It is imbedded in calcareous spar.-See Annals of Philosophy, No. xli. p. 366.

25. Babingtonite, a New Mineral.-Forms tetartoprismatic. Crystals observed in the shape of Fig. 5, PLATE VIII. 88°;

Incidence of

pon m =
t on h':
m on h' =

92° 34'; p on t = 155° 25'; m on t =

112° 30';

150° 25';

137° 5'; p on d

g2 on m = 132° 15′; h'on g2;

=

= 89° 20'

Sometimes the faces marked m are wanting. Cleavage, distinct parallel to p and t. Surface brilliant; colour black; hardness, scratches glass easily. M. Levy discovered this substance in minute crystals, disposed on the surface of certain specimens of cleavelandite, from Arendal, and named it in honour of Dr. Babington. It has been examined by Mr. Children before the blowpipe, who found the indications of silica iron and manganese; he obtained in addition, via humida, a considerable proportion of lime. A slight indication was perceived of a minute quantity of titanium.-See Annals of Philosophy, No. xl. p. 275.

ZOOLOGY.

26. The Hyæna Venatica, or Wild African Dog.-This animal, which is remarkable for hunting in regular packs, is smaller and more slender than the common-shaped hyæna, or the spotted one or Crocuta. The general colour is a sandy bay, or an ochraceous yellow, shaded with a darker brown. The whole body is blotched and brindled with black, with occasional spots of white, and the legs are generally marked in the same manner. These marks vary in different individuals, but the more constant ones are a deep black stripe, extending from the nose up to the middle of the face, and between the ears: these are blackish both within and without, and covered with short close hair, which is sometimes very thin at the interior margin of the ears on the inside, there is a thin and observable tuft of whitish hair: the nose and muzzle are black. The tail is bushy like that of the fox, and is divided in the middle by a ring of black, above which, or towards the insertion, the colour is nearly the same as the general tint of the body; but below, or towards the tail it is white.

The dog, the wolf, and the hyena, correspond in having six grinders in the upper jaw, and in the lower seven. They also agree in the form and number of their ribs, and lumbar vertrebe, having seven of the latter. Their ribs, of which there are thirteen, are thin and narrow. But both in the striped and spotted hyæna they are fifteen in number, and of an extraordinary breadth; and are proportionally much stronger and larger than in any quadruped of their size: in these the grinders are only four, or at most five, and the lumbar vertebræ not more than five.

The present animal, therefore, with respect to its teeth, ribs, and lumbar vertebræ, would be arranged in the genus Canis, from which it differs, however, in having only four toes on each foot, and it is said in other essential particulars. With the genus Hyæna it agrees in number of toes, but differs from it in bulk, and in the conformation of the skele

ton. These differences were first noticed by Mr. Brookes, who considers it as forming a new genus.

Mr. Burchell, from whose Travels in Africa, vol. ii. p. 229, the above account is taken, informs us that he had one of these animals in his possession for thirteen months chained in a stable-yard, and that, during that time, its ferocious nature deterred every person from attempting to tame it; but it became at length so much softened in manners as to play with a common domestic dog. The man, however, who fed it, never durst venture his hand upon it.

27. Power of the Arctic Dogs.-Captain Parry has given an interesting account of the power of these animals, and of their great use in dragging anchors, cables, boats, and stores of all kinds from the Hecla to the Fury, which they performed with astonishing ease and expedition. “It was a curious sight," says Captain Parry, " to watch these useful animals walking off with a bower anchor, a boat, or a topmast, without any difficulty; and it may give some idea of what they are able to perform to state, that nine dogs, of Captain Lyon's, dragged 1611 pounds a distance of 1750 yards in nine minutes; and that they worked in a similar way between the ships for seven or eight hours a day. The road was, however, very good at this time, and the dogs the best that could be procured." Page 426.

IV. GENERAL SCIENCE.

28. Return of the Russian Antarctic Expedition.—This expedition, under the command of Captain Bellingshausen, has added to our knowledge of the South Polar Regions, by the discovery of two islands within the Antarctic circle, the only land hitherto known to exist so far to the southward. Both these islands lie in about 69° south latitude. One of them, named Alexander I. Island, in 73° west longitude; and the other, Peter Island, in 19° west. Both of them were so closely enveloped in ice, that no particular examination of them could be made. This expedition, consisting of two ships, the Wostok and the Mirni, sailed on the 3d of July 1819. They touched at Copenhagen to improve their equipment, and at Portsmouth to take on board the astronomical instruments which had been ordered for them in London, and from thence proceeded to Teneriffe and Rio Janiero, on their way to the southward. The leading object of the voyage was to explore the Antarctic Regions, and perform a circuit of the southern pole as near to it as the ice would permit; and, avoiding the tract of Captain Cook, to make their highest penetration where this navigator had kept at a distance from the ice, and on the contrary to retire into a more northerly parallel in the meridians where the adventurous Cook had made the most particular examinations. On this judicious plan they succeeded in the discovery of the two islands we have mentioned; but they could not approach within thirty miles of them for ice, and that only on the west side. The ice was generally found to lie so far from the pole, that their highest latitude was only 10 degrees, being short of the point reached by Cook. Within the antarctic circle they traversed a distance of hear 30 degrees

