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. PREFACE. ~—

THE present number constitutes the third yearly volaont of the
Annual of Scientific Discovery. The Editor, in its preparation, has
selected from the great mass of yearly accumulative matter, such
subjects as to him seem most important and interesting. The
selection and arrangement of the articles have also been made with a
special view of illustrating the progress of natural and physical
science, in all their departments, from year to year, each volume
taking up the history and narration as dropped in the preceding one,
in such a way, that a complete series of the work shall present, as
nearly as possible, a complete scientific history, not only of each
year, but also of the whole time elapsed since the publication of the
first volume.

That the Annual has imperfections, we would neither endeavor to
disguise nor conceal. The progress of invention and discovery, of
improvement and application, is so rapid, unceasing and continuous,
that it would require a volume many times the size of the present
to record, even in a summary manner, all thaf transpires of scien-
tific interest in the course of a single year. Some topics of impor-
tance, from their abstruse and technical character, haye been
necessarily omitted. ‘Toa certain extent, also, the researches and
discoveries relating to organic chemistry and mineralogy have been
passed over; the limits of the present work would not suffice for
their entire publication, and the interest attached to them, although
great, is almost entirely confined to those engaged exclusively in
scientific pursuits. If, also, in rejecting some subjects of impor-
tance, we have, in this age, when falsity and exaggeration in regard
to matters of invention and discovery are so common, inserted some
articles not wholly trustworthy, the Editor would plead, as an ex-

Lb /o3 he

IV PREFACE.

cuse, “non mea culpa sed temporis.” The topics, however, of this
nature often contain valuable suggestions and germs of truth, and,
even when their falsity is unquestioned, display an amount of
ingenuity not always found in real and true inventions. Such mat-
ters belong, of right, to the scientific history of the times, and on
no account ought to be omitted.

The Editor would take this opportunity to say, that he does not
endorse, or consider himself responsible for, any opinions advanced in
the body of the work, unless over his own signature. The selec-
tions have generally been made upon good authority, which, in most
cases, is given in connection with each article. In the volume for
1851, a series of Editorial Notes, on the general progress of science
during the preceding year, was given. The favor with which these
have been received, leads to their continuance. As some objection
has been made to certain remarks by the Editor, included in the
notes for 1851, we would here say, that they are to be considered as
an editorial table, in which the Editor will exercise the right of
freely expressing such sentiments and opinions, relative to scientific
matters, as to him shall seem proper. 9

Heretofore the Annual of Scientific Discovery has appeared under
the editorial charge of David A. Wells and George Bliss, Jr.
Mr. Bliss having left the country for a temporary residence in
Europe, the work has passed entirely under the charge of the first-
named Editor. While we regret the withdrawal of Mr. Bliss, whose
many and varied attainments have contributed to the success of the
Annual, it will be the aim of the present Editor to sustain and im-
prove, in all respects, the character of the work.

To the friends, not only in this country, but in Europe, China,
and California, who have kindly furnished scientific information, we
return our most sincere thanks.

We present to our readers, in the Annual of Scientific Discovery
for 1852, a portrait of Professor Joseph Henry, President of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1849-50,
and the present Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, at Wash-
ington.

Campriper, February, 1852.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR
ON THE

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN 1851.

THE progress of science during the year just elapsed will, we think, upon
examination, be found to have been no less brilliant in its results, and no
less rapid in its advances, than in any single year which has preceded it.
One fact must be apparent to all, and that is, that the number of persons
now engaged in contributing to the advance of every department of natural
and physical science is greater than at any former period. The evidence
of this is to be found in the greatly increased number of patents yearly
granted, in this and other countries, for new and useful inventions ; in the
publication and circulation of scientific books and journals ; in the forma-
tion of new societies for the discussion and publication of particular scientific
subjects ; and in the extension and endowment of educational systems and
institutions, in which instruction in practical science is a principal object.
In Mechanics and Physics the difficulty seems now to be, not so much to
invent and improve, as to find out what new inventions are wanting,
and what old ones admit of improvement. Let but the want be known,
and the attempt will soon be made to supply it. That class of men, whose
minds are fitted for the very highest walks of science, and for the under-
taking of problems and questions apparently irresolvable and unanswer-
able, is greatly on the increase. The researches and discoveries undertaken
and carried out within a recent period, by Arago, Fizeau and Foucault, in
relation to light ; of Faraday, in relation to magnetism ; of Pierce, Mitchel
and Bond, in astronomy ; and of Hofmann, in organic chemistry, are among
the most brilliant, and, at the same time, most difficult of scientific achieve-
ments upon record. Many, in other branches of science, during the past
year, have contributed much to the progress of general improvement ; and,
if their labors have been less fruitful in important discoveries, they embrace
much that is useful. With these allusions to the general course of events,

we proceed to notice the various topics of interest more particularly.
A*

VI NOTES BY THE EDITOR

The American Association for the Advancement of Stience held two
meetings during the past year. The first, a semi-annual meeting, was
held at Cincinnati, Ohio, commencing May 5th, and continuing five days.
The attendance at this meeting was as numerous as could have been ex-
pected ; consisting chiefly, however, of members of the Association from the
West. An unusually large number of papers and communications was pre-
sented, most of them relating to geology and paleontology. An exhibition
of fossils, collected in various parts of the West, of the most novel and inter-
esting character, was made by several of the members. Many of the speci-
mens shown belonged to entirely new and undescribed species, and were in
the most perfect state of preservation. This exhibition seemed to indicate
that the Silurian rocks of the Western United States are richer in fossil
remains than any other similar deposits. The greatest hospitality was
exercised towards the Association by the citizens of Cincinnati, and a fund
sufficient to defray the cost of publishing the proceedings was liberally and
generously subscribed. The President of this meeting was Prof. A. D.
Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey.

The second and annual meeting of the Association for 1851 was held at
Albany, N, Y., during the week commencing Monday, August 18th, Prof.
Agassiz presiding. The attendance was unusually large, and upwards of
one hundred and twenty papers were presented and read. The depart-
ments of geology, astronomy and physics were most largely represented 3
while zoology and chemistry received comparatively little attention. The
Association experienced the most generous treatment from the corporation
and citizens of Albany ; and, at the close of the meeting, it was announced
that the authorities had voted to publish the volume of proceedings at the
expense of the city. By invitation from the city of Troy, an excursion was
made to that place, where a session was held at the Rensselaer Institute,
after which, the members were invited to a handsome collation.

The officers of the Association for the year 1852 are as follows: Prof.
Pierce, of Cambridge, President ; Prof. James D. Dana, of New Haven,
General Secretary ; Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of Washington, Permanent Sec-
retary ; Dr. Elwyn, of Philadelphia, Treasurer. It was voted to hold the
next annual meeting at Cleveland, Ohio, that city having invited the Asso-
ciation, and generously offered to publish the proceedings. A similar invi-
tation and offer were afterwards received from the city of Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and general invitations from Providence and Baltimore. It was deemed’
inexpedient to appoint a semi-annual session, though one at Washington
was requested.

At this meeting, on recommendation of the standing committee, it was
unanimously voted, that the names of all members who have not paid their
assessments, and who refuse to do so after two notices of three months’ inter-
val, shall be stricken from the rolls of the Association. Resolutions, com-

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. Vil

memorative of the death of Samuel George Morton, of Philadelphia, were
also adopted. The number of new members elected at this meeting exceeded
one hundred.

The annual address before the Association was delivered by Prof. A. D.
Bache, the retiring President ; subject, ‘‘ The Organization, Condition and
Progress of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with
Remarks on the Direction in which its Greatest Usefulness may be looked
for.’’ In the course of the address, some suggestions were made respecting
the formation of a National Institute, somewhat similar to those offered by
Sir David Brewster, at the British Association, in 1850.* In relation to
this subject, Prof. Bache said as follows: —‘‘In this connection I would
throw out for your consideration some reasons which induce me to believe
that an institution of science, supplementary to existing ones, is much
needed in our country, to guide public action in reference to scientific mat-
ters. It is, I believe, a common mistake to associate the idea of academies
and institutes with monarchical institutions. We show in this, as in many
other things, the prejudices of our descent. Republican France has cher-
ished her Institute, seeking rather to extend than to curtail its proportions.
One of the most ardent republicans is its perpetual secretary — that set-
ting sun whose effulgence shows that it is merely passing below the horizon
to illumine another sphere!

‘* Nor does the idea of a necessary connection between centralization and
an institute strike me asa valid one. Suppose an institute, of which the
members belong in turn to each of our widely-scattered States, working at
their places of residence, and reporting their results, meeting only at par-
ticular times and for special purposes, engaged in researches self-directed
or desired by the body, called for by Congress, or by the Executive, who fur-
nish the means for the inquiries. The details of such an organization could
be marked out so as to secure efiiciency without centralization, and constant
labor with its appropriate results. The public treasury would be saved
many times the support of such a council, by the sound advice which it
would give in regard to the various projects which are constantly forced
upon their notice, and in regard to which they are now compelled to decide
without the knowledge which alone can insure a wise conclusion. The
men of science who are at the seat of government, either constantly or tem-
porarily, are too much occupied in the special work which belongs to their
official occupations to answer such a purpose; beside, the additional
responsibility which, if they were called together, they must necessarily
bear, would prove too great a burthen, considering the fervid zeal, and I
might almost say fierceness, with which questions of interest are pursued,
and the very extraordinary means resorted to, to bring about a successful

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1351, Editorial Notes, p. vii-

VIIr NOTES BY THE EDITOR .

conclusion. If it were admissible that I should go into detail on this sub-
ject, I could prove the economy of a permanent consulting body like this.
This is, however, a lower view than the saving of character, by avoiding
mistakes, and misdirection of public ues and by loss of oppor-
tunity of encouraging that which is really useful. ar should subject the
Association to some criticism, if I unfolded this ‘subject specifically, partic-
ularizing the errors here generally alluded to, and abstain, merely remark-
ing that the amount which would have been saved to one department of the
government alone, from the application of the principle of the equality of
action and reaction, would have supported such a council for twenty years,
including the furnishing of means to show experimentally the applications
of the principle to the case in question. Not only in new undertakings
would the advice of such a body be most important, but they would be
appealed to for information in regard to existing ones, and would prove
most serviceable in advising on doubtful points.

‘*Qur country is making such rapid progress in material improvement,
that it is impossible for either the legislative or executive departments of
our government to avoid incidentally, if not directly, being involved in the
decision of such questions. Without specification, it is easy to see that there
are few applications of science which do not bear on the interests of com-
merce and navigation, naval or military concerns, the customs, the light-
houses, the public lands, post-offices and post-roads, either directly or
remotely. If all examination is refused, the good is confounded with the
bad, and the government may lose a most important advantage. If a
decision is left to influence, or to imperfect knowledge, the worst conse-
quences follow. Such a body would supply a place not occupied by exist-
ing institutions, and which the American Association, from its temporary
and voluntary character, is not able to supply.”’

The subject of the formation of a National Academy of Science was also
presented to the American Institute at New York, in its anniversary
address, delivered by Dr. C. T. Jackson. It was here proposed that the
Academy should act as an umpire, and as the adviser of Congress in all
matters pertaining to scientific invention and discovery ; the members to
be nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate.

The twenty-first annual meeting of the British Association was held at
Ipswich. England, June 2d, and continued, as usual, for one week. The
attendance was unusually large, and the meeting, in interest, was not infe-
rior to any former one. Many foreigners of distinguished scientific repu-
tation, attracted to England by the Great Industrial Exhibition, were
present at the Association, and contributed to its proceedings. The Presi-
dent, Prof. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, in the annual address, declared
himself opposed to the plan of establishing a National Academy, or Insti-
tute, as recommended at a former meeting. The reasons urged against the

*

2S *

‘ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. Ix
r
plan do not, however, fully apply to the existing state of things in the
United States. * ”

The next meeting of the Association was appointed to be held at Belfast,
Ireland, in June next. ; ‘The President for the year 1852 is Col. Sabine.

A congress of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian naturalists met at Stock-
holm, on the 14th of July, 1851.

An Academy of Sciences, under the title of the Assembly of Knowledge,
has been formed in Constantinople during the past year. The Academy
will be composed of forty native members, and an indefinite number of cor-
respondents in foreign countries. The statutes declare the object of the new
institution to be, the publication of original scientific works, and the trans-
lation into Turkish of foreign works of importance. The first labor of the
Academy will be the compilation into the Turkish language of an encyclo-
peedia of the sciences.

An American Geographical and Statistical Society was formed in New
York, on the 9th of October, by the adoption of a constitution, and the
election of suitable officers to manage its affairs. The society is constituted
for the collection and diffusion of geographical and statistical information.
By the constitution, the society is to consist of ordinary, corresponding and
honorary members. The initiation fee is fixed at $10, and the annual sub-
scription at $5. Anniversary meetings are to be held on the second Thurs-
day of December in each year, and ordinary meetings on the second Thurs-
day of March, June, September and December. For the present year,
Henry Grinnell, Esq., was elected President ; S. Dewit Bloodgood, Foreign
Secretary ; John Disturnel, Domestic Secretary and Agent.

‘The Royal Geographical Society of Russia has displayed great energy
and activity during the past year. At the annual meeting, two prizes
were awarded. The first, a medal, to Col. Lemn, for a series of astronom-
ical observations, determining the latitude and longitude of some four
hundred places in Russia and the neighboring regions in Asia, as far as
Mesched, in Persia. These determinations are of particular value for the
geocraphy of inner Asia. The second prize was hestowed upon M. Woro-
noff, for a historical and statistical survey of the educational establishments
in the district of St. Petersburg from 1715 to 1828. It is, in fact, a his-
tory of the development of mental culture in that most important part of
the empire. From the annual report presented, we derive the following
information :— The society had caused an expedition to be sent to the
Ural, under Col. Hoffman. The triangulation of the country about Mount
Ararat had been completed. A map of Asia Minor had been prepared by
Col. Bolotoff ; a map of the Caspian Sea, and the countries surrounding it,
was nearly completed by Mr. Chanykoff ; the same savant was still at work
on a map of Asia between 35° and 40° north latitude, and 61° and 81° east
longitude ; two astronomers were engaged in that region, making observa-

x NOTES BY THE EDITOR

tions to assist in its completion. Another map of Kokand and Bokhara
was also forthcoming, and the society had employed Messrs. Butakoff and
Chanykoff to prepare a complete atlas of Asia between 33° and 56° north
latitude, and 65° and 100° east longitude. A Russian nobleman had given
12,000 roubles to pay for making and publishing a Russian translation of
Ritter’s geography ; but the society had determined not to undertake so
immense a work (15,000 printed pages), and had determined only to take
up those countries which have an immediate interest for Russia, using
along with Ritter a great body of materials to which he had not access.
These countries are Southern Siberia, Northern China, Turan, Korassan,
Afghanistan and Persia. In Ritter’s work these occupy 4,500 pages. The
expedition sent out by the society to explore the source of the Nile, had
returned without effecting much of interest. A new expedition was pre-
paring to explore the peninsula of Kamskatka. To aid in this undertaking,
a Russian gentleman has given 20,000 francs per year, during the time
the party may be absent.

The Royal Geographical Society of France have awarded to Lieut. Lynch,
U.S. N., two silver medals, for his exploration of the Dead Sea and the
Jordan.

The Paris Society for the Encouragement of National Industry have
awarded a silver medal to Samuel Cornell, of Connecticut, for his invention
of a machine for making lead pipes.

The liberality exercised during the past year by various public authori-
ties and private individuals, towards the cause of science, has been most
generous and encouraging.

Two appropriations of considerable interest have been made by the
British government, namely : £1000 to the Royal Asiatic Society, ‘* tow-
ards defraying the expenses of the publication of the inscriptions in cunei-
form characters copied by Lieut. Colonel Rawlinson,’’ and £500 ** towards
the excavations at the Mound of Susa, with a view to the discovery of ancient
monuments known to be deposited there.’? The sum of £1000 has also
been placed at the disposal of the Royal Society, by government, to be
employed at discretion in assisting private scientific enterprise.

The French government has voted a credit of 33,000 francs, for the pur-
pose of exploring the Temple of Serapis, in the ruins of Memphis, Egypt.
This temple, which has been covered with sand ever since the time of
Strabo, and has since remained almost intact, offers great temptations to
research. This building is a mixture of the Greek and Egyptian styles of
architecture, and the worship to which it was consecrated was a fusion of
the Greek and the Egyptian faith. The very slight soundings in the sand,
which have been hitherto made, have brought to light many curious statues
and bas-reliefs.

The French authorities have also decreed the expenditure of 62,260

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XI

francs for ‘‘ experimental studies ’’ in reference to a destructive malady
of the horned cattle over a large part of France. The sum of 10,000 francs
will be paid to whomsoever shall discover a preventive or cure.

The sum of $40,000 has been bequeathed to the French Academy, by
Dr. Jecker, of Paris, to found an annual prize for researches in organic
chemistry.

A legacy of $50,000 has Lie Teft to Dartmouth College, New Hamp-
shire, by Abiel Chandler, of Boston, for the purpose of establishing a
school of instruction in the practical and useful arts of life.

For the purpose of founding a school for instruction in navigation, the
sum of $25,000 has been bequeathed by Daniel West, of Salem, Mass.

A gift of a superior achromatic telescope has been made to the Observa-
tory of Williams College, Mass., by Amos Lawrence, Esq., of Boston.

A prize of five hundred ducats has been offered by the Royal Prussian
Academy, at Berlin, for the best work on the nature and mode of action,
and resulting constitution, of hydraulic mortar, including the constitution
of the zeolites generally, but especially of those produced in the solidifica-
tion of mortar. The time allowed is till the Ist of March, 1854,

Four several prizes, amounting in all to $3000, have been offered by F.
M. Ray, Esq., of New York, for various improvements relating to railroad
matters ; the first and largest prize, of $1500, to be given for the invention
which best secures against the danger arising from collisions, and the
breaking of wheels and axles. The premiums are to be open for competi-
tion until the next annual fair of the American Institute, at which time
the decisions will be made by a committee. The inventions are to be such
as can be adopted and put into general use, and the inventors are to retain
their right, in all cases, to secure patents.

A government school of mines was opened in London, on the 7th of
November, under the direction of Sir H. De la Beche, Director General of
the Geological Survey of Great Britain. This institution is connected with
the Museum of Practical Geology, and has for its officers the best talent
in the United Kingdom. Among them are Edward Forbes, Professor of
Natural History; Dr. Playfair, Professor of Chemistry ; Robert Hunt,
Professor of Mechanical Science ; Mr. Ramsay, Professor of Mining Engi-
neering, and others.

A project is on foot, in the southern and central portions of Illinois, for
the establishment of an industrial university, in which the science of agri-
culture and the principles of mechanism shall be practically taught. The
fund for this purpose, now at the command of the State, has accrued from
the action and foresight of the constitutional convention assembled at Kas-
kaskia, in August, 1818, in accepting certain propositions of Congress in
relation to certain lands for school purposes.

The American Institute, of New York, has issued a circular, proposing the

XII NOTES BY THE EDITOR

establishment of an American school of mines, to be located in New York,
under the auspices of the Institute. Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, is
named as the Director. The plan embraces courses of popular lectures on
geology, mineralogy, mining, metallurgy, and chemistry proper, together
with practical instruction in each of the above named branches of science,
and also in civil engineering and nautical astronomy.

A new university, projected upon an extensive scale, has been established
at Albany, N. Y., Judge Bronson, President. The lectures upon medicine,
law, and various departments of science, have commenced, and are in
progress. The university in plan more nearly represents the European uni-
versities than anything now in this country. It is intended that the pro-
fessors shall be remunerated by the fees which they receive from those who
attend the lectures. By a generous subscription of the people of Albany,
four persons from each senatorial district of New York, and certain other
persons, are allowed, this year, to attend upon the lectures gratuitously.
Among the lecturers connected with this university, are Prof. Mitchel, on
astronomy ; Prof. Norton, scientific agriculture; Prof. Hall, geology ;
Dr. Henry Goadby, entomology ; Prof. Agassiz, Guyot, and others.

Since the meeting of the American Association at Albany, active meas-
ures have been taken to secure the establishment of an astronomical obser-
vatory in that city. Twenty-five thousand dollars have already been
raised, to which sum Mrs. Dudley contributed thirteen thousand. A valu
able lot of land for the site of the building has also been given, by Mr. Van
Rensselaer. The director of the observatory will be Prof. O. M. Mitchel,
formerly in charge of the Cincinnati Observatory. The instruments are to
be purchased in Europe, by Prof. Mitchel.

A resolution has been introduced in the Board of Aldermen of New York,
authorizing the appointment of a committee to take immediate measures
for the erection of an astronomical observatory in that city. It is to be
feared, however, that there is too great an indifference among the commer-
cial and mercantile interests of New York, to secure this important object.

An observatory is in the course of construction in Buffalo, N. Y., under
the direction of Dr. Van Duzee. It is to be furnished with a refracting
telescope, of eight inches aperture and ten feet focal distance, together with
all other necessary instruments.

At a meeting of the photographists of New York, July, 1851, an associa-
tion for the promotion of heliographic science was formed, under the name
of the ‘‘ American Daguerrean Association.’? M.M. Lawrence was elected
President, and 8. D. Humphrey, editor of the Daguerrian Journal, Secre-
tary. The first annual address before this Association was delivered Oct.
31, by 8S. D. Humphrey, Esq.

Three vacancies in the limited number of the foreign correspondents of
the French Academy have been filled during the past year ; two in the sec-

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XIII

tion-of astronomy, and one in the section of botany. The first place in the
astronomical section, made vacant by the death of Schumacher, was filled by
the election of Mr. Hind, of London. To the second place, vacant by the
death of Svanberg, Mr. W. C. Bond, director of the Cambridge Observa-
tory, was chosen. Among the candidates were Messrs. Adams, Galle, Las-
sel, Struve, and Gasparis. To the section of botany, in the place made
vacant by the death of M. Kunth, M. Blume, professor in Leyden, was
elected. Messrs. Asa Gray and John Torrey, of the United States, were
among the candidates in this section.

In the report of the Secretary of the Interior, communicated to Congress
December, 1851, the establishment of an agricultural bureau, in connection
with that department, is strongly recommended. From this report we
make the following extracts :— ‘‘ Agriculture is, unquestionably, the great
interest of our country, whether we have reference to the number of per-
sons employed in it, or the value of their productions. It appears, from
the census of 1840, that the whole number of persons at that time engaged
in this pursuit was 3,719,951; in manufactures, 791,749 ; and in com-
merce, 117,607. More than four-fifths of the entire population were, there-
fore, employed in the cultivation of the soil. At present it is believed that
the proportion is still greater, in consequence of the change in the policy
of the government, which has induced many to become agriculturists who
were formerly engaged in manufactures. Respecting the duties of such a
department, it should be charged with the duty of collecting and dissemi-
nating information in regard to the cultivation of the soil, in all its branches.
It should investigate every proposed improvement in the tillage of the earth,
or in the construction of implements of husbandry. It should collect, from
our own and foreign countries, every variety of seed, fruit, plant and vege-
table, and distribute them, with full and accurate information as to the
‘soil, climate, and mode of cultivation, best adapted to each. One or more
officers should be connected with it, thoroughly acquainted with the princi-
ples of geology, mineralogy, chemistry and botany, for the purpose of
investigating and reporting upon the character and properties of every
variety of soil, rock, mineral, and vegetable, and their adaptation to useful
purposes. To this bureau should also be entrusted the duty of superin-
tending the taking of each decennial census, and of procuring and classify-
ing from year to year all the statistical information which can be obtained
in respect to the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, tonnage, revenue
expenditures, financial and banking systems, improvements by railways,
canals, and roads, industrial pursuits, and general progress of every State
in the Union, and of the principal nations of the world.”’

Such a department, conducted by competent persons, and established
under the authority of the general government, would undoubtedly do
much towards promoting a sound and practical system of scientific agri-

B

XIV NOTES BY THE EDITOR

culture throughout the country. Many of the publications relating to
agricultural science, at present circulating, some, even, of an official char-
acter, are edited by persons ignorant of the principles of chemistry, and
abound in the most extravagant and fallacious statements. It is foreign to
our purpose in this connection to point out the errors in any particular
work ; the task, however, could be easily accomplished. The researches
made during the past year, in regard to the volatility of phosphoric acid in
acid solutions, and the well-known difficulty of quantitatively determining
this body, throw a doubt over the correctness of almost all ordinary soil
analyses in this particular. It is, moreover, the opinion of some of our
most eminent chemists, that very few complete soil analyses have been made
in this country which can present any claims to accuracy or reliability.

A valuable report on the system of agricultural education, as pursued in
the different countries of Europe, has been made, during the past year, by
President Hitchcock, to the Massachusetts Board of Commissioners on the
establishment of an Agricultural School, and published by the Legislature
of the State. This report, the result of personal examination, embraces
much information never before presented to the American public.

The report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution exhibits its affairs
in a prosperous condition. By a judicious management, the accrued inter-
est on the amount originally left by Smithson has proved sufficient, not
only to construct the building and defray all other necessary expenses, but
to allow the sum of $150,000 to be added to the principal, thus consider-
ably increasing the yearly income. The works published under the aus-
pices of the Institution the past year, have been, a ‘* Report on Recent Im-
provements in the Chemical Arts,’’ by Booth and Morfit ; ‘* An Ephemeris
of Neptune, for 1852,’’ by Sears C. Walker, and “‘ Occultations visible in
the United States for 1852,’’ computed by John Downes, Esq. The Insti-
tution has also in press the ‘‘ Plantee Fremontianx, or Descriptions of
Plants collected in California by Col. Fremont,’’? by Prof. Torrey ; ‘‘A
Monograph of the Fresh Water Cottoids of the United States,’? by Charles
Girard ; ‘‘ Plants of New Mexico and Texas, collected by Wright,’’ by
Prof. Gray ; ‘‘ A Catalogue of the Coleoptera of the United States,’ by
Dr. Melscheimer, and a ‘‘ Monograph of the Marine Algxw of North Amer-
ica,’’ by Prof. Harvey, of Dublin, Ireland. This last memoir consists of a
description of the marine plants which are found along the eastern and
southern coasts of the United States, and which are worthy of attention, not
only on account of their beauty, variety, and the illustrations they present
of the growth of vegetable forms, but also on account of their economical
value with reference to agriculture and the chemical arts. The work is ac-
companied by many beautiful drawings, executed by Prof. Harvey, and is
gratuitously offered by the author. The preparation of the whole work,
besides the time occupied in collecting the specimens, will occupy more

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XV

than a year. ‘This voluntary contribution to knowledge, from a man of
science, may surprise those whose minds are not liberalized by philosophi-
cal pursuits, and who cannot conceive any object in labor unconnected
with pecuniary gain.’’

The publication of a Grammar and Dictionary of the Dacotah language,
a work in quarto, with special founts of type, and of immense labor, by
the Rey. Mr. Riggs, of the Minnesota mission, had been commenced, under
the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. By a fire, which occurred in
New York in January, the type and an edition of fifteen hundred copies
were destroyed. The greater portion of the manuscript copy was, however,
fortunately in the hands of the author. Thus far, fifteen hundred copies
of each memoir published by the Institution have been printed. The rules
adopted for their distribution are as follows: they are presented to all
learned societies and foreign libraries which send transactions, catalogues,
&e., in exchange. To all colleges in actual operation in this country, pro- »
vided they furnish catalogues and meteorological observations in return. To
all States and Territories, in exchange for copies of all documents published
under their authority ; and, lastly, to all public libraries in this country,
not included in either of the foregoing classes, now containing more than
seven thousand volumes ; and to smaller libraries, where a whole State or
large district would be left unsupplied. The minor publications are also
given to many of the most prominent Lyceums and Academies. None of
the works published by the Smithsonian Institution are copyrighted ; they
are, therefore, free to the use of all.

Important additions have recently been made to the Museum of the In-
stitution. A valuable collection of skins, skulls and skeletons of mamma-
lia, together with some rare fossils from the Upper Missouri, have been
obtained through Mr. T. Culbertson. A journey was made by Mr. Cul-
bertson, under the auspices of the Institution, to the country known as the
** Mauvaise Terres,’’ on the Upper Missouri. Here he collected mamma-
lian and reptilian fossils, sufficient te load a cart to its utmost capacity.
These embrace many new and undescribed species, among which are the
Rhinoceros occidentalis and Nebraskensis, the Paleotherium Bardii and
the Agriocherus antiquus. The journal kept by Mr. Culbertson, since
deceased, while on this expedition, has been published in the annual report
for 1850-51. Nineteen boxes of minerals, illustrative of the geological sur-
vey of the mineral region of Lake Superior, by Dr. C. T. Jackson, have
been given by the Land Office. A valuable cabinet of Natural History,
- embracing some thousand specimens, has been deposited in the Museum
by Prof. Baird, and numerous donations have been made by officers of the
army and private individuals.

Five large stone idols, from Central America, have been sent to the Insti-
tution, by Mr. Squier, who also proposes to give, under certain conditions,

XVI NOTES. BY THE EDITOR

a valuable collection of relics, illustrative of American antiquities. The
library of the Institution now numbers about ten thousand separate arti-
cles, including a large and rare collection of engravings.

A small appropriation has been made to defray in part the expenses of
explorations relative to the erosions of the surface of the earth, especially
by rivers ; and also for investigations relative to terraces and ancient sea
margins, under the direction of Pres. Hitchcock. A full account of these
investigations will soon be published by the Institution.

The Assistant Secretary, Prof. S. F. Baird, has prepared, for the use of
the Institution, a small taxidermist manual, containing directions for col-
lecting, preserving, and transporting specimens of natural history.

Among the official scientific publications of the past year, are the Reports
on the Mineralogy and Geology of the Lake Superior Mining District, by
Messrs. Foster and Whitney ; Patent Office Report, 1850-51, Mechanical
and Agricultural, by Thomas Ewbank ; the Fifth Annual Report of the
Smithsonian Institution ; Reconnoissances of Texas and New Mexico, by
various officers of the army ; Report on Meteorology, by Prof. Espy ; and
the Meteorology of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, by Captain Wilkes.
The remaining unpublished works, pertaining to the scientific departments
of the Exploring Expedition, are in a forward state of preparation. The
volume on Conchology, by Dr. A. A. Gould, of Boston, is in press, and
most of the beautiful folio plates finished. The volume on Ferns, by Mr.
Brackenridge, one of the botanists of the expedition, is ready for the press;
as is also the folio Atlas of Illustrations.

In this connection we would call attention to two other scientific publica-
tions of great value, issued during the past year, in this country, by private
individuals. The first, a work on the ‘‘ Terrestrial Air-Breathing Mol-
luses of the United States and the adjacent Territories of North America,’’
described and illustrated by Amos Binney, and edited by Dr. A. A. Gould.
This work is published in two volumes, 352 pp., with plates, under a pro-
vision in the will of the late Mr. Binney, of Boston. Some idea of the value
of this work may be formed from the fact, that near ten thousand dollars
have been expended upon it, and the whole edition, two hundred and ninety

copies, is reserved for distribution. The work is of the highest honor to
the lamented author, both as a contribution to science, and an example of
private munificence seldom equalled. The second work to which we would
call attention, is a Geological Chart, by Prof. James Hall, of Albany. This
chart is not only a full and correct expression of geological facts and prin-
ciples, but contains much original matter relative to fossils. It is partic-
ularly illustrative of American Geology, and, as a means of disseminating
geological knowledge, is a most important contribution to science. A new
edition of the Encyclopzedia Britannica, in 21 vols. 4to., illustrated by five
hundred engravings on steel, and many thousands on wood, is announced

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XVII

by Messrs. Black, of Edinburgh. This edition, constituting the eighth of

this celebrated work, is to be entirely revised and brought up to the times.

From the commencement of this work, in 1771, over six hundred thousand
dollars have been expended upon it; in the same time, also, thirty-five
thousand copies have been sold.

A second volume of Astronomical Observations has been issued during the
past year, from the National Observatory. The Wind and Current Charis,

planned by Lieut. Maury, the Superintendent of the Observatory, and a aol

prosecuted under his direction, are being extended to the Pacific and Indian
Oceans. Vessels sailing from the Atlantic tothe Pacific ports of the United
States, with the instructions afforded by these charts, make the voyage in
forty days less, upon the average, than those sailing without them ; and
there is reason to hope the time may be still further reduced. The Bom-
bay Geographical Society, some time since, contemplated the formation of a
set of wind and current charts, and collected, for this purpose, a vast
amount of information relative to the Indian Ocean. The plan, however,
having been given up, the society generously gave to Lieut. Maury all the
information collected, embracing a large number of log-books, charts, man-
uscripis, &c. Lieut. Maury has, also, in the process of construction, a set
of ‘* whale charts,’’ or charts whereon the places and seasons wherever
whales have been seen are noted down. These charts, while they promise
to be of great service to this branch of American fisheries, seem to show
that the whales possess much more knowledge than we have usually given
them credit for, and know a great deal more about the warm and cold cur-
rents of the ocean waters than we do, or have done.

The expedition, for astronomical. observations, to Chili, appears, from
the reports of Lieut. Gillis, to have been actively conducted, and will prob-
ably be brought to a close during the year 1852. It is expected that the
first publication of the American Nautical Almanac, under the superintend-
ence of Lieut. Davis, will be made within the present year.

The Swedish Government have determined to send out a scientific explor-
ing expedition, for a voyage of circumnavigation of the globe. Eminent
scientific men have been appointed to accompany it.

The perseverance and courage of American seamen, engaged in private
enterprises, has been strikingly exemplified during the past year, in the
fact, that the American whale-ship Saratoga, Capt. Harding, while cruising
in the Arctic Sea, in the vicinity of Bhering’s Straits, penetrated to a
higher latitude, in this portion of the Arctic Sea, than had previously been
reached. This vessel, Sept. 21, 1851, reached lat. 71° 50’, a point further
to the north than the British Expedition, under Beechy, in 1826, was
able to make.

The American Grinnell Exploring Expedition, sent out in the spring of
1851, has returned unsuccessful. Traces of Sir John Franklin. in 1845,

B*

XVIII NOTES BY THE EDITOR
were found, and some important geographical discoveries made. A chart,
showing the course and discoveries of the expedition, has been issued by
the hydrographical office, at Washington.
Intelligence from the British Exploring Expedition in Central Africa has
been received up to August, 1851. Mr. Richardson, the head of the
party, died in March. last, at Bornou. Drs. Barth and Overweg had,
however, continued on, and, at the latest dates, had succeeded in penetrat-
ing further into the interior than has hitherto been accomplished.

A plan for the exploration of Central Africa has been submitted to the
Secretary of the Navy, by Lieut. M. C. Watkins, U. 8. N., who volunteers
to conduct an expedition. He proposes to ascend the rivers St. Paul,

_ Niger, and Congo, by means of a small iron steamer, suitably equipped
and furnished.

The mystery hanging over the interior of Africa is rapidly dissipating
before the zeal of the many explorers whose efforts are now devoted to
traversing the centre of that continent, and, before many years have passed,
there is reason to suppose this geographical and ethnographic problem
will be fully solved. The English expeditions from the Cape of Good Hope,
the German missionaries on the eastern coast, with their journeys into the
highlands in the south of Abyssinia, the explorations of the English on the
Gold Coast and up the Niger, those of the French, starting from Senegal
and Algiers, the travels of Knoblecher and others on the upper Nile,
with the journeys of Barth and Overweg, must soon make us acquainted
with the principal facts that have so long been the object of general curi-
osity, if not of exaggerated expectation. Something is also to be anticipated
from the aid of Mohammedan travellers, of whom there area great number
scattered over the interior of the continent, in search of adventures, or
with a view to trade. One of these has published, in Arabic, two works,
containing his experiences and observations in Darfur and Waday, both
of which have been recently translated into French.

In return for a set of American weights and measures, presented by the
U. 8. Government to the French, through the agency of M. Vattemare; a

- fall set of the French standards has been ordered to be sent to Washington.
It embraces all the articles belonging to, or illustrating, the three unities
of the French metrical system of weights and measures, viz., the metre,
the litre, and the kilogramme ; the series of instruments for weighing and
measuring, which habitually compose, in France, a bureau of verification,
together with the volumes of law pertaining to the whole subject. This
system, embracing a great variety of articles, will form one of the most
valuable collections in the possession of the American Government.

The Paris ‘‘ Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie’’ of the past year con-
tains a highly eulogistic article upon the management and results of the
U. 8. Coast Survey, and very deservedly compliments the superintendent,

* ” ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XIX

~
Prof. Bache. The Editor, M. Sedillot, after presenting an historical sum-
mary of the survey, says : —‘‘ The superintendent was called to his eminent
post by a unanimous voice. Distinguished in the esteem of his fellow-citi-
zens by his useful publications, appreciated by the principal academies of
Europe, he has acquired a universal reputation by the services which he is
daily rendering to science, and by the improvements of every kind which
his skill has introduced into the different branches of the coast survey.’’
After dwelling somewhat on the organization and results of the survey,
he adds :—** In speaking of the eminent services rendered by the coast sur-
vey to science and humanity, we make known only a very small part of
the results of this admirable enterprise. Directed in all its branches with
zeal and activity, it cannot fail to add every year to the consideration with

which it is surrounded, not only in the United States, but also in all

countries where science and its application to the arts of life are duly
appreciated.’

The magnetic telegraph system is now rapidly extending over the whole
European continent. Already a line is completed from Ostend to Trieste,
a distance of more than two thousand miles. Three lines of telegraph are
also in operation in the interior of Hungary. Preparations are also mak-
ing, by the Turkish Government, to introduce the telegraph into that coun-
try, and a commission to make the necessary arrangements has been
appointed by the Sultan. In Sweden and Norway, an American, by the
name of Robinson, is engaged in the construction of a number of lines of
telegraph ; a privilege having been granted him by the government, to
endure for fifty years. The successful completion of the submarine tele-
graph between England and France has led to the serious consideration
of a submarine telegraph between England and the United States. This
event we regard as by no means improbable, and the prediction has been
hazarded, that, within ten years from 1852, the transactions in Europe and
America, of each day, will be reported and published in both countries on
the succeeding day. We invite the attention of those who may feel scep-
tical in regard to this subject, to an article in the present number of the
Annual of Scientific Discovery, entitled ‘‘ Thoughts on Telegraphic Commu-
nication twenty years ago.”’

The London Athenzeum, in speaking of the transatlantic telegraph, says :
‘There seems nothing impracticable in such an undertaking. A conviction
has been expressed, by those conversant in these matters, that a single line
of communication between England and the nearest point of America might
be established for a less sum than was paid for making a single mile of the
expensive portion of the Great Western (English) Railway. In this estimate
it is proposed to have only a single wire, covered with gutta percha, similar to
that used in 1851, to prove the practicability of passing an electric current
across the Straits of Dover. To this would be added the additional protec-

AX NOTES BY THE EDITOR

tion of a hempen plat, the hemp having been passed through a chemical
solution to render it indestructible in salt water. Such a line, it is said,
of gutta percha and prepared hemp, would, although only about three
quarters of an inch in diameter, be of nearly double the strength of the
experimental line laid down between England and France, in a strong sea
and running tide. The proposition is, to extend it from the south-west
coast of Ireland, the nearest point to the American Continent, and where
the bold and rocky shore offers depths that secure its safety from anchors,
to the nearest point on the American coast, a distance considerably less
than two thousand miles. Choosing the months of summer, and an expe-
rienced captain, accustomed to the track, such a line, it is averred, might,
with very simple machinery, be paid out night and day with perfect safety,
at the ordinary speed of the steamer. The vast importance of such an
object is not to be weighed against a sum of one hundred thousand pounds,
which, we are assured, would more than accomplish it, if a single wire
only were employed. The successful completion of one line would, of
course, be speedily followed by that of others. This once accomplished,
the extension of the line across the American continent, to the Pacific,
would follow certainly ; and we should have the astounding fact, of a com-
munication from the shores of the Pacific, crossing America and the Atlan-
tic, and touching our shores, in an instant of time.’’

The present extent of the telegraphic system in the United States and
Canada is not far from twelve thousand miles. During the past year the
shortest passage ever made between England and the United States, has
been accomplished, by the Baltic, (Collins’ Line,) in nine days thirteen
hours and forty minutes. Average time of the American steamers, from
Liverpool to New York, from July 1st, 1851, to Jan. Ist, 1852, eleven days
eight hours ; of the English, do., do., twelve days nine hours. Average
of the American steamers from New York to Liverpool, in the above men-
tioned time, ten days twenty-three hours ; of the English, do., eleven days
eleven hours.

In no department of science is there greater enterprise displayed than
in the department of meteorology. Under the direction of the Smithsonian
Institution, stations are now being established in many parts of the country,
each provided with proper instrumerrts, regulated according to one stand-
ard. Under the direction of the Regents of the University of the State of
New York, a very complete system for meteorological observations has been
extended, by Prof. Guyot, over the whole State. At the meeting of the Amer-
ican Association at Albany, a committee was appointed, and instructed to me-
morialize Congress, the Canadian Government, and the different State Legis-
latures, in regard to the immediate extension of the system now making,
under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. A letter was also read
at this meeting of the Association from the Hudson’s Bay Company, offer-

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XXI

ing to codperate with the Association, in regard to this subject, and to
establish a system of observations, at such of the posts belonging to the
Company as might seem desirable to the Association. By order of the
War Department, a system of meteorological observations is maintained
at all the U.S. military stations, under the supervision of the Surgeon-
General of the army ; and measures are now on foot to provide for a set
of observations by the keepers of all light-houses on the American coast,
under the direction of the Treasury Department. The instruments sup-
plied to many of the stations established by the Smithsonian Institution,
embrace a thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, rain and snow gauge, and
wind vane, all carefully compared, and of uniform construction. At some
stations, hourly observations are maintained, and at all others observations
three times a day. At many of the stations, the observations embrace the
following particulars :—The phase of the moon, the barometrical indication,
the height of the thermometer, direction and force of the wind, the plants in
flower, the migratory birds first seen, the state of the psychrometer, the
amount of vapor or humidity, the state of the rain gauge, the state of
cloudiness, with notes on the various kinds of clouds visible.

Active measures, in relation to meteorological science, have recently
been taken by various foreign governments. The government of Great
Britain, having greatly enlarged its system of meteorological observations,
and wishing to extend it still farther, in November last invited the codp-
eration of the United States therein. To this official invitation the Amer-
ican authorities have favorably responded, and have also suggested the
propriety of including the sea as well as the land, and of enlisting in the
meteorological field the voluntary codperation of the commercial, as well ©
as the aid of the naval marines, not only of England and the United States,
but of all other maritime nations. Lieut. Maury, on the part of the United
States, and Gen. Sir John Burgoyne, on the part of Great Britain, have
been entrusted with the charge of the work; and a committee of con-
ference, composed of representatives of several nations, has also been
requested to make arrangements for carrying out this universal system of
observations. The English Government have determined to extend the
system of meteorological observations over the whole of their vast empire,
and, to aid in this movement, the East India Company and the Trinity
Board have agreed to lend their influence and assistance. In addition tc
this, letters have recently been sent, by Lord Palmerston and by the Colo
nial Office, to all British Consuls, reguesting their codperation in the col
lection of data in regard to a theory of storms, a work under the charge of
Col. Reed. By discoveries recently made, particularly at St. Helena, it
has been found that there is a tidal movement of the air, in obedience to
the movements of the moon, answering to the tides of the ocean, and point-

XXII NOTES BY THE EDITOR

ing its apex to that luminary, thus serving to illustrate, in another aspect,
the sublime simplicity of nature’s laws.

The Smithsonian Institution has published, for the use of those who
take part in the system of meteorological observations, a series of minute
directions, prepared by Prof. Guyot. It occupies forty cctavo pages, with
wood-cut representations of the instruments, and two lithographic engrav-
ings, to illustrate the different forms of clouds, and to facilitate their nota-
tions in the journals, in accordance with the nomenclature adopted by
meteorologists. A set of tables has also been furnished for correcting the
barometrical observations, on account of variations of temperature. A series
of experiments have also been made, in the laboratory of the Institution,
for the purpose of constructing, from direct observation, a seale of boiling
temperatures, corresponding to different degrees of rarefaction of the air.
With a thermometer, each degree of which occupies one inch in length of
the scale, the variations of the boiling point, corresponding to a slight
change in altitude, are found to be more perceptible than those in the
length of the barometrical column. A valuable collection of returns, rela-
tive to the Aurora, has also been made to the Smithsonian Institution.
These are to be placed in the hands of Capt. Lefroy, of the Toronto Observ-
atory, and incorporated with observations of a similar kind collected in
British North America. An account in full, of the series, will be hereafter
published by the Institution.

The progress of Astronomy, during the past year, has been very great.
The Earl of Rosse has been much engaged in experiments on the best meth-
ods of supporting and using his large mirrors. The construction adopted
some time since is still retained ;— namely, a system of levers, distribut-
ing their pressures uniformly over eighty-one points, each pressure being
transmitted through a small ball, which permits to the mirror perfect
freedom of slipping in its own plane, so as to take proper bearing in the
chain or hoop which supports it edgeways. To Lord Rosse’s critical eye,
the effect even of this mounting, though greatly superior to that of any
preceding, is not quite perfect. By the aid of his large reflector, some new
instances of spiraliy-arranged nebulz have been discovered ; some strik-
ing examples of dark holes in bright matter, dark clefts in bright rays,
and the resolution of nebulous matter into stars, have also been made
known.

The determination of the parallax of the star a Centauri is a subject of
great interest. Observations made by Prof. Henderson give to this star a
parallax of 0’.9187. The parallax separately deduced by Mr. Mclear, the
Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, is 0’.9128, showing an accord-
ance greater than the most sanguine could have anticipated. It has been -
recently announced, that a continuation of the observations at the Cape
fully confirm the results first obtained, namely, that the parallax of « Cen-

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. XXIII

tauri exceeds nine tenths of a second, or that its distance from the sun is
about twenty billions of miles. So far as we have the means of judging,
this star is our-nearest neighbor in the sidereal spaces. The attention of
foreign astronomers is still directed to the irregularities in the proper
motions of stars, and the opinion seems to be gaining ground that many
of them are accompanied by non-luminous companions. The most remark-
able astronomical discoveries of the past year have, undoubtedly, been
those of the American astronomers, relative to the nature and constitution
of Saturn’s rings ; two new ultra-zodiacal planets, Irene and Eunomia, have
also been added to the solar system, by Messrs. Hind and Gaspasis. An
invention of great value has been made by Prof. Mitchel, of Cincinnati,
for the observing and recording right ascension and N. P. distance ; a new
lunar formula has also been constructed by Mr. Longstreth, of Philadel-
phia, by which an error, hitherto disregarded, is eliminated, and perfect
coincidence with observation is obtained. The valuable astronomical jour-
nal, Asironomisches Nachrichten, the existence of which was endangered
by the recent death of its editor, Prof. Schumacher, has been continued by
Prof. Hansen and Dr. Petersen.

The valuable mathematical and astronomical library of the late Prof.
Jacobi has been purchased during the last year, at Berlin, for Harvard
University. It consists of about nine hundred volumes, many of them of
great value, and was considered one of the most complete libraries of the
kind in Europe.

The British Surveyors in the North American Provinces have adopted
the longitude of the Observatory in Cambridge as the zero for constructing
their maps and charts, being satisfied that the longitude of that point is
better known than any other on this continent. To facilitate an important
object, mutually advantageous to the United States and Great Britain, in
determining the longitude of various places on the coast, a telegraphic
communication has been established between the Observatory at Cambridge
and Halifax. This communication is now complete, and is effected by a
single battery, through a space of seven hundred and seventy miles, by
the course of the wires, and the transit of a star at either of those places
is distinctly recorded at the other. ‘These operations are in connection
with the U. 8. Coast Survey, and they promise valuable results, in afford-
ing a greater security to navigators, on a Jong line of coast much fre-
quented by American vessels.

Among the other topics of interest, related to astronomy, which have
occurred during the past year, Foucault’s experiment, on the rotation of
the plane of simple pendulum’s vibration, has excited universal attention.
In regard to this experiment, Prof. Airy, in his address before the British
Association, says, ‘‘It is certain that M. Foucault’s theory is correct ;
but it is also certain that careful adjustments, or measures of defect of

XXIV NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

adjustment, are necessary to justify the deduction of any valid inference.
For want of these, the experiment has sometimes failed.”’

The measurement of the great Swedish and Russian arc of meridian, from
the North Cape to the Danube, has been nearly completed during the past
year.

In Natural Philosophy, the discoveries of Faraday, relative to the mag-
netic properties of oxygen, and the application of his results to the expla-
nation of all the varied phenomena of terrestrial magnetism, are among
the most important of the present century. It is curious to note, respecting
this great man, that while he was occupied with this most intricate sub-
ject, he was also employing his leisure time in giving juvenile lectures on
the physical forces, at the Royal Institution. The discovery of M. Melsens,
in relation to the production and refining of sugar, from which so much
was anticipated two years since, has proved a failure. Hofmann’s re-
searches in organic chemistry, published during the past year, have
thrown a flood of light upon this branch of chemical science, and lead to
the hope that many of the rare and valuable vegetable alkaloids may
hereafter be produced abundantly by artificial means.

Several important movements, favorable to the interests of geological
science, were made in the United States during the year 1851. The Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania, at their last session, appropriated thirty-two thou-
sand dollars for the resumption and completion of the geological survey of
that State, which was suspended some years since, on account of financial
embarrassments. The survey has been again entrusted to Prof. H. D.
Rogers, and during the past summer has been actively prosecuted. Con-
sidering the position and mineral wealth of Pennsylvania, this survey is,
undoubtedly, one of the most important ever carried on in this country.

The Illinois Legislature have passed a law authorizing a geological
and mineralogical survey of that State, and appropriated three thousand
dollars for that object, each year, till the survey be completed.

A pill, authorizing a geological survey of North Carolina, has been
passed by the Legislature of that State, with an appropriation for carrying
the same into effect. Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, of Williams College, formeriy
Geologist to the State of New York, has been appointed to the superin-
tendence of the work.

A geological survey of Indiana has been recommended, by the Governor
of that State, to the Legislature.

The limits of the present work forbid a more extended review of the
progress of science during the year 1851. The interest displayed in the
prosecution of every department of science, and the valuable results
attained to, are in the highest degree gratifying and encouraging.

2a) .
OCT 1 1895

oy i sae

BRARy HS

S

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION OF 1851.

PromMINENT among the eyents which have signalized the progress of
Science and Art in the course of the nineteenth century, has been the
** Great Industrial Exhibition of all Nations,’ during the year 1851.
The conception of the scheme might have originated in any age ; its re-
alization could have belonged only to our own. The time, the location
selected, the condition of the civilized world, all were propitious to the
undertaking ; and its results have surpassed the expectations of its de-
signers. A friendly confidence among rival States, a feeling of perfect
security, a freedom of commercial intercourse among all nations, facility
and cheapness of transportation, the perfection of inventions, and the
multiplication of practical applications —all these conditions, as they
exist now, were requisite for the success of the Exhibition. That its
results have been in the highest degree beneficial, in the diffusion of
intelligence, promotion of good taste, and the cultivation of friendly
intercourse among different people, none can doubt.

The Exhibition has existed and passed away, but it will remain in
history as an exposition and true exponent of the progress and degree
of development to which the civilized world had attained, in all
branches of science and art, at the close of the first half of the nine-
teenth century.

In the following pages we propose to present a succinct and intelli-
gible account of the origin, plan, and construction of the Crystal Palace,
with the general history and details of the Exhibition.

First Building Proposed. —The Exhibition having been fully deter-
mined upon, and a site for the necessary building chosen, the Commit-
tee advertised for plans for a suitable edifice. In accordance with their
wishes, 245 designs from different architects were submitted, none of
which, howeyer, were entirely satisfactory. A design was then com-
posed by the Committee themselves, founded upon the most approved

1

2 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

plans submitted. The building thus proposed was to have been 2200
feet long, 450 feet wide, with a huge dome, larger than that of St.
Peter’s at Rome. The roof and dome were to have been of iron, and
not less than fifteen million of bricks were to have been used in the
construction of the walls. This design, although at one time fully de-
termined upon, was most violently opposed, both on account of the
injury it would do the location, and the almost necessary permanence
of such a huge brick and mortar edifice. ‘To such an extent did the
objections to the composite design of the Building Committee prevail,
that the practicability of the Exhibition itself was jeopardized, when,
fortunately, a new design was submitted.
Paxton’s Improvements in Horticultural Buildings. — Among the
ractical men to whom the first design appeared objectionable, was Mr.
ae the celebrated horticulturist of the Duke of Devonshire’s
princely seat of Chatsworth. Mr. Paxton had already effected many
improvements in horticultural buildings, by discarding, as much as pos-
sible, all ponderous and opaque materials in their construction. He
pared away all clumsy sash-bars, whose broad shadows robbed plants
of the sun’s light and heat during the best parts of the day ; he abol-
ished dirty and leaking overlaps, by using large panes, and inserting
them in wooden grooves, rendered water-tight by a sparing use of
putty. Again, in plain lean-to or shed roofs, the morning and evening
sun presents its direct rays at a low angle, and consequently very ob-
liquely to the glass. At those periods, most of the rays of light and
heat are obstructed by the position of the glass and heavy rafters ; it
therefore became evident that, by placing the glass more at right
angles to the morning and evening rays of the sun, would be removed
the obstructions to rays of light entering the house at an early and late
hour of the day. ‘This led to the adoption of ‘‘ the ridge and furrow ”
principle for glass roofs, which so places the glass that the rays of light
in mornings and evenings enter the house without obstruction, and
present themselves more perpendicular to the glass when they are the
least powerful ; whereas at mid-day, when they are most powerful, they
present themselyes more obliquely to the glass. Upon this principle
Mr. Paxton constructed a pine-house in 1833, as an experiment, which
continues in successful use to this day. It next became a question of
importance how far an extensive structure might be covered in with
flat ridge and furrow roofs, that is, the ridge-and-valley rafters placed
on a level, instead of at an inclination. Several buildings, embracing
more or less of this design, were accordingly constructed by Mr. Pax-
ton, but it was not until 1848 that the plan was fully carried out in the
erection of a conservatory for the reception of the gigantic water-lily
of South America, the Victoria Regia. This building was 60 feet in
length by 46 in breadth, and, although a diminutive structure when
compared with the Exhibition building, yet the principles upon which
it was constructed are the same, and may be carried out to an un-
limited extent. The lily house, however, was so built as to retain as
much heat and moisture as possible, and yet to afford a strong and
bright light at all seasons; whilst, on the contrary, the Industrial
Building, being intended to accommodate a daily assemblage of many

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 8

thousands of individuals, and a vast number of natural and mechanical

roductions, many of which would be destroyed by moisture and heat,
1s constructed so as fully to answer that end. A sort of twofold econ-
omy characterizes the entire building: the walls and foundations are,
at the same time, drains and ventilators ; the roofs, besides being the
most extensive of known skylights, are light-and-heat adjusters ; the
sash-bars not only hold the glass together, but are self-supporting ; and
the rafters form perfect drains for both sides of the glass, —for draining
off internal as well as external moisture ; whilst the tops of the girders
are conduits also; and the floors are dust-traps and aid in ventilation.

Paxton’s Plan for the Exhilition Building. —The peculiar structure
of the leaves of the gigantic water-lily suggested, in some measure, to
Mr. Paxton, the principle on which the Exhibition building was after-
wards constructed. In a lecture delivered to the Society of Arts upon
the details of his design for the Great Exhibition building, he exhibited
a specimen of the leaf, five feet in diameter, of only five days’ growth ;
and to prove that not only the house for the flower, but the flower it-
self, has a striking relation to the Palace of Glass, Mr. Paxton re-
marked: ‘‘ The under side of the leaf presents a beautiful example of
natural engineering in the cantilevers, which radiate from the centre,
where they are nearly two inches deep, with large bottom flanges, and
very thin middle ribs, between each pair of which are cross-girders,
to keep the ribs from buckling; their depth gradually decreasing
towards the circumference of the leaf, where they also ramify.’’ Upon
this ‘‘ natural engineering,’’ Mr. Paxton assured us that he first devised
the self-supporting principle, which he has applied in the roof of the
Great Building.

The Lily-house was scarcely completed, when the clamorous objec-
tions raised to the brick-and-mortar design of the Building Committee
first led Mr. Paxton to consider the practicability of applying his novel
plan to the construction of a vast Exhibition House ; but the circum-
stance of the Building Committee having invited tenders for the con-
struction of their design was supposed to shut out fresh competitors.
The fact proved otherwise. Leave was granted to Mr. Paxton to bring
in his plan, which he undertook to complete in nine days. This was on
the 14th of June; other business intervened, and it was not until the
18th of June that Mr. Paxton, while presiding at a railroad meeting, first
sketched the outline of the proposed building on a sheet of blotting
paper. The plans and specifications were, however, completed by the
28th of June, and submitted. After some delay, and various objections,
the committee abandoned their own design, and contracted with Messrs.
Fox and Henderson to construct Mr. Paxton’s building for the sum of
£79,800. To this design was added a transept, crossing nearly at its
centre, so as to avoid the removal of the largest and loftiest trees
within the area. The contractors bound themselves, for a certain sum
of money, and in the course of some four months, to cover eighteen
acres of ground with a building upwards of a third of a mile long, (1848
feet,) and some 408 feet broad. In order to do this, the glass-workers
promised to supply, in the required time, nine hundred thousand square
feet of glass (weighing more than 400 tons,) in separate panes, and

4 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

these the largest that were ever made of sheet glass, each being 49
inches long. The iron-master passed his word, in like manner, to cast
in due time three thousand three hundred iron columns, varying from
fourteen and a half feet to twenty feet in length ; thirty miles of gut-
tering tube to join the individual columns together, under the ground ;
two thousand three hundred cast-iron girders; besides eleven hundred
and twenty-eight bearers for supporting galleries. The carpenter un-
dertook to get ready, within the specified period, two hundred and two
miles of sash-bar; flooring for an area of thirty-three millions of cubic
feet ; besides enormous quantities of wooden walling, louvre-work, and
partition.

Details.of the Building.—The celerity and rapidity of the movements
were much facilitated by Mr. Paxton’s original details of measurement.
Thus everything in the Building is a dividend or multiple of twenty-four.
The internal columns are placed twenty-four feet apart, while the ex-
ternal ones have no more than eight feet (a third of twenty-four) of
separation ; while the distance between each of the transept columns is
three times twenty-four, or seventy-two feet. This is also the width
of the middle aisle of the building; the side galleries are forty-eight
feet wide, and the galleries and corridors twenty-four. Twenty-four
feet is also the distance between each of the traverse gutters under the
roof; hence, the intervening bars, which are at once rafters and gut-
ters, are, necessarily, twenty-four feet long. The vertical supporters
throughout the building are hollow cast-iron columns, eight inches in
diameter ; those on the ground floor being 18 feet high, and those between
the galleries and roof 16 feet. These columns have not the ordinary
circular form, but each length has four flat faces, standing in relief from
its surface, at intervals of 90 degrees. This plan is not only artistically
pleasing, but the several flat bands present surfaces best adapted for
the connection of the girders which support the roof and galleries. The
columns are hollow, and their thickness varies, according to the weight
they support, from % of an inch to 1} inch. The girders employed
were of cast-iron and wrought-iron. The cast-iron girders are employed
to span the spaces between the columns, and support the galleries.
They are three feet deep, and are cast open, with four struts or stand-
ards interposed between their upper and lower flanges, which divide
the rectangular space into three open frames, each of which is inter-
sected by diagonal trusses. The introduction of wrought-iron into tho
construction of the roof was necessary in spanning the side aisles of 48
feet, and the nave of 72 feet, for which purpose its greater strength
rendered it preferable.

Construction of the Building. — One of the peculiarities of the build-
ing was, in its being its own scaffolding, or very nearly so. As fast as
the columns were raised, they were joined with the girders by connect-
ing pieces, or lengths of columns equal to the depth of the girders,
which are furnished with the projections requisite for securing them
firmly in their places. These connecting pieces terminate in castings
adapted tu receive the girders, and consisting of perforated flanges, cor-
responding with those cast in the ends of the columns ; and, these
being paired, a bolt was passed through them, and made fast by a nut

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 5

and screw. ‘The second tier of columns was then fixed in precisely the
same manner on the connecting pieces ; and thus were securely joined
the girders throughout the building. The peculiar action of the con-
necting pieces, however, should be further explained. The projections,
or ‘‘snugs,’? upon their upper and lower portions, act not only as
brackets, but likewise hooks ; those on the lower ends bending upwards,
and those on the upper ends downwards, so as between them to grasp
the end struts or standards of the girder. To retain the girder ina
vertical position, and prevent any lateral movement, its bottom and face
have a tenon, which drops into a mortice-hole in the projection of the
connecting piece ; while the top end face of the girder, over which the
upper connecting piece hook extends, is grooved to correspond with the
projection, and the two surfaces are keyed together by a piece of iron.
This system of attaching the girders to the projections of the connect-
ing pieces has proved very successful. The principle of the ridge and
valley roof, as applied by Mr. Paxton to horticultural buildings, was
well adapted from its extreme lightness to buildings of great extent,
the whole roof of the exhibition building weighing only upon an aver-
age 34 lbs. per superficial foot. This was the result of the subdivision
of surface in the light frame-work and rafters. From a roof of such
light construction it became important to convey away the rain-water
as soon as possible ; for it is estimated that were a quantity of water,
one-eighth of an inch in depth, suffered to remain upon the roof, an
additional pressure of 275 tons, for the time being, would be the con-
sequence. ‘This is prevented by means of cambered or curved beams
of wood, which divide the roof into spaces of eight feet each, and are the
gutters into which the water runs from off the glass roofs, which slope
into them on either side. These cambered gutters run longitudinally,
and their entire length is no less than 384 miles. These lines of gutter
were made in 24-feet lengths, each cambered upwards, so that the
water in the gutter has only to run down one-half its extent, and thus
off the roof at one end of the furrow, where it discharges itself through
a casting into a second and larger gutter lying transversely to the first,
and resting upon the roof girders. The fall of the smaller gutter on
either side is 24 inches in 12 feet, or 1 inch in 4 feet 9 inches; so
that the water is at once drained into the larger gutter, and thus con-
veyed to the hollow columns before it can accumulate at any one point
throughout the building. Not only is the roof drained externally in the
manner described, but small channels are provided in the longitudinal
gutters to carry off the condensed vapor from the interior surface of the
roof.

The glazing of this vast roof was executed in the following manner.
The sash-bars, haying been painted, were received upon the roof, where
both their grooves were filled with putty, as was also the rabbet in the
ridge, and the sill in the furrow; the side edges of the pane were then
inserted in the bar grooves, and the glass thus framed at the sides was
laid in its place, prised up by the workmen into the ridge, and fastened
at the lower end by a nail driven into a drilled hole in the bar; but
the larger sash-bars were fastened into the ridge by dowels. As the
glazing required to be executed in a very short time, ‘‘ glazing-wagons ””

1*

6 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

were used for expedition, each of which accommodated two glaziers,
and travelled on wheels in the gutters, as in railway trams, and spanned
a width, or one ridge and two sloping sides, of the roof. ‘The workmen
sat at the end of the platform, which they moved backward by a winch,
as they inserted a pane of glass before them; and thus they travelled
throughout the nave roof, their supplies of sash-bars, glass, putty, &c.,
being, from time to time, hoisted through an opening in the stage of
the wagon. In bad weather, the workmen were protected by a sort of
tilt of canvas upon hoops. By aid of these wagons, eighty men, in six
days, put in upwards of 18,000 panes, or 62,600 feet superficial, of glass.
The greatest number of frames inserted by a man in one day was 108,
being 367 feet 6 inches of glazing.

The thickness of the glass was important, but the width was equally
so. ‘Thus, if a piece of glass of a certain thickness and width be broken
by hailstones, reduce the width, and it will bear their force. Now, the

anes used in the building are 49 inches long, and 10 in width. If,
instead of 10-inch width, it had been 15, the glass, it is calculated,
would have been broken in the first hail-storm.

In order to facilitate the great amount of labor that would be re-
quired in making the sash-bars, a machine was invented by Mr. Paxton,
which accomplished the work with great rapidity. Its peculiar working
feature was, that the bar was presented to the saws below the centre
of motion, instead of above it, (as is usual,) and to the sides of the saw
which were ascending from the table, instead of those which were de-
scending ; this arrangement being necessary to suit the direction of the
teeth to the grain of the wood. It was essential that the machine re-
volve 1200 in a minute, to finish the work in a proper manner.

The gutters employed in this building, from their designer, have been
termed the ‘‘ Paxton gutters.” It has also been termed a three-way
gutter, from its having in its upper surface a semi-circular groove, to re-
ceive the water from the external glass roof, which springs from it
on both sides; and from its having also, on each of the two vertical
sides, lower down, an oblique groove to receive the condensed vapors
from the inner surface of the glass; the ends of these gutters being
connected by oblique cuts with the box-gutters. The Paxton gutter is
of the bell-shape inverted, from that form expanding upwards, and
therefore being less liable than any other to become obstructed. The
gutter is cut in lengths of 24 feet, which would bend or ‘‘sag,’’ were
they not trussed by rods of iron fixed beneath the gutter, secured to its
two ends by cast-iron shoes, and pressed up by cast-iron standards at
eight feet intervals, with a rise of 24 inches in the entire length; thus
trussed, the gutter will support 14 tons weight. Similar gutters were
employed by Mr. Paxton in the Chatsworth Conservatory in 1837 ; they
were then made by hand, but machinery has since been employed in
their construction.

The details of the transept correspond with the other parts of the
building, so far as columns, girders and galleries are concerned. At
the level of the flat roof the main difference commences by the spring-
ing of the lofty and semi-circular roof, the two end faces of which are
handsomely distinguished by their radiating frame-work. The transept

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 7

consists of a main avenue; 408 fect long by 72 feet wide, and two
aisles, each 408 feet long by 24 feet wide. The larger of these areas
is spanned by the semi-cylindrical roof, formed of semi-circular ribs,
the ends of which are inserted in the hollow columns; these ribs are
strengthened by stout timbers, placed between the ribs, and at right
angles to them, and which act as purlins, and great intermediate sash-
bars. ‘‘ Upon this simple and effective system,’’ observes Mr. Saunders,
‘sixteen light and strong ribs have been made to span a width greater
by one foot than the nave of Westminster Abbey, including its side aisles,
and that at an elevation greater by six feet.”

In order to provide for a ventilation of the building, the whole of the
basement part, to the height of four feet, was made of louvre boarding;
and at the top of each tier of galleries a similar provision of three feet
was provided. By asimple arrangement of machinery, the whole of this
louvre boarding can be opened and closed instantaneously, with the
greatest facility. To modify the intensity of the light, and at the same
time to aid in keeping the building cool, the inner side of the roof was
painted sky-blue, and the outer covered with canvas attached to the
ridges throughout the flat roof. This latter arrangement also dimin-
ishes the chances of leakage from imperfect jomting or broken glass.
The method of flooring to the building was after a plan adopted by Mr.
Paxton in the construction of horticultural edifices, viz., trellised wooden
boarding, with spaces between each board, through which all dust, on
sweeping, falls into the vacuity below.

The arrangement of galleries, which form an essential part of the
building, is as follows: There are four main galleries running the whole
length of the building — two on the north and two on the south side of
the great central aisle, the whole being connected by two cross galleries,
one at either end of the building ; besides twenty intermediate trans-
verse gangways, or crossings. The collective length of the galleries,
restricted to the second tier, is 9456 feet, or more than one mile and
three quarters, and the width 24 feet ; so that the whole area, or surface
of gallery-flooring, is equal to 210,240 superficial feet, or nearly five acres.
The exposed sides of the galleries are protected by an ornamental iron
railing.

Decopesioiis of the Building. —The decorations of the building were
carried out under the direction of Mr. Owen Jones, on a somewhat
novel and ingenious plan. By the system of coloring adopted, every
line in the building was marked distinctly, thus tending to increase the
appearance of its height, its length, and its bulk. Externally the main
lines are a delicate blue upon a white and stone-colored ground. In
the interior, the principal portions of the roof, of a delicate blue tint,
harmonize most brilliantly with the light of the sky, beaming through
the crystal roof. The transept is artistically splendid ; the under side
of each of the twenty-four ribs corresponds in color with that decorating
the square fillets of the columns supporting the ribs, viz., light blue ;
the part of the under side corresponding to the circular surface of the
column is in deep chrome yellow; upon each side of this color is a
stripe of white, dividing it from the blue; upon the smaller ribs, the
‘returns ”’ are colored red, the edges chrome, and the sides blue; the

8 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

diagonal tie-rods are painted bright yellow, with gilt centres ; the sash-
bars white, and the cross-bracings blue. The wood panelling, and
louvre boarding, with which the lower story is filled in, is colored in
imitation of dark oak. ‘The whole efiect of the mingling of these various
colors is gay and elegant, without the least approach to tawdriness.
Flags of different countries are placed upon standards, which rise from
the outer edge of the roof of the nave, and thus greatly relieve the mo-
notony occasioned by its long, flat surface.

General Internal Appearance. —'The general internal appearance of
the building may be thus described, supposing the entrance to be from
the main portion of the structure. ‘‘ Through a vestibule the visitor is
admitted into the transept, with its semi-cylindrical roof, springing at
68 feet from the ground, the diameter of the vaulting being 72 feet.
Its length from south to north is 408 feet, on each side of which is an
aisle 24 feet wide. About midway from the transept, extends eastward
and westward a nave, upwards of 900 feet in each direction ; the entire
length of the building being 1848 feet. The nave is 64 feet high, and
72 feet wide, and is flanked with aisles 24 feet wide, above which, at
the height of 24 feet, are carried galleries extending round the whole
of the nave and transept. Beyond each of these first aisles is an ave-
nue, 48 feet wide ; and, next, a second aisle of corresponding width, and
in like manner covered throughout with galleries on the same level as
those over the first aisles. The several lines of galleries communicate
with each other by bridges, which cross the 48 feet avenues, and, at
the same time, divide them into courts, each of which has a very unique
effect, more especially when viewed from the galleries. The avenues
and second aisles are roofed over at the height of 48 feet from the
ground ; the rest of the building is but one story, 24 feet high to the
roof, From the ground floor of the whole building, access to the several
galleries is obtained by ten double staircases.”’

Completion and Opening of the Building. — The first column of the
exhibition building was set up on the 26th of September, 1850. On
the Ist of February, 1851, it was delivered over to the committee for the
reception of goods, although not entirely completed in many minor
details ; and on the Ist of May, the Exhibition was inaugurated with
appropriate ceremonies. ‘The work, from the commencement to its
completion, was under the sole supervision of Mr. Fox. In order to
show how severely this has taxed his energies, we quote the following
extract from an address made by this gentieman at a dinner given him
at the completion of the work. After giving a statement of the prog-
ress of the undertaking, Mr. Fox said: ‘* Before completing our tender,
and with a view to a more precise appreciation of the magnitude of a
building covering 18 acres — 1848 feet long, 408 feet wide, and 64 feet
high, irrespective of the arched roof of the transept —I walked out one
evening into Portland Place, and there setting off the 1848 feet upon
the pavement, found it the same length within a few yards; and then,
considering that the building would be three times the width of that
fine street, and the nave as high as the houses on either side, I had pre-
sented to my mind a pretty good idea of what we were about to under-
take. Having satistied myself on these necessary points, I set to work

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 9

and made every important drawing of the building, as it now stands,
with my own hand. These occupied me about eighteen hours each day
for seven weeks, and as they went from my hand, Mr. Henderson im-
mediately prepared the iron-work and other materials required in the
construction of the building. On the 26th of September we were ena-
bled to fix the first column in its place. And from this time I took the
general management of the buildmgs under my charge, and spent all
my time upon the works — feeling that, unless the same person who had
made the drawings was always present to assign to each part as it arrived
upon the ground, its proper position in the structure, it would be im-
possible to finish the building in time to insure the opening on the Ist
of May; and I am confident that if any other course had been taken,
or if, as is usual in the construction of large buildings, the drawings had
been prepared by an architect, and the works executed by a contractor,
instead of, as in the present case, these separate functions being com-
bined by my making the drawings and then superintending the execu-
tion of the work, a building of such vast dimensions could not have been
completed within a period considered by experienced persons as alto-
gether inadequate for the purpose.” .

Continuance and Close of the Exhibition. —'The arrangement for the
exhibition of articles was effected by the division of the building into
courts, or areas, of 24 feet square, included between four columns, which
were appropriated to the different countries contributing productions,
or to particular classes of materials. Any attempt at description of the
various wonderful and curious objects exhibited, would be impossible in
the space allotted to the present work. Many, which were of unusual
novelty, or which displayed remarkable ingenuity, we have described
elsewhere under appropriate heads. An examination, however, of the
catalogue of articles exhibited, will show, that comparatively few inven-
tions or discoveries, originating and belonging to the history of the prog-
ress of science in the years 1850 and 1851, were brought forward or illus-
trated at the Great Exhibition. Many of the most striking objects dis-
played were of a class which might have been produced equally well
centuries ago, as at the present time ; for example, the statuary, wood
carving, ornamental work in gold and silver, ete. Other articles were
the result of patient industry only, or of processes which, although not
old, are yet generally familiar. Adl these illustrate the general prog-
ress ofthe race up to the present epoch, but have little pertaining to
the history of advancement during the past year.

The exhibition, which opened on the Ist of May, continued until the
lith of October, when the final closing took place, accompanied with
the awards of the jurors, and the distribution of medals. The number
of prize medals awarded was 2918 ; the number of council medals, 170 ;
of others, honorable mention was made. ‘The prize medals were awarded
for the attainment of a ceriain standard of excellence ; utility, beauty,
&e., being taken into consideration. The council medals were given
for such articles as might be expected, from their originality and inge-
nuity, to exercise a more important influence upon industry than could
be produced by mere excellence in manufacture. The whole number
of exhibitors was 17,000.

10

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The following are the awards made to exhibitors from the United

States.

Cuass I.

Mining, Metallurgy and Mineral Prod-
ucts.

Prize Medals. Adirondac Manufacturing
Company, New York, steel and iron; Mor-
ris, Jones & Co., plate iron; New Jersey
Exploring and Mining Company, zinc ores,
iron (Franklinite) ores, smelting process ;
Trenton Iron Company, iron of fine quality,
ores, &c.

Honorable Mention. Adirondac Manu-
facturing Company, New York, cast iron,
&c. ; Morrell, Stuart & Co., sheet iron ; Mor-
ris, Jones & Co., boiler plate iron.

Cuass II.

Chemical and Pharmaceutical Processes.

Prize Medal.
Chemicals.

Honorable Mention. Wetherell & Broth-
er, various salts.

Power & Weightman,

Cuass IIT.
Substances used as Food.

Council Medal.
meat biscuit.

Prize Medals. W. Barnes, maple sugar ;
T. Bell, soft wheat from Genesee ; L. Dean,
maple sugar ; Dill and Mulchahey, cavendish
tobacco; C. Duffield, ham; J. H. Grant,
cavendish tobacco ; Hecker & Brother, Gen-
esee flour; E. T. Herriot, Carolina rice; B.
B. Kirtland, a collection of maize, thirty-five
varieties; New York State Agricultural So-
ciety, collection of wheats; Raymond &
Schuyler, flour, (thirds); P. Robinson, cav-
endish tobacco; Schooley & Hough, ham,
Cincinnati.

Honorable Mention. John Bridge, oil
cake; George Dominick, lard; Hecker &
Brother, farina; W. Hotchkiss, wheat ;
James Lee & Co., oil cake ; Mookler &
Chiles, cavendish tobacco; Oswego Starch
Factory, fecula of maize; Oyler & Andersons
cavendish tobacco; James Thomas, caven-
dish tobacco; Thomas & Co., cavendish to-
bacco; M. White, Muscovado sugar.

Gail Borden, Texas, for

Cuass LV.

Vegetable or Animal Substances used for
Manufactures, &c.

Prize Medals. 8. Bond, cotton ; Cockerill,
wool; W. Colegate & Co., starch; J. H.
Ewing, wool; W. Hampton, cotton; George
Hlicks, tillandsia usnoides ; G. L. Holmes,
cotton; H. G. & L. B. Hotchkiss, oil of pep-
permint ; J. R. Jones, cotton; J. V. Jones,
cotton; A. M. Kimber & Co., wool; W. W.
Macleod, cotton ; The State of Maryland, col-
lection of produce ; J. B. Merriwether, cot
ton; Perkins & Brown, wool; J. Pope, cot |

ton; W. Seabrook, cotton; Rev. C. Thomp-
son, woods; J. Nailor, cotton ; Oswego
Starch Factory, starch.

Honorable Mention. E. R. Dix, flax,
hemp, and guano ; G. Dominick, lard oil; T.
Emory, lard oil; KE. Feuchtwanger, bleached
shellac; F. Frank, lard oil; L. Goddard,
whalebone ; Holbrook & Stanley, lard oil; F.
O. Ketteridge, corn-husk fibre; R. J. Pell,
woods ; Truesdale, Jacobs & Co., cotton.

Ciass V.

Machines, including Carriages and Nava.
Mechanism.

Prize Medals. C. Childs, a slide-top
buggy or pheton, enamelled leather apron
of very superior quality, the whole well got
up and neatly finished; G. W. Watson, a
sporting wagon, very neatly finished in all
respects.

Ciass VI.
Manufacturing Machines and Tools.

Council Medal. D. Dick, various engi-
neers’ tools and presses.

Prize Medals. Blodgett & Lerow, sewing
machine ; T. K. Earl & Co., card clothing ;
W. Hayden, drawing regulator for cotton ;
Lowell Machine Shop, self-acting lathe and a
power loom; C. Starr, book-binding machine;
J. P. Woodbury, wood planing, tonguing
and grooving machine.

Crass Vil.

Civil Engineering, Architectural’ and
Building Contrivances.

Prize Medal. Ryder’s patent iron bridge;
Tron Bridge Manufactory, N. Y

Ciass VIII.

Naval Architecture, Military Engineer-
ing, &c.

Prize Medals. National Institution of
Washington, models of ships of war and
large merchant vessels; J. R. St. John,
nautical compass, purporting to show the
presence of any disturbing forces upon the
needle, and also to show the amount of the
deflection resulting from these causes.

Honorable Mention. Samuel Colt, re-
volving rifles and pistols; W. R. Palmer,
target rifle; Robbins & Lawrence, military
rifles.

Cuass IX.
Agricultural Machines and Implements.

Council Medal.
ing machine.
Prize Medal.

C. H. McCormick, reap-
Prouty & Mears, plough.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

Crass X.

Philosophical and Surgical Instruments
and the like.

Council Medal. William Bond & Son,
for the invention of a new mode of observing
astronomical phenomena, Xc.

Prize Medals. A. D. Bache, balance ;
M. B. Brady, daguerreotypes ; W. A. Burt,
solar compass, surveying instruments; J.
Ericsson, sea lead, pyrometer, &c.; M. M.
Lawrence, daguerreotype ; John R. St. John,
detector compass; J. A. Whipple, daguer-
reotype of the moon; B. F. Palmer, artificial
leg.

Honorable Mention. J. E. Mayall, pho-
tographs.

Cuass X. (A.)
Musical Instruments.

Prize Medals. J. Chickering for a square
pianoforte, and the jury think highly of his
grand pianoforte ; C. H. Eisenbrant, for clar-
ionets and flutes ; G. Gemunder, for a
Joseph Guarnerius violin, (chiefly,) and for
three other violins, and a viola; C. Meyer,
for two pianofortes ; N. Nunns & Clark, for a
7-octave square pianoforte.

Honorable Mention. Gilbert & Co., for
a pianoforte, with ‘Molian attachment; C.
Goodyear, for the successful application of a
new material (India rubber) for the manufac-
ture of a flute ; G. Hews, for a square piano-
forte ; J. Pirrson, for a patent square piano-
forte.

Money Award. §. 8. Wood, for the ex-
pense incurred in constructing his piano
violin, £50.

Ciass XI.
Cotton.

Prize Medals. Amoskeag Manufacturing

Co., an assortment of drillings, tickings,

sheetings, and cotton flannel. Willimantic
Duck Manufacturing Co., cotton sailcloth.

Crass XII.
Woollens and Worsted.

Prize Medal. Gilbert & Stevens, (Mass.,)
flannels exhibited by Johnson, Lowell &
Co

Honorable Mention. B.T.& D. Holden,
blankets.

Crass XIII.
Silk and Velvet.
No medals awarded for contributions from
the United States in this department.
Crass XIV.
Manufactures from Flax and Hemp.
No medals awarded to the United States.

11

Cuass XV.

Mixed Fabrics, including Shawls, but ex-
clusive of Woollen Goods.

Prize Medal. Lawrence, Stone & Co.,
Tartans made from native wool.

Cuass XVI.
Leather, Skins, Fur and Hair.

Prize Medals. B. Baker, light harness of
superior workmanship; H. M. Crawford,
calf-skins tanned in oak bark; Hickey &
Tull, two portmanteaus ; Lacey & Phillips, a
case of harness; Wisdom, Russell & Whit-
man, specimens of curled hair for furniture.

Honorable Mention. H. Adams, a porta-
ble saddle.

Cuiass XVII.
Paper, Printing and Book-binding.

Prize Medals. J. K. Kenrick, superior
ruling of account books ; 8. G. Howe, a sys-
tem of characters, slightly angular in form,
without capitals, for the blind.

Honorable Mention. Bradley, Band &
Co., book cloth binding and block gilding ;
H. Gassett, superior ruling of account books;
J. & W. McAdams, ruled account books and
circular ruling ; Sibell & Mott, specimens of
account books; C. Starr, binding works for
the blind, with thickened margins to prevent
the embossing from being pressed out; E.
Walker & Co., a Bible elaborately bound and
ornamented, with a recess for a family regis-
ter inside the cover.

Ciass XVIII.

Fabrics shown as Specimens of Printing
or Dyeing.

No medals awarded to the United States.
Ciass XIX.
Carpets, Lace and Embroidery.

Prize Medal. Albro & Hoyt, floor cloths.
Honorable Mention. A. & A. Lawrence,
carpets.

Cuiass XX.
Articles of Clothing.

Prize Medals. W. H. Addington, shoes
for mining purposes; Mrs. W. Haight, shirt.

Crass XXT.
Cutlery and Edge Tools.

Prize Medals. Brown & Wells, tools;
North Wayne Scythe Company, scythes ; D.
Simmons & Co., edge tools.

Ciass XXII.
Iron and General Hardware.
Prize Medals. Adams & Co., bank locks ;

gD: ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

G. A. Arrowsmith, permutation locks ; Chil- Ciass XXYVII.
son, Richardson & Co., hot-air furnace ; Cor- Mi iM t
nelius & Co., chandeliers; 8. C. Herring, ineral Manufactures.

salamander safe; C. Howland, bell tele-| No medais awarded to the United States.
graph ; I’. B. Lawrence, perforated zinc, &c.;
McGregor & Lee, bank lock. Cuass XXVUL
Cuass XXIII. Manufactures from Animal or Vegetable
‘ Substances not included in other sec-
Working in precious Metals, Jewellery tions.

and the like.
a Council Medal. ©. Goodyear, India rub-
No medals awarded to the United States. | per.
Prize Medals. J.¥Fenn, comb; Hayward

Cuass XXIV. Rubber Co., India-rubber shoes ; G. Loring,
Claas water pails; 8. C. Moulton, India-rubber
S goods; Pratt, Julius & Co., ivory veneer.
Prize Medal. Brooklyn Flint Glass Com-
pany, flint glass. Ciass XXIX.
Cuass XXV. Miscellaneous Manufactures.

: : Prize Medals. Xavier Bazin, fancy soaps;
Sa i tage, PACER rag ae J. Hauel, soaps; M. J. Louderback, pre-

No medals awarded to the United States. | served peaches; J. R. St. John, soap; Tay-
lor & Co., toilet soap.
Crass XXVI.

CLass XXX.
Decoration Furniture, Upholstery and the
like. Sculpture.

No medals awarded to the United States. Prize Medal. Hiram Powers, Greek
Slave.

In looking back over the career of this vast enterprise, so happily
originated and carried out, the consideration which most strongly im-
presses itself upon the mind is its unprecedented popularity. As an
illustration of this, it is stated, that in the month of May, 734,782
visits were paid to the building; in June, 1,133,116; in July, 1,314,-
176; in August, 1,023,435 ; in September, 1,155,240 ; and in the first
11 days of October, 841,107. These figures give a total of 6,201,856,
as the sum of visits to the Exhibition. The greatest number of persons
ascertained to have been in the building at any one time was on the
7th of October, when 93,224 were present. On the same day the num-
ber of visitors reached its maximum, and was 109,915. The total
amount of expenditure, from the commencement of the Exhibition to its
close, including the cost of the building, was £170,743. The receipts
of the Exhibition, from subscriptions at the commencement and from
fees of entrance, were £469,115 ; leaving a large balance in the hands
of the Commissioners.

Curiosities of the Great Industrial Exhibition.—In the Spanish De-
partment was exhibited an octagonal centre table, with a movable top,
made of rich, ivory-like, white wood, into which were inlaid designs of
extraordinary beauty, composed of small quadricules of colored woods.
These are so minute that it is necessary to examine the work through
a powerful magnifying glass before one can have any idea of the won-
derful delicacy of this monument of human ingenuity and patience. In
the wreaths, scrolls, and other ornaments which cover the top and the
shaft, there are three millions of these tiny cubes ; the arms of England
alone, which occupy a space only of three inches by two, containing

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 13

fifty-three thousand! No words can do justice to the richness of these
designs, in which leaves, flowers, and the most graceful arabesques are
combined with admirable taste ; while, in point of execution, this un-
paralleled mosaic surpasses all the inlayings that have ever been pro-
duced.

In the Russian Department, shawls of great value were exhibited ; on
one, in particular, the duty alone, to be paid in case the shawl was not
returned to Russia, was £488. A fur robe was also exhibited, made
from the skins of 1700 black foxes, only one piece of pure black, of
small size, being taken from each skin. _ Its estimated value was sixteen
thousand dollars. Two jasper vases, three feet six inches high, the
property of the Emperor, were valued at £2000 apiece. - The work-
manship upon them, which was of the most exquisite character, alone
cost £700. A huge candelabrum, representing an event in Russian his-
tory, was sent from Moscow, and contained 2 ewt. of silver.

Of grotesque objects, a collection of stuffed animals, (frogs, dogs and
cats,) contributed by M. Ploucquet, of Stuttgard, was most ludicrous.
A frog, for instance, was represented shaving his companion, another
is walking with an umbrella; while a party of cats, life size, are rep-
resented as drinking tea, while another cat plays upon the piano.

Specimens of the celebrated Toledo swords were exhibited from
Spain. The remarkable elasticity of one, perfectly straight when
drawn, was tested by a circular scabbard, which actually rolls up the
blade as it receives it.

In the Zollverein Department was exhibited a set of Chessmen and
Board in the Renaissance style, the squares of the board alternately
tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl. The framework of the stand is silver
and gold, inlaid with rubies; each corner, the bust of an angel, the
wings in silver and blue; the sides are ornamented with silver swans,
and festoons of gold and rubies. The chessmen are in gold and silver :
the principal figures are costume portraits of Emperors of Germany and
Kings of France — their retinue, knights, and castles mounted on ele-
phants, and men-at-arms for the pawns. Rubies are profusely intro-
duced upon the dresses of the principal personages and the pedestals.

A substitute for paper hanging and paper staming was shown in
Clark’s ‘‘ Seamless Flock Decoration,’’ made from the woollen flocks ob-
tained in the cloth-finishing process; and, being manufactured on the
walls of the apartment, may be extended over any given space without
seam, jointing, or repetition, such as are unavoidable in paper staming.

A Berlin Wool Carpet, executed by 150 ladies of Great Britain, and
designed for presentation to the Queen. The dimensions of this carpet
are thirty feet in length, and twenty in breadth. The pattern, origi-
nally designed and painted by the artists, was subdivided into detached
squares, which were worked by different ladies; and, on their com-
pletion, the squares were retinited, so as to complete the design. In
the pattern, which consists partly of geometrical, and partly of floral
forms, heraldic emblems are also introduced. The initials of the
executants are ornamentally arranged, so as to form the external bor-
der. The whole ossign is connected by wreaths or bands of leaves and

14 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

foliage, the centre group representing the store from whence they
have been distributed.

From China, was sent a set of Early Cups and Saucers, with the
gilding laid on — by a process unknown to English manufacturers — in
solid gold plates ; of these plates, each cup contains no less than 961,
and of these 260 are ornamented with imitation rubies. Each cup is
also enriched with 259 solid silver plates, of which 34 bear small emer-
alds. The saucers are still more highly enriched, cach being inlaid
with 1035 plates of pure gold, and of these 415 bear imitation rubies.
They have also 432 solid silver plates inserted in each, in 56 of which
are emeralds. This unique set belonged to a mandarin of the highest
rank, and is the first specimen of the kind ever imported.

Among the novelties in philosophical apparatus, was a gigantic
Barometer, the tube and scale reaching from the floor of the gallery
nearly to the top of the building, and the rise and fall of the indicating
fluid being marked by feet instead of by tenths of inches. The column
of mercury supported by the pressure of the atmosphere communicates
with a perpendicular tube of smaller bore, which contains a colored
fluid much lighter than the mercury. When a diminution of atmos-
pheric pressure occurs, the mercury in the large tube descends, and by
its fall forces up the colored fluid in the smaller tube ; the fall of the
one being indicated in a magnified ratio by the rise in the other.

One exhibitor, who has great faith in a new name, sent a saucepan
with a false bottom, upon which potatoes being placed, covered up, and
set upon the fire, steam is generated, and thus the potatoes are cooked
in the water they contain —a contrivance called the Anhydrohepse-
terion.

An unique piece of workmanship was to be seen in a miniature gun,
perfect in all its parts and highly finished, its length being 44 inches,
and weight 4 of a pound. ‘The stock was of maple, and the barrel
twisted. The lock, which was percussion, is composed of 15 separate
pieces, some of them so small as to be almost imperceptible without
the aid of a glass.

A glass fountain, of great size and beauty, constructed by Mr. Osler,
was placed in the centre of the Crystal Palace. ‘‘ This structure
stands in a basin of concrete 24 feet in diameter, and rises to the
height of 27 feet, composed entirely of pure flint glass, cut into the
most elaborate forms. The columns of glass are raised in tiers, the
main tier supporting a basin from which jets of water can be made
to project, in addition to the main jet at the top. As the structure
rises it tapers upward in good proportion, the whole being firm and
compact in appearance, and presenting almost a solidity of aspect
unusual with glass structures. A central shaft, with a slightly ‘ lipped’
orifice, finishes the whole, and from this the water issues in a
broad, well-spread jet, forming in its descent a lily-like flower before
separating into spray, which in the sun-light glitters and sparkles in
harmony with the fountain itself. This fountain contains upwards of
4 tons of glass, and the principal basin is upward of 8 feet in
diameter.”’

In no one department of industry at the Exhibition was there a

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 15

greater display of ingenuity than in the various contrivances for the
indication and regulation of time. The following is a mere enumera-
tion of some of the more curious products there exhibited: A clock
moved by the equilibrium of water and air, very ingeniously con-
structed. A clock in a case, which occupied thirty-four years in
completing it, with astronomical, chronological, and other movements,
wind organ, &e. <A geographical clock, showing the difference of mean
time in all the capitals of Europe. A clock showing the days of the
month, the months of the year, the motions of the sun and moon, and
the state of the tide at some of the principal sea-ports of Great Britain,
Ireland, France, America, Spain, Portugal, Holland and Germany, and
going for twelve months. A skeleton striking clock, going 400 days,
and showing dead seconds by means of a chronometer. <A patent tell-
tale clock, for the purpose of detecting delinquent servants, and calcu-
lated for the express purpose of ‘‘ regulating ’’ domestics. A clock
called the ‘‘ Perpetual Motion Clock,’’ having no weights or chain, and
most curiously made.

A number of curious watches were also exhibited, one of which
goes a year, another showed the time to a sixth of a second, and a third
(a second watch) was made of ivory, with gold screws and steel
moving powers. It works in ten rubies, and weighed (glass and vase
included) only half an ounce. There were some of the finest speci-
mens of miniature watches exhibited that probably have ever been
made. These tiny tume-keepers were set on card cases, the frames of
eye glasses, broaches, rings, &&. ‘Some of them were scarcely the
size of the gold dollar, although somewhat thicker. The top of a gold
penholder richly set on rubies contained a time-piece with three dials,
each one-fourth of an inch in diameter, running a week without wind-
ing up, and showing the months, days, weeks, hours and minutes.

JEWELLERY AND PRECIOUS STONES AT THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

One of the most striking features of the Great Exhibition was the
display of a considerable number of gems of rare quality and great
value. First in order was the Koh-i-noor, formerly the property of
Runjeet Singh, now belonging to the British Crown. Its shape is an
irregular oval, 14 inches in length by 1 inch across, weighing nearly
280 carats. ‘Two smaller diamonds were placed on either side, one
weighing 344 carats, and the other 195 carats. The value of this
diamond is estimated at £662,000, but the conventional value of dia-
monds is one of the popular errors of the day ; thus the celebrated
Napuck diamond, estimated by the East India Company to be worth
£30,000, realized, when sold in London in 1837, only £7,500. In the
Indian collection was exhibited a smaller diamond, the Der-i-noor,
which, although insignificant in value compared with the Koh-i-noor,
is much more brilliant and effective, from the large surface it exposes.
This diamond is set as an armlet, with ten smaller stones around it:
together with it were shown a necklace, of 224 large pearls, and a
shorter one of 104 smaller pearls ; a necklace of four large rubies, a
pair of emerald armlets, a carved emerald and diamond turban orna-

16 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ment, an emerald and diamond bridle and martingale ; a gold mounted
saddle, set with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies ; a brocaded robe, dec-
orated with pearls ; and an emerald girdle, the stones of immense size,
and mostly of very fine quality.

Among Messrs. Hunt and Roskell’s brilliants was a Diamond Bou-
quet, in seven-sprigs, containing nearly 6000 diamonds, the largest
weighing ten carats and the smallest the thousandth part of a carat.
Another fine specimen was a Ruby and Diamond Bouquet, valued at
£15,000. |

The third diamond in point of size and value exhibited, is the prop-
erty of Mr. Hope, and weighs 172 carats. It has a delicate, bluish
tinge, like the sapphire ; is cut in small facets in the shape of a medal-
lion, surrounded by twenty large diamonds of the purest water, and
from its size and color is said to be unique. Its value among lapidaries
is estimated at about £30,000 ; but it is understood that Mr. Hope
obtaimed it for thirteen thousand guineas, the diamond-merchant, in
whose possession it was, being in want of money, and finding some
difficulty in meeting with a customer for so valuable a gem. Mr. Hope
also exhibited the largest known pearl, together with a number of
other valuable and curious stones; opals of great size ; a sapphire
once the property of Philippe Egalité, and to which a literary interest
attaches in connection with the name of Madame de Genlis ; a splendid
aquamarine which formed the hilt to the favorite weapon of Murat; a
cat’s-eye taken from the King of Kandy, a jacinth rg once the prop-
erty of Gregory VIII., and a very interesting collection of pearls,
placed in the oyster shells in which they were found.

The fourth great gem of the Exhibition was a gigantic crystal of
emerald, the property of the Duke of Devonshire, partially cut. A col-
lection of jewels of great value was contributed by the Emperor of Rus-
sia. Its chief ornament was a casket of ebony, ornamented on its sides
and lid with precious stones, executed in relief, and representing, with
marvellous fidelity, a variety of fruits. An immense cluster of grapes
is typilied by amethysts, bunches of cherries by cornelians, and leaves
by jasper beautifully shaded. In the Russian department, also, was a
pair of folding doors, of malachite, 13 feet high, panelled and orna-
mented with gilt bronze, valued at £6000. The manufacture of these
articles is in itself a work of art, the surface being made up of some
30,000 variously-shaped little pieces, carefully selected to produce
various patterns. The doors are of wood, covered with copper, the
malachite veneer being about a quarter of an inch thick.

A Jewelled Hawk, the property of the Duke of Devonshire, was
exhibited : it contains a gold drinking-cup ; the wings and body of the
bird are chiefly covered with rubies, turquoises, emeralds, and other
precious stones. The bird stands about a foot high, and cost its noble
owner 600 guineas.

The jewels of the Queen of Spain, exhibited by Lemonnier, in the
French collection, were very attractive. In the centre was a bouquet
of large diamonds, on elastic sprigs ; the buds were enormous pearls,
and the green foliage were emeralds. Above were a tiara of sapphires,
surrounded by diamonds, and festoons of diamonds and pearls. ‘There

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 17

were also a circlet of diamonds ; necklaces and bracelets and stomach-
ers studded with brilliants ; and a brooch and pendant, the central orna-
ments of which were two enormous rubies. Near these gems was a
display of jewels, prepared for the Emperor of Hayti, of great beauty ;
and models of the crown, sceptre, state-swords, &e.

AMERICAN vs. ENGLISH LOCKS.

One of the most interesting incidents connected with the Great Exhi-
bition, was the so-called ‘‘ Lock Controversy,’ carried on between Mr.
Hobbs, agent of Day & Newell’s parautoptic bank locks, and Messrs.
Chubb and Bramah, manufacturers of the most celebrated English locks.
As a test of the comparative merits of the English and American locks,
Mr. Hobbs proposed to Messrs. Chubb and Bramah, that an opportunity
should be afforded him to try his skill in an attempt to pick or open
their respective locks, which were considered and represented to be
perfectly secure against the skill of all burglars; Mr. Hobbs, on his
part, agreeing to afford to any person ample time and opportunity to
open Day & Newell’s locks, by any means, without resorting to violence.
A trial was, therefore, made, in the presence of a committee, first upon
a lock recently placed by Messrs. Chubb on the door of the yaults of the
State-Paper office. The lock having been examined, and found to be fairly
locked, Mr. Hobbs produced from his waistcoat pocket two or three small
and simple-looking tools, and proceeded to work. Within twenty-five
minutes from the time of commencing, the bolt of the lock flew back, and
the door was opened. It was then suggested by one of the gentlemen
present, that Mr. Hobbs should turn the bolt back again, and lock the
door ; it being a “‘ detecter ’’ lock, it was considered that he would be
unable to accomplish this feat. In less than ten minutes, however, the
door was again locked. No injury whatever was done to the interior
of the lock, and no traces were to be seen of its having been picked.

Mr. Hobbs was then challenged by Messrs. Bramah to experimentalize
on what have been styled their impregnable locks, and was promised a
forfeit of £200 if he should succeed in opening it. In order that the
trial might be fairly made, commissioners were appointed to decide upon
it, and thirty clear days were granted by Messrs. Bramah to Mr. Hobbs
for his operation. Mr. Hobbs went to work, but, in a few days, sus-
pended his operations, alleging the weakness of his instruments. As
soon as others had been prepared, he desired to continue his attempt ;
but to this Messrs. Bramah objected. The commissioners, however,
interfered ; and Mr. Hobbs resumed his labors, and shortly picked and
opened the lock.

No attempt, however, was made to pick the lock of Messrs. Day &
Newell, although a reward of one hundred guineas was offered to the
person who should succeed in picking it.

Ata meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, of Great
Britain, a paper was read by Mr. Hodge, a well known engineer, upon
locks and their construction; in which he fully demonstrated that
Messrs. Day & Newell’s lock was the only one which could not be
picked.

Q*

18 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Mr. Hodge stated, that the principle on which all modern locks are
constructed can be traced back nearly four thousand years. The three
best locks manufactured in England, during the last thirty years, are
those of Barron, Bramah and Chubb, and the principle of each is based
on the principle of the old Egyptian lock; the difference between each
being only in the mechanical arrangement of parts to produce the same
effect. Locks, similar to those of Mr. Chubb, were formerly manufac-
tured by Mr. Andrews, of Perth Amboy, N. J. These locks Mr.
Newell succeeded in picking, and, in doing this, learned the means by
which he could pick his own lock, as it was madein 1841. Mr. Newell
also showed by this that his own lock, and all others based on the tum-
bler principle, were insecure against burglars. One of Mr. Newell’s
locks, affixed to a safe, containing $500, the reward of the one opening
it, was picked in the Merchants’ Exchange, N. Y., by an engineer
named Petis, and the money obtained. This led to the invention of
the parautoptic lock, which is undoubtedly the most perfect ever con-
structed. This lock, through movable wards in the key, is susceptible
of 419,000,000 changes.

SAFE FOR THE KOH-I-NOOR DIAMOND.

Tre great Koh-i-noor diamond, during the London Exhibition, was
contained in a safe, curiously constructed by Mr. Chubb, for its protec-
tion.

It consists, first, of an octagon table, 6 feet 6 inches in diameter, by
3 feet 4 inches high, the top and sides being made of half-inch wrought
iron plates, all secured together by being rebated and with angle iron.
In the interior is a fire-proof safe, 12 inches square, and 2 feet 9 inches
deep, the wrought plates being one inch thick. In the centre of the
safe is a platform, 9 inches square, on which the velvet cushion, jewels,
and setting are fixed. A hole is cut out of the table to allow the plat-
form to descend into the safe. In order to secure the diamonds at
night, a small door, 3 inches square, in one of the panels of the table,
is unlocked, and, by turning a winch, the platform gradually sinks into
the safe, and a sliding iron door is drawn over the opening at the top.
The cage is secured to the table by I pieces at the bottom ring, drop-
ping into corresponding holes, and these are locked by two separate
detective locks. The keys of these locks are held by the crown officers,
and without them, access to the jewels cannot be had. The key of the
small door allows the platform to be raised or lowered only, but does not
give access to the jewels. ‘The weight of the whole is 36 ewt., and it
is bolted to the floor.

ERICSSON’S PATENT CALORIC ENGINE.

Tus is a scheme which Mr. Ericsson tried some years since, but
which, at the time, was not successful. Since then, his attention has
been directed to the removal of difficulties; and in this he has so far
succeeded, that the engine has been patented, both in this country and
in England. A moment’s reflection will show that there is @ possebelity

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 19

of effecting an immense saving in the present method of employing coal
as a generator of power. In our most economical expansive engines,
we recover nothing of that which we employ. The heat required to
convert the water into steam is delivered by the air-pump, diluted, so
to speak, with so much cold water ; and the problem is, to concentrate
that heat, and render it again available for generating steam. Whether
that problem can be ever solved while water is used as a medium, it is
impossible to predict. The gases appear to offer a better chance of
success ; and, accordingly, Mr. Ericsson employs the expansive force of
heated air in his engine, instead of steam. ‘‘ The invention,” says
Mr. Eriesson’s specification, ‘‘ consists in producing motive power by the
application of caloric to atmospheric air, or other permanent gases, or
fluids susceptible of considerable expansion by the increase of tempera-
ture. The mode of applying the caloric being such, that, after having
caused the expansion or dilatation which produces the motive power,
the caloric is transferred to certain metallic substances, and again re-
transferred from these substances to the acting medium at certain inter-
vals, or at each successive stroke of the motive engine ; the principal
supply of caloric being thereby rendered independent of combustion or
consumption of fuel. Accordingly, whilst in the steam engine the
caloric is constantly wasted by being passed off into the condenser, or
by being carried off into the atmosphere, in the improved engine the
caloric is employed over and over again, enabling me to dispense with
the employment of combustibles, excepting for the purposes of restoring
the heat lost by the expansion of the acting medium, and that lost by
radiation ; also for the purpose of making good the small deficiency
unavoidable in the transfer of the caloric.”’

