the operation of this new power. At one of the evening meetings, its properties were explained and experimented with by Professor Grove. The explosive force was stated to be double that of gunpowder, yet the substance left no soil on fire-arms. There are two qualities of the gun-cotton: the second-best causing little smoke, the other none. Gunpowder explodes at 6000 of heat; gun-cotton at 4000; and it may be exploded on gunpowder without the powder igniting!

Mr. Grove first exploded a small quantity of gunpowder, for the purpose of showing the large quantity of smoke it evolved. He then fired a small lock of the gun-cotton, of the second quality; it flashed off as rapidly as gunpowder, and but a very small quantity of smoke was perceptible; the paper on which it exploded being but slightly stained. The best quality of gun-cotton exploded still more rapidly, without any smoke what ever; and it gave out an orange-coloured flame.

Mr. Grove next steeped a piece of the cotton in a glass of water, and then pressed it and dried it between blotting-paper; and though it could not have been thoroughly dry in the time, the cotton flashed off when heated wire was applied to it, and without any perceptible smoke. The flash, however, was not, in this case, so instantaneous as that of the perfectly dry cotton.

The last experiment was the explosion of a piece of the gun-cotton placed upon loose gunpowder, without firing the latter. This was perfectly successful; though the cotton must be quite dry to insure its success; for, if the combustion be less rapid, the gunpowder will explode.

These experiments were witnessed by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, who was present at the meeting, and was elected an honorary member of the Association. Subsequently, Professor Schonbein attended at Osborne House to exhibit the properties of his gun-cotton to Prince Albert, when the Professor offered to explode a portion on the hand of Colonel B- ; but the gallant colonel recoiled from the experiment, and would have nothing to do with the novel power. Prince Albert himself, however, submitted to the test; and off went the cotton, without smoke, stain, or burning of the skin. Thus encouraged, the colonel took his turn; but, whether the material was changed or not for the coarser preparation, it gave him such a singeing that he leaped up with a cry of pain. A hearty laugh was all the commiseration he received. After this, Professor Schonbein loaded a fowling-piece with cotton in the place of powder, and the Prince fired both ball and shot from it with the usual effect, and perfect impunity. We give this anecdote upon the authority of the Literary Gazette.

The advantages attendant upon the use of gun-cotton for blasting in mines must, we think, be very great; since the smoke proceeding from the coarse gunpowder, used for this purpose, occasions so much annoyance, and injury to the health of the miners. Experiments have been made in some of the Cornish mines, and have proved most satisfactory and conclusive in favour of gun-cotton, one ounce of which proves equal to one pound of gunpowder.

Some additional projectile experiments have also been made in the grounds of Mr. Barron, at Stanmore, with fowling-pieces and rifles. Thus, as reported in the Athenæum, a gun, charged with thirty grains of prepared cotton, propelled an equal charge of shot, with greater force and precision, at a distance of forty yards, than was done by the same gun loaded with a hundred and twenty grains of gunpowder. A rifle, charged with fifty-four and a half grains of gunpowder, sent a ball through seven boards, half an inch in thickness, at a distance of forty yards; the same rifle, charged with forty grains of gun-cotton, propelled the ball into the eighth board. Another rifle, which had been used for elephant shooting, and consequently carried a much larger ball, charged with forty grains of gun-cotton, propelled the ball through eight boards, at a distance of ninety

yards. In no case was the discharge accompanied by a greater recoil than usual; and the reports were not louder than those accompanying the discharge of guns and rifles loaded with gunpowder.

As Professor Schonbien came to England with the view of patenting his discovery, he did not divulge the secret to his brother savans at the Southampton Meet! ing. He is said to have offered it to the British govern ment; and a hundred-weight of the gun-cotton is stated to have been despatched from Basle to Woolwich, with the view of testing its applicability to heavy ordnance. Still this statement is at variance with a representation current, that the Diet of Mentz has proposed an award to the Professor, for communicating to them his gur cotton secret. We may here mention, that its manufac ture is unattended by risk; and that it can be effected in the small space of eight hours, and at a less cost than gunpowder.

Schonbein is believed still to retain his secret intact: but other original thinkers have been at work, and produced very similar results. Indeed, the subject of explosive compounds has largely engaged the attention of European chemists, of late years, owing partly to the high pitch of public curiosity as to the secret of Lieute nant Warner's new destructive power. So fearful an antagonism it is naturally an object of national competition to possess; and, were it not that we consider such annihilating power must lead to the cessation of great wars, we should regard such discoveries as the wanton waste of genius. As it is, however, there is a glorious anticipation abroad of the humanizing effect of these scientific triumphs, which, we pray, may be amply realized.

