MISCELLANY.

Scissors.—A very valuable improvement has been made on Scissors. It is especially so to those employed for delicate operations in surgery. The objection to the common scissors is, that, in the act of cutting, they, to a very considerable extent, compress and bruise the parts. This is owing to the edges being set very strong, and to the particular angle at which they are set, and is sufficient to account for wounds made by scissors refusing to unite by what surgeons call the first intention. To remedy this defect, it was lately suggested to Mr. Stodart, by Dr. Wollastan, to give to scissors the same kind of cutting edge that a knife has. This has been done, and the success has fully justified the experiment. The operation of hair lip has been repeatedly performed with the knife-edged scissors, both on the infant and on the adult, with complete success. The operation is in this way performed with facility to the operator, and in less time than with the knife, and consequently a less degree of pain to the patient. This improvement need not be confined to the science of surgery. A variety of delicate fancy work is performed by scissors, all of which will be much better done by giving them knife-edges. There is a little art in setting the edges, readily acquired by practice; this must be done with a view to the kind of work for which the scissors are intended. This improvement may easily be applied to common scissors, by grinding down the outer sides of the blades.

[Lon. pap.

Public Spirit.—It has been my practice for several weeks past, to walk upon one of our turnpike roads, and, for about two weeks, I noticed a very large stone, lying in what is called the "summer road," which I wished to remove, but my strength was not sufficient to do it. It remained there as permanent, to the great annoyance of all who passed that way in carriages. But one day as I was passing it, I saw a stout negro fellow, whose cart was beyond it as to the course which he was going, tugging at it, and he finally succeeded in putting it out of the way, saying to himself loud enough to be heard by me, as he laid it down, "now you can't upset any body!" Pleased with the incident, I asked the man if he often travelled that road. "No, sir," said he. "Why, then, did you take so much trouble to remove that large stone?" "Because, sir," returned he, "it might have upset some one in the night!" I then left him, reflecting that if all our politicians had a full portion of the same public spirit, and all our self-righteous persons as much of a desire to do good to their fellow men as this poor negro exhibited—we should have a very different time of it!

[Niles's Reg.

Winter Butter.—An idea prevails very extensively, that good butter cannot be made in the winter. This is a great mistake. Where the process is well understood, as fine butter is made in the depths of winter, as at any season of the year. By pursuing the following course, the matter will be accomplished:—

Let the cows be kept under cover in a warm stable, well fed with the best hay and provender, and milked regularly morning and evening.—Place the milk in pans, in as cold a place as may be found about the dairy house—the sooner it freezes the better. As soon as it is frozen thoroughly, take the cream from the top—the frost will force the cream to the surface—and churn it with no other warmth than the air of the kitchen at the distance of eight or ten feet from the fire-place. It requires more time to fetch the butter than in summer; but when brought it will be of the finest flavour and quality.

The Diamond.—Dr. Brewster has discovered a curious phenomenon, which appears to elucidate the nature of this substance. Sir Isaac Newton observed, from a comparison of the refractive powers of various bodies, that amber and the diamond had a refractive power three times greater, in respect of their densities, than several other substances, and he conjectured that the diamond was "probably an unctuous substance coagulated." Subsequent discoveries of the properties of sulphur and phosphorous have corroborated this opinion. Dr. Brewster has observed, both in flat diamonds and those of a perfect crystalline form (as well as in amber,) the existence of globules, or small portions of air, the expansive force of which has communicated a polarizing structure to the parts in immediate contact with it. This structure is displayed by four sectors of polarizing light encircling the globule of air, and can be produced artificially in glass and gelatinous masses. It must have been produced by the expansive force of the included air, when the substance was so soft as to be susceptible of comparison from so small a force. Hence we are led to the conclusion that the diamond originates, like amber, from the consolidation of perhaps vegetable matter, gradually acquiring a crystalline form, by the influence of time, and the slow action of corpsular forces.

White Hills.—The White Hills in New Hampshire, are the highest in the United States, being between 7 and 8000 feet above the level of the ocean. The ascent is both difficult and dangerous, as the sides of the mountains consist of naked, rugged, and precipitous rocks over which the traveller is obliged to climb his slow and toilsome way. The last of July and the first of August is the only time at which they can be ascended at all, as they are the rest of the year covered with snow.

Sizing.—A French chemist has recently discovered, that from the starch of potatoes quite fresh, and washed but once, a fine size, by mixing with chalk, might be made. The stucco plasterers of this country have been benefited by the discovery, and they find that this kind of size is particularly useful for ceilings and for white-washing, being more durable in tenacity and whiteness, and not putrifying like animal size or exhaling any unwholesome odour.