The principal novelty of the invention appears to consist in the
employment of a condenser, which, when saturated with heat, is used
as a regenerator, or boiler, until it is sufficiently cool to act again as a
condenser. It is proposed to have two of these condensers, to be used
alternately. The arrangements consist of two cylinders, of unequal
dimensions, placed one over the other, the smallest uppermost, the pistons
of which are connected by a rod working through stutfing-boxes, one end
of which is attached to a crank, in the usual manner. The patentee
terms the upper the supply cylinder, the lower the working cylinder. The
lower one has a concave bottom, forming the roof of one of the furnaces ;
and the piston has a chamber bolted to it with corresponding concavity,
filled with fire-clay and ashes, as a non-conducting material, to prevent,
as much as possible, the heat from reaching the upper part of the
cylinder. There is another cylindrical vessel, called the receiver, and
a fourth, called the heater, which latter has also a concave bottom,
and a furnace beneath. ‘Two vessels of cubical form are filled to their
utmost capacity, excepting small spaces at top and bottom, with discs
of wire net, or straight wires closely packed, or other small metallic
substances or minerals, such as asbestos, so arranged as to have minute
channels running up and down; these are called the regenerators.
These vessels are all connected by suitable arrangements of slide valves
and an exhaust chamber; and the following is said to be the modus
operandi : — Fuel having been placed in the fire-places under the work-

20 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ing cylinder and heater, slow combustion is kept up, until the heaters
and lower parts of the regenerators are at a temperature of about 500°
Fah. By means of a hand-pump, atmospheric air is then forced into the
receiver, until there is an internal pressure of 8 or 10 pounds to the
inch. A communication is then opened with the working cylinder,
the piston rises, and the air in the upper cylinder is forced into the
receiver ; other valves then open, so that the air passes through the
wire regenerators, and has its temperature augmented. Before the piston
arrives at the top of the up stroke, the valve which first opened will be
closed, and another opened, causing the down stroke, when the air
passes through the cooled regenerator and escapes, deprived nearly of
all its caloric. The air next passing takes up the caloric so deposited ;
and thus a continuous reciprocating motion is kept up. The specifica-
tion goes on to say, that, after a certain number of strokes, the temper-
ature of the regenerators will change—the cooler one gradually
gaining an increase of temperature, while the hottest gradually gets
cooler ; and, therefore, the position of the slide valves is reversed at
about every fifty strokes by a selfacting arrangement, which can be
regulated as desired.

t is proper to observe that the small cylinder only receives and trans-
mits the differential force of the piston of the large cylinder, viz., the
excess of its acting force over the reacting force of the piston of the
small cylinder. This differential force imparted to said piston rod may
be communicated to machinery by any of the ordinary means. It is
particularly worthy of notice, that the relative diameter of the supply
and working, or larger and smaller cylinder, will depend on the, expan-
sibility of the acting medium employed ; thus, in using atmospheric air,
or other permanent gases, the difference of the area of the pistons may
be nearly as two to one; while, in using fluids, such as oils, which
dilate but slightly, the difference of area should not much exceed one
tenth.

An engine of the above description was exhibited by Captain Erics-
son, at the Great London Exhibition, and has since, we understand,
been working in New York.

HOT-AIR ENGINE.

A paper has been recently read before the Institution of Civil En-
gineers, London, respecting a hot-air engine invented by Sir G. Cay-
ley. After entering briefly into the theoretical considerations of the
expansion of aeriform bodies, and detailing the attempts made by Capt.
Ericsson for employing hot air, instead of steam, as a prime mover, the
author proceeded to state, that Sir G. Cayley applied the products of
combustion from close furnaces so that they should act at once upon a
piston, in a cylinder, similar in every respect to that of a single acting
steam engine. ‘The engine consisted of a generator of heat, a working
eylinder, and an air-pump or blower — the air-pump being half the size
of the cylinder, and blowing air into and through a fire perfectly in-
closed within the generator. The doors of the furnace were made per-
fectly air-tight as soon as the fire was well got up; the first impulse
being given to the engine by throwing a few jets of water upon the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 21

fire, which caused the air-pump to work immediately, and continued so
for hours, the fire being replenished by stopping off the blast from the
furnace, and opening the upper bonnet. After the air had passed
through the fire, the gaseous products of combustion, generally at a
temperature of 600° Fahrenheit, passed laterally through a chamber,
used for separating them from any ashes or cinders, into the working
cylinder before alluded to. The difficulty attending this description of
engine was the liability of the working parts to be deranged by the
great sensible heat destroying the valves, pistons, and cylinders, and
carbonizing the lubricating oil.

DOUBLE PISTON “ENGINE.

Mr. W. Virorn, of Maryland, has recently devised some improvements
in the steam engine, which relate to the employment within the same
cylinder of two pistons, entirely independent of each other, and whose
piston rods pass through opposite ends of the cylinder. One piston rod
connects, directly through a connecting rod, to a crank on the main
shaft, and the other piston rod is furnished with a cross head, which is
connected, by two long connecting rods, to two cranks on the main
shaft, whose position on the shaft is diametrically opposite to that of
the first-named crank. The cylinder is furnished with steam and ex-
haust ports at each end and the middle, and steam is admitted alter-
nately between the two pistons and the cylinder ends, and both pistons
through their connecting rods act simultaneously on the cranks and
reyolve the main shaft. — Scientific American.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STEAM ENGINE.

Two new improvements in the steam engine were exhibited for the
first time at the Fair of the American Institute, N. Y., in October.
The first was a pair of oscillating engines, coupled at right angles to
one shaft, the mvention of Messrs. Morris and Wylie, of New York.
These oscillating engines have no valve rods, the steam box is station-
ary, and the cylinder, as it vibrates, cuts off and exhausts itself, thus
performing the office of a slide valve; another arrangement about
it is a plan, by a common slide valve, to exhaust the steam into the ex-
haust passages, and vice versa, and to set on and stop the engine, thus
making it the best adapted oscillating engine for steamboats yet in-
vented. ‘The second improvement was a rotary engine, invented by
Mr. Barrows, of New York. This engine is built to work the steam ex-
pansively, by fixed head plates, having eccentric grooves in their inside
faces, which guide friction rollers on the end of the blade or piston bars,
so as to depress them in slots, and guide the pistons out and in, to allow
the steam to expand in four separate chambers on the periphery of an
inside revolying drum. This engine has been in successful operation
during the past season, in a small steamboat, and is decidedly one of
the most perfect and effective rotary engines ever constructed. — Scien-
tific American.

o8 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

INTRODUCTION OF OSCILLATING ENGINES INTO LARGE AMERICAN
MARINE STHAMERS.

Durine the past year two of the largest American sea-steamers have
been fitted for the first time with oscillating, instead of beam engines.
Oscillating engines have been used in large vessels of the British and
French navy, for some time, with good success; but engines of this
character have not hitherto been applied to large vessels in this country.
The Golden Gate and Illmois, California steamers, have, during the
past summer, been supplied with this form of engine. The advantages
of an oscillating over a beam engine are said to be these : — less weight
of machinery, per horse-power, than in the beam or side-lever engine ;
they have fewer working parts, are less expensive in repairs, consume
less lubricating material : — they are subject to less strain, nearly all of
which is direct, and not transverse and diagonal as in the beam, and
their pressure on the gudgeons, when in operation, half less, requiring
consequently less strength and weight in the bed plates, and in the
timbers that sustain them, and they, together with their boilers, occupy
but five eighths of the space of a beam engine of the same power.
These advantages when segregated may not be much to each item, but
they, in the aggregate, are very considerable and important. The dif
ference in the weight of the engine and in the space occupied by them
are, however, two very important items, especially in ocean steamers.
The former, in an engine of seven hundred nominal horse-power, is not
less than one hundred and fifty tons, one hundred of which is in moy-
able parts of the machinery, and the latter, as we have before stated,
is but five eighths of that required by the beam engines.

In the engines of the Illinois, the air-cylinders are located between
the steam cylinders, directly over the condenser, and are worked by
piston rods connecting with the main shaft by a crank at its centre.
This centre-piece of the main shaft is wrought out of the heaviest piece
of iron ever forged in this country, and cost over seven thousand dol-
lars. Its journals are twenty-one inches in diameter. It was forged in
an entire block, and the crank cut out of the solid mass. The other
journals of the shaft are 194 inches in diameter ; the crank pins are
12 inches, and the piston rods of the steam cylinders 124 inches in di-
ameter. The cylinders are eighty-five inches in diameter, with nine
feet length of stroke. The diameter of the side wheels is thirty-three
and a half feet, length of float ten and a half, and depth two anda
half feet. In the trial trip of the Illinois, with twelve pounds of steam
to the inch, eighteen revolutions were accomplished, and a speed of
eighteen and a half miles to the hour obtained, running with the tide,
the velocity of which was about three and a half miles per hour, so
that the vessel moved through the water at the rate of about fifteen
miles an hour.

STEAM POWER USED AT A DISTANCE.

Aw engine has been recently set to work at the Aucland colliery, ar-
ranged on a somewhat curious plan. The boiler is placed upon the
surface and the steam pipes are taken down the shaft, a depth of eighty
fathoms, and then down an inclined plane about 1,050 yards, making

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 23

the total distance from the boilers to the engine upwards of 1,200
yards, and the perpendicular depth about 882 feet. The engine can
lift and force about 300 gallons per minute up the inclined plane, length
as stated above, the perpendicular height 342 feet. — London Builder.

GREGORIE’S PATENT EQUALIZER, OR POWER REGULATOR.

To give the benefit of a heavy fly-wheel to a steam engine, without
its incumbrance and loss, is the object and nature of this invention. It
consists of a smal! piston working within a close cylinder situated at
one side of the large or engine cylinder, and receiving two strokes for
one of the engine, either way, through the motion of a bell-crank
attached to and operated from the beam ; the said small piston, through
a branch connecting it with the main steam-pipe, being constantly
exposed to the steam from the boiler on its one face, and, through a
further branch, to the vacuum of the condenser on its other (or to
the external atmosphere if the engine be of the non-condensing kind).
The small piston, thus connected and operating, will serve to act as a
drag at the early part of the engine stroke when the steam is strongest,
and afterwards to form an auxiliary, to the same amount of effect, at
the closing portion of the stroke, when the steam, by expansion, has
become weaker, thereby equalizing, or sufficiently so, the propelling
power of the engine throughout its entire stroke.

The deyice is equally applicable to all engines, whether high or low
pressure, and may be used with great advantage in every case where
fuel is either costly or cumbrous ; it can be worked from the main or
counter shaft, and so ata trifling cost be attached to any engine. —
Farmer and Mechanic.

IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM BOILERS.

Appuication for a patent has been made by Mr. Charles Allen, of
Warren, Penn., for three specified improvements in the construction
and arrangement of steam boilers. One is a mode of preventing
explosions by securing either the head or end of the boiler by springs
which will bear a certain pressure, but when the pressure exceeds this,
the end will be thrust out, and prevent the boiler from bursting to

ieces.
5 The second improvement, applicable to revolving boilers, is applyin
a cylinder of wire gauze in the interior of the boiler for the purpose o
gathering up the water on the surface, when the boiler is rotating.

The third improvement is the placing of an alarm valve on the boiler,
to be opened once during every revolution by the striking of a station-
ary bar or other object placed in a convenient position, to call the atten-
tion of the engineer to the boiler. — Scientific American.

APPLICATION OF STEAM POWER ON CANALS.

For many years scientific men haye deyoted much attention to the
application of steam power to the towing of boats on canals. Towing
by horses has been found not only exceedingly expensive, but too slow
and uncertain for the wants of the present age, and hence many plans
have been suggested and experiments tried, in the hope of finding some

94 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

means whereby the great motive power might be safely applied to the
propelling of boats heayily loaded through the narrow channels of a
canal without producing such a commotion in the water as to seriously
injure the banks, or endanger the safety of the works. A boat built
after a plan patented by G. Parker, of Massachusetts, has been used to
some extent during the past summer, on the Delaware, Chesapeake,
and Raritan canals, with good prospects of success in remedying the
evils above adverted to. It is a small boat, of about 160 tons burden,
with two engines, rated at 15 horse-power each. It differs from an
ordinary steam-boat in the peculiar shape of the wheel-buckets, and in
the addition of a float back of the wheel, which is in the centre of the
boat. The wheels are bent so as to form the segment of a circle, and
they enter and leave the water without creating the great motion
caused by the ordinary paddles. Should, however, the power required
cause any swell, the waters are smoothed down and pacified by the float
that follows the wheel. This float can be raised or lowered as circum-
stances may require. The ayerage speed of the boat, when towing, is
represented to be four miles an hour, and the cost one half that of
horse-power.

WATER AND STEAM PRESSURE GAUGE.

Mr. Witiram C. Groes, of Philadelphia, has recently invented an
instrument, which is intended to indicate continually the height of the
water, and pressure of the steam in a boiler, at any required place, at
whatever distance from the boiler. It consists of two metallic tubes,
which are inserted, the one into the steam space, the other into the
lower part of the water space of the boiler, and extend from the boiler
to the place at which the indications are required to be made, where
the ends of the tubes are brought side by side, and connected together
by a bent glass tube, one end of which enters each of the metallic tubes,
In the simplest form, (which is described for the purpose of explaining
more clearly the theory of the apparatus,) the tube connected with the
steam space (which may be called the upper tube) enters the boiler at
the water line, and runs for some distance horizontally, or a little inclined
downwards, when it again bends downwards for some inches, and then
runs in any convenient direction to the glass tube. The object of this
arrangement is to allow the steam to condense in this part of the tube,
and to keep the water which fills it always at the proper water-level of
the boiler. Each of the tubes is provided with a stop-cock near the
boiler, and on each of them, immediately below the glass tube, there
is a small hole, (called by Mr. Grimes the air-hole,) which may be
closed by a screw. In order to put the apparatus in working order,
the boiler is filled to above the water line, the stop-cocks of the tubes
being closed, and a small pressure of steam raised; the stop-cocks of
the upper tube being then opened a little, the water will enter the tube,
and, expelling the air before it through the air-hole, will finally begin
to run through this hole ; the stop-cock of the upper tube is then closed,
and the plug of the air-hole screwed in. The lower tube is then filled
with water in a similar manner. The apparatus then contains water
in the metallic tubes, and air in the glass tube, or gauge. If now the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. yd

stop-cocks on the tubes be opened, and the pressure of the steam
increased, the air in the gauge will be compressed proportionably, and
the water will rise to an equal height in each branch of the tube; in
this way the gauge may be graduated by direct experiment. But the
fall of the water level in the boiler will cause the level to fall also in
that branch of the gauge which communicates with the lower tube,
(that is, the tube opening near the bottom of the water space of the
boiler,) and this will cause the water to rise in the opposite branch of
the gauge, in consequence of the necessity of the column of air retain-
ing its bulk. While, therefore, the pressure of steam in the boiler is
indicated by the mean height of the columns in the gauge, the fall of
the water below its adjusted level will be indicated by the difference of
the height of these two columns, provided the level of the water in the
boiler end of the upper tube be maintained constant.

In practice, this construction is modified by the introduction of another
vertical tube, connecting the end of the upper and lower tubes near the
boiler. ‘The upper tube is then inserted mto the steam space of the
boiler, and it leaves the connecting tube at the proper water level,
when it runs as before described ; in this way there will be left but a
small portion of the upper tube to be filled by the condensed steam.
The lower tube is also provided with a blow-off cock between the boiler
and the stop-cock before described to prevent this tube from being
choked by sediment. The level of the water in the gauge is indicated
by a floating glass tube, colored and graduated in the inside, and closed
in the leg communicating with the upper tube, while a glass ball floats
on the surface in the other leg. The difference in the levels of the
water columns is then indicated by the position of this ball on the grad-
uated scale of the glass tube in the other leg.

NASMYTH’S ABSOLUTE SAFETY VALVE.

Tue chief feature which distinguishes this improved safety valve from
all others hitherto proposed, consists in the peculiar and simple manner
in which the motion of the water in the boiler is employed as an agent
by which the valve is prevented from ever getting set fast in its seat.
The swaying to and fro sort of motion, which, at all times, accompanies
the ebullition of water in boilers, is made to act upon a sheet-iron
appendage, attached to a weight, which weight is connected directly
with a brass valve; and as the rod which connects this sheet-iron
appendage and weight to the valve is inflexible, it will be easily seen
how any slight pendulous motion given to it is directly transferred to
the valve ; and as that portion of the valve which rests in the seat is
spherical, the valve not only admits of, but receives, a continual slight
motion in its seat, in all directions, as the result of the universal pendu-
lous motion of the appended weight, as acted upon by the incessant
swaying motion of the water during ebullition.

IMPROVED LOCOMOTIVE.

At the Great Exhibition, a locomotive was exhibited by Messrs.
Hawthorn, for which ney claimed a capability of running, with safety,

26 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

at a speed of 80 miles an hour, with a large express train. The cylin-
ders are 16 inches diameter, and 22 inches stroke; the driving wheels
64 feet in diameter, and the bearing wheels 39 inches ; the heating sur-
face of the firebox is 984 square feet; the boiler is traversed by 158
brass tubes, giving a heating surface of 865 square feet. The principal
improvements claimed by Messrs. Hawthorn for this locomotive are the
following : — Instead of the six ordinary springs on each axle, the engine
is fitted with double compensating beams and four springs acting simul-
taneously on all the journals, so that the weight assigned to the respect-
ive axles is not affected by any irregularities or imperfections on the
line of railway, but is uniformly maintained throughout, securing thereby
a constant weight upon the driving wheels, and consequently a constant
amount of adhesion. By this direct, simultaneous connexion between
the axles, great stability is given to the engine ; greater safety, particu-
larly at high speed; and a smoother and easier motion. The engine
has outside framing, with outside bearings to all the axles, the cylinders
being placed inside ; it is supported on six wheels, the driving wheels
being in the centre. The second advantage claimed, is the application
of expansive link motion and slide valves, which admit of the boiler
being brought down nearly as low as in engines with straight axles ;
and, by the introduction of the slide valves, the pressure on the valves,
and consequently the friction, is considerably diminished. An arrange-
ment is likewise introduced into the engine of the patent steam-pipe of
Messrs. Hawthorn, which removes the domes and other projections on
the top of the boiler. The steam-pipe is fixed into the tube plate of the
smoke-box by a ferule like an ordinary tube, and extends nearly the
entire length of the boiler. Being carried under the top, it is perforated
with a series of small apertures or slits along its entire length, and it is
arranged so as to receive the steam directly above the place at which it
is generated, instead of compelling it to rush from all parts of the boiler
to one or two orifices. By this arrangement, the steam is conducted to
the cylinder, nearly, if not altogether, free from priming.

NOVA MOTIVE.

Ar the Polytechnic Institution is a new mode of propulsion now
being demonstrated, which, under this title, consists of a series of car-
riages travelling along with their own motor, in the form of a tube, which
is flexible and air-tight. This tube has a series of side valves, entirely
under the care of a guard, who, by levers, has a perfect control over his
train. The application is very ingenious, and is the invention of a
mechanic. Along the whole line of railway is laid a pipe of any given
diameter, in connection with which a series of pistons are fixed between
the rails intended to receive the tube above mentioned in its passage.
In these pistons are atmospheric valves opening into the fixed pipe,
which is always kept exhausted, so that, when the train passes over
the pistons, the side valves in the tube are opened by means of inclined
planes communicating with other levers, which levers are raised up on
the train passing. The atmosphere existing in the tube consequently
rushes from the tube to supply the vacuum, and the train is impelled
by external atmospheric pressure. — London Illustrated News.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. oT

IMPROVEMENT IN LOCOMOTIVES.

Tue English engineers are directing attention to the superiority of
Crampton’s system of building locomotives by suspending on the extrem-
ities of the frame. Mr. Crampton places the driving wheels at the
end of the engine, instead of the centre, and these wheels carrying about
one half of the whole weight of the engine on them, it is clear that one
half will be on the driving wheels; and, by assuming four wheels at
the other end to take the other half, the machine, in fact, is suspended
on the extremities ; but, in the ordinary machine, the driving wheels
being in the centre, with half the weight on them, the other half is
necessarily equally distributed on the fore and hind wheels, having the
effect of a balance beam action — one of the greatest causes of oscilla-
tion. ‘To accomplish the same result, the superintending engineers of
the Great Western and Northern railways, England, have adopted the
plan of applying compensating springs, which have the effect, to a cer-
tain extent, of placing the weight of the engine on the extreme ends.
— Scientific American.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY AXLES.

Aw important improvement, to prevent the heating of railway axles
and the bearing parts of machinery, has recently been effected by Mr.
George Little, of England. MHis plan is to bore several longitudinal
apertures, for about 15 inches, up each end of the axle, letting the
same terminate by several tubes let into the axle under the body of the
carriage, so arranged that the centrifugal force will impel a powerful
current of cold air through the apertures, thereby keeping the journals
and bearings of the axles from heating. To prevent grit, &c., gettin
into the grease-box, a circular plate is screwed on the end of the axle.
This principle is also applicable to the shafts of stationary and marine
engines, and, in fact, to all kinds of shafts used in machinery. — Min-
ang Journal.

RAILROAD CHECK-SIGNAL.

Tue following is a description of a check-signal, invented by Mr.
Richard Hollings, of Boston, designed for use when from any cause a
signal is needed to inform the engineer that the train must be stopped.
A cross-bar made of wood or iron, equal in length to the gauge of the
road, is laid across the track, between the rails, and is there secured in
place. In the centre of the cross-bar a stout plug or pin is fixed, pro-
jectng upward eight or ten inches. Beneath the engine a roller is
hung transversely, through the centre of which an iron tongue is
fastened, of sufficient length to strike the plug when the engine passes
over it. On the upper side of the engine, over the roller, is a spring
fastened to the engine frame, consisting of a trigger, a set of wheels
acting on a principle similar to that of a clock, and a hammer and bell.

he trigger has two arms — one extending downward, and connecting
with the roller, the other extending upward, and communicating with
the wheels. The spring is set by winding up, and is held in place by
the trigger. Then, when the engine passes over a cross-bar, the tongue

28 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

strikes.the plug and is thrown back, causing the trigger to release its
hold of the wheels, which, rapidly revolving, cause repeated strokes of
the hammer to be given the bell. This, of course, is notice in all cases
to stop the train. Instead of the wheels and bell, the trigger may com-
municate with asteam-cock, and the alarm thus be given by means of a
whistle. The model is made to show the operation in either case. It
is intended for every train to be supplied with one or more cross-bars, so
that if any accident happen, not in the vicinity of a station, whereby
the track is obstructed, and cannot be cleared in season for the passage
of the next train, a cross-bar may be laid upon the track, on either side
of the accident, at sufficient distance therefrom to notify such approach-
ing train of the danger. So at every station, and in the vicinity of
drawbridges, it is intended that cross-bars should be kept, to be used as
occasion may require.

RAILROADS WITHOUT RAILS.

Iy the French Department of the Great Exhibition, a curious system
of locomotion was represented, which is, however, only the modification
of a plan exhibited in London many years since. It is a railroad with-
out rails. In the English invention there were pairs of wheels fixed on
the road at stated distances, which were to be kept in motion by sta-
tionary engines; the power being communicated by a band passing
from the engine, and connected with a great number of wheels. The
rails were fixed to the bottom of the carriages, and were made long
enough to have always a bearing on two of the wheels at least. When
the system of the wheels was put in action, the carriages were pro-
pelled by the bearing which the rails beneath had on the peripheries.
One of the advantages of this plan was, that single carriages instead of
trains could be started, and at very short intervals, without danger of
collision. In the French modification of the invention, the principal
difference consists in the means of giving motion to the wheels. Instead
of connecting the series with one long endless driving band, there are
numerous short endless chains connected with the axles of only two
pairs of wheels, so that the motion of one pulls the chain that propels
the next. The model road exhibited was on a steep incline, for the
purpose of showing that this method of propulsion is applicable to the
ascent of hills.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD CARS.

Aw improved ventilating apparatus has been recently attached to rail-
road cars, built by Messrs. Bradley & Rice, of Worcester, Mass. The
windows are so constructed that they are made to act the part of ven-
tilators, by having two leaves ; the front one is set to stand out, with its
inner end forming the apex of a cone, the outside being the base. The
air impinges on this window, as it is set angularly to the side of the
car, and it therefore forms a partial vacuum at its outer edge. This
draws the air from the inside and thoroughly ventilates the car, allow-
ing nothing to come in from the outside. ‘The other leaf of the window

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 29

is set behind the first leaf to sustain the current of air from the inside,
to perpetuate the partial vacuum. ‘There are ventilator cones in the
roof, which prevent sparks from entering, but allow a fresh supply of
air to enter the car continually. — Scientific American.

SELF-ADJUSTING RAILROAD SWITCH.

Mr. Amos Honas, of North Adams, Mass., has recently invented a
self-adjusting switch, which is highly recommended. The manner of
accomplishing so important a result is very simple, and requires but
very little addition to the switches now in use. The sliding section of
the track is moved by springs, and is kept in its place by a spring bolt.
When the train approaches the main track from any side track, the
first car or engine passes over an inclined plane, on the section preced-
ing the slide, which pushes forward a connecting bar, on the end of
which is a cam, which moves the slide to that track, and by a simple
attachment keeps it there until the last car leaves the slide, when it re-
turns to the main track. Mr. H. has also designed that by placing a
wheel or bearing on each side of a locomotive, the engineer can run
to any side track he chooses, by depressing the wheel (or bearing) on
the side he wishes to turn out. One single feature in the invention is
worth remembering — it never will run a train off the track from being
placed wrong.— North Adams Transcript.

RAILROAD IMPROVEMENT.

Tue American Railroad Journal furnishes the following description
of an improvement of Mr. J. S. French, whereby a locomotive was en-
abled to ascend and descend a grade of 200 feet to the mile. The ends
of the sills are cut off square with the string-pieces ; the rail, six inches
wide and three fourths of an inch thick, is placed upon the string-
pieces, and extends outwards two and a half inches, thus affording an
under surface against which a pair of rollers [the simple principle of the
whole invention] are pressed. These rollers or wheels are suspended
from the engine, a little in advance of the driving wheels, and are
pressed against the extended rail by a lever, by the regulation of
which any amount of adhesion may be obtained. ‘This mechanical ad-
hesion has the advantage of being graduated to circumstances ; for on
running on a level but little adhesion is required, and on reaching any
inclined surface, it is put on in a quantity requisite for ascending, and
no more. Thus are avoided the effects of weight in a great measure ;
whereas, on the ordinary principle, much dead weight is put on, only
to be made use of at certain points, and destroying the road on every
passage over it.

In an experiment made at Richmond, Va., an engine, constructed
on the above principle, weighing three and a half tons, drew a passen-
ger car, with 100 passengers, up a grade of 200 feet to the mile, at the
rate of ten miles per hour.

PROGRESS OF RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES.
A CORRESPONDENT Of the American Railway Times furnishes a state-
3%

80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ment of the progress of railways in the United States, from 1830 to
1851, which, with a correction or two, we here subjoin : —

Years. Miles. Years. Miles. Years. Miles.
fee ge AS P1888. Ty eee ee ees
Wee 8, 219.) 1889 koh SRO Re x beeen
fee. st AO TAS. ke Ag es cuts. OOD

ae 3806 |) W841 ee A206) TEs ay ee, 46574
Sot 4 ST 4567 18. oe 2688 1849 he ee oped
Wsoa52 0 5 5 °542") 1843: 2 2 4 2)980 | 1850) Se 2 2078S

Teese) B89") 1844 es oo ABTA (ABS ol se ee ae
WY te BS

The Baltimore and Ohio Railway was opened a distance of thirteen
miles December 28, 1829; the South Carolina Railway, a distance of
six miles, November 1, 1830; the Lake Ponchartrain, April 16; the
Camden and Amboy, a distance of seven miles, July Ist; and the
Mohawk and Hudson, throughout, September 24th, 1851.

It is difficult to prepare a table, which, when published, will give the
precise number of miles of railways in operation, as every day adds to
the number, and swells the grand total of miles completed or in operation.

NAVIGATION AND SHIP-BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES.

Tue following statistics of the foreign and inland commerce of the
United States, are derived from the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury, for 1850. In 1815 the tonnage of foreign shipping was
854,254 tons; of inland navigation tonnage, 513,813 tons. In 1850
the foreign tonnage had arisen to 1,585,711 tons, and the inland ton-
nage to 1,949,743. In 1815 the foreign tonnage exceeded the mland
60 per cent. Now the inland exceeds the foreign 25 per cent! The
‘registered tonnage ’’ has increased 700,000 tons; but the ‘‘ enrolled
and licensed ’’ tonnage has increased 1,400,000 tons. ‘The whole in-
crease from 1820 to 1850, (a period of thirty years,) is 175 per cent.
Now the growth of population in that period is 130 per cent., proving
the growth of commerce and navigation to be faster than that of the
people. Among the most obyious causes of this fact is the mtroduc-
tion of steam navigation on the western rivers. The steam tonnage on
all the western rivers exceeds 300,000 tons; but this had no existence
in 1815, the period of comparison in the above table.

THE “WAVE” PRINCIPLE OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

Tue term ‘‘ wave principle,’’ often used, is little understood, except
by those who have studied naval architecture as a science, although
all the fastest ships, whether propelled by sails or steam, have adopted
the principle. According to the old principle, it was considered that
vessels should be built with the water line nearly straight, the run of
the vessel a fine line, and that there never should be a hollow line,
except a little in the run of the ship, and that there should on no
account be any hollow line in the bow, but that the water lines should
be either straight, or rather convex. Some years ago, at the request of
the British Association for the Promotion of Science, Mr. Scott Russell

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 31

and the late Dr. Robinson, of Edinburgh, undertook a series of experi-
ments, with the view of ascertaining the form which would enable a
vessel to move most quickly through the water. These experiments
lasted for years, and established a set of facts which were reduced into
new rules, the majority of which were decidedly the reverse of the old
rules in ship-building. They began by upsetting the old rule that the
length of a vessel should be four times its breadth, as they found that
the greater the speed required, the greater should be the length, and
that the vessel should be built merely of the breadth necessary to stow
the requisite cargo. The second great improvement was, that the
greatest width of the water line, instead of being before the middle,
should be géaft the middle of the vessel — in fact, two fifths from the
stern and three fifths from the bow. The next great improvement was,
substituting for broad, bluff, or cod’s-head bow, hollow water lines,
called wave-lines, from their particular form ; and, also, instead of the
old fine run abaft and cutting it away, you might, with advantage,
have a fuller line abaft, provided it was fine under the water. By
these improvements the form of the old vessel was nearly reversed. All
the fast steamboats, accomplishing from 16 to 17 miles an hour, are
built on this principle. — English Journal.

FAN PADDLE-WHEEL.

Mr. Lee Srepuens, of England, contributed to the Great Exhibition
a model of a new, and, it is thought, effective system of surface propul-
sion for steamers, which has been denominated the ‘ fan paddle-
wheel.’? It consists of a series of blades, or segments, connected
together from their common centre (the boss which attaches them to
the shaft) to their common periphery, in such a manner as to constitute
a complete rotatory fan. ach blade is an isosceles triangle, every two
blades forming at their outer extremities two sides of an equilateral
triangle, occupying the full width of the paddle-box, the united action
of the whole being necessarily continuous, although the blades, alter-
nately, compress or divide the water right and left, yet entermg and
leaving it so obliquely as to avoid unpropulsive disturbance, or any lift-
ing of back-water ; of course, the propulsive effect is precisely the
same forward or backward. Without a diagram we cannot more par-
ticularly explain the invention, but we venture to believe that none of
our readers can fail to comprehend its ingenious simplicity, when they
keep in mind the fact that the constructive principle may be cor-
rectly defined as that of a rotatory fan. It is applicable to all surface
propelled steamers, of whatever size; and its advantages are —
simplicity, strength, and economy of construction, even compared
with the common paddle-wheel ; avoidance of vibration by continuty,
and of back-water by peculiarity of action; decreased retarda-
tion when deeply immersed; and increased speed with the same
amount of power, consequent upon the saving in that power by conti-
nuity of action, and by the entrance and egress of each segment of the
fan obliquely, instead of horizontally. In action each segment assim-
ilates to the motion of a fish’s fin, or to that of a scull or oar, and the

/

oe ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

entire action very closely approximates to that of a screw applied to
surface propulsion. The invention is highly recommended by compe-
tent authorities, the increased velocity derivable from its use being esti-
mated at from one sixth to one eighth. — London Mining Journal.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND STEAMERS.

Tue following extract from the last report of the Secretary of the
Navy furnishes a striking illustration of the rapid advances recently
made in this country in the construction of ships and steam-vessels : —

‘* In everything pertaining to the building, armament and equip-
ment of vessels of war, the scrutinizing and active mind of the present
age has not been idle. Merchant vessels of large draught have recently
been built and rigged in our country, which have sailed, by the force
of the winds alone, one thousand statute miles in three days, and with
an approach to the like rate of speed in long voyages. Improvements
and discoveries in ordnance and gunnery have been introduced, by
means of which, in the opinion of well-informed officers, a ship of infe-
rior rating — say of 32 guns — may be so built and rigged and armed
as to prove more than a match for the stoutest line-of-battle-ship of
the old construction and armament. How far the power of steam may
be added to increase the superiority of the modern vessel in speed,
destructiveness, and other points of a man-of-war, is also a fruitful
theme of speculation and experiment. In illustration of one of the
improvements in war steamers, it is represented to the department that
the boilers of the Mississippi, planned fifteen years since, and with the
best intelligence of the day, may be reduced nearly one half in their
dimensions and weight ; and, at the same time, made to double the
power of the vessel, with about the same expenditure of fuel as at
present.”’

SCREW vs. PADDLE

Aw interesting experiment took place recently, at Copenhagen,
between two steam-vessels of equal size, 800 tons and 260 horse-power.
Each vessel’s engines were made by Maudsley, of London. The Hol-
gerdenser (paddle), carrying two 60 pounders and six 24’s, and the
Thor (screw), carrying fourteen 32’s, were lashed stern to stern, when
the Thor towed the paddle at the rate of 2¢ths knots per hour
through the water, in spite of her full power applied to her paddles.
Being disconnected, they were then tried against a strong breeze,
when the screw again had the advantage over the paddle ; but when
they were put before the wind (no sails set) the paddle had the advyan-
tage of the screw to the same extent. Both vessels were of similar
model, the paddle being a little longer, narrower, and sharper than
the other. Both had their armaments, as above, and a full comple-
ment of coals on board ; the paddle drawing 12 feet 3 inches aft, and
12 feet forward; the screw, 15 feet 6 inches aft, and 14 feet forward.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 83

NOVEL RUDDER OF A SHIP.

Tue ship Warren, bound from Glasgow to New York, having encoun-
tered severe weather, lost her rudder on the outward voyage, and
there being no timber ow board of sufficient size to construct a new one,
and none of the requisite machinery to connect it, even if made, to the
tiller, a most ingenious device was hit upon by Captain Lawton, which
was successfully carried out by the crew, by which means the ship, with
a valuable cargo and 150 passengers, was safely steered to her port of
destination. ‘The Warren drew about 16 feet of water, and a sufficient
number of ropes being fastened so as to form a sort of hempen plank,
very similar to a close door mat on a gigantic scale, the whole was
bound together with transverse pieces of wood, thoroughly lashed
throughout, and secured with iron rods at the edges. For the hinge,
a series of chains were substituted, and two more with blocks and con-
necting ropes, running under the quarter, and fastened to the windlass,
gave the steersman almost as complete control as the ordinary wheel.
This truly ingenious piece of mechanism has elicited the warmest
expressions of admiration from many nautical veterans.

METALLIC RUDDER.

Tue rudder of the United States steamer San Jacinto, recently con-
structed at the Brooklyn Navy-Yard, is something of a mechanical
curiosity. It is about 24 feet in length, composed of a centre wrought-
iron spindle weighing 2,249 Ibs., turned and finished ; upon this spindle
is cast, for nearly the entire length, a composition casting of copper and
tin, of 1,940 lbs.; to this casing flanges project nearly the entire
length of the spindle, to which are riveted the copper plates which form
the rudder. ‘The object of the casing is to prevent rust on the iron.
The whole weighs about 6,350 lbs., and was manufactured at the
Washington Navy-Yard.

THE DUPLEX RUDDER AND SCREW-PROPELLER.

AN imyention, entitled as above, has recently been patented by
Captain Carpenter, of England. It consists of two rudders and two
screw-propellers, fitted in new positions for improved steering and
propellmg. From the midship section of the vessel to the stem, no
alteration is introduced into the form of the hull; but abaft this point
they commence. First, the keel, with the dead-wood, stern-post and
rudder, are removed, and the flooring above receives a suitable form
for strength. ‘Two additional keels lie in a line parallel with the
former keel, but placed at a distance of two or more feet, according to
the size of the vessel, on either side of it, terminating at the midship
section in the fore-part, and in a line with the former stern-post in the
after-part. Framework is carried down to these keels, leaving a free
channel for the water to run between them in the direction of the mid-
ship keel. A stern-post is placed at the end of the additional keels,
and upon each of which hangs a rudder. A screw-propeller works in
an orifice in each framework, on the common arrangement. One of
the propellers is a little more aft than the other, to allow full play to

34 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

both, and yet economize space in the mid-channel. The appearance
of the vessel in the water is not altered in the side view, neither is it
much changed in the stern view. The consequence of this new
arrangement is, that the rudders and propellers are acting with
double effect in each case. The rudders are receiving an increased
power, because the impact of the water upon them takes place at an
angle which is constrained by the situation of the keels, and which is
the most favorable that can be had. The two propellers, also, revoly-
ing as they are in water confined in a limited space, are working to
considerable advantage. ‘The effect actually produced is, that, when
required, a vessel can be turned about in nearly half the space that a
single rudder can turn it, and the two propellers will give a proportion-
ate increase of speed.

The advantages gained by the new construction of the vessel are
also considerable. There will be more strength, more bearings in the
run, more breadth for cabin room. The rolling and pitching will be
reduced very considerably. The vessel will not make lee-way as
formerly ; the vibration, or tremulous motion, will be lessened. The
safety of the vessel will be very much increased, because the duplex
rudder will have the effect of instantaneously changing the direction,
should she be running into some unexpected danger ; also, if one rud-
der should be damaged, the other can be used to steer with. The
propellers also can be used separately when required.

STATIC PRESSURE ENGINE.

CoNSIDERABLE discussion has taken place in several New York jour-
nals, relative to a supposed new motive power, devised or invented by
Messrs. Sawyer and Gwynne, of that city, and which is denominated
the ‘‘ Static Pressure Engine.’ In the scheme set forth, the compres-
sion of atmospheric air is proposed to be made effective by the intro-
duction of centrifugal force as an auxiliary.agent or power, the initial
moving force, or atmospheric pressure, and the auxiliary force both
acting on non-elastic fluid or water, which is used as the medium of
motion.

The machine consists of a covered cylindrical basin, 26 inches in
diameter and two inches deep, to which is attached a vertical tube
four inches in diameter, and of any required length. A spiral groove
runs the whole length of the tube, and this, together with the basin,
is supposed to be filled with quicksilver. The whole is to be rapidly
revolved about a vertical axis, when the centrifugal force of the mer-
cury in the basin drives the mercury out through a valve on the edge
of the basin, and leaves a vacuum behind. The mercury, as it escapes
from the basin, falls into a reservoir communicating with the bottom
of the spiral groove, through which it is forced by the pressure of the
atmosphere with such velocity that the reaction of the sides of the
groove causes the tube and the attached basin to revolve with great
momentum, evolving new centrifugal force by which the vacuum is
perpetuated. Mr. Sawyer supposes that the centrifugal force of the
revolying mercury is sufficient to maintain its own revolution unim-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 30

paired, and leave a large surplus capable of being applied to any useful
purpose.

In Cincinnati, a Mr. Solomon has constructed an engine, for the
employment of carbonic acid as a motive power, which is said to work
successfully.

THE LARGEST SHIP IN THE WORLD.

Tue Oriental Steam Navigation Company, England, are now con-
structing an iron steam-ship, of the following dimensions and power :
viz., length between the perpendiculars, 325 feet, breadth of beam, 43
feet; depth, 32 feet. She will measure about 3060 tons, and will be
propelled by four engines of the collective working power of 1200
horses ; will have feathering paddle-wheels, and a guaranteed average
speed of 14 knots, equal to sixteen statute miles per hour. Some idea
may be formed of the size of this gigantic vessel, when it is compared
with that of some of the existing steam-ships most celebrated for their
large size. She will be 51 feet longer than the Great Britain, 60 feet
longer than the largest of the Cunard mail-steamers, the Asia and
Africa; and 150 feet longer, and 500 tons larger, than a ship of the
line of 120 guns. She is to run between Southampton, England, and
Alexandria, Egypt, a distance of 3100 miles. It is estimated that she
will make the passage in nine days.

GIGANTIC RAILROAD BRIDGE IN GERMANY.

Ons of the most gigantic and colossal bridges ever constructed, was
recently opened for travel on the railroad between Leipsic and Nurem-
burg, Germany. In the construction of this road it was found neces-
sary to carry the track directly across a deep valley, near the town of
Hoff. As it would have required a mountain of dirt to form an
embankment, only a bridge was found practicable. One thousand dol-
lars were offered to architects and engineers, as a premium for the best
plan. As none of the plans sent in were found practicable, the com-
mittee made up one from them, and divided the premium among the
competitors. One engineer proposed to build the bridge in such a way
that it would afford comfortable dwellings for 6,000 people. The foun-
dation of the bridge was laid in May, 1846. It is built principally of
brick, sandstone being used in the foundations. There is a succession
of arches one above the other, having the appearance of colonnades when
viewed from a distance. The bridge is 2050 feet im length, and in the
centre nearly 300 feet high. At the centre, only two arches, of nearly
150 feet in height, spring one above the other — while upon the sides
there are four smaller arches. Part of the time, 2000 men were
employed upon it, and the work has continued five years, costing over
$3,000,000.

GREAT BRIDGE AND VIADUCT OVER THE WYE.

A Gicantic bridge and viaduct is now in the process of construction
oyer the river Wye, in Wales, which bids fair to rival in fame the

36 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Britannia, cr Menai bridge. The whole will be made of wroughtiron, and
will combine the principles of the suspension with those of the tubular
bridges. Including the viaduct, the bridge is 623 feet in length ; the
span or suspended part being 290 feet. ‘There are two separate road-
ways, each being perfectly independent of the other, and their height
is 70 feet over the river Wye at high water mark, so that vessels can
pass under. The roadways of the bridge are formed of iron, put together
in plates, and in form they are similar to the tubes forming the Conway
and Britannia tubular bridges; but, instead of being roofed in with
cellular divisions of iron, there is for each roadway, and suspended above
it, and at some distance, a strong cylinder of iron. It is suspended on
piers, and from the extremities of this cylinder a looped chain runs
under pins placed on each side of the roadway, in order to brace and
support it. Likewise strong iron braces pass from the cylinder to each
side of the tube, and from the top of each of these side supports to the
bottom of the other, chains are placed for additional strength. On one
side, the roadways rest on six upright iron cylinders, which have been
filled with concrete, and driven firmly on a foundation of rock. The
roadways on this side are continued in the form of a viaduct for about
three hundred feet more, resting upon these upright cylinders filled
with concrete, and firmly imbedded. On the other side, the roadways
rest upon solid rock. — London Times.

THE WHEELING SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

Ex-Crancettor WatwortH, who was appointed by the U. S. Supreme
Court a Commissioner to take testimony in the Wheeling Bridge case,
on the issue whether the bridge did or did not obstruct the navigation
of the river, has recently made a report on the subject, from which,
with the account published by Mr. Elliot, the engineer, it appears that
the length of the bridge, from centre to centre of the supporting towers
at each end is 1,010 feet, and the height of the flooring at its greatest
elevation, is 97 feet above the low water surface of the river. The
highest freshet ever known on the river at this point was in 1832, when
it rose 444 feet above its lowest level. There is, therefore, sufficient
height to permit a steamboat, with a pipe fifty feet above the water, to
pass under the bridge at the top of the flood of 1832. The testimony
taken by the commissioner, however, shows an increase in the height
of the chimneys of steamboats to 84 feet in some instances. The pas-
sage-way of the suspension bridge is 62 feet above the water zero on
Wheeling bar; the highest chimneys would, therefore, strike when the
water was above 8 feet. It appears, from observations made at W heel-
ing, that the Ohio is in good navigable order more than two thirds of
the year, and that it is the extreme of high and low water only five
days in the year. It being evident that the chimneys must be lowered
or the bridge elevated, and as the speed of steamboats is a great public
convenience, Mr. Walworth pronounces in fayor of the latter course.
The bridge must, therefore, be elevated ‘‘ twenty-eight feet above the
highest point of the present bridge, and sixty feet above the elevation of
the bridge at the water abutment, on the eastern side.”? The estimated
cost of this elevation is $208,000.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 3T

MACHINE FOR BLOOMING IRON.

At a late meeting of the Birmingham Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, a paper was read, ‘‘ On a new machine for blooming iron,”’
accompanied by a model, illustrating the invention. The working
portion of the machine consists of three eccentric, cuspidated, semilunar-
shaped cams, working simultaneously, and all kept rotating in one
direction by wheels and pinions, firmly connected together in a strong
frame, and set in motion by a steam engine. ‘The convex sides of these
semi-cylindrical cams are deeply grooved and serrated, and their pecu-
liar form is such, that, on dropping a bloom of iron into the concavity
of the upper cam, as it presents itself, it is immediately drawn into the
vortex, or centre of motion, of the three cams, at the instant when that
opening is the largest. As they rotate, the convexities, in consequence
of the eccentricity of the centres, approach nearer and nearer — the
ridges and rough surfaces squeezing, rolling, and kneading the iron in
all directions, like squeezing a sponge in the hand. The cinders and
impurities are thus ejected, and fall out beneath the machine ; and the
cams, in the latter part of their rotation, having closed the space be-
tween them to the smallest dimensions in the revolution, the bloom
is elongated and ejected in the form of an iron cylinder. The paper
stated that the machine was the invention of Mr. Jeremiah Brown,
and that its use was calculated to form a new era in the iron trade.
For the production of superior iron, it had hitherto been considered that
the hammer was indispensable ; but for all purposes of efficiency, rapid-
ity of action, and economy, this machine, it was assumed, would come
into general use. From its strength and simplicity, it would not cost in
repairs £20 a year; while a hammer involved expenses of ten times
that amount, and the cost of replacing a broken hammer ‘was well-
known in the iron trade to be a serious ztem. It turned out a finished
bloom, entirely free from cinder, in twelve seconds, the engine working
moderately ; while under the hammer it could not be completed under
eighty seconds. Thus, by the machine, the cylindrical bloom, when
ejected, was still at welding heat, and could be at once passed through
the rolls, while, from the hammer, it had again to pass through the
furnace.

In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper, Mr.
Beazley, the author of the paper, stated that, from some comparative
experiments he had made, as to the strength of the same iron finished
by hammer and by the machine, he considered the quality about equal ;
on different sized bars, in some cases, they were a trifle in favor of the
hammer, and in others of the machine ; but he considered the economy
highly important. In labor there was a saving of 1s. 3d. per ton; in
tools of ls. per ton; and the saving in time was equally worthy of con-
sideration. That a more perfect ejection of the cinder was effected by
the machine than by the hammer, was clear from the fact that the
same quantity of iron weighed less after passing the former than from
the operation of the latter; and Mr. Beazley said that he had taken
two blooms direct from the machine successively, and passed them
together through the ae and the result was a perfectly welded joint.

88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Mr. Adams pore testimony to the efficiency of the machine ; but he had
seen a bloom passed through the rolls from it, and noticed that a con-
siderable quantity of cinder still oozed from the ends. He thought,
after leaving the machine, the iron might be subjected to a few blows
of the hammer with advantage, and thus aim at the production of a
highly superior article, rather than at the saving of ls.a ton. Mr.
Beazley thought the hammer would be superfluous, as the rolls effected
what the machine had left undone. Mr. Cowper had often seen the
machine in operation, and had not noticed the cinder in the iron at the
rolls, as represented by Mr. Adams. Mr. Williams said, if iron was
imperfectly puddled, the hammer would knock it to pieces and show
the defect ; but he feared the machine would roll the iron up, whether
good or bad. From the rolling action, the cinder would be lapped
up in the iron. He considered the cost of the machine and repairs
would be an important consideration. Mr. Beazley assured Mr. Wil-
liams he was in error; it had been repeatedly proved that if the iron
was imperfectly puddled, the machine instantly tore it in fragments ;
that, as to complexity, it was as simple as the ordinary rolls, and no
more likely to get out of repair. It had worked four months with only
one trifling accident, which arose from faulty construction at first. —
London Mechanics’ Magazine.

MALLEABLE IRON.

THe manufacture of this article, which was introduced only a few
years since, is already extending over various parts of the country.
The process of manufacture, which is not generally understood, is thus
explained in the New York Farmer and Mechanic.

To make iron malleable, the common pig, reduced to a state of fusion,
is submitted to a melting heat for many successive hours, by which it
is refined. From this refining furnace, the iron is poured into moulds,
and thus given various forms, according to the wishes of those who use
it, just as common pig is fashioned by moulds. When taken from the
sand, each piece is carefuily examined, and, if found perfect in form, it
is, with other articles, submitted to the annealing furnace, where, for
six or eight days and as many nights, the iron is kept in a state of red
heat. The time during which the annealing process is continued,
varies, according to the quality and size of the articles desired. If the
articles to be annealed are large, or are desired of an extra quality, the
time of annealing is prolonged to nine or ten days ; but, if the articles
are small, and the quality is not a matter of much importance, they are
taken from the annealing furnace ina shorter time. Such is the process
of making malleable iron, which is fast coming to be used instead of
wrought iron, in the manufacture of many utensils. For making iron
garden rakes, for culinary utensils, for patent wrenches, and especially
for the manufacture of pistols and guns, malleable iron is used for pur-
poses for which wrought iron was formerly used. Malleable iron, by a
process of refining and annealing, has become tough, and thus answers
the ends, in many cases, of wrought iron.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 39

SHEET-IRON PIPES.

SHEET-IRON pipes, of a new manufacture, have lately been introduced
into England from France, where they have been in use for several
years. They are made of sheet-iron, which is bent to the required
form, and then strongly riveted together, after which they are coated
with an alloy of tin, and the longitudinal joints are soldered, so as to
render them both air-tight and water-proof. In order to give them
more stiffness, they are next coated on the outside with asphalte cement,
and if they are tended to be used as water-pipes, the inside is also
coated with bitumen, which resists like glass the action of acids and
alkalies. They are so elastic, that they will bear a considerable deflec-
tion without injuring the pipes, or causing any leakage at the joints.
The vertical joints screw together in the same manner as cast-iron gas
pipes. These pipes have been used for water, for gas, and for drain-
ing, and are found to be more economical than cast-iron, besides being
less liable to leak, and, for water-pipes, they are more healthy than the
common ones. — Razl/road Journal.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE TENACITY OF IRON.

Tre Birmingham Journal (England) says :—A singular illustration
of the tenacity and ductility of iron has been produced at an iron
establishment in this city. It is in the form of a book, the leaves
of which are of iron, rolled so fine that they are no thicker than a piece
of paper. The book is neatly bound in red morocco, and contains forty-
four of these iron leaves — the whole being only the fifteenth of an inch
thick. This curious book was rolled in the ordinary sheet-iron rolls.

CAST-IRON BUILDINGS.

Tae applicability of cast-iron to the construction of buildings was first
discovered in this country by Mr. Bogardus, of New York, who, after
trying, without success, to interest capitalists here in the matter, went
to England, where he was equally unsuccessful. In that country
wrought-iron had been used for building ; but, although the advantages
of cast-iron were obvious, it was thought that Mr. Bogardus had over-
estimated the strength of the material. He returned to the United
States, and eventually succeeded in obtaining the necessary capital to
carry out his plan ; and is now doing a very large and increasing busi-
ness in New York. The discovery of gold in California was literally the
circumstance which crowned the invention of Mr. Bogardus with its
present success. The sudden demand for large houses there, the want
of ordinary building materials, and the high prices of labor, forced the
people of that State, and those from the Atlantic States, speculating in
California property, to look favorably on the plan for the substitution
of cast-iron for brick and wood in house-building. New York merchants
first sent such houses thither, which, being put up in a day for each,
month required for the erection of an English wrought-iron building,
and answering better in many other respects, caused so many orders to

40 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

be returned for similar houses, that the inventor was soon compelled to
increase his force so as to make his factory one of the leading industrial
establishments of New York. A cast-iron building from this establish-
ment has been put up in Baltimore, for the office of the Baltimore Sun,
which ranges for 150 feet on two streets, and is five stories in height.
During the past year, a tower of cast-iron has been erected in New
York, to sustain a fire-bell, weighing 20,000 pounds. This tower is
ninety feet in height and twenty feet in diameter. Some three years
since, when the first iron building was erected in New York, consent
was very reluctantly given by the authorities to its construction, on the
ground of danger to firemen from bursting in case of fire.

TUBULAR WROUGHT-IRON MASTS AND SPARS.

Tus invention, by Capt. C. F. Brown, of Warren, R. I., consists in
the employment of masts, yards, and other spars of wrought-iron tubes
fitting within one another in a manner similar to the joints of telescopes,
the larger tubes forming the larger part or parts where the greatest
strength is required, and the innermost or smaller tubes forming the
ends, the whole number being secured together by a screwed rod or
rods, made secure to the larger outside tube or tubes, and passing
through nuts in the inner ones. The several tubes can be set in any
position by setting-screws, so that the length of each mast, or spar,
may be varied at pleasure. The upper masts are to be made in the
same way as the lower ones, and to fit into them, and be secured by
other screw-rods secured to the upper joints of the masts immediately
below them. ‘The gradual diminution of the size of the tubes gives the
necessary taper to both the mast and yard, and each may be formed of
any number of joints necessary for the purpose intended. The masts
and spars, when stowed away, can be screwed into one another, or the
screw-rods may be taken out, and the tubes slipped into one another,
thus enabling them to be stowed away in very little space. Any spars
may be made in the same way. — Scientific American.

WROUGHT-IRON TUBULAR CRANES.

TE same principle adopted in the formation of the Britannia Tubular
Bridge, has been applied by Mr. Fairbairn, to the construction of a
crane for lifting heavy goods. This crane is entirely composed of
wrought-iron plates, firmly riveted together, and so arranged that the
upper side is particularly well adapted to resist tension, and the under,
or concave side, embodying the cellular construction, to resist com-
ace The form is correctly that of the prolonged vertebrze of the
gird, from which the machine takes its name. It is truly the neck of
a crane, tapering from the point of the jib, where it is two feet by 18
inches wide, to the level of the ground, where it is five feet by three
feet six inches. From this point it again tapers perpendicularly to a
depth of 18 feet, under the surface, forming a cone, the bottom of
which terminates in a cast-iron shoe, which forms the toe on which the
crane revolves. The lower or concave side, which is calculated to resist
compression, consists of plates forming three cells, and varying in thick-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 41

ness in the ratio of the strain ; and, on the other hand, the convex or top
side, which has to bear the pull, or tension due to the suspended weight,
is formed of long plates, connected together by the system of chain riv-
eting, which Mr. Fairbairn first applied in the great tubular bridges
of Wales. The sides of the crane are of uniform thickness throughout,
the joints being covered with T iron, and externally with strips four and
a half inches wide. This arrangement of materials constitutes the ele-
ments of strength in the crane. From the closest calculations made,
it appears it would require a weight of 63 tons to break the crane.
With 20 tons, the permanent set or deflection of the jib was 3.33 in.,
and after remaining suspended 16 hours, the further deflection was,
0.64in. The advantages peculiar to this construction of crane are its
great security, and the facility with which bulky and heavy bodies can
be raised to the very top of the jib without the least risk of failure. —
London Mining Journal.

CHINESE METHOD OF REPAIRING BROKEN CAST-IRON VESSELS.

Ir is well known that the Chinese are accustomed to repair cracked
or broken cast-iron vessels by means of a solder of melted iron. An
explanation of this process. as performed by the Chinese tinkers, is fur-
nished by Mr. Balestier, U.S. Consul at Singapore, in the following
letter to Thomas Ewbank, Commissioner of Patents:

‘* Macao, Feb. 6, 1850.

*¢ Sir,— According to your desire, I have carefully observed the Chinese
method of retiniting or joining together cracked or severed cast-iron
vessels, so as to make them useful as ever after an accident. Spec-
mens of utensils so mended have been forwarded to the Patent Office.
Among them is a cast-iron pan, measuring twelve inches in diameter
by four inches deep. A crack of three inches was made in it in the
first place, and, in the second, a piece was entirely broken off, giving
rise to two distinct operations.

‘** The operator commenced by breaking the edges of the fractures
slightly with a hammer, so as to enlarge the fissures, after which the
fractured parts were placed and held in their natural positions by means
of wooden braces. The pan being ready, crucibles made of clay, were
laid in charcoal, and ignited in a small portable sheet-iron furnace, with
bellows working horizontally. As soon as the pieces of cast-iron, with
which the crucibles were charged, were fused, it was poured on a layer
of partly charred husk of rough rice, or paddy, which was previously
spread on a thickly doubled cloth, the object of which is to prevent the
sudden cooling and hardening of the liquid metal. Whilst in this liquid
state it was quickly conveyed with the right hand to the fractured part
under the vessel, and forced up with a jerk into the enlarged fissure,
whilst, with the left hand, a paper rubber was passed over the obtrud-
ing liquid, inside of the vessel, making a strong, substantial and neat
operation. You will thus remark that the art of the Chinese for re-
uniting cracked or severed cast-iron vessels, of all sizes, consists in ©
cementing them with pean, whilst in the liquid state.

*

42 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The weight of the vessel sent by Mr. Balestier, is three and a quarter
pounds. Except at the centre, where a part, two inches over, is left
thick and flat for a base or foot to rest on, the thickness does not ex-
ceed, and in fact scarcely reaches, one tenth of an inch. The handles
are cast on, but appear to have been first formed and inserted into the
mould. This does not seem to have been of sand, as the inner and
outer surfaces are smoother, and of a different appearance, from iron
cast in that material. Of the metal used for repairing this pot, Mr.
Balestier has forwarded a lump that was not melted. It is part of an
old kettle, and differs but little, if any, from our pot metal. The cruci-
ble, not much larger than a thimble, is made apparently of the same
material as our common sand crucibles ; except the shape, it could not
be distinguished from one of them. The amount of one fusion seems
not to cover more than half an inch of the crack, and hence, in the piece
inserted, no less than nine distinct applications of the melted metal
are seen—resembling in the inside so many ragged wafers touching
each other, while on the outside, where the metallic plaster was ap-
plied, there are the same number of rude protuberances. Dr. Gale,
one of the examiners of the Patent Office, has made a chemical exami-
nation of a portion of the basin, and finds it a very pure white cast-iron,
containing scarcely any foreign matter, except a little carbon and silex,
ingredients always present in cast-iron. —Palent Office Report, 1850-51.

IRON PAVEMENTS.

THE use of iron plates, as a pavement for streets, has been introduced,
during the past year, in some parts of the city of Glasgow, Scotland,
with great success. The pavement consists of plates about three quar-
ters of an inch thick, three feet long, and eighteen inches broad. The
upper surface is grooved, so as to resemble in some measure the inter-
stices between paving-stones, only that the grooves are not in contin-
uous straight lines, but a sort of zig-zag, so as to prevent most effectu-
ally horses’ feet from slipping. The plates are rabbeted on the edges,
the one resting on and supporting the other throughout the whole
series. The jomts are so close that none of the material forming the
bed or substratum can ooze upwards, as is the case with ordinary pave-
ment, and which causes not only the irregularities of the surface, but
most of the dust and mud which disfigure the streets and annoy pas-
sengers. The plates are laid upon a*bed of sand, with some lime inter-
mixed, but not sufficient to give it the coherence of concrete. The
surface being levelled, the plates are laid on it with great facility and
rapidly, and being pressed down with a wooden hammer until a solid
uniform bearing is attained, the operation is complete. As com-
pared with the best stone causewaying, there is much less noise, jolting,
and materially diminished friction or resistance ; while the footing for
the horses is fully more secure than on the best granite paving. At
the present price of iron, the iron pavement would cost from 7s. 6d. to
8s. 6d., according to thickness, per square yard ; whilst granite payin
costs in Glasgow from 8s. to 9s., and in London from 12s. to 14s. 6d.
the yard. The cost of laying and preparation will be certainly not

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 43

more, if not less, for the iron than for the stone paving, and the proba-
ble increased endurance, apart from its other tested advantages, will,
we should think, throw the preponderance of economy yastly into the
iron scale. — Glasgow Journal.

ON THE LAMINATION OF IRON.

We derive the following remarks, in reference to the lamination of
iron, especially when used for railroad bars, from an article by H. L.
Damsel, Esq., in the Journal of the Franklin Institute for August :—

Various attempts have been made to remedy the tendency of best
iron to laminate. An ingenious apparatus has been patented in this
country, and also in England, for twisting the rail bar, while it is in the
course of manufacturing. By means of powerful machinery, the bar
is twisted while in its rough state, until the fibres of metal encircle
the rail, instead of lying in a direction parallel with its axis. But it
is found that the twisting of the bar alone is insufficient to retard the
laminating process, while the fibrous character of the metal still exists.

An English manufacturer has patented a process for manufacturing
what appears to be a near approach to an anti-laminating rail. His
plan is to construct the upper or wearing part of the rail from puddled
charcoal iron in the unwrought state, and the lower part from the iron
ordinarily used in manufacturing rails. This arrangement materially
reduces the formation of fibre ; yet the high price at which these rails
have been sold in England, has hitherto limited their employment to a
few isolated experiments on some of the leading railroads in Great
Britain.

To discover means whereby wrought rails might be rolled from com-
mon metal, and yet be free from the laminated structure attendant on
its employment, experimental trials were made with rails rolled from
variously constructed piles, built up of common puddled iron, with and
without the admixture of superior qualities. This was done with the
view of ascertaining if the present system of piling could not be advan-
tageously altered for one which, with little or no additional expense in
the manufacturing over that now incurred, would result in the produc-
tion of a perfectly non-laminating rail. The object aimed at, therefore,
was one which, if attained, would be of incalculable benefit to railroad
companies. The plan usually adopted is to arrange the bars, whether
these are of miiled or puddled iron, side by side, and one on the other,
till a pile is built of the required dimensions. By thus arranging them,
the grain or fibre of all the bars runs in the same direction — longitu-
dinally. This parallelism is maintained in the subsequent process of
rolling, when the pile is distended from its original length of about three
feet, into a finished rail of from 24 to 20 feet long, but is reduced laterally
and vertically from seven inches wide and nine inches high, equal to 63
sectional inches, to a bar, averaging, perhaps, six square inches. The
fibres of the metal are thus distended longitudinally to nine times their
original length, and, to meet this elongation, they are compressed into
one ninth of their original sectional area. The fibrous character of
the metal continues and is multiplied at each successive rolling, until,

44 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

as is not unfrequently the case at iron works, it is no longer available
for manufacturing purposes.

The remedy which Mr. Damsel proposed for this prevailing tendency
to laminate, consequent on the disposition of the plates or bars in par-
allel layers, was to withdraw a few of the long bars, which ran the
whole length of the pile, and replace them with a number of short ones,
which were to be laid crosswise to the others, and whose length would
consequently be equal to the breadth of the pile. The first piles con-
structed on this plan were wholly composed of puddled iron disposed in
parallel layers, with the exception of the two upper layers, which were
of the best metal. The top layer of best metal was of the usual length,
and was placed along the pile in the usual manner ; but the one under
it, resting on the puddling bars, was composed of short pieces laid across
the pile, with their fibres at right angles with that of the others.
Apparently, this simple alteration in the disposition of the bars of
metal composing the unwrought pile, could not affect the structural
arrangement of the manufactured bar, but in reality it occasioned a
most important change. The rails rolled from these piles were placed
on cast-iron blocks, standing three feet apart, and broken by blows from
a heavy ram falling freely between fixed guides. The appearance pre-
sented by the fractured ends was very different from anything pre-
viously observed in rails. Tor a depth of full half an inch from the
surface, the fractured metal presented the crystalline appearance of fine
white cast-iron, while the remainder of the rail exhibited the usual
coarse fibrous character commonly observed in rail-iron. Yet, although
the contrast between the two metals was striking in the extreme, the
line of junction was not discernible, and the union of the two qualities
appeared to have been effected in the most solid manner.

The alteration thus effected in the structure of the metal, by the sin-
gle layer laid across the pile, led to further experiments on piles with
two cross-laid layers, having a thickness of long bars between them ;
and in subsequent experiments the number was increased, till every
alternate layer was thus disposed. The effect of a second cross layer
of best iron was to double the depth of the fine crystalline metal , but
when this second layer was of puddled iron, the metal, when broken,
appeared to be formed of large crystals, not unlike coarse white pig
iron. The metalin the bars rolled from piles built up with layers laid
alternately along and across the pile, could scarcely be distinguished in
its appearances from cast metal, so great had been the change which
the altered mode of piling had effected in the structural arrangement
of the iron. By placing a cross layer of short bars at the head and
foot of the pile, the rail, when broken, exhibited the crystalline structure
at the top and bottom, with a centre mass of fibrous metal, and on
placing cross layers in the middle of the pile only, the rail was found
fibrous at both top and bottom, but crystalline in. the middle. It is
possible, therefore, to produce rails with non-fibrous metal in any de-
sired proportion, and occupying any desired position.

The experiments on the conversion of fibrous into crystalline iron at
pleasure, by merely altering the system of the piling, satisfactorily
demonstrated that by disposing a moiety of the bars across, instead of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 45

along the pile, as was heretofore the universal practice, a rail perfectly
yoid of Jamina could be manufactured from highly fibrous metal. The
additional expense from using the short cross-bars over that incurred
in the usual way, amounted to about ten cents per ton on the rails
experimented upon; but in the event of the plan being generally
adopted, as it is presumed it will be, there being no patent right to
contend with, the additional expense from the extra labor in shearing
will probably not exceed three or four cents per ton. These experiments
developed the fact that the existence of fibre is caused by the rolling
being in one continuous direction ; and, therefore, fibre may be produced
in any required direction ; or, if it is desired to have iron free from
lamina and equally strong in every direction, it is only necessary to
roll the bars alternately at right angles with the former axis. Apart
from the great advantage of a non-laminating metal, the rails prepared
under this plan of cross-piling display qualities which render them pecu-
liarly yaluable for railway purposes. When tested by a heavy weight
falling freely on them from a height of fourteen feet, the mdentation
occasioned by the impact was very much less than that on rails man-
ufactured in the usual way; and, tested by supporting them at the
ends, and suspending a weight of two tons for a few mimutes on their
centre, the permanent deflection was also found greatly in favor of the
cross-piling. The mechanical action of the rolls in neutralizing the
previous structure appears to have condensed the particles of metal,
and to have violently expelled the cinder and other extraneous matter
with which it was combined. The increased rigidity appears also to
have resulted from the increased density of the metal in the upper por-
tion of the bar, offering a greater resisting medium to compression.

This neutralizing the tendency of bar-iron to resolve into the fibrous
structure, is partially understood in the manufacture of boiler, plate and
sheet iron. The plan followed in these instances consists in alternately
presenting the end and side of the plate to the action of the rolls,
whereby the expansion of the metal is equal in each direction ; but this
procedure, though well adapted to neutralize the formation of fibre,
when the object operated on is a plain iron plate, is inapplicable in the
case of rails, by reason of their angular section and great length — cir-
cumstances which render it essentially necessary that their movements
be in the same plane.

The beneficial application of the principle of cross-piling is not limited
to the manufacture of non-laminating rails ; it may be advantageously
extended to various descriptions of wrought-iron for engineering and
building purposes, where a partial or total absence of lamina is desired.

RYDER’S PATENT FORGING MACHINE.

Various attempts have been made to supersede the costly hand labor
of the smith by machinery, but generally without success; a result
which, we believe, may be attributed in a great measure to the pro-
jectors attempting too much. In practice, it will not do to feed iron
in at one end of a machine, and bring it out finished at the other. For
many kinds of engine-work it is now cheaper to leaye the forging rough,

‘

46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and take off the superfluous metal with a slotting or planing machine,
than to allow a smith to spend his time in attempting to work exactly
to drawing. In textile machinery, however, there is an immense
quantity of work to be done, of a slight character and uniform dimen-
sions. To suit this kind of work, a forging machine has been invented by
Mr. W. Ryder, of Bolton, Eng., and was exhibited at the Great London
Exhibition. The machine consists of a strong cast-iron frame, carrying
a driving shaft. On this shaft are forged eccentrics, which give motion
to swage-holders situated above it. ‘These swage-holders are guided
vertically by the frame, while the motion required by the eccentric is
allowed for by pzeces, the toes of which work in the hollow on the top
of the swage-holder. Each swage-holder is provided with a spiral
spring, which bears on a key fixed in the frame, and raises the swage
after the eccentric has depressed it. A slot is cut in the swage-holder
to allow it to slide on the key. Machines of this class are always
liable to breakage from a bar of too large a size being put between the
swages. This can only be remedied by allowing some elasticity, which
in this case is ingeniously effected by inserting a piece of cork in the
lower swage-holder, which can be compressed by a screw to any degree
of hardness. By another screw, also, the lower swage can be lowered
bodily, wheneyer it is required to vary the size of work to be executed.
One of the tools forms a pair of shears to finish the work to a proper
length, and by moving a handle which acts upon an eccentric, the
lower tool can be raised to meet the upper one. ‘This arrangement is
necessary, as, from the rapid motion of the tool, which makes 600 to
700 blows per minute, it would be impossible to introduce the work
without bruising it. A series of rests are placed opposite to each pair
of tools, which can be adjusted both in height and horizontal distance ;
the table carrying the rests can also be moved along the frame to
facilitate the adjustment. In using the machine, the swages are
adjusted go that, by placing the rod of iron successively between them,
it is drawn down to the size required, whilst the length of each part is
accuratelyrdetermined by placing the end of the rod in the rest. The
machine cannot, therefore, turn out the work too small, whilst, at the
same time, it is so near the finished size, that very little has to be taken
off in the lathe. As an example of its economy over hand labor, it is
stated that a man with the machine will make 17 dozen spindlés per
day, 15 inches long, and tapering from % to 4 inch, at a rate, piece-
work, of 5d. per dozen, whilst by hand he could only turn out six
dozen, for which he would be paid 10d. per dozen. In some kinds of
work the economy is still greater. All kinds of files may, it is stated,
be forged by this machine at one third the cost of hand labor.—Lon-
don Artisan.

ON THE STRENGTIT OF IRON EMPLOYED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON
VESSELS.

Mr. W. Farrnarrn, at the British Association, presented the results
of some experiments made by him, with a view of obtaining some
knowledge of the strength of the iron generally used for the construc-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 47

tion of boilers, pipes, &e. In order to acquire satisfactory data, a
variety of plates, manufactured from the best quality of iron, of differ-
ent localities, were submitted to direct experiment; first, by tearing
them asunder in the direction of the fibre ; second, across it. The
mean tensile strength per square inch, in tons, was found to be 22.16,
in the direction of the fibre ; 22.29 across the fibre. From this it will
be observed, that there is no difference in the strength of iron plates,
whether torn in the direction of the fibre or against it, and this uni-
formity of strength probably arises from the superior manner in which
that article is now manufactured. The experiments would, however,
be imperfect as regards construction, if they had not been extended to
the process of riveting ; and on this point our information has been of
the most meagre description. Until of late years, many of our numer-
ous constructions have been conducted under the impression that the
riveted point was not only strong, but absolutely stronger than the plate
itself; whereas, more than one third of the strength is lost by that pro-
cess. To prove the fallacy of these views, it was ascertained by exper-
iment, that the strength of iron plates, as compared with their rivet-
ed joints, was not only weakened to the extent of the quantity of
metal punched out to receive the rivets, but that in the following
ratios, viz., as 1000 to 700 in the double riveted joint, and 1000 to
560 in the single riveted joint. From the aboye facts, practical for-
mula have been deduced to show that the maximum resistance of single
riveted plates does not exceed 27,000 lbs. to the square inch ; and
taking into account the crossing of the joints, and other circumstances
peculiar to sound construction, 34,000 lbs., or 15 tons to the square
inch, has been found to be the maximum strength of riveted plates,
such as those used for boilers and similar constructions. In conclusion,
attention was directed to several important improvements in connec-
tion with the construction of steam-boilers, by the introduction of gus-
sets to strengthen the flat ends and retain them in shape. After
noticing that all boilers should be of the cylindrical form, Mr. Fair-
bairn observed, that where flat ends are used, they should be com-
posed of plates one half thicker than those which form the circum fer-
ence. The flues, if two in number, to be made of the same thickness
as the exterior shell, and the flat ends to be carefully stayed with gus-
sets of triangular plates and angle-iron, connecting them with the
circumference and the ends. The use of gussets is earnestly recom-
mended, as being infinitely superior to, and more certain in their action
than stay-rods. They should be placed in lines diverging from the
centre of the boiler, and made as long as the position of the flues and
other circumstances will admit. They are of great value in retain-
ing the ends in shape, and may safely be relied on as imparting an
equality of strength toevery part of the structure.

COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF PLAIN AND CORRUGATED METAL.

Some experiments have been recently made in Philadelphia, to test
the comparative strength of plain and corrugated metal. Two pieces of
copper, of equal surface and thickness, were formed into arches of about

48 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

15 inches in length ; the one had a flat surface, and the other two corru-
gated arches. The arch with the flat surface gave way under a weight
of a few pounds, while the corrugated arch withstood the weight of two
men, who violently surged upon it, without making the least impres-
sion. In another experiment, made upon a larger scale, and under
equal conditions, the plain arch gave way with 3,126 lbs. of pig iron
upon its crown, while the corrugated arch bore the weight of 16,094
lbs. of the same metal for 48 hours, without the least perceptible
deflection. This was afterwards increased to 27,000 lbs., which also
remained for 48 hours, without the least deflection perceptible to the
eye.

IRON-WORKS AMONG THE HOTTENTOTS IN 1849.

Tue Bakatlas work a great deal in iron. The ore is smelted in cru-
cibles, a great deal of the metal being wasted, and only the best and
a preserved. They use a sort of double bellows, consisting of two

ags of skin, by which the air is forced through the long tapering
tubes of the two horns of the oryx. The person using the bellows
squats between the two bags. Their hammer and anvil consist of two
stones. They, nevertheless, contrive to turn very neat workmanship
out of their hands, such as spears, battle-axes, assagais, knives, sewing-
needles, &e. — Cumming’s South Africa.

WROUGHT-IRON RAILROAD CARS.

Tue Railroad Journal states that a company has been recently
formed for the purpose of manufacturing wrought-iron railroad cars.
The sides, roof and bottom of the car are made of wrought boiler and
Russia Iron — thus presenting what may truly be termed a Safety Car.
No broken axle, bar, tie or rail can pierce the floor, and, in case of a
collision, the frame may become dented, but cannot break up into dan-
gerous splinters. These cars are not only rendered more durable than
the ordinary wooden car now in use, but they are a lighter article,
lower in price, and are perfectly fire and weather proof. They may be
rendered highly ornamental also.

METALLIC CASKS.

Mr. R. Crare, of Liverpool, has, within the year, patented a plan
for the manufacture of metallic casks. The invention consists in
making casks from staves made of sheet metal, the object being to
render them conveniently portable when not required for use. The
staves are formed with the requisite bulge and taper to produce a cask
of the desired form, and are provided with flanges at the edges for
securing them to each other, which may be d6ne by bolts and nuts,
or any other convenient method. The hoops may be made of wood or
of iron, being provided in the latter case with a screw to tighten them.
The heads of the casks may be formed of wood or metal, and retained
in their places between knees of angle iron. When the casks are
sr a for containing fluids, it is recommended to introduce a slip
of India rubber between the abutting flanges of the staves.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. AQ

THE STEEL MANUFACTURES OF SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND.

Tne London Patent Journal furnishes the following statistics relative
to the steel manufacture of Sheffield : —

Judging from the state of trade, the production of steel in Sheffield,
in 1850, could not have been less than 23,000, probably 25,000 tons,
though the average produce of the last five years would probably not
exceed 17,500 to 19,000 tons. We have no means of ascertaining
the quantity of steel used in the home manufactures, but, judging from
the annexed statement of the exports of steel, we feel convinced
that we are not far short of the mark in the above calculation, The
following table shows the progress of the steel trade, at quinquennial
periods, during the last thirty years; the second column showing the
quantity exported, and the third column the export to the United
States, which is our principal market.

Years. Tons. Tons.
oy dak ed Ae ee: >. ee en ES
1825, : : : f 533 : : ¢ : 130
1830, . ‘ , : 832. : : : . 397
Ree Pe 208. EEF EN OO BIO : 24s) 4 ot ee
ee Sell Scale | MB BBB es pay) he Aa ee
PIERRE, PARE EGE Bebe OTR ABE = of oy Se ee

1849, . : : 8,085. E ‘ : 5,216
The quantity exported in 1850 was 10,587 tons, of the declared
value of £393,659.

COMPARATIVE ELASTICITY OF WROUGHT AND CAST IRON.

Tue mean ultimate resistance of wrought-iron to a force of compres-
sion, as useful in practice, is 12 tons per square inch, while the crush-
ing weight of cast-iron is 49 tons per square inch ; but for a considerable
range under equal weights, the cast-iron is twice as elastic or compresses
twice as much as the wrought-iron. A remarkable illustration of the
effect of intense strain on cast-iron was witnessed by the author at the
works of Messrs. Easton & Amos. The subject of the experiment was a
cast-iron cylinder, 103 inches thick, and 144 inches high, the external
diameter being 18 inches. It was requisite for a specific purpose to
reduce the internal diameter to 34 inches, and this was effected by the
insertion of a smaller cast-iron cylinder into the centre of the large one ;
and to insure some initial strain, the large cylinder was expanded by
heating it, and the internal cylinder, being first turned too large, was
thus powerfully compressed. The inner cylinder was partly filled with
pewter, and, a steel piston being fitted to the bore, a pressure of 972
tons was put on the steel piston. The steel was upset by the pressure,
and the internal diameter of the small cylinder was increased by full
three sixteenths of an inch; that is, the diameter became 342ths of an
inch. A new piston was accordingly adapted to these dimensions ; and
in this state the cylinder continues to be used and to resist the pres-
sure. The external layer of the inner cylinder was thus permanently
extended 8~1;ths of its length. In fact, it can only be regarded as loose
packing, giving no additional strength to the cylinder. Under these

5

50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

high pressures, when confined mechanically, cast-iron, as well as other
metals, appears, like liquids, to exert an equal pressure in every direc-
tion in which its motion is opposed. — Clark’s Britannia end Conway
Tubular Bridges.

A NEW METHOD OF OBTAINING ELABORATE METALLIC CASTINGS.

A new method of obtaining elaborate and delicate castings has been
devised by Mr. Dircks, of London. The most intricate and curious cast-
ings we are acquainted with are those obtained in moulds, from
nature’s own works, by imbedding a leaf, plant, &c., in a semi-fluid
medium, which, when hardened, can be dried and raised to a tempera-
ture sufficient to burn the enclosed object to ashes. But, if it were
desired to produce, by this method, a casting, as a wreath, bouquet,
group of animals, &c., the artist would find himself unable, or else be
obliged to make as many separateamerids-as_there were involved parts
in the object to be cast. To obvtate| CUTTY
a layer of wax on a sheet 4 AS the wax isCends

ner desired, and a plast st made on the top of” tht
On slightly warming the as the plaster and_ wax |
er ey ih

engraved wax.
ave its surface
The plaster is
@x sinks into it

together, presenting a fom apR@france.
now to be heated gradually before a fire, when the,
PB now engraved

like snow into the earth | e avin
Sed petit em ho waxed or oily

plaster, quite sharp, pur’ :
appearance, even where the * é ixttepgeOf an inch in thick-

ness. In this way any figure may We in sheet wax, and after-
wards cast in plaster. A metallic casting is then made in the usual
manner from the plaster. In order to economize wax, a mixture of
stearine, Burgundy pitch, and resin, may be substituted. In this way
metallic castings may be obtained, which in delicacy exceed any before
produced. An electrotype may, if desired, be taken from the plaster,
instead of a casting. — London Atheneum.

INCRUSTATION IN BOILERS.

Dr. Bansrneton, of London, has taken out a patent for preventing
incrustation by voltaic agency. For iron boilers he recommends a
eee of zinc, 16 oz. the square foot, to be attached to one of its edges

y solder to the interior of the boiler; and both sides of the plates
being left exposed to the action of the iron and water, voltaic agency
thus excited is said to have the desired effect. For large boilers, two,
three, or more plates may be used, as necessary.

IMPROVED METHOD OF DRIVING A TILT-ITAMMER.

A new invention for the driving of tilt-hammers has recently been
introduced into the United States Armory at Springfield, which will be
of great importance to every large forging establishment in the country.
The old method of driving a tilt-hammer is by a water-wheel to each
hammer, or to every two hammers. The necessity of compelling this
arises from the fact that if the hammer were driyen by a belt, from a

\

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 51

regular moving power, the speed of the hammer could not be increased
or decreased suddenly at will. The new invention consists of a loose
driving belt —so loose that when it is not tightened by bearing against
it the driving drum has no action upon it. <A pulley is attached to a
compound lever half way between the drum and the pulley where the
power is applied to the hammer, and, by acting upon the lever, the
pulley presses upon the belt, until it is so far tightened as to drive the
hammer at the utmost speed of the drum. When a smaller speed is
required, the lever is partially released, allowing the belt to slip; and
in this manner, by increasing cr diminishing the tension of the belt,
any required speed is attained. The result of this simple and beauti-
ful invention is that a thousand tilt-hammers, if necessary, may be
driven by one water-wheel, or by a steam-engine. — Springfield Repub-
lican.

IMPROVED SPIKE MACHINE.

Mr. Mark Ison, of Georgia, has patented an improved method for
making spikes and nails by machinery. The invention is different from
the roller spike machines and the vertical reciprocating cutting nail
machines. ‘There is a horizontal table, nearly the form of the segment
of a circle, haying a hollow space within it, in which works a revolving
cam on a shaft concentric to the table. The iron plate to be made into
spikes is fed in along the upper surface of the table, and is cut off in
strips, of suitable size, across the edge of an opening in the top of the
table, by a vibrating shear-arm working above, and these are poimted
afterwards between the said shear-arm and the table. The cam spoken
of has an intermittent motion, and is made to carry the spike within
the hollow space of the table, and allow it to stop under a holding die
which receives it, when a heading tool comes down and completes the
operation.

MACHINERY FOR COOPERAGE.

Tur London Times furnishes the following description of a new method
of constructing casks and barrels, recently put in operation in that city.
The staves of the cask are first cut with straight sides, the circular saw
being placed at a right angle with the oak plank. The stave is then
placed horizontally and bent into a curve by a powerful machine, and
brought into contact with a circular saw on each side of it, placed at an
angle. This process gives the proper shape to the stave, the sides being
gradually tapered at the ends, and being made to bulge in the middle.
‘The jomting and backing machine, the new invention, is also used for
this purpose, and is more rapid in its execution than the angular saws ;
it in fact works with the most marvellous rapidity and precision. The
staves and one end of the cask are then placed in a machine formed
of iron rods, called a trussing machine ; each rod acts upon a separate
stave, and the whole of the staves being equally compressed into a cir-
cle, the hoops are placed around them and the cask is complete. The
neainess and finish of the work is equal to what a good cabinet-maker
can produce, every part being true and accurate. The calculation is

52 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

that fifteen workmen, with the use of this machinery, can make 150
casks a day ; whereas the same number of persons, using only manual
labor, could scarcely produce a seventh part of that number. The im-
portance of the invention, and the application of steam-power to it,
may be imagined from the fact that the great brewing firms of the
metropolis alone expend many thousand pounds annually m cooperage,
and the expenditure of the navy is still greater, and that the demand
of the vintages of the Continent is so great that a great deal of wine is
lost from the difficulty of furnishing vessels to hold it.

NEW ROOFING.

A patent has been recently granted, in England, to Mr. Cowper, for
improvements in coverings for buildings, by means of tiles, or plates of
sheet-iron rendered applicable for that purpose by coating it with an
enamel or composition capable of enduring and protecting the metal
from the weather. Tiles, according to this manufacture, may be of any
suitable form, with a view to render them more or less ornamental,
combined with utility. The body of the tile, which is of thin sheet-
iron, is cut or stamped of the proper shape. It also has a raised head
formed round the edge, to prevent the water running off the tile, with
the exception of the lower end, where it drips on to the next. ‘Two
holes are also punched for fixing the tiles to the wood-work. The upper
or narrow end of the tile is bent at right angles, which is introduced
in an opening between supporting laths or strips of wood. The hook,
or right-angled portion, sustains the tile, while two nails, introduced at
the holes, steady and keep it in its place. In lieu of the nails before
referred to, to fix the tiles, the patentee sometimes rivets a hook so as
to project on the under side of the tile; the stem of the hook is riveted
through a hole in the metal plate before it is enamelled, which, when
so coated, is impervious to water, and obviates the necessity of an India
rubber washer under the head of the nail, which is required when fas-
tened by nails through the holes. The coating of these tiles is applied
in two separate compounds, the one as the body, and the other as a
glaze for the surface of the composition. The coating for the body con-
sists of sand or silica. The glaze, or second coating, is applied in the
shape of a fine powder, which is dusted on the wet coating until the
entire surface is covered. The powder, adhering to the moist coating,
causes it to set in some measure, when the tile is deposited in a drying-
room, previous to baking or firmg. ‘The tiles may be rendered orna-
mental by the application of coloring matters, according to any design
or pattern, which are burnt in, and thereby rendered indelible, as well
understood in porcelain manufactures. — London Mining Journal.

ON THE APPLICATION OF CHILLED CAST-IRON TO THE PIVOTS OF ASTRO-
NOMICAL INSTRUMENTS.

HY Tue following paper was read before the British Association, by Mr.
ay :—
“‘It has long been known that if a mould for casting iron in be

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTs. 53

made of iron, or partly of iron and partly of sand, that portion of the
casting which has run against the iron becomes what is technically
termed ‘chilled,’ and is indicated by a white crystalline structure to
a depth depending upon various conditions of temperature of the mould
and the metal run into it, as well as of the chemical composition of the
iron. The practical utility of chill-casting depends on the fact that
the part thus rendered crystalline is of extreme hardness, nearly equal
to that of hardened steel, whilst the remainder of the casting may be
as soft as iron cast in the ordinary sand mould. The rationale of the
eflect thus produced is not well understood. Cast-iron is a compound
of iron with variable proportions of carbon, and these proportions have
not, as I believe, been yet reduced to anything like atomic order ; some
statements give as much as 15 per cent. of carbon in very soft pig-iron,
and such iron exhibits very little or no tendency to chilling. Practical
experience is at present the only guide to the production of the desired
efiect ; in some cases a very thin hard stratum is desired, in others a
considerable depth ; and this stratum may be varied from an almost im-
perceptible white line to half or three quarters of an inch in depth;
this latter being required in the larger rolls for making the finest thin
sheet-iron. Chemically speaking, cast-iron and steel are of the same
composition, viz., iron with a proportion of carbon ; the proportion of
the latter in cast-iron being infinitely greater than in steel. Here I
would point out a remarkable difference between chilled cast-iron and
steel. Ifthe latter is heated red-hot, and plunged into cold water, it
becomes extremely hard ; if, in this state, it be again heated, it re-
sumes its original softness ; but if chilled iron be so treated, it still re-
tains its hardness. Whether this is caused by mere mechanical arrange-
ment or by the chemical combination of the atoms, whether there be
a metallic base of carbon in one case and not in the other, or by what-
ever these differences are caused, is far too little understood. The
whole subject is one deserving the close attention of those whose pur-
suits enable them to study chemical analysis. Indeed, when we reflect
on the fact, that, without the peculiar properties of iron and carbon,
civilization could not have been carried on, it does appear strange that
the master minds of the age have not acquired more knowledge of the
relative action and combination of these two substances. It would be
foreign to our present cbject to enter upon the mode of manufacturing
steel; but I may state the fact that it is extremely difficult to procure
any masses that are of uniform density, whilst chill cast-iron is easily
produced with large homogeneous surfaces : and this brings me to the
main subject proposed for your attention, viz., the application of it to
pivots of astronomical instruments. About four years since, the Astron-
omer Royal applied to my partners and self respecting the construction
of the mechanical parts of a new meridional instrument, the size of
which so greatly exceeded anything of the same kind, that it became a
serious question of what material the pivots should be made ; it was
requisite that it should be both hard to resist wear as much as possible,
and homogeneous to insure that whatever wear took place should be
uniform. ‘The extensive use we make of chill cast-iron suggested that
if the pivots were so cast with the body of the axis in sand moulds, and

54 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

allrun together, an instrument might be produced combining all the
requisite qualifications. This has been successfully accomplished, and
the great transit-circle or meridian instrument is now at work in the
Royal Observatory, to the satisfaction of the Astronomer Royal, on
whose designs the whole has been constructed.”

A full-sized model of the telescope was in the room, by which it was
shown that the pivots are six inches in diameter, and the axis about six
~ feet in length. The object-glass is eight inches aperture, and about 11
feet focal length ; and, after a rigid examination of the form of the pivots,
the Astronomer Royal has concluded that no correction for the shape
of the pivots is required.

JENNING’S PATENT RIFLE.

Tuis rifle is by far the most terrible implement of modern war-
fare yet invented. It is designed, principally, to be an almost end-
less repeater, and also to avoid the difficulty of capping or priming at
each load. In appearance the rifle is of the ordinary size, without en-
cumbrance of any kind. Its weight is no greater than the ordinary
weight of acommon gun, and it only differs from the latter externally
in having an iron breech with a wooden stock, which breech is hand-
somely finished and engraved. By a simple contrivance within this
stock, the breech-pin is withdrawn as the gun is cocked. A cartridge
(of which we shall speak) is placed in this opening, and, on pulling the
trigger, the pin closes the barrel tight, a strong block of steel falls be-
hind it, and the gun primes itself and is discharged at one motion.
There is nothing complicated in the machinery, but, on the contrary,
it is so simple that it can hardly by any accident get out of order, and,
in case of such accident, any worker in iron can repair the break. By
this contrivance a rifle is made capable of being loaded at the breech as
often as it is fired off, and as rapidly as a man’s hand can move to throw
in the cartridges. This is at the rate of twelve shots per minute for a
person not acquainted with the gun; a velocity sufficient to make one
man fully equal to a dozen armed with ordinary rifles.

Another variety of the same gun is now completed, and nearly per-
fected by the patentees, which differs not at all from this in external
appearance, except that, in place of a ramrod, is a tube of the same
size, capable of containing thirty cartridges, which, by a very simple
contrivance, are so arranged that they are placed in the barrel one by
one, and fired successively without any interruption. The moment that
the thirtieth ball is fired, this gun may be used as the first one, loaded
at the breech, and be fired at the rate of fifteen in a minute. But the
chief strength of this formidable weapon rests on the cartridge which
is used. ‘This cartridge, which is also patented, is simply a loaded ball.
A bullet, elongated on one side to a hollow cylinder of about an inch
in length, is filled with powder, and, at the end, covered with a thin
piece of cork, through the centre of which is a small hole, to admit fire
from the priming. As each ball goes out of the barrel, the cork cap
remains in the barrel, and is carried out in front of the next ball, sweep-
ing thoroughly all the dirt with it. The gun may thus be discharged

~

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 55

from sixty to seventy times in good weather without needing a swab.
The barrel may be detached at a single blow of a hammer or stone, and
a swab run through it in a moment at any time, the operation of clean-
ing occupying no longer than the ordinary loadmg of a common gun.
The priming of the rifle is in small pills, of which one hundred are
placed in a box, from which the gun supplies itself without fail. These
rifles are now extensively manufactured at Windsor, Vt. ; and, from
their long range, will, it is said, completely destroy the efficacy of
light artillery.

MAYNARD’S SELF-PRIMING RIFLES.

Iy this rife, the invention of Dr. Maynard, of Washington, D. C., no
caps are used ; but the priming consists of a patent preparation of per-
cussion paper, made into a coiled ribbon, placed inside a small box adjoin-
ing the vent or nipple. This strip of priming paper passes over the top
of the nipple, and, by means of a notch in the hammer, a small portion
of the paper is cut off each time the hammer descends. When the
hammer strikes the prepared paper, it being percussive, the powder is
ignited, and the gun discharged. The question. may now be asked,
‘* How is the paper fed over the nipple for a new priming, after having
been cut off by the hammer?’”’ This is done by a small flat steel spring,
secured on the periphery of the ring of the hammer joint. When the
hammer is drawn back, the flat sprmg is moved forward, pushing the
priming slip over the orifice of the nipple for the next discharge. When
the hammer falls down on the nipple, the spring is drawn back for a
new feed of the paper: this would draw back some of the paper, were
it not for another small stationary spring, which holds the paper so as
to allow it to be fed only up and along the metal incline to cover the
nipple.

his invention has been examined by an army commission, and the
right of use purchased for the United States.

“-*
. a

IMPROVEMENT IN GUN BARRELS.

A new method of manufacturmg twisted gun and pistol barrels has
been introduced in England, which is thus described : — An iron or
steel rod, or a mixture of both, of sufficient length and thickness to form
a gun or pistol barrel, is wound into a compact coil, and then placed in
an anyil haying a semi-circular groove, where it is submitted to the
action of the tilt-hammer. The coil is then submitted to a welding
heat in an air furnace, then hammered and rolled, a stream of water
being used in both cases to wash away the scale.

The tilt-hammer has a groove on its face, corresponding with the
anvil, to act upon the coil, before the welding.

ANTIQUITY OF REPEATING FiRE-ARMS.

In the museum of the United Service Club, London, there is a pistol,
supposed to be two hundred years old, which, with the exception of the

06 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

lock, is constructed upon principles similar to the pistols known as
Colt’s Revolvers. The following is the description of this weapon, as
given in the catalogue of the institution :—‘‘1160. A Snaphaunce
selfloading petronel, probably of the time of Charles I. The contriv-
ance consists of a revolving cylinder, containing seyen chambers, with
touch-holes ; the action of lifting the cock causes the cylinder to revolve,
and a fresh chamber is brought into connection with the barrel. Six
of the seven chambers are always exposed to view, and the charges are
put in without the aid of a ramrod.”’

COLOSSAL INDIAN GUN.

A very curious and colossal piece of Indian crdnance has been lately
discovered in the bed of the Bhagretti river,in Bengal. Unlike any -
cannon of the present day, this piece consists of two separate portions
— the huge cylinder that forms the barrel, and the smaller piece, or
breeching, which alone was loaded, and, when required for use, was
lashed on with ropes or chains to the hinder part of the large cylinder,
and fired. The hollow cylinder (for it is open at both ends) is of
wrought-iron, and of very coarse workmanship, being constructed of
iron hoops, embracing longitudmal bars, but, by rust and age, all
appearing to be one and the same uneven mass. The cannon has been
vastly strengthened by eleven powerful and massive rings, that encircle
the cylinder at the distance of ten ches apart. An attempt has been
made to ornament the face of the vent and last muzzle ring ; the former
by a rude Vandyke edging to the vent, the latter by a row of round,
bead-like excrescences. Between the muzzle and the last yent-ring are
a quantity of bronze or copper longitudinal small bars let into the iron
of the gun, probably for side sights, perhaps for ornament.

As no attempt ever appears to have been made to bore the gun, the
cylinder is anything but smooth, the bars rising and falling in some
places a full perpendicular half inch. Howa cannon ball would behave
passing over or out of such a bore, it is hoped experience never informed
the maker, as nothing but the most disastrous consequences could
possibly result from firing such a dangerous machine. Many large guns
exist in India, that have, at different periods, been cast by kings and
princes, but have never been fired ; the present gun may be one of the
many. The whole length of the hollow cylinder is 12 feet 2 inches ;
bore, 183 inches ; length of detached breeching, 4 feet 8 inches. No
interest is attached to the gun, but it is believed by some to have been
manufactured and intended to be used against the Mahrattas, who, in
days gone by, after having traversed nearly the whole of India, were in
the habit of making descents upon the city of Moorshedabad.

SCIENCE OF GUNNERY.

Ix the new edition of Sir Howard Douglass’ work on Nayal Gunnery,
he attributes the success of the Americans at sea, during the last war,
not to better firing, but to superior guns. He saya: — ‘* When we came
into collision with the Americans, our equals in seamanship and cour-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57

age, and, at the period alluded to, our superiors, perhaps, in gunnery,
and certainly in ships, we speedily discovered that headlong, uncalcu-
lating courage was not alone sufficient to insure success. In the action
between the United States and Macedonian, Decatur, conscious of the
superiority of his long 24 pounders over the 12 pounders of the Mace-
donian, pelted the enemy at a long-shot distance for an hour; and the
British court-martial on Capt. Carden found that the Macedonian was
very materially damaged before close action commenced.”’

Sir Howard Douglass regards with distrust the introduction into British
ships, to the extent to which, in some instances, it has been carried, of
Paixhan and other French shell guns, as yet untried in actual combat
in broadside batteries. This description of guns he considers not well
adapted for action, either at great distances or at close quarters, and is
of opinion that ships chiefly so armed will stand little chance against a
distant cannonade of solid shot guns, owing to the superiority of the
latter in respect to power of range, accuracy in distant firmg, and pene-
trating force. — Scientific American.

MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PERCUSSION CAPS.

A most ingenious machine for the manufacture of percussion caps
has recently been invented by Mr. George Wright, of Washington. It
occupies a comparatively small space of about three by four feet, and is
supplied with copper in sheets, fourteen by forty-eight inches ; the ful-
minating powder being deposited in a small hopper for distribution in
the caps as they are formed. ‘The machine, being supplied with the
material, it is put in operation by steam power, and the sheet of copper
is fed from right to left and left to right, alternately, rolling in at the
proper interval. The star or blank, for the cap, being cut, it is quickly
transferred to the forming die, where it is pressed into the required
form. The cap is then lifted from the die by means of a punch
beneath, and lodged in the periphery of the charging plate ; it is then
carried around by the plate, passing under the hopper containing the
powder, where, receiving its proper charge, (half a grain,) it passes on
under the charging punch, where the powder is firmly pressed in the
bottom of the cap. The cap is then thrown from the plate, falling into
a drawer beneath, prepared to receive them. It then continues its
operation of cutting, forming, charging and pressing, in rapid succcs-
sion, until the whole sheet, as if by magic, is transformed into caps in
a finished state, ready for use. One man or boy, only, is required to
superintend its operation, producing 5,000 caps an hour, or 50,000 per
day. — Sczentific American. .

MANUFACTURE OF MUSKETS AT THE NATIONAL ARMORY, SPRINGFIELD, MS.

3 24

We derive from the Springfield Republican the following facts relative
to the manufacture of muskets in the Armory at that place, for the
year ending June, 1851 : —

The total expenditures of the Armory for the fiscal year, ending
June 20th, 1851, were $271,308.33. Of this sum, $179,216.29 were
paid out for labor alone. To show the extent and yariety of the stock

58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and materials used, we give the items consumed last year : — Refined
iron, 446,628 pounds ; cast-iron, 41,298 ditto ; inferior iron, 3,977 ditto ;
wire iron, 1,079 ditto ; cast-stecl, 63 ,146 ditto ; shear-steel, 651 ditto ;

nails, 2, 326 ‘ditto ; wood screws, 163 Zross ; sand paper, 326 quires ; sul-
phuric ‘acid, 2 823 pounds ; boards and plank, 145,013 feet ; timber,
52,204 ditto ; bricks, 20 ,000 ; leather, 1788 pounds ; sperm and whale
oil, 2380 gallons ; ; assorted files, 8613 ; grindstones, 52,634 pounds ;

charcoal, 46,598 bushels ; anthracite coal, 2,438,924 pounds ; pit coal,
53,700 ditto ; fire-stone, 4 480 ditto ; furnace clay, o4 bushels ; and
wood, 200 (2 feet) cords,

The result of the operations of last year is as follows :

Percussion muskets, complete, : : : : : 21,000
Percussion musketoons, complete, : : : ; 2000
Muskets altered from flint to percussion, . : : : 57,272
Extra.cones for issue with muskets, : : : 119, 757
Compound screw-drivers, for issue with ditto, . , . 90,908
Percussion hammers, (for other posts,) : : : . 41,682
Arm-chests and packing-cases, : : : 295

Col. Ripley, the commanding officer at thie eee received an order
to alter the flint lock muskets to percussion, if practicable, at a cost not
exceeding $1 per musket. This work was commenced in July, 1849,
and the whole number, 113,406, were completed by February, 1851, at
a cost of 504 cents each. At the close of the year there were on hand
a grand total of two hundred and fifteen thousand nine hundred and
fifty muskets. The manufacture of a single musket is effected by four
hundred different operations, and the majority of the men employed
engage in only one of the operations. A larger number of muskets
were manufactured last year, than any year previous ; and a calcula-
tion, based upon the number turned out, shows that, throughout the
year of 318 working days, of ten hours each, a musket was ‘completed
every eight minutes and fifty-six seconds. "The various parts of the
musket pass, during their manufacture, through the hands of inspectors,
who, with their gauges, determine the exact dimensions of every piece,
and reject every one that is not exactly what is required. Thus, a hun-
dred thousand muskets might be taken to pieces, and thrown promis-
cuously into a pile, and the whole taken up and put together again
without the mis-fit of a single component to its appropriate place.
Thus, too, when the arms are in use, there is never need of sending
them to the Armory for repairs.

The smallest piece value of a component of a musket is one mill ; the
highest $3.50.

The following is the weight of a musket, in detail and total, expressed
in pounds and hundredths of a pound : —

Weight of barrel, :

Weight of locks and side- “screws,

Weight of bayonet,

Weight of musket without bay onet,

Weight of musket, complete,

This weight is “se than that of the oid dint ak.

wooor
CO m S2 CO bD
BS p= OO Or Crt

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. , 59

The exact cost of a single musket, of the number manufactured last
year, cannot be stated, the inventory being uncompleted ; but the cost
in the year 1850 was $9.034. The cost for the last year will be less.
In ten years, the cost of manufacture, per musket, has been reduced
nearly one half, it being in 1841, $17.44. .