of longitude; and taking the latitude of 60 degrees, we find that 300 degrees of longitude were traced in the two voyages by Cook and Bellingshausen within this parallel, leaving only 60 degrees of longitude unex◄ plored at this elevation.-App. to Art. Polar Regions, by Mr. Scoresby, in the Edinb. Encyclopædia, Vol. XVII. Part I. about to appear.

- 29. Impermeability of Glass to Water under high pressure.—It was lately maintained by Mr. Deuchar, in a paper in the Philosophical Magazine, vol. lx. p. 310, that from the porous nature of certain siliceous bodies, it was extremely probable that the fluids in minerals had been forced through their mass by pressure, and that the water which is found in well-stopped bottles, when sunk to great depths in the ocean, has been forced through the pores of the glass.

The Rev. Mr. Campbell, in a voyage to South Africa, carried out with him two crystal globular bottles, hermetically sealed, and made on purpose, by Messrs. Pellet and Green, St. Paul's Churchyard. In Lat. 14°27′N. and to the W. of the Cape de Verd Islands, they were sunk from on board the Westmoreland, to a depth of 200 fathoms, or 1200 feet, by means of two leads, the one of 22 and the other of 28 lbs. When the rope was brought up, by the exertion of ten men, for a quarter of an hour, the two globular bottles were found empty. A wine bottle, sent down at the same time, corked and plastered over with rosin, came up full of water, with the cork inverted; five other bottles were full of water, but the corks and rosin of these were in the same state as when let down. Another wine bottle had the pitch remaining entire on its mouth, but the inside was nearly full of water, in which also the cork was swimming. The water in the inside of the bottles was not more fresh than before its entrance. Campbell's Second Journey in Africa, vol. ii. p. 383..

ART. XXXII.-LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS, SEALED IN ENGLAND SINCE JANUARY 1, 1824.

Jan. 1. FOR Improved Methods of Freezing Water. To JOHN VAL

LANCE.

Jan. 8. For an improvement on the French Military Mill for Grinding Wheat, &c. TO FRANCIS DEVEREUX, London.

Jan. 15 For an Improved Umbrella. To JOSEPH FOOT, London. Jan. 15. For a Floating Breakwater. To JOHN WHYTE, London. An account of this invention will be found in this Number, p. 145. Jan. 15. For Improvements on Ploughs and Harrows. To JOHN FINLAYSON, Ayrshire.

Jan. 15. For Improvements in Fermented Liquors, and their products. TO JEAN LE GRAND.

Jan. 19. For Improvements on the Clarionet. To WILLIAM GUTTERIDGE, Cork.

Jan. 19. For Improved Machinery for Grinding Colours. To GEORGE POLLARD, London.

Jan. 19. For Improved Tubes for Gas, and other purposes. To JAMES RUSSELL, Wednesbury.

Jan. 19. For an Improved Method of Manufacturing and Purifying Inflammable Gas, by means of Atmospheric Air. To SIMEON BROADMEADOW, Abergavenny.

Jan. 19. For Improvements in Tanning Hides, &c. To HOWARD FLETCHER, Walsall.

Jan. 24. For Improvements in Wheel Carriages. TO THOMAS BEWLEY, Queen's Court, Ireland.

Jan. 24. For Improved Methods of Figuring and Ornamenting varis ous Fabrics. To JOHN HEATHCOAT, of Tiverton.

Jan. 27. For Improved Machinery and Instruments for Dressing and Cleaning Cloths and Fabrics of all kinds. To JOHN JONES, Leeds. Feb. 7. For an Improved Method of Stamping. To SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE, Bart.

Feb. 10. For the Diorama, or an Improved Method of exhibiting Pictures, and of Distributing and Directing the Day-light on them. To JOHN ARROWSMITH, Piccadilly. Partly communicated by a foreigner. Feb. 19. For a New Constructed Hat. To R. LLOYD, and J. Row BOTHAM, Blackfriar's Row.

Feb. 19. For improved Waistbands, Bandages, and Supporters of Dress, &c. To HENRY ADCOCK, Birmingham.

