which they take from the soil, 
they generate anew the oompoond combustible aubstanoes, 
albumen, su^r, oil, on which the animal subsistB. 

Here, therefore, ia a drouit which appears to be a perpetual 
store of force. Plants prepare fuel and nutriment, animals 
oODSuroe these, burn them slowlyin their lungs; and from the 

?roducta of combustion the plants agun derive their nutriment, 
he latter is an etcm^ source of cnemieal, the former of me- 
chanical, forces. Would not the combination of both organic 
kincdomB produce the perpetual motion t We must not eon- 
cluao hastily. Further inquiry shows that plants are capable of 
producing combustible substances only when they are under 
theinfluenceofthesun. A portion of the sun's rays exhibits ft 
remarkable relation to chemical forces, — it can produce and 
destroy chemical combinations ; and theee rays, which for the 
most part ue blue or violet, are called, therefore, chemical rays. 
We make use of their action in the production of photogiapns. 
Here compounds of silver are decomposed at the place where 
the sun's rays strike them. The same rays overpower in the 
green leaves of plants th^ strong chemical affinity of the carbon 
of the carbonic acid for ongen, give back the tatter fne to the 
atmosphere, and accumukte the other, in combination with 
other Dodies, as woody fibre, starch, oil, or resin. These chemi- 
cally active rays of the sun disappear completelr as soon as they 
encounter the green portions of the plants ; and hence it is that 
in Daguerreotype images the green leaves of plants appear uni- 
formly black. Inasmuch as the light coming from them does 
not contain the chemical rays, it is unable to act upon the sUver 
compounds. 

Hence a certain portion of force disappears from the sanr 
light, while combustible substances are generated and accumu- 
lated in plants ; and we can assume it as very probable that the 
former is the cause of the latter. It must, indeed, be remarked, 
that we are in poBsession of no experiments from which we might 
determine whether the vi* viva of the sun's rays which have 
disappeared corresponds to the chemical forces accumulated 
during the same time ; and as long as these experiments are 
wanting, we cannot re^rd the stated relation as a certainty. H 
this view should prove correct, we derive from it the flatterini 
'esult, that all force, by means of which our bodies live ana 
love, finds its source in the purest sunlight ; and henoe we are 
\, in point of nobility, not behind the race of the great monarch 
China, who heretofore alone called himself son of the sun. 



Curioiities of Science- 73 

Sut it muBt also be conceded that our lower fellow-beings, the 
frog and leech, share the same cethereal origin, as aiso the whole 
v^etable world ; and even the fuel which comes to us from the 
ages past, aa well as the youngest offspring of the forest, with 
vriiich we heat our stoves and set our maahines in motion.— 
Pr<^. BdmhUbc on the Inleraeium of Natund Force*. 

SCIEKCE AND ITS APPUEES. 

In man; fields of human exertion, the tasks of purelj 
ecientifio research and of the subsequent applications of ait 
have lain very much with different parties. It was not, for 
^ULinple, the chemist who first showed a jet of coal-gas burning 
in his laboratory who also first conceived and accomplished the 
noUe feat of lighting up with gas a whole city, so aa almost to 
make night there appear the day. It was not the persons who, 
ages ago, observed the expansive force of steam, and its sudden 
collapse again into water when cooled, who thought of turning 
steam-force to profitable use ; for it was left to James Watt, al- 
most in our own day, to devise the present steam-engine, which 
has quickly spread a newer and higher civilisation over the earth. 
And then for many a dav was the fiict widely known that a 
dock of electricity travelled along a wire with the speed of 
li^tning before Wheatetose acd others, who still live among 
OS, had constructed the electric telegraph, which, with tho 
^eed of lightning, can deliver at any distance, and can either 
write down or print the words of a message committed to it. 

Real philosophers may, however, be considered to have 
done much by their own inventions for the useful arts. Thus 
the chemical or mechanical manu&cturer has merely applied 
what the phQosopher has made known ; he has merely worked 
up the materials famished to him. The chlorine, or oxymuri- 
Stio gas, of Scheele was scarcely known before it was applied by 
Berthollet to bleaching ; soarcely was muriatic gas discovered by 
Priestley, when Guyton de Morveuu used it for destroying con- 
tagion. Platinum owes its existence as a useful metal entirely 
to the labours of an illustrious chemical philosopher. Look at 
the beautiful yellow afforded by the metal chrome ; consider 
the medical effects of iodine 1 We have no history of the man- 
ner in which iodine was rendered malleable ; but we know 
that platinum could only have been worked by a person of the 
most refined chemical resources. But such results are not 
nniform. " The production of chloroform is amongst the most 
subtle experimental results of modem chemistry. The blessed 
effects of its proper exhibition in the diminution of the sum of 
human agony are indescribable. But that divtne-like apphca- 
tion was not present to the mind of the scientific chemist who 
discovered the ansesthetic product any more than waa the gas- 



-„ Google 



-„ Google 



Thingt not generaih/ Known. 



oaaA of Piiwtley, or the oondensing engine to 
—Prof. Oteen, 



opposmos T 

life have been received witii ridicule at first, and then witii 
more active resistance — as in the cases, for instance, of agri- 
cultural impiementa worked bj steam, of steam machinerj for 
KiiuiuDg and weaviog, of gaa-lighting, rallnaja, st^am na^ga- 
bon, the penn}> postal and so forth. B; auch opposition 88 
this the niU introduction of Watt's steam-engine was retarded 
for rasaj jexK, and the inventor had to defend his patent- 
rights bvicpeatedappetile to courts of justice. But sometimes 
even enughtened and upright men have been slower than might 
have been expected to acknowledge the merit in new inventions, 
partlj from caution, taught them b; sedng the mara of crodi- 
tiea and absurditieB constantly preffied on public attention as 
improvemente by ignorant or foolish projectors, and partly 
because sufficient evidence of the worth of the new proposal 
was not yet before them. For instance, such distinguished 
men as Davy, Wollaston, and Watt at first gave an opinion 
that coal-gas could never be safely applied to the purpose of 
street-lighting. Others said that steam-shipa woula never be 
able saf^y to navigate the great ocean. When Dr. DesaguJierB 
and Dr. Hales, about a century ago, before oxygen was known, 
or the nature of gases generally was understood, still judged 
aright of the importance of pure air to health and life, and 
proposed to ventilate houses or ships by meohanical means <d 
certain or unfailing action, instead of by the agency of the in- 
constant wind entering windows, ports, or wind-sails, they 
were rcsarded by some honest persons in authority as erring 
vifflonanes. A curious feet belonging to this class of occur- 
rences, and recorded by the writers of the time, was that, after 
Dr. Harvey published his great discovery of the Circulation of 
the Blood, no medicnl man who had then reached the age of forty 
ever avowed his belief that Harvey was right. — Ih: N, AmoU. 



■S IK TEE WOKLD. 

Let us for an instant contemplate (says Faraday, in his Lee- 
turei on the Nim-Tnxtallie Maaenii) the enormous amount of 
Oxygen employed in the function alone of inspiration, which 
may be considered in the light of a slow combustion. For the 
respiration of human beings, it has been calculated that no less 
than one thousand millions of pounds of o^^en are reiguired 
daily; and double that quantity for the respiration of animals ;- 
whilst the processes of combination and fermentation require 
one thousand millions of pounds more. But at least double 



Curiontiei of Science. 



the whole preceding qoantity, that is to eaj, twice four thou- 
Knd milliona of pounds of osjgen, are oaltnilEited to be neces- 
MTf ■Itngnthtir. indnding the amount for the never-ceadng 
fiuictioiiB of docaj. In tons It comspoMda nth no less than 
7,U3,e67inaday; 
2,S0S,285,714ina)'ear; 
260,838,571,400 in a oantory : 
lG,65E,741,2Sl,aO0 in 6000 vsan ; 
-Whole qoantdbr, 1,178,158,000,000,000. 
Such being tiie dail^ leqnisitiOTi of oxjgen in the eoonom; of 
natim, how greit must he the quantity existing in the world I 
Wh7, between one-balf and two-thirds ofthecrustof this globe 
and its inhabitants are oomposed of o^gen. 



r BY BDBFACES. 

Etoit porous bodf — rock% stones, the clods of the fields, 
tu>. — imbioeB air, and therefore o^gen. The smallest solid 
molecule is thus mrrounded by its own atmosphere of con- 
densed o^r^en ; and if in the vidnitj other bodies exist which 
have an amnitj fbr oxygen, a combination is effected. When, 
for instauce, carbon and hydrogen are thus prMent, they are 
converted into nourishment for yegetablea — into carbonio acid 
and water. The development of neat, when air or wate^ 

XUT is absorbed, or when the earth is moistened by tain, la 
owledged to be the consequence of this condensation bj 
the action of sor&ces.— Xui^. 

WHAT IS OZONE ? 

The allotropio, or " other" condition of oxjg&n, replies Pro- 
fenor Brande. By means of a delicate test, first proposed by 
M. SchOabein, the discoverer of ozone, we can teadilj detect 
its presence even when it exists in very small quantities. This 
test is paper imbued with a solution of iodide ofpotasdumand 
starch. If a slip of this paper be taken near the sea-ehore, 
moistened with water, tjad exposed for a few seconds to the 
air, vhen a ireete it bitmrittg from the land, no evident change 
ensues. If, k<wever, iA« hreen u Uouring in the oppotite dimh 
tiim, &om the sea ttfwardt the land, then the paper, originally 
white, assumes a tii^e of blue ; thus provinc the operation of 
a certain atmospheno influence or agent, which we shall find 
henafter to be oxone. It may be generated from phosphorus 
and water, and by other meutods. One must not, however, 
be passed over, inasmuch as a great portion of the ozonomiaed 
o^gen existing in nature is, inijl probability, referable to it" 
nuMly, dectneity. All electrical experimenters must ha^ 
noticed the odowr from an electric machine in action. Nc 
the air in the bottle, or from the phoqthoros and wKter, 



Thingt not generally Kaovm, 



ozone, U so similai in ranell bb to create a poedbilitj that the 
electric&l odour is immediately referable to oeone ;<aDd the teat- 
paper of SchSnbein, if exposed to electric sparks, or eleiitrie 
pencilB emanating from a point, becomes in like maDner tinged 
bine. The comiection thua established between electtioitj snd 
OEone points to a, fertile source of this most remarkable ageat in 
nature. Wo now see the theory of the old process of bleaching 
by exposure to atmoapherio influences, — why the operation waa 
more successful at certain times than at others ; why certain 
loG»litiee were e^dally adapted for it ; and why the opera- 
tion proceeded with inoreaaod npidity ^ter the occurreuoe of 
thunder-storms. 

ETSBOGEN. — THE LIGHTEST MATTEB. 

Even now, says Professor Bmnde, we are justified in hypo- 
thetically regarding hydrogen as a gueouB mOaUic body ; water 
as a metallic oxide. Hydrogen gas is the lightest ponderable 
matter known. I>obi«mer considers it to be a metal dissolved 
in oalorio. 

In 1849, M. Tan Alsten, of Bott«Tdam, made the e^ieri- 
ment on his own person of totting to what de^eeaman might, 
without danger, inhale hydrogen gas ; when, m spite of all the 
exertions of his physioians, he died-in a few hours. 

UEBGCBLU. ATHOSPHEBB. 

It had long been admitted that in the upper part of tlie 

thermometer and barometer an atmosphere of mercury existed 

having a very small degree of tension, when Mr. Faiadi^ 

showed, by the foUowing simple experiment, that a mercurial 

atmosphere may exist without removing the air. A small 

portion of mercury was put through a funnel in a clean, diy 

tmttle capable of holding ax ounces, and formed a stratum at 

the bottom not one-eight of an inch in thickness ; particular 

care being taken that none of the mercury should adhere to 

the upper part of the inside of the bottle. A Bmall piece of 

eold-leaf was then attached to the under part of the stopper of 

tiio bottle, so that, when (he stopper was put in its place, the 

leaf-gold was enclosed in the bottle. It was then set aside in 

id cool place, and left far Bix or eight weeks ; at the 

rhich time the leaf-gold was found whitened by the 

, though ever^ part of the bottle and the mercury 

I apparently just as before. This e:n)eriment was 

Bereial times, showing the mercury to be always sur- 

by an atmo^here of the same substance. 

WATEB ANCIENTLT AN ELEMENT. 

« was conmdered to be an element by the andent^ 



Curioiitiet of Science, 



an opinion whioh has been thought to be nnreasonable and 
ridiculous bf some ; but (sa^s F^ma;), for me, I oonfesa my 
inability to see how the ancients, trith the amoont of evidence 
it th«ii diepoaal, oould have arrived at any other oonclusioa. 
Tiewed in its relation to the universe, — to its great natural 
manifestationB, — to the large range of Bubatanoes into whit^ it 
enters, — to the manifold purposes it subserves, — and, more 
than all, viewed in relation to its intimate connection with living 
forma, — water does aeem to present to our minds the leading 
qualities of an element ; and it is onlv by the aid of chemioid. 
analysis tliat we prove the idea to be incorrect. Consider 
how vridely water is distributed throughout nature, — how 
numemuB are its fanctians, — how tremendous its operations, 
— and jet how mild, how bland, how seemingly powerless this 
wonderful liquid is I Let us view it in relation to the Btruo- 
tare of living beings, and reflect how intimately it seems 
connected witn vitality. Not only does it bathe the most deli- 
cate tissues and organs with impunity, but it enters largely 
into the composition of all organised forms. No structure of 
corporeal vitality is without it as an essential element. Water 
oonstitut«s at least nine-tenths by weight of our own bodies, 
entering into the very bones ; yet this is but a trifling fraction 
of the amount of water ent«ing into the structure of certain 
lower animalB. Look at those delicate sea bein^ the medusffi, 
and reflect upon the vast amount of water which their struc- 
tures contain I Pellucid almost as the oc^n in which they 
dwell, these creatures float about in the full vigour of life ; 
yet one may safely say tbat the medusn consist of no less than 
nine hundred and ninety-nine parts wat«rl Water in this 
great amount pervades their whole economy. Without much 
violence to language, we might call them living forms of 
water I Yet these same meduss, taken from the ocean and 
scattered on the beach, exposed to the influence of sun and 
air, their aqueous portion gone, what are the meduan thent 
Shadows almost— a Eubstance barely— the merest shred of fila- 
ment and membrane ! 

THE COMPOSITION OF WATES. 

The celebrated enveriment by which it was proved that 
Water ia composed ofoiygenand hydrogen depnved of part 
of their latent heat, was suggested by the following ciroum- 
In the year 1776, Volta fired inflammable air by " '"" 



pie electric spark. In 1776-7, Macqueer burned n 
mflammahle air and oxygen iu glass vessels, and observed that 
the part of the saucer which the flame licked was moistened 
with small drops of a liquor as clear as water, and which ap- 
peared to him to be pure water. Macqueer, however, drew no- 



78 Thiagt not gauraUf/ Knoum. 

oondn^on from Iub utperimente ; and it me not till Bome 
time befon the 18th at i^iril 1781 that a gunikr ezperimeitt 
'e bj Prieetlef and Waltira, a. lecturer oatit 
ham, >riio firad t> mixture of oommon and ii 



Birmineha 

'aire, and of inflammable ur and o^KSn, ttaioitervtdadeponi^ 
wattron^tiiUoftAeveud. Friegticrr furthernyB ;" In order 
to judge more aoonrately of the ([aaDtitr of water eo deposited, 
and to oompare it with the we^t of the ur deoompoeed, I 
carefi^j weighed a piece of filtering-paper, and then having 
wiped with it all the Giaide of the glua veasel in which the ur 
had been decomposed, weighed it ^ai% and 1 almayt /bund, 
atnecaiya* Icovld judge, tn« veight cf tKe deeomp«*ea air intk 
moiitwt acquired by the paper." 

We have not Bpaoe to enter into the controTeraj respecting 
the Composition (^ Water, i.e. whether, it was discovered )^ 
Watt or Cbvendish. According to the statement of the Ber. 
W. Temon Harooiut, Cavenduh's final experiment — so OMt- 
trived as to enable him to consume a large quantity of the 
gases, sufficient to prove that the fluid condensed was pore 
water— -was made on one of the latter Sandage of Julj 1781 : 
thus completely establishing the general &ct of the compod- 
tion of water. 

The following detuls of the great analjBis, made a few fears 
later, are veiy interesting : 

Yoamroj, Vaoquslin, nnd SagniD oommniced, OD tiie IStli of AU; 
1790, on eiperiiDsnt on a vary l»ige laals to prove the oocapodtian ta 
water, nnd flniihed thdr labours on the 22d of tba tame montJi. The 
bjdroEeD wai producsd from quo, which, after bdag melted, had besD 
Tabbed to apovder in a. hot mortar, ai.il Btrong ou of vitnol diluted 
with Eaven tunes the qoautity of vatei-. The gas was then pamed 
throueh cauatio potash to olesr it from anj impuritiea. The oiygta 
was obtained t^ haaUag chlorate of potaua, and was pnriBed In a 

The bjdiwen used in the eipeiimant waa 26,B63'668 cnUo inobe^ 
weighing lOSS'SaS gr&ing ; and the oijven 1^E70-M2 QoUo inchs^ 
weiebine: e20B'SS9 gr&iiiB. The comhuaUon of ae gaaea waa oonlinosd 
for ISS houn without inlennisaon, and the iqipaiatus waa not quitted 
for a moment, the eipeiimenten resUug themselves la the labiKatory 
.^teraately when fotiguad. The result was, that 72U grains of wala 
were prooured, showing a loss of oal; five graini, or ^ ^ -^ of the whole. 
In a glass jar put a mLxture of two parte bj measure of 
hydrogen with one of ozjgen ; the two gases will remain calm, 
tranquil, quiescent ; transparent and colourless as the atmo- 
sphere its^; they give no indication of their power. Bat a 
most extraordinatr force is there, which force, u we reduce to 
a certain standata of oomparison, — and such standard is not 
wanting, — will be found to equal the power of many thunder> 
storms. To eiemplify this, fill a bag with the mixed gases, and 
then blow some soap-bnbbles, to wnioh apply a lighted tap«r. 



CurioHliet of ScietKe. 79 

when, the result will be a violent explosion. In this result we 
Mve the oTidenca of tremendous pover. But the result of the 
explorion is water — notking hut waier. To me (says Faraday), 
the whole range of natural phenomena does not present a more 
wonderful result than this. To think that theae two violent 
flements, holding in their admixed parts the power of whole 
thnnder-stonns, should wait indefinitely until some cause of 
anion be apphed, and then furioiisl^ rush into combination, 
and form the bland unirritating liquid water, is to me, I oon- 
fees, a phenomenon which continually awakens new feelings of 
wonder as ofi«n as I view it. Or, if we place in a globeoxygen 
and hydrogen gasea in the exact proportions in which they 
oombine to form water, they remain without change of state, 
but ^pear to mix intimately. The moment, however, that 
an Incandescent body, or the spark from an eleottia machine, ia 
broo^t into contact with the mixed gasra, they ignite, explode 
violently, and combine to form water. When hydrogen gaa is 
allowed to flow on the sur&oe of spongy platinum, the pores of 
which contain condensed oxygen, water is formed by tae com- 
bination of the two gases, heat is developed, and the platiaom 
beooming red-hot, the jet soon takes fire. 

EX£D AND BOFT WATKBS. 

Dr. Zander Iiindsay usee the term hard iBoten to indicate 
waters contuning an easily appreciable amount of neutral salta, 
'«q>ecially of the carbonates, sulphates, and chlorides of lime 
and magnesia. Under this head a large proportion of spring 
waten is to be classed. The term is employed in contradis- 
tinction to that of part or toft waters, which either contain no 
nline ingredients, or a yery small proportion : such are tain, 
■now, and many river waters. There is frequently great dif- 
ference of opinion between professional and non-profeEsional 
persons as to what is, or constitutes, hard or mft water. A 
water was reported upon by the analyst, an English chemist of 
repute, as " very toft;" while the user of the water, a lady of 
gnat intelligence and experience, described it to I>r. Lindsay 
as decidedly hard. 

Professor Cfaristison connders a water toft which contains 
leii than iVdv part of ita weight of saline ingredients; hard it 
it contains more than ^^Anr 'i mineral if more Uian s^. Soft 
water has the property d! forming a lather with BOap, and it is 
suitable for washing purposes, neither of which properties does 
Aord water possess. 

WATSB TEST. 

ing in alcohol, renders tl 



8U ThtTigt not generally Known. 

discrinunating approzimatelf the preeence or absence of metal- 
lic bases in watM'. If an alcoholic aolutioa of eoap be poured 
into distilled water, uo peroeptible cliutge ensneg ; but if the 
same solution be poured into anj ordinair varietj of natural 
terrestrial water, a certain amount of turbidity results, accord- 
ing to the amount present of earthy or metaUic bases : hence» 
b; this test, the comparaliTe softness or hardness of differmt 
waters maj be rendered evident. 

nLTEBma ■watke. 
In a lecture recently delivered at the Bojal Institution, Dr. 
Lankester iudsted upon the necesntj far filtering all water 
used in drinking or cooking, from whatever source ; and proved 
to his audience, br obemi(»l analysis, that unEltered water, 
however dear and bright, may contain the most deleterious if 
not the most desxily constituents. The lecturer the more im- 
pressively substantiated tbe fact by the analysis of the water 
from a notoriously &vourite pump. The water was quite cooC . 
fresh, and tasteless to the palate, owinK to a peculiar combina- 
tion of nitrio add; but, upon ohemic^ tests being appUed, it 
yielded a lai^ amount of deleterious matter. 



has neither smell, taste, nor colour ; it is not abeorbaUe by 
water, and neither supports combustion nor respiration. AU 
burning bodies are immediately extinguished when plunged 
into this gas, and so is s-ninm-l life : it appears to kill, not by 
any direct chemical action upon the blood, as is the case with 
almost all noxious gases, but simply by the exclusion of oxygen, 
preventing the throwing oS of carbonic acid ; so that ani- 
mals are rather stifled by nitrogen, as they arc by suffocation or 
drowning, than absolutely poisoned. Now from all these illus- 
trations, it will be obvious that the characters of nitrogen aie 
preeminently of a negative description : it appears as a very in- 
diferent body. Not so, however, when in chemical combina- 
tion; for nearly all its compounds are preSmiuently active and 
enet^etio : powerful acids, acrid alkalies, intense poisons, vio- 
lent detonators, are amongst them. Mtric acid, ammonia, and 
cyanogen belong to this class ; they are binary compounds of 
nitrogen : all the most dangerous fulminators contain it as one 
of their cBsential elements ; gunpowder cannot be made without 
it ; in short, whether we look at nitrogen under those simpler 
forms of combination, which, to a certain extent, may be com- 
-nanded by art, or under those more complicated lelations 



Curiosities of Science. 



wbich can onl;r be called into esistence by yital fimotionB, we 
find its chemical history full of instructive and important de- 
tails. — Brandos Leetvs-tt, 

BEEVICEa OP NITBOGEN IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 
These are very important. Nitrogen, as the chief consti- 
tuent in weight and bulk of the atmoaphere, diminishes the 
npidity of combustion and oxidation at the earth's surface ; 
whilst iA a great gaseous envelope, which the ocean and tri- 
butary waters cannot dissolve, and which neither acts inju- 
riously on rods, plants, or animals, nor is altered in quality 
b;r them, it forms a permanent medium for the production of 
winds, and a moderator and equaliser of the sidereal light ; 
heat, and other agencies determining climatic differences, such 
as no other gas, simple or compound, known to us could be. 
—Dt. &. WOt^m. 

NITBOOEH iSa GUN-COTTOH, 

" Nitrogen," says Gmelin, " has probably the greatest afG- 
nity of all ponderable bodies for heat, with which it constantly 
tends to form a gaa. Consequently, many of Its compounds are 
decomposed by uight causes, and with extreme suddenness, the 
nitrogen being disengaged in the gaseous form, and often pro- 
ducing tbe most violent explosions." Thus it confers ezplo- 
siveness on its compounds, ea in gunpowder; the various 
bodies of which Gun-cotton is the type; percussion-cap powder, 
and other fulminates ; the so-called ammoniuret of gold ; and 
the chloride and iodide of nitn^en. 

In a greatly lessened de^e, this chemical fragility and in- 
stability are conferred by nitrogen upon the compounds which 
it forms with living organisms. The immensely greater and 
more Dumeroos chemical changes which characterise animals 
than plants are essentially connected with the greater abun- 
dance of nitrogen in the former. The difference between the 
slightly alterable, slowly combustible vegetable ootton, a com- 
pound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and the spontaneously 
decomposable explosive Oun-cotton, which differs from it in 

r\tj of ingredients by the addition of nitrogen, is typical of 
distinction between the enduring non-mtrogenoua vege- 
table compounds, and the spontaneously changeable nitro- 
genooB animal compounds; although, in this particular case, 
the increase of oxygen in the Qun-cotton exaggerates the insta- 
bility to the point of explosion. 

The simplest process of making Gun-cotton consists in di^- 
(ong the fibre (which must be perfectly clean) into strong nitno 
acid, allowing the add to saturate it thoroughly, then finally 



Things not generalb/ Known, 



remcving the cotton-fibre, wuhing it until every trooe of add 
IB eeatxatai, and drying it at a temperature under 100°. Pna- 
ticallj, howeTer, it is found desirable to mix a little Bulphoiic 
add with the nitric acid, for the puniose of gtrengthening the 
latter, which it aocompliaheB by ite affinity for water. 

Ghin-cotton, although still resembhng ordinary cotton to 
the naked eye, feels differeat, and presents a different aspect 
when examined microBCOplcally. 

The composition of Gun-cotton has not been accurately de- 
termined, nor are chemiats agreed aa to the rational formula 
by which it may be represented. We must therefore rrat satis- 
fied with regarding it as a combination of nitiio acid, or of 
nttrouB add with lignine, or modified licnina, in which the 
latter performs the port of a base. {Smn£'a Lecture*.) 

In an experiment performed in SchSnbein's laboratoiy at 
Basle, a cert^n weight of Kuupowder, when fired, filled the 
apartment with smoke ; wh^t an equal weight of Gun-cotton 
exploded without producing any smoke, leaving only a few 
atoms of carbonaceous matter behind. Balls ana shells were 
experimentally projected by this prepared Cotton, which was 
stated to have nearly double the projectile force of gunpow- 
der; in proof of which SehSnbein esperimented upon the wall 
of an ola castle near Basle. It had cteen calculated that from 
three te iovapowndt of gunpowder would be requisite to de- 
stror this wall, and a h^e to contain that quantity was pie^ 
pared. In this aperture were put four owneei of the prepared 
cotton, which, when fired, blew the massive wall to pieces. 

Again, the sixteenth of an ounoe of the Cotton, placed in a 
gun, carried a ball through two planks at the distance of S8 
paces; and, with the same chsrge and distance, drove a bullet 
mto a wall 3i inches. A dram of the cotton also sent a hall, 
joz. weight, to a distance of 200 paces, where it potetrated a 
deal plank to the depth of two inches. A portion of this cotton, 
when thrown into water, and afterwards dried, did not lose its 
inflammable property. Such were the earliest experiments made 
by SchSnbein, the inventor, in Switierland. 

Qun-cotton was used for the first time in aotual warfare at 
the siege of Moultan in the East Indies ; when the brilliance 
and breadth of the flash of the guns fired by this new adapta- 
tion of science to the devastation of war are described to have 
been of terrific intentity. 

But the new compound has other OSes. Qun-cotton is solu- 
ble in ether, and a compound is formed, to which the name of 
coUodion haa been given. This substance has been found of 
the greatest use in many of the arts, espeoiaUj photography. 
On being exposed to tie air, the ether evapomtes, leaving be- 
hind a thin transparent film, which is appli^ to wounded sur- 



Curiotitiet of Science. 83 

bees instead of goldbeaters' skin. It may also be made into 
delicate bags, into whioh hydrogen may bo introduced for bal- 
ICHMIS. In phottwraphv, the collodion is mixed with the iodides 
to be acted on bj tight; and bein^ Bpread on glass, pictures, 
from irbioh any number of impressionB may be taken, ore pro- 
daced. 

Although the BiitiBb Board of Ordnanoe have dedded 
against the adoption of this explosiTe compound in the mili- 
tary and naval servicef^ its advantages have been differently 
appreciated on the Continent, the AoBtrian government having 
presented Professor SchOnbeut with the sum of 2600^. as a re- 
irard for his invention. 

A new kind of Qnn-cotton has been prepared in the TJuited 
States, by treating uewly-prepared Gun-cotton with a saturated 
solution of chlorate of potash. A pistol loaded with one grain 
of this cotton has sent a ball through a yellow pine door one 
inch thick, at the distance of SO feet. 

Many ctrcumstances conspire to prevent the application of 
Qun-cotton to the purposes of gunnery. Its velocity of com- 
bustion is too great for all fire-anns, save those of the strongest 
make and simUeet bore. Its strength is subject to varia- 
tion, not only from the operation of atmospheric causes, such 
as the absocption of moisture, but from spontaneous decompo- 
sition ; t^e latter agency reducing Qun-cotton, after a certain 
time, to the original condition, or ordinary combustibility, of 
native cotton. The phyaioal conditions of a fibrons body, more- 
over, are very much opposed to the employment in fire-arms of 
Qun-cotton. Other oojections are those of ignition from per- 
cossion, or even spontaneously, and the acid fumes (although no 
smoke) evolved by Qun-oottoa undergoing combustion. Its 
emplo^ent as a blasting agent in mines promised greater suc- 
cess ; its freedom from smoKe being a great advantage to the 
miner. Unfortunately, however, the use of Gun-cotton has 
been discontinued even for this purpose, chiefly on account of 
the danger attending its manufacture, and its liability to ex- 
plode from the operation of very slight caosea. 

PBUSBIG ACID. 

In the bioarburet of nitrogen, termed cyanogen, wo have 
an extraordinary example of the indirect manner in which cer- 
tain compositions are effected, no less than of the wonderful 
change of properties which results. Carbonic acid, altbouah 
poisonous under oertain circumstances, is concerned in the 
ever-occurring function of respiration, bathing unharmed the 
air-cells of the lungs, remuning in contact with the most deli- 
ate Ussues, yet producing no evil result : nitrogen, too, is en- 
dowed with a mniUar native quality, this element constituting 



S4 Things not generally Knoum. 

no leBS than four-fifths of our atmoephere, which we }>reathe, 
almost uncoDBciouElj, without intennisBton from our birth to 
our death. Yet such IB the strange effect of combination, that 
nitrogen, when united with carBon in the ratio of fourteen 
parts bj weight to twelve, gives riw to a peculiar gaseous sub- 
stance termed cjanozen, which, if breathed only in snmll 
quantities, proves fetw at once, and which, by union with by- 
oroge", ooQstitutes that terrible — most terrible perhaps of bU 
poisons, Prussic acid. The odour of cyanogen is that of peach- 
blossoms, and when burned it evolves a peculiar rose-coloured 
flame, which is very distiactire of this gaa. 

HOW SIB 'HXTKBBS.Y DATE BKEATHED NTTBOnS OZISE. 
Davy, for this investigation, devised the very beautiftil 
method of procuring the nitrous air, viz. the decomposition 
by heat of the crystds of nitrate of ammonia, which are thereby 
dissolved into watery vapour and the desiderated gas. Under 
the famous name of nitrous oxide, he minutely examined and 
recorded its properties for the first time. In nia Seiearc/iet he 
tells us: 

Having previcufllj clofled my nosti-ila and exhausted my lungB, I 
breatbed four quarta of oitrous oiide froro attd into a a!1k bag. The 
fint feelings were Bimilar to giddincHS ; but in lets than half a mioute, the 
respiration being coDtinued, they diminished grsduully, and were sno- 
ceeded by a aeniation analogous to gentle preaaure on all the muBoJu, 
attended by a higUy pleasurable thnlling, partioularly in the chest sod 
"ttie extremitiefl. The objects around me became dasdlng, and my 
hearing more acute. Towards the last mepiration the thrilling in- 
creased, and at last an irreBiatible propensity was indulged in. 1 recol- 
lect but Indistinctly what followed ; I know that my motions w«e 
various and violent. These effects very soon ceased alter respiratioD, 
in ten minutes I had recovered my natural state of mind. Almost 
lo has breathed this gas has observed the same thing. Oa 

J. .J :.i. o..-._i,.. g^d on others the effects 

<e made with impunity by 

Davy was at first sanguine of the useful application of nitrous 
oxide to medicine. It might be the Potable Qold of Geber, the 
vivifying quintessence of Bie Elements of Raymond LuUy, the 
Water of Life of Basil Yalentine, the Eli>j; of Paracelsus, at 
least some purified and attempered supporter of vitality, for 
its composition was almost identical in its ingredients with 
that of the atmosphere. But Davy soon discovered his mistake, 
recorded its inutility, and pointed out the fallacies atten^nt 
on the trial of so strange and novel a medicinal agent 

BULPHDEING WIME-CASKS, 

The rationale of this fiimiliar piocesa is as follows : when 



nation of blood to 



Curiostttes of Science. 



tbe sulphur ia burned in the wiae-caaka, the oxjgen taken up 
bjr the wine from the ftir during the filling of the casks is 
seized by the BulphurouB acid, whence the formation of vinegar 
is thus preventea, and the wine is insured from acidity, 

SIOBES OF GABBON IN COAL-FIELDS. 



been mooted, whether an atmosphere contaiuing no more car- 
bonic acid than at present could have been reasonably assumed 
to have furnished that enormous amount of Carbon which is 
stored away in our Coal-fields.' Prohably, it is assumed, the 
atmosphere in that early period of the world, when coal-fields 
were aeposited, contained more carbonic acid than it does at 
present ; but for the greater number of vegetable nKcies an 
atmosphere chai^d with any considerable amount of carbonic 
acid over and above that supplied to us is fatal. As regards 
the fern tribe, however, the/ have been proved by experiment 
to be capable of living and thriving in an atmosphere contain- 
ing an amount of carbonic acid fatal to other species. Now 
the £ict is well known that coal-fields are chieSy made up of 
the remains of gigantic ferns; and hence wo recognise the ezer- 
cnse of B wiee forethought in so adapting the orgaoism of these 
T^etables that they could live and flourish in an atmosphere 
of carbonic acid wmch would be &tal to most other vegetables 
and the higher order of ""'""I" — FaradaTj. 

GAOCTCHOnC AND CAOUTGBOUCINE. 

The foUowing simnle experiments pleasingly illustrate the 
properties of India rubber, or Caoutchouc, and the spirit dis- 
tilled from it, named Caoutchoucine. 

Putalittleetherinto a bottle of Caoutchouc, close it tightly, 
Boak it in hot water, and it will become inflated to a cousider- 
able size. These globes may be made so thin as to be trans- 
narent. A piece of caoutchouc the size of a walnut has thus 
Loen extended to a ball fifteen inches in diameter ; snd a few 
tears since a Caoutchouc balloon thus made escaped from 
Philadelphia, and was found 130 miles from that city. 

Dissolve a small piec« of Caoutchouc in a little Caoutchou- 
cine, and put a drop or two of the solution upon a looking- 
glass or window-pane ; touch it lightly with a dry piece of 
India rubber, quickly diaw out a fine thread, which attach to 
a card, and wind off as silk. 

Put Caoutchoucine into a phial, little more than sufficient 
to oorer the bottom, and the remjunder of the phial will be 



Thingt not getteratig Known. 



filled with a I)«T7 mpour ; p 

Ehial ; applj to it & piece (k li 
um ifith a brilliant flame. 



IDENTITY OF THE SUMOHD AND CASBON. 

That Diamond ie dmple Carboa (not charooal) ia shown h; 
the following experimeat. M. Morveau exposed to intense 
heat a diamond snut up in a small cavitjr in a piece of tough 
iron. When he opened tlte ca-rity, the diamond was entirfij 

^ne, and the iron around it was converted into steel. This 
Slows that it is pure carbon, which comhines with iron to form 
st«el; and not charcoal, which ie KcnemJlj on oxide of carbon. 
In 1815, Mr. Children converted iron into steel bj union with 
diamond, under the sole action of a large voltaic l^tteiy. 

The combuBtion of the Diamond is effected b; holding the 
gem by a little platinum clamp and igniting it to whiteneag in 
the oxyh^drogen flame ; and then plunging it, while incan- 
descent, into a jar of oiy^n. Eventuallj tue resulting gas is 
proved, by means of the lime-water test, to be carbonic acid. 

Diamonds which have been exposed under peculiar cona- 
tions to an intense heat may be seen to have lost their c^s- 
tallino aspect — to have opened ma, forming a oaulifiower-hke 
excrescence, and to have assumed the aspect of ooke. Such 
speoimens are most curious, as furnishing us with a striking 
iuBtance of allotropism — that mysterious existence of identinu 
matter in two states. 

The only chemical difference perceptible between Diamond 
and the purest CbarcoBl is the hydrogen contained in the latter, 
which is, in some cases, less than tv^ part of the weight <k 
the substance. Mr. Smithaon Tennant and Dr. Ure, however, 
considered Diamond to differ from the usual form of OhafCOftl 
only by its Gryatailised form. 

Sir Humphry Davy exposed charcoal to intense ignition in 
vacuo, and in condensed azote, by means of Mr. Children's mag- 
nificent battery, when it slowly volatalised, andgaveoutalitfle 
hydrogen. The remainder was always mucb harder than before, 
and in one case so hard as to scratch ^laas, while its lustre was 
increased. This fine experiment may oe regarded as a near ap- 
proach to the production of the diamond (see also the accounts 
of the Diamond in Tkvngt not g«neraily Known, pp. SOO-S03 ; 
Popular Error* Exptained and lUuetrtOed. pp. 55-66). 

The oomposition of this gem is undoubtedly carbon, seeing 
that the sole result of its combustion in oxygen is carbonio- 
atnd gaa ; but the origin of the Diamond is a aul^eat of mneb 
ourious epeonlation. Seeing that iti structure ia crystalline, 
the Diiuuond should have be^, at some early period, in a liquid 



Curiositie* of Science, 87 

or Bemi-liqoid conditioii, a state which pieaapposeii tmoa hy 
Sre, or solutioii in some meDstruum. Oppooed to the first 
hypothesia is the droumBtitnce that withiji the structure of 
inanj Diamonds ate seen the remaina of oi^aoic beings, ap- 
pearanceB aeaxoelj coiiBist«Dt with the assumption that t^ 
Diamond was once in a state of igneous liqniditj. ^ David 



FOHUATION OF SUMONDS. 

The establishment of the identic of Carbon and the Dia- 
mond soon led penooa to onliciipate the time when our home 
manu&ctures should riTal the prodooe of Qoloonda. In such 
speculations it ie but reasonable to take into account the reflec- 
tion with whii^ Mrs. Somerville closes the folloniug passage : 
" It had been obaerred that when metallic solutions are sub- 
jeoted to galvanio action, a deposition of metal, generaUj in 
the fonn of minute crjstsJs, takes place on the negative wire. 
Bj extending this principle, and emplojiiu; a very feeble voltaic 
action, M. Becquerel has suooeeded in forming crystals of a 
great proportion of the mineral substances, preoisal; similar to 
thoee produced by nature. The electric state of metallic veins 
laakee it possible that many natural crystals may have taken 
their form from the action of electricity bringing ueir ultimate 
particles, when in solution, within the narrow sphere of molecu- 
lar attraction, which is the great agent in the formation of solids. 
JBoth light and motion &vour <»ystaUisation. Ctystals which 
form in different liquids are ^neially more abundant on the 
side <tf the jar exposed to the hght; and it is a well-known &ot 
that still water, cooled below thirty-two degrees, starts into 
a^tab of ice the instant it is a^tated. Light and motion are 
intimately connected with electricity, which may therefore have 
some influence oa the lawa of aggregAtion : this is the more 
liktjy, as a feeble action is alone necesEa.T> provided it be con- 
tinued for a. suffioient time. Crystals form'^d rapidly are gene- 
rally imperfect and soft ; and M. Becquertl found that even 
years of constant voitiuc action were necesaarj' for the ciystallis- 
ationof some of the hard substances. IfthislavbegeneRd,^ow 
matm ^es maybe required for l^/crmafiEm of a Diamond?" 

Smmler suggests that Diamond may possiUv be a product 
of crystallisation from liquid carbonic acid. Diamond often 
contains cavities ; and, as Sir David Brewster has observed, with 
accompanying drcumstances which point to a strong pressure 
in tiie interior, although he does not state whether they con- 
tained water. 

Brewster explained his observations of the coloured rings 



Thing* not generally Known. 



with the black crosa around the cavities bj ascribing to the 
diamoad a gummy consistence and vegetable origin. Simmler 
Buggesta that it ma; rather be compiu^ to that of unequallj 

compreeaed glass. 

To confirm this view of the formation of diamonds, it would 
be necessarf to prove that liquid carbonio acid posseted a sol- 
vent poner for carbon similar to that nhich bisulphide of car- 
bon lus for sulphur, or liquid sulphide of phosphorus for phos- 
phorus. BEperimeate which Simmler made in this direction, 
with a view of preparing liquid carbonic acid by Faraday's 
method, gave no results, as the tubes always exploded. — Pki' 
ImopkuM Magasine, No. 114, 

The old notion that " Diamonds grow" has lasted to onr 
own time. When Dr. Bachaoan visited the diamond-mine cf 
Panna in India, the workmen assured him, " that the genera- 
tion of diamonds is always going forward, and that they have 
just as much chance of success in searching earth which has 
been fourteen or fifteen years unexamined as in digging what 
has never been disturbed ; and, in &ot, he says, I saw them 
digging up earth which had evidently been before examined." 
M. Voyaey, who visited some of the principal diamond-mines of 
Southern India in 1891, confirms the statement of Dr. Bucha- 
nan, that the diamonds are supposed to grow in the old rub- 
bish that had been previously examined. Nay, the truth of this 
opinion may be considered as demonstrated by the fact, that 
the miners no longer quarry fresh breccia from beneath the 
sandstone, but "are content with sifting and examining the 
old rubbish of the mines," and in which they actually find 
diamonds. The opinion that diamonds grow in the previously 
washed, sifted, and examined rubbish, and that the chips and 
small pieces rejected by former searchers actually increase in 
size, and in process of time become large diamonds, prevails 
every where in India ; and even at Qrani Parteal or Couloure, 
where the great Koh-i-noor was found, the search is confined to 
the lubhifih of the old mines. 

M. Toysey, who was geologist to the Indian Trigonome- 
trical Survey, adds the important observation, that in hot cli- 
mates crystallisation gees on with wonderful rapidity, and that 
he hoped at some future period to produce undeniable proofe 
of the recrystalliaation of amethyst, zoolite, and feldspar in 
alluvial soil I tJnfortunately for science, M. Vojsej died soon 
after the above was printed. 

NEW DIAMOND. 

MM. Wohler and Deville have made experiments upon 
oron, from which it appears that it can exist in three states, 
:actlj corresponding to those of carbon, vii. the amorphoot, 



CarioHlies of Science. 



the graphitic, and the crystallised etate. In order to obt&in the 
Iktter, 100 gramnies (3^ ounoee) of borio acid and eight; of 
ml nTTiiniiim are ezpOBed, during five hours, to a violent fire in a 
black crucible coated with charcoal-powder. The mass is then 
left to cool, and on breaking the crucible, two distinct strata 
oome to view— one coDsisting of vitrified Boric Acid, or Boiacic 
&C)d containing some alumina ; and the other of aluminium 
in a metallic state, mixed np with crystals of boron. To 
separate the latter, this metalnc mass is treated with boiling 
caustic soda to dissolve the nietal ; then with boiling hydro- 
chloric aoid to carry off the iron which may have been separated 
from the plurobsffo of the crucible ; and lastly, with a mixturo 
of nitric and hydrofiuoric add, to dissolve the silioium left by 
the B04ia. After this, the boron is obtained pure, in three 
wieties of crystals, viz. — 1, black and opaque laminffi, which 
frill cut diamond, though not bo well as diamond-powder : 2, 
long prismatic crystals, perfectly transparent and as brilliant 
as £iunonds, but not so hard as the former variety ; if without 
flaws, they might bo used for jeweliy; 3, very minute but dis- 
tinct crystals of a red chocolate colour, and quite as hard as 
diamond ; they may be used as diamond-powder, and give a 
fine polish. 

WHAT FAECIOUS STONES ABE UADE OF. 

First, as to the Diamond, which, though the king and chief 
of all, may be dismissed in two words— pure carbon. The 
diamond is the ultimate effort, the idealisation, the spiritual 
Evolution of coal — the butterfly escaped ihim its antenatal 
tomb, the realisation of the coal's hif^hest being. Then the 
Bnby, the flaming red Oriental Ruby, side by side with the Sap- 
phire and the Oriental Topaz — both rubies of different colours 
— what are theyt Crystals of our commonest argillaoeoua 
earth, the earth which makes our potter's clay, our pipe-clay, 
and common roofing-state — mere bits of alumina. Xet these 
are among our best gems, these idealisations of common pot- 
ter's clay. In every 100 grains of beautiful blue Sapphire, 
ninety-two are pure alumina, with one grain of iron to make 
that glorious bine light witlun. The Kuby is coloured vrith 
<diromic acid. The ^ethyst is only silica or flint. In 100 
grains of amethyst, ninety-eight are simple pure flint — the 
same substance as that which made the old flint in the tinder- 
box, used before our phosphorus and sulphur-headed matches ; 
and which, ground up and prepared, makes now the vehicle of 
Bitista' colours. Of tbis same silica are also Cornelian, Cat's-eye, 
rock crystal, Bgyptian Jasper, and OpaL In 100 grains of opal, 
ninety are pure wlica and ten water. It is the water, then 
which gives the gem that peculiarly changeable and iridesoen 



TTtitiffi not generally Knot 



colouring which is so beautiful, and which renders the <mal &e 
moonlight queen of the kingly diamond. The Qaroet, the Bra- 
zilian — not the Oriental — Topai, the Ocddental Emerald, which 
ia of the lame spedes sa Hia BoyL all these are oomponnde of 
sUioa and ahimina. But the beryl and emerald are not com* 
posed exclusiTely of ailioa and alanuna : they contain another 
earth, called gluoina — from ffluiot, sweet, becange its Alts are 
sweet to the taste. The Hyacinth gem is composed of the 
earth, not so long discoT^vd, called ziroonia, first diaooveied 
in that speciea of hyacinth stone known a( ' "" ' ■" 



maenedo. Withont carbonate of copper there would be no 
Ma^chite in Rnssia or at the Burra Burra mines ; without 
carbonate of lime there would be no Carrais marble ; the Tur- 
quoise is nothing but a phosphate of alumina coloured blue by 
copper ; and the Lapis Laxuli is only a bit of earth painted 
throughout with sulphnret of sodium. 

CABBONIO OSIDE. — CABBOHIC ACID. 

Professor Dumas has illustrated the preat, and indeed almost 
unsurpBBsed, influence of carbonio-ozide gas. The judicial 
investigations in France have disclosed the &tal effects of this 
gas as being much greater than carbonio-acid gas. In the 
atmo^bere produced by the burning of charcoal, ^ part 
of carbonic oxide was btal, while with one-third Uie volume 
of carbonic acid the animal was asphyxiated, but afterward 
revived. 

The volume or bulk of carbonio-acid gas expired by a healthy 
adult in twenly-fbui> hours is said to amount to 16,000 cubic 
inches, aontaiuing about tix ouneei of sohd carbon. This is 
at the rate of 137 pounds avoirdnpois per annum ; and taking 
the total iwpulation of the ^obe at seven hundred and mx^ 
mill ions, the amount of solid carbon or charcoal every year 
produced by the haman race will exceed 46,482,143 tonal 
Adding to this all the carbon produced by the combustion of 
fires and gas-lights, by the decay of animal and vegetable mat- 
ter, the exhalations frcm springs, &c., there need ^ no marvel 
as to the source whence plants derive th«r solid or woody 
material (which is principally carbon), sedng that tbdr leaves 
are sped^y fitted for the absoiptiou of carbonic-acid gas &om 
the surrounding atmosphere. 

On the lowest calculation, the population of London must 
add to the atmosphere daily 4,S00,000 pounds of carbonic add. 

It is supposed that from the enormous quantity of carbonio 
•mid which appears from time to time in the atmosphere of the 



CurioHtiet of Science. 91 

New World, and from the large number of volcanoes that enat 
ia the coontrj, that a portion of the carbonic acid of the lur in 
other countriea is due to them, and that thej thiis contribute 
in part to nourish the vast and boautiful regetation of the 
Troilios. 

LIQUID AKD BOLn> CABBOHIC ACID. 

The meang employ ed.by the disooverer (Faiadaf) for redno- 
ing gaaea into fluids are of admirable mmplici^. A simple 
bent tube, or a redncUon of tampentora by artiSoial meaoB, 
*" ~ saperseded, in hia hands, the moat powerful oompreamig 



When sulphuric add ia poured upon limestone in an opoi 
Teesel, carbonic acid escapea with efferreaoence aa a gas } but if 

the decomposition be effected in a atroiw, close, and suitable . 
vessel of iron, we obtain the carbonic add in a state of liquid. 
Its properties are ver^ ouriouB. Whan a email jet of it is 
permitted to escape in tHe atmosphere, it easumes its gaseous 
state with eitraordimuy rapiditj, and deprives the remaining 
fluid of heat so rapidly that it congeals into a white crystalline 
mass like snow : this is pure frozen carbonic acid, with a tem- 
perature of at least 144° Fahrenheit below that of freezing 

WheB exposed to tbe air, nay, when thrown into a red-hot 
capeult^ this SDOw-like carbonic acid retains, while continually 
evaporating, its solid form (in that portion which has not ^et 
evaporated) ; and so long as it retains its solid form, it retains 
also its low temperature (its melting-point). The more rapid 
addition of heat osstens its evapot&tion, but prodnoes no otAer 
ohange on the portion which remains solid. 

If we handle solid, snow-like carbonic add, we perceive 
bat little of its intense cold, because its %bt, spongy, porous 
structure, like tiiat of dry flakes of snow, offers very few joints 
of contact with the akin, and hence can withdraw from it but 
litUeofitsheat. 

But if we press the solid add with some force on t^e skin, 
the circulation of the blood is arrested at the point touched, 
as by a metal at a dull red heat ; a white spot appears, which 
in fifteen seconds becomes a blister, and in two minutes a white 
depresdan is formed, followed by suppuration and healing, a 
scar being left. 

The solid carbonic acid communicates to ether its very low 
temperature; and if the mixture be placed upon mercury, it 
(the metal) will become in a few minutes solia and malleable. 

When the mixture of ether and solid carfoonio add is placed 
in the vacuum, the increased and aooeleiated evaporation pro- 
duces so intense a degree of cold (from ISO" to 200" below tb* 



Things not generally Known. 



freezing-point of Fahrenheit), thsit most of the compound gaae> 
become hquid when exposed to it, &nd sevei&l are frozen. 

If jou put the mixture of ether and solid carbonic aoid into 
a red-hot crucible, it nill require for its conversion into gas aa 
much time as it would in. the air at the ordinary temperature ; 
and if 70U introduce into the mixture, in » v^sel of ordinary 



SUUHUK IN SAIB AXD WOOL. 

The proportion of Sulphur in Hfur and Wool is Tety large ; 
and as thej are dulr growuig, thej necessarily draw upon and 
rob the land of sulphur, its special constituent. IVofessor 
Johnston, in hia Memmig of AffneuUund Chemittry and Geo- 
logy, states that the wool which is grown in Qreat Britain and 
Ireland carries off the land ever; jear upwards of 4,000,000 
of pounds of Bolphur, to supply which would require the addi- 
tion to the soil of 300,000 tons of gypsum. Thines that appear 
trifling to us when viewed in the smal! way in which we actu- 
ally see them, become important when considered in the larxe 
scale in which they take place in nature. The hair on ^e 
heads of our population carries off nearly half as much as tho 
wool of our sheep : it is not without reason, therefore, that the 
Chinese collect, and employ as a manure, the hair shaven eveiy 
ten days from the heads of their people. — Iforth Britith Review, 
No. 6. 

Professor Bailey states, in SiUiman't Journal, that with 
the nitropruBside of soda he has detected the presence of sul- 
phur in the smallest portion of coagulated albumen, horn, 
nails, feathers, &c. supported on a platinum-wire for blowpipe 
experiments ; and he has oft^i obtained the beautiful purple 
tint in operating upon a piece of a single fibre of the human 
h^r less than one inch in length. 

BCLPHUB IN BOILED EGGS. 

It iS well known that slvec, when brought in contact with 
eggB which have been heated, is blackened, and that this dia- 
CoTCration is owing to tiie sulpburet of Nlver. It is usually 
admitted that this sulpburet is formed by the action of the 
sulphuretted oils supposed to exist in the yolk of the egg. M. 
Qobley, not having found in this body any thing of this nature, 
has examined the causes of the phenoncnon : he finds that the 
Tolk of an egg at the common temperature, and also when 
neated, does not discolour silver, even by several hours' con- 



t mvibllH foi uIds ctTbonlC' 



Tt Jt"* carried on eiperlaaBtl la 



CuTtosiliet of Science. 



t&ct. He further finda that albumen, as procured from the 
^g, does not tarnish sUyer, but when beated it nvex it a 
browD tint, which is stronger as the heat ie greater. He there- 
fore concludeB that the discoloration of tne eilver is due to 
the sulphur oontained in the albuineit, and not to that sup- 
posed to existintbe jolk. By other experiments hehasascer- 
t^ned that the sulphuret thus formed is not the result of the 
immediate action of the Eulphor upon the silver, but by the 
application of beat the sulphur and the alkali of the albumin- 
01U matter react upon each other so as to form a substance 
whi^ ia aftenrarda decomposed hj this metal. 



It is now nearly two centuries ^ce Brandt, the Hamburgh 
alchemiBt, in hie search for gold, accidentally discovered the 
elemental body Phosphorus, named, from its property of 
being luminous in the dark, from two Qreek words, pAos, light, 
and phero, I bear. Within two years of this discovery, or 
in ISJQ, one Kraft brought a small piece of phosphorus to 
London, and showed it to Ciiarles II. and im Queen, the 
year after peace viae concluded with Holland. The Hon. 
Robert B<^le afterwards diaoovered the process, which he de- 
scribed in the Philoiophical Trantactioni for 16S0, and in a 
small work which he published in the same year, entitled the 
Aerial NoctU-uea. Mr. Boyle instructed Mr. Godfrey Hankwitz 
of London how to procure phosphorus from urine, so that he 
me the first who made it for sale in England ; and he is said 
to have supplied all Europe with it for many years. It con- 
tinued long to be an expensive chemical : for in 1731 we find 
by the books of the Royal Society that for Dr. Frobenius's 
experiments on the Transmutation of Phosphorus, exhibited 
bwire the Prince of Wales, the phosphorus used on the occa- 
sion, amounting to six ounces, cost ten guineas I 

Phosphorus oas since been known as a dangerous combusti- 
ble and most deadly poison. 

Since about 1660 (bii;b Dr. Q. Wilsoa) we hsTG been familiar with 
Phoqiharus aa a soft, Bemi-trasspareDt, naarly cclourlesa, wai-lika sub- 
■taDCe, pouesaed of a glaaay atructure, eihalmg in the air an odour of 
garlic, ahiiuDg' at the freozing-poiDt of wataFj meltiDc a hundred d^igr&ea 
Edow thaboiling-pomt'llll'DoF.) of that liquid, buiBling- into flame 
in the air at a temperature a litde higher, and yielding a thick white 
amoke, condetuing into a snow of phi»pboricacid. 'ma fbrm of the 
element we have learned to diatinguiah aa vitreoua phosphoruB. It is 
go iQflBnunabla that it can bo proserred with safe^ only under water, 
and there ia scarcely a chemist who baanotboen iu some de^^rea a mar- 
tyr to ila flames. It is so poisonoua that not a year paases without 
Wmepoor child falling aticttmto the minute portion which it thought- 
lesaly eata from a tucifer-match, aud without uncautioned lucifar-match 
maken Bafferisg the prolonged torture of slow poiaonlng, which its 



94- ITiingi not generally Known. 

dallj adminktntion in mSulMdmal doeea iu&lliUr occamaiu. It mots 
BO ponerfully upon tbe ur in which it is permitted to fiune, that it 
ohuins ita oxygen into the energetic, oxiiiiEing, deodoiiainK, and 
bleaoolnE agent whioh ii knovn as oiona. In a word, it eibibits in an 
intense degree an affinitfi or tendeno; to oambine, alilca with metali 
Bad non-melBli, and strikingly altan eaoh by its nnion with it. — Bdi»- 
Imrgh £itaw, ISSe. 

Vitreonji FhoqihoniB 1b Biuoeptibla of these modifioationB : 1. From 
the gtasn to the arntBlline oondition. 2. By exposure nnder water to 



hght, it beoomeB a vihiu, opaque body, 3. Br fusion, heat, and 
■oaaeii ooollng, bloisk and qtaqoe. 4. By heat and audden coohiig, Tincid 
like iolphtir, and in oonutance like oaoutohonn. 6. An omorphoui 
ml solid. 

Phogphorus, however, when prepared red, or EtmoipIiouB, 
IB much less fumble than common phoephorns. This red 
phosphorus is not poisonous, eren when directly adminiatered 
in doses, a hundred times Kre&ter than tbose which are fetal 
with vitreonB phosphorus ; it maj be handled with impimity ; 
and by SchrOtter's process of preparing it, the manufacture, 
use, and carriage of luoifer-matcnes made with it are mnob 
less dangeniuH than formerly. MesBre. AUbright, near Bir- 
mingham, bare for several years prepared this red phoqihoms 
on a lane scale. The common phoaphorus ia d^ved fnun 
calcined Dones, by treating them with sulphuric acid and 
water j and it is rendered amorphous hy e»poaing it for fifty 
bours to a temperature of about S00° in an atmosphere which 
ifl unahle to act chemically upon it. 