The process of manufacturing the musket-barrel is one of the most
important and difficult in the whole range of the Armory operations,
and one which is guarded with multiplied tests, at every step of its
progress, from the bar to the finished tube. The bar, which is of the
best Salisbury and Ancram iron, is first cut into lengths, weighing
10% pounds each. These are rolled into shapes, and then the edges
rolled up, lapped upon each other, and welded. They are then in-
spected, and the imperfect ones rejected. As they pass along through
turning, boring, and grinding, they are subjected to inspection at each
step, and the workmen are held responsible for the full value of any
barrel they may spoil, at the stage in which it is spoiled, and the
amount is deducted from his earnings ; and we say here, that the same
course is adopted in regard to every component of the musket. The
barrel haying been reduced to the dimensions required for proof, (by
powder,) which dimensions are three hundredths of an inch greater-
in the exterior diameter of the barrel, and three hundredths of an inch
less in the diameter of the bore, than the finished barrel, leaving an
ounce and a half to be worked from each barrel in finishing, it is then
subjected to the powder test. Fifty-five barrels are usually loaded and
discharged at the same time, in a building made for the purpose.
Each barrel is discharged twice, the first consisting of one eighth of a
pound of powder, one ball and two wads, each wad occupying three-
fourths of an inch of the bore, and each ball one fifteenth of a pound.
The second charge consists of one twenty-second of a pound of powder,
one ball and two wads, and each charge is well rammed. The barrels
are laid on a cast-iron, grooved bed, and the balls are discharged into
a bank of clay, which is occasionally washed for the lead it contains.
The inspection of the barrels is so rigid before they come to the proof,
that very few of them burst. After proof they are again inspected as
before, to see that there are no flaws, or cracks, or defects of any kind
that will not disappear in the finishing. The number of condemned
barrels, in the last year’s operations, was, for defective workmanship,
451, and for defective material, 5,323.

In the polishing shop connected with the Armory, an ingenious con-
trivance has been recently introduced for sparing the lungs and lives
of those who would otherwise live (or die) in a constant atmosphere of
emery dust. A long box runs the length of the room, by the side of
which are stationed the polishing wheels. Tubes with mouths open-
ing upon each wheel proceed from this long box. In the room below
a blower is arranged in such connection with the long box as to ex-
haust the air within it, and, of course, there is a strong current of air
passing from each wheel into its appropriate tube. The consequence
is, that ail the dust of the room is drawn into the box, and delivered
out of doors in a constant cloud.

60 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

NEW WATER METRE.

Tue necessity for a perfect self-acting metre for measuring water, in
cities supplied with water-works, has long been felt and acknowledged.
This want has at last been met by an invention of Mr. Samuel Huse,
of Boston, who has constructed a machine which is not only simple,
but wonderfully efficient. It consists of a hollow cylinder, 10 inches
wide and 16 inches in diameter, inside of which is a flange cylinder,
about six inches in diameter. This inner cylinder has flanges, on
which are four valves, extending from one end to the other of the
cylinder, and attached to it by hinges. ‘These valves, when folded or
shut into the cylinder, form a little more than half its surface. Upon
one side of the metre the space between the inside of the hollow and
the surface of the flange cylinder is so filled as to occupy something
more than the width of one of the valves. This filling is made to fit so
exactly as to prevent the water from passing. Upon one side of this
fillmg the water enters the metre, and upon the other side the water
is discharged. The metre is so placed that the valves will, by the
force of gravity, open as they reverse from under the solid fille, and
shut upon the opposite side previous to coming in contact with it.
When thus arranged, the water is let into the cylinder, and comes in
contact with the open valves ; the inner cylinder revolves until the water
escapes upon the opposite side ; and, of course, for every revolution of
the interior cylinder, a given quantity of water must pass through the
metre. This is carefully marked by means of a clock which is attached
to the cylinder, and which will indicate the precise quantity of water
which has passed through the machine in any given time.

Upon the application of this machine as a water-measurer in Boston,
it was found that, owing to the great head which the Cochituate has
in most parts of the city, it was well adapted as a motive power, and
that to a most unexpected and extraordinary extent. This new prop-
erty has been turned to advantage by the proprietors of the Boston
Daily Traveller, who now use the metre exclusively for driving one of
Hoe’s large cylinder presses. The manner in which this is effected is
as follows: through a two-inch lead pipe, a stream of Cochituate is
introduced into a metre, which only occupies 24 square inches.
The fall of water between the Boston reservoir and this metre is about
a hundred feet. This two-inch stream will discharge 80 gallons of
water each minute, and passing through the metre will give a motive
power equal to what is called three horse-power.

The revolving flange cylinder is connected, externally, with cog-
wheels, a shaft, and pulley ; and from the pulley a belt extends to the
driving-wheel of the printing machine. The flow of water is regulated
by means of a screw-gate near the metre. This machine, where it is
capable of application, has many advantages over the steam engine.
It is less hazardous, requires no attention, and is always in readiness.
It can be used in buildings and neighborhoods where a steam engine
would not be allowed. The water passes into the sewer, and will thus
perform a sanitary mission in scouring out the drains. As ameasurer
of water it is also of great value,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 61

ERICSSON’S WATER METRE.

Tux following is the specification of a patent granted to Mr. Ericsson
for an improved water metre :—‘‘ The principle which distinguishes my
invention from all other things before known, in an instrument having
two cylinders provided with pistons, connected with cranks at right
angles, or such other angles as will enable the pistons alternately to
act on the crank shaft to rotate it, consists in connecting the two pis-
tons with their cranks, so that while the shaft is impelled by one
piston the other shall remain at rest at the end of each stroke, until
the shifting of the valves is completed, for the purpose of insuring the
accurate measurement of the fluid passing through and acting as the
motive force. My invention in the above apparatus also consists in
determining the range of motion of the pistons, by means of stops at
each end connected with the cylinders and pistons, instead of doing
this by the cranks ; by reason of which I am enabled to measure the
fluid passing through with the utmost accuracy, —a result which could
not be obtained if the motions of the pistons were determined by the
crank, for the least wear of either the crank-pin or the journals of the
shaft, or the boxes in which these work, or the slightest change in the
position of the cylinders relatively to the parts with which the pistons
are connected, occasioned by strain or wear, would of necessity vary the
amount of water discharged at each stroke. My invention in the
before-mentioned apparatus also consists in attaching to the instrument
an outer casing, through which the fluid to be measured passes, and
from which it enters the cylinders, which casing incloses the valve and
valve gear, as also the other moving parts, and the upper ends of the
cylinders, that the various moving parts may work in the fluid, to be
lubricated thereby, whilst at the same time the various joints are pro-
tected by being pressed with a nearly equal pressure on all sides by the
fluid ; and also avoiding the use of packing-boxes for the sliding parts
of the mechanism. What I claim as my invention, is, connecting the
two pistons with the two cranks of a crank-shaft, in manner substan-
tially as described, so that at the end of each stroke of either of the
pistons it shall remain at rest, while the crank-shaft is being impelled
by the other piston, so that the valves shall be shifted whilst the piston
is at rest. I also claim, in an instrument for the purpose herein speci-
fied, determining the range of motion of the pistons by means of stops
connected with the cylinders and the pistons, in combination with the
connection of the pistons with the crank, or cranks, by means of a joint
having sufficient play to permit the pistons alternately to remain at
rest while the crank-shaft continues to rotate. I also claim inclosing
all the moving parts of an instrument in the surrounding casing
through which the water, or other fluid, passes to be measured, con-
structed, and operating in the manner and for the purpose substan-
tially as described.”’

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR BORING FOR WATER.

_ Mr. Joun Tuomuson, of Philadelphia, has invented an improvement
in machines for boring for water, for which he has taken measures to
6

62 - ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

secure a patent. The improvements consist in employing a series
of springs, which are placed around and work loosely on the shank or
rod to which the boring tool is secured, and which, by their elastic
action, press against the sides of the hole, and keep the rod of the
borer in a true vertical position ; these springs descend as the boring
chisel descends, and thus the hole of the well is bored with vertical
precision. This isan important consideration when pipes have to be
inserted afterwards in the hole ; but, above all, it allows the boring
action to be carried on without loss of labor by the angular action of
the chisel. The boring-chisel or auger receives a systematic rotating
motion by means of a forked cap placed on the shank of the tool and
worked loosely thereon. Small diagonal chains are attached to the
springs and the cap, a pin attached to the shank catches into one of
the forks of the cap as the shank ascends, and forces the cap upwards ;
the cap (and consequently the shank of the boring-tool) is turned by
the chains assuming their own right line of tension. — Screnézfic
American.

HURD’S CENTRIFUGAL SUGAR MACHINE.

Tuts invention, known as Hurd’s Centrifugal Sugar Depurating
Machine, is represented to have the same relation in value to the
sugar-maker as the gin has to the cotton-grower, effecting a saving of
time and sugar, as well as improving the quality of the sugar. The
apparatus is propelled by steam, and its method of operating is as fol-
lows : — The dark mixture of sugar and syrup, just as it is taken from
the sugar-house coolers, is placed in a cylindrical tub, made of iron,
the bottom of which is tight; but the sides or circumference is
pierced full of small holes, which are covered over by fine wire-gauze.
The cylinder is so arranged that it can be made to revolve on a sta-
tionary axle with great rapidity, making from one thousand to fifteen
hundred revolutions in a minute. The sugar, as soon as the machine
begins to revolve, gradually leaves the bottom of the cylinder and
attaches itself to the circumference. The motion continues; and if
the wire-gauze were not strong enough, the sugar would break it and
escape. ‘Ihe crystals, however, are retained by the fine net-work of
the wire, but the molasses or syrup is driven by centrifugal force
through the wire, and is projected with great power and rapidity into
an outside case, arranged to retain and collect it. In the course of a
short time, varying from five to ten minutes, the molasses has been
thrown off, and the sugar is drained and fit for shipping, being much
drier than when usually put on board. The syrup is now ready to be
boiled a second time, before the air or heat has had any influence
upon it, and another crop of crystals obtained, which can be subjected
to the action of the machine ; and the syrup coming from this second
operation can be treated a third time, until its strength is exhausted.
Each machine is capable of purging from 8 to 10,000 lbs. of sugar per
day, and the sugar is ready for market the day after it is boiled. The
actual yield is from 20 to 25 per cent. more sugar from the same
quantity of cane-juice ; it improves the quality from } to 1 cent per

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 63

Ib. over the present method, and leaves the sugar so thoroughly free
from molasses that no loss is made by drainage in shipping.

APPLICATIONS OF CENTRIFUGAL ACTION TO MANUFACTURING PURPOSES.

Ir is well known that a centrifugal machine has been hitherto em-
ployed with much advantage for the drying of textile fabrics and for
clarifying sugar; but these are not the only purposes to which it is
adapted ; for every day new applications of this apparatus sug-
gest themselves, and important problems are solved by its means.
We now learn that one of the most important operations of brewing
may be wonderfully simplified by the use of a centrifugal apparatus.
It has been hitherto considered extremely difficult to reduce the tem-
perature of beer to the degree of coolness requisite ; it has been neces-
sary to make use of refrigerators for this purpose, and, notwithstanding
all precautions, mistakes not unfrequently happen. It occurred to some
English brewers that this difficult cooling process might be effected by
means of a centrifugal machine. This idea has been put in practice
with complete success. ‘The beer was reduced to the desired tempera-
ture by merely passing it through the machine ; and this was effected
not only with great rapidity, but also with considerable economy.
Some time back, M. Touche, of Paris, endeavored to produce ice by
means of a hydrofugal apparatus. He did not succeed in reducing
water to the freezing pomt, but he cooled it to a degree far below that
required in brewing beer. It would be superfluous to explain these
results, for every one is acquainted with the effects of a very rapid ven-
tilation, and the centrifugal machines are made to rotate at the rate of
2000 revolutions per minute, and even quicker. We are further informed
that in certain manufactories in Alsace a hydrofugal machine is used
for making starch. When the flour is stirred about in water, the dif-
ferent substances range themselves according to their specific gravities,
unless prevented by some peculiar circumstances. Now, this is pre-
cisely the result obtained by the centrifugal machine; starch, being
the heaviest substance, separates itself from the others, and is first
precipitated. The centrifugal machine may also be advantageously
applied for classifying grain, seed or ores, according to their respective
densities, whether liquid or solid, provided that they are not of a
cohesive nature, cr that whatever cohesiveness they possess may be
easily removed. In fact, the centrifugal apparatus may be applied to
so many different manufactures, that it may justly be looked upon as
one of the most fortunate and fruitful inyentions of modern times. —
Moniteur Industriel.

GWYNNE’S CENTRIFUGAL PUMP.

Tw this pump, the discs of the piston are of concave form, the hollow
parts being placed immediately opposite to each other. An impeller,
radiating from a boss or hollow axis, is fixed between the two discs,
and mounted on a shaft, which may be placed at any required angle ;
the narrowest part of the impeller is at the outer edge of the piston,

64 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

increasing gradually in width, until its edge intersects the inner sur-
face of the opening in the suction side of the piston ; from which line
to its extremity at the boss its edges are parallel to each other, and at
right angles to the axis of the shaft. An annular opening is left all
round the circumference of the discs, the area of which is equal to that
of the opening for the admission of water to the piston through a cir-
cular aperture in one of its sides. The piston is enclosed in a case of
circular form, in one side of which is a circular opening, through which
passes the suction-pipe, its end tightly secured by a collar to a corre-
sponding projection in the side of the piston. The discharge-pipe is
placed vertically on one side of the receiver; and in an opening oppo-
site the suction-pipe is fixed a hollow nut to equalize the lateral pres-
sure on the piston. ‘The main journal of the shaft is attached to the
hollow balancing-nut, passing through a proper stuffing-box and gland,
to render the whole properly water-tight. In cases of fire, a pump on
Mr. Gwynne’s plan, with a discharge-pipe of nine inches diameter, will
throw 4000 gallons per minute ; and with a piston of 48 inches diam-
eter, (the pump making 400 revolutions per minute,) the water would
be raised from mines to a height of 120 feet.

SYPHON FILTER.

Tur Syphon Filter is, perhaps, the most convenient kind for general
purposes, as it may be readily carried about and used by any ordina-
rily available pressure. The shape of the filter is that of an elongated
bell. Itis made of white metal; and, at the top of the well-shaped
vase, there is inserted an inflexible metal tube, furnished with a stop-
cock near the end. ‘The vase is filled with powdered quartz, of
various degrees of fineness, and the mouth of it is closed with a per-
forated cover. When required to be used, the vase is inverted in the
water to be filtered, and the tube is allowed to hang below it. When
the air is withdrawn, the water rises through the powdered quartz,
and fills the tube ; and, by syphonic action, the water is drawn down
by its superior gravity. The lower the tube the greater the pressure,
for the weight of water flowing down operates on the filtermg surface
as directly as if the same coluinn of fluid were placed above it. The
amount of pressure is, however, limited to that of the pressure of the
atmosphere ; for were the tube lengthened beyond 30 feet, the column
of water would separate and leave a vacuum. ‘This filter renders the
muddiest water beautifully clear when acting with the pressure of not
more than two feet at the rate of four gallons an hour. — Report on the
Great Exhibition.

PNEUMATIC PILE FOUNDATION.

Tse Civil Imginecr and Architect’s Journal, for December, fur-
nishes the following description of a system of foundation extensively
used in Great Britain, but little known or appreciated in this country.
The method in question is known under the name of Potts’ Pneumatic
Process, and consists in employing as piles, hollow iron cylinders, to the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 65

head of which a powerful air-pump can be connected. The pile is
placed in the proper position, the air from the interior exhausted, and,
a stream of water, sand, shingle and gravel, rushing up from below,
the pile sinks gradually into the displacement made to any required
depth. It is, therefore, a kind of sub-aquatic excavation, the lower end
of the hollow pile being converted into a kind of scoop worked by the
air-pump on the platform above. In this way, hollow iron piles, three
feet in diameter, have been sunk to the depth of 78 feet, through a
material that would not admit the penetration of a screw, or of a wooden
pile, to a greater depth than 20 feet. After the piles have been sunk
any required distance, they may be exhausted of their contents, and
filled with concrete, which, before the decay of the exterior iron shell,
will form an artificial stone pile of great strength and durability.

In the recent construction of a bridge across the Shannon, for the
Midland Great Western Railway, cylinders ten feet in diameter were
used successfully, in the place of hollow piles, by the method described.
Hitherto the piles employed for Potts’ process for sea-beacons and
other structures, have been of very small diameter, so that the pro-
ceedings we have just described are of the greatest importance. A
cylinder of ten feet diameter gives a large bearing, and four such cyl-
inders will carry a large tablier or platform for a pier, and which can
be put down without coffer-dams or other preparatory works, thereby
greatly reducing the expense of submarine foundations. Here neither
cofferdams, caissons, steam engine pump, nor diving-bells are wanted,
only an air-pump of adequate power, which can be easily carried about
and rigged anywhere. It will be obvious that unless sunk from the
inside, (when there would be as much trouble for pumping as by
the pneumatic process, and very much labor and expenditure of time,)
any external application of power would, if it could be employed, exer-
cise a very unfavorable effect upon the material of the cylinder. Indeed,
a force of much less than 13 lbs. to the square inch would smash a
hollow iron cylinder to pieces. Then, again, it is to be observed, that
ten feet is by no means the limit of the diameter to which the cylin-
ders can be carried, so that it is open to engineers to design works in
situations and under economical conditions, where hitherto the
resources of art were insufiicient to meet the emergency.

NOVEL METHOD FOR SINKING PILES.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper recently read before the Brit-
ish Institution of Civil Engineers, by Mr. G. Hughes, C. E., on a novel
method of sinking piles. It was proposed to construct the piers of a
bridge over the Medway, on hollow cylindrical iron piles, seven feet in
diameter, each composed of two, three, or more cylinders, nine feet in
leneth, bolted together through stout flanges; the bottom length of
each pile being also bevelled, to facilitate the cutting through the
ground. The bed of the river was originally presumed to consist of
soft clay, sand, and gravel, overlaying the chalk, and, accordingly, the
application of Dr. Potts’ pneumatic method for forcing the cylinder piles
into the ground, which had been successfully carried out in similar

6*

66 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

positions, was contemplated ; but, after a few trials, the ground was
found to consist of a compact mass of rag-stone, so that the mere atmos-
pheric action upon the piles, induced by a partial vacuum, would be
ineffective in such a situation. It was, therefore, decided that the pneu-
matic process should be reversed, so as to give each pile the character ofa
diving-bell ; for which purpose one of the cylinders, seven feet in diameter,
and nine feet in length, had a wrought-iron bolt securely bolted to it,
through which two cast-iron chambers, D shaped in plan, with a sectional
area of six square feet, appropriately called air-locks, projected two feet
six inches above the top of the cylinder. The top of each air-lock was
provided with a circular opening, two feet in diameter, with a flap work-
ing on a horizontal hinge, and an iron door, with vertical hinges, below
the cover; each air-lock was also furnished with two sets of cocks, the
one for forming a communication between the cylinders and the cham-
ber, the other between the chamber and the atmosphere. Compressed
air was supplied to the cylinder pile by a double-barreled pump, driven
by a six horse-power steam engme. At first the expelled water was
made to pass into the river, from beneath the lower edge of the pile ;
but when the stratum became so compact as to oppose a high degree
of resistance to the passage of the air, an outlet was formed through
the side of the uppermost cylinder, by the introduction of a pipe, having
the form of a syphon, the long leg of which reached to the bottom of a
pile, and was subject to the pressure of the condensed air on the surface
of the water within, whilst the short leg, leading into the river, had the
effect of relieving the amount of compression, providing a vacuum was
once obtained in the body of the syphon. Such an effect was readily
produced by connecting the summit with the exhaust side of the air-
pumps, by a pipe which could be opened or closed at pleasure. To
insure the downward motion of the pile, and to give it a weight whicl
should be af all times swperior to the upward pressure, two stout trussed
timber beams were laid on the top of the cylinder, in a direction
suitable for bringing the adjacent piles into action as counterbalance
weights, by four chains passing over cast-iron sheaves. Two light
wrought-iron cranes were fixed inside the cylinder, the jibs of which
swept over the space between the air-locks and windlasses, inside, for
the purpose of hoisting the loaded buckets and lowering the empty
ones,

The method followed in working the apparatus was found to be so
simple in detail as to be perfectly intelligible to all the workmen
employed. The pumps being set in motion, the flap of one of the air-
locks and the door of the other were closed ; a few strokes compressed
the air within the pile sufliciently to seal the joints, and whilst the
pumping was in progress, the men passed through the air-locks to their
respective stations. When the water was shallow, the pile descended,
hy scarcely sensible degrees, as fast as the excavation by hand permitted ;
but when the water was deep, the excavation was carried down full 14
inches below the edge of the pile, which then descended at once through
the whole space, as soon as the pressure was eased off.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 67

SUSTAINING POWER OF PILES.

Tue following rule for calculating the weight that can be safely
trusted upon a pile, driven for the foundation of a heavy structure, is
communicated to the Journal of the Franklin Institute by Major Sanders,
U.S. Engineer : —

A simple empirical rule, derived from an extensive series of experi-
ments in pile-driving, made in establishing the foundation for Fort
Delaware, will, doubtless, prove acceptable to such constructors and
builders as may have to resort to the use of piles, without having an
opportunity of making similar researches. I believe that full confidence
may be placed in the correctness of this rule ; but I am not at present
prepared to offer a statement of the facts and theory upon which it is
founded,

Suppose a pile to be driven until it meets such an uniform resistance
as is indicated by slight and nearly equal penetrations, for several suc-
cessive blows on the ram ; and that this is done with a heavy ram, (its
weight, at least, exceeding that of the pile,) made to fall from such a
height that the force of its blow will not be spent in merely overcoming
the inertia of the pile, but, at the same time, not from so great a height |
as to generate a force which would expend itself in crushing the fibres
of the head of the pile. In such a case, it will be found that the pile
will safely bear, without danger of further subsidence, ‘‘as many times
the weight of the ram, as the distance which the pile is sunk the last
blow, is contained in the distance which the ram falls in making that
blow, divided by eight.”? For example, let us take a practical case in
which the ram weighs one ton and falls six feet, and in which the pile ©
is sunk half an inch by the last blow; then, as half an inch is contained
144 times in 72 inches, the height the ram falls, if we divide 144 by 8,
the quotient obtained, 18, gives the number of tons which may be
built with perfect safety, in the form cf wall, upon such a pile.

DESTRUCTION OF THE MINOT ROCK LIGHT-HOUSE.

Tus celebrated pile light-house, erected upon Minot’s rock, the outer-
most of the Cohasset rocks, distant 20 miles from Boston, was entirely
destroyed, by a terrific storm, on the 17th of April, 1851. The gale
which swept away the structure was one of the most violent and long-
continued ever known upon the New England coast. The light on the
Minot was last seen from Cohasset on Wednesday night, the 16th. At
1 o’clock, Thursday morning, the 17th, the light-house bell was heard on
shore, one and a half miles distant; and this being the hour of high
water, or, rather, the turn of the tide, when, from the opposition
between the wind and the tide,— the former blowing on shore, and
the latter receding from the shore, — it is supposed the sea was at its
very highest mark ; and it was at that hour, it is generally believed,
that the light-house was destroyed: at daylight nothing of it was
visible from the shore. The two assistant keepers were lost: the prin-
cipal keeper had left the light-house before the commencement of the
storm, and escaped the fate of his companions.

68 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The following description of the plan of this light-house was given by
the engineer who constructed it — Captain W. H. Swift. The rock
upon which the light stood is bare at low water only ; and the utmost
extent of surface exposed at the very lowest tide is an area of about 30
feet in diameter, but, in general, 25 feet is all that is uncovered ; and,
even of that extent, the sea must be very smooth and the wind off the
land. The nearest point to the shore is distant one and a quarter miles
only ; but, seaward, it is entirely open to the Atlantic, and, of course,
exposed to all its violence in an easterly gale.

The structure was composed of nine piles or shafts, made of the
best description of wrought-iron, from 60 to 63 feet in length, each
pile inserted five feet deep in the solid part of the rock, All of them
were eight inches in diameter at the foot, ten inches in diameter at
a point five feet above the foot (at the surface of the rock); the
middle pile was six inches in diameter at top, and the outer piles four
and a half inches. These piles stood in the periphery of a circle of
25 feet, with one in the centre. They were united or connected
at five different points, to wit; at the rock, where each pile was
secured in its place by means of iron wedges, and a cement of iron
filings. 2d. At a pomt 20 feet above the rock, by means of 16
wrought-iron horizontal braces, three and a half inches diameter,
radiating from the middle pile to each outer pile, and extending,
also, between each pair of outer piles. 3d. By a similar series of
braces, at a point 40 feet above the rock. 4th. By a like series, at a
point 47 feet above the rock, forming the support of the store-room, or
cellar. 5th. By means of a cast-iron cap, or spider frame, 14 feet in
diameter, and weighing five tons, to which were united and secured all
the pile-heads. his frame formed the base or support of the keeper's
house, eight feet high, Upon this was placed the lantern, of iron and
glass, six feet in height, thus making the entire elevation of the struc-
ture, above the rock, about 70 feet, standing upon a base of 25 feet. In
addition to the horizontal braces, a series of wrought-iron vertical tie-
rods, 82 in number, were introduced between the first and second series
of braces. The object of these ties was to stiffen the piles and prevent
vibration.

From the preceding description it will be seen that there was a series
of braces, 40 feet above the rock. Upon these, the keeper had im-
properly built a sort of deck or platform, for the stowage of heavy arti-
cles. This deck, in addition to the weight placed upon it, was fastened
to the piles and braces, thus offering a large surface for the sea to strike
against. In addition to this, the keeper had attached a five and half
inch hawser to the lantern deck, 63 feet above the rock, and anchored
the other end to a granite block, some fifty fathoms from the base of
the light. The object of this was to provide means for running a box,
or landing-chair, up and down. It is clear that so much surface ex-
posed to the moving sea had the same effect upon the light-house, as
would have been produced by a number of men pulling at a rope at-
tached to the highest part of the structure, with the design of pulling
it down. Since the destruction of the light, it has been ascertained ©
that the rock to which the hawser was attached, was washed in shore
400 or 500 fect. This rock was estimated to weigh seven tons. These

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 69

two ill-judged arrangements of the keeper had undoubtedly much in-
fluence in contributing to its destruction. The following conclusions,
respecting the manner of the destruction of the light, are thus stated
by Capt. Swift, after a minute inquiry into all the circumstances con-
nected with it. ‘‘’'Ten hours before the light fell, the platform, which
the keeper had placed on the second series of braces, 40 feet above the
rock, was washed off and came ashore. This platform was 43 feet
above the line of low water, and 28 feet above high water, spring
tides. Without undertaking to speculate upon the probable shock
which the structure must have received from the effect of the sea upon
a platform fastened to the piles 40 feet above the rock, it is enough to
know that at that time the sea had reached within seven feet of the
body or solid part of the structure. The sea was still increasing (the
effect of the continued gale) ; the next tide was full about midnight,
and it required but a slight increase in the height of the wave or sea,
after having reached the second tier of braces, to bring it in con-
tact with the main body of the structure. When this took place, itis
plain to perceive that such a sea, acting upon the surface of the build-
ing, at the end of a lever, 50 or 60 feet long, must be well nigh irresist-
ible ; and I doubt not that the light-house was thus destroyed. The
conclusions I arrive at, therefore, are these : 1st. That the sea did reach
the main body of the structure. 2d. That the platform placed by the
keeper on the second series of braces, contrary to the design of the
builder of the light-house, contributed to the overthrow. 3d. That the
five and a half inch hawser, attached to the top of the light, and ex-
tending 300 feet north-west, or in a direction directly at right angles
with the direction of the sea, north-east, had a most injurious tendency,
and that it was enough in itself to cause the overthrow of the light-
house, had the sea not reached the body of the structure. It is easy to
perceive that the force of such a sea upon 300 feet of a hempen rope,
of five and a half inches, must have been immense, when the rope was
attached to the weakest part of the building, 60 feet above the rock.”’

It is the opinion of Capt. Swift, that a stone structure, like the Eddy-
stone, for want of sufficient base, cannot be made to stand upon the
Minot, and that the pile light destroyed was as firmly constructed as
circumstances would admit.

STONE AND IRON CONGLOMERATE FOR LIGHT-HOUSES, ETC.

OnE great item of expense in the erection of light-houses, in exposed
and difficult situations, as the Bell-Rock and Skerryvore edifices, has
been the peculiar form to which it was found necessary to shape the
blocks of stone, in order to make them self-sustaining, and to prevent
lateral motion or lifting. Without going into the details of the various
devices for connecting the blocks, it may be stated that each was of a
double dove-tailed form, so as to interlock with those within and out-
side of it in the same course. In order to materially reduce the ex-
pense of such arrangements, the following plan has been proposed by

fr. George Knight, of Cincinnati :

By filling broken granite into a mould of any desired form, and pour-

T0 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ing in molten iron — which fills every interstice between and around the
stones —a conglomerate block can be formed at an expense of about
two dollars per cubic foot, and of any required shape for interlocking ;
while, by means of cores, it may be furnished with all treenail holes,
recesses for joggles, grooves for wedges, and for any species of band or
attachment that can be devised. The granite not being disintegrated
by the contact of the metal, which latter has a continuous honey-comb
structure, the conglomerate has great power of resisting compression,
andyalso great tensile strength, the two qualities which give it value
in this connection ; its strength being as a cellular block of iron, with
its cavities so filled with granite as to preserve its chambers from being
crushed ia. The cost of the conglomerate will vary in different places ;
the refuse of the granite quarry 1s what is required, and iron of suffi-
ciently good quality for this purpose may be had at low rates. The
proportions of the materials may likewise be varied according to the
purpose to which it is applied. They inay be as follows:

Granite . . 150lbs. . . occupying j of a cubic foot.
Iron, at ae ae : E ‘s 1 6 66 66

300 * ; : See 1 cubic foot.

Estimating the iron at twenty dollars per ton, and the granite at six
dollars sixty-six cents per ton, the cost of the conglomerate would be
two dollars per cubic foot. There are 13,147 cubic feet of stone in the
Eddystone, and 28,530 cubic feet in the Bell Rock ; the cost per cubie
foot in the former being about six dollars, and in the latter, seven dol-
lars and fifty cents per cubic foot. — Appleton’s Mechanic’s Magazine.

A MACHINE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE RAYS OF THE SUN.

Tre London Mining Journal for December 8th contains drawings and
descriptions of a machine, which, for novelty of purpose, has not, we
think, been surpassed. This invention is intended to be a ‘‘ substi-
tute for the rays of the sun,’’ by burning the stubble, roasting the soil,
and mixing together the ground thus heated with ground not heated.
The inventor, M. Hartrig Von Blucher, proposes to effect this by
means of a cylinder, composed of iron ribs, at the axis of which is sus-
pended a semi-cylinder. The latter serves as a stove to warm the
large cylinder and keep up the heat in it. This cylinder, acting as a
wheel or roller, is to be drawn over the stubble, which, by the heat
communicated, will be consumed, and the ground roasted. For the mix-
ture of the roasted soil with the deeper strata, it is proposed to have
a second cylinder, attached to the same frame, follow the first cylinder.
The ribs of this second cylinder have curved spades attached to them,
in order to dig into and mix the earth. A coal-box, to supply fuel to
the stove, is attached to the top of the digging cylinder, and, by
increasing the weight of the cylinder, the spades work more effect-
ively. The stove referred to, being freely suspended from the axis,
constantly maintains an upriglit position as the cylinder revolves.

shoes

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 71

MPROVED ANTI-FRICTION BOX.

Mr. Henry Srantey, of New Hampshire, has recently invented, says
the Scientific American, a good improvement in journal-boxes. It
relates to the employment, around a journal or axle, of anti-friction
rollers, which are allowed to roll around the cylindrical interior of the
box. The manner in which said rollers are applied is different from
that in other journal-boxes ; the rollers, in this case, consisting of hol-
low tubes, which fit easily on a series of spindles extending between the
two rings, or plates, which fit within the box and around the shaft,
without touching either. This allows the rollers to keep rolling round
the shaft, and keeps them at a proper distance apart, and at the same
time they take the whole weight of the shaft on their peripheries. In
other roller journal-boxes the rollers are generally fitted with their
spindles into end plates, and they do not revolve round the shaft or
axle, but revolve on their own fixed spindles, and, as they do not touch
the inside of the box, their spindles take all the weight upon them, and
they soon wear untrue, and do more harm than good. In some boxes,
rollers are put in loosely, and sometimes balls haye been so put into
journal-boxes : both rollers and balls, thus arranged in journal-boxes,
foul —as it is termed — one another, and wear unevenly on their
surfaces in a very short time. This improvement is designed to obvi-
ate these difficulties.

NEW BRICK-MACHINE.

A new brick-machine, invented and patented by Woodworth and
Mower, of Boston, is now in successful operation, manufacturing the.
brick from dry clay, near that city. The machine is of iron, simple,
compact, and massive, weighing seventeen tons. It works with great
steadiness and precision, and turns out three thousand bricks per hour.
The machine and the clay-pulverizer are operated by a steam-engine
of twenty horse-power. ‘The clay is first dried, then ground, by pass-
ing between heavy rollers, then screened or sifted, and passed into the
machine in a uniform state, where it is subjected to the immense
power of the machine, and a beautiful, perfect face-brick is produced,
almost as smooth and dense as polished marble. The bricks are taken
from the machine and immediately set in the kilns ready for burning,
thereby obyiating the necessity of spreading on the yard to dry before
burning, as well as injury or loss from wet weather. By this process,
a superior face-brick can be produced, at less expense, than the coarsest
common brick by the old process. — Boston Journal.

SINGER’S SEWING-MACHINE.

A new sewing-machine has been invented by Mr. Isaac M. Singer,
of Newark, N. J., which is claimed to have superior merits. ‘The
machine sews not only straight seams, but curves of any kind, angles,
and even ornamental stitching. The work is done at the rate of from
one to two yards per minute. The way in which the stitch is per-
formed is by two threads, one supplied by a shuttle, the other by a

72 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

needle. he shuttle is below the cloth, and the end of the thread
extends up through the cloth and through the eye of the needle, which
is only a quarter of an inch from the point. Now, to form the stitch,
which is just like the lock or link of a chain, the thread in the needle,
after having passed through the cloth, opens, and the shuttle passes
through this loop; therefore, when the needle is drawn back, and the
shuttle also to the end of its raceway, the two threads are drawn
tight, forming a link drawn on the cloth, and thus link after link of
these threads form the seam. The cloth then moves on the required
distance for another stitch. When a curve or angle is to be made, the
cloth is turned by the hand of the operator precisely as a board is
turned before a saw which is to cut any required figure. The machine
is moved by the foot of the girl tending it, like a spinning-wheel ; or
alarge number together may be moved by steam, leaving the girls
nothing to do but thread the needle, put on the cloth and manage the
direction of the seams.

RIVETING-MACHINE.

Awonc the most important recent inventions at the Great Exhibition,
were two riveting-machines, constructed on different principles; the
first by Mr. Fairbairn, the second by Mr. Garforth. The machine of
My. Fairbairn does its work noiselessly, with an increased gain of
work at the rate of twelve to one. The riveting dies are of various
descriptions, adapted to every species of flat or circular work ; even
corners are riveted with the same care as other parts, so that vessels
of any shape may be constructed without recourse to the old process
of hammering. Mr. Garforth’s machine is, however, superior to this.
The principle of the two inventions is as follows: —In Fairbairn’s
machine the riveting is produced by levers acting like a knee-joint ;
when the joint becomes straight it gives a deadly squeeze to the rivet,
and brings the plates together ; — here the dies have to be set to suit
the thickness of the two plates which are being riveted. In Garforth’s
direct-action machine, this adjustment is rendered unnecessary ; it
simply consists of a cylinder with its piston and piston-rod ; when the
steam is admitted at the back of the piston, the piston-rod being
forced forward the end of it comes into contact with the red-hot rivet,
which has been inserted through a hole previously made in the plates ;
the rivet is kept in its place at the back; and the die fixed to the end
of the piston-rod never stops till the plates are effectually riveted
together. By common riveting three men and one boy can only rivet
twenty three-quarter inch rivets per hour ; with Garforth’s machine,
one man and three boys can rivet with perfect ease at the rate of six
per minute, or 3860 per hour. ‘

NEW SOUNDING-MACHINE.

A NEw sounding-machine has recently been invented, by Mr. Faye,
of France, which is represented to be of great value and importance.
The apparatus consists of a cylinder of sheet-iron, or copper, with a

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. To

conical top and bottom. This cylinder is filled with a liquid, specific-
ally lighter than water —a small orifice near the bottom allowing the
pressure of the water to be exerted on the inside as well as the outside
of the machine. To sink the machine two cannon-balls are attached ;
and when it arrives at the bottom, a stop, projecting below the cannon-
balls, is forced upwards and disconnects them. ‘The machine then
rises to the surface by virtue of the lightness of the liquid contained.
This liquid would, of course, be contracted by the cold at the bottom,
and the space left would be filled by the sea-water. And the orifice is
so arranged, that, when the liquid expands, upon reaching the surface
of the water, to its original bulk, the sea-water so entering shall
remain and a corresponding portion of the liquid be forced out through
the orifice, the volume of the sea-water contained denoting the temper-
ature at the bottom. When this is not deemed sufficiently accurate,
a tube of mercury, similarly arranged, within an orifice near the bot-
tom may be used. A meter, fixed to the machine, denotes the dis-
tance through which it has passed, and, by connecting the apparatus
for setting free the sinking weight with this meter, the machine may
be made to descend to any given depth ; its relative position, when it
rises to the surface, determining the force and direction of the cur-
rent at that depth. To collect a portion of water at the bottom, or
any required depth, a small vessel is attached, upside down, and shuts
when in that position by a valve, which, when the disconnecting
apparatus sets free the weight and brings the vessel to its proper posi-
tion, opens and allows the water to flowin. The thickness of the
metal used is =1,th of an inch— the diameter of the cylinder is 16
inches, and the height three feet six inches. With the disconnecting
apparatus it weighs 24 lbs., and costs about £12. It contains 25 lbs.
of oil of potatoes, and when filled with that liquid, weighs upwards of
30 Ibs. lighter than the quantity of water it displaces. To sink it, a
couple of cannon-balls, each weighing a quarter of a hundred, would
be sufficient. It is obvious that the only loss, each time, is that of the
sinking weight, which would give an expense, taking cast-iron at
£10, of 5s. The time employed in the operation would be less than in
the case of the sounding-lead, namely, 4000 fathoms an hour.

NEW TYPE-COMPOSING AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

In the Danish department of the Great Exhibition, was exhibited
an ingenious machine for setting and distributing types at the same time
—the composing part being supplied with types by the distribution of
those previously used ; and the distributing part of the machine being
placed over the composing part. It rests with its hollow axis on the
projected central axis of the latter, and distributes the types by revolv-
ing on that axis, and conducting each type to that place in the lower
part of the machine to which it belongs. Here the types are piled on
and between brass rods, of which there are as many as there are letters,
characters, or signs wanted for printing. These rods are perpendicu-
larly fixed between two plates of metal, in circular order, so that they
form an open cylinder, The distributing part of the machine has a

v

e

74 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

similar construction, consisting of vertical rods of the same size, of a
similar number, between similar circular plates. The essential differ-
ence between them is, that the one is fixed, while the other is mova-
ble. All the rods have a longitudinal projection, by means of which
the types, having a corresponding incision, can be fixed, and slide up
and down; the triangular form of the projection and the incision keep-
ing them in a horizontal position in which they are piled on the rods.
In the composing cylinder, the triangular projection on each rod ceases
at the lower extremity, so that the undermost type upon it can be
pushed from its place by the action of a spring, which is moved by a
string, in. connection with a scale of keys corresponding to the letters
or characters. By touching the key, a type is moved forward and falls,
in the same position which it had on the rod, into a funnel; and on
the inclined plane of this it slides down into a spiral tube, which brings,
of necessity, all the types to a narrow opening connected with the re-
ceiver, in which the line, by type after type, is formed. By a com-
mon pedal, the composed line is continually moved forward, and after-
wards divided to the width of the page. Ifthe compositor finds in the
MS. words requiring peculiar types, he indicates the place by a partic-
ular sign, and they are supplied afterwards. The types must be cast
expressly for the machine, every letter or character haying an incision
of a different kind, corresponding with openings in the distributing
plate. The expense of the machine is upwards of £100, and a skilful
compositor, it is stated, can learn to use it in a few days.

IMPROVED PRINTING-PRESS.

A POWER-PRESS, involving some novel principles of construction, has
recently been invented by Mr. Jason Burdick, of Utica, N. Y. Its
principal advantages over any other press in use, are, that it prints both
sides of the sheet at once, and secures a perfect register, and is, there-
fore, well adapted to either book or newspaper work. It will print,
with the utmost ease, from five hundred to six hundred sheets per hour,
which is equivalent to ten or twelve hundred impressions on the ordi-
nary power-press. . The press has two beds and two cylinders, one
directly over the other. The sheet is fed in at one end of the machine,
where it is secured by very ingeniously contrived steel clips ; it then
passes under one cylinder, receives an impression on one side, passes
on and up under the upper cylinder, receives an impression on the
other side, and is delivered a foot or so above the place where it was
taken in.

Presses have before been invented to print both sides of a sheet at
once ; but the difficulty encountered was, that the side printed first,
the ink having no time to set and dry, soon inked and smutted the
tympan to such an extent, that it would offset on the sheet and so
blacken it in a short time as to obliterate the impression. This diffi-
culty is obviated in Burdick’s press by a moyable absorbing blanket of
cotton fabric between the upper cylinder and the printed side of the
sheet, which, while the second impression is being taken, is pressed
down upon the side already printed, and absorbs, like a blotter, any

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 75

superfluous ink that may attach to that side of the paper. By two dogs
and cog-wheels, with a sort of reel attached for the purpose, this blanket,
before the next sheet comes through, is moved slightly forward, (about
one-sixteenth ofan inch,) by reeling it from one roller to another, suf-
ficiently to bring the next impression from the printed side of the sheet
upon a clean spot in the blanket. Two or three yards of cotton cloth
will serve as a blotter in this manner to print an edition of two or three
thousand, when it can be washed and used again ; or,a piece of some
thirty yards can be put on at once, and will last a year orso. There
are some other distinctive characteristics about the press which are
difficult to describe, though they betoken much ingenuity on the part
of the inventor, — N. Y. Farmer and Mechanic.

IMPERIAL PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT AT VIENNA.

Tue Imperial Printing Establishment at Vienna contributed an in-
teresting collection of objects of graphic art to the Great Exhibition.
The machinery department of the Imperial Printing-office is supplied
with an engine of twenty horse-power, moving forty-eight printing, and
twenty-four copper-plate presses, and ten glazing-machines. There
are, moreover, thirty-six large and twelve small iron hand-presses,
twelve numbering and embossing machines, and thirty lithographic
presses. A fresh supply of types is constantly supplied by twelve cast-
ing-machines and nine ovens, and 3000 cwt. of type is kept on the
premises. According to a moderate computation, each cwt. contains
about 40,000 types, and the 3000 ewt. we mentioned make a total of
120,000,000 of types of various sizes and characters ; 500,000 sheets, or
1000 reams, of paper per diem are required for the consumption of the
establishment. ‘The report of the Austrian Commissioners states, that
ten years ago but fifty persons were employed in the Imperial Printing-
office. Among the objects sent to the Exhibition, was a collection of
11,600 Steel Punches, including 104 different alphabets, from the hie-
roglyphic, hieratic, and Demotic, down to the Kionsa, Laos, Shyan,
Mandshah, and Formosan. There was a collection of gutta-percha and
galvanized copper matrixes and patrixes of woodcuts, fac-semiles of
antique relieyos ; and, as a specimen of the typographic strength of the
Imperial Printing-office, there was a copy of The Hall of Languages,
consisting of seventeen sheets in elephant folio, containing the Lord’s
Prayer in 608 languages, printed with Roman letters, and in 200 lan-
guages, in the characters peculiar to each language; a work of vast
design and exquisite execution. Next was a collection of MS. writing
in the early ages — from the sixth century to the days of Guttenburg,
and the invention of the art of printing. There were, besides, orna-
mental letters of the Middle ages, reproduced from the documents of
the time, fac-similes of curious old woodcuts, chiefly taken from an old
and very rare book, entitled, Kaiser Maximilian’s Ehrenpforte. ‘There
was also a Japanese novel, the first work of this kind ever printed with
movable type ; oil-color prints ; photography on paper, in its various
applications to objects of nature and art; and a selection of ornamental
tools for book-binding.

76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

HUTTON’S PATENT CLOCK.

Turs clock, invented by Mr. Hutton, of England, and contributed to
the Great Exhibition, has a new compensation glass pendulum, and a
barometric contrivance, to prevent the error arising from the changes
in the density of the atmosphere. The metallic compensation is effected
without any friction, by the ascent and descent of two spring levers with
three adjustable weights, and which lengthen or shorten as they rise or
fall. The mode of compensating is regulated by a screw in the top of
the ball, which, in case of heat, is moved towards the centre of motion of
the spring lever, or in the contrary direction in case of cold. The glass
rod is attached to the pendulum-spring, by means of a screw cut on it,
and below, a glass regulating-nut works into a glass screw, cut on the
bottom of the pendulum-rod. The compensating wires being very
small, a simultaneous action is ensured at each change of temperature.
In the barometric contrivance, the ivory piston rests on the mercury,
thus counterpoising the air-vanes, so that when the barometer is low,
it causes them to approach the plane of the pendulum’s motion, and
raises them, on the contrary, when the barometer is high ; thus the
mechanical resistance to the pendulum is increased or decreased ac-
cording to the density of the atmosphere.

SELF-ADJUSTING PENDULUM.

A new and economical self-adjusting pendulum was shown at the
Great Exhibition. Instead of the ordinary rod, by which the ball is
suspended, being attached to its centre, a bar is secured to the side of
the ball, and a wooden rod fixed thereto; so that the elongation or
shortening of the rod, by change of temperature, turns the ball on its
axis, and thus preserves accurately the distance between the points of
suspension and oscillation respectively.

CHEAPNESS OF AMERICAN CLOCKS.

To such perfection has the manufacture of clocks been carried in
Connecticut, that time-pieces, warranted to keep good reckoning, are
sold for sixty cents, at wholesale, and one dollar, retail. The works
are all of brass, made by machinery. At the manufactory of Mr. Je-
rome, New Haven, 800 per day of these articles can be produced.
Wooden clocks, but comparatively few years since, sold for from ten to
twelve dollars.

ATMOSPHERIC CHURNS.

Dr. Pacs, of the Patent Office, in his report for 1849-50, states that
during that year twenty-one applications were made for patents on
churns. ‘‘ Most of these were styled atmospheric churns, and I haye
never witnessed such a mania upon any one invention. ‘The first im-

ulse seems to have been given by the grant of a patent for a churn,
in which there were boxes upon opposite sides of a common revolving

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 77

dasher, so situated that as the dasher revolved, the box containing the
cream, with its open mouth downwards, carried down a portion of the
air to the bottom of the churn, and as the mouth of the box. inclined
upwards, the air escaped from it through the mass of the cream, while
the box itself filled with the cream, and as it came out and revolved in
the upper part of the churn above the cream, that contained in the
box was thrown out and scattered into spray. Both the descent and
size of the box occasioned a commingling of the air and cream, and
answered the purpose of agitation as well perhaps as any form of dasher.
In these atmospheric churns, the introduction of air plays no chemical
part in the production of butter; its separation from cream being
merely a mechanical process. And although the atmospheric churns
operate to considerable advantage, yet it is by means ofa more thorough
agitation, which is increased greatly by the diffusion of air throughout
the cream. As each portion of air rises through the cream, it forms a
bubble upon the surface before it escapes, and in some atmospheric
churns, where the dasher is constantly submerged, the whole mass of
cream is converted into a complete mass of foarp.

‘‘ From the success of such a churn as that above named in producing
butter in a shorter time than other churns, a most enthusiastic specu-
lation was at once commenced upon atmospheric churns, and inyentive
powers were racked to modify, mystify and contort a simple principle,
with a view of producing novelties rather than improvements. From
the immense number of churns used throughout the country, great
gains could not fail to follow the monopoly of a new and superior
churn. The golden prospects have tempted many into the field, and
it is quite curious to observe in this instance the natural drift of intel-
lect, bringing the workings of independent minds into one common
channel. A patent was granted for one species of atmospheric churn,
but before this could have been known far beyond the walls of the
Patent Office’, two other inventors, each and all from difierent parts of
the country, had laid claim to the identical improvement. One was
from Ohio, the second from Illinois, and the third from Vermont. An
interference was accordingly declared, and no sooner had the decision
been made in favor of the patentee, than three other inventors were
found pressing their claims to the same invention. It presents an
unprecedented case in the history of the Patent Office of seven persons,
each a bona fide inventor, all claiming the same thing and about the
same time, and all from distant portions of the country. This improve-
ment consists simply in boring a hole through the entire length of a
common upright churn dasher, and placing a valve either at the bot-
tom or top of the dasher. This valve opens downwards, and when the
dasher is raised with such rapidity that the cream cannot follow up,
the air rushes down through the valve under the dasher, and upon the
downward stroke the air is pressed out laterally and escapes by the
side of the dasher and up through the mass of cream, It requires not
a very quick motion,and but little force to effect this, and the agitation
is most complete. A full-size model was exhibited in the office showing
the operation with clear water only. Upon agitating the dasher, the
water appeared as if in intense ebullition. Another peculiarity belongs

r; *

78 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

to this churn worthy of note. In the common churn the dasher has
to be raised out of the cream at each stroke, and plunged down with
some force, and, as this scatters the cream, it is necessary to cover the
churn tightly and allow the dasher to play through a small hole in the
centre of the cover ; but in this atmospheric churn the dasher is kept
always under the surface of the liquid, and consequently there is no
splashing of the cream, and the cover may be left off with safety, and
enable you to watch the operation. A strong recommendation is its
simplicity, and, as one of the inventors stated, he could alter any com-
mon churn dasher to this principle for twenty-five cents.

‘¢ Prior to this simple device for introducing air, several complicated
inventions had been patented, and many more made and presented to
the office to effect the same purpose. In truth, this invention at first
was not considered patentable, but after the exhibition of its actual
operation by one of the inventors, a different view was adopted and a
patent ordered to issue. As atmospheric churns were not new, the
ground was taken that the use of any known means of introducing air
was not patentable. The ground of action is correct in itself, but did
not appear applicable in the case after a personal explanation from the
inventor, and an exhibition of the operation and result of his invention.
The patentability of an invention frequently turns upon a nice point,
and inventions the most novel are sometimes the most worthless, while
again others least novel in appearance, bearing the similitude of com-
mon and unpatentable devices, are most valuable and important in
practice. Simplicity is the essence of true invention, and it is often
interesting to see, after a multitude of complicated inventions to attain
a certain end, some discerning or perhaps fortunate inventor demolish
a whole labyrinth of combinations, and arrive at the result by means
so simple as almost to rob invention of its charms ; such means as one
would suppose should have been the first and not the last resort.

‘* A modification of the last-named churn has been patented, in
which the hole in the dasher at the lower part was large enough to
contain a solid plunger, fitting loosely within the dasher, which acts
the part of asecond valve. There have been also several patents
granted for ingenious forms of rotary atmospheric churns. These in-
ventors crowded upon the office so numerously, that they were exam-
ined with the most rigid scrutiny, and, on several occasions, actual
demonstration, by experiment of making butter, was required of the
applicants, to satisfy the office that the inventions claimed justified
their pretensions to be real improvements. In most of these cases, the
results were unfavorable to the inventor; but, in some, patents were
ordered to issue. On one occasion an experiment was performed
(humorously characterized by a bystander as a ‘churn race,’) be-
tween a patented and a new churn, in which they both came out alike,
making butter from new milk in two minutes and a half. Such a rapid

eparation of the butter, however, is by no means desirable, although

this is the general aim of these improvements. We have it upon the
highest chemical authority, that butter made so rapidly is not likely
to be so good as that which is made slowly.”

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. ves)

IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING.

Tue following is the specification of a patent granted to Joseph
Wright, of Lawrence, Mass., Dec., 1851, for an improved method of
felting wool and other fibrous materials: ‘‘ J claim the felting of wool
or other fibrous materials, upon a woven or netted fabric, substantially
as set forth. I also claim the use of one or more moving platens, haying
a reciprocating rectilinear motion in the direction of the length of
the cloth to be made, over one or more stationary platens, in combina-
tion with the endless cloth bands, operated substantially as described,
for carrying forward and regulating the motion of the material, while
under the action of the said platens, substantially as set forth.”

In relation to this invention, the Boston Courier, Jan. 19th, states :
We have been for more than a year aware that parties were trying to
perfect a plan by which the cost of felting wool could be reduced to a
point that would make it possible to produce the articles of floor-cloths,
druggets, and the cheaper articles of woollens, at a lower price than the
similar goods can be imported, but have never before seen anything
that would justify the belief of success in the experiment. To many
readers the deyotion of a single paragraph to the records of this last
triumph of American genius may seem unnecessary, but the initiated
can well understand why and wherefore we are thus proud of this par-
ticular and specific invention; for to those it is known that by the
Cheap labor of Europe we were completely outdone in the production
of the lower class of woollens, and that though the American woven
goods possessed advantages in wear, the English articles, possessed of
speciousness and cheapness, were inyariably chosen in preference.
The present invention does away with this, and obliges the European to
make his articles still more durable and weighty, if he would insure the
sale, for the American FreLts will be both solid and good.

This new process enables the manufacturer, by a machine no more
cumbersome than a common loom, to take the lower qualities of brown
cotton goods, and felt securely on this basis a firm coating of wool.
This coating can be made pliable, to serve as flannel ; or hard and firm,
to serve as drugget, upon which can be printed any design to suit the
fancy of the consumer. We understand the Bay State and Middlesex
mills will be immediately put upon the production of these goods, and
we hope, at no distant day, to be able to record the export of quite as
many woollens as cottons.

FASHIONS FOR THE DEAD.

A RECENT English work, on the manufactures of Birmingham, contains
the following suggestive remarks in relation to coffin ornaments :—

‘‘ The manufacture of ornaments for coffins is a very important part
of the trade, and it is curious to find, that even in this last concession
to human vanity, there is a constant demand for new designs. Who is
it that examines and compares the ornaments of one coffin with those of
another! We never heard of the survivors of a deceased person ex-
amining an undertaker’s patterns. And yet, a house which consumes
forty tons of cast iron per annum for coflin-handles, stated to the gentle-

~

80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

man to whose letters we are indebted for this information, ‘ Our travel-
lers find it useless to show themselves with their pattern-books at an
undertaker’s, unless they have something tasteful, new, and uncom-
mon. The orders for Ireland are chiefly for gilt furniture for coffins.
The Scotch, also, are fond of gilt, and so are the people in the west of
England. But the taste of the English is decidedly for black. The
Welsh like a mixture of black and white. Coffin lace is formed of very
light stamped metal, and is made of almost as many patterns as the
ribbons of Coventry. AW our designs are registered, as there is a con-
stant piracy going on which it is necessary to check.’ ”’

WYLD’S MODEL OF THE EARTH.

A Botp and curious attempt to impart geographical knowledge to
the million was made, during the past year, in London, by Mr. James
Wyld, geographer to the Queen, by the construction of an immense
globe, or model of the earth, executed on the most gigantic scale, and
with the most scrupulous regard to geographical accuracy. This colos-
sal figure of the earth is modelled on a scale of ten geographical miles
to one degree horizontal, or six inches to a degree, and it is one mile
to an inch vertical, while the diameter is no less than sixty feet. The
circumference of the model is one hundred and eighty-eight feet, and
the extent of surface ten thousand feet. It is made up of some thou-
sands of raised blocks or castings in plaster, from the original models,
of mountain and valley, sea and river, in clay, the fitting of which has
been one of the principal difficulties which the constructor has had to
encounter. Recollecting that only a limited portion of a sphere can
meet the eye at once, it occurred to Mr. Wyld that, by figuring the
earth’s surface on the interior instead of the exterior of his globe, the
observer would be enabled to embrace the distribution of land and
water, with the physical features of the globe,at one view ; and in this
he has succeeded ; while, from the great size, the examiner of detail is
hardly aware that he is gazing on a concavity. It was at first intended
that the great globe should form part of the contents of the Exhibition
building, but as the plan developed itself more completely, it was found
impossible to place a model of the intended magnitude therein, and a
site was sought for the erection of a building expressly fitted to receive
it. An appropriate edifice was, therefore, erected on Leicester-square,
in which the model is exhibited. The entrance is under a Grecian
portico into a vestibule, whence the visitor is introduced to a circular
corridor round the exterior of the globe. This corridor is very appro-
priately decorated, and is embellished with maps of different countries ;
but, to obtain a view of the earth, the visitor must pass through the
crust of the globe. An entrance is effected through the Antarctic sea,
which leads him to four tiers of galleries, rising one above the other,
to the top of the building. The great panorama or map of the world
is here spread out before him, and the effect is extremely striking and
beautiful. The best idea that can be given of the design is, to con-
ceive a gigantic hollow globe, with all the mountains, rivers, elevations,
and depressions in relief, and then to suppose this globe turned inside
out, and the spectator standing in the centre of the interior.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 81

Upon first entering, this view is limited to the southernmost parts
of Africa and America, magnified, in comparison with the delineations
of ordinary globes, to proportions almost beyond recognition. A stair-
case conducts to a zone where the central parts of these vast continents
are seen broadly expanded, and exhibiting the diversities of mountains
and valleys in bold relief, and of deserts and verdant plains, oceans,
lakes and rivers, represented as they might be supposed to appear
when seen from a great elevation. At the next ascent the spectator is
placed on the equinoctial line ; a gallery above corresponds in position
with the tropic of Cancer, and a still higher zone places in sight the
whole of Europe, and most of the civilized countries of the globe. The
higher the ascent the more interesting and more extended the view ;
and, by the time the spectator has arrived at the highest zone, he
becomes accustomed to the concave form, which, at first, is rather per-
plexing,as the exterior surface of the globe is seen from the interior.
There is no writing on the model; the land is of as natural a tint as
possible to represent the temperature of the various zones, and the sea
is colored blue. The earth’s form, as a whole, is shown; its general
aspect, the relative quantity and positions of its several parts, the
bearing of its hills, the flow of its great waters, and the seats of its
rich dales and barren wastes. The volcanoes are distinguished by their
fiery red tint; and those mountains within the range of perpetual
snow are vividly represented in the frosty, glittering garments with
which nature clothes herself in these ice-bound regions. The relative
heights of the several mountains are given, and the course of the rivers
may be distinctly traced. The top of the globe is made the north pole,
and the bottom the south, without any regard being paid as to what is
known as the inclination of the ecliptic. The circular corridor, which
surrounds the lower part of the globe, is tastefully hung with maps and
charts of a most valuable description, and the walls and pillars deco-
rated in arabesque painting, being exact copies from some of the orna-
mental work in the Alhambra.

FACTS IN RELATION TO THE TURBINE WHEEL.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper presented to the American
Association, Cincinnati, by Mr. J. Chase, of Mass., in relation to the
Turbine wheel : — |

In computing the experiments which were made at Lowell, it was
found that when the gate was fully open, the quantity of water dis-
charged through the guides was 70 per cent. of the theoretical discharge.
‘The effect of the wheel during these experiments was 814 per cent. of
the power expended ; but, when the gate was half open, the effect was
67 per cent. of the power, while the discharge through the guides was
11 per cent. more than the theoretical discharge. But, when the open-
ing of the gate was still further reduced to one fourth of the full opening,
the effect was also reduced to 45 per cent. of the power ; while the dis-
charging velocity was raised to 49 per cent. more than that given by
theory. In the first of these experiments the fall was 12,85 feet, in
the second 13-28; feet, and in the third 13;4,% feet; and the

82 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

quantity of water used upon the wheel with the full gate was 135 cubic
feet per second.

Prof. Peirce remarked, that if, in the last of these experiments, the
wheels were removed and the water suffered to run through the guides
without obstruction, the head, which would be required to give a veloc-
ity of discharge equal to that actually observed, would be about 374
feet.

ON THE USE OF AIR TOR THE PURPOSE OF CONVEYING MECHANICAL
POWER.

Lr. Hunt, U.S. Engineer, read a paper at the American Association,
with the above title, of which the following is an abstract. He stated
that he was about to bring forward a new system of economy in the
use of a mechanical power which was now entirely lost. He exempli-
fied his meaning by citing the immense power which was lost at Roch-
ester, by the formation of the ground over which the Genesee river
flowed, and which, by his project, might be economically applied to
tubes to condense air, which might then be made to supersede steam,
as it would do away with the use of fuel to keep up the power which
was chiefly used in manufacturing. Hestated that Pepin had proposed
the same project, though not as fully or on as large a scale as he thought
it might be applied. For all stationary power this was invaluable,
especially to localities where it was deemed advisable to establish manu-
factures. This principle was illustrated by the experiments made by
the atmospheric railways, in which it was shown that atmospheric
pressure might be applied for great distances. The principle was
established, as far as the railways were concerned, though it was true
the stockholders had to suffer some. It would also enable large central
establishments to be formed, to which, by means of exhaustion or com-
pression pipes, the power necessary for manufactures and machinery
might be conveyed in the same manner as gas or water itself. Thus the
space, attendance, risk and disagreeableness of steam generating would
be saved, while all required power would be purchased from the power
manufacturers, and distributed through air-wains, just as in gas or
water distribution.

GAS COOKING APPARATUS.

A COOKING-RANGE, designed to be used with gas, has been constructed
by Mr. King, chief engineer of the gas works in Liverpool. It is
divided into three compartments, of different sizes, for roasting and
baking, being furnished with a damper to regulate the flow of air
through them. The burners are arranged inside the oven, at the bot-
toms, around the sides, back and front, with a dripping-pan occupying
the centre. The meat is hooked on to a sliding frame or carriage,
which, when pushed in, allows it to be suspended, surrounded by the
gas. On the top of the range are eight spiral burners, in eight well-
holes, for boiling, stewing, frying, &c., any of which operations may
be performed with the same facility as on a hot plate, or over a char-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 83

coal fire. The meat roasted by this range, owing to the regularity and
certainty of the operation, is of a more nutritive character than that
cooked by the ordinary process, as more of the juices are retained, as is
ascertained by the comparative small loss of weight after cooking. By |
the operation of broiling, twelve chops can be cooked at once, at a cost,
in Liverpool, of not more than two pence per hour for gas. Comfort
and cleanliness to the cook, and economy to the consumer, are among
the qualifications of this useful invention.

PIN MANUFACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Tue ‘¢ American Pin Company,’’ and the ‘‘ Howe Manufacturing
Company,’ now manufacture nearly all the pins consumed in the
United States. Since the depression of 1846 to 1848, the business at
the two companies named has been reasonably profitable, having been
rendered so rather by reducing the cost of production and the expense
of selling, than by the small adyance in price which has been realized.
Both companies manufacture the wire for making their pins. During
the last year the two companies have used principally Lake Superior
copper for making their wire; their joint consumption of copper
amounting to about 250 tons per annum, The present weekly pro-
duction of pins by the two companies may be stated at about eight
tons.

In connection with the improvement effected in the manufacture of
pins, by the introduction of self-acting machinery, superseding a pro-
cess which formerly required six or seven different manual operations,
important improvements haye been made in the method of sheeting the
pins, or sticking them on paper. This, as previously performed by insert-
ing a few pins ata time by hand, wasa tedious process, at which five or
six dozen papers were as many as a good hand could do ina day. By
the improved machinery now in use, one hand will stick from 75 to 125
dozen a day, and do the work better than it was usually done in the
old way. The present price of American solid-headed pins is believed
not to exceed two thirds of the lowest price at which imported pins of
equal weight were ever afforded before the manufacture was introduced,
and, for service, they are undoubtedly better than the article of which
they have taken the place. The American improvements in both the
pin-making and pin-sticking machinery have been for several years in
operation in England and probably in other parts of Europe. — Hunt’s
Merchant’s Magazine.

MANUFACTURE OF ICE.

Tue London Mechanie’s Magazine thus describes Dr. Gorrie’s new
process for making ice, and the results obtained from it : —‘‘ To under-
stand this machine, conceive of two vertical pumps, made precisely
like steam-engines — one of which is adapted to condense atmospheric
air, so as to squeeze out of it a portion of its gaseous heat, and the
other is constructed to admit of the expansion of the same air, connected
with the extremities of a beam common to both, and you will form an
idea of all that is indispensable to manufacture ice on this principle.

84. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

It will be obvious to the slightest reflection, that, as the air, in expand-
ing, becomes a powerful absorber of heat, and will greedily take it from
all surrounding bodies, ice might be-made by simply immersing the
cylinder in which the expansion takes place in water. This pro-
cess, however, would be too tardy a one for business purposes; and the
operation, therefore, is prodigiously accelerated by various adjuncts.
In the first place, in order that the free heat of the condensed air may
be extinguished, so as to fit it for its highest degree of refrigerative
effect, without any loss of time, a pump, connected also with the beam,
but bearing a very diminished proportion in size to the air-pump, is
made to inject a jet of cold water at and during every stroke of the
machine. And so, a similar pump projects its measure of an uncon-
gealable liquid among the expanding air in the other air-pump, so as
to furnish it instantly with the caloric of volume, while the liquid
itself becomes cooled at the same time from the heat it parts with.
This liquid (a strong solution of salts) is withdrawn from a tank or
vessel designed for the accumulation of ‘‘ cold,’’ into which, after per-
forming its duty in the expanding engine, it is again sent back through
the eduction valves. In this tank the ice is manufactured by simply
immersing water, placed in metallic vessels, in the liquid ; or with the
mechanical addition of occasionally breaking up the adhesions of the ice
to the sides and bottom of the vessels, so as to present a new surface of
water to the action of the external cold. The reservoir of cold, the
expanding engine, the injection pump, and, indeed, every part of the
apparatus employed in generating or preserving cold, are so thoroughly
concealed from sight, and the radiating influence of the external air,
by insulating chambers, that the processes going on within them are
wholly unperceived.

It ought to be mentioned that the condensed air, instead of being
transferred directly to the expanding pump, as the above description
would imply, passes intermediately into a wrought-iron reservoir, large
enough to store a considerable number of cylinder-fulls of air, and thus
any disadvantage from leakage, or the unequal working of the pumps,
is obviated.

With a machine, having pumps of about eight inches in diameter,
and of 16 inches stroke, condensing and expanding air to and from a
tension of three atmospheres, a block of ice, weighing nearly 60 pounds,
was produced, by the labor of two men, in two hours.

NEW AGRICULTURAL MACHINES.

Tue Patent Office Report, for 1850-51, contains descriptions of vari-
ous new agricultural machines for which patents have been recently
granted. ‘The following are especially worthy of notice :— A corn-
stalk harvester, the frame of which resembles a low three-wheeled truck,
and bearing upon its upper surface, near its middle part, two broad
metallic disks, armed with teeth on their peripheries, which teeth
slightly overlap each other, and are capable of seizing and holding
within their grasp any herbaceous matter, and, as the machine moves
forward, to tear it up by the roots. The meeting of these teeth is near

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 85

the central part of the machine, anterior to which the space is perfectly
clear, so that when the machine is driven over a row of the corn-stalks,
the latter are successively brought against the teeth of the metallic
disks, and drawn out of and deposited upon the ground.

An ingenious machine has also been invented for distributing the
cut grain of a harvester into suitable parcels for bundles, by the weight
of the grain. It is called a grain-binder. It consists of a self-regulat-
ing rotary cylinder, mounted on the rear end or extreme right side of
the machine, and having its axle parallel with the rear end of the
machine. ‘This cylinder is supplied with catches and springs, and so
arranged that, when a certain weight of grain is received into one of
its three compartments, it performs a third part of a revolution, and
deposits the amount received for a bundle, while the next compartment
of the cylinder is being charged for a second bundle, and so on.

Two machines, adapted to harvest maize, have been patented. The
first of these contains a thresher to husk and shell the gram. The
harvester consists of a machine in its general arrangement not unlike
a clover-head haryester. But it has a series of pairs of rollers, one pair
between every pair of teeth, to seize the stalks and pull them down-
wards, until the ear is drawn against the tops of the fingers, by which
the ear is severed from the stalk. The ear then rolls down an inclined
plane to the thresher. The principle of the second machine consists in
the construction of the grain reel, made with rows of fingers, projecting
radially, and rotating over or through the standing grain. ‘The stalks
being received between the fingers, the ears are pulled off and deposited
on an inclined endless apron.

A patent has been granted for a machine to cut and assort broom corn.
The design is to cut the broom corn into lengths according to the size
of the stalk, and to assort them into parcels, according to their lengths,
by the machine, so that they may be properly distributed for making
different-sized brooms. The machine consists of a long table, with an
endless apron running lengthwise, and beside it, and on the same level,
and a little obliquely to its direction, is arranged a pair of rollers run-
ning the whole length of the long table. These rollers lie one upon the
other, and are farthest from the endless apron at the entering end.
This endless apron is a belt of slat work, put in motion by machinery,
and gradually moving forward from the entering or feeding end of the
table, where the broom corn is fed to it by hand, and laid directly across
the apron with the butts all in one direction. When the broom corn has
traversed about one third the length of the table, it is brought under
compressing rollers, while, at the same time that the body of the stalk
is held firm in its place, the butt is brought between two rotary disks
with cutting edges, arranged like two rotary or circular saws, having
their cutting faces edge to edge, yet slightly lapping each other. The
edges of these cutting disks are very thin, and the under one serrated.
As the endless apron travels from the feeding to the discharging end,
it brings successively the butts of all the corn-stalks between the cutters
by which they are severed, and as they still move forward, those stalks
which are the longest, and consequently project farthest, are caught
first between the rollers, and, by this means, carried from the endless

86 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

table, while those which are shorter are taken by that part of the
rollers that is farther along. To avoid distributing the broom corn
throughout the whole leng th of the assorting rollers, portions of the
lower roller are turned out, leaving only enough to constitute the axle,
and thus preventing any of the material from “being drawn through in
these sections, which divides the assorted material into several series
or parcels, in number equal to that of the sections cut in the lower
roller.

VENTILATION BY CHIMNEYS.

Ar the Royal Institution, in a series of lectures on chemistry applied
to domestic purposes, Dr. Faraday introduced various illustrations to
show the importance of the functions of the chimney. ‘* A parlor
fire,’’ he observed, ‘‘ will consume, in twelve hours, forty pounds of
coal, the combustion rendering 42 000 gallons of air "unfit to support
life. Not only is that amount of deleterious product carried away and
rendered innoxious by the chimney, but five times that quantity of
air is also carried off by the draught, and ventilation thus effectually
maintained.’’ The force of a draught was illustrated by a descending
flue. A colored flame was held near the end of a tube bent like an
inverted syphon. As soon as the tube was heated, the ascent of air
within the longer arm of the tube drew the flame downwards into the
shorter arm with considerable force. Since the ascent of smoke up the
chimney depends on the comparative lightness of the column of air
within to an equal column without, the longer the chimney the
stronger will be the draught, if the fire be sufficiently great to heat the
air ; “but if the chimney be so long that the air is cooled as it
approaches the top, the draught is diminished. A case of this kind
oceurred at a light-house on the Isle of Portland. The chimney which
ventilated the building and lantern was carried on the outside, and in
winter time the draught was so much impaired that the windows
became dim and the licht obscure. An attempt had previously been
made to remedy the defect by lengthening the chimney ; but that, of
course, had made it smoke ail the more. ‘The application of a jet of
steam to increase the blast of locomotive engine furnaces was illus-
trated. ‘The lower end of a bent glass tube was placed in a dish which
contained liquid, the upper end heing inserted into a large and hori-
zontal tube. A jet of high-pressure steam directed through the larger
tube caused such a rush of air to supply the place of the air expelled
by the steam, that the colored liquor rose to the top of the tube. The

mechanical force of a jet of high-pressure steam was shown by causing
it to sustain an ege, which was seen dancing about in the air without
anything apparent “to support it.

SUBMARINE EXPLORER.

A suBMARINE vessel, of somewhat noyel construction, has been recently
built in New York, under the direction of a Mr. Alexander, a French-
man. It consists of a large iron shell, somewhat resembling an ege,
both ends, however, being of the same size and form. This shell is

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 87

made of boiler iron plates, united’ together in the most perfect manner,
and rendered perfectly air and water tight. The after part is occu-
pied as the cabin, and is lighted by means of a number of ‘ bulls’
eyes.”’ The cabin is capable of accommodating eight or ten persons
with ease. The forward compartment is used as an air and water
chamber. The length of the whole machine is 30 feet, diameter 10
feet. The principle upon which it operates is somewhat similar to the
diving-bell, though the manner in which the occupants of the cabin
are supplied with fresh air, and enabled to remain for a long time
under water, is exceedingly ingenious, air-pipes extending to the sur-
face not being employed. The interior is divided into compartments.
The place which the submarine explorers occupy is about two fifths of
the vessel ; in the other part are two large reservoirs, all made of plate-
iron, into which are fitted two pairs of pumps, having different func-
tions, either for air or water. ‘The object of the duplicating pumps is
to guard against those accidents which might render one unserviceable.
Each pump has four cocks to produce alternately the expansion and
compression of the air, and the expulsion or supply of water, in such a
manner that they may throw off or compress a supply of air or water,
at pleasure, to the reservoir spoken,of inside. The whole operation of
this vessel depends upon the displacement of a certain quantity of con-
densed air, and in taking in or throwing off a body of water, more or
less, by working the pumps. ‘Thus, if it is desired to descend from the
surface, the crew, before closing the top man-hole, (man-holes being
placed both at the top and bottom of the machine,) will force into the
air-reservoir the supply of air necessary to balance the weight of the
column of water, proportioned to the depth it is desired to descend ;
the deeper the descent, the more air is condensed in the reservoir ; this
prevents the water from coming in below, according to the laws of
equilibrium of fluids. Having obtained a sufficient supply of air, the
man-hole aboye is closed, and the submersion of the vessel effected, by
using pumps to pump water into the water-reservoir. When the vessel
has arrived at the bottom, the lower man-holes are opened, and explora-
tions made at convenience. A valve communicates with the air-reser-
voir and the apartment of the operators. When it is desired to ascend
to the surface, the lower man-holes are closed, and the water, which
was before pumped in, is expelled. The operations of ascending and
descending are thus performed with great rapidity; but for the pur-
pose of guarding against the possibility of accidents, another plan is
arranged on the outside of the vessel. Upon each side is placed a
strong metallic platform, or shelf, loaded with ballast. These shelves
are connected with a lever in the cabin, and, in case of accident, can
be made to fall, dislodging the ballast and instantly sending the vessel
to the surface. The vessel can thus descend safely to any depth, from
10 to 100 feet, without direct or indirect communication with the
exterior. This is altogether the reverse of the diying-bell, which
receives its air always through a tube from the surface of the water.
It is calculated that from three to seven men can remain in the vessel
for seven hours. It is also proposed to purify the air of the cabin from
the carbonic acid generated in respiration, by forcing it, by means of a

88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

pump, through caustic potassa. The vessel is propelled by means of a
screw-propeller in the stern, turned by hand by a crank in the cabin.
A rudder is also operated in the cabin, giving those within a perfect
control of the boat. The propeller and rudder lever both pass through
stuffing boxes, which prevent the egress of air from the cabin, or the
ingress of water. The cost of this curious submarine vessel is about
$9,000 dollars. — Sctentific American, and Farmer and Mechanic.

REMOVAL OF OBSTRUCTIONS IN “WELL GATE,’ LONG ISLAND SOUND.

Tue great terror to navigators through Long Island Sound, known
as ‘* Hell Gate,’’ or ‘‘ Hurl Gate,’’ as some choose to call it, is situated
opposite Harlem, eight or nine miles from New York Battery. The
East River, or Sound, from the Battery up to Harlem, runs a northerly
course. Here it makes a sudden bend, almost at a right angle, and
runs easterly for a mile or more, when it makes another bend to the
northward. Between these two bends in the Sound lies this celebrated
estuary, realizing to the mariner all the dangers and difficulties of
Seylla and Charybdis, pictured by the ancient poets. The eastern end
of Long Island Sound has a broad opening to the ocean, and as the
tide presses in from the sea, it finds a broad channel most of the way
through the Sound, eight, ten, or a dozen miles wide. When it reaches
this neck, between the two bends mentioned above, it is compressed to
about half a mile in breadth, producing a very rapid, wild current.
And it is here, in the midst of this rushing flood, that several rocks
and reefs rise up from the bed of the river, almost to the surface, and
throw the whole current into the wildest commotion. The most formi-
dable of these, and the most in the way, is Pot Rock, which lies nearly
midway in the channel. ‘To the westward of this, and a little nearer
the northern shore, is the Frying Pan. Way’s Reef lies to the south-
ward of Pot Rock, towards the Long Island shore.

Ever since the settlement of the country the navigation of the Sound
has been obstructed by these terrific barriers, and no hopes were enter-
tained that they would ever be removed. ‘To drill and blast them, es-
pecially Pot Rock, was seen to be utterly impossible ; for no vessel, or
structure whatever, which man could raise, could be stationed upon it
to effect the drilling. Atlength, however, afew months since, a French
gentleman, by the name of Maillefert, advanced the bold assertion that
he could blow Pot Rock to atoms, without drilling, and clear it out of
the channel to a sufficient depth to render navigation over it safe at all
times of tide. The idea was regarded as absurd, and but little atten-
tion was paid to it. The assertion was repeated, and evidence was
produced that M. Maillefert had already performed a similar feat at
Nassau, New Providence, where he had, without drilling, blasted and
removed nearly a hundred tons of rock eighteen or twenty feet under
water. M. Maillefert offered to undertake the job of removing Pot
Rock, if the means were furnished to carry on the work, stipulating
not to receive a dollar for his own services till the work was fully ac-
complished. Some interest began to be awakened upon the subject,
and at length Henry Grinnell, Esq., whose liberality in aid of humane

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 89

and public enterprise is so well and ‘widely known, subscribed five thou-
sand dollars for commencing operations. Assurances of aid were ob-
tained from other quarters as fast as there should be any evidences of
success, and the enthusiastic Frenchman went to work. His mode of
operation is to sink a tin canister of powder down upon the top of the
rock, and there ignite it through a wire by means of a galvanic battery.
This is performed during the few minutes of slack tide at high water,
for the deeper the water over the powder the better. By the expansive
force of the explosion, the large mass of water above and around must
be instantly removed, lifted. But the motion of all matter requires
time. The expansive force is created instantly by the explosion, and
exerts itself instantly in every direction. It will not willingly wait for
the slow rising of the mass of waters high enough to afford it relief. It
therefore makes its way at the same time downward upon the solid
rock, crushing, crumbling, and grinding it to pieces. All matter, as
far as we know, is porous and compressible, and rocks are more com-
pressible than water. Philosophy should therefore teach us that a
sudden expansive force between a body of water and a body of rock, -
while it requires time to remove the water, must necessarily to some
extent crush the surface of the rock, if it is too large or too much con-
fined to be removed ina body. And this has proved to be the fact by
every blast which M. Maillefert has made. At high water, the top of
Pot Rock is now eighteen feet below the surface. After a blast, it is
found to be covered with broken fragments, some of which are grap-
pled and taken up. One piece was taken up weighing two hundred
pounds. ‘The next rushing tide sweeps the top of the rock clean, and
after the next blast it is again covered with fragments.

The effect of these blasts has been so successful, that little doubt
remains that the obstructions will be removed, and that the navigation,
hitherto dangerous, will be rendered safe and easy.

A correspondent of the National Intelligencer describes the method
of blasting, as follows: ‘‘ A large float is anchored in the channel about
eighty feet from the rock. Precisely at high water, there being but
three or four minutes’ cessation of the current, the large tin canister is
carried from the float and sunk upon the top of the rock. The boat
returns to the float, bringing the end of the wire attached to the can-
ister. Mons. Maillefert attaches the wire to his battery and completes
the cireuit. Instantly a report is heard, and the mass of waters over
the rock rise into the air. There seems to be a solid body of water,
perhaps twenty feet in diameter, rising to a height of fifteen or twenty
feet, and then towering up in broken fragments and jets twenty or thirty
feet higher.”’

SUPPLY OF WATER TO BLACKWELL'S ISLAND BY MEANS OF A GUTTA
PERCHA PIPE.

Anone the engineering achievements of the past year, the supplying
of Blackwell’s Island with water, by means of a gutta percha pipe, 1s
worthy of notice. In December, 1850, the proper preliminary exam-
ination having been made, it was determined to supply Blackwell’s

8*

90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Island with Croton water to the amount necessary for 5000 inhabi-
tants. The island is situated just below Hell Gate, the upper or north-
ern end of it reaching the southern limit of that far-famed pass. The
water thus divided by the island rushes past it in two deep channels,
with a tide little inferior in power to that of the most dangerous parts
of ‘‘ the Gate ’’ itself. For the entire length of the island, the centre-
depth of the channel next to the New York shore is from 70 to 75 feet,
with a rock bottom. The range of the ledges of rock is in a line with
the flow of the tide, while, the rift being nearly perpendicular, the wear-
ing away of the rock has caused the bed of the stream to be exceed-
ingly irregular ; the transverse soundings showing profiles singularly
uneven and abrupt in their rise and fall. It was on such a bottom and
in such a tide that the pipe was to be laid. At the point selected the
channel is about 900 feet wide, and the depth of water in the line of
crossing varies from 55 to 75 feet, the bed of the stream falling off
boldly and attaining the former depth within a short distance from either
shore. The difficulty and expense attending the laying a leaden pipe in
such a location induced the trial of gutta percha pipe. By all that
could be yet ascertained in reference to this comparatively new material,
the experiment was warranted, and a contract was accordingly made for
the manufacture of the pipe. A pipe was accordingly manufactured,
of a strength sufficient to sustain a pressure of 180 lbs. to the square
inch. Owing to the great strength of the tide, the operation of laying
down the pipe was one of considerable difficulty. It could only be done
during the few minutes of comparatively slack water, when a partial
cessation of the current ceases from five to twenty minutes. During
this time the pipe was to be run across the river from shore to shore ;
anchors for sinking and holding it in its bed put on at every joint,
lowering lines attached from the several boats, and the pipe lowered
to its place by movements so graduated that the whole line of it con-
forming to the profile of the bottom should reach its bed at the same
moment. ‘This was considered necessary in order to obviate all risk
of the high projecting points of rock chafing the pipe by the vibrating
action of the tide, in case it should hang suspended between two rocks.
The arrangements and mode of operation were as follows: <A line of
12 large boats was stretched across the river and held by stem and
stern anchors. ‘Thirteen other boats were stationed near the shore,
the men ready to pull to their respective posts as soon as the order was
given. Each of these 25 boats was provided with an anchor to attach
to the pipe, with a strap to hold the pipe during the operation, and a
lowering line. The pipe in one continuous length of 1100 feet was
ready on the shore, and a coil of rope, one end of which was attached
to it, placed in a well-manned and swift boat. As soon as the tide
would permit the crossing, this boat started for the opposite shore,
across the stems of the anchored boats. As the boat struck the oppo-
site shore, the rope she carried was immediately manned by a sufficient
number of men stationed there, and, aided by those who manned it on
the island, the pipe was rapidly drawn across the river. At the
moment the pipe was stretched on the surface, from shore to shore,
straps were passed around it from the boats in line, the anchors

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 91

attached, and the pipe lowered to its bed by two separate movements,
—the first to bring it in a line of suspension conforming to the bottom
of the river; the second, to lay it upon every point of its bed at the
same time. from the moment when the first boat started from the
island until the work was finished there elapsed 17 minutes. During
this time, besides the other necessary work, about one hundred anchors
were attached to the pipe. Apparently the work was thoroughly per-
formed, and had it not been for an untoward accident it would have
been. A large vessel, disregarding the signals and sentinels which
had been placed to prevent all craft from taking this channel, bore
directly across the line at the moment when the men were engaged in
attaching the anchors—greatly endangering the lives of those in. its
course. The result was some confusion, and the consequent failure of
one of the men to put on all the anchors at his station. This was not
known at the time—the tide was now making rapidly, and the order
was given to lower. This was at the endof December, 1850. The
pipe performed its work yery well until the beginning of June follow-
ing, when, failing to supply the island with water, it was taken up to
ascertain the cause of failure. It was found that at the point above
mentioned several anchors had been omitted, leaving nearly fifty feet
of the pipe subject to the vibratory action of the tide. The constant
abrasion against the sharp rocks at the bottom, consequent upon this,
had of course chafed the pipe through at one or two points in the space
thus unprotected. Except in these points it was comparatively unin-
jured by abrasion. The rest of the pipe was now subjected to tests,
and found to have undergone no perceptible chemical change whatever.
Being again proved by the hydraulic press, it stood as much pressure
as it did before it was put down. Being convinced, by the winter’s
experience, of the durability of the material and the advantages it pre-
sented in a location like this, and being satisfied that by another method
of putting it down all chance of the recurrence of such an accident
as the one above described could be obviated, it was determined to use
this same kind of pipe again. The second line of pipe was furnished
about the 20th of September, and put in its place on the 26th of the
same month. To avoid accidents like the one which had rendered
imperfect. the work of last December, the mode of operation now
adopted was different. The pipe being all put together in a continu-
ous length, as before, was attached to a line of large boats, which was
stretched down the stream, and along the shore of Blackwell’s Island,
in the eddy, but in water of sufficient depth to make the proper ar-
rangements for subsequent operations. These boats were stationed at
such intervals that the slack of the pipe between them, properly gradu-
ated, would conform to the inequalities of the bottom in the line of the
destined position of the pipe, the boats themselves being kept in place
by being made fast to a hawser 1150 feet long, drawn taught between
heavy anchors at the ends of it. The anchors at the upper end were
at the point at which the pipe was intended to connect with the
Island. The anchors to hold the pipe down were now put on
thoroughly, the workmen not being subject to the strength of the tide
or danger from sailing craft. As a further precaution against abrasion,

92 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

both the number and weight of the anchors was increased. Those
now put on were but five feet apart instead of nine feet ; and the weight
of each one was 34 instead of 28 lbs. The line being thus prepared,
a steam tow-boat, properly fitted with bitts in the stern, was made fast
to the hawser, at a distance from its upper end equivalent to the width
of theriver. Just before the slack of the flood-tide, the lower end of the
hawser was cut loose from the anchor which had kept it stretched, the
end taken on board the steamboat and made fast to the bitts, and the
movement across the river commenced. ‘lhe hawser, notwithstanding
the weight of anchors upon the pipe, was still kept extended by the

ower of the steamboat, and the whole line swung round on its centre,
until it stretched across the river to the New York shore; when the steam-
boat was sufficiently near the proper point of that shore, the bite of the
hawser was run ashore by a heaving-line, slipped into a large snatch-
block, (which had been previously attached to the solid rock just above
high-water mark,) the rest of the bite cast loose from the steamboat,
and she getting again under headway, the hawser was drawn taught
through the snatch-block, and every boat was brought up in a perfectly
straight line. From the bows of this line of boats the pipe now
hung immediately over its destined bed. The line which suspended it
to each boat passed over a chopping-block—a man stood by with a
hatchet, and when the word was given, a single blow from each man
let the pipe drop to its place. There is but little doubt that it is prop-
erly placed, and but little fear that it will fail. It perhaps may be
as well to mention here, that the first attempt to put down the pipe in
this manner failed. The power of the steamboat was, of necessity,
applied in a direction tangent to the are which she would describe
while performing her work. The difficulty of doing this, while so
great a weight at her stern was counteracting the power of the rudder,
was found to be much greater than was anticipated, and the ebb-tide
making when the steamboat had reached about half way across the
river, she, together with the entire line of boats, was swept back to
the shore whence she had started. The operations at the slack of the
flood-tide next day were successful, and the time occupied was twenty
minutes.

From this experiment, partly induced by a desire to obtain profes-
sional knowledge of a new material, partly forced by the difficulties of
the locality, such results as have been determined may be considered
satisfactory. Its flexibility and lightness, and the consequent ease and
economy in handling it, certainly proved great advantages in the work
here detailed. Its specific gravity is about 98, and its flexibility suf-
ficient for its close adaptation to a very uneven and irregular bed.
Under the hydraulic press, also, the pipe was found to be slightly elas-
tic, and to this may be attributed the success with which the line bore
the pressure to which it was subjected during the winter. The pres-
sure of the Croton at this point is (in a state of rest) about 45 lbs. to
the square inch ; but in view of the sudden strain often occasioned by
the too rapid shutting down of a stop-cock, the iron pipes are always
subjected to a test-pressure of 300 lbs. During the winter, a stop-cock,
on the lower end of the island, was broken from this cause, although it

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93

had previously borne the test-pressure ; while the gutta percha pipe,
which under the test had not been able to sustain a contznucd strain
of more than 180 Ibs., bore without rupture the same shock. ‘This is
owing directly to its elasticity; the shock was but momentary, and
the material yielded sufficiently for its protection. Its toughness and
cohesiveness, when properly worked, proved, under various tests, to
which it was subjected, to be wonderful. Of its great durability
while used in this manner, chemists who haye examined the pipe
which has been taken up, speak most favorably and confidently.

The gutta percha pipe used was three inches in diameter — the
material being % inch thick, and made in lengths of nine feet. The
joints were made as follows: the end of one length was pointed off and
partially roughened on its surface with a hot raspg the end of another
piece was made flexible by being heated in hot water, then opened by
the hand sufficiently, and carefully dried. The pointed end being
inserted, and the other closed around it by the pressure of the hand
merely, and being suflered to get cool, the junction became perfect,
and the whole pipe essentially one piece. —Appleton’s Mechanic’s Mag.

EXTINCTION OF FIRES IN COAL MINES.

In 1849, a successful attempt was made in England to extinguish a
fire which had been raging for considerable time in the Astley coal
mines,* by means of carbonic acid gas. During the past year another
gigantic experiment has been made, by Mr. Gurey, (the gentleman
who operated in the former case,) on a coal mine, long known as the
‘‘ Burning waste of Clackmannan.’’ This fire had raged for about 30.
years, over an area of 26 acres, in a nine-foot seam of coal. It is sup-
posed to have been set fire to by some persons who had heen distilling
illicit whiskey in it. Shortly after its discovery it rapidly extended
itself, and threatened the destruction of the entire coal-field. A sum
of £16,000 was laid out in surrounding the fire with a puddle-wall, to
prevent its extending to other workings. The wall took five years in
building, the workmen being frequently driven back, and obliged to
recommence at a greater distance from the fire. It was, however,
finally completed 19 years ago. In the building of this wall the lives
ef nine men and three women were unfortunately lost at various times
by the roof falling down and cutting off their retreat, and the fire over-
whelming them before they could be excavated. One unfortunate girl
was enclosed in this manner, and not burnt, but roasted to death, so
that, to use the expression of those who found her, when they took hold
of her arm to lift her it came off like the wing of a roasted fowl. The
fire having taken place near the crop of the coal, it was surrounded by
running the wall from the crop in a form resembling nearly a semi-
circle towards the dip, and then round again towards the crop, so that
the line of the crop formed the diameter of the circle. Still, however,
the wall required constant attention ; as, if the fire once passed it, it
would be a matter of great difficulty and expense again to surround it.
In consequence, it has cost the owner of the property (the Earl of Mans-

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery for 1850, pp. 194-5-6.

94 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

field) about £200 a year in keeping it up, and in the payment of over-
lookers, there being always a danger of the fire getting, by some acci-
dent, such as a fall of the roof, beyond the wall into the lower wastes,
and burning the extensive coal-field below. Various reports have from
time to time been made by men of great authority in the coal-trade,
all of which have agreed in the utter impossibility of extinguishing
this fire. It will, nevertheless, readily occur that if the fire was thus,
as it were, corked and bottled up to itself, it ought to have gone out
from want of air. This, however, was not the case, for no part of the
fire-mine being deeper than 20 fathoms, and some of it running at no
great distance below the surface, it obtained a sufficient supply of air
thence, as well as through the leakages in the puddle-wall, to maintain a
smouldering, sulky amd volcano-like existence — sometimes more active,
and sometimes less so, which could be traced by occasional falls of the
surface, the last of which occurred about five months ago, laying bare
the burning waste, and discharging smoke and steam. At the request
of Lord Mansfield, an inspection of the fire was made by Mr. Gurney,
and, notwithstanding the immense extent of the burning waste, he
thought it possible to extinguish the fire ; and, extraordinary as it may
appear, this ohject has been effectually accomplished by a simple and
inexpensive process.

We are accustomed to judge of great things by small, and, as a pop-
ular illustration, all the world knows practically that putting on an
extinguisher puts out the candle; but perhaps few have taken the
trouble to consider why it doesso. It is simply that the extinguisher
contains a very small quantity of air, of which about one fifth 1s oxy-
gen, and the rest nitrogen. As soon as this oxygen is consumed,
which, in so small a quantity of air as the extinguisher will hold, is
almost at once, nothing remains to support combustion, and the candle
goes out; for the extinguisher then contains only the nitrogen of the
air and carbonic acid, the product of the combustion of the candle,
which mixture of nitrogen and carbonic acid is chokedamp. It is, of
course, obvious that if the fire-mine could have been similarly treated
it would have extinguished itself by the product of its own combustion,
as in the above case of the candle, and as is often the case in coal-pits.
The difficulty was that another element would come into the problem,
which was, that supposing the mine to be placed. under an _ extin-
guisher, (almost an impossibility, considering its size,) and all com-
bustion to have ceased, still the magazine of heat collected during so
many years’ burning would continue, and cause the mine to reignite
_ on the readmission of fresh air. Mr, Gurney’s method of effecting this
object was to force a stream of chokedamp through the mine, by means
of the high-pressure steam-jet, at such a temperature as would, after
putting out the fire, cool down the mine below any degree of heat that
would permit it to reignite on the admission of atmospheric air, and at
such a pressure as to make all the leakages of the waste outwards of
chokedamp, so that every inlet might become an outcast by means of
which the atmosphere was perfectly excluded from all contact with the
fire. The machinery for conducting the experiment consisted of a
high-pressure steam-boiler, about 60 feet of inch gas-pipe, and a small

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95

cone for the high-pressure steam-jet at the end of it, which jet was
placed at the proper striking distance from a cylinder of sheet-iron one
foot in diameter and about nine feet long. The cylinder was the pas-
sage between a coke furnace and the downcast shaft, through which
the air was driyen by the force of the steam-jet, and, by a simple con-
trivance, we were able to blow in either the air passed through the fur-
nace, or fresh, at pleasure.

When the preparations were completed, a party descended into the
mine, Mr. Gurney blowing them in fresh air from above, and there
cleared away two old iron doors into the waste, and knocked a hole
through an old puddle-wall, and then, hearing a good deal of rumbling
and rushing, as if the roof were falling, they thought it more prudent
to retreat, as they had effected their object of opening a passage for the
gases into the burning waste. The heat at the bottom of this shaft
was 100° F. at this time. These obstacles having been cleared away
and a free passage obtained, the shaft was covered with iron plates
and clayed over, so as to render it air-tight, and the chokedamp was
turned on. The extinguishing gas was made by passing the atmos-
pheric air through an intense coke fire in a brick furnace, which
deprived it of all its oxygen, or rather the oxygen combined with the
carbon of the coke, and formed carbonic acid, which gas, in mixture
with the nitrogen left, was forced through the furnace, along the iron
cylinder, down the shaft and into the burning waste ; the quantity of
coke consumed being a sufficiently accurate measure of the air passed.

The remainder of the process is thus described by one of the assistants
of Mr. Gurney: After blowing in about 8,000,000 cubic feet of choke-
damp, (at the rate of about 7,000 cubic feet per minute,) which we
calculated to be about the contents of the waste, (allowance having
been made for falls of the roof,) we found the upcast or high level
shaft or drift was full of it to the mouth, flowed over, and ran along
the ground, extinguishing lights if held near the surface of the earth
at some distance from the spot. We found when we ceased blowing
in gas that after a time the chokedamp receded in the upcast, and that
whenever we blew it into the downcast, it poured out of the upcast in
volumes, being thus a perfect measure of the quantity of chokedamp
in the mine, and giving us a proof that it had passed completely
through it. After keeping the mine full for upwards of three weeks,
it was thought advisable to blow in chokedamp at a lower tempera-
ture than we had been previously doing, which we believed to have
been about the temperature of 250°. In order to effect this, Mr. Gur-
ney used a very beautiful contrivance, by which, by the power of the
steam-jet, water was driven into the shaft along with the chokedamp
in the form of the finest spray. This process Mr. Gurney thought very
important, as he considered the difficulty of cooling the immense mag-
azine of heat, after the fire was extinguished, to prevent reignition on
the admission of fresh air, to be the most uncertain part of the whole
experiment. That he could extinguish the fire he had no doubt what-
ever, but to cool down the waste against the existing conditions of non-
conduction and non-radiation, he considered far more difficult. The
water being so minutely divided by the immense force of the jet, was

96 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

held in suspension in the air, and floated on with it through the mine.
A large portion was in actual solution, but far the greater part was
simply mechanically suspended like fine mist, and did not precipitate
or condense. When the temperature was sufficiently reduced, as indi-
cated by the thermometer, so as to leave no fear of reignition, fresh air
was blown in by the spray-jet, so as to pass through the mine charged
with vapor, in order to cool it enough to allow of its being entered.
After a time the jet was reversed, and the air drawn through the mine
in a contrary direction, so drawing out the air we had blown in charged
with mist; and we continued drawing out mist or vapor for several
days, which showed that it had filled every part of the waste and had
remained suspended. ‘The temperature of the air that was drawn out
gradually decreased at the rate of about six degrees a day. After
about one month’s operations the downcast shaft was uncovered and
descended, and found to be of a temperature of about 98°. A shaft was
then sunk into the middle of the burning waste at a point where the fire
was supposed to have been the most fierce at the commencement of our
operations. The roof was here found to have fallen, so that it was
impossible to enter. The fire, however, was extinct.

CAOUTCHOUC, ITS PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS.

Tur following is an abstract of a paper, read before the Royal Insti-
tution, London, by Mr. Brockedon, on Caoutchoue, its properties and
applications : —

Caoutchoue is a vegetable constituent, the product of several trees.
The most prolific in* the substance are, Siphonia Caoutchouc, Urseola
elastica, Ficus elastica, &e. Of these, the first-named extends over a
vast district in Southern and Central America; and the caoutchouc
obtained from these districts is best adapted to manufactures. ‘The
Ficus elastica is abundant over 10,000 square miles in Assam, Asia.
The Urseola elastica abounds in the islands of the Indian Archipelago.
It is described as a creeper, of a growth so rapid that, in five years, it
extends 200 feet, and is from 20 to 30 inches in girth. This tree ean,
without being injured, yield, by tapping, from 50 to 60 pounds of
caoutchouc in one season. A curious contrast is exhibited in the tardy
growth of the tree from which the gutta percha is obtained. This tree
does not come to its prime in less than from 80 to 120 years. The
produce cannot be obtained but by sacrifice of the tree. It is found in
a concrete state, between the bark and the wood, after the tree has
been cut down ; and it is in this condition that, having been scraped
out, it is sent to our markets. When coagulated by evaporation or
agitation, caoutchoue separates from the aqueous portion of the sap of
the trees which yield it. This solid and fluid cannot afterwards be
reunited, any more than butter is capable of mixing with the milk from
which it is separated. Some specimens of caoutchouc are harder than
gutta percha itself, while others never solidify, but remain in the con-
dition of bird-lime or treacle. The process termed vulcanizing was
discovered in 1843. A sheet of caoutchouc immersed in melted sul-
phur absorbs a portion of it, and, at the same time, it undergoes some

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. -OT

important changes in many of its characteristic properties. It is no
longer affected by climatic temperature ; it is neither hardened by cold
nor softened by any heat which would not destroy it. It ceases to be
soluble in the common solyents of caoutchouc, while its elasticity
becomes greatly augmented and permanent. The same effect may be
produced by kneading sulphur into caoutchouc, by means of powerful
rollers ; or the common solvents, naphtha and spirits of turpentine, may
be charged with a sufficient amount of sulphur in solution to become a
compound solyent. A vulcanized solid sphere, of two and a half inches
in diameter, when forced between two rollers a quarter of an inch apart,
was found to maintain its form uninjured ; in fact, it is the exclusive
property of vulcanized caoutchouc to be able to retain any form impressed
upon it, and to return to that form on the removal of any disturbing
force which has been brought to bear upon it. Caoutchouc slightly
expands and contracts in different temperatures; it is also capable of
being condensed under pressure. A tube of two and a quarter inches,
impactly secured, was subjected to a force of 200 tons; the result was
a compression amounting to one tenth. Great heat appeared to have
been evolved ; and the excessive elasticity of the substance caused a
fly-wheel, weighing five tons, to recoil with an alarming violence. The
evolution of heat from caoutchouc, under condensation, is a property
seage by it in common with air and the metals ; it differs from the
atter, however, in being able to exhibit cold by reaction. Mr. Brocke-
don stated, that he had raised the temperature of an ounce of water
two degrees in about 15 minutes, by collecting the heat evolved by the
extension of caoutchoue thread ; he refers the heat to the change in
specific gravity. He contends that this heat thus produced is not due
to friction, because the same amount of friction is occasioned in the
contraction as in the extension of the substance, and the result of this
contraction is to reduce the caoutchouc thus acted upon to its original
temperature.

Among the recent applications of the elastic force of caoutchouc,
attention was directed to the application of tubes of vulcanized caout-
choue as torsion springs to roller blinds, adjusted to the heaviest exter-
nal blinds of houses, or the most delicate carriage-blinds ; and equally
applicable to clocks and various machines as a motive power. ‘lo the
rasing of weights, (Hodges’ patent application,) short lengths of rubber,
termed power-purchases, are successively drawn down from, or lifted
to, a fixed bearing, and attached to any weight which it is required to
raise. When a sufficient number of these power-purchases are fixed
to the weight, their combined elastic force lifts it from the ground.
Thus, ten purchases of the elastic force, of 50 pounds each, raise 500
pounds. Lach purchase is six inches long, and contains about one and
a half ounces of vulcanized caoutchouc. These ten purchases, if stretched
to the limit of their elasticity, not of their cohesive strength, will lift
650 pounds. This power — the accumulation of elastic force — though
it obeys the common law of mechanical powers, differs enough to be
distinguished as a new mechanical power.

98 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

GLASS SHADES.

Tux largest glass shade ever produced was lately blown at Birming-
ham by an English workman. It is 62 inches by 264 inches in diam-
eter, and contains nearly 40 pounds of glass. A secret in blowing
great glass bubbles was lately described in the London Builder. It
consists in simply moistening the mouth with a little water before
blowing. The water is converted, in the interior of the drop, into
steam, which greatly aids the breath in extending the dimensions of
the ‘‘ bell.”’

EXPANDING MODEL OF A MAN.

A MECHANICAL curiosity, called the ‘‘ Expanding Model of a Man,”’
was contributed to the Great Exhibition, by Count Daru, an exiled
Pole. The figure represents a man five feet high, in the proportions of
the Apollo Belvedere. From that size the figure can be proportionally
increased to six feet eight inches ; and, as it is intended to measure
_ the clothing of an army, it is so constructed as to be capable of adjust-
ment in every part to the particular proportions of each individual.
This is obtained by mechanism composed of 875 framing pieces, 48
grooved steel plates, 163 wheels, 202 slides, 476 metal washers, 482
spiral springs, 704 sliding plates, 497 nuts, 8500 fixing and adjusting
screws, with numerous steadying pins; so that the number of pieces is
upwards of 7000.

IMPROVED SAFETY LAMP.

