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‘ty aM

Che Annual of Scientifte Discobery

FOR 1865.

PUBLISHED BY GOULD AND LINCOLN, BOSTON.

In issuing the ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY FOR 1865, the publishers
would take occasion to direct special attention to the character and object of this

long-established and popular work.

The Annual is published near the commencement of every year, presenting
a compact, carefully arranged, and easily accessible summary of all the important
new facts and theories in every department of science and the industrial arts, which
have been announced to the world during the preceding twelve months, —the
statements being made in as popular language as the subjects will admit. The
boundaries of every department of science are now enlarging so rapidly, that the
publication of a yearly réswmé of progress has long been felt by students and
specialists to be an indispensable necessity,—no other so ready and convenient

method of ‘‘ posting up” being available.

But there are in addition a very large number of intelligent persons in this
country who, without the time or opportunity to devote themselves to any special
study or reading, nevertheless desire to become acquainted with the truths of
science, and with what is going on in the scientificeworld. To these the Annual
of Scientific Discovery especially addresses itself; and although its circulation has
been large, we feel assured that the character and object of the work needs only

to be made more fully known to insure for it even a much wider circulation.

Appreciated, however, as the Annual has been in previous years by large num-
bers not only of the intelligent American people, but also the English, its publica-
tion at the present time seems more needful and opportune than ever before. The
high prices which have prevailed for the last two years, and the preoccupation of
the attention of the people with the incidents of a great war, have terminated the
existence of some American journals, accustomed to report the details of scientific

<=

progress, and have diminished the circulation or fullness of many others. The

high rates of foreign exchange have also caused the discontinuance of subscrip-

(1)

Annual of Srientific Discovery.

tions to many European scientific journals, which formerly circulated very largely

in this country; and have thus cut off another source of popular information.

Under these circumstances, therefore, it will be seen that this is almost the
only medium in the United States through which the reports of recent scientific
progress, at home and abroad, are promptly rendered accessible to the public,—
an assertion which is strikingly illustrated by the fact, that the present volume
contains the first detailed account, published on this side of the Atlantic, of the
remarkable discoveries effected during the past year, through the agency of Spec-

trum Analysis.

Among other noticeable features of the present volume, is a complete résumé
of the recent discoveries respecting the ‘‘ pre-historic man,’’ and the antiquity of
the human race; a report of Tyndall’s recent investigations in relation to light and
heat; photo-sculpture; Draper’s speculations on the transition of matter; recent
improvements in war implements and constructions; on the cultivation of fish;
production of sexes at will; utilization of sewage; production of petroleum; use
of steam expansively, &c. &c.

The full Series of the Annual of Scientific Discovery now numbers sixteen vol-
umes. They constitute a most complete Encyclopedia of scientific and practical
knowledge; and in the language of the N. Y. Times, ‘‘ Condense a greater quantity
of sterling matter than any other set of books in the world!” The series has
furthermore this advantage over any Encyclopedia, inasmuch as it chronicles the
Jailures as wellas the achievements in science; and a record of the first is equally
indispensable with the last, to all who desire to know what has been attempted or
speculated upon by the pioneers of invention and discovery, as well as what has

been realized.

The Series contains fine steel engravings of Professors, — Agassiz, Silliman,
Hitchcock, Wyman, Mitchel, Joseph Henry, A. D. Bache, H. D. Rogers, Dr. A.
A. Gould, Isaae Lea, Esq., Richard M. Hoe, Esq., Capt. J. Ericsson, Admiral

Dahlgren, Gen. Gilmore, &e.

Price per Volume, 12mo, Cloth, . = A = . ° ° 1 75
Price per complete Set, 16 Volumes, uniform style, with neat,
substantial box, - - , - < ‘ . 28 00

ANNUAL

OF

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY:

OR,

YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS IN SCIENCE AND ART

oO. te Go

EXHIBITING THE

HOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN "

MECHANICS, USEFUL ARTS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY,
ASTRONOMY, GEOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, MINERALOGY,
METEOROLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, ANTIQUITIES, ETC.

TOGETHER WITH

NOTES ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DURING THE YEAR 194; A LIST
OF RECENT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS; OBITUARIES OF
EMINENT SCIENTIFIC MEN, ETC.

EDITED BY

DAVID A. WELLS, A.M.,M.D.,

AUTHOR OF PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY,
FIRST PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY, ETC,

BOSTON:
GOULD AND LINCOLN.

59 WASHINGTON STREET.
NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY.
CINCINNATI: GEORGE S. BLANCHARD.
LONDON: TRUBNER & CO.

1865.

Entered according to Aet of Congress, in the year 1865, by
GOULD AND LINCOLN,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR
ON THE

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE FOR THE YEAR 1864.

Tue most noticeable events in the history of the progress of science
for the year 1864, have been, first and foremost, the remarkable dis-
coveries made by Messrs. Huggins and Miller, of England, through
the process of ‘‘ spectrum analysis;” and the great additional light
that has been thrown upon the subject of the ‘‘ antiquity of the
human race,” and the contemporaneous existence of man with certain
of the extinct animals. Other matters of prominent interest are the
continued development of the business of obtaining and _ utilizing
petroleum; the continued investigations of Tyndall and others in
respect to the properties of light and heat; the application of photog-
raphy to sculpture and topography; the investigations in respect to
the use of steam expansively ; sewage utilization; meat preservation
and packing, and fish culture ; and the results of unremitting experi-
mentation in all that relates to military and naval warfare. An
exceedingly interesting and suggestive paper will also be found in
this volume, by Prof. Draper, in relation to the ‘‘ Transitions of Mat-
ter.”

The discoveries of Messrs. Huggins and Miller, and especially of
the first-named investigator, in respect to the nebule, have been
truly characterized by English authority as by far the most wonderful
and interesting that have ever been recorded in the whole history of
science; and cannot fail to excite the most intense interest. The
* nebule which Mr. Huggins has observed, are ‘six of the so-called
‘*planetary nebule,” and an equal number of nebule with a more or
less distinctly bright luminous centre. The intent of the inquiry
has been, What is the condition of this nebulous matter? Is it highly
gaseous, expanded to an enormous area in space ? or is its luminosity
caused, as some have considered, by myriads of solid masses coming

L6lle

¢

VI NOTES BY THE EDITOR

into collision, and thus that their heat and light are revealed by the
telescope? Mr. Huggins’s observations go to show that in some, at
least, of these nebule there is no solid matter at all. Herschel has
stated that the mass of one of these planetary nebule, if distant from us
as far as 61 Cygni, would fill a space equal in diameter to seven times
that of the orbit of Neptune; and hence, were it not that the light
was concentrated nearly into.a single line, its examination would not be
practicable. In the light of these nebulw, as is shown elsewhere,
there is nothing to indicate, as in the case of the sun, a solid luminous
globe, behind the luminous photosphere, but the ight from them is such
as is characteristic of gaseity. When a star occurred in, or was asso-
ciated with, the nebulz, a very feeble continuous spectrum was
observed. To understand fully the researches which have led to Mr.
‘Huggins’s conclusions, the reader would do well to refer to the expla-
nations of the process of spectrum analysis as detailed in the volumes of
the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1862. 63, and 64; there being
at. the present time no continuous and complete published record of
these investigations.

The 34th annual meeting of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, was held at Bath, England, and was very largely
attended by British and foreign scientists. The annual address of the
President, Sir Chas. Lyell (republished in full in this volume), was,
in the main, a popular discussion of the most recent geological re-
sults and theories, and cannot fail to be read with interest.

At this meeting a Committee of the Association, consisting of Lord
Wrottesley, Sir W. Armstrong, the Astronomer Royal, the Master of
the Mint, Prof. Leon Levi, Mr. W. Ewart (Chairman of a similar
committee ia the House of Commons), and other distinguished gen-
tlemen, reported in favor of adopting the metric system (of weights
and measures) of France, and the report was unanimously adopted,
yet with some discussion as to whether the unit should be the French
meter or not. Among the recommendations of the Committee, were
the following : —

That it is desirable, in the interests of science, to adopt a decimal
system of weights and measures. ‘That in furtherance of this proposal
it is desirable, from its scientific capabilities, to adopt the metric sys-
tem. That it be recommended to the Government, in all cases in
which statistical documents issued by them relate to questions of inter-
national interest, to give the metric equivalents to English weights and
measures. That in communications respecting weights and meas-
ures, presented to foreign countries which have adopted the metric
system, equivalents in the metric system be given for the ordinary
English expressions. for length, capacity, bulk, and weight. That it

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. VII

be recommended to the authors of scientific communications, in all
cases where the expense or labor involved would not be too great, to
give the metric equivalents of the weights and measures mentioned.
That treatises explaining the metric system, with diagrams, should be
forthwith laid before the public. That works on arithmetic should
contain metric tables of weights and measures, with suitable exercises
on those tables ; and that inspectors of schools should examine candi-
dates for pupil-teachers in the metric system. That in reports made
to the British Association, degrees of heat and cold be given accord-
ing to both the Centigrade and Fahrenheit thermometers ; and that
the scales of thermometers constructed for scientific purposes be
divided both according to the Centigrade and Fahrenheit scales;
and that barometric scales be divided into fractions of the meter, as
well as into those of the foot and inch.

In the discussion which followed the presentation of the report of
the Committee, Sir John Bowring stated that at the recent Postal
Congress at Paris, at which 16 governments in Europe and America
were represented, a resolution was unanimously adopted that the
metric system should be universally adopted for postal communication,
and that if adopted as a principle, it would afford the greatest. possi-
ble facility for the settlement of accounts and. intercommunication
generally. The second fact was this, that in China, where there were
agglomerated no less than 400,000,000 of human beings, the decimal
system universally prevailed, and he had never heard of a boy of
seven years who made a mistake in any account. He had even, heard.
savages say that the decimal and metric system must have come from
God. They found it the greatest blessing, because, having their ten
fingers, they always carried with them the means of settling their
accounts.

A deputation from the chemical section of the Association, through
Prof. Williamson, bore testimony to the results of the experience of
chemists in their use of the metric system, in operations of daily
occurrence, and stated that working chemists, with very few excep-
tions, were in the habit of using the metric system in almost all their
experimental operations, and that they derived from it an advantage
which nothing could induce them to sacrifice or exchange for that
absence of system which at present prevailed in England. Profs.
Owen and Hoffman gave it as their opinion that the discordancy in
the systems of weights and measures of different countries is so great,
and so much time and labor is required to convert the weights and.
measures of one country into their equivalents of a foreign system,
that practically the knowledge of one nation was a sealed book to the
scientific men of others. And as to the facility with which the system

VIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR

could be learned, Prof. Levi, the eminent statistical and politico-
economic writer, stated ‘‘ that a boy could make the same progress
in arithmetic taught according to the metric system in ten months as
would, according to the existing method, take him two years and ten
months to accomplish.”

The Old and the New Systems of Education.—A year or two since
a Parliamentary Commission was appointed in England, to inquire
into the thanagement of certain leading colleges and schools, and es-
pecially in regard to the studies pursued and the instruction given
therein. In prosecuting these investigations, the Commission were
naturally led to devote considerable attention to the relations and in-
trinsic worth of the two great educational methods of the present day,
—the linguistic and the scientific,—and for the purpose of obtaining
the requisite information, they invited the testimony of many of the most
prominent educators in the kingdom. ‘The testimony of these gentle-
men is given in the Appendix of the Report of the Commission recently
published, and from it, we derive the following interesting summary.
The grounds taken by the advocates of an extended classical educa-
tion, are well represented in the following answer given by the Rey.
F. Temple, master of the famous Rugby School, in reply to a question
of the Commission : —

Question—* As in your judgment the opinion of a first-rate scienti-
fic man, who is not a first-rate man in classical attainments, deprecia-
tory of the disciplinary value of classical attainments, is not of very
high value, so would you think that the opinion of a first-rate classi-
cal scholar not having the same rank scientifically and tending to de-
preciate the disciplinary value of scientific attamment was also not of
very great value?”

Answer—‘‘ No; I do not think it would be in the same degree at
all, because it is essentially a part of the one kind of study to know
human nature, and it is not a part of the other. The one is naturally
led to the study of man, and to the study, therefore, of what is good
for the discipline of the mind; the other has not studied man, but
things, and it is not his business to know what is good for the disci-
pline of the mind. The study of the philosophy of the question comes
properly within the sphere of one man’s science, but not properly
within the sphere of the other man’s science.”

Among the scientists whose testimony was taken, were Profs.
Faraday, Owen, Sir Charles Lyell, Dr. Carpenter (the well-known
author of several works on anatomy, physiology, and the micro-
scope), and others. Their testimony is clear, decided, and very con-
vincing. Differing on some minor points, they united in asserting —
that the sin of the public schools is, that although the great majority

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, IX

of boys do*not go to the universities, yet the requirements of those
who do go to the universities in fact regulate the system. Dr. Car-
penter, in arguing that even mathematics is no substitute for the
physical sciences, remarked : —

‘‘ Mathematical training exercises the mind most strenuously in a
very narrow groove, so to speak. It starts with axioms which have
nothing to do with external phenomena, but which the mind finds in
itself; and the whole science of mathematics may be evolved out of
the original axioms which the mind finds initself. * * * Now
it is the essence of scientific training that the mind finds the object of
its study in the external world; and it appears to me that a train-
ing which leaves out of view the relation of man to external
nature, is a very defective one, and that the faculties which
bring his intelligence into relation with the phenomena of the ex-
ternal world are subjects for education and discipline equally im-
portant with the faculties by which he exercises his reason purely
upon abstraction. * * * I may add, that having given con-
siderable attention to the refuted phenomena of mesmerism, electro-
biology, spiritualism, etc., I have had occasion to observe that the
want of scientific habits of mind is the source of a vast amount of
prevalent misconception as to what constitutes adequate proof of the
marvels reported by witnesses neither untruthful nor unintelligent as
to ordinary matters. [I could mention striking instances of miscon-
ception in men of high literary cultivation, or high mathematical at-
tainments ; whilst I have met with no one who had undergone the
discipline of an adequate course of scientific study, who has not at
once recognized the fallacies: in such testimony when they have been
pointed out to him.”

Sir Charles Lyell considered that the principle of limiting education
to the languages and the mathematics is a direct injury to many men.
A large portion of those who would have shown a strong taste for the
sciences, are forced into one line, and after they leave their colleges
they neglect branches they have been taught, and so cultivate neither
the one nor the other. I have known men quite late in life, who have
forgotten all the Latin and Greek which they spent their early years
in acquiring, hit upon geology or some other branch, and all at once
their energies have been awakened, and you have been astonished to
see how they came out. They would have taken that line long before,
and done good work in it, had they been taught the elements of it at
school. Question. So there was a mental waste in their youth? An-
swer. Quite so.

The following is an extract from Prof. Faraday’s testimony.

‘Up to this very day there come to me persons of good education,

x NOTES BY THE EDITOR

men and women quite fit for all that you expect from education; they
come to me, and they talk to me, about things that belong to natural
science ; about mesmerism, table-turning, flying through theair, about
the laws of gravity; they come to me to ask me questions, and they
insist against me, who think I know a little of these laws, that I am
wrong and they are right, im a manner which shows how little the or-
dinary course of education has taught such minds. Let them study
natural things, and they will get a very different idea from that which they
have obtained by that education. It happens up to thisday. I donot
wonder at those who have not beén educated at all, but such as I refer
to, say to me, ‘I have felt it, and done it, and seen it, and though I have
not flown through the air, I believe it.?. ‘ Persons who have been fully
educated according to the present system, come with the same propo-
sitions as the untaught and stronger ones, because they have a stronger
conviction that they are right. They are ignorant of their ignorance
at the end of all that education. It happens even with men who are
excellent mathematicians. * * * Who are the men whose powers
are really developed? Who are they who have made the electric tele-
graph, the steam engine, and the railroad? Are they the men who
have been taught Latin and Greek? Were the Stephensons such ?
These men had that knowledge which habitually had been neglected
and pushed down below. [ft has only been those who, having a
special inclination for this kind of knowledge, have forced themselves
out of that ignorance by an education and into a life of their own.”

The language of the other gentlemen consulted was of the same
tenor, and equally urgent for a change in the dominant system. They
showed that the physical sciences might be safely studied before the
languages are commenced; that they might be pursued hand in hand
with the languages without crowding and with a gain of time. And
they especially insisted that no nation in this day can safely continue
a system of education which ignores the study of natural laws and the
physical constitution of the globe.

In a recent series of lectures published by Prof. Max Muller on
the ‘‘ Science of Language,” this distinguished linguistic authority
thus speaks of the usefulness of the study of modern languages in
throwing light upon the laws of language : —

= The importance of the modern languages for a true sasha into
the nature of language, and for a true appreciation of the principles
which govern the growth of ancient languages, has never been sufli-
ciently appreciated. Because a study of the ancient languages has
always been confined to a small minority, and because it is generally
supposed that it is easier to learn a modern than an ancient tongue,
people have become accustomed to look upon the so-called classical

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XI

languages,—Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin,—as vehicles of thought more
pure and perfect than the spoken or so-called vulgar dialects of
Europe. We are not speaking at present of the literature of Greece,
or Rome, or ancient India, as compared with the literature of Eng-
land, France, Germany, and Italy. We speak only of language, of
the roots and words, the declensions, conjugations, and constructions
peculiar to each dialect ; and with regard to these it must be admitted
that the modern stand on a perfect equality with the ancient languages.
Can it be supposed that we, who are always advancing in art, in
science, in philosophy, and religion, should have allowed language,
the most powerful instrument of the mind, to fall from its pristine
purity, to lose its vigor and nobility, and to become a mere jargon?
Language, though it changes continually, does by no means contin-
ually decay; or at all events, what we are wont to call decay and cor-
ruption in the history of language is in truth nothing but the neces-
sary condition of its life. Before the tribunal of the Science of Lan-
guage, the difference between ancient and modern languages van-
ishes. As in botany, aged trees are not placed in a different class
from young trees, it would be against all the principles of scientific
classification to distinguish between oid and young languages. We
must study the tree as a whole, from the time when the seed is placed
in the soil to the time when it bears fruit; and we must study lan-
guage in the same manner as a whole, tracing its life uninterruptedly
from the simplest roots to the most complex derivatives. He who
can see in modern languages nothing but corruption or anomaly,
understands but little of the true nature of language. If the ancient
languages throw light on the origin of the modern dialects, many
secrets in the nature of the dead languages can only be explained by
the evidence of the living dialects. Apart from all other considera-
tions, modern languages help us to establish, by evidence which
cannot be questioned, the leading principles of the science of lan-
guage. ‘They are to the student of language what the tertiary, or
even more recent, formations are to the geologist.

‘In the modern romance dialects, we have before our eyes a more
complete and distinct picture or repetition of the origin and growth
of language than anywhere else in the whole history of human speech.
We can watch the Latin from the time of the first Scipionic inscrip-
tion (283 B. c.) to the time when we meet with the first traces of
Neo-Latin speech in Italy, Spain, and France. We can then follow
for 1,000 years the later history of modern Latin, in its six distinct
dialects, all possessing a rich and well-authenticated literature. If
certain forms of grammar are doubtful in French, they receive light
from the collateral evidence which is to be found in I[talian or Span-

XII NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

ish. If the origin of a word is obscure in Italian, we have only to
look to French and Spanish, and we shall generally receive some
useful hints to guide us in cur researches. Where, except in these
modern dialects, can we expect to find a perfectly certain standard by
which to measure the possible changes which words may undergo
both in form and meaning without losing their identity? We can
here silence all objections by facts, and we can force conviction by
tracing, step by step, every change of sound and sense from Latin to
French; whereas when we have to deal with Greek and Latin and
- Sanskrit, we can only use the soft pressure of inductive reasoning.”

At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society (Eng.), the Pres-
ident, Gen. Sabine, stated that. the great work which has been going
on for some years under the auspices of the Society, viz: that
of preparing a Catalogue of the titles of all the papers and articles
contained in all the leading scientific Transactions and Journals for
the present century, was in the process of completion. The number
of titles of papers already copied exceeds 180,000, and the copy-
ing is to be brought down to 1863 inclusive.

A manuscript catalogue in 82 volumes, with more to follow, con-
taining the titles of the several works in chronological order, is placed
for use in the Royal Society’s Library. The next step will be a
printed catalogue of the whole number of titles, arranged alphabet-
ically according to authors’ names, accompanied by an alphabetical
index of subjects; and in this way there will be offered to scientific
inquirers in all parts of the world an easy means of reference to all
the important scientific subjects published during 63 years of the
present century,— a century the most active and fruitful in scientific
results since the world began.

The cost of printing this great catalogue will be generously as-
sumed by the British Government. A certain number of copies will
be presented to scientific institutions and public libraries in all parts
of the world; and the remainder of the edition will be offered for
sale at the cost of printing and paper only.

No Science of History. — Myr. Froude, the well-known English his-
torian, in a recent lecture before the Royal Institution, on the Science
of History took the ground, that there can be no such thing as a sci-
ence of history, because of the impossibility of educing the laws of
human motives and actions, as in physical science the laws of natural
phenomena are educed by observation, and that which will be, can
be predicted from what has been. ‘‘ Whether the end be seventy
years hence, or seven hundred,” said the lecturer, in his peroration,
‘* be the close of the mortal history of humanity as far distant in the
future, as its shadowy beginnings seem now to lie behind us — this

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, XITI

only we may foretell with confidence, — that the riddle of man’s na-
ture will remain unsolved. ‘There will be that in him yet which phys-
ical laws will fail to explain, —that something, whatever it may be,
in himself and in the world, which science cannot fathom, and which
suggests the unknown possibilities of his origin and his destiny.

Interesting Sanitary Memoranda. —The following Sanitary facts
are worthy of note. When Mr. Edwin Chadwick, about twenty years
ago, raised in Great Britain the question of Sanitary reform, and
persisted in keeping it before the public until steps were taken to
carry out measures for drainage, sewerage, water supply and other
essential works, he asserted that by adoption of the proposed im-
provement, a diminution of one third in the number of deaths in a
town or a district might be confidently looked for. It seemed a bold
prediction, but it has been more than verified; for in all the British
towns which have accepted and accomplished sanitary reforms, it is
found that the diminution in the number of deaths is one half. In
other words, instead of thirty deaths in every 1,000 of the population,
the number is now not more than fifteen, and in some instances even
less than fifteen. ‘* Many,” says the editor of Chambers’s Journal,
““ will be able to identify for themselves towns in which such satisfac-
tory results have been obtained. There is no doubt about the
matter, for it is as clearly demonstrated by comparison of a drained
section of a town with the undrained part as by town with town.
Hence we see that if sanitary reform were carried out over the whole
kingdom, there would be a saving of one-half in the rate of mortality
to be added to the usual increase of population by births, which at
the next census in 1871 would tell with striking effect in the tables of
increase. With a gain so large as this, emigration need not be
dreaded, nor plague and pestilence apart, should fears be entertained
as to the sanitary amelioration of the country at large. Though un-
drained and ill-watered towns are still numerous, there is a growing
tendency towards improvement, which cannot fail to be recognized in
all future records of the population of the realm.”

Animal Mechanics.—A curious and valuable contribution to science
has been recently made by- Rev. S. Haughton of Dublin, in a paper de-
tailing certain experiments,—on the mechanical force of the muscles,
their duration when in operation, and their value,—the whole inves-
tization, considering the vague nature of the subject, having evidently
been prosecuted with a most wonderful degree of skill and minute-
ness. Prof. Haughton lays down the two following principles or
rather postulates as he terms thus : —

1st. The amount of work done by a given muscle in a given time

XIV NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

is proportional to its weight, that is the number of muscular fibres in
its construction.

2d. The mean lengths of the different muscles employed at each
point are proportional to the perpendicular let fall from the center of
motion of the joint upon the direction in which the muscles act.

He considers that the 2d postulate is supported by these three
considerations: (1) The distance through which the point of applica-
tion of a muscle is moved by its contraction, is proportional to the
mean length of the muscle. (2) It is geometrically evident that the
perpendiculars let fall on the directions of the muscles, are propor-
tional to the spaces moved through by their points of application.
(3) The Divine contriver of the jomt has made a perfect mechanism,
and therefore employs a minimum expenditure of force.

Natural Selection. — Mr. Wallace, the English Naturalist, in a
paper recently read before the Anthropological Society, arrives at the
following conclusions, which help to account for the variation and
transmutation of species: (1.) Peculiarities of every kind are more
or less hereditary. (2.) The offspring of every animal vary more or
less in all parts of their organization. (3.) The universe in which
these animals live is not absolutely invariable.’ (4.) The animals in
any country (those at least which are not dying out) must at each suc-
cessive period be brought into harmonywith the surrounding condi-
tions. These are all the elements required for change of form and
structure in animals, keeping exact pace with changes of whatever
nature in the surrounding universe. Such changes must be slow, for
the changes in the universe must be very slow; but just as these slow
changes become important, when we look at results, after long periods
of action, as we do when we perceive the alterations of the earth’s
surface during geological epochs: so the parallel changes in animal
form become more and more striking, according as the time they have
been going on is great, as we see when we compare our living ani-
mals with those which we disentomb from each successively older
geological formation.

we thy

tere *

Maa’

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“ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

THE

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

PROPOSED GREAT IRON BRIDGE,

A GIGANTIC iron girder bridge, surpassing in dimensions the great
Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits, is proposed to be construct-
ed across the Firth of Forth, about 17 miles from Edinburgh,
Scotland. Its length will be 3,887 yards, or more than two miles,
with four spans of 500 feet each, over the navigable channel.

The clear height of the bridge in the channel will be 1965 ft. at
high water of spring tides, thus giving ample height beneath for the
tallest vessels. The frame of the girders over the widest spans will
be about 70 feet, giving a total visible elevation of 195 ft. for the dis-
tance of nearly half a mile, the height diminishing at the ends of the
bridge as the spans become reduced in width. Taking the sub-
merged part of the work, the height will be 25 ft. of foundation be-
low the silt bottom, 50 ft. of depth of water at ebb spring tides, and
18 ft. of fluctuation of tides, making in all 285 ft. in height of work
to be executed. The middle piers will be of stone to the height of
ten feet above high water at spring tides, and the rest of the struc-
ture will be of malleable iron. The dimensions of the Britannia
Bridge may be stated by way of contrast: Span, 460 ft.; height,
104 ft.; depth of tube, 80 ft. The cost of the bridge is estimated at
between £500,000 and £600,000.

How a Chain Suspension Bridge is constructed. — Most people un-
derstand how a stone bridge is erected, but the way in which the
chains of a suspension bridge are got across appears to puzzle many.
It is needless to say that the very modern invention of a suspension
bridge is only a bridge formed of powerful chains, buried in the
eround at their ends, and then built link by link over high towers,
the chains being of sufficient strength to suppért the road and foot-

15

16 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

way afterwards to be hung from them. The chains, or rather joint-
ed iron bars, as they really are, are built together by joining side-
ways a series of flat iron bars, or parts of links, —ten and eleven
bars, an odd and even number, alternately composing one link; and
the bridge having one, two, or three chains of numerous links at
each side, according to the weight it is built to carry and the dis-
tance it has to cross. The first thing done is to get the anchorage
of the shore-ends of the chains at each side. This, in some of the
great suspension bridges, is done by taking down the links no less
than 75 ft. deep into the heart of the limestone rocks, and then build-
ing them in with solid masonry. The series of bars composing the
links are then embedded at each side, and from these moorings first
a thin rope is passed over the towers and across to the other side,
then a thiek rope is conveyed along the thin, and lastly a wire rope
along the thick one. With two wire ropes thus got across, a cradle
is slung between them, and the workmen can then go on placing and
bolting together as they take a single bar or plank of iron of each
link in the chain. The wire ropes are strong enough to support
their weight till they are joined in the middle, and thenceforth they
support themselves. It is then simply a question of the cradle trav-
eling to and fro till all the bars of each link have been added on
every additional bar, making the whole work stronger.

THE MT. CENIS TUNNEL.

At.a recent meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London,
Mr. Sopwith, in a paper on the progress of this great work, said,
that, at the average rate of two metres per day, from June 30,
1864, six years and seven months would be required for the comple-
tion of the tunnel. An immense advantage had been gained in the
rate of execution by the use of the boring-machines of M. Sommeil-
ler’s system, so that the above period would suflice for what would
otherwise have occupied twenty-six years and three months by hand
labor, at the rate of 1,665 feet per day at each end, the average pro-
gress before the use of the machinery. These machines did not
weigh more than 600 weight, and could pierce a hole about one
and a quarter inch diameter, and three feet deep, into a rock in
twenty minutes. It would occupy a couple of workmen two hours to
do so much. The machine consists of two parts: one, a cylinder for
propelling the borer against the rock; the second, a rotary engine
for working the valve of the striking cylinder, turning the borer on
its axis at each successive stroke, and advancing or withdrawing the
cylinder, striking as occasion requires. It gives 250 blows per min-
ute. The effective pressure on the piston in striking was 216
pounds. Compressed air was used to drive the machinery and sup-
ply fresh air to the workmen. It was used at a pressure of five at-
mospheres above atmospheric pressure, and was conveyed to the
front of the advanced gallery by a pipe. Holes were bored in the
front by the machine, which was then withdrawn, and a gang of men
charged the holes with gunpowder and fired them; another set of
men removed the debris.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 17

SIR JOHN HERSCHEL ON THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH STANDARDS
OF MEASUREMENT.

The following is the substance of a letter communicated during the
past year to the London Times by Sir John Herschel, in reference to
the proposed introduction of the French metrical system into Great
Britain in place of the present English standard of measure. The
letter is especially noteworthy for the reason that its celebrated
author places himself in opposition to the general current of public
opinion on the subject.

After stating that he considers the change on purely scientific
grounds to be a retrograde rather than an advance movement, he
proceeds to give the following as his reasons: ‘‘ Whatever be the
historical origin of our standar d of weight, capacity, and length, as a
matter of fact our British system refers “itself with quite as much arith-
metical simplicity, through the medium of the inch, to the length of
the earth’s polar axis (a unit common to all nations), as the French
does through that of the metre to the elliptic quadrant of a meridian
passing through Paris (a unit peculiar to France). It does so
as regards our actual legal standards of weight and capacity with
much more precision than the French system, ‘and as regards that of
length, (with a correction which, if legalized, would be absolutely
imperceptible, from the smallness of its amount, in any transaction of
life, and which can be applied, currente calamo, almost without cal-
culation to any statement of lengths,) with even still greater, and
indeed with all but mathematical exactness.

If the earth’s polar axis be conceived divided into five hundred
million inches, and a foot to be taken to consist of twelve such inches,
then one hundred of our actual legal imperial half-pints by measure,
or one thousand of our actual imperial ounces by weight, of distilled
water at our actual standard temperature of 62° Fahr. will fill a hol-
low cube having one such foot as its side. The amount of error in
-either case Is only one part in eight thousand.

The theoretical French metre is one ten-millionth part of the ellip-
tic quadrant above mentioned ; the theoretical litre is one-thousandth
of a cubic metre; and the theoretical gramme, one millionth part of
a cubic metre of distilled water at 32° Fahr. The actual error of
the French legal, or standard litre or gramme, or the deviation of
these standards as they actually exist, from their true theoretical
value, is one part in 2730, and is consequently relatively nearly three
times as great as the error in our standards of capacity and weight
when referred to the earth’s polar axis as their theoretical origin in
the manner above stated.

Our actual imperial measures of length deviate, it is true, by more
than this amount from their theoretical values so defined ; that is to say,
by one part in one thousand; so that a correction of one exact thou-
sandth part subtracted from the stated amount of any length in imperial
measures suffices to reduce it to its equivalent in such units as corre-
spond to similar aliquots of the polar axis: a correction performed
if needed, as already remarked, instanter and currente calamo re-
quiring no tables and almost no calculation. So corrected, the out-

standing error is only one part in 64,000. The actual legal metre in
Dp

18 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

i

use in France is, however, not immaculate in this respect, its amount
of error being one part in 6400, which is ten times that which our
British measures so corrected would exhibit.

if it were worth while to legalize so trifling an alteration (and an
act passed rendering permissive the decimalization of our own sys-
tem, it would be necessary to do so as a means of bringing the na-
tional units of length, weight, and capacity to exact decimal cor-
respondence), no mortal would be aware, practically speaking, that.
any change had been made in our mile, yard, foot, or inch. I have
in common use two foot-rules, bought at respectable shops, and
neither the worse for wear, which differ by more than the amount of
change required. In addition to North America, which employs the
British system of weights and measures, British commerce extends to
Russia, British India, and Australia, all of them superior in area, and
the last two, at least, of equal importance, commercially speaking,
with the totality of the metricized nations. The Russian sagene is
an exact multiple of the English foot (imperial). The hath (the
legal measure of length in British India) is 18 imperial inches. The
Australian system is identical with our own. ‘Taking into considera-
tion this immense preponderance, both in area, in population, and in
commerce, we are not only justified in taking our stand against this
innovation, but entitled to inquire, if uniformity be insisted on, why,
with an equally good theorctical basis (to say the least), the majority
is called upon to give way to the minority.

MINUTE MAGNITUDES.

Mr. Whitworth, the celebrated English mechanician, lays down
two achievements as being those whereupon the excellence of all
machines mainly depends, — namely, how to produce a flat surface,
and how to measure small distances and quantities accurately. The
plain flat surfaces of iron or steel which used to satisfy engineers a
few years ago, would now be regarded as alternations of ridges,
grooves, lumps, and holes; while the thicknesses of wires, plates, and
sheets, which could once be measured to the hundreth of an inch
or so, can now be measured by But let us explain this matter
a little.

When we turn ascrew once round, in a nut or hole fitted to re-
ceive it, we at the same time push it forward to a distance equal to
one thread of the screw; consequently, if the screw be turned only
one tenth round, it advances only one tenth of the distance between
one thread and another; consequently, again, if there were a hun-
dred threads to the inch, and the screw were turned only one hun-
dreth part of a circumference, it would advance only one ten thon-
sandth part of an inch forward. All this is well known to persons
accustomed to tools and machinery ; but Mr. Whitworth’s merit con-
sists in showing how to. attain the actual results in a degree hardly
conceivable. A few years ago, he contrived an apparatus which
would detect the difference between the length of two bars, even if it
were so minute as one-millionth part of an inch! There was a screw
with ten threads to an inch; there was a tangent-screw wheel with
400 teeth in its cireumference, and a graduated circle with 250 divis-
ions; these parts were so connected that a movement equal to one

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 19

division of the circle was equal to 10 x 400 x 250= 1,000,000, — that
is, equal to an advance of the screw through a space of only one-mil-
lionth of aninch. This micrometer was placed at one end of a frame,
on which the bar to be measured was temporarily placed. Whena
small piece of metal with its opposite surfaces parallel, and exquisite-
ly true, is placed between the bar and the micrometer, the latter is
screwed up until the small piece of metal (called the contact-piece)
is just nipped and held between them; then, if the screw be brought
back merely one-millionth of an inch, the contact-piece is loosened
and falls. Although the eye does not detect it, the machine does
veritably measure this infinitesimal quantity. As Sir Emerson
Tennent says, in his Story of the Guns: ‘‘So nice is the adjustment,
that, in using it, an inch of steel can be held to be an inch only so
long as the thermometer stands at 62° Fahrenheit, the slightest
excess of temperature producing an appreciable elongation. And the
standard yard, a square bar of steel, when placed in the machine, is
so expanded by the slightest touch of the finger, as to show an ap-
preciable lengthening even under the influence of the infinitesimal
amount of heat thus imparted! Mr. Whitworth, like other inventors,
earns more honor than profit by such exquisite contrivances as these ;
but his profit begins when he applies the same principle in his work-
shop to produce articles in general demand. ‘The result is seen in
many ways. Some years ago, there was a difficulty in working
metals to one-twentieth of an inch; but the one-thousandth of an inch
is now worked as accurately as the one-twentieth was then.” In
making the exquisite details of the Whitworth rifle, or in shaping and
adjusting the separate pieces, the workmen have come to regard the
ten-thousandth part of an inch (one-hundredth part of one- -hundredth
of an inch) as a quantity within their cognizance, and on which their
credit as good workmen may depend. In the course of his elaborate
experiments on rifling, hexagonal bores, conoidal bullets, and so
forth, Mar. Whitworth made a cylinder 0°5770 inches, internal diam-
eter, a rod 0°5770 inches thick; and another rod 0°5769 inches thick ;
the one rod fitted tightly into the cylinder when both were clean and
dry; the other rod passed quite loosely into it; and yet the two rods
differed in thickness only by the ten- thousandth part of an inch.
In short, “a little,” to the last generation, would, by our present
mechanici ans, be easily divided into a hundred parts.

To produce minute results, instead of merely measuring them when
produced by others, is the purpose of many ‘beautiful contrivances.
Photography is now one of the agents for effecting this. There are
little photographic pictures, not larger than a pin’s head, containing
multitudes of portaits of distinguished persons ; a focalizing apparatus
produced them, and a microscope is necessary to render them
visible.

At the great niboonaiteaal Exhibition of 1862, many persons
glanced af the beautiful micrographical machine constructed by Mr.
Peters, the London banker; but the glance told little, except to
those who were. previously somewhat versed in the subject. Most
attractive were the wonderful bits of writing on glass which had been
effected by the machine, and which could only be rendered visible by
the aid of powerful microscopes. Mr. Peters, as an amateur man of

20 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

science, invented the machine, and some time afterwards presented
it to the Microscopial Society, by whom it was exhibited at the great
International gathering. Suppose that a metal bar is suspended ver-
tically, by a fulerum or point exactly in the middle; if the bar is
swung to and fro, the top will describe 4 curve exactly like, in size
and form, that described by the lower end, but opposite in direction.
If the lower end is twice as far distant from the fulcrum as the upper,
and if the bar be swung to and fro, the lower end will describe a
curve or arc just twice as long as that described by the upper, though
similar in shape. If, on the other hand, the lower end of the bar be
nearer to the fulcrum than the upper; and if the ratio of distances be
(say) ten to one, then the upper end will describe an arc ten times
as large as the lower, though of course reversed in direction. And
so on in any other ratio. Now, let there be a blunt tracer at one
end of the bar, and a pencil at the other; if we write, or draw, or
trace any figure with the tracer, the pencil may be made to copy the
figure on a piece of paper, — enlarged if the tracer be nearer to the
fulerum than the pencil, diminished if otherwise. Here we have the
first germ of Mr. Peters’s micrograph; a writing in moderately-sized
characters, reproduced in smaller dimensions by this kind of panta-
graph. In the first machine which he made, the fulcrum was a hun-
dred and twenty-five times nearer to one end of the bar than to the
other; and the pencil-copy was to the tracing in the ratio of one to
125 in size. But notable as was this power of diminution, Mr. Pe-
ters hit upon an expedient that enabled him to eclipse it in an aston-
ishing degree. Instead of causing the short arm of his bar or lever
to carry a pencil or graver, he caused it to move the long arm of an-
other but much smaller lever; thus obtaining the product of the two
diminutions multiplied into each other, instead of the diminution due
to asimple lever. In his large lever, he made the fulcrum 125 times
nearer to the short than to the long end; in his smaller, the ratio
was 50 to one; and as the short arm of the first acted upon the long
arm of the second, the two ratios were multiplied, insomuch that the
copy-writing was 6250 times smaller than the original tracing. Sup-
pose, for example, that the tracer ruled parallel lines one-tenth of an
inch apart; then the pencil would rule lines 1-62,500th of an inch
apart; and any writing, drawing, or device would be reduced in sim-
ilar ratio. The next achievement of Mr. Peters was so to construct
the exquisite details of his machine that he could vary the power of
diminution at pleasure, from a ratio of one to 110 up to a ratio of
one to 6250. Considering that no kind of pencil could draw such
minutely approximate lines on paper, he employed diamond to scratch
on glass. ‘The bits of diamond called ‘‘ turned points” are found
better for this purpose than ‘‘ splinters.” The long end of the lever,
which is downwards, carries a tracer, with which any design or writ-
ing is traced. The upper end carries a small piecé of glass, careful-
ly adjusted; over the glass is mounted a diamond pointing down-
wards, which remains stationary while the glass moves under it.
Delicate mechanism is connected with the diamond,.by means of
which it may be raised or lowered, and also pressed with greater or
less force upon the glass; and so effective are these contrivances,
that the thick and thin strokes of ordinary writing can be faithfully
transierred to the minute copy on glass.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 21

THE SIZE OF A DROP OF LIQUID.

The size of a drop of liquid is often spoken of as a definite quantity.
In a paper on this subject by Mr. Tate, in the Philosophical Maga-
zine, it is shown that not only the size but the weight varies with the
diameter of the tube, and the density, temperature, and chemical
composition of the liquid itself. He-gives the results of experiments
which show that, —1. Other things being the same, the weight of a
drop of liquid is proportional to the diameter of the tube in which it
is formed. 2. With regard to capillarity, the weight of the drop is
in proportion to the weight of water which would be raised in that
tube by capillary action. 3. The augmentations of weight are in
proportion to the diameter of the surfaces on which the drops are
formed. 4. The weight of a drop is diminished by an augmentation
of temperature. 5. Independent of density, the chemical composi-
tion of a liquid affects the weight of its drop in a remarkable man-
ner. 6. In different solutions of common salt and other natural
salts, the augmentation in the weight of the drop is in proportion to
the weight of dry salt in solution. The foregoing principles are
supported by tabulated statements.

THE FRACTION 3,14159.

The celebrated interminable fraction 3°14159..., which the mathe-
matician calls 2, is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter.
But it is thousands of things besides. It is constantly turning up in
mathematics: and if arithmetic and algebra had been studied with-
out geometry, 7 must have come in somehow, though at what stage
or under what name must have depended upon the casualties of alge-
braical invention. As it is, our trigonometry being founded on the
circle, 7 first appears as the ratio stated. If, for instance, a deep
study of probable fluctuation from the average had preceded geome-
' try, 7 might have emerged as a number perfectly indispensable in
such problems as - What is the chance of the number of aces lying
between a million +- x, and a million —x, when six million of throws
are made with adie? Ihave not gone into any detail of all those
cases in which the paradoxer finds out, by his unassisted acumen,
that results of mathematical investigation cannot be: in fact, this dis-
covery is only an accompaniment, though a necessary one, of his par-
adoxical statement of that which must be. Logicians are beginning
to see that the notion of horse is inseparably connected with that of
non-horse: that the first without the second would be no notion at
all. And it is clear that the positive affirmation of that which contra-
dicts mathematical demonstration, cannot but be accompanied by a
declaration, mostly overtly made, that demonstration is false. If the
mathematician were interested in punishing this indiscretion, he
could make his denier ridiculous by inventing asserted results which
would completely take him in.

More than thirty years ago I had a friend, now long gone, who
was a mathematician, but not of the higher branches: he was, inter
alia, thoroughly up in all that relates to mortality, life assurance, &e.
One day, explaining to him how it should be ascertained what the
chance is of the survivors of a large number of persons now alive dy-

99, ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ing between given limits of numbers at the end of a certain time, I
came, of course, upon the introduction of 2, which I could only de-
scribe as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
‘*Qh, my dear friend! that must be a delusion; what can the circle
have to do with the numbers alive at the end of a given time ?”— “T
cannot demonstrate it to you; but it is demonstrated.”—‘*Oh!
stuff! I think you can prove anything with your differential calcu-
lus: figment, depend upon it.” {said no more; but, a few days af-
terwards, I went to him and very gravely told him that I had discov-
ered the law of human mortality in the Carlisle Table, of which he
thought very highly. Itold him that the law was involved in this
circumstance. ‘Take the table of expectation of life, choose any
age, take its expectation and make the nearest integer a new age, do
the same with that, and so on; begin at what age you like, you are
sure to end at the place where the age past is equal, or most nearly
equal, to the expectation to come. ‘* You don’t mean that this al-
ways happens?”—‘‘ Try it.” He did try, again and again; and
found it as I said. ‘‘ This is, mdeed, a curious thing; this is a dis-
covery.” Imight have sent him about trumpeting the law of life:
but I contented myself with informing him that the same thing would
happen with any table whatsoever, in which the first column goes up
and the second goes down; and that if a proficient in the higher
mathematics chose to palm a figment upon him, he could do without
the circle: & corsaire, corsaire et demi, the French proverb says. —
Prof. De Morgan, London Atheneewm.

STRAIGHT EDGES AND FLAT SURFACES.

At the recent meeting of the British Association, Mr. James Wil-
liams read a paper on the ‘‘ Flexibility of Iron,” from which we ex-
tract the following interesting passage : —

‘“«It is a common saying, ‘rigid as a bar of iron,’ and but few ,
persons are aware how very flexible iron, as well as other metal is.
Many builders in introducing cast and wrought girders, or beams to
support enormous weights, are of opinion that such beams are strong
enough to what they call ‘bear any weight without bending,’ and
are much surprised to be told by a mechanician that these same
girders, however stiff they may appear, will not even bear their own
weight without considerable deflexion. Many good working me-
chanicians even are quite unaware of the extreme subtlety of the
metal they are operating on. It is only that class of mechanics who
are engaged in scraping up valve faces, slide lathes, and similar
tools, and, above all, attempting to make ‘ flat surfaces’ and ‘ straight
edges,’ that can comprehend in a fair way the trying difficulty of
keeping such works true after they have once got them so. In the
engineers’ workshop, where straight bars of metal are used for the
purpose of testing the work under process of manufacture, it is neces-
sary to keep at least three bars of surfaces of each kind for the pur-
pose of testing each other, for it has often been known that a straight
edge, got up with all the care and accuracy possible, true to-day will
be bent to-morrow; indeed, the very handling of it while in use is
quite sufficient to distort to such a degree that the workman frequent-
ly has to put it by awhile until it comes to the natural temperature of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 23

the room he works in, the partial heat of the hands alone being
sufficient to render it useless for its object. In getting up str aight
edges and flat surfaces, if two only are used to test each other, it is
all but a certainty that one will be hollow and the other rounding,
but by using three we are enabled to discover this defect.”

MACHINERY vs. MAN-POWER.

Mr. T. A. McIntyre, of Albany, communicates to the Scientific
American the following notice of some rapid work which recently
came under his observation i in a planing mill of that city. He says:
‘¢ The proprietors received orders one morning to tongue and groove
4,000 boards. The demand bemg urgent, they put ‘their machines
to their highest speed. Noticing ‘the remarkable speed with which
the boards went through one of the machines, I thought I would
time it, and found that 19 boards passed through in two minutes,
this would be 670 in an hour, and 6,270 in a day (11 hours being the
mill day). A man ata liberal estimate, could not put ina tongue
and groove and plane more than four boards an hour; so that this
machine, with one fan feeding and two men taking away, did as
much work as 142 men.’

STEEL SHIPS.

‘¢ Two large ships, built of steel plates, were recently launched in
the Mersey. ‘Though some small vessels have been built of the same
material, this is the first instance in which steel has been used for
ocean ships. The steel now manufactured for shipbuilding purposes
is said to have an advantage over iron, in being more ductile and
malleable, as well as stronger and lighter. ‘These qualities bring
with them, it is also said, gr eater economy in building and increased
capacity, both most important considerations. Mr. J ones, one of
the builders, states that in the Formby, one of the newly launched
vessels, of 1,276 tons burden, the weight of steel used is 500 tons,
whereas, if she had been constructed of iron, 800 tons of that metal
would have been required. In avessel like the Warrior, he declared
that by using steel greater strength might be obtained with a saving
of one half in the weight of metal. Mr. Reed, constructor of the
Navy, made a special journey from London to attend the launch and
examine the ships. He remarked, that merchant ships can be built
to test a principle, when war ships cannot, as the former can be ex-
amined and repaired annually, while the ‘latter are sent abr gad for
periods of three or four years. He perfectly agreed with what had
been said of the importance of steel for the construction of small
ships, and stated that the Government took great interest in the ques-
tion of employing steel as a material for ship-building.”—Journal of
the Society of Arts.

ENGINES WITHOUT BED-PLATES.

On the engines of the two great iron-clad vessels constructed dur-
ing the past year by Capt. Ericsson, the Puritan and Dictator, there
is a novelty which warrants attention. hey have neither bed-plates
nor frames, properly speaking. ‘The duty borne by these details
usually found in other engines, is transferred to light but rigid

24 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

wrought-iron kelsons, or bulkheads, running athwart-ships. The
entire machinery is upheld and retained in place by these kelsons ;
aig they are in reality, for while they carry the engines they also
orm a chord to the arc of the ship’s bottom and materially strengthen
the hull. The absence of bed plates dispenses with at least forty
tuns of iron, in round numbers; for these details and their appen-
dages would, with engines of the usual construction, weigh that
amount, while the absence of heavy cast-iron frames is also a source
of great advantage. ‘This is particularly the case in a vessel-of-war,
where every pound of extra weight is a positive injury, increasing
the draft, the load, and adding to the labor of the ship in a sea-way.
The cylinders are bolted directly to the wrought-iron kelsons men-
tioned previously, and the power exerted within them is transferred
to a short rock-shaft, supported on vertical pillow-blocks, bolted and
braced firmly to the same kelsons: beyond this arrangement there is
no other. Cumbrous and heavy frames which interfere with a
thorough inspection of and access to the machinery, and massive bed-
plates, are both wanting, and the other details of the engines are
equally sound from an engineering point of view. — Scientific Amert-
can.

ON THE MARINE ENGINES OF THE U. S. NAVY.

In the Report of the Secretary of the Navy, communicated to
Congress December, 1864, the following interesting statements are
made respecting the use, construction, and improvement of the steam
machinery of the United States Navy. The Sceretary says: —

As our navy has become not only exclusively a steam navy, but a
very large one, with an enormous consumption of coal and great
expenditure for the construction and repair of machinery, it be-
comes a matter of the first consequence that only the best machinery
be obtained for it. This problem is one of very difficult, costly, and
slow solution. The great maritime countries of England and
France have not yet solved it, either in the commercial or war
marine, and at this hour the best authorities do not agree upon it.
So many conditions enter into the problem that, as proninence is
given more or less to one or the other, different conclusions are
reached. It is evident that the question is purely a practical one; it
can only be answered by extensive experience and accurate observa-
tions. Mindful of the importance of this matter, the Department,
notwithstanding the great pressure upon its resources by the war,
has kept it in view and promoted by every means the acquisition of
the necessary information. The proportions of hulls have been
varied with a view to determine the relative development of speed
in proportion to given power; machinery has been constructed upon
different types and systems, and the Department has encouraged all
offers from citizens, as well as from its own officers, to build new
machinery that gave promise of improvement. The navy at this
moment contains marine machinery on an extensive scale of every
kind; their results are in its log-books, from which can be deter-
mined their various merits, both for general service and for particular
applications.

In the wooden vessels of the navy nearly every variety and type

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 25

of engine, of valve-gear, of rate of expansion, of surface conden-
ser, of screw propeller, and of boilers, have been thoroughly tested ;
but the results thus far show that the machinery designed by the
Steam Engineering Bureau of the Department has not been sur-
passed, perhaps not equaled, by any of its competitors, while in
many cases their results have been greatly below it.

In its iron-clads, the Department has experimented by the con-
struction of different classes and sizes, both in wood and iron, pro-
pelled by one serew and by two screws, working independently
of each other. In its most recent constructions, of the Miantonomoh
class, a wooden vessel designed by the naval constructors, and built
at the navy-yards, with Ericsson turrets, and machinery designed by
the Bureau of Steam Engineering, a high rate of speed, perfect
ventilation, impregnability, and the enormous battery of four 15-
inch guns, have been combined in a vessel of the moderate size of
1,564 tons, drawing only twelve feet of water. ‘These vessels are
free from the disadvantage of fouling, which so greately reduces the
speed of iron ones.

Others of this type, but of increased tonnage, are in process of
construction, to have still higher speed, and be adapted to coast
service.

In the steamers bought from the commercial marine of the country,
and in the captured blockade runners, now adapted for naval service,
are to be found every variety of machinery, both screw and paddle-
wheel, constructed either in this country or Great Britain. So far
as the exigencies of the war would permit, the different types of
machinery have been submitted to careful experiment to ascertain
their relative merits. Nearly every variety of boiler and of expansive
gear, of rate of expansion, and of saturated and superheated steam,
has been made the subject of accurate experiment, and it is believed
that the files of the Department contain the latest and most reliable
information on these subjects.

Nearly all the kinds of coal of the seaboard States have been the
subject of carciul experiment, with a view to ascertain their compara-
tive value for naval purposes. A board of engineers has also experi-
mented with petroleum as a substitute for coal in naval steamers.

As opinion appears to have settled upon the horizontal and the ver-
tical tubular boilers, as the only ones proper for naval service, the
Department has one of each kind manufactured according to designs
furnished by a board of nine engineers, employed in the principal
private steam-engine manufacturing establishments of the country,
and by the Bureau of Steam Engineering, for the purpose of accurate
experinents, to determine their respective merits. These experi-
ments will be of the most elaborate nature, and will, it is presumed,
enable a choice to be made. They are now in progress.

A commission of nine, on practical engineering, has been appointed
by the Department, consisting of three from the Academy of Science,
three from the Franklin Institute, and three on the part of the Depart-
ment, —all eminent in physical science, — to devise the proper appa-
ratus, and make the necessary experiments therewith, to ascertain
by practical results the economy of using steam with different degrees
of expansion. ‘These experiments, which are now in progress, will

”)

26 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

be as elaborate and as complete as it is possible to make them. And
under the practical conditions of steam engineering, it is believed
they will indisputably set at rest the amount of gain to be obtained
from using steam with different measures of expansion, and also
determine the relative merits of different kinds of valve-gear, steam
pressure, etc., besides settling many incidental questions of great
importance.

ON THE ECONOMY OF WORKING STEAM EXPANSIVELY.

Steam engineers and scientists generally, have, it is well known,
been greatly interested of late in regard to the question of the econ-
omy of using steam expansively; and during the winter of 1860-61,
2 series of experiments were made by Mr. Isherwood, Chief Engi-
neer of the U. S. Navy, under the auspices of the Government, with
a view of testing the question. ‘These experiments were reported in
the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1862, p. 25: and in the suec-
ceeding article we give the Knglish opinion of them as expressed in
one of the leading British Scientific journals. Some two years ago,
Congress appropriated the sum of $20,000 for the further prosecu-
tion of this investigation, and Mr. Horatio Allen of New York City,
and Mr. Isherwood of the Navy were appointed Commissioners to
conduct the experiments. Committees representing the American
Institute of New York, and the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia,
were also appointed, by request from these associations, to attend and
counsel concerning the experiment. The result of the investigations
as far as they have been made public, have been furnished us by Dr.
Warren Rowell, Chairman of the Committee on the part of the Amer-
ican Institute. In arecent letter to the editor, he says: ** An engine
was constructed in accordance with the suggestions of the best practi-
cal and theoretical engineers in the country. The engine frame was
made large enough to take in seven or eight different diameters of cy-
linders in succession, and to use steam of the same pressure and the
same quantity in each cylinder, the same amount of workin each in-
stance being put on the engine. The comparison that has been made,
is this. The first cylinder tried used one cubic foot of steam when the
piston had performed twenty-one twenty-fourths of the stroke: this
cylinder was then taken out of the frame of the engine, and a cylin-
der put in its place that held a cubic foot of steam when the piston
had performed sixteen twenty-fourths of the stroke ; and the Commit-
tee found that there was not a ‘ pound’s difference’ in the consump-
tion ef either fuel or water in a 72 hours’ experiment. This result
was quite unexpected, because it was thought by the Commissioners
and others, that if there was any possible expansive force to be ob-
tained, it would be between two thirds and seven eighths of the
stroke.”

Another set of experiments, beiring on the same subject, are also now
in the course of induction by Messrs. Hecker, Watermann, Rowell, and
others in New York, the results of which have not as yet been fully made
public; but copying from the columns of the Scientific American, we will
endeavor to state what is and ought to be ascertiined. In a series of ex-
periments made by the above-named gentlemen in 1860, it was found that
when the steam was cut off at one quarter of the stroke in an unjacketed

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 27

cylinder, 66 per cent of the steam formed in the boiler was condensed in
the cylinder ; and when both the cylinder and valve-chest were immersed
in steam of the boiler temperature, 30 per cent of the steam was condensed
in the cylinder. The process by which this large amount of condensation
takes place is supposed to be this. When the steam is cut off and begins
to expand, a portion of its heat is consumed in the performance of work ;
or, if the expression is preferred, it is cooled by expanding. This cooling
causes a portion of the steam to be condensed into water, which is depos-
ited in a fine dew all over the inner surface of the cylinder. It will be
borne in mind that this condensation takes place under pressure. There
is not heat enough in the cylinder to keep all of the water evaporated un-
der the pressure that is actually exerted. When the piston has finished
its stroke the exhaust port is opened, and the pressure upon the water
clinging to the interior surface of the cylinder—the pressure that held it
in the liquid state—is removed, and this water immediately flashes into
steam. In this change a portion of the heat required to convert the steam
into water is absorbed from the walls of the cylinder, thus cooling the
walls, and preparing them to repeat the process of condensation at the
next stroke.

The proof of this condensation is found in the indicator cards, where
the line of pressure falls below, not merely the curve of the Marriotte
law, but also below this curve when corrected for the heat consumed in
the performance of work. And that the same process takes place in
engines generally may be learned by a careful examination of the numer-
ous cards taken from those engines.

It will be observed that the condensation takes place on the steam
side of the piston and thus diminishes the working pressure, while the
re-evaporation occurs when the exhaust port is’ open, and when the
steam formed in the cylinder, if it exerts any pressure at all, exerts a
back pressure on the piston. Thus the condensation and the re-evapo-
ration are both injurious in their operation.

It is manifest that if the inner surface of the walls of the cylinder
could be kept sufficiently heated, no water could be deposited upon
them, and thus this process of condensation and re-evaporation would be
prevented. ‘The plan devised by Mr. Waterman to keep the inner sur-
face of the cylinder hot, is to make the walls very thin, and to surround
them with steam of the boiler temperature. In the experimental en-
gine the walls are of steel one-tenth of an inch in thickness, and the en-
gine is being tried first with hot steam around the cylinder, and then
under the same conditions with only a jacket of contined air.

Should the fact of the large condensation above referred to, be estab-
lished, it will prove a very important matter in the construction and
working of engiues, .

STEAM ENGINE ECONOMY.

‘* A patent case has been recently tried at Washington, U. S.,
which has elicited certain statements so remarkable in their bearing
on the system of steam engine construction adopted of late in the
American Navy, that we cannot pass it without notice. The case in
question is simple enough in itself. A Mr. Mattingly, of Washing-
ton, sued a steamboat company for a share of the savings effected by
a peculiar form of cut-off valve, the patent right in which he held,

28 ANNUAL OF.SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and had sold to the company, taking a share of the savings effected
as the pecuniary consideration. The defence set up was singular
enough. ‘The complainant asserted, and as he believed, proved that
the saving in fuel amounted to over 30 per cent; and he demanded a
verdict in accordance with his statement. The defendants, however,

called Mr. Benjamin Isherwood, the Chief Engineer of the U.S.
Navy, to prove not only that the particular cut-off which afforded the
casus belli could not possibly effect the alleged saving; but that the
only possible saving which could be effected by that, or any other
cut-off, amounted at the maximum to 18 per cent, and that therefore
a saving of 30 per cent was a physical impossibility, This statement
is startliyg enough; but Chief Engineer Isherwood does his work
thoroughly, and he proceeded to strengthen his evidence by swear-
ing that no one believed his ‘new discovery’ to be true until 1860,
and that since then, all the new marine engines for the navy were
built and building uponit. It is nothing new to us to learn that
American engines generally are constructed without much regard to
the strict principles which can alone secure economy. ‘The mdicat-
or and its use are aimost unknown in the States. ‘This little instru-
ment affords the oniy known means of ascertaining the exact duty
performed by steam within a cylinder; and in its absence we can only
form a vague idea of the really Seta effect produced by the combus-
tion of fuel. A constant habit of observation and a thorough practi-
eal acquaintance with a large number of steam engines of different
constructions, working under varying conditions, can alone give that
knowledge which will permit us to build engines capable of doing a
large duty with little coal. ‘This knowledge is tolerably well dif-
fused throughout the workshops of Great Britain ; the young engi-
neer being “generally atforded every opportunity for testing the act-
ual perfurmance of engines by the aid of the indicator. More can
be learned in this way in half an hour, than can be derived from the-
oretical instruction, however good, in a year; and we cannot expect
men who are almost, or altogether unacquainted with the nature and
properties of the instrument, to turn out first-class engines. It is
very probable that we shall be accused of attaching an undue impor-
tance to so smaliathing. ‘Fhose who have studied the subject will
take a different view of the matter, and will, without doubt, indorse
a statement which will bear repetition, namely, that without the use
of the indicator there can be no real knowledge of what does or
does not constitute a good engine. Until its use extends in Ameri-
ca, we do not look tor much improvement in steam engineering. Al-
though our Western friends are somewhat lax in their practice else-
where, we did not expect that their navy would afford such prece-
dents as Mr. Isherwood’s evidence indicates ; evidence, too, which
comes upon us with all the force which can be conferred by an oath,
and all the strength which can be derived from the high position of
the swearer. Mr. Isherwood has, we fear, led many a feeble mind
astray. ‘The engineers of W ashington possess a great deal of com-
mon sense; however, Mr. _Mattingly’s friends sent to New York jor
Mr. Dickinson, an adept in engineering, and a man learned in the
law as well, —a combination of professional attainments all too rare
in Engiand. Mr. Dickinson’s powers of cross-examination threw

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 29

new light on the subject, from which it appears that the ‘red tape-
ism’ is all- -powerful in the Naval Department of President Lincoln’s
administration. To a final suggestion that the question should be
fairly put to the test on the river Potomac, in presence of judge and
jury, the defendants turned a deaf ear. ‘The experiment was made,
notwithstanding, on board the steamship Collyer; when it turned
out that with 600 pounds of coal an hour, she could run at the rate
of 27 revolutions a minute with expansion, and that but 20 a minute
could be got without expansion, and with 700 pounds an hour. This
evidence was deemed so conclusive, that a verdict was at once given
for the complainant. It is not difficult to imagine what English en-
gineers will think of all this. Mr. Isherwood’s evidence is sc opposed
to all theory and all practice, that, did he hold a different position,
or were he less talented, his word would simply be passed over witha
smile, or perchance, a hearty laugh. The value of expansion, prop-
erly carried out, is pretty well understood among us; and it would
be unfair to deny that many American engineers vattach a proper um-
portance to the principle as well. When the Chief Engineer of a
great navy, gives utterance to sentiments and opinions so “widely op-
posed to those held by other -experts, a natural curiosity is experi-
enced to know where he got them. We will try and enlighten our
readers.
In the early part of the year 1860, the United States Navy De-
partment, in the plenitude of its wisdom, deemed it right that
certain experiments should be made to determine the relative econ-
omy of using steam with different measures of expansion. Not
content with the evidence afforded them by the practical operations
of the Cornish pumping engine, the locomotives on the New York
railroads, or the marine engines in use on the rivers and seas of the
Western Continent, the gentlemen of the Department resolved on
instituting thorough experimental research into the whole subject ; and
with this “object in view they appointed Chief Engineer Isherwood
and three other engineers, as a committee, to make “the experiments.
As very valuable results were anticipated, it is natural to suppose,
that more than one engine was reported on: that the best engines in
the navy would be selected, and tle necessary data derived from the
performance of the engines tried, at sea, under the ordinary condi-
tions of working, first, “and subsequently, under such extraordinary
conditions as seem best adapted to the attainment of the end in view.
Such a conclusion is not more natural than erroneous. But one steam-
er, the Michigan, was selected. At the time of the experiments,
February 1860, she was out of commission, frozen up in Lake Erie ;
the hull had been recently repaired, and the old boilers replaced
with new ones, constructed on Martin’s patent, with vertical water
tubes, instead of horizontal flues over the furnaces. The engines
were two in number, of a form not much known in England: the
cylinders, 36 inches in diameter, and having a stroke of eight feet
lying in an inclined position and at an angle of 28 degrees with
the keel. Not content with confining the experiment to the narrow
basis afforded by a single steamboat, Mr. Isherwood and his col-
leagues still further restricted it, by retaining only one of the two
cylinders in use: the other being uncoupled from the crank-shaft
3*

- |
80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and put out of communication with the boilers. The valves were of
the ordinary double beat poppet kind, habitually used in American
paddle engines. The steam valves were made to act as expansion
valves, by means of an arrangement known as ‘‘ Sickles’s cut-off.”
The distance between the boiler and engine was 25 feet: and the
total length of the steampipe over 17 inches in diat neter, exposed to
the refrigerating influence of the atmosphere, was 30 feet; and the
pipes being set on a slight incline, the water of condensation nat-
urally found its way into the cylinder. The steam pipes were
clothed with felt and wood lagging. The heads of the cylinders,
the valve chest, and the long nozzles, peculiar to this form otf engine,
were without covering of any kind. It is needless to enter into any
minute detail of the experiments. We have already alluded to
Mr. Isherwood’s talents, and he spared no trouble to obtain exact
results from the engine under trial. The vessel was moored fast,
the ice cut away from about the floats, and the whole power ot the
engine exerted in paddling the water backwards. Each experiment
lasted 72 consecutive hours, during which the engine was neither
slowed nor stopped; with the steam cut off at eleven-twelfths of
the stroke, the consumption of coal amounted to 4°847 pounds per
hour: cut-off et seven-tenths to 4324 pounds; at four-ninths to
3° 725 pounds; at three-tenths to 5°677 pounds;at one-fourth to
‘428 pounds; at one-sixth to 5°81 pounds ; and at four-fifths to

4-281 pounds.’ From these results we find, that the gain by expan-
sion is decided up to a cut-off at one- fourth of the stroke, ‘and that
there is no advantage to be derived from expansion afterwards, with
the particular engine under consideration. The results perfectly
satisfied Mr. Isherwood. He prepared a very elaborate report, —-
a model of its kind,—2in the course of which he attempts with
much plausibility to upset Mariote’s law as applied to the expansion
of steam, and laid it before the Secretary of the Navy. As a result,
it now appears, from the Washington investigation, that the engines
for the American Navy have been, almost from that day forth,
constructed without any regard to the carrying out of the principles
of expansion. The crop thus sown will be reaped erelong in
diminished speed, and in increased coal bills.

If the engine of the Michigan had been specially designed to
prove that the advantages of expansion were a delusion, ‘it could
not possibly have been better adapted to the end. Mr. Isherwood
is a careful, and, we presume, a conscientious experimenter, but all
his conclusions in this case are vitiated by being drawn from false
premises. He has recently published a large and handsome volume,
a large on of which is taken up with a detailed account of these
experiments, and their analysis. It required little penetration to
see where the author has lamentably failed to make out a case. No
provision whatever, either by superheating or otherwise, was made to
prevent condensation in the cvlinder of the Michigan's engine.
The length of the stroke was eight feet, the number of double strokes
per minute, with the steam at full pressure, was a little over 20;
with the steam cut off at one-fourth rather less than 14. The steam
had to traverse some 30 feet of steam pipe, lightly clothed, in an
atmosphere only raised above 29° by the heat abstracted from

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. $i

the engines and boilers, to be subsequently isolated for a space of
three or four seconds at a time, within a cylinder lagged, it 1s true,
at the sides, but wholly exposed to the atmosphere at the ends. The
cylinder was three feet in diameter, the area of each lid was over
seven square feet. It requires no very abstruse calculation to point
out the value of this area as a refrigerator during each tedious stroke.
Then we have the’ valve chests and nozzles all aiding the same work.
Nor is this all. Mr. Isherwood, on his own showing, proves: that the
loss due to clearance and nozzle space in the Michigan’s engine,
amounted to a positive reduction of average pressure equal to 12 per
cent when the steam was cut off at one- “sixth of the stroke, and to
nearly eight per cent when the cut-off took place at one- fourth of the
stroke. ‘Some men are me ntally so constituted that they only regard
any fact from one Paint of view. Instead of gathering from his ex-
perience that it was advisable that clearance of all kinds should be
reduced to a lower lunit than that found in the particular engine ex-
perimented on, Mr. Isherwood, with a strange perversity, takes this
very loss of pressure as evidence that expansion is wasteful in prac-
tice and should not be employed. Our readers can form their own
estimate of the value of conclusions so arrived at.

It is doubtful if the history of nations can show a more astounding
instance of folly in a case where the safety of the country was involved,
and that country actually at war, than that presented by the recent
proceeding of the Bureau of American Marine. On the ‘evidence af-
forded by a series of experiments on a single engine in an old and
small steamer on an inland lake, conducted “by oe engineers, far re-
moved from supervision of any kind; the engine being, on the showin 1g
of those most interested in ‘proving the reverse, totally unsuited in

every respect for the application of expansion, — the piston moving at
but 176 it. per minute, and the steam not super heated in the shghtest
degree, — those in authority have determined, in their wisdom, ‘to set
aside all the teaching of the last fifty years. They have wilfully shut
their eyes to the w ork of improvement going on daily in England and
France, and have, with a temerity almost without parallel, staked the
future of a great navy and cnormous sum of money on the truthfulness
of a single “obscure ‘experiment, bearing but a remote analogy in its
conditions to those under which steam should properly be employ ed.
Tt is as though the American engineering world had retrograded the
third part ofa century. We shall expect, next, to have war steamers
denounced, and the old liner pronounced just the thing to defend the
interests of the people, or push on a war of aggression on distant
shores.

Americans are very clever. They have taught us many new things.
This time, in the attempt to teach the world something new, they have
overshot Ne mark, and only repeated an old story in our cars, ates
story of human folly ”— From the London Mechanics Magazine, Jan.
1864.

IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS,

At the last meeting of the British Association, Mr, Zerah Colburn,
the well-known American engincer, read a paper, giving a résumé of
the latest information and improvements concerning steam boilers ;

32 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and describing in particular a form of boiler invented by Mr. Joseph
Harrison of Philadelphia. We give the substance of this paper un-
der its several heads : —

Evaporation to Surface—The rate at which heat may be trans-
mitted through an iron boiler plate, without injury to its substance,
has never been precisely ascertained. About 70,000 units of heat
per hour, equal to the evaporation in that time of one cubic foot of
water from 60°, is believed to be the utmost per square foot of plate
of ordinary thickness. But in order to approximately apply the
whole heat of a furnace to the purposes of evaporation, a much larger
area of heating surface, per unit of work done is requisite. Watt
fixed the proportion of one square yard of heating surface per cubic
foot of water evaporated per hour, and this has been sanctioned by
modern practice. But the average depth, or, in other words, the
thickness of the stratum, of water thus boiled away is only one and
one-third inches per hour, one forty-fifth-inch per minute, or one
twenty-seven thousandth inch per second, over the whole heating
surface. From ten to twelve seconds are thus occupied in vaporizing
a couche of water, no thicker than a single leaf of the paper upon
which books are commonly printed. If, in proportion to the evapo-
ration, an insufficient extent of heating surface be provided, there is
not only a direct waste of heat, —the products of combustion escap-
ing at a temperature corresponding, perhaps, to that of incande-
scent iron, — but the furnace plates may be burnt. Notwithstanding
the active convection of heat in water, an intense flame directed
against the sides or roof of a boiler furnace, will, in time, crack or
blister the iron. It is not certain that this result occurs from the in-
ability of the metal to transmit the heat, for it is more likely that,
under vigorous vaporization, the gravity of the liquid water (and it
is its gravity only that brings it to the heating surfaces) is insufficient
to bear down effectively against the rising volumes of steam. If, by

owerful mechanical means, the water could be constantly maintained
m contact with the heating surfaces, it is possible that the rate of
evaporation upon a given area could be increased without injury to
the plate. In the hardening of anvil faces and of ‘steel dics, the re-
quisite rapidity, of cooling is obtained, not merely by immersion in
water, but by its forcible descent, in a strong jet, upon the heated
metal

External heating Surface.—Under the conditions, however, of or-
dinary practice, no restriction of the heating surface is permissible.
This surface is sometimes that of the exterior only of the boiler, but
it is more usual, and on most accounts preferable, to dispose it inter-
nally by means of fire boxes, flues, or tubes. The external surface of
a boiler-can only be increased by increasing its length or its diameter,
or by increasing both of these together. Plain cylindrical boilers 90
feet, and in one or two instances 104 feet in length, have been em-
ployed, but even apart from any consideration of the great amount
of space which they occupy, they are mechanically objectionable, and
they are now no longer made. In increasing the external surface ofa
boiler by enlarging its diameter, it is weakened exactly in proportion
to the increase, the bursting pressure, for a given thickness of plates,
being inversely as the diameter. ‘The danger attending the presence

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 33

of alarge quantity of heated water in a boiler is now well understood,
and, such as it is, it increases as the square of the diameter, so that,

in a boiler of a given length, the elements of weakness and danger
are collectively related to the cube of the diameter. External heat-
ing surface may be provided for in a number of smaller vessels, as in
the retort boilers by Mr. Dunn, but these are of the water-tube fam-
ily, which, heretofore, has been found subject to choking with the
solid matter deposited by the water.

Internal heating Surface. — Next are the boilers with internal heat-
ing surfaces. Internal fire tubes were in use in steam boilers in the
last centur y, and they were applied within a cylindrical barrel by the
Cornish engineers, among whom was Trevithick, who employed both
the straight flue and the return flue, and who made the fireplace
within the flue. The Cornish boiler, in this form was improved by
Mr. Fairbairn and the late Mr. Hetherington, who added another
fire tube, thus making the two-fiued boiler now so extensively em-
ployed in Lancashire. The two flues, although somewhat smaller
than the single flue, afforded a greater extent ot heating surface, be-
sides securing increased regularity in firing. The principle of sub-
dividing the flame and heated products of combustion, so as to obtain
er eatly increased heating surface within a barrel of given diameter,
was fully carried out in the multitubular boiler invented by Nev ille,
of London, in 1826, employed by Seguin, in France, in 1828, and
subsequently in the Liverpool and Manchester locomotiv es, ‘from
which it has been handed down to the present practice of engineers.
Not since Watt’s time, however, has the evaporative power of a
square foct cf heating surface been increased, the improvement in
the plan of steam boilers being that, chietly, of inclosing a greater
extent of surface within a given space. The heating surface, in the
boilers of the Great Eastern steamship, is equal to the entire area
of her vast main deck; that in the Adriatic measures more than three-
fourths of an acre, while the Warrior and the Black Prince have, in
their boilers, 2,000 square yards of suriace of tubes, the aggregate
length of which is more than five and one-half miles.

Gijections to Multitubular Boilers. — But it is only where, as in
steamships and in locomotive engines, the dimensions and weight
of boilers must be the least possible, that the multitubular arrange-
ment is even to be tolerated. It is costly and subject to rapid decay.
In steamships, especially, the life of multitubular boilers is compara-
tively short. The boilers in her Majesty’s vessels of war are found
to last but from five to seven years; those of the West Indian
Royal mailships last, according to Mr. Pitcher, of Northfield, six
years only, and those of the Dover and Calais packets, taking the
testimony of the former mai contractor, Mr. Churchward, need to be
renewed every three anda half or four years. On land, multitubu-
lar boilers, working under constant strain, and, in most cases, as
constantly concentrating a saturated solution of sulphate of lime, are
nearly out of the question for the purpose of manufactories, although
there are instances of their employment, even in spinning mills. A
boiler rated at 40 nominal horse-power will ordinarily evaporate 60
cubic feet of water per hour, or upwards of 100 tuns of water per
we2k of GO hours. And feed water containing as much as 40 grains

54 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of solid matter, per gallon, is often regarded as very good, not only
when the inorganic impurity consists “of the deliquescent salts of
soda, but even when it is neither more nor less than an obdurate
carbonate or sulphate of lime. Whatever the solid matter contained
in the water may be, it is never carried over with the steam, but is
left behind in the evaporating apparatus, and 100 tuns of the water,

fed ina single week to a boiler in the manufacturing districts, com-
monly contains a hundred weight or more of dissolved gypsum or
marble, and of which all that is not held in solution is deposited in a
calcareous lining upon the internal metallic surfaces. This tact will
explain why not only water tube, but multifire tube boilers cannot be
economically employed under the ordinary circumstances of steam
generation. ‘The consideration of deposit or scaling, as well as that
of workmanship, imposes a limit to the subdivision of heating surface
among a great number of small tubes.

Objections to Wrought-Iron Spheres. —In ordinary boiler making
the geometrical advantage of the sphere cannot be turned to account.
It cannot be produced economically i in plate iron, nor if made in plate
iron, could it be advantageously applied ina steam boiler. The hollow
sphere has this property, to w it: with a given thickness of metal it has
twice the strength of a hollow cylinder of the same diameter. This is
upon the assumption (which is correct where the cylinder is of a len@th
greater than its own diameter), that the ends of the cylinder ofier no
resistance to a bursting pressure exerted against the circumference.
Under over-pressure, a closed cylinder would take the shape of a
barrel, and if of homogeneous material and structure, it would burst
at the iniddle of its lensth, and in the direction of the circumference.
The circumference of a sphere of a diameter of 1 being always 3°14159,
the sum of the length of the two sides of a cylinder of the same diame-
ter, and having a plane of rupture of the same area, is 1°5708, or exact-
ly half as much. And not only are the boiler-heads of no service in
resisting the strain in the direction of the circumference of the cylin-
der, and not only are they weak in themselves, except when of a
hemispherical form, or when well stayed, but, furthermore, the whole
pressure against them i is exerted to produce a strain on the sides of
the cylinder in the direction of its length, and where there is no
through stay-rod between the opposite heads this strain is necessari-
ly equal to one-half of that exerted in the direction of the cireum-
ference.

Weakness of ordinary Boilers. — The bursting pressure of steam-
boiiers is commonly calculated from the average tensile strength of
wrought-iron plates. This strength is very variable however, and it
would be more logical to take the minimum. ‘The most extensive
series of experiments upon the strength of iron plates is that made by
Mr. Kirkaldy for Messrs. Napier, of G lasgow. The number of sam-
ples of each “description of iron tested was not large, yet the tensile
strength ranged between very wide limits. That of Yorkshire iron
varied between 62 wot4+ Ibs. per square inch and 40,541 lbs., both
specimens being from the same makers. Staffordshire plates varied
between 60,985 ‘tbs., and 38,007 Ibs., and Lanarkshire plates between
57,659 lbs. aad 32,450 Ibs. The conclusion cannot be resisted that en-
gineers are frequently dealing with boiler plates of a tensile strength

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 35

not greater than from 16 to 18 tuns per square inch, notwithstanding
that the average strength may be 22 tuns, and the maximum 27 tuns.
And the loss of this strength i in punching the rivet holes is not mere-
ly that of the iron cut out, but the punch is found to sensibly injure
that which remains. Mr. Fairbairn’s well-known and frequently
verified ratio of 56 to 100, as the strength of a single riveted joint to
that of the unpunched plate, must be alway s admitted in calculations
of the strength of riveted boilers. The 40-horse Lancashire boiler,

seven feet in diameter, will thus be often found to have an ultimate
strength not greater, when new, than that corresponding to a pres-
sure of from 210 Ibs. to 235 Ibs. per square inch. . This, however, is
without taking account of the strain exerted longitudinally upon the
shell of the boiler by the pressure on the ends, and it is upon the assump-
tion, which is hardly tenable, that the boiler heads, and especially the
flues, are of the same strength as the cylindrical ey or shell. With-
out the angle-iron str engthening recommended } by Mr. Fairbairn, the
collapsing pressure of the flues of large boilers was found, in that ven-
tleman’s experiments, to be sometimes as little as 87 Ibs. per square

inch. ‘The strain resulting from the circumferential and longitudinal
components, in the outer shell, is one- -eighth greater than that caleula-
ble for the circumference alone, so that, even if the heads and flues
were stayed to the strength of the shell, this would correspond to a
pressure of but from 150 Ibs. to 210 Ibs. , instead of 210 Ibs. to 235
Ibs., as just supposed. But these estimates are for the strength of the
boiler when new.

Corrosion the great Destroyer.—In the experience of the officers
of the Manchester Boiler Association, with from 1,300 to 1,600 boil-
ers always under their care, one boiler out of every seven, and, in
some years, as in 1862, nearly one of every four became defective by
corrosion alone, while of every eight boilers examined in the course of
a year sev 7 are found to be defective in some respects. Thus, in

1862, with 1,376 boilers under inspection, 85 positively dangerous,
and,087 objectionable defects were discovered, 37 dangerous and 270
objectionable cases of corrosion alone havine been reported. Asa
boiler malady, corrosion corresponds in its comparative frequency and
fatality to the great destroyer of human life, —consumption. It is the
one great disease. It is frequently internal, in consequence of the
presence of acid in the water; but it is still oftener external, and it is
most insidious and certain wherev er there is the least leakage of steam
into the brick-work sctting. Condensed steam, or distilled water, is
an active solvent of iron, as well as of lead, and peaty water, whic h, sa
far as torganic matter is concerned, is very pure, and dist: Hed water
from surface condensers, and, indeed, any water that is quite: soft is
known to eat rapidly into the substance of the boiler in which it is used.
A trickling, however slight, of condensed steam, down the outside of
a boiler, will infallibly cause corrosion, and to this was directly traced a
large number of the 47 boiler explosions which occurred in the United
Kingdom in 1863,

Cast Iron not corroded. — Corrosion is most rapid where the iron
is comparatively pure, asin the best Yorkshire and Staffordshire
plates. The presence, however, of asmall proportion of carbon, as
in steel, or especially of silver and carbon, as in cast-iron, renders

36 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

it nearly indestructible. The experience even with kitchen uten-
sils demonstrates this; but it is more satisfactory to observe the
fact in engineering operations on the great scale. When Nelson
first introduced the hot-blast, he employed wrought-iron heating
stoves, and although only 300° Fahr. was at first fixed upon for the
temperature of the blast, the stoves were rapidly destroyed. It need
hardly be mentioned that a wrought-iron gas retort would be worth-
less, where cast iron answers well, being inferior only to fire clay.
It is the same with forge tuyeres, cast iron lasting indefinitely.
Since superheated steam began to be generally employed, much dif-
ficulty has been experienced from the rapid corrosion of the superheat-
ers. The Peninsular and Oriental Company’s engineers have been
compelled to adopt copper, instead of plate iron, heating surfaces for
this purpose. Messrs. Richardson & Sons, of Hartlepool, have, on
the other hand, adopted cast iron, and their superheaters of this ma-
terial show no corrosion whatever, after four years’ use. ‘The sul-
phurous fumes from locomotive engines rapidly corrode the plate iron
station roofs, while the cast-iron girders and cornices remain unaf-
fected. Cast-iron bridges are indestructible by rusting, while large
quantities of iron scales are being removed from wrought-iron
bridges, including the Conway and Britannia tubes. From abundant
experience with cast-iron steam boilers and the tubes of cast-iron
heating apparatus, it may be taken as settled, that where the thick-
ness is moderate, cast iron may be thus employed without the possi-
bility of corrosion.

trength of Cast Iron.—The tensile strength of cast iron varies
between 5 tuns and 15 tuns per square inch. Considered as a ma-
terial for boilers only, the minimum strength should be regarded ex-
actly. as from 16 tuns to 18 tuns has been taken for wrought-iron
plates. Cast-iron boilers eight fect in diameter and of great length,
were at one time made, but these were manifestly objectionable.
The spherical form of moderate diameter, is preferable; and what-
ever is the bursting strength of a riveted wrought-iron cylinder, shat
of a cast-iron sphere of the same diameter and the same thickness of
metal, will be the same. ‘The plate iron, of a strength of 18 tuns per
square inch, is virtually weakened to 10 tuns by the loss in riveting,
and, as the hollow sphere is twice stronger than the hollow cylinder
of the same diameter and thickness, the cast iron, having no joints,
becomes equal in this comparison to the wrought plate. If we could
always count upon the maximum strength of iron, to wit, 27 tuns per
square inch for wrought, and 15 tuns for cast, a 14 feet cast-iron
sphere would have the same strength to resist bursting as the seven
feet cylinder of the Lancashire 40-horse boiler, supposing the same
thickness of metal in each case.

No Scale in Harrison Boilers. — But there is no occasion to make
a boiler as a single large sphere, for it is now ascertained from exten-
sive experience that hollow cast-iron spheres of small diameter, do
not retain the solid matter deposited by the water. Small water
tubes, and indeed all small water spaces in ordinary boilers, always
choke with deposit when the feed water contains lime; but cast-iron
boiler spheres, althongh they may be temporarily coated internally
with scale, are found to part with this whenever they are emptied of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 37

water. This fact is the most striking discovery that has been made
in boiler engineering. It removes the fatal defect of small subdivid-
ed water spaces, which can now be employed with the certainty of
their remaining constantly clear of deposit. This discovery has been
made in the use of a cast-iron boiler invented by Mr. Hamson of Phil-
adelphia, and which is constructed as follows: Any number of cast-
iron hollow spheres are employed, whose dimensions are eight imches
in external diameter, and three-eighths of an inch thick, communicat-
ing with each other through open necks, and being held together by
internal tie bolts. A number of these spheres are arranged in the form
of a rectangular slab; and several of these slabs, set side by side, and
connected together, form the boiler, about two-thirds of the whole
number of spheres being filled with water, while the remainder serve
as steam room. ‘The bursting strength of these spheres corresponds
to a pressure of upwards of 1,500 pounds per square inch, as verified
by repeated experiment, bemg, therefore, from six to seven times
ereater than that of the ordinary Lancashire boilers of large size. The
evaporative power, as in all other boilers, depends upon the extent
and ratio of the grate area and heating surface; but m practice from
seven and a half to eght pounds of water are evaporated, per pound
of coal in a cast-iron boiler, which, for each tun cf its own weight,
supplies steam equal to ten indicated horse-power, The joints be-
tween the spheres are made by special machinery, securing the utmost
accuracy of fitting, and there is no leakage, cither of water or steam.
The spheres occupied as steam space, are screened by fire bricks from
the direct action of the heat; but cnough is allowed to reach them to
secure complete drying, and if desired, any degree of superheating of
the steam. The slabs into which eachseries of spheres 1s assembled,
are placed in an inclined position, which secures the thorough calcula-
tion of the water. The whole quantity of water carried in a 40-horse
boiler, is three tuns, the boiler weighing 13 tuns, and presenting 1,000
square feet of water-heating, and 500 square feet of steam-drying sur-
face. In Manchester, with the feed-water taken from the Irwell, or
from the canal, a hard scale is soon formed in the ordinary boilers ;
but in the cast-iron boiler a succession of thin scales of extreme hard-
ness are found to form upon and to be ome detached of themselves
from the inner surfaces of the water spheres. ‘These scales are blown
out with the water at the end of the week, and only small quantities
can be discovered when purposely sought for.

A pint of loose scales and dirt is the most that has yet been found
in a careful internal examination, afier nine months daily work. None
of the iron is removed with the scale, the weight of the spheres after
three years’ service, being the same as when new. In America, Mr.
Harrison’s cast-iron boiler has been worked for six years.

The self-scaling action, which has been found to be the same in all
cases where the boiler has been worked, can only be explained by con-
jectures.

STEEL BOILERS.

Important experiments have recently been made in Prussia with steel
boilers. Two boilers, e:ch 80 feet long and 4 feet in diameter, without
flues, were placed side by side. One was made of steel plates one-fourth

4

38 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of an inch thick, the other of iron plates 0°414 ofan inch in thickness. The
steel boiler was tested by hydraulic pressure up to 195 pounds per square
inch, Both boilers were worked for about a year and a half under 65
pound p:essure. At the end of that time there was less scale in the
steel than in the iron boiler. ‘The steel boiler generated 25 per cent more
steam and evaporated an average of 11-66 cubic feet of water per hour;
the iron evaporated 9°37 cubic feet. The quantity of coal consumed per
12 hours was 2,706 for the steel, and 2,972 for the iron boiler. The
plates of the steel boiler directly over the fire were found to be uninjured
while those of the other were worn out. The advantages of the steel
boiler are strength, lightness, rapidity of evaporation, durability under
heat, the securing of more perfect riveting, and comparative freedom frem
scale.
NEW MECHANICAL ACTION OF STEAM.

In a recent English invention it is claimed ‘‘that the expansive
force of the steam is made to act equally on two pistons, and force
them apart with the power due to the area of the pistons and the pres-
sure of the steam, and that the force thus exerted on two pistons 1s
united and conveyed to the crank shaft; whereas, in steam engines of
the usual construction, with a piston working in a cylinder, half the
force exerted is always acting on one of the ends of the cylinder.”

NEW CALORIC ENGINE,

A new caloric engine, mvented by Mr. Roper of Boston, Mass. has
the following peculiarities.” It is designed to be used where small
power is required; and the main novelty about it is, that it does not use,
upon the piston, common ar heated, but only the products of combus-
tion. The air to sup: ly oxygen for the combustion cf anthracite coal is
pumped in; the carbon is birned rapidly end completely, uncer pressure,
and the resulting carbonic ac.d gas and uncombined nitrogen gas from
the air, are passed from the generator to the piston, which is in the form
of a holiow plunger, so ari:anged that it is packed and fitted only at the
top, where there is the least heat. I this way the common difficulty of
lubricating a hot cylinder and piston is obviated. The generator of heat
is surrounded with firebrick or soapstone, which prevents the iron from
being burnt. The engine is single acting,—that is, the power is ap-
plied to the piston moving in one direction, during which movement the
air to feed the fire is pumped in; the momentum acquired at the same
time, by a balance or fly-wheel, is used to carry the piston back to its
original position.

ON OUR FUTURE LOCOMOTION.

**Tt would be presumptuous to augur that steam locomotives and
their trains will erelong fail to meet the demands of society; but it
would be much more so to conclude that they comprise the perfection
of mechanical resource, and are to be the ne plus ultra of land travel-
ing for all time to come. In nature nothing is born or matured at
once; and in art nothing springs complete from human brains. In-
ventions, like plants, are designed to grow until they are ripe; and
wlten all is got out of them that can be, to give place to others. When
one has fulfilled its promise in the front ranks of civilization, it is to

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 39

fall back until it reaches the hindermost. Ages may elapse before
this is done, or can be done while barbarism endures. Flint imple-
ments continued in use t! hrough ages ef bronze; and iron has‘not yet
reached all savage tribes. That the r: pid transit of men and merchan-
dise is an important, and destined to become a leading element in civ-
ilization, no one can doubt who observes its influence on the social,
political, commercial, and intellectual world. If it stands still, pro-

gress in other departments must be arrested. Whatever may be the
extreme limits. to speed, there is little risk in asserting that the _pres-
ent mean rate will in time be deemed intolerably slow. It is not
every one that is now satisfied with it, and the number is not small who
wish it were doubled.

When faith in progress becomes general, improvements in the arts
will become common. The more there is of it, the less of that de-
pressing unbelief which meets new projects, sometimes with derision,
always with suspicion, and against which valuable novelties have to
strugele into life. Preferring to rest satisfied with things as they are,
it is doubtless ready to ask what possibility there is of any marked ad-
vance in traveling by steam? and where the necessity for it? The
very objections to ) mail coaches in the last century, which were to pass
over roads good and bad, night and day, as the incredible av erage
rate of ten miles an Lour; to the first steamboats, also, which, if they
did not threaten to upset and break the limbs ef their passengers,
would subject them to the double risk of bemg scalded to death, or
-blown piecemeal into the air. liad the leap from ten miles by horses,
to fifty by steam, been attempted at once, it would have staggered the
boldest, and probably have brought pu! blie execration on the } proposer ;
but nothing of the kind can take place. By the law of progress, im-
prov ements are gradual, never precipitate.

The timid would not now willingly be among the first to travel at
the rate of 80 or 100 miles an hour, if they even had little fear of its
taking away their breath. ‘The feeling j is a natural one, and therefore
to be respected, although it has no rational foundation. It is chietly
ascribable to ignorance ‘of the fact that the highest speed no more af-
fects our bodily organs, than the lowest.

Passengers in the cabin of a ship flying before the wind, have no
more sensation of going forward, than when she is lying at anchor.
A balloon rushing upward, or in a lateral direction, appears to the
aeronauts stationary and motionless. In-night rail trains we walk to
and fro, sit and sleep, unconscious of progression as in a parlor or
bedroom. In daytime it is the same if we close our eyes to objects
outside. Jolts from obstr uctions and irregularities of roads, with
changes of direction and diversities of speed, tell us we are moving.
In a perfect system of travel, there could be no sense of motion at all,
whether the rate was one mile an hour, or a hundred, or five hundred.
And even that is a snail’s pace when we look, and we ought often to
look, beyond our petty domgs to those of the Great Engmeer. Our

earth is one of a line of passenger cars that conveys us through space
at a mean velocity of 68 ,00 miles an hour, without disturbing a loose
brick on a chimney, or displacing a grain of dust, pr oclaiming the tact
that uniformity of motion is equiva alent to rest, and suggesting that
as with time and eternity, heat and cold, ight and darkness, attrac-

40 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tion and repulsion, &c., rest and motion are one. Hence, if the time
should ever come, when 1,000 miles an hour can be done, old ladies
and children will be no more inconvenienced than now, and in all prob=
ability not near as much.” —Journal franklin Institute.

THE PNEUMATIC RAILWAY.

In former numbers of the Annual of Scientific Discovery ( see vol. for
1864, p. 21), we have described the workings of the so-called “ Pneumatic
Despatch” as used in London and elsewhere. During the past year the
directors of the Cry-til Palace, near London, have constructed upon the
same principle a pneumatic railway, consisting of a brickwork tunnel, or
tube, about 600 yards long, 10 ft. high, and 9 ft. wide. This tube,
which is capable of admitting an ordinary size railway carriage, is laid
with a sing'e line of rails, fitted with opening and closing valves at either
extremity, and supplied with all the other requisite apparatus for pro-
pelling passenger trains on the pneumatic principle.

The object of laying down this experimental line was to afford, both to
the scientific world and the traveling public, a practical demonstration of
the applicability to passenger traffic of the motive power aiready em-
ployed by the Pneumatic Despatch Company in the conveyance of let-
ters and parcels.

The trial trips recently made with this railway are reported as per-
fectly successful, and are thus described in the London Times, of Au-
gust 20,1864: ‘lhe pneumatic principle of propulsion is very simple.
It has been likened to the action of a pea-shooter, —a rough kind of com-
parison, perhaps, yet one sufficiently accurate as a popular illustration.
The tunnel may be taken to represent the pea-shooter, and the train the
pea, which is driven along in one direction by a strong blast of air, and
drawn back again in the opposite direction by the exhaustion of the
air in front of it. ‘The train may be said, in fact, to be blown through
the tube on the down journey, and sucked through it on the return
journey. It must not, however, be supposed that the passengers are de-
posited at their destination with a sudden jerk, as the simile we have
used might seem to imply. Such an inconvenience is entirely obviated
by the mechanical arrangements employed. The motion is throughout
smooth, easy, and agreeable, and the stoppages are effected gentiy and
gradually. Indeed, when it is considered that the curve in the tunnel ts
unusually sharp, being of eight chains radius, and that the gradients are
as high as one in fifteen, it is surprising that the motion should be so
much steadier and pleasanter than ordinary railway traveling. The
journey of 600 yards was performed either way in about 50 seconds,
with an atmospher'e pressure of only two and one half ounces to the
square inch; but a higher rate of speed, if desirable, can easily be ob-
tained consistently with safety. Indeed, one great incidental advantage
of this species of !ocomotion is that it excludes all risk of the collisions
occasionally attendant on railway traveling; for it is plain that no two
trains could ever run full tilt against each other where all the propelling
force is expended in one direction at one time. The worst mishap which
it is said could well happen is that, owing to some sudden failure in the
machinery, the train might be abruptly brought to a dead stop in the
middle of the tunnel, when the passengers would have to alight trom the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 4l

carriages and erope their way as best they could out of the tube. Such
a predicament certainly would not be enviable, but it might be more lu-
dicrous than dangerous.

The train used consisted of one very long, roomy, and comfortable car-
riage, resembling an elongated omnibus, and capable of accommodating
some 30 or 35 passengers. Passengers enter this carriage at either end,
and the entrances are closed with sliding glass doors. Fixed behind the
carriage there is a framework of the same form, and nearly the same di-
mensions, as the sectional area of the tunnel; and attached to the outer
ede of this frame isa fringe of bristles forming a thick brush. As the car-
riage moves a!ong through the tunnel the brush comes into close contact
with the arched brickwork, so as to prevent the escape of the air. With
this elastic collar round it, the carriage forms a close fitting piston, against
which the propulsive force is directed. ‘Che motive power 1s supplied in
this: At the departure station a large fan-wheel, with an iron disc, con-
cave in surface and 2¥ feet in diameter, is made to revolve by the aid of
a small stitionary engine at such speed as may be required, the pressure
of the air increasing, of course, according to the rapidity of the revolutions,
and thus generating the force necessary to send the heavy carriage up a
steeper incline than is to be found upon any existing railway. The disc
gyrates in an iron case resembling that of a huge paddlewheel; and from
its broad periphery the particles of air stream off in strong currents.
When driving the air into the upper end of the tunnel to propel the
down-train fresh quantities rush to the surface of the dise to supply the
partial vacuum thus created; and on the other hand, when the disc is ex-
hausting the air in the tunnel with the view of drawing back the up-train,
the air rushes out like an artificial hurricane from the escaped valves of
the dise case, making the adjacent trees shake like reeds and almost
blowing off his feet any incautious spectator whe approaches too near it.

When the down journey is to be performed the breaks are taken off the
wheels and the carriage moves by its own momentum into the mouth of
the tube, passing in its course over a deep air-well in the floor, covered
with an iron grafing. Up this opening a gust of wind is sent by the disc,
when a valve, formed by a pair of iron doors, hung like lock-gates, im-
mediately closes firmly over the entrance of the tunnel, confining the in-
creasing atmospheric pressure between the valve and the rear of the car-
riage. The force being thus brousht to bear upon the end of the train,
the latter, shut up within the tube, glides smoothly along towards its des- |
tination, the revolving disc keeping up the motive power until it reaches
the steep incline, whence its own momentum again suffices to carry it the
rest of the distance. ‘The return journey, as above indicated, is affected
by the aid of the exhausting process. Ata given signal a valve is opened,
and the disc-wheel set to work in withdrawing the air from the tube.
Near the upper end of the tube there is a large aperture, or side-vault,
which forms the throat through which the air is, so to speak, exhaled, the
iron doors at the upper terminus still being kept shut. Ina second or
two the train posted at the lower terminus, yiciding to the exhausting
process going on in its front, and urged by the ord nary pressure of the
atmosphere from behind, moves off on its upward journey and rapidly
ascending the incline approaches the iron gates, which fly open to receive
it, and it emerges ut once into daylight. Such is the mode in which the
system works, and it seems capable of being adapted to railway commu-

:

42 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

nication within the metropolis and other large towns, or wherever tun-
nelled lines with steep gradients exist. ‘The chiet obstacles encountered
in practically working the atmospheric railway, introduced some 15
years ago, are considered to have been effectually overcome by the pres-
ent modification of the principle. Under the former sy stem the tube was
of very small size, and fixed upon the ground; a longitudinal or contin-
uous valve opening at the top, along which a rod, connecting the piston
with the carriages passed, and the ‘valve closing behind the rod as it
moved onwards. The amount of atmospheric pressure required to be
exerted where the area of the tube was so small was enormous, being
from seven to ten pounds per square inch; whereas under the present
system the pressure is only two and one half ounces per square inch ;
and, moreover, the great leakage and waste of power whichrendered the
old atmosphere Sy stem so costly i in working are here in great measure
avoided. It need hardly be added that the worst drawbacks to traveling
through tunnels — viz: the smoke and sulphureous vapors emitted from
the locomotive, and the close, unwholesome atmosphere of the tunnels
themselves — are in this case got rid of. Every train, in fact, carries its
own supply of fresh airalong with it,and also expels the foul air before it.

- Improved Pneumatic Despatch. -_Mr. C. A. V arley, of Liverpool,
has invented an improved apparatus for the transmission of parcels on
the pneumatic principle. The novelty of the invention consists in the
use of compressed air as a motive power for the propulsion of ear-
riages in one direction, while a vacuum is created for their transmission
in the other. In the old plan, the pressure used was limited to that
of the atmosphere,— 15 pounds to the square inch,— but by the new
system, any amount of pressure can be obtained by the use of com-
pressed air.

The London Engineer thus describes the application of Mr. Varley’s
invention by one of the telegraph companies in Liverpool, for the trans-
mission of written despatches from one office to another, a distance
of about 300 yards. It says: ‘‘ In the cells beneath the central office
of the company in Castle Street, is an engine usuallyeworked at about
one horse-power, though much more foree can be gained if necessary.
This engine works a double air- pump, which removes the air from one
chamber and forces it-into another. The chambers are called the ‘ ex-
haust’ and the ‘compressed air’ chambers, and are connected by pipes
and valves with the apparatus in the room on the first floor. If a mes-
sage has to be sent, it is placed in a little round flannel bag made to
fit ‘loosely into the tube. A valve is then opened in connection with
the compressed air chimber; the compressed air, which is kept at 11
pounds on the square inch, rushes into the tube, and the bag is urged
with immense rapidity to its destination. On its arrival there the sig-
nal is given on an electric bell, the valve stopped, and the operator is
ready to receive the return message. ‘The signal is given on the elec-
tric bell, and the valve and all outer communications at the operator’s
end closed. A communication is then opened with the exhaust cham-
ber, and the air, rushing from the far end to supply the vacuum, ane
the little bag along with it. On its arrival a spring is touched, th
valve falls, and the air rushes in. The operator is then able to sa
the case and take out the message. ‘The average speed of these tubes,
which are one and one half inches diameter, is about 40 miles per

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS: 43

hour, so that any number of messages may be sent or received from
the exchange in 17 seconds.”
IMPROVED RAILWAY CAR TRUCKS.

In car trucks, as generally constructed, the wheels are made fast to
the axles. It follows that they must be of equal size, and pass over
tracks of equal length at the same time, or there must be a sliding or
jumping motion given to one of them equal to the difference in the
size of the aheels: or the length of the track. But practically, the
wheels cannot be made-or kept of the same size while in use, nor can
the tracks on the right and left of the cars be of the same lens eth, ex-
cept while running in a straight line; the consequence must be that a
grinding, sliding, and jumping motion is nearly constant. The result
of these irregularities and inequalities is to Pel destroy both tie
wheels, axles, and rails; also, to weaken the cars

An estimate of the amount of this sliding and j jumping, which occurs
every day on extensive roads, will astonish every one who has not in-
vestigated the subject. Suppose the wheels upon the opposite ends of
the axle in a rigid truck differ in their circumference the amount of
one-fourth of an inch. At every revolution the lesser wheel must be
brought up to equal the larger by a jump or slide. This difficulty is
rather increased in passing curves. These objections attending the use
of a ‘‘ rigid truck ” are sought to be overcome by Mr. Walter Youmans,
Lansingburg, N. Y., in an invention, the fundamental principles of
which are comprised i in making the wheels turn on adjustable axles, and
in so adjusting the axles as to keep them always at right angles to the
truck. By this improvement itis claimed, that all sliding and jumping
of the wheels is obviated; for turning independently of each other,
each wheel is kept in its proper position, without causing any strain
upon its fellow.

- A considerable gain in the power of the locomotive is obtained, by
being relieved of the necessity of turning every axle in the train with
every revolution of the wheels, at a leverage of about 16 inches from
the centre of motion. This improvement scems to have great merit,
and will doubtless find its way into universal use.

Railway Car for different Gauges. —'The following is an invention
of Mr. Tisdale, of Boston, by means of which a car can be made to
conform to two different gauges of railway tracks. The wheels are
made to move upon the axle back and forwards by flanges, running be-
tween two rails placed on each side of the truck, so forming a groove, on
end of which is set to four feet cight and one-half inch gauge, the other
to five feet six inch; by moving the car back or forwards in the eroove,
the wheels open or ‘close together onthe axle; when they have come to
the desired gauge thev are fixed firmly and very simply by clutch boxes
and wedges, which turn round by hand and lock with a slide key.
When this is done the car is rea dy for use.

IRON MASTS.

The Achilles, one of the new iron-clads of the British Navy, has °
been fitted with iron masts. Of these the mainmast weighs no less
than 21 tuns 12 ewt.; its length beimg 121 feet 9 inches, diameter
three feet four inches, and length of head from hounds 20 feet. Each

44 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

mast is formed of three curved plates half an inch in thickness, which
form the skin or outside shell of each, the joint where the vertical
edges of the plates meet being so formed that the outsides of the masts
show no ridges. Under each of the vertical jomts three strong tie-
irons are placed to which are riveted the plates forming the mast; the
rivets on the outside being countersunk or let in flush, “the exterior of
the mast consequently presenting a round and perfectly smooth sur-
face. Experience has shown that iron masts last much longer than
wooden, that they are lighter and stronger, serve as valuable ventila-
tors, and are also better conductors of elec ‘tricity. If they are shot
away and fall overboard they will immediately sink, mstead of floating
alongside and fouling the screw, as is the case with wooden: masts.

Enormous Tron Plate. — Messrs. John Brown & Co., of the Atlas
Works, Sheffield, England, have succeeded in rolling an iron plate,
six feet by seven feet and thirteen and a half inches thick. The idea
of manufacturing so enormous a plate originated, we believe, with
Captain Inglis, of the Royal Engineers, with a view of ascertaining
if it would be desirable to protect casemates with such a powerful
covering.

THE STRENGTH OF WROUGHT-IRON GIRDERS.

The streneth of wr ouzht-iron girders has been critically examined by
Mr. Wm. Fairbairn, F.R.S. He says from his experiment it is evident
that wr rought-1 1ron oirders of ordinary construction are not safe when
submitted to violent disturbances equivalent to one-third the weight
that would break them. They, however, exhibit wonderful tenacity
when subjected to the same treatment with one-fourth the loa ud; and
assuming, therefore, that an iron girder bridge will bear with this load
12,000,099 changes without i injury, it is clear that it would require 5328
years, at the rate of 100 changes per day before its security was af-
fected. It would, however, be dangerous to risk a load of one-third
the breaking weight upon bridges of this description, as, according to
the last experiment, the beam broke with 313,000 changes; ora period
of eight years, at the s same rate as before, would be sufficient to break
it. It i is more than probable that the beam had been injured by the
previous 3,000,000 changes to which it had been subjected; and, as-
suming ‘lias to be true, it ; would follow that the beam was undergoing
a oradua | deterioration which must some time, however remote, “have
terminate .d in fracture.

WELDING BY HYDRAULIC PRESSURE,

‘« Experiments have lately been made at Paris by M. Duportail, en-
gineer, to ascertain whether iron might be welded } by hydraulic press-
ure instead of by the sledve-hammer. The latter, indeed, has not @
sufficient impetus to reach the very core of the ineral while continuous
pressure ac ts indefnitely to any depth. In the experiments. alluded to
M. Dunportail caused two iron bars, one and one-half inches in diame-
ter, and heate d to the welding point, to be placed between the piston
and the top of an hydraulic press. The bars were welded together by
this means with extraordinary ease, the iron being, as it were, Soap aded

together, and bulged out at the sides under the pressure. The action

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 45

of the press was suspended when the part welded was brought down to
the thickness of the bars. After cooling, the welded part was cut
through to examme the inside, which was found perfectly compact.
To try it, one of the halves was placed under a forge-hammer weigh-
ing 1,800 kil., and it was not until the third stroke that the welding
was discovered.”

Alluding to the above, the London Artisan says :—

A highly ingenious form of hydraulic press for forging metals was
also patented some time since by Mr. Bessemer. Its construction
was as follows :—

An ordinary ram of a hydraulic press is in communication through a
pipe with the usual foree-pump plunger, driven with a crank on a shaft
provided with a heavy fly-wheel. The barrel, in which is working the
plunger, is unprovided with valves, and is continued as a simple pipe
till it communicates with the cylinder of the press. The water between
the plunger of this kind of pipe and the ram thus acts as a communica-
tor of motion between the two, and they rise and fall through distances
varying respectively as the areas of the plungers. It will be seen that
the heavy fly-wheel does the principal work in compressing; for as
soon as the rams—the propelling plunger and the driven plunger—
meet with resistance, the inertia of the heavy fly-wheel at once comes into
play. We do not know whether this vention has been found suc-
cessful in practice ; and a yet more recent patent of Mr. Bessemer em-
bodies the plan of supporting the bearings of the bottom roll of mills
for rolling armor plates on a hydraulic ram. This ram is in communi-
cation with water pressure, which can be let on or off, as required, by
means ofa valve. Incase the armor plate being rolled should stick—
as often takes place—the water below the ram is let out, with the result
of relieving the plate from pressure.

it is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of the appli-
cation of the hydraulic press for forging purposes, and it may be
ranked almost as high in the scale of practical improvements in working
iron as the introduction of the rolling mill, and at least as high as the
introduction of the steam hammer. It would seem to fit in with the
recent inventions, giving us a command over the production of steel in
large masses, affording, as it does, means of working a substance of
much more delicate manipulation than even wrought iron. Nor does
the use of the hydraulic press seem to be confined to working of iron
and steel in an incandescent state, as is evidenced in the remarkable
production of steel tubes drawn cold by hydraulic pressure.

NEW PLAN FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CAST STEEL FROM PIG
IRON.

M. Cazanave, a French inventor, has recently devised the following
new plan for producing cast steel directly from pig iron.

The foundation of this new method is the influence of steam on a thin
stream of pig iron. If we take an iron tube of a certain diameter with
sides of the necessary strength, form a ring out of it, and fix on its cir-
cumference towards the centre three or more tubes, we have a tube
ring with three or more radi. ‘The radius is made fast to the tubular
pipe ; the ends of these tubes, which are open, do not quite reach to
the centre cf the ring, and have, therefore, between the ends an empty

46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

space, in which the pig iron is allowed to flow in a stream of a certain
strength. The stream let into the boiler from the tubular pipe flows
out of the openings of the three tubes, and operates directly upon the
pig iron. It is said that the oxygen of the steam oxidizes the carbon
of the pig iron, the silicium, a portion of the sulphur, phosphorus, and
other impurities in the pig iron; the hydrogen combines with the car-
bon, sulphur, phosphorus, arsenic, and other bodies, with which it
forms combinations of hydrogen. "The carbonized and purified metal
falls into a crucible or other vessel placed immediately under the appa-
ratus. The metal obtained contains impurities, and must, ther efore, be
smelted in crucibles in a blast or reverberator Vie furnace. This is the
essential part of the process; the simplicity of the method and the
cheapness of the product are evident.

‘‘ Now arise the questions: Is it eS to obtain steel in large
quantities by this method; will it be of the same quality as the small
quantity obtained on trial ; and, if it is possible, at what price can it be
obtained ?

‘«In answer to these questions, Cazanave asserts that by his method
steel can be obtained in great quantities, not inferior to the best steel,
and proportionately cheaper : : for his best quality steel can be obtained
for £18 per tun. This is difficult to believe, but the inventor aflirms
that it is so, and at the same time warrants the excellent quality of his
steel. In ae present method of obtaining steel, good Iron must be
used, which is cemented, and the cemented iron, that is, the steel is
smelted in crucibles. By Cazanave’s method cementation of the i iron
is avoided, so that the cast steel may be obtained in unlimited quanti-
ties. if tuis new method turns out practicable, it will be possible to
work up the whole daily production of a blast-furnace into steel. For
this only the apparatus is required, which is not very costly, and
which would be erected near the blast-furnace and stream of pig iron.
The stream would be divided into rays of the necessary strength, and
each one directed into an apparatus. By Bessemer’s process about
ten tuns of steel are obtained per day at Sheffield; while by Cazanave’s
method 60 and 70 tuns per day could be obtained, and a blast-furnace
is eee erected at Charleroi which will produce about 74 tuns per
day! ‘he samples of steel furnished by this new process are report-
ed to be very good.” — Colliery Guar Hee Hpye

Absorptio. of Carbon by Iron. — Mr. Caron, in a paper read before
the British Association at its last meeting, stated that recent experi-
ments made |:y him, showed that iron may be made to absorb any quan-
tity of carbon by means of its oxide. Thus a gramme of oxide of iron,
being subjected to reduction in hydrogen, yielded seven-tenths of a
eramme of pare iron. ‘This, after being heated for an hour in oxide
of carbon, weighed nearly a gramme ; after another hour of the same
process, its weight rose to a gramme and a half; after a third hour, to
two grammes ; ‘and so, until it reached the weig ht of three grammes
after “the sixth time. Nearly the whole of this crease of weight i is
owing to the absorption of carbon, the rest being a very small'propor-
tion of oxygen.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 47

REDUCTION OF CAST IRON BY SUPERHEATED STEAM.

The following account of some highly interesting experiments on the
decarbonization of cast iron by superheated steam, is reported to the
Scientific American by the experimenters, Messrs. Duffield and Hart
of Detroit, Michigan.

They state that during the past year they commenced a series of
experiments upon the action of superheated steam upon the quality of
iron, with the following points in view : —

Ist. ‘To see whether superheated steam could be used in the place of
air, for the decarbonization of the iron.

2d. if the chemical interchange would set in between the hydrogen
of the superheated steam and the sulphur, in combination with the
iron, to form sulphuretted hydrogen gas, thus freeing the iron from
such a deleterious substance, and correct perfectly what is technically
known as red shortness.

3d. ‘To see if the oxygen, if liberated, would unite with the carbon
in the iron, producing an intense combustion as much increased im in-
tensity, as the ratio of oxygen to the hydrogen in steam exceeds the
ratio of oxygen to hydrogen in the atmosphere, the latter principle be-
ing involved in the Bessemer or pneumatic method of making steel. If
the superheated steam process was successiul, it would do away with
the blowing engine, as the pressure would be derived direct from the
boiler, thus economizing the expense of the engine, and the cost for
attendance, &e.

As this matter was solely theoretical, and we could not say how it
would act until fairly tried, apparatus was devised for testing the
matter thoroughly by experiment. ‘This consisted of a coil 34 feet
long, $ pipe, coiled within a foot circle. Around this was built
a furnace, where a bright red heat could be brought upon every
portion of the coil, by means of charcoal; the furnace was connected
with the main boiler in the laboratory, by a pipe, in such a way that
the condensed steam would not have to traverse the coil. Irom the
coil the pipe led to a Sefstroms furnace driven by a fan, containing a
crucible holding a sufficient quantity of molten cast iron, combined
with a large proportion of sulphur. Into this, while in a liquid state,
with steam at a temperature of 1,200° Fahr., the tuyere at the end of
the steam pipe, transmitting the superheated steam, was lowered into
the metal. We were disappointed that the molten iron did not evolve
gases, and burst into vivid combustion. We were aware that ordma-
ry steam cooled the metal, and therefore was inapplicable for use
in the temperature of iron; but we had hoped this might be due to the
ordinary aqueous vapor carried forward in the swift mechanical cur-
rent of the steam, and thought if we could deprive the steam of its
moisture, —that is, make a perfectly dry steam, —that this objection
would cease. Such proved to be by our experiments a false deduc-
tion, for so soon as steam was introduced, the molten metal passed in-
to a semi-fluid and then a solid state. When the steam was first brought
in contact with the metal, the iron had the appearance of boiling
and was rapidly chilled. As no vivid combustion set in, we consid-
ered that it was due entirely to the mechanical displacement under the
force of steam, We read in text-books that iron at a red heat decom-
poses water. We have not succeeded in proving this decomposition

48 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

to be to such an extent as would render it available in the arts, for so
quickly cooled is the iron that the decomposition is so small as to be
nearly imperceptible.

We could reasonably infer, if the superheated steam was decom-
posed by contact with the molten iron, that an oxy-hydrogen mixture
on a grand scale would be formed, and a small volcano, generating an
intense heat, be created. In order to modify this intensity, ordinary
steam could have been introduced along with the superheated steam,
then the heat generated would be under the control of the operator.
We tried melting the iron under the flame of the oxy-hydrogen blow-
pipe; a bead was formed, which was metallic iron encased im a shell
of oxide of iron. Here there is another point to be viewed, viz: the
iron in the mixed gases is rapidly oxidized, and loss of metal to a
great extent incurred. Unfortunately for the iron manufacturers, the
play of affinities between the elements of steam and iron, with its im-
purity, are in the wrong direction; combustion is not accelerated,
chemical decompositions do not set in, from the fact that the tempera-
ture is rapidly lowered, for reasons already given. Since making the
above experiments, information relative to the patent lately taken out
by Mr. Parry, of England, on this subject, has reached us. His
method is to introduce steam as well as air into the molten iron. The
steam is introduced until the metal is brought to a semi-iluid consisten-
ey, and then shut off, and air forced through, which again increases
the temperature, these alternate exposures of the molten metal con-
ducing to desulphurize and purify the metal. From the experiments
we have already detailed, we are forced to conclude that the super-
heated steam claimed by Mr. Parry to purify the metal, has had at-
tributed to it the benefits derived from the air blown through; and he
has unwittingly placed to the credit of the steam, what should have
been credited to air. With all the facts we have learned from other
sources, added to those we have derived from practical experiment,
we are of the opimion that, as yet, the pneumatic or Bessemer process
is superior as regards economy, practical working, and ease with which
itis managed. We are also led to the firm conviction, deduced from
our experiments, that the role played by superheated steam, is a mere
Imaginary one; it does not desulphurize to any extent, or to one half
the rapidity that the pneumatic process does; but, in fact, if any
chemical action takes place, it is the oxidation of the metal.

These results are submitted, and are not intended to cast a blight
on future experiments, but to show that steam or superheated steam
does not play such an important part in the iron manufacture as many
have supposed.

THE PRESERVATION OF METALS.

The preservation of copper and iron in the sea has been made the *
subject of long research by M. Becquerel, who has submitted a
memoir to the Academy of Sciences at Paris. The causes of the in-
jury (mechanical, physieal, and chemical) influence.all the chemical
actions and tend to the production of electricity by means of isolated
voltaic pairs. After considermg the important experiments of Davy
and others in regard to copper sheathing, M. Becquerel describes the
careful method which he adopted in order to determine the amount of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 49

electric action required to decompose a milligramme of water, and to
ascertain the electric state of all the parts of a protected metal; and
thus to find the laws on which a system of protection might be based.
In order to conduct these experiments on a large scale, the Imperial
Minister of the Marine placed at M. Beequerel’s disposal all the means
desired, with the assistance of the most eminent naval engineers in the
port of Toulon. The result of these experiments show, with regard
to copper, that, as on every metallic surface, there circulates by the
intermediate liquid which wets it, currents producing electro-chemical
decomposition ; if we wish to preserve a surface so as to avoid these
deposits we must arm the surface with an electro-motive power equal to
that point at which these deposits become insensible. For this pur-
pose laminz of iron and zinc have been employed. Laminz of cop-
per, armed with iron, and lamin of iron protected by zinc, present
sunilar effects, with the difference that the sphere of electric activity
is less, where the extent depends on the difference between the electro-
motive forces of the protecting and protected metal. Whenever the iron
is covered with several coats of white lead it is preserved so long as the
paint remains; but when it is once removed, either by friction or the
slow dissolving action of the sea, the metal is attacked im various parts ;
those which have lost the paint become negative and the local altera-
tions are gradually disseminated. MM. Becquerel trusts that the means
proposed will be found to be successful in preserving vessels from the
action of sea-water and from the attachment of marine animals.

Ina subsequent communication to the Academy, M. Becquerel made
some additional statements relative to his researches. He stated that
he had considered that he had demonstrated that when one of the ex-
tremities of a bar of iron or steel is placed in salt water, in contact with
a bar of zinc, the surface of which is a hundred times less, the intensity of
the currents derived from the surface of the protected metal, which re-
sults from the oxidation of the zinc, diminishes in proportion as it be-
comes more and more distant from the pomts of contact of the two
metals ; so that protection takes place at considerable distances. In
fresh water the effects are very different. The derived currents, which
are the cause of the preservation cf the iron as well as the electro-motive
force, lose their power. They, however, still retain sufficient to preserve
from oxidation iarge surfaces of iron formed of pieces superposed on
each other, or juxtaposed and armed with zinc or a suitable alloy. In
conclusion, M. Becquerel asserts that if'iron or steel be placed in either
fresh or salt water, so that the curve of the intensities of the electro-
motive force derived from contact with zie shall never meet the right
line of the iron, the iron is protected. The process is also adapted to
the preservation of iron water-pipes in wet earth,

The Protection of Iron Bridges from Oxidation,— A new iron
bridge of the Thames at London is to be protected from oxidation by
a new process patented by Messrs. Morewood & Co., and is alike im-
portant from the great cost which will be incurred, and the testing of
arather abstruse chemical formula for the preservation of iron from ox-
idation and decay. ‘Lhe process is as follows: ‘* The iron is to be
thoroughly cleaned and heated to the requisite temperature in a fur-
nace planned by the inventors. When tins temperature is attained, it
is to be plunged into a bath of prussite of potash and chloride of potas-

‘

50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sium, in a molten state, so that when the iron is withdrawn it may
easily part with the surplus of the aforesaid chemicals, which should
run off like oil. ‘The iron is then to be dipped into boiling water, con-
taining a certain proportion of cyanide of potassium ; from thence it is
removed to a bath for a final washing, and set up on end to dry. All
the processes. are to be carried on under cover, and before exposure to
the atmosphere the iron is to be coated with an asphaltum paint twice,
at given intervals; and again it is to receive two coats after fixing.
Of course all the necessary planing, drilling, and fitting is to be done
preparatory to the caeaeeemae, The time the iron is to remain in the
bath will vary from one to five minutes, according to the weight of the
metal to be operated upon. The elaborate character of the process
to which the contractor is rigidly bound, will account for the large sum
to be expended in carrying out. this part of the work; £4 per tun is
allowed to the contractor for the induration and painting; Messrs.
Morewood will receive from the contractors 5s. per tun as their royalty,
which it is estimated will be £1,000. Thus £16,000 is to be spent im
this effort to prevent oxidation, no greater proof of which, in its
damaging results, can be offered than the case of the cleaning of the oxide
(or rust) from the Menai Bridge, from which has lately been removed
above 40 tuns of oxide of iron. ®__ London Mechanics’ Magazine.