The Lucifer Match was invented in 1827, by Mr. John 
Walker, a chemist and druggist, of Stockton-upon-Tees. He 
waa preparing with phosphorus some lighting mixture for hia 
own use, when hy aoddental friction on the hearth of a matoh 
dipped in the misture a light was oht^hed. The hint was 
not thrown away. Mr. Faraday, it is said, first brought the 
discovery into practice. Mr. Walker died in 1869, aged 
seventy-eight. 

The B5iognian Phaphorui, one of tbe moat powerful of the 
solar phosphoric substances, hkd a curious origin. It was thft 
accidental discovery of Tisoenzio Cascariolo, a shoemaker, of 
Bol<^na, who, about the year 1630, being engaged in some 
alchemical experiments, had occauon to oilcine a quantity of 
active sulphate of barytes, found near Bolc^pta at Monte 
Paterno. He observed that whenever this mineral had been 
sufficiently heated, it acquired the property of shining in the 
dark after having been exposed to the snn's rays, and that it 
would even continue thus to emit light for some hours. The 
best mode of preparing this substance became a subject of no 
small pecuniary importance, and a family of the name of Zagoni 
appear to have been the most successful pr^arers of.it. ' 



Curiotitiet of Science, 96 

NICE ESTUUTE OF LIGHT. 

Nx. Faraday and M. Bccquerel, to show that flaoresoeiioe 
and phoBphoresceDCB are luminouB conditions differing onlj in 
Hie time of their continuanoe, emploj the Phoipkoroacept, the 
cylinder of which revolves 300 times in a second, Bhowing a 
phosphorescent effect which lasts only the nVci o<^ 6^^"- tl>o 
g^n of a second. 

Seveial times Mr, Paradaj has ohserved that a flash cf light- 
ning, when seen as a linear discharge, left the luminouH trace 
of its form on the cioud, enduring for a sensible time after the 
lightning was gone ; the true e^ilanation of which Mr. Faia- 
day considers to be the phosphorescence of the cloud. 

An instrument has been constructed for producing isolated 
Inminous impressions, varjing from one-tenth to oue-miliionth 
of a second. 

DBIQCnX OF lODINZ. 

Iodine, thna called on account of its violet colour, fcom the 
Qreek word iodoi, was acddentallj discovered bj M. Oourteois, 
a nunufi^urer of saltpetre, at I^iris, in 1812. In his process 
fai procuring soda from the ashes ot sea-weed, he found tho 
metallic vessels much corroded, and in searching fbr the cause 
he made the important discoverj. 

Sir Eumphr; Dav^ tried to deoompose iodine, but he failed 
in his subtle analjBis; and to the present day iodine is con- 
ndered as a simple body — one of the primitive elements of our 
terrestrial world. 

Where do we find iodine T a little evefy where and in every 
thing, but generally a very small proportion. All the fishes, 
sheUe, sponges, and ocean weeds yield iodine ; and the wrack- 
naas, those fuel which the boiling and rolling of the wave» 
depont upon the barren shores, seemed to be useless refuse, 
but are now known to yield a useful substance in pharmacy 
and the arts. Iodine has the property of dissolving the gland of 
goitre and cretinism, and is the principal agent in Photography. 

Thai, we find erideuce ottjie tuiatBuoe ot iodine in marine and fresh- 
water aquatio ^lanti from all quarter^ ot the globe. FeriDonted. 
Kqoors oontain iodine : wine, cider, and peiry are more iodurettad than. 
the average of freah nnten. Milk is richer la iodine than wine : inde- 
pendentiv of the kiil, with whioh xtTariee, the proportion of iodine in 
milk ja in the inverae ratio of the abundance of tMt secretion. Eggs, 
(not the ahell) oontain much iodine ; a fowl's egg weighing iStf gT<una. 
contain* more iodine than a qunrt of cow'e milk. Iodine exista in 
Tariotu BoilH. It is abundant In gulphor, and in ores of inm and man- 
ganese, and (ulphnret of mercury ; but rare In gypsum, carbonates of 
Bme, and siliceous earths. Any attemot to extract iodine economioaUr 
dwuld be made from tad. Host of 



TTtitiffs not generally Known, 



minenl ocuDpoandi ; ia mauj iJauts,* chiefly, if not eatirely, aqiutii: ; 
in anlrn«l« ; M an ingTediantim ths eartli'i atmoniliere, as in rain, ivw, 
and sntHT. Tha tast admits of eitraotdinar; delioao; : Dr. Price has 
dstected the tg^iBS B V"^ '^ todins dimolved in water as iodide of 



Iodine st^ns the Bkin, but not pennanentlj; it has a -werj 
«iie^tio action upon the animal system, and is much used in 
medicine. One of its most chuacteristio propertiea iB the pro- 
duction of a splendid blue oolour in contact with the organic 
principle BtaroL 

EASLY OAS-LIOHTraa. 

Soon after the eet»bliahment of the fint gae-workB at West- 
minatei, in 1610-12, an eiteuaive explosion took place on the 
premiseg, when a committee of the Rojal Societ; was, at the 
request oi the Qovemment, appointed to investigate the mat- 
ter. Thej met eeveral times at the gaa-worka to examine Uie 
^paiatus, and made aveiy elaborate report, in which they stated 
as their opinion, that if gas-liKbting was to become prevalent, 
the gas-works ought to oe placed at a consideiable distance 
from all biuldings, and that the reservoirs should be small o- 



earth or strong party-w ^ j , , 

Sir James Lowther described to the Royal Society a curious 
notice of a spontaneous evolution of gas at a colliery near 
Whitehaven. It annoyed the workmen so much that a tube 
was made to carry it off. Sir James states that parties were in 
the habit of tilling bladders with the gas, and burning it at 
their convenience. It appears strange that this hint did not 
bring gas -lighting into use earlier. — Phih*. Trans. voL 38. 
<8ee " Progress of Gaa-lighdng," Thitigt not genenUy Eiunnn, 
First Series, p. 198.) 

UNWHOU:SOHEHESS OF U6HTS. 

Recent experiments have proved that Lights of equal inten- 
sity, obtiuaed irom different materials, require very different 
lengths of time to generate the same quantity of carbonio acid. 
The following is l£e relative time required by common mate- 
rials ; Olive-oil, 72 minutes ; Russian tallow, 75 ; common 
(French) tallow, 76; whale-oil, 76; stearic acid, 77; wax 
candles, 79 ; spermaceti, 83 ; gas from common coal, 9S ; gas 
from cannel eoa^, 152 minutes. Coal-gas, therefore, and espe- 
cially gas from oannel coal, is the least unhealthy of all ordinaiy 
lights, which is contrary to the usual opinion. 

UM M Brtghtoo ud other ■■»lo^lnB-pl«H!^ long bsfon thooilsMiice Df'lOdine io 
mulDe pluU bad becoma saimaU; kaan. 



Curiofities of Science. 97 



EFFECTS OF CARBUBETTED HYDBOGEN OS PLAINTS. 

A oollectiou of exotic plants in a greeu-houw in Philadel- 
phia was, through the breakage of the city " maios,'' and the 
consequent leak^e of a. large quantity of gas, exposed to its 
deleterious influence. The pl^ts, numb^Dg nearly 3000, 
were aliaoBt entirely ruined. Those in leaf did not m^er, nor 
did a row of maple- trees immediateiy over the leak ; the injuiy 
Buatained being entirely through their breathing organs. The 
general sympathy known to eust between the geneia of the 
same natural order extends to the action of this deletenona sub- 
stance upon them. The beautiful Amatuiaceix were so keenly 
sensitive to the poieon that even large old apedmens were 
stripped at once. The floor was covered with leayes, and 
oranges and lemons in all at^es of growth, from fruit first 
formed to that fully matured. The trees, 1^ careful pruning 
and nursing, were somewhat restored. Camdlia were in fuU 
bloom, in about 120 varieties ; not a leaf, bud, or flower re- 
mained upon the largest and the finest plants. 

CHEMICAL EFFECTS OF ISTEEMEMT IN VAULTS AUD 
CATACOMBS. 

Althoogh much had been said and written on the decompo- 
sition of the hiunan body after interment in the earth, but 
little was known until lately respecting the process and results 
of such decompo«tion when modified by the corpse bring placed 
in a vault or (»tacomb. 

In 1849 and 1860, Mr. Walter Lewis, by direction of the 
General Board of Health, visited the vaults of the principal 
churches of London, noted the external appearance of more 
than 22,000 coffins, and the contents of nearly 100, and several 
times tested or analysed the atmosphere of the vaults. In no 
casedidhediscovertbeslighteet trace of cyanogen, hydrocyanic 
add, or phoBphuretted, sulphuretted, or carburetted hydrogen, 
except a very minute quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen in the 
air a a single vault, which contained but few coffiua. The 
corroded parts of old leaden coffins were always found to be 
carburet of lead, with no trace of sulphate or sulphuret. Some 
of the coffins contained ammoniacal gas in large quantities, 
and others none at all ; but, with this exception, the contained 
air was nearly alike in all, beiug composed of nitrogen, carbo- 
nic acid, common tur, and animal matter in suspension. When 

' ammonia was present, it overcame every otlier odour; when 
abflent, the smell resembled that of very putrid moist cheese. 
The result was the same, whether the interment had been made 
afew weeks or a century and a half previouslv, whatever the 

I cause oi the disease, or the age at which it took place. Out of 



Things not generally Knoton. 



all the ooSds examined, but tweutf of the leaden ones had 
been bulged by the pressure of the gaaea in the interior. Thii 
is onl; about one out of a thoneand, and BhowB that the gasea 
are formed very alowlj. Mr. Lewis, &om variouB inquiriCE^ 
could not ascertain that a coffin had ever been known to burst 
suddenly from the pressure of the confined air. When one 
becomes bulged, it is customai^ for the sexton to make a small 
aperture in it, to which is applied a torch as an antidote to the 
noxious effect of the escaping gases. Several persons whom 
Mr. Lewis had consulted had h^d of cases in which the gases 
caught fire, but, after searching inquitj, he could not find one 
who had ever seen them bum. 

Mr. Lewis infers from the experiments made b^ him in 
vaults and catacombs, that the deleterious emanations from 
these depositories may continue for a hundred years after they 
are closed ; they are not rendered noxious by poisonous gases 
generated during the process of decomposition, nut by the ani- 
mal matter itself, with which, if ventilation is not allowed, the 
air becomes saturated ; that nitrogen and carbonic acid, hold- 
ing anim^ matter in suspension, steadily but quietly make 
their way through the pores of lead coffins, and hj the same 
means to the open air, so that, at the end of fifty or a hundred 
years, nothing remains but a few dry bones, though the coffins 
are still sound and unruptured. 

Mr. Lewis, in conclusion, recommended that "interments 
in vaults and catacombs be no longer permitted, as they are 
but so many active volcanoes, constantly emitting poisonous 
effluvia ; and that the use of leaden coffins should be entirely 
discontinued." — Abri^edfrom the Lancet, 18S1. 

Mr. R. T. Tnson, m the FhUotopkieid Magadne for April 
1860, maintains that the substance obtained, as above, ^m 
leaden, coffins is carbonate of lead — that it is anhydrous, con- 
tains hut a small excess of oxide, and hence differs in composi- 
tion from other carbonates of lead. It was found, during the 
search for the remains of JohnHunter in ieS9, in the vaults of 
the church of St. Martin's-in-the-fields, that many leaden cof- 
ans had been converted, interiorly, all but a thin outer plate or 
foil, into this carbonate. 

See also "How soon a CJorpse decays," Curioeiiia of 
Seience, First Series, p. 237. 



In making wine, no yeast or other ferment is added to the 
must ; but vmous fermentation ensues from the action (rf cer- 
tain nitrogeniferous principles existing in the grape-juice, which 
confers upon them the properties of yeast Hence it has been 



CurioHties of Science. 



itself ; and how it is that ripe grapes, even, when cut from ti 
Tine, not only exhibit no such tendency, hut, as long as the 
flkin Ib entire, shrivel up into rmUim. This anomaly was hjpo- 
tbetically solved hj assuming that the gluten or ferment was 
shut up in distinct vesicleH, which, on mashing or pressing the 
fruit, were ruptured, and so became active. But Qaj Lussac 
found that when thoroughly bruised grapes were carefully es- 
cluded from the nix, or ratiier, when the grapes were crushed and 
pressed out of the presence of oxygen, no change ensued ; but 
that even a momentary exposure of the pulp to air or oxygen 
was sufficient to endue it with the power of fermentation. 

It is curious to observe how admirably the exclusion of air 
IB provided for by the natural texture of the grape, which does 
not allow its ingress, and yet admits of the egress or tran- 
Bpirationofaqneous vapour, as shown by the spontaneous desic- 
cation of the Derry. — Brande's Leclnrei, abri^ed. 

Thflse Lsotures "on aomeof the ArtBoonnoatod withOrganio Che- 
Boiitry," ware deliversd hj Professor Braade, at the fiojal Institution,'* 
in the apring of 1 S52. At their oloae, Mr, Brando resigned his profesfior- 
ship, baring been officiall; attached to the Inetitution for u, period of 
forty years, or ainoB 1812, when ho suooeedad to tha otair Taoatod by 
Sir Humphry Davy, "Looking at the Royal Institution (snid Hr. 
Brando), 1 revere it aa my alma mdf«r, whore, aa a schoolboy, I listened 
to the fruitful oloquenoe of Davy, and afternards partook of hia an- 
qnaintanceahip and friendship ; where 1 acquired the patronage of 3ir 
Joseph Banks ; where I was atnglod out by Woliaston aa hia successor 
in the aecretaryship of the RojSl Sooiotj ; where 1 oaiao into ftequent 

day became ray pupil, my oolleaeue, and ray friend, — theae, I assure 

Bcoompany ma from this place ; and the; are unsullied and unalloyed. 
They haTo never been clouded, tinted, or embiktered. I again, there- 
fore, thank you for all your partiality and kindness ; and in gmtitude 
to Frovidence, in whose merciful hands are all the issues of our liveB. 
I req>eotfiiIly beg you to accept my affectionate &reweU." 

VEOETABLE 



Mitscherlich, of Berlin, believes fermentation to be brought 
about by the viud action of vegetable cells in a state of growth 
OF development. Thns, the vegetable cells found in fenneut- 

• Tha Eoyil Inslltntlon bu been worthily Osaignatel " the workihop of the 
fioyal Boclalf." The hlaUr;' of chemical sdence datea ddb of Ita principal 

tbangHrcliu of Dary and Finda; eitsndsd over half a century ; Ineloding 
Iba laws of elKtracbemlcat decocapoiltion, the demmpoaition of the Sied 
alkallei, the eitabllihraent ot Uie natun of chlorine, the phtlatophy of Same 
the eondBaalbiliQ' of manr laiei. the science of maKoetle electrldly, the twofb) 
Bueuatlain ot matter, and the mignellam of Che guu. The mlnenlogia] c 
leetloo Id tha mnseam wai comioeiiced by Davy; and In lb* Ubnuy ar- • 
■imdtliagTeMebeiBUi'sUbontary aote-baaka. 



100 Thing* not generally Known. 

ing beer are apparently of two kmds, and b«1onft to the lowest 
forms of vegetable life. It ia aupposed that, through the 
^encj of the vegetable cells, the suK&r id decomposed, the 
oarbonic-add gsB formed, and alcohol and water developed. 
The ultimate action, however, in the v^etable cell is dae to 
o&tal;r8ifi, or to that modification of this force which Liebig 
calls molecular motioo. For every genninating vegetable cell 
ooDsists, first, of a quantity of matter — such as starch and sugar 
— without nitrogen | and secondly, a body cont^ning nitrogen 
called diiutcue. This latter acta as a. ferment during germina- 
tion, and the results are nearly the same ; the sugar, starch, 
&0. being decomposed, and one of the r^ults the formation 
and dise^jagement of carbonic-acid gas. 

COMBCSTTBILITY OF GASEB. 

The combustibility of gases is, to a certain extent, in direct 
proportioD to the maHBes of heated matter required to infiame 
them. A red-hot wire one-fortieth of an inch in diameter will 
not isnite olefiant gas, but it will inflame hydrogen gas ; 
and the same wire heated white-hot will inflame olefiant gas, 
but will not inflame the carburetted-hydrogen gas of the ooal- 
mines, which, fortunately, is the least combnstible of all the 
inflammable gases. — Sir H. Davy. 

ABSOEPTION OF GASES Br CHAACOAL. 

When we had ascertained the fiict of gases becoming fluid 
under the influence of cold or pressure, a curione proper^ 
possessed by charcoal, that of absorbing gases to the extent 
of many times its volume, — ten, twenty, or even, as in the 
case of ammooiaoal gas or muriatic-acid gas, eighty or ninety 
fold, — which had l>een long known, no longer remiuned a mys- 
tery. Some gaaes are absorbed and condensed within me 
pores of the charcoal into a space several hundred times smaller 
than they before occupied ; and there ia now no doubt they there 
become fluid or assume a solid state. As in a thousand other 
instances, chemical action hero supplants mechanical forces. 
Adhesion, or heterc^eneous attractiou, as it is termed, acquired 
by this discovery a more extended meaning. It bad never 
been before thought of as a cause of change of state in mat- 
ter ; but it is now evident that the adhesion of a gas to the 
suriace of a solid body is a process opposite to that of solution. 

WHAT IS DONE WITH THE OASES } 

One species, or rather a variable mixture of two or three, 
composed of carbon and hydrogen, is made iu the outskirts of 



Carioiittei of Science, 101 

nearly eveir town nowadays in enormous quantities, and then 
sent away nom a huge trough or jar, or from a heart, to dnni- 
late through a Byetem of metallic arteriea for the purpose of 
lighting streets and houses. Hoffman's spirit of charcoal, the 
fixed air of Black, the carbonic acid of the present nomencla- 
ture, is studiously crushed into bottles of soda-water by stout 
maohiuery, to be quaffed by the luxurious and the ailing before 
it bas time to flj away. Our cottons and linens are bleached by 
chlorioe. Orcat balloons are filled with the phlogisticated air 
or hydrogen of Cavendish, the lightest of corporeal bodies, to 
carry men of science and fools with singular impartiality. 
Oxyf^D and hydrogen are separated from chemical union with 
one another in water, suffereu to remain mechanically mingled, 
and then made to unite by combustion at the nozzle of the 
o^hydrogen blowpipe, so as to produce beautiful and useful 
results. The arsenic that may lurk about the putrid remains 
of a dead and buried man is transformed by an easy process 
into arseniuretted-hydrogen gas, so as by its decomposition to 
bring the metal that lud him low before the eye of a jury. The 
spirit of hartshorn is now understood to be but a compound of 
nitrogen and hydrogen, called ammonia, absorbed by and proba- 
bly in combination with water ; while Uie old spirit of salts, or 
moriatic acid, is just an aqueous solution of hydrochloric gas. 
The nitrogen is seduced into something like an unwilling che- 
mical union with the oxygen of the atmosphere, by a device 
borrowed from nature, so as to yield the nitrate of lime, the 
nitrat« of potassa or saltpetre, the nitrate of soda, and (by a 
secondaiT process) the nitric acid or nitrate of water itself that 
invaluable oxidant and solvent of the metallurgist and the 
chemist. * In &ct, there is no end to the application of this 

Saeomatic chemistry, which took its rise from the mind of 
osnih Black, who lived as fine a life of science as was ever 
lived, and died with a cup of milkunspilt in hie hand. — ^orch 
Brititk Beviete, No. 35, abridged. 

• Mtrlu uld vill entlnlT dbsolTe bone and fl»b, botli dlaappwring >lth- 
ontmBTimBll. PnfeMorHanfoM.of the Ubited SUUa, (wnsidsn tbat Itwould 
l«kentliermoniiiBI<uldtbuUie««ig1»<>[ll>B«hi>Ia fleeh tnd boiu^dls- 



-„ Google 



Thittffi not generally Known, 



Cffrmistrs of ^tttato. 



TEANSPABENCT OF UETALB. 

Opacitx IB on almost uniTersal cbarocteriBtia of metals, as we 
see them ; but gold has been beaten into leaves so fine as to 
become partial^ transparent, — not in consequence of any 
cracks, holes, or fissures, but by the sbining of light through 
its substauco. These leaves are l-200,000th of an inch m 
thickness. The light transmitted ia green, although the in- 
cident ray is white ; thus ne^tiving the supposition of a 
mere passage through orifices in the gold, and proving the 



colours of liffht, as is the case with most tranapBrent media. 
Silver-leaf wly l-100,000th of an iuoh in tbiokness is perfbctlj 
opaque. 

The above phenomenon of gold renders the supposition pro- 
bable that other metals might also become transparent, pin- 
vided they were sufficiently malleable to he beaten out mta 
leaves of the necessaty fineness ; and thus we are obliged to 
rel^quish the idea of opacity as being neoessarily a qualil^ of 
mettulic bodies. — Faraday. 

BUST A PBOIECTOB. 

All the common metals, escept tin (says Fanday), nut ; 
they become duller and duller up to a oertun degree, loee 
gradually their lustre, and then the process goes no &rtlter. 
Instead of the rusting being a destroyer of the metal, it is a 
preserver ; for even in the case of iron, which rusts quickly as 
compared with other nietals, if it be dipped into tin, it comes 
out coated with it, and is preserved beautifully. If iron be 
exposed for a couple of hours to the action of water, the iron 
becomes quite corroded ; but when tinned, the iron is pro- 
tected, and the tin itself is not affected. Hoir is it that this 
metal can protect iteelf, and the iron that is under it I It is 
simply owing to the substance formed on the surbee by the 
attraction of oiygen, which is so adherent to tha metal beneath. 
It gives a protection which -ao vafnish nor any kind of appli- 
cation can afford. Take a copper or a tin plate ; they aro 
both protected in their metallic state by a thin goat formed in 
be first instance of oiicle. It is only because thia coat ia eo 



CurioHtiet ofScii 



a piece of tin iT<»i ouuiot detect the film except b; close 
ezamination. We know it is there ; but it ie 011I7 bj optical 
phenomena that we can measure its thickness. It eeema clear 
and bea.utifu!, but if you rub it off, 70U give the metal beneath 
a new character ; the lustre, however, passes off the first mo- 
ment up to a certain point. The bodj formed by the combina- 
tion of OKVgen with iron ia different. The oxide does not ad- 
here to the metal beneath ; it forms upon it little spot^, or 
porouB tumulL It is not an investing varnish ; but the process 
goes on through the pores of the rust, especially if the metal 
be placed in a damp atmosphere. Thie ia the reason why we - 
find a difference between eopper, iron, tin, and lead, when used 
for roofe, or other external purpoBea. The iron alone is eaten 
into and destroyed by this want of adhesion in it& rust to the 
nirboe of the metal. 

It is curiona to observe, in some cases, how tin, as metal 
having Si slight attraction for oxygen, protects other metals 
from oxidation. In Canada, tin-plate is used for the roofs of 
houses : you are dazzled by the lustre of tbe sun acting upon 
tbe roofs ; and there, althoi^h it is exposed to the atmosphere 
year after year, it does not decay, because the superficial coat 
of oxide protects tbe tin and iron beneath. 

AKTIUONY. 

We have already adverted to the high appreciation of this 
metal by the Alchemists (see page 12). Here is a beautiful 
experiment : 

On eledrolfring a solution of terahloride of antimony (oDs part of 
tnrtar-smetio in four ports of ordinary chtarida of ontiiaony) by a Binall 
tntten of two elements, metallio antJmony forming the positive, and 
metalUo copper the negative pole, onutB of snijinony are obtained, 
which poaseaa the renmrkablB propoi^ of oiploding and oatoluog fire 
when scratched or broken. — 6ort; Prottedtngi cfOt* Bogal Society, 

Besides its application to medicine, antimony is of great im- 

Srtance in the arts, inaamuch as it forms with lead it/pe-fnetal, 
lis alloy expanda at the moment of solidifying, and takes an 
exceedingly sharp impression in the mould. It is remarkable 
that both its constituents shrink under aimikr circumstances, 
and make very bad castings. 

Terauiphide of antimony is employed in the Bengal or blue 
signal-light used at sea, as follows: dry nitrate of potassa, uz 
parts ; sulphur, two ; tersulphide of antimony, one. 

To show how little the early chemists understood of the 
distinotion between organic and inorganic or mineral sub- 



Thingt not generalli/ Known. 



■tauaeB, it is recorded that ther classified chloride of antimuuj 
(butter of autimony) next to the butter of the cow ! 



Aisenio is first mentioned in the irorks of Bioscorides, but 

is there thought to have been the well-bnown paint orpimeat. 
Though long known, it was first eiamined with tolerable pre- 
oiflion by Brandt, in 1733. It is very frequently met witfi in 
nature, Bometimea in its pure metallic state of Etteel-gray colour, 
and considerable brilliantw, which it Eoon loaea on exposure to 
the air, and becomes black ou the surface ; the artificially ob- 
tained metal not only suffers these changes, but falls to powder 
br the action of the air, and in this state is known on the Con- 
tment as fly-fvwder. When kept finder wat«r, arsenic under- 
goes no change ; if heated to 356° Fabr. it is rolatilised without 
prertoua fusion ; the vapour has the odour of garlic, which is 
relied upon as a proof of its presence. This substance combines 
with metals in the same manner as sulphur and phosphorus, 
which it resembles, especially the latter. With oxygen it unites, 
giving rise to arsenious and arsenic acids. 

Arsenic in the oxidised state is found in minute quanti- 
ties in many mineral waters. It ia mostly derived irom roast- 
ing natural arsenides of iron, nickel, and cobalt ; the volatile 
products being condensed in a chimney divided into cham- 

Of the various Poisonings bj Arsenic we shall speak in a 



Silver is found prindpallj in the mines of the Hsrz nuKm- 
tainB in Germany, KGnigsberg in Norway, and the Andes in 
North and South America. It is mostly extracted from poor 
ores, not bj smelting, but by amalgamation, as silver and manj 
other met^ are easd; soluble in metallic mercury. Pure silver 
is probably the best conductor of heat and electricity known. 
In hardness it lies between gold and copper. Silver is unal- 
terable by air aud moisture ; it refuses to oxidise at any tem- 
perature, hut poasesses the extraordinary faculty of abacrbing 
manj times its volume of oxygen when heatod strongly in an 
atmosphere of that gas, or in common air- The oxygen is 
agun disengaged in the appearance often remarked on the 
surface of masses or buttons of pure silver. The addition of 
2 per cent of copper is sufficient to prevent this absorption of 
oxygen. Silver oxidises when heated with fusible siliceous 
matter, as glass, which it stains yellow or orange, from the 
formation of a silicate. The tarnishing of silver exposed to 



Cttriotitiea of Science, 105 

the air is due to sulphuretted hydrogen, the metal haTing a 
atroag attraction for sulpliur. 

Tne lunar caustic of the surgeon is nitrate of silver, which 
has been melted, and poured into a cjilindrical mould. The 
aalt blackens when exposed to light, more particularly if or- 

rio matters of any kind be present ; and it communicaites a 
b stain to the hair, and is employed in " indelible '' ink for 
marking linen. The black stain is thought to be metallic sil- 
ver ; it may possibly be suboxide. 

Berthollet'a Fidw/iTiaiiTig /Silver was precipitated oxide of 
silver digested in ajnmonia : it explodes while moist, when 
robbed with a hard body ; but when ifry, the touch of a feather is 
sufficient. A umilar compound containing oxide of gold exists. 
It ia easy to undsretsod the reason irliy tbese bodies are aubjeot to 
moh violent and §iuldea deoompoaition by the slightest CAUse, on the 
Buppoiition that they oontaio aa oxide of an eaail; reducible metal and 
ammonia ; theattraoWon between the two oonatituents of the aubstanoes 
ia very feeble, while that between the oxygen of the one and the hydro- 
gen of the other ia very poweriiil. The eiploaion is caused by the sud- 
den evolution ot nitrogen gna and vapour of water, the metal being set 

free ^ihohm'i Alaniuil. 

Silver is admirable for culinary and other economical uses, 
sot being attacked in the slightest degree by any of the sub- 
stances used for food. It ia necessary, however, in these cases 
to diminish the softness of the met4U by a small addition of 
copper. Tlie standard silver of England contaius 222 parts of 
silver and eighteen parts copper- 
In the time of William the Conqueror, the English pound was a, 
poond weight ot silver, coined into twenty BbiUings ; now a pound is 
worth l€BB than fburouniKa of lilver, and tae pound iactHDed into tixl^- 
rix sUllings. Here isthesoaleofieductioiistskeD&omLardlivetpoors 
TreatJse on Coin : 

t. d. 
28th Edward I., a pound-welglit of silvernH coined into 20 3 

- 18th Edward III 22 

20th Edward III. . • 23 6 

27th Edward III 2S 

13th Honry IV SO 

4th Edward IV. 87 6 

18th Henry vm *6 

2d EUzabeth 60 

43d Elizabeth 60 

Saih George CI. . . . . . 66 

Jonathan Dunant, B^^ on tht Oumncy, 18fi7. 
The new art of Photomphy is founded on a knowledge of 
the properties of four chemital compounds of silver, viz. on 
the change produced by the influence of light on chloride and 
iodi<^ of silver ; on the reconversion of the altered silver com- 
pound into metallic silver by means of pyrogalUo acid or some 
Other reducing agent ; on the solubility of ^ver compounds in 



Tkingi not generally Known* 



VTS& dietdsiom: of gold. 
ProfesBOF Faradaj euppoaOB that if & leaf of gold, which ia 
odIj ituhtts of &i^ ii>oh tnick, and weighs about 02 of a grain, 
yet coverfl a BuperfloieB of nearly ten Bquare inches, were dif- 
fnaed through a column of Bolution having that base, and 3'7 
inches in height, it would give a ruby fluid equal in depth of 
tint to a good' red rose ; the volunie of gold present being about 
the oue hve hundred thousandth part of the volume of the 
fluid, 

BiBDNESS OF BIETALS. 

Messrs. Calvert and Johnson have made a serieB of experi- 
menta with pretty larze maeses of metal to teat their compara- 
tive hardness ; and the following is a moBt useful table which 
has been prepared, embracing Uie results of their investiga- 
tions:— 



Ca«t Iroa 
Steel . 
Wrouglit Iron 
PUtlnum 
Pnre Copper 
Aluminiuia 
Silver , 

Gold '. 
Cadmium 
Bismuth 
Tin 



1-000 



e harder 



This table exhibits the remarkable hat that oaa 
harder than all the other metals ; it was found to b 
than any alloy. 

It ia well known to chemists that cast iron, and one or two 
other metals, in the act of Bolidi^dng enlai^, so as to fill out 
sharply the minute parts of the mould, which is, indeed, the 
property on which their great use chiefly depends. 



Mr. Tennant, the practical mineralogist, atatea the speci- 
fio gravity of gold, tried by four different tests, to be, 15, 
16-7, 16'S, 17; 80 that, as a mean, the specific gravity of 
gold is dxteen times greater than water ; wMle that of copper 

'■ <s ia 4-5: iron ovrites. 4'3; mira. 3. The blowpipe is 

1 these operations : it 



Curiosities of Science. 107 

can be used with a. penny csndle and a halfpennj-irorth of 
charcoal ; ho that for eightpence or tenpence a primitive fui^ 
oace can be purchased. Gold maj be cut with a knife lika 
lead, and bent and beat out in thin leavea. Iron pp'itee can- 
not be cut, or even ECratched with a knife ; copper pjritea can ; 
and both are brittle. Mica is foliated and elastic. When the 
blowpipe is applied to gold, it retaina its colour ; while copper 
and iron pjriteB lose theirs, and the latter become magnetic. 
Qold is also not acted upon bj nitric, muriatic, or sulphurio 
add dngl; : brass filings are readily acted upon bj nitric acid. 
A mixture of nitric and muriatic acids dissolves gold, and is 
therefore named Aqua Begia, gold being the king of metals. 

BGIENTIFIC GOLD-SMELTING. 

It ie not the precious character of a metal in a mine that 
readers it important, but its relative amount, making the dif- 
ference between profit and loss in obtaining it. Mines which 
have been abandoned for centuries on account of their poverty, 
though known to be auriferous have often been rendered pro- 
fitable in working by an appucation of science. Thti gold- 
minee of Reichenstein in Silesia had been abandoned for five 
centuries, when the process of Professor Flattner was adopted. 
The ores of the mines are arsenical pyrites, containing about 
200 grains of gold in the ton. These are roasted in a reverber- 
atory furnace, surmounted by a large condensing chamber, on 
which the arsenio is deposited as it rises in fumes. Oxide of 
iron, a certain quantity of arsenic, and the gold in the ore, 
remain beneath. These are placed in a vessel, so that a cur- 
rent of chlorine gas is transmitted through them. The gold 
and iron are attacked, are separated from the residue by solu- 
tion in water, and tne gold is precipitated by sulphuretted 
hydrogen. The importance of this process is evident ; and it 
is but justice to Jit. Percy to state that in 1848 he advocated 
the employment of chlorine for a similar purpose. 

In Hungary, from a depth of 200 &thoms, the gold matrix 
is raised, and so skilfully manipulated as to work at a profit, 
although ouly producing one-tenth of an ounce of gold from a 
tun of the matrix. 

METALLIC MANQANKSE. 

The great hardness of this metal fits it for mechanical use : 
it turns the edge of the best^tempered files, and, set at a sharp 
angle, it can be advantageously substituted for the diamond in 
cutting glass, and even in the polishing of steel and other 
metals. It is so susceptible of polish aa to appear applicable 
for the purposes of optical instruments — for instance, the rair- 



108 Tkingi not generally Known. 

rorg of telescopcB ; and plates of it have been kept for two 
months in the atmoiphers of a. laboratorj, charged throughout 
with moisture and other Tspoura, without the polish having 
Buffered, Although it cannot be foiled, it can be rolled into 
shapes. Its alloys are capable of jdelduig useful substances. It 
is an established &at, that all st«ei contains Bmall portions of 
manganese. It has lon^ been considered indispensable to add 
substances which contain this metal to the powder used for 
cementatioQ in making steel. The valuable variety of steel 
known as Wootz perhaps owes its properties to the additwn of 
iuanganes& 

mSCOTEEY OF CHLORISE. 

At the flose of the last century, the Swedish chemist Soheele 
made a series of experiments on the black oxide of manganese. 
To some this might have seenled an unprofitable waste of 
time; bat what was the result? Chlorine was discovered, a 
Bubstanoe of the greatest importance in the arts. BerthoUet, 
finding that this gas changed the colour of the corks of the 
bottles in which it was oonlned, suggested its employment as 
a bleaching agent. This led to a tott^ revolution in Uie art of 
bleaching, shortening the procees from several months to a few 

afar the most eligible method ofemployingtbe bleaching: ageooiei 
iiine cooHiBti in combining it with lime (" bleaching powder"), aa 
follows : Qaseoua cUorina, beiucr liberated from a mixture of salt, sol- 
phurio acid, and black oxide afmangBiiesa, is caused to paas over and 
among- large bulks of slacked lime, wbiob, being oontinuaily moved 
about bj' rakes, ths full absorptjon of cblonDe is obtaiued. Cblorine is, 
honover, devoid of bLeaching power except it be in the presence of 
water. The ratiOKaU of ths requires to Tie explained. Cblorine, by 
action on watoi', decomposes the latter, giving nae to the fbrioatioD of 
hvdroohloric aoid, and the liberation of oifgen. Uost probably the 
ulUmate bleaching effect is due to the oxygin Uiua liberated. — Brandii 
Ltctura, by Sootfem. 

BESTOBATION OF AKCIBNT BBONZKS. 

M. Ohevreul selected, from among certain ancient bronie 
statuettes brought from Egypt, a small completely oxidated 
figure of Anubis, and pladng it in a porcelain tube, -be filled 
the tube with hydrog^ gas, and ndsed it to a dull red heat 
Presently, water of a green colour was seen to condense in the 
hell-glass ; and after letting the ap^ratus cool, ' ' I took out the 
statuette," says Ohevreul, " completely revivified. I placed it 
before the French Academy, tt^ther with the water and chlor- 
hydric acid, which r^resented the oxygen and chlorine of 
Egypt transformed at Paris by hydrogen into watw and acid." 



Curiosities of Science. 



EfllPTlANS WORKIHG METALS. 

The Bkill of the Egrptiana in metallurgy was very gKB,t : 
we have ample proof of the working of metals at the earliort 
tunes of whioh any monuineDts remain ; nor ie it too much 
to Bay that Bome of the secretG thej poBsegaed, particularly 
in the manuboture of bronze, are still imperfectly known to m. 

In connection with this art, the paiutiags-notice the forceps, 
the blowpipe, and the bellows, whioh last even appear to show 
an acquaintance with the principle of the valve ; and though 
they give very few of the inveutious of Egypt, they prove ,the 
early use of the ^phona, and many efficient tools of different 
ctafts. The syringe was also Xuown; and one inatrument oc- 
cuxe, even on the monuigentB of the fourth dynasty, which has 
the appearance of a hand-pump. And if many of their arta, as 
well as their skill in mensuration, geometry, arithmetic, astro- 
nomy, and various branches of science, are unnoticed, we are 
not surprised at the omission of subjects so little suited to 
scolptare, or the embelhshmeut of a tomb. 

Surgical instruments have been found j and in the tombs 
other instruments, chiefly bronze ; among which are small hella, 
but it is uncertain to what period they oelong, or when bells 
were first invented. There are likewise knivesof various forms; 
one of them, now in the Louvre collection, is 12 inches long. 
Bronze needles were not uncommon ; and a pair of bronze tongs 
found at Thebes, and now in the British Museum, are remark- . 
able for their finish, and for the very Egyptian caprice of 
making their two ends iu the form of fish. 

Though gold-beating in its modem advantageous sta.te is an 
improvement of the seventeenth abd eighteenth centmies, the 
Egyptians overlaid wood and other materials with leaf of great 
fineness at a very remote age ; and beating, damascening, eu- 
graving, casting, inlaying, wire-drawing, and other processes, 
were adopted b^ them more than 3000 years ago. It is not, 
therefore, surprising that Homer should mention the horns of 
an ox overlaid with gold, as well as other arts long known in 
Egypt, But the covering of gold was generally of considerable 
thickness compared to what we use at the present day. 

Qold was the precious metal par excdlmux, and is shown to 
have been used in Egypt at an earlier time than silver, this 
last being called "white gold," or "mxui-hai," whence hat, 
" white," alone came to signify " silver." The Egyptians had 
no coined money : their gold and silver was in rings, similar to 
those used in the present day at Sennaar; and, uke the iron 
rings of the ancient Britons mentioned by Ccesar, when pur- 
chases were made, they were tried in the scales to ascertam if 
&e " money" was " in full weight," 



no Thing* not generally Known. 

The use of other metala, aa tin and zinc (moetlj for bronze 
and brass), as well aa iron and steel, h either directly proved 
hj diBOOveries in the tombs, or inferred from the moniunents : 
and the mauu&cture of bronze ia shown to have dated at leaet 
as earl; as the fifth dynast;, more than 4000 vears before o 
era. The bronze of Egypt varied in iti "' --- '' 

the alloys it oontainea, some having n 



U years 
lahty a 



being mixed with silver or other met^ ; but that for ordinary 
parposee contained 80 or 90 of copper to £0 or 10 of tin, like 
most bronze of Boman timea. Tne fine quahty of Egyptian 
metal mirrora and other ornamental objects is well known. 

THE IHTEHTOB OF AHALGAHATIOK. 

In the year 1640, there was written a work on metallorgy, 
and the use of quicksilver in refining gold and silver, by Alonio 
Barbara, a minister of the church of St. Bernard at PotosL 
He discovered the process of amalgamation by mere accident ; 
for being desirous erf fixing quicksilver, he mixed it with finely- 
powdered silver- ore, and soon found that the mercuir bad 
attracted every part of eilver to itself, which presented him 
with the idea of refining metals by means of mercury, ^his ex- 
periment he made in 1 600 ; but he was probably unacouwnted 
at the time with the existence of ameltug-worss in America, 
and does not appear desirouB of claiming the invention of 
amalgamation as practised iu that country. The book, though 
published at that late period of the art, and notwithstanding 
there were many superior treatises on the same subject already 
published in Qerman, was considered of such importance by the 
Spaniards, as containing aU their metallui^c secrets, that they 
endeavoured to suppress it ; but a portion of it was translated 
into English in 1674. 

The late Mr. Children, F.R.9., discovered a method for 
extracting silver from its ore without amalgamation, and 
■ derived condderable profit by selling the right to use it to 
several South American mining companies, in the year 18S4. 

THE HAnrFAOTTTBE OF lEOH. 

Of all the metals. Iron is the most widely diffused, the most 
abundant, and the most useful. Hence the processes of its 
application are the most numerous; and their history carries 
us nat^ to the remotest agea. It has been shown, by refermce 
to the four books of the Mosaic law, that Iron vras known sod 
used in the earliest ages of the world. In Deuteronomy it is 
cited as the essential and last &uit of the promised land. Prom 
various passages in Hesiod, Homer, and .^Echylus, it is rendered 
probable that the ancient Greeks, though acquainted with hath 



Curiosities of Science. Ill 

iron aad bronze, used the latter in the ooiiBtractioii of their 
warlike weapons till the period of the Heroic ages; but that 
after that time bronze w»b superseded bj iron obtained from 
the Ghalybes; and from passagee from the writings of Polybiua, 
Plinj, and Diodorus, the condusion ie drann that eveit in the 
earliest times the Bomana used weapons of iron which thej 
obtained principally from Spain. M>. Arthur Aikin mentions 
as a curious bet, that cutting and even surgeons' instruments 
were found in the eioavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii 
made of brtrme, though Bome were also found of iron ; from 
which it is to be concluded, that at this period (about the year 
69) the great superiority of iron over every other kind of metal 
in the mauu&cture of cutlery was only partially acknowledged. 
Sir Gardner Wilkinson informs us wiat Iron was known in 



deiitlj steel, is represented on monuments of the fourth dy- 
naety, as well as on those of later tine. The case-hardening 
of iron, by plunging it red-hot into water, ia even mentioned 
hy Homer; and the more we inquire into and become ac- 
qtminted with the customs of people in the early ages of the 
world, the more we are convinced that iron supphed their sim- 
pleat wants much in the same way at all timea, and that many 
secrets were known which we blindly suppose to be of late 
da.te. If Tubal Cain was, ages before the time of Moses, " an 
inBtmctoc of every artificer in brass and iron," the discovery of 
these will not date at a very recent period. Nor is it sufficient 
to establish the &ot of an acquaintance with the use of iron ; 
it is evident that its properties as steel were not unknown; 
and those who den^ a nearer approach to it than case-harden- 
ing will find it difficult to reconcile the mention of " a bow of 
steel" (Ps. zviii. 34), and other evidence of its use, with the 
mere hardening of the external surface of iron. 

Dr. LiriagBtoae, in his recent roBsarohsB in South Africa, (aoiid on 
tJie river Luoa)la tns strong maAsive ruina of an iron-foundj^, erected 
in the year 1768, and b; the order of the 6unatia Marquis of PombaL 
The whoie of the buildingfl were constructed of stone, cemented with oil 
Knd lime. The dam for watsr-poner was made of the same materials, 
and 27 feet high. This had been broken through by n flood, and solid 
blocka many yards in length were carried down the stream, aSbrding 
an instructive ezsjnple of th€ iransporling power of water. There wae 
nothing in the appearance of the place to indicate nnhealthinetis; but 
eight Spanish and Swedi^ workmen being hronght hither for the pur- 
pose of msbijictiDg the natives in the art ofsmeltiag iron, soon f^ 
victims to disease and "irregularities." The effort of the Marquis to 
improve the mode of monufiSrturing iron was thus rendered abortive. 



112 Thingt not generally Known. 

kept in tbe employmeat of the GoTerament, who, workiiig the rich, 
bUok, miigiietic iron-ore, produoe Cbr the authoritleg from 480 to 600 
bars of ^d m&lleable iron every month. The; are supported by the 
appropriation of n few thouaaada of b. small Ireeb-water fidi, sailed 
■' cacueh," a portjon of the tax levied upon the fiBhermea of Uie Ccnua. 
— Hr. l/tvtT^ilane'a MunonaTy Traveli. 

The art of Gmelting iroit was known in England durioK the 
time of the Boman occupation ; and in manj ancient beds of cin- 
ders, the refuse of iron-works, Roman coins hare been found.*' 

The working of steel was also practised in Britain before the 
Norman conquest ; and we are told that not only was the armj 
of Harold well supplied with weapons and defensive annour 
of steel, but that ever^ officer of rank maintained a smitli, wlio 
constantly attended his master to the wars, and took cha^^ of 
his arms and armour, to keep them in proper repair. 

The priucipal ancient seats of the iron manufacture in this 
country appear to have been in Sussex, and the Foreet of I>ean, 
or Arden, as it was then called. It is known that iron-works 
existed in that part of Qloucestershire in 1238, because there 
exists among the patent rolls of Henry III. of that date one 
entitled "De Forgeis levandis in foresta deDean." Remains 
of ancient iron-furnaces have also been found in Lancashire, 
Staffordshire, and Yorkshire. 

In South Wales, a charcoal furnace andforge were commenced 
at Pontypoolinthe 16th century (about 1505), so that this is 
one of the earliest seats of the iron-trade ; but there is reason 
to believe that the Bomans worked iron-ore in these hills, as 
they undoubtedly did in Dean Forest, ancient heaps of slag 
being occasionally struck upon. The early furnaces consumed 
BO much timber for fuel, that in the reign of Elizabeth acts 
were passed prohibiting the erection of iron-works, except in 
districts specified. Many years elapsed before coal could be 
successfully applied to the smelting of iron ; but in 1740, after 
nearly a century and a half had been wasted, this great result 
was obtained at the Coalbrooke iron-works in Shropshire. In 
that year Monmouthshire only contained two furnaces, the 
make of which was 900 tons annually ; and so slowly did the 
trade progress, that in 1788 only one more furnace had been 
put up J but the aggregate make of the county had increased 
to 2100 tons, owing to the use of the Steam-engine. The 
Nantyglo works, now almost the greatest in the world, were 
commenced in 1793. The iron-works in the Momnouthshire 
hills now extend about twenty miles ; and mineral property 
here has risen from 5s. an acre surface-rent to 1600?., or more. 



Cttriotitiet of Science. 113 

midergroimd. In the ysla of Taff, before the 17th oentuiy, 

mda attempts were made to amelt iron-ore ; the bellowa was 
worked bj a water-wheel, and charcoal used instead of coke. 
Herthjrr, the " iron capital" of the district, is scarcelj a cen- 
tuiy old. Here, at the Cyfarthfo works, are emplojed upwards 
of 4000 men, including colliers ; and the strata of coal lie 
paiftllel with veins of argillaceous iron-ore. This is the great 
Wat of the bar-iron manufecture for railwajs. 

The chief iron-works of Sussex were in the Wealden strata, 
whenoe the iron-ore was extracted from the argillaceous beds, 
and was smelted with charcoal made from the abundance of 
wood. At£uxted, near Lindfield, iron ordnan(»wereinade three 
centuries since.'* Up to 1720, Sussex was the prindpal seat of 
the iron manufiicture in England: the last furnace, at Ash- 
btimham, was blown out in 18S7. Kent was alike noted for 
its iron ; and the last great work of ita furnaces was the noble 
balustrades uid gates which surround St. Paul's Cathedral, 
London : they were csat at Gloucester furnace, Lamberhurst, 
and coat upwarSs of 11,202^, " In the middle ages, and down 
even to a late date. While Ihidley and Wolverhampton were 
obscure names, the forges of Kent and aussex were all a^low 
with smelting and hammering the iron which the soil still yields, 
although it is not worth the while of any one to work it, The 
discovery of the ooal-flelds of Wales and Staffordshire gave the 
Kent and Bussex furnaces their death-blow, leaving the country 
dotted with forge and furnace farms, and deep holes, now filled 
with tangled underwood, from which the ore was brought." 
(SalHrdai/ Eevurw, No. 182.) Kent and Sussex have no coaJ, 
and the iron manufacture left these counties when smelting 
witii coal or coke beaan to supersede smelting with chartMal. 

Iron was also worked in Surrey. John Evelyn, in a letterto 
John Aubrey, dated February 8, 1676, states, that on the 
stream which winds through tiie valley of Watton " were set 
up the first brass mills, for casting, hammering into plates, and 
cutting and drawing into wire, that were in England ; also 
a fulling mill, and a mill for hamnurinff iron, all of which are 
now demolished. Such a variety of mills on so narrow a brook, 
and so little a compass, at that time viaa not to be met with in 
any other part of England." The last of .these miila gave its 
name to a small street or hamlet in the parish of Abinger, which 
to this day is called (^ Hammer. 

• Inm ordiun» nan Brtt cut In 1513, it Buitad Id Sniui, b/ BiJph 
HnggB, UBlsted by PeUf BiwdB. a Prenchmsn. »nd hl> covensnWd Mrrimt 
Jt^n JohnKn; and the iDemory of vhose Torki, ot whlob two »p«clmeiu ut 
itlU **Tirtiii^ In thfi Tower ot Loodoa, li preHrred Id 



B. Coopir, F.S^., ArcXaetofUi, t< 



.00^^ Ic 



114 l%iaffi not generally Knovm, 

The priudpal operations of the iron manu&cture have beeu 
thus brieflj desoribed by Mr. Noad : Thereare apwarde of forty 
different ores of iron, the metal occoiring in euI rocka. The 
amount of carbonate of iron in the coal-measure iron-etoaea 
varieB from SO to 80 per cent. There are tno distinct qualitiefl, 
pig-iron and malleable or bar-iron, the second being the result 
ofan extension of theproceesesneoessar; for the production of the 
first kind, pig-iron. The first process is the Blasting. The bUst- 
fumaoe is composed of stone or brick, within whi(£ is ft oasinc 
of masonrj about fourteen inohes thicb ; next comes a apace cf 
about six inches filled with river sand, compactly rammed in, 
which, being a bad conductor of heat, tends to preserre the 
casing of masom? ; lastlj, is a coating of best fire-Drick about 
fourteen inches in thickness. The furnace when in full work 
contains upwards of one hundred tons of materials, to supply 
the requisite heat for which a powerful and constant blast of 
air is sent in at three or four dLSerent sides through tubes sat- 
roonded with a stream of cold water, and which tubes are called 
"Tuyeres." Some of the large Welsh furnaces consume up- 
wards of 20,000 gallons of air per minute, a quantity exceeding 
in weight the totals of all the solid materials used in smelting. 
The blast enters the furnace under a pressure of from two to 
three pounds and a half to the square inch, the air being heated 
to about 600° before it enters the furnace, bj which an effeo- 
tive increase of about one-eighth, or of 360° Fahr., is obtained. 

This improvement has m manj cases enabled manuf^ 
tnrers to increase their weekly production of iron 50 per cent, 
and to produce a better sort of cast iron from inferior materials. 
It has effected a gteat saving of fuel ; and it has enabled the 
Scotch iron- masters to smelt alone and with coal the d^aat-AoihJ 
iron-stone, discovered hv Mr. Mushet in 1801. The colour, 
consistence, and general appearance of the cinders, or slag, 
indicate the workuig of the furnace. They are received from 
the furnace in laif^ iron boxes, whence, as soon as they have 
•olidified, they are removed on railways, to be used for Uie con- 
struction of roads, rough walls, ha. The iron from the blast- 
furnace is usually " tapped" twice in twenty-four houra } the 
liquid metal is either received into moulds, where it assumes 
the form of semi-cylindrical bars, tecbnically called " piss," 
or it is run into wider channels, from which, after being broken 
up, it is removed directly to the "refinery," The cindctB al- 
luded to above are not the cinders of the hlast-fumaoe, but 
forge cinders, that separate from the cast iron during the pro- 
cesses of refining, puddling, and balling, by which the cast iron 
is converted into wrought iron. These cinders are very rich 
in iron, and are calcined to rid them of sulphur, which would 
make the metal " hot short," so that it could not be worked 



Curiosities of Science. 115 

under the bammer. The forge cindera aleo contain phospho' 
nui, which ctmnot be separated, and makes the iron " cold 
short," so that it breaks on attempting to bend it. Lastly, 
the gasea from the furnace are economicallr applied : of the 
heat produced b; the combuBtion of the fuel in a coal-fed blast- 
fdmaoe, only 18*6 per cent was oii^nallj realised in carrjing out 
theprocesBes of the furnace, the remainder 81-5 per cent being 
loet. This loss h no longer permitted. The gasea are novr 
collected at the mouth of the furnaces, and conveyed by lar^e 
pipes vuiderneath the boilers of the engines and round the hot- 
lir stores. The principle has been carried out in great per- 
fection at Cwm Celyn : the pipes are sii feet in diameter, and 
are lined with fire-brick ; and the gases from tiBO furnaces only 
more than suffice for the supply of seven boilers, and for the 
hot blast for both furnaces, at a saving of full 10,000 tons of 
coal a year. 

Foremost among the great improTers of the iron manu&o- 
ture ranks Henry Cort, who, in 1783-4, introduced Ae flame of 
pit-coal in the puddling furnace, and the paasinK of wrought iron 
through grooved rollers instead of forging under the hammer ; 
yet the inventor of these valuable improvements, and his deft- 
cendants, have been deprived of their just reward. 

Although in England the use of iron as a building material 
is comparatively modem, M. Gutzlaff has proved that the art of 
constructing buildings of cast iron has been known for cen- 
turies in China. He discovered there a pagoda entirely built 
of cast iron, and covered with bas-reliefs uid inscriptions, which 
in their forms, characters, and dates, ^ow that they are as 
old ae the dynasty of Tang, which was u^on the throne from 
the fifth t« the tenth century of the Christian era. The pagoda 
has seven stories, each containing curious historical pictures ; 
it is strikingly elegant in form, and in this respect surpasses 
every thing hitherto seen by M. Outzlaff in China. 

Mr. Rennie first largely employed iron as a buildingmaterial, 
U vouasoirs (wedges), in the Southwark Bridge, Vast roofs 
■re now constructed of iron ; and lighthouses, churches, fac- 
tories, and storehouses, are manu&ctured in England, then 
taken to pieces, to be reacted in all parts of the world. The 
strength of this metal in building is enormous, »nce iron with 
l-40tn part of the substance of stone will give equal strength 
of support. 

THE UANUFACTUSE OF STEEL. 



hf tbe addition to pure iron of some apparently insignificant 
' ' "■ B simple combination is, and ever 



proportion of carbon. This si 



116 Thingt. not generally Known. 

has been alleged to b^ the sole cause ottke a . . 

into Steel. This magical effect, which is a kind of chemical 
anomaly, has been disputed by Mr. C, Binka> who, from a pmo- 
tical investigation of considerable length and debul, adduces 

evidence proving : 

That the Eubatanoes whose BppJc»tlDn to pure inm oonvert tt htto 
Steel all oontaiu nitrogen and oarboD, or nitrogea Las aooem to the 
iroc during the operation. 

That carbon Blone, added or wpued to pure iron, does not sonTert 
it into St«eL 

That nitn^BD alone, so added or applied, does Qot g-oduoe Ste^ ; 
but that it is essential that both uitniBen and carbon should be praHnl^ 
and that no case can be adduoed of couvenion in which boUt these 
euts are rtot present and in oontact with thf 



That nitrogen aa well as carbon eijeta eubatautially in Steel after 
its eonversioD ; and such presenoe is the real cause of (lie distinctjmlj 
phjsioal properties of at«el &ad of iron, in which latter those elements 



That preaomptiTely, but not demonstraljvely, the form of comlnna- 
tion is that of a triple alio; of iron, carbon, and nitrogen ; but it re' 
mains to be detennmed as to the relatiie proportjon of elements when 
their union giTes pure BteeL 

Mr. Binka then proceeds to show there to be nothing in the 
chemicBl bistoi; of nitrcsen that is incompatible with its sub- 
stantial existence in SteS. 



e, witb its afBnence in nitrogen, 
Bment some merely negatiie at- 
ir properHes Berving only to control or modify the more yirtl 



le merely negatiie 

coperHsB eerving only to control or modify the more t. 

le other element I ■ . . . An element eristing eTery where. 



„ y thing, penetrating, permeating, and by ififfiiaion inter- 
mingling itself with, every gaseous body it oomes in contact with, 
might be supposed, A priori, to exercise other functions (and many) 
besides the roerolj negative onedi muallj' aaaigned to it. And, among 
speculationB that naturally arise out of these questions, is it quite im- 
jroesible that the pW of colours peouliar to heated stoel — the aesunqi- 
tion, for eiample, of the pure blue and the pnrple— may not in reality 
be due to eome phase o£^ development of some of the forms of ferm- 
oyanide of iron ? 

We pOBSeSB tnrtber evideooe of the use of nitrogen fhim another 
and uneipooted quarter. It is on record, asapracSae of the Indian 
Woott-Sl^ei maker, that along with hia iron or imperfect Steel, in his 
melting-crucible, he places, as his oarbon-giTing material, the vrood of 
the Catsia aurieulata, and covers the whole with the leaves of the 
Convolvaltu lauri/olia, both vegetable productions rich in efotiBed 
matters. These, placed in his oiaBeet crucible, will give an aiotiBed 
carbon in oontact with the metal And what may have been the origin 
of this far-back practice of the East— this to us apparently the em- 
mrioal handicraft of some Indian artificer I Has it originally been the 
fruition of some mere accident, or of some induotion or deduolaoni oc 
is it a relic of some state of civiligation and of science superior to thoss 
., 1 -m.^ ai,.m.ii artisan seeks, even up to the present day. 



