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ANNUAL 
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY: 


OR, 


YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS IN SCIENCE AND ART, 
On ao eh. 


EXHIBITING THE 


MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 


IN 


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


TOGETHER WITH 


NOTES ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DURING THE YEAR 1870; A LIST 
OF RECENT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS; OBITUARIES OF 
EMINENT SCIENTIFIC MEN, ETC, 


EDITED BY 
JOHN .TROWBRIDGE, S.B., 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN HARVARD COLLEGE; 
AIDED BY 
W. R. NICHOLS, . 
ASST. PROF. OF CHEMISTRY IN MASS. INST. OF TECHNOLOGY 5 


AND 


C. R. CROSS, 


GRADUATE OF THE INSTITUTE, 


B.O SEO UN. : 


GO. bi DD) iA Spi ba ee COLL. wy. 
59 WASHINGTON STREET. 
NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. 
LONDON: TRUBNER & CO, 


oii ee 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
GOULD AND GLENCOLN,, 


In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


ROCKWELL & CHURCHILL, Printers, Boston. 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR, 


ON THE 


PROGRESS OF SCIENCE FOR THE YEAR 1870. 


In looking over the material collected during the year, which is 
now embodied in the present volume, we find little that is new or 
startling in the province of the mechanic arts. 

Both in this country and in England attention is fixed upon 
more economical and safer processes in applying inventions. The 
American manufacturer would do well to read the report on 
steam-boiler legislation presented at the meeting of the British 
Association. Among the names of the committee who presented 
it we find those of Sir William Fairbairn and Sir Joseph Whit- 
worth. From the report it appears that about 50 explosions 
occur in Great Britain every year, killing about 75 persons and 
injuring as many others. The committee are confirmed in their 
opinion that explosions are not accidental, that they are not mys- 
terious; but that they arise from the simplest causes, and may be 
prevented by the exercise of common knowledge and common 
care. Boilers burst simply from weakness. Competent inspec- 
tion is adequate to detect the weakness of the boiler in time to 
prevent explosions, whether that weakness arise from malcon- 
struction or defective condition, while it tends to stimulate attend- 
ants to carefulness, and thus to diminish the number of those 
explosions arising from oversight. 

The committee state that for every explosion due to the boiler- 
minder in neglecting the water supply, etc., six are due to the 
boiler-maker or boiler-owner from making or using bad boilers. 
After discussing possible remedies the committee are convinced 
that the government should enforce the periodical inspection of 
all steam boilers. The numerous explosions of the year bring 


this subject home to us. 
III 


IV NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


We can point with pride to some substantial engineering work 
of the past year: notably, the building, launching, and placing 
the great caisson at the Brooklyn terminus of the East River 
bridge. An extract from the report of Col. Roebling will be 
found in the present volume. 

It is stated that the great central shaft of the Hoosac Tunnel 
has reached the grade of the tunnel 1,030 feet below the natural 
surface. 

The Broadway Underground Railway is well underway; the 
construction progressing while the thoroughfare above is crowded 
with its endless procession of vehicles. 

The St. Louis bridge, under the able engineering skill of Captain 
Eads, progresses finely. 

The removal of the obstruction at Hellgate is continued day and 
night. These and the work of the coast survey testify to the pres- 
ence of engineering skill among us. 

The European war has not called forth to a large extent the in- 
ventive capabilities of our population, while it has had distinctly 
this effect abroad. Activity, however, among the American manu- 
facturers of arms and ammunition has necessarily followed. 

As a proof of the esteem in which American weapons are 
held abroad it is stated that the Remington Co., N. Y., have ex- 
ported to Denmark 25,000 breech-loaders, and as many to the 
Swedish government. Colt’s Co., 30,000 Berdan rifles to Russia. 
Turkey has also been a large purchaser. Nearly the half of the 
work of Smith & Wesson’s manufactory is bought by European 
parties. And the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. send their prod- 
ucts to all parts of the world. 

We learn, from the *‘ London Broad Arrow,” that ‘‘12 of the 
Gatling guns of 45-bore have been ordered from America for the 
government absolutely, and 50 additional on the understanding 
that they will be taken. Meanwhile, 50 more of these guns are 
being manufactured by Sir William Armstrong, at the Elswick 
ordnance works, in expectation that they also will be taken by the 
government. As it is understood to be the intention of the goy- 
ernment to arm each of the ships of war with a mitrailleuse, in 
addition to supplying a certain number to the army, it is clear that 
several hundreds of this arm will be required.” 

The new explosives, nitro-glycerine, dualin, lithofracteur, and 
dynamite have received considerable attention during the past 
year. Fullaccounts of dualin will be found in the present volume ; 
it seems to promise well for certain kinds of work, although the 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. V 


authorities at the Hoosac tunnel do not speak very favorably of it. 
It consists, as do most of these new explosives, of nitro-glycerine, 
with some comparatively inert base: in the case of dualin the base 
is sawdust. 

The manufacturers of iron are quickly adopting the latest in- 
ventions, but have given us no very new modifications or im- 
provements during the year. 

Mechanical stoking is attracting considerable attention, and an 
able paper on this subject was delivered at the meeting of the 
British association, which can be found on page 23. 

The European war has not added materially to the list of in- 
ventions of arms of warfare. The merits of the chassepot and the 
needle-gun have been actively canvassed, but on account of the 
physical superiority and training of the German over the French 
soldier, the trial between the weapons has not perhaps been a 
conclusive one. The mitrailleuse has also come in for its share 
of praise and abuse. It is thought to be a good weapon for 
mowing down a close assaulting column, but not for general 
field work. 

It is stated that the projectiles of the chassepot and the mitrail- 
leuse reached an enormous distance in the recent contests. Ac- 
cording to the ‘‘ Lancet,” the number of thigh wounds made by 
bullets was relatively very great in the late battles; and the 
wounds made by the French sword-bayonet more difficult to heal 
than those of the Prussian triangular weapon. 

The loss of the ‘* Captain” will necessarily call attention to the 
safer construction of iron-clads. 

At the meeting of the British Association, Captain Rowell pre- 
sented his claims of the superiority of hemp cables over iron and 
hemp cables, and asserted that the hemp cable would be 50 per 
cent. cheaper than the present system. 

The recent interruption of telegraphic communication with 
Europe will result, undoubtedly, in the laying of more cables. 

A cable between England and France, from Beechy Head to 
Cape Antiper, near Havre, is in process of construction. It is to 
be an independent line, and is much needed on account of the 
pressure of business upon the other cables. 

Considerable attention has been paid lately to the use of wire- 
rope tramways. ‘The late Mr. Roebling, by perfecting the manu- 
facture of iron cables, undoubtedly led the way to this result. In 
mining districts, on steep inclines, and even on ordinary transpor- 
tation lines, the telo-dynamic system seems destined to play an 


VI NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


important part. In England, 13 lines, varying from short dis- 
tances to 4 milesin length, have been constructed, and upwards of 
100 miles are in course of preparation or under contract. 

The Suez Canal is a successful fact. 

At the meeting of the British Association, General Heine read a 
paper on ‘‘ Lines for Ship Canals across the Isthmus of Panama.” 
He concluded that only two lines were deserving of consid- 
eration, because of the expense for constructing and working 
them. The two lines were, first, from Aspinwall along the line 
of the railway to Panama, with an extreme elevation of 269 feet, 
a length of 35 miles through rocks of porphyry and basalt, and 
with but middling ports of entry; second, from the Gulf of Darien 
through the rivers Atrato, Caiarica, Paya, and Tuyra, to the Gulf 
of San Miguel, with an extreme elevation of 186 feet, length 52 
miles, through soil composed of alluvial deposit, with some thin 
ranges of grayish sandstone and schist, and with very good 
ports of entry. The speaker urged upon Englishmen a greater 
interest in this canal, which would so materially shorten the 
marine passage to Australia, the west coast of America, and the 
islands of the Pacific Ocean. 

This year marks the completion of the Mount Cenis Tunnel. 

The use of artificial stone is on the increase. In many regions 
of our country, where stone and timber are scarce, the use of 
concrete in building would seem to find favor. Among the later 
inventions may be instanced that of the Rev. H. Highton, of 
England, which utilizes the refuse of granite quarries. 

A paper on International Communication in the present vol- 
ume will prove of interest to all who are afilicted with sea-sickness. 

Mr. Bessemer proposes to construct a chamber or state-room 
which shall accommodate itself to the motions of the ship,— 
somewhat as a lamp hung upon gimbals. This chamber is to be 
luxuriously fitted up, and to be carefully shut off from the air of 
the boilers and engines. The expense of such an arrangement 
seems to be the only feature that will militate against so desirable 
an improvement. 

The watering of streets with chemicals has attracted favorable 
attention abroad. At the meeting of the British Association, 
Mr. J. W. Cooper, who has given much attention to this subject, 
stated that three streets in the city of Liverpool were watered with 
salt during the month of July, 1869, with very favorable results, 
— so much so, that the experiments were continued this year. 

Mr. Cooper proposes to add a certain portion of the deliques- 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. VII 


cent chloride of aluminum to the salts used, and, by its antiseptic 
qualities, afford a means of more thoroughly purifying thorough- 
fares. 

Photography applied to military purposes is not new, but the 
English government are making greater use of it than ever 
before. 

Photographs are taken of soldiers exercised in the manual of 
arms, — both in the infantry and the artillery service; of the 
lading of sumpter mules, and, in short, of everything which can 
convey information to new recruits in the colonies. 

The preservation of meat has long attracted much attention 
in this country and in Europe. The exportation of preserved 
meats from Australia is becoming a business of great impor- 
tance. Since the opening of the Pacific Railroad fruit and meat 
have been transported to the Atlantic sea-board in closed refrig- 
erator cars. In this connection it is well to notice the increased 
use of artificial ice. The French company Messageries Impé- 
riales, wishing to ascertain what kind of ice would be preferable 
for the vessels navigating the Suez Canal, caused experiments 
to be made under identical circumstances, and apparently proved 
that artificial ice would have the preference over natural ice for 
transportation, and for refrigerating mixtures. More experiments, 
however, are needed to establish this fact. 

A paper on the continuity of the gaseous and liquid state of | 
matter, by Dr. Andrews, will be found on page 128; the transition 
from the gaseous to the liquid state is shown not to be abrupt, but 
that the two states are connected by a continuous change. The 
writer infers, also, that liquids change to solids by a similar law. 
The recent experiments made by M. Andre, on the velocity of 
sound in water, give the velocity as 1206.5 metres per second. 
Wertheim, it will be remembered, found it 1173 metres per second, 
and MM.Colladon and Sturm, 1435 metres per second. Koenig’s 
investigation of the vowel sounds, supplementary to Helmholtz’ 
researches on the same subject, are interesting in a philological 
point of view. He infers from the simplicity of the ratio of the 
vibrations of the five vowel sounds found in all languages, the 
reason of their universal adoption. 

M. Jamin has extended the use of electric currents to the 
determination of latent heats and specific heats. In this con- 
nection it is well to mention Siemens’ resistance pyrometer. . This 
instrument will measure intense heat; it is based upon the princi- 
ple that metals offer a resistance to the passage of an electrical 


VIIr NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


current when they are heated, — this resistance increasing in a 
determinate ratio. Efforts have long been made to invent an 
accurate pyrometer. Experts state that this pyrometer promises 
to be very useful. 

The new galvanic battery, invented by Bunsen, evolves -no 
fumes in working, and is quite constant. Consisting merely of 
one liquid, a mixture of sulphuric and chromic acids, no porous 
cells are needed. 

The experiments on the Atlantic Cable, conducted by Dr. 
Gould, can be found on page 155. 

The general reader will be interested in the fact that mes- 
sages were effectually and distinctly transmitted in each direction 
by the use of an electrometer formed by a small percussion cap 
containing moistened sand, upon which rested a particle of zinc. 

Colonel Woodward, of the Army Medical Museum, Washington, 
has made a series of experiments in microscopic photography, 
using the magnesium and electric lights. His results are very 
successful. The lime light and the magnesium light had been 
used before in this connection, in England, but not with great 
success. 

Measurements of Newton’s rings made some years since by 
Fizeau, together with the wave length of the light of the two 
principal components of the D line of the solar spectrum, show 
a remarkable coincidence in results obtained by different methods, 
and further confirm the truth of the undulatory hypothesis. (See 
page 151.) 

We incorporate herewith the notes of Professor Nichols, on 
the progress, during the past year, in Chemistry and Geology. 

‘‘During the year considerable progress has been made in 
organic chemistry so-called. As a rule, however, much of the 
work done, and most of the results obtained, appeal to the minds 
of a very few even among scientific men. Still these researches 
ought not to be decried by practical men, in the face of such 
a brilliant result as the artificial production of alizarine. (See 
page 182.) The artificial product seems to be identical in physi- 
cal and chemical properties with the natural coloring matter, 
and is already manufactured on a considerable scale. Worthy 
of mention, also, is the synthetical construction of indigo-blue, 
by Emmerling and Engler (see page 211), although the method 
employed offers no prospect of its production in quantities suffi- 
cient for manufacturing purposes. Moreover, our knowledge 
of the constitution of chemical substances, and the laws which 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. IX 


govern them is increased and rendered more certain by the 
study of the more complex compounds occurring in nature, or 
produced, in the laboratory. While, therefore, there is great 
fascination attending the pursuit of this branch of the science, 
there are still many interesting objects of research in mineral 
chemistry to, be investigated, still many problems in technical 
chemistry to be solved. 

The definition of organic chemistry as the ‘‘ chemistry of the 
compounds of carbon,” felt to be so happy when first pro- 
pounded, loses somewhat of its significance in view of the 
researches of Friedel and others (see page 193), which show 
that silicon is competent to replace carbon in the formation 
of many complex bodies. That the importance of silicon in 
the economy of organized existence has failed to be duly ap- 
preciated cannot be denied, although we may not be prepared 
to admit with Henry Wurtz, of New York City, that ‘‘ all silica 
in isolated forms appertains, in origin at least, to the vegetable 
kingdom.” ‘The researches of Thenard (see page 196) follow 
naturally those of Friedel and Landenburg. 

As standing on the border line between chemistry and physics 
proper, we may signalize the investigations of Thomsen, of 
Copenhagen, on the heat of chemical combination. His deter- 
minations differ to a considerable extent from those of Favre and 
Silbermann, hitherto regarded as authority. As the result of his 
experiments he finds that when a molecule of acid is neutralized 
by a caustic alkali, the heat evolved increases nearly in propor- 
tion to the amount of alkali added until this amount reaches 1, 4, 
$, 4, of a molecule of alkali, according as the acid is mono-, di-, 
tri- or tetra-basic. Silicic acid forms an exception to this law, as 
do also, toa certain extent, arsenic, boracic, and ortho-phosphoric 
acids. 

In this connection allusion must be made to the researches of 
Dr. Andrews, on the continuity of the liquid and gaseous states, 
which tend to show that the assumption of the existence of three 
distinet states or conditions of matter has no foundation in fact, 
the solid, liquid, and gaseous states being actually continuous. 

While we have no actual proof of the truth of the atomic theory, 
and while many chemists are disposed to place this hypothesis 
even without the limits of probability, it is interesting to note that 
Sic William Thomson, from the consideration of physical phe- 
nomena, has been led so far as to calculate the size of the mole- 
cules which go to make up chemical substances. He concludes 


x NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


that in any ordinary liquid the mean distance between contig- 
uous molecules is less than one one-millionth of a centimeter 
and greater than one two-millionth. 

Dr. Angus Smith, in England, in connection with his work as 
Inspector under the Alkali Act, has been carrying on chemical 
examinations of the air and rain in various localities, and collect- 
ing statistics looking towards the establishment of a new branch 
of meteorology, — chemical climatology. While the methods of 
analysis are already tolerably satisfactory as far as the determina- 
tion of the various gases naturally or accidentally present in the 
air, and of the various saline matters contained in the rain, the 
great problem bearing upon health—the determination of the 
amount of organic matter in the atmosphere and its character, 
whether harmless or injurious — is still far from being solved. 

While in technical chemistry there is little to record that is 
strictly new, attention may be called to the great change wrought 
in one of the most important of the applications of chemistry 
to the arts, namely, the manufacture of chlorine. Weldon’s pro- 
cess (see page 166), announced at the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation in 1869, is supplanting the old method, to considerable ex- 
tent, both in England and on the continent. That the process is, 
however, still imperfect, is evident from the fact that two-thirds 
of the chlorine in the chlorhydric acid employed goes to waste. 
The ingenious process of producing chlorine without the use of man- 
ganese, suggested by Henry Deacon (see page 169), while theoreti- 
cally excellent, presents practical difficulties which have not been 
surmounted so as to bring the method into actual use. 

Geology. — The most interesting results which have recently 
been obiained have been the results of the deep-sea dredgings, 
carried on along the Atlantic coast on both sides of the ocean, 
with assistance from the governments of Great Britain and the 
United States. The facts thus obtained in regard to the mode of 
deposition of calcareous and other sedimentary rock-strata, and 
in regard to the distribution of animal life, are of the highest 
importance. It seems that there is no limit to the depth at 
which animal life can exist; many genera and species, hereto- 
fore considered extinct, have been found to have living representa- 
tives; the influence of warm and cold currents is shown to be very 
great on the fauna of a given area, so that side by side deposits 
are forming’, one containing the remains of arctic, and another the 
remains of temperate or even tropical species. A somewhat 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XI 


detailed account of the results of these investigations will be 
found in subsequent pages.” 

Professor Huxley, in his address at Liverpool, contributed some 
new terms to science. 

The hypothesis that living matter always arises by the agency 
of pre-existing living matter, he terms biogenesis; and the doc- 
trine that living matter may be produced by not-living matter, 
abiogenesis. 

It may be well also to notice two other terms greatly used in 
this branch of science: homogenesis and heterogenesis, or xeno- 
genesis. When the living parent gives rise to offspring which 
pass through the same cycle of changes as itself, like giving rise 
to like, this is termed homogenesis; when the living parent gives 
rise to offspring which pass through a totally different series of 
states from those exhibited by the parent, and do not return into 
the cycle of the parent, — this is termed heterogenesis or xeno- 
genesis; like not giving rise to like. 

A late writer in ‘‘ The Lancet” says: ‘‘ The determination of 
the nature and mode of existence of the contagious principles of 
zymotic diseases has hitherto baffled the keenest search of scien- 
tific workers ; but the employment of improved methods of observa- 
tion is at length beginning to remove much of the mystery which 
envelops the subject of contagion. Until we have unravelled the 
nature of zymotic poisons, it is impossible to make any real prog- 
ress in the discovery of efficient means of averting the spread of 
epidemic and contagious diseases. From the results of a special 
investigation, conducted for the Privy Council in England by Dr. 
Sanderson, we are led to the conclusion that every kind of con- 
tagion, as regards its physical form, consists of extremely minute, 
separate, solid particles, to which the name microzymes is given; 
these particles being spheroidal, transparent, of gelatinous consist- 
ency, of density equal to that of the animal fluid in which they are 
contained, and, therefore, not deposited by subsidence, and com- 
posed of albuminous matter. They are organized beings, self- 
multiplying organic forms. The results of M. Chauveau’s exper- 
iments with small-pox, sheep-pox, and farcy poisons, all tell in 
the same direction. It is apparent that the tendency of recent re- 
searches is to induce a reaction in favor of the fungus origin of 
zymotic disease.” 

**The controversy about Spontaneous Generation, or Abiogen- 
esis,” remarks the ‘‘ Lancet,” ‘‘ resembles history, —it continu- 
ally repeats itself. Notwithstanding the discussions at the meet- 


XII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


ing of the British Association, the whole question is now rele- 
gated to the region of inquiries into the degree of heat that will 
be certainly destructive to the lower forms of life.” 

Dr. Bastian, in three articles (‘‘ Nature,” vol. 11., pp. 170, 193, 
219), gives his reasons for believing that spontaneots generation 
does occur. He criticises Professor Huxley’s address before the 
British Association in ‘‘ Nature,” vol. 11., pp. 410, 431, and 492. 

In the hydrated chloride of aluminium we have a new antiseptic. 

At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, June Ist, 
1870, Mr. Edward S. Morse made a verbal communication on the 
position of the Brachiopoda in the animal kingdom. After stating 
observations made upon different species, especially upon the 
Lingula pyramidata, and upon alcoholic specimens of Terebratula 
and Discina, he concludes that the Brachiopods, together with the 
Polyzoa, should be removed from the Mollusca, and placed with 
the Articulates among the Annelids. 

One cannot fail to notice that the workers in the different fields 
of biology and physics are both engaged in investigating the first 
conditions of matter, — the one striving after a knowledge of the 
germs of life; the other investigating the size of atoms and their 
existence or non-existence. Sir William Thomson, by his papers 
on the size of atoms (published in ‘‘ Nature,” vol. 1., p. 551), 
has directed attention in a strong degree to Molecular Physics. 

Professor Young, of Dartmouth College, has succeeded in photo- 
graphing a solar protuberance. A way is thus evidently opened 
for preserving records of these eruptions. An important research 
upon the constitution of the sun has been published by Professor 
Zo5\lner. His results are as follows: — 

The forms of the protuberances are divided into two groups, 
—vaporous or cloudy, and eruptive. The vesicles of vapor in ter- 
restrial clouds only form the means through which the differences 
of masses of air become visible. The clouds of the protuberances 
are made visible by the incandescence of glowing hydrogen. 
Starting with the hypothesis that the eruptions are due to the 
difference of pressure of gases emanating from the interior and 
the surface of the sun, and assuming that there is a separating 
layer between the inner and outer strata of hydrogen, he 
follows out the mechanical theory of heat and gases, consider- 
ing the eruptive protuberances due to the flow of a gas from one 
space into another, while the pressure in both is constant; neither 
communication nor absorption of heat being assumed. He finds 
the absolute minimum temperature in the space from which 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XIII 


an eruption of 1.5 minute’s height takes place, to be 40, 690° C., 
and from a protuberance of 3 minutes’ height, 74, 910° C. 

The maximum velocities of streams of gas moving vertically or 
horizontally in the chromosphere are from 40 to 120 English miles 
per second. According to the mechanical theory of heat such ve- 
locities of hydrogen necessitate differences of temperature amount- 
ing to 40,690° C. Having shown that the explanation of the 
eruptive protuberances necessitates the existence of a separating 
stratum between the space from which they emanate and the 
space into which they pass, we must assume a reference to its 
physical condition that it cannot be gaseous, and must, therefore, 
be either solid or liquid. The former is improbable on account 
of the high temperature; it is therefore concluded that the sepa- 
rating stratum consists of an incandescent liquid. 

In reference to the inner masses of hydrogen, bounded by that 
stratum, two suppositions are possible: 1. The whole interior of 
the sun is filled with incandescent hydrogen gas, which would 
make the sun an immense bubble of hydrogen, surrounded by a 
liquid glowing envelope. 2. The masses of hydrogen, bursting 
out into protuberances, are local collections, in bubble-like cav- 
erns, which form in the superficial layers of a liquid glowing mass, 
and burst through when the presence of the confined gas in- 
creases. 

Under the first supposition, stable equilibrium could only exist 
if the specific gravity of the outer layer is less than that of the gas 
below it. Since the density of a globe of gas, whose particles are 
subject to Newton’s and Mariotte’s laws, increases towards its 
centre, the specific gravity of the outer boundary layer must neces- 
sarily be less than the mean specific gravity of the sun. But if we 
take the mean specific gravity of the sun as the maximum of the 
liquid outer layer, we would be obliged to assume that all deeper 
layers, including the gaseous one immediately below, have the same 
specific gravity. Then the interior of the sun could not consist of a 
gas, but of an incompressible fluid. All these properties are clearly 
a necessary consequence of the supposition that the specific grav- 
ity of the compressed gases forming the protuberances reaches as 
its maximum the mean specific gravity of the sun. 

In that case we must suppose, secondly, that the sun consists of 
an incompressible liquid, near whose surface there are collections 
of glowing masses of hydrogen, which break through bubble- 
like caverns, as eruptive protuberances under certain differences 
of pressure. 


XIV NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


However small these caverns may be in special cases, the spe- 
cific gravity of the enclosed gases cannot be greater than that of 
the surrounding liquid, because, otherwise, the compressed gases 
would sink towards the sun. 

Professor Zollner finds that, calling the pressure ata certain 
height above the ‘base of the solar atmosphere, between 0.500 m. 
and 0.050 m., there results a mean temperature of 27,700°. 

Iron must accordingly exist as a permanent gas in the solar 
atmosphere ; from the value of t = 27,700° the inner temperature is 
found to be 68,400°, and the pressure in the interior of the space 
from which the protuberances emanate is 22.1 times greater than 
the pressure at the surface of the liquid separating layer; the pres- 
sure at the base of solar atmospheres being 184,000 atmospheres, 
_ that at the interior would be 4,070,000 atmospheres, — this latter 
maximum pressure being reached at a depth of 139 geographical 
miles below the sun’s surface. 

The pressure increasing rapidly towards the interior of the sun, 
permanent gases, such as hydrogen, can exist only in a glowing 
state in the interior of the sun. 

Professor Zollner shows that the quantity of oxygen and nitro- 
gen, if these gases exist in the sun’s atmosphere, must be ex- 
tremely small compared with that of hydrogen in that stratum 
where the spectrum of hydrogen becomes continuous, and their 
pressure consequently would not be indicated by absorption. 

The absence of oxygen and nitrogen lines in the solar spec- 
trum may also be accounted for by the slight emissive power of 
permanent gases as compared with that of vaporized solids. 

Professor Zollner concludes : — 

1. The absence of lines in the spectrum of a self-luminous 
star does not prove the absence of the corresponding bodies. 

2. The stratum, in which the reversion of the spectrum takes 
place, is different for every body, and lies nearer to the centre 
of a star the greater the density of the vapor and the less the 
emissive power of the body is. 

3. In different stars this stratum, other things being equal, 
lies the nearer the centre the greater the intensity of gravi- 
tation. 

4. The distances of the strata of reversion for different bodies 
from the centre of the star, and from each other, increase with 
the temperature. 

5. The spectra of different stars contain the more lines under 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XV 


similar circumstances, the less their temperature and the greater 
their mass is. 

6. The great difference of intensity in the dark lines of the 
spectrum of the sun and other fixed stars depends not only on 
the differences of absorption, but also on the different depths at 
which the reversion of the spectra takes place. 

M. Borelly, at the Marseilles Observatory, has discovered a new 
planet (No. 110). Professor Peters, of Hamilton College, has 
added two new asteroids (the 111 and 112) to the number 
already enrolled. A new comet was discovered at the observa- 
tory of Marseilles, on the 28th of August, by M. Coggin. 

Professor Winlock, of the Cambridge Observatory, has had pho- 
tographs of the sun taken nearly every fair day during the past 
year. The primary objects in this work have been to prepare 
and perfect apparatus and processes which might be used with 
the best result during the coming transit of Venus, in 1874. A 
reliable record of changes in the sun’s surface is also obtained 
by these photographs. 

Mr. Proctor has published some novel views of the constitution 
of the stellar system under the title of ‘‘ Star Drift” and ‘‘ Star 
Mist.” 

Dr. Gould, with assistants, is now stationed at Cordova, in the 
Argentine Confederation, having the observatory there under 
his charge. He proposes to extend the catalogue of the south- 
ern heavens beyond the limit of 30°, to which the zones of Arge- 
lander extended. Dr. Gould says, ‘‘My hope and aim is to 
begin a few degrees north of Argelander’s southern limit, 
say at 26° or 27°, and to carry southward a system of zone 
observations to some declination beyond Gilliss’ northern limit, 
thus rendering comparisons easy with both these other labors, 
and permitting the easy determination of the corrections need- 
ful for reducing positions of any one of these three series to cor- 
responding ones for the other.” 

Great preparations were made to observe the total eclipse of 
the sun in December, Professor Pierce, of Harvard College, in 
his official capacity as superintendent of the coast survey, having 
general charge ofthe American expedition. 

After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the shadow of the moon 
passed across the south of Portugal and the Straits of Gibraltar to 
Algeria, reaching its most southerly limits in about longitude 4° 
east of Greenwich, where the southern boundary of the shadow- 


XVI NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


path was in about 34° north latitude. Thence the shadow passed 
to Sicily, the northern limit passing slightly to the north of Mount 
Etna, and so, touching the extreme southern point of the Italian 
peninsula, by the south of Turkey, past Thessaly. The most im- 
portant parts of the shadow’s path were those across the south of 
Portugal and Spain, in Algeria, and across Sicily. The chief 
towns which lie close to the central line are Odemira, Silves, 
Almodorar, Tavira, Ayamonte, Huelva, Palos, Jeres, Cadiz, San 
Fernando, Arcos, Estepona, and Marbella in the Spanish penin- 
sula; Oran and Ratna in Africa; and Syracuse in Sicily. 

The following letter from Professor Young, on the observations 
at Jeres, Spain, appeared in the New York Tribune : — 

‘«« By the courtesy of Professor Winlock I am permitted to com- 
municate the general results of our observations on the eclipse. 
I think I may say that on the whole our expedition has been 
highly successful, though more might have been accomplished 
had the weather been better. We seem, however, to have been 
more favored in this respect than any of the English parties ob- 
serving in Spain. From those in Algeria and Sicily I have not 
yet heard. 

‘The day and night previous to the eclipse were very fine, but 
early in the morning it clouded over, and when we arose the pros- 
pect was very gloomy. It even rained from time totime. We 
made all our observations, however, and before first contact 
(10.25 a.m., local time) there were many patches of partly clear 
sky, but there was always, even when clearest, enough haze of 
frost crystals to cause the sin to be surrounded by a conspicuous 
halo of 224° radius. At the time of first contact, it was clear 
enough to allow good observations to be made in the usual 
method. I attempted to use the spectroscope upon it in the 
same manner as last year, but failed on account of the thin cloud 
which most of the time entirely obliterated the chromosphere lines. 

‘¢ Between time of the first contact and totality, there were 
several intervals of moderate clearness, in which photographs of 
the partial phases were taken. Just before totality the clouds be- 
came much thicker, and we nearly gave up hope; but at the 
needed time, almost by the direct interposition of Providence, as 
it would seem, a small rift in the now heavy clouds passed over 
the sun, and permitted us to observe the sublime phenomenon, ine 
not in all the beauty and sublimity of last year, yet satisfactorily 
and most gratefully. Within five minutes after the end of totality 
the sky was wholly clouded, and we did not see the sun again 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XVII 


until near evening, after a heavy storm of wind and rain. During 
the totality, one good photograph of the corona was obtained with 
the 6-inch glass, with an exposure of 14 minutes. It is, of course, 
by no means so good as it would have been had the sky been 
truly clear; but it shows a great deal of detail, curved filaments 
and radial shadings far better than ever before obtained. The 
picture produced with the 8-inch glass was injured by not being 
removed until the sun came out. No attempts were made to pho- 
tograph the prominences, which can be seen and studied at any 
time. All efforts were concentrated on the corona. 

‘In respect to the polarization observations, there is reason to 
suppose that there must have been some peculiar defect in the 
particular instrument Professor Pickering used last year, as his 
assistant, Mr. Ross, using it on this occasion, obtained the same 
unsatisfactory result. But apparently similar instruments, used 
this year, together with others quite different in construction, in- 
dicated radial polarization of the corona. The appearances in the 
instruments were much complicated by the cloud and haze, but 
I believe Professor Pickering and Professor Langley both agree 
that the corona certainly has a considerable proportion of its light 
radially polarized. Our spectroscopic results completely confirm 
those of last year, and except that the two faint lines which I saw 
between D and E last year, and suspected to be corona lines as 
well as 1474, were not seen at all this time; 1474 was traced by 
Professor Winlock to a distance of nearly 20 minutes from the 
sun’s limb. I traced it 16 minutes on the west, 12 on the north, 
14 on the east, and about 10 on the.south. The principal chro- 
mosphere lines were also visible in the corona to a distance of 3 or 
4 minutes. Professor Winlock and myself both agree in attribu- 
ting this to the reflection of the haze around the sun. I am more 
confident as to this, because last year, in a clear atmosphere, the 
C line was certainly sharply terminated at the upper limit of the 
chromosphere or prominences under observation. Mr. Abbay, in 
his spectroscope, saw only the 1474 line and the F line, — the 
former was considerably the brighter of the two. He saw no con- 
tinuous spectrum. 

‘But the most interesting spectroscopic observation of the 
eclipse appears to me to be the ascertaining at the base of the 
chromosphere, and, of course, in immediate contact with the 
photosphere, of a thin layer in whose spectrum the dark lines of 
the ordinary solar spectrum are all reversed. Just previous to 
totality I had carefully adjusted the slit tangential to the sun’s 


XVIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


limb at the point where the second contact would take place, and 
was watching the gradual brightening of 1474, and the magne- 
sium lines. As the crescent grew narrower, I noticed a fading 
out, so to speak, of all the dark lines in the field of view, but was 
not at all prepared for the beautiful phenomenon which presented 
itself when the moon finally covered the whole photosphere. 
Then the whole field was at once filled with brilliant lines, which 
suddenly flashed into brightness, and then gradually faded away 
until, in less than 2 seconds, nothing remained but the lines I had 
been watching. The slit was very close, and the definition per- 
fect. Of course I cannot positively assert that all the bright lines 
held exactly the same position that had been occupied by dark 
ones previously, but I feel very sure of it, as I particularly noticed 
several groups, and the whole arrangement and relative intensity 
of the lens struck me as perfectly familiar. Mr. Pye saw the 
same thing, for an instant only. Professor Winlock did not, as 
his telescope at the time, in accordance with his directions, was 
pointed to a spot at some distance from the sun’s limb; neither 
did Mr. Abbay see it. 

‘This observation is a confirmation of Secchi’s continuous 
spectrum at the edge of the sun, and, I think, tends to make 
tenable the original theory of Kirchoff as to the constitution of 
the sun, and the origin of the dark lines in the ordinary solar 
spectrum.” 

General E. Abbott, in a letter to Professor J. E. Hilgard, states, 
‘‘ We have settled that the corona, in part, at least, is solar. The 
light is strongly polarized in radial planes.” 

Professor Peirce says, in a letter, ‘‘ that the true corona is 
proved to be a solar atmosphere, extending about 80 miles above 
the visible surface of the sun, there being three different sources 
of proof of this.” 

Lockyer, in his report, in ‘‘ Nature,” of January 19, asserts 
that the corona is a compound phenomena, arising some 5! or 
6’ high around the moon, with a light beyond, which different 
observers have noted differently, now stellate with many rays; 
now stellate with few; now absolutely at rest; now revolving 
rapidly. 

From the spectroscopic observations, Lockyer thinks that the 
chromosphere may be built up of the following layers, which are 
in the order of vapor density in the case of known elements: — 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XIX 


At CHOW. BI GBIOING i ghaaiei Josoailes A a+, nip nies eel ea ane green coronal line 
Hydrogen § PE TGA OSE OID. cic oo /6/a cieia ald rat lew Venta lel )ais) slo's mao F 

i CAMMOSCOD GS. o as.5 ars,a-0 aay a oes apogee sine C, F, near G, h 
BUCH W GLOENONEU repels atria cis 5 <5 ©, « alien ala eseinietein als net e048 near D 
IE CSI CAR SEE AS SAnBE Cogcnrde b, and lines in blue and violet 
OMG Miseeec a ee alee aie ches ae sae a ase Sie e's aiche ren Cravalaye ham sieiate ts pelea D 
ESSER Se «cP aets ow aro civie’s oe ois vctoleinl < cisbtaesaiie alsetaerers 5 several lines 


MTON; Chl, G2 weds ka es sie was e sinslocee eis SOVEral lines; including E 


He further says: ‘‘ The foregoing table excludes naturally the 
substance or substances which give bright lines in the solar spec- 
trum, which are visible at times in the spectrum of the chromo- 
sphere. I have ventured to suggest that the substance which 
gives the line in the green is a new element, because invariably 
I have found that in solar storms the atmospheric layers are 
thrown up in the order of vapor density, and because all the 
heavier vapors are at or below the level of the photosphere 
itself ” 

‘¢ Parties in Sicily obtained evidence that the corona was radially 
polarized. Hence the corona not only radiates, but reflects solar 
heat to us.” 

Lockyer offers as suggestions : — 

*‘1, The solar chromosphere extends some 5’ or 6/ from the sun 
(Watson and others), its last layers consisting of cool hydrogen 
(Mr. Abbay), and possibly a new element with a green line in its 
spectrum (Young, Barton, and others) ; which line, if it be identi- 
cal with the auroral line, as stated by Gould, may possibly be 
present in the higher regions of our own atmosphere. 

«© 2. Outside this stratum the rays, etc., are for the most part 
due partly to our own atmosphere, partly to our eyes, for their 
shape varies; they are seen by some at rest, by others in motion, 
and their spectrum is the same as that of the dark-moon (Maclear). 

*¢3. The white light of the chromosphere above the prominences, 
as seen in an eclipse, is due to its strong reflection of solar light, 
as shown by the polariscopic observations (Ranyard, Peirce, Jun., 
Ladd). 

“‘4, The rosy tinge of the corona proper, that is, of the region 
more than 5/ or 6’ from the sun, is due to our atmosphere contain- 
ing light which comes from both the higher and lower strata of 
the chromosphere (Peirce, Sen., Maclear, Abbay).” 

Professor Winlock found a faint, continuous spectrum without 
dark lines. 

1474, Kirchoff, was found all round the sun to a distance of 20’ 


xx NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


from the disc, and appeared to be the most conspicuous corona 
line. 

Professor Winlock also states the probable existence of an en- 
velope surrounding the photosphere, and beneath the chromo- 
sphere, of a thickness from 2 to 3 seconds of are, which gives a 
discontinuous spectrum of all the ordinary lines, — bright on dark 
fields. 

Professor Pickering, observing with an Arago polariscope, one 
of the four employed by Prazmowski and Savart, obtained with all 
three results pointing to a radial polarization of the corona. The 
light covering the moon’s disc he observed to be polarized 
throughout in the same plane, and the observations showed that 
the Arago and other polariscopes dependent on color were sufli- 
ciently delicate to determine this plane with accuracy. 

A writer in ‘‘Cosmos,” of July 30th, sums up the progress of 
geography for 1869-1870. We give the following abstract : — 

Each year the space of unknown lands on the surface of the 
globe grows smaller; but the investigations relative to different 
branches of geography embrace an immense field. 

The completion of the Suez Canal and the Pacific Railroad open 
extended ways for scientific exploration. 

Africa and the regions of the North attract, at present, the prin- 
cipal attention of geographers. In Africa, the Abyssinian war 
has brought out many treatises upon this particular region. An 
Italian scientific expedition at the present moment is engaged 
there. 

A German traveller, to whom we owe interesting studies upon 
the shores of the Red: Sea, has also explored the bordering 
regions of Nubia in the country of the Djours, where he is occu- 
pied principally with ethnographic researches. 

Dr. Schweinfurth, after a long residence among the Africans, 
confirms the opinions of M. de Quatrefages, that the coloration 
of the skin cannot serve for the distinction of different races. 

In the region of the great lakes of Equatorial Africa, Living- 
stone pursues his discoveries with a courage not abated by 
obstacles. 

May 30, 1869, at Ujiji, he was preparing to trace a new lake 
at the west of Tanganyika, from which flows a great river, it 
may be one of the sources of the Nile, which thus finds itself 
again reported more to the south. In the south-east there are 
the travels of Erskine upon the borders of Limpopo, those of 
Fritsch, of Mauch, which have given hopes of rich auriferous de- 


NOTES BY THE EDITOR. XXI 


posits in the interior of Zambéze, but the difficult courses of which 
have profited more to geography than to the seekers of gold. 
We have had recently an account of the expedition of Lieuten- 
ant Aymes, of the French marine, in the basin of ?Ogové from 
the side of Gabon, which has contributed some precious materials 
for natural history. 

Gérard Rohlfs has visited the oasis of Cyrenaique. 

Wallace has published an article upon the Malay Archipelago; 
Dr. Sempor upon New Guinea; Professor Bastion upon Sin- 
gapore, Batavia, and Manilla; and M. Garnier, a memoir upon 
the migrations of the Polynesians, published in the Bulletin of 
the Geographical Society. 

In regard to Asia, attention is called to the works of M. Her- 
man de Schlagintweit upon India; of M. Charles Lemire, upon 
Cochin China, and of M. Francis Garnier, upon the French ex- 
pedition to Mekong. 

In China, Cooper has pushed his explorations into the heart 
of the empire in the basin of the Yang-tse-kiang; while another 
traveller, M. de Richoffen, occupied himself with geological re- 
searches upon the frontiers of the north beyond the great wall; 
and a French missionary, P. Armand David, has employed the 
leisure hours of his office in the study of the natural history of 
Thibet and Mongolia. 

Upon the confines of Siberia the Russians have finally fixed 
the limits between their Asiatic possessions and China; at the 
same time they continue their explorations into Central Asia, 
as much from the political point of view as in the interests of 
science. Those desiring ampler details of the progress in 
geography will find them in the report made by M. Charles 
Mannoir to the Geographical Society, or in the selections of the 
«“ T7Année Geographique” of M. Vivien de Saint Martin. 

In Central America the piercing of the Isthmus occupies public 
attention. Malte-Brun enumerates no less than 28 projects for 
a canal across the isthmus. To these different projects it is 
necessary to add those of M. du Puydt, and of Commander 
Selfridge, who commands the latest expedition to explore the 
routes. In expectation of the realization of these projects, the 
government of Honduras has ordered the construction of a rail- 
road setting out from the port of Puerto-Cabello, upon the 
Atlantic, and ending in the Bay of Fonseca, upon the Pacific. 
These important works are indicated because they will have an 
important bearing upon many branches of geography. 


XXII NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 


Attention is also called to the publication of Poncel, upon the 
Argentine Republic; the researches of Agassiz upon the Ama- 
zon; the geological studies of M. Guillemin Taragre, in Mexi- 
co, and the expedition of Whymper, in Alaska. 

Moyne has made a visit to the Strait of Magellan, and to the 
country of the Patagonians. 

In Australia one signals the expedition of John Forrest into the 
interior of the eastern part of the continent as far as 123° of east 
longitude from Greenwich. The report published by the governor 
of the State of Victoria, under the title of ‘‘Auriferous Deposits 
and Mining Districts of the Province of Victoria,” by Mr. 
Brough Smith, is also cited upon this region. 

Proceeding eastward from the Sea of Aral, the Russians have 
rendered the river Syr Daria navigable by steam vessels of a lim- 
ited size, and, fixing military posts on its banks, have ascended 
towards its sources, and taken possession of the populous and 
flourishing city of Tashkent, a great mart of caravan commerce. 
Russia has also triumphed over the Khan of Bokhara. The appre- 
hension that these advances of Russia would prove prejudicial 
to British India is losing ground in England. 

The industrial classes of the United States have been the sub- 
ject of a long and interesting report by Mr. Francis Clare Ford, 
Secretary of the English legation, at Washington. This report 
was made in pursuance of a cireular addressed by Lord Clarendon, 
in April, 1869, to the diplomatic and consular agents of Great 
Britain, instructing them to report upon the condition of the in- 
dustrial classes in the countries to which they were accredited. Mr. 
Ford says that the American system of common-school education 
has elevated the condition of the native-born working man, and 
has disposed him to prefer occupations in which the exercise of 
the brain is in greater demand than that of the elbow, and 
asserts that the steady influx of immigrants for the last twenty 
years has created a disinclination on the part of American work- 
men to engage in the rough toil of purely muscular labor which 
the newly arrived foreigner is ready to exert for his support. 

It will be recollected that in the ‘Annual of Scientific Discovery ” 
of 1870, we noticed the enactment passed by the Massachusetts 
Legislature to provide instruction to the working-classes in me- 
chanical drawing. Several of these schools are now in opera- 
tion, and constitute, we think, the germ of a brighter future. 


THE 


ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 


MECHANICAL STOKING. 


Tue following interesting paper was read, at the meeting of 
the British Association, in Section G (Mechanical Science), by 
Mr. James Smith, of Messrs. T. & T. Vicars, engineers, Seel 
Street, Liverpool : — 

‘¢OQur reasons and apology for bringing under your notice the 
subject of mechanical stoking are, first, the importance to the 
mechanical engineer of everything that relates to furnace man- 
agement, and especially the importance of any improvement that 
will enable him to have the slavish labor of stoking performed by 
a machine that will more efficiently discharge the required duty 
than human labor can; and this, I conceive, is always the case 
when a machine is successfully applied to any purpose.  Sec- 
ondly, the visit of your society to our town enabies us to submit 
to the judgment of a competent tribunal the merits or defects of 
a system of mechanical stoking that we have applied and are ap- 
plying largely in different parts of the country. All who have 
had any experience in furnace management are aware that the 
duty obtained from a boiler or other furnace depends to a very 
great extent on judicious stoking, and one of the troubles of the 
practical engineer is to obtain the services of stokers upon whom 
he can rely. Several writers on the subject have directed atten- 
tion to the desirability of substituting mechanical for hand stoking 
as the only means of securing economy, efliciency, and smoke- 
lessness. Bourne, in his work on recent improvements in the 
steam engine, published last year, says: ‘In steam vessels it is 
most desirable that some proper species of firing apparatus should 
be employed, as the labor and difficulty of firing large furnaces 
at sea, especially in hot climates, is very great. I believe that a 
good smokeless furnace and a good self-feeding furnace will 
come together.’ Considering the acknowledged importance of 

23 


24 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the subject, it does seem remarkable that so little has been done 
in this direction. Of the different fire-feeding machines, as they 
have .been called, that have been employed at different times, I 
think I am correct in stating that, excepting the one I wish to 
bring under your notice, Juckes’ Endless Chain Grate is the only 
one that has received any considerable amount of approval. Of 
the performance of this furnace very conflicting accounts are 
given; but I believe that under favorable conditions as to fuel, 
management, and work to be done, when applied to externally 
fired boilers the performance of this furnace has been found sat- 
isfactory. Although the Juckes’ grate does, under favorable cir- 
cumstances, prove the superiority of mechanical over hand _ stok- 
ing, yet it does not, I think, sufficiently meet the engineering 
requirements of the present time; it has one serious defect: it is 
only applicable to externally fired boilers, and is very cumbrous. 
Before describing particularly our furnace, I will speak of what 
I conceive ought to be aimed at in constructing a mechanical 
stoker. 

«The late Mr. Charles Wye Williams, who has done so much 
to diffuse and popularize correct views on the subject of furnace 
management, writes, in his work on the combustion of coal and 
the prevention of smoke: ‘The facility with which the stoker 
is enabled to counteract the best arrangements naturally suggests 
the advantage of mechanical feeders. Here is a direction in 
which mechanical skill may be successfully employed; the basis 
of success, however, should be a sustaining at all times the uni- 
form and sufficient depth of fuel on the bars.’ This is correct so 
far as it goes, but a mechanical stoker, to be successful, must do 
more than this: it must preserve the air spaces of the fire grate 
uniformly open, be self-cleansing by discharging the ashes, slag, 
or clinker as formed; and, in addition, I think it is important that 
the fuel should be introduced at the front of the furnace, and 
should have a progressive motion towards the bridge. ‘The ad- 
vantage of introducing the fuel at this part, as a means of insur- 
ing economy and preventing smoke where bituminous fuel is 
used, has been proved conclusively by numerous experiments. I 
suppose the cause of this is the long run of the volatile hydro- 
carbons over the incandescent fuel that fills the bridge part of the 
furnace. It is also important that the machine stoker should be 
easily regulated and controlled for the purpose of adjusting the 
supply of fuel to the work to be done, and that it should be very 
little liable to derangement, or wear and tear. I think our appa- 
ratus fulfils all these conditions. Like all fire-feeding machines, 
it is provided with a hopper or fuel receptacle; the fuel is forced 
into the furnace by two plungers or pushers (having an alternate 
motion) at a level of about 6 inches above the bars. In very 
wide furnaces we use 3 plungers, and the shaft that works the 
plungers is moved by a ratchet. A very simple arrangement 
enables the attendant to vary the rate of feed by causing the div- 
ing eccentric at each stroke to take a lesser or greater number of 
teeth. Progressive motion is given to the fire by causing the bars 
to move forward en masse, and bringing them back in detail. The 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. a5 


cleansing of the bars is also effected by this motion: the bars 
have a stroke of about 3 inches, and we find in the average of 
cases that a complete stroke about every 2 minutes is sufficient 
to give the progressive motion necessary to maintain a proper 
thickness of fire. As the bars themselves form an important part 
of the machine, we have found it necessary to make special pro- 
vision for their preservation. Each movable bar is provided with 
a trough containing water, and there is a centre rib cast on each 
bar which is immersed in the water. The other part of the bar 
forms a perfect cover for the trough to exclude ashes, etc.; these 
troughs are supplied with water from a small cistern, and the 
level is maintained by a very sensitive float and valve. In conse- 
quence of the slow motion of the machine, very little wear and 
tear occurs in the working parts. There is no part of the appa- 
ratus exposed to any injurious action of fire except the upper sur- 
face of the bars, and these are effectually protected by the trough 
arrangement. Our experience shows that with moderate care 
the amount of wear and tear is not greater than what occurs in 
most ordinary furnaces. 

‘¢ With regard to the economical results obtained, you will find 
some particulars given in our circular. As compared with the 
best hand-firing, where ordinary fuel is used, the results do not 
exceed 10 to 12 per cent. We find that the system adopted by 
the careful stoker and the machine system are very similar. In 
both cases frequent charges at short intervals are adopted instead 
of heavy charges at longer intervals; but, in the case of hand- 
firing, the incessant opening of the doors, and the interruptions 
caused by cleaning the bars, are drawbacks that are avoided in 
the machine. Of course, when the machine is compared with 
ordinary random hand-firing, its economical superiority is very 
decided; but the chief source of economy arises from our being 
able to use the smallest and cheapest fuel, —fuel much of which 
cannot be used at all in ordinary hand-fire furnaces. The saving 
from this cause varies in different districts, and will range-from 
20 to 100 per cent. In most cases, perhaps, the appreciation that 
leads to the adoption of any machine or system is the most satis- 
factory evidence of its value; yet this is not a rule without 
numerous exceptions, and on no subject is there more reasonable 
ground for a justifiable scepticism as to the merits of any remedy 
that may be propounded than that of smoke prevention. For 
many years the public have had plans constantly brought under 
their notice that were to end the nuisance arising from smoke, 
but it still continues a very substantial nuisance, and appears to 
have a very wonderful vitality. As evidence of approval of the 
furnace, I may state that since we commenced manufacturing this 
form of furnace, about 18 months ago, we have fixed and put 
to work more than 120, with the most satisfactory results, and 
approval of the furnace is extending. We are at present sending 
out more than 20 per month; in the town of Bradford alone, 
which appears to be taking the lead in the enforcement of sanitary 
improvements we have orders for between 50 and 60 furnaces in 
a single street or road, Thornton Road. 


26 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


‘*To prevent misapprehension it is as well to state that we have 
been, for a period of 5 or 6 years, engaged perseveringly in 
efforts to perfect mechanical stoking, but our first attempts were 
only partially successful. Our first grate was a modified Juckes ; 
but we soon found the wear and tear so considerable that we had 
to turn our attention to discover some means of remedying these 
very serious defects, and for more than 3 years we were en- 
gaged in extensive experiments involying much thought and 
money expenditure. The result is the machine I have the honor 
to bring under your notice.” 

Mr. Lavington E. Fletcher, C.E., said he had witnessed some 
very carefully conducted trials with this apparatus used against 
careful hand-firing, and the results were very satisfactory. The 
chairman said there was no doubt that mechanical stoking must 
be superior to hand stoking. Such an apparatus as had been 
described by Mr. Smith was wanted, and it was only a question 
of cost. Mr. Smith then thanked the chairman and gentlemen 
for their attention, and said he would be glad to show any gentle- 
man the furnace at work who would favor Messrs. Vicars with a 
visit to their works, Seel Street, Liverpool. 


EFFICIENCY OF FURNACES AND MECHANICAL FIRING. 


Having for some time past given a large share of my attention 
to the subject of the efficiency of furnaces, I have to bring before 
you a few results of my experience in this most interesting and 
important inquiry. 

Since the time in which Wye Williams lived and labored, Pro- 
fessor Tyndall and Dr. Frankland have shown that the energy of 
combustion is within wide limits independent of the density of 
the air, the natural inference at jirst sight being that in furnaces 
the temperature of the air does not affect the efficiency. One of 
Wye Williams’ well-known experiments was to introduce a bent 
plate perforated with 56 half-inch holes into the centre of a fur- 
nace where one or two bars had been removed for its reception. 
«‘ Adequate mixture,” says Mr. Williams, ‘‘ was thus instantly 
obtained, as in the argand gas-burner; the appearance, as viewed 
through the sight-holes at the end of the boiler, being even bril- 
liant, and as if streams of flame instead of streams of air had issued 
from the numerous orifices. It is needless to add that nowhere 
could a cooling effect be produced, notwithstanding the great 
volume of air introduced.” 

Now I cannot at present do more than state the simple fact that 
I have tried similar arrangements in many different instances 
and under several different conditions, and that I have rarely 
failed to produce a cooling effect. The arrangement by which 
the results have been arrived at may be thus described: A few 
of the ordinary fire-bars are removed from the centre of the flue. 
A pair of longitudinal bearers about 6 inches apart are then intro- 
duced, their upper surfaces being level with the common fire- 
bars. On these bearers are placed small arched transverse bars, 
each about 1 inch thick, in contact with one another. Semi-circu- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 27 


lar holes are cast in the transverse surface of these bars, so that 
when placed together on the bearers they present the appearance 
of a tunnel about 9 inches high pierced with numerous small 
holes, an arrangement not differing widely from that of Wye 
Williams, except that the tunnel, being of loose cast-iron pieces, 
is no more liable to deterioration by heat than common fire-bars. If 
the mere fact of admitting air to the hydrocarbons at the moment 
of their generation, and in minutely divided lines, is sufficient to 
insure their combustion, surely nothing could do so more effect- 
ually than this arrangement. But the result. 

A large quantity of fuel being placed upon the incandescent car- 
bon in the furnace, we have, after the expiration of a few seconds, 
a splendid display of white flame, not entirely smokeless, but com- 
paratively smokeless, unless the quantity of air admitted is very 
large ; white flame and intense heat, — evidence of the precipitation 
of the carbon particles and of their combustion after precipitation ; 
smoke-burning, — not smoke-prevention; greatly increased tem- 
perature of the furnace-door, — evidence of increased radiation of 
heat. But, as I said before, in almost all cases a loss of efficiency in 
the furnace, —a reduction in the absolute temperature of the flame. 
Was Mr. Williams deceived by that radiant heat? I cannot avoid 
the conclusion that he was in some cases at least. But the fur- 
naces adopted with economical results contained elements not yet 
described. The ash-pit was divided into 3 chambers by 2 vertical 
sheet-iron partitions, made fast to the longitudinal bearers in 
such a manner that all air entering it at the central chamber must 
pass through the arched bars, while that entering by the two side 
chambers reaches the fuel in the ordinary manner. Now, observe 
the difference : Here we have a long central fire-chamber open to 
the air only at one end. The air before entering the fire-cham- 
ber passes over the surface of highly heated sheets of iron, trav- 
erses in turn the cross-pieces of the little arched bars and the 
heated surface of the ribs. Even with this simple change the 
results are, I believe, in all cases, altered from failure to success. 
A heating effect has been obtained where a cooling effect only 
could be produced before. - | 

To sum up my own observations on this subject, I find: (1.) 
That the admission of cold air in quantities sufficient for the com- 
plete combustion of the gases in ordinary furnaces is attended 
with a loss of efficiency in all cases, even if that admission takes 
place in finely divided streams immediately over every portion of 
the fuel from which the gases are rising. Radiant heat, and con- 
sequent temperature of the furnace door, are enormously in- 
creased; smoke, however, is considerably reduced. (2.) That 
by the comparatively slow motion of air over heated surfaces, and 
its consequent rarefaction and increase of velocity when issuing 
from the orifices of the arched bars, a much more perfect chemi- 
cal union is insured. The flame is not so luminous, but a higher 
rate of efficiency is obtained. Radiant heat is decreased, the fur- 
nace door is rendered less hot, and smoke is more perfectly 
prevented. The old Cornish system of dead-plate firing, when 
conducted very carefully, and in such a manner that the incan- 


28 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


descent fuel at the back of the furnace is never allowed to burn 
into holes, has, as we all know, certain advantages. But when 
the back of the furnace is left to itself, I believe it to be a most 
difficult matter to avoid the admission of cold air en masse, — a con- 
dition which cannot but be attended with loss of efficiency; and 
in my attempts to discover the best method of mechanical firing, 
I could not find that those systems in which the coal had a pro- 
gressive motion from the front to the back were free from these 
defects. Such methods appear to me to owe their advantages, 
for no doubt they have advantages, to other causes than that of 
the perfect combustion of the hydrocarbons; and is not the com- 
parative freedom from smoke in this system of firing the result, 
in a great measure, of that union of carbon from the front with 
carbonic acid from the back, producing carbonic oxide, and inev- 
itable loss of heat, — the pernicious principle resorted to by a whole 
army of smoke-burning patentees? The apparatus which appears 
tome most correct in principle does not profess to compete with the 
more perfect mechanical stokers, inasmuch as the clinkers are 
removed by the firemen in the ordinary manner. In short, since 
my attention was drawn to the subject, I have come to the con- 
clusion that the principle of what was probabiy the first attempt 
ever made in mechanical firing —I speak of Stanley’s patent — is 
capable of the highest possible efficiency. Twenty years ago 
neatly every furnace in Lancashire was fed by the apparatus pop- 
ularly known as the ‘‘hopper.” In a box on the front of each 
furnace 2 fans revolved horizontally. Fuel was drawn from a 
hopper by rollers which crushed and let it fall on to the 2 fans, 
which in their turn propelled it into the furnace. It was possible 
to adjust the speed in such a manner that the fuel was spread 
uniformly over the whole surface of the bars. I would merely 
add that when the 2-flued Lancashire boiler replaced the 
wagon and egg-ended boilers then in use, the hoppers were 
taken down, possibly in some places applied to the new flue 
boilers, found not to throw the fuel evenly over the bars, and 
discarded. In Leeds, however, they are still in use to a consid- 
rable extent, probably because some makers there took the 
trouble to adjust them to their altered circumstances. For a 
single 2-flued boiler the hopper, as now in use at Leeds, re- 
quires about 20 toothed wheels, and at least 2 worms to drive the 
crushers and other portions; and notwithstanding the fact that 
the teeth of those wheels are constantly breaking, and that the 
whole apparatus trembles under the sudden check caused by a 
large lump of coal falling between the small crushing rollers, 
manufacturers who have tried it for so many years give universal 
testimony as to its economy. I understand that one engineer in 
Leeds still makes a considerable number of them. This appara- 
tus does not, of course, prevent smoke, but it distributes the 
smoke from a given quantity of fuel over a longer period than in 
hand-firing, and reduces its blackness in the same proportion. 
Now, does it not appear that if we can retain the manner of 
throwing on the fuel, very considerably simplify the means, and 
use it in conjunction with the fire-bar arrangement already de- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 29 


scribed, we shall have a very eflicient furnace and a perfect pre- 
venter of smoke? The 20 toothed wheels and 2 worms have 
been reduced to 1 worm and wheel; the 2 hoppers (one over 
each flue) to 1 hopper in the middle of the boiler face. The 
crushing rollers have been done away with altogether, and an 
arrangement substituted which crushes and metres the fuel 
effectually but much less suddenly. Through the fuel in the 
middle of the hopper passes a cast-iron screw, with a tapering 
helix of small diameter at the centre, but increasing gradually up 
to the internal diameter of its containing cylinder outside the hop- 
per. The 2 halves of this screw are right and left handed, 
respectively. It has a slow revolving motion, and its action cn 
the coal contained in the hopper is evidently of a nibbling kind, 
while it metes out to the fans of each flue the desired quantity of 
fuel. There are other details which have not been overlooked, 
such as the well-known heaping up of the coal on the dead-plate, 
the cause of which has been entirely removed. And last, but not 
least, the whole machine is fixed to a frame made fast to the 
boiler, by 3 bolts through the shell, no holes whatever being 
cut in the boiler face. The fires made by this apparatus are per- 
fectly level, and are absolutely free from even light smoke. 

I hold in my hand a report prepared about 4 months ago, on 
the efficiency of the apparatus in question. It is founded on ver Vy 
carefully made evaporative experiments, the conclusion being 
that the feeder, when used for the first time in competition with 
the best hand-firing that could be obtained, gave an increased 
efficiency of 9.696 per cent. over and above the efficiency already 
attained with the argand furnace alone. The cost of the com- 
bined apparatus is, of course, much lower than that of any of the 
more elaborate mechanical stokers, — little more than one-half; 
but I believe the efliciency 1 is higher. —C. H. Deacon, British As- 
sociation. 


MANUFACTURE OF RUSSIA SHEET IRON. 


Herbert Barry, Esq., late director of estates and iron works 
of Vuicksa, thus describes the manufacture of sheet iron in 
Russia : — 

‘*The refined iron is hammered under the tilt-hammer into 
narrow slabs, calculated to produce a sheet of finished iron 2 
archimes by 1 (56 inches by 28 inches), weighing when fin- 
ished from 6 to 12 pounds. These slabs are called balvanky. 
They are put in the reheating furnace, heated to a red heat, 
and rolled down in 3 operations to something like a sheet, 
the rolls being screwed tighter as the surface gets thinner. 
This must be subsequently hammered to reduce its thickness and 
to receive the glance. A number of these sheets having been 
again heated to a red heat, have charcoal, pounded to as “impal- 
pable a powder as possible, shaken between them through the 
bottom of a linen bag. The pile then receiving covering “and a 
bottom in shape of a sheet of thicker iron, is placed under a 
heavy hammer; the bundle, grasped with tongs by two men, is 


30 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


pocked backwards and forwards by the gang, so that every part 
may be well hammered. So soon as the redness goes off they 
are finished, so far as this part of the operation goes. So far 
they have received some of the glance, or necessary polish; they 
are again heated, and treated differently in this respect, that in- 
stead of having powdered charcoal strewed between them, each 
two red-hot sheets have a cold finished sheet put between them; 
they are again hammered, and, after this process, are finished as 
far as thickness and glance go. 

‘“*Thrown down .separately to cool, they are taken to the 
shears, placed on a frame of the regulation size, and trimmed. 
Kach sheet is then weighed, and, after being thus assorted in 
weichts, they are finally sorted into first, second, and thirds, ac- 
cording to their glance and freedom from flaws and spots. A 
first-class sheet must be like a mirror, without a spot in it. 

“£100 poods of balvanky make 70 pounds of finished sheets ; 
but this allowance for waste is far too large, and might easily be 
reduced. 4 heats are required to finish. 

“The general weight per sheet is from 6 to 12 pounds, the 
larger demand being from 10 to 11 pounds, but they are made 
weighing as much as 30 pounds, and may then almost be called 
thin boiler plates, being used for stoves, etc. Besides the fin- 
ished sheets, a quantity of what are called red sheets are 
made, which are not polished, and do not undergo the last 
operation. 

‘Taking the Micheelofskoi Works, which are the largest sheet- 
iron ones in the empire, I found that the power running the sheet 
rolls was equivalent to 40 horses, the rolls making 70 to 80 revo- 
lutions a minute. The hammers used are powerful,’ having the 
surface of the stroke very large, — just the contrary shape there 
to the ordinary tilt-hammer. A gang turns out in a shift from 
450 to 500 sheets. 

‘¢In the Central Works, where they make sheet iron from pud- 
dled iron, they roll it into the necessary size, and then roll this 
balvanky into half-ready sheets with the same sort of rolls as are 
used in the North, but which, however, run much slower; the 
finish being given also by hammers in the same manner, but 
leaving out the final part of the operation of placing cold fin- 
ished sheets between the hot unfinished ones. The hammers are 
not so heavy, and the heating furnaces are not so well constructed 
and do not regulate the flame as well. The trimming, sorting, 
etc., are carried out in just the same way. 

‘¢The waste is really greater in the Central Works than it 
should be in the North, as the hammered iron does not leave such 
a raw edge as the puddled. 

‘*A fact that proves the superior manufacture of the North 
over the north parts of the empire is, that whereas in the former 
sheet iron is the best paying, in the latter it is the worst busi- 
ness. ee 
‘‘For the uses to which sheet iron is put ductibility is of the 
first consequence, and no sheet iron is of passable quality that 
that will not bend 4 times without breaking; some made in the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 30 


Oural [ have bent as many as 9 times without showing the break. 
Coupled with this quality the glance must be taken into consider- 
ation, as good polished iron will not take so much paint as the 
inferior polished.” — Bulletin of the American Iron and Steel 
Association. 


COAL AND SMOKE CONSUMPTION. 


On the Pennsylvania Railroad, experiments are now being 
made, says the *‘ Chicago Railroad Review,” with an apparatus 
for bituminous coal invented by J. T. Rich, of Philadelphia, who 
puts into the fire-box a ‘‘dead-plate” extending from side to 
side, sloping from a short distance beneath the door and then 
turning down perpendicularly to the grate bars. Above is a 
fire-brick arch extending from the back well forward, around 
which the ascending flame must pass towards the front. Outside 
the door is a hopper, constantly supplied with coal, which passes 
in, as that already in the fire-box works down to the dead-plate. 
A fire being started in the grate, cokes the coal on the dead- 
plate; and the heat is utilized by passing around the arch and 
through the flues. As the coke, thus made, burns away, its heat 
and gases, without smoke, passing through the flues, new coal 
constantly works down and undergoes the same process. The 
experiment thus far shows there is no doubt that the process will 
result in almost entire freedom from smoke; but the practical 
question, whether steam can be made fast enough, is not yet 
decided. — Journal Franklin Institute. 


AERO-STEAM ENGINES. 


The advocates, says the ‘‘ Engineering,” of what is known here 
as the Warsop system claim that the application of that system to 
a boiler and engine prevents the formation of incrustation, does 
away with priming, and effects a considerable economy of fuel. 
Now we have no wish to deny that under certain circumstances 
results have been obtained which appear to warrant the above 
claims, in those particular cases; but what we object to is, that 
these results should be made the foundation of totally fallacious 
arguments us to the value of the ‘‘ aero-steam ” system of work- 
ing. It may be that the injection of heated air into a boiler is, 
under certain circumstances, a good way of promoting the circu- 
lation in that boiler, and thus preventing the evils by which a want 
of proper circulation is attended; but it by no means follows 
from this that the injection of air is the best way of producing cir- 
culation under ail circumstances. On the contrary, until we have 
clear evidence afforded to us that the injection of air so far im- 
proves the economic evaporation of, not a bad, but a thoroughly 
good boiler, as to more than repay the cost of forcing in that air, 
we shall regard the system merely as a means of counteracting 
faults of construction which should not have any existence. 

As with the boiler so with the engines, Non-condensing 
engines lraving unjacketed cylinders, supplied with steam at 


32 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


from 40 pounds to 50 pounds per square inch, and worked with 
but little expansion, have in certain cases showed more econom- 
ical results when worked with a mixture of steam and air than 
when worked with steam alone in the ordinary way. But we 
submit that such engines — although we regret to say that large 
numbers of them exist —are not fair examples of steam machin- 
ery, and that the eredit to be derived from beating them in econ- 
omy is but very small. Given an engine consuming say 8 pounds 
or 10 pounds of coal per indicated horse-power per hour, and the 
difficulty of making such alterations as will produce a more 
economical result is not great. If the aero-steam engine is to 
take a high position in the future, it must do far more than this; 
it must be proved to be more economical both as regards fuel and 
maintenance than steam engines of thoroughly good construction, 
such as are turned out by our leading makers; and at present we 
have but small hope that any such proof will be forthcoming. In 
making this assertion, we have no wish to discourage Mr. War- 
sop, Mr. Parker, or others, who, like them, are experimenting 
on the use of steam and air in combination; but what we desire 
to point out is, that they would save themselves much use- 
less present labor and expense, and future disappointment, if, 
instead of contenting themselves with beating indifferent steam 
engines, they would ascertain carefully and without prejudice 
just what their respective systems can or cannot effect under the 
best condition under which they can be applied. Engineers well 
know that for a certain sum of money a steam engine can be con- 
structed to develop a certain power with a certain consumption 
of fuel. Let it be proved that by the adoption of the ‘‘ aero- 
steam” system there can be constructed for the same sum an 
engine developing a greater power with the same consumption 
of fuel, or the same power with a less consumption of fuel, and 
without any increased cost for maintenance, and the value of 
mixed steam and air engines will be established. — Scientific 
American. 


THE FRICTION OF STEAM ENGINES. 


If we did not believe that it is easy to say something new on a 
subject which has been in a very peculiar sense worn threadbare 
by the inventors of cylinder lubricators and steam greasers, this 
article would never have been written. So far as we are aware, 
all the information regarding the resistance of steam engines due 
to friction is to be found in the circulars of inventors, one or two 
papers read before engineering societies by the advocates of par- 
ticular methods of lubricating engines, certain theoretical disqui- 
sitions contained in text-books of mechanical science, and perhaps 
a report or two in the ‘‘ Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society.” It is almost needless to say that the subject is one of 
very considerable importance; but it may be worth while to bring 
this importance home in a tangible form to the employer of steam 
power. It may be stated, in pursuance of this object, that it by 
no means follows that an engine giving a very high indicated 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 33 


duty per pound of coal is really the most economical that a manu- 
facturer can use, for the simple reason that the power required 
merely to drive the engine may be so great as to render the sav- 
ing in fuel valueless. A ease in point suggests itself. An experi- 
ment was made some time since with a compound engine, the 
general particulars of which are before us. This engine was of 
the annular type; the large cylinder about 35 inches’ diameter, 
the inner cylinder about 15 inches, the stroke of both pistons was 
the same, about 5 feet, the piston rods both laying hold of the 
same crosshead, which was connected with an overhead beam. 
The experiment consisted in shutting the steam off from the 
inner cylinder and driving with the outer annular piston alone. 
It was found that the engine, then indicating the same horse- 
power as before, failed to drive the machinery at the proper 
speed; and it was not till the indicated horse-power was aug- 
mented nearly 40 per cent. that the engine would do the work. 
On permitting the steam to find its way to the inner cylinder as 
before, the indicated horse-power fell to the. original point, the 
machinery being driven at the proper speed. We shall not pre- 
tend to explain why this was the case. It is indeed difficult to 
understand why the fact that the inner cylinder, though open to 
the atmosphere, took no steam, should so enormously reduce the 
effective power of the engine. The facts are as we have broadly 
stated them, and there is no reason to think they would now want 
explanation if engineers had in times past devoted a little atten- 
tion to the study of the phenomena of friction in the steam 
engine. We have no doubt whatever that many so-called eco- 
nomical engines are doing very bad work indeed, nor that many 
so-called wasteful engines, as far as coal is concerned, are giving 
out a far higher duty than is generally believed. The entire 
subject is wrapped up in mist, —a mist which can only be dis- 
pelled by careful experiments, extending over long periods, and 
properly and fairly analyzed. That a few engineers have con- 
ducted experiments on the friction of steam engines and other 
machines is certain; but it remains to accumulate in a single 
volume the statistics which these gentlemen possess, and to put 
them into a form which may render them generally useful. In 
pursuance of this object we have for some time past been 
accumulating data, as yet infinitely far from being complete. But 
these data have, at all events, done this much, — they have satis- 
fied us that ordinary theories regarding friction in steam engines, 
based on investigations concerning the coefficients of friction 
between lubricated surfaces, apply most irregularly and imper- 
fectly. In other words, there is no theory at present in exist- 
ence which will enable us even approximately to predicate with 
certainty what the loss of effect by friction in any given engine 
may be. In certain cases, calculations made with this object will 
correspond, with surprising exactitude, with the results obtained 
through the indicator and dynamometer. But the engineer, rest- 
ing satisfied with such occasional coincidences, is mistaken in his 
views. In scores of other instances enormous discrepancies will 
be found to exist between theory and practice, — the almost total 


34 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


absence of frictional resistance in some engines contrasting 
strangely with the expenditure of power absolutely wasted in 
others. It is not the mere loss of fuel alone — although that is 
bad enough — that has to be cousidered in dealing with this sub- 
ject. We find engines unable to do their work overloaded and 
worn out; boilers burned and overtaxed; grease and oil wasted; 
indeed, we go so far as to hold that every horse-power unneces- 
sarily spent in overcoming the frictional resistance of a steam 
engine costs three times as much as if it were spent in doing 
useful work, and this without taking at all inte account the fact 
that useful work returns money, while what we may term the in- 
ternal work of the steam engine returns none. 

The difficulties which lie in the way of ascertaining by actual 
experiment what the frictional resistance of an engine is are 
very great, and to this cause no doubt is to be attributed the 
greater portion of the existing ignorance of the subject. The 
obstacles in the way are of two kinds. In the first place, it is 
very difficult to put a dynamometer or brake on large engines, 
whereby to ascertain their duty; and, in the second place, the 
amount of friction varies not only in different engines, but in the 
same engines, in a very extraordinary way. As regards the first 
difficulty, we can, in the case of pumping engines, ascertain pre- 
cisely how many foot-pounds of work an engine actually gives 
out in the shape of useful effect, while the indicator shows the 
work done on the piston; but from these data it is impossible to 
calculate engine friction exactly, because our calculations are 
complicated by the greater or less efficiency of the pumps. It is 
possible that nothing can be more deceptive than the results 
obtained from pumping engines, and therefore we have no 
hesitation in rejecting their aid in dealing with questions of 
engine friction. Practically speaking the only generally available 
test is the indicator, used with the engine light and the engine 
loaded; but diagrams taken thus do not account for the extra 
friction due to the performance of work, though useful to some 
extent in their way; but no investigation of the qualities of an 
engine can be regarded as complete unless the dynamometer is 
used as well as the indicator. 

As regards the variation in the loss by friction in the steam 
engine, a very great deal might be said which we shall not 
attempt to say now. It may induce others to experiment for 
themselves, however, if we place a few facts curiously illustrative 
of the peculiar phenomena of engine friction before our readers. 
In one ease we conducted the experiment personally; for the 
results of the other we are indebted to a gentleman who, in 
superintending the replacement of ordinary boilers by the now 
well-known Howard boiler, has occasion to indicate a very large 
number of engines, and on whose accuracy we can rely with cer- 
tainty. In the first experiment which we shall cite we found the 
full power exerted by a rolling-mill engine in the north of Eng- 
land, — where, it is unnecessary to specify, —to be 291.5 horse. 
This included the resistance due to fly weighing 30 tons, a bar- 
mill with 2 pairs of rolls working on heavy orders, and the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 35 


requisite gearing. Engine and mill empty required, according 
to one set of diagrams, 74.8 horse-power to run them at the 
working speed; but, according to another set of diagrams, the 
frictional resistance of engine and millis less than 35 horse-power, 
and all the diagrams were taken within a few hours. We cite 
this case only to illustrate the difliculties engineers have to contend 
with in endeavoring to estimate the friction of engines under 
ordinary circumstances. 

_ The other experiment is very interesting and curious as regards 
results. The engine was a double cylinder traction engine, built 
by Messrs. Howard, of Beckford. The cylinders are 8 inches’ 
diameter and 123 inches’ stroke. The engine shaft can be discon- 
nected from all the rest of the machinery, so that the whole work 
done by the steam consists in turning the crank shaft and over- 
coming the friction of the bearings, pistons, etc. With 60 pounds 
of steam in the boiler, the engine, making 190 revolutions, indi- 
eated unloaded 2.64 horse-power. The engine was then set to 
drive a brake loaded to 16 horse-power, the link being put in full 
gear; under these conditions the engine indicated 22.55 horse- 
power. The frictional resistance was therefore increased, by the 
fact that the engine was now doing work to 6.55 horse-power, or 
to nearly 5 times that of the unloaded engine. ‘This is all plain 
sailing, but now comes a most remarkable fact. The throttle 
valve was thrown full open, or nearly so, and the engine linked 
up, —that is, worked expansively at the same velocity, 190 revo- 
lutions per minute. The load on the brake, ete., remaining abso- 
lutely unaltered, any engineer would predict that, under these 
circumstances, the result would be the same. Far from this being 
the case, however, it was now found that, the effective work or 
duty of the engine being unaltered, the indicated power was only 
19.86 horse-power, so that the friction of the engine when linked 
up was only 3.86 horse-power, or little more than one-half that of 
the engine working in full gear. Lest there should be any mis- 
take about this, the brake was then loaded with 504 pounds. 
With the link in fuli gear, the engine indicated 44.88 horse-power ; 
the link was then put in the first notch, and the throttle valve 
fully opened, everything else remaining unchanged, when the 
power fell to 40.92 horse; the frictional or internal resistance of 
the engine in the latter case thus being 3.86 horse-power less than 
in the immediately preceding experiment. How are these facts to 
be accounted for? Is it that the varying strain on moving 
surfaces in contact, due to the action of expanding steam, is 
attended with less frictional resistance than is present when the 
metals are under the steadier strain of non-expanding steam? 
_ We shall not pretend to answer these questions. ‘here are the 
facts for the consideration of those interested. 

Is it too much to hope that engineers, who have the opportu- 
nity, will take up this subject and endeavor to throw light into 
what is at present a very dark and unexplored region of mechan- 
ical engineering? We are convinced that the results would, 
when time and perseverance had multiplied data, be found of 
very great value to those who desire to see the steam engine un- 


36 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


dergo the real improvement of which it is still capable. — Engi- 
nee. 


THE FAIRLIE ENGINE. 


Mr. Robert Fairlie certainly deserves success, and we have 
pleasure in believing that he is really commanding it. On two 
recent occasions in the little ‘“‘cabbage garden” “at Hatcham, 
another of his great triumphs was exhibited in the trial of the 
‘<< Tarapaca,” a double bogie locomotive of 60 tons’ weight, coaled 
and watered, destined for Peru. The experiments were wit- 
nessed by some hundreds of eminent official and scientific men, 
who were all in accord, in so far as we could hear, in their admi- 
ration of the new engine, which for hours in succession performed 
the feat, smoothly and with perfect success, of turning round the 
oval in the gardens, the end curves being of only 50 feet radius. 
The railway world has heard of Mr. Fairlie’s ‘* Little Wonder” at 
work upon the Festiniog Railway, and of the triumphs of the 
‘* Progress” on the Brecon and Mertly Railway. The ‘ Tara- 
paca” may properly be designated the ‘‘ Great Wonder” in the 
adaptation of steam-power to locomotive purposes. As stated, 
the engine is 60 tons’ weight in working order, or 40 tons’ weight 
when empty; the bunker-room is suflicient for 30 cwt. of fuel, 
and the tank accommodation is for 2,200 gallons of water, which 
should sutlice for a 60 miles’ run. The weight is equally distrib- 
uted upon 12.wheels, in 2 groups of 6 each. The wheels in each 
group are coupled together, so that all the 12 are driving-wheels, 
and the whole of the 60 tons is thus made available for adhe- 
sion. The ‘‘ Tarapaca” will have to work a gradient of 1 in 26 
for 11 miles on the Iquiqui line in Peru, belonging to MM. Mon- 
tero Fréres. The engine has 4 cylinders of 15 inches’ diameter 
and 20 inches’stroke. The wheels are 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, 
and the brake-arrangement, very powerful, is applied to the 4 
inner wheels of the 12. The force of the engine at the rails is 
about 21,400 pounds, or 93 tons, on the level, at a speed of 12 
miles an hour. The ‘ Litthe Wonder” runs upon a gauge of 1 
foot 114 inches; the ** Tarapaca” is made for the ordinary 4 feet 
84 inches gauge. The Fairlie engine can double the capabilities of 
any line, irrespective of gauge, its power being double that of 
engines of the ordinary type. The Festiniog gauge is unduly 
narrow, and‘the ordinary 4 feet 84 inches gauge is wider than is 
necessary to realize the maximum advantages of the Fairlie sys- 
tem, which may be secured with a gauge of from 3 feet to 3 feet 
6 inches. A 3-feet gauge line worked upon this system may be 
made to carry as many passengers and as many tons of goods as 
the broadest gauge line in existence, and it can be worked in the 
ordinary manner, ata speed of from 40 to 45 milesan hour. The 
dead weight on narrow-gauge lines is much less proportionately 
than on broad-gauge lines. A wagon for a 3-fect gauge, weigh- 
ing 1 ton, will carry 3 tons of paying weight. The best form of 
wagon on a 4 feet 84-inch gauge weichs from 38 to 54 tons, and 
carries from 5 to 10 tons, or about 1.90 ton per ton of wagon. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. _ 37 


The average load carried by merchandise wagons, exclusive of 
coal, is about 10 ewt. paying weight. The load these wagons 
ought to carry should be from 5 to 7 tons; of paying load they 
really carry but a twelfth of what they ought to do. If our goods 
and mineral wagons were only a ton in weight, as they ought to 
be, they would carry 3 tons of load, or 6 times the average load 
now taken, and would reduce the dead weight from 4 tol. A 
railway company, that we forbear from naming, carries over its 
line 126,000,000 tons per annum, out of which it takes payment 
for only 15,000,000 tons of paying load. Fairlie’s narrow-gauge 
and 1-ton wagon system would reduce this gross tonnage one- 
half, thus saving the company the cost of hauling 60,000,000 tons 
per annum of dead weight. The experts who attended the 
trials at Hatcham on the last two days were agreed as to the 
entire absence of oscillation in the movements of the engine. 
The ordinary locomotive, it is well known, increases its oscilla- 
tion as it increases its speed, and ipso facto increases the power 
and effect of the blows inflicted upon the rails. The oscillations 
of the engines are communicated to the trains they draw, and 
danger is thus increased. The Fairlie engine, it has been fully 
demonstrated, runs more smoothly and faster without the pound- 
ing of the rails caused by the engines of the ordinary type. 
From all that we have seen of Mr. Fairlie’s ‘‘ Big” and ‘* Little 
Wonders” in his double bogie engines for any gauge, but prefer- 
ably for a gauge of say 3 feet, we cannot doubt that the adoption 
of his inventions would revolutionize railway working, and make 
the difference, as regards railway property, that there is between 
wasted money and lucrative investments. Ere long, notwith- 
standing the vis inertiz of the directorial mind, we have little 
doubt that we will have English companies sharing with Russian, 
Peruvian, and Welsh mine masters, in the benefits that Mr. 
Fairlie and his double bogie system are ready to confer upon 
them. An engine on the Fairlie principle has recently been com- 
pleted in the United States, adapted to the roads of that country. 
It is thus described by the ‘‘ Springfield Republican:” ‘‘The 
memory of that mythical divinity, the two-faced god, Janus, is 
perpetuated in a double headed locomotive, built by Mason, of 
Taunton, after a style invented by Robert Fairlie of England. 
This ponderous and unique machine, which is te become the 
property of the Boston and Albany Railroad, drew hither from 
Worcester the other day 40 freight ears, half of which were 
loaded. It would have drawn more had not the pump given 
out, —a defect easily remedied and by no means vital. It will 
speedily be repaired, and the machine sent on a trial-trip up the 
hills to Pittsfield immediately. This dual engine has 1 boiler 
with 2 heads, and at each end rests on 6 drive-wheels. The cab 
rests on the boiler, over the centre, where a lever lets on the 
steam. The water-tanks and bunkers for coal are above the 
boilers on each side of the cab. In going in one direction one- 
half of the locomotive is going ahead and the other backing, and 
the latter goes ahead when the steam is reversed, and the other 
half backs. Thus the necessity of turn-tables is avoided, and it is 
4 


38 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


claimed that the same amount of steam in such an engine will 
accomplish more than in one of the ordinary kinds.” — Van Nos- 
trand’s Eng. Mag. 


RAILWAY AXLES. 


In a letter to the ‘‘ Times” Sir Joseph Whitworth makes a sug- 
gestion relative to the construction of railway axles, which is 
deservi ing of attention by the engineers of railways. He proposes 
that a hole should be drilled through the centre of the axle, 
throughout its length, thus opening up to inspection and exami- 
nation that part of the -material which, in the case of ordinary 
manufacture, is most subject to unsoundness. The hole should 
be about an inch in diameter, and, with suitable mechanical ar- 
rangements, might be drilled at an average cost of about 1s. 
6d., per axle. With the outside turned and the inside thus 
BOyOLe to view, a serious flaw in an axle, which is only about 
4% inches in diameter, could hardly escape discovery. The plan, 
he says, would also diminish the tendency of the axle to get 
heated, and, by renewing the material near the neutral axis, 
would, under the circumstances, reduce the internal strains, and 
render the axle safer. — Van Nostrand’s Eng. Mag., Oct., 1870. 


PUMPING ENGINES. 


A set of the largest pumping engines yet made have just been 
completed by Messrs. Gynne & Co., of the Essex Street Works, 
Strand; they are to be erected in Denmark for some heavy 
drainage works, to reclaim 20,000 acres of land for the Nissum 
Fjird Company, and of the most approved construction. The 
manufacturers are confident that the engines and pumps will 
raise 40,000 callons, 1783 tons, 12 feet high in one minute, which is 
nearly 50 per cent. more than contracted. for. The machinery 
consists of a pair of engines, 4 feet apart from centre to centre, 
coupled, with a pump on each side. The engines are 21 inches 
cylinder expansive condensing, 21 inches’ str oke, mahogany lagged, 
running at 140 revolutions (490 feet piston speed) per minute, 
and consuming 3 pounds per horse-power per hour; vacuum 27 
inches. The pumps are constructed on Messrs. Gynne & Co.’s well- 
known centrifugal principle, and are 42 inches’ diameter in the 
pipes. The same manufacturers will shortly have completed a 
combined pumping engine for the Punjaub Railway, to discharge 
1000 gallons per minute 60 feet high.— Van Nostrand’s Eng. 


Mag. 


ELASTIC TIRES FOR TRACTION ENGINES. 


‘¢ Engineering” states that an interesting trial was recently car- 
ried out between Rochester and Chatham of a 5-horse traction 
engine constructed by Messrs. Aveling & Porter, of the former 
place, and fitted with tires formed of India-rubber segments at- 
tached to iron plates by a process patented by Messrs. L. Sterne 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 39 


& Co., Great Queen Street, Westminster, these plates being 
bolted to the wheel-tire and further secured by i iron rings. The 
front pair of driving-wheels of the engine are 3 feet 6 inches in 
diameter, and are “fitted with India-rabber segments 12 inches 
long, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches thick. The rear pair of driving- 
wheels are 5 feet in cies and are fitted with India-rubber 
segments 12 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 3 inches thick. The 
rubber is firmly attached to one-fourth inch steel plates, which 
are bolted on to the one-half inch wrought-iron tires, the seg- 
ments being still further secured by five- eighths inch wrought- 
iron rings placed on each side of the wheel. 

The trial, which was conducted by Messrs. Aveling & Porter, 
took place on Friday last in the presence of a number of govern- 
ment officials, and some of our leading engineers. The engine 
started from Messrs. Aveling’s works, at Rochester, with 2 
long 4 wheel lorries and a load of iron girders, giving a total 
weicht of about 13 tons. It proceeded at a pace of about 4 miles 
an hour through the slippery streets of Rochester, travelling 
steadily up Star Hill, which hasa gradient of 1 in 12 for more than 
300 yards. It made several sharp turnings round corners, the 
radius of the path of travel being not more than 15 feet. With 
one ordinary iron skid on the rear wheel of the hindmost lorrie, it 
descended Rome lane, — a steep falling grade, — under complete 
control. The rough and irregular stone causeway, the timber 
bridgeway of the Chatham doekyar d, and the rough and broken 
ground near the landing quay on the Medway, were all smoothly 
and successfully tr aversed. ‘The girders were landed on the quay 
and the engine then returned to Rochester. The ground near 
the landing” quay is fuli of hillocks of cinder, clinker, stone, 
bricks, scrap iron, etc., but, although the engine ran over all 
these substances, not a cut nor per manent indent was to be found 
afterwards in the India-rubber segments. 

The great advantage of Messrs. Sterne’s method of attaching 
the India-rubber in seements over the solid ring is, that if a see- 
ment gets damaged it is easily and quickly “removed and re- 
placed | by a spare segment at a moderate cost. The motion of 
the engine during the run was easy, and the India-rubber readily 
impressed itself into the inequalities of the roadways. To avoid 
all possibility of slip in wet streets and on clay soile, Mr. Aveling 
proposes to introduce steel staples or crossbars, so arranged as to 
take the traction without neutralizing the benefit derived from 
the elastic action of the rubber. There is no doubt a decided ad- 

vantage in Messrs. Sterne’s method of utilizing the India-rubber. 
Traction engines with their wheels thus tired will prove useful 
under the special local circumstances, such, for instance, as 
where they have to traverse paved or very uneven roads. But 
here, to our mind, the advantage of rubber-tired wheels ceases, 
and we believe that the engine in question, or, in fact, any of 
Messrs. Aveling & Porter’s engines, would work as well without 
as with this addin. and that in most eases the 1302. or 1402. 
which these appliances cost could be more profitably expended 
on the engine in other ways. 


40 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


We may observe, in conclusion, that there is no fear of the 
rubber parting from the plates to which it is attached by Sterne’s 
process. Its adhesion has been tested by Mr. Kirkaldy, who 
found that a direct pull of 6,216 pounds, or 1774 pounds per 
square inch, was required to separate the two. In compression 
the rubber segments stood 663 tons per square foot, returning to 
their normal condition after the pressure was removed. 


THE USE OF WIRE ROPE IN CIVIL AND MECHANICAL ENGI- 
NEERING. 


A marked feature of present mechanical progress is the in- 
creasing use of wire rope in civil and mechanical engineering. 
The world probably owes a greater debt to the late John A. 
Roebling than to any other man connected with the introduction 
of wire cables as a constructive material. It was he who, by his 
scientific employment of this material, educated the public— at 
least the American public—up to the full appreciation of its 
value. From his labors and experiments the principal data upon 
which other engineers now depend in the use of wire for con- 
structive purposes have been chiefly obtained. 

Now we find wire rope employed in almost every engineering 
work. It constitutes an important part of modern ship-riggine. 
It is used for hoisting, for towing boats, for bridges, for sus- 
pended tramways, for propulsion of cars up heavy grades, and 
even upon level surfaces. It is found to be the cheapest and most 
efficient medium for the transmission of power to lone distances. 
Every year increases the number and extent of its applications. 

Two of the most recent applications to which this material has 
been put are, in our opinion, destined to prove equal in impor- 
tance to any which have preceded them. We allude to the trans- 
mission of motive power, and the tramway system invented by 
Mr. Hodgson, of which several notices have recently appeared in 
these columns. 

The telo-dynamic cable system is, if we mistake not, destined 
to a most brilliant future. This country affords a notable field for 
its advantageous employment. Our mining districts are, many 
of them, so situated that power can only be obtained in this man- 
ner, or by the use of steam. 

We do not entertain a doubt either that the wire-rope tramway 
system will be found of vast benefit to our mineral districts. It 
is simple, practical, and cheap, and has demonstrated its value as 
a means of transporting ores and freights. 

To what other uses wire rope may be destined it is impossible 
at present to say, but the success which has attended its applica- 
tions thus far encourages the belief that inventors and engineers 
may still find it a valuable resource for purposes not yet thought 
of, and in ways hitherto undiscovered. — Scientific American. 


THE WIRE-ROPE TRAMWAY AT BRIGHTON, ENGLAND. 


The wire-rope transport system may be described as consisting 
of an endless wire rope running over a series of pulleys carried 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. Al 


by substantial posts which are ordinarily about 200 feet apart. 
This rope passes at one end of the line round a drum, driven by 
either steam, water, or even horse power in small farming oper- 
ations, at a speed of from 4 to 8 miles per hour. The boxes in 
which the load is carried are hung on the rope at the loading end 
by a wooden V-shaped saddle, about 14 inches long, lined with 
leather, and having 4 small wheels, with a curved pendant, which 
maintains the box in perfect equilibrium while travelling, and 
most ingentously, but simply, enables it to pass the supporting 
posts and pulleys. By a sliding-ring arrangement the boxes or 
buckets are easily emptied by tilting, without unshipping the 
saddle from the rope. The boxes can be made to carry from 1 
ewt. to 10 ewt., and the proportions of the line and the loading 
and discharging arrangements can be varied to suit any particular 
requirement, ranging from 10 tons to 1,000 tons per diem. At 
each end of the line are rails placed to catch the small wheels 
attached to the saddles of the boxes, by which means the weight, 
having acquired momentum, is lifted from the rope, and, thus 
suspended from a fixed rail or platform, can be run to any point 
for loading or emptying, and again run on to the rope for trans- 
port, the succession being continuous, and the rope never requir- 
ing to be stopped for loading and unloading. 

Curves of sharp radius are easily passed, as well as steep 
inclines, and its applicability to cross rivers, streams, and moun- 
tains, or hilly districts, will be apparent at a glance, as the cost 
of construction increases but little under such circumstances, 
whilst that of a road or railroad is, perhaps, increased tenfold, 
and the daily working cost doubled or trebled. The rope being 
continuous, no power is lost on undulating ground, as the 
descending loads help those ascending. 

In the case of lines for heavy traftic, where a series of loads, 
necessarily not less than 5 ewt. to 10 ewt. each, must be carried, 
a pair of stationary supporting ropes, with an endless running 
rope for the motive power, will be employed, but the method of 
supporting, and the peculiar advantage of crossing almost any 
nature of country with a goods line without much more engineer- 
ing work or space than is necessary for fixing an electric tele- 
graph, without bridges, without embankments, and without 
masonry, exists equally in both branches of the system. 

In the minor applications, such as short transport from mines 
to railways, the landing or shipping of goods in harbors and 
roadsteads, and the carriage of agricultural produce on farms, 
some peculiar features of the system render it specially advan- 
tageous. Amongst these are the facility with which power can 
be transmitted by the rope and taken off at any required point 
for mining or other purposes. In lines terminating on the sea- 
board, or on great rivers, a manifest advantage is secured in the 
facility for taking goods direct to or from ships in harbor or road- 
stead without transhipment into lighters. 

Seen from a distance, the posts which carry the tramway wires 
at Brighton might be mistaken for telegraph poles; but a nearer 
inspection reyeals a second line of wires on the same level, and 


42 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


upon these 2 wire-rope lines, supported on standards at intervals 
varying from 300 feet to 1,000 feet apart, ding to the re- 
quirements of the ground,—are suspended iron boxes for the 
carriage of the goods, which boxes pass on noiselessly and stead- 
ily, carried forward by the rope at the uniform rate of 5 miles 
an hour, —the time required for performing the entire circuit of 
the line. 

In laying out these 5 miles at Brighton, the opportunity has 
been taken of exemplifying the working of the system under 
every variety of difficulty that could possibly present itself; thus 
we have at one part an incline of 1 in 6, up and down which the 
rope and boxes work with perfect facility, the descending weights 
assisting those which are ascending; then there are, besides sev- 
eral bends less acute, two instances of absolutely right angles 
which are passed with the greatest ease. In some instances the 
standards are carried to the height of 70 feet, to meet inequalities 
of the ground, undulating and hilly country being more trying to 
this system than craggy and mountainous, —such as that for 
which this plant is designed, and where, from the long reaches 
taken, fewer posts will be required. 

The line is rather over 5 miles long; there are 112 posts, or 
standards, in the whole length. These standards can either be 
made of lieht angle and band iron neatly put together, as in the 
present case, or of wood. The rope is made of ‘charcoal iron, is 
2 inches in circumference, each strand, as well as the centre of 
the rope, having a hempen core, to secure ductility. The power 
employed to drive the rope is a portable 16 horse-power engine. 

Some of the spans are 600 feet and 900 feet in length, and in- 
genuity has been shown in devising every possible mode of test- 
ing the merits of this system of transport; and we are bound to 
record that all difficulties have been overcome with complete suc- 
cess. ‘The line is capable of delivering 240 tons per day of 10 
hours, that is, 120 tons in each direction. 

This tramway has been erected by Mr. Hodgson, the inventor, 
at the request of some gentlemen with whom he was in negotia- 
tion, for the supply of materials for a line 60 miles in length in 
Ceylon. 

It is intended to divide the proposed Ceylon line, of 60 miles, 
into 5-mile sections, such as the one described, —1 engine work- 
ing every 2 sections, and the boxes passing each section by 
shunting arrangements, similar to those used at the termini, from 
one section to another. The line in work will be open daily to 
public inspection during the month of April, and is well worth a 
visit. It is hardly likely that so efficient and economical a means 
of transport will be for long exclusively confined, as at present, 
to the conveyance of eoods. For ourselves, we venture to con- 
fidently predict an early adaptation of the principle of this in- 
genious system to passenger traflic.— Condensed from Scientific 
Opinion. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 43 


EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF COL. W. A. ROEBLING, CHIEF 
ENGINEER OF THE N. Y. BRIDGE CO. 


A boring made in 1867 showed gneiss rock at a depth of 96 feet 
below high water. The strata penetrated consisted in the first 
place of surface filling through alternate layers of hard pan and 
boulders of trap embedded in sand and clay. Below 50 and 60 
feet depth the material was so compact that the bore hole stood 
without tubing for weeks. No necessity existed, therefore, for 
going down to rock; a depth of about 50 feet would suffice. But 
the great desideratum to be attained was a uniform character of 
the soil over the whole space of the foundation whatever the 
depth might be. It is well known that the drift formation of. 
Long Island presents a great variety of strata in comparatively 
short diagonal distances. Within a hundred or two feet on either 
side of this foundation, there is no bottom, so to speak, and piles 
are driven a great depth into mud ; whereas in the centre of our 
foundation the depth of water was only a few feet; the existing 
ferry slip had been blasted out at a great expense, and to drive 
an iron-shod pile even 2 feet into that material was the work of 
hours. This hard material, however, occupied only a part of the 
foundation, which comprises an area of 17,000 square feet. One- 
third of the area towards the east was much softer in character ; 
to meet the requirements of the case a heavy, solid timber founda- 
tion was decided upon, of sufficient thickness to act as a beam, 
and having the requisite mass to insure a uniform settling. The 
importance of a uniform foundation becomes evident at a glance 
when we consider the size of the tower, weighing 85,000 tons, 
with a height of 300 feet above the foundation upon which the 
permanent pressure is 44 tons per square foot. In addition, the 
buoyancy of the timber enables us to dispense with the screws 
ordinarily used in towing a caisson. 

In regard to durability, it is well known that timber immerse d 
in salt water is imperishable, and to protect it against worms it is 
merely necessary to sink it beneath the river bed. It at once 
suggested itself to make the timber platform as far as possible a 
part of the caisson. This has been done by making the roof of 
the caisson a solid mass of timber, of 15 feet in thickness. The 
ohject and purposes of a caisson in sinking a pneumatic founda- 
tion is too well known to need any description here; it is merely 
a diving-bell on a vast scale. It may well be said that, since the 
unparalleled achievement of Captain Eads, at St. Louis, the word 
caisson has become a household word among American engi- 
neers. 

The caisson of the East River Bridge is a large inverted vessel 
or pan, resting bottom upwards, with strong sides. Into this airis 
forced under asufficient pressure to drive out the water. Entrance 
is had to the large working-chamber, thus formed underneath, 
through suitable shafts and air-locks. The material is taken out 
through water-shafts, open above and below, and 2 supply-shafts 
pre ibe the material subsequently needed for filling up the air- 
chamber. 


44 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


The dimensions of the caisson are rectangular; length 168 feet, 
width 102 feet, height 9 feet 6 inches. Thickness of roof 5 feet. 
The sides form a V, and are 9 feet thick where they join the roof, 
sloping down to a round edge. ‘The inner slope of the V has an 
angle of 45 degrees. ‘The lowest part of the slope is formed by a 
semicircular section casting, protected by a sheet of boiler plate, 
which extends up 3 feet each side. A heavy oak sill rests on the 
casting, and it consists of a stick nearly 2 feet square. The 3 suc- 
ceeding courses are laid lengthwise, after that the alternate 
courses are heading courses. The whole mass is thoroughly 
bolted together by drift bolts, screw bolts, and wood-screw bolts. 
In addition there are heavy angle irons uniting the V to the roof. 
At the corners the courses of timber are halved into each other, 
and strapped together for further security. The roof is composed 

f 5 courses of 12-inch square yellow pine sticks, laid close 
together, bolted sideways and vertically, and having a set of 
heavy bolts running through the 5 courses. ‘The outer edge of 
the caisson has a batter inward of 1 in 10 to facilitate its descent 
into the ground. 

To make the caisson air-tight, the seams were all thoroughly 
eaulked for a depth of 6 inches, inside and out, and in addition a 
vast sheet of tin, unbroken throughout, extends over the whole 
caisson, between the fourth and fifth course, and down the 4 
sides to the shoe. The tin on.the outside is further protected by 
a sheeting of yellow pine. The space between the timbers was 
filled with hot pitch. As air under pressure of 40 or 50 pounds 
will penetrate wood with ease, the inside of the air-chamber was 
coated with an air-tight varnish, made of resin, minhaden oil, and 
Spanish brown. The air-tightness up to the present time is quite 
satisfactory, and only one-fifth of the air-pump on hand is suffi- 
cient to keep the water out. 

The yellow pine timber was selected specially for the purpose. 
It came principally from Georgia and Florida, and much of it was 
so pitchy that the sticks would not float. The average specific 
gravity of all the timber was 48 degrees per cubic foot. Every 
bolt-hole is bored with a large drift to ensure the hold of the 
bolts. As the construction of the caisson proceeded, the iron 
work of the water-shafts, air-lock-shafts, and supply-shafts was 
put in. 

The water-shafts, 2 in number, are square shafts, three-eighths 
boiler plate, properly stiffened by angle irons, and well secured to 
the caisson. They are 7 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, and are open 
above and below, the lower edge extending 20 inches below the 
edge of the shoe. The water inside of them rises and falls with 
the state of the tide outside. The material to be taken out is 
shoved under the edge into the water-shaft by the laborers inside, 
and is then taken out by the so-called clam-shell dredge of Morris 
& Cummings, of New York, the only known instrument which 
possesses the precise action of the human hand in picking up 
things. Any ether arrangement for excavating in the shape of a 
revolving dredge or a sand-pump was out of the question. The 
air-shafts are 3.6 feet in diameter, and extend simply through the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 45 


timber on top of which the air-locks are placed. The supply- 
shafts are 2 inches’ timber, 21 inches’ diameter, and of indefinite 
length, — they have a door at the bottom and one on the top with 
an equalizing pipe. They are filled full of made air, and the 
whole contents fall into the air-chamber below. 

It was the original intention to have made the air-chamber 
under the caisson one entire space without any divisions into 
compartments, thus facilitating the excavation of the material. 
Various considerations led to the abandonment of that view. 
Since the caisson was to be launched like a ship, a certain num- 
ber of launching-ways were required, and these required a stilf 
frame from the launching-way up to the roof. Again, in the 
boulder soil, only a few points of the edge would have rested and 
supported the weight at any one time. But the chief point was 
the rise and fall of the tides and their effect on the caisson. The 
extreme rise and fall is 73 feet. If the inflated caisson is just 
barely touching the ground at high water, it will press upon the 
base with a force of 4,000 tons at low tide, all of which has to be 
met by the strength of the shoe and the frames. And it is not 
until the caisson is permanently righted down that the continuous 
excavation can take place inside. ‘The frames are proportioned 
somewhat to the strains in launching, and form a heavy truss of 
pine posts and stringers with 3-inch sheathing on each side, and 
side-braces to the roof every 6 feet. The ends of the frames are 
secured to the sides or the V by knees. 

It was goneluded to limit the pressure of the caisson during the 
launch to 2% tons per square foot of launching surface. This 
required 7 ways in all, 2 under the edges and 5 under the frames. 
The total launching weight of the caisson was 3,000 tons, con- 
taining 111,000 cubie feet of timber and 250 tons of iron. It was 
launched sideways, — that is, with the long face of 168 feet by 14 
feet 6 inches high facing the water. The ground-ways were laid 
at an angle of 1 inch per foot, the caisson standing 50 feet back 
from the end of the ways. ‘To buoy up the forward end of the 
caisson as it entered the water, and thus prevent its entire im- 
mersion, a temporary water-tight compartment of 2-inch plank 
was put in, one-third the distance across. It served its purpose 
admirably. A full complement of wheel-barrows, crabs, and 
winches were likewise stowed away in it. The oround-ways 
consisted of 2 timbers, of 11 inches square each, bolted together 
sideways. They were grooved like the guide of a planer, and 
the upper launching-way fitted their grooves correspondingly. 
The great danger of launching so large a mass on 7 ways consists 
in the liability ‘of one end going faster than the other, and thus 
wedging the caisson fast on the ways. Only the outer ways were 
prov ided with ribbands. They, however, proved superfluous to 
accelerate the motion of the caisson as it entered the water, and 
thus overcome the increasing resistance. The ways were laid 
crowning to the amount of 18 inches in their leneth:: ihe 
launching-ways were likewise continued 10 feet back of the 
caisson, and provided with shoes against the sides; it was desfr- 
able that the rear edge of the caisson should leave the end of the 


46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ground-ways uniformly, and not stick fast on one, —a thing likely 
to occur, since the ways stopped at the low-water line, and the 
rear edge would: fall at once into deep water. The above 
arrangement answered the purpose. 

On the 19th of March, 1870, the launch took place; in every 
respect a success. As soon as the last block was split out, the 
caisson commenced to move. The impetus it had acquired in the 
first part of its course proved sufficient to overcome the immense 
resistance offered by the water. ‘The caisson has daily been ris- 
ing with every high tide and resting on the ground again at low 
water, requiring most of the work inside to be done at low water, 
where the caisson is comparatively free from water. As the edge 
does not readily sink into the hard soil, it is expected that there 
will always be some water. Since the edge of the shoe is round- 
ing, it allows the air to blow off before the level of the water 
has reached the lowest limit. Thisis caused by any trifling agita- 
tion in the level of the water inside, which gives the escaping air 
a chance to establish an outgoing current before the head of water 
inside becomes sufliciently great to overcome it. 

By constantly building up on top the centre of gravity has been 
raised considerably, and the caisson is now in a condition of ua- 
stable equilibrium, — thatis, it does no longer rise uniformly with 
the rise of the tide. One end will remain on the ground and the 
other rises as much more in proportion, and the more it rises the 
more surface it presents to the upward pressure of the air on that 
side, the general level of the water inside being governed by the 
level of the highest point of the shore. 

This rising of one end of the caisson is attended by another 
phenomenon of imposing appearance. As the tide rises, and the 
downward pressure of the caisson is about being overcome by the 
increased tension of the air inside as well as the buoyancy of the 
water outside, one end of the caisson will suddenly rise 6 inches 
or more. The result is that for a few minutes the tension of the 
air inside exceeds the head of water outside, and a tremendous 
outward rush of air takes place under the shoe, carrying along a 
column of water of hundreds of tons to a height of 60 feet at 
times. This continues until a return wave inside of the caisson 
checks it. These blow-offs are not felt to any extent by the men 
inside, beyond the warning noise and momentary draft created. 

The magazine of force contained in 170,000 cubic feet of com- 
pressed air is so large that the loss of a few hundred tons is a 
trifle. A system of pipes is put in the air-chamber for the pur- 
pose of illuminating the air-chamber with calcium lights, a trial 
of which has resulted favorably ; with moderate pressures, candles 
answer very well. The first course of stone is now being 
laid. Its weight, together with the concrete on top of the timber, 
will probably suffice to ground the caisson permanently, and thus 
permit the erection of setting derricks on the caisson. ‘The stone 
setting will then keep uniform pace with the excavation, and by 
the time the desired point is reached the masonry is far above the 
water level. 

The stone used for these land courses, which will be perma- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 47 


nently under water, is the Kingston limestone, furnished by 
Noon and Madden. These stones have both beds eut, but the 
sides and builds left rough, with vertical quarry joints, the projec- 
tions not exceeding 24 inches. The beds are exceptionably wide. 
As the base of the masonry work resting on the timber is very 
much larger than the section of masonry at the water level, it is 
considered that this class of masonry is equally as good, and cer- 
tainly far cheaper than regular dimension stone. All the stone 
in any one course are cut to a uniform size. Above low water 
granite will be used on the water face, and subsequently through- 
out as freestone. 

The first or corner-stone of the extensive pile of masonry to be 
raised above the caisson, unlike as it was to ordinary affairs of 
this kind, was a massive block of limestone from the quarry at 
Kingston, Ulster Co., and in extent was 3 feet wide by 8 in 
leneth, weighing about 5,800 pounds, or 165 pounds to the 
cubie foot; and it is of this material that the foundation below 
low-water mark will consist. 

Additional borings are now being made for the New York tower. 
The boring made 2 years since was 400 feet away from the act- 
ual site of the tower. This one is directly on it. The same 
stratum of 30 feet of the finest quicksand has been penetrated, 
but boulders have been encountered at a depth of 80 feet, and the 
indications are that rock will shortly be oe 


CONCRETE AND IRON BRIDGE. 


A new bridge erected for Sir Shafto Adair, from the designs of 
Mer His Mi: Eyton, of Ipswich, over the Waveney, at Homers- 
field, England, has been recently tested. In designing the bridge 
advantage was taken of the principle of Messrs. Phillips’ patent 
fire- -prooft construction, — a system in which all the iron-work is 
completely embedded in Portland cement concrete. The bridge 
has one arch of a clear span of 50 feet, with a rise of 5 feet 3 
inches. The skeleton of the bridge is of iron, and this is en- 
tirely filled in with Portland cement concrete, and rendered with 
Portland cement, thus forming one continuous beain, getting 
stronger every year, in addition to the iron skeleton, which is of 
itself sufficient to do the ordinary statical work of the bridge ; 
the weight of concrete alone is over 100 tons. The spandrels. of 
the bridge are relieved by a raised panel, and in the centre is a 
casting of the Adair arms, taken from the old 3-arched_ brick 
bridge. The first test applied was that of a 5-ton road roller 
“drawn by 4 horses. ‘This was passed across several times, and 
not the least deflection was perceptible. Afterwards a heavy 
wagon, laden with sacks of flour, weighing altogether 6 tons, 
was passed over, and still, it is stated, no deflection could be 
noticed. 


BRIDGE OVER THE DNIEPER. 


The railway bridge lately erected over the Dnieper, near 


48 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Kiew, is the largest work of the kind in Europe, being 3,503 feet 
in length. — Van Nost. Hing. Mag. 


THE BROADWAY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY 


Commences at the foundation lines of the splendid marble 
building on the corner of Warren Street, and extends in a curve 
directly down Broadway. The lower terminus is intended to be 
at the South Ferry; but the present operating section only ex- 
tends a little below the City Hall, near to the north end of the 
new post-office premises, a distance of some 300 feet. 

The bed of the railway is 21 feet below the surface of Broad- 
way, and the diameter of the tunnel 9 feet. The passenger car 
is about the same size as the ordinary street cars. It is very 
tastefully fitted up, brilliantly lighted, and has seats for 22 per- 
sons. It is propelled by the atmospheric system; that is to say, 
by means of a strong blast of air which is supplied to the tunnel 
by a gigantic blowing-machine. 

The whole operation is described as being exceedingly simple 
and effective. The visitor enters at the corner of Broadway and 
Warren Street, descends a few steps to the waiting-room, —an 
elegant apartment, but wholly under ground, —at the end of 
which is seen the mouth of the tunnel and the car. On taking 
seats in the car, the conductor closes one of the doors and 
touches a telegraph signal, when the car immediately begins to 
move around the curve, and travels rapidly down Broadway. On 
reaching the lower end of the tunnel, the car moves instantly 
back again to Warren Street, then down Broadway again, and so 
on. The air is so elastic that the changes of motion in the car are 
effected with exceeding gentleness, and are almost imperceptible 
to the visitor. 

The car is run by telegraph; that is to say, the wheels of the 
car, at certain points on the route, press a telegraph key, sending 
a signal to the engineer, who turns a valve and thus reverses the 
air-current, without stoppage of the machinery. 

The aeolor, or blowing-machine, by which the air-current is 
produced, consists of a pair of great wings, geared together, and 
turned by steam. It is capable of discharging 100,000 cubic feet 
of air per minute, or enough to fill the interior of 3 3-story city 
dwelling-houses. 

The south end of the tunnel is provided with a lateral air-shaft, 
which opens in the grass-plot of the City Hall Park. The air-cur- 
rent thus traverses through and through the tunnel, the atmos- 
phere of which is thus kept pure and fresh. 

During the construction of the tunnel the entire travel of Broad- 
way, omnibuses, carts, hacks, and other vehicles, in endless pro- 
cession, passed on’ as usual, directly over the heads of the work- 
men. They were safely protected within the sides of an immense 
boring-machine, by which the bowels of the street were excavated, 
It is pushed forward into the earth by means of powerful hy- 
draulic rams; and as fast as it advances the masonry is built up 
Within its rear. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 49 


The works of the Broadway Underground Railroad, taken 
altogether, are of a most interesting nature, well worthy of ex- 
amination. The general plan of the Company is to lay a double 
line of tubes from the South Ferry, under Broadway, the entire 
length of the island, with a branch at Union Square, under Fourth 
Avenue, to Harlem River. Such a road would have capacity for 
carrying 40,000 passengers per hour. 


' ROTARY PUDDLING FURNACES. 


A number of puddlers, of this character, have, for some time, 
been in successful operation at the Cincinnati Railway Tron Works, 
and have attracted considerable local attention. : 

The machine puddlers dispense with the hand labor of the 
usual furnaces, performing the same duty by steam* power. 
Those at present in operation are making puddled balls of from 
650 to 700 pounds in weight; and others, of greater capacity, are 
in process of construction. Samuel Danks, of that city, is the 
inventor. 


SUSPENSION BRIDGE AT PITTSBURGH, PA. 


This bridge crosses the Alleghany about half a mile above its 
junction with the Monongahela, both of which streams, when 
united, form the Ohio. The town of Pittsburgh is situated on the 
promontory made by the convergence of these two rivers, and 
has, with its suburbs, a population of about 200,000. The dis- 
tance between the abutments of the bridge is 1,037 feet 5 inches, 
being divided into 2 main spans of 344 feet 6 inches each, one- 
half span of 117 feet 5 inches, and asecond half span of 171 feet. 
4 wire cables carry the structure; the 2 outer ones incline out- 
wards from the towers, and.the 2 inner inwards, to give stability 
to the bridge. The lighter cables which carry the footway are 
each 44 inches’ diameter, that of the others being 74 inches. The 
roadway is 20 feet wide, and the footways each 10 feet. The 
cables are attached to bell-cranks at the towers, instead of by 
saddles placed upon rollers,—a by no means satisfactory 
arrangement, the vibration of the bridge being increased per- 
ceptibly by the lightest passing load. ‘The towers are about 45 
feet high. They are of cast iron, and of an ornate character, the 
weight they support being entirely carried by the 4 inclined col- 
umns, which are braced together by latticed castings. — Scientific 
American. 


A STEEP RAILWAY. 


A railway has been constructed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to 
carry passengers to and from the top of what is known as Coal 
Hill, which overlooks the city and the country around to a great 
distance. 

The plane is located 250 feet west of the Monongahela suspen- 
sion bridge. The roadway starting from Carson Street crosses the 


5 


50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Pan Handle Railroad, and reaches the face of the hill (which at 
this point is 90 feet above the level of the Pan Handle Railroad 
track) by means of an iron bridge 160 feet long. This bridge is 
supported by 10-inch columns, made of wrought iron a quarter of 
an inch thick. ‘The vertical height of the hill at this point is 330 
feet, giving the plane a length of 650 feet, and an inclination of 
35 degrees. The roadway consists of 2 tracks, each 5-feet gauge, 
with 2 cars,—one ascending while the other descends. The 
cross-ties on the iron bridge are yellow pine, 7 feet by 7 feet. 
The stringers are also yellow pine, 6 by 8 feet, and the ties on the 
balance of the track 8 feet by 8 feet. A pine railing runs from 
the base to the top of the incline. It is 3 feet high, and quite 
fancy. It is to be painted — probably white. The rails are of 
the ‘*T” pattern, and substantially fastened to the stringers. 

The cars are to be hauled up by a wire rope, and are provided 
with a safety-cable, which runs idly except in case of the breakage 
of the principal rope, when the drum about which the safety- 
cable winds is held by means of a brake, thus preventing the 
accidental descent ofa car. — Scientific American. 