Prevention of Rust on Iron. —™Many a valuable hint is to be ob-
tained from an intelligent practical laboring man, which may lead the
philosopher into a train of ideas that m ay, perhaps, result in discov-
eries or inventions of great importance. When bricklayers leave off
work for a day or two, as from Saturd ay to Monday, they push their
trowel in and out 8 the moist mortar , so that the bright steel may be
smeared all over with a film of it, and find this plan an effectual reme-
dy against rust. In Wren’s Parentalia, there is a passage bearing
upon this subject: ‘* In taking out iron nes and ties from stone-
work, at least 400 years old, whic +h were so bedded in mortar that all
air was perfectly excluded, the iron hapedted as fresh as from the
forge.” In the victualling department at Plymouth, some years ago,
I observed a man lime-whiting y the inside of some iron tanks, previous-
ly to their being filled with water for the service of the crew and pas-
sengers during a voyage: this was to prevent the iron rust af-
fectine the water. In London, I have also recently seen men, with a
tub of lime- whiting and a mop, smearing the inside of large water-
pipes, as security against rust. Oxygen, “which is the main cause of
rust, 1s abundant in the composition of both water and the atmos-
phere; and that quicklime has an astonishing affinity for it is
evinced in the homely practice of preserving polished steel or iron
goods, such as fire-irons, fenders, and the fronts of ‘‘ bright stoves,”
when not in use, a little powdered lime beaten upon them out ofa
muslin bag being found sufficient to prevent their rusting. Another
instance, very different and far more delicate, bearing upon the same
principles : the manufacturers of needles, watch- -springs, cutlery, &e.
generally introduce a small packet of quicklime in the same box or
parcel with polished steel goods, as security from rust, before sending
it to a distant customer, or stowing it away for Siar use. These
cases are extremely curious, because, as a general rule, bright steel
or iron has a most powerful affinity for oxygen ; consequently it is

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 51

very readily acted upon by damp, and is rusted in a short time, either
by decomposing the water and obtaiming oxygen from that source, or
direct from the atmosphere. It is not absolutely essential that the
quicklime should be in actual contact with the metal, but if some-
where near, as in the case of the parcel of lime packed up with the
needles or ‘Wwatchsprings, the bright metal will remain along while
without the least alteration in its’ appearance ; the lime (which i is al-
ready an oxide of calcium), either receiving an additional dose of oxy-
gen, or being converted into a carbonate of lime.—Mr. C. H. Smith,
in Builder.

New Process for coating Metals.— At a recent meeting of the
French Academy, a communication was read by M. Weil, ‘ On New
Processes for Covering Metals with Firmly Adherent and Bright Lay-
ers of other Metals.” The method consists in dipping the met tal to be
coated m a saline solution of the metal to be aca rendered dis-
tinctly alkaline with potash or soda, and mixed with some organic mat-
ter, such as tartaric acid or glycerine. At the same time, it is neces-
sary in some cases to set up a weak voltaic current by keeping a piece
of zine or lead in contact with the metal. In this way the author ob-
tains a firm layer of copper, cr iron and steel, and procures various
and beautiful effects according to the thickness of the copper depos-
ited. Silver, nickel, and other metlas can be applied in the same way.
The process, it will be seen, is susceptible of numerous applications.
A curious fact mentioned is that a clean surface of copper may be
coated with zinc by placing the two metals in contact, in a solution of
caustic soda or potash. In the cold the deposit of zinc takes place
slowly, but at 100° it is effected rapidly.

ON THE PRESERVATION OF WOOD.

The following composition is recommended to protect the bottom of
posts, palings, and tubs set in the earth: 40 parts of chalk are add-
ed to 50 parts of resin, and four parts of linseed oil, melted togeth-
er in an Iron pot. One part of native oxide of copper is then added,
and one part of sulphuric acid is cautiously stirred in. The mixture
is applied hot with a strong brush, and forms, when dry, a varnish as
hard as stone. — London Chemical News.

Preservative Action of Sulphate of Copper on Wood. —'The exper-
iments of M. Kénig have demonstrated that the sulphate of copper
deprives wood of the nitrogenous matter which acts as a ferment, this
matter being found in the solution of the copper. At the same time a
combination of resin and copper is formed, which closes up the pores
of the wood and preserves it from the action of the air. The wood,
however, is still susceptible of decomposition, in consequence of the
variations of temperature and humidity. M. Weltz, while occupied
with the solution of the last questions, has arrived at the following
conclusions: Ife has remarked that the wood gradually blackens as
the layers of metallic copper are produced on it. The sulphate of
copper is fixed in the wood: this salt decomposes itself into metallic
copper and sulphuric acid. The latter chars the wood, and it is
through this layer of charcoal, the preserving agency of which has
been so often remarked, that the wood is enabled to resist the action

52 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of humidity. M. Weltz’s ideas are confirmed by the following fact:
In the south of Spain there exists an ancient copper-mine (Mina de
Riotonto), which dates from the first years of the Christian era. The
woodwork which sustains the galleries, is still in a perfect state of
preservation. It is charred, a circumstance which is explained by the
quantity of crystallized sulphate of copper and of metallic copper in
regulus which covers it. The wood has remained exposed nearly
18 centuries to the action of the atmosphere and its humidity, hav-
ing been charred by the sulphate of copper while depositing metallic
copper on its surface. — Repertoire de Chimie.

NEW METHODS FOR PRESERVING MEATS, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, &c.

At a recent industrial exhibition at St. Petersburg, the following
mode of preserving fruits, invented by the maitre @hotel of the Grand
Duke Nicholas, attracted great attention. Quicklime is slacked in
water, into which four or five drops of creosote for each quart of
water have been mixed: the lime must be neither too much nor too
little slacked ; there is a certain knack which practice alone can teach.
Take a box and lay in its bottom a bed of the slacked lime, above this
spread a layer of the materials to be preserved; at the four angles and
elsewhere lay packages of powdered charcoal; then make another bed
of the lime, followed by another layer of the fruit. When the box is
full put on the lid, and close it air-tight. Thus preserved, the fruits
will last a whole year.—Cosmos.

A new process for preserving uncooked meat, recently brought out
in Europe, is to extract the atmospheric air by means of a vacuum,
and then to admit nitrogen or azote. ‘This permeates the substance of
the flesh, and prevents the putrefactive changes which would otherwise
ensue.

Pagliart Process for Preserving Meat.— A new process for pre-
serving meat, proposed by M. Pagliari, has been reported to the
Academy of Sciences by M. Pasteur. It consists in enclosing the
meat in a layer of benzoin and alum, a mixture at once anti-hygro-
metric and antiseptic. ‘The meat thus enclosed and abandoned to the
air loses the greater part of the Liquids which, by their tendency to
decompose, contribute most actively to putrefaction. In the office of
the Academy were deposited a leg of mutton and several other pieces
of meat, which had been sent from Italy. The mutton had lost much
of its freshness and gave out a little odor; but a fine piece of beef
did not give the least sign of alteration and seemed to preserve its
original freshness.

Morgan's Plan of Preserving Meat.—The following plan of preserv-
ing meat has also been devised by Prof. Morgan, Professor of Anat: my
in the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, and by him is explained
in a recent number of the (Dublin) Agricultural Review. - In this paper,
after arguing that salted meats cause scurvy and other diseases, in conse-
quence of the phosphoric acid and other substances being removed by
solution in the brine, he says :—

“J shall first detail the modus operandi of my process. The animal is
killed in the usual manner by a blow on the head, causing instantaneous
death. It is then turned on the back, the chest opened, the bag of peri-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 53

cardium, containing the heart, opened. ‘The right side of the heart, into
which all the venous or returning blood enters, is seen distended; the
ear or right auricular tip, as most convenient, is opened, or its tip cut off,
or an incision made into the right ventricle; another also directly into the
left. ‘The animal is turned on the side to let the blood run out. A pipe,
furnished with a stop-cock and coupling at the outer end, is now intro-
duced into the incision made in the left ventricle, and makes its way at
once into the acrta. The fingers holding a piece of stout cord, are now
passed round the aorta, close to the heart ( (including at the same time the
pulmonary artery ) and the cord is tied siaenelk over both, so that the
pipe is fixed in the aorta firmly. To the outer end a coupling, con-
nected with an India-rubber or other tube, ? of an inch in diameter, 18 to
20 feet long, joins this te a vessel or tank alemitcd to the hight of the
leneth of the tube; brine of ordinary strength, with a little saltpetre dis-
solved in it, is let on; it directly (under 15 seconds in most cases) rushes
out at the incision made either in the right auricle or ventricle before men-
tioned. About five gallons will suffice. This clears the smaller vessels
for the next stage, which is the essential one. The brine so used can be
recovered if desired, by adding a little old brine and heating. The materi-
als to be ultimately used are now putinto the tank, taking care that they
are strained, and a stout clip or clamp is put on the incision in the right
side of the heart. The fluid is then turned on, and directly makes its
way to the right side, as before; but its exit being now prevented, and its
admission into the smaller vessels beng secured by the first process of
clearing these vessels, as mentioned, the fluid, by the pressure and capil-
lary attraction of minute vessels and muscular fiber, percolates through
every particle of the animal, and can be seen at the moment diffusing it.
self in any part, by making incisions in the hide, horn, bone, and flesh,
or any other parts. The quantity I use is about one gallon of brine to
the cwt., a quarter to half a pound of nitre, two pounds of sugar, a
little spice, sauce, etc., to taste; also half an ounce of the mono-
phosphoric acid, which, having the power of coagulating albumen, and
forming a compound with it, retains this very desirable element in the
flesh, and gives an extra supply of phosphoric acid, which is, of course
at present denied the sailor, as above stated. The use of boiling brine in
the second stage I also advoeate; as it coagulates the albumen, or gives a
set (as it is called by cooks) to the meat. It is needless to remark that
the entire animal is cured almost instantaneously.

* T would now draw attention to the further treatment of the flesh re-
ferring to—Ist, the method scientifically used; 2d, the advantages attain-
ed; 3d, the mechanics advantages ; if we now consider the first part of
the process complete.

“The animal is in a few hours cut up into the eight-pound pieces _re-
quired by the navy, and is ready for casking in the usual way, or in dry

salt (all expense of preparing being done away), or for drying by being
transferred to a drying-house (as in the specimens for inspection). It is
obvious that it loses none of those materials abstracted by the present
method of salting, so that the meat is absolutely perfect, as in fresh meat
without water, having, as I hold, the additional advantages of salt, which
the weight of authority is in favor of rather than against, and of sugar,
now issued to the navy, along with the lemon juice; the use of sugar Lie-
big shows plainly is for the formation of lactic acid (which, as mentioned
5*

5t ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

before, he has found abstracted by the brine), and a most essential com-
pound, not only of muscle juice, but of gastric juice as well as an important
respiratory food. I would suggest the use of ‘saeur kr .ut,’ or some other
vegetable product containing hectic acid, or lactic acid itself. Sugar is in
an economic point of view , specially advantageous, as it is about ara thirds
the price of meat, or less, while it im 1 proves the flavor and keeps soft the
flesh, aiding also in the preservation.”

ON THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT.
The following is an abstract of a lecture on the above subject recently
given before the Society of Arts, London, by Prof. Crace Galeere

Preserving Meat by Cold.— A low temperature is most favorable to
the preserv vation of flesh and other animal substances, and under that
condition it will not enter into putrefaction, the best proof of which is
that elephants in a perfect state of preservation have been found in Si-
beria buried in ice, where they have doubtless existed for many thousands
of years.

Preserving Meat and Vegetables by Drying. — A high state of desic-
cation or dryness also contributes powerfully to the prevention of decay.
Thus in Buenos Ayres and Monte Video meat is cut into thin slices,
covered with maize flour, dried in the sun, and it is consumed largely,
under the name of tasago or charke, by the inhabitants of the interior,
and also by the black population i in Brazil and the West Indies. Fur-
ther, dried meat reduced to powder is used by travelers in Tartary and
adjacent countries. A remarkable instance of the preservation of animal
matter by extreme desiccation is related by Dr. Wefer, who states that
in 1787, during a journey in Peru, he found on the borders of the sea
muny hundreds of corpses slightly buried in the sand, which, though
they had evidently remained. there for two or AS centuries, were
perfectly dry and free from putrefaction. I will also mention in this
connection the process of M. M. Masson & Gannal, for the preservation
of vegetables, which consists in submitting the vegetables for a few
minutes to the action of high-pressure steam (70 pounds to the square
nch), then drying them by air heated to 100°; when, after compression
by hydraulic pressure, they are made into tablets for sale. When
required for use it is only necessary to place the tablets for five hours
in cold water, whea the vegetable substances swell out to their former
size and apperrance, and are ready for cooking.

By excluding the Air.—As the presence of oxygen or air is an
essential condition of putrefaction, the consequence is that many methods
have been invented to exclude that agent, or rather the sporules or
germs of cryptogamic plants or animals, which are the true ferments or
microscopic source of fermentation and putrefaction. Permit me to
describe concisely some of the methods proposed; and I believe that
one of the best processes for excluding air was that invented by Appert,
m 1854. It consists in imtroducing the meat or other animal substance,
with some water, into vessels which are nearly closed; these are then
placed in a large boiler with sa It (which raises ‘the boiling point of the
liquor), and the contents of the vessels are kept boiling for about an
hour, so as to exclude all air, and destroy, by the high temperature, all
the sporules or germs of putrefaction they may contain, when they are

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 55

hermetically closed. M. Appert has improved this process in placing
the prepared vessels in a closed boiler, by which means he raises the
temperature (by pressure) to 234°, effecting thus the same purpose
more rapidly and economically. ‘To give you an idea of the extent
of this trade, I may state that M. Appert prepared over 500,000 pounds
of meat for the French army in the Crimea. I am aware that many
modifications have been applied to this process, but I shall only mention
that of Mr. G. McAll, who adds to the previous principle of preservation
2 small quantity of sulphate of soda, well known to be a_ powerful
antiseptic.

The preservation of animal and vegetable substances by the exclu-
sion of air and cryptogamic sporules is also effected by other methods
than those above described; for imstance, they are embedded in oil, or
in glycerine, or in saccharine sirups.

It has also been proposed to protect animal matters by covering
their external surfaces with coatings impermeable to air. Two of
the most’ recent are the following: M. Pelletier has proposed to
cover the animal matter with a layer of gum, then immerse it in ace-
tate of alumina, and, lastiy, ina solution of gelatine, allowing the
whole to dry on the surface of the animal matter. The characteristic
of this method is the use of acetate of alumina, which is not only a
powerful antiseptic, but also forms an insoluble compound with gela-
tine, thus protecting the animal matter from external imjury. M.
Pagliari has lately introduced a method which is stated to give very
good results. It consists in boiling benzoin resin in a solution of
alum, immersing the animal matter in the solution, and driving off
the excess of moisture by a current of hot air, which leaves the above
antiseptics on the animal matter,

By Smoke and Carbolic Acid.—TIt is scarcely necessary ta men-
tion the cld method of using smoke arising from the combustion of
various kinds of wood, except to state that in this case it is the ereo-
sote and pyroligneous acids which are the preservative agents. The
preservation of animal matter by a very similar action is effected by
the use of carbolic acid, a product obtained from coal tar. It is
much to be regretted that this substance, which is the most powerful
antiseptic known, cannot be made available for the preservation of
food, but there can be no doubt that, for the preservation of organic
substances intended for use in arts and manufactures, no cheaper or
more effective material can be found. For example, I have ascer-
tained that one part of carbolic acid added to five thousand parts of
a strong solution of glue will keep it perfectly sweet for at least two
years, and probably for an indefinite period. ‘Also, if hides or skins
are immersed for 24 hours in a solution of one part of carbolic acid
to 50 of water, and then dried in the air, they will remain quite sweet.
In fact, hides and bones so prepared have been safely imported
from Monte Video. From these facts, and many others with which I
am acquainted, I firmly believe that this substance is destined within
a few years to be largely used as an antiseptic and disinfectant.

By Salt and Heat.—I need hardly speak of the power of chloride
_ of sodium, or common salt, in preserving animal matters, and it is
highly probable that the process of Mr. Morgan of Dublin (described
in the preceding article, Hd.) is likely to be of great service. At

56 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the last London International Exhibition, Messrs. Jones and Tre-
vethick displayed some meat, fowls, and game preserved by the
following process, which received the approbation of the jurors.
Meat is placed in a tin canister, which is then hermetically closed,
with the exception of two small apertures in the lid. It is then
plunged into a vessel containing water, and after the air has been
exhausted through one aperture by means of an air pump, sulphur-
ous acid gas is admitted through the second aperture and the alter-
nate action of exhausting the air and replenishing the sulphurous
acid gas is kept up until the whole of the air has been removed. ‘The
sulphurous acid gas, in its turn, is exhausted, and nitrogen admitted.
The two apertures are then soldered up, and the operation is completed.

IMPROVEMENTS IN BEEF PACKING.

Some important improvements in beef and pork packing have re-
cently been introduced by Messrs. A. E. Kent & Co. of Chicago.
Hitherto the cutting of beef for market into mess, extra mess, prime
mess, India mess, ete., has been done by hand,—by single man power,—
but recently Messrs. Kent & Co. have introduced into their establish-
ment circular saws and steam power. ‘I'wo large saws have been
erected which are driven by steam, and these saws are made to do the
work of upwards of 20 men with handsaws, and in a much neater and
better manner than formerly. The application of circular saws in cut-
ting beef has been experimented with repeatedly by others, but it has
never met with success until now. ‘The great difficulty to be over-
come was the clogging of the saws with the meat, so that no power
could be applied that would make them work smoothly and regularly.
Thanks, however, to Yankee ingenuity, this has been overcome. Be-
sides the main table on which the saws are placed, a false table has
been erected, running on rollers, so constructed that when the saw
passes through the quarter of beef, the divisions of the table gradually
spread, and this keeps the meat from interfering with the progress of
the saw. ‘The invention is very simple, but none the less valuable be-
cause of its simplicity. A whole quarter of beef is placed on this false
table, which is pushed against the saw, and, as the sawing proceeds,
the table gradually spreads, so that the only part of the saw which is
touched with the meat is the edge.

To test the labor-saving qualities of this improvement, the product
of ten head of oxen was placed on the table, to be cut into mess beef;
the manager took his watch in his hand, and gave the order to start.
Away went the saws whirring, and quarter after quarter of the beef
disappeared after having been cut into small pieces; and in exactly
six minutes from the time of starting, the whole ten head of oxen were
cut! Now, this was all done with two saws and six men, who fed
them and took off the pieces as they were cut. At this rate, these
two saws and six men could cut up 1,000 head in ten hours. This
shows the capacity of the improvement when fully tested. But with
ordinary running, the two saws and six men can more easily cut 500
beeves per day, than could 15 men 200 per day by the old handsaw
process.

Here then is a saving of more than one-half the labor, and about
two-thirds of the time usually employed, and also.a great improve-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57

ment in the manner of cutting. When offering mess for sale the in-
spectors are particular in seeing that the pieces are cut square and
smooth. If they are not, they are rejected and branded inferior.
This damages the sale, and the owner incurs a loss thereby. By the

plication of these saws, every piece is cut alike, —there are no hag-
gled pieces, no ragged edges, — every piece is cut smooth, and clean,
and square. In this respect alone, not to speak of the labor saved,
the invention is a highly valuable one. — Scientific American.

UTILIZATION OF BRINE.

At a recent meeting of the Glasgow Philosophical Society, Mr. A.
Whitelaw read a paper giving an account of a process discovered by
him for utilizing the brine of salted meat by means of the process of
dialysis. When fresh meat, he said, had been sprinkled with salt for
a few days, it was found swimming in brine. T'resh meat contained
more than 3 of its weight of water, which was retained in it
asina sponge. But flesh had not the power to retain brine to that
extent, and in similar circumstances it absorbed only about half as
much saturated brine as of water, so that, under the action of salt,
flesh allowed a portion of its water to flow out. ‘This expelled water,
as might naturally be expected, was saturated with the soluble nutri-
tive ingredients of the flesh; 1t was, in fact, juice of flesh,— soup, with
ail its valuable and restorative properties. In the large curing estab-
lishments of this city very considerable quantities of this brine were
produced and thrown away as useless. ‘This was the material to which
Mr. Whitelaw has applied the process of dialysis, and he thought
with success, for the removal of the salts of the brine, and for the
production, ata cheap rate, of pure fresh extract of meat. His process
he stated as follows: The brine, after being filtered to free it from
any particles of flesh or other mechanical impurities 1t might contain,
was then subjected to the operation of dialysis. ‘The vessels or bags
in which he conducted the operation might be made of various mate-
rials and of many shapes; but whatever might be their material or
shape, he called them ‘‘dialysers.” Such an apparatus as the follow-
ing would be found to answer the purpose: A square vat made of a
frame-work of iron filled wp with sheets of skin or parchment paper
in such a way as to be water-tight, and strengthened, if necessary, by
stays or straps of metal. The sides, ends, and bottom being composed
of this soft dialysing material, exposed a great surface to the action of
the water contained in an outer vat, in which the dialyser was placed.
He found a series of ox-bladders fitted with stop-cocks, or gutta-percha
mouth-tubes, and plugs, and hung on rods stretching across and into
vats of water, a very cheap and effective arrangement. He could
also employ skins of animals either as open bags or closed, and fitted
with stop-cocks cr bags of double cloth, with a layer of soft gelatine
interspersed between them. Other arrangements would readily sug-
eest themselves, and might be adopted according to circumstances.
But supposing the bladder arrangement was taken, which he thought
would be found practically the best, being cheap, easily managed, and
exposing a great surface to the dialytic action. The bladders were
filed with the filtered brine by means of fillers, and hung in rows on
poles across, and suspended into vats of water. The water in those

58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

vats was ened once a day, or oftener if required, and he found
that actually at the end of the third or fourth day, according to the
size of the bladders employed, almost all the common salt and nitre of
the brine had been removed, and that the lquid contained in the
bladders was pure juice of flesh in a fresh and wholesome condition.
The juice, as obtained from the ‘‘dialysers,” might now be employed
in making rich soups without any further preparation, or it might be
concentrated by evaporation to the state of solid extract of “meat.
Mr. Whitelaw, at this stage, requested a friend present to heat a
portion of the juice of flesh so as to produce a soup, and he asked the
members to taste it and experience the result. He also had prepared
more carefully a soup from the brine, to which he directed attention.
(Both were found to be very palatable.) The brine used, he contin-
ued, was from one of the most respectable curing-houses in Glasgow,
and was perfectly pure a and wholesome. The li quid £ from the dialy: sers
micht be treated in several ways. It might ‘be evaporated In an
enamelled vessel to a more or less concentrated state, or to dryness,
and in these various conditions packed in tins or jars for sale. It
might be concentrated at a temperature of 120°, by means of a
vacuum pan or form. Again, the more or less concentrated liquid
might be used along with flour used in the manufacture of meat bis-
cuits. The products he had named were all highly nutritive, portable,
and admirably adapted for the use of hospitals, for an army in the
field, and for ships’ stores. ‘The dialysis of brine might be conducted
in salt water, so as to remove the greater portion of its salt, and
the process completed in a small quantity of fresh rain, or other
water. In this way ships at sea might economize their brine, and so
restore to the meat in a great measure the nutritive power that it had
lost in the process of salting. ‘Thus, then, Mr. Whitelaw said, he
obtained an extract of flesh at a cheap rate, from a hitherto waste
material. Tiwwo gallons of brine yielded one ‘pound of solid extract,
containing the coagulated albumen and coloring matter. For the
production of the same directly from meat something like 20 pounds
of lean beef would be required. The quantity ‘of brine annu-
ally wasted was very great. He believed he was considerably under
the truth when he said that in Glasgow alone 60,000 gallons were
thrown away yearly. If they estimat ted one eallon as equal to seven
pounds of meat in soup-producing power, then this was equal to a
yearly waste of 187 tons of meat without bone. iustimating the meat
as worth sixpence per ee this amounted to a loss of £10,472. In
this way the waste over the country must, he said, be very great.

As an appendix to this notice Mr. Whitelaw also detailed a method,
applicable to ships at sea, by which the quality of the meat suppli ed
to the men may be much improved and their food varied.

The salt meat is aces in a dialytic bag made of untanned skin, or
other suitable material, and the bag filled nearly, but not quite, ‘fall
of brine from the beef barrel. ‘The dialyser is then placed in sea
water, and the process allowed to go on for several days, till the meat
and brine are sufficiently fresh for use, or till the brine in the dialytic
bag is within one or two degrees of Twadde’s hydrometer of the same
streneth of sea water. In this way, as the brine becomes freed from

salt, the beef, which, by the action of salt, has been contracted, gives

=

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 59

its salt to the brine in the bag, and so the process goes on, the beef
expanding like a sponge, and gradually taking up a great part of the
natural juice that it had previously lost in the saltmg process. In this
way no loss of juice is sustained by steeping, and the brine left in the
bags, after a nightly dialysis in fresh water, can be used for soup.

‘Thoroughly salted beef, without bone, takes up nearly one-third its
weight of juice, and this absorption takes place gradually as the
strength of the brine in the dialyser becomes reduced.

Meat thus treated — being, in fact, fresh meat— may be cocked in
a variety of ways that are opviously not available for salt meat; and
so the food of sailors, and consequently their health, may be improyed.

INDUSTRY OF MANURES,

Mr. A. W. Hoffman, the well-known English Chemist, as a Juror
of the great London Exhibition of 1862, has recently published a re-
port under the above title, from which we make the following extracts.

After alluding to the great impulse given to the cause of sanitary
reform in Great Britain by the sudden outburst of the cholera in that
country, in 1836, he calls attention to the controversy which took
place among the various authorities respecting the proper size and
form of drains to be used in connection with dwelling-houses.

Small circular stoneware tubes were recommended by one party ;
large brick flat-bottomed sewers by the other. The tubular system
happily proved to be the cheapest as well as the best; and its advo-
cates, aiter a ten years’ struggle, finally carried the day. Whole.
towns are now drained through 12-inch pipes, which would formerly
have been deemed of scant dimension for the drainage of a single
mansion.

The application of the manurial streams from urban drains ta
irrigate tarm lands was also warmly advocated by the sanitary re-
formers, but as warmly declared impracticable by several leading en-
gineers, whose views upon that part of the question prevailed.

The second invasion of Asiatic cholera, in 1849, gave a new
impulse to the abolition of cesspools; and the value ef tubular
drains, of small size and rapid scour, for their replacement, had by
that time obtained very general recognition. But the leading engi-
neers of England, while admitting, theoretically, the value of sewage
to fertilize land, stili denied the soundness and economy of the
mechanical arrangements proposed by the sanitary reformers for its
distribution. On an engineering question, public opinion (not unnat-
urally) sided at the outset with the engineers, The new system has
had, therefore, to encounter a professional opposition, all the more
formidable for being thoroughly conscientious, Probably that opposi-
tion, with the controversy it has engendered, and, above ail, the
experiments to which it has given rise, canstitutes a wholesome
ordeal to test the soundness of the new plan, and to bring about tne
correction of such weak points as it may present. But, in the mean-
time, the application of town sewage to farm lands on an extensive
national seale, has stood, and still stands, adjourned.

Hence the present condition, obviously transitional, of the great
manufacturing and commercial towns of England; hence the insuffer-
able pollution of her streams and rivers; hence that prodigious

%

60 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

squandering of the elements of human blood, for which she is so bit-
terly reproached by Liebig.

But steam-power, which has imposed on the British laborer a
struggle for existence, by reason of free trade competition, brings
him also the means of issuing victorious from the encounter. Why
may not the steam-urged plowshare pass to and fro through the field,
as the steam-driven shuttle passes through the fabric in the loom ?

If pure water can be pumped by steam-power at an infinitesimal cost
into a town for its supply, why may not the very same water, enriched
with the ejecta of the population, and so converted into a powerful
manure, be also pumped owt of the town by steam-power, and applied
to maintain the fertility of the land? In a word, why may not hus-
bandry rise, in its turn, from the rank of a handicraft to that of a
manufacture; the farm be organized and worked like a factory ; and
food, like every other commodity, be at length produced by steam-
power 2

These questions are now in every mouth; and the agricultural
revolution they imply appears to be, at this moment, in course of
accomplishment by the English people.

Already, on many an English farm, the characteristic tall factory-
chimney is seen rising among the trees; the steam-engine is heard
panting below; and the rapid thrashing-wheel, with its noisy revolu-
tions, supersedes the laborer’s tardy flail. Already, at somewhat fewer
points, the farm-locomotive stands smoking in the field, winding to
and fro, round anchored windlass, the slender rope of steel which
draws the rapid plowshare through the soil; thus furrowed twice as
deep, and thrice as fast, as formerly by man and horse; and thus
economically enriched with proportionately increased supplies of’ at-
mospheric plant-food.

And lastly, already, at still rarer intervals, the subterranean pipes
for sewage-irrigation ramify beneath the fields, precisely as the pipes
for water distribution ramify beneath the streets of the adjacent town ;
the propelling power being, in both cases, that of steam.

These innovations are, doubtless, still experimental; and, like all
innovations, they are vaunted by some with premature zeal as perfect,
while others, with pardonable scepticism, decry them as utterly im-

racticable. ‘Truth for the present seems to lie between these extremes.
The steam plow, though answering well in large and level fields with
favorable soils, still requires adaptation to less easy conditions of
tillage. The tubular irrigating system is still lable to the sudden in-
flux of storm-waters, overburdening, and often overmastering the
steam-pumps so as seriously to interefere with the economy of the dis-
tributive operation, But inventive research and practical experiment
are rapidly proceeding side by side, and every year, not to say every
month, sees some fresh truth elicited, some previous ‘‘ impossibility ”
achieved.

Utilization of Urban Ejecta as Manure. —'The separation of surface-
water from sewage is, by a certain number, confidently relied on to
solve the problem of sewage utilization, in conformity with Mr. F. O.
Ward’s formula, — ‘“‘ the rain-fall to the river, the sewage to the soil.”
Others are of opinion that sewage, even when diluted by admixture
with rain-swollen brooks, may be economically pumped on the land.

¢

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 61

A third party believed gravitation to be the only economical distribu-
tive power for sewage, and open gutters contoured along the undu-
lating ground the only channel suited for its conveyance.

On these mechanical questions the Reporter, as a chemist, has of
course no opinion to offer. But, that the reckless squandering of town
sewage to the sea, if continued on its present prodigious sc ale, must,
ina fow generations, justify the worst forebodings of Liebig, and that
the same “steam-power which has induced the evil can alone : supply the
remedy, the Reporter confidently believes.

And here, perhaps, is the place to imterpose a few remarks, in most
respectful deprecation of the support which Liebig, in several of his
works, and more especially in his latest publication, affords to the
cesspoo! system of urban defeeation. He devotes an entire chapter
(the seventh) toa description of the movable cesspools, or casks upon
wheels, employed in the soldiers’ barracks, im several garrison towns
of Baden to receive and carry away the whole of the ejecta, fluid and
solid. He states the average co ost of these cesspool-carts to be be-
tween £9 and £10 apiece; their term of duration about five years ;
and their maintenance-charge about 15 per cent of their first cost.
He adds that the sale of the manure collected and conveyed away
in these carts, from several garrisons, numbering in all 8,000 men,
brings in an annually increasing sum; the rec ‘eipts having risen from
£285 in 1852 to £680 in 18: 58, “and the tendency of the. price being
upward still. Upon this system he bestows encomiuns, made weigh-
ty by his illustrious name and eminent authority. ‘* Sandy wastes,”
he says, ‘‘more particularly in the vicinity of Bastadt and Carlsrulic,
have thus been turned into cornfields of ereat fertility. And he aids
that ‘‘ there might thus be established a perfect circulation of the con-
ditions of life, which would provide 8,000 men with bread year aiter
year, without in the least reduci ing the productiveness of the fields on
which the corn is grown.” He “further devotes much space In his
Appendix to a report upon Japanese husbandry, addressed to the
Minister of Agriculture at Berlin, by Dr. H. Maron, and containing
a detailed account of the Japanese method of urban defecation, whieh
is also accomplished by a system of movable cesspools, lifted out and
carried through the open streets by hand.

The Japanese, Dr. Maron states, use open privies, not constructed
as in Germany, in some remote corner of the yard, but forming an
essential part of the interior of their dwellings. The aperture Is level
with the ground, and beneath it is set a bucket or earthen pot for re-
moval, when full, by human hands. The Coolies thus employed are
to be met, he tells us, of an evening, marching in long strings alone
all the roads leading out of the Japanese towns, each Coolie bearing
two buckets or earthen pots of night-soil for conveyance to the neigh-
boring farm. Caravans of pace -horses, similarly laden, are sent, he
states, 200 or 300 miles into the interior; and canal-boats leave each
town daily as regularly as the mail, cach loaded by Coclies with high-
piled buckets of the precious stuff, the eflluvia of which, it is admitte d,
render the task of conducting these barges ‘* a species of marty rrdom.’

It is precisely from this degrading and loathsome kind of rude gery
that England is now resolutely bent on emancipat ting a pirantors while
yet restoring to the land quite as faithfully as the J apanes the fer-

62 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tilizing residua of human food. It is precisely against what may be
termed ‘‘the martyrdom of stench,” and the still fiercer martyrdoms of
blood-poliution and loathsome pestilence which stench engenders,
that the English Sanitary Reformers protest and struggle with all their
force. The organization of the so-called ‘continuous tubular cireu-
lating system,” by which, with the aid of steam-power, the healthy and
ceaseless interchange of pure water and manurial liquor between town
and country is now sought to be achieved, seems destined to consti-
tute the mechanical complement of the great chemico-physiological
truths promulgated by Licbig. It is not, “however, pretended by the
warmest advocates of this system, that it can be accomplished by a
single generation. It is admitted, on the contrary, that the complete
tubularization of the farms of Europe must be a task as gradual as the
complete drain and water-pipeage of her towns, or as the universal ex-
tension of her railway and electric communicatigns. But as the mag-
nitude of such a project may be, for many minds the very pivot on
which their judgment of it, favorable or adverse, may turn, the Reporter
quotes here, from a speech of Mr. F. O. Ward (in 1855), some re-
marks bearing on this point.

Colt asare: ued,” said the speaker, after adverting to the cost of the
requisite pipeage. —‘‘it is argued from this vast expenditure and
widely extended range of distribution that the plan is impracticable.
But I think this resembles the arguments urged against gas-lighting at
oe outset. ‘What!’ it was said in the old days of oil- -Jamps, to

the daring innovators who proposed gas- -lighting, ‘do you seriously
ask us to tear up all the streets of our towns, and lay down thousands
of miles of subterranean arteries, to circulate a subtle 4 vapor through
every street and into every house, to do, at a cost of millions upon
millions, what our lamps and. candles already do sufficiently well»
Such was the language used; and the proposal of gas-lighting was
regarded at the outset. by the majority of mankind, as the wildest
and most visionar y hallucination. But when Murdoch’s factory had’
been illuminated with gas. the whole problem was virtually solved ;
and when the first line of gas-lights burned along Pall Mall, the iilu-
mination of all the towns of Europe became merely a question of
time. Just so, when the first farm was successfully laid down with
irrigating tubes for the distribution of liquid manure, there ceased to
be any arcument about the cost and quantity of pipeage for this pur-
pose. Nor should we be deterred from grappling with the sewage
problem by contemplating the vast magnitude of the results which it
it will lead in the course of time,—of generations perhaps,—when the
whole subsoil of Europe will probably be piped for the distribution of
liquid manure, just as all Flanders is already honeycombed with tanks
for its storage.

CONSUMPTION OF WATER.

A man is generally supposed to require about one-half gallon of
water per day for drinking, cooking, &e.; and about four eallons
more for washing, bathing, and other purposes ; a family of five heads
will require e about nine callons per day. In Paris, the consumption
of this liquid is officially stated to be 44 gallons for every man per

day; 16% for every horse; nine for a two-wheeled carriage ; and 164

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 63

for a four wheeled, per day ; 92 gallons for every square yard of gar-
den, per annum; 66 gallo ns for a bat! a, per day; and one-fifth gallon
for every square yar d of public road, per day. ‘The consumption in
Madrid, according to the report of the directors of the Canal de Isa-
bella, 2d Company, is 5$ gallons for every man per diem; 214 for
every horse ; 144 for every wos wheeled carriage; 214 fore oy ery four-
wheeled carriage, per diem; 12 gallons for ev ery square yard of gar-
den. The foliowing i is the consumption in gallons of water per d xy,

and individual, im the chief towns of Europe and America. Rome,
243; New York, 125%: Marseilles, 1038 ; Besar acon, d5£; Dejon, £4;

Bordeaux, 374; Hamburg, 28; Genoa, 264; Madrid, 2). Glaszow,
29; London, 24s Lyons, 19; Manchester , 18; Brussels, 174; Mo-
naco, 17; Toulouse, 163; Geneva, 163; Narbonne, 16; Piiladel-
piia, 153; Paris, 15; Grenoble, 145; Montpellier, 13; Nantes, 13;
Clermont, 12; Ecinbureh, falls Havre, pues ye eee 9; Liver-
9001, 6; Metz, 54; St. Etienne, 53; Altona, 52; Constantinople, 43 ;
ti0 de Janeiro, 2. ‘This statement only comprises the qua: atity of
water supplied by aqueducts; those yielded by wells and other
means, are not easy to ascertain. — London Artisan.

ON THE MANUFACTURE OF MAPLE SUGAR IN THE NORTHERN
UNITED STATES.

The following is a report of a paper re cently read before the Poly-
technic Association of New York, by Mr. ‘Ss. D. Tillman :—

The amount of maple sugar mide ia the United States in the year
1860 was, in round uml 208, 39,000,009 pounds. The product of
1864, stimulated by the high price of cane sugar, was probably far in
excess of that of i860, or of any former year. A comparative esti-
mate of the quantity of sap gathered, and sugar m: mufictured, may
be made from the statement lat ely sent to me by a very intelligent
member of the Shaker Community, at Canterbury, N. U1. This
Society have three maple groves; in one, 1,150 trees were tapped on
the Ist of March last, | a few hundred of the Gales were reamed out on
the Ist of April, and on the 16th of April the spiles were all with-
drawn. ‘The whole quantity of sap vathered from these trees was 618
barrels. The other two groves contain about 600 tapped trees each,
emaking the whole number 2,330. The amount of sugar made from
618 barrels, or 19,776 gallons of sap, is 4,000 pounds ; about one
pound for five ¢ gallons of molasses is made generally from the sap of
the latest run, which is so changed in its character that it will not
properly eranul: ute. In one camp the sap is boiled in a series of
cast-iron pans, all connected at ‘the bottom by a pipe. Taus the
sweeter part of the sap runs out at the bottom, as fast as the fresh
sap is allowed to runin. ‘The process is completed in another pan.
in one camp the cast-iron pans have been taken out and copper
pans substituted; four of them are eight feet long and two feet
wide, and six or eight inches deep. The sirup pan into which
the sweeter liquid from the other p2us flows, is four feet long, two
feet wide and eight inches deep. ‘These pans are above and at the
side of each other, so that the sap from the bottom of the first pan
runs into the top of the seeond, and so on through the series, the
wiole being eoverned by faucets. In this series about two barrels of
sap can be ‘boiled down per hour.

64 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

At my suggestion, the correspondent, Mr. Blinn, tested the strength
of the sap drawn at various hights of the tree, the highest being taken
at 15 feet, and the result proved that the sap increases in sweetness,
sligatly, with increase of hight. The sweetest sap tested was 3° by
the Baum’ hydrometer. The position of the tree was found to affect
the strength of the sap; in trees near watercourses the saccharine
quality was extremely diluted. Sap from the root of a tree stood at
4° Baum’. The first flow of sap being the best, it occurred to me
that it might be increased by being allowed to pass into vacuum. I[
re »quested that a small India-rabber bag, from which the air had been
driven, should be attached to a spile, or a vessel from which the air
had been exhausted by means of an air-pump. The still more simple
plan was proposed of placing a little water in a tin can, and after
heating it until the steam had driven out the air, closing it, and attach-
ing it by aa air-tight connection with the spile. The first and last
plans were tried, and with complete success. With the steam can, in
which the steam was condensed when tie can was withdrawn from the
flame, the quantity caught in twelve minutes was four fluid ounces ;
the quantity which ran “from the same spile in the usual way in the

same time was 1} ounces, —the increase of flow being about 114 per

cent. Subsequent trials gave always over 109 per cent increase. The
Community at Canterbury have made some sirup from the sap of
several varieties of the birch; also from that of the oil-nut or butternut
tree, but they have not succeeded in granulating it.

The flow of the sap in the maple is influenced by the weather to a
great degree. The most abundant flow is just after there has been a
white frost at nis gat. A hamid state of the atmosphere is considered
preferable to a clear and cloudless day. At Canterbury, a northwest
wind is considered the most propitious; a southeast next best; east,
medium. ‘Tne winds from all other points of the compass are less
favorable, while a breeze from the souta destroys all hope. An occa-
sional rain during the sugar season is beneficial; if the fall of water is
very abundant, the flow of sap is greatly increased immediately after,
but its sweetness is much diminished.

CARBONIZATION OF ILLUMINATING GAS.

The London Artisan says:- “The advantages resulting to gas con-
sumers from the carburization of the gas supplied by the companies has

now become generally recognized, and the apparatus for effecting the
thorough mixture of the benzole or naphtha vapor with the gas has now
ben so simplified, that whutever odjections miy formerly have existed
have been eatirely removed, so that it may be he oped that Dr. Knapp’s
observation, as to the discovery ! being of benefit to individuals only, will
no longer apply. Referring to niphthalized ¢ gas (as it may here be men-
tioned that the carburization is always effected with mineral naphtha, ben-
zole, or some other material not widely different from them), Dr. Knapp,
in his well-known Technology, observed that ‘the illuminating power
of gas is very much increased by the presence of volatile hydrocarbons,
and many years ago Mr. Lowe introduced, or rather proposed, a plan for
saturating inferior qualities, or ordinary coal gas, with naphtha, or the
spirit distilled from coal-tar, and thus augmenting its illuminating power
nearly one-half. The remarkable increase of light, however, produced

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 65

by naphthalized gas frightened the gs companies, who foresaw nothing but
ruin in the diminished quantity of gas which would necessarily be con-
sumed for the production of an equal amount of light. Cold water was
consequently thrown es the project, and the invention has only been
of benefit to individuals, and not to the public at large, which might have
been the case had it been introduced upon a large scale.’ Since this
opinion was expressed other inventors have been more successful than
Mr. Lowe, and there is no reason why the benefits ofa rich, pure, and
economical light should not be generally diffused. The Artisan then
speaks of an invention known as Woodward’s gas carbonizer, as giving all
the results that could be desired. In this apparatus the gas is made to
pass over the surface of benzole or mineral naphtha, receiving its vapor
and obtaining a vastly increased illuminating power. It is claimed that
in passing over the surface of the fluid the gas comes into contact only
with the amount necessary for its purificition, so that the vitality of the
spirit is retuned until it is all consumed. Dr. Muspratt has reported
very favorably upon the invention, and photometric experiments have
proved that, taking gas at 4s. 6d. per 1,000 cubic feet, there is a saving
of more than one- third, the same amount of light being obtained for
2s. 11d.”

PRACTICAL ICE-MAKING MACHINE.

At the recent meeting of the British Association, Mr. A. C. Kirk
gave the following description of a machine invented by him for the
artificial production of ice. The machine in question was constructed
for Messrs. Young & Co., and superseded another machine used for
cooling parafine oil. This latter, Mr. KX. said, proving too small for
the i increasing size of the work, and the use of a material so volatile,
inflammable, expensive, and in all respects so dangerous as ether,
being a serious drawback, [ was requested, in the beginning of 1862,
to try if some efficient substitute could not be found. Atmospheric
air being the substitute which at once suggested itself to me as not
only safe but inexpensive, [ commenced a series of experiments, which
at last resulted in a small model, by which I was able to freeze mer-
cury. A large machine was immediately proceeded with, which
worked so satisfactorily that the use of the ether machine was discon-
tinued, and this year at the works a more. powerful one has been
erected, capable, if applied to such a purpose, of making three tuns
of ice in twenty-four hours. I shall now proceed to describe the
nature of this machine, which, it will be seen, is allied to the air-
engine in the same manner as the ether machine is to the steam-engine.
= we enclose a quantity of air ina strong vessel, into the top of which

e fix a common air-syringe, and force the piston downwards by hand,
we shall compress the enclosed air, which, by the power so spent, will
be heated; and if we now cool the whole apparatus down to its orig-
inal bevoperauine, and allow the air to force the piston gradually back,

he air by the effort will be cooled; bat inasmuch as the cooled air

will not occupy the same sp ace As the air originally did, the piston will

not return to the pot nt at which it was when we comn nenced, and thus

less power will be given out during the expansion of the air than was

spent in its compression. It is not necessary that the air be at the

atmospheric pressure: if air of greater density be employed, the cool-
oF ‘

66 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ing power of the machine will be increased. We have thus got an
elementary cooling machine, and as before, power is spent in working
it. To render this a practicable machine, the first thing necessary is
to perform the compressing or heating operation, and the expansion or
cooling operation in separate compartments ; ; the one surrounded by
water to abstract the heat generated, and the other surrounded by the
substance to be cooled, or ‘from which heat is to be taken. The one
compartment being thus very cold and the other comparatively warm,
the next thing is to provide means by which the air can be continually
transferred from one to the other, without carrying heat from the hot
compartment to the cold. chess if the temperature of the hot com-
partment be 70° and that of the cold zero, the air must enter the cold
compartment preparatory to expansion at a temperature as nearly zero
as possible, and in returning to the hot compartment must enter it
preparatory to compression, ata temperature as nearly 70° as possible,
‘That beautiful invention of Stirling, the regenerator, or respirator,
as it is sometimes called, composed ordinarily of a laree quantity of
ire gauze, through which the air passes, enables us to accomplish this
very perfectly. When the machine is fairly agoing, the layers of gauze
next the cool compartment become as cold as the co ompartment itself,
and those next the hot compartment as hot, while the layers between
those shade off through the intermediate grades of temperature. Thus
the air in passing from the hot to the cold compartment, warms the
gauze and is itself cooled, and the cold air in returning is gradually
warmed, cooling the gauze in its course; and although the air is con-
tinually being passed “backwards and forwards from the hot compart-
ment to the cold, and vice versa, no heat: is conveyed by it from the
hot end to warm the cold and interfere with the coolmg power of the
air during expansion. By the help of the diagrams, Mr. Kirk then
explained. the arrangements by which this was carried out. He con-
cluded by saymg that the advantages attending the use of this machine
were, that no expensive or dangerous fluid was employed, involving
risk of fire or suffocation to the attendants; that the cooling power
might be reduced to any extent when required, the consumption of
motive power being similarly reduced; and that cupped leather pack-
jugs might be employed, which gave so little trouble that in the first
machine one worked for four months without being touched. He
further stated that the cost of the machine, without boilers, was £700.
Mr. Young said he was able to say that the machine was all that
was ever expected. Former machines they had used always kept
them in a state of bodily terror, and once they had a slight fire; but
by using this new machine there was no longer any cause for ‘fear.
The machine was an extraordinary success. It went on day and
night, without intermission and without trouble. With one tun of
coal, costing 48., they could produce one tun of ice. He was glad to
be able to give his testimony to the perfect working of the machine.
(Applause. ) All manufacturers must hail such a chemical invention.

HOW TO SETTLE SHIFTING SANDS.
The Landes in the Guif of Gascony are composed of loose drifting
nee which in 1739 covered 309 square miles. M. Bremontier, of

s then Administration of Forests in France, set himself to fix this

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 67

mercurial surface, and the means he used were planting it with the
pinaster. In a report of his proceedings, which he published, he
compared this sandy tract to a billowy sea, —it offered nothing to the
eye but a monotonous repetition of white wavy hilloeks perfec ‘tly des-
titute of vegetation. When violent storms of wind occurred, the sur-
face of these downs was entirely changed ; what were hills had become
valleys, and valleys hills. The sand on these occasions was often
blown into the interior of the country, actually covering cultivated
fields, villages, and even entire forests. ‘This was done so gradua! Hy,
in a shower of particles as fine as the sand used for hour-glasses, that
nothing was destroyed. ‘The sand gradually rose among the crops,
-as if they were inundated with water, and the herbage and the top;
of trees appeared quite green and healthy, even to the moment of
their being submerged. On this moving and shifting sea, M. Bremon-
tier sowed seeds of the common broom, mixed with those of the pin-
aster ; commencing on the side next the sea, or on that from which
the wind generally prevailed, and sowing in narrow zones, in a direc-

tion at right angles to that of the wind. ‘The first zone was protected
by a line of hurdles, and after it was established it protected the
second, as the second did the third, and so on. To prevent the seed
being blown away betore it had germinated and become firmly rooted,

he protected it by various ingenious modes, such as hurdles and
thatching, and he had at last the gratification, after conquering many
difficulties, of seeing his first zones firmly established. The rest was
then comparatively easy; and by degrees the tree covered the whole
of these sandy downs, not only 1 providing the interior country with a
barrier against the mceursion of the sands, but turning the downs
themselves froma desolate waste into a source of productive industry.

Although the timber is of little value, the manufacture of tar, turpen-
tine, and other resimous products furnishes sufficient occupation for the
inhabitants who are thinly scattered over large spaces. Among the
efforts of man to control the elements and the powers of nature, the
conquest of the Landes from the desolation of the desert is entitled to
a place beside the recovery of Holland from the empire of the sea.

FLOW OF WATER THROUGH IRREGULAR TUBES.

At a recent meeting of the N. Y. Polytechnic Association, Mr. J.
B. Root explained an experiment made by him in relation to the
flow of water through irregular tubes. He constructed a tube of tin
30 inches long, and 23 inches in diameter. Within this tube were
soldered 11 Sn mveetine or discs, at regular distances from each other.
In each circular disc, there was a hole ’ of an inch in diameter,
the center of which was the center of the dise. Half-way from
each dise the tube was perforated on the upper side by a very small
hole. One end of this tube was inserted into a bulkhead about nine
feet below the surface of the water. The object of this apparatus
was to measure the retardation of the water, in passing through the
discs, by means of the neight of the jets sent through the small holes
on the top of the tube. The jet from the first hole was about two
feet high; the next jet was lower, and so on to the last hole, from
which the water barely oozed out. The rate in decrease in height
was directly as the number of discs inserted—that is, the water

68 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

after passing ten discs, gave a jet only one-ninth as high as after
passing one.

The Chairman remarked that the principle of retardation, here
illustrated, had been applied to the pistons of pumps, by cutting
around the piston a series of grooves close to each other, thus form-
ing what is called a water packing. It was said, however, not to
work as well as was at first expected. Not long since a case oc-
curred at the Jersey City Water Works relating to the subject now
under discussion. It became necessary to lay down, under the
Hackensack River, for the distance of 1,000 feet, another main pipe
of 36 inches internal diameter. Mayor Cleveland of Jersey City,
then a Water Commissioner, made some important experiments to
prove that water was greatly retarded wherever turned from a right
line, even if the pipe be enlarged on the curves.

Mr. Dixon said the proposition was to lay under the river a pipe
which would adjust itself to the bottom by means of from 14 to 18
movable joints. The position of the pipes, on either side of a joint,
may be illustrated by supposing two common clay smoking pipes to
be laid down in opposite directions, so that the mouths of their
bowls would come together; these being fastened by a collar, they
would be free to move up or down, and thus such pipes would adjust
themselves to the bed of the river. Mr. Cleveland objected to this
plan on the ground that the pipes so laid would not deliver the quan-
tity required, because the curves would impede the flow of the water.
In order to remedy this, the contractor proposed to enlarge the pipe
at the curves, from 36 to 46 inches in diameter, the pipe being
brought down to its original size between each curve. This propo-
sition was approved by several prominent engineers. Mr. Cleve-
land objected to these enlargements; he believed they would in-
erease rather than diminish the evil complaimed of. In order to
demonstrate his statement, he made the following experiments:
First, he constructed a straight pipe of lead, 36 inches long and one
and a half inches internal diameter; second, he made another pipe
extending the same distance, and containing two curves, so as to
earry the water in a direction perpendicular to its first course, then
again in first course, thus turning two right angles. The diameter of
the ends of the pipe was 14 inches, and that of the curved part was
1 11-12 inches. Parallel lines drawn through the center of the two
ends were just 24 inches apart. Third, he constructed another pipe
containing four curves, the two curves, additional to those in the
second pipe, were to bring the water back, so that its entrance and
discharge were in the same right line. The curves in the third pipe,
were of the same diameter with those in the second pipe. The pipe
between each two curves, as well as at each end, was 14 inches in di-
ameter. These pipes were constructed with the greatest care; the
curves were fitted in halves over wooden forms, and soldered on the
outside, the inside being made so smooth as to leave no crease at the
joints. A tank of water was prepared 5 feet 23 inches in diameter at
the top, and two feet deep. A hole was made on the side at the bot-
tom, into which each of the pipes was in turn fitted. The object be-
ing to discharge precisely the same quantity of water through each
pipe, two marks were made on the inside of the tank, the upper one

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 69

being the height of the water at the commencement of the discharge,
and the lower one the height at the close. The pipe on being insert-
ed was closed at the end, by clay placed on by hand, which could be
instantly removed on the signal being given; and instantly restored
when the surface of the water in the tank had reached the lower
mark. The experiments of discharging through the several tubes
were made with great care, and afterward repeated, to verify their
accuracy, and the following is the result : —

The same quantity of water passed

Through the straight pipe in 218 seconds.

Through the one joint pipe in 314 seconds.

Through the two joint pipe in 371 seconds.

From this it appears that the increased time required for the flow
through the second pipe was over 40 per cent, and for the third
pipe over 70 per cent. These experiments decided the question and
the proposed plan was abandoned.

A NEW APPLICATION OF THE SLAKING OF QUICKLIME.

A novel application of the slaking of quicklime has been proposed
by Dr. John Davy, in the Hdinburgh New Philosophical Journal. It
is well known that as soon as water ts added to and absorbed by well-
burnt lime fresh from the kiln, an immediate union takes place, the
mass becoming broken up and falling into powder, with the produc-
tion of much heat and steam. This does not take place when the
lime has been exposed to the action of the air for two or three days,
during which the lime generally absorbs a little water. With respect
to these phenomena, Dr. Davy records the result of several experi-
ments which showed the explosive power of the lime when placed in
holes or receivers and treated with water, or with solutions of com-
mon salt, carbonate of ammonia, &c. We have no space for the
details which led Dr. Davy to suggest the application of the explo-
sive force of lime to the blasting of rocks and similar purposes, but
give an account of two of his experiments. A boring was made in
a block of sandstone about fifteen inches deep and two inches in
diameter; this was filled with small pieces of quicklime, and the
hole was closed by a plug of wood. No rending ensued, although
the hydrate was formed. The elastic expansive force was not supe-
rior to the resistance, and the steam was condensed. A second
experiment was made, substituting for the boring in a rock a strong
earthenware jar capable of holding about a quart. It was similarly
charged, and tightly corked, the cork bound down firmly with a cord.
After about 15 minutes an explosion took place, with a report like a
pistol. The jar was broken in several pieces, and some of them were
projected many yards from the spot. Now as coal is not nearly so
resisting as sandstone, and as its boring is easily effected, Dr. Davy
expresses the hope that the experiment may be repeated in a colliery.
It is easily made, at a cost not worth mentioning, is attended with no
serious danger, and, should it be successful, it may conduce to the
saving of many valuable lives,

70 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

UTILIZATION OF WASTE PRODUCTS.

At a recent meeting of the New York Polytechnic Association,
Prof. Joy, of Columbia College, enumerated the following as among
the instances where attention to the utilization of waste material was
desirable : —

Waste Vulcanized Rubber.—There seems to be a want of some
ready method of devulcanizing old India rubber. Several patents
have been issued for this purpose, but the fact that there isno demand
for worn-out articles of India rubber, would lead us to conclude that
this material is not utilized to any great extent.

Slag from Iron Furnaces.— At Mantsel, Germany, Prof. Joy
recently observed the followmg plan for using the slag of the furnaces.
The slag i is formed into molds of about a cubie foot each, and distrib-
uted to workmen. Each man takes his share of the blocks in an iron
wheelbarrow and wheels them home, when they still contain heat
enough to cook the meal for the family. After they are cooled these
rectangular blocks are an excellent material for building walls.

(At ‘the last meeting of the British Association Dr. Paul stated that
he had succeeded in blowing the slag into a state of very ats division
by sending steam or air into it just as it flowed from the blast furnace
in a liquid state. It was thus blown into a substance resembling
wooil in appearance. ‘This substance was taken and ground into
dust, mixed with lime, subjected to a powerful pressure, and made
into bricks, of which he exhibited some examples. These bricks
required no fire. After being pressed they were allowed to dry, and
couil be used at once, the influence of the atmosphere producing a
slow kind of hardening. ) — Editor.

Zine wasted in galvanizing Iron.—A large portion of the zine
used for coating iron is evaporated and lost. Plans for preventing
this loss are worthy of the attention of inventors. The whole history
of zinc is that of a waste product. It was first found in chimneys
where ores of other metals were being smelted and people were thus
led to seek for it in its own ores.

Waste from Gas-works. — Constant progress has been made in the
utilization of the waste substances produced in the manufacture of
illuminating gas. At one time the companies paid persons for carting
away the lime used for purifying the gas. ‘The time absorbs bisul-
phide of carbon, sulphuretted hy drogen and sulphur, coming from the
distillation of the coal, and when exposed for a long time to the
atmosphere it absorbs oxygen and becomes the sulphate of lime or
plaster. Tis is now understood by a sufficient number of farmers to
make a demand for the waste lime at a moderate price.

Mr. Clelind, the Director of the Liverpool Gas Works, states that
he has largely reduced the cost of purifying gas by using oxide of
iron, and saving the sulphur and ammonia. ‘The material from the
purifiers i is heated to about 1,000° Fahrenheit in a close iron retort.
A portion of the sulphur combines chemically with the iron, while the
balance is distilled over. As soon as the sulphur ceases to come over,
the contents of the retort are drawn and moistened, and in this state
exposed to the action of the atmosphere. The oxidation is rapid, and
the mass glows until frequently wet and stirred. In a few weeks a

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. <4

sulphate of iron is produced, containing 30 to 40 per cent sulphuric
acid. ‘The salt is decomposed by passing the vapor of ammonia from
the waste waters of the hydraulic mains through it. In this way
sulphate of ammonia and an oxide of iron are obtained. ‘The oxide
of iron can be used again. The sulphate of ammonia is purified by
erystallization. Mr. Cleland says that he has obtained 100 tuns of
‘sulphur in this way.

Preparation of Sal Ammoniac.— About two per cent of ammo-
niacal vas water goes over with the tarry products and is collected at
the end of the hydraulic main in cisterns. This was formerly a waste
product ; it is now saved, and the greater portion of sal ammoniac of
commerce is prepared from it. In London alone 840,000 tuns of
coal are consumed every year in the manufacture of gas. This yields
about 37,000,000 Ibs. of gas water. The water is subjected to distilla-
tion in two retorts, the first of which is heated directly by the fire, and
the second by the latent heat of the steam from the first. The steam and
gas are passed through a worm to be condensed, and flow into a large
leaden tank containing muriatic acid. Uncondensable gases pass out
of the tank and are conducted through the fire where the sulphuretted
hydrogen is consumed, into the chimney. The muriatic acid is satu-
rated to neutrality, and requires very little further treatment for the
formation of beautiful white crystals of salammoniac. This sal ammo-
niac is the starting-point in the manufacture of the salts of ammonia,
and can now be obtained in great abundance by the above method.

Oil and Fat from Refuse oily Cotton, Waste, &c.—Edward Tonybee
digests the refuse material in about half its weight of concentrated
sulphuric acid contained in leaden vessels and warmed by steam.
They are thus dissolved and the fat separated. After standing the
fatty acids collect on the top, and can be removed and further purified
by distillation. To the residual solution sufficient finely divided phos-
phate of lime is added to neutralize the sulphuric acid, and a valuable
compost contaming phosphates and nitrogenous matter obtained.

There is a great waste in our woolen manufactories of a valuable
substance; that is, the oil of the wool. When wool has been thor-
oughly cleansed, it is found to have lost thirty, forty, or in some cases
as hich as sixty percent of its weight, and the most of this 1s oil,—an
excellent oil for some purposes, and especially for soap. There is an
establishment in England that takes wool to cleanse for the oil, mak-
ing no other charge for the work. |

The oil can be extracted by means of the bisulphide of carbon,
which is a cheap article. Itis also used for extractmg oil from the
rape seed instead of pressing the seed. It is also used for extracting
the alkaloids and the essential oils of plants. It has been stated that
it leaves no odor.

NEW PLAN FOR UTILIZING SCRAP TIN.

A new method of utilizing Scrap tin plate in the reduction of sulphur-
etted lead ore, has been devised by Prof. Everett of New York. The
theory of the reduction of sulphuretted lead ore by iron is based upon the
fact of the great affinity of iron at a high heat for sulphur. The metallic
lead is set free by the sulphur leaving the ore and uniting with the iron
forming the sulphide of iron. By the use of scrap tin plate the iron

72 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

process 1s carried to its highest state of perfection, because the tinned iron
plate is made of the very best wrought iron. Furthermore, a saving is
made of all the tin upon the scraps, which for many purposes, improves
the quality of the lead; but it is easily separated if desired. Another ad-
vantage arises from the thinness of these scraps; they present so much
surface that part of the iron is oxidized, and makes an excellent flux,
thus saving the addition of an artificial flux and reducing the time required
for smelting very materially. The waste product used in this process has
until now been thrown away.

NEW USE FOR INFUSORIAL DEPOSITS.

“In the lakes of Sweden there are vast layers of iron oxide almost ex-
clusively built up by animalcules. This kind of iron-stone is called lake-
ore. In winter the Swedish peasant, who has but little to do in that
season, makes holes in the ice ofa lake, and with a long pole brings up
mud, &c. until he comes upon an iron bank. A kind of sieve is then let
down to extract the ore. One man can raise in this manner about. one
tun per diem. Besides the excellent polishing material furnished by these
infusorial deposits, Liebig has recently drawn attention to another appli-
cation of which they are susceptible. His observations were made upon
an infusorial deposit which constitutes the under soil of the commons or
plains of Liineburg, in Germany; and he has showa that these microscop-
ic remains, as weil as those taken from several other localities, can be
very easily converted into silicate of potash or silicate of soda, some-
times known as ‘soluble glass.’ It was first ascertained by analysis that
this infusorial earth contained 87 per cent of pure silica. The following
method was then adopted to convert it into silicate of soda: 148 pounds
of calcined carbonate of soda are dissolved in five times their weight of
boiling water; to this is added a milk of lime, prepared with 84 pounds
of quicklime. After boiling the mixture for ten minutes or a quarter of
an hour, the alkaline liquid, which now contains caustic soda, is decanted
off from the insoluble carbonate of lime, and evaporated in an iron vessel,
until it has acquired a specific gravity of 1:15. At this moment 240
pounds of the infusorial earth is added. The latter dissolves rapidly in
the alkaline solution, and leaves searcely any residue. If by any accident
a smaller quantity of infusorial earth than that prescribed be taken, the
soluble glass obtained is too alkaline and very deliquescent.”

SILK NATURALLY DYED.

Some experiments of an interesting character have recently been made
in Italy, with a view of causing the silkworm to produce silk ready dyed.
On this point we know that when certain coloring matters extracted from
the vegetable kingdom are mixed with the food of animals they are
absorved without decomposition and color the bones and tissues of the
body. Starting from this fact, Messrs. Barri and Alessandrini, in Italy,
sprinkled certain organic coloring matters over the mulberry leaves on
which the silkworms were feeding. M. Roulin, in France, employed in
the same way the coloring matter known as chica. ‘These attempts have
met with partial success only, up to the present time. Colored cocoons
were however thus produced several times. Some observers assert, how-
ever, that the silk was not really secreted in a colored state, but that the col-
oring matter sprinkled on the leaves merely adhered to the body of the
grub and colored the cocoon mechanically during its construction. This

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. fa

appears to be the reason why the colored silk that was obtained in these
experiments was neither uniform in tint nor of a good cilor. Others,
however, still persist ina contriry opinion. M. Roulin commenced his
experiments by sprinkling indigo over the mulberry leaves, and obtained
blue cocoons; he then experimented with chica, a fine red dye extractel
from the Bignonia chica, which the Indians of Oronoco employ to dye
their skin, and obtained cocoons of 2 red color with a tolerably uniform
tint, and of a permanent dye. He still continues these investigations,
hoping to obtain silk ready dyed of all kinds of colors.

ARTIFICIAL CULTURE OF OYSTERS,

The plan of M. Coste, of France, for propagating oysters, which
under the auspices of the French Government is now in most successful
operation, is substantially as follows: M. Coste gets fresh oysters for
propagation from the open sea; he turns to advantage those that are
rejected by the trade ; and, lastly, he collects the myriads of embryo
oysters which, at each spawning season, issue from the valves of the
oyster, ana which are now lost to commerce for want of some contrivance
to prevent their escape and inevitable destruction. Every oyster produces
from one to two million of young; out of these not more than ten or
twelve attach themselves to their parent’s shell ; all the rest are dispersed,
perish in the mud, or are devoured by fish! Now if bundles made of
the branches of trees, fagots of brushwood, or any similar objects, be
let down and secured to the oyster banks by weights, the young oysters
will, on issuing from the parent’s valves, attich themselves to these
fagots, and may, on attaining perfect growth, be taken up with the branches
and transported to places where it is desirable to establish new oyster-beds.
A model plan for breeding oysters may be seen in the lake of Fusaro, in
Italy, where mussels and oysters are cultivated with much success,—
where almost the entire quantity of spawn is developed without loss.

One of the beds of oysters thus prepared by M. Coste, at the mouth
of the river Auray, in France, yielded the first year after it was matured,
over 20,000,000 of good merchantable oysters.

ON SOME OF THE SOURCES AVAILABLE FOR THE SUPPLY OF
POTASH.

Three or four years ago MM. Maumené and Rogelet patented in
England a method for obtaining potash from Suint, the name given
by “the French to a compound of potash and some organic acids,
which is excreted in the sweat of sheep and found on the wool. This

compound is easily soluble in water, and is obtained from the wool
by simple washing; the solution may then be evaporated, and the
potash obtained by ‘calcination and lixiviation. Swint forms about
15 per cent of the weight of the raw fleece, and yields 33 per cent
of potash, so it is easy ‘to see that if all the scourings of all the wool
produced was worked up, the supply of alkali from this source alone
would be very considerable. MM. Maumené and Rogelet have, in
fact, calculated that the washings of the raw fleeces from the 47, 000-
000 of sheep in France would produce nitrate of potassium enough to
charge 1,8/0,000,000 cartridges, which is no doubt the most useful
application of the product they can conceive.

Another small source of potash is beet-root juice. Thisis of no

74 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

great interest to English readers, but we may mention that when the
liquor remaining after the fermentation and distillation of beet-root
molasses is boiled down, incinerated, and the charred mass lixiviated,
a considerable amount of potash salts is obtained. The molasses
contains from 10 to 12 per cent of its weight of salts, more than half
of which are alkaline.

The home sources to which English manufactures have to look for
their potassium compounds. are sea-weeds and the primitive rocks.
The first of these sources has long been worked, and the industry is
well understood. Nevertheless, the methods employed for obtaiming
the salts have been found capable of much improvement, which it has
received at the hands of Mr. E. ©. Standiford and others. Sea-water,
we should remark, may always be looked to as a source of potash,
but this is of the less importance to us in consequence of our sources
of common salt.

The account of M. Balard’s process, with the modifications intro-
duced by M. Merle, for separating the saline constituents of sea-
water, will be perused with interest by all scientific readers. Sea-
water is first concentrated to 28° Baumé (or 1°24 sp. gr.), at which
degree four-fifths of the chloride of sodium is deposited. There
remain in solution with the other chloride of sodium, sulphate of
magnesium, and chlorides of potassium and magnesium. M. Merle
now avails himself of M. Carre’s refrigerating machine. The mother
liquor, alittle diluted, is made to pass in a continuous stream through
refrigerating vessels constructed on M. Carre’s principle, by which
the liquor is cooled to—18° C. At this temperature a double de-
composition takes place between the sulphate of magnesium and
chloride of sodium, sulphate of sodium being deposited, and the
chlorides of magnesium, sodium, and potassium passing away in the
solution. ‘To separate these chlorides the solution is then boiled
down to 36° B., at which nearly the whole of the chloride of sodium
is deposited in a fine powder. The hot liquor from this is next run
off into shallow coolers, when the whole of the potash is deposited in
the form of a double chloride of potassium and magnesium, from
which the magnesium salt is removed by washing the mass with half
its weight of water. In this way % of the chloride of potassium are
obtained in a tolerable state of purity. Our readers will see that no
account is here taken of the bromides and iodides, which, indeed,
are thrown away with the chloride of magnesium.

The small amount of potassium salt in proportion to the sodium
compounds obtained from sea-water will of course limit this industry
to those countries in which the latter compounds have a higher rela-
tive value than in England. We may look with much more interest
to our mineral sources of potassium in the primitive rocks. Many of
our readers no doubt have some acquaintance with a process for
estimating the alkalies in felspathic rocks, which consists in calcining
the mineral with a mixture of fluorspar and carbonate of lime, and
washing out the alkalies which have become carbonated in the calei-
nation. The great objection to this as an analytical process is that
the calcination must be repeated two or three times in order to be
certain of removing the whole of the alkalies, all of which may, how-
ever, be removed in a single washing. It is this process which

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 75

Mr. F. O. Ward and Captain Wynants have utilized, and so far per-
fected as to make it available for the production of potash on a man-
ufacturing scale. The felspar is ground to a fine powder, and then
mixed with finely-powdered fluorspar. To these chalk and hydrate
of lime are added, and the mixture, moistened with water, is made
up into balls. These are exposed to a yellowish-red heat for several
hours, by which they are converted into a sort of porous frit. On
subsequent lixiviation with hot water this frit yields the whole of the
alkali previously existing in the felspar. The alkaline lye of course
contains some silica and alumina, but these are easily removed by the
addition of a little lime, and then the filtered liquor has only to be
boiled down, in order to obtain a product very much resembling
American potashes.

Simple as this process appears, it has only been made practically
available after an enormous number of experiments, both on a large
and small scale. The best proportions of materials, the best temper-
ature, and the best mode of applying the heat, had each to be deter-
mined, and could only be arrived at after great labor and expense.
All these points, however, appear to be settled, and we may now
look to the industrial application of the process to furnish us with an
abundance of potash.—London Chemical Gazette.

SUMMARY OF INDUSTRIAL NOVELTIES.

New Plan for Mural Decoration. —M. Balze of Paris has recently
brought out a new plan of painting in enamel on a large scale, intended
to supersede mosaic, fresco, and other methods of mural decoration.
The plan seems to be neither more nor less than the method of the Dutch
tile-painters of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, by means of
which they produced pictures, sometimes of considerable size, upon
white tiles. The methods seem identical; thus, white tiles, — such as
are used on the continent to surround kitchen fireplaces, and the like, —
are placed upon the floor and numbered, according to their positions, so
as to admit of rearrangement. Upon the ground thus displayed, the
artist, with a fuil brush, paints his picture, the tiles are rebaked, and
the work, where it requires it, retouched. The tiles may then be
placed upon a wall, and the work is done. The result is a durable
picture, wholly of the artist’s own production, on any scale, compara-
tively inexpensive, unaffected by a foul atmosphere such as that of
London, which may be cleaned with a birch-broom, and be as brilliant
in color as we need to have it. Although this plan is by no means a
novelty in Art, or even in domestic decoration, it suggests what might
well be done in situations where great refinement of ornament is not
required.

Factitious Blocks of Wood. — A patent has been taken out by G.
Colomb, of Aigle, Switzerland, for making ornamental blocks of wood
as follows: He takes the shavings of soft pme or other wood, and dyes
them different colors, then packs. them together so as to form a truss,
which is put into a frame and dipped into a solution of warm glue ; it
is then subjected to severe pressure and formed into a block, after
which it is dried with a current of hot air in a warmroom. Such blocks
of wood may be cut and used for ornamental purposes, as substitutes
for high-priced natural woods that are employed for cabinet work.

76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Improved Loom.— At a recent meeting of the N. Y. Polytechnic
eon, Mr. Overton described a new loom in successful operation,
in which the ordinary beater was dispensed with. A motion is pro-
duced in which the shuttle is carried babicoraedt and forward by a cir-
cular beater placed between each thread, so that the transverse thread,
forming the woof or filling, is pressed up by a spring as fast as the
shuttle moves. The objection to the ordinary loom is the concussion
made by the beater. These concussions are so great that where
many looms are placed in one building they have the effect of a con-
centrated blow, thus shaking the whole structure. Buildings con-
taining weaving apparatus must therefore be made with unusually
strong ; foundations and heavy walls. The object of the new invention
is to remedy the effect of the beater, which presses the filling only
after the shuttle has passed beyond tl 1e warp, by a beater which. oper-
ates continuously with the shuttle, thus accomplishing by a series of
pressures what was tormerly done by a blow.

Weimer’s Self-instruciing Scale for Pianos. —This consists of a
number of blocks, so formed that they may be readily placed against
the key-board of a piano: resting on the keys without interfering with
the action of the latter. On the blocks are painted lines represent-
ing a musical staff, with notes, each of which represents the key di-
rectly beneath it, the letter or name of the note being painted direct-
ly below the latter, so that the scholar, as he strikes a key , ay see at
once its name and the position on the staff of the note de sionating it.

Improved File. — An improved file, recently invented by R. D.
Dodge of Lowa, is made up of a number of small steel cutters, —in
shape parallelograms, — which are all slipped over a central bar, and
there confined by a sliding shank, and a screw-handle. ‘These cutters
are simply flat pieces of steel with oblong holes in them, the edges
being beveled off so as to form a cutting edge. The object is to
produce a file that can be easily sharpened when dull, that will be
more durable than an ordinary file, and one that will work more efli-
ciently for special purposes than files of the usual construction.

When the handie is unscrewed, the shank can be slipped off, and
the cutters removed and sharpened on an emery wheel or erindstone,
thus obviating the necessity of re-cutting, as is done with ‘other files.
— Scientijic American.

Artificial Ivory. — The following method of producing an artificial
ivory is published by M. Ghistain of Paris. Take 60 per cent
of the powder of marine plants, 15 per cent of glue, and an equal
quantity of coal tar; boil till thoroughly mixed ; “dry in an oven at
a temperature of 3( )0° Fahr, till it becomes plastic. The compound will
assume the appearance of ivory by heating it in an aqueous solution
of caustic potash, and letting it macerate for several hours in diluted
sulphuric acid; after which subject it to the action of chlorine or
chloride of lime, repeating the operation till it becomes perfectly
white. .

New Applications of Aluminum.—R. Pinkney, of London —a
manufacturer of metallic pens—has applied for a patent for pens
made of aluminum and copper alloys, as a substitute for those made
of steel and gold. He states that an alloy composed of 95 per cent
aluminum is of a fine zold color; and another composed of 74 per

*

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, ‘i

cent of copper is of a beautiful green color. Aluminum bronze is
very ductile, and is suitable for undergoing the rolling and hammer-
ing operations through which steel ‘and “gold pass in the making
of pens.

Aluminum Bronze Powders and Leaf.—A patent has also been taken
out by J. Erwood, of London, for manufacturing powders of alumi-
num bronze to take the place of common bronze powders, and Dutch
metal leaf, to be applied to paper-hangings, gildings, Ge. Alumi-
nua bronze is composed of 90 parts copper “and 10 of aluminum, and
is of a beautiful yellow color. It is rolled, annealed, and beaten
until it becomes as thin as foil or leaf, in which condition it can be
used tor common gilding. ‘To reduce it to powder the foil is stamped
and ground in the same manner that common bronze powders are
reduced from tin and brass.

Hermetical Barrels for Petrolewm.— It is well known that crude
and refined oils, from their great permeability, readily penetrate
through all wooden barrels or packages hitherto used, so that their
loss from leakage and evaporation has been a large per cent,
amounting to millions of dollars annually. ‘To prevent “this, metallic
barrels, metal: lined barrels, etc., have been substituted, tae without
fully attaining the desired end. Mr. L. 8. Robbins, of New York
city, claims that he has discovered that by first coating a barrel with
drying linseed oil, which answers to the cuticle of a tree, and then
treating the wood of the barrel from the inside with a strong solution
of potash,—that each barrel so treated will take up about 18
pounds of water, which from the oil coating onthe outside can never
evaporate, nor can the oil pass through, thus making it essentially
and positively a hermetical package. — Scientific American.

New Maritime Sounding Apparatus.—M. Gouezel has invented an
apparatus in which the suspension line is dispensed with. It consists
of a rod of iron, furnished with nippers at the extremity, which sup-
ports a cylindrical weight capable of being detached from the rod;
above the weight a float of hollow metal is fixed, which contains a
small clock so arranged as to stop by concussion; a bell is also at-
tached, and above the whole a signal. The time of dropping the
apparatus is noted; on striking the bottom the clock is stopped, and
the float is detached and rises to the surface ; the depth is calculated
from the time of the descent. The objection to long lines in deep-sea
soundings, which are bent by under-currents, seems to be obviated
by this invention.

A Preparation for Preserving Leatker.—We translate, from the
Gerber Courier, a receipt for a preparation which is said to insure
great dura bility to leather, and to make it very pliable and soft. It
consists of four articles, tallow, soap, rosin, and water. ‘These
ingredients are prepared as follows: 21 parts of tallow are melt-
ed ina vessel, three parts of rosin added, and the two when melt-
ed mixed well together. In another vessel seven parts of good
washing soap are dissolved in’ 70 parts of pure rain water. After it
is dissolved and the mass heated to the boiling point we add the part
prepared before, let it boil once more gently, and the preparation is
ready for use. It is especially adapted to boots, harness leather, and
belting. — Shoe ae Leather Reporter.

*

78 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

A New Adhesive Gum.— M. Stahl recommends a new process for
the consolidation of friable fossils and other articles liable to break.
Hitherto, in order to give sufficient solidi ity to such fossils preserved
in museums, they used to be dipped into giue. Pieces thus prepared
with due care acquire sufficient hardness to allow of their being han-
dled at lectures, and will keep a lone time, provided they are not ex-
posed to damp. But in the case of fossils containing salts, glue loses
all its power, and in such cases no attempt has been made to conseli-
date them. Pieces treated with glue do not admit of good plaster
casts being taken of them. ‘The glue, swelling under the wet plaster,
either spli its the model or raises up the pieces of the mould; or, if
there is too little glue to effect this, a chemical action takes place by
which the surface of the plaster, in contact with the model is decom-
posed, and the finer de rials are thus obliterated.

M. Stahl obviates these inconveniences as follows : —

He takes four parts of common rosin, and as many of spermaceti,
which he melts and mixes together. While the mixture 1s boiling,
he applies it with a brush on the surface of the fossil, which becomes
hard as soon as it is cold, when casts may immediately be taken of it.
In the case of brittle but compact substances, spermaceti alone will
do. When the fossil is still sticking in the earth, and there is dan-
ger of breaking it in getting it out, the mixture may be applied; but
as it gets cold on the surface and makes a kind of crust, M. Stahl then
passes a ball of cotton steeped in burning spirits of wine over it; the
crust immediately melts, and is absorbed by the fossil.

fhatian alee — These splints have been invented and used in
England for the treatment of fractures and other injuries where the
use of such appliances is indicated. They are constructed of from
four to seven pieces of cane cut of equal length and fixed parallel to
each other by means of copper wires passing through the sides at
given distances. The advantages of these splints are their lightness
and fiexibility, admitting air between the rods, and thus favoring the
functions of the skin.

Large Lithograph. — The largest lithograph ever worked from a
single stone has been shown in Paris, during the past year. It was a
life-sized picture of Napoleon ILI., and the print measured upwards of
six feet high by three broad. The stone was eight feet by four, and
uniformly exceilent in all qualities desirable for lithographic pur-
poses.

fteproduction of Rene Dr awings. Some time since, M. Villanis, an
oflicer in the Russian service, observed that if a sheet of paper on
which a plan or any drawing or writing has been executed with pen-
cil, be moistened with acidulated water, and afterward inked, the pen-
cil marks alone will take the ink, and the whole drawing may then be
transferred to metal or stone. Captain Sytenko, director of the pho-
tographic service of the staff at St. Petersburg, has introduced very
ingenious modifications into this process, and contrived a portable
military press, by means of which it does not require more than ten
minutes to effect the transfer of the drawing upon a zinc plate or lith-
ographic stone.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79

USE OF ZINC FOR COINAGE.

The French Government having recently proposed to lower the standard
of its silver comage, on account of the increasing scarcity of silver, and
the continued disappearance of the old silver coinage from circulation,
authorized M. Peligot, chemist to the mint, to make experiments to
ascertain how far the introduction of some zinc, or the complete substi-
tution of zine for copper as an alloy in the coins in question, would affect
their appearance and durability. M. Peligot has in accordance with his
instructions, therefore, recently reported to the French Academy, that
his experiments undoubtedly show that alloys of silver and zine possess
considerable physical advantages over the corresponding alloys of silver
and copper, while they are of course sensibly cheaper, since the market
price of copper is more than four times that of zinc.

An alloy of silver and zine, in the proportions of 165 zine to 835 silver
he found to be appreciably whiter than the corresponding alloy of copper
and silver, while it is also ‘remarkably malleable” and “ perfectly
homogeneous when roiled.” He experimented also on alloys of silver
and zinc in atomic proportions, and found that both an alloy of one
equivalent (or 108 parts by weight) of silver with one equivalent (or 32
parts by weigat) of zinc, and an alloy of two equivalents (or 216 parts)
of silver with one equivalent (32 parts) of zinc, are readily malleable,
while alloys containing eitner two equ valents of zinc to one of silver, or
three equivalents of zinc to two of silver are too brittle to be rolled.
All the alloys of silver and zine upon which he experimented are more
fusible, more sonorous, and more elastic than alloys, in the same propor-
tions, of silver and copper ; and when those of them which are malleable
have had their malleability impaired by hammering, it can be readily
restored by simple heating. Moreover, the zinc alloys have over the
copper alloy the very great advantage of no verdigris being formed by
the contact with them of acid liquors and the equally great advantage of
not being nearly so readily discolored by sulphuretted hydrogen, or other
sulphur-compounds. M. Peligot, indeed, states that an alloy of 800
parts silver with 200 parts zine will preserve its whiteness unimpaired in
a solution of a polysulphide in which the standard alloy of silver and
copper would soon become quite black.

Zine would thus certiinly seem to be better adapted than copper to
alloy silver with, for coinage ; while some of the alloys of silver and zine
above mentioned—especially that of 800 parts silver with 200 parts
zinc—should be worth the attention of silversmiths, and other producers
of ornamental metal work. |

IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGRAVING.

In the process of engraving metallic plates by etching with acids
there has been one obstacle to perfect work which we have regarded
as insurmountable. As heretofore practiced, this process consisted
in covering the plate with a thin coating of wax; which was attended
with difficulties almost insurmountable. But these difficulties have
been completely overcome by a French invention which is one of
the most beautiful that has ever been made in this delicate art.
The inventor is Monsieur E. Vial, of Paris, and the following is
a description of his process: A drawing is made with a greasy

80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ink on a steel plate, and the plate is then plunged into a saturated
solution of sulphate of copper containing 10 per cent of nitric acid.
By the action of the steel the copper is reduced from the sulphate,
and all portions of the steel plate not protected by the ink are in-
stantly covered with a coating of metallic copper, which protects the
steel from the action of the nitric acid. The acid soaks away the
ink, and dissolves the steel, forming channels beneath the lines.
But as the acid soaks away the ink it is followed by the copper solu-
tion, and a coating of metallic copper is deposited within the lines,
protecting them from the further action of the acid. As the copper is
deposited first at the edges of the lines, all action of the acids upon
the sides of the channels is prevented, and as the acid continues its
work longest towards the middle of the line, the channels are made of
‘“<V” form, which is precisely the form desired by the engraver.

In the old method it was necessary to remove the plate from the
bath as soon as the finest lines were etched, and to cover these parts
with wax to prevent the further action of the acid; and the plate
required to be removed as many times as there were variations of
shade in the engraving. But by M. Vial’s process the copper is de-
posited first in the finest lines, while the action of the acid continues
longest in those which are widest. Thus the depth of the engraving
is proportioned exactly to the breadth and thickness of the ink-mark,
and this by a single immersion of the plate in the bath. The process
occupies but five minutes. The copper is removed by ammonia
before the plate is used for printing.

Old engravings may be reproduced by this process by transferring
the picture to the steel plate, or the design may be first drawn upon

aper and then transferred.

Additional Improvements.—Some curious experiments in engray-
ing, executed before the Emperor of France, by M. Dulos, are thus
described in Galignani’s Messenger. A sheet of copper, drawn on
with lithographic ink, is subjected to the voltaic pile, by which it
receives a deposit of iron on those parts not covered by the ink.
The ink is then removed by means of benzine, and the sheet is the:
in the state of an engraved copper-plate,— that 1s, the desiza is sunk
into the plate, and the deposit of iron constitutes the lights. The
plate is now dipped into a bath of cyanide of silver, under the action
of the galvanic current. Silver is deposited on the copper and not
on the iron. The plate is then taken out, and mercury poured upon
it. Now, since mercury exercises no action on iron, it cap only
attack the silver which has filled up the lines originally made with
lithographic ink. Hence, where those lines are, we now see mer-
cury standing up in relief. Plaster of Paris is now poured over the
plate in this condition, and thereby an impression is obtained in
which the reliefs made by the mercury are reproduced hollow.
(Why the ink was removed, or silver deposited in this case, is not
clearly stated.) By the aid of the pile, copper may be deposited on
this impression, and the hollows will then come out agai in relief.
One thus obtains not only a plate which may be printed from, but a
matrix which will give an indefinite number of plates. For topo-
graphic engraving, the sheet of copper, after being drawn upon,
receives a coating of silver, which only goes upon the metal, leaving

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 81

the lithographic ink untouched. The ink is removed as before by
benzine. The surfaces which are thus laid bare are oxidized aad
mercury is again poured on the plate. This metal recoils from the
oxidized lines, and collects on the silver, making reliefs where mais
ought to be. An impression in plaster is obtained as before, and the
electro-chemical plate which is to be used for the printing has the
lines of the drawing in relief as required.

IDEOGRAPHY.
Sir W. Armstrong, at the British Association for 1863, in his

5?

nau, gural address, expressed surprise and re gret that, notwithstand-
ing the many improvements of modern times in the communication
of “intelligence and thought, our present mode of writing 1s not more
free from “imperfection than was that in use centuries ago. What he
desires is a set of symbols which will enable us to communicate with
each other more rapidly, and at the same time more distinctly, by
writing. Don De Mas, Spanish Ambassador at the Court of China,
has also recently entered upon an investigation of this general sub-
‘ject, and has published a work with the following title: ‘‘ Ideography :
a Dissertation onthe Possibility and Facility of Forming a General
System of Writing, by means of which all Nations may understand
each other without knowing each other’s language.” The aim of
the author is to introduce a medium of com: aunication which may be
to all nations something like what she Latin language once was to the
learned in all parts of western Europe, and what written Chinese is
at the present day to the Puen of the various provinces of
China, Japan, Cochin Canina, and Tonquin, where languages are
spoke uso different in sound that those who speak them cannot under-
sian i each other in conversation, though they can carry on discussions

—as our author has repeatedly wituessed — with pencil and paper.
He considers it ridiculous to doubt the possibility of our doing in
Europe what five hundred millions of Asiatics so far inferior to us are
doing every day. Even granting this it does not prove the possibil-
ity, still less the facility, as he maintains, of inventing and bringing
into general use a completely new written language, He himself
abandons the idea of attempting to create a universal spoken lan-
guage, both on account of the dif ficulty of the task, and the impos-
sibility of securing the general adoption of the language, even if it
were made ready “to hand. It appears to us that these two fatal
objections apply with scarcely less force to his Byeeen effort. fe
has certainly proved the possibility of constracting a system of
written communication cay pable of use, to a certain extent, } pecause
he has actually accomplished the feat, so far as to express the first
hundred and fifty lines ‘of V irgil’s Zneid in his proposed language.
But he is greatly mistaken if he thinks he has proved the facility of
the task. Hven to understand what he has done is no easy matter,
and the labor of doing it must have been immense. None can com-
prehend, still less acquire, his system of writing, who are not well
versed in language, and acquainted with, at least, the elements of
logic. We leave our readers to judge whether this in itself is not
suilicient to prove the bapelers! impracticability of the scheme. Com-
paratively few will ever be able, and still fewer willing, to make any
use of it.

82 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

We may just state that the method proposed consists in employing
musical notes in diiferent positioas on tue staff to represent radical
notions, with sundry strokes, curves and dots, to indicate tae various
modifications of these ideas; so that a page of the new writing pre-
sents very much the same appearance as a page of printed music.
The symbols denote not sounds, but ideas; and the language is
therefore a representation of thought, not of speech,—in fact, a very
elaborate and complicated system of hierogly phics. It is scarcely
necessary to say we regard the work rather as an ingenious curiosity
than as of any practical value. — London Atheneum.

INTERESTING ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FORCE OF GUNPOWDER.

In the town of Erith, England, om the 1st of October, 1864
150,000 pounds of eunpowder were accidentally exploded, causing
areport heard at the distance of over 90 miles, and a shock which
people living 25 miles away thought to be the effect of an earth-
quake. The gunpowder was contained in two barges, and a large
and a small magazine.

As this is one of the greatest explosions of powder (over 70 tons)
which has ever happened at one time, it is a matter of no little
interest to note the results of the occurrence. Fortunately the loss
of life was small, 12 killed and 20 wounded; but the damage to prop-
erty was very great.

At more than two miles from the spot not only were doors and
windows smashed in, bat houses were partially destroyed. One resi-
dence was injured to the amount Los $5,000. 100 yards of river
embankment were blown away; fortunately the tide was low and
the damage was repaired with great celerity, else a large and
populous region would have been submerged. A watchman at
Gravesend, some miles off, one of the very few who saw from a
distance the great catastrophe, as well as heard the awful thun-
der and felt the shock, says: ‘‘On turning round I saw as it were
a pillar of fire rising to the clouds, which it appeared to strike, and
then spread out like a huge fan, presenting a most beautiful and
grand aes

The destruction of houses and other material near the scene of
explosion was ‘of course complete. One report says: ‘‘' The buildings
that lately covered some acres are heaps of tumbled earth and bricks
and massive fragments of timber; beams of half a ton’s weight have
been blown like feathers across the adjacent fields.” The property
destroyed in the surrounding district is estimated at $5,000,000.
A clock in a house seyen miles away was stopped by the explo-
sion. At Woolwich, four miles from the mavazines, a shower
of letters, invoices, and other papers fell, shortly after the explosion,
and an examination of these first informed the people there of the
scene of the accident. Persons at that Bee report: ‘‘ Immediately
after the calamity au immense pillar of smoke rose from the spot high
into the air, thick, black, and palpable, with a huge spreading top,
and about a quarter of an hour elapsed before it died away.”

In and near Erith, two or three miles from the magazines, for
some minutes after the explosion, ‘‘the earth heaved and trembled.”
Men were thrown violently from their beds; scarcely a house in the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 83

place had a pane of glass left whole. At Woolwich, four miles dis-
tant, door and window frames and sashes were smashed in, portions
of ceiling and wall shaken down, many persons were violently thrown
out of tueir Lae and several persons were injured.

At Chatham, 25 miles distant, the windows 1 the great workshops
were violently dh aken, and doors were forced open.

At Deptford, four or five miles off, 150 gaslights in a large factory
were blown out at once. The same thing occurred at a police station
in Whitechapel, London. ‘The people of Soham, 80 miles from Erith,
heard a noise resembling thunder, and felt a shock which they attrib-
uted to an earthquake. The sound of the tremendous report spread
even further, for it was supposed to be distant thunder at a place 94
miles away. In the Crystal Palace in London, some doors were
violently forced open, and paintings knocked down from the walls.

The most remarkable effect of the explosion was upon animals in
the larze region around. ‘The mortality among canary birds for
miles ar und was very great ; they dropped from their perches and died
of fright, or of the concussion. Parrots were badly frightened, and
dropped from their perches to the bottoms of their cages, refusing to
speak for some hours. Dogs, cats and other animals manifested
sy mptoms of the greatest alarm. [For many miles from Erith the

cattle in the fields, : at first struck dum and motionless at the stunning
report, presently set off in the wildest excitement, racing around the
enclosures, and could not be quieted for some hours. All the charches
for 15 miles around, and most of them for 20 miles, have suffered by
broken windows and cracked walls.

Such were some of the phenomena of this terrible explosion.

A writer in the London Times thus speculates on the probable effect
of the explosion of 2,000 tons of powder, the amount stored in the
govern:nent magazines at Purfleet, 16 miles from London :—

2,099 tons of powder would occupy 75,000 cubic feet of space,
or equal to a pile 100 feet long, 40 feet wide and 20 feet hich,
quite the size of an ordinary parish church. As powder, at the
moment of its explosion, xen an elastic force of 1,090 times the
pressure of the atmosphere (15,009 pounds to the square inch), the
ignition of this quantity would instantaneously liberate a force equal
to 14,000,000 tons. As the vibrations of force radiate equally in all
directions, like those of light and heat, it necessarily follows that its
intensity diminishes in proportion as the circle of its radiation in-
creases in diameter. Thus, taking the direct distance from London |
to Purfleet as 16 miles, an explosion at the latter magazine would,
by the time it reached town, be distributed over 10, 009,000, 000
square yards of surface, and, therefore, the mechanical effect of the
shock to the houses 12 London would be a little over 31 pounds per
square yard of surface, or 220 pounds on the front of an ordinary
average dwelling-house. “This would be augmented to a slight
extent from the fact that the power of the shock would not radiate
downward in consequence of the earth, and would react in other
directions.

The quantity of powder exploded at Erith on the occasion of the
late catastrophe was 104,000 pounds, or 1,733 cubic feet ; this, prob-
ably, produced a force of 800,000 tons, and this, radiating to London,

84 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was spread over a space of 5,699,990,099 square yards, and reduced
its effective force on the houses oi the metropolis to about six ounces
per square yard. It may seem surprising to many. that this small
force should have been so distinctly felt; but when it is remembered
that a very few pounds exerted in banging a door will give rise to a
very severe feeling of concussion in most houses, the surprise will
cease. The pressure which would be exerted upon the houses of the
metropolis by an explosion at Purfleet, of three pounds or four pounds
per square yard, would probably be suflicient to break most windows
facing in its direction, and houses would feel the shock very severely ;
for, though the pressure would not be more than that specified above,
the wave of force arising from such a quantity of powder would be
of great duration.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SCIENCE OF WARFARE.

The Ship of the Future, —impregnable and unconquerable. —'The
London Mechanics’ Magazine, in the following interesting sketch,
gives some hints as to what will be required for effective harbor de-
fence, and what can be done to make a coast line impregnable to an
enemy. It says:— .

‘*Let us take a plunge into the future, and describe the ship or
gunboat which can best defend our shores. She will. possess three
paramount qualifications: Firstly, she will carry guns capable of
playing havoe with any ship from distant ports able to live in such
seas as she would have to encounter in order to reach our coast;
secondly, our ship of the future will steam fast enough to run along-
side any foe at her pleasure, or to retreat, when that very objectiona-
ble step is dictated by the necessity for drawing the foe into a region
where she can be properly attacked; and, thirdly, she will be so
heavily armored that an enemy’s shot shall fall harmless from her
sides.

These characteristics can only be obtained at the expense of many of
those qualities the possession of which can alone render a man-of-war
fit for foreign service ; and this is well, because the right ship is cer-
tain to remain in the right place only when there is no other place to
which she can go. Let us treat of her armament, in the first instance.

As regards sub-marine artillery, many recent experiments prove
conclusively that the discharge of the heaviest ordnance beneath the
water level, is not only practicable, but taat the effect of the missiles
so discharged is terribly destructive at short ranges. Our future
ship will carry two 20-ton muzzle-loading guns; we imagine that
guns of the Blakely or Parrott class will be found most suitable.
These guns will habitually use conically-fronted elongated shells,
and heavy charges of powder. On board, two or more ‘‘ wells” will
be constructed, or rather two water-tight compartments into which
the sea can be admitted, or from which 1¢ can be excluded at pleasure.

For six feet or thereabouts, above the water-line the ship — about
250 feet long—will be very heavily plated, the plating at that
height terminating in a shot-proof deck. ‘Two inches of iron on six
inches of teak and strong deck beams will go far to make this deck
all that is required, as shot must always strike at a very obtuse
angle. A second deck will be provided at or about the water-line,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 85

and into the intervening snace the guns will be raised in order
that they may be loaded, while they will be submerged in the
water, in order that they may be discharged, from five to seven feet
below the water-level. Perhaps a somewhat different arrangement
may be adopted; in any case, however, the guns must be capable of
doing damage below the water-level.

Light wooden top-sides may be provided for the comfort of the
crew, and, perhaps, to deceive an enemy as to the real character of
the ship with which we would have to cope. <A light draught of
water will be indispensable ; 12 feet may be taken as a maximum, per-
haps, beyond which it will not be prudent to go, as a ship of this
class must be able to run close in shore. As a consequence of the
breadth, say 30 feet proportional to her length, our ship will have
avery flat floor. Her plating must be brought down far below the
water-line. As little armor will be carried above that level, there is
apparently no reason why the hull should not possess ample buoyancy
_ to support any reasonable weight which can be suspended from its
sides in this way. Masts and sails will be out of place. :

The utility of this gunboat, for such she will be virtually, notwith-
standing her size, will absolately primarily depend on great speed.
With such a moderate draught of water as 12 feet no single screw
would be suiiicient to confer this qualification; and for this reason,
and some other considerations connected with facility for manceuver-
ing, it becomes expedient that two propellers should be employed.
These propellers, thea, will be driven by independent engines of
great power, direct acting, and capable of running ata very high
velocity.

As the ship is not intended to proceed further out to sea than 50
or 60 miles, or to take any cruise which would occupy move than
three days at most, nearly all the space on the lower deck from one
end to the other will be available for engines, boilers, and coal; and
because 300 tons of this last will always be enouvh to take on board
at one time, an enormous amount of boiler room will be available.
The engines will be constracted to work expansively under ordinary
circumstances, with 4 or $ boiler-power; when going into action the
funnels may be lowered, and blowers fitted in the engiae-room will,
even then, with ease, burn 5) pounds of coal per square foot of
grate.

As the hull to be driven will be long and sharp, a spaed may, uade
such conditions, be maintainel—the engines being worked at full
power, and the steam full stroke—for four or five hours at a time, such
as no sea-going ship ever equalled. In moderate weather as much as
21 knots may be realized. As the engines will only be called oa
to make such an extraordinary exertion at rare intervals, and as
pleaty of time will always be tound to make repairs ia port, where
sach ships will spend much of their time, there is little danger of a
brerkdowa, and the machinery can always be kept in first-rate order.

Stores, water, every consideration save armament, will give way to
the attainment of excessive speed for comparatively short periods,—
a speed which it is impossible to realize under any other conditions,—
a speed which will convert these coast defence ships into sea-eagles,
making their swoop where aud when they please close to our shores ;

85 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

destroying, sinking, burning, yet affording no tangible object of at-
tack to an enemy, whose ships they can pursue, overtake, fly from,
elude, with an ease and certainty which finds no parallel, save in the
career of the great destroyer of all things—Death.

Their mode of attack will be very simple,—each ship will run along-
side a foe as quickly as possible; while in pursuit, short as that pur-
suit will be, her guns may be used above water with effect, perhaps ;
at all events, they may be used. It will be no easy matter to prevent
our ship of the future running alongside any ordinary iron-clad frig-
ate. It may be equally impossible for her, being alongside, to re-
main there ten seconds; but these ten seconds are sufficient to dis-
charge two 20-ton guns below the water level, below that six or
seven feet of submerged plating which we find on the sides of the
Warrior or the Black Prince. We have but to turn to the last Ord-
nance Report to learn what ensues. The largest ship afloat will go
down, or become water-logged and helpless, in five minutes after a
hole four feet square, is knocked in her bottom; and at a range of 50 ,
feet a 10-ton gun wouid smash in this hole in thin skin plates, with
ease, in much less than-tea seconds. In her turn, our ship will set
submarine ordnance at naught, because she can carry plating where
no frigate or liner can,—far under water. Above it, from her insig-

nificant height, she would afford a very small marx, not easily hit,
while the peculiar conditioas under waich she would be used, and the
exceptional nature of the service on which she would be employed ;
the absence of heavy stores, rigging and masts; the small number of
her guns; the trifling weizht of coals to be carried, &c.would leave
a margin of buoyancy great enough to permit enormously heavy plates
being carried above water, plates thick enough, at least, to render
their pounding a very thankless task.

It is needless to say that such a ship as we have sketched, more
dimly and slightly than we could wish, will be utterly unsuitable for
long voyages; she must perforce remain at home. It is absurd to
sacrifice speed and armor in order that frigates may carry coal for ten
days and provisions for three months,—that they may be fitted for for-
eign service, in fact,—and then to compel them to remain at home to
perform duties for which they are to a certain extent incapacitated by
the presence of things which, however useful and necessary on a voy-
age to China or India, are at once unnecessary and out of place.on
board a ship intended specially for coast defence.

On the Structure of Ships of War. —~In a discussion at the last meet-
ing of the British Association on the construction of iron-clads, &e.
Admiral Belcher, B, N., submitted the following remarks: He thoaght
that our shins ofwar needed no more protection than would keep their
halls safely floating, with sich protection for those fighting the guns as
might be deemed sufficient to keep offshells and musketry, suffering heavy
shot to pass freely through instead of causing spiral showers of splinters
suc as resulted from the destruction of the late targets at Shoeburyness.
The present paper, therefore, dealt with a mode of construction adequate
for contending with ordinary batteries, and also permitting external plank-
ing, and consequently the old copper sheating below water. It had been
so generally assumed that no thickness of armor-plate could be employed
which could resist our new monster ordnance that his attention had been

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 87

ad

directed to meet the difficulty half way, by protecting the mere vital shell
of the lower hull, so as to defy the ordinary assault of any ordinary gun-
bearing vessel which should not by its accumulated weight or mass of
matter render defence impossib.e. It was important, therefore, that such
a tonnage should be provided as should, as in the case of the Warrior class,
be capable of floating the contemplated armament independent of the for-
ward and after compartments, which might be assumed as mere assistant
means of flotation, and to be so fitted with cellular divisions below the
level of flotation as to render injury to those parts below the reach of
shot of very trifling importance.

Assuming that an iron spherical shot of thirteen inches was the missile
to be dreaded, the question to be considered was not exactly what flat
plate of iron was to resist it,—for the authorities stated that no reasonable
thickness, even up to 12 inches, would withstand the impact. Looking,
however, only to the floating carcass of the ship, and disregarding the
ports until we had an impregnable stage on which to place guns, then we
should be at liberty to increase the thickness to any amount. His prop-
osition was to construct the ship on the customary plan of close iron ribs,
but filling up the interstices between the iron with condensed teak. As-
suming that we constructed a vessel with 36 inches depth of rib at the
vulnerable portions which shot could reach, which would probably involve
i2 vertical feet of her side.—say eight feet below water and four feet
above,—we should then have a vessel of stronger framework than any
now built, building, or in contemplation. Then assuming that thase iron
ribs presented two inches it the exterior, tapering in 36 inches to one in-
side, placed six inches asunder, and filled in with compressed timber or
other matter, we should have per cubic yard of bulwark 3,412.125
pounds, that of the Warrior being 3,123 pounds, showing only a differ-
ence of about 290 pounds to the cubie yard.

It was yet to be determined, by actual experiment, whether that resist-
ance would offer the protection sought. Perhaps it would not, but as he
proposed to add a six-inch planking outside, he considered that the com-
parative danger with our pr sent iron-clads would be reduced to nil, or
at le.st to something whicn would satisfy the seamen. Ona previous
occasion he had alluded to paper as an opposing medium. In 1816, at
Algiers, a ream cf foolscap, end on, resisted a 68-pound shot from a 27-
feet gun, at 76 yards; and in 1854, he proposed to the Admiralty to con-
struct movable battery rafts of brown paper, but the design was not car-
ried out. Lately, he learned from a newspaper that, ten years after his
proposal, it was found that paper of one inch thickness was fired at and
not quite penetrated, while a similar shot went quite through ten inches
of good o.k. In conciusion, he would observe that condensed millboard
weighed less than oak or teak, and, interposed in the manner he had sug-
gested, might form a target which would set even the largest ordnance at
defiance.

Eviesson on the Construction of Impregnable Armor.— The fol-
lowing is an extract of a letter recently addressed to the Secretary of
the Navy on the above subject by Mr. Ericsson: ‘*The English
have failed in producing an armor capable of resisting projectiles of
great speed and weight. Solid blocks of wrought iron, of the best
quality, one foot in thickness, have been split under the impact of the
projectile. The enormous dynamic force lodged in the shot, com-

88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

pared with the inadequate cohesive force of he metal at the place
struck, together with the incompressible nature of the material, fur-
nishes a ready explanation of the cause of the fractures which have
resulted from heavy charges of powder at short ranges with the solid
English targets.

“ Having | attentively studied the subject, and demonstrated satis-
factorily the cause of the unexpected destruction of the enormous
solid targets, the expedient at once suggested itself to the writer, of
apply; ing a laminated protection in order to exhaust the vis viva of
the shot, by degrees, before reaching the solid blocks intended as the
realarmor. The peculiar feature of the laminated protection .is evi-
dently that each successive lamina, or plate, may be split without
affecting the next; forming, as it does, a separate body placed at a
measurable distance from the neighboring plate. Not so with a solid
projectile ; asplit or crack of sufficient width must inevitably — owing
to the incompressible nature of the material — run through the entire
substance. Hence the destruction of the enormous blocks of wrought
iron tested in England.

‘The condition of my 15-inch target, recently tested by Captain
Dahlgren, at the Washington Navy Yard, proves incontestably that,
by inter posing a laminated protection, armor may be made absolutely
impregnable. Not only are the 5-inch wrought slab and the backing
of 4-inch plating — together nine inches—completely uninjured ;_ but
there remain also in the centre of the indentation made by the shot,
more than two inches thickness of the outer plating. The absolute
protection thus afforded by the 6-inch thick plate lining to the 5-inch
wrought slabs of the 15-inch target, placed close to the muzzle (34
yards) of an 11-inch Dahleren gun, fired with 50 pounds of powder,
proves conclusively that the side armor of the Puritan and Piao
will be impregnable. This side armor, it will be remembered,
composed of 6-inch plating, under which is inserted the ea terskee
wrought-iron slabs (stringers), backed by the 4-feet thickness of oak,
firmly attached to the side of the ship without the employment of the
objectionable through-bolts employed in the Warrior and other
European tiron-clads.”

Resistance of Iron Plates to Heavy Shot. — Mr. Scott Russell, from
the result of the various experiments that have been made by the
British Government, deduces the following thicknesses of iron- plates
as proof against shots of various w eights. For the present: the
43-inch plate against the 68-pounder; 64-inch plate against the 156-
pounder ; 74-inch against the 200-pounder; and 84-inch against the
270-pounder. For the future: the 10-inch plate against the 400-
pounder; 11-inch against the 500-pounder; and 12-inch against the
600-pounder. These results, Mr. Russel states, are entitled to our
full confidence, as the experiments at Shoeburyness fully bear them
out.

New Experience with Iron-clad Vessels in Action.—Some addi-
tional experience in the value and working of iron-clad vessels in
warfare, has been gained during the past year from a conflict which
took place in the ‘Bay of Mobile, between a formidable iron-clad
Confederate ram — the Tennessee — and a fleet of wooden vessels of
war and monitors, under the command of Admiral Farragut,of the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 89

U. S. Navy ;—the confli¢t resulting in the surrender of the Confed-
erate vessel. ,

The ram in question was some two years in building, and no pains
or expense were spared to render her impregnable. A committee of
U.S. naval officers appointed to examine her subsequent to her cap-
ture, reported as follows : —

‘«The hull of the vessel appeared to be exceedingly strongly built
in every part, the material being oak and yellow pine, with iron fas-
tenings. Length from stern to stern on deck, 209 feet; greatest
breadth of beam on deck, 48 feet; mean average draught of water,
about 14 feet. The deck is covered fore and aft with wrought-iron
plates two inches thick. The sides of the vessel are protected by an
overhang, sponsoned, and covered with two layers of 2-inch wrought
iron. ‘The sides of the vessel below the deck are about eight feet in
thickness. The prow is provided with a ram or beak, which projects
about two feet under water and is covered with wrought-iron plates.

‘*The casemate of the vessel is very strongly built. It is 78 feet
eight inches long and 28 feet nine inches wide inside, —the sides of
the vessel extending 10 feet from it on either side at the greatest
breadth of beam. ‘The framing consists of heavy yellow pine beams,
13 inches thick, and placed close together vertically, the inside plank-
ing of yellow pine, 54 inches thick, laid horizontally, and outside of
this horizontal planking there is a layer of oak timber four inches
thick, bolted on vertically, upon which the iron plating is secured.
The plating or armor of the casemate forward is six inches thick,
consisting of three two-inch iron plates of about six inches wide each,
and abaft, and on the sides, five inches thick, consisting of two two-
inch thick and one one-inch thick iron plates of the same width. The
yellow pine framing of the casemate is planked over inside with 23-
inch oak timber laid on diagonally.

‘¢The whole of the armor plating is fastened with through bolts 1}
inches in diameter, with washers and nuts inside. The casemate is
covered on top with wrought-iron gratings, composed of bars two
inches thick and six inches wide, laid flat, and supported on wooden
beams 12 inches square, and about five feet distant from each other.”

The armament of the Tennessee consisted of six rifled guns—two of
7-inch caliber and four of 63-inch,—all of the Brooks pattern. Her
ports were closed with shutters of 5-inch iron. These were attached
at the centre of one of their sides by a pivot on which they revolved
by means of a cog-wheel inside, and turned out of the way outside
when her ports were opened. ‘The projectiles used were 95 and 110-
pound solid shot. Her draught of water was 14 feet eight inches ; her
engines, two in number, high pressure, driving a geared propeller ;
and her complement of men and officers 187.

The U. S. fleet under the command of Com. Farragut, consisted of
several vessels of the class of the Hartford, and several monitors.
At the commencement of the conflict the rebel Admiral, with great
courage, plunged his iron-mailed vessel mto the midst of his enemy’s
fleet, with a view of crushing the wooden vessels one after another,
like the performance of the Merrimac in the James River in 1862.
But Admiral Farragut had other intentions. He signalled for his
fleet to gather around him, and a combined butting of the Tennessee

§*

90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was made by several vessels. This, however, seems to have produced
no effect except in preventing her from destroying any of the Federal
vessels. The monitors then closed upon her, and after some firing
she surrendered. The causes of the surrender were, 1st. The wound-
ing of her commander and the demoralization of the crew. 2d. The
uselessness of three guns, which could not be used on account of the
jamming of two port covers and the loss of a third. 3d. The carrying
away of the rudder chains, by which the vessel became partially unman-
ageable.

~The report of the Board of officers above referred to, concerning
the injuries received by the Tennessee, is as follows :—

‘<The injuries to the casemate of the Tennessee from shot is very
considerable. On its after-side nearly all the plating is started, one
bolt driven in, several nuts knocked off inside, gun-carriage of the
after pivot-gun damaged, and the steering-rod or chain cut near that
gun. There are unmistakable marks on the after part of the case-
mate of not less than nine 11-inch solid shot having struck within
the space of a few square feet, in the immediate vicinity of that port.
On the port side of the casemate the armor is also badly damaged.
On that side, nearly amidships of the casemate, and between the two
broadside guns a 15-inch solid shot knocked a hole through the
armor, and “backing, leaving on the inside an undetached mass of oak
and pine splinters, “about three- -by-four feet, and projecting inside of
the casemate about two feet from the side. This is the only shot that
penetrated the wooden backing of the casemate, although there are
numerous places on the inside giving evidence of the effect of the shot.

‘There are visible between 40 and 50 indentations and marks
of shot onthe hull, deck, and casemate, varying from very severe to
slight —nine of the deepest indentations on the after part of the
casemate evidently being 11-inch shot, and the marks of about 3
of other calibers on different parts of the vessel. There are also a
few other marks, being, however, merely scratches or sheht indenta-
tions of the plating. The smoke-stack was shot away, “although it
is not improbable that the severe ramming the vessel had previously
received, facilitated its fall. There were no external visible marks or
evidences, however, of injury inflicted upon the hull of the Tennessee
by this ramming.”

It would thus appear, that the armor of this vessel, although m-
jured, was nevertheless sufficient to withstand warkout serious det-
riment all the steel shot from our rifled pieces, our 11-inch solid shot
from our ships of war, and 15-inch shell from the monitors, not one
of which penetrated her ribs of iron, while near 50 shots altogether
struck her in the engagement. The nearest approach to penetration
was from a 15-inch missile, which made a deep indentation in her
broadside, and by impaction stove through her oak backing, causing
the splinters to fly promiscuously inside. Though underway when
this struck her, she is said to have stopped as if a magic wand had
ce hed her. Her arrangement of port-shutters proved an element of

veakness. Two of these had their system of ratchets and cogs de-
riteiesd during the action, and could not be afterwards opened. A
third Ses x after one) was shot away entirely,—that is to say, the pivot
on which jt turned was shot off and the shutter fell to the ‘deck, leav-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 91

ing that port open and exposed to the hostile fire. Her rudder chains
were also a most serious element of weakness with her, being carried
along her deck, and covered only with a plate of half-inch iron. ‘They
were, consequently, broken early in the engagement, and her rudder
was subsequently managed by means of ropes and blocks, and yet
notwithstanding all these injuries, the commission of officers that sur-
veyed the Tennessee, immediately after the fight, reported her ‘in a
condition to do good service,” and although captured, her resistance
is a matter of great interest and importance in the new developments
concerning naval warfare, and furnishes new testimony to the value of
iron-clad vessels.

The London Times, in commenting upon this extraordinary trial,
draws this conclusion; either the armor of the Tennessee was supe-
rior to any of the targets which represent our British iron clads, or the
ordnance of the Federals is inferior to our artillery. We have already
said that we do not think the former hypothesis could be maintained
for a moment, and, consequently, we must close with the latter. This
we do without hesitation, and we imagine that most persons acquainted
with the subject would be prepared to affirm that the guns which pen-
etrated the Warrior target, at Shoeburyness, would, at ten feet dis-
tance, have smashed in the sides of the Tennessee before the action had
lasted a quarter of an hour.

Tron-clad Vessels. The Ironsides and Monitors contrasted.— The
following is the substance of a Report recently made to the Secretary
of the Navy by Commodore John Rodgers on the comparative merits
of the Ironsides and Monitor class of vessels.

These vessels have each their peculiar defects and advantages.

In the ironsides class the hull of a wooden man-of-war, as con-
structed for general purposes, is clad with iron. It is true, some
modification of shape and increase of size is required to meet the ad-
ditional weight which she has to carry, but still in essentials she is a
vessel of the ordinary model; she has the advantage of ample quar-
ters for her crew, with free access to her deck in storms ; with natural
ventilation; with abundance of light; with numerous guns, giving
her a rapidity of fire unattainable in a monitor, and essential in bat-
tering forts; and she is as able to carry canvas as other men-of-war.

The monitor class, as far as I know, is new. If I understand the
idea, it is to cut off all the surface above the water except that which
may be necessary to flotation, and to carry the guns in a revolving
turret, or turrets, near the center of motion, sapported upon the keel
and kelsons.

The plans upon which Mr. Ericsson has worked out this idea of
his may be modified by further experience, but the idea itself will be
employed while iron-clad vessels are used in warfare.

It has these advantages :—

The monitor has the least possible surface to be plated, and there-
fore takes the least possible tonnage to float armor of a given thick-
ness; or with a given tonnage allows the greatest possible thickness
of armor, and consequently the greatest possible impenetrability.
The ability to carry armor is proportionate to the tonnage, but the
monitor of 844 tons has actually thicker plating than the ironsides of

*

92 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

3,480 tons, and than the Warrior, of 6,000 tons; and yet the Jron-
sides and the Warrior have only the middle portion of their hulls
plated, their ends being merely of wood without armor. The guns
of the mouitors near the center of motion are supported upon the
keel and kelsons, upborne by the depth of water under them, and
carried by the whole strength of the hull. In monitors, heavier guns
are therefore —— than ever can be carried in broadside out upon
the ribs of a ship. In the monitors, concentration of guns and armor is
the object sought. In them the plating i is compressed into inches of
elevation ; while in the ironsides class it is extended over feet; and the
comparatively numerous guns distributed over the decks of the irons
sides class are molded in a few larger ones in the turrets of the moni-
tors. When the power is required in the individual guns, enough to
crush and pierce the side of an adverary at a single blow, the most for-
midable artillery must be employed; and 15- inch guns are the most
formidable, which, so far, we have tried : but no vessels of the iron-
sides class can carry these guns; and the monitors actually do carry
them.

If target experiments are reliable, a shot from ’the 15-inch gun will
crush in the sides cf any vessel of the ironsides class in Europe or
America. <A single well-planted blow would sink either the Warrior,
Gloire, Magent: t, Minotaur, or Bellerophon. The Dictator, of 38,000
tons, has armor thick enough, } believe, to withstand 15- sae guns.

The objection to the monitor class, such as I have seen in use, are
from fewness of guns, the lack of rapidity i in fire in battermg forts, or
wooden vessels; the loss of accommodation from dispensing with the
upper deck, or decks; the greater unhealthiness from dampness, and
from confinement below in even a moderate sea; from the loss of light,
and from depending upon blowers driven by steam for ventilation.

The monitors are slower than their steam power would seem to
promise. In all of them the slip of their serews is excessive. This
I attribute to the overhang, which if a source of streneth in action,
from its use as a ram, cd from its protecting the propeller and rud-
der, is a source of weakness and strain at sea. The overhang has the
advantage of keeping the vesscl very steady; she can not roll with
these wine-lik ke projections holding up her sides, nor pitch, nor send
with the immense flat surface of the overhang to resist those motions ;
but as the monitor is slower than other vessels of like tonnage and
power, it must be presumed the difference of shape makes the differ-
ence of speed; and the overhang constitutes the sole difference of
shape.

if ordinary vessels can endure the pitching and sending motions,
it may be inferred that the monitors can endure them. If ordinary
vessels can have their rams below water, so may the monitors; nor
is it necessary to equality, that the rudder and propeller of the mon-
itor should be better protected than those of our competitors.

The monitor model rolls very little, and is extremely easy in a sea
way. Ina gale of wind, it was found on board the monitor Wee-
hawwken, that while her c ompanion, wooden corvette Jroquois (deemed
avery perfect model), had an exc essively violent motion,—so violent,
indeed, that no one could staad upon her decks without abd assistance
of life lines, —-the Weehawken had so little motion that a bottle of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93

elaret stood for an hour upon its narrow base on the dinner-table in
the cabin, when it was put away.

I do not consider the lowness of the monitors in the water a source
of unsafeness. They start to sea with sufficient buoyancy, and, by
the consumption of coal and provisions, they hourly grow lighter.
Anything lighter than water will float upon it; and however deeply
buried, while lighter than water, it must come to the surface; but
effectual means must be used to keep the vessel tight, for any con-
siderable accumulation of water in the hull will sink her, which is
true also of ships generally. The casemated vessels, —such as the
ironsides, —if not safer than the monitors, are more comfortable,
and therefore probably more healthy ; with greater facilities for carry-
ing canvas than the monitor class seems to admit of.

To sum up my conclusions, I think that the monitor class and the
ironsides class are different weapons, each having its peculiar advan-
tages, — both needed to an iron-clad navy, both needed in war; but
that, when the monitor class measures its strength agaimst the iron-
sides class, then, with vessels of equal size, the monitor class will
overpower the ironsides class; and, mdeed, a single monitor will
capture many casemated vessels of no greater individual size or
speed; and as vessels find their natural antagonists in forts, it must
be considered that upon the whole the monitor principle contains the
most successful elements for plating vessels for war purposes.