Almost simultaneously have appeared three or four inventors of other explosive agents. Bættyer, of Frankfort, has discovered one; and Dr. Otto, Professor | of Chemistry, in Brunswick, relying on an observation of Relouze, contained in the 136th page of Professor Otto's Manual of Chemistry, has succeeded in producing an exploding cotton, which, after a series of experiments, seems quite to supply the place of gunpowder. We quote the Doctor's own account of the invention, which he has given for the general good of the public:

"In the preparation of the exploding cotton, common, well-cleaned cotton, is dipped for about half a minute in highly concentrated nitric acid, (the acid which I use being made by the distillation of ten parts of dried saltpetre, and six of oil of vitriol,) and then instantly placed in water, which must be often renewed, in order to free the cotton from the acid with which it is impregnated. Care must then be taken that all the knotty parts be properly disentangled, and that it be thoroughly dried. After this, the explosive cotton will be ready for use. Its effects create astonishment in all who witness them: the smallest portion, when struck on an anvil with a hammer, explodes like fulminating powder; when kindled with a glowing body, it takes fire like gunpowder; and when used in a gun, its ope ration, though in a far greater proportion to its weight, is precisely the same as that of gunpowder. This guncotton is employed in the same way as gunpowder: a piece of it is rammed down the barrel, then a bit of wadding, and after that a ball; a copper cap ignites and explodes the cotton." Dr. Otto's statement is accompanied by a testimonial, and he adds, "without a single exception, all who have witnessed my experi ments have been most completely satisfied."

The editor of the Pharmaceutical Times is entitled to be heard on the subject, from his presumed familiarity with chemical manipulation. Now, he has prepared cotton according to Professor Otto's directions, but has found it to acquire a fulminating property by no means so great as described. The method is by steeping cotton for half a minute in nitric acid, and then drying it: "on adding, however, sulphuric acid to the nitric acid, then proceeding as before, the result was different;

and a

cotton was obtained which possessed all the properties |
of fulmination and capability of disruption and projec-
tion stated by Professor Schonbein. We were induced
to try the effect of mixing sulphuric acid with nitric,
from a consideration of the remarkable affinity which
the former acid evinces for water, thus concentrating
the nitric acid to its maximum. Many of our readers,
who may have in boyhood amused themselves with per-
forming scientific experiments, will, doubtless, be cog-
nizant of the one which has for its object the inflam-
mation of certain essential oils by the agency of nitric
acid. They will not fail to remember that, if such acid
be not very strong, the result will not take place, but
that inflammation is immediately caused by the addi-
tion of a little sulphuric acid.

Prepared by the process we have indicated, guncotton resembles, to some extent, the ordinary material; bat, in some cases, it assumes a slightly yellow colour. It explodes by the percussion or friction of iron against iron, or any metal of similar hardness, and also when exposed to a temperature of 400° Fahrenheit,-circumstances to be borne in mind when we come to speak of the application of this cotton to the purposes of fire

arms.

cotton, and which was tried with an artillery musketoon, fired at forty yards. The ball produced the same effect as that fired by fulminating cotton, but it left a considerable deposit in the barrel. The cotton powder of M. Chodsko was compressed into a wadding in order to charge the gun, whilst the fulminating cotton was not. Both materials ignite by the blow of a hammer on an anvil, but not by the blow of a hammer on wood." Meanwhile, it will be interesting to watch the experimental applications of this new explosive power, to the practical value of which various conditions are essential. We have here submitted to our readers the leading facts of the discovery; and at present have only to add our best hopes of its proving a scientifi: benefaction to the community.

THE STREETS OF LONDON.1

To trace the gradual development of a great metropolis from the nucleus around which the small community had originally congregated: to pursue its efflorescence into streets, lanes, alleys, squares, "Having tried the effects of this cotton as a projectile circuses, paragons, and crescents: to speculate on agent for small arms, its relative agency in propelling a the names given to them, and the causes of their ball would appear to be about equal to the finest sport-imposition, originating in peculiarities of the locale, ing gunpowder, than which it occupies more space in a gun, on account of its lighter specific gravity, a fact which must not be lost sight of." The writer then examines the circumstances of using the cotton for small fire-arms, and finds three difficulties: 1, the chance of the fibres of the cotton getting between the ramrod and barrel, and thus prematurely exploding; 2, if the barrel be considerably heated by continuous firings, the cotton may explode, even without friction, and its use, from this cause, Would be impossible in many cases of actual service; 3, the doubt whether the cotton will find its way into the chamber or contracted breeching of a gun, sponta neously, like gunpowder. Lastly, the property which this remarkable body possesses of not soiling a piece, would render it, cæteris paribus, invaluable; but this, the writer fears, is not the case. He anticipates the greatest advantages from this body as applied to mining operations; for here, the evolution of smoke in the confined space in which the miner is compelled to work, is a serious disadvantage.