Tue great objection against the use of Davy’s safety lamp was
the insufficient light it afforded to the miners. This has been rem-
edied by M. Eloin, of Belgium, who has constructed a lamp perfectly
safe, and giving a light equal to six Davylamps. It consists of a lamp
surrounded by a strong short glass cylinder, surmounted by an iron or,
brass one, capped with coarse wire gauze ; the air for supporting com-
bustion being admitted through fine wire gauze at the bottom, and
made to impinge directly upon the flame. This air being only such as
is necessary to support the flame, and the combustion being perfect,
the portion of the cylinder above the flame must always be filled with
the products of combustion, and never with an explosive atmosphere.
The weight of the lamp is by no means objectionable ; it is inexpen-
sive, and the power of perceiving the presence of fire-damp is fully
equal to the original Davy. — London Mining Journal.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

STAITE’S ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Tue Manchester (Eng.) Courier gives an account of an exhibition
of Staite’s electric light, in that city, before a committee appointed to
inquire into its adaptation for general illumination. The apparatus
exhibited was constructed with a view of testing the self-sustaining
power of the mechanical arrangement adopted for the continual devel-
opment of the light, the sustaining power of the battery, and the cost
of the whole. At four the light was set in action, it being understood
that it was to burn for five hours and a quarter without interruption,
that being the period at which the committee had expressed themselves
satisfied that it could be continued for any definite length of time.
From four o’clock to six the light continued to burn with increasin
brilliancy, giving successively a light, adjudged equal, the first half
hour, to 200 candles, at five to 300, at half-past five to 400, and so
successively till the electric fluid came into its fullest action at half
past six, when the light, by the instrument used, developed the im-
mense number of 700 candles, which intensity of light was steadily
kept up till the experiment concluded at a quarter past nine o’clock.
Colored prints were brought from the influence of the direct sunbeam
to that of the ray from the electric light, in which not the slightest
difference of shade of color could be observed. The light of each was
then passed through the prism, which still further established their
identity, as their point of junction could not be ascertained, thus proving
its immense value to the manufacturer and exhibitor of goods,

PAGE’S ELECTRO-MAGNETIC LOCOMOTIVE.

An experiment of applying electro-magnetism as a locomotive power,
was made by Prof. Page, during the past season, on the Baltimore and
Washington Railroad. The apparatus used was that perfected by
the gentleman making the experiment. The progress of the locomo-
tive, when it started, was so slow that a boy was enabled to keep pace
with it for several hundred feet. But the speed was soon increased,
and Bladensburg, a distance of about five miles and a quarter, was
reached in thirty-nine minutes. When within two miles of that place,
the power of the battery being fully up, the locomotive began to run,

100 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

on nearly a level plane, at the rate of nineteen miles an hour, or seven
miles faster than the greatest speed heretofore attained. This velocity
was continued for a mile, when one of the cells cracked entirely open,
which caused the acids to intermix, and, as a consequence, the pro-
pelling power was partially weakened. Two of the other cells subse-
quently met with a similar disaster. The cells were made of light
earthenware, for the purpose of the experiment merely, without refer-
ence to durability. This part of the apparatus can therefore easily be
guarded against mishap. The great point established was, that a loco-
motive on the principle of Professor Page can be made to travel nine-
teen miles an hour.

The locomotive of the above experiment weighs ten and a half tons,
and has five-feet drivers, with two-feet stroke. In appearance it does
not differ much from a passenger car.

PAGE’S MAGNETIC ENGINE.

Tue following is a mechanical description of the magnetic engine,
constructed and exhibited by Prof. Page, the principle of which was
explained in the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, pp. 104-8.

Prof. Page’s engine differs from all others hitherto constructed, both
in principle, in arrangement, and in action. He found, in the com-
mencement of his experiments, that the magnet required time to re-
ceive the magnetism of the coil, and that it also required time, when
the circuit was broken, for the magnet to part with its induced mag-
netism ; the induced magnetism, or secondary current of the magnet,
acted also in the very opposite direction to the one required. ‘To remedy
this he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to make the cur-
rent of the magnet (the secondary current) act always in the same
direction with the object to be moved; at the same time it was
necessary that the magnet should always be magnetic. This was for the
purpose of gaining in the element of time, as the magnet could not at
once be deprived of its counter-force. He therefore adopted the prin-
ciple of hollow electro-magnetic coils.

The principle, therefore, by which this engine is operated, is electro-
magnetic attraction, by the intermittent charging of a series of hollow
magnets acting continuously on a piston magnet moving inside of them,
in the direct line of motion, whether that line of motion be horizontal,
vertical or circular [rotary.] These hollow magnets are formed of coils of
copper wire, covered with a non-conducting substance ; about 1500 yards
of wire being comprised ineach coil. The several coils, when arranged
on a frame, form a cylinder made up of sections. The several sections
are all connected by a metallic connection, but are so arranged and joined
to the cut-off, or slide, that but three magnets (hollow coils) are charged
at once, and one coil is being continually cut off behind, and the current
continually thrown on to the coil before in the direction in which the
piston is moving. The peculiar feature of the engine, then, is to be
found in a continual electro-magnetic draught in the secondary current
direction of the iron magnet, or piston. When the coils are charged,
this piston moves in their centres, touching nothing. To the end of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 101

this piston is attached a double crank, which gives motion to a shaft,
on which is a fly-wheel. Attached to one side of the piston is an arm;
which works the cut-off. The battery wires are screwed to two rods
of copper, one running along one side the whole length of the coils,
the other close to the coils on a narrow platform on the engine frame.
Small blocks of copper, connected with the hollow coils by wires, form
the connecting points in the circuit, and perform a similar office to the
ports of a steam-engine. Attached to a slide, moved by the arm con-
nected with the piston, are two thin strips of copper, separated a short
distance at the middle part. Lach strip has two metal spring plates,
always in contract with the copper blocks. Of these plates, two only
are in connection with the battery at once. As the plates, by the
motion of the arm, move backwards and forwards, the circuit is formed
alternately, from coil to coil, cutting off the current behind and throw-
ing it ahead. The stroke of the engine is reversed by throwing the
current from one half the coils to the other half. This is done by two
dogs, or projections, fixed on the side of the frame, which strike against
a charger fixed on a centre-pin. When this charger strikes one pro-
jection, it brings one set of slides, or plates, to form the circuit; and
when it strikes upon the other projection, it turns upon its pin and
comes in contact with the strip of copper attached to the other slides ;
there is therefore three of the coils always charged at once. When-
ever a full stroke has been made, the charger at once diverts the cur-
rent from one half the coils to the other, acting upon the opposite end
of the piston ; the three coils near the middle, being first charged, and
so on, one after another, as the piston moves along. A stroke of any
length can thus be given to the engine, a matter never before accom-
plished. — Sczentzfic American.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TRACTION ON RAILWAYS.

Tue idea of increasing the adhesiveness of the wheels of locomo-
tives, without increasing their weight, has, for a number of years past,
occupied the attention of mechanicians. To effect this, a plan has
been presented to the French Academy, by Mr. Nickles, to convert the
wheel of the locomotive into a magnet, and make it stick to the iron
rail by a like adhesion. -This he does by placing a galvanic battery
under the body of the engine. A wire coming from the poles of this
battery is then coiled horizontally round the lower part of the wheel,
close to the rail, but in such a way that the wheel turns round freely
within it, fresh portions of its circumference coming continually into
relation with the coil. The part of the wheel in immediate contact
with the rail is thus made magnetic, and therefore has a strong adhe-
sion for the surface along which it moves, and the amount of the
adhesion may be increased or diminished at any time, by merely aug-
menting or reducing. the intensity of the galvanic current that circu-
lates through the surrounding coil. By means of a handle the
electricity may be turned on or off, and an effectual brake be thus
brought into activity, that can make the iron rail smooth or adhesive
according to the requirements of the instant, and this without in any

ge ; ;

5

102 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

way interfering with the free rotation of the wheels, as the friction
brakes of necessity do. The lower portion of the wheel, for the time
being, is in exactly the same condition as a bar of soft iron placed
within a coil of wire circulating electricity. But as it rises up out of
the coil during the rotation of the wheel, it grows less and less mag-
netic, the descending portions of the opposite side of the circumference
acquiring increased magnetic power in like degree. '

Experiments, made with a large locomotive, give the following re-
sults : —‘‘ The rapidity of rotation, however great it may be, does not
at all effect the process of magnetizing the wheels. This is conceiy-
able, when we reflect upon the rapidity of the propagation of electricity,
and upon the instantaneousness of the magnetizing action.

‘Upon a horizontal plane of iron, dry and perfectly polished, the
force required to make an electro-magnet slide is, clearly, to the force
required to remoye it vertically from the plane, as the force required
to make a mass of unmagnetized iron slide to the weight of that
mass.

‘‘ But this is not the case upon inclined planes. While the co-
efficient of the force required to make the mass of iron slide, diminishes
till it becomes nothing, the magnetic adhesiveness remains invariable.
This is conceivable, since the resultant of the actions produced by a
magnet upon a plane of iron is perpendicular to that plane, while the
mass of iron, which only acts by its own weight, exercises its action
in the direction of the weight.

‘‘Thus, upon inclined railways, one portion of the surcharge in-
tended to produce adhesion is not only inefficient for this purpose, but
it even operates unfavorably, in that, by the influence of weight, it tends
to cause the train to descend ; while, on the contrary, magnetic adhe-
siveness is always the same, whatever be the degree of inclination.
Atmospheric perturbations, fogs, &c., which so considerably impair
adhesion produced by weight, do not sensibly affect magnetic adhesion,
which remains the same whether the rails be wet or dry. Finally, a
locomotive with magnetized wheels does not require a greater force of
traction than one of which the wheels are in the normal state.”

THOUGHTS ON TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS TWENTY YEARS AGO.

In 1833, Hon. John Pickering, since deceased, by request of the
Boston Marine Society, delivered a lecture on the subject of ‘‘ Tele-
graphic Language,’’ tracing the art from the first communications
made by torches at the siege of Troy, until the date of the address.
In conclusion, he makes the following curious reflections and sug-
gestions, which all must acknowledge to border very closely upon the
prophetic :—

‘* But the application of the art to other subjects will naturally fol-
low the progress of those rapid improvements which are believed to be
characteristics of the present age. If, for instance, we take the case
of commercial affairs in general, we know what a change has taken
place in the transmission of intelligence, relating to business, within
a few years past ; and it would seem, too, as if every new impulse in

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 103

business rendered it necessary to add new energy to our means of
communication. Is it too much to suppose that the demands of
business may, before a long time, lead to the establishment of tele-
graphic communications* between our principal cities? Twelve years
ago it was stated in the French papers that three thousand messages
could be conveyed in one day from Paris to any extremity of France,
and that answers could be received to them. Liven since I have been
preparing to meet you at this time, the question has been agitated as
to the practicability of a telegraphic line for purposes of business
between the great seat of our northern manufactures and this city.
And why may we not look forward to the time when there shall be
such a communication between this city and New York, Philadelphia,
and Washington? I dare not presume to predict such an event for
some time to come ; and yet when we daily witness the extraordinary
resources of this growing country — when we observe the wonderful
results of an active and intelligent population incessantly occupied in
developing their powers and resources —and stimulated, by the cir-
cumstances in which they are placed, to greater and more intense
exertion than the same number of people have probably ever been —
when we see, too, that all ordinary calculations, founded upon the
precedents of other nations, fall short of what is here actually accom-
plished — when we witness all this, we cannot believe that it is being
too sanguine to expect the application of the telegraph to a vastly
greater extent than we have yet seen. Will it be said that the de-
mands of business will never be such as to warrant the adoption of it,
for instance, between this city and New York? For want of practical
knowledge, I dare not affirm that this will very soon be the case ; and
yet if there are now essential advantages to business in obtaining
intelligence from New York in two days, or less, or at the rate of eight
or ten miles an hour, any man can perceive that there may be a pro-
portionate benefit, when we can transmit the same information for
that distance, by telegraph, at the rate of four miles in a minute, or
in the space of a single hour from New York to Boston. Let us take
as an example, by way of illustrating this view of the subject, the case
of the great question now agitated at Washington, and in which the
welfare of the country is so essentially involved. Might it not prove
to be of vital importance to thousands of our men of business, in this
quarter of the Union, whether friendly or adverse to the tariff, to be
able to know the decision of the government at Washington, in two
hours and a quarter after that decision was made? Why do we
annually see such extraordinary efforts made to transmit the message
of the chief magistrate, and other state papers and public acts of goy-
ernment, through all parts of the country? When, therefore, we find
by actual experience that this rapid mode of communication is deemed
necessary to the wants of an active community, who will venture to set
bounds to its application? We can, in imagination, suppose it to be
extended on our coast from one end of the continent to the other ; and

« Mr. Pickering here refers to the old form of telegraph by which intelligence is commu-
nicated from station to station by means of signals.

104 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

if any people shall ever carry it from our Atlantic shores across the
continent to the coast of the Pacific Ocean, I feel the strongest convic-
tion that it will be accomplished by our countrymen ; when we may
obtain intelligence from China in as short a time as it now reaches us
from Europe.”’

ON THE CONDUCTION OF ELECTRICITY THROUGH WATER.

Mr. BaKeweELt, at the British Association, stated the results of some
experiments on the conduction of electricity by water, made with a
view to prove that an electric current may be transmitted for a con-
siderable distance through unprotected wires immersed in water. A
thin copper wire, (No. 20,) 320 feet long, was stretched across a pond,
and two copper plates, ten inches square, to which wires were soldered,
were immersed to serve as conducting plates for the return current.
A Smee’s battery of two pairs of plates was used ; and when the con-
nexion was made with a galvanometer on the opposite bank, a steady
deflexion of 30° was maintained, and a strong blue mark was produced
by a steel electrode on paper moistened with a solution of prussiate of
potass in diluted muriatic acid. In this experiment the conducting
plates were placed close to the wire and on opposite sides of it, so that
the return current passed diagonally across the exposed wire. The
water in this case appeared to act as a conductor and as a non-con-
ductor at the same time, in proportion to the surfaces exposed to its
influence. In the next experiment the wire was doubled, and a cur-
rent of electricity from the same battery was transmitted through the
wires, both being immersed in the water. In this case the detlexion
of the needle was more powerful, and it continued steady at 45°.

SPEED OF THE MAGNETIC CURRENT.

A wone experience of the Coast Survey, with some different lines of
telegraph, establishes the fact, that the velocity of the galvanic current
is about fifteen thousand four hundred miles per second. 'The time of
transit between Boston and Bangor was recently measured, and the
result. was, that the time occupied in the transmission was one hundred
and sixticth of a second, and that the velocity of the galvanic current was
at the rate of sixteen thousand miles per second, which is about six
hundred miles per second more than the average of other experiments.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

Tne project of constructing a submarine telegraph between England
and France, across the Strait of Dover, unsuccessfully attempted in
1850, has been again undertaken during the past year; and, aided by
experience, has been fully accomplished. The line or cable at present in
use is much more substantial than that formerly employed; and was
constructed in the following manner : — Four copper wires, known as
the 16 wire gauge, each encased in a coyering of gutta percha, of a
quarter of an inch in diameter, constituted the first layer. These

NATURAL ‘PHILOSOPHY. 105

several lines are twisted and plaited about each other, in spiral convo-
lutions, in the manner of an ordinary cable or rope. The next super-
incumbent coil to this consisted of hempen yarn, previously saturated
in a reservoir of prepared pitch and tallow, and, in its turn, is tightly
twisted and compressed, impermeably and by steam-power, over the
gutta percha, with its enclosed copper wires. This is overlaid again
with a series of hempen yarns, five or six in number, and about an
inch in diameter, saturated in the pitch and tallow, with a view of
what the workmen call ‘‘ worming” the gutta percha. The gutta
percha thus protects the wire, and the hempen yarn in addition acts a
a cementitious material to the gutta percha, which, ultimately, has
thrown over it a coat of galvanized wire. ‘This completes the first pro-
cess, and the manufacture of the rope in the spiral form is for the
purpose of giving flexibility. The second process consists in hauling
off the cable, so far completed, and passing it on to another wire-rope
machine, where the cord is completely covered over with ten galvanized
iron wires, each wire being about the thickness of a lead-pencil, and
known as ‘‘ No. ] galvanized wire gauge.”’ This galvanized iron sheath-
ing is to protect and preserve the interior layers from the action of the
sea, and the weight is considered to be sufficient to sink the cable ex neces-
silate gravitatis. The appearance of the cable, thus completely encased
ina shining coat of galvanized iron, and divested of tar and dirt, is
quite lustrous and silvery. The entire weight of the cable thus
completed was about 200 tons. The actual submersion of the great cable
took place on the 25th of October. The huge coils were arranged on
Toast. her majesty’s ship Blazer, towed by the steamship Fearless. One
end of the cable being secured to the beach, on the South Foreland
coast, the Fearless then steamed ahead — haying made fast her towing
tackle to the hull of the Blazer —at the rate of two miles an hour out
to sea, the men on board the latter vessel paying out continuously the
cable over her stern, from whence, by the action of its own weight, it
sank into the submarine sand and valley. The track between South
Foreland and Sandgate — the corresponding point on the French coast,
and which was selected as presenting, from soundings and surveys,
the fewest obstacles and probable disturbances — was marked out by
pilot buoys as the best site for the submerging of the wire that could
be adopted by those having the best knowledge of naval and marine
dynamics. ‘The depth of the sea line at starting point was from 20 to
30 feet, and its maximum depth 180 feet, or 30 fathoms. At inter-
vals during the progress, fusees were fired, and messages sent along the
wires, in order to test the perfectness of the connection and insulation.
The distance from coast to coast was 21 miles, and the length of wire
provided for, 24 miles; yet, notwithstanding the surplus wire, the line
was found, on nearing the French coast, to be wanting in length for a
distance of more thana mile. This mishap of the cable running short
arose from the fact that, while the Blazer was being towed by the
Fearless at only two miles an hour, the cable, at certain intervals, was
run out at the rate of four and five miles an hour, which necessarily
caused it, from want of regularity in the delivery motion, to take the

106 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sea bottom in a series of loops or ‘‘ kinks ;’’ thus accounting for each
mile of cable not covering its allotted mile of sea. ‘The vessels were,
therefore, compelled to remain anchored at the end of the submerged
wire until the deficit could be manufactured and forwarded. This was,
however, soon effected, and the connection between the two coasts
rendered firm and complete. The connections with the inland tele-
graphs of England and France were soon afterwards made ; and the line
is now in practical working order, messages haying been transmitted
and returned from London to Paris in less than three minutes.

The whole cost of the cable was about £15,000, and it is confidently
hoped that it will remain permanent and unaffected by the agitation
of the sea. <A patent to obviate that difficulty has been secured in
England, by Mr. Dick, of Ayr. His process is to enclose the wire, pre-
viously encased in gutta percha, in a cast-iron envelope. This envelope
is made of perforated balls and perforated cylinders, threaded on the
cable in succession ; first a ball, next a cylinder, another ball, another
cylinder, and soon. Ofcourse, the ends of these cylinders are so formed
as to fit the balls exactly, and the structure is a succession of knee-
joints, or rather a shark’s back-bone. This arrangement claims to
produce an effective protection of the rope, with flexibility and cheap-
ness.

The success of the telegraph between England and France has, to
some extent, revived the project of a trans-atlantic one between Europe
and the United States. The London Morning Post, in discussing the
subject, says that the only difficulty of the undertaking is to provide
the requisite funds. Making an estimate for a wire rope, one inch in
diameter, covered as usual, the cost would be £50 per mile, and the
nearest points of Europe and America being 2,000 miles apart, the
whole expense would not exceed $2,500,000. The importance of such
a work is not to be estimated by thousands of millions.

APPLICATION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH TO A NEW SYSTEM OF FIRE
h ALARMS.

Tux following is an account of the application of the electric tele-
graph to a new system of fire-alarms, first devised by Dr. William F.
Channing, of Boston, and recently carried out by the municipal
authorities of that city, under his direction. ‘The application of the
telegraph to fire-alarms was first published by Dr. Channing in the
Boston Daily Advertiser, of June 3, 1845. In 1847-8, an attempt was
made to realize it in Boston ; but the experiments by the city were not
carried to the extent of erecting wires. In the month of March, 1851,
he presented a detailed plan to the city government of Boston, which
was adopted in June; and an appropriation of $10,000 was made to
carry it into effect. An essential feature of the system is the employ-
ment of electricity, first, to signalize the existence of a fire to the cen-
tral office, and, second, by means of electro-magnetism, to produce
mechanical effects at the churches or other buildings containing alarm-
bells, so as to give a public alarm. ‘T'wo separate circuits are employed

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 107

for these two functions ; one, the signal circuit, and the other the
alarm circuit. Comparing the municipal telegraph to the nervous
system of man, these circuits correspond respectively to the sensitive
and motor nerves. A single agent at the centre controls the whole
system, receiving the indication of a fire by the signal circuit, and
throws the current of the battery on the alarm circuit at will. In the
course of the signal circuit are forty signal stations, consisting of locked
cast-iron boxes, placed on the outside of buildings, and in charge of
suitable persons. In case of fire, one of these is opened, and a crank
within it turned a few times. The axis of this crank carries a circuit
wheel, which communicates to the central office the number of the
district and station — striking them upon a bell, and also recording
them permanently on a Morse register. The agent of the office imme-
diately depresses the appropriate key of the district keyboard connected
with the alarm circuit. The keyboard has a key for every district
signal which is to be struck on the bells. When the key is held down,
a circuit cylinder reyolves beneath it, completing the circuit at the
precise intervals requisite to strike the signal of the district with suit-
able intermissions. This action of the current liberates each time the
detent of a powerful striking machine at each belfry or alarm station in
the circuit, so that a single blow is struck synchronously upon each
bell. The Boston nineteen alarm-bells are thus telegraphically con-
nected. The machines are carried by weights, varying from 800 to
2000 pounds. The detents of these machines are liberated by a falling
arm, which is set off by the attractive force of an electro-magnet. This
beautiful device, by which an immense saving of electro-magnetic
power is obtained, is due to Mr. M. T. Farmer, the constructor of the
system, to whom, also, many of the adaptations and details of arrange-
ment in the system are to be ascribed. In the central office is an
alarm-bell register, which shows the number of blows struck upon the
bells. There is also a testing-clock, which tests each circuit automat-
ically once an hour ; all the batteries employed in the system are also
at the central office. In each signal box there is a little electro-mag-
net and armature, whose c/ick enables police or other communications
to be transmitted from the central office to the signal stations, while a
signal key in the box allows return communications to be made. At
each signal and alarm station, sixty in all, discharges of atmospheric
electricity are provided with a ground connection. This affords inci-
dental protection to the city from lightning. The circuits comprise
forty-nine miles of No. 8 and 10 wire of Swedish iron. To prevent irreg-
ularities, the ground is not used as part of the circuit. Between each
station there are always two wires following widely different routes.
If one is accidentally broken it occasions no interruption of the circuit.
The buildings, for the support of the wires, are carefully selected.

The signal and alarm circuits in Boston are, for various reasons of
economy and security, increased in number to three of each class.
These are the North, South and South Boston Circuits. By an
arrangement of the District key-board, the current from the battery is
thrown momentarily in rapid succession on each of the three alarm

108 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

circuits for each stroke of the bell. A great economy of battery power
is thus obtained. In the place of the bells and striking machines, the
alarm circuit may be applied to setting off one or more air-whistles, at
such intervals as to give and repeat the district signal. The wires
may be insulated in a metallic tube and buried under the streets,
instead of the mode of suspension above the buildings. The system
proposed is a step in municipal organization, in advance of any here-
tofore attempted. It is an indication of a higher social development.
The municipal telegraph, in this and other applications, is to constitute
the nervous system of organized societies. A fire telegraph (probably
only for signalizing, not for mechanical agency, in connection with the
bells) is stated to be in operation in Berlin. A private signalizing
telegraph also connects the alarm-bell towers in New York. But these
are very distinct from the thorough organization which Dr. Channing
has proposed, and from the development of the motor functions of the
telegraph, described in the preceding pages. — Editor.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CLOCKS AT BERLIN.

As there exist already at Berlin electro-telegraphic wires for signal-
izing fires, the same apparatus will also be used for the clocks. There
will be established several leading clocks in the different parts of the
town, which, being connected with the wires, will indicate the time on
simple dials. The cost of such a clock and wires will be twenty-eight
thalers ; the subsequent yearly expense only four thalers. Such appa-
ratus can be applied at any private house, and an additional advantage
would be, that all these watches would keep an uniform and exact
time.

EFFECT OF FUNNELS OF STEAMERS UPON THE COMPASS.

Tue following is a communication from Captain Johnson, R. N., to
Col. Sabine, containing the results of experiments made for the pur-
pose of determining the effect of the telescopic funnels of steamships
upon the compass : —

‘¢T wish you to bring under notice the following results which I
obtained with reference to the effect of hollow iron cylinders upon the
compass, when placed inside each other ; the object being to ascertain
whether the whole difference of deviation, under the two conditions of
these telescopic funnels, was due to the difference of their elevation and
depression only, or whether a portion of the said differences was attrib-
utable to the induced magnetism of the separate parts of the funnel,
when lowered, acting upon each other. As it would have required
more time than could be afivrded to hoist the parts of those huge fun-
nels in and out of the ship, while the requisite succession of observa-
tions were made, I procured three hollow iron cylinders of smaller
dimensions, their several diameters being such as to admit of one cyl-
inder being placed inside of another, and leaving a space of about one
eighth of an inch between their surfaces. Having placed a standard
compass on one of the pedestals in the observatory, and ascertained the
magnetic meridian for the moment by the collimator, the largest or
external iron cylinder (No. 1) was brought in and placed to the east-

s. < NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 109

ward of the compass, the principal mass of the cylinder being below
the level of the needle and card, and its upper end being 24 inches
above that level. By this means a deflection or deviation of 10° 10’
was produced, the north end of the needle being drawn that amount
to the eastward of the correct magnetic north. Cylinder No. 2 was
next placed inside of No. 1, when the deviation was increased to 12°
15’. Cylinder No. 3 was then placed inside of No. 2, and the devia-
tion was again increased to 14° 15’, the north end of the needle being
drawn to the eastward in each case. Hansteen’s Magnetic Intensity
instrument was then placed with the centre of its needle (as nearly as
I could adjust it) in a similar position to that which the course of the
compass had occupied, and the following results were obtained : —

Time of 100 vibrations, starting from an are of 18° —
Previous to the cylinders being brought into the observatory, 6’ 57”
No. 1 cylinder in place, . ‘ - : - - Ti A
No. 2 cylinder in place inside of No. 1, : : - 6’ 47”
No. 3 cylinder in place inside of No. 2, . , ; ye ae

‘‘The intensity instrument being removed, a dipping needle was
then employed, and the following are the results of observations :

Dip.
Previous to the cylinders being brought into the observatory, 68° 37’
No. 1 cylinder placed to the south of the instrument, . 70° 10’
No. 2 cylinder in place inside of No.1, : : 70° 27’
No. 3 cylinder in place inside of No. 2, . : ; “FOR Se

‘¢ The conclusion to be deduced from all these observations appears
to be, that to the deduced magnetism of the surfaces of the cylinders
acting upon each other is due a portion of the deviation ; and reason-
ing by analogy, a similar deduction is applicable to the telescopic fun-
nels of steamships.”’

INSULATOR FOR WIRES OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

A parent has been obtained by Mr. John M. Batchelder, of Boston,
for an improved insulator for wires of the electric telegraph. It con-
sists of a cast-iron cap, which is lined throughout with glass by the
operation of blowing. The shank, or holder, is then introduced with a
hot mass of glass, by which it is firmly fixed in its place in the centre
of the cap. ‘The distance from the shank to the lower edge of the cap
is about four inches, measured upon the surface of the glass. When
the shank is inserted, the end is prevented from coming in contact with
the metallic cap by the glass lining; thus insuring perfect insulation
at this point. The wires are attached to the top of the insulator, or at
the side, as may be preferred. The reéntering angle at the lower part
of the cap protects the glass within from missiles, and is calculated, in
a storm of wind and rain, to direct the rain downward, and thus pre-
serve the insulation. The patent also includes a lining of porcelain,
which is applied to the inner surface of the cap, in the same manner
as in culinary utensils. This insulator is used for the wires of the
Municipal Telegraph, recently introduced in Boston. — Editor.

10

110 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

GALVANIC SURGERY.

Onz of those extraordinary applications of science to the benefit of
mankind, with which, in this age of progress, we are becoming so
familiar, has recently been made in the substitution of the galvanic
battery for the knife of the operating surgeon. It has been long
known that if a galvanic current of great power is conducted through
a very small wire, the latter becomes heated to whiteness, and if
formed of any of the ordinary metals, is rapidly destroyed ; but if
made of platinum, remains unaltered ; and thata galvanic battery may
be so arranged, that the current can at any moment be transmitted
along such a wire, or as suddenly arrested. It sometimes unfortu-
nately happens that in various parts of the body deep-seated abscesses
occur, having several openings, and these are unable to be healed until
laid open, and it may so occur that a vast collection of veins in such a
part renders the use of the knife excessively dangerous. In the olden
time, a surgeon would have employed a red-hot knife; but such a practice
has been in modern times entirely relinquished, as cruel and barbar-
ous, the vast amount of heat given out destroying the adjacent parts ;
if, however, a very fine wire is first placed in the required position, and
then connected with the galvanic battery, it instantly becomes heated
to whiteness, and may be readily caused to cut in the proper direc-
tion, almost without causing any pain, as the parts in immediate con-
tact with the heated wire are instantly deprived of life and sensation ;
and, from its small size, the heated body is unable to throw off enough
heat to injure adjacent parts ; and, furthermore, a cut by the heated
wire possesses a great advantage over one made by a knife, inasmuch
as it 1s not attended with any loss of blood. Of course this mode of
operating is not calculated to supersede the use of the surgeon’s knife,
except in certain cases; but in all probability it may become a very
valuable auxiliary in the practice of surgery. The mere idea of a
red or white hot substance in immediate contact with the human body,
is, at first, exceedingly painful ; but when we recall to our readers’ recol-
lection the experiments of M. Boutigny and others, with red-hot
bodies,* they will at-once perceive that the contact of a body heated to
whiteness is not necessarily, if applied under proper circumstances,
attended with pain. Another new application of this novel remedial
agent is to effect the destruction of the nerves in decayed teeth ; and
in some cases it 1s said to have been used with great success for this
purpose.

ATMOSPHERIC MAGNETISM.

Tue following is an abstract of a lecture on atmospheric magnetism,
read by Prof. Faraday, before the Royal Institute, April, 1851. It
contains results supplemental to those announced in the Bakerian Lec-
ture, of Noy. 28th, 1850, on the magnetism of oxygen and other gases.

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, and 1851.
t See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, pp. 183-4.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 111

** On a former occasion it was shown that oxygen gas was magnetic,
being attracted towards the poles of a magnet; and that, like other
magnetic bodies, it lost and gained in power as its temperature was
raised and lowered, and that the change occurred within the range of
natural temperatures. ‘These properties it carries into the atmosphere,
and the object of this lecture was to show how far they might be ap-
plied to explain certain of the observed variations of the terrestrial mag-
netic force. The earth is a great magnet; its power, according to
Gauss, being equal to that which would be conferred if every cubic
yard of it contained six one-pound magnets; the sum of the force is
therefore equal to 8,464,000,000,000,000,000,000 such magnets. The
disposition of this magnetic force is not regular, nor are there any
points on the surface which can properly be called poles; still the re-
gions of polarity are in high north and south latitudes, and these are
connected by lines of magnetic force (being the lines of direction) which,
generally speaking, rise out of the earth in one (magnetic) hemisphere,
and, passing in varied directions over the equatorial regions, into the
other hemisphere, then enter into the earth to complete the known
circuit of power. A free needle shows the presence and direction of these
lines. In London they issue from the earth at an angle of about 69°
with the horizon (being the dip or inclination) ; and the plane in which
they rise forms an angle of 23° W., nearly with true north, giving
what is cailed west declination. Where the dip is small, as at the
magnetic equator, these lines scarcely rise out of the earth, and pass
but a little way above the surface ; but where it is large, as in northern
or southern latitudes, they rise up at a greater angle, and pass into the
distant realms of space, from whence they return again to the earth
in the opposite magnetic hemisphere ; thus investing the whole globe
with a system of forces like that about an ordinary magnet, which
wherever it passes through the atmosphere is subject to the changing
action of its magnetic oxygen. There is every reason to believe that
these lines are he/d in the earth, out of which they arise, and by which
they are produced, just as the lines which originate in a magnet are
held by it, though not in the same degree ; and that any disturbance
from above, affecting them, will cause a greater change in their place and
direction in the aturosphere and space above, than in the earth beneath.

‘«'The system of lines of magnetic force, around a magnet or the earth,
is related by a lateral tension of lines of static electrical force ; both
the one and the other being easily made manifest by experiment. The
disturbance of the tension in one part is accompanied instantly by dis-
turbance of the tension in every other part; for as the sum of the ex-
ternal powers of a system, unaltered at its origin, is definite and
cannot be changed, so any alteration, either of intensity or direction
amongst the lines of force at one place, must be accompanied by a cor-
responding change at every other. So, if a mass of soft iron on the
east side of a magnet causes a concentration of the lines of force from
the magnet on that side, a corresponding expansion or opening out of
the lines on the west side must be, and is, at the same time, produced ; or
if the sun, on rising in the east, renders all the oxygen of the air on
that side of the globe less magnetic and less able therefore to favor the

112 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

transition of the lines of terrestrial force there, a greater number of
them will be determined through the western region ; and even though
the lines of force may be doubted by some as having a separate exist-
ence such as that above assumed, still no error as to the effects on
magnetic needles would in that case be introduced, for they by experi-
ment would be and are the same.

‘“« The power of a magnetic body, as iron or oxygen, to favor the trans-
mission of lines of force through it more than other bodies not mag-
netic, may be expressed by the term conduction. Different bodies, as
iron, nickel, oxygen, conduct in various degrees ; and not only that, but
the same body, as iron or oxygen, conducts in different degrees at dif-
ferent temperatures. When space, traversed by uniform lines of mag-
netic force, is occupied by an uniform body, as air, the disposition of
the lines is not altered; but if.a better conducting substance than the
air is introduced, so as to occupy part of the space, the lines are con-
centrated in it; or if a worse conducting substance is introduced, the
lines are opened out. In both cases the lines of force are inflected,
and a small magnetic needle, standing in them at the inflected part,
would have its direction changed accordingly. Now this, by the
hypothesis, is assumed to take place in the atmosphere. Supposing it
all at mean temperature, the lines of force would have the direction
determined by the arrangement of the power within the earth. Then
the sun’s presence in the east would make all the atmosphere in that
region a worse conductor, and as the sun came up to and passed over
the meridian and away to the west, the atmosphere under his influence
would bring up changes in that direction; it would therefore mani-
festly set a needle in a given latitude in opposite directions as it passed
by ; and as evidently set two needles in north and south latitudes in
opposite directions at the same moment of time. As the night came
on, and a temperature lower than the mean came up from the east and
passed over, the lines of force would be inflected, and a reverse varia-
tion of the needle to that which occurred before would now take place.
That natural effects of variation must be produced, consequent upon the
magnetic nature of oxygen and its daily variations of temperature, is
manifest ; but whether they cause the observed variations, or are com-
petent to do so, is a question that can only be decided after a very
careful inquiry. Observations are now made on the surface of the
earth with extreme care in many places, and these are collated, and
the average or mean result, as to direction and intensity of the earth’s
force, ascertained for every hour and season ; and also many remarka-
ble anomalous and extra results evolved. A theory of the causes of
any or all of these variations may be examined, first by the direction
which the varying needle does or ought to assume, and then by the
amount of the variation. The hypothesis now brought forward has
been compared with the mean daily variation for all the months in the
year, at north and south stations, as Toronto and Hobarton, and at
many others near to and far from the equator, and agrees in direction
with the results observed far beyond what the author anticipated.
Thus the paths described by the upper ends of free needles in the north
and south hemispheres, should be closed curves, with the motion in

«

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 118

opposite and certain directions, and so they are ; the curves described
by needles in north or south latitudes should be larger in summer
and smaller in winter, and so they are; a night or cold action should
grow up in the winter months, and such is the case ; the northern
hemisphere ought to have a certain predominance over the southern,
because of its superior temperature, and that is so; the disposition of
land and water ought to have an influence, and there is one in the
right direction ; so that in the first statement and examination of the
hypothesis it appears to be remarkably supported by the facts. The
next step will be to ascertain what is the amount of change in the con-
ducting power of the air for givjag changes of temperature, and then
to apply that in the endeavor ascertain whether the amount of
change to be expected is (as well as the direction) accordant with that
which really occurs.’’ — Jameson’s Journal, July, 1851.

MAGNETISM OF OXYGEN.

Prucxer has given the result of a comparison of the magnetism of
oxygen with that of iron. A glass globe was filled with oxygen of the
same tension as the surrounding air. The amount of attraction exerted
by an electro-magnet upon this globe was then determined by means
of a very delicate balance. The globe was then emptied and filled
with a solution of chloride of iron, and the magnetic attraction again
determined in the same manner. The attraction upon the oxygen was
found to be to that on the solution of 8.0678: 1. To determine the
attraction exerted, under the same circumstances, upon soft iron, a
glass vessel was filled with a paste, made by grinding pure metallic
iron in powder, (reduced from the oxide by hydrogen,) with a mixture
of fresh lard and wax. The amount of attraction upon this glass vessel
when empty was first measured, then the attraction upon the same
vessel when filled with the solution of chloride of iron, and, finally, the
attraction upon the glass when filled with the paste of iron. The
amount of attraction upon the glass vessel when empty was subtracted
from the amount upon the vessel when filled with the solution and with
the paste. In this manner, the magnetism of the solution was found
to be to that of the iron as 1: 230.49; the diamagnetic action upon the
lard and wax was found to be so slight that it could be entirely neglected.
By combining the two numerical results obtained above, Plucker found
the specific magnetism of oxygen to be to that of ironas 1: 285.7. If
we refer the specific magnetism of the two substances to equivalents
instead of to equal weights, we find for the equivalent of iron a degree
of magnetism 81.8 as great as that for an equivalent of oxygen. By
the same method, Plucker found for the magnetism of sesquioxide of
iron the number 891, that of iron being taken as 1.000.000.—Pogg.
Ann. $38, 105.

ON THE MAGNETIC RELATION OF GASES.

Pruckxrr has studied the magnetic and diamagnetic relations of

various gaseous bodies, in different states of pressure. The apparatus
= rer

114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

employed consisted of a delicate balance, the beam of which was of
glass, and which gave a perceptible deflection of 0.6001 milligramme.
The gases examined were enclosed in spheres furnished with stop-cocks
and attached to one of the arms of the balance ; these were capable of
resisting an internal pressure of about two atmospheres. The sphere
of glass, containing the gas, was placed over the two half armatures of
a powerful electro-magnet, and then the attraction or repulsion meas-
ured by means of weights placed in the opposite scale-pan. The
trifling amount of magnetism in the glass was exactly compensated by
the magnetism of the surrounding air. The following were the prin-
cipal results obtained : —

1. The specific magnetism of oxygen, compared with that of iron, as
unity, was found to be 0.003500. 2. Oxygen loses its sensible mag-
netism in almost all gases where it enters into chemical combination.
Deutoxyd of nitrogen, NO?, is an exception to this rule, its mag-
netism being two fifths of that of oxygen. 3. If we introduce oxygen,
little by little, into a sphere containing NO ?, the magnetism dimin-
ishes, till the proportion of the two gases is sufficient to form hypo-
nitric acid NO *, when the magnetic action becomes insensible. On
adding more oxygen, the magnetism reappears. 4. Hypo-nitric acid
NO 4, when condensed into a liquid, is diamagnetic. 5. ‘The magnetism
of oxygen, deutoxyd of nitrogen, and magnetic mixtures is propor-
tioned to the density of the gas. 6. A magnetic gas, mechanically
mixed with any other indifferent gas, preserves its magnetism, what-
ever be the density of the mixture, only in the neighborhood of the
poles there appears to be, to a certain extent, a separation of the
gases, which must slightly augment the attraction of the entire mass.
7. A magnetic gas, which has been for some moments attracted by an
electro-magnet, is very readily repelled, if the polarity of the magnet
be changed. Hence, it appears that gases possess a very distinct
coercive force. — Comptes Rendus, 33, 301.

ON THE PROBABLE RELATION BETWEEN MAGNETISM AND THE CIRCULA-
TION OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

Lieut. Maury, in a recent supplement to the Washington Astronom-
ical Observations, brings forward some argumerts to show a probable
connection between the magnetism of atmospheric oxygen, and the cir-
culation of the atmosphere. Before the discovery of Faraday, that the
oxygen which composes one fifth of the atmosphere was magnetic, Lieut.
Maury, in the construction of his ‘‘ Wind and Current Charts,’’ had
conceived the existence of some agent, whose office, in the grand system
of atmospherical circulation, was neither understood nor recognized.
He found that the agencies of heat and the rotation of the earth would
not furnish a complete and satisfactory explanation of the distribution
of moisture and the circulation of the atmosphere over the earth’s sur-
face. A new agent was required, and this, there is reason to suppose,
exists in the magnetic properties of oxygen. ‘The facts adduced by Lieut.
Maury in support of this new view are as follows : — From the zone of
calms, near the tropic of Cancer, which extends entirely across the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 115

seas, there is an efflux of air both to the north and the south. From
the south side of this zone the air-flows in a never-ceasing breeze, called
the north-east trade winds, towards the equator. On the north side the
prevailing winds come from it also; but they go towards the north-
east. They are the well known south-westerly winds which prevail along
the route from this to England. Both these winds are surface breezes.
From the equatorial calms there is a perpetual upper current to the
tropical calms, equal in yolume to the trade winds. One peculiarity
of the trade winds is, that the south-west breezes give out a great
deal of moisture, proceeding from a calm belt to cooler regions, in a
course where precipitation is the natural result. The north-east trade
winds, on the other hand, proceeding from the same belt of calms, are
dry at the very outset. It might be supposed that the upper current,
which flowed from the calms at the equator, descended at the calm
belt at the tropics, and then returned on the surface as a trade wind,
then ascended at the equator, returning as an upper current, thus keep-
ing up a continual ring of breezes. Lieut. Maury says, he knew of no
agent in nature that would prevent the winds taking this circuit ; but,
on the other hand, he knew of circumstances which rendered it prob-
able that such in general is not the course of atmospheric_circulation.
But there are also south-east trade winds ; and Lieut. Maury has come to
the conclusion, that the current which flows to the equator as a surface
north-east trade wind, ascends at the equatorial calms, and passes to
the south as an upper current, while the current which comes as the
south-east trade winds ascended and passed to the calm zone of Cancer.
The reasons for this conclusion are, that the evaporating surface of the
south is the greatest, but all the great rivers are in the northern hemi-
sphere, and at those seasons of the year, when the sun is evaporating
most at the south, the greatest quantity of rain is falling in the north-
ern hemisphere. Without taking this view of the subject, Lieut. Maury
‘* could find no part of the ocean of the northern hemisphere from which
the sources of the great rivers, Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and others,
could be supplied. It appeared to me,”’ he says, ‘‘ that the extra trop-
ical regions of the northern hemisphere stood in the relation of a con-
denser to a grand steam-machine, the boiler of which was in the region
of the south-east trade winds,”’ and the north-west trade winds to the
tropic of Capricorn on the other side of the equator, perform the same
office to the regions beyond that tropic, which the south-east winds
perform for our northern regions. Meteorological observations, made in
various parts of the south-western states, show, in confirmation of these
views, that the south-west winds are generally the rain-bearing winds ;
but a further, and almost conclusive proof is found in the fact that
Ehrenburg has detected in the blood rains of the South of Europe,
infusoria from South America. It is, therefore, probable that the trade-
winds of the southern hemisphere, after arriving at the belt of equa-
torial calms, ascend and continue in their course towards the calms of
Cancer as an upper current from the south-west, and after passing this
zone of calms, they are felt on the surface as the prevailing south-west
winds of the extra-tropical parts of our hemisphere ; and that for the
most part they bring their moisture with them from the trade wind

116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

regions of the opposite hemisphere. Continuing on towards the north
pole from the south-west, they enter the arctic regions, on a spiral
curve, continually lessening the gyrations, until, whirling about in a
contrary direction to the hands of a watch, this air ascends and com-
mences its return as an upper current, to the belt of calms at the
tropic of Cancer. ?

Lieut. Maury attributes to magnetism that influence or power ‘“ which
uides the air from the south through the calms of Capricorn, of the
quator, and of Cancer, and conducts it into the north,” and back

again. This he compares to a spiral coil, and the continuous circuit
of a magnetic current passing around both poles and winding across
our globe, The attractive and repulsive influence is attributed to the
nature of oxygen, which, as its temperature is increasea, diminishes in
para-magnetic force, and which increases as its temperature falls.
Ihe whole subject, which is of great interest, is to such an extent
complex, that a partial abstract like the foregoing does not afford a full
illustration of Lieut. Maury’s views or arguments.

ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE COLOR OF SUBSTANCES AND THEIR
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES.

Mr. Ricuarp Api, of Liverpool, communicates to the Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal, April, the results of an investigation, under-
taken with a view of ascertaining whether there was any connection
between the color of a body and its magnetic properties. The exper-
imental tests for magnetism, in the various bodies examined, were made
partially by means of the torsion balance, which takes cognizance of
degrees of magnetism long before a magnet will show any attraction
when applied in the usual way ; and partially by spreading the pulver-
ized substance over a smooth sheet of paper, when, if the substance
was strongly magnetic on the torsion balance, an ordinary steel mag-
net, moved to and fro close beneath the paper, without touching, will
set some of the particles in motion. The result of Mr. Adie’s experi-
ments seems to show that when the forces of aggregation which bind
the particles of a substance together produce transparency, or white-
ness, such a combination has feeble magnetic properties; and that
when the same forces produce a dark, or dull-colored substance, then
the magnetic power is more developed. This relation between color
and magnetic attractions of bodies must be held to rest only among
those of similar constitution.

Among the numerous illustrations, confirmatory of the theory,
brought forward by Mr. Adie, we select the following :—The ferro- —
cyanide of potassium is a translucent lemon-colored salt, possessed of
no attraction for the magnet ; when heated moderately, it loses water
and assumes an opaque white hue, but is still unattracted by the mag-
net; when the heating is continued until the color darkens, then the
degree of darkness becomes an index of the magnetic force, until the
color reaches black, when the altered salt has all the characters of an
iron body. If this was a solitary case the change would at once be
set down to the decomposition of cyanogen, and the formation of a
carburet of iron.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 117

There are, however, other striking instances. Silver is a metal pos-
sessed of only feeble torsion balance magnetism ; in its dark-colored
sulphuret and oxide, the attraction is more decided ; the white chloride
is like the pure metal, very feeble in its attraction. Through the
influence of light it passes to the dark oxide, gaining magnetic force
with the change. Should these experiments be confirmed, this well-
known action of light on the chloride of silver will serve as a very
beautiful illustration, for in it the whole question is resolved; the light
effects a change in the color; the alteration of color is accompanied
with an increase of magnetic attraction.

Copper possesses a degree of magnetism so minute, that it is recog-
nized with the utmost difficulty on the torsion balance, yet it gives the
dark-colored oxide and sulphuret, both of which are strongly magnetic ;
for if well dried particles are spread upon a sheet of paper, some of
their particles are moyed in the manner described. Palladium and
manganese exhibit somewhat similar properties. Arsenic, in its pure
state, is magnetic on the torsion balance, but when pulverized is not
disturbed by a magnet. In union with its equivalent of sulphur, the
ruby-red real gas is produced. Sulphur has been shown by Faraday to
be diamagnetic, yet in this union with arsenic a compound is given
that is far more magnetic than the metal, or any other of its products ;
for realgar when bruised and spread out upon paper can be moved
and can be streaked by the magnet. In most of the foregoing cases,
the dark magnetic substance is an oxide formed or set free by heating ;
but with this metal oxygen forms the well known white oxide, diamag-
netic according to Faraday, but which, with the feebler magnetic
force from a small steel magnet, proves slightly magnetic ; however this -
may be, the contrast is striking between the feeble magnetism of the
white oxide and the decided magnetism of realgar. Carbon, in the
form of a pure diamond, is feebly attracted ; in the finely divided black
state the attraction increases, and in the coal left after the decom-
position of colorless starch, or sugar, there is a very great increase in
the magnetic attraction. In conclusion, Mr. Adie states, that all the
heavy metals, in every-day use in the arts, have furnished either
oxides, carburets, sulphurets, or fluorides, which contain particles suf-
ficiently magnetic to moye on paper to an ordinary steel magnet passed
to and fro underneath.

In the examination of the corolla of different flowers, it was found
that the white colors were, when fresh, diamagnetic, while the colored
corollz differed much, the diamagnetism of many being apparently
due to their moisture, which, at the same time, tends to make them
transparent. In dyed everlasting flowers, the various colors show very
well the change of magnetic properties, and, being in a dried state, the
results are not subject to that disturbance which the moisture of fresh
flowers occasions ; the pale-yellow is diamagnetic, the dyed chrome-
yellow nearly inert, the verdigris-green feebly magnetic, and the log-
wood-purple strongly magnetic. Solar rays bleach dead vegetable
matter with rapidity, while in living parts of plants their action is fre-
quently to strengthen the color; two opposite effects, which, accor-
ding to my experiments, should be accompanied by different magnetic

118 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

properties. The bleaching power of the sun’s rays is familiar to every
one ; their power in developing fine colors is perhaps best seen on the
sides of peaches, apples, &¢., which, exposed to a mid-summer sun,
become highly colored. During the last open winter, a wall-flower
plant afforded me the proof of a like effect ; in the dark months there
was a slow succession of one or two flowers. These were of a uniform
pale-yellow hue ; in March, streaks of a darker color appeared on the
flowers, and continued slowly to increase, till, in April, they were va-
riegated brown and yellow, of rich strong colors. On the supposition
that these changes are accompanied by alterations in magnetic proper-
ties, we may hereafter be able to explain Mrs. Somerville’s experi-
ments on steel needles exposed to the sun’s rays under envelopes of
silk of various colors. The results obtained by this distinguished lady
have been the source of much discussion among men of science ; and
there can be no doubt that the most rigid experiments have failed to
magnetize steel needles in the colored rays of the spectrum. But to
magnetize them under envelopes of dyed silk is quite a different
experiment, and, if I do not much mistake, the effect in this case will
hinge on the chemical change wrought in the silk and its dye by the solar
rays. Consequently, to repeat the experiments hereafter, it will be
necessary to attend to the materials used in dyeing. In concluding
this inquiry, I may say, that I view the nature of the connection be-
tween color and magnetism to be, that there are forces which act in
common on the magnetism, and the power of the body in transmitting
or reflecting light. Faraday and Plucker have previously shown the
intimate connection between the crystalline and magnetic force ; while
the tendency of my experiments has been to show that the color, a
property much more strongly attached to a body than its crystalline
force, is likewise connected with the magnetism. When a number of
bodies are grouped together, the connection is seen clearly enough ; but
when single cases only are examined, apparent contradictions are not
unfrequent. This appears to indicate that color and magnetism are
mixed up with other qualities derived from the forces of aggregation,
together giving the various properties possessed by the bodies by which
we are on every side surrounded, while the further knowledge for the
unfolding of these may demand the labor of ages to come.

OF THE NATURE AND SOURCE OF THE SUN’S LIGHT AND HEAT.

Tuat so brilliant a display is kept up by the combustion or destruc-
tion of something, appears to be generally, if not universally, main-
tained ; but what that matter is, and how supplied, no probable guess
has yet been made. ‘The intensity of the solar light and heat is easily
proved, and that it resides chiefly, if not entirely, at the surface ; and
that surface, on being closely watched, is found to be in a state of
excessive agitation, and experiences periodical disturbances and altera-
tions of a very singular character. When periodical changes are
seen, we may expect secular ones also; and if the former were of a
regular character, the latter might be necessarily inferred ; but although
no regular law has yet been made out for the sun, the probability of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 119

their slow variations through long periods of time is great, and is
increased when we turn our attention to those other suns, the stars,
and find some of them increasing and others decreasing or going
through regular periods of varied lengths, and many degrees of grada-
tion in brightness. The same may also be inferred from the geologi-
cal discoveries, of there having been formerly glacial ages in the world,
and again torrid ones, for there is no other cause that we know of
equal to produce the effects observed ; while, if our sun were to have
increased or decreased in the amount of light and heat thrown out, as
much as some stars have done during the last four years, all organic
bodies might have perished on the surface of the earth, before now, from
excess or from lack of heat.

In this connection some theoretical views have recently been pre-
sented to the Royal Astronomical Society, by Mr. James Nasmyth,
from which we make the following extracts : —

‘¢ A course of observations on the solar spots, and on the remarkable
features which from time to time appear on the sun’s surface, which I
have examined with considerable assiduity for several years, had in the
first place led me to entertain the following conclusions, namely, that
whateyer be the nature of solar light, its main source appears to result
from an action induced on the exterior surface of the solar sphere, —a
conclusion in which, I doubt not, all who have attentively pursued
observations on the structure of the sun’s surface will agree. Im-
pressed with the correctness of this conclusion, I was led to consider
whether we might not reasonably consider the true source of the la-
tent light to reside, not in the solar orb, but in space itself; and that
the grand function and duty of the sun was to act as an agent for the
bringing forth into vivid existence its due portion of the illuminating
or luciferous element, which element I suppose to be diffused through-
out the boundless regions of space, and which in that case must be per-
fectly exhaustless. Assuming, therefore, that the sun’s light is the
result of some peculiar action, by which it brings forth into visible
existence the element of light, which I conceive to be latent in and dif-
fused throughout space, we have but to imagine the existence of a very
probable condition, namely, the unequal diffusion of this light-yielding
element, to catch a glimpse of a reason why our sun may, in common
with his solar brotherhood, in some portions of his vast stellar orbit,
have passed, and may yet have to pass, through regions of space, in
which this element may either abound or be deficient, and so cause
him to beam forth with increased splendor, or fade in brilliancy, just
in proportion as the richness or poverty of this supposed element may
occur in those regions of space through which our sun, in common
with every stellar orb, has passed, or is destined to pass, in following
up their mighty orbits. Once admit that this light-yielding element
resides in space, and that it is not equally diffused, we may then catch
a glimpse of the cause of the variable and transitory brightness of
stars, and more especially of those which have been known to beam
forth with such extraordinary splendor, and have again so mysteriously
faded away.

‘* Finally, in reference to such a state of change haying come over

120 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

our sun, as indicated by the existence of a glacial period, which is now
placed beyond doubt by geological research, it appears to me no very
wild stretch of analogy to suppose that in such former periods of the
earth’s history our sun may have passed through portions of his stellar
orbit in which the light-yielding element was deficient, and in which
case his brilliancy would have suffered the while, and an arctic cli-
mate in consequence spread from the poles towards the equator, and
leave the record of such a condition in glacial handwriting on the
walls of our mountain ravines, of which there is such abundant and
unquestionable evidence, as before said; it is the existence of such
facts as we haye in stars of transitory brightness, and the above-named
evidence of an arctic climate existing in what are now genial climates,
that require some adequate cause to be looked for.

‘“‘ This view of the source of light, as respects the existence of the
luciferous element throughout space, accords with the Mosaic account
of creation, in so far as that light is described as having been created
in the first instance before the sun was called forth.”

ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF COLORS.

M. CuevreuiL, the directeur des Gobelins, has presented to the French
Academy a plan for a universal chromatic scale, and a methodical
classification of all imaginable colors. Mayer, a professor at Gottingen,
calculated that the different combinations of primitive colors produced
819 different tints; but M. Chevreuil goes much further, and estab-
lishes not less than 14,424, all very distinct and easily recognized —
all, of course, proceeding from the three primitive simple colors of the
solar spectrum, red, yellow and blue. His nomenclature is somewhat
different from that generally received ; viz., he calls full colors (couleurs
franches) the simple or binary colors of the solar spectrum ; abated, or
less colors, (rabatues,) these same colors tinged with black ; releved col-
ors, (relevées,) the same colors mixed or tinged with white ; tones,
(tons,) the different gradations of a color modified by different propor-
tions of black or white ; gamut, the ensemble of the tones of the same
color; nuances, the mixture of a full color with another. He con-
structs his chromatic scale in this manner: he places in a circle, at
60° distance each from the other, the six colors, red, orange, yellow,
green, blue and violet; then between each of them, and at equal
distances, the intermediate nuances, red-orange, orange-yellow, yel-
low-green, green-blue, blue-violet, violet-red ; then he fills the inter-
vals between each fundamental color and its nuance by five progressive
nuances, which suffices to give to the eye an ensemble of perfectly con-
tinued tints. There would then be a series of seventy-two primitive
colors, which serve as a base for the classification of all others ; this is
the chromatic circle of the author, presenting an ensemble of comparable
types of simple and nwancée colors — samples which M. Lebois, of the
Gobelins, has succeeded in fixing completely upon wool, and M. Salve-
tal, of the manufactory at Sevres, upon porcelain. ‘These types or
samples being unalterable and methodically distributed, they can
always be clearly designated and found when wanted. M. Chevreuil

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 121

has completed this classification, by adding to his horizontal chromatic
circle a series of vertical circles, containing all the intermediate
nuances. By this, every color, simple or binary, gives twenty tones ;
the seventy-two colors of the chromatic table above indicated, give,

_multiplied by twenty, ; E ’ : : . 1440 tones.
Each simple, or binary color, giving, besides, nine gam-
uts, each of which has twenty tones, we have . aij, AB SOD., 4
Add the differences [degradations] from black to white,
which give twenty-one tones, . ‘ ; : ‘ 2) a
We have a total of tones, . . 14,421

By the aid of this table any one can designate in future any and all
colors imaginable, whether applicable to printing, painting, or any
other object ; in chemistry, the colors of all substances, precipitates,
&e., can be defined witha precision which until now has been impossi-
ble ; and in natural history the colors of living animals, their changes
at different periods of their life, and the colors of their different varie-
ties, can be ascertained with the last precision. For example, M.
Chevreuil states that in the violet there are twenty-eight colors, and in
the dahlia forty-two.

c
POLARIZATION OF THE CHEMICAL RAYS EXISTING IN SOLAR LIGHT.

Ir is well known that physicists have found in the solar spectrum,
produced by means of a good prism, three orders of relations, which
are in part superposed, the calorific, the colorific or luminous, and the
chemical. The rays of the two first orders are susceptible of polariza-
tion, and consequently of extinction. The chemical rays, however, have
not until quite recently been examined in this respect. Professor E.
Wartman, of Geneva, Switzerland, has, during the past year, shown
that, like the rays of heat and light, the chemical ray is susceptible
of polarization and of complete extinguishment. The conditions under
which the experiment was effected were similar to those ordinarily
made use of in polarization, an exquisitely sensitive daguerreotype
being the test.

ARAGO ON POLARIZED LIGHT.

A PAPER was recently read before the French Academy, by M. Arago,
relative to his further researches on light.* The following is an ab-
stract: ‘‘Up to the present time no means haye been furnished of
measuring the quantities of polarized light contained in a ray reflected
by a surface which does not completely polarize the light. M. Arago,
by employing a pile of glass plates, placed so as to incline suitably on
the track ofa reflected ray, so as to obtain neutral light, has found that
at an equal number of degrees above and below the angle of maximum
polarization, the proportion of polarized light contained in a ray was
the same ; a fact which has enabled him to determine the angle of the
maximum polarization of certain metals, such, for instance, as steel and.

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, pp. 187, 189, 140.
I}

123 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

mercury, and thence to deduce, by the well known law of Brewster,
the index of the refraction of these substances, which he found to be
two for steel and four for mercury. This method does not give the
quantity of polarized light, but the relative proportion between that
quantity and the total light. To modify the process so as to render it
suitable for that purpose, it is essential to commence by the gradua-
tion of the pile of glass plates, in order to ascertain for a given inci-
dence what was the quantity of polarized light which the glass plates
neutralized. By causing a completely polarized ray to fall on a plate
of rock-crystal, perpendicular to its axis, in such a manner that the
principal section of the crystal coincides with the primitive plane of
polarization, we have, on turning the plate, two images, varying in
intensity according to the lawof the square of the cosine, but which,
from the thinness of the plate, entirely superpose on each other. These
two images are polarized in two perpendicular planes, and form neutral
light, by their superposition, as long as the quantity of light is equal
in the two; but if this quantity happens to vary in either one of the
images, the other, having all its light neutralized, will leave a certain
residue of polarized light, which the pile of glass plates will entirely
obliterate. The green color observed in light, when it is obliged to
traverse a greater thickness of glass than ten plates, has prevented M.
Arago, up to the present time, from extending the limits of the table
for representing the quantities of polarized ight; but they hope, that
by using very transparent glass, having oxide of zine for its basis,
which they are at present occupied in preparing, that they shall be
able to extend the table considerably. This process of polarimetry will
allow of our measuring the quantity of light reflected and refracted at
great angles, which the usual phometetric method was always found,
by M. Arago, incapable of effecting.

ON THE HYPOTHESES RELATING TO THE LUMINOUS THER, AND AN EX-
PERIMENT DEMONSTRATING THAT THE MOTION OF BODIES ALTERS THE
VELOCITY WITH WHICH LIGHT PROPAGATES ITSELF IN THEIR INTERIOR.

Tue following important communication was read to the French
Academy, by M. Fizeau :

Many hypotheses have been proposed to account for the phenomena
of aberration in accordance with the undulatory theory ; but from the
want of any definite ideas as. to the properties of the luminous ether,
and its relations to ponderable matter, none of them can be considered
as strictly proved. These various hypotheses may be reduced to three
principal ones. They refer to the state in which the ether existing in
transparent bodies may be considered to be.

Ist. This ether is either adherent, and as it were attached to the
molecules of bodies, and, consequently, participates in the motions to
which the bodies may be subjected; 2d. The sether is free and inde-
pendent, and is not influenced by the motions of bodies; 3d. Only a
portion of the ether is free, the other portion being attached to the
molecules of bodies, and participating in their motion. This latter

~

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 123

hypothesis was proposed by Fresnel, and constructed for the purpose of
equally satisfying the phenomena of aberration, and an experiment of
Arago, by which it has been proved that the motion of the earth has
no influence upon the refraction which the light of the stars suffers in
a prism.

We may determine the value which in each of these hypotheses it is
necessary to attribute to the velocity of light in bodies, when the bodies
are supposed to be in motion. If the ether is supposed to be wholly
carried with the body in motion, the velocity of light ought to be in-
creased by the whole velocity of the body, the ray being supposed to have
the same direction asthe motion. If the eether is not supposed to he
free and independent, the velocity of light ought not to be changed at
all. Lastly, if only one part of the ether is carried along, the velocity
of light would be increased, but only by a fraction of the velocity of the
body, and not, as in the first hypothesis, by the whole velocity. Although
the velocity of light is enormous comparatively to such as we are able
to impart to bodies, we are at the present time in possession of means
of observation, of such extreme delicacy, that it seems possible to de-
termine, by direct experiment, what is the real influence of the motion
of bodies upon the velocity of light. We are indebted to M. Arago
for a method, based upon the phenomena of interference, which is capa-
ple of indicating the most minute variations in the index of refraction
of bodies. It is by adopting the same principle, and joining the double
tube of M. Arago to the conjugate telescopes, which were employed
for determining the absolute velocity of light, that I have been able to
study directly, in two mediums, the effects of the motion of a body upon
the light which traverses it.* .

I will now endeavor to describe what was the course of the light in
the experiment. From the focus of a cylindrical lens, the solar rays

enetrated almost immediately into the first telescope by a lateral open-
ing very near to its focus. A transparent mirror, the plane of which
made an angle of 45° with the axis of the telescope, reflected the rays
in the direction of the object-glass. On leaving the object-glass, the
rays, haying become parallel among themselves, encountered a double
chink, each opening of which corresponded to the mouth of one of the
tubes. A very narrow bundle of rays thus penetrated into each tube,
and traversed its entire length. The two bundles, always parallel to
each other, reached the object-glass of the second telescope, were then
refracted, and by the effect of the refraction retinited again at its focus.
They there encountered the reflecting plane of a mirror, perpendicular
to the axis of the telescope, and underwent a reflection back again
towards the object-glass ; but, by the effects of this reflection, the rays
had changed their route in such a way, that that which was to the
right before was to the left after reflection, and vice versa. After having
again passed the object-glass, and been thus rendered parallel to each
other, they penetrated a second time into the tubes; but as they were
inverted, those which had passed though one tube in going, passed
through the other on returning. After their second transit through

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, pp. 145-6 ; 1851, 137-8.

124 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the tubes, the two bundles again passed the double chinks, reéntered
the first telescope, and lastly intersected at its focus in passing across
the transparent mirror. There they formed the fringes of interference,
which were observed by a glass carrying a graduated scale at its focus.
It was necessary that the fringes should be very large, in order to be
able to measure the small fractions of the width of a fringe. I have
found that that result is obtained, and a great intensity of light main-
tained, by placing before one of the chinks a thick mirror, which is
inclined in such a way as to see the two chinks, by the eflect of refrac-
tion, as if they were nearer to each other than they really are. It is
in this way possible to give various dimensions to the width of the
fringes, and to choose that which is most convenient for observation.
The double transit of the light was for the purpose of augmenting the
distance traversed in the medium in motion, and further to compensate
entirely any accidental difference of temperature or pressure between
the two tubes, which would be mingled with the displacement which
the motion alone would haye produced, and thus have rendered the
observation of it uncertain.

It is, in fact, easy to see that, in this arrangement, all the points
situated in the path of one ray are equally in the path of the other;
so that any alteration of the density, in any point whatever, of the
transit, acts in the same manner upon the two rays, and cannot conse-
quently have any influence upon the position of the fringes. The com-
pensation may be satisfactorily shown to be complete, by placing a
thick mirror before one of the two chinks, or as well by filling only one
of the tubes with water, the other being full of air. Neither of. these
two experiments gives rise to the least alteration in the position of the
fringes. With regard to the motion, it is seen, on the contrary, that
the two rays are subject to opposite influences. If it is supposed that
in the tube situated to the right the water runs towards the observer,
that of the two rays which comes from the right will have traversed
the tube in the direction of the motion, while the ray coming from
the left will have passed in a direction contrary to that of the motion.
By making the water move in the two tubes at the same time, and in
contrary directions in each, it will be seen that the effect should be
doubled. This double current haying been produced, the direction
may be again reversed simultaneously in the two tubes, and the effect
would again be double.

All the movements of the water were produced in a very simple
manner, each tube being connected by two conduits, situated near
their extremities, with two reservoirs of glass, in which a pressure is
alternately exercised by means of compressed, air. By means of this
pressure the water passes from one reservoir to the other by traversing
the tube, the two extremities of which are closed by the mirrors. The
interior diameter of the tubes was five millimetres, their length one
metre and four tenths. The tubes were of glass. The pressure under
which the flowing of the water took place might have exceeded two
atmospheres. ‘he velocity was calculated by dividing the volume of
water running in one second by the area of the section of the tube.
Great care was taken to obviate the effects of the accidental motions

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 125

which the pressure or shock of the water might produce. Therefore,
the two tubes, and the reservoirs in which the motion of the water
was made, were sustained by supports independent of the apparatus,
and especially of the two lunettes ; it was, therefore, only the two tubes
which could suffer any accidental movement; but both theory and
practice haye proved that the motion or flexions of the tubes alone
were without influence upon the position of the frmges. The follow-
ing are the results obtained.

When the water is set in motion the fringes are displaced, and,
according as the water moves in one direction or the other, the dis-
placement takes place towards the right or the left. The fringes are dis-
placed towards the right when the water is running from the observer,
in the tube situated to his right, and towards the observer in the
tube situated to his left. The fringes are displaced towards the left
when the direction of the current in each tube takes place in a direc-
tion opposed to that which has just been described. With a velocity
of water equal to two metres per second, the displacement is already
very sensible ; with a velocity of four to seven metres it is perfectly
measurable. ;

After having demonstrated the existence of the phenomenon, I
endeavored to determine its numerical value with all the exactitude
which it was possible to obtain. By calling that the simple displace-
ment which was produced when the water, at rest in the commence-
ment, was set in motion, and that the double displacement which was
produced when the motion was changed to a contrary direction, it was
found that the average deduced from nineteen observations sufficiently
concurring, was 0.23 for the simple displacement, which gives 0.46 for
the double displacement, the width of a fringe to be taken as unity.
The velocity of the water was 7.09 metres per second.

The results were afterwards compared with those which have been
deduced by calculation from the different hypotheses relative to the
ether. According to the supposition that the ether is entirely free
and independent of the motion of bodies, the displacement ought to be
null.

According to the hypothesis which considers the ether united to
the molecules of matter in such a way as to participate in its motions,
calculation gives for the double displacement the value 0.92. Experi-
ment gave a number only half as great, or 0.46.

According to the hypothesis by which the eether is partially carried .
along, the hypothesis of Fresnel, calculation gives 0.40, that is to say,
a number very near to that which was found by experiment ; and the
difference between the two values would very probably be still less, if
it had been possible to introduce into the calculation of the velocity of
the water, a correction which had to be neglected from the want of.
sufficiently precise data, and which refers to the unequal velocity of
the different threads of fluid. By estimating the value of that correc-
tion in the most,probable manner, it is seen that it tends to augment
a Liste the theoretical value, and approach the value of the observed
result.

An experiment similar to that which I have just described, had been

LE

126 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC~ DISCOVERY.

made previously with air in motion, and I have demonstrated that the
motion of the air does not produce any sensible displacement in the
motion of the fringes. In the circumstances in which that experiment
was made, and with a velocity of 25 metres a second, which was that
of the motion of the air, it is found that according to the hypothesis
by which the ether is considered to be carried along with the bodies,
the double displacement ought to be 0.82. According to the hypothe-
sis of Fresnal, the same displacement ought to be only 0.000465, that
is to say, entirely imperceptible. Thus the apparent immobility of the
fringe in the experiment made with air in motion is completely in
accordance with the theory of Fresnel. It was after haying demon-
strated this negative fact, and while seeking for an explanation
by the different hypotheses relating to the ether in such a way as to
satisfy at the same time the phenomena of aberration and the experi-
ment of M. Arago, that it appeared to me to be necessary to admit
with Fresnel that the motion of a body occasions an alteration in the
velocity of light, and that this alteration of velocity is greater or less
for different mediums, according to the energy with which those
mediums refract light, so that it is considerable in bodies which are
strongly refractive, and very feeble in those which refract but little,
as the air. It follows from this, that if the fringes are not dis-
placed when light traverses air in motion, there should, on the con-
trary, be a sensible displacement if made with water, the index of
refraction of which is very much greater than that of air. The suc-
cess of the experiment seems to me to render the adoption of Fresnel’s
hypothesis necessary, or at least the law which he found for the
expression of the alteration of the velocity of light by the effect of mo-
tion of a body ; for, although that law being found true may be a very
strong proof in favor of the hypothesis of which it is only a conse-
quence, perhaps the conception of Fresnel may appear so extraordi-
nary, and in some respects so difficult to admit, that other proofs and a
profound examination on the part of geometricians will still be neces-
sary before adopting it as an expression of the real facts of the case.—
Comptes Rendus, Sept. 1851.

HELIOCHROMY, OR DAGUERREOTYPES IN COLORS.

From the time of the discovery of the Daguerreotype, unceasing ef-
forts have been made by scientific men to produce photographic pic-
tures in which the various natural colors of objects might be faithfull
represented. M. Becquerel, in experiments made in 1849-50,* suc-
ceeded so far, as to be able to transfer to a metallic plate the colors
of the prismatic spectrum in great brilliancy. These colors, however,
could not be rendered permanent, and soon disappeared. During the
past year, however, the problem has been solved by M. Niépee, a dis-
tinguished French photographer, and nephew of the celebrated Niépee,
who, in connection with Daguerre, discovered the Daguerreotype. ‘The
process by which this has been effected, has received the name of Helio-
chromy, or sun-painting, and although still imperfect, is of the highest

*See Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1851, p. 150.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 127

scientific interest. In order to a more full understanding of the subject,
we copy, from the London Art Journal, the memoir presented to the
French Academy, by M. Niépce, prefaced by some introductory remarks
by Robert Hunt, well known for his photographic researches.

For the perfect understanding of the results obtained, it is necessary
that the chromatic conditions of a decomposed sunbeam should be
clearly appreciated and the relation of the colored image to the chemical.
effects obtained distinctly understood. A pencil of light is passed
through a prism, and we obtain an elongated image consisting of a
beautifully colored set of bands. There are three primaries, red, yellow
and blue, which by intercombination give rise to other tints, so that
altogether we are acquainted with nine colored rays — crimson, red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and lavender. The colors
of natural objects are produced by the decomposition of the rays of
light, this being effected by some peculiar surface action. Now, if we
expose a piece of photographic paper, or a daguerreotype plate, to the
action of this spectrum, or to the radiations from colored surfaces, we
shall find that the chemical effect has no relation to the intensity of
light belonging to the colored ray. Forexample, supposing the colored
image of the nine rays to fall upon a sensitive tablet, the result is of
the following curious character :— One of the red rays protects the paper
from all change, the other usually makes a red impression ; the orange
and yellow rays have no chemical action, though these have the most
illuminating power. The chemical action commences in the green
ray, rapidly increases in energy in the blue, and exerts its maximum
power over the space coyered by the indigo, violet, and lavender, still
continuing with much energy over a space beyond the lavender in
which no light can be detected. It was upon the consideration of these
peculiarities, clearly proving that ordinarily there was a remarkable
want of agreement between the actinic power of the sunbeam and the
chromatic phenomena depending upon it, that M. Biot wrote the fol-
lowing passage :

‘‘ Substances of the same tint may present, in the quantity or the
nature of the radiations which they reflect, as many diversities, or
diversities of the same order, as substances of a different tint ; inversely,
they may be similar in their property of reflecting chemical radiations
when they are dissimilar to the eye; so that the difference of tint
which they present to the eye may entirely disappear in the chemical
picture. These are difficulties inherent in the formation of photo-
graphic pictures, and they show, I think, evidently, the illusion of the
experimenters who hope to reconcile, not only the intensity but the
tints of the chemical impressions, produced by radiation, with the
colors of the objects from which these rays emanate.”’

These are the natural suggestions of the mind when merely consid-
ering the ordinary phenomena of the chemical action of the solar
spectrum. But color is the result of a peculiar condition of the surface,
and if the different rays produce a dissimilar molecular or chemical
change, there is no reason why the result should not be the production
of chromatic impressions. The yellow rays produce a small amount
of chemical action, but that may result in such a molecular arrange-

128 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ment as will determine the reflection of yellow light, and so of the other
rays. In fact, in 1840, Sir John Herschel published an account of
some experiments in which the production of color was very evident ;
and on paper prepared with a brown vegetable juice, he obtained an
impression of the spectrum, colored. from end to end, the color of each
ray being impressed in the natural order. To Becquerel, is, however,
certainly due.the discovery of the mode of preparing a metallic plate
in such a manner as to produce a tablet susceptible of chromatic im-
pressions. This was effected about two years since ; his process con-
sisting essentially in the formation of chloride of silver, or probably
of a sub-chloride, upon a metal plate. In the camera-obscura, highly
colored images were copied, and the copies gave colors of a natural
character. In this way, however, only large masses of color, as the
colors of a geographical map, were copied, and impressions of the spec
trum obtained.

The memoir of M. Niépce, before the French Academy, is entitled,
‘The relation existing between the colors of certain colored flames,
with the Heliographic images colored by light.”’

When a plate of silver is plunged into a solution of sulphate of cop-
per and chloride of sodium at the same time that it is rendered electro-
positive by means of the voltaic battery, the chloride formed becomeg
susceptible of coloration, when, having been withdrawn from the bath,
it receives the influence of light. This was the discovery of Becquerel.
M. Niépce had been led to think that a relation existed between the
color communicated by a body to a flame, and the color developed upon
a plate of silver, which should have been chloridated with the body
which colors this flame. The bath in which the plate of silver was
plunged, was formed of water saturated with chlorine, to which was
added a chloride possessing the property of coloring flame.

It is well known that strontian gives a purple color to flames in gen-
eral, and to that of alcohol in particular. Ifwe prepare a plate of silver
and pass it into water saturated with chlorine, to which is added some
chloride of strontian, and when thus prepared we place upon it a colored
design, of red and other colors, and then expose it to the sunshine, after
s1X or seven minutes we shall perceive that the colors of the image are
reproduced upon the plate, but the reds much more decidedly than the
others. When we would produce successfully the other rays of the
solar spectrum, we operate in the same manner we haye indicated for
the red ray, employing for the orange the chloride of calcium, or that
of uranium for the yellow, or hypochlorite of soda, or the chloride of
sodium and potassium. If we plunge a plate of silver in the chlorine
liquid, or if we expose the plate to the vapor, we obtain all the colors
by the light, but the yellow only with any degree of veracity. Very
fine yellows have been obtained with a bath composed of water slightly
acidulated with hydrochloric acid with a salt of copper. The green
rays are obtained with boracic acid, or the chloride of nickel ; also with
all the salts of copper. ‘The blue rays are obtained with the double
chloride of copper and ammonia. Indigo rays are obtained with the
same. The violet rays aro obtained with the chloride of strontia and
the sulpnate of copper.

‘

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 129

All the substances which give colored fames, give also colored images
by the light. If we take any of the substances which do not give color
to the flame, we do not obtain colored images by the light; we pro-
duce upon the plate a negative image, composed merely of black and
white, as in the ordinary photographs. Those substances which give
white flames, as the chlorides of antimony, lead and zine, yield no color
by luminous action. All the colors of the picture have been produced
by preparing a bath composed of the deuto-chloride of copper ; this
salt thrown into burning alcohol produces a variegated flame, accord-
ing to the intensity of the fire ; and it is nearly the same with all the
salts of copper mixed with chlorine. If we puta salt of copper in
chlorine liquid, we obtain a very sensitive surface bya single immer-
sion ; but the result of this mixture is seldom good. I prefer taking the
deuto-chloride of copper, to which I add three or four pounds of water ;
this bath gives good results. A mixture of equal parts of chloride of
copper and chloride of iron, with three or four parts of water, is, how-
ever, the best. The chloride of iron has, like that of copper, the prop-
erty of being impressed on the plate of silver, and of producing many
colors ; but they are infinitely more feeble, and the yellow always pre-
dominates ; this agrees with the yellow color produced in flame by
chloride of iron. If we form a bath, composed of all the substances
which separately give a dominant color, we obtain very lively colors ;
but the great difficulty is the mixing in proper proportions, for it
happens, nearly always, that some colors are found excluded by others.
By care, however, we ought to arrive at the reproduction of all the
colors. There exist many difficulties, more indeed than in any of the
ordinary processes of photography. We cannot always depend upon
obtaining the same results with the same materials, owing principally
to the difficulty of preserving the solution at a uniform strength.
Liquid chlorine is necessary ; the application of dry chlorine will not
produce the same result. The action of heat upon these prepared

lates is, in some respects, analogous to the effects of light. By warm-
ing a plate over a spirit-lamp, we produce successfully the following
tints : brown red, a cerise red, scarlet, and red having a whitish tint.
Numerous experiments have been made by M. Niépce to produce the
colors upon the salts of silver and copper spread on. paper, but hitherto
without success ; a metallic plate of silver — the plated copper answers
—must be employed. Iodine and bromine, and their salts, have been
tried, but they will not produce a surface capable of developing colors.
Chlorine, in the state of chlorates or chlorides, is the only substance
which possesses the property of being colored by light, when chemi-
cally combined with metallic silver.

The mode of operating recommended is, to form a bath with one
fourth by weight of the chloride, and three fourths of water. When
the muriatic acid is used with a salt of copper, we must add one tenth
of water. When the bath is composed of several substances, it is
essential to filter the solution carefully, so as to obtain very transparent
solutions, and it must be preserved in a well-stoppered bottle. The
quantity necessary to prepare two or more plates should always be
taken, because the bath is weakened considerably at each operation ;

130 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

it can, however, be rendered active by the addition of a few drops of
muriatic acid. The purer the silver employed, the more perfect is the
impression, and the more intense the colors.

‘The plate being very highly polished, which is best effected by
Tripoli powder and ammonia, is connected with the battery, and then
plunged into the bath, and kept there for some minutes ; it is then
taken from the bath, washed in a large quantity of water, and dried
over a spirit-lamp. ‘The surface thus produced is a dull neutral tint,
often almost black, and, upon exposing it to the light, the colors are
produced by removing the blackness ; the surface is, in fact, eaten out in
colors. 'The sensibility of the plate appears to be increased by the
action of heat, and when brought by the spirit-lamp to the cerise red
color, it is in its most sensitive state. At present, however, the plate
cannot be rendered very sensitive, two or three hours being required to
produce a decided effect in the camera-obscura. It is, however,
already found that the fluoride of sodium will very much accelerate the
operation.

The fixation of the colored image is, however, still a point of con-
siderable difficulty, and, although a certain degree of permanence has
been recovered, the colors fade out by exposure and eventually pass away.
A kind of lacquer appears to have been applied to the plates we have
seen, and ordinary diffused light does not seem to produce much change
upon them.

Such is an outline of the researches of M. Niépce, as communicated
by him to the Academy of Sciences. He is still zealously occupied in
the inquiry, and will soon, we trust, be enabled to communicate some
yet more important results. The problem is, however, solyed ; we can
produce pictures by the agency of the solar beam in natural colors;
that principle which gives to the exterior creation the charm of color,
will so regulate the chemical agency of the actinic power with which
it is associated, that, on properly prepared surfaces, the images are
painted in their native hues.

The following description of the pictures executed by M. Niépce, and
exhibited in England, is from the London Athenzeum : —‘‘ The three
heliochromes now in London are copies of colored engravings, repre-
senting, the one a female dancer, the others male figures in fancy cos-
tumes ; every color of the original being most faithfully impressed on
the prepared silver tablet. The female figure has a red silk dress, with
purple trimming and white lace. ‘The flesh tints, the red, the purple,
and the white, are well preserved in the copy. One of the male figures
is remarkable for the delicacy of its delineation :—here blue, red,
white and pink are perfectly impressed. The third picture is injured
in some parts, but is, from the number of colors which it contains, the
most remarkable of all. Red, blue, yellow, green, and white are dis-
tinctly marked ; and the intensity of the yellow is very striking.”’

The Hillotype. — Much has been said, during the past year, respecting
a discovery claimed by Rey. Mr. Hill, of Greene county, N. Y., of pro-
ducing daguerreotypes with the natural colors of the object represented.
The statements made by Mr. Hill and friends, not being confirmed by
anything tangible, the New York Daguerrian Association appointed a

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 131

committee to visit him and investigate the alleged discovery. They
report, ‘‘ that not only has Mr. Hill deluded many professors in the
daguerrian art, but that he has deluded himself thoroughly and com-
pletely — that the origin of the discovery was a delusion —that the
assumed progress and improvement of it was a delusion — and that the
only thought respecting it, in which there is no delusion, is for every
one to abandon any possible faith in Mr. Hill’s abilities to produce
natural colors in daguerreotypes — of which the whole history has been
an unmitigated delusion.”’

IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Enamel for Daguerreotypes.— A plan has been invented and per-
fected by Mr. Beard, of London, for coating the surface of the daguer-
reotype with a kind of transparent enamel, which effectually excludes
the air, renders a glass unnecessary, and permits, moreover, the applica-
tion of color more effectually than by any mode previously attempted.

Photography on Glass. — A new process has been discovered by M.
Martens, of Paris, by which photographic negatives may be taken on
glass, and afterwards transferred to paper on an increased scale, by
means of alens. The value of this process is enhanced by the capac-
ity to enlarge, by the application of a magnifying power, the dimen-
sions of the image produced on the negative plate. In this way,
without creating to the traveller the embarrassment of extra luggage,
he may make his negatives on as small a scale as may be convenient,
— reserving to himself the choice of producing, at a future time, pos-
itives of such dimensions as he may desire. Tor topography and for
the transcription of the peculiarities and minute details of architecture
and costume, this discovery will prove of great value.

A writer in the London Athenzeum, speaking of the pictures pro-
duced by this process, says, ‘‘ There are in the impressions resulting
from this process a clearness and a sharpness of definition in the archi-
tectural subjects such as we have neyer before seen. In a view of the
portico of the Madaleine, as seen from the Rue Royale, the details of
the tympanum, the frieze, the capitals, the bases, the shafts, the in-
scriptions, and the bas-reliefs, seen through a magnifying glass at our
side, are extraordinary. The rendering of the bas-relief in the pedi-
ment is most perfect. Two views of the Salle de la Convention are
marvellous to the naked eye: through the lens they reveal details which
will provoke the admiration of the architect. The artist may throw
down his brush in despair. No human eye or hand could trace
from the objects themselves, within any moderate degree of accuracy,
such details.”

Instantaneous Photographic Images. — Mr. Fox Talbot, well known
for his discoveries in photography, writes to the Royal Society, June,
as follows :—‘‘ Having recently met with a photographie process of
great sensibility, I was desirous of trying whether it were possible to
obtain a truly instantaneous representation of an object in motion.
The experiment was conducted in the following manner : — A printed

“ paper was fixed upon a circular disc, which was then made to revolve

isp ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

on its axis as rapidly as possible. When it had attained its greatest
velocity, an electric battery was discharged in front of the disc, light-
ing it up witha momentary flash. A camera, containing a very sensi-
tive plate of glass, had been placed in a suitable position, and on
opening this after the discharge, an image was found of a portion of
the words printed on the paper. They were perfectly well-defined and
wholly unaffected by the motion of the disc.

«<The mode of preparing the plates was as follows :—1. Take the most
liquid portion of the white of an egg, rejecting the rest. Mix it with
an equal quantity of water. Spread it very evenly upon a plate of
glass, and dry it at the fire. A strong heat may be used without
injuring the plate. The film of dried albumen ought to be uniform and
nearly invisible. 2. To an aqueous solution of nitrate of silver add a
considerable quantity of alcohol, so that an ounce of the mixture may
contain three grains of the nitrate. I have tried various proportions,
from one to six grains, but perhaps three grains answer best. More
experiments are here required, since the results are much influenced
by this part of the process. 38. Dip the plate into this solution, and
then let it dry spontaneously. Faint prismatic colors will then be
seen upon the plate. It is important to remark, that the nitrate of
silver appears to form a true chemical combination with the albumen,
rendering it much harder, and insoluble in liquids which dissolved it
previously. 4. Wash with distilled water to remove any superfluous
portions of the nitrate of silver. Then give the plate a second coating
of albumen similar to the first ; but, in drying it, avoid heating it too
much, which would cause a commencement of decomposition of the
silver. 5. To an aqueous solution of prot-iodide of iron add first an
equal volume of acetic acid, and then ten volumes of alcohol. Allow
the mixture to repose two or three days. At the end of that time it
will have changed color, and the odor of acetic acid, as well as that of
alcohol, will have disappeared, and the liquid will have acquired a
peculiar but agreeable vinous odor. It is in this state that I prefer to
employ it. 6. Into the iodide thus prepared and modified the plate is
dipped for a few seconds. All these operations may be performed by
moderate daylight, avoiding, however, the direct solarrays.. 7. A solu-
tion is made of nitrate of silver, containing about 70 grains to one
ounce of water. ‘To three parts of this add two of acetic acid. Then,
if the prepared plate is rapidly dipped once or twice into this solution,
it acquires a very great degree of sensibility, and it ought then to be
placed in the camera without much delay. 8. The plate is withdrawn
from the camera, and, in order to bring out the image, it is dipped into
a solution of protosulphate of iron, containing one part of the saturated
solution diluted with two or three parts of water. The image appears
very rapidly. 9. Having washed the plate with water, it is now
placed in a solution of hyposulphite of soda ; which, in about a minute,
causes the image to brighten up exceedingly, by removing a kind of
veil which previously covered it. 10. The plate is then washed with
distilled water, and the process is terminated. In order, however, to
guard against future accidents, it is well to give the picture another
coating of albumen or of varnish.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. B53)

«‘ These operations may appear long in the description, but they are
rapidly enough executed after a little practice.”

To the images obtained by this new process, Mr. Talbot has applied
the term amphitypes, because they appear either positive or negative,
according to the circumstances of light under which they are viewed.
Thus, if held against a bright light, or against a sheet of white paper,
they appear negative, and the reverse when held against a black sur-
face and seen in oblique reflected light.

New Process for copying from Engravings.— A new process for
copying engravings has been discovered by M. Niépce, of France. It
consists in submitting the engraving to the vapor of iodine (at a tem-
perature of 15° or 20° C.) for about two minutes ; a longer time is
necessary, if the temperature be less elevated ; ten grammes of iodine
to be used per square of four inches. The paper intended to receive
the impression is to be covered with a coat of paste, taking care pre-
viously to have it moistened with water containing one part of pure
sulphuric acid. The proofs, after being pressed with a linen cloth,
present a design of admirable purity. Those impressions taken on
paste will, however, in drying, become vaporous; but, if taken on
paper, prepared with one or two layers of starch, the design will not
only be clear, but will preserve much better. What is most extraor-
dinary is that many impressions may be taken from the same print
without submitting it to a new preparation, the last proofs being
always the clearest. Designs of various colors may thus be obtained,
according as the paste is more or less boiled, or according to the quan-
tity of acid used. Proofs may also be taken on different metals, by
observing the following precautions. In submitting the engraving to
the vapor of iodine, care should be taken to have it perfectly dry, in
order that the white portions of it may become impregnated. In this
case it should be exposed but a few minutes to the vapor. Let it be
afterwards applied, without wetting it, to a plate of silver, and then
placed under a press; at the end of five or six minutes there will be a
most faithful reproduction of the original. By afterwards exposing the
plate to the vapor of mercury, a proof similar to that of a daguerreo-
type is obtained.

MM. Cuenisson and Trrrem. haye presented to the French Academy
a method of obtaining daguerreotype impressions on metallic surfaces, free
from the usual mirror-like appearances, which destroy, to a considerable
extent, the artistical effect. The process consists in submitting the
impression, after washing in the hypo-sulphate of soda solution, to the
action of very weak aqua regia, which transforms the amalgam, pro-
ducing the white parts of the impression, into chlorides of silver and
mercury unalterable to the action of the light, and which produces on
the dark parts a chloride of silver, susceptible of alteration under the
influence of light. After this operation the harmony of tints is pre-
seryed, and the image fixed, as if by chloride of gold.

Gutta Percha in Photography. — My. Fry. of England, has greatly
improved the process of obtaining pictures on glass, by the addition of
gutta percha to collodion—gun-cotton dissolved in ether. This is
employed with the ordinary materials for the processes on glass, the

12

~_

!

134 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

picture being developed by pyro-gallic acid. The extraordinary sen-
sibility of this preparation may be inferred from the fact, that a posi-
tive copy, from a glass negative, has been obtained in five seconds by
gas-light. The film formed on glass is far more adherent than the ordi-
nary collodion or albumen.

Hyalotype. — A new process of taking photographs upon glass has
been invented by Messrs. Langenheim, of Philadelphia. The most
interesting application of this discovery is stated to be the formation
of pictures upon magic-lantern slides, taken from nature by the camera
obscura, without the aid of pencil or brush. These pictures are pre-

ared by the action of light alone ; and the smallest details are deline-
ated on the glass with astonishing fidelity. When these slides are
magnified in the magic lantern, they give a perfect representation of
nature, and are perfectly free from all those defects and inaccuracies
existing in the old slides, which can never be avoided in painting upon
so small a scale.

IMPROVEMENTS IN CAMERAS FOR DAGUERREOTYPES.

M. Evrarp, of Paris, in experimenting on the proper form of the
camera, as used for taking daguerreotypes, has ascertained, contrary to
what has heen the opinion heretofore on the subject, that the black
coating inside of all the cameras now used, to prevent the reflection of
light, lessens the photogenic action on the prepared plate or paper.
He has, therefore, lined the sides of his camera with white paper, and
given the interior of his tube a white coat, at the extremities of which
are the two object-glasses. With the above alterations in his instru-
ment, he has experimented on the silver plate, albumenized glass, and
on paper, and he states that the image forms in one half the time
required in the blackened camera; that it is formed by light insuf-
ficient to give an image in the usual camera; that the action is more
uniform — the light parts not disappearing before the shaded parts are
fully impressed — and there is far less resistance to photogenic action
in red, yellow, and green colors.

Sir David Brewster, in noticing in a late publication this discovery
of Evrard, remarks : — ‘‘ It is not easy to explain the results obtained
by M. Evrard; the effect of internal light on the negative must be to
darken the whole of the negative paper, and, consequently, to accele-
rate the production of all the lines which constitute the picture ; but
if the light acts equally upon the dark lines when they are darkening,
as it does upon the light parts, the depth of color of the black lines
cannot be increased, because the depth of the ground on which they
are drawn is equally increased. The internal light must, therefore,
darken the dark parts of the negative more than the light parts. It is
obvious that the internal light scattered over the negative cannot be
uniform. It would, therefore, he better to keep the camera black, as
hitherto, and to admit light through one or more apertures, so as to
illuminate equally the surface of the negative. This might be done
either through ground glass or paper, or by reflection from any white

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 135

surface. It would be curious to try lights of different colors, and to
see if the process could not be accelerated by exposing the negative
paper to a certain quantity of light, either after it has received a faint
picture, or before it is placed in the camera. If M. Evrard’s results
are correct, there must be some new principle called into play by the
supplementary light assisting the natural light from the object.’ —
Daguerrean Journal.

DAGUERREOTYPES OF THE SUN AND MOON.

Dorie the past season, Mr. J. A. Whipple, of Boston, aided by
Mr. Bond, of the Cambridge Observatory, has succeeded in taking sey-
eral large and beautiful daguerreotype likenesses of the moon, as seen
by a high power, under the great equatorial of the Observatory. We
have rarely seen anything in the range of the daguerreotype art of so
great beauty, delicacy, and perfectness, as the pictures referred to.
The inequalities and striking peculiarities of the moon’s surface are
brought out with such distinctness, that the various mountain ranges,
highlands, and isolated peaks are at once recognized. Crater-formed
depressions in some of the mountains may be also seen. ‘The views
represent the moon at quarter and half-quarter, and are from three to
four inches in length. Mr. Whipple, with the aid of Mr. Bond, suc-
ceeded in daguerreotyping the solar eclipse of July, in its various
stages ; and also the sun’s disk, with the various spots which appeared
upon its surface in the spring of 1851. Several of these daguerreo-
types were exhibited at the American and British Associations, and
also at the Great Industrial Exhibition, where a medal was awarded
to Mr. Whipple. — Editor.

NEW ELLIPTIC ANALYZER.

A new instrument, constructed for the purpose of investigating ex-
perimentally the nature of elliptically polarized light, that is to say,
the elements of the ellipse described, has been invented by Professor
Stokes, of England. In its exhibition before the British Association,
Prof. Stokes said, that, in its construction, he had aimed at being, in
all important points, independent of the instrument-maker, assuming
nothing but the accuracy of the graduation. The construction was as
follows : — A brass rim, or thick annulus, is fixed on a stand, so as to
have its plane vertical. A brass circle, graduated to degrees, turns
round within the annulus, and the angle through which it is turned is
read by verniers engraved on the face of the annulus. The brass circle
is pierced at its centre, and carries on the side turned towards the inci-
dent light a plate of selenite, of such a thickness as to produce a differ-
ence of retardation in the oppositely polarized pencils, amounting to
about a quarter of an undulation for rays of mean refrangibility. The
brass circle carries a projecting collar on the side next the eye, and,
round this collar there turns a movable collar carrying verniers, and
destined to receive a Nicol’s prism. The observation consists in extin-
guishing the light by a combination of the two movements. The

136 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

retarding plate converts the elliptically polarized light, which has to be
examined, into plane polarized ; and this plane polarized light is extin-
guished by the Nicol’s prism. There are two distinct positions of the
retarding plate and the Nicol’s prism in which this takes place. In
each of these principal positions the retarding plate and the Nicol’s
prism may be reversed (2. e., turned through 180°), and the means of
the readings in these four subsidiary positions may be taken for greater
accuracy. The readings of the fixed and movable verniers in each of
the two principal positions are four quantities given by observation,
which determine four unknown quantities ; namely, 1. The index error
of the fixed verniers, or which comes to the same, the azimuth of the
major axis of the ellipse described by the particles of sther, measured
from a plane fixed in the graduated circle. 2. The ratio of the axis of
the ellipse. 38. The index error of the movable verniers. 4. The re-
tardation due to the retarding plate. The unknown are determined
from the known quantities, by certain simple formule given by the
author. The author stated that he had made a good many observa-
tions with this instrument for the sake of testing its performance, and
that he had found it very satisfactory. Inasmuch as light is not homo-
geneous, the illumination never vanishes, but only passes through a
minimum, and in passing through the minimum the tint changes rap-
idly. This change of tint is at first somewhat perplexing ; but, after
a little practice, the observer is able to know it mainly by intensity,
taking notice of the tint as an additional check against errors of obser-
vation. The accuracy of the observations is a little increased by the
use of rather pale-colored glasses. To give an idea of the degree of
accuracy of which the instrument is susceptible, suppose the ratio of
the axes of the ellipse described to be about three to one. In this case
the author found that the mean error of single observations amounted
to about a quarter or the fifth part of a degree in the determination of
the azimuth, three or four thousandths in the determination of the
ratio of the minor to the major axis, and about the thousandth part of
an undulation in the determination of the retardation. On account
of the accuracy with which the retardation is determined, and the
largeness of the chromatic variations to which it is subject, the instru-
ment may be considered as determining not only the elements of the
ellipse described, but also the refrangibility of the light employed, or
its length of wave, which corresponds to the refrangibility. The author
stated, that the error of the thousandth part of an undulation, to which
the determination of the retardation was subject, corresponded to an
error of only the twentieth or thirtieth part of the interval between the
fixed lines D and E of Fratinhofer.

ON THE APPARENT MOTION OF CERTAIN COLORED FIGURES.

Pror. Loomis, at the American Association, Albany, presented a
communication, relating to the apparent motions of certain colored fig-
ures, a phenomenon generally known under the name of the ‘‘ dancing
mice.’’ The phenomenon to be explained is this: — When a green
figure or stripe is worked on a red ground, and the card gently agitated,

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 137

a shade of lighter green appears to spread over the whole figure, and
overlap the surrounding red ground. A red stripe upon a green ground,
when agitated, appears of a lighter red on each margin, alternatel
with a deep-red wave, oscillating back and forth at each motion of the
eard. It has been suggested that the pile of the worsted, in which
these figures are generally wrought, was essentially connected with the
phenomena. This Prof. Loomis had found not to be the case. He
had experimented with cotton, silk, leather, and paper ; and in all had
succeeded in producing an effect similar to that with the worsted.
With the colors of natural objects, he had found that the red of certain
flowers, combined with certain green leaves, exhibited the effect in
question yery handsomely. The scarlet flower of the verbena, or

eranium, combined with green leaves of lettuce, succeeds beautifully.
These experiments appeared to him sufficiently varied to prove that the
effect in question is entirely independent of the material employed.
Color alone appears to be the essential circumstance. A particular
shade of color is required, and also a certain intensity. A brilliant
red, combined with a complementary color, will always produce the
required effect. A lustre or gloss upon the surface interferes some-
what with the effect, but does not entirely destroy it. Such a result
might have been anticipated, because the existence of gloss implies
that foreign light, (which, of course, is not homogeneous,) is reflected
from the surface in question, and mingles with the light emitted from
the body under experiment. Ofcourse the color of the body is changed,
or rendered less brilliant by this mixture. The conclusion arrived at
was, that the wave-like motion which passes over a small red figure,
upon a green ground, when gently agitated, is an effect of brilliant com-
plementary colors, and has no connection with the nature of the mate-
rial with which the color is associated.

These phenomena are believed to involve the following principles : —
1. The continuance of impressions on the retina. An impression made
on the retina lasts for an appreciable interval. When a bright colored
figure is agitated before the eye, it makes an impression upon a portion
of the retina larger than that covered by the figure at rest. Thus a green
figure upon a red ground, being agitated, appears to overlap the sur-
rounding red ground. 2. There is a partial and transient combination
of the complementary colors. While the impression of the central
color remains upon the retina, the same portion of the retina, in con-
sequence of the motion of the card, receives a new impression of the
surrounding complementary color; in other words, two colors, which
are complementary to each other, are impressed successively upon the
same part of the retina; the new impression being made while the
effect of the old one remains. These two colors partially combine to
produce — not white light — but a much brighter shade of the primi-
tive color. This explains the experiment with the green figure on a red
ground ; and it explains the brighter shade on the margin of the red
figure upon a green ground. But the red stripe upon the green ground
exhibits the remarkable peculiarity of a deep red wave oscillating from
one side to the other of the strip at each motion of the card. In order
to analyze this sihaintnonion- 1 tried the following experiment :—

ig

138 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

yeas

When I used a broad red stripe between two green ones, the change of
color was confined to the borders of the red, extending to a breadth of
about a quarter of an inch, a bright stripe appearing on the upper side
of the red when the figure was depressed, and on the lower side when
the figure was elevated. No change of appearance could be observed
in the intermediate red. Hence, when the red stripe is only-a half
inch in breadth, there is the appearance of a red wave transferred from
one edge to the opposite, at each motion of the card. If the red
stripe does not exceed a quarter of an inch in breadth, the effect is
much impaired, and if the stripe be reduced to less than one tenth of
an inch, the wave-like appearance ceases entirely, and the red stripe
appears constantly of a very pale red.

The following, then, is my opinion of the origin of this deep red
wave : — The red color appears to excite the retina more powerfully than
the green, and its impression is more durable. When, therefore, I
place a red stripe upon a green ground, and agitate it, the effect of the
green ground is confined to a narrow margin of the red stripe, not gener-
ally exceeding a quarter of an inch in breadth. Consequently, if the
red stripe is broad, say two or three inches, no peculiar effect is pro-
duced upon the central part; but a band of pale red, about a quarter
of an inch in extent, is seen on the two opposite margins alternately.
If the breadth of the red stripe does not exceed the tenth ofan inch, its
light is constantly blended with that of the surrounding green ; that is,
it appears constantly of a light shade, and there is no appearance of
a dark wave passing over it. When the breadth of the stripe is about
half an inch, the red and green colors are made to combine on the
opposite margins alternately ; the dark and the light bands succeed
each other on the same part of the stripe, and the appearance is that
of a wave-like motion. Thus, the two well known principles, first,
of the continuance of impressions on the retina, and, second, that
complementary colors combine to produce white light, appear to explain
the essential circumstances of the phenomena in question.

VELOCITY OF LIGHT.