Curiosities of Scienoe. 117 

Ur. Faraday has made a scries of iiLveatigatioDS with tha 
olgect of ascertaining what metals could be adTaatageouslj> 
^faolajtA as alloys of Steel, in order to improve its hardness 
ancl temper. Among the important practical reaults of this 
research, we maj notice the foct that the addition of a small 
quantity of silver (I part in 600) produces a steel decidedly 
superior in quality to the best previously manufactured. 

STEEL PHODDCED BY GALVANIC ACTION IN THE EABTH. 

The late Mr. Weiss, to whose inventions modem sui^ery b 
under considerable obligations, remarked Chat Steel seemed to 
be much improved when it had become rusty in the earth, and 
provided the mat was not factitiously produced by the appli- 
cation of acids. He accordingly buried some razor-blades for 
nearly three jeais, and the result fully corresponded to his ex- 
pectation. The bkdes were coated with rust, which had the 



loCT led to the couclusioo that the same might hold good 
wiMi respect to iron under similar oircumstancea : so, with 
perfect confidence in the Boundneae of his views, he purchased, 
ae soon as opportunity offered, all the iron, amouuting to fif- 
teen tons, with wiiioh the piles of old London Bridge had been 
shod. £ach shoe consiated of a small inverted pyramid, with 
fbnr straps rising from the four sides of its base, which em- 
braced and were nailed to the pile ; the total length, from the 
p(Miit which entered the ground to the end of the strap, being 
about siiteen inches, and the weight about eight pounds. The 
l^rainidal extremities of the shoes were not found to be much 
corroded, nor, indeed, were the straps; butthe latter had become 
extremely and beauUfully sonorous. When manufactured, the 
mUd points in question were convertible only into very inferior 
Steel ; the same held good with respect to such bolts and other 
parts of the iron-work as were subjected to the experiment, 
except the itrapt ; these straps, in addition to the sonorous- 
ness, poeseBsed a degree of toughness quite unepproached by 
common iron; they were, in fact, imperfect carburets, and 
Dfodaoed steel of a quality infinitely superior to any which Mr, 
Vdss had ever met with ; inaomuch that while it was in gene- 
mi reqaest among the workmen for tools, they demanded 
higher wi^es for working it. The straps were consequently 
■epanted from the solid points, which last were sold as old iron. 
The exterior difference between the parts of the same shoe led 
at firat to the suppoption that they were composed of two 
sorts of iron ; but, besides the utter improbability of this, the 
contrary was proved by an ezaminatioa, which led to the in- 
foence that ike extremities of the piles having been charred. 



Things not generaMy Knotan. 



the BtrapB of iron, closely nedeed between them and the Btratom 
in which the^ were imbedded, must have been mbjected to & 
ebItsuIo aotioa, which, in the (Mniree of upwards of nx hun- 
dred years,* gradually produced the effects recorded. 

DISCOVERT OF SCA&LET X>YZ. 

A scarlet oolour resulting from the treatment <^adecoclaon 
of cochineal with a chloride of tin (and tartar), is a very cele- 
brated dye, and has a curious history. It appears tliat tlie 
Dutch chemist Drebbel, resident at Alkmaar, haa prepared some 
decoctions of cochineal for filling a thermometer-tube. The 
preparation was effected in a tin vessel ; and into this some 
aqua rtgia (nitro-muriatic acid) having been spilled by acci- 
dent, a rich scarlet colour was obserred. Thos, by mere cWice, 
was the discovery made that oxide of tin in solution yielded, 
by combination with the colouring matter of cochineal, a scar- 
let dje. Srebbel communicated his diacovery to Euffelar, an 
ingenious dyer of Leyden, who was the first to carry out its 
mannfacture : hence it was called Kufdar't GoIout. The pro- 
cess soon reached Tan der Qecht and Oolich, who, however, 
appear to have discovered the procesa by their own indepen- 
dent investigations. Tan der Gecht, in lOSO, communicated 
the secret to the Gobelins, the celebrated tapestry manu&o- 
turers. Kearly a centuiy after this, in 1643, one Kepter, 
who Iiad acquired a knowledge of the process in Flanders (his 
native country), came over to England, and settled at Bow ; 
where, having practised the dveing of this colour, it went by 
the name of Bow Di/e. Kepler, however, did not carry this 
process to such perfection as the brothers Oobelin, or, indeed, 
the dyers of Flanders ; ncr was the art of scarlet dyeing 
thoroughly known in England until one Bauer, or Brewer, 
having been invited to England in 1667 by Charles II., with 
the promise of a laive salary, practised the art in his own ma- 
nufectory.t — Brcmde't Leetvret, 

abuficial ultbauabine. 

Of all the achievements of inorganic chemistry, the artifidal 
formation of Lapis Lazuli was the most brilliant and the most 
conclusive. This mineral is of a beautiful azure blue colour, 
remains unchanged by exposure to air or to fire, and fumishes 
us with the most valuable pigment Ultramarine. 

Ultramarine was dearer than gold. It seemed im;>osaibIe 
to ibrm it ; for analvsis had sought in vain the colouring in- 
gredient. It was shown to bo composed of silica, alumina, 

* The buUdlnit of LondoD Bridge ini i»ininene«d. nodnKiHt probiLU j thepllu 

t Feune. Ibe amlnenl lH>i7«r, who wu pmAHindlf T*ned in msdlolng ud 
cbemlitrf, obuined ■ piunt lor drains Builet. 



Curiosities of Science, 1 19 

and sods, three colourless bodies ; witli sulphur and a trace 
ot iron, neither of which are blue ; sad no otber body had 
been detected in it to nbicb its colour could be ascribed. Yet 
DOW, simply by combining in the proper proportions, as deter- 
mined bj ansJjoB, ffllica, alumina, soda, iron, and sulphur, 
^OQsanda of pounds weight are manufitctured from these in- 
gradients ; and this artificial Ultramarine is even more b^ati- 
nl than the natural, while for the price of a single ounce of the 
latt«t we may obtain many pounds of the former. 

With the production of artificial lApia Jiazuli, the formation 
of mineral bodies b^ K/johait ceases to be a scientifio problem 
to the chemist.— £i«iiy. 

&m hhuphbt date's eleotso-obehicai. iheobt of 



lempeiatore where it begins to vaporise. In the dtj air it 
quickly combines with oxygen, and is soon covered with a. 
white rust This is potassa. Potassa attracts the aqueous 
T&pour of the atmosphere, and becomes potash, which draws 
down more and more moisture, till the original bright bead 
has become a little pool of alkali dissolved in water, This 
solution combines lapidly with the carbonic acid of the air ; 
and if it be subsequently boiled to dryness, there is left the 
carbonate of soda — the pearl-ash of the housewife. 

Potassium is lighter than water. It breaks into flame the 
moment it touches water or ice. If plunged under water, there 
is no combustion ; but hydrogen is dischaiged with turbulence 
and resifitlessDess. These remarkable but far from anomalous 
properties suggested to Sir Humphry Davj the conjecture that 
the solid body of the world is composed of potassium and the 
metals that resemble it ; and that volcanic eruptions are pro- 
daced by the occasionai incursion of the waters of the deep, or 
of the great mountain tanks, in the still domain of these At- 
lantic metals. The far greater part of the investigated crust of 
the earth is certainly composed of such osidatea metals, and 
the specific gravity of the whole globe is supposed to be less 
than that of even the rocks ; so that it is at least posnble that 
there may be more of sound prediction in this sublime concep- 
tion than the majority are mclined to think, — Iforth Brituh 
Review, No, 3, 

It should be added that Davy in the most distinct manner 
gave up this opinion ; but be still asserted that the presence 
of ozicUsable metalloids in the interior of the earth might be a 
eooperating cause in volcanic processes already commenced. 



Thingt not generally Known. 



TOE NEW HETAI. ALUHINUH. 

IThU is the metallio base of the earth Alumina, which is 



WOhler who first separated the metallic substanoe hy decom- 
pomnK the chloride of Aluminium hj means of potassium or 
sodium, when the chlorine unites with the metal emplo}^, and 
leaTCB the Aluminium free. Till recently it was procured onlj 
in very small quantities, and was re^rded as a chemical curio- 
sity. However, in 1867, the Rev. Mr. Reade explwct-d to the 
Bntiab Associatioii that he had digested alumina in a solutiun 
of iodine, and thus obt^ed a semi- white metallio subatanoe ; 



pwe metal from iti eompounda. Upon this Dr. Lee remarked : 
" Mr. Reade lives upon the great basin of Eimmeridge and 
Oxford claf, in the Yale of A^esbury. He is therefore really 



the owner of a fortune, lying, however, under h 
which only requires the aid of th 
pure metal and current specie." 



which only requires the aid of the chemist to transform it into 



Aluminium forma on easential portion of some of our most 
brilliant gems, including corundum, the sapphire, the oriental 
ruby, and the emerald ; and we have a boundless supply of 
aluminous substances in granite, slates, schist, and eape(nally 
in clays. Still, the extraction of the metal is a labour of great 
difficulty. Its oxide, alumina, will not surrender its osjgen 
to any known fuel, at any known temperature. It has been 
also stated that the metal itself could resist the highest tem- 
perature without absorbing oxygen ; but we now learn, that 
if the temperature be raised to a welding heat, Aluminium 
will bum with great intenaity, until a stratum of alumina is 
formed upon its surEaoe sufficiently thick to exclude the atmo- 
sphere. 

G!!he first access to Aluminium was opened by Oersted, who, 
by an ingenious concentration of chemical force, converted the 
oxide into the chloride of Aluminium, the vapour of which 
WShler decomposed by the vapour of potassium, and thus ob- 
tained minute quantities of Aluminium. In 18S6, M. Deville 
simplitied the process, and improved the manufacture of sodium 
(the metal which he employs as the reducing agent), thus greatly 
diminishing the ooat ; and in the private kboratory of the 
Emperor of the French, M. Deville next produced a whole bar 



M. Corbelli haa, however, extracted Aluminium directly from 
olay by dissoiving it in acid, heating the earthy matters, then 
nusing them with yellow pruasiate of potash and sea-salt, and 



CuTtositieg of Science. ISl 

heatine them in a onioible until a white oolonr (the AlumiiiiiiiD) 
is produced. 

Aluininiiim is extremelj light (one-fourth the wewhtoful- 
ver), is more malleatila and ductile than silver, &nd wlU neither 
nut nor tamieh. It is very eonorous, and is an excellent oon- 
dnctor of heat and eloctricitf . It is specially adapted for rai> 
ncal instrumenta ; and, as it ia not corroded b; acids, is the 
bn^known motal for ciUiDary veaeela. Pianoforte strings have 
been made of it ; and it ma; be used for musical instruments. 
Could it be more cheaply produced, it would be much employed 
for coating iron Burgees, bh rails and pipes. Spoons and forks 
and drinking-cups have been made of it, at about half the cost 
of silver. With ^old Aluminium fonns an alloy very closely re- 
sembling the precious metal. It is used for brooches and atud^ 
l»acelets, pins, sjid combs, pencil-caseB, thimbles, seals, and 
medallions ; Ibr spect&cles, as it does not blacken the skin like 
EolTSr ; and for reflectors of gas-burners, since it resists the 
effects of sulphurous emanations, which silver and brass do 
not. Alununiumwould form an excellent substitute for copper 
. coinage ; with iron it forms an alloy of hardness superior 
to bronze ; with copper it dips a fine golden colour in nitric 
add. Its alloy with nickel is more fusible and harder than 
the pnte metal. If Aluminium be fused with oxide of lead, a 
violent detonation ensues, the crucible breaks into pieces, and 
even the doors of the furnace are driven to a distance. 

M.de Lille, of Paris, has obtained from cryolite (a fluoride of 
Aluminium and of sodium, found only in Greenland) the metal 
Aluminium at as low a price as silver: and since an ounce of the 
former has four times the volume of an ounce of the latter, it 
will of course give articles of plate of the same size at one- 
fouih the price. Cryolite also yields crystals of soda, and a 
clay valuable to calico-printers. 

Mr. Gerhard has obtained the metal most economically 
by combining in an oven hydrogen gas with the fluoride of 
iiluininium, and forming hydrofluoric acid, which is taken up by 
iron, and thereby converted into fluoride of iron ; whilst the 
resolting Aluminium remains in the metallic state in the bottom 
of trays containing the fluoride. Dr. M'Adam placed Alumi' 
niom medalsinasolution of caustic potash, when hydrogen was 
evolved; the sur&ce of the metal became beautifully frosted, 
and did not afterwards beoome tarnished. 



Dr. G. Wilson, in his paper on " Chemical Final Causes," 
■hows the unsuitableness of Aluminium to the o^^ism, and 
the oaoBe of our fiulure in its detection. Aluminium (he eavel 



13S Things not generally Known, 

forms only a peroxide, alomina ; bo that it U an onpliaot, 
unaccommodatiiig mettu. Alumina, moreover (the djer'a most 
tiBeful mordftnt), has to ezceBaive an attraction for otgauic 
matter, with which it fomiB ineoluhle compounds, that it caa- 
not take an active part in oi^niBtnal changes. In truth, when 
taken intemallj, it is prevented, by this precipitation in an 
insoluble form along with the first organic substance which it 
enconntera, from entering the blood, except in minute quantitj, 
and it is not retained there. (Lehmann's Fhysiol. Chan.) li, 
indeed, there is anj justice in the statement that bakeis are in 
the habitual practice of adding alum to bread, we must be con- 
tinually swallowing alumina ; yet none ia found in our blood. 
LieW considers that when alum is added to bread, the 
Boluble phOBphat«B, which the flour largelr contains, are decom- 
posed, the phosphorio acid of the phosphates unites with the 
alumina of the alum, and thus an iosoluble phosphate of alo- 
mioa ia formed, while the beneficial action of the phosphates ia 
consequently lost to the system. 

Aliim workfl were introduced into England tovarde tlie otosa of the 
antury, when Thomaa Ch&loiierlHiU^wards ^Thomaa, and gorer- 



nor of Prinea HsnTT, aon of JamM 1.), while travamng in Italy, ob- 
ad that the natural appeanmces of the country at Puzm- " 



■erred that the natural appear«aces of the countiy at Puzieoli, iriiers 
the Pope had hia alum-workBj were ramilar to those on hie estate Dear 
Gainsborough in Yorkshire. He therefore indticed Bome of tha Pope's 



workmen to accompany him to England ; in order to smoggle tl 
away, he put two or three of the man into caaka, and in tma in 
nerhad them conveyed to a ship which was ready to aail. The enraged 
Pope (to whom Englaiid had bwn previously indebted for ita supply of 
altun) then visited Chaloner with eicommunloation ; and bis curse is to 
be found ji Charlton's History ^f Whitby, word for word lie same as 
that read by Dr, Slop in THitTOM Shandy. Sterne used often to vifdt 
hia friend John Hall Sbapheniou (the Euganiua of his atory) ab Skalton 
Ceitla, near Gajnsborougb, and there became aoquunted with the oune 
in queatioD, i^ch ia familiarly known in the neighbourhood. 

COPPEK, 

This metal occurs in the greatest number of places, and in 
the largest quantitj, in the north of Europe, in England and 
Wales, in many parte of Asia and Africa, and in South Aus- 
tralia and Chili. 

The Greeks were well acqnunted with copper as ehalem: 
it was used by them, alloyed with tin, for cnt^mg and warlike 
instruments before iron was known, or at any rate before it 
was common. Our name, Copper, is said to be derived from 
the island of Cyprus, where Tamassus was once famous for its 
'>pper-mines, in the early colonisation by the Phoenicians, 
ipper may be reduced to very thin leaves, as we see in l>ntch 
'tal, an alloy of 11 copper and S idno rolled into sheets, 



Ctiriotitiei of Science. 123 

ohieflj at the braBS-worls of Hegermuhl. It may also be drawn 
into verj thin wire. After iron and platinum, it ia the most 
tenacious metal : a wire ^^g^ of an inch in diameter Bupports 
a weight of SOS pounds wiUioilt breaking. It is a good con- 
ductor of electricity : hence the wires of electric tel^raphs 
are of copper.* It is extremely sonorous, — hence it forms three- 
fourths of bdl-mdal. Srass is copper and one- third zino ; ffuri- 
jMta^, 80 copper and 10 tin; tptfulvim^metal, copper andalareer 
proportion ol tin ; and hrwix, 91 copper, 2 tin, 6 zinc, ana 1 
lead ; but the brass of the ancients was copper and tin. Tu- 
tenoff was copper, rino, and a little iron ; Prwwe RupfTt's mOid 
and PinehieM, more copper than in brass ; Manheim add, 3 
copper and 1 zinc ; and Paeifong, or While Ciipper of Cnina, ia 
analloy of (upper, nickel, and line, named German Silver, and 
used for spoons, forks, ico. 

In 1660, when the Royal Society conducted their own ex- 
periments, and had their own asBay-fumace, we find this entry 
of an experiment hy Sir William Fersall : 

Taks a handful of the powder of Boman vitriol (Balphat« of copper) ; 
put it into a gallipot, in a pint of wator ; put in two or three Bmall irons 
the length of a sptm, and three or fbur timea a day oonstaully etir the 
water and powder, and move not the irom at all, but let them stand 
ooDrtantly in night and day ] within the space of three weake there will 
be oroatfld about the ironi, aa br aa ibey are in the water, a BubBtanOB 
purer than copper, which jou m^ t<jce off, and viH be malleable. 
Such areeolt would now be shown by a lad as a piece of " par- 
lour magic." 

Copper Tessels for cooking, if kept dean, are not dangeroos, 
prOTiaed whatever is boiled m them (unless of an acid nature, 
which will always form some dangerous compound) be not al- 
lowed to stand to cool in the vessel, hut be instantly poured 
oat. Tinning tlie insides of copper vessels sfTords protection 
so long as the tinning remains entire ; but if they be silvered 
by the electro process, they are acted upon by weak adds, 
lemon-juice, and vinegar, arising from the deposited silver being 
BO porous as to allow the acids to permeate its substance ; ana 
the action is most likely assisted by the formation of a galvanic 
circuit. In such cases copper has been detected. 

The most beautiful carbonate of copper is the mineral Mala- 
chite of emerald green, eitensively used for veneering and in- 
laid work. Bir Roderick Murchison considers Malachite to be 
a Bubterraneoufi incrustation produced during a Bucoession of 
ages by copper solutions trickling through the surrounding 
loose and porous mass to the lowest cavity upon the solid rock at 
the bottom of one of the shafts of the copper-works of the Ural. 

• In I8BS, ■ pleoe of Copper, welghliiE ibmit i: 
Walktr*) mlUi, fllrmlnghiim, lo ■ lengtS of nnwi 
dawn IS ft line of telegraph, without link or veld. 



2%ingt not generaUp Kncvm, 



ThiB abnnduit metal ie emplo^ to corer boUdingi, to 
form water-pipes (thoagh YitruTius, the BomaD architeot, 
condemned this pniotioe), and to make TeSBela for economical ' 
purpowB. HgB of lead have been dug up in Boglaiid with 
dates and inscriptioDS proving this metal to have b«en nsed ' 
here in the time of the Romans. This people, as well as the 
Qreeka, proved the quality of their wineR faj dipping a plate of 
lead in tnem : thejr Boew that it rendered harsn wina niilder, 
but not that the metal was poisunoufi.* 

Lead is used in refining the precious metals becsuae, when 
mixed with them in a great beat, it rises to the eur&ce, cwn- 
bined with all het«raKeaeou!) matters. The oxides of lead are 
used in djeing and caliao-printinK, in the manu&cture of glass, 
earthenware, and porcelain. Lead combined witJia little arsenic 
is made into shot, in lofty towers : the liquid metal is let &I1 
like tain from the top of the tower ; the drops in their descent 
become truly globular, and before they reach the end of their &11 
are hardened by cooling, so that they retain their round shape. 

Red-lead is obtained by melting common lead exposed to 
atmospheric air ; white-lead by exposing sheet-lead to acetic 
add. Pewter consists of 80 parts tin and 20 lead. 

A oommisaion of Qerman ohemists hare determined, after 
long research, that snuff wrapped in lead, even when covered 
with paper, or combined with tin, gradually becomes poisonous 
by acting upon and taking up the metal. 

The common butverypleasingeipenment of the Lead-Tree, 
is greatly dependent on electro-chemical action. When a piece 
of zinc is auspended in a solution of acetate of lead, the first 
effect is the decomposition of a portion of the latt«r, and the 
deposition of metallic lead upon the sorfece of the zinc ; it is 
simply a diaplaoement of a metal bra mora oxidiaable one. 
The change does not, however, stop here : metallic lead is still 
deposited in large uid beautiful plates upon that first thrown 
down, until the solution becomes exhausted or the zinc en- 
tirely disappears. The first portions of lead form witli the aino 
a voltaio arrangement of aufiScient power to decompose the 
salt : under the peculiar cirountstancee in which the latter is 
placed, the met^ is precipitated upon the negative portion, 
that is, the lead, while the oxygen and aoid are taken up by 
the zinc — Foimia't Manual of ChtmiOri/. 



HUDptoal 



«■ wen Diad lu Curdlnil WolHy^ tlmo tor teanjing 
ipilng In Surer, beDutb Ui4 bed oT tlw Tlumu, to 



Cunositieg of Science. 



FLUMBAOO, OB " ELAOK-LEAS. 

Flunboco, etToneonBlj termed " Black-lead, " ia chiefl; com- 
posed of carbon with Bome admixture of other subatancea, not 
nnfrequently iron. Its importance for the arts and cnicibles ia 
well Iniown. After the Boirowdale mines in Cumberland were 
eomewhat exhausted, it became important, for that vKrietj of 
plumbago employed in art, to obtain some Buhstitute. Several 
compounds were invented; but nothing aucceeded ao well aa 
the coropressing proceBa patented hj Mr. Brockedon, bj which 
much of the Borrowdale Plumbago -duet has been utilised with 
advantage. It, or any other good plumbago, is ground into fine 
powder, placed in packets, and then receives a pressure equal 
to about 6000 tons. To prevent the injuriouB effects of dis- 
aeminated air in the packets of fine powder, it is extracted by 
means of an air-pump; and thus the particles themselves can be 
brought into close juxtaposition, ana forced to cohere. 



This valuable metal occurs in South America and Malacca, 

inSasonf and Bohemia, and more especially ComwalL To this 
part of our island the Phoenicians came to procure tin and lead, 
and in return gave salt, earthenware, and copper goods. (Srabo.) 
Hence the westeiri extremity of Britain, with the Scilly Isles, 
were called the Caaseritides, or " Tin-islands," from a root 
which in some of the Oriental tongues, aa weU as in the Qreek, 
denotes Tin. The Qreeks appear to have known these Tin- 
works before the time of the Roman conquest of our island. 
According to Aristotle, the Tin-mines of Cornwall were known 
and worked in his time : Diodorus Siculus describes them ; and 
the Romans mixed Tin with their copper coins and edge-tools, 
which are found here 

Tin, disaolTed in acids, is much used by dyers for reds and 
scarlets ; and the Purple of Oassius (Tin combined with gold) 
is employed in enamel -painting and in staining glass. (Soe 
*' Discover; of Scarlet Dye," p. 118.) 



Is frequently called in commerce Svelitr, and was first men- 
tioned by Paracelsus, in the sixteenth century, under the name 
of Zin^iim. It is the moat combustible metal we have : if 
beaten out into thin leaves, it will take fire Avim a common taper. 
It ia much used for roofs in the Low Countries ; but in case 
of fire, the zinc being very combustible, is extremely liable to 
become inflamed, and, KiUing around, occasions great danger to 
those who approach the building. Plates of Zinc are much 



1S6 17iing$ not generaUy Known. 

emplojred in Toltiuo batteries. With copper it fonnB brass. 
Zinc IB maoh used for coating iron to prevent rusting, and Zino 
milk-paoe inoreHse the quantity of cream ; but if trie milk be- 
comes fiour while in them, the add acts upon the Zinc, and 
forms unpleasant if not poisonous compounds. Ziuc in -the 
purely metallic state produces no effect upon the human aya. 
tern, bat in combination with o^gen its medical properties 
are numerous and important. 

PIuUTNtW, 

In the language of Peru " little silver, " was originally discovered 
at two places in Bouth America, in New Qranada and at Bar- 
bacoas. It has been found in considerable quuitities in the 
Ural mountains^ and is used for coinage in Busaia. It has also 
been met with m the metamorphic district of the valley of the 
Diae, department of Isere. It naslikewise been found in com- 
bination with gold in California; and in ISGfi it was estimated 
that as much as 6300 ounces of Platinum must have been con- 
veyed in this way to the Atlantic States. 

Platinum^ the heaviest bod^ in nature, is incomparably hard. 
In the mass it is lustrous white, but may be so finely divided 
that its particles no loncer reSeot light, and it forma a powder 
as black as soot. It wm then absorb more than eight hundred 
times its volume cf oxygen gas, and this oxygen must be con- 
tained within it in a state of condensation greater than that of 
liquid water. If a drop of absolute alcohol be let fiill upon the 
Phktinum, inflammation will immediately ensue, and the metal 
will become incandescent. 

Dr. Wollaston obtained ve^ fine Platinum wire for the 
object-glasses of his telescopes, for observing the relative places 
of the stars, by inserting Platinum wire in a cylinder of silver, 
wire-drawing the whole, aiid then melting the silver coating. ■ 
Kow silver wire may be drawn to the three-hundredth of an 
inch diameter; so that if the Platinum wire was original^ 
one-tenth of the thickness of the silver, it then became only 
the three-thousandth of an inch. I>r. Wollaston procured some 
only an eighteen-thousandth, which did not intercept the 
emallcBt star. Very fine Platinum wire is also employed as S 
substitute for hair in making forensic wigs. 

It is calculated that a piece of Platinum the riie of the tip 
of a man's finder could he drawn out across Europe. 

Platinum is made a fulminate as follows : The triple sul- 
phate of Platinum and ammonia is boiled in a solution of pot- 
ash ; when the sulphuric acid unites to the potash, a portion of 
the ammonia is evolved, and the remainder, entenng into inti- 
mate union vrith the oxide of Platinum, produces fulminatiiig 

J 



Curioaitiet of Science. 1S7 

PkliDum. Ita explosive powers ma/ be referred to the guddea 
extrication of nitro^, ammoma, and aqueous Tapoui. 

Dr. WoUastoQ, in 1828, transferred a large quantitf of Pla- 
tinom and Palladium to the Council of the Bojal Society, to 
be pyeji " in aid of chemical eiperimentB." A portion of this 
Pltwnum has been employed in the construction of a Standard 
Troy Pound, whioh is preeerred in the Instrument Room of the 
Bo^ Sooiety. Dr. Stukely in his Ms. Journal says, under 
tiie date of Dec. 13, 1750 : " A piece of Platinum was pre- 
sented to tJie Sodety. It is called Platina dd perilo, because 
of its eilTery colour. The Spaniards sell it very dear, and make 
knife-handles, sword-handlea, and manv toja of it ; it bears a 
good polish, and is not apt to tamiBh. I guess it would be 
good for i^eculums to reflecting telescopes." 

Dr. WoUaBton's name ia intimatel; conneoted with ssveml chemioBj 
dbcoTSries of the higheBt importanoo. " In 180* and 1805, ha mado 
known paUodiam aLd rhodium,' two new metala coatoined in the on 
o( platinum, and aasoBiated witi oemium and iridium, discoTered about 
the same time by Mr, Temiant. In 1809 he showed that the supposed 
new metal, tantalum, waa identical with oolnmbium, previouaL; diaoo- 
Tered by Mr. Hatchett ; and shortly before hia death hs transmitted 
to iha Boyal Society a commtmication, oonst^tuting the Bakerinn Loc- 
tore for 1S2S, in which he fully deacribes his ingemoua mothod of reu- 
derin^ Platinam msJleahle. {^Brandt' i ManiuU of Chemistry , p. 102.) 
By thia inTention he ia atated to have acquired more than t&rty tliou- 
aaod pounds. "—IFcU'tAufary iff tis Eeyal Soeitty, toLu. 

OBianr of oobinibian brass. 
It was during tlie mighty conflagration of Corinth, A.u.fl. 
606, that the t&ebiated amalgam called Corinthian Srass is 
said to have been first fonned; ^old, copper, and silver, hav- 
ing melted and flowed together mto one precious mass, which 
was considered in future ages as more valuable than pure gold. 
This ia, however, thought to be an historic fiction ; for another 
account states the city to have been sacked before it wae fired ; 
in which case the Brass may have been a recent discovery of 
the Corinthian people, and the Romans may have plundered 
the fonndry of ita contents. 



Dr. WoIlutiHi. 



-„ Google 



I%inff» not generally Known. 



POISONS OF THE ANCTEITTS. 

Sib Heniy Halford, in one of those delightful iwpen in whidi 
be was wont, as Mr. Pettierew has gracefully eaia, to "dispia; 
the elegant scholar and observant phj^cian," haa left us the 
following cnriouB investigations in the death of oelebcated ota- ■ 
racters of antiquitj, with apeoiiU reference to the knowledge of 
Poisons possessed by the ancients. 

Bflla died in coDBequenoe of tba rapture of an iDtema! absran, 
Oiroagh an eiceaa of ra^ ; nhich, according to Valerius MoiimnB, pro- 

-- — * ' id friend of Cicaro, diad of plonriir; 



jid friend of Cicero, died of pleonij ; 
is diaardor, prescribed b; ColSQS, and 



similar tc that purflued at the present day, that notliing naa probably ' 
left undone that could haie saied ha valuable life. 

PoHiponius Atticos, whom Cicero loved as abroBier, and whonsaon 
friendly temw vith all parties in the disturbed times in wliich he lived, 
was said to have diad of a fistula in tiie loine ; it was probably. Sir Henry 
thinks, a dysentery ending, as that disorder commooly does, in an 
affection of the lower bowels. He bad recourse to starvatioD, a very 
oommon CTpedieot amongst Hie KomauBi and died in ten days, aged 
leventy-sevan 

The latter end of Sosrates fm broogbt about by the oommon mode 
4f deHpatching persooa cajd^ly ooavicted at AtiienB, namely, by a 
uarcotic poison ; but neither Xenophou nor Plutarch tells us the spe- 
cies of poison. The poisons of this class known to the ancienCa wen 
acDnitB,white poppy, liTosoyamus, and hemlocli. The blaclc poppy might 
be the Thebanijrug. The byosoyamus was used at Constantinople, and 
was very likely the Nepenthe spoken of by Homer. But most probably 
the poison administered to Socrates was the same as that given to otber 
condemned criminals, namely, Miiiun, ctnita, hemlock. Juianal attri- 
butes bis death to hemlock : 



Qnt partem t£ 



e smu Ticinns Hvmett 



Whatever may have been the speoiea of poison, it was one of weak and 
slow operation, for tbe eiecutjoner told Socrates that if he entered into 
earnest dispute, it would prevent ita effect ; andM was sometimes DeoSB- 
aary to repeat the dose three or four times, fls operatjcn was grado' 
sUy to produce insenaibility, ooldne«a of the oTtremities, and dea^ 
Mr. Fetit, in his Obsrrcationfi Miiceltartae, remarks that the adver' 
lament was cot given by the eieoutioner out of humanity, but to save . 
1 eicuta ; for he was only allowed so much poison per annum 1 which i 
ie exceeded, he was to furnish the rest at his own eqwnse. This ' 



Curiosities of Science. 129 

mnstmetioE is oonfinnad ^ the oiroumatanoea as related in Platamh 
nevly aa follona. When Fhooiou and his four collesgues, condemned 
ftrlreasoQ at Athens, -ware led out to have the oustomajy doso ofpoiaon 
adnumstered) and all had drunk except Phoaion, no mure hemlock was 
left; npoQ which the gaoler said ha could not prepare nnj more unless 
tfffllve drachms of moaej wore given him to bu; the material, Some 
hssilaliOD took piece, until Pboeion asked one of hb frieada to supp!^ 
the money, saroasticallj' remarking, that it was hard if a man could not 
ena die ffratit at AUieas. 

What was that poison by wMoh Hannibal destroyed himself t It is 
improbahla (hat we shall erer know. Modem chemistry has disco- 
vered a variety of- subtle poisons that may be introduced into a ring; 
and, under certain circumBtacces, destroy life. One drop of Pru^c 
arid may produce paralysis, and, if taken into the stomach, may in- 
staotly arrest the current of life. But it was not likely that the Car- 
thnrinians were acquainted with Prueaio acid ; Lybia most probably 
praduced poisons sufficiently subtle and destnictire to accomplish the 
lEital purpose of HannibaL The report of its being bullock's blood must 
be a bHe, sswellaa in the case of the death orThemistaoIes, for it is 
well ascertained that the blood of that anlni^ vaa not poison. An 
sccDmplished nobleman told Sir H. Halford that he had been present 
■t a holl-Sght in Spain, when, after the matador had killed the hull, a 
peiBoH ran np, caught the animal's blood in a goblet, and drank it o£^ 
u a popular remedy for consiunption. 

[Hannil>al carried poison in his sword, to despatch himself if he should 
happen to be surprised in any great eitremity ; hut the snord would 
bavs done the feat much better and more soldier-like. And it was 
below the honour of so great a eommander to go out of the world like 
a raU—BtaUr.} 

With respect to the poison with which Nero destroyed Britannieus, 
T_. .1 .. .^_._ i_n._..A ,^,. ., .=■..._ -' jaurel-water, 

■ n 

regetabie poison* that would kill speedily, ^'de produced 
one which destroyed a goat in fire hours. Koro, however, required & 
)>oisan which would kill mstantly, and she procured such an ingredient. 
At the banquet, Britannieus called for water, which the pregustatof 
tasted ; it was not sufficiently coolj part was then poured off, and Uie 
fatal hquid added ; the young man lirank, was seined with an epilaptio 
ft, and expired. The case is analogous in the effects with that of Sir 
Theodoaius Boughton, who was poisoned by Donellan with laurel-water, 
and feU down in an epilepsy. In the mse of Britanuicus, Nero told 
the company that the yoiing man was liable to such fits ; and in the 
other case, Dcnellan said that Sir Theodoaius had been subject to fits 

body of Britannieus ; and Sir Henry stated that he was present when 
the corpse of Sir Theodoaius Boughton was disinterred, and its colour 
resembled that of a pickled walnut. If we could suppose that the R 

and with i 

the species of laiimj whioh yielded the deleterious liquid did not 

K» in Italy ; hut it was a native of Colchis, from whence it might 
B been brought. The /oMnw noiilia (daphne) grew about Rome, 
and was used io producing the inspirations of the prophetic pxiosteasea. 
Asto the knowledge poBseasedby the ttomans of the art of distillation. 



Things not generally Known, 



the; re 

Alexander (lie Great U uid to h&ve been ptHaoned ; but tUa ie in- 
oansiBtent with the ler; detailed account of bis illness ^ven b; Arritui. 
The report was, that the poison wag sent by Antiphon, and wa« of anoli 
a peculiar aature tbat DO silrer or metallic substanoo would contain it, 
and it was oonreyed in the hoof of a mule. But the article was really 
onyx, as Horace says : now the word onyx, in Greek, signifieB not only 
a atone, but unguis, a hoof or nail ; and the second sense has been en- 
dently given instead of that of a precious stoue. Alemodor reallrdiBd 
of a remittent fever caiight at Babylon. As to the cause of it, Arriaii 
oipreesly states that theldng was temperate and forbearing in theplsa- 
Bum of the table ; and when we consider the laborious occupaUons of 
Alexander, amidst frost and snow, and especially the marsh miasmata 
of the Babylonian lakes. Sir Henry thought there was no difficult^ in 
ooneeiTing that this was too much eTen for his frame of adamant. The 
J' ' ■— =— — taiaingthe details of Alexander' a illness and death. 



ion of his having hi 



diary of A 

fote bj) intemperance. Sir Henry Halford closed bis leami 

in the course of which he renmrlced that the eSoienoy of the British 

tained by the same measures which Alexander devised and eieouted. 

Mr. Qrote, is his Hiitory of Oreeee, nminfatinH that the canse 
of the fever at which Alexander died wits intemperance. 

Bir Thomas Browne thus nolices the reputed poisoning of Alexander : 
" Surely irs had discovered a poison that would not endure Pandora's 
box, could wa be satisSed io that which for its coldness nothing could 
contain but an ass's hoof, and wherewith some report that Alexander the 
Orent was poisoned. Had men derived so strange an effect from some 
occult or hidden qualities, they might have silenced contnujiclion ; hut 
ascribing it unto the manifert and open qualities of cold, they must pu>]0B 
our bchef, who perceive the coldest and most Stygian waters may be 
included in glosses ; and by Aristotle, who saith that glass is the per- 
fectest work of art, we may understand ttiey were not Chan tube in- 
vented,"— Knijar irror», b. vii, c. ivii. 

DEATH OF OLEOPATBA. 

Cleopatra was present at the decisive hattle of Aotioin, Sep- 
tember 2, 31 b,o., and she set ths example of flight, which was 
followed hy Marc Actony. He attempted suicide, but the 
wound did not produce immediate death. Cleopatra, when she 
beard the cries of anguish, and recognised the voice of Anton;, 
despatched a messenger to hid him to join her in her tower, 



n the arms and upon the lips of Cleopatra. Bhe then com- 
mitted suicide, in order to avoid the humiliation of being led 
in the triumphal procession of Octaviaaus. Most probably she 
took poison. According to the story in Plutarch, she was 
oloselj watched bj the order of OctavianuB, who suspected her 



Curiosities of Science. 131 

desizn ; butan aap, the reptile she bad choseo for her purpoBO, 
was brought her bj & peasant in a basket of flga. After using 
her bath, and partaking of a Bnmptuona eu;iper, she applied 
the deadlj serpent to her arm. Before retreating to her monu- 
ment or tower, she wrote to CEBsar, who discavered in the tone 
of her address an earnest of her secret resolution. He des- 
patched his guards in haste ; hut Cleopatra was no more. When 
the door of her apartment was burst open, she was dead ; her 
beauty was jet unimpaired. She lay beneath a canopy of white 
Pelusian, dropped with gems, upon a golden couch of gorgeous 
workmanship, attired in all the ornaments of royalty ; one of 
her attendants lay dead by her mde, and the other hadjuat 
Strength enough remaining to arrange the diadem on the head 
of her n; ' ' 



The Atp has thus obtoinetl celebrity as the inatrument of death ae- 
leeted by ClKipatr&. It ig often meationed both b; Greek and Bomon 
Wlitors : Hb modem Arub name ia Ei Naie, and it is closely allied fo the 
cobn capello, or epoctaoled snake of India. Ita poiaon la of the moat 
deadly nature. The habit nhich thia aerpent haa of erecting itself nhen 
wpnached, made the ancient Egyptiane imitgiae that it guarded the 
l^aoe whiob it inbalnted. They made it the emblem of the divinity^ 
whom the^ supposed to protect the world ; accordiugl;, they haTe ra- 
presenied it on their temples aculptuied on each aide of a globe. 



Many « 

of rings made with hollow beads to receive a small drop of 
concentrated poison, of the class called acro-narcotic. Thus, 
M. CrassuB, when arrested on a charge of purloining from the 
temple of Capitoline Jove an immense amount of gold deposited 
there by Camillna, broke the hollow receptacle of his ring be- 
tween his teeth, and &lling, expired on the spot. Haniubal's 
death is s^d to have been occasioned by a ring ; 

Not the swift sling nor strenuoua epear ahall harm 

The Ufb that held the nations in alarm ; 

A. ring, behold, the debt of veiigeanoepayj 

And ^1 the blood which blends with Caanc'a clay. 
And to mention Imt one other instance, the illustrious £emo»- 
thenes met his death in a like manner, and for a like reason. 



THE POISON-BOWL OF CAPDA. 

On the night before Capua capitulated to the Romans, seven- 
and-twenty of the chief nobles of that city wet« invited by 
Tibulus Tarius to a funeral feast, in anticipation of their own 
death. After supper, when they were filled with meat and drink, 
the host, himself setting the example, quaffed a howl of poison, 
ind then handed it round to hie guests, who drank each maa 



13? Things not generally Known. 

his share ; and after & final embrace, all aepaiated. Some died 
that night, manj early in the morning ; but the whole hand had 
ceased to exist before the Romans forced a way into Capua the 
nest day. — Frtaa't Magaiine, Ko. 317. 



We have alteadj glanced at the properties of metallic Arsenic, 
. and now propoee t« conaider a few of the effects of its com- 
pounda rendered serriceable in medicine ; but science has 
unfortunatelj enabled wicked men to increase and multiply the 
means of iti employment as a poison, and at the same time to 
baffle detection by the most subtle art. 

The white arsenic of the druggiets is the arsenioua acid ; 
it has Dot the garlic amell, and is a viruleat poison, which is 
not the case witn the metal. The detection of arsenious acid 
in complex mixtures coutaining organic matter and common 
salt, as beer, gruel, soup, <bc., or the 9uid contents of the 
stomach in oases of poisoning, is a verf difficult problem ; the 
organic matters rendering the indications of the liquid t«8ts 
worthless. 

Marah'a method is eitramely delicate. The niBpaotad liquid ii 
acidulated witli sulphuric acid, and placed in coatnct with metaJho sine; 
tho hjdnjgon reduces the arsenious acid and combines with the arsenic, 
if any be presents The gas is burned at a jet, and a piece of glaas or 
porool^ hold in the flame, when any admiituro of arsenetled hydrogen 
IS at once known by the production of a brilliant hiack metallic spot of 
reduced arsenic on the porcelain, (fovnci'i Maf-iial.) The Eiuc and 
the Bulph^TTic acid should be previously examined in the apparatus, a> 
they often contain traces ofaraenic. 

Keinsch's test nith copper-wire is also very delicate. By dissolving 
a grain of araenious acid in a pint of distilled water, araecdo has been 
detected at adilution of £00,000 times ; and at 280,000 timea the hquor 
is BO strong as to be fit for subUmation, having a bngbt steal colour. 

White arsenic is generallj said to be in taste acrid ind cor- 
rosiTe ; .but Br. Qordon states it to be <U firit always aweet, 
but afterwards somewhat acid. It is not so poisonous a8 Prustnc 



acid and strychnia, while its curative infiueuce is veir great. 
A small quantity, asi^ or .i>jofagrain,actsasa tonic; but "^" 
statement should not lend any one to make a hasty oi 



siderate use of this very powerful agent, which should be left in 
the bauds only of the most skilful modioa! practitioners. Before 
its regular introduction, combined with potuss, it was employed 
in Lincolnshire for the cure of intermittent fevers, under the 
Bame of the TasteUsM Ague Drops. In rheumatisms, neuralgia, 
heart-bum, epilepsy, hydrophobia, tetanus, cancer, and skin- 
diseases, arsenic is given by regularly-educated practitionas, 
but should never be used as a domestic or household medicine- 



CurioHtiex of Science. 



Marvellous Btories are related of the common people eofinjr 
aTKiiic in Lower AuBtria and Stjria, and thus giving plmnpnesB 
to the figure, and beautj and freEhneES to the complexioa, and 
easy breathii^ to persona climbingBteep and continuous heights. 
Wa have known arsenic given to horses among their com, to 
improve their coats and condition ; here it is a ateolthj practice, 
but in Austria it is openly foUowed. 

The want of care and exactness in the quantity of arsenic, 
and the frequent change of servants, have doubtless occasioned 
the loss of many valuable horses, whose deaths have remained 
a mysterj ; for it is a wonderful &ct with regard to the taking 
of aieenic, that if it be discontinued, the constitution breaks 
Up with precisely the same symptoms which are produced 
by arsenical poisoning; and the sufferer (the effect is the 
same on the man as on the horse) dies a miserable death from 
want of arsenic, wit^ every appearance of being the victim of 

The subject is, however, beset with contradictory evidence. 
At the meeting of the Sritish Association in 1669, a remark made 
by Mr. Trevelyan, that it was the opinion of some that arsenic, 
when taken in small quantities, was not deleterious, brought 
forth a warning from Professor Daubeny, not to put any faith 
in the statement in Dr. Johnston's Chemistry of Common Life, 
that arsenic is taken by the girls of Tyrol to improve their com- 
plexion, and that when taken constantly the system becomes 
used to it, that being the reverse of the fact. Mr. liveing 
observed, he had heard this use of arsenic had been told to Dr. 
Johnston by a practical joker, who did not like to confess the 
imposition after it had been made public. Now, in Johnston's 
work, vol. ii. pp. 201-204, Dr. Ton Tschudi, the traveller, is 
quoted as the authority. 

Arsenic has been detected in vinegar, conveyed in the sul- 
phuric acid with which vinegar is adulterated. To diminish 
the crystallising force of fetly acids in candle-making, arsenious 
acid was formerly employed ; but the " arsenic candles" were 
soon driven out of consumption, and the manufacturing effect 
is now produced by regulation of temperature. The arsenic of 
c^per in green paper-hangings is liable to be blown or brushed 
oft, dispersed in the apartment, and inhaled. Prof. Lain, of 
Braan^on, has proved there to be arsenic in the wire of which 
pins are made, three or four giving a perceptible quantity ;• 
"never put pins in your mouth," Fly-paper, " Papier Mourfi," 
has been found to bear arsenious acid enough in four sheets to 
destroy a human life. Artificial Manures (as superphosphates) 
being prepared with sulphuric acid which contains arsenic, 
it may be absorbed by plants grown with such manures, 
* FMSlbly this D»r IM fivm tfae Bulplmrlc idd In the picUi Cor Ibe plni. 



134 Thing* not gev-eralhf Knovm. 

and the poison be thus convejed into our Byatems. ArBenio hat 
long been used in steeping gniin for seed ; when it preserres 
the seed from decaj, kills the vermin which might devour it, 
and oonverts them into manure. Arsenite of copper, used fbr 
colouring confectionerj green, has poisoned manj children. 
Shot (arsenic and lead), from being left in wine-bottles in 
washing, and afterwards dissolved in wine, has often produced 
colic in the drinkers, if not death. 

Orfila at one time thought he had satiafitctorilj proved 
arsenio to be a normal constituent of the bones of man ; an 
opinion which, if confirmed, would have gone far to render in- 
operative chemical testimony in relation to the unfoir or crimi- 
nal presence of that body. Orfila subsequently altered that 
opinion; hut more recent chemical inTestigators have demon- 
atisted the presence of arsenic in sources where it would have 
been little suspected. Amongst others, that metal has been 
proved to exist invariably in the ochreous deposita which cer- 
tain varieties of natural water throw down. Cognisant of this 
fitct. Prof. Otto, of Brunswick, examined for ai-senic the crust 
which had formed inside his t^i-kettle ; and b; the application 
of Marsh's teat he proved the presence of arsenic. The water 
used in London deposits a large amount of crust in tea-kettles : 
it holds a variable portion of oxide of iron, and probably, if 
enbiected to chemical tests, It will be found to contain arsenic. 

In a paper in Silliman't Jounuil, 1809, it is stated that the 
larvEB which consumed some rats that had been poisoned with 
arsenic and flyblown, were not af^ted by it, although it il 
well known Uiat flies themselves are quickly destroyed by 



HOW THE NETTLE BTINGa. 

Prof. Wills, of QiMsen, having ascertained the liquid in the 
poisonous organs of some insects to bs/ormic acid, considered 
it probable that the same acid occurred in plants, which by their 
stinging hairs produce effects analogous to the sting of certain 
insects. Acting on this su^estion, Dr, Qomp-Besanei haa de- 
tected formic acid in various stinging-nettiea. It exists in 
minute quantities, and is supposed to be contained only in the 
stinging hairi, from its being observed that when a solution of 
silver is applied to the plant under the microscope, with a gen- 
tle heat, reduction always first occurs at the extremitv of the 
stinging hair. In other words, this is done by the cuticle of the 
plant beJDg extended into rigid hairs or bristles, which have 
venom at their root, and a portion of which is conveyed through 
them into the wound th^ inflict. The construction of this 
■ting may t>e considered analogous to that of the serpenL Ur. 



Curiosities of Science. 



Cnrtis, in his FIdto, baa thus minutelj described the stit^ng 
process: 

The naked ays readil; |>ereeiT«8 the iiutrameDti b; which tlie nettle 
instila iUpoisoD ; but a microscDpe of no great uuKnifjiog power mora 
plamlf disDOTers Uhih to be ricid, tranaparsnt, tubular Bete, prickles, 
or stinga, highly polished, and eiquiidtel^ pointed, fiiniiahad at their 
baae with a kind of bulb, in whioh tbejuioe is prinsipalli' contuned ; 
and which, being pressed on when the atjng saters the skm, ibroei the 
poison into tlie wound. 

" Of the Teuomous quality of tJiia liquid I have had ooolar proof. 
Placin^the foot-stalk of a netUe-leaf en tiie stage of a microicope, so 
Hut the whole ofthe prickle was in the fooua when horiuntally ex- 
tended, I preaied on the bulb with a blunt-pointsd pin, and after some 
trials Aiund a liquid to ascend in the prickle, BomcwhaC as the quiclt- 
rilrer does when a warm hand is applied to the bulb of a thermometer. 
In some of the prickles 'I obeerred the liquid etatlonary. Or preeung 
particular, I saw most plainly the liquid asoend to, and flov 



copiously 



, . „ . ., . 1 the 

odo of the iitmg near the point, ai in the forceps of the Bpidor and tooth 
ofthe viper; and here it appears to bo placed, rather than at the eitre- 
mity, that it ma; not take off flum its Qecessar; Eharpaesa. Pricking tho 
skin of Toy hand with a needle, I placed soma of the juice in the wound, 
when it iDitautly inflamed, and put on all the appearanoe of a part 
rtung by a nettle." 

Yet the soft and fleahj caterpillar orawls and feeds on the 
nettle with impunitj, Teminding us how the Qiver of all good 
" tempers the wind to the shom lamb." 

The effects of the Europeau nettle are not, however, to be 
compared with those of some Indian species. M. Leachesnault 
describes a oettle at Calcutta, the pain from the stine of which 
lasted nine days. The Bensation, when water was apjSied to the 
BtmiK part, is described as if boiling oil had been poured over 
the skin. Still more virulent, however, is the sting of the nettle 
in Timor, the laigest of the Lesser Sunda Islands ; its effects 
bdng said by the natives to last for a jeai, and sometimes even 
to cause death. 

BYSKOCYANIC, OK KtUBSIC ACID," 

Discovered as early as 1782, bj Scheele, has a very powerful 
odour, much resembling that of peach-kernels or bitter-al- 
mond oil. In the anhydrous state, this substance is one of 
the most formidable poisons kuown ; and even when largely 
diluted with water, its effects upon the anitnal system are ex- 
ceedingly energetic. It is employed, however, in medicine in 
vety small doses. The acid in its pure state can scarcely be 
preserved even when enclosed in a carefullj-stopped bottle ; it 
soon darkens, and eventually deposits a black substance con- 



136 Thing* not generally Snomi. 

taimog carboa, mtrogen, and perhaps hjdrogen ; 

formed at the samo time, and manj other products. Idght 

fiiTOura this decompoaition. 

Bitter almotids, the kemela of plums and peaches, the 
weds of the apple, the leaves of the dieny-Ianrel, and v&rioiu 
other plants belonging to the great natural onier RosaceiE, 
yield on distillation with water a swect-smelliiig liquid, con- 
taining hydrocyanic acid. This is probably due in all cases to 
the deoompositioQ of the amygdalin., preSxixtent in the org^inic 
structure. The change in question is brought about in a Tecy 
aiuBular manner by the presence of a soluble azotised substance, 
called tmulein or tynaptaae, which forms a lai^e proportion of 
the white pulp of DotL sweet and bitter almonds. Hydrocy- 
anic aoid exists ready formed to a ooosiderable extent in t£e 
juice of the bitter cassava. 

We are perhaps most &miliar with hydrocyanic acid in the 
smell of the wall-flower and hawthorn. It exists in the leaves 
of the common laurel so largely, that a water distilled from 
this is almost instantaneous poison. This fact was discovered 
at Dublin in 1728 (fifty-four years previous to Scheele's dis- 
ooTery), where several persons who had used it as a cordial, 
mixed with spirits, were poisoned. Yet the flarouring so com- 
monly used for custards and farinaceous puddings contains a 
large proportion of this deadly poison. 

Prof. Santi, of Pisa, many years since wrote an interesting 
little work to show that rata£a had long been made with Italian 
laurel-leaves. Eirschwasser is drawn from the stones of cher- 
ries chiefly grown in the environs of the Black Forest: accord- 
ing to Le Normand it is " downright" poison. In Paris, a 
spurious Kirsohwasser is distilled from the kernels of prunes. 

The only immediate remedy, of safe application by a non- 
medical person, for poisoning by Prusaic Acid, or any vegeta- 
ble Bubstanoe containing it, is pouring a stream of cold watea 
from some elevation upon the head and spine of the patient. 
The lives of many have been saved by this very simple means 
being resorted to immediately, while thedelay of a few minutes 
would have proved fatal. The effect of this poison is narcotic ; 
and owing to its rapid action on the nervous system, a convol- 
sive contraction of the muscles of the jaw generally prevents 
the administration of emetics.* 

Cyanide of Potassium, one of the compounds of this clasB, 
is used in considerable quantity in electro-plating and gilding, 
and has lately been derived from a curious and unexpected 
source. In some of the iron-fumaoea of Scotland, where raw 



Curiontiei of Science. 



coal is need for fuel with the hot-blast, a saline-looking Bub- 
stance is occnaionall; observed to issue in a fused stata from the 
tujere-boles of the furnace and ooucrete on the outeide : this 
proves to be cfanide of potassium. 

BTBYCHNINE AND STBYCHNOS. 

Strychnine, or Strychnia, iBuaually prepared from thepeltiate 
seeds of Strychnoa, which are common]; termed Nux Tomica, 
rat's-bane, poison-nut, or Koochta. StrychnoB is a tropical 
boah, KTOwing to the size of a tree, on the Malabar and Coro- 
mandel coasts of the Indian peninsula. It bears a cluster of 
nunute flowers and small oranj^like fruit. The seeds are im- 
bedded in a white gelatinous pulp, which seems harmless, being 
rdily eaten by many sorts of birds. The seeds alone form 
bXaX drug. The wood of the tree is, however, intensely 
bitter, and is employed in the cure of intermittent fevers and 
the bites of venomous snakes; indeed, Btrychnine itself is aa 
important remedial agent. In very small and repeated doses it 
promotes the appetite and assists the digestive process. It is 
employed medicinally in paralysis, dyspepsia, dysentery, affec- 
tions of the nervous system, dec. In India, the se^js were 
used in Dr. Roxburgh's time to increase the in toiicatine quality 
of country spirits. At Jellasore, in the Ziilah of Midnapore, 
East Indies, the bush grows (as to its berries) in great and wild 
abundance. It is remarkable for its encour^ing the roost 
deadly snakes amid its branches : here Qua cobra capeUo takes 
up ita abode. 

Prom the bark of the root of the Strychw>s tiaUl is obtained 
"the frightful poison" called "tjettek," and "upas radja." 
Another species is employed hy the American Indians to poison 
their arrows; it causes immediate death when introduced into 
the slightest wound. This plant is also the "upas-tree" of 
Java ;* but being a climbing plant, is differentia general habit 
and botanical characters from the balf-mythtcal upas of which 
BO many fearful lables of death are narrated. The name of 
Upas has, however, become associated with a great number of 
poisonous trees tluroughout Asia. The true Upas-tree is the 
Antiaria taxioaria, which yields the Antiar poison ; but the 
seeds are wholesome. Its venom is due to the same chemical 
substance, Btrycbnine, which constitutes the iStrvchnot nwr 
vomica. Dr. Lindley observes that, although much error has 
been written regarding the Upas, there remains no doubt that 
it is a plant of extreme virulence ; even linen fabricated from 
its tough fibre being so acrid as to verify the story of the shirt 
of Keseus, foritescites the most distressing itclmig ifinsuffi- 
dently prepared. 

• B»"'nMUp»a-lieeofjBTa,"iain?i»i?mmiH*irm™,Plr81Ssrle8.p.M. 



7%ingt not generally Known. 



BtrTcbnine ib used medioinallj m veir email quantitiu^ 
BDd biis no other legitimate application. Its cooaumptton ib, 
therefore, imBccounted for ; twelve jears eince a ton of this 
article vould liave been a la^e annual import, whereas it now 
exceeds sometimes 100 tons. 

An orer-dose of stryohiiiae prodnoea tetanm (lock-jaw) and 
death ; a medicinal one (one-ninth of a grain three times a dav, 
for example) restorea the seuaatiou ofparal^ic limbs. The 
eulphata of strjchnine baa marked effects in dosea of one- 
twelfth, of a griun. One of Dr. Bardsley'e patienta, in lancaahire^ 
who waa experieaoiug the return of seitKtion in his paraljaed 
limbs under the use of atrychnine, asked if there waa not some- 
tiling giiici in tiie pilla ; fuicit for alive being atill in use is that 
part of England. 

The painful interest aasooiated with this puiaon has been 
much increased of late years by the frequency of its employ- 



oertain resulta in medico-legal inquiriea. Mr. W. B. Herapath, 
in a communication to the Royid Society, states that in one 
experiment he took 1-lOOOth part of a grain of strychnine only, 
<Uid produced ten crystals of nearly equal size ; of course eadi 
one, possessing distinct and decided optical propertiea, could 
not represent more than the 1-1 0,000th part of a grain; in &ct, 
it real!j[ represents much less, inaBmuch as one portion of the 
stiTchnia ia converted by substitution into a soluble hydrio- 
date, and of courae remains dissolved in the liquid. In this 
experiment diluted spirit of wine ia used — one part apirit to 
three of water ; the smallest quantity of tincture of iodine is 
the re-agent, after employing neat for a short time, to set it 
in repose. On spontaneous evaporation or cooling, the optical 
crystals deposit themselves, and may be reoo^iaed by the 
polarising microscope. 

