commend it to all those who may have occasion to prepare specimens of the siliceous organisms in soundings, guano, mud, &c. Dissolve out the lime compounds, if present, by means of nitric or chlorohydric acid, wash and filter. Then put the moist contents of the filter into a porcelain capsule with enough strong sulphuric acid to make of the whole a fluid mass. Heat the capsule over a spirit lamp until the organic matters are all charred, and continue the heat until strong acid fumes are evolved. Keep the capsule hot, and add in minute portions at a time finely powdered chlorate of potassa. If the acid is hot enough to give off fumes, the chlorate will be immediately decomposed without the accumulation of explosive gases, and it will exert so powerful an oxydizing action that in a few moments a carbonaceous material as black as ink will become perfecily clean and colorless. Nothing now will remain to be done, but to wash off the acid which is best done by the addition of water and repeated decantations. I also would advise that the materials thus cleaned should not be dried, but should be kept in bottles with a little alcohol, which prevents their felting together, and does not allow the growth of the byssoid plants which often develop in

water.

It is necessary to caution those not familiar with chemistry against using the chlorate of potassa with sulphuric acid in any other way than above directed, as violent and dangerous explosions might result. The process as above given is perfectly safe, and very effective.

6. Influence of light on the disengagement of carbonic acid by animals, (L'Institut, No. 1132.)-M. J. MOLESCHOTT has placed some frogs in a glass tube and exposed them to a current of air containing no car. bonic acid, first exposed to reflected sun-light, and then in the dark. He finds that the quantity of carbonic acid given out by the frog in the reflected light is one-quarter more than in the dark, other conditions being the same. The same experiment repeated on a rainy day ob tained hardly an appreciable difference between -the amount of carbonic acid given out and that in the dark.

7. Fall of Meteoric Stones.-A fall of meteoric stones took place near Bremervorde a short distance from Hamburg, on the 13th of May last, at 5 o'clock, P. M. It took place during a storm accompaniedi by thunder and lightning. A number of the stones have been found. One of them weighed nearly 7 lbs., another 3 lbs., a third two-thirds of a pound. They were covered with a black crust apparently the effect of fusion. In the fracture, the stone has a gray color, and shows se veal minerals, among which there is a large quantity of native iron and pyrites.

8. Rotascope of Prof. Walter R. Johnson.-This instrument described by the late Prof. Johnson in the 21st volume of this Journal, 1832, has been recently noticed in a paper in L'Institut for Nov. 15, 1855, (Paris,) in an article describing Foucault's gyroscope, (see this Journal [2], xv, 263, and xix, 141). Prof. Johnson's instrument is one of great beauty and utility, as a means of philosophical illustration; and it derives increased interest from its anticipating some of the peculiarities of the gyroscope.

9. Zeuglodon. Mr. KocH, who formerly exhibited a skeleton of the Zeuglodon, in New York and other places, which has since reached

the Royal Museum at Berlin, Prussia, has recently obtained another, including the head, which he now has mounted at St. Louis. As it stands, it is 90 feet long. The bones of the former one were not all of one individual. The new one is said to be far more perfect and all of the same animal.

10. The U. S. Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, during the years 1849-'52, Lieut. J. M. Gilliss, Superintendent, with Lieut. A. MacRae, Acting Master S. L. Phelps, and Captain's clerk E. R. Smith, Assistants. Vol. 1.-Chile, Its Geography, Climate, Earthquakes, Government, Social Condition, Mineral and Agricultural Resources, Commerce, &c.; by Lieut. J. M. GILLISS, A. M., Mem. of the Amer. Phil. Soc., etc. Illustrated by maps and plates. Washington, 1855.-This important volume is the first part of the Report by Lieut. Gilliss, relating to the recent expedition to Chile. It gives in a popular style, an account of the country and its people, including details respecting the Earthquakes of that portion of South America. It presents first an account of the topography of the country, and then proceeds to its political divisions and resources, its climate, earthquakes, etc. The general reader, political economist, geog. rapher, and historian, will find in this volume by Lieutenant Gilliss, an attractive and instructive work.

Volume II, consists of a series of Chapters connected with the results of the Expedition, as follows:

1. The Andes and Pampas, an account of two journeys by different passes across the Andes,-the Uspullata and Portillo passes-by Lieut. ARCHIBALD MAC RAE-67 pp.

2. Minerals and mineral waters of Chile, by J. Lawrence Smith. 3. A description of the Indian antiquities brought from Chile and Peru with numerous illustrations, by THOMAS EWBANK.

