The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-01-27

tanned by tie di.til,ation Of wood. is employed
| with great success in the arts. 1t has already
been extracted from vinegar, without any empy-
reumatic smell, also from oil and with II may
be formed the base of great number OF solvents.
M. VirALis has applied tito the d, ing of thread
and cotton, and this practice is now followed in
the NAME .c,ories of Rouen, where black cottons
Tor mourning. which used formerly to be procur-
ed from Holland, are died in solid and cheap
manner, by means of the pyrntignte Of iron.
This colour lasts very long, and is not liable to
| turn rusty like common blacks. ,,,
M. RooHoLx, of lssoudua, in the department
Of Indre, has long used the expressed juice of
| the barbcrry in dying. The root of the plant boil
ed in water, gives beautiful green, applicable
to goat and sheep skins. &.
| NJ. ALExANpRE, of Bordeaux, employs =
method of ftering water, without either sand,
merely causing the liquid to pass through the Ca
pillary tubes, Of piece of half worn out cotton.
1t is well known that a sksin of thread, or rib
bon, one end of which is put into vessel, while
the other hangs the side, will very soon be-
come a conductor of the liquid, which filters and
runs oil, till the vessel isneary empty. This eN-
pertinent, M Alexandra has applied on large
scale, TO the publication of the water Of the Ca.
rome.
M. PEKoN, during his voyage to the South
Seas, collected great number OF that remarSa-
bic genus ct ANIMALS, tn which Linnaus gave the
name of Medusd, and has increased that family
to more than $50 species. In an account lately
presented by him TO the National Institute, their
singularities are well expressed in the following
terms -" substance seems to be merely
coagulated water, yet the most important func-
tons OF life are exercised in it. Their multi
plication is prodisious, yet we know nothing of
the peculiar mode in which it is effected They
are capable OF attaining several feet in diameter.
and the weight Of Fifty or sixty pounds, yet their
nutri,ive system escapes cur eyes. They execute
the most rapid and long continued movements,
yet the details of their muscular system are i'm.
perceptlble. They have very active species Of
respiration, the true seat of which is a mystery.
| They appear extremely feeble yet fish OF con
siderable size form their daily prey, and dissolve
| IN few moments in their stomach MANY spe-
cies OF them shine in the night like balls of fire,
| and some sting or benumb the hand that touches
| themi yet the principles and agents of both
these properties remain 10 be discovered" All
| the me dusas have gelatiDous body, nearly re-
| sembling the cap of mushroom, and hence de-
| nominated uttbreiia but they differ in wanting
or having mouth in the mouth being simple or
| multpiicious in the presence Or absence of q
production resembling pedicle and in the edg-
es OF this pcdicle, or of the mouth itself, being
furnished with tessaca!a, or flaments, more or
| less numerous. From these characters, NJ. Pc
| ron forms divisions and subdivisions, under which
every possible kind of medusa may be arranged.
Some OF these animals exhibit beautiful coiers.
Mr. JEFFERSON, late presiden, of the United
States, has sent to the class of natural history of
the Institute fine collection of fossil bones, dug
up on the banks of the Ohio. The greater mum.
Der belong to the large animal, improperly called
Mammoth by the Americans, and to which M
Culver gives the Name of Mastodonte hut
| there are likewise some belonging to the genuine
Mammoth Of the Russians, or the other land
\ animal, much resembling the Indian elephant, the
remains ct which are common in Siberia
4 ,arl.
inhabited together the northern parts ofour globe
| M CHARLES OTTo, paper M ker, of Saxo-
ny, has discovered method of sizing paper while
1t is still in the vat, and in every of the
year, without using either the shreds of skins or
| ahy other animal substance.
| The proprietor of one Of the principal glass
houses in Bohemia asserts, that he has discover.
| ed the secret of rendering glass maileable and
ductiie
| In the evening of the Goth of June, terrestri-
al waterspout appeared about league southeast
OF earns gnole, IN the department of the Pc
The weather was stormy The cloud which gave
rise to this meteor, greyish and not very
large; but 1t began to lengthen side, form
ing as 1t were, very sharp tail, which approach
ed the earth in serpentine line. The cloud had
then the shape of reversed cone, part of which
emitted very perceptible yellowish light this
| cone, about half way between the summit and
base, might be eight nine yards III circrmfer-
ence. As it approached the earth, kind Of
cloud that looked like smoke, having also thu.
| appearance of kind of cone, was formed and
ITS summit advanced towards the water-spout
The duration of this meteor was twenty minutes
during which 1t trayerscd space of more than
eight hundred yards, and then desce noed in a De
iuge OF water. In it's way, it overthrow a your e
oak, and stripped the bark from a mulberry tree
the roots OF which were almost entirely laid bare
by the removal of the earth which covered them
| The bark was reduced to dry, whitish and
almost friable substance. The lower cone also
exerted its fury upon the dust, which it raised,
| and the corn which was then cut in the fields,
and which it carried away and dispersed A
| man, who was in the line traversed by this phe-
nomenon, feeling himself beginning to rise, held
| by bush, that he might not be carried AWAY
a quarter OF an hour after the disappearance of
the water-spout, there a thunder storm,
with hail. The thermometer was at I8o and
| the mercury in the barometer, which at first
| stood at twenty seven inches six lines, rapidly
fell, d lines
| AT late meeting ofthe Academy of Sciences,
Literature, and Fine Arts, of Turin, ri Boisa-
rell, chemist, presented two specimens of artific-
| al cotton 'nead, made by Messrs, Copps and Pa.
rodi, of Genoa He likewise stated that stock.
ings, cloth, and wicks for candles, had been
made OF this cotton, but the latter gave only an
indifferent light; defect which he ascribed to
the maceration Of the material in slkales, and
which washing in water was expected to correct.
The academy was satisfied of the resemblance of
the specimens T. cotton and DR.. Rizzet,i, hav-
ing observed that, ~ treating tow of hemp with
different agents, it might lie reduced to SINH
lar substance, lie was commissioned to make
risx,f4r Of