THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON. [From Chambers' Journal.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 778, 2 October 1852, Page 4

THINGS TALKED OF IN LONDON. [From Chambers' Journal.]

A good many comments and congratulations have passed of late touching the change of system introduced into one of our official strongholds, which dates frorr the days of the Plantagenets, perhaps earlier ; for Sir J. Herschel, as Master of the Mint, has made his first repoit to the Lords of the Treasury concerning the moneycoining establishment over which he presides, with little ostentation, hut much benefit. According to the Order in Couocil, issued in March of last year, the Mint-board, the contract with (he me'ler, aud the moneyers' privileges, were all abolished, and a new system of business introduced. The meher's arguments in favour of retaining his portion of the establishment were not successful, as it has been found that the melting and refining can be done much cheaper at private works ; and the melting department is now separated from the mint, and leased, it is i said, to one of the llothschilds. Of course, the i dispossessed functionaries got compensation and pensions, as also the moneyers' apprentices who had paid £1,000 to learn the ' art and mystery,' with the prospect of one day becoming membeis of the fraternity. The coining is still to be carried on on the premises, as the -contracts offered for doing the work out of doors were 'too hifh or too incompetent ; the 'engraver or dis?,inker' is no longer to he permitted to work on his own private account ; aud, what is still better, when a new medal or a new model is wanted, the best ariists of the country are to have the opporlunhy of shewing their skill in the requisite designs; and, last, dealers in bullion will no longer be allowed to refine their gold at the public cost, fur all the metal sent in future ' must not exceed the standaid weight. 1 Thus, a most important leform is accomplished — one lbat will give general satisfaction, stimulate talent, and save £11,000 a-year to the country, when the £8,000 now paid as pensions reverts to the Treasury. The Post Offke is helping on the work of intercommunication with praiseworthy diligence. Think now of beiog able to send a pound of books, maps, or prints, and any quantity of paper, vellum, or parchment, either printed, written, or plain, or any mixture of the three — for sixpence, to any part of tbe United Kingdom ! There ar* many branches of business that will be materially improved by ibis regulation ; and we may hope ta see ii followed by others not less in accordance with ihe advancing requirements of the age. The Nineveh sculptures are mw being ar" ranged hi ihe Biiush Museum ; one of them weighs fifteen tons, and is an extraordinary specimen of Assyrian art. When in their places, they will be much slu.lied ; and fortunately, more time is to be allowed for tuis purpose, for ihe authorities of the Museum have announced, that they wi'l open the doors at nine in the morning, and keep them open till six in the evening, duriiig the best part of the summer. Tbe fate of the Crystal Palace is for the moment a pressing subject of talk. Perhaps the French would buy H, if it be really condemned, for they are already talking of a great exposition to be held in 185-1, and have come to the conclusion, that twentyseven montl-s will not be too long to make the preparations ; it is expected that all nations will ;be invited to join. There is to be an exhibition this year also at Breslau, in a building composed in good part of glass, at which Prussia will make a display of her handiwork, and try to get customers for the articles carried home unsold from our spectacle. In more ways than one, the beneficial consequences of tbe Exhibition of 1851 are shewing themselves. To lake but one particular — it has produced a vast amount of literature, and will yet produce more. Before this appears in print, the new arctic expedition will probably have sailed, to make what we must consider as tbe final seaicb for Sir John Franklin. This time, Sir Edward Belcher is commander, who, though a rigid disciplinarian, and something beyond, is well known as a most energetic and persevering officer* He is to explore that portion of Wellington Channel discovered by Captain Penny, and to get as far to the north-west as possible — to Behring's Strait, if he can. Whatever else may happen, there are few who will not hope that the mystery respecting the missing explorers, who sailed on their fatal voyage, in 1845, may now be cleared up. In order to facilitate Captain Beatson's operations, the Emperor Nicholas has sent instructions to the governors of the Russian trading-ports on the Arctic coast, to lend such aid as may be in their power. Thu?, good-will is not lacking : indeed, if that could have found the lost adventurers, they would have been discovered long ago. Some ot our engineers and naval men are greatly interested in a subject which bas from time to time, during many years, met with a passing notice namely, the gradual growth of the banks and shoals in the North Sea from the solid matters carried into it by the rivsrs of Eugland and Holland. Although slow, the increase is said to be such as to lead to the inference, that this sea will be filled up at some future day. A large chart has just been published with contour lines of the various banks, to illustrate a treatise on the subject. If these be correct, we have at once valuable data by which to test the question of increase of magnitude. The matter will shortly be discussed by one of ou7 scientific societies. Meantime, the reclamation of a new county from the sea