Mr. F. Horsley, in a paper read to the British Asaoctatlon, 
mdntdns it to be as mucn out of the power of any human 
being to define the limits of Bensibillty woicb he has atttuned, 
as it would be to count the sands or meaanre the drops of the 
ocean. Taking 30 drops of a solution of etijchnia containing 
half a grain, he diluted it with four drachms of water. He then 
dropped in six dropa of a solution of bichromate of potass, 
when crystals immediately formed, and decomposition waa 
complete. Splitting up the half-grain of strychnia into millions 
of atoms of minute crystals, he said that each of these atoms, 
if they could be separated, would aa effectually demonstrate 
the chemical characteristics of stiychnine as though he had 



Cariotitiei of Sconce. 



fails, there remainB the phjaiolosical ; and he (»n«der« the 
effect on the most excitable of the animal cipeaea (the frog) 
to be at once the most delicate and specific test of tlua poison. 

He pl&ced ods frog, treah fiMtu the poolB, in an Dunoe of water oen- 
tuning thel-SUth part of a grain of the ocetato of strychnia ; a sesond 
in the same quantit; of water, containing the 1-S6tli ; a third, cont&ia- 
ing I-lOOth ; and a fourth, conttuning l-^OOth. All became tetania in 
two or three boon, eioept the thinl, which was a female (the othera 
bsm^ males), which required a longer time. Neit was placed a male 
bog m )-400th part of a grain of the aceta(« of atiychnia diagalTed in 
mi droohniB of water. In three boun and a halt it became violentiy 
tetauio. In two other eipariments, the l-SODth and the 1-lOOOth of a 
grain of the aoolBte of rttrohnina were detected. 

Professor Kolliker, of Wurzburg, has shown that— 1. The Antnsr ii 
a paralysing poison. 2. It acta, in the first instance, and vith great 
rapidity (in Eva lo ten miniitos), upon the heart, and stops its action. 
& The consequecoes of thia paraljEua of the heart are the oaaaation oi 
the voluntary refloi movements in the Erst and second hour after the 
introduotiori of the poison, i. The Autdar paralyses, io the second 
place, the voluntary mnsolea. 6. In the third ^aoo, it cause* the loaa 
of excitability of the c^reat nervous trunks. 6. The heart and muscles 
of frogs poisonedwi^ Drari may be paralysed by Antiar. 7. From all 
this it may be deduced that the Antiar principally acta upon Uie mus- 
cular fibre, and cauaea paralysis of H.—Pn>e. Eoyal Soeuty, 

Professor Johnston maintains the bitter substance of strych- 
nioe to be BO intense, that its taste can be detected in 600,000 
times its weight of water. 

It was long an opinion that stijchnine was evanescent, 
and difficult, if not impossible, to detect after death ; but this 
poison has been obtained from bony tissue long after the death 
and putre&ction of the victim who had been poisoned by 
repeated Biaall doses of this drug. Nicotine has been more 
than once nsed with suoceaa to counteract strychnine. 

THEORY OF POISONS. 

Why eompouuds with so nearly the same elements as ozalia 
acid and sugar, Prussic acid and common vinegar, Jcc, should 
have such opposite effects upon the living frame, we can no 
more explain than we can why Ipecacuanha should excite 
vomiting; but we linow the fecfa well and can turn them to very 
useful account. Among the substances rendered intereetinc by 
their powerful action as poisons, there are among vegetables 
Btiychnia, aconite, tobaeoo, Frusaic acid, belladonna, &c. 
Among animals, there are the venom of serpents, the poison of 
stings, the saliva of the mad dc^, &c. 

The protecting power of some substances is imperfectly 
understood. It is, however, known to be connected with the 
general theory of poisons ; and to this we must probably as- 
cribe the &ot that several poisons which are £ital, when applied 



Things not generally Known. 



to & wounded Burfitce, maj be taken mto the Btomacli with inx- 
ptmitf, 

TENOM OF BEEPENTS. 

Dr. J. Gilman, of St. Louie, states that the process of rob- 
binK Serpents of their Tenom ia easilj accompliuied hy the aid 
of chloroEomi, a few drops of which stupefy them j and nheu 
under its iofluence, the poison msj be taken from out of the 
fans ; but in two days a. serpent so robbed has been found as 
highly charged as ever with venom. Dr. Gilman inoculated 
several healthy vegetables with the point of a lancet well 
charged with the venom: neit day they (the plants) were 
withered and dead, as though they had been scathed with 
'" ' tuing ; BO that the venom destroys all forms of organised 

, vegetable as well as animal. Dr. Oilman also mamtaina 
that serpents poseess the power of fosoinating small rniimala, 
und that this power ia identical with mesmerism. 

Mr. Francis Buckland, in his deservedly popular Curioiiiiet 
of Natural HUtoTT/, tolls us that 

Tlie Foiaan of tbs Viper coDiiist« of a yeUowuh liquid secrotsd in a 
glandular atruoture {situated immediat«iy beiow tlie aldii on eitlter aide 
oflJie head), nhich is believed to repreeeat the parotid gland of the 
higher animala. If a riper be made to bite sooLething solid} so as to 
void its poison, tlie followiug'aro the appearances under the microscope t 
At first nothing ia Been but a paroet of salts nimbly floating in the 
liquor, but in a veiy short time these saline particles shoot out into 
orystajs of incredible tenuiCy and eharpnees, wiih aomething like knots 
hero ixnd there^ from which these crystals seem to proceed, so that the 
whole tciture in a, manner represents a spider'a web, though infinitely 

on the glass for some months. Five or eii grains of this viperine poi- 
son, miied with half an ounoe of human blood, received in a warm 
glass, produce no visible effects, either in colour or oooaiBtenoe ; nor do 
portions of this poiboned blood, mixed with acids or alkalies, exhiMt 
any alterationa. When placed OD the tongue, the taste is sharp aad 
acrid, as it the tongue had bean struck with something scalding or 
burning; but tbia sensation goea off in two or three houra. There an 
only five cases on record of death following the bita of the viper ; and 
it has been observed that the effects are most virulent when the poison 
has been received on tlie extremities, parUcularly the fingers and toea, 
at which parts the animal, when irritated (as it ware, by as iWite in- 
stinct], always takes its aim. 

POISONOUS TUSQl* 

The action of Fungi is variable, some of the reputed whole- 
•aaa species even proving poisonous to certain coustitutiont, 

• Boms species of Fungi conUnlnale (ha air. and render It uofiC for rsspln- 
B, by »bB(irbing oxygen, and eihallng citbonlc Kid i In a ollBnilcal point of 



CurioHties of Science. 141 

Kad the contrary. Dr. Lmdley, after enjoining the utmost 
taation in emplojing Fungi, the nature of which is not per- 
fectly ascertained, in conaequence of tha reaemblance of the 
poisonous and wholesome apeciea, adds, " but the greatest cau- 
tion and knowledge will not always avul, for certain specien 
which are in genial perfectl; wholesome sometimce produce 
veiy disastrous consequences. A femily at Cambridge a few 
jears since suffered from eating mushrooms ; a part of what 
were gathered proved to be a apecies sold aometimes in the 
London markets, and ascertained by Mrs. Husaey, who has 

S'd great attention to the subject, to be most excellent for 
d. The case perhaps is simihir to that of the prejudicial 
effects sometimes experienced after eating muasela, and may be 
considered aa a mere exception." 

]t(. Sesmartise and M. Come, of Bordeaux, have proved 
that a variety of Mushroom called poisonous is not necessarily 
poisonous for every locality, — that climate and soil, in fact, 
modify the nature of muBtirooms to an estioordinary extent. 
For example, the Amanita rubra of Lamarck is described by all 
aatbors as a violent poison ; nevertheless the inhabitants of 
Bordeaux eat this fungus with impunity, merely roasting it 
on coala. Indeed, this particularkiudofmuahroom isaluzotj 
in the neighbourhood of Bordeaux. 

Br. Diuibeny, of Oxford, says : " Judging from the present 
state of our knowledge, it would rather aeem as if poisonous 
fungi may act as ferments when introduced into the system, 
and thus set up a series of changes in the vital fluids which are 
incompatible with life. 

" This will explain the ciroumstance, otherwise incompre- 
hensible, iDhy the lame pmigus which operate* at a poison upon 
one peraon, does not affect another; ana why certain nations, as 
the Raaeiana, either from national want of susceptibility or 
from habit, use as articles of food several kinds of mushrooms 
which are rejected by us as poiaonous. 

" They also are equally capricious in their operation, and 
produce effects entirely in commensurate to the minuteness of 
the quantity of them imbibed. It is not indeed necessary to 
account for this by supposing them to act as ferments ; for the 
property of reproduction, which we must in any case ascribe to 
the poisonous principles which give rise to these effects, might 
account for the malignity of the result proceeding from a cause 
originally so insignificant ; but at any rate, the &ct is quite in 
hannony with the process which takes place during fermenta- 
tion, where the minutest quantity introduced into a fluid sus- 
ceptible of change is sufBcieat to operate upon the entire 
mass. " — JameioKS Edivi/argk PhUosophical JoumxH. 



TTtittgs not generally Known. 



lUFUBE WATEK AND CHOLEKA. 

Dr. LADbenj, in the pftper mat quoted, has observed th&t 
among the modea by which Cholera poison is disseminated, one 
af the most frequent perhaps is the Water nsed for drinking. 
Pore water, so nr as ne know, i» not capable of receiTing or 
gencntioK the infectious principle of Cholera ; hut impure water 
seems to Be one of the r^diest means of converin^ it into the 
system. There is a curious illustiation of this &ct in the com- 
paratire esemption &om Cholera which was enjoyed by the 
parts of London supplied with pure water dnring the epidemia 
of 1849. 

It app«an that vMlit in the dktriat BUpplied nith \niei b; the 
Lambetn, ChelBea, and Southwark Companies Che mDrtalitji was 123 
in 10,000, that in the districts mipplied by the Ifew River, East LondoD, 
and Kent ComponiH, vas 48 ; and iu those nipplied by the Oiuid 
Junction and Middlesex, only 15. Now the I&mbeth, Chelwa, and 
Sauthwark ComMnioi obttdned their water from the Thames, between 
Batterse* and Waterloo Bridge ; the New River, East London, sod 
Kent Companiea from tho Lea sad the T" ' --■ - -^ j ■ - 
tjori and the West Middle»i boLh from 
high up SB Eew, the latter at Barnes. 

Now marlc the proportion of deaths during the epidemic, in the mi 
weeks prior to October 7, 18S5. It is stated from offlcioi Eetums, that 
In tlie population supplied by the Sout^wark Company, ttie ntortalily 
was 85 to 10,000 inha^taulBj in those which obtained their water from 
the Kent Company, only 19 ; whilst in the ease of those iUroished by 
the I^mbeth ComMD;, where the modality in IMS was no leas than 
123, it now was only 17. But this comparative eTcmption is accounted 
for by the circumstance that, whereas in 1849 this company was sup 
plied from the Tiver at Lambeth itAelf, it now (1855) draws ite coDSump- 
tJon from the Thames at Thames Dilton. No facts would seem mare 
conclusiye than these with respect to the unwholeeomencM of water 
obtained from a river polluted with animal impurities. 

It is true that Dr. Hassall, in his miorosoopio eiamination of tfae 
water supplied « 
hibiting in his pli 

But the presence of animalcules does m 
unwholesome; and with respect 



DieinfectioD appears to be a costly process ; for, during the 
season of 1859, the disinfectant agents poured into the sewers 
and sluices dischargiog themselves into the river were, about 
4281 tons of chalk -lime, 478 tons of chloride of lime, and 66 
tons of carbolic acid, at a cost of 17,733f. 



-„ Google 



Curiotitiei of Science. 



1^iip]iactates. 



-WHAT mPPOCRATEB KKBW OF MEDICIKK. 

HiPPOOBATBB, bom at Cob, b.o. 460, was the first person who 
. the sole buriucBS of 
' the Father of Medi- 
dne." His &railj followed the pursuit of medicine for near 
three hundred jears, and produced seven phjaicians, nbo are 
supposed to have written the numerous treatisea which are 
oommonlj attributed to Hippocrates alone. 

The principles of Hippocrates were those of rational empi' 
rimsm,* He did not attempt to form his theories from A-priori 
reasoning, but from bis observation of the phenomena of nature. 
He taught that the bodj ia oomposed of four primarj elements 
— fire, water, earth, and air; that these elements, variouBly 
combined, produce the four cardinal humours, and these again 
the different organs of the bodj. His knowledge of anatomj' 
was veiy limitM, from the superstitious respect paid to the 
dead b; the Greeks preventing the disBeotion of the human 
body. He gives such descriptions of the bones as show that 
he had indeed studied the subject, but not acquired an; verf 
accurate knowledge ; he does not seem to suppose that the 
vessels originate either in tlie heart or liver. Under the term 
" nerves," he confounds all the white tissues of the body, the 
nerves properly so called, the tendons, and ligaments. Accord- 
ing to Hippocrates, the brain ia glajidular, and secretes the 
pituita, or mucus. His pathology relates pnncipally to the in- 
vesti^tion of the remote causes of diseases, without much spe- 
culation on their nature. However, he explains inflammation 
by the passage of blood into those parts which did not pre- 
viously contain it. He paid great attention to the effects of 
change of air, warmth, moisture, food, upon its phenomena, 
and those of disease ; and he recommended particular attention 
to the constitution of the seasons. 

Among the doctrines of Hippocrates is that of Critical 
Dayt,^ He Bays, fevers come to their crises on the same days, 

* EiDpliiclsm WAS tha pnttlcH of phyalo bf flxperlence *\rmA, dlenrdliis is 
npDCMaflarr all Kg n n ip U n ce with tbg Htmcture dfthA body, or reuonlDS on it« 

t Dr. Cnlten iidl>pt»d lh<9 doctrLae of Crillcsl Days. (See Thinsi not gmeraan 



144 Things not generally Kmnon. 

both those which turn out fatallj and those which turn out 
well. Thesa duys are the fourth, the seventh, the eleventh, 
fourteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth. The ne^t stage is of 
thirty-four days, the neit of forty, and the neit of sixty. 

Of the indications to be drawn from the examination of the 
pulse, HippocTBtea was not aware ; and the word iphygmta is 
employed by him to denote some violent pulsation only. 

It is, however, upon the accuracy with which he observed 
the leading features of disease, and his vivid descriptions of 
them, that the fame of Hippocrates is piincipally and justly 
founded. Nowhere is the peculiar power of the Greeks in ex- 
pressing their conceptions more strikmgly shown. These marked 
descriptions are extracted from his Progjioitica; 

" It the appoanuioe of the patient ba different from amial, ttere ii 
danger. If the nose be sharp, the fij^ hoUow-, tho templea collapaed, 
the eorfl eold and aDntract«d, and the lobea inverted, whilftt the Bkin oC 
the farohead is hard, dry, and stretched, and the colour of the faoa 
pale or black or livid or leaden, unless them appearaDOBs are prodaced 
by watching' ':ir diarrhiBa, or under the inSaence of maluia, tht patini 
M nmr UeatA. Thii deaoription has obt^ned the title of Facia Hip- 
pocraliea." 

Again, how well does be recommend us to obwrve the position of 
the patient in bad. "If he lies upon his ride, with the neok and arms 
shghtly bent, and the whole body in a flexible state, sitice sach is the 
paaition of health, it is well ; but if he lies on his back, with the l^!s 
and arms axteaded, and still more if he keepa sinking towards the hot' 
tom of the bed, or tosses his arms and head into unusual poaitiOM, 
OQT anticipntions must be moat uDfavouruble." And, "if in acute dis- 

the air, and brushing or pickii? motes from the walla or bad-alol£es, 
the prognosis must be unfavourable." 

It is clear that the idea on which is founded the modem 
art of Auscultation (observation of disease as denoted by sound) 
had occurred to Hippocrates upwards of 2000 years ago. "You 
will know by this, says he, " that the chest conttuns water, 
and not pus, if, on applying the ear for a certain time to the 
Bide, you hear a sound like that of boiling vinegar," The 
non-existence of dissection prevented the following out to any 
Bute and useful results this idea, which had occurred to the 
most ancient writer on physic. Accordingly, the suggestion <^ 
Bippociates seems to hare attracted no attention for many 
centuries. Hooke, the mathematician, not of the medicu 
profession, and who was unacquainted vdth the writings of 
Hippocrates, said : 

" There ma; be a pOBsilnlity of discovering the internal motioDB 
and actions of iJodiea bv the sound they make. Who knows bat that, 
as in a watch, we ma; bear the beating of the balance, and the numiog 
of the wheeli, and the strlkingof the hammers, and the grating of ths 
teeth, and multitudes of other noises, — who knows, I sa;, but tliat " 
ma; beponiblato discover the motions of the internal parts of bodiw 



Curiositiei of Science. 145 

whether nnimAl^ vegetable, er mmeraf, by the senndH they make 1 that 
one may discoier the worlu performed la the Beieral offices and ihopa 
of a man's body^ and thereby diecoTer what engine la out of order, 
what works are goiue ou at ssTera) times and lie etill at othera, and 
the like f . . . , . . T nave been able to hear veiy ptalniy the beating 
of a man's heart j the Btopping of the Imiga is eara]; discoTered by the 
wheesing."* 

Hooke's prediction iras realieed, though not full; until the 
present century (1^16)) iu the SteliioBcop«, or cheat explorer, 
of I^ennec ; eo that it took nearlj tma thoueand years to cany 
out the idea of Hippocrates. His statement is in itself incor- 
rect ; but the fact of his haTing actually practised ausoultation 



Hippocrates claims to have been the first to recognise the 
importance of Diet in the treatment of disease which had been 
previously neglected. In his general practice, he employed 

Kr^atives, some very violent, as the black and white helle- 
re and elaterium. To relieve the head in certain diseases, 
he used sternutatories; so that the "eye-snuff" of our day is a 
piece of sntiqaity. In acute affections, when the disease was 
violent, Eippocrates employed bleeding, and recommended that 
blood should be taken from as near the affected part aa pos- 
sible. This was the origin of bleeding in pleurisy Jrom the 
arm on the side affected. He also made use of cupping-glasses, 
with and without soarificntion. Certain, diuretic and sudorific 
medicines also entered into his pharmacopoeia ; and he was not 
ignorant of the virtues of the poppy. 

His knowledge of anatomy and phyinology, and of the pro- 
cesses which go on in the body during health and disease, was 
extremely deficient ; but in the accuracy with which he ob- 
served the symptoms of disease, and in the fideUty of his 
descriptions, he haa rarely, if ever, been surpassed. In these 
respects he had reached aboundary which it would have been 
scarcely possible to pass but by the vast body of collateral evi- 
dence which chemistry, geolo^, and the experimental philo- 
sophy of our times, have supplied. 

Hippocrates strongly advocated the use of Cold Bathing; 
and Dr. Sir John Floyer, in his curious Essay, devotes an 
entire letter to Hippocrates' opinion "concerning the Nature 
of Cold Baths, and tneii Usefulness." 

THE FIRST APOTBECASIES' HALF.. 

Pharmacy and chemistry are mach indebted to the Arabs, 
nho, after the &11 of the Boman empire, discovered seveis' 



146 Things not generally Known. 

3, and introdaced BeTCral new medicines, 
_ sicianB. Thej eetablislied in the eighth 
century the first public Apothec&rieB' Hall in Bagdad. We 
owe also to the Arabs the firet legal diepensaries, in the ninth 
century. Whilst chemistry and pharmacy were cultivated in- 
dustriously in the East, Europe was plunged in darkness and 
ignorance; when, at length, a new heht was kindled bj Con- 
etantine of Carthage, who established the first regular phar- 
macy in Europe, namely, in Salerno, He called these esta- 
blishments datianti, and the dispcnsiiig chemists cmtfeationarii. 

TSESICAL SINGS. 

From very early classic times we i««d that doctors wore 
rings. Many, but not all, of these were supposed to possess 
hygienio properties, resident either in the metallic hoop, or 
the stone set m it, or else in some nostrum enclosed in the b^dl 
Hippocrates considered a ring as necessary to complete the toilet 
of the man of medicine, and it was probably supposed to be 
curative in its effects. Antoninus Musa, the pbysician of 
Augustus, used to wear a handsome gold ring whicn the Em- 
peror had given him for bringing him safely through a danger- 
ous malady J and in further acknowledgment of his serrioes, 
' Augustus ceded to the Roman doctorate, through him, the jia 
anniUi, or power of wearing the ring, with all its nrivilages. 

There were two varieties of the annulut nudicut, or ring 
medical — the one used for surgical operations, the other adopted 
by physicians. !Che surgical practitioner, with his cuffs turned 
up, and showing nothing on his hands but a costly ring, could 
approach without difficulty, and lay them lightly on the skin 
of the most timid patient ; and then gently exploring his way, 
could press a spring against a lancet or hittmiri caaii, whioh, 
darting forth, swift and pungent as a hornet's sting, into the 
vein, abscess, or arten He might design to open, was as in- 
stantly retracted ; and while the sufferer was indulging in ex- 
pressions of indignant surprise, the operator was holding a 
basin under the wound, and patting the excited martyr on the 
back, congratulating him on his admirable courage and stoia 
indifference to pain. 

The rings of phydcians, though the fimctions assigned to 
them were more diversiSed, produced no Buch strikingly effica- 
cious effects as those of their chirurgical brethren ; still they 
enjoyed a wide vogue, and were confidently prescribed to the 
Hck in a great variety of maladies. Plain iron hoops, espe- 
cially when scored with cabalistic traceries, worked, it was 
affirmed, wonderful cures. Alexander TraUianus speaks with 
^eat assurance of an iron ring of his own devising, which was 
invaluable in hypochondriaoa from bepadc derangements, 



Curiosities of Science. 147 

and gener^j for djBpeptics, disorders which we now often 
Tiunly seek to exoroise with blue-pill. It was no doubt the 
known ma^etic caiuibilitieB of iron which first recommended 
rings of this metal in the treatment of diseases, and led the 
physicians to emplo; iron rings magnetised, as we do, in hemi- 
erania and brow-agues. 

The atones set in rings were supposed to exercise a still 
greater control over diseases than even the iron hoop, albdt 
well magnetised and impressed with mysterious cliaracteia or 
Bjmbola. Thus, a dangerous hemorrhage, which neither seda- 
tiveB, nor absorbents, nor yet astringents, could control, would 
cease (on the homoeopathic principle of timilia nm/UAiu) as 
8DOD as the patient put on a olood-red cornelian ring : coral, 
which, in a ring, the ancients prized much more than the 
modems, was, on the authority of Metrodorus and Zoroaster, an 
infidlible remedy for, as well as antidote against, nervousness 
and causeless fears ; wine-coloured amethysts protected their 
wearers from intoxication, and all its pathological conse- 
quencee ; hyacinths secured sleep as in&Uibly as opium ; 
agates stood high in the esteem of most mineralogist doctors 
& the cure of tne blindness ammavsit, or gulla urena ; * and 
jaspers enjoyed great &me for their powers of discussing drop- 
raes and driving away fevers. — AhidgedfromFraief'tMagadne , 
1806. 

THE ■av.k-iTim ATtT, 

Two centuries ago, the quaMcationa for the pHictioe of the 
healing art are shown by the clumsiness and cruelty with whidt 
operations were then performed ; so that we must not feel gar- 
prise at the low state of medicine and surgery. Sir William 
Petty informs us that, even in his time, the proportion of 
deaths to cures in the Hospitals of St. Bartholomew and St. 
Thomas was 1 to 7 ; during 1741 the mortality had diminished 
to I inlO ; during 1760, to I inl4 ; during 1813, to 1 in 16 ; 
and in 1827, out of 13,494 patients under treatment, only 259 
died, or 1 in 48. The Duke of Sussex justly said, in one of 
hie addresses as President of the lUiyal Society ; " Such is the 
advantage which has already been derived from the improve- 
ment of medical science, that, comparing the value of life, as it 
is now calculated, to what it was a hundred years ago, it has 
absolutely doubled." And Sir Astley Cooper assorted that the 
human mme was better understood in his time by students 
than it had previously been by professors. 

* HIIIOD, Is tbs Hlebnted MmpUlot on hlg BtlndneM, tm : 
*' Ba Ihick a drop taw tanth qufiacii'd Uifllr oth, 
-^ ..■_ _..._■ 1,.^,, iliraittwl«<, b, lil. 



Tkmgi not generally Known, 



^flSStoIoQlcal €^tmistt^. 



UATEBIALS OF A UAK. 

Db. LAHSESTEft has demonstrated the elemeotaij compoaitioii 

of the human body, and exhibited in the lectute-roam the ab- 
solute quantities of the elementB contained in it, with the ex- 
ception of four— oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and Jluortnt. 
The three first could not be e>:hibited on account of their bulk ; 
the last on account of its rarity. 

A human bodj weighing 1S4 lbs. was stated to oonttun 
111 IbB. of oxygen gas, which would occupy about 750 cubic 
foet ; and 14 lbs. of nydrogen eaB, which would occupy neariy 
3000 cubic feet of space t the nitrogen gas would occupy 
about 20 cubic feet. Amongst the other elements there 
were 21 lbs. of carbon, Ij lbs. of phosphorus, 2 lbs. of the 
metal calcium, 1 oi. of sodium, 100 grains of iron, IflO 
grains of potas^um, 10 gnuna of magnesium, and 1 grain, ol 
silicoD. 

These elements, when mixed together as they are in the 
human body, were represented by 111 lbs. of water, 15 lbs. 
of gelatine, 12 lbs. of &t, 8 lbs. of fibrine and albumen, 7 lbs. 
of phosphate of lime, and a variety of other salts. It was 
shown that these substances are supplied to man through 
the agency of plants, and that it is in the tissues of plants that 
the great chemical changes go on which convert the inorganic 
elements into otgaoic suhstanc^, fitted for the food of man 
and animalS' 

HEAT OP MDSCtrLAK CONTRACTION. 

Professor Matteucd, in a letter to Sir. Fataday, mentions 
some new studies on indmed contraetion, or the phenomenon 
of the irritation of a nerve in contact with a muscle in con- 
traction. Experiments made on the discharge of the torpedo 
led Hatteucci t« establish the existence of an electrical dis- 
charge in the act of muscular contraction. The general con- 
clusion to be drawn from these researches is, therefore, that 
the chemical action which accompanies muscular contraction - 
develops in living bodies, as in the pile, or in a steam-engine, 
eat, electricity, and vm viva, according to the same mechani- 



Curiosities of Science. 



ANIMAL HEAT. 

There is no question amonffst either chemists or phydolo- 
sista in regard to the generu fact, that the main source of 
Apimal Heat Ib the oxrgenation ^hj a kind of combuative pro- 
cess) of the hydro-carbonB contained in the food. Now all 
these hydro-carbona, Hueh aa ataroh, sugar, oil, &c., are either 
directlj or indirectly derived from the vegetable kiugdom j 
and not only a certain amount of oxygen, hydrogen, and car- 
bon has been consumed in their production, but also a certain 
amount of solar light and heat, which they may thus be said to 
embody. The combustive process ia not so carried out in the 
living body as to give forth light, save in a few exceptional 
cases ; but it reproduces in the form of heat all that was em- 
bodied in the respiratory food ; and thus the warm-blooded 
animal may be saia to be continually rest«rii^ to the universe 
that force which the ^wing plant bad appropriated to itself. 
And, carrying the principle a little further, we may say, that 
in utilising the stores of coal which have been prepared by the 
huuriant vegetation of past ages, man is not only restoring to 
the atmosphere the carbonic acid and water of the carbonifer- 
ous epoch, but is actually reproducing and applying to hia own 
uses the light and heat which its vegetation drew &om the 
solar beams, as if for the very purpose of fixing them until he 
should find the meansof turning them toacoount. 

Looking at this matter from the stand-point afforded by the 
"correlation" doctrine, we are led to question whether the 
project of the Iii4>utan gage to extract sunbeama from cuoum' 
bers was so very chimerical after all; while we oanuot but feel 
an increased admiration of the iutuitive sagacity of that re- 
markable man Qeorge Stephenson, who was often laughed at 
for propounding, in a somewhat crude form, the very idea 
i^uch we have just been endeavouring to present under a 
more philosophical form.* — StUional BevUw, No. 8. 

BUKHDJO AND UNBURNIHG OF THE HUMAN BODY. 

Wonderful is it to reflect that every animal exists at first as a 

minute speck of matter called a germ orovum, of simplest form, 

but in which all the vital powers are already present, under 



-FnC Rimkhifl'K Jf<in<HiJ 



150 7%ityi not gmeraUy Known. 

tbeinflaenoeofwhichiiewiiutta'bennBqDicUj to be selected 
&nd taken in from arowid to fonn ue compound fluid called 
blood; and oat of this blood aftermrds aie gradiullf built i^ 
all the porta and or^ana of bone, muscle, uin, hair, eye, ear, 
Ac. which the bodj u its most perfect atate poseeases ; and 
not only are the p*rta ao built up to fiill size and atrengtb 
during the jears of growth, bnt they are leceiving oonatant 
aupport and repair (as a sbip'a crew may be preaerved vigorona 
forlOOyearsby the conatant exchanging of oldmenforTOung), 
through the long period of middle age and gradual decline ; 
and, moat wonderful of all, during the middle term of its eiiat- 
ence the body is able to throw off germs such as it was origin- 
ally itself, to continue the race through future agea. — Amott. 

Chemicallj, the human organism ia the continual subject of 
awift changes of ita compoeition in oppomte directioua ; and' 
these chan^ have been eloquentiy termed bj Dr. Qeorge Wil- 
son, " the Burning and TJnbnming of the Human Bodj." 

There is contuiual addition of matter to the body, and 
continual withdrawal of matter &om it ; but apart from thia, 
and within the ring-fence of ita own organism, a process (^ 
combustion and one the verj reverse are going on togethsr. 
Here one tissue is burning like fuel, and tbere another ia he> 
conuDg the depoaitorj of combustible matter. We have as it 
were miUions of microscopic wind-furnaces, converting into 
carbonic-acid gas, water-vapour, and other products of com- 
bustion, all the combustible elements of the body ; and mil- 
. lions of blast-fumaces reducing the atarch and sugar of the 
food, and the sulphates and phosphates of the body, into in- 
flammable olla and other fuels, which are finally transferred to . 
the wind-fumacea, and burned there. Burning, and what we 
mnst call in contradistinction urAu/rniTig, thus proceed to- 
gether ; the Same of life, like a blowpipe-flame, exhibiting an 
oxidising and & reducing action at pomts not &r distant from 
each other. 



GIBCUL^TIOIT OF UAH AND THE WBALE C< 

Those who have not considered the subject must be sur- 
prised at the quantity of blood which is propelled through the 
neart of any moderately-sized animal in the course of twenty- 
four hours. In man the quantity of blood existing in the body 
at any given moment is probably from thirty to forty pints. 
Of these an ounce and a naif, or about three tableapoonfiila, 
are aent out at every stroke, which, multiplied into seventy- 
five (the average rate of the pulse), gives 1125 ounces, or seven 
pints in a minute ; i. t. 429 pints, or nearly M gallons in an hour, 
and 1260 gallons, i.e. nearly twenty-four hogsheads, in a day. 
Now, if we recollect that the whale is said to send out frwii 



Curioiilies of Science. 151 

his heart at each stroke fifteen gallons, the imagination is orer- 
whelmed with the aggregate of the quanttt; that must paea 
through the heart of that Leviathan of the deep in twenty-four 
hours. It is a general law that the pulse of the larger animals 
is slower than that of the smaller ; but even if we put the 
pulse of the whale as low as twenty in a minute, the quantity 
circulated through the heart, calculated at fifteen gallons for 
each pulsation, will be 432,000 gcJlous, nearly eq<uil to 7000 
hogsheads, in twenty-four bouts. 

The conudeiation of this amazing quantity is, however, a 
subject of mere empty wonder, if not accompanied with the 
refleotion that, in order to produce the segregate amount, the 
heart is kept in constant motion ; and that, in fact, it is inces- , 
Kmtly beaUng, as it is termed, or throwing out the blood in 
the arteries, from the first period of our existence to the mo- 
ment of <mi death, without any Bensatioa of &tigae or eren 
without our being conscious of the process, except it be inter- 
Tupted by corporeal or mental agitation. 



F BLOOD. 

Ll NoTenber 1667. the remarkable experiment of Trans- 
fumsg the Blood of a sheep into a man was jierfonned for the 
first time in Enrinnd before the Boyal Society, at Arundel 
House, Strand. The Bnbiect was apoor student named Arthur 
Oog^, who offered himself for a guinea, which was accepted. 
The experiment was performed chiefly by Ih-, King, in his arm, 
with such dexterity and ease that Coga did not wince or make 
the least complaint, and " found himself very well upon it," 
After the operation, he drank aglassortwoof canary, and took 
a pipe of tobacco, in the i)reBence of forty or more persons. He 
then went home, and continued well. "The experiment was re- 
peated in about three weeks, when eight ounces of blood were 
taken from Coga, and about fourteen ounces of sheep's blood 
injected with equal Buocess. This gave rise to the notion that 
by transfusion might be realised the alchemical reveries of an 
elucir of life and imtuortaliiy. Some experiments of trane- 
fiision were next made upon the Continent ; but at length a 
lunatic in Paris died under the second operation, w1h(£ led 
to the immediate abolition of the process. 

This very interesting inquity has, however, been resumed 
\ij the physiologists of the present age, with the many aids of 
^e advanced state of science. Thus, recently Dr. Brown-S6- 
qnard has presented to the French Academy of Sciences a 
paper, in which he endeavours to prove the two following pro- 

Irt. That arterial orvenoDB Mood, from sniuiimal of any ono of tha 
firar olaBses vertsbratji, ooOtaining oiyg«o in sufficient quantity to be 



152 Tkingi not generally Known. 

■mrlet, ma; be iqeoted without dajiger into the T«iia of a vertebrated 
tuiimal of anyone of the (bur clasaes, provided th&t the amount of io' 
jected blood be not too aoiiBiderBblB. 2d. Arterial or Tenons blood of 
an; rertebratsd Bjiimal, being sufficiently rich ia carbonic acid to be 
almost black [noi><Wr(), cannot be injected in the Teins of a. warm- 
bioodad ftpimftT nithout producing phoucmeua of aspby^ia, aod mcwt 
frequent]; death, after Tioleot coDiulsione, provided that the quantit; 
of injected blood be not belov one five-huiniredth w^ht of the auima^ 
and ^30 that the injection bo mode not too slowly. 

Dr. Brown-S6quard states that be has tranfused iuto the 
jugular vein of dogs, without any ill effect, blood of rabbits, 
guinea-pigs, cats, cocks, hena, pigeons, ducka, turtles^ and 
tortoiseB, frogs, and eels. In rabbits and birds he baa also 
tranEfUjBed blood of other animak without any marked bad 
effect. He attributes chieflj to csrbonio acid the phenomena 
which had beeu considered as due to differences in the blood of 
Tarioua species. 

In manj communioattons to the Socifit6 do Kologie, the 
same physiologist has related focts to prove that in the esperi- 
mentB of Blundell, of Dieffenbach, and of Prevost and Dumas, 
there were many causes of failure unknown to these esperi- 
menters which have prevented them from reestablishinff li 
permanentlj in dogs bled to death, and transfused with bl, 
from animals of another species. These causes of f;ulur« we 
— Ist, that too much blood was transfused at once ; 2d, that 
the blood was not fresh ; 3d, that it did not contain oxygen 
enough, and contained too much carbonic acid. 

Dr. Brovm-Sfquatd has ascertained that even tbe blood of 
birds, defibrinated and rich in oxygen, has been able to re- 
establieh full and durable life in dogs weighing from ISlbs. to 
201bi., and having lost more than 16" oza, of arterial blood, i. t. 
more blood thaa the dogs of Blundell had lost. From 30 to 
48 grammes of bird's blood (I oz. to 1} oz.) have been sufficient 
in many cases to restore full life. 

IRON m THE BLOOD. 
Among the organismal metals, Iron ia oar excellence the 
metal, as certainly it is by the testimony of ages, industrially 
the most excellent of them all All countries have honoured 
the smith ; and he would wonder more than he does at hb own 
skill, if he realised that the iron which be hammers is ham- 
mered not merely by iron in his hand, but also by iron in his 
blood. Yet the function of this iron is so little known that, 
though statists have calculated how many railways might be 
made out of tbe blood-iron of a generation of mankind, the 
most acute and accomplished chemists tell us, to take the words 
of one, that "we are unfortunately perfectly ignorant regud- 



Curiosities of Science. 153 

ing the special uses of iron in the aninial economy." And we 
have to turn to a poet to find the reason why it is bo useful. 
Alfred Tennyson, in his Priruxsa, makes the father of his 
beroiue esclaim, when his stately daughter shows no ugns of 
relentisg towards the wounded prince, 

" I'ts heard that there is iron in tlie blood, 
And I bslieve it." 
Esoept nickel and cobalt, 1 
netic metal ; and it is more 
influence the body in virtue of its magnetism in a way c . 
non-magnetic metal could, and its magnetic condition must 
be contmnally altering. The patients of Beichehbach may 
sometimes have deceived themselves or htm, or both, when 
they declared that their Beneations were different according as 
they lay along or across the magnetic meridian ; but it is cer- 
tain that the icon in our bodies must be in a different magnetic 
condition in the opposite positions, and it is reasonable to 
Guppose that some persons may be sensitive enough to appre- 
ciate the difference. At all events, the observatioiis of Faraday 
on the magnetic condition of flesh and of Uving animals demon- 
strate that the organiaiud iron it magnelwdli/ active. We 
know also that magnetism cannot be developed without a 
rimultaneous development of electricity ; so that magnetic 
chances in the femiginous blood and flesh must be accompanied 
by electrical changes. Electricity also invariably develops 
magnetism, and we know that electrical currents are coustantlj 
traversing the muscles and other organs. Such currents will 
react on the magnetto masBea in their neighbourhood, and be 
reacted on by tnem, with a corresponding exaltation of the 
intensity alike of the electricity and the magnetism. Further, 
the pecuhor force or polarity which acts along the nerves 
resembles in many respects electrical and magnetic force. It 
is probable that all three forces or polarities powerfully influence 
each other, and that the magnetisable iron of the body is con- 
tinually taking part in such reciprocal actions. If, moreover, 
the iron in the blood-vessels, as has been suggested, becomes 
magnetic oxide at each half-revolution of the Elood, it will be 
much more magnetic at each of the great crises of the circu- 
lation than at any other period.— i)?-. <?. Wilsrra; Edinburgh 
Eaayt, 16S6. 

SERVICES OF FHOSFHOSnS TO THE EHMAlt BODY. 

The importance of Phosphorus to the human oreanism is 
shown by ite invariable presence in it r a« in the hardest bone 
and the most pulpy nerve; iDonefonn,ori-aUier series of forms, 
in the blood, m another series in the flesh-juices, in a third in 



1 54 Thing* not generally Known. 

the milk, in & foortb in the brain, and probably in other modi- 
fioations eleewhere in the organism, ana aswrciated nith all ita 
oritical chaogea. 

Limiting onr attentions to the well-known modifications of 
phosphoric acid, we maj sketch in outline how the; may render 
eervioe to the bodj, 

A child is beginiiiiig to walk, and the bones of its limbs 
must be strea^bened and hardened. Phosphoric acid accord- 
inglj carries with it three units of lime to them, and renders 
them solid and firm. But the bones of its skull must remun 
comparatively soft, and Tielding, for it has many a fall ; and the 
more elasttc those bones are, the less will it suffer when its 
head strikes a hard object, so that in them we ma; suppoae the 
phosphoric acid to retain but two unite of lime, and to form 
a so^r, less conustent solid And the cartilages of the ribs 
must be still more supple and elastic, so that in them the phos- 
phoric acid may be supposed to be combined with but one unit 
of base, as the uncrystalline, gelatinous metaphospbate.* On 
the other hand, its teeth must be harder than its hardest bone^ 
and a new demand is made on the lime-phosphateH to asaociate 
themselves with other lime-salts (eBpecially fiuoride of calcium), 
to form the cutting edses and grinding faces of the incisors 
and molars. All the while also the blood must be kept alka- 
line, that oxidation of the tissues may bo promoted and albu- 
men retained in solution; and yet it must not be too alkaline, 
or tissues and albumen will both be destroyed, and the carbonic 
acid developed at the systemic capillaries will not be exchanged 
for oxygen, when the blood is exposed to that gas at the lungs. 
So phosphoric acid provides a salt containing two units of soda 
and one of water, which is sufficiently alkaline to promote 
oxidation, dissolve albumen, and absorb carbonic acid; and 
yet holds the latter so loosely, that it instantly exchanges it 
for oxygen, when it encounters that gas in the pulmonary ca- 
pillaries. Again, the flesh-juice must be ^ept acid (perhaps, as 
suggested, in electro-polar opposition to the alkalinity of the 
blood, as afifecting the transmission of the electrical currents 
which are now known to traverse the tissues) ; and phosphoric 
acid provides a salt, containing two units of water and one of 
potasn, which secures the requisite acidity. Further, in some 
of the serous and other liquids of the body, a changeable salt 
is required; and for this phosphoric acid provides, by com- 

• Ton Bibn hu male Ibe bennUfal obierrmllon lliit thoH boneg Thleh tn 

the nwna or Mraplng blrdi, the femur cootiiloe the lirgeilquenllly of phoe- 
pheu of limf : tn the gnUetore^ or wado™. (be tibl»; ud in aU other Wnli tha 
bnmenia^LduaHin'ii'^trtriteffaalCTmMif, Chw»iJriSae.g»ciM.TOI.I. 



Ctiriosities of Science. 



^ with soda, ammonia, and water, to produce 

vhich ia alkaline ir "" '"*■ — "" ' — *■ ' ■* 

easily-lost volatile amm< 

FOBMATION OF SOHE. 

.. . Bomt baa r 

coarser and more ^laatio material, so the first buBinesg of the 
artericB ia to prepare a model of the future bone, oonatructed, 
not with the same material of which it ia afterwarda to couaist, 
but with another of a simpler and softer naturo, namelj car- 
tjlago. In proportion as the bbrio is enlarged, the necessity 
for mechanical support increases, and stronger provision must 
be made for resistance to external violence. The removal of 
the cartilage maj be compared to the taking down of the scaf- 
fblding which had been erected for the intended building. But 
this B^ffolding is not taken down at once; each part is carried 
away piece bj piece, as the operation of fixing in their position 
the D^msand pillars of the edifice proceeds. The way is cleared 
at first by the absorption of the central part of the cartilage, 
and a few particles of oasiSc matter are deposited in ite room. 
The arteries then enlarge, and depoait granulea of calcareous 
phosphate, which are laid down, particle oy particle, in regular 
lines, so as to form continuous fibres, which bein^ orossed and 
connected, unite from different cen^s, not indiscriminately, 
but by definite laws. Bach distinct hone is formed horn a 
certain number of ossific centres, which unite as if by a natural 
affinity appertaining to that bone only, and not extending to 
the a<ljacent bonea. 

• Dr. Georgs Wilion (SifniuvA Euasi, IBKi, from irhoie aWklng p«iwr on 
" CheiDlul Final Cwh9>' tbo above ts qaoted,— (t»n his aim nsulU, taitboB 









156 Hiiagt not generaUy Known. 

THE USE OF SALIVA. 

Pt. BcDce Jones conudera " the a«tioii of Saliva upon the 
starch we take as food is umilar to that of a femteat, and 
causes it to undergo a change into si^ar. If ;ou take a portion 
of pure starch, and hold it in the mouth for only two miuates, 
jou fxa obtain distinct and derided traces of sugar. If ;ou 
take a solution of starch not treated with saliva, and employ 
the test for sugar (sulphate of copper and liquor potassee), yon 
have no reduction of the oxide of copper; but in the other 
mixture of starch and water, which has been held in the mouth 
for two minutes only, you may see distinctly a beautiful red 
line of reduced copper, the evidence of the presence of sugar. 
If the starch is left in the mouth for three minutes, a still 
more manifest action is apparent ; and if it remains there five 
minutes, there is a distinct mass of reduced copper, which is 
proportioned to the quantity of sugar formed out of the starch." 

THE DISESTtVE PKOCESS. 

The solution of the food by the gastric juice is a chemi- 
cal operation, and the gastric juice is a chemical agent, the 
exact nature of which is clearly ascertained. Spallanzani dis- 
covered this juice to be of an acid nature, and Dr. Front 
E roved this acid to be the muriatic. If meat and gastric juice 
e enclosed in a glass tube, and kept at the temperature of the 
human body, a product is obtained closely resembling the fluid 
formed by the solution of the food in the stomach. If meat 
be enclosed in a glass tube with dilute muriatic acid, and kept 
at the temperature of the blood, a perfectly similar product is 
obtained. 

The muriatic acid constituting the essential ingredient of 
the gastric juice is conceived to be derived by an act of secre- 
tion from common salt (muriate of soda), contained in the 
blood. The alkali, the base of the salt, is ret^ned in the blood 
to maintain the alkaline condition essential to its healthy con- 
stitution ; while the acid is hberated, and poured, in the form 
of gastric juice, into the atomach, to accomplish the solution 
of the food. 

A remarkable opportunity of obserroig the process of di- 
gestion actually in progress in the human stomach presented 
itself, many years since, to Dr. Beaumont, of the United States, 
b^ examining and experimenting upon one St. Martin, a Caaa- 
dian, with an orifice in his stomach, occasioned by a gun-shot 
wound at an early period of his life, and which never healed, 
although the surrounding parts cicatrised readily. 

Dr. Beaumont found £e inner coat of the stomach to be of n 
light or pale pink colour, varying in its hues according as it 



Curiosities of Science. 157 

was full or empty. It had a soft or Telvet-like appearance, 
aod waB constantly covered with & thin, transparent, viBcid 
nrncus, Becceted from small oial-ebaped glandukr bodies be- 
neath the mucous coat. When aliment or other irritants 
were applied to the inner coat of the Btomaoh, there were Been, 
with a magnifying-glasB, innumerable minute lucid points, and 
very fine nervoue and vaBcular papiUse arising from the Til- 
lona membrane, and protrudius; through the mucous coat, and 
from which distilled a pure, hmpid, colourless, and slightly 
viscid fluid. This fluid is uways distinctly acid, and is the 
gastric juice which converts the food into chyme. Dr. Beau- 
noDt regards, with much probability, the sensation of hunger 
as occasioned by a distension or repletion of the gastric veseelB, 
which cannot discharge their contents till the stomach is irri- 
tated with food. When the food was phkced in the gastric 
juice taken out of the stomach, the same checnical resiSt was 
obtained, it being kept at the temperature of 100" Fahren- 
heit, which Dr. Beaumont found to be that of the stomach. 
This artiScial digestion, however, occupied a period two or 
three times longer than when the gastric juice acted upon the 
same materials in the stomach. 

Dr. Beaumont has published the times in which varions 
articles of food are digested. A full meal of various articles of 
food was digested in from three hours to three hours and 
a half I bat when the stomach was diseased, or affected by 
narcotics, or when the mind was agitated by anger, or other 
Strong emotions, or when the food was taken in large masses, 
the time of digestion was prolonged ; while, on the contrary, 
it was shortened when the food had been minutely divided and 
mingled with sahva, and when the temperature of the stomach 
wae raised. The following is the time required for the chjmi- 
fication of various food, as determined by Dr. Beaumont : 

Venison-BteaJc, broiled , . 1 36 Egg", fresh, hard boiled 

SiicMug-pig, roasted . . 2 80 or fried 3 30 

Lamb, fresh, boiled . , . 2 30 Trout (salmon), fresh, boU- 

Bfiet-Bteak, boiled ... 3 ed 1 30 

HuttoD, fresh, boiled ..30 Cod-Gsh, cnired, dr;, boiled 2 

FMk-steak, boiled ... 3 15 FlouDders, fr^sh, fried . . 3 30 

Veal, fresh, boiled ...id galmOD, salted, boiled ..40 

Beef,old,hBrd,salted,boiled4 16 Oysters, fresh, raw . . . 2 66 

Tripe, souseii, boiled ..10 OjateiB, freali, roasted . 3 15 

Bnuiu, animal, boiled . . 1 45 Oysters, fresh, steteed . . 3 BO 

liver of the oi, freah, boiled 2 Oyster-soup 3 30 

%«, whipped, raw , . 1 30 Butter, melted ... . 3 30 

%ga, freeh, raw . . ..20 Mutton-auet, boiled . . 4 30 

^gs, fresb, roasted . . 2 16 Beef-9uet, fresh, boiled . 6 EO 

^B, fresh, soft boiled or Cheese, old, strong, raw . 3 30 

fried 3 CalfWootieily, boiled . I D 



T^tngs not generally Known, 



Tendon, boiled . . 
Turkey, boiled . . 
Turkey, roaitod 
Qeese, wild, roasted 
Chicken, fuU-growu, f 






Fowls, boiled ai 
Duok, roasted . 
Kioe, boiled 



Dumpliug, ft] 
Bread, wheat 



St. Martin ma still liTing, in 1868, when Dr. F. S. Smith, 
of Feno^lvBnia CoU^e, made certain experiments with a view 
of settling some undetermiDed questions relating to the pb;- 
siological action of the stomach, particular]; that of the nature 
of the acid contained' in the gnstko juice ; the analfsea beiiw 
made upon the fiuids obtained from the Canadian's stomal 
while d^estion was in profess. 

In every instance, and with all kinds of food employed, the 
reaction of the fluid of digestion was distinctlj acid to litmuS' 
paper ; while that of the empty stomach (as shown by the in- 
tTMUction of test-papers through the orifice), and of the fluid 
obtained by mechanical irritation, was as mstinotly neutral. 
The temperature of the stomach while digestion was in pro- 
gress was about 100" Fahrenheit ; when empty, about 98°. 
The general conclusions, from a number of eiperiments, are : 

1. That the eecretiona of the atamach, when digeatlDg, are inTari- 
ably acid. 2. That the aotd reacdon was not das to the presence of 
phosphorio acid. 3. That if hydrochloric (muriatio) add wu present, , 
it was in very siuall quontitias. 4. That the m^n agent in pnidudng 
the oharaetwietic reaction was laetie add, 

Br. Harley, in a paper read to the British Association at 
Leeds in 18SS, considers that the gastric juice does not de- 
stroy the power possessed by the saSva of tmnstbrming starch 
into sugar J consequentlr the digestion of amylaceous food is 
continued in the stomacn. The gastric juice has also the pro- 
perty of changing cane into grape sugar. 

From eiperiments it haa been found that the gastrio juice 
is prevented from digesting the living stomach by the coating of 
mucus which covers its w^. Wherever this mucus is absoit, 
the gastric juice attacks the walls of the living stomach, and 
dissolves them, causing perforations and death. Aa regards tbs 
bile, it seems that this secretion takes an active part in render- 
ing the &tty matters of our food capable of being absorbed 
into the system. 

The most curious of all the digestive fluids, however, is the 
pcoKreaiic ucretion, for it unites in itself the properties of all 
the others. It not only transforms starch and other substances 
into sugar, but it emulsions &t and even digests protein com- 
ponnds. As a remedy in indigestion, pawrecUwie should be ■ 



Curiosities of Science, 159 

greUlj superior to pepiin, which can only dizeat one kind of 
food, namely protein. With pancsieatine we Ebould be able to 
digest any kind of food j and when obtained in a state of 
puri^, it muBt prove an invaluable boon to suffering humanity. 
When jDep«in is introduced into the stomach, at the time oi 
taking food, Uie operations of nature will be facilitated,* Now 
pepsin has been prepared from the rennet-b:^ used in making 
cheese. It ia a syrupy solution, which, l^ing mised with 
sUrch and dried, forms a grayish powder, and is either used 
hj itself or mixed with reagents which do not affect its diges- 
tive properties. Thus prepared, pepsin can be taken either in 
water or between slices of bread ; and aoGordiog to Dr. Ballard, 
who has introduced it into London practice, it is capable til 
replenishing the gastrio juice of the human body. Among the 
cases recorded by Dr. Ballard is that of a lady, sixty-six yeara 
of age, who for tonr years had suffered great pain for three or 
four hours after every meal. The natural coneequences were 
excessive prostration and complete disgust for food ; and she 
had for many weeks limited herself to four rusks and a little 
milk and beef-tea per diem. The first daypepain was used she 
ate and enjoyed a mutton-chop ; in a few days she ate tieely, 
and gradually improved ; and at length was able to give up the 
pepun entirely, to eat without pain, and to walk some miles 
without fatigue. 

THE LAW OF HOBTALITT. 

If we relied upon our reason alone (says Mr. A. Smee), we 
should be led to suppose that a mechanism which had the 
power of self-repair, and which had the power of self -feeding, 
would last for ever ; for we should fail to perceive by wHat 
means it could possibly stoir. With r^pect to the mechanism 
of animals, including man himself, of the largest communities, 
one after another succumbs to death ; for of children bom 
certainly not more than one in ten thousand lives to a hun- 
dred ; and of those who attun t6 the advanced age of a cen- 
tury, as certainly not more than one in twenty thousand has 
his Ufe prolonged to ISO : consequently, not more than one 
child out of twenty millions lives to the latter age. 

By Qompertz's law of mortality, the sum of all the people 
who have as yet lived upon the earth, does not warrant the 
expectation of an individual attaining the greatest age which 
history actuall;y reveals as having been reached ; hence mathe- 
matical reasoning upon increasms numbers might lead as to 
infer that man is really immorta^ and death but accidental. 
To medical science, however, death appears as inevitable as 
growth ; and as the child is developed from the boy and grows 

• LteblK biIdUIiii tlikt papBln li ooUiliig man thui ■ portloii otpiuoiia 
■iMiiibna«,or«f glDleo, In • lUM of dsanapeeftlga. 



TTiingt not generally Known, 



to the mui, so the man in hia turn aa certainly retrognde* to 
senility and death. We may assume that we are horn with 
the seeds of death, and that death Is aa natural to man aa his 
growth and development. I have watched with inteusitj of 
feeling my aged patients passing without disease from manhood 
to death ; and whilet, as the result of my observations, it is 
merely accidental whether the retrogression takes place more 
rapidly in one organ thananother, it is clear that death itself is 
not an accidental, but a normal result, neither to be averted by 
medicine nor parried by the mode of life. Viewing age is this 
light, the physician must not expect much from his skill, when 
he attempts to ward off a result which we are designed from 
birth to suffer. Nevertheless, health may be secured and life 
prolonged by care and the strictest attention to phyucal laws. 
The conditions of health should be rigorously followed. 
All external agencies, especially heat, should be duly regulated, 
and the diet snould be most carefully adjusted to the power of 
digestion and the requisite amount of food. When age, unac- 
companied with disease. Gets in, the appetite gradually and in- 
creasingly fails, nutrition and assimilation gradually lessen; and 
the capacity to generate foroe and heat diminishes. At last, ner- 
vous power fails, and the patient silently passes into the sleep 
of death. To this end is man bom, and must submit ; for as 
sure as the endogenous tree grows itself to death, so does man, 
by virtue of some changes in his organisation, cease to evince tiie 
powers of health, and finally of life. — &i'et on, Oaieral DtUHLy 
and Defecti'iie NiarUion. 

TELUTI IN AftnAKinr. 

The wonderful cycle of organic life in which the oongli- 
tuents of the atmosphere are made to pass through one Uving 
body after another, and are at last restored to it in their pris- 
tine state, is conveniently presented to the observation of every 
one in the Aquaria, now the &shionable ornaments of our draw- 
ing-rooms. 

Every self-sustaining Aquarium ought to include three kinds 
of living beings, namely, plants, vegetable-feeding animals, and 
carnivorous animals. Thus, in a fresh-wat«r tank we may have 
vallisneria, water-snails, and gold-fish ; in a marine tank, some 
of the grass-green sea-weeds, anemonies, phytophagoua gas- 
teropods, and Dlenuies or gobies. The plants will thrive in son- 
light on the carbonic acid and ammonia diffused through Uie 
water; invisible diatoms too will increase and multiply at the 
expense of the same materials; the anemones and the moUusks 
will support themselves on the vegetable diet thus prepu«d for 
them; tneir eggs and young serve to sustain the predaceoos 
iah ; and while the plants are continuallj imparCiui; fresb oz;^ 



Curiotities of Science, 



gen to the atmoapbere of the tanfc, this is as cunatantlj con- 
Eumed bj the animal inhabitants, which are restoring to the 
water during their whole Uvea the carbonic add and ammonia 
of which the plants deprived it. — Natioiud Memetn, No. 8. 

THE SOIL, TEE PLANT, AND THE ANIMAL. 

How much stronger at eveiy step becomes the likeness be- 
tween the Soil, the Plant, and the Animal t how much closer 
their connection ! how much more indissoluble the nnioa that 
Idnda them together ! 

Wben drj bone is burned, the asb that remains behind 
amounts to two-thirds of its weight, and cooNsta almost en- 
tirelr of phosphates of lime and magneua^ which are so abun- 
danUj present in the ash of different vanetics of grain. Thia 
hont-eartk, as it is called, must exist in the soil. Tbo plant 
dnws it irom the earth by its roots. The cow eata it with 
the herbage she crops from the fields, and parts with it 
again in the milk she produces to feed her young.' The calf 
sucks the milk, and works up the phosphates it contaiua into 
the form of living bones, adding daily to their size and weight. 
Without bone our present races could not exist. It forma the 
skeleton to which the softer parts are attached, and by which 
they are supported; but the life of the animal being at an end, 
the function of the bone as a living thing is discharged. It 
&jls to the earth, and new plants take up its phosphates again, 
to send them forward on a new mission into the stomachs of 
other Uving and growing animals. How beautiful is all this 1 
~Jforth BrUiah Meviea, No. 6. 

THE ANIMAL ANS VEGETABLE COMPASEQ. 
The dependence of the Animal and Tegetable kingdoms 
one upon the other, as well as their ant^nism, may be seen 



in AHUAL is on ^paratuB of A Veoetablb U an sppaiSitas ol 

CouBcsnoH. Seduction. 

