pearance of the turpentine in the grain of the wood. The other sort of wood which is used, after the trees which have been boxed for turpentine have done running, they split off the faces over which the turpentine has run, and of this wood is made what is called green tar, being made from green wood instead of dry.

When a sufficient quantity of wood is got together, the first step is to fix a stake in the ground, to which they fasten a string, and from the stake, as a centre, they describe a circle on the ground according to the size they wish to have the kiln. They consider that one twenty feet in diameter and fourteen feet high should produce them 200 barrels of tar. They then dig out all the earth a spit deep, shelving inwards within the circle, and sloping to the centre: the earth taken out is thrown up in a bank about one foot and a half high round the edge of the circle. They next get a pine that will split straight, of a sufficient length to reach from the centre of the circle some way beyond the bank: this pine is split through the middle, and both parts are then hollowed out; after which they are put together, and sunk in such a way, that one end which is placed in the centre of the circle is higher than that end which comes without the bank, where a hole is dug in the ground for the tar to run into, and whence the tar is taken up and barrelled as it runs from the kiln. After the kiln is marked out, they bring the wood ready split up, in small billets, rather smaller than are generally used for the fires in England; and it is then packed as

close as possible, with the end inwards, sloping towards the middle, and the middle is filled up with small wood and the knots of trees, which last have more tar in them than any other part of the wood. The kiln is built in such a way, that at twelve or fourteen feet high it will overhang two or three feet, and it appears quite compact and solid. After the whole of the wood is piled on, they get a parcel of small logs, and then place a line of turf, then another line of logs, and so on alternately all the way up, and the top they cover with two or three thicknesses of turf.

After the whole is covered in this way, they take out a turf in ten or a dozen different places round the top, at each of which they light it, and it then burns downwards till the whole of the tar is melted out; and if it burns too fast they stop some of the holes, and if not fast enough they open others, all of which the tarburner, from practice, is able to judge of. When it begins to run slow, if it is near where charcoal is wanted, they fill up all the holes, and watch it to prevent the fire breaking out any where till the whole is charred. The charcoal is worth 2d. to 3d. British sterling, per bushel. It will take six or eight days to burn a tarkiln in some places they burn it at such a distance from the shipping that they have very far to roll it, and even then sell it at from 3s. 6d. to 5s. British sterling, per barrel, sometimes taking the whole out in goods, but never less than half the amount in goods; from all which it will be reasonably supposed that tar-burning

in that country is but a bad trade as it must be a good hand to make more than at the rate of a barrel a day. The barrels cost the burner about 1s. 3d. British sterling, each. The tar-makers are in general very poor, except here and there one, who has an opportunity of making it near the water-side. Pitch is made by either boiling the tar till it comes to a proper thickness or else by burning it. The latter is done by digging a hole in the ground, and lining it with brick; it is then filled with tar, and they set fire to it, and allow it to burn till they judge it has burnt enough, which is known by dipping a stick into it, and letting it cool: when burnt enough they put a cover over it, which stops it close, and puts out the fire. Five barrels of green tar will make two of pitch; and it will take two barrels of other tar to make one of pitch.

N. B. The foregoing observations respecting tar and pitch, are copied from a memorandum made by me at Suffolk, in Virginia, on the borders of North Carolina, April 23, 1792, and are the result of the inquiries and observations I made on the subject whilst in Carolina.

Wilmington, N. C.

April 13, 1792.

In conversation with a Mr. Hogg, who had been settled there and at Fayette-ville before the war, I learnt that pitch-pine timber growing on the sands was the best, and that it was reckoned to be better if cut in the winter before the sap rises in the tree.

H. B. WAY.

Sir;-It affords me much pleasure to learn that my communication on the extraction of turpentine from the Scotch fir has been thought worthy of the consideration of the society; and it will be highly gratifying to me, if it should induce persons who have considerable plantations, to try it on such a scale as to ascertain to what extent it might prove beneficial in this country. The experiment should be tried on trees so situated as to be conveniently examined every day, and the turpentine collected in the hollows removed as often as possible to prevent its being injured or wasted by the rain. I think, that during the American war, some importations of tur pentine were made from Russia and Sweden; and if so, it must have been extracted from what we call the Scotch fir, in a colder climate than this. The article called Venice turpentine, which is brought from Carinthia and Carniola, is extracted there from the larch tree; and it might probably answer to try to produce it from the larch trees grown in Great Britain, in the same way as I have collected the turpentine from the Scotch fir.

