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MESSRS. EDITORS:—In perusing your valuable jour-nal, I find on page 178, Vol. III., that a correspondent at Sparta, Ga., asks the question whether sulphur water could have been the cause of his flue boiler exploding. Sulphur water, as it is commonly called, we are very familiar with ; and its effects are very destructive iri anthracite coal regionsor, at least, in this and our adjoining counties. The water running out of old mines may be as clear as crystal, and yet, by evaporating it in boilers, it will turn red and rusty in a short time. It is only used when no other can be obtained ; for it is so destructive as to render boilers useless in a short time. Our boilers are generally constructed in a cylindrical form, about 31 inches in diameter, of one-faurth inch iron for colleries, and in many instances, where the water is used direct from the mines, they are repaired about every month; and frequently in ton or twelve months rendered entirely useless. Couhl some of your intelligent writers give us a remedy for this great evil? D. ZUERN. Shamokin, Pa., Dec. 5, I860. THE world receives now, in a single year, nearly one-tenth as much gold as was obtained in the whole period from the discovery of America down to the year 1848.