Admiral Porter, also, in a report made to the Department, Jan-
uary, 1865, on the conduct of the iron-clads in the bombardment of
Fort Fisher, speaks in the highest terms of the sea-worthiness of the.
monitor vessels. During a gale of great violence encountered by the
squadron, some of the smaller monitors, at times almost disappeared
from view, but the vessels were in no danger at any time. Of the Mo-
nadnock (monitor), Admiral Porter writes : ‘‘ She could ride out a gale
at anchor in the Atlantic Ocean, and she is certainly a most perfect
success so far as the hull and machinery are concerned, and is only
defective in some minor details, which in the building of these vessels
require the superintendence of a thorough seaman and a practical and
ingenious man. The Monadnock is capable of crossing the ocean
alone, when her compasses are once adjusted properly, and could de-
stroy any vessel in the French or British navy. She could certainly
clear any harbor-on our coast of blockaders in case we were at war
with a foreign power. ‘There are four vessels in the American navy
of the class of the Monadnock,—all ranking as second-rate iron-clads.
They are built on the monitor plan, but have two turrets, in each of
which will probably be placed a 15-inch gun and a 200-pounder.
Their register is 1,564 tons, their length 259 feet over all, 52 feet 10
inches beam, and depth of hold 14 feet nine inches. The turrets are
21 feet in diameter. Their propellers are 11 feet six inches in diame-
ter, and have a pitch of 24 feet. Each vessel has two screws, one on
either side of the stern-post. Their draught of water, fully laden is
12 feet. ;

‘«These vessels have laid five days under a fire from Fort Fisher,
anchored less than 800 yards off, and, though fired at a great
deal, they were seldom hit, and received no injury, except to boats
and light matter about the decks, which were pretty well cut to

94 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

pieces. Compared with the ironsides, their fire is very slow, and not
at all calculated to silence heavy batteries, which require a rapid and
continuous fire to drive the men from their guns; but they are famous
coadjutors ina fight, and put in the heavy blows which tell on the case-
mates and bomb- “proofs. The smaller class of monitors, as at present
constructed, will always require the aid of a steamer to tow them and
take care of them.”

Admiral Porter also says he has never yet seen a vessel which came
up to his ideas of what is required for offensive operations so much as
the New Ironsides. She combimes very ey good qualities, the
most eo ant being the comfort with which the people on board of
her live, though she would be no match for the Monadnock im a fight.

The Amer rican fr igate ‘* New Ironsides.” — During the service of
this vessel in 1863, she was struck by the shots of the enemy 241
times; 140 of which thundered against her in the short period
of two days; but, notwithstanding, she has passed through the
terrible ordeal without having sustained any serious damage, and
with the loss of only one man killed. This is a most satisfactory
evidence of her great powers of endurance. During the same period
she discharged 4,561 rounds against the enemy.

The latest British Iron-clad.—The London Times gives the following
description of the most approved and most fo rmidable of the iron-clad
vessels designed and in the process of construction by the British Gov-
ernment. The name of the vessel is the Peller ophon, and her builders
are the well-known firm of Penn & Co. The Zimes says :—

‘* This vessel is in point of strength intended to be a monster among
these monsters; to be, in fact, as terrible an assailant to iron-clads as
an iron-clad would be to wooden ships. The object with which this
vessel is designed is, in case of another great naval war, to avoid
a repetition of the long dreary work of blockading an enemy’s fleet by
wearisome and dangerous cruising off the mouth of harbors. The Bel-
lerophon is to be a ‘vessel of such strength and speed and tremendous
weight of guns as, in case of an enemy’s iron fleet running into port,
she can follow them with impunity, and at long range fight them at
their moorings, till she either drives them ashore or forces them out
to sea. Sp: ocially built for the discharge of such duties, it i8 almost
needless to say how carefully every point in her equipment has been
considered; and as Mr. Penn undertakes that her speed shall equal
her strength, there scems to be very little doubt but that, with her im-
penetrable s sides,and her armament of ten 500- -pounders and two 600-
pounders, she will be the most formidable sea-going frigate the world
has yet seen. The length of this vessel is to be 300 feet, and her
breadth 50 f ‘et; her tonnage will be 4,246 tons, her displacement 7 7,-
053 tons; and though carrying the heaviest armor and armament ever
sent afloat, her draught will be only 21 feet forward and 26 feet aft,—
less than the dra ught of ordinary two-deckers. The height of her low-
est portsill from the water will be 93 fect, the distance between the
guns 15 feet, and the height between decks seven feet. Her midship
seetion is smaller than that of the Warrior. and to that extent, there-
fore, she will be easier to steam and sail. She is to have four masts, —
only the first square-rigged, the three others carrying immense fore-
and-aft sails, a rig from which the French have got such admirable re-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95

sults with their iron frigates under canvass. The speed, which it is
to be hoped will be attained in this vessel is an average of 15 knots,
or nearly 18 miles per hour.

“The ribs and framing of the Bellerophon will be much the same
as those of other iron frigates, with the exception that the stringer
plates and diagonal bracings will all be of steel, —that is to say, of
less than half the weight, and more than four times the strength, of
the present system of wrought-iron fastenings. Wherever steel can
be used with advantage, in point of strength “and lightness, it will be
adopted in the frame ‘of this new frigate, and Mr. Reed estimated that
by this method, and while making the hull infinitely stronger, he will
save in weight two or three hundred tons, which can be infinitely
better bestowed in incre asing the thickness of the armor plating.
The armor of the Bellerophon is to be no less than 16 inches
thick, and this is to rest on 10 inches of solid teak beams. ‘This outer
protection is quite formidable enough, but what it protects is of its
kind quite as strong in proportion. ‘The inner skin consists of two
plates, each of #-inch thickness, with a stout layer of painted canvas
between to deaden concussion. Outside the skin come angle-iron
stringers of the tough steel. These angle-iron stringers in any metal
would be of immense strength, and project from the inner skin oS
inches and 10 inches alternately Thus they form so many longitu-
dinal shelves, of the depth mentioned, which run from stem to stern
of the ship, two under each row of plates, and in these the teak beams
are laid, the longitudinal layers of the angle-irons keeping the beams
up to their work and preventing the lateral splintering, while they
also support the plates with their edges and prevent their bending in
unfairly on the teak. The Beller ophon is not thus coated from end
to end and over all with this tremendous armor. In the center and for
90 feet of her broadside she is thus protected, from five feet below the
water line to the level of the upper deck. In this space are her guns,
five 300-pounders, with one 600-pounder at each side. For the rest
of her length there is only a belt of this massive armor, which goes to
the same depth beneath the sea to six feet above it, so that she ‘cannot
be hit in any part where the water could enter.”

Torpedo Warfare. — The earliest mention of torpedo warfare in
this country is made in the published work of Robert Fulton. In
October, 1805, in presence of Admiral Holloway, Sir Sidney Smith,
and other British officers, near Walmer Castle, Fulton blew up a brig
of 200 tons burthen, by means of torpedoes. The vessel was anchored
and the torpedoes were floated under it; the clockwork attached to
‘ then having been so arranged as to explode at a given time. In
August, 1807, Fulton made similar experiments in New York harbor,
and blew up by torpedoes a vessel of about the same size. In 1810
he had an opportunity of explaining his system to Mr. Madison, Mr.
Jefferson, and others, at the residence of his friend, Joel Barlow.
During the same year Fulton published his small work entitled ‘‘ Tor-
pedo War and Submarine Explosions, &e.” This little work was
illustrated, and represented the several modes of using this new and
novel machine. One method was to anchor the torpedoes, which were
to explode when struck by a passing vessel. Another was to attach
clockwork to them and to carry them in boats near the vessel to be

96 ANNUAL GF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

destroyed, when the clockwork was set in motion and the torpedoes
floated down the tide and under the vessel. Another method was to
shoot a harpoon into the side of the vessel with a line made fast to the
torpedo, which burst at the moment of contact. All of these plans
were in a measure practicable at times, but there was not a sufficient
degree of certainty in their operation to warrant the patronage of
either Great Britain or the United States ; consequently the system was
neither perfected nor adopted.

The present war, which has developed so many useful appliances of

naval and military science, has advanced the practice of torpedo war-
fare to an extent which does not yet seem to have found its limit.
The Confederates have used the stationary torpedo to a considerable
extent, and have destroyed or sunk some. eight or ten naval vessels,
including two iron-clads.

All of these casualties took place in shoal water, and most of the
torpedoes in question were fired by means of a galvanic battery,
worked by members of the ‘‘ Confederate Torpedo Corps,” located on
the banks of the rivers.

The Rebels have made several attempts to destroy our war ships by
means of torpedo vessels, but only one of these has ever thoroughly
accomplished her work, in the sinking of the sloop-of-war Housatonic,
off Charleston. The vessel which performed that deed, however,
never returned, but sank with all on board. Similar attempts have
been made upon the iron-clad frigate New Ironsides, and the wooden
frigates Wabash and Minnesota, —the former at Charleston and the
latter at Hampton Roads. Only four known attempts have been made
with this kind of craft; but there is reason to believe that numerous
experiments have been attempted, in which the Rebels were obliged to
abandon the plan as well as the unsafe vessels built for the purpose.

After the capture of the forts in Mobile Bay, Admiral Farragut
discovered, high and dry upon the beach, one of the torpedo vessels
with which the Rebels designed to destroy the fleet blockading that
port ; but, like most of her “predecessors, an accident befell her which
rendered her useless. While on a trial trip one of her boilers explod-
ed, killing nearly all of her crew, and the disaster threw a gloom
over the corps which had her in charge, which fact, coupled with the
difficulty of procuring another boiler, ‘led them to abandon the project.

Until within the past year but little has been done by the Hey
States to perfect torpedo warfare. Captain Ericsson’s ‘‘ devil,” in-
tended to be attached to the prow of the monitors, was a large ac
costly raft, to which was fixed an immense torpedo ; but this invention
was abandoned because its presence among a friendly fleet was of too
dangerous a character to be permitted, and after an expenditure of
many thousands of dollars upon the system it was cast aside.

Within the last year, however, a torpedo boat, designed and mod-
elled by Engineer Wood of the U. S. Navy, has been constructed,
and found to work better in practice than in theory. The hull is of
wood, 75 feet 1 in length, 20 feet beam, and seven feet deep, and con-
structed in the most substantial manner, with heavy deck beams
supported by hanging knees securely bolted and fastened. The deck,
two feet in thickness, is crowned two feet fore and aft, and about as
much athwartships, and is now receiving an iron armor of two inches
in thickness, to render it proof against “shot and shell.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 97

This vessel, called the Stromboli, lies very low in the water, and
when in service as a torpedo boat, is further submerged by filling
water-tight tanks, which bring her down so that scarcely any part of
her deck is above the surface of the water. The only objects visible
above the deck are the pilot-house, 38 inches in height, the smoke-stack,
which is only a trifle higher, and a small ventilator which can be removed
if desired. With such a small surface exposed, the risk of being met
by the enemy is greatly reduced.

The general appearance of this craft is peculiar. Descending
through a small hatchway, which is closed while the vessel is underway
or in action, the visitor may see some curious appliances. Abaft the
midships is the engine, which has a cylinder 18 inches in diameter and
18 inches stroke,—a compact yet powerful affair, working the screw at
an average rate of 50 revolutions a minute, or about ten miles an hour.
The boiler, situated forward, is built of extra strength, to carry a very
high pressure of steam. The steering apparatus is directly under-
neath the little pilot-house, and so close to the commanding officer
that he can give the helmsman his orders without the use of a bell,
which might attract the enemy’s attention. In the bow of the vessel
is the torpedo machine, which, for obvious reasons, cannot now be
fully described. Yet we are permitted to mdicate the general plan
of operation in order to give an idea of the invention.

The crew of the vessel consists of three engineer officers, one pilot
and nine firemen and coal-heavers, —a force abundantly able, to do
all the work required of them. When a vessel is to be destroyed the
torpedo craft steams boldly out, and, as she approaches her victim,
she is settled in the water so as to present but little surface to the
shot which may be directed at her. Nearing the doomed vessel, a
torpedo, charged with from 60 to 200 pounds of powder, is placed in
a ‘‘torpedo basket,” which is attached to a long arm running through
a stufling-box. ‘This basket is now inside of a water-tight box, with
a hd or cover, which is opened when the torpedo is placed in position.
This having been done, the cover is screwed down, the gate at the bow
of the vessel is opened and the arm is run out for a distance of about
30 feet. The vessel now rapidly approaches her intended victim, and
passing close alongside, the torpedo is detached from the basket, the
arm is withdrawn, and at the instant desired the charge explodes,
causing the instant destruction of the vessel. The torpedo vessel
receives none of the shock.

The method of constructing the torpedo is a secret. It is sufficient,
however, to know that this is not one of the many experiments which
have failed to produce valuable results. In no instance has this inven-
tion been found deficient in power or quickness of execution. — New
York Evening Post.

It is understood that some dozen or more of these vessels have been
constructed for the U. S. Navy ; and their value has been practically
tested in at least one instance ; viz: the blowing up of the Confederate
iron-clad ram Albemarle, by Lieut. Cushing ; the ram being at the
time moored to a wharf, at Plymouth, N.C.

- Report of the Bureau of Naval Ordnance. — From a recent Report
of the U. S. Bureau of Naval Ordnance we derive the following
memoranda of interest: For broadside guns in the American

2

98 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

navy 9, 10, and 11-inch guns and Parrott rifles, in pivot, are now
used; 15-inch guns for the turrets of the monitors, and bronze howit-
zers and rifles for deck and boat service in shore. The armament
of a first-rate ship-of-war in the American Navy is now 150-pounder
rifle and one 11-inch smooth bore, in pivot, with 42 11-inch smooth,
four 100-pounders, rifled, and four howitzers in broadside. ‘The
armament of vessels for other rates is in proportion. A first-class
monitor carries four 15-inch guns in her turrets. The iron-plated
boats on the Western rivers carry three 9-inch, four 8-inch, two
100-pounders, one 50-pounder and one 50-pougder.

The value of pivot guns over broadside, was illustrated by the
fight between the Kearsarge and Alabama, where all the damage was
done by the former arm. A mixed battery of both is however the
most perfect.

During the past year, experiments have been quietly and system-
atically made with both shells and shot, from smooth bores and rifles,
of all the heavier calibers. The power of the guns belonging to the
navy, and in common use in the batteries of our ships, have been
fairly tested against both solid and built-up plates, and the conclu-
sion reached is wholly in favor of the guns and their solid projectiles,
—the spherical shot for smooth bores being, however, immeasurably
superior tothe elongated rifle shot in every form. No manner or
thickness of iron or steel armor that could be carried on the hulls
of sea-going ships will resist the impact of solid spherical shot fired
from the heaviest calibers of the navy, at close range, with appropri-
ate charges of cannon powder. It was generally accepted as an
established fact that it was impossible to cast a spherical shot of large
diameter which would be solid throughout. It is now known, how-
ever, that it is easy to cast a 15-inch or 20-inch shot which will be
perfectly sound and solid from circumference to center of figure, and
one of the former has resisted, without breaking, 222 continuous
blows of an, 8-ton steam hammer.

For small arms for the use of the Navy, breech-loaders are alone
recommended. The following curious fact is stated in this connection,
as illustrative of how much ammunition is wasted in battle, and
how many muskets in the hands of incompetent or cowardly men
are actually useless. On the field of Gettysburg there were
27,574 guns picked up, and of these 24,000 were found to be
loaded; of these about 4 contained two loads each, 4 from three
to ten loads each, and the balance one load each. In many of these
guns from two to six balls have been found, with only one charge of
powder. In some the balls have been found at the bottom of the bore
with the charge of powder on top of the ball. In some, as many as
six paper regulation caliber 58 cartridges have been found, the car-
tridges having been put in the guns without being torn or broken.
23 loads were found in one Springfield ritle-musket, each load in
regular order. 22 balls and 62 buckshot, with a corresponding quan-
tity of powder all mixed up together, were found in one percussion
smooth-bore musket. In many of the smooth-bore guns, model of
1842, of Rebel make, we have found a wad of loose paper between
the powder and ball, and another wad of the same kind on top of the
ball, the ball having been put into the gun naked. About 6,000 of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 99

the arms were found loaded with Johnson & Dow’s cartridges ; many
of these cartridges were about half way down in the barrels of the
guns, and in many cases the ball end of the cartridge had been put
into the gun first. These cartridges were found mostly in the Enfield
rifle-musket. This statement constitutes one of the strongest of argu-
ments in favor of a change to breech-loading guns. With breech-
loaders it would be impossible to get in more than one charge at a time,
anda man could tell at a glance whether his piece was discharged or not.

NEW GUN METAL.

A writer in the Zondon Times gives some interesting particulars of
anew gun metal lately invented in Austria by Baron von Rosthorn.
Before giving any account of this new alloy, the writer states his
opinion that the days of wrought iron are numbered, and that its
place will be soon supplied by steel in some form or other. The new
alloy, which has received the name of ‘‘sterrometal,” from a Greek
word signifying tough or firm, is composed of copper, spelter, iron,
and tin, in proportions that may be slightly varied without much
affecting the result. In color it resembles brass rather than gun metal ;
it is very close in its grain and free from porosity. It is possessed of
’ considerable hardness, and will take a very fine polish. Several emi-
nent Vienna engineers have tried it for the cylinders of hydraulic
presses with great success. Two specimens of the alloy have been
submitted to rigorous tests by the Polytechnic Institute of Vienna and
the Imperial Arsenal. ‘The proportions used in each case were the
following :—

Polytechnic Institution. Imperial Arsenal.

Copperses< seas clei deagers de aeleluisinle/slcatdelele tofsieraial OOO 57°63
ppelter........... Agancbosso6¢ nboo aileve tele cei Eo 40°22
ETON eave eres s'<ce Scgocd000056 elefeinicxciatcietctots eislelaveleiers ded 1°86
SiN SRA Se sBuSboAbBooT eiereteteiorernicistels sroodddocadca, | Wre8) 0.15

100: 000 99.86

The specimen tested at the Polytechnic Institute gave the following
results per sectional inch (English): A bar prepared by simple fusion
bore a weight of 27 tons. Forged red-hot it broke at 34tons. Drawn
cold, at 38 tons: the figures in the case of the specimen. tried at the
Imperial Arsenal being 28, 32, and 37 tons respectively; while the
best English gun metal, contaiming ten per cent of tin and 90 per cent
of copper, broke at 18 tons under similar circumstances. The spe-
cific gravity of the metal is about 8°37 when forged hot.

These results, which are official, are truly astounding when we con-
sider that the average breaking strain of wrought iron, as given by
Mr. Anderson, of Woolwich Arsenal, is only 26 tuns. The elasticity
of the sterrometal is also very great. It may be stretched ¢b5 of
its length without undergoing permanent elongation; gun metal giving
only 3253, and wrought iron z/55. No surprise is, therefore, felt
when we are told that a tube of sterrometal is capable of resisting
a pressure of 763 atmospheres, a tube of wrought iron of similar size
and form giving way under 267.

New Principle in Gunnery.—The following description of an
allezed new principle in Gunnery, devised by Mr. James Mackay of
Liverpool, is copied from English journals : —

100 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The principle in all rifled cannon appears to have been to allow as
little windage as possible, and to make the shot fit the grooves of the
piece, taking from them a rotation in its flight. Mr. Mackay, on the
other hand, has conceived the plan of having the grooves so arranged
that, while ‘the shot fits closely to their outer edge, the grooves are
left open for windage. By this arrangement the gas has to travel
some feet further than the shot, and in doing this imparts a rapid and
perfect ‘“‘spin” to it. The shot are of cylindrical form, perfectly
smooth, with conical heads, and cupped at the other end in propor-
tion, so that each shot is perfectly balanced from the center of its
lensth. Mr. Mackay in his patent also claims a peculiarity in the
wadding, which is of sawdust, by which at the movement of the first
ignition of the we ler the elasticity of the wadding moves forward
the shot sli: gshtly ; the effect is that the whole of the “powd: er is burat,
and the shock on the breech of the gun considerably lessened. Mr.
Mackay has had a gun made upon this principle by the Mersey Steel
and Iron Works Co. It is of wrought iron, weighs nine tons, has a
bore of 8°12 inches, and in other respects cor? -asponds with the gen-
eral features of the ordinary 63-pounder. There are 12 grooves, and,
as the shot do not enter these grooves, it allows of a much sh: rper
twist than in ordinary rifled guns. The velocity has been found to
be 1,640 feet a second.

The following trial has been made with this gun, against a section
of a new iron- plated vessel, the Agincourt, now building by Laird &
Co. for the British Government. © The target consisted of an outer
plate seven feet square and 5} inches thick, of rolled iron; next
came nine inches of teak, then an inner plate or skin ? of an inch
thick, then angle-iron and ribbing, and finally a backing up with
timber balks and supports 18 inches thick. The plates were
stated on competent authority to be the best that.can be made of
rolled iron. The gun was charged with 30 pounds of powder and a

cast-steel shot, weighing 167 pounds. The range was 200 yards.
The shot struc +k the target with a dull thud, al ttle below the bull’s
eye on the right, and in the very strongest part, where it was backed
up by the rib of the ship’s side, the anole-iron, and the timber balk.
At the point of impact a perfectly circular hole was cut. The shot
then powdered the teak, passed through the inner skin and the angle-
iron, shattered the timber balk into fraements, and was picked up 82
yards beyond the target, together with a circular piece of the iron
armor, about 80 pounds’ weight, it had carried with it through the
back supports. The sand showed that it had spun to the last. About
70 fragments of iron, bolts, and fragments of the inner skin and an-
ele-iron were pic cked up 100 yards from the target. The shot wien
found was reduced from 13 inches to 11 inches in length, and in-
creased about 14 inch in diameter at the end which struck the
target. The other end was uninjured. The whole target was
forced back about six inches, and so much deranged that more shots
were not fired.

The Percussion of Shot on Iron Targets. — The visitor at the scene
of the experiments at Shoeburyness, in noticing the effect of the
shot on the tremendous targets representing sections of the War-
rior, the Gloire, and other ‘frigates, cannot fail to observe that at

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 101

the lips of every jagged metal wound there is a kind of red ulcer, the
oxidization produced by the instantaneous and awf¥fl flame of the im-

act; while where the bolt or ball has torn its way through the tough
iron, the sides of the cut are actually ‘‘blued” like gunsmith’s furni-
ture, by the same momentary and fiery heat of percussion.

Heperiments on Targets of compressed Wool. —Some experiments
have been made in England during the past year on the resisting prop-
erties of compressed wool to shot: Mr. Nasmyth and other authori-
ties entertaining a confident opinion that a good thickness of wool,
when pressed tight, would offer an amount of resistance to shot which,
if not sufficient to keep it out altogether, was, at least, certain to be
enous to justify the Government in making experimental inquiries on
the subject. Wedo not know, says the London Times, even if the
discovery had been successful, how it was proposed to utilize it,—how,
for instance, to recoat our ironsides with 10 or 12 feet of pressed wool,
or how to apply so bulky and cumbrous an appliance in any way. For-
tunately there is no necessity for considering such embarrassing spec-
ulations now, inasmuch as the experiment proved the.wool rather
more permeable to shot than almost any other novelty that has yet
been fired at. A very few words is sufficient to tell the result. The
target, if we may so call it, was a wrought-iron tube; like a boiler or
iron funnel, open at both ends, 10 feet in diameter and about 11 feet
long. The wool part of the target was constructed by tilting this on
end and filling it with wool as tightly as men could trample it down
till the cylinder was full. [ft was then laid on its side fronting the gun,
so as to present the appearance of a large white circular target or
drum, 10 feet in diameter, and Lt feet thick of solid wood.

The first shot was fired from the Armstrong 100-pounder, with a
10-lb. charge, and this not only passed through the target from end
to end, but buried itself in the earth behind. A second shot was fired
from the 68-pounder, with the usual service charge, and this also went
through, burying itselfin the bank, and as a means of resistance the
target was such a palpable and utter failure that even Mr. Nasmyth was
satisfied with these two shots, and concurred in the*uselessness of
firing any more.

Piring Cannon under Water.—Some experiments on the firing of
cannon under water, recently made at Portsmouth, England, are thus
described : —

*« A stage was erected in the harbor within the tide mark; on this
an Armstrong 110-pounder was mounted, loaded, and aimed, at low
water, at a target placed also within the rise of the tide. When both
gun and target were covered by the water to the depth of six feet the
gun was fired by means of a tube. The targets were placed at from
20 to 25 feet from the muzzle of the gun. One was composed
of piles and oak planking of a thickness of 21 inches; another
consisted of the hull of an old vessel, the Griper, laid on a mud-
bank; a third was made up of three inches in thickness of iron
boiler-plates, bolted together and backed with timber. On all these
the effect of shot’and shell from the submerged gun was very startling.
The wooden target was pierced through and through, the iron target
was broken in pieces and driven into the backing, the solid shot passed
right through both sides of the vessel, making a huge hole through

G*

102 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

which the water poured in torrents. A shell, with percussion fuse,
burst in entering, opening up a chasm of five feet by three in the
planking, shattering the ribs and bursting up the deck beams above.

New Mode of Rifling Guns.—No general principle of rifling guns
seems to be recognized and practiced.

Regular and increasing twists of various pitch are used by rifle
makers for guns of the same bore. ook T. A. Blakely, the inventor
and constructor of the best guns of large caliber in Eure ope, has taken
out a patent for the application of a new principle. It consists in rifl-
ing guns and forming projectiles 1 mm such a manner that the same power
shall always act uniformly. The patentee first decides at what distance
from the center of the projectiles the turning force of the spiral shall
act, and the smaller the bore the nearer the center it acts. He says:
‘* Let acircle be now drawn, with a center in the axis of the barrel,
the radius of which circle is this settled distance ; then form the rifling
of such a shape that a line per pendicular to any point of its surface
shall also be a tangent to this circle.” The projectiles are formed to
correspond dnd follow the same mathematical rules with respect to
the shape of their external surfaces.

Gun-Cotton. — A committee of the French Academy, consisting of
M. M. Pelouze and Maurey, appointed to consider the applicability
of gun-cotton to ordnance, do not by their report at all agree with the
conclusions of the Austrian or English experimenters, (see Annual of
Sci. Dis. 1864). Contrary to the assertions made by the Austrian Gen-
eral Leuk, that his gun-cotton does not explode at a lower temperature
tnan 136°, Centigrade, they aflirm that all their specimens exploded or
‘were otherwise decomposed at a temperature of 100°; and that ata
temperature as low as 55°, decomposition ensued with equal certainty,
but only in the course of a fewhours. In one case they even obtaimed
an explosion at 47°, which induces them to suspect that it may even be
decomposed at the common temperature. Upon the whole, therefore,
they do not recommend the substitution of gun-cotton for gunpowder
in the French service.

Wrought-Lron Forts. —There has been recently constructed in Eng-
land, for the Russian Government, a massive iron structure, which is
intended to serve as a sort of shield, or outer protection to the face of a
fort or rampart in the harbor of Cronstadt. Its structure is as follows :—

It is 43 feet six inches long by ten feet in hight, and is composed of
wrought-iron bars of a size hitherto unattempted in “ grooved rolls,” 12
inches by 12 inches, rolled with a “rebate,” and corresponding hollows
on the epee side, strengthened by dovetailed ribs at their back, three
inches in thickness, which are attached by keys or wedges in dovetailed
holes to upright beams or girders, 14 inches by 14 inches, on each side
of the embra-ures and at the ends, and in two equal divisions of its
length, to f:ur frames or brackets like the letter A, with one vertical
side. ‘The foundation plate on which the whole structure stands is 48
feet six inches long, two feet wide, and 34 inches thick, rolled in one
length. ‘The total “weight of the shield is about 140 tons. Each em-
es is four feet from the platform, and four feet high. In the throat
it is two feet two inches in width, cr, with the shelvi ing of the cheeks,
two feet ten inches. The military advantages of such an opening in an
iron parapet of 15 inches thickness is, that the guns can be worked so as

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 103

to take a greater sweep of range than is possible where the parapet is of
masonry. In point of strength, an inch thickness of iron is equal to one
foot thickness of stonewor k, so that the power of resistance of the
shield in question is equivalent to that of a wall 15 feet thick. Asa
matter of experiment it is to be put upon the parapet of one of the outer
ports at Cronstadt, but should it be found to answer expectations, it will
itself take the place of the parapet, the whole metal platform being fas-
tened by clamps and rivets into the granite rampart.

The London Engineer thus describes the process of ee the im-
mense bars of which this structure is composed. It says: As these bars
were an advance upon what has been hitherto done, the result was looked
forward to with some doubt, for each bar, when delivered, was to weigh
six tons, to be 15 inches square, to be tongued and grooved in the roll-
ing, and to be perfect in its soundness throughout. ‘The furnaces were
opened at three o’clock, and the immense mass of metal was drawn forth
on to an iron truck, heated to a brilliancy that was almost blinding in its
intense whiteness, and instantly changing the temperature of the vast
factory to a scorching sulphurous heat that was insupportable. Directly
it was out, workmen, shielding their faces as they best could, swept the
impurities from its surface with long brooms soaked in water, but which
nevertheless lit like tow the instant they came in contact with the iron,
which was sparkling like a gigantic firework. It was then let down the
incline to where the rollers, turned by one of the largest fly-wheels in
the kingdom — more than 100 tons weight and near ly 40 feet in diam-
eter — was waiting to crush the mass into its required form. ‘This was
the critical moment ; for an instant or two the rollers failed to grip it,
but at last they caught it, and the whole machinery moved slower, as
amid loud cheers fon the ap eaenl they began to wind it in. As it was |
slowly crushed through, the refuse melted iron was squirted out in all
directions, and as the mass emer ged from the rollers on the other side, it
lit up everything with a bright lambent flame, said to be caused by the
pressure to which the bar was subjected. This was only the first roll,
but it had to be passed through three times to reduce it to the proper
thickness. It was not, however, as in the case of ordinary armor plates,
amere question of reduction, as these bars have to be rolled, tongued,
and grooved to fit into each other. Thus in the rolling they have to
overcome all the peculiar difficulties of their construction almost in two
operations, which must be done while the metal is in a half melted state,
or the whole is spoilt. The bars, as we have said, are 15 inches square,
but each of these presents a most difficult section. In the first place, the
lower part of the bar has a projecting rib, and in the upper part isa
groove, corresponding in size with the rib on the lower half, so that the
projection of one bar may fit into the groove of the one beneath, thus
making a solid dovetailed wall of iron. Beyond these, also, is a rib at the
back of the bar, formed to dovetail again into projecting masses of iron
in the rear supports of the fort, and in the process of rolling all these
departures from a plane and smooth surface have to be formed, and to be
formed with so much accuracy that each part fits into the other without
the necessity of any machine planing of surfaces. ‘To give to the mass
of metal the required section, the rollers of the mill are grooved where
the raised surface is required, and sunk to produce the projecting ribs.

104 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ENDURANCE OF HEAVY ORDNANCE.

A recent report by Gen. Gilmore, ‘‘On the En gineer and Military
Operations against the Defences of Charleston, in 1864,” furnishes
some interesting information respecting the endurance of the heavy
rifled ordnance recently brought mto use. According to this authority,
we have no guns of large caliber which will endure ‘with certainty
800, or even 500 rounds.” The siege of Charleston was not aban-
doned until after 23 of the Parrott 100 and 200-pounders had burst.
The famous ‘‘Swamp Angel” battery, composed of one 8-inch rifle
gun, exploded at the 36th fire, blowing out the entire breech at
the rear of the vent, disheartening the men, and causing a suspen-
sion of the fire on the city. For purposes of offensive war, then, we
must have rifled ordnance of greater power and endurance than any
yet made; and that nation which shall be the first to produce guns
** strong enough, ” in the language of Gen. Gilmore, ‘‘ to sustain the
repeated shock of at least 1,000 charges of powder, in as large quanti-
ties as can be burned with useful effect behind the projectile, and at
any required elevation,” must have a decided advantage over all
others.

‘¢ The average number of rounds,” says Gen. Gilmore, ‘‘ sustained
by Parrott’s 100 and 200- -pounders, on Morris Island, excluding those
in which the bursting could be traced to the premature explosion or
breaking of a shell, was 310.” The system of ‘ reinforcing” or
hooping ” a gun with external hoops of steel or wrought iron, does
not always answer the purpose of adding strength to the gun. On
the contrary, it is often a source of weakness, ‘‘ because in cast guns
(whether of iron, brass, or other metal, )” as Captain Blakely remarks,
‘* the outside helps but very little in restraining the explosive force of
the powder tending to burst the gun, the strain not being (always)
communicated to it by the intervening metal. The consequence is,
that,.in large guns, the inside is split, ” while the outside is scarcely
strained. This split rapidly increases, and the gun ultimately bursts.”

Gen. Gilmore says explicitly : “Tt is not toa want of strength
in the reinforce that the premature bursting of Parrott’s uns is to
be attributed, for the reason that that is not where the guns “wenerally
fail. The defect has been more prominently exhibited in the cast
iron.” In other words, it is the hard, granulous metal itself which is
at ae and not the workmanship, which is excellent, and the only
remedy for our failures is to be found in the adoption of other metals
and other processes of fabrication.

In explanation of these failures, however, it is due to Mr. R. B.
Parrott, the inventor and manufacturer of the guns, to state that in a
letter in the Appendix, he urges that the explosions are not owing to
any defect in the material or style of the guns, but to inexperience in
the handling of them, and to causes of a peculiar and accidental
character. He avers that, taking the extensive and repeated tests to
which they have been exposed, they are an unquestionable success in
every way.

Since the siege of Seb: astopol the government of Great Britain has
expended over $12,000,000 in experiments with wrought iron and
steel, at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, and Elswick ; “and of 3 ,000

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 105

Armstrong guns produced, not one, ene to the testimony of Sir
William Armstrong, has yet burst explosively. Whitworth has also
had some success in the production of forged iron guns, although his
method is defective ; and Blakely in England and ‘Krupp in Be Joium
are now manufacturing superior: ordnance from steel. ‘The advantages
of wrought iron over “cast iron consist in its greater tenacity, elastic-

ity, and duetility, which it ap ce under heavy pressure. All gun
metals are said to possess a certain degree of elasticity; but “the
‘*elastic limit,” in rapid firing, is always liable to be exceeded, and
when this happens, cast iron, from its want of flexibility, easily cracks
and crumbles. In other words, after the limit of its elasticity is over-

come, any violent shock or sudden strain causes the gun to give way
at once, and explode without warning ; while a gun properly made of
wrought iron, under similar circumstances, would only widen a little,

and still be further from the point of bursting than it .was before.
The tensile strength of wrought iron is over 66 ,J00 pounds to the
inch, while that of the best cast iron is only about 30,000 pounds per
inch.

Artillery Experiments made under the Direction of the U. S. Ord-
nance Department. — The Scientific American furnishes the following
résumé of experiments which’ have been recently made with guns and
targets, under the direction of the Ordnance Department of the U. S.
Government. The experiments in question were all made with the
11-inch gun, of Dahlgren, with an average charge of 30 pounds of
powder, an average ‘weight of spher ical cast-iron projectile equal
to 165 pounds, and an aver age range of 80 feet.

Under the above-named conditions, an experiment was made upon
a composite target of iron ana India-rubber, backed with timber.
The iron was outermost, and was two inches thick; the rubber came
next, and was 14 thick ; the timber was 19 inches thick, in all: 22%
inches. The target was inclined at an angle of 15°; and at the
first fire the shot tore through the mass and penetrated the bank be-
hind (a solid clay) 17 feet, being but slightly damaged in its pas-
sage.

‘Another experiment was tried with a 43-inch solid serap-iron plate,
backed with 20 inches of solid oak, and the iron faced with rubber,
four inches: thick, the whole placed against a bank of solid clay ; this
resulted in the destruction of the tar wet at the first fire, the charge be-
ing 30 pounds, the projectile, spherical cast iron, weighing 169 pounds,
and the range 87 feet. ‘The shot did not go entirely through the tar-
get, but penetrated the plate and rubber, and lodged i in “the second
course of timber behind. ‘The rubber was entirely “forced off, by the
violence of the concussion, and fell 15 feet forward of the target.

Stiil another target was made, of four 1-inch wrought-iron plates,
backed by rubber four inches thiek in single sheets of one inch each ;
the whole backed by 20 inches of solid oak. The first four inches
next the timber were composed of alternate rubber and iron, two
inches of each; the wrought iron was on the outer surface of the tar-
get when fired at. The whole was placed against a bank of solid
clay. The charge was 30 pounds, the shot 169 pounds in weight, and
the range 84 fect ; at this distance, and under these conditions, the
target had two clean, | handsome holes bored through it,—one of which

106 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was but slightly larger than the shot itself, showing it experienced but
little resistance in its passage. A repetition of the experiment, with
the target inclined at an angle of 45°, produced the same result; the
target being penetrated, and much more injured, than when vertical.
It should have been stated, previously, that the target was 96 inches
long, by 42 inches wide. In a comparative experiment, to test the
value of India-rubber as a resisting agent, a target was made with four
single iron plates, each one inch thick; the results, as observed by
competent witnesses, did not vary materially from those obtained with
rubber, and little value is attached to it as a disperser of the force of
shot. °

Trial of the largest British Ordnance hitherto constructed. —'The
following account of the most powerful gun which has as yet been
constructed in Great Britain, is taken from the London Times. The
cun is of wrought iron, with a caliber of 153 inches, just about the
same as that of Ericsson’s wrought-iron guns, which are to be used in
arming the Dictator and Puritan :—

«« The trial,” says the Times, ‘‘ was to test the powers of the greatest
gun yet forged by Sir William Armstrong, —a 600-pounder termed
the ‘ Big Will,’ against one of the thickest and most perfect plates which
Messrs. Brown & Co. have as yet produced for actual armor-plating.
The plate in question was no less than 11 inches in thickness,—a
sample of one of many of the same enormons strength made by Messrs.
Brown & Co. for the Russian Government, to plate the sea faces of
some of the most important and exposed of the Cronstadt forts. Ac-
cording to the theory of the iron plate committee, that the strength of
an iron plate increases as the square of its thickness, this 11-inch mass
was equal in strength to no less than six plates of the famous Warrior
target; yet before the experiment commenced, not the slightest
doubt was entertained that the GO0-pounder would utterly smash it,
if fired with a.600-pound shot. ‘The real interest of the experiment
consisted in ascertaining,—first, whether the same destructive result
would be gained by using the gun as a smooth-bore with a steel shot
of half the weight; secondly, how the gun would stand the tremendous
charge of 90 pounds of powder ; and thirdly, whether the fracture of the
plate would show that even Messrs. Brown could not manufacture one
of 11 inches in thickness perfect throughout. These were the three
points really at issue, and the solution of these was looked forward
to with keen interest by all the officers on the ground. The first and
only shot, we are happy to say, settled them all in the most satisfac-
tory manner, and proved the cnormous advantage of steel shot, the
streneth of the gun, and the exccilent manufacture of the plate. The
plate or slab of iron was four feet long by 34 feet wide, and was un-
nnpaired in its strength by a single bolt-hole or fastening. It was
held up vertically against two 12-inch beams of solid oak, to which it
was fastened by railway iron, passing up its face on either side. Be-
hind it, and in support of the oak beams, was the Fairbairn target of
5-inch plates and a 1-inch inner skin, with the usual massive frame-
work of iron rib beams. ‘This target, however, did not support the
plate to be fired at, but only the beams of oak which held it in posi-
tion. There was an interval of 12 inches between the plate and the
Fairbairn target, which was left purposely that the former might do its

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 107

own work, if it could, unaided. The proceedings were commenced by
firing two cast-iron round shot of 300 pounds’ weight, levelled at 200
yards range, against a ‘‘ dummy” target placed close alongside the 11+
inch plate for the purpose of determining the exact degree of elevation
to be given to the gun. Both these were fired with the enormous
charges of 90 pounds of powder. Such charges even with 600-pounders,
would not be used in actual warfare, and for experimental purposes
were objectionable, as it seemed to make it almost as much an effort
to destroy the gun as the target. The precise range having been as-
eertained, ‘Big Will’ was again stuffed with a sackful of powder,
but, instead of a cast-iron projectile, was loaded with a steel round
shot of 344 pounds’ weight, and levelled against the target. ‘This shot
struck the very center of the plate with a terrific crash, at a velocity
of 1,560 feet, and at one blow closed the experiments for the day.
Nothing further remained to be accomplished, for the target was gone.
Never, probably, has a more tremendous blow been struck by human
agency. The mass of steel driven by the tremendous charge of pow-
der must have struck the target with a power almost inconceivable,
for everything went down before it. The solid oak beams behind the
plate were crushed into splinters, and the plate itself hurled bodily
-back against the Fairbairn target and split into two pieces,—one huge
piece being flung away to the right and the other to the left, and all
this before the shot had time to penetrate to a greater depth than 4
inches. The 11-inch plate, in fact, had not sufficient stability to re-
ceive the blow aimed at it; it was torn apart by the tremendous force
with which it was jammed against the Fairbairn target behind, and an
examination of the fracture showed that its manufacture was admirable.
Fourteen feet in front of the target lay the steel shot, much flattened,
and cracked, but evidently as good metal of its kind as Mr. Brown’s
plate itself. A close examination of the gun was next made by the
Inspector of Artillery, and it was found to be wholly uninjured, Not-
withstanding the use of steel round shot in a rifled gun, the grooves
of the rifling remained as sharp and fine as ever, and only one feeling
seemed to be entertained on the ground as to the strength of the gun
and the excellence of the plate.”

Construction and Trial of a new Monster Gun.— During the past
year a cannon of 20-inch caliber, the largest piece of ordnance ever
constructed and mounted, has been successfully cast according to the
plan devised by Capt. Rodman, at the Fort Pitt foundry, Pittsburg,
Pa. The amount of metal used in the casting was 160,000 pounds,
and the time of cooling was upwards of two weeks. Another gun
of a similar caliber, but weighing some eight tons less, was also suc-
cessfully cast subsequently. ,

The first-named gun, which is 20 feet 3% inches in length, and
weighs 58 tons, is mounted at Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor.
The carriage on which it rests is constructed wholly of iron, has
an extreme length of 22 feet a hight of eight feet and eight
inches, and weighs 36,000 pounds, or 18 tons. The trunnions of
the gun are 18 inches in diameter. The shot intended for this
enormous piece of ordnance weigh 1,080 pounds each, and are
handled by machinery, The location of the gun is not in the fort,
or very near to it, but amongst a tier of 15-inch guns which ex-

108 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tends along the embankment on the bluff-front of the fort for nearly a
quarter of a mile below it. Its position is such as to command the
lower bay; but it may also be pointed in the direction of the city;
and the Narrows are just below its mouth. .

The trial of this gun, after it was mounted at Fort Hamilton, is thus
described :—

It was decided, after the vent of the cannon was cleaned, to fire a
charge of 50 pounds of powder. A box containing a 50 pound

charge was then brought up. When lifted into the mouth of the gun,
it did not occupy more than“a quarter of the space. The gunners did
not understand how so small a pile of powder, wrapped in cotton
cloth, was to be ignited ; and so this charge—which is the regular ser-
vice charge of the 15-inch guns—was taken away, and a 100-pound
bag of powder substituted.

‘Two men standing on the embankment or parapet in front of the
cun, raised the charge to the mouth; a ramrod was brought forward
by four men, and the charge driven home; the ramrod being used by
the men as though it were a battering ram. <A fuse was then inserted
in the vent of the cannon, and the word was given for the crowd to
retire. The reportof the discharge was loud and deep, but not sharp ;
it was a heavy boom, not very unpleasant to the ear, but yet in its
effect stunning. Volumes of smoke, resembling dark and dense
clouds, rolled more than ten rods from the cannon. The recoil was
very slight.

At the second discharge the gun was shotted, and a smaller charge of
powder—50 pounds—was used. The bore having been carefully swab-
bed-out with a wet sponge, and the charge carefully sent ‘ home,” the
hoisting apparatus was next employed to raise the ball. Three men did
this work; and after five minutes pulling at the chain, the shot was
brought into position before the mouth of the cannon. The shot was
held in a clamp with two arms inserted in holes in the ball, and a bar
was also inserted in the shot, to aid in its management. Nearly half
the shot entered the muzzle and the other part was outside. This was
the point of difficulty. The question was how to release the ball. It had
to be supported by main strength of the men who managed the ma-
chinery.

At this juncture Captain Rodman, who superintended the firing, di-
rected two of the men to get under the shot and brace their shoulders
against it. ‘They at once assumed the perilous position. By dexterous
management the Major took the teeth of the clamp from the ball and
withdrew the bar, at the same moment starting the ball on its course in
the gun.

The cannon was aimed at a spar buoy in the direction of the lower
bay; there was no inclination; and at a quarter past three o’clock the
signal was given for the spectators to retire. The discharge was effected
by means of a friction fuse. The report was not louder than the first,
owing to the lighter charge. The huge ball could be seen from the mo-
ment when it left the smoke of the powder. It struck the water at a
distance of about a thousand yards from the shore. It threw up a cloud
of spray, and richocheting, flew along the surface of the water for the
distance of about three miles and then sank. Another shot was next
fired, with a larger charge of powder, and with the gun considerably

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 109

elevated. The range attained to in this instance was between four and
five miles.

The Ames Wrought-Iron Rifled Gun.—In the United States, as in
England and other nations of Kurope, from time to time, a new type of
cannon is introduced, for the purpose of more completely fulfilling the
requirements of this arm of national warfare. From the history of the
past, and the experience of the present century, these requirements have
been thus defined: Zhe greatest possible accuracy of fire, range, and
strength in a given weight, with the least amount of recoil.

To obtain these results, England has had the Lancaster, Whitworth,
Blakely, Somerset, and Anderson guns, with others of less pretentious
caliber. ‘The United States have had the Stockton, Dahlgren, Parrott,
Sawyer, Wiard, and Rodman guns, with others of less notoriety, none of
which have filled the measure of requirements of range and of strength
in their fabrication, being, with few exceptions, made of castiron. Those
of wrought iron, with one or two exceptions, were of the tube and coil
construction, which, from not being welded solid throughout, have failed
to meet these conditions.

During the past year, however, a new description of gun, made of
wrought iron, has been mimufactured for the U. S. Government, by
Horatio Ames, Esq., of Falls Village, Conn., which promises to be an
improvement over any description of large ordnance hitherto constructed.
Mr. A., about the commencement of the Rebellion, received an order from
Government for a battery of 50-pounders, of wrought iron, and there-
upon devoted an extensive establishment to the exclusive business of
manufacturing ordnance. He conceived the idea of forging his guns solid,
leaving but a small hole at the center for removing the scale or impuri-
ties worked out of the metal under the hammer. Experimental investi-
gation he very soon saw, although an expensive school to learn in was the
only one which could be relied on to remove all doubts of success in
furnishing the essential requirements in forging a superior gun, which
could not be burst by the usual methods of firing excessive charges of
gunpowder, even though the windage was closed by rifling the gun.

The 50-pounder battery was duly completed, and, although considered
perfectly successful, the guns were too small to take the place of Parrott
guns before Sumterand Charleston. Another contract was therefore given
in 1863 by the War Department, fora battery of 15 guns of not less than
100-pounders, capable of sustaining a charge of 25 pounds of powder.

With the latitude thus afforded, Mr. A.ues at once proceeded to adapt
his forges, furnaces, and machinery for guns of 7-inch caliber and 150
pound projectiles.

With a ripe experience in making and forging iron, added to the prac-
tical lessons secured in forging the 60-pounder bat:ery, he cut loose from
the trammels of precedents, and developed hi§ own resources, which have
proved quite sufficient to produce a gun from the best Sulisbury iron, per-
fectly solid in every inch of its length and circumference, !4 feet long and
28 inches in diameter, weighing 20,000 pounds.

One of the distinctive features of this gun consists in its being molded
solid throughout. The great difficulty hitherto, has been to obtain solidi-
ty around the bore of wrought-iron guns. The ordinary process of weld-
ing up the gun in ring sections from the breech to the muzzle, molds
the outer surface first, leaving the forger in doubt as to the perfection of

10

110 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the inner welds, which no subsequent heating and hammering can perfect.
By the process Mr. Ames has introduced, the section around the bore is
molded first, and by each subsequent heat the molds are extended out-
ward. The process in detail is as follows: A bar of round iron 18 feet
long, ten inches diameter at one end and 14 at the other, is made to serve
as the handle of the gun. Upon the larger end of this are welded one
by one large bars of iron of about two feet in length, until a round mass has
been formed of 30 inches in diameter, perfectly solid. This is to serve as
the breech of the gun, and the end is upset by a horizontal steam hammer
until it is perfectly even and true. After this the gun is built up of sections
of the full size (circumference) of the gun, of about five inches in length,—
the entire gun (14 feet long when completed) being composed of 30 trans-
verse sections. These sections are made up as follows: A cylindricil
block of the best refined iron is turned out seven inches long, ter inches
in diameter, and with a 4-inch hole through its length. ‘This is fitted
closely into an iron band or hoop made from bars of iron six by seven
inches ; and this is again fitted into another band of three inches in thick-
ness. ‘hese bands are closely welded, and as solid as the best mechanism
can make them. When thus put together it will be seen that the whole
forms a cylindrical section (or wheel) of 30 inches in diameter: the greater
length being near the center. The hole at the center permits the impurities
of the metal to be worked out from the inner rings, while being heated and
hammered, while the scales which may accumulate on the outer rings, are
permitted to fall outward as the weld extends towards the circumference.

The trials made with guns thus constructed, have, it is reported, been
most successful. With 20 pounds of powder and 150 pounds of shell,
with an elevation of 15°, a range of about four miles is attained; and
with an elevation of 233°, a range of nearly seven miles.

Guns vs. Armor.— Mr. Fairbairn, the celebrated engineer, stated to
the British Association at its last meeting that. the conclusion he had
arrived at from all the experiments made in England in relation to guns
and armor, was “that no ship can be made to carry plates sufficient to
withstand our guns, and it would probably be better to have no plating
at all. We should thus have ships more lively in the water and better
adapted for manceuvring and at far less cost.”

English Views of Gun-Cotton—As has been stated in a previous
article in this volume, the report of the French chemists and military
men, in reference to the use of gun-cotton as a substitute for gunpow-
der, has not been favorable; but from a Committee report, presented
at the British Association, September, 1864, by Mr. Scott Russell, it
appears that opposite conclusions have been arrived at by the English
experimenters. Mr. Russell stated that General Hay, of the Hythe
School of Musketry, had constructed a new form of cartridge suited
for the Whitworth rifle; that he had found that the use of gun-cotton
was cleanly, and had not the disadvantage of foulmg the gun; that it
had much less recoil, although the effect was the same; that one-third
of the weight of charge was the equivalent proportion, and that it did
not heat the gun. The General had fired at a target with gun-cotton
at 500 yards. ‘Twelve successive shots were all placed in a space one
foot wide by two feet high, and the value of the practice was meas-
ured by the fact that the mean radius of deviation from the center was
between nine and ten inches. Thus, therefore, the use of gun-cotton

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 111

in musketry had been proved by English made gun-cotton in English
rifles by an English general, to perform all that had been reported
concerning the Austrian gun-cotton.

The next application of gun-cotton made during the past year was
to the driving of tunnels, ‘shafts, and drifts in connection ces engi-
neering work. It had been stated by the Committee that 4 of the
weight of charge of cotton was equal in blasting effect to gunpowder,
and this had been proved in practice in a number of instances. At
epee rerth colliery, in driving a shaft through soft but solid - rock,
v5 of the weight of eun-cotton as compared to gunpowder, and
im the slate quarries at Llamberis, at Allan Heads, 4 were re-
quired. At Allan Heads, in some lead mines, a tunnel was be-
ing driven seven miles long. The drift was seven feet by five in
the hardest limestone. Both ends were worked with gun-cotton fired
by an electric battery. The great advantage exper ienced was that the
air was not contaminated by smoke, and that the work could be carried
on more rapidly. The next application of it had been to the detach-
ing of large masses of rock. ‘This had been tried in several places,
and it was found that one pound of gun-cotton was able to detach from
30 to 60 tons of rock.

Mr. F. A. Abel added some remarks on the chemical condition and
manufacture of gun-cotton. He stated that the manufacture of it was
much safer and more uniform than that of gunpowder, and when made
its stability is permanent and could be relied on. He believed the
Report of the French chemists against its permanency was founded on
experiments made with imperfectly manufactured material. Working
with large quantities during the last twelve months, he was satisfied it
did possess permanence, though he stated that under certain conditions
of packing and exposure to too high a temperature a slight change
did take place; this he believed arose from some foreign ingredients
in the cotton.

NATURAL, HILOSOPILY.

THE UNIVERSAL METAMORPHOSIS.

Ir a wafer be laid on a surface of polished. metal, which is then
breathed upon, and if, when the moisture of the breath has evapo-
rated, the wafer be shaken off, we shall find that the whole polished
surface is not as it was before, although our senses can detect no differ-
ence; for if we breathe again upon it the surface will be moist every-
where except on the spot previously sheltered by the wafer, which will
now appear as a spectral image on the surface. Again and again we
breathe, and the moisture evaporates, but still the spectral wafer re-
appears. This experiment succeeds after a lapse of many months, if
the metal be carefully put aside where its surface cannot be disturbed.
If a sheet of paper on which a key has been laid be exposed for some
minutes to the sunshine, and then instantaneously viewed in the dark,
the key beg removed, a fading spectre of the key will be visible,
Let this paper be put aside for many months where nothing can dis-
turb it, and then in darkness be laid on a plate of hot metal,—the spec-
tre of the key will again appear. In the case of bodies more highly
phosphorescent than paper, the spectres of many different objects which
may have been laid on it in succession will, on warming, emerge in
their proper order. ‘This is equally trae of our bodies and our minds.
We are involved in the universal metamorphosis. Nothing leaves us
wholly as it found us. Every man we meet, every book we read,
every picture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, min-
gles with our being and modifies it. There are cases on record of
ignorant women, in states of insanity, uttering Greek and Hebrew
phrases, which in past years they have heard their masters utter, with-
out, of course, comprehending them. ‘These tones had long been for-
gotten; the traces were so faint that, under ordinary conditions, they
were invisible; but these traces were there, and in the intense light of
cerebral excitement they started inta prominence, just as the spectre
image of the key started into sight on the application of heat. It is
thus with all the influences to which we are subjected.—Cornhill Mag-
azine.

CONSTITUTION OF MATTER.

Some speculative ideas by M. Graham, the master of the mint, ap-
pear in a late number of the Philosophical Magazine. He says: ‘‘ In
the condition of gas, matter is deprived of numerous and varying prop-
erties with which it appears invested when in the form of a liquid or
solid. The gas exhibits only a few grand and simple features. These,
again, may also be dependent upon atomic or molecular mobility.
Let us imagine one kind of substance only to exist,—ponderable mat-
ter; and, further, that matter is divisible into ultimate atoms, uniform

112

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 113

in size and weight. We shall have one substance and one common
atom. With the atom at rest, the uniformity of matter would be per-
fect; but the atom always possesses more or less motion due, it must
be assumed, to a primordial impulse. This motion gives rise to vol-
ume. ‘The more rapid this movement, the greater the space occupied
by the atom, somewhat as the orbit of a planet widens with the degree
of projectile velocity. Matter is thus made to differ only in being
lighter or denser matter. The specific motion of an atom being in-
alienable, light matter is no longer convertible into heavy matter.
In short, matter of different density forms different substances, differ-
ent incontrovertible elements, as they have been considered.” ‘‘ This
is not meant to be applied to the gaseous volumes which we have oec-
casion to measure and deal with practically, but to a lower order of
molecules or atoms. The gaseous molecule must itself be viewed as
composed of a group or system of the above-mentioned inferior
atoms, following as aunit, but similar to those which regulate its
constituent atom.” We must refer our readers for details and for
the results of M. Graham’s interesting speculations, merely adding
another expression of his hypothesis: ‘‘ As in the theory of light we
ve the alternative hypothesis of emission and undulation, so in mo-
lecular mobility the motion may be assumed to reside either in sep-
arate atoms and molecules or in a fluid medium caused to undulate.
A special rate of vibration, or pulsation, originally imparted to a por-
tion of the fluid medium enlivens that portion of matter with an indi-
vidual existence and constitutes it a distinct substance or element.

THE TRANSITIONS OF MATTER.

From a discourse recently delivered before the New York Academy
of Medicine, by that eminent scientist Dr. John W. Draper, we make
the following interesting and suggestive extract :—

No one ean devote himself to the study of physical science and
especially of Chemistry without experiencing at once what might seem
to be contradictory sentiments,—pride and self-humiliation. Pride,
that he has been permitted to see so far as he does into the great
scheme of the universe ; humiliation, in recognizing how frail and insig-
nificant he is.

What, then, are some of the latest truths that these physical senses
teach? ‘They show us how transitory, how dependent we are. There
is a constant wear and tear of the human system. Particles that served
the purpose of forming it accomplish their office and die, and are
replaced in due succession by others. In this respect life is the result
of an ageresate of deaths. The atmospheric air into which all this
dismissed material eventually finds its way, is thus the cemetery of
animal substance, of things that have once been organized, but that
have lost their force, and lapsed into an inorganic, a lifeless state.
From this inorganic, this lifeless state, such substances are destined
to be recalled; for, under the mfluence of the rays of the sun, car-
bonie acid and water and ammonia are decomposed, and taking the
products that arise from that operation, plants group them into organ-
ized portions azain, and use them in the construction of their various
parts, leaves, flowers, stems, fruits. Plants thus constitute the forma-
tive agents of the world of life. Animals are the destroyers. They

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114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

organize, we consume; and thus it is that the same material oscillates
back and forth, now a part of a plant, now a part of an animal, now
in the air, and nowina plant again. It runs through cycle after cycle,
ever returning to the point whence it set out, and ever setting out
again.

We are not, then, the special or exclusive proprietors of the sub-
stance of which we are composed. Equally may the plant, and equal-
ly any animal, no matter how humble in the scale of life it may be, lay
claim to it. Weare bound to them and they to us by an indissoluble
tie.

If that is the lesson we derive from our best knowledge of the
mutations that happen to the plastic material which the hand of nature
fashions into so many beautiful forms, we are brought to the same
conclusion by a consideration of the physical forces with which she
invigorates it,—the heat possessed by the different animal tribes, cold-
blooded or hot, in their special degree, the chemical affinities and the
electrical powers that preside over all the thousand combinations and
decompositions perpetually occurring in the immost recesses of the
economy. ‘‘In a waterfall which maintains its place and appearance
unchanged for many years, the constituent portions that have been
precipitated headlong glide finally and forever away. For the transt-
tory matter to exhibit a permanent form it is necessary that there
should be a perpetual supply and also a perpetual removal. So long
as the jutting ledge over which the waters rush and the broken gulf
below that receives them remain unchanged, the cataract presents
the same appearance. But variations in tltem mold it into a new
shape. Its color changes with a clear or cloudy.sky. The rambow
seen in its spray disappears when the beams of the sun are withdrawn.
So in that collection of substance which constitutes an animal, what-
ever may be its position high or low in the realm of life, there is a
perpetual introduction of new material and a perpetual departure of
the old. It is a form rather than an imdividual that we see. Its
permanence depends altogether on the permanence of the external
conditions. If they change it also changes, and a new form is the
result.”

An animal is, therefore, a form, through which material substance
is visibly passing, and suffering transmutation into new products. In
that act of transmutation, force is disengaged. That which we call
its life is the display of the manner in which the force thus disengaged
is expended.

A scientific examination of animal life must include two primary
facts. It must consider whence and in what manner the stream of ma-
terial substance has been derived, in what manner and whither it
passes away, and since force cannot be created from nothing, and is
in its very nature indestructible, it must determine from what source
that which is displayed by animals has been obtained, in what manner
it is employed, and what disposal is made of it eventually. The force
thus expended is originally derived from the sun. Plants are the
intermedium for its conveyance. For the sake of obtaining it, we use

hem as food. And here again remarks apply similar to those we have
made respecting matcrial substance. The correlation and conserva-
tion of force holds good, ‘The*assertion of the great Spanish Moham-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 11s

medan, Overroes, is confirmed by all modern science, that the sum
total of force in the world is ever the same, though it is parted among
myriads of individuals, who draw froma common fountain their requi-
site supplies.

The body that we have to-day is not the body we had yesterday ; we
shall change it again before to-morrow. In the course of a year a
man requires a ton and a half of material—that is, nearly twenty times
his own weight—to repair his wasting organs, and to discharge his
vital functions. In that short space of time, the human family alone
casts into the atmosphere 1,800,000,000 of tons, and we are but a
little fraction of the vast aggregate of animal life which all in its
proper proportion is doing the same thing.

From nature, which at this pomt of view presents us such an en-
chanting picture, let us turn to ourselves. Physiology rivals Natural
Philosophy in the splendor and profound interest of its discoveries.
We tremble on the brink of detecting the interior constitution of man.
Will you hear me patiently while I give an example of what I mean?
No event has ever taken place in the world without spontaneously
leaving a recoverable impression of itself. The hand that wrote those
words has cast its shadow on the paper. A century hence, if the

aper should endure, that shadow might be made visible to the eye.
But moralists say, ‘‘ What is more transitory than a shadow?” ‘They
find in it an emblem of things of a fleeting nature. When the light,
or the object that has obstructed it, is withdrawn, the shadow ‘fleeth
away and continueth not.” <A sundial, that has been telling the hours
of the day, presents an unblemished surface when evening comes.
Each morning it is ready forits task. The traces of the past seem all
to have disappeared, but in truth they still exist, buried in the marble
or the metal out of which the dial is made.

They who have visited the dark rooms of photographers know very
well what I mean. ~The portraits of our friends, or landscape views,
may be hidden, and invisible to the eye, but ready to make their appear-
ance as soon as proper means are resorted to, such as heat, or vapor of
mercury, or sulphate of iron, or pyrogallic acid. Shadows are not such
transitory things as men commonly suppose. In the case of photogra-
phy, we happen to know the proper means for development. The fact
of chief interest to us is the imperishability of the primitive impression.
A spectre is concealed on a silver or glassy surface, until by our necro-
mancy we make it come forth to the visible world. Upon the walls of
our private apartments, where we think that the eye of intrusion is alto-
gether shut out, and our retirement can never be profaned, there exist
the vestiges of all our acts, silent but speaking silhouettes of whatever
we have done. Can we siy that among those phantoms there are not
some on which we should be reluctant to have the cunning chemist try
his art, and leave them, as the photographers say, fixed: some from
which we should dread to hear the demand of the phantom of Endor,
“© Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?”

If men were sure that their most secret doings were at such a risk
would not the world be better than it is? A sunbeam or a shadow can-
not fall upon a surface, no matter of what material that surface is com-
posed, without leaving upon it an indelible impression, and an impression,
which may, by subsequent application of proper chemical agents, be

116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

made visible. In many cases we have ascertained what the appropriate
agent is; our failure in others is due to the imperfection of our knowl-
edge, and not to any impossibility in the operation. Time seems to have
so little influence on these effects, that I can conceive it possible, if a new
vault should hereafter be opened in the midst of an Egyptian pyramid,
for us to conjure up the swarthy forms of the Pharaonic officials who
were its last visitors, though forty centuries may have elapsed since their
departure.

But let us see how these facts bear, in a most important manner, in
the case of man.

If after the eyelids have been closed for some time, as when we first
awake in the mornnig, we suddenly and steadfastly gaze at a brightly
illuminated object, and then quickly close the lids again, a phantom
image is perceived i in the infinite darkness before us. We may satisfy
ourselves that this is not a fiction of the imagination, but a reality; for
many details that we had not time to examine in the momentary glance,
may be contemplated at our leisure in the phantom. We may thus
make out the pattern of such an object as a lace curtain hanging in the
window, or the branches of a. tree beyond. By degrees the i image be-
comes less and less distinct ; in a minute or two it has disappeared. It
seems to have a tendency to float away in the vacancy before us. If
you attempt to follow it by moving the eyeball, it suddenly vanishes.

‘‘ Now the condition that regulates the vanishing phantom-nnages
= the retina is, that when they have declined in vigor to less than
zz of the intensity they had while in presence of the object that
formed them, they cease to disturb the sight. This principle is illus-
trated when a candle-flame is held opposite to the sun, or any light
having more than 64 times its own brilliancy. It then ceases to be vis-
ible. The most exact of all knowa methods for measuring light—that
by the extinction of shadows—is an application of the same principle.

‘* But the great fact that concerns us is this: Such a duration of
impressions on the retina of the eye demonstrates that the effect of ex-
ternal influences: on nerve vesicles is not necessarily transitory. It
may continue fora long time. In this there is a correspondence to the
duration, the emergence e, the extinction of impressions on photographie
preparations. Thus I have seen landscapes and architectural views
taken in Mexico, ‘developed’—as artists say—months subsequently ;
the images coming out, after the long voyage, in all their proper forms
and in all their contrast of light and ‘shade. The photograph had for-
gotten nothing. It had equally preserved the contour of the everlast-
ing mountains and the passing smoke of'a bandit fire.

“« Arve there then contained in the brain more ¢ permanently , as in the

retina more transiently, the vestiges of 1 impressions that have nie
authored: 1 r the sensory organs? Do these constitute the basis of
aetiep she mind contemplating such pictures of past things and
events as have been committed to her custody. In her silent galleries
are there hung microzraphs of the living and the dead, of scenes that
we have visited, of incidents in which we have borne a part? Are
these abiding impressions mere signal-marks, like the letters of a book,
which impart ideas to the mind, or are they actual picture-images, in-
conceivably smaller than those made for us by artists, in which, by the
aid of a microscope, we can see, in a space not bigger than a pin-hole
a whole family group at a elance | ?

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. LLY

‘*The phantom-images of the retina, as I have remarked, are not
perceptible in the light of day. Those that exist in the sensorium,
in like manner, do not attract our attention so long as the sensory or-
gans are in vigorous operation, and occupied with brmging new im-
pressions in. But when these organs become weary and dull, or when
we experience hours of great anxiety, or are in twilight reveries, or
asleep, the latent apparitions have their vividness increased by the con-
trast, and obtrude themselves on the mind. For the same reason they
occupy us in the delirium of fevers, and doubtless also in the solemn
moments of death. During a third part of our lives we are withdrawn
from external influences,—hearing, and sight, and the other senses
are inactive ; but the never-sleeping mind,—that pensive, that veiled
enchantress, in her mysterious retirement, looks over the ambrotypes
she has collected,—ambrotypes, for they are unfading’ impressions,
—and combining them together as they chance to occur, weaves from
them a web of dreams. Nature has thus introduced into our very
organization a means of imparting to us suggestions on some of the
most profound fopies with which we can be concerned. It operates
equally on the savage and on the civilized man, furnishing to both
conceptions of a world in which all is unsubstantial. It marvelously
extracts from the vestiges of the impressions of the past overwhelm-
ing proofs of the reality of the future, and gathering its power from
what might seem a most unlikely source, it insensibly leads us—no
matter who or where we may be—to a profound belief in the immor-
tal and imperishable, from phantoms that have scarcely made their
appearance before they are ready to vanish away !”

APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE VELOCITY OF PROJECTILES,

The following is a description of an electro-ballistic apparatus, re-
cently invented by Major Navez of the Belgium army for measuring a
very small space of time, such, for instance, as a cannon-ball would
take in passing over a few yards. Before we proceed to explain this
interesting machine, it will be necessary to remind our readers that an
electric current has the property of magnetizing soft iron, and also, to
mention the peculiar principle of the pendulum. This is, that the
same pendulum will always, within certain limits, perform unequal
vibrations in equal times,—that is to say, that a ‘‘ seconds” pendu-
lum will always take a second to make one oscillation, whether it be
raised from the perpendicular 20° or 5°. Consequently, supposing
a seconds pendulum to be selected we can take the arc it describes in
one vibration, and, by dividing this arc into a scale of parts, we can
arrest the pendulum as it falls; and the distance it has fallen, measured
into the whole length of the are, will give the fraction of a second in
which the fall took place. Wesce then, with what extreme minuteness
we can measure time by stopping the seconds pendulum before it has
fallen the =¢55 part of an are in which it would vibrate. The electro-
ballistic apparatus is used for determining the velocity of a projectile,
or the rate at which a shot proceeds after it leaves the muzzle of a
gun. The instrument consists of three separate parts, one of which
is a principal and the others accessories. ‘The chief part consists of
a graduated are, on which a pendulum is so adjusted that it can be ar-
rested at any period of its oscillation, and thus denote the time it has

118 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

taken to fall. The pendulum, before an observation, is held suspended
at the left extremity of the arc, by means ofa piece of soft iron in the
center of the bob, which is magnetized by an electric current through
an electro-magnet at the point of support. Connected with this mag-
net are two insulated wires, which pass away for 200 or 300 yards,
and terminate by the ends being wound across an upright screen,
30 feet in front of the gun, where the ends are joined, so that the
electric current is complete. Another instrument is employed, called
the conjunctor, and performs the following office: At the top of it is an
electro-magnet, which is connected by wires with the second screen,
120 feet in front of the first, i. e. 150 feet from the gun. These wires
are insulated with gutta-percha, &., so that they may be either buried
in the ground or hung on posts. The electro-magnet in the con-
junctor retains a small weight suspended overacup of mercury. This
has a steel blade above it, with a pin so arranged that if the weight
falls it presses it into the mercury. The pendulum has an index or
duplicate pendulum in rear, which is so attached to it by a light
spring that it will tail and oscillate with the pendulum proper. Be-
hind the machine is a large electro-magnet, which has power to attract
this index when magnetized.

Upon the gun being fired, the projectile cuts the wires of the first
screen, and thus demagnetizes the electro-magnet which holds up the
pendulum. This latter commences to fall, and the index necdle with
it, along the graduated arc. When the second screen is cut through
by the shot, the electro-magnet at the top of the conjunctor is demag-
netized, and the weight falls into the mercury, pressing down the steel
blade, and completes another electric circuit, which magnetizes the
large magnet in the rear of the pendulym, and clamps the index needle
against the scale on the arc. ‘The operator then reads off the scale
the distance which is marked by the index, and the time thus measured
is that which the shot took to pass through the screens, minus the time
necessary for the weight to fall in the conjunctor, and which the opera-
tor, before commencing, finds by means of the disjunctor. A table
has been prepared which shows the time for the pendulum to fall down
any are fron 0 to 150°, and only needs to be referred to for any are
through which it falls when used as above. ‘The time thus given has
only to be divided into the distance between the screens, and the result
will be the velocity of the projectile. By this contrivance a skillful
operator is able to measure pretty accurately to the ;;3;5 part of a
second. Sach wonderful precision renders this instrument most val-
uable for artillery scientific purposes; and many most important
problems have been solved by its use.

PRODUCTION OF SOUND BY ELECTRICITY.

The following communication from Prof. Thomson, the well known
Engtish scientist, is published in the London Chemical Gazette :—

Yesterday evening, when engaged in measuring the electrostatic capaci-
ties of some specimens of insulated wire designed for submarine tele-
graph cables, I had occasion frequently to discharge through a galvanometer
coil, a condenser consisting of two parallel plates of metal, separated by
a space of air about -007 inch across, and charged to a difference of poten-
tials equal to that of about 800 Daniell’s elements. I remarked at an in-

_ NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 119

stant of discharge a sharp sound, with a very slight prolonged resonance,
which seemed to come from the interior of the case containing the conden-
ser, and which struck me as resembling a sound I had repeatedly heard
before when the condenser had been overcharged anda spark passed
across its air-space. But I ascertained that this sound was distinctly aud-
ible when there was no spark within the condenser, and the whole dis-
charge took place fairly through the 2,000 yards of fine wire, constitut-
ing the galvanometer coil. I arranged the circuit so that the place where
the contact was made to produce the discharge was so far from my ear
that the initiating spark was inaudible; but still I heard distinctly the
same sound as before from within the condenser.

Using instead of the galyanometer coil either a short wire or my own
body (as in taking a shock from a Leyden phial), I still heard the sound
within the condenser. ‘The shock was imperceptible except by a very
faint prick on the finger in the place of the spark, and (the direct sound
of the spark being barely, if at all sensible) there was still a very audible
sound, always of the same character, within the condenser, which I heard
at the same instant as I felt the spark on my finger. Mr. Macfarlane
could hear it distinctly standing at a distance of several yards. We
watched for light within the condenser, but could see none. I have since
ascertained that suddenly charging the condenser out of one of the spec-
imens of cable charged for the purpose produces the same sound within
the condenser; also that it is produced by suddenly reversing the charge
of the condenser.

Thus it is distinctly proved that a plate of air emits a sound on being
suddenly subjected to electric force, or on experiencing a sudden change
of electric force through it. This seems a most natural result when viewed
in connection with the new theory put forward by Faraday in his series re-
garding the part played by air or other dielectric in manifestations of elec-
tricforce. It also tends to confirm the hypothesis I suggested to account
for the remarkable observation made regarding lightning, when you told
ine of it about a year ago, and other similar observations, which I believe,
have been reported, proving a sound to be heard at the instant of a flash
of lightning in localities at considerable distances from any part of the
line of discharge, and which by some have been supposed to demonstrate
an error in the common theory of sound. I may add that Mr. Macfarlane
tells me he believes he has heard, at the instant of a flash of lightning, a
sound as of a heavy body striking the earth, and imagined at first that
something close to him had been struck, but heard the ordinary thunder
at a sensible time later.

INTERESTING ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA.

Prof. Piazzi Smyth recently sent to the British Journal of Photog-
raphy a photographic picture, accompanied by the following note.
Oa the 21st of July, I was trying the qualities of some newly-pre-
pared dry plates by taking a window view of house-tops, and was
surprised to find every chimney top surmounted by a black streak or
brush; i. e. black in the negative, and therefore indicating light.
Nothing of the kind was visible to the naked eye in the scene itself, as
a really existent fact, nor was any similar appearance visible on the
ground-glass of the camera. The appearance, therefore, did not
result from any bad action of the lens, which is a very good one.

120 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The stop employed was a small one (0°53 inch), and the definition of
the developed picture was extremely sharp. Again: the appearance
could not be caused by smoke coming from the chimueys, because
that would hardly have been luminous; not 545 of the whole chim-
neys could have had fires below them, and either smoke or rarefied
air would have drifted with the wind, which was blowing sensibly at
the time, whilst the dark rays went upward straight as arrows.
Again: that the chimneys as chimneys, had nothing to do with it,
was shown by a similar brush or ray appearing at the top of a certain
little ventilator in the roof of one of the houses shown, and not oué
of the parts emitting air, but from the ornamental spike at the top.

This circumstance convinced me at the time that the phenomenon
was an electrical one, invisible to the eye, but abundantly visible or
sensible to the photographic camera, and the occasion was perfectly
agreeable thereto ; for it was at the conclusion of a week of unusually
hot, calm weather, and the sky had that morning become clouded with
forms of clouds eminently electrical. Happily the thuader-storm did
not break in this neighborhood, being watted away elsewhere; but
had it broken here, the photograph tells exactly where the lightning
was preparing to come down; and there is one tall iron chimney in
the view, with the strongest ray of the whole above it, showing that
that would certainly have been struck in preference to its neighbors,
and, if unprovided with metal communication to the earth and water,
would infallibly have caused mischief to the house to which it is
attached.

I have sent a second plate, taken six days afterward, when east
wind and rain had disposed of all the electricity that had been brew-
ing in the air; and it will be seen that, although it is the same view,
taken with the same camera, and with the same sort of tannin dry
plate, there are no electrical brushes, or black rays, surmounting the
chimney pots.

ELECTRICITY FOR LIGHTING GAS.

Messrs. Cornelius & Baker of Philadelphia, have recently patented
and introduced a very beautiful method of lighting gas by means of fric-
tional electricity, arranged for use with a bracket, two portable lighters, and
a table light, all being simple in arrangement and readily kept in order.

uct Ree instruments are constructed upon the principle of the electro-

orus.

J The electric bracket is arranged with a brass cup in the form of a
vase, resting upon the bracket, with a connecting piece of hard rubber.
This cup is lined with lamb-skin covered with silk, and contains the hard
rubber electric piece, which corresponds in form to the inside of the cup.
A coiled wire connects the cup with a wire attached to the burner, and
terminating just above the burner.

In order to light the gas, the stop is turned, the hard rubber piece
lifted partly from the cup, thus liberating the spark and lighting the gas.

The Portable Lighter consists of the same vase or cup, with the addi-
tion of a non-conducting handle. When the brass cup is lifted from the
electric piece, and held to the conducting wire of the burner, the gas is
immediately lighted.

Another portable instrument called Double Air-Tight Electrophorus,

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 121

consists of two metallic tubes, each closed at one end, and connecting to-
gether at the other, with a non-conducting ring of hard rubber, the inside
being lined with lamb-skin. A hard rubber rod is placed within them,
the length of one of the tubes, and fitting them so as to move somewhat
freely from end to end. When the movable piece inside is allowed to
fall to one end, and the tube is raised to the connecting wire of the
burner, this piece changes its place again, falling into the tube held by
the hand. The spark leaves the upper end of the tube at the same time
and lights the gas.

The Zable Light Burner consists of the same instrument, arranged
upon a pivot regularly attached to the pillar light—Am. Gas Light
Journal. “

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF PYROXILINE-PAPER AND GUN-
COTTON. ;

Prof. Johnston, of the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., ina
recent note to the editors of Silliman’s Journal, calls attention to a
remarkable power in pyroxiline-paper of producing positive electrical ex-
-citement in sulphur, sealing-wax, &c. His noteisas follows: ‘‘ We are

told by writers on electricity that sulphur by friction with all other sub-
stances becomes negatively excited; as cat’s fur, on the other extreme,
by friction with all other substances becomes excited positively. But a
few days ago I made the discovery that sulphur by friction with paper-
pyroxiline (I will call it) is excited with positive electricity, as are also
sealing-wax, amber, &c. The paper is prepared in the same manner as
gun-cotton, which would also in all probability be found to possess the
same property.”
- Prof Silliman further adds, in relation to this topic: “ I have repeated
and confirmed Prof. Johnston’s experiment, extending it to gun-cotton.
I find as he suggests that the latter substance produces the same excite-
ment of positive electricity which is produced by the pyroxiline-paper.
The most energetic effests are produced when vulcanized India-rubber is
the electric. ‘lhe opposite effects in this substance produced by flannel
and the gun-cotton or pyroxiline-paper are very striking, and will form a
good lecture-room illustration. These substances also produce powerful
positive excitement in gliss. It is difficult from the use of pith balls
alone to determine which produces the most powerful positive excite-
ment, glass or hard rubber, when excited by gun-cotton or pyroxiline-
paper. This seeming anomaly, confounding our ordinary means of dis-
crimination in cases of electrical excitement demands further investiga-
tion. It would appear that of negative electrics yet observed, these
azotized species of cellulose are the most remarkable,—in comparison with
which the most highly negative electrics hitherto known become posi-
tive.”

NEW FORM OF ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Prof. Seely, of New York, has recently obtained a patent for an
electric light, which is claimed to be more economical and effective
than any of the methods hitherto devised. He employs the current
generated by an ordinary frictional electrical machine, and obtains the
light by interrupting the current. It has long been known that a very
brilliant and steady light might be procured in this way, but the ob-
jection to its use is the uncertainty in the action of the frictional

i

122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

machine. Dry air is a very poor conductor of electricity, and when
a machine is excited in such an atmosphere the electricity will remain
in tension for a considerable time. But moisture in the air conducts
the electricity away, and when the moisture reaches a certain point the
fluid is removed so rapidly that the machine will not work. Prof.
Seely’s invention consists in devices for making the action continuous
in all weathers. This is effected by surrounding the machine with a
glass case, and keeping the air within the case dry by means of chlo-
ride of calcium or other hygroscopic substance. It has been observed
that when the conductor of an electric current is interrupted in a way
to draw a spark across the break, the brilliancy of the spark varies
with the material by which the conductor is terminated at the break.
Prof. Seely is now enaged in experiments to ascertain what material
will produce the most intense light.

If the apparatus works according to anticipation a cotton mill may
be lighted without any current expense, except the small power
required to turn the electrical machines. As in mills driven by water
there is always a surplus of power during the winter months, the only
time when lights are required, there would be no expense for this
light except the first cost of the apparatus, which would be quite mod-
erate. — Scientific American.

Fishing by the Electric Light. —An experiment has been recently
made at Dunkirk, France, to use the electric light in fishing at night.
The light was supplied by a pile on Bunsen’s principle, composed of
about 50 elements, and it succeeded tolerably well, but the employ-
ment of the pile was attended with much inconvenience. It was then
determined to repeat the attempt with a magneto-electric machine.
The new experiments tried at Duakirk and Ostend had a double ob-
ject —1, to prove how the light produced by the machine would act
under water; and, 2, to discover the effect the light would produce
on the fish. The first object was completely accomplished, and it is
now demonstrated that magneto-electric machines and the light they
produce are applicable to all submarine works. In fact, this light
was constant at 180 ft. under water, and it extended over a large sur-
face. The machine, nevertheless, was placed at a distance of more
than 300 ft. from the regulator of the electric light. The glass sides
of the lantern remained perfectly transparent, and the quantity of
coal consumed was less than if it were in the open air.

THE ELECTRIC FLY.

Mr.Charles Tomlinson communicates to the Philosophical Journal
an interesting account of many experiments made by him with the
little instrument used in connection with an electrical machine called
the electric fly, or mill, or tourniquet, which is formed of two or more
metallic radial arms, having their extremities bent at right angles and
brought to a fine point. As a preliminary explanation why he has
made these experiments, he gives various opinions of philosophers as
to the cause of its action. After detailing its backward revolutions in
the open air and under a glass vase, its inaction in rarefied air, its
increased action in turpentine, benzole, and paraffine oils in both di-
rections, and its forward motion in the air after a modification of its
points, he concludes, while inclining to the opmion of Cavello as a

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 123

general explanation, ‘‘ that the theory of the fly requires a different
expression for an aerial as compared with a liquid dielectric, its be-
havior is also different in air of different densities: and also when
wholly and partially inclosed; also, when the points are covered;
and even then there is a difference in action, in the presence of flame,”
from which we infer that its behavior is so modified by circumstances
that no one expression represents the law governing its action.

ELECTRICITY IN THE TREATMENT OF HYDROPHOBIA.

The Journal de Physique contains a remarkable case of recovery
from hydrophobia by galvanism, extracted from a ‘* Report presented
to the Academy of “Turin,” by Signor Eandi. A man presenting all
the symptoms of hydrophobia (he had been bitten by a mad dog)
was br ought to Dr. Rossi, who, observing that he could not bear the
sight of water, nor that even of shining “bodies, provided in another
room a pile consisting of 50 pairs of plates of silver and zinc, inter-
mixed with 50 pieces “of pasteboard moistened with a solution of muri-
ate of ammonia. He employed slips of brown paper moistened, as a
conductor on which the naked feet of the patient were placed, and at
the moment when he opened his mouth to bite, one end of the are was
thrust into it, while the other communicated with the pile. The pa-
tient suffered a great deal from this operation, which, after several
shocks, weakened him so much that he could no longer support it.
Being stretched out on the floor, he was then ealvanized with ease ;
the operation made the sweat run from him indrops. This treatment
was continued for several days, and resulted in the complete recovery
of the patient. ‘This cure, says the report, was effected in the pres-
ence of several persons. ‘This was about 12 years ago, if I mistake
not. ‘The experiments lately made at the Hospital of Lernberg were

satisfactory in so far as the application of electricity had the effect of

procuring a temporary relief, though the patients were not saved
thereby. Dr. Essrogen, who relates this fact in the Zeitschrift fiir
practische Heilkunde, is of opinion that had the application of elec-
tricity been continued, a complete cure would have been brought
about.—Phil. Med. and Surg. Rep.

NEW CALORIC BATTERY.

At a late meeting of the Inventor’s Institute, Mr. James Dickson read
an interesting paper on ‘“ Certain Inventions for inducing the Economical
and Efficient Production of Voltaic Electricity for lighting Streets and
other Purposes.” The object of the paper was to explain the means by
which electricity could be readily and economically produced. The his-
tory of Voltaic Electricity was carefully traced from the time of Volta,
from whom this form of electricity took its ae to the present time,
speciai mention being made of Grove’s, Snell’s, the Maynooth and other
batteries, which from time to time have ra ‘looked upon as vast im-
provements upon their existing apparatus. The theories of Mayer &
Joule were reterre:| to, as well as the researches of Prof. Tyndall, whose
“ Heat as a Mode of Motion” contains so much valuable information on
the subject. He considered: that the rapidity of the vibration of the
atoms in a conductor was exactly in proportion to its conducting power,
and explained that, whilst a battery was producing light and heat, less

124 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

material wis consumed thin when the battery poles are directly con-
nected with each other. Mr. ])ickson’s battery was described as one of
the hot class,—the sulphuric acid was heated to 600° Fahrenheit. He
claims, by his mode of applying heat, to be able to use iron and other
cheap metals, instead of the dear ones, zinc, copper, &c. The relative
mobility of the atoms of an electrolite determined, he considered its force
rither than its specific gravity. When oil of vitriol was heated to 350° Fahr.
only, the electric action is less powerful than when heated to 600° Fahr.,
probably owing to the waves being less rapid. With the necessary per-
colating apparatus he was convinced that his battery would be successful
for lighthouse purposes. He considered 15 of his cells equal to 20 or-
dinary cells ; three of his cells are not equal to two of nitric acid cells, but
the increment in his battery wis greater. Grove’s battery cost 1s. dd.
to produce the sime amount of electricity as that produced for 10 3d.
by Dicason’s. Coimparmeg the lightine powers, 11 3d. with the calorie
battery, will produce the same amount of light as 1s. dd. by Grove’s.
He declared that the sulphur liberated at the negative poles could be
converted into sulphuric acid to the extent of $9. The oil of vitriol
during the working of the battery, becomes combined with water, but
the acid is easily and chetply reconcentrated. In Snell’s, Daniell’s, and
Grove’s battery, the sulphate of zine cumot be recovered, whilst in his
caloric battery the recovery was not difficult. The chairman expressed
the fear that the invent>r promised so much that he was no more likely
to perform it than to obtain perpetual motion; indeed, if the invention
were not overstated, they would certainiy be nearer perpetual motion
than they have eyer been before. Mr. Varley suggested that as the
principal feature in the invention appeared to be the heating of the ma-
terials, it was not impossible that it might be as great a s'ep in advance
as the introduction of the hot-blast in the manufacture of iron: this of
course remained to be seen.—London Mechanics’ Magazine.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MAGNETIC ACTION.

The following is a partial report of a lecture recently delivered
before the Royal Institution of London, by Prof. Tyndall, ‘‘On some
of the Phenomena of Magnetism” :—

The Crackle of Magnetized Iron.—Here is a fine permanent mag-
net, competent to carry a great weight. Here, for example, is a dish
of iron nails, which it is able to empty. At the other side of the
table you observe another mass of metal, bent like the magnet, but
not, like it, naked. This mass, however, is not steel, but iron, and it
is surrounded by coils of copper wire. It is intended to illustrate
the excitement of magnetism by electricity. At the present moment
this huge bent bar is so inert as to be incapable of carrying a single
grain of iron. I now send an electric current through the coils that
surround it, and its power far transcends that of the steel magnet on
the other side. It can carry 50 times the weight. It holds a 56 lb.
weight attached to each of its poles, and it empties this large tray of
iron nails when they are brought sufficiently near it. I interrupt the
current: the power vanishes and the nails fall.

Now the magnetized iron cannot be in all respects the same as the
unmagnetized iron. Some change must take place among the mole-
cules of the iron bar at the moment of magnetization. And one

-=

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 125

curious action which accompanies the act of magnetization I will now
try to make sensible to you. Other men labored, and we are here
entering into their labors. The effect I wish to make manifest was
discovered by Mr. Joule, and was subsequently exammed by MM.
De la Rive, Wertheim, Were Matteucci, and Wartmann. It is this.
At the moment when the current passes through the coil surrounding
the electro-magnet, a clink is heard emanating from the body of the
iron, and at the moment the current ceases a clink i is also heard. In
fact, the acts of magnetization and demagnetization so stir the atoms
of the magnetized body that they, in their turn, can stir the air and
send sonorous impulses to our auditory nerves.

I have said that the sounds occur at the moment of macnetization,
and at the moment when magnetization ceases; hence if I can devise
a means of making and breaking in quick ‘succession the circuit
through which the current flows, T can obtain an equally quick sue-
cession of sounds. I do this by means of a contact breaker which
belongs to a Ruhmkorff’s induction coil. Here is a monochord, and
a thin bar of iron stretches from one of its bridges to the other.
‘This bar is placed in a glass tube, which is surrounded by copper
wire. I place the contact “breaker in a distant room, so that you can-
not hear its noise, The current is now active, and every individual
in this large assembly hears something between a dry crackle and a
musical sound issuing from the bar in consequence of its successive
maenetization and demacnetization.

Magnetism of the Electric Current—Hitherto we have occupied
ourselves with the iron which has been acted upon by the current.
Let us now devote a moment’s time to the examination of the current
itself. Here is a naked copper wire which is quite inert, possessing
no power to attract these iron filings. I send a voltaic current

through it: it immediately grapples with the filings, and holds them
round it in a thick envelop. I interrupt the current, and the filings
fall. Hereis a compact coil of Copper wire, which is overspun with
cotton to prevent contact between the convolutions. At present the
coil is inert; but now I send a current through it: a power of attrac-
tion is instantly developed, and you see that it is competent to empty
this plate of iron nails.

Thus we have magnetic action exhibited by a body which does not
contain a particle of the so-called magnetic metals. ‘The copper wire
is made magnetic by the electric current. Indeed, by means of a cop-
per wire, through which a current flows, we may obtain all the effects
of magnetism. “T have here a long coil, so suspended as to be capable
of free motion in a horizontal direction ; it can move all round ina
circle like an ordinary magnetic needle. At its ends I have placed two
spirals of platinum wire, which the current will raise to brillant
incandescence. They are glowing now, and the suspended coil be-
haves, in all respects, like a magnetic needle. Its two ends show
opposite polarities ; it can be attracted and re pelled by a magnet, or
by a current flowing through another coil; and it is so sensitive that
the action of the earth itself is capable of setting it north and south.

Ampere’s Theory.—There is an irresistible tendency to unify in the
human mind; and, in accordance with our mental constitution, we
desire to reduce phenomena which are so much alike to a common

be

126 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

cause. Hence the conception of the celebrated Ampere that a mag-
net is simply an assemblage of electric currents. Round the atoms
of a magnet Ampere supposed aninute currents to circulate .inces-
santly in - parallel planes ; round the atoms of common iron he also
supposed them to circulate, but in all directions,—thus neutralizing
each other. The act of magnetism he supposed to consist in the ren-
dering of the molecular currents parallel to a common plane, as they
ere supposed to be in a permanent magnet. This is the celebrated
theory of molecular currents propounded by Ampere.

The Lengthening of Lron by Magnetism.—lIs it a fact that an iron
par is shortened by the act of magnetization? It is not. And here,
us before, we enter into the labors of other men.

Mr. Joule was the first to prove that the bar is lengthened. Mr.
Joule rendered this lenzthening visible by means of a system of levers
and a microscope, through which a single observer saw the action.
The experiment has never, I believe, been made before a public audi-
ence, but the instrument referred to at the commencement of this
lecture, will, I think, enable me to render this effect of magnetization
visible to everybody present.

Before you is an iron bar, two feet long, firmly screwed into a solid
block of wood. Sliding on two upright brass pillars is a portion of
the instrument which you see above the iron bar. The essential parts
of this section of the apparatus are, first, a vertical rod of brass,
which moves freely and accurately in a long brass collar. The lower
end of the brass rod rests upon the upper flat surface of the iron bar.
To the top of the brass rod is attached a point of steel; and this point
now presses against a plate of agate, near a pivot which forms the
fulerum of a lever. The distant end of the lever is connected by a
very fine wire with an axis on which is fixed a small circular mirror.
If the steel point be pushed up against the agate plate, the end of the
lever is raised; the axis is thereby caused to turn, and the mirror ro-
tates. I now cast a beam from an electric lamp upon the mirror; it is
reflected in a luminous sheaf, 15 or 16 feet long, and it strikes our
screen, there forming a circular patch of brilliant light. his beam
is to be our index; it will move as the mirror moves, only with twice
its angular velocity ; and the motion of the patch of light will inform
us of the lengthening and shortening of the iron bar.

I employ one battery simply to ignite the lamp. I have here a
second battery to magnetize the iron bar. At present no current is
passing. I make the circuit, and the bright image on the screen is
suddenly displaced. It sinks a foot. I break the circuit; the bar
instantly shrinks to its normal length, and the image returns to its
first position. I made the experiment several times in succession ;
the result is always the same. Always when I magnetize, the image
instantly descends, which declares the lengthening ¢ of the bar; always
when I interrupt the current the image immediately rises. A little
warm water projected against the bar causes the image to descend
gradually. ‘This, I believe, is the first time that this action of mag-
netism has been seen by a public audience.

I have employed the same apparatus in the examination of bismuth
bars ; and, though considerable power has been applied, I have hith-
erto failed to produce any sensible effect. It was at least conceivable

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 127

that complementary effects might be here exhibited, and a new an-
tithesis thus established between magnetism and diamagnetism.

No explanation of this action has, to my knowledge, been offered ;
and I would now beg to propose one, which seems to-be sufficient. I
place this large flat m agnet upon the table; over it I put a paper
screen, and on the screen [ shake iron filings. You know the beau-
tiful lines in which those filings arrange themselves, —lines which have
become classical from the use made of them in this Institution ; for
they have been guiding-threads for Faraday’s intelligence while ex-
ploring the most profound and intricate phenomena of magnetism.
These lines indicate the direction in which a small macnetie needle
sets itself when placed on any of them. The needle will always be a
tangent to the magnetic curve. A little rod of iron, freely suspended,
behaves exactly like the needle, and sets its longest dimension in the
direction of the magnetic curve. In fact, the particles of iron filings
themselves are vir tually so many little rods of iron, which, when they
are released from the friction of the screen by tapping, set their long-
est dimensions along the lines of force. Now, in this bar magnet the
lines of force run alone the magnet itself, and were its particles capa-
ble of free motion they also would set their longest dimensions
parallel to the“tines of foree,—that is to say, parallel to the length of
the magnet. ‘This, then, is the explanation which I would offer of the
lengthening of the bar. The bar is composed of irregular crystalline
granules : : and, when magnetized, these oranules tend to set their long-
est dimensions parallel to the axis of the bar. They succeed, partially,
and produce a microscopic lengthening of the bar, which, suitably mag-
nified, has been rendered visible to you.

But can we not bring a body with movable particles within an elec-
tro-magnetic coil ? We ean; and [ will now, in conclusion, show you
an experiment devised by Mr. Grove, which bears directly upon this
question, but the sight of which, J believe, has hitherto been confined
to Mr. Grove himself. At all events, I am not aware of its ever
having been made before a large audience. I have here a cylinder
with glass ends, and it contains a muddy liquid. This muddiness is
produced by the magnetic oxyde of iron which is suspended mechanic-
ally in water. Round the glass cylinder I have coiled five or six
layers of covered copper wire; and here is a battery from which a
current can be sent through the coil. First of all, I place the glass
eylinder in the path of the beam from our electric lamp, and, by
means of a lens, cast a magnified image of the end of the cylinder on
the screen. That image at present possesses but feeble illumination.
The light is almost extinguished by the suspended ee of mag-
netic oxyde. But, if what I have stated regarding the lines of force
through the bar of magnetized iron be correct, the particles of the
oxyde will suddenly set “their longest dimensions parallel to the axis of
the cylinder, and also in part set themselves end to end when the
current is sent round them. More light will be thus enabled to pass ;
and now you observe the effect. The moment I establish the cirewt
the dise upon the screen becomes luminous. I interrupt the current,
and gloom supervenes; I re-establish it, and we have a luminous dise
once more.

128 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE MECHANICAL THEORY AND APPLICATION OF THE LAWS
OF MAGNETIC INDUCTION AND ELECTRICITY. E

In a paper on the above subject read before the British Association,
at its last meeting, by Mr. J. B. Thomson, electricity and magnetism
were considered as a force in the same way as heat and light; and
electric and magnetic induction were treated in correspondence with
mechanics. ‘The summary of the author’s theories is: That the phe-
momena called electricity and magnetism are two forms of force which
may either be in conatus or in act. If in conatus, they are in a state
of tension; if in act, then in a state of fluxion. Electricity is in co-
natus when in the static form of excitation, or when the voltaic circuit
is not completed; in act, when the matter highly excited is brought
in contact with matter less highly excited, or when the voltaic circuit
is completed. Magnetism is in conatus when the magnetic vortical
sphere is held constant by a constant electric current, or by hardened
steel or magnetic iron ore, so that the earth-magnetism may flow in;
in act, on its electric projection and recession, or when iron or some
other paramagnetic is moved through this sphere. That electric con-
dution is by certain molecular movements of particular portions of mat-
ter. Those wherein this movement is easily excitedtre called con-
ductors, and those wherein it is with difficulty excited are called insula-
tors. That magnetic conduction is by the symmetrical arrangement
into a vortical sphere of spirals of a general medium, which pervades
all matter, and holds it in that form for the time bemg. That par-
ticular matter wherein the sphere is easily excited is called paramag-
netic, and that wherein it is with more difficulty excited is called dia-
magnetic. ‘That this sphere can be fixed by means of hardened steel
or magnetic iron ore. That the magnetic vortical can be excited by
means of spiral currents of electricity generally, and even by a tan-
gent to such spiral. Also it can be induced by magnetic conduction
in paramagnetics. That the magnetic force is only in a state of fluxion
on the projection aud recession of this sphere. That this sphere is
projected in the direction of the exciting electric current, an 1 recedes
in the opposite direction. That the electric force is induced on the
projection of the magnetic vortical, and also on its recession. That,
consequently, for one inducing current there are two induced cur-
rents ; therefore, it would appear that by induction electric excitation
is multiplied. Finally, that these inductions and conversions of force
are in strict accordance with the laws of mechanical motion. In con-
nection with the paper an induction machine was exhibited, the chief
points of novelty in which appear to be these: That it is self-acting ;
the current of voltaic electricity which produces the induced current
also drives the machine; that the machine can be so adjusted that the
quantity and intensity of the induced current shall range from that of
ten Daniell’s cells to that of 1,000, and this without employing more
than three or four cells. These are valuable properties to electricians
who are engaged in experiments with electricity of high or even mod-
erately high tension. Besides, it is applicable to any batteries what-
ever, having been used experimentally for telezraphy and for electro-
depositing. For telegraphy through submarine and subterraneous
cables there appears to have been a great objection to induction ma-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 129

chines, or rather induction coils. The objection was, that these induc-
tion coils sent their electricity through the cables in sudden intense
shocks, which injired the insulation of the cable. In this machine it
is apparently a.continuous flow, and no spark will jump from one elec-
trode to the other, unless first brought in contact, as in. batteries. When
modified for electro-plating it is much more efficient than the ordinary
battery ; for though it deposits the metal more slowly on any one ar-
ticle, yet it deposits it much more firmly and with a better surface than
the ordinary battery does, and it will deposit the same quantity on
1,000 articles at once, which enables it to deposit ten times more
metal in the same time than its own exciting battery would do. The
construction of the machine is apparently very simple, and will not be
easily deranged or speedily worn out.

ANALYSIS OF MAGNETIC STORMS.

The first analysis of 177 magnetic storms, recently laid before the
Royal Society, by the Astronomer Royal, Mr. G. B. Airy, is printed
in alate number of the Proceedings of the Society. In regard to
the physical inference to be derived from the numerical conclusions ob-
tained from tables exhibiting the algebraic sum of fluctuations for
each storm, the aggregate or mean for each year, and for seventeen
years, the number of irregularities for each year and for the whole
period, &c., Mr. Airy expresses his strong opinion that it is impossi-
ble to explain the disturbances by the supposition of definite galvanic
currents, or definite magnets, produced in any locality whatever. He
suggests that the relations of the forces found from his investigations
bear a very close resemblance to what might be expected if we con-
ceived a fluid (to which, for facility of language, the name ‘‘ magnetic
ether” is given) in proximity to the earth, to be subject to occasional
eurrents produced by some action, or cessation of action, of the sun,
which currents are lable to interruptions or perversions of the same
kind as those in air and water. He shows that in air and water the
general type of irregular disturbance is traveling circular forms,
sometimes with radial currents, but more frequently with tangential
currents, sometimes with increase of vertical pressure in the center,
but more frequently with decrease of vertical pressure; and, in con-
sidering the phenomena which such traveling forms would present to
a being over whom they traveled, he thinks that the magnetic phe-
nomena would be in a great measure imitated. Mr. Airy recommends
that observations be made at five or six observatories spread over
Europe, and would prefer self-registering apparatus, provided that its
zeros be duly checked by eye observations, and that the adjustments
of the light give suflicient strength to the traces to make them visible
in the most violent motions of the magnet. :

CURIOUS MAGNETIC DISTURBANCES.

At a recent meeting of the Royal Society, Gen. Sabine brought to
notice some remarkable magnetic phenomena recently brought to
hght by his researches, namely, the difference of direction observed in
disturbances of the magnetic declination at stations in England, and
others beyond the Ural Mountains. ‘The days and hours at which the
phenomena occur are, with slight exception, the same, and the move-

130 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ments are simultaneous, in both localities ; but the direction of the
magnet indicating the disturbances is directly the reverse in Eastern
Siberia of the direction in England.

RESIDUAL MAGNETISM.

Dr. A. Von Waltenhofen has communicated to Dingler’s Polytech-
nisches Journal, an account of a curious magnetic discovery which he
has recently made. It is a well-known fact that the magnetism of an
electro-magnet does not entirely disappear with the cessation of the
magnetizing current. Dr. A. Von Waltenhofen has, however, ob-
served that the amount of this residual magnetism, as it is called, is
dependent upon the manner in which the current is interrupted. If
this interruption takes place suddenly, the residual magnetism is
much less than when it takes place gradually. A still more interesting
circumstance has been observed by him, viz: that the residual magnet-
ism obtained by suddenly breaking a very strong current, is sometimes
of an opposite nature to that previously existing in the electro-magnet.
This fact, which he has hitherto only noticed in very soft iron, is of great
interest, inasmuch as it furnishes a new and simple proof that magnet-
ism is not caused by the separation of two fluids, but by the motion of
magnetic molecules, to which is opposed a certain amount of frictional
resistance. With much ingenuity he compares the state of each mag-
netic molecule of the electro-magnet to that of a spring which is bent
back. Ifthe spring be suddenly released, it will return very nearly
to its orginal position, or even go beyond it. On the other hand, if
it be released gradually, it will stop at a point still further removed
from its original position.

“LIQUID STEERING COMPASs ” AND ‘MONITOR COMPASS.”

Two new forms of compass recently devised by Mr. E. S. Ritchie,
of Boston, have the following construction: The distinctive pecul-
iarities of the liquid compass are an air-tight metallic case within
which is placed the magnetic needle, and of such size and weight as
to be of very nearly the same specific gravity as the liquid in which
it is intended to float. The weight is thus removed from the pivot,
and friction is almost prevented; certain modifications being intro-
duced to provide against tilting and other emergencies occurring
during the motion of the ship. The distinctive principle of the
Monitor Compass is the separation of the magnet from the card or
index, so that the magnet may be elevated above the sphere of dis-
turbing attraction of. the iron of the ship, while the card is brought
to a convenient position to be seen by the pilot; and suspending the
movable portion in a liquid so as to secure entire freedom from fric-
tion, that the needle may obey the polar force, and at the same time
great steadiness is secured for the card.

New Form of Magnetic Needle.—At a recent meeting of the Man-
chester Philosophical Society, Mr. Joule exhibited a new form of
magnetic needle for showing rapid and minute alterations of declina-
tion. It consisted of a piece of hardened and polished watch spring,
an inch long, and =}; of an inch broad suspended vertically by a fila-
ment of silk. The steel was magnetized in the direction of its
breadth. He remarked that Professor Thomson had long insisted

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 131

upon the advantages which would attend the use of very small bars
in most magnetical investigations, and had employed excessively
minute needles in his galvanometers with great success. Dr. Joule
stated his intention to fit up his needle so as to be observed by light
reflected from its polished surface, or otherwise, by viewing a glass
pointer, attached to the bottom of the steel, through a microscope.
He believed that by the latter plan he should be able to observe
deflections as small as one second of an are.

Great Electro-Magnet.—Messrs. Chester, of New York City, have
recently constructed an electro-magnet of unusual size, for the New
York Free Academy. It is made of the purest iron. The core is
four inches in diameter; its total length is five feet. The wire
wound upon it is in eight separate strands, and the aggregate weight
of copper is 200 pounds. The entire weight of the magnet is 650
pounds. It is arranged either to be suspended with the faces down-
ward, or to be placed upright on a wheeled platform. Connected
with it is apparatus for diamagnetic experiments, consisting of rotat-
ing copper discs and tubes. When the magnetic force is in action
the rotating disc is instantly stopped, and motion is converted into
heat. The heat evolved is sufficient to cause water to boil in a cop-
per tube.

THE TELEGRAPH AS A METEOROLOGICAL INDICATOR.

‘¢ The electric telegraph is likely to render us henceforth a service
which it has not until now been known to be capable of. For some
time past it has been systematically employed, to transmit to one
center meteorological observations made at a great number of widely
scattered points, and to transmit from that center predictions founded
on these observations; but Father Secchi, the Italian savant, now
informs us that a line of telegraph wires itself constitutes a better
indicator of certain kinds of meteorological changes than any other
we as yet know of. All persons at all familiar with electric telegraphy
are aware that currents other than those proceeding from the batteries
employed are constantly passing along all lines of telegraph wires.
They are derived from either the earth or the atmosphere, and are
called ‘ earth-currents.’ They are subject to great variations, which
Father Secchi and some of his friends have for some time past been
earefully studying, with the result, among others, of finding that,
whenever the earth-currents are more irregular than ordinary, bad
weather invariably follows, the degree of their regularity of the
earth-currents bearing always an exact relation to that of the storm-
iness of the weather which they precede. We are certainly progress-
ing as regards our power of forecasting meteorological changes.”

ON PERIODIC CHANGES IN THE MAGNETIC CONDITION OF THE
EARTH, AND IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE
UPON ITS SURFACE.

The following is an abstract of a very curious and interesting
paper recently read before the Manchester (Eng.) Philosophical So-
ciety, by Mr. Baxendall, F.R. A.S. He says:—

Considerations arising out of an investigation of the irregularities
which take place in the changes of some of the variable stars, led the

132 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

author some time ago to regard it as highly probable that the light of
the sun, and also its magnetic and heating powers, might be subject
to changes of a more complicated natare than has hitherto been sup-
posed, and that, besides the changes waich are indicated by the great-
er or less frequency of solar spots, other changes of a minor caarac-
ter, and occurring in shorter periods, might also take place. in tie
hope of detecting these supposed changes, the author resoived to
undertake the discussion of a series of magnetical observations, aud
for this purpose he selected the observations made at the Lnperial
Observatory of St Petersburg, the most northern station at which
hourly magnetic observations have been made for any lengthened
period. Commencing, therefore, with the year 1848, the greatest
and least values of the magnetic declination for every day were
extracted from the observations; and, taking the differences and
arranging them in order, it was found, on a careful examination, that
they indicated changes of activity taking place in a period of 31 days.
The daily oscillations were then arranged in a table, when it was
found that out of 17 consecutive days, the amount of oscillation, on
range of the magnetic needle, was whove the mean on 13 days and be-
low the mean on only four days; while of the remaining 14 days,
the range was below the mean on 13 days, and above on one day
only. ‘The total amount of the differences for the 17 days of maxi-
mum was 2; per day ; and for the 14 days of mimimum +45.

On proceeding to examine the observations for the succeeding
years it was found that they could not be represented by a period of
31 days. It appeared, therefore, at first sight, that the period which
had been obtained for 1848 was merely accidental; but, guided
partly by conclusions drawn from his variable-star investigations, and
partly by the high degree of improbability that the results for 1848
could be due to mere accident, the author was led to think that the
period he had found for 1848 might be variable, gradually diminishing
for a series of years, and afterward gradually increasing, to diminish
again when it had completed its cycle of change. Assuming, there-
fore, that in every year periodic changes took place in the magnetic
activity of the sun, the author proceeded to determine for each year
the most probable approximate value of the period, and he obtained a
series of values gradually diminishing till 1556, when the period was
only about 23 days, and aiterward rapidly increasing until, in 1859,
it amounted to about 32 days. A glance at these results at once sug-
gested the idea that the variable period thus found was in some way
connected with, and dependent upon, the great solar-spot period,
the minimum value occurring in the year of minimum frequency of the
solar spots, and the maximum values in the years when the spots
were most humerous.

Several series of thermometrical observations were now examined
for indications of periodical changes in the element of mean daily
temperature, and it was found that they exhibited, with unexpected
distinctness, changes in this element occurring also in a variable
period, the range of variation being, however, somewhat less than in
the case of the magnetic element, although the times of maximum and
minimum were almost exactly the same. The maximum and minimum
values were respectively 31 and 234 days.

4

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 133

A table is given showing the number of days included in the maxi-
mum and ininimum portions of eaca mean period for the years 1848 to
1850, and the number of exceptional days, or those on which during
the maximum part of the period the temperature was below, and
during the minimum part above, the mean value. From this table it
appears that out of a total number of 165 days of maximum, only 14
were exceptional; and out of a total of 1643 days of minimum, the
number of exceptional days was only 16. The mean gives a ratio
almost exactly as 1 to 11. Coasideriag that the values of the period
in the different years are only approxunate, this result may be re-
garded as affording satisfactory proot of the existence of a variable
period of temperature.

At St. Petersburg the average temperature of the warmer half of the
period is not less than 3° greater than that of the cooler half; and as
this difference of temperature is repeated at least 12 times in every
year, it must necessarily exercise a poweriul modifying influence over
many meteorological phenomena.

Another period of change having a mean duration of rather over 18
months, is then referred to. The author was first led to it froma discus-
sion of the Greenwich Magnetical Observations, for the years 1848 to
1859; and it has been confirmed by the results of a discussion of tem-
perature observations, made at Brussels in Kurope, and at Yakoutsk,
in Asia. It is obvious that this period will, at times, interfere sensi-
bly with the shorter one, and it is probable that some of the cases
which have been called exceptional may be due to this interference.

With regard to the probable cause of the variability of the short
period the author suggests the following hypothesis: Ist. That a
ring of nebulous matter exists differing in density or constitution in
different parts, or several masses of such matter forming a discontin-
uous ring, circulating round the sun in a plane nearly coincident
with the plane of the ecliptic, and at a mean distance from the sun, of
about + of the radius of the earth’s orbit.

2d. ‘That the attractive force of the sun on the matter of this ring
is alternately increased and diminished by the operation of the forces
which produce the solar spots, being greatest at the times of minimum
solar-spot frequency, and least when the spots are most numerous.

3d. The attractive force being variable, the dimensions of the ring
and its period of revolution round the sun will also vary, their maxi-
mum and minimum values occurring respectively at tie times of
maximum and minimum solar-spot frequency.

In reference to the nature of the varying attractive force, it is not
improbable that the matter of the supposed ring may be highly dia-
maenetic, and being much nearer to the sun than any of the known
planets, of much greater bulk and lightness, and being subjected to a
much higher temperature, it will be very sensibly affected by the
changes which take place in the magnetic condition of the sun; and
when interposed between the earth and the sun, it may act not only
by reflecting and absorbing a portion of the light and heat which
would otherwise reach the earth, but also by altering the direction of
the lines of magnetic force. The changes of temperature at the sur-
face of the earth will thus be due partly to differences in the amount
of heat received from the sun, and partly to changes in the move-

12

134 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ments of the great currents of the air produced by alterations in the
earth’s magnetic condition. Ii the larger part of the difference of
temperature is due to the latter mode of action, we might expect that
during the warmer half of the period the mean direction of the wind
at any given station would be sensibly different from that during the
cooler half; and also, that the epochs of maximum and minimum
temperature would not be the same at all parts of the earth’s surface.
Both of these conclusions are borne out by the results given in the
paper. Thus at St. Petersburg, in 1859, the mean direction of the
wind on maximum days was S. 04° W., and on minimum days S. 73°
_W. or 19° more to the west of South; and at Sitka, on the Northwest
Coast of North America, in 1851, the mean direction on maximum
days was S. 32° W., and on minimum days 8S. 56° W., the difference
being 24°. As striking instances of the differences in the epochs at
distant stations, it may be stated, that in 1859 the epoch of maximum
at St. Petersburg corresponded precisely with the epoch of minimum
at Madras; and that at Pekin, in 1801, the epoch of minimum was
exactly coincident with the epoch of maximum at Sitka.

Changes in the amount of heat received from the sun, sufficient to
produce the variations of temperature observed at any given station,
would no doubt affect the movements of the great currents of the at-
mosphere, though not to the extent indicated by the observations;
but it is difficult to conceive that they could produce the differences in
the epochs which are tound to take place. We may therefore fairly
conclude that the action of the supposed ring of nebulous matter
is principally of a magnetic, and but slightly of a thermal character.

Adopting, for the present, the maximum and minimum values of
the temperature period as being determined with greater accuracy
than those of the magnetic period, the greatest and least values of the
sidereal period of revolution of the ring will be 29-12 and 22-08 days
respectively. From these numbers we find that the greatest distance
of the ring from the sun is 0°185, the radius of the earth’s orbit being
taken as unity; the least distance, 0-154; and the mean 0°169.
Taking Mr. Hind’s value of the mean distance of the earth from the
sun, namely, 91,528,600 miles, we have: Greatest distance of the
ring, 16,921,000 miles; least distance of the ring, 14,068,000; mean
distance of the ring, 15,494,500; and the range of movement to and
fro in a radial direction, 2,853,000 miles. ‘he greatest attractive
force of the sun on the ring being taken as unity, the least will be
0°691. The difference is therefore nearly } of the maximum amount.
It will be evident that this difference may be regarded as a measure
of the forces which are concerned in the production of the solar spots.

The results of the elaborate invesugations of the motions of the planet
Mercury, made by Leverrier, led that accomplished mathematician to
attrioute a certain unexplained excess in the motion of its perihelion to
the action of a disturbing body circulating round the sun within the orbit
of Mercury ; and, froin a discussion of the probable mass of the disturbing
body, he concluded that it could not be concentrated in a single pla.et,
and that it consisted of a ring of small bodies similar to that which is
known to exist between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; and it is re-
marka le that the mean distance, which he seemed to regard as the most
probable, is precisely that which the author has found for the ring of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 135

nebulous matter, whose existence he has assumed to account for the
phenomena described in his paper. ‘This unexpected and unlooked-for
agreement between results arcived at from considerations and by nethods
so totally different, seems to establish the existence of this ring with quite
as much certainty, as the results of the profound researches of Adams
and Leverrier established the existence of Neptune before that planet
had been actually seen. ‘This ring, however, owing to its proximity to
the sun, may never be seen, and, like the dark companions of Procyon
and Sinus, it may only be nom to us through its action on the other
bodies of the system of which it forms a part. Should future rese ches
place its existence beyond doubt, this will, it 8 -believed, be the first
instance in which the conclusions of physical astronomy have been eon-
firmed by the results of an investigation of magnetical and meteorologicil
phenomena. Whether, however, “the hypothesis which the author has
ventured to put forward be accepted or not, it is now very evident that
observations of solar phenomena merit a much larger share of attention
than has ever yet been devoted to them. It has long been suspected that
the same causes which produce the spots on the sun’s disc must in some
way have an important influence on the phenomena of our own atmos-
phere. ‘The facts now given, convert this suspicion into a certainty ; and
it is per haps, not too much to say, that meteorology can never take a
as a true science while our knowledge of the sun remains in its present
imperfect state. Moreover, there is s little doubt, that many question® of
high physical interest depend for their solution upon our obtaining a
more intimate acquaintance than we yet possess with the operations
which are going on in the great center of our system.

TELEGRAPHING BY MAGNETO-ELECTRIC MACHINES.

We copy from the Washington Chronicle the following Sea a
tion, apparently furnished by the well-known electrician, Dr. Page :—
«The introductory report of the Patent Office for 1863 ventured
upon the following anticipation: ‘It is not too much to say that the
days of telecraphing by the galvanic battery are numbered, and that
the magneto-electric machine will erelong take its place for this as
well as for many other purposes.’ At that time it was well known
that the magneto- electric machine was successfully working Beards-
lee’s dial telegraph; but we’witnessed, on a recent evening, the ex-
traordinary feat of working the Morse telegraph, between Washing-
ton and New York, with one of Beardslee’s little magneto- electric
machines, occupying space less than a cubic foot. The correspond-
ence was kept up over the People’s Line with perfect freedom for
more than an hour, and the Morse operator rattled off the messages
as if he were perfectly at home. The sound of the instrument is
musical, differiny from that of an ordinary receiving magnet. The
Commissioner's Report alludes to the firing of eunpowder through the
distance of one hundred miles by means Sof this little machine, but
on the night in question we fired gunpowder in New York, a distance
of two hundred miles, and the operators there fired ounpowder in
Washington with perfect ease by the same little machine used to work
the teleeraph. It was@ perfect success, and one of the most inter-
esting and splendid achievements of modern science. If the Atlantic

136 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

cable is ever laid, this seems the power destined to work it. Surely,
‘the days of the galvanic battery seem to be numbered.’

‘* The invention above referred to is thus described by Commission-
er Holloway in his Report :—

“¢Conspicuous among the inventions which have received the sane-
tion of letters patent is a magneto-eleciric telegraph, now in extensive
use in the United States Army for field purposes, and elsewhere for or-
dinary telegraphic purposes. This is a signal triumph in electro-
mechanics, for by the motive power of a small magneto-electric ma-
chine, occupying less than a cubic foot, a dial or index telegraph is
operated through great*distances, from 5 to 200 miles, with the pros-
pect of greater and indefinite extension. It was found with the Atlan-
tic telegraph, in 1858, that alternating, or to and fro currents, were
indispensable to its operation, and the magneto-electric machine of
the telezraph before us has the peculiar movement of normal to and
ro currents in rapid succession, without any extra contrivance for
their production, this condition growing out of the very arrangement®
of the magnetic poles and helices. The operators for this telegraph
require no training, and any person who can read can telegraph. For
the Morse telegraph two or three years of training are required. It
is not liable to piracy by tapping, as is the Morse telegraph, and may
be justly regarded as the inauguration of a new era in telegraphy, by
disfensing with the cumbersome, uncleanly, unhealthy, and inconstant
galvanic battery as the motive power, and the introduction of a simple
and economical telegraph, adapted with equal facility to domestic
and public purposes. It is not too much to say, that the days of tele-
graphing by the galvanic battery are numbered, and that the magneto-
electri¢ machine will erelong take its place for this, as well as for
many other purposes.

“¢ Another highly mteresting development in magneto-electric science
is the discovery and application of a new mode of ignition for pur-
poses of blasting with powder. Hitherto torpedoes and other powder
blasts, fired by electricity, have depended upon the ignition of a very
fine platinum wire. When this had to be done through long circuits,
or at great distances, very large and expensive galvanic batteries were
required, owing to the great diminution of the quantity of electricity.
It was proved by experiments made at the Capitol many years since,
that 150 pairs of Grove’s battery were necessary to ignite powder by
the finest of platium wires placed in the telegraph circuit between Bal-
timore and Washington, a distance of 40 miles. By means of the new
discovery, powder has been fired through the distance of 100 miles by
means of a little magneto-electric machine, occupying less than a cubie
foot. This astonishing achievement has been accomplished by means
so simple that electricians will wonder as much, if not more, than the
uninitiated. It is done by a pencil-mark. The stroke of a common
black-lead pencil on a block of wood is substituted for the platinum
wire, and this disintegrated conductor, as it may be called, is so in-
tensely ignited by the magneto-electric current as to set fire to the
wood.

‘‘The application of this ingenious device within a suitably-pre-
pared cartridge, will be hailed as one of the,most valuable contribu-
tions to mining and engineering operations of the present day.”

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 137

PROGRESS OF TELEGRAPHIC CONSTRUCTION,

While citizens of the United States are engaged upon the great enter-
prise of constructing a line of telegraph to Europe via Behring’s Straits
and the Amoor, the British government are pushing their great project of
connecting London and Calcutta with the electric wire, toa speedy conclu-
sion. ‘Telegraphic communication has existed for two or three years be-
tween London and Constantinop'e, and about the same time ago a cable
was laid down through the Red Sea, between Suez and Aden, a distance
of 3,000 miles, intended to complete the link between Europe and India,
but it subsequently failed. Recently, however, a cable has been success-
fully submerged through the Persian Gulf, which with the exception of
160 miles of land line, between Diwanyeh, on the Euphrates, and the
Shat-el-Arab, the western termini of the Persian Gulf cable, completes
the through telegraphic communication from the Thames to the Ganges,

The distance from Constantinople to Fao, at the mouth of the Shat-el-
Arab on the Persian Gulf, through which the line will pass when the
Montifie Arabs and the healthy season will permit its safe construction to
Diwanyeh, is 1,570 miles, and passes through the following important
towns, Scutari, Angora, Diarbekir, Mossul, Bagdad, and Diwanyeh. From
Fao to Kurrachee, the submarine cable stretches along the bottom of the
Persian Gulf for 1,300 miles, and 500 miles farther carries it across a por-
tion of the British-Indian empire to Bombay.

The eastern terminus of the Turkish line for the receipt of messages, is
at present at Bagdad, and the only communication with Fao is by way of
the Tigris, by one British and two Turkish steamers, which run regularly,
occupying from five to six days in the passage up the river, and 24 down.