Burnt Uarbon, Stduea Carbcm, 

HydiogeD, Hj'drogeD, 

Fixtt Carbonio Acid, 
Water. 
Oxide of Ammonium, 



Things not generally Known. 



'form onant, 
Ai Dtiiwnir mat 



CoHiuma Oifgea, Proditea Oiygon, 
Prot^, Protein, 

fat*. Fata, 

Btarch, Starch, 

Sugar, Suet, 

Producf Heat, Abtorit Heat. 

Electridty. Abttratti Electricit;. 

Hatortt ita elements to ths air or Diriva its elemeati boja the air 
earth. or from the earth. 

rraiHforBu miiwrai matters into 
OTganie matters, 

LIFE OF THE PLANT AND TEE ANIUAL. 

Vegetable food cont^s a larg« proportion of starch or 
gum, while in the body of the *"'""'l tbeee substances are 
whaUj wanting. What becomes of the stHrch when eaten t 
Why does it erist so abundantly in plants t What purpose 
does it serve in the animal economy t Agam, all animala 
breathe. They inhale atmospheric air, containing one two- 
thoueand-five-nundredth part of carbonic acid; and they ex- 
hale an air containing from one to four or five hmdredlk parts 
of the eame gas. In other worda, the living animal is cod- 
Btnntlj discharging carbon into the air, in the form of carbonic 
acid. Whence is this carbon derived \ What part of the food 
Bupphes it I 

The starch and sugar of the food supply the carbon Z ~ 
respiration. The leaves of plants take in carbon from thsji*"^. 
in the form of carbonic acid, that it may be converted int. "*-; 
starch and other analagoiu compounds of which their substance 
consists. The digestive organs of animals undo the work of 
the leaves, and their lungs return the same carbon to the air, 
iu the same gaseous form of carbonic acid. That which enters 
the stomach in the form of starch escapes from the lungs in 
the form of carbonic acid and wateiy vapour. Thus, in an- 
other way, are animal and vegetable Hie connected, and again 
they play as it were into each other's hands. And it is beanti- ' 
ful to consider, that while the plant and the animal appear 
thus to be woAing contrary to each other, they are in reality 
producing each what is neceeeary to the existence of the other, i 
and perform each its allotted part in maintaining the existing 
bahince or stability of things. The round of animal and T^^- 
table life may be regarded as a little episode in the history of 
natiu«. The system of the ioauimate universe is complete of 
itself. The doid matter of the globe is comparatively little 
affected by the existence of life. A small portion of it is, for 
a time, worked up into vegetable and animiU forms, and then 
returns agiun to the earS as it was. But what a beautj, 

- 



Curiosities of Science. 



thoogii tianBieutj does this poetij of life impart to tlie face of 
natore, clothing it with Terdore, and peopling it with moving 
and graceful forms ! What a broad field has it afforded for 
the exercise of the Creator's skill and bounty 1 Again, all the 
four classeB of subataacea contained in vegetables appear equally 
important to the animal With none of them can it SBfely dis- 
pense. The starch is necessary to supply the wants, so to 
spwik, of the respiration ; the gluten to build up the substance 
of the muscles ; the Jat to lubricate the joints, to round off the 
extremities of the bones, to fill up the cellular tissue, and to 
enable the muscles to play freely among each other ; while the 
saline and earthy constituents of the plant yield the salts of 
the blood and other animal fluids, ami the earthy phosphates 
and carbonates of the bones. — EAiiAurgh Beview, So. 163. 

SELECTIVE POWEE OE OEGANISMS. 

Both Plants and Animals (says Dr. George Wilson, who 
has beautifully illustrated this subject) are found to reject sub- 
stances 'which are in abundance about them, and to appropri- 
ate others which are scantily provided by nature and can only 
be very slowly accumulated, even in iaTourable circumstances. 
A hmd plant, for example, finds in the soil which supports it 
much of the earth or oxide alianina, and very little of tho 
alkalies potash and soda ; ^et it totally refuses to take any of 
the ahunina, while it untinngly searches for and absorbs the 
alkalies, or dies if it cannot iind them. A graminivorous 
animal finds in its food much silica, yet, with the exception of 
very Uttle in the hmr, and mere traces elsewhere, silica is ab- 
sent from all its structures. On tho other hand, it finds in its 
food very little phosphate of lime, but it appropriates the 
whole of it, expending it on the nutrition of every tissue, hut 
cspedally in constructing its bones. 

If we had the means of comparing the weight of an ele- 
phant's tusk (say of. 160 lbs.) with the tons of vegetable matter 
which the ""'rnnl had to devour, and the hundredweights of 
silica which it had to reject, before it obtained a sufficient 
amount of phosphate of lime to form the ivory of a single 
tooth, we should have a startling proof that there is no neces- 
sary connection between the quantity of taw material offered 
to an organism and the quantity of that material appropri- 
ated by it. In every botamc garden we see plants requiring 
very different, kinds of food growing side by side, and living 
on the same boU, from which each plant sdects for itself ex- 
actly nhat it requires. 

A still more striking example of selective action is afforded 
by the plants and animals which simultaneously develop them- 



164 Thing* not generally Known. 

Belves from the sune medium, such aa the seft. In any roc^ 
pool, when the tide is out. and in evei^thTinii^ drawing-room 
aquarium, one maj find the graceful [dantB which we c&ll sea' 
weeds upping from the mii^led waters their daily fiaddontil 
dose of iodine ; housed sea-snuls snoking from it carbonate of 
lime from tiieir shells ; restlees fishes extracting from it phos- 

5 hate of time to strengthen their bones ; and mf-like sponges 
ipping BuooeBafoUr into it for silica to distend the months of 
their filters. , 

Thus no creatura is a fortuitons course of atoms. Each is 
as definite and oonst&nt in its chemical oompositioa as it is in 
its mechanical struotute or its eitemal form. A bird does not 
more certunlj in snccessivo generations inatinctiTelj build its 
nest in the same waj than, Irom the first moment of its em- 
bryonic life, it unconsdoufily builds its own body out of the 
eame matcriidB, gathering lime to its bones, iron to its blood, 
and silica to its feathers. 

In thu wBj, throtuh unnumbered centuries, each tribe of 
oi^anisms has from the period of its creation followed in its 
structui&l development a chemical formula of oompoeition, 
which in the same species is constant, within narrow limits, 
for every one of its members ; so that each plant and animal 
bns a chranical as well as an anatomical individoali^. — On 
C^emkal I'mal Cauttt; Edinivrgh Etiayty 18SS. 

DSE OF PLAHTB IN THE ECONOHZ OF KATtlBE. 

That the office of plants in the economy of the world is not 
BO much to porify the air for animal a as to supply them with 
nourisbment, may be argued from the nature of the operation 
in which oxygen gas is liberated by vegetables. Plants take 
carbonic acid, water, &o. from the air, and decompose then, 
giving back to the atmosphere a part of the oxygen; while 
the^ transform the rest of the materials into vegetable fabri^ i 
or into vegetable products (mostly the prepared materials of | 
vegetable mbric). The raw materials used contain more oxygen 
than the vegetable matter produced fixini t^cm does. The ear- j 
plus oxygen has to be eliminated, and is therefore ^veu off in I 
a fiee state, which appears to be the essential thing here ;— 
the formation of vegetable &bric, or of organic matter, hj 
which alone the plant can grow, form its parts, and conanos 
to exist ; or the evolution of the oxygen gas necessarily si 
rated in the prooess, and which has to be got rid ot 

SEETIOES OF NTTBOGEII TO PLANTS. 

There are almost cpimtless compounds contained in ni 

-en which are capable of being dissolved by water. Somi 



Curiosities (^Science, 165 

these descend from the air with the fiillmg rain, aome exist 
in the waters of oiu Bprings, some in the manurea we add to 
the land, and some are formed during the decaj of the vege- 
table matter in the soiL These enter into the roots, and no 
doubt supply a Tsriable proportion both of carbon and nitrogen 
to the KTOWing plant. And lastly, OTer the whole surface of 
the globe, wherever animal and v^etable substances are under- 
going slow decomposition, there b a constant tendency to the 
production of nitnc acid ; and in the air, whenever the light- 
nine flashes, it is formed in minute quantity from the elemeats 
of the air itseli We cannot tell how much of this acid is ooa- 
tinuallj produced in nature, but it must be very great, and it 
may suelj, we think, be regarded, in the general vegetation of 
the globe, as one of the main forms of combination in which 
nitrogea enters into the circulation of living plants. — £din' 
bwghBatUv, "Sa. 163. 

Another writer observes : " We inay say that the nitro- 
genous constituents of plants embody a high degree of force, 
which is destined ultimately to manifest itself in the sensible 
motions of animals. And it is a curious confirmation of this 



chemicoTforce ; all those /!nn«n^ which have so remarkable a 
power of exciting chemical changes in other compounds, being 
members of this group. '' — Natvmal Beview, No. 8 

SILICEODS EPntEBUIS 07 FLAKTS. 

Sir Humphry Davy's first scientific discovery was the detec- 
tion of siliceous earth in the epidermis of the cannn, reeds, 
and grasBes. A child iiad acoidentally noticed the emission 
of a mnt light when two pieces of bonnet-cane were rubbed 
ti^ether. On examining the fact, Bavy ascertained that on 
Btriking the pieces together vivid sparks were produced, simi- 
lar to those emitted by the coiUeion of flint and steeL Dav^ 
observes of this very beautiful disooverj, in Lectara on Agn^ 
calfural CAtmittrf/, that " the siliceous epidermis serves aa a 
Eupport, protects the bark from the action of insects, and sarves 
to perform a part in the ecqnomy of these feeble v^etable 
tribes similar to that performed in the animal kingdom by the 
shell of the cruataceoua insects."— WeWs flwioTy of the Royal 



ITiingi not generally Known. 



Cftnnistcs of JFoolr. 



VALUE OF NITBOGEN. 
The nutritiTe propertieB of Nitrogen have been greatly over- 
rated, Magendte snyB : " It is true that alimentotj Buhetances 
-which contain little or no mtrogen are not nutritive ; but to 
conclude, as Ib often done, that the proportion of nitrogen con- 
tained in one element gives ezacth- its nutritive power, ia to 
greatlv exceed the truth deduced aom the experiments which 
Mve been made on this point of physiolc^. Many highlj 
nitrogenous substances are not nutridoua" 

HOW AHDULS GBOW FAT. 

Iiiebig, felluig to discover sufficient oilv matter in the food 
coDBumed by animals to account for their &t, maintained that 
this Buhstauce, which merely conidBtB of drops of oil surrounded 
h J a delicate auimal membrane, in most instances resulted trom 
the changing in the sj^stem of starch and sugar into oil. It ^tds 
difficult to prove this, however neceBsary the inierence ; but at 
last an experiment of MUne-Edwards set the matter at rest. 
He confined some bees in a glass vessel, and gave them only 
sugar to eat. In the course of a few days, although tjiey h^ 
•">( increased or decreased in weight, they had consmued a 



sugar. The power possessed by the animal ^tem of convert- 
ing sugar into fat seems perfectiy analogous with thie in the bee 
of converting sugar into wax. 

-WHAT IS THE TTOKTH OF GELATINE ? 

In the animal body is found a substance called Qelatine, 
which is to its existence what cellulose is in the vegetable 
kingdom. Although often taken into the system with animal 
food, cspeoiallj in soups and jellies, from experiments made in 
France and Belgium there appears to be no evidence to show 
that Oelatine is used in forming any of the proteinaceoos tie- 
BueB of the body ; at the same time it is not impro^ble that 
the Qelatine may be appropriated for renewing the gelatinous 
portions of the tissues, which are very extensive in the animal 



Curiorities of Science, 167 

body. Hence, fdthough Gelatine is not nutritious in the Benee 
of nouriahiiig the actively vital parts of tlie body, it ma; assist 
ia keeping up certain parts of the fi,l)ric- It need not, then, bo 
r^ected irom our fooi ; but it cannot be too widely known, 
tmtt, as the basis of soups and jellies, it may be administered 
under the auppOBitiou of being nutritious, and thus lead, if 
used alone in diet, to disastrous results. 

HOW THE BODY IS NOUEISHED BY FOOD. 
The food oongumed by man produces two, and only two, 
effects necessary to his existence. These are, first, to supply 
fairo with that animal heat without which the functions of lifi! 
would stop ; and secondly, to repair the waste constantly 
taking place in his tissues, that is, in the mechanism of liis 
frame. For each of these separate purposes there is a separate 
food. The temperature of our body is kept up by substances 
which contain no nitrogen, and are called uon-azotiaed ; the 
incipi(9it decay in our organism is repaired by what are knowu 
as azotised substances, in which nitrogen is dwajs found. In 
tite former case the carbon of non-azobised food combines with 
the oiyaen we take in, and gives rise to that internal com- 
bustion by which our animal neat is renewed, lu the latter 
case, nitrogen having little affinity for oxygen,* the nitroge- 
nous or azotised food is as it were guarded agaimt combus- 
tion, and bein^ thus preserved, is able to perform its dnty of 
repairing the tissues, and supplying those losses which the hu- 
man organism constantly sufiers in the wear and tear of daily 
life. 

VEGETABLE A»D ANmAL FOOD. 
As a sect has arisen of persons who deny the propriety of 
man's taking animal food, it may be well to examine the evi- 
dence on which bis claim to be regarded as a flesh animal rests. 
We shall dismiss the sentimental objection that life ought not 
to be taken as unworthy of serious refutation, as every one 
must feel that for carnivorous animals to prey upon lower ani- 
mals is a natural law. 

First, ttie eiporjence o( the rooss and natiooa of men who partake 
of aniinal food is decidedlj in its faraur. AmODgst the northera and 
European nations this practice Is UDiTorsal ; and it ia precisely among 
these people that we see the greatest amount of physical power and 
moral and intellectual dCTClopment existing; whilst those mdividuals 

tioa for oxygeo; nod whAt Is giiU more remarhAble, It deprives all combustible 
elameDtH wllh which it cdmblTie^ to a greBtar or leasextenttOfthe powerof 

Letltri m Chaaiury. 



168 Thing* not generally Known. 

who nrtake moat larnljr or axolmivelv of b vsgelnbla di«t uo BlQce 
pbynsally, loMlsctualfy, and moral]; dsgndad. Aguu, amoDg tluMO 
cImbm wluiget th« leurl animal looa.MmlM in tluiHptilJio establiali- 
menta whers meat la onlr qiarlD^ allowed, mortality la greatsR, oral 
dueaaeia moat lift. ThediMaaamMtcamtiii>Dl;naentedbysu«icla- 
^valy T^^etabla di«t la aoiofula, and when bwwable to tiiia oanae, tfae 
moat (poady remedr i* the addiUoii of atdmal (bod to the dieL And 
there is no lutgeDU or iilu>didaii ooanaoted with the great medical oho- 
~"ho( thU oomitrr but has, unibrtDiuitely, ample oppartoiiitiea of 
' ig- the ill eraola of a ve^relable diet, and the beueSt in aooh 



ngtlM- -„ 

.terofiTBai ^ 

man digealiUe 



it baaaiao baeDtoand, not alone ua matter offraaaral penonali 
.-, i... t_ i.___^ .. : . ..1.1 — ■— -J if^ iamra"" " — "' 



through a gun-ihot wound neTer healed, placed various kinds of food 
In the atomaoh, and waa thus enabled to asoert^n how long each re- 
quired to dinat; and it waatoond that the Aeah of uiimali waa mooh 
more diaeaUble than any of the mors uutriticnn forma of vaKstable food, 
aa bread, and the preparationa of flour. (8tt atit, p. 1S7.) 

1o thia oridence may be added that on eiamin&tion of the 
organs in man, it will be found that they are a true mixture of 
thou of the vegetable-feeding and camiToroua aniinalB. Hia 
t«eth are parti)' adapted for grinding, whilst some of them an 
mpplied with tlie sharji projectione which are characteristio of 
the camivora, thus evidently adapting them for the nuutioa- 
tion of both vegetable and animal food. A slight lateral move- 
ment of the lower jaw with the up-and-down action is espieB- 
dve of the subserviency of his structure to a mixed diet. In 
the atomaoh also we find indications of the same intermediate 
position in its structure ; and the same conclusion is forced 
upon us, that it is part of the apparatus of an animal intended 
for Buhueting upon a diet composed of animd and vogetabti^ 
substances, —^6rHfy«i/nn» Dr. Laniitier'i LOUri on D%a, 

HUTBIUENT IN APPLES. 

Chemical rasearohes by Mr. J, E. Salisbury, of Albany, show 
that good varieties of the Apple are richer in those bodies which 
Btrictty go to nourish the system tiian potatoes are ; or, in 
other words, to form muscle, brain, nerve, and, in short, as^ 
in sustaining and building up the organic part of all the tiaaoM 
of the animal body. 

HOW TO MABE BREAD OUT Or WOOD. 

Dr. Front has clearly proved that all the chief alimentaiy 
matters employed by man may be reduced to three classes, vii. 
Bocchariue, oily, and albuminous Hubstancee, the moat perfect 
apecimens of which are respectively sugar, butter, and the 
"hite of eggs. The saccharine prinoipS includes the vege- 

•w, comprehending all those substances, whatever tbfflr 



Ctiriotitiei of Science, 



Benrabie properties ma; be, into the composition of which hy- 
drogen Qiid oxjgea enter in the proportion in which thej form 
mter, — for example, the fibre ofwood, which chemistB call lig- 
nine, that is, the nutritive i)ropert7 of the wood; fibre ; and 
by means of skilful manipulation, Professor Autenth of Tubin- 



was removed by maceration and boiling ; the wood v 
reduced to fibres, dried in an oven, and ground as oorn, wnen 
it bad the taste and smell of oom-flour. Water and the sour 
leaven of corn-flour were then added, to make a spongy bread, 
which, being baked, had much crust and a much better taste 
than what in times of scarcity is prepared &om bran and husks 
of corn. Wood-flour also, boiled in water, forms a nutritious 
jelly; the Professor also ate it in the form of gruel or soup, 
dmnplings, and pancakes, which were palatable and wholesome. 
Professor Brande, in his ZecttiTa, thns records an analogo" " 



been made of this substance ; indeed, before me is a specimen 
of such bread imported from Sweden. Seeing the close re- 
lation between the composition of starch and lignine, the con- 
vernon of the latter into bread does not appear so remarkable. 
I cannot say mucb, however, in &vour of the bread; indeed, 
the quality of all such spedmens from a umilar Bonrce which 
have ooms under my notice has been very poor." 



In a discuadon bv the French Academy respecting the grave 
yet apparentlv nmple question, why Bread becomes stale, M. 
Bonssingault has hud down that staleness is not, as is generally 
sapposed, caused by the proportion of water diminishmg j but 
anses from a molecular state, which manifests itself durmg the 
cooling, becomes afterWarda developed, and persists as long as 
the temperature does not exceed a certain limit. M. Th6nard 
mwntains that staleness is caused by bread being a hydrate 
which heat softens, but to which a lower temperature gives 
more consiBtency. 

VALVE OF BICE AS 700D. 



tains an enormous proportion of starch (from 83 '8 to 86*07 per 
cent), and yields to the labourer an average return of at least 
sixty-fold. 



Thingt not generally/ Knoum. 



IHPBOTED BUTTEB-HAEINa. 

It has been asoertained hj experiment in America, that if 
at the exact moment when the butter beeina to aepaiate fiwn 
the creaiD, more cream is gadatilj added, the churn continu- 
ing to be briskly worked, the effect will be magical, and the 
yiSd of butter immediate. If, however, the fresh oreBm be 
poured in toe fast, it vrill atop the prooess; and it will not 
answer to let the agitation cease for an instant. 

WHAT IS THE WOBTH OF CHEESE ? 

Although casein as dissolved in milk is very digestible, it 
becomes, when separated and known bj the name of cheese, 

very indigeatible. When milk is deprived of its butter, and 
the pure casein made into cheese, as is the case with some 
EngUsh cheeses (those from Suffolk for exampl^, it becomes 
so natd as scarcel)' to be digestible. But in most cases the 
casein is curdled with the butter, and a la:^e percentage of 
this substance is found in all good cheeses. 



That meat can be preserved at temperatures below tlie 
freexiiig-poiDt is nell known, of which fact the frozen msrkels 
of St. Petersburg afford an example ; but the most remarkaUe 
instance of preservation bj trost is that of the Siberian mam- 
moth, which is supposed to have been buried under the ke 
several thousands of years, and when first exposed from its icy 
covering the flesh was qiiite fresh, and was eaten by dogs. The 
effect of expcaure to air is to decompose by the combination of 
the oxygen of tiie atmosphere with the compUcated compounds 
of animal organisation, and that effect is increased by the pre- 
sence of moisture. It is a common opinion that the light of 
the moon fitcilitates decomposition; the foundation of which 
notion may be traced to the circumstance that on clear moon- 
light nizhts there is a greater deposition of dew than under a 
cmudy &y. 

Boiling cheeks fermentation in organic substances, by 
which means, the o^gen of the atmosphere heing excluded, 
meats are preserved for long voyages ; " certainly one (ff the 
most important contributions to the practical benefit of man- 
kind ever made by sdenoe, and for this we are indebted to 
da j-Luesac. "— Zisii?. 

u,s,ic.= -„Googlc 



Curiosities of Science, 



W^z ia&orators. 



Tax laboratory of the AlchemiBts must be sought in the back- 
gToanda of the pictures of the old painterB, who have so vividly 
portrayed that race of inventors. The figure in the Fronti»- 
piece to the present volume is from a work of this class, io 
the Orleans collection, painted by David Teoiers in the 17th 
century. 

Three distinguished philosophers of the 17th centuij axe 
recorded as having cheered their hours of captivity or retire' 
inent from the BtirTe of war in the more genial pursuits of the 
laboratory. Sir Walter Balcigh passed the earlv years of bis im- 

firisoument in the Tower of London, as we siiall presently more 
oily describe. The Marquis of Worcester wrote a. portion of 
hie Century of^ Inventions whilst confined in the same gloomy 
fortress. It ia said that he was preparing some food in his 
apartment, when the cover of the vessel, having been closely 
fitted, was, by the expanGion of the steam, suddenly forced off, 
and driven up the chimney. This circumstance, attracting the 
Marquis's attention, led >iiin to a train of thought which ter- 
minated in the completion of an invention, which he deno- 
mioated a "Water-commanding Engine;" and when Cosmo 
de' Medici, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, visited England in 1656 
(at which time the Marquia was a close prisoner in the Towert, 
his engine was exhibited at Lambeth, as recorded in the Orana- 
Duke's Diary. 

Prince Rupert, amonghis chemical inventions, formed the 
composition now called Prince's Metal, of which candlesticks 
and small kitchen pestles and mortars are made ; this is an 
alloy of copper and zinc, which contains more copper than 
brass does, and is prepared hy adding this metal to tne alloy. 
To the list of the Prince's inventions must be added a mode of 
rendering black-lead fugible, and re-changing it into its origi- 
nal state. To him also has been attributed the toy that hears 
hiB_ name as " Rupert's Drop ;" that curious bubble of glass 
which has long amused children and puzzled philosophers. 

The Prince also discovered a method of boring guns, whic*" 
was afterwards carried into execution in Bomncy Marsh b* 
speculator ; but some secret contrivance of annealing the m 
WM not understood except by Rupert, and the matter died ' 



7%inffi not generally Known. 



Chelsea Collie, irhioh proved a great hinaraiice to the le 

of the college and UndB, when Sir Jonas More interforad 
behalf of the Royal Sooietj, and so the nuisance was abated. 
After the Bestoratioa, Prince Rupert, who had be^i ap- 

Sed hy Charlea XL Governor of Windsor Castle, had the 
, or Round Tower, as hie official residence ; and here he 
up a labotatoty, with a forge and implements for expeii- 
mentinK in his fovourite science, metallurgia chemistry. 

In the account of Sir Isaao Newton's college-life at Cam- 
bridge, we find some interesting partioulars of his love of ex- 
peiinieDts in ohemietry and pharmaor. Bis hair turned gn; 
at the age of thirty, which he jocosely attributed to the great 
number of experiments he made with quiokmlver, " as if from 
henne ho toot so soon that colour." He Buepeoted iiimself to 
be inclined to conHuntption, and made for Ms own use Leoca- 
tello's Balsam, fi^m the following recipe in his own hand : 

Put Yenm turpeatina one pound Into a pint of the beat damaak 
RMa-water ; beat theee together tdll it look white, then take fonr 
onno«ii of l^ea'-wai, red sondera half an ounce, oil of olives of the best 
« pint, ono ounoe of the oil of St. John's wort, and half a. pint of aaok. 
Set it (Ibe sack) on the fire in a cew pipkin, add to it the oil and wax, let 
it stand on a soft fire where it must not boll, but malt it till it be aoald- 
Ing hot. Then take it off. When it is cold, take out the cake, and 
■orape off tiie dirt from the bottom. Take out the Back, wipe the pip- 
kin, put in the cske again, let it on the fire, let it melt together, and 
then put in also the tuqMntine and sasdera : let Uiem not boil, bat be 
woil tneltad and miied to *" 



and a little natural tx 

For the m 
biotli, take it , „ , 

IntiDg ot a mad dog, for the laat you must dip lint, and lay it upon the 
wound, beaidsa taldnf it inwardly. There are other vMuea ofit : tat 
wind, oholic, anoint the etomacb, and so for bruiaea. 

Newton's application to his studies was intense. One of hia 
few visitors was SI. Tigani, a native of Yerona, who, after 
having taught chemistry at Cambridge for twenty years, was 
appointed by the TJniversity Professor of Chemistry ; and Dr. 
Bnitley fitted up for him in Trinity Collie an old lumber 
bouse as an elegant chemical laborator?, in which he leotorel 
for some years. Newton rarely went to bed till two" or throe 
o'clock, sometimes not till five or six, lying about four or five 
hours, especially at spring and fell of the ^af : at these timea 
he used to employ about six weeks in his laboratory, the fire 
arcely going out either night or day, he eittiug up one night. 



Cariositiet of Science, 173 

and hia asaiatant the other, till he had finiehed his chemical 
ezperimeiitB, "in the perionnanceB of which he was moat 
accurate, strict, exact" 

" He was very curious in Ms garden, which was nerei- out 
of order, in wliicti he would at some seldome time take a short 
walk or two, not enduring to see a weed in it. On the left end 
of the gardeu was his elaborator;, near the east end of the cha- 
pel, where he at these set times employed himself in with a 
great deal of Eatisfacdon and delight. ' 

We have no special account of the laboratory of the Royal 
Society. The Museum was commenced in 1665 ; then was 
•' the collecting a repository, the setting up a chemical labora- 
tory, a mechanical operatoij, an astronomical observatory, and 
an optick chamber ; next year Kvelyn presented the table of 
T^ns, arteries, and nerves, which he had made ' out of the 
natniat human bodies,' in Italy." Sir B. Momy presented "the 
stones taken out of Lord Baloarras's heart, in a silver box ;" 
and "a bottle foil of stag's tears." Hooke gave " a petrified 
fish, the akin of an antelope which died in St. James's Park, a 
petrified f<etus," and other rarities. In 1681, when Dr. Grew 
published hia curious catalogue, the museum contained aeveral 
thousand specimens of zoological subjects and foreign curiosi- 
ties ! among the eigb^-three contributors are Prince Eupert, 
tile Duke of Norfolk, Boyle, Evelyn, Hooke, Pepys, Jcc. 

The following list from the catalogue of the articles in tha 
museum or repository^ of the society, when lotsted at Oresham 
College, cire. 1708, will give some idea of the chemical rarities- 
of that period.f 
Tkingi relating to Chynutry and oAer jtarti tjfjfatimil PKiiaiophy. 

The 0;1, Spirit YolBtale sjid fixed Solla botli oftba Serous and 
Onmmoue p&rti of Homase Blood, and Uiat of bd Ox. 

^le Oyl of Tobacco : One or two drops of it put on a Cat's To^» 
UDed her in less than a minute before the B. Soelety. In Idnt 
held betveen the teeth ofthoae that smook girea ease or oores the 
Taoth.acbe, but apt to make those Fdok who do not take Tobacoo. Also- 
Oj]b ol LairBDg Bnrk, Comphire, Mace, and ■ereral Salts. Sol-ammo- 
oiack Eubhmated, also the Spiiit thereof. 

A Pbosphonis (Hermetdck), which is a mix'd matter, and bang ei- 
poud about half a minale to the Sim, Daj-light, or Candle, or Fire, will 
ihlne in the dark (br some minutes : this made bj Dr. Blare. Mr. luaa 
amarienaed that if he eipoHid it to the light a little before Bun-rise. 

nted a bright rosy bue, and advancea in fiery colour es the Bi 
Improaches 



exhaust the A 

of HsTtfin't Hooras and LLlxintoiy al 

, _«aerie«,pn.7,a 

UattOD'a Sfm 7hh o/LtKln 1TI». 



l^ingt not generalbf Known, 



Tbe CandenaQg Engins, -whereby mnoh sir u crowded into a amoll 

A Weathar-Cooli, by Sir Cbr. Wren, aupnentod by Mr. H. Hook. 

An InstrumenC whereby the quantity of BaiD that &Jla in any tima 
4in any piece of ground ifl meaflured, oontriTed by Sir Chmt- Wren. 

The Model of an IiiBtruiaent to fetch earth and other bodies from 
the bottom of the sea, oontiired by Dr. Hook. 

A Lamp FiLmace (by the name Oont.), de^^ed for the hatching 
of "Siggt, in order to observe the procesa of ^Deration ; eg also diewiting 
of LiguDrs. Also by the same Author, a pair of Semi-oylindrical Lampe, 
deiigned fer peisiHK tbe Liquor nhich ig to feed the flame, to secure 
that it never dart the Flame, and also to keep it of equal Etreogtil. 

The Model of an Eye, in whioh the Humors are repreBented by 
glasssB of an anaweraible figure, 

A Burning Glass, k a toot diameter. 

Another, t.(. two thin concave glasses set together, and so to be filled 
up with nat«r when used ; eoncriTed and given by Bishop Wilkins. 

A large Microscope with three glaeees fitted for all manner of 
poutions 1 it. magnifies to IDO times the ana's appearance to the Eye ; 
-also, a lesser. 

An Otodoustick to help the Hearing, given by Bishop Wilkins; this is 
of ivory — there is another of copper, fimnelled and beUyed io the middle ; 
a third of tin, conical within it ; the best is the Gist. 

A pail of Hydrostatick Scales, used to eiamine the specifio gravity 
of bodies, Jm. 

A Box of Anatomick Instruments, viz. Saws, Enives, Clusalf^ 
Foreeps, laver. Tenter, Syringe, Hpes, Probes, and Needles. 

In 1710, the Societj removed to a house in Crane-court, 
Fleet Street, " being in the middle of the town, and out lA 
noise ;" and here t£ej estahliahed their library and muBenm. 
In 1782, they removed to New Somerset House, and trana- 
ferred most of their older cvtrto^ties to the British MuBeum. 

The laboratory of the London Institution, in the rear of the 
■main building, erected in 1819, wbh designed by W. H. Pe]^, 
F.B.8. ; the apparatus in pneumatica, hydioataticB, electricity, 
and magnetism, are very perfect ; but the great batter; of 2000 
double plates, 200 feet square, with whioh Sir Humphry Davy 
experimented, has long been destroyed. 

Tbe laboratory of the Royal Inatitution, " the workshop of 
the Royal Society," iu the basement of the building, was 
originally fitted up on a scale of magnitude and completeness 
not before attempted in this count^. Here is tbe vast ap- 
.paratuii with which Sir Humphtr Davy discovered the com- 
positioa of the fixed alkalies. The apparatus is of immeiiise 
,power, and conaiBts of £000 separate parts, each composed of 
ten double plates, and each plate contuoing 32 square inches ; 
the number of double plates being SOOO, and the whole Bur&ce 
128,000 square inches. 

In ISOli, Davy began his brilliant sdentjfio career at the Royal Insli- 
tuOon, where he recDained till 1812 ; here he oonstruetad hie groat 
^ltalc batteiy, and comraeDced the ndneralogical collection now in the 



Curiosities of Science. 



mi well. conducted exporimBQts, and the i , 

of Mienoe, eneured Davy j^at and instant Buccees. 

The enthuBkatic admii-atioQ with vhtch be was hailed can hardly ba 
imagined now, Not oiily nien of ths highest rank,_men of science, 
mon of lette™, and men of trade,— but woman of fashion and blue- 
BtockiD^, old and young, preased into the theatre of the Institution to 
cover him with applause. His ereatest labours were his discoveiy of the 
deoompoeitioa of the &ied alkalies, and the regstablishment of the 
simple natm-e of chlorine : his other researches were the intoatigation 
of MtiiDgect vegetables, in connection with the art of tanning ; the 
snalyHis of rocks and minerals, in connection with geology ; the com. 
preheosive subject of agiioultural chemistry ; aod gaJvuiism and eleotro- 
chemical soience. He wss also au early but unauccesaftil eiperimenter 
in the photogtuphic art. 

Of the laay conservative spirit and li-"- ~ '' ' 

hich at this tjme attempted to hoodwinl 

recorded of a worthy professor otcheu „, 

allowed some yean to pass over Davy's brilliant discovery of potaasiun 
and Its cangeneric me^ls without a ward about Uiem in his lectures. 
At leDgth the learned doctor was concussed by lus colleagues on the 
subject, aod be condescended to notice it. " Both potash and soda are 
now said to be metallic oiidss," s^d he ; " the oiides, in Gict, of two 
metals, called potassiuin and sodium by the discoverer of thom, one 
Davy in London, a verra troublesome person in chemistry."' 

Da^ Sret conimuuicated iaa diEcover; of the Safetj-Lamp 
to the Eo;al Society in 1616. This was followed hj a seriea of 
papers, crowned bj that read on the 11th of Janoar; 1616, 
when the principle of the Safetj-Lamp waB announced, and 
Sir Humphry presented to the Society a model mad&byhia own 
hands, which is to this day OTeserred in the collection of the 
Boyal Society at Burlington House. 

The requiaitea for the proper arrangement of, and the ne- 
cessary inBtrumeotB for, a laboratory may be seen at length in 
Dr. Faraday's Chtmic^ Manipvlaium ; or in I>r. lA^er'a 
CkemittTyfor ScAoolt, 

SIR WALTER RALEIGH A GHEUIST. 

Sir Walter Baleigh appears to have exercised, to 
able extent, the powers of Ma cultivated mind i 
cheer the gloom ofhia long imprisonment in th 
London. The first few years he devoted to the 
chemistry. In a letter from Sir William Wade, Lii 
the Tower, dated 1605, we are told that "Sir Wal 
hath like access (with Cobham) of divers to him } 
hia chamber being always open all the day to the gar< 
indeed, is the omy garden the lieutenant hath, 
garden he hath converted a little hen-house to a 



176 Things not generally Knovm. 

where he doth spend Ub time all the da; in distiUatioiu." One 
of these results we find thus recorded in the State-Fftpen 
edited hy Mrs. Everett Oreeii : 

" 29 Sept. 1608.— This day Sir W. B. tell to diecurang to me 
oftbewonderehehaddone for the benefitt of the kingdom, how 
much he had spent for the service thereof, in discoveryes, &c., ' 
and after fell to tell me of his inventing the means to inak salt 
water sweet bj furnaces of coper in the forecastle ; and distill- 
ing of the salt water as it wer \>j a buket putting in a pipe att 
once, and within a quarter ofan hour it will run Ijkaspiggott, 
so tluit he hath by that distilled water given 240 men evetj 
day quarts a peeoe and the water as sweet as milk. From that 
he fell to telling me upon my i^uestions the cause of the nit* 
ness of the sea water by mountains of salt in moEt places and ' 
nit-peeter upon euery rock and cliff contraTy to Aristotle, and 
that the causa of the greeness of all things that grows out of 
tiie ertb is by the vitriol that is in the er^ which is the salt of 
the erth, for lett a man with water gett all the salt outoferth, 
thee will nothing grow ther." 

Baleigh'a pnson-lodging is thought to have been in the 
second and thurd stories of the Beauchamp Tower. He devoted 
some time to medical ohemiBtry ; and here be prepared his ce- 
lebrated Cordial. During the last iilnees of Henry Prince of 
Wales (to whom Baleigh was strongly attached), the Qaeco 
applied to Sir Walter for some of his cordial^ the good effects 
of nhich she bad herself ezperienced. Balei^, in a letter of 
condolence, haxarded his belief that his cordial "would cer- 
tainly oure the prince, or any other, of a fever, except in case oi 

Raleigh's Cordial was held in such hi^ imputation in the 
rei^ of Charles II. that a treatise on the preparation was than 
written, under the auapices of that monarch. It was entitled 
JHtetmrt tar le Orand Cordial de Sir Waller RaleigK, and was 

Eublished in 1G6S. The origittsi recipe is ^ven by the anthw, 
e Febure ; but Sir Kenetm I'iglV find aiz Alexander Fraser 
introduced other innedients. Evdyn, in his Diary, under the 
date 1663, savs : "I accompanied his Migesty to Monsieur le 
Febure, bu cnemist (and who had formerly been my master in 
Paris), to see his accurate preparation for the composing Sir 
Walter Baleigh's tare cordial. He made a learned discourse 
before his M^esty, in French, on each inpredient." Baleigh 
appears to have kept the preparation of his cordial a secret 
during his life. The formula is simplified in the London Phar- 
macopoeia under the name of "Aromatic Confection:" it con- 
msta of zodoary and saffron, distilled water, compound powder 
of ciabs' claws, cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, smaUer cardv 
mon seeds, and double r^ned sugar, made into a confection. 



Ouriositiea of Science, 



DAVY, ■WOLLASTON, AND JAMESON, IK THE LABORATORY. 

The change in the practice of the Royal Society with re- 
spect to their I^boratorr esperimentB was thus eaphuned by 
Su Humphry Davy in hia Address on taking the President's 
ohair in 1820, — within a few years of his apprenticeship to au 
apothecary, when his means were so humble that he was unable 
to purchase apparatus for philoeophical esperiments. 

In the eaUy port of our eatablishment (aaid tbs Pretddent), when 
at^paiAtus vta procured witli difficulty, when the gTeatest philosophers 
were obliged to labour with their ofcnhandslofratOB their lOBtrumento, 
it was Ibund eipedisnt to keep intlie roams ofthe Society a coUeetion of 
an auch mochinee as wore likol; to be oae^ in the progrena of experi- 
meDtal knowlod^ ; and ourators and opereitorB were employed, \/j 
■nhoia many capittd eiperimenta were made under the eyes of the 
Sodsty. But since tbe improyemect of the mechanical and chemical 

'"' " 3->- .- iflto the means of carrying 

DOS of the Fellows record 
leptionH, bton performed in .... 
laboratorieB, end at their own eii^nse. It is, however, possible that 
fflcperimente of great importance, requiring tiinda which few individuals 
can command, may be suggested ; and it u to be hoped that on such 
occssiomi the prapoKerawiilnot^ to recur to the Society. 

Sir Huinphty nest refers to "grand and expensive appara- 
tus" then in public eBtabUsbments, the advantage of which 
was becoming available. 

Yet such costly means were not indispensable for the study 
of chemistry, as the experience of its distinguished professors 
shows. Dr. WoUastoa'a knowledge was more varied, and his 
taste less exclusive, than any other philosopher of his time, ex- 
C^t Mr. Cavendi^ ; hut optics and chemistry are the two 
scieDOeB for which we are under the greatest obligations to 
him. He had a peculiartum for contriving pieces of apparatus 
Sor ecieiitific purooses. By means of his reflective goniometer 
ciyBtallography has acquired a gt«at degree of perfection ; and 
Mb sliding- rule for chemical equivalents fumishes a ready mode 
ibr calculating the proportions of one substance necessary to 
decompose a given weight of another. 

Dr. Wollaston was accustomed to carry on his experiments 
in the greatest seclusion, and with very few instnimenta. His 
laboratory was sealed to even bis most intimate friends. Dr. 
Paris relates that a foreigner onc« called on Wollaston with 
letters of introduction, and expressed an anxious desire to see 
his laboratoiT. " Certainlj," be replied, and immediately pro- 
duced a small tiay containing some glass tubes, a blowpipe, two 
or three watch-glasses, a shp of platinum, and a few test-tubes. 
Upon another occasion, after inspecting Mr, Children's grand 
gtuvanio battery, Wollaston, witoin a tailor's thimble, com- 



178 Things not generally Knoten. 

plet«d a galvanic arnm^meut bj means of which he heated a 
platinum wire to a vluto heat. 

Mr. Braode records that Dr. Wollaston's " nneommon tact, 
neatness, and dexterity as an experimental chemist will nerer 
be forgotten b; tho«e who had an opportunity of witnessing his 
performance of anj analytical operation ; he practised a pecu- 
liar method of microBoojpic research, in which be wilUn^y in- 
structed those who asked his information ; and we owe to bim 
numerous abbreviations of tedious processes, and a variety of im- 
provemeuta in the application of tests, which have gradually 
Decome public property, although he never could be induced 
to describe his manipuhLtions in print, of to commiinicate to the 
world hishappyand peculiar contrivances." Towards the close 
of 182B, hoT^ever, feelicg his end approaching, and being per- 
sonally unable to write accounts of such of his discoTeries and 
inventions as he was reluctant should perisli with bim, he em- 
ployed an amanuensiB, and in this manner communicated some 
of his most valuable papers to the Royal Society. Witliiii a 
month of his death, he invested in the Funds 2D00f.in the name 
of the Royal Society, theinterest to beappliedto the promotion 
of science.* Of this amiable philosopher Dr. Heniy aaya: 

In chemistry Dr. WollaatoTi waa distinguialied by tha extreme nicety 
and delicacy of his obaervationB; by the ^uicicneca and precisioa with 
which he marlced resemhlanK« (Lnd discriminated diaerenceB ; the 
BagBcity with which he devised experiments, and antioipated their re- 
sulta ; and the skill with which bs eieoated the analyms of fisginents of 
new Bubstancee, often so minute aa to be scarcely percoptible to ordiaary 
eyes. Hs was remarkable, too, £br the caution witi which he advaaced 
from facts to general con elusions ; a caution, whioh, it it sometimcB 
prevented him from reaching at once to the most sublime truths, yet 
rendered evet? step of his ascent a secure station, fh>m wMch it was 
easy to rise to higher and more enlarged iDdootioiiB. — SUmtnti iff 
CAeiBMiry. 

The late Professor Jameson first submitted his ideas to the 
poblic as a mineralogist in an Essay on Oems, which he con- 
tributed, when a young man, to Dr. Anderson's periodical, the 
Bee. At college, Jameson was very assiduous in the chemical 
class ; he paid especial attention to mineralogical information 
an d analytical chemiatty. Dr. Hope,whofilledtEechemicalchair, 
displayed the first oxyhydrogen blowpipe, which was constructed 

■ Dr.WollutondledI>M.aa,I82S,(rfdiB««Heof tSBljiaiii. laspits ofBorepo 
sofferlDg, blB ficuUies were unclouded to the last. When he was neulf tB (hs 
la« BgoDteB, one of tals Mends haying objerred lond enm^h for him to hesi, thic 
ha wiH not coniclous ot what ni psaali^t UDimd him. he made a sign tor pen- 
cil Hud nsper. He Ihsn nrola down some flgurei, and sttai naitiiiE up Out iddi, 
relnmed the paper. The AiDount wne Tight. We qnof e thiB anecdote tnm Ur, 
Weld'a Hjgtt^ qflht -fiftf af 5ku(^, In which he DQleB : *'IllB Teiy remarkable 
-hil no life otAVollialon eilslB, although blB repuUUon standi bd high. 11 has 

in obtortBd, ih»t hid he been a Qenuan or a Frenchman, the wsal wool* 



Curiosities of Science. 179 

under Mr. Jamesoa'a Buperintendence — sn inatniment indiS' 
penaible in analytical mineralogy. Thus attending lectures, 
and Btudying tbe Bubjects lectured oq, he did not conBider 
these all that were neccBiory to form a chemist ; he felt unless 
he coold handle a crucible as well as name it, unlera he could 
collect tbe gases as well as describe them, ho ^as only a. m 
inat ohemiet. His father, entering into hie views, assig 
him a suitable room for his laboratory, and fully supplied him 
with what apparatus it required, and allowed him necessary 
attendants in assisting him is his e^eriments. It shows the 
practical character of Jameson's mind to learn that when he left 
iiiB own country for Freyberg in 1800, to study mineralogy and 
geolo^, under the learned and famous Werner, he worked in 
Qie mines there under the rules laid down by his master, and 
weat through the same drudgery and the same kind of work aa 
the common miner, by which means he acquired much valuable 
knowledge. 

Sir Humphiy Davy, by way of Ulustratiiig the advantagea 
which students <d his day possessed over their predecesews. 

The apparatus essential to Qie modem chemical pLilosopher is much 
lesH bulky and eipeomve than that used by the anoients. An air-pump, 
an electrical machine, a valtaic btitterv (all of which may be upon a 
small Sflsle), a blowpipe apparatua, a bellows and forge, a mercuriel 
and water-gas apparatus, cupa and baams of platmtim and glasa, and 
the oonunon reaganla of chemistj, are all that are required. All the 
implemanta absolutely necessary may be carried in a small trunk ; and 
some of tha best and most refitted resesrcheB of modem chemiBts haTS 
beenmadebyixicanBof an apparatua which nught with ease be contained 
in a amall travelling carriage, and the oipeoee of whioli is only a few 
pounds. The facility with wUch cltemical inquiriea are carried on, and 
the simplidty of the apparatus, offer additional reasons to those I have 
already ^Ten for tbe pursuit of this science. It is not injurious to the 
hMlth : the modern chemist is not like Vb» andent one, who passed 
Qie greater part ofhia lime exposed to the heat and smoke of a ftir- 
naoe, and the unwholesome vapoun of acids and alkalies, and oUier 
menstnuL, of which for aainffle exponment he consumed several pounds. 
His procesBea may be carried on in the drawing-room, and some of them 
are no leas beautiful in their appearance than satisfactory in their results. 
It was B^d I^ an author belonging to the last century of Alchemy, 
that " its beginning was dec^ its progress labour, and its end beg- 
gary:" it may be Bsjd of modern chemistry that its beginning is plea- 
sure, its progress knowledge, and its objects truth and nUlity. 



\ observing and registering the phenomena which occur. 
A steady and a quick eye are most useful auxiliaries ; but there 
have been very few great chemists who have preserved these 
advantages through life ; for the business of the laboratory is 
often a service of danger ; and the elements, like the refrac- 



180 Things not generally Known, 

toiy spirits of romuice, though the obedient Blava of the 
magician, yet Bometimes escape the influence of his talisman 
&nd endanger his peraon. Both the hands and eyes of otheis, 
however, may be sometimea advantageously made use of. 

Liebig, speaking of the progress and development of 
modem chemistry, thus illustrates the means and implements 
employed by the chemist in his labours. Without glass, cork, 

Slatinum, and caoutchouc (he says), we should probably at this 
B.y have advanced only half as fu as we have done. In the 
time of Lavoisier only a few, and those very rich persons, were 
able, on account of the oostHness of apparatus, to make cmemi- 
eal researches. 

The wonderful properties of glass are well known : trans- 
parent, hard, colourless, unchanged by acids and most other 
liquids, and at certain tempemtures more plaatic and flexible 
than wax, it takes, in the hands of the chemist and in the flame 
of a proper lamp, the form and shape of eveiy piece of appa- 
ratus required for the experiments. 

What precious properties are combined in cork ! How 
little can any but chemists appreciate its value and recognise 
its good qualities I We might rack our brains in vain in the 
hope of replacing cork as the ordinary means of closing bottlee 
ln^an; other substance whatever- Let us imagine a soft, highly 
elastic mass, which nature herself has impregnated with a 
matter having properties resembling wax, tallow, and reran, 
vet dissimilar to all these, and termed tuoerin, 'This renders 
tt perfectly impermeable to fluids, and in a great measure even 
to gases. By means of cork we connect wide apertures with nar- 
row ones ; with cork and caoutchonc we connect our tcbbsIs 
and tubes of glass, and construct the most complicated appaiOr 
tos without the aid of the brass-founder and the mechanist, — 
without screns and stop-cocks. Thus the implements of the 
chemist are cheaply and easily (irocured, immediately adapted 
to an}[ purpose, and readily repaired or tdtered. 

Without platinum it would be impossible, in many cases, 
to make the analysis of a mineral. To dissolve it, or render it 
soluble, would destroy vessels of glass, porcel^n, and all non- 
metallic substances. Crucibles of gold and silver would melt 
at high temperatures. But platinum is cheaper than gold, 
harder and more durable than silver, infusible at all temperar 
tures of our furnaces, and is left intact by acids and alkaline 
carbonates. 

To these means must be added the Balance. The ^eat dis- 
tinction between the manner of proceeding in chemistry and 
natural philosophy is, that one 'weight, the other meattira. 
The natural philosopher has applied his measures to nature for 
niany centuries, but only jbr firty years have we attempted to 



Curiosities of Science. 181 

adTBnce our philoaophy \tj weighing. Once adopted, it put aa 
end to the reign of AriBtotle in ph}^ics. Three of his elementB 
— air, earth, and water — are now matters of history. 

Fire is found to be but the visible and otherwise perceptible 
indication of changes in the forms of bodies. 

IflToisier investigated the composition of the atmosphere 
and of water with the Balance ; that incomparable instrument 
(s^s Liebic;) which gives permanence to every observation, dis- 
pdu all ambiguity, establishes truth, detects error, or shows us 
that we are in ibe true path. The principal problem of the 
succeeding geneiation was to determine the composition of the 
solid mattere composing the earth.* 

THE HONOTTRABLE CHABLES AKS ED7AKD GHABLES HOWAJtD. 

In Sir Humphry Davy's poathumons work, Contolatiotu in 
Travd, one of the personages in " Dialogue the Fifth — the 
Chemical Philosopher," observes : 

Sviatlta.f I hare often woDdered that raea of fortune uid rank 
do not apply themselves more to philosophioal pureuils : thOT offer a 
deliffhtful and enTiable road to distinction} one founded upon ue bleaa^ 
logs and benefits conferred ou our fellow-creaturea ; the^ do not supply 
the BiniB aouroaa of temporary popularity as sucoaeseg in the senate or 
at the bar ; but the glory resulting from them is permanent, and Inds- 
poudflnt of Tulg:ar taste or oapnee. In lookiiig back to the history of 
tlie lost five reigns in England, ne find Boyles, Cavendishes, and How- 
ards, The rendered these great names more illustrious by their soienti- 
fio houonra \ but we may in Tain seorah the Hristocrooy now for philoso' 
pben, and there are very fbw persons wbo pursue science with true 



Signtty. 



Of the first of the two membera of the illustrious Howard 
fomily we posaeaa some intcregtinK memorials. At the Deep- 
dene, near Dorking in Surrey, which for centuries formed a 
portion of the Howards' possessions, lived the Hon. Charles 
Howard, son of the seventh Earl of Arundel. Evelyn, in Ilia 
Diary, describes his visit here, August 1, 1655: " I went to 
Dort^g to sec Mr. Charles Howard^ amphitheatre, garden, or 
eolitaire recess, being Gfleen acres, inviron'd by a hill. He 
showed us divers rare plants, caves, and an elaboratotv." Au- 
brey, who visited the place between 1672 and 1692, describes 
Mr. Howard aa " a Chnstian Philosopher, who, in this iron age, 
lives up to that of the primittve times." Here chemistry was 
his favourite pursuit, "for the more commodious prosecution 
of which he erected laboratories; and in subterranean grots 
formed for that purpose had furnaces of different kinds, the 

■ Selflcted and abridged from FmnHiar LtUert, 

t The chmruter of EubilheH b«mis ■ itrlkbiK rsMmblince to tbst of Dr. WoT' 
hston: and tben la littU doubt Hut Dstt Intsmled It for a portnltnn of blr 



TJiijigs not generaUy Known. 



flues of which in some pUcea ue jet to be seen." Ur. How- 
ard died in 1714, and ww iDten«d in a vault in Dorkiiig 
Cburoh. In the original garden at the Deepdene, affixed to 
some old brickwork that formed part of the kboratoi^, is 
placed a tablet bearing the following tribute to tho Philoso- 
pher's chaiaoter, bj La3y Burrell; 

Thb TOtlie Tablet ii inwnibed to the Memory oF tha HononrHiile 
Cbables HowtBS, wba built an Oratoiy and Laboratory on thii spot. 
He died at tbe Deepdene, ITli. 

" ir WorOi, It LcunlDg, abaald Tdi fUne 1H envD'd. 



■Wllhln this calm ntrail, Ih' Uluil 



itZ. 



Heie-giVe to CtaeoUatr; the fleeting daf. 
Cold 10 Amblti™, t*r from CourU remov'd. 
Ue eluTled Ssture^tn tha paths he loVd, 

Soft nu.7 IhB hiBBie sigh (broogh Ibe Iry-bougha 
That Bhade this humbls record ot hie woru : 

And fragrant floir"rB adorn thB hallow'd earth." 

In the picturesque reairanzetnent of this portion of tiw 
grounds of the Deepdene, by the late Mr. Thomas Hope,* and his 
eldest sou Mr. Hemr Thomas Hope, the present possessor of the 
estate, it is gratifymg to Snd that this interesting memorial 
of genius and worth has been preserved with rerereutial care. 

The possession of the Deepdene by the Howard &milj ter- 
minated in 1792 J BO that the laboratory could scarcelj have 
been the scene of those important experiments by which the 
Hon. Edward Charles Howard, by great skill ia cnemistiy, so 
materially contributed to the improvement of the Sugar Manu- 
facture. He resided for some time in a large garden-house 
fronting the Thames, in Surrey-street, Strand, part of the site 
of Arundel House and gardens; and here he may probably 
have experimented for his most valuable invention, now exten- 
eivelyused under the name of Howard's Tacuum-pan, patented 
in the year] H13, being the most useful application of the fact that 
liquids are driven ofTor made to boil at lower degrees of heat when 
the atmospheric pressure is lessened or removed. This valuable 
thought occurred to Mr. Howard, who thereby removed tbe 
chieidiffloulties attending the evaporation of the saccharine 

Srup. The saving of sugar and improvemsnt in quality by 
is process were so great as to make the patent-right wnich 
scoured the emoluments to the inventor and others very valoablft. 

> AlthsDegpdtiM.Ur.Hopairrota hiB.^iui(iiriw,- andUr. B. IHrnell Us 



Curiosities of Science, 183 

Lord Broughftm chaiaetenBes it oa a process by which more 
money has been made ia a ehorter time, and with lees risk 
and trouble, than was ever perhaps gained from an invention; 
and as " the fruit of a long course of experiments, in the pro- 
gress of which known philoaophical principles were constantlj 
applied, and one or two new prindples ascertained." (Tnt 
ObjecU, Advantaga, and Pleaiura of iScifnce.) 

It ia a onriouB tact is wneiilifio diitoavery that tlie most profitable 
iDTantion titat wu aver patented in thin or S117 otlier coimlrj acd- 
deatall; arofie out of an applicatioTi to Government to adroit Hugar for 
agricultural purposes. The GoTerament applied to Mr. Howard, the 
aocomplished chemiat, to (17 aome aiperimenta for the purpose of aa- 
cartaining if augar oui^ be so effeotuaJli' adnltenited that it could not 
he again ootivert«d for culinary uaeb. For thia porpoBa he mixed all 

ida of DoiiouB Edaterials with It, but the question remained whather 



<uld be B^ain aeparated, and ia the experimenta to aaoertain th 
-■ that not "' - " ■' ' . . 3 ■. ... .. ... 



tlev cool ..... , .... 

be aisooTersd ttatnot only oould they bo separated, but that „_ 

vaa better and purer. Out of tliia aroae Howard's patent for sugar-re- 
fining and the UM of the Taotmm-pan; the aminal not income of which, 
from liceaaes granted for its nae, at the rate of 1). per ewt., yielded in 
Bome Twra between 2I),00(». uid SO.OOOJ. One house in London alone 
paid 4,0001. per annum.— Jfiainj Joiimfil. 

Mr. Howard's claim to the discovery has, however, been 
disputed. The late Mr. J. C. Robertson, the originBtor and 
-editor of the MechawUt' Magimm, quoted the above statement 
*' simply for the purpose of dutinctlj contradicting it in eveiy 
particiiiar, and of stating, what probably has not been stated 
before, but is nevortheless incontrovertibly tme, that Mr. How- 
ard, though he did benefit immensely by the invention in ques- 
tion, was not the real inventor of iL The illustrious Ihivy 
was the real inventor, from whom Howard did but knowingly 
borrow it ; and any one who doubts tiie truth of tilts assertion 
may apply to Mr. Children for hia testimony on this point." 

Nevertheless, it it strange that Davy should have referred 
to Mr. Howard in eulogistic terms, iiaa he thus appropriated 
the vacuum invention; for Sir Hiunphry refers to the cnemist 
.of his own time, and not to the pMlosopher of the Deepdene, 
irho died earij in the previous century. 

BTOET or TBZ BLOWPIPE. 
Hitherto we have spoken but incidentally of this valuable 
instrument, which, until the year 173S, was used by jewellers 
and others in soldering metals on a small scale ; whence it 
derives its name, in the German language, Lothrohr, fromteiAm, 
to solder, and rShr, a tube. In the above year. Antony Swab, 
a Swedish counsellor of mines, employed the Blowpipe for de- 
termining the metals in the ores and minerals ; but this did 
not receive any particular attention until Cronstedt propost"' 



184- Thityt not generally Known, 

his Bjstem of miDeraloftyi in which the amngement ia de- 
pendent on the chemidd oampodtion of the minerals. WitJi 
the Blowpipe, &ud the emplojrnent of fluxes in his experi- 
ments, he founded a new department of chemical Ecience. 