On the subject of the velocity of light, and the probability that it
requires a certain time for its propagation, we find the earliest view
expressed by Francis Bacon, in the second book of the Noyum Or-
ganum. He speaks of the time required by a ray of light to traverse
the immensity of space, and throws out the question whether the stars
still exist which we now see sparkle. One is astonished at finding so
happy a conjecture in a work whose celebrated author was so far
below some of his contemporaries in mathematical, astronomical and
physical knowledge. The velocity of the reflected solar light was
measured by Romer, November, 1675, by comparison of the times of
occultation of Jupiter’s satellites, and the velocity of the direct light
of the fixed stars by Bradley’s great discovery of the aberration of
light, made in the autumn of 1727. In very recent times a third
method of measurement has been proposed by Arago, by the phenome-
non of the light of a variable star ; for example, Algol in Perseus. We

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 139

have toadd to these astronomical methods a terrestrial measurement,
which has recently been executed with great ingenuity and success by
M. Fizeau, in the neighborhood of Paris.* It recalls to recollection
an attempt of Galileo’s with two lanterns, which did not lead to any
result. From Romer’s first observations of Jupiter’s satellites, Hor-
rebow and Du Hamel estimated the time occupied in the passage of
light from the sun to the earth, at their mean distance apart, at 14’ 7”;
Cassini at 14’ 10”; Newton, which is very striking, much nearer to
the truth, at 7’ 30”. Delambre, by taking into account, among the
observations of his time, only those of the first satellite, found 8’ 137.2.
Encke has very justly remarked how important it would be, with the
certainty of obtaining the more accordant results which the present
perfection of telescopes would afford, to undertake a series of occulta-
tions of Jupiter’s satellites, for the express purpose of deducing the
velocity of light. From Bradley’s observations of aberration, recently
discovered by Rigaud, of Oxford, there follows, according to the inves-
tigation of Dr. Busch, of Konigsberg, for the passage of light from
the sun to the earth 8’ 12”.64; for the velocity of the light of the stars
167,976 geographical miles ina second; but from the more recent
aberration observations of Struve, made for eighteen months. with the
large transit instrument at Pulkowa, it appears that the first of these
numbers must be considerably increased. The result of Struve’s great
investigation is 8’ 17”, which gives for the velocity of light 166,196
geographical miles ina second; the probable error of this velocity
searcely amounts to eight geographical miles.

M. Fizeau has succeeded in executing a terrestrial measurement of
the velocity of light, by means of an ingeniously devised apparatus, in
which the artificial star, like the light of oxygen and hydrogen, is
returned to the point from whence it came by a mirror placed at the
distance of 8633 metres (28,324 English feet) ; a disc furnished with
720 teeth, which made 12.6 revolutions ina second, alternately stopped
the ray of light and allowed it to pass freely between the teeth of the
limb. From the indications of a counter, it was inferred that the arti-
ficial light traversed 17,266 metres (56,648 English feet), or twice the
distance between the stations, in one eighteen thousandth of a second
of time ; whence there results a velocity of 167,528 geographical
miles in a second. This result comes nearest to that of Delambre,
derived from Jupiter’s satellites, which is 167,976 geographical miles.
Direct observations, and ingenious considerations on the absence of
any alteration of color during the change of light of variable stars,
have led Arago to the conclusion that rays of light which have differ-
ent colors, and therefore very different lengths and rapidities of trans-
verse vibration, move through space with equal velocities ; but that in
the interior of the different bodies through which the colored rays pass,
their rates of propagation and their refractions are different. Arago’s
observations haye shown, that in the prism the refraction is not altered
by the relation which the velocity of light bears to that of the earth’s
motion. All the measurements accord in the result, that the light of

—

* Annual Scientific Discovery, 1350, Vol. I., pp. 145—147.

140 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the stars towards which the earth is advancing has the same index of
-refraction as the light of the stars from which the earth is receding.
The celebrated observer we have just named said, that bodies send
forth rays of all velocities, but that among these different velocities
there is only one which can awaken the sensation of light. If we com-
pare the velocities of solar, sidereal and terrestrial light, which all
comport themselves exactly in the same manner in the prism, with the
velocity of the current of friction-electricity, we are inclined to assign
to the latter, according to the experiments devised with admirable
ingenuity by Wheatstone, a velocity superior to the former in the ratio
of at least three to two. According to the lowest results of Wheat-
stone’s optical rotating apparatus, the electric current traverses 288 ,000
English statute miles, or 250,000 geographical miles, in a second. If,
then, we reckon with Struve for sidereal light in the aberration observa-
tions 166,196 geographical miles in a second, we get a difference of
83,804 geographical miles in a second for the greater velocity of the
electric current. This result appears to contradict the previously
mentioned view of William Herschel, which regarded the light of the
sun and of the fixed stars as perhaps the effect of an electro-magnetic
process, — a perpetual aurora. I say appears to contradict ; for it can-
not be deemed impossible that, in the different luminous bodies of
space, there may be several magneto-electric processes very different in
kind, and in which the light produced by the process may have a differ-
ent rate of propagation. ‘I'o this possible conjecture must be added the
uncertainty of the numerical result obtained with Wheatstone’s appa-
ratus, which result he himself regards as ‘‘ not sufficiently established,
and as requiring fresh confirmation,’’ in order to be compared satisfac-
torily with the deductions from aberrations and satellite observations.
Later experiments, made by Walker, in the United States, on the veloc-
ity of the propagation of electricity, on the occasion of his telegraphic
determination of the longitudes of Washington, Philadelphia, New
York and Cambridge, haye excited a lively interest in the minds of
physical inquirers.*

Measurements made with conductors 1050 English statute miles, or
968 geographical miles, in length, gave, from 18 equations of condi-
tion, the rate of propagation of the hydro-galvanic current at only 18,700
statute, or 16,240 geographical miles in a second, that is, fifteen times
slower than the electric current in Wheatstone’s rotating disc appa-
ratus. Asin Walker’s remarkable experiments two wires were not
used, and but half the conduction, according to the common expression,
took place through the moist body of the earth, it might seem a justi-
fiable supposition that the velocity of the propagation of electricity is
dependent on the nature as well as on the dimensions of the medium. In
the voltaic current bad conductors become more heated than good con-
ductors, and electric discharges are very variously complicated phe-
nomena, as appears by the latest experiments of Reiss. The now
prevailing views of what is commonly called ‘‘ connection through the
earth’? are opposed to the view of linear conduction between the

* Annual Scientific Discovery, 1850, Vol. I., pp. 124—127.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 141

two ends of the wire, and to the conjectures of, impediments to conduc-
tion, and of accumulation and discharges in a current; as that which
was once regarded as intermediate conduction in the earth is now
supposed to belong only to an equalization or to a restoration of elec-
trie tension. Although, according to the present limits of exactness
in this kind of observation, it is probable the aberration is constant,
and, therefore, the velocity of light, of all the fixed stars, is the same,
yet the possibility has more than once been spoken of that there may
be luminous bodies in space whose light does not reach us because,
from their enormous mass, gravitation constrains the luminous par-
ticles to return. — Humboldt’s Cosmos.

CONSTRUCTION OF MIRRORS FOR REFLECTING TELESCOPES.

Lorp Rosse, at the British Association, after adverting to the difficul-
ties in the way of perfecting the reflecting telescope, stated that he had
come to the conclusion that the only recourse in guarding against them
consisted in improving the metallic plane reflectors as much as possible.
As a material for reflectors he had tried silver ; but, unfortunately, this
metal was so soft that great difficulties presented themselves in giving
it the requisite degree of high polish. He had tried, by the electro-
type process, to procure a surface with a high polish, by depositing
silyer on a surface of speculum metal ; but, unfortunately, after every
precaution, the silver adhered to the metal. He tried copper similarly,
which did not adhere, but produced a high degree of polish ; its color,
however, and other properties, rendered it inadmissible as a reflector.
He then determined to endeavor to grind and polish a plane surface of
silver, the softness of that metal having, however, heretofore caused
the attempt to fail in the hands of the most experienced who had tried
it. The processes of grinding and polishing are essentially different.
In grinding, the substance, whether emery or other powder, must run
loose between the substance which is used to rub it against the other
and that which is to be ground ; and he soon found that he could not
use emery or any other grinding powder for bringing a surface of silver
to a correct form ; for, from the softness of the metal and the unequal
hardness of its parts, the emery was found to confine its action to the
softer parts, leaving the harder portions in elevated ridges and promi-
nences, something in the way that the iron handle of a pump which
has been long and much used may be observed to be worn away.
Hard steel he found he could bring to a very true surface, and eyen
impart to it a high degree of polish ; but the quantity of light it was
capable of reflecting was by no means sufficient ; nor could he succeed
in imparting to the surface of silver by compression with highly pol-
ished steel surfaces the evenly and highly polished surface requisite for
his purpose. At length, he found that he could, by the use of good
German hones, grind surfaces of silver perfectly true ; and he had now
no doubt that he could with safety recommend for that purpose, as the
best material, the blue yariety of German hone. The next point was,
to polish the surface to a true optical plane reflecting surface. This

142 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was by no means so ea8y a task as may be supposed ; for, although
our eminent silversmiths do produce surfaces of silver of an extremely
brilliant polish, as in the magnificent plateaux and other articles which
they turn out, yet, if any one will take the trouble to examine these
surfaces, they will be found to be so irregular, though highly polished,
as to be entirely unfit for producing correct images by reflection. And
it is a singular fact that, although in the first part of the process of
polishing chamois leather of the finest kind was used to rub the rouge
on the silver surface, yet the finer finishing polish had always to be
communicated by the human hand. Nor would the hand of every
individual answer ; the manufacturer had to select those with the very
softest and finest grain ; nor would the hand of perhaps one in every
twenty of the persons employed answer for thus giving the final finish.
But it was obvious that the irregular action of the human hand would
by no means answer the end he had in view. Suffice it to say, that,
at length, after many fruitless trials, he had succeeded in producing a
polishing surface, which seemed fully to answer the purpose, by expos-
Ing spirits of turpentine to the continued action of air, or by dissolving
a proper quantity of resin in the spirits of turpentine, and, by means
of this varnish, applying the rouge to the same description of polishing
substance which he used in polishing the speculum metal, and which
he had heretofore so frequently described. By the use of this polish-
ing substance he had produced a plane surface of silver which, as far
as the photometric means he had within his reach would enable him to
measure the light before and after reflection, did not lose in that action
seven parts of the hundred, and which, tested in the manner which he
usually adopted, defined admirably.

The Astronomer Royal begged to know how Lord Rosse secured the
Saeed form of the surface in grinding and polishing. —The Earl of

osse replied that, as to the mode of grinding, it was that commonly
adopted for producing accurately flat surfaces. But the mode in which
he tested it was peculiar. It was this: —a watch-dial was placed
before a good telescope ; and, as soon as the eye-piece was accurately
adjusted to the position of most distinct vision, the plane mirror was
placed in front of it, at an angle of 45°, and the watch dial was moved
round by a simple contrivance to such a position as that its image
should very nearly occupy the place it had been just removed from. If
now the adjustment of the telescope for distinct vision remained
unchanged, the proper form had been attained ; but if by drawing out
the eye-piece more distinct vision was obtained, it was concluded it
had received a convex form ; if on pushing it further in it gave the
image more distinct, then it was concluded the mirror had received a
concaye form. — London Atheneum.

ACTION OF SUNLIGHT UPON THE CONSTITUTION OF GLASS.

Pror. Farapay, at the British Association, exhibited a specimen of
dark glass, which had been sent to him, which had been acted on in a
curious manner by the solar beams concentrated at the eye-piece of a
telescope which magnified 100 times. It was the fourth or fifth dark

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 143

glass eye-protector which had been used with similar results. A small
portion of the surface of the glass, and to a slight depth below it, of a
conical shape, had been so altered by some peculiar action, as to be
quite destructive to the correct transmission of the rays of light. A
dark red glass in the same place had not been affected, but the heat
passed through in such quantity as to be almost painful to the eye.

THE ZENITH TELESCOPE.

OxssERVATIONS for latitude in the coast survey, have, for some time
past, been made with an instrument called the Zenith Telescope. The
mode of observation is that first suggested by Capt. Andrew Talcott,
formerly of the U. 8. Corps of Engineers, and since practised with suc-
cess by many American observers. It consists in observing with a
micrometer, the diflerence of zenith distance of two stars, one north
and the other south of the zenith, and making nearly the same angle
with it. With the aid of the new Catalogue of Stars, by the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, containing the places of
over 8000 stars, many such pairs may be selected for any latitude. It
is, however, a significant fact in the history of modern progress in
astronomy, that it is found necessary to increase the number of stars
observed, rather than to multiply observations upon the same pair.
Experience has proved, that, upon the average, the probable error of an
observation for latitude, with an instrument like that above described,
is about one fifth as great as the probable error of the places of the
same stars in the British Association’s catalogue. The latter are the
mean result of observations made at different observatories in Europe,
at various periods in the last and present centuries. But the advance
in astronomical science, and-in means of accurate observation, during
the last fifteen years, has been so rapid, that new determinations
of the places of the fixed stars are necessary to keep pace with this
advance, and are now being made at the National Observatory, in
Washington, and other observatories in this country and Europe.

The discrepancies between the astronomical geodetic differences of
latitude and longitude, afford data going to show that differences of den-
sity in the strata of the crust of the earth exercise a serious influence
upon such observations ; and that the nicer and more elaborate astro-
nomical determinations of geographical position may yet become means,
in the hands of the geologist, to enable him to discover the interior
character and structure of the earth.

IMPROVEMENTS IN TELESCOPES.

At the Albany meeting of the American Association, Prof. Twining
ae es a communication on some experimental researches undertaken
y him, tending toward improvements in telescopes. He had occasion
to make some investigations to determine whether our best glasses did
not fall short in the performance of what was expected of them ; and
taking the eye as a standard, their recorded penetrative power was
found to fall short some two or three orders of magnitude, when pointed

144 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

toward the stellar regions. He started from the point, that only one
eighth or tenth of the light is available to the vision in the best achromatics.
The observations and trials confirmatory of this were made by means
of a Dolland telescope, of thirty-four inch aperture. The importance
of the conclusion, if correct, at which he has arrived, lies in this:
that a prospect thus opens of effecting a great penetrative or visual
power in the telescope, by the employment of eye-pieces truly achro-
matic, as by enlarging the object-glass with the ordinary eye-pieces. The
chromatic aberrations of converging or diverging refractions, it may be
easily made to appear, can be completely eliminated by two lenses of
the same kind of glass ; or, probably, by the two surfaces of a single
lense of considerable thickness. The other, or field aberration, it is
true, will remain for objects upon which the telescope is not truly cen-
tred; but, since the employment of regular equatorial motions, this
last has ceased to possess its former importance ina scrutiny of minute
points of sight.

NEW REFLECTING TELESCOPE.

A new reflecting telescope has recently been constructed by Mr. J.
Lyman, of Lenox, Mass., and by him exhibited at the American Asso-
ciation, Albany. The focal length of the instrument is sixteen feet ;
aperture, nine and a half inches at the clear. The tube is composed
of thick Russia iron, the parts being fastened together by brass bands
with screws. The arrangement of observation is that of Herschel and
Lord Rosse ; the finder being placed on the left of the front end of the
instrument, (left to the person facing the object viewed,) and the eye-
piece on the right. The lower end of the instrument has attached to
it a frame-work, terminating in Ys, and resting upon two pivots at the
ends of a horizontal axis. In the centre of this axis is a socket, work-
ing upon a yertical axis, rismg from the centre of a tetrapod, which
rests upon the ground or floor of the observatory, as the case may be.
The front end of the telescope is supported by two legs, lengthened or
shortened at pleasure, by a combination of cranks, cords and pulleys ;
the whole so contrived as to allow of every necessary motion with
smoothness and uniformity, without any cramping of the parts. With
this mounting, the instrument may be either portable or stationary.
In the latter case, declination and azimuth, and even hour circles, may
be used in connection with the foot-piece, if desired. One of the pecu-
liarities of this instrument is, that the large speculum is held in its
position by a system of triangles, so arranged as to produce perfectly
uniform pressure upon the lower surface ; and even the slight pressure
requisite is mainly counteracted by an antagonist pressure upon the
face. The great excellence of this telescope, however, lies in the re-
markably accurate figure of the speculum. The singularly sharp out-
line of the stellar discs, the great clearness of the components of almost
the closest double stars, seem to evince entire absence of spherical
aberration. Indeed, the figure must be a very close approximation to
the parabolic curve, if it is not the very curve itself,

Prof. Caswell, of Brown University, writes to Silliman’s Journal re-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 145

specting the power of this instrument as follows :— ‘t Mr. Lyman de-

serves great credit for bringing so arduous an experiment to a success-
ful issue. His telescope, in point of optical power, is, so far as I know,
much in advance of anything heretofore achieved in this country. °
Under favorable circumstances, it will separate double stars, distant
from each other by no more than half'a second of arc. To construct an
instrument that will accomplish this is no small matter. This fact is
worthy of being known, and I hope Mr. Lyman, by the success of the

present effort, will find encouragement to aim at still greater success.”’

ON A NEW MODE OF ILLUMINATING OPAQUE OBJECTS UNDER THE
HIGHEST POWERS OF THE MICROSCOPE.

Mr. C. Brooke, at the British Association, described an arrange-
ment for best effecting the illumination of opaque objects under the
highest powers of the microscope. A parallel pencil of rays is obtained
by placing a camphene lamp (which, of all kinds of lamps, gives the
most intense illumination) in the principal focus of a combination of
two plano-convex lenses. This pencil is secured on the surface of a
small parabolic mirror, the vertex of which is truncated, so that the
focus of the mirror may be about 0.1 inch beyond the truncated edge.
The rays, which are converging to the focus, are received on the sur-
face of a small plane mirror which is attached to the bottom of the object-
glass, so that the surface of this mirror may be nearly level with the
lowest surface of the object-glass. All the rays of light which subtend
any angle from that of the object-glass up to about 170° are thus ren-
dered available for the illumination of the object ; which, as it is illu-
minated by very oblique rays, must not be placed in a depression or
cavity of any kind.

Mr. Brooke also described a new arrangement for facilitating the dis-
section of objects placed under the microscope. ‘Two short pieces of tube,
one of them the size of the eye-piece, the other the same size as the
body of the microscope, are attached at an angle of about 4° to the
sides of a brass box containing a rectangular prism. The smaller tube
enters the body of the microscope, and the larger screws the eye-piece.
‘The image that enters the eye is now inverted in a plane passing
through the axis of the body and of the eye-piece; and, in order to
erect the image, a cap is placed over the eye-piece, to which is attached
a small rectangular prism, having its axis in the plane in which the
image is already inyerted. This arrangement provides a very convenient
position of the eye when the hands are engaged in manipulating an
object placed under the microscope. A rectangular prism has already
been introduced into the body of the microscope by Nachez; but as
this was placed near the object-glass, it must, to a certain extent, in-
terfere with the definition of the objects. For the purpose of drawing,
a small piece of parallel glass is substituted for the rectangular prism,
placed in front of the eye-piece, through which the drawing-paper is
seen directly through two opposite surfaces, and the object is seen by
reflection from an outer surface placed at an angle of about 45° with
the axis of the Ss The image inverted by the first reflection is

146 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

again inverted in the same plane by the second; and is, therefore,
correctly represented in the drawing.
_ Sir David Brewster, after expressing his approval of these simple con-
trivances, said, that there were physiological reasons which rendered
these contrivances for enabling a person to use the microscope with
erect head important. When the eye was turned downward, in the
first place, the fluid which works the cornea, and which during ordi-
nary vision is spread in a uniform film oyer the cornea by the action
of the cornea, and is constantly draining downwards over the cornea in
the intervals, collects, when the eye is placed downwards, in a lentic-
ular shaped mass, on the very centre of the cornea, so as greatly to
impede vision ; and, moreover, those little fragmentary portions of the
crystalline lens which, when it is breaking up, particularly in old age,
become the elements of the musce volitantes, — those which, in the erect
position of the head, by sinking down to the lower part of the lens, re-
main without interfering with vision,— these, when the eye is turned
down, collect in what is then the lowest and central part of the lens in
the direct line of sight, and greatly impede the rays of ight. — London
Athenaum.

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF DIFFERENT MICROSCOPES.

Dr. J. Lawrence SuirH communicates to Silliman’s Journal the
result of a careful examination of three microscopes, the production of
three of the most eminent manufacturers of the present day, viz. :
Spencer, of the United States, Ross, of England, and Nachez, of France.
The examinations were made at Paris, by a number of distinguished
microscopists, with a view of testing the value of the respective instru-
ments. Their magnifying powers varied from thirteen hundred to fif-
teen hundred diameters, with an ocular magnifying ten times; Ross’
was the feeblest, that of Spencer the strongest. The angular opening
was first measured with great accuracy, and found as follows : — Ross,
145° ; Spencer, 135°; Nachez, 120°. The objects examined were the
most difficult test objects among the silicious infusoria, as the Navecula
angulata, one of the species Gramatophora, and a Nayicula called the
Amici test. The lenses were first adjusted to one of Nachez’s mount-
ing, and the best adjustment of oblique light used that this instrument
affords. The difference in the effect of the three lenses was very slight,
all failing to show the lines on the Gramatophora, or on the Amici
test. With a better obliquity of light, in a different mounting, the
lines on the Gramatophora were distinctly and beautifully seen by all,
with slight advantages in favor of Spencer and Ross, the former of
which magnified them most. The Amici test was next tried, which
resulted in Ross showing the lines with perfect satisfaction ; Spencer
showing them, but not quite so well; Nachez still less distinctly. The
difference between the lenses appeared to be owing entirely to difference
in the angle of opening ; for where a very oblique light is necessary to
show lines, the lenses must be so constructed as to admit this light. For
the examination of globules, no appreciable difference between the dif-
ferent lenses could be noticed. M. Nachez deserves much praise for
the manner in which he has improyed the microscope in France with

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 147

out augmenting the cost of the instrument ; out of England, he is un-
doubtedly the best maker in Europe. To furnish an idea of what he
has done to diminish the cost of a good instrument, the following is a
comparison of the price of the objectives which were the subject of
the experiments: Ross, 306 francs; Spencer, 230 do. ; Nachez, 60;
and, what is still more, he is constantly improving his lenses without
adding to their expense. The lower powers of the several makers
were examined without finding any sensible difference in the defining
effects of them ; what little there was, was in favor of Spencer. The
field of the three differed ; Nachez’s being the least, and Spencer’s the
greatest.

SPENCER’S AMERICAN MICROSCOPES. a

Ar the meeting of the American Association, Albany, a committee,
consisting of Professors Bailey, of West Point, Torrey, of New York,
Smith, of Louisiana, Dr. Burnett, of Boston, and Clarke, of Albany,
were appointed to examine and report on the microscopes manufactured
by Mr. Spencer, of New York, a specimen of which was exhibited to
the Association. The committee subsequently presented the following
report :—

‘* The committee on microscopes have the honor to report that they
have carefully examined several sets of microscopic objectives, recently
manufactured by Mr. Charles A. Spencer, of Canastota, N. Y., and
that, after numerous trials with the most difficult test objects known,
they are unanimously of opinion that these lenses are of unrivalled
excellence. The perfection of these glasses was shown by their admi-
rable defining power, their unprecedented largeness of operation, but
preserving good working distance, and by freedom from defects of
lenses. ‘he committee believe it unnecessary to report in detail the
different experiments made, but confine themselves to the statement
that, after numerous trials by all the modes and tests which have been
repeatedly employed by members of the committee in examining many
of the best foreign lenses, they arrived at results with Mr. Spencer’s
objectives, which, they believe, have never hitherto been obtained by
any microscope in existence. The low powers, as well as the high
ones, excited their admiration, readily and beautifully resolving test
objects hitherto considered entirely beyond the reach of glasses of cor-
responding focal distance. As every improvement in the microscope
has a direct and most important influence on the progress of scientific
research, the committee believe they cannot express in too strong terms
their admiration of the results obtained by the unaided efforts of Mr.
Spencer, and, however reluctant to appear in a boastful attitude, they
believe it would be an act of injustice not to state their sincere convic-
tion, that Spencer’s objectives are now the best in the world.”

NEW FORM OF MICROSCOPE, WITH IMPROVED METHODS OF MEASURING
THE DIMENSIONS OF OBJECTS AND THE ANGLES OF CRYSTALS.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper presented to the American
Association, Albany, by Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, on a new form of
microscope, and explained in connection with the instrument : —

148 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

‘¢ The construction of this microscope is based upon the principle of
placing the objective glasses beneath instead of above the objects to be
examined. ‘The tube in which the eye-glass is, is thereby five degrees
from the perpendicular, and the ray of light undergoes a deflection of
one hundred and forty degrees before entering the eye. The deflection
is produced by a four-sided prism with the angles 55°, 1074°, 524°, 145°,
the ray of light passing through the objective glass down ; into the
upper side of the prism it penetrates and is subjected to two total reflec-
tions, and passes out of the fourth surface upwards, making an angle of
thirty-five degrees with the perpendicular. The eye regards, almost at
the same moment, the object itself, on the stage of the microscope, and
the image of the same in the instrument; and here the advantage of
the instrument is seen for chemical purposes, for which it was origi-
nally intended. It is, however, not confined to this, for, owing to the
convenience it affords for arranging the illumination, it is well adapted
to much general use. The new plan of measurement is to introduce a
micrometer into the tube of the microscope at any stage of the obser-
vations, by means of an arrangement placed so that the micrometer
comes within the plane of the foci of all the eye-pieces used in the
instrument. The method of measuring the angles of crystals is by
having a graduated circle in the outer part of the tube of the micro-
scope, and passing from the tube carrying the eye-pieces, which has a
circular movement independent of that of the graduated circle. The
manner of measuring the angles is az follows :—Introduce the mi-
crometer, turn the eye-piece until the lines on the micrometer are
parallel to one side of the angle to be measured ; then, leaving the eye-
piece, turn the graduated circle until the index on the eye-piece is at
zero ; this done, turn the eye-piece until the lines on the micrometer
are parallel with the other side of the angle to be measured, and, in
regarding the circle, the degrees of the angle passed through will be
seen. ‘The method is convenient, and more precise than any known.”

EFFECT OF THE HEAT OF THE SUN UPON THE PERPENDICULARITY OF
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.

In the experiment of swinging a pendulum in the shaft of Bunker
Hill Monument, for the purpose of illustrating the experiment of Fou-
cault, it was observed that the ball of the pendulum, when at rest, was
not always over the same point in the floor. The careful consideration
of all the conditions of this fact resulted in ascribing it to the unequal
expansion of the sides of the monument, in consequence of unequal
exposure to the sun. Upon observing carefully, it was found during
clear days that the motion of the ball in the morning was to the west-
ward, at noon to the north-west, and at evening to the east. It was
further observed that on days when the sun was obscured by clouds,
no motion of the ball on its index-point occurred. It was still fur-
ther observed on one occasion, during a sudden shower, accompanied
with strong wind from the south-east, to move in the space of a very
few minutes a quarter of an inch to the eastward. Observations were
recorded through several weeks, and no doubt remains that a cause

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 149

coincident with the sun in its progress produced the variations of the
perpendicular. in the Monument. The extreme departure of the ball
from the centre was to the west of north-west ; not to the north, as
might at first glance be supposed. The explanation is found in the
position of the Monument. Its sides do not face the cardinal points,
but are inclined about 20°. The expansion of a single side would pro-
duce inclination in a direction perpendicular to the side. The expan-
sion of two adjacent sides would produce inclination in the direction of
the diagonal. In the morning the shaft is inclined to the westward.
At noon it is inclined but little to the north of west. In the progress
of the afternoon, it sweeps over twice the amount of movement in the
morning ; describing, in the twelve hours of observation, an arc of an
ellipse. During the night it sets back to the centre, and before seven
o’clock in the morning has already moved westward. The greatest
diameter of the irregular ellipse, described by the index in twenty-four
hours, is ordinarily less than half an inch, while the least was less than
a quarter ofan inch. The heat of the sun penetrates to but a moder-
ate depth. This is evident from the prompt movement of the column
when a shower fails only upon the more highly heated sides, and also
from the ready change in inclination as the day advances.

The mode of observation at the Monument is this : — On either side,
about three quarters of an inch from the centre, under the index of the
ball, two slender needles have been driven into the floor, leaving not
more than the sixteenth of an inch above. These are made by pres-
sure to pierce a card of thin drawing-paper, which is kept from warp-
ing by slender bars of lead. When fixed, north and south and east
and west lines are transferred in pencil mark from the floor to the
paper. After bringing the ball to rest, in which the observer is aided
by a contrivance enabling him to steady his hands, a dot is made with
a pencil immediately under the index-point, which is about the six-
teenth of an inch above the paper. At the close of the day, the card
previously dated is removed, and another takes its place for the obser-
vations of the next day.—Prof. Horsford, American Association, Al-
bany Meeting.

LATENT HEAT IN ICE.

Prrpon has determined the latent heat of fusion of ice, at 0° C.,
and at lower temperatures, and has ascertained that in order to obtain
the otal quantity of heat which is absorbed when ice becomes liquid,
it is necessary to set out from a temperature somewhat below 0°. The
experiments were made by means of a calorimeter, founded on the
method of mixtures. The loss of heat by radiation was compen-
sated by placing the calorimeter in a space, the temperature of which
could be made to follow that of the calorimeter itself, and the method
was verified by determinations of the specific heat of water at different
temperatures, which agree well with those of Regnault. The author
first determined the specific heat of ice between 21° C. and 2° C., em-

loying in the calorimeter a solution of salt, the specific heat of which
ad been previously determined. The specific hand of ice, between
13*

150 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the limits above mentioned, was found to be 0.48. In determining the
latent heat, the ice was formed into cylinders, in the axis of which
were placed thermometers showing +}5th degree ; the time of fusion
in the calorimeter was on the average about 12 minutes. It was found
that the latent heat of fusion of ice was very nearly constant, setting
out from a temperature of 2°, and was then represented by 79.97.
From this it may be inferred that ice approaches very near its point of
fusion without sensibly changing its consistence, the slight softening
which precedes the fusion being comprised within an interval of two
degrees ; the passage of ice from a solid to a liquid state, though suf
ficiently well defined, is still effected by degrees, and not abruptly.
De la Provostaye and Dessains on the one hand, and Regnault on the
other, had found, for the latent heat of ice, the number 79 ; the experi-
ments of Regnault had, however, clearly shown that this number was
not constant, but increased as the initial temperature of the ice dimin-
ished at least as far as —0.61, for which the corresponding latent heat
was 79.71.— Ann. de Chimie et de Physique, Sept. 1850.

EFFECTS OF PRESSURE ON THE FREEZING OF WATER.

Ata meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Prof. Crenon
made some remarks on the experiments of Prof. Thomson, and which
Prof. ‘Thomson believes to show that the temperature of congelation of
water and other bodies that expand, at the moment of solidification, is
raised proportionably to the increase of pressure to which they are sub-
jected — the ratio of temperature to pressure being in water 1.10 of a
degree of Fahrenheit’s scale, in ten additional atmospheric pressures.
Mr. Crenon presented to the notice of the society a speculation into
which he had been led on the subject, showing the effect that such a
law might produce in causing water to retain the state of a solid, at a
very high temperature. For example, if a continuous channel, admit-
ting atmospheric communication, should exist in the crust of the earth
to the depth of seventy miles, the pressure of the atmospheric column
would exceed fifteen million pounds on the square inch; and, accord-
ing to Professor Thomson, water would remain solid at a temperature
above 10.000° Fahrenheit — a heat far above that of molten iron.

ON THE INTENSITY OF SOUND IN THE RAREFIED AIR OF HIGH MOUNTAINS.

In the Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, for Jan., 1851, M. Martins
communicates the results of various experiments, made with a view of
determining the intensity of sound in rarefied air.

The intensity of sound depends on the density of the air at the place
of the primitive disturbance, and not on that of the strata traversed by
it, nor on that of the air surrounding the hearer. ‘This was proved in
the course of experiments made with two mortars, upon the velocity
of sound ascending and descending, the mortars being of the same
fount, the one placed upon the summit of a mountain, and the other
below. It was found that, with the same charge, the sound created in
the air, at an altitude of 2682 metres, was much weaker than that

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 1

produced 2117 metres lower. To equalize the two sounds, it was nec-
essary to charge the lower mortar with 75 grammes of powder, and
the upper one with 90 grammes. The accounts of the ascents of the
highest mountains contain some observations upon the weakening of
the sound, but they often contradict each other. According to Saussure
and others, the sounds on the top of Mt. Blanc were remarkably weak.
A pistol shot made no more noise than an ordinary Chinese cracker,
and the popping of a bottle of champagne was scarcely audible. M.
Martins, in the same situation, was not able to verify these conclu-
sions. He states that he was able to distinguish the voices of the guides
in conversation at a distance of 400 metres, and to hear the tapping
of a lead pencil upon a metallic surface at a distance of from 15 to 20
aces.

cs Desirous to acquire some ideas more positive upon this subject, the
means of obtaining a continuous sound, of a constant intensity, produ-
cible at will, was sought for. This M. Martins effected by means of a
diapason, properly mounted and constructed, and so arranged as to give
512 vibrations of sound in a second. With asound having always the
same intensity in an air of equal density, it is evident that the variable
distance at which it ceases to be perceptible, in mediums of different
densities, should give us the measure of the variations of this intensity.
The agitation of the air complicates these experiments. It was ascer-
tained by M. Holdat and De la Roche, in 1814, that the limit of dis-
tance for hearing is increased or diminished for a person haying the
wind from or to the origin of the sound. Both these observers agree
in affirming that the sound is heard at the greatest possible distance in
air at rest, the noise from the wind, come from what part it may, in-
terfering with the perception of the sound.

In experiments made with the diapason, on a desert plain in
a calm day, barometer 744 "3, thermometer 24° C., the limit of
sound was found to be 254metres. The same experiment, repeated at
11 o’clock in the evening, in the same place, and under nearly the
same circumstances, gave 379 metres as the limit of sound ; thus show-
ing a difference of 125 metres in the distance at which sound ceased
to be perceptible in the day and in the night. This result confirms
the observations of other experimenters, as well as a fact noticed by
Humboldt upon the banks of the Orinoco, where the cataracts were
heard much better during the night than during the day, although
the buzzing of insects was more intense, and the cries of wild animals
were louder than during the day.

Experiments made 2620 metres above the level of the sea,
barometer 558 ”” 4, gave 550 metres as the limit of sound; at 3910
metres aboye the sea level, or 900 metres below the summit of
Mt. Blanc, barometer 477 ”” 8, the limit obtained was 337 metres.
These experiments, in which sounds were heard during the day at
greater distances upon the mountains than in the plain, do not con-
tradict the observations of travellers who have been struck with the
weakening of sound at great altitudes. In fact, these travellers having
ascended suddenly from the plain upon the mountain, their organs, and
particularly those of hearing, have not had time to put themselves in

152 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

equilibrium with the ambient air. The experiments of M. Martins
were made after several days’ sojourn at the elevations cited, and when
the senses, so to speak, were habituated to the aerial medium. So the
inhabitants of Paz and Quito, in America, do not suffer from the effects
of the rarefaction of the air, because they live habitually at a very
great elevation above the level of the sea. There are causes, however,
observes M. Martins, which favor the hearing of sound on high moun-
tains, that more than compensate the rarefaction of the air. In the
experiments made, a sound was heard at a greater distance, when the
density was not more than 0’ 72, on a mountain, than at the level of
the sea ; and even when the density was only 0’ 64, as on Mt. Blanc,
a sound was heard at greater distance than ona plain. Among these
causes, sé/ence should hold the first rank. On the grand plateau of Mt.
Blanc there is a repose only broken by the noise of the wind or of thunder.
In calm weather the silence is so profound that sounds are heard at a
great distance, although their intensity be much less than in the low
country. The fall of avalanches, so common in these high regions, is ac-
companied with a noise which has no relation to the masses of snow
or ice precipitated from the neighboring rocks ; nevertheless it is always
heard, because the least sound is perceived by the ear. There are
various other causes, which in the mountains fayor the hearing at great
distances ; such as the configuration and nature of the soil, the hygro-
metric state of the air, the absence or presence of aerial currents. But
all these causes, the influences of which have never been studied, appear
secondary to that already noticed. Unfortunately, the silence, more
or less perfect, which reigns in a place, cannot be expressed numeri-
cally. If that were possible, the intensity of the sound would probably
be in the direct ratio of the density of the air, multiplied by a quantity
which we may call the coeffictent of silence.

VELOCITY OF SOUND.

MM. Wenrrtuetne and Breguet have presented to the French Acad-
emy a paper touching the velocity with which sound is communicated
by means of iron wire. The experiments were made upon the wires of
the electric telegraph established along the Versailles railroad on the
right bank of the Seine. The length of wires between the operators
was 4,067.2. metres, (18,344 feet.) The distance taken would have
been greater, but the intervention of a tunnel through which the road
passes was found to present insuperable obstacles. ‘The wire was iso-
Jated and prevented from touching the wall of the tunnel at any point,
but all to no purpose ; the sound could not be made to traverse the tun-
nel. From the distinctness with which the sound, produced by a blow
upon the posts supporting the wire, was heard, the operators judged
that, but for the tunnel, the sound would have propagated to a much
greater distance. The most perfect chronometers were employed,
and a variety of ingenious expedients to ensure accuracy in the experi-
ments; and the result reported to the Academy is, that sound is prop-
agated over wire at the rate of 3,485 metres (11,434 feet) per second.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 158

DETERMINATION OF THE VELOCITY OF SOUND BY THE METHOD OF
COINCIDENCES.

Tuts method, said Professor Bache, occurred to me about the year
1832, when observing the marching of, the corps of cadets on the plain
at West Point, to martial music and at a quick step. At first the left
foot was brought to the ground in the cadences of the music, and, as
the music and marching body receded, the right foot appeared to
strike the ground in the cadences. There was a succession of such
alternations. This suggested the idea that, by providing a regular
series of alternating motions, any remarkable phase of which was
simultaneous with a sound, and observing at a suitable distance corre-
sponding to the loudness of the sound, and with proper appliances ‘to
assist our sight, a very simple and exact mode of determining the
velocity of sound would be had. ‘This method is of such easy applica-
tion that it might be used to investigate many points yet requiring
full experimental determination in regard to the effect of temperature,
moisture, the force and direction of the wind, &c.

Professor Coffin remarked that by connecting the pendulum, pro-
posed to be used by Professor Bache, with a galvanic circuit-breaker,
the signals could be conveyed to any desired point and registered
there, to which Professor Bache assented as an interesting devel-
opment of his proposition. — American Association, Cincinnait.

LIMIT OF PERCEPTIBILITY OF DIRECT AND REFLECTED SOUND.

Proressor Henry stated, that at the meeting of the Association at
Cambridge, he had made a communication relative to the application
of the principles of acoustics to the construction of rooms intended for
public speaking. In that communication he had stated, as an impor-
tant proposition, that when two portions of the same sonorous waye
reach the ear of an auditor, one directly from the origin of the sound,
and the other indirectly, after one or more reflections, if the two do
not differ in the paths they travel by a difference greater than a given
quantity, the two sounds will enforce each other, and one louder
sound will be perceived; if, however, the interval is greater than a
certain limit, the two sounds will appear distinct, or an echo will be
perceived. As an illustration, suppose a speaker to stand before a
wall at the distance of, say, ten feet ; in this case the audience in front
would hear but one sound. ‘The direct and the reflected impulse meet
the ear within the limit which I have called the limit of perceptibility.
This limit, a knowledge of which is of considerable practical impor-
tance, may rather be expressed in time or in space. The simplest
method of obtaining its amount is that of clapping the hands while
standing before a perpendicular wall ; if the distance of the observer be
sufficient, an echo will be heard. If, in this case, the observer gradually
approach the wall, and continue to make the sound at a definite point,
the echo will cease to be perceived, and the two sounds will appear as
one. If the distance from the wall be now measured, twice the dis-
tance found will give the limit of perceptibility in space. If the same

154 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

quantity be divided into the space through which the wave of sound is
known to travel in a second, we shall have the limit of perceptibility
in time. The foregoing plan is the most simple, but not the most
accurate, method of arriving at the quantity sought. The better plan
is to employ another person to produce the sound while the observer is
stationary at the distance of at least a hundred and fifty feet from the
wall. The person who produces the sound being placed between the
observer and the wall, at such a distance from the latter as to give a
distinct echo ; he is then directed gradually to approach the wall until
the echo and the direct sound become one. The distance measured
as before mentioned, will give the limit required. From a series of
experiments on this plan, Professor H. found the limit ot perceptibility
to vary from about 60 to 80 feet; or, in other words, the distance from
the wall at which the echo ceased was from 30 to 40 feet. This will
give from the one twentieth to the one fifteenth part of a second in
time for the ear to distinguish the difference of two sounds which fol-
low each other at an interval of one fifteenth of a second.

The experiments, when made under the same circumstances, gave
the same result, almost within a single foot; but when a different
source of sound was employed, and different observers, there was
observed the difference of results, giving the limits between one twen-
tieth and one fifteenth of a second. The limit was less with a sound
produced by an instrument which gave a sudden crack without perceiy-
able prolongation, such as is produced by an ordinary watchman’s
rattle when made to emit a single crack. This difference may be
explained by taking into consideration the actual length of the sonorous
wave. Ifa sound occupies one quarter of a second, which is about the
time required for the utterance of a short single syllable, the length
of the sonorous wave will be about 300 feet, and hence, when the dis-
tance travelled by the two sounds is not more than 80 feet to and from
the wall, the two waves must overlap through a considerable portion
of their whole Iength, and will be only separated at the two extremi-
ties. The portion of overlapping may therefore determine the limit
of perceptibility, and this again is combined with the fact of the con-
tinuance of a sonorous impression on the nerve of the ear.—Professor
Henry, American Association, Crncinnate.

ON AIR-BUBBLES FORMED IN WATER.

Dr. Tynpat, at the British Association, showed, by a few simple
experiments, that water falling in a continuous column, which it
always does for a certain distance, into another vessel of water, pro-
duces neither air-bubbles nor sound; but that, as soon as the dis-
tance is so increased as that the end of the column becomes broken
into drops, both air-bubbles and sounds, varying from the hum of
the cascade and of the ripple to the roar of the cataract and of the
breaker, were produced. That the end of the column of issuing
water, although it only seems to waver, in consequence of a delusion
arising from the effect of the rapid succession on the retina, was really
composed of separate drops, the author said was proved by a very pretty

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 155

experiment, — viz., by placing behind it a platina wire kept glowing
by a galvanic battery. The continuous part of the wire was hidden ;
but the portion behind the wavering end, he said, became separated into
dots of light and spaces hidden by the drops. He also showed that
lateral motions of bodies in water, when rapid enough, caused both
bubbles and sounds; and he accounted for their production in both
cases by the surface closing over the pit formed by the descending
drops or laterally moving body; the inclosed air is then carried for-
ward, and at length, ascending to the surface, bursts with the explosion
which causes the sounds.

A writer in the Philosophical Magazine, in this connection, makes
the following remarks on the origin of the sound of agitated water.
** When the smoke is projected from the lips of a tobacco-smoker, a
little explosion usually accompanies the puff; but the nature of this is
in a great measure dependent on the state of the lips at the time,
whether they be dry or moist. The sound appears to be chiefly due to
the sudden bursting of the film which connects both lips. If an inflated
bladder be jamped upon, it will emit an explosion as loud as a pistol-
shot. Sound, to some extent, always accompanies the sudden libera-
tion of compressed air. If the surface of the fluid on which a jet falls
intersects its limpid portion, the jet enters szlently, and no bubbles, as
before remarked, are produced. The moment, however, after the
bubbles make their appearance, an audible rattle also commences,
which becomes louder and louder as the mass of the jet is increased.
The very nature of the sound pronounces its origin to be the bursting
of the bubbles ; and to the same cause the rippling of streams and the
sound of breakers appear to be almost exclusively due. I have exam-
ined a stream or two, and, in all cases where a ripple made itself heard,
I have discovered bubbles. The impact of water against water is a
comparatively subordinate cause, and could never of itself occasion the
murmur of a brook or the musical roar of the ocean. It is the same as
regards water-falls. Were Niagara continuous, and without lateral
vibration, it would be as silent as a cataract of ice. It is possible, I
believe, to get behind the descending water at one place, and if the
attention of travellers were directed to the subject, the mass might
perhaps be seen through ; for, in all probability, it also has its ‘ con-
tracted sections,” after passing which it is broken into’ detached
masses, which, plunging successively upon the air-bladders formed by
their precursors, suddenly liberate their contents, and thus create the
thunder of the water-fall.

FOUCAULT’S EXPERIMENT— OR, THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH DEMON-
STRATED BY THE PENDULUM.

Few incidents in the scientific history of the year 1851 have excited
a more general interest than the experiment, devised by M. Leon
Foucault, of Paris, for demonstrating the rotation of the earth by means
of the pendulum. Although the rotation of the earth has, by demon-
stration, been rendered self-evident to all who are in the least degree
conversant with the principles of natural philosophy ; yet, by the experi-

156 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ment of Foucault, the same fact is made visible to the eye, and in a
manner purely mechanical. The method by which this is effected
may perhaps be best explained by the description of Foucault’s arrange-
ment, as first publicly exhibited in the Pantheon at Paris. To the
centre of the dome of the Pantheon a fine wire is attached, from which
a sphere of metal, four or five inches in diameter, is suspended so as
to hang near the floor of the building. This apparatus is put in vibra-
tion, after the manner of a pendulum. Under, and concentrical with
it, is placed a circular table, some twenty feet in diameter, the circum-
ference of which is divided into degrees, minutes, &c., and the divis-
ions numbered. Now, it can be shown, by the principles of mechanics,
that, supposing the earth to have the diurnal motion upon its axis
which is imputed to it, and which explains the phenomena of day and
night, &c., the plane in which this pendulum vibrates will not be
affected by this diurnal motion, but will maintain strictly the same
direction during twenty-four hours. In this interval, however, the
table over which the pendulum is suspended will continually change
its position in virtue of the diurnal motion, so as to make a complete
revolution round its centre. Since, then, the table thus revolves, and
the pendulum, which vibrates over it, does not revolve, the consequence
is, that a line traced upon the table, by a point projecting from the bot-
tom of the ball, will change its direction relatively to the table from
minute to minute, and from hour to hour ; so that, if such point were
a pencil, and paper were spread upon the table, the course formed by
this pencil, during 24 hours, would form a system of lines radiating from
the centre of the table ; and the two lines formed after the interval of
one hour would always form an angle with each other of 15°, being the
24th part of the circumference. The practised eye of a correct observer,
especially if aided by a proper optical instrument, may actually see the
motion which the table has in common with the earth under the pen-
dulum between two successive vibrations. It is, in fact, apparent that
the ball, or, rather, the point attached to the bottom of the ball, does
not return precisely to the same point of the circumference of the table
after two successive vibrations. Thus is rendered visible the motion
which the table has, in common with the earth. It is true that, cor-
rectly speaking, the table does not turn round its own centre, but turns
round the axis of the earth ; nevertheless, the effect of the motion, rel-
atively to the pendulum suspended over the centre of the table, is
precisely the same as it would be if the table moved once in 24 hours
round its own centre ; for, although the table be turned, in common
with the surface of the earth, round the earth’s axis, the point of sus-
pension of the pendulum is turned also in the same time round the
same axis, being continually maintained vertical above the centre of
the table. The plane in which the pendulum vibrates does not, however-
artake of this motion, and, consequently, has the appearance of revoly-
ing once in 24 hours over the table, while, in reality, it is the table
which revolves once in 24 hours under it.
The occurrence from which M. Foucault was led to his discovery is
thus related by him :— ‘‘ Having fixed on the arbor of a lathe, and in the
direction of the axis, a round and flexible steel rod, it was put in vibra-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. tat

tion by deflecting it from its position of equilibrium and leaving it to
itself. A plane of oscillation is thus determined, which, from the per-
sistence of the visual impressions, is clearly delineated in space. Now
it was remarked that, on turning around with the hand the arbor which
formed the support of this vibrating rod, the plane of oscillation was
not carried with it, but always retained the same direction in space.’’
From this came the conclusion that a pendulum set in motion will con-
tinue in the same plane of vibration, however the point of suspension
be rotated ; a fact easily proved by a simple trial with a weight at the
end of a cord. ‘The rotation of the point of suspension may make the
pendulum revolve on its axis; but the plane of vibration will remain
the same. The reason for this is obvious: the swinging pendulum,
when about to return (after an outward swing) from its point of rest,
is made to move from that point by gravity alone, and can therefore
fall zn one direction; and the momentum acquired by falling carries it
beyond this centre in the same direction to the point of rest on the
other side ; here again it is in a like condition, and must return under
the force of gravity in one and the same line, gravity acting in the
same direction whether the point of suspension be rotated or not. Thus
the plane of vibration is fixed from the very nature of the forces at
work.

It is evident, therefore, that if a pendulum were swinging at the
pole of the earth, the plane of vibration, as it would not change with
the revolution of the earth, should mark this revolution by seeming to
revolve in the contrary direction, and in 24 hours it would make appar-
ently the whole circuit of 360 degrees. But, at the equator, the plane
of vibration is carried forward by the revolution of the earth, and so
undergoes no change with reference to the meridians. Between the
equator and poles, the time required for the pendulum to make 360
degrees varies according to the latitude, being greater the farther from
the pole.

The motion of the pendulum at the poles and the motion at the
equator is not hard to comprehend; a clear explanation, however,
of the motion of the pendulum at stations between the pole and the
equator is a matter of no little difficulty. As the pendulum is here
influenced by so many yarying conditions, a strictly true mechanical
conception of its motions may be impossible.

The peculiar interest of Foucault’s experiment has caused it to be
repeated in all parts of the world. Every experiment, says the London
Philosophical Magazine, which has been properly conducted, under
favorable circumstances, has furnished results most striking. Experi-
ments made at Colombo, Ceylon, in latitude 6° 56’ N., with a pendu-
lum 66 feet six inches long, give a mean hourly variation of 1.87, which
is avery close approximation on the calculated variation, which is
1.8111. The law, therefore, seems to hold good even at points very
near to the equator. A Mr. Bunt, of Bristol, England, in a set of iong
experiments, obtained a mean motion of 11°.750 per hour instead of
11°.7631, as per theory, the latitude being 51° 27’. In another set of
experiments, undertaken at a different latitude, he obtained correspond-
ing results, bicaiay thinks, not only confirm the truth of Foucault’s

158 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

hypothesis, but seem to show that the latitude of a place may be found
by this means with a considerable degree of accuracy.

A new contrivance for exhibiting the rotation of the earth is reported
to have been devised by Prof. Strong, of Rutger’s College, N. Y. He
has constructed a wooden wheel, six feet in diameter, but very slight
indeed — its weight beimg only two pounds. This wheel is supported
horizontally, the hub resting on a steel needle, in the same manner
that a compass is supported. This needle fits into a glass socket.
This apparatus being placed in a room free from currents of air and all
disturbance, the motion of the earth around the wheel is perceptible ;
the wheel apparently performing the revolution in the proper number
of hours. By this wheel it is said that the latitude can at all times be
correctly ascertained. The experiment is not confined to a wheel of
such large dimensions, but may be realized with smaller ones.

NEW METHOD OF DEMONSTRATING THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH.

Tue recent experiment of M. Foucault, giving direct proof of the
earth’s rotation, having excited so much attention, it seems remarkable
that an equally striking one, devised and tried by M. J. Guyot, in
1836, should have been passed over or forgotten. That gentleman
observed, that as a falling body deviates to the east, a long plumb-line
ought to do the same. ‘This experiment he performed in the dome of
the Pantheon, at Paris, with a plumb-line, about 172 feet long, and
determined the deviation to be four and a third millim. in 57 metres.
His mode of experimenting was by small balls, one at the point of sus-
pension, the other at the weight, whose images, strongly illuminated
and reflected in a basin of mercury placed below, were viewed from
above, and found to coincide when the eye was laterally distant
four and a third millim. from the upper ball. The experiment might
probably be simplified without the trouble of illumination, by making
the suspension from a line passed across a small circular aperture in a
flat roof, the light coming through which would probably give a sufli-
ciently light image in the mercury below. The effect is also stated
to be sufficiently percepteble with much less length than that above
stated.

DEMONSTRATION OF THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH BY MEANS OF TWO
PENDULUMS.

Ar the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, the following com-
munication was read by Mr. Cox :—

‘‘ The demonstration of the rotation of the earth was usually made
to depend on phenomena presented by the appearance of the heavens.
Two mechanical experiments had, however, long been known, which
demonstrated the fact that the earth revolved :— the one, the retarda-
tion of the pendulum by centrifugal force, a question discussed by
Newton, Huygens, and others; the other, which was suggested by
Newton, consisted in dropping, from a great height, a ball, which, by

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 159

the diurnal motion, was moved somewhat to the eastward. The experi-
ment had hitherto been performed with one pendulum ; but, in the
present instance, éwo pendulums were used, and were suspended at a
sufficient distance apart to allow of the free vibration of each. The
weights were held together by a thread, which, on being burned,
released them, so that they were set vibrating, initially, in the same
vertical plane ; consequently, to the eye of an observer situated in that
plane, the two pendulum wires appeared co-incident, one of them cov-
ering, or eclipsing, the other. In a short time, however, the course of
the two pendulums visibly altered. As their planes of oscillation
appeared to revolve the same way on the earth’s surface, the wires no
longer covered each other, but appeared to separate and alternately to
cross each other. The advantages of this mode of operating were,
first, the rapidity with which the deviation of the pendulums was man-
ifested ; for, as their planes revolved in the same apparent direction,
their arcs diverged from each other twice as fast as either from its
initial position ; and, secondly, the apparent crossing and recrossing
of the wires constituted, to the naked eye, a much more distinct and
palpable test of the result than the apparent motion referred to a plane
beneath one pendulum. — London Atheneum.

BOURDON’S IMPROVEMENTS IN GAUGES, BAROMETERS AND THERMOM-
ETERS.

Tue following is the principle of construction of M. Bourdon’s im-
proved gauges, barometers, thermometers, &c., which of late has
attracted considerable attention : —

It appears that if a brass or thin sheet-iron or steel tube be nearly
flattened, and afterwards coiled, the effect of an inward pressure of
steam or water is to force it towards its original shape ; the first effect
produced being that of tension towards elongation, whether the flat-
tened tube be coiled or twisted ; and a contrary effect is produced by
unresisted exterior pressure. Thus in shaping it, as we have said, a
certain degree of elasticity having been given to the metal, as long as
it is not absolutely forced beyond a given point of its acquired shape,
it will act as a spring to the greatest perfection, and work from or back
to its newly-acquired shape, as the pressure upon it may be applied.
This law has been worked out with admirable ingenuity. Thus, a
simple piece of well-made metal tube is first partially flattened in all
its length, and coiled nearly to a circle. One end of it is stopped
up, while the other end is left open, to receive the pressure of steam or
water. To the end that is stopped a hand is fixed, which is so placed
as to show the variations in the position of the tube upon a dial mark-
ing the degrees of pressure. Here is a most perfect pressure-gauge.
of a simplicity hitherto beyond conception. A vacuum-gauge is made
of the same simple piece of mechanism, reversing the application of
pressure, and, consequently, the effect upon the tube. For instance,
as exhaustion takes place in the tube, so does its power of resisting the
pressure of the syrrounding atmosphere, which acts upon it, vary, and
it consequently again coils under that pressure in regular ratio with
the variation of it, and is made to indicate the degree of vacuum in the

160 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

condensers of an engine. A barometer is made in the same simple
manner, by completely exhausting the air from the coiled tube, and
hermetically closing it. As the pressure of the atmosphere varies, so
does the tube give under it in proportion ; and thus, with the greatest
accuracy, such an instrument indicates the smallest variations of
atmospheric pressure, and forms one which, from its solidity and sim-
plicity, we consider to be preferable to any sort of barometer as yet
produced.

To form a thermometer the same shaped metal is employed ; or if
for indicating the temperature of liquids, the tube is generally twisted
in its whole length, instead of being coiled, and, being filled with alco-
hol, it is well closed ; and thus as the temperature varies so will the
alcohol in the tube expand or contract, and force the tube to observe
its action, and indicate the variations of temperature, either of the
surrounding atmosphere, or of any body of fluid into which it may be
plunged.

Steam pressure gauges, constructed upon M. Bourdon’s principle,
have been ordered by the French government to be applied to all loco-
motive engines in that country.

ALARM BAROMETER.

A BAROMETER has been constructed by Captain Ericsson, so adapted as
to give warning itself of any remarkable atmospheric change. The
principle of its construction is as follows :— when the column descends
in the tube beyond any given altitude, the falling of the mercury
causes a gong to be sounded, by means of a hammer impelled by a
spring. ‘The mercury, in its descent into the cup, disturbs the equi-
librium of a lever, which disengages a catch connected with the ham-
mer. This barometer will be of special benefit at sea, where a
remission of watchfulness may peril the safety of the vessel.

HEIGHT OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

Smr Joun W. Luszock, according to the hypothesis adopted by him
in his Treatise on the Heat of Vapors, shows the density and temper-
ature for a given height above the earth’s surface. According to that
hypothesis, at a height of fifteen miles the temperature is 240° 6’ Fahr.
below zero; the density is .03573; and the atmosphere ceases alto-
gether at a height of 22.35 miles. M. Biot has verified a calculation
of Lambert, who found, from the phenomena of twilight, the altitude
of the atmosphere to be about eighteen miles. The condition of the
higher regions of the atmosphere, according to the hypothesis adopted
by Ivory, is very different, and extends to a much greater height.

MICROMETRIC APPARATUS.

Ons of the most original contributions to the ‘‘ Great Exhibition,”’
was the so-called ‘‘ Micrometric Apparatus,’’ contributed by Messrs.
Whitworth. It is the first attempt yet made in the*mechanical world
to establish a uniform standard of magnitude in machinery, so that

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 161

that uniformity may be as well understood as the uniformity of lan-
guage or numeration. Suppose two metallic surfaces, by friction, or
otherwise, are made so plain and smooth, that when laid upon one
another every part of the surfaces is in equal contact ; and then sup-
pose a stratum, inserted between them, composed of particles of air,
which act like perfectly smooth rollers, the surfaces will then move in
contact with each other, in the most easy manner, owing to the lubric-
ity of the air. If the air, however, is excluded by pressure, the con-
tact becomes so complete that it is difficult to overcome. These
surfaces are used as tests to other plane surfaces, and with these are
tested the ends of a standard measure of metal, which is placed in a
horizontal metallic bed, one end bearing against a metallic pin, while
against the other end another metallic pin is urged by a screw; and if
this metallic bar suffer a change in its length, amounting to even the
millionth part of an inch, by temperature or otherwise, that change is
instantly perceptible. And thus—the pin which bears against its
extremity is moved by a screw, having ten threads to the inch. On
the head of this screw is a wheel, consisting of four hundred teeth,
worked in a worm by another wheel, the rim of which is divided into
two hundred and fifty visible parts. As each thread of the screw cor-
responds to one tenth part of an inch, each tooth of the wheel upon its
head will correspond to the four thousandth part of an inch, and each
division of the wheel connected with the worm will correspond to the
millionth part of an inch. A change in the position of the wheel
attached to the worm, through one of the two hundred and fifty divis-
ions, is, therefore, rendered sensible, at the point of the screw which
bears against the standard bar, to the millionth part of an inch. The
accuracy of this micrometric apparatus was proved by placing in it a
standard yard measure, made of a bar of steel, about three quarters of
an inch square, having both ends perfectly true. One end of the bar
was placed in contact with the face of the machine ; at the other end
a small piece of flat steel was interposed between it and the machine,
whose sides were also made perfectly parallel. This was termed the
contact-piece. ach division on the micrometer represented the one
millionth part of an inch, and each time the micrometer was moved
only one division forward the experimenter raised the contact-piece,
allowing it to descend across the end of the bar simply by its own
gravity. This was repeated until the closer approximation of the sur-
faces prevented the contact-piece from descending, when the measure
was completed, and the number in the micrometer represented the dead
length of the standard bar to the one millionth part of an inch. Eight
repetitions ina quarter of an hour produced the same results, there
not being a variation of one millionth of an inch. This method was
termed the ‘‘ system of proof by the contact of perfectly true surfaces
and grayity.’? By the application of this instrument standard gauges
for axles, taps, and other parts of machinery, which it is desirable to
maintain uniform, are constructed ; and so minute is its operation, that
magnitudes can be estimated that do not exceed the one millionth part
of an inch.
14*

162 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

A NEW METHOD OF MEASURING DISTANCES.

An inyention, by Capt. Groetares, of the Belgian Engineers, has
lately been tested at Greenwich. It is a simple means of ascertaining
the distance of any object against which operations may have to be
directed, and is composed of a staff-about an inch square and three feet
in length, with a brass scale on the upper side, and a slide, to which
is attached a plate of tin, six inches long, and three wide, painted red,
with a white stripe across its centre. A similar plate is held by an
assistant, and is connected with the instrument by a fine wire. When
an observation is to be taken, the observer looks at the distant object
through a glass fixed on the left of the scale, and adjusts the striped
plate by means of the slide ; the assistant also looks through his glass,
standing a few feet in advance of his principal, at the end of the wire,
and, as soon as the two adjustments are effected and declared, the distance
is read off on the scale. In the three trials made at Woolwich, the
distance in one case, although more than 1000 yards, was determined
within two inches; and, in two other attempts, within a foot. It is
obvious that such an instrument, if to be depended on, will admit of
being applied to other than military surveys and operations, and may
be made useful in the civil service.

ON THE PROPER FORM OF THE MOULD-BOARD OF THE PLOUGH.

Art the American Association, Albany, Prof. Hackley, of New York,
stated that he had received a communication from the N. Y. 8. Agri-
cultural Society, requesting him to ascertain, if possible, the true theo-
retic form of the mould-board of the plough, so that it would offer the
least resistance, and thoroughly perform the work ; and to include, if
it could be done, the modification suitable to produce the pulverization
of the soil. Theory and experiment show that the angle of inclination
of the edge of the share, which cuts off the furrow slice from the bot-
tom, to the direction of the plough’s motion, and that of the coulter,
which cuts off at the side, to the horizon, are matters of little impor-
tance. The advantage of inclining them is, that they may act like a
saw to cut off roots. The resistance to the action of these two portions
of the plough is uniform, and is the chief resistance to the draughts.
However, the general wedge-like form of the plough indicates that the
greater its length, (since the breadth is fixed by the required breadth
of the furrow,) the less the resistance, because the angle of the wedge
would thus be rendered more acute. Four feet is the utmost length
that would be consistent with the convenience of turning at the end of
the field. The longest Scotch ploughs are not more than three feet
nine inches, and the American ploughs are much shorter. The shares
and mould-board form properly one continuous surface. After the
furrow-slice is cut off by the coulter and front edge of the share, (which
latter we may suppose a line perpendicular to the direction of the
furrow and equal to its breadth,) the furrow-slice is to be lifted
and turned over, revolving about its edge. As this effect is to be pro-
duced by the mould-board in contact with the whole breadth of the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 163

furrow-slice, it is evident that the surface of the mould-board must be
a warped surface, generated by a right line, moving from the position
of the front edge of the share, parallel to a plane director, which is per-
pendicular to the direction of the furrow ; the generatrix, at the same
time, revolving about its inner extremity, describing an angle of 135°
or 180°, according to the position in which the furrow-slice is to be left,
this whole angle being described when the generatrix has moved the pre-
scribed length of the plough ; four feet being the maximum. The only
resistance to the turning over of the furrow-slice, after it is cut off, will
be its movement of inertia and weight. The friction occasioned by the
weight of the furrow-slice will impede the forward motion of the
plough, but forms no part of the resistance of the furrow-slice itself to
being turned over. But this friction is trifling, compared with that of
the bottom of the plough, (which depends on its weight, and not on the
length of the plough or the surface in contact with the ground,) and
still more trifling in comparison with the resistance which the solid
earth opposes to the cutting of the coulter and the share. The prob-
lem will then consist simply in determining the relation of the angular
movement of the generatrix to its longitudinal movement, so as to pro-
duce a steady and constant pressure of the mould-board upon the furrow-
slice till it is completely turned over into the required position. These
conditions will insure both the least resistance, so far as the small
resistance, arising from the weight and inertia of the furrow-slice, is
concerned, and the best performance of the work. [For the equation,
‘which expresses the relations of angular motion and time, or, in other
words, the angular velocity of solid bodies about fixed axes under the
action of various accelerating forces, see Potsson, Traité de Mecanique,
art. 392, of the edition of 1833.] Professor H. then displayed upon the
black-board an investigation involving the higher mathematical analy-
sis, from which he deduced the law of generation, of the surface of the
mould-board, and explained a practical method of constructing a model
from wood, in accordance with his formula, so as to fulfil the ccndi-
tions prescribed. For the purpose of producing the pulverization of
the furrow-slice, there must be an elevation of the mould-board at its
under-surface medium line. This elevation will act to the greatest
advantage to produce the pulverization if made upon the forward part of
the mould-board, where the surface is not so much warped. Experi-
ments might be made with an excrescence of wood, which should be cut
away until the degree of pulverization leaves the furrow-slice in suffi-
cient form to be turned over and delivered in its place without too
great scattering.

ON THE “NOMINAL HORSE-POWER” OF STEAM ENGINES—READ BEFORE
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, BY
L. G. HEATH.

Tue inadequacy of the present term, ‘‘ nominal horse-power,”’ for
giving a definite idea, either of the absolute or relative power of en-
ines, was first examined by comparing the engines of H. M. S. Gar-

164 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

land and Basilisk, which were both constructed on the same principle,
with oscillating cylinders, and were both used to drive paddle-wheels.
This comparison was made under three distinct heads ; — the mean
effective pressure, the number of revolutions per minute, and the size
of the cylinders. It was urged that Watt’s constant of seven pounds
per square inch, for the mean effective pressure, was not only in itself
inapplicable, but that no constant quantity could be universally appli-
cable. Also, that the method of determining the number of revolutions
per minute from a conventional speed, founded on the length of the
stroke of the piston, was equally fallacious. It was, therefore, proposed
that the term, ‘‘ nominal horse-power,’’ should be abolished; that
engines should in future be designated by the cubic contents of their
steam-cylinders, jointly with their nominal consumption of a standard
description of fuel, during a given period of one hour. The system, it
was contended, would be more in accordance with the present practice
of construction, and would enable the relative size and power of engines
to be more accurately estimated than by the present method. In the
ensuing discussion, 1t was admitted that it would be very desirable to
fix the nomenclature of the power of engines; for, though it was well
known that James Watt did really take as his standard what he found
to be actually performed by a powerful horse, drawing a weight over a
pulley, viz., the equivalent of 33,000 pounds raised one foot high in a
minute, yet, commercially, it had gradually become a custom among
manufacturers to give a surplus of power, ostensibly as an allowance for
friction and deficiencies of the machine, so that now the mere statement
of the nominal horse-power had no definite meaning. It was, however,
contended that the standard of 33,000 pounds should be retained ; and
that, supposing the workmanship to be equally good in two engines, it
was only necessary to compare the areas of the cylinder, the effective
pressure of steam on the piston, and the speed of the piston, to deter-
mine their relative power. This was, in fact, shown by the indicator,
an instrument, the value of which was now universally admitted, and
which, when skilfully used, did really give a true representation of the
ower of the engine. It was the universal custom of Boulton and
att to calculate the power exerted by an engine by the speed of the
piston, together with the average pressure of the steam, as shown by
the indicator ; and, although much vagueness and uncertainty had lat-
terly been introduced into the subject, this was rather to be attributed
to the assumption of arbitrary quantities to represent these results,
than to any defect in Watt’s standard horse-power, which definitely
expressed both the measure of power and the space through which it
acted. The proposed standard of comparison of the quantity of water
evaporated in a given time, by a given amount of fuel, or the combus-
tion of a given quantity of fuel in a given time, were shown to be of
no value, as then, not only the generation of the steam, but the admin-
istration of it, must be considered, and these points merely tend to
complicate the question. For pumping-engines in Cornwall, the term
horse-power was almost unknown ; engines being sold to raise a given
quantity of water, which was a standard easily reducible to that of
other districts, where 33,000 pounds was assumed to be the actual

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 165

power of a horse. The commercial question, of what a manufacturer
should give as a horse-power, could not be discussed ; for the actual
power was only a small element in the actual cost of an engine, that
varying with every peculiar application of the machine. The surplus
power now given by manufacturers has evidently arisen from a more
perfect machine being now produced, by the use of tools in the manu-
facture, the introduction of metallic rings instead of hemp packing,
more perfect valves, and numerous modifications, all of which were
apart from, and independent of, the question of the original standard,
which, it was admitted, could not be improved, and should not, there-
fore, be altered.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF LOCOMOTIVE SPEED.

Dr. Larpner, in his lately published Economy of Railways, thus en-
deavors to convey to the unpractised reader the enormous speed of
a locomotive going at the rate of seventy miles an hour : —‘‘ Seventy
miles an hour is, in round numbers, 105 feet per second ; that is, a
motion in virtue of which a passenger is carried oyer thirty-five yards
between two beats of a common clock. Two objects near him, a yard
asunder, pass by his eye in the 35th part of a second ; and if thirty-
five stakes were erected by the side of the road, one yard asunder, the
whole would pass his eye between two beats of a clock; if they had
any strong color, such as red, they would appear a continuous flash of red.
At such a speed, therefore, the objects on the side of the road are not
distinguishable. When two trains, having this speed, pass each other,
the relative velocity will be double this, or seventy yards per second,
and if one of the trains were seventy yards long, it would flash by ina
single second. To accomplish this, supposing the driving-wheels seven
feet in diameter, the piston must change its direction in the cylinder
ten times ina second. But there are two cylinders, and the mechanism
is so regulated that the discharges of steam are alternate. There are,
therefore, twenty discharges of steam per second, at equal intervals ;
and thus these twenty puffs divide a second into twenty equal parts,
each puff having the twentieth of a second between it and that which
precedes and follows it. The ear, like the eye, is limited in the rapidity
of its sensations ; and, sensitive as that organ is, it is not capable of
distinguishing sounds which succeed each other at intervals of the
twentieth part of asecond. According to the experiments of Dr. Hut-
ton, the flight of a cannon ball was 6700 feet in one quarter of a minute,
equal to five miles per minute, or 300 miles per hour. It follows, there-
fore, that a railway train, going at the rate of 75 miles per hour, hasa
velocity of one fourth that of a cannon ball; and the momentum of
such a mass, moving at such a speed, is equivalent to the aggregate
force of a number of cannon balls equal to one fourth of its own weight.’’

CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

DIVISIBILITY OF MATTER.

Many years ago, a curious calculation was made by Dr. Thomson,
to show to what degree matter could be divided, and still be sensible to
the eye. He dissolved a grain of nitrate of lead in 500,000 grains of
water, and passed through the solution a current of sulphuretted hydro-
gen, when the whole liquid became sensibly discolored. Nowa grain of
water may be regarded as about equal to a drop of that liquid, and a
drop may be easily spread out so as to cover a square inch of surface.
But under an ordinary microscope the millionth of a square inch ma
be distinguished by the eye. The water, therefore, could be divided
into 500,000,000,000 parts. But the lead in a grain of nitrate of lead
weighs (.62 grains; an atom of lead cannot weigh more than
1,310,000,000,000th of a grain, while the atom of sulphur, which,
combined with the lead, rendered it visible (in the mass’), could not
weigh more than 1-2,015,000,000 ; that is, the two billionth part of
a grain. |

But what is a billion, or, rather, what conception can we form of
such a quantity? We may say that a billion is a million of millions,
and can easily represent it thus: 1,000,000,000,000. But a school
boy’s calculation will show how entirely the mind is incapable of con-
ceiving such numbers. Ifa person were able to count at the rate of
200 in a minute, and to work without intermission twelve hours in a
day, he would take, to count a billion, 6,944,944 days, or 19,025 years
319 days. But this may be nothing to the division of matter. There
are living creatures so minute, that a hundred millions of them may be
comprehended in the space of a cubic inch. But these creatures, until
they are lost to the sense of sight, aided by the most powerful instru-
ments, are seen to possess organs fitted for collecting their food, and
even capturing their prey. ‘They are, therefore, supplied with organs,
and these organs consist of tissues nourished by circulating fluids,
which must consist of parts or atoms, if we please so to term them.
In reckoning the size of such atoms, we must not speak of billions, but
perchance of billions of billions. And what is a billion of billions ?
The number is a quadrillion, and can be easily represented thus :—
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ; and the same school boy’s calcu-
lation may be employed to show that to count a quadrillion, at the rate

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 167

of 200 a minute, would require all the inhabitants of the globe, suppos-
ing them to be a thousand millions, to count incessantly for 19,025,875
years, or for more than 3000 times the period for which the human race
has been supposed to be in existence. — Low’s Inguary into the Simple
Bodies of Chemistry.

OBSERVATIONS ON ATOMIC VOLUMES, WITH CONSIDERATIONS ON THE
PROBABILITY THAT CERTAIN BODIES NOW CONSIDERED AS ELEMENT-
ARY MAY BE DECOMPOSED.

Pror. Dumas, at the British Association, alluded to the solubility of
some substances, and the insolubility of others, giving many instances
of the difference of this quality in regard to solution in water, sul-
phuric and strong acids, and referred to Berthollet’s views and experi-
ments on this subject. The measure of volume of bodies, he thought,
might be represented with as much facility as the weight ; thus, for
example, magnesia and sulphuric acid may haye their volumes numer-
ically expressed before and after combination, and also graphically by
lines. Magnesia with sulphuric acid showed a certain degree of con-
densation, lime a greater condensation, and barytes the greatest con-
densation ; and these he could represent and reason on as well by lines
of different lengths as by figures or by words. The degree of condensa-
tion had also relation to the quality or degree of solubility. Thus,
sulphate of magnesia was very soluble, sulphate of lime but little solu-
ble, and the greatly condensed sulphate of barytes was insoluble. He
then pursued the analogy with the chlorides, comparing the chloride
of sodium with the extreme case of the chloride of silver. After graph-
ically expressing the solubility of bases with sulphuric acid by lines,
he proceeded to show that the relative volumes of the elements chlo-
rine, bromine, and iodine, could be perfectly represented by lines equal
in length. Prof. Dumas said that when a number of metals are repre-
sented by lines, at first they seem in confusion, and it would appear
like an impossibility to arrange them in a system of lines, to permit
their relations to appear; but when considered in relation to the sub-
stitution of one property for another, or of the substitution of one sub-
stance for another in groups, then their arrangement became easy.
Many examples were given of groups of bodies such as the alkalies,
earths, &e., arranged in the order of their affinities. He also called
attention, in the Triad groups, to the intermediate body, having most
of its qualities intermediate with the properties of the extremes, and
also that the atomic or combining number was also of the middle term,
exactly half of the extremes added together; thus, sulphur 16, sele-
nium 40, and tellurium 64. Half of the extremes give 40, the number
for the middle term. Chlorine 35, bromine 80, and iodine 125. Of
the alkalies, lithia, soda and potassa, or earths, lime, strontia and
baryta, afforded, with many others, examples of this coincidence ; hence
this suggestion, that, in a series of bodies, if the extremes were known
by some law, intermediate bodies might be discovered; and, in the
spirit of these remarks, if bodies are to be transformed or decomposed
into others, the suggestion of suspicion is thrown upon the possibility

168 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of the intermediate body being composed of the extremes of the series
and transmutable changes thus hoped for. Prof. Dumas then showed
that in the metals similar properties are found to those of non-metallic
bodies; alluding to the possibility that metals that were similar in
their relations, and which may be substituted one for the other in cer-
tain compounds, might also be found ¢ransmutable, the one into the
other. He then took up the inorganic bodies, where substitutions took
place, which, he stated, much resembled the metals. After discussing
groups in Triads, Prof. Dumas alluded to the ideas of the ancients, of
the transmutations of metals, and their desire to change lead into sil-
yer, and mercury into gold ; but these metals do not appear to have the
requisite similar relations to render those changes possible. He next
passed to the changes of other bodies — such as the transmutation of
diamonds into black lead, under the voltaic are. After elaborate
reasoning, and offering many analogies from the stores of chemical
analysis, Prof. Dumas expressed the idea that the law of the substitu-
tion of one body for another in groups of compounds might lead to the
transformation of one group into another at will; and we should en-
deavor to devise means to divide the molecules of one body of one of
these groups into two parts, and also of a third body, and then unite
them, and probably the intermediate body might be the result. In
this way, if bodies, of similar properties and often associated together,
were transmutable one into the other, then, by changes, portions of one
might often, if not always, be associated with the other. Thus, in
nature, where chlorine occurred, iodine and bromine might also be found,
and always would be if they were transmutable the one into the other.
Cobalt is thus mysteriously associated with nickel, iron with manga-
- hese, sulphur with selenium, &c. In the arts, during operations, when
certain radicles were produced, analogous ones were found constantly
to be associated. In the distillation of brandy, oil of wine is always
an ‘associated result. Dr. Faraday expressed his hope that Prof.
Dumas was setting chemists in the right path ; and, although conyer-
sationally acquainted with the subject, yet he had been by no means
prepared for the multitude of analogies pointed out. Mr. Grove spoke
of the importance of the views ; as, by knowing the extreme compounds,
it might serve as a guide in experiments, and as a check to the results.
He adyerted to the allotropic condition of substances when their prin-
cipal characters were changed, but their chemical qualities were
unaltered ; thus, carbon in the state of diamond had a change of prop-
erty so complete that it had one of the properties of metals given or
transferred to it by its conducting power ier electricity under these
conditions, and its other forms were states resistant to electric passage.
He thought this fact, of certain bodies haying two sets of physical
properties, with greatly differing character, might, with this law of
the substitution of one set of chemical qualities for another in a com-
pound group, give the hope of the great realization of some of the ideas
embodied in the views of the possible transformation of one body, at
will, so as to possess the properties of all others.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 169

ON THE CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS.

A paper with the above title was presented at the meeting of the
British Association, 1851, by Dr. Daubeny. The object of this
paper was to point out certain inconsistencies and anomalies in
the received method of classifying and naming organic compounds, and
thus, if possible, to induce chemists to agree on a set of rules, by ad-
hering to which the compositions and relations of a body might be
inferred from the termination of the word designating it. The profes-
sor first alluded to the nomenclature proposed by Gmelin, which im-
posed new names upon all known elements, and thus was at least as
difficult as the acquisition of an entirely new language. Not conceiy-
ing that so intricate a system would ever come into vogue, he proceeded
to point out the meaning belonging to the several terminations attached
by eminent chemists to the names of bodies of their own discovery, as
indicative of the class to which they belonged, and likewise their method
of denoting the composition of a body by constructing for it a name made
up of those expressive of its several ingredients. In order to introduce
somewhat more of precision into this method of nomenclature, and
also to render it, in some instances, more convenient and more appli-
cable to daily use, the professor submitted to the Section the following
suggestions : —1. That the term hydrocarbon, when used to designate
a class, should be confined to the compound radicals ; the essential oils
being regarded either in the light of hydrurets, from their containing
an atom of hydrogen in a different state of combination from the rest,
or of aldehydes, from their tendency to form acids by the addition of
two atoms of oxygen. 2. That the term ether, as designating a class,
should be restricted to the oxides of the respective compound radicals ;
and that the ‘‘ compound ethers ” should be named on the same prin-
ciple that salts are, by terms expressive of their respective acids and
bases. 3. That the term cetone should be retained for bodies produced
from acids by the abstraction of a single atom of carbonic acid; 4.
and that of glyceride for fixed oils. 5. That the termination yle for
Liebig’s compound radicals, and ene or en for carbohydrogens with equal
atoms of the two elements, be retained. 6. That to the vegetable
alkalies produced by natural processes, the termination zne should be
confined ; and to those artificially produced by substitution of hydro-
carbons for the hydrogen atoms of ammonia that of amine. 7. That
the names proposed by Hoffman for the alkaloids of his own discovery
should be abbreviated by introducing only the first syllable of the name
expressive of each of the hydrocarbons present, by which expedient the
length of the word so compounded need rarely exceed six syllables.
8. That the termination amide should be retained merely for bodies
formed by the replacement of the hydrogen atoms when they are not
alkalian ; and that the terms imide and nitrile should be no longer em-
ployed. 9. That the termination am, occasionally used for ammonia
compounds, be discarded. 10. That the termination al, for aldehyde
compounds, should be henceforward employed with more precision.
11. That the termination ethane should be used for those ether com-
pounds only into which an acid does not enter, 12. That the termi-

170 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

nation an should be employed in a more definite sense than heretofore.
13. That the terminations one and ole should be respectively confined,
the former to bodies produced from acids by the abstraction of one atom
of carbonic acid, and the second by that of two atoms; so that the
latter term should not be adopted to indicate the essential oils. 14.
That where a name expressive of the composition of a body cannot be
constructed, one should be formed haying reference to some obvious
physical or chemical property, and of which the Greek or Latin root
can be readily apprehended. Such barbarous and unmeaning terms,
therefore, as mercaptan, kapnomor, pittacal, parabanic acid, &c., should
be rejected from the yocabulary of science. 15. That bodies produced
by natural processes should, in general, bear a name recalling the
source from whence they are derived. 16. And, lastly, that although
bodies belonging to the same class or type should, in general, have the
same termination, yet, that where a substance already familiar to us
is shown to belong to a particular type, its designation ought not in
that case to be altered,—so as to bring it into harmony with the
other bodies with which it may be thus associated. The above sug-
gestions are thrown out rather as embodying the views of the most
eminent chemists, so far as these views can be inferred from their
practice, than as expressive of any new methods or arrangements con-
ceived by the author of the paper.

RELATION OF THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUTION OF BODIES TO SIGHT.

A paper with the above title was read by Prof. Horsford before the
American Association, Albany, the design of which was to determine
the extent of general principles in governing the colors exhibited by
metals and other bodies. The following are Prof. H.’s conclusions.
‘‘ The color of bodies depends upon the extent of surface of their small
particles or groups of atoms. Transparency depends upon the arrange-
ment of lesser atoms in certain order, constituting large groups. White-
ness depends upon such extent of surface of the grains of atoms as shall
reflect a light ; or upon the number of thin plates produced by pulveriz-
ing transparent bodies as will reflect all the light. Blackness depends
upon the subdivision of grains to such minuteness, that they no longer
reflect light, or, by producing interference, destroy it. Heat, by sub-
division, causes darker shades.”’

ARTIFICIAL FORMATION OF MINERALS.

Epetman has published a second memoir upon this subject, contain-
ing many valuable additions to our knowledge, and throwing great
light upon chemical geology and mineralogy. The method pursued
in these investigations was the same employed by the author in his
previous researches, and consisted in dissolving the constituents of the
mineral to be formed in an appropriate solvent, and submitting the
whole to evaporation at a high temperature in a porcelain furnace.
Boric acid was the solyent commonly employed, but the author also
used borax, phosphoric acid, and certain alkaline phosphates. Of the

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 171

minerals belonging to the spinelle group, several were obtained by the
author in his previous memoir; the experiments, however, have been
repeated, and with better success as regards the size and perfection of
the crystals obtained. Magnesian spinelle Al’ O° MgO, was prepared
by igniting a mixture of alumina, magnesia, chromate of potash and
boric acid, the mixture remaining in the furnace eight consecutive
days. ‘The crystals thus produced were octahedrons, truncated upon
the twelve edges, some of them three or four millimetres on the side ;
they were transparent, of great lustre, and of a more or less marked
rose color. The angles measured, perfectly corresponded to the theory ;
the density of the crystals was 3.542. Gahnite, Al? 0° ZnO, chromite
of manganese, and other minerals of like character, have been also
obtained in equal perfection. Rutile was obtained in long acicular
prisms by igniting a mixture of titanic acid with phosphate of soda
and ammonia; the crystals were transparent and of a golden yellow
color; their density was 4.283, which agrees with that of rutile. —
Annalles de Chimie, xxxill. 34.

ON THE FORMATION OF DOLOMITE BY THE ACTION OF MAGNESIUM
VAPORS. BY M. DUROCHER.

Prsces of a porous limestone and anhydrous chloride of magnesium
were introduced into a gun-barrel, so that neither substances were in
contact. The closed tube was then exposed for three hours to a dull
red heat, in order to maintain an atmosphere of chloride of magnesium
yapor round the limestone. At the end of that time the pieces of
limestone were found to be covered with a crust of fused chloride of
calcium and chloride of magnesium, mixed with a little peroxide of
iron, and the oxides of the two earths. The chlorides were separated
by washing with water, and the nuclei were then found to be partially
converted into dolomite. Transparent groups of crystals were visible
under the microscope ; the mass had a white color passing into yellow
and grayish-yellow, and was, like dolomite, full of cavities. Du-
rocher is of the opinion, that the assumption of some geologists, that
dolomite has been formed naturally by aqueous agencies, is proved by
this experiment not to be absolutely correct, as it may also have been
formed by magnesian vapors, issuing from the interior of the earth,
and gradually converting limestone into dolomite. — Comptes Rendus.

ON THE CHANGES IN STRUCTURE OBSERVED TO TAKE PLACE IN SOLID
ARSENIOUS ACID AND OTHER SOLID BODIES.

Tuer most remarkable property of arsenious acid is this, that as an
amorphous body, without any admixture, and without losing its solid
state, it experiences a change which makes it assume a totally differ-
ent aspect. It has long been known, from experiment, that the trans-
parent arsenic glass gradually becomes opaque, until it resembles
porcelain. The substance, at first colorless, becomes white, the trans-
parency disappears, and it becomes completely opaque ; the beautiful,
vitreous lustre becomes feeble, and approaches the waxy. The specific

gt

172 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

gravity at the same time diminishes ; that of the transparent being
about 3.7, and that of the opaque 3.5. The hardness, also, is sub-
ject to change ; the glass becoming somewhat pulvyerulent, so that its
fracture is earthy, and the lustre quite wanting. Fuchs, in his work
on Amorphism, has thrown out the conjecture that the glassy arse-
nious acid loses its transparency by virtue of a gradual change into a
crystalline mass. Hausemann has, however, published the result of his
examinations, in which he was unable to détect any trace of crystal-
line structure, even when examined under a magnifying power of 400.
Professor Jameson, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, April,
states that he has recently become satisfied of the truth of Fuchs’ con-
jecture in the most convincing manner. Masses of transparent arse-
nious acid selected for examination, were found, on assuming the porce-
lainous structure, to have become highly crystallized, ‘‘ the sides of the
masses being studded with great numbers of distinct, octohedral crys-
tals, some of which were half a French line in diameter.’’ Such a
transformation of arsenic glass, says Professor Jameson, into a mass of
well-formed crystals, is a most remarkable instance of molecular change
in a rigid body, and is the more striking, since, apparently, it is not
caused by any exterior circumstance, nor is attended by any change
of constitution. It would seem that the molecules were put in motion
by a tendency of the amorphous mass to pass from the condition of
tension to that of repose and equilibrium, which is the characteristic
condition of crystallization. This remarkable change also proves that
nature can accomplish, in time, what she cannot eflect in a shorter
space ; a truth deserving to be remembered in all physical inquiries,
and especially in geology. Professor Jameson also observes, that in
similar masses of arsenic glass there are differences of aggregation,
which cause them to differ in their progress towards becoming opaque.
On this it may depend, as well as on other determining causes, that
generally the amount of change is independent of the length of time
elapsed.

Similar changes in structure are observed to take place in calca-
reous minerals, and probally changes of the same description occur in
many of the minerals, and also in rocks. Among artificial substances
exhibiting such changes, we may particularize the confection called
barley-sugar. This substance, when newly prepared, has a pale wine-
yellow color, and is more or less translucent. Its fracture is conchoidal,
with a shining vitreo-resinous lustre. If kept for a time, its trans-
lucency diminishes, and gradually the conchoidal fracture disappears,
and in its place the whole mass of the substance assumes a beautiful
stellular radiated structure. Geologically considered, this topic is
of great importance. — Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.

ARTIFICIAL MARBLE.

Tue following is an account of the experiments and theories of a Mrs.
Marshall, of Edinburgh, who has been engaged, with success, in the
production of artificial marble, sandstone, conglomerate, &c.

So far back as 1840, Mrs. Marshall was struck with the odd idea,

al om

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 173

that the animal and vegetable remains, so universally found in the
second and tertiary strata, might, by a chemical or electric influence
exerted upon the disintegrated particles of these rocks, have been the
cause of their aggregation. The result of numerous experiments, un-
dertaken since that period, has, she states, satisfactorily demonstrated,
that if the constituents of any mineral body, of which lime forms a part,
be mixed in their true proportions, (the lime used being free from car-
bon in any form,) and these mixed with animal and vegetable remains,
under circumstances of due moisture and heat, aggregation of their
particles will take place at periods, varying with the substances under
experiment, from a few minutes, to hours, weeks, and months; and
these artificial aggregations (allowing for absence of time, and the in-
calculable amount of supermcumbent pressure present in the natural
phenomena) come so undeniably near, in appearance and qualities, to
the products of nature, as to throw a totally new and interesting light
on some of her hitherto most mysterious operations.

There are two problems which haye justly been considered by geolo-
gists as among the most difficult in their science ; the one is, that the
nodules in strata containing fossils, particularly crustaceous relics, con-
tain more lime — taking size for size — than the intervening spaces in
the beds. The natural conclusion, at first sight, is, that the surplus lime
accrues from the osseous fabric of the organism. But investigation
proves that there is more lime contained in the whole nodule than this
vill account for. Mrs. Marshall’s experiments and specimens show
that bone or recent shell has, more than any other portion of the animal
frame, a power of attracting or of condensing lime, while a counter
power is exerted by the lime of hardening or solidifying the bone. This,
of course, acts more powerfully and obyiously when the bone and the
lime come in immediate contact, as in the nodules of the crustaceous
fossils, than in the case of the yertebrata, where the integuments in-
terpose like a screen. ‘Thus, if portions of bone, or recent shells, be
placed in a heap of sulphate of lime, or of magnesia thoroughly free from
carbonic acid, with a very small proportion of vegetable matter added,
and the heap so prepared be kept in circumstances of moisture, the
parts in contact with the bone will first begin to harden or condense,
and this action will gradually radiate to an extent corresponding to the
size and form of the osseous matter, while, at the same time, the bone,
even the soft cellular portion, becomes hard and stone-like. The very
same effect is produced by and on coral; for not only does the lime
harden in an extraordinary degree round the coral, but in the same
ratio the latter loses its dull opaque, and becomes semi-translucent.
Whether ‘‘ countless ages ’’ would bring these to a perfect resemblance
of natural fossils, it is hard to say ; but a year and a half has sufficed
to render them extremely curious, and worthy of attention. The ex-
periments conducted with the constituents of sandstone and lias, lead
to the very same results, but much more slowly than in the pure lime.

The other problem to which we allude is this : — From what cause has
it arisen that many mineral substances, and even whole strata, are
found identical in the nature and proportions of their constituents, yet
totally different in their lithological structure? Such is the stratum

15*

174 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

frequently above coal and lime, and both above, and mingled with,
sandstone. Mrs. Marshall’s experiments show that if a mass, in imita-
tion of such mineral bodies, be prepared, and one part of it left at per-
fect rest, while the other is agitated or disturbed, the one will harden
in a few hours or days into a substance not distinguishable by the eye
from the natural stone, and capable of resisting water and weather ;
while the latter will take as many weeks to harden, and then present a
mass which readily degrades by exposure to either. The experiment
may be varied thus: — Such masses always se¢ or harden from the
centre outwards; allow the mass to set till within half an inch of the
surface ; disturb what remains, and the result will be, that, on making
a section, the centre will be found hard enough to take a fine polish,
while the outer crust will be a mere crumbling mass of chalk or sand.

Mr. Hugh Miller, in his ‘* Old Red Sandstone,’’ conjectures that the
curious outstriking of colors, which here and there occurs in that and
some other formations, may have arisen from the action of decaying
animal matter. Not only is this completely proved by this lady’s ex-
periment, but, what Mr. Miller seems not to have once suspected, that
decaying vegelable matter has the same effect ; and doubtless to this,
rather than animal, are owing the more curious and grotesque forms
in which these white and gray stains appear.

We were particularly interested by one specimen, in which, with
the view of solving two problems by one experiment, there had been
laid down upon the surface, while yet fluid, a few of the delicately-
rounded leafstalks of the Fucus vesiculosus ; of these some had sunk only
half, and others wholly, under the surface. In course of time the veg-
etable matter shrinks to a film that can be blown out with the breath,
and there then remain in the mimic stratum perforations which are
lined with white, presenting the most perfect resemblance to those
mysterious worm-like borings which occur in the face of compact lime-
stone, and have given rise to so much discussion.— Chambers’ Journal.

TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL MARBLE OR STONE.

Tue following is the condensed specification of a patent granted to
St. Clair Massiah, and published in the May number of ‘‘ Newton’s
Repertory of Inventions.’’ ‘The material of which the artificial stone
is made, is plaster of Paris. After it has been prepared, and is of the
right shape, it is dried in a room at about 80°. When completely
dry, it is immersed in a warm solution of borax and glauber salts, pre-
pared by dissolving one pound of borax and a quarter of an ounce of
the salts in one gallon of water, as a ratio. After the casting is thor-
oughly wet in this, it is removed to the drying room, and exposed to a
heat of 250° Fahrenheit, until all the watery parts are thrown off. It is
then permitted to get nearly cold, when it 1s immersed in a strong hot
solution of borax, to which has been added one ounce of strong nitric
acid ‘for every gallon of the borax solution. This solution is kept quite
warm, and the castings kept in it until they are completely saturated,
when they are taken out and dried, and found to have acquired a marble-
like hardness, A day or two after this operation, the castings are

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 175

slightly heated and covered over with a thin coat of Canada balsam,
dissolved in turpentine, after which they are kept warm until the tur-
pentine is driven off. Various colored substances may be used along
with the materials specified to color the artificial marble, such as indigo
for blue, and other substances for other colors. The marble may also
be streaked and beautifully variegated. — Scientific American.

ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MANGANESE.

Ar the American Association, Albany, the following paper, on the
*« Distribution of Manganese,’’ was presented by Mr. David A. Wells,
of Cambridge :—

«The occurrence of pebbles and water-worn stones in many of the
streams and water-courses of New England, which have their origin
among, and run over, igneous and metamorphic rocks, is by no means
uncommon, and has doubtless attracted the attention of every observer.
When the bed of a stream in which they occur, is examined, the colored
pebbles and stones will be found at intervals, generally after or below a
fall or rapid, and not immediately above. This coloring matter, which
is wholly superficial, and of different degrees of lustre, is due to an in-
crustation of the black oxide of manganese, and occurs independently
on almost every variety of stone.

“In the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, for July, 1851, Dr.
John Davy calls attention to somewhat similar incrustations, in Eng-
land, of which he says as follows : —‘ Though always superficial, in
one spot the incrustation is so thick as to be available for use ; and in
this instance the black oxide of manganese acts as a cement, forming a
bed of conglomerate several feet thick. Whence this incrustation is
derived, or how produced, is not obvious. Restricting the yiew to the
spots where it occurs, it might be supposed to be a deposit from run-
ning water. But when it is seen that the coloring matter is not to be de-
tected on rocks in situ — the fixed rocks in the course of the stream —
the idea ceases to be tenable, and the inference seems to be unayoida-
ble, that the sand, pebbles and stones so colored have been incrusted
with the oxide before they had been carried down to the spot where
they are found loose ; or, when in the form of conglomerate, that the
cementing oxide has been brought by water exuding from some rock or
stratum containing manganese in a minor degree of oxidation, and ac-
quiring the higher degree by the absorption of oxygen, and at the same
time the cementing quality.’ Dr. Davy also infers that manganese
exists in the vicinity of these incrustations in large quantities, and
advises special inquiry in search of it.

‘‘ Before the publication of the article referred to by Dr. Davy, the
subject of these incrustations had attracted the attention of Dr. A. A.
Hayes, of Boston, and myself, and we believe the following to be a full
and satisfactory account of the origin of this phenomenon.

‘The manganese exists in almost all the igneous and metamorphic
rocks of New England, and I may say in other parts of the world, gen-
erally as a double carbonate of lime and manganese. When the waters
of the springs, brook and rivers, flowing over these rocks, become

176 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

charged with soluble organic matter, in the state of crenic, apocrenic,
or humic acids, drained into them in consequence of rains or inunda-
tions, from swamps and peat meadows, the carbonates of lime and
manganese enter into solution. At such times manganese may gener-
ally be detected in these waters, as has been done by Drs. C. I’. Jack-
son, A. A. Hayes, and others. When the water holding the manga-
nese in solution, becomes broken and thrown up in the passage of falls
or rapids, consequently exposing it to the influence of the atmosphere,
the manganese passes from a low state of oxidation to the insoluble
peroxide, and is deposited for a considerable extent upon the rocks and
pebbles below. It will thus be found, upon examination, that, at inter-
vals in the bed of the stream, the stones are completely blackened or
discolored, while in other places no such depositions exist. Beautiful
examples of this phenomenon may be seen at some points on the Mer-
rimac river, and, indeed, in almost every rivulet in New England.

‘<T have also noticed similar depositions between the divisional strata
planes of sandstones in the valley of the Connecticut, thus showing that
apparently the same agencies were at work during the deposition of
these rocks as at the present day.

** As an example of the extent to which manganese exists in some of
the older rocks of New England, I submit an analysis of an altered rock,
occurring somewhat extensively in the neighborhood of Nahant. The
analysis gives, SiO? 52,17, Fe? O? 9,78, Mn? 03 26,72, Al? 078,43,
Ca O, 0,37, Mg O, 0,60, HO, 2,02; total 100,09.”’

ON THE NEW METAL, DONARIUM.

In the Zircon Syenite, of Brevig, in Norway, Bergemann has discov-
ered a mineral which, upon examination, proved to contain the oxide ©
of a new metal, Donarium. The mineral in question is a hydrated
silicate of donarium ; and is represented by the formule, Do? O* Si 03
+2 HO. It is readily decomposed by chlorohydric acid; and, after
the separation of the silica in the usual manner, ammonia precipitates
from the solution a hydrated oxide of donarium as a white voluminous
mass, which, upon drying, becomes gradually yellowish and reddish
yellow. ‘The precipitate contains a little iron, from which it is freed
by ignition and digestion with chlorohydric acid, which dissolves the
iron. The oxide may then be dissolved by long digestion with sulphuric
acid. From the sulphate the pure hydrate is obtained by precipitation
with ammonia white, but becoming yellowish on drying. It is readily
soluble in acids; in chlorohydrie acid without evolution of chlorine.
Metallic donarium was obtained from the oxide by heating with potas-
sium. The decomposition takes place rapidly with evolution of light ;
and the metal is separated as a coal-black heavy powder, which, under
the burnisher, assumes a metallic lustre, which it retains for several
hours, even in moist air. Particles of the metal, scattered in the flame
of a lamp, burn with a reddish light tooxide. Chlorohydric acid, hot
or cold, has no action on the metal ; nitric acid acts slowly on heating ;
nitro-muriatic acid oxidizes it rapidly to red oxide, of which a small
portion is dissolved. The anhydrous oxide, obtained by strong ignition

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. TE

of the hydrate, is of a very deep red color. Its density is 5.576; it is
soluble only in sulphuric acid, after long digestion and subsequent
dilution with much water. The solutions of the hydrated oxide in nitric
and sulphuric acids are colorless ; that in hot chlorohydric acid, yellow,
which color, however, vanishes on cooling. Potash, soda and ammo-
nia, give, with solutions of the oxide, white precipitates, which are
insoluble in an excess of the precipitant.

PLATINOID METALS.

Pratinum is associated with several other metals in the platinum
sand which is found in some gold districts. They have not been found
as a distinct deposit in California; but have been observed in the
United States Mint, in the operations of assaying and parting. These
associated metals are palladium, rhodium, iridium, and osmium ; to
which we must add the lately discovered metal, ruthenium. They
have a sufficient resemblance to be classed together, and are obtained
by a similar hydrometallurgic treatment. The grains of iridosmin,
found mixed with gold, have been qualitatively examined, and found to
contain the new metal, ruthenium, as was observed by Claus in rela-
tion to the iridosmin from other localities. Palladium has been observed,
and, at times, in sufficient quantity to render the gold brittle. The
quantities of platinoid metals found in the California gold are small;
about one and a half pound of iridosmin having been obtained from
about 25 tons of gold, zyo%00; but the greater part has, of course,
passed into the coin, the coarser grains only being left. — J. C. Booth,
U. S. Mint.

EFFECT OF ZINC UPON IRON.

A tetrer from Mr. James Nasmyth to the London Mining Journal,
communicates the results of some experiments recently made for the
Admiralty, with a view of determining whether old iron, that had
been galvanized, or coated with zinc, was rendered unfit for being
worked up again. The result of these experiments seems to prove
that the iron is improved, instead of being deteriorated, by the zine
combined with it. The following is Mr. Nasmyth’s report of the
experiments : — A piece of galvanized iron wire rope was welded up into
a bar, and put to the most severe test. In the first place it was found
that, although the iron wire was quite covered with metallic zinc,
which although partially driven off in the process of welding, yet, so
far from the presence of the metal, or its oxide, presenting any imped-
iment to the welding of the iron, (as in the case of lead,) the iron wire
welded with remarkable ease ; and the result was, a bar of remarkably
tough, silvery-grained iron, which stood punching, splitting, twisting
and bending, in such a manner as to show that the iron was not only
excellent, but, to all appearance, actually improved in quality in a very
important degree. Encouraged by such a result, a still further and
even more severe trial was made, namely, by welding up a pile of
clippings of galvanized iron plates, or sheet-iron covered with zinc, as

178 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

in the former experiments. The presence of the zinc appeared to offer
no impediment to the welding, and the result was a bloom, or bar of
iron, the fracture of which presented a most remarkable and beautiful
silvery grain, as good, if not superior, in aspect to the finest samples of
‘*Low Moor.’’ Blooms of this iron were rolled out in rods, and tested
in the cable-proving machine, and the result indicated from five to ten
per cent. higher strength than the best samples of wrought-iron ; thus
establishing the fact, that, so far from the presence of zine being de-
structive to the strength and tenacity of wrought-iron, the contrary is
the case. I may mention, that bars of iron were heated to a welding
heat in the usual manner; and, on drawing them from the fire for
being welded, a handful of zine filings was thrown on the welding hot
surface, and the welding proceeded with. In this severe test no appar-
ent impediment to the process resulted ; the iron welded as if no zine
had been present.

ON THE CHEMICAL CHARACTER Of STEEL.

