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prehension has not yet been published. An author perhaps could not be better employed than in elucidating the principles of those sciences which, from their great and important applications, are so intimately connected with the most profound and interesting departments of human knowledge.

I am not, however, a friend to the introduction of motion into the conception of fluxional quantities, as I conceive it to be foreign to the inquiry. I would rather consider the differential calculus as an extension of the science of algebra.

Plymouth, May 5, 1815.

Your humble servant,

GEORGE HARVEY.

X. Milky Juice of Plants.

Dr. John has lately examined the milky juice of several European plants. I conceive that a short account of the results which he obtained will be acceptable to the readers of the Annals of Philosophy.

1. Leontodon Taraxicum (Dentylion).

The juice of this plant is liquid, and milk-white. It has a sweetish and very bitter taste, with a certain degree of sharpness. Its smell is similar to that of the fresh plant. When exposed to the air, it speedily coagulates, and acquires a violet-brown colour. The coagulated sap being boiled in water, communicates to that liquid a brown colour and a bitter taste, and the property of reddening litmus paper. The undissolved portion is white and elastic, and similar to caoutchouc. It becomes brown by exposure to the air. Alcohol acts but feebly on it, dissolving only a little resin. The caoutchouc burns with a brilliant flame. The watery solution was precipitated by oxalic acid, nitrate of silver, nitrate of mercury, and nitrate of barytes. Hence the constituents of this plant are

Water.
Caoutchouc.

Bitter extractive.

A sweet substance?

A trace of resin.

A trace of gum ?
An acid.

Muriate, phosphate, and sul-
phate of lime, and of an
alkali.

2. Lactuca Sativa (Lettuce).

This plant yields but little milky juice. According to John, its properties are the same as those of the leontodon taraxicum, and its constituents the same. He was not able to determine whether it contained an uncombined acid. From the known soporific powers of the juice of lettuce, there is reason to believe that it contains a substance similar to that which exists in common opium. It would be worth while to examine whether the juice of the leontodon taraxicum contains the same principle.

3. Ficus Carica (Fig Tree).

The twigs and footstalks of this tree yield a milky juice, which

speedily coagulates in the air, and becomes a transparent mass, having the consistence and lustre of wax. The fresh sap has a bitterish and astringent taste, but produces no change upon the solutions of iron. Water dissolves a small portion of the coagulated sap. Alcohol at a boiling temperature dissolves about a third of it; but the resinous substance thus dissolved precipitates again as the liquid cools. The undissolved portion possesses the properties of caoutchouc. Hence the constituents of this sap are as follows :→→ Caoutchouc. A trace of extractive, soluble in

Resin, soluble only in boiling alcohol.

water. Salts.

4. Platinus Occidentalis (Plane-Tree).

The bark and wood of these trees when young contain a milky juice. This juice, according to John, contains the following constituents :

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XI. Account of a dreadful Accident at Heaton Main Colliery near Newcastle.*

This colliery is situated in the bed of coal called the high main. It is of a considerable depth, about 110 fathoms, and the shaft is situated at the lower extremity of the mine. The shaft is divided by boarding all the way down, so that the same opening served for the up and down cast shaft. The seam towards the rise had been formerly worked as a colliery, under the name of Heaton Banks, by shafts distinct from the present working, which shafts, when the colliery was given up, were covered over with boards and earth. In the course of time these old workings had become filled with water; and the managers of the present colliery being well aware of the danger attending so large an accumulation of water, the workings were proceeded in with the utmost caution.

The mine was very much subject to what the colliers call the creep, which is a gradual filling up of the horizontal passages. It had been customary for some time past to bore in various directions upon the lines the men were working, in order to ascertain whether any body of water lay concealed in the adjacent cavities. This precaution was about to be put in practice at nine o'clock on Wednesday the 3d of May; but before that time had arrived, (between three and four o'clock in the morning,) a dreadful rush of water came through the roof in the north-west part of the colliery, and continued to flow with such rapidity, that only 20 men and boys were enabled to make their escape. In a very short time, the

This account is partly drawn up from private information, and partly from the Tyne Mercury for May 9, 1815.

