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PHILOSOPHICAL AND ECONOMICAL INTELLIGENCE.

A SINGULAR case of success in applying the magnet, to extract a fragment of iron out of the human eye, has been recently transmitted to the Philosophical Magazine. It seems in the course of last summer, Charles Milsted, a blacksmith of Teuterden, received a particle of iron, about the size of a small pin's head, in the ball of his left eye, while he was striking the head of one hammer against another. Some weeks after this accident, a gentleman applied a magnet to the part injured, but could only draw out a mixture of powdered rust with the tears. This gave no relief, as the fragment of iron was yet in the eye. A surgeon endeavoured to take it out with the point of a lancet, but finding it firmly fixed very near the pupil, he concluded it was impossible to touch it with any instrument without extreme danger. The former gentlemen then sent again for the young man, and examining the eye with a very powerful magnifying glass, he could see a very small particle of black iron; but covered over with the thin coating of the eye. Being satisfied of the exact situation of the piece of iron, and the impediments to be surmounted, the eye-lids were held open, and he applied the north pole of a combined staple-magnet, possessing great power, at the distance of about the sixteenth part of an inch from the eye. Then he used a magnet of less power, but of more convenient construction, and continued to apply them both by turns, till he could at length perceive that the fragment had projected above the surface of the iris of the eye. Still there was a coating to cut its way through, before the magnet could draw it out. In fact, it seemed as firmly fixed as a thorn in the flesh, and was very different from what it might have been, had it been only loosely floating on the outer surface of the eye. During this operation, the young man frequently thought he felt the fragment rush out of his eye, before it really had done so; however, after using magnets of different degrees of power for ten or fifteen minutes, the particle of iron cut its way through the thin teguments of the eye, by the power of attraction, and was taken out by the magnet. By the assistance of glasses, it appeared of an imperfect octagon shape, armed with Tough, jagged edges. The eye was, notwithstanding, free from pain, the moment it was out, though for some months before, the patient had suffered night and day without intermission. A small scar still remained on the eye, but it occasioned no pain. Knowing that the magnetick fluid will make its passage even through plates of glass, when any particle of iron is within its influence, the writer is surprised, a mean so familiar and natural as the present is not more frequently recurred to in such

cases.

Account of the Magnetick Mountain of Cannay; by George Dempster, of Dunnichen, Esq Cannay is an island of ten or twelve miles in circumference, with an excellent harbour. In it is a hill of some height, called the Compass Hill, in which there is a little hole dug a foot or two in depth A compass placed in this hole is instantly disturbed, and in a short time veers about to the eastward, till at last the north point settles itself in a due southerly direction, and remains there. At a very little distance from this hole, perhaps on the very edge of it, the needle recovers its usual position.

This singular circumstance was known when Martin wrote his account of the island, and is taken notice of by him. He, indeed, says the compass then settled at due east, which is also curious. What increases the singularity of this alteration in the needle, is a discovery lately made by Hector M'Neil, Esq. tacksman of the island. He mentioned the circumstance to us, and lord Bredalbane, sir Adam Ferguson, Mr. Isaac Hawkins Browne, and the rest of the company, went to examine the fact. The harbour on the north side is formed by a bold rock of basalt, which may be about half a mile below, and to the southward of the Compass Hill, of which this rock is a continuation. We rowed under this rock, and when the boat reached its centre, immediately under the rock, and almost touching it, the north point of our compass veered about, and settled at due south, and remained there. This experiment was frequently repeated with the same success; but this effect was confined also to a very small part of the rock, which seemed to us directly south from the hole on Compass Hill. At a little distance, on either side, the needle recovered its usual position. His

lordship then directed the boat to row with great quickness past the rock, when, upon our crossing the place which had before affected the needle, it was again affected during the passage, though very quick, and recovered soon after passing this point. We could hardly venture to assign any cause for these appearances, but by supposing something magnetical in the rock, extending the whole distance from the Compass Hill to the headland at the mouth of the harbour. If this should prove to be the case, we had no scruple in pronouncing this to be the largest loadstone as yet discovered in the world. A part of the rock was broken off at the very spot where this affection of the needle was observed, and was applied to the compass when removed from the rock; but it seemed to produce no effect upon the needle whatsoever: also, the compass was carried about the length of the boat from the rock, and it was also placed in the same line on the opposite side of the harbour, at about a quarter of a mile's distance; neither of these experiments produced any effect on the needle.

In this island there are many columnar appearances not unlike to Staffa; and several both straight and bent, and every way as regular, which seems also to have, like Staffa, escaped observation till very lately.

PRODUCE OF WHEAT.

