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BAIRD, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF EMINENT MEN OF SCIENCE. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1873. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by HarRPER & BROTHERS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. Tue present volume is the second of a series in which it is proposed to present, year by year, the most important discoveries in the various branches of science, theoretical and applied—the selection of subjects being made, prima- rily, on the ground of their absolute importance, as marking the stages of scientific advancement; and, secondarily, as being of interest to the general reader. A general sum- mary of progress for the year in the different departments, prefixed to the volume, is intended to give a connected sketch of what has actually been accomplished. It will, of course, be readily understood that, in the com- pass of a single duodecimo volume, it is impossible to do more than touch very briefly upon what appear to be the more noteworthy subjects. As far as the specialist is con- cerned, he must necessarily have recourse, for full informa- tion, to the Journals or Year-Books devoted to his partic- ular department, of which scarcely any branch of science is at present destitute. As no person, however learned in any one direction, is competent to decide upon the relative importance of facts and discoveries in departments other than his own, the ed- itor would be far from arrogating to himself even an av- erage ability in this respect. He has, however, been so fortunate as to secure the collaboration of some of the most eminent men of science in this country; and among those to whom he has been indebted for the communica- tion of original discoveries, abstracts of what has been done by others, or summaries of progress in their respective departments, he is permitted to mention the names of Pro- fessors Henry, Gill, Harkness, Abbé, Newcomb, and Hay- den, of Washington; Professors Cope and Leidy, of Phila- lv PREFACE. delphia; Professors Newberry, Joy, and Wm. A. Hammond, of New York; Professors G. F. Barker, Verrill, Marsh, he Dana, of New Haven ; Professors Apassiz, Gray, and Wat- son, of Cambridge ; Professor T. Sterry Hunt, of Boston; Professor Langley, of Pittsburg; Professor Himes, of Car- lisle, Pa.; and Dr. Alfred W. Bennett, of London; while others prefer to remain unnamed for the present. In addition to the large number of scientific serials enu- merated at the end of the volume as received regularly by mail, expressly for service in preparing the /?ecord, free access has been allowed to the unrivaled library of publi- cations of learned societies belonging to the Smithsonian Institution, by permission of its Secretary. The plan adopted in printing the /eecord, and the mul- tiplicity of subjects sometimes contained in a single article, has prevented a satisfactory systematic arrangement. By means, however, of the analytical table of Contents, with cross references, and a copious alphabetical Index, it is hoped that any subject or name can readily be found. Srencer F. Barrp. SMITHSONIAN InsTITUTION, WaAsHINGTON, April 10, 1873. TABLE OF CONTENTS* PERV AN GUase at teftacalieds ais bis Sie «ign, arse aL oi aoe aides) 495 THE LIBERAL ARTS. Printing : On Glass, 501._Engraving and Lithographing: Substitute for Lithographic Stone, 514; Photo-lithographic Process, 518.—Writing, Drawing, and Copying: Liquid India Ink, 500; Safety Ink, 472; Re- production of Manuscript, 518; Indestructible Ink, 525; Zuccator Copy- ing-machine, 533; Reproducing Drawings, 471.—Photographing: Trans- parent Stereoscopic Pictures, 503 ; Window’s Process, 515; New Wood- bury Process, 517; Mercurial Process, 524.—Modeling and Casting: Gel- atine Moulding, 501.—Painting and Interior Decorations: Glazing for Frescoes, 502; Ground for Stereochromic Pictures, 502; New Mode of Paiut- ing, 531. THE MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL ARTS. Netting and Weaving: New Netting-machine, 499,— Water-proofing : Gelatine Sizing for, 523.—Sizing and Dressing: Casein for Cotton Goods, 516; Improvement in Sizing Fabrics, 527; New Size, 526; Size for Paper, 546; Barytes for Weighting Goods, 523; Antiseptics, 507, 508.—Bleaching and Discharging: New Process for, 508; by Permanganate of Potash, 509; by Sulphurous Acid, 529; Chromate of Potash for Discharging Colors, 509. Dyeing and Printing: New Mode of Printing White Goods, 535.—Dyes and Dye Stuffs used by Ancients, 509; Action of Starch on Anilines, 508 ; Glycerine Solution of Aniline, 527; Aniline Colors for Tin-foil, 522; New Colorimeter, 510; Saline Waters in Dyeing, 514; Coilodion Lacquer, 522; Iodine Green on Alpaca, 510; Non-poisonous Green, 511 ; Indulin Blue, 511; Indigoline, 511; Antimony Blue, 530; New Blue, 530; Indigo Blue and Indigo White, 545; Hull of Walnut for Black, 512; New Aniline Black, 512; Campobello Yellow, 512; Pale Nankin Yellow, 531; Palatine Orange, 532; Scarlet on Wool and Silk, 513, 530; White for Woolens, 513; Night Violet, 472,—Fabries: Wood Pulp for, 539; Japanese Felt, 528; Linoleum, 525. ; Paints, Oils, and Varnishes: Coating Metals with Coal Varnish, 505; Rapid Drying of Paints and Varnishes by Borate of Manganese, 506; by Bo- rax, 045; Improved Paint, 507; Paints used by Ancients, 509; Extraction of Oils by Gasoline, 503. Antiseptics and Preservatives: Carbolate of Soda for Paste, 507; Pre- vention of Mould in Size, 508; Objections to Use of Glycerine, 538; Egyp- tian Embalming, 538 ; Glycerine for Leather, 507; Petroleum for Pegged Shoes, 507 ; Fire-proofing Wood, 525; Preserving Wood by Paratfine, 528; Protecting Zine against Acid, 498; Mouldiness in Gum, 248 ; Keeping Wines, 464. Plating, Silvering, and Gilding: Silvering Glass Globes, 495; New Mode of Silvering Mirrors, 540; Gold Powder, 531; Pyroplating with Sil- ver, 495; Coating Zine with Iron, 529; Nickel Plating, 84, 537.—Welding Xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS. and Soldering: Of Copper, 497; Improved Flux, 546; Solder for Silver and Brass, 546.—Alloys: Abyssinian Gold, 497; Platinum-bronze for Cook- ing Vessels, 529; American Sterling, 544. Sundry Chemical Processes. Sugar: Manufacture of, 505; Use of Caustic Baryta in Refining, 405; Manufacture of Red Lead, 497; Utiliza- tion of Tinned Iron Scraps, 557; Extraction and Utilization of Suint, 519; Extraction of Oils by Gasoline, 503. Miscellaneous: Uses of Refuse Tan, 532; Preparation of Chlorine, 532; Absorption of Metallic Salts by Wool, 554; Rubber Corks, 536; Artificial Leather, 527; Japanese Felt, 528; Mineral Sperm Oil, 536; Filing Appa- ratus, 528; Buttons from Soap-stone, 498; Glazing Earthenware, 499; En- amel for Cooking Vessels, 524; Mineral Cotton from Glass, 496; Mushet’s Special Steel, 495; Imitation of Mahogany, 519; Preparation of New Zea- land Flax, 523; Spontaneous Combustion of Charged Silks, 88, N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE........... 549 MATERIA MEDICA. Particular Substances: Chloral: Nature of, 105; Crotonate of, 550, 555; Sulpho-hydrate of, 586; Use in Cholera, 564.—Alcohol : Protest against its Use in Medicine, 553; Elimination from the System, 554.—Carbolic Acid: Physiological Action, 587.— Xylol for Small-pox, 561.—Chloroform and Morphine as an Anesthetic, 556.—Opium Alkaloids, Action of, 552.—Apo- morphia of no Therapeutic Value, 555.—Cod-liver Oil Pills, 550.—Camphor and Bromine, 556,—Strychnine : Action on Vaso-motor Nerves, 554; Na- ture of Guarauna, 586.—Physiological Action of Coffee, 283; of Quinine, 284; of Tobacco, 285; of Bromide of Potassium, 593 ; of Delphinium.—Glyc- erine for Vaccine Lymph, 557.— Sulphates as Remedies, 500.— Anes- thetics : Nature of, 286; Chloroform and Morphine, 556; in Butchering Animals, 455.—Food: Milk from Diseased Cattle, 568.—Cold Milk for In- fants, 595.—Value of Meat Extract, 551; of Beef Tea, 553. DISEASES, ETC. Epilepsy : Bromide of Potassium for, 549; Artificial, 549.—Mercurial Poi- soning: Remedy for Mercurial Vapors, 528.—Cholera: Cholera Districts, 562; Immunity of Coppersmiths, 564; Chloral for, 564; Hypodermic In- jections in, 564.—Small-pox : Glycerine for Vaccine Lymph, 557; Xylol for, BOL; Revaccination, 561.—Phthisis : MacCormac on, 579,.—Eezema : Cure for, 589.—Measles and Scarlet Fever : Micrococci in, 560.—Croup : Nature and Cure, 582.—Sciatica, 565.—Skin Diseases from Bad Soap, 566. —Pyzmia and Bacteria, 578.—Seasickness: Pollard on, 579.—Defective Vision : In Young, how Caused, 589.—Malaria: Origin of, 573; Use of Sulphites for, 550.—Microscopic Organisms : Bacteria and Pyemia, 578; Mould, 560 ; Micrococci in Measles, 560.—Poisons : Poisonous Reds and other Colors, 581; Coralline not necessarily Poisonous, 583; Arsenic in Wall Paper, 584; in Carpets, 596; Poisonous Vanilla Cream, 465; Action of Noxious Salts on Lead, 584; Poisonous Serpents in India, 585.—Virus : Physiology of, 591; of Infectious Matter, 560.—Injection of Septicaemic Blood, 595.—Antidotes: Chloral and Strychnine, Mutual Antidotes, 583 ; Atropia Injection for Opium, 587.—Miscellaneous : Weakening of Fatal Maladies, 558; Use of Hot Sand-baths, 592. TABLE OF CONTENTS. xvii SANITARY SCIENCE. Water: Pollution of, 572; Purity in Upper Hudson, 593.—Sewage: Pol- lution of Water, 572; Effect of Drainage and Sewerage on Mortality in Cal- cutta, 575; Utilizing Liquid Sewage, 574; Lieurnur System, 583; Milan System, 576; Scott Method, 577; Disposal of, 583; Sewage Committee of Birmingham, 575; Preventing Noxious Decomposition of, 576. Antiseptics, Disinfectants, and Deodorizers: Destruction of Infected Germs in Cotton, 569 : Comparative Value of, 570: Chromic Acid, 571; Chloralum, 571; Protoxide of Hydrogen, 572; Iodine, 572; Theory of Dis- infecting Powders, 572; Hydrate of Chloral, 570; Dry Earth, 573; Use of Antiseptics, 580.—Poisens and Antidotes: Mould in Cellars, 363. See under Diseases and their Remedies. Associations and Institutions: Brown Institution for Sick Animals, 567, 568; Massachusetts Board of Health, 554; American Health Associa- tion, 575. Miscellaneous: Climate of Mountains, 558; Cutaneous Absorption, 581; Effect of Superoxygenated Atmosphere on Animals, 587; Effect of Bathing on Weight of Body, 588; on Heat of Body, 594; Physiology of Sleep, 595. CP DELS OA AIG OU orat center said obaicintelare) sa aWe lgldciw «las overs vie Sieiers fms do's sre eles 6 597 Institutions. America: New Building of Philadelphia Academy of Nat- ural Sciences, 603.—National Academy of Science: Washington Meeting, 604; Cambridge Meeting, 606 ; Twenty-first Meeting of American Associa- tion, 607.—Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 608; Peabody Academy of Sci- ence, 608. Europe: Second Report of Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction th Great Britain, 600; College of Physical Science in Birmingham, 600 ; Royal Society’s Catalogue of Scientific Papers, 597; Operations of British Museum in 1871, 602; Appropriation for, 603; Report of Council of Brit- ish Association, 597; Report of Zoological Society of London, 1871, 601 ; Damage to the Jardin des Plantes by Bombardment, 601; New Buildings for, 597. Individuals : Statue to Sir Humphrey Davy, 597; Memorial Hall to George Stephenson, 597. General: Neglect of Chemical Studies in Great Britain, 599; Penny Lectures in Great Britain, 602; Relation of European Nations to Scientific Progress, 602, POR INBRG EE LONELYe Sekt | osc Sse e. nowy atieb alll vm oe cans cease: 619 MEINDE Xe TO-THE: REFEEENGHSG =: ois i5uGe Blois ie levees che lasee 624 Pe MES) SR oY 0s © ee See 629 + ow ete! Re BTS z a A ESS Rie. te wish + Seka ty ® wot : Seamed Sooty. Lo i y ehh ee bie ih : Sige ie sg YA v3 Jae “GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS BORING: THE YEAR 1872. Tue completion of another year imposes upon us the duty of presenting a summary of progress in the sciences, and of their practical applications to the needs and the tastes of mankind. To fulfill the task so as to meet all requirements, to criticise all announcements and discoveries in the various departments of learning, and to select for mention the most important in each, is a task that no one person can accom- plish to the satisfaction of all, in the impossibility of thor- oughly understanding throughout what points are really most noteworthy. The real value, too, of many discoveries is only appreciated after a considerable interval; and we are likely to overlook, in its apparent insignificance, the germ of some important development, and only realize its character long after the original announcement. If, therefore, some of our readers fail to agree with us as to the comparative value of the selections for a particular subject, both in the prelim- inary summary and in the body of the Redéord, we can only plead the fallibility of the human intellect in this, as in other instances, and express the hope that we have been more suc- cessful in other directions. The most interesting revelations of Astronomy continue to be those of the spectroscope. Among the great mass of ob- servations with this instrument—which are found in nearly every journal in the world devoted to physical science—we may select those of Huggins and Young as examples of what has been done. Our readers may remember that some four years ago Mr. Huggins announced, as the result of spectroscopic observations of great delicacy and difficulty, that the star Sirius was receding from us at the rate of be- tween thirty and forty miles per second. The evidence of this motion was furnished by a displacement of one of the hydrogen lines in the spectrum of the star; but the displace- X= GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AMD ment was so slight, and so difficult of measurement, that Mr. Huggins could not speak with confidence of the velocity of the motion. In 1870 the Royal Society supplied him with a telescope of 18 inches’ aperture, and of very short focus, to continue his observations, and the result of his further re- searches were communicated to that body last summer. Observations of Sirius with this more perfect apparatus con- firmed the fact of the motion of Sirius, but reduced nearly to one half the first estimate. Observations were also made on a number of other stars of the first and second magnitudes, which were found to be approaching or receding from us with various degrees of velocity. The following are some of the velocities found by Mr. Huggins: Sirius is receding 20 miles per second. Betelgeux “ 22 i tigel § 15 ef Castor ey 25 $ Regulus “ 15 oi Arcturus is approaching 55 miles per second. a Lyree » ii 50 rf a Cygni 3 39 7 Pollux ‘f 49 ie a Urse Majoris “ - 46 to60 “ These observations of Mr. Huggins furnish an interesting confirmation of the motion of the solar system in the direc- tion of the constéllation Hercules. In the department of solar physics there are no brilliant discoveries to report, the advances being rather in the direc- tion of establishing a general system of solar meteorology than in that of new discoveries. The Italian Society of Spectroscopists, of which Secchi and Tacchini are active and prominent members, keeps up as regular a system of obser- vations on the sun as the weather will permit; and we may very soon hope, through their efforts, to know as much about the laws of storms on the sun as we now do of storms on the earth. The most important step in the direction of new discovery in this department is one made by Professor Young. A com- mittee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has for some time past been endeavoring to secure the building of an observatory at some elevated point on the INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxi Rocky Mountains, where it was supposed that the position would be extremely favorable for astronomical observation. The selection of a coast survey station at Sherman offered the desired opportunity, and Professor Young was sent thith- er, with his 93-inch telescope and the necessary spectroscopes, as member of a party’of which Colonel R. D. Cutts of the sur- vey was the chief. The result of getting rid of one fourth of the atmosphere—which is the great foe of solar spectroscopy —was that the number of bright lines in the spectrum of the chromosphere was increased to 273—more than double the number formerly known to exist. Among them have been detected those belonging to the vapor of a number of metals found on the earth, especially iron, magnesium, and tita- nium ; and there are besides a great number not identified as pertaining to any terrestrial substance. Nothing positive has been done toward clearing up the mystery which surrounds the constitution of comets, of the solar corona, of the zodiacal light, and of the aurora. But the theory which connects comets and meteors has received a most striking confirmation. On the evening of November 27 a great meteoric shower was seen, and the direction of the meteors was exactly that of the lost Biela’s comet, the orbit of which the earth was passing at that very time. The coincidence was such as to leave no room for doubt that the shower arose from a cloud of meteoroids accompanying ‘the comet in its orbit. The feature of most general interest in Weteorological Sci- ence has been the assembling of the preliminary congresses at Bordeaux and at Leipsic. These meetings have had for their more especial object the preparation for the general In- ternational Congress to be held in 1873 in Vienna. The Leipsic Congress was attended by many men prominent in their respective countries, and the desire for uniformity in matters of measurements and reductions was so strongly ex- - pressed that we may expect no long time to elapse before important reformations are effected. The year 1872 has seen the.establishment of additional ex- tended national systems of weather reports and storm sig- nals—those, namely, of Canada, Denmark, New South Wales, and Sweden. Only through such national offices, and by help of the telegraph, does it seem possible to hope for satis- XXll GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND factory investigations of the general features of atmospheric movements. In the practical application of meteorological science to the forewarning of storms, the highest perfection has probably been attained by our own American system— the well-known Weather Bureau of the Army Signal Service. The tri-daily bulletins of this office inelude weather forecasts of all kinds, as well as storms, and are considered a daily ne- cessity to a large class of our citizens. The number of observers and stations has been constantly increasing, and several new ones have. been quite recently started at points on the coast as well as in the interior. At the session of Congress for.1871-72 a resolution was adopted instructing the War Department to do what it could in the interest of agriculture, which has been responded to by di- viding the United States into about seventy districts, with a central station in each, to which the weather probabilities are to be telegraphed as soon as made up in Washington, and from which they are to be distributed by the mails, when printed off, to all the post-offices within the district acces- sible before the close of the day. The postmasters, on the reception of these notices, are to post them in a conspicuous place, so that all who have a desire to know what the weath- er is to be, can ascertain the fact by visiting or sending to the office. A few of these stations are already organized, and the arrangement will be extended throughout the United States as soon as possible. Still another development of the system consists in having stations on the sea-coast, with special reference to indicating the probabilities for the benefit of fishermen, to include in- formation as to the occurrence of schools of fish along the coast, so as to concentrate attention to them. The meteorological work of the Smithsonian Institution, and of the Medical Department of the Army, also to all light- houses and life-saving stations on the coast, has also been kept up. Here the phenomena of the weather are entered upon blanks, and transmitted by mail each month. Aithough not available for forecasting the weather, as in the telegraph- ic system of the signal-office, these records are even better adapted to determining the general climatology of the coun- try, In consequence of the much larger number of stations and the lengthened period of time over which they extend. INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxiii The Smithsonian Institution alone had over six hundred sta- tions in active operation during 1872, representing every state and territory of the Union, as well as a large part of British America and Mexico. Among the publications of the year none will rank higher in importance than the “ Discussions of the Rain-fall Obser- vations” in the United States published by the Smithsonian Institution. This laborious work has been so thoroughly ac- complished by Mr. Schott that it must for perhaps a genera- tion to come be our standard authority. The promised vol- umes on temperature and barometric pressure, and the new discussion of the winds, will complete that great undertak- ing which the Smithsonian Institution has, with the very lim- ited means at its disposal, so persistently and successfully carried forward. As a foretaste of what may be hoped for when these works are completed, we may instance the inter- esting study of the temperature in the neighborhood of the great lakes, as lately published by Pr ofessor Winchell. Passing to the problem of physical meteorology, we fotice the observation by Professor Young of coincidences between solar-spot outbursts and terrestrial magnetic disturbances, confirmatory of the oft-cited observation of Carrington in 1859. On the other hand, Meldrum and Lockyer have pro- claimed the increase of Indian cyclones (and, therefore, of rain-fall) with the increase of solar spots. These are the first fruits of the attention awakened by the previous publications of Abbé, Smyth, and Stone on the solar-spot period in terres- trial temperature. Some paper published in the Toronto Leader in 1870 and 1871, by Mr. Elvins, appears to have-first enunciated a connection between solar spots and rain-fall. In the obscure field of Hilectricity much labor has been spent, and with fair results. The splendid aurora of February 4th gave rise to very extensive essays on this subject, from all of which it appears that, while the purely atmospheric ori- gin of this phenomenon seems well established, its cosmical or solar origin is rendered extremely doubtful. The great work of Pr ofessor Lovering, containing, as it does, a critical and exhaustive catalogue of all recorded auroras, has appeared during the year, and must long mark an epoch in the litera- tnre of this subject. The eruption of Vesuvius, ending in April, 1872, afforded XXIV GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND Professor Palmieri opportunity for making more interesting observations on the electric condition of the volcanic smoke, confirming the results of his previous labors as to the origin of the electricity displayed in thunder-storms, etc. The En- elish translation of Palmieri’s work has afforded Mallet op- portunity to prefix, by way of introduction, a masterly sum- mary of the present state of seismology. The long-vexed question of the cause of the scintillation of the stars has received almost a complete elucidation at the hands of Respighi—its dependence upon the changes of density in the upper strata of air seems to be completely es- tablished by him. In Theoretical Chemistry the past year has witnessed very few changes of importance. The science seems at last tw have reached a stage of comparative equilibrium. Kekule, however, in a noteworthy paper, has given us his views upon the meaning of the term “ atomicity,” or “ equivalence,” when applied to atoms. He supposes a kind of intramolecular mo- tion "mong these atoms, and divides atoms into monatomic, diatomic, etc., according to the number of contacts made in a given time. In water, for example—HOH—the oxygen atom strikes against both hydrogen atoms in the same time that each hydrogen atom strikes one blow; or, in other * words, oxygen makes two vibrations while hydrogen makes one. He applies this conception to his theory of the benzol nucleus of the aromatic series, and ingeniously explains away some objections which had been raised against it. Another thing deserving mention here is Professor Cannizzaro’s Far- aday lecture before the Chemical Society of London upon “'The Theoretic Teaching of Chemistry.” Accepting fully the theory of atoms and molecules, and believing that “this the- ory affords the clearest, shortest, most exact, and most ac- cessible summary of all that relates to the origin, meaning, value, and use of empirical formule and of equations,” he naturally concludes that “it ought to be introduced into the teaching of chemistry at an early stage.” “I do not hesitate to assert,” he says, “ that the theory of atoms and molecules ought to play, in the teaching of chemistry, a part analogous to that of the theory of vibrations in the teaching of op- tics.” He affirms that “the solid base, the corner-stone of the modern theory of molecules and atoms, is the theory of INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxy Avogadro, Ampére, Konig, and Clausius on the constitution of perfect gases.” He would “ found upon this theory,” there- fore, “ the demonstration of the limits of the divisibility of elementary bodies; that is to say, the existence of elementa- ry atoms.” With his own students, Cannizzaro starts with proclaiming the invariability of the material mass in chemi- cal changes, pointing out “that the only constant property of matter is its ponderability.” He then passes to the Dalto- nian theory, establishes the correctness of the atomic weights by the Gay-Lussacian law of combining volumes, and easily demonstrates the molecular condition of simple matter. He thus places the fundamental notions of atoms and molecules upon a solid basis, freed from every thing not necessarily connected with them. Then it is that the instructor is in “a position to attack the difficulties encountered in the applica- tions of these notions to particular cases.” The assistance of specific heat, of isomorphism, and of chemical analogy in fixing the size of molecules, and the true meaning and value of the theory of atomicity, may then be taught, the student being made to recognize the dynamic as well as the ponder- able phenomena of chemical change. The researches of Berthollet, of Thomson, and of Favre in Thermo-chemistry during 1872 are most promising. While it can not be doubted that the dynamic equation of a given re- action would be fully as valuable as the chemical equation of the same reaction, the dynamics of chemical changes have only just begun to be studied. If, for example, the amount of heat given off by the union of each of two bases with one given acid be known, and the heat in the case of the union of these bases with a second given acid be also known, then it is evident that any double decomposition occurring upon the mixture of these salts must be accompanied by a thermal disturbance proportional to the difference given in the two cases. Hence the fact and direction of chemical decomposi- tion may be solved dynamically, @ priori. It is by methods of this sort that Berthollet has established the previously received assumption that it is the most powerful base in ey- ery case whieh unites with the strongest acid. Thus, if zinc acetate and sodium sulphate be mixed in solution, there is no exchange; but if zinc sulphate and sodium acetate be mixed, the production of heat proves that an exchange takes place. 2 ~ xxvi . GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND Much light, it is to be expected, will be thrown upon chem- ical constitution and chemical changes by accurate determi- nations of the heat produced or absorbed in these changes. In General Chemistry the ozone question has received much attention. A.W. Wright has devised a most eflicient form of ozonizing tube for use with the Holtz machine, and M. Houzeau, also, an excellent ozonizing tube for use with the induction coil. By means of this apparatus of Houzeau’s, it is possible to obtain from 60 to 120—and once even 188— milligrams of ozone in a litre of oxygen; more than quadru- ple the amount given by previous methods. This ozonized oxygen is exceedingly active, oxidizing alcohol to aldehyde and acetic acid almost instantly, forming, at the same time, hydrogen peroxide. Great care is needed in experimenting with it, since, when breathed, it causes serious irritation of the lungs, often with bloody expectoration. The deodorizing power of pure ozone is estimated to. be forty times that of chlorine. Houzeau estimates that the air of the country, two metres from the ground, contains z;j555 of its weight of ozone. Carius has observed that a litre of water dissolves four or five cubic centimetres of ozone. He states that the ozonized water sold in Berlin contains about four centime- tres of ozone in a litre. The oxidizing power of ozonized air is well illustrated by an observation of Professor Wright. He noticed that the sulphur of the vulcanite casing of his in- duction coil became converted, when the coil was in action, into sulphuric acid, which even accumulated in drops upon this casing. The commercial preparation of chlorine by Dea- con’s process having been proved a success, the inventor has made a most elaborate scientific investigation of it, the ex- periments extending over four years, and being made with the greatest care. This process, as is well known, consists in passing a mixture of hydrochloric acid gas and oxygen over copper sulphate, or other copper salt, heated to 700° or 750° Fahr. The copper salt is obtained in the best condition by soaking pieces of brick in it and then drying them. The ac- tion of the copper salt being of the kind called catalytic, an action of presence simply, the precise character of that ac- tion it became of importance to ascertain. Deacon finds that the amount of hydrogen chloride decomposed, other things being equal, depends upon the number of times the mole- INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxyij cules of the mixed gases are passed through the sphere of action of the copper salt. With tubes of the same diameter, the opportunity of action is the same at all velocities; if the diameters differ, the number of these opportunities is the same when the velocity is inversely as the square of the di- ameter of the tube. The percentage of hydrochloric acid gas decomposed varies with the square root of the proportionate volume of oxygen to hydrogen chloride. The cupric chloride formed bears no definite proportion to the chlorine evolved. Since molecules not in contact with the copper salt are in- cluded in the field of action, hydrogen chloride must be de- composed also as a result of the forces engaged. M. Merget has made some remarkable observations upon the volatility of mercury, and has made a curious application of it. He finds that this metal gives off vapor continually, even when frozen solid; that this vapor may be condensed upon the sur- faces of certain solids; that it passes readily through porous bodies like wood or porcelain; and that it readily reduces salts of the noble metals. If an ordinary silver negative, therefore, be exposed to the action of mercury vapor, this va- por will be condensed upon the metallic portions of this neg- ative; and now, if this negative be laid upon a piece of sen- sitized paper, the mercury condensed upon the negative re- duces the silver in the paper, producing, entirely without light, a fae simile in reverse of the original, which may be fixed and toned in the usual way of treating photographic prints. Davenport has investigated some points in the man- ufacture of malleable iron. He shows that the silicon, the phosphorus, and the manganese are not affected by the an- nealing process ; that the sulphur is not diminished by it, and may be increased; and that the carbon may be reduced to a mere trace. In the centre of a thick casting there is a dark core, which contains uncombined or graphitic carbon. The field of Organic Chemistry has been marked by great activity the past year; though much more has been done in working out old methods than in originating new theories. Young and Thorpe have succeeded in breaking up or “ crack- ing” paraffin, converting it into liquid products. These con- sist of a mixture of hydrocarbons of the marsh-gas and the olefine series, thus proving paraftin to belong to the former series, which are known thus to break up. Wurtz and Vogt xxviii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND have clearly traced the successive stages in the formation of chloral, and have shown that its hydrate is really the glycol of ethylidene. O’Sullivan has examined the conditions un- der which dextrine is produced from starch, and has prepared it pure for the first time. He acted upon the starch both by diastase and by acids. He has also shown that the pro- longed action of malt upon starch really does produce the sugar called maltose by Dubrunfaut. It has a specific rota- tory power of +150°, and reduces only two thirds as much copper oxide as dextrose, into which it is converted by the action of acids. It has the composition of a simple sugar. Musculus—using an ingenious method of dehydratation by means of aleohol—has succeeded in abstracting a molecule of water from one of dextrose, and in producing a substance closely resembling dextrin, though it has a less rotatory pow- er. When we remember that the removal of one molecule of water from two molecules of a simple sugar like dextrose produces a compound sugar like cane sugar—a synthesis of vast importance, which is yet unaccomplished — any steps taken in this direction deserve notice. Kekulé’s remarkable theory of the constitution of the aromatic series of organic bodies, has received important verification in the discoveries of the year. He, himself, has added to the idea of position contained in it, and Hiibner has fully confirmed the supposi- tion that the six atoms of carbon in the nucleus are of equal value. As a direct outgrowth of this theory, Graebe and Liebermann produced alizarin from anthracene. And now Emmerling and Engler have succeeded in the synthesis of in- digotin, the coloring matter of indigo. Though by the proc- ess of these chemists the yield is inconsiderable, yet their solution of the true constitution of indigo-blue will undoubt- edly soon lead to other and, commercially, more valuable syn- theses. The coloring matter of cochineal, also, has received attention. Liebermann and Van Dorp have succeeded in re- ducing ruficoccin—a coloring matter obtained from carmine by the action of sulphuric acid—by the agency of zinc-dust. They thus obtained a crystallized hydrocarbon melting at 183° to 188° C., and yielding a quinone on oxidation. Though this hydrocarbon has some resemblance to anthracene, it dif- fers from it in composition and properties. As soon as it can be identified, the synthesis of the colored derivatives of INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxix cochineal may be looked for. The most striking results which have been obtained during the year in reference to coloring matters, however, are those developed by the researches of Baeyer. It has long been known that by the action of oxalic and sulphuric acids upon phenol (carbolic acid) a red color- ing matter known as corallin is produced. Baeyer finds that this is a general reaction, and that whenever dibasic organic acids act upon any of the phenols, a coloring matter is pro- duced. By the action of phthalic acid upon pyrocatechin, for example, a brilliant coloring matter is obtained, which, being remarkably fluorescent, he calls fluorescein. Using some others of the polyatomic phenols, he has succeeded in preparing in this way coloring matters which very closely resemble the natural coloring matters of dye-stuffs, such as Brazil-wood and logwood, though they are not identical with these. The road seems open, however, to the synthesis of these natural coloring matters in the near future. The con- stitution of the glucosides has received the attention of chem- ists. Many new ones have been discovered, the constitution of old ones has been established, and some of them, as sscu- lin, have been synthetically produced. Tannin has been re- moved by Hugo Schiff from the glucosides, since he has re- peated and confirmed Vogt’s synthesis of it from gallic acid by the action of arsenic acid. He regards it as digallic acid, as it is formed by the condensation of two molecules of gal- lic acid. This chemist, by the introduction of ammonia res- idues into butyric aldehyde, has succeeded in producing the vegetable alkaloid conine, the active principle of Coniwm maculatum. This is the first synthesis of a true natural al- kaloid; and the certainty with which it was done is another proof, if any were wanting, of the fact that its synthesis is easy after the constitution of a substance is understood. Hence we may confidently look for a speedy synthesis of morphine, quinine, strychnine, and all the other vegetable alkaloids. The remarkable results, obtained first by Drs. Crum-Brown and Fraser of Edinburgh, of the action of the methyl deriva- tives of these alkaloids, have been increased by others the past year, particularly on the Continent. When the consti- tution of these alkaloids shall be understood, and their syn- theses be effected, it seems clear that it will be possible to form, by replacement, a series of derivatives which in itself XXX GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND will form an almost complete materia medica. The action of phenol as an antiseptic is due, without doubt, to its de- structive action upon the organisms which always accom- pany putrefaction. Plugge has examined the relative val- ue of phenol for this purpose, and finds that from 1 to 13 per cent. suffices to kill all the vegetable and animal or- ganisms in a highly putrid liquid. The alcoholic fermen- tation was arrested by 4 per cent., the butyric by 34, of its weight of phenol. He believes phenol takes rank far above ferrous sulphate, chloride of lime, chlorine, permanga- nates, mineral acids, or even quinine. In its physiological action, phenol is similar to strychnine. Its vapor even is act- ive. The best antidote to poisoning by it is, according to Husemann, sugar-lime, made by agitating a solution of 16 parts of sugar in 40 of water, with 5 parts of slaked lime, fil- tering and evaporating at 100°. Chalk is less efficacious, and oils are of no use. In Physiological Chemistry much excellent work has been done. Bert has investigated most carefully the influence of pressure-changes on life. When animals die under a pressure of only 18 centimetres of mercury, he finds that this effect is due entirely to a want of oxygen; under a pressure of from 1 to 2 atmospheres, from a want of oxygen and the presence of carbon dioxide; of 2 to 6 atmospheres, from the presence of carbon dioxide alone; of 6 to 15 atmospheres, from the presence of carbon dioxide and an excess of oxygen; and of 15 to 25 atmospheres, from the excess of oxygen alone. Mam- malia will die when the oxygen in their arterial blood will not balance a pressure of 3} per cent. of this gas in the at- mosphere, or when the carbon dioxide in their venous blood is sufficient to balance 28 to 30 per cent. of it in the air. In- asmuch as the pressure of oxygen depends, first, on its per- centage, and, second, on its pressure, the latter may be re- duced to 6 centimetres with safety, if the amount of oxygen be increased; or may be raised to 23 atmospheres if properly diluted with nitrogen. Bert thinks aeronauts might go high- er if they would take oxygen to inhale, and divers go deeper, without danger, if they would add nitrogen to their air. Aubert has investigated the caffeine question again. By an improved method of extraction, he shows that raw Java beans contain 0.709 to 0.849 per cent. of caffeine. By much roast- INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxxi ing a loss of caffeine by sublimation is sustained ; but a de- coction made from strongly roasted coffee by percolation contains more caffeine than when made from the slightly roasted bean, since the roasting makes it easier to extract. Prepared as usual, by pouring 6 to 10 times its weight of boiling water over ground coffee 3 or 4 times, nearly the whole of the caffeine is extracted.. In such a cup of coffee, prepared from 162 grammes of dry coffee,*there is from 0.10 to 0.12 gramme of caffeine; the same amount is found in a cup of tea prepared from 5 or 6 grammes Pekoe tea. Caffeine acts directly on the spinal cord, and causes tetanus; in frogs, injected subcutaneously, in doses of 0.005 gramme; in rab- bits, injected into the jugular vein, 0.12 gramme; and for cats and dogs, 0.2 gramme. It quickens the heart’s action, and re- duces the pressure of the blood. Zuntz shows that carbonic oxide, when in the blood, is not separated all at once, but. is evolved at intervals. He believes, therefore, that in poisoning by this gas, artificial respiration should be kept up for a long time, in hope of resuscitating the victim. tomensky has ob- served that trichlorhydrin is an anesthetic when taken by the stomach. Owing to its irritating action on the stomach, how- ever, it can not be used in this way. Schultzen and Nencki have made some experiments which prove that the products which albumin gives when decomposed by alkalies—namely, elycocin, leucin, and tyrosin—are excreted as urea when in- gested into the organism—the latter less readily than the oth- ers. This suggests that a similar metamorphosis of albumin goes on normally in the body. The liver-sugar question has received its share of attention. Dock has proved that the liv- er can form glycogen (liver-starch) from ingested cane-sugar, even in a few hours. Puncture of the floor of the fourth ventricle causes sugar to be excreted, but no glycogen is formed in the liver. The same effect is produced by curara injections. Hence it might seem that diabetes was due to the direct excretion of the ingested sugar, owing to its non- conversion into glycogen. But as curara causes the excre- tion of sugar when none has been ingested, Dock thinks the muscles themselves must have the power of retaining sugar or glycogen. Wanklyn has found that the ratio of the am- monia evolved from an animal fluid by evaporation, with potassium hydrate at 150° C.,, is, to that obtained by subse- XXXli GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND quently boiling the same portion with permanganate, a def- inite one for each animal fiuid tested. He can thus discrim- inate