Two other claimants remain to be noticed. M. Morel, the engineer, at Paris, has just produced "a fulminating matter, having all the appearance of cotton and wadding, which he has tried in the presence of General Gourgaud, President of the Committee of Artillery; Colonel Piobert, Member of the Academy of Sciences; and

several other officers. The following details of the experiments are from the Messager, Paris paper :

Burned on the hand, it causes no sensible pain, leaves no stain, and produces no smoke. Dipped in water and pressed, and afterwards dried between two leaves of blotting-paper, it preserves its fulminating properties. General Gourgaud fired a charge of fulminating cotton from an ordinary fowling-piece at a distance of forty yards from the object at which he aimed. He fired a holster pistol at a distance of twenty-five yards, and a pocket pistol at a distance of ten yards. At forty yards, a ball from the fowling-piece traversed a plank of beech of 0.35 centimetres thickness; at twenty-five yards, the ball from the holster pistol lodged in the plank without perforating it; the ball from the pocket pistol made the same impression on the plank as that which might have been produced by a charge of ordinary gunpowder. The charge of fulminating cotton leaves scarcely any residue in the barrel. The recoil of gun is extremely slight, and the report is not louder than that of a large detonating cap."

the

for which the buildings were designed: to investiin the appellations of the builders, or the purposes gate the history of their respective inhabitants, and their fortunes and changes, could not but afford much amusement, probably much moral instruction. These desirable results may be obtained from even a less extensive consideration of this interesting subject; and Dr. Mackay has produced two most entertaining and instructive volumes, replete with information, amusement, and anecdote of every description, political, statistical, biographical, historical, or theatrical. They are written in a lively, chit-chat, off-hand style, adapted to the subject; and form (what Mr. Smith entitled another of his publications,) an admirable "Book for a rainy day." There is no Preface, and, what is an unpardonable deficiency in a literary work, especially in one of this nature, no Index!

We shall proceed to select such passages as, we imagine, may in any way interest our readers; adding occasionally some remarks of our own. The Ramble begins with a journey from "Hyde Park Corner to Charing Cross." The first object of attraction is "Apsley House." is interesting, as being the residence of the greatest Apsley House captain and one of the greatest men of this or of any former age. Time, which must make it venerable, will confer more and more lustre upon it, and a century henee, what we now look upon with curiosity will be regarded with reverence." -Vol. i. p. 5.

Mr. Smith passes over in silence the iron revolving shutters, conveying so striking a memorial of the uncertainty and fickleness of the English. Our school-boy recollections rise up, as often as we see them; and the treatment of Miltiades recurs to our mind. We recollect seeing the Duke, during a popular ebullition of congratulation, smiling calmly at the mob who were cheering him, and pointing

to these shutters.

"Some years ago, as our readers are probably aware, it was decided to commemorate the achievements of the

Duke of Wellington by a testimonial. The execution of this work was confided to the competent genius of

(1) AnAntiquarian Ramble in the Streets of London, with anecdotes of their more celebrated Residents. By J. T. Smith. 1846.

"M. Chodsko, a Polish refugee, likewise presented a
fulminating substance, which has the appearance of Edited by Charles Mackay, LL.D. 2 vols. 8vo.

"Surely, however, where Dryden is the theme, the biographer who records these little traits of character and domestic life is entitled not only to our forgiveness, but to our gratitude.”—Ibid. p. 40. Note.

The following statement is highly exaggerated:

Passing from Leicester Square, we went, until recently, through Cranbourne Alley, the great bonnet mart of London. Those who are ignorant of the town may be amused to learn that at every shop door in this alley, while it existed, a young woman, of decent appearance, was stationed all day long, on the watch for customers, whom it was her business to entice or drag into the shop, and force to purchase whether they would or no. These women were known by the name of "She Barkers," to distinguish them from the "He Barkers," who were stationed at the second-hand clothes shops, and who acted the same annoying part towards men. We used to betide the women of the middle classes who passed through Cranbourne Alley with an unfashionable bonnet! It was immediately seen from one end of the place to the other, and twenty barkers beset her, each in turn, as she walked forward, arresting her course by invitations to inspect what was for sale within. Many a one has had her cloak or shawl torn from her back by these rival sisters of trade during their struggles to draw her within their den, each pull ing a different way."—Ibid. p. 125.

The absurd notion "that the horse is without a girth," on which Charles I. is sitting at Charing Cross, is satisfactorily refuted. Perhaps it is not generally known that the sword has been stolen within the last few years.