Another route from England to India, in connection with the Persian
gulf cable, passes through Russia by way of Tiflis to Teheran, thence to
Ispahan and Shiraz, and joins the cable at Bushire. As the line running
through the Montific country, when completed, can scarcely be depended
upon, owing to the relations existing between the tribes, who are very
powerful and warlike, and the pasha of Bagdad, against whom they have
risen in rebellion, the British government have contracted for the con-
struction of a line which, effecting a considerable detour, will avoid the dis-
turbed district completely. This wire is to pass from Bushire, on the
Persian Gulf, where the cable lands before starting 170 miles further, to
its terminus at Shat-el-Arab, via Kazeroor, Shiraz, Ispahan, Teheran,
and Khanakeen to Bagdad, the distance between Bushire and Khanakeen
being about 1,100 miles.

The Indiin telegraphs, which connect together Calcutta, Bombay,
Madras, Delhi, and all the principal towns in India, are now advanced
eastward as far as Rangoon; and the roates thence to China and to Austra-
lia, by way of Singapore, Java, and Timor, are said to be almost entirely
in comparatively shallow water, so far as the submarine part of the line
is concerned, and do not otherwise offer any difficulty which should pre-
vent instantaneous communication between London, Hong Kong, Mel-
bourne, and Sidney.

When the Atlantic cable and the Russian line are successfully in on-
eration, we shall have two sep rate routes to China and India,—to -ue
latter via London and Constantinople, via St. Petersburg and Teheran;
and to the former via Russia line from Irkoutsk in Siberia to Pekin, and
via the Persian gulf cable and India, 12* .

138 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH
CABLE.

At the British Association, 1864, Mr. Fairbairn, the celebrated
English engineer and scientist, read the following paper on the above
subject : —_—

It appears that the Atlantic Telegraph Company, considering it
essential to the public interest that the second attempt to submerge a
telegraph cable across the Atlantic should not be left to chance, “and
that a close and searching investigation should be entered upon, and
that nothmeg should be ‘jeft undone that could be accomplished to
insure success, sought the advice of a committee composed of men of
eminence and experience in the various branches of science and en-
gineering involved in such an undertaking to advise the Company 1 in
the selection of a cable. For the satisfactory attainment of this

biect it was considered necessary, in the first place, To determine
a direct experiment the mechanical properties of cables submitted
for submergence in deep water; 2d, To ascertain the chemical prop-
erties of the insulator, and the best means to be adopted for the
preservation and duration of the cable; and 3d, To determine the
electrical properties and conditions of the cable when immersed,
under pressure, at great: depths. On the author of the paper de-
volved the duty of undertaking the first division of the inquiry, viz:
to determine, by actual experiment, the streugths, combinations,
forms, and conditions of every cable considered of suitable strength
and proportion to cross the Atlantic. A laborious series of experi-
ments was instituted, and, in order to attam accuracy as regards the
resisting powers of each cable to a tensile strain, they were broken
by dead weights, suspended from a crab or crane, by which they could
be raised or lowered at pleasure. The weights were laid on one cwt.
at a time, and the elongations were carefully taken and recorded in
the table as each alternate 3} ewt. was placed on the scale until it
was broken. By this process we were enabled to ascertain with

reat exactitude the amount of elongation in seven ft. six in.

The result of the investigation was, the selection of the cable of
Messrs. Glass & Elhott, which stood highest in order of strength.
In this inquiry, upwards of 40 specimens “of cables have been tested
in their finished state, and this might have been suflicient for the
Committee to determine the best description of cable; it was, how-
ever, deemed advisable to investigate still further, not only the cable
asa cable, but to test experimentally each separate part, in order
that every security should be afforded as to the strength and quality
of the material to be employed in the construction. With regard to
the covering wires, constituting the principal strength of the cable,
Mr. Fairbairn finds that with proper care in the selection of the ma-
terial in the first instance, a judicious system of manipulation in the
second, and a rigid system of inspection of the manufacture, a wire
of homogeneous 1 iron oe inches diameter can be made of strength
suffic ent te sustain from 900 to 1,600 Ibs., with an elongation of -OUG8,
OY zy'oo parts of an inch per unit of length. This description of:
iron appears to be the most suitable for the Atlantic cable, as it com-
bines strength with ductility, and may be produced at a comparatively

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 159

moderate cost. It was also found desirable to test the separate
strands of each cable as well as the wires themselves. Tor this pur-
pose a number of strands similar to those employed in the manufiae-
ture of the different cables were produced, and the tensile breaking
strain and elongations carefully observed and eae led. In order to
ascertain whether the lei igth of the lay of the hemp and Manilla
round the strand was of that spiral form which produced a maxinuin
of strength, the yarn separated from the strand was also tested, and
comparing the sum of the breaking strains of the wire and yara sep-
arately, with that of the two in combination in the strand, the object
by these means was approximately obtained. Another very impor-
tant question arises in the construction of this cable, and th at is, the
strength of the core and its conducting wire, and how it is to be pro-
tected under a pressure of 7,000 lb. to 8,000 per square inch, when
lodged at the bottom of the ocean. This appeared a question well
entitled to consideration, and provided a properly insulated wire, of
one or more strands, can, without any exterior covering, be deposited
with safety at these great depths, it is obvious that the simpler the
cable the better. Assuming, therefore, that gutta-percha is the most
desirable material that can be empley; ed as an insulator, it then re-
solves itself into the question, what additional covering and what
additional strength is neeeReeNy to enable the engineer so to pay out
of the ship a length of 2,600 miles, into the deepest water, as to
deposit it, without strain, at the bottom of the ocean? This is the
question the Committee had to solve, and for this very important
object experiments were instituted. Regarding the circumstances
bearing directly upon the ultimate strength of the cable, the Com-
mittee have arrived at the conclusion that the cable No. 46, composed
of homogeneous wire, calculated to pom not less than from 840 Ib. to
1,000 lb. per wire, with a stretch of 3%; of an inch in 50 inches, is the
most suitable for the Atlantic cable. , Bhe following is the specifica-
tion of No. 46 cable: The conductor consists of a copper strand of
seven wires (six laid round one), each wire gauging ‘048 (or No. 18
of the Birmingham wire-gauze), the entire strand gauging *144 inch,
(or No. 10 Birmingham ; gauge), and weighing ¢ 300 Ib. per nautical
mile, imbedded for solidity i in the composition known as “ Chatterton’s
Compound. ” ‘The insulator consists of gutta-percha, four layers of
which are laid on alternately, with four thin layers of Chatterton’s
compound, making a diameter of the core of -464inch, and a circum-
ference of 1°392 inches. The weight of the entire insulator is 400
Ib. per nautical mile. ‘The external protection is in two parts. First,
the core is surrounded with-a padding of soft jute yarn, saturated with
a preservative mixture. Next to this padding is the protective coy-
ering, which consists of ten solid wires of the gauge ‘095 inch, drawn
from homogeneous iron, each wire surrounded. separately with five
strands of Manilla yarn, saturated with a preservative compound ;
the whole of the ten strands thus formed of the hemp and iron bemg
laid spfrally round the padded core. The weight of this cable in air
is 34 ewt. per nautical mile,—the weight j in water is 14 ewt. per nau-
tical mile. ‘The breaking strain is 7 tons 15 ewt., or equal to 11 times
its weight per nautical mile in caine —that is to say, if suspended
perpendicularly, it would bear its own weight in 11 miles depth of

140 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

water. The deepest ye to be encountered between Ireland and
Newfoundland is about 2,490 fathoms, and one mile being equal to
1,014 fathoms, therefore 1,014%11—11,154, and 2: -400—=4'64: the
cable having thus.a strength equal to 4-04 times of its own vertical
weight in the deepest water.

ON CELESTIAL DYNAMICS, BY DR. J. R. MAYER.

The movements of celestial bodies in an absolute vacuum would be
as uniform as those of a mathematical pendulum, whereas a resisting
medium pervading all space would cause the planets to move in shorter
and shorter orbits, and at last to fall into the sun. Assuming such a
resisting medium, these wandering celestial bodies must have on the
periphery of the solar system their cradle, and in its center their
grave; and however long the duration, and however great the num-
ber of their revolutions may be, as many masses will on the average
in a certain time arrive at the sun as formerly ina like period of time
came within his sphere of attraction. All these bodies plunge with a
violent impetus into their common grave. Since no cause exists
without an effect, each of these cosmical masses will, like a weight
falling to the earth, produce by its percussion an amount of heat pro-
portional to its vis viva.

From the idea of a sun whese attraction acts throughout space, of
ponderable bodies scattered throughout the universe, “and of a resist-
ing ether, another idea necessarily follows,—that, namely, of a con-
tinual and inexhaustible generation of heat on the central body of
this cosmical system. Whether such a conception be realized in our
solar system,—whether in other words the wonderful and permanent
evolution of light and heat be caused by the uninterrupted fall of cos-
mical matter into the sun s—will now be more closely examined.

The existence of matter in a primordial condition moving about in
the universe, and, assumed to follow the attraction of the nearest stel-
lar system, will scarcely be denied by astronomers and physicists ;
for the richness of surrounding nature, as well as the aspect of the
starry heavens prevents: the belief that the wide space which separates
our solar system from the regions governed by the other fixed stars
is a vacant solitude destitute of matter. We shall leave, however,
all suppositions concerning subjects so distant from us both in time
and space, and confine our attention exclusiv ely to what may be lear ned
from the observation of the existing state of things.

Besides the 14 known planets with their 18 satellites, a great many
other oo eet masses move within the space of the planetary sys-
tem of which the comets deserve to be mentioned first.

Kepler's celebrated statement that ‘‘there are more comets in the
heavens than fish in the open, as founded on the fact that, of all the
comets belonging to our solar system, comparatively few can be seen
by the ini habitants of the earth, and ihenefone the not inconsiderable
number of actually observed comets obliges us, according to the rules
of the calculus of probabilities, to assume the existence of “a great
many more beyond the sphere of our vision.

Besides planets, satellites: and comets, another class of celestial
bodies exists within cur solar system. These are masses which, on
account of their smallness, may be considered as cosmical atoms, and

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 141

which Arago has appropriately called asteroids. They, like the planets
and the comets, are governed by gravity, and move in elliptical orbits
round the sun. When accident brings them into the immediate
neighborhood of the earth, they produce the phenomena of shooting
stars and fireballs. It has been shown, by repeated observation, that
on a bright night twenty minutes seldom elapse without a shooting-
star being visible to an observer in any situation. At certain times
these meteors are observed in astonishingly great numbers; during
the great American meteoric shower, which lasted nine hours, when
-they were said to fall, ‘‘crowded together like snowflakes,” they were
estimated as at least 240,000. On the whole, the number of asteroids
which come near the earth in the space of a year must be computed to
be many thousands of millions.* This, without doubt, is only a smail
fraction of the number of asteroids that move round the sun, which
number, according to the rules of the calculus of probabilities, ap-
proaches infinity.

As has been already stated, on the existence of a resisting ether it
depends whether the celestial bodies, the planets, the comets, and the
asteroids move at constant mean distances around the sun, or whether
they are constantly approaching that central body. Scientific men do
not doubt the existence of such an ether. Littrow, amongst others,
expresses himself on this point as follows: ‘The assumption that
the planets and comets move in an absolute vacuum can in no way be
admitted. Even if the space between celestial bodies contained no
other matter than that necessary for the existence of light (whether
light be considered as emission of matter or the undulations of a
universal ether), this alone is sufficient to alter the motion of the
planets in the course of time and the arrangement of the whole sys-
tem itself; the fall of all the planets and the comets into the sun and
the destruction of the present state of the solar system must be the
final result of this action.”

A direct proof of the existence of such a resisting medium has been
furnished by the academician Encke. He found that the comet named
after him, which revolves round the sun in the short space of 1,207
days, shows a regular acceleration of its motion, in consequence of
which the time of each revolution is shortened by about six hours.

From the great density and magnitude of the planets, the shorten-
ing of the diameters of their orbits proceeds, as might be expected,
very slowly, and is up to the present time inappreciable. The smaller
the cosmical masses are, on the contrary, other circumstances remain-
ing the same, the faster they move towards the sun: it may therefore
happen that in a space of time wherein the mean distance of the earth
from the sun would diminish one meter, a small asteroid would travel
more than 1,000 miles towards the central body. As cosmical
masses stream from all sides in immense numbers towards the sun,
it follows that they must become more and more crowded together
as they approach thereto. The conjecture at once suggests itself that
the zodiacal light, the nebulous light of vast dimensions which sur-
rounds the sun, owes its origin to such closely packed asteroids.

* Compare Prof. Newton’s computation of the approximate number of meteors
in the August ring alone, which makes it more than 300,000,000,000,000: Sidiman’s
Journal, Xxxii. 451.

142 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

However it may be, this much is certain, this phenomenon is caused
by matter which moves according to the same laws as the planets round
the sun, and it consequently follows that the whole mass which origi=
nates the zodiacal light is: continually approaching the sun and falling
into it.

This light does not surround the sun uniformly on all sides; that
is to say, “it has not the form of a sphere, but that of a thin convex
lens, the greater diameter of which is in the plane of the solar equator,
and ‘accordingly it has to an observer on our globe a pyramidal form.
Such lenticular distribution of the masses in the universe is repeated ina
remarkable manner in the disposition of the plancts and the fixed stars.

From the great number of cometary masses and asteroids and the
zodiacal light on the one hand, and the existence of a resisting ether
on the other, it necessarily follows that ponderable matter must con-
tinually be arriving on the solar surface. ‘The effect produced by
these masses evidently depends on their final velocity ; and, in order
to determine the latter, we shall discuss some of the elements of the
theory of gravitation.

The final velocity of a weight attracted by, and moving toward, a
celestial body will become creater as the hight through which are
weight falls increases. This velocity , however, if it be only produced
by the fall, cannot exceed a certain magnitude ; it has a maximum,
the value of which depends on the volume and mass of the attracting
celestial body. The author then by a series of ealeula: ions, shows,
that an asteroid fallg into the sun, would on arriving have a mo-
tion at least as great as that of a weight falling freely to the sun from
a distance great as that. of the solar. radius, or 96,000 geographical
miles; and that the calorific effect of the percussion would equal to
from 273 to 55,000,000 of degrees of heat.

An asteroid, ther efore, by its fail into the sun, develops from 4,600
to 9,200 times as much heat as would be generat fed by the eerinise
of an equal mass of coal.

[ Throughout this memoir the degrees of heat are expressed 1 in the
Centigrade scale. Unless stated to the contrary, the ei of
length are given in geographical miles. A geographical mile=— 08
degree of latitude—1, 878 meters, andan Hnelish mile=1,;609 meters.]

The Heat of the Sun.—The question why the planets move in curved
orbits, one of the grandest of problems, was solved by Newton in
consequence, it is believed, of his reflecting on the fall of an apple.
This story is not improbable, for we are on the right track for the dis-
covery of truth when once we clearly recognize “that, between great
and small, vo qualitative but only a ‘quantitative difference exists,—
when we resist the suggestions of an ever active imagination, and
look for the same laws in the greatest as well as in the ‘smallest pro-
cesses of nature. This universal range is the essence of a law of
nature, and the touchstone of the correctness of human theories.
We observe the fall of an apple and investigate the law which gov-
erns this plienomenon; for the earth we substitute the sun, and for
the apple a planet, and thus possess ourselves of the key to the me-
chanics of the heavens.

As the same laws prevail in the greater as well as in the smaller
processes cf nature, Newton’s method may be used in solving the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 143

problem of the origin of the sun’s heat. We know the connection
between the space “through which a body falls, the velocity, the vis
viva, and the generation “of heat on the surface of this globe; if
we avain substitute for the earth the sun; with a mass 350,000
greater, and for a height of a few meters celestial distances, we ob-
tain a generation of heat exceeding all terrestrial measures. And
since we have sufficient reason to assume the actual existence of such
mechanical processes in the heavens, we find therein the only tenable
explanation of the origin of the heat of the sun.

The fact that the development of heat by mechanical means on the
surface of our globe is, as a rule, not so great, and cannot be so
ereat as the generation of the same agent by chemical means, as by
combustion, follows from the laws alre sady discussed; and this fact
cannot be used as an argument against the assumption of a greater
development of heat by a greater expenditure of mechanical work.
it has been shown that the heat generated by a weight falling from a
hizht of 367 meters is only gs; part of the heat produced by the
combustion of the same weight of coal ; just as small asis the amount
of heat developed by a weight moving ‘with the not inconsiderable
velocity of 85 meters in one second. But, according to the laws of
mechanics, the effect is proportional to the square of the velocity ; if,
therefore, the weight move 100 times faster, or with a velocity of
8,500 meters in one second, it will produce a greater effect than the
combustion of an equal quantity of coal.

It is true that so great a velocity cannot be obtained by human
means; everyday experience, however, shows the development of
high degrees of temperature by mechanical processes. In the com-
mon flint and steel, the particles of steel which are struck off are
sufficiently heated to burn in air. A few blows directed by a skill-
ful blacksmith with a sledge-hammer against a piece of cold metal
may raise the temperature ‘of the metal at the points of collision to
redness. The new crank of a steamer, whilst being polished by
friction, becomes red-hot, several backen of water being required to
cool it down to its ordinary temperature. When a railroad train
passes with even less than its ordinary velocity along a very sharp
curve of the line, sparks are observed in consequence “of the friction
against the rails. One of the grandest constructions for the produc-
tion of motion by human art is the channel in which the wood was
allowed to glide down from the steep and lofty sides of Mount Pila-
tus into the plain below. ‘This wooden channel which was built
avout thirty years ago by the engineer Rupp, was nine English miles
in length; the largest trees were shot down it from the top to the
bottom of the mountain in about two minutes and a half. ‘The mo-
mentuin possessed by the trees on their escaping at their journey’s end
from the channel was sufficiently great to bury their thicker ends in
the ground to the depth of from six to eight meters. To prevent
the wood getting too hot and taking fire, “water was conducted in
many places into the channel.

This stupendous mechanical process, when compared with cosmi-

cal processes on the sun appears infinitely small. In the latter case
it is the mass of the sun which attracts, and in place of the hight of
Mount Pilatus we have distances of 100,000 and more miles ; the

144 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

amount of heat generated by cosmical falls is therefore at least
9,000,000 times greater than in our terrestrial example.

Rays of heat on passing through glass and other transparent bodies
undergo partial absorption, which differs in degree, however, accord-
ing to the temperature of the source from which the heat is derived.
Heat radiated from sources less warm than boiling water is almost
completely stopped by thin plates of glass. As the temperature of a
source of heat increases, its rays pass more copiously through diather-
mic bodies. A plate of glass, for example, weakens the rays of a
red-hot substance, even when the latter is placed very close to it, -
much more than it does those emanating at a much greater distance
from a white-hot body. If the quality of the sun’s rays be examined
in this respect, their diathermic energy is found to be far superior to
that of all artificial sources of heat. The temperature of the focus
of a concave metallic reflector in which the sun’s ight has been col-
lected is only diminished from 4 to 4 by the interposition of a screen
of glass. If the same experiment be made with an artificial and
luminous source of heat, it is found that, though the focus be very
hot when the screen is away; the interposition of the latter cuts off
nearly all the heat; moreover, the focus will not recover its former
temperature when reflector and screen are placed sufficiently near to
the source of heat to make the focus appear brighter than it did in
the former position without the glass screen.

The empirical law, that the diathermic energy of heat increases
with the temperature of the source from which the heat is radiated,
teaches us that the sun’s surface must be much hotter than the most
powerful process of combustion could render it.

Other methods furnish the same conclusion. If we imagine the sun
to be surrounded by a hollow sphere, it is clear that the mner surface
of this sphere must receive all the heat radiated from the sun. At
the distance of our globe from the sun, such a sphere would have a
radius of 215 times as great, and an area 46,000 times as large, as the
sun himself; those luminous and calorific rays, therefore, which meet
this spherical surface at right angles retain only zg4y55 part of their
original intensity.

If it be further considered that our atmosphere absorbs a part of the
solar rays, it is clear that the rays which reach the tropics of our
earth at noonday can only possess from 34395 to gpigq of the
power with which they started. These rays wien gathered from a
surface of from five to six square meters, and concentrated in an area
of one square centimetre, would produce about the temperature which
exists on the sun, a temperature more than suflicient to vaporize
platinum, rhodium, and similar metals.

A correct theory of the origin of the sun’s heat must explain the
cause of such enormous temperatures. This explanation can be
deduced from the foregoing statement. According to Pouillet, the
temperature at which bodies appear intensely white-hot is about
1,50U0° C. The heat generated by the eombustion of one kilogram
of hydrogen is, as determined by Dulong, 34,500, and according: to
the more recent experiments of Grassi, 34,666, units of heat. One
part of hydrogen combines with eight parts of oxygen to form water ;
hence one kilogram of these two gases mixed in this ratio would
produce 3,850°.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 145

Let us now compare this heat with the amount of the same agent
generated by the fall of an asteroid into the sun. Without taking
into account the low specific heat of such masses when compared with
that of water, we find the heat developed by the asteroid to be from
7,000 to 14,000 times greater than that of the oxyhydrogen mixture.
From data like these the extraordinary diathermic energy ol the sun’s
rays, the immense radiation from his surface, and the high tempera-
ture in the focus of the re(lector are easily accounted for.

The facts above mentioned show that unless we assume on the sun
the existence of matter with unheard-of chemical properties as a deus
ex machind, no chemical process could maintain the present high radi-
ation of the sun; it also follows from the above results that the chem-
ical nature of bodies which fall into the sun does not in the least affect
our conclusions; the effect produced by the most inflammable sub-
stance would not differ by jj); part from that resulting from the fall
of matter possessing but feeble chemical affinities. As the brightest
artificial light appears dark in comparison with the sun’s light, so the
mechanical processes of the heavens throw into the shade the most
powerful chemical actions.

The quality of the sun’s rays, as dependent on his temperature, is
of the greatest importance to mankind. If the solar heat were orig-
inated by a chemical process, and amounted near its source to a tem-
perature of a few thousand degrees, it would be possible for the light
to reach us, whilst the greater part of the more important calorific
rays would be absorbed by the higher strata of our atmosphere and
then returned to the universe.

In consequence of the high temperature of the sun, however, our
atmosphere is highly diathermic to his rays, so that the latter reach
the surface of our earth and warm it. The comparatively low tem-
perature of the terrestrial surface is the cause why the heat cannot
easily radiate back through the atmosphere into the universe. The
atmosphere acts, therefore, like an envelop, which is easily pierced
by the solar rays, but which offers considerable resistance to the radi-
ant heat escaping from our earth; its action resembles that of a valve
which allows a liquid to pass freely in one direction, but stops the
flow in the opposite.

The action of the atmosphere is of the greatest importance as
regards climate and meteorological processes. It must raise the mean
temperature of the earth’s suriace. After the setting of the sun,—in
fact, in all places where his rays do not reach the surface, the tem-
perature of the earth would soon be as low as that of the universe if
the atmosphere were removed, or if it did not exist. Even the
powerful solar rays in the tropics would be unable to preserve water
in its liquid state.

Between the great cold which would reign at all times and in ail
places, and the moderate warmth which in reality exists on our globe,
intermediate temperatures may be imagined; and it is easily seen that
the mean temperature would decrease if the atmosphere were to
become more and more rare. Such a rarefaction of a valve-like act-
ing atmosphere actually takes place as we ascend higher and higher
above the level of the sea, and it is accordingly and necessarily
accompanied by a corresponding diminution of temperature.

0

146 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

This well-known fact of the lower mean temperature of places of
greater altitude has led to the strangest hypotheses. The sun’s rays
were not supposed to contain all the conditions for warming a body,
but to set in motion the ‘‘substance” of heat contained in the earth.
This ‘‘substance” of heat, cold when at rest, was attracted by the
earth, and was therefore found in greater abundance near the center
of the globe. This view, it was thought, explained why the warming
power of the sun was so much weaker at the top of a mountain than
at the bottom, and why, in spite of his immense radiation, he retained
his full powers.

This belief, which especially prevails amongst imperfectly informed
people, and which will scarcely succumb to correct views, is directly
contradicted by the excellent experiments made by Pouillet at differ-
ent altitudes with the pyrheliometer. These experiments show that,
everything else being equal, the generation of heat by the solar rays
is more powerful in higher altitudes than near the surface of our
globe, and that consequently a portion of these rays is absorbed on
their passage through the atmosphere. Why, in spite of this partial
absorption, the mean temperature of low altitudes is nevertheless
higher than it is in more elevated positions, is explained by the fact
that the atmosphere stops to a far greater degree the caloriiic rays
emanating from the earth than it does those from the sun.

REMARKABLE PLUMB-LINE DEFLECTION AT COWHYTHE,
SCOTLAND.

The Banffshire Journal, Scotland, publishes the following statement re-
specting a curious local disturbance of the plumb-line, in the vicinity of
Cowhythe, now under the process of investigation by Sir Henry James,
Superintendent of the British Ordnance Survey. It says :—

Early during the present century the headland eastward of Portsoy
on Cowhythe was visited by an officer of the Royal Engineers with the
zenith sector, constructed for the Ordnance survey of this country by the
celebrated Ramsden, and from the observations made with that instru-
ment to determine the latitude of the trigonometrical station there, it was
found that the plumb-line, instead of being vertical, was deflected north-
ward of the zenith and southward of the earth’s center fully 9” of angu-
lar measure. This extraordinary and unexpected result was viewed with
great interest by the scientific world, especially by such as were employed
by their respective governments in connection with the determination of
the figure of the earth; and, by way of verification, a party of the same
corps, some 16 years back, furnished with a new zenith sector, designed
by the present Astronomer Royal, and constructed by Troughton and
Sims, visited the same spot. More observations, and to a greater number
of stars, resulted in confirming the first or earlier determination, and here
the matter rested, merely as a subject of occasional wonder to those con-
cerned, till recently the Russian Engineers, in prosecution of their national
survey, came upon a similar anomaly in the neighborhood of their ancient
capital, Moscow. On tracing it to its limit, which they have done ina
public-spirited and most creditable manner, they concluded that there
is a vacuum, or a comparative vacuum, of a great many square miles in
extent, under the earth’s surface in that country. To give some idea of the
reasoning which leads to so startling a conclusion, the reader may conceive

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 147

a wide, deep pit with a plummet suspended from its mouth at the earth’s
surface. The plumb-line will be vertical only when in the center of the pit
(er shaft, it is called in connection with mines), because it will there be
equally attracted in every direction, If carried round the side of the pit,
the line will be so deflected from the vertical as to cause all the lines, if
produced upwards, to meet in a point above the earth’s surface ; and such
are the phenomena discovered by the geodetical engineers of Russia. The
pit, it is true, is closed at its mouth, and no plumb-line can be let down
into it, but the spirit-level, being always at right angles to the piumb-line,
discloses the fact as clearly to the mind as the open pit would to the eye.
Now, whether the Cowhythe deflection is to be accounted for by a compar-
ative vacuum on the north under the Moray Firth, or by some unknown
mass of extraordinary density on the south, or partly by both, is the prob-
lem to be solved, and, doubtless, it will ultimately be solved by the staff of
astronomical observers and computers under Sir Henry James. ‘The gen-
eral result of the investigations thus far, may be briefly stated to be a
diminution of the deflection as the observers proceed southwards, but
how far it may extend is of course at preseut unknown.

THE BAROMETER AS AN INDICATOR OF THE EARTH’S ROTATION.

Mr. Pliny Earle Chase, in a paper recently read before the Ameri-
ean Philosophical Society—On the Barometer as an Indicator of the
Earth’s Rotation and the Sun’s Distance; sets forth the following
views: The existence of daily barometric tides has been known for
more than 150 years, but their cause is still a matter of dispute. It
is evident that they cannot be accounted for by variations of tempera-
ture, for Ist, their regularity is not perceived until all the known
effects of temperature have been eliminated; 2d, they occur in all
climates, and at all seasons; 3d, opposite effects are produced at dif-
ferent times, under the same average temperature. ‘Thus at St. Hel-
ena, the mean of three years’ hourly observation gives the following
average barometric heights :—

From 0° to 12" 28:2801 in. From 18° to 6° 28:2838 in.
© 19> to 0° 28-2761 “6 to18" 28-2784 «

The upper lines evidently embrace the coolest parts of the day, and
the lower ines the warmest. Dividing the day in the first method,
the barometer is highest when the thermometer is highest; but in
the second division the high barometer prevails during the coolest
half of the day.

On account of the combined effects of the earth’s rotation and revo-
lution, each particle of air has a velocity in the direction of its orbit,
yarying at the equator from about 65,000 miles per hour, at noon, to
67,000 miles per hour, at midnight. The force of rotation may be
readily compared with that of gravity by observing the effects pro-
duced by each in 24 hours, the interval that elapses between two suc-
cessive returns of any point to the same relative position with the sun.
The force of rotation producing a daily motion of 24,895 miles, and
the force of terrestrial gravity a motion of 22,738,900 miles, the ratio
of the former to the latter is 3248%5,,, or 00109. This ratio repre-
sents the proportionate elevation or depression of the barometer
above or below its mean height that should be caused by the earth’s
rotation, and it corresponds very nearly with the actual disturbance
at stations near the equator.

148 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

From Oh. to 6h. the air has a forward motion greater than that of
the earth, so that it tends to fly away; its pressure is therefore dimin-
ished, and the mercury falls. From 6h..to 12h. the earth’s motion is
greatest ; it therefore. presses against the lagging air, and the barom-
eter rises. From 12h. to 18h. the earth moves away from the air,
and the barometer falls; while from 18h. to 24h. the increasing
velocity of the air urges it against the earth, and the barometer rises.

From a relation of these forces to the power of gravitation, &e.
Mr. Chase calculates what should be the daily changes in the hight of
the barometer, and the results are found to correspond very closely
with the changes in the barometer at St. Helena, the point nearest the
equator where a long series of barometric observations have been
made. J*rom these changes in the barometric pressure he also com-
putes the distance of the sun from the earth, and obtains results agree-
ing pretty nearly with those obtained by the most approved of other
methods.

His conclusions also suggest that the revolution of the sun around
the great Central Sun must also cause barometric fluctuations that
may possibly be measured by delicate instruments and long and
patient observation. The Toricellian column may thus become a
valuable auxiliary in verifying or rectifying our estimates of the dis-
tances and masses of the principal heavenly bodies.

POPULAR EXPLANATION OF THE THEORY OF THE TIDES.

Mr. Williim Dennis, of Philadelphia, contributes to Silliman’s Journal,
March, 1864, an interesting article on the best method of presenting in
a popular form the “ Theory of the Tides ;” from which we make the
following extracts :—

After alluding to the difficulty which many persons experience, in
understanding how the tides are produced, the author says: Ifa learner
be told that the waters of the ocean are ruised by the moon’s attraction,
his first idea, in many cases, will be that they are lifted up by main
strength, as it were, the force of gravity being overcome, and haying
nowhere observed any similar effcvct of the moon’s attraction, he cannot
conceive how this can be. Nor will it tend in any degree to lessen his
perplexity if he shall see it stated (as he may) that, according to
Newton’s calculations, the disturbing power of the moon’s attraction on
the surface of the earth is less than a ten millionth part of the force of
gravity, and that of the sun’s attraction not even half as great as it. It
is therefore important to show, by a preliminary explanation, that the
waters of the ocean, in their general figure and outline, are in a stite of
perfect equilibrium or perfectly balanced, s» that, in view of tiis. and of
their vast extent and perfect freedom of motion, they m ry be compared
to a scale-beam in perfect equipoise, suspended in tiie most delice te
manner, and several thousand miles in length. To omit this would be
much the same as if one should state, in proof and illv.tration of the
attraction of gravitation, that a weight or ball at the side of a mountain
had been observed (referring to the Schehallien experiment) to be
drawn towards the mountain by its attraction, leaving the learner to
suppose that the weight wis pliced on a table or other level surfuce
instead of being suspended by a long thre:d or wire.

In explaining this condition of equilibrium the most obvious course

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 149

will be to refer to mere hydrostatic equilibrium, in which any portion
of these waters may be regarded as exactly balanced by any other con-
tiguous portion, each being maintained at its level by the pressure of the
other which supports it; consequently, if this pressure, be in the case of
either portion, lessened or increased, in the least degree, that is to say,
if the force of gravity, to which this pressure is dus, be in any degree
counteracted or added to by any other force in one of these portions and
not in the other, the lighter portion will immediately give way and be
buoyed up by the heavier, which will of course simultaneously sink: and
this would be an explanation sufficient for the purpose. But as this
stitement, though true, is not the whole truth, it may be weil to go a
step further. ‘lhe waters of the ocean do not maintain their general
figure and outline under the influence of gravity alone. On the contrary,
it is well known that, by the centrifugal force generated by the earth’s
rotation on its axis, they are kept at a higher level or greater distance
from the center on other parts of the globe than at the poles, this eleva-
tion amounting at the equator where it is greatest to about 13 miles.
They are therefore exactly suspended or poised between these two forces,
namely, the force of gravity and the centrifugal force just mentioned,
and any other force that should in the least degree add to or counteract
the influence of either of these forces would at once cause a change in
the figure of these waters. While therefore it is properly the hydrostatic
equilibrium existing between the different portions of the waters them-
selves that is disturbed by the action of the forces that produce the tides,
the statement just made may serve to show more clearly how far these
waters are, in their normal condition, from lying as a dead weight in
the depressions of the e:rth’s surface that contain them.

Again, it is stated in a familiar way, that the tide on the side of the
earth towards the moon is owing to the waters there being attracted by
it more than the mass of the earth because they are nearer, while the
tide raised at the same time on the opposite side of the earth results
from the earth being drawn away from the waters there because they
are more remote than the mass of the earth and are thus “ left behind,”
or “left heaped up;” and then we are told that, at full moon, when the
attractions of the sun and moon are opposite in direction, they conspire
to produce spring tides in the same manner as at new moon when their
attractions coincide in direction. Now, as it is not easy to see howa
body can be drawn away so as to leave any thing behind in two opposite
directions at the same time, these stitements appear quite inconsistent
and are well calculated to confuse and perplex. It is therefore important
and indeed indispensable to the communication of an intelligible view
of this phenomenon to explain, as be ore remarked, the conditions and
circumstances, or, to express it more definitely, the relations and de-
pendences existing among the bodies concerned in it: a course at once
so natural and so needful that it seems remarkable that it should not
have been more generally and more fully adopted.

As the earth is held to its curved path around the sun by the attrac-
tion of that body acting in opposition to the centrifugal force generated
by its rapid motion, in the same manner that a heavy ball or weight
attached to the end of a cord and whirled around the head is held or
restrained by the cord, we may regard it as suspended between these
two forces, and if a ball be merely suspended by a cord it will be a fair

13*

150 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

illustration of its condition; the force of gravity or weight of the ball
standing in place of the centrifugal force in the case of the earth, and
the tension of the cord representing the restraining force of the sun’s
attraction which at each instant holds the earth to the place in its orbit
which it occupies. ut as this attraction of the sun diminishes rapidly
with an increase of distance it is plain that it cannot hold ald paris of
the earth alike or equally, the nearest part being about 8,000 mules less
distant than the most remote, while of course it holds tie whole as a
mass as it would hold it were it at the mean distance of ail the parts,
that is, at the distance of the center. Consequently on the nearest part
or side towards the sun the attractive force being greater than the mean,
there will be a small excess over what is sufficient to hold this part to
its place in the orbit, and this excess acting upon the surface waters
there in opposition to the force of gravity renders them specifically
lighter and the exact equilibrium before described is mmediately dis-
turbed: these waters will therefore rise somewhat while those that are
so situated as to be unafiected by this disturbing influence will sink
simply from the giving way of those which having become lighter yield
to their superior pressure. Again on the opposite side of the earth or
that most remote from the sun, the attractive or restraining force will
be less than the mean and therefore not quite equal to the centrifugal
force, and here accordingly there will be an excess of this latter force:
but on this side it is this centrifugal force that acts in a direction oppo-
site to that of gravity, and this excess of it will consequently disturb the
equilibrium of the surface waters here in precisely the same manner as
in the other case.

Such is a statement of the general principle upon which the attraction
of the sun (or of the moon) tends to produce a tidal elevation on two
opposite sides of the earth, with intermediate depressions.

ON A NEW FORMULA FOR CALCULATING THE INITIAL PRESSURE
OF STEAM.

In a communication on the above subject, made to the British
Association, 1864, by Mr. R. A. Peacock, the author stated that some
years ago he had occasion to attempt to calculate the probable pres-
sure of steam at the highest known temperatures, and found, amongst
other things, that between the pressures of 20 lb. per square inch and
800 lb. to the square inch, the latter being the highest pressure to
which trustwortl:y experiments had been carried, the law of increase
was, approximately: ‘that the temperature of high-pressure steam of
say 25 lb. to the square inch and upwards, increases as the 4$ root
of the pressure; and that, conversely, the pressure of the steam of
say 25 ib. to the square inch and upwards, increases as the 44 power
ot the temperature. At lower pressures than about Zo Ib. per square
inch, a difierent law prevails. As it is necessary to verily the new
formula by comparison with some well-known formule and experi-
ments, the author has attempted to do so m a very voluminous table,
and graphically in a very carejuily-executed diagram. What is to be
gathered from these is, that the new formula agrees with Dr. Fair-
bairn’s experiments, from about 40 lb. to 60 lb., and very nearly with
Regnault’s, between 220 lb. and 486 lb.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 151

CURIOUS APPLICATION OF AIR EXPANSION THROUGH HEAT.

It is well known that the air confined under glass, if it receive the
direct rays of the sun, will become much heated, far beyond the tem-
perature of the rays, owing to the action of the glass in absorbing
these rays and conveying tue absorbed heat to the air within. Prof.
Mouchot, of Alencon, has made the following application of the heat
thus acquired. He takes a bell of silver, very thin and covered with
lampblack, and places over it two bells of glass, and exposes the
whole to the rays of the sun. Two curved tubes, furnished with
stopeocks, pass under the black bell, one of them to supply water
when it is required, the other to give exit to the water ; the latter ter-
minating outside in an ordinary jet d’eau orifice. Being now exposed
to the solar rays,—whose heat is transformed into non-luininous heat
in its passage through the walls of the bells, an effect that goes on
accumulating without cessation,—the air situated above the water
dilates, and by its pressure causes a jet to rise, attaming sometimes in
Mouchot’s trials a hight of nearly 33 feet. When the water is ex-
hausted, a screen placed before the sun will cool the interior and cause
the water to return, or a new supply may be introduced through the
supply-pipe. Many times the shade thrown over the apparatus by spec-
tators caused it to stop, much to their surprise. —Les dondes, Sept. 22.

EFFECT OF THE SUN ON SOIL AND AT,

The relative heating of the soil aad air by the solar rays on a high
mountain and in a plam has been examined by the distinguished trav-
eler, M. Ch. Marteus, who has reported on the subject to the Acad-
emy of Sciences at Paris. We give a few notes: A solar ray, it is
said, falling on an elevated summit, should be hotter than one which,
after traversing the lower and denser strata of the atmosphere, de-
scends into a plain, since these strata necessarily absorb a notable
quantity of the heat of the ray. All travelers who have ascended
high mountains have been surprised at the extraordinary heat of the
sun and the soil compared with the temperature of the air in the shade,
or with that of the soil during the night. The observations of MM.
Peltier, Gravais, and Marteus (two series, 125 in the whole), made on
the Fauthorn, Switzerland, between 6 A. M. and 6 P. M., continued
indifferently in fine and bad weather, give, nevertheless, for the mean
temperature of the soil during the day, 11:75 per cent, that of the air
being only 5°50. It became evident that heating of the soil during
the day was twice that of the air; but the observers were not aware
what had been the relative heating of the earth and air in the plain
below during the same period. ‘To obtain this knowledge, M. Mar-
teus selected the summit of the Pic du Midi, in the Pyrenees, and a
garden in the plain at Bagnéres. By his observations, which began
on Sept. 4%, 1864, he obtained the following results: The mean of
the temperature of the air in the shade, deduced from 20 observations
at Bagnéres, was 22°3; from the same on the Pic du Midi, 10:1 only.
The mean temperature of the surface of the soil at Bagnercs was 56:1;
on the Pic, 33°8. ‘The mean excess of the temperature of the soil over
that of the air at the two stations is then as 10 : 171,—nearly double
that on the mountain. ‘These experiments put out of doubt the great-
er calorific power of the sun upon the mountain than upon the plain,

152 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

A NEW THERMOGRAPH.

M. Marcy has addressed to the French Academy the following
description of an instrument for marking small variations of tempera-
ture: 1. The first part of this thermograph consists of a copper tube
a meter in length, the interior diameter of which is capillary, not being
more than } of a millimeter. It is open at one end, and soldered to
a hollow copper ball at the other end. 2. The second part of the
apparatus consists of a wheel resting upon knife-edges, like those of
a pair of scales, whereby a very delicate oscillation may be imparted
to it. The axle of the wheel carries a long vertical needle, marking
the degrees on a circular scale. ‘To the circumference of the wheel is
fixed a glass tube six millimeters in diameter, and bent in conformity
to the curvature of the wheel, and so situated that the middle of the
tube lies vertically underneath the needle when the wheel is at rest.
One of its extremities is hermetically closed, while the other is open.
Now, if a little mercury be poured into this tube it will settle at the
lowest point, and the interior of the tube will thus be divided into two
chambers, one closed and with air confined in it, the other open.
3. Now introduce the copper tube into the glass one, giving it of
course the same curvature, and so that its extremity may pass through
the mercury, thus establishing a communication between the hollow
copper ball and the confined chambers, and the apparatus, with a few
accessory appliances, will be complete. The end of the copper tube
dipping into the mercury should be varnished to prevent its being
attacked by the latter metal; or better still, the end might be made of
platinum. 4. To use this apparatus, put your hand to the copper
ball; the warmth thus imparted to it will dilate the air it contains, and
drive part of it into the confined chamber; the mercury will therefore
recede, and thereby make the wheel turn round its center of gravity ;
the very small are thus described will be revealed by the needle, the
difference of its present position with its previous one when at rest.
If, on the contrary, the copper ball be cooled, by water, for instance,
the air inside will be contracted, a portion of the air of the confined
chamber will rush in, and the mercury will be driven forward, the
needle turning in the inverse direction. By means of this experiment
very delicate physiological experiments on animal heat may be con-
ducted.

HEAT AND FORCE.

Whenever friction is overcome, heat is produced; and the amount
of heat so produced is the exact measure of the force extended in
overcoming the friction. Prof. Tyndall, speaking upon the subject of
‘* eat considered as a Mode of Motion,” says: ‘‘We usually put oil
upon the surface of a hone; we grease the saw, and are careful to
lubricate the axles of our railway carriages. What are we really
doing in these cases? Let us get general notions first ; we shall come
to particulars afterwards. It is the object of the railway engineer to
urge his train boldly from one place to another. He wishes to apply
the force of his steam or his furnace, which gives tension to the steam
to this particular purpose. It is not his interest to allow any portion
of that force to be converted into another form of force which would

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 153

not further the attainment of his object. He does not want his axies
heated, and thence he avoids as much as possible expending his power
in heating them. In fact he has obtained his force from heat, and it
is not his object to reconvert the force thus obtained into its primitive
form. For by every degree of temperature generated by the friction
of his axle, a deiinite amount would be withdrawn from the urging
force of his engine. ‘There is no force lost absolutely. Could we
gather up all the heat generated by the friction, and could we apply it
mechanically, we should by it be able to impart to the train the precise
amount of speed which it lost by the friction. ‘Thus every one of
those railway porters whom you see moving about with his can of
ycilow grease, and opening the little boxes which surround the car-
jiage axles, is, without knowing it, illustrating a principle which forms
the very solder of nature. In so doing he is unconsciously affirming
both the convertibility and the indestructibility of force. He is prac-
tically asserting that mechanical energy may be converted into heat,
and that whem so converted it cannot still exist as mechanical energy,
but that for every degree of heat developed, a strict and proportional
equivalent of locomotive force of the engine disappears. A station
is approached say at the rate of JO or 40 miles an hour; the brake is
applied, and smoke and sparks issue trom the wheel on which it
presses. The train is brought to rest; how? Simply by converting
the entire moving force’ wuich it possessed at the moment the brake
was applied, into heat.”

THE COOLING OF THE EARTH AND ITS CONSEQUENCES, BY DR.
J. KR. MAYER.

If we assume that our globe was once in an incandescent state (as
is now generally adinitted), it must have lost heat at first at a ver
rapid rate; gradually this process became slower; and although it has
nov yet entirely ceased, the rate of cooling must have diminished to a
comparatively small magnitude.

‘Two phenomena are caused by the cooling of the earth, which on
account of their common origm are intimately related. The de-
crease of temperature, and consequent contraction of the earth’s crust,
must have caused frequent disturbances and revolutions on its suriace,
accompanied by the ejection of molten masses and the formation of
protuberances: on the other hand, according to the laws of mechan-
ics, the velocity of rotation must have increased with tie diminution
of the volume of the sphere, or in otier words, the cooling of the earth
must have shortcned ihe length of tlie day. As the intensity of such
disturbance and the velocity of rotation are closely connected, it is
ciecar that the youth of our planet must have been characterized by
continual violent transformations of its crust anda perceptible accelera-
tion of the velocity of its axial rotation; while in the present time the
metamorphoses of its suriace are much slower, and the acceleration of
its axial revolution diminished to a very small amount.

if we imagine the times when the Alps, the chain of the Andes, and
the Peak of Teneriffe were upheaved from the deep, and compare
with such changes the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of historic
times, we perceive in these modern transformations but weak inages
of t..e analogous processes of bygone ages.

154 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

While we are surrounded on every side by the monuments of violent
volcanic convulsions, we possess no record of the velocity of the axial
rotation of our planet in antediluvian times. It is of the’ greatest im-
portance that we should have an exact knowled ge of a change in this
velocity, or in the length of the day during historic times. The inves-
tigation of this su bject by the ereat Laplace forms a bright monument
in the department of exact science.

These calculations are essentially conducted in the following man-
ner: In the first place, the time between two eclipses of the sun, wide-
ly apart from each other, is as accurately as possible expressed in
days, and from this the ratio of the time of the earth’s rotation to th
mean time of the moon’s revolution determined. If, now, the shee
vations of ancient astronomers be compared with those of our present
time, the least alteration in the absolute length of a day may be detect-
ed by achange in this ratio, or in a disturbance in the lunar revolution.
The most perfect agreement of ancient records on the movemen’s of
the moon and the planets, on the eclipses of the sun, &e. revealed to
Laplace the remarkable fact that, i the course of 25 oe the time
in which our earth revolves on its axis has not altered 315 part of a sex-
agesimal second ; and the length of a day therefore may be considered
to have been bodaiade during historic times. This result, as impor-
tant as it was convenient for astronomy, was nev ertheless of a nature
to create some difliculties for the physicist. With apparently good
reason it was concluded that, if the velocity of rotation had remained
constant, the volume of the earth could have undergone no change.
The earth completes one revolution on its axis in 86, ,400 sidereal sec
onds; it consequently oo if this time has not altered iene
Bs 500 years to the extent of <1; of a second, or z35 TVTTOT part of a
day, that during this long space of time the radius of the earth also
cannot have altered more than this fraction of its length. The earth’s
radius measures 6,569,800 meters, and ther efore its ‘length ought not
to have diminished more than 15 centimeters in 25 centuries.

The diminution in volume, as a result of the cooling-process, is
however, closely connected with the changes on the earth’s surface.
When we consider that gipeeb a day passes without the occurrence
of an earthquake or shock in one place or another, and that of the
300 active volcanos some are always in action, it would appear
that such a lively reaction of the interior of the earth against the
crust is incompatible with the constancy of its volume. This apparent
discrepancy between Cordier’s theory of’ the connection between the
cooling of the earth and Be reaction of the interior or the exterior
parts, ‘and Laplace’s calculation showing the constancy of the leneth
of the day, a calculation which is undoubtedly corre ct, has induced
most scientific men to abandon Cordier’s theory, and thus to deprive
themselves of any tenable explanati on of volcanic activity.

The continued cooling of the earth cannot be denied, for it takes
place according to the laws of nature ; in this respect the earth cannot
comport itself “differently from any other mass, however small it be.
In spite of the heat which it receives from the sun, the earth will have
a tendency to cool so long as the temperature of its interior is higher
than the mean temperature of its surface. Between the tropics. the
mean temperature produced by the sun is about 28°, and the sun

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 155

therefore is as little able to stop the cooling tendency of the earth as the
moderate warmth of the air can prevent the cooling of a red-hot ball
suspended in aroom, Many phenomena—for instanc e, the melting
of the glaciers near the bed on which they rest—show the wninter-
rupted emission of heat from the interior toward the exterior of the

earth; and the question is, Has the earth in 25 centuries actually lost
no more heat than that which is requisite to shorten a radius of more
than 6,000,000 of meters only 15 centimeters ?

In answering this question, three points enter into our calculation:
1, the absolute amount of heat lost by the earth in a certain time,
say one day; 2, the earth’s capacity for heat; and 3, the coeflicient
of expansion of the mass of the earth. As none of these quantities
can be determined by direct measurements, we are obliged to content
ourselves with probable estimates ; these estimates will car ry the
more weight the less they are formed in favor of some preconceived
opinion.

Considering what is known about the expansion and contraction of
solids and liquids by heat and cold, we arrive at the conclusion that
for a diminution of 1° in Lonaperatanes the linear contraction of the
earth cannot well be less than yg 9's¢¢. part, a number which we all
the more readily adopt because it has been used by Laplace, Arago,
and others.

If we compare the capacity for heat of all solid and liquid bedies
which have been examined, we find that, both as regards volume and
weight, the capacity of water is the greatest. Even the gases come
under this rule; hydrogen, however, forms an exception, it having
the greatest capacity for heat of all bodies when compared with an
equal weight of water. In order not to take the capacity for heat of
the mass of the earth too small, we shall consider it to be equal to
that of its volume of water, which, when calculated for equal weights,
amounts to 0° 184.

If we accept Laplace’s result, that the length of a day has remained
constant during the last 2,500 years, and conclude that the earth’s
radius has not diminished 1$ decimeter m consequence of cooling,
we are obliged to assume, according to the premises stated, that the
mean temper rature of our planet cannot have decreased ah ° in the
same period of time. ‘The volume ofthe earth amounts to 2 24650, 000,-
O09 of cubie miles. <A loss of heat sufficient to cool this mass hy?
would be equal to the heat given off when the temperature of 6,150,-
090 cubic miles of water decreases 1°; hence the loss for one day
would be equal to 6°74 cubic miles of heat. Fourier has inv estigated
the loss of heat sustained by the earth. Taking the observation that
the temperature of the earth increases at the rate of 1° for every 30
meters as the basis of his calculations, this celebrated mathematician
finds the heat which the globe loses by conduction through its crust
in the space of 100 years to be capable of melting a layer ‘of ice three
meters in thickness and covering the whole surface of the eee this
corresponds in one day to 7°7 cubie miles of heat, and in 2,500 years
to a decrease of 17 centimeters in the length of the radius.

According to this, the cooling of the. globe would be sufficiently
great to require attention when the earth’s ‘velocity of rotation is con-
sidered. At the same time it is clear that the method ers by

156 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Fourier can bring to our knowledge only one part of the heat which
is annually lost by the earth; for simple conduction through terra
Jirma is not the only way Ly which Leat escapes from our globe.

In the first place, we may make mention of the aqueous deposits of
our atmosphere, which, as far as they penetrate our earth, wash away,
so to speak, a portion of the heat, and thus accelerate tle cooling of
the globe. The whole quantity of water which fails from the atmos-
phere upon the land in one day, however, cannot be assumed to be
much more than half a cubic mile in volume, hence the cooling effect
produced by this water may be neglected im our calculation. The
. heat carried off by all the thermal springs in the world is very small
in comparison with the quantities which we have to consider here.

Much more important is the effect produced by active volcanos. As
the heat which accompanies the molten matier to the surface is de-
rived from the store in the interior of the earth, their action must
influence considerably the diminution of the earth’s heat. And we
have not only to consider here actual eruptions which take place in
succession or simultaneously at different parts of the earth’s surface,
but also volcanos in a quiescent state, which continually radiate
large quantities of heat abstracted from the interior of the globe. Hf
we compare the earth to an animal body, we may regard each volcano
as a place where the epidermis has been torn off, leaving the interior
exposed, and thus opening a door for the escape of heat. Of the
whole of the heat which passes away through these numerous outlets,
too low an estimate must not be made. To have some basis for the
estimation of this loss, we have to recollect that in 1783, Skaptar-Jo-
kul, a volcano in Iceland, emitted sufficient lava in the space of six
weeks to cover 60 square miles of country to an average depth of 200
meters, or, in other words, about 14 cubie miles of lava. The amount
of heat lost by this one eruption of one volcano must, when the high
temperature of the lava is considered, be estimated to be more than
1,000 cubic miles of heat; and tke whole loss resulting from the
action of all the volcanos amounts, therefore, im all probability, to
thousands of cubic miles of heat per annum. This latter number,
when added to Fourier’s result, produces a sum which evidently does
not agree with the assumption that the volume of our earth has re-
mained unchanged.

In the investigation of the cooling of our globe, the influence of the
water of the ocean has to be taken into account. Fourier’s calcula-
tions are based on the observations cf the increase of the temperature
of the crust of our earth, from the surface toward the center. But 2
of the surface of our globe are covered with water, and we cannot
assume a priori that this large area leses heat at the same rate as the
solid parts; on the contrary, various circumstances indicate that the
cooling of our globe proceeds more quickly through the waters of the
ocean resting on it than from the solid parts merely in contact with
the atmosphere.

In the first place, we have to remark that the bottom of the ocean
is, generally speaking, nearer to the store of heat in the interior of
the earth than the dry land is, and hence that the temperature in-
creases most probably in a greater ratio from the bottom of the sea
toward the interior of the aia than it does in our observations on

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 157

the land. Secondly, we have to consider that the whole bottom of
the sea is covered by a layer of ice-cold water, which moves constant-
ly from the poles to the equator, and which, in its passage over sand-
banks, causes, as Humboldt aptly remarks, the low temperatures
which are generally observed in shallow places. That the water near
the bottom of the sea, on account of its great specific heat and its low
temperature, is better fitted than the attnosphere to withdraw the heat
from the earth, is a pomt which requires no further discussion.

We have plenty of observations which prove that the earth suffers a
great loss of heat through the waters of the ocean. Many investiga-
tions have demonstrated the existence of a large expanse of sea, much

visited by whalers, situated between Iceland, Greenland, Norway,
and Spitzbergen, and extending from latitude 76° to 80° N., and from
longitude 15° i. to 15° W. of Greenwich, where the te mperature was
observed to be higher in the deeper water than near the surfzce,—an
experience which neither accords with the general rule, nor agrees
with the laws of hydrostatics. Franklin observed, in latitude 77° N,, -
and longitude 12° E., that the temperature of the sea near the surface
was—s°, and ata depth of 700 fathoms--6". Fisher, in latitude 80°
N. and longitude 11° E., noticed that the surface-water had a tem-
perature of 0°, whilst at a depth of 140 fathoms it stood at +8. As
sea-water, unlike pure water, does not possess a point of greatest
density at some distance above the freezing-poit, and as the water
in latitude 80° N. is found at some depth to be warmer than water at
the same depth 10° southward, we can only explam this remarkable
phenomenon of an increase of temperature with an increase of depth
by the existence of a source of heat at the bottom of the sea. ‘The
heat, however, which is required to warm the water at the bottom of
an expanse of ocean more than 1,000 square miles in extent to a sensi-
ble degree, must amount, according to the lowest estimate, to some
cubic miles of heat a day. The same phenomenon has been observed
in other parts of the world, such asthe west coast of Australia, the
Adriatic, the Lago Maggiore, &e. Especial mention shouid here be
made of an observation by Horner, according to whom, the lead,
when hauled up from a depth varying from 80 to 100 fathoms in the
mighty Gulf-stream off the coast of America, used to be hotter than
boiling water.

The facts above mentioned, and some others which might be added,
clearly show that the loss of heat suffered by our globe during the last
2,500 years is far too great to have been withcut sensible effect on the
velocity of the earth’s rotation. ‘The reason why, in spite of this ac-
celerating cause, the length of a day has nevertheless remained con-
stant since the most ancient times, must be attributed to an opposite
retarding action. _ This consists in the attraction of the sun and moon
on the liquid parts of the earth’s surface.

According to calculation the retarding pressure of the tides against
the earth’s rotation would cause, during the lapse of 2,500 years a
sidereal day to be lengthened to the extent of 3/5 of a second; as the
length of a day, however, has remained constant, the cooling effect
of — earth during the same period of time must have shortened the
day 3g of a second. A diminution of the earth’s radius to the
amount of 44 meters in 2,500 years, and a daily loss of 200 cubic miles

158 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of heat, correspond to this effect. Hence, in the course of the last
250 centuries, the temperature of the whole mass of the earth must
have decreased 5};°.

The not inconsiderable contraction of the earth resulting from such
a loss of heat, agrees with the continual transformations of the earth’s
surface by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and we agree with
Cordier, the industrious observer of volcanic processes, in considering
these phenomena a necessary consequence of the continual cooling of
an earth which is stili in a molten state in its interior.

When our earth was in its youth, velocity of rotation must have in-
creased to a very sensible degree, on account of the rapid cooling of
its then very hot mass. This accelerating cause gradually diminished,
and as the retarding pressure of the tidal wave remains nearly constant,
the latter must finally preponderate, and the velocity of rotation there-
fore continually decrease. Between these two states we have a period of
equilibrium, a period when the influence of the cooling and that of the ti-
dal pressure counterbalance each other ; the whole life of the earth there-
fore may be divided into three periods,—youth with increasing, mid-
dle age with unijorm, and old age with decreasing velocity of rotation.

The time during which the two opposed influences on the rotation
of the earth are in equilibrium can, strictly speaking, only be very
short, inasmuch as in one moment the cooling, and in the next mo-
ment the pressure of the tides must prevail. In a physical sense,
however, when measured by human standards, the influence of the
cooling, and still more so-that of the tidal wave, may for ages be con-
sidered constant, and there must consequently exist a period of many
thousand years’ duration during which these counteracting influences
will appear to be equal. Within this period, a sidereal day attains its
shortest length, and the velocity of the earth’s rotation its maximum,—
circumstances which, according to mathematical analysis, would tend
to lengthen the duration of this period of the earth’s existence.

The historical times of mankind are, according to Laplace’s calcula-
tion, to be placed in this period. Whether we are at the present mo-
ment still near its commencement, its middle, or are approaching its
conclusion, is a question which cannot be solved by our present data,
and must be left to future generations.

The continual ccoling of the earth cannot be without an influence
on the temperature of its surface, and consequently on the climate ;
scientific men, led by Buffon, in fact, have advanced the supposition
that the loss of heat sustamed by our globe must at some time render
it an unfit habitation for organic life. Such an apprehension has evi-
dently no foundation, for the warmth of the earth’s surface is even
now much more dependent on the rays of the sun than on the heat
which reaches us from the interior. According to Pouillet’s measure-
ments, the earth receives 8,000 cubic miles of heat a day from the sun,
whereas the heat which reaches the surface from the earth’s interior
may be estimated at two hundred cubic miles per diem. The heat
therefore obtained from the latter source every day is but small in
comparison to the diurnal heat received from the sun.

It we imagine the solar radiation to be constant, and the heat we
receive from the store in the interior of the earth to be cut off, we
should have as a consequence various changes in the physical con-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 159

stitution of the surface of our globe. The temperature of hot springs
would gradually sink down to the mean temperature of the earth’s
crust, volcanic ‘er uptions would cease, earthquakes would no longer
be felt, and the temperature of the water of the ocean would be sen-
sibly altered in many places,—circumstances which would doubtless
affect the climate in many parts of the world. Especially, it may
be presumed that Western Europe, with its pleasant favorable
climate, would become colder, and thus perhaps the seat of the
power and culture of our race transferred to the milder parts of
North America.

Be this as it may, for thousands of years to come we can predict
no diminution of the temperature of the surface of our globe as a
consequence of the cooling of its interior mass; and, so far as his-
toric records teach, the climates, the temperatures of thermal springs,
and the intensity and frequency of volcanic eruptions are now the
saine as they were in the far past.

It was different in prehistoric times, when for centuries the earth’s
surface was heated by internal fire, when mammoths lived in the now
uninhabitable polar regions, and when the tree-ferns and the tropical
shell-fish, whose fossil remains are now especially preserved in the
coal-formation, were at home in all parts of the world.

THE INTENSITY OF SOLAR RADIATION.

The intensity of the solar radiation at different seasons of the year
has been investigated by Father Secchi of the Observatory at Rome.
We give some results from his paper recently printed in the Comptes
Rendus of the Academy of Sciences at Paris. We have not space for
the description of the apparatus employed, and with which he made a
great number of observations during the summer, repeating them
during the perfectly clear days between Nov. 22 and Dee. 8, last,
when he exposed the apparatus to the solar radiation under the ‘dome
of the observatory until the temperature remained perfectly constant
for a considerable time. 1. During the summer, near the meridian
and near the solstice, the relative temperature varied from 14° to 11°
Cent. ; the mean being 12°06°. 2. The observations continued during
August gave 13° to 1i°: the mean 12°. 3. Those made in November
and December gave 12°5°, 11°5°, the mean not being sensibly changed.
4. When observing im summer, near the horizon, at an elevation of
30° to 34°, he found the temperature rose only to 6°5°. 5. The rapid-
ity with which the blackened thermometer rose was scarcely different
in summer from winter until 10° or 11°; but after this limit the maxi-
mum was attained sooner in summer than in winter. The results ob-
tained in the latter season were completely unexpected. Father
Secchi thought ghat observing the sun at a height of about 28°, he
would find a 1 temperature quite, or nearly equal to that which he found
in summer at 32° of elevation, the atmospheric density being nearly
the same; but it was not so. At the meridian he found nearly the
same amount as in summer, although the rays traversed a thickness of
atmosphere more than double, while this double thickness diminished
the force of the radiation, reducing it to the half. These phenomena
would be mexplicable if we did not know the absorbing power of
the aqueous vapor. Father Secchi expresses his agreement with the

160 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

results obtained by Prof. Tyndall, estimating its absorbing power at
60 times that of air.

MECHANICAL VALUE OF THE SUN’S HEAT UPON THE EARTH.

Mr. J. R. Mayer, well known for his researches in celestial dynamics,
estimates the effect of the solar radiation in mechanical work on the
total surface of the earth, as equal to 180 billions of horse-power per
minute, or in other words, the surface of our globe receives every
minute an addition of vis viva equivalent to this améunt. <A not in-
considerable portion of this enormous quantity of vis viva is consumed
in the production of atmospheric actions, in consequence of which
numerous motions are set up in the earth’s atmosphere.—Silliman’s
Journal.

BREAKING ROCKS BY FIRE.

The ancient method of breaking rocks by fire has lately been re-
vived at the Rammelsberg mine, in the Hartz Mountains. In a port-
able furnace about one and a half bushels of coke burn from 4 P. M.
to 5 A. M., when the furnace is removed and the rock left to cool,
after being sprinkled with water. About noon the face of the rock
spontaneously detaches itself; and after that a further portion is
broken. The effect of the fire extends to 8 inches, and with 14
bushels of coke from 16 to 24 ewt. of ore is obtained at half the cost
of the gunpowder process.

COOLING OF SOLIDS BY TENSION.

Mr. James Croll, in the Philosophical Magazine, directs attention
to the experiments of Dr. Joule, which proved that the quantity of
cold produced by the application of tension to solids was sensibly
equal to the heat evolved by its removal; and further, that the ther-
mal effects were proportional to the weight employed. The probable
explanation given by Mr. Croll is this: If the molecules of a body
are held together by any force, of whatever nature it may be, which
prevents any further separation taking place, then the entire heat of
such a body will appear as temperature; but if this binding force
become lessened, so as to allow further expansion, then a portion of
the heat will be lost in producing expansion. All solids, at any
given temperature expand until the expansive force of their heat
exactly balances the cohesive force of their molecules; after which
no further expansion at the same temperature can possibly take place
while the cohesive force remains unchanged. But if by some means
or other the cohesive force of the molecules become reduced, then
instantly the body will expand under the heat which it possesses,
and of course a portion of the heat will be consumed in expansion,
and a cooling effect will result.

CONDUCTION OF HEAT.

In relation to Tyndall’s researches, M. L’Abbé Laborde states that
he heated to redness one end of a thin iron bar so long that the
other end could be held without burning. When the red end was
plunged into water the other end became so hot he was compelled to
drop it. The rapid compression of the hot metal, he says, is no
doubt the cause of the elevation of temperature; but he asks if
another cause may not be suspected: for instance, the creation of
thermo-electric currents ?

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 161

NOTES ON THE VARIATIONS OF DENSITY PRODUCED BY HEAT
IN MINERAL SUBSTANCES. BY DR. T. L. PHIPSON, F. C. 8.

‘¢ That any mineral substance, whether crystallized or not, should
diminish in density by the action of heat, might be looked upon as a
natural consequence of dilation being produced in every case and be-
come permanent. Such diminution of density occurs with idocrase,
Labradorite, feldspar, quartz, amphibole, pyroxene, peridote, Sam-
arshite, porcelain and gtass. But Gadolinite, zircons, and yellow
obsidian augment in density from the same cause. This again may
be explained by assuming that, under the influence of a powerful heat,
these substances undergo some permanent molecular change. But in
this note I have to show that this molecular change is not permanent,
but intermittent, at least as regards the species I have examined, and
probably with all others. Such researches, while tending to elucidate
certain points of chemical geology, may likewise add something to
our present knowledge of the modes of action of heat. My exper-
iments were undertaken to prove an interesting fact announced
formerly by Magnus,—namely, that specimens of idocrase after fusion
had diminished considerably in density without undergoing any change
of composition ; before fusion their specific gravity ranged from 3°349
to 3°45 and after fusion only 2°93 to 2°945. Having lately received
specimens of this and other minerals brought from Vesuvius, I deter-
mined upon repeating this experiment of Magnus. I found, first,
that what he stated for idocrase and for a specimen of reddish-brown
garnet was also the case with the whole family of garnets as well as
for the thinerals of the idocrase groupe: secondly, that it is not ne-
cessary to melt the minerals ; it is sufficient that they should be heated
to redness without fusion, in order to occasion this change of density :
thirdly, that the diminished density thus produced by the action of a
red heat is not a permanent state, but that the specimens, in the course
of a month or less, resume their original specific gravities. These
curious results were first obtained by me with a species of ime garnet
in small yellowish crystals, exceedingly brilliant and resinous, almost
granular, fusing with difficulty to black enamel, accompanied with
very little leucite and crystallized in the second system. * * *
* * * * Specimens weighing some grammes had their specific
gravity taken with great care. ‘They were then perfectly dried and
exposed for about a quarter of an hour to a bright red heat. When
the whole substance of the specimen was observed to have attained
this temperature, without a trace of fusion, it was allowed to cool,
and when it had arrived at the temperature of the atmosphere, its spe-
cific gravity was again taken by the same method as before. ‘The
diminution of density being noted, the specimens were carefully dried,
enveloped in several folds of filtermg paper, and put aside in a box
along with other minerals. In the course of a month it occurred to
me that it would be interesting to take the specific gravity again, in
order to ascertain whether it had not returned to its original figure,
when, to my surprise, I found that each specimen had effectively in-
creased in density and had attained its former specific gravity. The
same experiments were made with several other minerals belonging
to the idocrase and garnet family, and always with similar results.

14*

162 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Now, what becomes of the heat which seems to be shut up in a min-
eral substance for the space ofa month? The substance of the min-
eral is dilated, the distance between its molecules is enlarged, but
these molecules slowly approach each other again and in the course
of some weeks resume their original positions. What induces the
change, or how does it’ happen “that the original specific gravity is
not acquired immediately the substance has cooled? Will the same
phenomena show itself with other families of minerals or with me-
tallic elements? Such are the points which I propose to examine m
the next place; in the mean time the observations I have just alluded
to are proof that bodies can absorb a certain amount of heat not indi-
eated by the thermometer (which becomes latent), and that this is af-
fected without the body undergoing a change of state: secondly, that
they slowly part with this heat again until they have acquired their
original densities: thirdly, so many different substances being affect-
ed by a change of density when melted or siny ply heated to “yedness
and allowed to cool, it is probable this property will be found to be-
long, more or less, to all substances without exception.”

RESEARCHES ON BOILING WATER.

Mr. William R. Grove, in a recent lecture on this subject before the
Royal Institution, after defining boiling as the complete elimination of gas
or air from a liquid and its transformation into vapor, expressed his
conviction, founded on experiments, that water never did boil as far as we
know now: what he termed an “everlasting” bubble of a gas always re-
maining behind. After showing, by means of the electric lamp, the phe-
nomena accompanying boiling water in a tube,—the rising of the bubbles of
air from the bottom,——he expressed his opinion that water could not boil
without air. He then proceeded to describe experiments made in relation
tc those of Donny, who had shown that in proportion as water is deprived
of air, the character of its ebullition changes, becoming more and more
abrupt, boiling with sudden bursts, while between each burst the water
reaches a temperature considerably above the boiling point; to do this it
was necessary to boil the water ina tube with a narrow orifice, through
which the vapor issued. If the water were boiled in an open vessel it re-
absorbed air, and boiled in the ordinary way. Mr. Grove illustrated
the difficulty experienced in entirely expelling air or gas from water by
boiling it under oil in a tube. Each bubble of steam which left the surface
of the water passed through the column of oil, becoming smaller and
smaller during its ascent, but it never condensed ‘without leaving a minute
bubble of gas, which would be found to be nitrogen. With the view of
testing the possibility of converting an absolutely pure liquid into vapor,
Mr. Grove tried bromine, but discovered in this instance that a certuin
quantity of oxygen occupied the space above the liquid bromine: and
even sulphur and phosphorus strongly heated over a close vessel eaci:
gave offa gas, We have no space to describe Mr. Grove’s experiments
in relation to the decomposition of water by heat, and the mode of action
in the gas-battery. He expressed his own opinion that hitherto simple
boiling, in the sense of a liquid being expanded into vapor by heat, without
being decomposed cr having permanent gas elimirated from it, is a thing
unknown, He stated that close inv estigations into these interesting phe-
nomena would probably lezd to most important discoveries, and expressed
his regret at not having time to spare to continue his researches.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 163

Water Boiled in Paper Vessels.— Mr. Terrill has laid before the
Chemical Society of Paris, facts proving that the paper on which a layer
of water is placed, may be heated to the highest temperature without
being changed. He states, that the non-conductibility of the paper for
heat, and the constant evaporation of the liquid through the pores of the
paper, prevent the combustion of the paper and the ebullition of the
water when heated in vessels of paper. During the experiment, there is
endosmosis of the exterior gases through the pores of the paper, and
hence, when the water contains metallic salts in solution, these are reduced
by contact with the flame, after having traversed the paper.

ON THE PRISMATIC FORMATION OF ICE IN CERTAIN ICE CAVES
AND GLACIERS.

A paper on the above subject was read at the last meeting of the
British Association by Rev. G. Browne. These ice caves, he stated,
were found in limestone rocks in various parts of France and Switzer-
land. The ice was found at depths of from 50 to 200 feet below the sur-
face, and at altitudes varying from under 2,000, to nearly 6000 feet above
the sea, and appeared in the form of columns with spreading bases
formed by the freezing of water which dropped from the roof; of ice
cascades supported by the sloping walls, and formed by water running into
the cave from lateral fissures and in other forms. In many of these
caves there was perpetual darkness; and in almost all of them a candle
would burn for hours without giving any sign of the presence of a current
of air. In visiting these caves, he was struck by the columnar appearance
presented by the fractured side of the ice, and on examining it he found
that the whole mass was composed of a vast number of prisms closely com-
pacted. He separated the prisms at the edge with the greatest ease,
and thrust them out one after the other, as one might thrust out a knot
of wood from the edge of a board. The prisms reminded him of the
construction of a stone wall, built without mortar, in a slaty country.
The irregular stones should form a compact map, and the surface of the
walls should be ground smooth. . This ice resisted the effect of heat
more successfully than ordinary ice.

ON THE CONDENSATION OF VAPORS ON THE SURFACE OF SOLID
BODIES.

A translation of Prof. Magnus’s paper on this subject appears in the
Philosophical Magazine. Our limited space prevents us giving details
of the methods of experimenting beyond the fact that the plate of the
substance examined was so placed that, by means of a bellows, dry or
moist air could be made to stream upon it, the change of temperature
being determined by means of the thermo-electric pile and a very
sensitive needle galvanometer. The Professor in conclusion, asserts,
as the results of his investigations, that it has been established that the
most various organic and inorganic bodies—wax, paraflin, glass,
quartz, mica, gypsum, and the most dissimilar salts; also the metals,
whether rough or polished, or even covered with varnish—condense
on their surface aqueous vapor from the surrounding air, which has
the same temperature as themselves, and, in consequence of this con-
densation, undergo elevation of temperature: and that when the sur-
rounding air is changed for air containing less moisture, then a part

164 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of the previously condensed moisture should evaporate and cool the
surface of the body. Results perfectly similar to those obtained with
vapor of water were obtained by using vapor of alcohol, or of ether,
or other vapors. Generalizing: thé most various vapors condense on
the surface of solid bodies in such a quantity as to cause appreciable
elevation of temperature. From this it follows that, at all times,
there is at the surface of solid bodies a layer of condensed vapor,
which is larger or smaller according to the hygrometric state of the
atmosphere. Under some conditions, this will, without doubt, exer-
cise a by no means unimportant influence.

ON THE NATURE OF HEAT-VIBRATIONS.

Prof. Tyndall, in his researches on radiant heat, has shown that
the period of heat-vibrations is not affected by the state of aggrega-
tion of the molecules of the heated body; that is to say, whether
the substance be in the gaseous, the liquid, or perhaps the solid con-
dition, the tendency of its molecules to vibrate according to a given
period, remains unchanged, the force of cohesion binding the mole-
cules together, exercises no effect on the rapidity of vibration. Mr.
James Croll, in a communication to the Philosophical Magazine, states
that he has also deduced some further conclusions regarding the nature
of heat-vibrations, which seem to be in a measure confirmed by the
experimental results of Prof. Tyndall. One of these conclusions was
that the heat-vibration does not consist in a motion of an aggregate
mass of molecules, but in a motion of the individual molecules them-
selves. Each molecule, or rather we should say each atom, acts as
if there were no other in existence but itself. Whether the atom stands
by itself as in the gaseous state, or is bound to other atoms as in the
liquid or the solid state, it behaves in exactly the same manner. The
deeper question then suggested itself, viz: what is the nature of that
mysterious motion assumed by the atom called heat? Does it consist
in excursions across centers of equilibrium external to the atom itself?
It is the generally received opinion among physicists that it does.
But we think that the experimental results arrived at by Prof. Tyn-
dall, as well as some others which will presently be noticed, are entire-
ly hostile to such an opinion. ‘The relation of an atom to its center
of equilibrium depends entirely on the state of aggregation. Now
if heat-vibrations consist in excursions to and fro across these centers,
then the period ought to be affected by the state of aggregation.
The higher the tension of the atom in regard to the center, the more
rapid ought its movement to be. This is the case in regard to the
vibrations constituting sound. The harder a body becomes, or, in
other words, the more firmly its molecules are bound together, the
higher is the pitch. ‘Two harp-chords struck with equal force will
vibrate with equal force, however much they may differ in the rapidity
of their vibrations. The vis viva of vibration depends upon the
force of the stroke; but the rapidity depends, not on the stroke, but
on the tension of the cord.

That heat-vibrations do not consist in excursions of the molecules
or atoms across centers of equilibrium follows also, as a necessary
consequence, from the fact that the real specific heat of a body re-
mains unchanged under all conditions. All changes in the specific

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 165

heat of a body are due to differences in the amount of heat consumed
in molecular work against cohesion or other forces binding the mole-
cules together. Or, in other words, to produce in a body no other
effect than a given rise of temperature requires the same amount of
force, whatever may be the physical condition of the body. Whether
the body be in the solid, the fluid, or the gaseous condition, the same
rise of temperature always indicates the same quantity of force con-
sumed in the simple production of the rise. Now if heat-vibrations
consist in excursions of the atom to and fro across a center of equi-
librium external to itself, as is generally supposed, then the real
specific heat of a solid body, for example, ought to decrease with the
hardness of the body, because an increase in the strength of the force
binding the molecules together, would in such a case tend to favor
the rise in the rapidity of the vibrations.

These conclusions not only afford us an insight into the hidden
nature of heat-vibrations, but they also appear to cast some light on
the physical constitution of the atom itself. They seem to lead to
the conclusion that the ultimate atom itself is essentially elastic.
For if heat-vibrations do not consist in excursions of the atom, then
it must consist in alternate expansions and contractions of the atom
itself. This again is opposed to the ordinary idea that the atom is
essentially solid and impenetrable ; but it favors the modern idea that
matter consists of a force of resistance acting from a center.

EFFECT OF THE COLLISION OF THE MOON AND THE EARTH.

If we imagine the moon in the course of time, either in conse-
quence of the action of a resisting medium, or from some other cause,
to unite herself with our earth, two principal effects are to be dis-
cerned. A result of the collision would be, that the whole mass of
the moon and the cold crust of the earth would be raised some thou-
sands of degrees in temperature, and consequently the surface of the
earth would be converted into a fiery ocean. At the same time, the
velocity of the earth’s axial rotation would be somewhat accelerated,
and the position of its axis with regard to the heavens, and to its own
surface, slightly altered. If the earth had been a cold body without
axial rotation, the process of its combining with the moon would have
imparted to it both heat and rotation. It is probable that such pro-
cesses of combination between different parts of our’ globe may have
repeatedly happened before the earth attained its present magnitude,
and that luxuriant vegetation may have at different times been buried
under the fiery debris resulting from the conflict of its now component
masses.—J ft. Mayer, Silliman’s Journal.

THE DISCRIMINATION OF ORGANIC BODIES BY OPTICAL
PROPERTIES.

Prof. G. G. Stokes recently delivered a lecture before the Royal
Society ‘‘On the discrimination of organic bodies by their optical
properties,” especially by means of the apparatus of Kichhoff and
Bunsen, whereby the spectrum of any substance may be produced
with the greatest facility,—thus affording a test for the presence of
certain substances in compounds, showing their chemical identity, &e.
By means of the electric lamp and the large apparatus of' the society

166 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

he was able to exhibit the results of his experiments. He referred to
the relation of all substances to light and to their different refractive
and dispersive powers, as manifested in mixtures, pointing out how
exceedingly available color is in determining the chemical character
of a body. He first exhibited, by way of contrast, an impure spec-
trum produced by the introduction of a piece of silver in the light,
and then the pure, continuous spectrum of the lamp itself. He then
showed the varied action of the different rays of the pure spectrum,
caused by putting in the flame a peculiar salt of copper,—some rays
being cut off and others rendered opaque. He next took two bodies
much alike in color,—diluted port wine and diluted blood,—and exhib-
ited their totally different spectra. In the spectrum of blood certain
rays were cut off or obscured, while two distinct red bands were man-
ifest,—these last appeared in the spectra of several mixtures which
contained blood, and even in heematine, an extract of that fluid. By
examining the spectrum of salts of iron it was shown that the color of
the blood is not due to the presence of that mineral ; it was suggested
that it is probably derived from the complex nature cf its crystals.
Prof. S. stated that he had selected blood as a striking example of the
way in which the chemical character of bodies may be tested by their
relation to light.

OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE METALS.

M. Quincke’s paper on this subject, published in tie Piilosophical
Magazine is devoted to the transmission of light through thin films of
metal, with especial relation to the researches of Faraday, who rem:ried
the irregularity of the intensity and color of the light in the same
metal. This, M. Quincke says, would have been attributed to the
presence of holes in the plate, if Faraday had not demonstrated the
property of a thin metallic film, viz: that, when placed obliquely
between two crossed Nicol’s prisms, it illuminates the plate and acts
‘just like a glass plate.” This property, M. Quincke thinks, was
first observed by Mr. Warren De La Rue, with regard to gold leaf,
and afterwards by Faraday in thin transparent piates of platinum,
palladium, rhodium, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, zinc, and aluminum.
Faraday also found that by employing rhodium, polarized light, and
an arrangeinent of sulphate of lime plates, other colors than green
could be transmitted by the gold leaf. The details given by M.
Quincke in regard to his own experiments on this subject are too pro-
found for our pages and we only give a part of his results. ‘‘ Light,”
he says, ‘‘ penetrates to an appreciable depth into the metal, and
must also be reflected back from the interior; for the great difference
of phase of the components of retlected light seems tobe only ex-
plicable on the supposition that the reflected ray has to pass through
the boundary between the metal and the medium laying adjacent to
it.” M. Quincke endeavored to determine directly the velocity of
light throuzh metals, and obtained the remarkable result that lght
travels faster through gold and silver than through a vacuum. He
says, finally, that he was unable to detect any difference of phase in
the components of the light which had previously passed through
transparent substances such as plates of giass. ‘* Therefore the an-
ology between metals and transparent bodies, whichJamin has proved
for refracted light, is not maintained for retlected ght.”

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 167

PHENOMENA PRODUCED BY REVOLVING DISCS.

Prof. Dove, some years ago, obtained a lustrous appearance by the
binocular combination of ecometrical figures executed in black and
white, or in complementary ‘colors : and in 1861 Prof. D. Rood showed
that swfaces without drawings produced the same effect, publishing
his experiments in Silliman’s Journal. The latter gentleman, i in the

same journal, has just published some additional experiments from
which we extract the following: ‘‘A circular disc of white card-
hoard, nine inches in diameter, with half its surface painted of a dead
Liack, was caused to rotate by clock-work at varying rates, while
the bright light from a window fell upon it. A stereoscope, from
which the eround glass had been removed, was provided with a

card-board in which were cut two square apertures, at such a distance
asunder that their binocular union could be easily effected, and while
the dise was at rest the stereoscope was arranged so that through the
right hand aperture some of the white portion of the disc was seen,
and through the left-hand aperture a part of the blackened surface.
Cn communicating rotary motion to the discs, a more or less rapid
alternation of black and white was the result. It was found that with
slow rates of rotation the strength of the luster was not impaired,
and it was just as plainly pereeptible with more rapid rates. But
when the disc was made to revolve so fast that its surface seemed cov-
ered by a uniform tint of gray, and the so-called flickermg had
ceased, no luster, in the proper sense of the term, could be seen, the
appearance being exactly that which is presented toa single eye under
similar circumstances.’

ON THE INVISIBILITY OF NEBULOUS MATTER.

The following communication on the above subject has been made
to Silliman’s Journal, by D. Trowbridge, Esq.

It has generaily been supposed that if nebulous matter, in the proper
sense of the w ord, or cosmical vapor, exists in the heavens, and within
reach of our telescopes, it will be visible to the eye with suitable opti-
eal aid. It is proposed to show in this article, with some plausibility,
that this is an erroneous idea, except in some particular cases.

Comets are the only celestial objects, whose physical constitution
is approximately understood, that afford us anything like a distinct
notion of what nebulous matter is. By far the ereater proportion of
these bodies are composed of materials so extremely rare that the
solar rays can penetrate completely through the denser portion of their
bodies, and the light in some cases seems to suffer scarcely any dim-
inution in intensity. Yet these bodies, which perhaps would weigh
at the surface of the earth but a few ounces, or but a few pounds, are
distinctly visible with the smallest optical aid, and even, under favor-
able circumstances, with the naked eye. Sir John Herschel says, of
this class of comets, that the most unsubstantial clouds which float in
the higher regions ‘of our atmosphere, must be looked upon as dense
and massive bodies in comparison with the almost spiritual texture of
these light bodies. A cloud composed of materials so rare, and whose
distance from us did not exceed fifteen or twenty miles, would scarce-

168 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ly be visible. A comet, however, will be visible when its distance
from us is many millions of miles.

What conclusion can we draw from these facts? Do they not indi-
cate that comets do not shine wholly by reflected light? On the 3
of July, 1819, Arago made an attempt to analyze the light of comets,
by applying his polari iscope to the great comet of 1819. The instru-
ment showed unmistakable signs of polarized light, and, therefore, of
reflected sunlight. Similar observations. on Halley’ s comet, in 1835,
more clearly indicated the existence of polarized light. ‘‘ These beau-
tiful experiments still leave it undecided, whether, in addition to this
reflected solar light, comets may not have light of their own. Even in
the case of the planets, as, for instance, in Venus, an evolution of in- :
dependent light seems very probable.” *

‘The variable intensity of light in comets cannot always be ex-
plained by the position of their orbits, and their distance from the
sun.”+ After mentioning Arago’s observations, with his polariscope,
on Halley’s comet, in 1835, Mr. Hind Says: ‘ Still, the variation in the
intensity of light is not universally such as should follow if the comet
merely reflected the sun’s rays under certain permanent conditions,
and we are under the necessity of looking to physical causes inherent
in the body itself for an explanation of some few observations which
appear irreconcilable with the theory of reflected solar light.”£ ‘*The
molecular condition of the head or nucleus, so seldom possessing a
definite outline, as well as the tail of the comet, is rendered so much
the more mysterious from the fact that it causes no refraction.Ӥ

I have collected these facts together to show that reflected solar
light cannot completely explain, at present, all the phenomena of the
light of comets. Besides the above observations, it may be added
that the visibility of comets in the daytime, and even when near the
sun, also indicates a light-generating process in the comet; for other-
wise we must suppose “them capable of reflecting more light than the
planets. Indeed, it is difficult to see how a body can maintain its
gaseous or nebulous state without being kept at a high temperature,
and therefore, having within itself a hght-producing cause. Assum-
ing, then, that there is a light-cenerating process that is active in
comets, let us see what use can be made of it, and whether it will
afford us any light on the subject of the visibility of nebulous matter.

It is now a well-established fact that the heads of comets contract
in dimensions as they approach the sun. This was first noticed by
Hevelius, but was not established till many years afterwards. What
is the cause of this condensation of cometary matter as the comet ap-
proaches the sun? Whatever may be the cause of it, we know that it
has a great effect on the visibility of the comet. Is it not possible
that the solar rays, acting chemically or otherwise, excite in the
comet those principles which cause it to send out in greater abundance,
direct light? We know that a comet will increase in brightness with
great rapidity as it approaches the sun; and also deercase in brilliancy
with equal rapidity 1 in general, as it recedes from the sun, so that the
fainter comets disappear in the best telescopes, when, their apparent
dimensions only being considered, they ought to remain visible. The

* Cosmos, vol. i. pp. 90, 91. Bobn’s edition. t Cosmos, vol. i. p. 91
t Hind’s Treatise on Comets, p. 24. § Cosmos, vol. iv. p. 548.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, 169

dilatation of the cometary volume seems to prevent the comet from
sending out much light, either reflected or direct.

Applying these principles to nebule proper, we must conclude that
nebulous vapor is necessarily too diffuse, has too little density to be
visible, when far removed from us. According to this, then, nebule
can not in general be visible, unless they are considerably condensed,
and perhaps actually converted into stars. It is perfectly evident that
the luminosity of nebulous vapor must be very feeble, even where the
light is inherent. The process of condensation only, then, can render
nebulous matter visible through our telescopes. Will not this account
for the fact that higher telescopic power resolves previous nebulx ?
It is very doubtful whether our best telescopes will ever be able to
bring into view any real nebulae. According to the Nebular Hypothe-
sis, we should not expect to find any laree collection of nebulous
matter in the vicinity of our system, either. planetary or stellar, and
ages may pass before our system, in its progress through space, will
come near any of the small patches that may exist, so as to render
them visible to us.

Jote. —The influence of the magnetic power of the sun, may be a
potent cause to render comets visible as they approach the great cen-
tral luminary. It isa fact derived from observation, that the sun af-
fects the magnetic needle, and that its period is closely connected with
the period of the solar spots. It is also known that the awroras influence
the needle; and that they are subject to the same law of periodicity
as the solar spots, and thus seem to be connected with solar influence.
The effect of the auroras is evidently light-producing.

ERRORS IN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL
ORIGIN.

A memoir on this subject, by M. Faye, has been recently read be-
fore the Academy of Sciences at Paris. In these observations the
human organism no doubt attains by practice to a wonderful degree
of precision; yet the eye, observing by means of a microscope, ‘and
the ear by means of a pendulum which’ vibrates 500 times a second
will sometimes fail; and small errors in time lead to great ones in
calculation. The human machine is subject to variations due to the
disturbances incident to the processes of digestion and circulation,
and to nervous fatigue. M. Faye proposes to substitute for the
senses, or at least bring to their aid, the two great discoveries of our
epoch,—photography and the electric telegraph. He was led to take
up the subject in consequence of M. M. Plautamour and Hirsch detect-
ing errors, Which might be ascribed to physiological causes, in their
researches to determine the difference of longitude between the ob-
servatories of Geneva and Neufchatel. The possibility of suppressing
the observer has been fully demonstrated at Paris, some years ago,
in experiments made under M. Faye’s own direction. ‘The process,
which is of extreme simplicity in regard to the sun, becomes more
delicate, but not impracticable, when applied to the stars. It consists
in substituting for the eye of the observer a photographic plate, and
in registering electrically the moment at which light is admitted into
the dark chamber applied to the meridian glass. M. Faye thus ob-
tained ten observations of the sun in twenty “seconds.

15

170 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

THE MICROSCOPE.

It is hardly correct to say that what eyes are to the blind the micro-
scope is to those who see. There is really no comparison between
those who ean not see and those who see only alittle. The microscope
is, in fact, an instrument which assists the’ sight in the same way as
short- sighted persons are enabled to see more correctly than those
who are e long-sighted. The nearer we can place our eyes to an object
and see it, the better we see. If one person. sees clearly at eight
inches, and another sees as plainly at six inches, the latter will see
more of the object he looks at. The glasses of the microscope ena-
ble all observers to bring their eyes closer to an object when it is seen
than is possible for the natural eye. Hence the great object of all
microscope-makers is to construct glasses that shall enable the obsery-—
er to get his eye as near as possible to the object. ‘Twenty-five years
ago it was considered the highest attainment of microscope-making,
that achromatic instruments were made which would work with
lenses that were brought within $ of an inch of the object looked at.
Since then, the machinery of the microscope has been greatly im-
proved, and one of the great anneEOSCORG: making houses of London
is producing object-glasses of ;!; of an inch focus. Just in propor-
tion as these glasses are produced i in working order, do new conditions
of matter unfold themselves to the observer. It is hardly possible to
conceive of any instrument producing more wonderful results than the
microscope, which, by enabling us to see better, develops the extraor-
dinary powers that are possessed by the human eye for adding to the
facts which constitute the basis of those general laws which are the
sciences of natural history and physiology.

Although the microscope reveals the minuter conditions of the
existence of mineral bodies, there is a repetition in the forms of these
bodies, and a resemblance between the forms seen by the naked eye
and those revealed by the microscope that renders this instrument. of
less use in the inorganic kingdom than in the organic kingdom of
nature. It is in the detection of minute forms of plants and animals,
and in the unraveling of the minute structure of the organs of ani-
mals and plants, that the microscope has rendered so much service to
science. A whole creation of minute plants and animals, having dis-
tinct organs and performing varied functions, has been added to our
knowledge by the aid of the microscope. Let any one turn to a sys-
tematic account of the vegetable kingdom, and it will be seen that
there are whole families of plants recognized as members of that
kingdom whose existence can only be made out by this instrument.
Such are the diatoms, the desmids, and the volvoces. Amongst the
conterve, the fungi, the fuci, are whole tribes which could only have
been thus discovered. If we turn to the animal kingdom, a like series
of families is there found. The rhizopods, infusorial animalcules,
and other families are only known by the aid of the microscope, whilst
small forms of larger groups have been abundantly demonstrated.
The fascination of observing and describing new species has devel-
oped itself here, as in other “departments of ‘hatural history, and hun-
dreds, nay, even thousands, of new species of microscopic plants and
animals have been discovered and described within these last 20 years.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 171

Nor have these discoveries been the mere amusement of dilettanti
philosophers. The observation of these minute forms of life has led
to a more correct and satisfactory knowledge of the nature and forms
of higher and more visible creations, and there are no botanists or
zoologists in the present century who, like Linnzeus in the last, would
reject the microscope as interfermg with the natural history and
arrangement of those creations which are visible to the naked eye.

But the bringing to light of new forms of animal and vegetable life
is perhaps the least half of what the microscope has done for science.
Tn permitting observations to be made on the minute structure of the
parts of plants and animals, it has given a deeper insight into the
laws by which they exist and the nature of the special functions they
are destined to perform. Let any one compare the physiology of
25 years since, as given in the manuals of that day, with what it is now.
It will be seen at once how vast has been the progress made. Al-
though Malpighi first saw blood-cells, the researches of modern
microscopists have given correctness and precision to our present
knowledge of that great source of animal life, the blood. It is to
the start given by Schleiden, through his microscopical researches gin
1838, in the nature of vegetable cells, so ably followed by Schwann,
in a series of kindred researches in animal cells, that the great science
of histology owes its existence. It is in the changed nature of the
cells of the living tissues that the pathologist looks for the exposition
of the true nature of disease ; and although the slovenly practitioner
of medicine may not be aware of the cause, the views of disease,
which are modifying the practice of medicine every day, are mainly
owing to the formation of more correct theories of disease under the
influence of the microscope.

The history of the manufacture of this instrument is curious. Not
above 25 years ago, when the London Microscopical Society was first
established, it was customary for the President of that Society, in his
Annual Address, to state the number of microscopes manufactured
by the great houses in London in the course of the year. This prac-
tice has long been discontinued, as many houses turn out microscopes
by the thousand in the course of a single year. By this demand, too,
the instrument has been vastly reduced in price, and the great opti-
cians who still manufacture microscopes that cost £100 when com-
plete, sell instruments of great excellence at the low price of five
guineas.—London Atheneum.

MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF IRON AND STEEL.

At the British Association, 1864, Mr. H. C. Sorby exhibited ‘‘ Micro-
scopical Photographs of various kinds of Iron and Steel.” He first
described the manner in which the sections of iron and steel are pre-
pared for microscopical examination. The final process consists in
acting with very dilute acid on level and perfectly polished surfaces,
showing no scratches, even when examined with the microscope.
The acid, acting on the different constituents, or on different crystals,
ina variable manner, causes the structure to be exhibited in very
great perfection, by various colors or tints. He then explained the
precautions required in taking enlarged photographs direct from the
prepared surfaces of iron or steel, and exhibited a series photographed

173 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

under his directions, illustrating the various stages in their manufac-
ture. In the case of cast iron, the photographs show the graphite
and several different compounds of iron carbon, as well as pure iron.
In wrought iron, the character of the crystals and the arrangement of
the slag are well seen, and the change in the constituents and in the
structure, which occurs when it is converted into steel, is very strik-
ing. Other photographs show the change in structure produced by
melting and hammering steel. Some meteoric irons have a structure
very different from that of any of these artificial irons, as shown by
another photograph. On the whole, then, when such sections are thus
examined, we may see most clearly the cause of those peculiarities in
physical structure which give rise to the different kinds of fracture
characteristic of different sorts of iron and steel, and which are so inti-
mately connected with those properties which make each variety more
or less suitable for special purposes.

SCULPTURE BY COLORED LIGHT.

A special attraction of a recent evening assembly at the Duchess
of AV ellington’s in London, was a peculiarly novel al fresco exhibition,
consisting of the lighting-up under various effects of color of a num-
ber of choice works of sculpture arranged in the garden at the rear of
the mansion. These works included copies of Gibson’s ‘‘ Venus,”
Thorwaldsen’s ideal rendering of the same goddess, Powers’s ‘‘ Greek
Slave,” and others. The illumination of these beautiful works of art,
including the foliage of the trees and shrubs amid which they were
placed, was under the superintendence of Professor Pepper, who ap-
propriated to this purpose large voltaic batteries arranged on Grove’s
principle, which were connected with lamps and parabolic reflectors,
constructed by M. Serrm of Paris. The colors applied to this object
were vivid shades of red, amber, blue, green, and white, the ever-
changing and floating beams of colored light on the various groups
producing a most charming effect.—London Times.

ARTIFICIAL RAINBOW.

The Cosmos speaks highly of J. Duboseq’s contrivance for imitating
arainbow in a French theatre. He employs an electric light made by
100 Bunsen elements. Its rays are transmitted in a parallel direction
by means of a lens through a slot in the form of an arc, to a double
convex lens of very short focus, from which the rays pass to a prism,
and emerge with sufficient divergence to make an effective rainbow,
during the ordinary illumination of the stage, on a screen 18 or 20 feet
distant.

THE COLOR OF TROUT.

Mr. St. John adverts to the wonderful capability which trout pos-
sess of adapting their color to the color of the water in which they are
placed. ‘* Put a living black burn trout,” he says, ‘‘ into a white
basin of water, and it becomes, within half an hour, of a light color.
Keep the fish living in a white jar for some days and it becomes ab-
solutely white, but put it into a dark-colored or black vessel, and al-
though on first being placed there the white-colored fish shows most”
conspicuously on the black ground, in a quarter of an hour it becomes
= dark-colored as the bottom of the jar, and consequently difficult to
be seen.”

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 173

We can entirely confirm the truth of this statement, and a striking
illustration is to be found in two lochs in the northwest of Sutherland-
shire, separated only by a low ridge of land. In the one—which is
full of dark moss water—the trout are nearly black; in the other,
where the bed of the loch is limestone, and the water so clear that
you can see the bottom where it is 40 or 50 feet deep—they are al-
most as silvery in color as sea trout. Loch Brora, too—an other
loch in the same country—affords a further corroboration of the truth
of Mr. St. John’s observations. That loch is divided into three
sheets of water, united by narrows, where the lake assumes the ap-
pearance of ariver. In the upper part, where the bottom is sand
and fine gravel, the trout are clear in color, with bright vermilion
spots ; in the central division, where the bottom is not so clean, and the
water darker, they are also dark in color, and their spots are not so
bricht; while in the lowest division of the lake, where the bottom is
very muddy, the trout are quite black and ugly, though of a larger
size.—Fraser’s Magazine.

MOTIONS OF THE EYE IN RELATION TO BINOCULAR VISION.

The motions of the eye can be compared to those of our arm. We
can raise and lower the visual line, we can turn it to the left and to the
right, we can bring it into every possible direction throughout a certain
range—as far, at least as the connections of the eyeball permit. So far
the motions of the eye are as free as those of the arm. But when we
have chosen any determinate direction of the eye, can we turn the eye
round the visual line as an axis as we can turn the arm round its longitu-
dinal axis? This is a question the answer to which is connected with a
curious peculiarity of our voluntary motions. Yes: there exist muscles
by the action of which those rotations round the visual line can be per-
formed. But when we ask, can we do it by any act of our will? We
must answer “No.” We can voluntarily turn the visual line into every
possible direction, but we cannot voluntarily use the muscles of our eye
in such a way as to turn it round the visual line. Whenever the di-
rection of the visual line is fixed, the position of our eye, as far as it
depends upon our will, is completely fixed and cannot be altered.

A NEW STEREOSCOPE WITHOUT LENSES.

In the Nuovo Lincei. M. Volpicelli describes a new stereoscope in-
vent'd by him in April, 1854. This stereoscope is without mirrors
or lenses, and consists of a rectangular horizontal box, whose propor-
tions are as follows: hight 11 centim. (4°5 inches); depth 20 centim.
(8 inches) ; length 62 centim. (24°8 inches). The two stereoscopic pictures
are placed against the back of the box; in the front of the box two holes
are hored opposite the middle of the pictures. Two diaphragms made
of plates of blackened wood or card-board, of the hight of the pictures,
are made to rotate around vertical axes corresponding to the front
edges; and are so adjusted that they allow the right eye to see only the
left picture, and the left eye the right picture. It follows that the rays
by which the pictures are seen cross each other within a certain space in
the middle of the box, and in this space, after a little effort, the eyes see
the object in relief.

15*

174 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

If after the relief is seen the diaphragms are turned around their axes,
so as to rest against the sides of the box, and no longer intercept the
view—the eyes ‘still continu’ ng to view the picture in relief—a very inter-
esting phy siological phenomenon will be seen. ‘There will be seen three
pictures—one in the middle of the instrument, in relief, the others along-
side, and by no effort of will can the middle picture be made to disap-
pear. If the pictures be of complementary colors, they will be seen of
their own colors, and the relief will be white. pase who are not accus-
tomed to observation of optical phenomena will require some attention
to see the relief at first, but it will generally be found by looking atten-
tively at about the middle «of the box. When once seen it may be
recovered without any difficulty —Cosmos.

DESCRIPTION OF A NEW OPTICAL INSTRUMENT CALLED THE
“ STEREOTROPE,” BY W. T. SHAW, OF ENGLAND.

This instrument is an application of the principle of the stereoscope
to that class of instruments variously termed thaumatropes, phanta-
scopes, phenakistoscopes, &e., which depend for their results on ‘‘ per-
sistence of vision.” In these instruments, as is well known, an object
represented on a revolving disc, in the successive positions it assumes
in performing a given revolution, is seen to execute the movement so
delineated ; in the stereotrope the effect of solidity is superadded, so
that the object i is perceived as if in motion and with an appearance of
relief asin nature. The following is the manner in which I adapt to
this purpose the refracting form of the stereoscope.

Having procured eight stereoscopic pictures of an object—of a
steam engine for example—in the successive positions it assumes In
completing a revolution, I affix them, in the order in which they were
taken to an octagonal drum, which revolves on a horizontal axis be-
neath an ordinary lenticular stereoscope, and brings them one after
another into view. Immediately beneath the lenses, and with its axis
situated half an inch from the plane of sight, is fixed a solid cylinder,
four inches in diameter, capable of being moved freely onits axis. This
cylinder, which is called the eye-cylinder, is pierced throughout its
entire length (if we except a diaphragm in the centre inserted for ob-
vious reasons) by two apertures, of such a shape, and so situated rela-
tively to each other, that a transverse section of the cylinder shows
them as cones, with their apices pointing in opposite directions, and
with their axes parallel to, and distant half an mch from, the diame-
ter of the cylinder. Attached to the axis of the eye-cylinder is a
pulley, exactly 4 the size of a similar pulley affixed to the axis
of the picture-drum, with which it is connected by means of an end-
less band. ‘The eye-cylinder thus making four revolutions to one of
the picture-drum, it is evident that the axes of its apertures will re-
spectively coincide with the plane of sight four times in one complete
revolution of the instrument, and that, consequently, vision will be
permitted eight times or once for each picture.

The cy linder is so placed that at the time of vision the large ends
of the apertures are next the eyes, the effect of which is that when
the small ends pass the eyes “the axes of the apertures, by rea-
son of their eccentricity, do not coincide with the plane of sight, and
vision is therefore impossible. If, however, the position of the cylin-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 175

der be reversed end for end, vision will be possible only when the
small ends are next the eyés, and the angle of the aperture will be
found to subtend exactly the pencil of rays coming from a picture,
which is so placed as to be bisected at right angles by the plane of

sight. Hence it follows that, the former arrangement of the cylinder
being reverted to, the observer looking along ‘the upper side of the
aperture will see a narrow strip extending along the top of the pic-
ture; then, moving the cylinder on and looking along the lower side
of the aperture, he will see a similar strip at the bottom of the picture ;
peer prently, , in the intermediate positions of the aperture, the other
parts of the picture will have been projected on the retina. The
width of these strips is determined by that of the small ends of the
apertures, which measure ‘125 inch; and the diameter of the large
ends is 1°5 inches, the lenses being distant nine inches from the pic-
tures. The picture-drum being caused to revolve with the requisite
rapidity, the observer will see the steam engine constantly before him,
its position remaining unchanged in respect of space, but its parts
will appear to be in motion, and in solid relief, as in the veritable ob-
ject. ‘The stationary appearance of the pictures, notwithstanding the
fact of their being in rapid motion, is brought about by causing their
corresponding parts to be seen, respectively, only in the same part of
space, and that for so short a time that while in view they make no
sensible progression. As, however, there is an actual progression
during the instant of vision, it is needful to take that fact into account,
—in order that it may be reduced as far as practicable,—in regulating
the diameter of the eye-cylinder, and of the apertures at their small
ends.

ON ARTIFICIAL ILLUMINATION.

Prof. Frankland, in a recent lecture before the Royal Institution,
London, gave the following as the conditions necessary for a good
and satisfactory artificial light. In the first place, the light should
contain all colors ; that is, it should be capable of showing every va-
riety of tint which will be exposed to it. This is the case with the
carbon electric light, and that of candle, oil, and gas flames, since the
light from these sources contains all the colors of the spectrum. But
there are many colors which the mercurial electric light is incapable
of showing, since they are absent from its spectrum. It was also
shown that all pure colors, except yellow, were perfectly black, when
seen by the light of fir sadcscent sodium vapor. Solar heht, although
in so many respects superior to artificial light, is defective as reg ards
the showing of colors. There are certain colors which cannot be seen
by solar light, —tor instance, all the color which can be seen by the
sodium flame is quite invisible by daylight. If a pigment could be
made of such a yellow color as to be of exactly the shade of that pro-
duced by the sodium flame it would be absolutely black in solar light.
But our pigments are all mixed colors, and no such pigment which
thus entirely disappears in the light of the sun is known. But in ad-
dition to this tint of the sodium flame, there are hundreds of other
tints which are also not present in the solar spectrum, and which are
consequently invisible in daylight.

Although solar light is inferior to artificial light in the complete-

176 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ness of its colors, yet, in another respect—in the comparatively small
amount of heat which accompanies its rays in proportion to the light
itself—it is greatly superior to every sort of artificial light. The
great amount of heat in our artificial lights is absolutely useless. It
is nearly all intercepted by the humors “of the eye.

DISCOVERY IN PHOTOMETRY.

It is the established practice in measuring the light of illuminating
gas to compare the light of a five feet Argand burner with that of a
spermaceti candle burning 120 grains an hour; and when the candle
used burns less or more than the 120 grains it has been regarded as a
matter of course that the light would vary in the same propor tion. But
scientific evidence recently given before the committee of the House
of Lords, in England, on the bill of the Birmingham Gas Company,

respecting the illuminating power of the gas supplied by the two ex-
isting companies in that town, has shown ‘that a candle burning a large
quantity of spermaceti, yields more light in proportion to the ‘material
consumed than a candle burning a small quantity. The Journal of
Gas Lighting (London), after giving a full history of the case,
remarks :—

*«'These experiments demonstrate that the illuminating power of
burning candles increases in a greater ratio than the direct propor-
tion of the consumption of spermaceti. It has long been knowa that
the illuminating power of gas nicreases in a greater proportion than
the quantity consumed, but we believe it had not been previously
known that the same law operates in the combustion of candles. It
is evident, from the results of the photometrical experiments with the
gas supplied by the Birmmgham companies, that no correct conclu-
sions can be drawn from proportionate quantities of either the gas or
spermaceti consumed, inasmuch as the amount of light is influenced
by the quantity of combustible matter burned within a given time.
It has been suggested that some rule may be established by which the
influence on the light of the flame, produced by the relative quantities
of spermaceti undergoing combustion, may be determined and allowed
for." Thus; itis probable that—after the proportions have been
reduced to 120 grains consumed per hour—if one per cent for each
grain of spe rmaceti the candle may consume per hour less than 120
grains, be deducted from the indic ations of the photometer, and if one,
per cent be added to similar indications of the photometer for each
grain the candle may consume more than 120 grains, the results
attained would not be far from the truth. But until the subject has
been further investigated it would not be safe to assume positively
that such a scale of compensation would be correct. The new light
which these experiments have thrown on photometry, shows the neces-
sity for the adoption of some more certain standard of comparison
than a spermaceti candle, the consumption of which it is impossible
to regulate with accuracy. The Carcel lamp—which is similar to the

‘moderator’ lamp—is adopted generally on the Continent as the
standard of comparison, and it possesses these advantages,—the con-
sumption of oil may be regulated with the greatest nicety, while its
flame approaches in luminosity that of nine candles. At the same
time, it must be observed that the lamp-wick requires great attention,

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. Lee

and the shape and size and position of the chimney have much more
influence in effecting perfect combustion than the chimney of a gas-
flame. The difficulty of attaining a correct indication of the illamin-
ating power of gas ‘by comparison with other flames points to the
adoption of the atmospheric test, invented by Professor Erdmann.
By that instrument, neither photometers s, nor candles, nor blackened
chambers are required, the illuminating power of the gas being deter-
mined by the quantity of atmospheric air mixed with a given quantity
of gas before it ceases to give white light. Such a simple method of
testing the illuminating power of gas ‘has peculiar claims to favor at
the present time, as the diflic ulty of attainmg accurate results by pho-
tometrical observations has been shown by the Birmingham experi-
ments to be even greater than before supposed.”

Increasing the Lili minating Power of Gas.—The editor of the San-
itary Reporter (England), in an article on testing gas, says: ‘*‘ The
following are distinct modes of increasing the power of an argand
burner consuming ordinary coal-gas: is Contracting the central
opening to about “45 to 5 of an inch diameter. 2. By a perforated
dise round the burner, and resting on the gallery which supports the
burner. 3. By interposing a thin piece of paper or metal to con-
tract the passage of air through the central opening. 4. By placing
a little contracted cap on the top of the chimney. Now, every one
of these contrivances will considerably increase the power of the
argand burner. Moreover, all these contrivances act on the simple
principle of diminishing the velocity of the current of atmospheric air,

and thus allowing the minute par ticles of carbon, which the gas con-
tains, to be longer suspended in the flame.”

ON THE CHEMICAL AND PHOTOMETRICAL TESTING OF ILLUM-
INATING GAS.

At the last meeting of the British Association, Prof. W. B. Rogers
of Boston, described the instraments and methods which have been
lately adopted i in the gas inspection organized by lawin the State of
Massachusetts, comprising the measurement as well as testing of ¢ gas.
Connected with the former of these objects, an account was given
of the adjustments of the standard measure for gauging easholders, —_
of a universal clamp for meter-conne .etions,—and of an appendage
combining a delicate thermometer and Dee ars gauge for the inlet
and outlet of the meter, and by which the rate of delivery is accu-
rately adjusted. For chemical testing, the eudiometer, consisting
of 2 graduated tube, with c ylindrical enlargement, is permanently
inclosed in a wider tube full of water, which maintains the temperature
nearly uniform. The mouth of the graduated tube is furnished with
alioliow ground stopper, for holding the several liquid absorbents
used in the successive experiments. With this apparatus it is easy
to determine the percentage of carbonic acid, of illuminating hydro-
carbons, of oxygen, and of carbonic oxyde ; after which the hy drogen
and light carbureted hydrogen are ascertained by explosion, “by
means of an instrument consisting mainly of two glass tubes, united
below by a long loop of rubber-tube, being a modification of Frank-
land’s s apparatus. For determining the sulphur, an improved arrange-
ment is used, in which the stream of water supplying the Liebig’ s

178 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

condenser is made to convey a stream of air, mingled with ammonia,
into the condensing tube some inches above the flame of the burning
gas. To secure a ‘larger and more constant unit of illumination than
the candle commonly used, a lamp burning kerosene, with a flat wick,

is employed, in which, by 3 means of a bridge of platinum wire, the
flame may be maintained of constant size, and giving a light equal to
about seven candles. This is supported on a balance of peculiar
construction, giving the consumption during the experiment. Prof.
Rogers had found that even the small amount of carbonic acid which
in some gas-works is allowed to remain in the gas produces a sensible
reduction of the light. This effect, varying with the streneth of the
illuminating gas, was found to range from three to nearly five per cent
of the illuminating power for each per cent of the impurity : 58 per cent
of carbonic acid, although it did not prevent’ combustion, made the
flame so dim as to be without effect on the photometer.

. LUMINOUS AND OBSCURE RADIATIONS.

Professor Tyndall, in a paper in a recent number of the Philosophical
Magazine, after referring to the discoveries of the Herschels and Mel-
loni, respecting the obscure red rays of the end of the spectrum, says :
Dr. Akin inferred, from the p.ucity of luminous rays evident to the
eye, and a like paucity of extra-violet rays, as proved by the experiments
of Dr. Miller, that the radiation from a flame of hy drogen must be
mainly extra-red: and he concluded from this that the clowing of
platinum wire in a hydrogen flame, as also the brightness of ‘the Drum-
mond light in the oxy hy drogen flame, was produced by a change in the
period of vibration.” Dr. "Tyndall adds, that by a different mode of
reasoning he arrived at the same conclusion. ‘The paper referred to, con-
tains a description of his numerous experiments demonstrating the char-
acter of the radiation from a hydrogen flame under a v ariety of conditions,
the apparatus employed, and the’ “results obtained. We select a few of
the results. Fifty experiments on the radiant heat of a hydrogen fla :.e
make the transmission of its rays through a quantity of iodine, which is
perfectly opaque to light, 100 per cent. ‘To the radiation from a hydrogen
flame the dissolved iodine is therefore perfectly transparent. It is also
sensibly transparent to the radiation from solid bodies heaved under in-
candescence, and to the wbscure rays emitted by luminous bodies. Prof.
Tyndall found that, dividing the radiation from a platinum wire raised to
a dazzling whiteness by an electric current into 24 equa: parts, one of
these parts is luminous and 23 obscure ; dividing the radiation from the
most brijliant portion of a flime of c:al-gas into 25 equal parts,—one of
these parts is luminous and 24 obscure: dividing the radiation from the
electric light emitted by carbon points end excited by a Grove’s battery of
40 ce'ls into 10 equal parts, one of these parts is luminous and nine obscure.
We have space only for the following remarkable conclusions: “Ona
tolerably clear night a candle flame can be readily seen at the distance
of a mile. The intensity of the electric tight used by me is 650 times
that of a good composite candle, and as the non-luminous radiation from
the coal points which reaches the retina is equal to twice the luminous,
it follows that at a common distance of a foot the energy of the invisible
rays of the electric light which reach the optic nerve, but are incompetent
to provoke vision, is 1,300 times that of the light of a candle. But the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 179

intensity of the candle’s light at the distance of a mile is less than a 20,-
000,000 of its intensity at th» distance of a foot: hence the energy
which renders the candle perfectly visible a mile off would have to be
multiplied by 1,800 & 20,000,000, or by 26,000,000,000, to bring it up
» the intensity of that powerles s radiation which the eye receives from

the electric light at a good distance. Nothing, I think, could more for-
cibly illustrate the special relationship which subsists between the optic
nerve and the oscillating periods of luminous bodies. The nerve, like a
musical string, responds to the periods with which it is in accordance,
while it refuses to be excited by others of vastly greater energy, w hich
are not in unison with its own.”

Opacity and Transparency.—W hat is the physical meaning of opac-
ity and transparency as regards light and radiant heat? The “luminous
rays of the spectrum differ “from the non-luminous ones, simply in period.
‘The sensation of light is excited by waves of ether, sHoEfer and more
quickly recurrent than those which fall beyond the extreme red. But
why should iodine stop the former, and allow the latter to pass? The
answer to this question no doubt is, that the intercepted waves are those
whose periods of recurrence coincide with the periods of oscillation possi-
ble to the atoms of the dissolved iodine. The elastic forces whith sep-
arated these atoms are such as to compel them to vibrate in definite pe-
riods; and, when these periods synchronize with those of the etheral
waves, the latter are absorbed. Lriefly defined, then, transparency in
liquids as well as in gases, is synonymous with discord, while opacity is
synanyimous with accord between the periods of the waves of ether and
those of the molecules of the body on which they impinge. All ordina-
ry transparent and colorless substances owe their transparency to the dis-
cord which exists between the oscillating periods of their molecules, and
those of the waves of the whole visible spectrum. The general discord
of the vibrating periods of the molecules of compound bodies with the
light-giving waves of the spectrum may be inferred from the prevalence
of the property of transparency in compounds, while their greater har-
mony with the extra-red periods, is to be inferred from their opacity to
the extra-red rays. Water illustrates this transparency and opacity in
the most striking manner. It is highly transparent to the luminous rays,
which demonstrates the incompetency of its molecules to oscillate in the
periods which excite vision. It is as highly opaque to the extra-red un-
dulations, which proves the synchronism of its periods with those of the
longer waves.”—Prof. Tyndall.

. THE PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE SUN.

In a paper on the above subject, read before the British Associa-
tion at its last meeting, the author stated that he had recently, with
improved instruments, taken many occasions of scrutinizing the a aspect
of the sun’s disc in regard to spots, facule, and the gener ral porosity
of the surface. For tracing the path of a spot across the dise a
Kilner eye-piece was employ ed with five engraved tra nsit lines the
intervals being equal to 10° in the central part “of the sun’s circumfer-
ence. In drawing, negative eye-pieces of the ordinary kind were
sometimes employed ; at others, a peculiar kind arranged by himself,
with powers varying from 75 to 300; the best performances being
usually between 100 and 200; the higher powers, however, being oc-

180 ANNUAL OF S£CIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

casionally useful towards the limb of the sun. He described the
bright streaks or facule as of diversified form oe distinct outline,
either entirely separate or coalescing in various ways into ridges and
network. When the spots became invisible near Tih limb, the un-
dulated shining ridges and folds still indicated their place , being more
remarkable thereabout than elsewhere on the limb, though almost
everywhere traceable in good observing weather. In a diagram
made on the 29th of March last, facule are shown in the most brilliant
parts of the sun. ‘They appear of all magnitudes, from barely dis-
cernible, softly -gleaming spots a thousand miles long, to continuous,
complicated, and heaped ridges 40,000 and more miles in length, and
: ,000 to 4,000 miles and more broad. They are never regularly

urched, and never found in straight bands, but always devious and
ee undulated, like clouds in the evening sky or very distant
ranges of snowy mountains. When minutely studied, the ridges ap-
pear prominent i cusps and depressed into hollows. By the frequent
meeting of the bright ridges, spaces of the sun’s surface are included
of various magnitudes, aad forms somewhat corresponding te the
areas and forms of the irregular spots with penumbre. Ridges of
this kind often embrace and inclose a spot, though not very closely,
the spot appearing more conspicuous from the surrounding brightness ;
but sometimes there appears a broad white platform round the spot,
and from this the white crumpled ridges pass in various directions.
Towards the limb the ridges appear nearly parallel to it : further off this
character is exchanged for indeterminate direction and lessened dis-
tinctness ; over the rest of the surface they are less conspicuous, but ean
be traced as an ir regular network, more or less designated by that struc-
ture which has been designated as porosity. The facule preserve their
shapes and position, withino visible change during a few hours of obser-
vation, and probably for much longer periods. ‘They do not appear to
project beyond the general ¢ ircular outline of the sun, a circumstance
which the author explains without denying that they actually do rise
above the general surface, whether as clouds or mountains, to either
of which they may be truly likened. In respect to porosity, the
author had also devoted much time to a scrutiny of the interspaces
between the facule towards the limb and the genera] surface
towards the intericr of the dise. ‘Towards the interior the ground
acquires more evident lights and shades, a sort of granulation difficult
to analyze. Under avorable conditions for observation, there ap-
pears little or none of that tremor and internal motion described by
earlier observers. What is then seen is a complicated surface of im-
terrupted lights and the limits of which appear arched or straight or
confused, according to the case; and the indeterminate union of
these produces sometimes faint lumincus ridges, the intervals filled
up by shaded interstices and insulated patches of illuminated surface.
The best resemblance to these complicated small surfaces of light and
shade he had been able to procure was a dise of a particular sort of
white paper placed near the eye-end of the telescope, and seen by
transmitted light. Heaps of small fragments of white substances, not
so uniform in : figure or equal in size as rice grains, might also be
suggested for comparison.

Origin of Solar Spots.—Sir John Herschel, in anarticle in The Quar-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 18l

terly Journal of Science throws out the suggestion, whether the orig-
inal exciting cause of solar spots may not be found in the circulation
of an elliptic ring of planetary matter, in a state of division sufficiently
minute to elude telesc opie vision, having a major axis such as would
correspond to an average period of 114 years, and an eccentricity
such as would bring its perilelion within the region in question ; the
matter of the ring being unequally distributed over its circuit with a
minimum and a maximum following by an interval, somewhat less
than its semi-circumference. By assuming certain conditions as to
the constitution of such aring, and the extent of deviation from an
exact quantity in the periodic times of its Aewing Search elements, he
finds that not only the shorter period of 114 years in the recurrence
of spots first determined, but also the longer one of 56 years insisted
upon by Dr. Wolf, and various other changes, are susceptible of expla-
nation.

Chemical Action of Rays proceeding from different Parts of the
Sun’s Dise.—M. Secchi having shown that the heat radiated from the
center of the sun is nearly double that from its borders, and that the
equatorial regions are somewhat hotter than the polar, and various
observers having noticed a great difference in luminosity between the
center and the edge of the disc, Mr. H. E Roscoe now reports to the
Royal Society some experiments made by means of photographic paper
relative to the chemical action of rays from various parts of the sun’s
disc. From the results of one day, it appears that the che emically
active rays at the center have from three to five times the intensity
of those at the edge. This difference, being greater than the dif-
ference in the heat from the same portions, 1s “accounted for by the
greater absorption effected by the solar atmosphere on the more refran-
gible rays. Is also appeared the chemical brightness of the south
polar regions was considerably greater than that of the north polar
regions, ‘while about the equator the brightness was between that of
the poles. Mr. Roscoe, in connection with Mr. Baxendell, proposes
to carry out, upon the same methods, a series of observations relative
to the amount of chemical brig htness of the sun’s dise, and hopes be-
fore long to furnish further details.