between a spot of milk and one of white of egg upon a cambric handkerchief. In Agricultural Chemistry a vast store of material has been accumulated. Pfeffer has apparently settled the vexed question which of the colors of the spectrum was most act- ive in the decomposition of carbon dioxide in the leaves of plants. He exposed the leaves in a tank of water to a spec- trum 230 millimeters long, and measured the action by count- ing the bubbles evolved in a given time. He ascertained that the maximum decomposition takes place at the maximum of light-intensity near D toward E. Calling the decomposition in the yellow 100, that in the red was 25.4, in the orange 65, in the green 37.2, in the blue 22.1, in the indigo 13.5, and in the violet 7.1. The curve of these members closely agrees with Kerordt’s curve of the intensity of light. These results entirely confirm those of Draper published many years ago. An important experiment in practical agriculture has been carried on for two years and more at the Massachusetts Agri- cultural College, under the direction of Dr. C. A. Goessmann, Director of the chemical departments. This experiment is the cultivation of the best European varieties of the sugar- beet upon the experimental farm, and their subsequent anal- ysis in the laboratory, in order to settle the question of the profitable manufacture of beet-root sugar in the Northern States. The best variety for different climates and soils, the best methods of cultivation, the time of harvesting, and the most suitable methods of extracting the sugar—all these are questions which Dr. Goessmann seems likely to solve in a manner at once satisfactory and profitable. In Mineralogy we have the usual announcements of new species, and new determinations of the chemical composition and crystallographic peculiarities of the old ones. The na- ture and character of the immense meteorites found in Green- land several years ago by the Swedish expedition continue to invoke the attention of scientific men; and numerous me- moirs have been published upon the nature of the iron and the other constituents, the amount of occluded gases and their peculiarities. In economical mineralogy a most important announcement INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxxiii has been that of the existence of tin, in immense quantity, in Queen’s Land, and extending over so large an area, and in such richness of percentage of the metal, as to promise a very large addition to the resources of the world as regards this substance. The alleged discovery of tin ore on the shores of Lake Superior is now pronounced to be entirely false. The increased demand for mica has resulted in the devel- opment of new mines in North Carolina; and in connection with this have been found large deposits of corundum, some- times in immense masses. Owing to various causes, partly the anticipation of a future scarcity, and partly to combina- tions of capitalists, the price of coal has gone up to a rather high figure in England, which is involving important changes in manufactures and their export, as far as Great Britain is concerned, in consequence of the increased price of iron and most other articles. This has naturally redounded to the benefit of the manufacturing interest of the United States. In American Geology, much new light has been thrown upon the history of the Paleozoic strata, which make up so large a part of the rocks east of the Rocky Mountains. The question as to the age of the copper-bearing strata of Lake Superior has long been one in dispute; for while Hall, Whit- ney, Logan, and many others had claimed them to belong to the lower part of the paleozoic series, there were not wanting those who asserted their mesozoic age. This was grounded on the lithological resemblances between these bed- ded amygdaloidal traps, as they were called, with rocks be- longing to that period in Europe and in eastern North Amer- ica. Now, although certain crystalline strata of aqueous or- igin may, and doubtless do show such characteristics that their geological age and sequence may be determined from their general mineralogical composition, this can scarcely be looked for in rocks which, like the copper-bearing traps of the Keweenaw series, are eruptive in their. origin. The late researches of Brooks and Pumpelly seem to show conclusive- ly that the copper-bearing traps of Keweenaw are a very ancient series, and lie unconformably beneath the nearly hor- izontal sandstones of the vicinity, which occupy a position beneath the Trenton limestone of the New York series. This limestone, with its characteristic fossils, is, in fact, found ont XXXIV GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND in many places resting upon these sandstones, which, in their turn, inclose in conglomerate-beds fragments of the older copper-bearing amygdaloids. The age of the series of dark-colored sandstones and argil- lites, which carry the silver-lodes of Thunder Bay and its vi- cinity, has been noticed by Dr. Sterry Hunt in a very recent paper, where it is shown that these strata, to which he gives the name of the Animikie group, are overlaid in slight un- conformity by the red and white sandstones and marls of the region, which have been hitherto regarded as the same with those just described as overlying the Keweenaw group. This latter is however wanting in the silver region, where the Animikie group rests directly upon the old crystalline schists of the Huronian, into which also the silver-lodes pass. It would thus seem to be a formation unknown to the south and east of the Thunder Bay region, whose real age and rela- tions can only be fixed by further study. The study of the paleozoic rocks in Ohio by Professor Newberry shows clearly that the great movement which gave rise to the so-called Cincinnati axis, along which the Trenton limestone is exposed between the Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous rocks found on either side, was not, as has been conjectured by some, simultaneous with the movements which have folded these later strata in Pennsylvania, but much earlier. This is shown by the fact that at the base of the Medina sandstone occur beds of a conglgmerate made up of the ruins of the older formations, and, moreover, by the fact that the Medina and its overlying formations thin out as they approach, on either side, this central axis, which must thus have been dry land from the time of the Medina forma- tion. This agrees with what we might expect from the phe- nomena seen along the eastern border of the paleozoic basin, where it is clear, as Hall has shown, that at the same period —namely, between the time of the Hudson River group and the Medina sandstone—a great stratigraphical and paleon- tological break took place, uplifting the rocks of the Trenton, Utica, and Hudson River groups (which together make up the Cincinnati group of the West). One of the consequences of this movement is shown in the formation of local deposits of conglomerate—the Oneida and Shawangunk grits—at the base of the Medina; and, as a further result, it is seen that INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxxy the latter, together with the Clinton, Niagara, and Salina groups, all thin out to the eastward, in which direction they were limited by the barrier of dry land composed of the rocks of the Cincinnati group. The Clinton, Niagara, and Salina formation, as Hunt has shown from their chemical composi- tion, were all deposited in an inland basin cut off from the open sea, and consist of magnesian limestones, with salt and gypsum beds. This order of things was terminated by a great movement of depression, as a result of which the free ocean waters flowed over the former eastern barrier, so that the limestones of the Lower Helderberg period are resting unconformably on the different members of the Cincinnati group along the valleys of the Hudson and the St. Lawrence, and even among the ancient crystalline rocks of the Appa- lachian region in New England and the British provinces. This depression was the beginning of a new order of things, whose continuation is seen in the Corniferous limestone and the Hamilton shales, the rocks of the Erie division of the New York system—the so-called Devonian, to which Dawson has proposed to give the more appropriate name of Erian. The flora of this period, brought to light by Hall in New York and Newberry in Ohio, has been carefully studied by Dawson, and gives us a most important chapter in paleeophytology. The great geological revolution which marks the break between the rocks of the second and third faunas in Ohio and in New York is, as Hunt has shown, but a repetition of a similar process which took place at a still earlier period, and gave rise to the break between the strata of the first and second faunas along the eastern part of the great palzo- zoic basin. The Potsdam, and Calciferous, and Chazy forma- tions of northern New York and Canada are the thinned- out representatives of the great series of strata designated the Taconic by Emmons, the Quebec group by Logan, and the Primal and Auroral by Rogers, and include the first. pa- lzozoic fauna. The Calciferous sandrock was evidently form- ed under conditions similar to the Niagara and Salina forma- tions, and is, like these, a magnesian limestone with gypsums and brine-springs. The succeeding Chazy limestone is.a local formation marking a passage to the new order of things, when, by a great change of level, the open ocean of the Tren- ton period invaded the region, and, extending far beyond the Xxxvil GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND old sea-limits, spread its limestones not only over the Chazy, Calciferous, and Potsdam (which in some parts of New York it overlies unconformably), but over the surrounding more ancient crystalline rocks, and extended far over these to the northward of Lake Ontario and up the valley of the Sag- uenay. As regards the relations of these formations of the first and second faunas in the valleys of Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence, they were supposed by Logan to be due to movements which succeeded the deposition of the latter ; but according to Hunt we must admit that the principal movements were anterior, and that the rocks of the second fauna rest unconformably on those of the first. Further contributions to our knowledge of the fauna of these older rocks, as seen in the valleys just named, have been made by Billings and by Ford. Hunt has lately pointed out that we can not, with correctness, apply the name of Silurian to these rocks, which correspond to the Middle and Lower Cambrian of Sedgwick, and to the first paleozoic fauna of Barrande. He therefore proposes to retain for these the name of Cambrian, in which the Quebec group, and the Potsdam and Calciferous, and perhaps the Chazy of the New York se- ries, are to be included. The rocks of the second fauna—the Cincinnati group, which represent what was originally the debated grownd between Sedgwick and Murchison—he pro- poses to call Siluro-Cambrian, reserving, with Sedgwick and Rogers, the name of Silurian for the rocks of the third fauna only. In this he is but returning to the old distinctions es- tablished by Hall and Rogers in their comparisons of Amer- ican and British rocks, in conformity with the results of Sedg- wick, Salter, and others, which were, without good reason, set aside by Murchison and his followers. The whole subject will be found in Hunt’s recently published “ Essay on the History of Cambrian and Silurian.” In‘it he has moreover given a concise notice of the Cambrian fauna of our eastern sea-coast as seen in Massachusetts, New Brunswick, and New- foundland; and he agrees with Hartt, Dawson, and Selwyn in referring to this horizon the gold-bearing rocks of Nova Scotia. In this connection he has discussed again the age of the crystalline rocks of New England, and, in opposition to the former generally received view, maintains that these are all pre-Cambrian, and assigns the Green Mountains to the INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxxvii Huronian series. Hitchcock, who is carrying on a geologic- al survey of New Hampshire, also adopts this view as the only one consonant with the facts there observed. It may be remarked that the notion of the conversion of great masses of palzozoic, mesozoic, and even czenozoic rocks into series of crystalline schists, which so long found favor both in Eu- rope and in America, is now found to be a hypothesis based on very slender grounds, and that the late researches in the Alps by Favre and others show that it must be abandoned there in its stronghold, as well as in Great Britain and New England. In the study of the magnesian limestones of the Permian age in Great Britain, Professor Ramsay has reached the con- clusion that they were deposited in a great inland sea cut off from the ocean, and that their formation marked a period of evaporation, showing a climatic condition of great dryness. The same conclusion he shows, holds good in the case of oth- er European formations of magnesian limestone. He is thus, he tells us, led to adopt the view put forth in 1859 by Hunt, that dolomites or magnesian limestones necessarily require for their formation isolated evaporating basins, from which, by special chemical reactions, which he has studied, the mag- nesian carbonate is deposited. This view, as the latter has shown, corresponds to the physical and paleontological his- tory of our great magnesian limestone regions in the palxo- zoic area of North America. Great progress has been made in the investigation of the fauna of the more recent geological formations in the west- ern portions of the-Continent, but the discussion of these be- longs rather to paleontology. In Geological Dynamics, Mallet has made an important contribution in establishing, by experiment, the amount of heat developed in the crushing of the strata which must at- tend the great movements producing corrugation in the earth’s crust. This source of heat had already been pointed out by Vose, but the researches of Mallet give to it a quan- titative value. He endeavors to show that the amount of heat thus generated as a result of the contraction of the en- velop around a cooling nucleus is more than sufficient to account for that manifested in volcanic phenomena. Mallet adopts the view, now generally received, of a solid rather XXxvlll GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND than a liquid nucleus to the globe; and Leconte has just re- hearsed the many arguments in favor of this view, adopting the conclusions long since formulated on this subject by Hunt, who for the past fourteen years has maintained this theory, and endeavored, in accordance with it, to explain all volcanic and plutonic phenomena, on the supposition that they have their seat in the lower regions of the stratified and water-impregnated deposits of stratified rocks, and not in un- stratified regions below. The great question of the origin of mountains, which has been discussed recently by Dana and by Whitney, is resumed by Leconte, who puts forth a new explanation, according to which the elevation is due to later- al pressure producing a vertical extension of the compressed sediments. Hunt, however, has shown that such a process of lateral compression is but an accident in mountain elevation, and insists upon the view which regards mountains as but the results of erosion of strata raised by continental move- ments, as originally maintained by Montlosier, by Lesley, and by Hall, the latter of whom long since ably expound- ed the view, and illustrated it by reference to our American rocks. The cause of continental oscillations is still obscure ; but it is clear that it is to upward movements of this, kind, and to the partial erosion of the areas thus uplifted, that mountains are due, and that the nearly horizontally stratified Catskills of New York have not had a different origin from the far older and almost vertically bedded Highlands of the Hudson. The continued researches throughout the year of Professor Hayden in the Yellowstone region, of Lieutenant Wheeler-in Arizona and Nevada, of Professor Powell in the Colorado, of Mr. Clarence King and his party in various parts of the West, and of numerous other specialists, including also the various state geological surveys, have greatly added to the information at our command, resulting not only in an im- proved knowledge of the stratification, structure, and geo- graphical distribution of the rocks in general, but also of the animal and vegetable remains included in their beds.” An im- portant discovery by Professor Powell is that of the occur- rence of a system of gigantic faults in the Colorado region, where the slip of the strata in places amounts to 2000 feet. Most remarkable discoveries have been made by Professor. INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxxix Marsh, Professor Cope, and Dr. Leidy in the Rocky Mount- ains in.the way of fossil forms of mammals, reptiles, and birds, which will be referred to hereafter. Important additions to our knowledge of the Bermudas and the West Indies are also indicated, especially in refer- ence to very remarkable changes of level within a compara- tively recent period. The evidence of a continued change of level in various parts of the earth’s surface has been multi- plied during the year, the facts observed relating to Spitz- bergen, Greenland, Sweden, Patagonia, and the Andes. Pro- fessor Agassiz himself, when in the Straits of Magellan, found shells living in brackish ponds elevated some 50 or 100 feet above the level of the sea, precisely identical with species having living representatives in the waters below them. The interval of time has been so short since the occurrence which caused the elevation took place, as not to involve the dying out of the animals thus cut off from the ocean by the upheaval. To Professor Agassiz we also owe the announcement of important indications in reference to the glacial condition of South America, especially in the vicinity of Montevideo and Chile. Striking glacial Phenomena, too, have been brought to light in regard to Algeria and elsewhere in the Old World. The discovery of glaciers by Mr. Clarence King and others in the high mountains of Washington Territory, Oregon, and Northern California was announced during the year 1871; and they have also been detected, in 1872, by Mr. Muir in the Merced Mountains, not far from the Yosemite region. The announcements of discoveries in the field of Geography, as uSual, are quite full, as compared with many other branch- es of science, numerous explorations, both by sea and land, prosecuted by nearly all the civilized nations of Europe and America, haying been prosecuted, with scarcely any intermis- sion, from the beginning of the year to its end. We have nothing, so far, from the expedition of Captain Hall, which left the United States in.1871 for the North Pole, by way of Greenland and Smith’s Sound. This, however, is not a subject of particular solicitude, as, except by very good for- tune, the first news was not to be expected till the summer of 1873. The proposed expedition of Mr. Octave Pavé to- ward the North Pole appears not to have been actually un- xl GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND dertaken, although the newspapers for a time were filled with alleged discoveries made by him in Wrangell’s Land. We are lacking in details of most of the great European expeditions in the line of North Polar research during the year 1872; one of the most important of these—that sent out by the Swedish government under Professor Nordens- kjold—was prematurely inclosed in the ice, and expoged to much danger, particularly from the lack of food. From the Austrian expedition of Payer and Weyprecht a few notices have been received, but nothing of great impor- tance. Russia, it is said, has sent out a preliminary explor- ing party to Northern Siberia, in anticipation of a larger ex- pedition during the coming year, which will be provided with every means of research, and accompanied by some em- inent men of science. The detailed history of the celebrated voyage of the Hansa and Germania is in course of prepara- tion, and a first part actually published, embracing the re- markable adventures of the Z/ansa, ending in her destruction, and the survival of the crew on a block of ice over an eight hundred miles’ journey. Efforts have been made in Great Britain to induce the gov- ernment to send out a polar expedition by way of Smith’s Sound; but, so far, the response has not been such as to sat- isfy the scientific men of that country. The Antarctic regions are even still less known than the Arctic; but inquiry has lately been again directed to them by the effor ts of Dr. Neumeyer to fit out an Austrian expedi- tion to that part of the world. It is probable that the move- ments in connection with the observations of the transit of Venus in 1874 will also invite further attention to this re- gion, as some of the best stations for observation are well to- ward the South Pole. A great deal has been done in the way of deep-sea explora- tions, as well by the United States as by her sister govern- ments in Europe. The American Hydrographic Office has fitted out two vessels for exploration in the Pacific Ocean, pro- viding them with the necessary apparatus to cover all branch- es of the inquiry during the voyage. One of the most impor- tant of the efforts of this kind has been brought to a close by the safe arrival of the Hassler, after a lengthened voyage begun from Boston in December, 1871, and ended at San Francisco INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. = x]j in the summer of 1872. This vessel, as already stated, was fitted out by the Coast Survey, with a view of hydrographic work on the California coast; and the occasion was em- braced by Professor Agassiz, with experienced assistants, to make observations and collections throughout the voyage. Owing to various causes beyond the control of the expedi- tion, less was done in the way of deep-sea research than was hoped for by them; but the collection of natural history spec- imens was continued unintermittingly, with the result of en- larging the Cambridge Museum by the addition of the con- tents of several hundred barrels of alcoholic specimens and other objects. Extensive explorations were also carried on during the year in the Bay of Fundy, by the parties connected with the United States Cemmission of Fish and Fisheries, as also in conjunction with the Coast Survey, by the same parties, in the vicinity of George’s Banks. Reports have already been published in Silliman’s Journal and elsewhere of this work, which is believed to be scarcely inferior in importance to that of any of the more modern explorations of a similar char- acter. Great Britain has distinguished herself by the special equip- ment of a large steamer, the Challenger, for deep-sea work, this vessel having already started for a three years’ cruise, to include the Bay of Biscay, the Madeiran seas, the coast of the United States, various parts of the South Atlantic and of the Pacific Ocean. It is commanded by Captain Nares, of the British navy; but the scientific work is under the di- rection of Professor Wyville Thompson, one of the most emi- nent of British naturalists. The Russian corvette, Witjas, has also been distinguished for. valuable work in the Pacific Ocean, especially in the vi- cinity of New Guinea. The work of the German steamer, the Pommerania, in the Baltic and adjacent waters, under the direction of Dr. Meyer and Professor Mobius, has been prosecuted with vigor, re- sulting in the discovery of important facts in reference to the natural history and physical condition of the seas off the German coast. In the way of land explorations in America, we may men- tion those in Greenland under the direction of Mr. Edward xhi ANNUAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND Whymper, if it be proper to include that country in the New World. Important facts have been brought to light by this gentleman in regard to the great glacial sheet covering the land, the altitudes of various peaks, the natural history, re- cent and fossil, and the ethnology of the country. Alaska has also been explored by Mr.Wm. H. Dall, in con- nection with his labors on the United States Coast Survey, while engaged in making surveys of the shores and harbors of the Aleutian Islands. He has used the leisure at any time at his command in gathering a very rich collection in nat- ural history and ethnolog gy. Other explorations have also been made, by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, in the eee eenly of ‘the Fur Seal Islands. We have already referred to the geological work prose- cuted in the Rocky Mountains by different parties; and the same expeditions have been equally noteworthy in their rela- tionship to geographical science. A large unknown or pre- viously unexplored region has been plotted down and brought within the scope of our geographical knowledge, so that the terra incognita of the great West is rapidly diminishing. The renewed explorations anticipated for the coming year will tend to relieve us still more from the opprobrium of ig- norance in regard to our own country. The survey of the boundary between the United States and British America, west of Lake Superior, was prosecuted till the close of the season, after which the parties went into winter quarters. It is expected that in the coming season they will carry the line of demarkation many miles to the West. The labors of the United States government in reference to the establishment of practicable routes for ship canals in Central America have been continued industriously during the year, Nicaragua, Tehuantepec, and the Isthmus of Darien all receiving due attention. Although no very practicable route has been discovered, or, at least, none pre-eminently su- perior to all the rest, it is hoped that the labors of the com- ing season will tend to narrow the choice to be made, and to concentrate attention upon that which will prove to be most available under the circumstances. Professor Hartt during the past year returned to Brazil for the third or fourth time, to prosecute investigations in. INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR. 1872. xliif certain regions that appeared to him eminently worthy of at- tention. The most important results obtained by him have reference to the earlier inhabitants of the country, for whose history he collected a large amount of material. A note- worthy fact in South American geography has been the as- cent of Mount Cotopaxi by a German savant (Dr. Reiss), who was enabled to make the effort under specially favorable cir- cumstances. As regards Asia, considerable attention has been drawn to expeditions from both the United States and Great Britain, each of which has sent out agents in the form of Palestine Exploration Societies, the special region to be investigated by each being amicably determined. It is hoped that before long some important information may be secured that will re- pay all the labor and outlay in this service. Dr. Schleimann announces interesting discoveries at what he considers the seat of ancient Troy, as developed in the penetration through various strata, and which contain re- mains extending from the most modern time down to that of the inhabitants of the country in the time of Priam. The most popularly appreciated geographical fact of the year is in connection with Africa—consisting in the penetra- tion into its wilds by Mr. Stanley, the agent of the New York Herald, in a successful effort to discover the long-lost Dr. Livingstone. The results of this expedition have been to give Mr. Stanley a deserved reputation, which he shares with the Herald, on account of which the enterprise was conduct- ed, and which was induced to contribute so large a sum of money toward this apparently irrelevant object. The stim- ulus caused by Mr. Stanley’s success has led to the departure of an expedition under Sir Bartle Frere, having for its object the suppression of the East African slave-trade ; and the dis- patch of an expedition with similar objects, on the part of Egypt, under General Purdy; also, in the fitting out of two expeditions for the investigation.of Western Africa by way of the Congo—one of them under British auspices, Lieuten- ant Grandy in command, already in the field; and the other, German, being in an advanced stage of preparation for start- ing. Other notes in regard to African discovery are furnished by Dr. Schweinfurth, Gerhard Rohlfs, Mr. Edward Blyden, Sir Samuel Baker, Carl Mauch, and others. *xliv ANNUAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND This latter gentleman has attracted very great attention on account of his supposed discovery of the ancient land of Ophir, a region showing traces of extensive and ancient ex- cavations, evidently made in the search for gold. Natural History, as usual, claims a large share of attention, in view of its importance as a study, and the increasing fa- cilities that are furnished by civilized nations for acquiring the necessary training for successful work in its prosecution. Although the new facts brought to light during the year in regard to the existence of species, their relationships to each other and to external circumstances, their anatomy, physiolo- gy, and development, are very numerous, it is difficult to se- lect what may be considered of greatest importance. We may, however, mention as extremely interesting the discovery of certain remarkable fossil vertebrates in the Rocky Mount- ains, to which reference will be made hereafter. An im- portant aid to zoological research, especially among marine animals, consists in the establishment of aquaria, in which they can be examined to advantage and at leisure, in the exercise of all their various functions. Beginning several years ago on a small scale, they have, more lately, been con- structed of considerable magnitude in different parts of the world. The most extensive of these is now in operation at Brighton, England, and far surpasses all others in dimensions and scope. ‘This, but recently erected, is now in working order, and already important facts have been ascertained in regard to fishes and certain crustaceans that have heretofore eluded detection. Another aquarium of note is that at Ber- lin; while others to be erected at Manchester and at Vi- enna promise to become very conspicuous. The zoological station started by Dr. Dohrn at Naples is another important establishment of a similar character. This is intended to » embrace aquaria on a large scale and in great numbers, ar- ranged in a building thoroughly fitted for research, situated on the Bay of Naples, and with the accompaniment of all the necessary collecting apparatus. Here, scientific men of any nationality can prosecute their studies, at the least possible cost and under every possible advantage. The expenses are to be borne in part by the fees received for the admission of the general public to view the aquaria. This institution promises to assume an international character, and the gov- INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xly ernments and institutions of all parts of the world are invited to take shares, which will entitle them to nominate incum- bents for working tables in the establishment, and by whom every facility can be claimed as a right in virtue of the en- dowment. A fact of much interest in the line of embryology has been detected in the very young sturgeon. This animal, as is well known, when mature, is destitute of teeth, and secures its food by means of suction. -It was, therefore, with no little surprise that some gentlemen engaged in breeding a small species of sturgeon, the sterlet, eminent for the excellence of its flesh, found that the young, for some time after emerging from the egg, had the mouth armed with well-marked teeth, by means of which they were enabled to secure their prey. - These disappeared, however, in a short time, leaving a form much like that of the adult fish. An important fact has been brought out by Professor Pan- ceri in regard to the luminosity of marine animals, and the conditions under which this peculiarity is exercised made in- telligible; the separation by Dr. Phipson of this same phos- phorescent material, under the name of noctilucine, has also tended to give precision to our views of the general subject of phosphorescence. The investigation of the faunas of various parts of the globe has been prosecuted to a considerable extent. Among these, perhaps the most interesting and important results obtained are those from the labors of Grandidier in Madagascar, and of the Abbé David in Thibet. Both these gentlemen have brought to light many forms of vertebrate animals, having marked peculiarities, which have excited the attention of zo- ologists. The special classes of vertebrates have received, perhaps, even more than the usual share of attention in respect to, at least, systematic work. The Mammals have been re-examined, with reference to their mutual relations, by Gill and A. Milne-Edwards—the forme adopting, with Huxley and other late therologists, the sub-classes Monodelphs, Didelphs, and Ornithodelphs, and dividing the first into two primary sub-divisions charac- terized by cerebral characters (see Jecord, p. 238); the lat- ter isolating man_as the type of a distinct sub-class, and then xlvi ANNUAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND separating successively, from the higher mammais, the Ich- thyomorphs, the Implacentals, and the Edentates, and divid- ing the remainder according to the structure of their feet, whether unguiculate or ungulate. Recent species have been described as new, or further illustrated, especially by Ed- wards, Elliott, Flower, Gray, Krefft, Macallister, and Murie. Edwards, especially, has added to our knowledge by the de- scription of new forms, and has made known numerous in- teresting species of Thibet (see Record, p. 318). As has been the case for some years past, the cetaceans have received more attention than any other order. Among extinct mam- mals, the discoveries have been of far more than ordinary interest and importance. Many new types have been dis- covered by Professors Cope, Leidy, and Marsh (see p. 305), in the western portions of the United States, and especially in - the State of Kansas and Wyoming Territory: chief of these are (1) the forms which have been referred to the order of Primates by Marsh and Cope (see p. 326), and supposed to be related to the lemurs; (2) several forms related to Pro- boscidians (see p. 307, 337); (8) bats obtained from the eo- cene of Wyoming; (4) a remarkable type referred by Cope to the order Edentata, and named Pseudotomus by him; (5) various remains discovered by Cope and Marsh, indica- ting, apparently, genera representing a previously unknown family related to the opossums. ‘These various types have been indicated or described chiefly in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the Proceed- ings of the American Philosophical Society, and the Ameri- can Journal of Science and Art (Silliman’s). A work infe- rior in value to no other publication of the year, on the Ver- tebrates, is a list of the families of Mammals, with diagnos- tic tables of all the families and sub-families of Educabilia, and lists of genera, by Professor Gill, published by the Smith- sonian Institution. Among the mammalia, the species most interesting to all is, of course, man himself; and although comparatively few years have elapsed since systematic investigations were com- menced into his condition in what has been aptly termed the prehistoric period, or the times anterior to authentic records, the amount of tangible knowledge accumulated has already become very great, and the study appears year by year to INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xlyii bring forth richer fruit. Several new lacustrian villages in Switzerland have been discovered, some of them furnishing remains of very great interest; and the detection of a Vi- king boat, many centuries old, in Norway, has excited much attention among the Scandinavians. ted from the sun or other stars.—3 A, Feb. 17,1872, 1386. FALL OF AEROLITES IN HUNGARY. On the 9th of June, 1866, a remarkable fall of aerolites took place in the County Unghvir, in Hungary, which was witnessed by a large number of persons. KIRKWOOD ON COMETS AND METEORS. Professor Daniel Kirkwood, in a communication to Nature relative to the late paper of Schiaparelli upon comets, calls attention to an article published by himself in the Danville Quarterly Review for July, 1861, in which the following prop- ositions were maintained : 1. That meteors and meteoric rings “are the débris of an- cient but now disintegrated comets, whose matter has be- come distributed around their orbits.” 2. That the separation of Biela’s comet, as it approached the sun in December, 1845, was but one in a series of similar processes, which would probably continue until the individ- ual fragments would become invisible. 3. That certain luminous meteors have entered the solar system from the interstellar spaces. 4, That the orbits ofsome meteors and periodic comets have been transformed into ellipses by planetary perturbation. 5. That numerous facts—some observed in ancient and some in modern times—have been decidedly indicative of cometary disintegration. In reference to these propositions Professor Kirkwood re- marks that, though stated as theory in 1861, they have since been confirmed as undoubted facts.—12 A, June 20, 1872, 148. DRIFTING OF THE STARS. The views of Mr. Proctor in regard to the movements of certain stars in systems of families have lately received a re- markable confirmation in the observations of Dr. Huggins, 28 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. who for some time past has been prosecuting spectroscopic inquiries into the proper motion of the stars in the direction of the line of sight. With the instrument formerly used by him he was unable to determine that Sirius was receding at the rate of twenty miles per second; but now, by means of a telescope of fifteen inches aperture, specially adapted to gather as much light as possible, and placed at his service by the Royal Society of London, he has determined the facts in regard to various groups. Among these are five stars, 3, y, 6,¢, and , of Ursa Major (or the Great Bear), as also Alcor, close by ¢, and the telescopic companion of ¢, which Mr. Proctor three years ago maintained to be moving in a com- mon direction, and which, more recently, he predicted would prove to be either receding or approaching together, when- ever Dr. Huggins was enabled to test the question spectro- scopically. Dr. Huggins now finds that all these five stars are reced- ing at the rate of about thirty miles per second; while the star €, which Mr. Proctor had indicated as not belonging to the set, is found to have a spectrum differing in character from that common to them, and, though receding, has a dif- ferent rate. Arcturus, on the other hand, is moving toward us at a probable rate of seventy miles per second. Other stars have been determined as moving with corresponding velocities. —5 A, July, 1872, 307; also Littell’s Living Age, July 27,1872. ASTRONOMICAL WORK AT SHERMAN STATION. Professors Young and Emerson, of Dartmouth College, have lately published an account of their astronomical operations at Sherman, the highest point of the Pacific Railroad (an ele- vation of 8300 feet), in connection with a party of the Unit- ed States Coast Survey. One object of the expedition was to determine the difference in the astronomical appearances at that elevation as compared with those of lower levels. It was found that the Dartmouth telescope, with an aperture of 9.4 inches, would show every thing that could be seen in New England with a 12-inch objective. The views of Saturn and the moon, as well as of double stars, clusters, and nebule, were exceedingly beautiful. As might have been expected, Professor Young’s labors A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 29 were largely connected with spectroscopic observations, and these were successful in a very high degree. The solar prom- inences and chromosphere were seen far more clearly than ever before, and Secchi’s “layer of continuous spectrum at the sun’s limb” was repeatedly verified. There were observed in the spectrum of the chromosphere 165 new, bright lines, mak- ing the total number known 268. Of the 103 previously re- corded, all but 30 had been catalogued at Dartmouth. The most interesting observation of all, however, was the discovery of the permanent reversal of the H lines of the spec- trum of the chromosphere, and the fact that the same lines are reversed on the surface of the sun itself over quite a large region surrounding every spot. It is thought improbable that these observations can be verified by instruments near the sea-level.— College Courant, October 5, 1872, 153. PROCTOR ON PHYSICAL OBSERVATORIES, Mr. Richard A. Proctor, in an article on National Observa- tories for the Study of the Physics of Astronomy, refers to the communication of Colonel Strange, made to the British Association last year, urging the propriety on the part of the government of establishing observatories for the study of-the aspect and changes of aspect of the sun, moon, and planets, on the ground that the establishments already in operation confine themselves too much to determining the position and motions, real or apparent, of the celestial bodies. Colonel Strange, in urging his project, calls attention to the great uncertainty that has hitherto prevailed in regard to climatological laws, and promises that, if observatories are es- tablished especially for the purpose, there is a strong proba- bility that the systematic study of the sun will throw useful light upon climatological conditions. To this Mr. Proctor re- joins that, while all weather changes may be traced to the sun’s influence, the idea that we shall ever be able, by study- ing the spots, the facule, the prominences, or the chromato- sphere of the sun, to interpret the phenomena of the weather, appears demonstrably incorrect. While the sun’s diurnal] course accounts for the seasonal changes, we yet know that the weather of any single day is almost wholly independent of the general character due to the season. A season may be exceptionally cold or hot in one portion of the earth, while 30 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. in another precisely the opposite characteristics will prevail, although subjected to the same solar conditions. Even if the direct action of the sun were more obviously recognizable in its general effects, yet, inasmuch as, in the length and breadth of England—a mere speck on the earth’s surface—the greatest variety of weather is commonly expe- rienced, it is surely hopeless to attempt to predict the condi- tions which will prevail in any one country where the solar relations exhibit such and such a character; and short of this no prediction would be of the least use to man. Even if there is the slightest prospect of our being able to do so much as this, of what practical use would it be to know that a storm will rage on a certain day, if it is as likely to occur in Russia as in the United States, or in India as in China? Mr. Proctor also takes occasion to rebuke those who have sneered at the labor bestowed by meteorologists in tabulating and reducing a regular series of observations upon the weath- er, and remarks that, even though we may not, at present, have the means of interpreting meteorological relations, we must know what these relations actually are; or, in other words, we must have those long arrays of tabulated figures— thermometric, barometric, wind-recording, etc.