beglau^o^^^^^proiuibetffeJuTT^nfunher inquiry. There are one or two other Scottish matters which may be mentioned. One is the discoveiy by Dr. Penny, of Glasgow, of potash salts in considerable quantity in the soot from blastfurnaces. In our iron districts, and among our iron merchants, it is undergoing that sort of discussion which savours of profit. Potash salts are so valuable, that if the discovery can be reduced to economical practice, there is no doubt that the hitherto wasted and unrecognised substance will be turned to good account. The other is the ' Platoraeter,' invented by Mr. Sang, ol Kirkcaliiy, described as a * self-acting calculator of surface ;' in other words, by using this contrivance, you may get the •square-measure included within any boundary-line around which a pen attached to the instrument may be carried' — in the p!an-of an estate, or a map^ for example, where the plots of ground are ofien extremely irregular in form, and difficult to measure without much complicated calculation. When Arthur Young wished to ascertain the relative proportions of cultivated and uncultivated land in France, he cut up a map of the country, and weighed them one against the otbei ; but the platometer would have helped him to a more satisfactory conclusion. The mode by which it effects its purpose is very simple, ' the essential parts being merely two axles, one of them carrying a cone, by which the computations are silently performed as the pen proceeds on its journey; and the other a small wheel, having numbers on it which tell the result in square measure.' The contents are given with considerable rapidity, and it is said, with more exactitude than by any other process ; the instrument therefore, is practically useful as well as curious. Among matters connected with the Acad6mie, Prince Demidoff bos asked for instructions as to how he may best serve the cause of science during a journey which he proposes to undertake into Siberia, accompanied by a scientific staff. The prince, who is proprietor of the richest malachite mines in Russia, has already made similar explorations in other parts of Europe, and published the results at his own cost, superbly illustrated, and has presented copies of the works to most of the scientific societies. He could not have better advisers for ihe purpose contemplated, than he will find amongst those to whom he has applied. Then a M. Rochas informs the Acad6mie, than a photographic image on a metal-plate transferred ] immediately to albumenised glass, may be reproduced and multiplied on paper in any number. Daguerreotypes of waves beating on the sea-shore have been exhibited, which were taken on glass thus pfepared in a very minute fraction of a second. Add to this, a plan for a doable line of submarine railway from Calais to Dover ; a statement from M. Gaietta, thai the aurora borealis

is nothing more than spontaneously inflamed carburet of hydrogen ; and a report from a learned anatomist ou the use, instead of the knife in amputation, of a platinum wire made red hot by a battery and you may form a notion of the variety of communications that comes before the French *avans. M. Peligot furnishes some details respecting silk-worms. He shows that in every 100 parts of mulberry leaves, as supplied, the result is from 8 to 9 of worms, 36 to 40 of egested matters, and 45 to 46 of dry litter and waste. The sixth part only of what the worms consume tends to their nourishment, the remainder goes in respiration and dejection ; and that, with the data now obtained, it is possible to calculate the maximum weight of cocoons from a given weight of leaves, it being from 60 to 70 in 1000. He shows further, that in years when leaves aie scarce, the loss to the proprietors need dot be total, for it is possible to keep the worms ou short allowance, ami collect their produce, though not so laigely as when no privation exists. And what is singular, that the weight of silk is not in proportion to the weight of the worm or moth : heavy and light cocoons contain the same quantity of silk, the difference arises only from the different weight of the worms. Hence M. Peligot considers, that it will be well to destroy the females when first hatched — o? course with a reserve for breeding — and keep only