The Blowpipe thenoefortn became applied to chemical ana- 
lysiB, and the determinatioo of minenloeic&l species- la 
Sweden, however, it still appears to hare oeen studied with 
the greatest success ; and Oahn exceeded his predeceBsors in 
the conception and ezecation of his ezperimeiits. As an in- 
stance of his power of detecting metallic bodies, we are told bj 
Benelius that be had often seen him eitraot from the ashea of 
a quarter of a sheet of paper distinct portions of copper, and 
that too before the knowledge of the occurrence of ttus metal 
in Tegetablea was known ; and therefore before he could have 
been led, from this circumstance, to suspect ite presence in 

Oahn 1^ no Bocount of his researches ; but, fortunatelv for 
science, accident threw him in tne way of Berzelius ; and the 
assiduitj of Qahn in this study, together with the circumstan- 
ces to which we are indebted for the preservation of his labours, 
cannot be better told than in the words of BeizeliuB himself. 
" Gahn (says hej was never without his blowpipe, not even dur- 
ing hisshortest journeys. Every new substance, or anvthing with 
which he was not previously acquainted, was immediately sub- 
mitted to an examination before the Blowpipe ; and it was in- 
deed an interesting sight to observe with what astonishing 
npidity And certainty he was thus enabled to determine the 
ntUure of a body, which from its appearance and exterior pro- 

Krties could not have been recognised. Through this constant 
bit ofusingtheBlowpipe, he wasled to invent many improve- 
ments, and to make many conveniencies, which he could net 
have at hand, whether at home or abroad. Ee examined the 
action of a number of re-agents, for the purpose of finding new 
methods of recognising bodies; and this be did in such dettdl, 
and conducted his operations with such accuracy, that all hii 
results may be relied upon with the greatest confidence. Never- 
theless, it never occurred to him to give a written description 
of his new or improved methods : he gave himself, however, all 
possible trouble to instruct all who were willing to learn, and 
many foreign men of science, who passed some time with him, 
have made known hie great dexterity in this subject ; but no 
one has communicated a perfect knowledge of his methods. 

" 1 had the good fortune (adds Berzelius), during the last 
ten years of thclife of this, in many respects, most remarkable 
man, to enjoy his most intimate acquaintance. Ee spared 
himself no trouble to communicate to me all the results nt 
his experience, and I have consequently held it as a sacred 



Curiosities of Science, 185 

datj to aUow nothing of hia experience and of his labotm to 
be lost." Such, then, ia the origin of BeraeliuB's treatise on the 
Blowpipe, the highest anthorit; upon the subject : it was trans- 
lated into English by Mr. Children, P.R.S. 

We have not apace to detail the phenomena presented by the 
chemical elements and minerala when experimented on bj the 
Blowpipe, which, we may add, ia merely a brasa tube, fitted 
vith an ivory mouth-^iece, and terminated by a jet having a 
small aperture by which a current of air is driven acrOBs the 
flame of a candle. The flame ao produced is very peculiar. 

Amongtbe eminent norkerg in tbe Labonit'iry, the BlchsmiBta of 
medlKvnl Europe at firat night BSem to Btand in no true hirtorioal re- 
lation with the practical chemists of the prewat oentmr. The BeeMng 
fbr the Alkaheet or UniTarBsJ SolTent, the F.li»ir of Life, and the Philo- 
Sc^har'B Stone, were purBoita esaentially unlike the sober and attainable 
aims of our own poatdve chemirtry ; and the men of our own laborato- 
rieawDutd have token httle interest in the labours the; involved, had it 
not been for the fact Ihatthoseold soholaatica, "!•=««,.„= — . n.»- ^. — 
never to leize, worked out thaaBanda of h 

were fond Idealiata, if they were vigionaiiea, they were also , 

and it is as chemista they deserve the recognition of the world. They 
worked with water, thty worked with fire ; they digested, boiled, dis- 
tilled, roafited, burned, smelted, eryBtoJlised, set a-going putrefaetdona 
and fermentations ; in short, they pat in operation the some eorta of 
prooeneg upon the same aorta of stuff as ouraelTos. Following th^ 
bereditary and antii^ue elemental ideas, they were the first dieooverera 
of those material principlea and eompounda which are commonly called 
ohemioals ; and tie really great men among the alchemists were the 
bo^ students of auch chemical reactions as could then be brought 
within tbe reach of tbe eirperimentaJtst, and made uo persona] preten- 

Soon after the time of FaracelEns, the olohemtoal theoty and the 
alchemical practice of genuine obaerratdoninthe laboratory fell asunder. 
The orient al departed, and left chemistry to pursue ita gwn fortunes. 
The ancient eastern element did not, however, at once disappear from 
the earth ; lor it retdned lis devotees, ne longer respeotatile, booauaa 
behind their age, till the present century. On the other hand, those 
who chese Iho path of true chemistry addicted themselves with zeal to 
the finding out of all sorts of new ohomieals and chemical reactions. To 
the positive lahours of the laboratory there i^uickly succeeded a re- 
markable eitension of practical or concrete chemialry ; and the num- 
ber of solid and liquid bodies, curlousfortheiraspectser for their pro- 
portieH OS chemical re-agenta, aoids, alkalies, salts, milts, oaies, 
precipitates, sublimates, eesencea, oils, butters, and apiiita, which were 
lironght out of nature at this period was astonishing. It is impos- 
nbte, indeed, fbr the most positive and the least apeculative of the 
(phamists of lie present day, were it even a Eose and bis platinum eru- 
dblo, or a Plattncr with his blowpipe, to over-value the amount of plain, 
honest, and sufficient, though merely preliminary, work that was dona 
between the apotheods of sjchemy and the ascension of tbe phlogistic 
ohamists. — SekcUd andahridgid/Totnlh^i/vrUiSntuA Rentv, No, SC 



ThitiffM not generally Known, 



(iCItnnical inaitufactures. 



VHAT ABE OHEiaOAI. IHyENTIONS ? 

Davi makei one of the chomcters in bis Dialogue, " The 

<}hemic»l FhiloBopher," thus eloquently recapitulate the in- 
valuable benefits of applied chenuBtrr to the arts of life. 

You will allow that the rendering «Mne inaolaljla in water hy oon 
tnning with them the utringent principle of certain TegetableB is 
ohemioal iaventdon, and that without leather our ahoeB, our carriaffsa. 
our equipogiflB would be reiy ill made. You will porjoit me to say, that 
the bteaching and dyeing of wool and idlk, cotton and flax, are chemi- 
cal prooeisea ; that the working of iion, copper, tdn, and lead, and Uia 
utiier Tsetale, and the comblnliiK them in diaerent lUIoys, by whii^ al- 
moflt all the inatramenta neceuarj for the turner, the joiner, theatone- 
mason, the nhip-builder, and the imiith are made, are chemical iaveo- 
tiona ; even the preea could uot have existed in any etato of perfection 
without a metalhc alloy ; the combining of alkali and sand, and certain 
clays and hints, together, to form glass and porcelain, is a chemical 
prooass; the coloura whidi the artiat employHto &ume resemblancea of 
natural objects, or to create combinations more beautiful than ever ex- 
isted in nature, are derived from chemistry. In short, iu every branch 
of the common and fine arts, in every department of human industry, 
the mfluenoe of this Bcienoe ia felt ; and we see in the fable of Prome- 
thaoB taking the flame h^>m heaven to animate his man of clay an em- 
blem of the effects of fire in its application U) chemical purposes, in 
creatiDg the activity and almost the life of oivil society. 



Ilpon reference fa> the relative proporidonB of ingi'edientB in 
ancient Gunpowdera, — for example, those given by Tartaglia, 
about three centuries since,— -thej will be found to yield powder 
ecarcelj more powerful than the composition of a squib, and al- 
together inapplicable to the exigencies of modem warfiure. This 
did notariEefrom ignorance of better proportbns; but it is con- 
jectured that the guns were then bo weak that stronger powder 
would have destroyed them. No doubt the proper ratio of ingre- 
dients to form gooa Gunpowder can be determined, Apriori, foim 
a consideiation of chemical laws ; yet it is a remarkalile &ct, 
tiiat some time before chemistry was thus far advanced, manu- 
facturers had, by dint of mere experience, discovered the best 
proportions. Modem chemistry, therefore, in this respect, can 
"flfiMthemnoaid. The last great improvement in Gunpowder 



Curiosities of Science. 187 

coneists in what is termed " cylinder" charcoal, whereupon 
the reBulting material acquired BO muoli additional strength 
that the proportion of charges used for ordnance was in con- 
sequence reduced nearly one-third. 



If Qunpowder, as now prepared, have any fault, it consists 

b^g, lor ordinary puipoaes, rather too strong. Were it 

derai&hk, its strength, hy a trifling change in the manipulation. 



uoight be still Airther increased, without an; alteration of the 
ingredients or their proportions : indeed, Sir William Congreve 
actually made some Ounpowder in this manner; but it waa 
fonnd to explode on percussion, besides being in odier respects 
higl^ daDgeroua. 

The enormous force of inflamed Ounpowder depends on the 
evolution of various gases, the volume of which, when cooled, 
it is easy enough to determine ; but at the moment of their 
formation they are vastly dilated by heat, so that their actual 
effective volume and pressure cannot be justly ascertained. It 
has been pretty correctly found that a cuoic inch of Gunpowder 
is converted by ignition into 2fi0 cubic inches of permanmt 
gases, which, according to Dr. Hutton, are increased in volume 
eight times at the time of their formation by the expansive 
influence of heat. Assuming these data to be true, and they 
have been tolerably well verified, confined and ignited Qun- 
powder will exert, at leBBt, a force of 2000 lbs. on every square 
inch opposed to its action. 

The proportions of the three ibgredients now universally 
adopted in this countiy in the manufacture of eveiy 100 lbs. 
of Qunpowder are : 

SaltMtre 77} Iba. 



CharcoBl. 



Total 



The extra 4 lbs. being allowed for waste. 

The atomic composition which approaches nearest to that 
of Gunpowder is, 1 equivalent of nitre, 1 of sulphur, and 3 of 
carbon, or, 

Sftltpotra 7<'6 

Sulpliur 11-9 

Charrool 13'6 



atilphuT socelerstes deflagration and supplies beat ; the nitre 
Bupplies oxygen and nitrogen gases ; and the carbon, by iti 
strong affimt^ for oxygen, promotes the deoompoffltion of t) 
liitre, combining with its oxygen eo as to produce carbonio-ac 



188 Things not generally Known. 

CThe sulphur melta at 22S', and nnder 28(X' forma a olesr 
, id of an amber colour, and below 600° it inflames. In the 
deoompodtioQ of Qunpowder bj explosion, the sulphur com- 
bines with the base of the potash to form a solid residuum, « 
sulphide of potassium ; whilst three equivalents of carbouio add 
and one of nitrogen are the gaseous products. 

Professor Bunsen, however, has found that the decomposi' 
tion which occurs in an eiploHion is by no means so mmpile as 
was formerly supposed. Besides the usual products of oarbonio 
acid, carbonic oxide, nitrogen, and suipliide of potassium, 
Bunsen shows the presence of hydrogen, oxides of nitrogen, 
cjanide of potasuum, sulpho-CTKoide of potassium, sulphate 
^d carbonate of potadi, and various other salts. 

Mr. Faraday, in a paper read to the Royal Institution, 
dwells on the great importance of tine in producing the effects 
of Ghmpowder. Contiasting its action with that of Eliminating 
mercury, or of those more fearfully explouve compounds 
the chlorides of nitrogen and iodine, Mr. Faraday shows, that 
if the explosion of Qunpowder were instantaneous, it would be 
useless for all its present applications. As it is, however, 
whenever Gunpowder is fired in the chamber of a gun, it does 
not arrive at tne full intenuty of its action until the space it ' 
occupies has been enlarged by that through wliich the ball has 
been propelled during the first moment of ignition. Its ex- 
pansive force is thus brought down and kept below that whidt 
the breech of the gun can bear, whilst an accumulating, safe, 
and efficient momentum is communicated to the boll, ptodudog 
the precise effects of gunnery- 

This manageable action is contrasted by Faraday with the 
effect of a morsel of iodide of nitrogen put upon a plate, and 
exploded b^ being touched with the extremity of a long stic^ 
The parts unme£ately in cont&ct with the iodide were shat- 
tered, i. e. the end of the stick was shivered, and the spot in 
the plate covered by that substance was drilled as if a bullet 
had been fired through it ; yet no tendency to lift the stick was 
felt by the hand, whereas the comparatively gradual action of 
Qunpowder lifts and projectsthose weaker substances, waddii^ 
and shot, which give vray before it.* 

It has been aLrewdly remarked that Ounpovder was mventod bya 
■ Baa " iDTSDlloa of OnDpowdtr," TMniii nut ganmaf Ktams, Firil Setits, 
p. see. Fev people mn ivaie of the enoTmoiu quuUn of gunpovder Deed to 
mlUtuTininwHi. Al the liege of CiiidKdBadil|n,liiJuHiUTlH12.71,e7SIta. 
or gmqiosder wen mngumed In thirty honn ud b hilC; it the Btonniiic of Beda- 
JOE, 1^,880 Iba. In IM houn. ud thli hom the gmt riu ddIt. At the dnt 
end mxmd eiaEU at San Sebutlnn 609,110 Iba. were used i nnd nt the elege of 
SaragSBu therFicDcta exploded tt.001} Ihg. In the mlnee, ud IhreirieOOI) ^£(tll 
during the hombaidmeaL OnadSTOf thewar In tho Criniea, the Bonlani Id 
Sehanopol dlKharnd 13.000 tonndi oTihot and ahell, the otilr nnU of wh!A 
vOnimmwnmSiH—irmiQiarurliiBniimi 



CurioHlies of Science, 



fneeCr tkiui mamig oj a vjiuigr, x qq maiiuini^urv ui kruapowner was 
also improYod by a Biabop of Jjlaadaff, Dr. Watoon, who, for hia inga- 
Doity, was one day twittad at Court by George lU, 

Wbeu WntaoQ was unanimouBlT eiocted by the aeaate to the Pro- 
feoBorabip of Cheinietfy, in the Uniyaraity of Cambridge, in ,1761, he 
tn^ic notXinff of c/iemixtnf vTuUever ; but be did iiot diBappoint tho ooa- 
Menoe that whs felt by himself and othen io his ardour, ftpphcation, 
fijid qaiclmesa of JHnnprehension. Witb the asBiBtaiice of an operator, 
whom he seut for immediately from Paris, and by immuring himBelf in 
hia laboretoiy, he, in about fourteen months, was enabled to read his 
first oouna of lectures, which were very successful. He was a Fellow 
of tiie Soyal Society, and contributed many chemical papers to their 
Tratuaciiom J ho also wrote and published six volumes ofChemioat 
Saaays, whioh were long lery popular. 



Siosooridea is said to be the first writer nho used the word 
Saeeharam, or Sugar, which be describes as a. sort of concrete 
honey, found upon canes in India and Arabia Felix : " it is in 
consistence like salt, ajid it is brittle between the teeth like 
salt." Seneca describes it also as concrete cane-juice. Flin; 
speaks of sugar as brou^t from Arabia, and better from India. 
'' It is," he saya, " hooey collected from canes, like a gum, 
white and britUe between the teeth ; the largest is the size of 
a faazel-nut. II is used in medicine onlj.'' Qalen, in the second 
oentui7, describes sugar almost identically with Diosoorides, ex- 
cepting that he says nothing of its brittleness and resemblance 
to salt. In the seventh century, however, Paulus .^gineta 
sperafies sugar as " the Indian ^t, in colotir and form like 
common salt, but in taste and sweetness like honey." He re- 
commends that a piece'be kept in the mouth, to moisten it, 
during fevers ; from which it may be supposed that the sugar 
then known was in the form of candy. 

Thus it appears that sugar was known as early as the 
Christian era ; and that its origin was very imperfectly under- 
stood by ancient Qreek and Roman writers. It is probable 
that the white sugar-candy of China, which has been veir long 
celebrated for its excellence, was the Indian salt of the Boman 
authors. 

{The historians of the Crusades describe sugar.cane as met 
with by the Crusaders in Syria; and one of these. Albertas 
^enas, about 1108^ says that " sweet honeyed reeds," called 
^cra, were found m great quantity in the meadows about 
Tripoli, and were suckM by the Crusaders' army. He describes 
tiie husbandmen as bruising the ^lant, when ripe, in mortars, 
and setting by the strained juice in vessels till it is concreted 
in the form of snow, or of white salt : this being the 
oldest mention extant of the process of extracting sugar 
from the cane ; and the Bame author records in 1110 toe cap- 



190 Thing* not generally Known. 

tore bj the Cmaaders of eleven camels laden with Bugai. Other 

authorittea, hoTvever, ooneider sugar to have been oultivated in 
modern Europe antecedently to the above date, as well as im- 
ported by the Venetians, from the Levant : it was cert&inly 
imported into Venice as earl; as 991. The cane is supposed to 
have been first planted in Valencia. The manu&ctDre, derived 
ori^nally from China and India, was introduced into the 
western world by the Spanish and Portuguese. 

Refined sugar has been used in Engird for four centories ; 
since we find Margaret Fasten (in the celebrated PiutonZtfttcrt) 
writing to her husband from Norwich thus ; " I pray that ye 
will vouchsafe to send me another sngar-loa^ for my old one is 

To the hoiiej, grape, manca, and fruit sugars, vhich were the priii- 

.-.._, ..__r... ^ — ' -orld, wenow add the oanB, maple, beet, 

"■ —'■ -■ 'so from potatoes, 

i^athered front the 
shore ; even from »aw-duat when an Bmergenoy Briaea ; and we ertract 
it &om tha milk of our domestic cattle. It has beoomo to us, in ooD- 
seiiueace, almost aDeoessary of life. We oomume ic in miUiana of tons; 
■we employ thousands of uips in transporting it. Millions of men 
spend their lives in oultdvatiDR' the plants from which iC is extracted, 
and the fiscal dutiea imposed upon it add largely to the revenue of 
nearly every established gevernmeut. It may be said, thoreffc™, to 
eiercisB a more direct and extended influence, not only over theaoraal 
comfort, but over the social condition, ofmanldud than any other 
production of the vwetahte kingdom, with the eiceptian, perhaps, of 
cotton akme.— J, F. W, Jokniton, MA.. 



OF SUOAB. 

Everyvarietjr of sugar is made up df carbon, hydrogen, and 
oxygen, in various proportions. The one remark appUes, how- 
ever, to all, — that the carbon and hydrogen ezist in the exact 
proportion to form tn)t«r;n!OTeover,no variety of sugar contains 
nitrogen : this latter &ct is expressive of the purpose which 
sugar subserves when taken as an aliment It is unable to 
contribute nitrogen to the animal economy ; but it powerAillj 
to tne fixation of carbon in the form of &t, besides 
; to the animal temperature by the combusUon of 
tion of caibon. — Brandt'* Ltetarei. 

STOAB MAHUFACnniE. 

case, one object is paramount, the removal of im* 
This is done through the agencies of lime-water and 
)od. The real use of lime-water appears to be this, 

forms a chemical union with various colonring 
iting in Muscovado sugar, and yields a flocculent 

substance, which, being subsequently enveloped 



Curiosities of Science. 191 

in the albumea of the blood-Benim, coagulated bj heat, rises to 
the sur&ce ina bciuq, and may be removed. 

Perhaps no agent is so effectual as the Bubaoetate of lead. 
Chemiets have long been aware of this &ct, but they could not 
separate the excess of subacetate of lead, which is poisonous, 
without injuring the Bugar at the same time. Dr. Scoffern 
aocomplkhed this result ingeniouslj and effectively by means 
of sulphurous-acid gas, which heii^ transmitted tnrongb the 
leaded Bugar solution bj means of a forcing-pump, every portion 
of lead is removed, ft^feaeor Brande believes the means of 



culty or skill than may be oommanded by every sugar manu- 
facturer who chooses -to devote adequate attention to the- 
subject. 

The vacuunt-pai), and other improvements by the Honour- 
able Mr. Howard in the manufacture of sugar, have already 
been noticed (see page 18S}. The injurious effect of heat upon 
sugar might in great measure be prevented. The produotioO' 
of molasses in the rude colonial manufacture is chiefly the re- 
sult of the high and long-continued heat applied to the cane- 
juice, and might be almost entirely prevented by the use of 
vacuum-pans ; the product of sugar being thereby greatly in- 
creased in quantitv, and so fer improved in quality as to become 
almost equal to the refined article. Indeed, it may be said, 
that no branch of our manu&cture depends more directly upon 
chemical research, and the diffusion and application of chemical 
knowledge, than the manufitcture of sugar. 

The root of the Beet contains often as much as a tenth part. 
of its weight of sugar. By squeezing out the juice, or dissolv- 
ing out the sugar from the sUced root and boiling down the 
solution, the raw sugar is obtained. It then posseBseB an un- 
pleasant flavour, derived from the beet-root; but when refined 
it is scarcely distinguishable from cane sugar. 

At an average of 3 tons an acre of sugar and molasses, it 
requires upwards of 130,000 acres of rich land to produce the 
sugar yearlv consumed in the British Islands I 

formerly, when sugar was much dearer than at present, it 
was extensively adulterated with an inferior description of 
sugar made from potato-starch, by the aotion upon it of dilute 
sulphuric acid. But diis adulteration has, we iDeheve, ceased. 
Dr. Pereira, on inspecting an extensiTe manufactory at Strat- 
ford in Ebbbi, found that the potato-sngar was used for miTong 
with brown sugar, and the molasses 'produced was consumed 
in au oxalic-acid manu&ctory. Sugar has also been extracted 
from diseased potatoes without the disease touching the starch. 

Sugar is pnosphorescent, when two pieces are rubbed to- 



192 Things not generally Knovm. 

gether in the dark ; when exposed to a high tempeTnture, sugar 

undergoes decomposition, yielding various easeous pn>dncts, 
and leaving a luge proportion of aharcoBl, on account of 
which 1-lOOth ofa gcam of sugar is capable of impartiiig colour 
to an ounce of sulpaurio acid. 

Adetonatin^ sugar haa been obttdned by means aimilar to Hie 
mode of preparing sun-ootton : when suddenlj heated to red- 
ness, this sugar explodes like gunpowder. 



BOW TO OBTAIN SUQAS F&OU BAGS. 

A curious and interesting esperinient may be made by vny 
alowly adding concentrated sulpnuric add to half its weight of> 
lint, orlinen out into small shred^ tritunting them in a mortar, 
and leaving the mixture to stand for a few nonrs ; after whitA 
it is to be rubbed up with water, and warmed and filtered. 
"rha solution may then be neutianaed with chalk, and again 
filtered. The gummy liquid retains lime, partly ifl the state of 
Eulphate, and partly in combination with a peculiar add, com- 
posed of the elements of sulphuric with those of the lignine, 
to which the name Sulpho-lignio Acid is given. If the liquid, 
previous to neuttalisation, be boiled three or four hours', and 
the water replaced, add evaporates, and the dextrine beoomee 
entirely chaoged t« grape sugar. Linen rags may bj this 
means be maiM to furnish more than their own weight of that 
mbstance. 

SCQAB AND THE TEETH.— TEETH 7ABASITES. 

M. Larez, of France, has proved that sugar, from dther 
«ane or beet, is iiguriona to healthy teeth, either bj immediate 
contact with them or by the gas developed owing to its stop- 
page in the stomach. If a tooth is macerated in a saturated 
solution of sugar, it becomes gelatinous, and its enamel opaque, 
spongy, and easily broken. This modification is due, not to 
free add, but to a tendency of sugar to combine with the cal- 
careous baus of the teeth. 

Dr. J. H. Bovrditcb, of the United States, having examined 
with a microscope matter deposited on the teeth and gums of 
more than forty individuals, selected from difierent classes of 
Bodety, .and in every varied of bodily condition, in nearly 
-every case he discovered animal and vegetable parasites in 
great numberB ; in fiict, the only persons whose mouths were 
found to be entirely fiiee from these paraaitea cleaned their 



teeth four times daily, using soap once. Among the vaopus 

— — 'led were tobacco juice and emoke, which donot 

vitality of the pamtites ; nor does chlorine tootli- 



nta appli 



Curionlies of Science. 193 

wash, polveriaed bark, Bodaj ammonia, Ac Soap, however, 
pure white BOap, deatroTB the Jaraaitea imtaittlj. 

It has been ukad, in Jfola and Qtieriei, XHd IA» Greek mrgiona tx- 
irad tetlh f — to which Ur. Qeorge HKy« has replied, that on one oS&e 
omamenta found in some ancient buildingB in the Crimea is represented 
a aorgeon drawing >■ Iwth from tbo mouth of one at the barbarian 
royalties. " ThiB," aaya Mr, Hayes, " X think establishes the ti«t that 
there were then peripatetic, either Egypttan or Greek, denUste, who 
resorted to distant countries to practise their art." It is believed this is 
the only representation of a soi^oal operaUon to be met with on anoient 
soulpture. 

HOW THE BEE >U£ES HONEY. 

The hone}' is fonued or natnrall]' deposited in the nectaries 
of floweni, and is extracted from them by the working bees. 
Thej deposit it in their crop or honej-bag, which is an expan- 
rion of the gullet (aesophagus), and from this receptacle they 
disgorge it affun when they return to the hiTe. In the inter- 
val, it is probablj somewhat altered by admixture with the 
liquids which are secreted in the mouth and crop of the in- 
sect ; so that the honej we extract from the hive may not be 
exactly in the same chemical condition as when it was sucked 
up by the bee. — J. F. W. Jokniton. 



F BELL-UETAl, 

This oonaiatH generally of &om five to three of copper to 
one of tin ; aU alloys of this kind being technically called bdl- 
ma<d, whatever purpose they may be used for, just as the 
softer alloys of eight or ten to one are called gv.n-ma(dy and 
the harder and more brittle alloy of two to one ia called sptair- 
lum-metal. Other metals and alloys have been suggeBted for 
belle : as aluminium, pure or aUoyed with copper; cast steel, 
the iron and tin alloy called VTiian-meial, and perhaps 
may add glass. Now aluminium is about fifty times as c___ 
as copper, even reckoning by bulk, and much more by weight. 
Steel bellB are said to be harsh and disagreeable, and the same 
is said of union-metal. The sound of glass is very weak, 
Much has been said of silver in bells; but it is purely apoetical, 
not a chemical, ingredient of any known bell-metal, and there 
is no foundation whatever for the vulgar notion that it was 
used in old bells, nor the least reason to believe that it would 
do any good : silver has been put into the pot in a bell-foundry 
in our time without producing any particular efiect ; and we 
can determine for ourselves that a silver cup makes a worse 
bell than a cast-iron saucepan. 

Dr. Percy has cast several small bells of different allies, 
besides the iron and tin just mentioned. One of iron, 9S, 
and antimony, S, differs but little from that of iron and tin 



Thingt not generally Known. 



of the Bune propoiiions, md is clearij not so good aa ooppa 
uid tin. It should be metitioDed th&t uitimoaj is generaUj 
considered to produce an aaah^oB effect to tin in allors, 
bnt always to the detriment of tbe metal in point of tenant^ 
and strength. Again, abeU of copper, 88'6G, and phosphonis, 
ll'3fi, makes a veir bard compound, capable of a fine po- 
lish, but more brittle than bell-metal, and inferior in somid 
even to tbe iron alloys. Copper, 20'14, and aluminium, 9'86, 
which makes the aluminium bear about the same proportion 
in bulk aa the tin usually does, seems more promismg. This 
alloy exceeds any bell-metal in strength and toughness, and 
polishes like gold; and it is superior to every thing except 
gold and platinum in its resistance to the tamiahiug effects <A 
the air. But this alio; will uot stand for a moment against 
the old copper-and-tin alloys for bells. A brass bell is better 
than the pnosphorus and aluminium alloys, though inferior to 
bell-metal. 

M. Beville, of Paris, has cast a bell of aluminium, from ■ 
drawing of our great Westminster bell reduced to six indies 
diameter. He nae also turned the sur&ce, which improves 
the sound of small bells where the small unevennesses of cast- 



The question remains. What are the best proportions for 
the copper and tin alloy, so as to give the strongest, clearest, 
and beat sound possible) They have varied from something 
less than three to something more than four of copper to one 
of tin, even disregarding tbe bad bells of modem times, some 
of which contain no more than ten per cent of tin instead of 
from one-fifth to one-fourth, and no less than teu per cent 
of zinc, lead, and iron adulteration. 

From various experiments, it has been found that the best 
metal for the purpose is that which has the highest spedfie 
gravity of all the mixtures of copper and tin. It is deu, 
however, that the copper now smelted will not carry so mud) 
le old copper did, without making the alloy too brittle 
^y used. It haa been found that the three-to-one alloy, 
dted twice over, had a conchuidal fracture like glass, 
very much more brittle than 22 to 7 twice meltSl, or 
nee melted ; accordingly the metal used for the West- 
bells is 22 to 7 twice melted ; or, reducing it for con- 
I of comparison to a percentage, ^le tin is 91 '1 of (he 
]t of the copper), and the copper 7S'86. This S2 to 7 
, or even 3} to I, which is probably tbe best propor- 
ise for bells made at one melting, is a much " higher" 
IS they call it, than the modem bell-foundere, either 
or French, generally use. Mr. E. B. Deuison, H.A., 



Curwiities of Science. 195 

the founder of the WeBtminBter pblace olook and peal bellSj and 
the author of the paper whence most of theae fxcts are derived, 
IkdviBea everf person who makes a contract for belia to stipu- 
late that tliej shail be rejected if tbey are found on analjus 
to contain less than 22, or, at any rate, 21 per cent of tin, or 
more than 2 per cent of any thing but copper and tin. 

OLASS-UA^G. 

upon no branch of inventioa have the researches into Egyp- 
tian antiquities thrown a stronger lisht than upon Qlass-mak- 
ing. Thus, the discovery of a glass bead, with the name of a 
Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, proves glass-blowing to 
have been known upwards of 3200 jeais ago, Wilkiasoa 
found at Beni Hassan two paintings of glasa-blowera at work; 
and from the hieroglyphics aocompauyiug them, tboy are shown 
to have been executed 3500 years ago. The use of glass bottles 
is also shown by tsx older paintings than the abore. 

" Glass (says Sir Gardner Wilkinson) vras applied to many 
uses by the Egyptians, who were always celebrated for their 
skill in its mani^cture : natron, or snbearbonate of soda, a 
native production in difierent parts of the country, was the very 
substance most likely to lead to its invention, or rather to its 
accidental discovery ; and it is &r more reasonable to suppose 
that this nould have been made where natron abounded than 
from a fire once aocidentally lighted on the sea-shore by some 
Phoenicians who happened to be carrying a cargo of natron." 
{The Egyptiam in ths titnt of tht Pharaaha, p. 86.) 

It is a curious &ct in the histoiy of discovery, that the manu- 
fiutture of Glass is unknown at Sidon, in Syria, not far from 
Belus, where the shove accidental discovery is laid. Anciently, 
however, Sidon was &nious for its glass articles. 

The claims of glass to be ranked as a strictly chemical com- 
bination, illustrated by Faraday, will be found noticed in 
Thinjfe not generally Known, First Series, p. 211. 

Although perfectly transparent itself, not one of the mate- 
rials of which glass is made partakes of that quaUty ; a combi- 
nation, which may, at the period of its invention, have been as 
astounding as the identity of carbon and the diamond, estab- 
lished by the chemical philosopher of our own time. 

The obtaining of achromatic (so as to remedy aberration of 
oolonr) fliut'glasB has long been a difficulty with the scientiGo 
maker. Mr. ApsleyPellatt, some years since, constructed asmall 
famace to try the principle of agitating fused flint-glass by a 
covered rotating pot, with one or more interior divisions ; and 
this mode of subjecting the ghtss to a uniform intensity of heat 
and agitation destroys Qi& strisa, or cords, without exporiug 



196 Thingt not generally Known. 

tike contentB to the twoling effects of the atmospheric 
Pell&tt maiutaiiu that there would be no difficulty ii ^ 

good MhTomatio flint-^lass, oould the manufai:turer anticipate 
a bit remuTierative pnce and demand, after having succeeded 
in ohtaiuing the qiulit;. Probably, he could oiu; sell 600 
cwt. per annum, were he to supply all the optidauB in Great 
Britain, which, at ten times the price of ordinsrj flint-glass, 
wonld scarcely be remuneiative. The quality of optic plate is 
uncertain ; and if unfit for the optician, it becomes TaJuelees to 
the roanu&cturer far other purposes. As an affair of science 
and merit, especially were a Qovernment premium offered for 
a uniformlv certain process, which has not yet been acoom- 
plished at home or abroad, it is anticipated that English mv 
nufaotnrers would rival foreigners in this field of honooiabte 
competition. 

' ' The manipuIatoiT operations of glass-maldng are disrami- 
lar to casting metals of any kind. Scarcely any advance in this 
department of the manumoture has been made for above tvn> 
hundred years } and the tools then used for blowing and shap- 
ing the various articles have been but little improved. There 
can scarcely be chemicsily, and in reference to the prep^tion 
of the crude materials, a manufacture of greater simplicity, or 
of easier management, than that of Flint-glass." * 

Coke possesses one of the remarkable properties of the 
diamond — that of cjOtijig ^au so clean and pmect as to exhibit 
the most beautifiil prismatic colours, owing to the perfection 
of the incision. 

Malleable Glavi was made in old Rome ; and in the reign 61 
Tiberius, a Roman artist had, according to Pliny, his house de- 
mottshed — according to other writers, he was beheaded — for 
making glass malleable. The idea of discovering the secret was 
only ranked second to that of the Philosopher's Stone among 
alchemists J hut in 1845, tliereisstated to have been discovered 
at St. Etienne in Prance the means of rendering glass as mal- 
leable when cold as when first drawn from the pot. The sub- 
stance silicon is combined with various other substances, and 
can be obtained opaque ortranspareut as crystal ; it is described 
as very ductile and malleable, neither air nor acids acting 

Rough Plaie-Qlass, not transparent, hut well adapted for 
railway-stations and workshops, and for use in horticulture, is 
now made by a very umple means, patented by Mr. Hartley, of 
Sunderland. The sole secret (xmsists in ladling rough glass 
directly on to a hot table near the melting-pot, in place of car- 
• Ben CuriMiijM gf Ghsi-mihi^g: nith DeOiils atlhe ProcMws >nd Pradoe- 



CuriosUies of ScieiKe. 197 

lying it as heretofore out of tlie reflning-pot to a cold table at 
some diBtance from the furnace. By this means rough plate- 
glass is now made in minutes instead of hours, or days ; and ia 
patterns etamped by the table, which becomes so hot as to keep 
the glass molt«n till stamped, and till one ladleful is added to 
another and imperceptibly joined to it, so as to form plates of 
any size. One glass-making firm ia stated to have expended 
S5,OD02. in v^nly endeavouring to use the ladle and to draw the 
table close to the rough melting-pot 1 

Soluble Glata aniWater-Oliaa are the names given to soluble 
Silicate of Soda, which, in contact with lime, consolidates, and 
is partly converted into silicate of lime. Silicate ofsodaisthe 
substantial element in Bansome's artificial stone process, and 
other similar procesaes, in which a porous sandstone or lime- 
stone, being saturated with this silicate, not only consolidates, 
but combines with the lime, formiuK a compact mass of flinty 
hardness, and impervious to atmospheric influence. The solu- 
ble Silicate has also been employed as a protecting varnish for 
out-door fresco-paintings in Berlin. Mixed with Imie, it forms 
a good cement for china and glass. 

PAINTED AND STAINED GLASS. 

Glass is coloured by mixmg some metal with the ingre- 
dients in the melting-pot. Mysteiious recipes, so recently as 
fifty years ago, were affected for making the coloured pot-metal. 
Most of the discoveries aresudto liave been accidentally made. 
The ancient glass was coloured by using gold in the pot ; jet it 
was by chance discovered, in a German glass-house, that a 
beautiful red may be procured from copper, and this is now 
done. The existing mode of blowing ruby glass is thought to 
be ae old as the use of coloured glass in England, which ia 
said to date from the year 647. It has been often said that 
modem glass-painters cannot produce the rich ruby-red of 
the ancients ; but this is an error : there is no difficulty in its 
production at the present day ; but the cost of the powder (a 
compound containing much gold) by which it was anciently 
procluced causes the modems to use less expensive ingredients, 
except for first-rate work. Protoxide of copper is generally 
osed, and is stated to produce a red equal to the ancient colour. 
(See Tkingt not aeneraUii Known, First Series, p. 226.) 

Professor Buckman has analysed taseUte from Roman pave- 
ment found at Cirencester, and found that on scraping away 
the verdigris-green of a medallion of Flora, a beautiful ruby 
glass pregented itself. An analysis showed the change from 
ruby to green to be due to the fact that the ruby glass had de- 
rived its colour from peroxide of copper, and that the leudla 



T^injTt not generally Knoum. 



had beoome covered with caibonate of oopper from a decompo- 
Bition of their lur&oeB. 

Yellow is the ouly colour that can be applied to glass as a 
ttain upon ita Bur&Lce ; for the colour in the pot-metal and the 
flaahed glass in all o^er oases entos into actual combination 
with the melt«d materials. ThiB jellow staiu was unknown 
before the banning of the ISth century, about the Ume of 
Bdward I., and haa ever since been much used in preference to 
the yellow pot-metal. It posseasea thia great advantage, that 
while all otner colours are diffused over the entire piece of pot- 
metal glass, yellow can be applied partially, and it is the only 
stained glass properly so oallM. Silver was the material em- 
ployed in this yellow stain : this discovery is attributed to 
Van Eyok ; but it is asoribed with greater reason to Beato 
Qiaoomo da Ulmo. 

White glass can be onuuneatod with a yellow device, and a 
yeUow sttim applied to each side of white glass produces aveiy 
rich colour. It can also be applied to blue Bashed glass, mak- 
ing it green, or to ruby, which it turns into bright scarlet ; so 
that the yellow stain added grMtly to the resources of the 
ancient glass-punters. — Abridgtd jrvm a paper 6g Mr. Q, J. 
Frend^ F.S.A. 

Cobalt produces so intense a blue that a single gnun of the 
pure oxide will give a deep tint of blue to 240 grains of glasB. 



"We all know the purifying as welt as the bleaching effect ef ' 
light ; and may we not reasonably suppose that during the 
lapse of ages the old glass has been permeated and saturated 1^ 
floods of light, so thntthe colours have been chastened, purified 



FLAX 7B0CESSES. 

Remarkable modifications in woody fibre have been effected 
by chemical treatmen t ; as in the Cottonising processes of Claua- 
sen, and the Corrugating processes of Mercer. 

On account of the difficulties of working flax in those fonuF 
of machinery employed in &e manufacture of cotton, H 
Clauasen oonvertafiax, by a chemical process. Into astate some 
thing like that of cotton. This be accomplishea by first steep- 
ing the flax ina lixivium of carbonated alkali, and Bubseqnently 
in a weak acid. Now the combioed ageucies of these two mai- 
stma are as follow r no sooner does the acid come in contact 
with the carbonated alkali, previously absorbed by the ootttsi 
fibre, than carbonic acid is hbeiated ; which gas, exercising a 



Ctirioiitiet of Science. 



pressure, bursts the fikmenta of the flax aaunder, and reduces 
the material to a physical condition sometliing like that of 
cotton. 

Meroer'B Corrogating prooeu has for its object the strength- 
ening of cotton tissues by corrugation of their Gbres. This he 
accomplishes by the action of oaustio alkaline lyea, which do- 
pout their alkali in the state of chemical union with tJie cotton- 
doth, gwelliug and at tfie same time corrugating its tissue, 
whilst the oaoacity of that tissue for the reception of colours is 
nmultaneounlj increased. 

It is not a little remarkable that the corrugating process 
should have remained for Mr. Mercer to discover. Ever since 
tiie first establishment of the cotton manu&ccure, a solution of 
soda has been employed inane stage of the operation of bleach- 
ing; but the solution, when employed with tnis object in view, 
is used hot, and this circumstance accounts for the long period 
during which the &cts observed by Mr. Uercer, and incorpo- 
rated into iiis new process, remained undiscovered. 

If cotton be submitted to the action of a Aof solution of 
soda, no combination of the alkali with the cotton fibre takes 
place, but a mere bleaching action results, chiefly dependent 
on the removal of coloured resinous matter. If, however, the 
euoe cotton fibre be subjected to the action ofedd soda-solu- 
tion, a very peculiar result ensues. Supposing the alkaline 
solution poured through the &bric, if the layers of cotton be 
anflSciently numerous, the whole of the alkali in the solution 
employed will be removed, and retained in combination with 
the &bric, impartiug to it a peculiar corrugated appearance. 
The combination, however, is not permaaont, rince boiling 
water poured upon the tissue expels the whole of the soda. 
Sut the cotton does not return to its original state; for every 

auivaient of soda expelled, an equivalent of water has been 
ken into combination, and this combination is permanent. 
(Brande'i Leeturct, edited by Scoffcm.) 

Belfast and its neighbourhood is one of our great seats of 
linen manufacture. Here, in the bleacbing-works, may be 
seen the lineu steamed in wooden vate, and alternately im- 
mersed in a solution of chloride of lime mixed with carbonate 
«f soda, and of sulpbunc acid, many times, during which pro- 
cess the linen is violently beaten about b^ large wooden arms 
in a stream of water. It is then rubbed in a machine with a 
strong soap, in another it is atarohed ; and subsequently, by 
long- continued thumping with beetles, the peculiar gloss is 
imparted to the linen. 

In the vitriol- works here are prepared not only oil of vitriol, 
but also the chloride of soda and carbonate of lime, vrhicb are 
used in the bleaching process. The sulphuric acid is made in 



SOO TKtn^f not generally Knoam. 

enormouB leaden obambere or oittems, where it ia conceatnted, 
and the evaporetioQ is oompleted in a platinum still. Salt, 
and condenMd b;r^roohloric acid, and o(m, chalk, and sulphate 
of soda, are mixed tcttether to form in the forcaces the "black- 
cake," from which the alkaline carbonate is extracted. Hete 
alBO are the retortg for the evolution of chlorine gaa, which, 
pawed OTer lime, forms the bleaching-poirder. 

At the Btaroh and glue worka may be seen meal converted 
into atarohj and rough scrape of hides and hoofs into glue and 



WIT AND DET EOT. 

Wet Rot in timber depends on a real chemical decompoai' 
tion, referable to the combined agency of air and moisture, 
exercised at certain temperatures. Dry Rot is attributable to 

the growth of certain fungL 

flow it had long been known that the decompontion of 
timber from an; cause might be impeded ; and in tne case of 
Dry Bot altogether prevented by imbuing the woodj fibres with 
certain mineral solutions, which likewise diminish the inflam- 
mability of the timber. 

A solution of corrosive sublimate (bichloride of merciuy) 
was commonly employed as a preventive of dry rot even in the 
last century ; but it was reserved for Mr. Kyan to improve and 
patent this application, after, he stat^, twenty years' espe- 
rieuce. His process is analogous to tanning ; but instead of 
acting with oak -bark on the gelatine of animal matter, he acts 
with corrosive sublimate on the albumen, one of the approxi' 
mate principles of vegetable matter. The timber is placed in 
lolulion, and in from seven to fourteen days the process is 
,DlGte. It is, however, eipensive ; and although the pre- 
servative effects of Kyanising are complete, a less costly method 
was found in the process of Sir William Burnett, who, instead 
of bichloride of mercuiy, employs the less expensive, more 
fixed, and equally efficacious salt, chloride of dne, which is not 
«ervative but a disinfecting agent, and is now com- 
ployed. It renders timber almost incombustible, 
rench journal Cotmos states that a simple method bas 
ted in the ship-yards of Venice from time immemorial 
; the soundness of the timber. A person applies his 
middle of one end of the timber, while another strikes 
opposite end. If the wood is sound and of good 
he blow is very distinctly heard, however long the 
be. If the wood is disaggregated by decay or other- 
sound will be for the moat part destroyed. 



Curiontiet ofSeien 



MQlder, the celebrated German chemiat, has, io his work 
-with the above title^ubliehed in 1868), ablyUInabvted the cbe- 
mical knowledge of Wine. The compoaition, he teUa us, differs 
axxording as the nine is red or not rsA. In the last-in entioned 
DO particular colouring matters are found, and only a trace of 
tannic acid ; iu the former both are present. Alcohol and 
water are among the principal ingredients ; then sugar, gum, 
extractive and albuminous matters; then free acids, such as 
tartaric, lacemic, malic, and acetio acid ; tartrate of potash, of 
lime, and of magnesia ; sulphate of potash, common salt, and 
traces of phosphate of lime ; also, and especially in cellared 
wines, BUMtances which impart aroma, as cenanthic and acetio 
ethers, in variable proportions ; and other volatile matters. In 
red nines, and in many others, a little iron ; and, according to 
one statement, some alumina may also be detected. Lastly, 
the best wines contain a peculiar substance called CEnanthine. 
Most of the properties of wine depend upon the sugar, al- 
cohol, tartaric acid, and wat^, which exist together in it ; 
that is, putting aside taste and smell as standards of comparison. 
The acid of wine appears to be its most constant ingredient, 
never falling below three grains, and seldom exceeding six 
giuns, per ounce. The alcohol varies from nine per cent in 
the weidcer Moselles and Hoclcs, to twenty-fbor percent iu tlie 
Stronger Ports and Sherries. But the sugar varies most of all : 
there is none in Clarets, Burgundies, Hocks, and Moselles; 
in Sherries, from nine to twelve grains in an ounce ; in Forts, 
from sixteen to thirty grains ; Madeiras, twenty to sixty ; and in 
Cjpms as much as one hundred grains in an onnce. As a far- 
ther illustration, the only difference between Port and Sherry 
is the quantity of sugar contained in the Port. 

Bext to tartaric acid, the most important is tannic acid, or 
buinin. It is most abundant in red wines, but Mnlder says he 
found it in all white wines. The enul which is thrown down 
by red wines is nuunly owing to the presence of tannic acid, 
which, combining with the albuminous matters of the wine, 
forms an insoluble oompound. 

The preserratlnn of the wise is, in a great msssure, to iie ascribed 
to tannic acid ; for the albumtDOus matten, vhidh are always oombhied 
wiA tannic acid in wine, are thus prevented from dacomposiUan, and 
the prindpsl csasa of the wine spoiling is thereby checked. Whiee, 
therofore, which are intended for eipoitation, or to be long oellared, 
must not be deprived of too much tsnnio add by means of albumen or 
gelatine. 

Hoet of the aalins matters have do graat effect upon the toata : pot- 
ash ii the moat important, AS it aatuTateB apart oftha tartario acid, 
and renuini in a state o{ solution. But tartrate and phospbata otUme, 
together with the small amount of common and other salts in the wine. 



SOS Things not genarally Known. 

hMra no gnat infiuauoo upon itm flavour, oolourf or imelL Am dutinc- 
tiTa nutrki of the gsnuiaciutas of Um wines, the; are of the cnalot 
value : this maj be Hen by oompajrliig the ash of an aduIUraCed wiHi 
that of a gennine wine ofuie nine kind a> that under examination. 

Upon the oause ot the bouqutt of wine, first described bj 
luebig and Pdouie, Professor Mulder saja, the eo-called fdsel 
oilshaveshed moatlif^ht. They are " ethereal oils, a mixture of 
several liquids in which the solid Bubstauoes caUed httf adds 
are disBolved : this mixture maj be obtained either by distilling 
lai^ quantttie* of wine (as in brandy distilleriet), or br sub- 
jectia| the giape-skios, which have already fermented with 
the juioe, to distillation. In this manner enbstauces actoalhr 
existing in and belooging to the wine were obtained in saai 
abunduioe aa to allow u the mixed bodies beinv eepanted, 
and thor individual oonstitneots lepaiately anafysed. The 
result has shown that many of tiieM ingredienta may be arti- 
nciaUT imitated ; and those who adulterate wine have there- 
fore attempted to improve the less aromatio wines bj the ad- 
dition of some odoriferout mibHtance." 

Upon these Bubstances, wbioh form the honqaet, the real 
value of wines depends. The substance which gives die vinous 
odour is the oenanthic ether, a fetid, ethereal liquid, composed 
of oarbon, hydroffen, and oxygen. The aoetia ether is most 
commonly found in aromatio old wioes. Professoi' M&ldn 
traoes it to the OiyRen of the ur dinolved in wine, and exist- 
ing in the botUes, iniich changes alcohol into acetic ether. It 
. can decompose cenantbic ether, separate cenanthio acid ; and 
perhaps the acetic acid, assisted by the tartaric acid, etherises 
a portion of the alcohol. It is well known that acetic ether 
is formed, after a time, in absolute alcohol in which it did not 
previously exist. But the alcohol we are treating of here is 
not absolute, as it iB diluted in wine. A dccompoution of cenan- 
tbic ether by means of the cenanthio aoid in wine seems to 
Professor Miilder, however, not improbable, as in proportion 
to the formation of acetic and compound ether in old wine 
will be the diminution of oenanthic ether. The aroma in- 
creases, and the disagreeable odour decreases. 

The improvement of lyines bv keeping is thus explained. 
All wines oontaiu odoriferous substances, necessarily the pro- 
ducts of fermentation ; but young wine contains such an excess 
of cenanthio ether as to make it offmisive, and cause it to affect 
the head. 



uubciuwi n^To oeen engenoerea irom iBuanuuo OLner, ldal cne ongmai 
iroma of the frrape-jiiioa nappaiK, bainff no longer roeskod, but haTins 
ts bouqool increaaed by other aronuitla iDgredtenU. Thia fundamental 
hot, that feUd teniiithia ether la firat Sinaoi, imd maaks all other 



Curiotitiet of Science. iiOS 

bnt also of thmo frB({™nt olhora which wb haie treated of above. 
Tbeae Are soraetimes found in the f^isel oils of ^oimger wines, sometimes 
in Uiose of bad wines. The; bj« found at un early period, tliough in 
no isr; large qnantiiies ; hut they etmnot impart aroma to wine until the 
peateat porlioa of the ccuaalliia ether isdecomposed. (Enontliio ether 
II generally miiiposed to oooa*ion Cie yinoiu odour ; but the truth is, it 
spoils the bouquet, and although it ^res rise to man; of the oromatio 
ingredients of cellared wine, so long ai it predamloates iu the wine it is 
by no moans ftsgrant, A thorough kuonledgie of chemialx; is not 
saffioient to explain every thing whioh conoeroa the aroma of wine. It 
is well tnown m pharmacy sud perfumery that fresh distilled waters 
have not a pleasant smell, partjoularlr if they ore prepaid firan fresh 
phintB. The; obtain the lisgranoe whioh chatactstiBas Uiem after the 
l^ne of time. 

ProfeBsor M&lder treats of the DiteoMa of Wing under five 
gep&rate heads ; First, the turning, which darkens the colour 
and deatroys the flavour : this is caused bj deoomposition 
of tartar. Secondly, ropiness, consisting in the formation of a 
Testable niucns from tne sugar of the wine : tartaric acid is 
on^ cause of this corruption a^o. Thirdly, bittemesB, to which 
BuTKundies are peculiarly liable : this is attributed, hypothe- 
ti^Dy, to the formation of dtrio ether ; it arises from the 
sediment, and often disappears of itself; drawing off the wine 
in other casks is therefore a remedy ; or young wine may be 
added. Acidification is a fourth form of disease : in weak 
wines contact with air at a high temperature will produce it ; 
carbonated alkali, introduced in time, stops it ; but the oolour 
and flavour are impaired. Mouldineaa ooansts in the produc- 
tion of mouId-plant-B on the surface of the liquor : the admis- 
sion of VT encourages this disease, and the alcohol disappears 
in the procera ; but how the mould is formed science does not 
jet pretend to say. 

Great mistakes are made in jadginK of wine merely bt/ iU 
age. It is the year or vintage, not the mere lapse <A time, 
which stamps the value. Thus, hock of 1811 (the comet Tear), 
is more valuable than hock of 1801 ; and claret of l^A, than 
Cdaret of 1SS4. 

The nobler winea of the Khine, and man; of those of Bordeaux, 
ure distingui^ed above all others by producing a minimum of after- 
effect. The quantity of wine cousumsdT od dieRhine b; persons of all 
ages, without perceptible injury to their mental and bodily health, is 
hardly credible. Gout and calculous diseasea ore nowbers more rare 
t^an m the district of the Rheingau, so highly favoured by nature. In 
no part of Uerman; do the apothecaries' establi^imenta bring so low a 
^ioe aain Hie rich oities on the Bhiae ; for there wine ia the universal 
medidne for the healthy as well aa the mck, it is oonddared w milk tor 
tba aged.— Lwi^i FaatUiar iMtn. 



Things not generally Known, 



ffieneral Scimra. 



SCIENCE OF LOBS BACOK. 

The following accouot of Bacon's knowledge of what had been 
done in his own daj, or before it, shows that he was not in- 
wiably observant or mindful of the labours of his predeceseore. 
It is a coUectioQ of casual remarks b^ Mr. Spedding, in Mr. 
Ellis's several pre&oea, in the latest edition of Bacon's Works. 

Though he paid great atteaUon to astronomj, dlBcuBsed oanfuUj 
the methods in which it ouglit to be Btudied, cona^Ticted for the wJu- 
tactJoH of hie own mind an elaborate tlieor; of the hsaTeOB, and listattd 
cngerly for the news from the atars brought by Gttlileo'a teleaoopa, l» 
appeam to bavo been utterly ignorant of &e diioovorioB which hadjast 
been made by Kepler's calculations. Though he complained in )6SI<if 
the want of oompendious methods for facilitating aritbinetieal compata- 
tiona, eapeci^y with regard to the doctrine of Series, and Ailly resog- 
nbed the impcoiAnce of tbom as an aid to physical inquiries, ha doei 
not say a word about Xapier's LogarltbniB, which bad been publiihed 
only nine years before, and reprinted more than once in the intemL 
He complained that do coaeiderable advance had been made in geoui*- 
try beyond Euclid, without takiiu' any notice of what had boon Aone by 
Archimedes and Apolloaiue. Hesaw the importance of determinbu 
accurately the epecific gravities of different substanccfl, and hjntfleu 
attempted to form a table of them by a rude proceea of tus own, vitb- 
out knowing of the more sdentifla uiough still imperfect methods pr^ 
viously employed by Arehimedee, Ohetaldua, and Porta, Hespealuof 
Uie ui{iT» of Archimedes in a manner which impheg that he did net 

principles upon which the solution depended. Id roTiewin^ the progreu 
of mechanics, he makes no mention of Archimedes himself, or of Stari- 
Qus, Qnlileo, Guldinus, or Qhetaldue. He makes dq allusion to the 
of equiUbrium. He olHerves that a ball of one pound wdgtt 
. nearly as fast throuj^h the air as a ball of two, without alluding 
heery of the accelerauon of &Jling bodies, which had been msde 
by Ualileo mere than thirty years before. He proposes an in- 
rith regard to the lever, — namely, whether in a balance witb 
' different leofth but equal weight the distance from the fiilonmi 
' effeot upon UieinclinalJOD, -^ough the theory of the lever WBi 
understood in hia own time as it is now. In making an expeii- 
f hie own to ascertwn the cause of the motjon of a windmill ba 
ks an obvious oircumatance which makes the experimoDt iocoa- 
and an equally obvious variation of the same eiporimont, whicli 
have shown hun that hia theory was false. Ho speaka of the 
r the earth aa Sied in a manner which seems to imply tlat bt 
t aoqu^tod with the preceoion of the equinoxes ; and in rd- 



Curiotities ofScl 



■tace, of the north polebdiia: abaveand-the soath pole 
w>a why in our heuusphers ths north irinda predomiual 



THE (JDADBATUBE OF THE OIEOLE. 



which has beeu & mathematical problem Binoe the dajB of 
Buolid, and is not yet solved. 

Tie Arilhmetieal Quadrature involrea the determination of 
the circumference by a definite aritbmeticaJ multiplier which 
shall he perfectly accurate. Lambert proved that the multi- 
plier must he an interminable decimal fraction. (See Legendre's 
QmmUryj and m Brewster's translation of that work.) The 
arithmeticians have given plenty of approximate multinhers. 
The last and moat accurate was that oy Mr. W. Shanks, of 
Honghton-le-Spnng, who gave the requisite multiplier to 607 
decimal places, of which 441. were verified by Dr. Rutherford, 
To give an idea of the power of this multiplier, we must try 
to master such a supposition as the following : 

There are living thinsB on our globe ao small that, if due 

eroportion were observed, the corpuscles of their blood would 
e no more than a millionth of an inch in diameter. Suppose 
another globe like ours, but so much larger that our great globe 
itself is hut fit to he a corpuscle in the rilood of one of its ani- 
malcule \ and call this the^raf globe above us. Let there be 
another globe so large that this first globe above us is but a 
oorpnscle in the animalcule of that globe; and call this the 
tecmi globe above us. Go on in this way untO we come to the 
twentieth globe above us. Next, let the minute corpuscle on 
OUT globe be another globe like ours, with every thing in pro- 
portion ; and call this the first globe below us. Take a blood- 
corpuscle &om the animalcule of that globe, and make it the 
second globe below us. Then, if the inhabitants of the twentieth 
globe above us were to calculate the circumference of their 
slobe from its diameter by the 607 decimals, their error of 
Ungth could not be made visible to the inhabitants of the 
twentieth globe below us, unless their microscopes were rela- 
tivdy very much more powerful than ours. 

By Otometrical Quadrature is meant the determination of 
s. square equal to the circle, using only Euclid's allowance of 
means ; that is, using only the straight line and circle, as in 
Euclid's first three pustulates. On this matter, James Gregory, 
in 1668, pubhshed an asserted demonstration of the impossi- 
bility of the Geometrical Quadrature. The matter is so difficult. 