Gold in the Sun.—The observers at Kew, England, believe that
they have noticed the coincidence of several bright oold lines with
corresponding dark lines in the solar spectr um from which the pres-
ence of that metal may be inferred in the sun’s atmosphere. Hf con-
firmed by further observations, this will be an important addition to
our present knowledge.

Spectrum of Carbon. —Coal, charcoal, and the diamond cannot be
vaporized by heat when isolated, yet M. Morrin, of Versailles, find-
ing the same spectrum produced by the common gas flame, cyanogen,
carbonic oxyde, carbonic acid, ascelytene, and the hydrocarbons gen-

arally, he concludes this result must be due to the only element com-
mon to all these compounds, carbon, and in a state of vapor. It
follows th: at the theory of the candle- flame must be somewhat modified.

‘he base of the flame, being blue, is the vapor of carbon preserved
from combustion, but kept at a very high temperature by the enve-
lop of hydrogen, the more. combustible “element of the gaseous car-

bides from the decomposition of wax, the hydrogen alone uniting
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182 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

with the oxygen of the air. Above the blue part comes the luminous
part, produced by the passage of the carbon from the gaseous to the
solid state, giving out in the passage a considerable amount of heat.
The black cone surrounding the wick of the candle is formed of gas-
eous carburets of hy drogen, which only burn in the upper part of “the
flame where they come in contact with oxygen. Hydrogen being not
very combustible but very subtle, diffusive, and penetr ating, its com-
bustion takes place under conditions in which it would be mnpossible
for other gaseous bodies or vapors to burn. Ifa candle be gently
moved so that the flame may be inclined and the air allowed to come
in contact with the vapor of the hydrocarbons which surround the
wick, we see the hydrogen take fire, and above the flame appears the
blue vapor of the car bon. The latter can only exist alone, and gives
its luminous reactions when it has near it the high temper ature | pro-
duced by the combustion of hydrogen. When cyanogen is burnt in
a current of oxygen, the high temperature produced by the interior
of the flame makes the vapor of carbon intensely hot, and hence very
luminous : consequently its spectrum is very luminous.

PHOTOGRAPHING NATURAL COLORS.

It has often been asserted; but never yet substantiated, that the pho-
tographic process was capable, under certain mysterious processes, of
reproducing the colors of the spectrum, and not merely the gradations of
black to which. we are accustomed. A few years ago, an American, a
Mr. Hill, startled the scientific world—at least that part of the world
which knew anything avout photography—by insisting that he could
produce any color in ‘the photographic image. Practicaily speaking, this
announcement came to nothing. Now we find in Milan, something at
least has been recently done for the furtherance of the idea. Suppose it
be required to color the photograph of a man, ina black coat, whose
hair and beard are fiir, and whose figure is projected on a white back-
ground, slightly shaded off; the process of the inventor is as follows:
‘Ine photograph, taken by daylight, lies in a basin of water; it is in
the dark, and subsequent operations are performed by candle light.
Two solutions are at hand, one, consisting ef one gramme of chloride of
gold and ten of acetate of soda, dissolved in 1,000 grammes of water;
the other B, consisting of 20 grammes of hyposulphite of soda dissolved
in 100 grammes of water. There are besides two more basins of water,
and a quire of blotting paper. The photograph is taken out of the water
and put between the leaves of blotting paper: it is then laid flat ona
pane of glass, and the whole surface, except the face and hands, receives
with a water-color brush a coating of solution B. By this means the
parts subjected to the action of the gold soon change their tints into
black. ‘The photograph is then put into clean water again and left there
for a few minutes, during which the operator prepares a second pho-
tograph if required. The former one being taken out, is put in solution
B, where it stays for a few minutes, and is then washed and rinsed as
usual. Now, as the time of immersion will influence the depth of color
by successive immersions, an orange-colored cravat will be obtained in

one minute, a coffee-colored great coat in five, violet-colored trousers in
ten, and a black coat in 30 minutes, while the hyposulphite of soda, or
solution B, gives color to the flesh and hair. Hence certain colors,

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 183

though not quite the natural ones, may be obtained, which is a decided
step in advance of what has been previously achieved.—Practical Me-
chanic’s Journal.

PHOTO-SCULPTURE.

Every now and then, says the London Art Journal, we hear of
**new discoveries ” that turn out to be impossible, or are only the
result of confused reports. We are generally, therefore, rather in-
clined to doubt than to believe. -It is not surprising that the world
should have received with a certain degree of incredulity the announce-
ment that sculpture could be performed by means of photography.
However marvelous was the discovery of photography itself, we
could understand how the image of the camera obscura could leave
its impression upon a chemical surface susceptible of being affected
by the very light which makes it apparent to our senses. We were
aiterwards enabled to understand, although with more difficulty,
how the stereoscope could raise two flat photographic pictures into one,
presenting the illusion of relief. In fact, this seemed to us the only
sculpture, or at least the only illusion of sculpture, which might pos-
sibly be the result of a process of photography, and the word photo-
sculpture to us could not convey any other meaning; for it seemed
utterly impossible that photography could transfer a block of clay or
any other materials employed by sculptors, into a real plastic form.
But however incredible this may appear on first consideration, we
lately have had a tangible proof of the reality of a new and most ex-
traordinary application of photography, in fact, of its capability of
imparting to a block of clay the transfer in relief of the photographic
image.

The inventor of this new process is M. Willéme of Paris, and his
establishment in that city, where the operation is practically carried
out, is constructed on a large piece of ground, and includes the
various reception rooms, galleries, and operating rooms necessary to
carry out a photographic business on an extensive scale. The part
which is devoted particularly to the photo-sculpture consists of a
large circular room about 50 feet high and 40 feet in diameter, sur-
mounted with a cupola, all of glass, to admit the greatest possible
amount of light. All round the circular wall supporting the cupola
are, at equal intervals, 24 round holes of about three inches in
diameter, being the apertures of 24 camer obscure placed be-
hind ihe wall in a kind of dark corridor surrounding the building ;
for we have to explain that 24 photographs of the person sitting
ia the center of the large round operating room are to be taken
at the same moment, in order to supply the modeling apparatus
with 24 different views of the person whose sculpture is to be ex-
ecuted. By a very simple and ingenious contrivance, the 24 camere
obscure, in each of which has been placed a prepared plate, are
open and shut at the same moment. The sitting is consequently
as short as if only one portrait was taken, and, after a few se-
conds in the required fixed position, the sitter is no more wanted.
His bust or his statuette will be achieved without his presence,
in another part of the establishment, where the modeling is per-
formed by the very ingenious process by which the block of clay is to

184 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

take consecutively, all round, the various outlines of eath of 24
photographs. This is done in the following manner: The 24
photographs are placed in their proper order, in the outer circle of
alarge vertical wheel, which can revolve at will merely by the im-
pulse of the hand; so ‘that each photograph can be placed, as long
as and whenever it is necessary, before the glass of a magic lantern ; ;
and the image of this photograph is projec ted upon a screen of cvound
elass, at the distance which will give the desired dimension. The
modeler, having prepared his block of clay, and placed it close to th
ground glass, on a stand. capable of turning upon its axis, holds in
his hands an ingenious instrument known as the pantograph, and
used extensively ‘(before it was in part superseded by photography)
for enlarging or reducing, or copying upon the same scale, plans and
drawings, maps and diagrams. It consists of a series of bars of wood
or metal, jointed together so as to form a system of ‘‘ similar trian-
eles ;” one of the bars carries at its extremity a tracing point or style,
and another a pen or pencil, the whole turning freely on a center car-
ried by a third bar. When the style is euided over the outline of a
drawing, the pencil moves with a perfectly. similar motion over a sheet
of paper placed beneath it, and so produces a perfect fac-simile of the
original. Its application to photo-sculpture is as follows: Photograph
No. Lis placed in a magic lantern, and an enlarged image of it pro-
jected upon a screen. Near to this screen is a small circular table,
turning upon a pivot, and divided round its circumference into 24
parts. Upon this little table is placed a block of modeler’s clay,
of sufficient size to allow of a bust or statuette of the required dimen-
sions being cut from it; and between it and the screen 1s mounted a
large e pantogra 2ph, furnished at one end with the customary style or
tracer, but with a sharp tool or cutter occupy ing the place of the pen
or pencil. Photograph, pantograph, and clay block being adjusted to
their proper positions, the operator carefully ‘guides the sty le over the
outline of the enlarged photograph, and the cutting tool, exactly fol-
lowing every motion of the style, cuts the clay into a profile exactly
corresponding to that of the ‘photograph, and hence exactly similar
to the contour of the original model or sitter as seen from the point
occupied by camera No. ‘1. When this is done, the next eede
is brought ‘before the magic lantern, the block of clay is turned 3 L- of
the whole circle marked on its stand, another profile is imparted
by the pantograph to the block of clay, and so on until the block has
received all round the 24 outlines of the 24 photographs. The oper-
ation is finished as far as it relates to the employment of the photo-
grapas. ‘The bust or the statuette produced by this means is a like-
ness which, although in a somewhat uneven state, no one can mistake.
It is now necessary to smooth by hand, or by a tool, all the slight
roughness produced by the various cuttings, and to soften down and
blend the small intervals between the outlines or profiles.
This last operation requires the assistance of an artist, and is the
only part of the whole process that demands any more e skill than is re-
quired in the most ordinary mechanical operations. The time occu-
pied is wonderfully short, compared with the tedious process of model-
ing a bust from the life, to say nothing of the disagreeable operation,
often resorted to, of taking a plaster cast of the face to serve as a

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 185

basis for the sculptor’s work. ‘The bust or statuette once obtained
can be easily multiplied by the ordinary means in use for producing
plaster images, or it may be copied into marble or bronze to suit the
taste and purse of its possessor. By varying the mechanical arrange-
ments it may be produced of colossal size, or diminished to an inch in
hight. By slight modifications of the process, the portrait may be
flattened to the proportions of a medallion or bas relief, or cut into a
seal or die, and at the will of the operator may even be distorted to
yield a grotesque figure or caricature. The editor of the London
Art Journal describes the specimens of photo-sculpture he has exam-
ined, as well executed, and possessing, mdeed, all the appearance of
photographic productions, so correct were the forms and proportions,
and so natural was the expression of countenance ; they were, in fact,
the very ‘‘carte de visite” raised in solid form. ‘The specimens in
question, represented the actor, Roger, in the character of the ‘*Proph-
et,” the Annamite ambassador, the Prince of Aquila, a lady sitting in
a Gothic chair, a boy, a girl, and various others. There was also
one medallion representing the head, half-size, of the Duc de Morny ;
all were very perfect in execution.

IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Photographic Ghosts.—Photographers are acquainted with three
or four different ways in which secondary images may appear in pho-
tographs. In the first place, when a sensitive glass plate has served
its turn as a negative —as many paper positives as may be needed
having been taken from it—the film of collodion or other prepared
surface is removed from it, and it may then be used for a wholly new
photograph. But it is found that, unless great care be used, some
faint traces of the former picture still remam, and these may appear
as a sort of ghostly attendant upon the figure forming the second
picture. One photographer, in endeavoring to utilize an old plate
which had fulfilledits duty as a negative of the late Prince Consort,
could not wholly erase the image, wash or rub as he might; there was
always a faint ghost of the prince accompanying any subsequent pho-
tograph taken on the same plate. Dr. Phipson relates that a friend
of his received at Brussels a box of glass plates, quite new and highly
polished, each wrapped in a piece of the Independance Belge news-
paper; a lady sat for her photograph, taken on one of these plates,
and both the photographer and the lady were astonished to see that
her likeness was covered with printed characters, easily to be read,
—the ghost of a political article in fact. In this ease actinic rays
had done their work before the glass was exposed tothe camera,
By another mode of manipulation, a photographer may produce a
ghost-like effect at pleasure : a sitter is allowed to remain in the focus
of the camera only half the time necessary to produce a complete
photograph; he slips quickly aside, and the furniture immediately
behind him is then exposed to the action of the light; as a conse-
quence, a faint or imperfectly developed photograph of the man ap-
pears, transparent or translucent, for the furniture is visible appar-
ently through his body or head. With a little tact, a really surpris-
ing effect may be produced in -this way. As a third variety, one
negative may be placed in contact with another, and a particular kind

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186 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of light allowed to pass through it for a time; there results a double
picture on the lower negative, one fainter than the other. It is known,
moreover, to the more scientific class of photographers, that if the
lens in the camera is imperfectly curved at the surfaces, spots of
cloudy light may appear in the photograph, having a semi-ghostly sort
of effect.—London Photographic Journal,

Photography and Physiology.— The following communication, which
appeared in the London Journal of Photography, Oct. 28, 1864, is
vouched for by the Editor as entirely reliable: ‘‘ Some time since my
wife was engaged preparing albumen paper in the silver-bath, and in a
moment of abstraction pressed two of her fingers on her forehead,
being at the time about to add another ‘olive branch’ to the family.
Soon after the birth of the baby we were surprised and annoyed at
noticing that the child, whenin a strong light, exhibited two distinct
impressions similar to silver stains before fixing ; and the strangest
part of the matter is that these disappear as night comes on and reap-
pear as daylight arrives.

«« These : stains, although at present serving as a sort of actinometer to
me, will prove a sad disfigurement to my daughter's appearance in
daylight, and we much regret they were not impressed in some less
conspicuous place.

I am, ete.”

Wothly’s Improvement in Photography —Jacob Wothly, a Ger
man photographer, has made an improvement in photographic printing
which promises to be of much importance. Instead of preparing
the paper, upon which the print is to be made, with albumen, he
employs collodion; and, instead of the nitrate of silver as a sensitizer
he uses one of the double salts of uranium. This salt is mixed with
the collodion, and the only operation required is to pour the collodion

upon the sheet of paper and hang it up to dry.

Concerning this discovery, the London Times? of October, 1864,
remarks :—

‘<The new process which has been discovered in Germany by Herr
Wothly, and from him has been named ‘ Wothlytype,’ discards nitrate
of silv en and discards albumen. For He former it uses a double salt
of uranium, the name of which is at present kept secret; for the
latter it uses collodion. We have explained that by the ordinary
method, the paper to be printed is sized with albumen, and the sur-
face of the albumen receives the silver preparation, which is sensitive
to the light, and shows the printed image. The paper thus does not
receive the image, but is, as it were, a mere bed on which hes the
material that does receive it. By the substitution of collodion for
albumen, a different result is reached. In the first place, the film of
collodion on the paper yields a beautiful smooth surface on which to
receive the image, and the result is, that pictures are printed upon it
with wonderful ‘delicacy. In the second place, the ecollodion, before
it is washed upon the paper, is rendered sensitive by being combined
with the salt of uranium. The sensitiveness, therefore, is not on the
surface alone of the collodion film, it is in the film itself, and so com-
pletely passes through it, that even if it be peeled away from the
paper, the image which it receives will be found on the paper beneath.
‘The vehicle thus employed is not less superior to all others yet known

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 187

for receiving the negative image on paper, than it is to all others
yet known for receiving the negative image on glass. The metallic
salt which combines with it has also rare merits.

‘‘Tn the first place, the manipulations are very simip!e and easy—
far more so than-in the silver printing process,—and thus the labor
saved is considerable. Next, the paper, when rendered sensitive for
printing, or ‘sensitized,’ as the photographers say, keeps periectly
for two or even three weeks,—an immense boon to amateurs, wo can
thus have their stock of printing paper ‘ sensitized’ for them; waere-
as, at present, when the paper receives the sensitive preparation, it
has to be used almost immediately, and will not keep more than a day
or two. Thirdly, the color and tone obtained are very various,
including every shade that can be got by the ordinary silver plan ;
but, in addition, it has the advantage of being able to print any nun-
ber of impressions of exactly the same color, and of doing away
with all such difficulties as show themselves in mealiness and irregu-
lar toning. The precision of result is a great point. By the silver
process, the results are never certain, and even when the print comes
out perfect from the frame, the subsequent process of washing and
fixing go seriously to alter it. Lastly, the permanent character of
the new method is very remarkable. Nobody seems to know exactly
why the old silver process gives way—whether it be on account of the
albumen, or the nitrate of silver, or the hyposulphite of soda.
We only know, that so many of the prints prepared by the old
method fall away, that no reliance can be placed in those which seem
to stand firm.”

Since the publication of the above, the process has been patented
in Great Britain, and made public in all its details. These are given
in the specification as follows :—

To one pound of plain collodion add from 14 to three ounces of
nitrate of uranium and from 20 to 60 grains of nitrate of silver.
The paper is prepared for printing by simply pouring the above sen-
sitized collodion upon its surface, and hanging the sheets to dry in
the dark. The printing is accomplished by exposing the paper to
light under the negative in the usual manner, and for about the usual
time required for silvered paper; print until the desired depth is
reached. Itis not necessary, as in the ordinary process, to print
the positive to a greater intensity of color than the fixed picture is
intended to have. After printing immerse the picture in a bath of
acetic acid for about ten minutes, or until that portion of the salts not
acted upon by the light has been dissolved. ‘The picture is now fixed
and finished by thorough washing or rubbing with a sponge or brush,
or by rinsing in pure water; then dry. Changes in the tone of the
picture to suit the taste may be made before drying, by using a bath
of chloride of gold, or of hyposulphite of soda.

Improvement in Photographic Printing. —An improvement in pho-
tographic printing, brought out during the past year by Mr. Joseph
Swan of England, is characterized by photographers on both sides
of the Atlantic as something entirely in advance, as regards results of
any thing hitherto attained to. The following is substantially the pro-
cess :— ; ;

‘‘ Gelatin, in combination with a salt of chromium, becomes insolu-

188 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ble in water after a short exposure to sunlight. This principle is capa-
ble of application to photography in many ways, one of the most ob-
vious of which is to attach to paper a suitable tissue, and cover it with
bichromated gelatin having a pigment mixed with it; expose this tis-
sue to light, under a negative, and then wash away those portions of
the coating not affected by the lieht. The exposed parts. having
become insoluble, remain attached to the paper, and so produce a pic-
ture. The mixture of gelatin consists of one part of a solution of
bichromate of ammonia (containing one part of the salt in three parts
of water), two parts gelatin, one part sugar, and eight parts of water,
with coloring matter added to produce the depth of tint required.
The pigment used is Indian ink, either alone or mixed with indigo and
carmine.

The tissue is formed by coating a plate of glass or other smooth
surface, — first with collodion, and then with the colored gelatin
mixture above described: the two films unite, and, when dry, may be
separated in a sheet from the surface they were formed on. By this
means a pliant tissue is obtained, which may be handled like paper,
and may either be used in large sheets or cut up into pieces of any
convenient size. ‘The tissue, prepared in the manner described, cor-
responds with sensitive paper, and, with proper appliances, the prep-
aration of it need not be more troublesome than the double operation
of albumenizing and exciting paper in the usual way. The tissue is
much more sensitive to light than ordinary sensitive paper, and pro-
portionately more care must be exercised to guard it from the action
of light other than that which acts upon it while in the printing-frame.
Like sensitive paper, too, it is better used soon after its preparation.
The printing is done in the usual way, the tissue taking the place of
sensitive paper, the collodionized surface being placed next the nega-
tive. The sensitiveness of the tissue may of course be varied by
varying the proportion of the components of the gelatinous part of
the tissue ; but with the mixture given, the time of exposure required
is only $ or 3 of that which would be usually given with highly sensi-
tive albumenized paper.

‘‘The proper time for exposure can be determined pretty accu-
rately, after a few trials; for, although there is not the same means of
judging of the progress of the printing as in the ordinary process,
yet there is a far wider range between under and over exposure than
in silver printing. It is no exaggeration to say that you may expose
one piece of tissue twice as much as another, and yet obtain a good
print from both; not perhaps quite so good as between the two ex-
tremes, but yet much more passable than would be the case with
silver prints under’and over exposed to the same extent. On taking
the tissue from the printing-frame the image is faintly visible, and the
next step in the process is to mount the tissue, with the collodionized
face down, upon a piece of paper, or any other suitable material, to
act as a support during development, and sometimes to form the basis
of the picture, which may, if we please, remain permanently attached
to this support, or may, if thought better, be afterwards transferred.
There are several ways of mounting the tissue, and several adhe-
sive substances may be used for the purpose, such as starch or a
solution of India-rubber and dammar in benzole.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 189

After mounting, the tissue, with paper attached, is placed in
water of about 100° Fahr. The water presently begins to dissolve
away the non-solarized portions of the gelatin, and in a few minutes
the picture is fully disclosed. It is, however, advisable not to hurry
the operation, but to give the water ample time to dissolve out the
bichromate. It is also advisable to change the water three or four
times. Leave the prints about two hours in the water. Where the
picture has been over-exposed, longer immersion and hotter water
will, in a great degree, rectify the mistake. Before finally removing
the prints from the water, brush their surface lightly with a broad
camel-hair brush; and, after taking them out, pour a stream of water
over them to remove any loosely adherent particles of foreign matter
that may by accident have got attached to the surface. The prints
may then be hung up to dry, and are finished by bemg mounted on
eard-board and rolled, in the usual manner.

“Diamond Cameo” Photographs.—We copy the following article de-
scribing a new style of photograph, from the London Photographic News.
We have frequently heard the opinion expressed of late, that the
“carteomania” was on the wane, that everybody had obtained his cara
picture, that the albums were full, and the public beginning to be sated.
No doubt this is, in. some quarters, to some extent true. The question
has been asked, ‘ What will be the next fashion?” In answer to this
question, solar camera pictures or other enlargements, have been doubt-
fully mentioned. These, it is very probable, will come into increased
demand: but the demand car never become a rage at all similar to that
which has existed during the last few years for card pictures. The price
and size at once preclude the possibility. To take the place of cards, for
which the demand begins to flag, the picture must be as cheap and as
easily exchanged and preserved, and at least as pretty. A novelty we
have to announce more than fulfils these conditions.

. “This novelty, brought out by Mr. R. Window of London, under the
name of the ‘*Diamond Cameo Photograph,” is of the size of an ordi-
nary card, and contains four portraits, each giving a different view of the
face. Each portrait consists of a bust about an inch long, and three-
quarters of an inch wide: two are side by side in the middle of the
0
card, and two at the top and bottom arranged in this order 0 0. The
0
top and bottom generally consist of a front face view and a three-quarter
face view; whilst the others consist either of two entire profiles, one of
the left and one of the right side of the face, or of a profile of one
side and a % view of the other; but of course, much variety in this
respect is possible. But the especial peculiarity, and that which gives
the cameo effect of the picture, is yet to be described: the oval con-
taining each bust is punched into relief, so as to have a convex surface.
The effect of this in giving the illusion of roundness and relief to the
whole image, cannot be readily imagined by a person who has not seen
it. It is difficult at first glance to believe that the features have not a
special relief of their own, and the cameo effect is perfect.

Such a style of portraiture has many real charms and points of in-
terest, besides that of novelty. Almost all the artistic difficulties which
beset the photographer are got rid of. The graceful arrangement of

190 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

hands and legs, and their delineation in any thing like true proportion
and in good definition, cease to distract the mind. Each small head is
taken with the center of the lens, and is unexceptionable in definition ;
and as the full aperture of the lens may be used without hesitation, the
exposure is so rapid that there is no difficulty in obtaining good expres-
sions, anend which is further aided by the entire absence of all torture
in the way of arranging awkward limbs, a process so frequently fatal to
a pleasant or natural expression in the face. As to the question of
likeness and versimilitude, the interest of this style of picture must at
once commend itself to every one.

We have not space now to enter into a detailed description of the
mechanical arrangement employed in getting the best result with the
least trouble. A very ingeniously-contrived dark slide has very simple
movements for obtaining the four portraits in their due positions, and of
the right size on the plate. When printed and mounted, the convexity
of each disc is produced by means of a steel punch and an arming press,
which is worked very quickly. The exquisite surface given by the face
of the die to the picture, far exceeds that produced by rolling.

The general effect is that of four cameos or enamels dropped on the
eard.

EFFECT OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE IN GUNNERY.

The French artillerists in Mexico have recently found, to their sur-
prise, that the angle of elevation used in France for their guns, for
any given range, does not afford the calculated results; and have as-
certamed that this is owing to the diminished pressure of the atmos-
phere on the Mexican plateau. It follows that cannon may serve asa
kind of barometer for measuring altitudes.—Les Mondes.

INTERESTING BALLOON EXPERIMENT,

A small balloon constructed of goldbeater’s skin, scarcely two feet
in diameter, ascended from Highgate, England, on the 30th June, at
7 45 P. M., the wind blowing moderately from the N. W. A small
tube fitted to the neck allowed the gas to escape as it expanded, and
a paper car, filled with sand, which fell slowly through a small aper-
ture in the bottom was attached to the balloon, in order to compen-
sate to a certain extent for the gradual loss of gas. At 830 A. M.,
the following morning it descended near Bamberg in Bavaria. The
distance is about 500 miles in a direct line, and the time occupied,
allowing for the difference of longitude, as nearly as possible 12 hours.

DOES THE MOON REVOLVE ON ITS AXIS?

The following reasons may be advanced as a conclusive proof that
our moon does not revolve on its axis.

If our moon revolves on its axis, then any number of moons going
around the carth in the same way, each must equally turn upon its
axis, and analogously if a succession of moons, performing each the
same motion as the single one now does, were so closely packed as to
form one continuous ring, like that of Saturn, does any astromoner
claim that all the parts, forming that ring, would have a distinct axial
revolution? If so, then each imaginable section of Saturn’s rings
must also revolve on its axis! which is an impossibility. If the con-
nected series do not revolve on their axis, no one of them can, as the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 191

same precise principle which governs the one, controls all; this,
therefore, must be considered a suflicient proof that the only centre of
the moon’s motion is at the centre of the planet, as are the rings to
Saturn, and, like them, our moon does not revolve upon its own axis,
and until cosmical laws are changed cannot do so.-—Communicated by
Charles H. Townsend, Esq.

SOUND AS A TIME MEASURE,

In arecent French work, entitled Traité des Mecanismes, by M.
Goupilliere, we find described a curious and ingenious method of meas-
uring time, which gives thousandth parts of a second. The descrip-
tion is substantially as follows: Suppose it were required to measure
the exact time of the descent of the hammer of a gun-lock on the nip-
ple. The motion is so rapid that the most delicate stop-watch is at
fault. A needle might be fixed to the hammer, so as in descending to
mark a curve on a blackened metal plate; but still the time would be
an unknown quantity. It may, however, be measured by means of a
tuning-fork, also provided with a marking-needle ; then, while the for-
mer one marks the curve described by the hammer, the second needle
will mark the vibrations of the fork; and as we know that they are
isochronous, each of the small insinuosities thus obtained on the black-
ened plate will represent a fraction of time, and show how many such
fractions elapsed before the fall of the hammer. ‘To give an idea of
the degree of precision which may be obtained by this process, let us
suppose the normal French tuning-fork, which will perform 896 vibra-
tions in a second; then the duration of each vibration will be giz of a
second; and as the greatest error that can be committed cannot ex-
ceed half a vibration, the measurement will be exact to z754 of a
second.

ON A NEW MODE OF DETERMINING THE VELOCITY OF SOUND,

The following new mode of determining the velocity of sound was
proposed, by Dr. J. Stevelly, at the last meeting of the British
Association.

Suppose a piece of clock-work prepared, for instance, to strike
single strokes upon a bell each time the detent is set free; the detent
to be under the control of an electro-magnet, which is instantly
set in action by an observer, at a measured distance from the bell or
other origin of sound, depressing a key, and thus completing a gal-
vanic circuit. The observer, being furnished with a chronometer,
depresses the key; the instant he hears the stroke of the bell he again
depresses it; hears a second sound, and so goes on for 100 or 1,000
times, carefully noting by the chronometer the instant at which he
hears the last sound of the series. A trained observer would not make
a probable error of one-tenth of a second in noting the whole time
occupied by the whole series; and to avoid all chance of miscounting
the number of sounds in the series, the clock may be readily made to
keep count of the number of strokes it makes. The whole time occu-
pied by the entire series is made up of the following portions: 1.
The time consumed in the mechanical work of the clock in producing
the stroke, and of the key, from the instant the observer touches it
until it has completed the circuit. 2. The personal equation of

192 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

he observer. 3. The time the sound takes to travel 100 (or
1,000) times the measured distance of the origin of the sound.from
the observer. 4. The time the sound takes to travel 100 times (or
1,000 times, as the case may be), the measured distance. Now, the
first, second, and fourth of these portions of time can be readily
eliminated by repeating the same series of observations exactly (the
clock being wound up at the commencement of each series exactly to
the same extent) ; the observer, on the second occasion, placing him-
self at one-half, or one-fourth, or at any determined part of his pre-
vious distance from the origin of sound; or by placing himself close
up to it, using the same wires for the galvanic circuit on each occa-
sion, in order to eliminate the fourth portion. The author was not
fully aware of the exact mechanism by which Prof. Piazzi Smythe dis-
charges the cannon which he has introduced as time-signals, but he
had no doubt it could be adapted to this method, and thus determine
experimentally whether the velocity of sound is affected by the vio-
lence of its originating cause: a question which Mr. Earnshaw has
from theory decided in the affirmative. It would, however, involve,
the author supposed, the use of two cannon, each alternately to be
in process of being charged while the other was at work. This, how-
ever, could be readily accomplished.

UNEQUAL POWER OF THE ORGANS OF HEARING.

In making experiments with tuning-forks by holding one to each
ear at the same time, Herr Fessel, of Cologne, has discovered the ears
do not possess an equal power of hearing. It appears that from nu-
merous trials on various individuals the hearing is generally best
with the right ear. A similar difference in the power of the right
and left eye is also more common than is generally supposed, as the
impression made on the weaker eye is absorbed or dissipated by the
stronger.

NEW ANEMOMETER.

The object of a new anemometer, described at the last meeting of
the British Association by Mr. C. Cator, was to obtain by the wind
acting on one surface only, a daily curve of its pressure in pounds on
an area of a square foot, and the number of miles traveled by it in a
horizontal direction in 24 hours, or avy other given time, and
thence its hourly velocity. The surface upon which the wind acts,
or the pressure-plate, is the base of a cone, the axis of which is hori-
zontal, and the area of the base equal to one square foot, the object
of the cone being that there shall be as little resistance as possible,
and to neutralize the effect of a vacuum being formed behind it.
The pressure-plate is attached to the end of a horizontal bar, and with
it is moved backwards and forwards, the bar resting on friction-roll-
ers. This is the only portion of the instrument out-of-doors and ex-
posed to the weather. A chain attached to the horizontal bar passes
down through a tube as a connection with the rest of the instrument
within the building on which the anemometer is fixed. The pressure
of the wind is measured by two curved levers of equal length acting
against each other, their motion being in a vertical plane. At one
end of the upper lever is a fixed weight, and to the opposite end of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 193

the under one is attached the end of the connecting chain. When
there is acalm, then the point of contact is at the fixed weight, and as
the wind presses against the pressure-plate it causes the chain to lift
up the levers, and then the point of contact moves along towards the
other end, indicating the strength of the gale, the levers returning by
their own weight as the pressure of the wind subsides. To the end of
the under lever a string is attached, ‘carrying a pencil to and fro along
acylinder in the direction of ifs length, revolving on its axis by clock-
work once in 24 hours, upon which the pencil will trace, on the paper
rolled round it, the pressure of the wind for 24 hours. The velocity
of the wind is shown by a ‘ gaining clock.” The pencil-string at-
tached to the end of the under lever is connected with its regulator,
and is so arranged that as the wind blows more or less strongly it
pulls the regulator towards the fast end, and accelerates the gaining
of the clock. A counterpoise weight brings the regulator back as the
pressure decreases.

INDICATIONS OF OCEANIC CURRENTS.

Capt. Belcher of the British navy, has recently published a state
ment, respecting the information gained within the last ten years
concerning the curious voyages of bottles thrown into the sea by
navigators. A good many bottles cast into the sea next to the
African coast, found their way to Europe. One bottle seems to have
anticipated the Panama route, having traveled from the Panama Isth
mus to the Irish coast. Another crossed the Atlantic from the Cana-
ries to Nova Scotia. Three or four bottles thrown into the sea by
Greenland mariners off Davis’s Straits, landed on the northwest coast
of Ireland. Another made a curious trip,—swam from the South At-
lantic Ocean, to the west coast of Africa, passing Gibraltar, went
along the Portuguese coast of France, and was iimally picked up on
Jersey Island. One bottle was found after 16 years’ swimming,
one after 14 years, and two after ten years. A few only traveled
more than one year, and one only five days. This was sent off by the
Captain of the Racehorse, on the 17th of April, in the Carribean Sea,
and was found on the 22d, after having gone through three degrees of
longitude (210 miles) western direction. Captain McClure of the
Investigator threw a bottle into the sea in 1850, on his voyage to
Behring’s Straits. It swam 3,500 miles in 200 days, and was picked
up on the Honduras coast.

NELATON’S PROBE.

In the examination of gunshot wounds by means of the probe it is
often a matter of no little difliculty for the surgeon to decide whether
an obstruction met with, results from the presence of a ball or from
a portion of bone. This was the case in the wound of Garibaldi,
the most eminent surgeons in attendance being unable to decide the
question as to the presence of the ball inflicting the wound, or, as-
suming its presence, of its exact location. To remedy this difficulty
M. Nelaton the celebrated Parisian surgeon, has invented a form of
probe which is able to give the most unerring information in regard
to the matter m question. The construction of this ingenious probe,
which has since come into general use, is as follows: To the end of a

194 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

silver wire or stem is fixed a small olive-shaped body made of unpol-
ished china. The mere contact or slight rubbing of this against a
lead or iron surface, is sufficient to leave a mark which neither the
soft parts, nor the morbid secretions of the wound can obliterate.
This mark, which resembles the mark of a lead pencil on the china,
thus proves the presence and the location of the metallic body in the
wound without the possibility of a doubt, and the construction of
the instrument may be fairly considered as one of the most ingenious
of all the applications of science to the cause of surgery.
THE MASTERY OF LANGUAGES.

In a work on the “ Art of speaking foreign tongues idiomatically,”
published during the past year in London, by Mr. 8. Prendergrast, the
author lays down the following propositions, which are worthy of at-
tention.

1. Idiomatic speech may be gained by adults without going abroad.
2. Sentences may be formulated so that each lesson shall double the
number of results gained [a strong assertion; think of the horseshoe
problem]. 3. Acquisition of unconnected words worthless. 4. Pr lim-
Inary grammar unnecessary. 5. Speech gained by memory, not by rea-
soning. 6. Memory usuaily over-estimated; each one to ascertain his
own capacity; and 7, to keep within it; and 8, not to see a word but
those he is engaged on. 9. Grammar-clogs the memory with imperfect
recollections. 10. The beginner on the author’s method will speak
grammatically. 11. Children speak fluently with a small number of
words, and 12, with nearly the same epitome of language all the world
over. 13. A child with 200 words possesses the syntax and pronun-
ciation. 14. Every foreign language should be epitomized for a beginner
by the framing of a set of strictly practical sentences, embodying 200
of the most useful words, and comprising all the most difficult construe-
tions. 15. By this the greatest results with the least exertion; and time
for study of pronunciation. Now in this there is sense and method
enough to make it clear that the writer is entitled to the attention of
philologists and teachers of language. He gives illustrations on the Te-
loogoo and Hindoostanee. At the end of the book is an account of a
machine, which is simple and ingenious, and supplies an unending power
of varying exercises upon a few words. If we construct a simple sen-
tence, and then vary its words without alteration of construction, we may,
taking five words as an example, write down the following :—

This man is often cheerful

One woman was never surprised

The master will-be sometimes present

No servant can-be always watchful
Choose one word out of each column, and we have 256 grammatical pos-
sibilities ; as ‘‘ The man can-be often watchful.” Suppose the four words
in each column written on four faces of a cube, and the five cubes placed
in a box of five stalls, one side of the box being of glass. By shaking
and turning over the box, the visible faces of the cubes are changed at
hazard, giving different verbal variations of the phrase. Mr. Long’s
machine has upwards of 20 words in the sentence, and the number of
possible sentences is millions of millions. A teacher of language is
often perplexed to give variety enough: a machine of this sort would

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 196

help him and interest his pupils. And the variety is secured upon a
small number of words; only 84, where the sentence is of 21 words. Mr.
A. Long has also applied the principle to a machine in which the elements
are musical notes, as a suggestive help in composition, Sir Walter
Scott suggested that such a contrivance might be used in writing sub-
ordinate parts of novels; and Swift described the very thing as seen by
Gulliver at Laputa. But the Laputans got philosophy out of the chance
combination: while the author gets only exercises in grammar.

ORIGIN OF THE SIGNS + AND —.

A recent writer in the London Atheneum, gives the following as the
origin of the signs +-and—. He says: ‘The first of these signs is a con-
traction of ef. The course of transformation from its original to its
present form may be clearly traced in old MSS. Zt by degrees became
&, and & became-++. ‘The origin of the second (—) is rather more sin-
gular. Most persons are aware that it was formerly the universal custom,
both in writing and printing, to omit some or all of the vowels, or a
syllable or two of a word, and to denote such omissions by a short dash,
thus—, over the word so abbreviated. The word minus thus became

contracted to mns, with a dash over the letters. After a time the short
line itself, without the letters, was considered sufficient to imply subtrac-
tion and by common consent became so used. Hence we have now the
two signs -+- and —.

MUSIC AS A PHYSICAL AND MORAL AGENT.

The following thoughts respecting the physical and moral agency
of music are derived from an article communicated to the Atlantic
Monthly, for February, 1865, by Gottschalk, the eminent pianist.

** Music may be objective and subjective in turn, accordmg to the
disposition im which we find ourselves at the moment of hearing it.
It is objective when, affected only by the purely physical sensation of
sound, we listen to it passively, and it suggests to us Impressions.
A march, a waltz, a flute imitating a nightingale, the chromatic scale
imitating the murmuring of the wind in the ‘‘ Pastoral Symphony ”
may be taken as examples.

“Tt is subjective when, under the empire of a latent impression, we
discover in its general character an accordance with our own psychol-
ogical state, and we assimilate it to ourselves; it is then like a mir-
ror in which we see reflected the movements which agitate us with a
fidelity all the more exact from the fact that, without being conscious
of it, we ourselves are the painters of the picture which unrolls itself
before our imagination. Let me explain. Play a melancholy air to
avonseript thinking of his distant home; to a mother mourning the
loss of a child; to a vanquished warrior ;—and be assured they will
all appropriate to themselves the plaintive harmonies, and fancy they
detect in them the accents of their own grief.

«The fact of music is stilla mystery. We know that it is composed
of three principles,—air, vibration, and rhythmic symmetry. Strike an
object in an exhausted receiver, and it produces no sound, because
no air is there; touch a ringing glass, and the sound stops, because
there is no vibration; take away the rhythm of the simplest air by

196 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

changing the duration of the notes that compose it, and you render it
obseure and unrecognizable, because you have destroyed its sym-
metry. But why, then, do not several hammers striking in cadence
produce music? They certainly comply with the three conditions of
air, vibration, and rhythm. Why i is the accord of a third so pleasing to
the ear? Why is the minor mode so suggestive of sadness? There is
the mystery, —there is the unexplained phenomenon.

“We restrict ourselves to saying that music, which, like, speech, is
perceived through the medium ‘of the ear, does not, like ‘speech, call
upon the brain for an explanation of the sensation ‘produced by the
vibration on the nerves ; it addresses itself to a minysterious agent
within us, which is superior to intelligence, since it is independent of
it, and makes us feel that which we can neither conceive nor explain.

‘‘Let us examine the various attributes of the musical phenomenon.

“1, Musicas a Physical Agent.—It communicates to the body shocks
which agitate the members to their base. In churches, the flame of
the candle oscillates to the quake of the organ. A powerful orchestra
near a sheet of water ruffles its surface. A learned traveler speaks
of aniron ring which swings to and fro to the sound of the Tivoli
Falls. In Switzerland I excited, at will, in a poor child afflicted with
a frightful nervous malady, hysterical and cataleptic crises, by playing
on the minor key of E flat. The celebrated Dr. Bertier asserts that
the sound of a drum gives him the colic. Certain medical men state
that the sound of the trumpet quickens the pulse and induces slight
perspiration. ‘The sound of the bassoon is cold; the notes of the
French horn at a distance, and of the harp, are voluptuous. The flute
played softly in the middle register calms the nerves. The low notes
of the piano frighten children. I once had a dog who would gener-
ally sleep on hearing music, but the moment I played i in the minor
key he would bark piteously. The dog of a celebrated singer whom
I knew would moan bitterly, and give signs of violent suffering, the
instant his mistress chanted a chromatic gamut. A certain chord
produces on my own sense of hearing the same effect as the heliotrope
on my sense of smell and the pineapple on my sense of taste. Ra-
chel’s voice delighted the ear by its ring* before one had time to seize
what was said, or appreciate the purity ‘of. her diction.

“We may aflirm, then, that musical sound, rhythmical or not, agitates
the whole physical economy »—quickens the pulse, incites perspiration,
and produces a pleasant momentary irritation of the nervous system.

“2. Music is a Moral Agent.—Through the medium of the nervous
system, the direct interpreter of emotion, it calls into play the higher
faculties s; its language is that of sentiment. Furthermore, the mo-
tives which have “presided over particular musical combinations estab-
lish links between the composer and the listener. We sigh with Bellini
in the finale of La Somnambula; we shudder with Weber in the su-
blime phantasmagoria of Der Freischutz; the mystic inspirations of
Palestrina, the masses of Mozart, transport us to the celestial regions,
toward which they rise like a melodious incense. Music awakens in
us reminiscences, souvenirs, associations. When we have wept over
a song, it ever after seems to us bathed in tears. The old man,
chilled by years, may be insensible to the pathetic accents of Rossini,
of Mozart; but repeat to him the simple songs of his youth, the pres-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 197

ent vanishes, and the illusions of the past come back again. I once
knew an old Spanish general who detested music. One day I began
to play to him my ‘Siege of Saragossa’ in which is introduced the
‘Marcha Real’ (Spanish national air), and he wept like a child.
This air recalled to him the immortal defence of the heroic city, be-
hind the falling walls of which he had fought against the French, and
sounded to him, he said, like the voice of all the holy affections ex-
pressed by the word home. The mercenary Swiss troops, when in
France and Naples, could not hear the ‘Ranz Des Vaches’ without
being overcome by it. When from mountain to mountain the signal
of revolt summoned to the cause the three insurgent Cantons, the de-
sertions caused by this air became so frequent that the Government
prohibited it. The reader will remember the comic effect produced
upon the French troops in the Crimea, by the Highlanders marching
to battle to the sound of the bagpipe, whose harsh piercing notes in-
spired these brave mountaineers with valor, by recallmg to them
their country and its heroic legends. Napoleon II. finds himself com-
pelled to allow the Arab troops incorporated into his army their
barbarous tam-tam music, lest they revolt. he measured beat of the
drum sustains the soldier in long marches which otherwise would be
insupportable. The Marseillaise contributed as much toward the
republican victories of 1793, when France was invaded, as the genius
of General Dumouriez.

“¢3. Music as a Complex Agent.—It acts at once on life, on the in-
stinct, the forces, the organism. It has a psychological action. ‘The ne-
groes charm serpents by whistling to them; it is said that fawns are
captivated by a melodious voice; the bear is aroused with the fife ;
canaries and sparrows enjoy the flageolet ; in the Antilles, lizards are
enticed from their retreats by the whistle; spiders have an affection
for fiddlers ; in Switzerland, the herdsmen attach to the necks of their
handsomest cows a large bell, of which they are so proud, that, while
they are allowed to wear it, they march at the head of the herd; in
Andalusia, the mules lose their spirit and power of endurance, if de-
prived of the numerous bells with which it is customary to deck these
intelligent animals; in the mountains of Scotland and Switzerland,
the herds pasture best to the sound of the bagpipe ; and in the Ober-
land, cattle strayed from the herd are recalled by the notes of a
trumpet.

‘<In conclusion: Music being a physical agent,—that is to say, act-
ing on the individual without the aid of his intelligence; a moral
agent,—that is to say reviving his memory, exciting his imagination,
developing his sentiment ; and a complex agent,—that is to say, having
a physiological action on the instinct, the organism, the forces of man,
—I deduce from this that it is one of the most powerful means for en-
nobling the mind, elevating the morals, and, above all, refining the
manners. This truth is now so well recognized in Europe, that we
see choral societies—Orpheon and others—multiplying as by enchant-
ment under the powerful impulse given them by the state. I speak not
simply of Germany; whichisa singing nation, whose laborious, peaceful,
intelligent people have in all time associated choral music as well with
their labors as with their pleasures ; but I may cite particularly France,
which to-day counts more than eight hundred Orpheon societies, com-

17*

198 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

posed of workingmen. How many of these, who formerly dissipated
their leisure time at drinking-houses now find an ennobling recreation
in these associations, where “the spirit of union and fraternity is engen-
dered and developed. And if we could get at the statistics of crime,
who can doubt that they would show it had diminished in proportion
to the increase of these societies? In fact, men are better, the heart
is in some sort purified when impregnated with the noble harmonies
of a fine chorus; and it is difficult not to treat as a brother one wiaose
voice has mingled with your own and whose heart has been united to
yours in a community of pure and joyful emotions. If Orpheon so-
cieties ever become established in America, be assured that bar-rooms,
the plague ofthe country, will cease, with revolvers and bowie-knives,
to be popular institutions.

THE GREAT INDIAN CYCLONE OF 1864.

On the night of the Ist of November, 1854, a cyclone or hurricane
swept over the Bay of Bengal and the adjacent coasts, which, as regards
power and destructive effe cet, was probably the most remarkable and
terrific phenomenon of the kind, which history has ever recorded.
Sixty thousand persons, according to the official government reports,
were destroyed by the immediate action on this storm, while an
equal or greater number have probably died through its later and
indirect influence.

«‘Sixty thousand persons,” says the London Times, ‘‘was the number
estimated to have been killed by the earthquake at Lisbon, on the same
day of the month, acentury ago. Nor was the proportionate destruc-
tion less than it was then. In the island of Saugor, out of 8,200
persons, but 1,200 have been left. The remaining 7,000 passed, in
less than an hour, out of existence. All along the eastern coast of
the Indian Peninsula went wind and storm, fulfillmg His word. It
was the time of spring tides, and under the influence of the hurri-
cane the sea rose to an unexampled hight. Up the course of the
Ganges the wave rushed, overwhelming the villages on the banks, and
leaving the few who survived the flood to perish for want of food;
their grain rotted and their crops were destroyed by the salt water,
and they had no resource but to die. But the scene of the greatest
disaster appears to have been Masulipatam, about half-way down the
coast. The town hes a little to the north of one of the mouths of the
Kistna, on the plaim which stretches from the Kistna to the Godavery.
The mud which has for ages been washed down these rivers, has
formed a district little above the level of the sea. In the wet season
it is overflowed by the freshets of the Kistna, and it requires at all
times to be protected from the ocean by sea-walls and dikes. The
Dutch, who first settled at Masulipatam, probably saw in its situation
something which reminded them of Holland, and congratulated them-
selves that the single good anchorage on the cofist was close to such
a flat and fruitful plam. But the qualities which appeared to them
advantages, made Masulipatam an easy prey to the storm. The
C yelone, rushing across the Bay of Bengal, fell upon the spot which
was least prepared to meet it. The center of the hurricane passed
within a mile of the devoted town at 10 Pp. M., on the 1st of Novem-
ber, ina night of utter darkness. Amid the storm of wind a tidal

4

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 199

wave 13 feet higher than the highest tide-mark surmounted sea-
walls and dikes and poured over the whole of the surrounding country.
For an hour the water rose and covered nearly 800 square miles
of the plain, and when it retired, at 11, the work of destruction
was done. The plain for 80 miles along the coast and from nine to
ten miles inland had been submerged, and in one place the storm-wave
had reached a spot 17 miles from the shore. We can only feebly pic-
ture to ourselves the desolation of the scene. The low-built houses
of the natives had been washed away, and those which might have
reached above the wave had been blown down by the fury of the
storm. ‘The fiercest powers of the natural world were at work, and
in the darkness of night there was no escape possible, whatever might
have been done in the light of day. Whole villages were entirely
destroyed; their mhabitants were drowned, their cattle were lost,
their crops were buried beneath a thick deposit of mudand sand. To
have been the sole survivor of such a calamity was, perhaps, a more
eruel fate than to have perished with kinsfolk and friends. When
help came from Madras, those who brought it witnessed a sight which
they will not easily forget. The mud banks were full of unburied
corpses in every possible attitude, combining the grotesque and the
horrible. Side by side lay one whom despair had reduced to abject
resignation and another whom it had driven to wild defiance. Half
the town was inruins; fallen trees, drift, the ruins of houses, and deep
ools of salt water made streets and roads impassable. Huge barges
bark been carried into the center of the town, and masses of solid
masonry had been rolled, boulder-like, distances of 60 and 70 yards.
The first impression of those visiting this city of death, was sufficiently
awful, but when after a while the tale of destruction was reckoned, it
was seen that the first horror had fallen short of the reality. In
fort and town 4 of the inhabitants had perished. One ‘thousand
were drowned in the fort and 15,000 in the town, and in the surround-
ing villages 20,000 more had met their death. In one Brahmin
village on the outskirts of Masulipatam 70 only remained alive out
of 700. Fora single night, or rather for a single hour, the destroy-
ing angel had been at work, and when he finished it was as if the life
of man and the life of nature had both been effaced. Beneath the
_sweep of his wings the prosperous plain had become desolation and
the fruitful villages tenantless.”
The destruction of property caused by this storm at Calcutta, and
other places, was immense; and effects of the visitation must
remain impressed upon the country for years.

THE FORCES IN NATURE.

The concussion of one pound of hydrogen with eight pounds of
oxygen is equal, in mechanical value, to the raising of 47,000,000
pounds one foot high. I think I did not overrate matters, when I
said, that the force of gravity, as exerted near the earth, was almost
a vanishing quantity in comparison with these molecular forces; and
bear in mind the distances which separate the atoms before combina
tion,—distances so small as to be utterly immeasurable, still, it is in
passing over these distances, that the atoms acquire a velocity sufli-
cient to cause them to clash with the tremendous energy indicated by

200 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the above numbers. After combination, the substance is in a state
of vapor, which sinks to 212° and afterward condenses to water. In
the first instance, the atoms fall together to form the compound; in
the next instance, the molecules of the compound fall together to form
a liquid. The mechanical value of this act can be also calculated ;
nine pounds of steam in falling to water, generate an amount of heat
sufficient to raise 956 X I==8,614 pounds of water 1° Fahr. Multiplying
this number by 772, we have a product of 6,718,716 foot-pounds (a
foot-pound is a pound raised one foot high) as the mechanical value of
the mere act of condensation. The next great fall of our nine pounds
of water is from the state of liquid to that of ice, and the mechani-
cal value of this act is equal to 993,564 foot-pounds. Thus our
nine pounds of water, in its origin and progress, falls down three
great precipices; the first fall is equivalent to the descent of a tun
weight, urged by gravity down a precipice 22,320 feet high ; the second
fall is equal to that of a tun down a precipice 2,900 feet high; and the
third is equal to the descent of a tun down a precipice 433 feet high.
I have seen the wild stone-avalanches of the Alps, which smoke and
thunder down the declivities with a vehemence almost sufficient to
stun the observer. I have also seen snowflakes, descending so softly
as not to hurt the fragile spangles of which they were composed ; yet,
to produce, from aqueous vapor, a quantity of that tender mate-
rial which a child could carry, demands an exertion of energy compe-
tent to gather up the shattered blocks of the largest stone-avalanche
I have ever seen, and pitch them to twice the hight from which
they fall._—Tyndall on Heat.

Bodily Work and Waste.—Every manifestation of physical force
involves the metamorphosis of a certain quantity of matter. Prof.
Houghton of Trinity College, Dublin, asserts, as the result of his
investigations, that, in the human organism, there is a definite rela-
tion between the amount of force exerted and the amount of urea
generated. The urea formed daily in a healthy man, weighing 150
pounds, fluctuates from 400 to 650 grains. Of this, 300 grains are the
result of vital work; that is, of force expended in the motions of the
digestive organs and the heart, and in sustaining the temperature of
the body at a uniform rate. This amount exceeds all other force gen-
erated and expended in the system, and is equal to that required to
raise 769 tuns one foot high. In addition to the mere act of living,
the working man undergoes bodily labor equivalent to lifting 200 tuns
one foot high daily, which requires the formation of 77°38 grains of
urea. ‘The force expended in two hours hard mental labor involves
an expenditure of power equal to lifting 222 foot tuns, and a genera-
tion of urea weighing 86 grains. Thus we have a minimum formation
of urea during 24 hours amounting to 477,38 grains, for which there
is expended force equal to 969 foot tuns.

Note.—Urea is a colorless substance, which by slow evaporation
erystallizes in four-sided prisms. It consists of two atoms of carbon,
two of nitrogen, two of oxygen, and four of hydrogen. Its rational
formula has not been definitely settled. A little more than 46 per
cent by weight consists of nitrogen. It is through this important
compound that nearly all the nitrogen of the exhausted tissues of the
body are removed. According to Becquerel, there is an excess of

ees

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 201

urea formed in the male sex in the ratio of 17 to 15. Although the
amount depends somewhat on the nature of food, Lehmann discovered
long ago that strong exercise of the bodily powers increased its excre-
tion, Urea was first made artifici ially from inorganic substances by
Wohler. By the addition of two atoms of water, urea is changed to
the carbonate of ammonia, and thus becomes a valuable fertilizer.

MAGNETISM OF IRON AND STEEL TURNINGS.

Iron and steel “ turnings,” or the long spirals resulting from the
oper tion of turning metal in the lathe, have been discovered by M.
Greiss, to possess magnetic properties. He has communicated a
short. paper on the subject to a late number of Poggendorff’s Annalen.
Both steel and soft iron turnings were found by him to have a very de-
cided and permanent. polarity, “and to behave in all respects like ordinary
magnets. He was particularly struck with the permanence of the mag-
netism in the case of the soft iron. His attempts to trace some con-
nection between the direction of the spiral which the turnings assume
when they leave the tool, and Ampére’s law of the circulation of the
currents, were only attended with partial success. He found, however,
that the end of the turning at which the tuol began its work was inva-
riably a south pole; the end at which it left off, a north pole. A com-
parison of the strength of the magnetism im different specimens, led him
to notice that the turnings whose revolutions were in the opposite direc-
tion to the motion of the hands of a watch (the observer being at the
south pole) showed a much stronger magnetic power than those whose
revolutions corresponded in direction with that motion.

DYNAMICAL THEORY OF ELECTRO-MAGNETISM.

Prof. Maxwell, ma late number of the Proceedings of the Royal
Society, has published a ‘‘ Dynamical Theory of the Electro-Mag-
netic Iield,” im which he seeks for the origin of the electro-magnetic
effects in the medium surrounding the electro-magnetic bodies, and
assumes that they act on each other, not immediately ata distanee,
but through the intervention of the medium. He considers the exist-
ence of this medium as probable, since poner o ners believe that it is
in such a medium the propagation of light takes place, its properties
being: 1. That the motion of one part. communicates motion to the
parts in its neighborhood (transverse vibrations). 2. That this
communication is not instantaneous, but progressive, and depends on
the elasticity of the medium as compared with its density. Prof.
Maxwell, after referrmg to the researches of Faraday, Thompson,
and others, on the subject, and expressing his own opinions, defines
light, according to his theory, as consisting ‘‘ of alternate and oppo-
site rapidly recurring transverse magnetic disturbances, accompanied
with electric displacements ; the direction of the electric dis place-
ment being at right angles to the magnetic disturbance, and both at

right angles to the direction of the rays

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE ELECTRIC SPARK

Prof. Rood of Columbia College, N. Y., communicates to Silli-
man’s Journal, No. 114, some researches on the electric spark ob-
tained through the aid of photography. This method consists in

202 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

allowing the electric discharge to fall directly on a sensitive photo-
graphic } plate, when it produces latent images of certain form, which,
under the action of the developer, yield four sharp, characteristic
pictures. T here is a marked difference between the positive and neg-
ative figures,—the former consisting essentially of one or more stars
or rings in combination, while the ‘latter is made up, for short dis-
charges, of a collection of dots, or minute circles, which, by the use
of a greater length of discharge, became converted into two or
more thick concentric rings.
NEW ELECTRO-MAGNET.

Is it possible that our present electro-magnet 1s to what 1t might be,
what the cog-wheel of the early railway engineers was to the present
smooth one? For after our electricians have for so many years been
exhausting their ingenuity to accomplish a certain object, M. Du Mon-
cel of Paris—no mean authority in such matters—comes forward and
declares that the object gained by that ingenuity is worse than useless.
An electro-magnet may be briefly defined to be a cylinder of iron
covered with a helix of wire ; very powerless is the iron if no current
is passing through the wir ae very powerful is it—witness the Royal
Institution maenet, and the one in Paris which is covered with 20, 000
ft. of wire and lifts a weight of three tons—while a current passes.
We may say, therefore, that the power of the magnet d lepends on the
wire; and it has always been considered necessary that the wire, thin
or thic ‘k, according to the work to be done or the streneth of the
current used, must. F be most carefully covered with an insulated sub-
stance. So we have wires covered with silk, with cotton, India-rubber,
and varnishes of different kinds. And this equally in the electro-mag-
nets used for experiments as in those used for the ten thousand purposes
in which electricity is now being daily employed ; indeed, we may almost

say that cee works by electro- magnets. Some time ago, M.
Carlier, an electrician in Paris, asked himself the question—Is this
covering necessary? And he very properly set to work to make an
electro- magnet with uncovered wire to auswer the question. M. Du
Moncel, in a communication to the Paris Academy, on the Sth inst,
declares that the answer thus given is so extraordinary, and the power
of the uncovered electro-magnet so great, that he can scarcely believe
his own experiments. Not only can these new magnets produce all
the effects of attraction of the covered ones, but the effects in some
cases are more than doubled. Let us produce M. Du Moncel’s figures.
A bar of iron 44 centimeters long, end 7 millimeters in diameter, cov-
ered with a single spiral of wire 0.277 millimeters in diameter, with
two small Bunsen’s elements, sustained a weight of 5-9 kilogrammes
covered, it could only support 274 kilogrammes. A larger maonet,
covered with 12 coats of wire, held up 940 grammes; with covered
wire it could only support 540 erammes. The effects of distant
attraction were even more favorable. Ata distance of one millime-
ter, and with a Daniell’s pile of 28 elements, the weights attracted

were as follows :—Circuit. New Magnet. Old Magnet.
0 kilometres 83 12
10 % 12 3

20 “ 4 0

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 203

The requisite condition to obtain these effects is that the different
**coats ” of wire shall be separated from each other by a piece of
paper, and that the interior of the bobbins, whether in wood or copper,
should be covered also with an isolated substance. The advantages
of this system are obvious, the first bemg reduced cost of the mag-
nets. ‘Then we have greater effects, which is tantamount to a reduc-
tion of size,—and consequently another reduction of the cost. The
‘* extra currents” being also done away with, a more prompt movement
of the armatures results, and therefore greater usefulness in induction
coils. In telegraphic instruments they present the additional advan-
tage of remaining unaffected by lightning. M. Du Moncel remarks,
by way of explanation—e »xplanation i is easier than prediction—I con-
sider that in magnets of the new construction the surface. of con-
tact of the spirals between themselves represents, in fact, a linear
spiral, of which the points furnish derivations. We can easily
imagine that the electric flux provoked by these derivations can
only be produced by furnishing a series of superposed currents
circulating through all the folds of the metallic helix, by reason
of the resistance to the passage from one spiral to the other.
Now, if the primitive current circulating through the helix is weakened
by these deriv ations, it is reinforced by the derived and superposed
current, which, in over-exciting the pile, furnishes at last a more
energetic curr ent. Besides, it must be borne in mind that the direct
ewrrent which results from the derivations, and which passes through
the spirals towards the axis, ought to be derived from them, dnd 2 as
it is not enfeebled by its passage, it should augment the intensity of
the current eh flows through it.” Lastly, the quantity of
uncovered wire which can be used for a given maznet is greater than
that of covered.

ON THE INVISIBLE RAYS OF THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

We are so accustomed to associate the word ray with the idea of
light, that the term dark or obscure rays stimulates the imagination by
its strangeness. And such is more particularly the case when we are
told that the major portion of the radiation of the sun itself is of this
invisible character. This great discovery was announced 65 years
ago by Sir William Herschel. Permitting a sunbeam to pass through
a “glass prism, he formed the colored spectrum of the solar light ; and
carrying a small thermometer through its various colors, he deter-
mined their heating power. He found this power to augment grad-
ually from the violet to the red; but he also found, to “his surprise,
that the calorific action did not terminate where the visible spectrum
ended. Placing his thermometer in the dark space beyond the red,
he found the heating power there to be greater than in any part of
the visible s spectrum. Sir William Herschel concluded from his exper-
iments that besides those rays which, acting separately upon the retina,
produce the sensation of color, and the sum of which constitutes our
ordinary sunshine, a vast outflow of perfectly invisible rays proceeds
from the sun ; and that, measured by the heating power, the strength
or energy of these invisible rays is greater than that of all the visible
rays taken together.

This result was questioned by some and confirmed by others; but,

ca

204 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

like every natural truth that can be brought to the test of experiment,
the verity of Sir William Herschc?s announcement was soon com-
pletely established. Forty years after the discovery of those infisible
rays by his father, Sir John Herschel made them the subject of exper-
iment. He made an arrangement which enabled hin to estimate the
heating power of the spectrum by its drying power. Wetting by a
wash of alcohol paper blackened on one side, he cast his spectrum on
this paper, and observed the chasing away of the moisture by the heat
of the rays. His drying paper presented to him a thermograph of
the spectrum, and showed the heating power to extend far beyond the
red.

By the introduction of the thermo-electric pile Melloni created a
new epoch in researches on radiant heat. This instrument enables us
to examine, with a precision unattainable with ordinary thermometers,
the distribution of heat in the solar spectrum. Melloni himself devot-
ed some time to this subject. He had made the discovery that various
substances, in the highest degree transparent to ight, were eminently
opaque to those invisible heat-rays. Pure water, for example, is a
body of this kind, Only one substance did Melloni find to be equally
pervious to the visible and the invisible rays, namely, transparent
rock salt. And though the researches of MM. Provostaye and De-
sains, together with some extremely suggestive experiments executed
by Mr. Balfour Stuart, show conclusively that Melloni erred in sup-
posing rock salt to be perfectly transparent, it must be admitted that,
in this respect, the substance approaches very near perfection.

Abandoning prisms of glass, which had been always employed pre-
viously, Melloni made use of a prism of rock salt in his experiments
on the solar spectrum. Le was thus enabled to prove that the ultra-
red rays, discovered by Sir William Herschel, formed an invisible
spectrum, at least as long as the visible one. He also found the posi-
tion of maximum radiant power to lie as far on one side the red as
the green light of the spectrum on the other.

Dr. Franz of Berlin subsequently examined the distribution of heat
in the solar spectrum, employing for this purpose a flint-glass prism,
He showed that the inaction of the ultra-red rays upon the retina did
not arise from the absorption of those rays in the humors of the eye ;
at all events he proved that a sensible portion of the invisible rays
was transmitted across the eye-ball of an ox, and reached the back of
the eye. Professor Miiller of Freiburg afterwards examined very full
the heat of the solar spectrum ; and representing, as Sir William Her-
schel also had approximately done, by lines of, various lengths the ther-
mal intensity at various points, he drew a curve which expressed the
calorific action of the entire spectrum.

At various intervals during the last ten years Prof. Tyndall has
occupied himself with the invisible radiation of the electric ight; and
to the distribution of heat in its spectrum he directed attention in a
recent discourse given before the Royal Institution. The instruments
made use of were the electric lamp of Duboseq and the hnear
thermo-electric pile of Melloni. The spectrum was formed by means
of lenses and prisms of pure rock-salt. It was equal in width to the
length of the row of elements forming the pile, and the latter being
caused to pass through its various colors in succession, and also to

NATURAL PHILOSOPITY, 205

search the space rieht and left of the visible spectrum, the heat fall-
ing upon it, at every point of its march, was determined by the deflec-
tion of an extremely sensitive ; calvanometer.

As in the case of the solar spec trum, the heat was found to augment
from the violet to the red, while in the dark space beyond the red it
rose toa maximum. The position of the maximum was about as dis-

tant from the extreme red in the one direction as the green of the
spectrum in the opposite one.

The augmentation of temperature beyond the red in the spectrum
of the electric light is sudden and enormous. Representing the
thermal intensities by lines of proportional lengths, and erecting
these lines as perpendiculars at the places to which they correspond,
when we pass beyond the red these perpendicular s suddenly and greatly
increase in length, reach a maximum, and then fall somewhat more sud-
denly on the opposite side of the maximum. When the ends of the
perpendiculars are united, the curve beyond the red, representing the
obscure radiation, rises in a steep and massive peak, which quite
dwarfs by its magnitude the radiation of the luminous portion of the
spectrum.

Interposing suitable substances in the path of the beam, this peak
may be in part cut away. Water, in certain thicknesses, does this
very effectually. The vapor of water would do the same, and this
fact enables us to account for the difference between the distribution
of heat in the solar and in the electric spectrum. ‘The comparative
hight and steepness of the ultra-red peak, in the case of the electric
hight, are much greater than in the case of the sun. No doubt the
reason is that the eminence corresponding to the position of maximum
heat in the solar spectrum has been cut down by the aqueous vapor
of our atmosphere. Could a solar spectrum be produced beyond the
limits of the atmosphere; it would probably show as steep a mountain
of invisible rays as that exhibited by the electric light, which is prac-
tically uninfluenced by atmospheric absorption.

Having thus demonstrated that a powerful flux of dark rays accom-
panies the bright ones of the electric light, the question arises, ‘*Can
we separate the one class of rays from the other 2”

One way of doing this would be to cut off the luminous portion of
the decomposed beam by an opaque screen, allowing the non-luminous
portion to pass by its edge. We might then operate at pleasure upon
the latter ;—reflect it, refract it, concentrate it. This would be a
perfectly philosophical way of detaching the light from the heat, but
with our present means we could not thus obtain a quantity of heat
sufficient to produce the results intended to be exhibited before the
conclusion of the discourse. Another plan consists in following up a
mode of experiment initiated by Sir William Herschel. He examined
the transmission of solar heat through glasses of various colors,
through black muslin and other substances, which intercepted a large
portion of the solar light. Melloni subsequently discovered that
lampblack, and also a kind of black glass, while perfectly opaque to
light, transmitted a considerable quantity of radiant heat. In Prof.
a ‘yndall’s ‘« Lectures on Heat,” given at the Royal Institution in 1862,
and since made public, experiments with these bodies are described.
It was while conversing with his friend Mr. Warren De la Rue, in the

18

+

206 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

autumn of 1861, on the possibility of sifting, by absorbents, the light
of a beam from its heat, that Prof. Tyndall first learned that carbon
was the substance which rendered Melloni’s glass opaque. This fact
was of peculiar interest to him, for it and others seemed to extend to
solid bodies a law which he had detected two years previously in his
experiments on gases and vapors, and which showed that elementary
gases were hiehly transparent, while compound gases were all more
or less opaque—many of them, indeed, almost perfectly opaque—
to invisible radiant heat. The enormous differences existing between
elementary and compound gases, as regards their opacity to radiant
heat, is illustrated by the following facts: For every ray intercepted
in a tube four feet long, by a certain measure of air, oxygen, hydro-
gen, or nitrogen, transparent ammonia strikes down 7,260 rays, ole-
fiant gas 7, 950, while transparent sulphurous acid destroys 8,800.

dn Prof,.'T yndall’s first experiments on the invisible radiation of the
electric light, black glass was the substance made use of. The speci-
mens, however, which he was able to obtain destroyed, along with the
visible, a popsider ible portion of the invisible Taine But the dis-
covery of the deportment of elementary gases directed his attention
to other simple substances. He examined sulphur dissolved in bi-
sulphide of carbon, and found it almost perfectly transparent to the
invisible rays. He also examined the element bromine, and found
that, notwithstanding its dark color, it was eminently transparent to
the ultra-red rays. Layers of this substance, for example, which
entirely cut off all the-light of a brilliant gas flame, transmitted its
invisible radiant heat with freedom. Finally, he tried a solution of
iodine in bisulphide of carbon, and arrived at ‘the extr aordinary result
that a quantity of dissolved iodine sufliciently opaque to cut off the
light of the mid-day sun was, within the limits of experiment, absolutely
transpar ent to invisible radiant heat.

This then is the substance by which the invisible rays of the electric
light may be almost perfectly detached from the visible ones. Con-
centrating by a small glass mirror, silvered in front, the rays, emitted
by the carbon points “of the electric lamp, we obtain a convergent
cone of light. Interposing in the path of this concentrated beam a
cell containing the opaque solution of iodine, the light of the cone is
utterly destroy ed, while its invisible rays are scarcely, if at all, med-
dled with. These converge to a focus, at which, though nothing can
be seen even in the darkest room, the followmg series ; of effects may
be produced :—

When a piece of black paper is placed in the focus, it is pierced by
the invisible rays, as if a white-hot spear had been suddenly driven
through it. The paper instantly blazes, without apparent contact with
any thing hot.

A piece of brown paper placed at the focus soon shows a red-hot
burning surface, extending over a considerable space of the paper,
which finally bursts into flame.

The wood of a hat-box similarly placed, is rapidly burnt through.
A pile of wood and shavings, on which the focus falls, is quickly ig-
nited, and thus a fire may be set burning by the invisible rays.

A cigar or a pipe is immediately lighted when placed at the focus of
invisible rays.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. ; 207

Discs of charred paper placed at the focus are raised to brilliant in-

candescence ; charcoal is also ignited there.

A piece of charcoal, suspended in a glass receiver full of oxygen, is
set on fire at the focus, burning with the splendor exhibited by this
substance in an atmosphere of oxygen. ‘The invisible rays, though
they have passed through the receiver, still retain suflicient power to
render the charcoal within it red-hot.

A mixture of oxygen and hydrogen is exploded i in the dark focus,
through the ignition of its env ‘elop.

A strip of blackened zine-foil placed at the focus is pierced and in-
flamed by the invisible rays. By gradually drawing the strip through
the focus, it may be kept blazing “with its characteristic purple lieht
for a considerable time. This experiment is particularly beautiful,

Magnesium wire, presented suitably to the focus, burns with almost
intolerable brillianc Me

The effects thus far described are, in part, due to chemical action.
The substances placed at the dark focus are oxydizable ones, which,
when heated sufficiently, are attacked by the atmospheric oxygen, or-
dinary combustion being the result. But the cxperiments may be
freed from this impurity. A thin plate of charcoal, placed in vacuo,
is raised to incandescence at the focus of invisible rays. Chemical
action is here entirely excluded. A thin plate of silver or copper,
with its surface slightly tarnished by the sulphide of the metal, so as
to diminish its reflective power, is raised to incandescence either in
vacuo or in air. With suilicient battery-power and proper concentra-
tion, a plate of platinized platinum is rendered white-hot at the focus
of invisible rays; and when the incandescent platinum is looked at
through a prism, its light yields a complete and brilliant spectrum. In
all these cases we have, in the first place, a perfectly invisible image
of the coal points formed by the mirror; and no experiment hitherto
made illustrates the identity of hght and heat more forcibly than this
one. When the plate of metal or of charcoal is placed at the focus,
the invisible image ee it to incandescence, and thus prints itself
visibly upon the plate. On drawing the coal points apart, or on
causing them to approach a other, * the thermograph of the points
follows their motion. By cutting the plate of carbon along the boun-
dary of the thermograph, we may obtain a second pair of coal points,
of the same shape as the original ones, but turned upside down ; and
thus by the rays of the cne pair of coal points, which are incompetent
to excite vision, we may cause a second. pair to emit all the rays of
the spectrum.

The ultra-red radiation of the electric light is known to consist of
ethercal undulations of greater length, and slower periods of recur-
rence, than those which excite vision. When, therefore, those long
waves impinge upon a plate of platinum, and raise it to incandescence,
their period of vibration is changed. The waves emitted by the plati-
num are shorter, and of more rapid recurrence, than those falling upon
it, the refrangibility being thereby raised, and the invisible rays ren-
dered visible. Thirteen y years ago, Prof. Stokes published the noble
discovery that by the agency of sulphate of quinine, and various other
“Sais the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum could be rendered
visible. These invisible rays of high refrangibility, impinging upon

208 . ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

a proper medium, cause the molecules of that medium to oscillate in
slower periods than those of the incident waves. In this case, there-
fore, the invisible ravs are rendered visible by the lowering of their
refrangibility ; while in the experiments of Prof. Tyndall, the ultra-
red rays are rendered visible by the raising of their refrangibility.
To the phenomena brought to light by Prof. Stokes, the term jlwores-
cence has been applied by their discoverer, and to the phenomena
brought forward Prof. Tyndall proposes to apply the term calores-
cence.

It was the discovery more than three years ago, of a substance
opaque to light, and almost perfectly transparent to radiant heat,—a
substance which cut the visible spectrum of the electric light sharply
off at the extremity of the red, and left the ultra-red radiation
almost untouched, that led Prof. Tyndall to the foregoing results.
They lay directly in the path of his investigation, and it was only the
diversion of his attention to subjects of more immediate interest that
prevented him from reaching much earlier the point which he has
now attained. On this, however, Prof. Tyndall can found no claim,
and the idea of rendering ultra-red rays visible, though arrived at in-
dependently, does not by right belong to him. The right to a scien-
tific idea or discovery is secured by the act of publication, and, in
virtue of such an act, priority of conception as regards the conversion
of heat-rays into light-rays, belongs indisputably to Dr. Akin. At the
meeting of the British Association, assembled at Newcastle in 1863,
he proposed three experiments by which he intended to solve this
question. He afterwards became associated with an accomplished
man of science, Mr. Griffith, of Oxford, and jointly with him pursued
the inquiry. ‘Two out of the three experiments proposed at New-
eastle by Dr. Akin are quite impracticable.” In the third it was pro-
posed to concentrate by a large burning mirror the rays of the sun, to
cut off the luminous portion of the radiation by ‘‘ proper absorbents,”
and then to operate with the obscure rays. Dr. Akin employed in
his experiments a mirror 36 inches in diameter, but he has hith-
erto failed to realize his idea. With a mirror four inches in diam-
ter, the radiant source with which his researches had rendered him
familiar, and a substance which he had himself discovered to filter the
beam of the electric lamp, Prof. Tyndall obtained all the results above
described.—London Reader.

EFFECT OF THE ATMOSPHERE ON, LIGHT.

M. Janssen has published the result of his researches, showing the
power of elective absorption which the terrestrial atmosphere exer-
cises on light. This action, he says, is represented by fine numerous
sombre rays on the spectrum of all the light, the rays of which have
traversed asuflicient thickness of our atmosphere. In 1833, Sir David
Brewster announced that the solar spectrum at the horizon presented
new dark bands, which disappeared as the sun rose, but did not at-
tribute their disappearance to the terrestrial atmosphere. M. Janssen,
however, affirms that these bands resolve themselves into fine lines
comparable to the solar rays properly so called; and that they are
always visible in the spectrum, and vary only in intensity according
to the hight of the sun. He finds that in the red and orange parts of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. ~ 209

the solar spectrum, the rays of terrestrial origin, are much more nu-
merous and important than the rays of solar origin. He mentions,
also, an experiment made on the Lake of Geneva, by which he deter-
mined the presence of these bands in the flame of a firwood fire at a
distance of about 13 miles. This flame gave no band when exam-
ined near. M. Janssen also states, that his experiments prove that
the vapor of water dissolved in air, —that is, in the state of an elas-
tic fluid, performs an important part in the production of the phe-
nomena ; and he considers that the results of the researches of Huggins
and Miller confirm his own ideas.

DURATION OF TWILIGHT AND HIGHT OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

Herr Julius Schmidt, of the Athens Observatory, communicates to
Astronomische Nachrichten a series of observations to determine the du-
ration of twilight, and the hight of the atmosphere. He arrives at the
conclusion that the minimum hight of the atmosphere ranges from 7°5 to
10°5 geographical miles (15 to an equatorial degree ?), and that it
varies with the time of year, bemg highest in November, December,
January, and lowest in May, June, July. The depression of the sun
necessary for the close of twilight is not constant, the ordinary reck-
oning of —18° being correct only in extreme cases.

NOVEL USE OF POLARIZED LIGHT.

M. Chacornac the French astronomer states, that while recently
watching small cymulus clouds that formed themselves soon after sun-
set, he observed them appear as bright spots seen on a dark ground,
or as dark spots on a bright ground, according to whether he shut out
the polarized rays, or let them reach his eye. From this it appeared
that the proportion of polarized light was sufficiently great, that dark
spots became luminous through the action of the analysing prism,
and thus, passing from the condition of negative to that of positive
vision,* could be seen further off. The region ofmaximum atmospheric
polarization he states to be near the horizon about 78° from the sun,
it there amounts to about {45 of the total light which the atmosphere
reflects. He suggests that by adding an analysing prism to the eye-
piece of a telescope, distant capes at sea, and other objects, might
become visible, just as he was able by such means to see alpine sum-
mits after they have been completely screened from ordinary vision
by a light fog.

SIMPLIFICATION OF THE COMMON PUMP.

A modification of the ordinary suction pump has recently been pa-
tented in France, which seems, for many purposes at least, to recom-
mend itself strongly by its simplicity, and other good qualities. The
common pump consists, as is well-known, of a barrel, a piston, and two
valves opening upwards; the pump to which we direct attention, of
only a barrel, a solid plunger, and a single valve. The former pump
is exposed to great wear and tear, and very considerable friction, from
the necessity for the sucker fittimg the barrel exactly; the latter is

* Negative vision is when a dark object is seen, not by its own light, but by con-
trast with the light surrounding it. Positive vision is when an object is visible
by the light which it emits or reflects,

1S*

210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

totally free from these objections. Our readers may make an excel-
lent model of the new pump by fitting water-tight into one end of a
cylindrical glass gas chimney a piece of wood or cork, in the centre
of which is an aperture, closed within the glass cylinder by a flap of
leather, which will act as a simple, but tolerably water-tight valve ;
and selecting for the plunger a thick rod of wood that nearly fills the
cylinder. To work the apparatus it is only necessary to insert the
plunger in the cylinder, fill the space around it with water, and place
the closed end of the cylinder in a small quantity of that fluid.
When the plunger is drawn up, the valve opens, and water rushes
in to supply the vacuum. When the plunger is then pushed in
again, the water fiows out through the upper end of the cylinder; and
thus the process may be continued for any length of time. It 1s
evident that the fluid may be made to issue from a spout or tube, if the
upper end of the barrel is enlarged. The principle on which this
pump produces its effect is the same as that of the common pump,
but it might be supposed that, instead of water rushing up through
the valve, water, and even air, would pass down from around the
plunger. This, however, is not the case; and it is the most curious
circumstance connected with the apparatus. It may be accounted for,
however, by the capillary attraction which exists between the plunger
and barrel. Experiment alone can show how large such a pump
may be made, or from what depth it would cause water to ascend ;
but there are most probably many purposes for which it would answer
well. ‘
CURIOUS PHYSICAL EXPERIMENT.

An interesting experiment, which, though not new, is not generally
known, may be performed as follows: Roll up a large card into a tube
a quarter of an inch in diameter, and make the joint tight by a little
sealing-wax. Then cut a disc of card two inches in diameter, make a
hole through its centre exactly big enough to admit the tube. Seal-
ing-wax the card disc on to the top of the tube so as:to form a flange,
taking care not to let the tube project above the surface of the disc.
Cut another ecard dise of the same diameter, and lay it on the former,
holding the tube quite upright with the disc uppermost. Blow gen-
tly through the tube, and the loose disc will be thrown off the flange.
Replace it, and blow with great vehemence. ‘The disc will then not
be thrown off, but will remain close to the flange, vibrating strongly.
The loose disc may then be placed on the table, and the tube with the
flange downwards held very near it. On blowing violently the loose
dise will spring up toward the flange and vibrate as before.

TESTING OF CHAIN CABLES.

An interesting paper on the above subject was recently read by Mr.
Paget, C. E. before the Society of Arts. The average tenacity of the
bars of which the links are made is stated to be 24 tons per square
inch; of this 28.75 per cent is lost in the finished link, in conse-
quence of (1) the geometrical form of the link, (2) the crushing stress
undergone by the inside of the crowns, (3) the deterioration of the
iron in bending, and (4)the loss of strength at the welds. As to the
proper tests of the cable, Mr. Paget suggests the breaking of a por-
tion by hydraulic pressure as affording the surest guide to the quality

* NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 211

of the iron employed, testing the entire cable to a fixed proof strain,
and finally, by blows or impacts, as specially adapted for the discov-
ery of false welds. The apparent increase of strength of bars re-
peatedly broken, first exhibited in the experiments of Mr. Lloyd, is
shown to be due to increase of hardness, or of the difficulty of the
gliding to and fro of the particles so that whilst the resistance to
purely passive loads is increased, the resistance to impulsive forces is
enormously diminished at each fracture. The value of the government
hydraulic test of 11°46 tons per square inch js discussed, and the per-
manent set under this strain is stated to be 34; to 54; of the length.
While believing that a single application of this test does not
materially injure the cable if good, Mr. Paget deprecates any attempt
to make the test more severe.

PHOTOGRAPHY APPLIED TO TOPOGRAPHY.

Photography has recently been applied in France for the purpose of
topography with great success. By taking photographic views of any
prominent object from different points, the distance between these
points being measured, it is found possible to measure distances and
heights on the photographic views almost as accurately as by triangu-
lation. By this new process, by means of 29 views taken from 18
different points in less than 60 hours, an accurate plan of the City of
Grenoble and of its environs, embracing an extent of more than 20
kilometers square (123 miles square), was executed in 60 days, which
by triangulation would have taken months.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

‘ON THE NEW SYSTEM OF CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY.

The following is an abstract of an address made by Prof. Odling, on
assuming the chair of the Chemical Section of the British Association, at
its last meeting, 1864. “After the great diversity, or rather antag-
onism, of opinion which has existed for the last dozen years or so? I am
almost bound to take a somewhat prominent notice of one substantial
agreement which now prevails among English chemists as to the com-
bining proportions of the elementary bodies, and the molecular weights
of their most important compounds. ‘The present unanimity of opinion
on the fundamental subject, among those who have given it their atten-
tion is, I conceive, greater then has ever been the case since Dalton
published his new system of Chemical Philosophy, more than half a
century ago. As yet, indeed, the unanimity of practice falls considerably
short of the unanimity of belief; but even in this direction great progress
is being made. As was well observed by Dr. Miller, at a previous meeting
of this Association, ‘Chemistry is not merely a science; it is also an art,
which has introduced its nomenclature and its notation into our manu-
factories, and in some measure even into our daily life; hence the great
difficulty of effecting a speedy change in chemical usage alike so time-
honored and intimately ramified.’ I propose, with your permission, to
make a few remarks upon the bistory of this chemical reformation, more
especially in connection with certain points which some of its most dis-
tinguished leaders have scarcely, I think, correctly estimated. From the
time when Dalton first introduced the expression ‘atomic weight,’ up to
the year 1842, when Gerhardt announced his views upon the molecular
constitution of water, there does not seem to have been any marked dif-
ference of opinion among chemists as to the combining proportions of the
principal elements. That 1 part by weight of hydrogen, united with
36 parts by weight of chlorine to form a single molecule of hydrochloric
acid, and with 8 parts by weight of oxygen to form a single molecule of
water, was the notion both of Berzeiius and Gmelin, who may be taken
as representatives of the two chief continental schools of theoretic che-
mistry. There was, indeed, no difference of opinion whatever between
them as to the combining proportions of the three elements. Using the
hydrogen scale of numbers, both chemists represented the combining pro-
portion of hydrogen as 1, that of chlorine as 36, and that of oxygen as
8. Both, moreover, represented the molecular weight of hydrochloric
acid as 37, and the molecular weight of water as 9 ‘True it is that
Berzelius professedly regarded the single combining proportions of hy-
drogen and chlorine as consisting each of two physical atoms; but since
the two atoms of hydrogen, for instance, which constitute the one com-

212

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 2138

bining proportion of hydrogen, were chemically inseparable from one
another, they were really tantamount to one atom only of hydrogen, and
as a matter of fact were always employed by Berzelius as representing
the single chemical atom of hydrogen, or its smallest actual combining
proportion. Distinguishing thus between the physical atom and the com-
bining proportion, Berzelius’s recognition of the truth that equal volumes
of the elementary gases contain an equal number of atoms was utterly
barren. But, identifying the physical atom with the combining prepor-
tion, Gerhardt’s recognition, or rather establishment, of the broader truth
that equal volumes of all gases, elementary and compound, containing the
same number of atoms, has been in the highest degree prolific. From
Gerhardt’s division of volatile bodies into a majority whose recognized
molecules corresponded respectively with four volumes of vapor, and
a minority, whose recognized molecules corresponded respectively with
but two volumes, and from his proposal, in conjunction with Laurent, to
double the molecular weights of these last, so as to make the molecules
of all volatile bodies, simple and compound, correspond each with four
volumes of vapor, must, I conceive, be traced the development by himself
and others of the mature views of chemical philosophy which now
prevail. With every respect for other authorities, I cannot join with
them in regarding the indication of Gerhardt’s system as an imperfect,
return, and its remarkable maturation in these recent days as a more
complete return, to the notions of Berzelius. It is true that the ele-
mentary weights now employed, with the exception of those for some
half-dozen metals, are identical with the atomic weights of Berzelius ; but
so different are they from his combining weights, that fully 4 of all known
compounds have to be expressed by formule entirely different from his,—
namely, all those bodies, with but a very few exceptions, into which
hydrogen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, nitrogen, phosphorus, ar-
senic, boron, and the metals lithium, sodium, potassium, silver, and gold,
enter as constituents. Fully admitting that the new system of atomic
weights, as it now exists, is the joint product of many minds,—fully ad-
mitting that it owes its present general acceptance chiefly to the intro-
duction of the water type by Williamson during Gerhardt’s lifetime, and
the recognition of diatomic metals by Wurtz, and Cannizzaro, after his
decease,—and fully admitting, moreover, that some of Gerhardt’s steps in
the development of his unitary system were decidedly, though perhaps
excusably, retrograde,—I yet look upon him as being the great founder of
that modern chemical philosophy, on the general spread of which I have
already ventured to congratulate the members of the Section. Prior to
the time of Gerhardt’s, the selection of molecular weights for different
bodies, elementary or compound, had been almost a matter of hazard.
Relying conjointly upon physical and chemical phenomena, he first es-
tablished definite principles of selection, by pointing out the considerations
upon which the determination of atomic weights must logically depend.
Relying upon these principles he established his classification of the non-
metallic elements into monhydrides, represented by chlorine,—dihy-
drides, represented by oxygen, —terhydrides, represented by nitrogen,
&c.; and relying upon the same principles, but with a greatly increased
knowledge of phenomena, later chemists have given to his method a de-
velopment and unity, more especially as regards the metallic elements,
which have secured for the new system the impregnable and acknowledged

214 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

position which it at present occupies. The comparative unanimity which
prevailed before the time of Gerhardt’s was the unanimity of submission
to authority; but the greater unanimity which now prevails is the unan-
imity of conv iction, consequent upon an intermediate period of solitary
insurrection by general disturbance and ultimate triumph. Bearing in
mind how much the origin of the new system by Gerhardt, and its com-
pletion by his colleagues and disciples, owe to a correct appreciation of the
harmony subsisting between chemical and physical relations, we cannot but
give a hearty welcome to any large exposition of mixed chemico- physical
phenomena; and whether or not we agree with all his conclusions, there
ein be but one opinion as to the obligation chemists are under to Prof.

Kopp, of Giessen, tor the great addition he has recently made to our
knowledge and means of obtaining a further knowledge of what has
hitherto been but avery limited subject, namely, specific heat. The
agreement of chemists as to the elemental atomic weights is tantamount

to an agreement among them as to the relative quantities of the ditferent
kinds of matter which shall be re by the different elemental
symbols; and this brings me to the subject of chemical notation. At one
time many chemists even of considerable eminence believed and taught
that Gerhardt’s reformation had reference mainly to notation, and not to
theassociation and interpretation of phenomena, and it became rather a fash-
ion among them to declaim against the puerilities of notational questions.

That the idea is of far greater importance than the mode of expressing it, is
an obvious truism; but nevertheless the mode of Ses a las an impor-
tance of its own, as facilitating the spread of the idea, and more especially
its dey elopment and procreation, It has been well asked, in what posi-
tion would the science of arithmetic have been but for the substitution of
Arabic for Roman numerals, the notation in_ which value is expressed by
the change in position for that in which it is expressed one by the
repetition of a few simple e signs? Itis unfortun ately too true that chemical
notation is at present in any thing buta satisfactory state. The much-
used sign of addition is, I conceive, “about the last which would be deliber-

ately selectod to represent the fine idea of chemical combination, which
seems allied rather, I should say to an interpenetration than to a coarse
apposition of atoms. The placing of symbols in contiguity, or simply
introducing a point between them, as indicative of a sort of multiplication

or inv olution of the one atom into the other, is, I think, far preferable;

but here, as pointed out by Sir John Herschel, we violate the ordinary .
algebraic understanding, which assigns very diiferent numerical value to
the expressions x y and x X y respectively. I know, indeed, that one
among us has been engaged for some years past in conceiving and
working out new and strictly philosophical system of chemical notation,
by means of actual formule, instead of mere symbols; and I am sure
that I only «xpress the general wish of the Section, when I ask Sir Ben-
jamin Brodie not to postpone the publication of his views for a longer
time than is absolutely necessary for their sufficient elaboration. In any
case, however, the symbolic notation at present employed, with more or
less modific.tion of detail, must continue to have its peculiar uses as an
instrument of interpretation, and it becomes therefore of importance to
us to render it more precise in meaning and consistent in its application,
Many of its incongruities belong to the v ery lowest order of convention ;
such, for example, ; as the custom of distinguishing between the represen-

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 215

tation of so-called mineral and organic compounds, one particular se-
quence of symbols being habitually employed in representing, the com-
pounds of carbon, and an entirely different sequence of symbols in
representing the more or less analogous compounds of all other elements.
Now that organic and mineral chemistry are properly regarded as forming
one continuous whole,—a conclusion to which Colbe’s researches on
sulphureted organic bodies have largely contributed,—it is high time
that such relics of the ancient superstition, that organic and mineral
chemistry were essentially different from one another, should be done
away with. Although during the past year the direct advance of that
crucial organic chemistry, the synthesis of natural organic bodies, has not
been striking; yet, on the other hand, its indire:t advance has, I submit,
been very considerable. Several of the artificially produced organic
compounds at first thought to be identical with those of natural origin,
have proved to be, as it is well known, not identical, but only isomeric
therewith. Hence, reculer pour’ mieux sauter, chemists have been
stepping back a little to examine more intimately the construction both
of natural organic bodies and of their artificial isomers. The synthetic
power having been allowed cf putting the works together in almost any
desired way, it is yet necessary, in order to corstruct some particular bi-
ological product, to first learn the way in which its constituent bricks
h.ve been naturally put together. We accordingly find that the study of
isomerism, or what comes to the same thing, the study of the intimate
construction of bodies, is assuming an importance never before accorded
to it. Isomerism is, in fact, the chemical problem of the day; and con-
currently with its rapidly advancing solution, through the varied en-
deavors of many workers, will be the advance in rational organic syn-
thesis. It is curious to note the oscillation of opinion in reference to this
subject. ‘Twenty years ago, the molecular constitution of bodies was per-
ceived by a special instinct, simultaneously with or even prior to the estab-
lishment of their molecular weights. Then came an interval of scepticism,
when the intimate constitution of bodies was maintained to be not only
unknown, but unknowable. Now, we have a period of temperate reac-
tion, not recognizing the descried knowledge as unallowable, but only as
difficult of allowment. And in this, as in many other instances, we find
evidence of the healthier state of mind in which now more perhaps than
ever the first principles of chemical philosophy are explored. Specula-
tion, indeed, is not less rife, and scarcely less esteemed than formerly, but
it is now seldom or never mistaken for ascertained truth. Scepticism
indeed still prevails; not, however, the barren scepticism of contentment,
but the feriie scepticism which aspires to greater and greater certainty
of knowledge. Chemical science is advancing, I believe, not only more
rapidly, but upon a surer basis than heretofore; and while, with every
advance, the prospect widens before our eyes, so that we become almost
alarmed at contemplating what those who come after us will have to
learn, we console ourselves with the determination that their labor of
unlearning shall be as little as possible—far less, we hope, than what
we in our time have had to experience.

THE NEW METALS.

The new metal Indium found in the zinc-blend of Fryberg, by means
of the spectroscope, is distinguished by having a spectrum consisting of

216 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

two bright indigo-colored lmes, and by its compounds tinting the
colorless flame of a Bunsen burner of a violet color. Hitherto indium
has only been obtained in very minute quantity from the Fryberg
blende, consequently its properties and compounds have ae: been very
carefully examined. It appears closely to resemble zine, with which
it has hitherto always been found in combination. — It is, ’ however, a
softer metal, marking paper like lead; it is readily soluble in hydro-
chloric acid, and, heated in the open air, it oxydizes freely, yielding
a white oxyd easily reducible before the deoxydizing flame of the
blow-pipe. The hydrated oxyd is precipitated from its salts by pot-
ash and ammonia, but is insoluble in excess of either of these re-
agents; hence it is easily distinguished from both zine and alumina.
The oxyd may be separated from oxyd of iron, with which it is as-
sociated in the zine blende by precipitating the latter with bicarbonate
of soda. The precipitated sulphide is insoluble in alicalies.

Cesium and Rubidium have recently been found to be exten-
sively distributed, and to exist in many ar ticles of human consumption,
such as beet-root, sugar, tea, and coffee. Thallium has been found in
many minerals in which its presence was hitherto unsuspected, and to
oecur also in very appreciable quantity in molasses, the yeast of wine,
chicory, and even in tobacco.

A new and comparatively al bundant source of these three rare metals,
cesium, rubidium, and thallium, has been discovered; the water of a
spring near Frankfort, Germany, leaves on evaporation a saline residue
which contains the three metals in appreciable quantity. Rubidium is
avery ight metal ; with a white color like silver, with a yellowish shade.
In contact with air it covers itself immediately with a bluish eray coat-
ing of suboxyd, is inflamed (even when in large lumps) after a few
seconds, much quicker than potassium. At a temperature of 14° Fahr.
it is still as soft as wax; it becomes liquid at 101-5° Fahr., and in red
heat it is transformed into a greenish-blue vapor. ‘The specific gravity
of rubidium is about 1°52. It is much more electro-positive than po-
tassium; and when thrown upon water, burns and shows a flame lke
that metal.

Cesium and Tellurium.—The metal cesium has hitherto been ob-
tained only in very small quantities. To get only seven grains of its
chloride Bunsen was obliged to evaporate forty tons of water ; and onl
0-3 per cent, of it are contained in the Lepidolite of Hebron in the
United States. But it has recently been found that the mineral Pol-
lux, which is very abundant in the island of Elba, contains 34 per
eent of this met tal, which had been previously mistaken for potas-
sium. Ti ethuriun also, hitherto one of the rarest of substances, is
found in considerable quantity associated with bismuth, about 15,000
feet above the level of the sea, in one of the loftiest peaks of the An-
des. The reduction of chloride of aluminum by means of zine
was patented in 1854, but the principle was not successfully carried
out until recently. The vapor of zinc is found to reduce cobalt, nickel,
and manganese with great facility.

Use and distribution of Lithium.—Lithia, the oxyd of the metal
lithium, since the discovery of its wide distribution by the process of
spectral analysis, has been introduced to a considerable extent into
medicine, in the form of a carbonate, as an anti-acid and anti-lithic

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 217

remedy. Asa carbonate, it is a colorless white powder, sometimes
in small crystals, soluble in 100 parts of cold water, insoluble in alco-
hol. Itis very much like carbonate of soda in most of its properties,
but is a much stronger alkali than either this or the corresponding
potash salt. A mineral, termed Lepidolite, found in abundance at He-
bron, Maine, has been recently snown by Mr. O. C. Allen, of the
Sheffield Scientific School, New Haven, to be so rich in lithia as to jus-
tify its prospective use as a source of the carbonate for use in medicine.

Observations on the Meial Magnesium.—The spectrum of burning
magnesium has been found to be particularly rich im chemical rays,
and has consequently been used with success as a photographic light.
Prof. Roscoe ina recent lecture before the Royal Institution stated
that if the surface of burning magnesium has an apparent magnitude
equal to that of the sun seen from a certain point, the chemical action
effected by the magnesium on that point is equal to that produced by
the sun when at an elevation of 9° 53’... And that * a zenith distance
of 67° 22’, the visible brightness of the sun’s rays is 524°7 times that
of burning magnesium, whilst its chemical ides is only 36°6
times as ereat as that of the burning metal: hence the great use of
the latter in photography. A thin magnesium wire pr oduces in burn-
ing as much light as 74 stearine candles, and to continue this light
for ten hours, 7 2 grammes—about two ounces and a half—of mag-
nesium must be burnt, corresponding in effect to 20 pounds of stear-
ine candles.

Economical Production of Aluminum.—M. Corbelli has discovered
anew method for obtaining this metal at a very’smallcost. His plan is
as follows :—

He takes a certain quantity of pure clay, say 100 grammes, and
dissolves it in six times its weight of concentrated sulphuric, nitric, or
hydrochloric acid. The solution is then allowed to stand; and after-

_warils decanted. The residue is first dried and then heated to 450°
or 500° Centigrade; after which it is mixed with 200 grammes of
prussiate of potash, which may be increased or diminished accord-
ing to the quantity of silica contained in the clay. To this mix-
ture 150 grammes of common salt are added; the whole is then put
into a crucible and heated until the mixture becomes white ; when
cool, a-button of pure aluminum is found at the bottom of the crucible.

Thallium. —At a recent meeting of the Royal Institution, Mr.
Crookes, the discoverer of Thallium, exhibited an ingot of this ele-
ment weighing 24 pounds. Recent chemical researches seem to indi-
cate that Thallium ought to be included with the alkaline metals in its
chemical classification.

ORIGIN OF GRAPHITE.

Tron, after remaining long buried in the earth, at last entirely
decomposes, leaving a black, porous, eminently combustible residuum,
known as graphite or pure carbon. M. Haidinger’s report on the
ferruginous masses of Kokitzan and Gotta, near Dresden, masses of
uncertain origin, lends support to this general fact. One word on the
formation, still so little known, of graphite (p!umbago, pencil lead).
The presence of graphite in granite, gneiss, and diorite, has renewed
the disputes between the Ne eptunists and Plutonists. Graphite is

218 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

well known to be nearly pure carbon, for it leaves in burning but a
very small quantity of ash. Now, if these primitive crystalline rocks
are of igneous formation, it is impossible to explain how graphite
could coexist with silicates of protoxyd of iron without having re-
duced these salts ; judging merely by what takes place in blast furnaces,
since carbon reduces all oxyds of iron at a high temperature. It must
then be admitted that granite, gneiss, and diorite, did not contain
graphite when the mineral elements of these rocks, such as mica,
hornblende, and other ferrous silicates were in a state of fusion.
Graphite, then, must have been subsequently introduced into these
rocks,—but when, and how? Questions such as these are very difli-
cult to answer satisfactorily. ‘The most plausible hypothesis is that
graphite has been introduced by the wet way into the crystalline rocks
and substituted for one of the mimeral components. Thus, in the
gneiss of Passau (Bavaria), it takes the place of mica.

Graphite is frequently to be met with in granulated limestone,—a
fact particularly interesting to geologists. Is limestone a product of
eruption, or is it a sediment transformed by the action of heat? The
presence of graphite is explicable by neither hypothesis. For at a
certain temperature, which need not be very high, carbon decom-
poses carbonate of lime. This salt may no doubt, under strong
pressure, be heated to the melting point without losing its carbonic
acid; this isa laboratory experiment often cited by the Plutonists.
But it is quite a different thing with a mixture of carbon and carbon-
ate of lime at a high temperature. If we reject the Neptunian origin
of granulated limestone, we must then, as with erystalline rocks, sup-
pose that graphite has been introduced by the wet way at a more
recent period. ‘The same remark applies to magnetic pyrites (sul-
phide of iron), often very rich in plumbago kerns.

Does graphite, like all carbon, belong to the organic kingdom? It
is certain that anthracite, lignite, and coal, are the result of the slow
decomposition of an enormous quantity of vegetables ; the impressions
found on them often indicate the kind of vegetables, most of them
extinct, which have contributed to these carbonaceous formations.
Graphite, if not formed in precisely the same way as coal and
anthracite, nevertheless bears signs of an organic origin. The forma-
tion of nuclei and veins of graphite in crystalline rocks is sufficiently
explained by the decomposition of carbonized hydrogen gas at a high
temperature ; this gas, disengaged from organic matters, and penetrat-
ing the fissures of the burning rock, would und@rgo decomposition —
into hydrogen and carbon.

It is this deposited carbon which forms graphite. If in our labo-
ratories we do not obtain exactly the same product, it must be
remembered that Nature has means at her command which escape our
researches. We find it impossible to make coal from wood. The
wood may be carbonized by the dry or by the wet way. In the first
place the carbonization is very rapid; in the latter it is extremely
slow, as is shown by the blackened points of piling sunk in water.

Finally, graphite has been found in meteorites or aerolites. At-
tempts have been made to explainits presence here by the continuance
of these stones in soil more or less rich in carbonized principles. But
with regard to newly-fallen stones, this explanation is inadmissible.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 219

Tf it be maintained that graphite is an organic product, it must be
admitted that in the case of newly-fallen meteorites it can proceed
only from organic matters belonging to another world than our own.

In his report on Alibert graphite, M. Dumas presents some consid-
erations on the probable origin of graphite and of the diamond. M.
Despretz and others ascribe to fire the change of carbon into diamond ;
Newton ascribed it to the coagulation of a fatty or oily body; Liebig
says the diamond is slowly formed by processes which determine the
prolonged putrefaction of a liquid body rich in carbon and in water ;
then, contrary to M. Despretz’s method a high temperature would be
unfavorable to a successful attempt. Adopting Newton’s hypothesis,
M. Geeppert states, in ‘‘a memoir on the solid bodies entering into
the composition of the diamond, and considered with regard to their
organic or inorganic origin,” that he is disposed to class the diamond
among the products of the decomposition of organic matters. All
these hypotheses M. Dumas rejects; according to him the diamond
is crystallized carbon, at the moment of its production and in the
midst of amass which has been exposed merely to the heat necessary
to soften it, provided this condition is sufliciently prolonged. .

Finally, M. Dumas frankly admits that nothing positive is known
as to the true origin of the diamond, though the substance most
allied to it, silicum, is perfectly known, and very beautiful specimens
of it are obtained.

However, it is positively ascertained that the diamond and graphite
have not the same origin, and that the residue of every carboniferous
substance, treated at a high temperature, proves to be but a variety of
graphite. The new carbon found by M. Alibert in the ipines of
Marinski, situated atthe summit of Batougol, on the Siberian fron-
tiers, is then a graphitoid carbon of the most beautiful kind, formed
by volcanic phenomena. M. Jaquelain, after carefully comparing the
external characteristics of Alibert graphite with that obtained by his
process, concludes that the conditions under which they are produced
must be analogous.

In fact, on comparing the texture of the two carbons, they will be
found sometimes of a metallic, mirror-like lustre; at another time the
surface will be of shining steel-gray, mammillated as if it had been
half fused, and had passed through a pasty stage. This appearance is
similar to that of oxyd of iron, nodulous, brilliant, with mammillated
surface, known by the name of brown hematite. M. Jaquelain is in-
clined to admit that tarry and pyrogenated products, transformed in
immense proportions into carbon and hydrogen, under the influence
of igneous rocks, become accumulated in rents and excavations,
causing an aggregation of carbon, and inducing a fusion analogous to
that of carbon in retorts for lighting gas and of graphitoid carbon
destined to form the pencils used for the electric light.

On this point, M. Jaquelain narrates one of his own recent exper-
iments. On decomposing some sulphide of carbon in a porcelain
tube in presence of pure copper, heated to about 3,008, sulphite of
copper and graphite were formed, externally similar to natural graph-
ite.—Lond. Chem. News, from Cosmos.

220 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ARTIFICIAL DIAMONDS.

It has been often suggested that in default of a ** Carbon-Solvent,”
electricity might possibly be brought to bear upon a carbonaceous
solution, so as to cause the carbon ‘to be deposited pure in a crystal-
line form. Starting from this point; a recent writer in the Dublin
University Magazine, makes the following suggestions. ‘* Diamond
when fused by the heat in the open aur, leaves a residue of pure car-
bon. Its attraction for solar light is so great that, after absorption,
it is sure to give it off when placed inadark room. Its extreme
refrangibility shows, it to have for its base an oily substance. Itisa
bad conductor of electricity, like all such substances. Suppose we
take_a portion of pure carbon (which is a powerful conductor of elec-
tricity), produced by burning to sooty residue a quantity of vegeta-
ble oil, say oil of origanum, which is the most inflammable; “then
place it in a close air- -tivht vessel constructed so as to admit a saturat-
ing supply of oxygen (which j is a powerful conductor of electricity) ;
then bring to bear on this intensely oxygenized piece of carbon a
strong and constant electric current. While the latter produces vol-
atilization and intense molecular aggregations, it is very possible that
the union of oxygen with the carbon, under such conditions, would
result in the reconstruction of diamond substance, which would take
a crystallized form under the influence of the current ; while the oxy-
gen would restore to tue diamond base the quality which it had lost.
The instrument should be exposed constantly in the light of the sun,
which exercises such influence on crystallization ; and as the harder
the crystals the longer the time it takes to form, the process of the
experiment would of necessity be extended over several or many
years.”

PERMEABILITY OF IRON.

In the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1864 (page 197), some
curious facts showing the porosity of platinum to hydrogen, —
the results of experiments by M. Déville of Paris—were given.
During the past year, the same author, in a paper presented to the
French Academy, announces the discovery of a similar property in
iron. The experiment, proving this, is detailed by him as follows.

The great difficulty was to find a tube answering to the various con-
ditions required for the experiment. The best iron to be found in the
markets might still be open to some objection, since in point of fact
it is a mere sponge flattened by a hammer, like common platinum.
They succeeded at length in obtaining a tube of cast steel, contain-
ing so little carbon that it did not admit of being tempered, It was
in “reality rather iron than steel, and so soft that it was drawn into a
tube without heating or soldering, though its sides were of a thick-
ness of from three to four Tl ebert: To the ends of this tube, two
other tubes of a much smaller diameter, and of copper, were soldered
with silver; the whole was then introduced into an open porcelain

tube, which was put into a furnace; a glass tube, luted to one end,
established a communication with an apparatus generating hy drogen
completely deprived of atmospheric air; while at the other end,
another glass tube, bent at right angles, dipped into a mercury bath,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 221

its vertical branch being 80 centimeters long. For the space of eight
or ten hours, a current of hydrogen was driven through the apparatus,
which was maintained at a high ‘tempel ature, SO as to exhaust the ac-
tion of the hydrogen on the sides of the iron tube, and to drive away
all the atmospheric air, as well as the moisture contained in the tube,
or likely to be produced there. This done, the communication
between the iron tube and the hydrogen apparatus was cut off by
melting down the glass tube by the aid of the blowpipe. No sooner
was this effected, than the mercur y, no longer kept down by the stream
of hydrogen, y ielded to the pressure of the air, and rose in the verti-

eal olass tae to the height of 740 millimeters, or very nearly the
usual barometrical hight. ‘This would not have happened, had there
not been a nearly complete vacuum in the tube the instant the supply
of hydrogen was cut off. But what had become of the hydrogen
supplied before? There is but one explanation possible, viz: that,
notwithstanding the pressure of the atmosphere, the hydrogen had
passed through - the pores of the steel tube.

Additional Facts.—M. Cailletet has detailed to the French Acad-
emy some very curious additional facts bearing on the experiments
of M. Deville. He says: ‘‘ [ passed portions of a gun-barrel through
rollers till they were flattened. The ends were then welded. Thus,

rectangular pieces of iron were obtained, formed of two plates in con-
tact, and sealed at their extremities. On strongly heating one of
these pieces in a furnace, the non-welded portions separated, and
resumed the cylindrical form and their original volume. It could not,
therefore, be doubted that the gases of the furnace had penetrated the
mass of iron and distended its walls.” To a similar action, M. Caille-
tet ascribes the cavities in large masses of forged iron; and he states,
that in the process of cementation, acier poule or steel with vesicles,
is constantly produced; but if soft, perfectly homogeneous iron, such
as can be obtained by keeping melted steel for several hours at a
high temperature, be employed, it is reconstructed into steel without
blisters. M. Deville remarks upon this communication, that it is
‘very interesting and conclusive, and he adverts to the discharge of
gas from molten matter, often observed in metallurgical operations.
These gases, he considers, penetrate the walls of the crucibles by
endosmose, and give rise to bubbles in the metals.”

Action of Porcelain and Lavas at high temperatures on Gases. Pos-
sible action of the Moon.—M. Deville, in commenting further upon the
above facts, stated that his brother aad M. ‘Troost have shown that if
hydrogen traverses without difficulty the walls of a porcelain tube at
ahigh temperature, it does not do so when the tube begins to soften or
vitrify. ‘The gas is then absorbed by the vitrified surface, from whence
it escapes, leaving it porous. He connects these facts with the ap-
pearance of certain lavas. He says the lavas of Vesuvius, whatever
the rate of their cooling, are always crystalline, and that they disengage
aqueous vapor, ciulninidies. sulphides, etc., as the crytallization proceeds,
just as oxygen escapes from silver that takes the rocky form, or air
escapes from freezing water. The crystallization-of lavas he states to
be accompanied by increase of density and evolution of heat. He
traces a resemblance between the Campi Phlegrai and the surface of
the moon, and considers that the latter may have behaved like erup-

19*

222 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tive matter with excess of silica, which has a tendeney to consolidate
in a vitreous form, and imprisons gaseous matter in its solidification.

ON THE CHEAP PRODUCTION OF OXYGEN GAS.

In a recently published report of Dr. Hoffmann, of London, on the
<< Chemical processes and products” of the Great Exhibition of 1862,
he notices the production and application of oxygen gas in the arts
as follows : —

‘« Of the various processes by which oxygen gas can be produced,
I think we may say that two only are now used, viz: chlorate of potash
with and without manganese, and manganese alone: the latter is
selected only for cheapness when a considerable quantity of the gas is
required; chlorate of potash, with manganese for facility of operation ;
and chlorate of potash alone when purity is the principal object to be
attained. More recently other processes have been recommended,
one of which, by heating together a mixture of nitrate of soda and
oxide of zinc, has been patented; from this mixture oxygen Is said
to be produced at a cheaper rate than by any other method at present
known. Unfortunately for the value of this discovery, the produce
is contaminated with a considerable percentage of nitrogen. Mr,
Kuhlman, of Lille, discovered and published an ingenious and beautiful
process for the production of oxygen by means of baryta. He found
that by passing a current of common air through caustic baryta, heated
to dull redness, peroxyd of barium was formed, which, on an increase
of temperature, is resolved into oxygen gas and caustic baryta, the
latter ready again to perform its part in a similar operation. ‘The idea
naturally suggested itself that the means were now at hand for getting
oxygen from the atmosphere in any quantity at a small cost. This
method, although so promising, has been for the present abandoned.
Tt was found that after’a few operations, either from a molecular
change or from the silica or other impurities, a sort of glass or fu-
sion resulted on the surface, the baryta ceased to absorb oxygen,
and the operation ceased.”

Should this difficulty be overcome, and the process be made avail-
able for supplying oxygen at a cheap rate for manufacturing pur-
poses, a great impulse will be given to what is termed furnace
chemistry, and our power over the more refractory provinces of the
mineral kingdom be proportionately increased.

As this change in the condition of the baryta in Kuhlman’s process, is
in the opinion of Prof. Hoffmann, physical rather than chemical, it is
not unlikely that means to remedy the evil may soon be suggested.

‘* A cheap process for the preparation of caustic baryta, and its
derivative the peroxyd of barium, would probably lead to the ex-
tensive manufacture of peroxyd of hydrogen,—a compound whose
powerful bleaching and oxydizing properties would render it an inval-
uable adjunct in many manufacturing processes.” The Report goes
on to suggest many other applications where success may be ex-
pected, and adds: ‘‘ Nothing, it has been well said, seems so difficult
as the invention of to-morrow, nor so easy as the invention of yester-
day.”

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 2238

OZONE AND THE ATMOSPHERE.

An important contribution to our knowledge of ozone, and its relations
to the atmosphere and to electrical phenomena, has recently been made
by Dr. G. Meissner of Gottingen. From an abstract of these researches,
given in Silliman’s Journal, (May and July numbers, 1864,) by Prof.
S. W. Johnson, and to which we would refer our readers, we derive the
following curious information respecting the formation of clouds and mists.
Meissnev’s researches confirm the theory of the vesicular nature of mist.
He has also discovered, by experiment, that while it is easy to condense
moisture from any moist gas or gaseous mixture by cold or rarefaction,
wt is impossible to produce a mist unless the gas is oxygen, or contains
this element. ‘The water condensed by artificial means from pure oxygen
or from the atmospheric air always exhibits the character of a cloud;
that, separated from other gases or mixtures free of oxygen, always as-
sumes directly the form of rain. Where oxygen is present, the water
condenses in vesicles; in other cases, in solid drops. Meissner states,
further, that air saturated with moisture gives a cloud on sudden rare-
faction until the pressure is reduced to about eight inches of barometric
pressure. At this levity the cloud is, however, extremely delicate and
transitory, and under a less pressure no cloud could be produced. This
stand of the barometer corresponds to a hight in the atmosphere, above
tide-level, of 27,000 feet. According to Kamtz, the lightest and highest
clouds, cirrhi, are formed at an average altitude of 20,000, and a greatest al-
titude of 24,000 feet. The densest artificial cloud is formed in the densest
air, and the heaviest cwmuli are formed within 5,000 feet from the sea-level.

THE INFLUENCE OF OZONE ON VEGETATION.

The influence of ozone on vegetation has been studied by Mr. Carey
Lea, of Philadelphia, and the results reported in the American Journal
of Science. Two sets of experiments were made. In the first, the
water with which the seeds came in contact was made to contain those
Solid substances which are most essential to vegetation. In the second,
very pure river water was used. For the first, phosphate of soda, silicate of
potash, sulphate of magnesia, nitrate of lime, and sesquichloride of iron
were added to water ina proportion such as to be equivalent to 53; of
one per cent of solid matter. In order to afford a just term of compar-
ison, two vessels every way similar were filled with this prepared water,
were covered with gauze, so that the gauze should rest on the surface of
the water, and were placed under bell-glasses resting on glass plates.
Wheat and maize grains were placed on this gauze, and bene.th one bell-
glass was introduced the ozone generating mixture. On the 12th day
the experiment was terminated. The average hight of the wheat plants
not exposed to the ozone was 10 inches, of those exposed 4 inches.
The etiect of ozone in checking the growth of the roots was very re-
markable, especially with the wheat plants. In those not exposed to
ozone the roots attained a length equal to about } of the hight of the
stem. In those exposed to it the roots, after starting, almost imme-
diately ceased to grow. The svrongest plant attained a hight of 6 inches,
and developed 6 rootlets, averaging only ;8; of an inch in length; while
those not exposed to ozone had many roots exceeding 24 inches. As

224 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

a whole, the roots produced by the plants under the influence of ozone
did not exceed 5}; of those produced in its absence, from an equal
number of healthy seeds. One curious result of the almost total absence
of roots was that the wheat plants were scarcely able to sustain themselves
in a vertical position; the greater part of them fell over on one side.
The flatness of the grains of the maize afforded these plants a better sup-
port. The presence of ozone also prevented the usual formation of mold
on seeds placed in contact with air and water under a bell-glass.

The ozone used in the experiments was generated by the action of
sulphuric acid upon chameleon mineral. ‘Two or three grains of chame-
leon mineral were placed in a small capsule and moistened with oil of
vitriol. This when placed by itself, or with a vessel of water under
a bell-glass of about three litres capacity, was found to maintain a highly
ozonized atmosphere for five or six days or even longer. But as the
presence of vegetation would tend to destroy the ozone rapidly, it was
considered expedient to renew the generating mixture every two or three
days.

Pasteur has lately shown that the putrefaction and oxydation of
organic bodies is effected to a very large extent by the intervention
of the lowest order of vegetable organisms. That in some cases
where the germs of these bodies have been carefully excluded, milk
for example has been kept in the presence of atmospheric air for a
year without alteration ; and that when sawdust was enclosed in a flask
for a month, the germs having been similarly excluded, the air still
contained 16 per cent of uncombined oxygen. It therefore appears
that ozone, while a highly oxydizing agent, may in some cases check
putrefaction and oxydation by destroying the intermediate agencies,
through which these operations are effected; a fact not without inter-
est in connection with the alleged influence of ozone on epidemics.

Carbonic Acid.—Experiments were also made to ascertain the effect
of a complete removal of carbonic acid from the atmosphere surround-
ing plants. The seeds were placed on gauze strained over a vessel
of water, which was set in a dish containing concentrated solution of
caustic soda, and the whole was covered with a bell-glass. A similar
arrangement was made, exclusive of the caustic alkali, to afford a
term of comparison. No appreciable difference could be observed.
It is probable that seedlings, within the hight which they can attain
under an ordinary bell-glass, still derive a sufficient supply of carbon
from the seed. Be this as it may, the removal of carbonic acid from”
the atmosphere surrounding them did not interfere with their growth.
Experiments made with seeds placed in an atmosphere of carbonic
acid accorded with results obtained by other observers, as to total
prevention of germination under circumstances otherwise favorable.
The seeds, however, were found to be not in any way injured, and
germinated freely on exposure to the atmosphere.

It seems probable that in those cases in which germination has been
observed to take place in an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, the ex-
clusion of atmospheric air has not been sufficiently well maintained.

TESTS FOR OZONE.

Dr. Allnatt says: ‘‘ [conclude that bibulous paper, saturated with
a solution of iodide of potassium and starch or thin arrowroot, affords

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 225

the most effective tests we possess. The formula of its preparation
is as follows: Take of pure white starch 1 ounce, iodide of potassium
3 drachms; mix ina marble mortar, and add gradually 6 ounces of
boiling water. The papers to be saturated with the mixture while
hot, carefully dried out of contact with the external air, and preserved
in close tin boxes.” Mr. Lowe remarks: ‘‘ Assuming that we have
adopted the best tests and the most approved method of using those
tests, it will be requisite to correct the readings for the velocity of
air at the time, for the hight of the barometer, for temperature, and
for the hygrometrical condition of the atmosphere. It must be borne
in mind that ifin a given time 1,000 cubic feet of air passing through
the ozone-box gives a register of four, 2,000 feet passing through in the
same time will give one of double that amount. Moisture can also in-
crease or diminish the action, a very dry air or a perfectly saturated at-
mosphere showing a minimum. ‘The lower the barometer descends, the
more ozone is shown upon the tests. In very hot or very cold weath-
er ozone is also at a minimum. With a west there is much more
ozone than with an east wind. The maximum amount of ozone will
occur with a moderately moist atmosphere, a temperature between 50°
and 60°, a barometrical pressure under 29 inches, and a gale occurring
at the same time. Before the actual amount of ozone can be ascer-
tained, certain corrections must be applied, and until uniformity is
adopted the observations cannot be made comparable. Under these
circumstances, we can do little more than record much or little ozone.
— British Med. Journal, Oct. 1864.

New Source of Ozone.— Cosmos mentions a process of M. Belger
for obtaining a continuous supply of ozone. He mixes two parts by
weight of finely-powdered permanganate of potash with three of sul-
phuric acid. A mixture of one part of the permanganate with that
of the acid, is so powerful an oxydizer as to produce inflammation
and explosion if brought into contact with essential oils.

THE COMPRESSION OF GASES.

An accident, through the breaking of apparatus, was reported
recently by Dr. Frankland to the London Chemical Society. Being
desirous of using oxygen gas under great pressure in the laboratory
of the Royal Institution, he procured the apparatus made for the pur-
pose by Natterer, of Vienna. During its use an accident occurred
which fortunately led to no serious results, but which, he thought,
merited the attention of chemists. We extract from the Chemical
Gazette the following particulars given by the Professor: The appa-
ratus consisted of two parts. On the one hand, a powerful compres-
sion-pump, worked by a crank and flywheel, which forced the oxygen
or other gas into a strong cast-iron receiver, fitted with a conical
serew-plug and other joints and connections of steel. The action of
the pump had been maintained until 25 atmospheres of oxygen had
been accumulated, when suddenly this latter part of the apparatus ex-
ploded, at the same time diffusing a shower of sparks, reminding one
of the phenomena observed when iron or watch-spring was burnt in
oxygen. On examining the shattered fragments of the iron receiver,
it was manifest that this result had indeed happened ; and it appeared
that the combustion of iron was possible under the circumstances, a

226 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

small quantity of oil, used as a lubricant, becoming, no doubt, in the
first instance ignited, and then imparting the combustion to the iron.
The whole interior surface of the iron receiver was blistered and
coated with fused globules of magnetic oxyd of iron, the small tubu-
lar apertures through the screw-plug were widened to fourfold di-
mensions, and no less than half an inch of steel was burnt off the
massive head of the apparatus. It was, perhaps, so far fortunate that
a defective joint rendered it impossible to obtain more than the
pressure of 25 atmospheres, under which the apparatus exploded; for
had it been augmented to 40 atmospheres, the iron must haye taken
fire more readily, and perhaps have been completely consumed or huried
about as red-hot bolts, endangering both hfe and property. Dr.
Frankland had, by a rough calculation, arrived at the conclusion that
the heat developed by the union of half the contained oxygen with
the iron would have been sufficient to melt the cylinder, which would
then have exploded by the remaining pressure of the other half of the
gas. He concluded by referring to the possibility of applying this
principle in the construction of shells, and other implements of war-
fare.

