the system; equal and due action is The boiler should receive about ex This apparatus is rendered tremely portable, by packing up in a small compass; and is in a few minutes ready for use, without requiring the patient to quit his bed-room. LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS. chinery or apparatus to be employed in the casting of metal types. Communicated to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad.-Aug. 5, 1823. R. Dickenson, esq. of Park-street, in addition to the shoeing or stopping and Southwark, Surrey; for an improvement treatment of horses' feet.-Ang. 5. J. Barron, of Wells-street, Venetianblind manufacturer, and Jacob Wilson, of Welbeck-street, upholsterer; for certain improvements in the construction and manufacturing of window-blinds.-Aug. 11. W. Wigston, of Derby, Derbyshire, engineer; for certain improvements on steam.engines.-Aug. 11. H. C. Jennings, esq. of Devonshirestreet, Mary-le-bone; for an instrument or machine to prevent the improper escape of gas, and the danger and nuisance consequent thereon.-Aug. 14. R. Rogers, of Liverpool, master-mariner and ship-owner; for an improved lanyard for the shrouds and other rigging of ships and other vessels, and an apparatus for setting up the same.-Aug. 18. J. Malam, of Wakefield, engineer; for a new mode of applying certain materials, hitherto unused for that purpose, to the constructing of retorts, and improve ments in other parts of gas-apparatus.➡ Aug. 18. Copies of the specifications, or further notices of any of these inventions, will be inserted free of expense, on being transmitted to the Editor. SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOVERY. [The great increase of Journals devoted to Science, and the consequent accumulation of facts, have determined us, as a means of putting our readers into possession of every novelty, to devote from three to four pages regularly to Notices of the New Discoveries and interesting Facts scattered through seven or eight costly publications. We hope thereby to add to the value and utility of the Monthly Magazine, and leave our readers nothing to desire in regard to what is passing in the philosophical as well as literary world. The Belles Lettres departments of this Miscellany are, we believe, inferior to no work in the interest and taste of the articles, while, as an assemblage of useful materials, we have confessedly no rival either at home or abroad. Our only ground of lamentation is the limitation of space, by the limitation of our price; but we have resisted every overture to raise it above two shillings,— it being our ambition to present the public with the best Miscellany at the lowest price. This we are enabled to effect by an established circulation, and by not expending our small profits on meretricious advertisements. We calculate that every Number of our Miscellany is its own best advertisement, in the sterling merits of its contents; and that the commendation of the public will continue to prove more advantageous than the equivocal representations of newspaper advertisements.] A SPECIES of iron ore is dug in process attendant on the making of the island of Ceylon, of which an account has been given by Mr. RusSELL to the Literary and Agricultural Society of that island, and of the processes by which this ore is melted, and at once converted into malleable iron, immediately from the furnace; instead of the tedious and expensive bar-iron in other situations. Aerial Tides.-Colonel WRIGHT, by a long series of barometric observations made in Ceylon, repeated at short intervals through every day, has ascertained that the mercury rises and falls, twice within twenty-four hours, with so much regularity, as to afford afford almost an opportunity of measuring the lapse of time by the barometric scale. The details of these observations have been laid before the Literary and Agricultural Society of Ceylon; whence it appears, the mercury is at the highest about 9h. A.M. and 11h. P.M.; and at its lowest at 4h. P.M. and about 4§h. A.M. daily. Barometric Measurements of Heights. The Rev. B. POWELL, of Oxford, has applied himself with success to the explaining and improving, in point of accuracy, the instructions of M. Raymond for the application of the barometer to the measurement of heights; and has, in late Numbers of the "Annals of Philosophy," communicated the results of his labours. His practical rules, and examples of calculation, found at page 265, vol. vi. of the journal quoted, we would gladly have transferred to our pages, but for their dependance on several auxiliary tables, which there follow. Mr. B. Bevan, and other ingenious correspondents to our work and to the "Philosophical Magazine," between Sept. 1820 and Jan. 1822, communicated a great many sets of barometric observations, simultaneously made with great care, monthly, at different and distant places: but from which observations no general deductions of the heights have yet been given. Perhaps the present hints may not be lost on some of our ingenious readers. Remarkable degree of Cold.