THE NEW TUNNEL UNDER THE THAMES. 


The new tunnel does not detract from the merits of Brunel’s 
great achievement in constructing the renowned passage between 
Rotherhithe and Wapping, but it is as great a wonder in its way, 
and in several respects offers a marked contrast. The old tunnel 
brickwork is 38 feet wide by 224 feet high; the new tunnel con- 
sists of an iron tube about 8 feet diameter over all. The old tun- 
nel was worked by a shield weighing 120 tons, accommodating 
36 workmen; the new tunnel has been driven by a shield weigh- 
ing 24 tons, and accommodating at most 3 workmen at a time. 
The old tunnel was 5 times filled by irruptions from the river; 
in the construction of the new tunnel the water encountered 
might at almost any time have been gathered in a stable pail. 
18 years elapsed between the commencement and the completion 
of the works in one case; less than a year has sufficed for the 
execution of the works in the other. The descending shafts of 
the one were 84 feet deep and 50 feet diameter; of the other they 
are under 60 feet deep and 10 feet diameter. The cost of the one 
was over £600,000; of the other it has been under £20,000. 

At the Tower Hill shaft we found the lift in which passengers 
are to ascend and descend fitted and at work. It is an iron 
chamber nearly cubical in shape, and large enough to accommo- 
date 7 or 8 persons comfortably. The entrance is by a pair of 
sliding doors. Guide-rods are attached to opposite sides of the 
shaft, and corresponding grooved rollers are fixed to the sides of 
the lift. The lift is balanced by a large cast-iron weight with an 
open centre to admit of its being loaded in accordance with the 
number of passengers that have to be raised or lowered. There 
is a continuous connection above and below between the lift and 
the balance weight by chains and wire ropes, calculated for 50 
times the strain that can ever be put upon them. These pass 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 51 


over pulleys at the top and bottom of the shaft. The balance 
weight works also in a pair of guide-rods. Mr. Barlow has de- 
signed a brake attached to the roof of the lift, and acted on by a 
powerful double-handed screw on the inside of the roof. The 
effect of applying the brake is to release 2 arms which clip the 
euiding-rods on each side, and effectually stop the descent in a 
few feet. At the bottom of the shafts, and under the level of the 
subway, are engine-rooms and coke-cellars. The engines at each 
end are of 4 horse-power, and these will at any time supply more 
than sufficient power for all purposes. The lifts are adjusted at 
each end with their doorways inwards towards the subway. On 
emerging at the bottom of the shafts, the passengers enter a 
chamber, which constitutes the ‘‘ station,” at and from which the 
one omnibus, which constitutes the entire ‘‘ rolling stock ” in use 
at one time, arrives and departs. There is space in these wait- 
ing-rodms for a seat along each side. We found the workmen at 
the Tower Hill shaft busy with the fittings and finishings of this 
chamber, and passing thence we entered the subway and pro- 
ceeded through its entire length under excellent guidance. 
Ordinary passengers, when the tunnel has been opened for traffic, 
will not realize the curious sensation and experience of a passen- 
ger through on foot, from the noises overhead, on and near the 
river, so distinctly heard in the subway, which is air-tight as well 
as water-tight. Arrived at the Tooley Street end, we found the 
waiting-room occupied by the light iron omnibus in which pas- 
sengers are to be conveyed. The vehicle, seated for 14 passen- 
gers, is tolerably roomy as regards width, but is necessarily 
rather low in the roof. The seats, cushioned and with stuffed 
backs, are placed lengthways, the entrances being at the ends. 
The wheels are 16 inches’ diameter, and at each end of the car- 
riage a powerful lever brake is fitted, to be worked by the con- 
duetor with his foot. The service will of course be of the shuttle 
character, the 2 halves of the omnibus being duplicates, the front 
end of the vehicle in one journey being the hinder end in the 
return. The gauge of the rails is 2 feet 6 inches, and the descent 
from each end to the centre of the subway is by a gradient of 1 in 
50. We found the works connected with the Tooley Street shaft 
rapidly approaching completion, but not quite so near it as those 
at the north end; the’ subway itself may be pronounced finished, 
and the omnibus fit to take the road at any moment. 

The omnibus will be hauled by a wire rope running upon a 
horizontal pulley-wheel fitted between the rails at one end, and 
passing round a vertical pulley-wheel at the other. 


THE KANSAS AND MISSOURI BRIDGE. 


This bridge was designed and located by Mr. W. W. Wright, 
Engineer in Chief, and is being constructed under his supervis- 
ion. ‘The superstructure is to be of wrought iron, resting upon 
cast-iron piers, formed of large pneumatic piles sunk to a bear- 
ing on solid rock. These piles are 84 feet outside diameter, with 


5p ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


a thickness 1} inches, and weigh about 1 ton to the square foot in 
height. They are manufactured in sections of 10 feet in length, 
with inside flanges at both ends to enable them to be connected 
together during the process of sinking, and thus form a continu- 
ous cylinder from foundation to bridge-seat. These columns will 
be filled with cement masonry and concrete from the bottom to 
an elevation 10 feet above high-water line. There will be 2 piers 
of this kind in the river, and 1 on the eastern shore. The west- 
ern end of the bridge will rest on a stone abutment. The 3 
spans thus formed will be each 340 feet in length, and the bot- 
tom of the lower chord will be 50 feet above extreme high water, 
thus leaving ample space between the piers and sufficient height 
above the surface of water for steamboats to pass at any stage of 
the river. The approach to the bridge at the eastern end will 
consist of a substantial trestle work t, 500 feet long, connecting 
with an earth embankment extending 2,500 feet further. 


LATTICE GIRDERS AND SOLID PLATES. 


The English magazines have of late been devoting much space 
to a discussion of the relative merits of solid plates and lattice 
girders, and though the question is certainly an important one, 
entailing, as it does, almost a revolution in the methods of con- 
struction, in case lattice girders possess all the advantages their 
advocates claim, yet the topic is still discussed, and the solution 
of this problem in mechanics seems nearly as far off as ever. 

Those who rank among the more modern class of thinkers, who 
first theorize and then demonstr ate, claim that the lattice will, for 
the same amount of material, s sustain greater strains and endure 
shocks much better than a homogeneous plate, and the argument 
sustaining this claim is based chiefly upon the fact that iron will 
resist a greater force, applied in the direction of its fibres, than 
when across them, and it is claimed that mathematical analysis 
will render possible such an arrangement of the parts of the 
lattice that all, or nearly all, the strain will be in the direction of 
the grain or fibre of the iron. 

Now, if we admit, what we certainly cannot prove to be false, 
that the engineer can, from pure theory and by the aid of mathe- 
matics, so place and arrange the parts of a girder that the strains 
will be in the direction of the fibre, and proportionate to the size 
of the pieces, we can draw a strong comparison in favor of open 
or lattice work. 

No scientific man will deny the fact that a wire rope is both 
lighter and stronger than an iron rod of the same diameter, or, if 
he claim the privilege of comparing the actual sectional area, 
taking the sum of the sectional areas of the individual wires, we 

can still claim greater strength for the rope upon the ground of 
more perfect structur e, as proved by experiment, — the weight, of 
course, being the same, or nearly the same, in either case. Eng- 
lish bar iron will resist about 60,000 pounds’ tensile strain to the 
square inch, before parting, while wrought iron will resist over 
100,000 pounds for the same actual area. Now, compare the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. a3 


lattice and plate in the same way. The plate corresponds to the 
solid bar and the lattice to the wire rope, and the openings to the 
space between the wire. Here we have undoubtedly so placed 
the direction of the strain that it is all with the fibres, and find 
that we have the proportion of 10 to 6 in favor of the structure 
composed of several separate pieces. 

Now, though this is perhaps an extreme case, and the argu- 
ment only one by analogy, yet, while perhaps the same propor- 
tions would not exist between the degrees of resistance afforded 
by lattice girders and solid iron plates as between the different 
qualities of iron, from the superiority of construction obtained 
in the former, the reasoning will apply most forcibly. It will 
probably not be denied that the superiority of construction claimed 
really does exist, and this one argument is, therefore, taken 
alone, convincing. 

But, after all, the matter of the relative strength of the 
material in different cases is really of less importance than is 
the apparently simple problem of fastening the parts together. 
If, after being properly arranged, the parts of the lattice can 
be so fastened together that each piece will do its entire 
duty without unduly straining its neighbor, there can exist 
no doubt that the lattice will be stronger than the iron plate 
girder, with its present form and arrangement; but, on the con- 
trary, could the plate be placed in such a way as to be of equal 
strength at all points, without increasing the weight of the struct- 
ure, the iron plate would certainly rival the weak forms of lattice 
as now constructed. Upon the ground that this perfect construc- 
tion cannot be obtained in a solid plate, the advocates of the lat- 
tice girders rest their claim, and it would seem that their as- 
sertions cannot, as regards this point, be readily controverted. — 
American Builder. 


SINKING SCREW PILES. 


A machine has been lately designed by an English firm, at the 
request of H. Lee Smith, Esq., chief engineer for the Punjaub 
Northern Railway, for screwing down piles to be used in con- 
structing bridges and flood openings on that line of railway. 
This machine consists of a wrought-iron under-carriage mounted 
upon wheels of 5 feet 6 inches gauge, and carrying a vertical 
boiler at one end. A strong cast-iron beam in the centre carries 
a cylinder in which works a ram, to the top of which a strong cross- 
beam is bolted which carries the machinery for operating on the 
piles. This consists of a horizontal steam engine bolted to the 
side of the cross-beam, and driving a pinion and train of spur and 
bevel wheels which impart motion to two large horizontal wheels 
carried in bearings at each end of the cross-beam. A friction 
clutch is carried in the centre of each of the wheels, through the 
boss of which the shaft of the pile to be screwed is passed. The 
shafts are rolled with feathers or ribs on each side, which, passing 
through corresponding recesses or keyways formed in the boss of 
the friction clutch, form the means of imparting motion from the 
horizontal wheels to the piles; steam is brought from the boiler, 


5* 


54 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


through the centre of the ram and cylinder which carries the 
cross-beam, by means of a telescope joint, which allows the ram 
to be raised without interfering with the steam pipe; anda small 
donkey engine is provided which can pump from a tank situated 
between the frame, either into the boiler or into the cylinder 
under the ram which carries the cross-beam. When the machine 
is at work the cross-beam is held firmly by means of cotter bolts 
to the frame. The modus operandi is as follows: A temporary 
road being laid on the centre line of the proposed structure, piles 
are pitched by passing the shafts through the wheels on each side 
of the machine, and keying them into screws which are placed in 
a small hole excavated to receive them. The engine is then set 
to work, and the piles screwed down as far as possible. The cot- 
ters holding the cross-beam are then removed, and it is raised by 
the donkey engine pumping into the cylinder of the machine, and 
lifted off the piles. The machine is then moved forward to the 
centre line of the next pile, and the operation takes place as 
betore. —Journal Franklin Institute. 


TRANSFORMATION OF CAST IRON. 


«¢Transformation of Cast Iron, Wrought Iron, and Steel, by 
means of the Vapors of Alkaline Metals,” — such is the title of a 
patent taken in France, by MM. Charles Girard and Jules Poulain 
(date 17th August, 1869, No. 86,784), the particulars of which 
we extract from our excellent contemporary, the ‘‘ Moniteur Sci- 
entifique :”” — 

‘¢3n order to cause the vapors of sodium and potassium to act 
on Gast iron in fusion, we heat one of the former metals in an iron 
retort to 392° or 482° under a pressure of 5 or 6 atmospheres. 
When this heat is reached we direct the vapor thus obtained into 
the heart of the iron in fusion; the mass swells, and an alloy of 
the iron is the result. These alloys, although very hard, are 
malleable, and may be forged and welded. ‘They oxidize rapidly in 
air or water, and are easily decomposed if a current of air, steam, 
or carbonic oxide is injected into them when in‘fusion. By these 
compound effects of the vapor of sodium and of air, for example, 
the whole of the metalloids in the iron are attacked, and the final 
result is pure wrought iron, that can be hammered and welded with 
ease. Under certain circumstances the metal resulting from the 
operation may present the properties of steel. Finally, to facili- 
tate the production of the metallic vapors, carburets, rich in hy- 
drogen, may be added to the sodium or potassium in the retort. 

‘‘In place of sodium or potassium an alloy of the two may be 
used; as, for instance, one composed of 4 parts of potassium 
(melting at 122°) and 2.5 parts of sodium (melting at 194°). 
This mixture, which has the appearance and consistency of mer- 
cury, has its point of solidification at 47.4°, and is consequently 
liquid at ordinary temperatures. It is prepared under naphtha. 

‘It has been remarked that, besides the direct transformation 
of cast into wrought iron or steel, by means of the metals, their 
action produces other advantages; they allow of the employment 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 55 


of iron castings, which, although containing manganese, can- 
not be converted by the Bessemer process, on account of the 
quantity of carbon, sulphur, or phosphorus which they contain. 
It is, in fact, now proved that the Bessemer process, far from 
eliminating the sulphur and phosphorus, tends rather to augment 
the proportion of these metalloids. 

‘“¢The cast irons known as chaudes, and which contain silicium 
and magnesium, owe a part of their superiority to the calorific 
power of the silicium (7,800), the produce of the oxidation of 
which, silica, requires but little heat to disengage it, so that the 
liquefaction becomes more complete. On the other hand, carbon, 
under the same conditions, gives rise to the disengagement of 
masses of sparks produced by the gases, carbonic acid and car- 
bonic oxide, which traverse the mass; these take from the molten 
matter a considerable quantity of caloric, and are thus unfavorable 
to liquefaction. 

‘‘In our process this latter inconvenience is partly dispelled ; 
for the gases produced by the combustion of the carbon, sulphur, 
and phosphorus, combining with the soda or potash, are mechani- 
eally carried through the mass of metal by the oxidation of the 
sodium of potassium. The direct action of the sodium or potas- 
sium, in the form of vapor, on the melted iron, may be replaced 
by adding to the mixture of ore, fuel, and fiux, cither chloride of 
sodium, carbonate of soda, a corresponding salt of potash, or a 
mixture of these. 

‘¢ Acting thus on any given ore, and using coke or coal as fuel, 
a result analogous to that obtained with charcoal under the ordi- 
nary system is obtained. We must add, however, that in the 
former case the current of hot or cold air should be longer main- 
tained than when charcoal is used; this prolonged application of 
hot or cold air in the blast furnace may present inconvenience, 
which may be avoided by directing the alloys of cast iron with 
sodium or potassium into a converter, in which they may undergo 
the final action of the current of air ; with this process the work- 
ing of the blast furnace is the same as in ordinary cases. 

‘We arrive practically at an assimilation of the coke or coal 
with alkaline salts corresponding to those furnished by wood 
charcoal, either by watering the fuel with the alkaline solutions 
above mentioned, and then allowing it to dry in sheds; or, lastly, 
by pouring a concentrated solution of the various salts on the fuel 
or the ore at the moment of charging the furnace. We intend tocon- 
tinue our experiments on the alloys and combinations of sodium 
and potassium with most of the other metals.” — Scientific Ameri- 
can. 


IMPROVEMENT IN ENAMELLING IRON AND STEEL. 


The process of Benjamin Baugh, of Chadwick, England, of 
enamelling iron and steel, patented recently in the United States, 
is as follows : — 

Lay upon the surface of the_plate of the metal to be enamelled 


56 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


a uniform ground, of any color required to produce the intended 
design; as, for instance, a name-plate, or tablet, with the ground 
white and the inscription in blue. The white ground, having 
been fused on in the melting-furnace and allowed to cool, there is 
then applied, with a brush evenly over the whole surface, a coat- 
ing of blue enamel, the materials of which are finely levigated 
and mixed with gum-Arabic and water, or other mucilage, to form 
a paste of slightly adherent properties. 

When dry, a stencil of the inscription, or of each letter sep- 
arately, is laid on, and the enamel paste is removed from the 
parts which are unprotected by the stencil, by the application of 
a stiff brush, leaving the ground clean, except the letters. The 
plate is then again subjected to heat, whereby the paste, which is 
fusible at a lower temperature than the ground previously laid, 
becomes permanently fixed upon it. ; 

The mechanical removal, by means of a brush, enables very 
delicate lines to be formed through the paste, to expose the en- 
amel ground, and admits of the use of ornaments having sharp 
angles and minute points and details to be distinetly and per- 
fectly rendered. 

The ground may be dark, and of any color, as well as of the 
kind described, and the subsequent coat of a lighter color; as, 
for instance, the ground may be of blue and the inscription white, 
and a succession of colors may be given to produce a variously 
colored design, by the same method. 

The inscription or design may be cut out in the stencil, and the 
ground thereby exposed be removed by the brush, instead of the 
surrounding parts, with a like effect, it being left to the choice of 
the designer whether this process be followed, or that previously 
described. 

The stencils are formed of very thin sheet metal (or even of 
paper, where they require to be used but a few times), which, by 
their flexibility, lie more closely in contact with the surface, and 
leave the lines and margins of the figures perfect, while they con- 
form to convex and irregular surfaces. 

He combines with the method described the use of artistic 
graphic representations, such as views, portraits, or groups, 
thereby producing metal tablets decorated in enamel, in a man- 
ner adapted to architectural purposes, as the finishing of interiors, 
panels for cabinet work, ete. Such designs are produced upon 
stone in the usual lithographic manner, and printed in successive 
impressions upon paper prepared for transferring, by having its 
surface coated with gum-Arabic, or other substance that is soluble 
in water, mineral colors and fluxes being used, which are adapted 
to fuse under heat, and combine to form the picture in enamel 
of appropriate colors. 

The enamel ground having been fused on, as previously de- 
scribed, for stencilling, it is covered with copal or other suitable 
varnish, and the face of the prepared picture is laid upon it and 
pressed, to insure adhesion of all parts, when the paper is re- 
moved by wetting, as is ordinarily done in transferring prints. 
The plate is then subjected to heat until the colors of the picture 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57 


are fused, and become incorporated with the previously enamelled 
surface. 


IMPROVED APPLIANCES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAVY 
FORGINGS. 


The forging of iron in large masses is a subject of so much 
importance to our engineering industry that it needs little apology 
for its introduction to the mechanical section of the British Asso- 
ciation, and any improvement in the machinery or appliances for 
the more economical or rapid manufacture of large masses of 
wrought iron, or for any improvement in quality, must be of great 
interest to all manufacturers where such products are needed. 

These improvements, in the manufacture of large forgings, I 
intend to class under 3 heads. I propose simply to mention a 
few. prominent facts very briefly, but shall be glad to answer 
any inquiries that members may require further information 
about. 1. Improved heating by Siemens’ regenerative gas fur- 
nace. 2. Facilities for handling and moving large masses of 
wrought iron from the furnace to the hammer, and for moving 
them under the hammer. 3. Improved hammers, with a clean, 
unfettered fall, and with such width of standards as to give the 
workman all the comfort and convenience possible in executing 
the necessary operations of shaping, forging, and cutting the 
material to the required form. 

1st. Improved heating by Siemens’ regenerative gas furnace. 
It is generally admitted that iron in large masses is greatly dete- 
riorated by long exposure to high temperatures, and that a crys- 
talline structure is developed in consequence cf such a form and 
nature as to detract in a very great degree from the strength of 
the material. It must, therefore, be admitted that furnaces, such 
as those of Siemens, which produce the most intense heat in the 
shortest possible time, must cause less deterioration to the product 
in hand than those which are slower in operation ; but a more im- 
portant item in this consideration is that the facilities given for 
regulating the admission of gas and air in a neutral flame can be 
produced; and, in consequence, the iron may be preserved from 
that burning and oxidation which are the cause of the formation 
of those large facets or crystals which weaken many wrought- 
iron structures of large size to such an immense extent. 

Another improvement, from these furnaces where the iron is 
prepared from the pig, is, that the gas furnaces do not bring over 
the large amounts of unconsumed ash or débris from the coal 
which is usually deposited on the body of the iron made in the 
ordinary puddling furnace, and, in consequence, the iron is more 
free from those specks and flaws which are so observable in or- 
dinary iron, and which produce the heating and galling so com- 
mon in large forgings, as heretofore made, and which cause the 
chief torment of the practical marine engineer. 

Perhaps the greatest advantage which the Siemens’ furnace 
offers is in the manufacture of forgings of puddled steel, from the 
facility in which the flame of the furnace may be regulated, first, 


+ 


58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


in the puddling process, and, secondly, in the heating of the 
puddled steel masses. In furnaces of ordinary construction a 
constant deterioration of the puddled steel must necessarily take 
place from the free oxygen present in the furnace; but in the 
Siemens’ furnace the gases may be so regulated that a neutral 
flame is produced, and, consequently, the steel mass is heated 
without deterioration. 

I will not now enter into the question of economy of fuel, as 
this has been often discussed at meetings of mechanical engi- 
neers; nor will it be necessary to enlarge upon the great advan- 
tage, especially in large towns, of the absence of smoke, which 
has been hitherto thought a necessary nuisance in all branches of 
the iron manufacture. 

2d. The second improvement which I would wish to mention 
is improved facilities for handling and moving these large masses 
of iron when heated as above described, which is effected by hy- 
draulic cranes and machinery of sufficient power to move these 
large masses almost instantaneously either from the furnace to 
the hammer, or vice versa, to raise and lower the load, or to in- 
crease or decrease the distance of the load from the centre of the 
crane. 

The truth of the old adage, of striking when the iron is hot, 
will prevent any necessity “of dwelling upon the advantage of 

rapidity of movement in dealing with large heated masses of iron. 
Atter the pieces of iron have been heated in the manner de- 
seribed, and when the machinery shown has brought the forging 
to the hammer, it is necessary that the instrument should be of 
the most approved description to cope with the material under 
operation in the best and quickest manner, and with the greatest 
possible comfort to the workman employed at the work desig- 
nated. Uammers that are described as suspended are employed ; 
they are carried upon wrought-iron girders, of 20 feet span, 
which gives the hammer-man such room for his operation, and 
such freedom from any obstacle to his work, as have seldom, if 
ever, been accorded before, and so much room to the rear is re- 
served that shafts 50 feet or 60 feet long could readily be made 
without any inconvenience. — Abstract of a paper read by Lieut.- 
Colonel Clay, of the Birkenhead Forge, before the British Association. 


CORROSION OF IRON GAS AND WATER MAINS. 


In an editorial on this subject the ‘‘ Gaslight Journal” remarks 
that the deposits which form in the interior of iron water mains 
cause serious annoyance and loss to many of our water eompa- 
nies. To so greata degree does this evil extend, that strenuous 
efforts are being made to substitute some other material for iron, 
which shall possess all its valuable qualities, and at the same 
time be free from liability to corrosion, and consequent obstruc- 
tion. The appearance of this internal deposit is very singular 
and assumes various modifications. Sometimes the corrosion is 
of a uniform thickness, and appears to attack the surface of the 
iron evenly, while at others the whole diameter of the pipe is 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 59 


jagged with tubercles of various sizes and shapes, occurring at 
irregular intervals. 

Thus far no satisfactory explanation has been given of the 
causes of this peculiar deposit. That it is a species of oxidation 
is very clear, since the mass formed has all the external character- 
istics of iron-rust ; but why it should assume such peculiar physi- 
eal properties, and present a configuration so unlike the outward 
forms of other oxidation, has not yet been satisfactorily ex- 
plained. 

The effect of this incrustation is obviously very disastrous to 
the economical distribution of water, as the diameter of the mains 
is so much diminished as to reduce their capacity to that of much 
smaller calibre than they were originally constructed. In addi- 
tion to this, the strength of the pipe is much impaired by this 
process of oxidation, and it is rendered much less able to bear 
sudden concussions and heavy pressure than previous to the 
formation of the deposit. This must be apparent to all intelli- 
gent observers, for it is at the expense of the iron that the incrus- 
tation arises. ‘These facts are but too well known to engineers, 
who are fully cognizant of the difficulty under which they labor 
in endeavoring to remedy the evil. 

The same evil obtains in regard to gas-pipe, only in a less 
degree. The corrosion forms dust and scales, which drop off in 
time, and obstruct valves, traps, elbows, and connections. This 
is especially observable in inclined and vertical piping, such as 
lamp-posts, etc. 

It has been a question with practical men, whether to substi- 
tute some other material for iron, or to adopt some means of 
internally coating iron mains, so as to preclude all possibility of 
the formation of accretions. 

Methods have been tried to coat the interior of iron water- 
pipes with some substance which would protect the surface of 
the iron from contact with the water. This would seem to be the 
only remedy, but attempts in this direction have heretofore been 
attended with so much expense as to remove one of the strongest 
arguments in favor of the employment of iron, namely, the econ- 
omy of its application. Some few years ago, the Water Board 
in Brooklyn coated the interior of their iron main with a mixture 
of coal tar and linseed oil, applied at a high temperature, but we 
have never heard whether that remedy has been effectual in 
checking the formation of accretions. It was said to impose an 
additional cost of 24 dollars per ton on the mains. 

Recently, Prof. Henry Wurtz, of New York, has invented a 
peculiar cement for making gas or water pipes, and especially 
adapted to coat the interior of gas mains, to make them perfectly 
impervious even to hydrogen gas, and to prevent corrosion. 

Among the materials, other than iron, which have been com- 
mended and used to some extent for water pipes, are wood; 
iron-bound wood, and cement, and bituminized paper. 

Plain wooden pipes have been immemorially employed in some 
places for distributing water, and are still used in many instances. 
Pipes made of wood and cement have also been adopted to a lim- 


>. 


60 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ited extent. They are durable, easily made, and have been made 
to withstand a pressure of 400 pounds to the square inch. 

The pipes constructed of sheet iron, lined and coated exter- 
nally with hydraulic cement, are said to be well adapted for dis- 
tributing water where very cold weather does not prevail, frost 
being inimical to the integrity of the pipe. So also is high pres- 
sure said to be liable to injure the continuity of this kind of pip- 
ing, especially at the numerous joints and connections. 

In England, pipe made of bituminized paper has been employed 
in distributing both water and gas, but we have not heard that 
it has become popular to any great extent. It also was attempted 
to be introduced into this country, but without success, we be- 
lieve. 

Another description of pipe is constructed of wood, being bored 
from the solid log, lined with cement, and coated externally with 
coal tar. This form of pipe is said to be extremely durable, 
and, not being subjected to expansion and contraction by change 
of temperature, is entirely free from leakage. 

In England and France, as well as in this country, the com- 
plaints on this score are wide and deep, and a wide field is open 
for enterprise in introducing an especial remedy. 


TWIST DRILLS, AND RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THEIR MAN- 
UFACTURE. : 


We condense from a paper recently read, by Mr. G. Lauder, 
C.E., before the Liverpool Polytechnic Society, the following 
remarks upon twist drills : — 

The last half century has witnessed many important improve- 
ments in engineers’ tools. Self-acting machines have been intro- 
duced and improved, in numbers too great to mention in this 
paper. 

The leading idea which seems to have controlled in all these 
improvements is what has been designated the ‘‘ guide princi- 
ple.” As examples, we may cite the slide-rest, the planing-ma- 
chine, etc., the objects to be attained being, first, greater accuracy 
in the work performed, and, second, greater speed in performing 
it. | 

After improved machines, which have enabled us to attain the 
first object, we have to look to the forms of the tools used in these 
machines, to enable us to attain the second object, — speed. 

Tools for cutting metals are divided into two classes, namely, 
paring tools and scraping tools, these being distinguished by the 
edge they present to the metal being cut. 

The data on which our knowledge of paring tools is founded 
are altogether derived from practice in the workshop, — workmen 
themselves, he believed, having been, in a great many cases, the 
leaders in improvement. The best cutting angle has been found, 
for iron and steel, to be from 60° to 70°, and the angle of relief 
a 

Drills have been the last tools in common use by working en- 
gineers to come under the whip of improvement, a large propor- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 6L 


tion of those now in use being of the worst conceivable form to 
effect the object they are designed for. 

The speaker referred to the common form of drill, and, at the 
same time, exhibited a sheet of drawings on which a number of 
different forms of drills were marked. Some of them depend for 
cutting action on, to use a homely phrase, ‘‘strength and stu- 
pidness,” no attempt whatever being made to form a proper 
cutting angle. Others are more advanced in form, and have a 
proper cutting angle provided; sometimes a small portion of the 
bottom end, he said, is turned, and forms, in this condition, a 
very excellent working tool indeed. <A twist drill was next 
spoken of, which was the real object of bringing this paper under 
the notice of the society. 

These drills have been known for a considerable length of 
time, but have not been much used in this country until recent 
years, Americans having been ahead in their use, and in manu- 
facturing them as well. Strange as it may appear, it is still true, 
that all the drills of this class were, until within a recent period, 
imported from the United States. 

Due consideration being given to the principles already ex- 
plained, the advantages arising from the use of twist drills will 
be apparent at a glance: first, they serve as a common drill, to 
bore ahole ; second, they serve as a guide, while boring, to keep the 
hole true; and, third, they are so formed as to provide the proper 
cutting angle throughout their whole working length ; fourth, they 
are tempered throughout their entire working length; fifth, they 
are ground up true to standard sizes, thus obviating any neces- 
sity for dressing. This last advantage will doubtless be highly 
appreciated by all who have had practical experience of the con- 
tinual trouble and loss incidental to the wearing out of size of 
common drills. 

The speaker then said, until the recent improvements which I 
am about to lay before you were perfected, twist drills were 
formed entirely by the clumsy method of cutting them out of a 
solid round bar, by means of milling tools, then turning, temper- 
ing, and straightening; it is but justice, however, to the parties 
who have been hitherto engaged in the manufacture, to say that 
their arrangements and machines for that purpose were admira- 
ble of their kind. 

The method now pursued successfully in this country differs 
entirely from that just mentioned. First, the bar of steel which 
is destined to form the drill is rolled into a special shape; it is 
then cut into lengths and again rolled in cam rolls, which form a 
straight groove, after which the shank is formed by cresses. 
Next the blank, as it is now called, is passed to the twisting- 
machine, which consists essentially of a hollow spindle having a 
perforated nut in the end to receive the blank. This spindle, 
when the machine is started, has a motion of rotation on its own 
axis, and also a motion of translation in the direction of its axis, 
being thus adapted to twist the blank, then held firmly at the 
outer end by vise clamps. Other clamps, worked by suitable 
gearing, close on the blank as the centrak spindles clear them; 


6 


62 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


these serve to hold the twist given to the blank. After a blank is 
twisted the clamps open, the blank is withdrawn, and the twist- 
ing-spindle returns to its starting-point. 

After twisting, the drills are centred and rough ground, then 
hardened by heating ina lead bath and cooling in cold water, 
next tempered in an oil bath, and finally finished by grinding to 
a standard gauge. 

The main features in this method, to which it was desired to 
direct attention, are the forging and twisting, in contrast to 
cutting from the solid bar. One of the principal difficulties, in 
curying out the new system just described, was getting the 
blanks torged, accuracy being essential; this difficulty overcome, 
the benefits became manifest. Recent experiments have shown 
that, in shaping metals, nothing is of greater importance than at- 
tending to the ‘‘ flow of the metal.” Every particular shape into 
which a bar of iron or steel is forged having an arrangement of 
the particles which compose it peculiar to itself, any departure 
from this natural arrangement is prejudicial. By forging and 
twisting these drills, this law is paid the fullest attention to, each 
drill being finished, so far as shape goes, before a single particle 
of metal is cut from it. 

By way of reward for attention to this natural law, the number 
of drills lost from water-cracks, in hardening, is inappreciable as 
affecting the cost of production. — Scientific American. 


THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. A MAG- 
NIFICENT SYSTEM OF HEATING AND VENTILATION. 


The subject of heating and ventilation is one of ever recurring 
interest, and of universal importance. We, therefore, copy 
from ‘‘ Engineering ” the following description of the apparatus 
employed in the immense Royal Albert Hall, in London, one of 
the largest public buildings in the world: — 

When it is considered that the Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences, 
now in course of erection at South Kensington, is to accommodate 
about 8,000 persons seated, the magnitude of the arrangements 
for preserving an equable temperature and a pure atmosphere 
will be realized. The capacity of the hall amounts to 5,000,000 
cubic feet, so that the warming and ventilation caused the com- 
mittee some anxiety, and they invited a limited number of engi- 
neers to send in plans for effecting those objects. The various 
plans submitted were carefully considered, and it was_ finally 
resolved to adopt that of Mr. Wilson W. Phipson, Assoc. Inst. C. 
E., which is now being carried out under his immediate superin- 
tendence. The main points by which any arrangement had to be 
governed were economy in warming, and a satisfactory combina- 
tion of this process with that of ventilation. The heating-power 
determined on by Mr. Phipson consists of an arrangement of dis- 
tinct coils of hot-water pipes, placed in 38 air-chambers. One of 
these chambers is carried under the main corridor, a second runs 
beneath the seats of the amphitheatre stalls, whilst a third passes 
under the arena. These 3 chambers are connected with 2 fans, 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 63 


the combined supply of air from which will be about 3,000,000 
cubic feet per hour. One of these fans blows to the right and the 
other to the left, the fresh air drawn from the outer atmosphere 
being thus distributed through the chambers. This air, warmed 
by the hot-water coils, is conveyed to the body of the hall from 
the chamber under the main corridor by means of channels built 
in the walls. These channels are also in communication with the 
corridors, boxes, and all the adjoining private rooms. From the 
chamber beneath the amphitheatre stalls the warm air finds its 
way into the hall through perforations in the risers of the seats. 
From the arena chamber the air enters the building through the 
interstices between the floor-boards. By these arrangements the 
entire power of the apparatus may be concentrated on the hall, 
thus thoroughly warming every portion of it; at the same time 
means are provided for warming the enclosed rooms independ- 
ently when necessary. The amount of heating-surface in the iron 
pipes required to carry out this arrangement is about 28,000 
square feet. The temperature the apparatus ts calculated to 
maintain in the hall is about 58° Fah. as a mean during the winter 
months. 

The fresh air is supplied to the fans through 2 air-shafts, 6 feet 
by 6 feet, which are situated at the south-eastern end of the 
building, near the Horticultural Gardens. In each of these shafts 
is placed a self-acting valve, fitted with an index dial which 
registers the amount of air passing into the building. Arrange- 
ments are also provided in these shafts for cooling the air in its 
passage to the hall in summer by means of sprays of water. 
The fans are 5 feet 9 inches in diameter, and are to be worked by 
2 direct-acting engines of 3 horse-power each. The heating 
apparatus fixed in the air-chambers consists of 16 distinct coils of 
4-inch hot-water pipes, heated by condensing boilers so arranged 
that each condenser has its direct coil of pipes to work. By this 
means either a part or the whole of the coils may be utilized, 
according to the temperature of the external air. These condens- 
ers are supplied with steam from 2 boilers belonging to the pump- 
ing engines of the Horticultural Gardens. In case of need a sup- 
plementary boiler will be provided, which will give a total force 
of about 75 horse-power. 

The modus operandi will be as follows: The temperature of 
the hall will be raised to the requisite degree by the time the 
audience arrives; as soon as this point is reached, and whilst the 
public are being admitted, the air-entrances to chambers Nos. 
2 and 38 will be partially closed by means of valves. Tliis 
will allow of only one-sixth of the amount of air necessary for 
ventilation to pass through these sources. The remaining five- 
sixths will be distributed by means of 4 separate channels to the 
air-chamber No. 1, under the corridor. From this chamber the 
air will be distributed equally all through the entire building by ~ 
means of the air-channels formed in the walls, to which we have 
already alluded. It will thus issue upon every floor into the body 
of the hall, being admitted as far as possible from the audi- 
ence. 


64 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


The ventilation is provided for by an opening, having an area 
of 120 square feet, for the escape of the vitiated air, which is 
formed in the centre of the ceiling at the highest possible level. 
This opening is surmounted by a shaft rising some feet above the 
roof, and which is fitted with regulating louvres. The heat gen- 
erated by the system of lighting the hall will increase the suction 
of this shaft at night. During day performances, however, con- 
tinuous circulation will be insured by a ring of gas-jets from burn- 
ers with which the shaft is provided. 

From a recent visit to the Albert Hall, we are enabled to re- 
port the satisfactory progress of the building generally, under 
the able superintendence of Colonel Scott, R.E. With regard to 
Mr. Phipson’s arrangements, we found that the pipes for heating 
were all fixed in the outer circle main heating-chamber, and the 
connections were being made with the steam-pipe to the condens- 
ers. About one-third of the inner circle-chamber is completed, 
and the remainder of the work is progressing. On Wednesday 
week the wedges between the crown of the roof of the hall and 
the scaffolding which had previously supported it were struck. 
The results of this operation were highly satisfactory, the total 
deflection being only five-sixteenths of an inch. ‘The roof, be it 
remembered, is of wrought iron, and covers an elliptical area of 
220 feet by 185 feet, with a rise of 33 feet. — Scientific Ameri- 
can. 


HEAT BY MEANS OF ILLUMINATING GAS. 


‘¢Gas, as a combustible,” said M. Cazin, at a recent scientific 
conference, ‘‘ offers the best solution of the problem of distribution 
of motive power in large towns where the illumination by gas is 
already established. The pipes which furrow our cities convey 
a provision for light, for heat, and for motive force. We de- 
manded primarily of the gas the first of these agents; we have 
demanded also the second; it is now time to demand of it all that 
it is capable of affording. Why should not the same apparatus 
afford to the workman in his shop light, heat, and power? When 
gas becomes cheaper this remarkable amelioration of the lot of 
the artisan will be realizable.” We will add that the obstacles to 
the employment of gas as a source of motive power arise not 
only from its high cost, but also from its disagreeable odor, and 
the absence of proper means for good combustion. The odor 
which is produced chiefly at the commencement of the operation 
is produced by condensation of some of the produets of the com- 
bustion upon a cold surface. It may be prevented in a great 
measure by previously heating the generator with another com- 
bustible. With regard to an efficacious burner, we do not know 
of any; Bunsen burners, which are generally preferred, afford 
hardly one-half the calorific power contained in the gas. The 
Parisian Company have directed a series of trials upon the calo- 
rific capacity of illuminating gas, which give sensibly the same 
results. Copper tubular boilers were employed of a capacity of 
10 to 30 litres. The heat was obtained from 2 Bunsen burners 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 65 


with flames from 20 to 25 centimetres high. The bottom of the 
boiler was placed so as to receive the flame at the height of 14 to 
16 centimetres above the base. 

The following table exhibits the results of the experiment : — 


Temperature of the Gas used for each 10c. 


rater Time of Heating. Expenditure of Gas. Ae Te 
Degrees. Minutes. Litres. Litres. 
10 ae shea one 
35 10 160 64 
60 15 188 78 
80 15 pL 95 
90 7 100 100 
100 7 100 100 
54 739 


The boiler weighed 6.5 kilogs.; it contained 29.5 kilogs. of 
water. The number of calorific units produced was therefore 6.5 
X 9* + 29.5 K 90f —=2,713.5. This corresponds to 3,700 units 
to the cubic metre of the gas. — Van Nost. Mag. 


A NEW ROTARY PUMP. 


This machine works very simply, and, after the manner of cer- 
tain canals in the animal economy, imitating the vermicular or 
peristaltic movements of the intestines in their spontaneous mo- 
tions which aid digestion. Revolving arms, turned by a crank, 
earry friction rollers, which, in rolling upon an elastic tube, press 
betore them the liquid or gas that it contains, while the tube, 
regaining its form after the compression, exerts an aspiration 
pr oportioned to the elasticity of its sides. The plan is admirably 
adapted to all the requirements of stowing or transporting wines. 
For the use it offers the following advantages : a= 

1. The wine traverses the pump without shock (batter), — an 
important consideration, and belonging especially to this machine. 
While in ordinary pumps the wine sustains considerable beating 
and jolting, in this new apparatus it passes over as in a siphon, 
and flows, without encountering any obstacle, in an open canal. 

2. The wine undergoes no alteration by its passage through the 
tube; long experience having proved that the rubber of which 
the tube is made cannot injure the most delicate wine. 

3. There is no contact of the liquid with any oxidizable metal- 
lic surface, nor with greasy crated surfaces, such as, unfortu- 
nately, occur in all other present systems. 

4. This pump yields a greater useful effect, in proportion to the 


* Calorific capacity of the copper. + Heat obtained from the gas. 
G* 


66 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


force applied, than any other pump, whether reciprocating or 
rotary. 

5. When it is desirable to empty the conducting tube, as when a 
cask has been filled, it is only necessary to reverse the motion of 
the pump, and the excess of wine is returned to the reservoir. 
This manwuvre, so simple and so advantageous, is impossible 
with any other system. 

6. The tube is easily and promptly filled. 

7. It serves to agitate the wine at the moment of sizing, by 
forcing through the siphon a powerful current of air. 

8. Finally, this new wine-pump requires no care to keep it in 
order; it can be cleared with facility, or repaired, if necessary, 
without having recourse to a special workman; the replacing of 
the rubber tube, after very long use, being all that is necessary. 

This pump was invented by MM. Mackintosh & QGuibal, the 
celebrated rubber manufacturers. It has been extensively used 
by wine and beer manufacturers, who testify to its advantages. 
By using porcelain rings for ends and joinings, it may be used in 
pumping vinegar. If prepared rubber be substituted for the 
natural product, the pump will be very serviceable in raising pe- 
troleum and similar oils. — Van Nost. Hing. Mag. 


A CONCRETE FROM GAS-LIME. 


It is well known that gas companies turn out of their works a 
quantity of lime which has absorbed certain impurities from the 
crude gas. Hitherto, the only use found for this offensive smell- 
ing gas-lime has been the very limited one of spreading it on the 
land and at the roots of trees for killing insects hurtful to vegeta- 
tion. Of course this is out of the question in the case of the large 
city gas-works, whose plant is too far remeved from fields and 
orchards, and, although it is acknowledged that gas can be better 
purified by lime than by any other material, the trouble of re- 
moval of the waste product has forced the adoption of other meth- 
ods which do not involve so much expense in carriage. 

According to the London ‘ Builder,” Mr. Thomas Prideaux, of 
Sheffield, has been exhibiting blocks of concrete, mouldings, arti- 
ficial stone-slabs for hearthstones, and other objects, all made 
from this refuse gas-lime ; and as it is now the subject of a patent, 
and promises to furnish a useful material for building purposes, a 
short account of the results obtained up to this time may be use- 
ful. The gas-lime is ground under edge-stones, and presents at 
first a uniform green color. In this state it forms the raw mate- 
rial for making plaster or cement of various qualities and capabil- 
ities. According to the purpose required, it is used in this state, 
or it is calcined and reground and mixed with silicous matters. 
A wall may be covered with a smooth coat, which hardens free - 
from cracks, for interiors; basements may be covered with a dry 
coat of cement, impervious, it is asserted, to damp, and quite 
obnoxious, be it remarked, to cockroaches. A hearthstone may 
be formed, and sets in a few days into a hard block of stone, as 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 67 


well as mantel-pieces and jambs, which, without any coloring- 
matter, present a neat and stone-like appearance. 

It is remarkable that the peculiar odor of the gas-lime is no 
longer to be detected when the cement has set. The sulphur 
compounds are oxidized rapidly, and some of the adhesive quali- 
ties of the cement are no doubt due to the formation of calcium 
sulphate or plaster of Paris throughout the mass of the material 
in the process of hardening. A rubble-wall can be built up and 
plastered over to resist the action of water in the interval of a 
tide, as the properly prepared cement will set even under water. 
The latter property has induced Mr. Prideaux to propose its use 
for building sea-walls. 

A number of houses in Sheffield, where trial has been made of 
this material, have been visited and inspected since its first 
application to walls, floors, and hearthstones, now about 12 
months ago, and time only appears to tell in favor of its dura- 
bility. 


PRESERVATION OF CAST-IRON WATER-PIPES. 


In 1858 the cast-iron pipes carrying the Cochituate Water from 
Boston to South Boston were treated with a preparation from coal 
tar, known as Dr. Smith’s process, and the result has been so 
favorable that it has been permanently adopted by the Cochituate 
Water Board, and by the managers of other water works through- 
out the country, where the materials used for pipe is cast iron. 
The pipes laid in 1858 were taken up and examined after 10 
years’ use, and were found nearly free from rust or ochrous accre- 
tions. This coal-pitch varnish is applied substantially accord- 
ing to Dr. Smith’s process, which is described as follows in the 
specifications : — 

Every pipe and casting must be entirely free from dust, sand, 
or rust, when the varnish is applied. 

The varnish or pitch is to be made from coal tar, distilled until 
all the naphtha is removed, the material deodorized, and the 
pitch reduced to about the consistency of wax or very thick mo- 
lasses; pitch which becomes hard and brittle when cold will not 
answer for this use. 

Pitch of the proper quality having been obtained, it must be 
heated in a suitable vessel, to a temperature of 300° Fahrenheit, 
and must be maintained at not less than that temperature during 
the dipping. As the material will deteriorate after a number 
of pipes have been dipped, fresh pitch must be frequently added, 
and at least 8 per cent. of heavy linseed oil must be added daily 
with the fresh pitch, and the vessel must be entirely emptied of 
the pitch and refilled with fresh material as often as may be nec- 
essary to insure the perfection of the process. 

Each casting shall be kept immersed from 30 to 45 minutes, 
or until it attains the temperature of 800° Fahrenheit, and, if 
required by the engineer, shall be heated to such temperature as 
he may designate before it is dipped. 

After the bath is completed, the castings will be removed and 


68 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


placed in such a position to drip that the thickness of the varnish 
shall be uniform. 

The coating on the pipes and castings must be tenacious when 
eold, and not brittle, nor disposed to scale off; and when it shall 
appear to the inspector that the coating has not been satisfactorily 
applied, the pipe or casting shall be thoroughly scraped, cleaned, 
and recoated. 


COATING FOR OUTSIDE WALLS. 


The following coating for rough brick walls is used by the 
U. S. Government for painting light-houses, and it effectually 
prevents moisture from striking through: Take of fresh Rosendale 
cement 3 parts, and of clean, fine sand 1 part; mix with fresh 
water thoroughly. This gives a gray or granite color, dark or 
light, according to the color of the cement. If brick color is de- 
sired, add enough Venetian red to the mixture to produce the 
color. Ifa very light color is desired, lime may be used with the 
cement and sand. Care must be taken to have all the ingredients 
well mixed together. In applying the wash, the wall must be wet 
with clean fresh water; then follow immediately with the cement 
wash. This prevents the bricks from absorbing the water from 
the wash too rapidly, and gives time for the cement to set. The 
wash must be well stirred during the application. The mixture 
is to be made as thick as can be applied conveniently with a 
whitewash-brush. It is admirably suited for brick-work, fences, 
etc., but it cannot be used to advantage over paint or whitewash. 


PRESERVATION OF STONES. 


De. Robert, in the Paris ‘‘ Les Mondes,” maintains that the use 
of the black oxide of copper, and its salts, will effectually prevent 
change in stone. He shows that the decay of granite, marble, 
limestones, sandstones, and all natural building stones, is the 
eombined effect of various causes, and that among these is a very 
minute lichen, the Lepra antiquitatis, which is one of the worst 
enemies of stone, and its action is to such an extent that, for in- 
stance, the beautiful marble sculptures of the well-known Parc 
de Versailles will, unless proper measures be taken for staying 
the process of decay, be unsightly and ugly masses of dirt, and 
quite irretrievably lost, as works of art, within the next 50 years. 
The author, taking as instances such buildings at Paris as the 
Bourbon Palace, the Palais du Corps Legislatif, the Mazarin Pal- 
ace (l’Institut), the Mint, and others, points out that dust, spiders’ 
webs, and the action of rain, combined with the minute lichen 
above alluded to, hasten the decay of stone, especially of those 
parts where any sculpture or ornamental carving promotes the 
deposition of dirt and dust. Various places and instances are 
cited of the application of oxide of copper and its salts, which 
places are open to inspection, and the length of time which has 
elapsed since such application seems to warrant the conclusion 
that these compounds act as preservatives of stone. In reference 


% 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 69 


to granite, the author states that this stone is also, according to 
the experience of Egyptian engineers, far more readily affected 
by a moist climate than one would be led to believe. “The obe- 
lisk of Luxor, brought from Upper Egypt to Paris, has become 
blanched and full of small cracks, duri ing the 40 years it has stood 
on the Place de la Concorde ; although 40 centuries had not per- 
ceptibly affected it as long as it was in Egypt. Granite in a 
moist climate becomes the seat of a minute cryptogamic plant, 
which greatly aids its destruction; and it is, moreover, a well- 
known fact, that the disintegration of this stone, which is com- 
posed of 3 separate minerals (quartz, mica, and feldspar), de- 
pends very greatly upon the thorough and intimate mixture, as 
well as the chemical composition, of these 3 ingredients, each of 
which, in a separate state, more easily withstands the influence 
of the weather. 


PRESERVATION OF STONE. 


The preservation of brown sandstone, which has become so 
popular as a building material, has also been the subject of exper- 
iment; and concrete building, as well as the manufacture of arti- 
ficial stone, has been slowly but surely advancing. 

Our readers will recollect some editorial remarks upon the sub- 
ject of *‘ Improved Building Materials,” published not long since 
in this journal. The subject will bear further attention in connec- 
tion with recent improvements. 

There seems to be a general effort now making to produce 
cheaper and if possible better building materials than have hither- 
to been employed. Our exchanges from abroad, more especially 
those devoted to architectural topics, give us very encouraging ac- 
counts of the progress of concrete building. ‘This style of build- 
ing seems growing in favor, and isfurnishing a very goodclass of 
dwellings at a very cheap rate. 

We find also an account of a new kind of artificial stone, called 
the Victoria stone, which seems to have endured severe tests and 
to promise well. 

It is the invention of a clergyman, Rev. H. Highton. The pro- 
cess by which it is made consists in mixing broken granite with 
hydraulic cement, and steeping the whole, when set, ina solution 
of silica. ‘The eranite used is the refuse of the quarries, and is 
broken up at the works. It is then mixed with Portland cement, 
in proportions of 4 of granite to 1 of cement, sufficient water being 
added to give it a pasty consistency. In this state it is placed in 
moulds, when it consolidates in about 4 days. When taken from 
the moulds it is placed for 2 days in a solution of silicate of soda, 
which completes the process. 

The silicate solution is prepared in a peculiar manner, and upon 
it the success of the operation depends. The silicate of soda has 
the property of hardening any kind of concrete in which lime is a 
component. This substance has been hitherto too costly for gen- 
eral use in artificial stone manufacture, and it becomes caustic by 


70 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the absorption of its silica, so that it attacks the hands of the work- 
men. ; 

Mr. Highton produces his solution in the following manner. He 
uses a soft kind of stone, containing 25 per cent. of silica, found at 
Farnham, in Surrey, England. ‘This stone readily dissolves in a 
cold caustic soda solution. 

The solution of soda is placed in the tanks used for steeping the 
stone, and the Farnham stone is ground and added to the bath. 
The lime in the artificial blocks removes the silica from the solu- 
tion, which in its turn takes up more silica from the Farnham stone, 
and so maintains its supply of silica, thus removing the objections 
above named. The process is extremely ingenious, and we are 
informed that flagging, sinks, mantels, coping, cap-stones, sills, 
ete., are produced by it. Finely cut mouldings are not success- 
fully produced, and it seems better adapted to a heavier class of 
work. 

In America also considerable improvement is observable in this 
field. A Brooklyn paper states that porcelain enamelled bricks are 
now produced by a firm in that city, of great beauty, both for out- 
side and inside work, and at a cost not exceeding that of Phila- 
delphia pressed bricks.—Scientific American. 


ARTIFICIAL STONE. THE SOREL PROCESS. 


There is no field of invention which to-day is more replete with 
general scientific and practical interest than that pertaining to 
the manufacture of artificial stone. While, in the working of 
iron, men have sought out means whereby it can be rapidly and 
cheaply converted into the forms required, the world has, to the 
present day, been content with working stone after the same gen- 
eral method used in the construction of the pyramids. The rud- 
est of all materials is thus changed by immense labor into costly 
forms; and the attempts to obviate the necessity for this labor 
and expense have been confined to a very recent period. 

The idea that stone could be cheaply produced by artificial 
means, and moulded to any form required, has gradually forced 
itself upon the minds of modern inventors, and has borne fruit 
in a large number of processes more or less practical and adapted 
to secure the end in view. 

Very many of these processes have, however, failed to secure 
such results as to warrant their general adoption. Some require 
the steeping of the stones in some solution after they are moulded 
to remove or transform some contained material, or to add some- 
thing which could not be advantageously added in earlier stages 
of the process. Among these is the celebrated Ransome process, 
which has not given uniformly satisfactory results. 

Other sorts of artificial stones are sand concretes, made with 
cements of various degrees of hydraulicity, and many of them 
of such inferior quality as to render them utterly unreliable for 
use as building material. 

The process invented by M. Sorel, a celebrated French chemist, 
produces results which we have never seen equalled by any other. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. Tt 


It has for its basis the use of oxychloride of magnesium, a new 
cement discovered by M. Sorel, who was also the discoverer of 
oxychloride of zinc. The process has been patented in this 
country, and the patent is owned by the Union Stone Co., of Bos- 
ton, Mass., who apply it to the manufacture of all kinds of stone 
moulded in ornamental forms for building purposes. They also 
apply it to the manufacture of emery-wheels, needle-sharpeners, 
oil and water stones, soapstone register rings, and faces for sad- 
irons, etc. In short, they work any kind of stone by this process, 
first disintegrating it by suitable mills and moulding it again into 
any form wished, and by the use of the cement named consolidat- 
ing the mass to even greater strength than it originally pos- 
sessed, without alteration of color or apparent texture. 

We have now before us specimens of marble, sandstone, blue- 
stone, ete., which look exactly like the original stone, yet which 
are even more dense and hard than the stone from which they are 
made. The marble, which is a beautiful specimen, having a fine 
crystalline fracture, was made of common marble-yard refuse. 
In fact, there is no sort of mineral solid material which the mag- 
nesium cement does not seem capable of uniting, and holding 
with great tenacity. The process of making stones by this method 
is as follows: Natural magnesite — carbonate of magnesia —is 
first calcined, which reduces it to the oxide of magnesium. In 
this state it is mixed dry in the proper proportion, by weight, with 
the powdered marble, quartz, sand, or whatever material forms 
the basis of the stone. It is then wetted with bittern water, 
which converts the oxide of magnesium into the oxychloride. 
The now semi-plastic mixture is rammed into moulds, where it 
speedily hardens sufliciently to be taken out and laid on skids. 
In 2 hours’ time the stone is so hard that the heaviest rain will 
not wash the corners off, and in from a week to two weeks the 
stones may be marketed and used. 

These stones are, according to good authority, capable of with- 
standing even more severe weather tests than natural stones. 
Tests made in Boston as to their strength are certified ‘to have 
given better results than natural stone; and certainly the speci- 
mens we have, indicate that they are in no way inferior to the 
natural stones they severally represent. 

The hydraulicity of magnesium salts has attracted the attention 
of several of the most eminent chemists in the world. * 

In a note recently read before the Academy of Sciences, in 
Paris, by M. Deville, he called attention to the action of water 
upon magnesia. A portion of a specimen of magnesia, prepared 
by calcining the chloride sent him several years previously by 
M. Denny, was kept constantly exposed to water under the taps 
of his laboratory. After a time it assumed a remarkable con- 
sistence, it could scratch marble, and, though subjected to atmos- 
pheric action for 6 years, it underwent no perceptible change. 

The substance proved to be a erystallized hydrate. Subse- 
quently, with magnesia prepared from the hydrate, he obtained 
similar results, and casts of medals after having been placed in 
water assumed the appearance of marble. 


72 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Magnesia, obtained by calcination of the chloride prepared by 
treatment of sea-water, though its hydraulicity is partially de- 
stroyed by calcining at a white heat, exhibits remarkable hy- 
dranlic qualities when brought to a red heat. Equal parts of 
chalk or marble and magnesia formed into a plastic mass, be-. 
come hydrated and extremely hard when acted upon by water. 
A paste made from dolomite, calcined below a red heat and pow- 
dered, forms, under water, a stone of extraordinary hardness. 

The experiments of M. Deville show that to the hydraulicity of 
magnesia is due the union of the particles of chalk or marble in 
forming a compact, homogeneous stone, and numerous obvious 
applications of this property of magnesia in the arts will readily 
suggest themselves. 

M. Frémy, in his published researches on hydraulic cements, 
attributes the setting of hydraulic lime, first, to the hydration of 
the aluminate of lime, and, second, to the reaction of the hydrate 
of lime upon the silicate of lime, and the silicates of alumina and 
lime. 

It is evident from these observations that the oxychloride of 
magnesium is a cement of great power and durability, and that 
as an hydraulic cement it ranks among the best known to modern 
science. Its application to artificial stone manufacture, we think, 
solves the problem of how to make such stones of proper density, 
durability, strength, and capability of taking a high polish. If 
we may credit the statements in regard to cost of manufacture, 
there seems no reason why stones of this kind should not be able 
to more than compete with cut stones of any variety and for any 
purpose. — Scientific American. 


THE DARIEN CANAL SURVEY. 


The United States government expedition sent to survey the 
Darien Isthmus has returned. Owing to unavoidable causes the 
expedition did not reach the Isthmus till about April 1. They 
immediately landed at Caledonia Bay and made a careful explo- 

ration of the route proposed by Dr. Cullen. They found the 
lowest mountain pass to be over 600 feet above the sea level. About 
the first of May the party proceeded to explore the San Blas route 
from Mandinga Bay, on the Atlantic, to Chepo, at the southern 
end of Panama Bay, on the Pacific. This route, Com. Selfridge 
thinks, is available. Tlre rainy season commenced before he 
landed at San Blas, and all the country was flooded with water, 
yet from his reconnoissance he thinks that a careful survey will 
develop a route whereby a canal can be made with only 27 ‘niles 
of cutting. We are pleased to see that he is already ordered to 
reorganize his expedition for a renewal of the survey next winter. 
The route favored by Com. Selfridge is the narrowest point of the 
whole Isthmus. It is said that the tidal waters of the two oceans 
there come regularly within 7 miles of each other, and it is there 
that the tradition exists that the Indians and buccaneers drew their 
canoes across. It was there, too, that Vasco Nunez di Balboa 
landed, and journeying toward the Pacific first saw the waters of 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 73 


that ocean from the heights south-east of Panama. The harbors 
on both sides are good. This route was brought before the pub- 
lic by Mr. Oliphant in a lecture before the British Geographical 
Society. It was reconnoitred for F. M. Kelly, Esq., of New 
York, in 1864, and, while having many favorable points, was re- 
ported against on account of a proposed tunnel, the engineers 
at the same time stating that they believed a better route could 
be found. 

One of the great objections urged to this part of the Isthmus 
has been supposed unhealthiness. Com. Selfridge reports that his 
men had good health, and only one died. This from a crew num- 
bering fully 600 men does not indicate a very unhealthy climate. 

As Com. Selfridge is to proceed again to the Isthmus next win- 
ter, and we suppose not only make a thorough survey of the San 
Blas, but also of the Panama route, some definite information may 
at last be expected as to an American interoceanic canal. Then, 
too, we notice that Congress is about to appropriate 35,000 dollars 
for the survey of the Tehuantepec line. 


SUEZ CANAL. 


The report of M. de Lesseps, presented to the shareholders at 
Paris, states that 1,600,000 dollars will be required this year to com- 
plete or improve the works. The total number of vessels passed 
through the canal, from the day of its opening to the 15th of March, 
was 209. 

In the report of Captain Richards, R.N., and Lieut. Col. Clark, 
C.B., sent by the English government to examine the canal, with 
reference to the future utility of the same to the English marine, 
we observe that by 52 accurate sections, taken at different points, 
the canalis found to be essentially completed according to the 
original, or rather modified, designs of the company, and ‘‘ is, at 
the present moment, undeniably a navigable canal for vessels of 
considerable draft and tonnage.” 

It appears that the company intend, without delay, to reduce 
the sharpness of certain curves, and widen the bed at these points 
to 130 feet on the floor; also to make the channel at Port Said 
30 feet deep. This will require the removal of about 451,000 
cubic yards of earth. 

It is also intended to mark the banks of the canal by conspic- 
uous beacons at each mile, and to provide posts or bollards for 
securing ships or heaving them off at every tenth of a mile, and 
to mark the limits of 16 feet water on each side by buoys placed 
about 400 yards apart. 

According to the same report, no difficulty is to be apprehended 
in regard to the harbor of Port Said, either with reference to 
keeping the channei open or in its approach by vessels. 

So, also, as to the silting up of the canal by drifting sand, the 
permanence of the fresh-water canal, now 10 years old, is con- 
clusive evidence upon this point. 

The authors of this report further conclude that the use of this 


74. ; ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


canal will be decidedly advantageous to several classes of war 
vessels and to the mercantile marine.—Journal Lranklin Institute. 


SURVEY OF THE ISTHMUS OF DARIEN FOR AN INTEROCEANIC 
CANAL. 


The expedition for the survey of the Isthmus of Darien to ascer- 
tain the practicability of a route for the interoceanic canal, under 
the command of Commander T. O. Selfridge, U.S.N., sailed 
from New York in the latter part of January, 1870. 

During 6 months of the year, a heavy sea breaks all along the 
Atlantic border of the Isthmus, and, consequently, the necessity 
of a good harbor narrows very much the field of research, which 
a knowledge of the orology of the Isthmus also limits to a corre- 
sponding degree. There are but 3 harbors on the Atlantic coast of 
the Isthmus, adapted for the terminus of a canal,—the Gulf of 
San Blas, Caledonia Bay, and the Gulf of Uroba or Darien. The 
first 2 are magnificent bays, easy of access, and entirely protected 
from the north winds and heavy swell. The Cordilleras Lloranes 
skirt the coast at distances varying from 3 to 8 miles, without a ° 
break, except at the northern and southern extremities, while the 
Chiman range, crossing the Isthmus, indicates that in the central 
portion will be found the greatest amount of mountain area. 

The survey was begun at Caledonia Bay in the latter part of 
February. The whole face of the country is covered with a prime- 
val forest, impenetrable from the thick undergrowth but by slow 
and laborious cutting, through which the surveyor struggles with 
his compass and level, secing neither the sky above nor the country 
around. In these circumstances it-was soon evident to the com- 
mander of the expedition, that the most practical as well as the 
most expeditious method would be to carry on the survey up the 
different water-courses. ‘This would give at all times the lowest 
level, the rivers would lead to passes in the mountains did such 
exist, and the best results would be obtained in the shortest space 
of time. As the work proceeded, should any route indicate a level 
adapted for the proposed line, a more exhaustive survey would be 
undertaken. 

Reconnoissances with the barometer were made up all the streams 
emptying into Caledonia Bay, including the Aglamate, Aglaseni- 
qua, and Washington Rivers. While these were in progress, a ° 
- reconnoissance in force was made over the mountains to the Pacif- 
ic slope down the Sucubti, until the villages of the mountain Jn- 
dians, the Sucubti tribe, were reached. Here a treaty was made by 
the commander with’'them, similar to one with the coast Indians, 
and the exertions made to show them that we had not come to oc- 
cupy the country, but merely to look at it, coupled with rigid orders 
not to molest their property, enabled us at all times to remain on 
the most friendly terms. 

The result of these explorations failed to exhibit any signs of a 
pass, and the line up the Aglaseniqua River, thence over the moun- 
tains, giving the lowest average level, was selected as the one to 
be surveyed. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 7d 


A line of levels was successfully carried from the sea over the 
dividing range, at an altitude of 1200 feet, and down to the Su- 
cubti, at a point about 3 miles below its sources, where an alti- 
tude of 560 feet was obtained. A series of careful observations 
were made with both the aneroid and mercurial barometers, at 
the different bench-marks, whose height was already determined 
by the spirit-level. They resulted in showing that the aneroid 
barometer was totally unreliable, being often 100 feet in error, 
while the extreme deviation of the mercurial barometer was never 
more than 30 feet, and the average not more than 12 feet from 
the correct height. The height of the Sucubti, by spirit-level 560 
feet, was evidence sufficient that no pass below that altitude ex- 
isted in the divide. This river with its tributaries, the Napsati 
and Asnati, drain a large area of country, of which its bed must 
necessarily represent the lowest level. ‘ Careful observations with 
the mercurial barometer were made down the Sucubti to its junc- 
tion with the Chucunagua, at which was found an altitude of 159 
feet. 10 miles down the Chucunagua an altitude of 99 feet was 
obtained. 

In all observations with the barometer a standard was also 
noted at the sea-shore. 

All idea of a pass in the divide being exploded, there remained 
the sole test of a tunnel to decide upon the impracticability of 
this route. Allowing the largest error ever obtained in our exper- 
iments in the barometrical heights of the Sucubti, taking 30 feet 
as the depth of our canal, and conceding that at 200 feet tunnel- 
ling is more economical than open cutting, there will be found a 
distance of 10 miles from an altitude of 200 feet on the Atlantic 
slope to a corresponding one on the Pacific, or, in other words, a 
tunnel of this length would be necessary. The country in the 
vicinity of the Sassordi River presenting favorable indications from 
the sea, a similar exploration and survey was carried on from 
Sassordi harbor, some 10 miles north of the previous surveys. 
This was continued up the Sassordi River across the divide to the 
Morti, but a like result was obtained, requiring a tunnel of 8 
miles in length to span the mountain area. 

The northern portion of the Isthmus, from the Gulf of San Blas 
to the Pacific, forms the narrowest portion of the continent, but 
30 miles in width. The shortness of this line, the appearance of 
the interior from the sea, and the magnificent harbor, pointed it 
out as the proper field for still further explorations. Work was 
accordingly begun about the 1st of May, and though the rainy 
season had begun, the favorable indications of this line filled all 
with enthusiasm to push ahead in spite of the hardships and ob- 
stacles arising from an inclement season. The line of levels was 
carried up the Mandinga, the largest river emptying into the 
Atlantic between the Chagres and the Atrato, and crossed the 
divide at an altitude of 1100 feet. 

It was continued in a §.S.E. direction down the Pacific slope, 
till, at a distance run by level of 23 miles from the sea, it met, at 
the junction of the Marmoniand San Jose Rivers, with the survey 
of Mr. Keiley’s in 1864, whose engineers ran a line of levels from 


76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the Pacific up the Marmoni to this point. This survey in connec- 
tion with Mr. Kelley’s gives a line of spirit-levels from ocean to 
ocean that, following the bed of streams which flow transversely 
across the isthmus, present the lowest possible profile. The result 
showed a mountain area of 10 miles that would require to be 
tunnelled, an undertaking too costly to be profitable, if within 
the limits of engineering, while the other portions of this route 
present the most favorable aspects. 

The southern portion of the Isthmus still remains to be ex- 
plored. The government propose to continue these surveys the 
coming season, which will be carried up the valley of the Tuyra, 
across the divide to the Cacarica Lake, not far from the mouths 
of the Atrato. This region was visited by Hellert, an experienced 
German traveller, in 1845, who reported the divide not over 200 
feet, but this is very unreliable, as he was so unfortunate as to 
lose his instruments before it was reached. The expedition re- 
turned to New York in July, and though not successful in finding 
a proper route, have reaped a full reward for their labors in the 
clearing away of all doubt from 3 separate routes, and their elim- 
ination in the future from the field of research. ; 


CENTRAL SHAFT HOOSAC TUNNEL. 


At last, after years of toil, and at a cost of close upon half a 
million of dollars, the great central shaft of the Hoosac has 
reached the grade of the tunnel; 1,030 feet below the natural sur- 
face. This shaft is elliptical, the transverse diameter being 27 feet 
and the conjugate 15 feet, passing the entire depth through a 
compact mica-slate formation intermixed at intervals with white 
quartz. At the commencement of the present contract with the 
Messrs. Shanly, there required to be done 447 feet. This has 
been accomplished since June 1, 1869, say in 15 months; giving 
a monthly average of 29.8 feet. The largest month’s work was 
38 feet. At intervals of about 18 feet are floors of heavy timbers, 
supported by ‘‘ hitches ” cut in the rock, connected by ladders, in 
case of accident to the hoisting apparatus, and forming supports 
for the wooden ‘* guides,” in which the cross-head travels, under 
which is suspended the boiler-plate iron bucket, of a capacity of 
about 400 gallons. The work has been impeded slightly by 
water, of which the shaft makes nearly 3 inches per hour. To 
raise this water, an engine of 60 horse-power is constantly work- 
ing, pumping all the water which collects as far down as 650 feet, 
caught in tanks by sloping ‘ drip roofs.” Below this, the water 
on the bottom has been hoisted in the iron bucket, a bucketful 
being sent up by the miners whenever the quantity became incon- 
venient. Now, the shaft being at grade, a ‘‘ sump” will be sunk 
and a water-bucket with bottom valve used, thus avoiding the 
tedious task of bailing into the bucket by hand. 

Workmen are now employed trimming the sides of the shaft, 
and preparing the ‘“‘ guides ” for a wooden cage to be substituted 
for the bucket so soon as the ‘‘ headings,” east and west, at the 


5 MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 77 


bottom, are sufficiently advanced to use rock cars, when the rock 
will be raised to the top direct from the headings, cars and all. 
The shaft being at grade necessitates, probably, the most deli- 
cate and responsible professional act an engineer may ever ex- 
pect to meet, it being necessary to lay down a line less than 27 
feet in length at the bottom of a dripping dark shaft 1,030 feet 
deep, so that both ends of the line being produced shall coincide 
with the terminal points of the tunnel, each being distant over 
12,000 feet from the centre of the shaft. To increase the initial 
difficulty, the top of the shaft is on the summit of a rugged moun- 
tain, from 1,500 to 1,800 feet above the grade of the tunnel at its 
termini. It is no light responsibility to assume charge of this op- 
eration. The State of Massachusetts has had manufactured a 
colossal transit instrument, of the most elaborate and perfect con- 
struction, costing 3,000 dollars. The most accurately verified 
lines have been laid down over the mountain, extending long dis- 
tances beyond in both directions to the tops of neighboring moun- 
tains. By the accuracy of this instrument and its manipulation, 
the line of 27 feet (the transverse diameter of the shaft) will be 
permanently defined, requiring wonderful exactness, and from its 
extremities the ‘‘ plummet” alone can reach the bottom of the 
shaft. These plummets must of necessity be weighty and beauti- 
fully poised, and will require to be suspended in oil to produce 
perfect rest and protection from the faintest vibration of the air. 
The most delicate cords, consistent with strength, must be used 
to suspend them, and after all is done that science can suggest 
(being perfect as to theory) any intelligent mind can understand 
how delicate and fraught with danger is the practical part of the 
operation to the engineer, and what grave effects the slightest 
error would produce on so small a base as 27 feet. It is quite 
possible the motion of the earth may affect the plummets more or 
less; but this point has not yet been thoroughly investigated. 


THE HOOSAC TUNNEL. 


The Hoosac Tunnel, it is reported, is now progressing at the 
rate of 10 feet a day, —4 feet from the west end, and 6 feet from 
the east end. The central shaft is complete; its depth to the floor 
of the tunnel is 1,030 feet. Work at the new headings is already 
begun. The tunnel has been excavated 11,765 feet at both por- 
tals, that is, 6,946 feet at east side, and 4,819 feet on the west 
side. — Van Nost. Eng. Mag. 


INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION. 


Mr. Bessemer supplies the following description of his inven- 
tion for improving steam communication by the construction of 
a suspended chamber. He says: ‘‘ The experimental vessel is of 
only 153 tons’ measurement, and, although much too small to at- 
tain the best results, is, nevertheless, quite large enough to make 
the Channel passage, and prove, beyond question, the practica- 


bility, or otherwise, of the mechanical principle involved. Not 
Pfc 


78 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the least of the advantages which the new system of ocean tran- 
sit offers is the shortness of the time and the small amount of 
capital required to put it into operation at every seaport in the 
kingdom. For instance, 2 steamers, fitted with means for the 
most luxurious accommodation of passengers, in vessels of great 
size, and having suflivient engine power to cross the Channel in 
60 to 65 minutes, and fully adequate to carry the entire pas- 
senger traffic, could be put on the station within 8 or 9 months 
from the date of order, at a cost not exceeding £130,000. The 
commercial advantages of such a system, as compared with those 
proposals which would require some £8,000,000 or £10,000,000 
sterling, and several years to execute, will be readily appre- 
ciated by the public, the more so as my system will be subjected 
to the test of actual trial before a shilling need be expended by 
the public upon it. The proposed new system does not contem- 
plate the employment of ships that shall be motionless except in 
the direction of their course; for the waves would strike on such 
a vessel as on a rock, and dash themselves over her as they some- 
times leap the Eddystone. It does not attempt to arrive at the 
end desired simply by construction of ships or rafts of vast size, 
for it is well known that the largest ships that have ever been 
built roll frightfully in the Channel in bad weather; nor is it by 
any new and untried external form of the vessel, involving new 
problems in navigation; on the contrary, my system in no way 
whatever interferes with the external form or with the sailing 
qualities and safety of the vessel, the whole difference being in 
the internal arrangements of the ship, and is based on the well- 
known law that all bodies which revolve or roll, in so doing, 
move about a centre where there is no motion, and all beams that 
vibrate move also about a centre, from which point the distance 
moved through by any part of the beam is as the distance from 
this central point. Now, therefore, if we make the centres, 
about which the vessel pitches and rolls, coincident with the axes 
on which the saloon is suspended by suitable mechanism, and 
provided with a heavy counterbalance weight beneath the centre 
of gravity, the tendency of this weight will be at all times to 
keep the saloon poised on the centre of the vessel’s motion, and 
therefore free from pitching or rolling, its floor remaining always 
quiet and horizontal, while the vessel itself may be pitching and 
rolling about the centre of suspension. ‘The most convenient 
form for such a saloon is circular, surmounted by a large dome, 
lighted at the top with glass. It is proposed to make this circular 
saloon of 50 feet in diameter, and 28 fect in height internally, 
having a gallery extending entirely around its interior at about 
9 feet from the floor. A continuous couch around this gallery 
would accommodate 60 persons, while about 70 others would find 
a similar accommodation below, independently of the large space 
afforded by the floor of the saloon. This large and lofty apart- 
ment, although much smaller, would present somewhat the gen- 
eral appearance of the new reading-room at the British Museum. 
It would be supplied with plenty of cool, fresh air from below, 
which would pass off through the glass louvres in the dome. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79 


The saloon would be entirely separated from the rest of the ves- 
sel by water-tight bulkheads, thus cutting off all unpleasant 
smells from the engines and boilers. The suspension is so ar- 
ranged that the vibration of the engines and propeller cannot be 
transmitted to the saloon, which is also relieved from the con- 
stant thud of the waves striking against the sides of the vessel, 
because there is no contact between the ship’s sides and the walls 
of the saloon. Suitable ante-rooms leading from the saloon are 
also provided for invalids, etc. The general plan also embraces 
the construction of raised deck platforms, so arranged that those 
who prefer the open air may have beneath them a steady platform 
free from the rolling and pitching motion of the vessel. From 
the cursory view here given of the mode in which I propose to 
secure at all times a perfectly steady platform on board ship, the 
scientific reader will, doubtless, see many grave difficulties. He 
will probably ask, How do you propose that passengers shall pass 
from the reeling deck backward and forward at all times into 
your quiet, immovable saloon? How can you prevent a pendu- 
lous motion of the saloon from being set up by the variation in 
position of the centre, which will occur unless your vessel rolls 
and pitches at all times actually on a point coincident with the 
point where you have established your centre of suspension ? 
How can you prevent the saloon from being put in motion by 
people moving in it from side to side? My reply to these antici- 
pated inquiries is simply that each of them, and many others be- 
side, have been presented to my mind in full force during the 
elaboration of my plans, and each has been so fully met and pro- 
vided for as to offer not the slightest obstacle to that success 
which I believe my little ship, the ‘ Enterprise,’ will fully estab- 
lish when put to sea, until which time I must beg the critic to 
suspend his judgment.” — Van Nost. Eng. Mag. 


ACTION OF SEA-WATER ON THE METALLIC FASTENINGS OF 
SHIPS. 


We extract from the proceedings of the Institution of Naval 
Architects, London, the following short but comprehensive paper 
read by William Poole King at a recent meeting. Of course the 
facts stated apply equally to all similar fastenings employed in _ 
stationary floating structures and docks: — 

‘¢ The small fastenings of ships are trenails, iron bolts, and cop- 
per metal bolts. Each have their advantages and defects. 

‘*The trenail, generally an oak bar of 13 inch to 14 inch in 
diameter, is a cheap fastening. It carries no galvanic influence 
from the outside copper on the bottom of a ship to create rust in 
the iron work within, and is vulgarly considered the very stamina 
and constitution of a ship; still it must strike every one not 
blinded by routine that nothing can be more absurd than to pre- 
pare oak timbers square, and cut out all the sap from them, at the 
cost of about a crown per foot cubic, and then drill this expensive 
timber full of holes from 14 inch to 14 inch wide, in order to 


80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


drive in trenails, and thus take at least half the strength out of 
the timber. 

‘«¢ About seaports, where old ships are broken up, many old 
timbers are met with in the fields spotted with two large holes in 
about every foot of their length; decay will be observed in all 
these holes, caused by the woody fibre being bruised by trenail- 
driving, for bruised fibre gives nourishment to dry-rot fungus. 
Trenails having been squeezed in driving become rotten ‘and 
weak, cease to “hold the planks to the timbers with firmness, vet 
bent, and allow a ship to bend and yield throughout its whole 
frame ; this is called hogging and sagging. 

“Tron bolts and spikes are the cheapest strength that can be 
put into a ship. ‘They are the handiest fastenings that a workman 

can use; and a little rusting allows a very small fastening to take 
a very strong hold ; in fact, it is everything that could be wished 
did if but last without decay. 

‘Ina ship iron bolts are always damp and always rust; rust 
frets away woody fibre. Iron bolts, too, always contain a por- 
tion of sulphur, which gets converted into sulphuric acid, which 
decomposes both the salts always found in oak, and also salt water, 
never absent at sea. A ring of decomposed wood surrounds 
every bolt; and as the salts and oxide of iron are not prejudicial 
to fungus growth, dry-rot fungus takes possession of the ring of 
decomposed wood. 

‘‘Tron bolts are inadmissible in the bottoms of ships sheathed 
with copper; the salt water acting on so large an extent of cop- 
per sends such quantities of electricity through the iron bolt that. 
the substance of the bolt is carried away, and a vacancy, which 
lets in leaking-water, is left in its place. 

“* Copper bolts and cupreous metal bolts are more expensive 
and less strong than iron, but, unlike iron bolts, instead of fretting 
the wood in which they are inserted, actually preserve it, for the 
verdigris which is formed on the copper bolt poisons the dr y-rot 
fungus. But the copper bolt has the serious disadvantage of 
havi ing little hold on the wood through which it passes, and this 
little holdfast becomes less after the wood has shrunk with age, 
so that the only value of the fastening power of copper metal 
bolts is left in the riveted ends of the bolt, and when this end 
breaks off, as it frequently does in 9 or 10 years, by getting crys- 
tallized, the fastening is of no value at all. 

“Trenails are too cheap and useful, as plugs for keeping out 
leaking-water, to be given up in wooden- -ship construction ; but 
the disadvantage of their unwieldy size, boring through and de- 
stroying everything, should be reduced as much as possible. 
Trenails should be always of the best materials, creosoted to pre- 
vent the introduction of dry-rot, kept small in size to prevent 
their doing immoderate harm to the worthier parts of the ship, 
ae driven short to obviate the destruction of timbers. and 

oors. 

«Tt is agreed on all sides that iron bolts must never be used in 
the wake of copper sheathing. Indeed, to insure the durability 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 81 


of the structure of a ship iron bolts should never be driven at all, 
except in situations where they can be removed and replaced. 

‘¢ Covering iron bolts with zine (called galvanizing) does not 
protect the iron from-rusting, as the acid of the oak surrounding 
the bolt soon dissolves off the zinc cover, and corrosion proceeds 
with all its concomitant evils. 

«A large quantity of copper metal fastening is now required in 
first-class ships. Itis expensive. Let us inquire how the great- 
est strength, at the lowest cost, can be got from it. 

‘<The screw form, I believe, will be found the strongest and 
cheapest method for the use of copper metal. This form gives a 
secure hold, and does not injure the wood if the pitch of the 
screw be kept high; that is, the threads of the screw be kept far 
apart. I have been accustomed to use screws 7 inches long in- 
stead of trenails. 

‘sThe bolt is moulded in threads, 3 turns in an inch, cut in a 
three-quarters inch bolt of Prince’s metal, weighing 134 oz., and 
costing 9d. This screwed through a 3-inch plank penetrates the 
timbers 4 inches and requires no rivet, as I have tried to start a 
deal end from a 4-inch thick piece of oak secured in this manner, 
with a strain of 36 ewt. suspended, without having been able to 
produce the least separation of the deal from the oak. The 
necessity of a through fastening does not exist, as the timber can 
be secured to the ceiling by a similar screw to keep it exactly in 
place; thus a long length of metal bolt is saved, the timber but 
slightly wounded, and the strength of the frame immeasurably 
increased. 

‘‘ For larger fastenings, such as those for securing timbers and 
floors to iron riders, I have used a thread one-eighth inch in 
height, placed round outside a seven-eighths inch Prince’s metal 
bolt, instead of cutting into the body of the bolt, in order to pre- 
serve its lateral strength and rigidity. The turns of the screw 
are 3 in 2 inches; a length of 14 inches weighs 3 pounds, and 
costs 2s. 6d. I found a strain of 49 cwt. was barely sufficient to 
tear this screw through a 3-inch deck deal end, and of course a 
longer length screwed into oak would require a heavier strain 
for its removal. 

‘‘Pure copper cannot be cast into a screw for any strength, 
and therefore I have used Prince’s metal (a mixture of 16 oz. 
copper, 8 oz. zinc, and 4 oz. tin.) This mixture runs into every 
sinuosity of the casting-mould, is so tough that it will bend more 
than double cold, and I believe will not crystallize and break 
when it has grown old.” 


THE ‘** CAPTAIN.” 


The following are the particulars and dimensions of the ‘* Cap- 
tain,” whose recent loss has startled the American as well as the 
British public. H.B.M.S. ‘‘Captain;” designer, Capt. Cowper 
eer moni builders, Messrs. Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, G. 

.» 1870. 


82 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Hull 320 feet long; 53 feet 8 inches beam, 24 feet 94 inches 
depth. Tonnage 4,272 B.M. Plating, 8, 7 and 6 inch on hull, 1 
and 14 inch on spar-deck, 10 and 9 inch on turrets, with teak 
backing. Forecastle and poop-decks 11 feet high, connected by 
hurviecane-deck 24 feet wide, with iron deck-house between tur- 
rets; 2 25-ton 600-pounder guns. Deck 6 feet above water. 
Ship rig, ‘‘ tripod” masts; 33,000 square feet of canvas; fitted 
with 7 boats and 2 steam launches. Engines, 2 pairs trunk en- 
gines, 900 N.H.P., surface condensers ; 2 screws, 16 feet diameter 
each. Speed on measured mile, full power 14.239 knots; half- 
power 11,697. Complement of officers and men, about 500. — 
Journal Franklin Instituée. 


CONSTRUCTION OF THE ‘“* CAPTAIN.” 


The particulars of the sinking of the ‘‘ Captain” leave hardly 
any doubt upon the faults of construction to whieh her Joss must 
be attributed. Although of 1,000 tons less burden than the ‘* Mon- 
arch,” she had the same heavy armament and thick plating as 
that great ship, with enormous iron masts, large spars, and an 
unprecedentedly extensive area of canvas. The ‘*‘ Monarch” hasa 
freeboard of 14 feet; the ‘‘ Captain,” in accordance with the sys- 
tem of her designer, was built only 9 feet above the water. Thus 
she was in the first place especially liable to heel beyond the cen- 
tre of gravity, in consequence of the great weight of the spars, 
sails, and turrets above deck, and in the second place particularly 
apt to ship heavy seas on account of the lowness of her freeboard. 
Being struck by a squall on the port side, she gave a sudden 
lurch, so that the tops of the turrets were under water, and the 
wind got so powerful a purchase against the under part of the 
broad hurricane-deck, which extends from bows to stern above 
the turrets, that she was unable to right herself, and was actually 
overset by the weight of her masts. She was a more dangerous 
vessel than the ‘*‘ Monarch,” first, in having disproportionately 
heavy spars and too much canvas; secondly, in having too low a 
sea-board; thirdly, in having a wide hurricane-deck where the 
‘¢ Monarch” has only a bridge; fourthly, in carrying too much 
weight above the water-line in proportion to her draught. Her 
loss seems to settle the principle that low freeboard and heavily 
armed turrets, however applicable to vessels of the monitor class 
without masts, cannot be safely combined in sea-going vessels 
designed to spread canvas. — NV. Y. Tribune. 


WINDWARD. GREAT-GIRCLE SAILING. 


Mr. J. T. Towson, secretary of the Liverpool Local Marine 
Board, read a paper at the meeting of the British Association, 
“¢On Windward Great-Circle Sailing,” illustrated by the Transat- 
lantic yacht race. Mr. Towson referred to the tables for facili- 
tating great-circle sailing constructed by him, and published by 
the Admiralty 24 years since, in which he pointed out the value 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 83 


of windward great-circle sailing. The other modification of this 
sailing had been brought into successful use; but windward sail- 
ing, although it appeared most simple, had been generally mis- 
understood by practical men. Some had obtained charts having 
great-circle routes laiddown. If they were driven from this tr ack 
by adverse winds, they returned as soon as the wind would per- 
mit them, not perceiving that when they had quitted one great 
cirele there was another great circle, which was their nearest 
route. Others imagined that this sailing consisted in going a cer- 
tain number of miles to the northward. The rule was “simple. 
‘‘Find the great-circle course, and put the ship on that tack 
which is the nearer to the great-circle course. In January last 
he was invited by Mr. Ashbury to prepare sailing directions for 
the Cambria yacht, which he did. These directions were shown 
by achart. It consisted of the great-circle course, corrected for 
variation, for every part of the Atlantic it was probable that a 
vessel should pass. Ail the mariner had to do was to ascertain 
his approximate position, and then he would find by inspection 
how to keep the ship’s head by compass. The distance from the 
place of destination was also given by another chart containing 
the position, of both yachts at noon for each day. Mr. Towson 
showed that the ‘‘ Cambria” saved the race by superior naviga- 
tion. This sailing gave the greatest advantage when the distance 
of longitude was “oreatest ; and thus the “ Cambria” attained all 
the advantage that this s sailing could afford in the first 5 days, 
which was about 110 miles; afterwards the superior power for an 
ocean race possessed by the ‘‘ Dauntless” prevailed, and reduced 
this advantage to a minimum. 


THE CABLE SYSTEM OF RIVER NAVIGATION IN GERMANY. 


The Frankfort correspondent of the Chicago ‘‘ Republican,” 
writes that the cable system of navigation is, at the present time, 
making rapid progress in Germany. This system prevails on 
the whole course of the Elbe through the kingdom of Saxony, and 
to some extent in the neighborhood of Magdeburg, and its exten- 
sion into the interior of Bohemia on the one hand, and to Ham- 
burg on the other, is projected, and is expected to be completed 
in a short time. On ihe Danube and its affluents the laying of a 
wire cable by the Danubian Steamship Navigation Company 
(Donau-Dampf-schiff farthgeselschaft) is being quickly and ener- 
getically prosecuted. The laying of one along the Rhine in West- 
phalia has already been completed. It is also intended to make 
this fresh invention available for the smaller streams of Ger- 
many, as, for instance, on the Saale and the Unstrut, for which 
the civil engineer, Opel; of Merseburg, a little while ago, recom- 
mended the laying of a wire cable instead of the proposed con- 
struction of a towing-path. This system of cable navigation 
(either by ropes or chains) is likewise cheaper than the use of 
towing-paths, and by this method, also, the possessors of land and 
other property on the banks of rivers are spared many inconyen- 


84 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


iences and unpleasantnesses, which are otherwise unavoidable. 
Opel has also shown the superiority which cable steamers possess 
over paddle-wheel steamers, since the former cause no ripple. 
This system has likewise an advantage in point of economy, since 
a steamer working on a chain or rope can make use of from 90 to 
94 per cent. of its steam power, while a paddle-wheel steamer can 
only use 60 per cent., and even, in case of a strong current, only 
30 per cent. As a rule, says the ‘‘ Bearbeiter,” the passenger 
boat with a 45 horse-power engine must discontinue its voyage 
at high water, while a towing steamer with a 14 horse-power en- 
gine holds the navigation open. The cable system of navigation 
can go on undisturbed in general so long as the sluices remain in 
good working order. While, on account of the inundation, etc., 
the towing-path is inaccessible, such hindrances, on the contrary, 
form no obstacle to the steamer on the cable; or, at most, it only 
requires somewhat more coal, if the current be strong. The most 
important argument, however, in favor of the introduction of this 
system of navigation by means of a cable laid along the bed of the 
river lies in the fact that a certain plan can be held; the failure 
of navigation lies principally in this, that the condition of the 
weather, or the negligence of the captain, may cause an unpunc- 
tual arrival of the cargo at its place of destination. The journey ~ 
from Magdeburg to Hamburg, by means of the cable system, 
can be accomplished in 3 days, while now often 4 weeks are 
required. Tremendous as the difference is, it is, nevertheless, 
given as a fact by the above-named paper. There are two diffi- 
culties which present obstacles to the introduction of this system 
on some streams; for instance, on the Rhone and Saone, in France, 
this method of river navigation is not possible, because those 
rivers convey with them too great a quantity of sand, and thus 
clog up the cable. The other difficulty is the sharp bending of 
streams, as in the case of the Saale; but the impediment can be 
overcome to some-extent by attaching fewer boats to the tugging 
steamer. The ‘‘ Bearbeiter” makes the remark: ‘ If we cannot 
succeed so far as to see 30 boats dragged one after the other on 
the Saale, as on the Seine, we must, for the present, be satisfied 
to transport 3 or 4.” On the Oder, also, this system is about 
to be adopted; but this river has, in one place, only a depth of 
15 inches; and it is, therefore, necessary to build the vessel 
according to the nature of the stream. On the Elbe, with from 
17 to 18 inches of depth, it succeeds well, and the investment has 
realized from 9 to 12 per cent. In the Saale, at low water, there 
is a depth of 28 inches, which, however, soon deepens to from 
36 to 40 inches, which is a circumstance much in favor of the above 
system. . 


THE GUATTARI ATMOSPHERIC TELEGRAPH. 


This new invention is stated to consist of certain arrangements 
and combinations of apparatus whereby ordinary air, compressed 
and passed through a tube, is utilized as a means of communicat- 
ing intelligence from one given point to another, effecting the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 85 


same object as the electric telegraph. The principal portion of 
the apparatus consists of a reservoir or air-vessel which is 
charged or filled with air compressed to any desired degree 
according to the initial velocity or force which it is requisite the 
movements of the air employed should possess. A double-action 
compression-pump, or any other suitable mechanism, may be em- 
ployed to charge the reservoir or air-vessel and to sustain the 
pressure to the required degree. The reservoir or air-vessel is 
connected by means of a tube or pipe with a writing-apparatus of 
any suitable description, and such as are well known and 
understood, especially in connection with electro-telegraphy ; the 
tube or pipe being provided with a cork by which more or less 
force may be given to the current of air whereby the writing- 
mechanism is actuated. In order to regulate the signals, a gov- 
ernor or piston, actuated by hand, is employed, by which pul- 
sations or movements of the air in the tube or pipe are transmitted 
through a valve which is arranged therein, the currents actuating 
a lever connected with the writing-apparatus. For the purpose 
of giving or receiving signals, the before-mentioned tube or pipe 
is connected with a conducting tube or pipe constructed of any 
suitable material, and which is so arranged that communication 
ean be established between the air reservoir or vessel, and the 
writing-engine which is placed at the receiving-station, or vice 
versa, by means of stopcocks which are worked by hand. An 
indicator is employed to show the force of the current of air pass- 
ing through the transmitting tube or pipe. Similar arrangements 
are, of course, placed and employed at each end of communica- 
tion. By means of this invention it is stated that intelligence and 
signals can be transmitted to any distance; any of the known 
receiving and recording instruments capable of being used in 
connection therewith being employed. It is obvious that any 
number of conducting-tubes may be employed, the requisite cur- 
rents or pulsations of air therein being produced as before men- 
tioned. The Guattari system claims to be more simple than the 
electric system, both in point of construction and continuous use, 
for whereas in the latter case it is necessary to use the electric 
battery and all its accessories, by the former ordinary atmospheric 
air compressed will perform similar functions. It is also claimed 
for it that it is free from atmospheric influences, which it is well 
known materially disturb the electric telegraph on the occasion 
of storms; and that the tube employed as the medium for conduct- 
ing the air would not be subjected to accidents like the ordinary 
wires, and would therefore necessarily last longer, and thus prove 
much more economical. We understood, also, that it is so simple 
that any person may learn in a few hours how to use and work it 
with the greatest ease, as compared with the electric system; it~ 
is calculated that the machinery necessary to work this system 
could be produced at about one-half the producing and annual 
working cost of the electric system. The Royal Scientific Insti- 
tute of Naples has already awarded to Signor Guattari a gold 
medal in recognition of what they consider an important inven- 
tion, adding a graceful tribute on its presentation to the effect 


86 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


that it was the only gold medal which the Institute had ever 
awarded. The foliowing experiments were made on Monday, 
11th July, 1870: — 

1. Transmission by atmospheric compression by means of the 
large machine, obtaining answers by impulsion and repulsion, — 
Sienor Guattari having at present but one machine. 

2. System of impulsion and repulsion by a naval apparatus, 
which may be used with 5 different derivations or branches. 

3. Universal telegraphy, namely, dispatch telegrams to one or 
more stations at the same time without the aid of the transmittin g- 
machine, or the necessity of the sender remaining fixed to any 
one point. — Nature. 


THE NEW CABLE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 


The new cable for the Submarine Telegraph Company, to be 
laid from Beechy Head to Cape Antifer, near Havre, a distance 
of about 70 miles, has been commenced at Mr. Henley’s works, 
at North Woolwich, and will soon be completed. It forms a 
large, massive c cable, and will be one of the largest yet manufac- 
tured. The core consists of 6 insulated conductors, wound and 
served in the ordinary manner; each conductor is a strand of 7 
wires, weighing 107 pounds per nautical mile, and insulated with 
3 coatings of Chatterton’s compound, and 3 of gutta-percha to 
the weight of about 150 pounds per mile. The severed core is 
sheathed externally with 12 No. O.B.B. galvanized iron wires, 
protected with 2 servings of tarred hemp and bituminous com- 
pound. The shore ends have a similar core, but are sheathed 
with 12 No. 0000 B.B. galvanized iron wires, protected with 2 
servings of hemp and compound. This is the first time wire of 
such enormous diameter has been used for submarine cables. 
Land lines for this cable are being erected between London and 
Beechy Head, and Havre and Paris, so that the new line will be 
an independent one, and will tend to obviate, if not prevent, the 
delays which have frequently occurred in the transmission of mes- 
sages between London and Paris, arising chiefly from a pressure 
of business. In future any breakage which may take place in 
the old and new lines will be quickly repaired, because, under the 
authority given lately, the company will conduct repairs with 
their own repairing ship, instead of employing a tug as hitherto. 
— Van Nostrand’s Ling. Mag. 


« 


PROFESSOR HENRY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE ON LIGHT— 
NING RODS. 


In answer to a letter of inquiry as to the best method of erect- 
ing and constructing lightning rods, Professor Henry gives the 
following instructions : — 

1. The rod should consist of round iron of about one inch in 
diameter; its parts, throughout the whole length, should be in 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 87 
te 


perfect metallic continuity, by being secured together by coupling 
fetales: 

. To secure it from rust the rod should be coated with black 
bese itself a good conductor. 

3. It should terminate in a single platinum point. 

4. The shorter and more direct the course of the rod to the 
earth the better; bendings should be rounded, and not formed in 
acute angles. 

5. It should be fastened to the building by iron eyes, and may 
be insulated from these by cylinders of glass (1 don’t, however, 
consider the latter of much importance). 

6. The rod should be connected with the earth in the most per- 
fect manner possible, and nothing is better for this purpose than 
to place it in metallic contact with the gas-pipes, or, better, the 
water-pipes of the city. This connection may be made by a 
ribbon of copper or iron soldered to the end of the rod at one of 
its extremities, and wrapped around the pipe at the other. If a 
connection of this kind is impracticable, the rod should be con- 
tinued horizontally to the nearest well, and then turned vertically 
downward until the end enters the water as deep as its lowest 
level. The horizontal part of the rod may be buried in a stratum 
of pounded charcoal and ashes. The rod should be placed, in 
pr eference, on the west side of the building. A rod of this kind 

may be put up by an ordinary blacksmith. The rod in question 
is in accordance with our latest knowledge of all the facts of 
electricity. Attempted improvements on it are worthless, and, 
as a general thing, are proposed by those who are but slichtly 
acquainted with the subject. 


OCEAN TELEGRAPHY. 


Captain Rowett at the meeting of the British Association read a 
paper ‘‘On Ocean Telegraphy.” He discussed at length the va- 
rious properties of the hemp telegraph cable, and to the satisfac- 
tion of the section cleared away the generally received objections 
to light cables, by giving several illustrations, which indisputably 
proved to the audience how perfectly still was the bottom of the 
ocean, and even waters of moderate depths, in which the light 
hempen cable would lie in security. He gave also some striking - il- 
lustrations of the disadvantages of mixing iron wire with hemp, ‘and 
made a polite appeal to the numerous ladies present whether their 
linen was not seriously damaged by contact with iron. Hemp 
was only a coarser kind of the same material, and would be de- 
stroyed by the oxide of iron. He maintained also, and gave ex- 
cellent specimens of the fact, that hemp can be preserved for any 
length of time, and even the salt of the sea preserves the fibre, 
whiist on the other hand it destroys iron. Captain Rowett made a 
forcible appeal for the adoption of the hemp cable, which would 
be half the cost of cables now used, and so do great service to the 
millions who desire to have ocean telegraphy within their reach ; 
and as there was no possibility of doing justice to the subject at a 
meeting of a section of the Association where so much business 


88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 
et 


had to be done in so little time, he offered to discuss the subject 
at length at any time with those interested in the matter. Some 
remarks were made, not only of approval, but the opposite views 
which had been always entertained were now entirely removed. 


ASPHALTE TUBES FOR UNDERGROUND LINES. 


Of what material the tubes used to protect and form a subway 
for underground wires shall be made, has long been an open 
question. °M. Collette, of the Nether: inds Teleor aph Administra- 
tion, has submitted the following interesting f% acts with regard to 
the employment of asphalte. 

In 1865, a trial line, nearly 3,000 yards in length, was laid in 
asphalte tubes in the streets of Amsterdam. These tubes have 

each an_ interior diameter of 3 inches (about 75 millimetres), 
and are 7 feet (2 metres 154 millimetres) in length. They are 
jointed to each other by the aid of mufiles of short pieces of tub- 
ing 4 inches in interior diameter, the interstices being run with 
bitumen. The laying was executed without the least difficulty. 
Only 6 copper wires, covered with a double coat of gutta-percha, 
were, in 1865, introduced into the asphalte tubes; but, 2 years 
after, this number was augmented to 25 wires. It is from this 
occasion that we have been able to ascertain that the wires with- 
drawn from the tubes, after having been worked during 2 years, 
were in such perfect condition that they were replaced with the 
19 new wires. The asphalte tubes, since they were laid, have 
3 times been uninjured by accidents which cast-iron tubes would 
have been unable to resist, and, doubtless, in breaking, would 
have injured the wires. 

Five years have elapsed since the laying in Holland of the first 
line in asphalte tubes, and, hitherto, scientific men have not been 
deceived in their expectations. Also the Netherlands Telegraph 
Administration has not hesitated to follow the path dictated by 
experience. In January of the present year a length of 103 miles 
of underground lines was laid in asphalte tubes. The maximum 
number of wires introduced into tubes, having 3 inches internal 
diameter, amounted to 40. 

The tubes are chiefly manufactured at Hamburg, and the prices 
are as follows: for tubes 7 feet in length and 3 inches in diam- 
_ eter, one dollar per length; for those having the same length 
and 2 inches in diameter, the cost per length, including mufiies 
for jointing, is about 75 cents. Tubes having other dimensions 
have not yet been constructed in Holland. 


THE CHASSEPOT AND THE NEEDLE-GUN. 


An account is published in the ‘Birmingham Gazette” of the 
two weapons which are in the hands of the belli¢er ents on the Con- 
tinent. The ‘‘Zundnadelgewehr,” or needle- -oun, of the Prussian 
service, to which the victories of the Prussian arms in 1866 have 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 89 


been attributed, appears to have been originally patented in 
England, as a muzzle-loader, in 1831, by a Mr. Moser, of Ken- 
nington. The invention came before its time. Its cold recep- 
tion in England drove the patentee to seek foreign patronage for 
his novelty, and Prussia was lucky enough to appreciate and to 
adopt the new weapon. Dreysa, a gunmaker of Sommaler, ap- 
plied the breech-loading principle to Moser’s patent, and thus 
amended, the arm 10 years Jater was in 1848 introduced into the 
Prussian service. The principle, briefly stated, is the driving of 
a pointed piston or ‘‘needle,” by the action of a spiral spring 
(such as is used in the manufacture of children’s toy-guns) into a 
small case of fulminate, contained in and situated between the 
powder and the builet of a single cartridge. In the action of 
opening the breech, the spiral spring is set by the trigger, and 
thus the trigger, when pulled, releases into operation the spiral 
spring, which, 1, in its turn, forces the needle into the cartridge 
and fires the piece. Upon this oldest form of the Prussian needle-. 
gun improvements have been made, the chief effects of which 
have been a reduction of the mechanism of the needle of 1848, 
and a general lightening of the entire piece. None of these 
alterations, however, have touched those two apparent evils in 
the whole form of this arm which militated against its adoption 
by England in 1850. These are the positions of the fulminate in 
the interior of the cartridge and the looseness of mechanism, in- 
volving possibility of the escape of gas round the needle and at 
the base of the plunger. To these two particular points France 
mainly devoted herself in seeking a superior needle-rifle to that 
of Prussia. In the Chassepot such an improved arm has been 
found. <A triple wad of vulcanized India-rubber, placed round 
the axis of the plunger, with a steel plate, forms a cushion to re- 
ceive the force of the rebound and is intended to render the breech 
gas-tight, but has been found in practice only partially adapted to 
that object. An ingenious arrangement of notches on the outer 
girder of iron, before described, enables the gun to be placed at 
half-cock. The needie is lighter and smaller than in the Prussian 
gun, and, above all, the cartridge contains its fulminate at the 
base of the powder, instead of at the base of the bullet. A vac- 
uum left when the gun is charged, between the base of the car- 
tridge and the front of the plunger, is intended to effect the com- 
bustion and removal of any portion of the cartridge-case that may 
remain after firing. As compared with the Prussian gun, this 
Weapon possesses, besides the specific improvements mentioned, 
other advantages of superior manufacture and finish. -Its car- 
tridge, besides admitting the altogether different principle of fir- 
ing, contains a lar ger char ge of powder than the Prussian car- 
tridee, with a smaller bullet, which leaves a manifest advantage in 
carrying to the French weapon; and the fact that the Prussian 
bullet is purposely made so small as not to touch the barrel in its 
passage, while the French bullet is of the ordinary size to fit the 
rifle-barrel, would point to the conclusion that the Prussian 
marksman is at a disadvantage over the Frenchman in respect to 
his arm. The number of times of firing per minute is about the 


90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


same in both cases. The cost of the French weapon considerably 
exceeds that of the Prussian, and the Chassepot is, in addition, a 
more difficult gun to make. To all the comparative information 
which has been published about the French and Prussian guns 
must be added the following from the ‘‘ Journal du Peuple:” At 
500 metres the Prussian weapon gives only negative results, while 
at 1,000 the Chassepot, in the hands of good marksmen, hits the 
target with great force. We call attention.to this point, for in 
the war of large bodies of sharp-shooters (the only system which 
we ought to adopt), an arm which is not reliable over 500 metres 
cannot reach the reserves of the first front, which escapes the 
effect of the enemy’s fire. The drawbacks of large bullets have 
been noticed, the principle being this, that with needle-guns the 
firing is rapid, and, therefore, a great amount of powder is burnt ; 
consequently, the cartridge-box must be well stored. Now there 
is in the weight of ammunition allotted to a foot soldier a total 
which cannot be exceeded, namely, 10 pounds. What will hap- 
pen? With that weight of cartridges the Frenchman will have 
twice as many shots to fire as the Prussian. Nothing is more dif- 
ficult than to replace, during fire, the ammunition by a fresh dis- 
tribution. Thus, the retreat of a division may depend on its 
finding itself in face of an enemy which has still 20 or 30 car- 
tridges a head to fire. It will be seen that the winning of a battle 
may depend on the projectile adopted. — Van Nost. Eng. Mag. 


PROJECTILES. 


An extremely satisfactory result, as far as the navy is con- 
cerned, was lately obtained at Shoeburyness. A target repre- 
senting a portion of the deck of an iron-clad ship, protected by 1- 
inch iron plates, was fired at by the 9-inch muzzle-loading rifled 
gun, the projectile being a Palliser shell, the charge the full batter- 
ing one of 43 pounds, and the distance 100 yards. The target 
was so arranged that the projectile struck at an angle of about 8 de- 
grees from the horizontal, so as to represent the angle of incidence 
of a shot fired direct at about 2,000 yards, or that of a projectile 
fired at 100 yards from a higher level; such, for instance, as that 
of the ‘‘ Monarch’s” battery as compared with the ‘‘ Captain’s.” 
It was found that at this angle the projectile did not enter the 
ship, but, after ploughing up the woodwork of the deck, rico- 
chetted off it, and went away screaming and whistling up into the 
air until lost from sight. One of the disadvantages urged against 
a low freeboard is thus disposed of as far as 9-inch guns are con- 
cerned. The ‘‘ Monarch,” however, is armed with 12-inch guns, 
and it would be interesting to ascertain whether the above results 
would hold good in the case of the larger calibre. It seems de- 
sirable also to ascertain the actual angle at which a projectile 
fired horizontally will penetrate a ship’s deck protected with as 
much iron as is admissible in its construction. Ships’ decks may 
often be subjected to a plunging fire from elevated batteries such 
a those on Stradden Heights or Gibraltar. — Van Nostrand’s Eng. 

ag. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 91 


PRUSSIAN NEEDLE-GUN. 


The alteration of the Prussian needle-gun has been sanctioned 
by the king, in consequence of which 2 or 3,000,000 of rifles 
in the possession of this government will be remodelled. The 
improvements introduced aim at simplifying the loading, and 
increasing the force and range of the ball. For this purpose the 
eaoutchoue ring of the Chassepot has been adopted, which, help- 
ing to close the breach by spontaneous action, renders it unneces- 
sary to press the valves tightly down. In addition to this the 
weight of the ball has been reduced from 31 to 21 grammes, 
which, with the charge remaining at 4.9 grammes as formerly, 
considerably augments the propelling force. To fit the reduced 
ball for the old barrel the zund-speigel has been proportionately en- 
larged, a proceeding the practicability of which was proved by a 
similar alteration, adopted some time ago, and further attested by 
a year’s experiments with the weapon in its present latest form. 
On the needle-gun being first taken into favor, in 1841, it had a ball 
of 15.43 millimetres, but the heaviness and consequent want of 
speed observable in the missile caused it soon to be reduced to 
13.6 millimetres, which size has now been further diminished to 
12 millimetres. The total weight of the new cartridge is 32 
grammes, instead of 40, as heretofore, so that the soldier will 
henceforth carry 95 instead of 75 cartridges, without experiencing 
an additional burden. Besides this, the needle is now made to 
move in a narrow hole, into which it fits exactly, instead of the 
wider one of the old gun, and a piece of oiled paper is placed at 
the bottom of the cartridge to clean the needle after each dis- 
charge, and serve some other purposes of minor importance. — 
Van Nostrand. 


PHOTOGRAPHY APPLIED TO MILITARY PURPOSES. 


A writer in the ‘“‘ Nature,” of July 21st, dwells upon the use 
made of photography by the English military authorities. 
Three establishments have been organized in connection with 
the army, in which photography is extensively practised. 

Pictures are taken to illustrate the positions taken by a soldier in 
different drill systems; of pack mules, to illustrate the manner of 
packing for the benefit of the India armies; in short, photographs 
are used whenever mere descriptions would be prolix and am- 
biguous. 

Great use is also made of this art in recording the results of 
experiments in gunnery; these photographs are made by the 
carbon process. — Mditor. 


NEW ARMS. 


Sir Joseph Whitworth, Bart., at the meeting of the British As- 
sociation, hat had diagrams prepared to illustrate the Chassepot, 
the Prussian, the Enfield, and the Whitworth bullets. The Chasse- 


92 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


pot was 2.44 calibre, the Prussian 2.01, the Enfield 1.93, and 
the Whitworth 3.00. At an elevation of 58 minutes, the range of 
the Chassepot was 500 yards, the Prussian 206 yards, the Enfield 
295 yards, and the Whitworth 345 yards. The two most 
important elements in long ranges were a full charge of pow- 
der and sufficient length of bullet. In both these respects 
the Enfield ammunition was sadly deficient, and he had been 
urging the War Office authorities ever since 1857 to substitute the 
45-inch bore. The velocity of the Chassepot bullet was much 
greater at the commencement of its flight and much less at the 
end; thus, its penetration was comparatively small at long 
ranges. 

Mr. K. J. Reed, C.B., said it appeared to be universally ad- 
mitted that a small-bore rifle was a long-range weapon; and that 
if troops were armed with a large-bore or short-range weapon 
they would be subjected to a murderous and destructive fire be- 
fore their rifles could be brought within range of the enemy 
armed with the smail-bore rifle. It was clear that the small-bore 
or long-range rifle was the only effective weapon for military 
wartare to make that warfare effective. 


BALLOONS FOR WAR PURPOSES. 


The experiments made at Woolwich by balloons inflated at the 
Royal Arsenal Gas Works have, on the authority of the London 
** Artisan,” shown that a height of 100 fathoms, at a horizontal dis- 
tance of 600 fathoms from an enemy, would enable the observers 
to secure a wide expanse of view. The balloons with which ex- 
periments were made at Woolwich were held by 2 new cords 
fastened to the network, and terminated at 2 different points 
on the ground, to give greater stability to the balloon, and to pro- 
vide against one cord snapping, or being cut by the enemy’s fire. 
By the new system of military telegraphy for field service, and 
by means of wagons at present being placed in store in the Royal 
Arsenal, lines of telegraph can be carried through the air from 
the earth several miles distant. The wire can be paid out as fast 
as the balloon travels, so that if a captive balloon should break 
away, communication could be kept up with it for 6 miles; or 
2 or more balloons can be sent up, and kept in telegraphic com- 
munication with each other by means of similar lines, so that tele- 
graphic operations can be made from the balloon to head-quarters, 
and thence to the base of operations. 

By means of these new military telegraphic appliances the most 
rapid intelligence, and consequent speedy word of command, can 
be given. In sieges, war balloons are useful in giving informa- 
tion of depots, points of attack, batteries, inner intrenchments, 
the explosion of magazines in marshes, to spy out ambuscades 
that may be in waiting, to rally columns, and to telegraph points 
of assembly on attack. The observing officers were enabled to 
survey an area of 30 square miles. It was found that by prac- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93 


tice great skill can be attained in judging of distances, and the 
relative position of masses of troops; while more minute details 
could be subsequently obtained at leisure by field-glasses as to the 
position of mountain gorges, passes, limits of woods, and the 
course of streams. The trials hitherto made have been chiefly 
carried on by professional aeronauts with hired balloons; and it 
is believed that the British Government have at the present time 
no war balloons in store. 

The result of the observations of Captain Brackenbury and 
Captain Noble, sent out from Woolwich on behalf of the English 
Government to the respective seats of war, together with trials 
and other sources of information, will, it is believed, result in 
war balloons being manufactured in the Royal Arsenal, and that 
officers of royal engineers, from generals downwards, will be 
trained in their use. 


“THE GREAT SUBMARINE BLAST IN THE HARBOR OF SAN 
FRANCISCO. 


It is well known that extended preparations have been making 
for several months, under the direction of Col. Van Schmidt, C.E., 
to remove what is known as Blossom Rock, the most dangerous 
obstruction in the magnificent harbor of San Francisco. 

That so important an engineering work should have been 
brought to so successful a conclusion reflects great credit upon 
the skill of Col. Van Schmidt, and the particulars of this feat of 
submarine blasting will be interesting to our readers. 

A careful survey of the rock was made at the outset in order to 
ascertain the irregularities of its surface. This being done, and 
plans being drawn, a coffer-dam was constructed around a por- 
tion of the rock to be removed, and moored by means of a scow 
loaded down with heavy stones. 

The water was stopped from entering the dam by sand-bags 
placed about its base, and an iron turret was erected within it. 
This turret was then sunk 3 feet into the rock and cemented fast. 
A platform 56 feet long and 20 feet wide was then erected, and an 
engine and hoisting apparatus placed thereon, together with a 
building in which to lodge the workmen and prepare their 
meals. 

The plan of excavation was to scoop out the interior of the 
rock, leaving an external shell of sufficient thickness to resist the 
pressure of the surrounding and superincumbent water, and 
finally to shatter and scatter the shell by blasting. ‘The thickness 
of the shell was about 6 feet. 

Pillars of rock were left- to sustain the shell, and when these 
were removed they were replaced by timber supports. The 
space excavated measured in the clear 140 by 50 feet, and it is 
estimated that about 40,000 cubic feet of stone were taken out. 
The shape of the surface of the rock was nearly oval, but for a 
distance of about 120 feet it sloped very little. The height of the 
highest pillar inside was 29 feet, and the lowest 4 feet. The 


94 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


stone was a porous sandstone. When struck with a hammer it 
fell to pieces readily, and revealed a series of seams running 
through it. There was no mixture of slate or granite, or any of 
the harbor kinds of stone in it. 

Of the 23 tons of powder used, about half was contained in 
English ale casks, double-coated with a heavy pitch varnish inside 
and outside so as to be water-proof. The other half of the pow- 
der was in 7 boiler tanks of wrought iron, firmly bolted, the larg- 
est measuring 8 feet in length and 2 feet in diameter. The bar- 
tels were placed close to the side of the excavation, near the 
junction of the arch or roof with the floor, so as to blow away 
the arch from the lowest point of the excavation reached. They 
were placed resting on their sides. The 7 boilers were laid 
through the centre of the chamber, the largest in the middle, 
where the roof was highest. This disposition was made to 
equalize the force on each part of the rock. A perforated piece 
of gas-pipe, 24 feet in length, charged with fine gunpowder, ran 
into each barrel from the end, with a piece 6 feet long into the’ 
boilers, charged in the same way. These different tubes were 
connected with insulated electric wires, which passed from one 
barrel to another, the end in each tube consisting of a fulminat- 
ing cartridge. 

The insulated electric wires connecting the barrels were encased 
in gutta-percha. When the powder was arranged in the excava- 
tion, and the connections made secure, this wire was drawn up 
through a tube in the shaft, and placed on board a bark situated 
about 1,000 feet from the rock. Here it was connected with an 
electric battery. The coffer-dam was then removed, and the 
water permitted to fill up the excavation, and so act as a tamp- 
ing. 

It being understood that the blast would be fired on the 23d of 
April, a very large concourse of people gathered to witness it. 
Everything appears to have worked properly, and the explosion 
threw a column of water and rock, 100 feet in diameter, 100 feet 
into the air. It is believed the operation has been entirely suc- 
cessful, and that the rock wiil give no further trouble. 

The method employed seems very ingenious, and is, so far as 
we are aware, entirely novel. — Scientific American. 


REMOVAL OF THE HELL-GATE OBSTRUCTIONS. 