RESEARCHES ON THE INFLUENCE OF BAD ATR.

In a recent official report to the British Parliament on the state of
the Cornwall and other mines by Dr. Angus Smith, particular notice
is taken of the influence of impure air m bre eaking aa the health and
energy of the workinen. A healthy atmosphere, says Dr. Smith, may
be taken to be one with 20-9 Be eens of oxygen. and -04 per cent
of carbonic acid gas. Late in the evening in the pit of London minor
theatres as much as 0-252 and 0: 320 per cent of carbonic acid has
been found; but the average of above 300 samples of air taken from
the mines examined had 0-785. Two thirds of the samples pre-
sented an nemienpeets exceedingly bad, and the worst parts of the mines
had only about 18°69 per cent of oxygen, and as much as 1°8 or
more of carbonic acid, in one instance 2°26 per cent. In order to

est the effects of such bad air, Dr. Smith caused to be constructed a
small close chamber of lead with windows sufficient ly large that they
might in any emergency be broken through for a way of escape. The
first trial was made by sitting down in the chamber for an hour and
4) minutes. This produced ‘about one per cent of carbonic acid,
and the air became cheerless. A young lady was anxious to be in the
chamber when the air was such that candles would not burn. She was
not much struck by the impurity of the air on entermg, although the
candies were threatening to ge out; bens was not quite 19 per cent
of oxygen, and there was rather more than two per cent of carbonic
acid. Noone had been breathing in the chamber, so that organic
matter from the person was absent and that makes a great difference.
She stood five minutes perfectly well, making light of the difficulty,
but suddenly became white and could not come out without help. On
another occasion a still greater amount of carbonic acid was present
in the chamber, but it was not accompanied with a corresponding loss
of oxygen, for the gas was driven in upon pure air; there was 20°19
per cent of oxygen, with 3°84 of carbonic acid. "Two persons got
headaches instantly, and were unable to stay above seven or eight

CUEMICAL SCIENCE. 227

minutes. Dr. Smith stayed about 20 minutes, but felt very anxious to
get out, as his movements were made with great haste, and both mind
and body betrayed symptoms of feverish activity. The face was
flushed, and the lungs acted more rapidly than usual. In fact there
was a burning haste to live, as if life were afraid of being put out. It
seems to him impossible to endure four per cent of carbonic acid
for any length of time. There was a very remarkable lowering
of the pulse, and as this happened regularly he puts it down as the re-
sult of poisoning with carbonic acid gas, and asks whether it may not
suggest a mode of lowering the pulse in a fever. These experiments
show the great mischief that must arise from the impure, unwholesome
air in metalliferous mines. The men call it ‘‘ thin,” *‘ poor,” ‘* dead ;”
the effect is slow poisoning. ‘The explosions of gunpowder produce
sulphide of potassium, the effect of which is probably like that of sul-
phide of hydrogen, but from its acting more slowly there is distributed
over a long period that death which might ensue instantly, and so, in
chemical phrase, the effect is dissolved in health, and becomes dis-
ease. Gun cotton seems to promise to perform the work of blasting
with less injurious influence upon the air. In the above report, Dr.
Smith touches also upon various other points of practical importance.
He notices the purifying effect of ram upon the air, of which there
was such a scarcity last year. Moisture with a high temperature is
oppressive, but moisture with a lower temperature improves the air,
and he holds that cold and moisture in such amounts as those in which
they are found in Great Britain are capable of producing powerful
constitutions, and that the more watery districts of the kingdom pre-
sent in many instances the most healthy spots. Still, in relation to
ventilation he notes that ‘‘ chemical action, and with it the feelings
demand a certain amount of warmth first and above all things. No
function can go on without it. You may live hours, days, or years
in badly ventilated places with more or less discomfort and danger,
but a draught of cold air may kill like asword. In railway carriages,
and in houses also, the great instinct of man is first to be warm
enough, and he is quite right. Sucha universal instinct must not be

sneered at.”
ON THE INHALATION OF OXYGEN GAS.

In a paper on the above subject, read before the British Associa-
tion 1864, by Dr. Richardson, the well-known physiological chemist,
the author stated, that his experiments on the inhalation of oxygen
had led him to an almost precise knowledge of the condition under
which oxygen would most freely combine with blood. It had been
stated in almost every modern work on physiology that oxygen in-
haled ina pure form is a narcotic poison. These statements are based
on the researches of Mr. Braighton, in which the late Sir Ben. Brodie,
took part. The observations of Mr. Braighton, in so far as the re-
cital of the phenomena observed by him were concerned, were strictly
correct ; but the inferences that had been drawn from him were nearly
altogether incorrect, and were, at the best, so narrow as to be com-
paratively valueless. In fact, Mr. Braighton had seen but one form
of oxygen inhalation. ‘The author next stated that the influence of
oxygen in inhalation was modified—1. By dilution of the oxygen; 2.

228 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

By dilution of the blood; 3. By the activity of the oxygen; 4. By
the presence or absence in the blood of bodies which stop combina-
tion. On the point of dilution of oxygen, Dr. Richardson stated
that a certain measure of dilution was required not because the body
consumed too quickly in pure oxygen, but because neutral oxygen
would not combine with the carbon of the blood unless it were diluted.
In atmospheric air the dilution is just sufficient to do no more than al-
ter combination; and the quantity of oxygen may be increased with
absorption at 60° to 65° Fahr., if the oxygen is raised in amount to
three parts of the gas to two of nitrogen. Beyond this, the combining
power is reduced, and oxygen not absorbed. Hence animals die in
the gas as it approaches the pure state; they die not by a narcotic
process, but by a process of negation. On the point of dilution of the
bloed, the author said that blood possessing a specific gravity of 1°053
seemed to have most steady power in absorbing oxygen, as it existed
in common air; by increasing the quantity of water in the blood to a
limited extent, say until it lowered the blood to 1:060, the absorption
of oxygen is increased to a maximum, and after that it is diminished.
Below 1:055 the absorption of oxygen steadily declines. In respect
to the activity of the oxygen, the most differing results are obtained
according to the activity. If the oxygen be made fresh from chlorate of
potassa it sustains life even in the pure form, and the activity of the
functions is increased; if electric sparks are passed through the gas,
or the gas be heated 100°, the same is the fact. On the other hand,
if the gas is exposed to ammonia, to decomposing animal matter, or
even to living animals, over and over again, it loses, even when
diluted, its activity, and no longer combines with the blood. In
reference to the last point, Dr. Richardson said that there were con-
ditions of blood in which the power of absorption was limited. AlI-
cohol, chloroform, opium, and certain alkaline products formed in the
blood in disease, prevented absorption of oxygen, and death not un-
commonly took place from this cause. Great increase of water did
the same. After this description, Dr. Richardson added that the
question had often been put, whether the inhalation of oxygen could
be usefully applied in the treatment of disease. Priestley, Beddoes,
Hull, and many of those who lived when oxygen was first discoy-
ered, had formed the most sanguine expectations on this point;
they saw before them an elixir, if not the elixir vite. Chaptal, in
speaking of the effects of oxygen in consumption, said of it: it raises
hope, but, alas! it merely spreads flowers on the path to the tomb.
Smee then various opinions of the extremest kind have been expressed,
the differences having arisen from.the entire want cf order that has
keen followed in the inquiry. One man has used pure oxygen, the
other diluted; the one active, the other negative oxygen. ‘The one
has given the gas to anemic people, whose blood is surcharged with
water; the other to diabetic or choleric persons, whose blood is of
high specific gravity: the one has given it heated, the other at the tem-
perature of the day. If even a stick of phosphorus were exposed to
oxygen under such varying conditions the phenomena obtained would
be as variable as those which had been registered in physic regarding
oxygen asaremedy. The difficulties of arriving at uniform results
had been almost insurmountable from another cause, that of obtaining

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 229
oxygen in a practical form for inhalation. Tortunately, this difficulty
is nowremoved. ‘The discovery by Mx. Robbins of a mode of evolving
oxygen, by acting on peroxide of barium and bichromate of potassa
with dilute sulphuric acid, had given him (Dr. Richardson) the op-
portunity of inventing a little apparatus for inhaling oxygen, which
could be carried anywhere and used at a moment’s notice, ‘The author
here exhibited and described the apparatus. It consists of two glass
globes, with a double-valved mouth-piece connected with the escape-
tube of one globe. The powder containing the oxygen was placed
in one globe, and dilute sulphuric acid was poured over it. The
oxygen gas was evolved and passed over into the second globe, which
was half-filled with water. From this, after being washed in passing
through the water, the gas was inhaled. ‘The apparatus was so ar-
ranged, that any dilution of oxygen recommended—say three parts of
oxygen to two of nitrogen—could be secured; and by chanzing the
water in the second globe, so as to have hot, or temperate, or very
cold, the activity of the combination could be graduated.

French Investigations —M. M. DeMarquay and Leconte, in a
memoir, on the above subject read at a recent meeting of the Paris
Academy, advocate the inhaling of oxygen in cases of diphtheritics,
diabete§, and other exhausting maladies. In some cases, they say that
under the influence of this gas, strength is renewed, the lost appetite
returns with remarkable intensity, food being even required in the
night; the pale lips are reddened; and, with these appearances of
convalescence, nervous affections disappear. The gentlemen do not
claim to have healed any person; but assert that at all events they
have done no harm.

ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TOBACCO.

The following highly interesting paper, on the above subject, was
read before the British Association, 1864, by Dr. B. W. Richardson,
the eminent English physiologist and chemist. ‘The author began by
saying that, without being a devotee to tobacco, he had for many years
often smoked. He did not come before the Section biased in any
degree, as his remarks would prove; he came simply as a man of
science, who had tried to comprehend the facts of the whole question,
and he should put these facts forward clearly, fairly, and free from
technicalities. Products of the Combustion of Tobacco. Some recent
researches on this subject had led the author to the fact, that these
products are much more complex than had been supposed. He de-
scribed an apparatus which was, in fact, an automaton smoker, by
which he had been enabled to have pipes of various kinds of tobacco
and cigars smoked by means of a bellows; the smoke which, in the
case of a man, would enter the mouth, being all caught and subjected
to analysis. The results of these inquiries had led him to the deter-
mination of the following bodies as products of the combustion of
tobacco: 1. Water. 2. Free carbon. 3. Ammonia. 4. Carbonic
acid. 5. An alkaloidal principle, called nicotine. 6. An empyreu-
matic substance. 7. A resinous bitter extract. Physical Properties
of the Component Parts. The water is in the form of vapor; the car-
bon in the form of minute particles, suspended in the water vapor, and
giving to the Siggiees smoke their blue color; the ammonia in the

230 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

form of gas combined with carbonic acid; the carbonic acid gas partly
free and partly in combination with ammonia. ‘The nicotine is a non-
volatile body, an alkaloid which remains in the pipe; the empyreu-
matic substance is a volatile body, having the nature of an ammonia,
but the exact compositicn of which is as yet unknown; it is this that
gives to the smoke its peculiar odor; it adheres véry powerfully to
woolen materials, and in the concentrated form is so obnoxious as almost
to be intolerable. The bitter extract is a resinous substance, of dark
color, and of intensely bitter taste. It is probably, a compound body, :
having an alkaloid as its base. It is not volatile, and only leaves the
pipe by being carried along the stem in the fluid form. Variations
in different kinds of Tobacco. The greatest variations exist in vari-
ous kinds of tobacco. Simple tobacco, that has not undergone fer-
mentation, yields very little free carbon, much ammonia, much car-
bonic acid, little water, none, or the smallest possible trace of nico-
tine, a very small quantity of empyreumatic vapor, and an equally
small quantity of bitter extract. Latakia tobaceo yields these same
products only. Bristol’s Bird’s-eye yields large quantities of am-
monia and very little nicotine. Turkish yields much ammonia. Shag
tobacco yields all the products in abundance, and the same may be
said of pure Havanna cigars. Cavendish varies considerably; some
specimens which are quickly dried are nearly as simple as Latakia;
other specimens which are moist, yield all the products in great abun-
dance. Pigtail yields every product most abundantly. The little
Swiss cigars yield enormous quantities of ammonia, and Manillas yield
very little. Physiological effects of the compounds named above.
The water vapor is innocuous; the carbon settles on the mucous mem-
brane, and irritates the throat. The carbonic acid is a narcotic, if it
be received into the lungs: the ammonia causes dryness and biting of
the mucous membrane of the throat, and increases the flow of saliva.
Absorbed into the blood it renders that fluid too thin, causing irregu-
larity of the blood-corpuscles ; it also causes, when absorbed in large
quantities, suppression of the biliary secretion and yellowness of skin ;
it quickens and then reduces the action of the heart, and m young
smokers, it produces nausea. The empyreumatic substance seems to
be almost negative in its effects, but it gives to the tobacco smoke its
peculiar taste, and it is this substance that makes the breath of con-
firmed smokers so unpleasant. Nicotine is scarcely ever imbibed by
the cleanly smoker; it affects those only who smoke cigars, by hold-
ing the cigar in the mouth, and those who smoke dirty pipes, satu-
rated with oily matter. Its effects, when absorbed, are very injurious ;
it causes palpitation, tremor and irregular action of the heart; tremor
and unsteadiness of the muscles generally, and great prostration. It
does not, however, produce nausea or vomiting. The bitter extract
is the cause of vomiting and nausea when it is absorbed; both it and
the nicotine are always received into the mouth in solution, and pro-
duce their effects, either by direct absorption from the mouth, or by
being imperceptibly swallowed and taken into the stomach.

Mode of: Smoking.— The greatest difference arises from the man-
ner of smoking. ‘Those who use clean, long pipes of clay, feel only
the effect of the gaseous bodies and the free carbon. Wooden pipes
and pipes with glass stems are injurious. Cigars, smoked to the end

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 231

are most injurious of all. To be safe, a cigar ought to be cast aside
as soon as it is half smoked; and every cigar ought to be smoked
from a porous tube. Cigars, indeed, are more injurious than any
form of pipe; and the best pipe is unquestionably what is commonly
called a ‘‘churchwarden,” or ‘‘long clay.” After the clay pipe, the
meerschaum is next wholesome. A pipe with a meerschaum bowl,
an amber mouth-piece, anda clay stem easily removable or change-
able for a half-penny, would be the beaw ideal of a healthy pipe.
All attempts to construct pipes so as to condense the oil have
failed. ‘Lo be effective they must be very large and inconvenicnt.
It is of no slight importance, if a man must smoke, for him to be
careful of the manner in which it is done. A man may, by prac-
tice, become habituated to a short foul pipe, but he never fails to suf-
fer from his success in the end, nor, unless the habit of actual stupe-
faction be acquired, is any pleasurable advantage derived. What may
be called the soothing influence of tobacco is as well brought about
by a clean porous pipe, or well-made cigarette, as by any more violent
and tay system, while the harm “that is inflicted is of an evan-
escent character.

Physiological Effects of Tobacco.—Dr. Richardson next gave his
views respecting the physiological action of tobacco, as follows: In
an adult man, who is toler ant of tobacco, moderate smoking, say to
the extent of three clean pipes of the milder forms of pure tobacco in
the twenty- -four hours, docs no great harm. It somewhat stops waste
and soothes, but fheue are times when it unsettles the digestion. To
an immoderate degree, say to six or eight pipes a day—especially if
strong tobacco and fine pipes be used—smoking unquestionably is
very injurious to the animal functions. On the heart, the symptoms
are very marked. They consist of palpitation; a seusation as though
the heart were rising upward; a feeling of breathlessness, and, in bad
cases, of severe pain through the chest, and extending ‘through the
upper limbs. The action of the heart is intermittent, and faintness
may be experienced. Extreme smoking is also very injurious to the
organs of sense. In allinveterate, constant smokers, the pupils of the
eye are dilated, owing to the absorption of nicotine, and the vision is
impaired by strong light ; but the symptom which most of all affects
the vision, is the yetention of images on the retina after the eye is
withdrawn from them, Long smoking also affects the mucuous mem-
brane of the mouth, causing over-secretion from the glands, anda
peculiar soreness of ne throat, with enlargement of the tonsils, first
well described by Dr. Gibb, and since named by myself, ‘* smoker’s
sore-throat.” In some persons this irritation extends into the larynx
and bronchial tube, and the free carbon of the smoke is deposited
there, giving a dark, almost jet color to the secretion. The worst
effects of moderate smoking were, he said, to be found in growing
youths, upon whom tobaceo was most deleterious and i injurious.

It had been urged that smoking produced cancer.and consumption.
Now, in regard to consumption, there had come under his notice
cases to the total number of 361. Out of this total there were 225
persons who did not smoke, and 136 persons who did smoke or who
had smoked. Thus out of 361 consumptive persons, those who did
not smoke showed an excess of 89. Out of the total of 361, there

232 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

were 230 males and 131 females. Out of the 230 males, the number
who smoked was 156; the number who did not smoke was 94. ‘Thus,
out of 230 consumptive males, the smokers showed an excess of 42.
In regard to chronic bronchitis, including asthma, tuere came under
notice cases to the total number of 475. Out of this total, there were
338 persons who did not smoke, and 137 persons who did smoke or
who had smoked. Thus, out of 475 persons sufferimg from chronie
bronchitis, those who did not smoke showed an excess of 201. Out
of the total of 475, there were 249 males, and 225 females. Out of
the 249 males, the number who smoked was 137, and the number who
did not smoke was 112. Thus, out of 249 males suffering from chron-
ic bronchitis, the smokers showed an excess of 25. He felt confident,
therefore, that neither consumption nor bronchitis in the chronic
form could be induced primarily by smoking ; for while it is true that,
among the men, those who smoked were the most numerous of the
sufferers from both diseases, we are bound to accept this circumstance
as coincidental merely.

The statements to the effect that tobacco-smoke causes specific
diseases, such as insanity, epilepsy, St. Vitus dance, apoplexy, or-
ganic diseases of the heart, cancer and consumption, and chronic
bronchitis, have been made without any sufficient evidence or refer-
ence to facts; all such statements are devoid of truth, and can never
accomplish the object which those who offer them have in view.

That which smoking effects, either as a pleasure or a penalty, on a
man, it inflicts on any national representation of the same man; and
taking it all in all, stripping from the argument the puerilities and ex-
aggerations of those wuo claim to be the professed antagonists of the
practice, it is fair to say that, in the main, smoking is a luxury which
any nation of natural habits would be better without. The luxury is
not directly fatal to life, but its use conveys to the mind of the man
who looks upon it calmly, the unmistakable idea of physical degrada-
tion. Ido not hesitate to say that, if a community of youths of both
sexes, whose progenitors were finely formed and powerful, were to
be trained to the early practice of smoking, and if marriage were to
be confined to the smokers, an. apparently new and a physically
inferior race of men and women would be bred up. Of course
such an experiment is impossible as we live; for many of our
fathers do not smoke, and scarcely any of our mothers, and thus,
to the credit of our women chiefly, be it said, the integrity of the
race is fairy preserved. With increasing knowledge we may hope
that the same integrity will be further sustained; but still, the fact
of what tobacco can do in its extreme action is not the less to be for-
gotten, for many evils are maintained because their full and worst
effects are hidden from the sight. The ground on which tobacco
holds so iirm a footing is, that of nearly every luxury it is the least
injurious. It is innocuous-as compared with alcohol, it does infinitely
less harm than opium; it is in no sense worse than tea; and by the side
of high living, altogether contrasts most favorably. A thorough
smoker may or may not be a hard drinker, but there is one thing he
never is, a glutton; indeed, there is no cure for gluttony and all its
train of certain and fatal evils like tobacco.

The poor savage from whom we derived tabac, found in the weed

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 233

some solace to his yearning vacuous mind, and killed wearisome,
lingering time. The type of the savage, extant in modern civilized
life, still vacuous and indolent, finds tabac the time-killer ; while the
over-worked man discovers in the same agent a quietus, which his
exhaustion having once tasted, rarely forgets, but asks for again and
again. Thus on two sides of human nature we see the source of
the demand for tobacco, and until we can equalize labor and remove
the call for an artificial necessity of an artificial life, tobacco will hold
its place with this credit to itself, that bad as it is, it prevents the in-
troduction of agents that would be infinitely worse.

CURIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF NITRITE OF AMYLE.

A paper on this subject was read at the British Association, 1864,
by Dr. Bb. W. Richardson, the well-known English physiologist. He
first described the mode of manufacture and the chemical properties
of the nitrite, and then passed on to the physiological action. The
first remarkable fact was that the nitrite when inhaled produced an
immediate action on the heart, increasing the action of the organ
more powerfully than any other known agent. As the action of the
heart rises, the surface of the skin becomes red, and the face assumes
a bright crimson color. A little of the nitrite was here placed on a
piece of bibulous paper, and passed round to show the effect on the
face; and the effect was most remarkable. causing the faces of the
persons who smelt the vapor to become instantaneously flushed.
Carried to an excessive degree, the nitrite excites the breathing, and
produces a breathlessness like that caused by sharp running or row-
ing. On animals, when the agent is given in large quantities, death
is produced. ‘The author, at first thought, that the nitrite, like chlo-
roform, would cause anesthesia ; but experiments had shown that this
view was not borne out. Animals would, it is true, lose conscious-
ness; but when such a stage was reached, great dangers resulted,
owing to the slowness by which the poison was removed from the
body after its absorption. On the blood the nitrite produces dark-
ness of color, but it does not materially interfere with coagulation in
the body. In the lungs it excites congestion, and in the brain slight
congestion. It causes no severe spasm and no sickness. After enter-
ing into certain other details, Dr. Richardson proceeded to say that
the most remarkable effect produced by the nitrite was that in the
lower animals—frogs, for instance—it led to suspended animation,
which could be maintained for so long as nine days with perfect after-
recovery. This fact was of curious historical interest. The ancients,
especially Theophrastus (Paracelsus), had stated that there was a
poison which, when taken one day would not take effect until sofne
future day. This statement, long considered as a myth, had within
the present year been shown to be true by Dr. Letheby, who had dis-
covered a poison which really produced this phenomenon. In like
manner the ancients had an idea that there were medicimes which
would for a time suspend life,

The proceeding of Friar Laurence in giving the distilled oe to
Juliet, was based on this old fiction, or shall we not say fact? The
next point discussed by Dr. Richardson had reference to the mode of
action of this poison. Were the effects produced through the blood,

21*

234 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

or by the nerves direct? The speaker said that he had been led to
the conclusion, from previous experiments, that* all poisons were
brought into action through the blood; but this very commonly ac-
cepted theory did not explain the immediate and powerful action
which follows the exhibition of the minutest dose of the nitrite of
amyle. He thought, therefore, that the action was immediately on
the nervous sy stem, and that such action, transferred to the filaments
of nerves surrounding the arteries, paralyze edsthe vaso nerves, on
whi¢h the heart immediately injected the vessels, causing the peculiar
redness of the skin, and the other phenomenon that had been narrated.
Dr, Richardson, in conclusion, said that nitrite of amyle, like to
chloroform 20 years ago, was only to be considered a phy siologic cal
curiosity. It micht by its action suggest the cause of trance, and of
what was called hysterical unconsciousness, and it might explam the
mode by which certain analogous substances produced their effects on
the organism. It had been “suggested—naturally suggested—that in
fainting, as from loss of blood or from fear, the imhalauon of the
nitrite of amyle might be of service. He (the author) did not, how-
ever, at the present moment recommend its use in medicine, because
of the intensity of its action. This last point was at the present time
under his inquiry, and he would eport further results at the next
meeting of the Association.

THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND TOBACCO UPON THE
HEALTH.

The following curious passage relating to the effects of alcoholic
drinks and tobacco upon health occurs in the sixth annual report of
the Register-General for Scotland: ‘* All classes are agreed as to
the evils produced by the abuse of stimulants (alcoholic) drinks and of
tobacco. But a certain class decry even the use of these, and point
to the statistics as a triumphant proof of the baneful effect of such
stimulants and sedatives. No such conclusion can be drawn from
such statistics; and this may be proved in the most satisfactory man-
ner. ‘Tobacco and stimulating drinks are almost exclusively con-
sumed by males, and by almost noné under fifteen years of age. Yet
we find that in every 100,000 males under fifteen years of age brain
diseases cut off annually 337 persons; whereas in an equal number of
females only 276 are cut off by the same disease. At the very period
of life, therefore, when neither sex uses these so called obnoxious
articles, the male tendency to those diseases is so much greater than
it is in the female that 337 males die for every 276 females. Above
fifteen years of age, when for argument’s sake, we may allow the fe-
male does not consume these articles, or, at least, that the number
who do is*so insignificant as not to affect the general results, whiie
the male both uses and in many cases abuses them, instead of find-
ing that the relative proportion of male deaths from these diseases
increases, we {nd that it rather diminishes; so that while above
fifteen years of age 217 males die from these diseases in every 100,UJ
males, 164 females die out of a hke number of females. But the
subject may be viewed ina more striking light stil, by taking the
proportion of each sex who die from these diseases above and under
fifteen years of age. By this it will be found that the relative ten-

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 235

dency to death from these brain diseases in persons above fifteen years
of age was greater in the female than the male. The only conclusion,
therefore, which seems deducible from these facts appears to be that,
in so far as the statistics of these deaths go, there is no evidence to
prove that the consumption of alcoholic liquors (including every form,
wine, beer, spirits, &c.) or of tobacco, injures the general health of
the population. On the other hand, the evidence seem rather to favor
the idea that the moderate use of these articles by the mass of the
people so improves their health as to act as a counterpoise to the un-
doubtedly injurious and fatal effects to which the abuse leads in the
few.”
MIGRATIONS OF PHOSPHORUS.

** Large masses of phosphorus are, in the course of geological rev-
olutions, extending over vast periods of time, restored from the or-
ganic realm of nature to the mineral kingdom by the slow process of
fossilization ; whereby vegetable tissues are gradually transformed
into peat, lignite, and coal, and animal tissues are petrified into cop-
rolites, which in course of time yield crystalline apatite. After lying
locked up and motionless in these forms for indefinite periods, phos-

horus, by further geological movements, becomes again exposed to the
action of its natural solv ents, water and carbonic acid, and is thus
restored to active service in the organisms of plants and lower ani-
mals, through which it passes to complete the mighty cycle of its”
movements into the blood and tissues of the human frame.

While circulating thus, age after age through the three kingdoms of
nature, phosphorus i is never for a moment free. It is throughout re-
tained in combination with oxygen, and with the earthy or - alkaline
metals, for which its attraction is intense. ’—Dr. Hoffmann’s Report on
the Exhibition of 1862

MEASUREMENT OF THE CHEMICAL ACTION OF LIGHT.

Prof. H. E. Roscoe has reported to the Royal Society a method of
measuring the chemical action of to‘al daylight adapted for regular
meteorological registration, and based upon a method described by Prof.
Bunsen and himself in their paper on “ Photometrical Measurements.”
It depends upon the law that equal products of the intensity of the acting
light, in the times of insolation correspond, within very wide li.zuits, to
equal shades of dark tints produced upon chloride of silver of uniform
sensitiveness, measured by means of a pendulum photometer. [i the
Society’s Proceedings, No. 70, will be found the method of procedure, and
specimens of the results obtained, anda diagram exhibiting the curves of
daily chemical intensity, at Manchester, i in spring, summer, autumn, and
winter.

PETRIFACTION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES.

About 25 years ago the scientific world was surprised by an an-
nouncement of the fact that a Venetian, named Girolama Segato, had dis-
covered a means of reducing dead bodies to a state of hardness closely
approaching to that of stone, except at the joints, where he had succeeded in
maintaining a certain degree of pliancy. The results obtained by Mr.
Segato in “this direction were altogether wonderful, and many strangers
used to visit his collection at Florence, where he had settled. Nevertheless

236 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

he was not encouraged at first on account of his political principles, and,
secondly, because the clerical party, which were then all powerful, got up a
ery of infidelity against him. His secret found no purchasers, and he died in
consequence of a complaint whica he kad contracted in visiting some of
the wildest parts of Africa. A short time afier his death, the late Abbé
Francesco Baldacconi, director of the Museum of Natural History at
Sienna, obtained certain results which led to very strong hopes that Se-
gato’s secret might be rediscovered. Mr. Baldacconi’s process consisted
in steeping the anatomical specimens for several weeks in a solution of
equal parts of corrosive sublimate and sal ammoniac. a mixture which by
the earlier chemists was called sal alembroth ; and in 1844 a liver thus
prepared was sent over by him to the Academy of Sciences in Paris.
This specimen had acquired the consistency of steatite, or of serpentine,
and was perfectly incorruptible. The Italian papers now state that a
Sardinian naturalist, Prof. Marini, has rediscovered Segato’s secret. His
process is also kept a secret, but from the description it appears that he
obtained still more remarkable results than his predecessor. He has con-
structed a small table entirely composed of petrified animal substances,
viz: brain, blood, and gall, and having quite the appearance and con-
sistency of breccia. His preparations are incorruptible; they preserve
their natural color and wil] resume their original state on being immersed
in water for some time.—Silliman’s Journal.
PETTENKOFER’S PROCESS OF RESTORING PICTURES.

During the last year or more, considerable attention has been drawn
to a discovery by Dr. Pettenkofer of Munich, Germany, of a method
of restoring old paintings to their original beauty and freshness. The
method, which has been tried with the most satisfactory results on
many valuable pictures, has, however, remained a secret until within
the past few months, when the discovery became protected by letters
patent, in all the principal countries of Europe. From the specifica-
tions of the English patent, we derive the following memoranda. It
begins by stating that the process of restoring the surface does not
endanger the original state of the oil picture. It proceeds to explain
that the unwelcome change which comes over varnished oil paintings
after the lapse of years, is, In most cases, owing to physical and not
chemical influences. ‘Time causes the discontinuance of molecular co-
hesion in particular materials. The change here begins on the surface
of the varnish with microscopical fissures, and this system of disinte-
gration continues to penetrate even ‘‘ through the different coats of
color to the very foundation.” Both the surface and the body of such
a picture become intimately mixed with air, and reflect ight like pow-
dered glass, thus losing transparency like oil mingled with water or
air. ‘\

The best method of rejoining the separated particles has been
found to be by means of a vapor produced from spirits of wine. Dr.
Pettenkofer places the picture, or pictures, in a closed case or bath,
the air in which is impregnated with the fumes of alcohol at the ordi-
nary temperature and without any application of heat. The resinous
particles of the picture thereupon absorb the alcohol until they are
saturated, and no longer. By this process the different separated
molecules reacquire cohesion with each other, and the optical effect

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 237

of the original is restored without the picture being touched, and the
change is produced solely by self-action.

It is also stated that the very small quantity of alcohol that has been
absorbed speedily evaporates when returned to the ordinary atmos-
phere, and the surface remains as clear as if newly varnished. Thus,
the main principle of the patent now taken out is the self-acting na-
ture of the process, being effected by means of vapor alone.

The London Atheneum says respecting this operation, ‘‘ that its
satisfactory working and results may now be openly seen and watched
upon several well-known pictures in the National Gallery. The pro-
cess seems to have been fairly tried, without any fear of detriment to
the pictures, and the result is such as to thoroughly warrant the im-
portance of the invention. ‘The pictures which have thus been fresh-
ened in the National Gallery, so as to recover their almost pristine
brilliancy, are, principally those of Rembrandt. It should be, how-
ever, stated, the process is understood to be only available for a res-
mous body like mastic varnish, and the fact of solid oil being imper-
vious to these fumes is a satisfactory guarantee for the safety of the
genuine old pictures, painted in pure oil. How it will fare with the
-more modern paintings, where mastic varnish was so intimately mixed
up with the oil, even in the original groundwork, is a matter of some
anxiety, and is likely to be the subject of a still more delicate exper-
iment.

THE CHANGES IN DISCHARGED FIREARMS.

The changes in discharged firearms have been recently investigated
by M. Decker, who states that, whatever may be the construction of
the weapon, after its discharge, there is produced in its exterior and
interior a modification in its physical and chemical characters varying
with the progress of time. Immediately after the discharge there is
formed in the interior and exterior of the gun a blackish blue deposit,
the age of which may be estimated by the variations in its composition.
The red spots of the gun proceed from the action of the residue of the
charge on the metal, for an arm that has not been used does not rust
in a moist atmosphere in the same manner as one that has been used.
Variations in the quality of the powder, and in the construction of the
gun, do not exercise any influence over the chemical character of the
deposit resulting from the combustion of the powder. M. Decker
states, that he has prosecuted his researches with especial relation to
copper cannon and to gun-cotton. Thus, chemical science can detect
whether a gun has been fired or not, and, to a certain extent, how long
it has been so used.

ON THE UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE.

The following interesting remarks on the subject of the utilization of
sewage, were submitted tothe British Association at its last meeting, by
Dr. H. Bird. “'The London sewage was something enormous in quan-
tity. It was collected in immense reservoirs, and then poured into the
river at times when it would be swept out to sea. Thus, the whole of
the sewage of London, containing important chemical constituents, was
utterly wasted. He had no doubt that they should relieve the basin of
the Thames completely of the sewage which fell into it from Chelsea to
below London ; but with regard to the utilization of the sewage, they did

%y

238 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

not see their way clearly, and on another point they were in a great diffi-
culty. This point was as to what was to become of the drainage of the
large towns above their district, because it was impossible to join them
with London, and it was idle to seek to drain Oxford by any laterai
drainage that could reach the sea. At the present time Kingston had
made arrangements to pour its sewage into the Thames, but was stopped
by an injunction obtained by the Conservators of the river, by which
they had been taught that such nuisances could not be continued. The
question then remained, what was to be done with it? Two facts had
been proved. At Leicester, where the experiment had been carried on
regardless of expense, it was proved that the deodorizing of sewage by
lime would purify water and prevent it becoming a nuisance to the stream.
Since then it had been proved that fish flourished there, and the herbage
and fruit, which before were poisoned, had now returned to their normal
condition. ‘This fact was also apparent, that the products which it had
been thought would be sufficient to pay for these works had proved an
entire failure ; and except for the lime used, which was very useful for the
fertilization of land, it had proved utterly useless. The other fact was
the experiment at Croydon, which certainly did appear most successful.
There the river formerly was polluted by the sewage. A farm of 40
acres was then taken; ordinary drains were cut, the sewage was turned
into the land before it passed into the river, thus purifying it of its offen-
sive ingredierts, and proving of great advantage to the land.”

We find the results accomplished at Croydon stated rather more fully
than as above, in a recent article in the London Times. ‘The town au-
thorities being stopped by injunction from throwing their sewage in the
river Wandle, they leased 240 acres of land at 4/. an acre, turned their
sewage upon it, and relet it for 5/. an acre. Thus they make a clear
profit of 240/. a year, and enormous crops are got off the land, which
serves as a pattern card, as it were, to the surrounding farmers of the
value of sewage. It should, however, be particularly stated in this con-
nection, that Croydon is favorably situated for the distribution of its sew-

-age, as it stands on a hight, and it can therefore be distributed by means

of simple gravitation.
ON PHENIC OR CARBOLIC ACID.

The following account of phenic, or carbolic acid,— an article which
from its sanitary and industrial value is yearly becoming of greater
umportance,—is taken from a recently publisheal paper of Dr. Jules
Lemaire of Paris.

Phenic acid (CyHs O,HO) was discovered in 1834 by Runge, who
has given it the name of carbolic acid. Laurent, who studied this
body, and cescribed many of its combinations, designates it under
the name of phenie and hydrate of phenyle, because he objects to
place it among the acids. Gerhardt gave it the name of phenol. It
has also received the names of phenic alcohol, of spyrol, and of sali-
cone. [In this country the acid is best known in trade as carbolic
acid. |

It has been formed synthetically by M. Berthelot, by-passing alco-
holic or acetic acid vapors through a porcelain tube heated to redness.
Gerhardt has obtained it from salicylic acid by the action of lime or
baryta. Stedeler has found that the urine of man, the horse, and cow,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 239

contain it in quantities easily perceivable. It exists also in commer-
cial creasote ; but it is from the oil from gas tar, which contains it in
considerable quantity, that it is obtained.

Preparation.— The oil from coal tar is submitted to fractional dis-
tillation. ‘The part which passes over between 160° and 190° is treated
with a hot saturated solution of caustic potash and some powdered
potash. A mass of crystals is thus obtained, which may be separated
by decantation of the fluid.

When the mass is dissolved in water the solution separates into
two layers, one light and oily, the other heavy and watery. The lat-
ter is separated and treated with hydrochloric acid, which sets free the
carbolic acid.

The pure acid has an odor resembling creasote ; the specific gravity
=1°005. It is soluble to some extent in water, but is very soluble in
alcohol, ether, and acetic acid, as well as in glycerine and the fixed
and volatile oils. The pure acid acts energetically on the skin. A
weak aqueous solution coagulates albumen and the blood, and acts as
a strong antiseptic. Putrid meat and fish, feecal matter and ferment-
ed urine instantly lose their disgusting odor, when immersed in or
treated with the solution. In consequence of the supposed little sol-
ubilitv of carbolic acid in water, it has hitherto been chiefly employed
mixed with powders, as in the case of Smith and McDougall’s disin-
fecting powder; but the author of these papers has by careful experi-
ments determined that the pure acid is sufficiently soluble in water
for the solution to possess the power of coagulating albumen, of arrest-
ing or preventing spontaneous fermentation, and consequently of de-
stroying infection. The saturated solution acts also on plants and the
lower animals as a violent poison, though containing but five per cent
of the acid. ‘The solubility of the acid may be considerably increased
by the addition of from five to ten per cent of alcohol or of acetic
acid.

From the experiments which the author has made on the action of
phenic acid on plants and animals, it appears that a very weak solu-
tion will instantly destroy the lowest forms of animal and vegetable
life. The juices of vegetables are prevented from becoming mouldy
by the addition of the smallest quantity of the acid. Herbs and shrubs
watered by a stronger solution rapidly die.

The microscopic beings concerned in the production of putrefactive
fermentation are as quickly destroyed by a weak solution, and the pu-
trefaction is completely arrested. Parasitic and earth-worms also
are easily killed by a solution containing 4 per cent, or by expo-
sure to air containing but a small proportion of the acid. A
stronger solution kills the eggs of ants and earwigs, and larve of but-
terilies, caterpillars, &.

Action on the Human Skin.—Immediately after the application of a
thin coating of the pure acid, a sharp smarting is felt, which lasts
about an hour. The epidermis becomes wrinkled, and in a short
time the formation of a white body may be remarked wherever the
acid has touched. This white coloration results from the action of the
acid on albumen; it disappears by degrees, and is replaced by some
congestion, which lasts about 20 days. This congestion presents all
the characters of an intense inflammation, being attended with red-

<1 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.
ness, heat, and swelling. If a small piece of the epidermis (which
appears raised as in a blister) be stripped off, no serum escapes. The
epidermis becomes detached by degrees, and when the exfoliation is
complete a brown spot remains, which testifies for a long time to the
energetic action of the acid. After a number of experiments on his
own arms, and the arms of his friends, M. Lemaire assures us that the
smarting never lasts longer than an hour. The redness of the skin
endures about 20 days, but the inflammation never extends .beyond
the part to which the acid has been applied.

Action on the Respiratory Organs.— rom experiments on mice and
horses, the author concludes that the higher animals may breathe the
diluted vapor of the acid for along time without discomfort or danger.

Mode of Action.—The general tact resulting from the author’s ex-
periments is that phenic acid acts on plants and lower animals as a
violent poison.

When the action of the acid ona semi-transparent leaf is examined,
it is easy to prove that it coagulates albumen, and that the paren-
chyma and epiderm are contracted. This explains how it is that mi-
crophytes and microzoons die so quickly in its presence. All animals
with a naked skin, and those which live in the water, die sooner than —
those which live in the air and have a solid envelop. The difference
appears to result from the power of absorption, which is much greater
in the former than the latter.

When frogs are placed in a saturated solution (five per cent) of the
acid, the skin shrivels and becomes milky from the coagulation of the
albumen. ‘The branchiz of fishes also become white. This coagula-
tion of albumen led the author to suppose that the death of the ani-
mals resulted from the coagulation of their blood. To verify this
supposition, he examined, under the microscope, the action of the
acid on the branchiz of the larve of salamanders, in which the circu-
lation of the blood is easily seen. He then observed that, although
the solution arrested the circulation instantaneously, it altered neither
the form nor appearance of the blood-globules. All the change con-
sisted in their immobility. When the blood is coagulated by mineral
acids the form of the globules is changed. With carbolic acid noth-
ing of the kind takes place. Besides this, a post-mortem examination
of a dog and horse proved that the blood was not coagulated. Phenic
acid, then, does not kill by producing coagulation of the blood! Its
action on the blood-globules, however, leads M. Lemaire to think that
these globules are living beings.

Insects exposed to a weak dose of the acid become asphyxiated, but
they soon recover in pure air.

When a gramme or two dissolved in water is administered to a
dog, the animal falls as if struck with lightning, but soon recovers
again. ‘The sudden fall the author ascribes to violent pain, and the
rapidity with which it is absorbed and carried to the nervous centres. .
It is on the nervous system, then, that phenic acid principally acts.

COHESION FIGURES OF LIQUIDS.

In a communication made to the British Association on the above
subject by Mr. C. Tomlinson, the author stated that his researches
began as far back as 1861, since when he had among other results ap-

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 241

plied the principle involved to a species of chemical analysis. The
principle of the examination is to place a drop of a liquid on the sur-
face of clean water in a chemically clean glass, when a fizure is pro-
duced which was characteristic of the liquid so tested, and. capable of
being used for its identification. The figure formed is a function of
cohesion, adhesion, and diffusibility. If any one of these forces be
varied the figure varies. The figures of alcohol for example on water,
mercury, the fixed oils, melted lard, spermaceti, paraflin, sulphur, &e.
are all different. A new set of figures is produced by allowing the
‘drop to subside in a column of liquid instead of diffusing over its sur-
face. These last the author calls ‘* submersion figures of liquids.”
The figure of a drop of oil of lavender ina column of alcohol thus
produced i is singularly complicated and beautiful. The test by cohe-
sion figures was stated by the author to be so delicate as to re sadily
distinguish differences between oils so closely related as the oleines of
beef-fat and mutton-fat, when the one was adulterated by the other.
Another series of results are obtained, not by placing a drop of the
liquid on the surface of water, but by allowing the drop to sink below
the surface before the figure is developed. In this way a large number
of figures of great variety and beauty have been produced. by allow-
ing drops of various oils, solutions, and other liquids to subside in
columns of water, spirits of wine, ether, turpentine, paraflin oil,
benzol, and pyroligneous ether... For example, a solution of cochineal
(from 20 to 50 grains in one fluid ounce of distilled water and fil-
tered) forms admirable figures, in a column of water contained in a
glass cy linder 11 inches his zh and three inches in diameter, into which
about 4 an ounce of solution of ammonia or alittle aa water had
been poured. If river water be used the lime is thus thrown down,
so that the water should be allowed to stand a few hours before per-
forming the experiment; or if distilled water be employed, the am-
monia and the alum, by them chemical action on the cochineal, add
to the beauty of the result. As soon as the drop of cochineal solu-
tion (deliv ered gently from a pipette) falls beneath the surface, it ex-
pands into a ring , sinks a short distance further, and then becomes
poised. The more diffusive portions of the colori ing matter stream
upwards in a faint flame-like circular cloud; the denser portions ac-
cumulate at two opposite points of the ring , which i is thus at its thinner
portions bent upwards, and then drawn downwards into graceful fes-
tooned lines by the heavier portions, which form separate rings smaller
than the parent ring. These rings in like manner, descend. The
denser portions of coloring matter accumulate at the two opposite
points, 90° from the points of attachment to the festooned lines.
Each small ring is, in this case, also bent upwards, while it drops two
other rings, which in their turn go through the same series of changes,
until the figure becomes almost too complicated to follow. This is ¢
very common result with a moderately weak solution of cochineal ;
with a stronger solution the figure undergoes some beautiful modifica-
tions. The heavier portions of the coloring matter collect not at two,
but at four, six, or even seven or cight points of the ring, bending it
upwards in as many curved lines, and letting drop as many rings,
each of which becomes the seat of manufacture of two rings ; and in this

21

242 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

polypus method of division and subdivision the coloring matter is dif-
fused through the solution.

A more complicated figure, on the above type, is formed by allowing a
drop of oil of lavender (from the end ofa glass rod) gently tosubside beneath
the surface of spirits of wine contained in a cylindrical glass six inches
high and one inch and a quirter in diameter. Oil of cubebs or of cinnamon
forms good figures. The oils of turpentine and of juniper, as well as fixed
oils, form flat spheroids. ‘The appearance of the figures depends upon the
solubility of the liquid employed. In some cases they are glassy or sac-
charine, in others chalky or milky, arising from the elaiopten of the essential
oils being the first dissolved, while the stearopten is left to do the work
of the figure. When a column of benzol was used, many of tie essential
oils formed these opaque white figures. Oil of winter-green, turpentine,
camphorated spirit, oil of bitter almonds, &c. formed good figures; the
fixed oils formed discs with waving edges or cup-shaped vessels, which
became drawn out in descending. Ina column of paraffin oil some re-
markable figures were produced with absinthe, neroli, and fusel oils.
With the last-named oil the drop first forms a disc bagging downwards, and
this almost immediately expands upwards, swells out into a dome or cone,
the ring expanding all the time; the point of the cone remains fixed in
the liquid, while the lower edge becomes arched at four equidistant points,
the edges of the arches beautifully fringed, and lets fall lines with drops
at the ends, which form separate cones, each of which becomes arched,
and lets down other lines with drops. In this way a figure is produced
of great beauty, and with an architectural kind of effect which is very
striking. The duration is also considerable. The texture of the figure
is gauze-like and delicate. A number of figures were obtaiued when a
column of turpentine was used; a still larger number in a column of py-
roligneous ether, some of which were chalky and very persistent. A drop
of water flashed into a ring, descended, and expanded in rolling on its
curved axis somewhat after the manner of a bubble of phosphureted hy-
drogen bursting in air. In a column of ether those drops that did not
immediately enter into solution formed beautiful rolling rings,—this was
the case with drops of benzol and of the oils of turpentine and cajeput.

These liquid rolling rings led to an investigation of the phosphureted
hydrogen rings in air, which the author thinks have not been correctly
explained in our text-books. The nearest approach to a correct expla-
nation is that given by Prof. Rogers in the American Journal of Science
for 1858; but his explanation, which is not very precise, is embarrassed by
conditions depending on the form of the orifice of the vessel from which
the ring was projected, the tension of the enclosed gas, the chemical
action, and, in the case of a liquid ring, the force with which the liquid is
projected into a column of water, &c. Very fine liquid rings can be formed
by allowing a saturated solution of common salt or of Epsom salts to drop
slowly into a tall column of water from a hight of about two inches.
The liquid rings thus formed roll rapidly round their curved axes, and go
on expanding nearly to the bottom of the vessel before they disappear.
‘Two ionic-like volutes are seen on either side of the rings; these are pro-
duced by the perspective of a number of rings seen through, or nearly
through, each other, while at the front and back the edges of single rings
only are seen.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 243

RESEARCHES ON ACONITE.

Recent elaborate researches on the properties of aconite, the most

otent perhaps of all poisons,—conducted by Messrs. S. & H. Smith, of
eet and published in the London Pharmaceutical Journal, have
established the fact that the maximum quantity of the alkaloid, which
itis possible to extract from a hundred weight of the fresh aconite-
root, cannot exceed one ounce. Consequently, the maximum quantity
of the alkaloid contained in an ounce of the tincture, as ordinarily pre-
pared and sold, cannot exceed the +105 of a grain, and is probably
much less. M. Hertz, Professor of the Medical Faculty at Strasbourg,
in an article on the subject of aconite contributed to the ‘‘ Nouveau
Dictionnaire de Medecine et de Chirugie Practiques,” Paris, 1864, a
work published by a committee of the leading French chemists and
physicians, gives the following as a summary of our present chemical
knowledge. He says, ‘‘the chemical reactions of aconitine are not
yet sufficiently known to enable us to isolate it from the substance or
products of the body after death.”

This résumé of the latest information respecting this subtile
poison, will be noticed with interest by many of our readers, by reason
of its bearing on the celebrated case of John Hendrickson, who was
tried and convicted in Albany, N. Y. in 1854, on the charge of
poisoning his wife by aconite, and subsequently (in spite of the
earnest remonstrances of nearly all the leading American chemists)
executed. The theory of the prosecution was, that an ounce of the
tincture of aconite was forcibly administered during sleep; the major
part of which the deceased subsequently ejected from the stomach by
vomiting. ‘Then froma portion only of the fluids and tissues of the
stomach, by means of a radically incorrect chemical treatment, it was
sworn upon the trial, that about 3/5 of a grain of the pure alkaloid
was separated and extracted. And on this, and concurring medical
testimony, the life of the accused was declared forfeited and taken.

The recent information relative to aconite, quoted above, fully con-
firms the views of the chemists who protested in 1854 against the con-
clusions of the jury, and further stamp this trial as one of the most
disgraceful ever recorded in the history of American jurisprudence.

SUMMARY OF CHEMICAL NOVELTIES.

New Use for Gelatin.—Beautiful fancy ornaments have recently
been introduced in Paris by M. Pinson, called artificial tortoise-shell,
which he obtains by melting, at a moderate temperature, gelatin with
asmall amount of metallic salts, ramning the whole into molds, stain-
ing the mass with hydro-sulphate of ammonia, so as to produce an
imitation of the grain of tortoise-shell. The objects so produced are
then polished and ready for sale.

Colton-seed Oil.—With the more extensive cultivation of cotton in
European colonial possessions, renewed attention has been given to the
subject of the oil yielded by the cotton-seed. Recent investigations
show, that an oil may be obtained to the amount of from 15 to 18 per
cent from cotton-seed, which is very much cheaper than linseed. The
residue is nearly as valuable for fattening purposes as linseed cake.

244 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The crude oil answers well for paints and varnishes, and makes ex-
cellent soap. The refined is considered little inferior to olive oil.

Fatty Acids for Soap and Candles.—M. Mouries, in a memoir to
the French Academy, suggests a cheap and easy method of sepa-
rating stearic and oleic acids and glycerine. In the ordinary state
tallow is saponified with difficulty. “By melting the tallow in water,
containing a little soap in solution, the tallow assumes a elobular
state, and is then readily attacked by a small quantity of alkali.
When the mixture is raised to 60° C, the alkali and glycerine quickly
separate. The fatty acids are separated by placing the soap in water
acidulated with sulphuric acid. The stearic acid will then crystallize,
and the oleic acid can be obtained, almost colorless, with the sulphate
of soda, and can then be made into soap. M Chevreul commended
this process, before the Academy, as ingenious and simple.

Preparation of Essential Oils. Mie. ao B. Groves of London sug-
gests an exceedingly ingenious method for the separation of essential
oils from watery solutions in which they exist in small quantities, such
solutions being frequently produced by the distillation of aromatic
herbs, etc. A proportion of olive oil is added to the aromatic solu-
tion; this is then formed into a soapy emulsion by the addition of
potash. When this emulsion is destroyed by the addition of an acid,
the olive oil rises to the surface, bringing with it all the aromatic oil,
which may then be readily dissolved out of the fatty oil by agitation
with rectified spirit.

The Volatile Constituents of Petroleam.— Mr. E. Ronalds in a re-
cent paper before the Royal Society, Edinburgh, stated, that the
gases dissolved in Pennsylvania petroleum, and which give it such a
hich degree of inflammability, were composed of the lower members
of the marsh gas series Gases taken from the surface of the liquid,
as imported in cask s from Americ ‘a, were shown by eudiometrical ana-
lyses to contain a mixture of nearly equal proportions of the hydrides
of ethyl and propyl. The same compounds were found in the gases
evolved on warming the volatile liquid: after these succeeded the hy-
drides of propyl and butyl, and finally there was evolved nearly pure
hydride of butyl. This liquid has a spec. gr. of 0:600 at the melting
point of ice, and is consequently the lightest liquid known. Its va-
por density is 2°11. It is colorless, and has a sweet, agreeable odor.
Alcohol at 98 p. c. dissolves between 11 and 12 times its volume of
this vapor.

Liquefaction of Pr otoxyd of Nitrogen.—One of the most interest-
ing objects at a recent soirée at the Paris Observatory consisted in the
exhibition of the liquefaction of laughing gas, the protoxyd of nitro-
gen, by M. Bianchi. This took place : at zero, Centigrade, under a pres-
sure of thirty atmospheres, the fluid issuing in a small jet from a
strong metallic reservoir. Received ina glass tube, it retained its
liquid condition by reason of the depression of temperature produced
by evaporation, so that mercury, being introduced, solidified and could
be hammered like lead. Simultaneously 5a body, in the state of igni-
tion, plunged into the atmosphere of the liquid, in which the mercury
froze, burnt with a brilliant light. On pouring the protoxyd into a
small platinum capsule heated to redness, the liquid was found to re-

tain all its properties while assuming the spheroidal state, and was still

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 245

able to freeze mercury contained in little glass ampule. Finally, the
liquid protoxyd became solidified under the recipient of an air-pump,
the temperature being reduced to 120° below zero, Centigrade,—the
most intense cold yet obtained.

New Mode of Analysis.—The capillarity of paper as a means of
analysis, as suggested by M. Schonbein, has been employed by M.
Goppelsrider in the separation of colormg matters. When a band of
paper is dipped into curcuma (Indian saffron) and picric acid, three
distinct layers are perceived; the first formed by pure water, the
second colored by picric acid, and the third by the yellow of the
eurcuma. If the paper be dipped into an alkaline liquid the picrie
layer disappears, while the curcuma remains with the brownish hue
which it acquires under the circumstances. Similar experiments are
produced with fuchsine, &c.

Morid’s Process fer recovering Writing on Paper or Parchment
which has become nearly effaced.—The paper or parchment written
on is first left for some time in contact with distilled water. It is then
placed for five seconds in a solution of oxalic acid (1 of acid to 100 of
water) ; next after washing it, it is put in a vessel containing a solu-
tion of gallic acid (10 grains of acid to 300 of distilled water) ; and
finally washed again and dried. The process should be carried for-
ward with care and promptness, that any accidental discoloration of
the paper may be avoided.-—Cosmos.

Pure Water from Lead Pipes.—Dr. Schwartz of Breslau, proposes
to render lead pipes, used for water-conveyance innocuous, by
filling the pipes for a short time, with a strong solution of an alkaline
sulphide. A coating of insoluble sulphide of lead is thus formed,
which is said to act as a perfect protecting varnish, preventing further
action between the water and lead.—Chem. Nes.

New Green Color.—A prize has been awarded by the Paris Acad-
emy to M. Bouffé for a new green, which is produced by a mixture, it
is said, of picric acid and the hydrous oxyd of chrome (chrome
green). The new color, called by the inventor vert naturel, is of great
beauty and brilliancy, and is suited to replace the arsenical greens
often used to color wall paper from which a poisonous dust arises.

Leas Cleaning Solution. Photographers are under great obliga-
tions to Mr. Carey Lea, of Philadelphia, for the knowledge of the
following glass-cleaning preparation: Water one pint; sulphuric
acid, 4 ounce; bi-chromate potash, 4 ounce. The glass plates, var-
nished or otherwise, are left, say 10 or 12 hours, or as much longer as
desired, in this solution, and then rinsed in clean water, and wiped or
rubbed dry with soft white paper. It quickly removes silver stains
from the skin without any of the attendant dangers of the cyanide of
potassium.

The Physical Analysis of the Human Breath.—Mr. W. F. Barrett,
assistant in the Physical Laboratory of the Royal Institution, has pub-
lished in the Philosophical Magazine, a record of some remarkable ex-
periments on this interesting subject, made chiefly by means of the
apparatus employed by Dr. Tyndall, in his researches on the absorp-
tion and radiation of heat by gaseous matter. Carefully prepared
vuleanized India-rubber bags were filled with air from the lungs.—l.
About half an hour after rising: 2. About ten minutes after break-

ya as

246 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

fast: 3, after a brisk walk: and 4, after severe exertion. The
contents are then successively allowed to enter an exhausted brass
cylinder, the ends of which are stopped air-tight by plates of
rock-salt. Through this cylinder the radiation from a flame of car-
bonic oxyd gas is passing. Immediately the breath, which has been
deprived of its moisture, fills the cylinder, more than half the heat
from the flame is absorbed, and this entirely by the small quantity of
carbonic acid present in the expired air. ‘The amount of heat inter-
cepted by the breath is, in each case accurately measured by means
of a delicate thermomultiplier. The percentage of carbonic acid
contained in the different specimens of breath is found by calculation
and subsequent experiments, and is then compared with a chemical
analysis of each specimen.
The close agreement between the methods of analysis is shown by
the following numbers :—
By physical analysis. By chemical analysis.

PAS Ae aatiiees ners Sls ol eats CA

AE ios ade ee Seoskalo, Les.) eae ed ae eo

LCC RE SRA AT PRE 3 38s Re ei a 5

These numbers indicate the percentage of carbonic acid in breath,
and show that the least amount of that gas was exhaled before breakfast.

Many other different samples of breath have been examined by Mr.
Barrett ; the results he has obtained prove the great delicacy of the
new method of analysis in detecting small quantities of carbonic acid,
or in discovering variations in the amount of this gas in the atmosphere
or in the human breath. For this purpose its application i in hospitals
has already been suggested by eminent men.

Control of Disease by Sanitary Agencies.—At a recent meeting of
the Social Science Congress, Dr. Lankester, in a paper on public
health, observed that ‘* disease and death were most expensive things
to society, and when the death-rate rose above 30 in 1,000, that wasa
death-rate which could be controlled by human agency. This had
been done in some large towns by proper attention to ventilation and
drainage, and thus great benefits had been conferred upon all.”

Animal Charcoal in Vi egetable Poisoning.—It is well known that the
infusion of coffee, tannin, camphor, vinegar, acetate of lead, fatty
oils, white of eggs, &c. have been proposed in succession as anti-
dotes to plants, or their alkaloids, belonging to the family of the papa-
veracex, and the solanacez. Now, Dr. Garrod prescribes animal char-
coal, which, in small quantities, neairalizes: or entirely destroys, the
action upon the economy of the solutions of belladonna, of stramo-
nium, and of hyoscyamus, provided that the antidote is administered
before they are absorbed. Dr. Garrod cites, in the Bulletin de Thé-
raupeutique for 1858, two cases where patients had taken, by mistake,
one 60 centigrammes the other 10 grammes of belladonna, and were
immediately cured by the use of animal charcoal. Again, he admin-
istered to a dog a dose of aconite, which killed him promptly, while
another dog of the same size, which had taken four times as much
aconite, but mixed with animal charcoal, presented no symptom of
poisoning. M. Garrod has remarked that animal charcoal, purified or
not, acts in the same manner, and that vegetable charcoal, on the con-

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 247

trary, has no effect whatever upon the action of these poisons. He
also believes that animal charcoal neutralizes the stupefying action of
the vegetable alkaloids, as quinine, strychnine, and morphine.

Chemical Preservation of Statwes.—M. Dalemagne, in a recent
communication to the French Academy, is of the opinion, that coating
statues, exposed to the atmosphere, with a solution of silica, is quite
sufficient to insure their preservation. In proof of this, he calls
attention to the circumstance that certain busts which were submitted
to the process of silicatization ten years ago, are now in a state of
perfect preservation ; while others of the same age, placed under the
ordinary conditions of the atmosphere, and even to which consider-
able attention had been paid, are now in a state of more or less marked
decay.

* * * * * * * *

Kuhlmann on the Coloring Material in Minerals.—In the course of
his new researches on the preservation of materials employed in
building and ornamentation, this able investigator has availed himself
of the new methods of analysis by the spectrum, with modifications.
He expresses his belief that he has placed in the hands of chemists a
sure, simple, expeditious, and safe method of analyzing the largest
part of the silicious stones and a great number of natural and artificial
silicates ; and that he has put investigators in the right way of finding
out the true cause of the color of certain stones; and finally, that he
has opened up a new field of research in spectral experimentation, in
analyzing by the gaseous way those minerals whose character so much
depends on the nature of the solvent engaged in their formation.

Coloring Matter of the I’merald.—M. Lewy in 1858 asserted that
the coloring matter of the emerald was organic and destroyed by heat.
Recent researches by M. M. Wohler and Rose seem to show, how-
ever, that the color is due to oxyd of chromium, ‘They kept an em-
erald at the temperature of melted copper for an hour, and found that,
although the stone became opaque, the color was not affected. They
fused, however, some colorless glass with an exceedingly small quan-
tity of oxyd of chromium, and produced a color exactly like that of
the emerald. They therefore considered this substance the coloring
agent, without, however, denying the presence of some organic
matter.

A new Method of Extracting Gold from Auriferous Quartz, so
as to obviate the necessity of employing mereury,—which is both ex-
pensive and very deleterious,—has been suggested by Prof. Crace
Calvert. Finding that gold, though but slowly acted on by a solu-
tion of chlorine, is readily dissolved by that agent as it is liberated
from its other combinations, or as in a nascent state, Mr. Calvert sug-
gests that the auriferous quartz should be acted on by hydrochlorine
and peroxide of manganese, when the gold is readily and completely
dissolved, and is, after the separation of any copper that may be
present, afterwards precipitated in a metallic form by a solution of
protosulphate of iron (the green copperas of commerce).

New Method of Detecting Poisons in the Animal Hconomy.—Dr.
Machaltee, in a paper presented to the British Association on the use
of the new process of dialysis for the detection of poisons, suggested
that the stomach or intestines of an animal suspected of having been

248 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

poisoned by any substance capable of being dialysed, might be made
to act as their own dialysers, by simply tying the openings so as to
securely enclose their contents, and then plunging them into a ves-
sel of water for some hours, when the crystalline poison, such as
arsenic or strychnine, would dialyse out, and could be readily de-
tected in the external fluid.

DYALYSIS.

The application of the researches of Prof. Graham (see Annual Sci.
Dis. 1862, p. 197), respecting the diffusion of liquids to the purposes
of practical chemistry and the arts of civilization, offers one of the
most interesting examples of the eventual tendency of even the most
abstract scientific investigations to become practical, and so to aid in
promoting the comfort and welfare of mankind. Itis almost impossible
to imagine a subject offering apparently less practical advantages than
does the admixture of two liquids with each other, and yet from the
rigorous and scientifie investigation of the phenomena of their mutual
diffusion, and the laws which regulate its operation, has sprung a new
method of analysis, which promises to revolutionize a very large num-
ber of chemical operations, and to introduce new methods of manu-
facture into the arts that will entirely subvert many existing processes.

The subject is so interesting and so novel in its practical bearings,
that it is desirable to trace its gradual development from an abstract
scientific truth to its present useful applications.

Mr. Graham’s first experiments on the diffusion of liquids were
made by means of what he terms phial diffusion, and they were per-
formed as follows: Solutions of different salts, whose diffusive powers
were to be examined, were prepared of equal strength, and phials of
exactly the same size and shape were filled with these solutions, and
then placed separately under the surface of water contained in much
larger vessels, the mouths of the phials being left open. Under these
circumstances it was found that a certain proportion of the heavy
solution contained in the phial rose in opposition to the attraction of
gravitation, and mingled with the water by which the phial was sur-
rounded. In the ease of colored solutions, this diffusion was visible
to the eye, and in others it was capable of being proved by analysis.
It was found, however, that the solutions of different bodies diffused
themselves with very different degrees of velocity. Thus common
salt diffused with twice the rapidity of Epsom salts or sugar. ‘These,
again, are doubly as diffusive as a solution of gum; and albumen, or
white of ege, in its turn, does not possess } of the diffusive power of
gum, nor scarcely more than 35 of that of common salt.

These experiments were varied in different modes, by allowing
the diffusion to take place under slightly varying conditions, but
the same general results were obtained. The laws deduced from these
phenomena are, that crystalline bodies—such as salt, sugar, niter,
etc.,—are much more readily diffusible than those that are amorphous,
such as gum, gelatin, albumen, solution of starch, or any substances
that enter into combination with water in the same manner as the first-
named bodies.

Hence, with reference to this subject, Mr. Graham arranges sub-
stances into two groups: those crystalline in character and readily

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 249

diffusible in water he terms crystalloids ; the solution of these is always
free from gumminess or viscocity, is sapid, possessing in a higher or
lower deer ee the power of affecting the nerves of taste. The other
class, whose diffusive power is low, he distinguishes as colloids, be-
cause gelatin or glue (colle) may be taken as their type. The solu-
tions of these substances have no disposition to crystallize, and in
the solid form they do not possess flat surfaces, such as characterize
crystals, but exhibit an irregular roundness of patlne, Their solu-
tions are always gummy when concentrated, and what is strikingly
remarkable, they are all insipid or wholly tasteless. In the moist
condition they are liable to undergo great changes, and solutions of
them ina state of purity cannot be. preserved unaltered for any length
of time.

A solution of a colloid body, such as gelatin, is found to offer
scarcely any impediment to the diffusion of a crystalloid throughout
its entire mass. This diffusion will also take place through any soft
solid with almost equal rapidity ; a very familiar example ‘of this fact
is shown in the process of saltinee meat, in which case the rapidly dif-
fusible crystallizable sea-salt penetrates to the interior of the flesh,
which is acombination of different colloid bodies, such as fibrin, albus
men, gelatin, ete.

Upon the fact that crystalloid bodies possess the power of diffusing
themselves through soft solids depends the operation known as dialy-
sis, and the construction of the instrument called the dialyser. ‘This
consists simply of a tambourine-shaped frame of gutta-percha, over
which is tightly stretched a piece of parchment paper, which completes
the resem blance to that musical instrument. ‘This parchment paper
is quite impervious to water, so that no passage of fiuid similar to
filtration can take place through it. If the dialyser be floated on
the surface of pure water, and a mixed solution of a crystalloid and a
colloid body be poured into it, the process termed dialysis immedi-
ately commences ; all the ery stalloid matter passes through the parch-
ment paper into the water, and the colloid matter remains behind in
the dialyser. As an instance of its action, let us suppose a mixed
solution of sugar and gum to be poured into the dialyser, when the
sugar passes through into the water below, and the gum remains be-
hind in a pure form. If a mixture of the beautiful aniline dye known
as magenta, and some burnt sugar or caramel be employed, the pass-
age of the magenta into the pure water is readily observed, the dark-
brown uncry ystallizable colloid caramel remaining in the dialy ser.

Other facts of ¢reat interest have been disc -overed as the results of
these investigations. Thus it is found that by means of dialysis,
we may obtain pure in solution many substances hitherto regarded as
being perfectly insoluble. Amongst these may be mentioned silica,
alumina, Prussian blue, peroxyd of iron, stannic acid, and numerous
other bodies of a similar character.

Tor example, if a solution of soluble glass, which is formed by fus-
ing silica with an excess of soda, be taken and acidified with hydro-
chloric acid, the acid unites with the soda, forming common salt, or
chloride of sodium, the silica remaining for some time dissolved in a

elatinous or colloid form, mixed with the solution of the chloride of
sodium. If, however, this mixture of gelatinous silica and common

250 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

salt be placed in the dialyser, the salt rapidly diffuses itself into the
water in the outer vessel, and the solution of pure silica in water
remains in the dialyser. This solution is found to have a feebly acid
reaction on test paper, but not to the taste, as, being a colloid, it can-
not pass through the membrane of the tongue so as to affect the
nerves of taste. The solution of silica remains for some time perfectly
limpid, but eventually sets into a firm jelly. This alteration may be
brought about immediately by the presence of several substances, par-
ticularly by any earthy carbonate such as chalk. This solution of
pure silica possesses remarkable properties ; it is absorbed by gelatin-
ous tissues such as the skin of animals, in the same manner as tannin ;
and like it converts them into a kind of leather, which possesses the
remarkable property of not putrefying when kept moist. In the
same manner a solution of pure peroxyd of iron may be obtained, by
first dissolving excess of the hydrated oxyd in hydrochloric acid,
and then dialysing, when a colloid solution of oxyd of iron remains,
that is capable of being gelatinized like the silica. Prussian blue,
which is insoluble in pure water, is capable when recently precipi-
tated, of being dissolved by the aid of gentle heat in a solution of }
ofits weight of oxalic acid, when it forms the well-known permanent
blue ink. Ifsuch a solution be dialysed. the Prussian blue is, in the
course of a few days, obtained in a solution in pure water, and may
be rendered gelatinous by the addition of sulphate of zine and several
other metallic salts, as the solution of silica is gelatinized by the addi-
tion of carbonate of lime.

Such are a few of the many examples of these remarkable phenom-
ena. They are as yet of too recent discovery to have been applied to
many practical purposes but a vast number of applications at once
suggest themselves. In cases of the suspected poisoning of articles
of food, the poison, if a crystalloid substance like arsenic, can be
readily dialysed and obtained in a pure form, however heterogeneous
may be the mixture in which it is contained. Dyeing will be greatly
facilitated by steeping a fabric in a pure solution of some colloid dye,
which will unite with the animal or vegetable fibre as it gelatinizes.

The purification of many drugs and the separation of different sub-
stances in the chemical arts will be rendered much easier than hereto-
fore. In fact, there appears scarcely a limit to the application of this
principle. Already, dialysis has thrown light upon obscure poimts in
geology, such as the formation of flints and other silicious fossils, and
it promises equally to benefit physiological research. In fact, humble
and inconspicuous as its phenomena may appear at first sight, it is
probable that, in its influence on science and art, it will greatly sur-
pass any discovery of late years.

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY.

The importance and marvellous character of the discoveries effected during the
past year through the new method of * spectrum analysis,” warrants their classifi-
cation into an independent section in this yearly record of scicutific discovery.

THE MOST RECENT DISCOVERIES BY SPECTRUM ANALYSIS.

In the previous volumes of the Annual of Scientific Discovery,
(1862; °63; °64;) the progress of discovery effected through the beau-
tiful process of ‘* spectrum analysis” has been detailed at considera-
ble length; and in the volume for 1864, particular mention was made
of the results arrived at by Messrs Huggins and Miller of England,
in their examination of the sun and certain of the fixed stars. ‘These
two gentlemen, have, during the past year, continued their researches,
and have announced a series of discoveries of the most extraordinary
and interesting character. These discoveries may be classified under
three heads, viz: Those relating to the Planetary Spectra; to the
Fixed Stars; and to the Spectra of Nebule.*

The apparatus used by Messrs. Huggins and Miller is of the most
ingenious and beautiful character. Without going into a detailed
description of it, it may be sufficient to say, that, in order to concen-
trate the light of such faint bodies as the stars, before admitting it
into a prism, or series of prisms for retraction and dispersion in order
to form a spectrum, a telescope of large size is indispensable to the
observer. ‘The telescope used by Messrs. Hugzins and Miller has an
object-glass of eight inches aperture and ten feet focal length, and
was originally made by Mr. Alvan Clark of Massachusetts, for the Rev.
W. Dawes, the well-known English astronomer. Furthermore, as a
star forms only a point of light in the focus of an object-glass, this
light would be drawn out by the prisms with a fine line of colored
light, without sufficient breadth for affording observation of the fine
lines crossing it. Some method of expanding this point of light (and
in one direction only, so as to prevent unnecessary loss of light) to
give the required breadth to the spectrum is therefore needed, and
this has been effected by the employment of a cylindrical lens; and
the light thus spread out, is then resolved by the highly refracting
prisms, into a spectral image. It has been also ascertained, that the
adaptation of a small prism to the slit of the spectroscope enables the
spectrum of one substance to be superposed over that of another sub-
stance ; but when it was desired, as it was absolutely necessary to do,
to compare the spectrum afforded by the reflected light of the planet

* For the detail of these discoveries, we are mainly indebted to a report published
in the Intellectual Observer, London, January, 1865, by Thomas W. Burr, F. RB.
A.S. with the concurrence of Mr, Huggins, 251

252 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

with the spectrum given by absolute sunlight, the difficulty of com-
paring the lines in the light reflected from a planet, visible only at
night with those in the light of the sun, visible only during the day,
had to be overcome. And this was accomplished by comparing the
sunlight reflected down from the atmosphere after sunset with the
light-of the planet when it first became visible. In this way, the lines
in the spectra of the different planets have been compared with the
principal lines of the solar spectrum, and with those produced in the
solar spectrum by the absorptive action of the earth’s atmosphere.

Observations on the Moon and the Planets.—One of the first ques-
tions which presented itself to the minds of the observers, was to test
the existence or not of an atmosphere to our satellite, the moon. On
cll astronomical grounds, the evidence of no appreciable atmosphere
is very strong; but there are other points connected with the subject
which have a little contrary tendency. It is clear that the sun’s light,
reflected from the lunar surface, must pass twice through the thick-
ness of any atmosphere the moon may have before reaching us, and
judging by the effects of the rays of the sun, when at a low altitude,
traversing a length of our own atmosphere, any lines due to its existence
should be readily seen. With this view the spectrum of the moon was
carefully examined on many occasions, and while it presented a perfect
accordance with the solar spectrum, and its principal lines, nothing could
be traced that was indicative of a gaseous envelop about the moon, and
the evidence of spectrum analysis may therefore be added to the other
reasons for believing that the moon, at any rate on the side presented
to our view, has little or no atmosphere.

The plane's, shining equally by light reflected from the sun, exhibit
numerous phenomena indicating the existence of atmospheres, of which
the varying belts of Jupiter and Saturn, and the diminution of light at the
edges of these planets, and Mars, and Venus, may be mentioned. The
snow and ice of Mars also could only be produced by a gaseous envelop
like our own. ‘The examination of the spectra of the planets, by Messrs.
Huggins and Miller, has however proved, in the first place, that the
planetary light, as has always been assumed by modern astronomers, is re-
flected light from the sun, the principal lines of the solar spectrum being
easily identified in the spectra of the planets; and secondly, it has given ~
us some very interesting information respecting the existence and character
of the planetary atmospheres. Thus, in addition to the characteristic
lines of the solar spectrum, there were observed in the planetary spectra,
various new lines, indicative of the presence, in greater or less quantity,
of substances which absorb certain lines of light. And these substances,
Messrs. Huggins and Miller are inclined to think, are indicative of dis-
tinctive features of the planetary atmospheres. It should here be stated
that the spectra of the planets are not easily rendered capable of exam-
ination, ‘The light of a planet consists of a portion of the rays radiated
from a disc, and a portion only of the light reflected from it therefore
passes through the slit of the spectroscope, and the spectrum is often ex-
ceedingly faint ; while the star, being a luminous point, the whole of its
light passes in to form the spectrum.

In the case of the planet Jupiter, the ight which comes to us from
this body was originally like the light which comes direct to us; but
before it reaches us it has passed through the atmosphere of Jupiter

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 253

twice and our own atmosphere once; and thus any absorptive influ-
ence in the atmospheres of the planet and of our earth would be con-
siderable. But the light reflected from the sky when the sun is just
below the horizon, having to traverse a very much greater stratum of
the earth’s atmosphere of high density, necessarily would experience
a greater absorption than the ight which reaches us through the com-
paratively thin stratum of the earth’s atmosphere interposed between
the observer and the planet; unless, therefore, the planetary atmos-
phere exerted an absorbent action, all the lines due to the action of
the earth’s atmosphere should, in the light from Jupiter, appear
fainter. The results of examination showed that some were really
fainter, some of equal intensity, while one was much stronger; thus
indicating, that some of the gases which compose the atmosphere of
Jupiter are the same as those which constitute the earth’s atmosphere,
but possibly existing in different proportions. The atmosphere of
Mars was also found to absorb certain rays in the blue end of the
spectrum in a special manner; and the loss of these is not due, more-
over, to mere diminution of light, but is of such a character as to
prove it to be due to some gaseous absorptive material.

With regard to Venus, although as might be expected the spec-
trum was of great beauty, and the principal lines of the solar spec-
trum were well shown, no speciiic atmospheric lines could be traced.

The analysis by the prism of the light of the planets, while it largely
confirms the astronomical doctrine of their possessing extensive atmos-
pheres, may, perhaps, be thought less conclusive than might have
been expected, but, on the other hand, it should be remembered that,
with the exception of Mars, telescopic observation shows that we are
looking not directly at the bodies of the planets, but at masses of
cloud suspended in their atmospheres, and reflecting the sun’s ight to
us, and therefore such light has passed through but a very small and
rarefied portion of such atmospheres, instead of through the lower
and denser portions, which we know in the case of our own aerial cov-
ering, to be the principal source of the specific atmospheric lines.

The Fixed Stars.—Striking as are the results obtained by spec-
trum analysis when applied to the sun, moon, and planets, they sink
into insignificance when compared with the revelations afforded us of
the constitution of those distant bodies, the stars, and the light which
is thus thrown upon their structure is conclusive as to their being of
the same nature as our own sun; a result which analogy had previously
indicated, but which had not been supported by any positive evidence.
It might be supposed that their distance offered insuperable obstacles
to such an inquiry, but spectrum analysis knows no such limits, and as
long as we ean obtain light of an incandescent substance from a suit-
able source, it matters not whether it exists within a few inches of the
spectroscope, or at a distance of unnumbered millions of miles, the
result being equally certain.

The difficulties of these observations from other causes are, how-
ever, according to Messrs. Huggins and Miller, very great, arising
principally from the extremely few occasions when telescopic obser-
vations with a large instrument can be carried on in England, on
account of the frequent atmospheric changes. The amount of work
done by these gentlemen during the past two years, although at first

22

254 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

it appears small in quantity, is in reality quite remarkable, and bears
testimony in a high degree to their devotion and patience as, in con-
sequence of the few fine nights available when a star is in a good
position, the mapping of spectrum of a single star completely would
occupy several years.

In the spectra of all the brighter stars that have been examined, the
dark lines appear to be as numerous and as fine as in the solar spec-
trum. No stars sufficiently bright to be observed are without lines,
and therefore star differs from star only in the arrangement of the
lines, and consequently in the elementary substances present; but all
the stars are constructed on one and the same plan. The number of
fixed stars observed by Messrs. Huggins and Miller, amounts to nearly
50; but the spectrum lines of only a few have been mapped with
any degree of completeness. , Among these are Aldebaran, and the
bright star designated as a in the constellation of Orion.

Aldebaran is a star of a pale-red tint, and its spectrum is full of
lines in the orange, green, and blue. We shall presently see the signif-
icance of this fact. About 70 lines weretested as regards their coinci-
dences with metallic spectra, by direct comparison. Sixteen terrestrial
elements were thus made to present their characteristic bright lines
above the dark ones of the star; and sodium, magnesium, hydrogen,
calcium, iron, bismuth, tellurium, antimony, and mercury, answered
perfectly to the test, and proved their existence in the atmosphere of
Aldebaran. Seven elements, nitrogen, cobalt, tin, lead, cadmium,
lithium, and barium, gave negative evidence only. Indications of other
elements were not wanting, but the observations of these fine lines.
were too fatiguing to the eye to be pressed further.

a Orionis has avery fullspectrum. The light of the star is orange,
and the lines are thickest in the red, green, and blue. About 80
lines have been measured and mapped, and 16 elementary substances
tested for coincidence. With five of these, sodium magnesium,
calcium, iron, and bismuth, the connection is complete and cer-
tain. Perhaps thallium also exists, but the line seen might be cal-
cium, the apparatus not having dispersive power enough to separate
the lines of the two metals at that particular point. In the case of
hydrogen, nitrogen, gold, cadmium, silver, mercury, barium, and lith-
ium, coincidence was not proved. The absence of hydrogen in the spec-
trum of this star and some others is a poimt of considerable impor-
tance, as its presence is eminently characteristic of the spectra of the
sun and some 40 fixed stars, which have been examined. ‘This
observation is, moreover, especially valuable, since it proves that the
lines which indicate its presence belong to the atmospheres of the
luminous bodies themselves, and not, as might have been expected,
to our own atmosphere.

Although a very bright star, the observations of Sirius are extremely
difficult, from its low altitude in this latitude, by which it is brought
within the densest and most impure part of the atmosphere. Sodium,
magnesium, hydrogen, and probably iron, have been found by coinci-
dences, and a photograph of the spectrum was obtained on wet collo-
dion, but owing to the combined difficulties of the experiment, the
lines could not be traced in the picture. It is, however, believed by the
observers that further experiments will result in this important object

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 255

being attained, and the facility which will then be afforded of com-
parison of the more refrangible and less luminous parts of the stellar
spectra, when thus self-registered, with existing metallic charts, noust
be obvious.

Careful examinations are also in progress of a Lyrae (Vega) ; Ca-
pella; Arcturus; « Cygni; Rigel: « Andromede; Regulus; # Pe-
gasi, and many others, from which most interesting results may be
predicated.

One of the most important and interesting deductions which the
observers, whose work we have been discussing, draw from their
results, is connected with the origin of the colors of the stars. That
there is great variety of tints among these bodies is well known;
white, yellow, and red stars are the most frequent, whilst in double
stars the contrasted colors are often green or blue.* The source of
the light of the stars, as well as of that of the sun, must be a solid or
liquid body in a state of incandescence, as only such bodies, when
raised to a high temperature, give a continuous spectrum. In the
case both of the sun and stars, this continuous spectrum becomes
crossed by dark bands, which are produced by the absorbing power
of the constituents held in a vaporous form in the investing atmos-
pheres. ‘These atmospheres vary in chemical constitution according
to the elements composing the star, and should the dark lines pro-
duced by the absorptive power of the vapors forming the stellar atmos-
phere, and which correspond to the bright lines they would form in an
incandescent state, be the strongest and most numerous in the more
refrangible portions of the spectrum, then the star would have a red
or orange tint, because this part of the spectrum would suffer least
absorption ; while, on the contrary, should the red and yellow por-
tions have most lines, the blue and green rays would predominate in
the color of the star. The frequency of the lines in the orange, green,
and blue of Aldebaran’s spectrum, previously pointed out, is strongly
in favor of this theory, as the red is left little affected, and the other
tints are subdued by the dark lines. «@ Orionis has the red, green,
and blue rays much diminished, which produces the orange color of
this star; and # Pegasi, which much resembles a Orionis in its spec-
trum, has a deep yellow hue. In Sirius, which is of a brilliant white,
there are no lines sufliciently intense im any particular part of the
spectrum to interfere with our receiving the light in about the same
proportion, as to the quantity of the different colored rays, to that
which starts from the incandescent light-giving surface.

It became a matter of great interest to test this theory with respect
to the double stars, which present the most marked difference in color ;
but the faintness of the blue or green companions rendered the obser-
vations very difficult. Still, observations of 8 Cygni and « Herculis
were obtained, which accord remarkably with the theory just pro-
pounded. ‘Thus, in the bright star of 6 Cygni, which is light orange

*The examination of these double stars, side by side, in the spectroscope, is a
matter of great difficulty, on account of their difference of size and light; while,
from their proximity, the examining instrument is liable to be sufficiently dis-
turbed by shakes and accidents as to put one or the other out of the ficld of view.
The labor, too, is extremely fatiguing to the eye on aceount of their difference in
brightness. .

256 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

in color, the blue and green rays are full of lines, while the few in
the red and yellow are far apart; in its component, on the other hand,

which is deep blue, the red and orange part of the spectrum is full of
groups of fine lines that interfere with those ra ys and leave the blue end,

which has lines few and far between, as the dominant light of thestar.

The colors of the components of « Eiger which are severally reddish
and green, appear to be produced in strict conformity to the same
hypothesis; and although the theory cannot be considered as estab-
lished by these instances, it must be regarded as exhibiting a high
degree of probability, while the singular. variability in the colors of
stars at different times, which cannot fail to occur to our readers as
not at present explained, may yet prove to be capable of some eluci-
dation by further investigations in the same direction. Of course
change in the chemical constitution of the investing atmospheres would
be an obvious cause of change of color; but these latter changes are
too frequent and recur with too unvarying a regularity at the known
periods, to admit of such an hypothesis.

The spectrum observations have also an important bearing on the
nebular hypothesis of the cosmical origin of the universe, as showing
that the elementary substances must have existed in different propor-
tions at different points of the nebulous mass, otherwise by condensa-
tion equal proportions of the elements, from the surrounding vapor,
would have been collected. ‘There is here an analogy to the manner in
which the components of the earth’s crust are distributed. Some of
the elements are widely and universally diffused throughout animal,
vegetable, and mineral matter; while others, as the rarer metals, are
accumulated at particular points, and whatever the reason of this
separation, the benefits to the human race caused thereby are many
and obvious.

The knowledge derived from these observations has induced Messrs.
Huggins and Miller to indulge in some speculations, which are so
levitimate, and so ably put forward by them in tkeir report to the
Royal Society, that we can not do better than allow them to speak for
themselves, especially as the report itself may not fall within the range
of many of our readers.

‘*« The closely marked connection, in similarity of plan and mode of
operation, in those parts of the universe which lie within the range of
expgriment, and so of our more immediate knowledge, renders it not
presumptuous to attempt to apply the process of reasoning from
analogy to those parts of the universe which are more distant from us.

“Uj pon the earth we find that the innumerable idividual require-
ments which are connected with the present state of terrestrial activity,
are not met by a plan of operation distinct for each, but are effected
in connection witn the special modifications of a general method, em-
bracing a wide range of analogous phenomena. ‘If we examine living
beings, the persistence of unity of plan observable amidst the multi-
form varieties of special adaptation of the vertebrate form of life may
be cited as an example of the unity of operation referred to. In like
manner, ‘the remarkably wide range of phenomena which are shown to
be reciprocally interdependent and correlative of each other, by the
recent great extension of our knowledge in reference to the relation
of the different varieties of forces, and their connection with molecular

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 957

motion, exhibits a similar unity of operation amidst the changes of the
bodies which have not life.

‘«The observations recorded in this report seem to afford some
proof that a similar unity of operation extends through the universe as
far as light enables us to have cognizance of material objects. For
we may ‘infer that the stars, while differing, the one from the other, in
the kinds of matter of which they consist, are all constructed upon
the same plan as our sun, and are composed of matter identical, at
least in part, with the materials of our system.

«The differences which exist between the stars are of the lower or-
der of differences of particular adaptation, or special modification,
and not differences of the higher order of distinct plans of structure.

‘* There is, therefore, a probability that these stars, which are anal-
ogous to our sun in structure, fulfil an analogous purpose, and are,
like our sun, surrounded by planets, which they by their attraction
uphold, and by their radiation illuminate and energize. And if mat-
ter identical with that upon the earth exists in the stars, the same mat-
ter would also probably be present in the planets genetically connected
with them, as is the case in our solar system.

‘¢Tt is remarkable that the elements most widely diffused through
the host of stars are some of those most closely connected with the con-
stitution of the living organisms of our globe, including hydrogen,
sodium, magnesium, “and iron. Of oxygen and nitrogen we could
scarcely hope to have any decisive indications, since “these bodies
have spectra of different orders.* These forms of elementary mat-
ter, when influenced by heat, light, and chemical force, all of which
we have certain knowledge, are radiated from the stars, afford some of
the most important conditions which we know to be indispensable to the
existence of living organisms, such as those with which we are ac-
quainted. On the whole, we believe that the foregoing spectrum ob-
servations on the stars contribute something towards an experimental
basis, on which a conclusion, hitherto but a pure speculation, may
rest, viz: that at least the brivhter stars are, like our sun, upholding
and energizing centres of systems of worlds adapted to be the abode
of living beings.”

Discoveries in Relation to the Nebule. —By far the most wonderful
of the revelations of spectrum analysis applied to the heavenly badies
has yet to come. Encouraged by his success with the fixed stars, Mr.
Huggins resolved to apply this new and potent method of research to
the examination of those mysterious bodies, the Nebule, and this in-
vestigation was rewarded by one of the most important discoveries
connected with the physical constitution of those wonderful objects,
and with the cosmical origin of the universe, which we venture to

think has ever been made. From the time of Sir W. Herschel,
who took up Messier’s scanty list of 103 Nebule, and increased them
to 2,500, throwing out at the same time the supposition that although
he had resolved nearly all those of Messier’s list into clusters of stars,
and discovered hundreds of other clusters, yet that there were numer-
ous nebule which, from their being easily visible, and yet resisting
every attempt by increased aperture or power to resolve them, must

*That is, differ entirely at different temperatures and pressures,
age

258 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

really consist, not of stars or separate masses of condensed solid mat-
ter, but of gaseous or vaporous fluid. He was thence led to those
beautiful speculations which, enlarged and illustrated by Laplace,
who showed the mathematical possibility of such an action of conden-
sation as Sir W. Herschel required, have become widely known as
the Nebular hypothesis, and as to the validity of which, so much con-
troversy has been excited. We all know, too, that of late years the
tendency of telescopic observation, as conducted by the magnificent
instruments of Lord Rosse, and corroborated by the splendid achro-
matic of Harvard University, has been to reduce the numbers of the
irresolvable nebulz ; and in particular that, after the great nebula of
Orion had, in parts at least, been resolved, the general impression
was that the nebular hypothesis had lost all substantial evidence in its
favor, and though it still might be contended that the existing sys-
tems had such an origin, yet that examples of matter in the nebulous
form were not to be found in the heavens. Still, it must not be for-
gotten that Lord Rosse, while resolving many of the nebul, had dis-
covered others which resisted his instrumental powers, and that to
many clusters there were fantastic wisps of nebulous light appended,
and diffuse patches of light attached, which defied resolution, though
they were evidently connected with the objects he pronounced to be
starry in construction.

Among the most wonderful of the nebulous bodies are those called
by Sir W. Herschel planetary nebule. These present the appearance
of small discs of uniform light, usually circular, and generally blue,
or bluish green in color. They are few in number and bright, looking,
in the telescope with a low power, very much like stars out of focus.
Now it was apparent to Sir W. Herschel that bodies like these, hav-
ing no central condensation of light nor stellar nucleus, could not be
globular clusters of stars, which necessarily would be brighter in the
centre than at the edges. A cylinder form of stars seen endways
might, certainly present such an appearance, or a flat disc of stars
placed at right angles to our line of sight would also look like a plan-
etary nebula; but such forms are too improbable to detain us a mo-
ment. He therefore; came to the conclusion that these were masses
of truly nebulous or vapory matter in the primal form, and present-
ing various stages of the process of condensation, a few points of
light being visible in some, where a little solid or liquid had probably
formed. ‘This supposition, with the addition that, at some distance
from the surface the matter was sufliciently condensed to prevent
light from behind penetrating it, was then sufficient to account for
the existence of a uniform planetary lght-giving surface.

Lord Rosse discovered an analogy between the annular nebule
and the planetary forms, increasing the number of the former from
two to seven, and showing that a nebula with a hollow center, imper-
fectly seen in telescopes of less aperture, might present the appear-
ance of a planetary nebula; but the question remained one of ex-
treme difliculty, when Mr. Huggins, in the autumn of 1864, took up
the subject and attempted to bring analysis by the prism to bear upon
these remarkable bodies, which seemed a class, sui generis, and of an
order entirely different from the sun and fixed stars.

The apparatus used was essentially the same as we have described ;

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 259

but the cylindrical lens was generally removed, since the nebule pre-
sent a visible disc instead of a poimt when in focus. The first object
attacked was 37 H. IV. Draconis, which is deseribed by Sir J. Her-
schel in his latest catalogue as ‘‘ very bright; pretty small; with a
very small nucleus.” Its color is greenish blue. Looked at with the
telescope and spectrum apparatus, Mr. Huggins was astonished to find
no spectrum visible, but only one short line of light in the direction
which the dark lines always occupy in the spectrum. At first he sus-
pected derangement of the apparatus, but this being found in good
order, it became apparent that this celestial body differed from all
others that have been examined, not in degree, but absolutely in kind ;
for its light was not composed of rays of different refrangibilities, but
mostly of one monochromatic light only. Careful examination with
a narrower slit detected a more refrangible, but much fainter bright
line, and at about three times the distance another still fainter was
seen. The direct comparison of these lines with those of the solar
spectrum viewed through the atmosphere * was then made, and it W.is
found that the brightest line corresponded with the strongest line due
to nitrogen, and the faintest with one of the hydrogen lines, while the
intermediate one was nearly, but not quite, coincident with a barium
line. An excessively faint spectrum was also detected on both sides
of the bright lines, which is, doubtless, due to the minute solid or
liquid nucleus, and perhaps is crossed by both lines.

The significance of this discovery is invaluable. Terrestrial physics
show us that only liquid and solid bodies give a continuous spectrum,
while gases alone, when rendered luminous by heat, give out light which,
after dispersion by the prism, is found to consist of certain degrees of
refrangibility only, which appear as bright lines on a dark ground.
Here there was clear and unimpeachable evidence, according to the
present state of our knowledge, that large masses of gas exist; and
these may be the nebulous matter of Herschel and Laplace, which then
is no fiction, and that we may yet fairly speculate on the process
of the origin of worlds from such a primal form. But other nebule
were to be tested. A very similar planetary nebula (2 6), in Taurus
Poniatowski, when examined, gave precisely the same bright Imes,
with the merest suspicion of a faint spectrum. 73 H. IV. Cygni gave
the same three bright lines, with a stronger continuous spectrum than
the nebula in Draco. This nebula has a distinct 11th magnitude star
in the middle, which evidently produces the continuous spectrum ; and
this opinion was confirmed by a most crucial experiment. ‘The cylin-
drical lens being removed from the apparatus, it was found that the
three bright lines still remained of considerable length, corresponding
to the diameter of the telescopic image of the nebula, while the faint:
spectrum became a narrow line, showing that the object producing it
was a point in the focus of the object-glass. 51 H. LV. Sagitarii is a
fainter planetary nebula, and the two brighter lines were seen, and
the third by glimpses. 1H. IV. Acquarii had the three bright lines
distinct and sharp, but the indications of the faint spectrum were mere

* It should here be noted, that some of the lines crossing the solar-spectrum are
due undoubtedly to the elements of our atmosphere, as oxygen, nitrogen, hydro-
gen, &c. It was with the lines produced by these atmospheric gaseous elements
that the nebula lines were compared.

260 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

suspicions. Though brighter than the last this nebula probably con-
tains very little matter in the liquid or solid form.

57 M. Lyre, the well-known ring nebula, was a most interesting object.
Its light is very pale, and the brightest of the three lines was the only
one distinctly seen, the others being, perhaps, glimpsed, but no faint con-
tinuous spectrum whatever could be detected. ‘The bright line was re-
markable, consisting of two bright spots corresponding to sections of the
ring, with a very faint connecting line. Lord Rosse had previously seen
more nebulosity in the center of the ring than had been recognized by
other observers; and the spectrum shows that it is fuli of rare nebulous mat-
ter. Another planetary nebula, 18 H.IV., but which under a power of 600
is distinctly annular, gave a fourth excessively faint line. The last object
which has been examined was the celebrated Dumb-Bell Nebula, 27 M.
Vulpecula. The light of this body after prismatic analysis remained con-
centrated in the strong bright line corresponding to that of nitrogen, no
others being visible, nor was there any trace of a faint continuous spectrum.
Various portions of this large nebula were tried, but the light, although
different, in intensity, was always the same in refrangibility.

So much for the positive evidence, that these nebulz have no resem-
blance whatever to any thing like stars, or clusters of stars; and this testi-
mony is corroborated by the negative evidence obtained in the examination
of a number of other bodies which are palpably of the class of clusters.
For example, 92 M. Herculis, and 26 IV. Eridani, both fine clusters,
gave continuous spectra as the stars do. 50 H.1V. Herculis though neb-
ulous in the telescope, still produces a starry spectrum, showing its true
character. 55 Andromeds, which Herschel describes as a star with a neb-
ulous atmosphere, gave a star spectrum, but no bright lines; and Lord
Rosse notes that he has looked at it eight times and seen no such atmos-
phere, so that it is probably not a nebulous star at all. The examination
of the great nebula in Andromeda is of much interest. The brightest
part gave a partial though continuous spectrum, the light ceasing abruptly
in the orange, and the companion 32 M. gave a similar spectrum. It
would appear, therefore, that these are really clusters at the enormous
and almost inconceivable distances which must be necessary so to blend
the light of their constituent stars. It is, however, also possible that they
may be gaseous matter so full of condensed and opaque portions as to
give a continuous spectrum.

Mr Huggins remirks, “It is obvious that the nebulae, 37 H. IV.,
62,,) 13 He IV 4, 61,8.4V6d oe 1V 4.57 DL, 18H. tae
M., can no longer be regarded as aggregations of suns after the order
to which our own sun and the fixed stars belong. We have in these ob-
jects to do no longer with a special modification only of our own type of
suns, but find ourselves in the presence of objects possessing a distinct and
peculiar plan of structure.”

“Tn place of anineandescent solid or liquid body transmitting light of all
refrangibilities through an atmosphere which intercepts by absorption a
certain number of them, such as our sun appears to be, we must probably
rezard these objects, or at least their photo-surfaces, as enormous masses
of luminous gas or vapor. For it is alone from matter in the gaseous
state that light, consisting of certain definite refrangibilities only, as is the
case with the light of these nebula, is known to be emitted.”

We think our readers cannot fail to indorse this conclusion, and no

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 261

one who has studied the subject and comprehends the extreme beauty
of the adaptations of spectroscopic apparatus which are employed; the
delicacy and care with which the observations were made, and the caution
displayed in drawing conclusions only when the evidence is irrefragable,
but must regard the discovery of such an analysis of the true nature of
these wonderful bodies as one of the noblest additions to our knowledge
which has recently been made. The speculations to which the proved ex-
istence of bodies of such enormous size, and consisting apparently of only
three or four elementary substances, will give rise, are, doubtless, nu-
merous and various in the extreme. It is singular that only one out of
several nitrogen lines is seen, but Mr. Huggins has sometimes observed
a difference in sharpness between this and some other bright nitrogen
lines, which suggests differences in the atoms radiating the light. Again,
we find the stars containing numerous elementary bodies ; can it be pos-
sible that, in the process of condensation and cooling from the enor-
mously high temperature which the nebulz must possess, transmutation
of the so-called elements may take place? Modern chemistry says ‘‘ No !”
but there are occasional indications that some of the so-called elementary
bodies may yet be decomposed, or proved to be different forms of others.
Time which has done so much will yet bring fresh wonders to light, and
the powers of the spectrum analysis will be yet further exerted in the
elucidation of the problems of nature. Enough for the present, that the
well-matured speculations of Herschel, and the mathematical theory of
Laplace, have been vindicated from the doubt under which they have been
laboring, and the early nebulous condition of cosmical matter so nec-
essary for almost all geological reasoning, proved to demonstration by the
labors of the observer whose results we have detailed.

Since the above was written, Mr. Huggins has announced the discovery
that the great nebula of Orion gives a spectrum indicative of gaseity. This
instance, added to those of the Ring and Dumb-Bell Nebulz, shows that
resolution into points of light can no longer be accepted as a proof of a
nebula being a cluster of stars.

THOUGHTS ON THE RESULTS OF SPECTRUM ANALYSIS.

If the researches through spectral analysis open to us in some de-
eree the portals of the infinitely vast, 1t reconducts us by another
route to the idea of unity in nature. In studying the spectrum, we
at present recognize each simple body held in suspension m the flame
whose rays are decomposed by the glass prism; but what is a simple
body which betrays its presence, not by one bright stripe alone, but
by two, three, sometimes by 60 stripes? In proportion as the spec-
trum increases in distinctness, the number of luminous stripes increases
for each substance; shall we ever see them all? It may well be
doubted. Here, then, there is a multiplicity and indeterminateness
which accord but ill, it must be confessed, with the theoretic idea
which we entertain of a simple body, a substance not compounded,
always identical with itself, substratum of all chemical combinations.
Must we admit, with some resolute spirits, that the bodies which we
call simple, appear so to us only because thus far we have not suc-
ceeded in decomposing them? Should we conclude that the different
simple bodies, if there are really such, are but formed of one and the
same matter in different states of condensation? We thus find our-

>

262 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

selves attracted towards the idea of unity of substance. Gas, liquid,
solids, vacuum and plenum, bodies and celestial spaces, satellites,
planets, suns, &c., would be but transitory forms of something eternal,
the ephemeral images of something which cannot change ; in the vor-
tex of phenomena, in the eternal movement of all substance, the
cosmic history everywhere shows us the future in the present, and the
present in the future.—Revue des deux mondes.

ON THE THEORY AND APPLICATION OF SPECTRUM ANALYSIS.

We copy from the Intellectual Observer (London), the following
remarks on the theory and application of ‘‘ spectrum analysis,” which
may assist our readers in obtaining a clear idea of the nature of
this discovery.

Tn the first place we would remind them, that a solar spectrum, or
prismatic image of the sun, consists of a ray of sunlight, opened like
a fan, and spread out so as to exhibit exquisite gradations of color,
from red at one end to violet at the other. If we attempt to form a
spectrum by allowing a broad mass of light to fall upon a prism, we
shall only partially succeed. We shall indeed see rainbow colors,
but they will be overlapped and confused. If, however, we permit
the light to reach the prism through a narrow slit, and exclude ex-
traneous rays, the confusion will be avoided, and a neat, well-defined,
ribbon of parti-colored light will be obtained, in which, at certain.
intervals, dark lines will be observed. These lines, wiich would
appear to a casual observer as insignificant as so many threads of a
cobweb, are the hieroglyphic letters which the spectroscopist has to
decipher, in accordance with the principles explained in the articles
to which we have already made reference. To Sir J. Herschel be-
longs the credit of first pointing out that as the spectra of incandes-
cent volatilized substances differed from each other, they might be
made use of for purposes of analysis. There are only two modes in
which such spectra can differ from each other, or from the solar spec-
trum which may be taken as a standard. Either they will afford
bright lines in the place of dark lines, or dark lines in place of light
ones. We have used the term dines, but when the breadth is consid-
erable, spaces or bands is a better appellation.

When a glass prism acts upon a ray of light so as to give a spec-
trum, two distinct actions take place. ~First, the light ray is refracted,
or bent out of its course; secondly, it is opened or spread out like a
fan. This last action is called dispersion, and, like refraction, its
amount varies with the substance employed in the formation of the
prism.

For the detection of the metals and many other substances, a very
minute examination of the spectrum is seldom required, as the spaces
or bands by which their presence is indicated are conspicuously shown
by any instrument that will display the chief lines of the solar spec-
trum. ‘There are, however, many thousand finer lines that can be
discerned if a sufficiently powerful and delicate apparatus is employed,
and many lines that appear single under ordinary circumstances are
found to be multiple when examined with superior means.

The size and character of the spectroscope should be regulated by
the work required of it. A very small one, that can be carried in the

.

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 263

waistcoat-pocket, will serve to indicate the presence of the most char-
acteriatic 2 gain abieie or to show to the traveler whether the atmos-
phere ase of an afternoon and in thunder-storm
we: Seailcnslons any ine of moderate nagnitude that are not reg-
ularly seen. A small spectroscope, however, labors under two obvi-
ous limitations: Its prism cannot usefully receive much light ; open-
ing the slit too wide introduces confusion, as just explained, and its
le neth must be proportioned to the size of prism, and consequently
be restricted when a little one is employed. ‘Then the telescopes

attached to a small spectroscope are of small aperture and short focal
length, with the consequent disadvantage of losing light, and being
deficient in separating power. So important is the size and focal
length of the telescope, that an apparatus of four prisms and three-feet

telescopes exhibits more lines than one of nine prisms furnished with
two-feet telescopes. ‘The focal length of the collimating telescope de-
termines the apparent size of the slit. Ifit is short, and the curves of
its glass considerable, the slit looks wider, and all the lines are spread.

This action when noticed by Mr. Browning, induced him to recom-
mend and apply telescopes of much greater focal length than had hith-
erto been used in spectroscope apparatus. The first requisites for a
better examination of spectra will then consist in a larger prism, with
telescopes of larger aperture and greater focal length. They collect
more light, and are better able to separate closely adjacent lines.
The larger apparatus, if equally good in its corrections and adjust-
ment, will show the colors brighter, the lines sharper and much more
numerous, and will separate or ‘‘ resolve” more of the compound
lines. It will also give an intelligible spectrum, with a quantity of
light that a smaller instrument could not work with.

For the traveller and casual observer the small pocket form answers
well. ‘The chemist and physicist require, for many purposes, more
light, a wider dispersion, anda greater resolving or separating power.
For ordinary laboratory use, none of these properties are needed in
excess; and a single fine prism, with two large telescopes, is amply
suflicient. With this instrument the entire spectrum can be displayed
at once with a magnification of 30 or 40, and a lower positive eye-
piece, cony eniently furnished with cross wires, enables all the princi-
pal lmes in the darker part of the spectrum, as well as in the more
luminous, to be seen distinctly, and their position noted down. This
spectroscope, with one prism of 60°, and telescopes of an inch and a
quarter clear aperture, and about 18 inches focal length, is decidedly
the best in quality and form that has been produced to meet ordinary
requirements ; and, for common purposes, a more elaborate and com-
plicated apparatus is not necessary, and, indeed, would not always be
advantageous. The eye soon gets accustomed to the appearances of
different spectra, and a momentary glance would suflice to show
whether sodium, potassium, lithium, silver, etc., were absent or pres-
ent. But it is necessary that the exact position of the lines or bands
should be ascertained, and that means should be provided by which
exact diagrams may be made. Hitherto only superior instruments,
beyond the reach of ordinary students, have been furnished with these
desiderata ; but Mr. Browning, an optician of London, has now sup-
plied them, in a convenient form, and at a very low price. One of

264 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the telescopes in the instrument we are describing moves over a grad-
uated arc, read off to one minute by a vernier. Any line taken as a
starting-point is brought into the centre of the field, so that it forms a
perpendicular, cutting through the centre of the cross wires with
which one eye-piece is furnished. The telescope is then clamped and
the vernier read. Other lines are taken in succession, and their exact
angular distance ascertained. When only moderate accuracy is
needed in a diagram, a piece of paper can be ruled to a scale, and
the lines laid down accordingly. Great nicety is not, however, to be
obtained in this way; and Mr. Beckley, of the Kew Observatory, has
suggested the plan of a ‘* spectrograph,” which Mr. Browning has
carried out with great skill.

This instrument is composed of acylinder capable of being rotated,
and fixed at any point. It carries a graduated scale exactly corre-
sponding with the scale of the spectroscope, so that when the cross
wires of the latter instrument intersect a line, which when read off on
.the vernier stands at, say 10°, the cylinder can be adjusted so that a
delicate metal ruler indicates the exact spot on which a line should be
drawn on a slip of paper which the cylinder carries. If the next line
to be mapped down is 5° distant from the first, the cylinder is moved
accordingly, the ruler is again in its exact place, and the second line
is drawn as correctly as the first. This instrument thus enables dia-
grams to be made with precision, and a hundred observers in different
parts of the world, furnished with spectroscopes and spectrographs,
properly graduated, would be certain of producing diagrams capable
of the exact comparison that science needs. The spectroscopes that
can measure fractions of a minute can be furnished with spectrographs
of proportionate delicacy. é

It is often advisable to have two spectra in the field at once in or-
der that their discrepancy or conformity may be ascertained by mere
inspection. This is effected in a very simple way. Half the slit of
the spectroscope is permitted to receive light from a source directly
in front of it. The other half of the slit is covered by a small right-
angled prism which prevents direct light getting in, but reflects rays
that reach it at right-angles to the axis of the instrument.

For special purposes it is necessary to view and measure the posi-
tion of the more delicate lines which the spectrum contains, and to
separate some which look single with ordinary means. It would at
first seem that the way to do this would be to employ more magnifica-
tion,—to treat, in fact, the close lines as we do those on diatoms, and
separate them by magnifying power. Practically this plan only ad-
mits of very restricted application. Two plans are adopted to get
over the difficulty,—the spectrum is made wider by greater dispersion,
—our fan of light is spread out more; and telescopes of large aper-
ture and greater focal length furnish the spectroscopist with a greater
resolving or separating power, the increase of magnification being
produced by the object-glasses mstead of the eye-pieces.

The reader will appreciate the difference between magnifying a
spectrum of given dispersion, by remembering our illustration of the
fan. Leta fan be opened, so that a portion of the pattern painted
on its spokes is concealed by overlapping. It is obvious that magni-
fying the fan in this state can give us no information concerning the

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 265

part which is covered up. If we open the fan still more, the conceal-
ed parts will come into view. This corresponds with the additional
dispersion that we must give to a spectrum that has been imperfectly
spread out, in order to see the entire pattern it can show.

To spread the light out wider, a multiplicity of prisms may be em-
ployed. A spectroscope constructed for Mr. Gassiot of London,—
the finest instrument yet finished of its kind,—has nine prisms, about
2% inches long, and two high, and was originally supphed with tele-
scopes of two inches aperture, and two feet focal length. Two fresh
telescopes have recently been made for this instrument, of 245 inches
aperture, and three feet focal length. These show many additional
lines. With this instrument a very careful survey and mapping of the
spectrum is being carried on, and the results aii no doubt, be the
most precise and complete information concerning the number and
position of the dark lines that has yet been obtained. The size of the
Gassiot spectroscope enables it to give a bright image with a small
allowance of light; but certain inquiries in which Mr. Huggins is en-
gaged need a further extension of power in this direction, and Mr.
Browning i is constructing for him a monster instrument, with about
half the number of prisms on Mr. Gassiot’s instrument; but these
prisms fully double the size of Mr. Gassiot’s, and aa aed with tele-
scopes of four feet focal length, and proportionally large aperture.
With this splendid and costly apparatus,—which has quite novel and
special means for increasing the dispersion when deemed necessary,—
it will be possible to obtain great separation with a minimum loss of
light, so that the spectra of very feebly luminous bodies may be made
out.

In these two great spectroscopes the extra separation is produced
by the multiplication of glass prisms, and when these are of fine qual-
ity and exquisitely wrought, the definition is the sharpest that can be
obtained.

Different substances vary in their refractive and dispersive powers.
Sir J. Herschel observes, ‘‘in generat, high refractive is accom-
panied by high dispersive power; but exceptions are endless, espe-
cially among ‘the precious stones, of which the diamond affords a strik-
ing instance.”

If the two powers had alway: s gone together, we could have had no
achromatic lenses ; but happily by selec ting different kinds of glass,
and setting them to opposite work, we can ‘correct all (or nearly all)
the error arising from dispersion, and only neutralize a portion of the
refraction. When greater dispersive power is required in a prism
than ordinary glass exerts, another kind of glass may be chosen, or
recourse may be had to a liquid like bisulphide of carbon, which gives
a very wide spectrum. A liquid has the disadvantage that it cannot
be maintained in the prismatic form except by putting it in a vessel
of the required shape. Hollow prisms are accordingly made of thin
glass, and filled with the fluid required. Mr. Browning has made a
spectroscope of this kind for Mr. Gassiot. It consists of eleven
prisms, with telescopes 23 mches aperture and three feet focal length,
and it is able to separate the principal soda lines to the extent of 3
G’’, the nine glass prisms only separating them 1’, The definition is
excellent while the fluid is of uniform temperature and density ; but

23

266 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

becomes very bad as soon as the heat which accompanies the hght ray,
or arises from any other source, has disturbed its homogeneous | “charac-
ter. This instrument is described by Mr. Gassiot in Proceedi ngs of
the Royal Society, No. 63. The prisms are formed with a refracting
angle of 50°, and consequently eight prisms, with the usual arrange-
ment, would ‘cause a ray of light to travel more than a circle.” In
pailer. to employ elev en, Mr. Br owning, instead of making the outer
sides of each hollow prism flat, formed them of crown class prisms,
having a refractive angle of 6°, the angles being arranged in the con-
trary direction to those of the fluid prisms. T hese sides take off very
little of the dispersive power of the bisulphide, and enable eleven
prisms to be employed.

The dispersive power of glass or any other substance depends upon
the different refrangibility “of the different rays that make up white
light. A beam of white light contains an infinite number of rays of
all hues, from red to violet (besides rays invisible to man). Each
ray takes its own bend on passing through the prism, and is thus
more or less separated from other rays that are bent in a different
degree. When this dispersive process ‘has completely separated any
ray from its companions, passing it through another prism simply
refracts it, without any action on its color. But if a ray is imper-
fectly separated from adj acent rays in the scale, the further action of
one or more prisms carries on the work of separation until it is com-
plete. In a spectrum formed by slight dispersion the red, yellow,
green, and blue are seen in bands that contrast str ongly with each
other. When the dispersion is more complete, the intermediate tints
are innumerable, and one passes into the other by insensible grada-
tions. The artistic effect of a slightly dispersed spectrum is a bril-
liant but violent contrast of dissimilar colors. That of the highly
dispersed spectrum is a harmonious juxtaposition of all the colors in
the scale.

As the human ear cannot hear all sounds, so the human eye cannot
see all rays of light. There may be sounds too sharp,—consisting of
vibrations too rapid, —for the ear to perceive them, and sunlight has
rays which must undergo a change before our eyes can bring them to
a focus. Glass absorbs many of “these rays, which are highly refrang-
ible. Quartz transmits them, and hence a prism of that substance
adds them to the spectrum which it forms. If such a spectrum is
received on a screen prepared with a substance called e@sculin, ob-
tained from the horse-chestnut, or with an alcoholic solution of stra-
monium, they are sufficiently altered in refr angibility to become vis-
ible, and a beautiful blue addition to the violet end of the spectrum is
seen. It is very difficult to find a large quartz crystal that can be cut
into a good prism, but Mr. Gassiot obtained a splendid one from
Japan, and Mr. Browning worked it into a prism of 60°, with 23- inch
sides.

The different spectroscopes to which we have alluded are all con-
structed upon the principle of indirect vision. ‘That is to say, the
observer does not point the telescope straight at the light he wishes to
see. It reaches him round the corner through the refraction of the
prism. This plan is handy enough for fixed apparatus, but for rapid
examination of the light that comes from different portions of the =

CELESTIAL CHEMISTRY. 267

or from radiating objects, a spectroscope of direct vision is prefer-
able. Mr. Browning effects this by placing a dense flint glass prism
of 60° between two prisms of light crown of 22°. Other opticians
follow the same principle, with variations of detail. Such spectro-
scopes act clearly, but they lose much of the dispersive power of the
chief prism. In Br ownineg’s pattern the loss is about 4. Although
employed by Secchi and other observ ers, spectroscopes of this kind
are by no means the best for astronomical research ; though amateurs,
who merely desire to see the principal lines which bricht celestial
objects afford, will probably find them adapted to their purpose.

‘One of the most interesting branches of spectroscope inquiry is the
absorption of certain portions of the spectrum by solutions. The fluid
can be put in a test tube; but for many of these experiments a pris-
matic cell is better. This consists of a rectangular glass cell, one
side of which is composed of a prism. When the solution to be ex-
amined is put in the cell, it forms a fluid prism; and if the glass
prism and the solution prism correspond pretty closely in refractive
power, one undoes the refractive work of the other, and thus light
comes straight through the combination to the slit of the collimator.

To view the spectra of gases, narrow tubes are employed, in which
the gas, in a highly rarefied state, is rendered incandescent by the
discharge of a Ruhmkorff’s coil.

ON THE OCCULTATION OF THE SPECTRUM OF A FIXED STAR.

Mr. Huggins, in a recent communication to the Royal (Eng.) As-
tronomical Society, remarked that while all observations hitherto
negative the existence of an atmosphere to the moon, one had
occurred to him, as not yet made, which might add to the evidence on
the question. This was the disappearance ‘of the spectrum of a star
when occulted by the moon’s limb. It appeared to him that if the
moon possessed an atmosphere, it should show itself by producing
absorption bands, and also by a gradual fading of the spectrum instead
of a sudden disappearance. He also thought that, supposing an
atmosphere highly charged with aqueous vapor, the red rays would be
least affected, and that end of the spectrum would be last to go, while
a clear but dense atmosphere would, by refraction, render the blue
rays most persistent. He therefore adjusted his. spectrum apparatus
on the star ¢ Piscium about three minutes before its occultation. He
could not speak positively as to any extra lines being introduced by
the moon’s contact, the air not being in good condition, but certainly
no part of the spectrum disappeared before the other, the obscuration
occurring not in the direction of the length of the spectrum, but of
its breadth, cutting off all the colors at the same time, and not by a
process of fading, but as if an opaque screen had been slowly intro-
duced, about ;2, of a second being occupied in the occultation. This
experiment, tee efore, further corroborated the general i impression of
the absence of any appreciable lunar atmosphere.

GEOLOGY.

ON THE RECENT PROGRESS OF GEOLOGY.

The following address, reviewing the recent progress of Geological
Science, was read by Sir Charles Ly ell, on taking the chair, as Pres
dent of the British Association, for 1864 :—

Phenomena of Hot Springs.—Dr. Daubeny, has remarked that
nearly all the most celebrated hot springs of Europe, such as those
of Aix-la-Chapelle, Baden-Baden, Naples, Auverne, and the Pyre-
nees, have not declined in temperature since the days of the Romans; 3
for many of them still retain as great a heat as is tolerable to the hu-
man body, and yet when employed by the ancients they do not seem
to have required to be first cooled down by artificial means. This
uniformity of temperature maintained in some places for more than
2,000 years, together with the constancy in the volume of the water,
deel never varies with the seasons, as in ordinary springs, the iden-
tity also of the mineral ingredients which, century after century, are
held by each spring in solution, are striking facts, and they tempt us
irresistibly to speculate on the deep subterranean sources both of the
heat and mineral matter. How ‘long has this uniformity lata
Are the springs really ancient in reference to the earth’s history, o
like the course of the present rivers and the actual shape of our hills
and valleys, are they only of high antiquity when contrasted with the
brief space ‘of human annals? “May they not be like Vesuvius and
Etna, which, although they have been adding to their flanks, in the
course of the last 2,000 years, many a stream of lava and ower of
ashes, were still mountains very much the same as they now are in
hight and dimensions from the earliest times to which we can
trace back their existence? Yet although their foundations are tens
of thousands of years old, they were laid at an era when the Medi-
terranean was already inhabited by the same species of marine shells
as those with which it is now peopled ; so that these volcanoes must
be regarded as things of yesterday in the geological calendar.

Notwithstanding “the general per rsisteney in character of mineral

waters and hot springs ever since they were first known to us, we find
on inquiry that some few of them, even in historical times, have been
subject to great changes. These have happened during earthquakes
which have been violent enough to disturb the subterranean drainage
and alter the shape of the fissures up which the waters ascend. Thus
during the great earthquake at Lisbon in 1755, the temperature of
the spring called La Source de la Reine at Bagnéres de Luchon, in
the Pyrenees, was suddenly raised as much as 75° F., or changed from
a cold spring to one of 122° F., a heat which it has since retained.

268

GEOLOGY. 269

Tt is also recorded that the hot springs at Bagnéres de Bigorre, in
the same mountain-chain, became suddenly cold during a great earth-
quake which, in 1660, threw down several houses in that town.

It has been ascertained that the hot springs of the Pyrenees, the
Alps, and many other regions are situated in lines along ahiel the
rocks have been rent, and usually where they have been displaced

or “faulted.” Similar dislocations in the solid crust of the earth are
generally supposed to have determined the spots where active and ex-
tinct volcanoes have burst forth; for several of these often affect a
linear arrangement, their posi ition seeming to have been determined
by great lines of fissure. Another connecting link between the vol-
cano and the hot spring is recognizable in the ; great abundance of hot
springs in regions where volcanic eruptions still occur from time to
time. It is also in the same districts that the waters occasionally at-
tain the boiling temperature, while some of the associated stufas
emit steam consider ably above the boiling point. But in proportion
as we recede from the great centers of igneous activity, we find the
thermal waters decreasing in frequency and in their average heat,
while at the same time they are most conspicuous in those territories
where, as in Central France or the Eifel in Germany, there are cones
and craters still so perfect in their form, and streams of lava bearing
such a relation to the depth and shape of the existing valleys as to
indicate that the eternal fires have become dormant in “comparatively
recent times. If there be exceptions to this rule, it is where hot
springs are met with in parts of the Alps and Pyrenees which have
been violently convulsed by modern earthquakes.

To pursue still further our comparison between the hot spring and
the voleano, we may regard the water of the spring as representing
those vast clouds of aqueous vapor which are copiously evolved for
days, sometimes for weeks, in succession, from craters during an
eruption. But we shall perhaps be asked whether, when we contrast
the work done by the two — in question, there is not a marked
failure of analogy in one respect,—namely, a want, in the case of the
hot spring, of power to raise from ereat depths i in the earth volumin-
‘ous masses of solid matter corresponding to the heaps of scoriz and
streams of lava which the voleano pours out on the surface. To one
who urges such an objection, it may be said that the quantity of solid
as well : as gaseous matter transferred by springs from the interior of
the earth to its surface, is far more aenauicaple than is commonly
imagined. The thermal waters of Bath are far from being conspica-
ous among European hot springs for the quantity of mineral matter
contained in them in proportion to the water which acts as a solvent ;
yet Prof. Ramsay has calculated that if the sulphates of lime and of

soda, and the chlorides of sodium and magnesium, and the other min-.
eral ingredients which they contain, were ” solidified, they would form
in one year a square column nine feet in diameter, and no less than
140 feet in hight. All this matter is now quietly conveyed by a stream
of limpid water, in an invisible form, to the Avon, and by the Avon
to the sea; but if, instead of being thus removed, it were deposited
around the orifice of eruption, like the silicious layers which encrust
the circular basin of an Icelandic geyser, we should soon see a con-
siderable cone built up, with a crater in the middle; and if the action

270 ANNUAL. OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of the spring were intermittent, so that 10 or 20 years should elapse
between the periods when solid matter was emitted, or (say) an inter-
val of three centuries, as in the case of Vesuvius between 1306 and
1631, the discharge would be on so grand a scale as to afford no mean
object of comparison with the intermittent outpourings of a volcano.