-A register of weather kept at Donare, in Inverness-shire, Scotland, showed that at eleven o'clock at night, of the 6th of February last, Farenheit's thermometer stood at 10°, and, in the space of the following two hours and a half, fell to 15°; which is one degree lower than ever before recorded in Scotland: on the 14th of January, 1780, 14° was observed at Glasgow, by Dr. WILSON. The common toad (rana bufo) has been observed by Mr. FOTHERGIL to feed only upon live insects and reptiles, and absolutely to refuse those presented to it which have been ever so recently killed. The honey-bee and the wasp are its most favourite food; its mouth is perhaps insensible to the sting of these insects; because here they are retained for some time before they are swallowed, after being seized by the toad. Although, like the spider, the toad is capable of sustaining an almost indefinite abstinence, it is at times a voracious feeder, having been seen to devour seventeen wasps in a day. The toad retires to the place of his hybernation about the same period when the swallow departs. The instances continue to multiply of the undoubted finding of live toads encased in solid rocks: one was lately so found, in cutting the Erie Canal in Niagara County, in North America. Fossil Bones at Oreston.-The immense quarries which lately have been made in the thick limestone rock of Oreston, on the south-east side of Plymouth, Devon, for constructing the breakwater, have laid open and removed the surrounding rock, of a succession of caverns, in which were found the remains of the partly-eaten bones of a great many hyenas; some of which ferocious beasts, formerly inhabiting these caverns, were of twice the size of any hyenas now existing. Remains of the partly-eaten bones, teeth, and horns, of an extinct species of large ox, and of wolves, foxes, and other wild animals, all very unlike to the present ones, were found in abusdance, in such states as prove them to have been the food of the byenas inhabiting these caves. The preservation of these bones has been occasioned by the indurated mud or clay with which a former deluge (of great violence, and in this respect quite unlike to that described by Moses,) had filled them, and closed their entrances under thick beds of gravel. Improved Lamps.-M. FRESNEL has lately constructed, in France, lamps on the principle of M. Argand; but having, instead of one circular wick, two or three of such, concentrically placed, and admitting up a free current of air between each wick. The perfect combustion produced by the great heat and free access of air, to the oil thus volatilized at top of the Wicks, is said to be productive of very great advantages, as to perfection and economy of light. Flat wicks have for a long time in this country been placed side by side, and near to each other, with similar advantages, by Major Cochrane and others. Distillation of Sea-water.-M. CLEMENT, a French chemist, has lately invented an apparatus for the distillation of sea-water, which produces six pounds of good fresh water by the burning of one pound of common coal. A single still will supply five hundred pints of water daily, and the distillation may be performed during the the roughest weather: hence it results, that, in the loading of vessels, six tons of water may be obtained by one ton of coal, and five-sixths of the space usually occupied by water-casks may be saved, by the substitution of a substance which does not spoil like water, and which is not liable to be lost by leaking. Persons who have tasted this water affirm, that, though it retains somewhat of an empyreumatic flavour, which is always contracted by the purest river-water in the still, yet they had never drank better, after having been a fortnight at sea. A geological phenomenon of some interest has lately been noticed by Mr. GRANGER, and described in Silliman's Journal, occurring near the town of Sandusky, in a bay of the same name, on the Ohio river, in North America. A gritty limestone rock, abounding in shells, has its upper surface, under the alluvium, fluted and scratched by numerous straight and parallel lines, accompanied by other marks of wear and polish on the general surface of the stone. Mr. G. seems to believe, that similar appearances have been observed only on one spot in Europe, the locality of which he does not mention: this however is a mistake; the phenomenon in question is of frequent Occurrence, and will often be noticed by those who attend to the removal of clayey alluvia from off the surface of compact quarry rocks: in a few in. stances, the marks of wear and polish, accompanied byparallel deep scratches, remain visible on durable rocks, which have been long exposed to the action of the elements. A naked white gritstone rock, situated on Hare-hill, south of the church of Clyne, in Suther land, Scotland, may be quoted as an instance of this kind; and the recently uncovered slate-rock, on the south of the famous Penrhyn Quarry, south-east of Bangor, in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, presents exactly similar marks of wear and scratching upon a rock, which is of too perishable a nature to retain, through many ages of open exposure, the marks, which evidently, as the writer thinks, have been occasioned by the corners of masses of rock, dragged over these rocky surfaces by an enormous