—if we are to understand the cause or causes of changes in the direction of the wind, in the prevalence of cloud, in temperature, baromet- ric pressure, etc. Although but little has hitherto come of these records, compared with the labor bestowed upon them, and though we may be under the impression that little ever will be the result, yet, if ever the great mysteries of meteor- ology are solved, these tables will have fulfilled their purpose. To cease to make them, he thinks, is to admit that these mys- teries are inscrutable.—18 A, June 14, 1872, 317. TNUSUAL AMOUNT OF MAGNESIUM IN THE FLAME OF THE SUN. Professor Tacchini, one of the members of the new society of Italian spectroscopists, in a communication to the Paris Academy, remarks that since the 6th of May he has found magnesium to be unusually abundant in certain regions of the sun, some of these being very extended, comprising arcs of from 12° to 168°, whereas preceding observations gave no ares larger than 66°. Continuing his observations to the 18th A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 31 of June, he was able to recognize the presence of magnesium round the entire limb —that is to say, the chromatosphere was completely invaded by the vapor of this metal; and, al- though the flames of the chromatosphere were very marked and very brilliant, there was a decided absence of protuber- ances. The more marked and brilliant the flames were, the brighter and wider appeared the magnesium lines. Very bril- liant and characteristic flames were observed at 288°. A bright facula, as anticipated by Tacchini, was found strictly on the limb of the sun. The granulations were very distinct, and the number of small faculz was in exact agreement with the presence of magnesium. On several occasions the variation of the width of the lines accorded perfectly with the varia- tion of the luminous intensity of the chromatospheric flames observed at the place of the line C. At the latest dates a great abundance of magnesium still continued, although not around the whole limb; and the ob- servations proved, not that local eruptions took place, but ra- ther complete expulsions—that is to say, a mixture of certain metallic vapors with the chromatosphere, extending over the entire surface of the sun, which consequently would appear to be still in a gaseous state. Several persons had remarked to Tacchini that the light of the sun did not appear to present its ordinary aspect, and the observations made at the Italian observatory seemed to verify this statement, the change probably being due to the presence of magnesium in unusual amount.—3 A, Jey 20, 1872, 27. RESULTS OF THE BRITISH ECLIPSE EXPEDITION. The Eclipse Committee of the British Association reported at the last meeting that, in response to the request of the as- sociation, the government had given £2000 to aid in the work. The Melbourne expedition failed from bad weather, but the Indian expedition was successful. The observers selected va- rious stations in Southern India, along the line of totality, and at one place only was the eclipse obscured by clouds. It was demonstrated that hydrogen exists at 8’ or 10’ at least above the sun. It was also proved that there was strong radial polarization of the corona. Some photographs were taken, chiefly at the expense of Lord Lindsay, and these proved 32 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the corona to be higher than seen by the spectroscope.—15 A, Proc. Brit. Assoc., August 24,1872, 237. ENGLISH ECLIPSE EXPEDITION. Comment is made by the English scientific journals upon the omission of any official announcement on the part of the English eclipse expedition of December last of the results of the facts observed, and a comparison with the conduct of pri- vate expeditions is made, quite unfavorable to the former. A writer in the Popular Science Review, referring to this sub- ject, applauds Col. Tennant for the promptness with which he communicated the results to the Royal Astronomical So- ciety, and exhibited the photographs obtained at Dodabetta. These, when compared with the photographs made by Lord Lindsay’s photographer, proved, in the opinion of the writer, in the most conclusive manner the solar nature of the corona. —5 A, July 4,1872, 303. PROFESSOR YOUNG’S LECTURE ON THE SUN. An excellent compendium of our present knowledge of the sun and the phenomena of its atmosphere, from the pen of Professor Young, has just been published by Chatfield & Co., of New Haven. This author, it is well known, has himself occupied a very prominent part in the history of more recent discoveries in regard to the sun, and the article referred to is the substance of a lecture delivered at New Haven during the past winter. This has, however, been materially modi- fied, so as to bring the subject up to the present state of our knowledge, as rendered necessary by the rapid progress made in the science of solar physics. “ ANNALS OF THE DUDLEY OBSERVATORY.” The second volume of the “ Annals of the Dudley Observa- tory,” edited by its director, G. W. Hough, has just made its appearance, and consists of a report of the meteorological ob- servations made at the observatory from 1862 to 1871. Its value is enhanced by its embracing the hourly records of the barometer (automatically printed) for a continuous period of five years, made by means of a very efficient apparatus in- vented by the director, and now used in numerous places, among others, in the office of the Signal Service at Washing- A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 33 ton. An appendix to the report contains miscellaneous com- munications upon the galvanic battery, the total eclipse of the sun of August 2,1869,and the meteoric showers of 1867, etc.; and the whole book must be considered a very valuable contribution to physical science. | NAMING NEW ASTEROIDS. Professor Peters has named the two planets lately discoy- ered by him (Nos.122 and 123) Gerda and Brunhilda, and com- municates to the American Journal of Science the elements of their orbits. The orbit of Gerda is remarkable for having both the inclination and eccentricity very small—a coinci- dence not found in any other known asteroids except in the case of Clytia. ‘The planet No. 124 is now known as Alceste, and at the time of Dr. Peters’s communication had the ap- pearance of a star of a little less than the eleventh magni- tude.—4 D, November, 1872, 400. CHANGE OF SPOTS IN LUNAR CRATERS. Mr. Birt reports as to the result of observations upon the spots on the floor of the crater Plato, on the moon’s surface, that decided changes have taken place since the investigation was first undertaken, and gives an account of the observations on the streaks and colors of the floor. The changes in the direction and luminosity of the streaks detected were of such a character that they could not be referred ‘to changes of il- lumination, but depended upon some agency connected with the condition of the moon itself. The color of the floor was found to vary as the sun ascended in the lunar heavens, being darkest with the greatest solar altitude. It is thought prob- able, if farther observations upon the spots can be made, that streaks and changes of an interesting character will be dis- covered.—15 A, Proc. Brit. Assoc., August 24, 1872, 237. THE RINGS OF SATURN. The rings of Saturn have always been an enigma to astron- omers. La Place showed that if they were solid, and of the same thickness throughout, they would soon fall down on the planet and be destroyed. He therefore supposed them of ir- regular density. Not many years ago Professor Peirce found that the same catastrophe would occur even in this case, and B 2 34 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE’ AND INDUSTRY. he and Bond have concluded that they are fluid. It soon became doubtful whether a fluid ring would be any more stable, and Professor Peirce hence conceived the idea that it was held up by the attractions of the satellites. Mr. Hirn, a French physicist, has lately presented a paper to the French Academy, in which he maintains that the ring is neither solid nor fluid, but is a swarm of small particles, which looks solid owing to the great distance at which we see it. The idea is not new, as it was developed mathematically more than ten years ago by Mr. J.C. Maxwell, of England; but Mr. Hirn ad- duces some new arguments to its support. One of these is that when the ring is seen on its dark side, which is present- ed to us on very rare occasions, it does not seem absolutely black, a little light shining through. COINCIDENCE OF SOLAR OUTBURSTS AND MAGNETIC | DISTURBANCE. An interesting coincidence between solar outbursts and magnetic storms, if not a relation of cause and effect, is sug- gested by Professor Airy in a communication to Wature. In this, referring to an announcement by Father Secchi of a re- markable outburst from the sun’s limb, which lasted nearly four hours, as witnessed by him on the 7th of July, he remarks that a magnetic storm commenced the same day, its influence upon all the instruments being unusually sudden and percep- tible. The disturbance diminished gradually to the evening of the second day, and was accompanied during a part of the time by an aurora. If a connection really existed between the two phenomena, the transmission of the influence from the sun to the earth must have occupied two hours and twenty minutes, or a longer time if Father Secchi did not see the act- ual beginning of the outburst.—-12 A, August 22, 1872, 328. BRIGHT LINES IN THE SOLAR CHROMOSPHERE. Professor C, A. Young has published a preliminary report to Professor Peirce, superintendent of the Coast Survey, de- scribing the bright lines he found in the spectrum of the chromosphere during his observations at Sherman, Wyoming Territory, the most elevated point on the Pacific Railway. Professor Young was sent to this point at the instance of several men of science, who wished to have some trials made A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 35 as to its suitableness for a permanent astronomical observa- tory. He seems to have devoted himself mainly to his fa- vorite branch, solar spectroscopy, in which he was eminently successful. He gives a list of no less than 273 lines which he has determined satisfactorily, hardly a tenth part of which were ever seen by any other observer. He conceives that the dark lines always seen in the spectrum have their origin at the base of the chromosphere, and that, with proper in- strumental power and favorable atmospheric conditions, they might all be seen reversed to bright lines at any time.. The. variations of brightness were very considerable and sudden when the chromosphere was much disturbed. Sometimes one set of lines would be particularly bright, and at other times another. In addition to the elements formerly known to exist in the solar atmosphere, the following seem to be pretty positively indicated — namely, sulphur, cerium, and strontium, while zinc, erbium and ytrium, lanthanum and didymium, are indicated with a less degree of probability. REPORT ON ENCKE’S COMET. The Washington Observatory has lately published a re- port, by Professors Hall and Harkness, of observations on Encke’s comet during its recent return. It was first seen at Washington on the 11th of October last, and continued to be observed on favorable nights until the 7th of December. The observations on the movements and relations of the comet are detailed by Professor Hall, while the spectroscop- ic investigations were conducted by Professor Harkness. The results of the latter are summed up in the following propositions : 1. Encke’s comet gives a carbon spectrum. 2. From November 18 to December 2 the wave length of the brightest part of the second band of the comet’s spec- trum was continually increasing. 3. No polarization was detected in the light of the comet. 4. The mass of Encke’s comet is certainly not less than that of an asteroid. 5. The density of the supposed resisting medium in space, as computed from the reserved retardation of Encke’s comet, is such that it would support a column of mercury some- where between +22,2, and 4383, of an inch high. 36. ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 6. There is some probability that the electric currents which give rise to auroras are propagated in a medium which pervades all space, and that the spectrum of the aurora is in reality the spectrum of that medium. 7. It is not improbable that the tails of all large comets will be found to give spectra similar to that of the aurora, although additional lines may be present. SMALL PLANETS DISCOVERED IN 1872. During the year 1872 eleven additions were made to the number of small planets known to revolve between Mars and Jupiter, making the entire number now known 128. Their numbers, discoverers, and dates of discovery are as follows: (118), Peitho, by Luther, at Bilk, March 15. (119), by Watson, at Ann Arbor, April 3. (120), Lachesis, by Borelli, at Marseilles, April 10. (121), by Watson, at Ann Arbor, May 12. (122), Gerda, by Peters, at Clinton, July 31. (123), Brunhilda, by Peters, at Clinton, July 31. (124), Alceste, by Peters, at Clinton, August 23. (125), by Prosper-Henry, at Paris, Sept. 11. (126), by Paul-Henry, at Paris, Nov. 5. (127), by Prosper-Henry, at Paris, Nov. 5. (128), by Watson, at Ann Arbor, Nov. 28. The numbers 126 and 127 are remarkable as being found on the same evening so near together that they were in the same field of view of the telescope. CABLE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES. Astronomers have been for some time interested in devis- ing some method by which the discoveries of new planets or comets in one hemisphere could be reported to the other with the least possible delay, communication by mail being so slow, comparatively, that the object materially changes its place before the fellow-workers on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean can direct their attention to it. The difficul- ty is still greater when the bodies in question are faint, since they are necessarily discovered in nights free from the light of the moon; but before the news can be transmitted across the water (requiring an interval of about two weeks) the moon will so illuminate the sky as to prevent observers from A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 37 looking immediately for them, and for this reason the first notice of a planet is frequently its last, the most careful search failing to detect it again in consequence of the impossibility of determining a second or third position. These considerations have naturally invoked attention to the Atlantic cable as a means for exchanging discoveries; but the great expense of dispatches by it, and the poverty of as- tronomers, has prevented their making use of this means of communication to any great extent. For some time past Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, has been in correspondence with the authorities of the cable for the pur- pose of inducing them to transmit such communications free, and at last has had the pleasure of receiving from Mr. Cyrus W. Field the announcement that this boon has been grant- ed. The precise details of the arrangement to be made are not yet fully established, but it is probable that, in case of important discoveries in America, the fact will be communi- cated by telegraph to the Smithsonian Institution, which will at once forward it to the observatories in Paris, London, Ber- lin, and Vienna, which, in turn, will supply the information to their associates. These same institutions will be the re- cipients, by telegraph, of the first announcements in Europe, to be transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution as before, and the information sent from Washington, either by the me- dium of the Associated Press, or by direct telegraphic dis- patch. The Western Union Telegraph Company has also granted the free use of its wires for the same purpose, in co- operation with the Cable Company. The directors of these telegraphs deserve great credit for their enlightened liberality, and for thus aiding in the scientific work of the day, and it is to be hoped that the European inland lines will not be behind in their co-operation, so as to make it an absolutely free interchange from one country to the other. The number of such dispatches traveling in either direction annually can not be very great (hardly more than one or two a month), as during 1872 there were only ten new asteroids discovered, and a proportional number of telescopic comets. It is probable that the information in regard to the discovery of comets in America will be sent more directly to the Vien- na Academy of Sciences, as that body has a standing offer of reward for all such announcements made under certain specific conditions. 38 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. SPECTRUM OF NEPTUNE. Mr. H. C. Vogel, of the observatory at Bothcamp, has spec- troscopically examined the light of Neptune, the most ex- treme of the known members of our solar system, and found the spectrum of this planet identical with that of Uranus. Eight lines of absorption have been measured, and they coin- cided with those of Uranus. Red could not be perceived. This result differs somewhat from that of M. Secchi, who only considers the spectra of the two planets as very similar.—19 C, XXvIL, 1872, 223, THE LOST COMET. Just one hundred years ago a new comet was discovered, by Montaigne. It was so faint and difficult of observation that no time could be fixed for its return. In 1826 a comet was found by Von Biela, and, on computing the orbit, it proved to be identical with that of 1772. Further investigation showed that it was also observed in 1805, but was not then recognized as the same. It was, therefore, a periodic comet, and the period of its revolution was found to be six years and eight months. It has since been known as Biela’s comet, from its discoverer of 1826. The next two returns were not favorable for its observation, so that it was not again satis- factorily detected till 1845. It was seen in November and December of that year by a number of observers, who noticed nothing unusual; but in January it was found to have suf- fered an accident such as was never before known to happen to a heavenly body, and of which no explanation has ever been given. It was split in two, and for some months was ob- served as two comets. In 1852 it appeared again, and now the two comets were nearly two million miles apart. They disappeared from view about the end of September, and have never been seen since, although they must have returned in 1859, and again in 1866 and 1872. The return of 1866 was quite favorable, but, although the most powerful telescopes searched for it, all was in vain. The comet had vanished from the heavens. | The earth crossed the orbit of this comet about the end of November. Professor Newton was thus led to infer that, though lost to sight, the fragments of the comet would be A. MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY. 39 seen about that time striking the atmosphere as shooting- stars. This prediction was fully verified by the event. On the evening of November 27, between the hours of six and eight, a remarkable shower of meteors was observed, the as- tronomers of the Naval Observatory counting several hun- dred. And further, the direction of their motion correspond- ed, as nearly as could be judged, to that of the lost comet. In consequence, the Washington astronomers entertain no seri- ous doubt that the meteoric shower was really caused by the earth’s meeting the débris of the comet. COINCIDENCE OF SOLAR OUTBURSTS AND MAGNETIC DISTURBANCE, An interesting coincidence between solar outbursts and magnetic storms, if not a relation of cause and effect, is sug- gested by Professor Airy in a communication to Nature. In this, referring to an announcement by Father Secchi of a re- markable outburst from the sun’s limb, which lasted nearly four hours, as witnessed by him on the 7th of July, he re- marks that a magnetic storm commenced the same day, its influence upon all the instruments being unusually sudden and perceptible. The disturbance diminished gradually to the evening of the second day, and was accompanied during a part of the time by an aurora. Ifa connection really existed between the two phenomena, the transmission of the influence from the sun to the earth must have occupied two hours and twenty minutes, or a longer time if Father Secchi did not see the actual beginning of the outburst.—12 A, August 22, 1872, 328. TRANSIT OF VENUS IN 1874, Our government is making active preparations to observe the transit of Venus in 1874 with.a completeness which will leave nothing to be desired. At the last session of Congress a scientific commission was organized to provide the neces- sary instruments, and it has been determined to occupy eight or ten stations. The stations will be mostly on the islands and coasts of the Pacific Ocean, from New Zealand on the south to the Aleutian Islands on the north, and from the Sand- wich Islands on the east to China on the west. Telescopes and photographic apparatus for eight stations have been or- 40 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. dered from the firm of Alvan Clark & Sons, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, and it is probable that nearly all the appara- tus will be of American manufacture. The commission has printed a pamphlet containing some important papers on the subject, and it is expected that this will be followed by others. The present pamphlet is mostly devoted to the question of photographing the transit. It contains a very full description of the apparatus used by Mr. L. M. Rutherford, of New York, whose photographs of the ce- lestial bodies are the finest ever taken. The longest paper is by Professor Newcomb, one of the commission, who gives a detailed description of the method by which the commis- sion actually proposes to take the photographs. Professor Newcomb finds objections which he deems fatal to nearly all the plans of photographing that have been proposed in Eu- rope, and therefore proposes that adopted by Professor Win- lock, of the observatory of Harvard College. In this plan the telescope is forty feet long, and is fixed in a horizontal posi- tion, the object end pointing north. A short distance from the object-glass is a plain mirror, which is set so as to throw the rays of the sun into the telescope. At the other end of the telescope an image of the sun four and a half inches in diameter is formed, and here the photographic plate is placed to receive and photograph this image. Immediately in front of the plate a plumb-line is to be hung, and thus be photo- graphed on the plate, in order to get the direction of the ver- tical diameter of the sun. Among the advantages claimed for this plan are: That the photograph can be taken in the dark room, and on a firm sup- port (while, by the other plan, the photographer must take his sensitive plate to the eye-piece of the telescope, which has to be kept in motion); that the image on the plate is free from distortion; and, finally and chiefly, that it is the only plan by which the measures of inches, on the negative, can be reduced to minutes and seconds of an arc in the heavens with the necessary accuracy. B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. Al B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY, RATIO OF BAROMETER DEPRESSION TO THE HEIGHT OF THE TIDES. At a meeting of the Philosophical Society of Washington, Professor William Ferrel presented an account of some exper- iments in which he had been engaged at the request of the superintendent of the Coast Survey, for determining the in- fluence of the barometric pressure upon the tides. Taking the observations made with the tide-gauge at Boston Harbor, he compared them, hour by hour, for a certain period, with the barometrical records of Harvard Observatory, and ascer- tained that, in general, a fall of the barometer of one inch was accompanied by an increased height of the tide of seven inches. The theoretical ratio should be one inch to about thirteen and a half; but the shallowness of Boston Harbor, and the numerous obstructions to the free flow of the water in and out of it, are assigned as the cause of the difference. Similar observations made at Liverpool showed that the tides varied ten inches in height with one inch of barometric fluc- tuation.— Wm. Ferrel, Prof. Washington Phil. Soc. CROLL ON CARPENTER’S THEORY OF OCEAN CURRENTS. In a third part of his memoir on ocean currents, lately pub- lished in the London, Edinburg, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine, My. James Croll examines critically the theory of a general oceanic circulation, put forth by Dr. Carpenter in a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society. After showing that no additional power is obtained from a vertical descent of the polar waters through the action of cold (the “primum mobile” of Dr. Carpenter) above that which is de- rived from the full slope, of less than eighteen feet, due to difference of temperature between the equatorial and polar regions of the sea, Mr. Croll endeavors to prove that the “primum mobile” has in reality no existence, and that, since the energy derived. from the whole slope comprehends all that can possibly be obtained from gravity, there is not, in this, sufficient power to produce the circulation which Dr. 42 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Carpenter assumes. Further, he maintains that if difference of specific gravity fail in accounting for the circulation of the ocean in general, it fails in a more decided manner to explain the Gibraltar current, because it is only the stratum of water which rests above the level of the shallowest part of the strait on each side that can exercise any influence in disturb- ing equilibrium, and since the observed difference of density between the Mediterranean and Atlantic within these limits does not give a difference of level sufficient to cause move- ment.—13 A, Vov. 1, 1871, 500. CROLL ON OCEAN CIRCULATION. Mr. Croll, in further discussion of the subject upon which he and Dr. William P. Carpenter are at variance—namely, that of “ ocean currents”—remarks, in ature, that the true way of considering the matter is to regard the currents as merely one grand system of circulation, produced, not by the trade winds alone, but by the combined action of all the winds capable of producing this action; and the effect upon the cur- ‘rents depends upon two circumstances, namely, the direction of the prevailing winds and the conformation of the sea and land. From this it results that the general system of winds may sometimes produce a current directly opposite to the prevailing wind blowing over the current. Taking into the account the result of the conformation of the sea and land, Mr. Croll thinks, and he expects to show, that all the principal currents of the globe, the Gibraltar cur- rent not excepted, are moving in the exact direction in which they ought to move, assuming the winds to be the sole im- pelling cause. The influence of the rotation of the earth he considers greatly overestimated, such rotation exercising no influence in generating motion on the earth’s surface; but if the body be already in motion, the rotation will deflect it to the right in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the southern. Difference of specific gravity, as resulting from difference of temperature between the equatorial and polar regions, might, if sufficiently great, produce some such interchange of equa- torial and polar water as Dr. Carpenter supposes; but this difference of temperature, in Mr. Croll’s opinion, could not produce currents like the equatorial current and Gulf Stream B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 43 x in a wide expanse of water. Taking Dr. Carpenter’s own data as to the difference. of temperature between the waters at the equator and the poles, and also his estimate of the rate at which the temperature of the equatorial water decreases from the surface downward, he thinks he has proved, in a pa- per published in the Philosophical Magazine for October last, that the amount of force which gravity exerts on, say a pound of water, tending to make it move from the equator to the poles, supposing the pound of water to be placed under the most favorable circumstances possible, is only 34> of a grain. —12.A, Jan. 11, 1872, 202. TEMPERATURES IN SOUTH AMERICA. A correspondent of the New York 7Zribune, writing from the Hassler, refers to the great uniformity of the temperature at sea on the west coast of South America; thus, on reaching Callao, on the 28th of May, although the sun was shining brightly and the wind was from the equator, the thermom- eter stood steadily at 66° for a number of days in succession. For the seven weeks preceding the arrival of the Hassler at Callao there had been very little difference in the tempera- ture either of the sea or air, as observed on the vessel. On the 6th of April, in latitude 43°, in San Pedro Channel, the thermometer stood at noon at 69° F.; on the 24th of May, at Callao, latitude 12°, at 66°. This, in the words of the writer, would be like leaving Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 6th of October, in seasonable weather, and reaching Barbadoes or Greytown on the 24th of November, and find- ing it colder than it was in New Hampshire. DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES IN THE ATLANTIC NEAR THE EQUATOR. Mr. N.Von Maclay, who, as our readers have-been informed, is in charge of a Russian scientific exploration of the Atlan- tic and Pacific Oceans, reports to the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg that on the passage of the Witjas from the Cape de Verd Islands to Rio he made an experiment, on the 3d of February, for the purpose of determining the tempera- ture of the sea at a depth of one thousand fathoms in the re- gion of calms, about 3° north latitude and 24° west longitude. The temperature of the water at this depth was about 38.30° 44 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. F., that of the surface water being 81.68° F. It is interesting to compare this with the temperature obtained during the past winter by the Coast Survey steamer 520d, at about the same depth, in the deep water between Cuba and Yucatan, in the latter case the temperature amounting to about 39.50° F. — Bull. Acad. St. Petersburg, 1871, 346. SOUNDINGS BETWEEN CUBA AND YUCATAN. The greatest depth between the west end of Cuba and the coast of Yucatan found by the Coast Survey Steamer Bidd is 1164 fathoms, as reported to Professor Peirce by Captain Robert Platt, commanding the surveying vessel. The Sas temperature observ ed is 39.5° F. at the bottom; surface, 81° strongest current, two knots; direction, north. . “Dr. Bbiaion reports the bottom from Cape San Antonio to Yucatan very barren of animal life. A few rare shells were found.—Prof- Iilgard. SELF-REGISTERING EARTHQUAKE INDICATOR. Erkmann has laid before the Natural History Society of Prussian Rhineland and Westphalia a plan of self-registering apparatus for recording earthquakes, which, although some- what complicated, is said to be not without its merits. The principal objects of this apparatus are, first, to record the ex- act hour and minute in which an earthquake has taken place at any given point; second, to determine the number and duration of the oscillations of the pendulum, and the relative force of the earthquake; third, from the difference of time at different stations, to determine the velocity of the propaga- tion of the wave; fourth, to ascertain the duration of the earthquake, as also its beginning and ending, and whether acting by shocks in waves or radii; fifth, to indicate the shocks that without its agency would be inappreciable, and thus determine the absolute frequency of this phenomenon.— 3 C,1871, 1150. STORM-SIGNALS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. The government of New South Wales, following the lead of Europe and the United States, has introduced the system of telegraphing the anticipations of the weather, and has es- tablished certain stations on the coast for indicating the na- B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 45 ture of any expected storm by means of signal masts; these signal masts support two yards, crossing each other at right angles in the direction of the cardinal points of the compass. A violent squall is to be represented by a conspicuous dia- mond-shaped signal; a heavy sea by a drum; a gale with clear weather is indicated by a diamond-shaped signal over a drum; and one with thick weather and rain, with the same signal under a drum. The direction in which the wind is blowing is indicated by the particular yard-arm between which and the mast-head the geometrical signal is suspended. Gales that are general over a large portion of the coast are indicated, without the mast-head flags, by the geometrical figures.— Vewspaper. BRITISH AND AMERICAN STORM WARNINGS. A motion was made in the British Parliament, just before its recent adjournment, for the appointment of a committee to report upon the practical effect of the storm warnings is- sued by the British Meteorological Office, specifying how many had been verified by the result, and how many the contrary. The return has, we believe, not yet been made, although the general subject has been discussed at considerable length in the London journals. It is well known that under the ad- ministration of the government meteorological system of storm warnings, under Admiral Fitzroy, the attempt was made to indicate the probable approach of gales and storms, with the general direction from which the storm was to be expected. These were announced during the daytime by two large bodies in the shape of a drum and a cone variously ad- justed, and at night by means of lights. After Admiral Fitz- roy’s death, and the reorganization of the system, but one drum was used, and that only raised to show that a serious atmospheric disturbance existed somewhere on or near the British coast; this is exhibited for thirty-six hours after the telegraphic message directing it to be hoisted, and is merely intended to give an intimation to seamen to be on the look- out for approaching bad weather. At the present time there are seventy-four drum signals in England and Wales, thirty-two in Scotland, twelve in Ireland, three in the Isle of Man, and two in Jersey. A similar system has quite recently been adopted by the 46 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Signal Service branch of the War Department of the United States, under General Myer, as is well known to most of our readers. The day signal here consists of a flag instead of a drum, and is likewise intended only to indicate the probable approach of a storm, blowing at the rate of at least thirty miles per hour. The short time during which this system has been in operation has been sufficient to prove its value, and, during the late severe gales all over the country, much loss of life and property has been prevented by proper atten- tion to the intimations given. For a considerable time the Signal Office has given tele- graphic announcements of the probabilities of the weather, and we learn from an abstract of the report of the chief sig- nal officer, General Myer, that sixty-five per cent. of these prognostications have been verified by the result; and, as the theory of atmospheric disturbances is better understood, the percentage of verifications will continually increase. —3 A, Nov. 11,1871, 368. BRITISH WEATHER MAP. The Meteorological Office of Great Britain proposes to is- sue lithographic charts illustrative of the daily weather re- port. These will be forwarded from the office of the printer between 1 and 2 o’clock P.M. each day, and sent to any part of the kingdom, upon payment of five shillings per quarter. In addition to the returns from forty stations, charts of the British Isles and a portion of the Continent are given, show- ing the movements of the barometer and thermometer, the conditions of the wind and sea, and the quantity of cloud and rain. The rapid dissemination of this information can not fail to be of great value to Great Britain, as is shown by the success which has attended a similar enterprise of the Amer- ican Signal Service, of which we are so justly proud, and which has been in operation for a considerable time, embrac- ing much more minuteness of detail than is proposed for the English maps.—15 A, March 16, 1872, 339. LAWS OF THE WINDS IN EUROPE. A work has recently been published by Mr. W. Clement Ley upon the laws of the winds in Western Europe, contain- ing some important generalizations which may be of interest B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 47 to our readers, agreeing, as they do, in the most essential points, with the results of inquiries by the United States Sig- nal Service. The author, after referring to the great amount of statistical matter upon the subject of meteorology, and the great number of persons interested, locally or otherwise, in such inquiries, thinks that it may be considered as a matter of surprise that so few have attempted the investigation of . the greater problems of meteorology, but suggests that this is caused, in part, by the abstruse character of the inquiries involved, and the almost interminable complexity of the con- ditions which influence the motions of the atmosphere. In- deed, so many are the difficulties in which the subject is in- volved, that it requires a certain degree of scientific enthusi- asm to believe that they are not insurmountable. One of the most important generalizations in regard to the motion of the winds, according to Mr. Ley, is that known as Ballot’s Law, which connects the direction of every surface wind with the distribution of surrounding pressures; and he thinks that the general fact that the winds blow in direc- tions nearly parallel to the isobarics (or lines of equal atmos- pheric pressure, as shown by the barometer), having the high- est pressure on the right and the lowest on the left, in the northern hemisphere, and the contrary in the southern, no longer needs demonstration, being now an accepted law. It is only recently, however, that its bearing upon some of the earlier conceptions of the science has received attention. Among the general propositions which Mr. Ley presents to his readers, and some of which he thinks he can prove, and others of which require more or less further investigation, are the following: I. Baric areas, or the atmospheric spaces inclosed in iso- baric lines, tend, as a general rule, in temperate latitudes, to circular or oval forms. These forms are most nearly ap- proached in the areas of lowest pressure, while irregular fig- ures are common in those of high pressure. II. Baric areas are naturally divided into two classes, viz. : A, those whose currents revolve directly (or with watch- hands) in the northern hemisphere, and the contrary in the southern (“anti-cyclonic”) ; and 5, those whose currents re- volve in a retrograde direction (or against watch-hands) in the northern hemisphere, and the contrary in the southern 48 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. (‘cyclonic’). All areas of higher pressure than that of the surrounding regions are invariably of the former class; all areas of lower pressure than that of the surrounding regions are invariably of the latter. . II. Areas of depression tend to move in extra-tropical lat- itudes with a more or less eastward progression. Areas of high pressure, when of small extent, commonly follow the progression of neighboring depressions; when of large dimen- sions, progress with much less rapidity, and are frequently erratic, and sometimes for a prolonged period stationary. IV. The direction of progression commonly varies in West- ern Kurope between north-northeast and south-southeast, and is primarily dependent on the general antecedent distribu- tion of surrounding temperatures, every depression area tend- ing to advance at an inclination of about 45° toward the low- er mean isothermals. This progression is, however, frequent- ly interfered with, for, V. Mountainous districts, as well as certain coast lines, ex- ercise (1) an attractive and (2) a detentive influence upon de- pressions. VI. Extensive areas of very high pressure check, divert, or accelerate the motion of depressions, every depression pro- eressing with greatest facility in the direction in which it has the highest general pressures, on the right of its course in the northern hemisphere, and the contrary in the south- ern. VII. Depression areas are dependent, both for their origin- al development and subsequent expansion, on precipitation, which is also the medium through which the forces described in propositions IV. and V. operate. Heavy and extensive precipitation invariably precedes their first formation, and accompanies their expansion, and its cessation immediately precedes their collapse or dissipation. VII. This influence of precipitation, as a disturbing or mo- tive power in the lower regions of the atmosphere, common- ly varies inversely as the general temperature of the atmos- phere. TX. The upper currents of the atmosphere, while tending In a general way to move with the highest pressures on the right of their course, but depending in this respect on the more extensive pressure systems, and being comparatively B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 49 unaffected by very limited baric areas, yet deviate consider- ably from Ballot’s Law ; for, X. Upper currents manifest, in a large percentage of ex- amples, a distinct centrifugal tendency over the areas of low pressure, and a centripetal over those of high. XI. The axis of a progressive depression commonly inclines backward. Several of these propositions are, however, according to Mr. Ley, ultimately dependent upon the following primary law, which, although obvious, requires to be clearly apprehended at the outset by the student of meteorology. ‘“ Every ex- tensive centripetal motion in the atmosphere tends to become, through the influence of the earth’s rotation, a helix, the cur- rents of which are retrograde in the northern hemisphere and direct in the southern. Every extensive centrifugal motion tends to become helix, the currents of which are direct in the northern hemisphere and retrograde in the southern.” Also, first, that extensive precipitation occurring in a re- gion of atmosphere previously approaching a condition of tranquillity is the primary factor of every system of baric de- pression, with its resulting atmospheric circulation, retro- grade in the northern and direct in the southern hemispheres ; second, that such an atmospheric circulation being establish- ed, the changes in their capacity for aqueous vapor which its currents undergo in consequence of the unequal distribution of solar heat tend to propagate the depression.in an eastward direction. : To the subject of “ upper currents” a special chapter is de- voted, and the difticulties of making observations upon them is referred to. The special object of this inquiry is to ascer- tain whether there is any general relation between the mo- tion of this upper stratum and the conditions and disturb- ances of atmospheric pressure at the surface of the earth; and if so, what that relation is. As a partial answer to these in- quiries, resulting from the discussion of numerous observa- tions, the author remarks that the relation between the num- ber of instances in which the upper currents incline from low to high pressures, and that in which they incline from high to low, is as 393 to 92 (or about four to one). We thus arrive at the important general law connecting the direction of the higher currents with the distribution of C 50 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. atmospheric pressure at the earth’s surface, that the higher currents of the atmosphere, while moving commonly with the highest pressures, in a general way, on the right of their - course, yet manifest a distinct centrifugal tendency over the areas of low pressure, and a centripetal over those of high. The rapidity of the upper currents, on an average, Mr. Ley states to be about twice as great as that of those at the sur- face of the earth, since the latter rarely attain velocity great- er than sixty to seventy miles per hour. The more distant clouds not uncommonly have a much greater velocity. The observations of the United States Signal Service furnish cor- roborative evidence in regard to this matter, since the veloc- ities at the top of Mount Washington have repeatedly equal- ed the maximum mentioned, as recorded by an accurate ane mometer.