oast had been supplied with sea thermometers
by the Scottish Meteorological Society, and they found that during one
week, when the sea water showed a temperature of 58 deg. to 59 deg., no
fish were caught. But when the temperature fell to 55 deg. the herring
were caught in great abundance. Indeed, they flocked to the land in such
numbers that many nets were taken to the bottom with their weight, and
the fishermen lost considerable sums from this odd mishap. The action of
the Meteorological has produced important results. The entirely new
discovery has been made that the herring love cold water, and in seasons
when the temperature of the sea water rises, they keep away from the
land, in deeper water, between the fifteen to eighteen fathoms for which
the nets are calculated. The colder the weather the greater is the take
of fish; 1875, a year when the water was considerably and continuously
warmer than 1874, having been a poor year, while the latter was a better
one. This action of the fish makes it probable that it likes a given
range of temperature, neither too high nor too low. In cold water this
belt of agreeable temperature is found nearer the sun-warmed surface,
and the fish creep inshore. Many singular facts relating to this fishery
are known. If a thunderstorm occurs, the fishermen expect a good catch
on that day, but the next day they will get none except in deep water,
and the supposition is that the fish are leaving the land. The herring
has a strong sense of locality, always returning to the same ground.
Experienced dealers can tell by inspection in just what sea or loch a
given lot of fish were caught.

NATURAL GAS IN FURNACES.

A paper describing the use of natural gas in the puddling furnaces at
Leechburg, Pa., was presented by Mr. A. L. Holley to the American
Institute of Mining Engineers. This well is about twenty miles northeast
of Pittsburg, on one of the side tributaries of the Alleghany river. It
had been drilled in search of oil to a depth of 1,250 feet in 1871, but
none was found. A great flow of gas was developed, however, accompanied
by a slight spray of salt water, and this has continued with little or
no diminution to the present time. The gas in its escape has been
discharged through a five-inch pipe, and at a pressure of from sixty to
eighty pounds per square inch. The rolling mill of Messrs. Roger &
Burchfield is on the opposite side of the river, and it has been for
some years devoted to