The work of removing these noted obstructions to navigation is 
continued unremittingly night and day. Eight ‘‘ gaileries” or 
chambers have been commenced. ‘These run in various directions 
under the reef, all converging to a common centre at the point 
of beginning. They are named after distinguished men. Those 
furthest advanced are ‘‘ Grant,” ‘‘Sherman,” ‘‘ Humphries.” They 
all front the great excavation, which is 60 by 100 feet in size, and 
30 feet from the mean low-water mark to the floor line. ‘‘ Grant” 
gallery has been pierced to a distance of 32 feet directly under the 
most formidable spur of the reef. These tunnels are to be ex- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95 


tended a distance of 200 feet, and are from 8 to 10 feet in diame- 
ter. The rock is very hard— mostly gneiss. The blasting charges 
are one-quarter, one-half, 1 and 2 pounds respectively, contained 
in pasteboard tubes well wrapped in glazed gutta-percha cloth, 
tarred at the ends, with safety-fuse, all water-proof. 30 or 4® of 
these are discharged at the same time, a gong being previously 
sounded to draw off the workmen. 

Huge logs, interlaced with iron bands, form ‘ curtains,” which 
are hung at the opening of each tunnelling to prevent the de- 
tached rock from being hurled into the air without. The force is 
so terrific, however, that these ponderous curtains are often 
swung out 8 or 10 feet. Great steam derricks elevate the refuse, 
and steam pumps lift out the water. Daily observations are 
taken to guide the work. A miniature levee keeps off the water 
on the river side. A temporary platform extends out over the 
reef, from which a fine view of the wild, rushing tides is afforded. 
Even when but about a depth of 2 feet of water is flowing over 
the ‘* hog’s back,” its force is so great as to sweep a strong man 
instantly off his feet. This gigantic enterprise must proceed very 
slowly, and require years for its successful completion. 


EXPLOSIVE POWER OF NITRO-GLYCERINE. 


We condense from the ‘‘ American Chemist” the following 
upon the above subject : — 

A measure containing 1 cubic foot will hold 796 ounces of 
blasting-powder, and 997.1 ounces of water; or, in other words, 
the specific gravity of blasting-powder, as it is used, is about 0.8. 
This, of course, takes in the interstices, which are filled with air, 
but as we do not use the powder in a solid lump, this is, for prac- 
tical purposes, the specific gravity of blasting-powder. Now, the 
specific gravity of nitro-glycerine is1.6. ‘Therefore, bulk for bulk, 
if the explosive power were the same in a given mass, as pre- 
pared for blasting, the nitro-glycerine would have twice the 
power. 

In reality the following are the volumes of gas generated by 
each respectively in explosion : — 

One volume of powder, which is considered as most effective, 


produces : — 


Carbonic atid) GAS! fetes ss cc os. ccs asec > tan Bee pase . 221.4 vols. 
Nitrogen, o: ccs cere cvetaieso ois) ol dtolsle'a oc aie! wistale, sisiels doe olwinisiesje 74.6 vols. 
Therefore one volume becomes ......... 22-222. ere epaveeioaie 296.0 vols. 


Of another kind of powder, which explodes with the gases at a 
lower temperature, one volume produces : — 


- 391 vols. 


Carbonic -GXidea. a< ajeos cf spiieuals clare creas 4 6)2.2 01005 9-01 5,9 Se cianae 
66 vols. 


Nitrogen, ........ See Hevea deal eisisshaveisio 9 «see ve <-cin o nhWeieie 


Ono volume’ DECOMGS sone ool c wk ce esos Dees cle datas cenceleels ont SU (mimOEse 


96 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


One volume of nitro-glycerine produces : — 


Carbonic acid Pasyce here sais ae ater oe ein ate ae osetia ise he) 469 vols. 
Wither ate DOC sata ta ceetansits See taseiaciae gislem =ienatelarsets 554 vols. 
SPOTS sce sore le eel ere ae near eke ciecus beter eee re 39 vols. 
PN TENOR ONS 0 5,0 iat im om min, sisin'e ols iefetsia a etiaie ie a siele “e/a @ ciavomtan eters 236 vols. 
Oné volume becomies's) 5% 5:2). 2c0 26s cies els lores ane see «. 1,298 vols. 


These volumes are given at the temperature 0 degree C.; at 
the temperature of explosion, they will be about 5 times greater, 
or about 10,607 times the original volume of the explosive, or 
about 10 times as large a production of mixed gases for the nitro- 
glycerine as for the gunpowder which produces mixed gases in 
largest amount. 

Still 18 times is claimed by the advocates of nitro-glycerine. If 
this is so, the discrepancy between the temperature of the explo- 
sion must be greater than here assumed. 


LITHOFRACTEUR. 


Analysis shows that ‘‘ Lithofracteur,” as well as dynamite, 
consists of a mixture of a silicious base with nitro-glycerine. The 
proportion of glycerine appears to be that which the base can 
take up without becoming sensibly moist. — Dresdner Gewerbeve- 
reins-Zeitung. 

In the ‘‘ Centralblatt,” of Oct. 15, can be found a discussion of 
the merits of the above. Its exact composition appears to be 


IND igo cra Wace Se Dees cr GE Oa hos Ce a ees See IS eerson ees 52 

Silicious base,...... R abel taveg sis oa erie re OTe OE Eee 30 

CONT vewtsns sic oases Cale oipitoie cis nee sheteis eae SST eltmorae cate aakehe lair Sees 12 

Dalbpetres. 2 tt. eae. ior ectoarh ees teeitd Chea mle mila te ilonte eine te etnies 4 

Pal pWare ss sti ciete cate cursing els Shei ws ee eine ae © sacl aenueaaies 2 
DUALIN. 


Professor Mowbray, who superintends the manufacture of nitro- 
glycerine at North Adams, for the Hoosac Tunnel, writes to the 
‘‘ Springfield Republican ” in regard to the explosion at Worces- 
ter, Mass. He finds that dualin consists of 60 per cent. mono- 
nitro-glycerine and 40 per cent. of sawdust. 

The mono-nitro-glycerine is exceedingly unsafe to manufacture, 
to use, or to transport; it is not nearly as destructive as the tri- 
nitro-glycerine and yet is far more dangerous to handle. There 
are 3 different nitro-glycerines. Of these 2 are the most dan- 
gerous and not as powerful as the third, which is not dangerous 
but very difficult to explode, and when exploded is 33 per cent. 
more powerful in its effects than either of the 2 others. 

Trials were made with dualin at the Hoosac Tunnel, and were 
complete failures. Only about 50 per cent. of results as com- 
pared with the nitro-glycerine in use at the tunnel were obtained, 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 97 


and the miners were asphyxiated by the cyanogen given off. — 
Editor. 

Dualin is a brownish-yellow powder, similar in appearance to 
Virginia tobacco. In the open air it burns without an explosion, 
and in a confined space it acts like gunpowder. 

It is proof against shocks, it does not decompose, or bake to- 
gether, can be readily put into cartridges, and can be used as well 
in warm as in cold, in dry as in wet, places. Its strength is 4 to 
10 times greater than the common powder, and greater than that 
of dynamite. ; 

Dualin consists of cellulose, nitro-cellulose, nitro-stdérke nitro- 
mannit and nitro-glycerine, mixed in different proportions accord- 
ing to required strength. 

We believe that dualin, with its present quality and with its 
present price, has every prospect of being useful in mining opera- 
tions, especially in coal-mining, when with its great, but yet not 
too quickly, working power, it can rival powder. — Bergeist. 

In the “‘ Centralblatt,” of July, can be found a long account of 
this new explosive, taken from the ‘‘ Deutsche Industrie Zeitung.” 


— ditor. 


COMPARATIVE EFFECTS OF GUNPOWDER AND GUN-COTTON. 


A number of experiments have been recently carried out by the 
officers of the Royal Engineers at Chatham to test the comparative 
effects of gunpowder and gun-cotton in various operations. The 
experiments were all made under the direction of Colonel W. O. 
Lenox, C.B., Y.C., Instructor in Field Fortifications at the school 
of Military Engineering, assisted by a number of other officers. 
The experiments were attended by a large muster of officers of 
the garrison, besides those of the engineering corps, and also by 
Major-General J. L. Brownrigg, C.B., the commandant of the 
garrison ; Colonel W. Pray, Colonel Graham, C.B., Y.C., Colonel 
Fiser, Colonel Lovell, commanding Royal Engineers; Colonel the 
Hon. H.F. Keare, Deputy Adjutant-General Royal Engineers ; Colo- 
nel Clarke, ete. Mr. F. A. Abel, chemist to the War Department, 
was also present, and assisted in some of the experiments with gun- 
cotton. The experiments commenced with explosions of gun- 
powder and gun-cotton directed against a double stockade of 
balks of timber 14 inches square, 3 feet 6 inches apart, and sunk 3 
feet in the earth, each line braced together by strong cross-pieces. 
A charge of 200 pounds of gunpowder, in bags merely laid at the 
foot of the stockade, untamped, was first exploded. It forced a 
large gap in the front stockade, but, though partially shattered, 
the second row of timber would have presented a formidable ob- 
stacle to an attacking party if defended by a few resolute men. 
Portions of the timber were hurled through the air to some dis- 
tance. A charge of 80 pounds of gun-cotton was next laid in 
bags at the foot of the stockade, some distance from the former 
explosion. This also was untamped. It was fired by a detonat- 
ing fuse. There was a terrific explosion, and an almost perfectly 


9 


98 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


- 


clear breach was made through both rows of timber, practicable 
for an attacking party to get through. The effect was very much 
superior to that of the 200 pounds of gunpowder. Immense 
pieces of timber were hurled through the air to a great distance, 
mostly in the rear of the stockade. Not so wide an extent of 
timber appeared to be shaken as by the first explosion, but the 
work was more completely done; the results, indeed, were extraor- 
dinary. Experiments were also made by exploding dises of 
eun-cotton against single balks of timber, to show what effect 
would be produced if timber bridges had to be destroyed. Four 
balks of timber, about 16 inches square, were sunk in the ground 
some feet apart, in a square, and braced together by thick pieces 
of plank. A ‘‘necklace” of small discs of gun-cotton was formed 
(about 68 in number) ; this was doubled and placed half round 
one of the timbers. The explosion of this string of discs tore away 
the wood for some depth, 4 inches or more on one side of the balk, 
but did not break it, though the massive timber was much rent. 
Three or four larger discs were then exploded on one side of the 
timber, and tore out a large portion of the wood. A single ‘‘ neck- 
lace” of small dises, 65 in number, and weighing 24 pounds, was 
then placed round another balk, quite encircling it. When ex- 
ploded this tore out the wood all round to some depth. Then 12 
of the larger discs, weighing 4 pounds 2 ounces, were hung on 
nails on three sides of the timber, and exploded. ‘The explosion was 
very powerful, and the large balk was cut in two; snapping off 
where the gun-cotton had been attached, but falling on the side 
where there had been no discs and partially splitting on that side. 
The spectators cheered at this decisive proof of the value of gun- 
cotton for this special purpose. All these experiments appeared 
to be very satisfactory. At that part of the lines in front of St. 
Mary’s Barracks, a number of mines and galleries had been exca- 
vated and charged with gunpowder or gun-cotton. One mine 
had a charge of 500 pounds of gunpowder; a second similar mine 
was charged with 200 pounds of gun-cotton. Two smaller mines 
were charged respectively with 21.6 pounds of gunpowder and 
8.6 pounds of gun-cotton. These mines were successively ex- 
ploded by means of an electric current. In the larger mines the 
powder appeared to be the most effective agent. In the explo- 
sion of the 200 pounds’ charge of gun-cotton, a peculiar effect 
was produced; first, there was the eruption of brown clay and 
‘smoke, and then a large flame, produced by the ignition of the 
gaseous products of the explosion. The officers then proceeded 
to the old Engineer Depot, near St. Mary’s Convict prison, and 
walls which are to be removed were experimented upon; they are 
18 inches thick; charges of gun-cotton ranging from 2 pounds to 
34 pounds were exploded against these walls, with satisfactory 
results, making breaches in them. The officers then returned to 
the scene of the mines, where two long galleries had been pre- 
pared, one charged with 240 pounds of gunpowder, the other with 
96 pounds of gun-cotton. These charges were exploded. The 
object was to ascertain if it is practicable to form trenches in this 
manner, instead of throwing them up while exposed to the en- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 99 


emy. It was thought by some officers that the explosion would 
throw the earth up on either side in such a manner as to form a 
trench; but the result was not so; the earth was thrown up in a 
mass, and no trench was formed in which men could get under 
cover at once. The experiments were of great interest and 
highly satisfactory. — Van. Nos. Eng. Mag. 


COMPARISON OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL ICE. 


The French company Messageries impériales, wishing to ascer- 
tain what kind of ice would be preferable for their vessels navi- 
gating the Suez Canal, caused experiments to be made, under 
identical circumstances, with several varieties, with the following 
results: Time required to melt 200 pounds of ice :— 


Matural-ice.of, Switzerland jo o:a:d-o ace ayeaie of deselerepiale, apple aes 107 hours. 
ce Le spp NORWAY ih th tos ana cichct 4 ccdass cuss Sa tpeds rein letaycicciey nism ok enna 
Y EG 2 ERSSACHMSOEGS, on \aiatn scala dis salcie sparamie ates Lee a 
Artificial ice, Carré’s machine, .......... ae Tae a a SO an 
-: ME OIGE SR” WACHING ee fret matailas Sait cee at oe i 


If these experiments were conducted with accuracy, they would 
seem to prove that artificial ice would have the preference over 
the natural production of our lakes and rivers for transportation 
on shipboard, and for refrigerating mixtures. One series of ex- 
periments is scarcely sufficient to settle a question of this impor- 
tance. 


THE TELLIER ICE—MACHINE. 


The manufacture of ice by artificial processes is steadily gaining 
ground and favor. During the last summer it has received a 
powerful impulse from the exorbitant prices asked and un- 
willingly paid for ice in this and southern cities, in which this 
article has become so much a necessity that people will pay 
almost any price rather than be deprived of it. In this city its 
price reached 2 cents per pound before the close of summer, and 
in one southern city, we are informed by a correspondent, it 
reached 5 cents per pound. 

It is not probable that such exceptionable prices can be main- 
tained during ensuing seasons; but even at the prices at which 
we may reasonably hope to purchase ice, or at least such prices 
as must be demanded for ice shipped to southern towns, it is now 
demonstrated it can be produced artificially at large profits and in 
any required quantity. 

Two machines have been brought prominently into public 
notice, each employing the same volatile material as an absorb- 
ent, conveyer, and radiator of heat, and being in some sort 
rivals in the effort to secure public favor. We allude to those 
known as the Carré and the Tellier ice-machines. The volatile 
agent in both is generally ammonia, and, though differing widely 


100 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


in detail and cost of construction, they employ the same general 
principle in the conversion of water into ice. 

To the general reader it may be well to state here that the fun- 
damental principle upon which machines of this kind operate is the 
absorption of heat from surrounding bodies by an expanding 
substance, the conveying of this heat to some other absorbing 
body, into which the heat is caused to radiate by the condensation 
of the conveying substance by mechanical compression, the pass- 
ing back of the “conveying body to extract another modicum of 
heat from the body to be cooled or frozen, and so on till the 
desired degree of refrigeration is reached. 

Itis a physical law with which perhaps some of our readers 
are not familiar, that the capacity of any substance for heat—that 
is, its power to absorb heat, and hold it in the latent or insensible 
state — increases with its expansion and decreases with its con- 
densation. A substance which at ordinary temperatures is a 
permanent gas will, when compressed, become sensibly heated ; 
the latent heat which it holds, under ordinary circumstances, being 
rendered sensible by condensation. If while in this state the 
sensible heat be taken up by some other substance and conveyed 
away, the gas in expanding will seize the heat from surrounding 
bodies, thus reducing their temperature. The gas, on being 
again compressed, will yield this heat to any substance having a 
lower temperature. The proportion of heat absorbed during 
expansion, and emitted under pressure, increases with the degree 
of alternate condensation and expansion. 

Ammonia, which is a gas of ordinary temperatures, becomes a 
liquid under a pressure of from 9 to 13 atmospheres, according 
to the temperature of the surrounding air, emitting a large 
amount of heat in so doing, which amount must be restored to it 
before it can expand to its original volume. On this account it is 
admirably fitted for use in refrigerating apparatus. 

The Tellier machine, besides differing much from the Carré 
machine in matters of detail, differs from it in its action,—the con- 
densation of the ammonia being in the latter effected entirely by 
mechanical compression, while in the former the strong affinity 
of ammonia for water is used in the collection of the gas, the 
latter being separated from the water again by distillation. 

In the Tellier machine the liquefied ammonia is first received 
into a strong cylinder, for convenience of transportation. This 
cylinder being attached to suitable pipes connected with the 
machine, the opening of certain cocks allows the ammonia to 
escape into a distributer or a cylinder connected by pipes with the 
congealer. The congealer is a square box divided into compatrt- 
ments by hollow metallic partitions, the compartments being filled 
with the water to be frozen, or they may be filled with a solution 
of chloride of calcium or salt water, in which are placed metallic 
moulds containing the water to be frozen. The latter is most con- 
venient when very large cakes are desired. 

The ammonia, passing from the distributer into the hollow metal- 
lic partitions of the congealer, expands into a gas, absorbing in its 
expansion a large amount of heat from the fluid contained in the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 101 


compartments. It is then drawn from the congealer by the pump 
and forced back again into the distributer in a condensed form. 
During the process of condensation it gives off its heat to water 
surrounding a coil through which the gas is passed on its way to 
the distributer, from which it again passes to the congealer, and 
so on, being used over and over without material loss. 

It will be obvious that any other volatile liquid besides ammo- 
nia might be used in the same manner as a conveyer of heat. 

It is further obvious that by replacing the hollow partitions of 
the congealer by a series of bent pipes, air might be cooled if 
forced through the series of pipes by a fan. This is precisely 
what is done with an apparatus made by the proprietors of the 
Tellier machine, the cool air being supplied to vaults and rooms 
used for preserving fruits, packing meats, etc., and for purposes’ 
of ventilation in churches and public buildings in hot weather. 
There is, we are informed, no difficulty in reducing and main- 
taining the temperature to any desired point down to 32° Fah., 
and the air, being supplied in a dry state, is much better adapted 
to keeping fruits and meats than when charged with vapor from 
its passage through ice.—Scientific American. 


\ 


NEW SUGAR—-REFINING PROCESS. 


In the sugar-house of Messrs. A. Sommier & Co., of Paris, 
200,000 pounds of raw sugar have for a year past been daily 
refined according to a process invented by Boivin and Loiseau. 
The process is founded upon the use of a new body, the sucrate 
of the hydro-carbonate of lime, which the inventor employs for 
the purification of raw sugar instead of blood, bone-black, ete. 
For the preparation of this compound, milk of lime is made from 
the waste sweet liquors of the refinery, and enough syrup added 
to give the mixture 20° Baumé. This is well agitated and run 
through a cooler until the temperature sinks to 68° Fah. From 
the agitators the liquid flows into vats, where it is partially satu- 
rated with carbonic acid; the gas is passed through until the 
desired precipitate of sugar, lime, and carbonate of lime settles 
as a gelatinous mass. Alter the purifying agent has been thus 
prepared, it is applied in the following manner : — 

The raw sugar is dissolved in a cylindrical pan, similar to a 
vacuum pan, under diminished pressure. Revolving buckets 
carry it into receivers over the boilers, and from these it is per- 
mitted to flow into the boilers, where it comes in contact with the 
sucro-carbonate of lime previously introduced, in a quantity pro- 
portional to the percentage of raw sugar. ‘They generally take 
about 650 gallons of the gelatinous sucro-carbonate to 8,000 
pounds of sugar. Water is added if necessary; the whole is 
boiled, and in this way the solution and clarification are simul- 
taneously accomplished. One great advantage of the operation 
is that when syrup is boiled in presence of lime, ammonia is 
evolved, all glucose is decomposed, and anything likely to pro- 
duce fermentation is destroyed. 


102 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


The syrup from the boilers is filtered, the excess of lime sepa- 
rated by carbonic acid, and it is further concentrated and finished 
in the usual manner. The slimy residues and precipitates are 
squeezed out in filter presses until they contain no trace of sugar, 
and can be thrown away. ‘The wash-water is used in the prepa- 
ration of new material. The advantages of this new process are, 
that it does away with the use of blood, which is offensive, difli- 
cult to obtain, and the soluble constituents of which are finally 
concentrated in the molasses. 

It also yields greatly improved products, which are brighter in 
color and better in grain. The third crystallization of this 
process is better than the second in the old way. ‘The expense 
is, if anything, less, certainly not more. The process has been 
patented in the United States. 


APPLICATION OF DIFFUSION IN SUGAR-REFINERJES. 


Abbé Moigno states that in the years 1869-70 the number of 
sugar-houses in which the principle of diffusion or dialysis was 
employed for refining sugar was 82, and that 31 additional works 
are in process of construction; so that in 1871 there will be 113 
refineries in which practical application will be made on a large 
scale of Graham’s important law. The crystallizable sugar passes 
through membranes, while the impurities, being uncrystallizable, 
are retained in the tank where the original solution was made. 
The fact that so many large houses employ this method would 
seem to indicate its entire practicability. 


PHOTOGRAPHY ON WOOD. 


Anthony’s ‘‘ Photographic Bulletin” gives the following process 
by A. J. Searing for photographing on wood for engraving pur- 
poses : — 

‘« The block on which the picture is to be made is first dampened 
with water, then whitened with enamel, rubbed from the surface 
of good enamelled visiting-cards. Rub gently, removing only 
the enamel, after which it is brushed smooth with a moderately 
stiff brush, from right to left and up and down, making a smooth, 
even, and very thin surface. Allow this to dry, after which it is 
flowed with a solution of albumen, made with the white of 1 egg 
and 16 ounces of water, dried by heat or allowed to dry spontane- 
ously. Now coat it with another albumen solution made as fol- 
lows : — 

Formula No. 1.— White of 1 egg; water, 4 ounces; chloride 
of ammonia, 40 grains. Beat the whole to a thick froth. Allow it 
to subside, then decant or filter through a fine sponge placed in a 
glass funnel. Pour a sufficient quantity on one corner of the 
block to cover it, when spread around with the aid of a one-ninth 
or one-sixth glass (using the edge). Allow the surplus solution 
to drain back into the bottle. Dry by a gentle heat. 

Formula No. 2.— Ether, 1 ounce; alcohol, 1 ounce; gun- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 103 


cotton, 8 grains; nitrate of silver, 380 grains; dissolved in as 
small a quantity of water as possible, and allowed to settle for a 
few days, protected from the light. Flow the salted block with 
formula No. 2, in the dark room, and dry it by a gentle heat. It is 
now ready for exposure under the negative. A porcelain print- 
ing-frame, or any other suitable method, may be used to print it. 
After printing, formula No. 2 is removed from the surface of the 
block by dissolving it in ether and alcohol, assisted by rubbing 
gently with a soft sponge. The picture can now be toned and 
fixed in the ordinary way, or fixed and toned at one operation, 
by the hypo and gold bath. After being allowed to dry, it is 
ready for the engraver. 


THE OXYGEN LIGHT. 


According to the ‘‘ Opinion Nationale,” Paris, the new Prefet 
de la Seine has definitively authorized the Tessie du Motay Com- 
pany to lay their underground communications in the city of 
Paris for illuminating with oxygen gas. 

A system of pipes will connect the oxygen works of Pantin 
with the boulevards, and in a few months all the inhabitants re- 
siding between the ‘‘ New Opera” and the Passage Jouffroy will 
thus be enabled to benefit from the immense advantages offered 
by this new light over the old gas. 

Already oxyhydric lanterns have been placed at the entrance of 
the bazaar European, near the Passage Jouffroy, and project a 
light of the purest white and the most dazzling brilliancy, near 
which the old gas pales and appears to shine with the most singu- 
lar yellow color. 

The journal referred to congratulates M. le Prefet de la Seine 
for having ratified a measure in accordance with the general 
wishes and interests of the people, and which appears to it to be 
the indispensable corollary of the great improvements under- 
taken within a few years in Paris. 


USE OF CALCIUM LIGHTS AT THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE. 


Mr. W. Milnor Roberts, who is in charge of the work, says: 
‘*We have used calcium lights only for our open-air work in lay- 
ing masonry on the top of our caissons, —one light on one side, 
and one at the other, on diagonal corners; we found that they 
distributed the best light when thus placed. We had the oxygen 
gas forced into copper gas-holders with a pressure of about 200 
pounds to the square inch. These were carried over from the 
city to the piers on a little steamer, and the gas was conveyed to 
the burner through small lead pipe. At first our reflectors were 
of glass, but so many were broken that they were replaced by 
metal. Aman remained with the two burners through the night, 
to regulate them occasionally, and to mend the pipes when a 
burst occurred. They usually burn from 11 to 12 hours; and, 
with the aid of some movable large reflector lamps, the masons 


104 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


worked as well at night as in the day. The cost of the calcium 
lights to our company was 3% dollars per hour each.” 


MACHINES FOR PREPARING RHEA GRASS. 


A short time since there appeared in our columns an advertise- 
ment from the Government of India offering a reward of £5,000 
for the production of the best machine for the extraction of fibres 
from the Rhea grass and preparing it for market. The condi- 
tions upon which this prize was offered will doubtless be remem- 
bered by all interested in the subject, and we need not, therefore, 
refer to them again on the present occasion. The great draw- 
back which has hitherto prevented the utilization of this grass has 
undoubtedly been the difficulty of extracting the fibre, the manual 
process being so expensive as almost to amount to a prohibition 
of fibre manufacture being carried on. ‘‘ Engineering” states 
that during the last 20 years or so, a number of machines 
have been brought out for extracting fibre, but none of 
these have been considered entirely satisfactory. Up to the 
present time the common mode of extracting the fibre from such 
plants as the aloe is by soaking the leaves in water till the vas- 
cular matter has become rotten, and then beating off this decayed 
matter from the fibre with a wooden mallet, or scraping it off 
with a blunt knife. This process is not only a slow and nasty one, 
but is attended with much waste of fibre; it also discolors, and, 
what is most important of all, weakens the fibre. At the London 
Exhibition of 1862, two American gentlemen named Sanford and 
Mallory exhibited a machine for extracting fibre from aloe, plan- 
tain, or pine-apple leaves. This machine has been used in 
America, but would scarcely be found either sufficiently simple 
or cheap for the ryots of India, its cost being about £45. What 
is wanted is a cheap machine of simple construction, by which 
the fibre can be easily extracted; and we think it only due to 
those of our readers who have contemplated entering the com- 
petitive list for the above-mentioned prize to state that a machine, 
possessing, so far as our present information goes, all the neces- 
sary requirements, has already been invented in India by Mr. Don- 
ald Cruikshank, representative of the Telegraph Construction and 
Maintenance Company. No preparation of the leaves is required 
for this machine; they are taken to it green, just as they are cut 
from the bushes, and in the wonderfully short space of 2 minutes 
the fibre in the leaves is brought out stripped of vascular matter, 
and in admirable condition. The rotting process not being nec- 
essary with this machine, the deteriorations in color as well as 
in the strength and fineness of the fibre, which follow upon the 
adoption of that process, are avoided. A correspondent of an 
Indian contemporary asserts that the samples from Mr. Cruik- 
shank’s machine were ‘“ fine, delicate, and even; not one was cut 
or broken; and the material would readily fetch £50 a ton in the 
home market.” Assuming that the efliciency and simplicity of 
the machine is equal to anything that is likely to be set up in com- 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 105 


petition with it for the offered prize, we very much doubt whether 
it is likely to be surpassed in point of cheapness. It is so easily 
worked, we are informed, that any native may be taught to use 
it in an hour’s time, and its construction is so simple that it can be 
sold at 10 rupees (£1 sterling). — Scientific Annual. 


NICKEL PLATING. 


The specimens of nickel plating are exceedingly interesting. 
It is only recently that attention has been called to this new in- 
dustry, but the success that has attended its introduction is most 
gratifying. If, as is claimed by the company, nickel can be de- 
posited so much cheaper than silver, we see no reason why it 
should not be generally adopted. As it does not oxidize or rust, 
or become tarnished by fumes of sulphur, and is hard and will 
wear for a long time, it will find favor even if the cost were the 
same as that of silver. The company claim that ‘‘ the cost of 
nickel plating is from 20 to 30 per cent. cheaper than silver, 
presents a more stable and uniform brilliancy, and lasts 4 times 
as long as silver plating of like thickness. We should suppose 
that nickelizing would be advantageously employed as a substi- 
tute for galvanizing for metals used on board ships; it can also be 
used to advantage on guns, harness, carriage-trimmings, surgical 
and philosophical instruments, reflectors, knives, forks, machin- 
ery of all kinds, and all models that require to be protected from 
the oxidizing or corroding action of the air or water. As nickel 
is a magnetic metal it cannot be used about the ship’s compass ; 
but on the state-room doors and ornamental hin ges and knobs it 

can have no bad effect. 

The following is the substance of the patent aed to Dr. 
Isaac Adams, March 22, 1870. The process is said to be very 
successful : — 

This improvement consists in the use of 3 new solutions from 
which to deposit nickel, by the electric current: First, a solution 
formed of the double sulphate of nickel and alumina, or the sul- 
phate of nickel dissolved in a solution of soda, potash, or am- 
monia-alum, the 3 different varieties of commercial alum ; second, 
a solution formed of the double sulphate of nickel and potash ; 
third, a solution formed of the double sulphate of nickel and 
magnesia, with or without an excess of ammonia. 

I have found that a good coating of nickel can be deposited by 
the battery process from the solutions hereinbefore mentioned, 
provided they are prepared and used in such a manner as to be 
free from any acid or alkaline reaction. 

When these solutions are used, great care must be taken, lest 
by the use of too high battery power, or from the introduction of 
some foreign matters, the solution becomes acid or alkaline. I 
prefer to use these solutions at a temperature about 100° Fah., 
but do not limit my invention to the use of these solutions at that 
temperature. I therefore claim—1. The electro-deposition of 
nickel by means of a solution of the double sulphate of nickel 


106 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


and alumina, prepared and used in such a manner as to be free 
from the presence of ammonia, potash, soda, lime, or nitric acid, 
or from any acid or alkaline reaction. 2. The electro-deposition 
of nickel by means of a solution of the double sulphate of nickel 
and potash, prepared and used in such a manner as to be free 
from the presence of ammonia, soda, alumina, lime, or nitric 
acid, or from any acid or alkaline reaction. 3. The electro- 
deposition of nickel by means of a solution of the double sul- 
phate of nickel and magnesia, prepared and used in such a man- 
ner as to be free from the presence of potash, soda, alumina, lime, 
or nitric acid, or from any acid or alkaline reaction. 


USE OF BORAX IN GLASS MANUFACTURE. 


MM. Maés & Clemendot, glass manufacturers at Clichy, pro- 
duce a crystal as fine as the best Baccarat and St. Louis crystal 
by using boracic acid. 

The presence of this flux allows a modification in the composi- 
tion of the crystal, as the oxide of zine can then be substituted 
for the oxide of lead; and soda, lime, or barytes can thus replace 
potassa. 

The barosilicates of zinc and potassa, of potassa and barytes, 
of soda and zine, manufactured by Maés & Clemendot, are re- 
markable for their limpidity and whiteness. The following are 


the proportions : — 


SHicious Sand (White) j.. 452s sac wee ae stale sles opiates, SOW 225 
LU ATRGICR S07 gang are ee Se ALPS CR ae Soha sister Cosaaeiouegeke 261 225 
POTASS ae PSG AUBLILY \y ais cea =<) 5 apni ejs wove aie wicte atone Tt oe eed 52 
IBOLaXa eee pe selorae Cale s Donen oa oe ees PCA iy igen lie, 4 
NMOS setae cs Skesrees Bren ami etetel Gu aLSS Shaken aretets Aleta fo 3 
TAM PAMESO ge stoke Wc wo xie ca eis sie se ec ties ole Te ae eee Sie eeteteees 18 1 
ATSOMIOMS SCI, c.yeices ici Soe Joh ain wilt eee biee re One cites 18 1 
Refuse of former operations,......... Biosae. Celes ce eatee Re 89 


GLYCERINE CEMENT. 


Professor Hirzel, of Leipzig, has discovered an important use 
of glycerine that ought to be more generally known. He finds 
that when glycerine is mixed with fine and well-dried litharge, 
it yields a cement that is capable of a large number of applica- 
tions. 

All metals and nearly all solid bodies can be bound together by 
this cement; itis said to harden under water as readily as in the air, 
and to resist a temperature of 500°. It is especially recom- 
mended for such pieces of apparatus as are exposed to the action 
of chlorine, — hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, sulphurous acid, 
and nitric acid; also the vapor of alcohol, ether, and bisulphide 
of carbon, —as none of these agents act upon it. The cement can 
be used in steam engines, pumps, foundations for machinery, 
and, finally, as a substitute for plaster in galvano-plastic and 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 107 


electro-plating. The proportion of glycerine and litharge to be 
taken must depend somewhat upon the consistency of the cement, 
and its proposed uses. An excess of glycerine would retard the 
setting, as it does not readily evaporate. This new use of glycer- 
ine adds another application to a substance that only a few years 
ago was thrown away. 


CHINESE GOLD-LACKER. 


The gold-lacker lining of a Chinese cabinet in the Museum at 
Cassel peeled off, and thus gave Dr. Wiederhold the opportunity 
of studying the composition of this substance. On examining it 
he found particles of tin foil attached to the lacker; so he comes 
to the conclusion that this material formed the ground upon 
which the lacker varnish was laid. His attempts to imitate the 
varnish were perfectly successful, and he gives the following 
directions for the preparation of a composition which closely 
resembles the true Chinese article. First of all, 2 parts of copal 
and 1 of shellac are to be melted together to form a perfectly 
fluid mixture, then 2 parts of good boiled oil, made hot, are to be 
added; the vessel is then to be removed from the fire, and 10 
parts of oil of turpentine are to be gradually added. To give 
color, the addition is made of solution in turpentine of gum gutta 
for yellow, and dragon’s blood for red. These are to be mixed 
in sufficient quantity to give the shade desired. 


MALLEABLE PROPERTIES OF CHINESE BRONZE. 


The ‘* Journal of Applied Chemistry” thinks the unsuccessful 
attempts made to manufacture Chinese gongs and bells, in Europe 
and the United States, are due to the mistake that was made of 
hammering the Chinese alloy at the ordinary temperature, instead 
of working it at a high temperature, according to the recent dis- 
covery made by Professor Riche, of Sorbonne, who has been per- 
fectly successful in his experiments made on a large scale at the 
Paris Mint. 

The different analyses have shown that the Chinese alloy was 
formed of a certain proportion of tin and copper, in the propor- 
tion of 20 parts of tin to 80 of copper. Ingots of bronze were cast 
containing 21.5, 20.0, 18.5 per 100 of tin; these were afterward 
submitted to the action of the hammer, at temperatures varying 
from the ordinary temperature to a red heat. At the ordinary 
temperature the metai was as brittle as glass, but approaching 
300° to 350° Centigrade a sensible amelioration was noticed. At 
a dark-red heat it appears that the condition of the metal is quite 
different, as this alloy can be worked as easily as iron or bronze of 
aluminium. 

The metal flattened without cracking under the most powerful 
blows of enormous hammers, and can be reduced without the 
slightest difficulty to sheets of one millimetre thickness. These 
sheets have exactly the appearance of the Chinese bronze, and pos- 
sess great flexibility. 


108 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


The action of the laminating is more striking, because, unde 
the hammer, the metal is so soon cooled; that is, it has to be re- 
heated from time to time, which operation complicates the work ; 
in using a laminating machine the work is done with extreme 
rapidity, especially if care is taken to heat the alloy to a red heat. 
At an ordinary temperature a single passage under the lamina- 
tors would break the sheet in thousands of pieces. This alloy can 
be cut at a high temperature like iron and steel, and presents the 
fine and homogeneous grain of the latter; it is soldered without 
difficulty with the ordinary jewellers’ solder. 

The following tests will demonstrate that the density of the 
bronze suffers very little modification by the hammering or lami- 
nating process : — 


Chinese Bronze. Density after Smelting. Density after Hammering. 
Bronze at 21.5 per cent. tin,........ S29a Sires oealeeivie sie salOeO eo 
Bronze at 18.5 per cent. tin,........ ISS 2iaseiea=ce siedeets oe OG 
Bronze at 20.0 per cent. tin,........ 8.924 
Bronze at 20.0 per cent. tin,........ 8.918 ‘ ejciaie wiarers lager tap see 
Bronze at 20.0 per cent. tin,........8.912 


ZINC AS A BUILDING MATERIAL. 


Stone, and stone only, says the ‘‘ American Builder,” has 
always been deemed, by architects and others, the appropriate 
material to be employed in the ornamentation of buildings, and 
doubtless there has existed, until a comparatively recent date, the 
best of reasons for this theory. First, stone is durable; there is 
nothing ordinarily entering into the composition of our buildings 
that, in this respect, can compare with it; and again, from its 
peculiar facilities, few other suitable substances can be worked 
into the required form, offering the means for such boldness and 
strength in the general effect, or such correctness and delicacy of 
detail. On the other hand, however, stone can be employed only 
at a considerable expense, both in working and transportation, 
and, in some localities, distant from quarries, this expense reaches 
a point where the employment of such material is practically pre- 
cluded, save where its use is an absolute necessity. In orna- 
mented fronts especially, where stone has heretofore been con- 
sidered indispensable, its use is being discarded, and metal 
imitations are taking its place. 

The principal objections raised against’'the use of metal lie in 
the fact that it is untruthful, and, therefore, inappropriate ; but 
certainly the use of an imitation in this particular is in no sense 
more appropriate than the use of hollow iron columns in imita- 
tion of stone, and the employment of similar counterfeits in in- 
terior ornamentation. Prominent among the substitutes for stone 
is zinc, a material which has proved eminently adapted to the 
purpose, and is rapidly acquiring a place among the building 
material from its adaptability to all forms as well as from its last- 
ing qualities. With the introduction of pressed ornaments of 
this material the expense of exterior decorations has been greatly 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 109 


reduced, and an additional advantage is gained in the fact that, 
from the facility with which it is worked, there exists but little 
difference in the cost of the plainest-and most elaborate patterns. 
The work, when coated with paint suited to the purpose, may be 
made to resemble cut stone work so closely as to deceive the eye 
of any one not an expert; and in like manner the interior of 
buildings can be ornamented with zine in imitation of stucco, or 
embellished with elaborate mouldings at a small cost, which work 
may be cleaned at any time without fear of injury. In the orna- 
mentation of old buildings, which, if of cut stone, could only be 
accomplished by taking down the walls, zinc also plays a useful 
part, as decorations may be put on without displacing any portion 
of the structure. As a roofing material its value has become 
generally acknowledged in Europe, and, in this country, is 
rapidly acquiring an equally high reputation, particularly in the 
construction of large buildings. When exposed to the influence 
of the atmosphere, the oxidation that at once ensues, instead of 
rapidly eating up the metal, soon forms a crust which hardens 
and effectually protects the body of the covering from further 
damage. 

The points which we have presented above in regard to orna- 
mentation are simply those which seem most important in demon- 
strating the value of zinc as a building material, and while we 
do not by any means advocate its use generally in the place of 
stone in ornamentation, where stone is plenty and cheap, yet we 
wish, if possible, to overcome the prejudice which appears to 
exist in many instances where the employment of zinc would be 
more economical and equally appropriate. 


PROGRESS OF INVENTION ABROAD. 


In a paper read before the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, Mr. J. W. Cooper, who has given much 
attention to the Watering of Streets by Chemicals, states that 3 streets 
in the city of Liverpool were watered with salts during the 
month of July, 1869, with very favorable results, so much so 
that the experiments were continued this year. It was difficult 
to prove the economy resulting from the use of chloride over a 
limited area; and the Westminster Board of Works, after observ- 
ing the effect produced at Whitehall and Knightsbridge, resolved 
to extend the experiment throughout their entire district, com- 
prising an area of 250,000 square yards. As soonas the area was 
extended, the economy in labor and water was at once made 
evident. By using 14 ton of chlorides per day, costing £3 15s., 
the labor of 10 cart-horses und men, costing £4 10s. (at 9s. per 
horse, cart, and man), can be dispensed with, and, consequently, 
the quantity of water they would spread is saved also, namely, 
350 loads of 250 gallons each, which, at 10d. per 1,000 gallons 
(a fair average price for water in London), would amount to £3 
12s. 11d. in addition to the 15s. per day saved in labor; thus 
showing aclear gain of £4 7s. 11d., after paying for the salts. 


110 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


An effective method of remedying the evils arising from organic 
matter deposited on public thoroughfares is becoming daily a 
serious matter for consideration with sanitary authorities, as much 
sickness is believed to arise from the malaria emanating from 
this source. The disgusting odor and dangerous nature of some 
of the deodorizing agents used were strong evidence that they 
would not be used at all if the necessity for some determined 
action to prevent the spread of contagion and disease was not 
fully recognized. The deliquescent chloride of aluminum, re- 
cently introduced to public notice by Professor Gamgee, seemed 
to meet all the requirements needed in the antiseptic of the 
future. It was non-poisonous, and free from any odor; it pre- 
vented decomposition, and arrested it when commenced. It 
absorbed noxious gases resulting from putrefaction, and de- 
stroyed parasites andgerms. It was also not to be surpassed as a 
precipitant and deodorizer of sewage, and was only one-third the 
cost of carbolic acid. Mir. Cooper proposed to add a sufficient 
percentage of this chloride to the salts for street-watering, and 
thereby afford a means of thoroughly and effectually purifying 
public thoroughfares without additional cost to the rate-payers, 
the value of the water and labor saved being more than suflicient 
to pay for the use of the chlorides. 

There seems to be considerable activity in invention abroad. 
The stimulating effect of the war on military invention seems, 
however, to be gradually subsiding. 

Interesting to nautical men is a newly patented Steering Gear, 
which is an ingenious application of hydraulic pressure to move 
the rudder. ‘The rudder-head is provided with a strong tiller, 
which is actuated by means of a pair of hydraulic rams placed 
horizontally on each side of the tiller athwart the ship. These 
rams are connected together at their inner ends, between which 
they carry a block or bush, which works on the turned cylindri- 
eal end of the tiller, and which permits the tiller to slide radially. 
These hydraulic cylinders have branches attached to their outer 
ends, to which strong hydraulic pipes terminate in a slide valve 
chest having three ports, namely, one of the end ports, commu- 
nicating with one of the above-named hydraulic cylinders, which 
the inventor calls the port cylinder, the other extreme part with 
the other or starboard cylinder, and between these two ports the 
exhaust port is laid. 

Mr. E. Weare, of Stonehouse, England, has patented a method 
of Utilizing Waste Thread in the manufacture of textile fabrics. He 
accomplishes the end sought by returning the waste threads to 
the condensing carding engines by means of mechanism, the 
greater part of which is attached to one of the scribblers, in pref- 
erence to the last. Over the end of the carding engine, rollers 
are fixed, over which rollers the waste thread from one side of 
the engine is conducted to the other side, and the threads from the 
two sides of the engine thus brought side by side. The waste 
threads are taken up by, or coiled upon, a roller or spoon driven 
by any convenient gearing from the carding engine or otherwise ; 
and the said roller or spool, when filled with the waste threads, 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. EEE 


is conveyed to the scribbler (the axis of the roller or-spool placed 
in suitable supports), and made to bear or rest on a second roller 
or drum, which has a slow, uniform rotary motion communicated 
to it, whereby the waste threads are uniformly delivered into the 
sliver as it comes off the scribbler. The sliver passes to the con- 
densing carding engine in the usual way. 

Pentagraphic Embroider y isa name applied to an ingenious 
method of performing needle-work, invented by Mr. Billwiller, of 
St. Gall, England. A number of jointed frames are employed, each 
carrying tambouring or sewing apparatus. ‘They are so arranged 
and connected together that the needles they carry may be made 
to traverse in any direction over the surfaces of the fabrics to be 
embroidered, and that the movements of the several needles shall 
be simultaneous and similar. The needle-frames are also con- 
nected with a pentagraph having a tracing point capable of being 
led by the workman over the lines of a pattern which it is desired 
to copy, and when this is done the needles will each travel in and 
work along a path similar to that passed over by the tracing point. 
Thus each needle will produce embroidery resembling the pattern, 
but not necessarily of the same size; usually it is preferred that 
the pattern should be on a larger scale than the work produced 
by its means. 

Paving Streets — French — consists, first, in the employment 
of wood disintegrated into fragments, of as great a length as 
possible, in the construction of rides and bridle-paths, carriage- 
drives, ridin g-schools, and training-grounds, streets and roads “of 
all kinds. Second, in the employ! ment of disintegrated wood of 
shorter length than the preceding, in the construction of foot- 
paths of all kinds for promenades and gardens. Third, in the 
employment of disintegrated wood, mixed or not with pitch or 
with antiseptic material, or both, as a cushion for supporting the 
sleepers of railways. Fourth, in the employment of this disinte- 
grated wood, mixed with pitch obtained from gas tar or otherwise, 
or With natural asphalte or bitumen in the construction of roads, 
footways of streets, public drives, and any description of works 
in which asphalte is ordinarily employed. 

Sir William Fairbairn, of Manchester, England, has invented 
an improvement in Steam Boilers in which he combines together 
3 cylindrical shells of boiler plate. He arranges them parallel 
the one to the other, and horizontally, or nearly so. Two of the 
cylinders, which are set side by side, are each traversed from end 
to end by an internal tube, in which are the furnaces, and these 
cylinders each communicate with the third cylinder, which is 
placed over and between them, by 3 or other number of pipes or 
passages, of sufficient size to allow the steam generated in the 
lower cylinders to escape freely into the upper, and to allow the 
water freely to circulate. 

A Liverpool inventor has patented a taper or Friction Light, 
which is made after the following formula: He takes 1 ounce 
saltpetre, one-half ounce powdered orris-root, one-eighth ounce 
of minium, and 1 ounce of phosphorus, or any other convenient 
friction-match composition. To these ingredients, the phospho- 


112 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


rus being dissolved, he adds 1 to 2 ounces of oil, preferably castor, 
oil, varying the quantity according to the nature of the oil and the 
resultant tenacity or flexibility required. After all the ingredi- 
ents are well incorporated, the inventor adds thereto chloride of 
sulphur, in the proportion of from 10 to 15 parts of liquid chlo- 
ride of sulphur to every hundred parts of oil, agitates quickly, 
and shapes into the form required, either by moulding, cutting, 
pressing, or drawing. 

A very ingenious automatic device for Flushing Sewers has been 
produced by a London inventor. In this device, the flood-gate 
is hinged, opening upward and outward upon the release of a 
hook bolt by the buoyant power of a large copper float. Many 
lives have been lost through the action of poisonous gases, in 
flushing sewers, which flushing this simple device does whenever 
it is required. The rush of accumulated water swings the gate 
outward, and also carries off accumulations of sewage. As 
soon as the flood current subsides, the gate swings back to its 
original position, and is automatically locked. 

A machine for Hackling Long Vegetable Fibres, such as aloe, 
manilla, hemp, etc., consists of a drum, revolving on a horizontal 
axis, and armed with teeth or spikes pointed at the end, and 
having sharp, annular edges in front, or at the front and back. 
This drum is of such a size that the fibre upon the machine shall 
not be able to lap more than about half way round it. This is 
an English invention. 

A French invention, in the same line as the above, is a machine 
for Combing Fiax. ‘Two endless chains, consisting of flat links, 
are caused to travel together over flat-sided pulleys, and disposed 
one above the other; the two adjoining or opposing surfaces of 
the two chains being held in contact with each other by passing 
between guides. These surfaces form nippers for holding the tufts 
of fibres while being combed or straightened, and serve to carry 
them along, at the same time, to a receiving-trough, wherein 
each tuft is deposited in succession, the one overlapping slightly 
the other. The bottom of the receiving-trough consists of an 
endless travelling band, which continuously conveys away the 
combed tufts in the form of a ribbon or sliver. <A vibrating arm, 
worked by a crank and provided with a cross-head or rake, serves 
to take each tuft as it is released from the nippers, and draw it 
into the receiving-trough. 

A Swedish inventor has patented a process for making Artifi- 
cial Leather. He takes leather wastes, leather cuttings, leather 
shavings, or other small bits of leather, either new or old, and 
reduces them to a kind of fibrous pulp, by hand labor, or by : 
machine or mill (either by grinding, pounding, cutting, rasping, 
carding, or grating) ; if old waste is used it should first be cleaned 
thoroughly. This matter or pulp is then kneaded with India- 
rubber, which is rendered fluid, or dissolved in oils or spirits, and 
treated with ammonia. He prefers to dissolve the India-rubber 
in oil of turpentine. To effect this, the inventor cuts the India- 
rubber into pieces and mixes it with the oil, after which he 
lets it remain quiet in a closed vessel until it is dissolved. When the 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. t3 


= 


India-rubber is dissolved, he adds ammonia, of a strength of 30 
per cent., in the proportion of about equal parts by weight of 
ammonia to the India-rubber contained in the solution; when the 
mass has become of a grayish-white color it is ready to be mixed 
with the pulp. 

A protective coating for iron and other metals has been in- 
vented by Mr. J. Crouziers, of Ollioules, France, to which the 
inventor has given the name of Llectro-Cathodic Insulating Mastic, 
which to the scientific reader will convey the fact that its 
application will prevent the corrosion of metal when immersed 
in fluids calculated to generate galvanic action. Its composition 
and application are as follows: Take of sulphur (say) 38 per 
cent.; coal tar, 20 per cent.; gutta-percha, 5 per cent.; minium, 
or red lead, 6 per cent.; white lead, 7 per cent.; pitch, 10 per 
cent. ; resin, 10 percent.; spirit of turpentine, 4 per cent. ; total, 
100. Melt the sulphur in one vessel, and coal tar, gutta-percha, 
minium, white lead, pitch, and resin, all together, in another; 
but before adding the gutta-percha to the coal tar, dissolve it, as 
far as possible, in the spirit of turpentine, and when all these 
ingredients have melted, pour in the sulphur very gently from the 
separate vessel, then thoroughly mix the whole, and apply the 
composition hot by the aid of a brush, by dipping the article to be 
coated into it, or in any convenient manner. 

Mr. Crockford, of Dublin, Ireland, has invented several new 
processes for utilization of waste products. One of these is a 
method of treating what is known as flux skimmings, produced 
in the process of galvanizing or coating iron with zinc. For this 
purpose he addsa sufficient quantity of hydrochloric or sulphuric 
acid to the flux skimmings to dissolve all the zinc, and then pre- 
cipitates all the zinc with the ammoniacal gas arising from the 
distillation of gas liquor, by which means he obtains oxide and 
sulphide of zine and hydrochlorate or sulphate of ammonia. 
Sometimes he passes through the solution, toward the end of the 
operation, a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen, for the purpose of 
rendering the precipitation quite complete. 

A second process by the same inventor consists in the treat- 
ment of the liquor from paper mills resulting from boiling esparto 
grass, wood, or other materials in caustic soda. He first evapo- 
rates the liquor to dryness, and then submits the dry product to 
distillation at a red- heat, whereby the volatile and other matters 
are collected, and he afterwards extracts the carbonate of soda 
left in the furnace or retort in which the distillation has been 
effected by lixiviation, at the same time extracting a quantity of 
black, similar to ‘* lamp-black.” 

The same inventor has devised a method of condensing and 
collecting the fumes and gases from the flues of furnaces in which’ 
lead and other ores are smelted. To do this he draws off the 
mixed fumes and gases from the flues of furnaces wherein lead 
er other metal is smelted, and forces them, by means of a fan or 
other similar means, into and through a quantity of filtering 
material, such as canvas, cotton, or fine coke, which material 
may be renewed from time to time when it becomes clogged: be- 


114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


fore passing the fumes and gases through the said material they 
are cooled by passing them through showers of water or otherwise. 
Thus materials which would otherwise be destroyed by the heat 
are utilized. . 

A Hungarian gentleman has, we are told, constructed a rail- 
way 5 miles in Jength on a mountain in the heart of Hungary. 
A remarkable peculiarity is the total absence of all permanent 
way. Square beams of oak 8 in. high and 14 in. broad are laid 
on the ground, and only at rare intervals, where the great un- 
evenness of the ground absolutely requires it, cross-sleepers are 
laid under them. Each of these longitudinal beams has a length 
of 18 ft., and on the two edges of the beams are the rails, which 
are only 2 in. broad, and so thin that they weigh about 1 lb. per 
foot. ‘These beams and rails may be taken up at any moment, 
and the railway thus relaid whenever it is required. ‘The trucks 
run on two pairs of wheels 8 in. in diameter; the bodies of the 
trucks are about 3 times the width of the rails, and are placed 
so low on the wheels that they have just room to pass over them. 
The arrangement of the weight and the system of brakes are 
said to be so perfect that the train may be stopped when on a 
gradient of 1 in 7, and going at the rate of 20 or 30 miles an 
hour, within 6 to 8 yards. The 5 miles cost 10,000 dollars, 
and after the experience now gained the work may be done for 
about 1,000 dollars per mile. 

The substitution of heavy parafiine oils for high-pressure steam, 
used to obtain high temperatures for the evaporation of liquids, 
has been made in an establishment at Lambeth, England. ‘These 
oils may be heated safely to a temperature of from 600° to 700° 
Fah., and they circulate in heating exactly like water. In the 
establishment alluded to the apparatus usedis as follows: A close 
system being made, the oil heated in a coil pipe placed in a fur- 
nace rises first to an air-tight tank, from which it runs through 
pipes and the jackets of pans, descending as it cools tothe coil of 
pipe in the furnace. It is claimed that the method, besides being 
safer, is more economical than steam. A pyrometer is contrived 
to show the exact temperature of the oil as it leaves the tank, and 
means are provided for regulating and keeping the temperature 
uniform. This method appears to us to possess great promise, 
and, if it prove entirely successful, is capable of extension to 
many important branches of industry. 

M. Ducomet, of Paris, has invented a simple and ingenious 
method of cutting glass tubes. It consists in the employment of 
a metallic rod with a diamond set in one end, the rod being cov- 
ered with plaited cotton and supplied with a movable gauge to 
regulate the length. To use this instrument, all that is neces- 
sary is to introduce the end carrying the diamond into the 
tube to be cut, and then turn it around so as to make a 
scratch with the diamond around the interior of the tube 
at the point where it is desired to separate the latter. The 
correct position of the cut can be insured by the use of the 
guard, which can be fixed at any desired point on the rod by a 
screw. After the cut or scratch has been made in the manner 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 115 


described, the tube can be at once divided at the desired point by 
merely bending it, or, ifthe piece to be cut off is very short, all 
that is necessary is to hold the tube above the flame of a lamp or 
candle, when it will at once divide at the point where the diamond 
cut was made. M. Ducomet states that it is absolutely necessary 
that the rod should be covered with cotton or similar soft material, 
or that otherwise tubes cut in this way — gauge-tubes for instance 
— will subsequently break when in use. The instrument is par- 
ticularly adapted to cutting gauge-tubes. 


SINGLE RAIL TRAMWAY. 


Mr. J. W. Addis, C.E., is experimenting in India on a new 
form of single rail tramway. The vehicles used, in addition to 
the ordinary wheels, have a pair of flanged wheels, one behind 
the other, running on the single rail, which is laid at the centre 
of the track. The flanged wheels are adjusted by a screw so as 
to take all the weight off the ordinary wheels, without lifting 
them much above the roadway. An experimental line has been 
laid, in part at an incline of 1 in 40, and along this a pair of 
bullocks draw a load of 3 tons. The advantages claimed for the 
system are: first, a very great diminution of power expended 
in hauling as compared with traction on common roads; sec- 
ondly, that the cost of construction is only one-half that of an 
ordinary tramway with 2 lines of rails. A tramway or railway 
on a similar principle was, we believe, tried some time ago in 
France. — Science Review, Oct., 1870. 


VENTILATION OF COAL MINES. 


Mechanical ventilation in coal mines is steadily gaining 
ground on the older plan of producing a draught in the up-cast 
shaft by means of a furnace. Mr. D. P. Morrison recently read 
a paper on the subject before the North England Institute of 
Mining Engineers, at which he stated, that in the deepest Eng- 
lish coal mines, mechanical ventilation would show an economy 
of 35 to 40 per cent. over furnace ventilation. After discussing 
various arrangements of mechanical ventilators, he gave the pref- 
erence to the Guibal centrifugal fan. — Science Review, Oct., 1870. 


PETROLEUM FOR HEATING LOCOMOTIVE BOILERS. 


Two engines on the Strasbourg line have been fitted with M. 
Deville’s furnaces, and are employed in the goods traffic. The 
consumption of oil in the engines drawing heavy trains is stated 
to have been from 34 to 5 kilogrammes for every kilometre trav- 
ersed, or from 8 pounds to 12 pounds for every two-thirds of a 
mile. The oil is said to be very completely burned, and there is 
no smoke and consequently no waste. Another advantage 
claimed is, there being no sulphur in the oils the atmosphere of 


116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the tunnels would be free from that most disagreeable and obnox- 
ious contamination, sulphurous acid. — Journal Franklin Insti- 


tute. 


SLAG. 


Mr. Joseph Woodward has taken out a patent, which may turn 
out to be of great importance to every iron-smelting district in 
England. The millions of tons of slag running from the blast 
furnaces, and piled up in such unsightly heaps in all such districts, 
are to be utilized in the manufacture of a new brick. It is 
stated that the brick is damp-proof, that it is very solid and firm, 
without flaw, and pleasing to the eye. The inventor opines that 
it is likely at once to take the place for ornamentation at present 
occupied by the costly Staffordshire blue brick. Mr. Woodward’s 
brick can, it seems, be produced so economically, that they can be 
offered at less per thousand than the ordinary clay and fire- 
bricks. — Van Nostrand’s Eng. Mag. 


AN EARTHQUAKE-PROOF CHURCH. 


The people of California, since the earthquakes of 1869, have a 
great fear of recurring shocks, and, as an indication of this whole- 
some alarm and a desire to prevent loss of life, we have intelligence 
from San Francisco that the Roman Catholics are building there 
an ‘‘earthquake-proof church.” This edifice—St. Patrick’s 
Church —is built on a plan to prevent loss of life in the event of 
the shaking down of the walls. The side walls above the base- 
ment are only 80 feet high. At this height a roof rises, which, 
with the main roof, is supported independently of the walls by 2 
rows of pillars inside of them. Both roofs are firmly bound to the 
pillars, and the pillars are fastened together by iron cross-beams, 
secured with heavy iron bolts, forming a network of great 
strength. The theory of the plan of construction is, that, should 
the pillars be shaken down, the roof would be launched off out- 
side the walls, instead of falling inside, thus giving a chance of 
escape from the ruins. In thus falling, the roof would be earried 
aside a distance of 80 feet, the length of the pillars. — Scientific 
Journal. 


MONT CENIS TUNNEL. 


The state of the works on Mont Cenis Tunnel, Jan. 1, was as 
follows: From the south, 20,510 feet had been executed, and from 
the north, 14,9533, making a total of 35,4634 feet, and leaving 
4,914 feet to be accomplished. — Van Nostrand’s Eng. Mag. 


[Jan. 1, 1871. News has been received of its completion.— 
Editor. ] 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 117 


NEW LIGHTHOUSE APPARATUS. 


Tn the Lochindaal Lighthouse, in the island of Islay, Argyle- 
shire, dioptric prisms of a new form have been introduced. ‘The 
light which passes behind the flame has hitherto been sent forward 
by two optical agents, so as to mingle with the front light, and thus 
to reach the eye of the mariner ; but the object is now effected for 
part of the upper core of rays by means of the new prisms alone, 
so that one agent is saved, and the loss of light by absorption and 
superficial reflection is prevented. 

The prisms act by refraction and total reflection, and consist of 
glass of the ordinary index of refraction. By means of the prisms 
and a spherical mirror, the whole of the back light is sent for- 
ward. 


THE WORKING OF BRONZE. 


The secret of the manufacture of Chinese gongs seems to have 
been revealed recently by MM. Julien and Champion, who have 
found that bronze, which is brittle at the ordinary temperature, 
becomes malleable at a dull red: heat. Experiments lately made 
on this matter at the Paris mint, with the view of determining the 
conditions most favorable to working the alloy, found that a 
bronze containing 20 per cent. of tin, which at the common tem- 
perature is as brittle as glass, may, at a dull red heat, be forged 
and beaten out as easily as soft tin. 


IRON SHIPS. 


Iron for ships is rapidly superseding wood in English ship- 
yards. In 1865 there were 806 wooden ships built in England, 
in rh but 324. In 1868 the tonnage of iron ships built was 

39,937, against 66,977 wooden, and 24,121 of composite. Iron 
anaes are more durable, require less repairs, and stand heavier 
storms than those of wood, and it will not be long till the latter 
must be entirely superseded. 


GUNNERY EXPERIMENTS. 


The London ‘‘ Globe” details some late artillery experiments 
“which showed that, in spite of all possible care in the arrange- 
ment, the exact level of the centre being taken on the target “by 
means of a theodolite, the shot would strike 10 inches above it. 
Theoretically, the shot would fall by gravity, and its centre 
should have struck about 2 inches below the level. The probable 
explanation is, that the recoil is sensibly felt before the shot has 
left the gun, and that the resultant of the forces acting on the gun 
and carriage tends to throw the muzzle up; thus the projectile, 
although seemingly fired point blank, really leaves the gun at an 
angle. With the 12-pounder breech-loading gun this angle was 
found to equal about 50 minutes, while with the 9-pounder muz- 


118 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


zle-loading Indian gun it equals about 13 minutes. The difference 
is probably due to the projectile taking a longer time to pass 
through the core of the breech-loading gun. It may be men- 
tioned that when the gun is swung as a pendulum and fired with 
its axis horizontal, the shot strikes below the level. 


CUTTING UP LARGE IRON SHAFTS. 


The Buffalo correspondent of the ‘‘New York Tribune” 
writes: ‘‘It is frequently very difficult to break up great shafts 
of cast iron when_necessary to prepare them for the furnace. 
Old cannon have, therefore, sold low. Upon some, powder and 
nitro-glycerine have been tried in vain. Some have been burst 
by ice, others by wedges driven by machinery or long-continued 
hard labor into the muzzle. Here they are cut in two by a con- 
tinuous stream of molten iron, which wears away the iron as a 
stream of hot water would eat into a mass of ice. The gun is 
rolled upon a frame in front of and level with the furnace mouth. 
Then the muzzle end is shoved in as far as possible among other 
iron, the opening filled up and luted around the gun, the end of 
which is melted off. At the next charge it is shoved in another 
leneth, and is thus reduced until the breech can finally be rolled 
in and thus finished without any more expense than with pig or 
scrap iron. 


AN EIGHT—TON STEAM HAMMER. 


The Landore Steel Works have erected a single-acting steam 
hammer, the head of which weighs 8 tons. ‘The cylinder is 30 
inches in diameter. The anvil block, which is cast in one solid 
piece, weighs 75 tons. 


CORROSION OF IRON WATER PIPES. 


Two wrought-iron -pipes, 7 feet in diameter, have been laid on 
the aqueduct bridge by which the Croton water is carried over 
the Harlem River, and much trouble has been experienced from 
their rusting, but on examination it appears that at each joint, 
where a lap of some 15 inches is made, no notable amount of 
rust is formed on the entire belt under the lap. It was, at first, 
supposed that some molecular change, produced by the riveting 
(which is double), was the origin of this protection, but this idea 
is opposed by the fact that the rivets in other parts show no such 
action, and that the protection in the laps is not concentric with 
the rivets, but stop abruptly with the edge of the lap. Mr. Graff 
also informs us that the plan of painting the pipes, when hot, 
with boiled coal tar, has met with uniform success in his experi- 
ence, and also at Boston, where very serious difficulty was before 
experienced by stoppage from accumulation of rust. An attempt 
to protect the Croton pipes by strips of zine entirely failed. -- 
Journal Franklin Institute. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 119 


HIGH-PRESSURE CONVERTER. 


Mr. Bessemer has patented a method of conducting his pro- 
cess under pressure, by means of which sufficient heat is pro- 
duced to retain complete fluidity in the steel until it is poured 
into moulds. For this purpose he makes the converting vessel 
of great strength and as air-tight as possible, and makes the 
mouth of it circular instead of oval, and of smaller size than 
usual, lining this mouth with a ring of well-burnt fire-clay or a 
composition of clay and plumbago. Mr. Bessemer states that 
for the conversion of the purer kinds of Swedish charcoal pig 
iron and for mottled or white hematite pig iron mixed with gray, 
a back pressure in the vessel of from 8 to 15 pounds on the 
square inch will give good results, and in but a few cases will a 
pressure of 20 pounds per square inch be necessary; while a 
pressure as low as 3 or 4 pounds will be of little practical 
advantage, and below 2 pounds per square inch he lays no claim 
to a usetul effect. 


MAGIC-LANTERN PICTURES ON GELATINE BY A NEW METHOD. 


At the last meeting of the Franklin Institute, the Resident Sec- 
retary, Prof. Morton, exhibited in the lantern some pictures on 
gelatine, prepared in a manner devised by Mr. Shepherd Hol- 
man, «a member of the Institute. 

For this purpose, a sheet of gelatine, such as is used for tracing 
by engravers, was securely fixed over an engraving, and with a 
sharp steel point (made by grinding down the end of a small, 
round file), the lines of the original traced pretty deeply on the 
transparent substance. Lead-pencil or crayon dust was then 
lightly rubbed in with the finger, and the picture was at once 
ready for use. 

A number of such drawings could be easily carried between 
the leaves of a book, could each in succession be placed in a 
frame or cell made of two plates of glass supported by a frame 
of thin card of three edges, and united by paper or muslin pasted 
around the same edges. The effect of these drawings in the lan- 
tern was excellent, and their ease of production very great. 


PAPER FROM OAT-HUSKS. 


W. Hay, of Glasgow, Scotland, has just patented the following 
process. He first immerses the oat-husks in water, in a tank or 
other convenient vessel, in order to float off mustard and other 
seeds with which they are generally more or less mixed, and 
which, if not separated, materially deteriorate the quality of the 
paper. Itis of advantage to have the water well stirred, as it 
facilitates the separation of the foreign seeds, and allows them to 
float to the surface. The oat-husks are then allowed to settle, 
and the surface scum and floating seeds are drawn off by an overs 
flow pipe at the top of the tank, or skimmed off by a rake or 


120 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


other tool, or otherwise removed, after which the water is drained 
from the oat-husks, by a waste-water pipe at the bottom of 
the tank, and beneath a perforated false bottom, fitted with a 
strainer which retains the oat-husks. The oat-husks may be left 
to steep in the water for from 5 to 10 hours after or during the 
removal of the scum, as this steeping, by softening them and 
helping to loosen the silica from the fibre, facilitates the subse- 
quent boiling process. ‘The remainder of the process does not 
differ materially from the ordinary one in making paper from 
straw. 


AN IMPERISHABLE HOT—HOUSE. 


From the recently published list of English patents it appears 
that Mr. W. P. Ayres has secured ‘‘ Improvements in the Con- 
struction and Arrangement of Horticultural and other Buildings 
or Erections or Structures, and in the Means and Appliances for 
Heating the same.” These consist of roofs formed without 

sashes, sash-bars, putty, or paint, or any wood-work outside, and 
consequently no painting will at any time be required. Secondly, 
Mr. Ayres forms his floors, plant-stages, and side or partition 
walls in slabs of cement concrete, strengthened in a peculiar 
manner so as to bear any amount of pressure that may be placed 
upon them, and yet admit of being perforated for the air to circu- 
late through them, panelled to hold water for een or the 
pots to stand in, or perforated and panelled. These slabs, it is 
said, can be manufactured of any required strength, and, conse- 
quently, are suitable for fire-proof floors, partition walls, tabling, 
or shelving for shop, office, or warehouse fittings, or for any 
situations where slate or marble slabs have hitherto been used, 
with the advantage that they can be manufactured of any size, 
and in the place where they are required to be used, left rough 
for ordinary use, or be finished plain or in colors with the face of 
polished marble. Thirdly, Mr. Ayres introduces a new system 
of heating, dispensing with plunging or fermenting material for 
bottom heat, and substitutes a system by which a stream of air, 
moist or dry, is constantly passing through the centre of the 

earth containing the roots of the plant as well as around the sides 
of the pot. For glazing, Mr. Ayres uses flat glass of great 
strength and quality, jointed with transparent cement ; or he: may 
use glass turned up at the sides, or any other form of bent glass 
that he may find necessary for the purposes of his invention. 
The alleged advantages are, economy in first construction, porta- 
pility (when desired), and when manufactured in iron, gal- 
vanized, a house so imperishable as to wear for a lifetime without 
further cost. 


NEW INVENTIONS. 


Herring, Farrel & Sherman, at the fair of the American Insti- 
tute held in New York, exhibited a new style of burglar-proof 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 121 


safe, made of Franklinite, or spiegeleisen, combined with welded 
steel and iron. It is cylindrical, and the top is raised to open the 
safe or lowered to close it by a very strong vertical screw in the 
centre of the cylinder. As the top is raised, the wood-work, con- 
taining drawers and pigeon-holes, also is raised, so as to become 
accessible. A combination lock fastens the top when closed, so 
that it is held in a very secure manner. This safe appears to bea 
very difficult thing for burglars to deal with, and we judge will 
not often be attempted by that ingenious fraternity. A desk-safe, 
also of new style, exhibited by the same firm, is worthy of notice. 

An application of electricity to bank locks, exhibited by the 
Electro-Bank Lock Company, No. 9 Willoughby Street, Brook- 
lyn, is a most ingenious affair. A combination lock is worked 
entirely by electro-magnetism, and is placed within the safe on 
the back wall, opposite the door. Its wheels are worked by elec- 
tro-magnetism, the circuit being controlled entirely by circuit- 
breakers placed in an office desk or any other convenient place. 
No one can unlock the safe without knowing the combination, and 
no key-hole or any other aperture in the walls of the safe exists 
whereby powder can be inserted. Burglars could only entera 
safe provided with this lock by actually penetrating the wall. 
The lock itself is absolutely exempt from all tampering. 

Among minor steam-engineering devices we noticed the Ameri- 
can Eagle Steam Gauge, exhibited by the American Eagle Steam 
Gauge Co., 190 Market Street, Newark, N. J., belonging to the 
type known as mercurial gauges. It consists of a cast-iron cham- 
ber fitted to receive a thin corrugated steel diaphragm or disk, 
properly tempered, and plated with nickel, to prevent corrosion. 
The pressure acts upon the under side of it, the mereury covering 
the top side of the same, from which extends an open vertical 
glass tube, supported and protected by a metal case, having a 
graduated scale of pressure. Any slight movement of the disc 
will fill the tube with the mercury to a greater or less degree, 
whereby the pressure is correctly indicated. There is a screw by 
which the starting-point of the mercury can be readily adjusted, 
so that, whatever the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere 
may be, the indication of the pressure will be correctly indicated. 

A recording pressure-gauge is shown by Charles G. Willing, of 
88 John Street, New York, which gave a continuous and exact 
record of the pressure, and the time at which the pressure was 
sustained, automatically. The principle of recording is the trac- 
ng ey a rotating disk of a pencil point in the end of the index 

and, 

W. H. Place, 8 Attorney Street, New York, exhibited an im- 
proved governor and valve, of novel construction, and apparently 
of great effectiveness. Mr. Place, the inventor, was formerly 
Chief Engineer of the Central American Transit Company. His 
invention consists of a vertical cylinder or case, in which are 
placed and attached thereto a series of inclined or spiral-formed 
ribs, within which revolves (in water or other liquid) a propeller- 
wheel, revolving and leading in an opposite direction from said 
spiral ribs in said cylinder, making the shaft, by passing through 


11 


122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


a series of friction rolls attached to the throttle valve, check or 
increase the motion of the engine, the stem of the shaft of the pro- 
peller-wheel passing through friction-rolls without packing, caus- 
ing instantaneous and sensitive motion to depress or elevate the 
throttle-valve. The governor is operated from the main shaft by 
means of a belt and pulleys. 

A novelty in the display of minor tools is Jones’ Patent Joint 
and Mitre Planer, a hand-tool whereby a perfect right-angled or 
mitre joint may be made, or a piece be planed square or to any 
required angle, with ease and accuracy, even by the inexpert. 
This is accomplished by an adjustable table, upon which the 
piece is laid, and brought up to the cutting-iron of the plane, at 
the angle desired. The plane proper runs on ways, and thus has 
a perfectly parallel motion. — Scientifie American. 


GREEN GLASS FOR THE DARK ROOM OF PHOTOGRAPHERS. 


Mr. Gaffield, of Boston, has shown that while chemical rays to 
a slight degree will pass through yellow glass, they are perfectly 
excluded by green and red. This has suggested to photogra- 
phers to substitute green glass for the yellow in “the developing and 
fixing room. The yellow light is very trying to the eyes, while 
the green light is very agreeable, 

Carey Lea recommends the green glass, after an experience in 
the preparation of hundreds of plates where it had been substi- 
tuted for the yellow panes. 


A NEW WINDOW. 


The New York ‘* Technologist * describes a new contrivance for 
preventing people looking ‘into a room, while light is not ex- 
cluded. it consists of a number of olass rods arranged either 
vertically or horizontally, and secured together by appropriate 
frames, forming a series of cylindrical lenses which break up the 
light and throw it into every part of the room, thus producing a 
soft and diffused glow which is very beautiful and pleasant. The 
glass rods may be of any color, and by an arrangement of the 
colors very beautiful effects can be produced. The contrivance is 
the invention of Mr. Demuth. 


NEW DYE. 


The ‘‘ Engineer” states that the new dye known as soluble 
garnet seems to be coming more largely into use on the Continent, 
and as the colors produced with it are exceedingly brilliant, simi- 
Jar to those obtained with archil, but much more stable when ex- 
posed to light and air, the garnet dye is likely to become a great 
favorite. The dye was first prepared by Casthelaz, of Paris, and 
is the ammonia salt of isopurpuric acid, which is formed by the 
action of a metallic cyanide upon picric acid. It is not prepared 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 123 


from the pure crystallized, but from an inferior kind of picric 
acid, and is probably destined to replace the archil in many cases, 
in imparting to wool all shades, from garnet to chestnut-brown. 
It may be readily combined with other, pigments, so that a num- 
ber of different colors may be obtained. According to Casthelaz, 
the dyeing of wool and of silk is effected by the addition of an or- 

ganic acid to the bath, for instance, acetic or tartaric acid, min- 
eral acids being excluded. The dye-bath for silk should be cold 
or tepid in the beginning. Different shades in red and brown are 
thus obtained that are ‘dependent upon the concentration of the 
bath, the nature of the mordant, and the time of the operation. — 
Nature. 


FIBROUS COTTON-—SEED. 


Mr. Thomas Rose read a paper at the meeting of the British 
Association, ‘On the Utilization of Fibrous Cotton-Seed.” He said 
that a vegetable production, which should be valuable, and could 
be supplied to the extent of millions of tons, was now wasted. 
The waste product was fibrous cotton-seed, and in America alone 
more than a million and a half tons of the seed were wasted 
yearly. The seed was composed of 50 per cent. kernel, which 
yielded about one-third oil, and 50 per cent. husk-shell with fibre 
adhering, of which the fibre would be one-third. His calcula- 
tion was that the waste seeds would produce 250,000 tons of pure 
cotton, 250,000 tons of oil, and 500,000 tons of cattle-cake, the 
value of which he estimated at £20,000,000 sterling. The husks 
could be taken to the paper-mill and the cotton abstracted in such 
a manner as to form a most valuable material for paper. There 
was a process by which the cotton fibre could be completely sep- 
arated from the shell; and the seed had a chief advantage, that 
of unfailing supply. In conclusion, Mr. Rose remarked upon the 
value and use of the oil and the cattle-cake that would be yielded 
by the seed. 


EQUILATERAL TRIANGULAR DRAWING-BOARD FOR ISOMETRICAL 
DRAWING. 


Mr. George Fawcus, of North Shields, has contrived an equi- 
lateral triancular drawing-board for isometrical drawing. An 
ordinary T square e applied on the edges of an equilateral trianele 
draws tangents that meet each other at angles of 120°, and other 
lines drawn parallel to these radiating ones ; form with them angles 
of 60° and 120°, which are the exact angles of the apparent 
square of isometrieal cubes. The inventor believes that the use 
of this new drawing-board will make the teaching of isometrical 
drawing both simple and easy. The practice of isometrical 


drawing s is strongly urged in the science and art drawing classes. 
— Nature. 


124 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


FIXING LEAD-PENCIL, CHARCOAL, AND CHALK DRAWINGS. 


W. Wolanek states, that when the paper containing drawings 
or writings made with lead pencil, charcoal, etc., is painted 
over on the reverse side (where no writing or drawing exists) 
with a moderately strong solution of bleached shellac inalcohol 
the same becomes thoroughly fixed, so that they cannot be 
rubbed off. — Journal Franklin Institute. 


NOVEL MECHANICAL MOVEMENT. 


An exceedingly ingenious substitute, which can be scarcely 
called a modification, of the well-known joint of Dr. Hooke, has 
been patented within a year, by Mr. Melville Clemens, of Boston, 
an illustration and Jong description of which has been published 
in ‘‘ Engineering,” London, September 2, 1870. 

Except. to a very careful reader and student, this description is 
somewhat appalling (beside involving some errors of statement 
and calculation), and the drawings fail to show clearly or readily 
the principle on which it is constructed. In fact, the parts lie at 
such angles with each other, that neither drawings nor perspective 
will convey an adequate idea of the contrivance. It gives the full 
range of 90° to the angle at which the shafts (in the same plane 
of rotation) may have, and the motion transmitted is a uniform 
angular one, — both of which conditions are advantages not pos- 
sessed by the Hooke joint. 

If it is imagined that 2 shafts are placed in boxes or pedes- 
tals in the same plane, but at any angle with each other from 0° 
to 90°, the ends of which are tee-headed and placed at such dis- 
tance apart that the tee-heads will clear each other (at 90°) in 
rotating; and if it is further supposed that each tee-head is made 
the axis or knuckle of 2 straps or triangular hinges, and the 
outer extremities of the hinges are connected (in pairs) with 
those which are attached to the opposite tee-head in a ball-joint, 
the whole forming a hinged parallelogram, the gist of the con- 
struction will be comprehended. 

The ball-joint must allow a pestle and mortar motion of 10° to 
15° and a rocking motion of 45°, and the knuckles on the tee- 
heads must rock 90° while the system rotates. 

In a practical form for use the joints of this arrangement admit 
of as great strength as the Hooke joint, and the extreme range of 
angle to which it is applicable will render it available in many 
places. 

The study of mechanical movements has occupied so many and 
so-able persons, that the addition of a novel one bespeaks more 
than usual ingenuity; and this Clemens joint will at once take a 
place in the repertory of general information. — Journal Franklin 
Institute. 


MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 125 


TRANSPORTATION OF FRESH MEATS AND FRUITS, ETC., THROUGH 
LONG DISTANCES. THE DAVIS REFRIGERATOR CAR. 


The shell of the car consists exteriorly of the ordinary wood 
easing. A second wooden shell is made smaller than the first, 
and placed within it so as to leave an airspace or chamber 
entirely around the top, bottom, and sides of the fat, Within this 
second shell is placed a layer of hair, about 2 inches in thick- 
ness, and this again is lined with an interior wooden shell. This 
construction makes a non- -radiating and non-conducting compound 
shell or case, of great power to resist the action of external heat, 
and renders the “expenditure of ice quite small to maintain the 
required depression of temperature, after the interior of the car 
and its contents have been cooled down to the proper point, say 
from 34° to 38° Fah. 

The refrigeration is accomplished in the following manner: 
Along the sides of the car are placed sheet-metal tanks shaped 
like the frustra of very gradually tapering wedges. They extend 
from the top to the bottom of the car, and are about 5 inches 
thick at the top and 23 inches at the bottom. These tanks com- 
municate at the top with the exterior of the car through funnel 
or hopper-shaped openings, and at the bottom through drip-pipes, 
which convey away the moisture. The funnel-shaped openings 
at the top are used for putting in the refrigerating mixture, con- 
sisting of broken ice and salt, ‘and are provided with air-ticht coy- 
ers. The car is entered through a hatchway at the top, through 
which its freight is also introduced. This hatchway is also pro- 
vided with a tight- fitting cover, made non-radiating and non-con- 
ducting, like the sides of the car. 

The store of ice and salt for the trip is contained in a separate 
department in one end of the car, so that its contents can be 
reached, and the refrigerating tanks supplied, without opening the 
freight-room. 

The freight is placed in the car on strips of board, strips of 
board also preventing its coming in contact with the walls of the 
refrigerating tanks. The packages are also so placed as to leave 
interspaces through, between, and around each. During the 
process of refrigeration the air circulates around the packages and 
long the sides of the tanks like water in asteam-boiler, the colder 
air falling, and the warmer air rising to the top, becoming chilled 
in its passage along the sides of the tanks, and depositing its 
moisture on the tanks till their sides are covered with a thick 
stratum of congealed water or hoar-frost. Thus the air is not 
only cooled but dried, no accession of moisture being derived 
from the external air or from the ice in the tanks, with either of 
which the interior of the car has no communication so long as the 
car is kept closed. 

The two essentials for the preservation of substances liable to 
ferment, namely, absence of heat and of moisture, are thus se- 
cured in a very perfect manner, and the arrangement of the tanks 
is such that the space within the car for the storage of freight is 
not materially reduced. Some addition to the reftigerative mix- 


126 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ture in the tanks is made each day, and the temperature is easily 
regulated and kept at the desired point by the addition of more or 
less salt in proportion to the charge of ice. — Scientific American. 


PRESERVED FLESH IN AUSTRALIA. 


The exportation of this article to England, according to the 
newspapers, is assuming great importance, and is becoming with 
wool one of the great staples. 

The Victoria Company deprives the animal of its bones, skin, 
ete., salts it slightly, packs it in casks, filling the interstices 
with melted fat. Flesh thus preserved is said to keep excellently. 

One company delivers weekly 40 tons of flesh.—Condensed from 
Polytechnisches Centralblatt. 


PRESERVATION. OF MEAT. BY M. GORGES. 


The process in use on the large scale by the author, at Mon- 
tevideo, is briefly as follows: The meat, in pieces weigh- 
ing from 2 to 50 kilos, is placed in a mixture of water (85 per 
cent.), the rest being hydrochloric acid, glycerine, and_ bisul- 
phite of soda. After having been steeped for some time, the 
pieces are taken out and dusted over with finely powdered dry 
bisulphite of soda, and then packed in air-tight boxes, filled 
as full as possible. In this state the meat keeps fresh any length 
of time, and becomes perfectly fit for use, equal to fresh butcher’s 
meat, by steeping a short time in water, to which vinegar has 
been added, and afterwards exposed to air. The author manu- 
factures, at the place above named, an excellent extract of meat, 
which can be sold in Europe at 6 francs per kilo. The price of 
the preserved meat, of which it would be easy to supply to Lon- 
don and Paris daily over 10 tons, is from 50 to 60 centimes per 
kilo. — Journal Franklin Institute. 


NADU Ash PALL OSO0 BAY. 


SIZE OF ATOMS. 


Sm Witt1aAM THompson, who has been investigating regarding 
the probable size of molecules, has derived an important argu- 
ment from electrical phenomena. He had previously proved that 
‘¢a plate of zinc and a plate of copper, kept in metallic connec- 
tion with one another, act electrically upon electrified bodies in 
their neighborhood, and upon one another, as they would if they 
were of the same metal and kept ata difference of potentials equal 
to about three quarters of that produced by a single cell of 
Daniell’s. Hence, in connection with certain measurements on 
the electrostatic effects of that battery, itis found that plates of 
zine and copper held parallel to one another at any distance, D, 
apart, which is a small fraction of the linear dimensions of their 
opposed surfaces, and kept in metallic communication with one 
another, exercise a certain force of attraction which can be calcu- 
lated. From this we can calculate the work done if the plates 
approach each other from a distance, D’, till they are at this dis- 
tance, D. Suppose, now, a pile composed of a great number of 
plates of zine and copper kept in metallic connection while they 
are made to approach each other, their positions in the pile being 
parallel, and suppose for simplicity that their thickness is also D. 
We calculate the work done,estimating it by the height threugh 
which this energy would raise the whole pile, and giving different 
values to D we get varying values of this height according as the 
energy calculated by the formula varies. Down to values of D 
equal to one two hundred-thousandth of a centimetre the values of 
the energy computed are such that we may suppose that the laws 
of electrical attraction and induction are essentially the same as 
have been found for plates of measurable thickness at measurable 
distances from each other. But if D equals a very small amount, 
as one four-hundred-millionth of a centimetre, the computed 
energy is greater than that which converted into heat would melt 
the zinc and copper. So we must admit that as zinc and copper 
filings have no tendency to inflame on approaching one another, 
the electric attraction between plates one four-hundred-millionth 
of a centimetre thick, at a distance of one four-hundred-millionth 
of a centimetre from each other, must be much less than the 
amount calculated, supposing the ordinary laws still to be fol- 
lowed ;” or, in other words, plates of zinc and copper, so thin as a 
four-hundred-millionth of a centimetre from each other, form a 


127 


128 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


mixture closely approaching to a molecular combination, if indeed 
plates so thin could be made without splitting atoms. 

The principles of capillary attraction lead to a similar result. 
It has been proved that the dynamic value of the heat required to 
prevent a body from cooling when stretched is rather more than 
half the work spent in stretching it. Hence, if we calculate the 
work required to stretch it to any extent, and multiply the result 
by three-halves, we have an estimate, near enougn for the present 
purpose, of the augmentation of energy experienced by a liquid 
film when stretched and kept at a constant temperature. Taking 
.08 of a gramme weight per centimetre of breadth as the capillary 
tension of a surface of water, and therefore .16 as that of a water 
bubble, a quantity of water expanded to a thinness. of one two- 
hundred-millionth of a centimetre would, if its tension remained 
constant, have more energy than the same mass of water in ordi- 
nary condition by about 1100 times as much as suffices to warm it 
by 1° Centigrade. This is more than enough to drive the liquid 
into vapor. Hence, if a film of one two-hundred-millionth of a 
centimetre can exist as a liquid at all, it is perfectly certain that it 
cannot be many molecules in thickness. The argument from the 
Kenetie Theory of gases leads to a similar conclusion, as do other 
electrical measurements. ‘The result of the series of experiments 
first mentioned gives a certain result for the value (one four-hun- 
dred-millionth. of a centimetre) there given, and a high probabili- 
ty that the limit is at least one two-hundred-millionth of a centi- 
metre. 


THE CONTINUITY OF THE GASEOUS AND LIQUID STATES OF 
MATTER. 


Among the most important results of physical investigation 
recently obtained, are those of Dr. Andrews, on the continuity of 
the gaseous and liquid states of matter. 

The transition from the gaseous to the liquid state, and from 
the liquid to the solid, has been regarded as necessarily abrupt, 
with the exception of the plastic condition assumed by some solids 
just before liquefaction. Dr. Andrews has shown that this is very 
far from being the case. 

A series of experiments was undertaken by Dr. Andrews, in 
1861, in which oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbonic oxide and 
nitric oxide were submitted to pressures greater than had pre- 
viously been obtained in glass tubes, and while under this pres- 
sure they were submitted to the cold of the carbonic acid and 
ether bath. None of these gases exhibited any appearance of 
liquefaction, although reduced to less than one five-hundredth of 
their ordinary volume by the combined action of cold and pres- 
sure. <A short time later a number of experiments were under- 
taken with carbonic acid, this being liquefied under certain fixed 
conditions of pressure and temperature. 

These, together with some Jater researches, form the subject of 
the lecture of which this article is an abstract. 

In the earlier experiments Dr. Andrews found that ‘* on par- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 129 


tially liquefying carbonic acid by pressure alone, and gradually 
raising at the same time the temperature to 88° Fahrenheit, the 
surface of demarcation between the liquid and the gas became 
fainter, lost its curvature, and at last disappeared. The space 
was then occupied by a homogeneous fluid, which exhibited, when 
the pressure was suddenly diminished or the temperature slightly 
lowered, a peculiar appearance of moving or flickering strize 
throughout its entire mass. At temperatures above 88°, no ap- 
parent liquefaction of carbonic acid or separation into two distinct 
forms of matter could be effected, even when a pressure of 3U0 or 
400 atmospheres was employed. Nitrous oxide gave analogous 
results.” 

In the later series, Dr. A. still made use of carbonic acid. In 
his apparatus the carbonic acid was contained in a glass tube, 
capillary in the upper and larger part of its length, and for the 
remainder of the widest bore in which the column of mercury 
would remain without displacement when the tube was placed in 
a vertical position. A movable column or bar of mercury con- 
fined the gas to be operated on. This glass tube was secured by 
careful packing in a massive end-piece of brass, which carried a 
flange by means of which a water-tight junction could be made 
with a corresponding flange attached to a cold-drawn copper tube 
of great strength. ‘lo the other end of the copper tube a similar 
end-piece was firmly bolted. The latter carried a fine steel screw, 
7 inches long, which was packed with such care that the packing 
was capable of resisting a pressure of 400 atmospheres or more. 
Before commencing the experiment, the body of the apparatus 
was filled with water; the upper end-piece, carrying the glass 
tube in which was the gas to be operated upon, was firmly secured 
in its place, and the pressure was obtained by screwing the steel 
screw into the water-chamber. When the gas or liquid was ex- 
posed to very low temperatures, the end of the capillary-tube was 
made to dip into a bath of ether and solid carbonic acid under a 
bell-jar, from which the air could be exhausted. 

In order to estimate the pressure in these experiments, a com- 
pound form of the apparatus was used, a second tube, containing 
air, being put in communication with the first, and used as a 
manometer. In order to keep the tubes at fixed temperatures, 
each was surrounded with a case, through which a current of 
water passed, by which the temperature could be regulated. 

The temperature of the water surrounding the air-tube was 
kept stationary, coinciding with that of the apartment; that sur- 
rounding the carbonic acid tube was made to vary from 13.1° Cen- 
tigrade to 48° Centigrade. .The volumes of both air and gas 
were carefully read by a cathetometer. 

The observations were recorded by the graphical method, being 
embodied in a series of curves. The air-curves are drawn for 
temperatures of 13.1°C., 31.1° C., and 48.1° C., the ordinates rep- 
resenting the volumes, and the abscissas the pressures. 

In the carbonic acid curves for 13.1° C. there occurs an abrupt 
fall (diminution of volume) at a pressure of 49 atmospheres. 
The curve for 21.5° C. exhibits a corresponding fall, but not 


130 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


until a pressure of 60 atmospheres is reached. A slight deviation 
from perfect abruptness in the fall is shown by Dr. “A., to result 
from the presence of a small quantity of air in the carbonic acid 
tube. The curve for 31.1° C. shows no such abrupt fall, but a rapid 
descent between the pressures of 73 and 75 atmospheres. This 
descent becomes gradually less marked as the temperature rises, 
and when a temperature of 48.1° C. has been obtained, it has 
almost, if not altogether, disappeared. 

At any temperature between — 57° C., and 30.92° C., carbonic 
acid, under the ordinary atmospheric pressure, is unquestionably 
in the state of a gas or vapor. On augmenting the pressure, 
the volume diminishes at a more rapid rate than that of a perfect 
gas, till liquefaction begins, a sudden diminution of volume then 
taking place. With some care it is possible to arrange the ex- 
periment so that part of the carbonic acid shall be in the liquid, 
and part in the gaseous state; the carbonic acid thus coexisting 
in two distinct physical conditions in the same tube and under the 

same external pressure. The result is, however, far different if 

the experiment be made at 30.92° C. or at any higher tempera- 
ture. At this temperature, and under a pressure of about 74 at- 
mospheres, the density of liquid and gaseous carbonic acid, as 
well as all their other physical peculiarities, are absolutely identi- 
cal, and the most careful observation fails to discover any hetero- 
geneity at this or higher temperatures in carbonic acid, when its 
volume is so reduced as to occupy a space in which at lower tem- 
peratures a mixture of gas and liquid would have been formed. 
The carbonic acid has, in fact, become one homogeneous fluid, 
which cannot by change of pressure be separated into two dis- 
tinct conditions. This temperature of 30.92° C., Dr. Andrews 
calls the critical point of carbonic acid. Other gases show the 
same phenomena, but have different critical points. The rapid 
changes in density, which slight changes of temperature or pres- 
sure produce, when the gas is reduced at temperatures a little 
above the critical point, to the volume at which it might be ex- 
pected to liquefy, account for the flickering movements referred 
to in the beginning of this article. 

‘‘T have frequently exposed carbonic acid,” says Dr. Andrews, 
‘‘without making precise measurements to mueh higher pres- 
sures than any marked in the tables, and have made it pass, 
without break or interruption, from what is regarded by every one 
as the gaseous state, to what is in like manner universally re- 
garded as the liquid state. Take, for example, a given volume 
of carbonic acid gas at 50° C., or at a higher temperature, and ex- 
pose it to increasing pressure till.150 atmospheres have been 
reached. In this process the volume will steadily diminish as the 
pressure augments, and no sudden diminution of volume without 
the application of external pressure will occur at any stage of it. 
When the full pressure has been applied, let the temperature be 
allowed to fall, till the carbonic acid has reached the ordinary 
temperature of the atmosphere. During the whole of this opera- 
tion, no breach of continuity has occurred. It begins with a gas, 
and by a series of gradual changes, presenting nowhere any 


NATURAL PUILOSOPHY. 131 


abrupt alteration of volume or sudden evolution of heat, it ends 
with a liquid. The closest observation fails to distinguish any- 
where indications of a change of condition in the carbonic acid, 
or evidence at any part of the process of part of it being in one 
physical state, and part in another. That the gas has “actually 
changed into a liquid would, indeed, never have been suspected 
had it not shown itself to be so changed by entering into ebulli- 
tion on the removal of the pressure. For convenience, this pro- 
cess has been divided into two stages, the compression of the car-~ 
bonic acid, and its subsequent cooling; but these operations 
might have been performed simultaneously, if care were taken 
so to arrange the application of the pressure and the rate of cool- 
ing that the pressure should not be less than 76 atmospheres 
when the carbonic acid had cooled to 31°. 

**We are now prepared for the consideration of the following 
important question: Whatis the condition of carbonic acid when 
it passes, at temperatures above 31°, from the gaseous state down 
to the volume of the liquid, without giving evidence at any point 
of the process of liquefaction having occurred? Does it continue 
in the gaseous state, or does it liquefy, or do we have to deal 
with a new condition of matter? Jf the experiment were made 
at 100°, or at a higher temperature when all indications of a fall 
had disappeared, the probable answer which would be given to 
this question is that the gas preserves its gaseous condition during 
the compression, and few would hesitate to declare this statement 
to be true, ifthe pressure, asin Natterer’s experiments, were applied 
to such gases as hydrogen and nitrogen. On the other hand, 
when the experiment is made with carbonic acid at temperatures a 
little above 31° C., the great fall that occurs at one period of the pro- 
cess would lead to the conjecture that liquefaction had actually taken 
place, although optical tests, carefully applied, failed at any time 
to discover the presence of a liquid in contact with a gas. But 
against this view it may be urged with great force, that the fact 
of additional pressure being always required for a further dimi- 
nution of volume, is opposed to the known laws which hold in the 
change of bodies from the gaseous to the liquid state. Besides, 
the higher the temperature at which the gas is compressed, the 
less the fall becomes, and at last it disappears. 

‘The answer to the foregoing question, according to what ap- 
pears to me to be the true interpretation of the experiments al- 
ready described, is to be found in the close and intimate relations 
which subsist between the gaseous and liquid states of matter. 
The ordinary gaseous and ordinary liquid states are, in short, only 
widely separated forms of the same condition of matter, and may 
be made to pass into one another by a series of gradations so 
gentle that the passage shall nowhere present any interruption or 
breach of continuity. From carbonic acid as a perfect gas to car- 
bonic acid as a perfect liquid, the transition, we have seen, may 
be accomplished by a continuous process, and the gas and liquid 
are only distant stages of a long series of continuous physical 
changes. Under certain conditions of temperature and pressure, 
carbonic acid finds itself, it is true, in what may be described as 


132 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


a state of instability, and suddenly passes with the evolution of 
heat, and without the application of additional pressure or change 
of temperature, to the volume which by the continuous process 
can only be reached through a long and circuitous route. In the 
abrupt change which here occurs, a marked difference is exhib- 
ited, while the process is going on, in the optical and other physi- 
cal properties of the carbonic acid which has collapsed into the 
smaller volume, and of the carbonic acid not yet altered. There 
is no difficulty here, therefore, in distinguishing between the liquid 
and the gas. But in other cases the distinction cannot be made ; 
and under many of the conditions I have described it would be 
vain to attempt to assign carbonic acid to the liquid rather than 
the gaseous state. Carbonic acid, at the temperature of 35.5°, 
and under a pressure of 180 atmospheres, is reduced to 0.480 of 
the volume it occupied under a pressure of one atmosphere ; but 
if any one ask whether it is now in the gaseous or liquid state, 
the question does not, I believe, admit of a positive reply. Car- 
bonic acid at 35.5°, and under 108 atmospheres of pressure, stands 
nearly midway between the gas and the liquid; and we have no 
valid grounds for assigning it to the one form of matter more than 
to the other. The same observation would apply with even 
greater force to the state in which carbonic acid exists at higher 
temperatures and under greater pressures than those just men- 
tioned. 

** In the foregoing observations I have avoided all reference to 
the molecular forces brought into play in these experiments. The 
resistance of liquids and gases to external pressure tending to 
produce a diminution of volume proves the existence of an inter- 
nal force of an expansive or resisting character. On the other 
hand, the sudden diminution of volume, without the addition of 
external pressure, which occurs when a gas is compressed at any 
temperature below the critical point tothe volume at which lique- 
faction begins, can scarcely be explained without assuming that 
a molecular force of great attractive power comes into operation, 
und overcomes the resistance to diminution of volume which com- 
monly requires the application of external force. When the pas- 
sage from the gaseous to the liquid state is effected by the con- 
tinuous process described in the foregoing pages, these molecular 
forces are so modified as to be unable at any stage of the process 
to overcome alone the resistance of the fluid to change of vol- 
ume. 

‘«'The properties described in this communication as exhibited 
by carbonic acid, are not peculiar to it, but are generally true of 
wll bodies which can be obtained as gases or liquids. Nitrous 
oxide, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, sulphuric ether, and sulphuret 
of carbon, all exhibited, at fixed pressures and temperatures, 
critical points, and rapid changes of volume with flickering move- 
ments, when the temperature or pressure was changed in the 
neighborhood of those points. The critical points of some of 
these bodies were above 100°; and in order to make the obser- 
vations it was necessary to bend the capillary tube before the 

- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 133 


commencement of the experiment, and to heat it in a bath of 
paraffine or oil of vitriol. 

‘The distinction between a gas and vapor has hitherto been 
founded on principles which are altogether arbitrary. Ether in 
the state of gas is called a vapor, while sulphurous acid in the 
same state iscalled a gas; yet they are both vapors, the one derived 
from a liquid boiling at 35°, the other from a liquid boiling at —10°. 
The distinction is thus determined by the trivial condition of the 
boiling-point of the liquid, under the ordinary temperature of the 
atmosphere. Such a distinction may have some advantages for 
practical reference, but it has no scientific value. The critical 
point of temperature affords a criterion for distinguishing a vapor 
from a gas, if it be considered important to maintain this dis- 
tinction at all. Many of the properties of vapors depend on the 
gas and liquid being present in contact with one another; and 
this, we have seen, can only occur at temperatures below the 
critical point. We may accordingly define a vapor to be a gas at 
any temperature under its critical point. According to this definition 
a vapor may, by pressure alone, be changed into a liquid, and may 
therefore exist in presence of its own liquid; while agas cannot 
be liquefied by pressure, that is, so changed by pressure as 
to become a visible liquid distinguished by a surface of demarcation 
from the gas. If this definition be accepted, carbonic acid 
will be a vapor below 31°, a gas above that temperature; ether 
a vapor below 200°, a gas above that temperature. 

‘* We have seen that the gaseous and liquid states are only dif- 
ferent stages of the same condition of matter, and are capable of 
passing into one another by a process of continuous change. A 
problem of far greater difficulty yet remains to be solved, —the 
possible continuity of the liquid and solid states of matter. But 
this must be a subject of future investigation ; and for the present 
I will not venture to go beyond the conclusion, I have already 
drawn from direct experiment, that the gaseous and liquid forms 
of matter may be transformed into one another by a series of con- 
tinuous and unbroken changes.” 


SUPERSATURATION. 


Mr. J. G. Grenfell has described several interesting experi- 
ments, bearing on the theory of supersaturation. — Professor 
Tomlinson supposes that a supersaturated solution adheres as a 
whole to a chemically clean surface, while to a chemically unclean 
surface the salt or gas adheres, while the liquid does not, thereby 
liberating the former. Grease is considered to be a cause of 
uncleanness. If, now, a greasy surface can be rendered inactive, 
either grease is not a cause of uncleanness, or unclean surfaces 
are not necessarily inactive. A number of experiments were 
tried, in which a drop of melted fat was allowed to fall on a super- 
saturated solution, without causing solidification even upon agita- 
tion of the liquid, while a minute crystal of the salt caused instant 
solidification. Mr. Tomlinson’s explanation, then, would seem 
to be inadequate. M. Gerney believes that only a crystal of the 


134 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


same salt can induce crystallization, a view necessitating our be- 
lieving that all salts capable of supersaturation are everywhere 
present in the atmosphere. Some other experiments seem to show 
that a supersaturated solution may remain unchanged for a long 
time in an atmosphere saturated with the same salt. We must 
probably conclude that supersaturated solutions really contain the 
anhydrous salt in a state of unstable equilibrium, only requiring 
a disturbance to cause it to assimilate water, and thus produce a 
less soluble compound. Prof. Tomlinson, in a later paper, con- 
siders oils and fatty matters as chemically clean when they con- 
tain no matter foreign to their composition. The oils, however, 
whether clean or not, seem to act as powerful nuclei when in the 
form of thin films.’ He also remarks regarding M. Gerney’s views 
that when that physicist so carefully prepared his nuclei as to be 
absolutely free from salt, he also made them chemically clean. 


VELOCITY OF SOUND. 


M. André, in ‘‘ Comptes Rendus,” gives an account of some 
experiments made by him relative to the velocity of sound in 
water contained ina cast-iron conduit. Having the charge of lay- 
ing a tubular conduit, which had to be tested by pressure when 
filled with water, it occurred to him to make some fresh measure- 
ments on the velocity of sound in that medium. The conduit con- 
sisted of cast-iron tubes of 0.8 metre internal diameter and 0.02 
metre thick, forming when joined a straight line of about 600 
metres. The motions of the liquid were recorded by means of a 
kind of pneumatic register, the disturbance communicating itself 
to the air confined in a small caoutchouc tube, and thence toa 
membrane of gold-beater’s skin. A very delicate lever fastened 
to this membrane indicated, by its oscillations, the slightest move- 
ments of the liquid. The time was measured by means of a 
tuning-fork, which inscribed its vibrations on the blackened sheet 
of a registering cylinder. This tuning-fork gave for a tempera- 
ture of 20°, 256 vibrations per second. 

A series of experiments was first performed to ascertain the 
velocity in air using the same apparatus, and producing the 
sound by means of a pistol charged with one gramme of powder. 
The shock communicated to the air of the conduit was propa- 
gated through the whole length of the tubes, and then returned 
after reflection. At each successive departure and return, the 
style of the membrane gave very distinct indications on the reg- 
istering cylinder. 

The temperature of the air in the tubes was 40° at one end and 
20° at the other, as they were laid in an open trench upon part of 
which the sun shone. Taking these two numbers as extreme 
limits of temperature, the velocity of sound ascertained when re- 
duced to zero was, 

V,, = 326.60 metres, if temperature was 40°; 
V, = 337.50 metres, if temperature was 20°. 
It is certain that the first number must be nearer the truth than 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 135 


the second; for the part of the tubes exposed to the sun was con- 
siderably greater than that in contact with the cold ground. 

The interior being filled with water and completely freed from 
air, experiments were made on the velocity in water. The 
shock was produced by suddenly forcing in the piston of a hy- 
draulic press. However rapidly the pump-lever was lowered, 
no shock, properly so called, was produced, but a gradual com- 
pression; thus the indication of the style upon the register, in- 
stead of being a well-defined zigzag, as in the case of air, traced 
an elongated curve, of which the point of coincidence with the 
spiral inscribed by the style at rest was difficult to determine. 

Four successive experiments gave a mean of 345 vibrations of 
the tuning-fork between the initial and return shocks. - The 
length of the conduit between the two plates which closed the 
extremities was 603.25 metres; hence the distance travelled by 
the compression between departure and return was 1,206.5 
metres. The temperature of the water at the top of the conduit 
was 20°, and 138° at the bottom. The temperature of the sur- 
rounding air was 18°. Under these circumstances the velocity of 
the compression was found to be 897.80 metres per second. 

Wertheim deduced from the sound given by brass organ-pipes 
dipping in water, 1,173 metres per second as the velocity of sound 
in water. This number is much less than 1,435 metres per 
second, found by M.M. Colladon and Sturm, in direct experi- 
ments made on the Lake of Geneva. 

The value which M. André found is still further from the 
number observed in an indefinite mass of water. 

The author calls the attention of physicists to the influence which 
the elasticity and friction of the containing sides may have on the 
propagation of a shock in the midst of an almost incompressible 
fluid. 


FIXED NOTES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE VARIOUS VOWELS. 
BY M. R. KOENIG. 


‘«* According to the researches of MM. Donders and Helmholtz, 
the mouth, arranged for the emission of a vowel, has a note of 
stronger resonance, which is fixed for each vowel, whatever may 
be the fundamental note on which it is given. A slight change 
in the pronunciation modifies the vocal notes so sensibly that M. 
Helmholtz has been able to propose to linguists to define by these 
notes the vowels belonging to the different idioms and dialects. 
Hence it is of great interest to know exactly the pitch of these 
notes for the different vowels. M. Donders sought to arrive at 
this by observing the rustling or whistling which the current of 
air produces in the mouth when the different vowels are whis- 
pered; the notes which he has found differ considerably from 
those given by M. Helmholtz. The latter used a set of tuning- 
forks, which he made to vibrate in front of the mouth when it was 
arranged to articulate a vowel. Every time the sound was 
strengthened by the air enclosed in the cavity of the mouth, this 
mass of air was evidently in unison with the tuning-fork. By 


136 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


this method, which is more correct than the first, M. Helmholtz 
found that the vowel A was characteristic by the fixed note 
(sib)4, O by (sib)3, E by (sib); , and these results really appear 
incontestable. As none of the tuning-forks arranged was sufli- 
ciently acute for the vowel I, M. Helmholtz tried to determine 
the characteristic note by the means already employed by M. 
Donders, and found it to be reg. If a tuning-fork be tuned for 
this note, we ascertain, in fact, that it is increased whilst the 
mouth passes from I to I,—at least [have been able to assure 
myself that the increase occurs before the mouth is exactly ar- 
ranged for I. Hence the time characteristic of I must be higher. 
By constructing tuning-forks more and more acute, I ascertained 
that this note was approached; it was finally found to be (sib), ; 
with tuning-forks still higher it is immediately felt that the limit 
has been passed. 

‘¢ For OU, M. Donders has given fag. This note can undoubt- 
edly be strengthened by the mouth, but it is only in departing 
very little from the position O, and one feels that the note for 
OU must be much more grave. M. Helmholtz assigns fag to OU. 
However a tuning-fork, faz, does not resound before the mouth 
arranged for OU, which M. Helmholtz accounts for by the small- 
ness of the opening of the mouth; but it seemed to me that this 
smallness of the opening, while rendering a very energetic in- 
crease impossible, must still admit an appreciable increase in the 
intensity of the sound. Having, moreover, ascertained the sim- 
ple ratios which exist between the notes of the vowels, O, A, E, 
I, ascending by octaves, I thought that this law would extend to 
the vowel OU. I verified this hypothesis circumstantially by 
means of a tuning-fork, the pitch of which could be raised by 
means of slides; I was thus able to assure myself that the charac- 
teristic note of OU (as I ordinarily pronounce it) was really 
(sib)s ; for the maximum of resonance always occurred between 
440 and 460 simple vibrations. 

‘¢For the pronunciation of the Germans of the North (to which 
the experiments of M. Helmholtz also refer), the vowels are 
then characterized as follows: — 

OU O A E E 

(sib) (sib)3 (sib) (sib);  (Ssib)e ; 
or, in round numbers of simple vibrations, 450, 900, 1800, 3,600, 
7,200. 

‘*Tt seems to me more than probable that we must seek in the 
simplicity of these ratios the physiological cause which makes us 
find nearly always the same five vowels in the different lan- 
guages, although the human voice can produce an indefinite 
number, as the simple ratios between the numbers of vibrations 
explain the existence of the same musical intervals among most 
nations.” — Philosophical Mag. from Comptes Rendus. 


NEW MODE OF HEATING STONE—WARE VESSELS. 


Mr. J. A. Coffey has patented a new method of heating stone- 
ware vessels and of obtaining regulated high temperatures, which 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 137 


will be of value in manufacturing chemistry. The principle is to 
cause a current of heavy parafiine oil to circulate, first through a 
coil of pipes in a furnace, and then through the jackets of the 

ans. Jt moves by its own convection. Any temperature from 
100° to 700° Fahrenheit can easily be obtained. As contrasted 
with steam heat, the inventor claims for his process a saving of 30 
per cent. in fuel, the large amount of heat necessary to convert 
water at 212° into steam being economized. 


DEEP-SEA THERMOMETERS. 


Capt. Richards, R.N., Hydrographer of the Admiralty, has 
made a number of experiments regarding the inaccuracy of ther- 
mometric measurements at great depths. As it is well known 
that a delicate thermometer is affected in vacuo, it was naturally 
supposed that an opposite effect would take place under in- 
creased pressure. The experiments were performed with a hy- 
draulic press. Previous to the experiments, Dr. W. A. Miller 
proposed a mode of protecting the bulb from compression by en- 
casing the full bulb in glass, the space between the case and bulb 
being nearly filled with.aleohol. A wrought-iron bottle had been 
made to contain a thermometer, for the purpose of comparison 
with those subjected to compression, but it burst under the great 
pressures employed. Those designed by Dr. Miller, however, 
showed so little difference under pressure that they were received 
as standards. Two series of experiments were then made at 
pressures equal to depths of 250, 500, etc., to 2,500 fathoms, the 
results of which satisfactorily proved that the strongest-made un- 
protected thermometers are liable to considerable error, and 
therefore that all previous observations made with such instru- 
ments are incorrect. Experiments were also made in the testing 
apparatus, with Sir William Thompson’s enclosed thermometers, 
to ascertain the calorific effect produced by the sudden compres- 
sion of water, in order to find what error, if any, was due to 
compression in the Miller paftern. An error was proved to exist, 
but small, amounting to no more than 1.4° under a pressure of 
3 tons to the square inch. The dredging cruise of the ‘‘ Por- 
cupine ” afforded an opportunity of comparing the results of the 
experiments made in the hydraulic testing apparatus with actual 
observation in the ocean. -The result was, that though there was 
a difference in the curves drawn from the two modes of observa- 
tion, still the general effect was the same, and the means of the 
two were identical. From these experiments and observations a 
seale has been made, by which observations made by thermome- 
ters of similar construction to those with unprotected bulbs can 
be corrected and utilized. It is suggested, that to avoid error 
from the unsatisfactory working of the steel indices of self-regis- 
tering thermometers, two instruments should be sent down at 
each observation; and, although their occasional disagreement of 
record may raise a doubt, a little experience will enable the ob- 
server to detect the faulty indicator, while their agreement will 
create confidence. 


12* 


138 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


EMISSION, ABSORPTION, AND REFLECTION OF VARIETIES OF 
HEAT RADIATED AT LOW TEMPERATURES. 


Magnus has communicated an interesting and valuable paper 
on the heat radiated at low temperatures, and on the absorption 
and reflection of such rays. The results of this investigation — 
the last, we suppose, made by the lamented author —are, so far 
as published, in his own words as follows : — 

*‘(1.) Different bodies at 150° C. radiate different kinds of 
heat. These kinds of heat are more absorbed by a substance of 
the same kind as the radiating body than by others, and this ab- 
sorption increases with the thickness of the absorbent. 

**(2.) ‘There are substances which emit only one or a few kinds 
of heat, others which emit many kinds. 

ieee ) To the first of these belongs rock salt when quite pure. 
Just as its ignited vapor, or that of one of its constituents, sodium, 
radiates but one color, so rock salt, even at a low temperature, 
emits but one kind of heat. It is monothermic, as its vapor is 
monochromatic. 

“¢(4.) Rock salt, even when quite clear, emits, together with its 
peculiar rock-salt heat, heat which is not more absorbed by a 
plate of rock salt 80 mm. in thickness than by one 20 mm. in 
thickness. 

«©(5.) Rock salt absorbs very powerfully the heat which it 
radiates. It therefore does not, as Mellari supposed, allow all 
kinds of heat to pass through it with equal facility. 

‘“*(6.) The great diathermancy of rock salt does not depend 
upon its less power of absorption for different kinds of heat, but 
upon the fact that it radiates only one kind of heat, and conse- 
quently absorbs only this one, and that almost all other substan- 
ces send out heat containing only a small fraction or more of the 
rays which rock salt emits. But all rays which differ from those 
radiated by any substance are not absorbed by it, but pass 
through with undiminished intensity. 

‘¢From this we may infer that any substance is diathermanous, 
only because it radiates but few waves of quite definite length, 
and consequently absorbs only these, allowing all the others to 
pass through. 

*¢(7.) Sylvin behaves like rock salt, but is not monothermic to 
the same extent. In the case of this substance also, an analogy 
exists with its ignited vapors, or those of potassium, which, as is 
well known, yield a nearly continuous spectrum. 

‘¢(8.) Fluor-spar completely absorbs pure rock-salt heat; we 
ought, therefore, to expect that the heat which it emits will be 
equally absorbed by rock salt. Nevertheless, 70 per cent. of this 
heat passes through a rock-salt plate 20 mm. in thickness. This 
may doubtless be easily explained with reference to the quantity 
of heat which fiuor-spar emits in comparison with that of the rock 
salt; still it is possible that fluor-spar at 150° emits rays other 
than those which it absorbs at ordinar y temperatures. This be- 
havior is probably connected with the great reflecting power of 
fluor- “spar for rock-salt heat. 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 139 


“©(9.) If it were possible to produce a spectrum of the heat 
radiated at 150° C., the spectrum would, if rock salt were the radi- 
ating body, exhibit only one luminous band. If sylvin were used 
as a radiator, the spectrum would be much more extended, but 
would still occupy but a small portion of the spectrum which the 
heat reflected from lamp-black would form.” 

In concluding this part of his memoir Magnus makes some re- 
marks on transparency, which seem to us very suggestive. If we 
assume that there is a constant interchange of heat even between 
bodies having the same temperature, we may fairly assume also 
that there is such an exchange in the case of light. We cannot 
observe the light which bodies emit, at ordinary temperatures, 
but they do not absorb light, since this absorption produces their 
colors. If such an exchange of light takes place at ordinary tem- 
peratures, it would follow that transparent bodies either radiate 
only such rays as are not contained in the light emitted by ignited 
bodies, and then they absorb none of these rays, or they emit 
only one or a few of the wave-lengths of the light which is visible 
to us. Since, then, they absorb only these, and allow all others to 
pass through, so that the intensity of the transmitted light is but 
little less than that of the incident light, we may therefore infer 
that the transparency of bodies depends upon the fact that they 
radiate only a few of the wave-lengths, which are contained in 
the light known to us. — Silliman’s Journal, from Poggendor ff. 


USE OF THE ELECTRIC CURRENT IN CALORIMETRY. 
BY M. J. JAMIN. 


