d produce a
sensation of coldness, when they are immersed in the melted metal, I
immersed my hands, previously moistened with sulphurous acid, in the
melted lead, and experienced a sensation of decided cold. I repeated the
experiment of immersing the hand in melted lead and in fused cast-iron.
Before experimenting with the melted iron, I placed a stick, previously
moistened with water, in the stream of liquid metal, and on withdrawing
it found it to be almost as wet as it was before, scarcely any of the
moisture was evaporated. The moment a dry piece of wood was placed in
contact with the heated metal, combustion took place. M. Covlet and I
then dipped our hands into vessels of the liquid metal, and passed our
fingers several times backward and forward through a stream of metal
flowing from the furnace, the heat from the radiation of the fused metal
being at the same time almost unbearable. We varied these experiments
for upward of two hours; and Madame Covlet, who assisted at these
experiments, permitted her child, a girl of nine years of age, to dip
her hand in a crucible of red hot metal with impunity. We experimented
on the melted iron, both with our hands quite dry, and also when
moistened with water, alcohol, and ether. The same results were obtained
as with melted lead, and each of us experienced a sensation of cold when
employing sulphurous acid."

A circular from Prof. Schumacher has brought an announcement of the
discovery of a new telescopic comet, by Dr. Peterson, at the Royal
Observatory of Altona, on the 1st of May. "Unfavorable weather," says
Mr. Hind, writing to the _Times_, "prevented any accurate observation
that evening, but on the following morning at 11 o'clock, mean time, the
position was in right ascension 19h 24m 8s, and north
declination 71 deg. 19' 34". The comet is therefore situate in the
constellation Draco. The right ascension diminishes about 48" and the
declination increases about 8' in the space of one day.

The LITERARY INTELLIGENCE of the month comprises the issue of no books
of very great pretensions. The _Autobiography of Leigh Hunt_ was just
ready for publication, and from the extracts given in the preceding
pages of this Magazine, our readers will readily judge it to be a book
of more than ordinary interest. It is full of anecdote and incident,
often trivial in themselves, but sketched with that _naivete_ and warmth
of manner which constitute the charm of whatever HUNT writes. It