Tue following views, respecting the chemical character of steel, were
set forth, some time since, by Mr. Nasmyth, of England : —

‘* Were we to assume, as our standard of the importance of any in-
vestigation, the relation which the subject of it bears to the progress
of civilization, there is no one which would reach higher than that
which refers to the subject of steel; seeing that it is to our possession
of the art of producing that inestimable material that we owe nearly
the whole of the arts. I am desirous of contributing a few ideas on the
subject, with a view to our arriving at more distinct knowledge as to
what (in a chemical sense) steel is, and so lay the true basis for im-
provement in the process of its manufacture. It may be proper to
name, that steel is formed by surrounding bars of wrought-iron with
charcoal, placed in fire-brick troughs, from which air is excluded, and
keeping the iron bars and charcoal in contact, and at a full red heat,
for several days, at the end of which time the iron bars are found to
be converted into steel. What is the nature of the change which the
iron has undergone, we have no certain knowledge ; the ordinary ex-
planation is, that the iron has absorbed and combined with a portion
of the charcoal or carbon, and has, in consequence, been conyerted into
a carburet of iron. But it has ever been a mystery that, on analysis,
So very minute and questionable a portion of carbon is exhibited. It
appears that the grand error, in the above view of the subject, consists
in our not duly understanding the nature of the change which carbon
undergoes in its combination with iron, in the formation of steei.
Those who are familiar with the process of the conversion of iron into
steel, must have observed the remarkable change in the outward aspect
of the bars of iron after their conversion ; namely, that they are coy-
ered with blisters. These blisters indicate the evolution of a very
elastic gas, which is set free from the carbon in the act of its combina-
tion with the iron. I have the strongest reasons to think that these
blisters are the result of the decomposition of the carbon, whose me-
tallic base enters into union with the iron, and forms with it an alloy,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 179

while the other component element of the carbon is given forth, and so
produces in its escape the blisters in question. On this assumption we
come to a yery interesting question— What is the nature of this gas?
In order to examine this, all that is requisite is to fill a wrought-iron
retort with a mixture of pure carbon and iron filings, subject it to a
long-continued red heat, and receive the evolved gas over mercury.
Having obtained the gas in question, in this manner, then permit a
piece of polished steel to come in contact with this gas, and, in all
probability, we shall. then have reproduced on the surface of the steel
a coat of carbon, resulting from the retinion of its two elements; viz.,
that of the metallic base of the carbon then existing in the steel, with
the, as yet, unknown gas; thus synthetically, as well as by analytic
process, eliminating the true nature of steel, and that of the elements
or components of carbon.”’

COATING IRON WITH ZINC AND OTHER METALS.

Messrs. Gressel and Redwood, of London, have recently patented the
following methods of coating iron with zinc and other metals. To
coat iron with zinc. —The zinc is melted in an open vesscl, and on its
surface is placed a layer of the chloride of zinc, or a mixture of equal
parts of chloride of zinc and chloride of potassium, in the proportion of
eight of the former to two of the latter. When the salt is in a state
of fusion, the metal to be coated is placed in the bath, and allowed to
remain there till a coating of sufficient thickness has been obtained ; it
is then withdrawn, and any parts of its surface imperfectly covered are
sprinkled with sal-ammoniac, and the sheet of iron again immersed in
the bath. To coat iron with tin. — The tin is first melted, with a stra-
tum of chloride of zine and sal-ammoniac on its surface, and the iron or
metal to be coated is immersed in the molten metal until sufficiently
covered. To coat iron with silver. —The metal must be first amalga-
mated with mercury by the following process: 12 parts of mercury,
1 of zine, 2 of sulphate of iron, 2 of muriatic acid, and 12 of water are
mixed together, and heated in an open vessel to about 200° Fahr. ; the
iron is then immersed, and the mercury rubbed in its surfaces until
amalgamation is effected. The silver or alloy is to be melted in a cru-
cible, and the amalgamated iron placed therein, when a coating of
silver or alloy will be deposited. To coat iron with copper or brass.—
The copper or other coating is to be melted in a suitable vessel, and a
stratum of borosilicate of lead placed on its surface ; the iron is then to
be plunged into the molten metal, and retained there until a coat-
ing is deposited on it. Iron coated with tin or lead may be treated in
a similar manner. Another method of coating iron with copper is to
place in a crucible a quantity of chloride of copper, upon which is laid
the iron to be coated, and over that a quantity of charcoal. The cru-
cible is then submitted to a red heat, and the chloride of copper fused,
and a coating of copper deposited on the iron. Or the vapor of chlo-
ride of copper may be employed for the same purpose. The coating of
copper, thus obtained, may be converted to one of brass by exposing
the sheet of metal to the vapor of zinc in a closed yessel.

180 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

TO COAT IRON WITH COPPER.

Tr is well known that if a plate of iron be immersed in a solution of
sulphate of copper, it speedily becomes coated with the copper in solu-
tion ; but the copper thus deposited on the surface does not adhere
firmly, and may be readily removed by friction. By means of the fol-
lowing process of M. Reinsch, the iron may be covered with a coating
of copper as firm and as durable as in electrotype deposit. The process
is as follows : — Polish the iron by rubbing it well with cream of tar-
tar, and afterwards with charcoal powder, and place the metal thus
polished in hydrochloric acid diluted with three times its volume of
water, in which a few drops of solution of sulphate of copper have been
poured ; after a few minutes have expired, withdraw the iron and rub
it with a piece of cloth, then replace it in the solution, to which add
another portion of sulphate of copper. By following on this plan, and
adding at each immersion a new supply of sulphate of copper, the layer
of copper may be increased at pleasure. Lastly, introduce the iron,
thus coated with copper, into a solution of soda, then wipe clean and

olish with chalk. ‘The coating thus obtained will be as firm and dura-
le as that deposited by the electrotype process. — Chem. Gazette,
Jan. 9.

MALLEABLE BRASS.

Ir is known that common brass containing from 27.4 to 31.1 per
cent. of zinc, and from 71.9 to 65.8 per cent. of copper, is not
malleable, but that articles of it must be made by casting. M.
Machts, of Germany, has recently found that by melting together 33
parts of copper and 25 of zinc, or 60 parts copper and 40 parts zinc,
alloys can be formed which possess malleability in a high degree. The
alloy formed from the last-named proportions is harder than copper,
very tough, and is, in a properly managed fire, quite malleable ; so much
so that a key was forged out of a cast rod. — London Chemist.

ZINC COMPOUNDS NOT INJURIOUS TO HEALTH.

At a late meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, M. Sorel,
replying to some authors who, at preceding sessions of the Academy,
had made observations tending to show that zine was not Imnocuous,
stated that for fifteen years he had employed in his establishments for
the galvanization of iron several hundred workmen, a large number of
whom were occupied with pulverizing and sifting the gray or subox-
ide of zinc, for galvanic painting, and in no instance had any of the
workmen of the establishment, although in the midst of an atmosphere
containing much of the oxide, suffered at all from it, The white oxide
of zinc had also been fabricated for some months, without any ill
effects, although the men breathe considerable quantities of the oxide.

NEW METHOD OF ASSAYING COPPER ORES.

Mr. H. Parks, of the Burry Copper Works, Wales, communicates to
the London Mining Journal a new method of assaying copper ores,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 181

which is stated to be of great advantage from its accuracy, and from
the ease and facility with which it is conducted. It is based, he says,
upon the decoloration of an ammoniacal solution of copper, by fine
eyanide of potassium or sodium, or ammonia, or hydrocyanic acid, in a
free state ; but I prefer to use cyanide of potassium, as being less sub-
ject to decomposition, and more readily obtained in a state of purity in
commerce than the other substances named.

The method of operating is as follows : —Take a given quantity of
pure copper, (say, for instance, 13 grains,) place it in a flask, and dis-
solve in nitric acid ; add ammonia in excess, and then make it into a
bulk of about 2500 grs. by measure by the addition of water, although
this is not absolutely necessary. . Dissolve 1 oz. (Avoirdupois) pure
cyanide of potassium, free from ferro-cyanide or sulphuret of potassium,
in 5 ounces by measure of water, filter, if necessary, and place the solu-
tion in a well-stoppered bottle, till required for use. I then ascertain the
quantity of this solution of cyanide of potassium required to decolorize
the solution of copper by taking a given quantity, in any graduated
vessel, as a burette, and pour it by degrees into the solution of copper,
adding the last quantity drop by drop till decolorized. This is very
easily perceived, as there is no precipitate to interfere ; and the opera-
tion is conducted at the ordinary atmospheric temperature. I mark
down the quantity required (say 500 grains by volume.) After having
established this date, it is very easy to estimate the quantity of copper
contained in any ore or cupriferous product, by simply dissolving a cer-
tain quantity, (say 20 grains in nitric or nitro-muriatic acid,) with the
assistance of heat, if required, as in the case of some sulphurets the
addition of ammonia in excess is necessary ; and if any considerable
quantity of iron, or alumina, was present in the sample, it should be
allowed to digest at a gentle heat, under ebullition, to make sure that
all the copper is taken up by the ammonia; filter into a flask, wash the
precipitate with water, and make into a bulk of 2500 grains, as when
taking the standard of the solution of pure copper. All that now re-
mains to be done is to allow it to get cold, and add the cyanide of
potassium, until decolorized, noticing the quantity taken. 1 will sup-
pose it required 400 grains by volume of the cyanide solution ; then
from the proportion — 500 gers. K Cy. : 10 Cu. : : K Cy. 400 : Cu. 8 —
the quantity of copper contained in the 20 grains of material taken for
analysis, or 40 per cent. If the ore taken was a sulphuret, it is some-
times advisable to filter, in order to separate the sulphur, before adding
the ammonia, or else to use a dilute solution of ammonia, and a gentle
heat when digested, or small particles of sulphuret of copper might be
re-produced, especially when the precipitate produced by the ammonia
is a bulky one.

When manganese is present in the ore —easily ascertained by pre-
liminary examination by the blow-pipe — it is best to employ carbonate
of ammonia to form the ammoniacal solution, as the carbonate of man-
ganese is very little soluble in this re-agent. The reason for this
modification is, that, on adding cyanide of potassium to an ammoniacal
solution of copper cons that metal, it assumes a slightly yellow-

182 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ish tint, which would interfere a little with the estimation of the last
few hundredths of copper.

The above remarks also apply to arsenic, when present simulta-
neously with iron in the sample, as the nitric acid converts it into
arsenic acid, and this forms with the iron a salt, arseniate of iron, solu-
ble in ammonia. I have easily obviated this by adding to the nitric
or nitro-muriatic solution of the substance a little proto-salts of tin, or
sulphate of magnesia, as the arsenic is thus rendered insoluble, on
afterwards adding the ammonia.

CERTAIN METHOD OF ASSAYING COPPER BY ELECTRO-CHEMICAL ACTION.

A cIven weight of the ore (as prepared for assaying by the dry
way) is dissolved in an acid (agua regia is best) evaporated nearly to
dryness, redissolved in water, filtered, and then treated as the copper
solution described a little further on ; take 250 grains of the crystal-
lized bisulphate of copper, (or half the quantity,) which contains
exactly 64 grs. of pure copper, dissolve it perfectly, add two or three
drops of acid, and place it in an unglazed earthen pot, which will hold
three fluid ounces ; place this in another, somewhat larger, glazed, in
which there is a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. Introduce a cop-
per cylinder (to which a wire is soldered, and whose exact weight is
known) in the copper-water, and an iron cylinder (with a wire simi-
larly attached) in the other vessel of acid and water ; amalgamate the
ends of the wires with nitrate of mercury, and connect them in a cup
of the same metal, or in any way, so that they are in perfect contact.
As soon as the circuit is perfected the operation will commence, and
will not cease until all the copper is precipitated on the copper cylin-
der, and which may be effected in from ten to twelve hours. ‘Then
take out the cylinder, dip it in water, dry and weigh it; its increase
in weight will be the percentage of the copper, and in this case (for
half the quantity) it will be 32 grains heavier than before. The oper-
ation, when completed, can be known by taking one drop out of the
solution and placing it on pure gold, or platinum, and touching it with
a zinc rod ; if no copper be precipitated on the gold the solution will
be free from copper. Thus, then, may every one interested in the
produce of copper know the exact percentage of an ore according to
the sample. By the dry assay there is considerable loss, as proved,
by ‘‘ check-samples,’’ on many occasions, varying from } to % per cent.,
and yet the miner must sell by the dry assay; and any one connected
with the sale of ore knows (especially in those of low produce) what a
difference one half per cent. makes in price. —Chemical Gazette, March,
1851.

ON THE PERMEABILITY OF METALS TO MERCURY.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper read by Professor Horsford,
before the American Association, Albany : —

Daniel observed that bars of lead, tin and zinc, became penetrated
by mercury, when partially or wholly immersed in it. He noticed that
a crystallized amalgam was formed in the case of each of the several

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 183

metals. Prof. Henry modified the experiment of Daniel, in the case
of lead, giving to the bar the form of a syphon, one end only of which
was immersed in the mercury. He discovered the beautiful fact that
mercury may not only be carried through the bar in this form, but that
it will drop from the longer division of the bar, thus exhibiting the
syphon experiment, employing a solid bar for the tube, and mercury
for the liquid. These phenomena had been carefully examined and
repeated by Prof. H., with the following results. It is uncertain
whether the bars used for the transmission of the mercury increase in
specific gravity, after cleaning, or not. Conflicting results were
obtained.

In regard to the velocity of transmission, it was observed, by Prof.
Henry, that the progress of mercury in the lead was much more
rapid in cast than in hammered lead. Upon noting the progress from
day today, most unexpected results have presented themselves. In a
vertical bar, with mercury at the bottom, the progress is at first rapid.
It diminishes in velocity, however, from day to day, until, after
several months, having reached a height of between six and seven
inches, it is not one thousandth as rapid as at the outset. The mer-
cury rose in another, in 69 days, a little more than six inches. It con-
tinued to rise with a progress perceptible only after several days. This
was drawn lead pipe. In two cast bars it rose somewhat more rapidly,
and to a total greater height, thus confirming the result already
quoted from Prof. Henry.

To ascertain if this moderate elevation was influenced in any degree
by gravitation, several experiments were made. Mercury was pre-
sented at the top of a bar 0.80™ in length. Its descent was astonish-
ingly rapid. In ten hours it had penetrated 360™". The first quan-
tity having all passed into the bar, it ceased to flow. Upon the addition
of another portion the flow was resumed. In less than two days
the mercury dropped from the bottom. Gravitation evidently facili-
tates the transmission of the mercury when flowing from above down-
ward. It, of course, opposes its flow from below upward. To ascer-
tain the further influence of gravity, a bar, about five inches long,
saturated with mercury, was withdrawn from the cup and suspended.
After a time a single drop of mercury oozed from the lower end and fell.
Whatever the force that held the mercury in the bar, it was not strong
enough to retain all of it in opposition to gravity. Ishould state that
from several other saturated bars, of less length, similarly suspended, no
mercury escaped.

The mercury that drops from the bar presents a film upon its sur-
face, which, as in a sack of very considerable tenacity, encases the
purer metal. Upon analyzing the drop, 1.98 parts of lead were found
in it, leaving 98.02, mercury. ‘This result was undoubtedly too low ;
it, however, proves the presence of lead in the mercury which has
passed through the bar of lead.

One circumstance might be conceived to modify the flow of mercury
amalgam in a given time, to wit, the extent of absorbing surface
exposed to the mercury. ‘To ascertain this, two bars of equal length
and diameter were taken. They were bent into syphons, and the

184 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

shorter legs dipped in a solution of gutta percha and chloroform —a
sort of collodion, which incrusted them with an impermeable envelope.
After drying, the gutta percha cuticle was scraped from the end of
one bar, and from the end and a nearly equal portion of the side of the
other. The shorter legs of both were placed in the same cup of mer-
cury, and the large legs in other weighed cups. Two drops fell
from the bar having the larger surface before any fell from the other.
After nine days the quantities were weighed. Through the bar hay-
ing the greater absorbing surface there had flowed . . 93.8902 gr.
Through that having the less. ; : 4 2.1285 gr.

By increasing the length of the shorter leg beyond a certain meas-
ure the syphon action ceased. Some further results may be of inter-
est. Two syphon bars were placed in mercury that had once run
through lead ; in three days drops fell from both. Mercury in which
lead had been standing for months, and which was viscid from
the crystallized amalgam, was taken, and two bar syphons, one satur-
ated with mercury and the other pure, were placed in it. In due time
the amalgam fell from both. A drawn bar saturated with mercury
became brittle, as Daniel has observed. It was so brittle as to be read-
ily broken by an effort suddenly to bend it. Such a bar, scraped
brightly and laid aside, in a few weeks lost its brittleness and peculiar
texture, and recovered the properties of the original lead. It had lost
its mercury by evaporation. A cast bar, the surface of which was not
scraped, after a little time lost no more of its mercury. I have made
successful experiments as to the permeability to mercury of gold,
silver, cadmium and zinc, and have obtained, at ordinary temperature,
negative results, with platinum, palladium, iron, copper and brass.
The permeability of several of the latter metals to molten tin, silver and
gold, and of iron to copper, is well known. The experiments with tin
were of an unanticipated interest, although my research is not con-
cluded. Mercury penetrates tin more rapidly than lead, and exhibits
the syphon action. As the bar of tin becomes saturated, the whole
mass begins to crystallize, and splits into irregular longitudinal fissures.
If, at an early stage in this crystallization, the bar is bent, the outside
cracks off, revealing a pith as distinct as if it had been at first cast and
then a sheath cast around it. If the crystallization be permitted to go
on, the fissures penetrate to the centre of the bar. Daniel observed,
that a square bar split into triangular prisms, the separating fissures
following the diagonal planes. Ifthe top and bottom of the bar were
right-angled terminal planes, the crystallization freed a pyramid at
either extreme.

The bar being irregularly cylindrical, the fissures were formed, as in
the case of the prism, along the lines of least resistance. In looking
at these fissures, and the pith just referred to, and at the septaria
which abound in the atte of the Genesee valley, in Livingston
county, of which numerous specimens occur in yarious other widely
separated localities, it is impossible to resist the conviction — first,
that the concentric arrangement in the latter case may have been pro-
duced by a process illustrated in the experiment with the tin bar
showing the interior pith, and not necessarily by aggregation ; and,

iia

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 185

second, that the fissures filled by brown carbonate of lime, giving rise,
when waterworn, to the tessellated appearance of the tortoise shell,
have been formed by expansion along radical lines, producing openings
where there was least cohesion.

Prof. Henry gave an illustration of experiments which he had made
himself with gold and other metals. He had placed a lump of silver on
a piece of iron, and then put it in a furnace ; but he did not find that
it permeated. He subsequently inquired of a jeweller, what results he
had perceived from a similar process, in which copper was used instead
of iron, and he said he had often seen the silver disappear. The
experiment was tried in his (Prof. Henry’s) presence, and, sure enough,
the silver was apparently gone, and the copper surface alone appeared.
He immediately put it in a galvanic battery, and the silver reappeared,
which showed that it did not dissolve, but merely went down below
the surface of the other metal.

NEW METHOD OF ENGRAVING.

Potreyin has described a method by which we may obtain, on
plates, raised or sunk impressions from drawings or engravings. These
plates, in their turn, may be used for multiplying the impressions.
The engraving is exposed to iodine vapors, which only adhere to the
black parts ; the sheet is then attached to a silver plate, polished ac-
cording to Daguerre’s method, by means of slight pressure ; the iodine
is transferred to the silver, so that layers of iodide of silver are formed,
corresponding to the shadows of the engraving. The plate is then im-
mersed in a concentrated solution of sulphate of copper, and used as
the negative pole of a weak battery ; it is removed before the iodized
portions are coated with copper. The plate is at once washed, and the
iodide removed by hyposulphate of soda; the copper surfaces are then
oxidized by heat until they become dark brown; the exposed silver
surfaces are amalgamated after cooling, and the plate being covered
with two or three layers of gold-leaf, the mercury is volatilized by heat.
The gold is brushed off from those parts which are covered with oxide
of copper, and to which it does not adhere. The oxide of copper is
then dissolved by a solution of nitrate of silver, and the silver, as well
as the adjacent copper, exposed to the action of dilute nitric acid. The
parts covered with gold are not affected, so that the etching may be
carried to any depth. The plate which is thus obtained may be em-
ployed for taking impressions in the manner in. which wood blocks are
used. In order to obtain plates engraved as deeply as the plates used
for ordinary copper-plate engravings, a plate of gilt copper is employed.
By proceeding as above, the light parts are covered with copper; and
the shaded parts being deprived of the iodine, the gold amalgamated
is removed from the shaded, and the oxide of copper from the light
parts, by acid. The latter will then be protected against the further
action of the acid on gold, and we obtain a deep engraving.

16%

186 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

STEREO-CHROMIE; A NEW MODE OF FRESCO-PAINTING.

A new mode of fresco-painting has been introduced in Germany,
which appears quite likely to supersede the old method, and to yield
remarkable advantages ; in fact, to render such painting perfectly invul-
nerable to the effects of climate. The discoverer is Prof. von Euchs,
of Munich, who has had to undergo all the opposition and jealousies
incident to discoverers in general. Though now, in his old age, his
invention is made use of in the new frescoes at Berlin, it is possible
that he may die without reaping any personal benefit from it.

Stereo-chromie is, in fact, a preserver of the wall on which it is
painted. By the chemical action of the solution sprinkled over the
picture, whilst in progress, the whole ground on which it is painted and
the picture itself becomes one hard, flinty mass, and the very colors are
converted into the hardest stone. So hard, indeed, is it, that neither
fire nor damp has the slightest effect on it. In the specimens exhibited,
the pictures are upon pieces of wainscot covered with mortar, and the
wall on which a stereo-chromie fresco is to be executed undergoes a
certain preparation. Then the colors are not combined, as in al fresco,
with lime, but with a solution of silex ; and all the advantages of fresco
painting are obtained without any of its disadvantages. ‘This species
of painting resists every influence of climate, and may be confidently
used as an external coating for buildings in any part of the world.
To the artist himself it offers the most important recommendations. He
is not confined to time in executing it. He can leave off when he
pleases, and for any length of time, which he cannot do in fresco work
by any means, nor in oil-painting within certain limits. The highest
advantage of all, however, is, that the same part may be painted over
and over, as often as you please, which is not possible in fresco ; and,
consequently, in this new mode the most perfect harmony may be pre-
served throughout the largest possible painting. In fresco, the artist
is the slave of his materials ; here, he is their arbitrary master to the
fullest extent. — London Atheneum.

ON WORKING AND MODELLING IN PLASTIC IVORY.

MapameE Rovvier’s process is as follows :—Take the waste turn-
ings of ivory, bone, horn, &c., and steep them in a vessel containing a
weak acid solution. Nearly all the acids will do for this purpose, but
the following are preferable — muriatic, nitric, tartaric, acetic, citric,
and oxalic; also phosphate of lime. The solution is placed in a
water bath, at a temperature of 35° to 40° C., (95° to 140° Fah.,) in
order to obtain complete liquefaction. It is then passed through fine
muslin, and about one fourth of the quantity of ivory gelatine is next
added to absorb the solvent. When the paste is well prepared, the
excess of liquid, and any foreign gases, are removed by means of an
air-pump ; it thus becomes homogeneous, membranous, and very close.
In this state it would be difficult to run it for use ; for this purpose, it
must be dissolved in copal or lac yarnish, and, in this state, it may be»
run into moulds. When the paste is in the moulds, it may be made to

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 187

undergo pressure, to expel the air and prevent the formation of air-
bubbles in the interior. Coloring matters may be added to the paste.
— London Patent Journal.

NEW METHOD OF CONTRACTING THE FIBRES OF CALICO, AND OF OBTAIN-
ING ON THE CALICO THUS PREPARED COLORS OF MUCH BRILLIANCY.

Ar the British Association, Dr. Playfair called attention to a new
discovery recently made by Mr. Mercer, of considerable importance in
the manufacture of calico and other colored fabrics. Mr. Mercer’s
discovery may be stated in few words to be this: — A solution of cold
but caustic soda acts peculiarly upon cotton fibre, immediately causing
it to contract ; and, although the soda can be readily washed out, yet
the fibre has undergone a change, and water will take its place and
unite with the fibre. In a practical point of view Mr. Mercer consid-
ered that the fibre might be considered by this action to have a sort of
acid property to unite with soda and then with other bases. The effect
of the condensation was said to be one fifth to one third of the total
volume of cotton employed. Dr. Playfair showed some proofs of the
influence of this new process upon our cotton manufactures: thus,
taking a coarse cotton fabric, and acting upon it by the proper solution
of caustic soda, this could be made much finer in appearance ; and if
the finest calico made in England, known as 180 picks to the web, was
thus acted upon, it immediately appeared as fine as 260 picks. Stock-
ings of open weaving were shown, and the condensation process made
them appear as of much finer texture. The effect of this alteration of
texture was strikingly shown by colors. The pink cotton velvet had its
tint deepened to an intense degree by the condensation process. Printed
calico, especially with colors hitherto applied with little satisfaction,
as lilac, had strength and brilliancy, besides thus producing fabrics
cheaply, finer than can possibly be woven by hand. The effect was
shown of patterns being formed by portions of a surface being pro-
tected by gum from condensation. Thus patterns of apparently fine
work can easily be produced. It was stated that the fabrics by this

rocess have much strength given them; for a string of calico, one
alf condensed by caustic soda, will brea by 20 ounces, while the unac-
ted-upon string broke with 13 ounces.

Caustic soda, observes Dr. Playfair, has long been used in the pro-
cess for bleaching cottons: but this power of altering the structure of
the fibre, he says, only belongs to the cold solution. The degree of con-
densation is equal to from one fifth to one third of the total yolume of
cotton employed.

PATENT SAFETY PAPER.

Tue object of this invention is to manufacture a paper that will indi-
cate, by discoloration of its surface, when an attempt has been made to
extract written characters therefrom ; and thereby to afford to bankers,
merchants and others, protection against forgery or the tampering with
checks, bills of exchange, and other important documents. The inven-

188. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tion consists in the employment of iodine or bromine, together with
ferrocyanide or ferricyanide of potassium and starch, either in the manu-
facture or preparation of safety paper. For this purpose, iodine or
bromine is used in any of their ordinary combinations with bases ; but
iodine, being the cheaper material, is preferred to any compound of bro-
mine. Of the compounds of iodine, the patentee employs in preference
that known as iodide of potassium, such substance being most readily
attainable in the market, and in no degree affecting the color of the
paper. The mode of applying this substance is, by mixing it with the
pulp or size, or the paper may be saturated with a solution of the me-
tallic iodide. The ferrocyanide of potassium is mixed with the size, or
it may be applied subsequently to the sizing, as in the case of the
metallic iodide. The starch is preferred to be mixed with the pulp in
the engine ; but it may, like the other chemical ingredients, be used
in an after stage of the process. The proportions for these several ma-
terials, used for rendering paper sensitive to the action of reagents, are
by no means absolute; but, as a guide, it may be stated, that the fol-
lowing have been found to answer the purpose ; viz., for a ream of post,
weighing about 18 pounds, one ounce iodide of potassium, quarter ounce
ferrocyanide of potassium, one pound starch. On the application to
paper, prepared as above set forth, of reagents, to dissolve out or absorb
any ink markings therefrom, the tendency will be to break up one of
the salts named. Thus, on the application of chlorine or mineral acids,
the iodine will be liberated, and, combining with the starch, will form
an insoluble iodide of starch, of a dark color; and, further, the iron,
which ink generally contains, being attempted to be dissolved by either
vegetable or mineral acids, the ferrocyanide of potassium will combine
with it in solution and form the well-known Prussian-blue compound,
which will become diffused over the adjacent portion of the paper. —
Chemical Gazeite.

CLAUSSEN’S IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLAX.

Ar the close of the year 1850, it was announced that M. Claussen,
of London, had discovered a process, whereby the harsh and elastic
fibres of the flax-plant might be converted into a soft down-like sub-
stance, analogous to the fibres of cotton, and capable of being treated
in its after stages, in every respect, similar to it. The various pro-
cesses by which this is effected appear to be somewhat as follows : — In
the first stage, the stem of the flax-plant is, to a considerable extent,
freed from its straw, leaving the fibre in a partially cleaned state.
This is effected by a machine. Hitherto, the great difficulty with all
growers of flax has been the preparation of the crop for market ; the
grower having been compelled either to resort to the tedious and pre-
carious process of steeping his flax, or to dispose of it to factors as it
came from the field, upon any terms which they might think proper to
offer. This machine will enable the producer, without resort to any
steeping process, to reduce the bulk of his flax, and, at the same time,
admit of his returning to the soil, in the shape of the straw removedg
a large portion of the nutritive matter extracted, and which, formerly

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 189

destroyed in the steeping process, had given rise to an opinion, very
generally held by agriculturists, that flax was an extremely exhaustive
crop. ‘The flax thus produced is, in this stage, adapted for the manu-
facture of sail-cloth, and other coarse fabrics, ropes, cordage, &e. It
requires, however, a more minute separation of the fibres to adapt it
for the manufacture of finer descriptions of fabrics. To make the sub-
ject perfectly familiar to the reader, it will be necessary to explain the
structure of the flax fibre. The stem of the flax-plant consists of three
distinct parts — the shove, straw, or woody matter which supports the
plant ; the fibres, which cover the outer surface of the straw ; and the
gum, or resin, by which the fibres are held together. The machine
removes the straw only, and partially disintegrates the fibres held to-
gether by the resinous substance. Hence their coarseness and their
suitability for coarse fabrics only. In order to adapt it for the linen
manufacture, as also to carry it one stage further in the process of prep-
aration for the cotton or wool spinner, it is necessary to obtain a more
complete separation of the fibres. This object is to be accomplished
by the removal of the resinous and glutinous substance which binds
them together ; and, as it does not appear that mechanical power will
completely effect this, recourse is had to chemical action. These sub-
stances are, therefore, dissolved hy the chemical action of fermentation
which takes place under the ordinary modes of steeping, whether in
hot or cold water; and the application of mechanical power in the
process of scutching, afterwards separates the fibres, and leaves
them in a fit state for the various manipulations required previous to
flax-spinning. It is found, however, that the present process of
steeping not only occupies a considerable portion of time, but that its
effects are not sufficiently uniform to render it a fitting mode to be
adopted in the preparation of flax for spinning on cotton machinery,
and that, even when employed in the preparation of flax for the ordi-
nary linen manufacturer, it possesses many disadvantages which it
would be desirable to remove.

To obyiate the difficulties attendant upon the ordinary method of
steeping, the following process has been adopted by M. Claussen : —
The flax, either in the straw as it comes from the field, or in the state
in which its bulk has been reduced by mechanical means, is boiled in
a weak solution of caustic soda. The action of the soda dissolves com-
pletely the resinous and other substances of the plant, while, by its
combination with the oleaginous matters that it contains, it produces a
soapy kind of liquid, which removes, at the same time, all the coloring
matter from the plant, leaving it, unlike flax steeped in the ordinary
mode, perfectly free from all stain and impurity, and thereby facilitat-
ing greatly the after processes of bleaching or dyeing, whether in the
~ yarn or in the finished cloth.

The next step of the process is the reduction of the flax fibre to lengths
adapted for spinning on cotton machinery. These required lengths are
obtained by a very nicely adjusted piece of mechanism, similar in its
principle to the ordinary chaff-cutting machines. It is here that the
greatest accuracy is required, as, if any of the fibres exceed the required
length, the yarn produced will ‘bite ’’ in the rollers, and present the

190 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

appearance of being “‘ overworked,” and will also be unequal in strength.
The flax may be cut for this purpose either in the straw as it comes
from the field, with its bulk partially reduced, or after it has under-
gone the boiling process. But in order to spin flax successfully upon
cotton machinery, something more is required than the mere reduction
of the length of the fibre. After having undergone the boiling or
steeping process, and when the glutinous matter which binds them
together is removed, the fibres, however fine, are still harsh, coarse,
and elastic, when compared with cotton ; and the quantity in length of
yarn obtained from equal weights of flax and cotton, would be so greatly
in favor of the latter, as completely to preclude the possibility of the
former being substituted for it. For instance, one pound of fair bowed
Georgia cotton, spun into 30’s, will yield 25,200 yards; while one
pound of flax spun into ‘‘ line ”’ of a number about equal to that of the
cotton yarn, would produce but 21,000 yards, giving an advantage of
4,000 yards in the pound to cotton over flax. In addition to this, the
yarn would be produced from the raw cotton, by cotton machinery, at
an expense of less than three-pence, while that of the flax would be
about ten-pence the pound when prepared by the flax machinery. This
is a difficulty which has hitherto lain at the root of every attempt to spin
flax successfully and profitably upon cotton machinery. A minute’s
attention, however, to the structure of the flax fibre, suggested to the
Chevalier Claussen a mode by which it might be successfully over-
come. ‘The fibre of flax is cellular, and is formed by the union of bundles
of smaller fibres, which may be compared to the Roman fasces. If b
any process the character of the fibre could be altered — if the minute,
hair-like, cellular substance could be further divided —it is obvious
that the required increase in length and diminution of bulk could be
obtained.

This achievement, apparently impossible, has been accomplished by
M. Claussen, by a process exceedingly simple, and with rapidity. It
has been already stated, that, in the processes required for the prepara-
tion of the fiax for the flax-spinner, it was boiled in a solution of caustic
soda. To still further perfect the flax for the cotton-spinner, it is placed
in a yat containing a solution of carbonate of soda, where it is permit-
ted to remain until the whole becomes thoroughly saturated with the
salt. The mass is then transferred to a bath of weak acid; this com-
ing in contact with the carbonate of soda, taken up and contained in
the interior of the fibres, generates carbonic acid gas, which, by its
expansive force, splits and divides the fibres into a vast number of rib-
bon-like filaments, the whole mass gradually being changed from the
damp, rigid aggregation of flax, to a light, expansive mass of cottony
texture, increasing in size like leavening dough, or an expanding sponge.
This, when examined under the microscope, presents all the appear-
ance of raw cotton. When carded and spun, it will be found that the
produce in yarn of the pound of flax, thus treated, instead of being less
in quantity than that of cotton, will be considerably more —the differ-
ence varying according to the character of the fibre operated upon, and
the strength of the materials employed. One great advantage in con-
nection with this mode of preparing the flax— and it is one of the

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 191

highest importance to the agriculturist —is, that the flax will not be
required to be pulled before it is fully and completely ripe, as is now
the case where a fine flax is required. A valuable crop of fully ripened
seed may therefore be obtained, in addition to the fibre.

At the Great Exhibition, various specimens of fabrics formed of flax,
prepared by M. Claussen’s processes, were exhibited. These specimens
are thus described in the London Chronicle :—‘‘ The flax-cotton is
shown, dyed in yarious colors immediately after carding. It is also
shown dyed in various colors, in yarns spun entirely from flax, or mixed
with various proportions of cotton ; and, in the case of the mixed yarns,
no difference of color of the two substances is at all perceptible ; thus
showing that the flax so prepared is capable of taking the same opaque
dye as ordinary cotton. Some samples of yarn, prepared as silk, are
also displayed, and, as illustrating the great command which the in-
ventor has over this fibre, these are dyed in colors possessing all the
glossiness and brilliancy of the most beautiful silk. Several pieces of
calico, formed entirely of flax, and others formed of a mixture of flax
and cotton, bleached and dressed as ordinary cloth, are exhibited.
Specimens of yarn formed of a mixture of wool and flax-cotton were
also noticed. Hitherto it has been found impossible to felt or mill
yarns, or fabrics formed of a mixture of flax and wool, or even to pro-
duce a yarn formed of these two substances, as the flax naturally does
not possess the same felting properties as wool. By this process of
splitting the fibres, the difficulty has been to a great extent obviated.
Indeed, some specimens of felt, formed of rabbit’s hair and flax, are
shown as illustrative of the great felting properties which the ‘ cot-
tonized ’ flax fibre possesses. In addition to the mixed wool and flax-
cotton yarn shown, there are displayed several pieces of excellent flan-
nel, formed of those yarns, and pieces of broadcloth, gray and dyed, of
a remarkably clean, bright and pure color, and of great strength and
durability.”’

The various advantages of the processes adopted by M. Claussen, for
the manufacture of flax, may be briefly set forth as follows : —

** In the first stage it will enable the farmer, by mechanical means,
and with little trouble and expense, to reduce the bulk of his flax crop,
so as to give him access to markets, and render it marketable. It will
enable him at the same time to preserve, to be returned to the land,
those portions of the crop which tend to exhaust the soil ; the produce
being a description of fibre adapted to the coarser kinds of the flax man-
ufacture. By the second, or boiling operation, the long, troublesome,
and noxious process of steeping may be dispensed with, in the prepa- _
ration of flax for the finer purposes, for which long fibre is spun in the
ordinary way. Lastly, by reducing the flax to short fibre, and by split-
ting it up by means of the chemical process above described, a great
extension of the demand for flax may be expected, to be spun on cotton,
wool, and silk machinery alone, or in combination with any of those
substances. All these results will’ have been obtained through the
microscopic researches into the structure of the flax-plant, and the ap-
plication of chemical knowledge to the improvement of old processes
for preparing it for use.”’

192 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALT.

Tus branch of manufacture is altogether foreign ; and the chief ma-
terial for it is almost entirely obtained from two small districts, one in
Saxony, on the borders of Bohemia, and the other in Norway. The use
of the ore from which smalt is manufactured, was discovered by one
Schurer, a glass-maker, at Neudeck. He first collected some of this
ore and tried it in his glass furnace, when he found, to his delight, that
it communicated to glass a beautiful blue color. This was about the
year 1540. Schurer made many trials of the new material, and at
length succeeded in making of this blue glass an enamel color, well
adapted to the use of the potter. This color found its way to Nurem-
berg, and at length to Holland, where it was highly appreciated by the
Dutch artists. They sought out the humble glass-maker of Neudeck,
and invited him, by large promises, to reveal his secret. He took up
his residence, for a time, in Magdeburg, and had the ores conveyed
thither for the purpose of his manufacture. But he afterwards returned
to Neudeck, and constructed a mill for grinding the glass to powder.
Meanwhile the Dutch became so expert in the preparation of the color,
that the Elector of Saxony had to invite the color-makers of Holland to
teach their methods to his people ; after which, color mills rapidly in-
creased in the neighborhood of the cobalt mines. Thus for a very
long period this beautiful color continued to be manufactured from a
mineral whose composition was unknown. . It was not till the year
1733, that the Swedish chemist, Brandt, obtained from this ore the
metal which he called cobalt, and proved that the coloring matter is the

rotoxide.
: Metallic cobalt is a brittle metal, of a reddish gray color ; it fuses
with difficulty, and has a magnetic character. This metal has not been
applied to any useful purpose in the arts, and the interest attaching to
it is purely scientific. ‘To obtain the oxide in a state of tolerable pu-
rity, requires much careful and laborious manipulation, varying some-
what according to the nature of the ore. The first process is picking,
by which stony fragments are remoyed, and the ores are separated into
different qualities, the richest being set aside for roasting with little or
no previous preparation, and those containing nickel being reserved for
special treatment. The larger bulk of the picked ore is, however, sub-
jected to the next process, which is stamping inastamp-mill. The
stamp-troughs are furnished with a stream of water, which washes out
the pounded ore and carries it down an inclined plane, where the sand
and earthy matters, being much lighter than the metallic oxides, are
carried farthest by the action of the stream, and are easily separated
from the heavy and valuable particles. The ore thus washed is next
roasted in a reverberatory furnace, provided with chambers for receiy-
ing and condensing the arsenic. ‘The condensing tube is connected
with chambers of several stories, where the arsenic is collected by men
wearing a dress fitting tightly in every part, a helmet with gogeles for
the eyes, and a wet bandage or sponge tied over the mouth and nostrils.
They are still further fortified for their dangerous occupation by drink-
ing a glass or two of olive oil. Their food, also, is regulated, and con-
sists chiefly of vegetables with abundance of butter. In the roasting

—

4

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 198

' ‘

of cobalt, the ore is wetted and spread over the sole of the reverberatory
furnace, in a layer five or six inches deep; it is then cautiously heated for
six hours; when the ore becomes red-hot the operation ends. The
sand which was separated in the dressing is sometimes mingled in
certain proportions with the ore in roasting, and the product thus ob-
tained is the zaffre or saffre of commerce, a crude product. Smalt, on
the contrary, is a valuable and carefully prepared vitreous compound,
a rich blue glass in fact, to be afterwards reduced to powder and elab-
orated in the manner now described. Silica and potassa, both very
carefully prepared, calcined, sifted, and preserved from moisture, are
mixed with oxide of cobalt to form smalt, the proportions varying
according to the commercial variety of the article required. The in-
gredients are intimately mixed and then transferred to the melting
pots, which are built up in a furnace heated to the proper temperature,
each pot being first charged with an inferior blue glass in powder
called eschel, the effect of which is to give an interior vitreous lining to
the pots. The smalt mixture is poured into the pots by means of iron
ladles with long handles, and in about eight hours it fuses. When the
pots appear at white heat, their contents are quite fluid, and the chem-
ical combination of the materials has been effected. The pure glass is
taken from the glass-pot in iron ladles, and, as the object of subsequent
processes is to reduce the glass to powder, that process is facilitated by
emptying the ladles into vessels of water, the water being constantly
renewed. The glass being at a red heat when it first comes in contact
with the water, is thus rendered, like Prince Rupert’s drops, exces-
sively brittle, granular, and easy to pulverize. The next process in the
manufacture of smalts is the apparently simple one of reducing the
blue glass to powder. But if we try the experiment of grinding to
powder a portion of blue glass, we shall find that the substance, which
by transmitted light had appeared so beautiful, is reduced, in its dis-
integrated state, to a light dingy powder; yet who can doubt that the
same amount of coloring matter is present in the powder as in the
glasst Therefore there are difficulties to be overcome in converting a
sheet of blue cobalt glass into a powder of an intensely blue color, and
in obtaining all those shades and varieties of blue which are found in
our manufactures. The glass, after being crushed and sifted to the size
of ordinary sand, is transferred to large vats full of water, and, in the
course of a very few minutes, a separation of particles takes place in the
powder. The heaviest, being those which are richest in cobalt, sink
to the bottom, and this deposit constitutes one of the commercial vari-
eties of smalts, known as azure, coarse blue and streablau. The water
which holds the finer particles of the powdered blue glass in suspension,
is drawn off into other vats, where it is allowed to subside for three
quarters of an hour or more, according to the variety of smalt intended
to be produced ; this second deposit is called farbe, the German word
for color. The water drawn off from this second deposit is poured into
vats and allowed to remain for an indefinite time ; its deposit is called
eschel or blue sand. But the colors thus obtained are all again sub-
jected to the action of water before they are fit for the market. The

glass of cobalt appears to be a mixture of the less fusible silicates, in

17

194 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

which cobalt prevails, and which resist most perfectly the action of
water ; and of the more fusible silicates, in which pofassa prevails, and
which are more susceptible of the action of water. The former sili-
cates constitute the azure or coarse blue, and the latter are partially
decomposed by water, which subtracts a sub-silicate of potassa and
leaves a supersilicate of potassa in a minutely divided state. Farbe
owes its tints to the subtraction“ of potassa, and eschel contains more
silica and less potassa and cobalt than other varieties. The beauty of
smalt is said to be heightened by what may be called accidental causes
— the presence of four or five per cent. of arsenic and arsenious acids
from six to nine per cent. of phosphoric acid, and minute particles of
zinc, tin, antimony and nitre. On the other hand it is deteriorated by
the presence of nickel, lead, iron beyond ten per cent., bismuth, borax,
soda, the alkaline earths, alumina, felspar, fluorspar and sulphur.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ALUM.

Mr. James T. Witson, of Middlesex, England, has recently patented a
new process of manufacturing alum, which consists in subjecting alumi-
nous shales to the direct action of a sufficient quantity of sulphuric
acid to saturate, at a single operation, all the alumina contained in
them, and convert it to the state of sulphate, the alum being obtained
by subsequent crystallization in the usual way. The shale should be
selected of a kind as free as possible from coal, or iron, lime, and other
soluble impurities, and, after haying been exposed to the air two or
three months, to reduce it to small fragments, and then burned in a
lime or other similar kiln, is to be placed in an open boiler, about 15
feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, lined with lead, and haying a
false bottom ata height of about 15 to 18 inches aboye the bottom,
composed of lead of about 24 lbs. to the square foot, perforated with
numerous holes of half an inch diameter, and supported on an iron
framework, and provided with suitable conveniences for allowing the
bottom of the boiler underneath to be examined and cleaned out. Into
this boiler, which is to be placed over a furnace, in such a position that
the flame does not rise to within a couple of inches of the false bottom,
the shale is then deposited, the larger pieces being screened out, and
laid immediately on the false bottom, and sulphuric acid of a specific
gravity of 1.845, added in the proportion of 10 ewts. to every 12 ewts.
of shale, with sufficient water to reduce the specific gravity to 1.35 or
1.4, and nearly fill the boiler. Heat is applied, and a gentle ebullition
kept up for eight-and-forty hours, when the whole of the available
alumina will have been dissolved, and the solution will be fit to be
- treated for crystallization, by using sulphate of potash or ammonia.
The patentee has, however, observed, that, when alum is at once crys-
tallized from solutions obtained as above described, a certain quantity
of the acid in such solution remains in excess, and renders the purifi-
cation of the alum a matter of difficulty. Now, to obviate this objec-
tion, he introduces into the solution either ammoniacal liquors of gas
works, or condenses therein vapors containing ammonia which com-
binés with the excess of acid, and renders the solution fit for immediate
crystallization.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 195

Tt does not seem necessary that this improvement, which is an im-
portant one, should be confined to merely aluminous shales,-but it may
also be applied to pipe-clay, or any convenient material abounding in
alumina.— Editor.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.

Tue following is the abstract of a patent recently granted to Mr.
John Frazer, of London, for improvements in the manufacture of sugar.

The expressed cane-juice is poured into an open vessel through a
sieve containing about one pound of quicklime. A similar quantity
of lime is mixed with about a gallon of juice, in a vessel, and kept
ready for use. ‘This quantity of lime is suilicient for two hundred and
twenty gallons of juice. When about one hundred gallons of juice are
run into the vessels, the mixture of lime and juice in the vessel is put
in along with half a gallon of sulphurous acid, of the gravity of
1.05, containing 30 volumes of gas to one of water. When the whole
220 gallons of juice are run in, 4 of a gallon of the sulphurous acid is
added, and the whole well stirred and allowed to settle. The clear
liquor is then drawn off and boiled in an open pan. The scum is care-
fully removed, and the liquor gives out a peculiar odor, which decreases
as the boiling is continued. ‘The liquor is at first a deep brown, then
green, then’ becomes a rich golden color throwing up yellow flakes.
When the color is quite clear, the boiling is discontinued, and the
liquor is then fit for evaporation and crystallization in the common
way. ‘The boiling may be done in the vacuum pan, care being taken
to remoye the scum when the liquor is about the density of 38° Baume.

M. MELSEN’S PROCESS OF REFINING SUGAR.

Tus process has been tried at Gaudaloupe, and a commission,
appointed by the governor of the island, has reported thereon. The
commission state that the only advantage possessed by the use of bisul-
phate of lime is that of arresting, or at least delaying, the fermenta-
tion of the cane-juice ; that its faculty of decolorizing the syrup is
annihilated by the necessity of employing a large proportion of lime ;
and that the relative return of sugar from a given quantity of juice is
less than that obtained by the process at present in use. The com-
mission therefore recommend the abandonment of M. Melsen’s process.
As the experiments previously made in France and Belgium failed in
demonstrating the advantage of the use of bisulphate of lime in the
manufacture and refining of beet-root sugar, and as the report of the
Gaudaloupe commission is against the employment of this salt in the
manufacture and refining of sugar-cane, we conclude that the merits
of this much yaunted process have beeen fairly tested, and that its
further employment is out of the question.

NEW PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA.

Mr. Wiiiiau Coon, C. E., of London, has recently taken out a
patent for the following method of making soda. He places a solu-

196 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tion of common salt between two metals, iron and copper, connected
together in a voltaic battery ; the salt is decomposed at the expense of
the iron, its chlorine combining with the metal to form chloride of tron,

‘whilst the sodium enters into combination with the oxygen of the
water, forming caustic soda; the other constituent of the water, the
hydrogen, passing off in the gaseous state. The caustic soda thus pro-
duced goes in the direction of the copper, and, in order to prevent the
-amalgamation of the two solutions, (chloride of iron and caustic soda,)
a diaphragm, constructed of some suitable porous material, is placed
between the iron and the copper, the solution of salt being placed in
that part of the apparatus used to contain the iron, and clean water
put on the sides in which the copper is situated, in order to receive the
caustic soda produced by the decomposition of the salt. In order to
insure the decomposition of the salt, two conditions are essential to be
observed, viz., that the temperature of the saline solution be between
70° and 150° Fah., and the access of the atmospheric air prevented ;
otherwise the chloride of iron will become converted into oxide, and the
salt be-recomposed as fast as it is decomposed, thus rendering the pro-
cess of no utility.

The following details are given by the patentee for the manufacture
-of a ton of soda-ash, according to his process: — For this purpose a
cistern or tank is constructed of stone, slate, or other suitable material,
not liable to be acted upon by caustic soda, the dimensions of which are
eleven feet long, six feet wide, and three feet deep. It is divided into
three compartments, by means of diaphragms, formed of some suitable
porous material, such as biscuitware or unglazed earthenware. These
diaphragms run the full length of the cistern, and are so placed, that
the middle compartment is one foot wide, and the two outer compart-
ments each 24 feet in width. The cistern being thus ready for use,
pigs of Scotch iron are placed in the two outer divisions or compart-
ments of the cistern or tank, in such a manner that the salt water may
touch as much of their surfaces as possible. A small portion of each
pig of iron is also filed bright, so that perfect metallic contact between
each piece of iron may be ensured, by placing the bright part of the
pig in connection with the bright part of the one next adjoining.

The number of pieces of iron employed to be as many as will leave
room for the addition of 324 gallons of salt water, which must next be
placed in each of the compartments containing iron. Two plates of
copper, of the same dimensions as the length and depth of the cistern,
sare to be placed at each of the two porous diaphragms, at a distance
of a quarter of an inch from them. LEither copper foil or copper plate,
of any thickness, may be employed for this purpose, as surface only is
required, no action on the copper taking place in the process. Each
piece of copper must be connected with the pig of iron nearest to it,
by means of a strip of copper bent over the diaphragm, and fastened
by means of a screw, or other suitable means, in connection with the
bright part of one of the pieces of iron in the outer compartments, with
a view of ensuring that full metallic contact which is necessary for the
success of the operation. For the manufacture of a ton of soda-ash, a
solution of 2.48) pounds of salt in 474 gallons of water is employed,

‘CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 197

half of which is placed in one of the outer compartments containing
iron, and the remainder in the other. The middle compartment, con-
taining the copper, is-filled with elean water up to the level of the salt
water in the two outer compartments. In order to prevent all access
of air, a cover is fitted to the decomposing vessel, and securely luted.
A bent tube to carry off the hydrogen gas, liberated in process of
decomposition of the water, is inserted in this cover, the end of the
tube being conducted into a yessel of water, to prevent any access of
air through the tube. The contents of the tank being continuously kept
at 70° to 150° Fah., the decomposition of the salt will be effected in
the course of seven days, when the two outer compartments will be
found to contain a solution of chloride of iron, and the middle compart-
ment a solution of caustic soda mixed with a small quantity of ‘salt.
The strength of the soda solution will depend on the quantity of
water employed ; but if all the salt be decomposed, the solution will be
found to contain 1,327 pounds of dry caustic soda.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOAP AND TURPENTINE.

A patent has been granted to Mr. C. J. Meinicke, of New York, for
the manufacture of resin-soap and the purification of turpentine at
one operation. The process is, to take a thousand pounds of crude
turpentine and melt by steam, or otherwise, and add eight hundred
pounds of tallow, grease or fat. When both are in a perfect liquid
state, eight hundred parts of liquid soda, containing thirty per cent. of
dry soda, dissolved, is added and stirred up, the temperature of the
whole being increased at the same-time to108°. At this temperature
the soap is instantaneously formed ; the acids constituting the resin
of the turpentine, and those forming the grease being perfectly neu-
tralized by the alkali, and thus converted into liquid melted soap.
The essential oil of turpentine is set free at the same time, and, in
order to obtain the same, a solution of common salt is added, which
is necessary in the manufacture of all soap. The soap-kettle is then
connected with a condensing apparatus, usually employed by dis-
tillers of the spirits of turpentine, and then the temperature of
the whole is increased to the boiling point. The essential oil of tur-
pentine and the steam pass into the worm and are condensed. The
alkali sets the spirits of turpentine free, and in this manner two
articles of useful manufacture are produced with less expense for fuel
and labor. When all the essential oil is distilled over, the remaining
soap is finished in the common way now practised by all soap-makers.
— Scientific American.

IMPROVEMENT IN VULCANIZING INDIA-RUBBER.

A patent has been granted to Mr. McCurdy for improvements in
vulcanizing india-rubber. In his specification he says : — My experi-
ments have resulted in the discovery, that common commercial potash,
mixed with rubber, in proportion as small as two ounces of potash to
16 ounces of rubber, when treated by mixing with the usual quantity

1i*

198 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of sulphur, say from five to seven per cent. by weight of the quantity
of rubber used, will readily vulcanize, upon exposure to a heated atmos-
phere, say 260° Fah. The quantity of potash may be increased — the
exact amount is immaterial ; — but the best elasticity. I obtain is, by the

use of two ounces to sixteen of rubber. This preparation may be spread.

upon textile fabrics, fine figured or colored, and exposed to a heated at-
mosphere, without in the least discoloring or causing the loss of color

to the fabric. It is free from offensive sulphur smell, and will not be .

affected by atmospheric changes. For making my fabric harder and
with less elasticity, as also for purposes of cheapness, I combine whit-
ing, lamp-black, and such other articles as are well known to give body

and firmness to the rubber. These may be incorporated in the rubber.

and potash compound, by the usual methods, well known to manufac-
turers.— Appleion’s Magazine.

OIL FOR LUBRICATING MACHINERY.

M. Bouvet describes an oil, which the French call lard, used for
greasing machinery. It is made by adding one part of caoutchoue, cut
into small pieces, to fifty parts of rape oil, and applying heat until the
caoutchouc is nearly all dissolved. This oil is more unctuous than most
of the oils used for machinery, and is not so much affected by the rapid
motion of the parts to which it is applied, or by other influences to
which it may be exposed. It remains fluid at temperatures below the
freezing-point of water, and offers little obstruction to the commence-
ment of motion in the machines. M. Boudet suggests the following
method of determining the proportion of caoutchoue contained in this
kind of oil :— A weighed quantity of the oil is saponified with potassa,
and the dry soap treated with spirit, which dissolves the soap with the
aid of heat, and leaves the caoutchouc. The insoluble residue is
washed with water containing a sixth part of spirit.

INFLUENCE OF OIL ON WATER.

Pror. Horsrorp, at the Albany meeting of the American Associa-
tion, read a paper, entitled, ‘‘ On the occurrence of placid water in the
midst of large areas where waves were constantly breaking.”’

- The Professor said he had noticed frequently that there were
spaces of some extent, in places where the waves broke, which were
very smooth ; that though the swell, or rise and fall, of the water was
just as great, yet there was no breaking of the waves, no white crest or
comb ; that he believed that these smooth spots were occasioned by
oil or oleaginous matter, which had accidentally happened to be spread
on the surface at such places. To test this, he had, himself, when
there was quite a stiff breeze, with waves on the surface of the water,
which broke with considerable of a comb or crest, emptied a vial of oil
on the water from a boat. The effect was instantly seen. As far as
the oil spread the water was smooth, and the waves did not break ;
and, what was very curious, the oil spread over the surface almost as
rapidly to windward as it did to leeward. He had, therefore, inclined

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 199

to the conclusion, that the smooth spaces, which might be observed in
the midst of places where waves broke, were owing to the presence of
oil, which might either come from decaying fish, or some other sub-
stance from which oil exuded.

Commodore Wilkes confirmed the statement and observations made
by Professor Horsford. He cited the instance where he had seen the
same effects in a violent storm off the Cape of Good Hope, from the
leakage of a whale-ship. He stated it was very curious to observe over
what a oie extent a small quantity of oil would produce the effect
spoken of.

Beastial Henry stated, that almost every one knew the anecdote of
Franklin stilling the sea, to the astonishment of the uninitiated, by
stretching his cane over the side of the ship, the cane having a small
vial of oil in the end of it. The subject was not new. It had been in-
vestigated very fully, some twenty years ago, by order of the Dutch
government, and the results published. ‘The philosophy of the phe-
nomena was that, when oil was placed on water, the oil had more
cohesion for the water than for itself, while with water it was differ-
ent; it had greater adherence to itself than it had to the oil. If you
attempt to separate the two by a disc placed on the surface of water
which oil has covered, the break is not between the oil-and water, but
between oil and oil. He further stated, that he had made some inves-
tigations to find out the measure of the film of oil which spread over
the surface of water he experimented on; and for that purpose he had
spent a whole month, blowing soap bubbles. He thought the stillness
of the waves was owing to the lubrication of their surface by the oil.

SUBSTITUTE FOR COLLODION.

Pvtyverizep shell-lac is dissolved in highly rectified spirits of wine.
The solution assumes, on cooling, a demi-solid and gelatinous consist-
ence. This is the mixture used by upholsterers for polishing furniture.
Spread on linen or silk and applied to the skin, it has all the proper-
ties of collodion. Thus, it is impenetrabie to air, water, oil, and even
to organic humors and secretions. It in no way irritates the skin, and
adheres to it perfectly. Its adherence is so perfect that it might
replace dextrine in cases of fracture. Wounds cure rapidly when coy-
ered with this mixture.— Journal de Pharmacie, Aug. 1851.

SUBSTITUTE FOR MARINE GLUE.

A TRANSPARENT substance, well adapted to replace the marine glue
of Jeffreys for many purposes, particularly where a transparent joint is
required, as in the union of pieces of glass, has been invented by Mr.
S. Lenher, of Philadelphia. The composition is as follows : — Caout-
chouc 15 grains, chloroform two ounces, mastic half an ounce. The
two first-named ingredients are to be first mixed ; after the gum is dis-
solved the mastic is added, and the whole allowed to macerate for a
week. More caoutchouc may be added where great elasticity is desir-
able. The convenience of its application with a brush, cold, recom-
mends it for approval.— Franklin Journal.

200 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL MINERAL COAL.

AN interesting communication was recently presented to the French
Academy, by M. Cagniard Latour, relative to the production of arti-
ficial mineral coal. It is known that Sir James Hall, putting fir, saw-
dust, and horn into a gun-barrel, and subjecting them to heat, suc-
ceeded in melting this compound and converting it into a sort of coal.
These experiments have recently been renewed by the gentleman above
named, under different conditions and with better success. Instead of
gun-barrels he used glass tubes, 14 centimetres (five and five eighths
inches) in length and three millimetres (0.11811 inch) in diameter.
The glass should be two or three millimetres thick. These dimensions
were found, upon trial, to be the best adapted to enable the common
glass tubes to support the degree of heat to which they were subjected.
M. Cagniard Latour dispensed with horn and all other agents to facili-
tate fusion ; and he operated not only upon fir, but upon a great variety
of other woods — birch, poplar, sycamore, elm, oak, boxwood, lignum-
vite. It is remarkable that the degree of heat used in these experi-
ments was not superior to, indeed was hardly equal to, that of boiling
mercury (660°.) The bits of wood were put in the tube, which was
hermetically closed at both ends, and then placed in a spiral cylinder
of iron wire, for the purpose of being conveniently held over a pan of
burning charcoal. If, by this process, the heating seemed tedious, the
tubes were plunged into boiling mercury. The result of the experi-
ments was an artificial coal, varying in character, according to the age
and hygrometric state of the woods employed. The wood of young
trees was converted into a glutinous coal; the old wood, of dry fibre,
into a dry coal. But these last, if soaked in water before being placed
in the tube, gave a glutinous coal like the young wood; and, in some
instances, a brown resin, very similar to asphaltum. The woods used
in these experiments had been, by way of preparation, dried by a heat
of 100°. ‘* May it not be hoped,” says the experimenter, in the con-
clusion of his communication, ‘‘ that essays of this kind, suitably multi-
plied and varied, will lead to results of which geology may make most
useful and important application? ”’

ON THE VALUE OF VARIOUS KINDS OF COAL FOR STEAM PURPOSES.

From the third report of the Commission appointed to examine and
report upon the coals of Great Britain, as regards their applicability
for naval steamers, we make the following extract. The commission
consisted of Sir H. de la Beche and Dr. Lyon Playfair.

‘‘ Although the analysis of a coal shows, generally, that the quan-
tities of carbon and hydrogen it contains materially regulate its
economic value, still there are marked exceptions to this rule, showing
that in all inquiries as to the real value of coal for fuel, its economic
value as to its evaporative power, by actual trial under the boiler,
should be ascertained. ‘The coals, for instance, of the Newcastle dis-
trict, are, in general, of very different composition from the Welsh coals.
They are characterized by containing a smaller quantity of carbon, but

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. , 201

a larger amount of hydrogen. This latter element exercises, in this
case, a very essential importance in their heating powers, and must not
be neglected in comparing the analytical with the economic results.
As a general rule, subject to marked exceptions, the practical value of
a coal rises with the increase of these two combustible elements. Ney-
ertheless, the mechanical conditions of a coal very frequently modify the
practical result to an extent which was scarcely to be expected. The
physical condition of a coal, according as it facilitates or opposes the
entrance of air for combustion, produces a most marked influence in its
evaporative powers, and often determines the practical results obtained
from it, more than the composition of the coal itself. It is, therefore,
not a safe guide to rely wholly on the analysis, unless, at the same
time, practical experiments are found to coincide with the approxima-
tive yalue indicated by analysis. — London Patent Journal.

ON THE USE OF RECTIFIED COAL-OIL.

A communNicaTIon was recently presented to the French Academy,
by M. Edward Robin, ‘‘ upon the advantages of rectified aromatized
coal-oil, (huzle de houille,) employed for the preservation of animal and
vegetable substances.’’ He says :—

**T have the honor of submitting to the examination of the Academy
a portion of fiesh which, notwithstanding the presence of damp air, has
been preserved by the vapor which coal-oil emits at ordinary tempera-
tures. This mode of preservation, extremely cheap, keeps flesh, for an
indefinite time, in all its freshness. In an economical point of view,
as well as in the satisfactory character of its results, coal-oil has evi-
dently many advantages over the liquors hitherto employed in our
museums. ‘The specimens which in the museums are kept immersed
in these liquors are, it is true, preserved from putrefaction ; but they
undergo change — they are no longer fresh animal substances ; whereas
entire birds, with their feathers, foetus of every age, placed in well-
stopped bottles, at the bottom of which has been placed a little coal-oil,
have experienced no change whatever. The conservative property of
coal-oil is applicable, as I have said, to vegetable as well as animal sub-
stances. The botanist can use it for the preservation of fruits and
flowers. Experiments now in process of execution seem to indicate
that certain flowers may be thus preserved with the appearance of life,
and without any very notable change of color. In all external appli-
cations, where the object is to ease pain and remove inflammation, this
substance may be used as a substitute for the essential oils of plants,
for ether, for camphorated alcohol, and even for chloroform and other
costly substances which possess no known virtue rendering them su-
perior to rectified and aromatized coal-oil.”’

PRESERVATIVE INFLUENCE OF CHLOROFORM.

M. AvucENpRE, in a paper before the French Academy, on the pre-
seryative and disintecting influence of chloroform,* supposes that its

*See Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1851, p. 217.

202 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

action in all cases is purely a physical one, consisting in a contraction
of the fibre, or of the parenchyma, which is immediately induced —a
contraction which expels the juices, and thus prevents putrefaction.
The author concludes his communication by stating, asa fact worthy of
notice, that the most powerful antiseptics we are acquainted with,
such as the chlorides of sodium, zine and mercury, and the chloride of
formyle, are all chlorine compounds, and that they act on organized sub-
stances without yielding up any of their constitutent principles to these
substances.

PRESERVATION OF BODIES.

Ar alate meeting of the French Academy, a paper on the above
subject was presented by M. Falcony. ‘‘ Having found that the various
substances hitherto employed for preserving from corruption such parts
of dead bodies as are needed for anatomical purposes were inefficient,
he entered on a series of experiments, comprehending sulphate of soda,
corrosive sublimate, chloride of zine, alcohol, &c., and has come to the
conclusion that sulphate of zinc, dissolved at different degrees, is the
substance which is the most efficient for the purpose. An injection of
four or five litres would, he says, perfectly well preserve a dead body,
as is proved by the preparations belonging to the anatomical cabinet at
Genoa. Bodies so prepared preserve all their flexibility at the end of
forty days. It is only after that period that they begin to dry up, still
preserving, however, their natural color.

ON THE CHEMICAL AND GENERAL EFFECTS OF THE PRACTICE OF INTER-
MENTS IN VAULTS AND CATACOMBS.

Axrnovcn much has been said and written on the decomposition of
the human body after interment in the earth, (the only proper mode,)
but little has been known respecting the process and results of such
decomposition when modified by the corpse being placed in a vault
or catacomb. In order to arrive at some satisfactory conclusions upon
this subject, Mr. Walter Lewis, of London, under the direction of the
General Board of Health, undertook, in the years 1849 and 1850, an
examination of the vaults and catacombs of that city, together with the
analysis of the gases resulting from the decomposition of bodies in such
receptacles, Anarticle by Mr. Lewis, in the London Lancet, gives some
account of his researches, which are the more interesting, as the re-
sults are contrary to opinions generally entertained eyen by chemists.

He visited the vaults of the principal churches of London, noted the
external appearance of more than 22,000 coffins, and the contents of
nearly a hundred, and several times tested or analyzed the atmosphere
of the yaults. In no case did he discover the slightest trace of cyano-
gen, hydrocyanic acid, or phosphuretted, sulphuretied, or carburetted
hydrogen, except a very minute quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen in
the air of a single vault, which contained but few coffins. The cor-
roded parts of old leaden coflins were always found to be carbonate of
lead, with no trace of sulphate or sulphuret. Some of the coffins con-
tained ammoniacal gas in large quantities, and others none at all ; but,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 203

with this exception, the contained air was nearly alike in all, being
composed of nitrogen, carbonic acid, common air, and animal matter in
suspension. When ammonia was present, it overcame every other odor ;
when absent, the smell resembled that of very putrid moist cheese.
The result was the same, whether the interment had been made a few
weeks, or a century and a half previously, and whatever the cause of
the decease, or the age at which it took place. Out of all the coffins ex-
amined, but twenty of the leaden ones had been bulged by the pressure
of the gases generated in the interior. This is only about one out of a
thousand, and shows that the gases are formed very slowly. Mr. Lewis,
besides his own investigations, made diligent inquiries of all the clergy,
churchwardens, sextons and undertakers in every parish, and could not
ascertain that a coffin had ever been known to burst suddenly from the
pressure of the confined air. When one becomes bulged, or, as the
sextons say, ‘‘ blown,”’ it is customary to make a small aperture in it,
to which a torch is applied as an antidote to the noxious effects of the
escaping gases. Several persons, whom Mr. Lewis consulted, had heard
of cases in which the gases caught fire ; but, after searching inquiry,
he could not find one who had ever seen them burn.

Mr. Lewis’ experiments were confined to vaults and catacombs,
where the process of decomposition goes on under very different circum-
stances from those that attend open exposures or interments in the
ground, and it is only concerning them that we can draw our inferences
— which are, that the deleterious emanations that haunt these deposi-
tories, may continue for a hundred years after they are closed; they
are not rendered noxious by poisonous gases generated during the pro-
cess of decomposition, but by the animal matter itself, with which, if
ventilation is not allowed, the air finally becomes saturated ; that nitro-
gen and carbonic acid, holding animal matter in suspension, steadily,
but quietly, make their way through the pores of lead coffins, and, by
some means, to the open air, so that, at the end of fifty or a hundred
years, nothing remains but a few dry bones, though the cofiins are still
sound and unruptured. What their effect upon the living constitution
is, Mr. Lewis sufficiently experienced in his own person. First, upon
exposure, came nausea and vomiting, then diarrhoea, and the next day
throbbing pain in the upper part of the head, great prostration, utter
loss of appetite, and an unpleasant earthy taste in the mouth. After
continuing his investigations for a long time, he was attacked by a
series of biles, followed by erysipelas.

The complete decomposition of a corpse, and its resolution into its
ultimate elements, takes place in a leaden coffin with extreme slow-
ness. In a wooden coffin, the remains, with the exception of the bones,
vanish in a period of from two to five years. This period depends upon
the quality of the wood, and the free access of air to the coffins. But
in leaden coffins, fifty, sixty, eighty, and even a hundred years are re-
quired to accomplish this. ‘‘I have opened,’’ says Mr. Lewis, ‘‘a
coffin, in which the corpse had been placed for nearly a century, and
the ammoniacal gas formed dense white fumes when brought in con-
tact with hydrochloric acid gas, and was so powerful that the head
could not remain near it for more than a few seconds at atime.’’ Mr.

204 "ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Lewis, in conclusion, recommends, ‘“* that interments in vaults and cata-
combs be no longer permitted, as they are but so many active volea-
noes, constantly emitting poisonous effiuvia ; and that the use of leaden
coffins should be entirely discontinued.”? ‘‘'To render the human body
perfectly inert after death, it should be placed in a light wooden coffin,
in a pervious soil, from five to eight feet deep.”’

REALITY OF SPECTRAL APPEARANCES TRACED TO NATURAL CAUSES.

Baron von RetcHensacu, in his work on magnetism, thus attempts
to account for the so-called spectral appearances, through the agency
of natural causes. The baron refers, for example, to an authenticated
instance in Germany, where a spectral appearance haying been ob-
served in a certain location, an examination of the spot was ordered,
which resulted in the finding of the remains of a human body covered
with lime. In explanation of this appearance, the reality of which he
does not doubt, the Baron says : —‘‘ The explanation, it appears to me,
belongs entirely to the domain of chemistry. A human corpse is a
rich field for chemical changes —for fermentation, putrefaction, gas-
ification, and the play of all manner of affinities. A layer of dry quick-
lime, compressed into a deep pit, adds its own powerful affinities to
organic matters, and lays the foundation of a long and slow action of
these affinities. Rain-water from above is added ; the lime first falls to
a mealy powder, and afterwards is converted, by the water which
trickles down to it, into a tallow-like external mass, through which the
external air penetrates but slowly. Such masses of lime haye been
found buried in old castles, where they have lain for centuries; and
yet the lime has been so fresh that it has been used for the mortar of
new buildings. The carbonic acid of the air, indeed, penetrates to the
lime, but so slowly that, in such a place, a chemical process occurs
which may last for many years. The occurrence, in such localities, of
spectral appearances, is, therefore, quite according to natural laws;
and, since we know that a continued emanation of the flames of the
crystalline force* accompanies such processes, the fiery appearances ob-
served are thus explained : — They must have continued until the affin-
ities of the lime for carbonic acid, and for the remains of organic matter
in the bones, were satisfied, and finally brought in equilibrium. When-
ever, now, a person approached, who was, to a certain degree, sensi-
tive, but who might yet be or appear in perfect health; and when
such a person came within the sphere of these physical influences, he
must necessarily have felt them by day and seen them by night. Igno-
rance, fear and superstition would now give to the luminous appearance
the form of a human spectre, and supply it with head, arms and feet ;
just as we can fancy, when we will, any cloud in the sky to represent
a man or a demon. Thousands of ghost stories will now receive a
natural explanation, and will thus cease to be marvellous. In fact, it
was, at all times, only the sensitive who could see the imponderable

* Luminous emanations from magnetized bodies, lately discovered by the author, which
are visible in the dark to some persons of fine optical sensibility.

ad

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 205

emanations from the chemical change going on in corpses luminous in
the dark. And thus I haye, I trust, succeeded in tearing down one of
the densest vails of darkened ignorance and human error.”’

ANZESTHETIC ACTION.

M. Aran has made experiments on the anzsthetic action of certain
agents used as an external application to the skin, and has found that
the best material for this purpose is chlorated chlorohydrie ether.
The sesquichloride of carbon may also be used; but, whilst the ether
operates effectually in a few minutes, at least two hours are required
to produce insensibility with the sesquichloride. To produce the desired
effect, from 15 to 80 drops of the pure chlorated chlorohydric ether
suffice. They are put upon the part in pain, or upon a piece of linen
cloth, which is to be immediately applied to this part, and the contact
is maintained by a bandage, and quickly the pain is relieved. A po-
matum of this ether may also be employed, consisting of four grammes
to twenty of suet ; or if of the sesquichloride of carbon, four of the agent
to thirty of suet: it may be used either with friction or without.
The insensibility is not simply cutaneous, for it gradually extends to
the parts beneath. The chlorated hydrochloric ether is obtained by the
action of chlorine on hydrochloric ether, by which compounds contain-
ing chlorine in increasing proportions are formed, isomerous with the
series of bicarburets of hydrogen, and identical with the same series in
the density of the vapor for corresponding compounds. It is a colorless
liquid, of an etheral, aromatic odor, analogous to chloroform, and a
sweetish and even peppery taste at times; hardly soluble in water, but
wholly so in alcohol, sulphuric ether, and most of the fixed and volatile
oils. It is without action upon paper of tournsol; it is not inflam-
mable ; has a variable density and a variable point of ebullition, oscil-
lating between 110° and 130° C., showing that the material is rather
a mixture of several ethers than a single simple substance. All the
chlorated chlorohydric ethers have the same anzsthetic properties, and
ce enol be separated completely from one another. — L’ Inséitut.,
No. 886.

BROMHYDRIC ETHER.

M. Rost has called the attention of the French Academy to the use
of bromhydric ether, as a new and safe anesthetic agent. In his
paper presented, he says :—‘‘ Bromhydric ether may be ranked among
those agents which, even in the presence of humid oxygen, protect ani-
mal matters against slow combustion or decay, which exert an anti-
septic influence after death, and are, according to the dose administered
during life, sedative, antiphlogistic, or poisonous, producing asphyxia.
Those of the agents moderating slow combustion, which belong to this
class, are necessarily anesthetic when they penetrate into the system
in sufficient doses. When they have not an acid taste they are anzs-
thetic even by inspiration, if their point of ebullition, lower than 176°
Fah., permits them to emit a considerable quantity of vapor at ordinary
temperatures. If on point of ebullition is too elevated, they are

206 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

merely anzesthetic locally, or by application. Bromhydric ether, which
boils at 105° Fah., which possesses neither an acrid nor caustic taste,
which emits a weak and very agreeable odor, unites, therefore, in my
opinion, the conditions useful to constitute an anzsthetic agent by in-
spiration. Circumstances have permitted me to make the trial of it.
Its properties are really such as theory would indicate. Its vapor
quickly deprives birds of sensation ; they readily assume the activity
of life, and do not exhibit, either during or after the experiment, any
sign of suffering. Birds, with which I have repeatedly experimented,
four days ago, are now in full life. Bromhydric ether, therefore, is
offered, for aught that at present appears, as one of the very hest inspir-
able anzesthetic agents.”’

MATERIALS FOR ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.

Tuere are few subjects of practical moment so interesting to the
community, at this time, as that of artificial light. The camphene or
pine oil, and the spirit gas or ethereal oil, have, to some extent, superseded
the common oils, but the great number of fatal accidents resulting from
their use will prevent their general introduction. Another drawback
is also and most justly operating to exclude them from use, and that is
the adulteration of the liquid. The pine oil, or camphene, is or should
be a pure oil of turpentine, but is now so frequently loaded with the
spirits of turpentine, or resinous matter, as to render it unfit for burn-
ing. The spirit gas or ethereal oil is not so easily adulterated, as it
requires a very strong alcohol to mix well with the turpentine ; but even
this article is now so managed as frequently to burn but little better
than alcohol itself. The fact is, it is difficult to get a pure article of
anything at the present day. A pure sperm oil cannot be purchased ;
I say this not without authority. A large quantity of sperm and whale
oil is now consumed to manufacture the celebrated cod liver oil, which,
as now sold, is about one third part cod liver and other fish liver oils,
and the remainder fish and whale oil. Lard oil is unfit for lamps, at
least so far as we have had any experience in Washington. I have
tried repeatedly that which has been most highly recommended, and
have never yet found any that appeared to be suitable either for single
draft or argand lamps. — Page’s Report on Patents.

ON THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES.

Tue following is a resumé of a paper read before the Royal Society,
London, on the manufacture of candles, by W. Carpmael, Esq. : —

Formerly, says this gentleman, the classes of candles manufactured
in this country were wax, spermaceti, and tallow, the materials being
used almost in their natural state. The manufacture of wax into can-
dles has received no improvement, but is still a rude process, consisting
of hanging a series of wicks (each composed of several yarns of Smyrna
cotton slightly twisted together) around a hoop suspended in the air ;
the workman pours the melted wax on to the wicks in succession till the
candles are about one third made, when they are allowed to cool for a
time ; then again the process of pouring on the melted wax is repeated,
till the workman judges, by sight or by weighing, that the candles are

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 207

about half made ; when they are again allowed to cool and set for a
time, after which the candles are rolled on a slab of marble. The
upper part of the candle is formed by cutting away the wax down to a
melted tag, which covers one end of the wick. ‘The candles are then
again suspended to hoops, the end of the wick, which had previously
hung downwards, being now upwards ; and the process of pouring on
melted wax is again repeated, and the candles finished to the desired
size, when they are again submitted to the process of rolling between
two smooth surfaces; the lower ends are cut off, and the candles are
finished. The bees-wax employed before being thus used, is bleached,
and is generally mixed with a quantity of spermaceti.

The next class of candles to which attention was called, was sperma-
eeti. This material in the manufacture of candles is mixed with about
three per cent. of bees-wax, to prevent the spermaceti crystallizing.
Formerly, spermaceti candles were inferior to those made of wax, the
same class of wick being used. Some years ago, platted wicks were
substituted for the twisted wicks before employed ; this was a great
step to improvement. Platted wicks have a tendency to turn out of
the flame while being consumed, the effect of which is to cause the
wicks to be burned away, rendering the use of snuffers unnecessary.
Since that time, spermaceti candles, in place of being considered infe-
rior, are preferred by many to candles made of wax. They are made
by pouring the melted material into pewter moulds, in which platted
wicks are first inserted, and retained securely to the centre of the
moulds. Mr. Carpmael next called attention to the manufacture of
tallow candles — ‘‘ dips’ and ‘‘ moulds.’”’ The former are made, as is
generally known, by suspending several wicks a short distance apart
(each consisting of several cotton yarns) on a rod; the wicks are
dipped several times into melted tallow ; the coats thus taken up are
allowed to cool and set. The mould candles are produced by pouring
the melted tallow into pewter moulds in which the proper wicks (each’
of several cotton yarns) are first fixed centrally. These wicks require
snufing. A great improvement was some years back introduced into
this manufacture by employing cords of cotton as wicks, which are
coiled spirally round wires. The wires and the coiled wicks are intro-
duced into moulds, and the wires are withdrawn when the tallow is
set. These candles will, however, only burn in lamps, the turning out
of the wicks melting the candles down on one side. This improvement
introduced a new manufacture of lamps, called candle-lamps, which of
late years have greatly increased in use ; various sizes of candles being
now made, some haying as many as four wicks, and suitable for large
table lamps. This manufacture has been greatly improved by the intro-
duction of several means of making wicks which will turn out of the
flame, and yet will admit of being introduced in a straight line within
a candle. Attention was called to several descriptions of wicks for this
purpose ; they all act, however, on one principle, that of having a pre-
ponderance of strength on one side, which may be done in a great
variety of ways. One of the most simple is the ruling of a line on one
side with paste, which gives additional stiffness or strength to that one
side, and such wicks in burning turn out of the flames. Following out

208 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

this principle, the wicks may be modified to suit the various tequire-
ments of the different materials employed in candle-making, each of
which requires a different character of wick. This was shown by several
candles being burned, having wicks slightly differing from those which
were best for each particular case, proving that great observation and
skill are requisite in the manufacturer, in order to adjust the material
and wick to each other in every case. Attention was also called to the
fact, that, up to the present time, manufacturers have not been able to
employ platted wicks in wax candles or tallow candles.

Ordinarily, in making mould candles, the wicks are placed by hand
into the moulds, and the same are retained fast therein by pegs at one
end and by wires at the other. A great improvement has been intro-
duced into this part of the mechanical processes, by causing the can-
dles, as they are discharged from the moulds, to draw fresh wicks into
the moulds ; and, on the candles being then cut off from the wicks, an
instrument takes hold, simultaneously, of all the wicks, and retains them
correctly in position in the several moulds.

About thirty years ago, a celebrated French chemist, (Chevreul,)
when investigating the properties of fatty matters, discovered that they
consisted of certain acids ; and many efforts were made to introduce one
of the acids (stearic acid) into the manufacture of candles, but with
little if any practical effect, owing to its high crystallizing properties.
In order to correct this properly, recourse was had to the use of arse-
nic, which was found to break up the crystals; and candles were
extensively made and consumed, rivalling spermaceti in appearance,
whilst they were sold at a much less price. But public attention hay-
ing been called to the injurious effects produced by the vapors of arsenic
thrown off by such candles, this greatly increasing manufacture met
with a severe check; and, if the manutacturer had not discovered a
means of employing stearic acid without arsenic in the manufacture
of candles, the public would probably have ceased to purchase them.
This, probably, is one of the most interesting events in the history of
the manufacture. On investigation, it was discovered that the erys-
talline character found to prevail in stearic acid candles is consequent
on the pouring very hot melted stearic acid into cold moulds; and it
was found that by pouring the matter when nearly set into moulds
warmed to about the same temperature as the candle stuff, and by
using a small quantity of wax, candles of stearic acid can be made pos-
sessing very excellent properties. Hence, this class of candles has of
late years very largely prevailed, which, being made with suitable
platted wicks, like spermaceti candles, do not require to be snuffed.

Another class of candles, which came largely into use about the same
time, was produced from the stearine of cocoa-nut oil; but this candle
required snuffing. A great step of improvement in the manufacture of
candles resulted from combining these two matters, viz., stearic acid
of tallow with stearine of the cocoa-nut. It is found that stearic acid
of tallow burns with a somewhat red flame and is liable to smoke ; it
contains too large a quantity of carbon ; whilst the stearine of cocoa-
nut oil contains too much hydrogen, and burns with a white flame.
The effect of combining these two matters was to obtain a better flame

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 209

than either, when used separately. The product is cheaper, and will
also admit of the use of platted wicks ; and the tendency of the stearic
acid to crystallize is corrected by the employment of the stearine of the
cocoa-nut.. These candles are known by the name of ‘‘ composite,’”’
and have been sold in immense quantities.

Mr. Carpmael next called attention to the modern introduction of
palm-oil in the manufacture of candles, the properties of which are
peculiarly suited to candle-making. The stearzne of it, even in its crude
state, makes excellent ‘‘ dip ’’ candles, when the quality of the light only
is considered ; but they are of a bad color. The palin stearine also
makes good lamp candles: but the great use of paim-oil as a candle
stuff is when distilled for this purpose. The crude oil is first treated
with acid to bring it into an acid state, and the same is then distilled
by means of steam, which, in its passage from the boiler, passes
through a series of pipes heated by a furnace, by which the steam he-
comes very highly heated, (600° Fahr.,) and in that state it enters into
the still, and amongst and below the chemically prepared palm-oil,
which is thereby caused to distil over, and is condensed in suitable
apparatus ; the product is pressed ; and by these means a most beau-
tiful material, closely resembling spermaceti, is obtained, and from
which those modern manufactures of candles, now so largely and so
well known as Belmont sperm and Belmont wax, are produced.

LIGHT FOR ILLUMINATION OBTAINED FROM THE BURNING OF HYDROGEN.

M. Gritarp, of Paris, claims the production of a useful light and
great heat from the combustion of hydrogen in contact with a coil of
platinum wire —the hydrogen being produced by the decomposition
of water. The apparatus employed is very simple, and consists essen-
tially of one or more cylinders of iron arranged horizontally in a fur-
nace, similar in all respects to the usual arrangement for the produc-
tion of coal gas. The retorts are charged with wood-charcoal reduced
to small fragments, of uniform size, and heated to an intense degree.
Through each of the retorts steam is conducted in a tube pierced with
numerous very minute holes, so disposed as to distribute the steam in
a uniform and very gradual manner over the heated coal. The boiler
for the production of the steam is conveniently situated in the same
furnace employed for heating the retorts. Decomposition of water
ensues of course, accompanied with the production of carbonic acid
(CO?), carbonic oxide (CO) in small quantity, of free hydrogen and a
limited quantity of light carburetted hydrogen gas, (C*H.) The mix-
ture of these gases is conducted through a lime purifier to remove
carbonic acid, and, without farther washing or purification, the product
is ready for use. Consisting almost wholly of hydrogen gas, the flame
of its combustion is of course very feebly luminous; to obviate this
difficulty, it is burned in contact with a cage or net-work of platinum
wire gauze surrounding an ordinary argand burner, protected by a
glass chimney. This simple contrivance is perfectly successful, and
the light given out from gas lamps of this construction is extremely
vivid and aed

*

e

210 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

This invention claims the following advantages in practice: 1. The
gas so produced is cheaper than any other mode of artificial light,
costing, as is asserted by M. Gillard, only about one sixteenth the
average cost of coal gas. 2. The gas has no unpleasant odor, being
entirely free from the volatile hydrocarbons which are so peculiarly
offensive in oil and coal gas. 3. The products of its combustion are
almost solely water, so little carbonic acid resulting in the combustion
that practically it may be disregarded. 4. This mode of producing
gas may be applied to any existing gas-works by a slight modification
of the retorts, and without any essential change in other portions of
the apparatus — the platinum cages being applied to the argand burn-
ers. 5. The cheapness of this mode enables us to apply it with great
advantage as a fuel for cooking and for numerous purposes in the arts.
For example, we saw, in the establishment of M. Christolef, the solder-
ing of silver plate accomplished, in a rapid and remarkably neat man-
ner, by a powerful jet of this gas, driven by a pneumatic apparatus.
Its perfect manageableness, the ease with which an intense heat is
applied locally and immediately when it is wanted, coupled with ad-
vantages of employing for such a purpose so powerful a deoxidizing
agent as hydrogen, render this mode of soldering preferable to every
other, and peculiarly suited for the process of autogenous soldering.
6. The nuisances resulting from the presence of large coal gas-works
in populous districts are entirely avoided by this mode, which is as
free from objection as a steam-engine. 7. The arrangements are so
simple and inexpensive that every establishment, where it is desired to
employ light and heat, may erect its own apparatus, even in the most
isolated situation, all the materials employed being everywhere acces-
sible.

We merely add that the result of M. Gillard’s invention in one par-
ticular differs from the anticipation of chemists; that is, we should
expect from the decomposition of water in this mode the production
of carbonic oxide CO, carbonic acid CO*, and light carburetted hydro-
gen C*H, with a limited amount of free hydrogen. The result of his
experience, however, seems to establish the statements already made.
—Communicated to Siliman’s Journal, by Prof. B. Silliman, Jr.

APPARATUS FOR THE EXPLOSION OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN.

A LITTLE apparatus, constructed by Mr. Billows, has been exhibited
at the London Polytechnic Institution, for the purpose of showing
some curious phenomena characteristic of carburetted hydrogen. <A
file of 12 small glass tubes, about eight inches high and one quarter inch
diameter, are placed in a plate of perforated zinc, and covered by a glass
shade with an opening in the top; these tubes form so many open gas-
burners, and, on turning the gas full on, burn steadily in the usual man-
ner ; but if the gas be lowered to such a point that sufficient hydrogen is
allowed to enter the tubes, and, mixing with its atmospheric air within,
form an explosive mixture, (which is about one of the former to eight of
the latter,) a continuous series of explosions occur, and the burning gas
is seen to descend in beautiful lambent green flames, sometimes tinged
with red. As the gases get more heated, the explosions are louder,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 211

more frequent, and the colors more vivid, and the rapid and varied
motion in all the tubes forms a very beautiful spectacle. Each may
be considered a miniature representation of an explosion in a coal
mine.—Mining Journal.

PERNICIOUS EFFECTS OF CARBONIC OXIDE.

Pror. Dumas, at the British Association, alluded to the great, and,
indeed, almost unsuspected influence of carbonic oxide gas. The judi-
cial investigations in France haye disclosed the fatal effects of this gas
as being much greater than carbonic acid gas. In the atmosphere
pe by the burning of charcoal, one two-hundredth part of car-

onic oxide was fatal, while with one third the volume of carbonic
acid the animal was asphyxiated, but afterwards revived.

ON THE DETECTION OF SULPHUR.

Dr. Prayrarr’s beautiful salt, the nitroprusside of soda, is justly
recommended by its discoverer as the most delicate of all tests for
alkaline sulphurets. Another application, which is very obvious,
although not alluded to by Dr. Playfair, is to employ it not only as a
direct test for alkaline sulphurets, but as an indirect one for sulphur in
any of its compounds. Any substance containing sulphur will yield
an alkaline sulphuret, if heated with carbonate of soda, either with or
without the addition of carbonaceous matter, according as a deoxidiz-
ing action is required, or not. The magnificent purple which is then
produced by the addition to the fused mass of a drop of the solution
of the nitroprusside, will at once prove the presence of sulphur. This
reaction is so easily obtained, and is so decisive, that the nitroprusside
of soda must take its place among the most useful adjuncts of the
blowpipe tests. By means of it the presence of sulphur in the smallest
particles of coagulated albunen, horn, nails, feathers, mustard seed,
&e., which can be conveniently supported on a platinum wire for
blowpipe experiments, may be most distinctly shown ; and I have repeat-
edly obtained the characteristic purple tint in operating upon a piece
of a single fibre of the human hair less than one inch in length. — Prof.
J. W. Bailey, Siliman’s Journal.

TEST FOR NITRIC ACID.

Tue following qualitative test for nitric acid is communicated to the
Chemical Gazette, by James Higgins, Esq. : —

The methods in ordinary use of detecting nitric acid do not show
very small quantities, and the liquid suspected to contain nitrates has
generally to be concentrated before the presence of nitric acid can
be ascertained. Being engaged lately in testing for nitrates in water,
I employed the following method with perfect success : — It is founded
on the immediate liberation of iodine from hydriodic acid by nitric
acid, and its subsequent detection by starch. To insure accuracy,
certain minutiz have to be attended to; and, these observed, the
test becomes one of great delicacy. Ist. The solution of iodide of
potassium must he very dilute, or iodine is liberated by sulphuric

O13 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

acid alone. 2d. The solution of iodide of potassium must not be
added to the mixture of sulphuric acid and liquid till cold, or iodine is
apt to be liberated without the presence of nitric acid. 3d. The pro-
portion of sulphuric acid added to the suspected liquid must not be
too great, or the most dilute solution of iodide of potassium gives
iodine without nitric acid. 4th. As a solution of hydriodic acid, formed
by the action of sulphuric acid upon iodide of potassium, is decomposed
by the air in the course of an hour or two, and a blue formed with starch,
unless a distinct color is produced in ten or fifteen minutes, it may be
concluded that nitric acid is not present. I dissolve 25 grs. of iodide
of potassium in 16 oz. of water for the test solution, which is too dilute
to give iodine with sulphuric acid alone. ‘To the suspected liquid, in a
test tube, I add not more than one sixth of its bulk of concentrated
sulphuric acid; heat nearly to boiling, and keep hot in the sand-bath
for several minutes ; cool the tube in cold water, and add a drop of
starch-mucilage and a few drops of the test solution. If nitric acid is
aaa the liquid assumes a blue, very intense, with even one five-

undredth part of nitric acid. With one five-hundredth part by
weight of NO®, intense dark blue ; one one-thousandth part of do. do.,
dark blue ; with one five-thousandth part, do. do., dark blue ; with one
ten-thousandth part, do. do., paler blue; with one twelve-thousandth
part, do. do., pale blue ; with one sixteen-thousandth part, do. do., blue
tint ; with one eighteen-thousandth part, do. do., blue tinge ; with one
twenty-thousandth part, do. do., faint blue tinge, becoming decided in
a few minutes.

It is remarkable that, even with the great excess of sulphuric acid
present, the whole of the nitric acid is not liberated until after heating
some time; thus, one sixteen-thousandth part required ten minutes
heating before the test could indicate nitric acid ; one eighteen-thou-
sandth part I heated twenty minutes ; and one twenty-thousandth part I
found necessary to heat half an hour before testing. Probably, by ob-
serving the same method, the other tests for nitric acid, viz., proto-
sulphate of iron, sulphate of indigo and gold-leaf, might become more
delicate ; but this I have not tried. Of course, some other acids would
give the same results, as the chloric and chromic acids, &c. ; but the
absence of these is easily ascertained, and they seldom occur in anal-
ysis.

NEW TEST FOR THE NITRATES AND NITRITES.

Art the American Association, New Haven, Mr. G. C. Scheeffer fur-
nished the following new test for the nitrates and nitrites :—To the
solution supposed to contain a nitrite, add. one or two drops of solution
of yellow prussiate of potash ; there should not be enough to give a
- perceptible tinge to the liquid. A few drops of acetic acid are then to
be added, and immediately, or in a few minutes, according to the
quantity of nitrite present, the liquid assumes a rich yellow tint; as
the reagents used. give nearly the same color spontaneously after some
time even in pure water, it is better, when testing for minute quanti-
ties, to use two similar vessels, one containing pure water and the
other the liquid under examination, to both of which the redgents are
to be added in precisely equal quantities. The vessels should be equally

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 213

exposed to the light with a sheet of white paper behind them. With
these precautions, I have found this test astonishingly delicate, in fact
ranking with those for iron, iodine, &c. Using fused nitre, I have
detected the presence of 1 pt. in 617,000 pts. of water, a by-stander,
wholly ignorant of the nature of the operation, pronouncing as to the
color. Yet this salt contained about one half its weight of indecom-.
posed nitrate. It should be remarked, that the presence of a large
quantity of nitre has no influence upon this test, as with pure water
it gives no color. The same reaction also answers for the hyponitrates.
The next step is to convert this test into one for the nitrates. I find
that nitrate of ammonia is readily decomposed in presence of metallic
lead ; and, what seems surprising, nitrate of potassa is also decomposed,
though not so readily. ‘To test for the nitrates, we have only to agitate
the slightly-warmed liquid for a few minutes with shavings of lead, and
proceed as before. By a longer digestion, more of the salt would be
converted into nitrate, and the color would be stronger. By using
distilled water, I have been able to detect the presence of one part of
nitre in about 60,000 of water, digesting with lead only a short time.
Oxalic, tartaric and dilute hydrochloric acids may be substituted for
the acetic, except when they produce precipitates, which would de-
stroy the clearness of the liquid.

TEST FOR IODINE.

LassaIGNE recommends chloride of palladium as a test for iodine.
He states that two litres of water, containing two millionths of iodide
of potassium, is still distinctly colored brown by chloride of palladium.
After twenty-four to thirty-six hours, a floculent sediment of iodide of

alladium was formed. If there be but a few flakes, a little fine silica
is added after the water is poured off; the sediment is collected, dried,
and then heated in a glass tube, which becomes filled with the vapors
of iodine. — Jour. de Phar.

NEW METHOD OF TESTING OPIUM.

M. Desuept proposes the following new process of testing opium. 60
rammes of raw opium are treated by 240 grammes of boiling aleohol
at 71° C. It is decanted while hot, and the grounds put in the press
after cooling ; the grounds are then treated in the same manner with
160 grammes of alcohol of the same degree ; these several alcohates
are collected and hermetically sealed in phials, and left to deposit until
the next day. A magnificent crystallization of narcotine is then
found, which is separated from the alcoholic liquid. This liquid is put
into a wide-mouthed phial, and four grammes of ammonia are added ;
a considerable quantity of pure morphine will be thus obtained, which
is to be separated from the liquor. This done, a small quantity of dis-
tilled water is added to the alcoholic liquor, keeping the phial at a
temperature of 75° Fah. for two days. After this time a fresh quantity
of morphine will be observed, less pure than the first, but free from
narcotine. By the process of the exhaustion of opium by alcohol,
the authors have obtained five grammes of morphine from 60 grammes
of opium employed. — Journal de Chemie, 1851.

214 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

TEST FOR THE SOLUBLE CONSTITUENTS OF GUMS.

Tue so-called gums are complex natural products. In certain kinds
two substances have been distinguished — the one arabine, soluble in
cold water ; the other cerasine, insoluble therein. The former consti-
tutes the greater portion of the gum-Arabie and Senegal gum, whilst
the latter predominates in cherry-gum and gum-tragacanth. For such
gums as consist entirely or partially of arabine, Lassaigne recommends
the persulphate of iron and tribasic acetate of lead as tests. The sul-

hate of iron precipitates the gum even from solutions of sugar, which
fis no influence upon the precipitate. This is yellowish, gelatinous
and transparent. ‘This result deserves especial attention, as there are
other substances soluble in water, which are precipitated by alcohol
and basic acetate of lead, but upon which the sulphate of iron has no
influence. The precipitate produced by the lead salt and alcohol is
liable to be confounded with dextrine, and other gum-like substances,
which so frequently occur among vegetable products ; the salt of iron
distinguishes arabine from these decidedly. The soluble portion of
gum-tragacanth, which is regarded as isomeric with arabine, is precip-
itated like arabine, by the sulphate of iron; but the precipitate by
tribasic acetate of lead is white, floculent, opaque and caseous, whilst
the gum extracted from tragacanth with cold water furnishes a trans-
parent gelatinous precipitate, with basic acetate of lead. In syrup
mixed with gum-Arabic the gum can be detected by sulphate of iron in
the portion precipitated by alcohol. Dextrine, the gummy constitu-
ent which alcohol throws down from commercial starch-syrup, does
not furnish with sulphate of iron a precipitate like arabine, so that an
admixture of gum is easily detected. — Lassaigne, Jour. de Chim.
Med.

ON SOME DISTINGUISHING REACTIONS OF ARSENICAL AND ANTIMONIAL
SPOTS.

Ir a drop of bromine is placed on a saucer, and a capsule containing
arsenical spots inverted over it, the spots take a very bright lemon-
yellow tinge in a short time. Antimonial spots, under the same cir-
cumstances, are acted upon much more rapidly, (in about five seconds,
at a temperature of 52° Fah.,) and assume an orange shade. Both
become colorless if exposed to the air, and are again restored if treated
with a strong solution of sulphureted hydrogen. The secondary yellow
of the arsenical spots, as observed by Lassaigne, disappears on the ad-
dition of ammonia, whilst that of antimonial spots remains untouched.
A concentrated solution of iodate of potassa turns arsenical spots of a
cinnamon-red, and dissolves them almost immediately. On antimo-
nial spots it has no visible effect within three or four hours. Solutions
of the hypochlorites of soda and lime, and fresh chlorine water, dis-
solve arsenical spots instantaneously, leaving those of antimony. A
concentrated solution of chlorate of potassa gradually acts upon arseni-
cal spots, but not upon those of antimony. ‘The nitro-prusside of
potassium, on the other hand, slowly dissolves antimony, producing no
perceptible effect on arsenic. — J. W. Slater, Chem. Gaz., No. 199.

ail

oS

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 215

EXISTENCE OF ARSENIC IN PLANTS.

M. Srer has estimated the small quantities of arsenic contained in
various vegetable substances. He has made the following determina-
tions : — 10,000 parts of old linen gave 0.11 of arsenic; 10,000 parts
of rye straw, gathered in the vicinity of lead smelting works, contained
0.009 of arsenic, and 0.4 of metallic lead; 10,000 parts of cow-dun
yielded 3,000 of arsenic. The arsenic was sought for in the ashes o
these substances. — Jour. Pract. Chemie.

ON THE PRESENCE OF MINERAL POISONS IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
AFTER DEATH BY ACUTE POISONING.

Dr. Rovcurr, of Strasbourg, has undertaken a series of experiments,
by administering arsenic, lead, copper, and mercury to dogs, with a
view of ascertaining if these poisons can, in reality, be detected in the
cerebrum and spinal cord.

Arsenic was twice found in the substance of the brain ; mercury was
found in each instance of three experiments of poisoning by mercury.
Copper was found in five instances out of six of poisoning by the sul-
phate. In three cases the proportion of the oxide varied from three to
six thousandths. The brain of dogs, not poisoned, yielded scarcely an
appreciable quantity. Lead was extracted, in the proportion of eigh-
teen thousandths, from the brain of a dog, which died, at the end of
three days, from acetate of lead. These facts induce the author to
think that mineral as well as organic poisons exert a direct influence
upon the neryous centres. — Comptes Rendus. :

PRESENCE OF LEAD IN THE BRAIN AND LIVER.

M. Cuatrn and Bouvier, of France, being desirous of arriving at an
opinion on this still controverted point of medical science, have insti-
tuted minute examinations of the brain and liver of a man, who had
died by means of lead poisoning, from working in a white-lead factory.
From these experiments it resulted that the brain, and especially the
liver, contained lead. The process followed in the examination was
that recommended by Orfila for detecting lead in cases of poisoning, to
the exclusion of normal lead. — Jour. de Chemie, Feb.

ACTION OF WATER ON LEAD.

Mr. Noap, of London, in a recent communication to the Patent
Journal, furnishes an instance in which a water, containing a large
quantity of those salts which are generally supposed to exert a presery-
ative action on lead, (earthy and alkaline sulphates and chlorides,)
corroded a leaden cistern with remarkable energy. In the course of
six months, holes were eaten through it, and the oxide of lead could be
skimmed from the surface of the water in abundance. On testing the
water beneath, taking care to avoid filtering, by which a very consid-
erable quantity of the metal, eyen when in solution, may be removed,

216 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

no signs of lead could be detected. This remarkable action Mr. Noad
ascribes to the presence of an unusually large quantity of organic
matter contained in the water. ’

Dr. Nevins, of Liverpool, in a recent publication, shows, from inves-
tigations, that, whilst hard waters of a certain kind exercise a protect-
ing influence on lead, there are others which act energetically upon
this metal. The conclusions at which he has arrived, from numerous
experiments, are as follows :— Hard waters do not protect lead, simply
from the fact of their being hard ; but this protection, when effected,
is dependent, not only upon the nature of the salt causing the hard-
ness, but also upon the proportion present; for, whilst all experi-
ence proves that a small amount of sulphate, at any rate of sulphate
of lime, does protect the lead, a large quantity of sulphate of magnesia
acted considerably upon it. It appears to be proved, also, that chlo-
rides act upon lead, either with or without the presence of a sulphate ;
but their action is not so great as that of soluble carbonates. These
results do not practically affect the question of the safety of using lead
for common waters, so far as sulphates are concerned, as the experi-
ence of years proves that no bad consequences result from the employ-
ment of lead for water containing sulphates.

ON THE ALTERATION WHICH WELL-WATER UNDERGOES.

Tue following results have been arrived at by M. Blondeau, from the
examination of the water of a great number of wells :—

1. Well-water may be altered by two causes: by the presence of
mineral salts held in solution, and by that of animal matters. 2. The
mineral substances which occur in solution are, silica, alumina, car-
bonates and phosphates of lime and magnesia, potash, alum, chlorides
of calcium, magnesium and sodium, with nitrates of the same bases.
These different substances are not hurtful to the animal economy when
they exist only in small quantity. Well-water, of which a litre con-
tains only four to five centigrammes of these substances in solution,
may be employed for all domestic uses, provided it does not contain too
large a proportion of animal matter. 38. Water, of which a litre con-
tains one gramme of the above-mentioned substances, may still be good
for drinking, but it is not fit for cooking vegetables, or washing linen,
when it contains 0.1 gramme of lime or magnesia. 4. Water, of
which a litre contains 0.1 gramme of lime or of magnesia, and 0.1
gramme of organic matter, is improper for any domestic use. 5. It is
of the utmost importance to state the existence and determine the
quantity of animal matter held in solution in waters ; for, if they exceed
the limits above stated, they act disastrously on the economy, and may
occasion dysentery and various maladies which appear to be contagious,
because the whole population acquire the seeds at the same sources.
6. The presence of magnesia in drinkable waters does not produce so
hurtful an action as supposed by some persons. Waters containing
on-an average five times as much magnesia as the waters of the valley
of the Iser, in Switzerland, are used in many places, and yet endemic dis-
eases, as goitre and cretinism, are not known to exist in the same local-

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 2it

ities. 7. The water of certain wells possesses a very disagreeable earthy
taste. This taste is derived from alumina, held in solution by carbonic
acid. It is observed that those well-waters which contain most of this
base have the strongest earthy flavor. 8. It results from these exper-
iments that a classification of drinkable waters, based on the relations
which exist between the sulphates and the chlorides, must be a defect-
ive one ; for this relation varies with respect to the same kind of water
within limits of considerable extent, and it is never certain that the
water operated on has not met in its course, either above or below the
soil, with substances which have altered and changed the proportions
in which these salts enter into its composition. — L’Institut., No. 851.