—Ley’s Laws of the Winds, pt. 1., 1872. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF DIFFERENT REGIONS. In a paper by Dr. Friedmann on the climatic peculiarities of the eastern coast of Asia, he states that when passing around the world from east to west the following climatolog- ical conditions will be found to present themselves in suc- cession. First, on the east coast of Asia we have a decided continental climate—cold winter, warm summer, considera- ble difference between the temperature of day and night, and between the coldest and warmest months—the whole, how- ever, tempered. by the influence of the east wind. Second, in the interior of Asia we have the highest expression of a con- tinental climate—very hot summers, with extreme cold in winter, the lowest winter temperature on the globe being in latitude of about 62 degrees. We have, then, a gradual equal- ization of this continental feature as we pass to the west, un- til we reach number three of his division, in Western Europe. Here the climate is purely maritime—mild winters, moderate summers, and but little difference between day and night, winter and summer. Fourth, the eastern coast of America —cold winters and hot summers characterize the climate; the southwest wind is cool, and extends over the continent. Fifth, the central portion of America—similar to the central portion of Asia, although with less extremes of heat and cold. Sixth, the west coast of America—climate maritime, similar to that of Western Europe, in consequence of the warm re- B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 51 turning trade winds passing over the sea; warmer winters and cooler summers, in consequence of the cooling action of the sea and of the rather feeble equatorial current.—3 C,Lebd. 8, 1872, 140. COMPARATIVE CLIMATE OF HILL-TOPS AND VALLEYS, As the result of a series of investigations upon the compar- ative temperature of hill-tops and valleys, made by Mr. Dines, we are informed that the air on the top of a hill is colder than in the valley in the daytime, and warmer at night. The daily range at the higher station is not so great as at the lower, the difference being about four and a half degrees. In cold weather it is found that the air on the top of a hill is never so cold as that in the valley. The rainfall, also, on the hill is forty per cent. greater than in the valley. These observa- tions were prosecuted in a valley at Cobham and on a hill at Denbies, the difference in height being about six hundred feet.—15 A, April 27, 1872, 530. UNUSUAL WEATHER IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN IN 1871. The accounts furnished by the Boston Advertiser from the captains and crews of the vessels of the whaling fleet lately destroyed or ice-bound in the Arctic Ocean concur in describ- ing the presence of peculiar meteorological phenomena during the past season. The prevailing summer wind on the north- west coast of Alaska is from the north, and this works the ice off from the land and disperses it, while the northwesterly winds close it up on the shore. As the ice moves off, the ships generally work up by the land, and in that situation find whales in plenty. By the end of the season, when north- westerly winds are prevalent, the ice has become so broken up and melted that it has ceased to be an element of danger, and the vessels are compelled to retire to the northward by heavy ice drifting along the coast from the north, and not from a threatened closing in upon the land. But this season the easterly winds were not so strong and constant as usual, and the ice that had gone off from shore returned in a heavy pack that it was impossible to get a ship through, or even to hold against at anchor. The heavy ice-fields are all com- posed of fresh-water berg-ice, not floe-ice of salt-water. The bergs are not of the immense proportions seen in Greenland 52 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. seas, but are solid enough to be equally dangerous, many masses being so heavy as to ground in ten fathoms of water. — Boston Advertiser, Nov. 18,1871. PECULIARITIES OF THE WINTER OF 1871-1872 IN EUROPE. The past winter has been a very remarkable one in England. The cold weather set in unusually early and severely with the commencement of November, and from that date to De- cember 13, Mr. Glaisher’s weekly tables of meteorological ob- servations, taken at Greenwich, show the temperature to have been uniformly below the mean of the last fifty years, with the break of only a single day, the mean depression for the whole period being 6° 5’ Fahr. The coldest day was Decem- ber 8, when the thermometer fell to 18° 6’ Fahr., and the tem- perature of the twenty-four hours was 19° 3’ below the mean. Throughout France the month of November was very severe, the mean temperature of the month having been lower only four times during the last century. According to statistics presented to the Academy of Science by M. Ch. Sainte-Claire Deville, the thermometer fell as low as 11° Fahr. at Montar- gis on December 3, while even at Marseilles the remarkably low temperature (for that locality) of 27° 5’ Fahr. is recorded on November 23. During the early part of December the frost continued still more severe in France and Italy, where much snow fell. At Rome and throughout France trees and shrubs which had survived many winters were entirely de- stroyed. M. Delaunay remarks that the cold advanced, as is usually the case, from northeast to southwest. The minimum temperatures were recorded at Groningen, in Holland, on De- cember 7,14° Fahr.; at Brussels, 9° 5’ Fahr. on the 8th, and at Paris, 6° Fahr. on the 9th. This extremely low tempera- ture appears to have been confined to a very limited tract of country between Paris and Charleville. On the same day the temperature was above the freezing point in Scotland, within reach of the influence of the Gulf Stream, as far north as Nairn, and in the greater part of England, falling only at Greenwich as low as 28° Fahr. This severe frost was fol- lowed in England by a period of exceptionally mild weather of probably unprecedented length. For ninety-seven days, from December 13 to March 18, Mr. Glaisher’s tables show that the temperature was above the average on eighty-nine, B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 53 and below the average on only eight days, the mean excess for the whole period being 5° 1’ Fahr. During the whole of this period of more than three months the thermometer fell below the freezing point on four nights only, February being entirely free from.frost. The warmest period was from March 1 to 8, when the maximum temperature ranged each day from 57° 1’ to 60° 8’. | On March 19 the temperature again fell below the mean, and continued so for nine days, till the 27th, accompanied in London and the neighborhood by heavy falls of snow. The minimum temperature for March was, on the 21st, 26° 2’, being the lowest recorded since December 9. There were nine frosty nights in March, against two in the whole of the two preceding months. For the week ending March 26, the mean temperature was 34° Fahr., or 16° lower than the mean for the week ending March 7. The severe frost of March 21, following such a long period of mild weather, has done an im- mense amount of damage to the fruit crops, the pears and cherries having suffered more severely. It is remarkable that, although the flowers were killed in the bud, the centre being turned perfectly black, they opened as if untouched, and presented a mass of bloom looking to the eye entirely uninjured. On the early vegetable the effects were no less disastrous. In the island of Jersey alone, whence large sup- plies are usually obtained for the London market, the dam- age to the potato crop is estimated at many thousands of pounds.—A. W. Bennett. RELATION OF WEATHER TO COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS. A careful collation of meteorological records for given lo- calities, and the explosions from fire-damp in coal mines in Europe, has shown that there is a very close relationship be- tween the two, and that alterations in the meteorological condition are proximately the cause of most colliery acci- dents. Out of 550 given explosions investigated, it is thought that 226 may be attributed to the state of the barometer, and 123 to that of the thermometer, while the remaining 161 were unaccounted for on meteorological grounds; thus seventy per cent. of the whole were directly related to meteorological influences. It is suggested that special care should be ex- ercised in mines after a fall of the barometer, although the 54 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. explosions in most cases do not occur until several days after the depression has reached its minimum. The greatest num- ber of accidents are said to occur when a serious storm fol- lows a long period of fair weather. Elevation of. tempera- ture, of course, greatly interferes with the natural ventilation of a colliery ; and hence, if a warm day occur in a cold season when natural ventilation i is relied upon, it is very likely to be followed by an explosion. For a like reason, the first hot days of spring are quite often marked by colliery accidents. —16 A, July, 1872, 385. CYCLONES IN THE PACIFIC. Mr. Whitmer, in referring to a paper by Mr. Murphy in Nature on the scarcity of cyclones in the Pacific, remarks that there is rarely a year without at least one cyclone pass- ing through, or in the neighborhood of, one of the Feejee, Samoan, or Hervey group of islands. He states that the cy- clone season extends over the greater part of the period dur- ing which the sun is south of the equator; consequently, when the trade-winds from the north reach farthest south, they are most prevalent about the middle, or a little later than the middle, of the season, rarely earlier than December or January. They are usually preceded for a few days by strong northerly winds; and if during such winds a sudden fall of the barometer occur, this is considered a sure indica- tion of an approaching cyclone.—12 A, June 13, 1872, 121. CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE. Mr. Howorth has been engaged for some time on a series of papers discussing the changes that have taken place to the present time in regard to the distribution of land and water, and the consequent effect upon the climate. He finds that the result has been a great increase in the amount of cold in the far north, rendering regions such as those of East Greenland, once capable of supporting a considerable popu- lation, now entirely uninhabitable, and literally covered the year round with snow ‘and ice. He says, however, that while the evidence is overpowering that the climate has ‘been eTrow- ing more severe in the highest latitudes, there is a great deal of evidence to show the cold has decreased elsewhere, and that, especially in view of the accounts given of the climate B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 55 of Gaul and Germany in the Roman times, we can not but admit that there has been a great improvement since that date. Thus we are told of winters when the Danube and Rhine were frequently frozen over, and of the occurence of the reindeer and moose in localities far south of their present habitat. Ovid laments over the fearful severity of his place of exile on the coast of Thrace, and refers to the occurrence of white foxes there, and contemporaneous references corrob- orate his statements. Mr. Howorth inquires whether, even within the prehistoric period, the circumpolar climate may not have been very tem- perate, when that of more southern latitudes was very se- vere. We know, in fact, that during the miocene period Greenland once possessed a climate not dissimilar to that of the Eastern United States, as shown in the occurrence of numerous species of trees of large size, some of them, like our cypress, etc., absolutely identical with our forest vegeta- tion of the present day. Mr. Howorth also refers to the gen- eral impression among whalers that excessively severe win- ters in the more temperate latitudes are accompanied by an unusual degree of mildness in the more northern latitudes. This we accept as an augury in favor of Captain Hall’s ex- ploration, since the winter of 1871-72 was one of the sever- est on record of late years; and should Mr. Howorth’s sug- gestion be correct, the captain should have enjoyed an un- usual freedom from snow and ice, permitting him to prosecute his researches to great advantage.—12 A, June 13, 1872, 121. PALMIERI’S LAW RESPECTING ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY. Mr. George Forbes, in an article in ature upon Professor Palmieri’s observatory on Mount Vesuvius, to which con- stant reference has been made in the accounts of the recent eruption of that mountain, mentions a law in regard to at- mospheric electricity that Professor Palmieri has reached, as the result of his observations for a quarter of a century in a country where meteorological changes are very regular and less capricious than in Great Britain. He enunciates this as follows: If within a distance of about fifty miles there is no shower of rain, hail, or snow, the electricity is always posi- tive. The single exception is during the projection of ashes from the crater of Vesuvius. 56 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. During a shower he finds the following law to hold good universally: At the place of the shower there is a strong de- velopment of positive electricity ; round this there is a zone of negative, and beyond this again, positive. The nature of the electricity observed depends upon the position of the ob- server with respect to the shower, and the phenomenon will change according to the direction in which the shower is moving. Sometimes negative electricity may be observed during a shower, but this is always due to a more powerful shower farther off. These conclusions have been supported by means of telegraphic communication with neighboring districts. It appears, then, that, except when the moisture of the air is being condensed, there is no unusual develop- ment of electricity.—12 A, June 20, 1872, 147. VOLCANIC SAND IN CHILE. The evista del Sur, of Chilé, states that showers of sand occurred on the 3d of July, in Araucania, of sufficient extent to cover up all the planted fields of the Indians, and oblige them to take refuge on the north side of the mountain. This rain, supposed to have come from an eruption of Mount Llai- ma, distressed the Indians so much as to drive them into the neighborhood of the white settlements.—Panama Star and Herald, September 23, 1872, 2. STEEL SOUNDING-LINES. Sir William Thomson, in a communication read before the British Association, recommends the use of steel wire in deep-sea soundings. The great difficulty in such operations consists in the resistance of the water to the line, which is usually overcome in very deep soundings by employing ex- tremely heavy weights. Beyond a depth of 300 fathoms the ordinary lead ceases to be available, and until very recently the difficulty of bringing up a long line and heavy weight from a considerable depth was so great that it had become the practice to leave the weight behind, simply bringing up a sample of the bottom. Farthermore, when there is great resistance to the line, the currents sometimes carry it away to a considerable distance, so that it is difficult to know when the bottom is actually reached. In view of these facts he has lately been experimenting in mid-ocean, at a depth of B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 57 2700 fathoms, with a line consisting of a steel wire of No, 22 gauge. This was 0.03 of an inch in diameter, weighed twelve pounds per statute mile, and broke with a weight of 252 pounds. To the end of the wire was attached a piece of hemp cord, which carried the weight, so that the wire did not touch the bottom at all. The wire was wrapped around a wheel. The danger of breakage was considered very slight, especially if by coating the wire with some non-oxidizable material its rusting be prevented.—18 A, Aug. 30, 1872, 606. DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES. According to Dr. Carpenter, if we go deep enough in the open sea we shall always find the temperature as low as 32°; but in inclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean, the deeper and colder water, circulating from the poles, can not enter ; therefore the lowest bottom temperature is determined by the lowest winter temperature of the surface. Scarcity of life in the Mediterranean he considers to be owing to a de- ficiency of oxygen in the water, due to its combining with a large quantity of organic matter brought down by the riv- ers and emptying into it. Thus, while in the Atlantic we usually find 20 per cent. of oxygen and 40 per cent. of car- bonic acid, in the bottom waters of the Mediterranean there is often only 5 per cent. of oxygen and over 65 per cent. of carbonic acid. He considers the Red Sea and its neighbor- hood the hottest region on the earth, the temperature of the surface water rising to 85° or 90°, and the bottom tempera- ture being about 71°, corresponding to the greatest winter cold. Outside of this sea, however, in the Arabian Gulf, the bottom temperature is 33°. Dr. Carpenter thinks that, as the lowest bottom temperature of the Red Sea is as high as 71°, living corals should occur there at greater depths than any where else in the world.—15 A, August 24, 1872, 240. CURRENTS OF THE BLACK SEA. Some time ago Dr. William B. Carpenter, on theoretical grounds, concluded that a strong surface current runs out- ward from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles into the A‘gean, this cur- rent being obviously the result of the elevation of the level of the Black Sea by the enormous volume of fresh water dis- C 2 58 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. charged into its basin by the Danube, the Dnieper, the Don, and other rivers. This inflow, being greatly in excess of the evaporation from the surface of the Black Sea, keeps down ‘the salinity of its water to an average of about two fifths that of ordinary sea-water. It is, therefore, evident that, as the outer current is con- tinually carrying away a portion of its salt, the basin would in time become entirely filled with fresh water but for some return of salt water from the Atgean, and he maintained that this is supplied most probably by an under-current flowing inward. The truth of this prediction on the part of Dr. Car- penter was contested by Captain Spratt, on the ground of experiments made by him during the survey of these straits, this officer maintaining that, on the contrary, the water of the Dardanelles below twenty fathoms is motionless, and that the salt water finds its way back into the Euxine as a surface current when the rivers are low and the wind sets along the straits from the Aigean. Quite recently the controversy has been decisively settled by experiments conducted by the surveying staff of the Shear- water with a large current drag. This was suspended in the deeper stratum of the Dardanelles from a boat, which was carried along by it in opposition to the surface current, which is said to have been even stronger than the steam-power of the launch of the Shearwater. This under-current was found to be flowing at twenty fathoms from the surface, precisely the depth assigned to it by Dr. Carpenter, as deduced from the discussion of Captain Spratt’s own experiments.—15 A, October 26, 1872, 534. CARBONIC ACID IN SEA-WATER. Oscar Jacobsen, of Kiel, has made a communication: to Nature in reference to the carbonic acid in sea-water, the de- termination of the amount of this gas being considered a matter of much importance in deep-sea researches. He states that the complete expulsion of oxygen and nitrogen from sea- water presents no difficulty, the comparative proportion of the two gases not being sensibly different in the first and last portions of the gas expelled. Carbonic acid is only par- tially driven off by boiling the sea-water for hours in a va- cuum, and the proportion of acid found in the expelled gas B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 59 justifies no conclusion as to the amount in the water. The portions of the sea-water gas first displaced are almost en- tirely free from carbonic acid, the later being richer. The complete expulsion of carbonic acid from sea-water is attained by its distillation in a current of air free from car- bonic acid; but even under this operation it is detached so slowly that only after the evaporation of a considerable amount of water does the carbonate of lime begin to sepa- rate. The distillation must be continued until only one fourth of the original quantity of water remains. The fact, therefore, that carbonic acid is present in sea-water, not as a dissolved gas in the same sense as oxygen and hydrogen, but in a peculiar condition of combination, Mr. Jacobsen con- siders of great importance, not only as respects animal and vegetable life, but also-in reference to the geological rela- tions of the sea. He is now prosecuting an inquiry as to which of the constituents of sea-water is due its power of close combination with carbonic acid, and what is the pro- portion of this acid to the salt.—12 A, August 8, 1872, 279. CARBONIC ACID OF SEA-WATER. Mr. Lant Carpenter, who has been investigating the amount of gaseous constituents in samples of deep sea-water obtained during the Porcupine expedition of 1869-70, remarks that the analyses show that both surface and bottom water con- tain more carbonic acid and less oxygen in the more southern than in the more northern latitudes. ‘The examinations made embraced samples taken from localities extending from the Faroe Islands to Lisbon. Contrary to the general supposi- tion, however, he reports that there is no greater quantity of dissolved gaseous constituents in the bottom than in the sur- face water, although he fully admits the power of pressure at great depths to retain gases in solution if once evolved there.—1 A, August 23,1872, 88. DISCUSSION OF DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES. Professor Mohn, of Christiania, discussing in Petermann’s Mittheilungen the results of the deep-sea temperature obser- vations in the waters between Greenland, North Europe, and Spitzbergen, remarks that the deep basin of the polar sea is filled from bottom to top with an enormous mass of cold 60 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. water, which on the southeast is encompassed by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, and penetrates below its current to the coast of Europe. The principal discharge of the polar ocean takes place into the lower strata of the Atlantic, through the deep channel between Greenland and Iceland; while the shallow sea between Iceland and the Faroes hinders any further outflow, which Is only permitted through the nar- row lower portion of the Faroe-Shetland channel. The banks around the British Islands (the shallow North Sea and the Norwegian banks) prevent any other outflow southward; and those between the Bear Islands and Norway answer the same purpose to the east. On the other hand, an immense mass of warm water extends from the deep abyss of the At- lantic northward over the shallow sea between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as also above the Faroe-Shetland channel. Thence some part of the current passes the Norwegian coast and continues in two different arms, the narrower but deeper reaching to the north coast of Spitzbergen, while the second and broader arm expands over the entire sea of Nova Zembla. The left bank and bottom of the Gulf Stream are formed by the ice-cold water of the Arctic Ocean; the right side, however, consists of the bottom of the North Sea and the banks connected with it, as also of the Norwegian coast to the Russian boundary. The Gulf Stream is warmest on the surface layer quite close to the coast of Norway (in the sum- mer, of course), and from this point the strata exhibit a sen- sibly decreasing temperature with the increasing depth, until we reach the stratum of the freezing-point. Deep-sea observations in several of the Norwegian fiords, which are protected by their outlying banks from the great Atlantic depths, show that their water comes from the Gulf Stream, and they appear to be filled with this water to the very bottom, even when this lies lower than the ice-cold bed of the Gulf Stream off the coast. Thus the West Fiord, at a depth of from 100 to 320 fathoms, showed a uniform temper- ature of 44.6° Fahr. in the summer of 1868, while outside of the Loffodens the observations of the Morna in July, 1871, at 35 fathoms, revealed a temperature of 44.6° Fahr., and at_ 215 fathoms of 39.2°. To the southwest of Lindesnes and Li- ster, in June to August, 1871, at 150 to 250 fathoms, the tem- perature registered 42.8° to 44.6°, while in the Faroe-Shetland B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 61 channel, at the same depth, the temperature decreased from 42.8° to 38.8°. Attention is called by the author to the temperature indi- cations of the Porcupine expedition in July, 1869, where, in the deep depression of the Atlantic Ocean, outside the chan- nel, while the temperature at the surface was 62.6° Fahr., at 2435 fathoms it was 36.5°, a decrease occurring abrubtly be- low the first 50 fathoms, through the loss of the influence of the sun’s rays, and then, again, at 700 fathoms, the difference between 900 fathoms and the sea-bottom amounting only to ie Southwest of Iceland, to the west of the Rockall Gulf, at a depth of 300 fathoms, where the sea-bottom branches off from the greatest depression of the Atlantic, a uniform tempera- ture of 44.6° was noted, while at the same depth on the east side of the Rockall the temperature was 48.2°. In the Faroe-Shetland channel, and to the northeast of Ice- land, at a depth of 200 to 300 fathoms, water was met with of 32° Fahr., while in the neighboring portion of the Atlantic Ocean the temperature at the same depth was above 46.4°. The general variation of the surface temperature amounts to 9° Fahr. or even more, but becomes less as we descend, the decline, however, not being every where in the same ra- tio. Deep-sea strata reach their maxima and minima a little later than the surface layer.—17 C, October 1872, 315. DO GREAT FIRES PRODUCE RAINS? Professor Lapham, in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, discusses the question whether the great fires in the North- west, during the months of September, October, and Novem- ber of 1871, especially that which destroyed the greater part of Chicago, had any decided effect upon the weather, either by creating or moving currents of air, or by causing the fall of rain. After a careful consideration of the facts connected with these fires, and the accompanying meteorological con- ditions, as shown by reliable records, he sees no reason to conclude that any of the rains that fell about the same time were due to the cause in question. Referring, however, to Mr. Espy’s hypothesis of the produc- tion of rain by artificial fires, he calls attention to the fact that Espy only claimed that fires would produce rain under 62 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. favorable circumstances of a high dew-point and a calm at- mosphere, both of which conditions were entirely wanting in Chicago at the time of the fire, the air being almost destitute of moisture, and the wind blowing a gale. To produce rain the air must ascend until it becomes cool enough to condense the moisture, which then falls in the form of rain. In the case of Chicago the air could not ascend very far, being driven off in nearly a horizontal direction by the great force of the wind. He presumes, therefore, that this instance neither con- firms nor disproves the Espian theory, and that we may still believe the well-authenticated accounts of instances where rain has been produced by a large fire under favorable cir- cumstances of very moist air and absence of wind. —Sour, Frankl. Inst., July, 1872, 46. USE OF STEEL WIRE FOR SOUNDINGS. An important communication was made by Sir William Thomson to the British Association in regard to the substi- tution of steel wire for the ordinary sounding-lead in deter- mining ocean depths. Usually,ifthe depths to be measured exceed two or three hundred fathoms, the ordinary sounding- lead becomes insufficient, and a much greater weight must be employed. As a general rule, for each thousand fathoms in depth it is necessary to attach one hundred-weight for the purpose in question; and consequently, for soundings of two or three thousand fathoms, the weight required becomes enor- mous. The difficulty in raising such a weight has led to the adoption of an arrangement, by which, on touching the bottom, the descending weight is detached and the line drawn up, leaving the weight at the bottom, and, of course, entirely lost. This necessarily involves great expense, and the carry- ing of so many weights adds seriously to the loading of the vessel, The size of the cord (usually made of the best Italian hemp) adopted in the British Admiralty is three quarters of an inch in circumference, with a tenacity of half a ton. Steam-power is generally used for bringing back the cord; about thirty-five minutes being required to reach a depth of 2000 fathoms, and forty-five minutes for winding it up. The cord is allowed to run freely off a reel, and the time noted when it ceases to be paid out regularly. The proposition of Sir William B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 63 Thomson, to substitute steel wire for the cord, was at first quite unsatisfactory ; but certain minor difficulties having been obviated, the application of the new material proves to be perfectly practicable. The wire is coiled around a wheel one fathom in circumference, constructed of tin, and carrying three miles of wire, No. 22 steel piano wire being found to be the best, as this has twice the sustaining power of ordinary iron wire. The difficulty of getting it of sufficient length was ‘overcome by Richard Johnston, of Manchester, who was able to supply a homogeneous wire of three miles in length, weighing but thirteen and a half pounds to the mile. This is 0.03 of an inch in diameter, and bears a weight of 252 pounds, so that it will sustain tw enty-c one miles of its own weight in the water. When the apparatus is arranged for use, a sounding-lead of thirty pounds, with a brass tube in it for taking up a specimen of the sea-bottom, is connected by means of thirty fathoms of sounding-line to the end of the steel wire in ques- tion, and at the point of union of the latter a lead weight of three pounds is attached. This weight being directly at the end of the steel wire, keeps it sufficiently stretched to pre- vent any danger of kinking. An adjustable friction brake is applied to the wheel, set to a pressure of about twenty pounds, so that whenever the thirty-pound weight touches the bottom the uncoiling of the wheel immediately ceases. The wire, then, does not touch the bottom, and is kept taut by its special lead. With the increasing depth the pressure of the brake is in- creased proportionally, as it has been ascertained that for each eighty fathoms of wire an addition of a pound of force to the brake apparatus is required; and as each circumfer- ence of the wheel represents a fathom for each eighty revolu- tions, it is easy to calculate the force to be applied for a given number of revolutions. In all cases it is necessary that the wheel run out freely when held in the hand. Sir William Thomson made experiments in the Bay of Biscay during the past summer, and found the apparatus to be perfectly satisfactory. Once, while expecting a depth of 1500 fathoms, the wire ran out 2500 fathoms without reach- ing bottom. Continuing to pay out the line, with a brake pressure of thirty-five pounds, greater and greater velocity 64 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. was exhibited, until forty-five pounds were required to keep the equilibrium. Suddenly the revolutions ceased, and the lead was found to have reached bottom at the extraordinary depth of 2700 fathoms, or about 100 fathoms greater than the deepest hitherto indicated upon the charts. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE RED SEA. The Hydrographic Office has lately published a pamphlet on the physical geography of the Red Sea, translated from’ the German of Captain W. Kropp, of the Imperial Austrian navy. ‘The article contains an account of the formation of the coast, the winds, the clouds, the amount of atmospheric precipitation, the temperature and pressure, the saltness and temperature of the sea, the currents, tides, depths, ete. The tables of temperature given well bear out the reputation of the Red Sea in regard to excessive heat, the maximum tem- perature ranging from 80° in November to nearly 105° in July; and the minimum in November and December being about 58°. This temperature in itself, although indicating one of the hottest regions on the globe, would not be unbear- able were it not for the enormous amount of moisture in the atmosphere, which makes it a perpetual hot bath. The Red Sea is an exception to the general rule that deep water approaches close to high and rocky shores, while a low and flat shore indicates shallow water. Although the sea is surrounded almost entirely by a flat sandy coast, the depth of the water up to the land is very considerable. The de- scent is gradual in a few localities, the bottom of the sea forming plateaus, with sudden and steep descents from one to the other in some cases. CHANGE OF LEVEL IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. According to Notice, No. 89, just published by the Hydro- graphic Office at Washington, the principal results of the ex- plorations in the Northern seas about Nova Zembla during the past year prove that the waters are completely free from ice for five months in the year, during which period they are navigable along the northwest coast of the island as late as September, while the sea east of it was not only free from ice, but had a temperature of about 48° Fahr. in the month of September. The position and contour of Nova Zembla on B. TERRESTRIAL - PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 65 the map has been considerably changed, as it has been shown to reach north to latitude 77°, and east to longitude 69°, and Cape Nassau lies twenty-two miles farther southwest than the position given to it hitherto. A very interesting discovery is that of the Gulf Stream islands, in the exact place where the examinations of the Dutch expeditions in 1594 to 1597 located a sand-bank with eighteen fathoms of water over it, the depth of water between it and the coast being fifty to sixty fathoms. This would in- dicate that the sea-bottom in that region has risen more than 110 feet in three hundred years, a very remarkable fact. Ac- cording to Mack, these islands are six miles from the coast, the north point being in latitude 76° 22’, longitude 63° 38’, They consist of sand and rock, being bare, with no trace of vegetation. Petrified shells are found on the firmer parts of the surface.—Wotice, No. 89, Hydrographic Office. DISCUSSION OF DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES. Professor Mohn, of Christiania, discussing in Petermann’s Mittheilungen the results of the deep-sea temperature obser- vations in the waters between Greenland, North Europe, and Spitzbergen, remarks that the deep basin of the polar sea is filled from bottom to top with an enormous mass of cold water, which on the southeast is encompassed by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, and penetrates below its current to the coast of Europe. The principal discharge of the polar ocean takes place into the lower strata of the Atlantic, through the deep channel between Greenland and Iceland; while the shallow seas between Iceland and the Faroes hinders any further outflow, which is only permitted through the narrow lower portion of the Faroe-Shetland channel. The banks around the British Islands (the shallow North Sea and the Norwegian banks) prevent any other outflow southward; and those between the Bear Islands and Norway answer the same purpose to the east. On the other hand, an immense mass of warm water extends from the deep abyss of the At- lantic northward over the shallow sea between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as also above the Faroe-Shetland chan- nel. Thence some part of the current passes the Norwegian coast and continues in two different arms, the narrower but deeper reaching to the north coast of Spitzbergen, while the 66 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. second and broader arm expands over the entire sea of Nova Zembla. The left bank and bottom of the Gulf Stream are formed by the ice-cold water of the Arctic Ocean; the right side, however, consists of the bottom of the North Sea and the banks connected with it, as also of the Norwegian coast to the Russian boundary. The Gulf Stream is warmest on the surface layer quite close to the coast of Norway (in the summer, of course), and from this point the strata exhibit a sensibly-decreasing temperature with the increasing depth, until we reach the stratum of the freezing-point. Deep-sea observations in several of the Norwegian fiords, which are protected by their_out-lying banks from the great Atlantic depths, show that their water comes from the Gulf Stream, and they appear to be filled with this water to the very bottom, even when this lies lower than the ice-cold bed of the Gulf Stream off the coast. Thus the West Fiord, at a depth of from 100 to 320 fathoms, showed a uniform tem- perature of 44.6° Fahr. in the summer of 1868, while outside of the Loffodens the observations of the Vorna in July, 1871, at 35 fathoms, revealed a temperature of 44.6° Fahr., and at 215 fathoms of 39.2°. To the southwest of Lindesnes and ~ Lister, in June to August, 1871, at 150 to 250 fathoms, the temperature registered 42.8° to 44.6°, while in the Faroe- Shetland channel, at the same depth, the temperature de- creased from 42.8° to 33.8°. Attention is*called by the author to the temperature indi- cations of the Porcupine expedition in July, 1869, where, in the deep depression of the Atlantic Ocean, outside the chan- nel, while the temperature at the surface was 62.6° Fahr., at 2435 fathoms it was 36.5°,a decrease occurring abruptly be- low the first 50 fathoms, through the loss of the influence of the sun’s rays, and then, again, at 700 fathoms, the difference between 900 fathoms and the sea-bottom amounting only to-2:7°. Southwest of Iceland, to the west of the Rockall Gulf, at a depth of 300 fathoms, where the sea-bottom branches off from the greatest depression of the Atlantic, a uniform tem- perature of 44.6° was noted, while at the same depth on the east side of the Rockall the temperature was 48.2°. In the Faroe-Shetland channel, and to the northeast of B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 67 Iceland, at a depth of 200 to 300 fathoms, water was met with of 32° Fahr., while in the neighboring portion of the Atlantic Ocean the temperature at the same depth was above 46.4°. The general variation of the surface temperature amounts to 9° Fahr., or even more, but becomes less as we descend, the decline, however, not being every where in the same ra- tio. Deep-sea strata reach their maxima and minima a little later than the surface layer.