over-riding tide, or current of water, occurring before the lodgment of the last alluvia, and prior to the creation of the living beings contemporary with man: the animals, whose shells are imbedded in the rocks, having all of them perished, and left none of their species remaining, before the period when these surfaces were scratched. Thermometers. now established, of mistrusting the - The necessity is accuracy of thermometers which have been long made, and even those of recent construction which have since been subjected to extremes of temperature; owing to the permanent alteration of bulk which the bulb suffers, by the pressure of the atmosphere, or the expansive force of the fluid within them, when suddenly or considerably heated or cooled. The freezing points of thermometers ought to be actually tried, before and after any nice expe riments, in which they may be used; otherwise, considerable errors may be occasioned: and thus, doubtless, the anomalies, in many courses of delicate thermometric experiments on record, may, in part at least, have been occasioned. PROCEEDINGS OF PUBLIC SOCIETIES. INSTITUTE of FRANCE. Report on the Progress of Experimental Philosophy, by M. Fourier, read in the Public Sitting of the Four Academies of the Institute of France, April 24, 1823. Tin its general sitting, every year, to NHE Academy of Sciences intends, receive a summary, reporting the progress of science, in general, and the particular acquisitions made in the branches that have occupied the labours of its classes. The following exhibits one part of this Report. What concerns the MONTHLY MAG, No. 389. physical sciences will be given at the next general sitting. meant to be prosecuted, alternately, for This plan is the sciences, mathematical and physical, the account of each to appear every two years. Hereby, no discovery of any importance, no useful application of science to the arts, will fail of its public announcement in the series of these annual reports. They will include, not only such as have been made in France, but those communicated to the Institute by its foreign correspondents, members of other academies. It will form a sort 3 L of of Analytical Contemporary History of the happiest Efforts of the Human Mind. The theory of Mathematics has long enjoyed one primary advantage, that of different Elementary Treatises, composed by the greatest geometricians. We are indebted to Newton for the Principles of Universal Arithmetic; to Euler, for the Elements of Algebra; to M. Le Gendre, for a System of Geometry. The twelfth edition of this work has just been published. M. La Croix has republished his Elements of the Analysis of Probabilities, an important science, and hitherto but little understood, originating from a speculation of Pascal, and subsequently reared in England, to ascertain the degree of eminence from which immediate practical advantages are derived. It has reeeived a further augmentation from M. La Croix, whose publications on this subject, considered collectively, appear to comprise the whole extent of mathematical analysis. He has annexed to his present work some valuable Remarks on Saving Bank Societies, Modes of Insurance, Life Annuities, Tontines, &c. His intention is to distinguish between such establishments as are useful and respectable, and such as are noxious and reprehensible. The Treatise on Statics of M. Poinsot has been reprinted. The author bas therein discovered new principles, in addition to a theory that was originally invented by Archimedes, and which received great improvements from Galileo. Messrs. Poisson and Canchy have been directing their labours to the study of natural phenomena, and have brought this part of science to a high degree of perfection. The first theorems of Optics were discovered by Descartes, Huygens, and Newton. This science acquired a fresh impetus about the beginning of this century, and has had recent accessions from the investigations of Messrs. Malus, Arago, Biot, and Fresnel; and also, in England, from those of Wollaston, Young, and Brewster. Light is transmitted, with an immense velocity, through all parts of the universe. It traverses, with a uniform motion, about 210,000 miles in a second, becomes reflected on the surface of bodies, and some parts of its rays penetrate transparent bodies. In decomposition, it falls into coloured homogeneous rays, refrangible, but unequally. When a ray of light passes through certain crystals, it divides into two distinct parts; it is this which constitutes double refraction. The law of this phenomenon has been deduced from the observations of Huygens; and M. La Place has reduced it to the general principles of rational mechanics. Each of the two refracted rays acquires, in the interior of the crystallized medium, a peculiar disposition, which has been designated by the name of polarization, and which keeps up a singular but constant relation with the situation of the elements of crystals. This property becomes manifest, when a polarized ray falls, obquely, on the surface of a transparent body, which reflects a part of it; for the effects of reflection and transmission are very different, and in some measure opposite, according as the surface presents