organisation seems to be rather to combine substances into more complicated and diversified arrangements, than to reduce them to simple elements." From the fixed alkalies, the professor proceeded to the earths, which are nonconductors of electricity. The alkalies become conducting substances by fusion: the infusible nature of the earths, renderd it impossible to operate upon them in this state: the strong affinity of their bases for oxygen would not admit of their bodies being acted upon by solution in water; and the only methods that proved successful, were those by which they were operated upon by electricity in some of their combinations, or of combining them at the moment of their decomposition by electricity, in metallic alloys, so as to obtain evidences of their nature and proper ties. On this plan, Mr. Davy undertook a series of experiments on Barytes, Strontites, and Lime, employing upon them the same methods as he had used in the decomposition of the fixed alkalies. Gas was, in each case, copiously evolved, which was inflammable; and the earths, where in contact with the negative metallic wires, became dark-coloured, and exhibited small points, having a metallic lustre, which, when exposed to air, gra dually became white: they became white likewise when plunged under water, and when examined by a magnifier, a greenish powder seemed to separate from them. He then made mixtures of dry pot-ash in excess, and dry barytes, lime, strontites, and magnesia, brought them into fusion, and acted upon them in the voltaic circuit, as he had done in obtaining the metals of the alkalies. He hoped, by this means, that the potassium, and the metals of the earths, might be deoxygenated at the same time, and enter into combination in alloy. Metallic substances appeared less fusible than potassium, which burnt the instant after they had formed, and which, by burning, produced a mixture of pot-ash, and the earth employed. He had found, that when a mixture of pot-ash, and the oxides of mercury, tin, or lead, was electrified in the Voltaic circuit, the decomposition was very rapid, and an amalgam or an alloy of potassium was obtained. He tried the same on a mixture of two parts of barytes, and one part of oxide of silver very slightly moistened; when it was electrified by iron wires, an effervescence took place at both points of contact, and a minute quantity of a substance, possessing the whiteness of silver, formed at the negative point. A mixture of barytes and red oxide of mercury, in the same proportions, was electrified in the same manner. A small mass of solid amalgam adhered to the negative wire, which evidently contained a substance that produced barytes by exposure to air, with the absorption of oxygen; and which occasioned the evolution of hydrogen from water, leaving pure mer cury, and producing a solution of barytes. Mixtures of lime, strontites, magnesia, and red oxide of mercury, treated in the sante manner, gave similar amalgams, from which the alkaline earths were regenerated by the action of air and water. While Mr. Davy was pursuing these experiments, he heard that Professor Berzelius, and Dr. Pontin, of Stockholm, had succeeded in decomposing barytes and lime, by negatively electrifying mercury in contact with them, and that in this way they had obtained amalgams of the metals of these earths. Mr. Davy repeated the experiments with a battery of 500, and obtained the most perfect success. The mercury gradually became less fluid, and after a few minutes was covered with a white film of barytes; and when the amalgam was thrown into water, hydrogen was disengaged, the mercury remained free, and a solution of barytes was formed. The result with lime was precisely analogous, so also was that with strontites; with magnesia it was with more difficulty obtained. All these amalgams may be preserved a considerable period under naphtha, but in a length of time they be come covered with a white crust. When exposed to air, a very few minutes only were required, for the oxygenation of the bases of the earths. In several cases, Mr. Davy exposed the amalgams of the metals of the earths, containing only a very small quantity of mercury, to the air, on a delicate balance, and he always found that, during the conversion of metal into earth, there was a considerable increase of weight. He also found that, when the metals of the earths were burned in a small quantity of air, they absorbed oxygen, gained weight, and were in a highly caustic or unslaked state; for they produced strong heat by the contact of water, and did not effervesce during their solu tion in acids. Hence it is inferred, that the evidence for the composition of the alkaline earths, is of the same kind as that for the composition of the common me tallic oxides; and the principles of their decomposition colour, lustre, opacity, and conducting powers, remaining unimpaired. It is scarcely possible to conceive, that a substance which forms with mercury so perfect an amalgam should not be metallic in its own nature, hence it may be denominated ammonium." From the preceding facts, the following questions have occurred: on what do the metallic properties of ammonium de pend? Are hydrogen and nitrogen both metals in the aeriform state, at the usual temperature of the atmosphere, bodies of the same character as zinc and quicksilver would be in the heat of igni tion? Or are these gases in their common form, oxides, which become metallized by deoxydation? Or are they simple bodies, not metallic in their own nature, but capable of composing a metal in their de oxygenated, and an alkali in their oxygenated, state? Assuming the existence of hydrogen, in the amalgam of ammonium, its presence in one metallic compound evidently leads to the suspicion of its combination in others. And in the electrical powers of the different species of matter, there are circumstances which extend the idea to combustible substances in general. Oxygen is the only body which can be supposed elementary, attracted by the positive surface in the electrical circuit; and all compound bodies, the nature of which is known that are attracted by this surface, contain a considerable propor tion of oxygen. Hydrogen is the only matter attracted by the negative surface, which can be considered as acting the opposite part to oxygen; 'may not then," says the professor," the different inflam mable bodies, supposed to be simple, con tain this as a cominon element?" 