** Joule’s Law gives the heat which is developed in conductors 
when traversed by currents. A metal wire may be regarded as 
a focus. It may have any possible form and be placed where we 
please, in the midst of liquids or gases; a quantity of heat will be 
given off proportional to the time, to its resistance, and to the 
square of the intensity of the current. It will heat these bodies 
by a quantity that can be measured, and which is inversely pro- 
portional to their mass and to their specific heat. Hence results 
a new process to determine this specific heat. After numerous 
trials I fixed upon he following arrangements : — 

“I. Case of Solids and Liquids.——In dealing with a solid or a 
liquid, I use as a calorimeter an elongated cylindrical vessel of 
thin copper, on which is coiled 8 metres ‘of German-silver 
wire 0.2 millim. in diameter, and covered with silk. This spiral 
commences at the bottom of the vessel, and ascends to one-third 
of its height ; it is connected with the circuit by thick copper wires ; 
its resistance is measured for all the temperatures of the experi- 
ment. I envelop it with a thick silk ribbon to keep it in its 
place, some swan’s down to insulate it, and I enclose the whole in 
an envelope of thin copper polished. When the calorimeter con- 
tains a liquid, and a current is caused to pass through the spiral, 
nearly all the heat will be transmitted to the side, then to the 
liquid; a scarcely appreciable portion will be transmitted to the 
swan’s down. 


140 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


‘‘ With this view, fresh liquid must continually be brought into 
contact with the sides by uniform agitation. For this purpose, a 
basket of metal gauze, formed of 2 concentric tubes, is im- 
mersed in the calorimeter. A small machine raises it and lowers 
it at equal intervals; a thermometer marking the hundredth of a 
degree is immersed in the central tube; it is fixed, and is read 
with a telescope. When the specific heat of solids is to be 
measured, they are placed in the basket in the water. 

‘* This constitutes the entire apparatus; the operation is one of 
extreme simplicity. After pouring into the calorimeter the weight 
of liquid which is to be investigated, and agitating it for some 
time, the variation (if any) of the thermometer is observed for 
5 minutes. Generally it does not vary. <A current of measured 
intensity is then made to pass during 1, 2, etc., minutes, until an 
elevation of 3 or 4 degrees is produced; this is noted, after which 
the cooling of the thermometer is observed during 5 minutes. 
The quantity of heat given off is known, the effect it has produced 
is calculated, and from the known formule of calorimetry the 
desired capacity is deduced. Thus, suppose twv experiments to 
be made with the same current during the same time, with the 
weights P and P’ of water and of the liquid to be studied. The 
quantities of heat are the- same; they have heated the liquids 9 
and 6’ degrees. Denoting the weight of the calorimeter reduced 
to water equivalents by z, and the capacity sought by x, we have 
(P+ =z) 0= (P'«+7) 6’, from which « can be calculated. 

‘*'The old method required two operations, which were, the 
first, to heat ina stove for a long time the body to be studied, and 
to pour it, with minute precautions, into the calorimeter; the 
second, to observe the thermometer immersed in the calorimeter. 
In the method which I propose the first operation is omitted, and 
the second suffices such as it was before. The corrections remain 
the same, but are simplified. 

‘¢ They are simplified, because a lower temperature is sufficient, 
and because the heat given off being proportional to the time, 
the method known as Rumford’s is applicable. We may even 
dispense with all correction, -as I shall show. 

‘*T provided the external envelope of the apparatus with a 
spiral 20 times as long as the first, and immersed the whole in a 
vessel containing 20 times as much liquid as the calorimeter, and 
forming a medium, in which the latter is immersed. The current 
passes simultaneously into the 2 spirals; it produces there heats 
proportioned to the quantities of liquids, and consequently equal 
heatings. At each moment the temperatures of the calorimeter 
and its surroundings are in equilibrium, and the first, neither los- 
ing nor gaining anything by radiation, is subject only to the action 
of the current. It is impossible to maintain this equilibrium 
strictly during the whole time of the experiments if they are pro- 
longed; but it is very easy to establish it within a few tenths; and 
this is sutlicient to obviate all necessity for correction. Thus we 
can measure for each degree the specific heat of a liquid (water or 
alcohol, for example) from the lowest temperatures to its boiling- 
point. 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 141 


‘‘T have verified this method by determining the capacities of 
iron and of copper, which are the most difficult to obtain exactly, 
because they are very small. I found 0.098, 0.093. M. Regnault 
obtained the numbers 0.113, 0.095, which are a little larger; but 
he operated with a higher temperature. 

“IT, Of Gases and Vapors. — The advantages of this method 
are especially apparent when treating of aeriform fluids. A gas- 
eous current passes through a glass tube to the middle of a cork 
of badly conducting material; a thermometer there measures its 
temperature. It immediately enters a second tube through the 
folds of a metal spiral or a bundle of twisted wires traversed by 
electricity, that is to say, through a focus; it becomes heated 
and meets a second thermometer, which measures its increase of 
temperature. Before emerging, the gas isled round the first tube, 
to prevent any loss by radiation and conductibility ; and when the 
temperature has become stationary, we may say that all the heat 
of the focus, which is known, is taken by the gas, the tempera- 
ture of which is increased by a measured quantity; hence the 
specific heat can be deduced. 

‘There are two advantages in this method. The first is, that 
the greatest cause of error which Delaroche and Bérard, and after- 
wards M. Regnault, met with,.is suppressed. In their experi- 
ments the gas reached 100° in a calorimeter at 10°; and the great- 
est difliculty was felt in appreciating the heat which passes by 
conductibility from the hot tube to the cold calorimeter. In my 
method the gas reaches, at the ordinary temperature, say 10°; it 
passes from the spiral at about 20°; the difference is 10°; it was 
90° before ; the present error is at most one-ninth of the former. 

“‘ Here is the second improvement. The whole of my appara- 
tusis the sizeof a finger; it is of thin glass; it might be of mica, — 
even of goldbeater’s skin; it weighs no more than a litre of gas, 
and expends no more heat in reaching the final temperature. Ten 
litres of gas are sufficient to make one measurement. Thus the 
difficulties that had for a long time to be overcome, in order to 
obtain a uniform current, disappear, ordinary gasometers suflice, 
and the method is applicable even to vapors. A first determina- 
tion gave the number 0.242 for air instead of 0.237, which M. 
Regnault found. 

“Thermometers, even, may be dispensed with, and the tem- 
perature measured by the increase of resistance in the wires. It 
is known that a resistance r at zero becomes r (1 + at) at ¢ de- 
grees. That being the case, let 2 equal bundles of wires be placed 
one after another in a tube; then, having decomposed the total 
circuit into 2 equal derived circuits, let us make each of them 
sass, first, through 1 of the 2 bundles of wires, then into a differ- 
ential galvanometer; the latter remains at zero. Butif a current 
of gas at ¢ degrees be sent through this tube, it will pass at ¢-+-6 in 
the first spiral, at ¢-+- 20 in the second; they take a difference of 
temperature 9, a different resistance, and the galvanometer is 
deflected. It is reduced to zero on introducing, by means of a 
special rheostat, a platinum wire into one of the circuits. The 


142 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


length of this wire is proportional to the increase of temperature 
@; it admits of measurement. 

«¢ The same apparatus is applicable to vapors. The liquid to be 
examined is distilled as regularly as possible; the current of 
vapor is at first superheated by the first bundle of wires; it after- 
wards traverses the second, becomes heated by a quantity 0, 
which is measured as before; the vapor is condensed, and after- 
wards weighed. In order to take into account the irregularities 
of the distillation, it is necessary to observe the apparatus from 
minute to minute. 

“III. Latent Heat.—In order to measure latent heats, a 
double alembic is employed, of which one part is exterior; the 
liquid in it is caused to boil, and the vapor is brought there after 
having been condensed by a refrigerator; the effect of this is sim- 
ply to raise to the boiling temperature the interior alembic, 
which contains the same liquid, and in which is immersed the 
spiral, the resistance of which is known for every temperature. 
The vapor which forms in the second apparatus is collected dur- 
ing 10 minutes before the passing of the current; there is scarcely 
any; the circuit is then closed which determines a rapid boiling. 
The heat supplied is known; the vapor which it has formed with- 
out change of temperature is weighed, and the latent heat is 
deduced. 

“TV. The two Specific Heats. —A third application of the same 
principle can be made. In a large bell-glass filled with air, a 
metal wire is stretched; an intense current is passed for a short 
time through it, which develops a determined quantity of heat ; 
a fraction of this disappears by radiation; the remainder, which 
is constant, gives heat to the gas, which can be measured in two 
ways, — either by increase of the volume at constant pressure, or 
by increase of the pressure at constant volame. From these two 
effects the ratio of the two specific heats can easily be determined, 
and the number found is about 1.42, a number indicated by the 
velocity of sound.” — Comptes Rendus, trans. in Phil. Mag. 


SUDDEN BREAKING—UP OF ICE. 


A letter from Canada, in ‘‘ Nature,” for June 23, gives some 
curious facts regarding the sudden breaking-up of ice covering 
lakes and rivers. ‘The ice on our inland lakes is generally 2 or 
3 feet thick. As the spring advances, an inch or two may be 
melted away from the lower surface, and somewhat more from 
the upper one, but the thickness is not materially reduced until 
its final disappearance. The first sign of the approaching break- 
up is that the ice becomes dry, from the prismatic structure hay- 
ing commenced to show itself, allowing the surface water to 
percolate through the interstices; it is then said to be honey- 
combed. In this state the lower layers of transparent ice are still 
solid, though if you cut out a block the prismatic structure is very 
evident; but the upper portion, which has been formed from a 
mixture of snow and water, readily breaks up under your feet in- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 143 


to little granules ofice. The next stage is that the ice becomes 
black, showing that it is soaked, as it were, with water; and if at 
this time there is any open water, as where a river falls into a 
lake, and wind enough to produce a swell, the whole surface of 
the ice may be observed to undulate. If the ice now breaks up 
prematurely with a high wind, it becomes a mass of spicule of 
ice which have not reached the melting-point, and which I have 
seen accumulated to the depth of 6 or 7 feet against the 
edge of the ice which has not yet broken up. But if there is no 
wind the whole surface of the lake may appear an unbroken sheet 
of black ice, still a couple of feet thick, till, in an astonishingly 
short time, sometimes not more than a few minutes, it disappears 
as if by magic. So sudden is this disappearance that the ice is 
popularly believed to sink. 

**T once had a very good opportunity of noticing this sudden 
disappearance. I had built on the ice during the winter a pier of 
logs filled with stones, and when the spring came it settled down 
to the bottom, carrying with it a large cake of the ice. When the 
lake had opened, I went round the pier in my canoe to see if it 
had settled evenly. There, at the bottom, in 6 or 7 feet of water, 
lay the cake of ice it had carried down, with the chips made in 
building the pier still imbedded in it; and, as I looked, blocks 
would break off, of a foot or more in thickness, rise to the surface, 
and almost instantaneously disappear. . . . . The true ex- 
planation of the prismatic structure appears to me to be the lines 
of air-bubbles. These are visible in all ice before any thaw has 
commenced, and in the process of freezing they seem to be formed 
in vertical lines. When the thaw occurs these lines of bubbles 
form the centres, as it were, from which it penetrates in every 
direction through the mass.” 


REFRACTION AND DISPERSION OF OPAQUE BODIES. 


The results of a research on the relation of the refractive in- 
dices and dispersion of opaque bodies, published in Poggendorft’s 
‘* Annales,” by Wernicke, are thus given by the author: — 

The examination of thin plates giving colors by interference, 
leads to the conclusion ‘‘ that all bodies of strong dispersion have 
optical properties in common, which appear of interest for the 
theory of light. 

‘* It-is known from experience that dispersion and absorption are 
related to one another; and Cauchy, in his ‘ Memoire sur la dis- 
persion de la Lumiere,’ has given an equation in which this re- 
lation is implicitly contained. The discussion of this equation, of 
which one side is an infinite series, presents some difliculties ; it 
has been thought sufficient to retain the first two terms of this series, 
and neglect the rest. This would be permissible, as M. Christof- 
fel has shown, if in every case the sphere of action were infinitely 
small in comparison with the wave-length. That the last as- 
sumption is not admissible, however, the discussion of the incom- 
plete equation shows; for it yields the result that every spectrum 


144 ; ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


is bounded at the violet end by a visible beam of definite refrac- 
‘tion. This inference is a physical absurdity, since it presupposes 
the existence of bodies, which, under any arbitrary angle of in- 
cidence, totally reflect a visible beam, or completely absorb it on 
the surface. The dispersion-formula derived from the imperfect 
series, even if correct for large wave-lengths, can offer no ex- 
planation as to what really occurs at that limit at the more re- 
frangible end of the spectrum. 

** While this limit, with substances of weak dispersion, would 
lie very far in the ultra-violet, it sometimes appeared in the green 
in the bodies which I investigated. With no single body of this 
group were even traces of interference observed in the violet. 
The reason of this phenomenon might be sought in a strong reflec- 
tion of these rays at the surface, or in a strong absorption in the 
interior. It has been shown that the latter is the preponderating 
cause of the absence of interference-bands. Then they always 
vanish gradually with increasing thickness, from the violet to the 
red end of the spectrum, and are very soon only present in the 
yellow and red. Hence the absorption increases with decreasing 
wave-lengths, and, indeed, continuously so for a certain position in the 
spectrum, which is special to each substance, and so quickly that on 
the other side of it no ray can pass through a layer of the thick- 
ness of halfa wave-length. 

** Hence, in transmitted light sufficiently thick layers of bodies of 
pre-eminent dispersion always appear yellow-red or red. I have 
sought in vain for a substance of this kind which would be trans- 
parent with green, blue, or violet light. 

“To meet any objections to these matters of fact arising from 
the mention of apparent exceptions, 1 must make the following 
remarks : — 

‘¢’ Thin layers can be prepared in different ways, which strongly 
absorb the light, and are transparent to other than yellow or red 
light; such layers, however, like glass coated with soot, are not 
to be regarded as bodies, but as loosely connected apparatus of 
individual particles, and can only be quoted as exceptions if it 
be proved generally that they possess refractive and dispersive 
properties. For example: let chlorine, bromine, iodine, sul- 
phur-vapor, or sulphuretted hydrogen act on thin layers of 
silver; then thin layers of chloride, bromide, iodide, or sulphide 
of silver are formed, which, in comparison with the metals and 
metallic oxides described, are very transparent, and show in 
the spectroscope beautiful interference-bands. If, however, the 
intensity or duration of the action of these agents exceeds a cer- 
tain limit, the structure of the layers is destroyed; the same are 
then to be regarded as aggregates of many particles (in several 
cases microscopic crystals), although they appear to the eye as 
coherent masses; they are more opaque than the metal itself, 
and show no trace of interference-bands in the spectroscope.” 
— Philosophical Magazine. 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 145 


BREADTH OF SPECTRAL BANDS. 


Lippich has attempted the application of the dynamical theory 
of gases and vapors to the explanation of the breadth of the bands 
of gaseous spectra. The assumption made is that ‘‘ if it be neces- 
sary to consider a molecule as a system capable of vibration, the 
spectrum of an ideal gas in which the molecules could be per- 
fectly free elastic systems could consist only of a number of differ- 
ently colored bands of homogeneous light if the vibratory motions 
of the molecules alone be taken into account.” But as, according 
to the theory of Clausius, the molecules have also very rapid pro- 
gressive motions, the refrangibility of the rays produced will 
depend upon the combination of the vibratory and progressive 
velocities, thus showing the dependence of the breadth of the 
bands upon the temperature and density of the ignited gas. The 
author gives a law regarding the ratio of the mean and extreme 
wave-lengths of the bright bands and dark lines of the same and 
different gases. 

The comparison of the relative breadth of bands may lead 
to some important conclusions. The proximity of bands of 
different breadths in any spectrum may indicate the presence of 
gases of different densities or of the same gas in different allo- 
tropic states. For example, the faint blue lines in the oxygen 
spectrum may indicate the presence of the denser ozone. The 
breadth of the spectral bands in the same gas will permit a con- 
clusion as to the temperature, a fact useful in stellar spectro- 
scopy, there being noticeable differences in the breadth of the 
hydrogen bands. The author remarks finally that his conclu- 
sions apply only to perfect gases, and changes from these to 
vapors will be noticed by changes in their spectra. 


INTENSITY OF ACTINISM AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES. 


A paper has been presented to the Royal Society by Messrs. 
Roscoe and Thorpe, giving the results of a series of determina- 
tions of the chemical intensity of total daylight under different 
altitudes of the sun. The experiments were made on a flat table- 
land near Lisbon. The method used was founded on the exact 
estimation of the tint which standard sensitive paper assumes 
when exposed for a given time to the action of daylight. The 
experiments were made as follows : — 

1. The chemical action of daylight was observed in the ordi- 

nary manner. 

2. The chemical action of the diffused daylight was then 
observed by throwing on to the exposed paper the shadow of a 
small blackened brass ball placed at such a distance that its 
apparent diameter, seen from the position of the paper, was 
slightly larger than that of the sun’s disc. 

3. Observation No. 1 was repeated. 

4. Observation No. 2 was repeated. 

The mean of observations 1, 2, 3 and 4 was then taken. 


146 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.\ 


The sun’s altitude was determined by a sextant and artificial 
horizon immediately before and immediately after the observa- 
tions of chemical intensity, the altitude at the time of observation 
being ascertained by interpolation. 

One of the 134 sets of observations was made as nearly as 
possible every hour, and they thus naturally fall into 7 groups, 
viz. :— 

(1) Six hours from noon, (2) 5 hours from noon, (3) 4 hours 
from noon, (4) 3 hours from noon, (5) 2 hours from noon, (6) 
1 hour from noon, (7) noon. Each of the first 6 of these groups 
contains 2 separate sets of observations (1) those made before 
noon, (2) those made after noon. It has before been pointed out, 
from experiments made at Kew, that the mean chemical intensity 
of total daylight for hours equidistant from noon is the same. 
The results of the present series of experiments prove that this 
conclusion holds good generally; and a table is given showing 
the close approximation of the numbers obtained at hours equi- 
distant from noon. 

Curves are given showing the daily march of chemical intensity 
at Lisbon in August, compared with that at Kew for the preceding 
August, and at Para for the preceding April. The value of the 
mean chemical intensity at Kew is represented by the number 
94.5, that at Lisbon by 110, and that at Para by 315.8 light of the 
intensity 1 acting for 24 hours being taken as 1000. The follow- 
ing table gives the results of observations arranged according to 
the sun’s altitude : — 


No. of Observations. Mean Altitude, Chemical Intensity. 

cel Sun. Sky. Total. 
15 9 51 P 0.000 0.038 0.038 
18 19 41 0.023 0.063 0.086 
22 31 14 0.052 0.100 0.152 
22. 42 13 0.100 0.115 0.215 
19 53 09 0.136 0.126 0.262 
24 61 08 0.195 0.132 0.327 
id 64 14 0.221 0.138 0.359 


Curves are given, showing the relation between the direct sun- 
light (column 3) and diffuse daylight (column 4) in terms of the 
altitude. The curve of direct sunlight cuts the base line at 10°, 
showing that the conclusion formerly arrived at by one of the 
authors is correct, and that at altitudes below 10° the direct sun- 
light is robbed of almost all its chemically active rays. The re- 
lation between the total chemical intensity and the solar altitude 
is shown to be represented graphically by a straight line for al- 
titudes above 10°, the position of the experimentally determined 
points lying closely on the straight line. 

A similar relation has already been shown to exist (by a far less 
complete s¢ries of experiments than the present) for Kew, Hei- 
delberg, and Para; so that although the chemical intensity for 
the same altitude at different places and at different times of the - 
year varies according to the varying transparency of the atmos- 
phere, yet the relation at the same place between altitude and in- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 147 


tensity is always represented by a straight line. This variation 
in the direction of the straight line is due to the opalescence of 
the atmosphere ; and the authors show that, for equal altitudes, 
the higher intensity is always s found where the mean temperature 
of the air is greater, asin summer, when observations at the 
same place at ‘different seasons are compared, or as the equator is 
approached, when different places are examined. The differen- 
ces in the observed actions for equal altitudes, which may 
amount to more than 100 per cent. at different places, and to 
nearly as much at the same place at different times of the year, 
serve as exact measurements of the transparency of the atmos- 
here. 

‘ The authors conclude by calling attention to the close agree- 
ment between the-curve of daily intensity, obtained by the above- 
mentioned method at Lisbon, and that calculated for Naples by a 
totally different method. — Philosophical Magazine, July, 1870. 


PHOTOGRAPHY AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS. 


Mr. Harrison, in ‘‘ Nature,” calls attention to the facilities of- 
fered for studying molecular physics in connection with the 
mechanical operations connected with photography. If 3 
collodionized plates be dipped, one in a solution of oxide of cad- 
mium, the second in a solution of bromide of cadmium, the third 
in a solution of chloride of cadmium, as is done in * iodizing ” the 
plate, and each then sensatized by immersion in a bath of nitrate 
of silver, the third will take longer than the second to become 
covered with a film of silver salt, and the second longer than the 
first. Also, the exposures to light in the camera when used for 
taking a picture arein the same order. These differences in time 
of exposure may, perhaps, be accounted for on the supposition 
that the chlorine binds itself to silver with more force than is ex- 
erted by bromine, and that the bromine clings to the silver with 
more force than the iodine, so that the waves of light have more 
work to do in heating the chiorine from the silver than in separat- 
ing the bromine or the iodine. An experiment by Mr. M. Carey 
Lea, of Philadelphia, shows that the atoms separated by light may 
recombine in darkness. He prepared a film of dry iodide of 
silver, on exposing which under a negative, a picture was formed, 
which came out on developing with ‘‘ alkaline developer.” If, 
however, instead of developing the picture, it was left in darkness 
for a few days, the latent image died out, and a new picture could 
be taken on the sensitive surface. 


MICROSCOPIC PHOTOGRAPHY. 


A very successful series of experiments on the production of 
photo-micrographs, by means of artificial light, has been con- 
ducted by Col. Woodward, of the Army Medical Museum, Wash- 


148 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ington, from the published report of which the following sketch 
was made. 

During the latter part of 1869, Col. Woodward began a series 
of experiments with the design of removing certain difficulties in 
the photographing of tissues on a large scale. The solar light 
was used, and little difficulty was found in arranging a method 
which gave most excellent results. Great annoyance was caused, 
however, by the uncertainty of the weather, there being but few 
days suitable for working to advantage. This led Col. W. to 
seek some other means of illumination, and by the use of the 
electric, magnesium, and lime lights he has succeeded in produc- 
ing photo-micrographs with even the highest powers as well or 
even much better than by ordinary sunlight. 

Two reports have been presented to the surgeon-general ; 
the first dated January 4, 1870, concerning the use of the mag- 
nesium and electric lights, the second, dated June 4, 1870, con- 
cerning the use of the lime light. 

The electric light used in the first series of experiments was 
produced by 50 small Grove’s elements, using a Duboscq’s 
electric lamp. Not only could photographs be taken on as large 
a scale as by sunlight, but the exaggeration of light and shadow 
given by the electric light proved most admirably adapted to the 
production of clear and well-defined photo-micrographs. The 
magnesium light was found to possess many of the excellences 
of the electric light, but its best effect is given when the object is 
not magnified more than 1,000 diameters. 

With the electric light the following method was used in the 
production of the photographs : — 

The electric lamp was placed on a stool against the wall at one 
end of the room, and its light concentrated by a pair of condens- 
ing lenses on the lower lens of the achromatic condenser of 
the microscope. The microscope, a large Powell and Lealand’s 
stand, was placed on a small table with levelling screws and ar- 
rangements for raising and lowering it at pleasure. The lenses 
employed were made by Wales, and specially constructed for 
bringing the actinic rays to a focus. For powers above the 
eighth-inch, the objectives of Powell and Lealand were found to 
answer an excellent purpose. 

The electric light being arranged and working, the microscope 
was moved till the centre of the achromatic condenser and the centre 
of the illuminating pencil coincided ; the object was then placed on 
the stage and adjusted. A cell of plate glass, filled with a satu- 
rated solution of ammonio-sulphate of copper, was placed between 
the light and the condenser, thus cutting off a large proportion of 
the luminous and calorific rays, besides making the colors of the 
object disappear, so that its appearance to the eye was the same 
that its photograph would have when taken. 

The slide having been arranged, the eye-piece of the micro- 
scope was removed, and the image allowed to fall on the ground 
class of the plate-holder, previously placed at the distance giving 
the required magnifying power. The objective once carefully 
focussed, the sensitive plate was exposed, thus finishing the diffi- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 149 


cult portion of the operation. An arrangement was used by 
which the objective could be focussed by the operator, when 
standing by the ground-glass plate. 

Col. Woodward was thus able to produce from 12 to 30 nega- 
tives in an evening’s work of 4 hours. About 80 seconds’ ex- 
posure was found necessary for diatoms and Nobert’s plate, when 
the object was magnified 1,000 diameters. In photographing 
soft tissues, it was necessary to place a plate of ground glass 
between the condenser and light to prevent interference-phe- 
nomena, which increased the time of exposure for this class of 
objects to about 3 minutes. Other powers were found to require 
proportional times. 

The process employed with the magnesium light is essentially 
the same as with the electric light. As this light is composed of 
a mixed pencil with rays passing in all directions, there are no in- 
terference-phenomena caused by it; but the results with diatoms 
are inferior to those by the electric light for the same reason. An 
ordinary two-ribbon magnesium lamp was used, and a magic- 
lantern condenser served to condense the light in the achromatic 
condenser of.the microscope. The ammonio-sulphate cell was 
used as with the electric light. An exposure of about 8 minutes 
was required to produce negatives of tissue preparations with 
000 diameters. 

Dr. Woodward says further, ‘‘ In commenting on the above 
processes it may be remarked that for the anatomist and physio- 
logical investigator the magnesium lamp affords a satisfactory and 
suflicient source of light for the photography of normal and 
pathological tissue preparations. The same end can be equally 
well or even better obtained with the electric lamp, with which 
also the most difficult test-objects can be satisfactorily reproduced. 
Where economy of apparatus is the object, the magnesium lamp 
will be preferred by ordinary workers; but where much work is 
to be done, the high price of the magnesium ribbon more than 
counterbalances the cheapness of the apparatus, and the electri- 
cal light becomes the most economical. For the information of 
any practical photographers, who may be employed for work of 
this character, I may add the following remarks on the chemical 
process employed in the production of the negatives from which 
the appended prints were made. An ammonium and potassium 
portrait collodion, rich in alcohol, was employed, developed with 
the ordinary solution of iron, and fixed with cyanide of potassium. 
Where it was necessary to intensify, the hydro-sulphuret of am- 
monium was resorted to.” 

Dr. W. appends to his report 3 prints from negatives of a 
‘*Diatom Type Plate,” taken, with a Wales’ inch and a half, 
intended to illustrate the relative excellences of sunlight, the 
light of the magnesium lamp and that of the electric lamp. The 
first with sunlight is magnified 40 diameters, the second taken 
with the magnesium light, 48 diameters, the third by the electric 
light, 66 diameters. ‘‘ It will be understood at once that, on ac- 
count of the increase of distance, the second picture would have 
been slightly less sharp than the first, and the third than the sec- 


150 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ond, had precisely the same source of light been employed ; never- 
theless, in spite of this disadvantage, to which they were purposely 
exposed, the magnesium and electric pictures are far superior to 
that taken by sunlight, and of the two the electric is the best. It 
is especially to be observed that in the electric picture the contrast 
obtained is so great that the objects appear clearly defined on an 
almost perfectly white ground, which is never the case with 
photo-micrographs taken with the sun as a source of illumina- 
tion.” 

The second report concerns the use of the lime-light for photo- 
micrographic purposes. Pictures have been successfully taken 
with powers as highas 1,000 diameters. The practicability of the 
use of this light is important, because of its cheapness, its greater 
steadiness, and the little trouble given in its management. In 
his experiments Col. W. made the hydrogen as he consumed it, 
and sometimes made the oxygen in the ordinary manner, some- 
times purchased it compressed in iron cylinders. The lamp used 
was a large magic-lantern burner. The magnifying lenses being 
removed, a cone of light proceeding from the condenser of the 
lantern was allowed to fall upon the achromatic condenser of the. 
microscope as with the magnesium lamp in the earlier series of 
experiments. The ammonio-sulphate cell was used, but the 
ground glass required with the electric light was unnecessary. 

The time of exposure required was much the same as with the 
magnesium lamp, and the pictures are equally good, for though 
the actinic power of the naked lime light is less than that of the 
magnesium light, the question of steadiness, involving the possi- 
bility of great concentration, plays a very important part. 

The lime light had never before been successfully employed 
thus in this country, though some successful attempts were made 
several years ago in England, by a less perfect process than the 
one used by Col. Woodward. Experiments have been made in 
England by Messrs. Maddox, Abercrombie, and Wilson on the 
use of the magnesium light, but no results were obtained compar- 
able with those described in the report. 

Besides photographs of the sixth square of a Moller’s Diatom 
Plate by solar, electric, magnesium, and calcium light, Col. W. 
presents several other photo-micrographs illustrating the perfec- 
tion of the process. Photographed by the magnesium light the 
diatom Arachinoidiscus Ehrenbergii, magnified 400 diameters by 
a Wales’ one-eighth objective, shows the elegant radiation and 
form of the dots with perfect clearness. A second example by 
this light is a nitrate-of-silver injection of a small vein and 
capillaries in the muscular coating of the urinary bladder of the 
frog, also magnified 400 diameters. Four photo-micrographs of 
diatoms by the electric light, magnified from 3840 to 2500 
diameters, show the markings very finely, as does also the admi- 
rable photograph of Navicula lyra taken by the lime light. Inter- 
esting as showing the perfect success attained in the original 
design of the experiments are photographs of an _ epithelial 
cancer of the larynx, magnified 400 diameters by Wales’ one~ 

od] 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 151 


eighth, and of human red blood-corpuscles magnified 400 diameters 
by a Powell and Lealand’s one-sixteenth immersion objective. 


COLOR—BLINDNESS.- 


Mr. Monek, of Trinity College, Dublin, propounds a new and 
interesting theory of color-blindness. The ordinary explanation 
is, that the eye is not sensitive to certain colors, to which it is 
objected that a color-blind person sees the whole spectrum, and 
that were this explanation true, there should not be color-blind- 
ness to complementary colors, red and green for example. Mr. 
M. bases his theory on the phenomena of accidental colors. If 
the eye be very sensitive to the excitation of the complementary 
tint, then this latter, appearing with vividness while we are gaz- 
ing upon the original color, is so combined with it as to give rise 
to the grayish tint with which color-blind persons so often con- 
found colors. The brighter the light, the more quickly and viv- 
idly would the accidental color be produced, which explains the 
fact that so many Daltonians see better in twilight. Another 
argument is, that color-blind persons rarely see accidental colors. 
According to this theory, then, the color-blind eye is one in 
which the complementary color is seen very rapidly and very 
vividly while looking at the primary color. If this view be cor- 
rect the Daitonian will gain the best idea of a color by a tran- 
sient glance at it, and in faint light. 


OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF BENZILE. 


A paper was read before the Academy of Science (Paris), by 
M. Des Cloiseaux, ‘*‘ On the Optical Properties of Benzile and of 
some Bodies of the Camphor Family, in the Crystallized State, 
and in Solution.” The author found that crystals of benzile 
rotate the plane of crystallization in different ways, and the right 
and left crystals, when dissolved and crystallized two or three 
times, likewise give a mixture of crystals with opposite rotations. 
Solution of benzile in ether has no action or polarized light. 
Camphor of patchouli and mint camphor (menthole), both be- 
longing to the hexagonal system, have a negative, uniaxial double 
refraction, and their solutions in aleohol deviate the plane of 
polarization to the left. Three camphors belonging to the cubic 
system, namely, Bornean camphor, terecamphine, and mono- 
hydrochlorate of turpentine, have no action on polarized light 
when crystallized, but in solution strongly deviate the plane of 
polarization to the right, the other two to the left. 


FIZEAU’S EXPERIMENTS ON ‘*‘ NEWTON’S RINGS.” 


A comparison of the values of the wave-lengths of the light of 
the two principal components of the D line of the solar spectrum, as 


152 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


given by Angstrom, with some observations made some years 
since by Fizeau, shows a remarkable coincidence of results ob- 
tained by different methods, and is a new confirmation of the 
truth of the undulatory theory of light. 

Fizeau produced the phenomenon of Newton’s Ring's by laying 
a convex lens of very long focus upon a piece of glass with plane 
parallel surfaces, and illuminating the combination by the mono- 
chromatic light of the soda flame. The lens was so arranged 
that it could be left to touch the glass or could be separated from 
it by a known distance, measured by a micrometer screw. On 
separating the lens from the glass plate, the rings were seen to 
move in towards the centre of the lens, where they successively 
disappeared, while their place was supplied by fresh rings which 
made their appearance at the circumference of the lens. Fizeau 
found that when the phenomenon was observed with sufficient care 
nearly 500 rings could be counted, flowing inwards one after an- 
other, but that after about this number the rings ceased to be visible, 
the surface of the glass showing a nearly uniform illumination 
all over, instead of a sharply defined alternation of light and dark 
bands. When, however, the distance between the lens and the 
glass plate was further increased, the rings reappeared, getting 
gradually more and more distinct, until when nearly another 500 
had passed they had become as sharp as at first; but a still further 
increase of distance caused them again to become confused, and 
they ceased a second time to be discernible at about the fifteen- 
hundredth. With a still greater separation of the glasses, how- 
ever, they reappeared again, and became quite sharp at the two- 
thousandth, after which, for a third time, they got gradually 
confused, and became indistinguishable at about the twenty-five- 
hundredth. So the phenomenon went on as the glasses were 
separated, and not until fifty-two such groups had been counted 
did the bands finally cease to be distinguishable. The two glasses 
were then separated by an interval of jifteen millimeters, or more 
than half an inch. 

This remarkable phenomenon of the alternate periods of dis- 
tinctness and confusion of the rings is easily explained, as M. 
Fizeau points out, when we remember that the light employed 
was not strictly homogeneous, but consisted of two portions of 
nearly but not quite equal degrees of refrangibility. If either of 
these two constituent parts of the light had been used by itself, it 
would have produced a set of rings, but the rings of one set would 
have been a very little larger than the corresponding rings of the 
other. Hence, if the two sets of rings are put together (as they 
were in Fizeau’s experiments), they will nearly but not quite fit 
each other. If we examine a few rings at the centre, when the 
two glasses are in contact, they will appear to coincide precisely ; 
but if they are traced to a sufficient distance from the centre the 
coincidence is seen not to be exact. For although the twentieth 
(say) of one set is not perceptibly bigger than the twentieth ring 
of the other set, the five-hundredth of one set is perceptibly bigger 
than the five-hundredth of the other, and when put upon it falls 
almost exactly half way between the five-hundredth and five- 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. iss 


hundred-and-first of this set. Consequently, at about this part of 
the phenomenon, the bright spaces of one set of rings will occupy 
the same position as the dark spaces of the other sct, and they 
will mutually obliterate each other. Butsince the thousandth ring 
of one set is nearly the same size as the thousand-and-first of the 
other, the two sets of rings will appear to fit each other again 
about this point; the jifteen-hundredth of the first set, however, is 
larger than the fifteen-hundredth-and-first of the second set, but 
not so large as the fifteen-hundred-and-second, and hence, at 
about the position of the ring, the rings of the two sets will over- 
lap each other, and mutually efface each other’s outlines. And, 
carrying such considerations further, it is evident that the appar- 
ent coincidence and overlapping of the two systems of rings 
would occur alternately at regular intervals. 
. In order to simplify this explanation, we have tacitly assumed 
the lens to be so large that several thousand rings could be seen 
between its centre and its circumference. Practically, this would - 
be impossible; but by gradually separating the lens from the 
plane glass, we can, as it were, draw in towards the middle the 
rings which, with a larger lens, would be formed ata great dis- 
tance from the centre. 

Now, according to the explanation which the undulatory theory 
gives of the foundation of ‘‘ Newton’s Rings,” the distance by 
which the interval between the glasses must be increased, in 
order that a given ring may come into the position previously 
occupied by the next smaller ring, must be equal to half the 
wave-length of the kind of light used for the experiment; and 
the distance of 0.28945 millimetres which, as M. Fizeau found by 
actual measurement, it was necessary to vary the space between 
the glasses, in order to make the rings go through one of the re- 
current periods above described, that is to say, pass from sharp- 
ness to confusion and become sharp again, must contain just one 
more half wave-length of one portion of the light by which the 
rings are formed, than it does of the other. 

This brings us to the point of contact between M. Fizeau’s 
observations and those of Prof. Angstrom, to which we referred 
at the beginning. According to the latter, the wave-lengths of 
the two principal constituents of the light emitted by a flame 
containing the vapor of sodium (such as “the flame employed by 
M. Fizeau) are respectively 

0.000589513 millimetres. 
0.000588912 e 

Now, if we divide 0.28945 by half the former of these numbers, 
we get, as the quotient, 982; and if we divide it by half the 
second, we get, as the quotient, 983. That is to say, we find 
precisely as the undulatory theory requires, that the distance 
measured by M. Fizeau contains exactly one more half waye- 
length of the more refrangible constituent of the light of a 
sodium-flame than it does of the less refrangible part. And, 
moreover, if we calculate from Angstrom’s determination of the 
wave e-leneths, the number of rings which must intervene between 
the positions of greatest confusion and greatest distinctness, we 


154 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


find 491 of the one set and 4914 of the other, which agrees en- 
tirely with M. Fizeau’s estimated round number of 500.— 
Nature. 


ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE. 


Prof. Von Bezold, in the ‘* Philosophical Magazine,” thus sums 
up the results of a series of experiments upon the electrical dis- 
charge : — 

*¢1. When an electrical discharge, after traversing a spark- 
interval, is offered two paths to the earth (a short one and a long 
one interrupted by a test-plate), with small striking distances, the 
discharge is divided. With greater distances the electricity takes 
only the shorter path, and even carries with it electricity of the 
same kind from the other branch. 

‘*2. If electrical waves be sent into a wire insulated at the end, 
. they will be reflected at that end. The phenomena which ac- 
company this process in alternating discharges appear to owe 
their origin to the interference of the entering and _ reflected 
waves. 

«3. An electrical discharge travels with equal rapidity in wires 
of equal length, without reference to the materials of which these 
Wires are made.” 


NEW GALVANIC BATTERY. 


A new and important galvanic battery, invented by Bunsen, is 
described in Prof. Roscoe’s address before the British Associa- 
tion. Only one liquid, a mixture’of sulphuric and chromic acids, 
is employed, so that no porous cells are needed. The plates of 
zine and carbon can all be lowered at once into the liquid and 
raised again at will. The electro-motive force of this battery is 
to that of Grove (the most powerful of all known forms) as I8 to 
25; it evolves no fumes in working, and can be used for a very 
considerable length of time without serious diminution of the 
strength of the current, so that Bunsen writes that no one who 
has once used the new battery will think of again employing the 
old forms. 


RESISTANCE PYROMETER. 


Mr. C. W. Siemens has invented an instrument called an 
** lectrical Resistance Pyrometer,” which will measure the heat 
of the hottest furnace. It is based on the principle that the re- 
sistance of pure metals to the electric current increases with the 
temperature in avery simple ratio. A platinum wire of known 
resistance is coiled round a cylinder of fine clay, and covered 
with a tube of the same material. The coil is connected with a 
Daniell’s battery of 2 cells and with a resistance measurer, and 
placed in the furnace whose temperature we wishto ascertain. It 
is then only necessary to read off the indications of temperature 
on the graduated resistance measurer. 


: NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 155 


EXPERIMENTS ON THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLES. 


The report of the Coast Survey Expedition of 1866, regarding 
electrical measurements made on the cables of 1865 and 1866, 
has been published in the Smithsonian ‘ Contributions.” ‘The 
following is a summary of Dr. Gould’s conclusions taken from 
the ‘‘ Journal of the Franklin Institute :” — 

Four leading questions were to be answered by the experi- 
ments. 1. The character of the agency which gives the tele- 
graphie signal upon the closing or interruption of the galvanic 
cireuit, and the route by which its transmission is effected. 

2. The influence exerted upon the conductor by using the 
earth as part of the circuit, or by placing the complete circuit in 
electrical communication with the earth. 

3. The extent to which the velocity of propagation of the sig- 
nals is dependent upon the intensity of the electromotive force, 
and upon the resistance of the conductor. 

4. The equality or difference in speed of the signals from the 
positive and from the negative electrode, when the other is con- 
nected with the earth; as also the relative velocity of signals 
given by completing and by interrupting the circuit. 

The length of the cable of 1865 is 2,186 statute miles, and that 
of the cable of 1866 is 2,154 statute miles. Hach conductor is con- 
structed of 6 copper wires twisted round a seventh one, and has 
a diameter of one hundred and forty-seven one thousandth 
inches. The conducting power of the wire is 93.1 for the cable 
of 1865, and 94.6 for that of 1866, the conducting power of pure 
copper being 100. The cable of 1865 gave a resistance of 4.01 
ohms per knot, the ‘‘ insulation” or resistance of the coating 
being 2,945 megohms per knot, and the electrostatic capacity 
0.3535 farad to the knot. That of 1866 gave a resistance of 3.89 
ohms per knot, and an insulation of 2,437 megohms, the electro- 
static capacity being the same as in the cable of 1865. The total 
resistance to conduction in the first cable is, then, about 7,650 
ohms, the total resistance of the insulator 1,505,000 ohms, 
and the total electrostatic capacity about 670.4 farads. In 
the second cable, the total resistance is about 7,270 ohms, the 
total insulation 1,316,000 ohms, and the total electrostatic capac- 
ity 654.5 farads. 

The battery employed by, the telegraph company was Minot- 
ti’s, a modified form of Daniell’s. Mr. Farmer estimates that 
after the full strength of the current is developed, one cell should 
give upon one cable with earth-connection about 110 farads 
per second. 

Several series of experiments were made with varying battery 
power, and different arrangements of the connections, in some 
using the earth circuit, in others not using it, sending both posi- 
tive and negative signals. 

The first question to be investigated is, whether the posi- 
tive and negative signals were transmitted with the same veloc- 
ity. A comparison of the records of the same signals at the two 
stations decides this, without the necessity of knowing the abso- 


156 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


lute time of transmission. This comparison gives us the interval 
T— TT” (the difference of the time indicated at the same moment 
by the two clocks, diminished by the time of transmission in the 
case of signals given from Valencia, and increased by this 
amount for signals from Newfoundland). Any excess of the 
time consumed in the passage of either class of signals should 
manifest itself by a superior value in the measures of the tem- 
porary clock-difference derived from that class when the signals 
are sent westwardly. For earthward signals the reverse holds. 
An examination of the recorded results shows that the positive 
and negative signals travel with the same velocity under the 
same circumstances. 

The speed of the two kinds of signals being thus taken as the 
. Same under similar circumstances, the time required for their 
transmission is easily deduced, being one-half the difference be- 
tween the measures of longitude as derived from the records at 
the respective stations. The weak point in the observations is 
the absence of any automatic record of signals received, but it is 
probable that the aggregate personal error of the two observers is 
very close to 0.606%, which value is adopted in the investigation. 

The experiments of November 5th and 6th were conducted with- 
out the use of any earth circuit. Each station sent signals with a 
battery of 3 Minotti’s cells, receiving them with its battery dis- 
connected. The mean interval consumed in the transmission of 
the signals appears to have been 0.29° on the former, and 0.26* on 
the latter occasion. 

With a battery of 8 Minotti’s cells, the maximum permanent 
current would not exceed 168 farads in the joined cables, and to 
develop nine-tenths of this current more than 14 second would be 
needed. With 3 Daniell’s cells the maximum current would not 
exceed 185 farads. Assuredly, we cannot suppose that in the 
lapse of three-tenths of a second, when not more than one-seventh 
of this current had been developed at the farther station, this bat- 
tery would have charged the 2 joined cables, each of which pos- 
sessed an electrostatic capacity of more than 650 farads. Hence 
the impulse on which the transmission of the signal depends must 
have been propagated along the conductor by some other means 
than by charging its successive parts electrically, that is, fully 
and in the ordinary sense of this expression. The 30 farads, more 
or less, which could have been generated before the signal arrived 
at the distant extremity of the cables, would have been consumed 
in charging the first six or seven hundredths of the conductor. _ 

Messages were effectually and distinctively transmitted in each 
direction, by the use of an electromotor formed by a small percus- 
sion cap containing moistened sand, upon which rested a particle 
of zinc. The current here evolved could scarcely have amounted 
to more than 6 or 7 farads, so that nearly 2 minutes would have 
been requisite for charging a cable, yet the transmission time was 
certainly very small, although it was not definitely measured. 

The experiments of November 8th and 9th differed from those 
of the 5th and 6th only in that the Newfoundland battery con- 
sisted of 10 cells instead of the same number as was employed at 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. Loz 


Valencia. The mean times of transmission were 0.258 and 0.245, 
indicating an increase of speed with an increase of electro- 
motive power. And, so far as the experiments on these 4 days 
are concerned, we might infer that on the complete metallic cir- 
cuit formed by the 2 cables, the time for transmitting the signals 
through about 3,475 kilometers, or 2,160 statute miles, was not far 
from 0.298 for a battery of 3 cells, 0.26: for one of 4 cells, and 
0.215s for one of 10 cells. 

On the other hand, the average transmission time for signals 
sent by a current induced in a single cable by means of a ‘‘ con- 
denser,” with a battery of 10 cells, was 0.31% on the 25th, and 
0.54% on the 28th of October; the mean interval on these 2 days 
being 0.328%. Each of the condensers used possessed an elec- 
trostatic capacity of about 20 farads; so that with a tension of 10 
cells or 8.4 volts, their capacity would not be far from 168 farads, 
or equal to that of about 590 miles of cable, or, in other words, a 
little more than one-quarter the capacity of one whole cable. 

Results of recorded signals give 0.26s as the transmission time 
through one cable with earth return, when the ground connection 
was made with the zine, and 0.278 when it was made with the 
middle of the battery, the former corresponding to the use of 4 
cells at one station only, the latter to 2 cells at each station. 

The velocity of signals made by closing and interrupting the 
circuit is next considered, the conclusion being that in general a 
longer time was required for the transmission of signals after an 
interval of 10 seconds than after an interval of 5 seconds. -In 
those cases where no earth-connection existed, and the signals 
were alternately positive and negative, the cable was meanwhile 
assuming’ its electrical equilibrium, so that a positive signal was 
transmitted more rapidly through the conductor when it was 
affected with a larger amount of negative electricity, and a nega- 
tive signal more rapidly through a conductor containing more 
positive electricity. This affords new testimony to the erroneous 
character of the supposition that the conductor must be charged 
through any portion of its length, in order to transmit a signal 
beyond that portion. 

As showing the continued existence of currents (doubtless en- 
gaged in establishing equilibrium) during the intervals between 
the signals, it may be of interest to mention that on one occasion 
when the 2 cables had been joined at Heart’s Content, without bat- 
tery, and while the Valencia battery had been temporarily discon- 
nected, signals from Newfoundland were distinctly received. 
They were weak, and the deflections of the needle were scarcely 
one-fifth as large as usual, yet they were none the less distinct, 
and a complete set of signals, 10 in number, at proper intervals, 
and preceded by a ‘‘rattle,” was recognized at Valencia. No 
- other record of them was made, than the fact of their transmission 
by alteration of the make-circuit and break-circuit signals, although 
no battery had been connected with the cable for several minutes. 

A series of experiments was made for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing the effect of changes in the electro-motive force upon the 
speed of the signals, and whether these signals could by the 


14 


158 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


interpolation of any resistance between them and the gal- 
vanometer be made to traverse the double length of the cable 
before reaching the galvanometer at the same station. 

The construction of the signal-key used in these experiments 
was such that only about one-seventieth of a second was oc- 
cupied in pressing down the button. All signals by which 
currents were sent were given in this way, but the break-circuit 
signals were given by removing the thumb from the button, 
which was then lifted by the tension of the spring. This tension 
being less than the muscular force of the thumb when the 
button was pressed down, a longer time was consumed in trav- 
ersing the distance between the stops, and for this repeated 
experiments give 0.035% as a near approximation to the average 
interval. Now, since the ordinary signals record themselves 
upon the chronograph when the arm carrying the button leaves 
one stop, but are not really given until it reaches the other, all 
the recorded intervals between the instants of giving and receiy- 
ing make-circuit signals will be too large by about one-seventieth 
of a second, or approximately 0.015%; while for break-circuit 
signals the reverse obtains, and the recorded interval will be teo 
small by about 0.035% Consequently, in comparisons between 
break-circuit signals and others, a correction must be applied, 
varying with the temporary adjustment of the signal-key, but 
amounting on the average at Valencia to not far from 0.05*°. This 
correction must be borne in mind in drawing inferences as to the 
relative velocity of break-circuit and make-cireuit currents. Dr. 
Gould does not apply it in his tahles, however, because no 
measurements were made to determine the pass-time for the 
Newfoundland key. 

In these experiments the circuit was formed of the two cables 
with no other connections than the same key, galvanometer, and 
battery at Valencia which had been employed for the other work 
of the expedition. 


Exp.I. 4 cells. Circuit made and broken. Key between Zincode and gal- 


vanometer. 
No. Mean Interval, 
Make circuits, 1 0.2578 
Break circuits, 11 0.229 
Exp. II. 4 cells. The same with 126 ohms’ resistance between key and gal- 
vanometer. 
Make circuits, 10 0.279 
Break circuits, 9 * 0.227 
Exp. III. 4 cells. Key and galvanometer upon opposite sides of the battery. . 
Make circuits, 13 0.278 
Break circuits, 14 0.225 
Exp. IV. 4 cells. The same with 126 ohms’ resistance between key and cable. 
Make circuits, 11 0.278 
Break circuits, 11 0.220 
Exp. V. lcell. Positive and negative signals. 
Positive. Negative. Both. 
No. Mean. No. Mean. No. Mean. 
2 0.240 8 0.292 10 0.282 


Exp. VI. 2 cells. Positive and negative signals, 
10 0.249 9 0.242 19 0.246 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 159 


Positive. Negative. Both. 
No. Mean. No. Mean. No. Mean. 
Exp. VII. 4 cells. Same. 
8 0.268 10 0.290 18 0.279 
ia tea 10 cells. Same. 
0.270 10 0.245 20 0.258 
a, IX. 10 cells. Resistance of 25 ohms interposed between key and gal- 
vanometer. 
10 0.254 10 0.258 20 0.256 
Exp. X. 10 cells. Resistance increased to 251 ohms. 
0.287 10 0.289 19 0.288 
Exp. XI. 10 cells. Resistance increased to 2518 ohms. 
10 0.305 2 0.286 19 0.296 
Exp. XII. 10 cells. Resistance increased to 25,130 ohms. 
iit * 0.288 ee! 0.299 21 0.293 


From these experiments it may fairly be concluded : — 

1. That there was no real difference in the interval for the 
make-circuit and break-circuit signals. The mean from the first 
4 experiments gives after application of the corrections for 
pass-time of the key, an interval 0.2618 for the make circuits, and 
0.260s for the break circuits. 

2. That the relative positions of key, galvanometer, and battery 
exerted no perceptible influence upon the result when a battery 
of 4 cells was employed. The mean intervals from the first 2 
and from the second 2 experiments are 0.258% and 0.262% respec- 
tively. 

3. That no appreciable effect was produced by the interpolation 
of 126 ohms’ resistance. The mean intervals, with and without 
this resistance, were 0.2588 and 0.2635. 

4. That no marked diminution of the interval was produced by 
an increase of the battery from 2 to 10 cells. The results with 1 
cell, although untrustworthy, indicate a somewhat less interval. 
The others vary by less than their probable errors, yet the inter- 
val was certainly not less with 2 cells than with 10. 

5. From the last 8 experiments it would appear that the in- 
terval was slightly longer after resistances above 250 ohms had 
been introduced. © Yet it was no longer in the twelfth experiment 
when the resistance between the key and galvanometer was more 
than two-thirds greater than the whole resistance of the 2 joined 
cables, than in the eleventh, when it was only one-sixth as great 
as that of the 2 cables. 

6. We have every reason for believing that in all these 12 ex- 
periments the measures of the intervals were merely determina- 
tions of my own personal equation in noting signals, which, as 
has been shown in Chapter LX., had been found by special inves- 
tigation to be about 0.275%. The variations from this value amount 
in but few eases to more than 0.038, which we have seen to be the 
normal range. 

7. These experiments are entirely confirmatory of what would 
have been anticipated from theory, namely, that a signal given 
by closing a galvanic circuit is transmitted in both directions 
simultaneously, and with equal velocity under similar circum- 
stances; so that under no ordinary practicable circumstances 


160 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


could a signal from either station fail to traverse both parts of the 
circuit at that station before passing on to the other. 

Since my former investigation (Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 
1850, p. 71; Am. Jour. Sci. xi., 67, 154) the progress of science 
has thrown light upon many points which were then subjects of 
doubt or of individual opinion. The condition of an open galvanic 
circuit is now almost universally conceded not to be essentially 
different from that of an interrupted conductor to an electrical 
machine. The velocity of a current is also known to be de- 
pendent upon its quantity, and therefore generally upon its 
intensity, as well as upon the resistance of the conductor. But it 
appears questionable whether the law is as simple as has been 
supposed by some, who have regarded the velocity as inversely 
proportional to the capacity of the conductor multiplied by its 
resistance, and, therefore, in a homogeneous conductor to the 
square of the leneth. For the problem, as it now presents itself, 
does not pertain so much to the time for transmission of a given 
signal, as to the time for its transmission with a certain force, 
depending on the sensitiveness of the receiving apparatus; since 
the electrical impulse or disturbance consists of a continuous 
series of molecular influences which propagate themselves in 
every possible direction according to the inverse ratio of their 
several resistances. And the form of the conductor, as well as 
other conditions, may essentially modify the time requisite for the 
- attainment of the prescribed force at the other extremity of the 
line. A current may thus be temporarily established in part of 
an open circuit, continuing until the battery and conductors have 
attained an electrostatic equilibrium. The time required for 
attaining this equilibrium depends of course simply on the ca- 
pacity and form of the conductors, and on the energy of the 
battery ; but the first electrical impulse may reach the most re- 
mote point of the circuit before a portion nearest the battery has 
received its full charge. Similarly, in a closed circuit, the distant 
extremity of the line may well be supposed to perceive some 
slight electrical disturbance from a signal before its full force is 
manifested at intermediate points, so that a signal might be re- 
ceived with a delicate galvanometer at the farther extremity, 
before it could be recognized upon an electro-magnet at half the 
distance. And this, too, apart from any consideration of increas- 
ing intensity in the electromotor. 

The circuit formed by the two cables might, although broken 
at Valencia, thus serve to establish what would practically be a 
momentary current at Newfoundland when the battery at that 
station was introduced, deflecting the galvanometer there for an 
instant, and the change of statical condition in the cables at 
Valencia would thereupon be manifest to the electroscope. But 
the closure of circuit at Valencia would be accompanied by in- 
stantaneous deflection of the galvanometer, with corresponding 
insensibility of the electroscope. Thus a signal given by closing 
or interrupting an insulated circuit at any point is instantaneously 
transmitted from that point in both directions and at full speed; 
but the interval before it attains its total force at any other point 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 161 


must depend upon the character of the intervening conductor. 
The question as to the route by which signals are transmitted 
when part of the circuit is formed by the earth, is thus disposed 
of; and the position maintained in the memoir above cited is 
entirely corroborated, although it loses its theoretical significance. 

The duration of one sional current was intended to be uni- 
formly one-quarter of a second, but depended upon the skill and 
care of the observer, no automatic signal-giver having been em- 
ployed. Every electrician knows how gre eatly the str eneth of the 
current is augmented by an increase of its duration from 0.25 to 
0.38, yet the ‘duration of the signals varied frequently through a 
larger range than this. Still the actual length of each signal as 
recorded upon the chronograph register, and its average did not 

vary much from the prescribed duration of 0.25°. 

It appears manifest that not an electrical charge or discharge, 
but simply an electrical disturbance, is requisite for transmittine a 
signal; that an inductive impulse, sufficient to deflect the aly a- 
nometers employed, was transmitted through 1 cable, having at 

each end a condenser with 10 cells, in somewhat less than the 
third of a second, 5 seconds after the transmission of an impulse 
of the opposite sort; that with a circuit formed by the 2 cables,a 
smaller electromotive force sufliced to transmit the signals with 
yet greater rapidity; that the signals travelled more rapidly 
thr ough a cable which had not recovered its electrical equilibrium 
after a current of the opposite character; and that the speed of 
the signals is modified by the earth connections more rapidly than 
by changes in the battery power. And the very marked differ- 
ences found in the rates of transmission, between. signals given by 
completing an interrupted circuit and those given by interrupting 
a closed circuit, may perhaps lead to investigations which will 
afford an explanation. 


CHEMISTRY. 


ANTOZONE. 


In the first series of Dr. Meissner’s researches upon oxygen 
he arrived at the remarkable conclusion that oxygen under the 
influence of electrical tension was converted not only into ozone, 
but also into another modification, which always appeared 
simultaneously, and which formed, when brought into contact 
with watery vapor, especially after the absorption of the ozone, a 
peculiar dense mist. This second modification of oxygen Meissner 
identified with Sechonbein’s antozone. So remarkable were these 
results, and so important their bearing, if true, not only upon 
our theories of ozone itself, but also upon the philosophy of 
chemistry, that Meissner desired to repeat his experiments, 
studying particularly the character of the antozone-mist and the 
effects of electrical tension upon the volume of the oxygen sub- 
mitted to the discharge. The results of these experiments con- 
stitute a paper published the last year by Dr. Meissner.* 

Oxygen is submitted to the action of electricity in a Siemen’s or 
Von Babo’s apparatus, is then passed into a recciver containing a 
concentrated solution of iodide of potassium in which the ozone 
is completely absorbed, and finally through water contained in a 
second receiver; the gas, as it issues from the water, forms above 
it a thick white mist, which also appears in a less degree over the 
solution of iodide of potassium, but which is denser the less con- 
centrated the solution and the more favorable the ozonizing 
conditions. ‘To prove that this mist consists solely of electrized 
oxygen and water, Meissner proves experimentally, to his own 
satisfaction: 1st. That no other gas but oxygen is in any way 
concerned in the production of the phenomenon, particularly no 
nitrogen, chlorine, hydrogen, or carbonic acid; 2d. That for 
the production of the result the presence of aqueous vapor in 
the electrizing tube is not necessary; 3d. That the solution of 
iodide of potassium used for the absorption of the ozone has 
nothing whatever to do with the appearance of the phenomenon, 
further than is implied in effecting the removal of the ozone from 
the current of electrized oxygen. 


* Neue Untersuchungen iiber den elektrisirten Sauerstoff. —Abhandlungen 
der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gittingen, XIV. (1869). 


162 


CHEMISTRY. 163 


In regard to the first and second points, after detailing the very 
carefully conducted experiments which were performed, Meissner 
believes, ‘‘ that these experiments, not once only or a few times 
repeated, but performed very frequently, prove the following 
point: that the mist formed by deozonized electrized oxygen with 
aqueous vapor appears when neither chlorine, nitrogen, am- 
monia, hydrogen, carbonic acid, nor watery vapor is present in 
the tube where the electrizing occurs; and that the presence or 
aid of neither of these substances is necessary for its subsequent 
formation; that, in other words, the mist phenomenon requires 
only dry electrized oxygen, the iodide of potassium used for de- 
ozonization and the vapor of water for its production.” The third 
point is proved by the substitution for the iodide of potassium of 
a variety of other bodies, differing widely in chemical character 
and agreeing only in the property of absorbing ozone. The mist 
is chemically identical whatever be the agent used to absorb the 
ozone; it is neither acid nor alkaline, consists of a body neither 
soluble nor insoluble in water, but is solely a mechanical or ad- 
hesive combination of oxygen and water, which, when washed 
and collected in a gas-holder, gradually disappears, fine fluid 
drops collecting upon the walls of the vessel, which, when ex- 
amined, are found to be pure water, containing possibly, under 
certain conditions, a trace of peroxide of hydrogen. Experiment 
leads to the conclusion that there exists in the pure, dry electrized 
oxygen, besides unaltered oxygen and ozone, a third body, a 
third modification or condition of oxygen, to which the phenome- 
non of the mist is to be ascribed. The paper further treats of the 
action of various substances on electrized oxygen, and in a second 
section discusses the ‘‘ quantitative estimation of ozone and the 
contraction of volume in electrizing oxygen.” — From an ‘* Abstract 
of the second series of Professor Meissner’s Researches upon Electrized 
Oxygen, by Prof. Barker in the Amer. Jour. Science, L. (1870), pp. 


213-223. 


HYDROGENIUM-AMALGAM. 


‘¢ When zine-amalgam is shaken with water a slow decomposi- 
tion of the latter takes place, recognized by the formation of floc- 
culi of hydrated oxide of zine, and the evolution of small bubbles 
of hydrogen on allowing the mixture to stand foratime. This 
decomposition of water by zine is intensified when a small 
quantity of bichloride of platinum is present; a spongy body then 
being formed on the surface of the zinc-amalgam. This body I 
have found to be an alloy of hydrogenium and mercury. 

‘‘In order to obtain the hydrogenium-amalgam on a larger 
scale, zinc-amalgam, containing a few per cent. of zine, is shaken 
thoroughly with about an equal volume of bichloride of platinum, 
containing about 10 per cent. of the bichloride, care being taken to 
keep the mixture cool. The zinc-amalgam swells up con- 
siderably, precisely as in the ammonium-amalgam experiment, 
and continues to evolve hydrogen till the decomposition of the 
amalgam is complete. I found that the volume of the hy- 


164 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


drogen thus developed was, in several experiments, from 100 to 
150 times that of the mercury employed. This hydrogen pos- 
sesses a faint odor. 

‘“When this amalgam of hydrogenium is pressed, directly 
after its preparation, between sheets of filtering paper, and then 
spread out in a layer to the air, the temperature soon rises con- 
siderably, and vapors of water are formed, which may be 
condensed in a glass receiver. The finely divided platinum 
present is obviously the cause of this rapid oxidation of the hy- 
drogenium. In this action of bichloride of platinum upon zinc- 
amalgam oxychloride of zinc is at the same time formed; and 
though this may be removed by means of chlorhydric acid, yet by 
this treatment a part of the hydrogenium-amalgam is destroyed. 
If after this it be washed with water, it undergoes a very slow 
decomposition, the volume increases, and bubbles of hydrogen 
escape through the water above. . 

‘¢ Platinum, after perfect amalgamation, does not act as en- 
ergetically as in its nascent state; that is, when precipitated on 
the amalgam. When platinum-amalgam is mixed with zinc- 
amalgam the decomposition of the water by the zinc is extremely 
slow, and the hydrogenium-amalgam does not appear for some 
time. Under certain conditions, moreover, the hydrogenium- 
amalgam is formed without the aid of the bichloride of platinum. 
Thad at one time about 20 pounds of mercury containing zinc, 
which was left standing in a bottle with water for 3 weeks ; the 
hydrogenium-amalgam formed on the surface of the mercury, 
gradually decomposing above and being renewed from below.”— 
O. Loew. — Annals Lyceum Natural History of New York. 


AMMONIUM—AMALGAM. 


The existence of ammonium NHg, as such, in what is known as 
ammonium-amalgam, has never been demonstrated, although its 
constituents escape in proper proportions from the amalgam. If 
the hydrogen escaping from the amalgam, together with the 
ammonia (NHs), be shown to be in the nascent state, it would be 
evidence that it had just been in chemical combination with the 
ammonia; in other words, that metallic ammonium existed in the 
amalgam. Some pellets of sodium were placed in contact with 
some particles of the transparent variety of phosphorus, wrapped 
in bibulous paper and plunged beneath the surface of water. A 
red glow was seen; and as the nascent hydrogen came in contact 
with the phosphorus, bubbles of phosphide of hydrogen were 
formed. Occasionally one would inflame as it came into contact 
with the atmosphere, placing the nature of the reaction beyond 
a doubt. As phosphide of hydrogen cannot be formed by direct 
synthesis if ordinary free hydrogen be employed, this becomes a 
test for the presence of that gas in its nascent state. The hydro- 
gen escaping from the ammoniacal amalgam was now tested by 
this process. A sodium-amalgam, dipped beneath a solution of 
chloride of ammonium, was employed; and it became necessary 


CHEMISTRY. 165 


to wait until the sodium was exhausted that results might not be 
vitiated by the nascent hydrogen escaping from the water. At 
the proper time the decomposing amalgam was covered with 
fragments of transparent phosphorus, when many bubbles of in- 
flammable phosphide were obtained. The hydrogen must then 
have been in the nascent state and just escaping from the am- 
monium. — Dr. Gallatin, in the Philosophical Magazine, July, 1869, 
p. ot. ' 


ACTION OF LIGHT ON CRYSTALLIZED SULPHUR. 


We know, from the researches of Schroetter on the allotropic 
modifications of phosphorus, that ordinary phosphorus is con- 
verted by the action of light into the amorphous variety. M. Lalle- 
mand finds that a similar effect is produced on ordinary crystallized 
sulphur. He exposed a solution of sulphur in bisulphide of car- 
bon, in a sealed glass vessel, to rays of light concentrated by a 
lens, and obtained a copious deposit of amorphous sulphur. On 
passing the emerging rays through a prism, he found that the 
luminous spectrum showed no rays between G and H, and that 
the ultra-violet rays had disappeared entirely. A solution of 
phosphorus in bisulphide of carbon acts similarly, although more 
slowly, and the spectrum produced by the emerging light shows 
a sensible diminution of intensity only in the neighborhood of H 
in the luminous spectrum, and only the most refrangible actinic 
rays have disappeared. — Comptes hendus, LXX., p. 182. 


SOLUBILITY OF SULPHATE OF LEAD IN ALCOHOLIC SALINE 
SCLUTIONS. 


Very considerable quantities of sulphate of lead can be held 
dissolved in water by means of many acetates, citrates, tartrates, 
and by various ‘other salts. Prof. Storer finds that a certain pro- 
portion of lead can be held dissolved in presence of sulphuric acid, 
eyen in an alcoholic solution like wine, by the action of various 
soluble alkaline salts capable of decomposing and of being de- 
composed by sulphate of lead. Attention was called to the fact by 
the analysis of a sample of sherry, which proved to contain some 
salt of lead, and, at the same time, free sulphuric acid. Among 
the salts which possess in dilute alcoholic solutions this power of 
holding lead dissolved, are the acetate, tartrate, succinate, citrate, 
and dicitrate of ammonium, and tricitrate of potassium. The ex- 
periments made show clearly that very considerable quantities of 
sulphate of lead can be held in solution by weak alcohol charged 
with various salts. It may, therefore, reasonably be inferred 
that wines sometimes retain lead in solution, in consequence of 
this action of the acids and salts peculiar to wine upon lead com- 
pounds ignorantly employed to correct acidity.— Proc. Amer. 
Acad., X., p. 59. 


166° ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


JARGONIUM. 


In the last volume of this Annual, a statement was made of 
the fact that Mr. Sorby, in the course of an examination of the 
absorption-spectra given by zirconia and other earths, found that 
certain specimens of jargon from Ceylon yielded a spectrum of so 
marked a character as to lead to the supposition of the existence 
of a new element, to which he gave the name of jargonium. Up- 
on analyzing the jargon a quantity of substance was obtained 
which, while resembling zirconia, was sufficiently distinct from it 
to warrant the supposition of its being the oxide of anew metal. 
At the same time the element uranium failed to reveal itself in 
the course of ordinary or spectral analysis. In February of the 
last year Mr. Sorby read a paper before the Royal Society * de- 
scribing more recent experiments, which show that the absorption- 
bands which seemed to indicate the presence of a new element 
are really due to a mixture of the oxides of zirconium and ura- 
nium, and this reaction is so delicate as to give evidence of the 
presence of uranium when the amount is extremely small. He 
found that, in the case of transparent blowpipe beads of borax 
with microcosmic salt, it is requisite to have about as much as 
one-fiftieth grain of protoxide of uranium to show faintly the 
characteristic absorption-bands; whereas when present along 
with zirconia in crystalline beads, one-fifty-thousandth grain gives 
an equally well-marked spectrum, and one-two-thousandth grain 
shows it far better than a larger quantity, which makes the bead 
too opaque. 


MANUFACTURE OF CHLORINE. 


Weldon’s Process.— In the last volume of the ‘* Annual of Scien- 
tific Discovery” mention was made of the process invented by 
Walter Weldon, for the utilization of the chloride of manganese 
residues from the chlorine manufacture by the production from 
the same of a compound which he calls manganite of calcium, 
which is used again to generate chlorine. This process has been 
extensively adopted in England within the last year or two, and 
at the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, 1870, the 
inventor of the process read a paper,t giving further details, and 
at the same time he exhibited a model of the apparatus employed. 

The following is an abstract of this paper: The vessels com- 
prised in this apparatus are arranged at 5 successive elevations, 
so that after having been pumped up to the highest of them the 
liquor operated upon can afterwards descend to all the others by 
its own gravity. The lowest of these vessels is a well, which is 
furnished with a mechanical agitator. The slightly acid chloride 
of manganese liquor with which the process commences runs from 
the stills in which it is produced into this well, and is there 
treated with finely divided carbonate of calcium, the action of which 


* Chem. News, xxi., p. 73, American Reprint, vi., p. 193. 
+ Printed in the “Chem. News” for Sept. 23, 1870, Vol. xxii., p. 145. 


CHEMISTRY. 167 


is facilitated by energetic agitation. When the neutralization of 
the free acid which is at first contained in this liquor, and the 
decomposition of the sesquichloride of iron and sesquichloride of 
aluminum, which are also at first contained in it, are completed, 
the liquor is pumped up into settling-tanks placed nearly at the 
top of the apparatus and known as the chloride of manganese 
settlers. It now consists of a quite neutral mixed solution of 
chloride of manganese and chloride of calcium, containing in 
suspension considerable quantities of sulphate of calcium and small 
quantities of oxide of iron and alumina. These solid matters 
rapidly deposit in the chloride of manganese settlers, leaving the 
bulk of the liquor perfectly bright and clear and of a faint rose- 
eolor. The next step is to run off the clear portion of the con- 
tents of the chloride of manganese settlers into a vessel placed 
immediately below those settlers, and called the oxidizer. This 
is usually a cylindrical iron vessel, about 12 feet in diameter and 
about 22 feet deep. Two pipes go down nearly to the bottom of 
the oxidizer, —a large one for conveying a blast of air from a 
blowing-engine, and a smaller one for the injection of steam. 
The latter is for the purpose of raising the temperature of the 
contents of the oxidizer, when necessary, — for sometimes the 
chloride of manganese liquor reaches the oxidizer sufficiently 
hot, —to somewhere between 130° and 160° or 170° F. Immedi- 
ately above the oxidizer is a reservoir containing milk of lime. 
The oxidizer having received a charge of clear liquor from the 
chloride of manganese settlers, and this liquor having been heated 
up to the proper point, if it was not already hot enough, blowing is 
begun, and milk of lime is then run into the oxidizer as rapidly 
as possible, until the filtrate from a sample taken at a tap placed 
nearly at the bottom of the oxidizer ceases to give a manganese 
reaction with solution of bleaching-powder. A certain further 
quantity of milk of lime is then added, and the blowing is 
continued until peroxidation ceases to advance. ‘That point is 
usually attained when from about 80 to 85 per cent. of the man- 
ganese present has been converted into peroxide. The contents 
of the oxidizer are now a thin black mud, consisting of solution 
of chloride of calcium containing in suspension about 2 pounds of 
peroxide of manganese per cubic foot, these two pounds of per- 
oxide of manganese being combined with varying quantities of 
protoxide of manganese and lime. This thin mud is now run 
off from the oxidizer into one of a range of settling tanks 
(mud-settlers) placed below it, and is there left at rest until about 
one-half of its volume has become clear. The clear part, con- 
sisting simply of a solution of chloride of calcium, is then decanted, 
and the remainder, containing about 4 pounds of peroxide of 
manganese per cubic foot, is then ready to be used in the stills. 
There it reacts upon chlorhydric acid, liberating chlorine, with 
reproduction of exactly such a residual solution as was com- 
menced with. With that solution the round of operations is 
begun again; and so on, time after time, indefinitely. 

In regard to the amount of lime necessary: The lime 
used is slaked with as nearly as possible an equivalent of water 


168 ANNUAL OF .SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


and passed through fine sieves. Including the portion which is 
sieved out, and which, although it does not go into the oxidizer, 
is usually charged to the process, the amount of lime used at 
present averages 14 ewt. per ton of bleaching-powder prepared. 
Until quite recently it was supposed that whatever proportion of 
lime was used in the oxidizer, products could not be obtained con- 
taining less than an equivalent of base (or bases) to every equiv- 
alent of peroxide of. manganese. Now, however, products are 

regularly obtained containing only between 0.9 and 0.7 equivalent 
of base, and there have been obtained, occasionally, compounds 
containing as little as 0.5 equivalent of base ; in case of producing 
reoularly | compounds containing only one-half an equivalent of 
base, the amount of lime requir ed for this purpose may be reduced 
as low as 10 ewt. per ton of bleaching-powder, and already, at 
one work on the Tyne, the amount has been reduced to 12 ewt. 

The mechanical power expended in the injection of the neces- 
sary amount of air into the oxidizer has hitherto averagved between 
7 and 8 horse-power for 1 hour per 100 pounds MnO: made; but 
this amount can probably be diminished. Expressed in terms 
of the amount of bleaching-powder produced, it may be said that 
the production of 1 ton of bleaching-powder requires the expendi- 
ture of from 35 to 40 horse-power for 2 hours. 

The quantity of acid consumed per ton of bleaching-powder 
made by means of manganite mud, varies with the degree of care 
with which the process is performed and with the general skill of the 
manufacturer, being in some cases considerably below the average 
quantity consumed in making a ton of bleaching-powder by means 
of native manganese, while in other cases itis scarcely at all below ° 
that quantity. To produce a ton of bleaching-powder by the ordi- 
nary process there is required the amount of acid obtained from 
not less than 60 ewt. of salt, and often there is used as much acid 
as would be produced from 80 ewt. of salt. By the new process 
at least one manufacturer, whose mud contains as yet by no 
means the minimum amount of base, consumes to the ton of 
bleaching-powder only 170 cubic feet of acid at 24° Twaddell, —a 
quantity which may be produced by less than 48 ewt. of salt. 

The loss of manganese which occurs in this process at present 
varies from about 4 per cent. to about 10 percent. The deposit of 
sulphate of calcium and other matters in the chloride of manganese 
settlers has to be removed as a thin mud, that is, mixed with a 
quantity of the solution of chloride of manganese. By suitable 
washing the amount of manganese lost may “be reduced to 2 per 
cent., but it ordinarily averages 5 per cent. No other sources of 
loss exist, except it be from carelessness on the part of the work- 
men. Beyond the sulphate of lime and other bodies which are 
deposited in the chloride of manganese settlers, the only residual 
product of the process, and the only other thine which has to be 
thrown away, is the solution of chloride of calcium. As this'so- 
lution represents all the lime and all the limestone used 
in the process, and two-thirds of the chlorine contained in 
the acid employed, attempts have been made still farther to im- 
prove the process by the substitution of magnesia in the place of 


CHEMISTRY. 169 


lime, and by decomposing by heat the resulting chloride of mag- 
nesium into magnesia, for use over again, and chlorhydric acid. 
In this form, the process is capable of yielding all the chlorine 
contained in the acid employed, and apart from mechanical loss 
employs no materials except coal and air, which are not used over 
and over again. Experiments on a small scale promise well for 
the value of this modified process. 

Deacon’s Process. — If a mixture of chlorhydric acid and oxygen 
be sufficiently heated, portions of the hydrogen and oxygen com- 
bine, and chlorine is set free to a certain small amount. This 
proportion is very much increased by passing a heated mixture 
of these gases over certain substances which influence this reac- 
tion without being themselves, as far as appears, affected by it. 
Copper salts possess the power of bringing about this reaction in 
a very marked degree, sulphate of copper being most conven- 
iently employed. All the compounds of lead, with the excep- 
tion of the sulphate, act in the same way, although requiring a 
higher temperature. All the manganese compounds act simi- 
larly, but the temperature required is so elevated that all the 
liberated chlorine is not obtained as such, a certain amount appar- 
ently recombining with a portion of the hydrogenof the water 
formed. 

It is proposed to make use of these facts in the commercial pro- 
duction of chlorine, by passing the mixed gases over common 
bricks soaked in a saturated solution of sulphate of copper, and 
then dried. It has been found that the chlorhydric acid, as 
evolved from the ordinary salt-cake apparatus, contains, mixed 
with it, a sufficient quantity of air for the reaction to take place. 
It has been found that iron resists very completely the action of 
chlorine in the decomposing apparatus. A common iron gas- 
pipe, exposed to the heated chlorine for several months, shows 
no appreciable wear. The chlorine produced is mixed witha 
large proportion of nitrogen, but no difficulty is anticipated in the 
making of bleaching-powder, if the saturation is brought about 
systematically by allowing the strong gases to meet lime nearly 
saturated, and then passing the weaker gases over fresh lime. 
Any undecomposed chlorhydric acid is removed by passing the 
gases through water, the dilute acid formed dissolving only mere 
traces of chlorine. — Abstract of a paper read before the British 
Association, 1870, by Henry Deacon. 

Hargreaves’ Process. — Mr. James Hargreave, of Widness, has 
devised a method for producing chlorine without the use of ox- 
ide of manganese. He has a process for the separation of phos- 
phorus from the iron slag produced in the puddling operation of 
the iron manufacture. In carrying out this process the iron slag 
is treated with chlorhydric acid, and thereby protochloride of 
iron in solution is obtained as a by-product. This solution is 
evaporated to dryness, and the dry protochloride, by slow appli- 
cation of heat with access of atmospheric air, becomes perchloride, 
which undergoes decomposition, yielding chlorine and peroxide of 
iron. This process yields an equivalent of chlorine for each equiv- 
alent of chlorhydric acid employed. 


170 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ALKALI MANUFACTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 


In 1861, it was estimated that the total quantity of salt decom- 
posed in Great Britain, for the production of soda, was 260,000 
tons. According to the returns of the Alkali Manufacturers’ As- 
sociation for the year 1869, the total quantity decomposed was 
326,000 tons, showing an increase of 25 per cent. 


CLAUDET’S PROCESS FOR THE EXTRACTION OF SILVER. 


The amount of pyrites annually burned in Great Britain in the 
manufacture of sulphuric acid reaches 350,000 tons, of which at 
least 250,000 tons contain a sufficient amount of copper to render its 
treatment for that metal commercially advantageous. For several 
years past a large proportion of the ‘‘ burnt ore ” produced in the 
various chemical works of the country has been worked by what 
is known as the wet process of extraction. By the process of liquid 
extraction at present usually employed, the burnt ore is first 
finely ground and sifted, and subsequently roasted with common 

salt until by the oxidation of the metallic sulphides present a 
portion of the alkaline salt is converted into sulphate of sodium, 
whilst the copper is, on the ‘contrary, converted into a soluble 
chloride. The copper salt is subsequently removed by repeated 
washings and the copper precipitated by iron in the metallic 
state. 

This precipitated copper contains a notable quantity of silver 
as well as a distinct trace of gold. Thus in 9 successive wash- 
ines of one tank of ore there were found respectively 4.06, 3.25, 
1.05, 0.19, 0.12, 0.06, 0.03, 0.06, 0.04 grains of silver to the gallon 
of liquor. ‘This silver comes from the ore which has been roasted 
with common salt as chloride held in solution by the large amount 
of undecomposed chloride of sodium. Of these various washings 
the first 3 alone contain enough of the precious metal to pay 
for working. The treatment is as follows : — 

These liquors are first run into suitable wooden cisterns, each 
of a capacity of about 2,700 gallons, where they are allowed to 
settle. The yield of silver per. gallon is now ascertained by tak- 
ing a measured quantity, to which are added chlorhydric acid, 
iodide of potassium, and acetate of lead in solution. The precip- 
itate obtained is thrown upon a filter, and after being dried is 
fused with a flux, consisting of a mixture of carbonate of so- 
dium, borax, and lamp- -black. The resulting argentiferous lead is 
passed to the cupel, and from the weight of the button of silver 
obtained the amount of that metal in a gallon of the liquor is 
estimated. 

The liquor from the settling-vat is now allowed to flow into 
another of slightly larger capacity, whilst at the same time the 
exact amount of a soluble iodide necessar y to precipitate the sil- 
ver present is run into it from a graduated tank, together with a 
quantity of water equal to about one-tenth the volume of the 
copper liquor. During the filling of the second tank, its con- 


CHEMISTRY. wel 


tents are continually stirred, and when filled a little lime-water 
is added, and the mixture is allowed to settle during 48 hours. 

The precipitate formed is chiefly composed of sulphate of lead, 
iodide of silver, and salts of copper, which latter are readily re- 
moved by washing with water acidulated with chlorhydric acid. 
The precipitate is then decomposed by metallic zinc, which re- 
duces completely the iodide of silver, and to a certain extent the 
sulphate of lead. There result (1) a solution of iodide of zinc, 
which after being standardized is employed in subsequent opera- 
tions to precipitate fresh quantities of silver; (2) a precipitate 
containing about 4.5 per cent. of silver, 0.06 per cent. of gold, 
15.5 per cent. of zine, and 56.5 per cent. of copper. 

The result of nearly 6 months’ experience of this process, at the 
Widnes Metal Works, shows that one-half ounce of silver and 13 
grain gold may be extracted from each ton of ore worked at a 
total cost of 8d. per ton. A profit of 2s. per ton is thus obtained, 
—an amount not to be disregarded in works which treat 30,000 
tons of ore annually. — Abstract of a paper read by J. Arthur 
Phillips before the British Association, 1870. 


GAS MANUFACTURE. 


New Process of Gas Manufacture.—In this process, which is 
patented, and which is at present in operation under the auspices 
of the Citizens’ Gas Light Company, Saratoga, N. Y., the gas is 
made from crude naphtha in an essentially ‘* new” method. 

The naphtha is put into a still and gradually converted into 
vapor by a steam coil. The vapor is thence conducted into a 
peculiarly constructed superheater, placed inside a clay or iron 
retort, set and heated in the usual way. ‘There is in use 
here one bench of 3, each retort provided with a super- 
heater. The vapor enters the rear of the retorts from the 
superheater, where it is instantly converted into a fixed gas, 
and passes into the stand-pipes, and so on to the gas-holder 
in the usual way, except that no washing, scrubbing, or puri- 
fication is needed, a simple tank and condensing coil being all 
that is required. 

One bench of 3 will produce 5,000 feet of gas per hour, pre- 
pared for distribution, of not less than 20 candle-power, equal 
to 120,000 cubic feet per day of 24 hours. One bench of 5 will 
easily produce 200,000 cubic feet per day. The expense of labor 
is reduced to a minimum; only an engineer and one fireman 
being necessary. The entire process is so nearly automatic that 
but little manual labor is required. There is no charging and 
discharging of retorts, no troublesome stoppage of stand-pipes, 
or scaling and decarbonizing of retorts, no laborious and disagree- 
able purifying process. There are no bad odors, smoke, or soot. 
The first cost of works, it will be readily understood, is much less; 
scrubbers, washers, and purifiers being dispensed with, and only 
one-tenth the number of benches being required to produce a 
given amount of gas, and, owing to the low heats employed, the 


172 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


wear and tear is far less. Another remarkable feature of this gas 
is its non-condensability in the mains, —none of the drips having 
yet required to be pumped. The loss by leakage and condensi- 
bility is therefore exceedingly small, never having exceeded 3 
per cent. The mains in one place, particularly, are laid only 16 
inches under the surface for a space of one-half mile, owing to 
the difficulty of excavating avery hard unstratified rock. But 
during last winter, with the thermometer often at and below zero, 
no trouble of condensation was experienced. 

Other materials can be used beside naphtha, — any of the prod- 
ucts of the oil-wells, such as crude petroleum, dead oil, ‘still 
foots,” ete. <Any oil or oily or fatty matter may be used. In fact, 
all liquid, semi-liquid, or solid carbonaceous matter can be em- 
ployed to make gas by this process; and the letters patent ful- 
ly specify and cover this ground. It is only necessary to ob- 
serve that, where the materials used do not vaporize (like naph- 
tha, etc.,) by the application of a steam coil, it is only necessary 
to apply a sufficient degree of heat through the aid of a furnace, 
that will convert the material into a vapor, in the first instance; 
and that this vapor (which is necessarily more or less condensable) 
shall pass into a retort heated to a temperature sufficient to con- 
vert it all into a fixed gas. ‘This is the great novelty of the inven- 
tion, and gives it the great advantage over the ordinary method 
of distilling either oils and other hydro-carbons, or coals and the 
like materials, to produce illuminating gas. If coal is used, it 
first distils, and oil as a condensable vapor is eliminated; this, 
instead of going to make coal tar in the hydraulic main as usual, 
is passed into a red-hot retort, where it becomes a true gas, and 
nothing else. 

This process is a great stride in the art of making gas upon 
true chemical principles. In the old process, the charge of coal 
is thrown into a hot retort; a portion next the retort is distilled 
at a proper temperature to produce a fixed gas; but another 
portion in the centre of the charge is distilled at a low tempera- 
ture, which will only yield oily and condensable matter, and this 
goes to form the ¢ar in the hydraulic main. This is the very 
essence, So to speak, of gas, and is a dead loss to the process in a 
chemical sense. Again, another portion of the charge becomes 
too highly heated, and is destructively decomposed, forming 
either a hard incrustation on the sides of the retorts called gas 
carbon, or clogs the mouth-piece and stand and _ bridge pipes, in 
the form of a combined gummy and sooty matter. Although the 
gas may be formed properly in one part of the retort, before it 
escapes a portion becomes decomposed and resolved into new 
chemical combinations, principally carbonic oxide, carbonic acid 
gas, and free hydrogen. All this is wrong, and to the analytical 
mind of the scientist, but more especially to the practical mind 
that comprehends it fully, the whole process of gas-making ap- 
pears not only absurd but even ridiculous, when compared with 
the new process. — Amer. Gas-Light Jour. 

The McCracken Process. — By this process of gas manufacture 
the tar condensing in the hydraulic mainis allowed to overflow, 


CHEMISTRY. 173 


and, being conducted in a fine stream to the rear end of the re- 
torts, enters in company with a certain amount of water 
which, when it reaches the retorts, is in the state of superheated 
steam. There results from the tar and the superheated steam a 
mixture of hydrocarbons and carbonic oxide, which go forward to 
increase the amount of gas. Retorts of a peculiar construction 
are employed. 

Enrichment of Gas. —In view of the difficulty of obtaining bog- 
head cannel and other coals suitable for the enrichment of gas, 
considerable use is being made of bitumen from the Island of 
Trinidad, where there exists a supply practically inexhaustible. 
This bitumen is used by the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Gas Company and 
gives full satisfaction. — Amer. Gas-Light Jour. 

Use of Sulphuric Acid in Coal-Gas Purification. — Mr. M. C. 
Pelouze publishes an article in the ‘‘ Journal of Gas Lighting,” on 
the use of sulphuric acid for the removal of ammonia from coal- 
gas, and states that, heretofore, the sulphuric acid was improperly 
applied, either diluted in scrubbers or more concentrated in 
purifying-boxes. In both cases the gas takes up some of the acid, 
and thus deteriorates the pipes and burners. Pelouze besprinkles 
his purifying material (oxide of iron or sawdust) with water con- 
taining 20 per cent. sulphuric acid of 53°B. (spec. grav. 1.53). 
The material is then exposed to the air in a warm place until 
sufficiently dried, and is then used. After use sulphuric acid must 
be added to replace that which was neutralized by the ammonia. 
When the salt of sulphate of ammonium has accumulated it may 
be washed out with water, and the solution worked up. Pelouze 
states that this method also prevents the separation of naphtha- 
line. — Amer. Chemist. 

Reagent for Detecting Ammonia in Illuminating Gas. — M. Méu- 
nier prepares a tincture of the fresh leaves of the Colcus Ver- 
schaftelti by treating these leaves with absolute alcohol to which a 
few drops of sulphuric acid have been added. Slips of Swedish 
filter-paper dyed with this tincture and dried in the open air 
furnish a valuable test for the presence of ammonia, being turned 
green by alkalies. The presence of ammonia in coal gas may be 
ascertained by holding one of the moistened strips for a few 
moments in a current of the gas. The paper should be preserved 
in well-stoppered bottles. — Cosmos. 

Determination of Sulphur in Coal Gas.— Vernon Harcourt’s 
method is as follows: ‘‘In my apparatus I use a small Bun- 
sen burner, which gives a flame, scarcely visible in the daylight, 
of three-quarters of an inch in length, when burning at the rate of 
a quarter of a cubic foot per hour. The gas is supplied by 
means of an aspirator with between 20 and 380 times its volume 
of air. A funnel placed at the top of the cylinder in which the 
gas burns admits the air through holes in the neck, and dis- 
tributes it down the sides of the cylinder, while the products of 
combustion and the excess of heated air are withdrawn from 
within the funnel through a tube rising from the bottom of the 
cylinder. This tube fits loosely into another tube, which passes 
through an India-rubber plug closing the cylinder, and is attached 


174 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


to a system of bulbs, through which are driven the air m which 
the gas has burned and the liquid used to wash it. From the 
bulbs they pass into a two-necked receiver placed over the cylin- 
der, whence the air escapes into the aspirator, while the liquid de- 
scends through a small tube to the bottom of the cylinder and 
repeats its course. The liquid used is an ammoniacal solution of 
copper, the ammonia serving to fix the sulphur compounds, 
while the copper determines, in presence of an excess of air, the 
oxidation of sulphite to sulphate.” The air which enters the ap- 
paratus is freed from sulphur compounds by being passed through 
an ammoniacal solution of copper. When about 2 cubic feet 
of gas have been consumed the liquor is drawn off, the apparatus 
rinsed with water, and the sulphur precipitated as sulphate of 
barium after the excess of ammonia has been driven off. — Lond. 
Jour. of Gas-Lighting. 

Various Formule proposed for the Relation between the Quantity 
of Light produced and the Amount of Gas consumed. — Fred. It. 
Stimpson. —'The author found upon examination that three for- 
mul had been proposed for this reduction, namely : — 

(1) The common one 

U g 

Vv ang |p 
which is expressed by saying that the quantity of light, J, is pro- 
portional to the quantity of gas, g, consumed; (2) that produced 
and used by Bunsen and Roscoe, Phil. Trans., CXLrx. (1859), 
page 884, 


which is expressed by saying that for a given burner the increase 
of light is proportional to the increase of the quantity of gas con- 
sumed; (3) ‘‘ Farmer’s Formula,” proposed by Professor Silli- 
man at the Salem Meeting of the American Association, 

L ¥ 

vy g® 
which is expressed by saying that the light is proportional to the 
square of the consumption. These three formulx, transposed 
so as to express the value of J, become, 5% a 

/ 


1 ° 
q3 ae —gorl=Ag. 


Ul a ict 
(2.) de ghee gl. Ot as ere 


g! ES oy 
/ 
(3.) l = f Sf orl’ = Ag’. 


Mr. Stimpson had collected from various publications upwards 
of 120 independent series of determinations of the relative illu- 
minating power of gas consumed at various rates from different 
burners. These burners comprised single jet, union jet, or 
fish-tail, slit or bat’s-wing, and argand; each set contained from 2 
to 10 single determinations. These series, together with some of 


CHEMISTRY. 175 


his own determinations, were represented in the form of curves, 
and by means of the magnesium lantern projected on to a screen 
for inspection. From the results of observations thus far made, 
he concluded that Bunsen’s and Roscoe’s formula (a straight line 
cutting the axis g) would represent the greatest number of series, 
and particularly the series belonging to the argand burners. 

That for those series belonging to the jet, the fish-tail and bat’s- 
wing burners, the common formula (a straight line passing 
through the origin), which is a modification of Bunsen’s, in which 
B—O, very closely represents the relation found by experiment. 
The number of cases in which the series or any considerable part 
of the series could be represented by formula 3 (a parabola) were 
very few. Mr. Stimpson found, however, that when a gas flame 
was on the verge of the smoky condition, a tangent to the curve 
would almost “always pass through the origin, showing that 
for a limited range of consumption at that point the light is 
proportional to the consumption. One other point was also ver y 
apparent ; such is the influence of the burner upon the flame, that, 
in order to get the best result for any given consumption, the 
burner must be of the kind best fitted for that particular con- 
sumption. — Amer. Gas-Light Jour. from Proc. Amer. Association. 

Farmer's Theorem. — Many of Protessor Silliman’s experiments, 
on which he relied to establish ‘*‘ Farmer’s Theorem,” were per- 
formed by mixing a very rich gas, which could not be burned in 
a 15-hole argand-burner at the rate of 5 feet an hour, with a poor 
gas of known power. Mr. Stimpson objects to this ‘‘ method of 
mixtures.” Professor Silliman subsequently performed a limited - 
number of experiments by mixing a gas of known power with 
hydrogen, and determining the candle-power of the mixture. He 
finds the results sufficiently in accordance with theory to justify him 
in asserting the applicability of the following rule: To find the 
candle-power of a gas having, for example, an intensity greater 
than 20 candles, mix the rich gas of unknown power with a 
poorer gas of known power in such proportions that the intensity 
of the mixture shall not be greater than 20 candle-power when 
consumed at the agreed rate of not over 5 cubic feet per hour. 
Then, to compute fhe candle- -power of the rich gas, subtract the 
intensity (6) of the poor gas from the intensity “(d) of the mix- 
ture; multiply the remainder by the volume (a) of the poor gas; 
divide the product by the volume (c) of the rich gas; add to the 
quotient the intensity (d) of the mixed gas, and the sum is the in- 
tensity (#) of the rich gas sought. ‘That is, since 

scat lr lbh then 2 = e ee 
a+ e 
—Amer. Jour. Science. 

Influence exerted on the Rlandnatine Power of Gas by the Pres- 
ence of Carbonic Acid. — 'That the presence of carbonic acid in 
illuminating gas should exert some influence on its illuminating 
power, it would be very natural to suppose. Owing to the (until 
recently) general use of lime for the purification of gas, no careful 
and direct experiments on the subject have been published. The use 
of oxide of iron in the place of lime, and the consequent retaining by 


176 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the gas of the carbonic acid to a certain extent, render experiments 
on the subject desirable. Such experiments were made in the 
year 1863 by Prof. W. B. Rogers, assisted by Mr. Fred. E. Stimp- 
son, present Inspector of gas and gas-meters for the State of Mas- 
sachusetts. The experiments were performed by mixing ordinary 
Boston illuminating gas (containing about 2.5 per cent. of car- 
bonic acid on the average) with different quantities of carbonic 
acid, and burning first the ordinary gas and then the mixture in 
the same 15-hole argand burner, the gas in both eases being passed 
at the same rate (5 feet per hour) through the same dry meter. It 
was found that the gas for every additional per cent. of carbonic 
acid lost 6 per cent. of its illuminating power up to acertain point, 
and that further addition of carbonic acid caused further decrease, 
but ina smaller ratio. All light was destroyed by the addition 
of 58 per cent. of carbonic acid. — red. HE. Stimpson, at the Troy 
Meeting of American Association. 

The non-luminosity of the Bunsen flame is not due, according to 
Knapp, to the fact that the mixture of air and gas affords a more 
complete combustion of the latter. He finds that chlorhydric 
acid, carbonic acid, oreven pure nitrogen, causes the same effect, 
and therefore believes that the loss of light is due partly to the 
cooling of the flame, but mainly to the dilution of the gas. ~— Journ. 
Sir prakt. Chemie. 


CONDITION OF CARBON AND SILICON IN IRON AND STEEL. 


At a meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute held at Merthyr 
Tydvil, in South Wales, in September of the last year (1870), Mr. 
G. J. Snelus read a paper with the above title. This paper con-' 
tained the results of a long course of experimental inquiry, in- 
stituted with a view to determine the conditions in which the two 
non-metallic bodies, carbon and silicon, exist in iron and steel. 
Dr. Perry had said, in his celebrated work on ‘Iron and Steel,” 
that not a trace of graphite could be detached by the point 
of a pen-knife from the fractured surface of highly graphitic 
iron; but Mr. Snelus had proved the incorrectness of this state- 
ment by examining some pig iron which had cooled slowly under 
a mass of slag, and which had in consequence very large crystals. 
From the surfaces of these crystals the graphite could not only 
be separated with the point of a pen-knife, but even with the 
finger-nail; and when the graphite was removed the iron under- 
neath rusted rapidly in a damp atmosphere. 

By pulverizing pig iron and then using the magnet, a consider- 
able amount of graphite was separated. In spiegeleisen the 
carbon was found to be almost wholly combined. The author 
had never found as much as 5 per cent. of combined carbon in 
pig iron, although many analyses had been published in which 
the carbon was put down at even 6 per cent. According to Mr. 
Snelus there is no pig iron that is destitute of silicon, and he had 
never met with a case in which either steel or wrought iron was 
totally free from it. Good Bessemer and tool steel rarely con- 


CHEMISTRY. LZ 


tains more than 2 or 3 parts in 10,000. One part of silicon 
in 1,000 of Bessemer metal, renders it hard and brittle when cold. 
In ordinary Bessemer pig iron, it is present in quantities varying 
from 1 to 4 per cent. The author gave it as his opinion, from ex- 
perimental inquiries, that silicon is dissolved or ‘‘ occluded” in 
iron in the same way that carbon is, but that the solvent power 
of the metal is so much greater for silicon than for carbon that it 
is quite a rare thing, even if it ever occurs, for silicon to separate 
in a free state from the iron. Mr. Bessemer confirmed the re- 
marks of Mr. Snelus as to the universal presence of silicon even 
in the best Sheffield steel; and alluding to the prevailing opinion 
that the presence of silicon was injurious, stated as his opinion 
that, on the contrary, the presence of a small quantity of silicon 
was beneficial.— Reported in Nature, Sept. 15, 1870. 


THE CHEMISTRY OF THE BESSEMER PROCESS. 


At the Troy Meeting of the American Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, Lieut. C. E. Dutton, U.S. A., read a paper 
on this subject, of which the following is an abstract : — 

** Cast iron — the raw material from which the malleable metal 
is made — may be formulated approximately as follows: — 


RMU PUY af otc che! slotelal ola ieiicle’s! fate oe a) ra le dale! arto viet -5 to 3 per cent. 
lig OT UE PY yetg Sal's IGE s ioods aioe pa aene eee .05 to 2 per cent. 
Mameanese; (MM)s 6-< o\c:5 sa) Sn cinicg wit; se eens ateiacd as (1 Ohor 20 per cent: 
UNH CS)}5 2. aia ots,’ lagir 2's lo 'e\s sieis «ie oles Peers d «oigh « aty's 20nbO/D PON Conk. 
RC REIIITR OLS aie a fs le hg Gs) wi vip ob Sininsorione pms wibtoi weroenners a .2 to 5 per cent. 
ROM OHO) ta crda so cieieis a cise ccs,ce 2.0 0% cece cceccee e--90 tO 96.5 per cent. 


‘It is a rare thingif pig iron do not contain every one of these 
elements, excepting manganese, in proportions within the limits 
here given. Although manganese is oftener absent than present, 
yet its importance is so great in the metallurgy of iron, that I 
have deemed it necessary to introduce it into the discussion, par- 
ticulary as its importance is greatest of all in the Bessemer pro- 
cess. The percentages given are neither the highest nor the 
lowest, but may be considered as the extremes of the normal 
varieties. Some few extraordinary brands have been known to 
exhibit very remarkable constitutions, such as 8 per cent. of 
carbon, and 12 to 15 per cent. of silicon; but these are 
mere curiosities of metallurgy, and not useful or practicable 
materials.” 

All these elements are readily oxidized, and, according to Lieut. 
Dutten, in the order in which they have been mentioned, the car- 
bon being the last impurity to be burned out. After reviewing 
the ordinary methods of converting cast iron into wrought iron and 
the order and manner of the elimination of the various injurious 
substances, Lieut. Dutton says : — 

‘There is not a substance employed, nor a combination induced 
or resolved, in the Bessemer process, which has not been re- 


178 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


peatedly made use of for more than 30 years in the commonest 
practice of Europe and America. The differences, which are 
many and great, are all mechanical, and the Bessemer process , 
may, with strict accuracy, be said to be the employment of entirely 
new mechanical methods and appliances for effecting old and familiar 
reactions. 

“« The gist of the Bessemer process lies in this: that the metal 
is kept fluid from the beginning to the end,—from the time 
when the metal is first touched by the oxygen, until it is finally 
cast into workable and definite shape in the ingot moulds. This 
implies an enormous increase of heat during the working, for 
wrought iron is very difficultly fusible in the most intense heat 
of the blast furnace, and not at all so in the reverberatory fur- 
nace. But in this method, not only is the purified wrought iron 
melted toa state of extreme fluidity, but it retains a surplus of 
heat sufficient to keep it liquid for a considerable time after it has 
received an admixture of 5 to 10 per cent. of cast iron at less than 
half its temperature, and it can still be poured in a thin stream, 
and cast with facility. Indeed, no other process known to the 
arts develops a degree of heat at all comparable to this, and the 
most surprising thing connected with it is the simple and unex- 
pected means by which it is obtained.” 

The cast iron intended for conversion must be as free as possi- 
ble from sulphur and phosphorus, since in this process the sul- 
phur is removed with difficulty, and the phosphorus, practically, 
not at all. The metal is first melted in a cupola furnace, whence 
it is run into the ‘ converter ” which receives the charge (12,000 
pounds) in a horizontal position, in order that the metal may not 
run into the tuyere-holes in the bottom. When charged the blast 
is let on and the vessel righted. The action commences im- 
mediately. 

«* Asin the puddling furnace, the first change is in the oxida- 
tion of iron and silicon. The silicon becomes silicie acid, and 
enough of the iron oxidizes to satisfy the aflinities of the acid, and 
does not decompose during the remainder ‘of the blast. It is 
during this stage of the process that the remarkable heat of the 
conversion is developed. It will be remembered that when sili- 
con oxidizes it takes up 3 equivalents of oxygen. Carbon takes 
up only 1 in this process, becoming carbonic oxide. It is a 
common error to suppose that any very great quantity of heat is 
generated by the combustion of the carbon, — that is, as com- 
pared with that derived from the silicon. The heat generated by 
the silicon burning to silicic acid will be found by the ap- 
plication of the coefficients and formule of the mechanical the- 
ory of heat to be from 24 times to 3 times greater than that 
generated by the burning of the carbon to earbonic oxide. 
Another circumstance of importance is that the silicie acid re- 
mains as a dense fluid in the converter, no part of its heat being 
lost, except such as is carried out of the converter by the atmos- 
pherie nitrogen, and none is rendered latent by converting it into 
vapor; while the carbon is vaporized, a physical change. absorb- 
ing much heat, and the vapor thus formed is carried out of the 


CHEMISTRY. 179 


converter at a very high temperature. Hence will be seen the ne- 
cessity of employing irons containing high percentages of silicon. 
At least 2 per cent. of this element is essential, any less quantity 

eing insufficient to generate heat enough to keep the iron thor- 
oughly liquid and fluent until the end of the casting process. It 
is often asserted that irons for Bessemer conversion must be 
‘oray irons,’ as they are called, that is, irons rich in carbon. 
Now, although this happens, as a rule, to be true enough, it is 
apt to lead to misapprehension. The fact that Bessemer pig irons 
are carbonized varieties is an accident and not an essential feat- 
ure. What is essential is that it should contain a large quantity 
of silicon, and very little—indeed the least possible —of sul- 
phur, phosphorus, and manganese. Now, a pig iron containing 
much silicon, and no sulphur or manganese, is pretty sure to con- 
tain a high percentage of carbon, as all smelters areaware. This 
fact is a feature of the blast furnace, and almost without excep- 
tion. If an iron could be produced with much silicon, a little car- 
bon, no phosphorus, it would, I think, be not altogether unsuited 
to the Bessemer treatment. In a word, the quantity of carbon is 
approximately immaterial except so far as it implies proper con- 
ditions with respect to other elements. The main element re- 
quired is the silicon, and not the carbon. 

-** Of equal importance and absolute necessity is the absence of 
phosphorus. ‘This element is the arch-enemy of the iron-maker, 
but itis the very scourge and pestilence of the steel-maker. I 
venture to assert that the most formidable problem which has 
arisen with respect to any process dealing with iron or steel is the 
phosphorus problem in the Bessemer converter. A few pounds 
of phosphorus in a ton of Bessemer railway bars render them 
unfit even for the scrap-heap. Fifteen-hundredths of one per 
cent. of it is sufficient to render common wrought iron worthless, 
but one-tenth of that quantity will ruin Bessemer metal past all 
remedy. But the smallness of the quantity which is capable of 
working this terrible destruction is by no means the worst evil. 
There are two other circumstances of an appalling nature, namely, 
the almost universal presence of phosphorus, and the absolute 
impossibility of eradicating it by any process at present known. 

‘¢T have already ventured the opinion that phosphorus increases 
its affinity for iron with every increase of heat, — at least rela- 
tively, if not absolutely. This fact seems to be absolutely. If 
we accept it, we can instantly explain what seem, otherwise, to 
be many anomalies and contradictions. It will explain to us 
why, in the great heat of the blast furnace, it leaves every 
other combination, and enters the iron; why, in the much lower 
heat of the puddling furnace, it seems to waver between staying 
with the iron, or forming a new alliance with oxygen, ready to 
choose either at the influence of any third substance which may 
affect the question; why, in the Bessemer process, it clings to the 
iron with a desperate tenacity which nothing seems able to re- 
solve. These three facts then are all of them formidable: Ist. 
That a minute quantity of phosphorus is capable of working 
terrible injury, and that it is omnipresent throughout nature; 


180 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


2d. That whatever quantities of it are charged into the biast 
furnace, as fuel, flux, or ore, are almost wholly concentrated into 
the resulting pig iron; and, 3d. That no portion is eliminated in 
the Bessemer converter. How, then, can we hope to make a 
metal which is good for anything ? 

‘¢ Fortunately for our purposes there are ores, fluxes, and fuels, 
which contain only extremely minute proportions of phosphorus, 
though I doubt whether there be any such materials absolutely 
free from it. But there are found those which are sufficiently so 
for all practical purposes, for there is a limit below which even 
phosphorus ceases to be injurious to the metal. These furnace 
materials are somewhat rare, and confined to a few favorable 
localities, but their existence has been demonstrated fully in 
Europe, and [ am sanguine that they can be found, nay, they 
are already found, in the United States. 

‘‘ With respect to sulphur, the reactions in the Bessemer con- 
verter do not differ from those of the puddling furnace. It is 
removed chiefly about the middle of the heat. Although no 
careful and systematic analyses of the slag have yet been made, 
itis probable that sulphide of iron will be found there in small 
quantities, provided the pig metal contain it to the extent of 
2 or 3 per cent. It is by all means desirable that the pig 
should be as free from sulphur as from phosphorus. Its effects 
are always deleterious, although it requires a larger amount of 
sulphur than phosphorus to cause an equal amount of damage. 
Like phosphorus, too, it is one of the universally diffused ele- 
ments accumulated by organic agency, and much more abun- 
dantly in fuel than in ores. But sulphur is, on the whole, not a 
very formidable difficulty, because it can be sufficiently removed 
from most irons. A small quantity of manganese is its best anti- 
dote, with which it readily combines as a sulphide, with a 
stronger affinity than for irons. 

«<The oxidation of the carbon is the final reaction of the blast. 
It begins before the silicon is removed and continues with in- 
creasing vehemence until two-thirds or three-fourths of the time 
has elapsed, when it begins to show signs of exhaustion. The 
product is carbonic oxide, with possibly a slight admixture of 
carbonic acid. The silicon stage very considerably overlaps the 
carbon stage, —indeed, when the percentage of silicon is very 
high it continues to oxidize in decreasing quantity to the end.” 

Alluding to the almost instantaneous ‘‘ dropping” of the flame 
at the close of the operation, while a small amount of carbon and 
other impurities remain and resist further oxidation, Lieut. Dutton 
says :— 

** A plausible explanation is this: When two combustibles are 
intermixed, like oxygen and hydrogen, or hydrocarbon gas, it is 
well known that the relative proportion of the two elements in the 
mixture influences the readiness with which they combine. Thus 
oxygen and hydrogen cannot combine explosively, unless their 
proportions lie within certain definite and rather narrow limits. 
May not the same law hold good in the present case? It is cer- 
tain, or nearly certain, that the iron either does not oxidize in 


CHEMISTRY. 181 


the bath during the blow, except in quantity sufficient to furnish 
a base for the acids present, or if it oxidizes beyond that, it is 
immediately reduced again, leaving little or no free oxide of iron 
in the bath. But after the change of flame all this is reversed, 
and iron oxidizes rapidly and freely, and remains undecomposed, 
while the residual traces of the other elements as suddenly cease 
to oxidize rapidly. I freely grant that in referring this back to 
what is supposed to be a conceded, but unexplained, law, we are 
merely putting the question in another, a more general, and more 
abstract shape; still it is, in a qualified sense, an explanation.” 

After a discussion of the effect of the last stage of the process, 
which is the addition of certain amount of melted spzegeleisen, — a 
pig iron containing from 4 per cent. upwards of manganese anda 
considerable percentage of carbon, —the paper closes with the 
definition of Bessemer metal as a cast wrought iron, and with a 
comparison of its merits for various purposes as compared with 
wrought iron and steel. 


HEAT OF COMBINATION OF BORON AND SILICON WITH 
CHLORINE AND OXYGEN. 


The products of the oxidation of boron and silicon render the 
direct determination of the heat evolved by their combustion im- 
possible. Much interest attaches to such a determination, espe- 
cially in the case of silicon, which plays such a part in metallurgi- 
cal operations, as, for example, in the Bessemer process (see p. 
178). Troost and Hautefeuille have presented to the Societé 
Chimique de Paris a paper on this subject (published in the 
‘‘ Bulletin Mensuel ” for March, 1870). They say: — 

‘<In order to obtain these constants it has been necessary to 
proceed in an indirect manner, and to pass through intermediate 
combinations. Thus, in the case of silicon, we have been obliged 
to have recourse to nitro-hydrofluoric acid, the only reagent capa- 
ble of attacking at ordinary temperatures the various modifica- 
tions of silicon. Even this reaction, valuable as it is, does not 
afford the means of determining anything except the differences 
between the amounts of heat evolved by the combustion of the 
different modifications of silicon. In order to determine the heat 
of combination of one modification, amorphous silicon, we were 
obliged to conduct the experiment in such a manner as to cause 
the silicon to be attacked by chlorine in the muffle of the calorim- 
eter. This was effected by mixing with the silicon a small 
quantity of amorphous boron, which, in combining with the chlo- 
rine, disengages enough heat to raise a portion of the silicon to a 
temperature so elevated that the combination with the chlorine 
begins, and once begun, it continues until the reaction is com- 
plete. All the experiments were performed with -Favre’s calo- 
rimeter.” 

The following results were obtained : — 

16 


182 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


For every gram taken there are disengaged, 
1 equivalent of amorphous boron in com- 
bining with oxygen disengages. ...158,600 heat units. 14,420 heat units. 
1 equivalent of amorphous boron in com- 
bining with chlorine disengages. .. 104,000 y 9,455 oe 
1 equivalent of chloride of boron acting on 
140 times its weight of water dis- 


GHpa Pes. pkieces ote nib. see meee 79,200 ce 7,200 Ke 
1 equivalent of amorphous silicon in com- 

bining with oxygen disengages.... 109,620 ve 7,830 fe 
1 equivalent of amorphous silicon in com- 

bining with chlorine disengages... 78,820 te 5,630 “f 


1 equivalent of chloride of silicon acting 

on 140 times its weight of water 

disengages. . Bails . 40,820 ee 2,915 ne 
1 equivalent of amorphous silicon i in n be- 

ing converted into the crystallized 

variety GIseN ga res. 5 isken n- ceen els 4,060 ce 290 by 


‘« Hence it appears that, weight for weight, the calorific power 
of carbon is less than that of boron, and that of silicon is less than 
that of carbon when the carbon is oxidized to carbonic acid. If, 
however, we compare equivalent weights, we find that an equiva- 
lent of silicon gives out twice as much heat as an equivalent of 
carbon, the amount of oxygen entering into combination being 
the same in both cases. Moreover, when the carbon is simply 
converted into carbonic oxide, as is the case in many metallurgical 
operations, it gives off only about one-third as much heat as the 
same weight of silicon in passing to the state of silica.” 

The authors further speak of the importance of using iron con- 
taining a considerable amount of silicon in the Bessemer process, 
alluding also to the fact that the product of the combustion of car- 
bon being gaseous, carries off heat from the converter, while the 
silica formed remaining in solid state, the heat evolved in its pro- 
duction is all utilized in maintaining the temperature of the bath. 


ALIZARINE. 


In spite of the many investigations of madder which have been 
made, chemists are still in doubt as to the nature of many of its 
constituents. Some attribute its coloring powers to the presence 
of at least two substances, —alizarine and purpurine, — while 
others say that only one of these produces the true madder colors. 

Alizarine was discovered and obtained from madder as a erys- 
talline sublimate by Robiquet and Colin in 1831; but little impor- 
tance attached to this discovery until Schunek, in 1848, showed 
that all the finest madder colors contain only alizarine combined 
with bases and fatty acids. The second coloring matter, termed 
purpurine, was discovered by Persoz. It contributes to the full 
and fiery red color in ordinary madder dyeing, but dyes a bad 
purple, alizarine being essential to the Jatter. eer disap- 
pears during the purifying processes of soaping, etc., being far 
less stable than alizarine. 


CHEMISTRY. 183 


Alizarine can be obtained in yellow, needle-shaped crystals by 
simple sublimation from the dried madder, although it is not 
regarded as existing as such in the madder-root. A crystalline 
glucoside, termed rubianic acid (Schunck), is contained in the 
root, and this splits up into alizarine and glucose. The formula 
assigned by Schunck to alizarine was Cy4Hy90,, while Strecker 
held it to be CjpHgO3. Some five years since, Martius and Griess 
obtained a coloring matter possessing Strecker’s formula; it was 
not, however, alizarine, but was supposed to be isomeric with it. 
Some time after the discovery of this supposed isomer of alizarine, 
Graebe commenced his researches on quinone. In these researches 
when it had been shown that chloroxynaphthalic acid was a qui- 
none acid, Graebe and Liebermann thought it probable that aliza- 
rine belonged to the quinone series. On treating a specimen of 
the natural coloring matter with powdered zine, they obtained a 
substance of the composition CyHio. This hydrocarbon formed 
with picric acid a red compound and, in fact, possessed all the 
properties of anthracene as obtained from coal-tar. Having 
obtained anthracene from alizarine, it now remained to form aliza- 
rine from anthracene; and in this Graebe and Liebermann were 
successful. (‘Their process was noticed in the preceding volume 
of the ‘* Annual of Scientific Discovery,” p. 205.) Heating anthra- 
quinone (CyHsO02), an oxygenated derivative of anthracene dis- 
covered by Laurent, with bromine, they obtained a brominated 
compound (CyuHsBr.0.), which, on being treated with caustic 
potash at a temperature of 180° C., yielded the potassium salt of 
alizarine. From this alizarate of potassium the alizarine is sep- 
arated by chlorhydric acid. This process has since been modified 
by the substitution of a cheaper reagent in the place of bromine. 
This reagent is found in common sulphuric acid; on heating an- 
thraquinone with sulphuric acid at a high temperature, a sulpho- 
acid is formed (CyyH,g0,,2HSOs;), which, on treatment with hydrate 
of potassium, yields alizarate of potassium and sulphite of 
potassium. 

Artificial alizarine is entirely identical with the coloring matter 
obtained from the madder-root. Both products crystallize in 
needles which are usually curved, especially when small. They 
dissolve in caustic alkalies, forming violet solutions of the same 
tint. When applied to mordanted fabrics, they produce exactly 
the same colors, bearing the treatment with soap equally. They 
possess also precisely the same tinctorial value. When dissolved 
in alcohol they produce, with acetate of copper, a purple solution 
of precisely the same shade of color. When examined with the 
spectroscope, their potassic solutions produce the same absorption- 
bands. A good deal has been said about anthracene, it being 
assumed that it cannot be obtained in large quantities. It must 
be remembered, however, that tar distillers have had, as yet, but 
little experience in separating this substance. Mr. Perkin believes, 
from his experiments, that coal-tar contains considerable quanti- 
ties of this hydrocarbon. 