Arabian Horses.—Three fine Arabian horses have arrived at Boston from Tripoli. They are owned by R. B. Jones, Esq. late American Consul at that place, and a Mr. Morgan.

Transplanting Wheat.—In the month of August, 1795, a gentleman of Herefordshire, in England, set a single grain of wheat. As soon as it had properly taken root, he dug it up, divided it into several parts, and transplanted them. In August 1796, it was reaped, when it produced 137 ears; the average of which was 80 grains in the ear; the total produce 10,960 grains of wheat, besides the straw, most of which was seven feet high.

Fall of a Glacier.—On the 27th of December, at six o'clock in the morning, an enormous portion of the glacier of Weisshorn, in the valley of St. Nicholas, or Vispach, fell from its exalted situation into the valley, causing dreadful devastation amongst the cultivated grounds and habitations. At the moment when the ice and snow struck the masses lying beneath, the minister of the place, and many other persons, observed a strong light, which immediately disappeared, and gave place to utter darkness. This phenomenon, from the brightness of the light, and the number of persons who saw it, can scarcely be considered as illusory. It was probably an electrical or phosphorescent effect. The mass of ice and snow covered a space of 2400 feet in length, 1000 feet wide, and at a mean 150 feet in height, and the displacement of the air by it was such as to cause a hurricane, which destroyed houses, mills, and buildings, even to the distance of a quarter of a league from the place of the fall. Extreme fears are entertained for the remains of the village of Ronds, which stands opposite the glacier, for the upper part of the glacier, left unsupported by the part which has given way, threatens to fall and complete the distress which has been brought upon the inhabitants of the valley.

Evolution of Heat by freezing.—M. de la Becha has devised an ingenious way of shewing the heat evolved by water during congelation. He places a glass vessel, containing in its lower part water, and upon that olive oil, in a temperature below the freezing point of water. In this temperature olive oil alone would freeze and thicken, but, being placed over water, it is retained in the fluid state, in consequence of the heat evolved by the water during its conversion into ice; and it is not until the whole of the water is perfectly frozen that the oil itself will freeze.—Bibliotheque Universelle, xiii. 76.

Printing in Otaheite.—M. Turgenieff, Counsellor of State, has made a report to the Bible Society of Petersburg, in which it is stated that the English missionaries, have established a press at Otaheite, at which 3000 bibles have been printed. They were all sold in the space of three days, for three gallons of cocoa-nut oil each. The books of Moses, translated into the Otaheitean language, have been printed at the same press; also a catechism for the use of the inhabitants. These have been distributed gratuitously.

Animal Magnetism.—The Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin have proposed animal magnetism as a prize subject, essays on which are to be rewarded in August 1820. It is desired that the phenomena, known by the name of animal magnetism, be described so as to admit of a positive judgment respecting their nature: and it is observed that, though there are many difficulties attached to the subject, still it appears that the number of facts ascertained is such as to admit the hope that, in the present state of the physical sciences, some light may be thrown on animal magnetism, when the probability of these facts has been estimated, and when their analogy with the better understood phenomena of natural sleep, dreams, somnambulism not magnetic, and many nervous affections, has been established.

Milk.—Professor Schubler has published in the Dictionary of Medical Sciences, a paper entitled, "Researches on Milk and its constituent Principles." The results of his analysis differ greatly from those lately published by Berzelius; and hence, in the author's opinion, prove the great influence of food and climate on the lacteal secretion. 1000 parts of new milk contain 110 of fresh cheese, 50 of fresh serai, 24 of butter, 77 of coarse sugar of milk, and 739 water; or, in a dry state, 42.6 cheese, 7.87 serai, 24.0 butter, 77.0 sugar of milk, and 848.53 water. 1000 parts of skimmed milk contain 43.64 dry cheese, 8.06 dry serai, 78.94 sugar of milk, and 869.34 water. 1000 parts of cream contain 240 butter, 33 cheese, 6 serai, and 721 whey. Lastly, 721 parts of whey contain 60 coarse sugar of milk.—These observations were made at Howfyl, which is some distance from the mountains, and where the cows are kept constantly in the stable, so that the milk must be nearly the same as in other flat countries.

Respiration and Circulation of the Blood.—Dr. Carson has lately made some important experiments on the elasticity of the lungs in different animals, and he has found by the application of a simple apparatus that in oxen, and animals of their size, it is more than equal in power to the weight of a column of water a foot and a half high. In calves, sheep, and large dogs, it is balanced by a column of water varying in height from one foot to a foot and a half; and in rabbits and cats by a column of water varying from six to ten inches. To this elasticity of the lungs alternating with the irritability of the diaphragm, Dr. C. ascribes respiration, or the faculty of breathing; the capacity of the chest being by their means successively enlarged and diminished, and thus air alternately expelled and inhaled. He thinks also with great probability that the movements of the heart and the circulation of the blood are powerfully influenced by the same resilisency.