—17 C, October 1872, 315. UNVARYING COURSE OF CIRRUS CLOUDS. It seems to be generally admitted that there are two cold poles (points of minimum temperature) in the northern hem- isphere, one in Asia, and the other in North America, and that from these the trade-winds radiate, regulating, as they veer to one side or the other, the changes of the weather. To complete the statement, attention is called to the fact that it is extremely probable that the high cirrus clouds are unaffected by the variation in course, between northwest and southeast, which the trade-winds experience on the east- ern borders of the two great continents, but preserve the normal direction imparted to them by the rotation of the earth—namely, that of the anti-trades—and, at a great ele- vation, continue undisturbed from west or west-southwest to east-northeast. Observations are not complete enough to establish the latter proposition, but numerous concordant statements render it so probable that it seems worthy of the attention of local and other observers. In North America, where the axis around which the wind veers lies decidedly between northwest and southeast, as in Eastern Asia, the fact seems better substantiated than in Europe (can, indeed, be considered as fixed), and the infer- ence is justifiable that the condition on the eastern coast of Asia is similar. Russell verifies by his own observations in Canada, in Washington, in the Southern States, and Cuba, the statement of Espy, that in the United States there is an unvarying upper current of air from the west. Blodgett as- serts that at Philadelphia, at all seasons, a western current can, not unfrequently, be detected by cirrus clouds. In Northern Asia, even on the east coast, no exact information on this point has been supplied, on account of the neglect to 68 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. notice particularly cirrus clouds. In interior Asia, a few definite observations can be given, and on the east coast of Siberia a few at least not contradictory ones, inasmuch as the existence of cirrus clouds has been noted with varying inferior winds, but without giving their direction. If it should be demonstrated, then, which the writer does not doubt, that the high cirrus clouds, the greatest elevation of which can be placed at 40,000 feet, on the east side of the two cold poles do not take part in the variation of the anti- trades from a west-southwest to southeast direction, but that these elevated masses of ice crystals and flakes continue unaffected in the normal direction imparted by the earth’s rotation, the fact will be of the highest importance in giving a more correct exhibition of the total movement of the at- mosphere, and lead to the conclusion that the whole depth of the atmosphere does not find the initial and final point of its motion in the region of the greatest cold, but that a very considerable and more elevated portion moves above this, having this point at the geographical pole of the earth. There would be in this a new proof that the whole atmos- phere takes part in the circulation between the equator and the poles, and that the cause of the movement is not simply the difference of temperatures, but much more—the centrif- ugal force of the earth’s rotation, in consequence of which there exists at the points of maximum velocity, during the night as well as the day, a continuous upward current, of aspiration, of the trade or polar current drawn to this re- gion, and that this air, with the moisture contained, must again descend. This may only take place in the polar lati- tudes, toward which it moves, and which it finally reaches in its normal west-southwest direction, also by force of as- piration, as compensation for the air drawn from those re- gions.—3 C, September 30,1872, 949. METEOROLOGY OF THE FUTURE. Mr. Lockyer contributes a very interesting article to Wa- ture, under the title of the Zhe Meteorology of the Future, in which he inquires into the possibility of anticipating the cli- matological conditions of the country for years before any given period. He remarks that the most feasible solution of the problem, ascertained from meteorological phenomena, is r B. TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS AND METEOROLOGY. 69 whether there is a general movement in regular cycles; and, from the observations of Mr. Meldrum and others, he is in- clined to believe that there is such a cycle, and that it corre- sponds very closely to the eleven-year sun-spot period. The connection between these sun-spot periods and the most fa- vorable vine-growing seasons has already been pointed out by various writers; and it is not improbable that by contin- uing the inquiry, as suggested by Mr. Lockyer, important re- sults will be obtained that may place the science of meteor- ology on an entirely new basis. In a communication to a later number of ature, referring to the article in question, Mr. G. J. Symons, a very eminent authority, corroborates the suggestions of Mr. Lockyer by pointing out a very remarkable connection between the max- imum sun-spot years and heavy rain-fall, as also between the minimum sun- spot years and a small amount of rain-fall. The results which Mr. Symons give extend in one instance over a period of one hundred and forty years, and are very striking, pointing to something more than a mere coinci- dence.—12 A, December 26, 143. THE GREAT BAROMETRIC WAVE. Considerable interest has been excited by the announce- ment that a great scientific discovery has been made by the meteorologist of the weather bureau of the Army Signal-of- fice. The paragraphs that are going the rounds of the daily press are so evidently exaggerated that it may be well to record what we suppose to be the exact nature of the so- called discovery. It will be remembered that in successive reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Mr. Birt, of England, in the years 1844-50, developed the fact that about the middle of November the barometer reads quite high at the stations in Britain and on the neighboring coasts, and he maintained also that this “ November wave,” as he called it, is a feature of importance in the ae ology of that portion of the world. The word “ wave” should not mislead the reader, for there is no evidence of the existence of waves of air like those of water, the term being used for convenience. But during the past ten years the weather map of the 70 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Bulletin International, issued daily at Paris, has, by extend- ing the area of our observation, shown that these “ waves” are simply circular or elliptical areas of high barometric pressure, around which the winds circulate in accordance with well-known laws. The great extent of our own coun- try has of course given the signal-office superior advantages for studying the motions of these areas and the weather ac- companying them. On a recent occasion a very extensive one moved over the country from Kansas to the Blue Ridge, and, being attended by very cold winds, was quite generally remarked upon, although differing in extent only from those that have been chronicled by the signal-office almost daily during the past two years. This “high area” (for so they are succinctly denominated in the daily weather reports) was ee as usual, by “low areas,” or “storm cen- tres,” which simultaneously passed rapidly eastward over the northern portions of the country, and the idea has been entertained by some that possibly the presence of the for- mer may help to the earlier prediction of the latter. This hope has not yet been realized, nor does there seem any rea- sonable probability that we shall live to see the day when weather predictions will be ventured upon by careful mete- orologists for longer periods in advance than have already been attempted by the compilers of the Signal-office ‘* Prob- abilities.” The true result arrived at by the two years’ experience of the signal-office seems to be the renewed confirmation of the experience of European meteorologists as to the perfect fea- sibility of predicting approaching storms, clear weather, winds, etc., in early enough season to be of the greatest ben- efit to all classes of industry. As regards the discovery of new laws, scientists are well aware that these must be of the nature of generalizations or inductions founded upon at least several years’ experience. C. GENERAL PHYSICS. ral C. GENERAL PHYSICS. ADJUSTMENT OF SHIPS’ COMPASSES. Professor E. Dubois, of the naval school at Brest, has spent much time in studying the best means of obviating the dan- gers which arise to ships in consequence of the deviations of their compasses. With this view he has constructed a gyro- scopic compass, revolving 8000 times per minute, mounted upon Cardan’s triple suspension, and carrying a needle sup- ported above a graduated circle. In accordance with a well- known property of the gyroscope, this circle maintains an in- variable position, and indicates the precise number of degrees through which the vessel may be turned to starboard or port, thus furnishing the means of determining the true direction of her head at any time after it has once been obtained from observations on a headland. This instrument may therefore be used to determine all the deviations on the compass on board ship. Some experiments made with it on the corvette Bougainville in the roadstead of Brest are said to have been extremely satisfactory.—3 B,1., 1872, 3. ELECTRIC APPARATUS FOR DEEP-SEA TEMPERATURES, Professor Davidson, of the Coast Survey, has lately devised an apparatus for recording the temperature at different depths by means of an electro-thermal pile. He proposes to register the depth by breaking the circuit of an electric cur- rent passing through two insulated wires in the sounding-line at about every one hundred fathoms by means of the wheel- work of the Massey or similar apparatus. In the changes of temperature, an electro-thermal pile eighteen inches long, in- sulated, and surrounded by a non-conductor except at one end, is used in combination with a Thompson’s reflecting gal- vanometer, not liable to derangement on shipboard. At ev- ery one hundred fathoms, when the chromograph registers the depth, the observer notices the readings of the galvanom- eter, which readings are reduced to Fahrenheit degrees.— San Francisco Bulletin. 72 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICITY BY FRICTION. It has been observed that the friction of certain granulated metals on the walls of a glass vessel containing bisulphide of carbon excites electricity. Silver, iron, aluminium, etc., produce the phenomenon, while platinum, copper, and zinc seem to be inactive. The mode of conducting the experi- ment is as follows: About half an ounce of granulated silver is put into a retort of thick white glass, containing an ounce of pure bisulphide of carbon; the vessel is then tightly closed. and shaken for some time in the dark. Sparks soon become visible in the liquid, and after a while the entire mass becomes luminous. If water is poured upon the outside of the vessel the light immediately disappears, but it is again excited by shaking. The electricity in the glass is positive. Silver furnishes the best experiment.—19 C, xiv. CAUSE OF THE VARIATION OF THE MAGNETIC POLE. The precise cause of the variation of the magnetic pole of the earth has not been well established; but in the view of Dr. Menzzer this is owing to the continued variation of the level of the earth’s surface mainly in the polar regions. He goes through a very elaborate mathematical investigation of the relation between the land areas of the north and the magnetic currents, and endeavors to show that with unchang- ing outlines this pole will be constant, but that with any variation it will necessarily be altered in its position. In the fact that the level of the land is continually altering, not only in the north, but elsewhere on the surface of the globe, very few portions being entirely free from change, he finds the ex- planation of the deflection of the needle first on one side and then on the other, these changes being not all in one direc- tion, the elevation of the land in one place to some extent balancing its depression in another.—7 C, Feb., 1872, 127. NEW THEORY OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. Professor Zollner proposes a new theory in regard to the origin of terrestrial magnetism. He adopts the idea of drift currents upon the liquid surface of the sun, by means of which he tries to explain the movement of the sun spots. These drift currents originate, according to his conception, from the C. GENERAL PHYSICS. 73 current of heat continually ascending from the interior, and from the rotation of the sun. Such currents, Professor Zoll- ner maintains, exist in all rotating cosmical bodies, even after the surface, cooled by radiation, has become rigid to a certain extent. This is the case with the earth, and the continuous regular currents of the interior liquid mass produce different effects upon the outer shell, mechanical, thermal, and also magnetical, the latter as a necessary consequence of the elec- tricity originated by the currents. The professor further maintains that by this hypothesis the general phenomena of terrestrial magnetism may be satisfactorily explained, and that they are related to the currents of the inner liquid mass, and whatever affects these currents, as, for instance, volca- noes, reacts immediately upon the magnetism of the earth. Whenever a cosmical body becomes entirely solid, no in- duced magnetism can exist, ete.—19 C, xv1, 123. CONCURRENT MAGNETIC OBSERVATIONS, Mr. Diamilla-Miiller, of Milan, invites the concurrence of physicists in making a series of simultaneous observations in terrestrial magnetism on the 15th of October, 1872. He re- marks that the simultaneous observations of the 20th of Au- gust, 1870, have furnished a long and rich series of data in reference to the diurnal variation of the needle, taken as a wholé, and over the entire surface of the earth. Among the most important results of this series is that the secular varia- tion of the horizontal needle, on the surface of the globe, in- creases or diminishes in proportion to the value of the angle formed by the needle with the astronomical meridian, this variation being two minutes per annum near the line of zero, or in declination, and seven minutes where the declination is equal to fourteen degrees, such proportion being exhibited symmetrically on either side of the line of no declination. The special object of the second series is to ascertain the absolute mean daily declination, for the purpose of determin- ing the secular variation of the isogonal lines—in other words, the increase or diminution of the declination. They will also serve to assist in the construction of magnetic charts, as with their aid it will be possible to resolve many pending ques- tions relative to the real position of certain isogonal lines, and to the proportional value of their secular displacement. The D 74 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. general object, as finally summed up by Mr. Miiller, is to de- termine the absolute mean value of the magnetical declina- tion on the 15th of October, 1872, upon the entire surface of the globe, with instruments and according to the tests em- ployed up to this time by the different observatories. The magnetic stations which possess self-registering instruments should take the mean variation of the twenty-four hours re- duced to an absolute value. Those who do not possess such instruments should determine directly the absolute magnetic declination at eight o’clock in the morning, and two and six in the afternoon. Directors of observatories are requested to transmit the results of their observations to Mr. Miiller at Milan, with the assurance that they will be carefully collated, and the comparative results published in a special report.— 1 B, Nov. 5,1871, 79. ACTION OF THE MAGNET ON ELECTRIC LIGHT. Professor Houston calls attention, in the journal of the Franklin Institute, to the action of the magnet upon electric- al light, first noticed by him in the course of an experiment upon the rotation of light by the magnet. In this he ap- proached a compound bar magnet to the light, holding it with one end pointing directly to the arch, in a horizontal plane, equidistant between the carbon electrodes. When the nearest end of the magnet was four inches from the’ elec- trodes, the light was instantly extinguished. The cause of this phenomenon, he thinks, is to be attributed to the tendency of the flame to rotate on the approach of the magnet. This might cause the extinguishing of the light in two ways: either by the irregularities on the surface of the carbon electrodes offering greater resistance to the passage of the current from some points than from others, or by the current being unable to pass through the greater distanee of the arched path which is always assumed by the light on the approach of a magnet. Another assumption, which is perhaps as probable as any, is that on the approach of the magnet there is a slight in- crease in the non-conducting power of the medium between the electrodes, produced by their polarization, and which, though always acting, can only manifest itself in a striking manner when the distance between the electrodes is near a C. GENERAL PHYSICS. © "5 maximum, and the tension of the current is exerted to its ut- most in passing through the non-conducting medium. This assumption of the polarization of the medium between the electrodes, and its consequently diminished power of conduct- ing the current, seems to be somewhat sustained by the fact that a powerful electro-magnet,; in the form of a horseshoe, when approached, did not extinguish the light, although it produced rotation of the current; for we may conceive that the two poles, acting simultaneously on the medium, would each neutralize the effect of the other.—1 D, May, 1872, 299. BOYDEN PREMIUM. Uriah A. Boyden, of Boston, has deposited with the Frank- lin Institute, of Philadelphia, the sum of one thousand dollars, to be awarded as a premium to any resident of North Ameri- ca who shall determine by experiment whether all rays of light, and other physical rays, are or are not transmitted with the same velocity. The conditions of the premium limit the applicants to those living north of the southern boundary of Mexico, and including the West India Islands. Applica- tions must be made before the 1st of January, 1873, at which time the judges, appointed by the Franklin Institute, shall examine the memoirs and decide whether any one is entitled to the premium.—1 D, January, 1872. ACTION OF LIGHT IN ELIMINATING OXYGEN FROM PLANTS. In the course of some experiments recently prosecuted by Miiller on the action of light of different degrees of refrangi- bility upon the elimination of oxygen from the green portions of plants, it was ascertained that the curve of intensity for the assimilating action of the different rays possesses several maxima, and that the highest intensity of the secretion of oxygen lies in the red of the spectrum, between the Fraun- hofer lines B and C, or in that part of the spectrum the rays of which are most completely absorbed by both living and dead chlorophyl.—19 C, January 20,1872, 18. YOUNG ON THE SPECTROSCOPE. Number 109 of Wature contains an article, in detail, by Professor Young, of Dartmouth College, upon the construc- tion, arrangement, and best proportion of the spectroscope "6 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. with reference to its efficiency. These notes are reprinted from advanced sheets of the journal of the Franklin Institute, to which the article was originally communicated.—12 A, November 30, 1871, 85. NOMENCLATURE OF OBJECTIVES. Dr. Woodward, of the Army Medical Museum, in speaking of the nomenclature of achromatic objectives, and of the com- pound microscope, takes exception to the method of estima- ting their power by their real or supposed agreement, in the amount of magnifying, with single lenses of specified focal lengths. Thus, when we read of inch, half inch, and quarter inch objectives, we are expected to understand combinations agreeing in magnifying power with single convex lenses of the focal length named. After a critical discussion of the formula for expressing the relationship between the distances of the object and the lenses to each other, and their magnify- power, the doctor finds that in compound lenses, instead of having one value for all distances, as with the single lens, we may have as many different values for the principal focus as there are distances used. After a full consideration of all the circumstances, he concludes that the best interest of makers and purchasers of instruments would be consulted if the pres- ent nomenclature were abandoned altogether, and objectives named instead by their precise magnifying power without eye-pieces at some selected distance, this to be always ex- plicitly stated.—4 D, June, 1872, 406. THE REFRACTION OF LIGHT. An elaborate series of observations has recently been made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, to settle the disputed question in optics whether the thickness of the object-glass has any influence on the position of a star seen through it, in consequence of a change in the aberration of the light. It is well known that the refraction which a ray of light undergoes on entering a medium depends on the angle of incidence, so that if it strike the refracting surface perpendicularly, it will suffer no refraction at all. . It is also known that the stars ap- pear displaced from their true position about twenty seconds whenever the earth in its motion round the sun moves in a direction nearly at right angles to that of the star. The true C. GENERAL PHYSICS. hh direction of the star is then twenty seconds from the apparent direction. The disputed question amounts to this: in order that a ray of light from a star may suffer no refraction on en- tering a lens, must the surface of the latter be perpendicular to the true or to the apparent direction of the star? This question Professor Airy has sought to answer by mounting a zenith telescope, of which the entire tube between the eye- piece and objective was filled with water, and observing the zenith distance of the star y Draconis at different times of the year. The result was that the apparent position of the star fluc- tuated exactly as if there had been no water in the telescope, thus showing that the thickness of the object-glass was with- out influence on the amount of the aberration. Applied to the question we have suggested, this proves that to have no refraction the surface must be perpendicular to the apparent and not to the true direction ofa star. The result is expected to throw some light on the various questions of the ethereal medium, and especially of its density in transparent bodies, and of its motion with such bodies. — TIME AND DURATION OF VISUAL IMPRESSIONS. In an article by M. Baxt, of St. Petersburg, on the time requisite for a visual impression to arrive at the conscious- ness, and upon the duration of the period of consciousness caused by a visual impression of definite duration, he remarks that, from the experiments of Helmholtz and Exner, it has been shown that, if a number of ordinary letter-press letters be exhibited to the eye on a white ground, sometimes one, sometimes two or more of them, will be distinguished from the row according to the duration of the impression and that of the positive after image. He proceeded on the same prin- ciple as Helmholtz, and with apparatus similar to that em- ployed by him, which consisted of two disks, that could be caused to revolve at known speed, but the posterior of which rotated twelve times quicker than the anterior. As the re- sult of a series of experiments by means of this apparatus, it was shown, first, that the consciousness of a given excitation is only realized or perfected by degrees; second, that, under particular circumstances of his experiments, a period of one twentieth of a second must elapse between the occurrence of 78 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. a relatively simple excitation of six or seven letters suddenly placed before and withdrawn from the eyes, and its reception or formation in the consciousness. In other experiments he found that the time required for the comprehension of a com- plex figure was much greater than that for a single figure; the proportion between an ellipse and a pentagon, for in- stance, being as 1:5. Researches on the time requisite for the production of consciousness, with various strengths of il- lumination, gave the result that this time was proportionate, within rather wide limits, to the degree of illumination; but if the illumination was excessively strong or weak, it in- creases. —13 A, November 1, 1871, 500. ACTION OF GAS JET ON WATER. It is said that if a thin thread of water is passed through the jet from a blow-pipe, it is but slightly warmed, the in- crease in temperature being but three degrees, although its heat is sufficient to melt almost any metal. When passed through an ordinary flame, the increase in temperature is considerably greater, possibly owing to the incandescent par- ticles being carried away by the liquidin smoke. Ifthe blow- pipe jet is directed against a sheet of water, it is not pierced, nor does it produce any sensible heating effect. It is sug- gested that if, instead of the metallic curtains used in thea- tres, a sheet of running water were interposed, it would be a ereat improvement as a fire guard.—18 A, March 8, 1872, 631. ICE EXPERIMENT. A simple method of producing ice instantaneously consists in placing a little water in a small watch-glass or porcelain capsule laid upon wool or cotton. The water is then to be covered with a layer of sulphide of carbon, and a current of air directed upon it through a slender tube. The absorption of the heat of the water, in consequence of the rapid passage of the sulphide of carbon to a gaseous condition, is so great that a few seconds are sufficient to solidify the water. A lens of hemispherical and transparent ice is thus obtained, which can be preserved long enough to pass it from hand to hand.—3 B, May 9, 1872, 90. Af C. GENERAL PHYSICS. ng POLARIZING ACTION OF TARTARIC ACID. In the extensive series of organic substances, there are some that, as is well known, are endowed with the peculiar faculty of deflecting the plane of polarization of the luminous rays. This property was discovered by Biot, in 1815, in various liq- uids—among others, in spirits of turpentine —and the laws which most of these substances follow are, jist, the rotation produced by the liquids in the plane of polarization is propor- tional to the length of the path which the luminous rays must traverse in the liquid; second, in the mixture of substances endowed with the rotatory power with those that are inact- ive, and which exercise no chemical action upon the former, rotation is in proportion to the quantity of the active sub- stance ; third, when several liquid columns are superposed in the path of the luminous rays, the total rotation is equal to- the algebraic sum of the rotations peculiar to each of them ; fourth, the angle of rotation corresponding to the different simple colors is very nearly in the inverse ratio to the square of the length of the luminous rays. Tartaric acid does not follow the law of Biot, constituting a special exception to the second and fourth law. This anomaly induced Krecke to take up the inquiry, the result of which he has lately published. The special points that he desired to investigate were, whether the anomaly which tartaric acid exhibits at the or- dinary temperature is seen also at a more elevated tempera- ture; if the tartrates present the same anomalies as free tar- taric acid; and if tartrates follow the law of simple relations. The results which he attained in the course of his inquiry he sums up as follows: For all the rays of the spectrum the spe- cific rotatory power augments with the temperature, but in a quantity different for different solutions of the acid, and the peculiar irregularity presented by tartaric acid—namely, that the green rays are displaced more than the yellow or the vi- olet—disappears with the augmentation of the temperature. It decreases also in proportion to the increase of the quantity of water, as had already been demonstrated by Biot. He also informs us that the tartrates, as far as examined, follow the laws of Biot; that the molecular rotatory power is very nearly the same in all the normal tartrates and alkaloids, but considerably more in tartar-emetic; and that the molecular ro- 80 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. tatory power of the tartrates is threefold that of tartaric acid, thus following the laws of simple relations.—1 4, VIL, 97. INFLUENCE OF A DIAMAGNETIC BODY ON THE ELECTRIC CURRENT. Professor Stephan has been engaged in investigating the phenomena exhibited when an electric current is opened or closed in the presence of a diamagnetic body, and has arrived at the following conclusions: First, the presence of a diamag- netic body at the moment of closing the circuit accelerates the ascending movement of the current, and the chemical ac- tion developed simultaneously within the pile is less than when the closing takes place in the absence of a diamagnetic body. Second, the heat developed at the moment of opening the current by the secondary current is less when the inter- ruption takes place in the presence of a diamagnetic body. Third, when the current sets in motion a diamagnetic body, the action simultaneously supplied by the chemical force in- side of the pile will be to the live force furnished by this body as two to one. This surplus of chemical action is manifested as soon as we open the current in the secondary circuit, rein- forced by the absence of a diamagnetic body. The contrary takes place every time that a body of this nature is moved in a direction opposite to that of the electro-dynamic forces. Fourth, the energy of the needle increases or diminishes ac- cording as it is removed or approximated to a diamagnetic body. Ifthis body is set in motion by a needle it furnishes a sum of live force equivalent to the action of the live forces acting in the needle.—3 B, July 18, 1872, 482. TRANSMISSION OF SOUND IN WATER. During the siege of Paris a series of experiments was made within the city with a view to determine the possibility of establishing a system of telegraphic communication, through the waters of the Seine, between the city and the country in the rear of the besieging lines. The result, however, was not at all satisfactory, although some interesting conclusions were placed on record. Among them were the following: 1. The range of sound in running water, even in the direction of the stream, is much less than in still water, asin alake. 2. When the volume and depth of sound are greatly augmented, there C. GENERAL PHYSICS. | 81 is a very small increase, but in some cases even a decrease, of the distance at which the sound is audible. 3. It is probable that with equal volumes of sound in moving water the audi- tory distance will increase with the sharpness of the sound. It is suggested that powerful steam-whistles might be used with great effect, but no attempt has been made to test this question.—6 D, October 19, 1872, 241. ELECTRICAL PYROMETER. According to the American Chemist, an instrument has been invented which will measure with perfect accuracy the heat of the hottest furnace. It is based on the principle that the resistance of pure metals to the electric current increases with the temperature in a very simple ratio. A platinum wire, of known resistance, is coiled around a cylinder of fine clay, and covered with a tube of the same material. The test is a Daniell’s battery, of two cells, and with a resistance meas- urer, and the instrument is placed in the furnace, the tempera- ture of which is to be ascertained. It is then only necessary to read off the indications of temperature on the graduated resistance measure.— Amer. Chemist, June, 1872, 476. MAGNETIC ACTION OF .PETROLEUM. Accovding to Captain Fiitterer, of the Memel bark Orion (a petroleum vessel plying between Philadelphia and Ham- burg), during a return voyage with a cargo of the above sub- stance on board, he observed an easterly deflection of the compass amounting to as much as 90°. He had been pre- viously informed that such would be the fact, but had been inclined to doubt it. A cargo of railroad iron; brought over by him to Philadelphia from Hamburg, exercised no magnetic attraction.—3 C, August 19, 816. IDENTIFICATION OF LIGHTS AT SEA. Sir William Thomson, in a series of remarks upon the iden- tification of lights at sea, urges the adoption of a system of indications corresponding to the Morse telegraphic alphabet, so that, by the varied combinations of short and long flashes, a particular number shall be signaled, corresponding to that of the light-house. The result will be that at whatever point the vessel first makes the coast of the country, the locality D2 82 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. can be ascertained by noting the particular number flashed by the light.—15 A, Awgust 31, 280. WEATHER TELEGRAPHY. “A very important extension of the work of the Signal-office, as far as its system of weather telegraphy is concerned, is about to go into operation. The forecasts now published in all the daily papers in the United States, and which are eagerly scanned by those who are desirous of knowing what is in store for them in the way of weather, are, of course, only serviceable to those who live in the places of the publication of those papers, or can be reached by them with little delay through the mail. It is now proposed to call the post-oftices of the country into requisition as intermediate agents for dis- seminating this intelligence, for which purpose the territory east of the Mississippi has been divided into districts of about two hundred miles in extent each way, and each having a point of distribution near its centre, to which the “ probabil- ities” will be telegraphed from Washington, and from which two copies of the report are to be sent to all post-offices with- in the district which can be reached by mail as early as six o’clock P.M. each day. It is well known that country post-offices are the centres of intelligence to rural districts, and,in order to afford the farmers in the community especially an opportunity of profit- ing by this information, postmasters receiving these dis- patches are to place a copy as soon as furnished in a con- spicuous situation, where the public can see and read it. The New York Herald of January 18 contains a chart, furnished by the Signal-office, illustrating the districts referred to, from which any one can ascertain the central office whence his own information will be disseminated. D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 83 D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. NEW REDUCING AGENT. Ifan aqueous solution of sulphurous acid be allowed to act upon fine zine dust, the zinc is dissolved without the devel- opment of gas, the solution assuming for a time a decided yellow color. This liquid now possesses the peculiarity, in a very high degree, of rapidly decolorizing indigo, a fact well known to chemists. Schiitzenberger, who has lately been in- vestigating this subject anew, ascertained that this decolor- izing of the indigo is by no means the result of oxidation, but, on the contrary, is a reduction; and this power of reduction in the liquid is so extraordinarily great that it will reduce, with heat, the salts of copper, silver, and mercury to their metals. The liquid is not related to hydrosulphuric acid, and is exceedingly unstable in its free condition; but if a concen- trated solution of bisulphite of soda be allowed to act upon the zine filings, we shall obtain a soda salt of the new acid which has as great an affinity for oxygen as the free acid, and can therefore be kept for any length of time if completely excluded from the air.—6 C, October 5, 1871, xu., 399. FRIABLE GOLD COIN. In some instances after a piece of gold coin has been struck in 2 mint it becomes friable and crimbling. It has been as- certained that this property is due to the presence of a very small quantity (hardly a thousandth part) of certain metals, among which lead is the most injurious. By an improved process, however, this difficulty has lately been overcome. This consists in passing a current of gaseous chlorine over the melted metal, which is covered with borax in the ordi- nary way. A chloride of gold would not be formed at this high temperature, but, on the contrary, would be decomposed, while the other metals unite with the chlorine so as to quick- ly purify the mass. Any silver which may happen to be pres- ent is not lost, as it becomes dissolved in the borax, which serves as a cover for the molten gold.—3 B, March 7, 1872, 394, 84 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. IRON DEPOSITED BY ELECTRICITY. The following conclusions bave been reached in the course of investigations into the characteristics of iron deposited by electricity. First, iron and copper, when deposited, absorb a certain amount of gas, especially hydrogen; second, the vol-- ume of the gas absorbed by iron varies between widely ex- tended limits, this, in the case of iron, being sometimes as much as 185 times its volume; third, absorption of gas takes place principally in the layers which are deposited first ; fourth, when such iron is heated, the disengagement of the gas commences below the temperature of 212 degrees. At this temperature it 1s principally hydrogen that is separated. —3 B, January, 1872, 33. METALLIC POTASSIUM. Professor Dolbear obtains metallic potassium by a new process, which is likely to prove of much commercial value. He first forms sulphide of potassium by treating dissolved sticks of caustic potassa with sulphureted hydrogen, and subsequently evaporating until the mass is solid in cooling. This mass is then mixed with somewhat more than its bulk of iron filings, and subjected to distillation, the product being run off into petroleum.—3 A, May 4, 1872, 382. NITRATE OF SILVER FROM SILVER ALLOY. Mr. hk. Palm, of Russia, has succeeded in obtaining pure ni- trate of silver from the metal alloyed with copper by a very quick and simple process. He dissolves the alloy in nitric acid, evaporates to the consistency of thick oil (not to dry- ness), and then adds concentrated nitric acid. The silver salts precipitate in crystals, while the copper remains in solution. The crystals have to be repeatedly washed in concentrated nitric acid, and then they contain no trace of copper.—14 C, vol. 204. IMPROVEMENT IN NICKEL PLATING. An English patent, for the purpose of improving the adhe- siveness of the nickel deposit upon iron or steel by the gal- vanic process, recommends the addition of a small quantity of an acetic, citric, or (best of all) tartaric salt of potash, soda, D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 85 ammonia, or alumina, to the solution used in nickelizing. Of these salts, that will be most desirable the basis of which con- sists of the same alkaline earth as that of the double salt used in nickelizing. Thus, with a solution of a salt of nickel and ammonia, we should use a tartrate of ammonia, ete. In this case, with 20 quarts of the aqueous solution of the sul- phate. of nickel and ammonia, of 7° Baumé, we should add about one quart of an active solution of tartrate of ammonia, of about the same specific gravity. —6 C, Fed. 8, 1872, 58. CAST-STEEL FROM THE IRON SAND OF NEW ZEALAND. According to the London 7%mes, iron sand, as found on the beaches in New Zealand, is used in the manufacture of steel. The process consists in mixing the sand with an equal quan- tity of clay and of the ordinary sea sand, containing a large percentage of shells, and then working this into bricks, which are hardened in a kiln, broken up into irregular pieces, and smelted in an ordinary cupola furnace. The result is a cast- steel from which some beautiful specimens of the finest cut- lery have been manufactured. These experiments were conducted by‘a mecanii’ in gov- ernment employ, who was restricted to an expenditure of £100. With the apparatus he was able to construct with this sum, he succeeded in producing 500 pounds of steel in the manner described above.—5 A, April 20, 1872, 211. ON BURNED IRON. Various investigations have been prosecuted for the pur- pose of determining the precise causes under which is pro- duced what is known as the burned condition of iron. Thus, if a bar of iron be allowed to cool in the air without Pome hammered, it becomes brittle; after having been raised to a white heats and on breaking, it presents a laminated, crystal- line appearance. The iron is then said to be burned, and is generally supposed to have absorbed oxygen. Recent ex- periments show, however, that a similar condition is pro- duced whether the iron is heated in the air, in a neutral or a reducing atmosphere; and it is therefore inferred that the character is not due to the absorption of oxygen, but to a change in the molecular condition caused by heat.—20 A, June: 20, 1872, 745. 86 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. RIVOT METHOD OF EXTRACTING GOLD AND SILVER. A new process of extracting gold and silver from their ores, devised by Rivot for treating the California ores, has Pea lately published, and is said to be applicable under cer- tain circumstances in which the usual methods can not so readily be employed. The principal stages in this method of treatment are presented in the following summary: 1. Roasting of the pyrites in heaps, or in reverberatory fur- naces, in such a manner as to almost completely oxidize the metallic sulphides, and to reduce the formation of sulphates to a minimum. 2. Pulverizing and mixing of the roasted pyrites with the ores. : 3. Roasting of the mixed mass with superheated steam in a revolving furnace, with exclusion of air. 4, Amalgamation in vertical mills, which are capable of a great out-turn, and of working wet or dry, as may be de- sired, and which divide the mercury well, and effect a more speedy and complete amalgamation, owing to the pases of the millstones. 5. Separation of the mercury from the residues. 6. Squeezing of the mercury through coarse linen bags or wooden cylinders. 7. Distillation of the amalgam in cast-iron tubes provided with receivers cooled by water. 8. Smelting of the metals recovered by amalgamation in black-lead crucibles, and casting in iron moulds.—21 A, Dec., 1871, 1219. ESTIMATING SULPHUR IN COAL. A method for the estimation of sulphur in coal or coke, in- troduced by Dr. Crace Calvert, has reference more particular- ly to the combination of sulphur with iron, as being the only combination affecting the commercial value of the fuel. The process consists in boiling the powdered coal in a solution of carbonate of soda, which decomposes any sulphate of lime, the carbonate of lime being removable by washing. In the residue is contained the combination of sulphur and iron, which can be estimated by any of the methods familiar to chemists.