Electroplating with Platinum. Platinum has not been much used in electroplating, notwithstanding its hard, durable, and protective properties. This is, perhaps, chiefly owing to the practical difficulty of obtaining a good firm "reguline" deposit. A process for effecting this has, however, been brought out recently by a Mr. Bright, whose patents have been acquired by the Bright Platinum Plating Company, and are in actual operation in London at works established there. Platinum has the advantage of keeping its color where silver, brass, or copper becomes discolored, and will, to some extent at least, replace the use of these metals in electrotyping. It will be highly useful in plating chemists' crucibles and so on. German silver, for example, plated with platinum can be used to manipulate strong acids. By the Bright process, platinum can be deposited on any surface which can be electroplated with other metals. COMBINED BRUSH AND COMB CLEANER. The invention herewith illustrated relates to a device for cleaning brushes and combs. It consists of a handle or body of suitable form, provided at one end with a brush, and at the opposite end with thin curved fingers of metal, or equivalent elastic material, adapted to enter between the teeth of the comb or the bristles of the brush. In making use of the device the hooks are employed to loosen and remove, as far as possible, the hairs or other foreign matter, after which the brush is employed to complete the operation. It is intended to afford a cheap, simple, and efficient means of cleaning articles in daily use in every household, and is virtually sure, considering the low cost at which it can be manufactured, to become a staple article of merchandise. The invention has been patented by Mr. J. O. Brookbank, of Driftwood, Cameron County, Pa., to whom all particulars relating to purchase of rights for the United States and Canada should be addressed. [Illustration: BROOKBANK'S COMBINED BRUSH AND COMB CLEANER.] Correspondence. Coincidence of Charleston Earthquake with a Reported Eruption in the Tonga Group. _To the Editor of the Scientific American:_ I would like to call your attention to a reported coincidence, described in a letter in the London _Times_ of December last. An interview with captain and crew of a vessel just then arrived at Sydney, Australia, from Tonga Islands, is given. The captain is represented assaying that while lying off the islands on the night of the 31st of August, 1886, he observed a most terrific eruption of a volcano situated on one of them, accompanied by earthquake shocks, and the vessel received showers of dust and ashes. The occurrence on the same night with the Charleston earthquake on this continent is curious, to say the least. The statement might be acceptable to those of your readers interested in seismic disturbances. P. MAX. FOSHAY. Beaver Falls, Pa., February 2, 1887. Incendiary Birds. _To the Editor of the Scientific American:_