206 Thirst not generally Known. 

and the proofa of & n^ative Kre m slipperj, thftt be would be ft 
boldmukwho wouldboTerypoutiveoii thepoiot, even tboogh 
tbera aro trains of reasoniiig, different from Qregorf 's, wbich 
render it in the hi^heot degree improbable, which are, in &ot, 
&I1 but demoQBtration theauelvei, that the Oeometricil Qu&d- 
ratore ia impossible. 

To t».j tnat a given problem oannot be solyed because two 
thotuandyeats of trial have not sucoeeded, ia nosafe ; for more 
powerful meana mar be invented. But when the questioa ia to 
solve a problem viih certain given meant and no others, it ia not 
BO unaafe to affirm that the problem is insoluble. By hjpottied% 
we are to use no means except those which have beau used for 
two thousand years ; it becomes eieeedinglj probable that all 
which those means can do has been done, in a. question which 
has been tried by hundreds of men of genius, patience, and 
proved suooess in other things. 

The limitation to Euclid'a first throe poetnlates is frequently 
omitted ; and persons are led to conclude that mathematicians 
have never shown how to square a circle, than which nothing 
can be more untrue ; and Mr. de Morgan questions whether 
the above difficulties would ever have eiistsd, if Euclid's ideas 
of solid geometry had been aa well arranged aa his ideas of plane 
geometiY. 

Hontucla has published a history of the Researches on the 
Qoadrature of the Circle (Faiia. 1631), which contains besides 
^e vagaries of the insufficiently informed, an account of the 
attempts of older days, which ended in useful discovery. In 
later times, the whole subject has lapsed into burlesque ; the 
few who have made rational attempts being lost in the crowd 
who have made absurd misconceptions of the problem. To 
square the circle has become a by-word, though many do not 
know the problem under a change of terms ; say the rectifica- 
tion of the circumference. 

Strange as it may seem, this problem of the Quadrature of 
the Circle still engages attention ; and persons are found to 
believe that they have attained even the Arithmetical Quadra- 
ture. It has been stated in foreign newspapers, within these 
few years, that the British government does offer, and always 
has offered, a large reward for the solution of this problem. 
This, we need hwlly say, is a complete mistake ; the govern- 
ment never, at auy time, offered one &rthiQg for the Quadra- 
ture of the Circle. 



THE TBOE SOUBCE OF MEC&ANICAL ENEBCrT. 

Professor W. Thompson, in a paper read to the Boyal Insti- 
tution, states that it appears oertaio, from the most careful 



Curiosities of Science. 207 

phjeioIogJcal reseorclieB, that a living animal kcu not the ptneer 
of orwinating medionioal tnergy; and that all the work done 
Bj a UTioK aninuil in the course of its life,_ and all the heat 
tbftt has Deen emitted from it, together with the heat that 
would be obtained by bunuDg the combustible matter which 
has been lost from its bodj during its life, and hy burning its 
bodv after deathi—^ake up altogether an exact equivalent to 
the tieat that would be obtained xiy burning as much food as it , 
has used during its life, and an amount of fiiel that would 
genente aa mudi heat as its bodj if burned immediatelj after 
Mrth. 



PABADOXEB OF 

A Qerman phOoBopber, Ferrell, has by many experiments 
been led to the conclusion that tbe ^ect of communicating 
TKpid rotator; motion is to diminish weight By means of a 
horizontally suspended bar, with a wheel at one end, to which 
rotatory motion could be given, be showed that when the 
point of suspension was shifted so as to make the wheel-end 
the heavier, the horizontality of the bar was restored by oom- 
municating rapid motion to the wheel, and SO remained as 
long as the wheel kept turning ; but as tbe speed of rotation 
diminished, the wheel-end gradu^y dropped down. In- 
stead of descending perpendicularly, bowoTer, it leaned on one 
rida Professor Powell has exhibited this phenomenon to the 
Boral Institution, and thus shown that a body rotating is 
lighter than a body at rest ; and thus a leg of mvtton vken 
Totuting ueigli* nuMt than when brKiugkt to taoU. Prof. Powell 
also showed that in the Prussian rifles, with cyliudncat bullets 
with conical apices, the directions varied with the amount of 
oharge ; when it was low, the missiles deviated to one side. 
^>li fact was experimentally illustrated by paper shuttlecocks 
and cardboard bomei&ngs, the return of which to the point 
from which they were propelled is one of the paradoxes of 
rotatory motion. The I^fessor's explanation is, that when a 
body is acted on by two forces iu different directions, the 
remlting motion is a compound of the two. 

Prof. Powell belieres that the preoesdon of tbe equinoxes 
might be accounted for by certain paradoxes of rotatory motion. 
The star Alpha Draconis was to the ancientB the Pole-Slar, and 
was iDoIiued to the earth at an angle of twenty-sis degrees, 
exactly the inolinations of the Pyramids at the tune they were 
built ; and these stupendous relics of past ages might thus be 
r^arded as gigantic observatories by which niaium's utrono- 
mer-Toyal regimtttd his chronometers. . . 



SOS T/iityt not gejteraUy Known. 

THE BEAL WOBEZNO FORCE OF X CLOCK. 

Our clocks are driven by means of Biaking weights, and our 
watcheB by means of the t«nBion of Bpringa. A weight which 
]iei OD the ground, an elastic spring which is without t«iiBioD, 
can produce no effects ; to obtain which we must first raise the 
weight or impart tension to the spring, which is accomplished 
when we wind up our clocks and watches. The man who 
winds the dock or watch communicates to the weight or to the 

Snog a oertaiu amount of power ; and esactlj so much as is 
us communicated is gradually given out asaiu during the ' 
twent^-fonr hours, the original force being thus slowly con- 
sumed to overcome the friction of the wheels and the resiet- 
ance which the pendulum encounters &«m the air. The wheel- 
work of the dock, therefore, exhibits no working force which 
was not previously communicated to it, but simply distribntes 
the force given to it uniformly over a long lime. — Prof. Edn- 
hoUi. 

FAILDBE OF OLD MACHINES. 

In all that belongs to the mere motion of machines and 
engines, representations of which were ^blished in the 16th 
and 17th centuries, the Kreatest possible mgenuity and fertiUty 
of invention is diepkyed. But in all that concerns constrac- 
tjon, framing, and adaptation of form and dimensions to resist- 
ances, strains, and the nature of the work, a total absence of 
principle and experience is manifested ; so that it is apparent 
that these machines would act very well in the form of models; 
but that, if actually set to work, the most of them would 
knock themselves to pieces in a very short time. — M. Willii, 
F.ILS. 

ECONOMY OF HtGH-PREeSURE BTEAH. 

It must appear obvious to every reflecting mind that ateam 
generated under pressure, and compressed into one-fifth or 
one-sixth thespace it formerly occupied, and that again applied 
to an engine of little more tl^ one-third the bulk, muet be a 
desideratum. Let us calculate, for example, the duty performed 
by, and the force applied to, one of the largest dass of loco- 
motive engines, travelling with ai train at the rate of forty-five 
miles an hour, and we shall find the amount of power given 
out to exceed that of 700 horses, or as much as would be re- 
quired to drive the machinery in some of our lai^est factories. 

This eztraordinaiy power is exemplified in the procesa of 
preparing peat. In Prussia, steam at GO lbs. pressure is used 
and passed through pipes to obtain at least 600° of heat, and 
is then thrown into compressed peat, where it produces the 
efi'egtDfa "fiery sponge," robbing the peat of its water, car- 



Cwriosilies of Science. 



bonising the material, and effecting the complete distillation 
of many substancea. The texture of the peat is so far changed 
that it takcB fire bj exposui* to air, bo that it is necessarj to 
cool down the charcoal in an atmosphere of steam. 

Here may be noticsd two prsdictiona of Steam-power wbioli huva 
been mngnlarly Terified. In Dr. Ditrwin's Bota-nic Qarden, first pub- 
liihed in 1789, but written, it is well known, at least twenty v^ara 
before the date of ita puUioalian, ooours ths following predisUoa re- 
spectiog steam : 




Iwed, sent 



audther and less nidel; known poem by the some author. 
The TtmpU of Salwre, puldighed in 1820, there ooours tUa ooroploto 
anticipation and still more remarkable instance of scienti&c previaion. 

" The progresaive motion of fish beneath the water is produced princi- 
pally by the undulation of their tails ;" and after giving tlie rationale 
of l^e process, he goes oa to say that "this power seems to be better 
adapted t/i pueli forward a body in the water than the oars of boats ;" 
ntnnlndiiU7 -with the ouorv: "Mic-ht not Home machinerv refiembUtJEr the 



rs, by the force of wind or rteam ? " 



6TEAM-GnH3. 

• These ateam-enginea (invented bjr Mr. Jacob Perkins) ei- 
rated the greatest attention, in consequence of the notion 
that the expansive force of steam might be substitated for that 
of gtmpowder in inilitar7 operations. The principal points in 
which these Steam-Ouns differ from thoEe ordinarily used in 
w&r&re are, that, owing to the duration of the propelling force, 
th^ enable na to diaohar^ in a short time a great number of 
balu ; and, in consequence of the facility with which the tube 
may be turned on a swivel, the ahower of balls may be directed 
in Kay direction that is deaired. But it was found that these 
engines required complicated and ponderoua appanituE, even 
when their size was only such as fitted them to diacharge 
small shot ; that a considerable time must elapse before the 
ateam attained the necessary force to effect the discharge ; and, 

• Dsrwln projected in "«eri«l aleam-eirrlige," in wlilcb he proposed to 
oaa wings Blmilsr to those of s Urd. In which motToa wu to be giTctnV * glK""- 
tic power worked by high-pnisDn steam, though the detslls of his plan were 
not bodied forth. 



SIO Tltinga not generally Known. 

UbUj, that the force of percusrion attained b/ the balis was 
less than that of Bimilar balls projeoted b; meanH of ganpowder. 
Prechtl has demonstrated that the effect of steam, under those 
circiunetAnces in which it has ret been found, is not equal to 
that of gunpowder when applied to large shot. — Prof. Pttohd. 

In 1S41, M. Delectuse (Uscovered, among the nutouBcripts ' 
of Leonardo da Vinci, an entry carrying a knowledge of the 
et«am-engiiie applied to warfare to at least as £» hack aa the 
fifteenth centurjr. He has published in the ArtuU a notice of 
the life of Iieonardo, in which he adds a bxvsiinile of a page of 
one of his manuscripts, oonttuning fire pen-and-ink eketclies 
ofdetiule of the apparatna of aSteam-Oun, with an explana- 
tory note on what he designatee the " Architonnere," The 
entry is as follows ; 

Tnyention of ArchimedBiL The Archilonnere is a machine of fine 
copper, nhioh throw* ball* with a loud report and great fonie. It » 
lued in the foUttwiog Duniwr : One-third of the uutrument contaioi 
a large quantity of charoool Sre. When the water is well heated, m 
■crew at the t^p of tlio Teieal whioh oontuni the water most be mode 
quite tifrht. On oluaing the ecrew above, all the water will aicue be- 
low, will descend into tae heated portion of the inatrument, and be ita- 
mediately oonTortad into aTepaur, *o abundant and poweribl thatitii 
wonderfiil to lee iti force, and hear the noise it pnducae. Thii maduM 
will cany a boll a talent in weight. 

It is worthy of remark that Leonardo da Tinci, far fiom 
claiming the merit of this invention for himself, or the men of 
his time, attnhutes it to Archimedes. 

The Steam-Gun of our time has been an exhibition-room 
wonder; and the prediction of the Duke of Wellington, that it 
would &il in warfue, has never been tested. 



THE STEAIf-HAHHEB. 

To the genius of James Watt may be traced the first idea 
of usbg a hammer in connection with the power of steam, 
althougn it was left for one of our own time practically to carry 
3ct. In Watt's patent of AprU 28, 1784, he pro- 
j " the power of steam or fire engines to the mov- 
hammcrs, or stampers, for forging or stamping iron, ; 
rther metals," without the iaterrention of rotative 



Mr. James Nasmyth patented this gigantic yet 
machine, which he has constructed for and distri- 
parta of the globe. It is now employed in alltiie i 
erinij establishments of Oreat Britain : by anchor- 

engme-builderfl, and railway manu&cturers, as 
taking np iron, either from scraps, old rails, hoapt, ' 



Ctttiotities of Science^ 211 

cr from the pile. Before the introduction of this machine to 
the smithj, the forging of large mairine-eugiiie shafts for ocean 
Bteamers was not onlj tedious but uncertait) ; for without blowe 
of sufficient enei^ it was impoesible to expel the Bcoria from 
between the bundles of iron rode to be welded into main-Bhafts. 
The Steam- Hammer ia liketrise employed in stamping out diah- 
oovera and mouldiug and forming ulver-piate. 

Steam-Hammera are made of various powers to suit differ- 
ent kinds of work. The anvil is usually below the floor ; tjie 
hammer is suspended from the piston-rod of the steam-engine, 
and the piston works in the ojlinder placed at the top of the 
machine. B7 admitting the steam unaer the piston, the ham- 
mer is elevated to the desired height, and by its own gravitj 
the hammer falls ; hut the fkll ma; he regulated by the admis- 
sion of steam. Ever; degree of blow is attainable, from that 
of merely craoking an egg-shell to that of a dead pressure of 
600 tons. Bt aid of a powerful crane, a giant may be seen 
welding and foiling a shaft weighing 16 tons, and 27 feet in 
length, as easily as a country smith would make a horseshoe. 
Notwithstanding the enormous mass of metal which the ham- 
mer eoQtain*, and though, at first sight, it resembles a piece of 
monumental work rather than a toot to be used in the mann- 
fiu^ture of machinery, it is beautifully proportioned ; it is 
as manageable as a child's toy, and worKB as smoothly as the 
mecbaoism of a chronometer. 



BOUAK BOADS AHD BaiTtSB HAILWAYS. 

The formation and repair of Roads in Kome and its pro- 
vinces were iunonff the most important labours of the Ao- 
man emperors. Thus, a continuous roadway existed &om the 
wall of Antoninus in North Britain to Rome, and thence to 
Jerusalem, a distance of 3656 miles, exclusive of a sea-passage 
of 86 miles. The Tia Appia, one of the twenty-nine roads 
which diverged from the imperial <^ty, well illustrates the cha- 
racter of the Boman roads. Comparing modern British rail- 
roads with these ancient ways, there is a general similarity in 
the directness of their course, their level aur&ce, and the se- 
verance of natural obstacles in order to attain those objects ; 
we have borrowed from the very language of old Rome the 
tiation and the teminut ; and in some inatanoes the rails are 
laid upon the roads of our conqaerora. Yet one hundred such 
works as the great suhstruoture of the Appian Way at Ariel 
would hardl}[ equal, in cubic contents and probable cost, the 
high-level bridge at Newcastle, the Tweed viaduct at Berwick, 
and the Britannia and Conway tabular bridges. But, in oon- 
sideiing the enonnous cost of these modem stiuotores, it should 



ThtTigs -not generally Known. 



be remembered tbat ohargeB for land, law, uid parliuDentarr 
eipODse^ were uuknown to the BomaoB ; and our superioritj 
oonsuU more ia mental power and Krieotifio knowledge than in 
the mere application of unskilful labour. 

BILTSB, GOLD, Aim IBON. 

So unimportant a part do Silver aud Gold seem to perform 
in the ecouomj <d nature, that if thej were annihilated it is 

probable that the world wouldgoonas well without them. Hov 
different in these reapectB from Iron, and how much less, there- 
fore, intrinBicallj Taluable ! Independently of their beautj.the 
only really valuable properties of Silver and Gold are the diffi- 
oulty with which they are acted upon by heat and other extra- 
neous agents, — properties which, if they were more abundant, 
would render them well adapted for a great many useful pur- 
poses. — Profit'* Bridgnoater Tmatite. 

W£AB OF MALLEABLE AND CAST IB.OS RAILS. 
It IB a curioos and important fact, that not only are Mal- 
leable Bails more durable than those made with Cast iron, but 
that malleable rails, when in use, are less susceptible to the 
deteriorating influenoe of the atmosphere than the sajne rails 
would be if unused A bar of wrought iron, if placed upon the 
groond aloDKside one of the same form and material in the rail- 
way in use, has been made to show this &ct in a vetj striking 
manner. The former is continually throwing off scales of rust, 
while the latter continues almost wholly free from waste of that 
description. This curious &Dt was discovered by Mr. Qeorge 
Stephenson to depend on certain electric influences, communi- 
cated by the pasnge of the tiuns. 

WHY ntOH SAILWAYS DO NOT BUST. 

Bitter has proved by experiment that Mi^etism has the 
power of protecting iron from corrodon ; and by this influence 
the nuls in use on railways are protected from rust : both in- 
duced and permanent magnetism is thus produced in the ruls, 
each rail being magnetic with polarity, and having from four 
to eight separate poles. 

INVENTION OF THE SAW. 

The invention of the Saw has been ascribed by Pliny to 
DsdaluB ; but it has been tiaced to much higher antiquity — 
the age of the fourth dynasty of Egypt. In sawing, the Egrp- 
tiauB used a lar^ hand-saw : they frequently fixed the wood 
npright, secui«d by pins in lieu of a vice, or with pins pasnng 



Cur'togitiei of Scietice. 



tbrongh the piece of timber itsell ia order to Bupjport the 
planks aa th^ were cut apart ; whidt ia the practice of modem 



The old mode of making hoards waa to aplit up the loga 
with wedgea ; and, inconvenient aa the practice waa, it waa no 
easy matter to persuade the world that the thing could bo done 
in an; better wa;. Saw-mille were first used in Snrope in the 
10th centui? ; and in the year ISSfi, an Eugliah ambaaaador, 
having seen a aaw-mill in France, thought it a noveltv which 
deserved a particnlar description. It ia amusing to aee how the 
aversion to labour-Baving machinery haa always agitated Eng- 
land. A Sawmill was erected in Lambeth (on the site of Lam< 
beth water-works) in Cromwell's time, and which he protected 
by Act of Parliament. Another Saw-mill was established by a 
Dutchman, in 1663 ; but the public outcry a^:ainBt the new- 
fansled machine was so violent, that the proprietor wbe forced 
to decamp with more expedition than ever did Dutchman 
before. The evil was thus kept out of England for several 
years, or rather generations ; but in 1768 an unluckly timber 
merchant, hoping that, after so long a time, the public would 
be less watchful of its intereata, lal^e a rash attempt to con- 
struct another mill. The Kuardiana of the public wel&re, how- 
ever, were on the alert, and a oonscientiouH mob at once col- 
lected and pulled the mill to pieces t 

OAK AND CHESTNUT B007S. 

Oak is often mistaken for chestnut. At a meeting of the 
Horticultural Society in 19S4, for the purpose of comparison, 
specimenB of the timber of onr two English kinds of oak {Quer- 
ctu pedunadata and Quereut etaaili/lora) and of Spanish chest- 
nut were fumiahed by the Vice -Secretary, in order to eihibit 
the difference that exists between the woods of the pedunculate 
and sessile-flowered oaba and chestnut, for which the timber 
of the last-named oak, when found in old buildings, has gene- 
rally been mistaken. It was, however, proved by pieces of 
wood from Westminster Hall that the timber in the roof of 
ib&t building ia not chestnut, as is still by many believed, but 
sessile- flowered oak, which, although softer, more pliable, and 
easily worked, was stated to he in alt respects superior to the 
now more common pedunculate kind. The roof of Westminster 
Hall was thoroughly repaired in 1820-31, when forty loads of 
oak, from old ships broken up in Portsmouth Dockyard, were 
used in renewing decayed parts, and oompleting the portion at 
the north end, where it had been left unfinished ; the roof was 



Things not generally Known. 



alao greatlr Btrengthened by tension-rodB added to the prinoi- 

palH ia 18fil. 

ORIGIN OF WOOLWICH ARSENAL. 
Tho Military and Civil branches of the Office of Ordnanoe 
have been eatabliehed atWoolwichBincetheacceesion of George 
I., when a singular train of circumBtances led to the firing <r 



iriginal Foundry possessed by the Government for cast- 
ing brasa guns and howittera was established in Upper Moor- 
fields, London, near the ute of the Tabernacle, where John 
Wesley preached ; and which, from the dromnstaDce of bis 
having before preached beneath a shed in the Foundry itself, 
was formerly odled by that rame. The operation of castdng 
the guns was then, as it still is, an object of cariosity ; and 
many persons, even of the higher ranks, occasionally attended 
to see the process of mnning the fluid metal into the moulds. 

About the year 1716, when Colonel Armstrong was surveyor- 
genetal of the ordnance, it was determined to re-cast the un- 
serviceable cannon which had been taken from the French in 
the ten successful campaignB of the Great Duke of Marlborough, 
and which had hitherto heen placed in front of the FouniSy, 
and in the adjacent Artillery Ground. Upon the appointed 
d^ a great concourse of persons astiembled to witness the oper- 
ation, among nhom were many of the nobility, general officers, 
&&, for whose reception galleries had been prepared near the 
furnace. 

Ou the same day, a native of Schauffhausen in Switzerland, 
named Andrew 9chalch(who, from a common law of his canton, 
which made it necessary for every person bom there to travel 
for improvement in his profeeaion duiiog three years, bad 
visited different foundries on the Continent, and at length 
reached England), was attracted to Moorfields Foundry at an 
early hour, and was suffered minutely to inspect the work then 
on. Colonel Armstrong was himeelf present, when 
1, being alarmed at some latent dampness which be had 
DDserved in the moulds, addressed him in French, and, after 
explaining his reasons for believing that an explosion would 
accompany the casting of the metal, warned him to retire from 
the impending danger. The Colonel, who at once comprehended 
the importance of Schalch'a remarks, interrogated him with 
lespect to his knowledge of the art, and found him perfectly 
iMnversant with all its principles. He therefore resolved to 
fcllow his advice, and quitted the Foundry with his own friends, 
^bd as many of the company as could be prevailed on to believe 
HU danger teaUy existed. Scarcely had they got to & sof- 



ichdch. 



Curioiitieg of Science. S15 

ficient distance, when the furnaces were opened, and the metal 
raabed into the mouidB ; the moisture of which, ae Schalch had 
intimated, immediatei; oocasioned » dreadful esploBtou : the 
water was converted into steam, and this, bj ita espandTe 
foTCa, caused the burning metal to dart out in every direction, 
BO that part of the roof of the building was blown off, and the 
galleriea fclL Most of the workmen were dreadfully burnt, 
Bomo lives were lost, and m&nj persons had their limbs broken. 

A few dajs afterwards, an advertisement appeared in the 
pablio prints, stating, in sabstance, that "if the joung 
foreigner who, in a conyersation with Colonel Armstrong oa 
the day of tlie acddent at the Foundrj in Moorfields, had sug- 
gested the probability of an explosion from the state of the 
moulds, would call on the Colonel at the Tower, the interview 
might oondoce to his advantage." Schalch was informed of 
this intimation hj an acquaintance ; and he directl; waited on 
Colonel Armstrong, who told him that " the Bcnrd of Ord- 
nance bad in contemplation to erect a new Founder at a dis- 
tance from the metropolis, and that he was authorised, through 
the representation which lie had made of his conviction of bis 
(Schalch 's) ability, to offer him a commission to make choice of 
an; spot within twelve miles of London for the erection of 
such a building (having proper reference to the extensive 
nature of the works, and carriage of the heavy materials), and 
also to engage him as superintendent of the whole concern." 

This advantageons proposal was readily accepted by Schalch, 
who, having inspected various localities, at length fixed on the 
Warren ^rcwously a rabbit-warren) at Woolwich as the most 
eligible situation. Here the new Foundry was erected ; and the 
first specimens of ordnance cast by Schalch were so highly 
^proved, that he was fixed in the office of Master Founder, and 
oontiuued to hold that post for about sixty years, when he 
retired to Charlton. He died in 1776, when about the age of 
ninety, and lies buried in Woolwich churchyard. Some of the 
largest mortars in the Arsenal wero cast under his direction, 
lod bear his name. Eis attention and scientific knowledge 
were so successfully applied, that not a single accident happened 
during all the hazardous processes in which he was engaged 
during his long service. Such was the concatenation of cir- 
cumstances that gave origin to the Bovnl Arsenal. 

The extension of Woolwich Arsenal in our time has been on 
a stupendous scale ; and in no department of the public ser- 
vice are the vast mechanical resources of the age employed with 
greater eiEciencj ; yet, amidst its gigantic works, it is impossible 
to forget — notwithstanding the recent reorganisation of the 
gun-stories to bring out 1000 colossal guns in a year — the ser- 
vices of the young Schauffhauaen engineer, who, a century and 



Thingg not generally Kno 



9. half ago, bf the eeaaoiuiible combination oi talent and t^por- 
tunitf, latd tb« foundation of tbe chief war eBtablialunent of 
the most powerful nation in the world. 

FAILUBB OF " tONG aANGES." 

The publiehed accountB of monster gons and enormous 
mortars may often have led to the question whether there is 
«aj reason in the nature of iron and Kunpowder whr you should 
not make a cannon as large as the Monument, and discharge a 
ball of anj size to any distance. The answer appears to be, as 
to the size of the cannon itself, and consequently that of llie 
ball, there is no limit at all, except in the difGculty of casting 
masses of iron of more than a very moderate thickness nithoat 
imperfections of various kinds, which would burst the gun when 
fired with an enormous charge of powder. 

The limit of distance to which a ball can be carried is de- 
termined by two principles. First, the resistance of the air to 
the passage of the ball increases more rapidly as the speed of 
the ball increases than the speed of the ball itself. So that if 
an enormous initial force were brought to hear on the ball at 
first starting, it would encounter so immense a resistance that 
the total result would appear to be inconsiderable. The resist- 
ance of the air in arresting the progress of a baU may be ia- 
ferred from the fact, that a projectile which in our atmosphere 
ranges little more than two mUes, would in vacuo have a range 
of more than sixty. 

The other curious principle connected with the subject is 
that the efficiency of an eiplouve compound depends ratuo' on 
its elasticity than its disruptive power. Elasticity is the gra- 
dual progressive development of force ; and if a compound ex- 
pends the whole of its force at once, it does not produce soy 
thing like the efi^ect which would follow upon a more gradosl 
evolution of force, though the explosion might be less powered. 
Pulminating silver, for example, would be a very bad substi- 
tute for gunpowder, even if any cannon could be found which 
would not hurst to atoms on its explosion. 

These considerations show, amongst other things, that it is 
impossible that immensely long ranges should ever b« attained 
by increasing the initial force of a projectile, or by using ex- 
plosive compounds stronger than gunpowder. Such r^ulls 
can only be obtained either by the principle of the rocket, or by 
the diminution of the resistance of the air hr means of proper 
alterations in the forms of prqjec tiles. One of the longest shots 
ever made was, according to ur. Scoffem, something more than 
four miles. The projectile used was a shell filled with lead, 
which was fired from a fifty-si x-pound gun. 



Cariontiet of Science. 



FLOATXHCi BKICSS. 



Bricks which floated on v&ter are mentioued by Poaidooiua, 
Strabo, amd TitTuvius Pollio as hariDg beea made of an alu- 
minous earth found in Spain, for buildinK, on account of their 
lightnoBS. Pliny aim mentiong a pumice-like eartli possesBing 
these properties. In 1791, Giovanni Fabroui formed floating 



held by one end in the hand while .tiie other end was red-hot ; 
and gimilar bricks haie been made from the mIiocous earth dug 
on the borders of the Spree at Berlin ; whereas floating bricu 
were hitherto thought to be" wond^ of the ancienta" 

ANTiqUITT OF STENCIL. 

In the Philotophiad Traruaetioji* for 1739, vol. zL p. 393, 
we read that Procopins, in his Hittoria Arcana, Bars, the Em- 
peror Justiuius, not being able to write his name, ncid a thin, 
smooth piece of board, tnrough which were cut holes in the 
form of the four letters J . T . S . T., whiiih, laid on the paper, 
served to direct the point of his pen ; his hand was guided by 
another. Possibly, this may litewise have given the hint to the 
firet of our card-makers, who painted their cards in the same 
manner, by plates of pewter or copper, or only pasteboard, with 
slits in them in forms of the figures that are to be painted on 
the cards. Such is the art of Stencil, which has beenapphed 
in our time to decorating the walls of rooms, as well as to the 
maiUng of linen. 

THE HIDEOSTATIC PEESS. 
When Pascal, in 1653, was pursuing his experiments on the 
weight of the air, in order to determine the geaeral conditiona 
of the equilibrium of fluids, he supposed two unequal apertures 
to be made in a vessel filled with a fluid and closed on all sides. 
If two pistone are applied to these apertures, and pressed by 
forces proportional to the area of the apertures, the fluid will 
remain in equUibrio. Having estabhshed this truth, Pasco] 
deduced from it the different cases of the equilibrium of fluid^ 
and particularly with solid bodies, compressible and incompres- 
mble, when either partly or wholly immersed in them. But the 
most remarkable part of this discoveiy, and one which of itself 
would have immortalised him, is his application of the geceral 
principle to the construction (xE what he calls the Me^niad 
Maekine for mtdlipl^nfi foreu, an effect which he says may 
be produced to any extent we choose, as one man may by 
means of this machine raise a weight of any magnitude. This 



Tkiiigs not generally Known. 



new maehine u the Hydmtatic (or Hydraalic) Prett, first in- 
troduced by Mr. Bramafa in 1796.— JforA Britiik Beview, Ho. 2. 

FNEDIUTIC FILE-DRIvma. 

This new method, bj Pott«, oonrisU in sinking, as piles iat 
bridge-piers, tubes by means of the air-pump, the tube or 
pile ainkiug as the exHaueting process is continued ; and the 
tubes being put down so that their heads are level, to them is 
fixed a cast-iron plate, on irhioh the pier is built. The tubes 
have been increased to five and seven feet diameter, when the 
simple eihauBting process not being sufficient to overcome the 
friction of the ades, another vessel is introduced between the 
tube and the air-pnmp ; and this being first esbauHted, a com- 
munication is opened between the tube and the exhausted ves- 
sel, when n double effect is produced— the eicavatingor exhaust- 
ine process, as in the former instance, with the aJddition of a 
Budclen blow on the head of the piles. 

TEE WATEE-WOBKS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, S7DENHAH. 

The m^nitude of this system offonntainsmaybeconedved 
from the circumstance, that when the great waters are in full 
operation, there are 11,788 jets playing, and that the quantitj 
of water simultaneously displayed in them is about 120,000 
gallons per minute. The water is supplied from three different 
elevations, but principally from a reservoir containing aboat 
six and a half millions of gallons. The water is in part obtained 
from an Artesian Well, fi7S feet deep, through clay and sand fbr 
360 feet from the surfiice, and chalk for the remainder. 

The water-towers raise a supply of water to such an elevatioD 
as to play jets to the height of £50 feet, or 48 feet higher than 
the London Monument. Each tower consists of 11 stories, and 
a chimuey-shaft surrounded by 6 water (»lumns ; and round 
the chimney is a staircase of 404 steps. The extreme height 
of the cbimuey is 276 feet, and the cast-irou cap is 14 feet in 
height, by 16 feet in diameter. Each tower is strengthened by 
ten wrougbt-iron diaphragms, between the columns, tied to- 
gether by irou rods. The columns communicate with the bot- 
tom of the tank, throngh the centre of which the chimney 
shafts go ; each tank is 38 feet deep, and 47 feet diameter, and 
wiU contain 448,000 gallons, or about 2000 tons of water. The 
total weight on the foundation when the tank is full of water 
is 3000 tons. Each tower furnishes but one jet of water, the 
pressure on the square inch at the mouth of the jet being 262 lbs. 
The engineer of the towers was Mr. I. K. £mnel ; and the 
whole of the works were designed by Sir Joseph Paiton, M.P. 



Cariotiliet of Science. 



BTBENaTB OF PAPKB- 

In 1837, Mr. Cowper, during a lecture which he delivered 
before the Society at Arte, produced a quarto sheet of post 
writing- paper, the ends of wnioh he bad pasted together, thus 
fonniiig an endleea web. luto this web be inserted two rods 
(^ wood, to one of which was attached a half-hundred weight, 
and, taking the other in hia handB, he laised the weight. With 
the same eheet, he observed, had been lifted off the ground a 
DMUi who weighed IfiO pounds. With a. bank-note, Mr. Cow- 
per also stated, could be lifted 18 pounds. 

GIPHEB -WBITDiQ. 

Mr. Babbage, in a cominunioation to the Couodl ofthe 
Societ J of Arts, in 1 asfi, offere the following remarks on " the 
Marinating art of deciphering." 

" To contrive a cipher whioh cannot be deciphered is not 
a qnestiou of importance. To be reallr useful, the cipher 
mast be capable of being cauly and quicklr written by the 
person using it, and as eanly and quickly read by the person to 
whom it ia addreeeed. 

"The art of deciphering resembles that of picking locks. 
The greater number of locks can be picked, and the onlj ques- 
tion ia, what time each requires. 

" Mr. Hobbs, during tbe Exhibition of 18GJ, picked Bra- 
m&h's challenge lock in about SB hours. 

" The performers in a oelebratod robbery of a bank in Soot- 
land n>ent three months in passing through three locks. 

" The last inscrutable cipher! deciphered coet me thirty 
hours. Bome have cost me four or five working days. A ci- 
pher deciphered in Faria, for the French GoTemment, occupied 
its deoipherer fully during several months. 

" Any intelligent schoolboy can make a cipher which shall 
cost hours, and even daye, fur its solution ; and it is a fact, 
that very clever men, who have not studied deciphering, have 
frequently invented ciphers which nothing (bnt uieir solution) 
ooiud convince them were not inscrutable. 

" Under these circumstances, decipherers have an under- 
standing amonest themselves never to examine any challenge 
cipher unless the proposer has already proved bis knowledge of 
the subject by having deciphered ciphere of admitted difBciuty. " 

THE MAmFOLD LETTEE-WRITZR ANTICIPATED. 

Sir William Petty, in his scheme to establish a Scientific 
Academy or Collie (the predecessor of that of the Royal 
Society), recommends writing to be multiplied by means of an 



-„ Google 



Thingt not generally Known. 



iuatruraect which he invented, and for irhich Parliamait 
granted him a patent for seventeen jsan. He called it his art 
of double writing, and deBcribed tJie inBtrumeut as baiug of 
" Bmdl bulk and price, easil; made, and vei? durable." This 
is the protot^e of the " Manifold Letter- Writer" of modem 
timcB, which has merely accompliBhed what Sir Williajn Pettj 
effected in 1648. A full account of the invention ia given in 
Ward'a Livu of the OretAam Profeitort, p. 218. 

whitwoeth's diyidihg machikb. 
This machine naa been exhibited in action by Mr. Whitwwih 
to the Institution of Mechanical Engineera, showing that an 
advance of -000001 inch (M,000,000th of an inch) was dis- 
tinctly indicated by the gravity-piece becoming euBpended in- 
Btead of falling ; and the turning back of the divided wheel 
through two divisions, representuig "000002 inch, was then 
suScieut to cause the giavitj-piece to drop, and included con- 
sequently all the play in the four bearings of the two screws 
Bind, two collars. Mr. Whitworth showed also that the fiaeoees 
of measurement obtained by the machine was sufficient to de- 
tect the expansion in length of an inch bar caused by a momen- 
tary touch of the finger, the bar then measuring '000001 inch 
longer than previously (the expansion of iron being about 
l-lSO,O00th of its length for each degree Fahr, ; a rise of tem- 
perature of 1 -7th ofadegree expands an inch bar 1-1, 000, 000th 
of an inch). He stated that in his larger machine for measuring 
the standard yard, with a bar 36 inches long, the same amoomt 
of expansion was shown by the momentary contact of the 



Snger-nail. The fioest measurement required the precautions 
of freedom &om dust and moisture in the atmosphere, and from 
.any current of air interfering with uniformity of temperature ; 
chine was therefore kept in its gWes-case during the 
I, with an opening only sufficient for moving tiie 
wheel and lifting the gravity>piece ; by sufficient 
e respeets the measure of a space corresponding to 
on on the wheel, or l-2,000,00t>th of an incb^lad 
ed distinctly perceptible. 

AMERICAN CHBDNOMETEB. 

he New York Chronometers supplied to the Qrinnell 
tdition, after being subjected to the severest tests, 

exquisitely provided with adjustments and com- 
:or the very great extremes of temperature to whioh 

subjected that in a polar winter it was returned 
Dge in its d^ly rate, during a year and a half, of 



Curiosities t^ Scien 



onlj the 18,000th part of one second in that time. The tem- 
perature registered during the winter in Wellington Straits was 
tctually 46° below zero. 

Horology has enabled uB to discorer that when the wind 
passes one mile per hour it is scarcely perceptible ; while at 
the rat« of one hundred miles per hour it acquires sufficient 
force to tear up trees and destroy the produce of the earth. 
IVithontthe aid of a seconds clock, it wouldhaveheen scarcely 
poe^hle to ascertain that a cannon-hall flies at the rate of 600 
feet in a second. 

GSOLLIEB AND HIS GLOCEfi. 

At the close of the 16th century (1S96}, was bom at Lvcns 
Nicholas Orollier de ServiSre, whose career appears to oavo 
been a long life of ingenuity. He died in 1689. At the age 
of fourteen he served in the army in Italy, and lost an eye at 
the siege of TerceuiL Be afterwards served iu Flanders, 
whence he passed into Oermany, entered the service of the 
Emperor Ferdinand, and distinguished himself at the battle of 
Pis|^e. On his return to France, his knowledge of mathe- 
matics and mechanics enabled him to render considerable ser- 
vice to his country in the memorable sieges of the time of 
Louis XIV. 

After many adventures, Grollier retired from the service,. 
.ind amused himself by inventing and constructing curiou» 
clocks, models of floating-bridges, machines for raising viater, 
aodwhpels for nropelling boats, similar in action to the paddle- 
wheel DOW used in steam-boats, but worked by manual labour. 
These models, with various meohanical puz^es, and curious 
specimens of turning in ivory, formed a cabinet of curiosities 
at Lyons, a description of which was published by Qrollier's 
giBudaon. 

Mr, Adam Thompson, in his Time and TiiM-ke^rx, 
describes several of Qrollier's clocks. In one, time was mea- 
sured by the descent of a ball in a metal groove, twisted round 
columns supporting a dome : when the bul finished its desceut, 
its weight, lifting a detent, discharged the wheel-work, giving 
motion to an Archimedean screw, which raised the ball to its 
former position, again to descend as before. 

In another clock, the ball descended in diagonal lineg on an 
inclined plane, the means of ascent in this case being hidden 
from the observer, 

Li the third clock, the ball was made to traverse within the 
bodies of two serpents, which, by a reciprocating motion, wen 
made to swallow the ball alternately. A compound of tbi 
motions in the two Inst docks (says Mi. Thompson) was adoptei 



TTiingM not generally Known. 



bj a soieatific geatleman about fifty jean siDce ; and time- 
pieces on this prindple are called Congreve clocks. 

Qrollier iiiaae some of hia clocks go b; their own weight, 
desaending inclined planes, and others In grooves, forming a 
path &om the coiling to the floor. When the clock had ne^; 
finished its deeoent, it was lifted off, and again placed at the 
highest point of its path i when the clock was lifted, the hands 
were Bet to the proper time before it was again replaced. 

Beveral olooks upon this principle have since been projected, 
Bome aa novelties, and others for the purpose of avoiding the 
casualties to which main-springs and weight-lines are liable. 
A curiosit; of this kind, made b^ Maurice Wheeler, was ex- 
hibited in Don Saltero's oollecUon at Chelsea. The Marquis of 
Worcester is said to have invented another. And one invented 
by M. de Gennes indicated time bv its atcent on an inclined 
plane ; but this machine, as may be supposed, had a spring 
for its maintaining power. The dock was kept in equilibrium 
by a weight at the ^idof a lever; the unwinding of the springs 
made the wdght change its position, thus changing the oentie 
of gravity, and causing the dock to ascend the plane. 

Various methods luve been devised to supersede the going- 
weight and main-sprinz, and to renew with &cility the mun- 
tiunmg power. One time-piece of this sort bung like a lapip 
from tlie ceiling, and was kept going by its own weight in de- 
scending. To renew the maintaining power (to wind it up), 
it was only necessary to raise or push it towards the ceiling, 
when it would conUnue to go as before. 

Among other methods of showing time, Qrollier contrived 
the foUowmg docks to surprise his visitors. A small figure <A 
a tortoise, dropped into a pewter plate filled with water, having 
the hours marked on the ilat ed^ wonld float round, and sb^ 
at the proper hour ; if moved, it would again return ; and if 
the tul were placed at the hour, it would turn round, and again 
point with the head. 

A lizard was seen asoending a pillar on which the hours 
were marked, and pdnting to the moe as the day advanced. 

The figure of a mouse was also made to move on a comiee, 
and point to the hours marked upon it. These (sajs Mr. 
TTbompson) were simple contrivances, requiring but a little 
address to give a iudden motion to a magnet ; the interven- 
ing substances between it and the figure being thin, the attrac- 
tion was snffidentlj strong. 

Soarody any of Grollier's ingenious works now remain. 

INTENTIOK OP THE SUOKE-JACE. 

neated air has been turned " to sundry pleamnt uses, as 
for the moving of ouls in a diimney-oomer, the motion of 



Curuuiliet of Science. 223 

which Bails may b« applied to the turmug of qiita, or the like." 
Thus writes Bishop Wilkics, adding : " But there is a better 
inTention to this purpoae, mentioned by Cardan, whereby a spit 
may be tamed (without the help of weights) by the motion of 
the ur that ascends the chimney ; and it may be useful for the 
roasting of many or great joints : for u the fire must be in- 
creased according to the quantity of meat, so the force of the 
instrument may be augmented propcMtionably to the fire. Id 
which contrivance there are these conTenienceg above the jacks 
of ordinarT use : 1. It makes little or no noise in the motion. 
3. It needs no winding up, but will constantly move of itself, 
while there is any fire to rarefy the ui. 3. It is much cheaper 
than the other instruments that are commonly used to this 
purpose; there being required unto it oulyapairof Bails, which 
must be planed in that part of the chimney where it begins to 
be straitened ; and one wheel, to the axis of which the spit- 
line must be &steiied. (Here we have the ordinat; SmoEe- 
jaok.) 

" The motions of these sails may likewise be serviceable for 
Bundry other purposes besides the turning of a spit : for the 
chiming of bells, or other musical devices ; there cannot be a^ 
more pleasant contrivance for continual and cheap music. It 
may be useful also for the reeling of yam, the rocking of a cra- 
dle, with divers the like domestic occasions." — Mcahanatiod 
Magie, book ii. 

The Bishop adds that Cteabins made by this kind of mo- 
tion his repTMentations of living creatures, whether birds or 
beasts. 

ANCHOBS, AHOIENI AND MOSERlf. 

The invention of the Anchor has been ascribed by gome to * 
tiie Tyrrhenians, by others to Midas, the son of Oordius, 
whose anchor, Pansanias tells us, was preserved till his days 
in one of Jupiter's temples.* The most andent anchors were 
of stone, and sometimes of wood, to which a quantity of laid 
was fixed. Buckets full of stones and sacks fml of sand were 
employed for the same use. These were let down by cords into 
the sea, and by their weight stayed the course of the ship. 
Afterwards, Anchors wera made of iron, and furnished with 

• The uichoT li meDtloned ■< tfaa opening vti (lie close of the elith XmiA 
orvirgll. Thill £iieu liiTliig reuhed ths Camnu ilian, 

(" Thetr enchon dnpp'd, bis cm Ute toimI* nMMr." Sivim.) 
k^» Ih* fiwi line— 

" Aocnn de pnnflJsdtDT, stint lllon pippu.' 
("Atlenmbon ooiy gronml his gilleys moor j 



Tkingi not generaUy Known. 



teetb or flukes, &t first one only : a second wu added bj Eupa- 
lamus Of Anarcharris, the ScTthian philosopher. The anohois 
with two flukes, from ancient monuments, appear to have 
resembled those osed in our days, except that the transrersc 
piece of wood is wanting in all of them. Ever; ship had 
several anohors, the lai^t of whioh was termed aacni, and 
was never oied but in extreme danger ; whence taeram ati' 
ckoram talvere is proverbiallj applied to such as are driven to 
their last refuge. 

The ancients bad anohorg even in the time of Ardumedea. 
The great gallej' of Hiero had four wooden and eight iron an- 
chors. In the ship on board which St. Paul was a prisoner 
(described in the Acts), the sailors dropped four anchors from 
the stera, which, however opposed to modem usage, was 
undouhtedlj the ancient method of letting the anchor Ml at 
that period. 

The Chinese, who maj be sopposed to adhere to andeut 
forms, are said to use chieflj crooked pieces of wood. 

The improvement of the Anchor in modem time has received 
gteat attention from British manu&cturers. In a Ki^and trial 
of " Anchors of all Nations," made at the Royal Dockyard, 
SheemesB, Trotman's improved Norton's anchor, on the swivel 
principle, was shown to possess ven* considerably more holding 
property than any other anchor. In this improved anchor the 
arms or flukes are forged wholly independent of the shank, 
bat are bolted to a pivot or fulcrum at the end, round which 
the flukes freely move, thus departing at once from the rigidity 
usual in the construction of anchors. The joint resembles that 
which oonneota the wires of an umbrella with the ribs, so that 
the flukes move round the pin or bolt as an axis; and when one 
fluke enters the ground, the other necessarily &11b down upon 
the shank, thereby avoiding the danger incident to the upireid 
projection of a sharp point. By this means is avoided " foul- 
mg," by the cable passing over the exposed fluke when the 
verael is swinging in a tide-way, or injury in the event of the 
vessel falling upon her anchor. Of this kind is the lu^e aa- 
chor of the Chtai Mutem steam-shtp, which was manufactured 
at the Chester Works, Liverpool. This anchor weighs 6 tons j 
19 owt. 2 qrs., and being of Trotman's patent, is equal to an 
ordinary anchor of 10 tons. . The largest anchor used in the 
British navy is 4i to C tons, of the ordiuary kind, and costing 
about 300^. 

TBE UAGIO WEtBLPOOL. 

The angular property of camphor to rotate npon the soi- 
face of water is illustrated in the following experimeatt, 
ndged from the Magazine of Popular Seienee, vol lii. 



CuTwiiliet of Science. 225 

Fill B gtou tumbler with water, throw upon ita lurfaca a fev shnv- 
igd of camphor^ and they will inBtontlj' bejzin to moTo and aoquire a 



and rotatory, which will a 

„ these rotatiDDSj if the wat^r be touched by anj 

snbatance nt all greasy, the floating jrarticlea will forcibly dart buck 



I proBTBasiTe 
no. Ihiriiig t 



liderable time. Ihiriiig theee rotations, if the water be touched b' 



i if by a atroke of ma^c, be inHtantly deprived of th 
If the water be made h^, the motion of the camphor will be mors 
Ewrid tiiaa in cold water, but wDl cease in proportionally less time. 
TnuB, provide two glasaea, one ooatamins water at GS degrees and the 
other at 210 degrees ; place raspings of camphor upon each at the 
same time The camphor in the first glass wil! rotate for about fiia 
hours, until all but a very minute portJon has evaporated ; but the rota- 
tion oT the camphor in the hot water will last only nineteen minutes ; 
about half the camphor will pass off, and the remaining pieces, Instead of 
being dull, white, and opaque, will be vitreous and transparent, and 
Rtiduitly soaked with water. The gyistions, too, which at first will be 
rery rapid, will gradually decline ici velocity, until they become quite 



slngj^. 
The 



stilling luQuence of ail upon waves has become proverbial :* 
un oiuaordinaiy manner in which a small quantity of oil inslantly 
spreada over a very large sur&ee of troubled water, and the stealthy 
maimer in which even a rough wind glides over it, jnuit have eioited 
the admiration of all who have witnessed it. 

By the same principle, a drop of oil may be made to step the motion 
of theoamphor as follows ; throw some camphor, hath in sUcesand in small 
particles, upon the surface of water, and while they are rotating, dip a 

Slasarod into oiloftuipentlne, and allow a single drop thereof te trickle 
own the inner side of the slass to the surface of the water : the cam- 
phor will instantlv dart to the opposite point of tbe liquid snrEaoe, and 
ceaas to rotate. If a piece of hard tallow or lard be employed, the mo- 
tion of the camphor will be more slowly stopped than by oil or fluid 
greaae, as the latter spreads over the surflme of the water with greater 
laoiditT. 

' muiiatic acid be let fall into the water, 

._ „-. „ -- ion of the camphor ; but if camphor bo 

dropped into nitric acid dilated with its own bulk of water, it will rotete 
rapidly for a few seconds, and then stop. 

K a j^eca of the rotating: camphor be attentively examined with a lens, 
the ourrenta of the water can be well dislJugtiiahed, jetting out chieSy 
from the comers of the camphor, and beaniig it round with irregular 

The currenta, as given out by the oamphor, may also be seen by 
maaos of the microscope ; a drop or two of pure water being placed 
a slip of glass, with a partiole of camphor floating upon it. By 
-aeanis the currents may be detected, and it will be seen that they 
uumB the rotations. 

Or a flat watch-glass, called a lunar, m^be employed, ndsed afew 
inohea, and aopported on a wire ling kept steady tn' ttimsting one cud 
into an upright piece of wood like a retort-stand. Tben put the cam- 
phor and water in the watch-glass, and place under the frame a sheet 
of white paper, bo that it may receive the shadow of the glass, camphor. 
JSki., to be cast by a steady light placed above, and somewhat on 
one side of the watoh-gUss. On observing the shadow^ which may be 
conaiderBd a magnified representation of f^e object itself, the rota- 
tions and currente can be lUstinguished. 

* Bee JlAigt lut fxtn^t ff imn, mxm BsrUa, p. SO. 






Thingi not generally Kfunon, 



BLAZE-PBOOF SBESSEE. 

The frequent acddenta of ladies' dresses taking fire tew^ t, 
lessoQ whicn must Dot be n^lected ; for nothing can be more 
mmple than to reitder the Mbrics of which dn^ses are made 
bla^proof. The mOHt delicate white cambric handkerchief, 
or fleecj gauze, or the flneat lace, ma]*, bj simply soaking it in 
a, weak solution of chloride of zinc, be so protected that if held 
in the Same of a candle it maj be reduced to tinder without 
blazing. 

Meggrs. Veramano. and Oppenheim, m a paper read befbre 
the British Association, show that sulphate of ammonia and 
tungstata of soda have the property of making linen and eottoa 
febriCB uninflammable, and do not injure or discolour them m ' 
washiug. Preparations of these salts are used in the Boyal 
Laundry; and their general adoption would prevent a list 
number of those dreadful accidents which now almost dtuly 
occur to children and others. MM. Doebereiner and Alsnn, 



mend phosphate ai 

combined with sal ammoniac, and introduced into the s 

with which the tissues aie prepared. 



Writin^withrice-wat«r,to be rendered TJablebythe applica- 
tion of iodine, was practised successfully in the correapoodenoe 
with Jellalabad, in our last war with A^hanistan. The first 
letter of this kind was concealed in a quill. On opening it, a 
small paper was unfolded, on which appeared only the simple 
word " iodine." The magic liquid was applied, and therewith 
appeared an important despatch from Sir Bobert Sale. 

CUEIOTIS TRANSMtJTATIOlI. 

It is perhaps difficult to believe that the same ERlt (common 
salt) should be a chloride of sodium in the hand and a mu- 
riate of soda in the month : but it is nevertheless true ; nor is it , 
more incredible than the change which sulphuret of potadi on- ' 
deigoes bj solution, the decomposition oi which is rendered 
evident to the senses by the evolved sulphuretted hydrogen. — 
Dr. Fang. 

ANOTmtiTION OF THE SMELL OF MDSK. 

Some years ago, the emulsion of bitter almonds was found 
to possess the property of annihilating the smell of musk, and 
most of the cyanic preparations evince the same power. Accord- 
ing to M. Mertot, a druggist of Bajeux in Normandy, ei^ of ' 



Curiositiet of Science, 



Tje will produce the Bame effect. This he learned bj having 
to prepare a number of pilla containing both musk and ergot, 
vhen no sooner were the two Bubetances mixed than the smeil 
completely went off. 

BOILING CHECKS rEEMENTATlON. 

HL. Benaolt, Director of the Teterinai7 School of Alfcirt, 
France, has shown that the baking and roasting of meats, and 

the boiling of liquids arising from animals affected with couta- 
giooB diseases, have the eEFect of completelj annihilating the 
virulent properties of these substances. The practical vidue of 
this &ct will be appreciated b7 man; of the inhabitants of large 
cities, who are obhged to use milk and some other articles of 
food which ate not of the best quality. 



DIETY n 

Eteiy one has observed upon dirty windows in the metro- 
polis small tree-b^e ctystoUisations : these consist of sulphate 
of ammonia, which is produced in the atmosphere by the bum' 
in^ of Tast quantities of coal, combining with the sulphurous 
acid in the air 

THE OHEHISTBY OF UORTAR. 
When limestone is burnt, the carbonic-acid gas is expelled 
from it, and there remains nothing but a pure alkaline earth- 
Then, if water be mixed with it, as in making mortar, the lime 
re-absorbs carbonic add, acquires hardness, and again becomes 
limestone. 

TO COVEE LACE OH NET WITH COPPEB. 
This beautiful experiment can be performed bj any person 
in possession of a simple galvanic battery. First, make a satu- 
rated solution of sulphate of copper in a Teasel large enough to 
contain the net or Ikce that is to be experiment^ upon fully 
stretched out Next stretch the net or lace upon a copper 
ring ; then dust it well over with the best black-lead, using a 
camd-bair brush to rub it into every part. This black-lead 
acts as a conductor to the electricity, when the net is attached 
to the b&ttery. In fixing the apparatus the ring and net are to 
bo attached to tiie wire in connection with the zinc end of 
the battery, and then perfectly immersed in the copper solu- 
tion. A piece of copper attached to the wire in connection 
with the copper end of the battery must also be inserted in the 
decompoung vessel facing the net, not toucfiinK it ; this not 
only acts as a conductor, but also maintains the solution of 
(»nper of a permanent strength. In a short time the copper 
wJU be found to creep over tne whole sur&ce of the net. If 



Thingi not generally Known. 



dennd, it mur afterwards be g^t or nlvered b^ the same 
prooera, proviaed that gold oi dlrei be substituted where oop- 
per waa previoualj used. ■ Wo have little doubt that this ex- 
periment will eveatuiilly be of great service to oommerce ukd 
the arts. — Mining Journal. 



HEAT OF THE VAPOnZ-BATH. 



The late Baroa AlderBon, is a letter to bis BOn, sajs : " I 
have been obliged at last to send for Sir Benjamin Brodie, to 
' r my sciatica, and to-day, by his order, I have been 



was not uupleaaant, after all : for hot air does not bum like hot 
water, as it communicates its heat gradually to you, air being 
what they call a bad conductor of heat. So, by the time the 
hot air makes you warm, a perspiratioti breaks out and cools 
TOu agun. People have been known to bear 400 d^reea of 
heat, without much inconvenience. Sir Francis Ghantrejtold 
me once he bad Eone into the oven where he baked his moulds, 
which is heated by a nearly red-hot plate at the bottom. He 
wore thick wooden shoes to protect his feet, and a flannel dress, / 
and was able to bear it veiy well. That was a dead heat tl^t 
would have baked a pie, and yet a man alive would not be 
heated much above blood-heat, ca about 100 degrees. Is not 
this curious ! Idfe is able, yon see, to bear heat which would 
Toast a dead body." 

DBOWSINESS FBOU COLD, 



Very striking and curious is the stoiy of Dr. Solander's es- 
cape, when iu company with Sir Joseph Banks among the hills 
of Terra del Fuego. They had walked a considerable way 



through flwamps, when the weather became suddenly . _ 
and cold, fierce blasts of wind driving the snow beiore it. 
Finding it impossible toreaoh the ships before night, th^ re- 
solved to pusn on through another swamp into the shelter of a 
wood, whore they might kindle a fire. Dr. Solander, well ex- 
perienced iu the effects of cold, addressed the men, and con- ' 
iared them not to Kive way to sleepiness, but at tdl costs to 
:eep in motion. "Whoever sits down," says he, " will sl«ep ; 
and whoever sleeps vrill wake no more," Thus admonished 
and alarmed, they set forth once more ; but in a little while 
the cold became so intense as to produce the most oppressive 
drowsiness. Dr. Solander was the first who found the inclina- 
tion to sleep— against which he had warned the others so em- 
phatically— too irresistible for him, and he insisted on bemg 
Buffered to lie down. In v^n Banks entreated and remon- 



Curiositiei of Science. 



■bated ; down he lay apon the snow, and it was with much diffi- 
enlty that his friend kept him from sleeping. One of the black 
Berrants began to linger in the same manner. When told that 
if he did not go on he would inevitably he frozen to death, he 
aaBwered that he desired nothing more than to lie down and 
die. Solander declared himself willing to go on, but said he 
moat first take some sleep. It was impoesible to carry these 
men, and they were therefore both suffered to lie down, and in 
a few minutes were in a profound sleep. Soon after, some of 
tliose who had been sent forward to kindle a fire returned with 
the welcome news that a fire awaited them a quarter of a mile 
off. Banks then happily succeeded in awakine Solander, who, 
although he had not Wn asleep five minat^s, had almost lost 
the use of his limhs, aad the flreh was so shnuik that the shoes 
foil &om his feet. He conseated to go forward with such as- 
sistance as could be givon ; but no attempts to rouse tlie black 
servant were succeBsfiil, and he, with anotlier black, died there. 
— JVmer'j Magazine. 