The produce of a single grain of wheat, propagated in the garden of the Rev. Dr. Drake, rector of Amersham, Bucks, by Wm. Rebecca, gardener. "On the 1st day of August, I sowed, or rather set, a single grain of the red wheat; and in the latter end of September, when the plant had tillered, I took it up, and slipped or divided it into four sets or slips. Those four sets I planted, and they grew and tillered as well as the first. In the end of November, I took them up a second time, and made thirtysix plants or sets. These I again planted, which grew till March, in which month I, a third time, took up my plants, and divided them into two hundred and fifty-six plants, or sets. For the remaining part of the summer, till the month of August, they had nothing done to them, except hoeing the ground clean from weeds, till the corn was ripe. When it was gathered, I had the ears counted, or numbered, and they were three thousand five hundred and eleven; a great part of which proved as good grain as ever grew out of the earth. Many of the ears measured six inches in length, some were middling grain, and some very light and thin.-This was the reason I did not number the grains; but there was better than half a bushel of corn in the whole produce of this one grain of wheat in one year.-Query, would not this practice (springplanting) be of great use where the crops miss by various accidents incidental to farming?"

Salt, moistened with as small a quantity of water as possible, is said to be an effectual remedy against the inflammation occasioned by the stings of bees and wasps. A wasp being swallowed, unperceived, by a person while drinking a glass of beer, stung him, with all its power, inside of his throat. This simple remedy, salt, effected his recovery, although his gullet was swelled, and his breathing was so strongly affected and interrupted from the violence of the pain, &c. as almost to suffocate him.

German Recipes-For the destruction of caterpillars, ants, and other insects.Take about two pounds weight of black soap, the same quantity of flowers of sulphur, two pounds weight of truffles [ly coperdon tuber. Linn.] and fifteen gallons of water. The whole must be well incorporated, by the aid of a gentle warmth. Insects on which this water is sprinkled die immediately.-Query, is this liquor effectual in destroying that noisome vermin the bug? If so, its composition cannot be made too extensively known; as we do not perceive that it is likely to damage bed furniture, &c. To restore the lustre of glasses that are tarnished by age, or accident.-Strow on them powdered fullers' earth, carefully cleared from sand, &c. and rub them carefully with a linen cloth.

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Mountain Ash-tree bearing Pears.

We have already given the history of several unique or remarkable trees. The following may certainly be added to them.

Report speaks of a mountain ash-tree in the forest near Bewdly bearing pears. This identical tree was described by alderman Pitts of Worcester, in the Philosophical Transactions, as long ago as the year 1678. It still flourishes in the forest of Wyre, near Bewdly, in full strength and beauty. A few years ago it was accurately and

seientifically described by Mr. Sowerby in his English Botany, under the name of the Pyrus Domestica. The plate 350, of that useful and elegant work, represents a branch of the tree bearing fruit and flowers, which was sent to the editor, as a specimen, by lord viscount Valentia, who then resided in the neighbourhood at his seat at Over Asley. This tree is, I believe, quite a rarity, and I think, likely to remain so, as every endeavour to propagate it has hitherto failed of success. The country people call it the "Witty Pear Tree."

It is probable that the seeds or saplings of this tree, it being out of the common course of nature, may not have prolifick power sufficient to propagate their species. We would recommend a trial of the Chinese method of treating the branches;*~ and if some of the most promising could be induced, by careful management, to take root, by that means, they would no doubt retain the same powers as they possessed while united to the parent tree. This appears to us to be the most probable mean of establishing this accidental specimen into a species.

Rapid Cultivation of Fruit Trees.

The Chinese, instead of raising their fruit trees from seeds or grafts, as is the prac tice in Europe, adopt the following method. They select a branch fit for the purpose, and round it they wind a rope made of straw besmeared with cow dung, until a bali is formed five or six times the diameter of the branch. Immediately under this ball they divide the bark down to the wood, for nearly two thirds of the circumference of the branch. A cocoa nut shell, or small pot, is hung over the ball, with a hole in its bottom, so small that water put therein will only fall in drops. By this, the rope is kept constantly moist, a circumstance necessary to the easy admission of the young roots. In about three weeks it is supposed that some of the roots have struck into the rope, when the remainder of the bark is cut, and the former incision carried deeper into the wood; it is repeated in three weeks more.-In about two months, the roots are seen intersecting each other on the surface of the ball, which is a sign that they are sufficiently advanced to admit of the separation of the branch from the tree, which is done by sawing at the incision, taking care not to cut off the rope, which by this time is rotten, and the branch is planted as a young tree. It is probable that a month longer would be necessary for this operation in England, from the difference of climate; but by this means, when the branches are large, three or four years are sufficient to bring them to a state of full bearing. Timber trees, it is supposed, may be advan tageously propagated in the same way.

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