Beccaria.—This philosopher of humanity having, in one of the editions of his admirable work on crimes and punishments, in that part which relates to fraudulent bankruptcy, qualified some sentiments which he had originally expressed, but which, on reflection, appeared to himself too severe, he adds in a note, "I am ashamed of what I formerly wrote on this subject. I have been accused of irreligion, without deserving it; I have been accused of disaffection to the government, and deserved it as little; I was guilty of a real attack upon the rights of humanity, and I have been reproached by nobody."

Generosity.—It is an error to imagine that men in the lowest rank of life are unsusceptible of heroic and generous sentiments. All who are susceptible of enthusiasm are capable of being actuated by them. It is the minions of fortune, those who have been pampered from their infancy, by the hands of luxury, and early accustomed to every kind of profusion, whose minds sink into torpor for want of exertion; it is such as those that are more likely to be unsusceptible of generous sentiments.

Academy of Natural Sciences.—The Academy of Natural Sciences in this city has received from the president, Mr. William Maclure, now in France, a donation of books, amounting in value to about $4000, and have received advice of another valuable shipment from the same munificent hand.

Method of preserving Vessels.—An American ship now at Cowes, built with spruce and white oak, sixteen years ago, has all her original timbers and planks in the most perfect state of preservation and soundness, owing to her having been, while on the stocks, filled up between the timbers with salt; and whenever she has been opened for examination filled up again.

General Post-Office.—The number of post-offices in the United States is four thousand eight hundred and thirty, and the length of post-roads is 71,522 miles. The amount of postage for the year 1819, was $1,204,680; the cost of transportation of the mail $717,843; and the compensation to postmasters $375,964.

Bibliomania.—At no time during the highest age of Bibliomanianism did books of rarity bear higher prices than at the concluding sale of Mr. Bindley's library. The competition for old poetical tracts and ballads was unexampled.

L.s.d.
No. 1125Collection of Poetical Ballads from 1540 to 1670.19200
1126Do. from 1670 to 1680,133150
1127Do. from 1679 to 1685,17460
1128Do. 5 vols.23100
1130Do.4310

The three first collections of ballads, and of halfpenny and penny songs, were bought by the Marquis of Buckingham. The five volumes of the same kind by Mr. Heber.

[Lon. pap.

Precious Stones.—A diamond said to be worth 20,000l. and one of the largest in the world, was among the spoils of the Peishwa, and is now in the East India Company's treasury, to be sold for the benefit of the captors. It was brought to England by the ship York. A block of amethyst, or rather a mass of amethysts, has been sent from Brazil to Calcutta. This extraordinary specimen is four feet in circumference, and weighs 98 pounds. It is in its rough state, and consists of more than 50 irregular columns, smooth, transparent, purple and white, shooting up like crystals from a common matrix.

Nautical Improvement.—We congratulate the public on the application of a simple mechanical apparatus to impel boats, instead of oars. It consists of the machinery of steam-vessels, but the moving power is the hand applied to a windlass. Boats were first used on this principle with success on Whit-Monday, between London and Greenwich. The labour is much less than that of oars, and the impulse of the boat through the water much increased in swiftness.

Philosophic Girl.—The Italian journals mention that a young lady, only 13 years of age, named Maria Catherina Gherardi, a native of Scrola, has maintained in public a series of philosophic theses, in Latin.

Ingenious Automaton.—A German journal asserts, that an artist at Cemberg, in Prussia, has constructed a watch which imitates the human voice, and answers questions in German and Polish; besides executing musical airs.

To destroy Caterpillars.—A gardener at Glasgow practices a mode of destroying caterpillars, which he discovered by accident. A piece of woollen rag had been blown by the wind into a currant bush, and when taken out was found covered with these leaf-devouring insects. He immediately placed pieces of woollen cloth in every bush in his garden, and found next day that the caterpillars had universally taken to them for shelter. In this way he destroys many thousands every morning.

Vegetation in cold Climates.—The following is a calendar of a Siberian Lapland year:

Snow meltsJune 22d.
Snow goneJuly 1st.
Fields quite greendo. 6th.
Plants at full growthdo. 17th.
Plants in flowerdo. 25th.
Fruits ripeAug. 2d.
Plants shed their seeddo. 10th.
Snowdo. 18th.
From August 18th to June 22d. snow and ice.

Thus it appears, that from their first emerging from the ground to the ripening of their seeds, the plants take but a month; and spring, summer, and autumn are crowded into the short space of 56 days.