Mr. Smee, in his work on D^UUy and Defeetive Nutrition 
(die substance of his Hunterian Oration), dwells much on the 
miportance of Fresh Air, saying, " It used to be the fashion to 
say that all airs were chemically the same ; the discovery of 
ozone, and the effect of air upon the permagnate of potash, 
lately discovered by Dr. Angus Smith, sufficiently dispels this 
fallacy. The hygrometrtc state of the air, as to its wetness and 
drfness, is of oonsequenoe." Ur. Smee then describes a house- 
hold instrument, of bis contrivance, which will show by in- 
spection, with sufficient accuracy, the state of any room, bed, 
or other situation. This instrument consists of vegetable parch- 
ment, invented by Mr. Gaines, and perfected by Mr. De la Rue. 
It is made bj immersing blotting-paper in sulphuric acid of . 
definite strength, by which it is immediately converted into a 
new material, named b; Mr. Smee Auetastine, because it is 
highly unchangeable by ehemical agents. This curious mate- 
rial contracts in a dry and expands in a moist atmosphere. By 
taking advantt^e of this property, Mr. Smee has constructed 
many forms of hygrometers, tne most umple of which he ex- 
pects will he the concomitant of the thermometer in evei; 
name, and prevent many a traveller from catching a severe 
rheumatism in a damp bed. 



-„ Google 



Tftingt not generally Known. 



SS ^si^ta on <!E1|hicofann. 



The use of Antetthaici, or snbstauoea for producing tempomr 

I 71.-l-._. ■_ ._!.,__ Lggji^ii^^jj ^j,^ .7—1 



f QseDBibilitj to pain, appears tc 

for ages before the organic chemistry of our own times enabled 
UB to place paia completely under the dominion of the hnnun , 
will, by the dieoovery and use of Chloroform. 

We learn from Diosooridea that eighteen centniies ago the 
root of the Mandrake steeped in nine was giren ' ' to cause in- 
eensibiUtj to pain in those who are to be cut or oauterised ; 
for, being thrown intoa deep sleep, they do not perceive pain." 
According to Pliny, the juice of the mandrake was given for 
injuries inflicted by serpents, and before incisions or punctures 
weremade inthe body, "in ordertoensure insensibility to pain," 
Indeed, for this last purpose, nith some persons, the odour of . 
it is quite sufficient to induce sleep-"* Apuleius makes a 
similar statement as to the mandrake : " If anr one is to have 
a limb mutilated, burnt, or sawn, he may drink half an oonoe 
vrith wine, and whilst he sleeps the member may be cut off 
without any sense of pain."t 

M. Stanislaus Juli en has discovered that the Chinese, inthe 
third century of our era, were in poBsesaioji of an anesthetic 
agent which they employed in the same manner as we use Chlo- 
roform and Ether for producing insensibility duriuK su^cal 
operations. In a biographioal notice of Hoa-tho— whonourished 
under the dynasty of Wei, between the years 220 and S30 of 
our era — it is stated that he gave to the nek a proration of 
Chanvre (Ma-yo), who in a few momenti became at truetu^le at 
one plunged in drunkennett ordeprived oflife: then, according 
to the case, he made incisions, amputations, and the like. Aft^ 
a certain number ofdaySjthepatientfoundhimselfreSatablished . 
without having experienced during the operation the slighteet 
paiu. It appears from the bio^pny of H&n that this chanvre 
was preparM by boUing and distillation. This antesthetic aeent 
of the Chinese is set down as the Indian Hemp, whi^ is \*kea 
even now by the Arabs to produce an agreeable drunkenness. 

In a work on surgery by Theodrio, who lived in the latter 
half of the thirteenth century, is mentioned " a flavour tbr | 
lerformingsui^oal operations," made of opium, mulbeny, hen- '. 

■MilHmlHMtorji.kookaT.oluT*. t "•fffrfunMTirhU.lM, th.lSl. 



' CuriotUiet of Science. S31 

bane (hmici/amus), heinlook (dcwta), mandrake, wood-ivy, let- 
tuce, to M boiled until concentrated in aspDoge, which, when 
wanted, ie to be warmed, and " applied to the noBtrila of him 
who is to be operated on, until ue has fallen asleep ; and so 
. let the Burgerj be performed." 

Balle;n,iu 1579, deecribeB "the noasibilityof setting patients 
into an aiuoBthetic state during lithotomy, &c.," by the use of 
mandrake ; and BaptiBta Porta, in his Nai'urai Magic, gives 
varions recipes for medioinea which produce sleep inatactly, 
&c ; among which is the sleeping apple, made with mandrake, 
opium. Sec, the smelling of which binds the ejea with a deep 
sleep. How the mandrake, which Ggures so prominently in 
all these accounts, ha« long been a marvel ;* but seeing that it 
belongs to the same genius as belladonna, which has a greater 
power of annulling sensibility than any plant in present use, 
imless it be aconite, it is not unlikely to possesB the anaes- 
thetic quality ascribed to it — at least to such an extent as to 
justify UB in believing that surgical operations have been per- 
formed under its influence without conscious pain.f 

The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with the narcotio 
and aneesthetic properties of Indian Hemp, just mentioned as 
employed by the Chinese. Herodotus describe the Scythians as 
inhaling the fumes of hemp-seed thrown upon red-hot stones ; 
and Dr. Royle suf^ests that Indian Hemp may have been tho 
assuager of grief, the NepeMhe of Homer, given by Helen to 
Telemachua in the house of MenelauB, stated to have been 
brought from Egyptian Thebes. Now Indian Hemp grows in 
A&ioa, and the hang prepared from it is taken by criminals who 
are condemned to suffer amputation ; and Sir Joseph Banks 
teUs us that " it is e^d to enable those miaerablea to bear tho 
rough operations of an unfeeling executioner more than we 
Europeans can the keen knife of our most skilful surgeon." 
Dr. I)aniel states that the Indian Hemp is smoked by tho 
natives of Congo, Angola, and South Africa ; the leaves, seeds, 
and flowers, called Kief, are used, pounded and mixed with 
a oonfection, a piece of which as lai^ as a walnut will de- 
prive a man of reason, and produce the most voluptuous sen- 
sations. 

In India the hemp is equally celebrated ; but the Hindoos 
do not appear to haye ever lued it as an snnsthetic during 
BUTgioal operations. It has been found by Dr. Christison to 
produce a pleasant numbness, and to render touch and f^ing 
gradually obtuse ; so that the practice of aniestheua, by means 
of Indian Hemp is credible. 



} Dr. Cbipmui; Wetimbmer Eesiea, JumiirylB 



SS3 Thinffi not generaUg Known, ^ 

In 1784, Ininud, stu^eoa to the HApital da U Charity at 
Puis, reoommeuded the employment of a narcotio previoiu to 
painful opentions ; and iu 1782, Augustus, King of Poland, 
waa smreptitioualy narootised b7 bis &TouTita surgeon, Wdas, 
a pupil of Petit, at Paris, while a mortified part of hie foot iraa 
cut off without paia or coQSoiousness. la Qujot's OaOfte* ' 
Cmbrti it ie told how the Countess St. Oerau, after nine home' 
labour, was made to drink a putioD, " which rendered her io- 
BGOsible till the following morning ;" meanwhile the child was 
bom, and surreptiliouBly convejed awajr, its very ezisteoce 
being denied to her ; but many years after it was, in a French 
coart of law, proved to be her offspnog. 

Two centuries t^gt, Middleton, in his tragedy of Women he- 
vxnr of Womtn, published in 1G57, thua directly alludes to Ute 
practice of an»auieda in olden surgery : 



Qui DM tuUtp, iktti ntl 1^ diicaini part. 

Mesmerism haa been employed as an anssthetio agsit in 
ludia, America, France, and Bogland, with success ; but its 
effectiveness is by no means uniform, as it succeeds much betttf 
with Orientals than Europeans. Only from the edence of cbem- 
istry were the seekers after a perfect antesthetic agent guided 
in the true direction. To the Fnenmatio Chemistry of Black, 
FrieBtley, Cavendish, and lAvoiaier (see anie, pp. 64-66 and 100, 
101), succeeded the hope that by means of tae inhahttion of 
various kinds of gases, or by the practice of FTitumatic Medicine, 
as the new system was called, many maJadies would become 
amenable to the power of the phyucian. A medical Pneumatic 
Institution waa set up at Clifton, near Bristol, by Dr. Bcddoes ; 
and in 1799, Humphry Davy, who had just completed his ap- 
prenticeship, was appointed its superintendent. In a previous 
page (S4) we have recorded how Davy breathed nitrous oxide, 
which he found to lessen the pain of cuttim; a wisdom-tooth ; 
and although he did not succeed in establi^ing nitrous oxide 
as a medicinal agent, in describing the effects of this gas, he 
predicta, that, 'as nitrous oxide, in its extensive operation, 
seems capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be 
used with advantage during surgical operations in which no 

nt effusion of blood takes place."* Hor was tiiia an aoa- 
al conception of genius, but the result of ten months' ex- 
periments ; BO that Davy must be acknowledged as the origi- 
nator of that proIiQc idea which has become one of the most 
fflorious realities of the present century .t Davy also foKtold 
that Pneumatic Chemisby, in its application, was an art in Its 
in&ncy ; and had his prophecy and precepts tiien been heeded, 

■ DtTj-t Ceiltatd Warla, voL Ui. t Wutminiter Bairx, Ju. leEEL 



CwrioHliet of Science. 



FortT rears had ekpsed sfcer DaY7'B announoeinent, when 
(in 1844) Horace Wella, a surgeon-dentist, of Hartford, Con- 
uecticQt, United States, was present at a lecture at which, it is 
presumed, the effects of inhaling nitrous oxide were shown. 
Mr. Welk induced the lecturer to Bccompanj him home, and 
let Iiiin {Wella) inhale the gas, while another dentist, Br. Bigg, 
drew one of his teeth, without paia j and Mr. Wells, after re- 
covering from the inhalation, exclaimed, " A new era in tooth- 
drawing I" ne then made other experiments with variouB 
success ; but a failure eo atinojed him that he gave up 
practice as a dentist, became unsettled, came to EnghuLO, 
returned to America, and at length died h; his own hand, in 
Jaouarj 1848. Within three mouths of this sad end of the dis- 
coverer. Dr. Bigelow, of Boston, U.S., removed a breast from 
a patient who had been rendered insensible hj inhaling nitrous 
oxide, which induced the Doctor to predict : " Kitrous oxide 
is quite likely to prove a certain as well as a safe and agreeable 
anSBstbetic agent." 

Mr. Q. T. Morton, Wells's pupil and partner, and Dr. Jack- 
eon, next took up the idea : Morton learned from Jackson the 
use of chloric ether as a local application j and smce ISIS* it 
had been known that the vapour of ether, if inhaled, would pro- 
duce effects similar to those of nitrous oxide. After several 
attempts, Morton, on Sept. 30, 1846, l^ the inhalation of ether, 
made nimself completel]' unconscious during eight minutes; 
in the evening he persuaded a patient to inhale ether from 
a, handkerchief, and then extracted a bicuspid t«oth, of which 
the patient knew nothing till he recovered his seose^ and saw 
the tooth l^ing ou the floor. He repeated his experiments on 
tooth-drawmg under the influence of ether in several cases. 
Emboldened bj success, he administered his remedy to a pa- 
tient in the Massachusetts General Hospital, who was operated 
on while under its influence. The next day a large fatty 
tumour was removed from the arm of a patient under the same 
conditious. Both cases being sucoessM, the remedy was after- 
wards frequently need. 

Meanwhile, a tew of the American medical journals con- 
demned the discovery aa quacke^; but the English journals 
at once rightly appreciated it. However, in November 1846, 
the Paris suigeons received the announcement with all but in- 
difference ; and Velpeau declined to test its worth. In London 
it obtained a more speedy triaL £arly in December, Dr. Boott 

• IBIBIS, laiDLperlnths Quarlirla Jmtrjial of Scinu and ArU, beUeved Ir 
luTC b«ii iF[1tleiibr*Ir. Fiinidi7, la iTescilbed th« gnit tMemblucs betitw 
tb« «Cbetfl of tba Tkpour ot Athu ud tlioH of iiUniijb.olldfl ffto. 



334 lltwga not general^ Known, 

recdTed from Dr. Bigelow inatanoeB of the mccess of " the new 
naodyne prooen ;" and on Deo. & lady was etherised at Dr. 

Boott'B bonBO, and had a tooth extracted without pain, Hr. 
Liston, at nniTerait; College Eoapital, on Dec 21, "ampU' 
tat«d a thigh, and removed Dj evuMon both tidet of the great 
toe-nail, without the patient being aware of what was doing, so 
tax aB regards pain : he heard what was said, sad was con- 
scious, hut felt neither the pain of the incisions uor that of 
tying the vesseU. Next, a patient in the Royal Infirmaty, 
Edinbuigh, was etherised, and had a limb amputated by ur. 
Duncan, "without the infliction of any pain. Kiperimenta 
were then made in the London and pronncial hospitals ; evi- 
dence of success accumulated in America and Qreat Britain ; 
and at length the two great Paris suimona, Velpeau and Konz, 
averred, before the two Academies, tnat the discovery was " a 
glorious coniluest for humanity." 

Thus a new era was inaugurated in the science of nugeiy, 
both for operators and patients. A mouth after the first ap- 
■ plication of ether in England, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, dis- 
covered that by its instrumentality the ordinary pains of ma- 
ternity might be averted without danger. The remedy waa 
uied alBO with a greater or less degree of success in some of the 
most fearful and painful dlBeasea, and by its aid many peisooa 
were rescued from certain death who must otherwise have 
nndeivone a difficult, painful, and most dangerous opetation. 

Etner, fhe first agent employed in this great revolution, is 
said to have been known to Raymond Lully and Basil Valen- 
tine, the alchemists. In 1640, Valerius Gordus described the 
metnod of making it, — the Olev.m, Yiiridi dulce, as he termed 
it. It consists of 4 atoms of carbon, 6 of hydr^en, and 1 of 
oxygen. It is usually procured by distilling common alcohol 
(the hydtated oxide of ethyle) with sulphuric add : hence ita 
usual name of eulphnrio ether; its present diemical name is 
oxide of ethyle, 

Stiier waa noticed as early as lCi40 b; pharmaceuUcal Chemiats. 
Dr. Frobaniua aod Mr. Godfrej mada Bereral Biperimants on it befiire 
the Roysl Sooiety, ax described in the P/dloiophieal Tratuacfiom for 
1730, when the term £tA4r wna firat adopted. Hb. Ood&ey Etates, "Uiat 
this liquor jBlhereufl was formerly very roucli ertaemed and inquired 
into, doth clearly appear by an Bxpemnent 1 made formerly for nxy 
worthy Maatar Eaquire Boyle, by tne means of a metallick solnldou, 
namely, by the solution of onide meroury united with the PMogiiion 
Vini, or other vegetahlea ; and thiji st^ar swam on the top of the stda- 
laon, whioh I separated Mr TriU/riRiia. This ia what I have dona &i«- 
meriy ia Esquire Boyle B laboratorj' ; and Sir Isaac Newton w«s verv 
well acquainted with it too, which, by reason of shortness of hia, was 
not brought to a fiill end, to do it so readily in quantitr." Dr. Vm- 
bomus, after desoriWnE TariouB eiperimenla, sajs : ".«ther, th^ is 
i-ertamly the most ndde, efflcadooE, and oieAil instrumBnt in all Chj- 



Curiositiet of Science. 



misUy and Pbarmac; ; l/bi enim ignii poUatiaiit, Hi actuali iionopict 
at, inwmiicb aa GBBenoea and eaaeutlBl dUb are eibracUd by it imma- 
diatel;, without so muoh u the modiatioD of fire, troia voods, borka, 
roots, herbs, aoweis, berriei, seeds, tee., from animals, and their puts 

SIortoD, the discoverer of etherisation, fell into poverty ; 
but his pextner Jackeon claimed the whole merit. Cuorofonit 
qoiokly superseded ether, and Morton, who had, aontrary to 
tbe luages of the profession, patented his discoTery, found hie 
patent valueless. 

Another labourer in the £e!d must be mentioned here. In 
1846, news of the discovery reached England, when Dr. Snow, 
who had previously made numerous experimentB in respiiatioa 
and asphjii^ brought the administration of this new agent to 
great perfection. The ether practice of London went almost 
exoluBively to him. He publisned awork embodying the whole 
of hie experiences in etherisation ; it was appreciated by the 
profession, and was selling largely, when the discovery of the 
ftpplloation of chloroform ^irew euier into the shade and the 
book with it, Br. Snow was soon satisfied of the greater prac' 
ticability of chloroform : he at once commenced its use. He 
next b^^, in 18G6, to experiment with amjlene, first upon 
animals, and if these promised favourably, then upon man. 
Amylene did not aiuwer his expectations, and he discontinued 
its use. He died convinced that, thou:gh he did not succeed ia 
the object, an ansastbetic will ultimately be discovered which 
may be inhaled with absolute safety, and which will destrof 
common sensation without destroying consdousnese. 

In Uarch 1847 M. Flourena caused animals to inhale pure 
chloroform, which rendered them insensible ; but believing it 
to be a dangerous agent, be did not think of commending it 
for tbe prevention c? human pun. Dr. Chapman says: 

Annsthetis agents ■honld only be udmiDisterod by those who pouoas 

'--'-- -^ eiperionoB of their ---*■-- "^ - 

i\Hte of B partial arrer 
foot, a tttge on the vay from lila tc 

are capable af leading us along this aolema path, and « 
done so for a certain distsnco, will allow oa to retrace oi 
really endued with the power (^ saving us from pidn. 



jaoob Bell demonstrated the anteatbetic power of this mixture ; . 
but it was Dr. Simpson, who, upon tbe suggestion of Mr. Wal- 
die, of the Apothecaries' Hall of Liverpool, first tried chlorr 
form undiluted, discovered the effects of its vapour, and th( 
bound his name indissolnblj with the greatest braiefit ev 
conferred on man. 



l^ittgi not ffeneraily Known. 



Chloroform was first obtained in 1831, by Qnthria, aa 
Amerioan chemist, bj distillation of chloride of limo and al- 

Tn 1831, it was examined by Damaa, who afaowed its real compoai- 
lion to bo two Btomi of oubon, om of hydrogen, and three of chltvine. 
From the rod mst (Farmiea n{fa) ii obUiiied fbrmic acid, oonaiBtinf of 
two alomi of oarboD, ons of hydrogen, and three of oxygen (C2, B03). 
The eleinentiC2, H. ere viewed aa a hypothetical radical oallad/oraiyM^ 
which, being united with three eqoinlBnta of oirgenj forma the t<r- 
exiiU oj fonnyli, or /emit, or firmie add. Now, if lor the three 
eqairalontB ofoxygen three equivalenta <tf chlorine were suhstitnted, 
"'le product would be » Ur-ehiiridt of famyh. &""'" "--"- " - ■ 
igeniom view of the oonatitnUon of thii important 



^ipropriatdy named it C^snifon 
Pure chloroform hai a Btrai" 

aoda BweetpenetratiDgtaete. - -. .- ., , , 

iodine, camphor, fata, wax, resinB, and caoutehoac. No other hqujd is 
■0 perfect a Bolrent of the latter subatance, which ia left unaltered by 
it OD evaporation. — WtAmivMt Beviev, Jan. 1S&9. 

Thus has the practicabilit; of su^ical annsthesia been es- 
tablished : its eafety and expedienoy in women during child- 
birth are, howerer, much controverted.* It was at first snp- 
poBed to be safer than ether, and was in many instanoes naed 
with great recklessness, till the first death from chlorofonn 
ooourred, near Newcastle, in Janoar; 1848. 

Dr. ^ow took notes of between three and four thoutand 
eases in which he had adminiBtered chloroform himselfl It has 
been used extensiTely in every ho^ital in Europe. It was 
the greatest boon to our poor wounded in the Crimea and India. 
The Exhaustion of the stock of Chloroform in Lucknow is re- 
corded at ooe of the greatest calamities in that fearful sif^ 
Ko &tal caae occurred from its frequent use in the Crimea. 
Dr. Snow could ascertain but fifty btal cases throughout the 
world which could &irly be attributed to chloroform during 
ten years. For several years before his death he made about a 
thousand a year in fees for administering chloroform in private 
praotice. He met with but one fetal case among the nuur 
thousands to whom he administered chloroform. The fetal 
effect is bj paralysiug the heart ; but the' chance of this resolt, 
with due care, is very small indeed : it has been compared with 
the chance of a fatal rdlway accident. 

The effects of chloroform vapour on the Sensitive Plant are 
very striking ; and it has been used to render Bees quiet and in- 
nocuous, ana while in this state the honey is taken irom them; 
in swarmiD^ they have also been rendered manageable bj chlo- 
roform. 



Curiosities of Science. 



9|i]ien%fx. 



MEECUEY, OE QDICKBILVrai.* 

Thib verj Temarkable metal, which poBsesaea the ringnl&E 
property of bein^ fluid at common tempeistures, was known to- 
the ancients, u oftea ocoars in the native state. Ita colour 
is similar to that of eilTer ; hence the name hydrargyrum, froia 
two Greek words signifying "water silver," and af^«7itt«nin'irum, 

3 nick or living tilver ; the term "vivum" tdgnifying ^uici, an 
Id Saxon word uBually understood in that sense in Scriptural 
phraseology. Hence, also, the name of Mercury, given dj th» 
Altdiemistj. Quicksilver mines occur in oomparatiTely few 

Ces : thoae of Almaden in Spain, and Idria in CamioU, are 
known. Hungary and TranBylvania also yield mercury : 
it bas long been obtained in China and Japan and Peru ; anii 
recently it has been discovered in great abundance and in re- 
markable purity in California and Australia. The Chinese fronk 
their mercury produce the best vermilion ; and both China aud 
Japan are noted for their mirrors. 

Mercury occasionally occurs in native globules in the sul- 
phide, cinnabar, or vermilion ; which Fliny states Callias, 
an Athenian, discovered the preparation of (b.o. 60fi). He also 
mentions the mines of Almaden, then producing 10,000 Roman 
pounds annually, though the supply was purposely limited. 
In. 1833, these mines furnished annually nearly 2,244,000 Ibs.^ 
employed 700 workmen underground, and 200 extracting the 
metal from the ore at the sur&ce. 

Formerlymercurywas imported tied up in fresh sheep-skins, 
nnd packed in barrels ; it is now brought m tuonmered iron bot- 
tles. When pure, its sur&ce makes an excellent mirror: com- 
mon glasees are coated with mercury spread upon tin-foil, with 
which it forms a solid amalgam. Mercury dissolves in this 
manner gold, silver, lead, and other metals ; hence its use in- 
extracting them from the ore. The amalgam of silver and 
copper is used for stopping hollow teeth. Mercury is eiten- 
'vely employed in meaidne, as the sabchloride, or olomel ; 



. "tbaCbembtiTo'UeU 



SSS I%inffa not gmertdly Know,-: 

Meraurj has long been ufied in medicine ; but tht. opimoD ti 
the ueoeaeitf for giving it in any qoantitf is now aUt^ethec 
-exploded. 

Pure mercury boila at 660° ; its T^wur is elastic, like tbat 
of water. Qeoffroy, at the request of an alohemiBt, enclosed a 
-quantity of mercury in a strong iron gbbe, secured by iron 
boopg, and put the dobe into a furnace. Soon ^ter it had ac- 
•quired a red heat, it Durat with great violence, and the mercury 
%«as completely dissipated. 

Mercu^ is used in the thermometer as a measurer of ton- 
perature. Its boiling-poiat, as measured by its own expamion, 
IB 680°, but by the expan^on of air 662°. If a common ther- 
mometer be plunged into boiling mercury, it stands (according 
to Crichton) at 660°, Ho that the expansion of the jflasB is 

Suivalent to 20° j and almost exactly counteracts the mcrease 
the rate of expamdon of the mercury. " The consequence," 
as Br. Thomson says, " of this fortunate coincidence is, that 
-an accurately graduated mercurial glass thermometer is an ac- 
.curate measurer of the increase of temperature as high as the 
boiling-point of mercury, or to 662°. The effect of " die 
mercurial atmosphere" will be found described by Faraday at 
page 76. SevemI washes and other preparations of mercury 
were formerly employed as cosmetics ; the making of whioh was 
a great source of gain to the empiric^ chemist, which practice 
has lasted to out day. Mercury has also been applied to the 
correction of errors of lereUing. Thus, Professor Mitehell, of 
the United States, has a mode by which, through the means of 
cups of mercury placed on each pier of the tmnsit instrument, 
connected by a tube of mercury, he can at each moment of 
.observation determine the level-error of the axis of his tranmt 

T TIV. FEBEZINfl OF MEBCURY. 

The congelation of mercury was first effected by M. Brann, 
'Of St. Petersburg. On Dec. 14, 1769, the temperature of the 
air being 34% M. Braun prepared a freezing mixture of nitrous 
acid and pounded ice, into which a thermometer being placed, 
-sank to' — 69°. Then substituting snow for ice, he sank the 
thermometer to — 100°, —244°, and finally to 350°. The mer- 
cury in the thermometer was then found to be fixed, and it 
remained so for more than twelve minutes : on employing a 
thermometer graduated onl^ to 220°, the mercury collected in 
the bulb, and remained sohd as before. On Dec. 25, M. Btann 
repeated his experiments : as soon as the mercury became 
fixed, he broke tne bulb of the thermometer, and obtained the 
■nercoty in the form of a solid, shining, metallic mass, perfectly 
nalleable, not quite so hard as lead, and to be cut with a knife. 



Curiositiea of Science, 



The upper sor&ce of the frozen lump of mercury was concave, 
and pieces of it sank in fluid mercuij, Indicating ita great con- 
traction. 

These philoBophers did not, however, determine the freezing- 
point of mercurj, which was proved by a series of admirable 
— --- ^ '- — f~-i ?- TT._j..jjig ^y^ _j.i. ■ — . ^. 



expwiments performed in Hudson's Bay, with instraments 
funiiBhedby Mr. Gavendish. 

Tlieae iuBtnimsnts conidsted of a glasa cylinder, partiaUy filled with 
mennuy, m. which the bulh of a thennometar nu placed so aa not to 
tJJUohtheBidBotaiOTesBal i this apparatus was surrounded by a miiture 
of snow and nitrous acid, whan ths mercurv descended to3S'S6°, where 
itremaii^d statLonai-y, akowing this to hethe/reezin^-voint of mercury. 

Mr. Cavendisb Bubsequently showed that iQeroury in the act ef freez- 
ing contracts nearly l-23d of its whole bulk. — A bridgidfrom Tonlinion'i 
Stttdeni! I Manual ofSatitral P/iiloiophy. 



THE QUICKSILTES XOmS OF CUJFOBHIA. 

The mercury mines of Upper California are only exceeded in 
value by the gold diggings. Rocks and mountains entirely of 
cLanahar have been found, and the apparatus for obtaining the 
pure metal is as siijiple as that used 1600 years ago : at a 
common lime-kiln or blast-furnace, 2000 pounds of metal are 
said to be manufactured daily, and the average yield of metal 60 
per cent. California itself affords a good market, large quan- 
tities of mercury being used in separating fine particles of gold 
from the sand and dirt, and which cannot be procured by wash- 
ing. The aborigines are said to have known and resorted to 
these cinnabar deposits for centuries to procure colouring ma- 
terials. 

The richest mines, at New Almaden, have yielded from 29 
to 72 per cent ; and ten furnaces, very defective in operation, 
have produced from 30,000 to 85,000 lbs. of mercury weekly. 



FULMINATIKQ MEECUET. 

This fulminate, which is less dangerous and violent than 
Fulminating Silver, is ia great demand as an ingredient in the 
charee ofp^rcjwiton-capinowsogenerally adopted in gun-looks. 
Fulminating Mercuiy was discovered in 1810 by the Eon. 
31dward Charles Howard. ■ It is obtained from a solution of 
mercury in nitric acid mixed with alcohol. 

When MmmaliDg mercuir ia heated to between 300° and 100°, it ez- 
plodea withabrightflamaandmuohTiolanoe; and if subsKtuted for grin- 
■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■■ ■ sudden that, like other detOQtt- 

-ithouteroallingtheball. But 

._, _ _„ ... in, andauttleheapofitpiaood 

opoD sn oniil and shaiply struck by a hammer, goes off withadesjening 



340 Things aot generally Known. 

noiM. Many hnndredweigliti of this lUiigeniua article are annually 
maonfutnred j it requlrsa great cure botii inita production and trans- 
port. — Brandt'i LtetuTet, by Scoffern. 

Frightful acddeats have occurred in the preparation, of this 
oompound. On June 4, 1842, Mr. H. Hennell, the principal 
chemical operator to the Apothecaries' Company, met a terrifio 
death in the l&boratotj-janl, bj the explodoa of between five 
and six pounds of fnlminatiiig mercury, which he was manu- 
fiioturing for the East India Company. 

VHA.T IS GBAOS ? 

ChaoB is that confuEdon in which matter lay when newly 
produced out of nothing at the beginning of the world, before 
God, by hia almighty word, had put it into the order and con- 
dition which it assumed after the eix days' creation. Chaos is 
represented by the ancients as the first principle, OTum, or seed, 
of nature and the world. Ail the sophistB, sages, naturslista, 
philosophers, theologues, and poets, held that Chaos was the 
eldest and first principle, ri apx"'"'" X°o'- The Barbarians, 
Phtsaicians, Egyptians, Persians, and many other nations, all 
refer the orinn of the world to a rude, mised, confused mass 
of matter. The Greeks — Orpheus, Heaiofl, Menander, Aristo- 
phanes, Euripides, and thfe writers of the Cyclic Poems — all 
speak of the first Chaos ; while the Ionic and Platonic philoso- 
phers built the world out of it. The Stoics held, that as tiie 
world was first made of a Chaos, it shall at last be reduced to a 
Chaos ; and that its periods and revolutions in the mean time 
are only traositions m>m one Chaos to another. I^Btly, the 
Latins, as Ennius,Tarro, Ovid, Lucretius, Statius, &o., werealt 
of the same opinion. Nor is there any sect or nation what- 
soever that does not derive their duwifcr/iijcric, iht stntcttire of lie 
vorld, from a Chaos. 

The opinion first arose among the Barbarians, from whom 
it spread to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the Romans 
and other nations. Dr. Sumet observes, that besides Aristotle 
and a few pseudo-Pythsgoreana, nobody ever asserted that our 
world was always from et«mity of the same nature, form, and 
structure, as at present ; but that it had been the standing 
opinion of the wise men of all ages, tliat what we now call the «arfA 
was originally an unformed, ind^sted mass of heterogeneons 
matter called Clioai, and no more than the rudiments and ma- 
terials of the present world. 

It do^ not appear who first broached the notion of a Chaos. 
Uoses, the oldest of all writers, derives the origin of this 
'orld from a confusion of matter, dark, void, deep, without 
>rm, which he calls iohu boka, which is precisely the Chaos of 
le Greek and Barbarian philosophers. Moses goes no &rther 



CurioHtiei ofSoience. Sll 

than the Chaos, nor tells us whence it took its origin, or 
nbeDOe aroae its confused state ; and where Moses stops, there 
preciselj do all the rest. Dr. Burnet endeavours to show, that 
as the andent philosopheia who wrote of the oosmogoiij ac- 
knowledge a Chaos b8 the principle of the world, so the divines, 
or writers of the theogoDj, denve the origin or generation of 
their bbled gods from the same principle. —Encyd. Brit. 

THE AUK OF KOAH. 

In 1730, Dr. Stukele; wrote : "Acoording to the calcula' 

Uohb I have made, I find Qod AhnightT ordered Noah to get 

the creatures into the Ark on Sunday, tne 12th of October, the 

TGI? day of the autumnal equinox of that year; and on this 

S resent day, on the Sunday sennight foUowiag (the 19th of 
'ctober), that terrible catastrophe began, the moon being past 
her third quarter," 

Sir Oamner WiUdnson, in his work The Egi/ptiam m (^ 
Time of the Pkaraoki, in speaking of the Ark, mentions a strange 
attempt to connect the name of Thebes with the Hebrew word 
Th^h, and thence with the Ark of Noah ; which is at onco 
shown to be erroneous, from the name of that city beiug a 
oorruptioD of the Eefptian Api, or with the article Tdpe (in the 
Mempliitic dialect tndpi), "the head," or "capital," converted 
by the GIreeks into their own TMbai. 

PAST AND FBESENI AOE OF PLANTS AND AHIUALS. 

From the age of plants and animals in the present day, we 
are not entitled to infer their age in primitive times. Without 
appealing to the ioflueiice of food, and climate, and soil, on the 
growth of animal and vegetable bodies, 4e find the truth of 
our position in the history of our own species. During the 
first 2000 years of the human era, the laws of vital organisa- 
tion were entirely different from what they are in the present 
day. From Adam to Abraham, the age of man varied from 
9^ to 175 years, and giadnally declined to the average of 
three score and ten ; and, in like manner, the plants and 
aoimals of primeval times, when they were required as epochs 
in the ohronology of creation, may have had a more luxuriant 
growth and a shorter existence. — Sir David BrewiUr'i "MoTt 
Wotidtthan One." 



has remuned the same, as we read in the ninetieth Psalm, ' 
Prayer of Moses, the man of Qod," in which it is expressly 
aaid that the age of man is 70, and sometimes reaches 80 years, 



Thinfft not generally Known. 



GREAT AGE OF THE F. 

In Hftj 1608, at a meetioff of the RoTal Sodetf of Idterv- 
tnre, tX wbich Ihe Bishop of St, David's presided, Mr. Poola 
read a paper " On a Pap^nu broaght from Bg;rpt some yean 
•inoe by M. Fritae," in which he showed that it was ttmily a 
much more cnrions record than had been at first snipected by 
its ducoTerer, and that the Kav. Dunbar Heath had been the 
first scholar who had suggested the tme character and value of 
its contents. Mr. Poole slated that the papyrus was written b^ 
a person called Ptah-hotp, the eldest son of the king, and that 
it is dated in the reign of Assa — about b.o. 1900. The writer 
addresses his son in a discourse of excellent moral instraotion, 
conveyed in terse and vigorous language. He assertB that he 
is delivering "traditional wisdorn," the "speech of the Past;" 
and his stffe is not unlike portions of the Book of Proverm. 
It ia remarkable that Odris is the only one of the deities of ilie 
land who is directly mentioned, and that the word " Qod" is 
often used alone ; and it is important to notice, that if , aa is 
generally agreed, Ptoh-hotp was the eldest eon of the reigning 
monarch Assa, his &ther must have lived to the age of not less 
than 130 year^ as Ptah-hotp states his own age at the time he 
wrote this document was 110 years. We have thus important 
evidence of the continuance within the hlBtoric period of tlie 
great age attributed in Holy Scripture to the early patriarchs. 
Sir. Poole farther stated, that this king Assa was suppled to 
be either a very early Memphite king of the third dynas^, or a 
shepherd king of the fifteenth dynasty, who also reigned St 
Memphis : this latter view Mr. Poole himself holds, believing 
this king to be the same as Manetho's Assis. 

THE MAHtWiCTDBE OB IBON. — PP. 110-116. 
By Mr. BaBHsmQr*§ beautiful proo«s, molten iroD just fimn tbA 
cupola is coQisrtad, withoot fuel, and literally at a bnaUi, iuto sadi 
steel as could not be mode in many weeks upou the old method. Hw 
^reat impravement nliich we may eipeot in the manufacture of wroagU 
iron ie, in bringing it, by Mr. Sasaemer'e procesa, Ircm cast iron directly 
into a malleable ingot, which may then be heated and aflerwarda rolled 
or hammered to any required fona, Tbe homogeneous irons, b 
called, are brought into the aame oondidon by a very much more oom- 
plicated and wasteful process. Before ne can ever depend upon the 
mtsgrity of lai^B maseegof malloabla iron, we must be able \o bring 
them at once from the fluid state into a form approiimatinz to that 
which. they are intended finally to have.— TAe Eiupnitr, No. 2U. 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Aoi, Oreat, of the Patriaroh^ 242. 
Jkge of Plants and Animalu, Faat 

and Present, HI. 
Age of Wine, 203. 
Anioaltare ud ChemlBtr;, 49. 
AlcheiniBtB : Agnppa, Cornelius, 

12 ; Albert™ IbuniDs, ' - "- 



and Kelly, IG ; GeW, i ; Oeof- 
froi and HombeijE, 26 ; OIoq- 
ber, 21 ; Harmes l^umeeletUB, 
6; HoUandus, Isaac, 7, 8, 10 ; 
Kellonnan, 28 ; Leibnits, "" 
liollj, Bayi 

1»-21 ; i>BTacGkiu, I's, IS, 14. 
Porta, Baptists, 1* ; Price, Dr., 
28 ; Ripley, Gooree, 11 ; Valoo- 
tine, Basil, 11 ; Van Helmoot, 
2S ; TillensuTe, Arnold de, 10 ; 
Wonlfe, Peter, 27. 

Aloliemiits and Cliemists, ISS. 

Alahemiste and Coiners, 14. 

Alohemists, Dialect otOia, 2D. 

Alchemists uid Laboratflries, ISB. 

Alchemists, the, and Sir T. 
Browne, IS. 

Alchemy and Aliotropism. 42. 

Alchemy and Aatrelog^, i, 40. 

Alchemy, Definition o^ 1. 

Alohemy, Egypttsji, 2. 

Alohemy, F^orntiTe, 31. 

Alchemy andOooamy, 32. 

Alobemy,a period of CbemlBtry,41. 

Alohemy, Recent Work on, 38. 

Alohemy, Berrieee of, to Medicine, 

la, 

Alchemy, Tramltion from, to Che- 



mistry, 40. 
Johendoal E 



Alchemical Terms, Vaiions, S2. 
Alcohol, Origin c^ B. 
Aldini's ^re-proof Dmsea, 67. 



Alexander the Oreat, I{epat«d 

Poisoning of, ISO, 
Alkahest, the, and LaToisier, 3D. 
AllotTDpism and Alohemy, 42, 43. 
Alumimum Bells, 194. 
Almninimn, DiscoTary of, 120. 
Alam in Bread, 121. 
Ahim-works in Italy and Emrland, 

122. ^ 

Amalgam, Origin of, 6. 
AmalgainatioQ. lUTentor of, 110. 
Anchors, Ancient and Modem, 



„-.f, 131. 

Anesthetics, History of, 230. 

Animal Heat and Chemical Pro- 
cesses, 70-73. 

Anfanal Heat, Bonroe of, 149. 

Animal and Vefretable Compared, 
Ml. 

Animals, How they grow fat, ISO. 

Antiar poison, the, 137. 

Antimony and Ba^ Valentine, 12. 

Antimony. History of, 103. 

Apathecanes* Hall, the firat, US. 

Apparatus, Improrad Chemical, 

J^ples, Nutriment in, 168. 
Aquarium, Ute in the, 160. 
Arabs and Alchemy, 4. 
ArkofNooh, the. 241. 
Arsenal, Boyal, Woolwich, 214. 
Arsenic in Candles, 133. 
Aisenio, Eating, reputed, 13$. 
Arsenic eiven to Horses, 133. 
Araenio in Kettle-crust, 134. 
Arsenic, the Metsl, 101. 
Arsenic, Poisoning by, 132. 
Aneuioatad Fly-pqwrs, 133. 
Asbestos, History of, 68. 
Ashmole . ' " -■-■ 



Asp, Poison of the, 13}, o I ij, 
Assiinilalion, Colendfje «i, Si. 



Atmoapherio Air, UM^a Aooly- 



113. 

BaOOH, Lord, Sdonoe at, 201. 
Bnocin, Roinr, tui Predictioiu, 8. 
BsUnoe, U» of the, 180, 181. 
Bang- D&rootjo, 231. 
Beaumont, Dr., on Digestion, 167. 
Bee, how it makea Honey, 193. 
Beet-root Sugar, 191. 
Behmen, Jacob, his Woifa, 20. 
BeUatt, its Chsmical Works, 199. 
BellHSBatine, Experimental, 193, 

lOi. 
Bell-matal, CompodUoD of, 193. 
Bergmonn and the Alahemisls, 2S. 
Berzelius on the Blowpipa, 181. 
Block, Joseph, Death of, 101. 
BluC-fiimaca, Chemistrr of, 68. 
Blaze-proof Drenra, 220, 
Blood, Iron in the, 162. 
Blood, Traniftuion of, IBl. 
Blowpipe, Story of the, 183-186. 
Body, how nourished by Food, 167. 
BoU^g oheoke Formenlation, 227. 
Bolognian Phosphorus, the, 91. 
Bone, Fonnation o^ 166. 
Botighton, Sir T., Poisoning of, 

129. 
Bouquet of Wine, 201. 
Boyle, Robert, hts Works, 22. 
Bo^le, Robert, his Process for Mul- 



Bmnds 



mfenor, ReUrement of. 



Brass, Corinthian, 127. 
Bread, how it gntm stsie, 169. 
Bresd, to make, outofWood, 189. 
Brewitsr, Sir David, on A]ohemy, 

19, 20, 22. 
Bricks, Floating, 217. 
Britsnnicus, Poisoning of, 129. 
Bronzes, Ancient, R™t«rBtion of, 

108. 
Browne, Sir, T., and the Alohe- 

miats, 16. 
Browne, Sir TboB., on the Death 

of Alexander, 180. 



Brown-S£quard on Blood Tiaiu- 

tinioi^ 162. 
Bumetrs Timbar-pr o a oi T i ng Pro- 

aess,200. 
Botter-msking, Improved, 170. 

mmBody, 119. 



Cahfhob, Rotating Propertiea ot, 

225. 
Cannon, Iron, fiist cast in Hag- 

IsadfllS. 
Caoutdiono and Caoutobouciue, 8S. 
Carbon, Bouroes of, 60. 
Carbon stored in Coal-fields, 86; 
Caibonio Add, Liquid and Solid, 

91. 
Carbonic Oxide and Carbocic 
_ Acid, 90. 

srburelted E 

on Plants, 9. 
Caterpillar protected from the 

Nattle-stang, 186. 
Chain of Being, 33-38. 
Chain of Homer, Golden, SS^S. 
Change, the Great Agent o^ 1& 
Chaos, What is Jt I 210. 
Chapman, Dr., on AnnstiutiaL 

2S0-1236. 
Chariot of Antjmony, 12. 
Cheese, Worth of, 170. 
Chemical Inventions, 188. 
ChemiBte, Wliat th^ owe t« the 

Alchemists, 1. 
Chemistry, Applied, 18. 
Chemistry, the Earliest, 2. 
Chemistry, Early Egyptian, 46, 17. 
Chemistry, the Great IMsoovoies 

in, 19. 
Chemistry, Imperfection of, 18. 
Chemistry of Mortar, 227. 
Chemistry, Origin of, 1. 
Chemistiyof Wina, 201-203. 
China, Aussthetics in, 231. 
Chlorine, Discovery of, 108. 
CUoroform and Bees, 236. 
Chloroform and Child-birth, 239. 
Chloroform Discovered, 236. 
Chloroform, Hatory of, 230-236. 
Chloroform and the Soisitin 

Plant, 236. 
Cholera and Impure Water, 112. 
Chronometer, American, 220. 
Cipher-writing, Air. Babbage's,219. 
Circle, Quadrature of the. 205. 
Clay, Aluminium fivm, 120. 



Cleopatra, Deatii of, 130. 
Cloak, BcalWorldDg Force or, 20S. 
Cloolo, Curious, by Orollier, 221. 
Coinage, SIlTGr, IDS. 
Coka outtiug Olau, 196. 
Cold, Droimneaa from, 22S. 
Coloiifla efitet of the Sun's ntys, 



ID Qai and Oil lamps, 

Condensatieu of Surfaces, 75. 
ConfectioA romaiiea, origin of, 178 . 
Copper, Alloya of, 123. 
Coppor, Hiatoiy of, 132. 
Copper-Lace, 227. 
Copper Vessels, Danger from, 123. 
Corinthian Brass, Ongin of, 127. 
Cort's Iron Improiemeuta, IIS. 
Creation, Compensating Forces in, 

Creatioi], Harmon; of, M. 
Cruciblea, the beat, ISO. 
Crust of Wine, 201. 
Crystal Palace Water-works, 213. 
Cnrier on Aliibeniy, C. 

Darwin, Dr., his Steam Predio. 

tioDs,20g. 
Davy's earlv Dream, 67. 
Dbtv, Sir H., in the Laboratory, 

177. 
Davy, Sir H., and Xitroos Oxide, 

84,232. 
Davy, Sir R, lus ScienUSo Career, 

174, 176. 
Deity, Unity of the, M. 
Denison, B. B., on Bell-caating, 

193, 194, 19& 
Despatch, the InviriWa, 226. 
Diamond and Carbon, Idenldty of, 

86. 
Diamond, Formation of, 87. 
Diamond, New, 88. 
" IMamonds grow," S8. 
DigeBldte PrcHMBs, the, 156-156. 
Dioseorides, his IbiteriaMedica, 1. 
Dirty Windows in London, 227. 
JKseases of Wine, 203. 
Distdllation, early, 2. 
Dividing Macbina, Whitworth's, 

220. 
DruiomoDd, Sir W., and Egyptian 

Alchemy, 2. 
Dry Bot, Eyan's Frooess, 200. 



a. 345 

Eanr, Oold-mines of, 3. 
Egyptian Chemistry, early, 46, 47. 
l^yptian OlBaa-maMng, 195, 
EfmXian Working of Matols, 109. 
Efament, WhatisitfGl. 
" Elemont, the one," 62. 
Elizabeth, Queen, and Dr. Dee, 
IS, 16. 



Firaai 



ItheA. 



Fire and Phlopston, 63. 
Fires, Coloured, to produce, 88. 
Flax ProcOBBea, Claussen and 

Meroar's, 198. 199. 
Food, PreBerradon of, 170. 
Food, Torioas, Time for digesting. 

Food, Vegetable and Animal, com- 
pared, 167. 
Fiuminatjng Compounds, ISS. 
Fulminating Bferoury, 239. 
B\mgi, Poisonous, 140. 

Gahh and Vte Blowpipe, IS4. 
Galenioal Dootrinea, fidl of, 17. 
Oases ahsorbed by Charcoal, 100. 
Gasee, Combustibility of, 100. 
Gases, What is done with them t 

100. 
GM-lighting, early, 96, 
Gaatric Juice, the, 1S6, 167. 
Geber, the Arab Physician, 4. 
Gibbon on Alchemy, 32. 
Glass, Rough Plate, 196. 
Glass-making, History of, 195- 
Glass, Cork, and Platmum, in the 

lAboratory, 180. 
Glass, Malleable, 196. 
Gloss, Painted and Stained, 197. 
Gloss, Soluble, or Water-gUsa, 197. 
Olebe, Hateriahi of the, G3. 
Gold and tlie Alchemists, 36-38. 
Gold, DifliiBion o^ 106. 
Gold Testa, 106. 
Gold-smeltjng, sinentifia, 106. 
Golden Chain of Homer, 33-38. 
Golden Fleece, the, 29. 
Orollier and his Clocks, 221. 
Qun-Cotton, Disoovery of, 81-83. 
Gun-foundry, Old, Moorif olds, 214, 
Gunpowder, how madi^ 187. 

■ Propertiea of, 186. 



HurOBO, Kr H., on the Foiiaai 

ortha AnolenU, 123-130. 
Halt, Dr. Manhull, na StiyohiiiiiB, 



H«W Alt, tha, flT. 
Beat, Slatsnality of, 63. 
Halmfaolta on Aiuiiud Heat and 

Chemical Prooesw^ 70-73. 
Eemlook, Foitoomg hf, 128. 
Henry VI. and AlohBmy, 10. 
Bermetio, the term, 6. 
Hamtatic or Uerctuial Chain, 3S- 



^di 



r, Qolden Chain of, 33-3S. 
Hooke aad Ausculta&ia, 144. 
Howud, Hon. Charia^ the Cbs- 

mlK,181. 
Howarf, Hon. E. C., hia Iniproro- 

Hydrocyanio or PnuLO Aoid, 186. 
Hjdrognn, DiaooTary of, 49. 
Hydn^on the Lightest MattCT, Tfl. 
^droBtatie Prsiu, 217. 
^grometer, Doaieetio, 229. 

Induh Hemp uarootio, SSI. 
Interment in Vaulta and Cata- 

comba, Chemical Etbcta of, 97. 
Iodine, Ubi^nity of. 3S. 
Iron, BeBBemer'B Manofiictun of, 

242, 
Iron in tha Blood, lfi2. 
Iron in Boilding, 115. 
Iron BuildioRB in China, IIS. 
Iron, Early Hirtory of, 110. 
Iron in TSgfpt, 111. 
Iron, Hanafaotnre of, 110-116. 
Iron-atone Black-band, 114. 
Iron-worka in Afrioa, 111. 

Soaieiand Suirey, 
Walei,112. 
tesor, in the Labor- 



otaogttj, II 



Lead, Hlatorr of, 124. 
Lead-Tree, the, 124. 
Leonardo da Vlnoi and IIm Steam 

Gan, 210. 
LeuOHtullo'a Balaam, Bsooipt tijc, 

172. 



Idebig on the Connection otA)- 

ohemy and Chamiatry, 44. 
Light, Chemical Ag^nqies of, 5. 
Uffht, Coloured, and VeeeCatian, 

SB. 
light, Nine Estimate of, S5. 
Lighta, UnwholSHiinaDen of, 9fl. 
Locke, John, and Alohemy, 23. 
London InatitoUon lAbozvtoiy, 

174. 
London Hint-worka and Lolly, S. 
London Water-BuppW, 142. 
" Long Rangea," Failure of, 216. 
LuBifer M-yi'"" and Phoniluwai, 

94. 

tUomim, Old, Fulnre of, 30S. 
Magie, Roger Bacon on, 9, 
M^ohito, Sir R, Murohiaon on. 

123. 
Man, Germ of, 149. 
Uan, Materialaofoae, 14& 
Mandrake nanotio, 230. 
Manganeia,. Metallic, 107. 
Hanfibld Letter-Writer Antiid- 

patad.2IS. 
Harah and Rdmoh'B Pcdion Da- 

teauir, 1S2. 
Uateriali of the Qloba, SB. 
Haleriala of a Man, 143. 
Medici of Florence, Amu of, 17. 
Medicine, HippoctatsB' Knoii- 

ledge 0^ 143-W. 
Mercurial Atmosphere, Parad^ 

on, 76. 
Mercury of the Adepta, 7. 
Harcuiy, Freasng of, 238. 

Meroiii7, or Quickailrar, Hiaton 

of, 237-238. 
Hesmariam and AnMatheiia, 232. 
Matala, Hardneaa of, 106. 
MehJa known to the Andenli, 3. 
Metala, Tnuuparenin of, 102. 
Mortality, Law of; 169. 
MuBcular CoBtlsetJoa, Haat oC, 



Hmhrocmu, TtangBr Sana, 141. 
Miuk Odour Annilulated, 223. 

HiX^jax, NmnbBn in. Si. 
Napeathe of Hooier, 231. 
NeUle, how it Stingy 134. 
NawtoD, Sir luao, hk Belief In 

Alchemy, IS. 
Ifewton, Sir Isaac, his LBbar&tur? 

at Csmbridge, 172. 
Nitrogen in tbe Atmosphere, 81. 
Nitrogen deacribed, 80. 
Nitn^en in Food, 168. 
Nitmgen and Gun-cotton, SI. 
Nitrogen in Plants, 1S4. 
Nitrogen, Souroea of, 60. 
Nitrous Orids, or laughing Qaa, 

S4. 
No^ Aric of, 241. 
Nothing Lost in the World, fil. 
Numb^ In Nature, H. 



Otyauana, 

Oxf goD, All in the World, 74. 
OCTgen, Priestley's Di»ooTO(7 of, 

OK>iu,WhBtiBitl7G. 

Pahitxd and Stained Olais, IB?. 
PencreaUne and Pepaia, 163, 159. 
Paper, Street- -' "'" 



Paratunant, Vegetahle, 22S. 
Palis, Alehemicsal Worka at, 26. 
PMoai and the Hvdroat^o Preaa, 

217. 
Fellatt, Apiley, on QlaBs.making, 

Phillips, Sir &, vislta an Alcbe- 

iiiiitiQl82fi,28. 
PhiloM>phei'a Stone, the, 7, 8, 13, 



Phoapbonu, History of, 98. 



Plant and Animal, Lifs of, 162. 
Plants and Animab, Put and Pn- 
•ent,24I. 



Hanta, Sorvloes of Nitrogon to, 

164. 
Hants, Siliceous Epidermis, 165. 
Plants in Sleeping-roomB, 62. 
Plants, Uses of in Natore, 164. 
Platinum, history of, 126. 
Plato's Knga and Uomer'sCbaines, 

3S. 
Plumbago, or " Black-load," 125. 
Poenmatio Hedidne, 232. 
PneumatiD Pils-driTing, 218. 
Poison-Bowl of Capua, 131. 
Poison-Rings of the Ancicnta, 131. 
Poisons, Theory of, 139. 
Poisoning by Araenic. 132. 
Pomponiiu Attioua, PoisoniDg o^ 

Potassium, ths metal, 119. 

Potato Sugar, 191. 

Priestley on tJieAnalyds ofWater, 



B Circle, 206. 

Quiok^Tsr, net BCercury. 
QuioknlTsr Uines of Califamia, 



17£ 

Kaleigh's Cordial, 178. 

Respiration, TKaoiy of, 60. 

Khine Wines, aicellence of, 203. 

Rice, ndue of, as Pood, 169. 

Kogs, Medical, 146. 

fUngs, Poison, 131. 

Eobtaon, Prof., on Alchemy, 27. 

Roman Roods and British Soil- 
ways, 211. 

R00&, Oak and Chestowt, 213. 

Rotatory MotJon,Paradoiea of, 207. 

Boyal Institution, Albemwle'St. 99 

Bt^InstltutioDldborBtorjr, 174. 

Koyal Sooiety'a Laboratory and 
Husaum, 173, 174. 

Rupert, Prince, hiaInTsntions,17I. 

Boat a Proteotor, 102. 

S4UVA, Use ot, IGfl. 
Saw. Inrontion of the. 212. 
Baw-milL Oaa flrst, 216. 
Scarlet Dye, DiacoTcry of, 118. 



Soionce sud Hi Applien, 73. 
Bnimtiflq ImproTementB, Oppoai- 

tionto, 7*. 
SMoa, aiam of, 196. 
^TOT in Belli, 1S3. 
Silver, Gold, and Iran, 212. 
SilTor, Hiitory of, 104. 
BilTar«t«el, 117. 

BimniD, Dr^on Etherisatini, 334. 
Smoke-Jaok, Biihop Wilkiiis on, 

222. 
Bnow, Dr., on Etherisation, 23S. 
Socrntos, Foisoniog o^ 1211. 
Soil, Plant, and Animal, 161. 
Stettm-Carriflge, Danrina, 208. 
Steam-Gun, ParkioB's, 206. 
Steam-Hammor, Indention ofthe, 

210. 
8t«un, High-pramire, Bcwumy 

of, 203. 
Steam Prediotloaa, 209. 
Steel bj Galvanio aotioa in the 

Earth, 117. 
Steel, lluiufacturaof, 115. 
Bten<nl, Antiquitr <rf, 217- 
Stethoscape, InTenliaD of Uie, 14S. 
SWnee, Precious, what made of, SS- 
Strrohnia and Strjahnoa, Poison. 

ing by, 137. 
Sugar, Composition of, 190. 
Sugar, History of, 189. 
Sugar, Dstonatiog, 192. 
Sugar, UaDufacttue of, 190. 
Sugar refined in ■" ■---■* ""^ 
Sugar, Souroee — 
Sulphur in Boiled IWg^ vx. 
Sulphur in Hair and Wool, 92. 
Sulphuring Wmo-CaskB, 84. 
Sunbeam - beat and Qeorge Ste- 
phenson, 149. 
Svvgical Operation, FiiM, imder 

Ether, 234- 
Sylla, PoisoQing of, 128. 
^ugar from Bags, IftZ. 

ThaLES and Water, 28. 
Thames, Disnfaction o^ 142, 
Tin, History of, 125. 
Teeth-Parasites, 192. 
Tooth-extraction under Ether, 233. 
Transfusion of Blood, 151. 
Transmutation, Curioua, 226. 
Transmutation of Metals, Eiperi- 

mODtal, 39. 
Fransmutation of Metalspredlcted, 



TranEmutatian,Sir ThomasBMims 



nLnuVAitm, Aitifloial, IIB. 
Unity of the IMty, 54. 
DniTenal Medioino, they 7. 
Upas Poison, the, 137. 

VaCDDH-PAlr, Howard's, 183. 
Vapour-bath, Heat o^ 228, 
Vegetable Fermmtetkni, 9E>. 
Veluti in Aquarium, 180. 
Ventilation, Importance of. SI, 
Vinous FormsntatJon,98L 
Viper, Poison ofthe, 140. 
Volcanoes, Dan's Electro, ohoni- 
cal Theory of 119. 

Wateb andentl; an Elonenl^ 77. 

Water, Compoedtion of, 77. 

Water, Filtration of, 80. 

Waters, Hard and Soft, 79- 

Water, Impure, and Cbolen, 142. 

Water-Test, 79. 

Water-works. Ciystel Palace, Syd- 
enham, 218. 

Watt and Cavendish Water Ex- 
Wells and Hortoa disoover Kthoi- 
sation,233. 

Westminster, Alchemy in, 10. 

Westminster HaU Boof, 218. 

Westminster Fahwe Bells, 1»4,1BS^ 

Wet and Dry Bat, 200. 

Whale and Man, CircDlation of, 
compared, ISO. 

Whirlpool, the Ho^c, 224. 

Whitworth's DJTiSing Hochine, 
220. 

Wilson, Dr.G., on Chemical Final 
Causes, 153,155, ISS. 

Wine, Ghemistt? of, by MiUder, 



Wolloston, Dr., and Platinum, 126. 
Woolwich ArsmiBl, Origin ot, 214. 
Woota, or Indian Steel, 116. 
Worcester, Marquis of, and the 
Steam-engine, 171. 

ZlRQ, Histery of, 12B. 



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