The Gases evolved from Hot Springs.—Dr. Daubeny, after devoting
a month to the analysis of the Bath waters in 1833, ascertained that the
daily evolution of nitrogen gas amounted to no less than 260 cubic teet
in volume. This gas, he remarks, is not only characteristic of hot springs,
but is largely disengaged from volcanic craters during eruptions. In both
cases he suggests that the nitrogen may be derived from atmospheric air,
which is always dissolved in rain-water, and which, when this water pen-
eirates the earth’s crust, must be carried down to great depths, so as to
reach the heated interior. When there it may be subjected to deoxydating
processes, so that the nitrogen, being left in a free state, may be driven
upwards by the expansive force of heat and steam, or by hydrostatic
pressure. This theory has been very generally adopted, as best ac-
counting for the constant disengagement of large bodies of nitrogen, even
where the rocks through which the spring rises are crystalline and un-
fossiliferous. It will, however, of course be admitted, as Prof. Bischoff
has pointed out, that in some places organic matter has supplied a large
part of the nitrogen evolved.

Carbonic-acid gas is another of the volatilized substances discharged
by the Bath waters. Dr. Gustav Bischoff, in the new edition of his val-
uable work on Chemical and Physical Geology, when speaking of the
exhalations of this gas, remarks that they are of universal occurrence, and
that they originate at great depths, becoming more abundant the deeper
we penetrate. He also observes that, when the silicates which enter so
largely into the composition of the oldest rocks are percolated by this
gas, they must be continually decomposed, and the carbonates formed by
the new combinations thence arising must often augment the volume of
the altered rocks. This increase of bulk, he says, must sometimes give
rise to a mechanical force of expansion capable of uplifting the incumbent
crust of the earth; and the same force may act laterally so as to compress,
dislocate, and tilt the strata on each side of a mass in which the new chem-
ical chanzes are developed. The calculations made by this eminent German
chemist, of the exact amount of distension which the origin of new mineral
products may cause, by adding to the volume of the rocks, deserve the
attention of geologists, as affording them aid in explaining those reiterated
oscillations of level,—those risings and sinkings of land,—which have oc-
cured on so grand a scale at successive periods of the past. There are,
probably, many distinct causes of such upward, downward, and lateral
movements, and any new suggestion on this head is most welcome; but I
believe the expansion and contraction of solid rocks, when they are alter-
nately heated and cooled. and the fusion and subsequent consolidation of
mineral masses, will continue to rank, as heretofore, as the most influential
causes of such movements.

The temperature of the Bath waters varies in the different springs from
117° to 120° F. This, as before stated, is exceptionally high, when we
duly allow for the great distance of Bath from the nearest region of active
or recently extinct voleanoes and of yiolent earthquakes. The hot springs
of Aix-la-Chapelle have a much higher temperature, viz: 135° F., but

GEOLOGY. 271

they are situated within 40 miles of those cones and lava-streams of the
Eifel, which, though they may have spent their force ages before the
earliest records of history, belong, nevertheless, to the most modern ge-
ological period. Bath is about 400 miles distant from the same part of
Germany, and 440 from Auvergne,—another voleanie region, the latest
eruptions of which were geologically coéval with those of the Eifel. I
have little doubt that the Bath springs, like most other thermal waters,
mark the site of some great convulsion and fracture which took place in
the crust of the earth at some former period,—perhaps not a very remote
one, geologically speaking.

Mineral Constituents of Hot Springs.—Uf we adopt the theory
already alluded to, that the nitrogen is derived from the deoyxdation
of atmospheric air carried down by rain-water, we may imagine the
supply cf this water to be furnished by some mountainous region,
possibly a distant one, and that it descends through rents or porous
rocks till it encounters some mass of heated matter by which it 1s con-
verted into steam, and then driven upwards through a fissure. In its
downward passage the water may derive its sulphate of lime, chloride
of calcium, and other ‘substances from the decomposition of the gyp-
seous, saline, calcareous, and other constituents of the rocks which it
permeates. The greater part of the ingredients are common to sea-
water, and might suggest the theory of a marine origin; but the analy-
sis of the Bath springs by Merck and Galloway shows that the relative
proportion of the solid matter is far from agreeing with that of the
sea, the chloride of magnesium being absolutely in excess, that is, 14 ©
grains of it per gallon for 12 of common salt; whereas in sea-water
there are 27 grains of salt, or chloride of sodium, to four of the chlo-
ride of magnesium. ‘That some mineral springs, however, may
derive an inexhaustible supply, through rents and porous rocks, from
the leaky bed of the ocean, is by no means an unreasonable theory,
especially if we believe that the contiguity of nearly all the active
volcanoes to the sea is connected with the access of salt water to the
subterranean foci of volcanic heat.

Prof. Roscoe, of Manchester, has been lately engaged in making a
eareful analysis of the Bath waters, and has discovered in them three
metals which they were not previously known to contain,—namely, cop-
per, strontium, and lithium ; but he has searched in vain for cesium and
rubidium, those new metals, the existence of which has been revealed to
us in the course of the last few years by what is called spectrum analy-
sis. By this new method the presence of infinitesimal quantities,
such as would have wholly escaped detection by ordinary tests, is
made known to the eye by the agency of light.

Prof. Bunsen, of Heidelberg, led the way, in 1860, in the appli-
cation of this new test to the hot waters of Baden-Baden and of Diurk~-
heim in the Palatinate. He observed in the spectrum some colored
lines of which he could not interpret the meaning, and had deter-
mined not to rest till he had found out what they meant. ‘This was
no easy task, for it was necessary to evaporate 50 tons of water to
obtain 200 grains of what proved to be two new metals. Taken al-
together, their proportion to the water was only as one to three mil-
lion. He named the first caesium, from the bluish-gray lines which it
presented in the spectrum; and the second rubidium, from its two red

272 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

lines. Since these successful experiments were made, thallium, so
called from its green line, was discovered in 1861 by Mr. Crookes ;
and a fourth metal, named indium, from its indigo-colored band, was
detected by Prof. Richter, of Frieberg, in Saxony, in a zinc ore of the
Hartz. It is impossible not to suspect that the wonderful efficacy
of some mineral springs, both cold and thermal, in curing diseases,
which no artificially prepared waters have as yet been able to rival,
may be connected with the presence of one or more of these elemen-
tary bodies previously unknown; and some of the newly-found ingre-
dients, when procured in larger quantities, may furnish medical
science with means of combating diseases which have hitherto baflled
all human skill.

While I was pursuing my inquiries respecting the Bath waters, I
learned casually that a hot spring had been discovered at a great
depth, in a copper-mine near Redruth, in Cornwall, having about as
high a temperature as that of the Bath waters. It seems that, in the
year 1839, a level was driven from an old shaft so as to intersect a
rich copper-mine at the depth of 1,350 feet from the surface. Through
this metalliferous fissure, a powerful spring of hot water was observed
to rise, which has continued to flow with undiminished strength ever
since. At my request this water has been analysed by Prof. Miller,
who finds that the quantity of solid matter is so great as to exceed by
more than four times the proportion of that yielded by the Bath waters.
Its composition is also in many respects very different ; for it contains
but little sulphate of lime, and is almost free fromthe salts of magne-
sium. It is rich in the chlorides of calcium and sodium, and it contains
one of the newmetals,—cesium, never before detected in any mineral
spring in England; but its peculiar characteristic is the extraordinary
abundance of lithium, of which a mere trace had been found by Prof.
Roscoe in the Bath waters; whereas in this Cornish hot spring this
metal constitutes no less than a 3; part of the whole of the solid con-
tents, which, as before stated, are so voluminous.

Lithium was first made known in 1817 by Arfvedsen, who extracted
it from petalite ; and it was believed to be extremely rare, until Bun-
sen and Kirchhoff, in 1860, by means of spectrum analysis, showed
that it was a most widely diffused substance, existing in miute
quantities in almost all mineral waters in the sea, as well as in milk,
human blood, and the ashes of some plants. It has already been
used in medicine, and we may therefore hope that, now that it is
obtainable in large quantities, and at a much cheaper rate than before
the Wheel-Clifford hot spring was analyzed, it may become of high
value.

Mr. Warington Smyth, who had already visited the Wheel-Clifford
lode in 1855, re-examined it in July last, chiefly with the view of re-
plying to several queries which I had put to him; and in spite of the
stifling heat, ascertained the geological structure of the lode and the
exact temperature of the water. This last he found to be 122° Fahr.
at the depth of 1,550 feet ; but he scarcely doubts that the thermometer
would stand two or three degrees higher at a distance of 200 feet to
the eastward, where the water is known to gush up more freely,” The
Wheel-Clifford lode is a fissure varying in width from 6 to 12 feet,
one wall consisting of elvan or porphyritic granite, and the other of killas

GEOLOGY. Dhe

or clay-slate. Along the line of the rent, which runs east and west,
there has been a slight throw or sliit of the rocks. ‘The vein-stuff is
chiefly formed of cellular pyrites of copper and iron, the porous nature
of which allows the hot water to percolate freely through it. It seems,
however, thatin the continuation upwards of the same fissure little or no
metalliferous ore was deposited, but, in its place, quartz and other
impermeable substances, which obstructed the course of the ‘hot spring,
so as to prevent its flowing out on the surface of the country. It has
been always a favorite theory of the miners that the high temperature
cf tus Cornish spring is due to the oxydation of the sulphurets of
copper and iron, which are decomposed when air is admitted. That
such oxydation must have some slight effect is undeniable; but that it
materially influences the temperature of so large a body of water is
out of the question. Its effect must be almost insensible; for Prof.
Miller has scarcely been able to detect any sulphuric acid in the water,
and a minute trace only of iron and copper in solution.

When we compare the temperature of the Bath springs, which issue
at alevel of less than 100 feet above the sea, with the Wheel-Clifford
spring found at a depth of 1,350 feet from the surface, we must of
course make allowance for the increase of heat always experienced
when we descend into the interior of the earth. The difference would
amount to about 20° Fahr., 1f we adopt the estimate deduced by Mr.
Hopkins from an accurate series of observations made in the Monk-
wearmouth shaft, near Durham, and in the Dukinfield shaft, near
Manchester, each of them 2,000 feet in depth. In these shafts the
temperature was found to rise at the rate of only 1° F. for every
increase of depth of from 65 to 70 feet. But if the Wheel-Clifford
spring, instead of being arrested in its upward course, had continued
to rise freely through porous and loose materials so as to reach the
surface, it would probably not have lost anything approaching to 20°
F., since the renewed heat derived from below would have warmed
the walls and contents of the lode, so as to raise their temperature
above that which would naturally belong to the rocks at corresponding
levels on each side of the lode. The almost entire absence of mag-
‘nesium raises an obvious objection to the hypothesis of this spring
deriving its waters from the sea; or if such a source be suggested for
the salt and other marine products, we should be under the necessity
of supposing the magnesium to be left behind in combination with -
some of the elements of the decomposed and altered rocks through
which the thermal waters may have passed.

Hot springs are, for the most part, charged with alkaline and other
highly soluble substances, and, as a rule, are barren of the precious
metals, gold, silver, and copper, as well as of tin, platinum, lead, and
many Others; a slight trace of copper in the Bath waters being ex-
ceptional. Nevertheless, there is a strong presumption that there
exists some relationship between the action of thermal waters and the
fillmg of rents with metallic ores. The component elements of these
ores may, in the first instance, rise from great depths in a state of
sublimation or of solution in intensely heated water, and may then be
precipitated on the walls of a fissure as soon as the ascending vapors
or fluids begin to part with some of their heat. Almost everything,
save the alkaline metals, silica, and certain gases, may thus be left

274 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

behind long before the spring reaches the earth’s surface. If this
theory be adopted, it will follow that the metalliferous portion of a
fissure, originally thousands of feet or fathoms deep, will never be ex-
posed in regions accessible to the miner until it has been upheaved by
a long series of convulsions, and until the higher parts of the same rent,
together with its contents and the rocks which it had traversed have
been removed by aqueous denudation. Ages before such changes are
accomplished, thermal and mineral springs will have ceased to act; so
that the want of identity between the mineral ingredients of hot springs
and the contents of metalliferous veins, instéad of militating against
their intimate relationship, is in favor of both being the compiemen-
tary results of one and the same natural operation.

Metamorphism of the Sedimentary Rocks.—But there are other char-
acters in the structure of the earth’s crust more mysterious in their
nature than the phenomena of metalliferous veins, on which the study
of hot springs has thrown light. I allude to the metamorphism of
sedimentary rocks. Strata of various ages, many of them once fuil of
organic remains, have been rendered partially or wholly crystalline.
It is admitted on all hands that heat has been instrumental in bringing
about this rearrangement of particles, which, when the metamorphism
has been carried out to its fullest extent, obliterates all trace of the
imbedded fossils. But as mountain-masses many miles in length and
breadth, and several thousands of feet in hight, have undergone such
alteration, it has always been difficult to explain in what manner an
amount of heat capable of so entirely changing the molecular condition
of sedimentary masses could have come into play without utterly an-
nihilating every sign of stratification, as well as of organic structure.

Various experiments have led to the conclusion that the minerals
which enter most largely into the composition of the metamorphic
rocks have not been formed by ecrystallizmg from a state of fusion, or
in the dry way, but that they have been derived from liquid solutions,
or in the wet way,—a process requiring a far less intense degree of heat.
Thermal springs, charged with carbonic acid and with hydro-fluoric
acid (which last is often present in small quantities), are powerful
causes of decomposition and chemical reaction in rocks through which
they percolate. If, therefore, large bodies of hot water permeate
mountain-masses at great depths, they may, in the course of ages, su-
perinduce in them a crystalline structure; and, i some cases, strata
in a lower position and of older date may be comparatively unaltered,
retaining their fossil remains undefaced, while newer rocks are ren-
dered metamorphic. This may happen where the waters, after passing
upwards for thousands of feet, meet with some obstruction, as in the
case of the Wheel-Clifford spring, causing the same to be laterally
diverted so as to percolate the surrounding rocks. ‘The efficacy of
such hydro-thermal action has been admirably illustrated of late years
by the experiments and observations of Sénarmont, Daubrée, Delesse,
Scheerer, Sorby, Sterry Hunt, and others.

The changes which Daubrée has shown to have been produced by
the alkaline waters of Plombiéret, in the Vosges, are more especially
instructive. These thermal waters have a temperature of 160° F.,
and were conveyed by the Romans to baths through long conduits or
aqueducts. The foundations of some of their works consisted of a

GEOLOGY. 275

bed of conerete, made of lime, fragments of brick, and sandstone.
Through this and other masonry, the hot waters have been percolat-
ing for centuries, and have given rise to various zeolites,—apophyllite
and chabazite, among others; also to calcareous spar, arragonite, and
fluor spar, together with siliceous minerals, such as opal,—all found
in the interspaces of the bricks and mortar, or constituting part of
their rearranged materials. The quantity of heat brought into action
in this instance, in the course of 2,000 years, has, no doubt, been
enormous, although the intensity of it developed at any one moment
has been always inconsiderable.

The study, of late years, of the constituent parts of granite has, in
lixe manner, led to the conclusion that their consolidation has taken
place at temperatures far below those formerly supposed to be indis-
ge Gustav Rose has pointed out that the quartz of granite has
the specific gravity of 2°6, which characterizes silica when it is ee 2
itated from a liquid solvent, and not that inferior density, namely, 2°3,
which belongs to it when it cools, and solidifies in the dry way from a
state of fusion.

But some geologists, when made aware of the intervention, on a
large scale, of water, in the formation of the component minerals of
the granitic and volcanic rocks, appear, ef late years, to have been too
much disposed to dispense with intense heat when accounting for the
formation of the crystalline and unstratified rocks. As water, ina
state of solid combination, enters largely into the aluminous and some
other minerals, and therefore plays no small part in the composition
of the earth’s crust, it follows that, when rocks are melted, water must
be present, independently of the supplies of rain-water and sea-water
which find their way into the regions of subterranean heat. But the
existence of water under great pressure affords no argument against
our attributing an excessively high temperature to the mass with which
itis mixed up. Still less does the point to which the melted matter
must be cooled down before it consolidates or crystallizes into lava or
cranite, afford any test of the degree of heat which the same matter
must have acquired when it was melted and made to form lakes and
seas in the interior of the earth’s crust.

We learn from Bunsen’s experiments on the Great Geyser in Ice-
land, that at the depth of only 74 feet, at the bottom of the tube, a
column of water may be in a state of rest, and yet possess a heat of

120° Centigrade, or 248° F. What, then, may not the temperature
of such water be at the depth of a few thousand feet? It might soon
attain a white heat under pressure ; and as to lava, they who have be-
held it issue, as I did in 1858, from the southwestern flanks of Vesu-
vius, with a surface white and glowing like that of the sun, and who
have felt the scorching heat which it radiates, will forma high concep-
tion of the intense temperature of the same lava at the bottom of a
vertical column several miles high, and communicating with a great
reservoir of fused matter, which, ‘if it were to begin at once to cool
down, and were never to receive future accessions of heat, might
require a whole geological period before it solidified. Of such slow
refrigeration hot springs may be among the most effective instruments,
abstracting slowly from the subterranean molten mass that heat which

clouds of vapor are seen to carry off in a latent form from a volcanic
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276 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

crater during an eruption, or from a lava stream during its solidifica-
tion. It is more than 40 years since Mr. Serope, in lis work on
Volcanoes, insisted on the important part which water plays in an
eruption, when intimately mixed up with the component materials
of lava, aiding, as he supposed, in giving mobility to the more solid
materials of the fluid mass.. But when advocating this 1gneo-aqueous
theory, he never dreamt of impugning the Huttonian doctrine as to
the intensity of heat which the production of the unstratified rocks,
those of the plutonic class especially imphes.

The exact nature of the chemical changes which hydrothermal ac-
tion may effect in the earth’s interior will long remain obscure to us,
because the regions where they take place are inaccessible to man ;
but the manner in which volcanoes have shifted their position through-
out a vast series of geological epochs—becoming extinct in one region
and breaking out in another—may, perhaps, explain the increase of
heat as we descend towards the interior, without the necessity of our
appealing to an original central heat or the igneous fluidity of the
earth’s nucleus.

Recent Geological Changes in the Configuration of Great Britain.—
It is already more than a quarter of a century since Sir Roderick Mur-
chison first spoke of the Malvern Straits, meaning thereby a channel of
the sea which once separated Wales from England. That such marine
straits really extended, at a modern period, between what are now the
estuaries of the Severn and the Dee has been lately confirmed in a satis-
factory manner, by the discovery of marine shells of recent species in drift
covering the watershed which divides those estuaries. At the time when
these shells were living, the Cotswold Hills, at the foot of which Bath city
is built, formed one of the numerous islands of an archipelago into which
England, Ireland, and Scotland were then divided. The amount of ver-
tical movement which would be necessary to restore such a state of the
surface as prevailed when the position of land and sea were so different
would be very great.

Nowhere in the world, according to our present information, is the ev-
idence of upheaval, as manifested by upraised marine shells, so striking as
in Wales. In that country Mr. Trimmer first pointed out, in 1831, the
occurrence of fossil shells in stratified drift, at the top of a hill called Moel
Tryfaen, near the Menai Straits, and not far from the base of Snowdon.
Mr. Darbishire has obtained from the same drift no less than 54 fossil
species, all of them now living either in high northern or British seas,
and 11 of them being exclusively arctic. ‘The whole Fauna bears tes-
timony to a climate colder than thit now experienced in these latitudes,
though not to such extreme cold as that implied by the Fauna of some
of the glacial drift of Scotland. ‘The shells alluded to were procured at
the extraordinary hight of 1,360 feet above the sea-level, and they demon-
strate an upheaval of the bed of the sea to that amount in the time of
the living Testacea. A considerable part of what is called the glacial epoch
had already elapsed before the shelly strata in question were deposited on
Moel Tryfaen, as we may infer from the polished and striated surfaces of
rocks on which the drift rests, and the occurrence of erratic blocks
smoothed and scratched, at the bottom of the same drift.

Cause of the Glacial Epoch.—The evidence of a period of great
cold in England and North America, in the times referred to, is now

GEOLOGY. Pit

so universally admitted by geologists, that I shall take it for granted,
and briefly consider what may have been the probable causes of the
refrigeration of central Europe at the era in question. One of these
causes, first suggested 11 years.ago by a celebrated Swiss geologist,
has not, I think, received the attention which it well deserved. W her
I proposed, in 1833, the theory that alterations in physical geography
might have given rise to those revolutions in climate which the earth's
surface has experienced at successive epochs, it was objected by many
that the signs of upheaval and depression were too local to account
for such eeneral changes of temperature. This objection was thought
to be of peculiar weicht when applied to the glacial period, because
of the shortness of the time, geologically speaking, which has since
transpired. But the more we examine the monuments of the ages
which preceded the historical, the more decided become the proofs of
a general alteration in the position, depth, and hight of seas, conti-
nents, and mountain-chains since the commencement of the glacial
period. The meteorologist also has been learning of late years that
the quantity of ice and snow in certain latitudes depends not merely
on the hight of mountain-chains, but also on the distribution of the
surrounding sea and land even to considerable distances.

M. Escher von Linth gave it as his opinion in 1852, that if it were
true, as Ritter had suggested, that the great African desert, or Sa-
hara, was submerged within the modern or post-tertiary period, that
same submergence might explain why the Alpme glaciers had attained
so recently those colossal dimensions which, reasoning on geological
data, Venetz and Charpentier had assigned to them. Since Escher
first threw out this hint, the fact that the Sahara was really covered
by the sea at no distant period has been confirmed by many new
proofs. The distinguished Swiss geologist himself has just returned
from an exploring expedition through the eastern part of the Algerian
Desert, in which he was accompanied by M. Desor, and Prof. Mar-
tins. These three experienced observers satisfied themselves, during
the last winter, that the Sahara was under water during the pericd of
the living species of Testacea. We had already learnt, in 1856, from
a Memoir by M. Laurent, that sands identical with those of the near-
est shores of the Mediterranean, and containing, among other recent
shells, the common cockle (Cardiwm edule), extend over a vast space
from west to east in the desert, being not only found on the surface,
but also brought up from depths of more than 20 feet by the Artesian
auger. These shells have been met with at hichts of more than 900
feet above the sea-level, and on ground sunk 300 feet below it; for
there are in Africa, as in Western Asia, depressions of land blow
the level of the sea. ‘The same cockle has been observed still living
in several salt-lakes in the Sahara; and superficial incrustations of
salt in many places seem to point to the drying up by evaporation of
several inland seas in certain districts.

Mr. Tristram, in his travels in 1859, traced for many miles along
the southern borders of the French possessions in Africa, lines of
inland sea-cliffs, with caves at their bases, and old sea-beaches form-
ing successive terraces, in which recent shells and the casts of them
were agglutinated together with sand and pebbles, the whole having
the form of a conglomerate. The ancient sea appears once to have

24

978 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

stretched from the Gulf of Cabes, in Tunis, to the west coast of Africa
north of Senegambia, having a width of several hundred:(perhaps,
where greatest, according to Mr. Tristram, 800) miles. The high
lands of Barbary, including Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis, must have
been separated at this period from the rest of Africa by a sea. All
that we have learnt from zodlogists and botanists in regard to the
present Fauna and Flora of Barbary favors this hypothesis, and seems
at the same time to point to a former connection of that country with
Spain, Sicily, and South Italy.

When speculating on these changes, we may call to mind that certain
deposits, full of marine shells of living species, have long been known as
fringing the borders of the Red Sea, and rising several hundred feet
above its shores. Evidence has also been obtained that Egypt, placed
between the Red Sea and the Sahara, participated in these great conti-
nental movements. This may be inferred from the old river-terraces,
lately described by Messrs. Adams and Murie, which skirt the modern
alluvial plains of the Nile, and rise above them to various hights, from
30 to 100 feet and upwards. In whatever direction, therefore, we look,
we see grounds for assuming that a map of Africa in the glacial period
would no more resemble our present maps of that continent than Europe
now resembles North America. If, then, argues Escher, the Sahara was
a sea in post-teriiary times, we may understand why the Alpine glaciers
formerly attained such gigantic dimensions, and why they have left mo-
raines of such magnitude on the plains of Northern Italy and the lower
country of Switzerland. The Swiss peasants have a saying, when they
talk of the melting of the snow, that the sun could do nothing without
the Fohn, a name which they give to the well-known sirocco. This
wind, after sweeping over a wide expanse of parched and burning sand
in Africa, blows occasionally for days in succession across the Mediterra-
nean, carrying with it the scorching heat of the Sahara to melt the snows
of the Apennines and Alps.

M. Denzler, in a Memoir on this subject, observes that the Fohn blew
tempestuously at Algiers on the 17th of July, 1841, and then, crossing
the Mediterranean, reached Marseilles in six hours. In five more hours
it was at Geneva and the Valais, throwing down a large extent of forest
in the latter district; while in the cantons of Zurich and the Grisons it
suddenly turned the leaves of many trees from green to yellow. Ina
few hours new-mown grass was dried and ready for the haystack ; for
although, in passing over the Alpine snows, the sirocco absorbs much
moisture, it is still far below the point of saturation when it reaches the
sub-Alpine country to the north of the great chain. MM. Escher and
Denzler have both of them observed, on different occasions, that a thick-
ness of one foot of snow has disappeared in four hours during the
prevalence of this wind. No wonder, therefore, that the Féhn is much
dreaded for the inundations which it sometimes causes. The snow-line
of the Alps was seen by Mr. Irscher, the astronomer, from his observa-
tory at Neufchatel, by aid of the telescope, to rise sensibly every day
while this wind was blowing. Its influence is by no means confined to
the summer season, for in the winter of 1852 it visited Zurich at Christ-
mas, and in a few days all the surrounding country was stripped of its
snow, even on the shadiest places and on the crests of high ridges. I
feel the better able to appreciate the power of this wind from having

GEOLOGY. 279

myself witnessed in Sicily, in 1828, its effect in dissolving, in the month
of November, tne snows which then covered the summit and higher parts
of Mount Etna. | had been told that I should be unable to ascend to
the top of the highest cone till the following spring ; but in 36 hours the
hot breath of the sirocco stripped off from the mountain its white mantle
of snow, and I ascended without difficulty.

It is well known that the number of days during which particular winds
prevail, from year to year, varies considerably. Between the year 1512
and 1820 the Foéhn was less felt in Switzerland than usual ; and what
was the consequence ? All the glaciers, during those eight or nine years,
increased in hight, and crept down below their former limits in their
respective valleys. Many similar examples might be cited of the sensi-
tiveness of the ice to slight variations of temperature. Capt. Godwin
Austen has lately given us a description of the gigantic glaciers of the
western Himalaya in those valleys where the sources of the Indus rise,
between the latitudes 35° and 36° N. The highest peaks of the Kara-
korum range attain in that region an elevation of 28,000 feet above the
sea. ‘The glaciers, says Capt. Austen, have been advancing within the
memory of the living inhabitants, so as greatly to encroach on the culti-
vated lands, and have so altered the climate of the adjoining valleys
immediately below, that only one crop a year can now be reaped from
fields which formerly yielded two crops. If such changes cin be experi-
enced in less than a century, without any perceptible modification in the
physical geography of that part of Asia, what mighty effects may we not
Imagine the submergence of the Sahara to have produced in adding to
the size of the Alpine glaciers? If between the years 1812 and 1820, a
mere diminution of the number of days during which the sirocco blew
could so much promote the growth and onward movement of the ice,
how much greater a change would result from the total cessation of the
same wind! But tiiis would give no idea of what must have happened in
the glacial period ; for we can not suppose the action of the south wind to
have been suspended : it was not in abeyance, but its character was en-
tirely different, and of an opposite nature, under the altered geographical
conditions above contemplated. First, instead of passing over a parched
and scorching desert, between the 20th and 35th parallels of latitude, it
would plentifully absorb moisture from a sea many hundreds of miles
wide. Next, in its course over the Mediterranean, it would take up stil]
more aqueous vapor ; and when, after complete saturation, it struck the
Alps, it would be driven up into the higher and more rarefied regions of
the atmosphere.. There the aérial current, as fast as it was cooled, would
discharge its aqueous burden in the form of snow, so that the same wind
which is now called *‘ the devourer of ice” would become its principal
feeder.

If we thus embrace Escher’s theory, as accounting in no small degree
for the vast size of the extinct glaciers of Switzerland and Northern Italy,
we are by no means debarred from accepting at the same time Char-
pentier’s suggestion, that the Alps in the glacial period were 2,000 or
3,000 feet higher than they are now. Such a difference in altitude may
have been an auxiliary cause of the extreme cold, and seems the more
probable now that we have obtained unequivocal proofs of such great
oscillations of level in Wales within the period under consideration. We
may also avail ourselves of another source of refrigeration which may

280 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

have coincided in time with the submergence of the Sahara, namely,
the diversion of the Guif Stream from its present course. ‘The shape of
Europe and North America, or the boundaries of sea and land, departed
so widely in the glacial period from those now established, that we cannot
suppose the Gulf Stream to have taken at that period its present north-
western course across the Atlantic. Ifit took some other direction, the cli-
mate of the north of Scotland would according to the calculations of Mr.
Hopkins, suffer a diminution in its average annual temperature of 12° F.,
while that of the Alps would lose 2° F. A combination of all the con-
ditions above enumerated would certainly be attended with so greata
revolution in climate as might go far to account for the excessive cold
whieh was developed at so modern a period in the earth’s history. But
even when we assume all three of them to have been simultaneously in
action we have by no means exhausted all the resources which a difference
in the geographical condition of the globe might supply. Thus, for ex-
ample, to name only one of them, we might suppose that the hight and
quantity of land near the north pole was greater at the era in question
than it is now. /

The vast mechanical force that ice exerted in the glacial period has
been thought by some to demonstrate a want of uniformity in the amount
of energy which the same natural cause may put forth at two successive
epochs. But we must be careful, when thus reasoning, to bear in mind
that the power of ice is here substituted for that of running water. The
one becomes a mighty agent in transporting huge erratics, and in scoring,
abrading, and polishing rocks; but meanwhile the other is in abeyance.
When, for example, the ancient Rhone glacier conveyed its moraines from
the upper to the lower end of the Lake Geneva, there was no great river,
as there now is, forming a delta many miles in extent; and several hundred
feet in depth, at the upper end of the lake.

Antiquity of the Glacial Kpoch.—The more we study and compre-
hend the geographical changes of the glacial period, and the migra-
tions of animals and plants to which it gave rise, the higher our con-
ceptions are raised of the duration of that subdivision of time, which,
though vast when measured by the succession of events comprised in
it, was brief if estimated by the ordinary rules of geological classifi-
cation. The glacial period was, in fact, a mere episode in one of the
ereat epochs of the earth’s history; for the inhabitants of the lands
and seas, before and after the grand development of snow and ice,
were nearly the same. As yet we have no satisfactory proof that man
existed in Europe or elsewhere during the period of extreme cold;
but our investigations on this head are still in their infancy. In an
early portion of the post-glacial period it has been ascertained that
man flourished in Europe; and in tracing the signs of existence, from
the historical ages to those immediately antecedent, and so backward
into more ancient times, we gradually approach a dissimilar geo-
eraphical state of things, when the climate was colder, and when the
configuration of the surface departed considerably from that which
now prevails.

Archeologists are satisfied that in central Europe the age of bronze
weapons preceded the Roman invasion of Switzerland; and prior to
the Swiss-lake dwellings of the bronze age were those in which stone
weapons alone were used. ‘The Danish kitcben-middens seem to have

GEOLOGY. 281

been of about the same date; but what M. Lartet has called the rein-
deer period of the south of France was probably anterior, and con-
nected with a somewhat colder climate. Of still higher antiquity was
that age of ruder implements of stone such as were buried in the
fluviatile drift of Amiens and Abbeville, and which were mingled in the
same gravel with the bones of extinct quadrupeds, such as the ele-
phant, rhinoceros, bear, tiger, and hyena. Between the present era
and that of those earliest vestiges yet discovered of our race, valleys
have been deepened and widened, the course of subterranean rivers
which once flowed through caverns has been changed, and many
species of wild quadrupeds have disappeared. ‘The bed of the sea,
moreover, has in the same ages been lifted up, in many places hun-
dreds of feet above its former level, and the outlines of many a coast
entirely altered.

MM. de Verneuil and Lartet have recently found, near Madrid,
fossil teeth of the African elephant, in old valley-drift, containing flint
implements of the same antique type as those of Amiens and Abbe-
ville. Proof of the same elephant having inhabited Sicily in the Post-
pliocene and probably within the Human period had previously been
brought to light by Baron Anca, during his exploration of the bone-
caves of Palermo. We have now, therefore, evidence of man having
coexisted in Europe with three species of elephant, two of them ex-
tinct (namely, the mammoth and the Hlephas antiquus), and a third
the same as that which still survives in Africa. As to the first of
these, —the mammoth,—I am aware that some writers contend that it
could not have died out many tens of thousands of years before our
time, because its flesh has been found preserved in ice, in Siberia, m
so fresh a state as to serve as food for dogs, bears, and wolves; but
this argument seems to me fallacious. Middendorf in 1843, after
digging through some thickness of frozen soil in Siberia, came down
upon an icy mass, in which the carcass of a mammoth was imbedded,
so perfect that, among other parts, the pupil of its eye was taken out,
and is now preserved in the Museum of Moscow. No one will deny
that this elephant had Jain for several thousand years in its icy en-
velop; and if it had been left undisturbed, and the cold had gone on
increasing, for myriads of centuries, we might reasonably expect that
the frozen flesh might continue undecayed until a second glacial
period had passed away.

When speculations on the long series of events which occurred in
the glacial and postglacial periods are indulged in, the imagination is
apt to take alarm at the immensity of the time required to interpret
the monuments of these ages, all referable to the era of existing
species. In order to abridge the number of centuries which would
otherwise be indispensable, a disposition is shown by many to mag-
nify the rate of change in prehistoric times, by investing the causes
which have modified the animate and manimate world with extraor-
dinary and excessive energy. It is related of a great Irish orator of
our day, that when he was about to contribute somewhat parsimoni-
ously towards a public charity, he was persuaded by a friend to make
a more liberal donation. In doing so he apologized for his first ap-
parent want of generosity, by saying that his early life had been a
constant struggle with scanty means, and that ‘‘ they who are born to

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282 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

affluence cannot easily imagine how long a time it takes to get the
chill of poverty out of one’s ‘bones.” In like manner, we of the living
generation,-when called upon to make grants of thousands of centuries
in order to explain the events of what is called the modern period, shrink
naturally at first from making what seems so lavish an expenditure of
past time. Throughout our carly education we have been accustomed
to such strict economy in all that relates to the chronology of the
earth and its inhabitants in remote ages, so fettered have we been by
old traditional beliefs, that even when our reason is convinced, and we
are persuaded that we ought to make more liberal grants of time to
the geologist, we feel how hard it is to get the chill of poverty out of
our ‘bones.

Recent Changes in Geological Opinions.—I will now briefly allude,
in conclusion, to two points on which a gradual change of opinion has
been taking place among geologists of late years. First, as to whether
there has been a continuous succession of’ events in the organic and
inorganic worlds, uninterrupted by violent and general catastrophes ; ;
and, secondly, whether clear evidence can be obtained of a period
antecedent to the creation of organic beings on the earth. Iam old
enough to remember when geologists dogmatized on both these
questions in a manner very different from that in which they would
now venture to indulge. I believe that by far the greater number
now incline to opposite views from those which were once most com-
monly entertained. On the first pomt it is worthy of remark that,
although a belief in sudden and general convulsions has been losing
eround, as also the doctrine of abrupt transitions from one set of
species of animals and plants to another of a very different type, yet
the whole series of the records which have been handed down to us
are now more than ever regarded as fragmentary. They ought to be
looked upon as more perfec t, because numerous gaps have been filled
up, and in the formations newly intercalated in the series we have
found many missing links and various intermediate gradations be-
tween the nearest allied forms previously known in the animal and
vegetable worlds. Yet the whole body of monuments which we are
endeavoring to decipher appears more defective than before. For
my own part, I agree with Mr. Darwin, in considering them as a mere
fraction of those which have once existed, while no approach to a
perfect series was ever formed originally, it having never been part
of the plan of nature to leave a complete record of all her works and
operations for the enlightenment of rational beings who might study
them in after ages

In reference to the other great question, of the earliest date of
vital phenomena on this planet, the late discoveries in Canada have
at least demonstrated that certain theories founded in Europe on mere
negative evidence were altogether delusive. In the course of a geo-
logical survey, carried on under the able direction of Sir William E.
Logan, it has been shown that northward of the River St. Lawrence
there is a vast serics of stratified and crystalline rocks of gneiss, mica-
schist, quartzite, and limestone, about 40,000 feet in thickness, which
have been called Laurentian. They are more ancient than the oldest
fossiliferous strata of Europe, or those to which the term primordial
had been rashly assigned. In the first place, the newest part of this

GEOLOGY. 283

great crystalline series is unconformable to the ancient fossiliferous or
so-called primordial rocks which overlie it; so that it must have un-
dergone disturbing movements before the latter or primordial sct was
formed. ‘Then again, the older half of the Laurentian series is uncon-
formable to the newer portion of the same. It is in this lowest and
most ancient system of crystalline strata that a limestone, about 1,000
feet thick, has been observed, containing organic remains. ‘These
fossils have been examined by Dr. Dawson, of Montreal, and he has
detected in them by aid of the microscope, the distinct structure of a
large species of Rhizopod. Fine specimens of this fossil, called Hozoon
Canadense, have been brought to Bath by Sir William Lozan, to be
exhibited to the members of the Association. We have every reason
to suppose that the rocks in which these animal remains are included
are of as old a date as any of the formations named Azoic in Europe,
if not older, so that they precede in date rocks once supposed to
have been formed before any organic beings had been created.

But I will not venture on speculations respecting ‘‘ the signs of a
beginning,” or ‘‘ the prospects of an end,” of our terrestrial system,—
that wide ocean of scientific conjecture on which so many theorists
before my time have suffered shipwreck.

NEW FACTS RESPECTING THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

The search for evidence respecting the antiquity and prehistoric con-
dition of the human race, is still prosecuted by the geologists and nat-
uralists of Europe with the greatest zeal; and new facts of the utmost
geologic and historic interest are constantly being brought to light, as
‘the result of their researches. From the record of the past year, we
have prepared the following summary of the most recent discoveries.

Cave of Bruniquel, France.-—In the summer of 1863 there was
opened on the estate of the Vicomte St. Jal, at Bruniquel, in the de--
partment of Tarn et Garonne, a cave, from which the proprietor ob-
tained numerous specimens of remains of animals, flint instruments,
bone implements, fashioned and carved by means of the flint-knives,
and finally what the Vicomte believed to be human remains, all im-
bedded in the breccia.

M. St. Jal at once communicated his discovery to the French Goy-
ernment, and proposed a sale of the cave and contents. His.com-
munication being treated with neglect, he next applied to the British
Museum. ‘The latter was referred to Prof. Owen, who perceiving the
possible value of this discovery, at once started off, and in January,
1864, personally visited the locality. After inspecting the cave and
satisfying himself of its paleontological value he returned to England ;
and by his advice the right of exploring the cavern, with all its con-
tents, was at once bought by the Trustees of the Museum.

Meantime, however, a somewhat curious episode occurred. The
visit of Professor Owen appears to have stimulated the French author-
ities, and Professors Milne-Edwards and Lartet were despatched on
a commission of inspection. They also recognized the value of the
discovery, and presently an offer was made from the French govern-
ment slightly outbidding that which Professor Owen had made, under
the necessary reserve of approval by the British Museum trustees,

M. St. Jal, however, honorably adhered to his first bargain, and

284 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

subsequently the contents of the cave, were exhumed and removed to
London. They are understood to embrace some 1,500 fossil specimens,
many of them “still imbedded in the calcified mud, in which they were
found beneath a coating of stalagmite. The cavern is in a Jurassic
limestone, and the soil found in it is formed by the superposition of
several lay ers, viz: first, a stalagmite deposit ; then an osseous breccia ;
then black clay beds repeated several times, in the midst of which was
a pell mell of wrought flints of all known shapes ; barbed arrow-points ;
bones of carnivores, ruminants, and birds, eat rounded pebbles.

Mingled with these were the bones of man. About 80 per cent of the
animal bones found were those of the reindeer, an animal which has
not been known within the historic period south of the northern
shores of the Baltic. There were besides, the bones of two species
of extinct deer, a few remains of the red deer, the extinct Bos primi-
genius, the Rhinoceros tichorinus, and the humerus of a big bird, on
which was roughly sculptured different parts of a fish. This seems to
have been an amulet or ornament. Some of = other bones also were
rudely carved, while most of them bear marks of having been frac-
tured for the purpose of getting at the marrow, or making them into
weapons or instruments.

Ata meeting of the Royal Society, June, 1864, Prof. Owen mi-
nutely descr ibed the circumstances under which these discoveries were

made, and stated that the contemporaneity of the human remains
with those of the extinct and other animals’ with which they were as-
sociated, together with the flint and bone implements, was proved by
the evidence of the plastic condition of the calcified mud of the bree-
cia at the time of interment, by the chemical constitution of the hu-"
man bones, corresponding with that of the other animal remains, and
by the similarity of their position and relations in the surrounding
breccia. Among the principal remains of the men of the flint period
discovered in this cave he described the following :—

The hinder portion of a cranium, with several other parts of the
same skeleton, which were so situated in their matrix as to indicate
that the body Re ad been interred in a crouching posture, and that,
after the decomposition and dissolution of the soft parts, the skeleton
had yielded to the superincumbent weight; 2. An almost entire cal-
varium, which was described and compared ‘sith different types of the
human skull, and which Prof. Owen showed was superior in form and
capacity to the Australian type, and more closely to correspond with
the Celtic type, though proportionally shorter than the modern Celtie
and the form exhibited by the Celti¢ cranium from Engis, Switzer-
land ; Jaws and teeth of individuals of different ages.

After T ‘noticing other smaller portions of human crania, the lower
jaw and teeth of an adult, the upper and lower jaws of immature
individuals were described, the characters of certain deciduous
teeth being referred to. The proportions of the molars are not
those of the Australian, but of other races, and especially those
of ancient and modern Europeans. As in most primitive or
early races in which mastication was little helped by arts of cookery,
or by various and refined kinds of food, the crowns of the molars,
are worn down, beyond the enamel, flat and smooth to the stumps,
oe there a central tract of osteodentine without any signs of

ecay

GEOLOGY. 285

It would thus appear that the human remains from the Bruniquel
cave stand high in the seale of organization, and do not exhibit the
features of an inferior or transitional type.

Exploration of Caverns in the Province of Périgord, France.—
Within a comparatively recent period the existence of certain caves,
rich in fossil remains, has been ascertained in the Province of Péri-
gord, France. They occur chiefly on the banks of tributaries of the
river Dordogne (which reaches the sea a little north of Bordeaux).
During the ‘past year one of these caverns, namely, that of Eyzies
was bought by Messrs. Lartet and Christy, the well-known geologists,
and carefully explored.

These gentlemen divided the floor of the cave into compartments,
and, with a generosity worthy of all praise, they have sent specimens
of the blocks thus obtained, weighing 500 Ibs. and upwards to the
principal museums in Europe.

The floor of this cavern was found to consist of a compact mass of
earth, charcoal, flint weapons and tools, bones, needles, &c. which have
been hardened into a solid agglomerate, chiefly by the action of the
calcareous droppings from the roof of the cave. This agglomerate, or
breccia, as it is technically styled, formed an artificial floor to the cave of
various thicknesses, from three inches to ten inches. In fact, the evidence
seems complete that the cave in question was for many years the abode
of an ancient people, who were accustomed to throw down, or leave upon
the floor, the bones and other remnants of their feasts, very much in the
manner of the Esquimaux and other savages of the present day. With
these, weapons and industrial implements naturally became mingled. The
animal bones found, were, as in the cave of Bruniquel, principally those
of the remdeer.

At some period subsequent to the human occupancy of the cavern a
flood has rushed through it, bringing in its course, and leaving in the cave,
a number of boulder stones. ‘These have been fixed to the artificial floor
of breccia by the slow but unfailing mason,— the droppings from the chalk
strata overhead.

Messrs. Lartet and Christy from their explorations of this cave anncunce
the following conclusions : That a variety of the human race inhabited
the caves in the region since called Périgord at the same time as the
reindeer, the ee and other animals which are now only found in ex-
treme latitudes ; ; that this people had no knowledge of the use of metals,
their only arms ‘and tools being either of broken and unpolished flints, or
of bones or horns of animals ; that they lived*upon the produce of the
chase and by fishing ; that they had no domesticated animal, neither dog
nor cat, else some portions of the bones and sinews that have been found
would have been gnawed, and some remains of the dog would have been
discovered ; and that they were clothed in skins, which were sewn with
bone needles and string made out of the sinews and tendons of the legs
of their prey.

Exploration of a Cavern containing the Remains of Man and ex-
tinct Animals in the Pyrenees.—During the past year also Messrs.
Garrigou and Martin, two French naturalists, have published the result of
their ‘exploration of a cavern called Espélugues, situatedin the Commune
of Lourdes and the department of the Hautes Pyrenees. From their
report we derive the following particulars :—

286 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

** Within the cavern, toward the entrance of the great hall, there
are great numbers of large blocks of limestone lying “together upon a -
bed of rounded stones. “Among these blocks, and especially at their
base, are heaps of cinders and charcoal, some fragments of which
occur at different places in the general deposit of the cavern. Bones,
jaws, and teeth of ae Mammals were obtained, especially from
the lower part of the deposit. The surface layers of the deposit,
afforded us only rare fracments, and these, before commencing our
second day’s examination, we carefully laid aside for separate study.
Quantities of cut flints. bones, and horns of various stags, worked
and shaped into the form of instruments and weapons, and some
carved bones, lay in confusion along with the ashes and coal.

‘‘ We will first describe the relics in the upper layer, examined by
us, and then those of the lower strata.”

Upper Layer.—Remains of the fox, horse, wild boar, stag, chamois,
wild goat (Bouquetin), reindeer, aurochs, ox, mole, field mouse,
and birds; also of a goat larger than the chamois, and a sheep of the
size of a goat.

The bones of all these animals are broken like those of the Kjoek-
kenmodding of Denmark and of the lake habitations of Switzerland.

** Among these paleontclogical fragments, some, on careful exam-
ination, led us to infer that the domestication of certain animals had
been in practice during the period under consideration. Among the
broken bones of the surface, some had evidently been attacked by
Rodents. Near by were others bearing marks of the teeth of a
Carnivore(a dog, beyond doubt). Among the debris we collected,
twenty centimeters below the surface, a small fracment of a rib fa
Ruminant, bearing a sculptured design of fine finish, and differing in
this respect from objects of the same kind found at Bruniquel.”

Lower Leyers.—The list of animals found in the lower beds of this
cavern differ a little from the preceding. We notice the horse, the
common stag, the reindeer, the aurochs, an ox somewhat smaller than
the aurochs, a large sheep, two Rodents, and some bones of birds.
The teeth of the horse are more abundant than those of the ox or
the reindecr; but the bones of the reindeer are more numerous than
those of the other Ruminants. All these bones were broken. In
character and appearance the bones of the upper or surface layer
differ materially from those of the lower stratum. The former are
grayish white, while the latter are colored red. The former do not
adhere to the tongue, and evidently contain gelatin, while the latter
adhere to the tongue and contain no gelatin. In order to be sure
as to the gclatin, we burned two fraements of bone on live charcoal ;
that taken from the surface afforded almost immediately an insup-
portable erspyreumatic odor, and the other, taken from below, no
odor at all.

Throughout the extent of the bed examined by us, even to the
rolled peb! sles at the surface, there are found, along with the bones,
wrought flints, and also instruments and _ tools made of the horns of
the reindee fe and common stag, and of bone. More than 400 flints,
most of them wrought, and coarsely so, were turned out. These may
be classified as follows: (1) Knives ; : (2) scrapers ; (3) arrow-heads
roughly hewn, and sometimes having the lower extremity long for

GEOLOGY. 237

attachment to a handle; (4) wroucht hatchets of small size, but of
the same form with those from the diluvium of Abbeville and Amiens ;
(5) fragments of flint which were chipped from the instruments here
described. More than 24 objects of stag horn, of reindeer horn and
of wrought bones, and also one bone very coarsely sculptured,
rewarded our excavations in the lower beds. The sculptured bone
represents, as nearly as we can judge, a fish with ventral fins and a
divided tail. The skill of the artist was inferior to that in the case
before mentioned.

It appears evident to us that the inhabitants contemporary with
the inferior deposits of Lourdes, had a degree of civilization nearly
equal to, and yet a little below, that of the occupants of the caverns
of Périgord, Bruniquel, ete.

From a review of the facts, it is plain that the age of the upper
layers of the deposit in the cavern of Lourdes is not the same as that
of the lower. We conclude from the presence of the Aurochs, the exist-
ence of domestic animals, the discovery of bones gnawed by dogs,
the almost complete preservation of the gelatin in the bones, and
their deeper color, and by the discovery of a-bone finely sculptured,
that the upper beds belong to an age more recent than that of the
lower beds. This we would call the age of the Aurochs, with which
man was contemporary. As to the lower beds, it is evident to us,
from the abundant remains of the reindeer, including large quantities
of its horns; from the coarseness of its wrought objects, its worked
flints, and its sculpture; from the reddish brown color of the bones,
and from the absence of gelatin and their adhering to the tongue,
that they pertain to an epoch more ancient than the preceding. It
was the age of the reindeer.

The cave of Lourdes has thus afforded the first example of the
direct superposition of the beds of the two consecutive paleontological
epochs of the Quaternary or Post-tertiary period.

‘Human Fossils from Gibraltar.—During the past year, as the re-
sult of the exploration of certain caves and fissures at Gibraltar, there
has been obtained a collection of human fossils, of the most interest-
ing and remarkable character. From two collections of cavern-
breccia, forwarded to England, nearly 400 fragments of skulls have
been obtained, all presenting signs of very ancient fracture, besides
numerous jaw-bones. Most of these cranial fragments are too small
to admit of complete cranial restoration; but Mr. Busk, the natural-
ist, who has the collection in charge, is of the opinion that the lower
jaws may be referred to two distinct types of race. ‘* This opinioa,”
he says, ‘‘is strengthened by the circumstance that some of the other
bones of the skeletons present very remarkable distinctive characters.
Thus, among the numerous leg and thigh bones, belonging appar-
ently to some 35 individuals, are many so singular, and as it may
almost be said so monstrous in their form, as to have excited the aston-
ishment of all anatomists who have beheld them.

Subsequently, and later in the year, the other collections of bones
were received in England, obtained from the so-called Sir James
Cochrane’s cave at Gibraltar. Included in the first collection, was one
quite perfect human cranium, except that the lower jaw properly be-
longing to it has been replaced by one of a different individual.

288 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

‘* This skull,” says Mr. Busk, ‘‘as were most of the bones with which
it was accompanied, was encased in a very hard gray stalagmitic
crust, in some parts several inches thick, and evidently the result of
very long and slow deposition. But when this was removed, the bone
stood out as fresh to all appearance as if it had been carefully macer-
ated and cleaned. It is a small, roundish, symmetrical cranium; but
we have not yet so critically compared it as to allow of any definite
opinion being given on the present occasion as to its nearest ‘probable
affinities. In one respect it 1s of extreme interest, from its being asso-
ciated with several leg bones presenting the peculiar compre essed form
above adverted to, and among which one, from the condition of the
bone itself and the exact similarity of the calcareous incrustation upon
it, most probably belongs to the same individual. We thus appear to
be furnished with a clue to the cranial conformation of the ‘ sharp-
shinned’ or platycnemic race,—a point of considerable importance.”

In the second collection, there were besides several quadrupedal
bones the greater part of a human cranium, and a lower jaw not belong-
ing toit. ‘* This cranium,” says Mr. Busk, ‘‘ resembles in all essential
particulars, including its great thickness, the far-famed Neanderthal
skull; but, in many respects, it is of infinitely higher value than that
much-disputed relic, imasmuch as it retains the entire occipital re-
gion including the hinder margin of foramen magnum, great part of
the base, the whole of one temporal bone (thus giving the precise
situation of the auditory opening), and nearly the entire face, includ-
ing the upper jaw, with most of the much and curiously-worn teeth.
As it is precisely these parts that are wanting in the Neanderthal cal-
varium, of which the present is, in other respects, almost an exact
counterpart, the value of this cranium in the study of priscan man can
not be rated too high. Its discovery also adds immensely to the scien-
tific value of the Neanderthal specimen, if only as showing that the
latter does not represent, as many have hitherto supposed, a mere
individual peculiarity, but that it may have been characteristic of
arace extending from the Rhme to the Pillars of Hercules. The
animal bones associated with this skull, though not themselves of an
extinct species, yet belong to one (Ibex) whose remains occur very
abundantly throughout the Rock in the oldest breccia, in which are
also contained those of at least one, if not of two, wholly extinct
species of Rhinoceros, and of several other animals which are extinct
so far as Europe is concerned.”

Further Human Remains from Abbeville, France.—The alleged
discovery in 1863, by M. Perthes, of a portion of a human jaw-bone, ina
gravel bed (probably belonging to the drift period), and located near
Abbeville, France, at a quarry known as ‘‘ Moulin-Quignon,” has, as
our readers are doubtless well aware, excited much:discussion among
scientists and theologians, both in Europe and iis country (see An-
nual of Scientific Discovery, 1864, p. 252). ‘The discussions have also
invested the quarry in question with great interest ; and a sharp look-
out has been kept ever since by naturalists in the hope of further dis-
coveries. This hope has been at last realized. On April 24, 1864, M.
Perthes and Dr. Dubois of Abbeville, found in one of the quarry beds,
a portion of a human sacrum, fragments of a cranium, and human molar
teeth ; on the Ist of May they obtained, on digging, further remains ;

GEOLOGY. 289

and on the 11th of May, the party of exploration being increased,

they turned out from a depth of about 14 feet, a human jaw- -bone,
nearly perfect with other bones and some cut Ainis. On the 7th of
June, the Abbé Martin, Professor of Geology at the Seminary of St.

Riquier, continued the diggings and took out from a drift bed, at a place

which showed plainly by its reoular stratification, that it had not been
disturbed since its original deposition, ahuman cranium, the frontal
bone and the parietal of which were nearly entire, and also two frag-
ments of an upper jaw.

The number of specimens of bones thus collected from the Abbe-
ville beds durmg the past year amounts to 200, and they were all
found within an extent of about 130 feet. Part of these are of animals.
The human remains apparently indicate a very small race of men.

Discovery of an Ancient Factory of Elint Imple ing
the past year there has been discovered near Pressigny, i in ae Depart-
ment of Jndre-et-Loire, in France, an ancient manufacturing place of
flint implements, exceeding in interest and importance any thing of the
kind before known. Ina letter read to the French Academy by the
Abbé Chevalier, detailing this discovery, the writer says :—

All the flint implements lie in vast quantities on the very surface of
the ground; there is no walking a step without treading upon one of
them. They consist of cut nuclei, tomahawks, hatchets, knives from
five to six inches in length, spear heads, scrapers, and vast quantities
of chips of silicious stones. They are so numerous that ploughmen,
when they find them lying in front of the ploughshare, pick them up
and throw them in heaps on the borders of the field. The ground
has an extent of about 15 acres, and the Abbé considers the discoveries
at Abbeville to be quite insignificant compared with these. A few of
the articles are polished. Dr. Leueillé, the physician of the place,
has had the good fortune to find a hatchet-polisher consisting of a
block of sandstone about 18 inches by 12, with numerous furrows, into
which the hatchets used to be inserted for the purpose of sharpening
or polishing them by friction, after being previously hewn into shape.

A writer in Galignani, commenting on this discovery says: The
question involuntarily presents itself, how it is possible that such a
rich field of exploration should have remained unnoticed for so long
a period, and whether the very abundance of these flint implements is
not sufficient to cast a doubt upon their antiquity. The fact of flint
implements having lain for thousands of years on the surface of a
field, without being either noticed or picked up, or washed away or
buried by the action of violent rains, is certainly much more wonder-
ful, not to say improbable, than any of the late singular discoveries
made in caverns or at certain depths below the surface of the soil.

Discovery of Fossil Stone Implements in India.—At a recent meet-
ing of the egal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Prof. Oldham exhibited
a small collection of stone implements which had very recently been
discovered by Messrs. King and Foote, of the Geological Survey of
India, near Madras. ‘These were all of the ruder forms, so well
known as characterizing the ilint implements which have excited so
much attention within the last few sla in Europe. They were all
formed of dense semivitreous quartz a rock which occurred in
immense abundance in districts close eo where these implements had

25

290 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

been found, and which formed a very good substitute for the flints of
north Europe. This was the first instance in which, so far as he
knew, such stone implements had been found in India in situ. ‘True
celts, of a totally different type and much higher finish, and in every
respect identical with those found in Scotland and Ireland. had been
met with in large numbers in Central India, but never actually imbedded
in any deposits. They were invariably found under holy trees or in
sacred places, and were objects of reverence and worship to the people,
who could give no information as to the source from which they had
been or ivinally gathered together.

Those now on the table had been collected partly by himself, from
a ferruginous lateritic gravel-bed, which extended irregularly over a
very large area west of Madras. In places, this was at least fifteen
feet below the surface, cut through by streams, and in one such place,
from which some of the specimens on the table were procured, there
stood an old ruined pagoda on the surface, evidencing that, at least
at the time of its construction, that sarface was a permanent one.
This bed of gravel was in many places exposed on_the surface, and
had been partially denuded; and it was in such localities, where these
implements had been washed out of the bed, and lay strewed on the
surface, that they were found most plentifully.

Mr. Oldham remarked on the great interest attaching to such a
discovery, and on the probable age of the deposit in which they oc-
curred. Another point of interest connected with the history of
such implements was the remarkable fact that while, scattered m
abundance over the districts where they occurred, were noble remains
of what would by many be called Druidical character-circles of large
standing stones, cromlechs, kistvaens, often of large size and well
preserv ed, all of which were traditionally referred to the Karuinbers,
a race of which there yet existed traces in the hills, still, all the weap-
ons and implements of every kind found in these stone structures,
were invariably of iron. No information whatever regarding these
stone implements could be obtained from the peasantry, who had been
quite unaware of their existence.— Jour. of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal.

Human Fossils from Brazil.— Dr. Lund, a Danish naturalist, has
recently published an account of cave explorations in Brazil. He
states, that he found human fossils in eight different localities, all
bearing marks of geological antiquity, intermixed with those of nu-
merous extinct animals. In the province of Minas Geras he found
human skeletons among the remains of 44 species of extinct an-.
imals, among which was a fossil horse. In a cave on the borders
of a lake called Lago Santa, he again collected multifarious human
bones in the same condition as those of the extinct animals, and he
considers that their geological relations unite to prove that they
were entombed in their present position long before the formation of
the lake on whose borders the cave is situated; leaving thus no doubt
of their coexistence in life and their association in death. With
regard to the race to which these human fossils belong, Dr. Lund
observes that the form of the skull differs in no respect from the
acknowledged American type.

New Discoveries respecting the Ancient Lake Habitations of Eu-

GEOLOGY. 291

rope.—During the past year the remains of ancient lake-habitations,
similar to those he retofore discovered in Switzerland, have been found
in Bavaria and Moravia. In a considerable number of lakes the piles
upon which the ancient population erected their habitations are dis-
tinctly preserved; associated with fragments of rude pottery, and
bones of the hones the stag, the ox, the wild boar, and the wolf.
Most of the bones have been broken, evidently for the purpose of
extracting the marrow.

At Olmiitz in Moravia, Prof. Jeitteles has succeeded in discovering
traces of most ancient human settlements with numerous remains of
animals no longer in existence. In laying pipes across a ‘‘moor”-
bed, the workmen found numerous bones, teeth, and jaws of animals,
together with objects of human industry in bone, stone, bronze, and
iron. Gigantic teeth of the wild boar, numerous remains of the do-
mestic pig, bones and teeth of the ur, and the domestic ox, of the old
horse, stags, roes, and other ruminating animals, of the dog, and of
many other big and small wild and domestic animals were “dug up.
The bones of the horse belong to all appearance to the extinct species
of the Hquus angustidens ; the lower jaw is distinguished by two
enormous corner teeth. As to the dog, the two halves of the lower
jaw which were found, agree exactly in their dimensions with the pro-

ortions, stated by Riitimey er, of the race of dogs which then lived
in Switzerland. Perhaps we have here the original form of the great
variety in the dog species now extant. Most of the tubular bones
were split open lonewise.

Prehistoric Remains from Scotland.— At a meeting of the An-
thropological Society (London), Dec. 4, an interesting account was
given by Mr. Laing of the exploration of some shell mounds on the
coast of Scotland, near Caithness. The interesting features of these
mounds, were, he cards that they resemble the ‘‘ kjok kenmoéddings ” of
Denmark, which consists of heaps of shells and bones, the refuse of
the food of the men who are supposed to have lived in the prehis-
toric period. (For the description of the ‘‘ kjokkenmodddings,” see
Annual of Sci. Discovery, 1861 and 1862.) Five mounds were opened
and explored, and the results showed that the heaps had been accu-
mulated at different periods. In the lowest stratum were found
mingled with the shells of limpets and periwinkles, which appear to
have constituted the principal articles of food of these ancient people,
some bones of oxen, of horses and pigs, and stone implements of the
rudest possible kind. Specimens were also found of the bones of a
bird that has long been extinet. In continuing his explorations, Mr.
Laing came to some kists consisting of slabs of stone just large
enous ‘oh to hold the body of a man, and inside, covered with sand, he
discovered the skeletons of those who had been interred. Most of
them were very short, not being more than 5 ft. 4 in. long, and in
those kists no implements of any kind were found; but in two in-
stances he discovered kists of a much larger size, "the skeletons in
which measured 6 ft. and 6 ft. 4in. These were presumed to have
been the chiefs of the race, and buried with one of them were fifteen
stone implements, of small size and of the rudest character, exhibit-
ing a lower degree of Art than the flint implements found with the
bones of extinct animals in tertiary geological deposits. Several of

292 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the skulls were exhibited on the table. Mr. Laing said that the skulls
of the chieftains presented little difference from those of ancient
British skulls, but the others appeared to be of a lower type, and to
resemble, in some particulars, the skulls of negroes. Among the
shells and bones found in the middens, there were two human jaw-
bones, one of which was the jaw-bone of a child about five years old,
which bore the marks of having been gnawed, indicating that the
child had been eaten.

Prof. Owen said the skulls differed in several essential particulars
from the form of the Ethiopian skull; one of them might be mistaken,
from part of its configuration, for that of a negro, but the small size
of the molar teeth, the angle at which the nasal bones joined each
other, and the extent to which the parietal and alisphenoid joined,
showed that it was of a different type. With respect to the jaw-bone
of the child, he observed that he was well acquainted with the marks
made by savages on the jaws of animals they devoured as food, and he
feared the evidence which the child’s jaw afforded tended to prove
that our progenitors who inhabited Scotland at a remote period must
have been cannibals. ‘The dental cavity is filled with nerve pulp,
which savages relish, and the child’s jaw-bone indicated that it had
been broken to extract that substance.

The Chronology of the last Geological Epoch.—The Swiss natur-
alists, geologists, and antiquarians have recently endeavored to make
some calculations respecting the chronology of the periods of the last
geological epoch, of which various dates have been obtained. M. Gillie-
son of Neuveville (on the Lake of Bienne), has communicated to the
Helvetic Society for Natural Philosophy at Lausanne, his geologico-
archeological researches on the marshy region situated between the
lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne,and made a chronological computation,
giving tothe ancient pilework or lake-dwelling near Pont-de-Thielle,
an antiquity of about 674 centuries, the establishment belonging ac-
cording to its remains of animals and to its other relics, to the oldest
settlements of the stone-age known in Switzerland.

All round the lake of Geneva there is to be seen a threefold system
of diluvial cones or deltas, the edges of which, turned towards the
lake, constitute a threefold series of steps or terraces, at regular
hights of about 50, 100, and 150 feet above the present level of the
lake. When circumstances have been favorable for their preservation,
we find all the three diluvial cones situated behind and above the
other, at the mouth of the same watercourse which formed them sue-
cessively, when the lake stood first about 150, then about 100, and
lastly about 50 feet above its modern level. Now these diluvial cones,
says M. Morlot, are posterior to the last glacial period, for they are
formed, in great part, of reworked erratic matter, and they show on
their surface no trace of erratic deposit, whilst they can frequently be
seen distinctly overlying the glacial formation. It is the gravel-beds
of those post-glacial cones which have disclosed, near Morges en the
lake of Geneva, teeth of the Llephas primigenius.

From an examination of these and other evidences, M. Morlot
shows that the succession of events in the recent geological epoch has
been substantially as follows: first, a glacial period; then a first dilu-
vial period, without great glaciers; then a second glacial period, of

GEOLOGY. 293

long duration ; then a second diluvial period, without great glaciers,
and to which the diluvial cones belong ; then, lastly, the medern period
represented by the modern cone or delta. ‘This succession of events,
in the opinion of M. Morlot, establishes a duration of about 1,000
centuries at least for the last geological epoch, which began immedi-
ately after the retreat of the last great glaciers, which was character-
ized by the presence of the Mlephas primigenius and by the appear-
ance of man, and which ended at the beginning of the modern period,
the latter having already lasted, in his opinion, about 100 centuries.

FACTS ABOUT PETROLEUM.

The development of the business of obtaining petroleum in this
country has progressed during the past year with wonderful rapidity ; so
much so indeed that the business itself is now recognized as one of the
greatest and most lucrative branches of American industry. Respecting
the origin of the petroleum, its geological relations, and its industrial
applications and treatment, few facts additional to those already given
in the previous volumes of the Annual of Scientific Discovery have
been made known. Many new localities productive of oil have, how-
ever, been discovered; and it is the opinion of some geologists who
have given the subject attention, that the geographical area covered
by oil-bearing rocks on the North American Continent east of the
Mississippi, cannot be less than 200,000 square miles. Springs
yielding petroleum in immense quantities are also reported by Prof.
Silliman and others, as existing upon the Pacific coast.

We derive the following particulars respecting the present produc-
tion of petroleum in the oil-districts of Pennsylvania, mainly from the
correspondence of the New York World :—

The average depth at which oil is found by boring is from 550 to
600 feet; in some instances, however, the wells exceed 700 feet in
depth. Oil is not always obtained at once, but many of the best wells
have to be pumped for days or weeks, before they commence flowing.
All flowing weils, moreover, do not flow continuously, and some of
the phenomena presented are highly interestng. Thus, for example,
the so-called ‘‘ Yankee Well” located on Cherry Run, was sunk in
July, 1864, and is 606 feet deep. After being pumped two weeks,
the well yielded, by pumping, from ten to twenty barrels per day.
Afterwards, just as the workmen had started to pull the tubing for the
purpose of improving it, oil commenced to flow without pumping, at
the rate of thirty-five barrels, increasing at last to fifty barrels per day.
The flow is spasmodic, lasting from five to seven mimutes. ‘The time
of flow and the interval of quiet rarely vary over one or two minutes,
then ceasing for about 20 minutes.

Another well, the ‘‘ Gruniger,” in the same district, 600 feet deep,
first yielded, in September, 1864, by pumping, fifty barrels per day.
It subsequently began flowing without the aid of a pump, from fifty to
sixty barrels, increasing gradually to a hundred and fifty barrels per
day. It is now flowing about a hundred barrels, the flow being also
spasmodic, from three to five minutes duration, commencing every
twelve minutes. Other wells flow once in a half hour, and some only
once and for a short period in several days.

The following isasummary of the result of operations in February,

?

294 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

1865, in the district of Oil Creek, one of the most produciive of the
Pennsylvania oil localities, and embracing an area of 3,324 acres.

No. of wells down ; : : ; : 480
No. of wells producing . : : : : 189
Average daily yield, bbls. : : ; . 4,325
No. of wells to be put down . : : : 542

The most noticeable aspect of an oil well are a derrick, an engine
eouse, and many big tanks,—all very brown and oily, and all emitting
an odor which, at first repulsive, is afterwards bearable, and at last
becomes rather pleasant than otherwise. It the well is a pumping-
well, the rattle of the engine and machinery drowns that charm which,
in a flowing well, entrances the ear of the listener, viz: the luscious;
spontaneous flow of the oil. An iron pipe trained from the derrick
to the tank near by, conducts and delivers the precious product. Out
of this pipe with a sound like the ‘‘ blowing ” of a whale, pulsating in
greater or lesser volume according to the spasmodic force of the gas
below, the brown, rich fluid rushes into tank after tank; plashing the
surface of the reservoir into yellow foam, filling the atmosphere with
gas that rises and wavers like the heat from a red-hot stove,—night
and day unceasing,—a constant tribute of wealth to its owners. The
tankage of the wells varies according to their yield. Some have tank-
age for three thousand barrels. As these tanks are filled, the oil is
drawn off in barrels and shipped.

The history of some of the principal wells along Oil Creek is briefly
as follows :—

The ‘* Burned” well, was completed in April, 1861, at a depth of
330 feet. On the afternoon of April 17, while the workmen were
engaged in tubing, a stream of oil and gas suddenly lifted the tools
out of the well and leaped above the derrick in a continuous and sick-
ening volume. ‘The engineer put out his fires, and then, with the rest
of the hands, fled from the sickening odor that oppressed the air, A
crowd collected, some one in which, approaching too near, suddenly
ignited the gas, which went off with a terrific explosion, setting fire,
of course, to the stream of oil issuing fromthe well. The conflagration
that ensued, and which continued for four days and nights, finally
destroyed the well. The lives of several persons were lost. The well
has not yielded any since.

The ** Brawley” well, began to flow in the summer of 1861, yielding
600 barrels per day. After flowing a year and a half; the yield began
to diminish, It speedily ran down to nothing.

The ‘* Van Slyke” well, ‘‘ struck oil ” im the fall of 1861, at a
depth of about 500 feet, and first flowed at the rate of 600 barrels per
day. It also gave out in about a year and a half,

The ‘* Big Phillips” well struck oil in October, 1861, at a depth of
480 feet. ‘The estimated quantity of the original flow was from 3,000
to 4,000 barrels per day. The rush of oil was so overwhelming, that
it was several days before the well could be tubed; 40,000 or 50,000
barrels of oil were lost in the creek before the workmen finally got
control. The well was subsequently (like every other well yielding
at this period) not permitted to flow under any thing like full headway,
the price of oil being so low as not to pay. The flow began to decrease

GEOLOGY. 295
about the latter part of 1862. In this year another well the ‘‘ Wood-
ford” was put down near, which tapped the same vein of oil, and
assisted in diminishing the flow. ‘The ‘* BigPhillips” is now running at
the rate of 325 barrels per day. It is believed to be the only well
which began flowing without having been previously tubed.

The ‘* Woodford” well, alluded to above, was originally a 1,500 barrel
well. Its yield began to decrease in 1863, and finally ceased. Being
resuscitated, it is now pumping 50 barrels per day.

The *‘ Jones” well, put down in the latter part of 1862, within 30 feet
of the ‘‘ Woodford,” tapped the same vein, flowing 400 barrels per
day. Its flow decreased gradually until the well had to be pumped.
It is now doing nothing.

The ‘‘ Noble” well struck oil in April 1863. Its maximum daily
yield was between 1,900 and 2,000 barrels. It flowed six months with
undiminished volume, when it began to decrease. It was tlowing
until the ist of February 1865 at the rate of 150 to 200 barrels per day,
when an accident stopped it. This well is said to have netted its
owners over $ 3,000,000.

The ‘‘ Empire” weli was sunk in the fall of 1861, and began flow-
ing from 2,500 to 3,000 barrels per day. The flow continued, dimin-
ishing gradually for something over two years, when it stopped. ‘The
well lay idle about a year. in the summer of 1864, an air pump was
applied, which caused the well to resume flowing lehtly,—tive or six
barrels per day. ‘The flow then slowly increased to 140 barrels. The
well is now yielding 110 barrels per day.

Other wells have been partially resuscitated in like manner by the
use of an air pump.

The average actual yield of oil in the Pennsylvania oil region is, of
course, greatly exaggerated in the estimates and imaginations of most
parties who have read of the subject, and heard it talked of in a general
way. It is presumed by those who have most closely watched the de-
velopment of the oil product from the first, that whereas the yield in
1862 was from 10,000 to 12,000 barrels per day, it is now (February,
1865,) not more than 6,000 barrels. It is probable that the former
yield even exceeded the amount named, as, during 1862, all the large
flowmg wells then struck were prevented from running their full
quantity, owing to the merely nominal price of and demand for the
oil. Now, all the wells in the region are permitted and aided to de-
liver to their utmost capacity.

This decrease in the yield of a territory where, for more than four
years, the number of oil wells has been increasing, appears at the first
glance, quite inexplicable upon any other ground than that the supply
of oil is becoming exhausted. Some light, however, may be gained
on this subject from a brief review of the history of Pennsylvania oil
production from the commencement.

The mining of petroleum began as a business in 1860, but did not
prove very successful until 1861. The first well was sunk in 1859,
near Titusville, Pa. It yielded some eight barrels per day. In the
summer of 1861, a number of flowing wells were opened at Oil Creek,
The consumption of the article was, however, very small, while the
p7eduction was suddenly increased from about 150 barrels daily in
February to some 2,500 barrels daily in August, and more than 6,000

296 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

barrels daily in December of the same year. The spring of 1863 was
signalized by a much larger increase. The price of crude oil was re-
duced from 25 cents to less than one cent per gallon in the same time.
But excessive cheapness forced consumption, both in this country and
abroad, with unparalleled rapidity, so that, in the latter months of 1862,
there occurred a large but spasmodic rise in the value of the oil. The
unremunerative prices which had hitherto prevailed checked production,
causing all small wells and interests to be abandoned. The year 1863
saw rising, although heavily fluctuating, prices. ‘This state of the
market continued, merging into a more even upward graduation of
values, through the year 1864, when crude oil sold at one time as high
as 13.50 per barrel at the wells.

The large flowing wells have generally stopped after 25 or 30
months’ flow. Some few have continued with diminished volume over
three years. The pumping wells have averaged about the same du-
ration. In 1863, and until the latter part of 1864, comparatively few
new wells were sunk. During this period many wells gave out and
many were abandoned. Quite recently, however, it has been ascer-
tained, that by using the air-pump, wells which had ceased to pro-
duce oil could be made to resume their yield. This fact is now es-
tablished. A great many wells that were considered exhausted have
been resuscitated, and are now yielding very considerable quantities
of oil. The spontaneous flow of oil is undoubtedly due to a pressure
of gas evolved from the petroleum greater than the pressure of the
atmosphere. When this greater pressure is reduced by exhaustion
to an equilibrium with the atmospheric pressure, the flow ceases un-
til artificial pressure is applied or until a fresh accumulation of the gas
causes a resumption of the flow.

‘«Tt may be safely said, then, thatit is, up to this time, not the ex-
haustion of the oil, but the exhaustion of the gas which elevates the oil,
that has produced an embarrassment to oil mining which threatened -
at one time to hazard its success, but which is now obviated by the
application of new and efficient inventions. ‘The many instances in
which wells have been resuscitated after apparent failure have led ob-
serving oil-producers to believe that good oil lands will yield the ar-
ticle to an indefinite future period.”

THE ROCKS IN WHICH PETROLEUM IS FOUND.

Mr. R. P. Stevens, of New York, a geological expert, contributes
to the Scientific American the following description of the rocks in
which petroleum occurs in the North American Continent. The
lowest geological horizon, or stratum, in which petroleum is found of
commercial importance, is in Canada, at Enniskillen, near Lake St.
Clair. The oil isin the corniferous limestone. (New York nomen-
clature Devonian System), which is largely composed of fragments of
corals, with sea shells cemented together. The cavities of these corals
and sea shells are often filled with liquid bitumen, which distils from
them, as can be seen in the walls of the Second Presbyterian Church,
in Chicago. This limestone in the United States is in its maximum
about 350 or 400 feet thick. Immediately overlying the limestone is
the Marcellus shale, which is so highly charged with bitumen as to lead
to great expenditures of time and money in vainly looking for coal in

GEOLOGY. 297

it. Itis about 50 feet thick in Canada. These two rock formations,
then, which in Canada are not over 150 feet in thickness, are the res-
ervoirs, holding rock oil, however and whenever formed, in that country.

Ascending inthe geological scale, and passing over into New York,
the next stratum of rock yielding bitumen, oil and gas, is there known
as the Hamilton Group, about 1,000 feet thick. The oil springs of
Western New York, along the banks of its numerous lakes, are mainly
in this group of rocks. They have as yet yielded oil only in small
quantities for medicinal purposes. But they afford ample scope and
verge for exploration.

Above this group succeed black shales, known as the Genesee
Slate, 300 feet thick. The wells of Mecca, Ohio, and others of that
region are most probably in this rock. Above the Genesee Slate
comes in the Portage Group of slates and sandstones, 1,700 feet
thick. The deeper wells of Oil Creek, Pa. will reach the sandstones
of this group.

Still above lie the rocks of the Chemung Group, which are mainly
composed of thin-bedded slates and limestones. In its maximum it
is 3,200 feet thick, but im Western New York and Pennsylvania if is
much thinner, being only about 1,000 feet thick. Much of the oil of
Oil Creek is from this group; 400 and 500 feet of it are seen in the
cliffs and hills of Oil Creek, the Alleghany River, and its tributaries
above, and in Venango County.

Measuring the maximum development of all the rocks enume-
rated we find between the oil of Canada and Venango County, Pa.
6,000 to 7,000 feet of sedimentary rock, all of which bear the ap-
pearance of having been deposited in sea water. The entire group of
rocks enumerated are known as the Devonian Series in England.
The oil springs of Eastern Canada and New Brunswick, along the
Gulf of Newfoundland, are in the upper members of this series.

Leaving for the present those portions of the United States where oil
has been most successfully found, and before coming into the gevlogical
strata of the thick and heavy oils, we have on the eastern flanks of the
Appalachian Mountains, in Pennsylvania and Virginia, 5,000 feet of the
Catskill group of rocks. (Ponent of Prof. Rogers.) Lapping around the
southern outcrop of thecoal measures of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois,
there are 200 feet of the lower carboniferous and 3,000 feet of the middle
carboniferous. (Umbral of Rogers.) <A total in the aggregate, as meas-
ured in Nova Scotia and the United States, cf 1,500 feet. Throughout
the whole of the series oil and gas springs are found.

We now come into the true coal measures. ‘These are divided into
lower, middle, barren measures and upper, a total of the bituminous
portion of 2,500 feet. 'The lowest member of the coal series caps the
highest hills, near the mouth of Oil Creek, and lies about 600 feet above
the bed of the creek, or 1,300 feet above the third sand rock, which is
the most abundant oil-producing stratum. At the Kiskiminetas, Slippery
Rock, Butler Co., Pa., Beaver & Smith’s Ferry, oil is in the lower coal
measures—800 feet thick. High up the Kiskiminetas and on the Mo-
nongahela River, oil is found in the middle coal series 1,000 feet thick.
At Marietta, Ohio, and in the oil region around the strata of the upper
coal are the productive series.

To conclude, then, oil is found through 24,000 feet of rocks, as meas-

298 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ured vertically in the geological scale, and geographically from Nova
Scotia to Lake St Clair, and from Virginia to Tennessee River. The
geographical area, covered by the oil- “bearing group of rocks in the
United States, Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, cannot be less
than 200,000 square miles.

Over this area, wherever oil and gas springs are found, there we may
reasonably hope for success in boring deeply for oil. But oil and gas
springs are not always sure indications of subterraneous supplies of oil
in their immediate vicinity, for the course the fluids may have pursued
from deep depths to the surface may have been very tortuous. Neither
is the absence of such springs absolute negative proof of oleaginous aceu-
mulations beneath, for in many very notable instances, such as the lower
portion of Oil Gace and at Smith’s Ferry, on the Ohio River, very
copious fountains were struck where no surfice signs were visible.

I deduce the following practical and economical conclusions : First,
Each widely-separated locality must be governed by its own luvs as
developed by boring and observation. Second, Each geological horizon
or stratum of oil- bearing rock received its supply , not from “another, but
from causes operating at the time of its own deposition. Third, There is
not now any reproduction of oil, but we are drawing from fountains filled of
old. Fourth, No stratum of rock is so thor oughly saturated with oil as
to form a subterranean sheet or belt of rocks where petroleum is surely
to be found, but in frequently isolated cavities, or fissures, at various
depths and-of various sizes, and containing diverse grades of oils,

THE GEOLOGY OF CALIFORNIA.

From communications made to Silliman’s Journal by Prof. J. D.
Whitney, we derive the following summary of facts developed in the
geological survey of California :—

In the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, abundant proofs have been
obtained respecting the former existence of glaciers of great magnitude,
Thousands of acres of granite retain the most exqui isite olacia J polish,
and the existence of lateral, medial, and terminal moraines is as—
easily observed as in the Alps at the present day.

Perhaps the most striking result of the survey is the proof of the
immense development, on the Pacific side of our continent, of rocks
equivalent in age to the Upper Trias cf the Alps. It is believed that
this formation extends from Mexico to British Columbia: ovcupying a
vast area, although much broken up, interrupted and covered by vol-
eanic and eruptive rocks, and usually much metamorphosed.

Accompanying this Triassic formation in the Sierra Nevada is an
extensive development of Jurassic rocks. Enough, however, have
been found to justify the assertion that the sedimentary portion of
the great metaliiferous belt of the Pacific coast of North America is
chietly made up of rocks of Jurassic and Triassic age, with a compar-
atively small development of carboniferous limestone, and that these
two formations are so folded together, broken up, and metamorphosed
in the great chain of the Sierra Nevada, that it will be an immense
labor, ‘if indeed possible at all, to unravel its detailed structure.
While we are fully justified in saying that @ large portion of the aurif-
erous rocks of California consist of metamorphic Triassic and Juras~
sie strata, we have not a particle of evidence to uphold the theory

GEOLOGY. 299

that has been so often maintained, that all, or even a portion, of the
auriferous slates are older than the carboniferous, not a trace of a
Devonian and Silurian fossil ever having been discovered in Califor-
nia, or indeed anywhere to the west of the 116th meridian. On the
other hand, we are able to state, referring to the theory of the oceur-
rence of gold being chiefly limited to Silurian rocks, that this metal
beeurs in no inconsiderable quantity in metamorphic rocks belonging
as high up in the series as the cretaceous.

The eretaceous formation in California is also extensive, and em-
braces toa great extent the coast ranges of both California and
Oregon. The formation, however, so far as known, is represented
on the Pacific coast by but a single member,—the upper or white
chalk.

In regard to the relative ages of the different mountain chains of
the Pacific coast, Prof. Whitney says :—

«Phere can be no doubt that the chain of the Sierra Nevada is
older than the Rocky Mountain chain, or that group of chains or
ranges which forms the eastern border of the great mountain region
of the western side of the continent. The great mass of the Sierra
was uplifted and metamorphosed after the termination of the Jurassic
epoch, and prior to the deposition of the Cretaceous, for we find the
last-named formation resting horizontally and unaltered on the flanks
of the Sierra, all through Central California.”

‘* We have recognized at least three distinct periods of upheaval
and metamorphic action in the coast ranges. The main one
was at the close of the Cretaceous epoch; the next in importance
was after the deposition of the Miocene tertiary,—or, at least,
of a group of strata which, for the present, may be referred to that
age. ‘The next in age is a system of east and west upheavals, which
took place at the close of the Miocene; and the third is one which
appears to have commenced during the later Pliovene, and to be still
going on.

‘Tt is a very interesting fact that the exterior of the coast ranges
—that is to say, the mountains nearest the Pacific—are of earlier date,
or older geologically, than the interior ones, or those which border
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. This is a repetition on a
smaller scale of what has been the course of events in tne formation
of the whole continent, the exterior lines having been first marked
out, and the interior filled up afterwards.”

The vast detrital deposits on the flanks of the Sierra Nevada, where
hydraulic and tunnel mining operations for gold are carried on, are of
tertiary age. It has been assumed that they were of marine origin,
but an examination of them has proved to the contrary, as is proved
by the fact that, although frequently found to contain impressions of
leaves, masses of wood and imperfect coal, and even whole buried
forests, as well as the remains of land animals, and oceasionaily thase
of fresh water, not a trace of any marine production has ever been
found in them.

Again, these detrital deposits are not distributed over the flanks of
the Sierra in any such way as they would have been if they were the
result of the action of the sea. On the contrary, there is every rea-
son to believe that they consist of materials which have been brought

300 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

down from the mountain hights above and deposited in pre-existing
valleys: sometimes in very narrow accumulations, simple beds of
ancient rivers, and at other times in wide lake-like expansions of for-
mer watercourses ; and this under the action of causes similar to those
now existing, but probably of considerably greater intensity. The
deposition of detritus, for the most part auriferous, took place during
the later Pliocene epoch, and not as late as the drift or diluvial period,
as is abundantly proved by the character of the remains of plants and
land animals which are imbedded in it. The deposition of this aurif-
erous detritus was succeeded, throughout the whole extent of the
Sierra Nevada, by a tremendous outbreak of volcanic energy, during
which the auriferous gravel was covered by heavy accumulations of
volcanic sediments, ashes, pumice, and the like, finally winding up by
a general outpouring of lava, which naturally flowed from the summits
of the Sierra through the valleys, into the lake-like expansions, filling
them up and covering over the auriferous gravels, which were to re-
main for ages, as it. were, in a hidden treasure-chamber, concealed
under hundreds of feet in thickness of an almost indestructible ma-
terial.

The effect of the denudation which has taken place since these
streams of lava flowed down the mountains, has been most extraordi-
nary. For now, these deposits of gravel and overlying volcanic
materials, instead of occupying the depressions of the surface, are
found forming high plateaux between the present river canons and
flat-topped ridges, known as ‘‘ Table mountains,” hundreds or even
thousands of feet above the present river beds. Thus the topography
of the country is exactly the reverse of what it was at the commence-
ment of the present geological epoch: what were once valleys are
now ridges, and the ridges of former times were where the im-
mense canons of the rivers flowing down the western slope of the
Sierra now are.

The Mammalian remains found in the tunnel and placer diggings of
California seem to belong to two distinct epochs. The oldest repre-
sents the Phocene, the other the Post-tertiary. The former are found
under the volcanic beds, the latter in deposits which have been formed
since the period of greatest volcanic activity, and which apparently
belong to the epoch of Man. For it appears that the facts collected
by this Survey, when fully laid before the public, will justify the asser-
tion that the mastodon and elephant, whose remains are so widely and
abundantly scattered through California, have been cotemporaneous
with Man in that region.

Tie Highest Mountains in the United States.—A reconnoissance of
the Sierra range, between the parallels of 36° and 38°, recently under-
taken by Messrs. Brewer, King, and others, shows that this portion
of the State of California, previously unexplored and unknown, contains
the greatest mass of mountains, taking width and average elevation
into consideration, which has yet been discovered within the limits of
the United States, and perhaps on the North American Continent ; at
one point, within the field of view of the explorers, there were observed
five mountains of over 14,000 feet elevation; and about 50 peaks
which rose to a hight of over 13,000 feet. The culminating point
of the Sierra Nevada in this district was, moreover, believed to be not

GEOLOGY. 201

short of 15,000 feet above the sea level, which is considerably higher
than Mt. Shasta, hitherto regarded as the most lofty peak in the
United States. Prof. Whitney also states, that it is by no means
impossible that some other points of the range are even yet more
elevated.

These great mountains lie for the most part between the heads of
King’s and Kern rivers, somewhat north of the north end of Owen’s
lake. Between the peaks are vast snow-fields, and also numberless
deep lakes, of which the most elevated are frozen. ‘The sides of these
mountains are clothed in part with anew, and as yet not named, spe-
cies of pine, of a peculiar black, or bluish-green color, which color
‘*rather augments than relieves the desolate naked aspect” of the vast
masses of granite and snow.

ON THE GLACIAL EPOCH.

The following is the abstract of a lecture recently given on the above
subject, before the Royal Institution, by Prof. Frankland. He referred
to the fact, that in every part of the globe, indubitable evidences are found
of the characteristic grinding and polishing action of ice-masses, and that
a recent visit to Norway had led him to devote much attention to the ex-
amination of the causes of the formation of these mighty agents ; since
modern research has led to the conclusion that the glaciers of the present
time were merely the dried-up streamlets of ancient ice-rivers of enormous
size, and which have evaded the valleys of the Alps, scooped out the lochs
of Scotland, formed the fjords of Norway, and largely contributed features
in Our Own mountain scenery.

Two thousand miles of coast, from Christiana to North Cape, are ice-
searred ; the rocks rarely rising above 700 feet or 800 feet ; and not pre-
senting a sharp, rugged outline, but being polished and smooth to their
summits. When, however, the Arctic Circle is approached, the scenery
is changed, the hills become momntains, with peaks which have owed their
immunity from the abrading influence of ice action entirely to their hight,
the lower parts being smooth and polished, while the upper retain a variety
of fantastic shapes. Prof. Frankland referred to the following theories,
which he considered to be untenable on geological and physical grounds :
1. That the temperature of space is not uniform, and that our solar system
sometimes passes through colder regions than at present. 2. That the
heat emitted from the sun is subject to variations, and that the glacial
epoch occurred furing “a cold solar period.” 3. That at one time, a
different distribution of land and water had rendered the climate of certain
localities colder than at present. 4. Karrutz’s idea, that at the time
of the glacial period the mountains were much higher than at present
(Mount Blane, for instance, was about 20,000 feet), the secondary and
tertiary formation having been eroded from their summits during the
glacial epoch. Prof. Frankland stated that his own theory, based upon
Dr. 'Tyndall’s researches on radiant heat and aqueous vapor, assumed the
formation of glaciers to be a true process of distillation, requiring heat as
much as cold for its due performance. The great natural apparatus would
be the ocean as the “ evaporator,” the mountains being the “ ice-bearers
or receivers,” and only in a subordinate sense the “ condensers,” the true
‘‘condenser” being the dry air of the upper part of the atmosphere,
which permits the free radiation into space, of the heat from the aqueous
26

ad
.

302 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

vapor. This theory was illustrated by experiment, the radiation of heat
from aqueous vapor being proved by the galvanometer. Prof. Frank-
land, at some length, adduced his reasons for believing that this theory
took cognizance of the following points in the history of the glacial
epoch. 1. That its effects were felt over the entire globe. 2. That it
occurred at a geological period. 3. That it was preceded by a period of
indefinite duration, in which glacial action was entirely wanting, or very
insignificant. 4. That during its continuance, atmospheric precipitation
was much greater, and the hight of the snow-line considerably less than
at present. 5. That it was followed by a period up to the present
time—when glacial action became again insignificant,—the sole c.use of
the phenomena of the glacial epoch being due to the oceans, then having
a higher temperature than now, and when the globe was cooling down,
the land cooling more rapidly than the sea. In conclusion, Prof. Frank-
land expressed his opinion that the moon had also passed through a gla-
cial epoch, and that the valleys, hills, and streaks of its surface (which
were shown in a magnified photograph by the electric lamp), were not
improbably due to glacial action; adding, with reference to the apparent
desolate condition of the moon, that it is probable “ that a liquid ocean
can only exist upon the surface of a planet so long as the latter retains a
high internal temperature ; that, therefore, the moon becomes a prophetic
picture of the ultimate fate awaiting our own earth, when, deprived of an
external ocean, and of all but an annual rotation upon its axis, it shall re-
volve around the sun, an arid, lifeless wilderness, one hemisphere ex-
posed to the perpetual glare of acloudless. sun, the other shrouded in
eternal night.”

THE INCREASING DESICCATION OF INNER SOUTHERN AFRICA.

A paper on the above subject was read by Mr. J. F. Wilson, at the
Jast meeting of the British Association. A very noticeable fact has of
late years attracted the attention of residents in South Africa,—namely,
the gradual drying up of large tracts of country in the Trans-Gariep
region. The Calabari Desert is gaining in extent, gradually swallowing
up large portions of habitable country on its borders. Springs of water
have diminished in their flow, and pools,—such as that at Serotli, de-
scribed by Livingstone,—are now either dry or rapidly becoming so. A
long list of springs and pools now gradually drying up was given by the
author of the paper. ‘The great change, however, had commenced if we
may trust native traditions, long before the advent of Europeans, which
are corrobor:ted by the existence of an immense number of stumps and
roots of acacize in tracts where now not a single living tree is to be seen.
In seeking to account for this, it was necessary to dismiss from the mind
all idea of cosmical changes or earthquakes, of which no trace is visible in
Southern Africa. The causes lie in the physical characteristics of the
country and in the customs of the inhabitants. The region drained by
the Orange River is naturally arid, from the interposition of the Quath-
lamba Mountains between it and the Indian Ocean, whence the chief
rain-clouds are derived. The prevailing winds are from the northeast.
The clouds heavily laden with vapor from the Indian Ocean, are. driven
over Caffraria, watering these lands luxuriously: but when the moisture-
bearing nimbi arrive at the summits of the mountain range which divides
Caffraria from the interior country, they are not only deprived already

GEOLOGY. 303

of part of their moisture, but they meet with the rarefied air of the cen-
tral plains, and consequently rise higher and evaporate into thinner vapor.
There are few spots, however, which are wholly destitute of vegetation,
and large trees are frequent. There is no district which does not main-
tain its flocks of wild animals; but the diminution of even one or two
inches of rain in the year is most severely felt. The author came to the
conclusion, »fter a careful inquiry into the geological formations of the
region and the sources of springs, that much water must lhe, throughout
wide tracts, deep below the surface of the soil, and that the boring of
artesian wells would yield a permanent supply for irrigation. But as a
remedy for the growing evil, he laid particular stress on legislative enact-
ments to check reckless felling of timber and burning of pastures, which
had long been practised both by the natives and the European colonists.

Sir J. Alexander quoted instances to show how the destruction of
trees led to the desiccation of countries, especially in or near the tropical
zone. ‘The protection of forests on hillsides, it was shown, had long been
part of the policy of the Indian Government. Capt. Jenkins cited, as
coming within his own experience, the instance of the arid territory of
the Imaum of Muscat, which in a few years, owing to the wise fore-
thought of the Imaum in extensively planting cocoa-nut and date-palms,
had much increased in humidity and fertility,

ON A CHANGE IN THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF A COUNTRY
CAUSED BY ANIMALS.

In a paper read before the British Association, 1864,—on the
country west of the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, along the
line of the Thompson River,— by Dr. Cheadle and Viscount Milton,
the authors stated, that a great portion of the country to the east of
the mountains was noticed to have been completely changed in char-
acter by the agency of the beaver, which formerly existed here in
enormous numbers. The shallow valleys were formerly traversed by
rivers and chains of lakes which, dammed up along their course, at
numerous points, by the work of these animals, have become a
series of marshes in various stages of consolidation. So complete
has this change been, that hardly a stream is found for a distance of
200 miles, with the exception of the large rivers. ‘The animals have
thus destroyed, by their own labors, the waters necessary to their ex-
istence. In the Thompson and Frazer river valleys, the travelers
noticed a series of raised terraces on a grand scale. They were
traced for 100 miles along the Thompson, and for about 200 miles
along the Frazer river ; forming three tiers on each side of the valley,
each tier being of the same hight as the corresponding one on the oppo-
site side. ‘The lowest terrace was of great width and presented a per-
fectly level surface, raised some 30 or 40 feet above the water. The
second was seldom more than 100 yards wide, and stood at about 50
or 60 feet above the lower one. The third lay at a hight of 400 or
500 feet above the river on the face of the inaccessible bluffs. ‘They
were all perfectly uniform and free from the rocks and boulders which
encumber the present bed of the river, being composed of sand,
gravel, and shale, the detritus of the neighboring mountams. The
explanation of these phenomena is to be sought in the barrier of the
lofty cascade chain of mountains, through which the Frazer has

304 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

pierced a way lower down the valley. Ata former period, the val-
leys of the Frazer and the Thompson seem to have been occupied by
a succession of lakes, the cascade ridge then forming a barrier which
dammed up this great volume of water. The highest tier of terraces
would mark the level at which it then stood. ‘Some geological con-
vulsion caused a rent in the mountain barrier, allowing the waters to
escape partially, so as to form a chain of lakes at the level of the
middle terraces; and subsequently, after long periods of repose. two
other similar disturbances successively deepened the cleft, and drained
the waters first to the hight of the lowest terrace, and finally to their

present level.
ORGANIC REMAINS IN THE LAURENTIAN ROCKS OF CANADA,

One of the most interesting of recent geological discoveries has
been the detection of the remains of a protozoic animal in lower
series of the Laurentian rocks of Canada, which are among the oldest
of the stratified rocks which have been designated as Azoic (want-
ing in life). The facts relating to this discovery are substantially as
follows :—

The oldest known rocks of North America, composing the Lau-
rentian Mountains in Canada, and the Adirondacks of New York,
have been divided into two unconformable groups, which have been
called the Upper and Lower Laurentian respectively. In both divis-
ions zones of limestone are known to occur, and three of these
zones have been ascertained to belong to the Lower Laurentian.
From one of these limestone bands, occurring at the Grand Calumet
on the River Ottawa, Mr. J. McCulloch obtained, in 1858, specimens
apparently of organic origin, and other specimens have also been
obtained from Grenville and Burgess. These specimens consist of
alternating layers of calcareous spar, and a magnesian silicate (either
serpentine, white pyroxene, phyrallolite, or Loganite),— the latter
minerals, instead of replacing the skeleton of the organic form, really
filling up the interspaces of the calcareous fossil. Dr. Dawson of
Montreal, carefully examined the laminated material, and he found it
to consist of the remains of an organism which grew in large ses-
sile patches, increasing at the surface by the addition of successive
layers of chimbers separated by calcareous lamin. Slices examined
microscopically showed large irregular chambers with numerous
rounded extensions, and bounded by walls of variable thickness,
which are studded with septal orifices irregularly disposed; the thick-
er parts of the walls revealed the existence of bundles of fine branch-
ing tubuli. Dr. Dawson, therefore, concludes that this ancient organ-
ism, to which he gave the name of Hozoén Canadense, was a
Foraminifer allied to Carpenteria, by its habits of growth, but of
more complex structure, as indicated by the complicated systems of
tubuli; it attained an enormous size, and by the aggregation of indi-
viduals, assumed the aspect of a coral reef. In a paper read before
the (London) Geological Society, Nov. 1864, Dr. Carpenter, the
eminent English microscopist and physiologist, corroborated Dr.
Dawson’s observations on the structure and aflinities of Hozoén, but
stated also that, as he considered the characters furnished by the in-
timate structure of the shell to be of primary importance, and the

GEOLOGY, 305
plan of growth to have a very subordinate value, he did not hesitate
to express his belief in its affinities to Nummulina. Mr. Sterry
Hunt also stated that the mineral silicates, occurring in the chambers,
cells, and canals left vacant by the disappearance of the animal matter
of the Hozoén, and in many cases even in the tubuli, filling up their
smallest ramifications, are a white pyroxene, a pale green serpentine,
anda dark green alumino-magnesian mineral, which he referred to
Loganite. The calcareous septa in the last case are dolomitic, but
in the other instances are composed of nearly pure carbonate of lime.
Mr. Hunt then showed that the various silicates already mentioned
were directly deposited in waters in the midst of which the Hozoén
was still growing or had only recently perished, and that they pene-
trated, enclosed, and preserved the structure of the organisms pre-
cisely as carbonate of lime might have done; and he cites these and
other facts in support of his opinion that these silicated minerals were
formed, not by subsequent metamorphism in deeply buried sediments,
but by reactions going on at the earth’s surface.

FISH THROWN UP FROM ARTESIAN WELLS.

The statement has been frequently made of late years that with the
water thrown up from mies of the artesian wells, recently bored by
the French in the northern district of the Sahara desert, small fish have
been ejected, from depths of 150 to 200 feet. This statement, which
has been generally discredited, is now, however, proved to he true ;
M. Desor, the eminent Swiss naturalist, who has recently returned
from an exploration of the Northern Sahara, testifying to its authen-
ticity. He states in a recent letter, that he ‘‘ found the fish in the
stream leading from one of the wells, at the oasis Ain-Tala, where the
fish were observed when the water first rose to the surface. It is im-
possible that these fish should come from any where else than from
out of the well, for the water stands in no communication with either
basin or river. The fish belong to the family of carps, and if I am
not mistaken, to the proper species of Cyprinodon. The most curious
thing is that these fish, although coming from the interior of the earth,
from a depth of more than 150 feet, have nothing sickly or misshapen
about them; they are of a most remarkable liveliness, and, what is
especially worthy of note, have fine, large, completely healthy eyes. ,
You know that the fish and other aquatic animals which are found in
the subterranean ponds of the Adelsberg Cavern in Steyermark, and
in the Mammoth Cavern in Kentucky, are all blind. Their ocular
organs are stunted, and often nothing is left of the eye but the optic
nerve. Some naturalists therefore, have tried to classify them as a
species of their own, while others maintain that every organ deprived
of the opportunity to exercise its functions must necessarily degen-
erate at last, and become defective. But here we have a fish from
the interior of the earth, with perfect eyes. How are we to account
for this? I confess that this phenomenon puzzles me, yet I think I
- have found the key to the riddle. The subterranean basin, which
feeds the artesian wells, must be of considerable dimensions, as the
water springs up on a space of many square miles, wherever it is
bored. Besides these artificial wells, there are ponds in several oases,
especially that - iron fed by rich sources, and from which real

306 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

brooks spread in different directions. ‘These ponds harbor the same_
little Cyprinodonts which rise in the water of the artesian wells, by
which I conclude that a subterranean connection exists between the
ponds and the wells. Probably they visit those ponds periodically
perhaps to spawn; this would explain why their eyes, and their forma-
tion in general, show nothing abnormal.

DISCOVERY OF EMERY IN THE UNITED SYTATES.

It has been remarked that ‘‘a good mine of emery is worth more
to a manufacturing people than many mines of gold.” At a recent
meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, Dr. C. T. Jackson
announced the discovery of an apparently inexhaustible mine of
emery in the town of Chester, Western Massachusetts, on the line of
the Springfield and Albany railroad. For some time the existence of
magnetic iron-ore was recognized in this locality, and the deposit
worked to some extent, but on examination, Dr.-Jackson found that
the ore in question was in great part pure emery. The principal bed
is in some places ten feet in thickness, and has been traced some four
miles. In appearance it resembles the emery of Naxos and practical
tests of it in grinding sword-blades at the Ames Manufacturing Co.
at Chicopee, are said to be every way satisfactory.

MICROSCOPICAL STRUCTURE OF METEORITES.

Mr. H. C. Sorby, eminent for his application of the principles of
physics in explaining geological phenomena, and his study of the
microscopical structure of crystals, has turned his attention to the
structure of meteorites. In a paper recently presented to the Royal
Society he says that, in the first place, it is important to remark that
the olivine of meteorites contains most excellent ‘‘ glass cavities”
similar to those in the olivine of lavas, thus proving that the material
was at one time in a state of igneous fusion. The olivine also con-
taims ‘‘ gas cavities” like those so common in volcanic minerals, thus
indicating the presence of some gas or vapor. To see these cavities
distinctly, a carefully prepared thin section and a magnifying power
of several hundreds are required. The vitreous substance found in
the cavities is also to be met with outside and amongst the crystals,
in such a manner as to show that it is the uncrystalline residue of the
material in which they were formed. It is of a claret or brownish
color, and possesses the characteristic structure and optical properties
of artificial glasses. Some isolated portions of meteorites have also a
structure very similar to that of stony lavas, where the shape and mu-
tual relations of the crystals to each other proved that they were
formed in situ on solidification. <A structure is also found so remark-
ably like that of consolidated volcanic ashes as to be taken for it. It
would appear that after the material of the meteorites was melted,
a considerable portion was broken up into small fragments, subse-
quently collected together, and more or less consolidated by mechan-
ical and chemical means, amongst which must be classed a segrega-
tion of iron either in the metallic state or in combination with other
substances. ‘* There are,” says Mr. Serby, ‘‘ certain peculiarities
in physicalstructure which connect meteorites with voleanic rocks, and
at the same time, others in which they differ most characteristically, —

GEOLOGY. 307

facts which, I think, must be borne in mind not only in forming a
conclusion as to the origin of meteorites, but also in attempting to
explain volcanic action in general.”

ON THE MOA, OR GIGANTIC BIRD OF NEW ZEALAND. *

Ata recent meeting of the Linnean Society of London, Mr. T.
Allis exhibited some of the bones of the New Zealand Moa, in a most
perfect state of preservation, the same having been found under a
deposit of shifting sand. It had apparently been surprised whilst
sitting on its young ones, the bones of which were also found with
those of the parent. In the discussion which followed, Dr. Hooker
suggested that the perfect condition and high state of preservation
which the bones exhibited might possibly be the result of preservation
in ice, similar instances being on record, but the other speakers
took an entirely different view of the subject, and thought that the
bird to which these enormous bones belonged had probably been
living within ten years. If this conclusion be correct, it seems ex-
traordinary that no more precise information can be obtained from the
natives, a race remarkable for their intelligence; for, if so gigantic a
creature were living ten years ago, it seems impossible that no more
accurate information respecting jt should exist than the vague and
most unsatisfactory reports which have been collected by “English
emigrants. However, a very important point is settled in bringing
the history of the bird down to the time when New Zealand was
colonized by the British. It were indeed presumptuous to affirm that
a moa will still be found alive; but the evidence now before us shows
that such an event is any thing but impossible. In considering this
subject, we must bear in mind that, being continually at war with the
natives, we are debarred from that free access to the interior, and from
that unrestrained exploration, which are absolutely necessary in such a
case as this. ‘The wary character of the ostrich tribe is well known:
in the Great Sahara the ostrich himself is only to be discovered at an
immense distance, and yet there are no intervening objects behind
which he could shelter. © It is very different in New Zealand: there
the moa, if possessed of half the subtlety of the ostrich, might escape
for years the notice of a few Europeans who have ventured to intrude
on his haunts.

DISLOCATIONS OF THE EARTH’S CRUST.

Dislocations of the earth’s crust of various kinds, such as elevations
or depressions, are accounted for by Dr. Bischof the eminent author
of the Elements of Chemical and Physical Geology in the following
manner. ** Exhalations of carbonic acid are of universal occurrence,
and originate at great depths, for the deeper we penetrate the more
abundant they become. Rocks occurring at such great and imaccessible
depths are chiefly silicates, like the oldest of the known formations,—
a fact which the volcanic eruptions of lava confirm. These silicates
are decomposed by carbonic acid ascending to the surface, the decom-

osition being facilitated by the increase of temperature towards the
interior of the earth. The products are silicate of alumina and certain
carbonates, silica being displaced. When minerals or rocks combine
with Siher substances, not only an increase of matter, but also an
increase of volume takes place, provided that such combination does not

308 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

involve an increase of specific gravity. On the other hand, if the
latter be decreased, the- volume must be increased in a still greater
proportion than the matter. Such is the case when silicates are de-
composed by carbonic acid. The specific gravity of the products of
decomposition being below that of the undecomposed minerals, their
volume must necessarily be greatly increased. Ifa mountain composed
of silicates be supposed to exist, its upper parts being exposed to
decomposition by carbonic acid and rain, then, if there be amorphous
silicate of alumina in the lower parts of this mountain, and if the sol-
uble products of decomposition (say alkaline silicates) were carried
downwards by means of water, crystals of feldspar may be produced
increasing the bulk of the mountain, and thus causing elevation. Not
only will the upper parts be thus elevated from below, but they will also
raise themselves, should their increase, through combination with water,
be greater than the decrease of bulk caused by substances carried down-
wards. Dr. Bischof cites the slow rising of portions of the Scandi-
navian area, where crystalline rocks containing silicates occur, as a
geological proof of the action of the cause explained above in the
elevation of rock masses; adding that, where silicates are absent, as in
the south of Sweden, there has been no upheaval. Additional facts
and arguments will be found in No. 78 of the Journal of the Geological
Society, from which the foregoing notes have been selected.

GEOLOGICAL SUMMARY.

Decrease of the Supply of Copper.—While the demand for copper is
yearly increasing, it would appear that the supply is decreasing. The
mines of England, oy hih, and Cuba, all show diminished and diminish-
ing products. Thus, in 1856, the British copper mines produced yearly
24,527 tons of me ‘tal : since which time their product has declined,
till 1863, when their yield was only 14,247 tons, showing in seven
years a decrease of 10,280 tons. The copper product of the United
States is on the contrary, rapidly increasing.

Negative Evidence in Geology.—Many disputes in geology are
founded upon the generally unwarrantable assumption that certain ani-
mals or plants could never have existed, because their remains have
not been found. It is, therefore, interesting to note a modern instance,
in which naturalists are without that kind of proof, furnished by a
specimen, of the existence of an enormous animal, apparently not un-
common. Dr. Gray, speaking of the Physetes, or Black fish of the
whalers, states in the Annals Net. Hist., ‘‘there is not a bone, nor
even a fragment of a bone, nor any part which can be proved to have
belonged to a specimen of this gigantic animal to be seen im any mu-
seum in Europe. This is the more remarkable, as the animal grows
to the length of more than 50 feet, is mentioned under the name of the
Black fish in almost all whaling voyages, and two specimens of it were
examined by Sibbold, having occurred on the coast of Scotland.”

Minute Geologie Evidence-—Mr. Edward Blyth has recently pointed
out the existence of two very distinct forms of deposit, which are
occasionally found on the teeth of fossil herbivora. By an examina-
tion of these the geologist is to some extent, enabled to determine
whether an animal has been in the wild or domesticated condition.
‘* There is a small particular or character which generally distinguishes

GEOLOGY. 3809

a wild herbivorous animal from a tame one; and this is a certain in-
crustation of brown tartar upon the teeth.” This deposit he did not
find upon the porcine relics at the Wrekin, but he fancied, at first,
that he detected it upon the teeth of the fossil bovine remains in Ire-
land. However, after examining the latter more carefully, he noticed
a ferruginous deposit from the peat, which might easily be mistaken
for the incrustation of brown tartar. ‘‘ In the one case there would
be traces of parasitic life under the microscope,—not so in the other
case. The incrustation from the peat covered the whole tooth, at
least as much of it as was not of the bony alveolus; whereas the tartar
incrustation was only upon that portion of the tooth that had not been
imbedded in the gum. The latter was conspicuously present in sundry
teeth of Megaceros hibernicus and of Cervus elaphus.” We presume
that for this reason Mr. Blyth regards these species as belonging to
the category of domesticated animals, but we wish the evidence was a
little more convincing.—Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science.

Vative Zinc has been discovered in a basalt from a locality near
Melbourne, in Australia.

Missing Sedimentary Formations.—The Journal of the Geological
Society has a full paper on this subject. Although it has been long
known that formations are frequently absent from their places in the ver-
tical series of sedimentary rocks (such as lias between oolite and trias,
&c.) yet little notice has been taken of the fact, except mere allusions.
Dr. J. J. Bigsby was therefore led to reduce to order a great deal of
information on the subject, collected from the writings of the most emi-
nent geologists. The missing formations hold a high and important
place asa result of one of the constructive processes of the earth’s crust,
and the work is-still going on, He concludes that they are among the
several consequences of emergence and immersion, themselves the effect
of one of the great cosmic agencies, oscillation of level, which may be
gradual or paroxysmal, through all the degrees of velocity and energy.
Those interested in the subject will rejoice in the details given respecting
these “ leaves torn out from nature’s volume, ”—gaps or blanks, which “ by
their magnitude and number, become a great feature in the earth’s crust,
expressive of unity of design in time and space.”

Conversion of Wood into Coal under Pressure.—We have received
from Mr. Robert Safely, of Cohoes, New: York, an account of the con-
version of a portion of the wooden step of a turbine water-wheel into a
very compact coal resembling closely in texture and appearance ordinary
mineral coal, along with a specimen of the coal. The step was of oak,
and about ten inches through; and when taken out, the whole surface
was covered with a layer of coal. The charring was a consequence of the
water pipe which lubricated it becoming clogged with dirt. Mr. Safely
states further, that the fall of water to which the wood was subjected
when it was converted into coal, was exactly 25 feet; and as the diameter
of the wheel is five feet seven inches, the pressure on the wheel would be
measured by a column five feet seven inches in diameter, and 25 feet
high, less what is due to the water striking the bucket at a small angle
to the lane of the wheel. The gearing, wheel, shaft, etc. weigh about
three tons, which would give for the pressure upon the step, if the whole
weight of water was reckoned, about 20 tons. The facts exemplify the
formation of coal under pressure, combined with moisture and a moderate
heat, and with very slow motion.—Silliman’s Journal.

310 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Interesting Geological Discovery.—Another alteration in our geolog-
ical charts seems likely to take place. Prof. Salter and others of Ene-
land have discovered, during the past year, in the so called “ Lingula
Flags,” (a series of rocks which lie at the base of the British Silurian
System,) two new genera of trilobites and a new genus of sponge : which by
reason of their specific differences from all the Silurian genera, would
seem to indicate that the Lingular flags must henceforth be regarded as
members of a separate formation.

Fossil Llephant of Malta.—Some exceedingly curious remains of a
new species of fossil elephant, have recently been found by Dr. Leith
Adams in the Island of Malta, in certain cave deposits and breccias.
One of the chief points with reference to this elephant is the small size
of its teeth, which, coupled with other characteristics, leaves no doubt
that it was not only distinct from any living or extinct species, but that
it was, as regards dimensions, a pigmy compared with them. It is sup-
posed to have been no larger than a lion. Such specimens, together
with the bones and teeth of hippopotami, which of late years have been
met with in great abundance in different parts of Malta and Gozo, tend to
show that these islands are but fragments of what may have been at one
time an extensive continent, in all probability connected with either
Europe or Africa, or both.

Great Crocodile of the Oolite—M. A. Valenciennes recently exhib-
ited to the French Academy a fossil crocodile tooth found in the Oolite,
near Poitiers. From its size he estimated the animal to have been
100 feet long. This creature must not be confounded with the meg-
alosaurus.

Curious Facts in_Geology.—At the last meeting of the British
Association, Mr. C. Moore, in some remarks on the “es Geology of the
southwest of England,” stated, in respect to a variety of clay found
in the vicinity of the town of Frome, that out of a cartload of it he
had been enabled to obtain more than a million organisms, in addition
to 29 types of mammalia and various kinds of reptilia. He had dis-
covered in these beds many genera that had never been previously
recognized. In these beds he had obtained over 70,000 teeth of one
kind of fossil alone.

Mr. Mocre produced some interesting specimens of stones which
he had found in the neighborhood of Bath. These stones were about
five inches in diameter, ‘and about six or seven long, and each ef them
contained a specimen of some kind of fish. Indeed, he could tell by
the appeare ice of the stone what it contained, and he would break
open several to show this. He did so, and in every case the fish Mr.
Moore had previously indicated was discovered; but the most inter-
esting speci:nen was the ova which contained the cuttle-fish. When
Mr. Moore broke open the stone, not only was the cuttle-fish discov-
ered, but tue inky fluid—the sepia—was discovered as in a fish of
the same kind that might be taken out of the sea at the present day.
There was as much of it as would fill an ordinary sized ink- bottle,
and Mr. Moore took a portion of it and smeared it over a piece of
white paper, making it literally as black as ink. He then produced
some speciinens of the Ichthyosauri found in the neighborhood of
Bath, and a specimen of a fis sh, about the size of as salmon, of six or
seven pounds weight. It was so perfect in its form and appearance

GEOLOGY. Sue

and shape, that but for its color, as Mr. Moore said, it might be hand-
ed by mistake to the cook to dress, and yet it must have been millions
and millions of years since this fish lived and moved about in the
water. In the mammal drift which entirely surrounded, Bath, the
remains of the mammal tribe were abundant, and Mr. Moore exhibited
many specimens.

The Fossil Musk Ox.—In the valley of Oise, near Paris, Dr. Eug.
Robert has found a portion of the skull of this animal,—a most inter-
esting discovery, which has been brought under the notice of the
Academy of Sciences in a memoir by M. Lartet. Here is, then, an
animal now retired to North America which formerly lived in quater-
nary Europe. We now know that the reindeer, yet more arctic in
its migrations, at the same epoch flourished at the foot of the Pyr-
enees, and the same may be predicted of other animals now denizens
of extreme northern countries. ‘‘How,” says M. Lartet, ‘‘ have
such changes in the geographical distribution of these animals been
effected? Has it been by elective migration from their habitat ? or by
the progressive invasion of man? or by the gradual reduction- of spe-
cies, condemned to extinction, as has been the case with the great

ave bear, the elephant and rhinoceros of glacial times, the great
Irish elk, &c.? These questions remain to be solved, and we are
still led to repeat what Stephen Geoffrey St. Hilaire said 30 years
ago, ‘ The time of true knowledge in paleontology is not yet come.’”

Meteoric Rain.—A curious theory has been recently propounded
by the eminent but somewhat eccentric scientist, Reichenbach of Vi-
enna. He believes in the existence of a cosmical powder or dust
which exists all through space, and which sometimes becomes agglom-
erated so as to form large and small meteorites, while, at other times,
it reaches the surface of our earth in the form of impalpable powder.
We know that meteorites are mainly composed of nickel, cobalt, iron,
phosphorus, ete. Dr. Reichenbach went to the top of a mountain
which had never been touched by spade or pickax, and collected there
some dust which he analyzed, and found it to contain nickel, and co-
balt, and phosphorus, and magnesia. It has often been a matter of
wonder where the minute quantity of phosphorus so generally distrib-
uted en the surface of the earth came from. Mr. Reichenbach, how-
ever, claims that he has discovered it in the cosmical dust above
mentioned.—London Chemical News.

On the Coloring of Agates.—At the British Association, 1864,
Prof. Tennant gave some interesting details respecting the structure
of agate and the artifices resorted to by the workmen of Oberstein in
coloring the agate ornaments manufactured at that place and distrib-
uted over Europe. <A large number of specimens were exhibited, not
only of ornaments but of the stones, both cut and uncut, the former
well adapted to show the structure. The black color is produced by
steeping the specimens in oil, and then blackening them by the action
of sulphuric acid.

Mr. Tennant asked Mr. Tomlinson to speak on the subject, when
that gentleman gave some particulars respecting the organization of
the factory at Oberstein, and remarked that the principle of coloriza-
tion depended on the structure of the stones: they consisted of alter-
nate bands of crystalline and amorphous quartz, the latter only ab-

312 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sorbing the coloring matter, which consisted mostly of oxyd of
iron. The workmen kept the pebbles in tubs of water containing the
oxyd for a longer or shorter time according to the tint required; the
crystalline bands remained white, the non-crystalline absorbed the
eolor throughout. Prof. Sullivan remarked that the structure of
agate illustrated beautifully the difference between colloids and crys-
talloids. The alkaline silicates, by repose, formed these two classes
of bodies, and he had no doubt a similar action had been at work in
the formation of agate.

Formation of Granite.—Dr. Percy of the London School of. mines,
in a recent lecture objected to the assertion of geologists that granitic
rocks must have been formed by plutonic agencies ; for, said he, there
are certain difficulties which have always been in the way of accepting
this view of the subject,—difliculties known at all events to those who
have been accustomed to make experiments on the fusion of mineral
substances at high temperatures. This is especially seen by examin-
ing the condition of quartz in granite; it is always found in the erys-
talline condition, and has invariably a specific gravity of 2°6. There
is not a single instance known to the contrary. Hence there is reason
to believe that the quartz could never have been fused, for the moment
silica is fused, no matter in what condition it was previously, a pecul-
iar glass-like colloidal mass is produced, having a specific gravity
which never exceeds 2°3. Therefore there is good reason to conclude
that granite could never have been found under the condition of a
high temperature.

6h aes a i

CHLOROPHYLL.

CHLOROPHYLL, the green coloring matter in plants has been closely
examined by Prof. Stokes, Sec. R. S. by the spectroscope, and in the
Proceedings of the Royal Society he records that he finds the chloro-
phyll of land plants to be a mixture of four substances,—two green
and two yellow,—all possessing highly distinctive optical properties.
The green substances yield solutions exhibiting a strong red fluores-
cence ; the yellow substances do not. The four substances are soluble
in the same solvents, and three of them are extremely easily decom-
posed by acids or even acid salts,—such as binoxalate of potash; but,
by proper treatment each may be obtained in a state of very approx-
imate isolation, so far, at least, as colored substances are concerned.
Prof. Stokes also examined a specimen, prepared by Prof. Harley, of
viliverdia, the green substance contained in bile, supposed by Ber-
zelius to be identical with chlorophyll, and was thereby enabled to
prove that the two substances are quite distinct.