Another instance of misrepresentation occurs in p. 152

"Rare Ben [Jonson] also lived in an alley, as appears from his famous answer to King Charles I., who had sent him a very tardy and very small (!!) sum, when he was in poverty and sickness. I suppose he sends me this, because I live in an alley. Tell him his soul lives in an alley.'"

GLACIERS.

"As a large stone is sometimes seen to lie,
Couched on the bald top of an eminence;
Wonder to all who do the same espy,

By what means it could hither come, or whence;
So that it seems a thing endued with sense,
Like a sea-beast crawled forth, that on a shelf
Of rock or sand reposeth, there to sun itself."
Wordsworth.

In a former number we have watched the tiny coral insects in their unceasing labours; and have seen them raise afresh the island which volcanic action had plunged suddenly, or caused to subside gradually, beneath the surface of the ocean. This is the routine which scientific investigation has disclosed to us in the warmer regions of our globe; let us now turn our attention northward, and endeavour to understand the action of ice, as regards the erratic blocks," or boulder stones," which have so much puzzled geologists. Light has broken in upon this dark question, and the agent by which these ponderous travellers have been transported from the mountain peak and delicately poised upon its side, or carried from their resting place into the valley below, has been beautifully traced by Professor Forbes, whose work, "Travels in the Alps," contains minute and interesting details upon the subject of the structure and motion of glaciers. Our business lies more immediately with their effects; but in order to understand these, we must enter slightly into the nature of the wonderful agent employed.

A Glacier is a frozen torrent proceeding from the upper valley of mountains where the snow never melts, and fed by vast reservoirs whose contents never decrease. It moves with a steady flow, "although no eye sees its motion; but, from day to day, from year to year, the secret silent cause produces the certain slow effect; the avalanche feeds it, and swells its flowing tide; the mightiest masses which lightning or the elements roll from the mountain side upon its surface, are borne along without pause; when the glacier, advancing beyond its usual limit, presses forward into the lower valleys, it turns up the soil, and wrinkles, far in advance, the Now this atrocious calumny was refuted thirty share; it brings among the fields the blasts of winter, greensward of the meadows with its tremendous ploughyears ago! "Charles sent him a hundred pounds, and overthrows trees and houses like stubble in its rutha noble present in those days; for which Jonson less progress; no combination of power and skill can returned him thanks in an epigram (vol. viii. p. 453) stay its march, and who can define the limit of its agfull of gratitude and dutiful affection."-Ben Jon-gression? Its proud waves are however stayed, and, by son's Works, by Gifford, vol. v. p. 339. The con- causes as mysterious as those of its enlargement, it clusion of Gifford's note we omit, but trust it will retreats year by year within its former limits; but where raise a blush in the cheeks of the authors of " An the garden and the meadow were, it has left a desolate Antiquarian Ramble through the Streets of Lon-spread of ruin, like the fall of a mountain, which never don."

“Mr. Apreece, a tall thin man, in rich dress, was her [Moll King's] constant customer. He was called Cadwalader by the frequenters of Moll's.”—Ibid. p. 266.

He was the original whom Foote took off under that name, in his farce of "The Author."

Our present limits will not allow us to dwell upon the various information drawn together, and concentrated, in the four Rambles that form the subject of this first volume-information almost necessary to those who would relish the dramatists, novelists, newswriters, and essayists of the last century. Names of clubs, taverns and hotels, coffee-houses, the resort of the wits of that day, according as their politics were Whig or Tory, and mug-houses of lower pretensions, theatres, and places of entertainment now long forgotten, actors and actresses, are brought before us with a vividness of representation, that we may almost imagine we are seeing a Dissolving View of London in the Olden Time."

(To be concluded in the next.)

again may be tilled, and over which for at least half a century not even a goat shall pick the scanty herbage." The downwards movement of a glacier has not been doubted, although the causes and manner of its motion have been much disputed; two theories, that of dilatation, and that of gravitation, have been advanced, but Professor Forbes's opinion does not entirely coincide with either of these. He has shown that instead of sliding forwards in a body by the force of gravity, the glaciers move more rapidly in the centre than at the edges, and also that the ice continues its downward course during more rapidly at the surface than on its under side; and winter, when, there being no alternations of frost and thaw, there can be no dilatation.

The termination of a glacier presents a crystal wall: from beneath issues a stream of ice-cold turbid water; derived from springs rising in the earth under the glacier; from a slight melting of the under surface by the warmth of the earth; from the rain and melted snow, which in summer filters through the “ crevasses;" and from the wasting of the glacier itself, by the action of sun and rain. The river Dranse thus has its origin from the glacier of Chermontane in the Val de Bagnes, where, in 1818, some terrific scenes occurred in consequence of the river having been dammed up by an increasing gla