—15 A, August 12,1871, 209. D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 87 PHENOMENA ASSOCIATED WITH A HYDROGEN FLAME. In an article upon certain phenomena associated with a hydrogen flame, communicated to Nature by Mr. William F. Barrett, the results of a series of experiments are summed up as follows: 1. That the combustion of hydrogen exhibits some physical peculiarities, and produces phosphorescence on many substances with which it comes in contact. 2. That the blueness so often seen in a hydrogen flame is due to the presence of sulphur, derived either from the vulcanized rub- ber tubing, or from atmospheric dust, or from the decomposi- tion of the sulphuric acid spray from the generator. 3. That a flame of hydrogen forms an exceedingly delicate reagent for the detection of sulphur or phosphorus, and possibly also of tin. 4. That many sulphates, and also carbonic acid, are apparently decomposed by a hydrogen flame. 5. That a hy- drogen flame is, further, a test for the presence of some gases, notably carbonic acid. 6. That these results are capable of practical application.—12 A, April 18, 1872, 484. REACTIONS OF ALCOHOL. . Mr. Hugo Tamn, in a brief abstract of certain experiments upon the action of permanganate of potash upon various sub- stances, such as filter-paper, tartaric acid, coal gas, tallow, tur- pentine, benzole, alcohol, ammonia, etc., states that the two most interesting facts which he found were that alcohol boiled with an equal bulk of a solution of permanganate of potash was partially transformed into acetate of potash, and that in the same condition ammonia was converted into nitrate of potash.—1 A, January 19,1872, 26. CLASSIFICATION OF ODORS. Dr. Ludwig, of Jena, presented to the convention of phar- maceutists, lately assembled at that city, a classification of odors, which he proposed for the purpose of fixing the ideas of persons engaged in chemical investigations. Of these he enumerated twenty-two kinds, some of them with subdivi- sions, as follows: 5; The 4 garlic odor, as manifested by combination of arsenic and phosphorus. The colorless vapor of arsenious acid does not exhibit this characteristic; but if this be thrown on de- 88 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. oxidizing bodies, such as burning coals, it will be immediate- ly indicated. Numerous plants are mentioned, besides gar- lic, as possessing this same odor. 2. The odor of burning an- timony. ‘This, according to most authors, is to be compared to nitric acid. 3. The tim odor. This is perceived when tin is rubbed with the naked hand. It is generally known as the metallic odor. 4. The odor of the radish. This is ex- haled when selenium is oxidized by combustion, so as to form selenic acid, the fiftieth part of a grain of the former being sufficient to fill a room with the odor. 5. The odor of the horse-radish, or mustard, found in numerous bodies. 6. Of sulphur and sulphurous acid. 7. Of rotten fish, found in phos- phureted hydrogen. 8. Of ozone, or that which is diffused by an electric machine when set in operation. 9. Of nétrous acid. 10. Of chlorine and chlorinous bodies. 11. Of osmie acid. 12. Of bromine. 13. Of todine. 14. Of hydrocyanic acid, or bitter almond. 15. Of the acids, such as—a, the purely acid ; b, the pungently acid; ¢, sulphurous acid; d, nitric and ni- trous acid; and e, carbonic acid. 16. The alkaline odor, such as ammonia. These are divided into—a, pure ammoniacal ; b, impure ammoniacal; c, herring or fish-like (as methyla- mine) ; d, the hemlock odor; e, the tobacco odor; and J, nar; cotic odor. 17. The odor of tar and smoke, as in creosote, earbolic acid, benzole, ete. 18. Of petrolewm and mineral oils. 19. Of volatile oil, or aromatic oil. 20. Of the purely ethereal oils, such as the acetic, or the odor of wine, the apple, pear, ete. 21. Of alcohol, pure and fusel-hke. 22. The musky odor.—2 C, CXLVIL, 225. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION OF CHARGED SILK. In consequence of the frequent occurrence of cases of spon- taneous combustion in “charged silks,” the German railroads have refused to receive them for transportation. Charged silks are goods which have been treated with grease or oil, for the purpose of increasing their weight and their conse-’ quent apparent value, this being done mainly in France and Belgium.—5 C, xu, 104. ANHYDROUS ALCOHOL, The best process for obtaining alcohol absolutely free from water is said by Erlenmeyer to consist in boiling with quick- D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 89 lime, in a vessel fitted with an inverted condenser, for about an hour, and then distilling. Ifthe spirit contain more than five per cent. of water, it is necessary to repeat the treatment with lime two or three times. After distillation the whole product obtained will be anhydrous. With weak spirit not more than half the space occupied with spirit must be filled with lime at first, as otherwise the vessel might be broken by its slaking.—21 A, Fb., 1872, 133. CHEMICAL INVENTIONS IN THE LONDON EXPOSITION OF 1871. A report has been made by Professor Abel upon the scien- tific inventions and discoveries having a relation to chemis- try, illustrated in the London exposition of 1871, among which he mentions the colors obtained by the distillation of coal, enumerating the various substances that have been discover- ed in such rapid succession, so much to the advantage of dyers. Taking up aniline first, he remarks that the discovery of aniline violet and mauve by Perkins, in 1856, was eclipsed by that of aniline red, or Magenta, which soon after became the centre of a numerous series of brilliant colors. The first aniline blue was obtained by Nicholson in 1862-63, and a second blue, known as Nicholson, or solid blue, was obtained in 1863. From naphthalin has been obtained a beautiful col- or known as Magdala; while another derivative of coal has yielded the true coloring matter of madder, alizarine. Other products of coal referred to by Professor Abel are carbolic acid, which itself furnishes various colors, as picric acid, ro- solic acid, aurine, ete. Other specimens presented at the exposition consisted of paraftine and ozokerite, the latter being a natural mineral substance, and replacing paraftine and stearine for illumina- ting purposes. Lubricating oils in considerable variety were also exhibited, as well as oil and paper made from cotton seeds, the manipulation of which promises valuable econom- ical results. Wood paper and the method of its preparation were also shown, together with gun-cotton in its different forms. The selenitic mortar of Colonel Scott, which has al- ready been referred to in our pages, is one of many of the other substances treated of in Professor Abel’s communica- tion. He remarks in reference to thallium—a metal discovered 90 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. by Crooks in 1871, as the result of spectral analysis—that, if procurable in sufficient quantity, it promises to be of great value for the production of colors; as many beautiful speci- mens of yellow and orange-red, which are chromates of thal- lium, and green, also a chromate, and a dark brown, which is a sulphuret of the metal, were exhibited by Messrs. Winsor and Newton, the eminent colorists, of London.—4 B, Sept., 1871, 6753; do. Oct., 1871, 745. ACTION OF LIGHT ON OLIVE- OIL. Olive-oil, in its natural state, contains in solution a yellow- ish substance, which, when the oil is treated with acids or with caustic soda, gives rise to the well known greenish col- oration. By exposure to sunshine this coloring matter is es- sentially altered, the oil being thereby decolorized, and no longer exhibiting a greenish color when treated with the re- agents above mentioned. Moreover, other changes take place at the same time in the constituents of the oil, the olein in particular being greatly altered, and acquiring the fundamen- tal property of elaidin, namely, that of not solidifying in con- tact with nitrate of mercury mixed with nitrous products; at the same time free acids are formed, and the oil acquires a rancid taste and odor.—21 A, Dec., 1871, 1192. CHEMICAL INTENSITY OF TOTAL DAYLIGHT. Messrs. Roscoe and Thorpe, in a paper upon the chemical intensity of total daylight, as observed at Catania during the eclipse of 1870, remark that, for the purpose of determining the variation in chemical intensity caused by the alteration in the sun’s altitude, observations were made on the three previous days, and that the results obtained confirmed the conclusions formerly arrived at, “that the relation between the total chemical intensity and sun’s altitude is represented by a straight line.” It was difficult to estimate the chemical intensity of the feebly diffused light during totality, owing to the obscuration of the sun’s disk, and to the greater part of the heavens being covered by clouds. Not the slightest action could be detected after an exposure of the sensitive paper for ninety-five seconds. It was estimated that the chemically active light present was certainly not more than 0.003 of the unit adopted, probably much less. D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 91 From the observations made during the partial phase the law was deduced “that the diminution of the total chemical intensity of the sun’s disk during an eclipse is directly pro- portional to the magnitude of the obscuration.” —21 A, Dec., 1871, 1141. GLYCOL-STRYCHNINE. The detection of a new base from strychnine, to be named glycol-strychnine, has lately been announced.—1 A, Dec. 1, 1871, 263. SEPARATION OF PURE NITROGEN, Pure nitrogen, it is reported, can be prepared by means of bi-chromate of ammonia, which, when heated in a retort, is transformed into gaseous nitrogen, water, and green chrome oxide.—15 C, xx1., 1871, 376. CUPRO-AMMONIUM. If shreds of copper are introduced into a bottle half full of ammonia solution, the metal will be dissolved, with the pro- duction of what is called cupro-ammonium, and with the ac- companiment of a deep blue color. This substance has the remarkable property of dissolving various substances, as silk, lignine or cellulose, paper, etc., with great rapidity. It has been proposed to apply this agent in the preparation of solu- tions which can be converted to important industrial uses, such as readily suggest themselves in connection with this power of dissolving the substances in question. Paper, linen, wood, etc., can be readily united almost indissolubly by means of this substance; and it is said that, when thus adherent, the copper which they hold may be extracted by a weak acid, leaving the material pure and white, but without disturbing the adhesion already established. It is not known in what particular chemical combination the two substances unite, or what is the precise character of their union. The name given, cupro-ammonium, is to be considered as of no chemical sig- nificance.—6 D, April 20, 1872, 256. ACTION OF NITRIC ACID ON METALS. Some time ago it was announced that tin is not affected by nitric acid of 1.42 specific gravity as long as it is in contact 92 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. with platinum, while without the latter metal the chemical action is very energetic. It is now stated that the same re- sult is obtained with platinum and cadmium when treated with nitric acid of 1.47 specific gravity. The acid acts very energetically upon the cadmium by itself, but if the latter is brought in contact with a sufficient quantity of platinum, both the acid and the platinum remained unchanged. For these experiments the cadmium may be wrapped around with pla- tinum wire or platinum foil. If the acid be reduced with wa- ter, the decomposition of the cadmium commences at a cer- tain point of dilution.—18 C, ov. 8, 1871, 709. COMPOUND NATURE OF CATHARTINE, A substance obtained some years ago from senna, and named cathartine, under the supposition that it contained the active principle of the plant, has lately been ascertained by Bougoin to consist of three distinct substances—chryso- phanic acid, dextro-rotary glucose, and chrysophanine.—21 A, Feb., 1872, 152. CARBAZOL AND CARBAZOLINE. In the process of purifying crude anthracene, a solid hydro- carbon has been discovered which is considered new, and is named carbazol. This substance crystallizes, is insoluble in water, but soluble by the aid of heat in ether, alcohol, and benzol; fuses at 460° Fahr., boils at 640° Fahr., and is not de- composed at red heat, nor affected at that temperature by the contact of zinc dust and soda lime. It is soluble without de- composition in strong sulphuric acid; is not decomposed by fusing caustic potassa, but is attacked violently by oxidizing substances. When heated for some hours in a sealed tube, along with a mixture of amorphous, phosphorus, and hydri- odie acid, another substance, called carbazoline, is obtained, which is solid, readily soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzol, and yields with acid salts that are easily dissolved in water. —1 A, Feb, 2, 1872, 57. ABIETINE, A NEW HYDROCARBON. Dr. William Wenzell has announced to the California Phar- maceutical Society the discovery of a new hydrocarbon, which he calls abietine. This is the product of distillation of the D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 93 resinous exudations of the Pinus sabiniana, or the well-known Sabine pine of the Sierra-Nevada and the Coast Range; also called nut pine and Digger pine. Mr. Wenzell finds that abie- tine possesses qualities which distinguish it from spirits of turpentine and other similar hydrocarbons. It is remarkable for its low specific gravity, and its low boiling-point as com- pared with that of spirits of turpentine. It is a powerful solvent for the fixed and volatile oils, with the exception of castor-oil, which it does not affect at all. It dissolves balsam of copaiba freely, and in all proportions. When burned in an alcohol lamp, with a flame not too large, a brilliant white light is obtained without smoke. Its vapor is powerfully anesthetic when inhaled, and has been used with success as an insecticide when sprinkled in places frequented by moths. Scientific American, March 9, 1872, 97. CHINAMINE, A NEW CINCHONA ALKALOID. Hesse announces to the Chemical Society of Berlin the dis- covery of a new cinchona alkaloid, which he calls chinamine. This is obtained from the Cinchona succirubra, as grown in British India, and as associated with chinidine, quinine, and other substances. The special therapeutic qualities of this substance have not yet been determined, although the chem- ical characters are detailed at considerable length.—1 A, April 19,1872, 191. COMBINATION OF ALDEHYDES AND PHENOLS TO FORM COLORS. It was ascertained some time ago by Bayer that all of the so-called phenols furnish coloring matters when combined with polybasic organic acids. As the number of these phe- nols is unlimited, as is also that of the polybasic acids, it is evident that an indefinite number of new unions can be effect- ed by the combination of the two series. More recently this field, already so extended, has been still further widened in another direction. It was originally found, as the result of the first investiga- tion, that the oil of bitter almonds—the aldehyde of benzoic acid—was capable of combination with the phenols, but ad- ditional investigations have shown that all aldehydes com- bine with all phenols to form bodies belonging to the group of phenol dyes, if the necessary conditions are complied with. 94 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Among the different dyes derived from aldehydes, upon which Bayer reported to the German Chemical Society in January last, one excited a special interest, as its production appeared to be one step further toward the synthesis of natural color- ing matters. The first series of experiments led up to bodies which, in their chemical relations, as apparently in their con- stitution, stood very near to the dyes of logwood and Brazil- wood. This time it is the pigment of green plants, or chloro- phyl, which Bayer approaches in his synthetic experiments. Furfurol, the aldehyde of mucic acid, and reforcine, or pyro- gallic acid, furnish a substance having the reaction of chloro- phyl. If, therefore, we can not actually speak of the syn- thesis of the latter, because what has been hitherto termed chlorophyl is scarcely a pure chemical body, but rather a mixture of green pigment with protoplasm, we may still hope to arrive at the green coloring matter of plants along the path pointed out by Bayer, and consequently be able to clear up its hitherto unknown chemical constitution.—19 C, March Ol 8127.73 ARTIFICIAL MELLITIC ACID. Professor Schulze, of Rostock, has devised a method of forming mellitic acid artificially by the direct oxidation of carbon by permanganic acid in an alkaline solution.—13 A, December 1, 1871, 540. ON CHLOROPHYL AND ITS DERIVATIVES. Gerland and Rouwenhoff, in a paper upon chlorophyl and some of its derivatives, sum up their inquiries in the follow- ing propositions: 1. Not alone in chlorophyl, but also in such derivatives as show, like it, the obscure, dark absorption band I, this band is composed, for a certain degree of concentra- tion, of two parts, separated by an interval which is but lit- - tle superior in brightness. 2. Once modified, chlorophyl ex- periences no further changes. 3. Solid chlorophyl, whether contained in the tissue of leaves or precipitated from a solu- tion, shows the same absorption bands as chlorophy] in solu- tion. 4. The phylloxanthine of Frémy seems to be simply modified chlorophyl; his phyllocyanine is a derivative of chlorophyl produced under the influence of an acid. 5. The green and yellow matters of Filhol should be regarded as the D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 95 principal constituent of chlorophyl, which owes its color to a mixture of these two substances. 6. Dead leaves of a brown color contain, with very little of chlorophyl remaining unaf- fected, a great excess of the yellow matter of Filhol.—1 £, part vi., 1871, 114. RED COLOR OF APHIS. Mr. Sorby has lately described a red coloring matter found in some species of Aphis (or plant louse), named by him Aph- ideine. This resembles cochineal in some of its characters, but in others the red coloring matter of the blood of verte- brate animals, though entirely distinct from either. It can exist in an oxidized and in a deoxidized state, and thus may perhaps serve to convey loosely combined oxygen from the respiratory organs to other parts of the body. One of its most remarkable peculiarities is that it rapidly passes into a series of fluorescent products, giving remarkable spectra, which, unlike the original substance, are not dissolved in wa- ter, but are soluble in bisulphide of carbon, and thus are like the coloring matters of wax and oils, which they also resem- ble in their general consistence, when left dry on evapora- tion. This change is so rapid that it occurs in the course of a few minutes, when the living insects are crushed and ex- posed to the air; and special care was therefore required to prove that none of these fluorescent substances exist during life, and that the fatty matter then found is similar to that met with in other insects.—13 A, October 15, 1871, 481. CRYSTALLIZED INDIGOTINE, it is reported, may be made by solution in hot phenol, which takes up the indigotine and redeposits most of it on cooling in a crystalline form, retaining enough to color the acid deep blue. To prevent a solidification of the phenol during re- frigeration, alcohol, camphor, or benzine may be added. Five hundred grains of phenol will-serve for the preparation of two grains of pure indigotine.—21 A, March, 1872, 250. INDOPHAN, A NEW COLORING MATERIAL similar to indigo, is obtained as an accessory product when dinitronaphthal is acted upon by potassium cyanide, being converted thereby into naphthyl-purpuric acid. When pure 96 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. it is of a violet color, and has a beautiful green metallic lus- tre.—21 A, March, 1872, 251. CARBAZOL, A NEW ANTHRACENE DERIVATIVE. A new substance, called carbazol, has been discovered in the process of purifying crude anthracene. This possesses various peculiarities, and is convertible by heat into carbazo- line, which is presented in the form of large white needles, soluble in ether, alcohol, and benzole. It sublimes in needles, evaporates with steam, and with acids forms salts which are extremely soluble in water.—18 C, March, 1872, 150. SYNTHESIS OF ORCINE. Messrs. Vogt and Henninger announce to the Academy of Sciences in Paris that they have succeeded in forming syn- thetically the substance known as orcine, the basis of the col- oring matter of lichens. Numerous attempts have previous- ly been made in vain to produce this body. The artificial orcine appears to have all the properties of the original, and its mode of formation shows that it is a diphenol or toluene. —6 B, April 22,1872, 1107. , MELOLONTHINE. A chemical examination of the common cockchafer or May- bug (Melolontha vulgaris) has shown the presence of a new crystalline substance named melolonthine by its discoverer. As prepared, this is a beautiful, lustrous, crystalline body, tasteless and odorless. It is soluble with difficulty in cold, but most readily in hot water, and quite insoluble in alcohol and ether. The aqueous solution has no action on vegetable colors. Thirty pounds of the insect furnish twenty-two grains of melolonthine.—21 A, Dec., 1871, 1192. TETRONERYTHRIN, A NEW ANIMAL COLOR. As is well known, grouse, pheasants, ptarmigans, and other gallinacea have a red patch or wattle above the eye, this be- ing so conspicuous in some species as to resemble a piece of red flannel. This has lately been subjected to a careful anal- ysis by Dr. Wurm, who ascertained that it contains a new organic coloring material, whichhe calls Zetronerythrin, or grouse red. It seems to lie in the deeper strata of the epi- D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 97 dermis, like the coloring matter of the human skin, and to be partly dissolved in the deep layers of the cells, and partly to occur in granules. It appears, however, to have nothing in common with the coloring matter of the blood. The fact has been well known to hunters that if a white cloth be rub- bed over this red process the color will come offi—19 C, Jan. 20, 1872, 24. ——_ —— TETRONERYTHRIN:- IN TROUT, ETC, The red coloring matter first detected in the red comb of the grouse and ptarmigan, and known as tetronerythrin, has also been found in the reddish spots of the trout and the crab, and in the Phialopsis rubra. ‘This coloring matter is soluble in chloroform, and is unchanged by caustic potash, while con- centrated sulphuric acid turns it indigo blue, then black. It is also soluble in bisulphide of carbon and ether. It appears to be different from the coloring matter of blood.—21 A, June, 1872, 511. CARBONIC ACID OF THE ATMOSPHERE, A course of experiments upon the amount of carbonic acid in the atmosphere has been prosecuted at Rostock, for sever- al years past, by Professor Schultz, who communicated the results of his inquiries at the last meeting of the Society of German Naturalists and Physicists. The percentage found by him appears to be much less than that hitherto indicated by most observers; the quantity detected amounting to only about 2.9 of the acid in 10,000 volumes of the air. Varia- tions according to the time of day and year, noticed by other observers, were not found in the Rostock experiments. On the other hand, however, meteorological phenomena appeared to exercise an undoubted influence. Thus a snowfall was frequently connected with a constantly increased percentage, while rain produced a precisely opposite effect. These influ- ences are not constant; indeed, with snow there was some- times found a less degree of acid, and with rain a greater. The direction of the wind, however, exercised a constantly appreciable influence. With atmospheric currents from the northeast the carbonic acid was increased, while with a southwest wind it was diminished. ‘This fact led Professor Schultz to the impression that the sea was a constant absorb- K 98 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ent of carbonic acid from the atmosphere, and that the aver- age percentage was kept up by volcanic exhalations, animal respiration, processes of decomposition and combustion, and other causes developed on the land. Professor Schultz is now engaged in endeavoring to learn to what the absorptive power of sea-water is due, and has already ascertained that sea-water, when boiled, absorbs scarcely one fourth part as much carbonic acid as sea-water which has lost its carbonic acid by the action of hydrogen.—19 C, Nov. 4, 1871, 359. MILK-SUGAR FROM VEGETABLE JUICES. According to Dr. Bouchardat, a specimen of sugar obtain- ed from the Achras sapota of the West Indies, on being treat- ed with boiling alcohol at 90 per cent., was found to leave a residuum, which, on further investigation, proved to consist almost entirely of milk-sugar, this substance forming 45 per cent. of the original mass.—16 A, /an., 1872, 116. CONVERSION OF CANE-SUGAR INTO GLUCOSE BY LIGHT. The common impression that a solution of cane-sugar, kept at the ordinary temperature, and protected against the ac- tion of ferments, will preserve its taste and chemical propor- tion for an indefinite period of time, according to Riault, is a mistake, as he has observed in many cases that a solution of sugar-cane, without undergoing any ferment, will ultimate- ly become altered, and be transformed more or less complete- ly into grape-sugar. After considerable experiment, he has satisfied himself that this action is due to the influence of light, and that even when cane-sugar is found to be appar- ently adulterated with glucose, the inquiry should be insti- tuted as to whether this was not the result of exposure to light rather than of intentional adulteration.—1 Bb, Dec., 1871, 175. FAT FOUND IN BEER YEAST. In an article by Dr. Vogel, read before the Academy of Sci- ences in Munich, after referrmg to the fact that all cereals contain a larger or smaller quantity of fatty matter, which is an essential constituent of the grain, the author describes at length his experiments made for the purpose of extracting, by means of ether, the fat contained in beer yeast, an oil boil- D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 99 ing at about 200° Centigrade, specific gravity equal to 0.901; decomposed when heated above 300° Centigrade, and yielding acrolein. The quantity of this oil found in one liter of the yeast amounts to from 0.2 to 0.3 grams. It appears that this oil is in most respects similar to the fatty matter found in barley.—1 A, Dec. 8, 1871, 276.. COMPOSITION OF THE ALBUMEN OF EGGS. The albumen of the white of egg has lately been shown to consist of two distinct varieties, one having its maximum point of coagulation at 63°, the other at about 74°. In addi- tion to these there is still another substance, one known as lac- toprotein. According to Gautier, when albumen of egg is treated with water at 150°, it yields the following products, which pass through a dialysis, besides insoluble matters: 1. Substance having the properties of casein; 2. A substance analogous to hypoxanthine., 3. An albuminoid substance.— 21 A, IX., July, 1871, 577. CORN-COBS AS A SOURCE OF POTASH. The availability of corn-cobs as a source of supply for pot- ash has been suggested. Analysis has shown that these con- tain over 74 parts in 1000 of carbonate of potash, or tavice as much as the best kind of wood. In consideration of the av- erage production of corn in the United States, it is estimated that nearly 52,000 tons of carbonate of potassa may be annu- ally obtained from this source, to say nothing of a considera- ble quantity of chloride of potassium. GALACTINE., In a paper published in the Transactions of the Physical Society of Geneva, M: Morin remarks that Mulder has shown that there are three nitrogenous substances in the animal or- ganism belonging to the proteine group, to which this serves as the base—namely, fibrine, albumen, and caseine; the first solid, and the two others liquid, but capable of being trans- formed into solids. According to Mulder, also, there are two nitrogenous substances in the animal organism in another group (that of gelatine), namely, chondrine, contained in the tendons, and gelatine, found in bone, or formed by the action of heat and water upon the membranes. 100 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Morin proceeds then to show that there is still a third sub- stance occurring in most of the elements of the animal organ- ism, sometimes as a constituent element, and at others as a morbid product, such as in abnormal urines. He has found this in the liquid of the cotyledons of the fetus of the cow at different periods of development, in the hen’s egg in different stages of incubation, in the blood, in the liquids of the digest- ive tube, etc., and, in fact, so frequently that it becomes nec- essary to recognize it as an element of the organism. This he formerly called gelatiniform matter, since it resembles gel- atine, but is distinct from it by well-marked characteristics. The same substance was subsequently termed albwminose by Mialhe. Morin now proposes the name galactine as the bet- ter term, and states that when fresh, or just precipitated, it appears in the form of a gelatinous or viscous mass, becom- ing solid by desiccation, but not brittle, and remaining capa- ble of being kneaded between the fingers. Its characteristic peculiarities lie in being soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol, either hot or cold, in being transformed into gelatine by the prolonged action of water or heat, and of being precipitated like gelatine by a solution of tannin; but with this difference, that the precipitate formed by the gelatine is insoluble in warm water, while that produced by galactine is dissolved at a temperature of 140° Fahr., and reforms in cooling. As al- ready stated, this substance has been found in the blood, in the gastric juice, in the liquor of the cotyledons of the fetus, and in the egg, where it is deposited as a germinating or an initial force, destined to start the final development. It also occurs sometimes in abundance in liquids produced by dis- ease, in which case it is rejected like albumen, as if the organs had lost the faculty of assimilating it. It also occurs in the juice of certain plants employed as food for cattle, and it is not at all impossible that its occurrence in the animal econ- omy may be the result of its extraction from plants, or, at least, not always produced by the process of digestion. In nutritive qualities galactine probably ranks with albumen, fib- rine, and caseine.—Mem. Soc. Phys. de Genéve, Xxx1, 1871, 287. CHANGE OF VOLUME IN SOLUTIONS. Mr. Bolson has presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris the results of a series of experiments upon the change D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 101 of volume accompanying solution, and has arrived at the fol- lowing general conclusions: 1. In every case there is a diminution in volume when an anhydrous salt is dissolved in water—that is, the volume of the solution is less than the sum of the volume of the water and salt. Of all salts tried, ammonium chloride gives the least contraction. 2. The first portions of the anhydrous salt correspond to the maximum of contraction. As the strength of the solu- tion increases, the contraction diminishes, until, with very sol- uble salts, when the solution is nearly saturated, the contrac- tion is almost insensible. 3. Viewed with regard to their energy of contraction, the substances experimented on may be ranged in the following order, beginning with the greatest contraction :.(@.) With re- spect to the non-metallic radicals—carbonates, sulphates, chlo- rides, nitrates, iodides; (6.) With respect to the meta/s—iron, zinc, copper, Magnesium, strontium, barium, calcium, sodium, lead, potassium, ammonium. 4, Hydrated salts give far less contraction than the corre- sponding anhydrous salts; the contraction is smaller as the number of- molecules of water of crystallization becomes greater. 5. Salts which crystallize in the anhydrous state are those in which the co-efficient of contraction is smallest.—21 A, Marchgl 872; 207: MENSBRUGGHE’S LAW IN PHYSICS. Professor Van der Mensbrugghe, of the University of Ghent, has announced as a law in physics that each time a liquid of strong superficial tension, and containing gas in solution, is brought into contact with a liquid of feeble tension, there is a more or less decided disengagement of the gas dissolved in the liquid. The accuracy of this proposition the author proposes to es- tablish hereafter in a special memoir, and announces it at present simply to secure priority of presentation. One illus- tration presented by him is to the effect that if a drop of al- cohol or of ether be introduced into distilled water half filling a small vial of one or one and a half inches in diameter, and the liquid agitated, a lively effervescence will be observed 102 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. after the agitation. This experiment was made long since by Duprez, but without any explanation. It is impossible to attribute the effervescence to the air introduced by the agi- tation, since the alcohol and ether alone, or water alone, give no marked result in this respect. The experiment succeeds equally with benzine, sulphide of carbon, creosote, turpentine, olive-oil, lavender, ete. It is only necessary to shake the dis- tilled water, after having introduced a glass rod containing a slight quantity of any fatty body whatever, in order to per- ceive a distinct disengagement of small bubbles of gas.— Bull. Acad. Royale de Belgique, 1872, ut., 223. VALSON’S LAW. According to Les Mondes, Professor Valson, of Montpellier, has discovered an important physical law, expressed in the following terms: For all normal solutions—that is to say, containing each one equivalent of nitrous salt, estimated in grams, and dissolved in a fixed quantity of water equal to one liter—the product of the density by the capillary height remains sensibly constant.—3 Bb, Jan. 18, 1872, 91. SENSIBILITY OF IRIDIUM, ETC., TO MERCURIAL VAPOR. Professor Merget, in a communication to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, states that when solutions of iridium, plati- num, and other metals in nitro-muriatic acid are brought into relations with metallic mercury, their sensibility is so great that if a paper be impregnated with such a solution and ex- posed to the vapor of mercury, in however small a quantity, it becomes colored black, forming, as it were, an actual in- delible ink. From his experiments the author infers that mercury evaporates with a velocity of 180 meters per second, and reaches to a height of 1700 meters. A practical test of these experiments of Professor Merget shows that by means of iridium paper so prepared, the presence of mercury can be ascertained in the atmosphere of all workshops where this metal is employed, especially in looking-glass manufactories. It also shows that the clothes, hair, etc., of a workman who has spent an hour in such an establishment become entirely impregnated with mercury, and that it is only necessary to bring his hand near paper prepared with iridium in order to have it instantly outlined in black. It is not at all impossi- © D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURCY. 103 ble, according to Professor Dumas, that this discovery may be the initiation of a method by which the reproduction of objects in nature and art may be accomplished in a degree of perfection far exceeding any thing known at present, both in point of rapidity and economy, not excepting photography. Specimens actually exhibited to the Academy of Sciences in the new art of mercuro-typy are very encouraging in their promise.—3 .B, December 14,1871, 599. DETECTION OF ALCOHOL IN WATER. According to M. Berthelot, the existence of alcohol in pres- ence of a large quantity of water may be determined by means of chloride of benzoyl. This substance is decomposed very slowly by cold or lukewarm water; but if the water contain alcohol, benzoic ether is immediately formed: the ether is found with the excess of the chloride of benzoyl. Its presence can be made manifest by heating a drop of the chlor- ide of benzoyl, which dissolves the acid chloride almost im- mediately without acting at first on the ether. Even with a thousandth part of alcohol the smell of benzoic ether is very apparent.—21 A, November, 1871, 1093. _ DETECTION OF SULPHURIC ACID IN VINEGAR. The following process for detecting the 500th part of free sulphuric acid in vinegar, it is stated, is sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. A fluid ounce of the vinegar to be examined is, by evaporation upon a water bath, reduced to about half a drachm, or the consistency of a thin extract ; when quite cold half a fluid ounce of strong alcohol is to be thoroughly incorporated ; the free sulphuric acid will be tak- en up by the alcohol to the exclusion of any sulphates; the alcoholic liquid solution should stand for several hours and then be filtered; add to the filtrate one fluid ounce of pure distilled water, and evaporate off the alcohol by the appli- cation of a gentle heat; the remaining liquid is again left standing for several hours and again filtered; to the filtrate, previously acidulated with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, a solution of chloride of barium is added, which, if sulphuric acid be present, will yield a white precipitate—16 A, July, 1872, 411, 104. ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. .GUAIACUM AS A TEST FOR BLOOD-STAINS. The frequent occurrence of the necessity of identifying blood-stains in medical legal cases has brought out the fact that there is one good test, which answers the purpose suf- ficiently, although, unfortunately, it does not enable us to distinguish human blood from that of other animals; the con- stituent, hematine, upon which the reaction is based, being identical in all blood, even in that of the common earth-worm, as is proved by the spectroscopic appearances, To apply the test, a drop of blood is placed on a white surface of porcelain, and a drop of simple tincture of guaiacum added. Ifthen a drop of the solution of peroxide of hydrogen be added, a blue color will be developed. If the stain of blood be dry, moist- en with glycerine, apply the tests, and press it with a piece of white blotting paper; this will absorb the color. This ac- tion depends on the oxidation of guaiacum in the presence of the hematine.—1 A, January 19,1872, 26. —— CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GASES IN THE SWIMMING BLADDERS OF FISHES. According to Schultze, the gases contained in the swim- ming bladders of certain cyprinoid fishes consist of oxy- gen, carbonic acid, and nitrogen in different proportions, the amount of oxygen never exceeding that in the atmospheric air, and carbonic acid being always present. He concludes from his experiments that in such fishes the swimming blad- der contains the ordinary gases found in the expired air of the lungs and gills. —21 A, March, 1872, 254. DISCRIMINATION OF BARLEY FROM WHEAT STARCH. The following method of discriminating barley starch from that of rye or wheat has been announced: The flour is placed on a glass slide and moistened with water, a covering of glass is laid upon it, and a single drop of oil of vitriol added. If now viewed with a magnifying power of 200 the starch grains of wheat and rye are seen to dissolve in a uniform manner, but the grains of barley starch, after losing their external coat, break up into a number of polyhedrons before their so- lution is completed.—21 A, April, 1872, 320. D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 105 NATURE OF CHLORAL HYDRATE. According to Meyer and Dulk, chloral hydrate is in reality ethylene-glycol, chloral aleoholate being the ethylic ether of the same substance.—21 A, March, 1872, 246. DIRECT OXIDATION OF CARBON. An important announcement was made not long ago by Professor Schulze, at the meeting of the Chemical Section of the German Association for the Advancement of Science, at Rostock, in reference to the direct oxidation of carbon by means of permanganate of potash in an alkaline solution. In additiom to oxalic acid and other products not determined, Professor Schulze obtained an acid to which he has given the name of anthraconic acid, and which he found to closely re- semble mellitic acid in its properties. The experiment was repeated with carbon of different varieties, all of them, how- ever, yielding analogous results. A subsequent investigation proved that the new body was identical with mellitic acid. By treating it with caustic soda, benzole was produced, which was converted into nitro-benzole in the usual manner, and from this aniline was manufactured. This may justly be considered one of the most important of recent chemical discoveries.—16 A, 1872. EFFECT OF VARIATION OF PRESSURE UPON THE EVOLUTION OF GASES IN FERMENTATION. According to Mr. Brown, nitrogen, hydrogen, or hydrocar- bon, and sometimes nitric oxide, together with carbonic an- hydride, are evolved during the alcoholic fermentation of grape-juice or of malt-wort. He shows that the proportion of gases unabsorbed by potassium hydrate is largely increased when the operation is carried on under diminished pressure. At the ordinary pressure by far the larger proportion of these gases is nitrogen, but under diminished pressure the hydrogen preponderates very decidedly. Nitrogen, however, does not occur when the solutions contain no albuminoids, even if am- monium salts are present in considerable quantity. The in- crease of the proportion of hydrogen, resulting from diminu- tion of the pressure, is accompanied by the formation of a comparatively large amount of acetic acid and aldehyde, so E 2 106 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. that it would seem that water is decomposed during the alco- holic fermentation, and that this result is facilitated by the diminution of the pressure. The presence of nitric oxide in the evolved gases was found to be due to the reduction of ni- trates originally present in the solutions.