SIR THOMAS BRISBANE'S EXPERIMENTS ON THE PEN DULUM. By means of a pendulum belonging to the Board of Longitude, and similar to that used by Captain Kater and Captain Hall, Sir Thomas Brisbane made a series of experiments at Paramatta, in 1822. The pendulum having been swung in London, and observed both by Captain Kater and Sir Thomas Brisbane, it was found that it performed 86090.17 vibrations at London, in Lat. 51° 31' 8".4, in a mean solar day, at At Paramatta in E. 60° of Fahrenheit, and in a vacuum. Long. 151° 0' 15," and S. Lat. 33° 48' 43," the same pendulum performed 86021.59 vibrations, according to Sir Thomas Brisbane's observations, and 86022. 21 according to the observations of Mr, Dunlop, his scientific assistant. By comparing Sir Thomas's results with those made in London, Captain Kater has found that 39,07696 inches is the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds at Paramatta; .0052704 the diminution of 1 the resulting gravity from the pole to the Equator, and 295.84 compression, the seconds-pendulum at London being taken at 39.13929 inches. By comparing the same experiments with those made by Captain Kater, at Unst, in Lat. 60° 45' 23" N. 1 the resulting the diminution of gravity is .0053605, and 303.95 compression, By comparing the results of Mr. Dunlop's observations with his own in London, Captain Kater finds the length of the seconds-pendulum at Paramatta to be 39.07751, the diminution of gravity .0052238, and the compression 15 Comparing these with the Unst observations, the diminu tion of gravity is .0053292, and the compression Phil Journal.

291.85

1 Edin.

301.09

The Asiatic Society has been favoured with a communication, from the Madras Government, intimately connected with the preceding article. It is an account of an Expedition fitted out

from the Madras Observatory, for ascertaining the length of the seconds-pendulum at the Equator. The Expedition was set on foot by Mr. Goldingham, under the encouragement of Sir Thomas Munro, and Sir Stamford Raffles, in 1821. In 1822, the party under Captain Crisp arrived at Bencoolen, and after some time occupied in searching for an eligible spot, stationed themselves on a small island, named Gaunsah Lout, in January 1824. The Latitude of the island was 0° 1' 48". 73. The observations and experiments were continued till the end of March, and were very numerous and laborious. The details form the bulk of the Report, a folio of 268 pages, including, however, a series of observations to determine the geographical position of a number of places in the vicinity. The result as it regards the main object of the Expedition, is, that the length of the Pendulum on the Equator is ascertained to be 39.02125994 inches.

PERKINS'S STEAM ENGINE, &c.-" The delay which has taken place in the construction of Mr. Perkins's Steam Engine, has arisen solely from the difficulty of constructing a genera tor capable of retaining the steam under high pressure, without leakage at the seams and joints. Under this difficulty, Mr. Perkins very properly declined to exhibit an imperfect experiment of his invention. We are glad, however, to find, that Mr. James Russell of Wednesbury, has succeeded in constructing a generator of wrought iron, without any seam or rivets, which we learn has been proved to resist the enormous and incredible pressure of twenty thousand pounds upon every inch of its surface. Mr. Perkins considers this extraordinary piece of workmanship as enabling him to surmount all his practical dif ficulties.

The great power of Mr. Perkins's engine he has recently illustrated by some singular experiments. He has construct. ed a small apparatus, which, when connected with the gene. rator, has been found to discharge ordinary musket bullets at the rate of 210 in the minute, and with such tremendous force,

Electricity-Orang Outang in Sumatra.

343

that after passing through an inch deal, the ball, in striking against an iron-target, became flattened on one side, and squeezed out. The original size of the bullets was 0.65 of an inch, but after striking the target, they were plano-convex, and their diameter 1.070 inches, and 0.29 of inch thick."-Edin. Phil. Jour. April, 1824.

ELECTRICITY PRODUCED BY SEPARATION OF PARTS. "In the fine water-proof cloths manufactured by Charles Mackintosh, Esq. of Glasgow, where two pieces are cemented together by caoutchouc, dissolved in coal-tar oil, the adhesion is so complete, that when the two are torn from one another in the dark there is a bright flash of electric light, similar to what is produced by tearing asunder plates of mica, by bursting Prince Rupert's drops, or by breaking barley sugar, or sugar-candy. Upon trying this experiment with different substances, we found that flashes of light were distinctly produced by tearing quickly a piece of Cotton cloth."—Edin. Phil. Jour.