There can be no doubt that the kind of coal, as well as the tem- 
perature employed in the gas-works, influences the quality of the 


184 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


coal-tar, as a source of anthracene; but upon these points no 
definite information has been obtained up to the present time. — 
On Artificial Alizarine, by W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., Journ. Chem. 
Soc., May, 1870. — On the Artificial Production of Alizarine, by Prof. 
H. EL. Roscoe, F.R.S., Proc. Roy. Inst., 1870. 


RIVER POLLUTION. 


The Commission appointed in 1868 to inquire into the pollution 
of rivers, have presented to the British Parliament a very interest- 
ing and valuable report.* The commissioners were Sir William 
Denison, Dr. Frankland, and Mr. J. C. Morton. They class river. 
pollutions under two general heads: ‘‘ sewage ” and ‘‘ manufactur- 
ing refuse.” The chemical difference between polluted and unpol- 
luted water is thus defined: ‘‘ Absolutely pure water is not to be 
found in nature. Even at the moment of its condensation in the 
atmosphere from invisible vapor to visible cloud, water absorbs 
gases and becomes also contaminated with a fine dust which is 
everywhere floating in the air. When it falls to the earth as 
rain, it percolates through strata or flows over surfaces more or 
less soluble, and dissolves, according to circumstances, quantities 
of solid matter, varying generally from about 3 pounds to 50 
pounds in 100,000 pounds of water. In addition to these inevita- 
ble impurities, natural and unpolluted water is not unfrequently 
turbid from insoluble substances suspended therein in a finely 
divided condition. 

‘The following are the chief characteristics of unpolluted 
water: It is tasteless and inodorous, possesses a neutral or faintly 
alkaline reaction, rarely contains in 100,000 pounds more than one- 
half pound carbon and one-tenth pound nitrogen in the form of or- 
ganic matter, and is incapable of putrefaction even when kept 
for some time in close vessels at a summer temperature. 

“‘Of the different kinds of pollution affecting rivers, animal 
organic matter as it occurs in sewage is that which renders water 
not only most offensive to the senses, but most likely to injure 
health both by its gaseous emanations and by its deleterious 
effects when used as a beverage. Rivers so polluted frequently 
contain from 1 pound to more than 2 pounds of organic carbon, 
and from one-third pound to three-fourths pound of organic nitro- 
gen in 100,000 pounds. Pollution by vegetable organic matter, 
such as that caused by dye and print works, stands next as 
regards offensiveness; water so polluted being excessively un- 
pleasant not only to the sight, but also, in warm weather, to the 
sense of smell. It often contains in 100,000 pounds twice as 
much organic carbon as is present in water polluted by sewage, 
but, owing to the comparatively small proportion of nitrogen in 
vegetable substances, it rarely contains more than one-third pound 


* First Report of the Commissioners appointed in 1868 to inquire into the 
best Means of Preventing the Pollution of Rivers. (Mersey and Ribble Basins. ) 
Vol. 1. Reportsand Plans. London, 1870. 


CHEMISTRY. 185 


of organic nitrogen. Chemical works contribute chiefly mineral 
impurities, which often communicate to water extreme hardness, 
‘and other disagreeable and even poisonous properties.” 

The Commission made numerous analyses of the water of the 
various streams in the district under examination, directing their 
inquiries mainly to: (1) Total solid matters in solution ; (2) 
organic carbon; (3) organic nitrogen; (4) ammonia (in the form 
of carbonate of ammonium) ; (5) nitrogen, as nitrates and nitrites ; 
(6) total combined nitrogen; (7) chlorine; (8) hardening con- 
stituents; (9) suspended matters. In regard to the alleged self- 
purification of polluted streams they say : — 

‘‘Tt has often been stated, but, so far as we know, without any 
proof, that the organic matter contained in sewage and other 
similar polluting materials is rapidly oxidized during the flow of 
a river into which such materials are discharged. Thus it has 
been asserted that, if sewage be mixed with 20 times its volume 
of river water, the organic matter which it contains will be 
oxidized and completely disappear, while the river is owing ‘a 
dozen miles or so.’ (Report of Ioyal Commissioners of Water Sup- 
ply, p. xxix.) We thought it very undesirable that a subject of 
such vital importance to our inquiry should any longer rest on mere 
opinion, and we therefore determined to submit it to careful ex- 
perimental investigation. During our winter visit to the basins of 
the Mersey and Ribble, a very favorable opportunity presented it- 
self for the solution of this important problem. The river Mersey, 
after receiving the drainage of many towns and manufactories 
above the Stretford Road Bridge, flows thence 13 miles to its 
junction with the Irwell without encountering any other mate- 
rial source of impurity, although its volume is somewhat aug- 
mented by unpolluted affluents. The river Itwell, after passing 
Manchester, falls over a weir at Throstlenest and runs 11 miles 
to its junction with the Mersey without further pollution. Lastly, 
the river Darwen, which is greatly polluted by the sewage of 
Over Darwen, Lower Darwen, and Blackburn, joins the Blake- 
water just below the latter town, and then flows 13 miles to near 
its junction with the Ribble without further pollution, although 
its volume is more than doubled by various unpolluted afilu- 
ents. 

‘©We took samples of water at the top and bottom of the 
courses of these various rivers at the places just indicated.” 
From the results of the analysis of these samples, and from other 
experiments undertaken in order to decide this point (for which 
the reader is referred to the original document, pp. 19 and 20), 
it is evident that, ‘‘so far from sewage mixed with 20 times its 
volume of water being* oxidized during a flow of 10 or 12 miles, 
scarcely two-thirds of it would be so destroyed in a flow of 168 
‘miles at the rate of 1 mile per hour. Whether we examine the 
organic pollution at different points of its flow, or the rate of the 
disappearance of the organic matter of sewage, when the latter 
is mixed with fresh water and violently agitated in contact with 
air, or, finally, the rate at which dissolved oxygen disappears in 

16* 


186 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


water polluted with 5 per cent. of sewage, we are led in each case 
to the inevitable conclusion that the oxidation of the organic mat- 
ter in sewage proceeds with extreme slowness even when the 
sewage is mixed with a large volume of unpolluted water, and 
that it is impossible to say how far such water must flow before 
the sewage matter becomes thoroughly oxidized. It will be safe 
to infer, however, from the above ‘results, that there is no river 
in the United Kingdom long enough to effect the destruction of 
sewage by oxidation.” 

The pollutions of the rivers by sewage and by various sorts of 
manufacturing refuse is thoroughly discussed, as are also the 
various remedial expedients that have from time to time been 
proposed, and, in conclusion, a strong expression is given in 
favor of the system of irrigation where practicable, at least as 
far as the sewage of towns is concerned. ‘* Manufacturers, also, 
will generally find the land the best recipient of their waste prod- 
ucts. The spent liquors from tan-yards may thus be completely 
turned to agricultural use. Some of the foul liquids from wool- 
washing will also be a serviceable addition to sewage used in 
irrigation. As to other polluting materials, — those from calico- 
print and silk works, for example, — which plants cannot assimi- 
late, manufacturers will have to resort to subsidence or filtration ; 
and individual cases will doubtless be met with in which want of 
available land will impose serious difficulties in the way of effi- 
cient purification ; it is therefore proper to add that, in any enact- 
ment on the subject, ample time should be allowed to those who 
are earnestly endeavoring to abate any nuisance with which they 
are chargeable.” 

The Commissioners conclude with the recommendations that the 
casting of any solid matters, of whatever kind, into rivers and 
running waters, as well as the discharge of any polluting liquids 
into any river or stream, be forbidden by law, and that all the 
rivers and streams in England be placed under the superintend- 
ence of a central authority or board (whose duties are defined), 
who shall be qualified to deal with all questions connected with 
the pollution of water and the water supply. 

Having in view, at present, only the chief sources of pollution in 
the basins of the Mersey and Ribble, and the methods of cleansing 
now available, they suggest that the following liquids be deemed 
polluting and inadmissible into any stream : — 

‘‘(a.) Any liquid containing, in suspension, more than 3 parts 
by weight of dry mineral matter, or 1 part by weight of dry 
organic matter, in 100,000 parts by weight of the liquid. 

““(b.) Any liquid containing, im solution, more than 2 parts by 
weight of organic carbon, or 0.3 part by weight of organic nitro- 
gen, in 100,000 parts by weight. 

‘*(¢e.) Any liquid which shall exhibit by daylight. a distinct 
color, when a stratum of it 1 inch deep is placed in a white porce- 
lain or earthen-ware vessel. 

‘¢(d.) Any liquid which contains, in solution, in 100,000 parts 
by weight, more than 2 parts by weight of any metal except cal- 
cium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. 


CHEMISTRY. 187 


**¢e.) Any liquid which, in 100,000 parts by weight, contains, 
whether in solution or in suspension, in chemical combination or 
otherwise, more than 0.05 part by weight of metallic arsenic. 

“«Cf.) Any liquid which, after acidification with sulphuric 
acid, contains, in 100,000 parts by weight, more than 1 part by 
weight of free chlorine. 

‘¢(g.) Any liquid which contains, in 100,000 parts by weight, 
more than 1 part by weight of sulphur, in the condition either of 
sulphuretted hydrogen or a soluble sulphuret. 

**(h.) Any liquid possessing an acidity greater than that which 
is produced by adding 2 parts by weight of real muriatic acid to 
1000 parts by weight of distilled water. 

*¢@.) Any liquid possessing an alkalinity greater than that 
produced by adding 1 part by weight of dry caustic soda to 1,000 
parts by weight of distilled water.” 


UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE. THE PHOSPHATE PROCESS. 


The process for the purification and utilization of sewage, pro- 
posed by David Forbes and Dr. Price, is founded on the fact that 
certain mineral phosphates, easily obtainable, especially those con- 
taining aluminum, when ina hydrated or freshly precipitated state, 
eagerly combine with the organic matter contained in the sewage, 
it being sufficient merely to agitate them in the most fetid sewage, 
to deprive it of all its odor and color, even if tinctorial substances 
of great intensity be present.in the solution at the same time; 
whilst the phosphate of magnesium combines with the ammonia 
contained in the sewage, and precipitates it also in the state of the 
double phosphate of ammonium and magnesium. 

The precipitate subsides rapidly, and the water drawn off is 
quite transparent and colorless, and has so little perceptible taste 
that it may be drank without repugnance, provided one can banish 
from his mind the idea of the filthy source from which it was 
obtained. The process is an extremely simple one, and requires 
nothing beyond a reservoir for holding the sewage whilst it is 
submitied to the operation. The phosphates are preferably added 
in the state of solution in sulphuric or chlorhydric acid to the sew- 
age, and their precipitation in the hydrated form, along with the 
organic matter in the sewage, and with more or less of the ammo- 
nia (dependent on the strength of the sewage and the amount of 
time during which it,is allowed to stand), is instantaneously 
effected by the addition of a small quantity of milk of lime, just 
sufficient to neutralize the acid which holds them in solution; the 
deposit subsides rapidly, and the supernatant water may at once 
be run off, and discharged into the river. 

In reply to two questions which would naturally be asked, — 
(1), Whether the water discharged after this treatment is suffi- 
ciently pure to be permitted to flow into the rivers; (2), Whether 
the valuable constituents of the sewage have been precipitated, — 
Forbes says: ‘* Asregardsthe phosphate process, we do not claim 
that the affluent water is by anything like as pure as the water 


188 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


supplied for drinking purposes, but are content with showing that 
it is as transparent and colorless as ordinary river water; that it 
ean be taken into the mouth, and even drank, without repug- 
nance; that fishes can live in it; and, most important of all, that 
it is not only free from any offensive smell, but that it may be 
kept for months, and a sample has actually been kept through the 
entire hot summer of this year, without showing any tendency to 
putrefy, or emit any disagreeable odor. So that, for the above 
reasons, we believe that the affluent water from the phosphate 
process may be allowed to flow directly into the rivers, without 
injury either to the fish in them, or to the health of the inhabitants 
on their banks. 

‘« Coming now to the second question, I would premise by stating 
that I believe the agricultural value of sewage has, in general, 
been much over-estimated. That the excreta may have originally 
represented a value of -from 8 to 20 shillings per head, as esti- 
mated by various writers, is not improbable; but it is as incor- 
rect to regard the sewage as representing the same value as the 
original excreta, as, for example, to assert that the water in a 
barrel, into which a bottle of brandy worth 5 shillings has been 
poured, is equal in value to the original brandy; the whole of 
the brandy could be recovered by distillation, but probably ata 
cost greater than its value; and this would also be the case with 
sewage, if we attempt to extract the entire manurial contents. 

‘‘Chemists are all agreed that no chemical combinations are 
known by which the whole of the sewage contents, valuable for 
agriculture, can be precipitated ; and in our attempts, fully recog- 
nizing this, we have only endeavored to extract so much as will 
leave the affluent water in a condition sufficiently pure as to be 
innoxious. In regard to the ammonia, the phosphate process 
converts it into its most insoluble known compound, the 
double phosphate of ammonium, and magnesium ; and the extent 
to which it is recovered, is dependent upow the length of time al- 
lowed for subsidence, and the solvent action of the water, whilst 
experiments made with London sewage show that the purified 
sewage retains but a mere trace of organic matter. A most im- 
portant feature of the phosphate process, however, —one in 
which it differs from all those previously proposed, — is the fact 
that the substances employed in the purification are only such as 
really augment greatly the agricultural value of the precipitated 
manure, and thus make it sufficiently valuable to bear the cost 
of transport to a distance. The solid deposit from sewage, when 
considered as a manure, is admitted to be but of extremely little 
value, and other processes in use, by employing clay or other 
worthless substances, diminish the value of the resulting ma- 
nure to such an extent that it is utterly worthless except in the 
immediate vicinity of the works. On the other hand, in the new 
process, what is added are compounds rich in phosphoric acid in 
a state of combination available for immediate assimilation by 
the plants themselves. 

‘<The natural phosphate of aluminum, which we specially recom- 
mend, is a product which at present has no commercial value, 


CHEMISTRY. 189 


and occurs in the West Indian Islands in such enormous quanti- 
ties, that on one island alone the report of the survey estimates 
the deposit at no less than 9,000,000 tons. Many other natural 
phosphatic deposits, found both in this country and elsewhere, 
are also capable of furnishing an abundant supply of material 
well suited for carrying out this process at but a very small ex- 
pense.” — From a paper read before the British Association at Liver- 
pool, by David Forbes, F.R.S. 


CHEMICAL CLIMATOLOGY. 


For the last few years Angus Smith has interested himself, in 
connection with his work as Inspector under the Alkali Act, with 
inquiries into the condition of the air in various localities in 
England, not confining himself, however, to places where there 
exist manufactories, the influence of which would naturally be 
supposed to be felt. It was once supposed that the differences 
in the condition of the atmosphere were such as not to be appre- 
ciated by chemical analysis; but although there is still much to be 
desired in the methods and accuracy of the chemical examination, 
enough progress has been made to enable us to give such an ac- 
count of the state of the atmosphere in any given place, that it 
is possible to say, without difficulty, whether it may be considered 
as tainted by manufactures, or whether it has a large amount of 
organic matter in it, and, to a small extent, to answer the ques- 
tion as to the condition of that matter, as it is of importance to 
distinguish it from that caused by manufacturing processes. The 
work is still in hand; it is hoped that materials will be found in 
it for the beginning of a system of examination of climates, cer- 
tainly of artificial climates, including places imperfectly venti- 
lated, as well as those near manufactories. The modes by which 
air has been studied are (1) By the usual examination for the 
gases oxygen and nitrogen (Bunsen’s method) ; (2) examination 
for carbonic acid (Pettenkofer’s method) ; (3) examination for 
ammonia (the Nessler-Wanklyn method); (4) albuminoid am- 
monia (Wanklyn’s method) ; (5) nitric acid (Wanklyn’s method) ; 
(6) rapidly and (7) slowly oxidizable matter (by washing the 
air and using permanganate of potassium); (8) chlorides and 
sulphates; (9) examination of the rain for the same matters 
with the exception of the gases. Although our knowledge is 
still very limited with regard to the conditions of the air tending 
to produce disease, and although there are so many other consid- 
erations tending to confuse and bewvilder the investigator, yet 
great importance already attaches to these investigations, and the 
results thus far obtained are extremely interesting. 

Oxygen. — The earliest examinations of chemists were directed 
to the amount of oxygen and carbonic acid in the air, and the 
subject of these two gases was admirably worked up by Regnault 
and De Saussure. ‘‘ It is abundantly established that the air does 
differ in the amount of oxygen, but the differences are very small 
when stated in figures. If we use percentages we throw all the 


190 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ordinary distinctions into fractions, and a fraction always appears 
small. It would have been better to have stated the amount of 
gases in all cases in a million parts. If it required nearly a per 
cent. of impurity to.do us any injury it might be convenient to 
use per cents., but, so far as I can make out, one of the greatest 
causes of difference in the air of our large cities exists in an 
amount which cannot be stated in whole numbers unless a 
million be taken as the amount for comparison. If we even take 
the air of the underground railway tunnel, we find that the sul- 
phurous acid amounts to only 3 times the amount, when the sul- 
phur taste is pretty strong. This gives an indication of the limit 
of the senses in relation to this gas. It must be between the 
amount which exists in London and that which exists in the 
tunnel. 

‘« Even taking oxygen alone, the amount of variation gives much 
- higher numbers than we get with sulphur acids, but there is still 
an appearance of trifling when we speak of 20.99 and 20.79 or 
such numbers; still they do indicate atmospheres such as all sound 
sense of smell must distinguish. If we say 209,900 in a million 
and 207,900 in a million, we see the distinction clearly made with 
2,000 units for the intermediate stages.” 

Carbonic acid. —‘‘'The variations in the amount of carbonic 
acid are less than in the case of oxygen. If we have the highest 
average amount of oxygen obtained on land 209,990, and the 
lowest not known to be effected by a town, 209,470, we have a 
difference of 520 in a million; but if we treat similarly the car- 
bonic acid, taking it where fields begin near Manchester to the top 
of Ben Nevis, or to the London parks, we have a similarity which 
is very remarkable. All are about 333 in a million. This has 
been referred to the fact that the method of oxygen analysis is less 
easy; but the results are so consistent that we may give up that 
idea. It is rather different when we go to close places; the 
amount of carbonic acid shows itself there more decidedly, per- 
haps because it does not diffuse so rapidly as the oxygen. ‘The 
oxygen is, on the whole, not so practical an index to the condition 
of the air as the carbonic acid is.” Some of the amounts of 
oxygen and of carbonic acid obtained follow : — 


Oxygen. Parts in a million 
N. E. sea-shore and open heath, Scotland, .... 2... 02.00 cece cece cere 209,990 
Papier Malis, SCoulanels ...icrdals< cee: «scteie pleisie lost cin oa hela aiauatt als caAdie ole 209,800 
Subard of Manchester in wet weather, 22 sal. sc% «cops coo vis we wens lane oem 209,800 
Manohesteran fom amas frost po... sass bc intsqeisje ne clemle's oo Cea eee 209,100 
iigudon; open places:in SUMMOEL, ..2). 2) Ses =, Melee 6 j= oo je'm > om miele aici sha 209,500 
London, average of 68 determinations, ............-2 cee cons wean cone 208,850 
Prpotthentre, V1.30 PMs, . cc: -crasicns o seestosmier. ae cece eels epee eee 
Metropolitan wathway, < £2.62. bajo edie seis eueleh = ore ety atte -b caa eRe uias 207,000 
Court of Queen's, Bench, Heb. 2; 1866; .iccitects a.ic siocs wang pee sameeeeO,Oe 
TREAT GR, 6 Rava totepo aie: afoisrn eeSteneel ace tices epee teapae ole sed Gree s ater 204,240 to 201,400 
Worst specimen yet examined in @ MiNe,.... 2... 2.6. cone enee cece cee 182,700 
Carbonic acid. 
In mines — largest amount found in Cornwall,........... 2... eee 25,000 
66 = — average of 339 analyses,..... secccncce cece ccnsccntacecn Jo lat's by S00 


Manchester —-Guring? 1008) o.cls.o/s cielo aia ay sivls <elestpicic' oe eRenwlede selegeulate ater 679 


( CHEMISTRY. ; 191 


Carbonic Acid. Parts in a million. 

Manchester — ordinary weather, .... 2... .00- co0s ce ccne cone cccescoss cease 403 
as —where fields begin, ...... 0... 200 cone cece cescwecensce cree 369 
Bipserbeste ea beets ie Pea a afergeiaele cic cn cis nen ce eclee doe eciiniae vais ase ais 394 
sc = —average of 68 determinations, ........ 6... eee cece cee cece cee 439 

er —= Metropolitan railway,i 0s. 005. occ cc cn cele a culc wceissces sels 1,452 
Glasgow — opener parts,...5i 52. eee c ee ce cece nbs cans dntle cece wessceen es 461 
OG ui CLOSSES DATES, 25) Siohaw.e oie oivig ovis ia eigee = Uma 6 aie elcialele = wold «\ajelamipemye 539 


Ammonia. — The determinations of ammonia, free and albu- 
minoid, have not been made with the absolute accuracy of the 
oxygen and carbonic acid determinations, and for the present are 
to be regarded as comparative. Some of the results were as fol- 
lows, expressed in grains per ? cubic feet: — 


Free Ammonia. Albuminoid Ammonia. 
OUR oe a Cries sic ain oc it qo enotu he prec. ore sis VO BED a «art fed gata vasersarels 60.228 
Tiondow (average of 18), - 25.22. cet cece DOMAGD tes, clon cals Ae Gels aia ote Oe 
GARSON Cyn cers se ciate elec aicle stan eile wistats SAL GOS AL Eah ot alse otatetere 133.264 
Miitichestor G10 )j 52%, fle louie BS o a Si SE ERO aus & fotdicbe ap de ean 116.544 
Metropolitan Railway,....'........2.+ se: BUS G Ets chratSirare ale ale ole 163.167 
Pe ATR ENB hte os Se ah nts dG, pio ce sh alow aia ase 1 ere eee 3 opt 181.524 


Hydrochloric and Sulphuric Acids. — The average of a number 
of determinations in London, November, 1869, was 92.293 grains 
hydrochloric acid per ? cubic feet of air to 729.695 grains sul- 
phurie acid per equal amount of air (1,000,000 cubic feet is prob- 
ably far from the correct amount). A summary of comparative 
results obtained in certain places is as follows, the relation being 
to Blackpool taken as 100: — 


Hydrochloric Acid. Sulphuric Acid. 


PEM RIUO Lycra ala tea eteloeicla's Se wave Ce wate nates TOG 2 aetcls aisle a ecdacient ts 100 
SERUM cette aes fee aces aeons Voce ence TARP Rare nett aealnd. Waeeteentateae 345 
Sea trys are toate siete Seales laie eevee 2 7 ill CRE RR een) oc) SEB eice < 320 
TiO ESI e Css i Boat ae ojahe ches wcities AOE Asis. fo sla claude aretha eee 361 
Misa eaho ist ek rei oc 284 «cinrasn le) aiahs aya + whale oieree i DEO! F ios cea aupistelens ataieks sea aeies 549 
Sibes EVENS acct al oeya sco Syasers ssanolens ies oe uot tim sete a BIRGicus oa tyare. dane ate fame Clare 468 
Metropolitan Railway,...... 2.2.2.5 cece cee Ue SABRE Ame tot eedne 3 nig” 1,554 


Examination of Rain. —The results from the examination of 
rain are similar to, although not identical with, those obtained by 
washing the air. The results of a large number of determina- 
tions are to be found in R. Angus Smith’s Sixth Annual Report, 
as Inspector under the Alkali Act. (See also Journal of Scottish 
Meteorological Society, Jan., 1870.) 

Amount of Carbonic Acid in the Air of Boston, Mass. — Deter- 
minations of the amount of carbonic acid in the air in various 
localities in the city of Boston, made by Mr. A. H. Pearson, 
Assistant in the Chemical Laboratory of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, showed that the average amount, in streets 
and open places in the south-western part of the city, was 387 
parts in a million, the amount varying from 257 to 500. In the 
Public Garden the average amount was 301 parts, and on the 
Back Bay lands, somewhat farther south, the average amount was 
413 parts ina million. The highest amount found was 500, and 


192 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the lowest 257. These determinations were made in the spring 
of 1870. A number of similar determinations were made in the 
winter of 1870-71, by Mr. Henry B. Hill, Assistant in the Labora- 
tory of Harvard College, the experiments being made on the air 
in the college grounds. The amounts varied from 308 to 376 
parts, the average amount being 337 parts in a million. Mr. 
Pearson also determined the amount of carbonic acid in the air of 
various (40) school-houses of the city of Boston, the experi- 
ments being performed in the early spring before artificial means 
of heating had been discontinued. He found amounts varying 
from 773 to 1,992 parts in a million, the average amount being 
1,470 parts. — Second Annual Report of the Massachusetts State 
Board of Health, Boston, 1871. 


ATOMIC THEORY. 


Prof. Roscoe, in his opening address as President of the Chemi- 
eal Section of the British Association, alluding to our imperfect 
knowledge of the fundamental laws which regulate chemical 
actions, brought forward the discussion which took place last year 
at the Chemical Society on the subject of the atomic theory, and 
says: ‘* The president (Dr. Williamson) delivered a very inter- 
esting lecture, in which the existence of atoms was treated as 
‘the very life of chemistry.’ Dr. Frankland, on the other hand, 
states that he cannot understand action at a distance between 
matter separated by a vacuous space; and, although generally 
granting that the atomic theory explains chemical facts, yet he is 
not to be considered as a blind believer in the theory, or as un- 
willing to renounce it if anything better presents itself. Sir B. 
C. Brodie and Dr. Odling both agree that the science of chemis- 
try neither requires nor proves the atomic theory; whilst the for- 
mer points out that the true basis of this science is to be sought 
in the investigation of the laws of gaseous combination or the 
study of the capacity of bodies for heat, rather than in commit- 
ting ourselves to assertions incapable of proof by chemical 
means. Agreeing in the main myself with the opinions of the 
last chemists, and believing that we must well distinguish be- 
tween fact and theory, I would remind you that Dalton’s. dis- 
covery of the laws of multiple and reciprocal proportions, — I 
use Dr. Odling’s word, — as well as the differences in the power 
of hydrogen replacement in chlorhydric acid, water, ammonia, 
and marsh gas, are facts, whilst the explanation upon the as- 
sumption of atoms is, as far as chemistry is concerned, as yet ad- 
vanced, a theory. If, however, the existence of atoms cannot be 
proved by chemical phenomena, we must remember that the 
assumption of the atomic theory explains chemical facts as the 
undulatory theory gives a clear view of the phenomena of light. 
Thus, for instance, one of the most important facts and relations 
of modern chemistry, which it appears difficult, if not impossible, 
to explain without the assumption of atoms, is that of isomerism. 
How, otherwise than by a different arrangement of the single 
constituent particles, are we to account for several distinct sub- 


CHEMISTRY. 193 


stances in which the proportions of carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- 
gen are the same? Why, for instance, should 48 parts by weight 
of carbon, 10 of hydrogen and 16 of oxygen united together, “be 

capable of existing as 3 different chemical substances, ‘unless we 
presuppose a different statical ar rangement of the parts by which 
these differences in the deportment of the whole are rendered 
possible ? 

‘Tf, then, it be true that chemistry cannot give us positive in- 
formation as to whether matter is infinitely divisible, and there- 
fore continuous, or consists of atoms, and is discontinuous, we 
are in some degree assisted in this inquiry by deductions from 
physical phenomena which have been recently pointed out by the 
genius of Sir William Thomson. He argues from four different 
classes of physical phenomena, and comes to the conclusion, not 
only that matter is discontinuous, and therefore that atoms and 
molecules do exist, but he even attempts to form an idea of the 
size of these molecules; and he states that in any ordinary liquid, 
transparent or seemingly opaque solid, the mean distance between 
the centres of contiguous molecules is less than the hundred- 
millionth, and greater than the two-thousand-millionth of a centi- 
metre. Or, to form a conception of this coarse-grainedness, 
imagine a raindrop, or globe of glass as large as a pea, to be 
magnified up to the size of the earth, each constituent molecule 
being magnified in the same proportion, the magnified structure 
would be coarser grained than a heap of small shot, but probably 
less coarse grained than a heap of cricket-balls. There is, how- 
ever, another class of physical considerations which render the 
existence of indivisible particles more than likely. I refer to the 
mechanical theory of gases by means of which — thanks to the 
labors of eminent English and German philosophers — all the 
physical properties of gases, their equal expansion by heat, the 
Jaws of diffusion, the laws of alteration of volume under pressure, 
can be shown to follow from the simple laws of mechanical 
motion. ‘his theory, however, presupposes the existence of 
molecules, and in this direction again we find confirmation of the 
real existence of Dalton’s atoms. Indeed, it has been proved 
that the average velocity with which the particles of oxygen, 
nitrogen, or common air are continually projected forward, 
amounts, at the ordinary atmospheric pressure, to 50,000 centime- 
tres per second, whilst the average number of impacts of each of 
these molecules is 5,000 millions per second.” 


ORGANIC COMPOUNDS OF SILICON. 


Combinations of Silicon with Alcoholic Radicals. — The results of 
the researches of Friedel and Crafts, on the ethers of silicic acid, 
and the discovery of a number of new bodies whose structure 
leads to the conclusion that the atomic weight of silicon is 28, and 
that the formula of silicic acid, SiOz, were published some time 
since.* This atomic weight had already been assigned to silicon 


* Amer. Jour. Science, xii. (1867), pp. 153 and 331. 


194 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


by Gaudin, and afterwards by Odling, froma consideration of the- 
vapor-density of certain silicon compounds. Hitherto, however, 
conclusive proofs, based on purely chemical considerations, have 
been wanting, and many of the authorities on chemistry have 
adhered to the old formula. They say :— 

«*Our research was at first undertaken with a view to proving 
that the chemical properties of silicates can only be explained by 
adopting the new formula, and we have succeeded in obtaining 
bodies whose existence and mode of formation it is impossible to 
account for by any other theory. Such are the chlorhydrides and 
acetines derived from normal silicic ether, Si(C,H;O0)4, and at 
first we only studied the compounds which belong to the same 
type as the normal silicic ether; but the research led us further 
than we anticipated, and resulted in the discovery of the more 
complicated disilicic ethers, already described, whose structure 
throws some light on the rational formulze of mineral silicates, 
and also of a remarkable class of bodies, in which the alcoholic 
radicals, ethyl, C2H;, and methyl, CHg, are combined directly 
with the silicon, and not, as in the ethers, through the medium of 
oxygen. The present paper is devoted to the description of the 
latter bodies. 

‘““The study of the compounds of silicon with alcoholic radi- 
cals, fortifies the conclusions already arrived at; it demonstrates 
the tetratomicity of silicon, and places it in the same group with 
titanium and carbon; and it leads, besides, to the discovery of a 
property of silicon, which allies that element with carbon far more 
closely than the equality of their atomicity and the similarities 
hitherto observed in the structure of their compounds. In fact, 
silicon has been found to possess the property of combining 
directly with carbon, or rather with hydrocarbons; and the 
resulting compounds are, in every respect, similar to simple 
hydrocarbons, susceptible like them of substitution of chlorine 
and bromine for hydrogen, and of acting as radicals in alcohols 
and ethers; consequently, silicon may take the place of carbon in 
a hydrocarbon, without modifying, essentially, its properties. It 
is easy to appreciate the importance of this result. Carbon is 
characterized by the property of combining with itself to build up 
groups of atoms, which have been compared to chains or nuclei, 
about which the atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc., found 
in organic bodies, group themselves, and it is especially this 
property of carbon which fits it to play the part of the element 
essential to the structure of organic compounds. 

‘Tt has been supposed that carbon alone had the property of 
combining with itself to form the nuclei of organic compounds, 
but it now appears that silicon shares with it this quality, and we 
are led to the opinion, that no element is unique in its properties, 
but that each has its near relatives among the others, as was indi- 
cated by Dumas, in dividing the elements into natural families, 
and as every new discovery daily tends to prove. It is remarka- 
ble, also, that analogies of this kind, which are independent in 
their nature of the atomicities of the elements, should occur espe- 
cially between elements having the same atomicity, and the fact 


CHEMISTRY. 195 


enhances the value of a classification of the elements, which is 
founded upon the consideration of their atomicities.” 

They further remark : — 

‘* Only one point remains in which the analogy between silicon 
and carbon is incomplete. We have said that the most charac- 
teristic property of carbon in organic bodies is its power of combin- 
ing directly with itself to form a complex molecule, capable of 
combining still further with other elements, as when 2 atoms of 
earbon, C,, combine with 6 atoms of hydrogen to form the hydride 
of ethyl, C.H,. All the bodies, thus far discussed, belong to the 
simplest type of carbon compounds, as CHy and its analogue 
SiH,; and in silicic ethyl 4 times C,H; occupy the place of Hy; but 
Friedel and Landenburg * have lately completed the analogy and 
obtained the body, Sip(CeHs)., belonging to the same type as 
SioHe, and CoH¢, showing that even in its quality of forming con- 
densed compounds silicon resembles carbon.”— Amer. Jour. 
Science, XLIX., p. 307 et seq. 

Silico-Propionic Acid. —By the simultaneous action of 
zinc-ethyl and sodium upon ethyl-silicic monochlorhydrine, 
SiCl,(OC.H;)3, Friedel and Landenburg have obtained a liquid 
boiling at 158.5° C., and having the formula Si(C2Hs) (OC2Hs)s, 
which they term tri-basic silico-propionic ether. A concentrated 
solution of caustic potash does not set free in this compound the 
silicon in the form of silicic acid, SiQs, but gives a product having 
the formula, SiC,.H;O.H, which, however, cannot be obtained in 
this way in a state of purity. By heating silico-propionic ether, at 
180° C., in a closed tube, with chloride of acetyl, the authors 
obtained a mixture of acetic ether and a body having the for- 
mula SiC:HsCls. By treating with water the part of this liquid 
which boils at from 90° to 110°, chlorhydric acid and a white 
gelatinous body are formed; this last is the hydrate of silico- 
propionic acid. When dried at 100°, the acid forms a white 
amorphous powder, greatly resembling silicic acid, but easily dis- 
tinguished from it by its combustibility. When heated, it burns 
like tinder, disengaging combustible gases. The acid is insoluble 
in water, but dissolves in hot concentrated caustic potash, and is 
not precipitated from this solution by chlorhydric acid, but only 
by chloride of ammonium, like silicic acid, the residue after 
evaporation being unchanged silico-propionic acid. The new 
substance appears, therefore, to be a weak acid, analogous to 
silicic acid, and presents the first known case of a silicic acid con- 
taining carbon. Its formula shows that it contains the group, 
SiO.H, which may be termed silicoxy/, and which is the analogue 
of carboxyl, COsH. It is easy to see, alse, that it forms one term 
of a group of homologous acids. — Amer. Jour. Science, from the 
Comptes Rendus. 

Natural Organic Compounds of Silicon.— At the reading be- 
fore the French Academy of Friedel and Landenburg’s paper, 
on silico-proptonic acid, Dumas remarked how readily one 
might mistake silica, containing a greater or less amount of the 


* “ Comptes Rendus,” Lxvull., 1869, p. 920. 


196 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


new organic acid, for pure silica, and suggested whether silicious 
compounds occurring in nature, and containing organic matter, 
might not actually hold the same in chemical combination. The- 
nard, in the same connection, referred to researches recently 
made by him on silico-organic acids, of which he has prepared 
several, varying in their percentage of silica from 7.5 to 24 per 
cent. The process of preparing these compounds is an indirect 
one. Ulmic acid is treated with ammonia, and a nitrogenous acid 
formed which possesses the property of readily combining with 
silica to produce a compound soluble in caustic alkali, from which 
it can again be isolated unchanged by the addition of a mineral 
acid. The quantity of silicon entering into these compounds 
seems to be proportional to the amount of nitrogen originally 
held in combination. The author is led to believe that there 
always exist in soils these silico-organic acids, and that they play 
a very important part in the nutrition of plants. He regards the 
action as different from the property already noted by Verdeil and 
Rislher, by which sugar and other non-nitrogenous organic 
bodies dissolve up small quantities of silica; nor does he contound 
the silicated organic compounds (organo-silicatées) with the com- 
pounds described by Friedel, in which silicon plays the part of 
carbon. Still, we have no right to assert that the former may not, 
in nature, lead to the latter, and the author thus explains the 
origin of the silicon which attacks a platinum crucible when used 
for the calcination of rich soils. — Comptes Rendus. 

Chemical Geogony of Silica. —in the American ‘+ Gas-Light 
Journal,” for September 2, 1870, Professor Henry Wurtz thus re- 
marks on the papers of Friedel and Thenard: ‘*We have 
thus demonstrated at once a theory not only of new relations of 
plant decay to plant nutrition, but also of the far broader subject 
of the transformations and migrations of silica throughout all past 
geological ages, and of the continual and (as the writer has long 
believed) sole agency of life in these, as in the past and present 
migrations of carbon.” 

Prof. Wurtz presented a preliminary paper ‘‘ On the Chemical 
Geogony of Silica,” to the New York Lyceum of Natural History, 
in which he says: — 

“The importance of the function of soluble and hydrated forms 
of silica in mineral fertilizers, like green sand, has been under- 
rated. Silicic acid, though so minute an ingredient in actual 
animal nutrition, is indirectly as essential to animal life as even 
carbonic acid.” By the application to the past history of silicic 
acid of the same process employed by the author in tracing out 
the anterior stages of the chemical changes now going on in the 
case of carbon and oxygen (see various papers in the Proceed- 
ings of the American Association), Prof. Wurtz believes that his 
studies have unmistakably tended toward the conclusion that silicic 
acid, as such, that is, in isolated forms, appertains, in origin at 
least, altogether to the vegetable kingdom, and that the tendency of 
chemical investigation and discovery is to confirm this conclusion. 
He presented to the Lyceum a diagram illustrating his view of 
the changes undergone (see also the ‘‘ American Chemist” for 


; CHEMISTRY. 197 


December, 1870), from tle earliest times when the silica existed 
in the state of igneous silicates, to the present time. 


SECONDARY PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF 
CHLORAL. 


Kramer (‘‘ Ber. deutsch. chem. Gesellschaft,” III, pp. 257-262) 
has studied the other products of the action of chlorine upon alco- 
hol, the existence of a large quantity of ethylic chloride having 
been shown by Hoffman. As the ethylic chloride was in contact 
with an excess of chlorine, it was natural to expect to find in the 
less volatile oily products the whole series of chlorinated ethylic 
chlorides described by Regnault; and experiments showed that 
several of these products were present. 

The most volatile product, boiling at 60°, proved to be chlori- 
nated chlorethyl, or chlorethylidene, C2HyCls, identical with the 
chlorethylidene prepared from aldehyde. A liquid boiling at 859, 
proved to be ethylene-dichloride, the formation of which by the 
action of chlorine upon ethylic chioride had not before been ob- 
served. The next product was chlorinated ethylene-dichloride, 
CoH3,Cl,Cl. boiling at 150°; and the last, bichlorinated ethy- 
lene, CoHsCly boiling at 87°. Other chiorinated products were 
also observed, but not yet studied. ‘To prove the identity of the 
chlorethylidene obtained in this manner with that obtained from 
aldehyde by the action of pentachloride of phosphorus, Krimer 
heated a portion of it with alcoholic ammonia to 160° for 12 hours. 
In this manner an oily base boiling at 180°-182°, and having the 
characteristic odor of collidine, CsH),N, was obtained. 

This base has already been formed from aldehyde-ammonia, by 
Baeyer, and found to be identical with that obtained by Anderson 
from animal oil. — Amer. Jour. Science, July, 1870, p. 111. 


UTILIZATION OF THE SECONDARY PRODUCTS OBTAINED IN THE 
MANUFACTURE OF CHLORAL. 


Dr. A. W. Hoffman (‘*‘ Comptes Rendus,” April 25, 1870, p. 906) 
has examined a mixture of secondary products obtained during 
the manufacture of chloral, and condensed during cold weather. 
The liquid began to boil at 17°-18°, the temperature rising slowly 
to 50°-381°, where it remained constant a short time, and then 
rising again to 50°, when nearly all distilled over. The most 
volatile portions were mixed with 3 times their volume of alco- 
hol saturated at 0° with ammonia, and heated in a water-bath 
for an hour. The liquid was then filtered to separate crystals of 
sal-ammoniac, and the alcoholic ammonia and chlorinated ethylic 
chlorides distilled off. The mass of chlorhydrates of ethyl-ammo- 
nias remaining were decomposed with caustic soda, and the sepa- 
rated liquid alkalies dehydrated by caustic soda, and finally dis- 
tilled. In this manner 5 litres of the secondary products operated 
upon gave 1% litres of a mixture of anhydrous ethylamines. 
These could be separated from each other by means of oxalic 


198 . ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ether, in the manner already pointed out by Hoffman. The results 
of this investigation are interesting from the prospect which they 
afford of obtaining the ethyl-ammonias as an article of commerce, 
ut a reasonable price, and in comparative abundance. — Amer. 
Jour. Science, July, 1870. 


CHEMICAL BREVITIES. 


Preparation of Anthracene. — Dr. J. Gessert. — That portion of 
the distillation of coal tar commonly called green grease, and 
used as wagon and cart grease, is, according to the author, the 
material of coal tar which contains anthracene, and consists chiefly 
of a heavy oil, napthaline, and about 20 per cent. of anthracene, 
which, however, is contained in coal tar only to the amount of 
from three-fourths to 1 per cent. This semi-fluid grease is first 
placed in a centrifugal machine, in order to expel mechanically as 
much as possible of the oil; the residue is heated to 40° and 
pressed, preferably between hot plates. The cake thus obtained 
(crude anthracene, containing 60 per cent. of that substance) is 
purified by boiling with light tar oil, (coal-tar naphtha) or with 
petroleum naphtha. The pasty mass is again placed in the cen- 
trifugal machine to remove the last traces of heavy oil, and the 
material is next submitted to sublimation. In order to test the 
‘‘oreen grease” for the quantity of anthracene, from 5 to 10 
grams of that substance are taken, placed between folds of filter- 
ing paper, and pressed between hot plates; the remainder of the 
substance is repeatedly boiled with alcohol, washed with cold 
alcohol upon a filter, dried and weighed. The fusion point of the 
mass should be as near as possible 210°. The author says that 
sulphide of carbon is not well suited for the preparation of anthra- 
cene, on account of the too ready solubility of anthracene in that 
fluid. 100 parts of-alcohol dissolve, when cold, 0.6 part of anthra- 
cene; 100 parts of cold benzole dissolve 0.9 part anthracene; 100 
parts sulphide of carbon dissolve 1.7 part anthracene. — Chemical 
News. 

Preparation of Bromide of Sodium. — According to M. Cas- 
telhaz (‘‘Comptes Rendus”’) the best plan is to prepare, first, 
bromide of ammonium, by causing bromine to fall, drop by drop, 
into dilute pure liquid ammonia contained in a series of 
Wolff’s bottles, in order thus to prevent the loss otherwise inevi- 
tably resulting from the volatilization of the products formed by 
the great heat disengaged by the union of the bromine and ammonia. 
The liquids, after saturation, are evaporated in a cast-iron retort, 
to which an earthen-ware receiver is fastened, wherein are col- 
lected the vapor of water, any excess of ammonia and some 
bromide of ammonium, which is accidentally carried over. The 
bromide of ammonium thus obtained is converted into bromide 
of sodium, by being mixed with pure carbonate of sodium, and the 
application of sufficient heat to volatilize and sublime the carbon- 
ate of ammonium formed by the reaction. This mode of prepara- 
tion yields, after re-solution of the bromide in water and evapora- 


CHEMISTRY. 199 


tion similar asin the case of chloride of sodium, perfectly pure and 
anhydrous bromide of sodium. — Chemical News. 

Preparation of Bromhydric Acid. — Messrs. Champion and 
Pellet prepare bromhydric acid in concentrated solution, by slowly 
distilling bromine (at a temperature of 65° C.) from a retort, the 
bent neck of which dips into a second retort containing parafline, 
kept at a temperature of 180° C. The bromhydric acid formed is 
passed over bits of moistened phosphorus, to remove the last 
traces of bromine, and then passed into the liquid to be saturated, 
which is kept cool by ice. The solution of bromhydric acid thus 
obtained, saturated at 0° C., has a density of 1.78, and contains 
1.46 gram of real acid in 1 c. ec. of the solution.— Bull. Soc. 
Chim. 

Manufacture of Iodine. — About 40 kilos. of iodine are daily pro- 
duced at Tarapaca, Peru, from the mother-liquors obtained in the 
refining of the crude nitrate of sodium. The process used was 
invented by a Frenchman named Thiercelin, and is as follows: 
To the mother-liquors is carefully added a mixture of sulphurous 
acid and bisulphite of sodium, whereby all the iodine present is pre- 
cipitated as such in the state of a black powder; itis freed from 
the adhering liquid by collecting it on a sand filter consisting of sev- 
eral layers of clean sand, the grains decreasing in size from below 
upwards. When dry, all the iodine except a thin layer is 
removed, and purified by sublimation. It has been lately found 
more advantageous to use nitrous acid obtained as nitrite of 
potassium by igniting 1 part of charcoal with 5 parts of nitrate of 
potassium ; the nitrite yields, when mixed with the mother-liquor, 
a precipitate containing some 80 per cent. of iodine. 

Preparation of Strontium.—M. Franz prepares strontium by 
subjecting an amalgam of it with mercury to a low red heat ina 
current of dry hydrogen gas. He uses for this purpose an iron 
crucible. At the end of the operation the strontium is in the 
state of a fused mass, and may be readily removed from the cru- 
cible. The strontium amalgam is prepared by heating to about 
Jo° C. a sodium amalgam (250 grams of sodium to 1000 grams of 
mercury) with a concentrated solution of chloride of strontium. 
This amalgum must be washed and dried rapidly, as it changes 
much more rapidly in the air than either sodium or barium amal- 
gam. Strontium is a yellowish, very malleable metal. It oxid- 
izes rapidly in the air, and burns with a bright light, throwing off 
sparks. It melts at a low red heat, and does not volatilize at a 
bright red heat. Its density is 2.4. — Jour. fiir prakt. Chemie. 

Crystalline Alloy of Zine and Calcium. —The production of a 

crystalline alloy of zine and calcium has been observed in the prep- 
aration of calcium by the process of M. Caron, in which an 
excess of zine was employed. It contains about 95 per cent. of 
-zine, and 5 per cent. of calcium, and corresponds to the formula 
ZuoCa. The crystals are small octahedra with square bases. 
They are acted upon by water, with liberation of hydrogen. — 
Chemical News, from Poggendorf’s Annalen. 

Double Sulphide of Potassium and Iron. —~By heating an inti- 
mute mixture of 5 parts sulphur, 5 parts carbonate of potassium, 


200 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


and 1 part fine iron-filings, C. Preiss (‘* Pogg. Annalen”) has suc- 
ceeded in forming a double sulphide of potassium and iron which 
crystallizes in red needles, has a metallic lustre, and resembles in 
appearance permanganate of potassium. Its formula is KS,Fe.Ss. 
The same compound has been obtained independently by 
R. Schneider, who also has formed by the replacement of iron with 
bismuth an analogous compound, the formula of whieh is 
KS, BipS,. — Chemical News. 

Preservation of Thallium. — According to Dr. Bottger, thallium 
may be best preserved from oxidation by being kept under pure 
distilled water, freed from air by long boiling, and cooled in a 
closed flask. A specimen thus treated has preserved its silvery 
metallic lustre unaltered for three years. — Dingler’s Polytechn. 
Jour. 

Alloys of Manganese. — At the Liverpool meeting of the British 
Association, Mr. J. Fenwick Allen displayed a series of alloys of 
manganese with various other metals. ‘They were prepared by 
first forming an alloy of copper and manganese by the reduction 
of a mixture of carbonate of manganese and oxide of copper, and 
producing, from this simple alloy, compound alloys with other 
metals. The series of specimens was as follows: (1) Manga- 
nese and copper in various proportions, from 35 to 5 per cent. of 
iron, as ingot, sheet, and wire; (2) copper, zinc, and manganese, 
also, in different proportions, and in a variety of applications; (3) 
copper, zinc, manganese, and tin as ingots, and as bearings for 
machinery; (4) copper, manganese, and tin in several different 
proportions as bars; (5) copper, manganese, and lead. A sim- 
ple alloy of copper (75 per cent.) and manganese (25 per cent.) 
was found to be very hard and very brittle when hot; but when 
cold, although still hard, it rolled with ease, and was highly elas- 
tic. Certain mixtures of copper, zinc, and manganese possess 
the advantage over both German silver and yellow metal, that 
whereas the one will roll only cold, and the other only hot, the 
manganese alloy rolls from hot to cold. The intense heat required 
to reduce the copper and manganese was furnished by an applica- 
tion of the Siemens’ furnace, and the hope is expressed that these 
alloys will not play an unimportant part in the manufactures of 
the day. 

Iron and Hydrogen. — Dr. Klein states that the iron obtained by 
electrolysis is not, as has often been thought, pure iron, but a 
compound or mixture of iron and hydrogen, which, when heated 
to redness, gives off an enormous amount of hydrogen, and be- 
comes, while greatly increasing in bulk, a silver-white, very mal- 
leable metal, decomposing water readily at a temperature below 
its boiling-point, and oxidizing with great rapidity. — Les Mondes. 

Peruvian Bismuth. — This article now in commerce contains, 
according to Barth (‘‘ Pogg. Annalen”) : — 


RISD 5 aie 3 Mois piss woh ana’ ala ole vercin ese See a eee Fe eer ool 
Antimony (trace of tin),........ SNe ee ee aise oe Tere Pewee ans 4.570 
Copper Ciitplosiron); se eee saree aoe secs aes wae os sia, Bo ee RAISE. 


100.000 


CHEMISTRY. 201 


Hence it differs from the Saxon bismuth, principally by the ab- 
sence of arsenic and sulphur. — Chemical News. 

Alloy of Ammonium and Bismuth. — Dr. Gallatin states that he 
has succeeded in forming an alloy of ammonium and bismuth by 
melting the latter, and adding sodium to form an alloy of bismuth 
and sodium, and then covering the alloy with chloride of ammo- 
nium. The mass swells, becomes pasty, and congeals. Under 
water, nascent hydrogen and ammonia gas are evolved, the lat- 
ter being absorbed by the water. — Philosophical Magazine, July, 
1869, p. 58. 

Fusing Irodosmine. — Moses G. Farmer, of Boston, has fused 
the native irodosmine by placing the natural grains in a groove in 
charcoal, and subjecting them to the action of a current of voltaic 
electricity from 60 large Bunsen cells, using large platinum wires 
to make contact with the ends of the groove. He obtained, in 
this manner, bars of perfectly compact metal, brittle, and very 
hard. The operation was anything but pleasant, on account of the 
intense light emitted, and the fumes of osmic acid which attacked 
the eyes and nostrils, producing the phenomena of rose or hay 
Jever, and sunburning the face. Mr. Farmer estimates the tem- 
perature of fusion at about 10,000° F. 

The object of the experiment was to prepare a bar of the alloy 
for the purpose of electric illumination. Onrendering it luminous 
by an electric current, he found that when near the melting-point 
1 square inch of surface evolved. light equal to 2,000 candles, and 
threw shadows in broad daylight at noon and produced excellent 
photographs. The same battery converted solid bichloride of 
iridium into fused metal as soft and ductile as platinum. — Amer. 
Chemist, 1. 27. 

Chloride of Gold. — Debray, in the ‘‘ Comptes Rendus,” recalling 
the fact that sesquichloride of gold is decomposed at a tempera- 
ture of 200° into protochloride and -free chlorine, and at a still 
higher temperature into metallic gold and chlorine, states that it 
is, however, possible to sublime the sesquichloride, and obtain it 
in crystals by performing the operation in chlorine gas. This is 
accomplished by passing a current of chlorine over metallic gold 
heated in a glass tube to 300° C. Below that temperature the 
gold is covered with a coating of chloride, but volatilization does 
not begin until that temperature is reached. The sesquichloride 
condenses in long needles at some distance from the heated portion 
of the tube. 

In this connection might be mentioned a recent determination 
of the vapor density of quinquichloride of phosphorus, a problem 
not hitherto solved on account of the decomposition of this com- 
pound into terchloride and free chlorine. By operating with an 
excess of the terchloride the vapor density has been found to 
agree with theory so that quinquichloride of phosphorus no 
longer forms even an apparent exception to general law in regard 
to the product volume. 

Magnesium asa Reducing Agent. — Dr. Bottger recommends the 
use of magnesium powder, as it occurs in the market, for the 
reduction of certain metallic salts, especially chlorides. At the 


202 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ordinary temperature, a solution of bichloride of platinum is 
immediately decomposed, the platinum being thrown down as the 
finest platinum-black. Chloride of gold deposits metallic gold in 
a similar manner, and even zine may be thus obtained from a 
solution of its chloride. — Dingler’s Polytech. Jour. 

Sodium as a Flux for Minerals. — Dr. Schonn. — A steel cruci- 
ble 14 inches deep, and the same in diameter, is heated over a 
lamp; into this are projected a few pieces of metallic sodium, 
and afterwards the finely divided and dry mineral is added. The 
crucible is then covered and heated red-hot. As soon as the reac- 
tion is finished, the contents of the erucible are allowed to cool, 
and water is cautiously added sufficient for the purposes of filtra- 
tion. The fused mass is then thrown upon a filter and thoroughly 
washed. In the filtrate will be found the electro-negative con- 
stituents of the mineral, combined with the sodium, such as sul- 
phur, cyanogen, chlorine, chromic acid, silica, molybdic and 
tungstic acids, and such oxides as are soluble in soda-lye. On the 
filter will be found the metals and their oxides, also the lower 
oxides of titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, and possibly silica 
and alumina. The contents of the filter and the filtrate can be 
treated according to the order of analysis. — Chemical News. 

Action of Sulphur on Gold.— William Skey, of the Geological 
Survey of New Zealand, having investigated the reported loss of 
gold during the process of extraction at the Thames gold-fields, 
finds that numerous samples of bright, clean-looking gold, of all 
degrees of fineness, refuse to amalgamate on any part of their 
natural surfaces, and that in such cases sulphur is always present. 
He finds, also, that gold exposed to a moist atmosphere of -sul- 
phuretted hydrogen, or to sulphide of ammonium, absorbs sulphur 
without change in appearance, and that after such treatment it 
refuses to amalgamate. The gold may be restored to its original 
condition by the action of chromic or nitric acids, and by roasting 
in the air. A large portion of the surface of the gold being thus 
naturally sulphurized, the author considers the loss as resulting 
from the failure to amalgamate of those particles which escape 
abrasion in the milling process. — Chemical News. 

Influence of Ozone on the Explosibility of Picrate of Potassium. — 
M. Houzseau, whose researches on ozone are well known, has 
made some experiments on the action of this substance on picrates. 
He prepared a flask of ozone, into which he introduced 5 decigrams 
of picrate of potassium; an explosion immediately ensued, shat- 
tering the vessel to fragments by its violence. He then operated 
with a mixture of air and ozone (in which the ozonometer 
marked 500 millimeters), and, on adding the picrate, the explo- 
sion again occurred with the same intensity. Proceeding by 
degrees he arrived at the conclusion that picrate of potassium is 
decomposed when the ozonometer marks 45 millimeters.—Drug- 
gists’ Circular. 

Action of Ozone on Explosive Bodies. — According to the experi-. 
ments of M. Jouglet, nitro-glycerine will explode in a vessel 
containing ozone ; the same is true of dynamite, iodide of nitrogen, 


CHEMISTRY. 203 


chloride of nitsogen, and other similar compounds. — Comptes 
Rendus. 

Action of Chlorine on Metallic Sodium. —Wanklyn finds that 
when chlorine gas is passed over metallic sodium, even when 
the metal is in a state of fusion, no chemical action takes place. 
— Chemical News, No. 271. 

perefienion of Bisulphide of Carbon. — Cloez purifies the ordinary 
bisulphide of carbon of commerce by treating with half a per 
cent. of corrosive sublimate, and allowing it to remain in contact 
with it with occasional shaking for 24 hours. The clear liquid is 
then decanted, mixed with 2 per cent. by weight of some inodo- 
rous fat, and distilled at a low temperature. 

Solid Sulphide of Carbon.—Herr v. Wartha has obtained sul- 
phide of carbon in the solid state in the form of cauliflower-like 
masses, by rapid evaporation under the influence of a quick 
current of air, in the same manner as solid carbonic acid is formed 
as a substance resembling snow by the extreme cold caused by 
the rapid evaporation of the liquid acid. If the evaporation of 
the sulphide of carbon takes place under water, the water is 
changed to ice, and the whole assumes a temperature of —18° C. 
(+9° F.), which is the same temperature at which the solid 
sulphide of carbon melts. — Academy. 

Cane Sugar in the Madder Root. — Stein has proved the presence 
of cane sugar in the madder by treating the root with 80 per cent. 
alcohol, and adding absolute alcohol to the residue after the dis- 
tillation of three-quarters of the liquid in a current of carbonic 
acid; there is precipitated a black syrupy mass, and the alcohol 
liquid separated from this mass deposits crystals of sugar, the 
amount of which may be increased by the addition of ether. 
The composition, the crystalline form, and the rotating power of 
this sugar when purified, are identical with those of cane sugar. 
There is also contained in the root an uncrystallizable sugar. 
— Jour. fiir prak. Chemie. 

Combination of Hydrogen and Sulphur. —It is a mistake to sup- 
pose that hydrogen does not combine directly with sulphur. 
When a stream of hydrogen is passed over boiling sulphur, sul- 
phuretted hydrogen is produced in abundance, as may be readily 
proved by passing the gas into a solution of copper or of lead. 
— Ber. deutsch. chem. Ges. 

Formation of Sulphuretted Hydrogen. — When a current of steam 
is passed over boiling sulphur, the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen 
becomes immediately perceptible, and the water which is con- 
densed has an acid reaction from the presence of pentathionic 
acid; to distinguish this acid from hyposulphurous (dithionic) 
acid, a solution of chromic acid may be employed. This reagent 
produces a brown coloration or precipitate with ditbionic acid, 
while with pentathionic acid no coloration is produced. The 
reaction may be expressed as follows: — 

10S + 6H;0 = H28,0, + 5HBS. 
— Bull. Soc. Chem. June, 1870. 

Trinkerite, a newly discovered Fossil Resin.—Dr. G. T. Tschermak. 
The author states that the resin alluded to is found in compact 
masses in the braunkohle formation, near Carpano and Albona, 


204 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


in Istria. The resin is brittle ; its color varies from hyacinth red to 
chestnut brown. The mineral exhibits a fatty gloss and is trans- 
parent; its fracture is plano-conchoidal; its specific gravity is 
1.025; it becomes highly electric when rubbed, and gives off, on 
being gently heated and on being pulverized, an aromatic pleas- 
ant odor; its melting-point varies from 168° to 180°. When 
fused the substance gives off a nasty, pungent smell, and when 
the molten mass begins to boil, vapors are given off which, carried 
into solutions of lead or copper salts, cause a black precipitate 
therein. This resin was chemically investigated by Professor 
Hlasiwetz, the result of whose research is as follows: The 
substance is hardly soluble in alcohol or ether, but is perfectly 
soluble in boiling benzol; heated in a retort it melts, begins to 
boil, then gives off sulphuretted hydrogen gas and yields an 
oily distillate. The elementary analysis led to the following per- 
centage results: carbon, 81.1, hydrogen, 11.2, sulphur, 4.7, 
oxygen, 3.0; no ash. When treated with fusing caustic potash, 
the resin is oxidized, but the products of this reaction did not 
yield anything specific. The resin appears to belong to the sub- 
stances akin to copal; but the fact that it contains sulphur is 
peculiar, since as yet no other fossil resin containing sulphur is 
known except the tasmanite of Dr. Church (‘‘ Phil. Mag.” xxxviii., 
1864, p. 465). Tasmanite is, however, absolutely insoluble in 
benzol. — Chemical News, from the Jahrbuch der K. K. Geologischen 
feichsanstalt, No. 2, 1870. 

New Volumetric Method for the Estimation of Copper. —This 
method, proposed by Weil, is based upon the following facts: 
(1.) That in the pressure of an excess of free chlorhydric 
acid and at the temperature of boiling, the least trace of bi- 
chloride of copper communicates a very marked yellowish-green 
tint to the solution. The greater the excess of chlorhydric acid 
the more intense the coloration: (2.) That at this temperature 
protochloride of tin instantly reduces the bichloride of copper to 
protochloride, which is colorless. The moment at which the re- 
action is finished is indicated by the complete decoloration of the 
liquid. When the liquor to be titrated contains iron as well as 
copper, the amount of protochloride of tin indicates the sum of 
the iron and copper. In this case the iron is titrated in a separate 
portion of the assay in sulphuric acid solution with permanganate 
of potassium after precipitation of the copper by means of zinc 
and platinum. ‘The solution of protochloride of tin is standard- 
ized with pure copper and preserved from oxidation by a layer 
of petroleum. — Comptes Rendus, May 2, 1870, p. 997. 

Detection of Arsenic in Tartar Hmetic.—'To as much tartar 
emetic as can be held on the point of a good-sized knife, is added 
twice as much pure protochloride of tin, and the mixture intro- 
duced into a wide test-tube; 4 or 5c. c. of pure chlorhydric acid 
(containing 25 per. cent real acid) are added; and subsequently 2 
or 3c. c. pure concentrated sulphuric acid. If the adding of the 
sulphuric acid does not heat the contents of the tube sufficiently, 
the mixture should be warmed over the lamp. If arsenic be 
present the fluid becomes yellowish, then brown, and finally a 


CHEMISTRY. 205 


brown flocculent precipitate of metallic arsenic appears. — Dingler’s 
Polytech. Jour. 

Detection of Gold. —W. Skey, analyst to the Geological Survey 
of New Zealand, proposes to treat the roasted ore with a solution 
of iodine (in alcohol) or of bromine (in water). To the resulting 
solution, after concentration, may be applied the ordinary tests for 
gold. If Swedish filtering-paper be dipped into such a solution 
containing gold and subsequently incinerated, the ash will have a 
purple color. Theidentification of gold by the combustion of the 
salts with filtering-paper, it is suggested by Mr. Skey, seems to 
promise a rapid method of estimating this metal by the aid of a 
series of prepared test-papers representing gold in different. 
degrees of dilution.—Chemical News. 

Reagent for Strychnia. — When strychnia is well moistened with 
concentrated sulphuric acid, there ensues, on addition of 
proto-sesquioxide of cerium, a fine, blue coloration, turning to 
cherry-red. As small a quantity as 0.000001 grain can thus be 
‘detected. Other alkaloids treated in the same way give, — bru- 
cine, ayellow coloration ; morphine, brown; narcotine, first brown, 
then cherry-red; quinine, pale yellow; cinchonine remains color- 
less.— Sonnenschein. — Ber. deutsch. chem. Ges., No. 12, 1870. 

Detection of Logwood Color in Wines. —J. Lapeyrére uses for 
the detection of logwood in wines slips of fine filter-paper (Swedish 
preferred) soaked in an aqueous solution of neutral acetate of 
copper; one of these slips is dipped into the suspected wine and 
then rapidly and carefully dried. The color of the paper after 
drying should be gray or grayish-red; if, however, logwood be 
present, the color will be of a distinct sky-blue. 

Estimation of Grape Sugar. — Karl Knapp.— The author pro- 
poses a method for the determination of grape sugar, based on 
the fact that this substance reduces metallic mercury of a solution 
of mercuric cyanide. As determined by experiment, 400 milli- 
grams of mercuric cyanide are reduced by 100 milligrams of 
grape sugar. ‘The standard solution is prepared by dissolving 10 
grains dry mercuric cyanide in water, adding 100. c. of asolution 
of caustic soda of 1.145 sp. gr., and diluting to1,000c.c. Of 
this solution, 40 c. c. (an amount corresponding to 100 milligrams 
pure grape sugar) is heated to boiling in a porcelain dish, and the 
solution of sugar under examination is then added until the 
mercury is completely reduced, the end of the reaction being 
marked by the failure of sulphuretted hydrogen to blacken a piece 
of tine filter-paper moistened with a drop of the solution. This 
test is superior to Fehling’s, inasmuch as the standard solution is 
easily prepared and keeps well; less time is also required for the 
determination, and foreign substances which hide the color of the 
cuprous oxide do not interfere with the reduction of the mer- 
cury. — Annalen d. Chem. und Pharm. 

Phosphoric Acid from Iron Furnace Slag. — When pig iron con- 
taining phosphorus is converted into wrought iron, the phospho- 
rus is eliminated, and is found in the furnace cinder, as phosphate 
ofiron. The amount of phosphorus varies, of course, with the 
pig used, that from the Cleveland pig containing from 3 to 7 per 


206 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


cent. of phosphoric acid. Mr. James Hargreaves proposes to 
utilize this phosphoric acid for fertilizing purposes. ‘The cinder 
is melted with lime and magnesia, and then roasted. The pro- 
toxide of iron is converted into a higher oxide, slowly soluble in 
cold dilute chlorhydric acid, while the phosphate of calcium 
dissolves readily in this reagent. ‘The cinder may be dissolved 
in chlorhydric acid directly, and the acid solution treated with lime 
or chloride of calcium, sufficient to enter into combination with 
the whole of the phosphoric acid. The mixture is then evapo- 
rated to dryness and heated to redness to render the peroxide of 
iron insoluble in chlorhydric acid, and the dry residue treated 
‘with acid as in the preceding method. The chlorhydric acid used 
is utilized as described on page 169. Mr. Hargreaves estimates 
that 180,000 tons of phosphoric acid are wasted annually in Great 
Britain in the iron cinder from the furnaces. 

Use of Sulphurous Acid in Bleaching Sugar.— A. Seyferth 
makes use of sulphurous acid for bleaching sugar by mixing ina 
vacuum pan 100 parts of a concentrated solution of sugar(28°- 
42° Beaumé), with from 3 to 15 parts of a solution of sulphurous 
acid containing not more than from 1 to 14 per cent. of the acid. 
The mixture is then concentrated to the proper strength, the 
whole of the sulphurous acid escaping. The sugar solution thus 
treated loses completely the peculiar taste generally noticeable in 
beet-root sugar. — Ber. deutsch. chem. Ges. 

Condensation of the Nitrous Vapors in the Manufacture of Sulphuric 
Acid. — R. Hilman and P. Hart. —'The vapors are condensed by 
means of water, wherein lime or magnesia is suspended, and the 
liquid obtained is either (1) evaporated to dryness and the residue 
ignited, or (2) heated to the boiling-point with addition of chlor- 
hydric or sulphuric acid; or (8) evaporated to dryness and the 
residue mixed with the residues of the chlorine manufacture -and 
heated to a gentle red heat; in either case, the nitrous vapors 
thus obtained are used again in the chambers. 

Dextrine Insoluble in Water.— M. Musculus.— The author of 
this paper has obtained a variety of dextrine insoluble in water by 
the action of glacial acetic acid on starch. This variety of dex- 
trine is composed of particles of starch which have undergone 
chemical change with losing their organized structure. These 
particles are rendered soluble by being heated with water at 
100° C. for several hours. <A similar product may be obtained 
by boiling the starch with water acidulated with sulphuric acid. 
This variety consists of little granules, 0.010 to 0.030 m. m. in 
diameter, insoluble in cold water, but dissolved without subsequent 
separation by water at the temperature of 50° C.— Comptes 
ftendus. 

Discrimination of Fibres in Mixed Fabrics. — Mr. Spiller treats 
the fabric with strong chlorhydric acid, which dissolves silk com- 
pletely and immediately, without appreciably affecting any woollen 
or lignine fibres with which the silk may have been interwoven. 
The residual fabric or loose filaments may then be washed and 
collected, and will be usually without color. A warm aqueous 
solution of picric acid then applied instantly imparts a warm 


CHEMISTRY. 207 


yellow tint to wool, but does not in the least affect cotton, linen, 
jute, or china-grass. In the examination of ribbons and some 
other stiffened goods, it is often necessary to immerse them for a 
few minutes in boiling water to dissolve out the starch or size 
prior to applying the chlorhydric acid test; for, by this simple 
expedient, the results are rendered much more decisive. 

The mucilaginous solution of silk in chlorhydric acid cannot be 
evaporated even over a water-bath, without becoming somewhat 
carbonized. The brownish unerystallizable residue left on evap- 
oration reacts acid on test-paper, and has, when warm, an odor 
suggestive of caramel. If to the residue which remains after 


evaporating the silk solution under a bell-jar over slaked lime,, 


ammonia be added in excess, a clear solution results, which may 
find some application in photography; for, when this liquid is 
evaporated, there is left,a brown saline mass of rough astringent 
flavor, which, when mixed with an aqueous solution of nitrate of 
silver, gives a peculiar flocculent form of chloride of silver, which 
is no longer curdy, and which is much more rapidly affected by 
light than the ordinary chloride. ‘These properties enable the 
silk compounds to be usefully employed in the production of 
‘‘matt-paper” prints, and direct solar-camera enlargements. — 
J. Spiller before British Association, 1870. 

Phenyl Brown, the so-called Phénicienne.— MM. Bolley and 
Hummel. — This substance, also called rothéine, is not to be con- 
founded with the brown coloring matter made by Messrs. 
Roberts, Dale, & Co., at Manchester. The phenyl brown of M. 
Roth’s invention is.a substance which, without the use of any 
mordant, yields, upon silk and woollen fabrics, fast colors. Since 
it has been alleged that the brown dye alluded to is possessed of 
explosive properties, the authors have investigated the manufac- 
ture, and the reactions which take place during the process. 
The authors find that, when a mixture of nitric “and sulphuric 
acids (1 part: of the former of a sp. gr. of 1.35, and 2 of the latter, 
concentrated) are made to act upon phenol, two different prod- 
ucts are always produced,—one of these a solid substance, 
sometimes like thick tar, sometimes grainy; and a deep red- 
colored liquid. When this latter is poured into cold water, a 
pulverulent brown-colored substance is precipitated, which pos- 
sesses all the characteristic properties of commercial phénicienne. 
The result of the researches arrived at by the authors is, that 
the phénicienne is a compound mixture of binitro-phenol, and a 
peculiar amorphous substance, which has some likeness to the 
ulmic and humie substances, but the precise nature of which has 
not been ascertained. — Moniteur Scientifique. 

Naphthaline Red. — This coloring matter is called in England 
Magdala Red, in honor of Lord Napier, the hero of Abyssinia, in 
imitation of the French names of Magenta and Solferino for 
aniline colors. It is prepared by the action of nitrous acid on 
naphthylamine, and is manufactured in large quantities in France 
and England. It is a dark brown powder Soluble with deep red 
color in boiling alcohol, only slightly soluble in cold water, but 
largely in hot ‘water ; ; not soluble in ther. The solution in alco- 


208 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


hol is highly fluorescent, which reaction affords, according to 
Hoffman, a method of distinguishing it from aniline red. In 
depth of color it is said to be equal to aniline, while it is superior 
to that dye in permanency, but it loses lustre on dark tints, and 
hence its use is limited to light shades. — Druggists’ Circular. 

Soluble Garnet.— The ‘‘ Engineer” states that the new dye 
known as soluble garnet seems to be coming more largely into use 
on the continent, and as the colors produced with it are exceed- 
ingly brilliant, similar to those obtained with archil, but much 
more stable when exposed to light and air, the garnet dye is likely 
to become a great favorite. The dye was first prepared by 
Casthelaz of Paris, and is the ammonium salt of isopurpuric acid, 
which is formed by the action of a metallic cyanide upon picric 
acid. It is not prepared from the pure crystallized, but from the 
inferior kind of picric acid, and is probably designed to replace 
the archil in many cases, in imparting to wool all shades from 
garnet. to chestnut-brown. It may be readily combined with 
other pigments, so that a number of different colors may be 
obtained. According to Casthelaz, the dyeing of silk or wool is 
affected by the addition of an organic acid to the bath, for instance, 
acetic or tartaric acid, mineral acids being excluded. The dye- 
bath for silk should be cold or tepid in the beginning. Different 
shades in red or brown are thus obtained that are dependent 
upon the concentration of the bath, the nature of the mordant, 
and the time of the operation.— Nature, Aug. 4, 1870. 

Bleaching of Fixed Fatty Oils. — M. Dieterich. — Into a wooden 
tub, provided with a properly constructed tap at the bottom, are 
poured 30 litres of water,wherein 1 kilo. of permanganate of potas- 
sium is dissolved. ‘To this mixture is added 50 litres of the oil to 
be bleached, and the fluids well stirred up for about 2 days; at 
the end of that time 20 litres of boiling water and 5 kilos. of 
commercial chlorhydric acid are added; the liquid is again well 
stirred up, and, after 2 more days, the acid liquor is run off by 
means of the tap, and, having been removed, the oil is repeatedly 
washed with boiling water, until all the acid is removed from it. 
— Moniteur Scientifique. 

Oxide of Zine as a Mordant.— Biot and Thirault have patented 
a method for the use of oxide of zinc as a mordant for the dyeing 
of cotton with aniline blue, and for fixing iodine green on wool. 
G. Merz, of Chemnitz, uses oxide of tin as a mordant for fixing 
iodine green on cotton and wool. — Deutsche Industrie Zeitung. 

New Mordant.— For fixing colors in dyeing and printing, M. 
Kipping, of Manchester, makes use of the property of gelatine 
and gum of becoming insoluble in water after the addition of 
solution of a chromate. The coloring matters are mixed with 
gelatine or gum and some chromate, as the bichromate of potas- 
sium. Commercial gelatine is dissolved in water and one-sixth 
its weight of bichromate is added to the solution, the operation 
being performed in a rather dark room; the coloring matter is 
next added to the mixture. The strength of the solution of 
gelatine depends on the consistency of the color to be employed. 


CHEMISTRY. 209 


After printing, the fabric is exposed freely to the light. — Deutsche 
Industrie Zeitung. 

Artificial Fruit Odors. — A strong alcoholic solution of shellae, 
mixed with 20 times its volume of 49 per cent. solution of bisili- 
cate of sodium, gave, in a fortnight, a strong smell of ripe pears, 
changing in a month to that of turpentine. A strong, aqueous 
solution of non-crystalline sugars mixed with 5 volumes of the 
same silicate solution, gave, in a few days, an odor of apples, 

which still persists after some months. 
~ Caseine and bisilicate of sodium gave a faint ammoniuacal smell. 
Glycerine and the silicate gave no result. These odors were at 
different times noticed and spoken of by many persons. 

Since these experiments were tried, I find a German chemist 
noticed that silicic acid and cane sugar gave fruity aromas, 
changing to that of ether. He thought that SiO, acted as a 
ferment. I eannot think so, as I found the result the same in 
sealed and open vessels, and could trace no absorption of air, 
evolution of gas, or formation of acids. — Chas. E. Avery. 

Reduction of Carbonic Acid to Formic Acid.— M. E. Royer has 
noticed the reduction by the galvanic current of oxalic acid to 
formic acid. He finds, also, that carbonic acid is similarly con- 
verted into formic acid, when a current of this gas is passed 
through pure water in the porous vessel of a Bunsen’s cell. — 
Comptes Rendus. 

Synthesis of Hydroxylamine. — By the action of tin and chlor- 
hydric acid upon nitrate of ethyl, Lossen obtained the chlorhy- 
drate of a new base NH;0, which he termed hydroxalamine. 
Ludwig and Heine have succeeded in preparing this body by the 
direct addition of nascent hydrogen to nitric oxide, the reaction 
being expressed by the equation 2NO-+- 3He—2NH3:0. The nitric 
oxide was prepared by the action of nitric acid upon ferrous sul- 
phate, and collected in a glass gas-holder, from which it was made 
to pass through a series of flasks containing tin and boiling chlor- 
hydric acid. After separating the tin and chloride of ammonium, 
the chlorhydrate of hydroxylamine was obtained, with all the 
properties described by Lossen.— Amer. Jour. Science, March, 
1870, from Ber. deutsch. chem. Ges., U., 671 (i869). 

Action of Chlorine on Absolute Alcohol.— Streit and Franz. — 
In the preparation of chloral, the authors have noticed, that when 
chlorine is passed quite rapidly into absolute alcohol, the tem- 
perature rises to 62°, and there remains constant. If then the 
alcohol be exposed to a ray of direct sunlight, there occurs a suc- 
cession of feeble explosions, the alcohol turns black, and there is 
deposited a brown powder, which is doubtless carbon; at the 
same time, the temperature of the liquid rises to 78°. The elec- 
tric and magnesium lights, as well as that produced by the burn- 
ing of bisulphide of carbon on melted chlorate of potassium, 
produce the same effects. — Jour. fiir prakt. Chemie. 

Kryptophanie Acid. — This substance is a normal ingredient of 
human urine. One method of obtaining itis to treat the urine with 
an excess of milk of lime. The mixture is concentrated and 
filtered; the filtrate is acidulated and evaporated to a syrupy 


210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


consistency, again filtered, and then treated with strong alcohol, 
which separates the calcium-salt of the kryptophanic acid as a dark, 
flaky mass. This impure calcium-salt is dissolved in water and 
mixed with 4 neutral solution of acetate of lead; a dark-colored 
precipitate is formed and filtered off; the filtrate containing 
kryptophanate of lead is treated with strong alcohol, which throws 
down the kryptophanate of lead in white flakes, from which the 
acid is set free by means of sulphuretted hydrogen. Kryptophanic 
acid forms an amorphous, gummy mass, transparent and nearly 
colorless. It forms salts with the alkalies, with the alkaline earths, 
and with many metals. In the aqueous solution of its earthy 
salts, a precipitate is produced by mercuric nitrate. The deter- 
mination of the composition of the free acid, as well as of its 
salts, leads to the formula C;H»NO;, and the acid would be 
regarded as dibasic; in some cases, however, it would be regarded 
as tetrabasic, and the formula would then be written CjpH)gN Ojo. 
— Dr. Thudicum before the Chemical Society, March 3, 1870. 

Normal Amylic Alcohol. — Lieben and Rossi have succeeded 
in obtaining synthetically the normal amylic alcohol, which bears 
the same relation to the alcohol already known which normal 
butylic alcohol bears to that obtained by fermentation. Normal 
cyanide of butyl yields normal valeric acid, which greatly resembles 
the acid already known, but which has an odor more closely resem- 
bling that of butyric acid. It boils at 184°-185° at 736 m.m. When 
normal valerate of calcium is mixed with normal formate of calcium, 
and the mixture is distilled in small portions at a time, valeric 
aldehyde is obtained by boiling at 102° C. This aldehyde, by the 
action of nascent hydrogen, yields the normal amylic alcohol. 
The alcohol much resembles that obtained by fermentation, but 
has a higher boiling-point, 137° C. under a pressure of 740 m. m. 
The authors have prepared from it the chloride, bromide, iodide, 
and acetate of amyl, all of which possess higher boiling-points 
than the corresponding ordinary amylic ethers. The constitution 
of the normal alcohol must be expressed by the formula: — 


CHs CH,,CH,,CH2,CHs3, 
CHe u 

CHe = C H 

CH.OH. 


While common amylic alcohol has probably the formula attributed 
to it by Erlenmeyer. 


H,CCH, ( CH, CH(CHs)s. 
CH — C i: 
CH 

CH, OH OB 


— Comptes Rendus, LXX1., 369, in Amer. Jour. Sci. L., p. 416. 
Transformation of the Fatty Acids into the Corresponding Alcohols. 
— Saytzeff.— The author announces that he has succeeded in 
transforming the fatty acids into the corresponding alcohols, by 
treating a mixture of the acid and the chloride with sodium amal- 
gam. The amalgam, containing 3 per cent. of sodium, is intro- 


CHEMISTRY. att 


duced into a flask, and to it there is added a mixture of 1 molecule 
of the chloride, and 2 molecules of acid. The mixture is kept 
cooled, and, after 12 hours, water is added, and the liquid sub- 
jected to distillation. The distillate is saturated with carbonate 
of potassium. The product which separates is the ether formed 
by the acid used, and the corresponding alcohol. ‘This ether is 
then saponified by potash. The author has prepared in this way 
propylic and butylic alcohol. — Bull. Soc. Chim., July, 1870. 

Phosphorescence. — C. H. Avery.— If a bit of luminous phos- 
phorus—a match-tip for instance—be blown upon, its light 
ceases until a second or so after the current has stopped; it makes 
no difference whether the current of air comes from the mouth or 
from the bellows. The explanation seems to be that the light 
comes not from the solid phosphorus, but from a vapor clinging to 
it, yet easily blown away. 

Reduction of Isatine to Indigo-Blue.— Bayer and Emmerling 
state that when pulverized isatine is mixed with 50 times its 
weight of a mixture of equal parts of terchloride of phosphorus 
and chloride of acetyl, to which some phosphorus has been 
added, and the mixture is heated for several hours in a sealed 
tube at from 75° to 80° C., there separates from fluid, when largely 
diluted with water, a dark blue substance. ‘This substance, 
when washed and treated with alcohol, yields a body, in all its 
properties, identical with indigo-blue, the amount varying from 
10 to 20 per cent. of the isatine employed. — Ber. deutsch. chem. 
Ges. 

Synthesis of Indigo-Blue.— Emmerling and Engler state that 
when syrupy nitro-acetophenone is heated in small portions until it 
forms a hard mass, then dissolved in chloroform, and treated with 
a mixture of 10 parts zinc-dust and one part soda-lime, there 
remains, after evaporation of the chloroform, a substance, which, 
heated quickly in an ignition tube, gives a sublimate containing a 
small quantity of indigo-blue. The amount obtained is very 
small compared with the materials employed, and the process 
is interesting only from a chemical point of view. — Zettsch. fir 
Chemie. 


GHOLOGY. 


DEEP-SEA DREDGINGS. 


In his report of the deep-sea dredgings in the Gulf Stream, Pro- 
fessor Agassiz says: ‘‘ There is one subject of scientific research, 
the connection of which with deep-sea soundings cannot fail to 
lead to unexpected results. When attempting to explain the 
structure of the stratified rocks, and many other phenomena con- 
nected with the general appearance of the earth’s surface, geolo- 
gists have not hesitated to ascribe, ina general way, the fact under 
observation to the agency of water; but they have rarely entered 
into such specific detail as would establish a causal connection 
between all these facts and the cause appealed to. In pro- 
portion as the sea-bottom becomes more extensively known, and 
the character of the materials lying beneath the water, and their 
mode of arrangement are ascertained with great precision, more 
accurate comparisons, in consequence of which current views 
may have to undergo considerable modifications, will certainly be 
made between geological formations of past ages, including all 
their deposits of various kinds, and the materials at present scat- 
tered in special ways over the ocean floor. 

‘* From what I have seen of the deep-sea bottom, Iam already 
led to infer that among the rocks forming the bulk of the strati- 
fied crust of our globe from the oldest to the youngest formation, 
there are probably none which have been formed in very deep 
waters. If this be so, we shall have to admit that areas now re- 
spectively occupied by our continents, as circumscribed by the 
200-fathom curve or thereabout and the oceans of greater depth, 
have from the beginning retained their relative outline and posi- 
tion: the continents having at all times been areas of gradual up- 
heaval, with comparatively slight oscillations of rise and subsi- 
dence, and the oceans at all times areas of gradual depression, 
with equally slight oscillations. Now that the geological consti- 
tution of our continent is satisfactorily known over the greatest 
part of its extent, it seems to me to afford the strongest evidence 
that this has been the case; while there is no support whatever 
for the assumption that any part of it has sunk again to any very 
great depth after its rise above the surface of the ocean. The 
fact that upon the American Continent east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, the geological formations crop out in their regular succes- 
sion from the oldest azoic and primordial deposits to the cretaceous 


212 


GEOLOGY. 213 


formation, without the slightest indication of a great subsequent 
subsidence, seems to me the most complete and direct demonstra- 
tion of my proposition. Of the western part of the continent I am 
not prepared to speak with the same confidence. Moreover, the po- 
sition of the cretaceous and tertiary along the low grounds east of 
the Alleghany range is another indication of the permanence of 
the ocean trough, on the margin of which these more recent beds 
have been formed. I am well aware that, within a comparatively 
recent period, portions of Canada and the United States which now 
stand 600 or 700 feet above the level of the sea have been under 
water; but this has not changed the configuration of the conti- 
nent, if we admit that the latter is in reality circumscribed by the 
200-fathom curve. 

** Geologists have appealed very freely to oceanic currents as 
accounting for the presence of loose materials upon the surface of 
the earth. But now that the actual mode of distribution of 
such loose materials under the action of extensive and powerful 
currents begins to be known, those who explain the facts in this 
way are bound to show that their arrangement actually agrees 
with the effects of oceanic currents. I must confess that I have 
looked in vain in the trough of the Guif Stream for traces of the 
characteristic mud which pours from the mouth of the Amazon 
in quantities sufficient to discolor the water of the ocean for a 
great distance from shore; and yet the equatorial current of the 
Atlantic is one of the greatest and most powerful of all known 
currents. 

‘« Another side of this subject isalso immediately connected with 
deep-sea soundings. Geologists, and especially those of the 
school of Lyell, have again and again assumed the slow rising of 
extensive tracts of land from beneath the water, and taken all 
sorts of loose materials irregularly scattered over the surface of 
the land as evidence of its former submersion. But since the 
dredge has been applied to the exploration of the deep, and a 
great variety of animals, in a profusion rivalling that of shoal 
water, have been brought up, not only from the immediate vicin- 
ity of the land, but at various distances in increasing depth from 
one to two, and even many hundred fathoms, no observer is justified 
in considering extensive deposits of loose materials as marine in 
which no traces of marine organic remains are found. The very 
mud and sand of the deep teem with innumerable microscopic 
living beings, the solid parts of which are easily detected in the 
smallest samples of marine deposits, and may therefore afford a 
satisfactory test where larger animals or plants are wanting. 
Now, after surveying the whole width of our western prairies 
without finding anywhere a sign of marine animals or plants, I 
cannot see that there is any evidence of their marine origin, or of 
the influence of oceanic currents in accumulating or distributing 
the loose materials scattered over those vast plains. On the other 
hand, I have ascertained that the foundation rock upon which 
these materials rest is everywhere polished, grooved, and scratched 
in the same characteristic manner as the well-known glaciated 
surfaces, wherever exposed. Ihave seen such polished rocks in 


214 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the valley of the River Platte, not far from Omaha, and am now 
satisfied that the whole extent of the country between the Alle- 
ghanies was one unbroken glacier bottom. The scratched pebbles 
found among the loose materials of the great prairies confirm this 
view. For similar reasons, I am satisfied that the valley of the 
Amazons has not been under the level of the ocean since the 
tertiary period.”— Report upon Deep-Sea Dredgings in the Gulf 
Stream during the Third Cruise of the U. S. Steamer Bibb, 
addressed to Prof. Benjamin Pierce, Superintendent U. S. Coast 
Survey ; in Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy, 1869, 

Jo. 13, p. 368. 

In the last deep-sea exploring expedition of H.M.S. Por- 
cupine, in the Bay of Biscay and along the Atlantic coasts of 
Spain and Portugal, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys procured, from a very 
considerable depth (in the neighborhood of 1,000 fathoms), many 
species of mollusca, some of which had hitherto been supposed to 
exist in the fossil state only, having been found in the latter 
tertiary formations of Sicily and Calabria. A number of the 
species are those which inhabit Arctic seas, and Mr. Jeffreys 
submits for consideration the following questions: 1. ‘* Have not 
all the deep-sea species of European mollusca originated in the 
north, and spread southwards in consequence of the great Arctic 
current?” 2. ‘* Inasmuch as the Pliocene division of the tertiary 
formation is now ascertained to contain scarcely any extinct 
species, and as future explorations may reduce the percentage of 
such species to 227, may not that artificial division hereafter merge 
in the quaternary formation, and the tertiaries be restricted to 
eocene, miocene, and pliocene ? ” 

Chemical Examination of Mud from the Bed of the Atlantic. — 
James Mahoney.— The author had examined chemically a speci- 
men of mud from the deepest dredging made by the Porcupine, 
2,435 fathoms. The composition was found to be as follows : — 


POLIT Gab cia ones ste chetst nine ler sae Buea eisises cnalenel erate, ol arava "a ater asl etaneare 26.60 
Peroxide of iron and: phosphates, 22/4. 25.) 2 oe c/sclelsawtel ciate 1bsOO 
Protoxide’ of Aron eo glass SE sede hee coe wate alae Deas - 0.08 
Carbonate? ofealonmms ' 2 <<<} ccspatdpteivots cnietee trateysre eerste > 58.80 
Carbonate lok AMAMWORtUN, 5.435).57r0) ss aisvels-cts leer, aidetn ucla 1.76 
Sulpwate-Ol caleimmys S55. acs icjacierse (aisialeiecieye cieiebeis.c« ... trace. 
Solu lerswhiss ss sese msc ceacaieeet aia cscaees oc islmiare ota oka erotet ee 4.20 
OUR OMEIG MAELOT. weletocstrls oo sceslcieies seler aiale'e ayeisie cye/a-rerereta aerate 2.30 
AEVLLOT: se Goteicc cro terarete ils 3) chars ia aleve sater aletehel ey cicrich has a aatatepeneaes 2.50 

100.04 


The silica was found, under the microscope, to consist chiefly of 
minute structureless fragments, some of them being crystalline. 
A small number of diatoms were also found. The carbonate of 

calcium consisted of larger organisms (class Moraminifera), some 
still containing the small par ticle of jelly-like matter constituting 
the animal substance of these or ganisms, and called sarcode by 
Dujardin. These doubtless yielded the organic matter noted in 
the analysis. The solubie salts were accounted for by the evapo- 
ration of the sea-water with which the mud was charged when 


GEOLOGY. 2ES 


taken up.— Before the Glasgow Philosophical Society, reported in 
Chemical News. Se iat 

Formation of Limestone.— The littoral and deep-sea dredgings, 
undertaken by the United States Coast Survey in the Gulf Stream 
in the vicinity of Florida, have contributed much information, not 
only with regard to the fauna of the ocean at various depths, but 
also with regard to the geological history of the past. In speak- 
ing of the formation of limestone, now going on near the Florida 
coast, Professor Agassiz (in his report quoted above) says: 
‘‘We find upon the Florida reefs, as wellas between the innumer- 
able keys stretching along the American coast, and upon the 
coral plateau sloping towards the main trough of the Gulf Stream, 
extensive beds of regularly stratified rocks of various kinds.” 
One area in particular, beginning at a depth of about 50 fathoms 
and extending to a depth of about 250 fathoms, constitutes a 
broad slanting table-land. The floor is rocky; ‘‘ it is, in fact, a 
limestone conglomerate, a kind of lumachella, composed entirely 
of the solid remains of organized beings, a true concretionary 
limestone, such as we might find in several levels of the jurassic 
formation and more especially in that horizon which geologists 
call Coral Rag. Large fragments of this rock were brought up 
by the dredge; so that its structure and characteristic remains of 
animals could be studied at leisure. I do not know that there is 
on record in the annals of our science a more direct illustration of 
the manner in which mountain-masses of calcareous deposits 
have been accumulated on the bottom of the ocean. Such a for- 
mation exists nowhere else within the range of the Gulf Stream, 
unless it should be hereafter ascertained that a similar deposit 
extends along the submarine border of our continent, edging the 
American wall of the deeper part of the Atlantic trough. But in 
the shoal waters intervening between the coast of the peninsula 
of Florida and the keys and reefs, there exist various deposits of 
an entirely different structure, the accumulation and increase of 
which are constantly going on. ‘The most extensive of these 
formations is a regularly stratified oodlitic rock, the grains of which 
vary from imperceptible granules to larger and larger oOlites, 
approaching the dimensions of pisolites, and cemented together 
by an amorphous mass of limestone mud. ‘The oolites themselves 
are formed in the manner first described by Leopold von Buch. 
Hard particles of the most heterogeneous materials, reduced to 
the smallest dimensions and tossed to and fro in water charged 
with lime, are gradually coated with a thin film of limestone, and 
then another and another, until they sink to the bottom to be further 
rolled up and down the sloping shore bottom until they become 
cemented with other similar grains, and form part of the grow- 
ing limestone bed. Of course, the finer odlites are seen nearest 
the shore line, and it is instructive to see at low tide the little 
ripples of successive larger odlites left dry as the water subsides. 
Naturally these materials are frequently thrown up along the 
beaches in layers of varying thickness, and in course of time 
become cemented, and are transformed into solid rock, over 
which crusts of hard, compact limestone are in the end formed 


216 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


by the evaporation of calcareous water dashed upon the dry sur- 
faces. 

‘¢In very shallow waters which are not powerfully affected by 
tidal movements, and upon the bottom of which no oolites are 
forming, we find extensive beds of a dull amorphous limestone, 
formed of lime mud, alternating with seams of a more compact 
hard limestone in which a few oodlites may occasionally be seen 
that were floated over the flats in which such formations are 
going on. These deposits resemble the marly limestone of the 
Oxtord beds. Of course these different rocks may alternate with 
one another as, owing to the increase of the whole formation, the 
conditions for the deposition of one kind of rock may be followed 
by those favoring another combination. Again, in consequence 
of the changes in the directions of the currents, or as the result 
of a heavy gale, considerable deposits, which have been going on 
regularly for a long time, may suddenly be worn away and 
destroyed, giving rise in turn to the formation of conglomerates 
made up of limestone fragments of various structure united 
‘together into very peculiar conglomeratic pudding-stone with 
angular materials. The compact limestones are frequently as 
hard as the hardest limestones of the secondary formation, have 
a conchoidal fracture, like the most compact Muschelkalk of the 
triassie period, and may ring under the hammer. 

‘¢The extensive area occupied by the keys and reefs of Florida, 
ineluding the sloping coral plateau of the American side of the Gulf 
Stream bottom, may fairly be compared to the jurassic formation 
as it stretches across Central Europe and further east in the 
direction of the Caucasian and Himalaya Mountains. Indeed, 
the jurassic formation, as a whole, bears the same relation to the 
older deposits upon which it rests, as the modern American coral 
formation sustains to the older parts of the coast of our continent. 
During the geological middle ages the jurassic formation was the 
submarine margin of agrowing continent, as the Pourtales plateau 
forms at present the southern margin of North America,” 


DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE LIFE. 


“The Lightning and Porcupine dredgings have fully established 
the position that the distribution of marine life.is much more 
closely related to the temperature of the ocean-bottom than to its 
depth. This is most clearly evidenced by the results of the careful 
exploration of the channel of from 500 to 650 fathoms’ depth, 
which separates the plateau which supports the northern extrem- 
ity of Scotland from the Faroé Banks. For we have shown that 
while the surface temperature of the channels is everywhere nearly 
the same, and indicates the derivation of its upper stratum from 
a warmer source, a considerable part of the deeper portion of this 
channel is covered by a frigid stream, bringing a temperature as 
low as 29.5° from the Arctic Ocean; this stream having in some 
places a depth of 2,000 feet. Thus the bottom temperature, at depths 
of from 100 to 600 fathoms, is about 45°, while there isa cold area, 


GEOLOGY. 217 


on which the bottom-temperature at like depths is 30°, or even 
lower. We have traced these two areas at corresponding depths 
within about 20 miles of each other; and where the bottom was 
unequal, —the slope of the plateau at the edge of the cold area, 
or of a bank in its midst, raising its bottom out of the cold 
stream into the warm which overlies it, —a difference of 18.5° 
was found within eight miles. No contrast could well be more 
striking than that which presented itself between the faunas of 
these two areas. The Globigerina-mud was rigorously limited 
to the warm; and of the animals living on its surface, a large 
proportion were characteristic of the warmer temperate seas. 
The bottom of the cold area consisted of sand and stones, and 
of the animals which were abundantly distributed over it a large 
proportion were essentially boreal. In the shallower portions of 
the cold area, where an intermediate bottom-temperature pre- 
vailed, an intermixture of the two fauns, corresponding with the 
border position of this area between the temperate and boreal 
provinces, was readily traceable. 

‘‘Here, then, we have the remarkable fact that two deposits 
may be taking place within a few miles of each other at the same 
depth and in the same geological horizon (the area of one pene- 
trating, so to speak, the area of the other), of which not only the 
mineral character but the faunze are alike different; that differ- 
ence being due on the one hand to the direction of the current 
which has furnished their materials, and on the other to the tem- 
perature of the water brought by that current. If the cold area 
were to be raised above the surface, so that the deposit at present 
in progress upon the bottom should become the subject of exami- 
nation by some geologist of the future, he would find this to 
consist of a sandstone formed by the disintegration of the older 
rocks, the faunze of what would in a great degree bear a boreal 
character ; whilst if a portion of the warm area were elevated at the 
same time, the geologist would be perplexed by the stratigraphical 
continuity with the preceding of a cretaceous formation,the produc- 
tion of which entirely depends upon the extensive development of 
the humblest forms of animal life under the influence of a higher 
temperature, and which includes not only an extraordinary abun- 
dance of sponges, but a great variety of other animal remains, 
several of them belonging to the warmer temperate regions. He 
would naturally suppose these widely different climatic conditions 
to have prevailed at different periods, and would probably have 
had recourse to the hypothesis of a ‘fault ” to account for the 
phenomenon. And yet these formations have been shown to be 
going on together, at corresponding depths, over wide contiguous 
areas of the sea-bottom, in virtue solely of the fact that one area 
is traversed by an equatorial and the other by a polar current. 
Further, in the midst of the land formed by the elevation of the 
cold area, our geologist would find hills, some 1,800 feet high, 
covered with sandstone continuous with that of the land from 
which they rise, but rich in remains of animals belonging to a 
more temperate province, and he might easily fall into a mistake 
of supposing that two such different faunz occurring at different 


218 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


levels must indicate two distinct climates separated in time, 
instead of indicating, as they have been shown to do, two contem- 
poraneous but dissimilar climates, separated only by a few miles 
horizontally and by 300 fathoms vertically. 

‘<The determination of deep-sea temperature is therefore of the 
greatest interest to the geologist as affecting his interpretation of 
the phenomena on which his belief in a former general prevalence 
of a glacial climate is founded. For if a glacial temperature 
should be found now to prevail, and types of animal life conform- 
able thereto should be proved to be diffused over the deeper por- 
tion of the existing sea-bed in all parts of the globe, it is obvious 
that the same may have been the case at any geological epoch; 
for there must have been deep seas in all periods, and the physical 
forces which maintain the oceanic circulation at the present time 
must have been always in operation, though modified in their 
local action by the distribution of land and water existing at any 
particular date. And as the elevation of the present deep-sea bed 
of even the intertropical oceanic area would (if we have correctly 
interpreted the results of our own and of others’ observations) 
offer to the study of the geologist of the future a deposit charac- 
terized by the presence of polar types, so must the geologist of 
the present hesitate in regarding the occurrence of boreal types 
in any marine deposit as adequate evidence per se of the general 
extension of glacial action into temperate or tropicalregions. At 
any rate it may be considered as having been now placed beyond 
reasonable doubt that a glacial submarine climate may prevail 
over any area, without having any relation whatever to the 
terrestrial climate of that area.”— Latracts from a Letter of Dr. 
Carpenter to the Kditor of Nature. 

Distribution of Coccoliths.— Dr. C. W. Giimbel has recently 
published an important paper containing an account of investi- 
gations on deep-sea mud. The finest portion of this mud is of 
creat interest to the geologist as well as to the zodlogist, consist- 
ing mainly of a mass of little granules, —the so-called Coccoliths 
(Discoliths and Cyatholiths),— and of granulous, flaky lumps, — 
the so-called Bathybius. Dr. Giimbel feels in a position to confirm 
the conclusions of Huxley, Carpenter, and Haeckel with respect to 
their organic nature, and, from his investigation, to assert that 
Coccoliths occur in all seas and at all depths. 

Dr. Giimbel further maintains that the distribution of Coccoliths 
in time is not less remarkable than the present distribution in 
space. There is proof, he says, that they are to be found in 
‘‘almost all sedimentary formations.” Referring to their dis- 
tributions in various formations, he says: ‘‘ But, besides the Cocco- 
liths, another ingredient demands attention. In the case of the 
chalk of Mendon, rich in Coccoliths, if the carbonate of calcium be 
removed by means of diluted acids, there remains a flaky and 
cuticular residue, in which are found thin transparent flakes, full 
of the smallest granules, and resembling Bathybius in a high 
degree. . . . This places their organic nature beyond question, 
and firmly establishes their relationship with the Bathybius. The 
imperishableness of this substance is, indeed, very remarkable.” 


GEOLOGY. 219 


After stating that the Coccoliths occur in all the soft marls and 
limestones of the jurassic and liassic formations, ‘* The Mus- 
chelkalk,” continues Dr. Gumbel, ‘‘ appeared for a long time to be 
proof against every experiment. Every specimen of marl which 
I examined was apparently free from Coccoliths. At last I had the 
good fortune to discover traces of them in a somewhat impure 
piece of rock-salt from Wilhemsgliick. Even here they show 
themselves extremely sparingly, but in the company of flakes, 
which are not unlike Bathybius. To the present time I have in 
vain examined the similar rock-salts of Berchtesgaden and Stass- 
furt; and, as yet, indications of Coccoliths in the Permian formation 
and the coal-measures are wanting. On the other hand, the soft 
marls of the mountain limestone of Regnitzlosan, the soft marls 
of the Conodont strata of the Baltic provinces, the Trenton marl 
of New York, and even the siliceous limestone of the Potsdam 
sandstone, contain some traces, although to an extremely small 
extent. 

“« These facts all point to the conclusion that in the majority of 
calcareous marine deposits the Coccoliths originallyformed a more 
or less essential part of the calcareous masses, and that, in thick 
or granulous, and particularly ancient limestone rocks, they can 
no longer be perceived, either on account of the opaque character 
of the rocks, or because they have been made by some change 
wholly or in part unrecognizable, or have been altogether de- 
stroyed. Ihave been able by some experiments to throw further 
light upon this subject. That these smallest organic bodies can 
be recognized in hard limestones only in the rarest cases, even 
when it contains them in great numbers, I convinced myself, by 
means of thin slices, which I made from deep-sea mud, thoroughly 
dried and rendered hard by repeated soaking in diluted Canada 
balsam and heating, and also from writing-chalk, made hard 
in the same way, and rich in Coccoliths. The infinite numbers of 
finest granules and rings are so massed together, one over the 
other, that it must be regarded as an extremely rare case when a 
Coccolith is clearly seen here and there at the very thinnest edges.” 
— Nature, Nov. 3, 1870. 


THICKNESS OF GLACIERS. 


In his memoir ‘‘ On the Mechanical Properties of Ice,” pub- 
lished in the ‘* Philosophical Magazine ” for January, 1870, Canon 
Moseley arrives at a conclusion in regard to the crushing of ice, 
to which Lam unable, without some qualifications, to agree. In 
his experiments ice was crushed under a pressure of 308.4 pounds 
on the square inch, and he concludes that if a glacier is over 710 
feet in thickness, the ice at the under surface must be crushed by 
the incumbent weight. Professor Philips also made some experi- 
ments on the crushing of ice, and he came to the conclusion that 
the height of a crushing column of ice is between 1,000 and 1,500 
feet, and concluded also if a glacier were to exceed this in thick- 
ness the ice would lose its solidity. (See a paper on Glacial 


220 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Striation, read before the Geological Section of the British Associ- 
ation, 1865.) 

Whether the height of a crushing column of ice be 710 or 
1,000 or 1,500 feet is of no consequence whatever as regards the 
possible thickness of a glacier. No doubt a piece of ice solidified 
under no pressure would be crushed to powder were it placed 
under a glacier 1,000 feet in thickness or so; but after being 
crushed, it would resolidify, and would then probably be able to 
sustain a pressure of 2,000 feet of ice. This follows as anecessary 
consequence from the property of regelation. There is as yet, 
so far as I am aware, no known limit to the amount of pressure 
which tee can sustain. There probably is a limit; but what that 
limit is has not yet been determined. Canon Mosely says that 
‘**'There is no glacier alleged to have so great a depth as 710 feet.” 
The Humboldt glacier in North Greenland, according to Dr. 
Kane, has a depth of more than three times 710 feet. Dr. 
Hayes found in Baflin’s Bay icebergs (which are just pieces 
broken off the ends of glaciers) aground in about half a mile of 
water, while on the Antarctic continent we have reasons for 
believing that the ice is in some places over a mile in thickness.— 
J. Croll. — Amer. Jour. Science, from Geological Magazine for 
June, 1870, p. 276. 


THE DESCENT OF GLACIERS. 


De Saussure, who was the first to study with care the descent of 
glaciers, held that glaciers slip down the slopes on which they 
rest as any other body would slip down an inclined plane. <As 
soon, however, as it appeared that the glacier did not move 
forward as a body, but that different portions of the mass moved 
with different velocities, there was propounded the viscous theory, 
which supposed the ice to be a fluid, and not the solid thing it 
seems to be. ‘This theory was ably advocated by the late Prin- 
cipal James Forbes. The experiments of Faraday and Tyndall 
led to the regelation theory, which supposes that by the pressure 
exerted from behind the ice is crushed through and over the 
irregularities of its course, and is united again by pressure to a 
homogeneous mass. 

In regard to this subject of the descent of glaciers, Canon 
Moseley says: ‘‘ At this stage the question had assumed this new 
form. If ice be a viscous fluid, according to the viscous theory, 
is it fluid enough to descend by its own weight; or, if it be solid, 
according to the regelation theory, is it little enough solid so to 
descend ? 

«Tf, instead of ice, a glacier were of water, it would obviously 
descend by its weight. The same would be true if it were of 
oil, or soft mud, or quicksilver, or probably of pitch; but if it 
were of iron, or of copper, or of lead, it would not descend by its 
weight only, unless, indeed, these metals were in a state of fusion. 
A quicksilver glacier would descend by its weight only, because it 
shears easily; a cast-iron one would not, because it shears with 
diiliculty. There must, therefore, exist a relation between the 


GEOLOGY. yap | 


shearing force and the weight of a given volume ofa glacier, so 
that it may just descend by its weight only. Now it is possible 
to investigate mathematically what that relation is. I have made 
that investigation. (See Phil. Mag., May, 1869.) 

‘¢ The resistances opposed to the displacement of a glacier are, 
(1) Those which oppose themselves to the shearing of one sur- 
face of ice over another, which is continually taking place 
throughout the whole mass, by reason of differential motion; (2) 
The friction of the superimposed laminze of ice upon one another, 
which is greater in the lower than the upper; (8) Abrasion of 
ice on the bottom and sides of the channel of the glacier. Ifit 
descends by the weight only, then the work of its weight in iis 
descent through any distance must at least equal the sum 
of the works of all these resistances. It is of course impossible 
to represent this relation mathematically in respect to an actual 
elacier having a variable direction and an irregular channel and 
slope; but in respect to an imaginary one having a constant 
direction and a uniform channel and slope, it is possible. I have 
made that calculation, and it results from it that the unit of shear 
in ice (that is, the force necessary to make one square inch of 
ice shear over another square inch) must not be more than 13 
pound, that a glacier may descend by its weight only. Ifthe 
unit of shear in ice be more than that, the glacier cannot descend 
by its mere weight on a slope like that of the Mer de Glace. Butit 
is a great deal more than that. It requires from 60 pounds to 120 
pounds to shear one square inch of ice over another square inch. 
The ice of the Mer de Glace cannot therefore descend by its weight 
only ; it does not shear easily enough. It must be ice ofabout the 
consistency of soft putty to descend by its weight only, for that 
substance shears with a pressure of from 14 pound to 3 pounds 
per square inch. 

‘¢Tce, therefore, if it be fluid, is not fluid enowgh, and if it be 
solid, it is too solid to descend by its weight only. There must be 
some other force to help it down besides its weight, certainly 
45 times greater, and, possibly, 90 times. This result is directly 
opposed to the viscous theory and to that known as the theory of 
revelation, both of which attribute the descent of glaciers to their 
weight as the only cause. It reveals the existence of some other 
force.” 

This foree Canon Moseley finds in the heat from the sun, and 
the effect is produced by the dilatation of the ice within the mass, 
where it cannot be converted into the liquid state. He found that 
a sheet of lead, placed on an inclined plane and exposed to the 
rays of the sun, gradually worked its way down, on account of the 
contraction and dilatation of the mass with changes of tempera- 
ture. 

‘* How much heat entering the surface of a glacier is necessary 
to this result has been made the subject of calculation. Supposing 
the depth of the ice to be the same as that at Tacul, its motion at 
different depths, that which Tyndall found it to be there, and its 
surface motion, that which he measured lower on the Mer de 
Glace, at Les Ponts, and supposing the resistance to shearing of 


222 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ice to be 75 pounds per square inch; then the mechanical work, 
which acting within the mass is necessary to put the glacier in 
motion, as it actually moves, is 61% units of work per square inch 
of the surface of the glacier per day.” (See Proceedings of the 
Royal Society, January, 1869, p. 207.) 

‘¢ Now this quantity of work would be supplied by .0635 heat-unit 
entering the ice per square inch of the surface per day, and diffus- 
ing itself through it, each heat-unit being the heat necessary to 
raise 1 pound water by 1° F. Far more than this heat probably 
passes the surface, and enters into the ice of a glacier on days 
such as that when the motion was observed, which serves as the 
basis of these calculations.” 

This theory presupposes that the ice in the interior of the gla- 
cier is a solid. In reply to the objection which might be brought 
forward, that according to the experiments of Agassiz the tem- 
perature of the interior of the glacier is nearly constant at 32° F., 
Canon Moseley says: — 

‘¢ Nothing can be concluded from these experiments, because 
the thermometers were not frozen into the ice of the glacier, or the 
mouths of the borings so effectually stopped as to prevent the 
access of air or the percolation of water from the disintegrated ice 
of the surface. The included thermometer could but remain at 
zero (Centigrade), however low might be the temperature of the 
surrounding ice, for the water of the air continually freezing on 
the sides of the boring would raise the temperature around the 
bulb by the latent heat set free in freezing to 0° C. A thermom- 
eter is, in short, incapable of taking the temperature of ice, 
unless the ice be dry. — Proc. Royal Institution, 1870. 


DISCOVERY OF THE DIAMOND IN BOHEMIA. 


In a letter to H. Sainte-Claire Deville, M. Schafaritz, of Prague, 
announces the discovery of the diamond at Dlaschkowitz, about 
60 kilometers north-west of Prague, in a bed of gravel situated 
in the Cretaceous formation. The gravel, which consists, in part, 
of débris of the basalt of the Mittelgebirge, together with gneiss 
and serpentine, contains a large proportion of quartzose sand, rich 
in grains and worn crystals of various precious stones, among 
which the most important are pyropes (Bohemian garnets con- 
taining oxide of chromium) and zircons. ‘There also occur red 
and black spinel, chrysolite, kyanite, pyroxene, amphibole, ete. 
The single specimen of diamond found is of irregular, cubical 
form, from 2.5 to 4m. m. in diameter, and weighs 57 mgrm. 

M. Schafaritz says: ‘* This discovery of the diamond at Dlasch- 
kowitz appears to me important, not only because it is the first 
authentic case of its occurring in Europe (excepting in the Ural 
mountains), but also in a geological point of view. Up to the 
present time the diamond has been found only in formations which 
everywhere are almost identical and characterized both by their 
geological horizon between the early sedimentary and the azoic 
rocks, and for the association of the diamond with gold and 
platinum, Mere the conditions are entirely different; no gold or 


GEOLOGY. 223 


platinum has been found, and the rocks on the one side are 
eruptive, and on the other of recent sedimentary origin. Almost 
all the minerals which accompany the pyrope of Dlaschkowitz, 
Podsedlitz, and Triblitz, are found in different parts of Bohemia 
in their gangue of basalt, but [see no reason & priort why the 
basalt should not contain diamond. The hypothesis of the organic 
origin of the diamond, resting on the authority of Brewster and 
other observers, has always appeared to me to offer fewer diffi- 
culties than any other; but hypothesis is nothing in the presence 
of a fact; besides, it has not been proved that the diamond would 
be consumed by the fusion of the basalt.” — Comptes Rendus, LXX., 
p. 140. . 

According to Rose, the features of the Bohemian locality are 
not so different from those of the diamond-producing districts of 
Brazil, for the serpentine of Bohemia may be derived from an 
amphibolite or similar rock, which is found in Brazil with itacol- 
umite, and which, as well as the itacolumite, contains diamonds. — 
Comptes Rendus, LXX., p. 398. 


NEOCOMIAN STRATA OF NORTH EUROPE. 


Mr. Judd, of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, 
thus concludes a paper ‘*‘ On the Neocomian Strata of Yorkshire 
and Lincolnshire, with Notes on their Relations to the Beds of 
the same Age throughout Northern Europe :”— 

‘s We have thus seen that the Neocomian beds of Yorkshire and 
Lincolnshire are the most westerly development of a great mass 
of strata, of the same age, stretching over a wide area in North- 
ern Europe. It is true that the beds of this age are neither so well 
exposed, nor do they attain so great a thickness, as in the south 
of Europe; but they nevertheless present us with a remarkably 
similar succession of faunze. At the eastern and western ex- 
tremities of the areas in Brunswick and in Yorkshire respectively, 
the marine series is complete, and we have the three divisions of 
the Neocomian formation all developed; but in the intermediate 
districts of Westphalia, Hanover, and the Hartz, the marine beds 
represent only the Upper and Middle Neocomian, and these rest 
upon the fresh-water strata of the North-German Wealden. The 
section at Speeton Cliff derives additional interest from the fact 
that it is by far the most complete exposure of the Neocomian beds 
overthe whole of the great North-European area. The sections 
elsewhere are more or less isolated and fragmentary; but at 
Specton we find the key by means of which they may be identified 
and correlated. We have seen that, over the North-European 
area, a remarkable uniformity of character is maintained among 
the Neocomian strata (and the same is, to a certain extent, true 
also of the Cretaceous and Jurassic), indicating that this district 
forms a natural province, not improbably representing an ancient 
sea-basin. The ridge of Paleozoic land traced by Mr. Godwin- 
Austen, in his celebrated memoir ‘ On the Possible Extension of 
the Coal-Measures beneath the South-Eastern Part of England’ 
(See Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., Xi1., 1856, p. 38), may not improb- 


224 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ably have formed the barrier between this Anglo-Germanie and 
the Anglo-Parisian basin.” — Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., XXVI., p. 346. 


TERTIARY DEPOSITS OF AUSTRALIA. 


The following extracts are taken from the concluding portion of 
a paper ‘* On the Fossil Corals (Madreporaria) of the Australian 
Tertiary Deposits,” read before the Geological Society, of London, 
by P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., Sec. of Geological Society : — 

‘* When the list of the fossil corals of the Australian tertiaries is 
compared with that of the forms living in the Australian and New 
Zealand seas, it becomes evident that none of the recent species 
are represented in the Cainozoic strata. Of the 20 genera 
now existing around Australia, out of the immediate vicinity of 
coral reefs, only 8 had species’ in the tertiaries. The alliance 
of the coral faunze of the Australian tertiaries and of the sur- 
rounding coral seas is thus very slight; and the recent species 
have not been found in the uppermost of the tertiaries. There 
are 3 species common to the Australian and the European 
Cainozoic deposits; so that the alliance of the Australian fossil 
fauna is as great with the European Cainozoic fauna as it is 
with that of the corals of the tropical seas to the north-east. 

‘¢ The corals of the Australian tertiaries are very characteristic. 
They were not reef-builders, but forms which tenanted the sea- 
bottom, from low spring-tide mark to the depth where Polyzoa 
abound. The species ofthe different beds have so great a general 
apd exact resemblance, that they do not offer evidence of any 
great biological changes having occurred during the deposition of 
the whole of the fossiliferous tertiary sediments. It is therefore 
not consonant with the rules of classificatory geology to subdivide 
the sediments into such series as Oligocene, Lower, Middle, and 
Upper Miocene, and Pliocene, which for the most part have very 
distinct faunze in the European area. The diagnosis of the age 
of the tertiary deposits by the percentage system cannot as yet be 
applied to the Australian sedimentary beds, in consequence of the 
moilusea not having been sufficiently studied ; and the comparison 
between the existing Australian coral fauna and that of the ter- 
tiaries would give a much older geological age to them than is 
warranted by the physical geology of the area. During the 
deposition of the tertiaries there was much disturbance in the 
currents and constant alterations in the depth of the coralliferous 
sea, whose bottom and shores were formed by the silurians, old 
basalts, and carbonaceous sandstones of Victoria. The conglom- 
erates and pebbly sandstones were of course formed during dif- 
ferent marine conditions from those which existed during the 
deposition of the clays and clayey sands. As the depth increased 
during the subsidences which evidently followed every basaltic 
outpouring, the caleareous element mingled with the wash-down 
from the land, and finally it inereased to such an extent that it 
encroached upon the area formerly occupied by littoral deposits, 
and even in some places covered the rocks whose denudation had 
produced the conglomerates. There were temporary upheavals 


= 


GEOLOGY. D5 


during this general subsidence ; and the leaf-beds, with associated 
clays, bear testimony to them. The relations of leaf-beds, clays, 
gypsum, and basic sulphate of iron, so frequently observed in 
Kurope, are repeated in the Australian deposits. 

