_~emarks on Analysis of the Gamut. 347

indications agreed generally within 10 per cent. with the results of actual soundings.

In the course of the discussion which ensued, Prof. Tyndall sug- gested that the instrument wouldbe equally applicable for measuring heights.

JDestruetion of Insects in Grain. :By M. LouvEL.

In M. Louvel's plan, the grain is put into a hollow cast iron cylin- der, from which the air is then exhausted. No animal can then live in i t : fermentation itself stops, since it has neither air nor moisture, without which it cannot continue. On a large scale, M. Louvel makes his vacuum, by previously filling another cylinder provided with pro- per valves, with steam of four atmospheres pressure, and then con- densing the'steam. A communication is then opened between this generator, as it is called, and tim cylinder containing the grain. A vacuum of 38 centim. (15 inches) is easily obtained and perfectly effec- tive. Indeed, M. Louvel has found that 50 eentim. (19"7 inches) was quite sufficient for the purpose..--Cosmos.

Cement "for fgooms. From the London Builder, No. 992.

A recent invention by M. Sorel is described to us. He states that the invention consists in the discovery of a property possessed by oxy- chloride of zinc, which renders it superior to the plaster of paris for coating the walls of rooms. It is applied in the following manner : - - " A coat of oxide of zinc mixed with size, made up like a wash, is first ]aid on the wall, ceiling, or wainscot, and over that a coating of chlo- ride of zinc applied, being prepared in the same way as the first wash. The oxide and chloride effect an immediate combination, and form a kind of cement, smooth and polished as glass, and possessing the ad- vantages of oil paint, without its disadvantages of smell~" &c.

For the Journal of tha Franklin Institute.

Remarks on Mr. 6'. J. W., Jr.'s "Analysis of the Gamut in the Major and Minor Modes. By J. C. B.

T o the Edi tor of the Journ . of the Frankl . Insti.

A friend having handed me a copy of your March No: containing an article "Analysis of the Gamut of the Major and Minor Modes," I desire to express my gratification on finding at least one scientific gentleman, so much interested in the "Art Divine" as to write a lengthy article on the subject. Although the conclusions of the writer are la the main just, yet the roundabout way in which he reaches them, is not, in my opinion, calculated to make them practical, which, after all, is the great desideratum in theory. I allow him, however, great credit for his originality. The immediate object of this communication is~ to refer your readers to a work, viz : "The Introduction to the Art and ~'enee of Music," by Phil. Trajetta, which is considered good authori-

848 Mechanics, Physics, and Chemistry.

ty on this subject. In i t s Preface we read, ~ There are systems of music like that of Tartini, so entangled with mathematics, that unless the reader is a mathematician, he cannot understand them." Also Less. xx. (2) "There are three principal sounds of the Diatonic Genus which are at the foundation of Harmony. These sounds are the Tonic, the fourth and the fifth or .Dominant," and Less. xxii. (3) ~When an altera- tion or diminution is given to the sounds of the Diatonic Genus, the key changes, viz: The musical phrase proceeds to another key. A sensible alteration would be that of the fourth, if made major (F to F sharp). A sensible diminution that of the seventh, when made minor~ (B to B fiat.)" These two propositions include all the theory of your correspondent. Hoping he may give us a more practical application of the subject, I remain, &c.

PHILADELPHIA~ April 15,1862.

Russian Method for the _Preservation of Fruits, Vegetables, ~e. At the last Exhibition at St. Petersburgh, the following mode of

preserving fruits, invented by the maitre d'hotel of the Grand Duke l~ieholas, attracted great attention from amateurs. Quick-lime is slack- ed in water, into which four or five drops of creosote for each quart of water have been mixed: the lime must be neither too much nor too little slacked ; there is a certain knack which practice alone can teach. Take a box and lay in its bottom a bed of the slacked lime, above this spread a layer of the materials to be preserved ; at the four angles and elsewhere lay packages of powdered charcoal ; then make another bed of the lime, followed by another layer of the fruit. When the box is full put on the lid, and close it air-tight. Thus preserved, the fruits will last a whole year.--Cosmos.

_Proper Time of Year for Cutting Wood. Four pine trees of the same age, equally sound, which had grown

on the same soil and under the same conditions, were chosen. The first was cut at the end of December ; the second, at the end of'Janu- ary; the third, at the end of February; and the fourth, at the end of March. They were shaped in the same manner, into beams of the same dimensions, and seasoned under the same conditions. Their re- sistances to bending were then determined by laying them on supports and loading them at the middle. The resistance of the first beam (that felled in December) being called 100 ; that of the second was 88 ; of the third, 80; and of the fourth, 62.

Similar results were obtained as to the durability and strength of posts made of sticks cut at the end of December and of March. The first were still perfectly sound after 16 years ; the second at the end of 3 or 4 years broke with the slightest effort. All were buried in the same soil and under the same conditibns.

Four oaks as like as possible, and placed in the same conditions~ were cut at the end of December, January, February, and March. A disk of the same thickness was cut from each at the same height above