QUANTITATIVE SEPARATION OF POTASH AND SODA.

Rosg has found that the fluo-silicates of potassium and sodium are
wholly insoluble in a liquid containing alcohol. When fluo-silicic acid
in excess is poured into a solution of a potash or soda salt, and a vol-
ume of strong alcohol, equal to that of the whole liquid, is added, the
whole of the potash or soda present is precipitated in the form of a
fluo-silicate, which is to be washed with strong alcohol, diluted with
an equal volume of water. Baryta may be separated from its solutions
in a similar manner; a very small proportion of alcohol, however, suf-
fices for its complete precipitation.

QUANTITATIVE SEPARATION AND DETERMINATION OF PHOSPHORIC ACID.

Reynoso has proposed a method of separating phosphoric acid quan-
titatively, based upon the fact that phosphate of peroxide of tin is inso-
luble in nitric acid, while other phosphates are soluble. A weighed
- portion of pure tin is to be introduced into a vessel with the phos-
phate, nitric acid added in excess, and the whole boiled. When the
whole of the tin has been oxidized the mass is to be thrown upon a
filter, washed, dried, heated to redness over a spirit lamp, and weighed.
The difference between this weight and the weight of peroxide of tin
yielded by the tin employed, gives the weight of the phosphoric acid.
The filter must be carefully burned ; a few drops of nitric acid being
added to prevent reduction. The flame of the lamp must also be care-
fully managed, so as not to mount too high; and, finally, the mass
must be rapidly weighed, as it is very hygroscopic. The process gave
good results when applied to the analysis of pyrophosphate of soda, the
only compound which Reynoso appears to have examined, — Compies
Rendus, 33, 358.

VOLATILITY OF PHOSPHORIC ACID IN ACID SOLUTIONS.

Mr. J. B. Bunce, of New Haven, publishes, in Silliman’s Journal,
the results of some experiments, made to ascertain the extent of loss
experienced in analysis in consequence of the volatility of phosphoric
acid. .554 grammes of phosphate of soda were dissolved in a gill of
water ; ape was then added, and the whole evaporated

218 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

»

in a water-bath to dryness, being afterwards heated gently to drive
off any excess of acid. The residue was treated with strong sulphuric
acid, and allowed to stand several hours in order to convert the pyro-
phosphate of soda into the ordinary tribasic salt. It was then care-
fully diluted, neutralized by ammonia, and precipitated as ammonio
phosphate of magnesia ; the weight of the salt after ignition was .0701
grammes, equal to .045 of phosphoric acid. The consequent loss of
phosphoric acid in this experiment was 58.66 per cent. Another ex-
periment, in which the chlorine, instead of the phosphoric acid, was
determined, gives as the loss of acid 53.36 per cent. .2 grammes of
phosphate of magnesia and ammonia were next taken, dissolved in hy-
drochloric acid, diluted until about a gill of fluid was obtained, and the
whole was then evaporated as before. After precipitation and ignition,
the residue weighed .1315, corresponding to 41.09 per cent. of phos-
phoric acid. The percentage of phosphoric acid in the ammonio-
phosphate of magnesia, as determined by ignition, was 48.37 per cent,
Consequent loss of phosphoric acid, 6.67 per cent. Another experi-
ment, conducted in the same manner, with the exception that the pyro-
phosphate of magnesia was converted into the tribasic condition, by
fusion with carbonate of soda, gave 8.35 per cent.’as the loss. The loss
of phosphoric acid, when the solution was acidified with sulphuric acid
instead of hydrochloric acid, was greater, probably owing to the higher
degree of heat required to volatize that acid. ‘There was no percep-
tible difference between the action of hydrochloric and nitric acids.
Phosphate of soda was completely converted into the sulphate of the
same by three evaporations with sulphuric acid and water. Phosphates
of alumina, iron, lime, and magnesia, were not perfectly converted into
sulphates, even by a dozen successive evaporations. Phosphoric acid
does not seem to be more volatile in the vapor of alcohol than in that of
water. These experiments serve to show that the ordinary methods
of analysis are not applicable to the analysis of phosphates, which
must be dissolved in acid by the aid-of heat. In the ordinary evapo-
rations to separate silica by rendering it insoluble, a very considerable
loss of this acid is occasioned. The estimated quantity of phosphorie
acid in ashes, &c., must probably, in many cases, be much too low,
owing to this loss from volatilization; and we may believe that, for
this reason, many analyses must be regarded as almost valueless, with
respect to the amount of phosphoric acid which they indicate.

NEW ALLOTROPIC MODIFICATION OF PHOSPHORUS.

Scurotrer has demonstrated that the change of color produced in
phosphorus by the action of light is independent of the presence of
oxygen ; that it occurs even when the phosphorus is surrounded with
an atmosphere of pure dry hydrogen, carbonic acid, or nitrogen; and
that it is due simply to the passage of the element into an allotropic
state or form. Precisely the same change was produced by exposing
phosphorus for some time to a temperature of 226° C. ; the mass assume
a fine red color, and became gradually less fluid, darker, and finally
perfectly opaque. The precise temperature at which the change takes

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 219

place, could not be determined, inasmuch as a less degree of heat pro-
duces in a longer the same effect which a higher temperature pro-
duces in a shorter time. The joint action of heat and light was also
found more efficacious than either of these agents separately. The au-
thor compares the two allotropie modifications of phosphorus with those
of carbon ; the diamond, when strongly heated, passing into an amor-
phous state and becoming black and opaque. Amorphous phosphorus
is most readily prepared by exposing common phosphorus to the action of
heat or light, and then dissolving out the unchanged substance by means
of bisulphide of carbon and filtering, taking care to keep the filter full
of liquid till a portion of the filtrate evaporated on a strip of platinum
no longer leaves a trace of phosphorus. ‘The substance on the filter is
to be boiled with a solution of caustic potash, of density 1.30, and
washed first with pure water, then with very dilute nitric acid, and
finally again with pure water. The new modification of phosphorus is
an amorphous powder, without lustre, and of a color which varies from
scarlet red to dark carmine red, but which may become dark brown or
brownish black ; when washed, it becomes violet, recovering its origi-
nal color when cold. Its density, at 10° C., is 1.964. Amorphous phos-
phorus is insoluble in bisulphide of carbon, alcohol, ether, naphtha and
perchloride of phesphorus ; boiling oil of turpentine takes up a small
quantity of it; in the air it remains entirely unchanged. It is not
luminous in the dark at ordinary temperatures, but becomes slightly so
near the temperature at which it ignites. Schrotter considers it prob-
able that the black phosphorus of 'Thenard is the same allotropic mod-
ification with that which he has described. Nitric acid readily oxidizes
amorphous phosphorus, the increased surface of the latter forming
many points of attack. Finally, neither copper nor other metallic
substances are precipitated from their solutions by amorphous phos-
phorus. The author recommends this substance, in an economical
point of view, for the preparation of friction matches and percussion
caps, as it possesses over ordinary phosphorus the great advantages that
it is neither affected by the moisture of the atmosphere, nor injurious
to the health of the workmen. In a second paper the author fully con-
firms the results which he had previously attained, and adds, among
other interesting facts, the remarkable one, that common phosphorus is
capable of decomposing water at a temperature between 250° C. and
260° C. It should have been stated above that the amorphous modifi-
cation of phosphorus is reconverted into common or crystallizable phos-
phorus when heated above its boiling point in an atmosphere of hydro-
gen or nitrogen. — Pogg. Am., 1850, No. 10.

PROSPHURET OF TUNGSTEN.

Woster has described a remarkable compound of -tungsien with
phosphorus, prepared and analyzed in his laboratory by Wright. In-
pure phosphoric acid, containing lime, is to be mixed in coarse powder
with tungstic acid, in the proportion of nine of phosphoric to two of tung-
stic acid, and the mixture is to be ignited in a charcoal crucible for an
hour, at a temperature at which metallic nickel becomes perfectly

220 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

fused. On cooling, the crucible is found to contain a hollow mass of
gray phosphuret of tungsten, lined upon the inside with the most bril-
lant crystals. These crystals have a dark steel color, with a remarka-
bly brilliant metallic lustre ; they are six-sided prisms, apparently of
the same form as gypsum ; their density is 5.207; they are perfect
conductors of the electric current. In contact with zinc, in dilute acid,
they evolve hydrogen, and in a solution of a salt of copper, they be-
come covered with metallic copper. The phosphuret is unchanged at
the temperature in which manganese fuses ; heated to redness in the
air, it undergoes scarcely any change ; heated upon charcoal in a cur-
rent of oxygen, it burns with great brilliancy, yielding a deep blue subli-
mate upon the coal. In the same manner it burns with fused chlorate
of potash ; acids exert no action upon it. Wright found the constitu-
tion of this compound to correspond with the formula P W*. — Ann.
de Chemie und Phar.

SULPHIDE OF NITROGEN.

Fornos and Gélis have published an elaborate investigation of the
sulphide of nitrogen, obtained by the action of ammonia upon perchloride
of sulphur, and concerning the constitution of which there has been
much doubt hitherto. The authors prepare the substance in question
by passing ammonia into a solution of perchloride of sulphur, in eight
or ten times its volume of bisulphide of carbon. In this process sal-am-
moniac is first deposited ; then a cochineal-red compound, partly solu-
ble in the liquid, but soon disappearing to give place to a brown matter,
which, in its turn, disappears. When this happens the process is fin-
ished. The liquid is now to be filtered and allowed to evaporate spon-
taneously, when the sulphide ofnitrogen crystallizes. The mother liquor
contains sulphur; the mass on the filter is a mixture of sal-ammoniac
and sulphide of nitrogen, which may be separated by treatment with
boiling bisulphide of carbon. Sulphide of nitrogen, thus prepared,
presents transparent crystals of a beautiful golden yellow ; the crystals,
according to Nicklés, belong to the right rhombic system. The pow-
der of the sulphide of nitrogen has a brilliant yellow color ; when rubbed
or struck with a hard body, it explodes with great violence ; brought
into contact with an ignited body, it fuses without explosion ; heated
in an oil bath to 157° C., the sulphide explodes, yielding nitrogen and
the vapor of sulphur, Sulphide of nitrogen has little or no odor, but it
strongly irritates the mucus membranes, when brought into contact
with them. In water it is insoluble ; alcohol, ether and turpentine
dissolve small portions of it ; bisulphide of carbon is its best solvent.
The composition of the sulphide of nitrogen was found to be expressed
by the formula NS*. Boiling water decomposes the bisulphide of nitro-
gen ; the reaction is expressed by the equation

4NS*--15HO=870?, NH*0--2 (8305, NH‘ 0)4+-NH4.
Caustic potash in like manner produces decomposition ; the final prod-
ucts of action are expressed by the equation

2NS?13K0+6HO=S?0?,K0+2S02K0+2NH°%,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 221.

The bisulphide of nitrogen unites directly with the two chlorides of sul-
phur, and forms with each several distinct compounds. The authors.
assign to three of these combinations the formulas C1S4-NS?, Cl
S+2NS%, C1S+3NS*.— Ann. de Chemie et de Physique, xxxii. 389.

DETONATING SUGAR.

Ara meeting of the Academy of Turin, 1850, Prof. Sobrero an-
nounced his discovery of a detonating sugar, obtained from that mate-
rial, by means similar to the mode of preparing gun-cotion. Take
powdered loaf-sugar and pour on ita mixture of two volumes of sul-
pansic acid (at Baruné 66) and one volume of nitric acid (at 43).
mmediately the sugar is converted into a tenacious viscid substance,
which is only partially dissoluble in the acids employed. On addinga
large quantity of water (about twenty times that of the acids employed)
the sugar is converted into a material with the following properties.
It is very white, diffusible in the acid mixture, and absolutely insoluble
in water, but very soluble in alcohol and sulphuric ether. When sub-
ject to a moderate heat, it melts and is decomposed without detona-
tion; but if suddenly heated to redness, it explodes like gunpowder,
producing gaseous emanations in which it is not difficult to recognize
the nitrous vapor and that of cyanogen. By the blow of a hammer
it also explodes, but feebly. The composition of this fulminating sugar
it will not be difficult to determine — more easily than that of gun-
cotton — from its more slow decomposition under a graduated heat,
when it may be exposed to the action of oxide of copper.

ON A MODIFICATION OF THE METHOD OF PREPARING BUTTER.

Ir butter contained only the fatty parts of milk, it would undergo
only very slow alteration in contact with the air. But it retains a cer-
tain quantity of caseum, which exists in the cream ; this caseum is
converted into a ferment, and this gives rise to butryric acid, to which
the disagreeable taste of rancid butter is owing. The washings which
butter is made to undergo can only imperfectly free it from this cause of
alteration, for the water does not moisten the butter, and cannot dissolve
the caseum, rendered insoluble under the influence of the acids which
are developed in cream. A more complete purification may be arrived
at by saturating these acids; the caseum would then again become
soluble, and, consequently, the butter would retain only very small
quantities, which would be removed almost entirely by washing.

The following method of proceeding is proposed by M. Chalambel:
when the cream has been placed in the churn, pour in, by: small por-
tions at a time, and agitating the while, a sufficient quantity of milk
of lime to entirely desiroy: the acidity ; churn the cream until the but-
ter is separated ; it must not be expected that it will collect in lumps,
as it generally does; decant the butter-milk, and continue to churn
until it is sufficiently collected. By this method better products may
be obtained, capable of being preserved for a longer time, than those
obtained by the common processes. Butter, which has become rancid,

1?

292. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

may often be restored by washing in lime-water. The lime-water
may be replaced by any other alkaline ley —Comptes Rendus.

ON THE NATURE OF ALIMENTS.

At the American Association, Cincinnati, the following communi-
cation was presented from Dr. Emmons, of Albany, on the nature of
Aliments : —

The popular doctrine of the day is, that these bodies sustain or
nourish the animal system, in a ratio proportionate to the amount of
nitrogen they contain; and that their value as nutrients may be ex-
ae by numbers. This view of the subject, however, I have never

een able to understand, and have never adopted it ; for it appears to
me that there are other bodies in combination, in all these nutrients,
which are equally important with nitrogen, and which minister also
to the support of the animal system. I shall not attempt to state in
detail the objections to the doctrine that the value of nutrients is de-
termined by the amount of nitrogen which they contain. I am satisfied
with saying now, that the inorganic bodies, the salts of lime, (particu-
larly the phosphates of that, as well as the other combinations of
phosphoric acid,) must be of equal value with the nitrogenous com-
pounds. In the analysis of many vegetable bodies, including the
cryptogami, these inorganic bodies are invariably present. ‘They are
important, then, in the lowest as well as the highest forms of vegetable
life, and more abundant in the class of nutrients than in those which
are not reckoned as such.

But there is still another class of bodies, which are neither poisons
nor aliments — indeed, seem to be far removed from both of these
classes of bodies — and yet their influence is salutary upon the system,
especially if taken with the nutrients proper. In combination with
the nutrients or aliments, the amount of the latter need not be so large,
in order to perform a specific amount of work. These bodies may in-
clude the milder class of astringents, or I may say, more correctly, that
they are allied to them. In recoveries from sickness, when the system
is reduced, those mild medicines which are denominated tonics, sus-
tain the body more than can be accounted for by the common hypoth-
eses which have been invented to explain their eflects. Perhaps one
of the most common bodies in use will illustrate more perfectly my
views. ‘lea, for example, is often used in large quantities. Individ-
uals who become accustomed to this beverage take comparatively
little food, and yet perform as large an amount of work as if they had
taken a full ration of nutrient proper. Opium-eaters consume but
little food. Inebriates take but little food for weeks, and sometimes
perform considerable work. Now, in order to obtain data upon which
it will be safe to found correct views of the office of food and beverages,
as well as some of the milder forms of medicines called tonics, it will
be necessary to collect a larger stock of facts, and institute many ad-
ditional experiments. ‘Those inquiries should be made which have
reference to the eremacausis which the system suffers under exercise
and work, whether mental or physical — the direct influence, too, of

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 223

the bodies which are called aliments or nutrients, in repairing the
waste of the system ; or, whether it is absolutely true that the system
undergoes eremacausis necessarily in labor, mental or physical. So
inquiries may be directed to a supposed class of bodies, which do not
furnish nutrient matter, and yet do something in its place. Do
they prevent waste, or, in other words, save it from waste? If so,
may they be denominated soterifics, a word coined from the Greek
savior. Probably there are many persons who would object to the
word saviors, when applied to tea, coffee, porter, spirits, opium, etc. ;
still science must make her inquiries without prejudice, and if there is
a class of bodies which save the system from waste, they may well be
denominated, for aught I see, saviors. We have, without doubt, calori-
fics, purely so ; and it is a class of bodies essential to the system, though
by no means nutrients, in any sense of the word. We often see the
system waste rapidly in diabetis, and observation supplies us with strong
facts, which go to show that the system is sustained with a small
amount only of the nutrients, and is capable of performing a larger
amount of work, when aided in some way or other by certain bever-
ages.

ON THE EXHALATION OF CARBONIC€ ACID.

Tue following is a summary of Scharling’s important experiments
on the exhalation of carbonic acid : — The carbonic acid was estimated
by a very perfectly contrived apparatus. A man of thirty years old was
found to exhale, when remaining quiet, 12.06 grammes of carbon per
hour. The same man, wielding violently a heavy iron rod, perspiring
profusely, exhaled as much as 42.2 grammes of carbon per hour.
immense increased development of carbonic acid occurs, therefore,
during exercise. In two experiments with tipplers, who had taken
brandy just before, the quantity of carbon was 7.045 and 10.83
grammes. In the last case, however, the individual was in exercise.
Scharling also found (with Dulong and others) a greater consumption of
oxygen than was accounted for by the carbonic acid, viz., over a fourth
part. — Caustatt’s Jahres-Bericht.

COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD.

In a communication from the society of Shakers, at Lebanon, N. Y.,
in the Patent Office Report, we find the following upon the relative
value of ground and unground, cooked and uncooked, corn for feeding
cattle, &c. ‘‘ The experience of more than thirty years leads us to
estimate ground corn at one third higher than unground, as food for
cattle, and especially for fatting pork ; hence, it has been the practice
of our society for more than a quarter of a century to grind all our prov-
ender. The same experience induces us to put a higher value on
cooked than upon raw meal, and for fatting animals, swine particularly,
we consider three of cooked equal to four bushels of raw meal. Until
within the last three or four years, our society fattened annually, for

224 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

thirty years, from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of pork, exclusive of lard
and offal fat, and it is the constant practice to cook the meal, for which
purpose six or seven potash kettles are used.”’

ON THE EXISTENCE OF ORGANIC MATTER IN STALACTITES AND STALAG-
MITES, FORMING CRYSTALLIZED AND AMORPHOUS CRENATE OF LIME.

Tue following paper was read at the American Association, Albany,
by Mr. David A. Wells, of Cambridge : —

In the eighth chapter of Liebig’s Agricultural Chemistry, edited by
Playfair, there is given the result of some examinations of stalactites
from caverns in Germany, and from the yaults of old castles upon the
Rhine, made with the view of ascertaining the fact of the presence or
absence of organic matter in these bodies, either combined or uncom-
bined.

The result may be stated in the words of the author, Prof. Liebig.
The stalactites from the caverns ‘‘ contain no trace of vegetable matter,
and no humic acid, and may be heated to redness without becoming
black.’’ In the stalactites from the vaults and cellars of old castles,
_ he says, ‘‘ we could not detect the smallest traces’’ of humic acid.
‘There could scarcely be found a more clear and convincing proof of
the absence of the humic acid of chemists in common vegetable mould.”’
Under the term humic acid, Prof. Liebig undoubtedly means to in-
clude all those organic acids arising from the decomposition of vege-
table matter, and which have received the names of crenic, apocrenic,
geic and humic acids.

Having been informed by Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston, that he had,
in numerous examinations, arrived at results directly opposed to those
of Prof. Liebig, I was induced, at his suggestion, to make an examina-
tion of a large number of stalactites and stalagmites obtained from
various localities, with reference, solely, to the presence or absence of
organic matter in these bodies.

The specimens examined were all from caverns, or rock formations,
and were obtained from various parts of the United States; from
Trieste in Austria, Malta, and the Sandwich Islands. In color, they
varied from an almost pure white, to red, yellow and brown, of different
shades ; and in crystalline character, from a structure resembling arra-
gonite, to a variety entirely wanting in symmetrical arrangement, or a
mere incrustation. The specimens were dissolved in dilute hydrochlo-
ric acid, the fioceulent matter separated, collected and washed, boiled
in caustic potassa, carbonate of ammonia or carbonate of soda, and
then tested in the usual way for crenic and apocrenic acids by acetate
of copper and carbonate of ammonia. In all the varieties, with one
exception, abundant flocculent organic matter was separated, which,
on testing, gave evidence of crenic acid in considerable quantities, with
doubtful traces of apocrenic acid. The exception alluded to was the
specimen examined from Trieste, which did not afford any absorbable
flocculent matter on dissolving in acid. The greatest quantity of or-
ganic matter was found in stalactites of a deep yellow color, highly
crystalline and uniform in character, and in the portions examined

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 225

perfectly homogeneous and free from layers, or intervening bands ind&
cating different periods and changes in deposition. As the presence of
iron could not be found in the acid solution, it is inferred that the
color of these yellow stalactites must be owing, in great part, to com-
bined organic matter, existing as crenate of lime. In specimens like
the spar ornaments from the Rock of Gibraltar, with which all are
familiar, the coloring and delicate shading are also probably due to
orpeme matter.

r. Hayes informs me that he has also found organic matter in
arragonite in sufficient quantity to separate in flakes, while the speci-
men was dissolving in acid.

From these statements it must, I think, be inferred, contrary to the
view of Liebig, that organic matter does exist in stalactites generally,
as an acid combined with the lime, and imparting to them their va-
rious colors. I would by no means call in question the accuracy of the
experiments of Prof. Liebig, further than that as far as my observations
extend, crenic acid in the presence of lime, and combined with it,
passes over like oxalates, upon heating, into carbonates, without per-
ceptible blackening.

It may here be added that Prof. Johnston, of England, describes a
compound of alumina with crenic acid, occurring in caves of granite
upon the coast of Cornwall. This mineral has received the name of
Pigotite, and is observed in places where the surface water trickles
down over the granite rocks. f rom this it may not be inappropriate to
apply the term Crenzfe to those lime formations in which crenic acid
occurs in considerable quantities.

Results similar to those announced above have been obtained by Dr.
C. T. Jackson, as well as by Dr. Hayes, of Boston. Dr. J. Lawrence
Smith informs me that he has frequently met with crenic acid in lime
concretions from Asia Minor, and its existence in stalactites was also
announced by Dr. Emmons, of Albany, some years since. My results
can therefore be considered but as the verification of those obtained by
others.

GYPSUM AS A MANURE.

M. Menez recently read a communication before the French Academy,
on the results of certain experiments made by him with a view of
ascertaining the part which gypsum plays in vegetation. Seed sown
in pure gypsum, and watered every day with pure water, germinated
after a few weeks, as in the ordinary soil; but the progress of the
growth of the plants was not in correspondence with the commence-
ment, for they gradually decayed, and, in fifteen days after their flow-
ering, completely withered. In a mixture of equal parts of gypsum
and marl, the seed germinated better than in gypsum alone, but always
less favorably than in ordinary soil. Seed thrown on manure covered
with gypsum, not only germinated rapidly, but the plants obtained a
most extraordinary development and vigor. A few drops of acid acci-
dentally thrown on the gypsum covering the manure gave rise to an
effervescence, which furnished M. Méne with an explanation of what

926 Ss ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

was passing before him. The carbonate of ammonia produced in the
layers of dung, volatilized by the action of the sun, became decomposed
in its passage through the gypsum, forming carbonate of lime and sul-
phate of ammonia.

Several experiments proved to M. Méne, that the results were ob-
tained by these means, and, having watered some flower-pots contain-
ing dung, in which some grass-seed was sown, with sulphuric acid,
sulphate of potassa, hydrochloric acid, chloride of manganese, nitric
acid, phosphate of soda, acetic acid, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of
iron, and nitrate of soda, he found the grass developed rapidiy, and that
fixed ammoniacal salts ran off through the bottom of the flower-pots in
which the experiments were made. Gypsum, therefore; has not of
itself any fertilizing quality; it only acquires a fertilizing property
when it comes in contact with those ammoniacal salts which it is
capable of decomposing. It would appear from this that sulphate of
lime might be replaced by any other salt possessing the property of
retaining ammonia in a fixed state at ordinary temperatures.

MINERAL THEORY OF BARON LIEBEG IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE.

At the British Association Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert presented the
results of an extensive series of experiments on the growth of the prin-
cipal crops entering into a rotation, as well as on the chemistry of
plants in relation to the soil and atmosphere ; all of which experiments
they consider conclusive against the ‘‘ Mineral Theory”’ of Liebeg,
which asserts that the crops of a farm rise or fall according to the
supply within the soil of the mineral constituents indicated by the
analysis of the ashes of the plants. The results selected in justification
and illustration of their views, were those of the field experiments on
wheat, grown continuously, on a previously exhausted soil, for the last
eight years, and in each season, by means of many chemical ma-
nures, by the side always of one or more plots unmanured, and one
manured continuously by farm-yard manure. From this it appeared
that mineral manures had scarcely increased the produce at all when
used alone, whilst the effects of ammoniacal salts were very marked,
even when repeated year after year on the same space of ground from
which the entire crop, corn and straw, had been removed. Indeed,
in this way, a produce had been attained, even in the sixth and seventh
succeeding years of the experiment, exceeding by nearly two thirds
that from the unmanured plot. It was then shown that the mineral
constituents of the soil continued to be in excess, relatively to the
nitrogen available for them from natural sources. The history of sev-
eral plots was then traced down to the last harvest, (1850,) and it
was agreed that the statement assailed by Liebig, viz., that ammonia
was specially adapted as a manure for wheat, was fully borne out
when speaking of agriculture as generally practised in Great Britain.
In other words, that in practice it was the defect of nitrogen rather
than of the mineral constituents that fixed the limit to our produce of
corn. The authors next called attention to the fact of the exhalation
of nitrogen by growing plants, as proved by the experiments of De

. CHEMICAL SCIENCE. = oon

Saussure, Daubeny and Draper, and they referred to some experiments
of their own, with the view of showing the probability that there is
more of the nitrogen derived from manure given off during the growth
of cereal grains than by leguminous and other crops ; and hence might
be explained the great demand upon nitrogenous manures observed in
the growth of grain. ‘The authors suggested that here was an impor-
tant field of study, and that we have, in the facts alluded to, much that.
should lead us to suppose that the success of a rotation of crops de-
pends on the degree in which the restoration of the balance of the
organic constituents of crops was attained by its means, rather than
on that of their mineral constituents, according to the theory of Liebig ;
whilst the means adopted to secure the former were always attended
with a sufficient supply of the latter. It was next shown, by reference
to what happens in actual practice as generally followed in Great
Britain, where corn and meat constitute almost the exclusive exports
of the farm, that the mineral constituents of the crops, taken collect-
ively, that is, as shown by the analysis of their ashes, could not be
considered as exhausted ; of these, however, phosphoric acid was lost
to the farm, in much larger proportion than the alkalies; whilst the
latter would generally, by the combined agencies of disintegration of
the native soil and import in cattle food, be liable to diminution in
but a very insignificant degree, if not in some cases to accumulation.
Practical agriculture had, indeed, decided that phosphoric acid must
be returned to the land from sources external to the farm itself, viz.,
by bones, guano, or other means. But, on the other hand, artificial
alkaline manures had generally been found to fail in effect. Indeed,
taking into careful consideration the tendency of all experience in
practical agriculture, as well as the collective results of a most labori-
ous experimental investigation of the subject, both in the field and in
the laboratory, it was the authors’ deliberate opinion that the analysis
of the crops is no direct guide whatever as to the nature of the manure
required to be provided in the ordinary course of agriculture from
sources extraneous to the home manures of the farm — that is to say,
by artificial manures. Reviewing, then, the actual facts of practical
agriculture, the authors could not agree with Baron Liebig, when he
asserted that our grand object should be to attain an artificial mixture
to substitute for farm-yard manure, which he admitted to be the
universal food of plants. The very practice of agriculture itself, as
followed in this country, necessitates the production of farm-yard ma-
nure, and all our calculations should be made on the supposition of
1ts use,

FERTILITY OF NILE MUD.

EHRENBERG, as the result of a careful microscopic examination of the
alluvial deposits of the Nile, has determined that the great fertility of
these depositions is not so much owing to any peculiar mineral consti-
tution, or to the presence of any great abundance of vegetable matter,
as it is to the vast accumulation of extremely minute forms of micro-
scopic animals, which, by their decomposition, enriched and fertilized
the soil. — London Atheneum.

228 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

PEAT AND MUCK.

Tue following remarks, by Prof. J. P. Norton, of New Haven, are
taken from the Albany Cultivator.—In the United States there is
comparatively little real peat. Our extremes of temperature seem not
to be favorable to its growth, and, so far as my experience extends, it
is only to be found on certain parts of the New England sea-board,
where the climate somewhat resembles that of those parts of Europe
where peat formations abound.

Our natural boggy or swampy accumulations are for the most part
included under the term muck, and are a species of vegetable deposit
in low grounds, rather than a regular vegetable growth, such as may
be seen in Scotland, uplifting the surface of a peat moss even above
that of the surrounding and drier land. This muck has not by any
means the indestructible nature of true peat; on exposure to the air,
in place of becoming a hard, insoluble mass, as is the case with peat,
it soon crumbles away, and decomposes into a rich vegetable mould.
This process is especially rapid if it is mixed in a compost, or laid in
the bottom of a barn-yard. Here, then, in the outset, our farmers
escape one great difficulty with which those of Scotland are obliged to
contend. We have to do with a mass of rich vegetable material easily
convertible into manure ; they with the same material as to its ultimate
composition, but in a present form which, if once dry, bids almost
entire defiance to the ordinary action of the elements. Their most
advantageous method of forming a soil upon the surface of a peat bog,
is, in many cases, to burn by successive parings to a depth of one, two,
or three feet, and to mix the ashes thus formed with clay or earth
brought up from under the remaining peat. Such processes, and, in
fact, all processes for forming what must be for the first few years an
almost wholly artificial soil, are always expensive and tedious. It is
therefore fortunate for us that our farmers, in reclaiming their swamps,
are not, In a great majority of instances at least, obliged to have
recourse to them. As soon as our swamps are drained, natural influ-
ences commence their work upon the surface, and alter it in such a
manner as soon to form a soil capable of bearing valuable crops.

Much has been said, of late, respecting the value of peat charcoal.
The preparation of this charcoal, and its uses in absorbing ammonia,
have been always put forward as a prominent advantage connected
with the various projects for reclaiming bogs by partial burning. It
has been generally supposed that any form of charred vegetable matter
possessed, in a considerable degree at least, the same powerful ab-
sorbent properties, with regard to ammonia, which exist in wood char-
coal, Experiments, however, made by Prof. Anderson, of Scotland,
show that this is not the fact; peat charcoal acts as a deodorizer, but
not powerfully as an absorbent. This charcoal also, or any charcoal,
cannot, in itself, hold a high rank as a manure, its value being less
than an equal bulk of any common vegetable substance, on account of
its undecomposible nature. As an absorbent of ammonia, Prof. An-
derson, from the results of careful experiments, does not recommend
peat charcoal. Peat itself was found to be extremely valuable as an

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 229.

absorbent of ammonia; in experiments made it was found to be capa-
ble, in a moist state, of absorbing fully two per cent. of ammonia,
without acquiring an alkaline reaction, and, when exposed to the air
until it had become tolerably dry, of retaining no less than about 14
per cent. Prof. Norton says, that he sees no reason why the same
action is not to be expected from our more easily decomposible muck,
nor why some of its well known beneficial effects in composts may not
be thus clearly explained. The material from the Scottish swamps
becomes hard when dried, and requires considerable power to reduce it
to a fine state of division ; ours crumbles naturally away, and might
easily be dried if spread out in the hot sunny weather of summer.
It would then be in the most advantageous state for mixing with ma-
nure heaps, spreading oyer the bottom of barn-yards, or soaking up
the liquid of tanks.

MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIC BASES.

Hormann has communicated to the Royal Society, England, a series
of researches on the constitution of the organic bases, which have
thrown a flood of light upon this department of organic chemistry. In
a former memoir the author had demonstrated that the three equiva-
lents of hydrogen in ammonia are susceptible of being successively
replaced by the radicals of the ethyl series, yielding a series of ammo-
nias, represented by the general formula, N, (X, Y, Z,) in which for-
mula, X, Y, and Z represent either hydrogen or an ethyl radical.
The combination of these new ammonias with acids may be regarded
as ammoniums, in which one or more equivalents of hydrogen are
replaced by methyl, ethyl, &¢. Hofmann now finds that the four
equivalents of hydrogen in ammonium are susceptible of replacement
by other radicals. In the present memoir, eight new ammoniums are
described, in all of which hydrogen is completely replaced by other
radicals. An oxide of a new base, N (Ct, H®) 40, has been ob-
tained, which possesses remarkable properties. As a liquid, it ex-
hibits the strongest analogy to the caustic alkalies, potash and soda,
possesses a pungent bitter taste, and, when concentrated, acts upon
the epidermis, which it destroys like caustic potassa ; like this, too, it
saponifies fats, decomposes oxalic ether into oxalic acid and alcohol,
expels ammonia from its salts, even in the cold, and may be substi-
tuted for potassa in Trommer’s well known test for sugar. Jn its action
upon metallic salts, the new oxide is also exactly analogous to caustic

otassa. It yields, however, no amalgum corresponding to the well
nown butyraceous ammonium compound,

In conclusion, the author directs attention to the important theoret-
ical bearing of the new alkaloids. In the first place, it is to be ob-
served that the action of the bromides or iodides of the alcohol radicals
upon ammonia give rise to not less than four distinct groups of organic
bases ; three of these — ammonias —are yolatile ; the fourth — ammo-
niums—are fixed. The passage from a volatile to a non-volatile
organic base, may, therefore, be simply due to the fixation of a single
equivalent of 4 radical capable of replacing hydrogen ; and the produc-
tion of volatile bases by the action of caustic potassa upon the fixed

20

230 _ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

alkaloids, quinine, morphine, &c., naturally encourages the attempt to
reproduce the latter from the former by simple substitutions. In the
next place, the new fixed bases lend the most powerful support to the
ammonium theory of Ampére and Berzelius ; the oxides of the new bases
perfectly correspond to the hypothetical oxide of ammonium, and are
stable ; again, it has always been urged against the theory of Ampére,
that in the formation of sal-ammoniac, for instance, the hydrogen of
the HCl could not reasonably be supposed to leave the chlorine, for
which it has so powerful an affinity, in order to convert the ammonia
N H? into ammonium N H?'; moreover, in the action of lime upon sal-
ammoniac, we must, according to the ammonium theory, suppose that
the chloride N H?# Cl is first transformed into an oxide NH!0O; then
this oxide is resolved into ammonia and water. Now, in some of the
decompositions effected by Hofmann, precisely those changes take
place, which, in the ammonium theory, appear most improbable.

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM ON ORGANIC BODIES.

In a discussion which took place at the last meeting of the British
Association, on the employment of high-pressure steam for the produc-
tion of carbon for gun-powder, Mr. Mallet alluded to the astonishing
efiects of high pressure in the process of preparing peat. It appears
that, in Prussia, steam at 60 lb. pressure is used and passed through
hot pipes to obtain at least 600° of heat, and is then thrown into com-
pressed peat, where it produces the effect of a ‘‘ fiery sponge,”’ robbing
the peat of its water, carbonizing the material, and effecting the com-
plete distillation of many substances. The texture of the peat is so far
changed and peculiar, that it is rendered pyrophoric, and takes fire by
exposure to air, so that it is necessary to cool down the charcoal in an
atmosphere of steam.

THE FIRST PUBLIC APOTHECARIES’ HALL.

Wirs the fall of the Roman empire, through the invasion of north-
ern nations, arts and sciences left Europe, and found a shelter among
the Arabs, who preserved them for more propitious times ; and, though
their genius never has equalled that of the Greeks and Romans, neyer-

‘theless, chemistry and pharmacy are much indebted to them. They
discovered several chemical preparations, and introduced several new
medicines, still employed by all physicians. They established, in the
eighth century, the first public Apothecaries’ Hall in Bagdad. We
owe also to the Arabs for the first legal dispensatories, in the ninth
century, namely, for the one of Abn Sahel ; and, in the twelfth century,
for that of Ebn Talmid. Whilst chemistry and pharmacy were culti-
vated industriously in the East, Europe was plunged in darkness and
ignorance, when, at length, a new light was kindled by Constantine of
Carthage, who established the first regular pharmacy in Europe,
hamely, in Salerno. He called these establishments stationes, and the
dispensing chemists, confectionaril. — Annals of Pharmacy and Practi-
cal Chemistry.

\

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. : 231

NEW METHOD OF PREPARING POWDERS TO BE USED IN MEDICINE.

Tinctures, as is well known, generally possess the most active prop-
erties of the drugs from which they are prepared, but the amount of
spirit they contain often renders their employment objectionable.
Wittke, of Erfurt, therefore, mixes tincture of hellebore, cinchona,
&c., with an equal quantity of sugar, evaporates to dryness, and pow-
ders the residuum. In this manner, he succeeds in concentrating, ina
very small bulk, the active portion of a very large quantity of the drug,
and he prescribes the powder as saccharized cinchona, &c. These
preparations bear some analogy to conserves, over which, however,
they have a great advantage in being free from mucilage, vegetable
albumen, and other inert matters.

IODINE IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

M. Cuartrn, of France, in the continuation of his experiments on
iodine, publishes the following observations on its presence in the
atmosphere. The constant dispersion of iodine, through the slow, spon-
taneous evaporation of the waters which contain it, and its more rapid
volatilization when heat is applied to these ; its elimination from hard
waters, which is so speedy that it can seldom be detected therein, even
when they spring from highly iodined soils; and the results, though
incomplete, which have been obtained by operating on rain-water, are
so many circumstances which have led M. Chatin to conclude that this
substance must exist in the atmosphere. He estimates the 4000 /res
of air which traverse the lungs of a man in twelve hours, as containing
one forty-fifth milligramme, 1. e., the same quantity that is found in a
litre of potable water, moderately iodined. ‘This iodine becomes fixed
during the act of respiration ; the expired gases exhibiting about one
fifth of the iodine contained in the inspired air. The atmosphere of
ill-ventilated and crowded places is, in part, deprived of its iodine.
The proportion of iodine contained in the waters of a given locality
indicates approximatively the quantity contained in its atmosphere.
Rain is notably more iodined in the interior than in the vicinity of the
coast, inasmuch as the iodine of fresh waters is much more completely
dispersed than is that of sea-water. Great differences, due to causes
not yet appreciated, exist in the amount of iodine contained in the rain
of the same locality; the proportion, however, always diminishing
when the rains are very prolonged. As rain always loses its iodine on
- falling, this might be fixed for useful purposes by placing in cisterns a
millionth or halfmiilionth part of carbonate of potash. Snow is
iodined ; but, ceéerts paribus, less so than rain. Dew contains iodine.
Additional observations are required to decide whether iodine exists in
the air in the free state, as hydriodic acid, as hydriodate of ammonia,
or as forming a volatile combination with certain organic elements. —

Gaz. Med., 1851, No. 19, p. 300.
NEW. METHOD OF OBTAINING OXYGEN FROM ATMOSPHERIC AIR.

Lavotsrer resolved atmospheric air into its constituents by keeping
a confined portion, for twelve days, in contact with mercury, heated to

232 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

its boiling point. Bousingault has attempted to use baryta for the pur-
pose of extracting oxygen from the atmospheric mixture in larger pro-
ortion. ‘The method is simple. The air is conducted over pieces of
aryta, at a dark-red heat, until it has become converted into peroxide
of barium ; the oxygen is, subsequently, again expelled, by the appli-
cation of amore intense heat. The moisture and carbonic acid, usually
pron in the air, do not materially interfere with the process. The
aryta, however, contained so much alumina and silica, that, after re-
eated use, it became caked, and hence no longer of any use. Pure
basis was free from this inconvenience. According to Bousingault,
on a large scale, on using ten kilogrammes of baryta, which absorb
730 litres of oxygen, and should again part with it, 600 litres is the
quantity always obtained in practice. Hence, with furnaces in which
100 kilogrammes of baryta, distributed in eight to ten tubes, can be
heated at once, from 24,000 to 30,000 litres of oxygen may be produced
in twenty-four hours.—Comptes Rendus, vol. xxx1i.

NEW METHOD OF DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF OXYGEN IN THE
ATMOSPHERE.

“Lizsic, in the Annales, recommends the employment of an alkaline
solution of pyrogallic acid, the rapid absorbent capacity for oxygen of
which has been long known, as a means of determining the amount of
oxygen in atmospheric air. When a solution of caustic potassa, and
then a solution of pyrogallic acid, is conveyed into a tube filled with
mercury, the liquids mix without alteration ; but, when a bubble of
oxygen or air is passed into the tube, the liquid immediately acquires a
blackish-red, or nearly black color, and the oxygen is as rapidly ab-
sorbed as carbonic acid is by caustic potassa. The quantity of oxygen
which is absorbed, under these circumstances, by one part, by weight,
of pyrogallic acid, is enormous. According to experiments, one grm.
of pyrogallic acid, in an ammoniacal solution, absorbs 0.38 grm., or
260 cub. centim. of oxygen ; this is more than the quantity absorbed
by one part in weight of sodium, on its conversion into oxide, which
only amounts to 236 cub. centim. In one experiment, which was made
with special care, a solution of one grm. of pyrogallic acid in caustic
potassa absorbed 189.8 cub. centim. oxygen. Since one grm. hydrate
of potassa, (KO, Aq,) in order to pass into neutral carbonate, absorbs, at
32°, 192 cub. centim. carbonic acid, the absorbent capacity of pyrogal-
lic acid for oxygen, it will be seen, is not less than that of potassa for -
carbonic acid. Gallic acid may be employed instead of the pyrogallic
acid, and with the same result ; but its employment has this inconven-
ience, that the absorption of the oxygen requires at least one and a
half or two hours, instead of as many minutes. Owing to the sparing
solubility of gallic acid in water, it must be previously converted into
gallate of potassa, a cold saturated solution of which is employed.

Dr. Stenhouse has described a most excellent method of preparing
pyrogallic acid. He obtained, by sublimation from the dry aqueous
extract of gall nuts, precisely in the same manner as _ benzoic acid is
prepared from benzoin resin, above ten per cent., in sublimed acid of
the weight of the extract.

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 2338.

CONSTITUTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE,

M. Lewy has presented to the French Academy the result of a
series of researches on the constitution of the atmosphere, made in
Europe and in South America. The comparison of the resuits obtained
in these investigations with previous ones, shows that the constitution
of the atmosphere is nearly the same in the New and Old World.
However, on examining carefully all the experiments hitherto made
on the constitution of the atmosphere, it is readily seen that the consti-
tution of the air is not absolutely constant. Perceptible differences
exist, which vary with the meteorological conditions; thus, after a
long rain, the carbonic acid and oxygen are always in smaller propor-
tion than after a long drought; however, these differences are only
appreciable when the analysis has been carried out with very great
accuracy. In the New World, where the seasons are more defined than
in Europe, these variations are more easily detected. During the fine
season the normal air always contains a little more oxygen and a little
more carbonic acid than in the season of the rains. The difference
which exists between the atmospheric air of the two seasons is, there-
fore, on an average, 0.751 for the carbonic acid, and 2.653 for the oxy-
gen, in 10,000 volumes of air. The difference between the maximum
and minimum observed is somewhat greater, being 1,434 for the car-
bonic acid, and 4.167 for the oxygen. M. Lewy has also observed
that the amount of carbonic acid is somewhat greater on the high
mountains than in the valleys and on the sea-shore. With respect to
the analyses of the air collected on the ocean, they have yielded a very
interesting result. In the day-time, this air contains a little more
oxygen and a little more carbonic acid than during the night. The
difference becomes more perceptible as we leave the coasts; and ié is
probably owing to the solar rays, which, heating the surface of the sea
during the day, disengage a portion of the gases which sea-water holds
in solution, and which, as is well known, contains more oxygen and
carbonic acid than atmospheric air. The difference between samples
of atmospheric air collected on the Atlantic, 400 leagues from land, on
the same day, and with the same wind, at 3 A. M. and 3 P. M., were
2.074 for the carbonic acid, and 9.960 for the oxygen, in 10,000 vol-
umes of air.

The analyses of the abnormal air of New Grenada, S. A., present us
with results of great interest. From time to time, once or twice in
the year, the atmosphere of New Grenada contains an extraordinary
proportion of carbonic acid, which coincides with an appreciable de-
crease of oxygen, and consequently alters the constitution of the atmos-
phere in a very marked manner. The great number of volcanoes which
exist in the New World, and the clearing of forests, which are effected
every year in this country, may cause alterations. It is, in fact, dur-
ing these clearances that the constitution of the atmosphere experiences
the extraordinary changes which have been just mentioned. These
clearings, which are effected by vast conflagrations, produce consider-
able quantities of carbonic acid, which, mixing with the atmosphere,
alter its composition. The amount of carbonic acid found in this air
was from ten to eleven times greater than in air in its normal condi-

O*

234 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tion. The diminution of oxygen amounted sometimes to 68.35 in
10,000 volumes of air. On the other hand, the air of the plain of
Bogota sometimes presents an amount of carbonic acid far greater than
the atmosphere of the tierra-caliente. This difference may be explained
either by the existence of volcanoes, which are situated not far from
Bogota, or by the more or less active influence of the solar light. It
will be conceived, in fact, that, in the tierra-caliente, where the temper-
ature is very elevated, the decomposition of the carbonic acid, by the
green parts of vegetables, must be effected in a far more rapid manner
than on the high plain of Bogota, where the temperature is not higher
than from 57° to 64°, Fah. It is, perhaps, allowable to suppose, on ob-
serving this enormous quantity of carbonic acid appear from time to
time in the atmosphere of the New World, and, considering the large
number of volcanoes which exist in the country, that a portion of the
carbonic acid of the air in other countries is due to them, and that
they thus contribute in part to nourish the vast and beautiful vegeta-
tion of the tropics. — Comptes Rendus.

ON A NEW METHOD OF DETERMINING THE QUANTITY OF HYGROMETRIC
MOISTURE IN THE AIR.

Dr. Anprews, at the British Association, stated that he had found
on trial, that several powders, when well dried, would rapidly and com-
pletely take up the moisture of damp air passed through them, as effect-
ually as the fused chloride of calcium, which is too troublesome in the
making, preserving and using, for common use. For instance, he had
found that well dried oxide of manganese —and a still more univer-
sally attainable substance, powdered alabaster, or sulphate of lime, as
dried and prepared by plasterers, or by those who make casts — being
inclosed in a small siphon, a measured bulk of air passed through
either, at a very quick or at the slowest rate, would be so effectually
deprived of all its hygrometric moisture, that another siphon, filled with
coarser fragments of fused chloride of calcium, gained no weight sen-
sible to a balance which turned with the one-thousandth part ofa grain ;
the measured portion of damp air being in succession drawn through
the siphon containing the alabaster and that containing the fused
chloride of calcium.

*

ON THE ASSUMED EXISTENCE OF AMMONIA IN THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE.

To the proceedings of the American Association, New Haven, 1850,
a paper of great value on the above subject was communicated by Dr.
A. A. Hayes, of Boston. After presenting a summary of the evidence
supporting the assumed fact of the general existence of ammonia in
the atmosphere, Dr. Hayes draws the following conclusions : —

‘* Ist. That ammonia, in some form of combination, is always pres-
ent near the earth’s surface. 2d. That no experiments have been as
yet published which prove its general presence in the mass of the
atmosphere.

** While pursuing inquiries in this connection,” continues Dr, Hayes,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 235

‘¢T have constantly found in the atmosphere a volatile matter, of com-
plex composition, which, for some years, I supposed to be due to local
exhalations ; but multiplied observations, in different and distinct local-
ities, have established its general existence. More lately, this sub-
stance has been found by different observers in Europe and this country,
coloring and contaminating the salt obtained by the evaporation of
rain and snow. Liebig notes its presence in the samples of water he
operated upon; but Zimmermann had earlier observed it, and after
partially separating it from other substances, called it pyrrhzne. This
substance, so widely diffused, has characters which lead me to assign
to it important influences ; and, connected as it is with ammoniacal
eine I deem its study a subject of general interest. It is to this

ody that we may trace the properties of rain, as distinguished from
other waters.

** When about 50 pounds of recently obtained rain-water are exposed,
at a low temperature, in a closed space, to the absorbing action of 150
pounds of dry caustic lime, all those substances, not very volatile in
an atmosphere formed in part of their own vapors, remain. Successive
portions of rain-water may be thus concentrated, and the fixed parts
obtained nearly dry. Generally we find a residue of a gum-resinous
appearance, brown or yellow in color, and not wholly soluble in water.
In the mass are the remains of animalculz, spores of fungi, and atmos-
pheric dust. Waterextracts other substances in mixture with pyrrhine,
mineral and ammoniacal salts, if they exist. Alcohol and ether extract
parts, but evidently alter the composition of the substance. Obtained
from carefully filtered solutions, pyrrhine appears as a brown-yellow,
adhesive substance, having a strong odor of perspired matter. Repeated
evaporations render it insoluble partly, and it evidently is a changing
body, having no fixed composition. In solution, its instability becomes
its most marked character, and, like water which has dissolved yeast,
the solution has the power of conferring motion and change of compo-
sition on other bodies. ‘This character is displayed when it is mixed
in solution with vegetable juices, weak syrups, and gum-water. After
its solution has been freed from ammoniacal salts, the changes following
in its fermentation produce ammonia. It reduces the salts of silver and
gold, blackens in concentrated sulphuric acid, forming with this and
other strong acids, salts of ammonia.

‘* When fertile soil is undergoing fermentation, the vapors by con-
densation afford a substance much like pyrrhine. Arable soil has also
in its mass a body closely connected with pyrrhine ; but the state of
admixture here renders it more compound than where it is obtained
from the atmosphere through the aid of falling rain. The constant
presence of this body in the atmosphere, the ease with which its con-
stituents unite to form ammonia under the presence of acids, leads to
the supposition that it has been one, if not the chiefsource, from which
experimenters have obtained ammonia salts. Dissolved in rain-water,
and falling on the surface of the earth, this substance can induce
changes under the vegetable covering which cannot result from any
solution of ammoniacal salts. It has that influence which alone can
impart motion, or cause fermentation, and without which neither ger-

236. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

mination nor nutrition can be sustained. In New England, whatever
may be the attention bestowed on preparing the soil, vegetation lan-
guishes or ceases during some weeks of the season, when the tempera-
ture of the torrid zone is exceeded, and the length of the day’s heating
prevents any great reduction of temperature during the night. With
a dew point almost unnaturally high, there is not usually any conden-
sation as rain, and no copious depositionas dew. Fields covered with
grass become scorched; the uniform tint of ripening precedes the
appearance of a dessication, which permits the winds to disperse the
most of the covering, and no green color relieves the eye. If, after the
grass has thus perished, and nothing but chafflike remains can be
found, rain falls for some hours, the efiect is almost miraculous; the
temperature of the earth near the surface does not fall; germination,
more active than that of the torrid zone, succeeds, and repeatedly crops
have been observed which matured on the tenth day after the rain
commenced. It must be evident, to every reflecting mind, that no mere
salt or saline compound can give to water such power as this. Salts
and their compounds cannot maintain the high temperature of the
earth under the cooling effect of evaporation; and experience has,
through ages of observation, shown that those additions made to the
soil, intended as food for plants, must be in a fermenting state, or be
eminently fitted to assume such conditions. The more fertile a soil,
either naturally or as resulting from judicious cultivation, the more in
quantity of matter, having the character of a ferment, we always find
in our analysis.

*<Tt is, therefore, in view of the character which pyrrhine possesses in
mixture with other bodies, of entering into a true fermentation, that I
have ventured to give it so much significance as a constituent of our
atmosphere, and to show that all the influences which atmospheric
ammonia has been supposed to exert, may, with more propriety, be as-
cribed to pyrrhine. In astrictly chemical view, the fact that our atmos-
phere has an excess of carbonic acid always present, that this excess is
found in fertile soils, is opposed to any conclusions of a salt of ammonia
acting in vegetation, except as a carrier of carbonic acid, either directly
or by decomposition with humid compounds.”’

SCHONBEIN’S OZONE.

Tue following is a report of a lecture recently delivered before the
Royal Society, by Professor Faraday, on the properties and nature of
ozone. This name had been given by Schonbein to a substance or
condition of matter which manifested itself under very peculiar and
widely different circumstances. Schonbein regarded it as an indepen-
dent body, and a constituent of the atmosphere ; but in his (Prof, Fara-
day’s) opinion it was nothing more than an allotropic condition of ox-
ygen. It was never manifested except where oxygen was present, and
where, at the same time, water in a liquid or vaporous condition was
found. No substance had ever been separated from the atmosphere where
ozone existed ; but its presence was manifested, not merely by the strong
smell peculiar to it, but by certain well-marked chemical properties,

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 237

which the atmosphere containing it possessed. When electricity is
produced from a powerful machine, and allowed to be discharged by a
point, there is a feeling of a current or aura as of vapor escaping, and
at the same time a remarkable odor. If, during the passage of the
electricity, a piece of paper, moistened with a solution of iodide of
potassium and starch, be brought near, the discharge causes the pro-
duction of blue iodide of farina. The blue color thus produced is the
result of the oxidation of the potassium by the ozone, and the setting
free of the iodine. This is one of the best tests of the presence of ozone.
It was formerly supposed that nitric acid was produced by the dis-
charge of the spark, and that the decomposition of the iodide was
occasioned by this acid as a result of the union of oxygen with
nitrogen in the air; but this theory will not account for the smell
and other properties of this extraordinary agent. Schonbein produces
ozone in very large quantities by introducing imto capacious bottles,
with glass stoppers, pieces of cut and cleanly scraped phosphorus,
with a small quantity of water, so that the phosphorus may be partly
in and partly out of the liquid. A vapor slowly rises in a current.
After ten or twelve minutes the ozone is produced, and may be procured
in a mixture with oxygen and nitrogen by removing the phosphorus
at a water-bath, and thoroughly washing the interior of the bottle with
water, in which ozone is insoluble. ‘This body is thus separated from
the vapor of phosphorus and phosphorus acid.

A remarkable property possessed by ozone is its bleaching power.
Some ounces of a solution of indigo being poured into a bottle contain-
ing ozone, and shaken, the color is as completely destroyed as if chlo-
rine was present. A very small quantity of ozone would thus entirely
discharge the color of a very large quantity of sulphate of indigo. It
has already been stated to be so little soluble in water, that a bottle
containing it may be repeatedly rinsed with water without losing its
ozone contents. If, however, the stopper be removed, and itis exposed
to the air, it soon passes off. Ozone appears to be entirely destroyed
by heat; or, at any rate, its production by electricity ceases when
sparks are received from a red-hot metallic point. This fact was in-
geniously illustrated by insulating a small galvanic battery, capable
of raising at pleasure a platina ball to full redness ; the battery was
made part of the machine, and the platina ball the terminal point from
which the discharges of electricity were received. The machine was
set to work, and it was clearly and distinctly proved by Prof. Faraday
that the discharges from the red-hot platina ball produced neither the
aura, the smell, nor the decomposing effects on iodide of potassium and
starch, which were immediately manifested when the ball was allowed
to cool, and the electric fluid was then passed through it. The oxidiz-
ing properties of ozone are indicated upon metals which in practice it
is rather difficult to convert to oxides — namely, silver. <A piece of pol-
ished silver had been placed in a bottle of ozone for several hours, and
had acquired a distinctly brown tarnish, not from sulphur, but from a
process of ozonation, or, in other words, oxidation. Polished lead simi-
larly treated was also oxidized. Ozone had always a tendency to bring
metals and metallic oxides to their highest degree of oxidation. In

238 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

this respect it was the most powerful oxidizer that was known. A tube
containing several rings of metallic arsenic had been placed for a short
time in a bottle of ozone. The metal had entirely disappeared, and
had become transformed into arsenic acid. Paper wet with a solu-
tion of proto-sulphate of manganese was introduced into a bottle of
freshly prepared ozone, and, in the course of a short time, black spots
appeared over the surface, proving that the manganese had passed
to a higher degree of oxidation. Nitrogen and sulphur are easily
oxidized by it. Schonbein succeeded in procuring a quantity of
nitre by the agency of ozone in contact with nitrogen and potassa.
Sulphur was also converted to sulphuric acid. Paper stained with
sulphuret of lead was immediately bleached when exposed to an ozonic
atmosphere. Some curious experiments of Schonbein’s were shown, in
which portraits and inscriptions were seen in white letters on a dark
ground, as a result of placing stencilled metallic plates on papers which
had been exposed to light and air, or insulated. The result was that
in these spots the sulphuret of lead had entirely disappeared, having
been converted to colorless sulphate of lead by the oxodizing action of
ozone. The alleged bleaching properties of solar light on colored arti-
cles are thus probably due to the agency of ozone —in other words, to
a process of oxidation and alteration of color. Sulphuretted hydrogen
and all foul efiluvia are speedily oxidized and destroyed by ozone. It
is, therefore, the great purifier of the air; and owing to its continued
exhaustion by oxidating processes, it is difficult to discover the pres-
ence of ozone in large and populous places or in close and crowded
dwellings. In the open air of the country, and on the sea, it constantly
exists in a proportion which is probably subject to great variations, al-
though ruled by laws which are at present unknown. Schonbein has
contrived an Ozonometer for testing the amount contained in air. It
is prepared by immersing paper in a solution made of one grain of
iodide of potassium, ten grains of starch, and two hundred grains of
water. The paper is dried, and, when intended for use, is exposed
for some time to the air. ‘There is no change until it is wet with
water, when, if ozone was present in air to which it had been exposed, a
blue color will appear, the intensity of which varies according to the
quantity of ozone present and the length of exposure. ‘The ozonometer
consists of a series of papers thus colored in difierent degrees, and bears
some analogy to the cyanometer long since proposed by Humboldt.
Prof. Faraday stated that he had detected ozone in the currents of
air coming over the sea near Brighton. When he examined the cur-
rents of air coming over the town, no ozone could be detected, but
when he again returried to the windward side, and received the air
before it reached the town, ozone was distinctly manifested. It was
thus established that in populous places there was a constant con-
sumption of this principle. As the working of the electrical machine
roduces ozone, so does the current generated from a galvanic battery.
t is also evolved in numerous chemical processes. If pure ether,
mixed with water, be introduced into a wide-mouthed bottle, and the
vapor allowed to become diffused, it will afford none of the reactions
for ozone. But if a glass rod be made hot in the flame of a spirit

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 239

lamp, and then introduced into the vapor, litmus paper, held above the
rod, becomes at once reddened, and the iodide of potassium paper
intensely blue. In the oxidation of ether, at low temperature, ozone is
evolved. Essential oils are thickened by long exposure to light and air ;
they become ozonized and their properties changed. This was illus-
trated by reference to oil of turpentine. Freshly rectified and pure oil of
turpentine was proved, by admixture with sulphate of indigo, to have no
bleaching power. A small quantity of oil, which had been exposed to
air and light, destroyed the color in a few minutes, like chlorine.

It cannot be doubted that ozone exerts an important influence on
the atmosphere, and, therefore, on the health of animals and vege-
tables. If it be an allotropic condition of oxygen, it is impossible to
say what regulates the conversion of the one condition of the element
into another. Chemical agency, electricity, and magnetism, may be
the constant sources of its production. Decay, disease, and death,
affecting alike animals and plants, may be the means by which ozone
is consumed ; but what power is it that regulates the quantity produced,
and so adjusts it that it shall conduce to health and life? This isa
profound mystery. It is obvious, from what is already known, that by
an over-conyersion of oxygen in the atmosphere into this allotropie
condition, every living thing would perish; and it is not improbable
that the arterialization of blood may be due, not to oxygen in its ordi-
nary, but in its allotropic state.

The oxidation of the metallic sulphurets by ozone throws a curious
light on the probable cause of the destruction of photographic draw-
ings. If any sulphuret of silver be left in the finished drawing, the
drawing is slowly bleached, and the sulphuret converted into sulphate
of silver. In drawings which have been framed, the change is ob-
served to commence on the external margin, and slowly spread to the
centre. — Medical Gazette, and London Chemist.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE OZONIC ODOR PRODUCED BY THE ATTRITION OF
SILICEOUS SURFACES.

Ar a meeting of the Franklin Institute, April, 1851, Dr. Hare sub-
mitted an apparatus for ascertaining whether the phenomena attending
the attrition of pieces of silex, when rubbed together, had anything in
common with the supposed new halogen body, ozone. In regard to the
odor produced in the manner referred to, nothing can be more unac-
countable. That it cannot be due to any organic matter entering into
the composition of the quartz, must be evident; in the first place,
because the smell is produced by the purest and most transparent
specimens of rock crystal in the regular form, and, in the second place,
because ignition to bright redness does not destroy, nor even diminish,
the property. One thousand grains of cellular horn-stone or French
burr, on ignition, as above stated, lost five grains — that is to say, one
half per cent. of its weight, without, however, losing the property of
producing light or smell. It occurred to me that it might help to
remove the mystery were an apparatus constructed by which the attri-
tion of siliceous masses might be made more efficaciously than could be

240 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

effected by an operator, unaided by mechanism. A machine for this
purpose was accordingly constructed. Two pigmy mill-stones, each
seven inches in diameter, made of cellular horn-stone, known vulgarly
as French burr, and resembling those used in grist-mills, were pro-
cured and supported in the usual way, one above the other ; excepting
that the upper one hangs, by means of a bolt, upon a spiral spring of
brass wire, sustained by a cross of iron, resting upon screw nuts,
upheld by four iron rods, each inserted at its lower end in a circular
plate of cast-iron, so as to be equidistant from each other. The sur-
face of the iron plate is turned true, so as to enable it to serve as an air-
pump plate. It rests upon four columns, which elevate it from a base-
board sufficiently to admit of a pulley-band and wheel to work in a
parallel plane below that in which the plate is situated. There is also
room for a lever, from which a stirrup hangs as a support for the spin-
dle of the pulley, on the apex of which plane, extended upwards
through a perforation in the axis of the plate, the lower mill-stone rests.
The spindle passes through a stuffing-box, so as to be air-tight — the
stirrup allowing it to retain its perpendicularity, notwithstanding the
curvilinear moyement of the lever when employed to raise or lower the
stone.

In order to put the apparatus in operation, the lower stone is made
to revolve by means of the pulley, band and wheel ; while, by means
of the lever, the stone is so raised as to produce sufficient contact with
that suspended above it. Under these circumstances, scintillation and
the odor, which is the object of inquiry, resulted. In no way, how-
ever, could I produce the chemical effects of ozone upon iodized starch
or guaiactm. On directing a jet of hydrogen between the stones, it
took fire forthwith ; but I could not, by means of an electrometer, detect
any electricity. When the upper stone was removed, and a piece of
an old file, of a large size, made to scrape over the surface of the lower
stone, a conducting connection between the file and an electrometer
was productive of no electrical indication. The plate being ground to
fit a large receiver, the stones were in successive experiments made to
revolve in vacuo, in hydrogen, and in a vacuity previously replete with
gas, without any diminution of the luminous phenomena. These, it
seems, from the inflammation of the jet of hydrogen, constitute a simple
case of ignition. During the collision of flint with steel, a portion of
the metal, being struck off, takes fire, and thus is enabled to convey
ignition to tinder or punk. The incapacity of two pieces of quartz to
produce fire, in like manner, arises from the incombustibility of the
particles struck off from them, which consequently cool before they
meet any mass with which they are not in contact at the moment
when the ignition supervenes.

As the burr stones are opaque, the light is much less advantageously
seen when they are both employed, than when the upper one is re-
placed by a comparatively small mass of transparent quartz. The
concentration of the frictional force and the transparency of the mass
under which the ignition is effected, make the corruscations yery bril-

-liant in a room otherwise darkened. I have lately been informed that
in English potteries, where flint is employed as an ingredient in the

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 241

ware manufactured, the grinding of this material is productive of
intolerable foetidity. In an atmosphere thus imbued with feetidity,
chemical effects ought to be observable, if there be any connection
between the source of this foetidity and that produced by ozonizin

agents. It is long since it occurred to me that as the phenomena of
light, under all the various hues which it ts capable of producing, are
ascribed to the undulatory affections of an ether pervading the uni-
verse ; so the still greater variety of odors which influence our olfactory
nerves may be due to vibratory agitation of the same medium. Con-
sistently it may be conceived that the odor produced during ozonifica-
tion, during the attrition of quartz, is due to an odoriferous ethereal
agitation.

OBSERVATIONS ON OZONE.

Dr. Pottr forms his ozometer by dipping papers in the following
solution : starch, 10 parts ; iodide of potassium, 20 ; water, 400; pro-
vided they are kept folded up or in close vessels, they preserve their

ower for months. When one of these slips was suspended by a thread
in the air, outside the window, it became strongly colored in a few
hours; while a similar one, suspended within doors, remained white
for days, and only began to be colored after several ; and this was the
case in whatever part of the house it was suspended, as in well-ven-
tilated passages and corridors. The slip exposed out of doors became
still more speedily and deeply colored when freely exposed at a distance
from the house. To ascertain how far a frequent renewal of the body
of air might influence the appearance, one of two slips, placed out of
doors, was fastened firmly at both ends, and the other allowed to fly
about freely. Both became rapidly colored, and with equal intensity.
A portion of a slip was introduced within a phial, and a portion
allowed to remain externally, the air, however, having access to the
former. On exposure to the atmosphere, the portion external to the
phial became intensely colored, while that within remained unchanged,
so that mere vicinity of another body prevents action. If ozone irri-
tates the air-passages, we can see, from the above experiments, the
importance of invalids suffering from a delicate state of them, keeping
the house, or protecting themselves when they quit it. So, too, some
light is thrown upon the injurious operation of drafts and currents of
air, by the fact that strips, suspended near cracks and fissures within
doors, only become colored opposite those. If slips of paper are coy-
ered before exposure with layers of silk, wool, linen and cotton, of the
same size and thickness, those covered by the silk, wool, and linen,
remain uncolored, while those covered by the cotton become colored.
If a piece of linen and a piece of cotton are immersed in a solution of
starch and iodide of potassium, and then exposed, the cotton becomes
deeply colored, while the linen becomes so only feebly, after a long
time. Will this aid in explaining the irritating effect of cotton hand-
kerchiefs compared to linen, when applied to the nose and eyes during
catarrh? Humidity does not impede the appearance of ozone. The
direct rays of the sun fayor it, and it is less developed if these are

21

949, ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

shaded by dark-colored glass and during the night. When snow fell,
Dr. Polli observed its action to be very powerful, as also during the
prevalence of northern winds, and rainy and cloudy days. When fine
weather had lasted many days, the air became loaded with ozone, but
immediately after heavy showers it disappeared ; slips which before
the rain appeared were colored in a few hours, then remaining white
for days. After the rains have ceased the ozone reappears, and con-
tinues increasing. That the rain-water, and especially the first drops,
contain it abundantly, is seen by the deep color of the slips exposed to
its aspersion. In the stalls of stables, in which the air is moist and
ammoniacal, the slips do not change eolor, or do so very slowly as
compared with those placed in empty stables. Will this explain any
oe phthisical patients were once supposed to derive from breathing
such air?

Dr. Heidenreich made a series of daily observations upon the rela-
tion of the amount of ozone to the nature of the prevailing diseases,
from March 16 to May 22. He found that a strong ozonic reaction
coincided with an exacerbation of the symptoms of catarrh and the
appearance of pulmonary phlegmasiz, while a diminution of these
took place when it was feeble. On the other hand, affections of serous
membranes, as the arachnoid, and of the synovial, as also various cuta-
neous affections, appeared during very feeble signs of the presence of
ozone. Rheumatic affections seemed connected rather with a large,
than a small amount, while pleuritis was as often met with in the one
case as the other.

Dr. Faber (with other German observers) doubts the existence of
any connection between the development of ozone and the prevalence
of catarrhal affections. A year’s observations, during 1848, failed to
confirm the accuracy of Schonbein’s conclusions upon this point. He
found, too, the color both strong and weak, whether the barometer
was low or high, but perhaps oftener weak when it was high, and
strong when it was low. — Cmedee Annaili., vol. 130, p. 155.

GEOLOGY.

ON THE ELEVATION OF THE COAST OF SWEDEN.

M. Nitsson, in a work on the existence of man in Scandinavia pre-
vious to the historic age, furnishes some interesting data relative to
the elevation of land in that region. A prominent rock in the harbor
of Fyellbacka has offered opportunities of careful examination ; and
hence it has been established, that in 1532 the rock was two feet below
the surface, in 1742 two feet above the surface, and in 1844 four feet
above water. Thus it has risen six feet in 300 years, or at the regular
rate of one foot in fifty years.

SUBSIDENCE OF LAND IN INDIA.

Dr. W. Burst, at the British Association, stated that evidences of
upheavals and depressions of land exist all around the shores of India,
from Calcutta to Bombay. They are met with in clearing out docks
and tanks, in which beds of loamy soil are found, full of the roots and
stools of trees, at a level below the mean level of the sea, and covered
by sea-sand and shingle. At Bombay these ancient forests are covered
by a concrete of shells and gravel, and, in some instances, beds of
fresh-looking coral have been found. ‘The lignite contains sulphate of
iron, which effloresces so abundantly as to have been collected and sold
to dyers. The roots are often much worm-eaten, the borings bein
lined with carbonate of lime. Similar phenomena haye been sinkgeed
in the Gulf of Cambay, and at Karachee. The sea-margin of Western
India is almost everywhere an expanse of level ground, from three to
ten feet only above high water, consisting of loose or cemented gravel,
with sea shells.

ISTHMUS OF SUEZ.

AN interesting discussion on the topography of the Isthmus of Suez
has lately occurred in the London Institution of Civil Engineers ; the
oceasion being a paper on that subject, in connection with the Ancient
Canals of Egypt, by Mr. Glynn, C. E. It appears, from recent levelings
and careful examination, that the levels of water in the Red Sea and
the Mediterranean are identical, and, therefore, that the project for a
line of canals, based on a presumed difference of upwards of thirty feet
between the seas, is not feasible. The error in the levels, computed

244 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

by Le Pére, may be accounted for by the fact of the work being exe-
cuted under the orders of Napoleon, during the campaign in Egypt, a
period of war of the most harassing description. The ridge now existing
at the end of the Red Sea, towards the Bitter Lakes, is found to con-
sist of tertiary strata, the fossils of which are identical with those of
the London Basin, and the hill of Montmartre, Paris; and has no
doubt resulted from a geological upheaval which materially changed
the features of the district.

RECOGNITION OF A MATHEMATICAL LAW IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE.

M. pr Beaumont, in a communication to the French Institute, an-
nounces a discovery which may probably lead to important results in
geological investigations. It isa well-known law in geometry, that if a
number of cylindrical bodies be compressed parallel with their axis, by
forces acting at right angles thereto, they assume the form of hexagonal
prisms, the simple cause of which law is, that a plane can only be
exactly divided, without loss of space, by three regular figures — the
equilateral triangle, the square, and the hexagon — of which figures the
hexagon has the least perimeter, which form the bee, from natural
instinct, adopts for its honey cells; and, by the same law, the basalts
in general assume the shape of six-sided prisms. If a spherical body
be submitted to equal pressure in all directions, a similar law is called
into action, but with different results,a sphere being only capable of
division into a series of dentagonized triangles. The fifteen great cir-
cles which divide a sphere into as many regular pentagons, possess the
minimum of lineal extent, which constitute the most complete equa-
tion of lines. In availing himself of this law, M. de Beaumont attempts
the explanation of an ingenious theory — of the regularity of the angles
of the great mountain chains upon the globe. It was known that the
principal direction of these systems follows that of the great circles of
the earth ; and the author, in studying the direction of twenty-one
mountain chains of Europe, has found that the angles formed by these
circles towards each other, have an almost constant value, and the
chains are assembled in groups, forming nearly right angles. Com-
paring those angles with the simple pentagonal net which envelops
the sphere, and dividing it into 120 scalene triangles of equal magni-
tude, he found the angles by which the fifteen great circles are inter-
sected to be 36°, 60°, 72°, and 90°. These facts, in connection with
other geographical phenomena, have led M. Beaumont to consider these
formations as the result of the folds, or plications, caused by the suc-
cessive contraction of the mass of the globe in the process of refrigera-
tion.— London Mining Journal.

ON THE PLICATION OF STRATA.

Ar a meeting of the Boston Natural History Society, March, 1850,
Prof. H. D. Rogers called the attention of the members to the following
question in geology, viz.: Why are curves in the earth’s strata not
symmetrical, but always more abrupt on one side than the other, as

GEOLOGY. 245

seen in the great mountain chains of America and Europe! He sug-
gested, as the explanation of the phenomenon, the forward pressure of
the lava wave beneath, which he supposed to haye produced the curve,
in the progress of an earthquake. Ifa horizontal stratum were acted
upon by a perpendicular force from within the earth, it would be raised
in a symmetrical arch ; but if this force had a horizontal as well as a
perpendicular action, the result would be the formation of a curve such
as is really found to exist. A railroad bar, breaking under the weight
of a passing train, is fractured towards the extremity farthest from that
on which the pressure commences ; and in the same way the points of
fracture in the curves of upheayed strata are at the most abrupt portion
of the curve, towards the termination of the wave. The point of frac-
ture in the railroad bar is nearer to its remote support in proportion
to the speed of the passing train. Prof. Rogers supposes that there is
a horizontal thrust acting upon the bar, through the principle of adhe-
sion, in addition to the perpendicular action of gravity.

Mr. Desor stated, as an illustration of the rapid progress of geological
science, that the plication theory, which was hardly known fifteen
years ago, was now almost generally adopted; and, with few excep-
tions, might be found even in the text-books. This great result, he
thought, was due chiefly to the investigations of Prof. Rogers, in the
Alleghany chain. As to the cause of the plication, several theories
had ae proposed since that of Prof. Rogers. Prof. Studer, of Swit-
zerland, thought that the plication of the Jura was the result of a lateral
pressure, caused by the upheaval of the Alps. Mr. C. Prévost ascribed
the plication to a bulging up caused by the depression of vast areas.

Prof. Rogers said his own and his brother’s views, in regard to the
upheaval of the mountain ranges, had been fully confirmed in his own
mind by visiting the Alps. He gave it as his opinion that the Jura
range was raised by a force from the direction of the Vosges, as the plica-
tions all lean towards the Alps, not from them, as would be the case if
they had been caused by a lateral pressure, caused by the weight of the
latter, as supposed by Prévost. In many of the observed plications, the
upheaved strata preserve their shape by means of trap dykes, veins of
greenstone and quartz, which are always found in great numbers, occu-
pying the fissures on the abrupt surface of the curve ; and which, filling
these fissures in a liquid form, harden on cooling, and act as keys and
braces to prop up the bent strata. —Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Society.

ON THE PASSAGE OF ANTICLINAL AXES INTO FAULTS.

Pror. H. D. Rocers, in presenting a communication to the American
Association, at Albany, under the above title, referred to the peculiar
structural features of the great south-eastern Appalachian belt, which
has its continuation in the district of New York, east of the Hudson,
and in Western Vermont. The series of folded axes or plications of
the strata in this prolonged zone, were first recognized and reduced to a
general law by Profs. H.D. and W. B. Rogers, more than ten years
ago, at the same time that the various phases or gradations of anti-
clinal and synclinal axes were made the subject of examination. Prof.

21*

246 - ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

R. showed, by a series of figures on the black-board, the successive
features of an anticlinal, just when it forms a normal arch, then steep-
ening more and more on its western side, until it becomes a folded
axis. He then pointed out the passage from this latter into a fault,
by the fracture of the strata, and the folding down and engulfing of
some of the rocks belonging to the western half of the anticlinal. In
this way the rocks of the eastern side of the mountain are, in certain
cases, made to over-ride and lie upon the edges of the newer strata. In
other cases, as shown by the Professor, the dislocation, joined to subse-
quent denudation, has given the appearance of an unconformable depo-
sition of the newer upon the older rocks. Prof. R. referred to various
marked instances in the Appalachian belt, in which an anticlinal axis,
when traced longitudinally, passes by the gradations just described
into a fault. In some cases, the fault thus produced is continued for
along distance, as in the great lines of dislocation which pass from
south-western Virginia into Tennessee, and are thus prolonged for several
hundred miles. In other cases, the line of fault, by a reverse order,
passes again into an anticlinal axis. Similar phenomena were described
in regard to synclinal axes. But in this case, the east side of the axis
or trough became engulfed. Prof. R. stated it as the law that, in the
Appalachian anticlinal axes, the fracture occurs always on the west side
of the axes’ plane. In synclinal, it occurs on the east side.

In conclusion, Prof. R. enforced the great importance of attending
to these phenomena of dislocation, and pointed out the fact that exten-
sive lines of unconformity, in the south-west and elsewhere, in the Ap-

alachian belt, which are clearly due to the fracture and movement
before described, are lable to be interpreted as lines of original uncon-
formability, and have been so regarded by other observers. Thus, along
the base of the Cumberland mountain, in south-western Virginia and
eastern Tennessee, the coal rocks are seen abutting against the steep
dipping lower Appalachian rocks, as if deposited after the disturbance
of the latter. Yet Prof. R. has actually traced these features into
an anticlinal axis.

ON THE ORIGIN OF STRATIFICATION.

Te following paper, on the ‘‘ origin of stratification,’’ by Mr. David
A. Wells, of Cambridge, was read at the meeting of the American As-
sociation, Albany :—

The general idea respecting the origin or cause of stratification, as
expressed in geological text-books, or as inferred from the writings of
geologists, seems to be this: that strata, or the divisions of sedimen-
tary matter, have been produced either by an interruption of deposition,
or a change in the quality of the material deposited. This idea is well
illustrated by the deposition of matter of tides or inundations, its sub-
sequent consolidation, and a renewed deposition on the plane of the
former deposit. ‘That such is really the cause of stratification, in very
many or most instances, I do not dispute; but that there are other
causes which tend to produce and haye produced stratification, equally
oxfousaie and varied, is, I think, clearly shown by the following obser-
vations.

GEOLOGY. 247

My attention was first drawn to the subject during the past sum-
mer, while engaged in the analysis of soils. By the process adopted,
the soil was washed upon a filter for a considerable number of days, in
some cases for a period as long as two weeks, and subsequently dried
at a temperature of 250° Fah. The residue of the soil left upon the
filter, consisting chiefly of silica and alumina, was found, after drying,
in every instance, to be more or less stratified, and that too by divisional
planes in some cases not at all coincident with any division of the
materials, although this is apt to take place. The strata so produced
were in some instances exceedingly perfect and beautiful, not alto-
gether horizontal, but slightly curved, and in some degree conforming
to the shape of the funnel. The production of laminz was also
noticed, especially by the cleavage of the strata produced into thin,
delicate, parallel plates, when moistened with water.* These arrange-
ments, it is evident, were not caused by any interruption or renewal
of the matter deposited, or by any change in the quality of the parti-
cles deposited, but from two other causes entirely distinct, and which
I conceive to be these : — first, from a tendency in earthy matter, sub-
jected to the filtering, soaking and washing of water for a considerable
period, to arrange itself according to its degree of fineness, or perhaps
according to the specific gravity of the particles, and thus form strata ;
and, secondly, from a tendency in earthy matter, consolidated both by
water and subsequent exsiccation, to divide, independently of the fine-
ness or quality of its component particles, into strata orlaminz. The
tendency of this earthy matter is generally to divide on drying along
the lines formed by the arrangement of the particles according to their
nature or quality. This is not, however, always the case, as was
proved by the observations noted, and which is also conclusively shown
by the examination of almost any stratified rocks. At the clay slate
quarries, near Charlestown, Mass., the lines formed by differences in
the quality of the component particles are beautifully marked on almost
every slab, yet the divisions into layers are not coincident, and there
is not a tendency to divide along the lines of arrangement.

At some points in the valley of the Connecticut, where the sand-
stones remain unaltered in any degree by heat or dislocation, the strat-
ification produced by these several causes may be clearly seen and
studied. On the western edge of this deposit, opposite Springfield,
we have rocks composed of layers, which would at once be referred to
the production of tides or inundations by the most inexperienced ob-
server. The strata here vary, from the fraction of an inch to an inch
in thickness ; they are also covered with mud-cracks, and the various
markings which are usually found upon a shore or beach. In other
portions of the valley we have strata divisions, occasioned by the lines
which separate materials differing either in quality or nature ; as the
shales from the sandstones, the conglomerates from the fine sandstones,
or the highly bituminous shales from those less bituminous. And then,
upon the extreme eastern edge of the sandstone deposit, we find strata,

* The laminz so produced were not always parallel to the strata divisions, although par-
allel to themselves.

248 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the leaves of which measure from one to two, and in some instances three
feet in thickness, some layers embracing in themselves matter ranging
from a coarse conglomerate to the finest sand; and yet none of this
collection of materials, within the limits of the particular layers in
which they are included, exhibits the slightest tendency to break or
divide in any one direction more than another. E

The observations here stated, I am happy to find, have been also
noticed, to some extent, by others conversant with the subject of strat-
ification. Sawdust, subjected to the filtering action of water, has been
observed by Prof. Agassiz to assume a regular stratified appearance.
The same has also been noticed by Dr. Hayes, of Boston, in the vats
in which clay used for the manufacture of alum is washed. Dr. Em-
mons, of Albany, has referred me to an instance of a clay bed, in which
the strata of one portion are distorted and inclined, apparently from a
force acting laterally or from below, but which force evidently could
not have so acted from the perfectly regular and undisturbed condition
of the surrounding clay strata; the inclinations must, therefore, ac-
cording to Dr. Emmons, be referred to a peculiarity of deposition, or a
subsequent division at an angle on consolidation. I have also noticed
regular stratification in the dried deposit of a puddle in the streets,
where no apparent change in the character of the materials deposited
could be noticed, and where there was certainly no interruption of
deposition.

If the divisions of stratification or lamination which I have thus
pointed out be admitted, it is not improbable that many cases of what
are now considered disturbed and tilted strata, are in none other than
their normal condition.

ON THE ORIGIN OF CONGLOMERATES.

Messrs. Foster and Whitney, in their report on the geology of Lake
Superior, consider the vast beds of conglomerate in those regions to
have their origin in igneous ejections beneath the surface of the ocean.
The editor of Silliman’s Journal, in noticing this conclusion, says, ‘‘ that,
judging from known effects of igneous action, this supposition is un-
doubtedly correct. The action of the waters of the ocean on a lava
stream was exhibited on a grand scale at the eruption of Kilauea,
(Hawaii,) in 1840, where the fused rock, on reaching the sea, as Mr.
Coan states, ‘ was shivered like melted glass into millions of particles,
which were thrown up in clouds that darkened the sky, and fell like a
storm of hail over the surrounding country,’ and, as a result, three
conical elevations were thrown up in a few days, the smallest 150, and
the largest 250 feet in height. The same effects would take place in
the depths of an ocean, only far more vast, when the opened fissures
lie their whole length exposed to the waters; and the results would
vary, according to the condition or progress of the eruption, the cur-
rents that were in action at the time, and the character of the region
around. Adding also the friction of the eruptive rock against the
walls of the opened fissures, as suggested by von Buch, and we have a
sufficient cause for the formation of the fragmentary beds.”’

GEOLOGY. 249

ON THE EXISTENCE OF DILUVIAL AGENCIES DURING THE EARLIER GEO-
LOGICAL PERIODS.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper, read at the American Asso-
ciation, Albany, by Dr. F. M. Hough :—

The abrading and polishing action of moving masses of rock, upon
superficial strata, has usually been considered as peculiar to the drift
period and other still later epochs in our earth’s history. The object
of this communication is to state a few facts, tending to prove that the
causes which produced these appearances have operated in exceedingly
remote periods, and at great intervals.

An instance is mentioned by Professor Emmons, in which polished
and ground surfaces occurred between strata of Trenton limestone on
Lake Champlain. In these cases, the rock above is stated to be in
lithological characters and fossils similar to that below, and that the
inferior surface of the upper layer presented an exact cast in relief of
the one below.

I haye observed several instances of a similar character in Northern
New York, which, from the evidence they furnish of the action of
denuding causes in early periods, are worthy of special record. One
of the most interesting of these localities is at Deer River Falls, one
mile below the village of Copenhagen, Lewis county, N.Y. The river
is here precipitated down a chasm in the Trenton limestone, to a depth,
it is said, of 270 feet. Near the bottom of these cliffs, the sections in
the strata present, in several places and at different levels, a peculiar
waved line, produced by the removal of portions of the upper surface
of a stratum, the lower side of which remains level. The uniformity
of stratification is not disturbed either above or below. In several in-
stances the rock above has been removed, presenting continuous furrows,
three or four inches deep, and a foot broad, with an uniform and par-
allel course in this instance, varying but little from west to east. The
depth and uniformity of these grooves, with the want of polish upon
their surface, would indicate that the rock had not acquired solidity at
the time of their formation. Quite a number of waved lines may be
seen intervening on the face of the precipice at this place, with inter-
vening level strata many feet in thickness, thus indicating a repetition
of the causes, with intervening periods of repose. A more interesting
and characteristic locality of furrowed surfaces underlaying rocky strata,
occurs at Ogdensburg, near the St. Lawrence river, and between strata
of calciferous sandstone. The deeper and older grooves extend from
north-north-east to south-south-west, while the slighter and more recent
ones extend from 10° west of north to 10° east of south. The marks
of attrition are quite as distinct as is ever noticed on superficial rock,
and were evidently made after the stratum had acquired a solidity
quite equal to that which it now possesses. At one locality the fur-
rows are seen passing horizontally under an abrupt terrace of the coarse
limestone about twenty feet high ; but the exact point of contact was
not seen, it being covered by a wall. The surface of the rock above,
exhibits here no marks of abrasion; although, elsewhere, it pre-
serves them with great distinctness. After a careful study of the

250 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

locality, I have not the slightest doubt but that the terrace of limestone
overlays the grooved and polished rock in question. ‘These instances,
although insufficient to decide the disputed question of the manner
in which the abrading forces acted, at least indicate that they existed,
and operated with the same effect, and doubtless under the same cir-
cumstances, during the eras of the calciferous sandstone and Trenton
limestone, as in the drift period.

PARALLELISM OF THE DRIFT DEPOSITS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA.

At the Boston Natural History Society, April, the following re-
marks, on the above subject, were made by Mr. Desor :—

The main difficulty which we encounter, when we attempt to paral-
lelize the detrital deposits of Northern Europe and America with those
of Switzerland, where they have been first and most minutely investi-

ated, is the position of the bones of the mammoth and other animals.

n this country, and in the North of Europe they are limited to the
most recent formations, such as peat bogs, swamps and river alluyium.
In Switzerland and Italy, on the contrary, they occur in gravel deposits,
(diluyium,) which are said to have been deposited previous to the scat-
tering of the Alpine boulders over the plain of Switzerland and the
Jura, and previous, also, to the furrowing and polishing of the rocks.
It is plain, from these facts, that, in taking as a point of reference the
transportation of boulders and the polishing of the rocks, which are
similar in both countries, the mammoths of Switzerland and Italy must
have lived long before those of the North of Europe and America, being
moreover separated from them by the most important event of the
quaternary period, the transportation of boulders and furrowing of the
surface rocks. According to some geologists, it was an event of such
magnitude that it caused the destruction of all the living animals,
which were supposed to have been suddenly frozen to death ; and, in
support of this view, we are referred to the elephants which are found
frozen in the mud along the rivers of Siberia. Other geologists take a
different ground. They contend that, since the mammoths of the North
of Europe and America are identical with those of Italy and Switzer-
land, (Elephas primigenius,) they cannot but be of the same geological
age, and, rather than refer them to different periods, they prefer to op-
pe the assumption of a simultaneous transportation of boulders in

oth countries ; thus assuming two glacial epochs instead of one. This
is especially the ground taken by M. D’Archiar. In reference to this
question, Mr. D. read the following extract from a letter from M.
Martins, Professor of Geology at the Sorbonne, at Paris :—

‘*T do not see why you consider it absolutely necessary that the
mammoths of Italy and those of the North of Europe and America
should have lived at the same epoch. I, for my part, do not feel com-
pelled to that conclusion. I go farther, and say that @ priori the con-
trary opinion appears as the most warrantable. There, (in America, )
you haye a vast continent, which is undergoing upheavals and subsi-
dences even during the actual period; here, (in Switzerland,) you
have a country with high mountain chains, which, since the Pliocene

GEOLOGY. 950

epoch, has never been invaded by the waters of the sea. What, then,
is there strange in the fact, that the one should haye had mammoths
at a time when the others had none? Thus far I do not see any reason
for assuming, with M. D’Archiar, two epochs of striz and furrows.
What is the law, either paleontological or zoological, which proves
that the same animals have lived everywhere at the same time and
epoch?”

M. Martins, as will be seen, enters here upon an entirely new ground,
by setting aside one of the broadest principles of geology, which was
almosta creed. Mr. D. said that he was not prepared to meet the ques-
tion on this new ground, which could not fail to attract attention, and
will undoubtedly give rise to many interesting discussions.

ON THE EXISTENCE OF DUNES ON THE SHORES OF THE AMERICAN
LAKES.

At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, March,
1851, Mr. Desor made some statements in relation to the existence of
Dunes on the shores of the upper American Lakes. He said that they
were peculiarly interesting as being the only ones of any consequence,
so far as his knowledge went, which had been noticed on the borders
of an inland sheet of water. On the eastern shore of Lake Michigan
they are seyeral hundred feet high. On the north shore, at Point aux
Chiens, they are from 80 to 100 feet high, the highest being half a
mile from the Point. They gradually diminish in size, extending
along the shore to the west some six miles, until they are reduced to
heaps not more than 25 feet high. They present no signs of stratifi-
cation, nor do they contain pebbles, except a few in the depressions
between the hillocks, where they have been thrown by the waves in
severe gales. The back slope has an angle of 32°. In those positions
where the ridges are perpendicular to the coast line, the steep side is
always opposite to that of the prevailing wind. This feature is also
noticeable at several places along the shore of Lake Superior. A pe-
culiarity of the dunes of Lake Michigan is, that they are often covered
with trees of considerable size. A white pine, growing on the top
of the highest ridge, was found by Mr. Desor to be eight feet in
circumference, showing that, at this spot, the dune has remained un-
changed for a considerable time. The existence of these dunes on the
borders of fresh water refutes the opinion hitherto held by geologists,
that the action of the tide is necessary for their formation, enough
sand drying, during the ebb, to be borne off by the winds. On the
other hand, as they occur only on flat coasts, where, the waters are
subjected to considerable motion, either from currents or from the
action of the winds, or both combined, it is fair to regard these as the
agents by which they haye been formed.

ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL ASIA.

Capt. Srracuey, at the British Association, 1851, presented a com-
munication on the general configuration of Central Asia, in which he

PAI WA _ ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

pointed out that the elevated region known as Tibet formed the sum-
mit of a great protuberance above the general level of the earth’s
surface, of which the two mountain chains, known as the Himalaya
and Kouenlun, were nothing more than the north and south faces,
having no special existence apart from the general mass. ‘The plains
of Northern India extend along the entire southern edge of the Hima-
laya, over about 500,000 square miles, nowhere exceeding in elevation
1,200 feet above the sea. From these rise the mountains suddenly,
and in a well-defined line. The exterior range, called the Siwaliks by
Dr. Falconer and Col. Cautley, is of no great elevation, hardly exceed-
ing 3,000 feet. The characteristic tracts of swamp and dry forest that
occur along its southern face, known as Tarai and Bhabar, and the
longitudinal valleys called Din, along its northern slope, were de-
scribed. Immediately above these rise the first ranges of the great
mountain region that extends to the north, over a breadth of upwards
of 200 miles. The loftiest peaks, some of which exceed 28,000 feet in
height, are usually found along a line of 80 or 90 miles from the south-
ern edge of the chain, which, in Kumaon, neither is coincident with
the water-shed, nor forms a continuous ridge, but is broken up into
groups, separated by deep gorges, and connected by transverse spurs
with the water-shed range that runs 20 or 30 miles further to the
north. On crossing this water-shed, which forms the boundary be-
tween Tibet and the British Provinces, the traveller finds himself, not
without astonishment, on a plain of 150 miles in length, and 30 or 40
in breadth, the elevation of which varies from 16,000 feet along its
southern edge, to 14,500 feet in its more central parts, where it is cut
through by the river Sutlej. It is everywhere intersected by stupen-
dous ravines, that of the Sutle} being nearly 3,000 feet deep, which
are furrowed out of the alluvial matter of which the plain is composed.
The mountains that bound this plain to the north hardly enter the re-
gion of perpetual snow; the famous peak of Kailas, which is nearly
22,000 feet in altitude, being the highest point. In regard to the
geology of this region, it appears that, from the Siwalik range, which
was before known to be of tertiary age, the mountains are formed of
metamorphic rocks, until we pass the line of greatest elevation. We
then again find fossiliferous rocks, which form a regular sequence from
the lower Silurian to the tertiary formation. Fossils from all of these
beds have been collected and brought to this country by Capt. Strachey.
It is of the tertiary beds that is composed the great plain already
described, and in them have been found fossilized remains of elephant
and rhinoceros at an elevation of between 14,000 and 15,000 feet above
the sea. Fromea general consideration of these circumstances, it was
inferred that the present wonderful development of the Himalaya and
of the elevated regions of Tibet dates no further back than the tertiary
period ; being, in fact, one of the most recent changes that the sur-
face of the earth has undergone. Glaciers abound in all parts of the
mountains covered with perpetual snow, descending as low as 11,500
feet. The snow-line, the height of which has given rise to much dis-
cussion, was stated to descend to about 15,500 on the southern face of
the Himalaya; while it was pointed out that, as we advance to the

GEOLOGY. 25s

north of the great peaks, and stand on the mountains bordering the
Tibetan plain, the snow line has receded to 19,000 or 20,000: feet.
This phenomenon was shown to depend chiefly on the fact that the
quantity of snow that falls to the north of the great Himalayan peaks
is far less than that which falls on their southern slopes.

ON THE AZOIC SYSTEM.

Tne following is an abstract of a paper presented to the American
Association, Cincinnati, by J. W. Foster and J. D. Whitney, U. S.
Geologists.

The term Azozc was first applied by Murchison and de Verneuil, to
designate a class of crystalline rocks which occur around the Gulf of
Finland, whose geological position is below the Silurian system. In
it, they include not only gneiss and mica slate, but the igneous rocks,
such as granite and syenite, by which they are invaded. We adopt
the term, but limit its signification, by applying it to a class of rocks
supposed to be detrital in their origin, and to have been formed before
the dawn of animal or vegetable life. It comprises the most ancient
of the strata which form the crust of the earth, and occupies a distinct
position in the geological column; being below the Potsdam sand-
stone. In this district the rocks consist, for the most part, of gneiss,
hornblende, chlorite, taleose, and argillaceous slates; interstratified
with beds of quartz, saccharoidal marble, and immense deposits of
specular and magnetic oxide of iron. Most of these rocks appear to
be of detrital origin, but to have been greatly transformed by long-con-
tinued exposure to heat. They are sub-crystalline, or compact, in their
texture, and rarely present unequivocal signs of stratification. They
have been subject to the most violent dislocations. In one place the
beds are vertical ; in another reversed ; and in another, present a series
of folded axes. Intermingled with them is a class of rocks whose
igneous origin can hardly be doubted, and to whose presence the met-
amorphism so characteristic of this series is, in a measure, to be
ascribed. They consist of various proportions of hornblende and feld-
spar, forming traps and basalts; or, where magnesia abounds, pass
into serpentine rocks. They appear, in some instances, to have been
protruded through the preexisting strata, in the form of dykes or
elvans ; in others, to have flowed in broad, lava streams, over the an-
cient surface ; and, in others, to have risen up through some wide-ex-
panding fissure, forming axes of elevation.

Since the theory of metamorphism has been generally recognized,
many of the rocks which were formerly regarded as igneous, are now
referred to aqueous agency, and the transformation which they may
have undergone traced to the presence of erupted rocks, It is reason-
able to suppose that there was a time in the history of our planet when
its crust was subject to constantly recurring voleanie paroxysms, when
mephitic vapors were escaping through extensive fissures communi-
cating with the interior, and when the waters were in a heated con-
dition, and differed poe chemically from those of the existing

2

254 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

oceans. Under such conditions, we ought not to look for any types of
animal or vegetable life.

Many eminent geologists maintain that the lowest stratified rocks
are but portions of the Silurian system, and that, from long-continued
exposure to heat, the lines of stratification haye become obscure, and
all traces of organic remains obliterated. Our observations in this
district (they remarked) have led us to a different conclusion. If the
Potsdam sandstone rest at the base of the Palzeozoic series ; if from that
epoch we are to date the dawn of organized existence, there is, in this
district, a class of rocks, detrital in origin, interposed between the
lower Silurian system and the granite ; rocks distinct in character,
unconformable in dip, and destitute of organic remains. If we found
these crystalline schists, and beds of quartz, and saccharoidal marble,
graduating into clay-slates, sandstones, and limestones, as we receded
from the lines of igneous outbursts, and enveloping the remains of
plants and animals, we would be led to a different conclusion ; but so
far from it, the evidence is ample that the base of the Silurian system
reposes upon their upturned edges, and that the causes by which the
metamorphism of the former was effected had ceased to operate before
the deposition of the latter. Between the two systems there is a clear
and well-defined line of demarcation. It forms one of those great
epochs in the history of the earth, where the geologist can pause, and
satisfy himself of the correctness of his conclusions. On the one hand
he sees evidence of intense and long-continued igneous agency, and,
on the other, of comparative tranquillity and repose.

The Azoic rocks occupy an almost continuous belt along the northern
shore of Lake Superior, — subject, however, to occasional interru
tions, — and have thence been traced, by Logan and Bayfield, to the
coast of Labrador, forming the axis between Hudson’s Bay and the
Valley of the St. Lawrence.

They are also extensively developed on the southern shore, forming
the water-shed between the respective river-systems of Lake Superior,
Lake Michigan, and the Mississippi. Wherever the junction between
the Azoic and Silurian systems has been observed, the one is found to
repose, unconformably, on the other. As the Silurian system on Lake
Superior is celebrated for its deposits of copper, so the Azoic system is
equally interesting from its ores of iron. Indeed, at some points on
the lake, the iron in the form of a nearly pure oxide forms entire
mountains; one on Carp river being 1,067 feet above the level of the
lake. From the detailed explorations of Mr. Mersch, communicated
to Messrs. Foster and Whitney, they had no doubt that the Missouri
iron region belonged to the same system of upheaval, and occupied the
same relation to the Silurian system. They also stated that the mag-
netic ores of Sweden, associated with gneiss, belonged to the same
epoch. The same was true with regard to the ores of the Champlain
region of New York. As to the thickness of the Azoic system, it was
impossible to form a correct idea. It might be 20,000, or 50,000, or
100,000 feet. If we were to adopt the usual method of measuring
across the basset edges of the strata, it would give us a thickness
greater than that of the whole fossiliferous series, from the base of the

GEOLOGY. 255

Silurian to the crowning member of the Tertiary. It was evident that
these strata were everywhere plicated and folded, and that the observer
passed over a repetition of beds, instead of a succession of beds; but
that the strata, throughout the whole region, had been so shattered
by earthquakes, and so metamorphosed by direct or transmitted heat,
that it was impossible to identify them, except over limited areas.

Prof. Agassiz remarked, that he had, at the Cambridge meeting of
the Association, urged the importance of a close examination of the
older rocks of the Paleeozoic series, with a view of arriving at a stand-
ard for determining the order of succession of the contained fossils.
It had long been an unsettled question with European geologists,
whether we could accurately fix upon the exact point, in the palaeozoic
rocks, in which animal life had commenced. Mr. Lyell was of opinion
that we could not. Yet it is now established, by the labors of Messrs.
Foster and Whitney, that we can accurately determine this point, and
feel certain that we have ascertained the exact strata which contained
the fossil remains of the first created animals. If the zoologist would
view with interest the skull of the first created man, it is with equal
interest that we see, in the Potsdam sandstones, the evidences of the
first created animals.

ON THE SILURIAN SYSTEM OF CENTRAL BOHEMIA.

M. BarranDe, in his observations on the Silurian System of Central
Bohemia, recognizes an upper and a lower Silurian, corresponding to
what has been made out, first in England, and since in Russia and
America. Each of these divisions contains four subdivisions or groups,
which he letters A, B, C, D, and E, F,G,H. The lower Silurian con-
sists almost wholly of siliceous and argillaceous rocks, to the nearly
total exclusion of limestones ; the upper consists mainly of limestones.
The limit between the two is marked by eruptions of trap of great
extent, which alternate with graptolite schists, in which twenty
species of graptolites have been detected. ‘Trilobites, analogous to
those of the Caradoc sandstones and Llandeilo flags, (corresponding to
subdivision D,) abound in the lower division, while in the upper, great
numbers of Cephalopods, Gasteropods, Brachiopods, and Acephala
occur, families hardly represented in the lower Silurian of Bohemia.
The groups A and B are without fossils, or azorc, and have together a
thickness of 24 to 26,000 feet. A is composed of semi-crystallized and
argillaceous schists, and B to a great extent of conglomerates, alternat-
ing with argillaceous schists; they pass almost insensibly into one
another. C consists mainly of greenish argillaceous schists, and is not
over 1300 feet thick. Its fossils are mostly trilobites, and they are
peculiar in having the thorax very much developed, with the pygidium
very small. The group D, called also the quartzite division, abounds
in siliceous as well as argillaceous rocks, and is yery rich in trilobites.
Its vertical extent is 8 to 10,000 feet. The several subdivisions from
C upward are each distinct in their fossils. Not a species of C occurs
in D, and even the genera of trilobites are most distinct. The extinc-

256 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tion of the fossil species of C is referred to ejections of porphyry and
other igneous rocks.

M. Barrande points out the existence of what he calls colonies of the
upper Silurian interpolated in the D group of the lower Silurian.
They are beds, sometimes 100 vards thick, having: the upper Silurian
character in the fossils. M. Prevost observes that if the existence
of such colonies can be admitted as proved, (which must require still
more inyestigation,) it indicates a synchronism between two different
marine formations, and shows that extended systems of cotempora-
neous beds may be paleontologically distinct, while, at the same time,
beds of successive ages may be identical in their fossils. — Bull. Soc.
Geol. de France.