‘It is reasonable to admit, especially when the long duration of 
the time which was occupied by the formation of the series over 
the fossiliferous deposits is considered, that whilst the vast central 
area of Australia was a sea, there was open water to the north, 
with reefs in the Java district, and corresponding formations 
opened into what is now the Mediterranean and the Sahara to 
the north-west. The Indian peninsula, and the area now occupied 
by the Himalayas and stretching far away to the east, were not 
part of a great continent; and these marine tracts equalled the 
terrestrial in magnitude. The greater part of the American con- 
tinent was submerged, and the Caribbean Sea was a coral area. 
Where was the bulk of the land when the coral sea stretched 
round the tropics? It could only have been to the extreme north 
and south. New Zealand and South Australia were therefore 
bounded to the north by a coral sea, and to the south by the deep 
ocean, as now. So far as the coral fauna is considered, this 
separation of the Australian sea from the European area by a 
coral tract inhabited by a distinct fauna, which could only exist 
under conditions very diverse from those witnessed in Victoria, 
is explanatory of the comparative isolation of the remote assem- 
blages of species, supposing them to have existed during the 
same geological period. ‘The enormous range of deep-sea corals 
is now admitted; and it is certainly very remarkable that so few 
of them should have become common to the European and Aus- 
tralian tertiary deposits. The absence of any littoral connection 
between Australia and the tracts to the north of it during the 
whole of the tertiary period, and the remoteness of the south of 
its area from any great centres of frequent terrestrial oscillations, 
may explain the persistence of type which is so characteristic of a 
large portion of its fauna and flora. This persistence was infi- 
nitely less in Europe, on account of the more frequent changes 
in the physical geology of its area, each change inducing emigra- 
tion of some forms, unusual competition with others, and occa- 
sional free scope for rapid multiplication. Hence the distant and 
comparatively quiet area of Australia was tenanted by the same 
species, whilst vast biological and geological alterations took 
place in the area which was formerly considered the type by 
which all others could be compared. The permanent upheaval 
of the central and northern area of Australia, the extinction of its 
voleanoes, and the change in its coral fauna, were grand phe- 
nomena. 

‘«The denudation which occurred during the upheaval of the 
Australian area was enormous, and it is to be estimated by the 
extent of the unfossiliferous deposits which cover the fossiliferous 
marine tertiaries. There are no proofs of any glacial phenomena 
in Australia; and subaerial denudation probably went on during 
the whole of that vast period, and has continued. 

‘‘T would suggest that the word tertiary should be only used 


oa 


226 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


relatively in Australian geology, and that the strata (so ably 
mapped by the surveyors) which are above the carbonaceous 
sandstones should be called Cainozoic. The term Lower Cainozoic 
would refer to all the deposits beneath the Mount-Gambier series, 
the Middle to the deposit, and the Upper to all above. 

** At present all that can be arrived at concerning the relative 
position of the Australian fossiliferous tertiaries and their physical 
geology may be quickly summed up. They formed on a sea- 
bottom of the oldest rocks, in increasingly deep water, during a 
period when the denudation of the neighboring coast line to the 
east and north-east was rapid. They were very distant from the 
reef-area of the period; and the physical conditions of such an 
area were never present during the deposition of the madrepo- 
raria, polyzoa, echinodermata and mollusea, which have a facies 
characteristic of all the European marine tertiary deposits above 
the Nummulitic. They were subjected to frequent volcanic 
outbursts, which covered large areas with basalt and ash, and 
they were covered, after the general upheaval of the centre of 
Australia, with lacustrine, dune, river, and torrent deposits, whose 
depth testifies to the enormous denudation of the older rocks. 
The condition of the high land on the extreme east and west of 
Australia was probably that of dry land during the whole Caino- 
zoic period, and these districts bounded the tertiary sea.” — 
Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., XXVI. (1870), 313. - 


ABYSSINIAN GEOLOGY. 


From the report of Mr. W. T. Blanford, late geologist to the 
Abyssinian expedition (1867-68), we learn that the formations met 
with throughout the region traversed were: 1. Recent, consis*- 
ing of soils of the highlands, including regur, or cotton soil, 
similar to that found in India, and alluvial deposits on the coast. 
2. The volcanic series which skirt both coasts in the southern 
portion of the Red Sea. This group, which is but poorly developed 
on the west coast of Annesley Bay, Mr. Blanford proposes to call 
the Aden Volcanic Lines. 38. Trappean series. This grand col- 
lection of beds, which forms the Abyssinian highlands, including 
Magdala and the Ashangi groups, consists of two divisions, 
which are unconformable to each other, the former (the Magdala 
group) consisting of trachytes and dolerites, and the latter 
(the Ashangi group), entirely composed of dolerites of great 
thickness and bedded voleanic rocks, lavas, and ashes. Through 
this trappean series near Bethor, not far from Magdala itself, the 
Jitta river has cut its way, and now runs at a depth of 3,500 feet, 
in a valley probably more than a mile in width. The sides are 
extremely steep, often perpendicular. The beds on both sides 
appear exactly to correspond. A well-marked river-terrace half 
way down, indicated on both sides of the stream, records the 
fluviatile origin of the gorge. ‘Of all the grand scenery,” says 
Mr. Blanford, ‘‘ met with in- Abyssinia, none equalled this won- 
derful gorge.” His descriptions remind one of the Grand Canons 


GEOLOGY. 227 


of the Colorado River. 4. The Anofolo limestone is of odlitic age 
and contains Ceromya similis, Trigonia costata, and other charac- 
teristic fossils, reminding one strongly of British forms. 6. Ade- 
grat sandstone, a massive formation, occupying a very extensive 
urea in northern Tigre, and perhaps representing the coal-bearing 
rocks known to exist north-west of Lake Dembea, but yielding no 
fossils. 6. Metamorphic rocks of various mineral character, with 
a general north and south strike due to pre-existing cleayage. — 
Quarterly Journal of Science, July, 1870. 


DIAMOND FIELDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 


In relation to the geology of the diamond fields of South Africa, 
which are coming so extensively into notice, Dr. John Shaw 
Says: — 

‘‘In July of this year I made considerable observations in the 
Vaal Valley, which show that the rocks are chiefly trappean, 
metamorphic, and conglomerate in character. I detected no pure 
granite formations, but syenite is, however, developed extensive- 
ly, and seems to be the base of the whole system of rocks at 
Klipdrift. A very singular rock appears in the shape of isolated 
boulders on the summits of the Kopjes, and especially of the cel- 
ebrated Ald Kopje. This I take to be graphic granite (binary 
granite), or what Dana would call ‘ granilite,’ consisting solely of 
quartz and large crystals of felspar. 

‘¢ Above the syenite is a trap-conglomerate in some places, in 
others are amygdaloids, and protruding through these again ba- 
salt, assuming everywhere the hexagonal structure, and arising 
in some places into insulated and compacted columns. 

‘‘In some of the Kopjes there are remains of stratified rocks, 
— clay schists, sandstone, chalk (or something very like it), which 
are evidently the last vestiges of a vast series of sedimentary 
strata, which formerly covered the whole present contour, but 
which have gradually given way to denudation and cataclysm. 

‘*Such is the character of the present rock system at Klipdrift, 
and, with a few additions (mainly superincumbent), of the whole 
rock series of the Vaal region. 

**On the summits of the Kopjes, and, asa matter of course, in 
the crevices between the basaltic boulders, is an alluvial gravel. 
In this are found diamonds, and on the surface some have been 
found, indicators of the wealth beneath. The pebbles of sand- 
stone, quartzite, crystalline sandstone, granite, clay-slate, agate, 
tourmaline, iron pyrites, garnet, garnet spinel, etc., which com- 
pose this alluvium, are all roundedly polished and water-worn, 
and are imbedded at Klipdrift in a brownish fatty earth. 

“<The question arises, Is this alluvium of recent or ancient for- 
mation? Did the majority of the pebbles exist in the form of a 
conglomerate, aggregated from the alluvium of a former age ? 
Or have the Kopjes at no very late period been the bed of the 
river P 

‘* It is my opinion that the water-worn gravel has been under 


228 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the influence of running water prior to the last great changes 
which formed the present landscape. The greater number of 
the water-worn pebbles and boulders are of the basait of the 
Kopjes. Many of them are crystalline sandstone, others are 
water-worn fragments of clay-slate, sandstone, etc., of the sedi- 
mentary rocks which exist in the Kopjes. The agates, tourma- 
lines, and garnets are undoubtedly from some superincumbent 
conglomerate sandstone which has yielded to denudation and no 
longer exists at Klipdrift, and also to a considerable extent from 
the amygdaloidal trap everywhere prevalent. I have in my pos- 
session from the Vaal a single fragment of red sandstone contain- 
ing garnets, but I have not succeeded in tracing this to its source. 

“‘Tt will, therefore, be sufficiently apparent that there must 
have existed, at a remote geological period, a series of metamor- 
phie and sedimentary rocks which lay above the present rock sys- 
tem of the region, and that, through successive disturbances and 
persistent denudation, these have been worn away, forming in 
great part the alluvial soil of the present surface. In some few 
spots remnants of this series still exist, as in the clay-slaty crys- 
talline sandstone of some of the Kopjes now worked for dia- 
monds, and generally in the fragments of sedimentary rocks 
seattered over the surface along the whole Vaal Valley. 

“*T am decidedly imclined to think that the diamonds have not 
been washed down from some higher region. I hope to show, in 
another article, that the Free State possesses an independent dia- 
mondiferous centre, and that there no river has existed at any 
time, for there is no evidence of water-wearing, and the soil is 
not alluvial. Diamonds have been discovered 2 hours’ distance 
from Potchefstroom, and all down the Vaal to its junction with the 
Orange River, and thence to 10 hours’ distance below Hope 
Town. ‘This is a stretch of at least 500 miles. I believe the 
diamonds have come from some rock which may now have 
vanished, but which existed formerly throughout the whole re- 
gion.” — Nature, Nov. 3, 1870. 


LAURENTIAN GRAPHITE OF CANADA. 


In the Journal of the Geological Society, for 1869, Dr. Dawson 
publishes a paper, in which he sustains the view that the graphite 
of the Canada Laurentian is of organic origin, and shows that the 
amount of ‘‘ graphite in the Lower Laurentian series is enor- 
mous.” A limestone in the town of Buckingham on the Ottawa, 
which is 600 feet or more thick, with some 3 intercalated bands 
of gneiss, is in some parts one-fourth graphite, and the whole 
is not less than 20 or 30 per cent. graphite. In the adjoining 
township of Lochabar, a band of limestone 25 to 30 feet thick is so 
reticulated with graphite.that it is mined for it; and another bed 
in the same district, 10 or 12 feet thick, yielding 20 per cent. of 
the pure material, is worked. It occurs in equal abundance at 
other horizons through beds of limestone, which have, according 
to Logan, an aggregate thickness of 3,500 feet. In view of 
the facts Dr. Dawson adds: ‘It is scarcely an exaggeration to 


GEOLOGY. 229 


maintain that the quantity of carbon in the Laurentian is equal to 
that in similar areas of the Carboniferous systems.” 

After describing the mode of occurrence and discussing the 
probable a origin of the graphite, Dr. Dawson concludes 
as follows: 

‘¢ We may sum up these facts and considerations in the follow- 
ing statements: First, that somewhat obscure traces of organic 
structure can be detected in the Laurentian graphite ; secondly, 
that the general arrangement and microscopic structure of the 
substance corresponds with that of the carbonaceous and bitumi- 
nous matters in marine formations of more modern date ; thirdly, 
that if the Laurentian graphite has been derived from vegetable 
matter, it has only undergone a metamorphosis similar in kind to 
that which organic matter in metamorphosed sediment of later 
age has experienced ; fourthly, that the association of the graphite 
matter with organic limestone, beds of iron ore, and metallic sul- 
phides, greatly strengthens the probability of its vegetable origin; 
fifthly, that when we consider the immense thickness and extent 
of the Eozoonal and graphite limestones and iron ore deposits of 
the Laurentian, if we admit the organic origin of the limestone 
and graphite, we must be prepared to believe that the life of that 
early period, though it may have existed under low forms, was 
most copiously developed, and that it equalled, perhaps surpassed, 
in its results, in the way of geological accumulation, that of any 
subsequent period. 

** In conclusion, this subject opens up several interesting fields 
of chemical, phy siolovical, and geological inquiry. One of these 
relates to the conclusions stated by Dr. Hunt as to the probable 
existence of a large amount of carbonic acid in the Laurentian 
atmosphere, and of much carbonate of lime in the seas of that 
period, and the possible relation to the abundance of certain low 
forms of plants and animals. Another is the comparison, already 
instituted by Professor Huxley and Dr. Carpenter, between the 
conditions of the Laurentian and those of the deeper parts of the 
modern ocean. Another is the possible occurrence of other forms 
of animal life than Hozoon and Annelids, which I have stated, in 
my paper of 1864, after extensive microscopic study of the Lau- 
rentian limestone, to be indicated by the occurrence of calcareous 
fragments, differing in structure from Hozoon, but at present of 
unknown nature. Another is the effort to bridge over, by further 
discoveries similar to that of the Zozoon bavaricum of Giimbel, the 
gap now existing between the life of the Lower Laurentian and 
that ofthe Primordial Silurian or Cambrian period. It is scarcely 
too much to say that these inquiries open up a new world of 
thought and investigation, and hold out the hope of bringing us 
into the presence of the actual origin of organic life on our “planet, 
though this may perhaps be found to have been Prelaurentian. 
I would here take the opportunity of stating that in proposing the 
name Hozoon for the first fossil of the Laur entian, and in suggest- 
ing for the period the name ‘ Eozoic,” I have by no means 
desired to exclude the possibility of forms of life which may have 
been precursors of what is now to us the dawn of organic exist- 


230 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ence. Should remains of still older organisms be found in those 
rocks now known to us only by pebbles in the Laurentian, these 
names will at least serve to mark an important stage in geological 
investigation. — Amer. Jour. Science, L. (1870), pp. 130-182. 


LAURENTIAN ROCKS OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 


The investigations of Hall, Logan, and Cooke, in the Highlands 
of New York and New Jersey, have left no doubt that the lime- 
stones which were formerly supposed to be altered Silurian rocks 
are really of Laurentian age. At the meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, at Salem, in 1869, 
the view was advanced by Sterry Hunt that the same might be 
the ease with the similar rocks of Hastern Massachusetts. Dr. 
Hunt showed that this was probable, not only on lithological 
grounds, but also from the fact that the Laurentian rocks appear 
to the southward of the great palasozoic basin in New Brunswick 
and Newfoundland, which are geologically but a north-eastern 
prolongation of New England, and, moreover, from the out- 
eropping of the lowest Silurian strata at Braintree near Boston. 
Subsequent microscopical examination revealed the presence of 
the Eozoon Canadense in a serpentinic limestone from Newbury- 
port, and better specimens were obtained about 28 miles south- 
west of Newburyport, in the limestone quarries of Chelmsford. 

The continuous and complete calcareous skeleton of the fossil 
does not appear in these specimens, which seem, like some por- 
tions of the rock from Grenville, as described by Sir William E. 
Logan, to be made up of fragments of the calcareous shells of the 
Eozoon, mingled with grains of serpentine, and cemented by 
crystallized carbonate of lime. In the specimens from Grenville, 
and from most other localities, the mineral matter replacing the 
sarcode and filling up the canals and tubuli of the calcareous 
Eozoon skeleton is generally serpentine, or some other silicate. 
In the Chelmsford specimens, however, the injected mineral is 
like the shell itself carbonate of lime, though readily distinguish- 
able from it by difference in texture and transparency. In this 
connection it should be said that the crystalline rocks of Newbury- 
port and Salisbury, although separated, in Hitchcock’s geological 
map, from the gneisses to the south-west, and united to the 
sienites of Gloucester and Rockport, seem very unlike the 
latter, and closely related lithologically to the gneiss of Chelms- 
ford, which encloses the crystalline limestone.— Amer. Jour. 
Science, January, 1870, p. 76. 


THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 


At the Troy meeting of the American Association, Professor 
C. H. Hitchcock, of the New Hampshire State Geological Survey, 
exhibited an interesting model of the White Mountains, made 
from data obtained by a careful examination of the group by 
himself and his assistants. The model was made of superimposed 


GEOLOGY. Jax 


layers of thin pine wood, of equal thickness, each thickness repre- 
senting 500 feet, the whole thus displaying to advantage the 
contour lines obtained in the survey. The outcrops of the various 
rock formations were indicated by appropriate colors. Prof. 
Hitchcock advanced certain views with regard to the anticlinal or 
synclinal character of the ridge, which were at variance with the 
‘generally received ideas. Mt. Washington has been regarded as 
synclinal in structure, but Professor Hitchcock regards it as an 
inverted anticlinal. One of the points on which he bases this 
opinion is the fact that on the eastern side of the mountain occur 
strata which for some distance follow in their dip the slope of the 
mountain and then suddenly dip away into the mountain. If the 
professor’s views as to the anticlinal structure be correct, it will 
be necessary to suppose that the folding force came from the land 
side and not from the ocean. 

In connection with the State Geological Survey of New Hamp- 
shire, a party of scientific men are spending the winter (1870-71) 
on the top of Mt. Washington, to make various meteorological 
observations. 

Local Glaciers of the White Mountains. — At the Troy meeting 
of the American Association a paper by Professor Agassiz on this 
subject was read by Professor Perry. Agassiz said that in 1847 
he had noticed unmistakable evidence of the former existence of 
local glaciers in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but 
that he had had no opportunity to make a careful examination of 
the ground until the present summer (1869). He now asserts 
that the drift so called has the same general characteristics on the 
northern and southern sides of the White Mountains, and that 
whatever, therefore, may have been the number of its higher 
peaks which at any given time, during the glacial period, rose 
above the great ice-sheet which then covered the country, this 
mountain range offered no obstacle to the southward movement 
and progress of the northern ice-fields. 

After describing the characteristic marks of glacial action and 
the various kinds of moraines, and showing that the typical drift 
was one ground moraine, he says : — 

** Ji is the contact of the more limited phenomena of the local 
glaciers which succeeded this all-embracing winter (their lateral, 
frontal, median, and limited ground moraines and their erratics), 
with the more wide-spread and general features of the drift, that 
I have been able to trace in the White Mountains this summer. 
The limits of this paper will not allow me to do more than record 
the general facts, but I hope to give them hereafter more in 
detail and with fuller illustrations. The most difficult part of the 
investigation is the tracing of the erratics to their origin; it is far 
more intricate than the identification of the origin of ordinary 
drift, or of continuous moraines, because the solution of the prob- 
lem can only be reached under favorable circumstances where 
boulders of the same kind of each ean be followed, from distance 
to distance, to the ledge tn situ from which they were detached. 
Now, in the neighborhood of the White Mountains we find, beside 
the typical or northern drift, large erratic boulders, as well as 


232 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


lateral, frontal, and median moraines. A careful examination of 
these shows beyond a doubt that they came from the White 
Mountains, and not from the northern regions, since they overlie 
the typical drift which they have only here and there removed or 
modified. A short description of the facts will leave no doubt 
upon this point. 

‘¢ The finest lateral moraines in these regions may be seen along 
the hill-sides flanking the bed of. the south branch of the Amonoo- 
_ sue, north of the village of Franconia. The best median mo- 
raines are to the east of Picket Hill and Round Hill. These latter 
moraines were formed by the confluence of the glaciers which 
occupied the depression between Haystack and Mt. Lafayette, 
and that which descended from the northern face of Lafayette 
itself. These longitudinal moraines are particularly interesting 
as connecting the erratic boulders on the north side of the Fran- 
conia range with that mountain mass, and showing that they are 
not northern boulders transported southwards, but boulders from 
a southern range transported northwards. But by far the most 
sienificant facts showing the great extent of the local glaciers of 
the White Mountain range, as well as the most accessible and 
easily recognized, even by travellers not very familiar with glacial 
phenomena, are the terminal moraines to the north of Bethlehem 
village, between it and the northern bend of the Amonoosuc 
River. The lane starting from Bethlehem Street, following the 
cemetery for a short distance, and hence trending northwards, 
cuts 16 terminal moraines in a tract of about 2 miles. Some of 
these moraines are as distinct as any I know in Switzerland. 
They show unmistakably by their form that they were produced 
by the pressure of a glacier moving from south northwards. 
This is indicated by their abrupt southward slope, facing, that is, 
toward the Franconia range, while their northern face has a much 
gentler descent. The steeper slope of a moraine is always that 
resting against the glacier, while the outer side is comparatively 
little inclined. The form of these moraines, therefore, as well as 
their position, shows that they have come down from the Franconia 
Mountains.” 

After describing in detail the various local phenomena of glacial 
action in the various places in which they occur, he proceeds : — 

«All these moraines and traces of local glaciers overiie the typ- 
ical or northern. drift so-called, wherever the latter has not been 
entirely swept away by the local glaciers themselves; thus show- 
ing that the great ice-sheet is anterior to the local glaciers, and 
not formed by a spreading of smaller pre-existing glaciers. At 
least, wherever I have recognized traces of circumscribed glaciers 
in. regions where they no longer exist, it has always appeared to 
me that the minor areas covered by ice were remnants of a 
waning sheet of greater extent. If the glacial period set in by 
the enlargement of limited glaciers already formed and grad- 
ually spreading more and more widely, as Lyell and the geolo- 
gists of his school suppose, the facts which would justify such 
i view are still to be made known. I have not seen a trace 
of them anywhere. On the contrary, throughout the ranges 


GEOLOGY. 233 


of the Alps, in the Black Forest, the Vosges as well as 
the British Islands, in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, I have 
everywhere satisfied myself that the more extensive the glaciated 
areas, indicated by polished surfaces and moraines in any given 
locality, the older they are when compared with glacial phenom- 
ena circumscribed within narrower limits. It therefore follows, 
from the facts enumerated above, as well as from a general con- 
sideration of the subject, that the local glaciers of the White 
Mountains are of more recent date than the great ice-sheet which 
fashioned the typical drifts. On another occasion I hope to show 
that the action of the local glaciers of the White Mountains began 
to be circumscribed within the areas they have covered, after ‘the 
typical drift had, in consequence of the melting of the northern 
ice-sheet, been laid bare in the Middle States, in Massachusetts 
and Connecticut, after even the southern portions of Vermont, 
New Hampshire, and Maine had been freed, and when the White 
Mountains, the Adirondacks, and the Katahdin range were the 
only ice-clad peaks in this part of the continent. 

‘*When in theirturn the glaciers of the White Mountain region 
began to melt away, the freshets occasioned by the sudden large 
accumulation of water remodeled many of these moraines and 
carried off the minute materials they contained, to deposit them 
lower down in the shape of river terraces. I have recently satis- 
fied myself, by a careful examination, that all the river terraces of 
the Connecticut River valley and its tributaries, as well as those 
of the Merrimac and its tributaries, are deposits formed by the 
floods descending from the melting glaciers. What President 
Hitcheock has described as sea-beaches and ocean-bottoms near 
the White Mountain and Franconia Notches, as well as in the 
Connecticut River valley and along the Merrimac, have all the 
same origin. The ocean never was in contact with these depos- 
its, which nowhere contain any trace of marine organic remains.” 


IRON SAND ORES. 


In a paper before the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt said the presence of black iron 
sand upon many sea-beaches has long been noticed both in 
Europe and America. Their origin is to be found in the crystal- 
line rocks, from the disintegration of which these sands have 
been derived. The action of the waves, by virtue of the greater 
specific gravity of these sands, effects a process of concentration, 
so that considerable layers of nearly pure black sand are often 
found on shores exposed to wind and tide. These black sands 
vary in composition according to the localities, but as found on the 
coast of New England and the Gulf of St. Lawrence consist of 
magnetic oxide of iron, with a large admixture of titanic iron 
ore, and more or less carnet, the purest specimens holding from 
30 to 50 per cent. of magnetic grains. Such sands have long been 
employed as sources of iron in ‘India, in small furnaces where they 
are directly converted into malleable iron. Early in the last cen- 


20* 


934 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


tury the considerable quantities of these sands found on our 
Atlantie coast attracted the attention of the colonists and of scien- 
tific men in England, and the Virginia sand-iron, as it was called, 
Was the subject of many experiments. The first successful 
attempts at working it were, however, made in Killingworth, 
Conn., where the Rey. Jabez Elliot, grandson of the celebrated 
John Elliot, the apostle of the Indians, early turned his attention 
to the abundant black sands of the coast, and succeeded in treat- 
ing them in a forge fire similar to the German forge of the modern 
American bloomary fire. It appears from his account laid before 
the Royal Society of London, in 1761, that he was then making 
iron blooms of 50 pounds’ weight from this ore, and that his son had 
already established a steel factory in Killingworth, when an act 
of the British Parliament forbade the manufacture of steel in the 
colonies. The London Society of Arts in 1761 awarded a medal 
to Mr. Eliiot for his discovery. The working, however, was 
abandoned, and for a century no attempts were made in Amer- 
ica to use these sands. Some 4 years since the large quantities 
of them in the lower St. Lawrence attracted attention, and 
successful trials were made for their reduction in the bloomary 
fires of Northern New York, after which an establishment for 
working them was erected at Morsie, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
where, under the direction of skilled workmen from Lake Cham- 
plain, the treatment of these iron sands has been successfully 
carried on. These sand ores are remarkably free from both 
sulphur and phosphorus, and hence yield an iron of great purity 
and toughness. The working is effected in furnaces like those 
used on Lake Champlain, and presents no difficulties. 


THE PHOSPHATE BEDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 


The following extract is from a paper read before the Boston 
Society of Natural History, by Prof. N. 8. Shaler: — 

‘¢'The bed of phosphate of lime lies immediately on the top of 
the ‘marls of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers,’ as they have been 
generally termed, though these beds are not limited to the basins 
of these streams. The whole of the workable material lies in a 
single bed, from 6 inches to 38 feet in thickness. Although it va- 
ries in its chemical and fossil components, it retains everywhere 
certain marked features. It is always more or less nodular; the 
nodules vary much in size, some being no larger than a pea, some 
a foot or more in diameter. These nodules contain, generally, 
one or more fragments of shells or corals, apparently all Eocene 
species, which seem to have been the aggregating points of the 
matter contained in the nodule. So far as my knowledge goes, 
there have been few, if any, nodules found containing traces of 
vertebrate remains. Many of the nodules show traces of wear- 
ing, not exactly what would be expected from their being rolled 
as by a stream, but the style of wear which comes from being 
stamped and trodden on. The appearance of the worn surfaces 
reminds me of that seen on fragments of bone from Big Bone 


GEOLOGY. IS5 


Lick, which have been ground by the trampling of the large 
pachyderms and ruminants which frequented that swamp. Some- 
times these nodules do not make up more than a considerable 
fraction of the bed, the remainder being sand, pebbles, or the 
marl of the character found on the bed beneath. Again, the 
nodules are so crowded in the bed that they are soldered together 
into one mass, with scarce any interspaces between the separate 
concretions. 

**Mingled with the concretions there is found a very variable 
quantity of fossil vertebrate remains; by far the greater part of 
these consist of exceedingly worn fragments of cetacean bones 
and sharks’ teeth and vertebrae, both clearly of the same species 
as those found lower down in the marls in the same section. 
Mingled with these, but comparatively rarely found, are the bones 
of a fossil horse, pig, mastodon, and bones and utensils of man. 
These last-named fossils are almost always in a state of preserva- 
tion, widely different from that of the remains of the cetaceans 
and selachians with which they are mingled. Their appearance 
indicates a comparatively recent inhumation. 

‘*Chemical analysis shows us that the nodules of this deposit 
contain the greatest quantity of phosphate of lime, the quantity 
varying at different points from 40 to nearly 70 per cent. The 
first and most natural seeming explanation of the large amount 
of this salt is, that it is derived from the bones and excrements of 
the animals whose remains are found in the bed. But the points 
where the most bones are found are not those where the phos- 
phate deposit is thickest or richest. At Chisholm’s Island, on the 
waters of St. Helena Sound, where the bed has the greatest de- 
velopment yet discovered, and where the analysis shows more 
phosphoric acid than at some of the localities the richest in bones, 
the remains of vertebrate animais are very rarely found. It is 
not too much to say that at this locality not 1 part in 10,000 of 
the mass is composed of vertebrate remains. Nor can we assume 
that the mass of phosphoric acid has been furnished by the decay 
of bones which have been utterly broken down; in that case we 
should have the remaining bones showing all degrees of preser- 
vation. This, however, is not the case; the fragments, though 
usually much worn, retain their structure very well. Although I 
went upon the ground with a disposition to regard the beds as the 
result of the decay of vertebrate remains, the general character 
of the deposit soon compelled me to seek some other explanation 
of its origin. 

‘‘It has been suggested by a distinguished ehemist, that the 
deposit was the result of the submergence of a great guano area, 
during which submergence the bones of marine animals became 
mingled with the mass. There are several objections to this 
view: in the first place, no remains of birds have been found in 
the deposit, though fossils quite as likely to be destroyed are well 
preserved there. Then it is difficult to see how in the immediate 
past this swampy shore could have been the breeding-place of the 
quantities of birds which would have been required to have accu- 
mulated these phosphates, nor could we suppose that the climate 


236 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


of this shore could have been at the time of the deposition of the 
phosphates so different from what it is at present, as would have 
been required to produce the dry conditions essential to the accu- 
mulation of a guano deposit. 

‘¢ There is another view of the origin of these phosphate beds, 
which, so far as my knowledge goes, has not yet been suggested, 
and which, it seems to me, solves a part of the difficulties. 

‘¢The phosphate layer rests upon a mass of marl containing a 
number of fossils which are found in a worn condition mingled 
with the phosphate nodules. The analyses of Dr. St. Julien 
Ravenel have shown that at several points beneath the phosphate 
beds the marl contains several per cent. of phosphate of lime, and 
it may be assumed as eminently probable that the whole of.the 
marl beneath the region where the phosphate beds occur contains 
a certain quantity of this material, mingled with the carbonate of 
lime which constitutes the mass. Now it is a well-known fact 
that water containing carbonic-acid gas in solution has a solvent 
action upon both these salts of lime, but that its power is greatest 
on the carbonate of lime. So that a mass of marl containing both 
these materials, submitted to the action of water charged with 
carbonic acid, might have the carbonate of lime entirely removed, 
and the mass left behind when the solvent action ceased might 
consist almost altogether of the phosphate of lime. 

“Tf we look a moment at the conditions which prevail in the 
phosphate region, we shall see that with this view we can easily 
frame an explanation of the formation of this phosphate layer. 
The usual section through these beds gives us on top a layer of 
vegetable matter and soil containing humus, through which the 
water percolating becomes charged with carbonic acid; then the 
phosphate layer; immediately beneath that the marl containing 
phosphates, which is only slightly permeable to water. Soaking 
over this marl the water becomes charged with carbonate of lime 
and some phosphate, which it carries away in the drainage system 
of the country. This process, going on for centuries, gradually 
dissolves away a great thickness of the marl, and gives, as in the 
capping bed, an accumulation made up of fossils from the wasted 
beds, which resisted decay, and could not be washed away; of 
phosphates which became aggregated into nodules; of remains 
of man and other recent animals, which, falling in the swamp, 
sank through the soft bog and became trampled in among the 
nodules by the living animals which inhabited this low land. 

‘Great freshets might lay down several feet of clay and sand 
or some rearranged marl on top of the phosphate layer, thus con- 
fusing the record, by making the remains of man and extinct 
animals associated with his early history in this region seem a 
part of the ancient marl beds. 

‘*Looking upon the phosphate layer as the débris of a large 
amount of eroded marl, it is no longer a difficult matter to account 
for the association of fossils found there, which would be inexpli- 
cable without some theory of this kind.” 

As to the manner of accounting for the presence of phosphoric 
acid in the marls in such quantity and so regularly disseminated, 


GEOLOGY. 237 


Prof. Shaler says that no perfectly satisfactory explanation has 
yet been offered. He seems, however, to incline towards an 
hypothesis similar to that offered by Sterry Hunt to account for 
the massive apatite beds of the early paleozoic rocks; namely, 
the action of quantities of unarticulated brachiopods separating 
emvey nate of lime from the waters of the sea. In this connection 
he says 

“We ‘know that some of the pteropod mollusks, forms which 
are frequently abundant in the ocean at great distances from the 
land, have a composition not materially ditferent from that of 
bones. It has even been stated, though I do not yet know by 
what authority, that some of the marine algz contain a large per 
cent. of phosphate of lime. The fact of the existence of this 
material in a number of the inferior organizations of the sea 
makes it, in most cases, more reasonable to account for the for- 
mation of extensive masses of phosphate beds by the deposition 
of the remains of invertebrate species, than to suppose that they 
were accamulated by vertebrate animals.” — Proc. Boston Soc. 
Nat. Hist. 


SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE BASIN OF THE GREAT LAKES. 


Dr. Newberry, in a paper on the ‘‘Surface Geology of the 
Basin of the Great Lakes and the Valley of the Mississippi,” says : — 

“¢The most important facts which the study of the drift phenom- 
ena of this region have brought to light are briefly as follows : — 

** 1st. In the northern half of this area down to the parallels 
of 38°-40° we find not everywhere, but in most localities where 
the nature of the underlying rock is such as to retain inscriptions 
made upon them, the upper surface of these rocks planed, fur- 
rowed, or exeavated ina peculiar and striking manner. No one 
who has seen glaciers, and noticed the effect they produce on the 
rocks over which they move, will fail to pronounce these markings 
the tracks of glaciers. Though having a general nort th-south 
direction, locally the glacial furrows have. very different bearings, 
conforming in a rude - way to the present topography, and follow- 
ing the direction of the great lines of drainage. 

“2d, Some of the valleys and channels which bear the mark 

of glacial action are excavated far below the present lakes and 
water-courses which occupy them. These valleys form a con- 
nected system of drainage at a lower level than the present river 
system, and lower than “could be produced without a continental 
elevation of several hundred feet.” As examples of this Dr. 
Newberry cites among others the following: An old excavated, 
now-filled channel, connects Lakes Erie and Huron, the rock sur- 
face at Detroit being 130 feet below the city; an excavated trough 
runs south from Lake Michigan, penetrated at Bloomington, Il., 
to the depth of 280 feet ; the rovk bottoms of the troug! is of the 
Mississippi and Missouri near their junction, or below, have never 
been reached. The borings for oil in the valleys of the western 
rivers have afforded opportunity for demonstrating the existence 


238 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


of buried channels of excavation, and sometimes data enough 
from which to map them out. Many other similar instances might 
be adduced. 

«© 3d. Upon the glacial surface we find a series of unconsoli- 
dated materials, generally stratified, called the drift deposits. 

‘©Ath. Above the Erie clays are sands of variable thickness 
and less widely spread than the underlying clays. 

“*5th. Upon the stratified clays, sand, and gravel are scattered 
boulders and blocks of various sizes of metamorphic and eruptive 
rocks, generally traceable to some locality north of the lakes. 

‘6th. Above all these drift deposits, und more recent than 
any of them, are the lake ridges, embankments of sand, gravel, 
ete., which run imperfectly parallel to the present outlines of the 
lake margins. 

“*The history which I derive from the facts cited above is 
briefly this : — 

‘¢1st. That in a period probably synchronous with the glacial 
epoch of Europe, —at least corresponding to it in the sequence 
of events, —the northern half of the continent of North America 
had a climate comparable with that of Greenland; so cold that 
wherever there was a copious precipitation of moisture from 
oceanic evaporation, that moisture was congealed, and formed 
glaciers, which flowed by various routes towards the sea. 

«2d. That the courses of these ancient glaciers corresponded 
in a general way with the present channels of drainage. The 
direction of the glacier furrows proves that one of the ice-rivers 
flowed from Lake Huron, along a channel now filled with drift 
and known to be at least 150 ft. deep, into Lake Erie, which 
was then not a lake, but an excavated valley, into which the 
streams of Northern Ohio flowed 100 feet or more below the 
present lake level. Following the line of the major axis of Lake 
Erie to near its eastern extremity, here turning north-east, this 
elacier passed through some channel on the Canadian side, now 
filled up, into Lake Ontario, and thence found its way to the sea, 
either by the St. Lawrence, or by the Mohawk and Hudson. 
Another glacier occupied the bed of Lake Michigan, having an 
outlet southward through a channel,—now conce aled by the heavy 
beds of drift which occupy the surface about the south end of the 
lake, — passing near Bloomington, Ill., and, by some route yet 
unknown, reaching the trough of the Mississippi, which was 
then much deeper than at present. 

«© 3d. At this period the continent must have been several hun- 
dred feet higher than now, as is proved by the deeply excavated 
channels of the Columbia, Golden Gate, Mississippi, Hudson, etc., 
which never could have been cut by the streams now occupying 
them unless flowing with greater rapidity and at a lower level 
than they now do.” 

With regard to the surface boulders, Dr. Newberry says :— 

‘“There is indeed no other conclusion deducible from the facts 
than that these sands, gravels, greenstone and other boulders 
have been floated to their resting-places, and that the floating 
agent has been ice in the form of icebergs; in short, that these 


GEOLOGY. 239 


materials have been transported and scattered over the bottom 
and along the south shore of our ancient inland sea, just as 
similar materials are now being scattered over the banks and 
shores of Newfoundland. 

‘¢ These boulders include representations of nearly all the rocks of 
the Lake Superior country, conspicuous among which are granites 
with rose-colored orthoclase, gray gneiss and diorites, all charac- 
teristic of the Laurentian series; hornblendic rocks, massive and 
schistose, and dark greenish or bluish silicious slates, probably 
from the Huronian dolorites, and masses of native copper, appar- 
ently from the Keweenaw Point copper region. 

‘¢In the drift gravels I have found pebbles and small boulders 
of nearly all the palzozoic rocks of the lake basin containing 
their characteristic fossils, namely, Calciferous sandstone with 
Maclurea; Trenton and Hudson with Ambonychia radiata, Cyrto- 
lites ornatus; Medina with Pleurotomaria litorea; Corniferous with 
Conocardium trigonale, Atrypa reticularis, Favosites polymorpha ; 
Hamilton with Spirifer mucronatus, etc.” 

In remarks on the origin of the great lakes, Dr. Newberry 
states, as ‘* facts and deductions :”’— 

‘¢ Ist. Lake Superior lies in a synclinal trough, and its mode of 
formation therefore hardly admits of question, though its sides 
are deeply scored with ice-marks, and its form and area may have 
been somewhat modified by this agent. 

‘©2d. Lakes Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario are excavated 
basins, wrought out of once continuous sheets of sedimentary 
strata by a mechanical agent, and that ice or water or both.”— 
Annals Lyceum Natural History, New York, 1869. 


POST—TERTIARY PHENOMENA. 


Prof. Winchell, of the Michigan Geological Survey, read a paper 
at the Troy meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science upon the Post-Tertiary Phenomena in Michigan. 
The paper, he said, was intended simply to make note of three 
classes of phenomena recently observed in Michigan. The first 
note was in reference to the relics found in and beneath the numer- 
ous peat-beds of the State. These beds are the sites of ancient 
lakelets that have been slowly filled by the accumulation of sedi- 
ments. They enclose numerous remains of the mastodon and 
mammoth. These are sometimes found so near the surface that 
one could believe they have been buried within 500 or 1,000 
years. For the first time, too, the remains of the gigantic extinet 
beaver of North America have been recently found in Michigan. 
What is perhaps most interesting of all is the discovery of a flint 
arrow-head in a similar situation. This arrow-head was found 7 
feet beneath the surface, in a ditch excavated in the southern part 
of Washtenaw County. The mastodon remains found near 
Tecumseh, but afew miles distant, lay but 24 feet beneath the sur- 
face. The Adrian mastodon was buried but 3 feet deep. 

The second note made related to the occurrence of enormous 


240 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


beds of bog-iron ore in the upper peninsula of Michigan, on the 
tributaries of the Monistique River. It occurs in a half-desiccated 
bog-covering several townships. It is of remarkable purity, and 
great but unknown depth. It lies directly in the track of the 
projected railroad intended to connect the Northern Pacific Raii- 
road with the railroad system of Michigan. The ore can be 
floated down the Monistique and its tributaries to Lake Michigan, 
in the immediate vicinity of an excellent harbor. This immense 
deposit is undoubtedly derived from the disintegration of the 
hematites and magnetites of the contiguous region on the west. 
The ore will possess great value for mixing with the other Lake 
Superior ores. 

The third note made was on the discovery of an ancient outlet 
of Lake Superior. Following the White Fish River from the 
head of Little Bay de Noe, we find it occupying a broad and deep 
valley, walled in on both sides by limestone cliffs attaining an 
elevation of 120 feet. The head-waters of this river literaliy 
interlace with those of the Au Train River, which runs north into 
Lake Superior. Here is a vast valley of erosion but little elevated 
in any part above the present level of Lake Superior. Through 
this the waters of that lake must have flowed in a powerful stream 
in that earlier epoch when all the lakes stood from 50 to 300 feet 
higher than at present. There are many evidences of glacier 
action along this valley. The strix at Marquette, near the head 
of the valley, point north and south. In short, the evidences lead 
to the conviction that a vast glacier stream once traversed this 
valley, and was probably the agency by which it was excavated. 
Little Bay de Noc is but the prolongation of this valley at a lower 
level; and, indeed, the whole basin of Green Bay seems to be 
but a phenomenon of erosion belonging to the epoch of the same 
glacier system. 


THE MAUVAISES TERRES IN COLORADO. 


Prof. Marsh, in a letter to Prof. Dana, dated Aug. 12, 1870, 
says :— 

‘«The scientific expedition from Yale College, while recently 
examining the geology of northern Colorado, discovered an 
extensive outcrop of the true Mauvaises Terres, or White River 
formation, at a point nearly 200 miles south of the region where 
it had been previously identified.- The locality first detected, 
which contained all the characteristic fossils of this deposit, was 
on one of the branches of the Little Crow Creek, about 5 miles 
south of the Wyoming State line. The strata there observed 
consisted of at least 150 feet of light-colored clays, overlaid by 
conglomerates and sandstones about 200 feet in thickness. The 
lower portions of the clays are the true Titanotherium beds, con- 
taining many remains of the Titanotherium Proutii. Above these 
are similar clay deposits, corresponding closely in age with those 
on the White River, and marked by abundant remains of Oreodon 
Culbertsoni, Testudo Nebrascensis, Helix Leidyana, and many 


GEOLOGY. 241 


other fossils which characterize that horizon. Associated with 
these were found several new species of mammals and birds. 

«This interesting series of fresh-water tertiary strata lies 
almost horizontal, dipping apparently, but very slightly, towards 
the north-east. It probably forms the south-west border of the 
great Miocene Lake Basin east of the Rocky Mountains, which 
is so remarkable for its extinct animalremains. Our party traced 
the same formation with its more common fossils about 30 miles 
north-east into Wyoming, along the hills known as Chalk Bluffs, 
and still farther north in the Pine Bluff range.”— Amer. Jour. 
Science, September, 1870. 


GOLD AND SILVER MINES OF COLORADO. 


The gold and silver lodes of this territory, so far as they are 
observed, are entirely composed of the gneissic and granitic rocks, 
possibly of the age of the Laurentian series of Canada. At any 
rate, all the gold-bearing rocks about Central City are most 
distinctly @neissic, while those containing silver, at Georgetown, 
are both gneissic and granitic. The mountains in which the 
Baker, Brown, Coin, Terrible, and some other rich lodes are 
located is composed mostly of gneissic and reddish feldspathic 
granite, while the Leavenworth and McClellan Mountains, equally 
rich in silver, are composed of banded gneiss with the lines of 
bedding or stratification very distinct. . 

There is an important question that suggests itself to one 
attempting to study the mines of Colorado, and that is the cause 
of the wonderful parallelism of the lodes, the greater portion of 
them taking one general direction or strike, north-east and 
south-west. We must at once regard the cause as deep-seated 
and general, for we find most of the veins or lodes are true 
fissures, and do not diminish in richness as they are sunk deeper 
into the earth. All these lodes have more or less clearly defined 
walls, and some of them are quite remarkable for their smooth- 
ness and regularity. We assume the position that the filling up 
of all these lodes or veins with mineral matter was an event sub- 
sequent to any change that may have occurred in the country 
rock. Now, if we look carefully at all the azoic rock in this 
region, we shall find more or less distinctly defined, depending 
upon the structure of the rock itself, two planes of clearage, 
one of them with a strike north-east and south-west, and the 
other south-east and north-west. Besides these two sets of 
cleavage planes, there are in most cases distinct lines of bedding. 
The question arises, What relation do these veins hold to these 
lines of cleavage? Is it not possible that they occupy these 
cleavage openings in lines of greatest weakness ? 

I have taken the direction of these two sets of cleavage planes 
many times with a compass, over a large area, and very seldom 
do they diverge to any great extent from these two directions, 
north-east and south-west or south-east and north-west. In some 
instances the north-west and south-east plane would flex around 

21 


242 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


so as to strike north and south, and the other one so as to trend 
east and west; but this is quite seldom, and never occurs unless 
there has been some marked disturbance of the rocks. There 
are, however, a few lodes which are called ‘‘ east and west 
lodes,” and some ‘‘ north and south.” <A few have a strike north- 
west and south-east, but are generally very narrow andbreak off 
from the north-east and south-west lodes, are very rich for a time, 
and then pinch out. It would seem, therefore, quite possible that 
the north-east and south-west veins took the lines of cleavage in 
that direction as lines of greatest weakness, and that the north- 
west and south-east lines cross the other set, and that a portion of 
the mineral matter might accumulate in that cleavage fissure. I 
merely throw out this as a hint at this time which I wish to 
follow out in my future studies. Iam inclined to believe that the 
problem of the history of the Rocky Mountain ranges is closely 
connected with these two great sets of cleavage lines. As I have 
before stated, my own observations point to the conclusion that 
the general strike of the metamorphic ranges of mountains is 
north-west and south-east, and that the eruptive trend north-east | 
and south-west. The dikes, that sometimes extend lon& distances 
across the plains, in all cases trend north-east and south-west, or, 
occasionally, east and west. The purely eruptive ranges of the 
northern portion of the San Luis Valley seem to be composed of 
a series of minor ranges en échelon with a trend north-east and 
south-west. But as soon as this range joins on to a range with a 
metamorphic or granitic nucleus, the trend changes around to 
north-west and south-east. Many of the ranges have a nucleus of 
metamorphic rocks, though the central and highest portions may 
be composed of eruptive peaks and ridges. In this case the 
igneous material is thrust up in lines of the same direction as the 
trend. It becomes, therefore, evident that all the operations of 
the eruptive forces were an event subsequent to the elevation of 
the metamorphic nucleus. This is shown in hundreds of instances 
in Colorado and New Mexico, where the eruptive material is 
oftentimes forced out over the metamorphic rocks, concealing 
them over large areas. 

All over the mining districts are well-marked anticlinal, syn- 
clinal, and what I have called monoclinal valleys. Nearly all the 
little streams flow a portion or all their way through these mono- 
clinal valleys or rifts. In most cases the streams pass along 
these rifts from source to mouth, but occasionally one bursts through 
the upheaved ridges at right angles, and resumes its course again 
in some monoclinal opening. 

In these valleys are oftentimes accumulated immense deposits 
of modern drift. The upper side of this drift deposit is fine sand, 
but the materials grow coarser as we descend, until, at the lower 
side, there are immense irregular or partially worn masses of 
granite. On the sides of the valley the rocks are often much 
smoothed and grooved as if by floating masses ef ice. We 
assume the position, of which there is most ample evidence all 
over the Rocky Mountain region, that at a comparatively modern 
geological period the temperature was very much lower than at 


GEOLOGY. | 243 


present, admitting of the accumulation of vast bodies of ice on the 
summit of. the mountains. The valley of the South Platte, as 
that stream flows through the range east of the South Park, show 
not only these accumulations of very coarse boulder drift, but, 
when this drift is stripped off, the underlying rocks are found 
smoothed and in some instances scratched as if by floating ice- 
bergs. —F’. V. Hayden, in the Preliminary Field-Report of the 
U. S. Geological Survey of Colorado and New Mexico, Washington, 
1869, page 87. 


VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE. 


The broad intermediate space between the range of mountains 
which form the east side of the Valley of the Rio Grande and the 
Sierra Madre —a main range of the Rocky Mountains, which 
gives origin to the waters of the Pacific streams— is covered 
with rounded hills, detached ranges, etc., all of which are basal- 
tic. The two rounded hills, which are very marked, situated 
nearly opposite to each other on opposite sides of the Rio Grande, 
Cerro de la Utas, and Cerro San Antonio, are, it seems to me, 
old craters or fissures out of which issued the melted material 
which overflowed the sides, and time has weathered the whole 
mass into its present beautiful rounded form. At this time they 
look like gigantic mamme. 

I am inclined to regard the Valley of the Rio Grande as one 
ereat crater, including within its rim a vast number of smaller 
craters and dikes, out of which has been poured at some time a 
continuous sheet or mass of melted material. All the valleys, 
small and great, give evidence that they have been worn out of 
this vast mesa. The Rio Grande, from its source in the San 
Juan Mountains to Albuquerque, flows along its banks through 
basaltic rocks to a greater or less extent, andas we go northward - 
from it these rocks disappear in part. —/’. V. Hayden, ibid., p.72. 


GEOLOGY OF THE VALLEY OF THE AMAZONS. 


The following paragraph, with reference to the sandstones and 
clays of the Valley of the Amazons,* is taken from Agassiz’ 
Journey in Brazil: — 

‘*The question now arises, How were these vast deposits 
formed? The easiest answer, and the one which most readily 
suggests itself, is that of a submersion of the continent at success- 
ive periods to allow the accumulation of these materials, and its 
subsequent elevation. I reject this explanation for the simple 
reason that the deposits show no sign whatever of a marine origin. 
No sea-shells, nor remains of any marine animal, have as yet been 
found throughout their whole extent over a region several thou- 


* For the views of Prof. Agassiz on the Geological History of the Valley of 
the Amazons see the Journey in Brazil, by Prof. and Mrs. Agassiz, Boston, 
1868, p. 398 and following. See, also, “‘ Annual of Scientific Discovery,” 1867, p. 
270 and following. - 


244. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


sand miles in length, and from 500 to 700 miles in width. It is 
contrary to all our knowledge of geological deposits to suppose 
that an ocean basin of this size, which must have been submerged 
during an immensely long period in order to accumulate forma- 
tions of such a thickness, should not contain numerous remains of 
the animals formerly inhabiting it. The only fossil remains of any 
kind truly belonging to it, which I have found in the formation, 
are leaves taken from the lower clays on the banks of the Soli- 
modes at Tonantins; and these show a vegetation similar in 
general character to that which prevails there to-day. Evidently, 
then, this basin was a fresh-water basin; these deposits are fresh- 
water deposits. But as the Valley of the Amazons exists to-day, 
it is widely open to the ocean in the east, with a gentle slope from 
the Andes to the Atlantic, determining a powerful seaward cur- 
rent. When these vast accumulations took place the basin must 
have been closed; otherwise the loose materials would constantly 
have been carried down to the ocean. It is my belief that all 
these deposits belong to the ice-period in its earlier or later phases, 
and to this cosmic winter, which, judging from all the phenomena 
connected with it, may have lasted for thousands of centuries, we 
must look for the key to the geological history of the Amazonian 
Valley.” . . . ‘‘Is it so improbable that in this epoch of 
universal cold the Valley of the Amazons also had its glacier 
poured down into it from the accumulations of snow in the Cor- 
dilleras, and swollen laterally by the tributary glaciers descend- 
ing from the table-lands of Guiana and Brazil? The movement 
of this immense glacier must have been eastward; determined as 
well by the vast reservoirs of snow in the Andes as by the direc- 
tion of the valley itself. It must have ploughed the valley bot- 
tom over and over again, grinding all the materials beneath it 
into a fine powder, or reducing them to small pebbles, and it must 
have accumulated at its lower end a moraine of proportions as 
gigantic as its own; thus building a colossal sea-wall across the 
mouth of the valley. I shall be asked at once whether I have 
found here also the glacial inscriptions, — the furrows, striz, and 
polished surfaces so characteristic of the ground over which 
glaciers have travelled. I answer, not a trace of them; for the 
simple reason that there is not a natural rock surface to be found 
throughout the whole Amazonian valley. The rocks themselves 
are of so friable a nature, and the decomposition caused by the 
warm torrential rains and by exposure to the burning sun of the 
tropics so great and unceasing, that it is hopetess to look for 
marks which in colder climates and on harder substances are pre- 
served through ages unchanged. With the exception of the 
rounded surfaces, so well known in Switzerland as the roches 
moutonnées, which may be seen in many localities, and the 
boulders of Ereré, the direct traces of glacial action as seen in 
other countries are wanting in Brazil. Iam, indeed, quite willing 
to admit that, from the nature of the circumstances, I have not 
here that positive evidence which has guided me in my previous 
glacial investigations. My conviction in this instance is founded, 
first, on the materials in the Amazonian valley which correspond 


GEOLOGY. 245 


exactly in their character to materials accumulated in glacier bot- 
toms; secondly,.in the resemblance of the upper or third Ama- 
zonian formation to the Rio drift, of the glacial origin of which 
there cannot, in my opinion, be any doubt; thirdly, in the fact 
that these fresh-water basins must’ have been closed against the 
sea by some powerful barrier, the removal of which would natu- 
rally give an inlet to the waters, and cause the extraordinary 
denudations, the evidences of which meet us everywhere through- 
out the valley.” . 

Professor James Orton differs from Agassiz altogether in his 
views of this formation. He says: — 

‘* Tt is a question to what period this great accumulation is to 
be assigned. Humboldt called it Old’ Red Sandstone; Martius 
pronounced it New Red; Agassiz says Drift,—the glacial de- 
posit brought down from the Andes and worked over by the 
melting of the ice which transported it. The professor further 
declares that ‘these deposits are fresh-water deposits; they show 
no sign of a marine origin; no sea-shells nor remains of any 
marine animal have as yet been found throughout their whole 
extent; tertiary deposits have never been observed in any part 
of the Amazonian basin.’ It is true that neither Bates, Wallace, 
nor Agassiz found any marine fossils on the banks of the great 
river, but these explorers ascended no farther than Tabatinga. 
Two hundred miles west of this fort is the little village of Pebas, 
at the confluence of the Ambiyacu. In the high bank on which 
the village stands, I discovered a fossiliferous bed interstratified 
with the variegated clays so peculiar to the Amazon. It was 
crowded with marine tertiary shells. The species, as determined 
by W. M. Gabb, Esq., of Philadelphia, are Neritina pupa, Turbon- 
ila minuscula, Mesalia Ortoni, Tellina Amazonensis, Pachydon (gen. 
nov.) obliqua, and Pachydon tenua. It is a singular fact that the 
Neritina is now living in the West India waters, and the species 
found at Pebas retains its pecaliar markings; so that we have 
some ground for the supposition that not many years ago there 
Was a connection between the Caribbean Sea and the upper 
Amazon; in other words, that Guiana has only very lately ceased 
to be an island. Interstratified with the clay deposit are seams 
of a highly bituminous lignite; we traced it from near the mouth 
of the Curaray on the Rio Napo to Loreto on the Marafion, —a 
distance of about 400 miles. It occurs also at Iquitos. This is 
further testimony against the glacial theory of the formation of 
the Amazonian valley. The paucity of shells in such avast de- 
‘posit is not astonishing. It is remarkable in the similar accumu- 
lation of reddish argillaceous earth, called Pampean mud, which 
overspreads the Rio Plata region. Some of the Pampa shells, 
like those at Pebas, are proper to brackish water, and occur only 
on the highest banks. The Pampean formation is believed by Mr. 
Darwin to be an estuary or delta deposit.”— Orton. — The Andes 
and the Amazon. New York, 1870, page 378 and following; and 
Proceedings Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., XVI. (1869), pages 195-199. 

At the meeting of the American Association at Troy, 1870, 
Professor Orton exhibited specimens of shells which have since 

21* 


246 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


been found by Mr. Huxwell and others at different localities, 
among other places at a point on the Maranon, 30 miles below 
Pebas. They seem to be chiefly of species inhabiting brackish 
waters. 

Prof. Hartt also differs from Prof. Agassiz in his interpretation 
of the Amazonian geology. While recognizing with him the 
former existence of glaciers under the tropics, he considers the 
clay and sandstone deposits as tertiary in age, and as contempo- 
raneous with similar formations in other parts of Brazil where 
they are overlaid by the true drift. 


BRAZILIAN GEOLOGY. 


The eozoic rocks are represented by gneisses, of which the dis- 
tribution is very general and the extent enormous. Asa rule the 
gneiss, which on the east is coarse and porphyritic, becomes 
finer as one proceeds westward, and is generally overlaid by mica 
slates or mica-schistose gneiss. This is certainly the oldest rock 
formation of the Brazilian plateau. Dr. Hunt has examined a 
large series of rocks brought from Brazil by Prof. Hartt, and 
finds that they are very similar in character to the Laurentian 
rocks of North America. With this formation the Brazilian 
gneisses also agree in the presence of interstratified beds of 
limestone and in the absence of clay-slates. The rocks in the 
northern provinces have been but slightly examined, and the study 
of those of the southern provinces is attended with difficulty on 
account of the extent to which the rocks are decomposed. The 
exact succession of the different members of the metamorphic 
series lying just inside of the gneiss belt has not been satisfacto- 
rily worked out. The clay and talcose schists, the itacolumite, 
itaribite, and other associated metamorphic rocks of this region 
appear to be lower palzeozoic in age. The gold-bearing rocks in 
Minas Geraes resemble the similar atiriferous series of the south- 
ern Atlantic States, in which itacolumite occurs. The meta- 
morphism-has been so extensive that all traces of fossils have 
been obliterated. Most of these rocks are probably Silurian, al- 
though some of them may be Devonian. 

The carboniferous rocks are developed to a slight extent in the 
southern part of Brazil, the coal-beds being a coast formation, but 
slightly disturbed and ofa bituminous character. The triassic is 
represented by a series of red sandstones, lithologically identical 
with the Connecticut River sandstones. There is no trap asso- 
ciated with them as far as yet observed. The cretaccous rocks 
begin a few miles south of the Bay of Bahia, and extend at inter- 
vals along the coast to the northward. It is difficult to estimate 
the exact extent, as they are covered by tertiary beds. They 
probably underlie the tertiary deposits of the whole valley of the 
Amazons. The clays and ferruginous sandstones forming the coast 
plains overlying unconformably the ecretaceous and covered by 
the drift clays, Professor Hartt refers to the tertiary, although no 
fossils have been found. ‘To the same formation, though of later 


GEOLOGY. 247 


age, he refers the horizontal beds of clays and sandstones of the 
Jequitinhonha and Sao Francisco valley, which lie undisturbed on 
upheaved cretaceous rocks, and which are also covered by drift 
clay. These beds must have been deposited when the continent 
stood 3,000 feet lower than at present, the material being derived 
from the decomposed gneissic rocks, and deposited rapidly in a 
muddy sea unfit for animal life. 

The next formation, which is very wide-spread, is composed of a 
layer of red clay, overlying as a general rule a layer of quartz 
pebbles, varying in degree of firmness, and occasionally there are 
intermingled fragments of gneiss, trap, or tertiary sandstone. 
This sheet of structureless clays, gravels, and boulder deposits 
stretching along the whole*coast, and covering alike the coast 
tertiary plains, the elevated campus, and the serras from bottom 
to top, is referred by Professor Agassiz to the drift, and in this 
opinion he is sustained by Professor Hartt. All Rio de Janeiro, 
and all the coast provinces visited by the latter, were thus covered. 
It has been described in Minaes Geraes and Sao Paulo, and, 
according to Professor Agassiz, it exists in various localities on the 
coast, north of Pernambuco, and in the valley of the Amazons, 
westward to the confines of Peru. In the province of Bahia 
there are extensive bare, elevated rocky plains thickly strewn 
with angular blocks of stone, some of which are erratics and 
exactly resemble the drift-covered plains of the north. On similar 
elevated plains, far removed from any higher land, Mr. J. A. 
Allen (another member of the Thayer Expedition) found numer- 
ous deep and smooth pot-holes worn in solid gneiss. They were 
of various sizes, the largest seen being elliptical, 18 feet long by 
10 wide and 27 feet deep. Similar pot-holes are known to be 
formed by glacial water-falls, and they are found over the glaci- 
ated regions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Heaps of 
débris, exactly resembling glacial moraines in the valley of 
Tijuea near Rio, and Professor Agassiz has described others still 
more perfect in Ceara, only 4 or 5 degrees south of the equator. 

Professor Hartt thus states his belief in regard to the drift 
deposits: ‘‘ I believe that during the time of the drift the country 
stood ata much higher level than at present, and that it was cov- 
ered by a general glacier. Over the coast region, where de- 
composition of the rocks had largely obtained, and where the 
surface of the rock, rendered even by this agent, had been covered 
by a thick layer of loose material, the glacier reworked this 
loose material, and when it disappeared left it as a paste, in 
which tbe harder materials, such as fragments from quartz 
veins, more or less rounded, were embedded. The layer 
of quartz pebbles underlying the paste appears to have consisted 
of coarser fragments borne along by the bottom of the glacier, 
while the paste seems to have been more or less distributed 
through the body of the glacier. In the drift paste I have never 
seen organic remains of any kind.” 

Mode of Occurrence of Diamonds. — In speaking of the diamond- 
washing at Pitanga, Professor Hartt says: ‘* The diamonds appear 
tome to come from the tertiary beds of the neighboring hills; and 
this seems to be the opinion of Mr. Nicolay, who shows that the 


248 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


diamonds of the Chapada Diamantina came from a conglomerate 
and sandstone, which, from his description and specimens, appears 
to be a tertiary rock of the same kirfd as that which forms the 
chapadas of the vailey of the’Jequitinhonha. There is no itacol- 
umite in the vicinity of Pitanga. The gravel is made up prin- 
cipally of fragments of quartz and of pebbles of a sandstone like 
that of the tertiary chapada, though somewhat harder than the 
kind usually seen along the road. I do not believe that the 
diamond ever occurs in the true paleeozoic itacolumite in Brazil, 
but that it is derived from the tertiary sandstones.” — Thayer Ka- 
pedition. Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil, by Louis Agassiz 
and his Travelling Companions. Geology and Physical Geography 
of Brazil, by Ch. Fred. Hartt, Professor of Geology in Cornell Uni- 
versity. Boston, 1870. 


CARIBBEAN SERIES OF TRINIDAD. 


Mr. Guppy, President of the Scientific Association of Trinidad, 
stated before the Geological Society of London, that the northern 
range of mountains of Trinidad is composed entirely of rocks 
belonging to the Caribbean formation. The section from N.N.W. 
to S.S.E. from the sea, through the valleys of Diego Martin, 
Maraval, and St. Ann, shows the following succession of rocks in 
ascending order : — 

(1) Mica-slates, with quartzose sandstone; (2) crystalline lime- 
stone; (3) argillaceous slates, with hard sandstones, conglome- 
rates, and thin beds and strings of calcareous matter; (4) compaet 
limestone, forming the Laventille hills bordering the plain of 
Caroni. The total thickness of these rocks in Trinidad is stated 
by the author at upwards of 10,000 feet; and he is of opinion that 
the thickness of the whole group is many times greater than this, 
a portion of the series in Venezuela being probably inferior in 
position to the rocks exposed in Trinidad. <A high angle of incli- 
nation almost everywhere prevails, the general range of dip being 
from 30° to the vertical. After noticing the difficulty which 
has hitherto existed in determining the age of the Caribbean for- 
mation, from the want of fossil evidence, the author stated that he 
found undoubted traces of the existence of organisms during the 
depositions of these rocks. In the uppermost compact dark-blue 
limestone (No. 4) obscure fossils occur. In the clay-slate and 
quartz rocks (No. 3) underlying this limestone there are strings 
and bands of calcareous matter which sometimes contain fossils. 
In a portion of one of these strings, found by the author about 3 
feet below the surface in the decomposed mica-slate forming the 
soil of one of the valleys, he detected a structure which he regards 
as of animal origin, and as probably most nearly related to Hozoon. 
He was unable to detect any traces of tubulation in it, but sug- 
gests that this character may have been obliterated, as in the 
Tudor specimen (‘* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.” vol. xxiil., p. 257). 
The chambers are said by the author to be more elliptical than 
those of Hozoon canadense; and for this and other reasons he pro- 
posed to regard it as a new species, under the name of Hozoon 


, GEOLOGY. 949 


caribbeum. Associated with this supposed Hozoon, the author has 
found other remains. ‘These include fragments of coral, some of 
which are stated to resemble Favosites, although no pores or 
tabulz could be detected in them. These fragments are thought 
by the author to have belonged to a minute branching /avosites, 
which he proposes to name fF’. fenestralis. Plates and stems of 
Echinoderms are scattered through the rock. The author par- 
ticularly described a specimen consisting of 5 ambulacral plates, 
with 4 pairs of pores, and another fragment showing portions of 
at least 20 ambulacral or pseudo-ambulacral plates, reminding one 
of those of the Devonian Hleacrinus. The author has found that 
the bands of caleareous matter interstratified among the slates are 
seldom devoid of organic remains, except when they are very 
highly metamorphic. In a finely laminated limestone he found 
great abundance of obscure fossils, many of which appeared to be 
remains of Crystidea, whilst others resemble annelid-tubes, like 
Salterella. The author suggested that the function of Hozoon in 
pre-Cambrian times was anologous to that of corals at subsequent 
periods. He considered that there is the highest probability that 
the Caribbean series will ultimately prove to be pre-Silurian. 

In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, Dr. 
Carpenter, from the slight examination he had been able to make 
of the fossils, was unwilling to speak decidedly about them. 
There was, however, no doubt of numerous organic remains 
occurring in the rocks, and among them serpuline shells and 
echinoderms. As to the supposed Hozoon, he had not been able 
to recognize any of the characteristics of that fossil; and by treat- 
ing the Trinidad specimens with acid he found no traces of struc- 
ture left, and yet there had not been sufficient metamorphism to 
destroy other organisms. In some dredgings from the Ajgean 
Sea he had found fragments of echinoderms and other organisms, 
in which a siliceous deposit had replaced the original sarcode in 
the same manner as had occurred in the Canadian Kozoon, thus 
proving the possibility of this form of constitution, which had been 
warmly contested. — Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., XXVI.*(1870), pp. 
413-414. 


GEOLOGICAL BREVITIES. 


Evidences of Recent Changes of Level on the Mediterranean 
Coast. — Mr. G. Maw presented a paper with the above title at 
the Liverpool meeting of the British Association. He described 
the structure of the coast, the general absence of the sea-cliffs 
within the Straits of Gibraltar, due to the shelving contour of the 
land under the sea. He considered the inset current from the 
Atlantic as indicating a general subsidence of the whole Mediter- 
ranean basin; Sir Charles Lyell, however, considered that the 
outward current balanced the inward current, and that therefore 
this evidence of submergence was of no weight. Mr. Maw 
alluded to the submarine springs passing through channels of sub- 
aerial origin occurring in the coast caverns, and considered this 


+ 


250 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


fact a proof of the submergence of the coast line. Evidences of 
upheaval are to be found in : the lagoons and flats which abound 
on the coast of Corsica, and which are covered with long ridges of 
shingle deposited by streams which debouched on the marsh before 
. it was submerged. There is, moreover, at Gibraltar a great 
deposit of stratified sand at Catalan Bay, which would seem to 
show a submergence of 700 feet; and at Cadiz, as well as at Tan- 
giers on the other side of the basin, raised sea-beaches are to be 
found. Professor Bush gave his own observations: on the rock 
terraces and caverns of the rock of Gibraltar. There are three 
successive terraces exhibited on the eastern side of the rock, only 
showing that a barrier extended in recent geological times across 
the straits, the Mediterranean being then confined to a higher 
level than the Atlantic. The changes described by Mr. Maw he 
regarded as the last of a series indicated by the terraces at 
Gibraltar. 

Modern Instances of Elevation.—In a letter to Elie de Beaumont, 
M. de Botella says: ‘* From the village of Villar don Diego, in the 
province of Zamora, it is now possible to see half the bell-tower 
of the Benifarzes, a village in the province of Valladolid, while 
23 years ago (1847) it was scarcely possible to see the top of the 
same tower. 

«¢ A similar fact has been noticed in the province of Alava, it 
now being possible to perceive from the village of Salvatierra the 
whole village of Salduente, while in 1847 it was difficult to distin- 
guish the vane of its bell-tower. The four points mentioned are 
on a line passing through Burgos, and having a direction W. 28° 

39/ S., that is, nearly parallel to the system of the Sancerrois. The 
extremities of this line are 300 kilom. apart. — Comptes Rendus, 
May, 1870, p. 1141. 

Lignite from Vescovado, Province of Sienna, Italy.—M. Kopp.—At 
only 8 metres under the surface of the soil is found a layer of 
lignite of 3.5 metres thickness. This substance, having been sub- 
mitted to analysis, yielded, on being dried at 115°, 1, 80 per cent. 
of water. *On being calcined in a closed crucible, 100 parts 
gave volatile combustible matter, 26.48; fixed carbon, 42.52; ash, 
9.20; water, 21.80. When submitted to dry distillation in a gas 
retort, acetic acid is among the products, and 51 per cent. of coke ; 
the quantity of sulphur amounts to 1.36 per cent. One kilo. of 
lignite is capable, on combustion, of evaporating 6.1 litres of 
water. Since there is no coal found in any part of Italy, as far 
at least as it has been explored, this material is of considerable 
value to the industry of that country.—Moniteur Scientifique. 

Aye of the Wealden.— Mr. EH. W. Judd. — The Wealden con- 
stitutes one great continuous formation with well-defined paleon- 
tological ch: iracters. As with the ‘“ Poikilitic” series, its beds can 
only be referred to the different members of our established marine - 
classification by violent and arbitrary divisions. It must therefore 
stand as one of the terms of that new system of terrestrial classifi- 
cation which Professor Huxley has shown must be founded. The 
epoch of the English Wealden commeneed towards the close of 
the Odlitic period ; it continued during the whole of the Tithonian, 


GEOLOGY. ytd s 


and ceased towards the end of the Middle or beginning of the 
Upper Neocomian. The passage of the Upper Odlite into the 
Wealden and that of the Wealden into the Upper Neocomian 
were gradual. Fresh-water deposits were formed continuously, 
but not contemporaneously, over the whole area of the Wealden, 
so that in the north-west we find only the lower beds represented 
and in the south-east only the upper ones, while in the central por- 
tion we find the whole series complete. In the little marine 
band of Punfield, only 21 inches high, we have the representa- 
tive of a portion of the middle Neocomian, a formation found else- 
where in England only in the middle of the Speeton clay and in 
Lincolnshire. The fauna of the marine band of Punfield has 
very striking affinities with that of the coal-bearing strata of east- 
ern Spain (which are more than 1,600 feet thick), and especially 
with the middle portion of that series. The North German 
Wealden, which is quite unconnected with that of England, is not 
strictly contemporaneous with the latter, for while it appears to 
nave commenced at about the same period, its duration was 
considerably less, it having terminated the close of the Lower 
Neocomian. — British Association, Liverpool Meeting. 

British Fossil Corals. — Professor P. M. Duncan, in a Report 

on British Fossil Corals, says that the distinction between the 
palzozoic and the later coral faunz is not proved to be as exact 
as has been supposed, and that the aporose and perforate corals 
exist in the paleeozoic rocks as well as the rugose and tabulate 
forms, which latter have closely allied living analogues. 
_ Kents Cavern.— The Kent’s Cavern Exploration Committee of 
the British Association reported at the Liverpool meeting that 
they had, during the past year, explored the only remaining un- 
explored portions of the eastern division of the cave. The south 
Sally Port (so-called) has a south-east direction into the hill and 
away from the hill-side; it occupies a space of 80 by 40 feet. It 
was filled, first, with a red cave-earth from 12 to 20 inches thick; 
second, with a stalagmitic floor from 1 to 24 inches thick; third, 
with a cave earth of unknown depth, but excceding 5 feet. The 
excayations yielded a large number of bones (including those of 
several birds and a few fishes), portions of antlers and teeth, 
more or less perfect, in some cases attached to the jawbone; 
there were also found wings and elitra of beetles. The teeth found 
belonged to the horse, hyena, rhinoceros, bear, sheep, badger, fox, 
rabbit, elephant, deer, lion, ox, hare, and pig. A number of flint 
implements were also discovered. The north Sally Port is some- 
what larger, covering an area of 84 by 86 feet, and opens in the 
eastern slope of the hill. The disposition of the floor-layers and 
of the animal remains is similar to that in the south Sally Port. 

Gold in Scotland. — Dr. Bryce has found that the matrix of the 
gold in the Scottish gold fields is a granite which, being crushed, 
gives evidence of the presence of gold, although the amoint is too 
small to make its extraction profitable. 

Platinum in Lapland.—In a letter dated Stockholm, May 11, 
1870, Professor Nordenskidld announces the finding of platinum 
among the gold collected the last summer in considerable quanti- 


252 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ties, and sometimes in quite large pieces, in the sands of the Ivalo 
River, in Northern Lapland. — Poggendorf’s Annalen, No. 6, 1870. 

Silver Ore in India.— Argentiferous galena has been discovered 
in the district of Beerbhoom, in India, by Mr. Ball, of the Geolog- 
ical Survey. The assay of some picked specimens gives 110 oz. 
silver to the ton of lead, and it is considered that there is a suflicient 
quantity of ore to justify working. — Nature. 

Australian Corals. —‘The most interesting of the corals from 
the Cainozoie deposits of South Australia are the Conosmiliz. 
It is a genus perfectly Australian in its abnormalities. A simple 
coral with a pellicular epitheca, having a beautiful herring-bone 
ornamentation, with an essential, twisted, sérialaire columella 
with endothecal dissepiments and with plain septa, which have 
the hexameral arrangement in some, and the octomeral in others, 
is a form containing the elements of several classificatory series. 
The irregular septal arrangement amongst the closely allied 
species may be considered to depend upon atavism. Such octom- 
eral cyclical arrangements occurred in some genera in the lower 
greensand period and during the odlites. Some of the liassic 
Montlivaltie clearly reflected this rugose peculiarity, and MZ. Ru- 
perti (Duncan) had a quaternary cyclical arrangement. 

It is remarkable that the septo-costal peculiarity, already men- 
tioned as occurring in the Australian Flabellum Victorice and in 
the two species of Sphenotrochus, should be noticed in all the spe- 
cies of Conosmilia. ‘The continuation of the septa and costz is 
likewise wanting in some liassie Montlivaltie and in many simple 
Rugosa. ‘The importance of the Conosmiliz can hardly be esti- 
mated at present; but it is evident that they are very synthetic 
forms, occurring late in the coral faunas of the world. The genus 
Haplophyltia (Pourtales), whose solitary species were dredged in 
324 fathoms off the Florida reef, has a styliform columella and 
an octomeral arrangement of the septa. There are no endothe- 
cal dissepiments. — Quar. Jour. Geol. Soe. 

An Existing Coral allied to a Paleozoic Type. —Mr. W. S. 
Kent, in the ** Annals and Magazine of Natural] History,” describes 
a specimen of coral of undoubted recent character, although of un- 
known locality. From its generic resemblance to the extinct 
genus Favosites he has named it Favositipora Deshayesti. Mr. 
Kent has found in the British Museum a specimen of fossil coral 
belonging to the same genus, and most probably of North Ameri- 
can Devonian or Carboniferous origin. This second species is 
named £. paleozoica. ‘* Not only is the existing F. Deshayesir 
interesting on account of its close relationship to extinct palseo- 
zoic forms, but its affinity to the recent genus Alveopora, from 
which it differs only by its possession of scattered tabule, is 
weighty evidence in controversion of the theory advocated by 
Professor Agassiz, that all the tabulate corals are the skeletal 
productions of Hydrozoa. Alveopora is a well-known Actinozoon, 
and it is more than probable that the closely approximating Favo- 
sitipora is referable to the same class.” 

Fossils of Nevada. —¥. B. Meek, in a letter in the Proceedings 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, which ac- 


GEOLOGY. 955 


companies the description of a few of the fossils collected by 
Clerence King, Esq., of the U. S. Geological Survey says : — 

“The trilobites described from Eastern Nevada are decidedly 
primordial types, and, so far as I know, the first fossils of that 
age yet brought in from any locality west of the Black Hills. Mr. 
Kine’s collections also establish the fact that the rich silver mines 
of the White Pine districts oceut in Devonian rocks, though the 
Carboniferous is also well developed there. The Devonian beds 
of that district yet known by their fossils seem mainly to belong 
to the upper part of that system. Mr. King, however, has a few 
fossils from Pinon Station, Central Nevada, that appear to belong 
to the horizon of the Upper Helderberg limestone of the New 
York series. 

‘* The tertiary fossils from the region of Hot Spring Mountains, 
Idaho, came from an extensive and interesting fresh-water la- 
custrine deposit, and are all distinct specifically, “and some generi- 

cally, from all the other tertiary fossils yet brought from the Far 
West. ‘Two of the species belong to the existing California genus 
Carinifex, or some closely allied ¢ group, while another beautifully 
sculptured species may possibly be a true Melania, and allied to 
existing Asiatic forms. 

‘« It is an interesting fact that among all four fresh-water ter- 
tiary shells from this distant internal part of the continént, neither 
the beaks of the bivalves nor the apices of the spores of the uni- 

valves are ever in the slightest degree eroded; even the most deli- 
cate markings on these parts being perfectly preserved, if not 
broken by some accident. From this fact it may be inferred that 
the waters of the lakes and streams of this region during the ter- 
tiary epoch were more or less alkaline, as is “the case with many 
of those there at the present day.” 

A Fossil Tooth from Table Mountain; by Professor W. P. 
Blake. — The fossil tooth found by Mr. D. T. Hughes, 1,700 ft. 
under Table Mountain and 300 ft. below the surface, I have care- 
fully examined and compared with specimens in the Smithsonian 
Institution. It proves to be a back lower molar of an equine 
animal of the genus Hipparion, or a closely allied genus. This 
genus is one of the connecting links between the Palewotherium 
and the horse. 

The specimen closely resembles a fossil in the Smithsonian 
Museum from the pliocene formations of the Niobrara River in 
Nebraska, not only in size, but in the foldings of the enamel, and 
particularly in the posterior part of the tooth, but it differs enough 
in several particulars to justify the belief that it is a distinct 
species. This fossil is the first of the kind discovered west of the 
Rocky Mountains. It adds to the list of the fauna antedating 
Table Mountain, —a list which includes the mammoth, the rhinoc- 
eros, and an animal allied to the elk. I have believed that remains 
of man were also found under the lava; but upon this point, after 
diligent inquiry, [am satisfied that the evidence is insufficient. 
But we now add this fossil allied to Hipparion, and I regard it as 
another indication that the Table Mountain beds are pliccene and 

22 


254 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


homotaxial with those of the Bad Lands of Nebraska. — Amer. 
Jour. Science, 1870, L., page 262. 

Alkaline Lakes of California. —It appears that a portion of Cal- 
ifornia is very rich in mineral waters, and, moreover, contains 
large sheets of water, evidently occupying the craters of extinct 
volcanoes. The water of Lake Owen has a specific gravity of 
1.076 and contains 7,128.24 grains of solid matter to the gallon, 
consisting of 2,942 grains of chloride of sodium, 956 grains of 
sulphate of sodium, 2,914 grains of carbonate of sodium, together 
with sulphate and phosphate of potassium, silica, and a small 
amount of organic matter. The Kaysa, or borax lake, yields 
daily 3,000 pounds of crude borax composed in 100 parts of, dry 
biborate of sodium, 51.85; water of crystallization, 45.44; dry 
sulphate of sodium, 0.06; chloride of sodium, 0.08; phosphate of 
sodium, 1.15; insoluble matter, 1.42. The water ofthis lake has 
asp. gr. of 1.0274, and contains in a gallon, chloride of sodium, 
1,198.66 grains; chloride of potassium, 9.92 grains; iodine of 
magnesium, 0.22 grains; bromide of magnesium, trace ; carbonate 
of sodium, 578.65 grains; biborate of sodium, 281.48 grains; 
phosphate of aluminum, 3.52 grains; sulphate of calcium, trace ; 
silica, 2.37 grains; volatile and organic matters, 238.66. The 
mud of this lake contains large quantities of crystallized borax; 
at some short distance from this lake a rich sulphur deposit is met 
with which contains a vein of cinnabar; both of these minerals 
are now worked. The quantity of sulphur daily obtained amounts 
to some 7 tons. — Bull. dela Soc. d’Encour. 

Submergence of & large Portion of the North American Conti- 
nent. — Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, of the New Hampshire State Geo- 
logical Survey, finds an argument for the submergence of a large 
portion of the North American continent since the drift 
period in the existence of 27 species of maritime plants in the 
interior along the great lakes. These extend up the Hudson 
River and Champlain Valley and along the Lakes of Ontario and 
Itrie to Minnesota. He argues that these plants were originally 
introduced by natural emigration along an ancient estuary, and 
that many of them remain to the present day in consequence of 
the existence of conditions favorable to their preservation. He 
supposes that the plants about the salt springs in Northern New 
York were introduced in the same way. The pre-glacial flora 
has been completely destroyed by the intense cold, and while a 
new creation might explain the existence of salt-water plants 
about the springs, it would not show why these marine plants 
could exist in the far interior. There should be a special fitness 
of species to conditions, in case the creation theory is invoked. 
He concludes that the continent must have been submerged 200 
or 300 feet lower than geologists have supposed, relying upon the 
ordinary arguments, and that the clays about Superior and Erie 
must have been of marine or estuary origin. 

Asbestus and Oorundum at Pelham, Mass. —In the towns of Pel- 
ham and Shutesbury, Mass., there are several localities of asbestus 
known to mineralogists, indifferent specimens from which place 
are common in collections. Recent excavations to obtain asbes- 


GEOLOGY. 205 


tus for economical purposes reveal its presence in great quantity. 
Much of it is soft, of a grayish-white color, composed of delicate 
parallel fibres often a foot in length, with amarked cross cleavage 
oblique to the fibres, as in hornbiende. 

Intimately associated with the asbestus is an altered mica allied 
to vermiculite or jefferisite. It differs, however, in certain phys- 
ical characters from the jefferisite of Westchester, Pa., but seems 
to resemble it in its optical characters. There also occurs, at the 
same locality, a white corundum, sometimes streaked with blue, 
and occurring in nodules of corundophillite. It occurs in small 
quantity, but farther excavations promise to afford it in greater 
abundance. —Amer. Jour. Science, March, 1870. 

Native Iron and Lead. — At a meeting of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, Dr. Genth showed specimens of native iron and 
native lead from the bed-rock of gold-placers covered with about 
6 feet of gravel, at Camp Creek, Montana Territory. The 
native iron is found in small angular fragments, but slightly 
coated with rust; the largest which he has seen is about 0.5 inch 
in length. Etching with dilute nitric acid does not develop any 
Widmannstzdtean figures, but a finely granular structure. The 
Jead was examined for nickel and cobalt with negative results. 
Associated with the iron is native lead, in irregularly shaped 
rounded and flattened pieces from the size of a pin’s head to about 
0.5 inch in diameter. The lead is coated with a crystalline coat 
of massicot, of a sulphur-yellow to reddish-yellow color; some 
pieces also show very brilliant but microscopic crystals, which 
may be cerussite. Acetic acid dissolves this massicot, and leaves 
the metallic lead, which then shows its crystalline structure. The 
lead showed traces of gold, but no silver. 


BIOLOGY. 


PROFESSOR HUXLEY’S ADDRESS. 


AT the meeting of the British Association, Professor Huxley, 
after presenting a long series of facts bearing upon the germ the- 
ory, continued : — 

‘«To sum up the effect of this long chain of evidence, it is dem- 
onstrable that a fluid eminently fit for the development of the 
lowest forms of life, but which contains neither germs nor any pro- 
tean compound, gives rise to living things in great abundance, 
if it is exposed to ordinary air; while no such development takes 
place if the air with which it is in contactis mechanically freed from 
the solid particles which ordinarily float in it, and which may be 
made visible by appropriate means. It is demonstrable that 
the great majority of these particles are destructible by heat, and 
that some of them are germs, or living particles, capable of giving 
rise to the same forms of life as those which appear when the 
fluid is exposed to unpurified air. It is demonstrable that inoc- 
ulation of the experimental fluid with a drop of liquid known to 
contain living particles gives rise to the same phenomena as expos- 
ure to unpurified air. And itis further certain that these living par- 
ticles are so minute that the assumption of their suspension in ordi- 
nary air presents not the slightest difficulty. On the contrary, con- 
sidering their lightness and the wide diffusion of the organisms 
which produce them, it is impossible to conceive that they should 
not be suspended in the atmosphere in myriads. Thus, the evi- 
dence, direct and indirect, in favor of biogenesis for all known 
forms of life, must, I think, be admitted to be of great weight. 
On the other side, the sole assertions worthy of attention are, that 
hermetically sealed fluids, which have been exposed to great and 
long-continued heat, have sometimes exhibited living forms of 
low organization when they have been opened. The first reply 
that suggests itself is the probability that there must be some 
error about these experiments, because they are performed on an 
enormous scale every day, with quite contrary results. Meat, 
fruit, vegetables, the very materials of the most fermentable and 
putrescible infusions, are preserved to the extent, I suppose I may 
say, of thousands of tons every year, by a method which is : 
mere application of Spellanzani’s experiment. The matters to 
be preserved are well boiled in a tin case provided with a small 
hole, and this hole is soldered up when all the air in the case has 


256 


BIOLOGY: + 257 


been replaced by steam. By this method they may be kept for 
years, without putrefying, fermenting, or getting mouldy. Now 
this is not because oxygen is excluded, inasmuch as it is now 
proved that free oxygen is not necessary for either fermentation 
or putrefaction. It is not because the tins are exhausted of air, 
for Vibriones and Bacteria live, as Pasteur has shown, without air 
or free oxygen. It is not because the boiled meat or vegetables 
are not putrescible or fermentable, as those who have had the 
misfortune to bein a ship supplied with unskilfully closed tins 
well know. What is it, therefore, but the exclusion of germs? 
I think that abiogenists are bound to answer this question before 
they ask us to consider new experiments of precisely the same 
order. And in the next place, if the results of the experiments I 
refer to are really trustworthy, it by no means follows that abio- 
genesis has taken place. The resistance of living matter to heat 
is known to vary within considerable limits, and to depend, to 
some extent, upon the chemical and physical qualities of the sur- 
rounding medium. But if, in the present state of science, the 
alternative is offered us, either germs can stand a greater heat 
than has been supposed, or the molecules of dead matter, for no 
valid or intelligible reason that is assigned, are able to rearrange 
themselves into living bodies, exactly such as can be demonstra- 
ted to be frequently produced in another way, I cannot under- 
stand how choice can be, even for a moment, doubtful. But 
though I cannot express this conviction of mine too strongly, I 
must carefully guard myself against the supposition that I intend 
to suggest that no such thing as abiogenesis ever has taken place 
in the past, or ever will take place in the future. With organic 
chemistry, molecular physics, and physiology yet in their infancy, 
and every day making prodigious strides, I think it would be the 
height of presumption for any man to say that the conditions un- 
der which matter assumes the properties we call ‘ vital’ may 
not, some day, be artificially brought together. All I feel justi- 
fied in affirming is, that I see no reason for believing that 
the feat has been performed yet. And, looking back through 
the prodigious vista of the past, I find no record of the com- 
mencement of life, and therefore I am devoid of any means 
of forming a definite conclusion as to the conditions of its appear- 
ance. Belief, in the scientific sense of the word, is a serious mat- 
ter, and needs strong foundations. To say, therefore, in the 
adinitted absence of evidence, that I have any belief as to the 
mode in which the existing forms of life have originated, would 
be using words in a wrong sense. But expectation is permissible 
where belief is not; and if it were given me to look beyond the 
abyss of geologically recorded time to the still more remote period 
when the earth was passing through physical and chemical condi- 
tions, which it can no more see again than a man can recall his 
infancy, I should expect to be a witness of the evolution of living 
protoplasm from not living matter. I should expect to see it 
appear under forms of great simplicity, endowed, like existing 
Jungi, with the power of determining the formation of new pro- 
toplasm from such matters as ammonium carbonates, oxalates 


258 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


and tartrates, alkaline and earthy phosphates, and water, without 
the aid of light. That isthe expectation to which analogical rea- 
soning leads me; but I beg you once more to recollect that I have 
no right to call my opinion anything but an act of philosophical 
faith. So much for the history of the progress of Redi’s great 
doctrine of biogenesis, which appears to me, with the limitations 
I have expressed, to be victorious along the whole line at the 
present day. As regards the second problem offered to us by 
Redi, whether xenogenesis obtains, side by side with homogene- 
sis; whether, that is, there exist not only the ordinary living 
things, giving rise to offspring which run through the same cycle 
as themselves, but also others, producing offspring which are of a 
totally different character from themselves, the researches of two 
centuries have led to a different result. That the grubs found in 
galls are no product of the plants on which the galls grow, but 
are the result of the introduction of the eggs of insects into the 
substance of these plants, was made out by Vallisnieri, Reaumer, 
and others, before the end of the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. The tape-worms, bladder-worms, and flukes continued to be 
a stronghold of the advocates of xenogenesis for a much longer 
period. Indeed, it is only within the last thirty years that the 
splendid patience of Von Siebold, Van Beneden, Leuckart, Kuch- 
enmeister, and other helminthologists, has succeeded in tracing 
every such parasite, often through the strangest wanderings and 
metamorphoses, to an egg derived from a parent, actually or 
potentially like itself; and the tendency of inquiries elsewhere 
has all been in the same direction. A plant may throw off bulbs, 
but these, sooner or later, give rise to seeds or spores, which 
develop into the original form. A polype may give rise to 
meduse, or a pluteus to an echinoderm, but the medusa and the 
echinoderm give rise to eggs which produce polypes or plutei, 
and they are therefore only stages in the cycle of lite of the spe- 
cies. But if we turn to pathology it offers us some remarkable 
approximations to true xenogenesis. As I have already men- 
tioned, it has been known since the time of Vallisnieri and of 
Reaumur, that galls in plants, and tumors in cattle, are caused by 
insects, which lay their eg¢s in those parts of the animal or vegeta- 
ble frame of which these morbid structures are outgrowths. Again, 
it is a matter of familiar experience to everybody that mere pres- 
sure on the skin will give rise to a corn. Now the gall, the tu- 
mor, and the corn are parts of the living body, which have 
become, to a certain degree, independent and distinct organisms. 
Under the influence of certain external conditions, elements of 
the body, which should have developed in due subordination to its 
general plan, set up for themselves and apply the nourishment 
which they receive to their own purposes. From such innocent 
productions as corns and warts, there are ‘all gradations, to the 
serious tumors which, by their mere size and the mechanical 
obstruction they cause, destroy the organism out of which they 
are developed; while, finally, in those terrible structures known 
as cancers, the abnormal growth has acquired powers of re- 
production and multiplication, and is only morphologically dis- 


BIOLOGY. 259 


tinguishable from the parasitic worm, the life of which is neither 
more nor less closely bound up with that of the infested or- 
ganism. If there were a kind of diseased structure, the histo- 
logical elements of which were capable of maintaining a separate 
and independent existence out of the body, it seems to me that 
the shadowy boundary between morbid growth and xenogenesis 
would be effaced. And Iam inclined to think that the progress 
of discovery has almost brought us to this point already. I have 
been favored by Mr. Simon with an early copy of the last pub- 
lished of the valuable ‘ Reports on the Public Health,’ which, in 
his capacity of their medical officer, he annually presents to the’ 
Lords of the Privy Council. The appendix to this report contains 
an introductory essay ‘ On the Intimate Pathology of Contagion,’ 
by Dr. Burdon Sanderson, which is one of the clearest, most com- 

prehensive, and well-reasoned discussions of a great question 
which has come under my notice for a long time. Irefer you to 
it for details and for the authorities for the statements [am about 
to make. You are familiar with what happens in vaccination. A 
minute cut is made in the skin, and an infinitesimal quantity of 

vaecine matter is inserted into the wound. Within a certain time, 

a vesicle appears in the place of the wound, and the fluid which 
distends this vesicle is vaccine matter, in quantity a hundred or a 
thousand fold that which was originally inserted. Now what has 
taken place in the course of this operation? Has the vaccine 
matter by its irritative property produced a mere blister, the fluid 
of which has the same irritative property? Or does the vaccine 
matter contain living particles, which have grown and multiplied 
where they have been planted? The observations of M. Chauveau, 

extended and confirmed by Dr. Sanderson himself, appear to 
leave no doubt upon this head. Experiments, similar in principle to 
those of Helmholtz, on fermentation and putrefaction, have proved 

that the active element in the vaccine lymph is non-diffusible, and 
consists of minute particles not exceeding one-twenty-thousandth 
of an inch in diameter, which are made visible in the lymph by the 
microscope. Similar experiments have proved that two of the 
most destructive of epizodtic diseases, sheep pox and glanders, 

are also dependent for their existence and their propagation upon 

extremely small living solid particles, to which the title of ‘ micro- 
zymes’ is applied. An animal suffering under either of these 
terrible diseases is a source of infection and contagion to others, 

for precisely the same reason as a tub of fermenting beer is capa- 
ble of propagating its fermentation, by ‘infection’ or ‘conta- 
gion,’ to fresh wort. In both cases it is the solid living particles 
which are efficient ; the liquid in which they float, and at the ex- 
pense of which they live, being altogether passive. Now arises 
the question, Are these microzymes the results of homogenesis, 

or of xenogenesis; are they capable,*like the Torule of yeast, 

of arising only by the development of pre-existing germs; or 
may they be, like the constituents of a nutgall, the results 
of a modification and individualization of the tissues of the body 
in which they are found, resulting from the operation of cer- 
tain conditions? Are they parasites in the zodlogical sense, 


260 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


or are they merely what Virchow has called ‘heterologous 
growths’? It is obvious that this question has the most profound 
importance, whether we look at it from a practical or from a 
theoretical point of view. A parasite may be stamped out by 
destroying its germs, but a pathological product can only be 
annihilated by removing the conditions which give rise to it. It 
appears to me that this ereat problem will have to be solved for 
each zymotic disease separately, for. analogy cuts two ways. I 
have dwelt upon the analogy of pathological modification, which 
is in favor of the xenogenetic origin of microzymes; but a must 
now speak .of the equally strong ‘analogies i in favor of the origin 
of such pestiferous particles by the or dinary process of the gen- 
eration of like from like. It is, at present, a well- established 
fact, that certain diseases, both of plants and of animals, which 
have all the characters of contagious and infectious epidemics, 
are caused by minute organisms. The smut of wheat is a well- 
known instance of such a disease, and it cannot be doubted that 
the grape disease and the potato disease fall under the same 
category. Among animals, insects are wonderfully liable to the 
ravages of contagious and infectious diseases caused by micro- 
scopic fungi. In autumn, it is not uncommon to see flies, motion- 
less upon a window-pane, with a sort of magic circle, in white, 
drawn round them. On microscopic examination, the magic 
circle is found to consist of innumerable spores, which have been 
thrown off in all directions by a minute fungus called Hmpusa 
musce, the spore-forming filaments of which stand out like a 
pile of velvet from the body of the fly. These spore-forming 
filaments are connected with others, which fill the interior of 
the fly’s body like so much fine wool, having eaten away and 
destroyed the creature’s viscera. This is the full-grown condi- 
tion of the Hmpusa. IEf traced back to its earlier stages, in flies 
which are still active, and to all appearance healthy, it is found to 
exist in the form of minute corpuscles which float in the blood 
of the fly. These multiply and lengthen into filaments, at 
the expense of the fly’s substance; and when they have at 
last killed the patient, they grow out of its body and give 
off spores. Healthy flies shut up with diseased ones catch this 
mortal disease and perish like the others. A most competent ob- 
server, M. Cohn, who studied the development of the Zmpusa in 
the fly very carefully, was utterly unable to discover in what 
manner the smallest germs of the Hmpusa got into the fly. The 
spores could not be made to give rise to such germs by cultiva- 
tion, nor were such germs discoverable in the air, or in the food of 
the fly. It looked exceedingly like a case of abiogenesis, or, at 
any rate, of xenogenesis; and it is only quite recently that the 
real course of events has been made out. It has been ascertained 
that when one of the spores falls upon the body of a fly, it begins 
to germinate and sends out a process which bores its way through 
the fiy’s skin; this, having reached the interior cavities of its 
body, gives off the minute floating corpuscles which are the 
earliest stage of the Hmpusa. The disease is ‘ contagious,’ be- 
cause a healthy fly coming in contact with a diseased one, from 


BIOLOGY. 261 


which the spore-bearing filaments protrude, is pretty sure to carry 
off a spore or two. It is ‘ infectious,’ because the spores become 
scattered about all sorts of matter in the neighborhood of the 
slain flies. 

‘©The silkworm has long been known to be subject to 
a very fatal and contagious and infectious disease called the 
Muscardine. Audouin transmitted it by inoculation. This dis- 
ease is entirely due to the development of a fungus, Botrytis 
Bassiana, in the body of the caterpillar; and its contagiousness 
and infectiousness are accounted for in the same way as those of 
the fly-disease. But of late years a still more serious epizootic has 
appeared among the silkworms; and I may mention a few facts 
which will give you some conception of the gravity of the injury 
which it has inflicted on France alone. The production of silk 
has been for centuries an important branch of industry in Southern 
France, and in-the year 1853 it had attained such a magnitude, 
that the annual produce of the French sericulture was estimated 
to amount to a tenth of that of the whole world, and represented 
a money value of 117,000,000 of franes, or nearly 5,000,000 
sterling. What may be the sum which would represent the 
money value of all the industries connected with the working up of 
the raw silk thus produced is more than I can pretend to estimate. 
Suffice it to say, that the city of Lyons is built upon French silk, 
as much as Manchester was upon American cotton, before the 
civil war. Silkworms are liable to many-diseases ; and, even before 
1853, a peculiar epizootic, frequently accompanied by the appear- 
ance of dark spots upon the skin (whence the name of ‘ Pébrine’ 
which it has received), had been noted for its mortality. But in 
the years following 1853, this malady broke out with such ex- 
treme violence, that in 1856 the silk crop was reduced to a third 
of the amount which it had reached in 1853; and, up till within 
the last year or two, it has never attained half the yield of 1853. 
This means not only that the great number of people engaged in 
silk-growing are some 30,000,000 sterling poorer than they 
might have been; it means not only that high prices have had to 
be paid for imported silkworm eggs, and that, after investing his 
money in them, in paying for mulberry-leaves and for attend- 
ance, the cultivator has constantly seen his silkworms perish and 
himself plunged in ruin, but it means that the looms of Lyons 
have lacked employment, and that, for years, enforced idleness 
and misery have been the portion of a vast population, which, in 
former days, was industrious and well-to-do. In 1858, the grav- 
ity of the situation caused the French Academy of Sciences to 
appoint commissioners, of whom a distinguished naturalist, M. de 
Quatrefages, was one, to inquire into the nature of this disease, 
and, if possible, to devise some means of staying the plague. In . 
reading the report made by M. de Quatrefages in 1858, it is ex- 
ceedingly interesting to observe that his elaborate study of the 
Pébrine forced the conviction upon his mind that, in its mode of 
occurrence and propagation, the disease of the silkworm is, in 
every respect, comparable to the cholera among mankind. But 
it differs from the cholera, and, so far, is a more formidable dis- 


262 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ease, in being hereditary, and in being, under some circum- 
stances, contagious, as well as infectious. The Italian naturalist, 
Filippi, discovered in the blood of the silkworms affected by this 
strange disease, a multitude of cylindrical corpuscles, each about 
one six-thousandth ofan inch long. These have been carefully stud- 
ied by Lebert, and named by him Panhistophyton; for the reason 
that, in subjects in which the disease is strongly developed, the cor- 
puscles swarm in every tissue and organ of the body, and even pass 
into the undeveloped eggs of the female moth. But are these cor- 
puscles causes, or mere concomitants, of the disease ? Some natural- 
ists took one view and some another ; and it was not until the French 
gvovernment, alarmed by the continued ravages of the malady, and 
the inefficiency of the remhedies which had been suggested, dis- 
patched M. Pasteur to study it, that the question received its final set- 
tlenrent, ata great sacrifice, not only of the time and peace of mind 
of that eminent philosopher, but, I regret to have to add, of his 
health. But the sacrifice has not been in vain. It is now certain 
that this devastating, cholera-like Pébrine is the effect of the 
growth and multiplication of the Panhistophyton in the silkworm. It 
is contagious and infectious, because the corpuscles of the Panhis- 
tophyton pass away from the bodies of the diseased caterpillars, 
directly or indirectly, to the alimentary canal of healthy silk- 
worms in their neighborhood; it is hereditary, because the cor- 
puseles enter into the eggs while they are being formed, and 
consequently are carried within them when they are laid; and for 
this reason, also, it presents the very singular peculiarity of being 
inherited only on the mother’s side. There is not a single one 
of all the apparently capricious and unaccountable phenomena 
presented by the Pébrine, but has received its explanation from 
the fact that the disease is the result of the presence of the 
microscopic organism Panhistophyton. 

‘*Such being the facts with respect to the Pébrine, what are the 
indications as to the method of preventing it? It is obvious that 
this depends upon the way in which the Panhistophyton is gener- 
ated. If it may be generated by abiogenesis, or by xenogenesis, 
within the silkworm or its moth, the extirpation of the disease 
must depend upon the prevention of the occurrence of the con- 
ditions under which this generation takes place. But if, on the 
other hand, the Panhistophyton is an independent organism, which 
is no more generated by the silkworm than the mistletoe is gener- 
ated by the oak or the apple-tree on which it grows, though it 
may need the silkworm for its development in the same way as the 
mistletoe needs the tree, then the indications are totally different. 
The sole thing to be done is to get rid of and keep away the 
germs of the Panhistophyton. As might be imagined, from the 
course of his previous investigations, M. Pasteur was led to be- 
lieve that the latter was the right theory; and guided by that the- 
ory, he has devised a method of extirpating the disease, which has 
proved to be completely successful wherever it has been properly 
carried out. There can be no reason, then, for doubting that, 
amon insects, contagious and infectious diseases, of great malig- 
nity, are caused by minute organisms which are produced from 


BIOLOGY. 263 


pre-existing germs, or by homogenesis; and there is no reason 
that I know of for believing that what happens in insects may 
not take place in the highest animals. Indeed, there is already 
strong evidence that some diseases of an extremely malignant and 
fatal character, to which man is subject, are as much the work of 
minute organisms as in the Pébrine. I refer for this evidence to 
the very striking facts adduced by Professor Lister in his various 
well-known publications on the antiseptic method of treatment. 
It seems to me impossible to rise from the perusal of those publi- 
cations without a strong conviction that the lamentable mortality 
which so frequently dogs the footsteps of the most skilful operator, 
and those deadly consequences of wounds and injuries which 
seem to haunt the very walls of great hospitals, and are, even 
now, destroying more men than die of bullet or bayonet, are due 
to the importation of minute organisms into wounds, and their 
increase and multiplication ; and that the surgeon who saves most 
lives will be he who best works out the practical consequences 
of the hypothesis of Redi. 

‘*T commenced this address by asking you to follow me in an 
attempt to trace the path which has been followed by a scientific 
idea, in its long and slow progress from the position of a probable 
hypothesis to that of an established law of nature. Our survey has 
not taken us into very attractive regions; it has lain chiefly ina 
land flowing with the abominable, and peopled with mere grubs 
and mouldiness. And it may be imagined with what smiles and 
shrug's, practical and serious contemporaries of Redi and of Spal- 
lanzani may have commented on the waste of their high abilities 
in toiling at the solution of problems which, though curious 
enough in themselves, could be of no conceivable utility to man- 
kind. Nevertheless, you will have observed, that before we had 
travelled very far upon our road, there appeared, on the right and 
on the left, fields laden with a harvest of golden grain, imme- 
diately convertible into those things which the most sordidly prac- 
tical of men will admit te have the value, namely, money and life. 
The direct loss to France caused by the Pébrine in 17 years 
cannot be estimated at less than 50,000,000 sterling; and if we 
add to this what Redi’s idea, in Pasteur’s hands, has done for the 
wine-grower and for the vinegar-maker, and try to capitalize its 
value, we shall find that it will go a long way towards repairing 
the money losses caused by the frightful and calamitous war of 
this autumn. And as to the equivalent of Redi’s thought in life, 
how can we overestimate the value of that knowledge of the 
nature of epidemic and epizootic diseases, and consequently of the 
means of checking or eradicating them, the dawn of which has 
assuredly commenced? Looking back no further than 10 years, 
it is possible to select 3 (1863, 1864, and 1869) in which the 
total number of deaths, from scarlet fever alone, amounted 
to 90,000. That is the return of killed, the maimed and 
disabled being left out of sight. Why, it is to be hoped that the 
list of kiiled in the present bloodiest of all wars will not amount 
to more than this! But the facts, which I have placed before 
you, must leave the least sanguine without a doubt that the 
nature and the causes of this scourge will, one day, be as well 


ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


nence, depend on the com e development of differ- 
ents of a common plan; from which it seems to follow 
t the non-existence from the commencement of living 
all the distinct plans of structure is in the highest degree 
‘le, and that the tendency of development, sometimes in 
tion, sometimes in another, among the same primitive 
. must produce a harmonious system; whilst the preser- 
‘the forms best adapted to a tion amongst a great 


SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 


neous generation, or heterogeny, is a question which 
s to excite much interest. It has been the — of de- 
emoirs, of violent controversies, and of popular articles 
yantry, and still more on the Continent ; but the solution 
oblems still involved in doubt does not seem to me to 
ch advanced since I alluded to the opposing theories of 
and Pouchet in my Address of 15635. © present state 
se appears to me to be this: in the higher orders of ani- 
ry individual is known to proceed from a similar parent 
ual pairing; in most plants, and some of the lower ani 
sides the result of that sexual pairing which they all are 
i with, reproduction from the parent may take place by 
ration of bads, by division, or sometimes by ——ae 
s some of the lower Cryptogams, the first stage in wh 
beings are separated from the parent is that of spores 
; | from the belief that they never require previous 
ring, although the range of these agamic races is being 
y restricted, a remarkable advance having been recently 
this direction by Pringsheim in his paper on the pairing 
oospores in Pandorina and Ewdorina. In all the above 
all organized beings which, in their carlier sages, are 
ble through our instruments, every individoal bas been 
© have proceeded in some stage or another from a simai- 
nt. But there are cases where living beings, 
a 


med state, in decaying substances in which no presence 
ent could be detected or supposed: three different theories 
on pat forward to account for their presence ; first, that 
, suddenly created out of nothing, or out of purely inor-— 
lements, which is perhaps the true meaning 
¢ name of spontaneous generation, — a theory not suscepti-_ 
argument, and therefore rejected by most naturalists as 

secondly, that they are the result of the transformation | 


BIOLOGY. 


of the particles of the organic substances in which they are | 
without any action of parent Vibrios or Bacteria; and th 
pears to be what is specially termed heterogeny ; third] 
there existed in these organic substances, germs which ha 
ceeded from parent Vibrios and Bacterias, but too mint 
optical app tion, and that their generation was therefor 
mal. The supporters of heterogeny rely on the impossibi 
accounting for the appearance of the Vibrios and Bacterias 
other manner; for they say that although you treat the m 
by heat in a hermetically closed vessel, in such a manner 
estroy all germs and intercept all access, still these bein 
r. This their opponents deny, if the experiments ar 
ducted with proper care. So it was 7 years ago, and § 
still, although the experiments have been frequently repes 
this country, in France, and in North America, almost | 
with varying results. All reasoning by analogy is still ir 
of reprodaction from 4 parent; but heterogeny has of | 
quired partisans, especially in Germany, among those w 
prepared to break down the barriers which separate living 
irom inorganic bodies. — G. Bentham. — Nature. 


PROFESSOR TYNDALL. 


Professor Tyndall's most recent contribution to the 
theory ” is contained in a letter to the ** Times” of the 7th | 
He has observed that the air breathed out of the lungs, ¢8| 
at the close of a long voluntary exhalation, is ** visibly pu 

roduces, when passed across a strong beam of light, the | 

lack smoke-like clouds caused by the entire absence of | 
matter, He confirms the explanation given by many ! 
men, and especially by Professor J. Lister, of Edinburgh, 
exclusion of air from fresh wounds, that the putrefac 
wounds is caused by the germination of the — of org: 
contained, under ordinary circumstances, in large number 
air. Ina reply to this letter in the * Times,” Dr. H. C. 
makes the startling assertion that, in conjunction with Dr. 
land, he has met with living organisms in hermetically ses 
sels, from which all air had been removed, and after the cc 
fluids had been raised to a very high temperature. Son 
tions containing organic matter and other ingredients w 
pared in the oe manner: After a perfect vacuun 
the level of the fluid, had been procured in the glass ve 
means of Sprengel’s air- cam the drawn-out necks of tl 
were closed by means of the blow-pipe flame. The airles 
containing then the fluid itself as the only possible ge 
taining material, were submitted, in a suitable apparatus, 
fessor Frankland, to a temperature varying from 148° C. 
C. for 4 hours, and yet, after having been placed under t] 
ence of suitable conditions, in the course of a few week 
organisms — many of them altogether new and strange 
found in these fluids. These extremely important res 
about to be communicated to the Royal Society. — Natur 


266 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


to permanence, depend on the comparative development of differ- 
ent elements of a common plan; from which it seems to follow 
both that the non-existence from the commencement of living 
nature of all the distinct plans of structure is in the highest degrce 
improbable, and that the tendency of development, sometimes in 
one direction, sometimes in another, among the same primitive 
elements, must produce a harmonious system; whilst the preser- 
vation of the forms best adapted to a situation amongst a great 
number of variations arising without order must produce a con- 
fused mass of objects having no regular relations and incapable 
of being reduced to a common system. Which of these prevails 
in nature, I cannnot for a moment hesitate in deciding, and conse- 
quently I must maintain that, if there is variation, it must be 
within definite limits, and according to a fixed plan, so as to 
maintain a uniform order and harmony in the whole system.” — 
Nature. 


SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 


Spontaneous generation, or heterogeny, is a question which 
continues to excite much interest. It has been the subject of de- 
tailed memoirs, of violent controversies, and of popular articles 
in this country, and still more on the Continent; but the solution 
of the problems still involved in doubt does not seem to me to 
have much advanced since I alluded to the opposing theories of 
Pasteur and Pouchet in my Address of 1863. The present state 
of the case appears to me to be this: in the higher orders of ani- 
mals every individual is known to proceed from a similar parent 
after sexual pairing; in most plants, and some of the lower ani- 
mals, besides the result of that sexual pairing which they all are 
endowed with, reproduction from the parent may take place by 
the separation of buds, by division, or sometimes by parthenoge- 
nesis; in some of the lower Cryptogams, the first stage in which 
the new beings are separated from the parent is that of spores 
termed organic, from the belief that they never require previous 
sexual pairing, although the range of these agamic races is being 
gradually restricted, a remarkable advance having been recently 
made in this direction by Pringsheim in his paper on the pairing 
of the Zoospores in Pandorina and Hudorina. In all the above 
cases, in all organized beings which, in their earlier stages, are 
appreciable through our instruments, every individual has been 
proved to have proceeded in some stage or another from a simi- 
larly organized parent. But there are cases where living beings, 
Vibrios, Bacteria, etc., first appear under the microscope in.a 
fully formed state, in decaying substances in which no presence 
of a parent could be detected or supposed: three different theories 
have been put forward to account for their presence ; first, that 
they are suddenly created out of nothing, or out of purely inor- 
ganic elements, which is perhaps the true meaning disguised 
under the name of spontaneous generation, —a theory not suscepti- 
ble of argument, and therefore rejected by most naturalists as 
absurd; secondly, that they are the result of the transformation 


BIOLOGY. 267 


of the particles of the organic substances in which they are found, 
without any action of parent Vibrios or Bacteria; and this ap- 
pears to be what is specially termed heterogeny; thirdly, that 
there existed in these organie substances, germs which had pro- 
ceeded from parent Vibrios and Bacterias, but too minute for 
optical appreciation, and that their generation was therefore nor- 
mal. The supporters of heterogeny rely on the impossibility of 
accounting for the appearance of the Vibrios and Bacterias in any 
other manner; for they say that although you treat the medium 
by heat in a hermetically closed vessel, in such a manner as to 
destroy all germs and intercept all access, still these beings ap- 
pear. This their opponents deny, if the experiments are con- 
ducted with proper care. So it was 7 years ago, and so it is 
still, although the experiments have been frequently repeated in 
this country, in France, and in North America, almost always 
with varying results. All reasoning by analogy is still in favor 
of reproduction from a parent; but heterogeny has of late ac- 
quired partisans, especially in Germany, among those who are 
prepared to break down the barriers which separate living beings 
from inorganic bodies. — G. Bentham. — Nature. . 


PROFESSOR TYNDALL. 


Professor Tyndall’s most recent contribution to the ‘‘ germ 
theory ” is contained in a letter to the ‘‘ Times” of the 7th instant. 
He has observed that the air breathed out of the lungs, especially 
at the close of a long voluntary exhalation, is ‘‘ visibly pure,” or 
produces, when passed across a strong beam of light, the familiar 
black smoke-like clouds caused by the entire absence of organic 
matter. He confirms the explanation given by many medical 
men, and especially by Professor J. Lister, of Edinburgh, for the 
exclusion of air from fresh wounds, that the putrefaction of 
wounds is caused by the germination of the germs of organic life 
contained, under ordinary circumstances, in large numbers in the 
air. In a reply to this letter in the ‘‘ Times,” Dr. H. C. Bastian 
makes the startling assertion that, in conjunction with Dr. Frank- 
land, he has met with living organisms in hermetically sealed ves- 
sels, from which all air had been removed, and after the contained 
fluids had been raised to a very high temperature. Some solu- 
tions containing organic matter and other ingredients were pre- 
pared in the following manner: After a perfect vacuum, above 
the level of the fluid, had been procured in the glass vessels by 
means of Sprengel’s air-pump, the drawn-out necks of the flasks 
were closed by means of the blow-pipe flame. The airless flasks, 
containing then the fluid itself as the only possible germ-con- 
taining material, were submitted, in a suitable apparatus, by Pro- 
fessor Frankland, to a temperature varying from 148° C. to 152° 
C. for 4 hours, and yet, after having been placed under the influ- 
ence of suitable conditions, in the course of a few weeks, living 
organisms —many of them altogether new and strange — were 
found in these fluids. These extremely important results are 
about to be communicated to the Royal Society. — Nature. 


268 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ORGANIC MATTER OF HUMAN BREATH IN HEALTH AND 
DISEASE. BY DR. ARTHUR RANSOME. 