66 decomposition are precisely similar; the inflammable matters in all cases, separating at the negative surface in the Voltaic circuit, and the oxygen at the positive surface. The professor denominates the metals obtained from the alkaline earths, barium, strontiam, calcium, and mag nium. The professor next tried a number of experiments on the other earths, which are not alkaline, and from the general tenor of these results, and the comparison between the different series of experiments, there seems very great reason to conclude that alumine, zircon, glucane, and silex, are, like the alkaline earths, metallic oxides. He admits, however, that the evidences of decomposition and composition are not of the same strict nature as those that belong to the fixed alkalies, and alkaline earths; for it is possible that in the experiments in which silex, alumine, and zircon appeared to separate during the oxidation of potassium, and sodaum, their bases might not actually have been in combination with them, but the earths themselves, in union with the metals of the alkalies, or in mere mechanical mixture. The strong attraction of potassium, sodaum, and the metals of the alkaline earths for oxygen, led Mr. Davy to examine, if their deoxydating powers could not be made to produce the effect of the amalgamation of ammonia, independently of the agency of electricity; and he found that, when mercury, united to a small quantity of potassium, sodaum, barium, or calcium, was made to act upon moist ened muriate of ammonia, the amalgam rapidly increased to six or seven times its volume, and the compound seemed to contain much more ammoniacal basis, than that procured by electrical powers. The amalgam from ammonia, when formed at the temperature of 70° or 80°, is a soft solid, of the consistence of butter; at the freezing temperature it becomes firmer and a crystallized inass, and its specific gravity is below 3. When exposed to air, it soon becomes covered with a white crust, which proves to be carbonate of ammonia. "The more," says Mr. Davy, "the properties of the amalgam obtained from ammonia, are considered, the more extraordinary do they appear. Mercury, by combination with about the 2 part of its weight of new matter, is rendered solid, yet it has the specific gravity diminished from 13.5 to less than 3, and it retains all its metallic characters; its 1 Should future experiments prove the truth of this hypothesis, still the alkalies, the earths, and the metallic oxides, will belong to the same class of bodies. From platina, to potassium, there is a regular order of gradation as to their physical and chemical properties, and this would probably extend to ammonium, could it be obtained in the fixed form. Platina and gold, in specific gravity, degree of oxydability, and other qualities, differ more from arsenic, iron, and tin, than these last do from barium and strontium. The phenomena of combustion of all oxidable metals, are precisely analogous. In the same manner as arsenic forms an acid, by burning in air, potassium forms an alkali, and calcium an earth; in a manner similar to that in which osmium forms a vola tile, attraction of acids with alkalis, by means of which 100 figures are made to repre sent the affinities of 100 different salts, which it would otherwise require about 5000 words to express. February 16, a paper by M. Brodie, describing a twin foetus, nearly the full size, seven months old, and without either heart, liver, or gall bladder, was read. This was considered the best formed foetus which has hitherto been known without a heart, although the author cited a considerable number. It appears that all such children have been twins, and that the present was quite as large as the other which had its organs_complete. Captain Burney furnished two papers, one on the motion of heavy bodies in the Thames, detailing some experiments with loaded sticks, to ascertain why loaded barges sailed faster than the current, or than unloaded barges; but his experiments only tended to confirm the fact, that the heaviest end of a pole always went first with the current. The other was a plan for measuring a ship's way at sea, by means of a steel-yard and line, where a pound weight should indicate a mile, or more or less, according to the power of the instrument. February 23, a letter from Mr. Knight to the President was read, containing some farther observations on the sap of trees, the formation of radicles from the bark, and also that of the buds from the same source, instead of their being produced from the alburnum, as is sup posed. A paper by Mr. Horne, on a peculiar joint discovered in the squalus maximus, (basking shark) lately cast on the seashore, was laid before the Society, ace companied by a drawing. WERNERIAN SOCIETY. tural History Society, of Edinburgh, on the 11th of February, Professor Jameson read a short account of the Oryctognostic characters, and geognostic relations of the mineral, named Cryolite, from West Greenland.