the males, which eat less, and give an equal quantity of silk. But as yet the sexes cannot be distinguished while in the worm state. You are aware that one of the most interesting geological problems of our day is, that of the rise and fall of the land in Sweden : a good deal has been said on both s'uUs. The Academy of Science at Stockholm has, however, taken measures to settle the question. It has chosen sixteen stations, chiefly between Haparanda and and Stiomstid, where daily observations are made and recorded on the height of the sea. This is the great point to be determined ; hitherto, it has been left 100 much to chance, or to the attemioij ol casual travellers. In connection with it, the rate of elevation would be ascertained, whether it is everywhere the same, and continuous or intermittent. It has been sated that at Stockholm the rise was four feet in 100 years, and greater still in the Gulf of Bothnia; lutMr. Erdmann of Stockholm, in a memoir on the subject, shews reason to doubt the fact. The bouse in which he resides is two feet above high water, and in a tide above the ordinary level, which happens but rarely, his cellar is always flooded. Therefore assuming the rise of the land at four feet in the centurj, it follow?, with only half that height, that when the house was built, the floor of the cellar was constantly under water, which is hardly likely to have been the case. He mentions also the observations made at the sluices of the Maslar Lake, from v»hich a rise of one foot in a century had been inferred, but states that a defect in the rteasuring-scale completely invalidates he results. In addition to what the Academy are doing, he has had a reference mark cut on the face of the steep rock of the citadel, so that, in the course of a few years we shall be i.i a position to judge in bow far the theory of elevation | and subsidence of land in Sweden is borne out by ihe facts. This reminds one that coral reefs have been much talked about of late ; the opioion is, that they grow in height about an inch and a quarter yearly. Means have also been taken to decide this question. Wlun the American Exploriug Expedition lay at Tahiti, Captain Wilkes had a slab-stone fixed on Point Venus, and the clis- ■ tance iioru it to the Dolphin Shoai below carefully ascertained, so that future measurements will test the theory. Mr. Well, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, shews thai there are causes besWes those usually assigned which will produce stratification, or those interruptions which occur in deposits. He was engaged in examination of soili, ; and washed earth through a filter, at times so slowly as to occupy fourteen days in the process, and dried the sediment at a temperature of 250 degrees* Th's when dry, he fouml to be perfectly stratified in divisional planes ; sometimes accordant, at others irregular, and showing difference of material — namely, silica, aud alumina. "The strata so produced," he says, " were io instances exceedingly perfect and beautiful, not altogether horizontal, but slightly curved, and in some degree conforming to the shape of the funnel. The production of laminae was also noticed, especially by the cleavage of the strata produced into thin, delicate, parallel plates, when moistened with water. These arrangements, it is evident, were not caused by any iutenupiion, or renewal of the matter deposited, or by any change in the quality of the particles deposited, but from two o'ber causes entirely distinct, and which I conceive to be these — first, from a tendency ia earthy matter, subjected to the filtering, soaking, and washing of water for a considerable period, to arrange itself according to the specific gravity of the particles, and thus form strata: and, secondly, from a tendency in earthy matter consolidated both by water and subsequent exsiccation, to divide independently of the fineness of quality of its component particles, into strata or lamii se." Whether Mr. Wells be right in his conclusions remains io be proved ; geologists will not fail to examine into his proofs. They may, however, remember, that Agassiz has remarked that sawdust through which water has been filtered, will ' assume a regular stratified appearance,' and that, in beds of clay and clay- slate, the deposits are such as to justify these conclusions. The Felix Meritis Society at Amsterdam propose to give their gold medal, or 20 gold ducats (£10) for the best answers to the questions — " What are the re-agents the most proper to demonstrate, in a sure and easy way the presence of ozone, and to determine its quantity ? Does ozone always exist in the atmosphere, and under what circumstances, regard being had to the seasons and hour of the day, is it fouud to increase or diminish ? From what properties can it be inferred that ozone is favourable or hurtful to the animal economy, and what has experiment made known in ihis respect, particularly in the appearance or disappearance of epidemic diseases V*