The vapor of the breath was condensed in a large glass flask 
surrounded by ice and salt, at a temperature of several degrees 
below zero. The fluid collected was then analyzed for free am- 
monia, urea, and kindred substances; and for organic ammonia,— 
the method employed being that invented by Messrs. Wanklyn 
and Chapman for water analysis. The breath of 11 healthy per- 
sons and of 17 affected by different disorders was thus examined, 
and the results were given in 2 tables. The persons examined 
were of different sexes and ages, and the time of the day at 
which the breath was condensed varied. In both health and 
disease the free ammonia varied considerably; the variation 
could not be connected with the time of the day, the fasting, or 
full condition. Urea was sought for in 15 instances, —3 healthy 
persons and 12 cases of disease; but it was only found in 2 cases 
of kidney disease, in 1 case of diphtheria, and a faint indication of 
its presence occurred in a female suffering from catarrh. The 
quantity of ammonia arising from the destruction of organic mat- 
ter also varied, possibly from the oxidation of albuminous particles 
by the process of respiration; but in healthy persons there was a 
remarkable uniformity in the total quantity of ammonia obtained 
by the process. Amongst adults the maximum quantity per 100 
minims of fluid was 0.45 of a milligramme and the minimum was 
0.35. A rough calculation was given of the total quantity of or- 
ganic matter passing from the lungsin 24 hours,—in adults about 
3 grains in 10 ounces of aqueous vapor; a quantity small in itself, 
but sufficient to make this fluid highly decomposable, and ready 
to foster the growth of the germs of disease. In disease there 
was much greater variation in the amount and kind of organic 
matter given off. In 3 cases of catarrh, 1 of measles, and 1 of 
diphtheria, the total ammonia obtained was much less than in 
health, —less than 0.2 of amilligramme; a result probably due 
to the abundance of mucus in these complaints, by which the fine 
solid particles of the breath were entangled. In 2 cases of 
whooping-cough it was also deficient, but as they were both 
children, the lack of organic matter may have been due to their 
age. In cases of consumption also the total ammonia was less 
than in health; but in one case of this disease associated with 
Bright’s disease, a larger amount of organic matter was given 
off, a portion of it due to urea. In kidney diseases, the largest 
amount of organic matter of all kinds was found in the breath. 
The ammonia in one case of Bright’s disease was 1.8 milli- 
grammes in 100 minims of fluid, and urea was largely present. 
Perhaps this fact might be taken as an indication of the need of 
measures directed to increase the activity of other excretory or- 
gans. In one case of ozona or offensive breath, the total quanti- 
ty of ammonia obtained was greater than in any healthy subject, 
but the excess was chiefly due to organic matter. One convales- 
cent case of fever was examined, and the total ammonia was 
found to be deficient. The air of a crowded railway carriage, 


BIOLOGY. : 269 


after 15 minutes’ occupation was also tested by this method, and 
in about 2 cubic feet, 0.3 milligrammes of ammonia and 9’ milli- 
grammes of organic matter were found. With reference to the 
presence of organic matter in the atmosphere, it was pointed out 
that the subject was in no way a novel one, and that it had, dur- 
ing the last 30 years, been very fully investigated by many ob- 
servers, more especially by Schwann, Dusch, Schroeder, Helm- 
holtz, Van-den, Broeck, Pasteur, and Pouchet; but it was shown 
that itis to Dr. Angus Smith that we owe the discovery of the 
readiness with which living organisms are formed in the con- 
densed breath of crowded meetings, and the determination of 
the actual quantity of organic matter in the air of different locali- 
ties. Mr. Dancev’s calculation of the number of spores contained 
in the air was noticed, but a source of error was pointed out in 
the readiness with which organisms are developed in suitable 
fluids, even in the course of a few hours. Observations upon the 
organic particles of respired air had at different times been made 
by the author. 

1. In 1857 glass plates covered with glycerine had been exposed 
in different places, and examined microscopically. Amongst 
others in the dome of the borough jail, to which all the respired 
air in the building is conducted, organized particles from the lungs 
and various fibres were found in this air. 

2. During a crowded meeting at the free trade hall, air from 
one of the boxes was drawn for 2 hours through distilled water, 
and the sediment examined after 36 hours. The following objects 
were noted: Fibres, separate cellules, nucleated cells surrounded 
by granular matter, numerous epithelial scabs from the lungs and 
skin. 

3. The dust from the top ofone of the pillars was also examined, 
and, in addition to other objects, the same epithelial scales were 
detected. 

4, Several of the specimens of fluid from the lungs were 
also searched with the microscope. In all of them epi- 
thelium in different stages of deterioration was abundantly 
present, but very few spores were found in any fresh speci- 
men. On the other hand, after the fluid had been kept for a few 
hours, myriads of vibriones and many spores were found. Ina 
ease of diphtheria, confervoid filaments were noticed, and in 
2 other cases, 1 of measles, and 1 of whooping-cough, 
abundant specimens of a small-celled torula were found, and 
these were seen to increase in numbers for 2 days, after 
which they ceased to develop. These differences in the nature 
of the bodies met with probably show some difference in the 
nature of the fluid given off; but it was pointed out that they 
afford no proof as yet of the germ-theory of disease. They 
simply show the readiness with which the aqueous vapor of 
the breath supports fermentation, and the dangers of bad ventila- 
tion, especially in hospitals. Dr. E. Lund and Dr. H. Browne 
Stated that they had also made experiments, the results of which 
were, in general, confirmatory of those obtained by Dr. Ran- 
some. — Nature. 


270 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ANESTHETICS. 


A paper was contributed by Dr. B. W. Richardson, at the meet- 
ing of the British Association, on methyl compounds. He said, 
among other things that had been discovered by the experiments 
made during the past year with anesthetical bodies was, that it 
was possible to remove pain without removing consciousness, 
although any act performed by the patient was afterwards for- 
gotten ; the nervous centre which produced sensibility was affected 
and paralyzed before those ‘centres which were devoted to con- 
sciousness. Ie thought it very possible they would be able to 
produce an agency which would produce paralysis of sensation 
through the body without destroying consciousness at all. In 
the course of the brief discussion which followed the reading of 
the paper, Dr. Turnbull said the subject treated by Dr. Richard- 
son was a most important one, and he believed that gentleman’s 
researches would lead to useful practical results in the prep- 
aration of remedies. Professor Humphrey, of Cambridge, looked 
forward to nitrate of amyle becoming a cure for those horrible 
afflictions, lock-jaw and hydrophobia. With reference to the 
distinction between the locality of consciousness and the locality 
of sensation, the professor said he knew an instance in which a 
lady, under the influence of ether, was aware that she was 
having the wrong tooth drawn, although she was unable to give 
utterance to the fact. 


THE BRAIN. 


Dr. Brown-Séquard, at the meeting of the British Association, 
in the course of his remarks, said that the series of experiments 
he had made upon different animals led him to the belief that 
the right side of the brain was more important for ‘organic life 
than the left side was. Although the two sides of the brain 
were precisely alike when the animals were born, by greater 
development of the activities of one side it came to be quite 
different from the other. 


USE OF ELECTRICITY IN CAUTERIZATION. 


The old method of cauterization by fire is to be replaced by 
the electro-thermic or galvano-caustic apparatus. The latter 
process is safer and more certain in its operation. It is pos- 
sible at will to vary the degree of heat, to raise it instantly to 
the highest intensity, to diminish or suppress it, to render it 
intermittent or continued, to direct it into deep cavities, and to 
‘destroy allthe tissues by contact. It is said that the wounds 
produced by electricity are less liable to contagion and miasmatic 
infections than those caused by sharp instruments. 

The apparatus can be made of any desired shape so as to be 
applicable to all parts of the body, and it is known that impor- 
tant cures have been effected by the introduction of platinum 
wires and the cauterization by the battery of parts of the body 
inaccessible in any other way. Electricity has already been 


BIOLOGY. * 271 


tried in cases of bad tumors, in amputations, in excisions of can- 
cers, in destruction of wens, for opening cysts, for removing in- 
ternal tumors, upon wounds by fire, and in numerous other cases. 
And arecent article in ‘‘ Cosmos” claims for it the following advan- 
tages: ‘* The electro-thermic cautery suppresses all pain after the 
operation ; avoids loss of blood; prevents the retention and alter- 
ation of the liquids; avoids all putrid and purulent infections; 
facilitates the organic reconstruction and healing of the parts; 
affords a method universally applicable, strong or weak, con- 
tinuous or intermittent; capable of sloughing the tissues, of car- 
bonizing them, of destroying them, of converting them into gas, 
and must be regarded as one of the most important contri- 
butions to modern surgery.” 


AIR IN TISSUES. 


It is a well-known fact in surgery that when air gets into the 
tissues in consequence of a perforation of the lung by a punc- 
tured rib, it does not excite putrefaction or suppuration, as it is 
apt to do when it acts on an external wound. Professor 
Tyndall, in a letter to the ‘‘ Times,” connects with this fact his 
observation, by means of a beam of light, that air expelled from 
the lungs by a forced expiration contains no floating particles, 
and considers that together these facts afford a complete demon- 
stration that germs in the air removable by filtration are the cause 
of putrefaction and its associated phenomena of animalcular life. 


PULSE-BEATS. 


Dr. Omanza describes a method of registering photographically 
the beat of the pulse. The apparatus essentially consists of a 
small inverted funnel, having a long, narrow stem and a caout- 
chouc base. ‘This instrument is filled with mercury to a certain 
distance up the stem, and its base is applied to the heart or an 
artery; the oscillations of the mercurial column are then photo- 
graphed by well-known processes. It is said that with this 
apparatus the apparently single stroke of the pulse is shown to 
consist of three, or even four, in succession. — Nature. 


LIVING ORGANISMS .IN LIMESTONES. 


M. Béchamp is the author of an interesting memoir upon this 
subject, to the French Academy. 

He asserts the presence, in the limestones of various geological 
periods, of living organisms, to which he attaches the name of 
microzymas. 

These microscopic beings he has found not only in geologically 
modern deposits, but even in those of jurassic age. To their 
presence, he claims, is due the fact that the various limestones, 
when brought into contact with starch or sugar solution, cause 


272 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


fermentation to set in; while the same experiment with the highly 
crystalline varieties of carbonate of lime produces no trace of 
such a phenomenon. 


PLATEAU ON THE FLIGHT OF COLEOPTERA. 


M. Felix Plateau has supplemented the recent labors of Marey 
and others upon the flight of insects by examining the movements 
of the wings of certain Coleoptera. Specimens of the common 
May-beetle and Oryctes nasicornis were selected for experiment. 
The apparatus used consisted of 2 pulleys, fastened one above 
the other, at a distance of 2 centimetres, on a vertical support; the 
upper pulley made 12 turns for each one made by the lower, and 
could be caused to rotate 24 times ina second. The insects were 
killed by ether vapor immediately before each experiment; and 
the wings could be fastened, by a simple contrivance, to the front 
prolongation of the axis of the upper pulley. A wing, in its folded 
state, was fixed on the instrument in such a manner that its plane 
made with the plane of rotation an angle of 45°, as in the living 
animal. On turning the pulleys, it struck the air obliquely by its 
upper surface and front margin; but the small diameter of the 
apparently continuous revolving disc (as indicated by a graduated 
scale) proved that the wing was still folded, and that centrifugal 
force had not affected it. When rotation was produced in an 
opposite direction, so that the wing struck the air both by its pos- 
terior membranous margin and inferior surface, the increasing 
diameter of the disc gave proof of the expansion of the wing, 
which, indeed, continued to be much extended when motion was 
arrested. When the plane of a wing was perpendicular to the 
plane of rotation, and the revolution of the wheel was such that 
the wing struck the air by its dorsal or upper surface, no exten- 
sion ensued; when it struck by its lower surface only partial ex 
tension followed. Now the oblique, not the perpendicular, plane 
is that chosen by nature, and is, as has been seen, much more 
favorable for flight. On fixing an open wing on the axis so as to 
make an angle with the plane of rotation, and turning in one 
direction, the wing remained open; on reversing the direction 
(that is, acting on the upper surface), it became partially closed. 
— Nature. 


HEAT EVOLVED BY INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY 
INSECTS. 


In the ** Annales des Science Naturelles,” tome x1. (1869), 
p. 184; ‘* Bibl. Univ.,” January 15, 1870; ‘‘ Bull. Sci.,” p. 83, can 
be found memoirs on the above subject. 

Mr. Giraud’s researches have been made by various processes. 
He has employed the mercurial thermometer, the little bulb of 
which he has succeeded in introducing into the rectum of cater- 
pillars and other insects without injury to the animal. He has 
also made use of the differential thermometer of Leslie, in which 


BIOLOGY. Wie 


he made a modification necessary for his experiments. One of 
the bulbs presents a deep interior cavity, so that the volume of 
air contained in the concentric zone is equal to that of the volume 
of airin the other bulb. The contracted orifice is closed by a 
cork furnished with a tube, through which air enters and escapes 
freely. The insect to be experimented on is introduced into this 
cavity with the precautions necessary to avoid falsification of the 
result. M. Giraud has also employed thermo-electric needles 
formed of iron and copper, or, still better, of iron and platinum, 
such as already, in the hands of M. Becquerel, have done good 
service in the study of animal heat. Lastly, M. Giraud has used 
the theromo-electric piles of bismuth and antimony. 

Some of M. Giraud’s conclusions are as follows: Adult insects, 
even when sleeping or very weak, never present a diminution of 
the temperature of the surface of their body below the surround- 
ing temperature. The larve and pup of insects, with an im- 
perfect metamorphosis, behave, in this respect, like the adults. 
Like them, they always present an elevation of temperature above 
that of the surrounding air, or at least a temperature equal to 
that of the latter. This is not always the case in insects with a 
complete metamorphosis. The author has frequently ascertained, 
in caterpillars with smooth bodies, that the surface descends be- 
low the temperature of the surrounding air, which shows that the 
evolution of heat by the respiratory combustion may be insufli- 
cient to compensate for the loss due to superficial evaporation or 
cutaneous transpiration. The same fact occurs in chrysalids. 
The cocoon with which the pupze of a great number of Lepidop- 
tera and Hymenoptera envelop themselves serves to prevent a too 
rapid desiccation of the animal, which would superinduce a fatal 
superficial refrigeration. In fact, pupse present a distinct eleva- 
tion of temperature at the moment when they are taken out of the 
cocoon; then, in the air, they lose their weight by evaporation, 
and the surface of their body often descends below the tempera- 
ture of the surrounding air. In winter naked torpid caterpillars 
and pup return to the surrounding temperature, or to a very 
slight excess above it. The superficial refrigerations due to 
evaporation are not produced when the temperature very nearly 
approaches 32° F.,— a result perfectly conformable with the re- 
sults of physical researches. 

Sex exerts a marked influence on the evolution of superficial 
heat in certain groups of insects. Thus in the Bombycide the 
males are warmer than the females. Something of the same kind 
seems to occur among the Phryganidz and Pieridz. But we 
must be careful in generalizing these results. In caterpillars the 
heat is not localized in a few segments, but belongs to all, which 
agrees well with the analogous dissemination of the nervous 
centres. This is by no means the case in insects with powerful 
aerial locomotion. The variation of temperature shown by them 
between the thorax and the abdomen may become very consider- 
able. In the humble-bees, and especially in the Sphingidz, whose 
flight is so powerful, the excess of the thoracic over the abdominal 
temperature amounts commonly to from 7° to 11° F., or even 


974 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


sometimes to from 14° to 18° F. We may say that in insects en- 
dowed with aerial locomotion the heat is concentrated in the thorax 
into a focus of intensity proportional to the effective power of 
flight. ‘These results are in conformity with anatomical data. In 
the thorax, then, are the strong muscles both of the legs and 
wings. The latter, being in energetic contraction during “flight, 

are the seat of an active “combustion ; on the contrary, the mus- 
cles of the abdomen are then inert. We must not be surprised 
that the equalization of temperature does not take place so rapidly 
as in the vertebrata. Ifwe consider a wasp (a Polistes or a 
Sphex), the abdomen of which is united to the thorax only by a 
slender peduncle, how slowly must the currents of the blood be 
transmitted between these two regions through so narrow a strait! 
We may see how the heat developed in the thorax during the 
movement of flight must pass with difficuity into the abdomen, 

even if it ever reaches this part. 

M. Giraud has ascertained that, in the humble-bees and Xyloco- 
px, the external evolution of heat is in relation to the buzzing. 
The temperature falls as soon as the insect ceased to buzz, but 
rises again as soon as the buzzing is resumed; and this takes 
place many times successively. 


INSECT DESTRUCTIVE TO THE SILK CULTURE. 


The Secretary of the English Embassy in Japan, Mr. Adams, 
has lately described an insect called Uji or Oudji, in all its stages 
from embryo up to full growth, which has become very destructive 
to the silkworm in Japan. This insect is referred, together with 
the Chinese fly, to the Diptera. Guerin-menevelle proposes for 
it the name Tachina Oudji.— Compiles Rendus, t. 70, p. 844. 


THE BORER. 


An interesting report on the ravages of the borer in coffee es- 
tates has just been published by George Bidie, M.B., F.R.G.S. 
The coffee-plant, as is well known, is not indigenous to Southern 
India, but was first introduced into India upwards of two centu- 
ries ago by a Mussulman pilgrim, Bababooden, who, on his return 
from Mecca, brought a few berries in his wallet, and taking up 
his abode in the hills of Mysore, planted them near his tent, “and 
from these the greater portion of the coffee now growing in 
Southern India has been derived. It is a native of Caffa, in 
Southern Abyssinia. It is now largely cultivated in Mysore, Cud- 
door, Coorg, and other parts along the crests and slopes of the 
Ghauts. It is a remarkably hardy plant, thriving at various eleva- 
tions, and under the most different conditions of moisture, soil, 
and temperature. It is, however, liable to the attacks of certain 
insects, amongst which the borer is the most formidable. This is 
shown by Dr. Bidie to be the larva of a beetle belonging to the 
Cerambycidie, and termed the Xylotrechus quadrupes. The temale 
lays its eges in the bark of the plants, hot sunshine favoring their 


BIOLOGY. 275 


hatching. The larva immediately pierces the bark, and derives 
its nourishment from the more juicy layers, producing, by the 
damage it causes, exhaustion of the tree and loss of the crop. 
The whole duration of the life of the animal from the deposition 
of the ovum to the death of the beetle does not exceed 12 months. 
The animal appears to be indigenous, and the causes that have 
led to the great increase in its ravages during the last few years 
are drought, want of shade, bad culture, destruction of forest 
trees in which the insect used to live, and departure of some e of its 
enemies. — Nature. 


ANTISEPTIC TREATMENT OF RINDERPEST AND SCARLET FEVER. 


Mr. Wm. Hope (Victoria Cross), at the meeting of the British 
Association, read a paper ‘‘ On the Antiseptic Treatment of Con- 
tagion as Illustrative of the Germ-Theory of Disease.” 

Mr. Hope said that on an experimentai farm belonging 
to a company in which he was interested, pecuniarily “and 
scientifically, rinderpest broke out in the summer of 1867 
among a herd of 260 or 270 cows. He sent for Professor Brown 
from the Privy Council, who, after making his inspection, said he 
had found every symptom of rinderpest except one, and that 
was one of the later symptoms generally, although not invari- 
ably, preceding death, namely, ulceration of the mouth. 
Next the dreaded ulcers appeared, and Professor Brown 
told him there were no means of cure known to science; that 
the disease was practically incurable; that in the present in- 
stance there was no sober serious chance of s saving a single animal 
out of the whole herd. At his particular request Professor 
Brown explained the progress of the disease, and the peculiar 
difficulties to be encountered. Immediately afterwards he (Mr. 
Hope) undertook the treatment of one half of the animals. He 
got all the quicklime he’ could lay his hands on, with which he 
formed broad roadw ays all round the sheds, 3 or 4 inches in depth, 
and placed pyramids of it along the Sere in the sheds, 
and slacked it in sitw, until all the animals were coughing and 
choking to an alarming extent. He then obtained ‘the report 
of the Royal Commission on the Cattle Plague, and specially 
studied the experiments made by Mr. Crookes, F.R.S. He then 
telegraphed to Manchester for a_ barrel of genuine carbolic 
acid, and determined upon combining the two treatments of liquid 
diet for the purpose of guarding against the secondary symptoms, 
with what he might term the chemical treatment recommended 
by Mr. Crookes. ‘* The result was,” continued Mr. Hope, ‘that, 
while every single animal that I did not take charge of either died 
or was slaughtered, I succeeded in saving every single animal that 
I did take charge of; and if you consider the very large scale on 
which my operations were conducted, the completeness and 
thoroughness with which the infection had been disseminated 
throughout the herd, and the fact that rinderpest is the most 
infectious of all disorders, whether among mankind or the 


276 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


animal creation, known to science, no one can, I think, doubt 
that the treatment suggested by Mr. Crookes is a radical and 
complete specific against rinderpest. What I wish to call the 
attention of the section to is the fact that I saved the lives of 
those animals not by any medical treatment, properly so called, 
of the animals themselves, but by an unremitting, ceaseless 
chemical onslaught on the germs of the disease. I argued 
in my own mind that a theory such as the germ-theory of disease 
could not, in the nature of things, be partially true; it must 
either be altogether true or altogether false. If true, it was the 
most hopeful theory that any one could comfort himself with in 
face of an outbreak of zymotic disease, because it afforded 
some firm and sure foundation for treatment. A purely medi- 
cal treatment, properly so called, of infectious disease always 
has appeared to me —if I may be pardoned for the expres- 
sion of so heretical an opinion in such orthodox company — 
to be empirical to the last degree. It is probable that medicines 
act physically as well as chemically; butlam not aware that any 
one has been able to give a very satisfactory explanation either 
of the physical or the chemical action of organic medicines, whether 
exhibited in the human subject or in a lower organism. The chem- 
ical action of many inorganic medicines is no doubt perfectly 
understood, but even the administration in the nursery of a home- 
prescribed dose of rhubarb and magnesia has always seemed to 
me the height of empiricism. For here the nurse boldly invites 
the actions of inorganic and of organic substances, although no 
doubt she exhibits her agents with,’on the whole, a happy result. 
But, at last, we appear to be getting upon some firm scientific 
footing, for clearly it is more scientific to attack the germs pro- 
ducing diseases with a chemical agent whose action is ascertained 
than to exhibit in the inside of the patient affected a variety of 
organic and inorganic substances which can only at best act upon 
the disease, that is, upon the germ, through the secondary agency 
of the patient himself. Of course in rinderpest, or in any other 
infectious disease, the disorder may have proceeded too far before 
the patient is taken in hand to admit of the possibility of a cure, 
and death may result from a secondary action set up during the 
progress of the disease, even although the primary cause of the 
disease, that is, the germs, may have been altogether extermi- 
nated. But it has always seemed to me that this case of the 
chemical treatment of rinderpest upon so large a scale is one of 
the most entirely practical proofs of the germ-theory of disease 
that has yet been obtained, and it is for this reason that I have 
ventured to communicate these details to this section. But in 
doing so [am anxious to explain distinctly what it is that I mean 
by the words ‘ germ-theory of disease,’ for the words are so often 
used that many persons attach various meanings to them. By the 
‘germ-theory of disease’ I simply mean the process by which an 
infectious disease having once originated is disseminated and com- 
municated from one subject to another. I do not desire to apply. 
it in any way to the origin of such diseases. Probably we shall 
never know the truth as to their origin, for it is difficult to see how 


= 


BIOLOGY. Pr | 


any accurate observations can be conducted upon such a point. I 
therefore wish Mr. Crookes’ chemical treatment for infection, as suc- 
cessfully carried out in the case above described, to be considered as 
evidence only in favor of the theory that infectious disease is propa- 
gated, not originated, on what is known as the germ-theory. Of 
the origin of such diseases I will merely say this, — that I have the 
greatest possible difficulty in believing that the germs of Asiatic 
cholera existed in a passive state from the creation of the world, 
whenever that may have been, — on which point again I would 
offer no opinion, for I fear thatlam getting on dangerous ground, 
— down to the year 1817, when suddenly called into existence by 
getting into the congenial climate of a Hindoo stomach. Perhaps 
I should now communicate a further experiment that circum- 
stances forced upon me in the chemical treatment as disease 
attacking, as distinguished from medical treatment of the patient 
attacked, in this next instance, as I am almost afraid to confess, 
in the human subject. Turning again to the paper from which I 
read an extract, I will read a prophecy which I was rash enough 
to publish at the end of it, in, as you will recollect, the month of 
November, 1867, that similar treatment would, for similar reasons, 
prove equally successful in diseases attacking human beings.” 
After reading the passage in question, Mr. Hope proceeded to 
say: ‘‘In the spring of the following year, namely, 1868, I re- 
turned home late one Saturday evening, and found to my horror 
that my eldest child was laid up with a violent attack of scarlet 
fever. It so happened that scarlet fever was the disease, of all 
others, that I the most dreaded for children ; and this was a 
vivlent attack, with acute symptoms both in the throat and of 
fever. My wife, however, having authorized the exhibition of 
carbolie acid, and having already isolated the child, I proceeded 
chemically to attack his enemy, the scarlet-fever germs. The 
first step was to kill the germs which caused the pain in the throat 
and the difficulty in swallowing. This was effected by a gargle 
of 1 part of carbolic acid —I mean of the pure white carbolic acid 
manufactured by Calvert —to 200 parts of water. The effect was 
instantaneous, and the result most encouraging. Our efforts were 
redoubled. We attacked the germs in every direction, and showed 
them no mercy. Cloths dipped in a 2 per cent. solution of car- 
bolic acid were hung up over the bed and in different parts of the 
room. The same 2 per cent. solution was sprinkled over the bed- 
clothes and over the carpet and furniture. A basin of the same 
was always kept at the door of the dressing-room, through which 
alone ingress and egress were permitted, so that the few persons 
allowed to come into the room might wash their hands in it before 
going to other parts of the house. During all Sunday, and all 
Sunday night, the same treatment was incessantly kept up, and 
the patient took occasionally small slips of a solution as weak as 
0.2 to 0.3 per cent., and the poor germs of the scarlet fever could 
not get any rest, and could find no place of security. The result 
was that when the Monday morning came the patient was fast 
approaching convalescence. I should mention that some very 
simple febrifuges had been given to the patient, in addition to the 


278 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


earbolic acid which had been administered to the disease. I have 
not preserved a record of how these were given, but Iam quite 
sure that if Lhad, there is no one in this room who would say that 
they were sufficient by themselves to cure a bad case of scarlet 
fever. Convalescence proceeded most satisfactorily. When the 
peeling stage arrived the entire skin of the child was washed all 
over from time to time with a 1 per cent. solution of carboliec acid, 
and he eventually made a perfect recovery without a relapse, and 
without any of those dreaded after-consequences which are so dis- 
astrous in many cases. Before, however, he eould have been cer- 
tified as safe for other children to approach, some members of the 
household displayed a somewhat rebellious spirit towards the re- 
strictions imposed on communication with the invalid; and on my 
return from London one evening I was shocked to learn from my 
wife, who understood the danger, that several such visits had been 
paid to the patient when she was off sentry. Up to that time, — 
the patient having been at once isolated, and rigorous measures 
of disinfection carried out all through the house, as well as in the 
sick-room, —the infection had not spread. But I said at once that 
all our previous care was now thrown away; and it proved to be 
the case, as in a few days the other children were all attacked 
also. But the enemy being in their case fiercely assaulted by ear- 
bolic acid on his very first appearance, their cases were much 
milder than the first attack. In the case of a child of about one year 
old the carbolic acid was applied to his throat by the steam of hot 
water, which he was made to inhale in every instance with the 
happiest effect. Eventually the disease was entirely burnt out; 
the recoveries were in each case most satisfactory, and in no ease 
were there any bad after-results. This instance by itself would 
not, of course, carry very much weight, but following a case on 
so great a scale as that I previously described, and the treatment 
being the direct consequences of the former, and based upon a 
distinct and intelligible theory, Ihave thought that you would con- 
sider it also of some interest.” 

The chairman said that, however valuable the effects of the 
experiments carried on by Mr. Hope might be asa fact, there was 
a great deal more to be done before they could come to the con- 
clusion that this antiseptic treatment was a proof of the germ- 
theory. He thought he understood Mr. Hope to say that the 
chemical action of inorganic medicine was tolerably well under- 
stood, and he wished to contrast that with the action of organic 
medicine, such as rhubarb. He did not know, but he thought Mr. 
Hope must be in possession of more information concerning the 
chemical therapeutic of the medicines on the body than he (the 
chairman) was. Nothing puzzled him more at the present mo- 
ment than the therapeutic action of such a simple thing as a dose 
of common salts. 

Dr. Baylis, medical officer of health for Birkenhead, said he had 
had considerable experience during the last 3 or 4 years of the 
utility of carbolic acid as a disinfectant. He regarded the effects 
of the experiments made by Mr. Hope as very valuable so far as 
they tended to illustrate the effects of carbolic acid, as he thought 


BIOLOGY. 279 


they might fairly draw from them, whatever might be the germ- 
theory of disease, that carbolic acid did possess very considerable 
power in the case of one zymotic disease, namely, the rinderpest. 
Mr. Hope’s testimony was not single uppn this point; but it must 
not be inferred that that which was successful in one zymotic dis- 
ease would necessarily be successful in another. He was, how- 
ever, inclined to give Mr. Hope’s theory respecting scarlet fever 
the same approval which he had given it in the case of rinderpest. 
They all knew that children had recovered from scarlet fever in 
an extraordinary and unaccountable way. Perhaps no treatment 
was better for this disease than cleanliness, and fresh air and 
water. Mr. Hope had made the broad general statement, with re- 
gard to the effect of medicine on the human family,that it was purely 
empirical. Well, they had empirical medicines ; they had medicines 
they knew the effect of, and they had diseases they could cure with- 
out medicines. Therefore Mr. Hope’s assertion must not be taken 
generally that the action of medicine was not well understood. With 
regard to the effect of carbolic acid, Dr. Baylis mentioned that in 
Birkenhead it had long been his practice in every case where 
zymotie disease occurred, in the poorer part of the town, to have the 
acid very freely scattered over the stairs of the houses, into which 
it sank, and could not be washed out again for many days. The 
walls of the houses were also washed down with wash containing 
a portion of the acid, and it had been found that these precautions 
were very effectual in preventing the spread of the disease; in 
fact, he could state that fever seldom followed when these pre- 
cautions had been taken. In conclusion, Dr. Baylis said he 
thought this general way of treating so important a subject as this 
Was not a satisfactory one, and he thought the association should 
anticipate the wants of the age. They were unable to settle the 
germ-theory; he believed in it, but it was impossible at the. 
present time to arrive at any definite conclusion respecting it. 
Therefore he thought that the department, in which they were 
now met, should consider it their duty, and he hoped they would 
feel it to be seasonable, between now and next year’s meeting to 
institute some experiments with regard to the action of disinfect- 
ants. They knew that many of them were very useful, but they 
had no knowledge of how they acted. 

Dr. Cobbold said that it was an assumption that germs existed 
in rinderpest, for they had never yet been seen. 

Mr. Hope, in reply to the various speakers, said the theory of 
the action of carbolic acid was this, -—that, being an acid only 
technically, so to say, it was really caustic and exceedingly 
volatile; and, therefore, always assuming that the germs of the 
disease did exist, the action of the acid would simply be the caustic 
action of burning the mouth. He did not wish to put the case of 
rinderpest he had mentioned forward as a proof of the germ- 
theory, although he regarded it as one of the best proofs that had 
yet been obtained. He then went on to say that there might be 
simple germs inherent in the body, although it was very difficult 
at the present moment to know how to get at them. As to the 
effect of organic medicines being understood, he did not mean his 


280 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


remarks to apply to the whole of those medicines, but only to 
some of them. He thought the case he had instanced of the cattle 
plague being so complete, and being on so large a scale, — be 
having saved the whole of the animals he had taken under his 
charge, while those in the same herd that were not treated by 
him were sacrificed, — amounted to something like proof of the 
theory upon which the recoveries were effected. 


RELATION OF PIGMENT CELLS TO CAPILLARIES. 


The ‘‘ Lancet” has called attention to some valuable researches 
of Dr. Saviotti, which we should be sorry to omit noticing. The 
observer was engaged in studying the inflammatory process in 
the foot of the frog, “and he first obtained a circumscribed spot of 
inflammation by means of a drop of collodion, and after a few 
days found the pigment cells of the irritated spot accumulated 
around the vessels in a contracted condition, and in the course of 
a short time that they had entirely disappeared. He immediately 
applied himself to the question of explaining the mode of their 
disappearance. In other frogs he excited inflammation by drop- 
ping on the web a small quantity of a 2 per cent. solution of sul- 
phuric acid. Again, after a few days, he saw that the pigment 
cells had accumulated around the blood- vessels, and that, though 
they still preserved their contractibility, their processes were less 
branched and numerous than natural. On further examination, he 
now observed that these processes began to penetrate the walls of 
the adjacent capillaries and small veins, causing an obstruction to 
the onward movement of the red corpuscles on their proximal 
side, while a clear space was observable on their distal side, oc- 
cupied only by serum. And now one of two things occurred: 
either the process of the cell broke off, and was swept away by 
the blood current, or the whole cell gradually squeezed itself 
through the capillary wall (the part within the vessel becoming 
greatly attenuated and elongated) until it also was carried away. 
In the former case, the cell, shorn of part of its substance, still 
remained outside the vessel; in the latter, it of course disappeared 
entirely. As regards the time occupied in these phenomena, Dr. 
Saviotti finds that the cell processes penetrate the vessels in a 
period varying from 3 to 6 hours, and that it takes about the same 
length of time for the whole cell to follow and to be washed away 
from the internal surface, to which it long remains adherent. — 
Science Review. 


THE ACTION OF ALCOHOL ON THE BODY. 


Dr. Parker and Dr. Wollowiez have published, in the ‘‘ Pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Society,” a very valuable paper, from which 
we take the following: It appears, then, clear that any quan- 
tity over 2 ounces of absolute alcohol daily would certainly do 
harm to this man (the subject of the experiment) ; but’ whether 
this, or even a smaller quantity, might not be hurtful, if it were 


BICLOGY. 281 


continued day after day, the experiments do not show. It is 
quite obvious that alcohol is not necessary for him; that is, that 
every function was perfectly performed without alcohol, and that 
even 1 ounce in 24 hours produced a decided effect on his 
heart, which was not necessary for his health, and, perhaps, if 
the effect continued, would eventually lead to alterations in cir- 
culation, and to degeneration of tissues. It is not difficult to say 
what would be excess for him; but it is not easy to decide what 
would be moderation; it is only certain that it would be some- 
thing under 2 fluid ounces of absolute alcohol in 24 hours. 
It will be seen that the general result of our experiments 
is to confirm the opinions held by physicians as to what must be 
the indications of alcohol both in health and disease. The effects 
on appetite and on circulation are the practical points to seize ; 
and, if we are correct in our inferences, the commencement of 
narcotism marks the point when both appetite and circulation 
will begin to be damaged. As to the metamorphosis of nitro- 
genous tissues or to animal heat, it seems improbable that alcohol 
in quantities that can be properly used in diet has any effect; it 
appears unlikely (in the face of the chemical results) that it can 
enable the body to perform more work on less food, though by 
quickening a failing heart it may enable work to be done which 
otherwise could not be so. It may then act like the spur in the 
side of a horse, eliciting force though not supplying it. — Science 
Review. 


EFFECTS OF COMPRESSED AIR ON THE MEN EMPLOYED IN THE 
CAISSON OF THE EAST PIER OF THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE. 


The first symptom manifesting itself, caused by the pressure of 
the air, is painfulness in one or both ears. The eustachian tubes, 
extending from the back of the mouth to the bony cavities over 
which the drums of the ears are distended, are so minute as not 
to allow the compressed air to pass rapidly through them to these 
cavities, and when the pressure is increased rapidly the external 
pressure on the drums causes pain. These tubes constitute a 
provision of nature to relieve the ears of such barometric changes 
as occur in the atmosphere in which we live. The act of swal- 
lowing facilitates the passage of the air through them, and thus 
equalizes the pressure on both sides of the drums, and prevents 
the pain. 

The pressure may be admitted into the air-lock so rapidly that 
this natural remedy will not in all cases relieve it. By closing the 
nostrils between the thumb and fingers, shutting the lips tightly, 
and inflating the cheeks, the eustachian tubes are opened, and 
the pressure on the inner and outer surfaces of the tympanum is 
equalized, and the pain prevented. This method must be used 
and repeated from time to time as the pressure is let on, if it be 
increased rapidly. No inconvenience is felt by the reaction when 
the pressure is let off, as the compressed air within the drums has 
a tendency to open the tubes, and thus facilitates its escape 


282 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


through them; whereas, increasing the pressure has the effect of 
collapsing them, and therefore makes it more difficult to admit 
the compressed air within the cavities of the ears. It frequently 
occurs, however, from some abnormal condition of these tubes, 
as when inflamed by a cold in the head, that neither of these 
remedies will relieve the pain. To continue the admission of 
compressed air into the lock, under such circumstances, would 
intensify the suffering, and possibly rupture the tympanum; 
therefore the lock-tenders were particularly instructed to shut off 
the compressed airat the moment any one in the lock experienced 
pain about the ears; and then, if it could not be relieved by the 
above means, the lock was opened, and the person was not per- 
mitted to go through into the air-chamber. Sometimes 15 min- 
utes were occupied in passing persons through the first time, after 
which they usually had no further trouble from this cause. 

The fact that the depth penetrated by the air-chamber was 
considerably greater than that hitherto reached in any similar 
work, left me without any benefit from the experience of others 
in either guarding against any injurious effects of this great pres- 
sure upon the workmen and engineers subjected to it, or of avail- 
ing myself of any known specific for relieving those affected 
by it. 

When the depth of 60 feet had been attained, some few of the 
workmen were affected by a muscular paralysis of the lower limbs. 
This was rarely accompanied with pain, and usually passed off in 
the course of a day or two. As the penetration of the pier pro- 
gressed, the paralysis became more difficult to subdue. In some 
cases the arms were involved, and in a few cases the sphincter 
muscles and bowels. ‘The patients also suffered much pain in the 
joints when the symptoms were severe. An average of at least 
9 out of 10 of those affected suffered no pain whatever, but soon 
recovered, and generally returned to the work. 

The duration of the wate hes in the air-chamber was gradually 
shortened from 4 hours to 3, and then 2, and finaily to 1 hour. 

The use of galvanic bands or armor seemed, in the opinion 
of the Superintendent of Construction, the foreman of. the 
chamber, and the men, to give remarkable immunity from these 
attacks. They were all ultimately provided with them. These 
bands were made of alternate scales of zine and silver, and were 
worn around the wrists, arms, ankles, and waist, and also under 
the soles of the feet. Sufficient moisture and acidity were sup- 
plied by the perspiration to establish galvanic action in the 
armor, and, as the opinion of those most accustomed to the 
chamber was almost unanimous in favor of this remedy, I am 
very much inclined to believe it valuable. 

fmmediately on the manifestation of greater severity in the 
symptoms, a hospital-boat was fitted up at the pier, and one of 
the ablest physicians in the city (Dr. A. Jaminet) was engaged to 
attend those affected, and also to institute such sanitary measures 
as his judgment should dictate. A careful examination of the 
health and bodily condition of every workman was daily made, 
and none were permitted to engage in the work without the ap- 


BIOLOGY. 283 


proval of Dr. Jaminet. Those most severely affected were sent 
to the city hospital, and had the benefit of the advice and treat- 
ment of its resident physician, Prof. E. A. Clark. 

The total number of men employed in the air-chamber of this 
pier was 352. Of this number, about 30 were seriously affected. 
Notwithstanding the care and skill with which those most severe- 
ly attacked were treated, 12 of the cases proved fatal. Each one 
of these, without exception, I believe, was made the subject of 
careful inquest by the coroner, aided by an autopsy conducted 
usually by some of our most skilful surgeons and physicians. 

Whilst the exciting cause in all of these cases was doubtless 
the exposure of the system to the pressure of the condensed air 
of the chamber, the habits and condition of several of those who 
died were, at the time they went to work, such as would have ex- 
cluded them from it if subjected to the examination of Dr. Jami- 
net, and the verdict in about one-half of the cases gave a totally 
different cause for the death of the patient. Nearly or quite all 
of these deaths happened to men unaccustomed to the work; 
several of them to men who had worked but 1 watch of 2 hours. 
In contrast to this, is the fact that quite a large number of the 
men (certainly one-half of those constantly employed) com- 
menced with the work at its inception, and remained throughout 
its continuance entirely without injury or inconvenience. 

The gentlemen composing the engineer corps of the bridge all 
visited the air-chamber, some of them quite often, either in the 
discharge of their professional duties, or from motives of curios- 
ity, and none of them suffered any injury whatever. 

Much diversity of opinion was expressed by the medical gentle- 
men who investigated the symptoms and held autopsies of the 
deceased. Some of these gentlemen maintained that a slower 
transition from the abnormal to the natural pressure would have 
been less injurious; others claimed, on the contrary, that it was 
from the too rapid application of pressure in passing from the 
natural into the compressed air. The fact that the air-lock tend- 
ers were in no case affected, although subjected many times 
during a watch of 2 hours in the air-lock to rapidly alternating 
conditions of the atmosphere, at one moment in its normal state 
in the lock, and 5 minutes later exerting a pressure of 50 pounds 
per square inch upon every part of the body, would seem to prove 
both of these theories unsound, and lead us to believe that in the 
length of time to which the human system is subjected to this 
extraordinary pressure exists the real source of danger, and not 
from any rapid alternations of pressure to which it is exposed. 

After the caisson reached the rock, I have frequently, when 
passing through the air-lock, admitted the compressed air into it 
so quickly that none but those weil accustomed to it could relieve 
the pressure upon their ears, and yet I felt no ill effects whatever 
from this rapidly increased pressure ; and in going out I have let 
the pressure off so fast that the temperature in the lock has fallen 
32 degrees (F.) in consequence. ‘These transitions occupied but 
3 or 4 minutes. 

The fact that the air-chamber was briefly visited by thousands 


284 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


of persons, including many delicate ladies, even after it had 
reached the bed-rock, some remaining as long as an hour in it 
Without any of them experiencing the slightest ill effects from 
the pressure, and the fact that no cases of any importance what- 
ever occurred among the workmen after the watches were re- 
duced to 1 hour, satisfies me that this is the true cause of the 
paralysis, and that, by lessening still more the duration of the 
watches, a depth considerably greater can be reached without in- 
jury to the workmen. ‘Too long a continuance in the air-chamber 
was almost invariably followed by symptoms of exhaustion and 
paralysis. Dr. Jaminet, on one occasion, remained in 2% hours 
when the depth was over 90 feet, and was dangerously attacked 
soon after reaching home. —Lrom the Report of the Chief Engineer, 
Capt. James B. Eads. 


ICONO—PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM. 


An icono-photograph album, containing numerous figures of the 
appearances presented by sections of the nervous centres, has just 
been presented by Dr. Duchenne, of Boulogne, to the French 
Academy of Medicine. He states he has obtained excellent re- 
sults from sections of the great sympathetic nerve, the spinal 
ganglia, the spinal cord, and of the medulla oblongata, when 
magnified from 8 to 500 times. The plan was suggested some 
years ago by Dr. Ducheune himself, but it was found that the pho- 
tographs obtained in the ordinary method were not persistent. He 
therefore fixed them on stone, by a process he terms photo-autog- 
raphy, the details of which, however, he does not communicate. 
It is satisfactory to find him stating that the results of his experi- 
ment and photographs only confirm the substantial accuracy of the 
beautiful drawing made by Dr. Lockhart Clarke on the central 
parts of the nervous system, and especially upon the medulla 
oblongata. In his later experiments Dr. Ducheune has adopted 
Dr. Clarke’s mode of preparation with chromic acid and carmine. 
He states that certain micrographic details come out with wonder- 
ful clearness in the photographs, and that by this means some 
important additions may be made to our knowledge. Thus he 
has ascertained that in the white substance of the medulla ob- 
longata there are a large number of very small nerve tubules 
(0.0033 m.m.) diameter mingled with others of average and of 
large diameter 0 m.m, 0 1 to 0 m.m, 02 and .0.3. —Nature. 


SKIN GRAFTING. 


We have already referred, at some length (‘‘ Lancet,” July 7th, 
1870), to the interesting experiments which are being carried out 
at St. George’s Hospital, by Mr. George Poilock, in reference to 
the process introduced by M. Reverdin, of promoting the healing 
of ulcerated surfaces by grafting upon them small pieces of healthy 
epidermis. On Tuesday last we saw Mr. Francis Mason, at the 
Westminster Hospital, attempt an adaptation of the process to a 


BIOLOGY. 285 


recent raw surface. The patient was a young woman whose 
chin and lower lip were drawn down by strong bands of cicatrix 
from an extensive burn, producing a terrible and increasing de- 
formity. The plan of operation adopted was a combination of 
the old one by division of cicatrix with the novel feature devised 
by M. Reverdin. By division of some strong bands and dissection 
of adherent integuments, the skin about the lower part of the 
face and upper part of the throat was released, at the expense of 
2 large raw surfaces, which were now left lower down. It was 
upon these that Mr. Mason next proceeded to engraft 6 or 8 
pieces of skin, which he snipped off of the lax abdominal tegu- 
ment. They were not bigger than the half of a small pea, and 
they were planted by simply laying them on the raw surface, and 
retaining them in position by transparent plaster. The hope is 
that these patches of skin may form centres from which integu- 
mentary growth may spread in every direction, and thus mate- 
rially diminish the time which would otherwise be required for the 
healing of such large surfaces by unaided granulation. Success 
has attended the process as performed upon old granulating sur- 
faces; it remains to be seen whether a similar result will ob- 
tain where, as in this instance, the surface which receives the 
grafted skin is a raw one recently exposed by dissection. We 
shall watch this interesting case, and report its progress on a 
future occasion. — Lancet, Aug. 27th, 1870. 


A NEW ANTISEPTIC. 


The hydrated chloride of aluminium, to which Mr. John 
Gamgee has recently drawn the attention of medical men and 
of the general public, appears to be a valuable antiseptic. 
It is quite as potent as chloride of zine or carbolic acid, and is at 
the same time non-poisonous, and devoid of unpleasant smell of 
any kind. These qualities will no doubt ensure its being exten- 
sively used, and at no distant date we may expect it to displace 
the antiseptics which are at present in vogue. It is somewhat 
strange that this substance should have been so long overlooked 
as a possible antiseptic, and Mr. Gamgee certainly deserves credit 
for suggesting the utilization of it for this purpose. The reason 
why it has been passed over is probably to be sought in its not 
being a waste product in any common chemical manufacture. 
The anhydrous chloride of aluminium, which is manufactured in 
order to serve for the preparation of metallic aluminium, is far 
too costly, on account of the troublesome nature of the process by 
which it is prepared, — to wit, by passing chlorine at high tempera- 
tures over a mixture of aluminium and charcoal. By placing the 
anhydrous chloride of aluminium in water, it is of course con- 
verted into hydrated chloride. ‘The most economical process for 
the preparation of the hydrated chloride of aluminium appears to 
be by double decomposition between sulphate of alumina and 
chloride of calcium (both of which are cheap commercial prod- 
ucts). When solutions of these two salts are mixed together, 


286 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


sulphate of lime is formed, and appears as a precipitate, whilst 
the hydrated chloride of aluminium remains dissolved. On allow- 
ing the aqueous solution to evaporate at a very gentle heat, and 
afterwards cooling, crystals of hydrated chloride are produced. 
If an attempt be made to drive off the water from hydrated chlo- 
ride by the application of heat, decomposition will take place. 
Hydrochloric acid is evolved under these conditions, and oxy- 
chloride of aluminium is formed, and, by pushing the process 
alumina is obtained as the ultimate fixed product. — The Lancet. 


A NEW SPHYGMOSCOPE. 


In the ‘‘ Centralblatt ” of the 25th of June, M. Landois gives an 
account of a new sphygmoscope, which so far differs in construc- 
tion from those that have been hitherto suggested that the move- 
ments of the pulse act on a column of gas, the undulations of 
which can be recognized by the movements of the flame resulting 
from the ignition ‘of the gas as it issues. M. Landois observes 
that the nature of the dichrotic curve or secondary elevation in 
the pulse, so commonly depicted, has not as yet been satisfac- 
torily determined; some believing it to be a real undulation, 
others that it is to a certain extent an artificial curve, and due to 
a kind of recoi! of the instrument. None of the tracings obtained 
by the various forms of instruments hitherto suggested are free 
from this peculiar undulation, whether we take the mercurial col- 
umn, as in the instrument of Chelins; the column of water, as in 
that of Naumann; the elevation of a lever, as in that of Veerordt ; 
or, lastly, a spring, as in that of Marey. The instrument sug- 
gested by M. Landois appears to be a small metal chamber, the 
edges of which fit closely on the wrist or elsewhere, whilst a 
small space is left between the skin and the inside of the chamber, 
through which either ordinary gas or hydrogen is transmitted 
from a gasometer at a very low } pressure. The gas issues by a 

capillary glass tube attached to the other extr emity of the cham- 
ber, and can easily be ignited. Itis interesting to find that the 
movements thus rendered visible agree pr ecisely, both as regards 
the principal curve and the secondary undulation, with those ex- 
hibited by means of Marcy’s sphygmograph. — The Lancet. 


THE VALUE OF AMERICAN HEMP IN MEDICINE. 


Dr. H. C. Wood, Jr., has written an essay, which he read before 
the American Philosophical Society, in which he records some 
experiments with an article of hemp grown in Kentucky. He 
took an alcoholic extract made from the dried leaves, swallowing 
at a dose nearly all the product of an ounce and a half of the 
leaves, with the effect of profound hemp intoxication. It proved 
to be toxic in its power, although he recovered himself in a day 
or two, He had all the exuberant hilarity usually experienced 
from the hemp, followed by a feeling of fear of impending death; 


BIOLOGY. 287 


this took so deep a hold on him that it was impossible to shake 
it off. 

Other trials he has made with it convince him that it has more 
power than that brought from India, — on one occasion four times 
the dose of the latter failing to produce the effect of the Kentucky 
specimen. ‘ 

He has his extract made from a tincture, removing certain in- 
ert matters by an akali; he intimates the hope that in the present 
revision of the U.S. Pharmacopeeia the ex. cannibis purifactum 
may be replaced by a preparation to be called Resena cannibis, 
and to be made by precipitating the concentrated tincture by 
water rendered strongly alkaline by soda or potash. 

The native plant, if used, will always be more reliable than the 
imported, from the certainty of freshness, whilst the cost of it is 
hardly anything. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CARBONIC ACID. 


At the meeting of the British Association a paper was read by 
Dr. B. W. Richardson, entitled ‘*‘ New Physiological Researches 
on the Effects of Carbonic Acid.” In the course of an interesting 
communication he explained that the observations he. had made 
were new, in that they related to the direct action of carbonic 
acid on animal and vegetable fluids, and they were interesting 
equally to the zodlogist and botanist as to the anatomist. The 
author first demonstrated from a specimen the result of subjecting 
a vegetable alkaline infusion to the action of carbonic acid under 
pressure. The result was a thick fluid substance, which resem- 
bled the fluid which exudes as gums from some trees. When 
this fluid was gently dried it became a semi-solid substance, 
which yielded elastic fibres, and somewhat resembled conachone. 
This observation had led the author to study the effect of carbonic 
acid on albumen, serum of blood, blood itself, bronchiai secre- 
tion, and other organic fluids. When the serum of blood 
was thus treated with the carbonic acid under pressure and 
gentle warmth, 26° F., the colloidal part was separated; but 
when the blood, with the fibrine removed from it, was treated, 
there was no direct separation, the blood corpuscles seeming for 
a time to engage the gas by condensation of it. But blood 
containing fibrine, and holding fluid by tribasic phosphate of 
soda, was at once coagulated by the acid. The bronchial secre- 
tion was thickened by carbonic acid, and a tenacious fluid was ob- 
tained, resembling the secretion which occurred in asthma and 
bronchitis, while secretions on serous surfaces were thickened 
and rendered adhesive. After detailing many other facts, Dr. 
Richardson concluded by showing what bearing this subject had 
of a practical kind. In the first place, the research had relation 
to the question of elasticity of organic substances; and, secondly, 
on the direct action of carbonic acid on the production of vege- 
table juices. But the greatest interest concentrated on the rela- 
tion of the research to some of the diseases of the animal body. 


288 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Thus, in instances where the temperature of the body was 
raised, and the production of carbonic acid was excessive, the 
blood on the right side of the heart had its fibrine often precipi- 
tated, and in many other cases fibrinous or albuminous exuded 
fiuids were solidified, as was the case in croup. The author, in 
the course of his paper, explained how rapidly blood charged with 
earbonic acid obsorbed oxygen when exposed to that gas; and 
he held that carbonie acid in the venous blood was as essential 
to the process of respiration as was the oxygen in the pulmonary 
organs. 


FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY INSECTS. 


This is the title of an original paper by Dr. William Ogle, in 
the April number of the ‘* Popular Science Review.” 

The fertilization of the Heath family is treated in a very inter- 
esting manner. The writer describes the use of the arms or 
appendages on the back of the anthers in Heaths, by which the 
bee moves the anther so that the pollen falls out upon the insect’s 
head. The fertilization of papilionaceous blossoms, particularly 
bean flowers, is also treated of. The writer notes that some bees 
get at the nectar by making a hole in the side of the calyx tube, 
while others enter by the regular way; an individual bee keeps 
persistently to one or the other mode in visiting a number of bean 
flowers. ‘*It would thus appear that the habit is not an instinct, 
belonging by inheritance to the whole species, but is in each 
case the result of individual experience. As others have not, we 
must admit not only that these insects are intelligent, but that 
they differ from each other in their degrees of intelligence, some 
being slow in acquiring knowledge, others quicker.” — Hditor. 


CROSS-FERTILIZATION AND LAW OF SEX IN EUPHORBIA. 


Mr. Charles Darwin’s interesting observations on cross-fertili- 
zation have opened a new world for original discovery. The list 
of plants which seem to avoid self-fertilization is already very 
large. I think Muphorbia may be added to the number. Cer- 
tainly this is the case with H. fulgens, Karw. (2. jacquinaflora, 
Hook), which I have watched very closely in my greenhouse 
this winter. Several days before the stamens burst through the 
involucre, which closely invests them, the pistil with its ovarium 
on the long pedicel has protruded itself beyond, exposed its stig- 
matic surfaces, and received the pollen from the neighboring 
flowers. ‘The way in which the pollen scatters itself is curious. 
In most flowers a slight jar or a breath of wind will waft the 
pollen to the stigmas, but I have not been able to notice any to 
leave the flowers in this way; for as soon as the anther cells burst, 
the white stamen falls from its filament-like pedicel, and either 
drops at once on the pistils of other flowers or scatters its pollen 
grains by the force of the fall. This Huphorbia also furnishes 
another contribution to the theory of sex which I have ad- 


BIOLOGY. 289 


vanced. The plan on which the male and female organs are 
formed is evidently a common one; and the only reason why 
some flower-heads have a pistil in the centre, and others are 
wholly staminate, is, that there is greater axial vigor when the 
female flower isformed. Whenever the common peduncle (below 
the scarlet involucre) is weak, a pistil never appears in that head 
of flowers. A few which seem strong neither have them; but the 
ereat majority of the strong peduncles are those which bear the 
female blossoms. Another interesting fact is that the number of 
male flowers is less in those heads which also bear a female than 
in those which are wholly staminate. This seems to add to the 
point I made in my paper on Ambrosia, that after the flowers have 
been partially formed in embryo, and before the sex has been 
finally determined, the female flower, being primordially the 
stronger, has the power of absorbing the males, or their partially 
formed elements, into its system. It is certainly remarkable that 
in both these instances the number of male flowers should decrease 
in proportion to the existence or vigor of the central female one. 
The male and female flowers of Euphorbia fulgens are formed 
much alike; the female occupies the centre, and seems really but 
a prolongation of the main stem, on the top of which is an articu- 
lation from which the ovarium springs. The capsulareadily falls 
from this articulation when mature. From the base of the female 
central peduncle spring weaker peduncles, colorless, appearing, 
indeed, almost like filaments, articulated at about the same height 
as the female, only above the point bearing a short filament and 
anther, — the caduceous part before referred to. No one can fail 
to see the correspondence of plan in these different parts, and I 
think that nothing but the favorable position in the direct line of 
axial vigor made the central flower a female one. Cases occa- 
sionally occur in which a tolerably strong head of wholly male 
flowers will develop the central axis into a pedicel almost as long 
and vigorous as those which bear female flowers. But the flow 
of vital foree —if I am correct in using this term — not being 
quite sufficient, the final goal of natural perfection in the female 
form was not reached. ‘These cases do not oceur often, but are 
well worth looking for, as they show so clearly the dividing line 
between the forces which govern the male or female sex. — Ab- 
stract of a paper read by Thomas Meehan before Phil. Academy of 
Natural Sciences. 


MOVEMENTS OF CHLOROPHYLL. 


A series of observations have been made by Prillieux, Rose, and 
Brongniart, on the apparently spontaneous movements within 
the leaves of plants of the grains of chlorophyll which constitute 
the green coloring matter. These grains had been noticed by 
previous observers to congregate under the direct action of light. 
M. Prillieux performed his experiments on a species of moss. 
When the moss had been kept in the dark for some days, the cells 
presented the appearance of a green net-work, between the 
meshes of which was a clear, transparent ground. Ail the grains 


290 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


of chlorophyll were attached to the walls which separate the 
cells from one another; there were none on the upper or under 
walls which form the surfaces of the leaf. Under the influence of 
light the grains change their position from the lateral to the super- 
ficial walls, the movement taking place, under favorable circum- 
stances, in about a quarter of an hour. On attaining their new 
position, the grains do not remain entirely immovable, but con- 
tinually approach and separate from one another. If again dark- 
ened, they leave their new position, and return to the lateral 
walls. Artificial light produces the same effect as daylight. <A 
protoplasmic material is intimately associated with the grains of 
chlorophyll, causing them to move in masses of net-work rather’ 
than in isolated grains; and this protoplasm is supposed to be the 
vital and animating part of the cell. —Quarterly Journal of Science. 


GIRDLING FRUIT—TREES TO MAKE THEM BEAR. 


A correspondent of the ‘‘ Boston Journal of Chemistry” states 
that there is no doubt that the girdling of fruit-trees is a cause of 
abundant fruitage ; but it by no means follows from this fact that 
a general principle can be deduced, that trees would be improved, 
or the crop increased for a series of years, by such treatment. It 
is well known that gardeners frequently girdle a branch, by re- 
moving a narrow ring of bark around it, when they wish to in- 
crease the size and beauty of the fruit; but it is done at the 
expense of its vitality, and, unless the operation is skilfully per- 
formed, will invariably destroy it before the season of bearing the 
next year. 

The crude sap, taken up from the soil by the roots of the tree, 
ascends principally through the vascular tissue of the alburnum 
or sap-wood to the leaves of the branches, and there both this and 
the carbon of the carbonic acid, absorbed from the air by the 
leaves, are organized into the proper substance for the growth of 
the wood and fruit. It then descends on the outside, principally 
through the sieve tissue of the cambium layer, forming a new 
layer of wood and bark; while a part also goes to the nourishment 
of the fruit. Jf there is no obstruction of the elaborated sap in its 
downward course, it is equally distributed to the branches, fruit, 
stem, and roots; but if the bark and cambium layer are removed 
by girdling, it is stopped in its descent, and consequently received 
into the branches and fruit in excess, and they are thus increased 
at the expense of the part below. In this way we account for the 
increase of the fruit by girdling. 

Professor John Lindley, when speaking of this subject in his 
late treatise on horticulture, quotes Mr. T. A. Knight approv- 
ingly, as follows: ‘* When the course of the descending current is 
intercepted, that naturally stagnates, and accumulates above the 
decorticated space, whence it is repulsed and carried upward, to 
be expended in an increased production of blossoms and fruit.” 
This theory is adopted by the best physiologists of the present 
time, and can be demonstrated with almost mathematical cer- 


BIOLOGY. 291 


tainty. Therefore, this unnatural development of fruit, instead 
of indicating an improvement of the trees, must be looked upon 
as a premonitory symptom of disordered physical action, and of 
premature death. 

If the bark and the cambium layer have been removed by gird- 
ling, as seems to be.the case with the trees, the downward cir- 
culatory connection on the outside between the upper and the 
lower part is destroyed, and the upper part at least must die. If, 
however, the cambium layer has not been’ destroyed, and has 
been so covered by wax and bandages as to prevent evaporation 
and drying of the surface of the “decorticated part, there is a 
chance for some of them to live. It is true that some few cases 
are recorded of trees which have lived several years after the 
bark and cambium layer have been removed, but they are of very 
doubtful authority. 

M. Ernest Faivre, a French physiologist, gives a statement of 
his recent investigations on this subject, published in the ‘‘ Gar- 
dener’s Chronicle,” about two months ago, in which he says: ‘‘ In 
mulberry-trees, as in all trees deprived of latex, annular incisions 
generally pr oduce the following manifestations: 1. Formation of 
a swelling, or tissue restorer, at the upper lip of the wound. 2. 
Diametrical growth of the parts above the zone of bark taken off. 
Oo. Hardening of the wood in that region. 4. Stationary condi- 
tion of the parts below, if they are deprived of leaves and buds; 
or, if not, vigorous shoots from below the lower lip of wound. 
5. More easy, more early, and more abundant flowering and 
fructification. 6. Destruction, after a variable time, of all the 
parts above the annulation.” 


THE CIRCULATION OF THE CULEX. 


Mr. H. C. Perkins gives an interesting paper in the ‘‘ Monthly 
Microscopical Journal, FOE September. He says that, while 
watching the cir culation as seen thr ough the lenses in the reflected 
sunlight, if he moves the diaphragm “from left to right, so as to 

make the shadow enter upon the right of the field of view, a brisk 
circulation (no matter how quict it ‘had ‘been before) is instantly 
witnessed, which appears to be changed in direction as the dia- 
phragm is moved back again; and that the direction of the cireu- 
lation can thus be changed at will by the interception of the 
sunlight. This same result can also be witnessed by the passage 
of clouds between the sun and mirror. The actual direction in 
the plant is from the apex of the leaf in sunlight, and toward it 
in the shade. ‘This change in direction is so rapid when produced 
by the shadow of fast-flitting clouds across the sun’s dise that it 
would seem that the change of temperature could hardly be felt 
by the plant; it certainly could not be by an ordinary thermom- 
eter; but a heated body, properly placed, will quicken tbe circu- 
lation, as cold will retard it. If he mistakes not, we have here a 
fine demonstration of the conversion of light into heat by its pas- 


292 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


sage through the vegetable tissues, and of heat into motion by 
its action upon the laticiferous vessel. — Science Review. 


AN INTOXICATING FUNGUS. 


It would seem, from a paper published by Dr. A. Kellog, that 
this fungus is more extensively used than we are aware of. The 
desired effect comes on from one to two hours after taking the 
fungus. Giddiness and drunkenness follow in the same manner 
as from wine or spirituous liquors; cheerfulness is first produced, 
the face becomes flushed, involuntary words and actions follow, 
and sometimes loss of consciousness. Some persons it renders 
remarkably active, proving highly stimulant to muscular exer- 
tion; but by too large a dose violent spasmodic effects are pro- 
duced. So exciting is it to the nervous system of many that its 
effects are very ludicrous; a talkative person cannot keep silence 
or secrets; one fond of music is perpetually singing; and if a 
person under its influence wishes to step over a straw or a stick, 
he takes a stride or jump sufficient to clear the trunk of a tree. It 
is needless to say delirium, coma, and death often result, as in the 
ease of alcoholic spirits. The most remarkable fact is that the 
fluids of the debauchee become singularly narcotic, and are there- 
fore preserved in times of scarcity. Thus a whole village, as 
some say, may be intoxicated through the medium of one man, 
and this one fungus serves to prolong these most fearful and dis- 
gusting orgies for many days together. It is worthy of note that 
the very same erroneous impression as to size and distance pro- 
duced by this plant, are also created by the hasheesh of India, and 
are also frequently noticed among idiots and lunatics. — Science 
ieview. 


IMPORTED INSECTS AND NATIVE AMERICAN INSECTS. 


If we examine into the history of the imported currant-worm 
and the native currant-worm, we shall find avery curious state of 
things. These two insects both produce saw-flies, which are so 
closely allied to each other, that, although they are referred to 
distinct genera by entomologists, it may be doubted whether the 
genus (Pristiphora) under which the native species is classified be 
not a mere sub-genus of that under which the imported species is 
classified. Reasoning & priori, therefore, we should expect to find a 
very great similarity in the destructive powers of these two worms, 
especially as each of them infests the leaves both of the red cur- 
rant and of the gooseberry. But what are the actual facts? On 
the one hand we see a native American species, which must have 
existed here from time immemorial, feeding on our wild goose- 
berries and perhaps on our wild red currant, and which yet has 
troubled our tame gooseberries and tame red currants so very 
slightly that it cannot be proved with absolute certainty to have 
ever done so at all, except in Rock Island County, Ul., and in 
Scott County, Iowa. 


BIOLOGY. 93 63 


On the other hand, we see a species, only introduced into this 
country from Europe some 12 years ago, which has already 
almost put a stop to the cultivation of the gooseberry and red cur- 
rant throughout a large part of the State of New York, the north- 
ern borders of Pennsylvania, and the whole of Canada West, and 
is slowly but surely extending itself in all directions from the point 
where it was originally imported. What can be the reason of 
such a wide difference in the noxious powers of two such closely 
allied insects, feeding on exactly the same plants, but one of them 
indigenous to America and the other imported into America from 
Europe? Nor is this the only case of the kind. We can point 
out at least three other such cases. The imported onion-ily (An- 
thomyia ceparum) is a terrible pest to the onion-grower in the 
East, though it has not yet made its way out West. On the other 
hand, the native American onion-fly (Orialis arcuata, Walker), 
which is a closely allied species and has almost exactly the same 
habits, has only been heard of in one or two circumscribed local- 
ities in the West, and even there does comparatively but little dam- 
age. Again, the imported oyster-shell bark-louse (Aspidiotus conchi- 
Jormis) is a far worse foe to the apple and certain other fruit-trees 
than our indigenous Harris’ bark-louse (Asp. Harrisit), though 
each of them infests the same species. Finally, the imported 
meal-worm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) swarms throughout the whole 
United States, and is a great pest; while the native American 
species (Tenebrio obscurus), which has almost exactly the same 
habits, belongs to the same genus, and is of very nearly the same 
size, shape, and color, is comparatively quite rare among us, and 
is scarcely known to our millers and flour-dealers. 

On a careful and close examination, it will be found that almost 
all our worst insect foes have been imported among us from the 
other side of the Atlantic. The Hessian tly was imported almost 90 
years ago; the wheat midge about half as long ago; the bee moth 
at the beginning of the present century; the codling moth, the 
cabbage tinea, the borer of the red currant, the oyster-shell bark- ° 
louse, the grain plant-louse, the cabbage plant-louse, the currant 
plant-louse, the apple-tree plant-louse, the pear-tree flea-louse, the 
cheese-maggot, the common meal-worm, the grain-weevil, the 
house-fly, the leaf-beetle of the elm, the cockroach, the croton 
bug, and the different carpet, clothes, and fur moths, at periods 
which cannot be definitely fixed. Even within the last few years 
the asparagus beetle has become naturalized in New York and 
New Jersey, whence it will no doubt spread gradually westward 
through the whole United States, while the rape butterily was in- 
troduced about a dozen years ago, and is rapidly spreading over 
some of the Eastern States. And only a year ago the larva of a 
certain owlet-moth (Hypogymna dispar), which is a great pest in 
Europe, both to fruit-trees and forest-trees, was accidentally in- 
troduced by a Massachusetts entomologist into New England, 
where it is spreading with great rapidity. It is just the same 
thing with plants as with insects. We have looked carefully 
through Gray’s ‘‘ Manual of Botany,” and we find that — ex- 
cluding from consideration all cryptograms, and all doubtful 


294 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


cases, and all cases where the same plant is supposed to be indig- 
enous on both sides of the Atlantic—no less than 233 distinct 
species of plants have been imported among us from the Old 
World, all of which have now run wild here, and many of which 
are the worst and most pernicious weeds that we have to contend 
against. In the United States ‘‘ Agricultural Report” for 1865 
(pp. 510-519) will be found a list of 99 of the principal ‘*‘ Weeds 
of American Agriculture,” by the late Dr. Wm. Darlington. Of 
this whole number no less than 43, or nearly one-half, are species 
that have been introduced among us from the Old World. Among 
these we may enumerate here, as the best known and the most 
pernicious, butter-cups (two species), shepherd’s purse, St. John’s 
wort, cow-cockle, May-weed or dog-fennel, ox-eye daisy, common 
thistle, Canada thistle, burdock, plantain, mullein,.toad-flax, bind- 
weed, Jamestown (Jimson) weed, lamb’s quarter, smart-weed, 

field earlic, fox-tail, grass, and the notorious cheat or chess. And 
to these we may add the common purslane, which, through some 
strange oversight, has been omitted in Dr. Darlington’s catalogue. 

It will be supposed, perhaps, since there are about as many 
voyages made from America to Europe as from Europe to Amer- 
ica, that we have fully reciprocated to our transatlantic brethren 
the favors which they have conferred upon us, in the way of nox- 
ious insects and noxious weeds. Itis no such thing. There are 
but very few American insects that have become naturalized in 
Europe, and even these do not appear for the most part to do any 
serious amount of damage there. For example, on one or two 
occasions single specimens of our army-worm moth (Leucania 
unipuncta) have been captured in England; but the insect has 
never spread and become ruinously common there, as it con- 
tinually, in particular seasons, does in America. Our destructive 
pea-bug (Bruchus pisi) has also found its way to Europe; but al- 
though it is met with in England, and according to Curtis has be- 
come naturalized in the warmer departments of France, Kirby 
and Spence expressly state that it does not occur in England ‘to 
any very injurious extent,” and Curtis seems to doubt the fact of 
its being naturalized in England at all. Again, the only species 
of white ant that exists within the limits of the United States 
(Termes frontalis) has been known for a long time to be the guest 
at the plant-houses of Schonbrunn, in Germany, but is not re- 
corded to have ever as yet spread into the surrounding country. 
As to our American meal-worm (Tenebrio obscurus), Curtis states 
that it has been introduced into England along with American 
flour, and that it is sometimes abundant in London and the prov- 
inces; but Kirby and Spence say not one word about it, and it 
seems to be confined to the English sea-ports, and the places 
where American flour is stored, without spreading into the adja- 
cent districts. 

A very minute yellow ant, however (Myrmica molesta), which 
is often very troublesome with us in houses, has, according to 
Frederick Smith, ‘*‘ become generally distributed and naturalized ” 
in houses in England; and Kirby and Spence state more specifi- 

cally, that ‘‘ it has become a great pest in many houses in Brighton, 


BIOLOGY. 295 


London, and Liverpool, in some cases to so great an extent as to 
cause the occupants to leave them.” As to our chinch-bug, our 
curculio, our plum-gouger, our two principal apple-tree borers, our 
canker-worm, our apple-tree tent-caterpillar, our fall web-worm, 
our peach-tree borer, and our other indigenous pests among the 
great army of bad bugs, nobody ever yet found a single one of 
them alive and kicking on the other side of the Atlantic. And 
with regard to plants, the only two American plants that we know 
to have become so firmly established in Europe as to be a nui- 
sance there, are an American aquatic plant, the common water- 
weed (Anacharsis canadensis), which has choked up many of the 
canals in England, and our eommon horse-weed, or mare’s tail as 
it is called in the West (Zrigeron canadense), which has spread 
from America nearly over the whole world. — Prom the Report of 
Charles V. Riley, State Entomologist of Missouri. 


ATMOSPHERIC OZONE. 


From the proceedings of the Institute of Lombardy, reported in 
the ‘‘ Imparziale” of the 16th May, we extract the following re- 
sults of the important experimental researches of Professor Mante- 
gazza on the action of the essences of flowers on the production 
of atmospheric ozone. 1. The essences of mint, turpentine, 
cloves, lavender, bergamot, anise, juniper, lemon, fennel, nut- 
megs, cajeput, thyme, cherry, lanrel, in contact with atmospheric 
oxygen in light, develop a very large quantity of ozone, equal if 
not superior in amount to that produced by phosphorus, by elec- 
tricity, and by the decomposition of permanganate of potash. 

2. The oxidation of these essences is one of the most conven- 
ient means of producing ozone, since even when in very minute 
quantity they can ozonize a large quantity of oxygen, whilst their 
action is very persistent. 

3. In the greater number of cases the essences, in order to de- 
velop ozone, require the direct rays of the sun; in a small num- 
ber of cases they effect the change with diffused light; in few or 
none, in darkness. 

4. In some cases, however, the action just commenced in solar 
light was found to persist to some extent when the essence was 
placed in darkness. 

5. In some eases a vessel perfumed with an essence, and after- 
wards thoroughly washed with alcohol and perfectly dried, could 
still develop a proportionate quantity of ozone, provided that it 
retained a slight odor of the essence. 

6. The essences that developed the largest quantity of ozone 
were those of cherry, laurel, palmaroza, cloves, lavender, mint, 
juniper, lemons, fennel, and bergamot; those that gave it in less 
quantity were anise, nutmeg, cajeput, and thyme. 

7. Camphor, as an ozonogenic agent, is inferior to all the above- 
named essences, 

8. Kau de Cologne, honey-water, and other perfumes, or aro- 
matic tinctures, develop a proportionate quantity of ozone when 
they are exposed to the direct rays of the sun. ; 


296 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


9. The flowers of the narcissus, hyacinth, mignonette, helio- 
trope, lily of the valley, etc., develop ozone in closed vessels. 
Flowers destitute of perfume do not develop it, and those which 
have but slight perfume develop it only in small quantities. As 
a corollary trom these facts the professor recommended the use 
of flowers in marshy districts and in places infected with animal 
emanations, as the powerful oxidizing influence of ozone may 
destroy them. The inhabitants of such regions should surround 
their houses with beds of the most odorous flowers. — Nature. 


A NEW THEORY OF SLEEP. 


Dr. E. Sommer has contributed to the ‘‘ Zeitschrift fiir Ration- 
elle Medicin ” for 1869, a paper in which he promulgates the doc- 
trine that sleep is nothing else than the result of a deoxygenation 
of the organism. According to this theory, the blood and the 
tissues possess the property of storing up the oxygen inhaled, and 
then supplying it in proportion to the requirements of the econ- 
omy. When this store of oxygen is exhausted, or even becomes 
‘too small, it no longer suffices to sustain the vital activity of the 
organs, the brain, nervous system, muscles, etc., and the body 
falls into that particular state which we call sleep. During the 
continuance of this deep repose fresh quantities of oxygen are 
being stored up in the blood, to act as a supply to the awakened 
vital powers. Rest produces, though in a less degree, the same 
effect as sleep in reducing the expenditure of oxygen. 


THE NEW AUSTRALIAN MUD-FISH. 


The general form of Ceratodus forsteri, and its striking resem- 
blance to Lepidosiren, will at once be seen by the accompanying fig- 
ure (omitted). The length of the specimen described (which at the 
time the paper was written was the only individual yet obtained), 
was about 3 feet; it has a broad flat head, small eyes, and 4 limbs 
in the shape of flappers. The body is stated to be covered with 
large cycloid scales, 10 rows on each side. A large gill, opening 
in front of the pectoral limb, contains well-developed bronchi ; 
but their accurate examination was not possible, on account of the 
bad condition of the specimen. A rather large pair of nostrils, 
situated just below the upper lip, communicates by a short tube 
with the roof of the mouth. The skeleton of this fish is partly 
ossified and partly cartilaginous, the vertebrx being pure carti- 
lage, and the ribs hollow tubes, filled with cartilaginous substance. 
The palate and upper part of the skull are bony, and the head is 
covered by 2 large scales. The tongue is very small, and is 
attached to what appears to be a large hyoid bone, ossified exter- 
nally. The rays which support the dorsal and caudal fin consist of 
hollow tubes filled by cartilage. In the upper jaw are two large 
teeth, which Mr. Krefft terms incisors, and which are obviously 
the representatives of the peculiar teeth in the corresponding 
position in Lepidosiren. Behind these are dental plates, divided 


BIOLOGY. 297 


on each side into 6 tooth-like projections. The lower jaw is pro- 
vided with similar dental plates, but has no teeth in front; the 
rami are joined only by a tough skin. It is said to have flesh of 
the color of salmon, and to be excellent eating, so that the settlers 
have named it the ‘*‘ Burnett” or ‘*‘ Dawson salmon,” from the two 
Queensland rivers in which it is principally found. The native 
name is given by Mr. Krefft as Baramoonda or Baramoondi. 
The fish is stated to attain sometimes a length of 6 feet and up- 
wards. Mr. Krefft has referred the fish to the genus Ceratodus, — 
a name established by Agassiz in his ‘‘ Poissons Fossiles” for the 
indication of certain teeth which were then supposed to be those 
of some kind of shark. Dr. Giinther, our best living authority on 
the class of fishes, is, I believe, of opinion that, so far as the 
structure of Ceratodus is known, there is nothing to show that 
Mr. Krefft’s decision is wrong, though it would appear to me to 
have been better to have proposed a new generic name for this 
animal. — Nature. 


COMPARISON OF THE BRAINS OF MAN AND THE MAN-APES. 


The collections of Dr. J. B. Davis and Dr. Morton give ‘the 
following as the average internal capacity of the cranium in the 
chief races: Teutonic family, 94 cubic inches; Esquimaux, 91 
cubic inches; Negroes, 85 cubic inches; Australians and Tasma- 
nians, 82 cubic inches; Bushmen, 77 cubic inches. These last 
numbers, however, are deduced from comparatively few speci- 
mens, and may be below the average, just as a small number of 
Finns and Cossacks give 98 cubic inches, or considerably more 
than that of the German races. It is evident, therefore, that the 
absolute bulk of the brain is not necessarily much less in savage 
than in civilized man, for Esquimaux skulls are known with a 
capacity of 113 inches, or hardly less than the largest among 
Europeans. While the largest Teutonic skull in Dr. Davis’s col- 
lection is 112.4 cubic inches, there is an Araucanian of 115.5, an 
Esquimaux of 113.1, a Marquesan of 110.6, a Negro of 105.8, and 
even an Australian of 104.5 cubic inches. But what is still more 
extraordinary, the few remains yet known of pre-historic man do 
not indicate any material diminution in the size of the brain-case. 
A Swiss skull of the stone age, found in the lake dwelling of Mei- 
len, corresponded exactly to that of a Swiss youth of the present 
day. ‘The celebrated Neanderthal skull had a larger circumfer- 
ence than the average, and its capacity, indicating actual mass of 
brain, is estimated to have been not less than 75 cubic inches, or 
nearly the average of existing Australian crania. The Engis skull, 
perhaps the oldest known, and which, according to Sir John Lub- 
bock, ‘‘there seems no doubt was really contemporary with the 
mammoth and the cave bear,” is yet, according to Professor Hux- 
ley, ‘‘a fair average skull, which might have belonged to a phi- 
losopher, or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a 
savage.” Of the cave men of Les Eyzies, who were undoubiedly 
contemporary with the reindeer in south of France, Professor Paul 


298 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Broca says (in a paper read before the Congress of Pre-historic 
Archmology, in 1868): ‘‘ The great capacity of the brain, the 
development of the frontal region, the fine elliptical form of the 
anterior part of the profile of the skull, are incontestable charac- 
teristics of superiority, such as we are accustomed to meet with in 
civilized races.” We cannot fail to be struck with the apparent 
anomaly that many of the lowest savages should have as much 
brains as average Europeans. The idea is suggested of a sur- 
plusage of power; of an instrument beyond the need of its pos- 
sessor. In order to discover if there is any foundation for this 
notion, let us compare the brain of man with that of animals. 
The adult male orang-outang is quite as bulky as a small-sized 
man, while the gorilla is considerably above the average size of 
man as estimated by bulk and weight; yet the former has a brain 
of only 28 cubic inches, the latter one of 30, or, in the largest 
specimen yet known, of 345 cubic inches. ‘‘ We see, then, that 
whether we compure the savage with the higher developments of 
man, or with the brutes around him, we are alike driven to the 
conclusion that in his large and well-developed brain he possesses 
an organ quite disproportionate to his actual requirements, — 
an organ that seems prepared in advance, only to be fully utilized 
as he progresses in civilization. A brain slightly larger than that 
of the gorilla would, according to the evidence before us, fully 
have sufficed for the limited mental development of the savage ; 
and we must therefore admit, that the large brain he actually pos- 
sesses could never have been solely developed. by any of those 
laws of evolution, whose essence is, that they lead to a degree of 
organization exactly proportionate to the wants of each species, 
never beyond those wants; that no preparation can be made for 
the future development of the race; that one part of the body can 
never increase in size or complexity, except in strict co-ordina- 
tion to the pressing wants of the whole. The brain of pre-his- 
toric and of savage man seems to me to prove the existence of 
some power distinct from that which has guided the develop- 
ment of the lower animals through their ever-varying forms of 
being. — Amer. Jour. of Science and Arts. 


SOME ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES IN ANIMAL MECHANICS. 


The following is an abstract of a paper ‘‘ On the Difference be- 
tween a Hand anda Foot, as shown by their Flexor Tendons.” 
By the Rev. Samuel Haughton, M.D., Dublin, D.C.L., Oxon, 
Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. The fore feet of vertebrate 
animals are often used merely as organs of locomotion, like the 
hind feet; and in the higher mammals they are more or léss 
‘¢cephalized,” or appropriated as hands to the use of the brain. 
The proper use of the hand when thus specialized in its action is 
to grasp objects; while the proper use of a foot is to propel the 
animal forward by the intervention of the ground. In the case of 
the hand, the flexor muscles of the fore-arm act upon the finger- 
tendons, in a direction from the muscles towards the tendons, 


BIOLOGY. 299 


which latter undergo friction at the wrist and other joints of the 
hand, the force being applied by the muscles to the tendon above 
the wrist, and the resistance being applied at the extremities of 
the tendons below the wrist by the object grasped by the hand. 
From the principle of ‘* Least Action in Nature,” we are entitled 
to assume the strength of each portion of a tendon to be propor- 
tional to the force it is required to transmit; and since, in a proper 
hand, these forces are continually diminished by friction, as we pro- 
ceed from the muscle to the fingers, we should expect the strength 
of the tendon above the wrist to be greater than the united 
strength of all the finger-tendons. Conversely, in a proper foot, 
the force is applied by the ground to the extremities of the ten- 
dons of the toes, and transmitted to the flexor muscles of the leg, 
by means of the tendons of the inner ankles, which undergo 
friction in passing round that and the other joints of the foot. In 
this case, therefore, we should expect the united strengths of the 
flexor tendons of the toes to exceed the strength of the flexor 
tendons above the heel. In the case of the hand, friction acts 
against the muscles; in the case of the foot, friction aids the mus- 
cles. Ihave measured the relative strengths of the deep flexor 
tendons of the hand above and below the wrist in several animals, 
and also the relative strengths of the long flexor tendons of the 
foot above and below the ankle, in the following manner: I 
weighed certain lengths of the tendons above the wrist and ankle, 
and “compared these’ weights with the weights of equal lengths of 
the flexor tendons of the fingers or toes, assuming that the 
weights of equal lengths are proportional to their cross sections, 
and these again proportional to the strengths of the tendons at the 
place of section. The difference between the weights above and 
below the joint represents the sum of all the frictions experienced 
by the tendons between the two points of section. Tables are 
given showing the results of measurements, for example, in the 
case of the Pyrenean mastiff the amount of friction is 65.4 per 
cent., while in the Boomer kangaroo it is nil. The foregoing 
animals all realize the typical idea of a true foot, with a variable 
amount of friction at the ankle-joint; this friction disappearing al- 
together in the Boomer kangaroo, whose method of progression 
realizes absolute mechanical perfection, as no force whatever is 
consumed by the friction of the flexor tendons at the heel. The 
only animals whose feet deviated from the typical foot were 3, 
namely, the alligator, common porcupine, and phalanger. In 
these animals the foot has the mechanical action of a hand, or 
grasping organ; and the flexor tendons above the ankle exceeded 
those below the ankle by the following amount: Alligator, 11.5 

per cent.; common porcupine, 20.0; phalanger, 29.2, In the 
case of the flexor tendons of the hand, results were obtained 
varying from 71.0 in the case of the common porcupine, to nz in 
the case of the goat. It will be observed that the fore foot of the 
goat, regarded ‘simply as an organ of locomotion, attains a per- 
fection comparable with that of the hind foot of the kangaroo, no 
force being lost by friction at the wrist-joint. The only animal in 
which I found a departure from the typical hand was the llama, 


300 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


in which the flexor tendons of the fingers exceed the flexor ten- 
dons above the wrist by 14.4 per cent. The bearing of the fore- 
going results in the habits of locomotion of the several animals 
will suggest themselves at once to naturalists who have carefully 
studied those habits. I shal] merely add that the subject admits 
of being carried into the details of the separate or combined 
actions of the several fingers and toes, and that the habits of 
various kinds of monkeys in the use of certain combinations of 
fingers or toes may be explained satisfactorily by the minute 
study of the arrangement and several strengths of the various 
flexor tendons distributed to the fingers or toes. — Nature. 


THE VOLCANO FISH. 


A paper having appeared some time since in a contemporary, 
from the pen of the Rev. W. W. Spicer, in which the phenomenon 
of the expulsion of fish from volcanoes was spoken of as strange 
and astounding, and the idea being conveyed that the fish must 
have ‘‘ lived in the line of fire” before being expelled, Mr. Scrope, 
F.R.S., writes to ‘‘ Scientific Opinion,” February 23, as follows: 
‘«'This sensational version of a very simple fact is one only of sey- 
eral which, on the authority of ‘ the great Prussian traveller,’ have 
been repeated by compilers of treatises on volcanic phenomena. 
The simple fact, I conceive, is that the fish in question lived in the 
open air in crater lakes, such as are frequently found at the sum- 
mit of trachytic volcanoes, — for the reason that the fine ash, which 
is usually the last product of their eruptions, and therefore forms 
the lining of their craters, is very retentive of moisture, and con- 
sequently occasions the production of lakes at the bottoms of these 
hollows. Of course, in these lakes the same kind of fish will prob- 
ably be found as, by Mr. Spicer’s own statement, are met with in 
other lakes at an almost equal elevation on the outer sides of these 
very volcanoes.” 


CHANGES IN FISHES. 


In the ‘‘ American Naturalist,” Charles C. Abbott, M.D., gives 
some account of the changes in the fishes of New Jersey within a 
few years. A slight local disturbance sometimes quite alters the 
fauna. Thus, in 1867, a small, never-failing brook, emptying into 
the Assumpink, was populated by chubs, dace, and minnows. In 
July a heavy, sudden fall of rain caused arise of water, but did 
not alter the brook enough to attract the attention of those who 
lived near it. After the subsidence of the water not one of these 
fish could be found there, while their place was taken by roach, 
mullets, and red-fins, which are now abundant, while not a chub 
can be found. 

Dr. Abbott mentions several fishes that were not inhabitants of the 
New Jersey streams 25 years ago, which are now quite abundant ; 
and he is greatly at a loss to imagine how they can have reached 
these streams. He mentions the interesting case of the gizzard 
shad, which is sometimes carried by freshets into inland streams 


BIOLOGY. 301 


or ponds. A pond near Trenton was stocked with them in 1857, 
and is now full of specimens, weighing sometimes 5 pounds. 
They have become so different in color from the same fish as found 
in the Delaware and on the coast, that Dr. Abbott at first thought 
them quite distinct; and he says they have changed considerably, 
but only in color, during the last 10 years. 

% 


PHYSIOLOGY OF FATS. 


The new number of the ‘‘ Zeitschrift fiir Biologie” (vr. i.) 
contains an interesting paper by Subbotin ‘‘On the Physiology 
of Fats.” Towards an answer to the question, Is there in the ani- 
mal organism any direct passage of fat from the alimentary canal 
to the cells of adipose tissue? —a lean dog was fed for a month _ 
on meat, spermaceti, and common fat. Of the 1,000 grms. of 
spermaceti swallowed, 800, at least, were absorbed; but the 
merest trace only of spermaceti could be found in the fatty tissue 
of the body at the close of the experiment. Spermaceti, therefore, 
though absorbed and consumed in the economy, is not stored up 
unchanged. Hence there is a presumption that the same is the 
case with other fats (though it is obvious that many possible 
events might negative the presumption). ‘Towards solving the 
further question, Are fats formed in the body out of proteids? —a 
dog reduced to the utmost leanness was fed on leanest meat and 
palm oil (palmitin and olein), for 25 days, during which he gained 
3 kilos in weight. The fat of the body was, at the close, found 
to contain 13.9 per cent. of stearin. Though none had been 
taken, a very considerable quantity of stearin had therefore been 
formed in the body. A very lean dog was fed for 6 weeks on lean- 
est meat, and a soda soap made with palmitic and stearic acids 
only. At the end of the experiment, the dog having gained over 
3 kilos in weight, the fat of the body was found to consist of 53.6 
per cent. palmitin, 13.4 per cent. stearin, and 33 per cent. olein. 
A large quantity of olein had therefore been formed in this case. 
But if olein was thus formed, possibly the palmitin and stearin 
were likewise formed from proteids, and not by synthesis of the 
fatty acids with the glycerine of the economy. Subbotin further 
points out that olein is more abundant in the subcutaneous than 
in the deep-seated fat; possibly on account of a less energetic 
transformation of proteids in the cooler surface regions; so also in 
See animals the fat is proportionally richer in olein. — 

ature. 


AGUE POISON. 


M. P. Bolestra has communicated to the French Academy some 
observations on ague poison. He says, that in examining marsh 
water he always finds, in proportion to its degree of putrefaction, 
a granular microphyte, somewhat resembling in form the Cactus 
Peruvianus. It is always accompanied by a considerable quantity 
of small spores, one-thousandth of a millimeter in diameter, green- 


302 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ish-yellow and transparent, and also by sporangia or vesicles con- 
taining spores from two one-hundredths to two three-hundredths 
of a millimeter in diameter, and of a very characteristic form. This - 
plant grows on the surface of the water; when young, it is rain- 
bow-like in tints, and looks like spots of oil. At the low temper- 
ature of cellars and in water containing no vegetation, it develops 
slowly, but in contact with air and exposed to solar rays, it grows 
fast, disengaging small gas-bubbles. A few drops of arsenious 
acid, sulphite of soda, or, still better, neutral sulphate of quinine, 
stops its vegetation at the surface of the water, the spores become 
thin and transparent, and the sporangia alter so that they would 
not be recognized. ‘These changes may be seen under the micro- 
scope. M. Bolestra states that these spores can be found in marsh 
air. He caught agues twice during his researches, — once after 
having been exposed to air from water in fermentation covered 
with fresh algze in full vegetation, mixed with an extraordinary 
quantity of spores. He thinks these spores constitute the ague 
poison. 


SNAKE POISON. 


Professor Halford, of the University of Melbourne, in a paper 
read before the Medical Society of Victoria, has reviewed at length 
the history of 20 cases of snake-bite treated by his method of in- 
jecting liquor ammoniz into the veins during the last 18 months. 
‘These cases were all in the hands of different practitioners in the 
colony, who have each reported on them. Recovery followed in’ 
17 cases. In 13 of these the practitioners in attendance expressly 
report that the patients were in a dying condition, and, in their 
belief, would soon have died but for the employment of this 
remedy in the manner prescribed. The method employed was 
that introduced by Dr. Halford, and first brought to the knowl- 
edge of the profession here by him, in the pages of the ‘‘ British 
Medical Journal,” through Mr. Paget; namely, by injecting di- 
lute ammonia, say, at the least, 30 minims of the liquor ammoniz 
B. P., specific gravity 959, into a superficial vein; the vein being 
first exposed, and its coats pierced with the nozzle of a hypoder- 
mic syringe. Dr. Dempster, Dr. Rae, Dr. Langford, Mr. Dalli- 
more, and Dr. Meyler, each in his own words, and from the 
observation of separate cases, describe the effect as being imme- 
diate, and the recovery from collapse to be so rapid and startling 
as to be almost ‘‘ magical.” This method of treatment, of which 
such remarkable effects are detailed, has been sharply criticised ; 
but Professor Halford successfully vindicates the claim of the 
snakes to be considered highly venomous, — almost as much so, 
he intimates, as some of his London critics. They included the 
tiger-snake, the brown and black snake of Australia, which are 
affirmed to be as deadly as the cobra and rattlesnake of India. 
Strong testimony to the efficacy of the treatment in saving life 
was borne by Australian practitioners who took part in the dis- 
cussion, and vindicated Professor Halford’s claim to be considered 
as the discoverer of a means of rescuing many from an otherwise 
inevitable death. — Nature. 


BIOLOGY. 303 


PREPARATION OF BIRDS AND SMALL ANIMALS FOR THE CABINET. 


H. W. Parker communicates to the ‘‘ American Journal of Sci- 
ence and Arts” the following, upon the use of carbolic acid in the 
preparation of cabinet specimens : — 

‘<The following methods, carefully studied for two years, with 
results noted, are recommended for the saving of birds in warm 
weather until the operator finds time to skin them ; for the perma- 
nent preparation of drawer specimens, where the student needs a 

large series of individuals to determine the variations and limits 

of species; and for mounting small birds, at least as temporary 
representatives, when neither the time nor the expense involved - 
in the old methods can be afforded. 

‘¢ The viscera are removed, to effect which neatly the legs are 
pinned widely apart, and a paper several times folded is pinned 
over the tail in the direction whither the viscera are drawn out. 
With proper care, the sex is readily observed. A wad of cotton 
absorbs the fluids remaining in the cavity. The leg is then grasped 
close to the body, and a knife or wire is introduced into the cavity. 
and run down into the flesh of the leg, working the instrument 
around, but not so as to break the skin. For a small bird, 5 to 10 
drops of the commercial fluid preparation of carbolic acid is made 
to anoint the whole interior, and to penetrate the leg by stretching 
and relaxing the same in proper position. The application is re- 
peated after the first drops are absorbed; and a wad of cotton, 
wet with the acid, may be left close under the breastbone next to 
the neck. The cavity is then filled with cotton and the skin drawn 
back into place. The inside of the mouth is well anointed, and a 
saturated wad of cotton pushed down the whole length of the 
neck. The eyes are removed by a hooked wire inserted into the 
ball, the head being so held that the humors of the eye will drop 
without soiling the lids. The moist lids are left as open as pos- 
sible, and the specimen placed in a cool cellar to the next day, 
when the lids are dry enough to take their open shape. Then a 
nail is inserted through the lids and pushed through the bone at 
the back part of the orbit into the brain, and so worked as to make 
a good opening. A tightly rolled bit of cotton, saturated with the 
acid, is pushed into the brain and worked around in it, care being 
taken not to wet the eyelids. If by chance the feathers are wet, 
the acid can be removed by powdered chalk, repeatedly applied. 

«« Specimens so prepared in warm weather can be skinned a week 
or two after, if kept boxed in a cellar. No smell of decomposition 
is observed; the acid gradually and completely penetrates the 
pectoral muscles; the skin is strong and the feathers not loosened. 

«For permanent preparation, the skin should be laid open from 
the abdomen to the neck, the pectoral muscles removed and _re- 
placed by cotton, and the incision sewed up. The throat, neck, 
and orbits are also filled with cotton. The specimen should then 
be suitably arranged, encircled by a slip of paper, and placed on 
a bed of cotton. Before this, the flesh of the wings should be laid 
open and arsenic applied in the usual manner. 

‘For mounting it only needs to run one wire through the foot, 


304 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


tarsus, and so on through the neck to the forehead, and another 
wire through the other foot to any point in the back or breast 
where the end of the wire catches firmly. Papers or strings for 
keeping the feathers in place should remain long. Some shrink- 
ing about the head and neck will eventually follow in the case of 
many birds, particularly those of the smallest size, or of scanty or 
close plumage ; but in other instances no shrinking whatever can 
be noticed after more than a year of drying. The cabinet in 
which they have been set up is made insect-proof by means of 
pasted cloth and paper, putty and paint, 15 inches passage-way 
being left in front of the shelves, and the only access being 
thr ough a tight door at one end, fastened by a screw. 
«Travellers, who desire to collect a lar ge number of birds for 
comparison, will find this method one of “creat advantage ; and 
the specimens will be better for study than skins, inasmuch as the 
proportions will be better preserved. Small mammals can be 
kept some days for skinning by a similar process, and an opening 
into the brain may be made through the roof of the mouth, if pre- 
ferred. A fox squirrel, so treated, was in good condition for skin- 
ning after 4 days’ preservation, in very warm weather. This, 
with similar methods of preparing specimens without skinning 
has been found of little use in the damp air of the Eastern States.” 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 


NEW SPECTROSCOPE. 


Pror. C. H. Youne, of Dartmouth College, thus describes in 
the ‘‘ Journal of the Franklin Institute,” a new form of spec- 
troscope: ‘‘ The instrument was designed for attachment to the 
equatorial of 6.4 inches aperture and 9 feet focal length, belonging 
to the observatory of Dartmouth College. It is specially intended 
for observations upon the solar spots and protuberances, and 
accordingly the principal object kept in view has been to combine 
a very high degree of power with compactness, lightness, facility 
of manipulation, and firmness of construction. Having the dis- 
persive power of 13 prisms of heavy flint, each with an angle of 
55°, it yet weighs less than 15 pounds, and measures over all 15 
inches in length, 8 in breadth, and 43 in height. It was made 
by Alvan Clark & Son. 

‘¢ The collimator and observing telescope have each an aperture 
of seven-eighths of an inch, and a focal length of 7 inches, which 
might advantageously have been increased to 12 inches, were it 
not for the necessity of compactness. 

«¢ The light from the slit, after passing the collimator, is transmit- 
ted through the lower portion of a train of 6 prisms of heavy flint 
glass, each 2} inches high, and having, as stated above, a refract- 
ing angle of 55°. A seventh half-prism follows, and to the back 
of this is cemented a right-angled prism, by whieh, after 2 total 
reflections, the light is sent back through the upper part of the 
same train of prisms, until it reaches the observing-telescope. 
This is placed directly above the collimator, and firmly attached 
to it. Finally, a diagonal eye-piece brings the rays to the eye in 
a convenient position for observation. 

«¢ The instrument thus has the dispersive power of 13 prisms, and 
even with the low magnifying power of only 5 on the observing- 
telescope, shows perfectly the lines of aqueous vapor which make 
their appearance between the sodium lines when the sun is near 
the horizon. Of course, everything shown on the maps of Kirch- 
hoff and Angstrom is readily seen with it, and many lines besides. 

‘¢ Its definition is very beautiful, and the only optical fault of the 
instrument seems to be a curvature of the lines, resulting from the 
shortness of the collimator. 

“After planning the instrument, I learned that the same idea of 
sending the light twice through the prisms by a right-angled prism 
at the end of the train had also occurred to Mr. Lockyer and 

305 


306 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


others; but I do not know that it has yet been put in practice 
elsewhere. 

‘« The prisms, for protection and convenience of handling, are set 
in frames of blackened brass. They are arranged around the cir- 
cumference of a hollow cylinder of elastic gun metal, 34 inches in 
diameter, with stout flanges above and below, between which they 
are clamped by little thumb-screws, so that they can be readily 
removed or transposed; it requires less than a minute to put the 
last prism with its reflector in place of any other of the train, thus 
reducing the dispersive power to any extent desired. 

‘* No particular care is required in placing the prisms, as a couple 
of narrow flanges were cast upon the cylinder near the top and bot- 
tom, and afterwards planed off to form true bearings for the backs 
of the prisms. ‘They are thus always correctly set by being simply 
slid home before tightening the clamping screws. 

‘« The lower flange of the cylinder is attached to the base-plate by 
a screw directly under the middle of the front face of the first prism. 
Around this point, as a centre, the whole system of prisms is moy- 
able by means of a double-threaded tangent-screw, which brings 
the different portions of the spectrum into the field of view. 

‘¢ The adjustment of the prisms to their angle of minimum devi- 
ation is effected by a method devised by Mr. George Clark, which 
is exceedingly simple, and, if not theoretically exact, answers every 
practical purpose. The flanges between which the prisms are 
clamped are sawed through between the prisms, and a portion of 
the cylinder, flanges and all, equal to an arc of about 30°, is cut out 
between the first prism and the last. On closing up or spreading 
open this gap by means of a suitable tangent-screw, the circumfer- 
ence of the circles around which the prisms stand is correspond- 
ingly enlarged or diminished. Probably, when the ends of this 
opening are drawn very near together, or spread very far apart, 
the cylinder is somewhat distorted, and a corresponding mal-ad- 
justment of the prisms results; but if so, the effect is very slight. 

“The instrument gives a perfect view of every part of the spec- 
trum from below A to H; above h, however, when all 7 prisms 
are used, there is a loss of light occasioned by a partial obstruc- 
tion of the apertures of the collimator and telescope by the corner 
of the reflecting prism. 

‘‘Were it important to secure the perfect cylindricity of the prism- 
frame through the whole range of adjustment, it could be easily 
done by merely fastening at the back of each prism a radial bar 
acting upon a central pin, as in the arrangement first devised by 
Mr. Kutherfurd, and since adopted by Mr. Browning, in his auto- 
matic spectroscope. 

«This plan of Mr. Clark's, doing away with all joints and hinges, 
has the great advantage of perfect firmness and solidity in every 
position of the instrument, — an advantage hardly to be overrated 
in an astronomical spectroscope. 

‘* Had it occurred to me in season Imight have made the instru- 
ment still simpler, firmer, and perfectly automatic in its adjust- 
ment, by merely substituting for the first prism a half prism, like 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 307 


the last of the train, to which the right-angled reflecting prism is 
cemented. 

‘« Placing this first halfprism with its front face perpendicular to 
the line of collimation, it would never need to be disturbed; the 
flange of the cylindrical frame which carries the prisms would be 
firmly fastened to the bed-plate immediately beneath it, and the 
pivot joint at this place with the corresponding tangent-screw 
would be dispensed with. The only adjustment required would 
be that produced by the screw which is now used to adjust 
for minimum deviation by opening or closing the gap of the 
cylinder. 

‘¢ Of course, this arrangement would reduce the dispersive power 
of the train by the amount of one prism, a loss easily made up by 
adding a degree or two to their refracting angles. 

*«« It might be better to place the face of the first prism not exactly 
normal to the line of collimation, in order to avoid repeated re- 
flections between it and the object-glass of the collimator, which 
would be likely to produce a troublesome ghost, or the same thing 
might be accomplished by simply cementing the object-glasses of 
both collimator and observing-telescope directly upon the front 
of the prism ; this would make the instrument still more solid and 
compact. 

** The eye-piece of the instrument has an apparatus attached, 
which, however, thanks to the high dispersive power, I find 
unnecessary. 

**1t was early proposed by Janssen to use a vibrating or rotating 
slit, in order to make visible the form of a solar prominence, but, 
as Zollner has shown, the mere opening of the slit answers just as 
well, the light of the protuberance being diluted to precisely the 
same extent in either case. 

*<Tt occurred to me in connection with a suggestion of Professor 
Morton, that, by interposing at the focus of the eye-piece a dia- 
phragm which should move with the vibrating slit, the light of the 
neighboring portions of the spectrum might be cut off and this di- 
lution avoided. Mr. Clark has devised and constructed a very 
beautiful mechanical arrangement by which this simultaneous and 
accordant motion of slit and diaphragm is effected by the rotation 
of a small fly-wheel. 

‘* But I find that, although seen in this way, the prominences 
appear very bright; yet the working of the apparatus always 
causes a slight oscillation of the equatorial, which interferes with 
the definition of details, and I preter to work with the slit simply 
opened. When the air is free from haze, the whole extent of a 
prominence 30,000 miles in height is readily examined through 
the C or F line, and the most delicate details reveal themselves, 
with a beauty and clearness of delinition which even yet always 
surprises me, and speaks most emphatically for the exquisite 
workmanship of the 43 different surfaces by which the light is 
either refracted or reflected on its way from the slit of the colli- 
mator to the eye. 

‘* But, although I do not use the vibration of the slit and dia- 
phragm, I find the mobility of the slit so convenient as to be 


308 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


practically indispensable. In examining the spectrum of a group 
of sun-spots, for instance, it is very much easier to move the 
slit to the particular point we wish to observe than to move the 
solar image by the tangent screws of the equatorial. The pro- 
tuberances are so well seen through the F and 2796 (near G) 
lines, that it is even possible to photograph them, though, 
perhaps, not satisfactorily with so small a telescope as the one 
at my command. Some experiments I have recently made 
show that the time of exposure, with ordinary portrait collodion, 
must be nearly 4 minutes, in order to produce images of a size 
which would correspond to a picture of the solar disc about 2 
inches in diameter. This length of exposure demands a more 
perfect clock-work than my instrument possesses, and a more 
accurate adjustment of the polar axis than it had during the 
experiments, as well as a steadier condition of the atmosphere. 

‘¢ Thus far, therefore, I have not been able to produce anything 
which could properly be called a good picture. Negatives have 
been made which show clearly the presence and general form of 
protuberances, but the definition of details is unsatisfactory. 
This amount of success was reached upon September 28, when 
impressions were obtained of 2 protuberances on the S.E. limb of 
the sun, and, slight as this success was in itself, I consider it of 
importance in showing the perfect feasibility of going much fur- 
ther with more sensitive chemicals, more delicate adjustments, 
and greater telescope power. I was aided in the experiments by 
Mr. H. O. Bly, our local photographer, to whom are due my warm- 
est acknowledgments for the interest, patience, ingenuity, and 
skill, with which he assisted me. 

‘‘We worked through the Hydrogen + line (2796 of Kirchhoff’s 
scale), which, though very faint to the eye, was found to be de- 
cidedly superior to F in actinic power. The photographic appa- 
ratus employed consisted merely of a wooden tube, about 6 inches 
long, attached at one end to the eye-piece of the spectroscope, and 
at the other carrying a light frame. In this frame was placed a 
small plate-holder, containing for a sensitive-plate an ordinary 
microscope slide, 3 inches by 1. The image of the prominence, 
seen through the open slit, is magnified and thrown upon this 
plate by the eye-piece.” 


PHOTOGRAPHING THE SUN. 


At a meeting of the American Academy, May 24, 1870, Profes- 
sor Joseph Winlock exhibited a photograph of the sun taken with 
a lens of 40 feet focus, and 4 inches aperture. As it is difficult to 
place a tube of this length in an inclined position, it is laid hori- 
zontally, and an image of the sun is reflected into it by a plane 
mirror of unsilvered glass. When this mirror was blackened on 
one side it became heated to such an extent as to shorten the 
focus of the lens nearly 3 feet. The image obtained is about 4 
inches in diameter, and is free from distortion produced by an 
eye-piece, The exposure is instantaneous, and is effected by 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 309 


passing a diaphragm with a slit in it between the lens and the 
mirror. A better effect is thus obtained than by the usual method 
of placing it near the plate-holder. The lens, which was made 
by Messrs. Clark and Sons, is not achromatic, as its slight curvature 
rendered this unnecessary. It was corrected for spherical aber- 
ration by means of an artificial star, produced by a soda flame, 
and a collimator, of an aperture somewhat greater than that of 
the lens. 


SPECTRUM OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE. 


M. Rayet, in a note to the ‘‘ Comptes Rendus ” of Aug. 1, 1870, 
shows that particular conditions are needed in order that vapors 
of iron in the atmosphere should only give 5 lines. He finds that 
it is possible to see 22 luminous lines of various substances in the 
spectrum of the solar atmosphere, and gives the wave-length of 
some lately observed lines. 


SOLAR SPOTS. 


M. R. Wolf, of Ziirich, has just published the résumé of his ob- 
servations on the solar spots made since 1864. The minimum 
occurs in 1867, and agrees with the period of 11 1-9 years, found 
by Sabine and himself. Designating the relative frequency of the 
spots by r, M. Wolf expresses the variations of the magnetic 
declination at Christiania by the formula r = 0.0413/r +- 4.921’, 
which does not, however, completely agree with observation. — 
Moniteur Scientifique. 


THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. 


March 11, Mr. Proctor read a paper entitled ‘‘ Notes on the 
Corona and the Zodiacal Light,” with suggestions respecting the 
modes of observation to be applied to the eclipse of next Decem- 
ber. He remarked that if we have in reality sufficient evidence 
to determine whether the corona is or is not a solar appendage, it 
would be a misfortune, and in a sense discreditable, to science, 
were the short time at the disposal of observers wasted in futile 
observations directed to settle a point determinable beforehand. 
He then expressed his conviction that the corona cannot be a ter- 
restrial phenomenon. He pointed out that the very blackness of 
the moon as compared with the corona showed that the coronal 
light is behind the moon. The moon is, in fact, projected on the 
corona as a background, he urged, whereas the theory that the 
light is due to atmospheric glare requires that the corona should 
be a foreground. But passing over this argument, which is lia- 
ble to the fatal objection of being too simple, he proceeded 
to inquire whether air which lies between the observer and the 
corona is in reality illuminated. He showed that all round the 
sun, for a distance of many degrees, there should be perfect dark- 


310 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ness if the illumination of the atmosphere by direct solar light 
were in question. As to the atmospheric glare due to the chromo- 
sphere and prominences, he argued that it must be relatively 
small, because itcould bear no higher proportion to the actual 
light of the chromosphere than ordinary atmospheric glare bears 
to actual sunlight, and we know this proportion is very small in- 
deed. Again, as to light reflected from the atmosphere outside 
the shadow-cone, or from the surface of the earth, he urged that 
that also must be small, since not any part of the atmosphere 
above the observer’s horizon was illuminated by more than a 
half-sun, while all the parts near the shadow-cone were in nearly 
total shadow. Buta fatal objection to the view that the corona 
could be due either to the glare from the prominences or to light 
reflected from the surrounding air, consisted in the fact that such 
glare ought to cover the moon’s disc. He then referred to a num- 
ber of observations confirming the view that the coronal light is 
not terrestrial; as the appearance of glare during partial eclipses, 
this glare always trending on the moon’s disc; the relatively 
greater darkness of the central part of the moon’s disc in annular 
eclipses; the visibility of that part of the moon’s dise which lies 
beyond the suh in partial eclipses, the limb being seen dark on 
the background of the sky; the visibility of the corona in partial 
eclipses, even its most distinctive peculiarities having been recog- 
nized when the sun’s disc is not wholly covered; and several other 
phenomena. He then adduced evidences to show that a solar 
appendage, which one would expect to appear during total 
eclipses, actually does exist. First, the zodiacal light shows 
that the sun is surrounded by such an appendage. Dr. Balfour 
Stewart’s theory of this object, however physically sound, was 
opposed, he urged, by too many astronomical objections to be 
accepted for a moment. An object which exhibits no appreciable 
parallax, which rises and sets as the celestial objects do, and 
maintains a position in the heavens having a nearly constant rela- 
tion to the ecliptic, cannot by any possibility be due to any pecu- 
liarity of the earth’s atmosphere. Then Leverrier has shown that 
the motion of Mercury’s perihelion indicates the presence of a ring 
of bodies in the sun’s neighborhood; and Mr. Baxendall has 
drawn a similar conclusion from the meteorological records of 
well-known observatories. Lastly, judging of the meteor systems 
according to the laws of probability, we have every reason to be- 
lieve that for each one our earth encounters there must be millions 
whose perihelia lie within the earth’s orbit. Since the earth en- 
counters 56 such systems, it will be seen how enormous must be 
the total number. These should be visible during total eclipses, 
and since they would shine in part by reflected light, and in part 
through their intrinsic light (for those which come as near the sun 
as some comets have been observed to do must be melted or even 
vaporized by the sun’s heat), we have an explanation of the 
contradictory accounts given by those who have applied the po- 
lariscope and the spectroscope to the solar corona. Mr. Stone 
remarked that there ought to be 3 sets of observations made with 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. Ey 


> 


the polariscope next December, since if there were but two the 
result would probably be contradictory, as was the case with re- 
gard to the observations made in India, in 1868, and in America 
last year. Different parts of the corona ought also to be exam- 
ined. — Nature. 


SOLAR PROTUBERANCES. 


The following is a communication to the editor of the ‘* Journal 
of the Franklin Institute ” (Professor Morton) from Professor 
Young of Dartmouth College : — : 

‘‘T write to inform you that last Thursday, Sept. 22d, about 11 
A.M. Hanover mean time, I was so fortunate as to see the 
sodium lines D, and D, reversed in the spectrum of the umbra of 
a large spot near the eastern limb of the sun. At the same time 
the C. and F. lines were also reversed, but with the great disper-. 
sive power of my new spectroscope I see this so often in the solar 
spots, that it has ceased to be remarkable. 

‘¢T am not aware that this reversal of the sodium lines in a spot 
spectrum has ever been observed before ; its reversal in the spec- 
tra of prominences is not very unusual. A small prominence on 
the western limb of the sun, which was visible the same forenoon, 
presented all the following bright lines, namely, C, D;, Dg, Dg, 
1474, 6,,6,,6,, 1989.5, 2001, 5, 2031., F, 2581.5, 2796., and h; 
15 in all. 

‘In the spot spectrum the magnesium lines b,, 64, and b,, were 
not reversed, but while the shade which accompanies the lines 
was per ceptibly widened, the central black line itself was thinned 
and lightened.” 


SPECTRUM OF A SOLAR PROMINENCE. 


Professor Young, of America, has made a remarkable observa- 
tion. On April 9, 1870, there was an exceedingly bright promi- 
nence on the south-west limb of the sun, near, but not over, a 
large spot which was passing off. At the base of this prominence, 
which was shaped like a double ostrich-plume, the C line was in- 
tensely brilliant, so that the slit could be opened to its whole width 
in studying the form of the prominence, but this line was not in 
the least distorted. On the other hand the F line, also very bril- 
liant, was shattered all to pieces, so that at its base it was 3 or 4 
times as wide as it ordinarily is, and several portions were en- 
tirely detached from the rest. This is a most perplexing result, 
and seems to throw doubt on the interpretation which has hitherto 
been given to the displacement of the solar spectral lines. As 
Professor Young remarks, ‘‘ Since the C line was not similarly 
affected, it is hardly possible to attribute this breaking up of F to 
cyclonic motions in the gas from which the light emanates, and it 
becomes very difficult to imagine a cause that can thus disturb a 
single line of the spectrum itself.” <‘* Possibly,” he adds, but we 
must admit we can hardly conceive the possibility, ‘‘the appear- 
ance may be the result of local absorptions acting upon a line 


Sie ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


greatly widened by increase of pressure or temperature.” *In 
other words, as we understand him, Professor Young would im- 
ply that the bright F line was really undistorted, though widened, 
while distorted absorption lines belonging to some other element 
produced the appearance of shattering. But apart from the diffi- 
culty of assuming cyclonic motions in this other element, around 
a relatively quiescent hydrogen-core, we know of no elements 
having lines close by F strong enough to produce the observed 
result. The apparent dissociation of the F and C lines is a phe- 
nomenon of a very perplexing character. — Science Review. 


NEW OBSERVATORY IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 


The following statement with regard to the Cordova Observa- 
tory, to the foundation of which we have before referred, is ex- 
tracted from the last number of Silliman’s ‘‘ American Journal of 
Science and Arts: ” — 

‘‘The Argentine Congress voted to establish a national observa- 
tory at Cordova,at the instance of President Sarmiento, and through 
the exertions of the present Minister of Public Instruction, Dr. 
Avelleneda, who invited me to organize and take charge of it, 
knowing my desire to extend the catalogue of the southern heay- 
ens beyond the limit of 30°, to which the zones of Argelander 
extend. Bessel went through the region from 45° N. to 15°S., 
with systematic zone observations at Konigsberg, which have since 
been reduced and published in two catalogues by Weisse, of 
Cracow. Argelander carried the same systematic scrutiny with the 
Meridian Circle, from Bessel’s northern limit to the pole, and after- 
wards from Bessel’s southern limit to 30° S. 