CURIOUS CONDITIONS OF VEGETATION.

Ina recent communication to the Edinburgh Botanical Society,
Mr. James Robertson gave a sketch of the botanical features of the
Kilkee sea-cliffs. This. part of the Irish coast-line is exposed to the
full violence of the Atlantic winds and waves, and thus a rock 200 feet
above high water is so copiously supplied with saline spray as to
afford sustenance to a colony of periwinkles which fringe its summit.
Notwithstanding this, the marine plants which are found at heights
varying from 150 to 400 feet, and which grow in a very stunted man-
ner, illustrate in a striking way the phy siolocical law that if plants can
do nothing else, they must produce their flowers and fruit. The flora
approaches the alpine type in character, doubtless because of the pe-
culiar external conditions.

MANNA IN THE DESERT.

Sir Roderick Murchison announces a fall of manna in Asia Minor,
His informant, M. Haidinger, states that he has received a portion of
this manna, which fell with a gust of rain at Charput. It is a lichen
which is formed in the ste ppes of the Kurghis, and is often carried in
these falls far to the west, across the Caspian. The grains, which are
always perfectly detached, have much of the form of a raspberry or
mulberry, and are found frequently to be attached, to a stony sup-

port of granite, sandstone, and lime. This manna is ground into
313

314 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

flour, and baked into bread, and is known among the Turks by the
name of kerdertboghdasi, which means wonder-corn or grain. It con-
tains more than 65 per cent of oxalate of lime, and 25 of amylaceous

matter.
THE DECOMPOSITION OF CARBONIC ACID GAS.

The decomposition of carbonic acid gas by the leaves of plants is
the subject of a note by M. Cloez, recently laid before the Academy of
Sciences at Paris. Numerous experiments have proved that plants
possessed of leaves and under the influence of light assimilate carbon
by the reduction of earbonie acid, giving cause to the disengagement
of oxygen. The parts of the plants exposed to the light have various
colors. Of these green is predominant, being the normal color of the
larger plants, and, as M. Cloez asserts, should be considered as essen-
tial to the parts which decompose carbonic acid. M. Cloez main-
tains, in opposition to the opinion of M. M. Saussure and Corenwinder,
that certain parts of the plant such as the brown, yellow, and purple
leaves,—although apparently deprived of green, still retain it partially,
and that it is by virtue of this part alone that they decompose carbonie
acid. In vol. 57 of the Comptes Rendus will be found details of ex-
periments which lead M. Cloez to affirm that leaves decompose car-
bonic acid under the influence of light by reason of the green matter
which they contain, and that the yellow and red parts do ‘not give rise
to this decomposition.

RESPIRATION OF FRUITS AND FLOWERS.

M. Tremy, in a paper lately read before the French Academy, gives
some interesting details concerning the ripening process in fruits. In the
development of the latter there are three stages, which are distinguished
not only by physical but chemical features. The first is that of develop-
ment par excellence. The fruit during this stage is generally of a green
color, and acts on the atmosphere in the same manner as the leaves ; that
is to say, it causes the decomposition of carbonic acid and the liberation
of oxygen under the influence of light. In the second period, which is
that of maturation, the green color of the fruit is replaced by yellow, red,
or brown ; the vegetable matter no longer decomposes carbonic acid but
absolutely develops it by the combination of its carbon with the oxygen
of the air. Slow processes ef combustion take place in the cells of ‘the
pericarp, which cause the disappearance of the soluble matters usually
found there, the tannin is first destroyed and the acids follow. At this
stage, the fruit is eaten. The third period is that of decomposition ; its
final object is the destruction of the pericarp and the liberation of the
seed. At this time, the air enters the cellules, and, acting in the first
instance upon the sugar, it gives rise to alcoholic fermentation, marked
by the disengagement of alcohol, which in operating upon the acids of the
fruit gives rise to ethers, thus producing the peculiar aromas. ‘This action,
when continued, destroys the structure of the fruit and terminates in
complete destruction of the tissues.

Respiration of Flowers.—'The following is a résumé of the re-
searches. on this subject laid before the French Academy of Sciences
by M. Cahous, 1. Flowers left in a limited atmosphere of common
air consume oxygen and give off carbonic acid in proportions varying

BOTANY. 315

as they possess odor or not. 2. If the circumstances in which these
flowers accomplish the phenomena be identical, the proportion of car-
bonic acid increases with the elevation of the temperature. 3. Generally,
for flowers cut from the same plant and whose weight is equal, the
quantity of carbonic acid is rather more considerable when the appar-
atus in which the experiment is made is exposed to light than when in
extreme darkness: but in some cases there is no difference. 4. When
ordinary air is replaced by pure oxygen the differences become more
marked. 5. The flower beginning to develop disengages a little more
carbonic acid than that which has attained its complete development :
this may be due to a more energetic vital action. 6. Flowers left in
an inert gas, disengage small quantities of carbonic acid. 7. The ele-
ments which constitute the flower (the pistil and the stamens) in which
reside the greatest power of vitality, consume the largest quantity of
oxygen and give off the largest proportion of carbonic acid.

Gases exhaled by Fruits.—M. Cahours also reports to the Acade-
my, that he has found that the green parts of plants are not the only
structures which have the power of breathing. He states that he finds
that apples, oranges, and citrons, placed under bell jars containing
oxygen, or this gas mixed with nitrogen, consumed oxygen, and
evolved carbonic acid, the proportions being greater in diffused light
than in darkness. Up to a certain point this takes place gradually,
but beyond this it increases to a considerable extent, and the internal
surface of the pericarp exhibits certain alterations of structure. The
greater the temperature the larger will be the volume of carbonic acid
exhaled. Nearly the same amount of carbonic acid is evolved during
the two periods of approaching maturation and decay. But once the
latter stage has been arrived at, the quantity of exhaled carbonic acid
increases rapidly. The proportions of gases contained in the juices
were thus estimated: The juice having been expressed was placed in
vessels, and the gases expelled by ebullition. It was found.in this way
that carbonic acid and nitrogen are present in various proportions, but
that none of the following exist in fruit juice: Oxygen, hydrogen, car-
bonic oxyd, carbureted hydrogen. When ripe fruit is enclosed in an
atmosphere of air, it absorbs hydrogen with great rapidity, and if it
is allowed to remain until it has become soft, it is found to contain a
large proportion of gas rich in carbonic acid.

ZOOLOGY

FISH PRESERVATION AND CULTURE.

To all interested in the preservation and restocking of our rivers
with fish, we commend the following paper, on salmon- breeding and
fish-‘* ways,” or ‘* ladders,” read before the British Association for®
1864, by the well-known English naturalist, Mr. Frank Buckland.

The author said,— W hereas the oyster is stationary, and is treated
in its cultivation more like a mineral than an animal, the salmon is
literally a vagabond, always on the move, and never remains long

together in the same place. Upon this fact depends its preservation
and multiplication, in spite of the many difficulties. it has to contend
with,— the greatest enemy being man. Such was the marvellous in-
stinct which compelled the salmon to run up from the sea to the ele-
vated ground fit for spawning, that the salmon caught at the mouth of the |
Rhine, and which are sold in the London market, run up that river
no less than 630 miles to their spawning-ground, and, of course, 630
miles back again. ‘Thus we may fairly conclude that a fish weighing
20 pounds has traveled in its journeys up and down the river no less
than 6,000 miles. The salmon hatched in the upper waters of the
Rhine are caught at Rotterdam, where there are five fishing stations :
the annual produce of these fisheries is, at the lowest, 200,000 fish,
which, calculated at 1s. 6d. per pound, would amount to an immense
sum of money.

He had weighed a salmon in water, and out of water, and found that
its specific gravity was such that it could swim through the water with
the same ease as a swallow flies through the air. He then gave rea-
sons why artifical hatching of salmon ‘should be encouraged. First,
because it might be said the salmon did not know their own business,
and were very bad nurses, for it had been calculated on excellent data,
that out of one thousand young ones only one ever became human
food. Salmon made their nests in the gravel one over the other,
heaping up immense mounds, so that the bottom eggs would of neces-
sity be crushed, and only those near the top ever hatch out. Sec-
ondly, there were so many enemies of the salmon, both when in the
form of an egg and in the form of a young fish, that they required
preservation ‘and careful watching, like young pheasants. Several of
these enemies were enumerated, and a ‘good word said for the water
ouzel, who eats not the salmon eggs, but the insects that come to feed

316

ZOOLOGY. 3

on the eggs. Artificial breeding had restored salmon to the Thames,
for his friend Stephen Ponder, Esq. near Hampton Court, had for
the last three years, in his private greenhouse, been hatching out
many thousands of salmon and trout, and turned them into the
Thames. ‘The consequence is that in the shallow waters above Hamp-
ton Court, great numbers of young salmon and trout, from one to
five inches long, could be seen any fine sunny morning. Any private
individual might (if he could get the eggs) hatch salmon or trout with
the same ease as chickens; and he explained a simple apparatus made
by Mr. King, aquarium-dealer, of Portland Place, suitable for small
experiments, say eight or ten thousand eggs. It had been stated that
the French piscicultural establishment at Huningue, over which M.
Coumes, the eminent French government engineer presided, was retro-
grading; but he could state that this year more than one million
salmon eggs had been collected, and a large proportion distributed
gratuitously all over France, and also to many parts of England. The
laws for the protection of fish in France were deficient ; but M. Coste
had informed him that a new law would be proposed next season en-
abling him to shut up the fishery, and preserve the fish of any river
in France for three years. The salmon laws in England afforded
protection for the fish; and his friend, Mr. Ffennel, Inspector of Fish-
eries, was always busy in obtaining facts, which would enable him to
gain knowledge on which the laws for the future should be amended
and regulated. He had tried last year to obtain a hybrid between a
salmon and a trout, and had been much laughed at for his pains.
Still he was pleased to inform the meeting that Thomas Garett, Esq.
of Clitheroe, had succeeded, not only this year, but also in previous
years, and this gentleman was the first in England to obtain success
in this curious experiment. M. Coste had moreover showed him, a -
few days since, in Paris, several specimens of hybrids between salmon
and trout, and also one between the trout and the ‘‘ ombre chevalier,”
or charr, the latter being a most curiously striped fish. M. Coste
had also shown fish hatched from the eggs of a salmon which had
never been to the sea, having been confined all its life in a freshwater
pond, proving that even though salmon do not thrive without gomg
to the sea, still they will carry eggs capable of producing young.
Upon the subject of salmon-ladders Mr. Buckland was particularly
earnest, pointing out that it was not only cruel, but exceedingly short-
sighted policy not to assist the salmon to get to the upper waters to
lay their eggs; it was just the same as not putting a ladder to allow
the hens to get up to their roosts. How could salmon be expected to
get over a wall any more than a human being, unless a ladder were
provided for either fish or man? And be it recollected that the lad-
der for the fish to ascend need not always be placed in the weir, but
only at the time the fish wanted to go up. One only placed a ladder
in an apple-tree when it was necessary to gather the apples, and the
ladder was not left on the tree all the year round. So with the sal-
mon-ladders. A temporary ladder might be roughly constructed
with poles and boards, which would answer all the purpose, and
might be removed when not wanted. The millers complained greatly
of salmon-ladders, because they robbed them of the water wanted for
the mill-power: but he exhibited and explained a model, a new kind

818 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of salmon-ladder,* which was to obviate the difficulties complained of
by the millers. He then explained other difficulties, particularly
that of finding a grating to prevent salmon swimming up mill-races,
and getting injured by the mill-wheels. No grating had hitherto
been invented which at the same time would prevent the salmon run-
ning up and not lead back the water on to the wheel and stop its ac-
tion. Mr. Buckland concluded his instructive and at the same time
amusing paper as follows: ‘‘ Thus, then, I have endeavored to bring
before the members of the British Association certain facts relative
to two great branches of British industry,—the cultivation of the
sea, and the cultivation of the rivers; the revenues derived from these
both to private owners and to the public in general in the form of food,
would, if put together, amount to an enormous sum, and still neither
industry is as yet half developed.

In a treatise on fish-culture also recently published by Mr. Buck-
land, the author states, that salmon and trout carry on an average
1,000 eggs to one pound of their weight. Another important fact
respecting the eggs of some fish is their great toughness, a provision,
doubtless, intended to enable them to resist the crushing effect of
stones and gravel in their spawning beds. In order to ascertain pos-
itively how much direct weight trout’s eggs would bear, Mr. Buck-
land placed iron weights upon individual eggs, which did not give
way until the pressure amounted to five pounds and six ounces.

In 1861, the fish-breeding establishment instituted under the aus-

ices of Government, at Huningue, France, distributed upwards of
16,000,000 of fish-eggs, for breeding purposes over Europe. Recent
authorities also declare that it is cheaper and easier to breed salmon
than lambs. Salmon eggs, according to Mr. Buckland, preserve.
their vitality after having been imbedded in ice for the long period of
90 days; and eggs thus treated have been successfully hatched.

INFLUENCE OF MODERN CIVILIZATION ON HEALTH AND
LONGEVITY.
At a recent meeting of the Association of Medical Superintendents
of American Institutions for the Insane, the following remarks on the
above subject were submitted by Dr. Edward Jarvis, of Massachu-

* This ladder is described by Mr. Buckland as follows: Two walls are constructed
from the top to the foot of the weir (on its slope). Slabs of iron or stone (the
stops) are then fixed at right angles into these walls, reaching about four-fifths of
the way across the passage. The slots (or passages for the fish between the wall
and the end of the stop) come alternately to the right and left, so that when the
water runs down the ladder it describes a zigzag (or rather serpentine) course: the
fish nosing about the foot of the weir, are attracted to the foot of the ladder by
the current coming down it; they then make a rush through the lowermost open-
ing into the first box or step, then into the next, and next, and so on till they get
tothe top. If they are tired, they can rest as long as they please in the eddies
between each of the stops. Itis found, however, in practice, that it does not
answer to make the ascent of the ladder too easy, as, if the fish find themselves
too comfortable in the eddies, they will stay there, and be liable to become a prey
to poachers, as a reward for their laziness. Thedimensions of a ladder for salmon
which has been introduced at Teddington, England, are given as follows: Length
40ft.; width (inside the walls) 4ft.; stops 3 ft.3 in. long, 18 in. high, and 4 ft. apart ;
the slots (or openings) at the ends for the fish to go through, 9in. wide. The total
fall of the ladder is 6 ft. or 7 ft. and the incline one in seven. Up such a ladder,
says Mr. Buckland, the young salmon will go with such a rush that if a man and
a salmon were to start fairly from the bottom the latter would swim up tothe top
faster than the man could run along the wall by its side.

ZOOLOGY. 319

setts, well known for his researches on insanity. ‘Many believe
the tone of general health is lower now than formerly ; but I think it
is without suflicient reason. Has there been any decrease of the vital
force in the community for the last forty or one hundred years? Do
civilization and progress and refinement reduce the vital power of
men? Some facts show to the contrary. In 1693, the British Gov-
ernment issued a Tontine, to borrow millions upon the basis of cer-
tain lives upon which they were to pay annuities. Mr. Pitt issued
another Tontine one hundred years afterwards in 1790, upon the
same basis, and it has been found that these lives were so much longer
than those a hundred years before, that the British Government were
obliged to give it up. It was ruinous, so great was the increase in the
duration of life in the course of a century.

‘I think there are a great many deteriorating causes in civiliza-
tion. A great deal of refinement refines only in the sense of attenu-
ating life. Still, civilization has given an increase of comforts, bet-
ter houses, and security against all the causes of suffering, cold and
storms, greater certainty of proper food, an increase of better cooks,
though these are yet bad enough. Still, cookery is better than it was
in the days of our fathers, and food is more convertible into blood,
and that more convertible into muscular fiber, and that fiber is more
enduring than in the earlier days. The general effect of all these is
te protract life, and give it greater force to resist the causes of phy-
sical and mental disease, and more power of endurance and make the
number greater who will live beyond threescore and ten.

‘<The better health a man is in, the better are his chances of sur-
viving the dangers of destruction. The more vital force and general
health is increased, the greater 1s the diminution of the insane, at
least from this cause. Nevertheless, it is easy to see, that whenever
sickness is averted and the average longevity is increased, by better
habits, more abundant and appropriate means of subsistence and pro-
tection, and wiser self-management, there may be also a larger pro-
portion of weak constitutions that are saved from destruction by the
same means. I found a proof of this a few vears ago, in analyzing the

bills of mortality of many nations. 1. That of a thousand children
born in each country, more would survive the perils of infancy, child-
hood and youth, and enter on mature and responsible life, at twenty
in Massachusetts, than in England, Belgium, Sweden, and some
other nations. 2. ‘That of a thousand who should survive the age of
twenty, and enter on working life, more would break down in this
period, and die before the age of sixty in Massachusetts, than in those
nations. 3. Lastly, that of a thousand that should survive the period
of labor and enter on old age at sixty, more would reach the age of
eighty here than elsewhere. The explanation is this. Man may be
considered as a living, working machine, which requires twenty years
of the greatest skill and care to build and prepare for use, otherwise
it may fall in the process of building; but when well made and of
proper material, it may run forty years orlonger. If the builders are
rough and careless, they destroy many of their machines before they
are finished, and none but those of the strongest materials can survive
rough handling. But in the hands of skillful workmen, machines
even of weak materials are made and finished—though from their

320 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

inherent weakness, they cannot last long in doing the ordinary work
put upon them. In Massachusetts, where property is so equally dis-
tributed, the comforts of home and the proper supply: of food, protec-
tion, clothing, &c. are almost universal, and the people are so generally
well educated, that most mothers have a certain amount of administra-
tive wisdom, and know how to take care of the children, better than
women elsewhere; more, therefore, survive the perils of infancy, and
fewer weak constitutions are broken down. . Massachusetts throws
upon the active responsibilities of life more men of feeble constitu-
tions, or machines made of poor material, because they are not broken
down in making up. Again, in Massachusetts more people labor,
and take heavy responsibilities, and more burden is thrown upon these
machines, and more of them are broken down at thirty, during the
working period, forty or fifty years before they have finished their
work. In regard to those who survive the period of sixty, the same
conditions that carried them through the perils of childhood carry them
also through the discomforts and difficulties of old age, and more of
them survive to extreme old age.

**T will call attention to another fact which proves the advantage of
intelligence and skill in preserving infancy from destruction. I ana-
lyzed the reports of births, marriages, and mortality of England and
Wales for 17 years, in order to see what connection there might be
between the degree of intelligence in the domestic administration amd
the life of little children. I divided the countries into three classes.
In the best class 31 per cent of the women, when married, signed the
register with their marks, and 69 per cent could write. In the worst
class 63 per cent signed their names with marks, and only 37 per cent
could write. This was the only manifest difference, but it indicated a
corresponding difference in general intelligence and of administrative
wisdom. The second or intermediate class was omitted, and the
comparison made between these extremes of education and ignorance.
During these 17 years, in the first class there were 804,170 marriages,
2,935,073 births, and 443,902 deaths of children under one year. In
the worst class there were 749,927 marriages, 2,853,774 births, and
541,906 deaths of infants. The first noticeable fact is the larger pro=
portion of births to the marriages among the less intelligent than
among the better-educated families. But the most interesting point is
the great excess of mortality of little children in the ignorant classes,
among whom about 19 per cent of all that were born died before they
were a year old, while in the more intelligent countries only 15 per
cent died at the same tender age. Comparing these with each other,
we see that there was 25 per cent more deaths of infants in the less
educated than in the better educated districts. This is a sacrifice of
111,272 to the ignorance of their mothers.”

VITAL. FORCE AND CONTRACTILITY.

Dr. Lionel Beale, eminent for his researches on the nervous sys-
tem, thus concludes an article in the Quarterly Journal of Microseop-
- ical Science: ‘*I think that every tissue or organism consists of matter
that lives and matter that is formed. The first is the seat of peculiar
change, sui generis, which never occurs in things inanimate. The

second manifests phenomena which, are, properly considered, physical

ZOOLOGY. pep |

and chemical. The movements,—the decomposing, the formative, the
analytical and synthetical power of the living matter, are due to the
operation of a power, or force, or energy, which is not to be meas-
ured by the work achieved, nor to be altered or converted into other
forms of force. It is a power that may be transmitted from particle
to particle, and that may cease its manifestation forever. How it
originated we have not the slightest knowledge. We only know now
that it is always propagated from particle to particle, and that it can-
not be transferred to particles at a distance. Heat is but one of the
conditions under which this wonderful power manifests itself, not the
power itself. Contractility is a property of muscle; contraction and
elasticity are properties of fibrin, just as hardness is a property of horn,
or nail, or bone, &c. ; but motion, increase, formation, as manifested in
germinal matter, are transmitted from particles of matter that possess
them to particles of matter that donot. Muscle does not transmit its
contractile property, nor yellow elastic tissue its elasticity, to matter
which is void of these characteristics. Hence I distinguish the move-
ments of germinal or living matter from the movements of muscular
tissue ; and surely I may correctly term them vital movements until
some one proves that similar movements occur in matter which is
not alive.

FACTS IN RELATION TO ENTOZOA ; DANGER OF USING SEWAGE
AS A FERTILIZER.

At the last meeting of the British Association, Dr. Cobbold. pre-
sented in a popular manner the following important facts _respecting
the diffusion and action of entozoa, which name has been’ applied to
certain minute intestinal worms. He said there was no doubt that
entozoa were introduced with vegetable food. They were more
likely to be taken from water-cress or other vegetables of the kind.
It was necessary with all vegetables that the greatest cleanliness
should be observed in preparing them for the table, and care should
be taken to avoid swallowing these small molluces, which were very
likely to escape observation. A great many diseases in children were,
he said, charged to eating unripe fruit, but, as far as entozoa was con-
cerned, that fear was entirely eroundless : and if they should be so
introduced, the chances were that the larve would be taken from the
surface of the fruit. With regard to celery, cabbages, and all the
ordinary market-garden vegetables, he said that all deeomposing ani-
mal and veretable matter eonraiied entozoa, and the more filthy the
water or liquid manure employed to secure the fertility of the garden,
the more likely was a supply of entozoa to be taken with the ve eget-
ables grown upon the land. Parasitic larvee might be found in w: ater
that was to all appearance perfectly pure; but, speaking generally, it
might be inferred that fresh sprig water was perfec ‘ly innocuous.
Among the class introduced by water the smallest was 1, of an inch
long ; ‘it carried 30,000 eggs, and went through marvellous transfor-
mations. ‘There was another species taken from water, the habit of
which was to ensconce itself in the brain, causing death, which was
invariably set down as due to cerebral disease. ‘The way in which it
reached the brain was from the coats of the stomach, through the cir-
culating medium. There was one kind inhabiting dogs, which was

.

322 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

often communicated to the human being. One-sixth of all persons
who died in Iceland perished from a little creature so small that in its
larval state it could scarely be seen. If neither dog nor wolf existed
we should get rid of these species altogether. Sand and charcoal fil-
ters were of very little use. Paper filters should be employed. All
entozoa not preserved for scientific experiments should be destroyed
by fire, and under no circumstances should they be thrown aside as
harmless refuse: and he advised butchers, knackers, and others not to
throw doubtful offal to dogs frequenting their neighborhood. It was
gratifying to learn that beer, porter, and fermented drinks, were not
sources of entozoa, and were perfectly harmless. Even though im-
pure water should have been employed, the boiling of the wort “would
be alone sufficient to destroy any number of parasites. Unfermented
drinks, such as ginger beer, cider, and the like, he could not be per-
fectly certain about. All must depend upon the source and supply of
water. But it was satisfactory to Jearn that alcohol added to water
was sufficient to destroy parasitical eggs.

Dangers of the Utilization of Sewage.—In addition to the above
remarks, Dr. Cobbold has also recently published a pamphlet in Eng-
land (which has attracted no little attention), in which he predicts
the almost inevitable increase of parasitic diseases in general, if the
much talked of utilization of sewage be carried out. In respect to
one of the forms of disease which may be thus introduced, he says:
In Egypt and apparently throughout Northeastern Africa, at the Cape
of Good Hope, Natal, Mauritius, and other places, there exists a more
or less constant and formidable endemic disease, the nature of which
was first described by Drs. Griesinger and Bilharz. The disorder, or
‘* helminthiasis,” in question is caused by a small parasite or entozoon,
which infests the bloodvessels, delighting more especially to take up
its abode in the veins connected with the liver and other abdominal
viscera ; and 1 in these situations it gives rise to very painful sy mptoms,
followed, in the more advanced cases, by excessive prostration and
death. Minuter details respecting the peculiar features of the disease
itself it is here quite unnecessary for me to adduce, but I cannot pro-
ceed without a passing comment on the extraordinary prevalence of
the disease in Egypt, which may readily be realized by the fact that
out of 363 post-mortem examinations conducted by Dr. Griesinger,
these parasites were found in no less than 117 instances. It would,
therefore, seem that nearly $ ot the entire population suffer from this
parasitic malady,

He then goes on to show that the disease in question has already
made its appearance in Great Britain, referring for corroboration to a
paper in the recently published 48th volume of the, British Medico-
Chirurgical Transactions. Yt would further appear that the disorder
is quite as prevalent at the Cape, at Natal, and in the Mauritius, as it
is in Egypt. On this he remarks :—

‘* Have the kindness to observe that every colonist returning from
the Cape is liable to bring this parasitic treasure with him as a ‘ ‘ouest”
indeed, dwelling in his blood, and feeding on his lifestream. Tn the
advanced stages of the malady, the afflicted individual must frequently
evacuate the egas and their contained embryonic larvee, which are
thus conveyed into the ordinary receptacles of such voidings. There

ZOOLOGY. 323

let them remain, or convey them into a cesspool, and no harm follows.
If deemed preferable, you may transport them, along with myriads of
other human parasite eggs and larvee into a common sewer, and thence
into the sea; still entozoologically speaking, no harm follows. Here,
however, let me invite youto pause; forif, without due consideration,
you adopt any one of the gigantic schemes now in vogue, you will
seatter these eggs far and wide; you will spread them over thousands
of acres of ground; you will place the larve in those conditions which
are known to be eminently favorable for the development of their next
stage of growth; you will bring the latter in contact with land and
water snails, into whose bodies they will speedily penetrate; and in
short, you will place them in situations where their yet higher grada-
tions of non-sexual growth and propagation will be arrived at. After
all these changes, there is every reason to believe that they will expe-
rience no greater difficulty in gaining access to our bodies here in
England than obtains in the case of those same parasites attacking our
fellow-creatures, whose residence is found in Egypt, in Natal, in the
Mauritius, or atthe Cape. In a natural history point of view, it would
not be an altogether singular result if, 20 years hence, this parasitic
malady should be as prevalent in this country as it is now known to be
in particular sections of the African continent. Foreseeing the possi-
bility, not to say probability, of this contingency, am I not right,
after years of long study, to raise my voice in the hope of preventing
such a disaster?”

ON THE INDUCED PRODUCTION OF SUGAR IN ANIMALS BY COLD.

Ata recent meeting of the Royal Society (London), Dr. Bence
Jones, the eminent physiologist, read a curious paper, detailing
the production of sugar in the fluids of the animal body by extreme
cold, attributing its formation to deficient oxydation of the carbona-
ceous articles of food. For example, a grain of starch enters into
the body, and is transformed into sugar; it is then acted on by oxy
gen, and ultimately passes out as carbonic acid and water. This is
the final result of the perfect combustion; but if the oxydation stops
at any stage, imperfect combustion occurs.

The combustion may be made imperfect in at least three different
ways. First, by insuflicient oxygen; secondly, by overwhelming fuel ;
thirdly, by reducing the temperature so low that chemical action is
checked. From each of these causes the following scale of the com-
bustion of starch in the body may be formed: When there is perfect
combustion, then carbonic acid and water are produced. With less per-
fect combustion oxalic and other vegetable acids are formed. With the
least possible combustion sugar results. Between perfect combustion
and the most imperfect combustion,—that is, between carbonic acid
and sugar,—there are probably many steps formed by many different
acids ; and as in a furnace one portion of the coal may be fully burnt,
whilst other portions are passing through much less perfect combus-
tion or are not burnt at all, so different portions of starch may reach
different steps in the scale of combustion, and sugar, acetic acid,
oxalic acid, carbonic acid, and many other acids between acetic and
oxalic acid, may be simultaneously produced. From this account of
the oxydation of starch, it follows that sugar should always be found

324 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

in the urine when any of the three causes mentioned reduce the oxyd-
ation in the system to its minimum. In other words, by stopping the
combustion that occurs in the body, diabetes should be produced arti-
ficially.

TEMPERATURE OF THE SEXES.

At the British Association, 1864, Dr. J. Davy gave the results of
some experiments he had made as to the relative temperature of the two
sexes. The theory of Aristotle, that a man possessed more warmth
than a woman, had been disputed; and it had been held by some, as
the result of modern research, that the temperature of woman was
shghtly superior to that of men. Notwithstanding this, however,
from such observations as he had been able to make, he considered
the early opinion the more correct. Taking the average, it appeared
that the temperature of males and females was as 10°58 to 10°13. He
had more recently made some additional observations, using a ther-
mometer of great delicacy, and taking for the purpose of his experi-
ments six persons, three men and three women, all in good health.
The result was that the temperature in the case of the men varied be-
tween 90 and 994, that of the women was between 973 and98. An
examination of other animals gave a somewhat higher temperature for
the male than the female : six fowls showing the proportion of 108°33
for the former, to 107-79 for the latter.

THE HAIRY MEN OF YESSO.

At a recent meeting of the Ethnological Society (London) a paper
descriptive of the hairy pecple of the island of Yesso was read by Mr.
Martin Wood. Yesso, which is inhabited in the southern portion only
by the Japanese, has an infertile soil and dreary climate. Its northern
parts are inhabited by the Mosinos, or ‘‘ all hairy people” of the Japan-
ese, who number about 100,000, and dwell principally in two large cities,
Mato-mai and Hako-dadi. ‘These people are short, thick-set, and
muscular, but clumsy and uncouth in their movements. In appear-
ance they are wild and repulsive, in consequence of the enormous
amount of hair with which they are covered. The hair on the scalp
forms a matted mass of gizantic size, their beards are long and thick,
srowing from the greater part of the faee, and the whole of their
bodies is covered with an extraordinary profusion of hair. The women
stain that part of the face which is covered by the beard in males.
The skin, when not bronzed by exposure, is somewhat paler in color
than that of the Japanese. ‘These people, though timid from long
subjugation to the Japanese, and isolation from the rest of the world,
appear intelligent and lively. They have well-developed, prominent
foreheads, and dark, expressive eyes.

PRODUCTION OF THE SEXES AT WILL.

In the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1864, a brief notice was
given of the researches and theory of Prof. Thury of Geneva, in respect
tothe above interesting subject. In amemoir published by M. Thury
during the past year, he gives the following summary of his observa-
- tions and deductions, which bid fair to be of special value to agri-
culturalists and stock-growers :—

ZOOLOGY. Sze

1. Sex, according to Prof. Thury, depends on the degree of matu-
ration of the ovum at the moment of its fecundation.

2. The ovum which has not attained a certain degree of maturation, °
if it be fecundated, produces a female ; when this degree of maturation
is passed, the ovum, if fecundated, produces a male.

3. When, at the rutting-season, a single ovum separates from the
ovary to descend slowly through the genital canal (as in uniparous
animals), it is sufficient that the fecundation takes place at the com-
mencement of the rutting-season to produce females, and at the end
to produce males,—the turning point of the ovum occurring normally
during its passage in the genital canal.

4. When several ova separate successively from the ovary dur-
ing a single generative period (multiparous and oviparous animals in
general), the first ova are generally the least developed, and produce
females; the last are more mature, and furnish males. But if it hap-
pens that a second generative period succeeds the first one, or if the
external or organic conditions change considerably, the last ova may
not attain to the superior degree of maturation, and may again
furnish females. Octleris paribus, the application of the principle of
sexuality is less easy in the case of multiparous animals.

5. In the application of the above principles to the larger Mamma-
lia, it is necessary that the experimenter should first of all observe the
course of the phenomena of heat in the very individual upon which he
proposes to act, in order that he may know exactly the duration and
the signs of the rutting-season, which frequently vary in different in-
dividuals.

6. It is evident that no certain result can be expected when the
signs of heat are vague or equivocal. This is scarcely ever the case
in animals living in a state of freedom; but cattle in the fattening-sheds
or in the stable sometimes present this abnormal peculiarity. Such
animals must be excluded from experimentation.

7. From the mode in which the law ruling the production of the
sexes has been deduced, it results that this law must be general and
apply to all organized beings,—that is to say, to plants, animals, and
man.

It is necessary to distinguish carefully the law ‘itself (1 and 2
of this summary), which is absolute, from the applications of it which
may be made with more or less facility.

In the Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1864, p. 292, some state-
ments were given of the experience of M. Cornaz, a Swiss agricultur-
ist, in applying M. Thury’s theory in cattle breeding. M. Nickles, the
Paris correspondent of Silliman’s Journal also furnishes some informa-
tion bearing upon the subject. He says: ‘‘According to M. Thury,
the product is always of the male sex when the fertilization of the ova
occurs at complete maturity, and is always female when it takes place
at a less advanced period.

There is a very simple way of solving this problem. It is to select
for experiment species that come to maturity in succession, and, that
during a single impregnation, fertilize the whole series of ova which
detach themselves from the ovary during a period of 8, 10,12, 15,
or even 18 days. We know, indeed, that, in case of the hen, a
single coupling suffices for the fertilization of five, six, or even seven

28

826 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

eggs which she is about to lay and which are arranged in her ovary in
the order of their maturation. Now, in such a case, if the theory is
exact, the first egg laid ought always to produce males and the others
females without any possibility of the inversion of this order. This
is very near what has been observed by Messrs. Coste and Gerbe
(French naturalists).

A hen, separated from the cock at the time of her first laying gave
five fertile eggs in the space of eight days. The egg laid on March
15th produced a male; that on March 17th a male; that on the 18th
a female; that on the 20th a male; that on the 22d afemale. A
characteristic fact in this experiment is the production of a male after
a female, which ought not to have taken place according to the theory.
But is it only a simple exception? Oris it necessary to consider the
fact a radical objection? We may learn by and by on this point, from .
the researches in which Mr. Gerbe is now engaged.

On the occasion of the preceding note, Flourens recalled an experi-
ment which he made 30 years ago. Aristotle had observed that the
pigeon ordinarily lays two eggs, and that, of these two eggs, one
commonly produces a male and the other a female. He wished to
know which was the egg that gave the male, and which the one that
produced the female. He found that the first egg always gave the
male, and.the second the female. I have repeated this experiment as
many as 11 times in succession, and 11 times in succession the first
egg gave the male and the second egg the female. I have seen again .

Pa)

that which Aristotle saw.

ZOOLOGICAL SUMMARY.

The Extinction of an Aboriginal Race.—The race of Tasmanians,
or inhabitants of Van Dieman’s Land, are now reduced to four indi-
viduals; an old man and three old women. ‘The entire race, sup-
posed to have been from 5,000 to 7,000 in number, at the time of the
first settlement of the island, has been destroyed, partly by disease,
partly by drink, partly by the loss of their means of subsistence, but
chiefly by violence. They managed very early in the history of the
colony to excite a profound hatred and fear among the settlers, and
were hunted down without mercy. About 1829 the last survivors
were taken to Flinders Island, where they were kindly treated, but
died off with astounding rapidity.e It seems probable that in half a
century more there will not be one aborigine left in Australia.

Vitality of the African Race.—Dr. Livingston, in a paper read
before the British Association, 1864, on his recent African explora-
tions, stated of the African, ‘‘that it was his opinion, that neither
drink, nor disease, nor slavery can root him out of the world. He
never had any idea of the prodigious destruction of human life that
takes place subsequently to the slave-hunting till he saw it; and as
this has gone on for centuries it gives a wonderful idea of the vitality
of the nation.”

Mortality among the Pearl Oysters.—At the last meeting of the
British Association, M. Buckland, the well-known naturalist, stated
that an event, which ladies would most appreciate, had taken place
in Ceylon, viz: the sudden death, from unknown causes, of whole
banks of the pearl-bearing oysters, the consequence of which would
be that the price of pearls must be enormously increased.

ZOOLOGY. 327

Grafting Animals.—Dr. Paul Bert has published a work on the
curious subject of animal grafts. He succeeded in making Siamese
twins of a couple of rats, and in many other monstrosities. He ex-
claims, ‘‘it is a surprising spectac le to see a paw cut from one rat
live, grow, finish its ossification, and regenerate its nerves, under the
skin of another ; and when we want a plume of feathers under the skin
of a dog, what a miracle to see the interrupted vital phenomena re-
sume their course, and the fragment of a bird receive nourishment
from the blood of a mammal.”—Z/ntellectual Observer.

Curious Vital Statistics.—The following curious statistics appear
in the Report of the Scottish Registrar-General of births, deaths, and
marriages, for 1864, and illustrate the effect of town life on the human
race. The officer in question says: It is a well-known fact that a
residence in towns weakens the vitality of persons living there. This,
as yet, has chiefly been attempted to be proved by demonstrating the
much larger amount of sickness and death which annually result in a
town population as compared with one residing in a rural district.
But the proportion of births to the marriages, and, better still, the
proportion of births to the married women at the childbearing ages,
demonstrates the fact mm as pointed a manner, while it is not liable to
many of the objections which might be urged against the ordinary
modes of proving that fact. The insular and mainland rural districts
gave a result absolutely identical, only requiring 302 wives, from 15
to 45 years of age, to produce 100 childven within the year ; ‘while the
wives residing in the town district had their vitality so deteriorated by
their town residence that it required 333 wives to produce 100 children.

Hlectricity and Asthma.—M. Poggioli describes to the French Acad-
emy the success which he experienced in treating asthma by electricity.
He considers this remedy applicable to true asthma only, which is a
nervous disorder of the respiratory apparatus, usually occurring periodically
and in paroxysms, and not to asthmatic symptoms resulting from heart
disease or pulmonary emphysema.

Electricity and Bright’s Disease-—M. Namias has also communicated
to the French Academy a ease in which the obstacle to the separation of
urea from the blood was removed by the application of galvanism to the
loins of the patient for half an hour. Twelve of Daniell’s cells were
employed, and the quantity of urine and urea much increased. More
albumen was also secreted, but M. Namias states that this was of small
consequence compared with the benelit res ulting from a greater elimina-
tion of urea.

Effects of Consanguineous Marriages.—M. Balley has called the at-
tention of the French Academy to a remarkable result of a very singular
marriage of this kind. He says, “ the father and mother enjoyed ‘good
health; the father was born in vial wedlock; the mother somewhat older,
came froma foundling hospital. From this union resulted in succession four
infants, stillborn ; the fifth is deaf and dumb in an asylum at Rome ; the
sixth is a dwarf, and the seventh has not at present exhibited any pecul-
jarity. It is now known that the individuals, so afflicted in their de-
scendants, are brother and sister, children of the same father and mother.
The girl. born before marriage, was deserted by her parents, was never
reclaimed by them, and was ignorant who they were.” M. Balley proposes
that special inquiries should be made in deaf and dumb asylums concerning

3828 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the relationship of the parents of the unfortunates. In Rome he finds
out of 13 cases of persons born deaf and dumb, three were offspring of
consanguineous marriages, one being connected with the deplorable story
we lave just cited.

Effect of open-air Hxercise on Longevity.—Mr. Sargeant, of England,
has recently published some remarkabie facts, showing the influence of
out-door occupation and exercise in lessening the rate of mortality; and
tha of almost all in-door occupations, long continued, in raising the rate
of mortality of the classes following them.

The greater longevity of persons living in the country appears almost
wholly due to the greater proportion of out-door occupation; inasmuch
as shop-keepers and others following sedentary pursuits in the country
have no well-marked vital superiority over the same classes in towns;
whereas farm laborers, though exposed to the effects of wet, attain a
greater longevity than any class of mechanics working in a confined at-
mosphere. Even scavengers in towns, who are exposed to very great
impurities, are long-lived, owing to the vital influence of the open air in
which they follow their occupation.

Acclimatization of Animals.—In a paper on this subject addressed
to the British Association, 1864, by Dr. I. E. Gray, F. R. S., the au-
thor remarked, that some animals seemed to have been created with
more or less of an instinctive desire to associate with man, and to be-
come useful to him, but.the number of these is very limited. It would
appear as if all the animals which are possessed of this quality, and are
worth domesticating have already been domesticated, and have been
so from the earliest historic times. Certain French philosophers have
lately taken up a notion that it was desirable to pervert the true pur-
pose of the horse by cultivating him for food instead of work, and a
society of hippophagi has been instituted with this view. Of course,
under present circumstances, the flesh of the old and worn-out horses
was sold for much less than the meats of well-fed ruminants, and the
miserable classes in all countries were glad: to obtain animal food of
all kinds at a low rate, but whenever an attempt had been made to
fatten horses for food it had been found that the meat could not be
produced at so low a rate as that for which far better beef and mutton
could be bought.

In attempting to introduce new domestic animals into some of our
‘olonies it would be desirable not to confine themselves to European
breeds but to ascertain whether some of the domestic races of Asia
and Africa might not be better adapted to the climate and other con-
ditions of the colony, although it would not be worth their while nor
consistent with good policy to attempt their introduction here. Such
experiments might be made in the colonies of the West Coast of
Africa, for instance, where our horse, ass, oxen, sheep, goat, and even
dog had greatly degenerated; where the horse and the ass live only
for a very brief period, where the flesh of the ox and the sheep is de-
scribed as bad and rare, and the flesh of the goat is said to be taste-
less and stringy. The pig alone seems to bear the change with equan-
imity, and the produce of the milch pig is often sold to passengers by the
mail packets and the ships on the stations, as the milk of the cow, or
even the goat, is rarely to be obtained.

Improvement in the Exhibition of Osteological Collections.—Beau-

ZOOLOGY. 329

tiful and instructive as articulated skeletons are for many purposes,
they are ill adapted for the examination of some of the most impor-
tant parts of the osseous system. ‘The articular ends of the different
bones of which they are composed are necessarily hidden, and a rigid
comparison of one bone with another is almost impossible. The
Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, have therefore
recently proposed, that a new osteological series shall be formed at
the Hunterian Museum, designed to show the principal modification
in each individual element of the skeleton throughout the vertebrate
series, by placing the homologous bones of a number of different ani-
mals in juxtaposition. For convenience of comparison, the specimens
are all to be placed in corresponding positions, mounted on separate
stands, and to each will be attached a label bearing the name of
the bone and of the animal to which it belongs. It is believed that,
when this series is carried out on a sufliciently extensive scale, it will
afford facilities to the student of comparative osteology never before
equalled, and add greatly to the real value of the College Museum to
working men of science.

Researches on the Nerve Structure.—Every anatomist is now famul-
iar with the fact that the nervous matter—the stuff which enables us
to think, and makes us conscious beings—is composed of cells and
fibres. By some anatomists it has been contended that certain cells
and fibres are independent of each other; but Dr. L. S. Beale, in a
paper recently published by the Royal Society, endeavors to prove,
that in all cases the fibres are in bodily connection with cells, and

that every nerve-cell has at least two fibres in connection with it.
From this the author concludes that the cells and fibres of every nerv-
ous apparatus form an uninterrupted circuit.

How to detect a Real Ghost.—Every one who has pressed his eyes
when shut, is more or less aware of the curious colored figures that
are thus brought before the consciousness ; and others are again
aware that when looking into space, curiously-shaped bodies float
before the eye, as though they occupied a place in space. These last,
when -sufliciently obvious to cause annoyance and the consultation of
a doctor, have been called muscee volitantes. These subjective phe-
nomena of the eye have assumed sometimes very definite forms, and
their study has enabled the physiologist to give satisfactory explana-
tions of the supposed appearance of ghosts to persons of diseased
visual apparatus. On these researches a ready means of detecting a
real ghost has’ been discovered. All that is necessary for this purpose
is, when the ghost is seen, to press the side of the eye with the finger,
when, if it be not doubled, the presence of areal or objective eliost
may at once be doubted.

The largest described Snake.—Mr. Speke, in his work on the dis-
covery of the source of the Nile, thus describes the death of a snake
of the boa species, shot by his traveling companion, Capt. Grant :—

“¢T shuddered as I looked upon the effects of his tremendous, dying
strength. For yards around where he lay, grass and bushes and sap-
lines, and in fact everything except the more fully grown trees, were
cut clean off, as though they had been trimmed “with an immense
scythe. This monster, when measured, was 51 feet 23 inches in ex-
treme lenyth, while round the thickest portion of its body the girth

28*

330 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was nearly three feet, thus proving, I believe, to be the largest ser-
pent that was ever authentically heard of.”

Specific against the Bite of Serpents.—Durmng the past year a Mr.
Underwood made numerous public experiments at Melbourne, Aus-
tralia, with the object of proving that he was in possession of a spe-
cific against the bites of even the most venomous serpents. He
allowed himself, as well as several rabbits, to be bitten by different
serpents, amongst others, the diamond snake, one of the most dan-
gerous in Australia; neither he nor the rabbits suffered any ill effects in
consequence, but the sum he asked appeared exorbitant, and the secret
was accordingly not divulged. However, the Cornwall Chronicle
asserts that the mysterious specific is no other than the polypodium
Jilix-mas, or male tern. The antidote is prepared by simply infusing
an ounce of the leaves of the plant nearest the root, in spirits of wine
or brandy, and preserving the tincture for use in a well-stoppered
bottle. If the properties of this plant are found to be really what is
described, it is desirable to try whether it would counteract the poison
arising from wounds made during anatomical dissections, to which so
many medical men and students fall victims.

Onthe Larynx of the White Man andthe Negro.—At the last meet-
ing of the British Association, Dr. G. D. Gibbs, in a paper on the
above subject, stated that special differences existed in the construc-
tion of the larynx of the white man and the negro, which consisted
in the invariable presence of the cartilage of Wrisberg, generally
absent or quite rudimentary in the white race; the obliquity of tae
plane of the vocal cords from within outwards, but varying in degree ;
and of the more or less pendent position of the ventricles, which per-
mitted of a view of their fundus with the laryngoscope. ‘The two
latter conditions he had never seen in the white race in an examination
of some 900 healthy living persons. ‘These facts were made out from
an examination of 58 negroes, including 15 post mortem.

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.

In the recent proceedings of the Royal Society is inserted an account
of 20 experiments relating to this question performed by Dr. G. W.
Child. ‘The substances used, were, in ten experiments, milk; and in
ten, fragments of meat and water. ‘These were in all cases placed ina
bulb of glass about 24 inches in diameter, and having two narrow and
lone necks. The experiments were divided into five series of four
experiments each. In one series the bulbs were filled with air pre-
viously passed through a porcelain tube containing fragments of
pumice-stone, and heated to vivid redness in a furnace. In the others
they were filled respectively with carbonic acid, hydrogen, oxygen,
and nitrogen gases. In each series two experiments were made
with milk and two with meat; and each substance was boiled in one
case and not boiled in the other. ‘The joints of the apparatus were
formed either by means of non-vulcanized caoutchoue tubing or India-
rubber corks previously boiled in a solution of potash; and in every
case, at the end of the experiment, the necks of the bulb were sealed
by thelamp. ‘The time of boiling such of the substances as were boiled
varied irom five to 20 minutes, and the boiling took place in the bulb,
and with the stream of gas or air still passmg through. -The sub-

ZOOLOGY. aoe

stances were always allowed to cool in the same stream of gas before
the bulbs were sealed. The microscopic examination of the contents
of the bulbs took place at various times, from three to four months
after their inclosure. In every case but one in which the substance
had not been boiled, low organisms were found apparently irrespective
of the kind of gas in which they had to exist. The case in which they
were not seen was that of meat inclosed in a tube filled with nitrozen.
This bulb burst apparently spontaneously, and its doing so may be
looked upon as a proof that in it also some change had taken place,
most likely connected with the development of organic life. Dr.
Childs concludes by saying that no definite conclusion can be drawn
from so limited a range of experiments; but it is worthy of remurk
that organisms were found here under the precise circumstances in
which M. Pasteur states that they cannot and do not exist. The very
abnormal conditions under which some of these so-called organisms
are found would render it doubtful whether bacteriums, vibrios, &e.
ought to be considered as independent organisms in any higher sense
than are white blood-corpuscles, pollen grains, mucus-corpuscles, or
spermatozoa.

M. Pasteur’s Conclusions respecting Spontaneous Generation.—At a
recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, M. Pasteur also
reverted to the controversy on this subject. In his recent memoir, he
stated, on the faith of numerous experiments, that it was always possible
to take away from any determined spot a limited, yet notable, amount of ©
air which has not undergone any physical or chemical change, and which
was nevertheless quite unable to provoke any alteration in an eminently
putrescible liquid. MM. Pouchet and Joly, having affirmed that this
result was erroneous, M. Pasteur defied them to prove it so. MM. Joly
and Musset, said: “Ifa single one of our tubes remain unaltered, we
will loyally acknowledge our defeat.” And M. Pouchet also said: I de-
clare that, on any part of the globe whence I shall take a cubic decimeter
of air, when I shall place it in contact with a putrescible liquid in a her-
metically sealed tube, the latter will invariably become filled with living
organisms.” In conformity with the demand of MM. Pouchet, Joly, and
Musset, accepted by M. Pasteur, the Academy has appointed a committee
composed of several of its most illustrious members,—MM. Flourens,
Dumas, Brougniart, Milne-Edwards, and Balard to repeat in its presence
the experiments, the results of which have been invoked as either
favorable or contrary to the doctrine of spontaneous generations.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY.

NEW PLANETS AND COMETS FOR 1864.

THE discovery of three new asteroidal planets has been announced
during the past year, making the whole number now recognized
eighty-two.

The eightieth asteroid was discovered by Mr. Pogson of the Obser-
vatory of Madras, India. It has received the name of Sappho.
The eighty-first asteroid was discovered September 30, by Mr,
Tempel of Marseilles, France. It has received the name of Terp-
sichore.

The etghty-second asteroid was discovered November 27, by M. Lu-
ther of Bilk, Germany. It has received the name-of Alkmene,

New Comets.— Five new comets have been discovered during the
past year; but none of them exhibited any special features of in-
terest.

Biela’s Comet, which during its apparition in 1846 exhibited such
remarkable phenomena,— its nucleus splitting up into two in a most
mysterious manner, each component pursuing different paths,— will
be with us again thisyear. As might have been imagined, the strange
splitting up in 1846, considerably disturbed its path; but although
when it was observed by Father Secchi in 1852 it was distant 6° in
right ascension and 2° in declination from its predicted place, much
of the deviation was due to the error of the ephemeris. The comet
could not be observed at its perihelion in 1859, so that the 1865 re-
turn will be watched for by astronomers with the greatest interest.

ASTRONOMICAL SUMMARY.

Supposed fifth Satellite of Jupiter.—M. Gasparis, of the Observatory
at Naples, saw, July 22, 1864, at 7.59 p.m. a black, well-defined point
on the dise of the planet. In a quarter of an hour this black point,
moving in the direction of the pianet’s rotation, disappeared, passing from
the margin. M. de Gasparis asks if this is the same body that has been
seen by Messrs. Long and Baxendell. M. Flammarion, in the Paris
Cosmos, says it could not have been a little planet in conjunction with —
Jupiter, for in that case its motion would have been in an opposite direc-
tion, and it was not one of the four known satellites, as they were all
visible. Could it, he asks, have been a fifth small satellite ? .

The Spectrum of Comet II, 1864.—Prof. Donati, of Florence, publishes
in Astron. Nach. a sketch of the spectrum afforded by this comet, and
he remarks that it resembles that produced by metals, the black bands
being broader than the luminous.

332

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. $33

New Relation of Periodic Times.—Mr. Finlaysan, of Dover, Eng.,
points out the following singular proportion: The period of rotation of
the earth on its axis is in the same proportion to the periodic time of the
moon round the earth, as that of the period of rotation of the sun on its
axis is to the periodic time of Mars round the sun.

Nebula of Eta Argis and Southern Double Stars.—Mr. Powell, ob-
serving at Madras, confirms his own and Mr. Abbot’s previous suspicions
of the changes in the nebula surrounding Eta Argts. He states that
since 1860, the whole nebula has faded away very considerably, and has
also altered its form ; the star now being left quite isolated, and out of the
u bulous matter altogether. It is to be remembered that the star is one
of the most remarkable variabl» ones, and the phenomenon of the star
and nebula varying in brightness at the same time resembles that of the
disappearance of the small star and telescopic nebula of Taurus a few
years since. Mr. Powell has also made some good observations on the
remarkable star, Alpha Centauri, which is now at an interesting part of its
orbit, as the distance is now decreasing. Gamma Corone Australis he
finds has described 20° during the last four years.

New Nebule.—Myr. Lassel, the celebrated English Astronomer, who
has for some time located his fine telescope in the Island of Malta, an-
nounces the discovery of nearly 200 new nebulz during the last year.

Orbits of Binary Stars.—Prof. Kirkwood in a recent communication
to Silliman’s Journal, directs attention to the fact that the orbits of
Binary Stars, so far as observed, are much more elliptical than those
of the planets, Of the whole number of apparently double stars known
to us, about 6,000, no less than 650 have changed their relative posi-
tion. The almost circular path of planets around the sun and the
extremely elliptic motions of the self-luminous stars are both accounted
for by the theory of Laplace, as explained by Prof. K. For if a mass
of nebulous matter in which the process of condensation has com-
menced, has a very slow rotation, and if instead of a single center of
attraction, two distinct nuclei be formed, the consequence may be its
complete separation into two bodies, while the rotation is yet so slow
that the centrifugal force, as compared with centripetal, is too feeble to
produce a nearly circular motion. While, therefore, orbits of small
eccentricity must characterize planets formed from the abandoned
equatorial rings of a condensing nebula, orbits highly elliptical may be
regarded as the probable consequence of a separation in the earlier
stages of its physical history.

Thoughts on the Influence of Ether in the Solar System, its Relation
to the Zodiacal Light, Comets, and Seasons, and periodical Shooting-
Stars.—In a communication to the American Philosophical Society by
Dr. A. Wilcocks, the author advances the hypothesis that there is a
constant circulation of ether induced by the heat of the sun; that the
cold ether descends near the poles of the sun, and that heated ether
ascends from the sun’s equator, or rather from a parallel of solar
latitude just north of the equator; that this heated current as it rises
is compressed by the cold ether into a thin conical sheet; that the
ether bears with it matter capable of reflecting light, and thus causes
the zodiacal light; that the tails of the comets are lighter than the
ether, and arise for that reason from the sun, except when near the
poles of the sun, when they are made to descend im the vortices of

334 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

descending ether, so as to present double and multiple tails ; that twice
in the year, in August and November, the earth plunges through the
sheet of warm ether, causing a warm period in each month, the dog
days and the Indian summer; and that in the middle of these two
periods it causes the return of the August and November meteors.

Shute on the Companion of Sirius—M. Shute’s observations on
the satellite of Sirius, published during the past year, seem to support
the views of Mr. Safford of Cambridge, Mass. viz: that there is no
physical connection between the two stars.

Distance of Sirius.—M. Flammarion, in the Cosmos, speaking
of this magnificent star says: ‘‘thanks to the labors of Sir John Her-
schel, we know that the absolute intensity of the light of Sirius has
been estimated at 224 times that of the sun, and that its parallax,
amounting to 0//:23, gives for its distance from the earth the probable
number of 52,000,000,000 of leagues. It follows that we do not see
the Sirius of to-day, but of 22 years avo; the ray of hght that we
receive to-day having been emitted by the star about 1840.”

Comparing the Light of Stars.—Iin Comptes Rendus for the 11th
of April, 1864, M. Chacornac describes a method of mounting a plane
mirror so as to bring into the field of a telescope the image of one stars
while the telescope receives directly the light of another. By this
means the two images are brought into simultaneous view, the one of
course less brilliant than it should be, through loss of licht in reflec-
tion. He gives the calculations necessary to work out the comparison.
Sirius he finds to be five times as bright as Arcturus. He is able to
work by this method upon stars from 20° to 160° apart. When seen
simultaneously, Arcturus looks orange red, and Sirius has a slight
green tint.

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT SHOOTING-STARS.

Of shooting-stars there is an average of from five to seven visible
every hour onaclear night. They are stray visitants in contradis-
tinction to the prodigious swarms of November and August, which
observation during twenty-five years has decided to be accurately return-
ing phenomena. Arago gives asummary of the times in each month
when meteors are chictly seen; it is as follows: January. Shooting-
stars are rare, Ist, to 4th, if at all. February. The ancient showers
of meteors announced for this month by the chroniclers seem to have
failed for the last eight or nine centuries. March. Occasionally.
April. From 4th to 11th, and 17th to 25th. May. Shooting-stars
are rare. June. Shooting-stars are very rare. July. The appari-
tion of showers begins now to increase in number; we may expect
them about July 26th to 29th. August. The well known period of 9th
to 1ith. September. Rare but possible from 18th to 25th. October.
In the middle of the month. November. As usual from 11th to
13th, though less abundant. December. About 5th to 15th.

From this it will be seen that shooting-stars are much more numerous
during the latter half of the year, when the earth is passing from sum-
mer to winter, or, in astronomical phraseology, from aphelion to peri-
helion. The same increase of number in the last six months of the
year is observable in the appearance and fall of fire-balls and aerolites.
Now by what theory can we account for this uniform return of meteors
in each year?

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 335

The theory generally accepted is thus set forth by Prof. H. A. Newton,
of New Haven, Conn.: which is, that there is a ring, or annulus of small
bodies revolving with planetary velocity about the sun; that the bodies in
question are distributed very unevenly in the ring, there being a small
section of the ring where the bodies are numerous, with a few stragglers
scattered along the rest of its circuit; that the earth passes through the
ring every year, and each year in a new place; and that it passes through
that part of the ring in which the planets are most numerous once in
about 33 years. He further concludes that the period of the revolution
ol this ring of planets around the sun may be calculated with very great
accuracy, and that it is 8354°621 days,—a little less than a year.

When the bodies, composing this assumed ring, come within the limits
of our atmosphere, they are rendered visible to us as shooting-stars, or
fire-balls. Prof. Newton, and Mr. Alexander Herschel, have concluded
independently, that shooting-stars commence at 70 miles and disappear at
5) miles above the surface of the earth. At 60 miles above the earth
shooting-stars are far more frequent than at any other altitude, and they
are considerably more between 40 and 80 miles above the earth than in
all other elevations put together. Examples of suddenly collapsing and
rekindling meteors appear to favor an hypothesis that chemical affinities,
unknown at ordinary temperatures, produce in similar meteors a consid-
erable portion of their unaccountable excess of light and heat. Prof.
Newton estimates the velocity with which the November meteors arrive
on the atmosphere of this earth at 20°17 miles per second, allowing for
the attraction by the earth. The velocity of their passage through the
air is 38°7 miles, or nearly 40 miles per second.

The periodicity and parallel divergence of all the shooting-stars from
the same apex or point in the celestial sphere, can only be accounted for
by the supposition of a ring, or elliptical annulus of meteors. Supposing
this ellipse is crossed by the earth twice in her annual course, and that
the traversing of each node occupies a day or two, we may at once ac-
count for the periodic profusion of meteors. And the parallel divergence
of the stars from the same place in the heavens at each period, is exactly
what would occur if the orbits of the earth and the meteoric ring inter-
sected. In the November period, all the stars emerge from the region
of Leonis; in August, from Camelopardali; the latitude of the apex
is chthged, but not the geometrical fact of divergence from a common
source.

Father Secchi, the Roman astronomer, in a recent publication, calls
attention to the small horizontal distance to which meteor appear-
ances are limited. The cases in which this exceeds 220 kilometers are
rare. The consequence of this is a curious one. At places double
that distance apart it is scarcely possible that the same shooting-stars
can be seen; and if we suppose the celestial vault represented by a
globe 50 centimeters in diameter, we may say that the part of the sky
whence the meteors proceed does not exceed the space that might be
covered by a shilling.

Dr. Schmidt of the Observatory of Athens, has recently been fortu-
nate enough to observe the explosion of a meteor by means of one of
the powerful telescopes of the Athens Observatory, and the appearance
which he witnessed—an incandescent shower—is entirely what would
have been expected.

636 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Our readers will bear in mind that the condition of these meteors is
‘not one of incandescence, or ignition, while traversing space beyond
the limits of our atmosphere ; “and it has often been “wished that we
might be favored with some observations of them while in the course
of their interplanetary progress. ‘This opportunity has been given
within the last year to M. Heis, a European astronomer. At 8h.

31m. p. M. on the 4th of October last, as he was observing the milky
way, he distinctly saw a dark mass slowly wending its way along the
half-illumined sky , eclipsing the stars in its path. He was enabled to
watch this strange visitant from a point situated in @ 230° 0 +21° toa
291° +- 18°, where it finally disappeared. How fortunate it would have
been for us if another observer, as skilled as M. Heis, had also been
favored with a sight of this dimmest of planets!

Prof. Newton, in a recent communication to Silliman’s Journal,
after assigning a period of about 38 years for the recurrence of the so-
called ‘* meteoric showers,” thus speculates in regard to the next prob-

able great display: If a shower occurs in 1865 (32 years after the
great “November display of 1833), it seems most reasonable to look
for the finest appearance ‘‘in western Asia and eastern Europe; and
in 1866 on the western Atlantic. The year in which we have most
reason to expect a shower, is 1866, since the cycle of 33°25 years is
probably to be reckoned from some date between November in 1832
and in 1833. These places and times are named with hesitation,—
rather to guide observation, than as predictions. The causes alluded
to above, and the possible perturbations and irregularities of structure
of the group, may cause unexpected variations of time and place.”

STARS THAT HAVE CHANGED THEIR COLORS.

Some additions to the catalogue of these stars are given by Mr. Jacob
Ennis, in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Phila-
delphia, based on the observations of Humboldt, Donati, Herschel,
Schmidt, and others, including himself. He says, ‘ amongthe 11 stars
of the first magnitude, pisible i in this latitude, seven, according to these
evidences, have undergone changes of color. and some of them more
changes than one. Among the six stars of the first magnitude in the
Southern Hemisphere, not visible here, two have changed their colors.
And nearly all these changes have been sudden, transpiring in ‘short
periods. Moreover, none of the 11 first magnitude stars visible here
are white ; all are either red, yellow, green, or blue. Why has.it not
been made known long ago ? Probably in great part, because changes in
the color of stars could not be accounted for by any prevailing scien-
tific theory. Ithas been rationally assumed that the stars are similar
in constitution to the sun, and the sun has been encircled with a theory
which affords not the least clue to any changes of color. This theory
is most singularly complicated and unfortunate. It surrounds the sun,
said tobe dark, with an apparatus consisting of five distinct atmos-
pheric envelops, all regularly arranged one “above the other: First,
a transparent envelop touching the opaque body of the sun: secondly,
a fiery luminous envelop: thirdly, another transparent envelop:
fourthly, another fiery luminous envelop: fifthly, a tr: ansparent enye-
lop, surrounding all the others. Among such a number of imaginary
things, there seems to be no room to imagine how changes of color

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. Sor

could occur. Hence the mention of a change of color in a star has
been regarded as anomalous, as an inconvenient fact having no rela-
tion to any popular theories and no appropriate place in the or dinary
systems. ‘Hence observations on the colors and on the changes of
colors have not been stimulated, but rather repressed by this comple x
theory of the sun.” The progress of whatis termed solar and stellar
chemistry will, no doubt, revive the attention of philosophers to the
above-mentioned phenomena.

THE STABILITY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.

The doctrine of the stability of the solar system is considered by
modern astronomers to be a fact established on the most satisfactory
evidence. It is however, assailed by Prof. Gustav Henrichs, in an
elaborate paper in the American Journal of Science, No. 109. He con-
siders, in the first place, the effects of resistance, referring to the
evidence of it in the ease of Encke’s Comet: and from his calcula-
tions deduces the following four laws: 1. That with eee age
the nearest secondary planet approac ‘hes its primary ; The entire
system of orbits becomes closer; 3. The regularity and eter dis-
appear more and more ; and 4. ‘That at corresponding ages similar sys-
tems must represent the same configuration. He next examines at
some length the laws of density and rotation, giving the result in fif-
teen conclusions. We give the last two: 14. If the laws of attrac-
tion are not fully identical with those of repulsion, the created matter
could already virtually contain the tangential force upon which the
duration of the whole world principally” depends. This is simply an
instance of ‘* throwing the first cause further back,” since the transla-
tory movement no longer needs to be considered as a direct action of
the Creator, but as a design embodied and effected through some pre-
vious direct act. 15. It is probable that the force lost in resistance
is converted into magnetism. ‘Il know that some, like Brewster, will
object to these and similar efforts ; ; yet we always feel the more deeply
convinced of the glory, power, and wisdom of the Creator and governor
of the universe, the more we perceive how simple his means, how
grand his design, and how multiform his effects. Unlike ourselves,
the Creator needs no tools, no constant effort for producing his ends.
His Almighty fiat created the universe, and his hand sustains it
ever since.”

THEORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SUN.

The following is a résumé of a long memoir on this subject by M.
Emile Gautier, i in the Libliothéque Univer selle, in which he gives an
account of the principal observations and theories that have been
hitherto published. 1. The sun is a liquid, incandescent globe, com-
posed of elements similar to those which enter into the composition
of the earth, and probably into that of the planetary system. It
exists in a state analogous to the phase of liquidity through which the
earth has passed, according to the opinion generally entertained by
geologists. The high temperature by which its liquidity is mé tintained
considerably dilates its volume, and Ashi the feeble relative den-
sity of the globe in a state of fusion. 2. An atmosphere envelops
the liquid mass, and incloses in it, in suspension, vapors or emanations of

338 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

all kinds; so that its lower strata ought to be comparatively heavier
than those of the terrestrial atmosphere. As the rotatory motion of the
central globe cannot be supposed to be transmitted to its gaseous
envelop so far as its most elevated limits with the same angular veloc-
ity, the solar atmosphere is probably susceptible of exercising on the
liquid surface an action analogous to that of friction. 3. The emana-
tions or metallic vapors surrounding the sun, and impregnated with
dust, smoke, or lava, form around it a layer of variable thickness, and
present total eclipses, the appearance of red borders and protuber-
ances. 4. The solar dark spots are partial solidifications, of the
surface, due either to cooling or to chemical action, reuniting
momentarily into aggregates, salts, or oxyds, which have issued from
the mass in fusion, and float on its surface. 5. The facule (bright
spots) are the result of the appearance on the sun of very brilliant
substances, endowed with radiating power. 6. The acceleration
observed in the rotatory movement of the spots situated near the solar
equator is the result of the exterior action of the atmospheric pressure
on the liquid surface, combined with that of the interior layers of the
mass in fusion. Accidental irregularities may proceed from the dis-
turbance of the chemical and physical equilibrium of the various
materials composing the mass.

In a paper on this same subject, recently read by Mr. Dawes to the
Royal Astronomical Society, he stated that ‘‘the mottled surface of
the sun can be seen with a low power.” It has been variously de-
scribed, and it appeared to him in many ways; but he stated that he
had not been able to verify the appearance of the ‘* willow leaves”
described by Mr. Nasmyth. Mr. Dawes considers Sir John Her-
schel’s words, ‘‘ the surface is like some flocculent chemical precipitate
slowly settling down,” to be by far the best description of the solar
disc. When Mr. Dawes used a very small perforation, with an eye-
piece of high powers (400 to 600), he rarely saw much change in the
pores, except in the vicinity of the spots, which were rapidly expand-
ing or closing, when the appearance of the surface at the margin
resembled small bits of straw or thatching, interlacing in all directions.
He says that with regard to the spots in the black centers, distinction
ought to be made between the umbra and the nucleus. ‘The exist-
ence or absence of this black central portion may possibly determine
the origin of the spots.

TEMPERATURE AND CLIMATE OF THE MOON.

Mr. James Nasmyth of England, in a recent lecture before the
Royal Institution, on the above subject, dwelt on the great evidence
of voleanic action in the formation of the moon’s surface, and ex-
pressed his own conviction that all volcanic action is of cosmical
origin and as ancient as the planets themselves ; the heat being essen-
tially different from that of ordinary combustion, which required the
presence of oxygen. The bulk or solid contents of the moon, as
compared with that of the earth, is as 1 to 49. The surface of the
moon, as compared with that of the earth, is as 1 to 16. On the sup-
. position that the moon and the earth were formed at the same period,
by the condensation of nebulous matter, the rapidity of the cooling of
the moon would be four times as great as that of the earth, in conse-

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 339

quence of its greater surface as compared with its solid contents ;
hence the moon would have become solid long before the earth, and
would offer for our contemplation an object of immense antiquity, the
surface of which, from the absence of air and water, would have
undergone no disintegration or change for millions of ages.

The present condition of the moon’s surface seems in great part
made up of craters of extinct volcanoes, some 28 miles in diameter,
Some of the volcanic mountains of the moon are 28,000 feet high.
These are brightly illuminated on one side by the sun; and from the
absence of diffused daylight, owing to the want of an atmosphere,
the further side is in shadow of intense blackness; and from the same
cause, the sky, as seen from the moon, would appear perfectly dark,
the stars being always visible.

The day in the moon is a fortnight in duration, and during this
period the temperature on the illuminated side would probably rise to
220° Fahrenheit, or hotter than boiling water. The might would be
of equal length, and during this time the heat, from the absence of
aqueous vapor and atmosphere, would be radiated freely into space,
and the temperature would fall to that of space, viz: to 500° below
zero Fahr. The absence of air and water in the moon would render
impossible the existence of animal and vegetable life corresponding
to that which prevails on our globe.

The use of the moon, as a satellite of the earth, is usually re-
garded as being that of a luminary, but from its variable action this
use must be regarded as secondary. Its value as inducing the tides
and currents of the ocean is of greater importance, both as conducing
to the sanitary condition of the sea, and as aiding transit in rivers,
by the ebb and flow of the tide. At the conclusion of the lecture,
Mr. Nasmyth illustrated the formation of the radiating cracks on the
moon’s surface, by congealing water in a thin glass globe hermetically
sealed,—when it cracked in lines radiating from a single point,—the
cracks in the moon being attributed to the contraction of its external
hardened crust during the period of its rapid congelation.

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES.

NEW EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH POLE,

A NEw project of an expedition to reach the North Pole, has been pro-
posed in England by Capt. Osborn, distinguished for his connection with
former Arcticexplorations. He proposes that his vessels shall sailin the
spring of 1866, and reach Cape Yorkin August. One vessel would then
be secured in or about Cape I{sabella, leaving only 25 persons in charge ;
the other, with 95 men, would be pressed up the western shore in the
direction of Cape Parry, taking care not to exceed a distance of 300
miles from her consort. During the same autumn, the southern ship
would connect herself by dépéts with the northern vessel, and the north-
ern vessel would place our dépéts towards the Pole, ready for spring
operations. In the two following years—1867, 68—sledge and boat op-
erations should be directed towards the Pole and over the unknown polar
area ; and in 1869 the expedition would retire, thus spending only two
winters and three summers in the Arctic Zone. In an address before the
Royal Society, Captain Osborn pressed warmly the advantages to the
physical sciences which would accrue from such an expedition. There
was an areaof 1,131,000 square milés around the Pole, at presenta blank
on our maps, and it was of the highest geographical interest to ascer-
tain whether this space was a silent, frozen solitude, or, as some main-
tained, an area of lands and waters teeming with life. The cthnolog-
ical problems were no less interesting, for it was extremely probable
that man would be found existing much further north than was at
present believed; and his mode of existence in*these regions would
be very similar to that of our remote ancestors in Europe, who used
flint weapons during the period when an Arctic climate prevailed over
Britain and a great part of the Continent. There were also many
meteorological problems of the highest interest, which could only be
solved by a series of accurate observations, made by skilled persons
in very high latitudes. But one of the most important services which
such an expedition could render to science would be the measurement
of an are of the meridian in the Arctic zone. This great service—a
measurement of 4° of the meridian—could be well performed by a
party from the ship, which was proposed to be left near Cape Isabella
during the summer season, while the northern expedition was on its road
tothe Pole. As regards the risk of polar explorations, Capt. Osborn
stated, that from 1818 to 1854, England lost only two ships and 128
men out of 42 successive expeditions. Forty thousand miles had
been traversed by foot parties in the search of Franklin alone, and
yet not one of these parties had been ever lost. An equal amount of

340

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 841

geographical discovery had never been accomplished on the earth’s
surface with so small an amount of human sacrifice. It was a super-
ficial view that Arctic exploration had done nothing but add so many
miles of unprofitable coastline to our charts. The discoveries made
in the various physical sciences during these expeditions were full of
practical importance. It was in the Arctic region that the clue was
obtained of the laws of those mysterious currents which flow through
the wastes of the ocean like two mighty rivers—the Gulf Stream and
the Ice Stream. It was in Boothia that the two Rosses first reached
the magnetic pole,—that central point round which revolves the mar-
iner’s compass over half the Northern hemisphere; and the mass of
observations collected by our explorers on all sides of that pole had
added greatly to our knowledge of the laws of magnetic declination
and dip. There were two routes to be considered in a project for
reaching the North Pole; the one by Spitzbergen, and the other via
North Greenland. Hakluyt’s Head, in Spitzbergen, is about 600
miles from the Pole. Sailing ships have been in this direction within
500 miles of it, and Capt. Parry on the night of July 22, 1827, stood
upon floating ice exactly 435 geographical miles from the Pole. He
was constrained to give up the attempt, simply because the ice was
being swept faster to the south than his men could drag their boats to
the north. It was the height of the Arctic summer, and the experi-
ence of the last 20 years had shown that instead of starting on sucha
journey in June, Parry ought to have wintered in Spitzbergen, and
started for the Pole in February. The Spitzbergen route, however,
has this objection—that no northern land is known on its meridian to
give fixed points for the deposit of provisions. Smith’s Sound, in
North Greenland, would be a better starting-point. It is 120 miles
nearer the Pole, and there is good ground for concluding that there
is a further extension of continent gr islands thence to the northward.
The nature of the ice-drift tends to prove this; for it consists of ice-
bergs, which are creatures of the land and born of glaciers. Icebergs
abound in Smith’s Sound, which would not have been the case had
the land terminated abruptly near the Humbolt Glacier. ‘These tell
us of great lands with lofty mountains and deep valleys, retaining the
moisture and snow-drift of ages, and promise that continuity of frozen
seaboard needed, to enable our explorers to reach the Pole.

With respect to the distance to be traversed in going to the Pole
and back, Capt. Osborn stated, that we have ample data to show
that it has been frequently exceeded by our sailors over the most
sterile lands yet visited in the Arctic region. In 1853, Commander
M’Clintock’s party made 1,220 miles in 105 days, and Captain Rich-
ards and the speaker 1,093 miles; Lieutenant Hamilton even aceom-
plished 1,150 miles with a dog-sledge and one man. All these dis-
tances are in excess of the 964 to be traversed in going from Cape
Parry to the Pole and back. Since 1853, still greater distances have
been accomplished. Thus, Lieutenant Mecham marched, in 1854
1,157 miles in only seventy days.

The proposed expedition has the sanction of the Royal Society.

During the past year the Swedish Diet has voted the money
necessary to complete the survey for the measurement of an arc of
the meridian at Spitzbergen, and there is every reason to expect that
the practicability of the undertaking will be immediately settled.

342 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

RECENT GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS.

In his address at the anniversary of the Royal Geographical Society
(Eng.) for 1864, Sir R. I. Murchison, the President, stated, that of
late years Russia has been the most eminent of nations in prose-
cuting geographical research : —

«The Geographical Society of St. Petersburg wields not only the
power and influence of the Imperial Government of Russia, but
receives also large grants of public money, which have enabled it to
carry on simultaneous researches in the steppes near the Caspian and
in the Caucasus, and also to describe the grand natural features of
Central Asia, the boundaries of the Chinese Empire, and the whole
river system of the mighty Amoor with its more numerous afiluents.
In this way serious geographical errors have been corrected, and new
features laid down, by positive observations on maps; while the nat-
ural history of the animals and plants, as well as of the human inhab-
itants of large regions of which little was previously known, has been
fully developed.”

Referring to explorations in Africa, he remarked, that although much
had been accomplished in late years in African exploration, ‘“ yet
much remains to be done to complete a general sketch even of the
geography of equatorial Africa! Is it not essential that the Victoria
Nyanza of Speke, a body of water as large as Scotland, which has
only been touched at a few points on its southern, western, and
northern shores, should have all its shores and affluents examined ?
And do not the Mountains of the Moon of the same explorer invite a
survey? Have we not yet to find out the source of the great Zaire or
Congo, and trace that river to its mouth? And who has yet reached
the sources of the mighty Niger? Again, when we cast an eye down
the map southwards, are we notestill in ignorance of the drainage
and form of a prodigious extent of country “between the Tanganyika
Lake of Burton and Speke, and the Zambesi and Shiré of Livingston?
Ave we not at this moment most anxious to determine, by positive
observation, whether there exists a great series of lakes and rivers,
proceeding, from Tanganyika on the north, to Lake Nyassa on the
south? And has not Livingston’s very last effort been directed to
this point. If Central Africa is ever to advance in civilization, and
its inhabitants are to be brought into commeercial relations ‘with
Europe, one of the best chances of our accomplishing it will, in my
opinion, consist in rendering the great White Nile, a highway of in-
tercourse and traflic.”

ON THE EARLY MIGRATIONS OF MAN.

In a paper on the above subject read at the last meeting of the British
Association by Mr. J. Crawford, the ethnologist, the author maintained
that the view advocated by many writers, of extensive migrations having
taken place in primitive times was entirely erroneous. To undertake
migrations even on a very moderate scale, a people must have made a
considerable advance in. Civilization. They must have learnt to produce
some kind of food capable of being stored, to serve them on a long jour-
ney, and must have attained some “skill in ‘fabricating and using weapons
of offence and defence. ‘The earliest authentic records of emigrating are

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES, 343

those of the Greeks, and they were all by sea, requiring a provision of
sea-stock, ships, and some nautical experience. ‘There is no example
of a people, considerable in number and tolerably civilized, wholly and
voluntarily abandoning the country of their fathers, or even of a whole
people being driven to do so by a conqueror. The early migrations of the
Malays bear a tolerably close resemblance to those of the Greeks; but
when these migrations were undertaken, the Malays had acquired a
certain measure of civilization. They were a people quite equal to the
enterprise of emigrating and establishing colonies. Notwithstanding these
and similar facts, some very learned writers have indulged their imagina-
tions with the supposed migrations of such savages, fancying that the
whole earth was peopled from a single starting-point, and by one race of
men. From the learned Dr. Prichard we have au example of these im-
aginary migrations, in the supposed peopling of the New World from
the Old, the latter being fancied to nave contained that spot from which
the entire earth was peopled. It is now admitted that the people who
achieved this marvellous migration were i the rudest savage state, and
that all their arts and acquirements, down to their very languages, were
attained after their arrival in America. It is unnecessary to show that the
shortest of the sea-voyages by which these primitive tribes, could have
passed from Asi to Europe would be impossible to be performed by
them. The paper concluded by a protest against the modern theory of the
Indo-Germanic or Aryan migration, which the author said was founded
entirely on philology run mad, and not on ethnology at all.

Prof. Rawlinson, of Oxford, combated, in a long discourse, the views of
Mr. Crawford, especially with regard to the Aryan theory, which, he ob-
served, was not a German theory, as the author of the paper asserted, but
was originally propounded by our own countryman, Sir. William Jones.
The speaker explained that the primitive migrations of man need not be
supposed to have been undertaken. by large bodies, but to have been
gradual and slow. For instance, with regard to the peopling of India by
successive nations of barbarians from the northwest; this may have com-
menced originally by a few wanderers who finding the climate ayreeable
and the lands unoccupied, would remain, but, having partial communica-
tion with their compatriots left behind, would induce these, one family
after another, to follow their example. The principles of the Aryan
theory rested more upon an identity of grammatical structure than on that
of the vocabularies of languages. He was inclined to believe in a single
center of creation for man. The great difficulty was in the received chro-
nology not being sufficient to allow for the great modifications of race
that had since ensued. But we need not be bound by the chronology of
Genesis, seeing that the three versions of Scriptures all differed in this
respect. He held himself at liberty to say that the true chronology had
not been revealed to us. ‘The revelation was not meant to give us a
physical history of the world, and it did not detract from the general cred-
ibility of the Bible that it should be allowed to have become corrupted
on these points.

ON THE FIXITY OF* THE TYPES OF MAN.
At the last meeting of the British Association, Rev. T. Farrar, in

a paper on the above subject maintained that, as far as we can go
back, the races of man under all zones, appear to have maintained an

344 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

unalterable fixity. On the oldest Egyptian monuments we find Jews,
Arabs, Negroes, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Europeans depicted with a
fidelity as to color and feature ‘hardly to be surpassed by a modern
artist. It might be objected, that this fixity was due to the surround-
ing conditions havi ing remained unaltered. Buta glance at the map
shows this objection “to be invalid; for the eastern’ region of Asia,
from 70° N. lat. to the Equator, offers every variety of “temperature,
yet is peopled by a single type, the Mongolian. By the side of the fair
Circassian we find brown Calmucks ; short, dark Lapps live side by
side with tall, fair Finns. The color of the American Indian de-
pends very little on geographical positions. In short, color is dis-
tributed over the globe in patches, not in zones. Europeans trans-
planted from the temper ate to the torrid zone do not, even in the course
of generations, undergo very considerable modification of type. This
may be seen in the Dutch, who have lived in South Africa for 310
years, and in the descendants of the Spaniards and Portugese in
South America; also in the negroes transplanted to America. Inde-
pendently of this; we find races widely differimg from each other, but
dwelling side by side, who, so far as we know, have, from time im-
memorial, been affected by the same climate; such is the case with
the Bosjesmen and the Kaffirs, the Fuegians and the Patagonians, the
Parsees and the Hindoos. ‘This fixity of type applies to habits as
well as to corporeal features. The life of the Ishmaelite of to-day

might be described in the identical terms applied to his first ancestor ;
and the Mongol has the same habits as in the days of A%schylus and
Herodotus, or, perhaps, thousands of years before. It may be ob-
jected that a period of a few centuries is little or nothing in ethnolog-
ical matters. It is, at any rate, everything, to those who, without
miraculous interference, of which nothing is ‘recorded, have not more
than that period between the Deluge and the date of the oldest Egyp-
tian monument in which to account for the appearance of, for instance,
the full-grown, well-marked Nigritian type. It remains for every
one who is convinced of these facts to draw from them such infer-
ences as appear to him most truthful and logical.

In the discussion which followed, Mr. Russell stated, that he be-
lieved that the fixity of the type of races during the historical period
was only one of the numerous proofs of the ereat antiquity of man.
The results of various branches of inquiry,— geological, traditional
and ethnological,—all pointed one way. He maintained that some
amount of modification was known to have taken place in the descend-
ants of one and the same race,—the European and Indian branches of
the Aryan race, for example; he therefore concluded that, as two
lines not exactly parallel will eventually meet if traced out, so the
various races and sections of races of man must be concluded, from
this known example of divergence, to have had a common origin,
however remote in time that origin may have been.

ON THE SOURCES OF THE SUPPLY OF TIN FOR THE BRONZE TOOLS
. AND WEAPONS OF ANTIQUITY.

A paper on the above subject was read at the last meeting of the
British Association by Mr. J. Crawford. Tin, as is well known is
found in only a very few parts of the world, and the only localities

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITY. 345

producing it, which have reference to the question under consideration
are—England, the Malayan Peninsula, and Northern China. The ore
is easily reduced, and in early times was found in drift or alluvium.
The tin formations of the Malayan countries are the most extensive in
the world. These three sources are the only principal ones from which
the nations of ancient Europe could have derived this metal. Tin
would be supplied in the same manner as_ silk and spices, with the
difference of being imported from the West as well as the East.
Merchants dealing in the metal would convey it, as far as it fetched a
profit, until western and eastern tin met at a central point, which
may have been Egypt. All the nations west of it would be supplied
with British, and all those east of it with Malayan or Chinese tin.
British tin would be conveyed by land to the Channel, then, crossing
it, reach France, and through France find its way to Italy, Greece,
and Egypt. The author totally disbelieves, with Sir Cornwall Lewis,
in the voyages of the Pheenicians to the Scilly Islands, through which
they are imagined to have supplied the eastern world with Cornish
tin. The voyage from the entrance of the Mediterranean would be
1,000 miles in a straight line over a stormy ocean ; a voyage very un-
likely to be performed by ancient mariners, who, we know, even in
the Mediterranean, only crept along the coasts, hauling their craft
ashore in foul weather. Besides, the Scilly Islands, the supposed
Cassitorides, afford no evidence of having ever produced tin. ‘There
is no evidence that either the Greeks or the Phcenicians ever passed
the Straits of Gibraltar.

Sir C. Lyell had always wondered whence the ancients had ob-
tained their supply of tin for the bronze articles which they manufac-
tured in so great abundance. We have helmets and weapons of un-
questionable antiquity which have just that proportion of tin and
copper which is known to be the best for the purpose. Sir Henry
James had recently found in the bed of the harbor of Falmouth, an
ancient wrecked ingot of fin, which was of precisely that shape and
weight which would adapt it as half-cargo for a horse, balanced by
a similar ingot on the other side. The metal was thus conveyed
along our southern coast to a favorable place for embarkation, whence
the cargoes crossed the Channel and were taken overland through
Gaul to the Mediterranean. The Ietis of Diodorus Siculus was St.
Michael’s Mount, which even now is an island at high water. There
are not wanting geological signs of the great antiquity of some of the
tin-works of Cornwall, for some of them are covered by marine de-
posits in such a manner as to show that since the time when tin was
extracted, there had been a submergence and a subsequent re-elevation
of the land. In those ancient times Gaul was peopled by savage
tribes, and he thought it much more likely the Pheenicians then came
round by sea for their cargoes of tin, than that Gaul was then sufli-
ciently safe to be a highway for trade. Sir H. James described the
ingot which he had discovered at Falmouth, and which is now in the
Museum of Truro. It resembled in form an astragalus or knuckle-
bone, the shape being convenient for slinging over the back of a
horse, and it was important to notice that Diodorus Siculus used the
term astragali in describing the shape of the tin-blocks brought from
the Island of letis, which there could be no doubt was the same as St.

346 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Michael’s Mount. The ingot weighs 120 pounds, and the form of
the under-surface is such as to adapt it for resting on the bottom of a
boat. He believed, with Sir Charles Lyell, that in more ancient
times, previous to the Roman occupation of Gaul, tin was conveyed
to the Mediterranean round the coast of Gaul and Lusitania, but
more recently, as Diodorus Siculus states, it was carried by land
after crossing the narrow part of the channel. He did not believe
that there had been any submergence and re-elevation of the land in
Cornwall, but that the marine sediment covering the mines was in
existence when tin was originally worked, the ancient miners having
bored through the alluvium to get at it. St. Michael’s Mount was
the Cassitorides of the ancients, and not the Scilly Islands, where
there is not a particle of tm. ~The miners of the present day some-
times find bronze weapons in old tin works. It is not necessary to
assume that these were imported, as there is plenty of copper in Corn-
wall. The speaker believed they were manufactured there, and that
a vast proportion of the bronze weapons of antiquity were actually
made in Cornwall and exported.

Or Belin Giae tee 5

OF MEN EMINENT IN SCIENCE, 1864,

Bache, Franklin, Editor of the American Pharmacopeia,

Baikie, Dr., an African explorer.

Blanchard, Thomas, an eminent American inventor.

Bond, George P., the distinguished American astronomer,

Cappocci, M., Director of the Observatory at Naples.

Christie, Sam. H., an English physicist, formerly Secretary of the Royal Society,

Falconer, Hugh, an eminent British geologist.

Gerard, Jules, a well-known French traveler and naturalist.

Gesner, Abram, a well-known chemist of New Brunswick.

Gillis, Com. J. M., director of the National (U. S.) Observatory

Gratiolet, M., a French naturalist.

Hitchcock, Prof. Edward, the distinguished American geologist.

Holmes, Dr. Ezekiel, an American geologist and naturalist,

Maudsley, T. H., a distinguished English engineer.

McCulloch, J. M., an eminent British statistician.

Merriam, Eben, a well-known meteorologist, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Neilson, James, of England, the inventor of the “ hot-blast” in iron smelting.

Normandy, Dr., an English chemist and inventor,

Pike, Benjamin, an American optician.

Plana, Baron Giovanni, the eminent Italian astronomer and mathematician.

Portlock, Maj. Gen., Chief of the British Ordnance Survey.

Pugh Evan, Ph. D., of Pennsylvania, a well-known agricultural chemist.

Roberts, Richard, an English mechanic, inventor of the slide lathe.

Rosé, Henreich, the great German chemist.

Schoolcraft, H. R., well known for his researches in reference to the American
Indians,

Silliman, Benjamin, the eminent American scientist.

Speke, John Hanning, the discoverer of the source of the Nile.

Struvé, Fred, a well-known Russian astronomer.

Taylor, Prof. Wm. J., an American mineralogist and chemist,

Thomson, Dr. R. D., an eminent Scotch chemist.

Totten, Gen. Joseph G., an American military engineer.

Wagner, Dr. Rudolph, Professor of Natural Sciences in the University of Got-
tingen.

347

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC ._BIBLIOGRAPHY.

1864.

Allen, H. Monograph of the Bats of North America. Smithsonian Miscella-
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Almanac, American Nautical for 1865, Washington Bureau of Navigation.

Almanac, National, for 1864. pp. 642. Philadelphia, G. W. Childs.

Baird, S.F. Review of American Birds in the Museum of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution. Smithsonian Mis. Collection.

Burton, Warren, The Culture of the Observing Faculties in the Family and the
School. Harper & Co., N. Y.

Chapin, Ethan A. The Conservation of Gravity and Heat, with some of the Effects
of these Forces on the Physical Condition of the Earth. Springfield, Mass.
Pamph.

Clinton,G. W. Plants of Buffalo and its Vicinity. Pamph. Young, Lockwood, &
Co., Buffalo.

Coast Survey. U.S. Report for 1862. 49 Diagrams and Charts. Washington, D.C.
Pub. Doc.

Cook, Prof. J. P., Jr. Religion and Chemistry: or Proofs of God’s Plan in the
Atmosphere and its Elements. 8vo. pp. 348. Scribner, N. Y.

Devine, S. R. Photographic Manipulations. 12mo. pp.938. Seely & Boltwood,
WN. Xs

Draper, Dr. Henry. On the Construction of a Silvered Glass Telescope, 15} inches
Aperture, and its Use in Celestial Photography. 4to. pp. 55, illus. Smithso-
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Dussauce, Prof. H. Practical Treatise on the Fabrication of Matches, Gun-Cotton,
Colored Fires, &c. 12 mo. pp. 336, illus. Philadelphia. H.C. Baird.

Ede, George. The Management of Steel and Case-Hardening of Iron. D. Apple-
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Elliot, D.G. Monograph of the Family of the Grouse. Illus. Westermann &
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Gage, Wm. L. Ritter’s Comparative Geography. Translation. Phila. -Lippin-
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Gillis, J. M. Astronomical and Meteorological Observations made at the U. S-
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Hoffman, Dr. F. R. A Critical Review of the History of Aniline and the Aniline
Colors. New York. Pamph.

Holley, A.L. Ordnance and Armor, the Principles, Fabrications, and Structure of
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AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. 349

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Morse, E. S. Observations on the Terrestrial Pulmonifera of Maine, with Cata-
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Packard, A. S., Jr. Synopsis of the Bombycidae of the United States. 8vo. pp.
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Rafinesque, Constantine. Recent and Fossil Conchology, edited by W. G. Binney
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Nichols.

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Sullivant, W.S. Icones Muscorum: or Figures and Description of those Mosses, _
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Townsend, Howard. The Sunbeam and the Spectroscope. Pamph. Albany,
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46 pp., with plate. Boston, Mass.

Wells, David A. The Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1864. Boston. Gould
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Wilcocks, Dr. A. Thoughts on the Influence of Ether in the SolarSystem. Sher-
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Winchell, A. Prof. Report on the Collections in Geology, Botany, and Zoology
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INDEX.

PAGE
Aconite, researches on. . - + + + - 245
Africa, Southern, increasing desicca-
tion of
African race, vitality of « ... + + 326
Agates, coloring of. « - se) oll
Agriculture of Japan «+ -s+ +s 61
Air, bad, researches on the influence
of « . e 22
« expansion of by heat. Curious
application of... + +++ > 151
“ heating effects of the sunon. . lol
Alcohol and health lta 2
‘Aldebaran, constitution of the star. 204
Aluminum, economic production of, 217
“ new applications of . 76, 77
Ames’s wrought-iron gun .... - 109
Ammoniac, Sal, preparation of .. 7!
Ammunition, waste ofin battle .. 98
‘Amyle, nitrite of. Curious physio-
ogical action of ...+++-+- 2
Anemometer, new. .- +. +--+ - 192

er eee. 6 Cee ae a OMe ce. Celie

Ce as e © 8 ee

Animals, acclimatization of . . . . 328
as grafting of... . +--+ 327
ce influence of on the physi-

cal condition of .. . . 303
ee minute parasitic .... . 321
Animation, artificially suspended . 233

Antiquity of the humanrace...- - 283
Armor, impregnable, Kricsson on . 87
ae VS. @UNS . + eee ee eee
Artillery experiments, recent ..-- 105
Asteroids, new
<C notes on . -
Astronomical observations, physio-
logical errorsin . ++ +-++e- 169
Atlantic telegraph cable... + -

Atmosphere, espe of onlight...
cc 9

pe se KO, 1B) Oe Vey se

eight of. ...-..- 209
ut and ozone ... +--+ 223
Balloon experiment, interesting . . 190

Barometer, an indicator of the
earth’s rotation ... -
Barrels, hermetrical, for petroleum, 7
Battery, new caloric .--++s++-> 123
Peef packing, improvementsin .. 56
Bird, gigantic, of New Zealand .. =
Boilers in the U.S. Navy «+--+; -> 25
“ ynultitubular, objections to. %3
se steel . . . . . e . ° ° e . . 7
«“ weaknessof....-+--- St
Brain and mind, curious specula-
tions concerning. . -
Breath, human, analysis Dik. Abe oD est
Bridge, chain suspension, how con-
structed ..-++-++ee-s
“ greatiron.++erseee 15

Bridges, iron, protection of

oxydation ....eseeees 49
Brine, utilization of... . +++ + 97
Bruniquel, cave of, France. ...- + @

Cesium and rubidium .. ++ +s -s
California, ancient volcanoes in . . 300

OL eeology of .
Calorescence, new phenomena of. .
Canada, ancient fossils from. . « - ‘
Candle flame, theory of ...-+-+-s
Cannon firing under water. . + + +
Capillarity, chemical analysis by

TREADS OF cire ae lao A ee
Carbolic acid, use of . . - + ee es
Carbon, spectrum of. . .
Carbonic acid gas, decomposition of

by plants ‘ 31
Cattle breeding, new experiences in, 325
Caves, fossil remains from. . - 283-287
Cazanave’s steel procesS. + + + = = 45

eoesee

oe) '6. Lene) (6 0s (AOE eee

Celestial dynamics. .--++++s> 140
Chain cables, strength of ....- . 210

Chemical philosophy, new system of, 212
Chlorophyll ..+-++e++2*ees 2° 313
Cities, various, water supply Ofis ani, MOS
Civilization, influence of on health
and longevity ..+++-+-s+es8 318
Coinage, use of zinc for .. +--+ >> 79
Cold, curious effects of, on the ani-
maleconomy .-+-+++ +2 2 ¢ d=
Colloid bodies .. - 248, 249

Colors of fish ..+«+ececeree 172
Comet, Biela’s. ..+ +++ s 332
© spectrum Of . - + +++ s 332
Comets of 1864. . 2. -+e+ee2 332
Compass, magnetic, new forms of . a
. 308

Copper, decrease in the supply of

«” sulphate of, action on wood, 951
Cotton, oily refuse, use of . «+--+ 71
Country, condition of, affected by

ANIMAL. Glee au eae ee
Crocodiles of the Oolite ..+++-. 310
Currents, oceanic ..+.+6++eee°* 193
Cyclone, great Indian ..-+++-+-s 198
Day, change in the length of? . . . 155
Dialysis, practical use Obi stele ch OS
Diamonds, artificial .- +++: +> 220
Discs, revolving, phenomena Ofc... 167

Disease caused by parasitic animals, 321
a control of by sanitary agen-
GIER’ 6, xo 10 sf, cowl omere
Drainage, best pipes for. . + +s > 59
Drawings, pencil, reproduction of . 78
Dynamics, celestial -+-++-++*-> 140

352

Earth and the moon, effects of the
Collision Of = sys, <a © +: «) 10D
‘¢ changes in the temperature of, 131
sé magnetism OL vere! ie os iedeuiesn lod
*¢ original cooling of. .... . 153
“¢ value of the sun’s heat on . . 160
Earth’s crust, dislocations of. . . . 307
«rotation, indicated by the
barometer Smee: 74
Education, old and new systems... 6
Electricity andyasthmas <<<! win» Sor

‘c Bright’s disease . . 327

- application of to gas-
lighting (2 sits meee 20
As production of sound by . 118
43 use of in eae su te - 123
[Die Gad iheees a5 SH A BP ee TRY
c light, invisible rays of... 203
ce “< "new form of. .... 121
cs Co SHSHING UVa is aula comel oe
Electric-spark, photographs of. . . 201

Electrical phenomena, interesting . 119
Electro-magnet, new. ...... . 202
eee magnetism, dynamical theo-
tee ee eee Soon
Elephant fossil, curious new species, +10
Emerald, coloring MAUter Ole ioe ets

Emery in the United States ... . 306
Bneine, new Caloric. =<. « s.46 oS
Engines, marine, U.S. Navy ... 24

aE without bed-plates ... me
Engraving, improvements rit bee 79, 80

Entozoa, curious facts in relation to, 321
Experiment, curious physical .. . 210
Eye, motions of in vision ..... 173

ALO PEI PNOVEU ots teu. ss) sie isg © a os 7.0
Fire, breaking rocks by ...... 16
‘¢ arms, changes i in discharged
Fish from Artesian wells... . . 305
‘* preservation and culture of . . 316
“ eggs, interesting facts respect-
inate a hdiecnieGuthy cht Gas e
ce ladders\or “ways? as ubieno TkZ
Flint implements, ancient . . . 289, 290
Flowers, respiration of Seca:
HOTCeS MIN NAMING 61.6. isa ks wer aie OO
Forging by hydraulic pressure... 45
Formations, missing sedimentary . §

HOLS Ss LWOUSMG ITO. cys calc «eum lOe
Fossils, friable, preservation of .. 178
“ ’ the oldest recognized . 283, 304
HOUNGAIN, MOVE olcdis clans tentusae) Lol
Braction, the, 3.14159 ove .. «1° «© 21
Hruits, Preservation OL. \. se ‘e:.« 6 . 102
<¢ gases exhaled by. .... .~ 315
oh) FESPITALLON OL (cco o.us) eae to Olt

Gas, carburization Of . 2... ... . «. 64

ijluminating, testing of . . . . 177
“¢ increasing the illuminating
power of S\iel! olitsi ceilislio sie @iauel 7d

‘* increasing thelightof. .... 64

BE lighting by ClCChICIYie 0s) wen, 120) |

GaSs-WOrkss WAStelOG > uelismosswwohiolinsa7O
Gas, absorption of, by porcelain and
“ET hey Atcha 1 ia 5
cf > COMPLESSION Oli cids heise! 0) ehslienteco
Gelatin, NEwalse fOr. s. « 10:60) evewttd
Geographical explorations, recent . 342

INDEX.

Geology, curious factsinm. . . « . « 10
negative evidencein .. . 308

ee recent progress of. . ... 268
Geologic evidence, minute. . .. . 308
Geological discovery, interesting. . 310
Geological opinions, changes in. . 282
ae summary . cree ege © « GUS
Geysers Cf leeland => 5.) semiomeamer
Ghost, real, how to detect ... . . 327
Ghosts , photographie RA pooh ap Se
Glacial epoch, antiquity of. . . 281, 292
* CHUSE Of 6 =, meine C10; 501

Gold in GHG SUE cs) oleusr es «) teneue toto

“ of California, geological age of, 299
Gold, extraction of from auriferous
jute ee aes eee
Granite, formation: Off.) <: stisreus neriole
Graphite, Origin Of0 eu erotaslolie een ie,
Great Britain, recent geological
Changes Il. sone aetieme We eae sare AO:
Gum, mew, adhesives 5 = ous teneae se, 45
Gunnery, curious phenomena in . . 190
se new principle in ..... 99
Gun cotton, electrical properties of. 121
st English views respect-
INg «+ e220 ° 2.910
French views respecting, 102
Gun-metal mew. :.) 10) sysiite. ee, o2 sy OD
Guns, large Grials OLS ce eniowinise el Ob gel OY
‘¢ “new method of rifling . . .. 102
EO U8: (ALINOL, au onts suse dedenianio wll O

“cc “ce

Gunpowder, illustrations of the force

OL «, © ©, 0. .53.0)..2) Os ae) alae ene Biepie

Health, effects of alcohol and tobacco

QS 6 SiiGesnoest oes -
Hearing, inequality in the organs of 192
Heat, atiecting density of minerals. 161

ee and force oo. sun es eae des
Se" “CONGUCHION AOL, Sie te de cee eet OO
“¢ mechanical development of . 143
ME CO) EA HIST Seg nnat a a aes ele

“ vibrations, nature of. ... . 164
Herschel, on standards of measure-
MEM «16.5; 6 @.lstcmioggen Menon MEL
Huggins, discoveries in spectrum
analysis .. .
Human fossils from Gibraltar. . - 287
Hurricane, greatest on record . .. 198
Hydrophobia, treatment of by elec-
ETICILY c, @ 1s eNeEemRer oo ae et co
Tce, artificial manufacture of. . .. 65
‘¢ prismatic formation ofin glaciers 163
Ice-caves

BY APS, pr

« Wethewiedin ne” (seine Katine iiaaalik

Rdeorraphye c _«, .=:eseeiet eure deena ens Ol
Tilumination, artificial. ...... 175
Indium, M@w metal <\. cus ue.ke; sus cpcole
Infusorial deposits, new use of. . . 72
Iron, absorption of carbon by... 46

“¢ and gteel, microscopic structure
OE eos Nia lose ree aap ms lab eel
cc", LDOLLETS; \COLLOSION FOL soreaet eek ao
Tron- bars, immense, rolling of. . . 103
cast, tensile strength is ly
“ reduction of by super-heated
SLOAN GS: ceeie! ladies ealenielaads sine:
(t| MOXADLUILY, (Ol cise, ce seu bin a suemenence
‘* Jengthened by magnetism . .
‘¢ magnetized, crackle of ....

‘* targets, percussion of shot on. 100

Metamorphism of rocks . .

INDEX. 3538

Iron, permeability of. . . - . + - « 220! Metals, coating of . ...... 51

‘© plate, enormous ...:. +... 44 or HG Wiis, liste uatlan pila. 215
“¢ plates, resistance of to shot. . &§ : optical properties of . .

* prokediae of from oxydation. 49 “f preservationof. .... 48

Iron-clad, latest British 04

“cc

oh vessels, different contrast-

Gea te ior eee

Re vessels in action. . ... &8

“ce

PLO TORS cei erie) on aac te. is, 6 Ls Te) .e) OS
Iron-girders, strength of. ..... 44
“ Jronsides” frigate, American .. 94
ICOny., RECMICIAI yess sas isi wie oer tO
Japan, agricultureof.... - 61
Jupiter, supposed 5th satellite of. . 322

Lake habitations, QNCIENE os 2.0) «200
Language, universal. .......- 8l
Languages, mastery of. ...... 194
of BUUGVAOU is deiccl tom ete choi Ang
Larynx of the white man and the

FEST e < isiietic) ois, «1s 01 6 s10 OOO
Laurentian rocks, fossilsin .. . . 304
Lead, protection of water pipes from, 245
Lea’s cleaning solution. . ..... 145
Lithium, use and distribution of. . 216
Light, artificial, conditions of. . . 175

2” effects ot’ the atmosphere on, 208
s¢ measurement of the chemical
CULO MOM Menletts 3.6. Us: Ueuislse) ie
polarized, new use of . . . - 209
Lights, colored, applied to sculpture,
intensity OLEVEIOUSi. wet le ex endl

“c

Liquids, cohesion, figures of. . . . 240
Liquids, size of adropof ..... 121
iithorraph, lareeve, fc <6 9 3.6 + 48
Locomotion, ourfuture. ...... 38
Longevity and open-air exercise. . 328
Loom, improved. . .- + «+«.«.«« 46
Machinery, vs. man-power .... 23
Magnesium, observations on the
STEVET ETE Ase Sake een chia tach irae) Wd
Magnet, electro, great .....-.-. 131
"new formof....... + 202
Magnetic action, illustrations of . . 124
disturbances, curious. . . 129
LC needle, new form Ove! ete oO
f storms, analysis of. . . . 129

Magnetism, new researches into the
laws of 128
of iron and steel turnings, 201

TESIGUS! 6 os erie) sie 6) bl:

Magnitudes, minute .......-s. 18
Man, early migrations of. .... . 342
“« fixity of the typesof .... 3483

«“ new facts concerning the anti-
GHITY Ofielepics, avn sliel wr 'et © = 203
Manna inthe desert ......«--. 313
Manures, industry of. .....e+-+- 59
Marriages, effects of consanguineous, 328
Masts, iron
Matter, construction of. . ..... 112
fe transitions of 113

Measure, French and English stand-
HAE scale e eee 17
Meats, preservation of . . . . 52, 54, 55
Mechanics, animal. ....<«e.2.- 12
Men, hairy, of Yesso. « « + « « © ¢ act

of
«es

OO. Bite Rise 28) aie elas ‘@

Metamorphosis, the universal
MICTCOLIC NAIM 0.6 2 2m) «
Meteorites, meteorological structure, 3
Micrographical machine... .+.
Microscopes, improvementsin ...
Microscopie structure of iron and
SECC] ar aleioh ai sauisyasiaoes sine. fey, catelae
Minerals, coloring matterin. .. . 247

. ° * . . >
\) _
; =
ao

os variation in density by
DEGtiee ce cette ol wast cemenelol
MIST; TOPMALLON-OL 1 came sleienies eae ee
Moa of New Zealand. ....... 307
Monitors, iron-cladsin service ... 92
Moon and the earth, effects of colli-
SION OL. wu lb ia sincm cane aie nama
*¢ does it revolve?. ..... . 190
‘¢ ew views respecting. .... 221

proof of no atmosphere in. . 267
Speen analysis of the light
(0) . . ° e . . °
temperature and climate of. . 338
Mortality and ignorance, relation
between .......-..-+. ~ 320
Mountains, highest in the United
SLATES) < lonses clover iceiciia Len emremenrlO
Mural decorations, % ost 5, cus. el aul eo
Music, as a physical and moral agent, 195
Musk-ox, fossil . Cr ee ee 2 | 311

Naval ordnance, report of Bureau of,
Nebular hypothesis <<: 2. « «1+ ox
Nebul, discoveries in respect to. . 257

ty DOW) on os ie\lceCieinesta Sotto hal colts

ef PIANC LANs eeu. el eskelisiseuian=
Nebulous matter, invisibility of ..
Nerve structure, researches on. . .
Nitrogen-protoxyd, liquefaction of.
Novelties, industrial ........ 7

Oi SeottoOneseeai an eiece. settler
Oils, essential, preparations of. .
Opacity and transparency... .
Ordinance, Ames’s wrought iron .
ce heavy, endurance of. . 104
a: monster . . . « « « 106, 107
Orion, a. constitution of ..... . 254
cL nebule in o's, 16 donors ToUL
Organic bodies, discrimination of by

. e ° e °
i
SI
ie a)

optical properties . ..... . 165.
Osteological collections ..... . 328
Oxygen, cheap production of. . . . 222

IMNMAWOM TOL 0. oi ,est~ ue Lee
Oysters, artificial cultivation of. .. 7:
Ozone and the atmosphere. . . . . 223

‘¢ influence of, on vegetation. . 223
s¢ mew source Of . 0» = « « « 220
a CEUs LOM cule eo. aie Ramune on ee oleae
Pearl oysters, mortality among. . . 326
Petrifaction, artificial . . ...-.. 236
Petroleum, gE QUOC nce es pebkeeee S
s impervious barrels for . 77

4s rocks in which found. . 296

ae volatile constituents of. 244

Phantom images. . ..+«-e-e-eee 116

354

PhenicMcid wUSeiOtie|. wees Mele t eee oS

Phosphorus, migrations of. . . . . 235

Photographie g BHOSUS ei E Mellel =e 160
printing, improvement

dette aed ae chs Se OS?

Photographing natural colors. . . 182

Photos sraphs, ‘diamond cameo” . 189

elecericalin. sie hs, 120
ee of the electric spark. 201
186

Photography and Physiology. ...
EC applied to topography, 211
185

“e
ce

improvementsin...
W othly’s improvements
in
Photometry, discovery in. .... 176
PHOLO=-SCUlpIUITE: 7). Soke hee leet .c Ae?) 1Ge
Physiological errors in astronomi-
cal. observations) 5 «242. 2... 2°. 169
Pianos, self-instructing scale for. . 76
Pictures, Pettenkofer’s process of
restoring
Pipes, water, action of on flow. ..
Planetary law, new... ...«e

. . . . . . . . . 8

pe es is \2. 2 (9 in 9 @ite

Planets mew, 106 1862 7 =) 6) 2 ensi Soe
Plants, green coloring matter of. . 313
Plumb-line deviation, remarkable. 146
Pneumatic despatch,improved... 42
ne Pal WV is teal hen te 40
Poisoning, vegetable, use of char-
Coal Inceset = - 246
Poisons, detection of. by dialy sis . » 247
Pole, North, new expedition to. . . 340
Potash, the available sources of .. 7:
Probe, Nelaton’s . sue Koeiamenle cols
Projectiles, measurement of the ve-
NOCHE Ofire meisaie ce bol ecsSave ne SOTIy
Pump, common, simplification of . 209
Pyroxiline paper, electrical proper-
fete ce cot ety, , 199
Quicklime, new use for ...... 69
Race, aboriginal, extinction of an . 326
Radiations, luminous and obscure . 178
Railway car-trucks, improved ... 43
ee pneumatic Speke fowe 6. qoute) JO
MampOws ATUMNCAl sj. 26 ease ofc ae lz 2
Rocks, breaking DYpHECy ete. 6) oe 100
tubber, vulcanized, waste of ... 70
Rust, prevention ofoniron .... 50
Salmon, propagation of ...... 317
Smee shifting, settlementof ... 66
Dap, Maples flowsOh, cnc co be ic 0.16 10 (04
Sculpture, by colored light. .... 172
es through photography . - 183
Sea, absorption of terrestrial heat
DV Aah elrouis aa w_ sienas sontemiontel oui zs
Sea water, action of on iron and
COPPEr. mins <h< 48
Serpents, specific against the bite of, 330

Sew: age, utilization OLS “ghee . 60, 2:
“* dangers from, 322
Beads, panei of at will . .. . 324
=f) CEMPCTALUTCIOLE «eo 6 6 Ok
Shells, bomb, filled with compressed ‘
on Seay be shire! weiney © <e ieee
Ship of the future aimesbonyn gle kore) nite
Ships, impregnable ........ 8&4
“6 of steel . . . oe Se oe 28) re 23

INDEX.

Ships of war, improvements in. . .
Shot, effect of on iron plates. ...
*¢ percussion of on iron targets,
Signs, plus and minus origin of
Silk, naturally dyed
Sirius, COMpanion Of =~. -e 5. eee
Slag of iron furnaces, utilization of,
Snake, largest described .... . . 329
Soap and candles , improvements in, 244
Soil, heating effects of the sun on .

ee, ee ee ee

Solution, photographie cleaning,
Leas). sion were cee eels
Solar radiations, intensity of ... 160
“¢ spots, origin OLr ia po tins gat ie kone OO
‘¢ system, stability Ope Wesotuls 65:74
Solids, cooling of by tension .. . 160
Sound as a time IMCASULeT Lo eo ie
‘¢ determination of velocity of, 191
produced by electricity . . . 118
sbamdite apparatus,new ..... 77

Spectroscope, construction of .. . 2638
Spectrum analysis, recent discoveries
TW Otic ot je een See
theory and appli-
cation of ... 261
thoughts on re-
sults Of 722 6. 1202
Of 2 COMED 5 «aio c6 gene ys eee
solar, new researches on. 205
Splints, rattan, new. ".".".".".". 2." 78
Spontaneous generation, researches
OSE aelaia. See
Springs, hot, phenomena Of 2%. Hoste eno
Stars, , change of color in. «ie = OOO
eS fixed, recent discoveries in
relation £0). «06 o> «cae, eae
occultation of the spectrum
OVER Oa) OhOn de co IS On oy. er
shooting, what we know of . 334
Statistics; curious vital ~ (02. 2021327
Statues, chemical preservation of . 246
Steam, condensation of in cylinders, 27
expansive working of 26
new formula for calculating

“ “ec

“ “

“ce

Ste, Ve tells Weil oe OOO

“c

cs

cc

Pressure’ol.) cy ce eLseeeO
‘© new mechanical action of . 38
‘¢ superheated, production of
ateelipy.o. "remo wes Rae
Steam boilers, improvementsin .. 31

‘¢ engine, economy Ole te \aikengo Lat

Steel, Cazanave’ Sprocess ..... 45
«« improvements in the manufac-
TREO 5 Gioia gia 6 Oo) Geae Gs
€se SIRIUPS) |. 45 Zapeeracteme rest es culate Moka
Stereoscope without lenses’. . 0.473
Stereotrope, ‘The se. wie ts. us pe tomemales
irae CASes cae vse stole = ae
Sugar, m maple, manufactured in the
United States ...... 63

‘¢ produced in animals by cold, 323
Sun, central, of the universe. ... 148

chemical action of rays of .. 181
*° effects of on soiland air ... 151
eu be Ges So Eos. sil
“. Heat of>. 4d) Bile ee
sc physical aspect of: ... . « « . 179

‘“* theory of the constitution of . 337
Sun’s heat upon the earth, numeri-
cal value of

Surfaces, flat... .eeeeceee

ofette wie tele sl Geter et DO

22

INDEX,

.

Targets of wool, effects of shot on.
Telegraph, a metcorological indica-

101

Appt? ter Sv TOMMraeE Yo

“e ATIONCIC. «se soe creke waloe
Telegraphic construction, progress

Se erie e sta eee Low

0)
Telegraphing by electro-m: ignetism, 135
Tellurium, new source of 216
‘ Temuessee, ” jron-clad, action with, 88
Thalium, distribution of... . 216,
-Thermoeraph, NGWie: Wee, is © sis o's
Tides, popular explanation of ...
Tin, ancient sources of... . ... .
ce “scrap, wutilization Of <2 2. - +71
Tobacco and alcohol, effects of on

RCW es. ec G2 BA
Be best method of smoking . 4

es influence of in producing

GISCHSE). a6 2 6 8 oie © aoe
- physiological effects of . . 229
x products of the combustion
of : duoono oe!
Topography, application of photog-
APU VAL ON ate) c) jes 4s) is) elle) fee Ld
Torpedo warfare. ....-+-++-«-s 9
Transparency CPG SOG BVO PONCE,
Grannicolor of. =. ss. 3". 172
Tunnel, MGS CORIS, sero cxencns sc, 0 1 16
Twilight, GQuUEAHOMIOL es. 6 3 ae 209

United States, highest mountains in, 300

Vapors, condensation on the surface

GiESOlIGS. aicuct ciel el.e teh oo ee
Vegetation, curious conditions of . 313
Ventilation and warmth. .... . 227

163.

Vibrations, heat, nature of .
Vision, motions of the eye in
se some peculiarities of .
Vital force and contractility .
Volcanoes and hot springs. .

28 we &
or > eS
*_* © @© @
Doon
=>
=
~

Warfare by torpedoes ... .%...« 95
ne MNOVEIGISM IN se os 0) e! sal Ue
Waste products, utilization of ... 70
Water and lead pipes .....e.. 245
boiled in paper vessels ... 163

“ boiling, researches on. . . . 162

U consumption OLGA te, ois) atte, cs OZ

“flow of through irregular
TUDES: 51 'n0 selartotis, vet bemaltein Oz

‘¢ temperature of under at
SUC). Sy oNetis 275
Weather indicated by ‘the state of
the teléoraphi) 2/275) fe! 3) sn a teledlak
yen and measures, uniformity
. . . e . . . . . . . . . * 4
Welding by hydraulic pressure .. 44
Wells, Artesian, of the Sahara. . . 305
Wood, action of sulphate of copper
OL OM Narre Gucatir Hiss fai!
‘© conversion into coal under
PIESSUNCJsiksirs Nath pableiteana
<¢ ) new-ornamentaly iis o%. 2. 20
Se PLreSeLrvatlOn Ofis et «1 ements
Wool, compressed, for targets
Work and waste, bodil
Writing, recovery of defaced .

or 6) 6.8
—
o
=

LANC COMAZE airs Yona iol semana aera ae
‘“ native
‘* waste of in galvanizing ... 70

eee (of ehte” © @" el & Jee

ad 4 hie
BG Be cari ri

i. ti Mag eure iv

eh
ESE) ee POM aes LAN on

es a etpepesk 5 at eh as eS ol
7 Uy wy gs A sly ie 1 hi
ais :

"hee

ee cas 4 ie ' a, " e ’

Oy RT i ties Mey ey rim j re '

| oe aa 5, ANE aS are nonce Xo oh

pal ator 5

a 7 = +e os wid Shes . Fil i ‘ y ka ne is vane tM,
6° ° Seutue Asatte + dh Oe St ie > = Porc Nisa Songs ig
GARSs ; ; “Hy = raed Bho Livy’ pen ey ~~ 7%, e} aS yy. Mis. a es
y . + deo ay NS » k ee eeee! het Meas rae hr a ee Ass
1 y , * (timate x

ie (
rere ; oe ™ ‘ | P ik ee Hae

hed ‘h “tare ail anemone enereedy eivexta ~ 2 Seatsyehe ak, Bee ;
. ary is aie he ese Yee Tae ae Oe hides Ceca eh ee eES,
ira a baad senres saadapen, wee Vind he Ve msantole edt | See hash Tota he

~ ie naira dete, hes ior ce Uh. dda ae aes; eee
5 oe ith * it? Poe i A ae f es 4 Rit Phas (2 ei? son! baths MWe, enn. quaonae
Pp ‘ Wrisphi ¥° ‘29 ail ; a, ries ed <4 : a pe SS - ead if a ty oa tht wee | ‘
ax ; 7 J ’ Rete f a ? oe
e + hay y W3ee B (et eee Si hae. + de eM soc sie
EU ee ¥ poten ete ae ot icin OQ vate sib? Sal (ey Fs PRE os | Lae Pn a : ‘ r
; ik tea take sires amy Titan (Get yrs os ere pom ree
~ GAGE, ah RE AIA TS, ica, Se ee ee ie
. MD 007 5% ‘aban ‘Y ha Fa 1s a Py peepee? re We tis weed ti ‘
. Spi iihae Wsatteed Werte pi: A he RENO pee Ae ia my ae ne ' a ae
< ' hs 1d acy oe *_ £ CH eT TY ee! OA. re ‘4 +) fe = :
a ae ge fs ck” a hed & eT Tes 5 sane tp Pate esi iw ee Lpatene adel ‘ono rth ‘2
Mond een a ae uA © rm be 4 iv CANT wit Lee atte Moe
it oe ee . “i ae Ppeu 4
ae a ae vt ER Sige sie Testone OVER XO, AEE 24. 3%. Se LARK
ow .

ES ia Ww eo eA eae , ae # xt ait <p sgt 1 “ire wimen, tw
° At 3 " Athos
i $ ay re si Lee Re, 0, oe ' FE dai 3 nS, a fvry ut wt mast ge ,
| 7 ; } e _—_
; al Mevaeey lat
‘ ° fe = { i ee
ATSC nV RAD OFAN E eT a te a oe
Pgmae OF Ap cpiteas How ak okt silt Spel, Aan ie
ai tab iet ha RORREUT) Beet") fia val ; js pA wee (Ky Pec ae Tig. ts
re . bp Htaeey renee ered Sanast ner ero & oe
mint dow “5 bes aol ¢ , a itanesll Hye 7 Dusthointiaptly cum warn ooh alt -
Pe 3 ‘ Carn". <tees eh oer 6 rte gee iy Sescuatadah age

. in y
Ve. Mabe pereby no od soriateals, PEO ores sche re a AER
bee i thetic!) nine tenethblydh var oot or vl 3S + der i wird enitoat +, at.
yea Ve gibleak: (Oo) Tre ih). tated polllinhies De oetebideoe 2 olen ' hetested wy
by RMSE Sig's UL ah: peiill Siew e Baty v eM ae Ae a
j 1
dishablcdiceiis 2? 2) OO & iO SDR 14% Ly
yr wholy ek . Ut Stew Weary ued Tans AONE rigod ~

aD ’ aes : 4 ; . . bs ey “
> a dc | a | d ; oe \ ache
io PO pabiesed 98 expecta t Tu nulinaine Ss OO rca aus ‘
i Rly HRA Mbewindpis NL» hog ae Aare -

*
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‘alnahte

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