-Mr. P. Neile read a description of a rare species of whale, lately stranded near Alloa, in the Firth of Forth. It measured forty-three feet in length, had a small dorsal fin; longitudinal salci on the thorax; short whalebones, (fanons) in the upper jaw; the under jaw somewhat wider, and a very little longer than the upper; both jaws accuminated, the under one ending in a sharp long ridge. From these cha 3 C tile and acrid substance by the absorption of oxygen, does the amalgam, of ammonium produce the volatile alkali; and if we suppose that ammonia is metallized, by being combined with hydrogen, and freed from water, the same reasoning will apply to the other metals, with this difference, that the adherence of their phlogiston, of hydrogen, would be exactly in the inverse ratio of their attraction for oxygen. In platina, it would be combined with the greatest energy; in ammonium with the least; and if it be separable from any of the metals, without the aid of a new combination, we may expect that this result will be afforded by the most volatile and oxidable, such as arsenic, or the metals of the fixed alkalies, submitted to intense heat, under electrical polarities, and having the pressure of the atmosphere removed. Mr. Davy concludes by hoping, that the new facts which he has discovered, may admit of many applications, and explain some phenomena in nature. "The metals of the earths" he says, "" cannot exist at the surface of the globe; but it is very possible that they may form a part of the interior; and such an assumption would offer a theory for the phenomena of volcanoes, the formation of lavas, and the excitement and effects of subterraneous heat; for let it be granted that the metals of the earths and alkalies, in alloy with common metals, exist in large quantities beneath the surface, then their accidental exposure to the action of air and water, must produce the effect of subterranean fire, and a product of earthy and stony matter analogous to lavas. The luminous appearance of those metcors connected with the fall of stones, is one of the extraordinary circumstances of these wonderful phenomena. This effect may be accounted for, by supposing that the substances which fall, come into our atmosphere in a metallic state, and that the earths of which they principally consist are results of combustion." At the meeting of the Royal Society, February 2, a most curious and interesting paper, by Mr. Davy, was read, giving an account of various experiments on the action of potassium on ammonia, from which it appears that a considerable quantity of nitrogen can be made to disappear, and can be regenerated. When it disappears, nothing can be obtained in its place but oxygen, and hydrogen; and when it is formed, its elementary matter is furnished by water. February 9, Dr. Young furnished a series of numerical tables of the elective MONTHLY MAG, No. 184. racters racters he considered it evident that it was the Baleinoptera acuto-rostrata of La Cepede, and that that author had fallen into an error in saying, that this species never exceeds from twenty-six, to twenty-nine feet long.-At the same meeting, the secretary laid before the society the following communications: 1. Copies of the affidavits made before justices of the peace, at Kirkwall, in Orkney, by several persons who saw and examined the great sea-snake, (halsydrus Pontoppidani) cast on shore in the island of Stronsa, in October last with Temarks, illustrative of the meaning of NEW PATENTS LATELY ENROLLED. MR. THOMAS JONES'S (BILSTON, STAFFORD), for Compositions for the purpose of making Trays, Waiters, and Darious other Articles, by Presses or Stamps. TH HE ingredients made use of in the manufacture of these articles, are varied according to the size of the articles. For those that are small he takes 100 lb. of rope, and 20lb. of rags; and for large ones, to 100 lb. of rope about 100 lb. of rags, are added. These are reduced to a pulp, and mixed with a certain small proportion of vitriolic acid. Various other materials are mentioned; but those just enumerated are deemed the best; and to make the said pulp into the articles required, Mr. Jones recommends that a wire or other sieve, of a similar size and shape to the article required, be taken, and used in the manner directed in the specification. To render the mode of operation intelligible, the patentee has given an example shewing in what way the frame and sieve are placed to collect the composition or pulp, for making an oval canoe. He then puts on a flannel or woollen cloth, or any other proper cloth or material, and upon that a board, and then turns the pulp out of the sieve upon the flannel, and board upon the top of it, and presses the same together lightly, to force out part of the liquid, by which the pulp felt is made. This being between the dies or tools, of the shape of the articles wanted, is put into a press, in order to render it at once solid and of the required shape. It is now to be put into a stove or oven of a proper degree of heat, where it is kept till it is nearly but not entirely, dry, and then it is to be taken out of the oven, put be some passages in these affidavits. 2. An account of the discovery of a living animal, resembling a toad inclosed in a bed of clay, in a cavity suited to its size, at the depth of fifty-seven fathoms in the coal formation at Ġovan; communicated by Mr. Dixon, of Govan-hill. 8. An instance of remarkable intrepidity displayed by a male and female otter, in defending their young, although the otter is in general accounted a very timid animal.