4. Mammals, (with a fine plate of the Chlamyphorus truncatus,) by S. F. BAIRD.

Birds, (with colored plates of Falco nigriceps, Psaracolius curæus, Agelaius thilius, Sturnella militaris, Chrysomitris marginalis, Calliste cyanicollis, C. larvata, C. gyroloides, C. Desmarestii, Euphonia rufiventris, Chlorophonia occipitalis, Ericornis melanura, Scytalopus fuscus, Psittacus ochrocephalus, Bernicla antarctica, B. magellanica, Querquedula creccoides, Fuligula metopias, Phalacrocorax brasilianus,) by J. CASSIN.

6, 7, 8. Reptiles and Fishes, (with figures of many species) and also descriptions of two species of Crustacea, Rhyncocinetes typus, and an Eglea, by C. GIRARD.

9. List of Shells brought home by the expedition, by A. A. GOULD. 10. Botany, by A. GRAY.

11. Palæontology: Description of a portion of the lower jaw and a tooth of the Mastodon Andium, and also a tooth and fragment of the femur of a Mastodon from Chile, by JEFFRIES WYMAN; some remarks on the organic remains from Chile with descriptions of the Species, by T. A. CONRAD.

Such contributions to knowledge are most honorable to our Government, as well as to the Expedition, and all who have here united their

labors; and eminently to Lieut. Gilliss, who has carried forward his duties with ability and zeal. The Astronomical portion of the work is yet to be published.

We have room at this time only for a single citation, from Volume I. Antuco. An hour's ride brought them to a rough granite ridge some three hundred feet high, from the top of which the view was magnificent in front, Antuco, black and desolate; to the southward, Sierra Belluda, a lofty, rugged, and Alpine pile, white with eternal snows, down whose sides innumerable cascades dash headlong to the valleys; to the north, a lower though picturesque range of mountains; and at their feet the river Laja, here a small but romantic stream foaming through a deep gorge, its volume augmented at short intervals by torrents that fall over nearly vertical cliffs. At the foot of this ridge they entered upon volcanic scoria, volcanic sand, ashes, and other evidences of former explosions. Over this they traveled for about three hours, to a massive stream of hardened lava, the outpouring of some previous eruption. Beyond it, there is a belt of vegetation, with grass and wild strawberries; and a little farther on, another though a smaller stream of scoriaceous lava. Ascending the cone of an extinct crater, perhaps three hundred feet high, the new crater was immediately before, and the lake of La Laja below them, to the eastward. Here they intended to have passed the night, in full view of the burning mass; but a sudden storm of rain drove them to the trees for shelter. From thence they witnessed the glare, but heard no explosions during the night; and early on the following morning ascended a hill, from which there was a better view than was permitted from that to which the rain had driven them.

Antuco is a regular cone, with sides inclined at an angle of 45°. It is covered with snow perpetually for about one-third of the distance from its apex downwards; and showers of sand and ashes, thrown out at intervals, keep it blackened. Though perceptible at no great distance, the light and smoke from its summit are incessant, and have been witnessed from time immemorial. The last eruption formed two small craters, about two-thirds of the height of the mountain up the northern side; and the current of descending lava has dammed up the outlet of the lake by a solid wall more than 250 yards wide and 15 yards thick. This is black as the volcano itself, and, with the other analogous masses in the vicinity, presents a grand, almost terrible, scene of desolation. In the midst of snow-peaked mountains, without a tree on its margin, or a fowl on its surface, the lake seemed lifeless; indeed, the whole locality was apparently marked for the display of nature's wildest phenomena a gloomy and inhospitable region, whose silence is rarely broken except by the thunders of the volcanos, the violence of storms, or the whoops of wandering Pehuenches.

The eruption had nearly ceased when they arrived. There were occasional small descending streams like molten iron, but no violent outbursts. At the same time there was heard a noise resembling the rolling of a cart-load or rather of a hundred cart-loads of iron over a rough road, as if broken masses of rock were jostling one another in a war for supremacy in the bowels of the earth.

11. Spherical Astronomy; by W. H. C. BARTLETT, LL.D., Prof. of Nat. and Ex. Phil., at West Point; pp. 465. New York, 1855: A. S. Barnes & Co.-This work is worthy of the present state of the science, and as a text-book for the higher classes in colleges, it has no equal in this country and perhaps none in the language.

The peculiarities of the work seem to be these: instead of the geometrical explanations, to which we have been accustomed in our Astronomical text-books, of various phenomena such as the tides, the stations and retrogradations of the planets, their phases, and the changes of the seasons, the author deduces the effects analytically, and the explanation is contained with great neatness in the analytical formulæ and their interpretation. The elements of the planetary orbits are deduced with much conciseness and beauty, the more difficult investigations being made in the Appendix and their results introduced in the text. The ⚫ great improvements of modern science in this particular are here brought within the reach of every diligent student.