Feb. 19. For Improvements in Printing Machines. To Mr. WIL LIAM CHURCH, Birmingham.

Feb. 19. For Improvements in Printing Machines. To AUG. AP PLEGATH, Blackfriars.

Feb. 19. For Improvements to Obviate Concussion in Machinery, by which friction is converted into an useful power. To the Rev. MOSES ISAACS, London.

Feb. 19. For a Quick Method of Communicating Intelligence, and Conveying Parcels and Goods, &c. To JOHN VALLANCE, Brighton.

Feb. 28. For Improvements in Paving Horse and Carriage Ways. To A. H. CHAMBERS, New Bread Street.

Feb. 28. For a method of Roasting Coffee, &c. and Improvements in the Machinery employed. To R. EVANS, Bond Street.

Feb. 28. For a Process of making a Certain Material a suitable Substitute for Leather. To JOHN GUNBY, N. Kent Road.

Fcb. 28. For a New Method of Combining and Applying certain Kinds of Fuel. To JOHN CHRISTIE, Mark Lane.

Feb. 28. For an Apparatus to be Applied to a Windlass. To WIELIAM YETTS, Great Yarmouth.

Feb. 28. For a Metallic Frame Glass for Hot-houses, and all Inclined Lights. To J. W. RICHARDs, Birmingham.

Feb. 28. For Improved Harness for One Horse Carriages. To WILLIAM GREAVES, Sheffield.

Feb. 28. For Improved Rail and Iron Roads. To W.JAMES.

Feb. 28. For an Improved way of Constructing and Placing a Coke Oven near Steam, or other Boilers, to save Fuel. To MAURICE DE JOUGH. Feb. 28. For a Liquid for making Leather, &c. Water-proof. To C. B. FLEETWOOD, Dublin.

March 6. For improved Pump Machinery. To JOEL SPILLER. March 9. Three separate patents for improvements in Lace, Weav ing, and Spinning Machinery. TO JOHN HEATHCOAT, Tiverton.

March 1. For Improvements in Lace Machine. To W. D. MOSLEY. March 15. For Improvements in Lace Machinery. To W. MORLEY. March 20. For a new method of Preparing and Manufacturing Safflower (Corthamus) as a dye or red colouring matter. To RUPERT KIRK. March 20. For a Machine to make, from one Piece of Leather, without seam, Shoes, Gloves, Caps, Hats, Sheaths, &c. To J. H. PETELPIERRE, Somers' Town.

March 20. For an Instrument for finding the Cubic Contents of Standing Timber. TO JAMES ROGERS, Marlborough.

March 20. For Improvements on the Bobbin-Net Lace Machinery. To JOHN LONGFORD, Nottingham.

March 20. For Improved Machinery to spin Cotton, Wool, or Silk. TO JOHN HEATHCOAT, Tiverton.

March 20. For an Improved Apparatus for Producing Light. To HENRY BERRY, Abchurch Lane, London.

March 20. For Improved Distilling Apparatus, partly communicated from abroad. To J. J. STAIN MARE, Vauxhall.

March 22. For an Apparatus for Manufacturing and Burning Oil Gas, communicated from abroad. TO CHARLES DEMENY, Fenchurch Street, London.

March 25. For Machinery for picking and preparing Flax, threshing Grain, and sheeling Clover, &c. TO NAMEN GOODSELL, London.

March 27. For Improved Water-Closets. To Enw. JORDAN, Norwich. April 7. For Improvements in Furnaces and Forges for preparing Iron or Steel, and making Rails, &c. To JOSEPH SPENCER, Belfast.

April 7. For an Improved Cloth called British Cashmere. To JAMES SCHOFIELD, Rastnick.

April 8. For the Useful and Elegant Facilitator for Shaving. To THOMAS RYALLS, Sheffield.

ART. XXXIII.-LIST OF PATENTS GRANTED IN SCOTLAND Since 18th March, 1824.

1. FOR Improvements in the Machinery for Working Pumps. To

JOEL SPILLER, of Chelsea. 2d March, 1824. Written to the Seal, &c. 18th March, 1824.

2. For Improvements in the Process of, and Apparatus for Distilling. TO JEAN JACQUES STAINMARE, of Belmont Distillery, Wandsworth, County of Surrey, distiller.

3. For an Apparatus or Improved Method of Reefing Sails. Το DANIEL Tonge of Liverpool, Lancastershire, ship-owner. Written to the Seal, &c. 29th April, 1824.

4. For an Improved Fid for the upper masts of ships. To BENJAMIN ROTCH, Esq. of Furnival's Inn. Written to the Seal, &c. 29th April,

1824.