water closed up the lower mouth of the shaft: and that night it rose to the height of 24 fathoms. Some faint hopes being entertained that the men below would retire to the higher parts of the workings, which were said to be above the level of the water in the shaft, every exertion was used to open a communication with them by the old workings. Considerable difficulties, however, presented themselves. The rubbish which covered and choaked up the mouths of two old shafts, when deprived of the support of the water, fell in, dragging along with it some trees which had been planted round the spot. An old shaft, in front of Heaton Hall, has not, however, presented a like impediment, and consequently every exertion is using to open a communication by that way. They had uncovered the pit, and reached the scaffolding on Saturday the 6th, which was five fathoms from the surface; and we understand their efforts are likely to be successful, if not prevented by an accumulation of inflammable air, with which the old workings appear to be filled. Ever since the accident, three large engines (one of 130 horse power) have been constantly employed in drawing the water from the pit, at the rate of about 1200 gallons per minute, yet on Friday morning it was found to have attained the height of 31 fathoms up the shaft. In the evening, however, the water had decreased about three feet, and we understand has continued to decrease since that time; so that no doubt is now entertained of the colliery being at some future period again set to work. We now come to state the extent of the calamity. Mr. Miller (the underviewer, who has left a wife and eight children), 32 workmen, 42 boys, and 37 horses, have perished; and 25 widows, with about 80 children, are left to bemoan the sudden death of their husbands and fathers.

ARTICLE XIII.

New Patents.

JOHN CARPENTER, Truro; for a knapsack, which prevents the wet coming between it and the back; and a pouch in front sugpended from the shoulder straps of said knapsack, so as to counteract its weight. Jan. 20, 1815.

JEAN RAUDONT, Oxford-street; for certain improvements in the construction of dioptric telescopes. Jan. 20, 1815.

JAMES MILLER, Liverpool; for certain improvements in the construction of stills, furnaces, chimneys, and other apparatus connected with the art of distillation. Jan. 28, 1815.

JOHN WOOD, Manchester, clock-maker; for certain improvements in machinery, used for preparing and spinning cotton-wool and various other articles. Feb. 4, 1815.

JOSEPH TAYLOR and PETER TAYLOR, Manchester, machine

[JUNE, makers; for certain improvements in the loom to be used in weaving cotton, worsted, silk, or other cloth, made of any two or more of the said materials. Feb. 4, 1815.

JAMES THOMSON, Primrose Hill, Lancashire; for certain improvements in the process of printing cloth made of cotton or linen, or both. Feb. 4, 1815.

WILLIAM GRIFFITH, Giltspur-street, London; for an improved toast-stand. Feb. 7, 1815.

RICHARD JONES TOMLINSON, Bristol; for certain improvements in the method of framing, constructing, or putting together the roofs of buildings, or the parts thereof. Feb. 9, 1815. WILLIAM MOULT, Bedford-square, London; for a mode of evaporation and sublimation. Feb. 13, 1815.

JOSEPH BURRELL, Thetford, Norfolk; for an invention to be used as a support and safeguard in getting in and out of chaises, and other two-wheeled carriages. Feb. 21, 1815.

JONAH DYER, Wootton-under-edge, Gloucester; for an improved frame or machine for shearing of woollen cloth. Feb. 21, 1815.

SAMUEL BROWN, Mark Lane, London; for a rudder and certain apparatus connected therewith, for governing ships and vessels of all descriptions, with much more certainty and effect, and for producing various advantages not hitherto practised or known. Feb. 28, 1815.

RALPH DODD and GEORGE STEPHENSON, Killingworth, Northumberland; for various improvements in the construction of locomotive engines. Feb. 28, 1815.

WILLIAM MITCHELL, Glasgow, and JOHN LAWTON, Kingstreet, Snow-hill, London; for a lock and key applicable to various purposes. March 7, 1815.

THOMAS DEAKIN, Ludgate-hill, London; for a portable kitchen. March 7, 1815.

DUDLEY ADAMS, Fleet-street, London; for certain improvements in the construction of paper vellum tubes for telescopes, and other optical parts of telescopes. March 7, 1815.

WILLIAM WOOD, Shadwell, Middlesex; for the manufacture of a material or materials, and the application thereof to the more effectually making water tight and sea-worthy ships and all other vessels, which he denominates adhesive felt. March 9, 1815.

ROBERT DICKINSON, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's Inn-fields, London; for certain improvements in the making or fabrication of sundry tools, implements, or articles, used in various arts or manipulations, or the ordinary occasions of life. March 14, 1815.

JOHN MILLS, Holywell-street, St. Clement's church-yard, Strand, London; for improved elastic stays for women and children; and also to give relief to women in a state of pregnancy. March 14, 1815.

ELIZABETH BEVERIDGE, Hatton-garden, London; for an improved bedstead. March 14, 1815.

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1815. Wind. Max. Min. Med. Max. Min. Med.

Evap. Rain.

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The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. A dash denotes, that the result is included in the next following observation.

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