In explaining the projection of a solar eclipse, the author leaves the observer upon the earth instead of obliging him to transport himself to the sun. Obviously, the first is the superior method of explanation; while for a complete investigation of the whole subject of eclipses, Mr. Woolhouse's paper is published in the Appendix.

We really possess in this work what the author has endeavored to present," a concise course of Spherical Astronomy in its relationship to Celestial Mechanics, of which it is the offspring."

The book is very handsomely published. Several well executed plates of instruments, of planets and remarkable nebulæ add much to its value and beauty.

12. Report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, showing the Progress of the Survey during the year 1854; 92 and 288 pages, 4to with 58 maps and plates. Washington, 1855.-The Annual Report of the Coast Survey, besides being an announcement of the progress of the survey, illustrated by maps, has become a repository of researches in Physics-researches carried on through the personal labors of Prof. Bache, and an able corps under his direction. The tides, oceanic currents, and modifications produced from year to year on the ocean's borders, are among the grandest problems before us relating to our planet. Their study falls necessarily into connection with a Coast Survey; and no part of the duties require profounder attainments in physical science. These subjects are receiving full investigation, in the Survey, and the Report for 1854 contains many maps and pages of text illustrating the important results thus far reached-results which have an immediate practical bearing as well as scientific interest. Some of these papers from this and others of these Reports are cited in the early part of this number. The volume also exhibits great progress in the Surveys; and the maps published are numerous and beautiful.

13. Results of a Series of Meteorological Observations made in obedience to instructions from the Regents of the University at sundry Academies in the state of New York, from 1826 to 1850, inclusive: compiled from the original returns of the annual reports of the Regents of the University; by FRANKLIN B. HOUGH, A.M., M.D., Corresponding Member of the N. Y. Historical Society. Published by

Legislative Authority. 502 pp., 4to, with 3 plates and a map of the stale. Dr. Hough has performed an important service to Meteorology in his labors over this volume. All the various meteorological obser vations made through the state under the direction of the Regents of the University, are here reduced and tabulated, for the therinometer, winds, weather, etc., and apparently with great care and skill. The present number of stations is 62. The Tables of each station are given separately, for each month through the series of years, together with a recapitulation of results, and comparisons of the Temperature, Winds, Rains, etc.-After thus going through with all the stations, there is a general summary for the state in several different tables. There then follows, a detailed table of Auroras, made out both from personal observations and from data gathered from various sources at home and abroad. Both their frequency at stations and the extent of particular Auroras are mentioned as far as ascertained, and besides, descriptions of some of special note. The observations of Capt. Lefroy and others in Canada are included, so that the tables have a continental value. The volume is a beautiful specimen of typography and is every way creditable to the state under whose patronage Dr. Hough has carried forward his labors.

14. Wharton and Stillé on Medical Jurisprudence. A Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence by FRANCIS WHARTON (author of "A Treatise on American Criminal Law," &c. &c.) and MORETON STILLÉ, M.D, (Lecturer on the principles and practice of Medicine &c..) Philadelphia, Kay and Brother, Law Booksellers and publishers. 1855. 8vo, pp. 815. This is an original and truly valuable work reflecting much credit on its authors and upon this department of American science. The learned treatise of Dr. Beck upon the same subject has long been justly esteemed by those whose duties as teachers or medical jurists have led them to study its contents. The present work covers all the important ground occupied by the former with superior method and compactness, while it is much fuller in American references both medical and judicial. It enjoys the singular advantage of being the joint production of two authors-a jurist and a medical man, both skilled in their respective departments. The great abuse of the plea of insanity in recent times has given much importance to a critical and searching analysis of this subject. Accordingly we find more than one-fourth of the whole volume devoted to two chapters,-mental unsoundness in its legal relations, and mental unsoundness considered psychologically-in which this subject is considered in all its relations in a most able manner. Dr. Stillé in his portion of the work (of which we feel ourselves better able to speak than of the labors of his learned colleague) has shown great good sense and taste in the brief references he makes to the well known and historical iliustrations of European origin, and with which all readers of Christison, Taylor and Orfila are familiar. He thus avoids encumbering the work with superfluous matter (to which, however, exact reference is made in all important cases) and makes room for new or less familiar examples and philosophical or critical analyses. It is a source of constant regret in the perusal of the present work that the untimely death of Dr. Stillé should have deprived medical science of a mind so able and well-balanced in the early morning of his usefulness.