right
angles. When the seismograph has been arranged according to such
directions, no matter from what part the first horizontal shock comes,
one of the four pendulums will be set in motion. If, after the first
undulation in one direction, another occurs in the opposite, the
pendulum facing the first will in its turn begin to move; and if other
undulations make themselves felt in diametrically opposite directions,
the other pendulums will begin to act. These pendulums, in their
motion, carry along the appendages, e e e e, which are so arranged
as to fall in the center of the marble or iron table, one upon
another, and thus show the order according to which the telluric waves
manifested themselves. The part of the apparatus that records vertical
shocks has a winch, r, which falls at the same place when the lead
ball drops.

The apparatus as a whole may be inclosed in a case. When it is desired
to employ it, it should be mounted in a cellar, while the clock that
is connected with it can be located in one of the upper stories of the
house.--_F. Cordenons, in La Nature_.

* * * * *

NOTES ON THREE NEW CHINESE FIXED OILS.[1]

[Footnote 1: Read at an evening meeting of the Pharmaceutical
Society of Great Britain, Feb, 4, 1885.]

By ROBERT H. DAVIES, F.I.C., F.C.S., General Superintendent
of Apothecaries' Hall.

The three oils that form the subject of the examination detailed in
this paper were consigned to a London broker, with a view to their
being regularly exported from China if a market could be found for
them here: it was, therefore, necessary to ascertain what commercial
oils they resembled in character, so as to estimate to what uses they
might be applied.

TEA OIL (_Camellia oleifera_).

In color, transparency, and mobility, this oil considerably resembles
olive oil. The odor and taste, though characteristic, are not easy to
describe.

(1.) _Specific Gravity._--The specific gravity at 60 deg. F. is 917.5),
water at 60 deg. F. being taken as 1,000.

(2.) _Action of Cold._--On subjecting to the cold produced by a
mixture of pounded ice and salt, some solid fatty matter, probably
stearine, separates, adhering to the side of the tube. It takes a
longer exposure and a lower temperature than is necessary with olive
oil. I did not succeed in solidifying it, but only in causing some
deposit. Olive oil became solid, while almond and castor oil on the
other hand did