—5 A, July, 1872, 315. BLUE COLOR FROM BOLETUS. In the course of some recent experiments Dr. Phipson has ascertained that a certain blue color, produced by the action of hypochlorite of lime on the alcoholic solution of a yellow- ish coloring matter of Boletus luridus, etc. (species of fungi), may be reproduced almost exactly from phenol, which ren- ders it probable that the vegetable blue in question. belongs to the phenyl group—1 A, June 28, 1872, 301. SOLUBILITY OF SALTS AND GASES IN WATER. M. Tommasi communicates to Les Mondes the following laws in reference to the solubility of salts and of simple gases in water, which he thinks he has established, but for which he desires additional verification. These are as follows: First, for salts belonging to the same chemical formula (as sulphates, bromides, etc.) the coefficients of solubility are in direct ra- tio to their specific heat; one exception only, so far, has been met with, namely, chloride of manganese. Second, for simple gases the case is just the reverse from that of salts, namely, that their solubility in water is in inverse ratio to their spe- cific heat.—3 B, June 13,1872, 266. SOLIDIFICATION OF SOLUTIONS IN COUNTRY AIR. According to Tomlinson, supersaturated saline solutions, which would instantly solidify if exposed to the air of a room, may be kept for many hours in the open air of the country without crystallization, even newly sprouted leaves not acting as nuclei.—21 A, March, 1872, 218. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CLEAN AND FOUL SALMON. Every one conversant with the fish is aware of the great difference in taste and value between what are called the clean and foul salmon, and Professor Christison has endeav- ored to determine the precise nature of the difference by means of chemical analysis. The most prominent indication D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 107 was the occurrence of a large percentage of oil in the clean salmon, and a deficiency in that of the poorer qualities. As a mean of the examinations made by Professor Christison, he states that in clean salmon there are 18.53 per cent. of oil, 19.70 per cent. nitrogenous matter, 0.88 per cent. saline mat- ter, and of water 60.89 per cent.; while in foul salmon the amount of oil was only 1.25 per cent., and of water 80.88 per cent., the saline and nitrogenous matter not being materially different, although the latter was somewhat diminished.— 2 A, April 13, 1872, 257. TESTING ANIMAL FLUIDS. According to Mx. J. A. Wanklyn, the differential action of potassic hydrate and potassium permanganate may serve as a method to distinguish between various animal fluids. When these are evaporated down with excess of potassa solution, and then maintained for some time at 150°, a certain propor- tion of ammonia is evolved; and ifthe residue be now boiled with an alkaline solution of potassium permanganate, a fur- ther definite quantity of ammonia is given off, the relative amount of ammonia evolved by these two additions being constant for the same animal fluid. The author has exam- ined by this method urine, milk, blood, white of egg, and gel- atine, the latter of which gives but a mere trace of ammonia by treatment with caustic potash. It would be possible by this process to distinguish between a spot of milk and one of white of egg on a cambric handkerchief:—1 A, June 14, 1872, 284. PURPUROPHYL, A DERIVATIVE OF CHLOROPHYL. If we boil chlorophyl with potash lye for a quarter of an hour we shall have a mixture of a green color, which may be filtered, and hydrochloric acid added. As soon as the potash is neutralized a precipitate is produced; and on add- ing more acid the liquid becomes of a bright grass-green col- or; and when again neutralized with carbonate of lime a green precipitate is formed, constituting a new substance, which has been called purpurophyl. ‘This, when washed with water and covered with alcohol, assumes a fine purple tint, and is turned green by ammonia.—3 A, June 29, 1872, 560. 108 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS OF DISTILLATION. Messieurs Pierre and Puchot have been prosecuting some researches into the alcoholic products of distillation, and find that these consist, first, of aldehyde; second, of ethylic ace- tate; third, of propylic alcohol; fourth, of butylic alcohol; fifth, of amylic alcohol; and sixth, of essential oils. For the purpose of determining the existence of these va- rious products as chemical substances, and formed at the ex- pense of sugar during fermentation, the authors above named have submitted them to numerous chemical tests, and have also sought for the means of depriving vinous alcohol, prop- perly speaking, of these various substances, for the practical purposes of purification, as it is to the presence of one or oth- er of them that the defective taste of certain forms of spirits is attributed. Among the indirect results reached in their inquiries, the authors maintain that it is incorrect to say, when two non- miscible liquids are boiled together, that the atmospheric pressure is equal to the sum of the elastic forces of the va- pors of the two liquids, estimated separately at the tempera- ture at which the mixture boils; but that, fizst, when two non-miscible liquids are boiled together, one of them being water, the boiling-point of the mixture is below that of the liquid that boils most readily ; second, this boiling-point of the mixture continues absolutely constant as long as there remains an appreciable quantity of each of the two liquids; third, this constancy is independent of the relative propor- tions of the two liquids ; fourth, the mixed vapors condensed during distillation have a direct relation to each other, inde- pendently of the relative proportions of the two liquids brought together in the distilling apparatus—1 B, June 23, 1872, 209. MINERAL WORKS AT STASSFURT. Few more happy illustrations of the valuable practical ap- plications of chemistry have ever been given than in the treatment of a substance, at first believed to be worthless, found at the village of Stassfurt, about twelve miles from Magdeburg, in Germany, in the course of borings for rock salt, which were first made in 1839, but were not brought to D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 109 a successful result until after the supposed refuse substance, containing magnesic salts, was pierced. The entire deposit is upward of 1300 feet thick, and consists of four groups or regions. The lowest is the rock salt; the next is the poly- halite group, in which common salt predominates, but mixed with magnesium, calcium, and potassium. The third is called the kieserite region, consisting principally of an abnormal hydrated magnesic sulphate. The fourth, the Abraum salt, the most interesting of the whole, chiefly consists of a double chloride of potassium and magnesium, which occurs both of a white and red color, and contains traces of other salts, and includes several minerals, such as sylvin, kainite, tachydrite, stassfurtite, etc. From these various substances, principally from the Abraum salts, an immense variety of products is now obtained, the most important being potassic chloride. Besides this, there is a considerable quantity of chloride of magnesium and of bromine, of which latter substance about 30 tons are manufactured annually. Some of the other prod- ucts are saltpetre and carbonate of soda, the latter being made in large quantities for use in soap-boiling and bleach- ing, as well as in glass and alum manufactories. A large proportion of the bleaching salts are used in the preparation of manures, made by adding them to phosphatic or other ma- nures obtained elsewhere; of such manures more than 270,000 tons were produced in 1869.—13 A, July 15, 1872, 269. COMBUSTIBILITY OF IRON, An interesting experiment to demonstrate the combustibil- ity of iron has lately been devised by Professor Magnus, of Berlin. He takes a straight bar-magnet of some power, and sprinkles iron filings on one of its poles. These filings arrange themselves in accordance with the lines of magnetic force, and however closely they may appear to be packed, of course no two of the metallic filaments are parallel, and consequent- ly a certain portion of air is inclosed, as in a metallic sponge. The flame of a spirit-lamp or gas-burner readily ignites the finely-divided iron, and it continues to burn most brilliantly for a considerable time. If the experimenter stands on a little elevation, and waves the magnet to and fro while burning, a most magnificent rain of fire is produced. The experiment was first exhibited in 110 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Berlin before the Emperor of Germany and his court, and ex- cited much admiration.—3 A, August 10, 1872, 96. ACTION AT RED HEAT OF CHARCOAL AND IRON ON CABPBONIC ACID. Professor Dumas, in summing up the result of an investiga- tion into the action exercised at a red heat by charcoal and iron upon carbonic acid, remarks that we may consider as es- tablished, first, that absolutely dry carbonic acid, in passing over charcoal entirely freed from hydrogen, is converted, at a dull, cherry-red heat, into oxide of carbon; second, that if the charcoal is in excess, the carbonic acid disappears entirely, re- placed by perfectly pure oxide of carbon; third, that wood charcoal, heated most energetically, retains some hydrogen or water, which it loses only under the prolonged influence of chlorine at a red heat; fourth, that charcoal which has not undergone treatment by chlorine, being employed to convert the carbonic acid into oxide of carbon, always furnishes a gas, accompanied by some traces of hydrogen; fifth, that a slow current of dry carbonic acid is partly converted by iron, heated to a dull, cherry red, into oxide of carbon, a consider- able proportion of the carbonic acid always remaining unal- tered, or becoming regenerated.—6 B, August 26, 1872, 519, PRODUCTION OF CERTAIN METALS IN 1866. A few interesting facts in regard to the production of some of the less extensively used metals have come to light through the Paris Exposition of 1867. The yearly product of arsenic was 5210.centners (each 110 pounds nearly)—of which En- gland produced 2230; Austria, 250; Prussia, 2450; Saxony, 280—or about 286 tons. The yearly production of mercury was 64,392 centners—of which California produced 36,000 ; Spain, 22,000; Peru, 8200; Germany and France, 2600; Italy, 592—or about 3541tons. The yearly production of antimony was 8370 centners—of which England produced 4000; Aus- tria, 1600; France, 1100; Northern Germany, 1300; Italy, 200; Spain, 170—or about 460 tons. A singular point in the above statement is the large amount of arsenic that is consumed. It is well known that mercury is very largely used in mining operations, as well as for ba- rometers, thermometers, voltaic batteries, and points; and we D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 111 may easily account for any moderate consumption of anti- mony, from the fact that it enters largely into the composi- tion of all type-metal. But arsenic is popularly supposed to be a comparatively rare metal, best known, in the form of white arsenic, as a deadly poison. It is, however, very exten- sively used in the arts, forming a prominent constituent of the finer kinds of paint, and employed extensively by glass- makers. ON ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION. An exhaustive essay upon alcoholic fermentation, by Pro- fessor Dumas, in an August number of the Comptes Rendus, is summarized by the London Chemical News as follows: No chemical movement excited in a saccharine liquor can convert sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid. The simple fermenta- tion of a saccharine liquor and yeast may be regulated like any other chemical reaction. The duration of the fermen- tation is exactly proportionate to the quantity of sugar con- tained in the liquid. Fermentation proceeds more slowly in the dark, and in vacuo. No oxidation takes place during the fermentation. Neutral gases do not modify the fermentation, inducing action of yeast. Sulphur is converted into sulphu- reted hydrogen by the fermentation. Acids, bases, and salts can exercise an accelerating or retarding, disturbing or de- structive, action on fermentation; but the accelerating action is more rarely observed. Very dilute acids do not affect fer- mentation, but acids in larger quantity completely destroy it. ‘The same applies to alkalies. Carbonated alkalies only impede fermentation when they are present in, or added to, the fermenting liquid in large quantity. Earthy carbonates do not interfere with fermentation. Neutral salts of potassa and of some other bases exert no influence upon the process. Silicate of potassa, borate of soda, soap, sulphites, hyposul- phites, neutral tartrate of potassa, and acetate of potassa may be applied for the physiological analysis of ferment, and for studying its mode of action.—1 A, August 16, 1872, 209. NOCTILUCINE. A communication from Mr. Phipson appears in the Comp- tes Rendus, upon what he calls noctilucine, and which he claims to be a hitherto undistinguished organic substance, 112 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. widely distributed in nature, and which constitutes the phos- phorescent matter of animals, living or dead. This is not only the cause of the phosphorescence of dead fish and dead animal matter, but it is secreted by certain luminous worms (the scolopendra, etc), and probably by all animals which shine in the dark, and frequently by certain living plants (Agaricus, Huphorbia, etc.). It is also developed by the de- composition of vegetable matters, under certain conditions (fermentation of potatoes, etc.). At the ordinary temperature noctilucine is an almost liq- uid, nitrogenized matter. It mixes with water, but does not dissolve in it, and appears to have a density little less than this liquid. It is white, and, whether extracted from a living or dead animal, is luminous, and possesses an odor re- sembling that. of caprylic acid. It is insoluble in alcohol and ether, and is dissolved and easily decomposed by the mineral acids and alkalies. When fermented in contact with water, it disengages an odor of cheese. When fresh it is strongly phosphorescent, the production of light being due to its oxidation in contact with moist air. Indeed, it will shine as well in water as in air. It is a little more brilliant in oxygen gas; and it has been observed that it is always most lustrous when the wind blows from the southwest— that is to say, when there is most ozone in the air. As soon as the oxidation of all the matter is accomplished the produc- tion of light ceases. If the slightest quantity of air adheres to it, it shines for some moments in moist carbonic acid. In phosphorescent animals noctilucine is supplied from a special organ—as the bile is secreted by the liver—and ap- pears to be employed to produce light almost as soon as it is formed. It is also produced in certain conditions of tem- perature and moisture by dead animal matter of various kinds; but whatever its source, it always gives the same kind of light—that is to say, one that is almost monochro- matic, giving a spectrum principally visible between the lines E and F, and possessing the same uniform chemical proper- ties, as far as has been observed. It is secreted in a state of considerable purity by the Scolopendra electrica, and, by causing several of these myriapods to run about on a large capsule of glass, enough can be obtained to allow an exami- nation of its principal properties. D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 113 From ZLampyrus and the phosphorescence of dead fish it can always be obtained in a state of less purity. The secre- tion of this substance by the luminous animals higher in the scale, such as Lampyrus and others, is, without doubt, up to a certain point, under the influence of the nervous system, this permitting them to shine at will. In this case the se- cretion is arrested for the moment, but it is known that the egos of Lampyrus shine for some time after they are laid, probably from containing a small quantity of noctilucine. In the animals lower in the scale there appears to be the ex- istence of a special organ for the production of light; and where we find scarcely any traces of a nervous system the secretion of luminous matter is often subject to external cir- cumstances.—6 B, August 26, 1872, 547. SYNTHESIS OF AMMONIA. According to Chartier, if a current of electricity with- out sparks be passed through a tube containing hydrogen and nitrogen, a notable quantity of ammonia will immediate- ly be formed. Hydrogen, similarly electrized, will decom- pose fresh oxide of silver that has not become too old. In the course of this combination, effected at the ordinary tem- perature, the silver presents itself in small globules, which imprison the oxygen, which is subsequently disengaged with the formation of small lamelle of silver.—3 B, August 22, 1872, 698. CARBONIC ACID OF SEA-WATER. Mr. Lant Carpenter, who has been investigating the amount’ of gaseous constituents in samples of deep sea-water obtained during the Porcupine expedition of 1869-70, remarks that the analyses show that both surface and bottom water contain more carbonic acid and less oxygen in the more southern than in the more northern latitudes. The examinations made embraced samples taken from localities extending from the Faroe Islands to Lisbon. Contrary to the general supposi- tion, however, he reports that there is no greater quantity of dissolved gaseous constituents in the bottom than in the surface water, although he fully admits the power of press- ure at great depths to retain gases in solution if once evolyed there.—1 A, August 23,1872, 88. 114 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. NATIVE SULPHURIC ACID IN TEXAS. According to a communication presented to the British Association by Professor J. W. Mallet, of the University of Virginia, sulphuric acid occurs native in certain pools in the midst of the open prairie to the westward of the Nueces River, in Texas. These pools are strongly acid, owing to the presence of free sulphuric acid combined with various salts, especially of aluminum and iron sulphates. At the bottom of some of these lakes there is a deposit in which sulphur is largely present. A kind of petroleum is sometimes found oozing from the soil to such an extent that sods taken up with the spade can be ignited, and produce a considerable amount of light. Pro- fessor Mallet was informed by Confederate officers serving west of the Mississippi during the late war that during the blockade of Southern ports the galvanic batteries of the tele- graphic offices in Texas and Southern Louisiana were worked with this sulphuric acid.—1 A, September 27, 1872, 147. REDUCING POWER OF NASCENT HYDROGEN. Active reducing properties are generally attributed to hy- drogen liberated from palladium, which may have absorbed it as the negative pole of an electrical circuit. Graham cites, as remarkable evidence of this, the conversion of ferri-cyanide of potassium into ferro-cyanide, and of sesqui-salts of iron into proto-salts. Professor Béttger states, however, as the result of his investigations, that palladium and some other metals, as thallium magnesium, and arsenic, possess of themselves such power, without previous absorption of hydrogen, when placed in solutions of certain salts, especially of ferri-cyanide of potassium and of sesqui-chloride of iron. He suggests, as -an experiment corroborative of the above, the placing of a clean piece of palladium foil in one half per cent. solution of ferri-cyanide of potassium, and after the lapse of ten minutes testing the solution with a sesqui-salt of iron for ferro-cyan- idé.—15:50, 1872274, E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 1b EK. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. RISING OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH NEAR THE NORTH POLE. Mr. Howorth calls attention to certain changes in the sur- face of.the globe, affecting the ancient ethnography, and en- deavors to show that, at the present time, the area of upheay- al in the northern hemisphere is confined to the land border- ing the polar sea and to the polar sea itself; also that the upheaval is perfectly continuous all round the earth, and is greatest near the pole, gradually diminishing until it disap- pears about the 57th parallel, and leading to the conclusion that the focus of upheaval is the pole itself. This suggestion is supported by citations of various authors as to the differ- ence in the distribution of land and water in the northern countries at an early period and at the present time, illustra- tions being drawn from various parts of Scandinavia, Spitz- bergen, Northern Siberia, etc. In Spitzbergen and the polar sea of Siberia it is said that the water has shallowed so fast as to have excluded the right whale, which formerly was known to abound there; and the occurrence of skeletons of whales high up on the northern shores, of species of shells on considerable elevations similar to those of the adjacent wa- ters, still retaining their color, and many other arguments, are brought forward to prove the probability of the sugges- tion.—12 A, December 28, 1871, 162. . NEW METEORITES FROM GREENLAND. We informed our readers some months ago that among the special objects of one of the Swedish arctic expeditions was the acquisition of some immense masses of meteoric iron found in the southern part of Greenland. Telegraphic advices from Stockholm announced not long since the return of this expe- dition and the successful accomplishment of its mission, and we now learn by accounts in the foreign journals that numer- ous masses were obtained, the largest weighing about 41,000 pounds, with a maximum sectional area of 42 square feet. The second in size weighed about 20,000 pounds, and was 116 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. presented to Denmark, upon whose territory it had been found. The masses are mostly of iron, and exhibit all the usual characteristics. They were found lying loose on the shore, but resting upon basaltic rocks, supposed to be of the miocene age, and in which they appear to have been imbed- ded, possibly by having fallen when the rock was still in a molten condition. Although these masses were found loose on the shore between high and low water mark, they are de- composing very rapidly since they have been transferred to Stockholm; so much so that it has been found almost impos- sible to preserve them—indeed, it has been actually proposed to immerse them in alcohol for this purpose. Mr. Maskelyne, of the British Museum, has suggested that this destruction is due to the absorption of chlorine, and advises the application of a varnish of shellac, dissolved in nearly absolute alcohol, and applied hot.—1 A, November 17, 1871, 239. ROSTHORNITE, A NEW FOSSIL RESIN. A new fossil resin, named rosthornite, is described by Hofer as occurring in the coal of the Sonneberg, in Carinthia. This has a fatty lustre, a brown color with garnet-red gloss, wine- yellow by transmitted light, and a light brown to orange-yel- low streak. When heated in the air it gives off white vapors having an aromatic odor, and burns with a smoky flame with- out leaving any residue. In chemical composition this min- eral approaches most nearly to enosmite, and still more to the fossil resin of Girona, in New Granada. This substance can not be properly assigned to any of the groups already estab- lished among the fossil resins, but seems rather to conform to the type of a solid resin, rich in carbon but poor in oxy- gen.—21 A, December, 1871, 1174. NEW MINERALS. The discovery of several new minerals has lately been an- nounced. Among them may be mentioned Julianite, a species somewhat resembling fahlerz, occurring in small groups of cubic crystals of a dark gray color, and containing As,Cu,;S,, part of the arsenic being replaced by antimony and iron, and part of the copper by silver. The ore was formerly found in the Friederike-Juliane Mine, at Rudelstadt, in Silesia. An- other species is Beyrichite, from the Westerwald. This occurs KE. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 117 in groups of maculed prisms, of a lead-gray color, with a faint metallic lustre. A native silicate, hitherto undescribed, has been called Bismuthoferrite by Frenzel. This occurs at Schneeberg, in Saxony. Other new species, described by - Weisbach, are Zrégerite and Walpurgine.—16 A, April, 1872, 261. ILSEMANNITE, A NEW MINERAL, A mineral which has been termed ilsemannite has lately been described as new by Hoéfer, and as occurring in some heavy spar from Bleiberg. From its chemical composition it is believed to be a product of the decomposition of wul- fenite.—13 A, January 1, 1872, 15. MONZONITE, A NEW MINERAL. Von Kobell describes a new mineral, called monzonite, as occurring in Monte Monzoni, in the Fassa Valley.—21 A, De- cember, 1871, 1178. NEW MINERALS. The discovery of two new mineral substances has been an- nounced, under the names of ceruleo-lactine and variscite. The first-named occurs in Nassau, in a bed of brown iron ore, where it is found in threads and veins, and in cliffs in botry- oidal and reniform masses. It consists of thirty-seven parts of phosphoric acid, thirty-nine of alumina, and twenty-three of water. The variscite occurs in Saxony in quartz in sili- cious shale, and is quite similar to ceruleo-lactine, and also consists of phosphoric acid, alumina, and water, with a few other ingredients.—21 A, Vov., 1872, 1014. CORUNDUM IN NORTH CAROLINA. Professor Leidy, at a meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, on the 6th of February, exhibited specimens of corundum from Macon County, North Carolina, which, he said, were especially interesting, as they consisted of frag- ments of large crystals of gray corundum, containing in the interior dark blue sapphire, and coated on the exterior with bright red ruby. One pyramid of a large crystal from the same locality recently brought to that city weighs 300 pounds.—12 B, Feb, 6, 1872. 118 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. DIAMONDS IN XANTHOPHYLLITE. We have already referred to the discovery of diamonds in xanthophyllite, and the suggestion that this is‘the true ma- trix of the mineral. We are now informed that Von Helmer- sen has succeeded in isolating the diamonds in the form of fine powder by treating the xanthophyllite with acids. The greenish-gray less transparent varieties of xanthophyllite contain diamonds in greater abundance than the yellow transparent plates of that rock.—13 A, Jan. 1, 1872, 15. METEORIC ORIGIN OF SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS. A French writer takes the ground that the diamonds of the Cape of Good Hope were originally components of aero- lites which fell there, and were scattered over a great dis- tance in a certain definite direction. This view is largely based upon the asserted fact that these objects occur on the summit of the highest mountains and in the plains, but very rarely, if ever, at great depths.—3 5, Dec. 14,1871, 601. BED OF GLAUBER’S SALT. A deposit of Glauber’s salt has lately been discovered in the Caucasus, not very far from Tiflis and Marienfeld. In sinking a shaft the experimenters first passed through one foot of marl, two and a half feet of gray moist clay, seven of dark gray bituminous saline clay, then penetrated a bed of pure Glauber’s salt to a depth of five feet, with a probability that the thickness was much greater. In the same region there are various lakes filled with solutions of Glauber’s salt, which furnish the apothecaries of that neighborhood with what they need of that substance, as it crystallizes in perfect purity along the edge of the water.—18 C, Fed. 21,1872, 118. MILLEPORA LIMESTONE. Various triassic and tertiary limestones are composed of small organic bodies generally called millipores, and Gumbel has lately been investigating specimens from several locali- ties and formations. He finds occasion to divide them into two great groups, one belonging to the dactylopores of the triassic age, the other to lithothamnium of the tertiary. The latter group is interesting from the fact that its recent rep- E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 119 resentatives contain only 2 per cent. of organic matter, the remainder being inorganic, consisting chiefly of carbonates, which were most probably produced in the organism of the plant from the sulphate of lime and magnesia of the sea wa- ter. Enormous deposits of “millepora” limestone found in Europe were caused by the agency of this group. A feature of interest is the vast percentage of magnesia in some recent formations, in certain cases amounting to 17 per cent., and it is suggested that the formation of dolomitic limestone may be closely related to this form as the active agent.—13 A, March 1, 1872, 94. BITUMINOUS SHALES IN AUSTRALIA AND INDIA. An extensive bed of bituminous shales has been discovered eighty miles from Sydney, Australia, near to the western slope of the Blue Mountains, and a large establishment has been erected for the purpose of obtaining oil. The seam is hort- zontal, and from five and a half to six feet thick, in stratified sandstone. About one hundred tons of the slate are worked up weekly. The crude oil first obtained is subsequently con- verted into burning fluid, lubricating oil, etc. In that portion of India, also, adjoining the mountains of Persia, principally occupied by the cretaceous and tertiary strata, sufficient traces of petroleum have been found to make it important to make farther investigations. Petroleum has likewise already been obtained in the vicinity of Gunda.—18 C1871, 752. MICROSCOPICAL COMPOSITION OF SLATE, Zirkel has been studying the microscopic constitution of clay and roofing slate, and finds that these are not composed simply of elastic and dialitic mineral constituents, nor of the hardened and finely ground mud of pre-existing rocks, but that they embrace within their texture microscopical crystal- line and crystallized constituents which vary in amount, and often play the principal part in the composition of the strata. sai CEE; 187228, ANALYSIS OF METEORIC SAND. A meteoric sand which accompanied a heavy rain-storm in Sicily, on the 9th of March, 1872, has been reported upon by Silvestri, who states that the sand strained out from the wa- 120 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ter consisted of about seventy-five per cent. of a clayey sub- stance, colored yellow by oxide of iron, eleven per cent. of carbonate of lime, and about fourteen per cent. of organic matter. In this the microscope revealed numerous vegetable fragments, such as hairs of plants, membrane, scales, seeds, etc., with various diatoms and living infusoria, while the wa- ter contained carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, car- bonate of iron, sulphate of lime, chloride of potassium, sul- phate of soda, ete.—18 OC, June 12,1872, 377. ORIGIN OF COAL. According to Professor Wiirtz, the formation of coal de- pends entirely upon the action of the iron which was dissolved in the waters of the coal period. The combinations of iron with which coal is always accompanied are pyrites, iron spar, and hydrated oxide. These were doubtless derived from the strata interjected between the coal-beds. In this case the oxygenated water appeared to act upon the metallic sulphur- ets which were contained in the crystalline slates, from the destruction of which these coal strata were derived. Coal, consequently, is the normal result of the eremacausis of or- ganic substances in waters which contain sulphate of iron and free carbonic acid. An immense pressure upon the mass, while in a plastic condition, was also, without doubt, an addi- tional element of importance.—9 C, Vov., 1871, 86. DISCOVERY OF COAL IN CHILE. Late Chilian papers announce the discovery of important mines of coal in that country, especially along the Gulf of Aranco, near the mouth of the Carampangue River. be disposed of in a manner more or less prejudicial to health, and very often at great expense. The success of the new process depends in no small degree on the fact that the precipitated matter supplies to a consid- erable extent the fuel necessary for the burning operation. The sewage being allowed to settle in tanks and the super- natant water drawn off, it is found to be deodorized, and may be exposed to the drying action of the air for an indefinite Bes 578 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. period. It is then dried on tiles, and calcined in the ordinary manner. The foecal matters, when dried and distilled, yield large quantities of inflammable gases, and readily furnish a most intense heat.—18 A, May 24,1872, 341. CONNECTION BETWEEN PYZMIA AND BACTERIA. Dr. Sanderson has lately published a lecture; delivered be- fore the Pathological Society of London, in which he shows the connection between the disease called pyzemia (or blood- poisoning) and bacteria, and proves that blood-poisoning is produced by the presence of bacteria within the body.—22 A, August 31,1872, 210. MOULDINESS. A French chemist has recently announced that borax and sub-borate of ammonia will prevent mouldiness, and will pre- serve animal matter. Each of the above salts have proved effectual when tried separately, but when combined in a sin- ele solution they seem to be well adapted for anatomical in- jections. For this purpose the following preparation is rec- ommended: Rain-water one hundred parts, common borax six parts, and sub-borate of ammonia twelve parts. The liquid is to be used lukewarm ; it does not change the color of the tissues, is not poisonous, does not blunt the dissecting instru- ments, and in a concentrated state may be used for embalm- ing.—Philadelphia Ledger. AMERICAN HEALTH ASSOCIATION. An organization was established during the past summer in New York, under the title of the American Health Asso- ciation, with Dr. Stephen Smith as president; E. M. Snow, of Providence, first vice-president ; C. B. White, of New Orleans, second vice-president; John H. Rauch, of Chicago, treasurer ; and Elisha Harris, of New York, secretary — several well- known physicians composing the executive committee. The objects of the association are to take cognizance of all matters bearing upon the public health, especially those of national im- portance ; and in the membership are already enrolled ninety- five names, from all parts of the United States and Canada. The next meeting of the association is to be held in Washing- ton in the last week in February, 1873.—Wew York Herald. N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE.579 MAC CORMAC ON THE ORIGIN OF TUBERCULAR CONSUMPTION. In 1855 Dr. Mac Cormac presented a theory in regard to tubercular disease of the lungs, or consumption, in which he maintained that this disease is caused solely by breathing air which has already passed through the lungs of man or other animals (or, otherwise, air that is deficient in oxygen), the inhalation of air already respired being accompanied by the retention of unoxidized carbon, or the dead, poisonous carbon within the body of the organism. This effete matter he con- siders to be the starting-point in the tubercle. He does not think that it forms the tubercle itself, but constitutes the poison from which tubercular disease takes its origin. His deduction from this is to the effect that the greatest care must be taken to secure an ample supply of fresh air, es- pecially in cases where numbers of persons are obliged, by cold weather or other causes, to occupy a limited space to- gether, and in which a proper provision for a constant supply of fresh air has not been made. He believes that the predom- inance of tubercular disease in northern latitudes is not due to a tendency in the climate itself to produce this condition, but to the greater liability to huddling together for purposes of warmth, although it is probable that a diseased condition or irritation of the lungs in such cases may increase the morbification of the poisonous material. Where, in conse- quence of the mildness of the climate, persons are induced to live a great deal out of doors, or where the houses are not closed up to such a degree as to exclude the external air, or prevent its free passage, this disease becomes comparatively unknown. He, indeed, encourages open windows and draughts of air, especially at night, if the body be well covered.—18 A, June 28, 1872, 371. POLLARD ON SEASICKNESS. Dr. Pollard, in a paper in the British Medical Journal upon seasickness, remarks that two opposite theories have been suggested as explaining its cause —one that it arises from a depressing effect on the brain produced by the motion of the vessel, for which the remedy would be lying so as to obtain an increased supply of blood to the brain; the other, supported by Sir J. Alderson, that increase of blood in the 580 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. brain is the real cause, an analogy being drawn between the blood in its vessels and the mercury of a barometer. The most probable theory of seasickness is that held by Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Bain, and other writers, who consider that the mental and bodily prostration, and the other symptoms, ~ arise from the continued action on the brain of a certain set of sensations, more particularly the sensation of want of sup- port. This feeling, arising from the sudden loss of support, as when the footing, or any prop that we lean upon, suddenly gives way, is of the most disagreeable kind. The phenomena of seasickness appear to be due to the con- stant repetition of this feeling of loss of support consequent on the pitching and rolling of the ship, more particularly the former. If, therefore, seasickness arises from certain impres- sions on the senses, the theory of its prevention is to render these impressions as feeble as possible. Application of the mind to an engrossing book will keep it off for a short period; but this answers only a temporary purpose. To lessen the impressions as much as possible, the patient should preserve the recumbent position as near the centre of the ship as practicable; he should le on a thickly-padded couch, so as to diminish the vibration. Fresh air should be admitted in order to remove bad smells. The eyes should be shaded, and as much noise as possible shut out. As regards drugs, the most rational suggestion is that of Dr. Doring, of Vienna, that a full dose of hydrate of chloral should be tak- en shortly before the vessel starts; and, even in long voy- ages, the repeated use of this medicine will insure comfortable nights without the disagreeable after-effects of opium and chloroform.—18 A, June 14,1872, 323. APPLICATON OF DISINFECTANTS. According to the experiments of a committee of the Acad- emy of Sciences of Paris in reference to disinfectants, it was ascertained that the first place among the agents destructive of infectious germs should be assigned to hyponitrous acid. This, however, being very poisonous, must be used with great precaution. It is said to be especially applicable for the dis- infection of apartments in which cases of small-pox, yellow fever, or other grave diseases have existed. Before using this substance: all crevices of the doors, windows, and fire- N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND. HYGIENE:581 places should be carefully pasted up with paper. Acid fumes are to be generated by placing two quarts of water in earth- en vessels of about ten quarts capacity for a small room, and adding to the water about three pounds of ordinary nitric acid and ten ounces of copper filings. Should the room be large, proportionally larger vessels should be employed. Aft- er starting the operation the door of entrance should be care- fully sealed, and the room left undisturbed for forty-eight hours. Great care must be taken on entering the room after the operation, so as to avoid breathing the acid. Carbolic acid may also be used to great advantage by mixing it with sand or sawdust in the proportion of one part to three. This may be placed in earthen pots as above.—1 A, June 28, 1872, 306. CUTANEOUS ABSORPTION OF DRUGS, ETC. The question has been discussed for some time past as to whether the skin, when brought in contact with solutions of various substances, can absorb them to such an extent as to produce a marked effect upon the system. The general tend- ency of experiments has been against such a supposition. Bernard, however, has lately made a series of investigations on this subject, in which he shows conclusively that certain substances are readily absorbed when brought in contact with the skin by means of vapor-baths. This, however, only takes place when the temperature of the bath is at least one degree above that of the body, the sebaceous matter in the ‘cells of the epidermis at a less temperature completely ex- cluding its passage. A successful result can even be obtained with the water-bath, if this be brought up to a degree suffi- cient to dissolve the sebaceous matter of the skin.—1 A, July 12, 1872, 14. POISONOUS RED AND OTHER COLORS. Mr. Wallace Young, in commenting upon an important ar- ticle by Dr. Draper, published in the journal of the Massa- chusetts Board of Health, in regard to the evil effects of the use of arsenic in certain green colors, brings forward the re- sults of a critical examination of pigments, other than green, also containing arsenic. These were all of French manufact- ure, and intended for use in calico printing, but were rejected, first, on account of the large quantity of arsenious oxide pres- 582 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. ent; and, second, because colors equally good for calico could be obtained by other less expensive and less dangerous meth- ods. The colors in question were named light scarlet pig- ment, scarlet ponceau, dark green and steam chocolate, and catechu pigment, all containing arsenious oxide, which is sup- posed to have been added for the purpose of giving body to the pigment, not being essentially necessary to the color. It is thought very probable that these are used extensively in the manufacture of paper-hangings.