Respecting the wood of the Scotch fir being injured by the extraction of the turpentine from it, I should rather think that it would, on the contrary, be the better for it; as all those who use deals from Scotch fir, in this neighbourhood, complain that it is too full of turpentine to work well. The fact might be ascertained by the piece of timber which I sent to the society, as, if it was wished to preserve that

part in which the hollow is made, the back part, or nearly half of the tree might be sawn into boards without injury, and those boards might be compared with some from a tree taken down in the winter, from whence the turpentine has not been extracted. It must, however, be noted, that from the tree I have sent to the society, the turpentine has only been running one year, whereas, in America, they collect the turpentine from the same tree for three or four succeeding years. It has been supposed and asserted, that turpentine was only obtainable from the United States; but I have sufficient documents to prove, if required, that a very large quantity of it can be procured from East Florida; and I well remember, that about the year 1782 several cargoes of turpentine were shipped in the river St. John's for Britain; and though that country is at present in the hands of the Spaniards, no doubt ar rangements might be made with the Spanish government for a supply of that necessary article from thence. It is my earnest wish that through the medium of the Society of Arts I may render any information that may be serviceable to the interest of the united empire, and I will with pleasure furnish further communication on the products of Florida and its commerce, if desired by the society.

I am convinced that tar might be produced from the refuse of firs of English growth to advantage, and that a much better article could be made from them in Britain, than any imported from America. The Scotch firs

in England, from being planted at greater distances from each other than they are naturally found abroad, have much larger knots, and greater numbers of them, than in Carolina or the north of Europe, and would therefore produce more tar in proportion, from their refuse wood, than the trees of those countries.

The pitch-pines of Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Floridas, grow to an immense size in what are there called pine-barrens, the soil of which is finer and whiter than the sand used as writing-sand in Great Britain, and the trees grow almost to the verge of high-water mark on the sea shores. I think it would answer a good purpose for the society to encourage, by premiums, the extraction of turpentine from British firs. I remain, sir, your obedient and very humble servant,

H. B. WAY.

Bridport Harbour, April 21, 1810. To C. Taylor, M. D. Sec.

Improved Mode of preparing Phosphorus Bottles.

[From Mr. Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy.]

Phosphorus, cut into small pieces and mixed with quick lime in powder, answers the purpose very well. The phosphorus should be carefully dried by filtering paper; a thin slice being cut may be divided into as many pieces as can expeditiously be done, and each piece introduced into a small bottle, with as much lime as will surround it. Lime slacked in the

air, and submitted to a strong red heat, in a black lead crucible for twenty minutes, is in a good state for the purpose.

The bottle, when full, may be exposed, corked, to the radiant heat of a fire, till some of the pieces of phosphorus have assumed an orange tint; it will then be ready for immediate use. But

the heating is not absolutely necessary if the bottle is not wanted for immediate use, and it will continue longer in a serviceable state.

It is almost superfluous to observe, in using the bottle, the mouth should be closed with the finger as soon as the match is withdrawn.

i

Inquiry into the Composition of some Weapons and Utensils of ancient Bronze. By M. Klaproth.

fail to observe all the advantages of this metal, both with respect to the richness of its produce, and the facility with which it might be forged. Iron, on the

WE

tural Philosophy.]

E know from ancient authors, as well as from weapons and utensils dug up in modern times, that men in the earliest ages, and even those that succeeded them, employed copper in preference for the fabrication of metallic utensils and weapons. Thus what Herodotus says of the Massagetæ, who used no iron, and whose weapons and utensils were of copper, is more or less applicable to all the nations of antiquity.

The great difference in the exterior characters of the two metals in their crude state leaves no doubt, that men were sooner acquainted with copper, and the method of adapting it to their purposes, than iron. It is probable that they found copper in large masses and nearl yprepared by nature, as we still meet with it in countries, the mineralogical wealth of which has been little explored. Accordingly in treating the ore by fire they could not

men's eyes; and the distinguishing of its various ores, with the art of working them and forming weapons and instruments of them, could only be the fruit of long experience.

I shall not avail myself of the numerous testimonies of ancient authors to prove, that copper has been employed in preference to iron, as it is sufficient to appeal to Homer. All weapons both offensive and defensive, as swords, spear-heads, helmets, and shields, as well as various domestic uten

sils, were of copper, (xaλxos), though in Homer's time iron (ingos) was used, but less frequently, and hardened by plunging red-hot into water. Even when the advantages of iron, and the modes of fabricating it, were well known, men used copper for their weapons; for instance in the last ages of the republics of Greece and Rome.

We know that copper is not fit for the purposes for which the ancients employed it. When cast