NATURAL HISTORY.-Orang Outang.-It has been generally believed, that the Great Orang Outang was to be found only in Africa; and it has been doubted whether Orang Outangs existed in Sumatra at all. We have much pleasure, therefore in being able to give the following decided information on the subject. It is contained in an extract of a letter from Mr. Burton of Tappanooly, Sumatra, to Mr. N. Ward, of Bencoolen.

I must not omit to mention that Messrs. Craygman and Fish, officers of the Mary Anne Sophia, have lately killed near Tarumon an immense Orang Outang, measuring in height six feet, spanning with its arms nearly eight; its foot fourteen and a half inches in length. I have seen its skin, which is covered with bright shining brown hair, nearly resembling that of a horse's mane, about a foot long. Its face was quite human, with a long beard beautifully curled. You may imagine the size and power of the animal when I tell you that I measured one of its eyeteeth, and found it three inches and one-eighth in length, and that

344

Influence of Sounds on the Elephant and Lion.

it lived many hours after 5 balls were lodged in its body and a The body was well proportioned, with

spear run through it.

no protuberance at the stomach."

INFLUENCE OF SOUNDS ON THE ELEPHANT AND LI ON.-In the human ear the fibres of the circular tympanum, radiate from its centre to its circumference, and are of equal length; but Sir E. Home has found that in the Elephant, where the tympanum is oval, they are of different lengths, like the radii from the focus of an ellipse. He considers that the human ear is adapted for musical sounds by the equality of the radii, and he is of opinion that the long fibres in the tympa num of the elephant enable it to hear very minute sounds, which it is known to do. A piano-forte having been sent on purpose to Exeter Change, the higher notes hardly attracted the elephant's notice, but the low ones roused his attention. The effect of the higher notes of the piano-forte upon the great Li. on in Exeter Change was only to excite his attention, which was very great. He remained silent and motionless. But no sooner were the flat notes sounded, than he sprang up, attempted to break loose, lashed his tail, and seemed so furious and enraged as to frighten the female spectators. This was attended with the deepest yells, which ceased with the music. Sir E. Home has found this inequality of the fibres in neat-cattle, the horse, deer, the hare, and the cat.-Edin, Phil. Jour. quoted from Phil. Trans, 1823.

Asiatic Entelligence.

SERAMPORE.-Kalee-Poojah.—On the evening of the 21st of Octo ber, we repaired to the house of a respectable native, Rajeeb-Lo chun Mookerjee, a brahmun, who is the most distinguished in Se rampore for celebrating this abominable festival. We went about half past ten p. m.-it is a deed of darkness. The house is in the

common form of the better sort of Bengalee houses, square, with a court in the middle. The idol occupied one side of the square, and the court was covered over with an enormous roof of cloth supported by bamboos from the floor. Up near the idol were a number of brahmuns, one having a book which he was not reading aloud nor using very diligently, but from which, we suppose, he was refreshing his memory regarding the order of the ceremonies. At the win. dows on one side, were the females of the family: in the court were the spectators, to call them worshippers would be a prostitution of the term, and tied to the bamboos that supported the temporary roof were eight kids almost full grown. Such was the state of matters when we entered. And the most striking circumstance was, the total want of any appearance of reverence, even in those nearest the idol-they were talking, laughing, or hurrying about.

In about half an hour, the ceremonies began. The kids were loos. ed from their stations, and, after being sprinkled with Ganges was ter, were brought separately up to the idol, where they were again sprinkled copiously, as was also all the place near the idol, with the steps leading up to it. Here they remained for a considerable time, and, we believe, were consecrated by a brahmun repeating muntras (incantations;) &c. but we could not see exactly what was done. Nearly at the bottom of the court, and exactly opposite, or in front of, the idol, were two places, one for sacrificing the kids, and the other larger for the buffaloe: they were formed of a piece of timber sunk into the ground, and appearing above like a twopronged fork: when the neck of the animal was put between the prongs, a cross pin was run through two small holes to confine it. A broad space was sprinkled, and thus consecrated, all the way down from the idol to these places: the kids were then brought down and placed in a row, near the place of their execution. Eight

Rr