itself to the ray on different sides. M. Malas has employed himself ia the study of this kind of phenomena; his numerous and ingenious discoveries, combined with the experiments of Messrs. Wollaston and Young, have thrown new light on optics, and ascertained the boundaries of its recent progress. We owe to M. Arago the discovery of coloured polarization. His researches, which have brought to some degree of perfection all the other parts of optics, are remarkable for adding to the science new instruments, which reproduce and perpetuate the utility of preceding experiments. By observations on the phenomena of coloured polarization, he has been enabled to compare the rays which proceed from the edges of the sun's apparent disc, with those that are emitted from his centre. M. Arago has constructed a new process for illustrating the effects of diffraction, by measuring, with precision, the slightest differences of refrangible force, in aëriform bodies or substances. This forms a valuable acquisition to optics. Messrs. Biot and Brewster have con tributed, not a little, to enrich this science with correct calculations, new facts, and a great number of observations. M. Fresnel has been applying himself, of late years, to all the parts of optics with singalar success. He has determined the mathematical laws of the most complicated phenomena, and all the results of his analysis are exactly conformable to the observations. Those fringes, alternately brilliant and obscure, that attend the shadows of bodies, the the coloured rings that light produces, in passing through the lamina of crystals, the colours that polarized light developes, in passing through those la minæ, become thus evident and necessary consequences of one and the same theory. When two rays, issuing from a common source, meet on the same point of a surface, the double effects of light are not always in force, but may destroy each other. And so the union of two luminous rays may produce obscurity, an effect which takes place in several experiments. In results of this kind the principle of interferences consists, which may be considered as the most fertile and extensive in this new part of optics. The origin of it may be traced to the experiments of Grimaldi, which were a precursor to Newton's Optics, also to the Researches of Hook; but very much is owing to Dr. Thomas Young, who has introduced it, with demonstrative proofs, into the study of the phenomena of optics. It should be observed, that this principle is not, exclusively, confined to optical properties. M. Arago has shown, that, when the meeting of two rays causes their annihilation, the chemical action of light disappears likewise. 8 The design of M. Fresnel, in his most recent researches, is to designate the mathematical laws of double refraction in all crystals, together with the quantity of light reflected by diaphanous bodies in different points of incidence, and also a kind of polarization very different from that hitherto noticed, but which possesses characters as general and as con stant. A practical illustration of some of the properties of light appears in the establishment of dioptric pharoses, or lighthouses. In these, the light is not reflected, but transmitted through glass lenses, which render the rays parallel. The flame is placed in the centre of eight similar lenses, and the whole turns on an axis, so that all the points of the horizon are illuminated. The light is, alternately, more and less ardent, diversifying and distinguishing the points of flame. M. Fresnel has formed lenses of large dimensions, consisting of several parts; in these, he does away all the thick and heavy parts, which only tend to weaken the light, a disposition not unobserved by Buffon. To render the flame uncommonly ardent, Messrs. Arago and Fresuel have invented a lamp with concentric fires, the light of which is equivalent to that of late, in the theories of electricity and menon. Paris decreed one of its great annual The Academy of Sciences of prizes to M. Oersted, concluding that this discovery would lead to others, and perhaps to a physical and mathematical theory; the event has been conformable to this expectation. M. Arago was the first to observe a remarkable fact connected with the Danish process, that the same conductor which transmits the electrical current, attracts iron, and communicates to it the properties of the loadstone; and that this effect ceases as soon as the current is interrupted. M. Ampere has been pursuing his enquiries respecting the general laws of the dynamic actions of the conductor and magnets. He finds that a mutual action, attractive and repulsive, exists between the conductors, subject to certain conditions; a curious discovery, from which he has deduced a great number of facts. As to the action of magne tized bodies, M. Ampere attributes it to the presence of a multitude of electrical circuits, formed about each molecule of such bodies. If the existence of these currents cannot be positively asserted, it is, at least, evident that the magnetic properties are reproduced, very sensibly, when we give to the conductor the figure of a helix, the spirals of which are considerably multiplied. This shows |