-Mr. Laskey presented to the society, a very valuable and well-arranged collection of British shells, and likewise a curious mineral from New Holland, tween the dies, and pressed violently, so as to set it and make it smooth. After this it is to be put in the oven again, till it is perfectly dried, but great caution inust be used to prevent it from warping. This is effected by means of a frame made in the form of the inside of the articles, and weights to keep it in its proper form. It may next, if necessary, be ham nered over, and made smooth and flat; and then being perfectly dry, it is to be dipped in the japan liquid, and there suffered to remain till the said liquid has perfectly penetrated it, when it is to be dried and varnished. The dies may be made of iron or other metal, or indeed of almost any other solid substance; but what is recommended in the specification is to have one of the dies of cast iron, and the other of tin, or some other more fusible metal. The use of these intended compositions is to be extended to the making or manufacturing of all kinds of tea-trays, waiters, boxes, bottle-stands, baskets, caddies, pannels for coaches, tables, hats, &c. &c. of any form or shape; and various other articles made or manufactured upon the above mentioned principle. MR. EDWARD MASSEY'S (NEWCASTLE), for an Improved Cock for drawing off Liquors. It will be impossible to give a tolerably accurate idea of the nature of this invention, without the aid of figures, of which there are 14 or 15 attached to the specification. We may observe, that the cock contains three valves, but it is not necessary that all the valves should be used in the same cock; but may be made with one, two, or three, according to the fancy of the mechanic. For so simple an operation the apparatus is very complicated thus, in describing the fifth figure, which represents a front view of the lock of the cock (which, however, besides answering the ordinary purpose of the locking, also locks it to the barrel), we have a lever, a staple, a hook acting upon a centre, a spring, and a stop acting with another spring: besides the place for the introduction of the key, which, we learn, is to be "raised on its centre, so as to pass clear of the work in the lock, except coming in contact with the hook and stop, which rise a little higher than the other parts, and are opposed to the key. Now, when the key is turned in the direction of the dotted arch, and the hook pressed out of the staple by it, raise the lever, and the staple, being a fixture, or part of it, will be raised also, at which time the inner part of the staple which pressed down the ward, being likewise raised, the stop will rise out of the arch, and prevent the key from being taken out till the staple is returned into the lock, the object of which is to prevent the cock from being left unlocked."-This may be regarded as a fair specimen of the specification, but the nature of the invention can only be understood by referring to the document itself, and by examining every part of it, with the figures attached to it. MR. EDWARD STRACEY'S (WESTMINSTER), for an Improved Method of hanging the Bodies, and of constructing the Perches, of four-wheel Carriages, by which such Carriages are rendered less liable to be overturned. This invention embraces four objects-1. The constructing of the perch of a four-wheeled carriage, in such a manner, that either of the axle-trees may have a vertical motion independent of the other; so that the axle-trees may be in different planes at the same time. 2. The hanging of the body on the springs of such a carriage, in such a manner as will tend not only to diminish the liability of its being overturned, but add also to the ease of its motion. 3. The form ing a collar-brace, which shall almost immediately bring the body to an equilibrium, should the centre of gravity be moved. 4. The forming a perch-bolt, by the use of which the carriage may be more easily turned to the right or left, and the friction that now takes place, by the use of the common perch-bolts be tween the wheel plates, the transom bed, and the fore axle-tree bed reduced almost to nothing. Carriages constructed on this principle differ but little in appearance from other four-wheel carriages; the chief distinction lying in the construction of the perch, and its having a revolving motion, and in the hanging of the body on the springs. The perch being allowed to turn on its axis, the fore axle-tree bed may have any degree of obliquity required, provided the body is not hung on the carriage, without affecting the horizontality, of the hind axle-tree bed, and vice versa; and it is by the instrumentality of this motion, co-operating with the mode of hanging the body on the springs, and by the aid of collar-braces, that the body of the carriage may be kept nearly on the true level, or at least sufficiently so to prevent its being overturned, al though either the fore or the hind axletree may have a great degree of obliquity from the plane of the horizon. A similar effect and security may be obtained by inverting the construction of the perch, and by having the fixed part of the perch in the hind axle-tree bed, and the revolving part in the transom bed in front, or by making the perch revolve on an axis at each end, or by any other mode which will allow the hind and fore axle-tree beds, when connected by means of a perch, to be in different planes at one and the same time, as by permitting one axle tree bed, provided that the body is not hung on the carriage, to remain parallel to the plane of the horizon, and by making the other stand perpendicular to it. The principal variation of this invention, from the common method of hanging the body on its springs, consists in the body-loops, which must be so extended, that the ends of them inay come nearly under the shackles of their respective springs, and each of them so formed, as to end in a cylindrical axis of one to two inches or more in length, and of sufficient strength to support the body; and on each of these body loop-axes, a shackle, for the reception of one of the main braces, should be fitted, ending in a cylindrical box or rocket, made so as to work and turn on the axis of the bodyloop, and secured to it by a nut and pin; and the connection between these shackles and their respective boxes should be by means of a strong joint, working towards the front and hind part of the carriage in the direction of the perch, |