** Since then Gilliss has observed a series of zones for 30° around 
the south pole; but the reduction of these, although very far ad- 
vanced, was not completed at the time of his death, and the 
manuscript is now stored somewhere in Washington. Letus hope 
that it may at some time be recovered, the work completed, and 
given to the world. My hope and aim is to begin a few degrees 
north of Argelander’s southern limit, say at 26° or 27°, and to 
carry southward a system of zone observations to some declina- 
tion beyond Gilliss’s northern limit, thus rendering comparisons 
easy with both these other labors, and permitting the easy deter- 
mination of the corrections needful for reducing positions of any 
one of the three series to corresponding ones for the other. It is 
of course impossible to arrange in advance the details of such an 
undertaking, but my expectation is to go over the region in ques- 
tion in zones 2° wide (except in the vicinity of the Milky Way, 
where the width would be but one-half as great), up to a decli- 
nation of about 55°, after which the width would be gradually in- 
creased as the declinations became greater. Within these zones 
all stars seen as bright as the 9th magnitude would be observed, 
so far as possible, moving the telescope in altitude when no bright 
star is in the field until some one becomes visible, according to 
the well-known method of zone-observations. For reducing the 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 313 


observations, differential methods will probably be employed, in- 
asmuch as the time now assigned for my absence from home 
would be inadequate for proper discussion of the correction re- 
quired for nice determinations of an absolute character. Still, it 
is my present purpose, so far as possible, to make such subsid- 
‘jary determinations as might hereafter be needed in any attempt 
at computing the observations absolutely. But as I hardly ven- 
ture to anticipate any opportunity of making a thorough deter- 
mination of the constants of refraction, or of the errors of gradu- 
ation, it seems best to arrange for a differential computation at 
least at first. It is improbable that a sufficient number of well- 
determined stars will be found available even for this differential 
reduction, and the necessity may thus be entailed of determin- 
ing the comparison-stars myself, this determination, however, 
itself depending upon standard star places. So far as possible I 
propose employing those heretofore determined by me, and pub- 
lished by the Coast Survey, which form the basis of the star 
places of the American ‘ Nautical Almanac.’ With these obser- 
vations of position it is my hope to combine others of a physical 
character to some extent; but in the presence of a plan implying 
so much labor and effort, it would be unwise to rely upon the 
possibility of accomplishing much more than the zone-work. The 
meteorological relations of the place are very peculiar; but I dare 
not undertake any connected series bearing upon these, without 
self-registering apparatus, which is beyond my means. Cor- 
doya is one of the oldest cities, and contains the oldest university, 
of the Western Hemisphere. It is situated in 314° S. latitude, 
on the boundary of the Pampa, where the land begins to rise 
towards the group of mountains known as the Sierra de Cordova. 
{tis connected with Rosario, on the Parana, by the Central Argen- 
tine Railway, which has probably been already opened to travel 
through its entire length of about 280 miles, although information 
to that effect has not yet reached this country. The two largest 
instruments will be a Repsold meridian-circle of 54 inches’ focal 
length, and 43 inches’ aperture, and an equatorial, by Alvan Clark 
and Sons, provided with the 11-inch object-glass, by Fitz, lately in 
the possession of W. Rutherfurd, who has supplied its place by 
one of 13 inches. A photometer, by Ansfeld, of Gotha, according 
to Zollner’s latest form, has been constructed under the super- 
vision of Professor Zollner himself;* a spectroscope will be fur- 
nished by Merz, of Munich, anda clock by Tiede, of Berlin. The 
scientific institutions of the United States have afforded the expe- 
dition every possible assistance. The Coast Survey lends a 
circuit-breaking clock, a chronograph, and a portable transit; the 
Smithsonian Institute lends a zenith telescope; the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, of Boston (probably), a photom- 
eter and spectroscope; the Washington Observatory and the 
‘Nautical Almanac’ have greatly aided the undertaking by gifts 
of books, and by a manuscript copy of Gilliss’s ‘ Catalogues of 
Standard Stars;’ and from the astronomers of England, Ger- 
many, and Russia, important assistance has been freely and 
effectively contributed, in the order and supervision of instru- 


314 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


ments and apparatus, and by the gift of books, as well as by im- 
portant and valuable suggestions. Four assistants will accompany 
me, — Messrs. Miles Rock, John M. Thome, Clarence L. Hath- 
away, and William M. Davis, Jr. We hope to reach Buenos 
Ayres not later than the middle of August. The building is now 
under construction in Boston. The means available proved inade- 
quate for its construction according to the original plan, which was 
in the form of across, with 4 square rooms about its centre, and tur- 
rets at its 4 extremities. One-half of it will be first erected, and 
it is hoped that the remaining portion will speedily be added.” — 
Nature. 


ARTIFICIAL HORIZON. 


At the Troy meeting of the American Association, Mr. Hilgard 
exhibited a very ingenious arrangement of J. H. Lane, by which 
the vibration or ripple, which acts so annoyingly under many cir- 
cumstances with the ordinary tank of mercury, is effectively sup- 
pressed. 

It consists of a shallow dish, with a circular groove around iis 
edge, and a cavity beneath, which communicates with the groove 
by a space, while by means of a tube air may be blown at will 
into the cavity. This cavity and the circular groove are filled 
with mercury. By blowing into the cavity, more mercury is 
raised and overflows into the central portion of the dish. On now 
allowing the air to escape and the excess of mercury to flow back 
into the cavity, a film, held by its.cohesive force, is retained over 
the surface, and, by reason of its thinness, this is incapable of 
maintaining a vibratory or ripple movement. A touch with the 
finger will instantly break up this surface; but it is easily re- 
formed, and experience has shown that it is not deflected from its 
horizontal direction by slight inclination of the dish. 


THE NEW CAMBRIDGE TRANSIT INSTRUMENT. 


During a late visit to Cambridge, we had the pleasure of ex- 
amining the above-named piece of apparatus, which has just been 
added to the appliances of this observatory, and which contains 
many novelties of construction and arrangement (due to the in- 
vention of Professor Winlock) worthy of special notice, and with- 
out doubt generally interesting to our readers. 

In the first place, with reference to its mounting. 

The pivots are not supported in Y’s, but on account of the great 
weight of the instrument, as well as for other reasons developed 
by experience, have journals accurately fitted to them. These 
journals, in their turn, are not provided with means of adjust- 
ment, but are permanently attached to plates set in the piers, and 
brought, by scraping and repeated trials, to the exact surface re- 
quired for an accurate adjustment of the instrument once for all. 

Another novelty consists in the arrangement of the setting 
levels and circles at the eye end, which are turned by a gear 
wheel, in place of the clamp and tangent screw, which is so apt to 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. tL 


‘run out” at a critical moment. The new movement is ex- 
tremely smooth, gradual and convenient, being always ready, and 
never ‘‘ running out.” 

Again, the screw controlling the horizontal wire of the microm- 
eter in the eye-piece, beside having the graduations for parts of a 
turn clearly marked on the sides of its cylindrical head, in such a 
way that they can be easily read, has a similar graduated head 
connected with it by gearing, which records the whole number of 
turns in a like manner. 

The collimating lenses used with this instrument are of unusual 
size, being in all respects similar to the objective, which is of 8- 
inch aperture, and we should judge about 8 or 9 feet focal length. 

Other novelties have been intreduced by Professor Winlock in 
the reversing carriage, by which the time required for reversal is 
reduced to a few minutes in place of several hours. This instru- 
ment was made by Troughton & Sims. — Jour. Franklin Institute. 


THE LIGHT OF WINNECKE’S COMET. (COMET I. 1870.) 


MM. Wolf and Rayet in a note to the *‘ Comptes Rendus” of 
July 4, 1870, state that the spectrum of this comet is composed of 
3 luminous bands upon a continuous ground. The extreme fee- 
bleness of the light did not permit them to determine their abso- 
lute position. ‘Their aspect, however, appeared to be identical 
with that of the spectra of comets already observed. This iden- 
tity of the spectra of different comets and their difference from 
the spectra of nebulze leads the authors to hope that means will 
be found to determine the nature and origin of these singular 
stars. 

They were struck with the feebleness of the spectrum compared 
with that of a nebula of the same apparent brightness. That re- 
flected light exists in a sensible degree is proved by the fact that 
the light of this comet is partially polarized in a plane passing 
through the sun. 


A NEW ASTEROID. 


Dr. C. H. F. Peters, of Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., dis- 
coved, Aug. 14, the 111th asteroid. The planet was of about 114 
magnitude. Sept. 20, he discovered the 112th asteroid. The dis- 
covery was made on Sept. 20, and on Sept. 21; the position of 
the planet was established as follows: 15° and 28/ R.A., and 10° 
13’ north declination. The brightness is that of a fixed star of the 
llth magnitude. It is named ‘‘Iphigenia.” The planet discoy- 
ered the 14th of August has been named ‘‘ Ate.”— Hditor. 


ASTRONOMICAL PRIZE. 


Professor J. Watson has been awarded by the Paris Academy 
of Sciences, the astronomical prize, Lalande foundation, for the 
discovery of 8 new asteroids in one year. The planet Lydia (No. 
110), discovered by M. Borelly at the Marseilles Observatory, on 


316 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the 19th of April, had at 10h. 33m. 13s. mean Marseilles time, 
the following position: Right ascension 12h. 2m. 39.22s. North 
declination 6° 50/ 38.8. Its horary motion has been determined 
as follows: In right ascension, 1.76s., in declination 4- 2.20s. ; its 
magnitude is between 12 and 13. M. Borelly had previously dis- 
covered 2 planets, bearing the numbers 91 and 99, in the system 
of asteroids revolving between Mars and Jupiter. The 91st has 
now received the name of Egina, the 99th that of Dike. — Nature. 


NEW COMETS. 


A new comet was discovered at the Observatory of Marseilles 
on the night of the 28th of August, by M. Coggia. The positions 
of the comet are given in the ‘‘Comptes Rendus” of Sept. 5, 
1870. Winnecke discovered a new telescopic comet at Carlsruhe, 
on the night of the 29-30 of May. The position obtained by him 
for May 30 is as follows: M. T. at C. 14h. 13m. 34s.; R. A. Oh. 
50m. 9.55s.; Decl. 4- 28° 52’ 18”. 


STORMS ANNOUNCED BY TELEGRAPH. 


The following bill was passed in the U.S. House of Repre- 
sentatives Feb. 2, and in the Senate Feb. 4: ‘* Be it resolved, etc., 
That the Secretary of War be and he hereby is authorized and re- 
quired to provide for taking meteorological observations at the 
military stations in the interior of the continent, and at other 
points in the States and Territories of the United States, and for 
giving notice on the northern lakes and on the sea-coast, by mag- 
netic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of 
storms.”— Hditor. 


METEOROLOGICAL. 


Professor H. H. Hildebrandson, of the University of Upsal, in 
Sweden, has prepared 4 synoptical meteorological maps, which 
contain several features of scientific interest. It is generally 
known that a fall of the barometer is usually followed by an in- 
crease of heat, and vice versa. But in Sweden, from observations 
taken from Lapland to Upsal, the barometer and thermometer 
frequently show results quite contrary to the general experience 
of more southern latitudes ; the barometer often falls considerably, 
while during the long winter nights of this region the thermome- 
ter generally remains stationary, and when storms are prevalent 
invariably falls along with the barometer. 

Experience shows that in those regions an intimate relation 
exists, not only between the variations of the pressure of the 
atmosphere and those of the direction of the wind, but also be- 
tween the movements of the barometer and thermometer during 
serious atmospheric perturbations. The dampness of the atmos- 
phere being much greater in the south-east part of the territory 
visited by a violent storm than at the opposite extremity, it is easy 


ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. Siz 


to conceive that the atmospheres at those two points possess 
entirely different qualities, analogous, in some degree, to those of 
the equatorial and polar currents. 


SALT IN THE ‘AIR. 


From a series of-observations, conducted with great care at 
Monaco, on the shores of the Mediterranean, a French scientist 
reports to the Academy the presence of a stratum of air 200 feet 
high, extending for miles inland, which is constantly impregnated 
with saline particles. This saline stratum, the writer asserts, is 
found on all sea-coasts, is independent of barometric pressure or the 
hygrometric state of the atmosphere, and is due to the ‘* pulveriza- 
tion” of the sea-water by the breaking of the surf upon the rocks. 
He contends that the phenomenon he points. out must not be con- 
founded with what is commonly known as spray, which is of a 
coarse nature, and entirely local in character. 


GHOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 


SIR RODERICK MURCHISON’S ADDRESS. AFRICAN EXPLORATION. 


Str RoDERICK ImMpEY Murcuison, Bart., K.C.B., President of 
the Royal Geographical Society, and Member of the Institute of 
France, delivered an address at the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation, of which the following is an extract : — 

‘‘ Before I speak of some few of the contributions which will, I 
trust, be brought under our consideration, let me glance at the 
rapid progress of discovery in recent years, and, first of all, at the 
great and important additions to pure geography which have been 
made in Central Asia both by Russian and British explorers. 
With all the western portion of that vast region in which lie the 
Khanats of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokan, some of you may now 
be acquainted, through the accounts of Russian observers, who 
have already fixed the correct positions of the chief towns, moun- 
tains, and rivers of Western Turkistan. Proceeding eastwards 
from the Sea of Aral, the Russians have, for the first time in his- 
tory, rendered the river Syr Daria (the Jaxartes of Alexander the 
Great) navigable by steam vessels of a limited size, and, fixing 
military posts on its banks, have ascended towards its sources and 
taken possession of the populous and flourishing city of Tashkent, 
a great mart of caravancommerce. Again, Russia has triumphed 
over the Khan of Bokhara, the savage ruler who in years gone 
by barbarously put to death two British officers, Stoddart and 
Conolly, and who has now met with a due humiliation. As peace 
has been concluded between the Emperor of Russia and those 
turbulent chiefs, who have now been rendered subordinate to a 
great civilized nation, we may hope that the blessings of com- 
merce will restore this fine region to some portion, at least, of the 
wealth and dignity which it held in those ages when its monarchs 
ruled over nearly one-half of the then civilized world. The crude 
and ill-founded apprehensions which once existed that these ad- 
vances of Russia would prove highly prejudicial to British India, 
have, through due reflection, entirely evaporated from among 
British statesmen, who are now convinced that it is much better 
for the commerce and peace of both nations that intermediate 
warring chiefs should be kept under by a strong power. After 
all, between the great territories of Russian Turkistan and those 
of British India there lies the long, broad, and mountainous region 
of Afghanistan, with whose present ruler we are on good terms. 
But what about Eastern Turkistan ? some of my hearers may say ; 


318 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. oL9 


what about those enormous tracts which lie immediately to the 
north of the north-western mountains of British India, the Hima- 
layas, and Cashmere? The-answer which I have given in my 
last address to the Royal Geographical Society is the most satis- 
factory explanation which can be offered, and I here give the pith 
of it. The Russians have not advanced beyond the chain of the 
Thian Chan into any part of those territories in which the cities 
of Kashgar, Yarkand, and others are. situated. These countries, 
which until a few years ago were held by the Chinese, and are 
inserted in all old maps as an integral part of the Chinese empire, 
have entirely extirpated their conquerors, and the mass of the 
natives, being Mahommedans, are now under the rule of a brave 
soldier of their own faith, who, under the title of the Ataligh 
Ghazee, or leader of the faithful, has brought the people into a 
state of perfect order, after having been in the most tumultuous 
and insurrectionary state so long as the Chinese vainly attempted 
to govern them. 

‘“The process by which an intercourse has been established 
between this Eastern Turkistan and British India has been so 
eminently characteristic of the efforts of a powerful trading nation 
like our own, that a very brief account of it may be acceptable to 
some of my hearers in this great mart of commerce. Tea plan- 
tations having been successfully cultivated by our countrymen 
upon the southern and lower slopes of the Himalayan Mountains, 
it occurred to a most able British civilian, Mr. Douglas Forsyth, 
who was diplomatically employed in Cashmere, that the popula- 
tion of Eastern Turkistan having been so long accustomed to drink 
tea, and having been entirely deprived of it since all intercourse 
with China had ceased, would gladly hail the reappearance of 
their favorite beverage, if a supply could be brought to them from 

‘the south. Mr. Forsyth accordingly sent a small sample (a horse- 
load only) of tea across the mountains, as a present to the great 
ruler of this new kingdom. As this present was ‘ gratefully re- 
ceived,’ one of our British tea cultivators at Kangra, Mr. Shaw, 
resolved to face all the difficulties of « passage through the lofty 
mountains of the Karakorum and Kuen Lun; and, fitting out a 
caravan bearing tea, he conducted it himself in safety by Yarkand 
to Kashgar, where he was well received by the Ataligh Ghazee. 
At first, indeed, things looked unpropitious, for Mr. Shaw was 
proceeding fairly and simply as a British merchant, when there 
arrived just at the same time a warlike-looking Englishman. This 
was Mr. Hayward, late of the 72d regiment; and for a time both 
were placed en surveillance, but most amicably treated. In fact, Mr. 
Hayward had been sent out by the Royal Geographical Society to 
explore, if possible, that great desert plateau, the Pamir Land, 
occupied entirely by nomade Kirghis, in which the rivers Oxus 
and Zerafshan have their rise; but being unable to force his way 
thither through certain disturbed tracts to the north-west of the 
Punjaub, he took a route which led him to Yarkand. The arrival 
of the two Englishmen, which at first seemed so unintelligible and 
suspicious, turned out to be in the end most advantageous to all 
parties concerned; for Mr. Hayward had it in his power to fix 


320 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


the latitude and longtitude of places never before visited by a 
gveographer, whilst Mr. Shaw, dona ferens, gratified the Ataligh 
Ghazee, not only by his manners and address, but particularly by 
his packages of tea. 

‘¢ After a year’s sojourn at Kashgar and Yarkand, in Eastern 
Turkistan, Mr. Shaw returned to British India, and the Viceroy, 
the Earl of Mayo, seeing the prospect of establishing a profitable 
alliance with this new sovereign, his Excellency not only received 
an envoy sent by the Ataligh Ghazee to his Excellency and the 
Queen, but has recently sent a special British mission to that great 
chief, and for this important mission he has wisely selected Mr. 
Douglas Forsyth and Mr. Shaw as negotiators in the establishment 
of a treaty of commerce between the respective countries. 

«* A jetter from Mr. Forsyth to myself, written on the eve of his 
departure from Ladak, on the 2d of July last, and containing 
matter of great geographical interest, will be read in the course 
of this meeting. It will be seen by this letter that, grand as are 
the geographical discoveries made by Captain Montgomerie and 
his pundits, a grander and richer field than any yet described 
seems now to invite exploration. I may add that I have received 
a letter from the Earl of Mayo, dated the 18th July last, in which 
he speaks hopefully of this important mission. On our part, we 
have thus opened out a market for our Indian teas, and also for 
many articles of British manufacture, in exchange for which we 
shall receive not only specie, but also the fine silks and wools of 
Turkistan, and many mineral products of those mountains, some 
of the peaks of which rise to upwards of 24,000 feet, and many of 
whose level tracts and plateaus are 14,000 to 17,000 feet above the 
sea. 

‘“*To obtain a full insight into the nature of this hitherto un- 
known region and its remarkable ruler, I refer you to an admi- 
rably clear and telling memoir by Mr. Shaw, published in the 
‘Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,’ June 7, 1870. 
In making these observations, [ would invite some of the enter- 
prising merchants of Liverpool, Manchester, and other places 
in this flourishing County of Lancaster, to transmit to Yarkand, 
via Bombay and the Punjaub, some of their gayest but stoutest 
cloths and cottons; and I venture to prophesy that the Turkistan 
people will rejoice in the arrival at the remote Yarkand of such 
British goods, for which they will gladly exchange the products 
of their own country or pay in specie. 

‘* But to return to geography: Mr. Hayward, nothing daunted 
by his first failure, is now endeavoring to explore the mysterious 
Pamir Land, which no European has ever yet traversed, though 
Lieutenant Wood, of the Indian navy, did, many years ago, 
reach one extremity of it, in an endeavor to determine the source 
of the Oxus, as recorded in the tenth volume of the ‘Journal 
of the Royal Geographical Society.’ I earnestly hope that Mr. 
Hayward will be the first geographer who will have described 
this lofty region which the natives term, in their Eastern style, 
‘The Upper Floor of the World.’ If he should traverse the 
Pamir Land, I have learned, by correspondence with the Rus- 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 321 


sian Imperial Geographical Society, that our countryman will 
then have a free passage granted to him through all Russian 
Turkistan. It is thus that our science makes its cultivators of 
every nation as kindly and considerate to each other as free- 
masons. Let me add that the Royal Geographical Society has 
awarded its founder’s gold medal to this brave and energetic 
man; and we fervently hope that he will come home through 
Russia before next year, to receive his well-merited reward. 

‘“¢The remarkable additions to geographical and natural his- 
tory knowledge, which have been made of late years by sound- 
ing and dredging at great depths in the ocean, have excited 
the liveliest interest. The attention of modern geographers was 
long ago directed to this subject by Parry, James Ross, and 
Captain Denham, R.N. The last of these measured downwards 
in the ocean, between South America and the Cape of Good 
Hope, to the great depth of 7,706 fathoms, and thus enabled 
geographers to realize the aphorism of Alexander Humboldt, 
—that the greatest depth of the’ sea would be found to be at 
least equal to the height of the loftiest mountains. Subsequently 
Dr. Wallich, who ably served as the naturalist on board the 
‘Bulldog,’ commanded -by Sir Leopold McClintock, enunciated 
the then novel and surprising truth that certain marine animals 
(including star-fish) lived at the depth of 1,260 fathoms, and even 
preserved their colors when brought to the surface. More re- 
cently, the scientific explorations of the deep-sea to the north 
and west of the British Isles, as conducted by Dr. W. Carpen- 
ter, Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, and Professor Wyvilie Thomson, 
have thrown much new light on this attractive subject. They 
have vastly extended our acquaintance with many submarine 
data, including the temperature of the sea at various depths, 
and have proved that currents of different temperatures — each 
containing a characteristic fauna—are running, as it were, 
alongside of each other, or in contiguity, beneath the surface 
of the sea. These data, and a consideration of the various 
species of marine animals which were found, are supposed to 
have had such material bearings on geological! science that it 
would be a dereliction of my duty as an old geologist if I were 
not to endeavor to disentangle the unquestionably true, novel, 
and even startling facts which these researches have made known, 
from one of those speculations which the eminent leader of this 
expedition has connected with them, and which, if acquiesced in, 
might seriously affect the inductions and belief of practical 
geologists. 

‘* Dr. W. Carpenter, in a lecture given in the Royal Institution, 
in summing up his views as to the effects of the discoveries then 
made, thus spoke: ‘The facts which I have brought before 
you, yet still more the speculations which I have ventured to con- 
nect with them, may seem to unsettle much that has been gener- 
ally accredited to geological science, and thus to diminish rather 
than to augment our stock of positive knowledge; but this is the 
necessary result of the introduction of a new idea into any depart- 
ment of scientific inquiry.’ To this statement I beg to demur. 


ss 


322 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


Sound practical geologists, whether they be uniformitarians, catas- 
trophists, or evolutionists, like the great naturalist who now 
worthily presides over the British Association, are all agreed in 
the fundamental truths of this science as established by ] positive 
readings in the stone-books of nature. They are confident that 
undeniable proofs exist of an enormous succession of deposits, 
which have been accumulated under the seas of former periods, in 
each of which the physical geography of our planet, and with it 
the orders of animals and plants, were very dissimilar from each 
other, and also differ still more, as we examine backwards to the 
earlier deposits, from those of the present day. We believe, upon 
the evidences presented to us, and irrespective of all theory, that 
the vast accumulations under the seas of those periods have had 
their relations to each other thoroughly and conclusively estab- 
lished by a clear order of superposition. We further believe that 
the deposits so relatively placed contain, each of them, organic 
remains, which are, in great measure, peculiar to the one great 
group of strata which they occupy. 

‘‘ With these indisputable proofs of geological succession as es- 
tablished by clear superposition of the formations, and the dis- 
tinctive fossil characters of each, I necessarily dissent from the 
suggestions of Dr. Carpenter and other naturalists, that, inasmuch 
as the present deep-sea bottoms contain abundance ‘of Globigerinz, 
with such animals as Terebratulidee, both of which differ little 
from the forms found fossil in the chalk formation, it may be in- 
ferred in a broad sense that we are still in the Cretaceous period. 
May we not, indeed, by a similar bold hypothesis, affirm that we 
still live in the older Silurian period? for, albeit no bony fishes 
then existed, many Globigerinz, and creatures of the lowest or- 

ganization, have been found in these old rocks and associated 
with Terebratulide and Lingule, the generic forms of which still 
live. Revering as Ido those great naturalists who have shown 
abundant proofs of the progress of creation, or, as others term it, 
of evolution, I hold to my opinion, matured by a long experience, 
whilst I dissent from the inferences of my friends Dr. W. Carpen- 
ter and Professor Wyville Thomson, that the recent discoveries 
may or can unsettle much which has been accredited to what I 
eall sound geological history, as established on absolute observa- 
tions and separated from all theory. The new ideas which have 
been introduced by the meritorious labors of Carpenter and his 
associates do not, as he has suggested, diminish the amount of 
positive knowledge. On the contrary, they augment it; though 
they do not shake, in any way, the foundations of geological 
science. I willinely 2 erant, however, that these new discoveries 
overthrow the theory ‘that defines the depths in the sea at which 
certain groups of fossil animals must have lived. 

‘Whilst on this topic, [rejoice that at this meeting we are to be 
furnished with an excellent paper by my distinguished friend, 
Captain Sherard Osborn, on the whole subject of ocean deep-sea 
soundings, as carried out by the Admiralty, and in which he will 
illustrate, by maps and sections, much of his own most energetic 
op rations in reference to submarine telegraphy. 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. ozo 


‘¢TIn connection with the interesting subject of the geography 
of the ocean, I may call your attention to a little work of great 
merit, which has lately appeared under the title of ‘ Physical 
Geography, in its Relation to the prevailing Winds and Currents,’ 
by Mr. J. K. Laughton. <A perusal of this book will show how 
wide is the field embraced by this important branch of geographi- 
cal science, and at the same time how much yet remains to be done — 
before we attain to a satisfactory knowledge of those great move- 
ments of the ocean and atmosphere included under the terms 
gulf-stream, equatorial current, trade-winds, monsoons, and so 
forth. Mr. Laughton, in the book to which I allude, has called 
in question the accuracy of the prevailing theories intended to ex- 
plain these grand and, in some respects, complex phenomena. 
The received hypothesis with regard to the trade-winds, for ex- 
ample, first outlined by Halley towards the end of the seventeenth 
century, but developed by Hadley about 50 years later, and 
modified a few years ago by Maury, he shows to be quite inade- 
quate to explain all the facts of the case. This hypothesis, as is 
well known, assumes that the lower strata of the atmosphere near 
the equator, being overheated by the sun’s rays, expand and rise 
into the upper regions of the aerial envelope, their place being 
taken by a cooler air, which rushes from the higher latitudes of 
the north or south as the case may be; and, moreover, that the 
ascending heated air travels backwards, as an upper current, to 
the latitudes where the cool wind originates, and then, descend- 
ing again, the aerial circulation is completed. One of the most 
striking objections made by Mr. Laughton to this explanation is 
that the equatorial zone is far from being the hottest part of tropi- 
cal and subtropical regions. He shows, as a matter of fact, in the 
North Atlantic basin, that the Great Desert of Sahara has a tem- 
perature from 20 to 50 degrees hotter than the equatorial zone ; 
yet, so far from a coo] current of air being drawn in from the At- 
lantic towards this heated region, the north-east trades pass 
straight onward in their southerly course without the slightest 
indraught towards the African coast. He also shows that there is 
no proof of a vertical movement of the air at the equator, or in 
the latitudes where the upper currents are supposed to descend 
again. A multitude of similar or parallel instances are adduced 
from other parts of the earth; in fact, nothing has more surprised 
me, in perusing the work, than the great amount of reading and 
research the author has applied to the elucidation of this and kin- 
dred problems. Having shown the untenability of the received 
hypothesis, he modestly advances a new one of his own. This is 
difficult, perhaps, to explain in a brief manner. But he shows, 
from the most varied evidence, that the general movement of the 
atmosphere over the whole earth is from west to east; and that 
in regions where the prevailing winds at the earth’s surface are 
not westerly, an upper and strong westerly movement exists above 
the lower winds. The trade-winds, monsoons, and all other par- 
tial atmospheric movements he shows to be chiefly eddies and re- 
flected currents of greater or less constancy ; and he confirms this 


824 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


supposition by an exhaustive examination of the Jaws of moye- 
ment of air and other fluids. I may say, in short, that even those 
who may not agree with the author’s reasonings will find both 
pleasure and profit in studying the rich store of observation and 
lucid argument contained in this little work. 

‘* Among the many interesting papers which will be read before 
you during the present meeting I may announce two, on subjects 
of great general interest, by General Sir Henry Rawlinson, — one 
on the Site of Paradise, and the other on the River Oxus, — both 
the fruits of long study and research, and sure to be listened to 
with the attention that everything emanating from so distin- 
guished a geographer and philologist so’well deserves. . An im- 
portant communication from Dr. George Campbell on the Physical 
Geography of British India is also expected, —a subject which 
has been for years a special study of the author, during his resi- 
dence in a high official position in India. Mr. T. T. Cooper, a 
traveller who has distinguished himself by his persevering en- 
deavors to traverse the difficult country between Western China 
and our Indian possessions in Assam, will read a paper on East- 
ern Thibet, in which he will dilate on the commercial bearings of 
his explorations, which were undertaken with a view to discover 
i. route for an overland trade between the populous and produe- 
tive regions of the Yang-tsze-Kiang in China and the equally rich 
and densely populated plains of British India. With regard to 
Africa, — that great continent which still continues the principal 
field of geographical enterprise, — I have to announce that Mr. 
Winwood Reade, who has recently returned from an explora- 
tion undertaken under the auspices of the Royal Geographical 
Society, and at the cost of an enlightened merchant, Mr. Andrew 
Swanzy, will communicate to the section an account of his hazard- 
ous journey to the Upper Waters of the Niger and to the Bouré 
country. Mr. Reade explored a portion of the Niger not pre- 
viously visited by any European traveller, and opened up a tract 
of populous country, in which is situated the town of Farabana, 
containing 10,000 inhabitants, previously unknown to geogra- 
phers. 

‘¢In respect to those portions of Central America with which 
many readers have become acquainted through the descriptions 
of Stephens and Squier, I may inform you that you will be inter- 
ested in a communication from Captain J. Carmichael upon 
countries occupied by the Indians of British Honduras and Yucatan. 
Ascribing an Eastern, and probably an Egyptian, origin to the 
earlier buildings and temples of the aboriginal American Indians 
and their idols, the author, who has explored the regions he 
describes, and speaks their language, endeavors to throw addi- 
tional light on the subject. He confesses, however, that in these 
mysterious monuments he finds as much difficulty in assigning 
them definitely to any race of men as British and other authors 
have had in fixing the origin of our own most ancient monuments 
at home, such as Stonehenge and other Druidical remains. 
He differs from Stephens and Squier, and those authors who 
do not assign a great antiquity to these reliquiw, and shows that 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 325 


when the Spaniards took possession of the country several of the 
colossal buildings and temples had even then a very antique 
appearance. Captain Carmichael discusses with spirit the ques- 
tion of the former use of the huge and lofty tumuli which abound, 
and suggests the probability that many of the well-chiselled and 
beautifully formed stone buildings and ornaments were fashioned 
into their present shapes by stone implements only, all the arrow 
and spear heads which he found being made of obsidian. The 
Indian king of these parts had a palace at Guiche, which, accord- 
ing to Torquemada, rivalled that of Montezuma, in Mexico. The 
enthusiasm with which Captain Carmichael describes these old 
ruins will, I hope, secure the attention of the section. 

‘*Two of our secretaries, Mr. Clements Markharm and Mr. 
Major, will communicate papers, — the first being an outline of 
an elaborate work he is preparing on the history and progress of 
all the surveys in India; the latter on the long debated question 
of the so-called Land-Fall of Columbus. 

‘Governor William Gilpin, of Colorado, who has recently 
reached our shores from that grand central region of North 
America, will, I trust, favor us with a sketch of that rich metalif- 
erous, mountainous country, which 10 years ago he thoroughly 
described, when he energetically advocated the execution of that 
gigantic railroad which now happily connects the Pacific and 
Atlantic Oceans. 

‘*A strong desire on the part of the council of the Royal 
Geographical Society to induce the heads of our public schools 
to promote the study of geography, on a plan prepared by 
Mr. Francis Galton, led us to offer annually 2 medals, to be com- 
peted for in an examination directed by the Society. It gratifies 
me to announce in this town that in the 2 years during which 
these honors have been distributed, the medals adjudicated each 
year have been won by young men in the public schools of Lan- 
cashire, namely, Liverpool College, and Rossall School, near 
Fleetwood. When we consider that all the leading schools of the 
United Kingdom were invited to compete for these honors 
(and several of them did so compete), the fact which I have just 
mentioned does great honor to this prosperous mercantile county, 
which among its rising generation doubtless contains many a 
young aspirant to win the fame of Raleigh. 

‘¢T may conclude this address by dwelling, for a few moments, 
on the topics which, of all others, most interest myself, and I 
doubt not, the great majority of my countrymen, —the explora- 
tions of inner equatorial Africa by Sir Samuel Baker, and of 
Southern Africa by Dr. Livingstone. Sir Samuel, being thor- 
oughly well supported with those appliances which the Viceroy of 
Egypt has so liberally afforded him, will surely add largely to our 
acquaintance with the vast central and watery region on either 
side of the equator. A letter which he wrote to me from Khar- 
toum, in March, 1870, stated that, having received in sections, on 
the backs of camels, all the vessels of his river and lake flotilla 
from Engiand, as prepared by Mr. Samuda, he was full of hope 
and confident of success. Recently, I have received a longer and 


326 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


most interesting letter from him, which will be read at the pres- 
ent meeting, and which graphically details the difficulties over 
which he has triumphed to the present time. 

‘* We learn from this letter that Baker, starting from his station 
on the White Nile, in lat. 9° 26’, next November, can only reach 
Gondokora much later than he anticipated; we have further to 
reflect upon the fact that, after arriving at that place, his great 
difficulties would commence; for, in the Bari country, peopled by 
negroes who have been rendered furious and wretched by cruel 
slave-dealers of various nations, he would also have to transport 
all his vessels and materials along the right bank of the Nile, 
where the great stream flows over granitic rapids. He has also 
to carry all his goods over the Assua River, a great tributary of 
the Nile, by a wire or chain bridge, which he had to construct. 
Having vanquished these obstacles, and having reached that por- 
tion of the Nile in which his vessels could be launched, he would 
then sail up the stream until he reached his own great lake, the 
Albert Nyanza. This accomplished, and cheered by his charming 
and devoted wife, he would be thoroughly master of a position 
wholly unprecedented in the history of African discovery. 

** As I have already alluded to a very barbarous tract through 
which he would have to pass, and which was formerly traversed 
by Speke and Grant, I would observe that it is specially to such 
tracts that Baker holds instructions from the Khedive to extirpate 
the cruel slave-dealers who have brought about these horrors by 
the robbery of their ivory from the natives, and the capture of 
women and children. I specially make this allusion, because a 
mistaken notion had arisen in Egypt that Sir Samuel proceeded 
on a mission to abolish slavery altogether. Now, as every Egyp- 
tian household contains slaves as their only domestic servants, we 
learned from our associate, Lord Houghton, when he visited the 
Suez Canal, that the Egyptians were much prejudiced against Sir 
Samuel. But no such Quixotic, and I might say impossible task 
has been assigned to Baker, for domestic slavery is ingrained 
in all parts of Africa as a regular institution of the land. Atro- 
cious and cruel slave-dealing and robbery may, however, be 
thoroughly put an end to; and this my friend has already com- 
menced, through the agency of Egyptian soldiers. Of his energy 
in these philanthropic measures you will have a pregnant proof in 
the letter which will be read to you. In this way the poor African 
serf may be assured that when he sows his grain he will reap a 
crop at a future day. 

‘«T can well imagine the delight with which Baker will define 
with his flotilla the western boundary of his great lake, and de- 
lineate the course of those lofty mountains on its western shore 
which he had only seen at a great distance in his former journey. 
We may also picture to ourselves how he would rejoice in explor- 
ing wide tracts of that vast unknown interior in which large bodies 
of water lie, which are supposed to feed the Congo. ‘The point 
of the compass, however, which will be first sought by the intrepid 
voyager will, I doubt not, be the southernmost end of the Albert 
Nyanza, because it is there that he hopes for the happiness of 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 327 


falling in with and relieving his great contemporary. Livingstone. 
If, indeed, that indomitable missionary, who unquestionably stands 
at the head of all African explorers, should succeed in tracing a 
connection between the waters of the Tanganyika Lake, where he 
was when we last heard from him, and the south end of the Albert 
Nyanza, why, then, the meeting of these two remarkable men 
will be the happiest consummation of our wishes. And if that 
should be accomplished, Sir Samuel Baker himself will, I doubt 
not, cheerfully award the greater share of glory to his fellow-ex- 
plorer, who will then have proved himself to be the real discoy- 
erer of the ultimate southern sources of the Nile. In waiting for 
the solution of this great problem I adhere, in the mean time, to 
the opinion which I previously expressed, that if Livingstone be 
still at or near Ujiji on the Lake Tanganyika, to which place sup- 
plies have been sent to him, he will at once proceed to determine 
that problem, and will not think of a return to England until the 
crand desideratum is carried out. Judging, indeed, from his own 
original observations respecting the course of those rivers which 

take their rise in 8° to 9° S. lat., and believing as he did that most 

of them flow by the western side of Lake Tanganyika, and do not 

enter that lake, it seems to follow, that in pursuing a N.N.West- 

erly direction several of these waters must feed the Congo and so 

issue on the west coast. If such should prove to be the fact, why, 

then, this great traveller will have been the first to determine the 

true sources of both the Nile and the Congo. 

‘«¢ And here I would ask why any one who knows what Living- 
stone has undergone should despair of his life simply because we 
have had no news from him during the last 15 months? Did not 
much more than that period elapse whilst he was in the heart of 
Africa without our receiving a word of comfort respecting him? 
By the last accounts he was hospitably received by Arabs who are 
friendly to the Sultan of Zanzibar, who is Livingstone’s patron, 
and also a protector of the negroes. I have received a letter 
from Dr. Kirk at Zanzibar, dated 29th June, 1870, which has com- 
forted me exceedingly; for, sanguine as I have been as to the 
safety and success of Livingstone, I am now better supported than 
ever in my anticipation of his ultimate triumph. Dr. Kirk thus 
writes: ‘ News has reached me by natives from the interior that 
the road is now clear, and that the cholera did not pass the town 
of Unyanyembe. Livingstone is therefore out of danger, and I 
hope the stores sent have now reached him. ‘The rainy season 
being at an end, Unyamwezi caravans are daily expected, and 
will no doubt bring, if not letters from the doctor himself, at least 
news of him from the Arab governor of Unyanyembe. The coast 
near Zanzibar is now healthy.’ Looking, then, as I do, to the 
astonishing and enduring resolution of my friend, and his thor-_ 
oughly acclimatized constitution, remembering that he has already 
gone successfully through privations under which even his at- 
tached negro youths all succumbed, I still hold stoutly to the 
opinion that by reaching the Albert Nyanza he will determine the 
great problem of the water-shed of South Africa, and then return 
to embrace his children, to whom he is devotedly attached, and 


328 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


receive the plaudits, not only of his admiring countrymen, but of 
wl civilized men. Should this happy finale be brought about, he 
will have the great additional delight of finding here his venerable 
father-in-law, the Rev. Robert Moifat, who, after half a century 
of successful missionary labors, is present at this meeting of the 
British Association. 

‘* In conclusion, I have the honest satisfaction of knowing that, 
as president of the Royal Geographical Society, and as the sincere 
friend of Livingstone, I have, with the warm aid of my deeply 
lamented friend, the Earl of Clarendon, been successful in urging 
our government to relieve the great traveller who was gazetted 
as her Majesty’s consul to all the kings and chiefs of the interior 
of Africa. Ihave only to add that if diplomatists are reeompensed 
according to the energy and capacity with which they execute 
their duties, I confidently anticipate that, on his return to Britain, 
this undaunted envoy to unknown lands, this sound geographer 
and zealous Christian missionary, will not only receive a becom- 
ing pension, but will also be honored by some distinction of the 
crown, which assuredly our beloved queen will gladly confer 
upon him. 


SIR SAMUEL BAKER’S EXPEDITION. 


The following letter to Sir Roderick Murchison was read at the 
meeting of the British Association : — 


‘Ss TOWFIKEEYA, WHITE NILE, Lat. 9° N. 26’, AFRICA, 
15th June, 1870. . 


‘*My DEAR Sir RODERICK:—TI have established a station at 
this important point of the Shillook country, in which I shall pass 
the rainy season. Ihave erected galvanized iron magazines, 200 
feet in length by 20 in width, within which I have stored all pro- 
visions and materials, and my flotilla of 53 vessels lies moored 
along the wharf. The troops and Europeans are in fair health; 
they are housed comfortably for the wet season. 

‘* Mr. Higginbotham (engineer-in-chief), after great exertion 
and untiring energy, sueceeded in transporting the steamers and 
machinery across the desert to Khartoum, with which he followed 
me up the White Nile. All branches of the expedition thus 
happily effected a junction without the loss of either a European 
life or that of a horse, although many of the latter had been 
brought so great a distance from Cairo. 

‘<'Thus far all has been successful. We are in excellent health, 
and Iam fortunate in the possession of such trustworthy aids as 
my nephew, Lieutenant J. A. Baker, R.N., and Mr. Higgin- 
botham, to whom I am extremely indebted, as they relieve me 
from much toil and anxiety. The steamers and other vessels 
which failed in the passage of the cataracts between Cairo and 
Khartoum will, I trust, join me here before November, as I pro- 
pose leaving this during the first week of that month with rein- 
forcements tor Gondokoro. 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 329 


‘‘The great difficulties experienced by Mr. Higginbotham in 
the passage of the Nubian desert with so large a caravan of up- 
wards of 1,800 camels, laden with unmanageable loads of material, 
caused a delay which lost the favorable season for the White Nile 
voyage. The unfortunate festivities attendant upon the opening 
of the Suez Canal had also delayed my departure from Egypt, as 
no steamer was disengaged. The failure of the passage of the 
cataracts by the 6 steamers and large-decked vessels from Cairo 
was a severe embarrassment, but the climax to the series of con- 
tretemps was the total want of preparation at Khartoum, where I 
had expected to have found an organized fleet upon my arrival 
from Egypt, according to my instructions given some months 
beforehand. These delays are inseparable from African affairs. 
Thus, instead of starting from Khartoum in December, we left on 
the 8th of February. Previous to my departure from Khartoum 
I was assured that the Great White Nile had ceased to be a navi- 
gable river! 

‘If you refer to my work, ‘The Albert Nyanza,’ you will 
remember my description of the dam formed by floating rafts of 
vegetation, which, by accumulation, has caused an obstruction in 
the river before the junction of the Bahr Gazelle and the Bahr 
Giraffe. It appears that since my passage of the river in 1865 
the dam has been entirely neglected by the authorities at Khar- 
toum, and the river, thus left to its own vagaries, has exempli- 
fied the principle that has formed the weary wilderness of marsh 
and decomposing vegetation that marks the course of the White 
Nite: 

‘«The vast masses of floating islands continually brought down 
by the stream have now formed an addition to the dam, and 
have produced anew district of many miles’ extent beneath which 
theriver passes by a subterranean channel. Thus the White Nile 
has literally been closed to navigation. The slave-traders, thus 
shut out from communication with their old field, had discovered 
a passage to Gondokoro through the Bahr Giraffe. 

‘‘In the ‘ Albert Nyanza’ you will see that I declared the Bahr 
Giraffe to be merely a branch of the White Nile, quitting the main 
river in the Aliab country, and that it was not an independent 
stream like the Probat, as laid down upon former maps. ‘This 
is proved to be correct. 

‘‘T left Khartoum with 5 guides, intending to adopt the new 
route, via the Bahr Giraffe. On the 17th of February we entered 
the mouth of the river in N. lat. 9° 26’. The water was 19 fect 
deep, and the current about 33 miles per hour, with a breadth 
from bank to bank of about 60 yards. At the time the surface 
was about 5 feet below high-water mark. 

‘©The mean course of this winding river was from the south- 
west. Four small granite hills formed unmistakable landmarks 
in the boundless flats within 15 miles of the junction. Fine 
forests bordered the river for about 30 miles, diversified by 
plains of extremely fertile soil. Beyond this the wood was 
scaree, and the forests were at intervals of 70 or 80 miles. As 
we proceeded the wood ceased altogether, and the steamers 


530 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


depended upon the supply of fuel which I had stored in vessels 
In tow. 

‘“* At the distance of about 180 miles from the junction the 
dry land disappeared, and we sailed through endless marsh, 
where the river narrowed to a width of about 40 yards. It 
Was in a deep, narrow channel that we were nearly wrecked 
by a savage hippopotamus, which recklessly charged the boats, 
breaking 3 floats from the steamer’s paddle, and then, striking 
my iron diahbeeak, he cut 2 clean holes through the bottom 
plates with his sharp tusks, and we should have sunk in 10 
minutes without the assistance of the steamer’s crew and engi- 
neers. 

‘* As we drew nearer south the rapidity of the current dimin- 
ished, the river narrowed to a width that would barely admit the 
passage of the steamers when rounding the sharp bends. By 
degrees the channel disappeared, and the flotilla became fixed in 
a boundless sea of high grass. This was in lat. by observation 
7° 47 46’, and by dead reckoning 272 miles from the junction of 
the river with the Nile. 

‘¢Our guides, nevertheless, declared that the White Nile could 
he reached by this route, should we cut a passage for the boats 
through the floating marsh and swamp grass. ‘The task appeared 
hopeless, as no sign of open water could be distinguished from the 
masthead, and the quality of the marsh resembled sugar-cane in 
thickness and toughness, while the tangled confusion of decaying 
vegetation for a depth of 5 or 6 feet could only be compared to 
a mixture of fishing-nets, ropes, mud, sailors’ swabs, sponges, and 
canes, all compressed together in a firm mass, beneath which 
the water was from 10 to 12 feet deep, while grass about 9 feet 
high covered the surface to all points of the horizon. 

‘¢ With about 1,000 men we worked for 32 days, and cut about 
8 miles of canal, through which, by dismounting the paddles, we 
warped the steamers, and with immense labor we succeeded 
in pushing the flotilla through a chain of small lakes separated 
from each other by intervals of marsh. These lakes we discoy- 
ered from time to time as the canal progressed, and the interven- 
ing marshes between them formed a total of 8. miles’ cutting, 
which enabled us to traverse a distance of 32 miles. The sight of 
open water from time to time was cheering to the men, fatigued 
and sickened by hopeless labor in mud and stench. We at length 
reached the unmistakable open river; dry land appeared on either 
bank, and forests within 2 miles. Herds of antelopes and buffa- 
loes were on the plains, and the rifles secured a supply of meat 
which was much needed. The whole force rejoiced in the pros- 
pect of reaching the Great White Nile, and the flotilla of 34 vessels 
sailed merrily on. Suddenly the steamer grounded, and one by 
one the other vessels followed the example. ‘There was no depth 
of water. 

‘¢ My diahbeeak, being of iron, had a light draught, and I pushed 
on in advance for about 3 miles, carefully sounding the channel. 
The general depth was only 3 feet. ‘The steamers and heavier 
vessels required 4 to 6 feet. At length the light diah- 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 331 


beeak grounded in water only 2 feet 6 inches in depth. Quitting 
the vessel, and accompanied by my nephew, Lieutenant J. Baker, 
R.N., I proceeded in a small rowing boat, hoping that we might 
find deep water before us. We were quickly beaten, as the chan- 
nel divided into 3 branches and once more flowed through vast 
marshes. There was not sufficient water for the rowing-beat, and 
she grounded upon a bed of sand. The river was impassable. 
On the following morning I attempted a survey of each channel, 
but all were alike impassable. The painful fact was established 
that the route by the Bahr Giraffe is only practicable during the 
season of flood. 

««The rainy season was close athand. Already we had suffered 
from several storms; provisions were damaged; 160 men laid 
down with marsh fever; some lives had been lost, and I daily 
expected the arrival of Mr. Higginbotham and party from Khar- 
toum, who, with a small force, would have been helpless in the 
ever-closing marshes. The floating masses in many instances 
closed the newly made channel a few minutes after the passage of 
the vessels; thus a weak force might be hemmed in like a ship by 
ice-floes in the Arctic Sea. 

‘*T had beforehand determined that in the event of an insur- 
mountable obstruction, I would form a station at a convenient 
point upon the White Nile, at which I could unite all branches of 
the expedition, and prepare for the favorable season in Novem- 
ber. We therefore quickly retraced our steps, cutting through 
those portions of the canal which had closed; and, remounting 
the paddles of the steamer, we ran down the Bahr Giraffe at 10 
miles an hour, in advance of the flotilla, and took up a position 
for wood-cutting in a forest on the Nile banks, within 6 miles of 
the Bahr Giraffe junction. At this point we were joined by Mr. 
Higginbotham and troops from Khartoum, together with the sec- 
tions of steamers and machinery which he had so ably conducted 
through the desert journey from Cairo. Dr. Gedge and the 6 
English engineers and mechanics were also with him in good 
health and spirits. My exploration of the Bahr Giraffe had saved 
them much difficulty; but this was not the only good of my 
return. 

‘*'The Turkish governor of a settlement on the lower White 
Nile (Fashoda), thinking all chances of detection impossible, had 
made a razzia on this portion of the Shillook country, and was 
kidnapping slaves and cattle under the pretence of collecting 
taxes, Having received this information from the people, I came 
suddenly upon him with 2 steamers, and caught him in the act 
with 150 slaves (women and children), 71 of whom were crammed 
Within a small vessel. He was accompanied by about 350 soldiers, 
exclusive of a few irregular cavalry, with which force he was 
harrying the country. I insisted upon the immediate liberation 
of the slaves, and, as the poor people were within sight of their 
villages which had been so recently pillaged, I had the satisfaction 
of returning them to their homes, to their great astonishment and 
to the confusion of the slave-hunting governor. 


oon ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


‘‘T then made an excursion to seek for a favorable locality for 
a permanent station, and succeeded in discovering the spot from 
which I write, —a convenient position on the east bank of the 
White Nile, opposite the Shillook country, with which tribe Ihave ~ 
established the most friendly relations. 

“The Egyptian Government established a station 6 years ago 
within the Shillook country for the purpose of suppressing tiie 
slave-trade ; this station (Fashoda) is in north latitude 9° 54/ 25” 
by observations taken during this journey. No improvement has 
been effected by the representative of the government; but the 
entire country is a scene of anarchy and confusion, the governor 
setting the example of pillage. There can be no doubt that the 
Shillook with good government would become a valuable portion 
of Egyptian territory. The soil is the most productive; the popu- 
lation is estimated at a million, and the natural production is cot- 
ton. Rice and severai species of vegetables grow wild, including 
the grape, vine, and asparagus. The country abounds with for 
ests of pine timber, and the river is without obstruction direct to 
Khartoum. 

‘« At present there is no trade, as the natives have no encour- 
agement from the authorities, but with fair dealing and security 
of life and property the entire Shillook country would become an 
extensive cotton-field. Although generally naked, the natives 
demand cotton cloths, which they receive with eagerness in bar- 
ter for supplies. They have already commenced an exchange of 
their cotton for manufactured goods; but the quality of their cot- 
ton being inferior from the absence of cultivation it would hardly 
bear the cost of transport. I shall introduce during this rainy 
season the cotton-seed that I brought from Lower Egypt; this I 
shall give to the chiefs, who well understand the advantage of an 
exchange of their natural productions for manufactures. The 
people are naked from necessity, and not from choice. 

‘¢ As the camp is now completed, I shall turn all hands to culti- 
vation. I have now 1,500 men who will be employed in agricul- 
ture, to produce during the rains the supplies of corn that will be 
required for the adv ance in November next. 

‘*The advantage of this settlement was proved shortly after 
our arrival by the capture of a slave-vessel that attempted to 
pass the station. Upon this boat I found 150 slaves packed like 
sardines, and concealed beneath the fore and aft decks. The 
slaves were liberated, their names registered, and each individual 
was given a ticket of freedom. The commanders I have placed 
in irons. One of the first works of my English blacksmiths was 
to cut through the chains that secured the unfortunate children. 
Thus I have alr eady had the satisfaction of releasing 305 of these 
miserable creatures, mostly women, young girls, “and boys. I 
have no doubt his Hichness the Viceroy will appoint some trust- 
worthy person to command this station after my departure. 

‘¢T have received information from the Shillook chiefs concern- 
ing a new channel that the river has formed, connecting the upper 
and lower portions in the region of the dam. They declare this 
to be navigable, and they have offered their services as guides. I 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 300 


intend to make an exploration with their assistance when I shall 
have completed my arrangements in this station. I shall take 2 
steamers and 2 diahbeeaks in tow, with 50 or 60 men. Should 
this good news prove to be correct, there will be no difficulty in 
November next, as I shall return here with an accurate knowledge 
of the passage. Should there be no navigable passage, I shall 
cut through the great dam and open up a permanent channel, 
with a force of 2,000 men. 

‘Tam thankful that Lady Baker and myself have been free 
from all ailments. My 6 English mechanics are industrious and 
well-conducted, and are good representatives of the working- 
classes of England, in a difficult and trying enterprise, where 
patience and stability of character are necessary elements. The 
Egyptian troops are orderly and resigned; the black soldiers are 
full of vigor. 

‘‘T regret, my dear Sir Roderick, that I cannot yet give you 
much geographical information ; but this expedition is not one of 
simple exploration. There is a grave responsibility with so large 
a force in Central Africa, far distant from supplies, and much 
caution is required in the advance. Pray God that we may meet 
again, my dear friend. With much love from Lady Baker and 
myself, ever atfectionately yours, SAMUEL BAKER.” 


Sir Roderick Murchison, at the conclusion of the letter, said that 
Sir Samuel had given an earnest, by what he had already done, 
of what he would accomplish. It was gratifying that he was 
putting into execution that act of the Viceroy, to stop the pillage 
of villages and the abduction of the women and children. 


STONE IMPLEMENTS OF WESTERN AFRICA. 


Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., at the meeting of the British 
Association, delivered some interesting remarks on ‘‘ Stone Imple- 
ments from Western Africa.” He said that, considering, of all 
the great continents of the world, Africa was probably the most 
backward in civilization, it was remarkable how deficient it was 
in stone weapons. He thought this was no doubt owing to the 
abundance of sands containing iron, and the facility with which 
iron was obtained and prepared for use. This infrequency or al- 
most absence of stone implements in Africa had been alluded to 
on various occasions by those who had found a difficulty in recon- 
ciling it with the well-founded theory with respect to stone having 
preceded metals; but although stone implements were rare, they 
were not altogether unknown. He (Sir John Lubbock) had 
brought some which had been sent from the Cape of Good Hope. 
The spear-heads in the collection had a remarkable similarity to 
the spear-heads which were found in Europe and elsewhere. He 
believed that never before from this place had anything been dis- 
covered that could be called an arrow. Sometimes small articles 
of stone were called arrows which should not be called so. It 
might very well be believed that a savage would be very careful 


334 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


indeed in the manner in which he manufactured his arrow-heads. 
It took him, perhaps, a day or two to get near his lurge, so that it 
would be very provoking to him to lose his game, and it would, 
therefore, be an economy of time to bestow a considerable period 
on the manufacture of arrows which would be tolerably true, and 
would give him a chance of killing his game. This being so, 
nothing should be taken for an arrow-head which did not present 
the indubitable features of that weapon. The scraper, which was 
well known in Europe, was not much represented in Africa, and 
the specimen which he (Sir John Lubbock) had got from the Cape 
of Good Hope was the only specimen of the type which was 
known. Sir John also exhibited several stones, with respect to 
which he said there was a notion that they were thunderbolts, and 
in consequence they were used as charms, and also ground down 
and drunk in water as medicine. It was only when the remem- 
brance of these thing's passed into tradition, and they had ceased 
to be used in every-day life, that they became mysterious, and 
were used for medicine and as charms. ‘The depth at which 
these stones were found showed that they were not of yesterday, 
but could not be taken as evidence that they were of great antiq- 
uity. Exhibiting an axe of stone from Western Africa, Sir John 
placed beside it several similar weapons from various parts of the 
world, pointing out that they were all of a very simple charac- 
ter. In conclusion, he objected to the opinion which was very 
generally entertained, that anthropologists considered that all 
stone implements belonged to the stone age, that all bronze arti- 
cies belonged to the bronze age, and all iron articies to the iron 
age. Still, considering the abundance of ores of iron in the dis- 
trict from which his specimens had been brought, and the facility 
with which they could be smelted and metals obtained, and yet 
stone had been made use of, they must believe that the stone 
axes belonged to the time before the negroes of the Cape had be- 
come acquainted with metals. 


FLINT FLAKE CORE. 


Mr. John Plant, F.R.A.S., at the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation, read a ** Note on a Flint Flake Core from the River Gravel 
of the Irwell, Salford, Manchester.” He said the upper valley of 
the Irwell was overspread with till and sandy layers. ‘Terraces 
above 200 fect in elevation were very distinct in places. ‘The 
river now flowed over the beds of new red sandstone, having con- 
tracted its bed from at least a mile to about 60 yards. The upper 
terrace was composed of sand and gravel of older age than the 
silts which fringe the banks. ‘The pebbles of gravel were mainly 
derived from the pebble-beds and eroded till; others were flat- 
tened pebbles from the coal-measure. ‘Throughout these pebbles 
it might be said there were no flints, buts of chert only from 
mountain limestone. The weapons of Lancashire were neolithic 
in character, so that the occurrence of a flint flake was remarkable 
from its site in the barren desert of gravel and sand of the Irwell. 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. O00 


Mr. Plant thought the specimen he exhibited belonged to the 
time when the East of England was in the occupation of the early 
palzeolithic people of Europe. 


MR. EVANS ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 


The following address was delivered at the meeting of the 
British Association, in the department devoted to ethnology and 
anthropology : — 

Atter showing that the wide area of the sciences is not like that 
of our inhabited world, broken up by various natural boundaries 
into numerous kingdoms or empires, each speaking its own tongue, 
and striving to maintain its independence of its neighbors, even 
when not directly antagonistic to them; but rather resembles 
that of some great globe without any such geographical divisions, 
occupied, it is true, by various races, each having a distinct cen- 
tre, where its own peculiar language is spoken with the utmost 
purity, but around those centres gradually intermingling with 
the other surrounding races, so that in the border land between 
any two such points it is often difficult, not to say impossible, 
to say to which of the two races the inhabitants belong, or to 
assign any fixed limit to their respective provinces; he said :— 

“The main, central point—the history of the origin and 
progress of the human race — must, however, be that around 
which all our thoughts must revolve, and towards which all our 
investigations must be directed. He thought that any one who 
will contrast our present amount of knowledge — limited though 
it be—of the history of man, with what was known concern- 
ing him even so lately as 20 years ago, will see how much has 
been accomplished during that period, as compared with the 
hundred-fold greater period which has elapsed since the days 
of the old Greek philosophers, the results of whose inquiries 
sufficed for the curiosity of so many subsequent generations. 
For though in earlier days there were some, at all events, who 
were not content with the prevailing views as to the origin and 
antiquity of man, and as to the course of human civilization, 
yet they were unable effectually to influence the current of 
opinion; and their speculations, when occasionally they are now, 
as it were, disinterred from their writings, seem like some 
recent organisms accidentally imbedded in one of the older rocks, 
or at all events to present what some geologists have been 
pleased to term ‘prophetic types... We have now, I think, 
arrived at a point when it is almost unanimously admitted by 
all candid inquirers who from the extent of their studies are com- 
petent to form an opinion on the subject, that the family of man 
dates back to an epoch far, far more remote than the 60 centuries 
or so allowed by Bishop Ussher’s chronology; that the univer- 
sality of the Noachic deluge can no longer be maintained; and 
that there has been a progress— more or less interrupted, it is 
true, in different places and at different periods —in the arts and 
appliances of human industry, from the first appearance of man 


. 


306 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


up to the present time, and, therefore, that human civilization is 
progressive, whatever may be its relation to the human mind and 
intellect. These views, moreover, supported as they are by 
direct evidence accessible to all, are held not merely by a select 
few, but by a large and increasing number of those interested in 
various branches of science, so that it does not require any pecu- 
liarly sanguine temperament to regard them, if not as actually 
established truths, yet, at all events, as in a fair way of being no 
less generally accepted than any of the fundamental doctrines of 
astronomy or geology. To have overcome prejudices even to 
this extent, and to have a free course for future investigation, is, 
indeed, a great step gained; but how much have we still to learn, 
and what an infinity of details have still to be inserted before any 
single picture of human progress, taken from any point of view, 
can be regarded as complete! The principal means we have at 
command towards solving these and numerous other questions 
bearing on the origin and progress of mankind, is diligent obser- 
vation and collection of facts, from which, in due time, some gen- 
eral laws may be induced, so that these, in their turn, may serve 
to explain other facts, until gradually a system may be built up 
in which all phenomena find their proper place, and become 
mutually illustrative one of another.” 

After showing that the regions in which these facts are to be 
collected are neither few in number nor uniform in character, he 
said : — 

“¢' The great fact, which we cannot too steadily bear in mind, is, 
that we of the present day, our words and works, and all the sur- 
roundings of our life, are merely the last links in one long, 
complicated, though continuous chain, which connects us with 
our remotest forefathers, their language, implements, and associ- 
ations. We must never forget that each generation, with all its 
accompaniments of whatever kind, forms a link in that chain, and 
stands in the most intimate and close relationship with that which 
went before and that which immediately follows it; and, further, 
that though in countries now possessed of civilization its rate of 
progress may have varied, or even alternated with retrogression 
into barbarism, yet that these changes have been by no means 
sudden, but that all external civilization and all human appliances, 
whether modern or ancient, have been the result of mere or less 
slow evolution from a lower stage of culture, and from ruder or 
more simple forms ; while, in case of their decay or degradation, it 
has been by a gradual process of longer or shorter duration. Itis 
this continuity in all the accessories of the external life of man 
that renders any knowledge we may gain concerning their form 
and character, at any given remote period, of such value in recon- 
structing primitive history, and which renders the study of the 
development of modern appliances, and of their relation to the 
culture and mental condition of those who use them, so illustra- 
tive of the different phases of civilization. 

‘*The story told by all the appliances of civilized man, whether 
in ancient or modern times, and in aless degree by those of bar- 
barous and semi-civilized nations, is invariably one of progress, 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 307d 


even though many of the forms in use may be mere resuscitations 
of what have been developed in more ancient times under proba- 
bly somewhat analogous circumstances. There can, indeed, be 
no doubt that every material object we use, however recently 
invented, bears upon it the reflection, more or less distinct, of 
something which has gone before; so that, in fact, each newly 
invented appliance is but the descendant from some other of earlier 
date ; and though varying from it in a greater or less degree, yet 
still deriving its form and charagter by the way of legitimate 
descent. The rifled cannon of the present day is a modified 
descendant of the smooth bore; and this (if history is to be 
believed) of the mortar of Friar Bacon, which, in its turn, was 
an improved form of the first pounding apparatus, —a slightly 
hollow stone on which to pound, and a pebble to use as a pestle. 
The reaping-machine, whether of the present time or of the days 
of Pliny, is but an adaptation of the iron sickle, which traces its 
ancestry through the family of bronze sickles and knives to that 
of the old flint flakes. It is, in fact, the old story, —the force of 
which had, however, been but so recently appreciated, — that of 
constant tendency to change, accompanied by the survival of the 
fitted forms for the sphere in which they are placed; and in the 
Same way, as the most eminent living naturalist conceives it not 
only possible but probable, that all animals have descended from, 
at most, only 4 or 5 progenitors, and all plants from an equal or 
lesser number, so I think that an examination of the history of 
human arts and manufactures will reduce the material appliances 
possessed by our first progenitors to at least as small a tale. 

‘“*We may, indeed, reverse the comparison of Darwin, and, 
instead of arguing from complex pieces of machinery to organ- 
isms, regard the mechanical contrivances of man in the same 
manner as the naturalists of his method of thinking would regard 
some organism. In some instances, and especiaily in the case of 
ornaments, the rate of change may be very rapid. A better illus- 
tration of this can hardly be found than in tracing back the bonnets 
of ladies of the present day to the broad-brimmed hat of the last 
century, of which it is the direct descendant, and to which the 
most modern forms now show a tendency to revert. But what- 
ever may be the amount of persistency or of variation in form, 
there can be little doubt that in almost all cases the farther back 
we trace any instrument or appliance, the simpler shall we find it, 
both in form and material. The normal transition is, of course, 
from the use of the well-known division of the stages of human 
culture into those of stone, bronze, andiron, and is one which in all 
probability will be found to hold good in every portion of the 
globe, the occupation of which by man extends back to an epoch 
more than 2,000 or 3,000 years remote from the present time. Much 
mischief, however, may be done by regarding all ancient objects 
of stone or bronze as of necessity belonging to the stone or 
bronze age, and by using these terms as if they had some chro- 
nological signification, instead of their being merely convenient 
forms of indicating, in a succinct manner, certain stages of 
culture.” 


338 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


The Professor then directed attention to language as one of 
the sources from which facts concerning man’s history are to be 
derived. ‘‘ It is,” he said, ‘‘ needless for me todwellon the value 
of language as affording perhaps the best and safest clue to 
ethnological affinities; nor need I do more than allude to the 
proofs of the antiquity of man afforded by the variations of 
modern languages from their parent stock, — variations which 
are so great that some languages of common descent have now 
hardly a dozen words in common, and which must have required 
an enormous lapse of time for their production; and yet the main 
features of which we find already established some 2,000 or 3,000 
years ago. But even in minor details the evidence of language 
may prove of immense service, though such has been the nature 
and extent of the changes it has undergone, and so few are the 
monuments of some of its phases, that there is often much diffi- 
culty in extracting satisfactory testimony upon any given point. 
When we consider the essentially persistent nature of language, 
its continuity from generation to generation, each introducing but 
few intentional changes, and each believing that it speaks what 
is happily termed its mother tongue, we might, in the absence of 
other evidence, find a difficulty in accepting the bare possibility 
of such extensive modifications as it has undergone. But lan- 
guage, and especially unwritten language, is curiously plastic; 
and all changes in manners and customs, and in the appliances of 
life, must of necessity influence the methods of expression. When 
new discoveries are made, or new appliances introduced, new 
terms also come in; but these, like the inventions and objects 
themselves, are always more or less connected with something 
that has gone before. In process of time, these terms, which origi- 
nally bore a distinct meaning in themselves, may become slightly 
changed in form and even in their application, so that all traces 
of their first derivation may be lost or partially concealed. But 
what an amount of history is there crystallized in words, and 
what aid would-be afforded in unravelling the tangled clue 
which guides us along the course of human progress, were we 
able to trace only each substantive to its origin, and fix its age 
and native place!” 

The Professor next referred to another and fruitful field of 
observation, —the ground beneath us, — and in the course of his 
remarks said : — 

‘‘ It is impossible in any way to foresee what other discoveries 
the strata beneath us may have yet in store for us; but certainly 
there is no reason to conclude that we have as yet found the 
earliest traces of man upon the earth, or even on the soil of West- 
ern Europe. At the same time I must confess that the present 
amount of evidence of human existence in Pliocene, and even in 
Miocene, times in France, appears to me, after a careful exami- 
nation of it on the spot, to be very far from convincing. Should 
the remains of Miocene man be eventually discovered, it will be 
of the highest interest to compare his form with that of his con- 
temporary and equal in stature, the Dryopithecus, which was 
sufficiently human in habit to retain its wisdom-tooth still unde- 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 339 


veloped in its jaw after all its milk-teeth had been replaced by the 
second set.” 

The Professor next showed that in the same manner as our 
language and appliances are derived from and indissolubly con- 
nected with those of the generations which have gone before us, 
so itis with the laws, manners, and customs, and, within certain 
limits, the beliefs, morals, and religions ot the present day. 
‘* How many of our legal and social customs belong to a totally 
different-stage of society, and, like the parts which have become 
rudimentary in organisms, survive only as memorials of a past 
condition of things ! As single instances, take most of the cus- 
toms relating to ‘copyhold lands, — the admission to them by a 
rod, the service to be performed in respect of them, in fact, the 
whole nature of the tenure ; take our armorial bearings, for which 
we have no longer shields, and our crests, for which we have no 
longer helmets; and to realize their full meaning we must carry 
our minds back through centuries. Take, again, many of our 
festive customs, which can be traced back to heathen times; our 
‘belief in witches (excusable, perhaps, in Lancashire), our trust 
in omens, and in lucky and unlucky days, and we see how many of 
our hereditary prepossessions are derived from a simpler stage of 
culture. But if this be so now, the same must have held ood in 
earlier days, and the simplest creeds and lowest mental condi- 
tions that we meet with in historical times would seem to be but 
derivatives from something simpler and lower still.” 


ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY. 


Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, at the meeting of the British Association, 
made a report on the exploration of the Victoria Cave, at Settle, 
Yorkshire. Although the cave was discovered on the day of the 
Queen’s coronation, no systematic investigation was made until 
the spring of the present year, when a committee, under the 
chairmanship of Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, commenced the 
labor. In the upper strata there were found numerous traces of 
occupation of the cave. Among these were traces of the 
hog, the sheep, and the horse, and there was also evidence, 
in the form of 2 ‘‘ spurs,” of the use of the domestic fowl. 
There were also traces of the reindeer, the badger, and other 
wild animals, which went to show that the inhabitants of 
the cave, like the gypsies of the present day, used some of these 
animals now regarded as vermin as food. There were also 2 
Roman coins found, one a Trajan, and onea Tetrarchus, the ivory 
boss of a sword, some beautiful brooches, amulets, and bronze 
rings. The discovery of the coins and some articles of the Sar- 
nian pottery, and the domestic fowl (which was introduced by the 
Romans), seemed to show that this particular occupation of the 
cave occurred after the Roman period; and he believed it likely 
that the inhabitants were Roman colonists,who were obliged to flee 
before the advance of the exterminating Angles and Saxons. In 
a lower stratum of deposits, separated from the Roman stratum 


340 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 


+ 


by a talus of about 7 feet, were found a bone harpoon, and 
remains of the horse and red deer. He would not hazard any 
theory as to the period of the early occupation thus indicated, but 
a conjecture might be made on this foundation. The talus of 2 
feet which covered the Roman strata might be taken as represent- 
ing 1,200 years of accumulation; and if the talus between the 
Roman and the earlier deposit accumulated at the same rate, the 
period of the deposit might be fixed at between 5,000 and 6,000 
years ago. This calculation might, however, be disturbed by 
various climatic influences, which might hasten or extend the 
period of the accumulation of the 7 feet talus. There was yet a 
third layer, in which no human remains, or remains of cattle, had 
been found, but this part of the investigation had not yet been 
completed. 

Professor Bush threw some doubt on Mr. Dawkins’ calculation 
as to the date of the early occupation of the cave, and suggested 
that the upper talus, instead of increasing in thickness, had 
actually been partly cleared away by the action of the weather. 

After some remarks by Mr. J. Plant, Manchester, Sir John 
Lubbock replies to Professor Bush, contending that the climatic 
influences prevailing in the locality since the time of the Romans 
could not have been such as to diminish the upper talus. He 
thought, however, Mr. Dawkins’ calculation could not be trusted, 
because, although the date of his coins could be fixed, there was 
no evidence to show at what time they were imbedded. He also 
thought it exceedingly likely that the lower talus had been 
deposited much more rapidly than the upper talus, inasmuch as 
the action of the weather was very much more rapid during the 
first few centuries of the exposure of rocks, and the surface rough- 
nesses fell in much greater quantity than after they became smooth 
and weather-worn. 


HARBORS OF INDIA. 


Captain Taylor, late of the Royal Indian Navy, at the mecting 
of the British Association, communicated a paper on ‘‘ The Har- 
bors of India.” He pointed out that the opening of the Suez Canal 
made it more than ever important that the harbors of India should 
be carefully surveyed and improved, especially in the neighbor- 
hood of the cotton-growing districts. Kurrachee he considered 
the Port Said of India, and the government should carry out 
promptly certain improvements required to make it safe and prac- 
ticable. Poshetra and Seraia were sheltered from all winds, and 
capable of receiving even the Great Eastern at any state of the 
tide. -They require lights and beacons. Several ports in the 
Gulf of Cambay required improvement to render them suitable for 
the shipment of cotton. Wet docks were wanted at Bombay. 
Southwards of Bombay were places very suitable for harbors. 
Canals should also be constructed to connect the various rivers 
along the eastern coast. In conclusion, Captain Taylor held that 
everybody in England was personally and deeply interested in the 
development of the resources of India by means of improved har- 


GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 341 


bors, roads, rivers, and canals, and that in a poor country, as India 
now comparativ ely v was, the rapid formation of a general system 
of cheap transit was the grand desideratum. 


THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES. 


Mr. Robert T. Saunders read a paper at the meeting of the 
British Association, ‘‘ On the Physical Geography of the United 
States of America as affecting Agriculture, with Suggestions for 
the Increase of the Production of Cotton.” After referring to the 
portions of America which were unfitted for cultivation, and 
dwelling upon the mineral resources of the country, he remarked 
that, 6 months ago, after the cotton report of the Memphis Con- 
vention was written, 50,000 freedmen left the uplands of Virginia, 
North Carolina, and Geor gia, and went principally to the cotton- 
fields of the Mississippi River, where they largely contributed to 
the saving of the last cotton.crop, which amounted to 3,000,000 
bales. After all, he could not but think that the whole future 
cotton-supply question depended upon the production of the 
Southern States of America; and he reminded his hearers that 
China, Brazil, Peru, the West Indies, Egypt, Turkey, and the 
Leyant did not produce sufficient cotton for their own consump- 
tion. No little of the wealth of England had been built up by the 
cotton States of America; and cheap supplies of raw cotton could 
still be furnished by those States for the whole world ifthey could 
only obtain sufficient labor. It was frequently asked by Euro- 
peans whether white men could labor under a summer sun in the 
Southern States. His answer was that white men labored with 
remarkable success in midsummer in the Northern States, where 
the heat was greater and the days longer than in the South. 
What, therefore, was to prevent them laboring in the South, 
where there was less heat, and the days were shorter, and where 
there was more of refreshing coolness in the nights? Besides, 
one-fourth of the laborers employed in the cotton States were 
white men. 


OBITUARY 


OF MEN EMINENT IN SCIENCE. 1870. 


Beriot de, Charles August, xt. 62. 
Bischoff, G., German Scientist. 
Bolly, Prof., A. P., German Chemist, ext. 58. 
Chauvenet, Wm., American Mathematician, Dec. 13, ext. 51. 
Clark, Sir James, English Physician, June 29, zt. 82. 
Colburn, Zerah, American Engineer, April 25, xt. 38. 
Dahlgren, John A., Rear Admiral, Inventor, July 12, zt. 65. 
Ericsson, Nils, Swedish Engineer, et. 68. 
Geraud, Jacob P., Jr., American Ornithologist, July 19, wt. 59. 
Graefe, Albrecht von, German Physician, et. 45. 
Haliday, A. H., Irish Entomologist, July 13. 
Hugel, Baron Charles, Austrian Scientist, et. 75, 
Jones, Rev. George, U.S. N., American Scientist, Jan. 22. 
Magnus, Heinrich Gustav, German Physicist, April 4, xt. 68. 
Matthiessen Augustus, M.D., English Chemist. 
Mercadante, Saverio, Italian Composer, et. 73. 
Miller, Prof. William Allen, English Chemist, zt. 53. 
Niepce de, Saint Victor, French Photographist, zt. 72. 
Otto, Fred Julius, German Chemist, Jan. 12, zt. 61. 
Simpson, Sir James, English Physician, May 8, et. 59. 
Unger, Franz, Austrian Botanist, Feb. 13, xt. 70. 
Waller, Augustus, M.D.,F.R.S., English Physiologist. 

342 


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Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey, showing the Progress of 


the Survey during the Year 1867. 344 pp., 4to, with 28 maps. 
343 


344 AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


* 


Report of the American Museum of Natural History (Museum in New York 
Park). 30pp. 8vo, 1870. 

Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor. Aug., 1869, March, 1870, Boston. 

Report on Education, by John W. Hoyt, U.S. Commissioner to the Paris Universal 
Exposition. 1870. Government Printing Office, Washington. 

Report on Clothing and Woven Fabrics; being Classes twenty-seven to thirty- 
nine of group four; by Paran Stevens, U.S. Commissioner. 86 pp., 8vo. 

Roasting of Gold and Silver Ores, and Extraction of their respective Metals with- 
out Quicksilver; by G. Kustel. 154 pp. 12mo. San Francisco, 1870. Dewey & 
Co. 

Robinson, J. R. Explosion of Steam Boilers. Little, Brown & Co. 

Share, Dr. J. The Differential Calculus. Bradley, Dayton & Co. 

Storer, Frank H. Cyclopxdia of Quantitative Analysis. Sever & Francis, Cam- 
bridge, 1870. 

Tables for the Determination of Minerals; by Thomas Egleston, Jr., Prof. Min. 
and Met. in the School of Mines, Columbia Coll. 26 pp. 8vo. N. Y., 1870. 

Text-book of Elementary Chemistry, Theoretical and Inorganic. Prof. George F. 
Barker, New Haven, Conn., 1870. 

The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the Continent of South America. Prof. 
James Orton. 356pp. 12mo. N. Y., 1870. Harper & Bro. 

Transactions of the Conn. Academy of Arts and Sciences. Vol. II.,PartI. New 
Haven, 1870. 

Trowbridge, J. Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1870. .Gould & Lincoln. 

Upton, Maj. Gen. E. Tactics for Non-Military Bodies. D. Appleton & Co. 

Waring, G. E., Jr. Earth Closets and Earth Sewage. N, Y. Tribune Office. 


INDEX. 


TAGE 

Abyssinian geology..........sev000-226 
Action of chlorine on alcohol.......209 
SS *¢ sodium.......203 

—) -. lishton' sulphur 22 <c. senL65 

sc © ozone on explosives .....202 
SS sulphur On! POldr.cicsisce 06202 
Actinism at different altitudes Speco ED 
Address, Mr. Bentham’s............264 
Aero-steam ENGINES... . cases Aoeaeorat 
Africa, diamond fields of. soecopaebanee 
‘« stone implements of.........333 


AGTICAN EXPLOTATIONs « «/c.01c1e1<'<)\0/sfe/s/o1010 318 
Age of the Wealden................250 
AQue POISON...... eee eseeeceerees .-301 
FAT VOM LISSILCSitniela cleinicinisicicincieisicie craeiatao tL 
“3 salt in UL OAR ANAS Saeeae SAO On Sul?/ 
Album, icono-photograph........... 284 
Alcohol, action, on the body, of. . +. -280 
Migennet ee ee vier 182 
Alkaline lakes of California. . - 204 
Alloy of zinc and calcium........... 159 
Alloys of manganese..........-. ---200 
Amazon, valley Of,...-.+...+++++0+- 243 
American hemp in medicine, v al- 

TE Clixgscacdekeconechdaopocecasr oak 286 
Ammonia, detection Pe ie ae os 17: 
Amylic alcohol aiviors tarsi siaXe Woo beasadora! 
Ammonium-amalgam........ sescinias 164 
JGTErSiA eNO Sheseeaastee- sgodoonguansZ7 
Animal mechanics, some elementary 

jMUNOTUES. cooeocwscHdodsoncddc 22 -298 
Anthropology, Mr. Evans on.....++.335 

and ethnology........339 
Antiseptic, new..... Jeondbooosaosac 285 
Anthracene, preparation of......... 198 
Antiseptic treatment of rinderpest 
and scarlet fever..... Hbandbodsacnae = 
PAMITOZONES aaiia sleicioleieleisiaraicici> Snoconoliy 
IUNITGE TIVE var Spb OCORDOOL CEC ODOC DOUCE 91 
Arsenic, detection of.......... ere 204 
SATBCNIC a> «,5 SHOOODDOUSOSOo Saq0aeanceALes 


Artificial stone, Sorel process........ 79 
cs NERUN ET we iclaciciseseleleerniciaiatll lc 
<f MOUVIZ OM syste ale alointviel elle aiaivio 


of fruit-odors...... ee siete 209 
Asbestus and corundum........ pees Od: 
Asphalte tubes for underground 

PUNE Sega iatetersislove/aisfoletsieieielaleiaie ale Ralelelele ie OO 
INSEETOIG, NEW... neces one egasocoucn ls 
Astronomical PTIZ€... eee eee eee ee B15 


Society, the Royal.. -309 
again theory...... 
Atoms, size of..... sat Appt wile 1 
Atlantic telegraph cables, experi- 

LISS MARSTON See e Sees oee Snaghc tonne 155 
Atmosphere, spectrum of the solar. .309 
Atmospheric OZONE......-.escceceeed 295 
Australian COLA Ss alueljnstesieeinielocisiesia LOS 

mud-fish, the new.....+-296 
Le tertiary deposits........224 
AXxleS, FAUWAY...ccccccceccececreeges OO 


PAGE 
Bathybius, distribution of ..........218 
Benzile, optical properties of.......151 
Bessemer process, chemistry of.....177 
Bibliography, American. 
Birds and small animals, prepara- 
flowlof:.).4 i. tau ee es 
Bentham’s address... ....00cceceseee2t 
Bismuth s Periividn tcc ssecicioenceies 200 
Bisulphide of carbon.............++-203 
Bleaching fatty oils&..............-.208 
ss BSUPAL ec cc cc vccesenccnccene 20 
Blindness colorsscussearcssce sence 
Borax in glass manufacture.........106 
OLED fi@tarc wine sieieisiciowis stele aeistalalniatetste See 
Boron, heat of combination........181 
Brazilian BC OLOR G erieeinis aie oiaiteieieeiiee Lo 
(BTA GNC w lose ce elelelricisnrsioveneiciocicie 270 
Breath, human, in health and dis- 
GHETEE Ag oaticodagcbasdscdo soddnddso cuts: 
Bridge, concrete and iron........... 47 
«over Dnieper.......... cwwsne AZ 
‘¢~ suspension at Pittsburgh, Pa.49 
British fossil corals. ccisiescmceseltee 20) 
Broadway underground railway..... 48 
Bromhydric acid. mnecocececoanoncce: Ik 
Bromide of sodium.......eseeese++-198 
Bronze, working of...... secmiers saceieetlilia, 
Building material, zinc as......- ---108 
Bunsen lamp, flame of..............176 


Cable between England and France 8&6 
Cables, Atlantic teleeraph experi- 
MNES ClKecaeaasesonce ees 2) 
Cable system of river navigation in 
Genmaniyascc camels NOC DOOOSE - 83 
einai rene use of electric current 


Galatia lights, use of at St. Louis 
DIIAGE ceeiere ells anoosds Ssodeusccodes OE 
Cane sugar in madder........22+--205 
Canal, Suez..... Hondacbogbososcoooce AE 
Ce DaniGHs ari. elatatelatoteistalsiats soneno 2 
Capillaries, relation of pigment cells 
EOp eloaisio tintin aieiel=isioleraletes = taster tare 280 
ee Captain,” construction of the..... 82 
COG MME AIT Gooneaoonacooncacooe nasil 
Carbonic acid, physiological effects 
Oe ais atovare shavovsie: atavsta/ovevotaee else oterateteretetete 287 
Caribbean series of Trinidad........248 
Carbonic acid, reduction of......... 209 
Cast-iron water-pipes,preservation of 67 
Cauterization, use of electricity in..270 
Cement, glycerine. soboseadcovepsococ Uy 
Changes of level in Mediterranean..249 
Chassepot and needle-gun........ -- 88 
Chemistry of Bessemer process.... 177 
Chemical geogeny of silica. ........196 
. Climatology ...-ceecssseee- 18D 
Chinese gold-lacker .........-...--- 107 
“bronze, malleable properties 


TN ABecs CR OnN Conoco CaccooUnonesanoDes 


340 


346 


Chloral, secondary products of man- 


Ue RD Os an5padnoascadeesac 197, 199 
Chlorine, action on alcohol......... 209 
Chioride of gold........... Sooodeohe abl 
Chlorine, manufacture of...........166 
Chlorophyll, movements of....... eieeOo 
Circulation of the culex.............291 
Claudet’s silver process..........0- 170 


Coal and smoke consumption....... 31 
‘« gas, purification of.............173 
‘© mines, ventilation of.......... 115 
Coating for outside walls........... 68 
Coleoptera, Plateau on the flight of.272 
Colorado, mauvaises terres in...... 240 
oe gold and silver mines of.. .241 
Color-blindness...... Sreiaieisiareeteisterciciaias ONL 
Coccoliths, distribution of...........218 
Comet, the light of Winnecke’s.... 315 
(COMETS. NEW. \<.cisic.c clsicisterais Bielalejeielsiniaye wie LO 
Combination of sulphur and hydro- 
Me 54 bb homadnse ToC Sieiinieminicisiaeataai2 00 
Combinations of silicon. WBE SsSB ea weleR! 
Chorin) NEAT ES eo ARes daeneacseoe Sco so" 112 
Comparative effects of gunpowder 
and gun cotton...... Adssacdaceene WH 
Concrete from gas lime............. 66 
hs and iron bridge... 2... 00.-47 
Condition of carbon and silicon in 
FLOM PAGESECC More wrslaicie <in/eesajare aeieiais AO 
Condensation of nitrous vapors..... 206 
Continuity of the gaseous and liquid 
states of matter...... adobaceodor alee 
Converter, high pressure...... aooped Wy 
Copper, estimation of..... arateleloloilataino Ue 
Cat Australian genus.........02..202 
Core, flint flake...-.....006 cusnesaaeda 
Corrosion ofi iron water-pipes.......118 
gas and water 
ATED SUITES oie olejafaloialefolere/sieleialeiniaiciasisiniaislalnie iO 
Cotton seed fibrous.................123 
Cross-fertilization and law of sex in 
EAP WOLD clecieis(e\eieisininlelaiaelssleisiajtscoo 


Darien CANA SULVEY.-s..scccoecwmcicn C2 
Darwinian theory of natural selec- 
TIA BSSHe 


meatokalaiereleieiejaystexs sisioletere(soO0) 


Davis refrigerator car .......--.see. 125 
Dawson on . Laurentian graphite....228 
Deacon’s chlorine process.......- aren OO 
Deep-sea thermometers..... so see ovelley/ 
“ dredgings......--. msassenerk2 
Descent of glaciers........ceeseess . -220 
Detection of ammonia. SSasrceaosese 173 
Determination of sulphur in coal gas 173 
Dextrine, insoluble in water........ 206 
Diffusion, application of, in sugar re- 
ANMIEGHICS. atiae ister ieloleie siajsisteiele asic cise oo LOZ 
Discrimination of mixed fibres......206 
Distribution of coccoliths..... eieieteree LS 


Of MATING TIE << ccc cas LO 
Diamond fields of South Africa.....227 


Wt INVBOMECIMI As ciciecieiiewiaaisiorslescoe 

CL ADELA Z is cteyelalatoeystolelofotsioveleiecetd, 
Dnieper, bridge over...... ealaieielelata siatacuad, 
Drawings, fixing.....-....- a ieleiosialarenl ee 
Drills, recent improvements in...... 60 
PTAA oye yaclaierere wisisiecsleieieleisiotna cleis@elsieisiontoO 
DYC, NEW... ccccecscccccccccccerseseelead 


Earthquake-proof church...........116 
Eclipse expedition....... ABBL.c HEAD SEZ 
Effects of compressed @ir......++.0+-281 


INDEX. 


Efficiency of furnaces and mechanical 


abr Banos Go5.obac aiterclcionietelnectecece 
Electrical discharge.. paconapspadacecc 154 
Electric current, use of in calorim- 

CULV cmieiele sooncpasoddboor Sb 68r post!) 


Electricity, use of in cauterization..270 
Elevation, modern instances of.....250 
Embroidery, pentographic.......... 111 
Enamelling iron and steel, improve- 
ment in. 
Engine, Fairlie....... Sangopodcooboc 36 
Engines, friction of steam........... 32 
es HETO-SECAAN ferinis = ole aoe 
se elastic tires for traction.... 38 
52) DUMP IN Sere peterie- eile Soo Bis) 
Engineering, the use of wire rope in 
civil and’mechanical........... ese 40 
Enrichment of gas......... nena dca - sre! 
Equilateral drawing board .........123 
Estimation of copper......... coccee Qt 
Ethnology and anthropology........339 
Existing coral of palzozoic type... .252 
Extraction of silver..... Soeeadoooc]+ -170 
Explosive power of nitro-glycerine.. 95 
Expedition, Sir Samuel Baker’s.....328 
Extract from the report of Col. W. 
A. Roebling, chief engineer of the 
N. Y. Bridge Co..... Jieiaieje,e.atoisisiwiels £0 
Evans on anthropology.........----330 
Euphorbia, cross fertilization and 
JAWS Of SOX. opercie cle cromicivieieois sini ZOO 


Marmer’s theorem... .s.0sesceccesesltD 
HaITHe CNPC se ccisisinai\ecisioniacle aisles noe 
Fertilization of flowers by insects...288 
= cross, and law of sex in 
Euphorbia..........288 
Fibrous cotton seed.....-.eeeeee.--123 
WISH VOlCAN Onisie/«iciqinieiscleisieistoleniats see OOO 
Mishes, Changes iss. .cjccccsses cece 300 
Fizeau’s experiments on Newton’s 
TINGS. cc inclsa\e aciccesioecceccnacscerse sl Od 
Blax COMPING. oer sejicierin viele sielcletone el 
Flint flake Core. ...cccccccescccccee dot 
Flushing sewers......... aisle se sieleiajojou le 
Forbes, utilization of sewage.......187 
Forgings, improved appliances for, 
PLROGUCHIOM Ofer icicaciesicminslescie warez, 
Formation of limestone.............214 
Fossils of Nevada...... wlstsicsererciaie sor 
Fossil tooth from Table Mountain. .253 
Friction of steam engines........... 32 
(6 Tight... sees ec eee Bononb onsale 
Fruit trees, girdling to make them 
DEAL selects 
Fungus, intoxicating......... aisles lou 
Furnaces and mechanical firing..... 36 
‘c .. rotary puddling. <0. ...-. 49 
Fusing iFOdOSMINE. ....eceeceeeseee 201 


oc ccscccccssce es eoIO 


Gas lime, concrete from....,........ 66 
fc IEGNTIChH MENG Ol. ie asi sleleeleteietsta ..173 
‘¢ heat by means of....... Sponesoos (ie: 
‘¢ influence of carbonic acid in....175 
“ McCracken’s process...... Stereeietly 
purification Of... .eeeeeeeeeeee e173 

Galvanic battery, new......... Sopoc! sf 

Gelatine, magic lantern pictures on.119 

Generation spontaneous. Rago ps000¢ 266 


Geology of Amazonian valley.......243 
Geography of United States.........341 
PIOBTESS iN.. ee eeceeeeeeeXX 


INDEX. 


Girdling fruit-trees.........-.+e4--+290 
Glaciers of the White Mountains...231 


s6 thickness of...... Sos ee e219 

a descent) Of -s.cse.< tad 220 
Glass manufacture, use of borax in.106 
Glycerine cement.....- oe Bee Sarees o1O7 
Gold.. heise Se Sai soos s SAdaococacocre Ui 
{sin SCOnands.-.- DOE RB ACREOORCOOMe IL 

_ * detection Of. ........02eeeee- eee 205 
‘¢ and silver mines of Colorado. 241 
Gold- lacker, Chinese..... eathas cs 107 
$6 QIAPE SUZAL..-. reece e200 
Grafting, Skatinmcccmislteeeter sagcococaaes! 


Grape sugar, estimation of ..........205 
Graphite in Laurentian rocks.......228 
Great lakes, geology Of........2-++--237 
Green glass for dark room of photog- 
TAP NETSi\olelonietetels “pipes open odeogdedl kz 
Guattari atmospheric telegraph. --. 84 
Gunpowder and gun-cotton, com- 
parative effects of..... 35006r oe 
Gun-cotton vs. gunpowder......--... 97 
Gunnery experiments.......+.0+-+--118 


Hackling eae vegetable fibres......112 
HarborsiOf Mndias. <2. cc. c cess cee cOtU 
Hargreaves, chlorine process........169 

utilization of phospho- 
rus in furnace slag...205 
Heat radiated at low temperatures..138 
Dratetorarajatetatatlersiccaiccteslaw eeeiee ences 136 
‘« by means of illuminating gas 64 

‘6 evolved by invertebrate ani- 
mals, especially insects......272 

“ ofcombination of boron and 
SURGU NS RGA 6Sen rococo Sepa ist 
High pressure converter...........-. 119 
Hoosac tunnel........... SINE 5 Creve 76, 77 
Horizon, artificial....... donuS2 paces 
_Hot-house, imperishable.............120 
Human breath in health and disease 268 
Hunt, Dr., on iron sand ores........ 233 
Hydrogenium- -amalgam........00++2.163 
Hydroxylamine, synthesis of........209 


Ice, artificial and natural............ 99 
{MACHINE WREIMET sel ctelsletretsisleciersiclal OO 
‘¢ sudden breaking up of..........142 

Tcono-photograph album............284 

India, harbors of......... eee ene . 840 

Influence of carbonic acid on coal gas 175 

rs of ozone on explosives... .202 
eS See SSS ss plerates--.-...202 

Insect destructive to the silk culture 274 

Insects, fertilization of flowers by...288 

A imported and native A meri- 
OPtie 565-54 5-S0cccodosoogr 292 

a heat evolved by invertebrate 
animals, especially........272 


Insoluble dextrine.......... ee sa. ce 200. 
International communication....... 77 
Intoxicating fungus...............-. 292 
Invention abroad..... ae eb SEE 
Inventions, new............. pooonoo Al 
Iodine, manufacture of.. piace ase clccas aloo 
Tron ANGINYVGROTERE sonic ce iectsioeaee ole 200 
and steel ,improvementi in enam- 

SUG oe noe oc aon oscices «- 5D 

“ manufacture of Russian sheet. « 29 
Sa imativescsces Dein Hala t Sede cinta sien eeeDe 
66) -SANGUORESL cc's Soieiviae ences shies 233 


“ shafts, cutting up lar, ECrcceeselis 


O47 


Tron shipS.....e.+eeeecscesssscecces ell? 


“« transformation of cast......... d4 
“ water pipe, corrosion of.......118 
Trodosmine, fusing........ soneoccs sexu! 
Isometrical drawing board..........123 


JALZONIUM. ...ccecccccsccseccccce co l06 


Kansas and Missouri bridge........ 51 
Kent’s cavern....... eieteleieteeeieicietietr ole 
Kryptophanic acid........-sseees++ +209 


Laurentian graphite of Canada.....228 
rocks of Eastern Massa- 

chusetts......... Scccoc 230 

Lattice girders and solid plates..... 52 
Lead, native... ccvecescccccccsseee e200 
Cee LIAGWHILG sre) orels fete a'o1o'e T=) ere men olias 
Leather, artificial. ...se.seseese--e e115 
Lignite in Italy.......... Hoocosaeds 250 
Limestone, formation of........+--- 215 
Lightning rods, Prof. Henry on.... 86 
Light, the Oxygen.....ccccecceee +103 


Lighthouse apparatus......... Secao lily 
Limestones, living organisms in....271 
Lithofracteur....ccscseeseeees =n0605 bt 
Locality Of ASDEStTUS.....cccccccveee 1254 
Lockyer’s report on eclipse “O55 SeOvin ut 


Logwood in wine, detection of......205 
Me APD WANES S sicteietoleteioleolciaia wiataie oC 


Mains, corrosion of iron, gas, and 


VW PKE eS Sine coh Sor ep Ob obra scecooc - 58 
Magnesium as reducing agent......201 
Man and the man-apes..... aSoqncoce i 
Manganese, alloys of......... sept oro 
Manufacture of iodine..... Bo oosscooly) 

es of chlorine...... SOpenolkils 


Magic lantern pictures on gelatine. .119 
Machines for preparing Rhea grass..104 
Matrix of gold in Scotland..... jennezal! 
McCracken gas process.......- SaoGalle 
Mauvaises terres in Colorado.......240 
Mechanical stoking.....e.cessccseee 23 
Mechanics, animal........ aicialelajeistelela cory 
Mechanical movement, novel...... 124: 
Medicine,value of American hemp in 286 
Meissner, researches on antozone.. .162 
Metallic fastenings of ships, action of 
sea water on. 
Meteorological.......scecccessecceeed lO 
Microscopic photography Socbbosancc 147 
Modern instances of elevation......250 
Mordant, oxide of zincas..........--208 


ee eeee sees sees s sere ee 7 


NEW <2 cc cece ccc cccesice est00 
Mont Cenis tunnel..... sigsisinceeiewioimsililiZ 
Movements of chlorophyll........... 289 


Murchison’s address, Sir Roderick. .318 
Mud-fish, the new Australian.......296 


Naphthaline red.........++++++0++- +207 
Native iron and lead.....2....0.+-.e200 


Needle-gun..... sposconedcosacrsacnon Gil 
o chassepot and........... 88 
New arms.. seercarcsoss socdoeppooses UL 


Australian mud- fish.. ECOSOC CE 
SOS ANGI SCP Unie ialatele reerotetore m(-isiale lei SOD) 
COS AStLCLOM Gra semeeieesieee Sssseocsesole 
‘“¢ Cambridge transit instrument. .314 
SOP COMPS -slsisaicicicleisielcinielsielerecaiaiaintetaeneed 
US ONe sone aoddsnotoncn sence dase 
ae iy Snel a ce ate 


348 INDEX. 
New ObServatory..ccccccccscccesced12 , Projectiles....c...0- sisisistalaisloiviols siejafersg 00) 
 sphygmoscope.....e.00.0002.6-306 | Protuberances, s0lar-..cc-0.s0.c0es “311 
SE SHECELOSCODECs lola osisfeleiercinecieiactel= 305 Prussian needle-gun........-- Soy ono 
tc theory of sleep. ........00 seceee296 | Pulse-beats... 20... ccjeeccesn selereisietaiaie 271 
Neocomian of North America......- 223 | Pump, NEW rotaryeceiscsrccccceccccecs 65 
IE VAG TOSSTIS Olsmiecicicincic ciicte lei sietate 252 Purification of bisulphide of carbon.203 
Newton’s rings, Fizeau’s_ experi- Pyrometer, resistamce......ee.ee.---156 
PVE TUES EO Mialeletaleieiers aleleietehaialeleicieleh: Selsio Oud 
INIGKel platingecm. 2 sin mieicee- cite cells 105 | Railway axles....cececcccsescccscccs 38 
Nitro-glycerine, explosive power of 95 ‘¢ Broadway underground.... 4% 
Non-luminosity of Bunsen flame ....176 COP ESL CCP sicwietoleniotetelnieloe ieleeiietae 49 
Novel mechanical movement...... +124 Reagent for strychnia........-..-. 2173 
eS <CFAMNT ONT A s\>oistaneictoetetaca 173 
Oat husks, paper from......... Son bol® Reduction of isatine to Indigo-blue..221 
Obituary of men eminent in science 342 {'carDOniciAciG's ise eneeee 209 
Ocean telegraphy.........-+- Sa5coac 87 Refi action and dispersion of opaque 
Ooze from Atlantic sea-bed......... 214 DOMES ierercrelniereclelwlele siotelai=inte ateialeloiete siete 145 
Optical properties of benzile....... 151 | Relation of light produced to gas 
Organic matter of human breath in CONSUME UEetee atelete wioleiniclele aelalels eee ioe 17 
health and disease.........-.+. ..-209 | Resistance pyrometer........ecceee- 154 
Organisms in limestone, living...... 271 | Rhea grass, machines for preparing.104 
Organic compounds of silica........195 | Rinderpest and scarlet fever, antisep- 
Oxide of zinc as mordant...... se eee208 tic treatment of..... teleforetetel ate teyeletey aie) 
Oxygen light...... hos oodaoguBed e----103 | Rio Grande, valley of..... Gooneansae 243 
Ozone, atmospheric...........se0e0- 29d) || TRAVEL pOl lati OMe eilaselalelelelelerreresimisieet=rs 184 
sS. Influence ON Picrateswieccse0-202 | Roebling, (Col Wi Ace cceciierccic sa 455 2B 
Rotary Budete g eyes teresa 49 
Paper from oat husks........-+..---120 se PUMP, WE Weciiaeriaestow ioe estelers 65 
Ravim op StReCEScmisiclsise elvleielsieleio« siclele ee 111 | Royal Albert Hall of arts and scien- 
Pentagraphio embroidery........... 111 ces, ventilation of.......... 62 
Peruvian bismuth..........ccceee- 200 “Astronomical Society... 309 
Petroleum for heating locomotive Russia sheet iron, manufacture of... 29 
DOMES. ec ce cieisas noosSéo0gs0oacec 116 
Phenyl. brown... <ce ces Sboosboor 207 | Sailing, windward great circle...... 82 
Photographing the sun...........-. 308) |  SalGamther aires sic lesiclels sjeteialeiveleiviole ola? 
Photographers’ dark room, green Scarlet fever and rinderpest, antisep- 
PUASS pl OLerieiele clsietslloiscicie leis sisi eeet 122 tic treatment Of. ...cccccccccescce- 275 
Photography applied to military pur- Scotland, gold in......s..seeeseeeees 251 
IOS ES mettle oreloreteaicicst= 9 Screw piles, SINKING... ..-02--eeeeeee 53 
S and molecular physics.147 | Sea-water, action of on metallic fas- 
4 MICFOSCOPIC..-ceeeseee. 147 tenings of ships...... sroleietaleii=i deco vA) 
Z OW WOOE sel pist.cieeewes 102° | Sewers,. Flushingsaseeiyse. cme, cede 112 


Phosphate-beds of South Carolina... 234 
Phosphoric acid from furnace slag.. .205 


PhOsphorescence.....cerccccscesccess 211 
Physiological effects Ag carbonic 
ACT ectelatern ceeicleelelelstelelse=ieieisicls BOY 274 
Physiology of fats. sjalsiaicieitlaleisieteiets\ela(ale 301 
Piles, sinking SCTEW....ccceeccevece 53 
Plateau on the flight of coleopotera.272 
Platinum in Lapland.......... covese 201 
Plating, nickel..... ene ssiceacsieancicies 105 
POISON, AZUC..... 2.2000. Scieic ceecciciee 301 
oe STEN Ds oonaaadeAscauen0oOgUol 302 
Polishing powder for glass and 
EN CEA ae alelciciave(sloloicreie tele elelsielaietelai=iclai< 99 
Post-tertiary phenomena in Michi- 
BAN. cc ccccccccsccccccesscerscccecs 239 
Potassium and iron, sulphide of....199 
Preparation of anthracene..... eels 
“‘ birds and small ani- 
DIAS c\0 cere aietioreeraers 303 
os ‘¢ bromide of sodium. . 198 
a “« bromhydric acid....199 
es “ strontium. ....-s2«s 199 
Preservation Of MEAb.... ccccceencies 126 
SC STONES\c1e clcecvsiec 68, 69 
“ thallium, ......++++200 
Preserved flesh in Australia......... 126 
Prize, astronomical...... Scocodde peelo 
erOf ts MY MGA crejeieieleialels wlelelctcie ile oleleisie 267 


Progress of invention abroad......+.109 


Shaler, on phesnate beds in So. Car- 


OLIN Aisr- seloeiniesioiatien) leleiateleels siolwln ajelate 23 
Ships, ivoni Soe sicteisteleaalersiatele 117 
Silver ore in India. ..sseseeeeeeeee ss 252 

£6 -OXtEACtION Ofsictlselsociicesiewiiee 1 720 
Silica, geogony Of........ee.0 sapreiere 196 
Silico-propionic acid........+. aieaielate 195 
Silicon, heat of combination........ 181 
Silk culture,insect destructive to the 274 
Single rail tramw DY faint ole\olelelels/teleteteyeyare 115 
Sir Samuel Baker’s expedition......328 
Skin grafting.......... ceesievecccses 284 
IE VSS Sa gdonnobononaducoc piatelataisleletatelelats 116 
Sleep, new theory of. Bo elsieteiaieiteiobisisiete 296 
Smith, Angus, on chemical clima- 

tology Bieleisie iste clncelelais(cvelaleteieisielsteietetete 189 
Smoke and coal consumption reiclersts BS 
Snake poOison.... 6c cccceee Gals cle'elaleia 302 
Sodium as a flux..... sisteioleteisieieiers tater 202 
Solar protuberances.....cecsseees yoleta esl 
SOLARIS HOLS rise isierisiseleleliaee eisiecieieiecie 309 
Solid, bisulphide Of CATDON. .ssseeee 203 
Sclubility of sulphate of lead......-165 
Sorel process....+.essereeeseceesecee 70 
Sound, velocity (Of... <.\.c.sjscecera 134 
Southern hemisphere, new obserya- 

LOT Y) WGN a Se wlelare viele oielerw(otelosolelelmister 312 


Spectrum of the solar atmosphere. .309 
a “¢ prominence. .311 


seeiroceace NO Weeecccsccccccccceed0d 


INDEX. 


Sphygmoscope, new....... sisaeiecsiee OO 
Spontaneous generation..........-.266 
Statistics of soda manufacture. SeccolAy 
Steam hammer, an eight-ton....... -118 

Boe DOUMETS cca saci sso Open DOBOBOEES 112 
Steering gear .......- ses eeeeeseeeeee 110 
Stone implements of Western Africa 333 
Stones, preservation of....... w+ + -68, 69 


St. Louis bridge, effects of com- 
pressed air on men employed on. .281 


Stoking, mechanical..... aagodonases 2B 
SELECE-PAVIN oa wjelain olen inieiw oin'n v1 n0 ojninin 111 
Storms announced by telegraph.....316 
Strontium, preparation of...... 0002-199 
SUD ONE 655 Sach anonCho DaGoDoOdObE 173 

ee reagent for. LSecgcgece sone 205 


Submergence of American eae 


Sublimation of sesquichloride oF 


gold eeeee Peeves ereresesaerer eteiwerate ZO 
HEC Zi CHIR) crave a telatoleisielaiclele ciciejsieie.o Se0oo 76: 
Sugar refineries, diffusion in........102 
See REMMI PLOCESS <i <in civeiie oinie --101 
Sulphate of lead, solubility of....... 165 
Sulphur, action of light on.......... 165 
t in coal gas, estimation of. .173 
Sulphuretted hydrogen,formation of .203 
Sun, photographing ilossesinns.s 262 308 
DUPSrSAlUTAMON. 2 si.0 vistcie a sacine oes 133 
Surface geology of basin of Great 
IDEM BAe obo cools DOS OCnOG cccceedad 
Survey of Isthmus of Darien........ 74 
Suspension bridge at Pittsburg, Pa. 46 
Synthesis Dieses soAcogpoaesOnoGae 211 
‘ hydroxylamine.........209 
Tertiary deposits of Australia...... 224 
Telegraph, storms announced by....316 
ES Guattari atmospheric. 500 fits 
Telegraphy, ocean...... sleletetatetetoetsters 87 
Tellier ice-machine........sssseeeeee 99 
Thames, new tunnel under.......... 50 
Thallium, preservation of........... 200 
Thermometers, deep-Sea.........5- 137 
Thickness of glaciers aintelelafelsio! si cfercrersier> 219 
Tissues, air LNs eeecessceecereeseenncs 271 
Traction engine, elastic tires for.... 38 
Tramway, single rail...... ecccceseeel ld 
Tramway, wire rope.....- eecccecces 40 
Transformation of cast iron......... 54 


Transportation of fresh meats and 
PTUTESi a iotciere Ccleleloetelelse canliosio meena cle 


349 


Transformation of fatty acids into 
Alcohols: seas see mialaatatscterac amen 210 
Transit instrument, the new Cam- 
bridges cen Sodronoaged Acocopoogocosie! 
DINKEEILC Tec cist cere see ain ee oelercietele sore 203 
Tunnel, Hoosac, central shaft -.... wae 
te Mont: Cenis.c. cose dase ndees 117 
se under the Thames........... 50 
Twist drills, recent improvementsin 60 
Tyndall, Prof...... dooooounscocKé oo 00207 


Underground lines, asphalte tubes 


di railway, Broadway.... 48 
United States,physical geography of 341 
Utilization of sewage..............- 187 

ss ‘< waste nitrous fumes. .206 
Utilizing waste threads...........- -111 


Valley of the Rio Grande............243 

CS AUT 1.7; Os atat=layotersintaietaietale 243 

Velocity of sound............ tetelata ae 

Ventilation of coal mines........... 115 
“¢ “ Royal Albert hall eh 

arts and sciences... 62 

WO ost) NeqpopeaoconucosdaQoUcon. £300 

Volumetric estimation of copper... .204 
Vowel sounds, fixed notes character- 


ISIC Ofaem SDOOOC ciel ola's) slals/e\elejelaletasels 
Walls, coating for outside...........68 
Watering streets by chemicals......109 
Water pipes, preservation of cast 

MILO Wetee cletnajaloleleleelereisieievetaiatereieieieteheeiis 67 
Wiealden {are Oli. \clselas sete tere ete 250 
Wieldon?sichlorine) proofwec.ccar = <eiete 166 
White Mountains, geology of....... 230 

STACLETS! Oline celeley= 231 
Windw ard mentale sailing...... - 82 
Wand Owe WG Wreecettes recs aeieeiciereiote 122 
Winnecke’s comet, light of.......... 315 
Wire rope tramway au Brighton, 

IDE AAR dsodeoSaccaéododogencogde 60 GY 
Wood, photography of. ahs Sond Ye 


_ Young, Prot., report on eclipse...,.XVI 


Zinc and calcium, alloy of...........199 
SO priiege} building material.....-....108 
Zollner, Prot. eeeseceeeosesseeeeeeneeesees XII 


; : 
Was ce-3 


2 


ty 
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M.D., &c. One volume quarto. Elegant Engravings on stone, In sheets, 
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GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 
(UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION; during the years 1838, 1839, 15-0, 
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GOULD’S OTIA CONCHOLOGICA. Descriptions of Shells and Mol- 
lusks, from 1839 to 1862. By AUGUSTUS A. GOULD, M.D. Octavo, cloth, 2.00; 
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MODERN FRENCH LITERATURE. By L. RAYMOND DE VERICOUR,. 
Revised, with Notes, by WILLIAM S, CHASE, A.M. Witha fine Portrait of 
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“The only complete treatise on this subject, either in French or English.” —V. Y. Evening Post. 


NOTES ON THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. By T. H. 
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SPIRITUALISM TESTED;; or, the Facts of its History Classified, and their 
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W. SAMSON, D.D., President of Columbian College, Washington, D.C, 16mo, 
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SPRAGUE’S VISITS TO EUROPEAN CELEBRITIES. By the Rev. 
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SMITH’S PILGRIMAGE TO EGYPT; embracing a Diary of Explora- 
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Ruins. By Hon. J. V. C. Smiru, late Mayor of the City of Boston. With 
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THE STORY OF MY CAREER, as Student of Frieberg and Jena, and 
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ANCIENT LITERATURE AND ART. Miscellaneous Essays on sub- 
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sity, B. B. EpwArps, of Andover, and C, C, FELTON, of Cambridge. Second 
thousand, 12mo, cloth, 1.75. 

'g 


Gould and Lincoln's Publications, 


LIFE, TIMES, AND CORKESPONDENCE OF JAMES MAN 
NING, AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY. By REUBEN 
ALDRIDGE GUILD, With Likenesses of President Manning and Nicholas 
Brown, Views of Brown University, The First Baptist Church, Providence, ete, 
Royal 12mo, cloth, 3.00. 


A most important and interesting historical work. 


TIZMOIR OF GEORGE N. BRIGGS, LL. D., late Governor of Massx 
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THE LIFE CF JOHN MILTON, narrated in connection w:th the Potit- 
ICAL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LITERARY HISTORY OF HIS TIME. By DAVID 
MAsson, M. A., Professor of English Literature, University College, London. 
Vol. I., embracing the period from 1608 to 1639. With Portraits and specimens 
of his handwriting at different periods. Royal octavo, cloth, 3.50, 


LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF REV. DANIEL WILSON, 
D. D., late Bishop of Calcutta. By Rev. JOSIAH BATEMAN, M. A., Rector 
of North Cray, Kent. With Portraits, Map, and numerous Illustrations. One 
volume royal cctavo, cloth, 3.50, 


we An interesting life of a great and good man. 


THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN HUSS; or, The Bohemian Refor- 
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octavo, 7.00. 


“The author,” says the New York Observer, ‘*has achieved a great work, performed a valuable 
service for Protestantism and the world, made a name for himself among religious historians, and 
produced a book that will hold 2 prominent place in the esteem of every religious scholar.” 

The New York Evangelist speaks of it as “one of the most valuable contributions to ecclesiasti- 


eal history yet made in this country.” 


MEMOIR OF THE CHRISTIAN LABORS, Pastoral and Philan- 
thropic, of THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D.L.L. D. By FRANCIS WAY 
LAND. 16mo, cloth, 1.00. 

The moral and intellectual greatness of Chalmers is, we might say, overwhelming to the mind of 
the ordinary reader. Dr. Wayland draws the portraiture with a master hand. — Method. Quart. Rev. 
LIFE OF JAMES MONTGOMERY. By Mrs. H. C. Knicur, author of 

“Lady Huntington and her Friends,” etc. Likeness, and elegant Lilustrated 

Title-Page on steel. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 

DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF AMOS LAWRENCE. With 
a brief account of some Incidents in his Life. Edited by hisson, WM. R. haw- 
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graving of their Birthplace, an Autograph page of Handwriting, and a copious 
Index. One large octavo volume, cloth, 2.50. 

THE SAME WoRK. Royal 12mo, cloth, 1.75. 


DR. GRANT AND THE MOUNTAIN NESTORIANS. By Rev. THoM- 
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the Country, and numerous Illustrations. Thirdedition. Revised and improve 
12mo, cloth, 1.75. [0G> A most valuable memoir of a remarkable man, 

8 


Gould and Zincoln’s Publications. 


THE PURITANS; or, The Court, Church, and Parliament of England, Aur 
ing the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth. By SAMUEL HOPKINS, autnur 
of Lessons at the Cross,” etc. In3 vols. Octavo, cloth, per vol., 3.00; sheep, 
4.00; half calf, 6.00. ; 


it will be found the most interesting and reliable History of the Puritans yet published, narrating, 
in a dramatic style, many facts hitherto unknown. 


THE PREACHER AND THE KING;; or, Bourdaloue in the Court of 
Louis XIV.; being an Account of the Pulpit Eloquence of that distinguished era. 
Translated from the French of L. F. BUNGENER, Paris. Introduction by the 
Rey. GEORGE Potts, D. D. A new, improved edition, with a fine Likeness and 
& BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 


THE PRIEST AND THE HUGUENOT; or, Persecution in the Age of 
Louis XV. From the French of L. F. BUNGENER. Two vols. 12mo, cloth, 3.00. 


ea- This is not only a work of thrilling interest, — no fiction could exceed it, — but, as a Protes- 
éant work, it is a masterly production. 


THE PULPIT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; or, The Po- 
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Illustrations, etc. By JOHN WINGATE THORNTON, A. M. 121no, cloth, 1.75. 


THE LEADERS OF THE REFORMATION. LUTHER, CALVIN, LAT- 
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Scotland. By J. TULLOCH, D.D., Author of ‘‘ Theism,” etc, 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 
A portrait gallery of sturdy reformers, drawn by a keen eye andastrong hand. Dr. Tulloch dis- 

eriminates clearly the personal qualities of each Reformer, and commends and criticises with equal 

frankness. 


THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS; their Progress and Condition under Mis 
sionary Labors. By Rurus ANDERSON, D.D., Foreign Secretary of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. With Maps, Illus: 
trations, etc. Royal 12mo, cloth, 2.25. 


WOMAN AND HER SAVIOUR in Persia. By a RETURNED MISSION- 
ARY. With beautiful Illustrations anda Map of the Nestorian Country. 12mo, 
cloth, 1.25. 


LIGHT IN DARKNESS; or, Christ Discerned in his True Character by a 
Unitarian. 16mo, cloth, 90 cts. 


LIMITS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGAT EXAMINED, in Eight Lec- 
tures, delivered in the Oxford University Pulpit, in the year 1858, on the 
“Bampton Foundation.” By Reu. H. LONGUEVILLE MANSEL., B. D., Reader 
in Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Editor 
of Sir William Hamilton’s Lectures. With Copious NOTES TRANSLATED for 
the American edition. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 


THE CRUCIBLE; or, Tests of a Regenerate State ; designed to bring to 
light suppressed hopes, expose false ones, and confirm the true. By Rev. J. A. 
GOODHUE, A. M. With an introduction by Rey. E. N. Kirk, D.D. 12mo, 
cloth, 1.50. 


SATAN’S DEVICES AND THE BELIEVER’S VICTORY. By 
Rey. WILLIAM L, PARSONS, D.D. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 
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