Mr. Becquerel has discovered that the temperature of a conducting wire communicating with the two poles of a pile, increases from each of its extremities, and constantly reaches its maximum in the middle of the wire.--_Brewster's Journal._ _Alloyed Iron Plate_. A manufacture of prepared iron has been practised, and the substance produced used to a considerable degree in Paris. This has been to prepare iron in large plates, and other forms, so that it will not rust. This has been effected by coating it with an alloy of tin and much lead, so as to form an imitation of tin plate. Trials have been made, and proved favourable; it resists the action of certain fluids that would rapidly corrode iron alone; it can be prepared of any size, and at a low price. Its use in the manufacture of sugarpans and boilers, in the construction of roofs and gutters, is expected to be very considerable. --_Bull. d'Encouragement._ _Saline Lake of Loonar in Berar._ This curious lake is contained in a sort of cauldron of rocks amidst a pleasing landscape, and is of course the object of superstition. The taste of the water is uncommonly brackish. Mr. Alexander, who describes it, found by a rough analysis that 100 parts contain Muriate of Soda 20 parts, Muriate of Lime 10 parts, Muriate of Magnesia 6 parts, The principal purpose to which the sediment of the water is applied is cleansing the shawls of Cachmere. It is also used as an ingredient in the alkaline cake of the Musselmans.--_Trans. Lit. Soc. Madras._ * * * * * The Selector; AND LITERARY NOTICES OF _NEW WORKS_. * * * * * AN ILLUSTRIOUS SWINDLER. [Here is a whole-length of a fine, slashing French thief, from the third volume of Vidocq, the policeman's Memoirs, of which more anon:--] Winter was only twenty-six, a handsome brown fellow, with arched eyebrows, long lashes, prominent nose, and rakish air. Winter had, moreover, that good carriage, and peculiar look, which belongs to an officer of light cavalry, and he, therefore, assumed a military costume, which best displayed the graces of his person. One day he was an hussar, the next a lancer, and then again in some fancy uniform. At will he was chief of a squadron, commandant, aide-de-camp, colonel, &c.; and to command more consideration, he did not fail to give himself a respectable parentage; he was by turns the son of the valiant Lasalle, of the gallant Winter, colonel of the grenadiers of the imperial horse-guard; nephew of the general Comte de Lagrange, and cousin-german to Rapp; in fact, there was no name which he did not borrow, no illustrious family to which he did not belong. Born of parents in a decent situation of life, Winter had received an education sufficiently brilliant to enable him to aspire to all these metamorphoses; the elegance of his manner, and a most gentlemanly appearance, completed the illusion.