—1 A, Aug. 30, 1872, 105. NATURE OF CROUP. Dr. Jordan, in a recent lecture upon croup, as reported in the Medical Times and Gazette, takes occasion to refute the hypothesis that croup is the result of membranous exudation in the larynx or trachea, and maintains that whenever this occurs the actual disease is diphtheria. The usual cause of croup is a membranous inflammation of the mucous mem- brane of the larynx and trachez, accompanied with secretion of tenacious mucus, and also considerable swelling, caused by effusion into their submucous areolar tissue—in fact, a ca- tarrhal inflammation of the larynx and trachee. The chief danger of the disease is in consequence of the obstruction to the entrance and exit of air to and from the lungs, which frequently requires a very prompt treatment. For this the patient is to be placed in a warm room having no draughts, at a temperature of at least 70° Fahr. The air breathed is to be thoroughly saturated with moisture, this being sometimes. accomplished very effectually by the steam from a boiling kettle in the room. Whatever application be adopted, it is to be remembered that the soft moist vapor is an important agent in the treat- ment. A linseed poultice to the throat helps, and has a soothing power. These external applications being attended to, an emetic of ipecacuanha is then to be given, and repeated every twenty minutes or half hour until not: only copious vomiting but copious perspiration is induced. The result of this is to cause the secretions of the air-passages to become thinner and more easily got rid of, a looser cough always be- speaking a lessened danger. Other modifications of the treat- ment are, of course, to be suggested by the attendant physi- cian,—20.A, August 31, 1872, 221. N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE.583 RELATION OF CHLORAL TO STRYCHNINE. Not long ago we were informed by Dr. Liebreich that hy- drate of chloral might be considered as a perfect antidote to strychnine; but Dr. Oré announces, as the result of an elab- orate series of experiments recently communicated to the Academy of Sciences of Paris, that this statement is entirely erroneous, and that strychnine and chloral have no such rela- tion to each other, but that they rather co-operate to produce an injurious or even fatal result.—6 B, July 22,1872, 218. CORALLINE NOT POISONOUS. Some time ago it was stated in English journals that coral- line is poisonous, and it was asserted that cutaneous eruptions have been caused by wearing clothes dyed with it. On-the other hand, however, the opinion has been advanced that such diseases, if really occurring, have probably been originated by arsenious mordants, and not by the dye-stuff, as many and careful experiments have shown that coralline itself is innox- ious.—25 C’, 1872, x11. LIEURNUR’S SYSTEM OF CLOSETS. Lieurnur’s system of cleaning cities has lately been tested in Amsterdam over an area of four streets, with 207 houses, and has given entire satisfaction. Hereafter all privies in a given district in that city (which may contain 20,000 to 25,000 inhab- itants) are to be brought in connection with a large reservoir by means of iron pipes, and the foecal matter conveyed into this reservoir by an air-pump, and thence in a similar manner into iron cylinders, which are then carried off to their place of destination.—28 C, v, May, 1872, 313. DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE, A communication to the English Mechanic, discussing the sewage question, which is always a serious problem, urges the great importance of receiving such matter into a mixture de- vised by the writer, and which, in his opinion, contains the in- eredients of the utmost value in agricultural economy, and which, when united with fecal matter, will prove to be a manure of extraordinary value. The mixture is composed of the following ingredients: Perfectly dry humus or soil, 100 584 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. parts; calcined gypsum powder, from 10 to 20 parts; com- mon alum, from 1 to 5 parts; copperas (green), from 1 to 5 parts; and sulphuric acid, from 1 to 5 parts. This prepara- tion is calculated to fix the ammonia of the night-soil and prevent its escape, thereby deodorizing the mass effectually. The composition is to be prepared beforehand and kept in large quantities, and used as required. Other substances, such as blood, or offal of any kind, may also be treated with it.— 18 A, July 5, 1872, 397. | DETERMINATION OF ARSENIC IN WALL-PAPER. To ascertain whether wall-paper is colored with any arseni- ous substance, the following test may be employed. A piece of the paper is impregnated with a solution of nitrate of soda in a mixture of water and alcohol, and dried. The dried piece is burned, and the resulting ashes moistened with a lye of caustic potash, previously boiled and filtered. The filtrate is acidulated with sulphuric acid, and permanganate of potash added until a portion of it remains unchanged. After filter- ing again and cooling, some sulphuric acid and a piece of pure zine are added, and the solution placed in a closed vial containing two slips of test-paper, one of which is impregnated with a solution of nitrate of silver and the other with acetate of lead. The presence of arsenic is indicated by the blacken- ing of the nitrate of silver paper.—8 C, 1872, 195. ACTION OF VARIOUS SALTS ON LEAD. It is well known that the presence of certain salts in water greatly diminishes its solvent action on lead; and for the purpose of determining the possible effect of such solutions upon cisterns and water-pipes, an English chemist suspended pieces of bright lead, having a known area, in various solu- tions, for different periods of time, and the amount of lead dissolved was estimated by the most accurate method of color- tests. A critical examination of the tabulated results shows that solutions containing nitrates, and especially ammonium nitrate, exert the greatest solvent power, while the carbon- ates have the greatest protecting power; and next to them the sulphates, so that a water containing the latter, even if a considerable amount of nitrates be present, has not a very marked solvent action on lead.—1 A, June 14, 1872, 283. N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE. 5g5 FAYRER ON POISONOUS SERPENTS OF INDIA. An extremely important work from the pen of Dr. Fayrer, upon the poisonous serpents of India, has lately been pub- lished, embracing an account of all the species that are known to possess venomous characteristics. Dr. Fayrer has been well known by the publication of numerous experiments tending to show that the ammonia injection process of Dr. Halford, of Australia, is not the certain remedy for snake bite that has been claimed, and, indeed, that with serpents in In- dia it has little effect. These experiments have been made by injecting the ammonia immediately after the bite of a co- bra, by mixing the ammonia with the cobra-poison at once, or by administering the ammonia by the mouth, and by sub- cutaneous injection, with the same result in all—death. The experiments of Dr. Fayrer show the importance of a prompt application of a tight ligature to the limb, above the bite, after which excision and the actual cautery are to be used. In the case of the finger or toe being bitten, amputation should be performed immediately at the next joint. A fowl bitten on*two occasions by cobras had amputation of the wing performed each time, and survived. Carbonate of ammonia or spirits of ammonia may be giv en, but with no more effect than spirits and water. Treatment, to be efficacious, must prevent the entrance of the poison. When the virus is once in the blood no known agent is capa- ble of neutralizing it. Dr. Fayrer found that snakes have a great repugnance to carbolic acid, which acts as a sudden and fatal poison to them; for which reason carbolic acid is recommended for regions infested with poisonous serpents, as one of the best methods of preventing their entrance into buildings and outhouses. The most poisonous snakes appear to possess a perfect im- munity from the poison of their own species, and a considera- ble immunity from that of other kinds. Indeed, the result of most of the experiments was to show that the cobra and some other serpents were unable to poison themselves or each other. The rapidity of the action of the poison seems to be in proportion to the warmth of the blood, birds dying very quickly ; but the power of resistance, although gener- ally in proportion to the size of the animal, is not invariably BB2 586 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. so, as a cat will resist poison almost as long as a dog of three or four times the size. Cold-blooded animals, as fish and non- venomous snakes, and invertebrates generally, are sure to die if bitten. In poison by the colubrine snakes the blood coag- ulates firmly, but in death by the viperine, according to Dr. Fayrer, it remains permanently fluid.—20 A, August 31, 1872, 243. NATURE OF GUARAUNA. The Indians of Brazil are in the habit of preparing a sub- stance known as “ Guarauna,” from the Paullinia sorbilis, and of using it in an infusion as a beverage. The substance has recently been imported in large quantity. into Germany, and is considered of much efficacy as a remedy for sick-headache. The crystallizable principle of this substance, which is termed guaraunine by Dr. Stenhouse, and generally considered iden- tical with theine and caffeine, has recently been subjected to examination by Mr. Williams. After adopting a better meth- od than that of Dr. Stenhouse for isolating it, he joins in the opinion of its relationship to the other substances named, but thinks it is rather more soluble in water, and not quite so bit- ter in taste.—-1 A, August 30, 1872, 97. SULPHOHYDRATE OF CHLORAL. The sulphohydrate of chloral is a newly-discovered sub- stance, the chemical and physiological properties of which have been discussed by Mr. Byasson. It is prepared by sub- mitting anhydrous chloral to a current of dry sulphuretted hydrogen, various precautions being taken to render the ex- periment successful. The sulphide body, after being purified, is white, of a disagreeable smell, and of a peculiar odor, some- what similar to that of chloral-hydrate. It crystallizes in right prisms, and readily evaporates, like camphor, its vapors blackening moistened paper impregnated with a soluble salt of lead. As this substance is decomposed by water, and al- cohol containing any per cent. of water, its administration presents considerable difficulties. Rabbits treated by sub- cutaneous injection with quantities dissolved in ether, in moderate doses, exhibited an appreciable diminution of tem- perature, a relaxation of the muscles, with quiet slumber last- ing for about two hours, no notable diminution of sensibility, N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE.587 and a slight acceleration of the beating of the heart, after the slumber the animal returning to its Narra Gunde —6 B, March 13, 1872, 1292. PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF CARBOLIC ACID. The physiological and chemical action of carbolic acid upon the animal organism has lately been the subject of a memoir by Salkowski. According to this author, it causes irritation when applied, increasing the reflex excitability of the spinal cord, and producing convulsions similar to those occasioned by strychnine. These symptoms are accompanied by paral- ysis in frogs, but not in rabbits. The respiratory nervous’ centre is first stimulated, both directly and through the vagi, and respiration is quickened; but afterward the centre be- comes paralyzed, the breathing stops, and death ensues. The ‘ beats of the heart are rendered slow in frogs by large doses, but are quickened in man by small doses. Carbolic acid is absorbed as such, and can be detected in the blood. It is partly excreted unchanged, and partly oxidized in the sys- tem, yielding oxalic acid, which is found in the blood. Another writer, in speaking of this substance, remarks that the general effect when applied to animals is to cause great dilatation of the blood-vessels, weak respiration, and a lower- ing of the temperature.—21 A, July, 1872, 627. ATROPIA INJECTION AN ANTIDOTE TO OPIUM. Dr. James Johnson, of Shanghai, contributes an important article to the Medical Times and Gazette upon the effect of atropine as an antidote to opium, and details the circum- stances of sixteen cases in which this substance was injected subcutaneously for this purpose. The result was that ten re- covered and six died. It is probable that all the cases would have been fatal but for the remedy thus employed.—20 4A, September. 7, 1872, 268. EFFECTS OF A SUPEROXYGENATED ATMOSPHERE ON ANIMALS, In a communication, by Birt, upon the result of certain ex- periments upon animals kept in a superoxygenated atmos- phere, it is stated that birds succumb whenever the propor- ‘tion of carbonic acid generated amounts to twenty-five per cent., while dogs require thirty-five per cent. for a similar fa- 538 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. tal result. It would appear that, in an atmosphere of this kind, it is not so much the carbonic acid contained in the blood, as that which accumulates in the tissues, which causes death. When the tissues are treated first by potassa, and then by sulphuric acid, it is shown that the accumulation 1s considerable in the liver and kidneys, but most in the brain. Carbonic acid abounds in the intestines, and also in the urine and the blood.—8 B, August 17, 1872, 166. . EFFECT OF BATHING ON THE WEIGHT OF THE BODY. Drs. Jamin and De Laures, in an account of some experi- ments made by them upon the loss of weight experienced by the human body in a bath, remark that, under ordinary con- ditions, a man of good constitution will consume about 4000 erammes of food in the course of a day, of which 1500 | erammes are excreted, while the remaining 2500 grammes are consumed in the course of twenty-four hours, either by the lungs or by the skin, being a loss of about 100 grammes per hour. This loss, however, is not uniform, as it amounts to about 125 grammes after dinner, diminishing until the fol- lowing morning, when it is only 80 grammes between six and seven o’clock, and increasing again after breakfast. In exercising under a hot sun it sometimes amounts to as much as 340 grammes per hour. When the body is immersed in a bath there is a certain temperature at which the weight is maintained unchanged, this, however, increasing when the temperature is lowered, and diminishing very rapidly as the water becomes more and more heated. Before taking the bath 30 grammes may be lost by respiration, and 60 by perspiration; but during the hour after it the conditions are different: a much less loss will take place, and sometimes none at all; indeed, oc- casionally there may be a slight increase of weight. © As, however, the quantity of water exhaled can not be less than before taking the bath—and, indeed, should be greater, in consequence of the humidity of the epidermis—the diminu- tion or loss of weight, it is thought, can not but be the re- sult of a single cause, namely, a diminution in the amount of carbonic acid expired. But these conclusions are not to be considered as established, and further investigations are to be made by the gentlemen named.—3 B, July 18, 1872, 489. N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE.589 CURE FOR ECZEMA. Dr. Sace, of Neufchatel, communicates what he considers to be a perfect specific against eczema, one of the most try- ing and painful of cutaneous maladies, and one very widely distributed. This is characterized by a redness of the skin, in spots, over all parts of the body, accompanied by small pustules filled with a colorless liquid, and by itching so per- sistent and varied as to produce not only sleeplessness, but even, at times, delirium. The usual remedies for this disease consist of emollient baths (iodized, sulphurized, or saline), as also the mercurial remedies. Dr. Sacc, however, has treated it for fifteen years by the application of acetic acid of eight degrees, rubbed on night and morning upon the parts affect- ed, until the disease disappears. Generally two or three ap- plications are sufficient to effect a temporary cure. Each successive return of the disease will be weaker and weaker, and should be treated as at first, and finally the cure will be complete. The smarting caused by the first friction will be intense, but will soon cease with the other symptoms.—4 B, August, 1872, 688. DEFECTS OF VISION IN THE YOUNG. Dr. Liebreich, the eminent ophthalmic surgeon connected with St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, has lately written an article in regard to school-life in its influence on sight, and attributes many of the permanent defects of vision from which educated people suffer to the physical conditions of the school-rooms in which they were taught. The more im- portant changes in the functions of sight developed under these circumstances, according to the author, are three in number—namely, decrease of the range of vision, decrease of the acuteness of vision, and decrease of the endurance of vision. Decrease of the range, or short-sightedness, he re- marks, is developed almost exclusively during school-life, rarely afterward, and very rarely before. It may be true that short-sightedness is often hereditary, but this condition is suspended, and in most cases woula not probably be de- veloped but for the tendencies of school-life. The effect of short-sightedness is to injure the general health by inducing the habit of stooping for the purpose of more readily seeing 590 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. objects, and this increase of the defect, in a national point of view, is to be considered a serious evil. The decrease in the acuteness of vision is generally the re- sult of a positive disease of the eye, which may be exception- ally induced at school, while the decrease of endurance arises principally from two causes: the first, a congenital condition, which can be corrected by convex glasses, and can not, there- fore, be the product of school-life; the second, a disturbance in the harmonious actton of the muscles of the eye, a defect difficult to cure, generally caused by unsuitable arrange- ments for work. All these three anomalies in vision may arise from the same circumstances—namely, insufficient or ill-arranged light, or a wrong position during work, the for- mer obliging us to lessen the distance between the eye and the book while reading or writing, and the same being re- quired if the desks or seats are not in the right position, or of the right shape and size. : If the muscles of the eye are not strong enough to resist such tension for any length of time, one of the eyes is left to itself, and while one eye is being directed on the object, the other deviates outwardly, receives false images, and its vis- ion becomes indistinct—amblyopic. Or perhaps the muscles resist these difficulties for a time, become weary, and thus is produced the diminution of endurance. To prevent these evils the light of the school-room should be sufficiently strong, and should fall on the table from the left-hand side, and, as far as possible, from above. The chil- dren should be obliged to sit straight, and not have the book raised nearer the eye than ten inches. In addition to this, the book should be raised twenty degrees for writing, and forty degrees for reading. Dr. Liebreich thinks that in very few schools are the conditions here stated complied with. He remarks that the proper light is most easily obtained if the class-room is of an oblong shape, the windows being in one of the long sides, and the tables arranged parallel to the short walls, so that the light falls from the left side. The desk of the master should be near the short wall toward which the scholars look. This simple and practical arrangement, which in some places is a matter of course, is in England almost exception- al. Light coming from the right hand, according to Dr. N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE. 591 Liebreich, is not so good as that from the left, because the shadow falls upon the part of the paper to which we are looking. Light from behind is still worse, because the head and upper part of the body throw a shadow upon the book; but the light that comes from the front, and falls on the fice. is by far the worst of all. A similar principle should be adopted in regard to the use of artificial light. Naked gas jets Dr. Liebreich considers to be injurious “because of their unsteadiness, and he recom- mends that glass cylinders be used with them ; and reflect- ors are still better. Ground-glass globes ought not to be used. These are useful for the ordinary lighting-up of a room, as they diffuse the light more equally throughout all parts, but for that very reason they give an indistinct light for work, and, if they are opposite the eye, are dazzling and injurious. Ground-glass, for the same reason, is objection- able for lighting rooms, and should only be used 7 sky- lights or the upper portion of windows. “The arrangement of seats in drawing-schools should differ from that in ordinary class-rooms by having a diagonal ar- rangement ; or if the room be long and very narrow, and the pupils only draw from copies, while the light comes from the top, 1t will be best to turn the back to the light.—3 A Be 27,1872, 49. PHYSIOLOGY OF VIRUS. Professor Chauveau has lately published an elaborate me- moir upon the general physiology of virus, and sums up his inquiries with the following propositions: Jirst, healthy or non-putrid pus has the power of producing inflammation in any conjunctive tissue with which it is brought in contact; second, this power belongs exclusively to the solid particles held in suspension in the serum, the latter, at least, not con- taining morbific elements of positive activity ; third, the in- flammation produced in the conjunctive tissue by these solid particles is not the result of mechanical irritation, but is brought about by means of a specially irritating power in- herent in them; fourth, the activity of this property depends upon the intensity of the inflammatory process which has produced the matter experimented upon; very intense or moderately acute, with corresponding phlegmons, it becomes 592 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. very weak, or almost nothing, in chronic phlegmons; fifth, the morbific action of the pus appears to be influenced by its. age, that recently formed being more potent than that which is older. The professor also remarks that it may be considered, as well established that a putrid pus which produces mortal or gangrenous ulcers, when brought in contact with tissue, be- comes inert when freed of its solid particles by filtering.— 8 B, July 20, 1872,68; and July 27, 1872, 91. HOT SAND-BATHS. One of the therapeutic novelties in London, recently intro- duced from the Continent, consists in the erection of estab- lishments for administering hot sand-baths, as a remedy for rheumatism, recent cases of nervous disorders, affection of the kidneys, and all cases where heat is wanted as the chief ther- apeutic agent. The advantages of this treatment are that it does not suppress perspiration like the hot water-bath, but rather increases it, and does not interfere with the respira- tion like the steam-bath or Turkish-bath. The body can en- dure its influence for a much longer time, and a much higher temperature can be applied. It can be used for infants, and permits of easy application to a part or to the whole body. —20 A, August 31,1872, 2438. PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF DELPHINIUM. Recent researches made at the physiological laboratory at Leipsic have shown a remarkable action of the poisonous principle of delphinium, or the common larkspur, upon the muscular tissue of the heart. The lower two thirds of the ventricle of the frog’s heart have not, as is well known, the power of spontaneous rhythmical contraction when cut out and placed in a condition of isolation. Ifa portion of the. base of the ventricle be included, however, in the piece cut off from the frog’s heart, rhythmical contraction will contin- ue in the isolated portion, on account of the presence in that case of some of the nervous ganglion cells which he at the base of the ventricle. Dr. Bowditch has found that the in- troduction into its cavity of a solution of delphinium in se- rum acts upon an isolated lower two thirds of a frog’s heart ventricle like providing it with a nervous system. The por- N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE. 593 tion of heart which, as is well known to physiologists, is inva- _ riably inert, now, under the influence of delphinium, exhibits spontaneous and continued rhythmical contractions.—15 A, November 9, 1872, 453. PURITY OF THE WATER OF THE UPPER HUDSON. The Water Commissioners of the city of Albany lately em- ployed Professor C. F, Chandler, the well-known expert in such matters, to make a report upon the water of the Hud- son River above Albany, with a view of ascertaining its availability for the supply of that city. He reports that the most critical scrutiny has failed to reveal any thing to sight, taste, smell, or chemical examination that can be considered as throwing the slightest suspicion upon the purity of the water of the Hudson, or on its fitness for a wholesome bev- erage; and, furthermore, that, owing to an unusual combina- tion of circumstances, the aeration of the water, so necessary to render it palatable, has been accomplished thoroughly by Glenn’s Falls, the Falls of the Mohawk at Cohoes, and by the State Dam at Troy.—Leport of C. & Chandler. A NEW FEBRIFUGE. A new febrifuge, said to be an excellent substitute for qui- nine, is reported to have been discovered in France, which is much cheaper than quinine. This substance consists of the green leaves of the laurel, or Laurus nobilis, which are dried in a close vessel on a fire, and are afterward reduced to fine powder, of which one gramme, or 15.5 grains, may be taken as a dose in a glass of cold water. Forty-six and a half grains, it is asserted, are sufficient to effect a cure, and it has even been successful in African fevers of long stand- ing, against which quinine was ineffectual. EFFECTS OF USING BROMIDE OF POTASSIUM. Long-continued use of the bromide of potassium has, as is well known, a tendency to produce certain nervous diseases, which, according to Carles, present themselves under five dif- ferent forms. The first is represented by acne; the second by ulcers of a dull yellow, having an offensive odor; third, red blotches, like purpura; fourth, by furuncles; fifth (the rarest of all), exhibits the appearance of eczema. Hitherto 594 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. _ the only known method of causing the eruptions to disap- pear has been to suspend or diminish the employment of the bromide of potassium ; but, as there are cases where its con- tinued use is necessary, it becomes important to discover some other way of meeting the difficulty. From the observations of Dr. Carles , he is satisfied that the bromide of potassium is chiefly clittinated by the urine, and that it only establishes itself under the skin, producing the effects referred to when elimination by the kidneys is in- complete. On this account, therefore, he suggests the use of diuretics, and the opening of the pores of the skin by means of hot baths; and he found a very remarkable meas- ure of success by this treatment.—1 DB, October 13, 1872, 25. EFFECT OF BATHING ON THE HEAT OF THE BODY. Dr. Jchn C. Draper has lately published the results of some experiments upon the heat produced in the body, and the effects of exposure to cold, as determined, in his own case, by the use of the bath. He found that exposure for an hour to water at a temperature of about 74° lowered the temper- ature of the mouth 2°; of the armpits, 4°; and of the temples, 2°, ‘The rate of respiration was also diminished—in one case two, and in another four movements; and that of the pulse twenty beats in one, and twenty-three in another case. It is therefore evident that the effect of the long-continued ap- plication of cold is to reduce the temperature of the body, and to make the pulsation slower, and that it affects the pul- sations more profoundly. One of the consequences of this ef- fect of the cold on the action of the heart was a great reduc- tion in the quantity of oxygen introduced into the system. The rate of pulsation being reduced nearly one third, the quantity of oxygen introduced into the interior of the body was diminished in a somewhat similar ratio. From this resulted an almost overwhelming and, indeed, uncontrollable disposition to fall asleep. A similar result to this sluggish movement of the blood is a disposition to con- gestion of the various internal organs. In summing up the conclusion from the entire series of experiments, Dr. Draper remarks that the primary and most important effect of the application of cold to the whole sur- face of the body is to reduce the action of the heart. This N. MATERIA MEDICA, THERAPEUTICS, AND HYGIENE. 595 reduction is still further increased on removing the cold, if the application has continued for a sufficient length of time ; and, as a consequence of the reduction of the heart’s action, the phenomenon of stupor, or sleep, appears, produced either by deficient oxidation or by imperfect removal of carbonic acid. There is also a tendency to congestion of various in- ternal organs, especially of the lungs, and the establishment of a pulse-respiration ratio similar to that of pneumonia.— 4 D, December, 1872, 445. ‘ INJECTION OF SEPTICAMIC BLOOD. According to a communication from M. Davaine upon the subcutaneous injection of septiceemic blood (that is, blood derived from an animal poisoned by putrefied blood), the vi- rus acquires increased intensity and power by passing through the animal organism. This follows as the result of twenty- five series of experiments on rabbits and Guinea-pigs, and the accumulated intensity of power became so tremendous that “the blood of the rabbit killed by the ten-millionth part of a drop was injected into five rabbits in doses of the one- hundred millionth, the billionth, the ten billionth, the one- hundred billionth, and the ¢rillionth of a drop. All died within twenty-five hours.”—20 A, September 28, 1872, 356. COLD MILK FOR INFANTS. Dr. King, of the United States army, strongly recommends the use of cold milk in rearing infants on artificial food. He believes the tendency to gastric and intestinal disorders is much less when the feeding-bottle is kept in cold or ice wa- ter than when the milk is raised to the temperature of moth- er’s milk. He has also found that infants relish cold food, and that its effect is particularly good during the teething period.—Wew York Medical Journal, August, 1872, 207. ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SLEEP. In an elaborate paper upon the physiology of sleep, Dr. Henry B. Baker takes the ground that the general cause of normal sleep in man and. animals is the accumulation in the organism of the products of oxidation, and mainly of car- bonic acid, that accumulation being favored and controlled by reflex action of the nervous system, which thus protects 596 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the organism from excessive oxidation, and also allows of sufficient accumulation of oxidizable material to enable the organism to manifest its normal functional activity through- out a succeeding rhythmic period.—Detroit Review of Med- icine and Pharmacy, 1872, 494. ARSENIC IN CARPETS. It is well known that the green, as also some other tints of paper-hangings, contain more or less ar senie, sometimes in a quantity sufficient to produce serious injury to health. It is now known that both the green and the red coloring mat- ter of certain carpets contain arsenic, especially the brilliant dark reds now so fashionable. Samples of these carpets be- ing experimented on, burned with the blue arsenic flame and gave off the characteristic garlic odor. Enough color to give a distinct arsenic reaction could be rubbed off with the finger. A solution in hydrochloric acid produced with cop- per the usual grayish precipitate of metallic arsenic.—3 A, April 6, 1872, 287. O. MISCELLANEOUS. 597 O. MISCELLANEOUS. THE ROYAL SOCIETY’S CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. Tur Catalogue of Scientific Papers in the transactions of societies and periodicals, undertaken fourteen years ago for the Royal Society of London, mainly in consequence of a sug- gestion by Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, has now been completed by the publication of the sixth and concluding quarto volume. ‘The first series brings the sub- ject down to 1863; and it is understood that the society is now collecting material for another decade, which is to end in 1873.—15 A, December 7, 1872, 737. STATUE TO SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. A statue has just been erected to the memory of Sir Hum- phrey Davy at Penzance, in Cornwall, at a cost of £600, This is of massive granite, and is placed in front of the post-office, a few yards from the house in which he was born.—12 A, October 31,1872, 542. MEMORIAL HALL TO GEORGE STEPHENSON. It is proposed by the Derby and Chesterfield Institute of Engineers to endeavor to secure funds for the erection of a memorial hall, to cost from £20,000 to £30,000, in memory of George Stephenson.—12 A, October 31, 1872, 542.. NEW BUILDING FOR THE JARDIN DES PLANTES. It is said that the French government proposes to appro- priate £48,000 toward the rebuilding of the museum and con- servatories of the Jardin des Plantes. There is also to be a sum of £8000 devoted to the construction of laboratories of chemistry and zoology, and for the completion of the reptile house.—12 A, October 31,1872, 542. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. The council of the British Association, at its Brighton meet- ing, presented a report in regard to action upon certain in- structions given to it at the preceding meeting. In reference 598 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. to the subject of observations on the solar eclipse of Decem- «# ber, 1871, they reported that application to the government for a contribution of £2000 toward the expenses of the ex- pedition, and the assistance of a government steamer to con- vey the parties to the station selected for observation, on the coast of Ceylon, in India, had met with a favorable response ; that the expedition organized had been reasonably success- ful in accomplishing its objects; and that a report of the re- sults would be published by the Royal Astronomical Society, in connection with the observations of the eclipse of 1860 and that of 1870. The resolution of the Association directing the president and council to co-operate with the president and council of the Royal Society in securing a circumnavigation expedition, specially fitted out to carry the physical and biological explo- ration of the deep sea into all the great oceanic areas, was acted upon conjointly by the two bodies named, and applica- tion made to the government for aid. The result of this was the detail of the ship Challenger, under Captain Nares, for a three years’ voyage, which vessel is now fitting out at Sheer- ness. By another resolution the council was directed to apply to the government for funds to enable the Tidal Committee to make observations and continue their calculations; also to urge upon the government the importance, for navigation and for science, of accurate and continued observations on the tides at several points on the coast of India. Application by the council to the government of India secured its promise of defraying the expense of making detailed observations in India, and causing the experiments to be properly reduced. But an application to the British treasury for the sum of about $900 to secure the continuance of the investigation was met by a positive-refusal, on the ground that, should they ac- cede to this request, it would be impossible to refuse to con- tribute toward the numerous other objects which men of emi- nence may desire to treat scientifically. The British Associ- ation had already expended $3000 on this object, and could not spare the funds necessary to complete it. The council had been authorized to take such steps as might be most expedient in support of a proposition made to estab- lish a telegraphic meteorological station at the Azores; but, O. MISCELLANEOUS. 599 on consideration, it was concluded not to recommend any grant for the purpose. Another resolution directed the council to take into con- sideration the desirability of the publication of a periodic record of advances made in the various branches of science represented by the British Association. This, however, the council concluded would be better accomplished by the co-op- eration of the different societies having special subjects in charge, as is now done by the Chemical Society for Chemis- try, the Zoological Record for Zoology, ete.—15 A, August 17, 1872, 209. NEGLECT OF CHEMICAL STUDIES IN GREAT BRITAIN. Dr. Frankland, in his anniversary address as president of the Chemical Society of London, delivered in March last, re- news the expression of his regret at the apparent decline of chemical science in Great Britain. He states that while the number of fellows of the society has increased from 208 in 1848 to 624 in 1872, the number of researches communicated to this society has undergone a marked diminution. The ag- eregate number laid before the society in five years, ending March, 1852, amounted to 190; while in the five years ending March, 1872, with a much larger number of members, there were only 168. This lack of progress Dr. Frankland can not attribute to the increasing difficulty of chemical research, since the progress of original investigation elsewhere exhib- its extraordinary activity. Thus the German Chemical So- ciety, numbering 463 members in 1870, received 235 papers ; and in 1871, with 528 members, received the result of 238 orig- inal investigations. The main cause of this difference Dr, Frankland considers to be the non-recognition of experimental research by the universities, and the fact that the highest degrees, and even honors, in experimental science are bestowed without any proof being required that the candidate possesses the capaci- ty to conduct an original experimental investigation, or that he is competent to extend the bounds of his science. On the other hand, in the best German universities no candidate for a scientific degree is even admitted to an examination un- less he has first submitted a memoir or dissertation on some original experimental investigation conducted by himself, the 600 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. investigation to furnish results of interest and importance.— 21 A, May, 1872, 360. “SECOND. REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION, The second report of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science has just been is- sued. The principal members of this commission are Pro- fessor Huxley, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Norman Lockyer, and other names well known in scientific circles. The present re- port is mainly directed to the consideration of science-teach- ing in schools and training colleges, and its general recom- mendations are summed up as follows: “ From a considera- tion of the evidence, we are of opinion that instruction in the elements of natural science can be, and eventually ought to be, made an essential part of the course of instruction in ey- ery elementary school. The instruction to which we refer, though scientific in substance, should in form be devoid of needless technicality, and should be almost wholly confined to such facts as can be brought under the direct observation of the scholar. It should, in fact, be conveyed by object les- sons, so arranged and methodized as to give an intelligent idea of those more prominent phenomena which lie around ey- ery child, and which he is apt to pass by without notice.”— 15 A, April 20,1872, 501. COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN BIRMINGHAM. A college of physical science, somewhat on the plan of that at Neweastle-on-Tyne, has lately been established in Bir- mingham by Mr. Josiah Mason, who has assigned a property valued at half a million of dollars, in trust for the purposes of the college. Out of the net income a sum, not exceeding one tenth, is to be set apart annually for providing scholar- ships, exhibitions, and prizes for the pupils, the remainder go- ing to the general support of the college, payment of pro- fessors, etc. Instruction, by means of classes, is to be provided in mathematics, and in the natural and physical sciences, and their industrial applications; as also in the English, French, and German languages, mechanical drawing, and architect- ure. No person is to be admitted to the benefit of the insti- tution who is not, for the time being, wholly or principally O. MISCELLANEOUS. 601 dependent for a livelihood upon his own skill or labor, or else supported by his parents or some other person or per- sons; but the poorer classes of the community are not to be considered as having exclusive right to the benefit of the institution.—12 A, August 15,1872, 304. REPORT OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY FOR 1871. The Zoological Society of London continues in the pros- perous condition to which we have had occasion to advert in previous years. The report of its anniversary meeting on the 29th of April announces an income in the year 1871 of about $123,000, exceeding that of the preceding year by nearly $7000. Of the sum mentioned, $66,000 was for single admis- slows to the garden. Including season tickets, the yield to the society by their gardens may be estimated at fully $100,000, the remainder being the result of the subscriptions of mem- bers, the sale of publications, ete. The secretary announces the appointment as prosector of Mr. Alfred Henry Garrod, who succeeded Mr. James Murie. The duties of this officer are to make anatomical and other examinations of the animals dying in the society’s gardens; and should the new incumbent be as industrious in this re- spect as Mr. Murie, his labors will doubtless be equally well appreciated. The total number of visitors to the gardens in 1871 amounted to 595,917, being nearly 23,000 more than in 1870, and more than in any previous year excepting in the exhibition years of 1851 and 1862. The greatest number of admissions in any one day was on the 29th of May, Whit- Monday, amounting to 31,400. The number of vertebrate animals, mammals, birds, and rep- tiles in the society’s gardens in 1871 was 2072. 2 DAMAGE TO THE PARIS MUSEUM BY THE BOMBARDMENT. According to the editor of the Jowrnal de Conchiliologie, of Paris, the Paris Museum received twenty-three shots from cannon of the German besiegers in the course of the siege, de- stroying many of the plant: houses... ‘Two of these balls ex- ploded in the conchological laboratory, 1 in the care of Profess- or ‘Deshay es, causing great injury to the specimens, and the Septaria in the general collection were literally ground to powder. The large collection of shells of the lower sands of its 602 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. the Paris basin was entirely destroyed. This is much to be lamented in a scientific point of view, as it contained many types. 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