COMPARISON OF THE STRATA OF THE SILURIAN BASIN. OF MIDDLE TEN-
NESSEE WITH THOSE OF NEW YORK OF THE SAME AGE,

Tue results of the examinations of Prof. Hall, of New York, and
Safford, of Tennessee, were presented by Prof. H., at the Albany
meeting of the American Association.

Prof. Hall commenced by stating that our previous knowledge of
this region had been derived mainly from the published reports of
Prof. Troost, and from a map of Dr. Owen. From the fossils pub-
lished by Dr. Troost, it would appear that the lower and upper Silurian,
Devonian, and even carboniferous species occurred together in this
basin. Prof. H. said that for several years past Prof. J. M. Safford
had been making examinations in this part of the country, the general
result of which he had presented in a geological map, showing not only
the limits of this Silurian basin, but also the subdivisions which he
proposed to make, and which were characterized by certain fossils.
The fossils collected amounted to some 200 species, about one half of
which were identical with those known in the rocks of New York. In
general terms we might say that the rocks of nearly the whole of this
basin correspond to the lower Silurian limestones of New York. In the
lower portion of the series in this basin, Prof. Safford recognizes three
divisions. From the lower of these divisions, he has brought eight
species of fossils, and of these eight species five are of species charac-
teristic of the birds-eye and Black River limestone in New York, and
the other three appeared to be new or undescribed species. From the
second division, fifty-eight species had been collected, of which twenty-
eight were identical with species known in New York, and mainly
those characteristic of the Trenton limestone, a few species only being
those which occur in the birds-eye and Black River limestones. In
the upper of these subdivisions sixteen species had been found, of
which eleven were known as characteristic of New York strata, and
nearly all of the Trenton limestone. Prof. Hall had collected a cepha-
lopoda of peculiar structure, in the Black River limestone of New York,
and had traced its occurrence in the same geological position as far as
the Mississippi River, and it occurred also in the basin of Tennessee.
In all the localities it was associated with fossils which were in the
same geological position in New York. It seemed, therefore, scarcely

GEOLOGY. 257

possible to ayoid the conclusion that this lower limestone of Tennessee
was the equivalent of the Black River limestone of New York, and that
poe also, a portion of the birds-eye limestone was included with it.

n the second and third divisions there were about forty species of
fossils common to those rocks, and to the Trenton limestone of New
York, making the conclusion unavoidable that the strata of these two
portions of country were of the same age. In the same manner it was
shown, that the Nashville group of limestones were probably identical
with the Hudson River group. In this connection, Prof. Hall showed
that the lower Silurian limestones, or those known as the Chazy, Black
River and Trenton limestones, thinned out in a north-westerly direc-
tion, till they were less than 100 feet thick on the north shore of Lake
Michigan, and the west shore of Green Bay; that in Wisconsin they
were less than seventy-five feet thick, and at the Falls of St. Anthony,
on the Mississippi River, they were less than fifty feet thick. In Ten-
nessee, the same strata, as far as seen, were 200 feet thick, and the
base had not been seen. In like manner, the Hudson River group
gradually thins out in the west and north-west, its sandy portions dis-
appearing in Canada West; and though eight hundred feet thick in
New York, is less than two hundred on the north shore of Lake Michi-
gan, and disappears entirely in Wisconsin. In Tennessee, the rocks
corresponding in position are nearly all limestones, and have a thick-
ness of about three hundred feet. The strata succeeding these lower
Silurian limestones are known as the gray limestone. From this lime-
stone, forty-two species of fossils had been collected, of which twenty-
seven were known species, and common to the rocks of New York, as
well as Tennessee. But what was very remarkable was the fact that
of these twenty-seven species, several were of the Niagara group, or
those known only in the rocks of that period, while others were known
only in the lower Helderberg limestones ; and others still were found
only in the upper Helderberg limestones, or the Onondaga and cor-
niferous limestones. Thus showing that rocks of the middle and
upper Silurian periods, and of the Devonian period, were here united
in one ; or that the formation was altogether so uniform and homo-
geneous, that no subdivision could be made. That the Onondaga
salt group of New York, haying a thickness of 800 or 1,000 feet, has
entirely disappeared, and that the Niagara and lower Helderberg
limestones thus come in contact; and, again, from the absence of
Oriskany sandstone, and Candigalli grit, the lower and upper Helder-
berg limestones are united; and thus the three limestones, so widely
separated in New York, become, physically, one limestone in Tennessee.
Prof. H. showed that each of these periods in New York were marked
by the presence of more than three hundred species of fossils, and that
very few of these passed from one group to the next, showing, conclu-
sively, that they were distinct formations, and of distinct and succeed-
ing creations. He remarked that this collection of fossils afforded some
evidence of the influence of latitude upon the development of animal
life, and that climatic influences had prevailed at that early period as
well as in subsequent ones. Of the lower Silurian species, one half
were new, or unknown in the rocks of New York, of the same age, from

22*

258 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

which four hundred species were already known. In comparing the
proportion of new species from the northern and north-western locali-
ties, there were scarcely more than ten per cent. of new species, while,
at the same distance to the south-west, the proportion was ten times as
great. Whether or not this proportion would hold true on further
examination, it could not now be determined, but since so many speci-
mens had been collected, and over such wide areas, it was evident that
there were most incontestable proofs of the occurrence of a larger num-
ber of species in localities at the south than in northern localities
of the same extent. This difference was, therefore, to be accounted for
either from climatic agencies, or from other circumstances more fayor-
able to the development of species in the southern than in the north-
ren localities.

REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE SUPERIOR LAND DISTRICT.

Tue first report of Messrs. Foster and Whitney, United States Geolo-
gists, for the Lake Superior Land District, has been published during
the past year. It forms a volume of 224 pages, illustrated by numer-
ous charts, maps and plates. From its pages we take the following
notes : —

The Lake Superior Land District is bounded on the north by Lake
Superior, east by St. Mary’s river, south by Lakes Huron and Michi-
gan, and west by the Montreal and Menomonee rivers, being situated
between 45° and 49° north latitude and 83° 45’ and 90° 33/ west longi-
tude. A striking feature in the topography of the region is the paral-
lelism of the north-west shore of Lake Superior, the south shore, west
of Keweenaw Point, and the narrow island of Isle Royal between,
proving, as the authors state, that this part of the lake must be the
course of a great synclinal valley, arising from two parallel axes of
elevation on opposite sides of the lake. We might add, farther, that
this course is at right angles to the great range of lakes that extends
from Erie and Michigan north-west to the Northern ocean, which range
is parallel to the Rocky Mountains and the north-west coast of America
on one side, and to Hudson’s Bay and the shores of Dayis ‘Straits on
the other. The district contains an area of 16,237 square miles.
The number of rivers comprised in it is 34, of which the largest is
the Menomonee. Their aggregate length is 1,478 miles, and the area
drained is 10,530 square miles. The course of the rivers is chiefly
north-west, the outlets of eighteen being in Lake Superior. The re-
mainder fall into Lake Michigan, Keweenaw Bay, or Lake Huron, or
are tributaries of the larger rivers.

The mountains of the region consist of two granite belts in the
north-west, the Huron Mountains to the southward, a trap range start-
ing from the head of Keweenaw Point and running west and south-
west into Wisconsin, and the Porcupine Mountains. The Huron
Mountains in places attain an elevation of 1,200 feet above the lake.
The highest elevation attained by the Porcupine Mountains is 1,380 feet.

Meteorological observations were instituted, by order of the govern-
ment, at three military posts in the district, viz., Forts Wilkins, Brady

GEOLOGY. 259

and Mackinac. From these observations it appears that the mean an-
nual temperature of Fort Brady is nearly two degrees lower than
that of Fort Wilkins, although the latter post is nearly a degree fur-
ther north. This difference arises from the insular position of Kewee-
naw Point, which is surrounded on three sides by water. The climate
of Fort Brady during the whole season corresponds in a remarkable
degree with that of St. Petersburg. The temperature of the region is
very favorable to the growth of cereals. The annual ratio of fair days
at Fort Brady is 168 ; of cloudy days, 77 ; rainy days, 71 ; snowy days,
47.

The temperature of the water of Lake Superior, during the summer,
a fathom or two below the surface, is but a few degrees above the
freezing point. In the western portion the water is much colder
than in the eastern — the surface flow becoming warmer as it advances
toward the outlet.

ON THE AGE OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER SANDSTONES.

Tue following remarks on the age of the sandstones in the valley of
the Connecticut and in New Jersey, were made by Mr. Redfield, of New
York, at the Cincinnati meeting of the American Association : —

In the earlier periods of geological inquiry the Red Sandstone rocks
of the Connecticut were supposed to be an equivalent of the Old Red
Sandstone of England. Resting immediately on crystalline and gneis-
soid rocks, and apparently deficient in organic remains, there appeared
to be no obyious grounds for a different conclusion. On subsequent
investigation, Prof. Hitchcock was induced to class these rocks with
the New Red Sandstones of the English geologists. At this period,
some fishes and remains of plants had been discovered in the rocks ;
but their characters were not then so well understood as to be consid-
ered decisive of the geological position. Mr. Redfield alluded to the
views of Dr. Jackson, and to a paper read by Mr. Wells at different
meetings of the Boston Society of Natural History. He was compelled,
by the evidence of fossils in his own collection, to dissent wholly from
the views of Dr. Jackson regarding the geological position of the
sandstones of Nova Scotia, Maine, Connecticut River and New Jersey ;
and was also constrained to dissent from the division of the series
which Mr. Wells has attempted to establish. Mr. R. has examined the
formation attentively in three States, and does not consider the grounds
alleged to be of sufficient validity. The whole extent of this formation
in Connecticut has been examined most carefully for a series of years
by Dr. Percival, apart from its fossils, and an attentive examination
of his Report on the Geology of Connecticut will show that, in the
default of zoological evidence, no such separation can be established.
The conclusion to which Mr. Redfield had himself been led by these
fossil remains was, that the Red Sandstone rocks in which they occur
are decidedly of Post-Permian date. They may belong to the Trias-
sic group, but appear to have stronger affinities to fossils of the Liassic
or Oolitic groups. He submitted to the Association some characteris-
tic specimens.

260 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Mr. Foster remarked, that, from the investigations of the Messrs.
Rogers, and others, it was indisputable that the metamorphism of the
rocks of the Appalachian chain took place at the close of the Carbo-
niferous era ; but that the sandstone of the Connecticut valley had not
partaken of that metamorphism. It was also highly probable that the
sandstone was older than the coal deposits of Richmond, which were
proved to belong to the Oolite. Therefore, whatever might be the
ultimate position assigned to this sandstone, it was intermediate be-
tween these two epochs. It was found, too, as a general rule, that
whenever a great change occurred in the physical conditions of the
earth, those changes were indicated by the character of the deposits.
Thus, the base of. many of the great systems of rocks is occupied by
conglomerates, succeeded by coarse sandstone grits; and it was not
until after the lapse of a considerable time, that the finer silts were
thrown down. It was also found that these coarse grits and conglom-
erates were barren of types of organic life; whereas the finer silts
contained the most abundant traces. The fact, therefore, that the
sandstone at the base of this series of rocks was unproductive in fossils,
while the shales contained numerous traces of their existence, did
not necessarily imply that the rocks belonged to two epochs of deposi-
tion.

As to the unconformability of the two portions, as described by Mr.
Wells, he remarked, that this sandstone, throughout its range, exhib-
ited numerous instances of the intrusion of trappean rocks. These
took place at successive intervals, as was evidenced by the manner in
which they were intercalated with the sandstones. ‘These belts, like
those of Lake Superior, were not the result of protrusion between the
strata, but of overflows, like submarine volcanoes, and mingling with
the sediments there being accumulated. There might, therefore, be
an unconformability between the upper and lower portions of the
series, without the necessity of presupposing a great lapse of time,
unless that unconformability was found to prevail over an extended
area.

ON THE LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF THE SANDSTONE AND TRAP OF
LAKE SUPERIOR.

Ar the American Association, Cincinnati, Mr. J. W. Foster, U. 8.
Geologist, in a description of the rocks of the Lake Superior district,
adverted to some curious lithological characters exhibited in the trap
and sandstone formations of this region : —

** The changes which have taken place in the structure and lithological
character of the sandstone and trap, are of an interesting character,
and throw much light on the mode of formation of the trappean beds.
The upper portions of the sheets of the bedded trap are often highly
vesicular, resembling pumice. Fragments of amygdaloid, sometimes
rounded, at others angular, are found enclosed in the pumice-like trap,
as though they had become detached from, and afterwards retinited to,
the mass while in a soft state. Numerous short and irregular fissures,
extending to no great depth, are observed on the upper surface of the

GEOLOGY. 261

trap, and in which the sandstone has been deposited. At the junction
of the two rocks, where the sandstone lies above, it is extremely difficult
to determine where one begins and the other ends, and there is little ap-
arance of metamorphism in the sedimentary rock ; but, on the other
and, where the trap is the overlying rock, the line of junction is clear
and well defined. The trap in this case is more compact, and the sand-
stone, for a distance of three or four feet, is converted into a jaspery
mass. These phenomena have been observed at numerous places, both
on Isle Royal and Keweenaw Point. “Lhe beds of sandstone are not
shattered, nor does the igneous rock penetrate them in the form of
dykes or ramifying veins. All the phenomena indicate that the
igneous rocks were not protruded in the form of dykes between the
strata, but that they flowed like lava sheets over the preexisting sur-
face, and that the sandstone was deposited on the surface of the
igneous mass, in some cases, while the latter was still in an incandes-
cent state.”

INFERENCES DEDUCIBLE FROM THE RAIN-DROP IMPRESSIONS IN THE
TRIASSIC AND CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS.

Srr Cuas. LyE11, in a recent lecture on the impressions of rain and
hail in the strata formed in triassic and carboniferous epochs, deduces
the following inferences :—‘‘ These impressions, in rocks of such remote
antiquity, confirm the ideas entertained of the humid climate of the
carboniferous period, the forests of which, we know, were continuous
over areas of hundreds of miles in diameter. The average dimensions
of the drops indicate showers of ordinary force ; and show that the at-
mosphere corresponded in density, as well as in the varying tempera-
ture of its different currents, with that which now invests the globe.
The triassic hail-marks, moreover, imply that some regions of the at-
mosphere were intensely cold, and, coupled with the foot-prints, worm-
tracks, ripple-marks, and the casts of cracks formed by the drying of
mud, these impressions of rain clearly point to the existence of sea-
beaches, where tides rose and fell, and, therefore, lead us to presume
the joint influence of the moon and the sun. Hence we are led on to
infer that, at this ancient era, the earth, with its attendant planet, was
revolving, as now, round the sun, as the centre of our system, which,
probably, belonged then, as now, to one of those countless clusters of
stars with which space is filled.”

ROCKS NOT FORMED BY INFUSORIA.

Ir is evident that infusorial animalculz can make their appearance,
develop, and multiply, only in those places where they find an abun-
dance of the necessary nourishment in a form adapted to assimilation.
Several species, and these very widely diffused Infusoria, are distin-
guished from other species by possessing certain inorganic constituents,
namely, silica, which forms the shells, or cuirasses, as they may be
termed, of Navicule, Bacillaria, &c., and peroxide of iron, which is a
constituent of many Gallionellz. The carbonate of lime of the chalk
animalculz is precisely similar to the shells of the common molluscous
animals, Many persons have pleased themselves with ascribing the

262 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

enormous depositions of silica, of lime, of peroxide of iron, in ‘the sili-
ceous fossil strata, in tripoli, in chalk, and in bog-ores, to the vital pro-
cesses of primeval Infusoria; as if the formation of these enormous
geological strata could be effected solely by the vital principle! But
they have altogether overlooked the circumstance, that chalk, silica,
and peroxide of iron, must first be present, as the necessary conditions
of the life of these creatures before they could be developed ; and that
their constituents at the present moment are never absent from the
sea, the lakes and the marshes, where the same forms of animalculze
occur in a living state. The water in which these primeval Infusoria
lived contained the silica and the chalk in solution, and in a condition
perfectly suitable for their deposition, in the form of marble, quartz,
and other similar mineral masses; and this deposition would have
taken place inevitably in the ordinary manner, if the water had not
contained the putrefying and decaying remains of preceding races of
animals, and in them the other conditions of the life of siliceous and
calcareous Infusoria.

Without a combination of these circumstances — the presence of
these substances constituting the conditions of their existence —
none of these species of animalculze would have propagated and in-
creased to form these enormous masses. ‘These infusorial animalculze
can only be considered accidental media of the form which the minute
particles of these depositions exhibit ; — accidental, inasmuch as, even
without these creatures, depositions of the silica, the lime, the perox-
ide of iron, would have taken place. Sea-water contains the lime of
the coral animals, of the innumerable mollusks existing in this medium,
in the same form and condition as it is contained in the lakes and
marshes, in which the chalk animalculze develop themselves, or those
mollusks the shells of which constitute the Muschelkalk formations.
— Lnelig Letters, 3d edition.

ON THE LAW OF DEPOSIT OF THE FLOOD TIDE.

Ar the American Association, Cincinnati, a paper was presented by
Lieut. C. H. Davis, U. 8. N., ‘‘ On the Law of Deposit of the Flood
Tide.”’ This communication was intended to be supplementary to Lieut.
Davis’ former paper before the Association,* and in some degree ex-
planatory. It was as follows :— ‘‘ In my memoir on the geological action
of the flood tide,” says Lieut. Davis, ‘‘ I stated that the deposits which
are constantly accumulating upon every alluvial coast are increased, or
have their growth, in the direction of the flood stream. In proof of this,
numerous instances were cited of such growth, or accumulation, on the
south coast of the State of Massachusetts ; and this controlling effect of
the flood current was further exemplified by the drift of the materials
of wrecked vessels, which was found to be always in the same direction,
that is, in the direction of the fiood current. Since the memoir referred
to was written, additional instances have been collected, equally well
authenticated and important, and all tending to confirm the conclusion
laid down in that paper. In my inquiry into the mechanical action

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, vol. I.

GEOLOGY. 263

of this law, I have been very much indebted to the able paper of Mr.
J. Scott Russell, on waves, in the proceedings of the British Associa-
tion. It may be said here generally that the motion of translation, or
motion of the water particles in the positive wave of the first order of
Mr. Russell’s classification, is such as to make that wave ‘a vehicle
for the transmission of mechanical force.’ This is the form of wave
that follows upon the destruction of the waves of the sea upon an allu-
vial coast. The wave of the sea is of the second order; in passing
from the second to the first order, the motion of the particles changes
from the motion of oscillation to that of translation. The matter trans-
ported by the current of the flood tide is subjected to this wave action ;
the particles of water and the suspended matter being projected for-
ward at the moment of disintegration with a mechanical power
proportioned to the height of the wave. The substances beneath the
breaking wave also receive a shock tending to force them further up
the beach. It is under the control of this law that the vast material
of the tertiary and drift periods, which constitute the flesh and muscles
of the great continents, have been saved from wasteful diffusion in the
depth of the ocean, and have been grouped around their original
sources. It may be assumed to be one of the subordinate fundamental
laws of the globe.’

After the reading of Lieut. Davis’ note, Prof. Bache stated that he
had directed the officer engaged in the hydrography of Charleston
harbor, to take up a considerable bulk of water at different periods of
the ebb or flood tide, with the sand mixed in it, so as to determine the
relative amount of deposit in equal quantities of water at different pe-
riods of the tide. The examination was not completed, but Lieut. Maffit
had reported that the water, during the flood, contained a very much
greater amount of sand than during the ebb. The sand of the bar,
during the flood tide, is, as termed by sailors, ‘“‘alive,’’ a fact which
confirms signally the proposition of Lieut. Davis.

ON THE GEOLOGICAL AGENCY OF THE WINDS.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper, read at the American Asso-
ciation, Albany, by Lieut. M. F. Maury : —

Tn the recent survey of the Dead Sea, by Lieut. Lynch and others, a
level was run from the surface of the lake to the Mediterranean, which
showed the surface of the Dead Sea to be about 1300 feet below the
general sea level of the earth. In seeking to account for this great
difference of water level, the geologist examines the neighboring region,
and calls to his aid the forces of elevation and depression which are
supposed to have resided in the neighborhood. He points to them as
the agents which did the work. But is it necessary to suppose that
they resided in the vicinity of this region? May they not have been,
if not in this case, at least in the case of other inland basins, as far re-
moved as the other hemisphere? This is a question which I do not
pretend to answer definitively. But the inquiry as to the geological
agency of the winds, in such cases, is a question which my inyestiga-
tions have suggested; and I therefore present it as one which, in ac-

264 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

counting for the formation of this or that inland basin, is worthy, at
least, of consideration. Is there any evidence that the annual amount
of precipitation upon the water-shed of the Dead Sea, at some former
period, was greater than the annual amount of evaporation? If yea,
where did the vapor that supplied that precipitation come from, and
what has cut off that supply! The mere depression of the lake-bed
would not do it. If there were ever a river from the Dead Sea to the
arms of the ocean about it, we may imagine that river to have abounded
with falls, as the rivers do which drain the lakes into the Atlantic.
And if we establish the fact that the Dead Sea did ever send a river to
the ocean, we carry along with it the admission, that when that sea over-
flowed into that river, then the water that fell from the clouds over the
Dead Sea basin was more than the winds could convert into vapor and
carry away again. In the basin of the Dead Sea, in the basin of the
Caspian, of the Sea of Aral, and in the other inland basins of Asia, we
are entitled to infer that the precipitation and evaporation are at this
time exactly equal; were it not so, the level of these seas would be
rising or sinking. As far as we know, the level of these seas is as per-
manent as that of the ocean, and it is difficult to realize the existence
of subterranean channels between it and the great ocean. Were there
such a channel, the Dead Sea being lower, it would be the recipient
of ocean waters; and we cannot conceive how it should be such a
recipient without ultimately rising to the level of its feeder. It may
perhaps be evident that the question suggested by my researches has
no bearing upon the Dead Sea; that local elevations and subsidences
alone were concerned in placing ‘the level of its waters where it is.
But is it probable that, throughout all the geological periods — during
all the changes which haye taken place in the distribution of land and
water surface over the earth — the winds, which in the general channels
of circulation pass over the Dead Sea, have alone been unchanged !

Where does the water which falls from the clouds upon the valley of
the great North American Lakes come from? It goes into the sea,
and out of the sea it must come again ; else ‘‘ the sea would be full.”
From what part of the sea, therefore, do the clouds get vapor to make
rain of for the lake country ?

The researches conducted at the National Observatory, with regard
to the winds, have suggested the probability that the vapor which is
condensed into rains for the lake valley, and the excess of which the
St. Lawrence carries off to the Atlantic, is evaporated by the S. E. trade
winds of the Pacific. Suppose this to be the case, and that the winds
which bring this vapor arrive with it in the lake country at a mean dew
point of 50°. This would make the S. W. winds the rain winds for
the lakes, generally, as well as for the Mississippi valley. They are
also, speaking generally, the rain winds of Europe ; and, I have no
doubt, of extra-tropical Asia, also. Now, suppose a certain mountain-
range, thousands of miles to the S. W. of the lakes, but across the path
of these winds, were to be suddenly elevated, and its crest pushed up
into the regions of snow, having a mean temperature of 30° F. Now
the winds, in passing that range, would be subjected to a dew point of
30°; and, not meeting with any more evaporating surface between such

GEOLOGY. 265

range and the lakes, they would have no longer any moisture to deposit
at the supposed lake temperature of 50°. They could not yield the
dew point to anything above 30°. Consequently the precipitation in
the lake country would fall off; the winds which feed the lakes would
cease to bring as much water as the lakes now give to the St. Lawrence
— that river and the Niagara would drain them to the level of their
bed. Evaporation would be increased by reason of the dryness of the
atmosphere and the paucity of rain; and the lakes would sink to that
level, at which, as in the case of the Caspian Sea, the precipitation
and evaporation would become equal. Thus, our great lakes would
remain inland seas at a permanent level. The salt brought from the
soil by the washing of the rivers and rains, would cease to be taken off
to the ocean as it now is; and, finally, the great lakes too, in the pro-
cess of ages, would become first brackish and then briny. Now, suppose
the water basins which hold the lakes to be over a thousand fathoms
(6,000 feet) deep. We know they are not nearly so deep. But suppose
they are 6,000 feet deep. The process of evaporation, after the St. Law-
rence had gone dry, might go on until one or two thousand feet or more
were lost from the surface ; and we should then have another instance
of the level of an inland water basin being far below the sea level, as
in the case of the Dead Sea; or it might become a rainless district,
when the lakes themselves would go dry.

Corallines are at work about the Gulf Stream; they have built up
the Florida Reefs on one side, and the Bahama Banks on the other.
Suppose they should build up across that pass and obstruct the Gulf
Stream, and that in like manner they were to connect Cuba with Yucatan
by damming up the Yucatan pass, so that the waters of the Atlantic
shouid cease to flow into the Gulf. What should we have? The Ma-
rine Basin, which holds the waters of the Gulf, is in the deepest parts
about a thousand fathoms. The officers of the U. S. ship Albany have
run a line of deep-sea soundings, from west to east, across the Gulf.
The greatest depth they obtained was 960 fathoms, (5,760 feet.) We
should, therefore, have, by stopping up the channels between the Gulf
and the Atlantic, not a sea level in the Gulf; but we should have a
mean leyel between evaporation and precipitation. If the former were
in excess, the level of the Gulf waters would sink down until the sur-
face exposed to the air would be just sufficient to return to the atmos-
phere as vapor the amount of water discharged by the rivers, the Mis-
sippi and others, into the Gulf. As the waters were lowered, the ex-
tent of evaporating surface would grow less and less, until nature should
establish the proper ratio between the ability of the air to take up and
the capacity of the rain to let down. Thus we might have asea whose
level would be much further below the water-level of the ocean than
is the Dead Sea.

There is still another process by which the drainage of these inland
basins may, through the agency of the winds, have been cut off from
the Great Salt Seas, and that is by the elevation of continents from the
bottom of the sea in distant regions of the earth —and, consequently,
the substitution ofa dry land for a water surface, as the sources of
vapor supply to the wines that blow over the place. From what part

266 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of the ocean, I again ask, comes the vapor which forms the rains that
fall on that immense water-shed to which the lakes give drainage ?
My investigations have suggested the idea that they come from the
trade-wind region of the South Pacific Ocean. Now suppose that a
continent should rise up in that part of the ocean, wherever it may be,
that supplies the clouds with the vapor that makes the rain for the lake
water-shed — what would be the result? Why, surely, a change of
climate in the lake country. An increase of evaporation, because a
decrease of precipitation ; and, consequently, a diminution of cloudy
screens to protect the waters of the lakes from being sucked up by the
rays of the sun ; and, consequently, too, there would follow a low stage
for water-courses, and a lowering of the lake-level.

In the case of Utah, we have an example of drainage that has been
cut off, and an illustration of the process by which Nature equalizes
the evaporation and precipitation. To do this, in this instance, she is
salting up the basin which received the drainage of this inland water-
shed. Here we have the appearance, I am told, of an old channel, by
which the waters used to flow from this basin to the sea, Supposing
there was such a time and such a water-course; the water returned
through it to the ocean was the amount by which the precipitation
used to exceed the evaporation over the whole extent of country drained
through this now dry bed of a river. The winds have had something,
probably, to do with this. They are the agents which used to bring more
moisture to this water-shed than they took away ; and they are the agents
which now carry off from that valley more moisture than is brought to
it, and which, therefore, are here making a salt-bed of places that used
to be covered by water. In like manner there is evidence that the
great American lakes formerly had a drainage with the Gulf of Mexico.
Steamers have been actually known, in former years and in times of
freshets, to pass from the Mississippi over into the lakes. At low
water, the dry bed of a river can be traced. between them. Now the
Salt Lake of Utah is to the southward and westward of our northern
lake basin. That is the quarter whence the rain winds have been sup-
posed to come. May not the same cause which lessened the precipi-
tation, or increased the evaporation in the Salt Lake water-shed, have
done the same for the water-shed of the great American system of
lakes? If the mountains to the west, the Sierra Nevada, stand higher
now than they formerly did, and if the winds which fed the Salt Lake
valley with precipitation had, as I suppose they have, to pass the sum-
mits of these mountains, it is easy to perceive why the winds should
not convey as much vapor across them now as they did when the summit
of the range was lower and not so cool. The Andes, in the trade wind
region of South America, stand up so high that the wind, in order to
cross them, has to part with all its moisture, and, consequently, there
is on the other side a rainless region. Now, suppose a range of such
mountains as these to be elevated across the track of the winds, which
supply the lake country with rain, it is easy to perceive how the whole
country, watered by the vapor which such winds bring, would be con-
verted into a rainless region, I have used these hypothetical cases to
illustrate a position which any philosopher who considers the geological

GEOLOGY. 267

agency of the winds may with propriety consult, when he is told of an
inland basin, the water level of which, it is evident, was once higher
than it now is; and that position is, that though the evidences of
a higher water level be unmistakable and conclusive, it does not follow,
therefore, that there has been a subsidence of the lake basin itself, or
an upheaval of the water-shed drained by it.

Having, therefore, I hope, made clear the meaning of the question
proposed, by showing the manner in which winds may become impor-
tant geological agents, and haying explained how the upheaving of a
mountain range in one part of the world may, through the winds, affect
climates, and produce geological phenomena in another, I return to
the Dead Sea, and the great inland basins of Asia, and ask : How far
is it possible for the elevation of the South American Continent, and the
upheaval of its mountains, to have had any effect upon the water level
ofthese seas? There are indications that they all once had a higher
water level than they now have, and that formerly the amount of pre-
cipitation was greater than it now is. Then, what has become of the
sources of vapor ?

A chain of evidence, which it would be difficult to set aside, can be
introduced, if required, to show that the vapor which supplies the extra-
tropical regions of the North with rains, comes in all probability from
the trade wind regions of the Southern Hemisphere. Now, if it be true
that the trade winds from that part of the world take up there the
water which is to be rained in the extra-tropical North, the path as-
eribed to the S. E. trades of Africa and America, after they descend and
become the prevailing S. W. winds of the northern hemisphere, should

ass over a region of less precipitation generally than they would do
if, while performing the office of 8. E. trades, they had blown over
water instead of land. :

The S. E. trade winds, with their load of vapor, whether great or
small, take, after ascending in the equatorial calms, a north-easterly
direction. They continue to flow in the upper regions of the air, in
that direction, until they cross the Tropic of Cancer. The places of
least rain, then, between this tropic and the pole, should be precisely
those places which depend for their rains upon the vapor which the
winds that blow over 8. E. trade wind of Africa and America convey.

Now, if we can trace the path of these winds through the extra-trop-
ical regions of the northern hemisphere, we shall be able to identif
it by the foot-prints of the clouds; for the paths of the winds whic
depend for their moisture upon such sources of supply as the dry land
of Central South America and Africa, cannot lie through a country
that is watered well.

It is aremarkable coincidence, at least, that the countries in the ex-
tra-tropical regions of the north, that are situated to the N. E. of the
S. E. trade winds of South Africa and America, — that the countries
over which theory makes these winds to blow, include all the Great
Deserts of Asia, and the districts of least precipitation in Europe. Let
any one take a map of Mercator’s projection, and on it draw lines from
the Tropic of Cancer toward the north, to represent the probable route
and direction which the trade winds of the two southern continents

268 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

take, in their general channels of circulation over the northern conti-
nents. The country between these two lines is the country which, in
the general system of atmospherical circulation, lies under the lee of
S. E. trade wind of Africa and America. And to see where this country
is, we have first to ascertain where those two points on the Equator
are between which the S. I. trade winds cross, after haying traversed
the greatest extent of land surface in South America, and then from these
points to project lines in the direction which these winds are supposed
to take, after rising up in the equatorial calms. These two points will
be, one near the mouth of the Amazon, the other not far from the
Gallipagos Islands. The part of the Equator between them is the part
crossed by the 8. E. trades, after having traversed the greatest ex-
tent of land, from whose surface the supplies of moisture are most
scanty. A line from the Gallipagos, through Florence, in Italy, and
another from the mouth of the Amazon, through Aleppo, in Holy Land,
would, after passing the Tropic of Cancer, mark upon the surface
of the earth the route of these winds. This is that ‘‘ lee country”
which, if such be the system of atmospherical circulation, ought to be
scantily supplied with rains. The hygrographic map of Europe, in
Johnston’s Physical Atlas, places the region of least precipitation be-
tween these two lines. It would seem that nature, as if to reclaim
this ‘‘lee’’? land from the desert, had stationed by the wayside of
these winds a succession of inland seas to serve them as a line of relays,
for supplying with moisture this thirsty air. There is the Mediterra-
nean Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Sea of Aral, all of which are situ-
ated exactly in this direction, as though these sheets of water were
designed, in the grand system of aqueous arrangements, to supply with
fresh vapor winds that had already left enough behind them to make
an Amazon and an Orinoco of.

The Andes were once covered by the sea; for their tops are now
crowned with the remains of marine animals. When they and their
continent were submerged — admitting that Europe in general outline
was then as it now is—it cannot be supposed, if the circulation of
vapor was then such as I suppose it now to be, that the climates of
that part of the old world which is under the lee of those mountains,
were then as scantily supplied with moisture as they now are. When
the sea covered South America, the winds had nearly all the waters
which now make the Amazon to bring away and to distribute among
the countries situated along the route ascribed to them.

Is there any evidence that the basin which holds the Caspian Sea
has been more copiously watered than it is now? ‘There is evidence
in favor of the probability that it has been, for portions of that sea
haye retired and left salt-beds behind. If ever the Caspian Sea ex-
posed a larger surface for evaporation than it now does —if the precipi-
tation in that valley ever exceeded the evaporation from it, as it does in
all valleys drained into the open sea — then there must have been a
change of hygrometrical conditions there. And, admitting the vapor
springs for that valley to be situated in the direction supposed, the
rising up of a continent from the bottom of the sea, or the upheaval of
a range of mountains across their route in certain parts of America,

cuowaay: 269

Africa, or Spain, might have been sufficient to rob the air of the moist-
ure which it was wont to carry away and precipitate upon this great
inland basin. See how the Andes have made Atacama a desert, and
of Western Peru a rainless country, simply by the rising of a mountain
range between these regions and their vapor springs.

The great inland basin of Asia in which are the Aral and the Cas-
pian Seas, is situated on the route which I make the thirsty winds
from Africa and America to take, and so scant of vapor are these winds
when they arrive in this basin, that they have no moisture to leave
behind. Just as much as they pour down, they take up again and
carry off. The level of the Caspian Sea is as permanent as that of the
whole ocean. We know that the volume of water returned by the
winds, the rains, and the dews, into the whole ocean, is exactly equal
to the volume which those seas give back to the atmosphere ; for, as far
as our knowledge extends, the level of each of these two seas 1s as per-
manent as that of the great ocean itself. It is estimated that three
times as much water as the Mediterranean receives from its rivers is
evaporated from it. This may be an over-estimate, but the fact is
. made obvious, by the current which the Atlantic sends in through the
Straits of Gibraltar, that the evaporation from it is in excess of the
precipitation ; and that the difference, whether it be much or little, is
carried off to modify climate elsewhere. But supposing the Mediterra-
nean to be barred up across the Straits of Gibraltar ; the demand for
vapor from it would exceed the supplies of water to it, and it would
begin to dry up. As it sinks down, the area exposed for evaporation
would decrease, the supplies to the rivers would diminish, until finally
there would be established between the evaporation and precipitation
an equilibrium, as in the Dead and Caspian Seas; but for aught we
know, the water level of the Mediterranean might, before this equi-
librium were attained, have reached a stage far behind that of the Dead
Sea level. The Lake Tadjura is now in the act of attaining such an
equilibrium. There are connected with it the remains of a channel by
which the water ran into the sea. Its surface is now 500 feet below
the sea level. If not in the Dead Sea, do we not, in the valley of this
lake, find out-cropping some reason for the question — What have the
winds had to do with the phenomena before us? The winds, in this
sense, are geological agents of great power. It is not impossible but
that they may afford us the means of comparing directly geological
events which had taken place in our hemisphere with geological events
in another. The tops of the Andes were once at the bottom of the sea.
Which is the oldest formation, that of the Dead Sea, or the Andes?
If the former be the older, then the climate of the Dead Sea must have
been hygrometrically very different from what it now is.

In regarding the winds as geological agents, we can no longer con-
sider them as the type of instability. We rather behold them in the
light of ancient and faithful chroniclers, which, upon being rightly con-
sulted, will reveal to us truths which nature has written upon their
wings in characters as legible and enduring as she ever engraved the
history of geological events upon the tablet of the rock. é

It is probable that the salt of the sea is washed into it by the rains

23*

270 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and rivers from the land. The waters of Lake Titicaca, which receives
the drainage of the great inland basin of the Andes, are only brackish,
not salt. Hence we may infer that this lake has not been standing
long enough to become brine, like the waters of the Dead Sea ; conse-
quently it belongs to a more recent period. On the other hand, it will
also be interesting to hear that my friend, Captain Lynch, informs me,
that in his exploration of the Dead Sea he saw what he took to be the
dry bed of a river, that once flowed from it. And thus we have two
more stout links, and strong, to add to the circumstantial evidence

oing to sustain the testimony of this strange and fickle witness, which
Pave called up from the sea to testify in this presence concerning the
works of nature, and to tell us which is the older, the Andes watching
the stars with their hoary heads, or the Dead Sea sleeping upon its
cubic beds of crystal salt.

DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS.

Tue system of deep-sea soundings, instituted some years since, by
Lieut. Maury, and since carried out to some extent by our national
vessels, has been prosecuted with success during the past year.* Capt.
Platt, in the sloop of war ‘‘ Albany,”’ has run a line of deep-sea sound-
ings across the Gulf of Mexico, from Tampico to the Straits of Florida.
The basin which holds the waters of this gulf has thus been ascertained
to be a mile deep, and the Gulf Stream in the Florida Pass about 3,000
feetdeep. Inlike manner the ‘‘ John Adams,’’ Capt. Barron, has made
a step in giving us the shape of the great Atlantic basin between the
Capes of Virginia and the Island of Madeira, showing it to be at least
five miles and a half deep. The method of measurement now pursued
is the suggestion of Prof. Guyot, and consists of ordinary packing-
twine attached to a thirty-two-pound shot, which is allowed to run out
until the shot strikes bottom, when the uncoiling is of course suspended.
The length of the twine is previously ascertained, and the depth at-
tained is known by measurement of the quantity remaining upon the
reel. Improvements haye been made upon this system by waxing the
twine and timing its rate of descent.

Tn order to promote the schemes of Lieut. Maury, the Navy Depart-
ment has ordered the commanders of all national vessels to make deep-
sea soundings whenever it is practicable, in whatever part of the ocean
they may happen to be cruising.” The following is a specimen of the
soundings made by the ‘‘ John Adams’ in the North Atlantic, as
reported to the department :—

** May 3, 1851. Latitude 33° 50’ North; longitude 52° 34’ West ;
temperature of the air 64°, water 65°. Had a fair ‘‘ up and down”
sound with (2,600) twenty-six hundred fathoms of line. Time of run-
ming out, 1 hour 23 minutes 10 seconds — one 32-pound shot on the
ine.

“May 9. Latitude 32° 06’, longitude 44° 47’ West; temperature
of the air 66°, water 68°. Got bottom with (5,500) five thousand five
hundred fathoms of line out. Time of running out, 2 hours 44 min.

*See Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1851, p. 264.

GEOLOGY. 271

28 seconds. Drift of ship, 3 miles. Lost two 32-pound shot and 5,500
fathoms of line.

‘“May 10. Latitude 31° 01’ North; longitude 44° 31’ West; tem-
perature of the air 68°, water 68°. Got bottom with (2,300) twenty-
three hundred fathoms of line out. Time of running out, 1 hour 04
minutes 35 seconds.”

CORAL REEFS OF FLORIDA.

At the American Association, Cincinnati, Prof. Agassiz presented
the results of an exploration of the coral reefs of Florida, made under
the auspices of the U.S. Coast Survey, with a view of investigating
the character of the coast and the structure of its extensive range of
corals.

In describing these reefs, Prof. Agassiz remarked, in the outset, that
they differed entirely from the coral reefs of other seas, which have
been so ably described by Mr. Darwin, in the British explorations under
Capt. Fitzroy, and by Mr. Dana, in the United States Exploring Expe-
dition, under command of Capt. Wilkes. In order to point out the
peculiar characteristics of the reefs of Florida, it would be necessary to
speak of the reefs of other regions, and particularly those of the Pacific.
These are divided into three classes ; viz., the Fringing Reef, the Bar-
rier Reef, and Atolls or Lagoons — islands. The characters of each of
these divisions fully justify such a classification. But in the case of
the Florida reef, the coral formations extend in several parallel ridges
between the main land of Florida and the Gulf Stream, in a west-
erly course ; diverging more and more from the main land, until,
near Cape Sable, they are forty miles distant ; stretching like a broad
arm into the Gulf of Mexico, and extending in a southerly direction
into the rapid current of the Gulf Stream. The Pacific Ocean
reefs, on the contrary, grow in the open sea, and differ essentially
in character from those of Florida. The principal reef of living corals
in Florida oceurs between the main keys and the rapid sea current
which runs between Cuba and the islands encircling the main land of
Florida ; but other coral deposits, of a peculiar nature, are found to
exist around, upon, and between the keys of the main land.. The com-
bined action of the tides and currents produces eddies, in which fine
sand, and even mud, is deposited around the reefs. These materials,
Prof. Agassiz considers to be minute fragments, or an impalpable
powder, held in suspension by the water, which is rendered milky
white by their presence. At a short distance beyond, the water he-
comes clear.

The three classes of coral reefs, distinguishable elsewhere, are, first,
the “‘ fringing reefs ;’’ secondly, the ‘‘ barrier reefs,’’ which form rising
walls at some distance from the main land, between which and the
land a broad and safe channel frequently exists; and, thirdly, the
‘*lagoons,”’ or islands, which present circular walls, sometimes contin-
uous, and sometimes broken up. The lagoons often constitute acces-
sible and safe harbors. These encircling reefs are formed in a similar
manner to the barrier reefs, by the growth of coral from an unknown

272 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

depth to the surface. The formation of the two latter classes of reefs
has been ascribed to the subsidence of the bottom, combined with the
upward growth of the corals. The range of living, reef-building corals
has been ascertained to be limited between a depth of sixteen to twenty
fathoms, and a few inches below low-water mark; for, unless con-
stantly submerged, they die; but they are frequently found dead at
enormous depths, forming walls of coral rocks very precipitous.

In Florida, we have no barrier reef, but a series of concentric reefs
enclosing parallel channels, formed without the slightest indication of
submergence or upheaval. There are the outer reef, the Florida keys,
and the shore bluffs, with the main channel, south of the keys; the
mud flats, between the keys and the main land, with a slight depth of
water, often not more than two feet; and flat, low islands, on which
there is an extensive growth of mangroves. ‘The keys rise from ten to
twelve, seldom thirteen, feet above the level of the ocean. Near the
shore there are mud and coral sand accumulations, which are evidently
the results of the decomposition of the solid parts of the corals them-
selves. Beyond the keys, the channel is from five to six, and seldom
more, fathoms deep. Its boundaries are frequently indicated by small
islands or shoals, some of which form very dangerous reefs, such as
Carysfort reef. It is within this channel that the wreckers take up
their abode, being safely sheltered from the strong gales which blow
frequently outside, behind the walls of the outer reef and the bar
islands, rising for a few feet above the level of the ocean. No coast,
said Prof. A., has a more secure and safe navigation than this, if it be
properly understood ; every twenty miles there is the broadest and
safest harbor to run into. But, at present, it is perhaps more danger-
ous to know of these harbors than to be ignorant of their existence ;
for the lights and signals along the shore are located without reference
to using these places of refuge.

Adverting to the geological and zoological character of the general
reef, the Professor remarked that it was important to ascertain whether,
as reported by some, the reef consisted of dead corals only; or, as
others maintained, was composed of living corals, still growing and
extending ; or whether, as it had been asserted by others, it consisted
only of oolitic rocks, containing no indications of corals whatever. All
these statements are found to be consistent with the qualification that the
three classes occupy different localities. On the outer reef, from Cape
Florida to Key West, in from ten to twelve fathoms up to the surface
of the water, living corals are found, greatly differing, however, in con-
stitution — the Madrepores (Madrepora palmata) especially rising to
the very surface, while the commonly so called brain coral (Mean-
drina) occurs in the lower, and the Astrea in still lower levels. Speci-
mens of the different species were exhibited. The Madrepora palmata
form extensive fields of powerful stems, branching and expanding near
the surface into large flats, resting upon strong bases, and presenting
the appearance of leaves spread out. The Professor characterized these
fields as a wonderful spectacle. This extensive growth does not occur,
however, further than one or two fathoms below the surface. Lower
down a number of other species are found.

GEOLOGY. 273

When a growing reef has attained its maximum height, or reached
the level of low water, a new process begins, consisting chiefly in the
accumulation of loose materials upon its summit. Large coral bowl-
ders are thrown up, and gradually ground into fragments, coral gravel
and sand, and finally deposited in more or less regular beds, presenting
all the complications of torrential stratification, which are finally ce-
mented, by the infiltration of amorphous limestone, into compact coral
rock. When the materials are combined in a coarse state of decom-
position, they form a kind of coral breccia ; but when cemented after
they have been reduced to small globular fragments, they constitute a
sort of oolite, and even compact limestone, when the deposit is formed
by precipitation. Thin layers of such compact limestone occur fre-
quently as dividing seams in the larger masses of oolite ; and there is
everywhere such a layer of compact limestone upon the surface of all
coral rocks rising above the level of the sea; a circumstance which
seems to indicate that such layers are not formed under a permanent
sheet of water, but must be the result of action of gales and the spray.
This is the more probable since this superficial crust is nowhere hori-
zontal, but follows all the irregularities of the soil.

If it were asked how corals which, during their growth, have with-
stood so effectually the violence of the sea, become such an easy prey
to the waves after the reef has reached the surface of the water, it would
require only to point at the innumerable boring shells and worms which
establish themselves in the dying part of their stems, and at the brit-
tleness arising from these perforations, to satisfy every careful observer
that the peculiar mode of life of these boring animals is a provision of
nature subservient of the secondary purpose of the corals, to furnish
materials for the increase of the solid parts of our globe.

Along the outer reef of Florida, and in the main range of keys, many
islands may be selected and described, in such an order as to form a nat-
ural series, from a living reef, without a dead fragment upon its edge, to
an extensive island, apparently formed entirely of coral rock or of oolite,
or even of compact limestone ; but, in reality, presenting only a cap
of such dead materials, overlying a true reef, once living, and now
buried under its own fragments. The circumstance that the main
keys and the shore bluffs, which have been formed successively, rise to
the same height above the level of the ocean, is an unquestionable evi-
dence that the ground, over which the general reef of Florida extends,
has undergone no change of level; that it has neither been raised nor
subsided. This evidence may be carried further, by comparing, also,
the Everglades with their intervening ridges and hammocks, which
are, in reality, inland keys and islands, similar to the main keys and
Mangrove islands, formed in the same manner as those now surrounded
by the sea, and which, by the uniformity of their level, furnish addi-
tional evidence that the whole region has been stationary ever since
corals began to grow in those latitudes.

The question of most interest to the Coast Survey, in the examina-
tion of these coral formations, was that of the probability of another
reef being formed at some future time beyond the present outer reef.
Until some conclusion could be arrived at in regard to this question,

274 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

it would be impossible to select, with confidence, any sites for light-
houses, buoys, beacons, &c. Prof. Agassiz, as the result of his exam-
ination, declared his full conviction was that no other reef would ever be
so formed. He then stated that he believed there had taken place no
elevation in the region, as most have supposed. He had examined the
upland keys carefully, and he found that, in all, the coral formation did
not extend above water mark. From the main land a flat had extended
off into the sea, and, at the proper depths, these little animals had com-
menced the inner reef, which gradually rose to the surface. Upon this
reef, in many places, fragments of coral, and sand in layers, had been
driven by the action of winds and waves, so that these islands were
several feet above the water ; but, in no instance, does the living coral
formation exist above the present sea limit. Hence there had been
no elevation, but all the elevation had been caused in this manner.
Between this reef and the main land the basin which had been formed
by the reef gradually filled up and formed the shallow mud flats. Be-
yond this reef the sand had been washed up, and the flat had been
raised, until the conditions necessary for the existence of the polypi
were obtained, when the outer reef was commenced and raised to the
water level, for the polypi cannot work above the water. This reef
would undoubtedly be increased laterally, and sand and detritus be
washed upon it, forming a series of keys like the inner reef, but no reef
would be formed beyond, because this reef was reared on the extreme
limit of the flat, and outside this reef the shore was precipitous and deep
into the channel of the Gulf Stream, and hence the conditions for the
formation of another reef could never exist. It was only necessary, then,
to build lighthouses on this outer reef, and the coast was as safe as any
coast, for there were abundant entrances within the outer reef where
a vessel would ride in safety. The water was yet deep between the
two reefs ; but, as the lights are now placed, they rather allured the
vessel on to the outer reef than warned them of danger, and, he thought,
had been erected according to the suggestions of the wreckers.

The formation of the so-called ‘‘ Everglades ’’ is described as follows :
— ‘‘ This portion of the peninsula is only a vast coral bank, composed
of a series of more or less parallel coral reefs, which have successively
grown from the bottom of the sea up to the surface, and have been
added to the main land by the gradual filling of the intervals which
separate them, with deposits of coralline sand and debris, brought
thither by the action of the tides and of the currents. On the solid
reefs, the action of the waves accumulates masses of sand and mud the
height of twelve feet above the sea level. This soil soon becomes fixed
by the growth of mangrove trees and other plants. The intervals,
being lower, form large fresh water swamps, filled with every kind of
aquatic plant, through which the Seminole, like the white man, can

enetrate only in a boat. The higher and drier reefs are the so-called
tanks, which rise like islands from the deep and green swamps
that bear the name of everglades. ‘This formation still goes on. The
series of keys, as they are called, which border the southern and east-
ern coast, and terminate with the Tortugas Islands, far beyond the point
of Florida, are only a new line of hammocks which will soon be united
to the main land by everglades formed by the deposits of the sea.’’

GEOLOGY. 275

ON THE SOLIDIFICATION OF THE ROCKS OF THE FLORIDA REEFS.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper read at the American Asso-
ciation, Albany, by Prof. E. N. Horsford : —

It is required to ascertain by what processes, chemical or mechani-
cal, or both, the surface and the submerged rocks have become hard-
ened. By the surface rocks is intended that thin brown crust,
composed of numerous layers, which is distinguished by great compact-
ness, and which occurs on the abrupt ocean side, and more abundantly
on the long slopes on the land side of the Keys. By the submerged
rock is intended the rock of oolitic appearance, which has solidified
under water, and which is of superior hardness to the surface rock.
The surface rock, so called, has, in many places, no longer the outer-
most position, though it had at the time of its formation. It is indeed
inter-stratified with friable light-colored limestone. The epithet indi-
cates the circumstances of its formation, not its present position. We
are familiar with the fact that a mixture of quicklime, water and sand,
spread out upon walls and ceilings exposed to an atmosphere contain-
ing carbonic acid, in a few days becomes hard. Analyses have shown
that two chemical phenomena are concerned in the solidification, viz.,
the absorption of carbonic acid from the air, forming carbonate of lime,
(which salt, uniting in equivalent proportions with the hydrate, forms
a compound of great stability,) and the union of the outer portions of
the sand-grains with the lime forming a silicate. Investigation has
shown that sand fulfils, mechanically, a more important office by in-
creasing the extent of surface to which the compound of the hydrate
and carbonate may attach itself. The latter office may also be per-
formed, and equally well, by pulverized limestone. It is well known
that calcareous springs deposit carbonate of lime in crystalline forms.
The salt had been held in solution by carbonic acid contained in the
water. Upon reaching the surface, under less pressure and the influ-
ence of a high temperature, its carbonic acid is given up, and with it a
precipitate of carbonate of lime takes place.

The value of hydraulic cements is now conceived to depend chiefly
upon the presence of silica and lime, the oxide of iron having little or
nothing to do with solidification. The alumina, in the form of a sili-
cate, yields its silica to the lime, which, for its transportation, requires
water. This explains at once the necessity of its being retained under
water periods of variable length, according to the proportions of the
ingredients. Gypsum, from which water of crystallization has been
expelled by heat, rapidly hardens upon being mixed with water. This
is ascribed to the reunion of the sulphate of lime with the water.

Do either of the above processes furnish a suggestion as to the
methods by which the rocks of the Florida reefs have been hardened ?

The facts presented in furnished. specimens are as follows :— The
rock formed under water exclusively is composed of grains of size less
than that of a mustard seed, which, to the naked eye, appear quite
globular and of uniform diameter. More carefully examined with a
microscope, they are found to be far from regular in form or uniform in
size, but present numerous depressions and prominences. Distributed

216 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

throughout the intervening spaces is a fine deposit of carbonate of
lime, which adheres with considerable tenacity to the surface upon
which it rests.

The surface or crust rock, though not strictly homogeneous, is com-
posed of particles so minute as not to be distinguished from each other.
It is soluble in hydrochloric acid. It contains neither silica nor sul-
phuric acid. Quantitative analysis showed the mass to be for the most
part composed of carbonate of lime, a little hydrate of lime, and a
small quantity of organic matter. These ingredients permitted no
action like that occurring in hydraulic cements, in which silica is re-
quired, or like that presented in the hardening of gypsum, in which
sulphuric acid is necessary. To one of the two remaining processes,
if to either, must it be ascribed —and as hydrate of lime is present, it
cannot be exclusively assigned to a place with calcareous spring de-
posits. Now, how could hydrate of lime be provided from carbonate
of lime? The completeness of the suit of collections provided for me
by Prof. Agassiz has enabled me to answer this question in such man-
ner as leaves, I think, little room for doubt. On the main land against
the keys there are depressions which are filled with water, only at
long and irregular intervals. This water, like that within and about
the keys, abounds with animal life. As the water evaporates, these
animals die, and fall upon and mingle with the coral mud at the bot-
tom. As the beds become more and more completely dry, the layer of
mud and animal matter hardens till it forms a mass resembling the
surface or crust rock. Of this soft, growing rock, specimens were col-
lected. Agitated with water it yielded a turbid foetid solution. Tested,
it betrayed the presence of hydro-sulphuric acid. After standing
some hours, a delicate white film was deposited upon the containing
vessel, at the surface of the water, which proved to be carbonate of
lime.

Conceiving this soft rock to be in the condition in which the solidi-
fied crust was at first, the process of hardening seems of easy explana-
tion. The animal matter mixed with the carbonate of lime, containing
sulphur and nitrogen, besides carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, in the
progress of decay, which warmth and a small quantity of water facili-
tated, gave, as an early product of decomposition, hydro-sulphuric acid.
This, by oxidation, at the expense of the oxygen of the atmosphere,
became water and sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid coming in con-
tact with carbonate of lime, a salt soluble in 10,000 parts of water
resolved it into sulphate of lime, a salt soluble in 380 parts of water.
The carbonic acid set free, uniting with an undecomposed atom of car-
bonate of lime, rendered it soluble. Ata later period, the nitrogen,
going over into the form of ammonia, decomposed the sulphate of lime,
forming sulphate of ammonia and soluble hydrate of lime. This
hydrate of lime, with an atom of carbonate of lime, united to form the
compound in ordinary mortar. The carbonate of lime in solution from
the added carbonic acid, as the water is withdrawn by evaporation,
takes on the crystalline form, giving increased strength and solidity to
the rock. That this explanation may serve, in however small measure,
for the crust rock on the land slopes of Key West and all localities of

GEOLOGY. QT

a similar character, it is necessary that there be animal exuvia in coral
mud or finely divided carbonate of lime. Both these occur. The
water about the keys abounds in animal life.

With the influx of the tide the slopes become overspread with the
water and what it contains in suspension. The retreating water, at
ebb tide, leaves a thin layer of the animal matter, mixed always, when
the water is agitated, with the fine calcareous powder. Before the
return of flood tide, exposure to the atmosphere and warmth have
secured the succession of chemical changes enumerated above, and a
thin layer of rock is formed. A repetition of this process makes up the
numerous excessively thin layers of which this rock is composed. On
the ocean side, the deposit is formed from spray during winds which
drive the froth of the sea, containing, with coral mud, the exuyia from
the barrier of living corals upon the low bluffs of the keys. 4

To these chemical changes must be added the simple admixture of
the animal and vegetable matter, which, like mucilage or glue, fills up
the interstices, increases the extent of surface, and with it the cohesive
attraction, and still further to the decomposition of the organic matter
furnishing carbonic acid, which gives solidity to the pulverulent car-
bonate of lime. The exceeding fineness of the coral mud is due in part
to the stone plants which flourish in the waters within the reef, and
which admit of ready reduction to a powder of extreme fineness.

No alumina was found in any of the corals analyzed. The stone
plant as well as the coral animal possesses the power of abstracting
lime from sulphuric acid —the change doubtless being due to double
decomposition with carbonate of ammonia excreted from the plant and
animal, yielding carbonate of lime — quite insoluble —and sulphate
of ammonia of the highest solubility. The building up of the calea-
reous skeleton becomes, therefore, of exceeding simplicity. The sur-
rounding element yields at once to the exhaling carbonate of ammonia
the framework of stone.

The conclusions to which the above research has conducted, are:

That the submerged or oolitic rock has been solidified by the infil-
tration of finely powdered (not dissolved) carbonate of lime, increas-
ing the points of contact, and the introduction of a small quantity of
animal mucilaginous matter, serving the same purpose as the carbonate
of lime — that of increasing the cohesive attraction ; and

That the surface rock has been solidified by having, in addition to
the above agencies, the aid of a series of chemical decompositions and
recompositions resulting in the formation of a cement.

It is one of the grateful reflections arising from this inquiry, that
nature has provided, in the very conditions of the growth of the coral,
the means of securing, and, in the progress of ages, rendering habit-
able, the domain cut off from the sea by the emergence of coral reefs.

THE COMPLETED CORAL ISLAND.

Tne coral island, in its best condition, is but a miserable residence
for man. ‘There is poetry in every feature; but the natives find this a
poor substitute for the bread-fruit and yams of more favored lands.

24

278 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

The cocoanut and pandanus are, in general, the only products of the
vegetable kingdom afforded for their sustenance, and fish and crabs
from the reefs their only animal food. Scanty, too, is the supply ; and
infanticide is resorted to in self defence, where a few years would
otherwise overstock the half a dozen square miles of which their little
world consists. Yet there are more comforts than might be expected
on a land of so limited extent — without rivers, without hills, in the
midst of salt water, with the most elevated point but ten feet above
high tide, and no part more than 300 yards from the ocean. Though
the soil is light, and the surface often strewed with blocks of coral,
there is a dense covering of vegetation to shade the native villages
from a tropical sun. The cocoanut, the tree of a thousand uses,
grows luxuriantly on the coral-made land after it has emerged from
the ocean; and the scanty dresses of the natives, their drinking ves-
sels and other utensils, mats, cordage, fishing-lines, and oil, besides
food, drink, and building materials, are all supplied from it. The
pandanus or screw-pine flourishes well, and is exactly fitted for such
regions; as it enlarges and spreads its branches, one prop after
another grows out from the trunk and plants itself in the ground, and
by this means its base is widened and the growing tree supported.
The fruit, a large ovoidal mass, made up of oblong dry seeds diverging
from a centre, each near two cubic inches in size, affords a sweetish
husky article of food, which, though little better than prepared corn-
stalks, admits of being stored away for use when other things fail.
The extensive reefs abound in fish, which are easily captured, and the
natives, with wooden hooks, often bring in larger kinds from the deep
waters. From such resources a population of 10,000 persons is sup-
ported on the single island of Taputeouea, whose whole habitable area
does not exceed six square miles. Water is to be found commonly in
sufficient quantities for the use of the natives, although the land is so
low and flat. They dig wells five to ten feet deep in any part of the
dry islets, and generally obtain a constant supply. The only source
of this water is the rains, which, percolating through the loose sur-
face, settle upon the hardened coral rock that forms the basis of the
island. As the soil is white, or nearly so, it receives heat but slowly,
and there is consequently but little evaporation of the water that is
once absorbed.

Notwithstanding the great number of coral islands in the Paumotu
Archipelago, the botanist finds there only twenty-eight or twenty-nine
native species of plants. In the Marshall group, where the vegetation
is more yaried, fifty-two native plants exist. The language of the
natives indicates their poverty, as well as the limited productions and
unvarying features of the land. All words like those for mountain,
hill, river, and many of the implements of their ancestors, as well as the
trees and other vegetation of the land from whence they are derived,
are lost to them ; and as words are but signs of ideas, they have fallen
off in general intelligence. It would be an interesting inquiry for the
philosopher, to what extent a race of men placed in such circum-
stances are capable of mental improvement. Perhaps the query might
be best answered by another: How many of the various arts of civil-

GEOLOGY. 279

ized life could exist in a land where shells are the only cutting instru-
ments —the plants in all but twenty-nine in number — but a single
mineral—-quadrupeds none, with the exception of foreign mice —
fresh water barely enough for household purposes—no streams, nor
mountains, nor hills? How much of the poetry and literature of
Europe would be intelligible to persons whose ideas had expanded
only to the limits of a coral island; who had never conceived of a
surface of land above a half a mile in breadth —of a slope higher
than a beach — of a change of seasons beyond a variation in the prey-
alence of rains? What elevation of morals should be expected upon
a contracted islet, so readily over-peopled that threatened starvation
drives to infanticide, and tends to cultivate the extremest selfishness ?
Assuredly there is not a more unfavorable place for moral or intellectual
development in the wide world than a coral island, with all its beauty
of grove and lake. — Prof. Jas. D. Dana, Geology of the Exploring
Expedition.

HEIGHT OF MT. WASHINGTON, N. H.

In the report of the Board of Regents of the University of New
York, for 1851, Mr. Joel W. Andrews furnishes the results of some
careful barometrical measurements, made with a view of determining
the height of Mt. Washington, N. H. From these it appears that the
elevation from tide-water in the Hudson river, to the White Mountain
House, in the town of Carroll, N. H., is 1622.296 feet.

From the White Mountain House to the summit of Mt. Washing-
ton, by way of Mt. Pleasant, the elevation is 4874.322 feet, which
sum added to the former, would make the height of Mt. Wash-
ington to be 6496.618 feet above tide-water at Albany, as indi-
cated by the barometer. It is, therefore, sufficiently ascertained by
experiment, that Mt. Washington, in latitude 44° 15’ N., has a
greater elevation than any other mountain summit between the Mis-
Sissippi and the Atlantic, east and west, or between the Gulf of Mexico
and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, north and south. It also appears that
the summit of this mountain is within 1000 or 1500 feet of the line
of perpetual snow.

ASCENT OF MT. ARARAT.

Mr. Ararat has been ascended for the first time during the past year
by a party of Russian and French officers. The height of the moun-
tain is 17,000 feet. M. Khanikoff, in a letter read before the British
Association, states ‘‘ that the ascent does not present upon the side
attempted any great difficulties ;—above all, with the ample means
which we had at our disposal — consisting of cossacks, soldiers, peas-
ants, beasts of burden, tents, provisions, and such like. For myself, I
remained twenty-four hours on the top; having maintained an unin-
terrupted series of horary observations of the barometer, the ther-
mometer, and the psychrometer, to determine the diurnal change in the
pressure of the air, the temperature and the humidity, at so consider-
able a height. A portion of the party remained upon the summit five

280 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

days, for the purpose of continuing observations.’’ In relation to the
effect of this vast height upon the constitution, M. Khanikoff observes:
“This elevation does not make itself felt except on the organs of
respiration — which are considerably oppressed by the rarity of the
air; of which the mean pressure on the sea-coast corresponds with a
height of mercury in the barometer of 760 millimetres, while on the
summit of Ararat it was only 410 millimetres. ‘This causes a certain
inconvenience to be felt all over the body, and makes one feel that the
circulation of the blood is not carried on as usual. As to the other
symptoms indicated by several travellers—such as tightness of the
skin, loss of blood by the lips, the gums, the ears, and even the eyes,
consequent on a neryous excitement resembling delirium, — nothing
of the kind was experienced by any of us. In fact, the inconveniences
of our position, which certainly was not very comfortable, arose not
from the height at which we were, but from the cold which prevails
at that height —to be experienced everywhere around in winter —
and from the snow on which we lay and in which our little tent was
overwhelmed. During the greater part of the time the thermometer
was between 9° and 27° Fah., which, with the violent wind that
prevails constantly in these regions, forms a temperature not very
agreeable.’? — London Atheneum.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MAMMOTH CAVE.

Tue May number of Silliman’s Journal contains an interesting ac-
count of the Mammoth Cave, in a letter addressed to Prof. Guyot by
Prof. Benj. Silliman, Jr., who has recently made an exploration of its
mysteries ; and also, in connection with Mr. Mantell, made a collection
of the animals found there. One atmospheric phenomenon attracted
the attention of these gentlemen, and tasked their ingenuity for a sat-
isfactory explanation ; viz., the blast of cool air blowing outward from
the cave, which renders it nearly impossible to enter with a lighted
lamp. If the external air has a temperature of 90° Fahr., the blast
amounts to a gale; but if the air without has a temperature of 59-60°,
no current is observed, and the flame of a lamp held in a favorable po-
sition indicates none. It immediately occurred to me (said Prof. Silli-
man) that there must be two currents, one above of warmer air, passing
inward, and one below of colder air, passing outward, and the reverse ;
but experiment soon satisfied me that this was not the case. Only one
current could be discovered, and, on inquiry of our intelligent guide, I
found that this phenomenon had attracted his attention, and that he
was satisfied, from many observations, that only one current existed,
and that this flared owt when the external air was above 60°, and inward
when this was below 60°.

The phenomenon is accounted for by Prof. Silliman as follows : —The
mouth of the cave is the only communication between the external air
and the vast labyrinth of galleries and avenues which stretch away for
many miles in the solid limestone. The air in these underground ex-
cayations is pure and exhilarating, which may, in part, be accounted
for by the nitre beds of incredible extent, as the nitrogen which is

GEOLOGY. 281

consumed in the formation of the nitrate of lime must have its propor-
tion of free oxygen disengaged, thus enriching this subterraneous atmos-
phere with a larger portion of the exhilarating principle. The temper-
ature of the cave is uniformly 59°, summer and winter, and this is
probably very near to the annual mean of the external air. The ex-
pansion which accompanies an elevation of temperature in the outer
air is immediately felt by the denser air of the cave, and it flows out in
obedience to the law of motion in fluids, and the outward current con-
tinues without interruption as long as the outer air is possessed of a
higher temperature than the cave.

The phenomena of life within the cave are comparatively few but
interesting. ‘There are several insects, the largest of which is a sort
of cricket, with enormously long antennze. There are several species
of coleoptera, mostly burrowing in the nitre earth. There are some
small species of water insects, supposed to be crustaceous. Of fish,
there are two species, one of which, as is well known, is entirely eye-
less ; the other has external eyes, but is quite blind. The only mam-
mal, except the bats, is a rat, which is very abundant. Prof. Silliman
is of opinion that the excavations of the Mammoth Caye have been
formed by water, and by no other cause,

NATURAL BRIDGE IN ALABAMA.

In the recent geological survey of Alabama, by Prof. Tuomey, a nat-
ural bridge was examined, which is described as rivalling the celebrated
one in Virginia. The location is in Walker county, about a mile from
the road. ‘It occurs,’’ says Prof. Tuomey, ‘‘ in that geological deposit
termed the millstone grit—the lowest one in the coal measures —
the only rock which, in Alabama, exhibits the truly wild and romantic
grandeur of nature. Before reaching it, our imaginations had been
considerably elevated by the descriptions given by our guide ; but, not-
withstanding, when the reality broke upon us in its full magnificence, we
found that our expectations fell very far short of the truth. This grand
structure of the Great Architect spans about one hundred and twenty
feet, while its height is about seventy. A smaller bridge connects it
with the bluff beyond. The symmetry of the main arch will make it
almost indestructible, though, of course, its regularity has only been
produced by the undermining and breaking down of the rock which,
at some by-gone time, existed below it. ‘The cleavage marks of the
massive sandstone, of which it is formed, causes it, even in the more
minute construction, to resemble an artificial bridge, as these lines
make it appear as if built with regularly worked blocks. Beneath it
are many pieces of broken and partially water-worn rock — materials,
as it were, left by the builders; and these, together with the mighty
escarpments round about, would impart a most grand aspect, even if
that were not produced by the bridge itself.’

TUSCARORA SOUR SPRING.

THs spring is situated in the Indian Reserve, about nine miles
south of Brantford, ry three miles south of the bank of the Grand
24%

282 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

River, in the County of Wentworth, Upper Canada. The country, for
some distance round, is thickly wooded ; but, in the immediate vicinity
of the spring, is a small clearing, upon a rising ground, on one side of
which is the spring, in an enclosure eight or ten rods square. In the
centre of this is a hillock, eight or ten feet high, made up of the gnarled
roots of a pine now partially decayed. ‘The whole enclosure is covered
with crumbling rotten wood, and resembles a tan-heap; upon digging
down eighteen inches, the same material was found, apparently derived
from the crumbling away of the enclosure. The whole soil, if it may
be thus designated, is saturated with acid water, and the mould at the
top of the hillock, as well as without the enclosure, is strongly acid.

The principal spring is at the east side of the stump, and hasa round
basin, about eight feet in diameter and about four to five feet deep ; the
bottom is soft mud, and there is no yisible outlet ; and, at the centre,
a constant ebullition is going on from the evolution of small bubbles of
gas, which is found on examination to be carburetted hydrogen. The
water is slightly turbid and brownish-colored, apparently from the sur-
rounding decayed wood, which, indeed, forms the sides of the basis.
It is strongly acid and styptic to the taste, and at the same time decid-
edly sulphurous ; a bright silver coin is readily blackened by the water,
and the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen is perceived for some distance
round the place. Within a few feet of this was another smaller basin,
evolving gas more copiously than the other, and somewhat more sul-
phurous to the taste, although not more acid. In other parts of the
enclosure there were three or four smaller cavities partly filled with
water more or less acid, and evolving a small quantity of gas. The
temperature of the larger spring was 56° Fah., that of the smaller one
56° near the surface, but, on burying it in the soft mud at the bottom,
itrose to 60.5°. The specific gravity was found to be 1005.683.—Hunt’s
Survey of Canada.

GREAT CATARACT IN INDIA.

Tue river Shirhawti, between Bombay and Cape Comorin, falls into
the Gulf of Arabia. The river is about one fourth of a mile in width,
and, in the rainy season, some thirty feet in depth. ‘This immense
body of water rushes down a rocky slope three hundred feet, at an angle
of 45°, at the bottom of which it makes a perpendicular plunge of eight
hundred and fifty feet, into a black and dismal abyss, with a noise like
the loudest thunder. The whole descent is, therefore, eleven hundred
and fifty feet, or several times that of Niagara. The volume of water
in the latter is somewhat larger than that of the former ; but, in depth
of descent, it will be seen there is no comparison between them. In
the dry season the Shirhawti is a small stream, and the fall is divided
into three cascades of surpassing beauty and grandeur. They are al-
most dissipated and dissolved into mist before reaching the bed of the
river below.

GROTTO DEL CANE.

Tue Grotto del Cane, or dog grotto, has been so much cited for its
stratum of carbonic acid gas covering the floor, that all geological tray-

GEOLOGY. 2838

ellers who visit Naples feel an interest in seeing it. Unfortunately,
like some other grottos, its enchantment disappears on a near view. It
is a little hole dug artificially into the foot of a hill facing Lake Agnano.
The aperture is closed by a door, and the space within is barely sufli-
cient for one person to stand erect. Into this narrow cell a poor little
dog is very unwillingly dragged, and placed in a depression of the
floor, where he is soon narcotized by the carbonic acid. The earth is
warm to the hand, and the volume of gas given out is very constant.
Such is the world-renowned Grotto del Cane, which, if it did not equal
our anticipation, at least afforded us the opportunity of some merri-
ment. — Prof. Silliman’s Notes on Europe.

THE SALT LAKE OF UTAH.

Lieut. Gunnison, of the Topographical Engineers, who has been em-
ployed for some time past in the survey of the great basin in which
the Salt Lake is situated, speaks of the lake as an object of the greatest
curiosity. The water is about one third salt, yielding that amount on
boiling. Its density is considerably greater than that of the Dead Sea.
One can hardly get his whole body below the surface. In a sitting
position, the head and shoulders will remain above water, such is the
strength of the brine, and, on coming to the shore, the body is covered
over with an incrustation of salt, in fine crystals. The most surprising
thing about it is the fact, that during the summer season the lake throws
on shore abundance of salt, while in the winter season it throws up
glauber salt in large quantities. The reason of this is left to the scien-
tific to judge, and, also, what becomes of the enormous amount of fresh
water poured into it by three or four large rivers— Jordan, Bear, and
Weber —as there is no visible outlet.

ON EARTHQUAKES.

Mr. Matter, at the British Association, presented some additional
observations on the limits of earthquake waves.* The rate of transit
was expected to be the least rapid in sand, and most in some elastic,
homogeneous, crystalline rock. Accordingly, a mile was measured on
the sands near Dublin, and a cask of powder buried at one extremity ;
— the interval between the firing of the powder and the indication of
the shock at the other station, as registered by Wheatstone’s chrono-
graph, gave a rate of 965 feet per second as the average of ten good
experiments. A shorter base was measured on the granite, and shocks
produced by borings three and a half inches diameter, and eighteen
feet deep, in which as much as twenty pounds of powder exploded.
The experiment was repeated twenty or thirty times; and where the
eranite was most shattered the shock, arrived at the rate of only 1,299
feet per second ; under the most favorable circumstances, where the rock
was most-homogeneous, the impulse travelled at 1,661 feet per second.
In many of the most celebrated earthquakes, clocks have been stopped,

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, p. 273.

~ 284 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and thus indications afforded of the rate at which the shocks travelled.
In the Lisbon earthquake of 1761, the shock travelled to Corunna at
the rate of 1,994 feet, to Cork at the rate of 5,280 feet, and to Santa
Cruz, in Barbary, at 3,261 feet per second. The great Cutch earth-
quake, in 1819, stopped the clocks in Calcutta, and showed a rate of
1,173 feet per second. The Nepaul earthquake of 1834 stopped numer-
ous chronometers, and the rate of transit from the assumed centre to
various places showed a rate varying from 1,000 to 3,000 feet per
second. These rates were all lower than would be expected, consider-
ing rocks as homogeneous substances ; and, perhaps, after all, the
earthquake shocks might follow a law altogether different from that of
sound waves. Mr. Mallet then called the attention to the catalogue
of earthquakes, amounting to nearly 6,000, and exhibited diagrams
in which the amount of earthquake disturbance, in all known times,
was represented by curved lines; these showed a slight indication of
paroxysmal periods, with intervals of a half century or more. A col-
ored map was exhibited showing the distribution of earthquakes, the
intensity of the color being proportioned to the frequency of these visi-
tations. On this map the regions of Guinea, Abyssinia and Madagas-
car were uncolored, no recorded earthquakes haying occurred in them.
Greenland was uncolored, because the slight shocks felt there might
have been occasioned simply by the movement of masses of ice on the
coast. Especial attention was called to one spot in the Atlantic, near
the line, and midway between Guinea and Brazil ; vessels passing this
tract almost always experienced shocks ; the soundings were extremely
variable, some being obtained at 400 fathoms, whilst at very small
distances the depth was exceedingly great, as if the bottom was formed
by a group of volcanic mountains. The connection between earth-
quake lines and volcanic lines was very apparent on this map; but
some earthquake regions, like Central Siberia, and a tract extending
from India to Bohemia, display very little volcanic energy. Ona dia-
gram section of the globe, the most distant points at which great
earthquakes had been felt were connected by straight lines; these
showed what very large portions of the map of the earth might have
been affected, supposing the original impulses to have been communi-
cated at any great depths.

NEW VOLCANIC ISLAND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Ir will be remembered that an island, about 120 feet high and 2,000
feet_in circumference, suddenly sprang up in 1831 between Sicily and
La Pantellaria. It disappeared about a month after, and at a later
. even the sounding lead could give no indication of its existence ;

ut vessels passing over the place it had formerly occupied would
sometimes feel a sort of shock, which showed that it was of volcanic
origin. In March last, however, the French vessel Kole, which was
taking soundings in the vicinity, discovered some traces of its exist-
ence. Observations made since this time have verified the truth of
the preceding observation, and further discovered that the island,

GEOLOGY. 285

which has been christened ‘ Isola Giulia,’’ was only nine feet under
water. It is presumed from this that it is gradually rising.

MUD VOLCANO NEAR THE SALT LAKE, UTAH.

A CORRESPONDENT Of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser gives the
following description of a mud volcano in the vicinity of the Great
Salt Lake : —

This volcano is in a plain of mud, and on the borders of the lake.
It is composed of mud, and covers several acres. Steam and water are
escaping from some half dozen apertures. The mud is raised up into
cones, the highest not five feet from the general surface. They are
terminated by tubes, some hardened and lined with crystals of sulphur
and other substances. One of the cones throws steam and water 10
or 15 feet into the air. It escapes rapidly, and with a sound resem-
bling the escape of steam from the pipe of a small steam-engine ;
and it ejects hot and cold water at short intervals. One caldron,
some four feet across, boils up until it overflows, then sinks several
feet, and again overflows. Nothing is seen but amass of foam; the
water is strongly impregnated with sal-ammoniac. There are other
caldrons, from 10 to 20 feet in diameter, filled to within three or four
feet with boiling mud, which is occasionally thrown out in every
direction. About a mile further off is another collection of mud cones,
and on the opposite side an island of volcanic rocks rises to the height
of 50 feet ; at the foot of it is salt in sheets, strongly impregnated with
sal-ammoniac ; that from the lake is pure, and is used by the Califor-
nians. In the vicinity of the volcano we saw several ledges covered
with pumice, and we met with it in various other places on the plains.

EARTHQUAKES REPORTED IN i851.

EarTHQvuakEs, in countries seldom visited by them, are generally
regarded as somewhat rare and isolated phenomena. The following
table of the earthquakes reported during 1851, will show that these
phenomena, at least during the past year, have been somewhat
frequent, and in several cases attended with most frightful con-
sequences. The record given does not probably embrace one half the
cases actually occurring ; many shocks, of greater or less intensity, in
remote countries, not being reported. The earthquakes here given are
arranged chronologically.

December 10th, 1850, at sea, 850 miles from the coast of Chili, S.
A., lat. 38° S., long. 96° W.; the shocks were so sensibly felt on ship-
board as to cause apprehensions of having grounded.

é 2 Sevary 9th, 1851; several shocks at Malta and the neighboring
islands.

January 26th, at Guerrera, Mexico. This earthquake was accom-
panied by a meteor of great size, which fell upon a neighboring
mountain.

January 17th and 21st, and February 4th, 6th, and 14th, in the

286 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Punjaub, the north-west province of India,—no injury of note
occasioned.

February 7th, at Carthagena, New Grenada. This earthquake was
of great severity, and, had it continued a few seconds longer, would have
destroyed the entire city. As it was, much damage was effected.

February 20th, at San Martha, S. A. ; somewhat severe.

February 25th, repeated shocks at Trebizond, Asia Minor, and the
neighboring countries.

February 26th, at the Sandwich Islands.

April 2d, the great earthquake of Chili, 8. A.

April 11th, at the Island of Rhodes, destroying the city of Macri.
A volcano opened near the port of Laviral, on the same island.

April 17th, shocks of unwonted severity in various parts of Sweden
and Norway.

May 17th, at the Island of Gaudaloupe.

May 15th, shocks experienced in California and New Mexico.

May 26th, at Copiapo, S. A.

July 1st, in Hungary and Southern Austria.

July 2d, severe shocks were felt in Missouri, especially in the vicin-
ity of New Madrid. The earth opened in several places, sand and
water being thrown up. ‘This is the first time the earth has opened,
or that a d/ow has occurred, since the ‘‘ great earthquake”’ of 1812.

July 14th, in the kingdom of Naples. This earthquake was one of
great severity, and was attended with great loss of life and property.

August 5th, in the Island of Martinique, accompanied with a ter-
rible eruption of the long dormant volcano, Pelee.

October 17th and 20th, in Albania and Dalmatia. This earthquake
caused whole villages to disappear, and a great extent of country to
be submerged.

November 12th, shocks experienced in California.

Since the commencement of 1852, two earthquake shocks have been
experienced in the month of January ; cne on the 10th, in Massachu-
setts, sensibly felt at New Bedford, and extending west as far as Con-
necticut River ; the other on the 26th, in Mississippi.

The following is an account of the great earthquake of July 14th,
occurring in the kingdom of Naples : —

This convulsion appears to have had its origin in the volcanic region
of Mount Volture, about one hundred miles to the south-east of Naples.
It is a detached and isolated eminence, 3000 feet in elevation ; its slopes
and summits are broken into numerous craters, of the vitality of which
no record exists, but which bear evidence of eruptive violence at some
remote period.

The city of Melfi, containing 10,000 inhabitants, near the above
mountain, was totally destroyed, with a great loss of life. No previous
warning was given to the inhabitants, but the whole city was pros-
trated at one shock. This shock was followed by six others, of less
intensity, occurring at intervals, within thirty hours. A large number
of small cities and villages experienced a like fate with Melfi. The
estimated loss of life over the whole district was upwards of 2500.

GEOLOGY. 287

PHENOMENA ATTENDING THE EARTHQUAKE IN CHILI, APRIL, 1851.

Lr. Gruss, in charge of the U. S. Astronomical Expedition to Chili,
furnishes to the National Intelligencer, Washington, the results of the
observations made on the great earthquake which occurred April 2d,
1851, at Valparaiso. He says :— ‘‘ The instrument for measuring the
direction and comparative violence of earthquakes, brought with us,
haying failed to record any of those previously occurring, in December
last I caused a pendulum nine feet ten inches long to be made, with
its lead ball, and some fine silver wire suspending the pendulum from
a tripod. A common needle is inserted in a cork at the bottom of the
ball, which just touches a sheet of glazed paper marked with concen-
tric circles and the points of the compass. The paper lies on a hori-
zontal plate of glass resting on the earth, and is sprinkled with black
sand, so that the motion of the pendulum leaves a white line exposed.
It is to be regretted that the paper had not been secured to the earth,
for during the shock there was a displacement bodily of about half an
inch ; but we have a distinct ellipse, whose diameters are 3.5 in. and
2.4 in., and positive evidence that the motion of the disturbing force
was in a line varying little from N. by HE. to 8. by W., or contrary to the
supposed direction in which the earth-wave has moved in all preceding
great disturbances. Having personally traced the effects of the shock
along its eastern line as far south as Rancagora, and also a section
across the axis of motion to Valparaiso, no doubt remains on my mind
that there are local causes (as the geological formation) which infiu-
ence both the direction and violence of the phenomenon to a very great
extent. At Valparaiso the direction from which the shock came was
near N. E. by N.; though the opinion among the masses is that it came
from the opposite quarter. There is no indication that the land has
been elevated in any part of the bay. For several days before and
after there were extraordinary fluctuations of the barometer, and
overcast weather.’’

~

PRESENT CONDITION OF VESUVIUS.

Tue eruption of Vesuvius in February, 1850, and that of the year
previous, entirely changed the summit features of this ancient mountain
of fire. The former crater disappeared, being filled with scoria and
ashes, while ¢wo craters now occupy the summit of the cone. The
deepest and most active of these is that of February, 1850, which is
situated on the side of the cone nearest to Pompeii. It is somewhat
lower and has a much greater depth than its immediate neighbor,
which is on the side of the bay of Naples. We had no means of meas-
uring its depth accurately, but judging from the time required for the
returning sound of a stone cast into its mouth, as well as from inspec-
tion and comparison, we assumed the depth of the new crater to be
from 800 to 1000 feet. It is acutely funnel-shaped, at an angle of not
less than 60°. It is impossible, because of the steam and vapors of sul-
phurous acid, to see its bottom, even if not prevented by the danger of
the descent to a position where one might hope to catch a glimpse of

288 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

its bottom. Its activity at present is confined to the emission of
vapor, and even this seems at times, when viewed from the sea, to
be wanting. On the summit, however, these vapors appear dense
enough, and are sufficient to prevent the possibility of making the en-
tire circuit of the crater. The observer is much struck, not only with
the change of form in the summit, as shown by the drawings of Prof.
Scacchi, but also with the sharpness of the lip of both craters, which
is such that it is hardly possible for more than two persons to stand
abreast upon it. During the late eruption, the lava found vent from
the base of the cone, on a level with the sand plain which fills the
ancient crater of Somma. It here poured out a torrent of scoriaceous red
lava through a well defined canal. This is now entirely cold, and we
collected from its sides abundant specimens of aphthitalite, which
frosted over the rugged cavern like snow. Near this spot also are two
fumeroles fornied during the last eruption; the largest about 25 feet
high, with an aperture of near ten feet, its outer walls black, rugged
and forbidding. The flow of lava from the eruption of 1849 was in the
direction of the ancient Pompeii, and it was copious enough to destroy
a small village, with its vineyards, at the distance of several miles. —
Prof. B. Silliman ; Notes on Europe. Silliman’s Journal.

ON THE RESULTS OF THE LATEST RESEARCHES EXPLANATORY OF CAR-
BONIC ACID EXHALATIONS.

Biscuorr found that carbonic acid was gradually separated from car-
bonate of lime by silicic acid with the cooperation of boiling water.
This decomposition took place, whether the silicic acid was in a solu-
ble or insoluble condition ; for even finely pulverized quartz decomposed
the carbonate of lime, the process in that case being rather slower.
Carbonate of iron and the carbonate of magnesia behave in like manner ;
the latter is decomposed even more easily and in greater quantity than
the carbonate of lime. The more facile decomposition of carbonate of
magnesia is shown by the fact that even boiling water by itself separ-
ates the carbonic acid from it, this not being the case with the car-
bonate of iron. When, therefore, either limestone, dolomite, or sparry
iron, occurs at a depth beneath the earth’s surface where boiling water
heat exists and water has access, carbonic acid will be driven off from
these carbonated salts. The Soffoni in Tuscany, discharging boiling hot
water from crevices in limestone, must come from a depth where boil-
ing heat exists, and it is very probable that the accompanying carbonic
acid arises from the above-mentioned causes. The same must be ad-
mitted for the carbonic acid discharged so abundantly in the neighbor-
hood of ancient localities of volcanic action in various parts of central Ku-
rope. According to the laws ofthe increase of temperature towards the
centre of the earth, we may calculate that boiling heat exists at a depth
of about 8600 feet in these districts, and this depth is certainly within
the limits of the clay slate formation of Germany, which is calculated
to be at least a mile (German) thick. Caleareous beds (transition lime-
stone) and quartzose rocks occur at this depth; waters penetrate thereto,
and carbonic acid is separated from the limestone, as in the aboye-men-

GEOLOGY. 289

tioned experiments. ‘To account, therefore, for the origin of carbonic
acid exhalations, we need no more assume that the focus must be where
red heat exists, which presupposes a depth of at least five miles (Ger-
man) ; for the clay slate or any other sedimentary formation may he
the seat of the evolution of the gas, since only in the moderate depths
of about half'a mile (German) the materials required are present.

ON THE GEYSERS OF CALIFORNIA.

Pror. lorrst SHEPHERD, In 2 communication published in Silliman’s
Journal, September, 1851, gives an account of some remarkable geysers
by him discovered north-west of the Napa Valley, California. Mr.
Shepherd, having noticed what he conceived to be a line of thermal
action in the Napa Valley, especially near the foot of Mount St. Helena,
determined to trace it, and find its seat or focus of greatest intensity.
With this object in view, he travelled, in company with a select party,
in a direction north-west of the Napa Valley, and, after encamping one
or two nights in the rain, and wandering through almost impenetrable
thickets, reached the summit of a high peak on the morning of the
fourth day. The scene presented from this point is described as fol-
lows : —‘‘ On the north, almost immediately at our feet, there opened
an immense chasm, apparently formed by the rending of the mountains
in a direction from west to east. The sun’s rays had already pene-
trated into the narrow valley, and so lighted up the deep defile, that,
from a distance of four or five miles, we distinctly saw clouds and dense
columns of steam rapidly rising from the banks of the little river Pluton.
It was now the 8th of February ; the mountain peaks in the distance
were covered with snow, while the valley at our feet wore the verdant
garb of summer. It was with difficulty we could persuade ourselves
that we were not looking down upon some manufacturing city, until,
by a tortuous descent, we arrived at the spot where at once the secrets
of the inner world opened upon our astonished senses. In the
space of a halfa mile square we discovered from one to two hundred
openings, through which the steam issued with violence, sending up
columns of dense vapor to the height of one hundred and fifty to two
hundred feet. The roar of the largest tubes could be heard for a mile
or more, and the sharp hissing of the smaller ones is still ringing in my
ears. Many of them would work spasmodically, precisely like high
pressure engines, throwing out occasional jets of steam, or volumes of
hot, scalding water, some twenty or thirty feet, endangering the lives
of those who rashly ventured too near. In some places the steam and
water come in contact so as to produce a constant ‘ jet d’eau,’ or
spouting fountain, with a dense cloud above the spray; affording vivid
prismatic hues in the sunshine. Numerous cones are formed by the
accumulation of various mineral salts, and a deposit of sulphur crystals
with earthy matter, which often harden into crusts of greater or less
strength and thickness. Frequently the streams of boiling water would
mount up to the top of the cones with violent ebullition. Some of the
cones appear to be immense boiling caldrons, and you hear the lash-
ing and foaming ger beneath your feet as you approach them.

5

290 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

It is then a moment of intense interest. Curiosity impels you forward
— fear holds you back ; and while you hesitate, the thin crust under
your feet gives way, and you find yourself sinking into the fiery mael-
strom below. The writer, on one occasion, heard the rushing of water
under his feet. He struck down an axe, which, on the first blow, went
through into the deep whirlpool the whole length of the helve. He
withdrew it and cut an opening, which revealed a stream of angry
water, boiling intensely, and of unknown breadth and depth. He con-
tinued to enlarge the opening until the stream was seen to be five or
six feet in breadth, leading on indefinitely into the dark caverns beneath
the mountains.

** At the base of the cones, in the bottom of the ravines, and in the
bed and on the north bank of the river Pluton, springs almost inna-
merable break out, which are of various qualities and temperatures,
from icy coldness up to the boiling point. You may here find sulphur
water, precisely similar to the celebrated White Sulphur of Green
‘Brier County, Va., except its icy coldness. Also red, blue, and even
black sulphur water, both cold and hot. Also, pure limpid hot water,
without any sulphur or chlorine salts, calcareous hot waters, magnesian,
chalybeate, &c., in almost endless variety. Where the heated sulphu-
retted hydrogen gas is evolved, water appears to be suddenly formed,
beautiful crystals of sulphur deposited, (not sublimed as by fire,) and
more or less sulphuric acid generated. In some places the acid was
found so strong as to turn black kid gloves almost immediately to a
deep red. Where the heated gas escapes In the river Pluton, such is
the amount of sulphur deposited, that the whole bed of the stream is
made white for one or two miles below. Notwithstanding that the
rocks and earth in many places are so hot as to burn your feet through
the soles of your boots, there is yet no appearance of a volcano in this
extraordinary spot. Were the action to cease, it would be difficult,
after a few years, to persuade men that it ever existed. There is no
appearance of lava. You find yourself not in a solfatara, nor one of
the salses described by Humboldt. The rocks around you are rapidly
dissolving under the powerful metamorphic action going on. Porphyry
and jasper are transformed into a kind of potter’s clay. Pseudotrap-
pean and magnesian rocks are consumed much like wood in a slow fire,
and go to form sulphate of magnesia and other products. Granite is
rendered so soft that you may crush it between your fingers, and cut it
as easilyas bread unbaked. The feldspar appears to be converted partly
into alum. In the mean time, the boulders and. angular fragments
brought down the ravines and river by the floods are being cemented
into a firm conglomerate, so that it is difficult to dislodge even a small
Pebbie, the pebble itself sometimes breaking before the cementation

ields.

** The thermal action on wood in this place is also highly interesting.
In one mound I discovered the stump of a large tree, silicified ; in
another, a log changed to lignite or brown coal: Other fragments
appeared midway between petrifaction and carbonization. In this
connection, finding some drops of a very dense fluid, and also highly
refractive, I was led to believe that pure carbon might, under such

GEOLOGY. 291

circumstances, crystallize and form the diamond. Unfortunately for
me, however, I lost the precious drop in attempting to secure it.

“* A green tree, cut down and obliquely inserted in one of the conical
mounds, was so changed, in thirty-six hours, that its species would not
have been recognized, except from the portion projecting outside, around
which beautiful crystals of sulphur had already formed.

‘‘ From the thermal exhalations and the amount of sulphur deposited,
it might be supposed that the progress of vegetation would be retarded.
But such is not the fact. On the contrary, it is greatly facilitated.
The Quercus sempervirens, or evergreen oak, flourishes in beauty within
fifty feet of the boiling and angry geysers. Maples and alders, from
one to two feet in diameter, grow within twenty or thirty feet of the
hottest steam-pipes. This, however, may be accounted for by the cold
surface water flowing down from the adjacent mountain. Multitudes
of grizzly bears make their beds on the warm grounds. Panthers, deer,
hares and squirrels, also take up their winter quarters in the very midst
of the geyser mounds. Farther down the stream, on the terraced banks
of the limpid Pluton, vegetation ‘ actually runs wild,’ and the winter
months exhibit all the fancied freshness of primeval Eden. I have traced
the influence of this thermal action from two to three hundred miles on
the Pacific coast in California, but only in this place have I been per-
mitted to witness its astonishing intensity. The metamorphic action
going on is at this moment effecting important changes in the structure
and conformation of the rocky strata. It is not stationary, but appar-
enily moving slowly eastward in the Pluton valley.

ARTIFICIAL TOPAZ.* a

M. Davpree has communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences
the results of some researches on the artificial formation of Topaz. Pure
alumina, previously calcined by a bright red heat, is submitted to the
action of a current of fluoride of silicon. After two exposures of this
kind, the alumina increased in weight 70 per cent. The product con-
tained fluorine, and, what was more, this fluorine is in such a state of
combination as not to be acted upon by boiling concentrated sulphuric
acid. By this characteristic alone, the substance produced offers a
great resemblance to topaz, the four constituent elements of which it
also contains. A. quantitative analysis indicated its very near approach
to, if not identity with, topaz. Its specific gravity, which is 3.47, is
the same as that of natural topaz.

CLINOCHLORE; A NEW SPECIES.

Mr. W. P. Brake, of the Yale Analytical Laboratory, has examined
the beautiful green foliated mineral from Chester County, Pa., which
has hitherto been supposed to be chlorite. On the examination by
polarized light, Mr. Blake finds that the mineral is diazial, with a high
angle between the optic axes, being in one specimen 84° 30’, and in

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 212, 1891, p. 167.

292 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

another 85° 59’. He also found that the optic axes were not equally
inclined to the ‘‘ normal,’’ showing the crystals to be clinometric.

Mr. Blake gives the results of a blowpipe examination, which show
the presence of water, silicic acid, oxides of chromium and iron. He
has given it the name Clinochlore, in allusion to the great obliquity of
the optic and crystallographic axes, and its green color.—Am. Jeur.
Sci., vol. xi.

RED SAPPHIRE.

Mr. W. P. Brake, in a communication to Silliman’s Journal, Jan.
1852, states that he has recently discovered a new locality of red sap-
phire in the township of Vernon, Sussex Co., N.-J., where it occurs in
the well known white crystalline limestone of that region, and with the
associated minerals appears to constitute a true vein of segregation.
As the minerals have been but recently removed, there has not been
time to bestow on many of them the examination they require, and
therefore a brief notice only can be given at this time. ‘The sap-
phire is remarkable for its irregular ‘‘ ragged ”’ form, which is best
seen in those crystals which were obtained from the soil where atmos-
pheric agencies had removed the caleareous investment, and left the
sapphire with its thin and ragged excrescences entire. The color of
the finest specimens is ‘‘ ruby red ;”’ others have various shades of pur-
ple : —they are translucent, no transparent specimens having been
obtained.

The associated minerals are remarkable for their beauty and peculi-
arity. The following list embraces those which occur in greatest
abundance : red spinel, rose spinel, chondrodite, hornblende, iron
pyrites, phlogopite, graphite, hydrous-sesquioxide of iron, hydrous
silicates of alumina. The following minerals occur sparingly: rutile,
sphene, ilmenite, zircon, blue fluor, and emerylite.

GRANITE FIRE-CLAY.

A piscovrry, of great service to the consumers of fire-clay and fire-
bricks, has been made at the village of Steep Brook, Fall River, Mass.
It had been long known that a decomposed granite there was suitable
for fire-resists, and as such possessed the highest qualities; but the
supposed small extent of the bed prevented the sale of more than a few
hundred tons. Those who had used the material and become acquainted
with its properties, requiring further supplies, an extended survey and
the necessary openings have been made, and the result is, the develop-
ment of a large deposit of this valuable mineral. A chemical exami-
nation of this clay, by Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston, shows that ‘it is a
mass left by the decomposition of a granite, probably of the normal kind,
in which no mica exists, or if of ordinary granite, every trace of mica
has disappeared. The chemical change has been such as to break up
the granite, first into quartz, granules and sand, distributed as if in
granite rock, nearly uniformly, throughout a paste of porcelain clay,
resulting from the feldspar of the granite. Quartz and porcelain clay
are, excepting a minute portion of iron sand, therefore, its constituents,

GEOLOGY. 2938

and it is naturally a plastic mass, which, even when the grains of quartz
are large, can be worked by the wheel or hand, or moulded with ease.
Vessels can be formed of it so thin that the grains of quartz in their
size limit the thickness only. This porcelain earth differs from all the
varieties of pipe-clay, in containing its silicate of alumina in the form
of scales, imbued with silicate of potash and soda in minute quantity,
which causes solidification by heat, with only slight contraction of
the mass. Pipe-clays, besides silicate of alumina, contain hydrate
of alumina, and never solidify without great contraction, and do not
afford solid masses, unless largely mixed with sand or previously
baked clay. These essential differences are seen in the porcelain
wares and common queen’s ware. The clay washed out from the
quartz of the granite fire-clay forms excellent porcelain paste or
fine crucible ware. An ayerage obtained from several hundred pounds
of the clay afforded 52 parts quartz, 48 kaolin, in 100 parts. An-
other sample, 55 quartz, 45 kaolin. The quartz grains are singu-
larly roughened by cavities and irregularities, so that the kaolin
embraces them with great cementing power. ‘The moist mass resem-
bles solid granite ; when dry, it becomes a crumbling earth, having
specific gravity of 2.602. 100 parts of the mass dried in the air lost,
after exposure to a violent heat, only 3.6-10 parts. No indications of
fusion took place at the melting point of iron, and, in small samples,
platina melted without fusing the clay. Its color becomes nearly white
by heat, indicating that the iron sand does not burn.

A comparison with the best known and most highly esteemed fire-
clays in the world is here given. ;

Granite Clay. Stourbridge. Strasburg.
Silica, 63.00 é . 63.70 : «.: 00.20
Alumina, 20.00... f 20.70 . : 18.20
. Potash, &e., 1.20 , ; f ; .60
Water, BG die ON a os 12.00
Ox. Iron, &e., .o2 : =a Sanh t : 1.50

It will be thus seen that the granite fire-clay contains, for its plastic
material, a true apyrous or fire-resisting clay. The quartz with which
it is mixed naturally, represents so much more silica, which is infusible
in any furnace-fire ; and, considering such a mixture as composed of 50
dry kaolin and 55 quartz, we have a composition of 83.50 silica, and
15.40 alumina, as the essential constituents of the fire-bricks. Excel-
lent crucibles for blast furnaces, it is well known, are made from
silecious sandstone, presenting nearly the same amount of silica in 100
parts. As these stones resist the corroding action of iron oxides and
slags, it is a reasonable conclusion that the granite fire-clay will have
greater power of endurance, when exposed in the same way. It may,
when moist, be applied to hot surfaces, where it adheres, and for
repairs and linings to heated parts it is well adapted.

ON THE MEERSCHAUM FORMATION OF ASIA MINOR.

Tue following is an abstract of remarks made before the American
Association, Albany, by Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, late Geologist to the
29*

294 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Sultan of Turkey, on the SP One y and general character of the Meer-
schaum of Asia Minor :

This substance is one that has been long known to the arts, without
an accurate knowledge as to the manner in which it occurs in nature,
from the fact that almost all which came into commerce was derivetl
from a region in Asia Minor but little visited, The locality alluded to
is at Eski Shehr, the ancient Doujlacem, in western Asia Minor, about
a hundred miles from the Sea of Marmora and as many from the
Black Sea. The substance occurs in an extensive plain, which consists
of a caleareous breccia, extending to a considerable depth, and, doubt-
less, belonging to the ‘tertiary formation. The meerschaum exists in
masses of different sizes, from that of a walnut to the size of a man’s
body, embedded in this breccia. The origin of the meerschaum Dr.
Smith was inclined to attribute to the change produced upon carbon-

ate of magnesia, by waters containing silex. “Tt was doubtless explored
at this very place by the ancient Grecks ; the use, however, that they
made of it is unknown to us. The companies who now explore are
Turks, and those who labor are paid proportionally to what is extracted ;
and, as the value of this substance increases greatly in proportion
to the size of the mass, the business is of a precarious nature, and, in
many instances, causes great loss to the miners. At other times they
procure pieces affording “large marketable specimens, and their profits
then are proportionally g good. The mining for this substance is earried
on with the same eagerness, and its yield. 3 ig @§ precarious, as that of
gold. The principal mines on the plam*are Remick lich, 27 miles north
of Eski Shehr, and the shafts there are from ninety to one hundred and
twenty feet deep ; Karanch, 13 miles east of Hski Shehr — this is an
old Greek mine, and has shafts from sixty to ninety feet ; Nem/leckerer,
15 miles west of Eski Shehr, and one near Kutayah. "The two first
are worked at present. Karanch, recently recommenced, is yield-
ing-well, and the third is abandoned on account of the rapidity with
which the water flows into it. In sinking a shaft in these places,
meerschaum is found from the surface down, but that near the surface
“has not the requisite properties, being hard, chalky, and does not yield
readily to the pressure of the nail, : as good meerschaum does. All
meerschaum that is obtained from the mines goes to Vienna for the
purpose of making pipes, cigar tubes, &c., that are cut out of the sub-
stance, and carved with ornamental fioures, the stone being soft, and
yielding readily to the knife. Large specimens were exhibited, which
were more like cork than stone ; it floats on wa iter, like the latter sub-
pe, — hence its name, the foam. of the sea, —but absorbs water
rapidly and sinks. When dry, it is extremely white, and compressible
by the nail; when saturated with water it is softer than wax, and is
readily crushed in the hand; it absorbs twice its weight of water.
Chemically speaking, meerschaum is a hydrated silicate “of magnesia.

CARBONATE OF MAGNESIA IN CALIFORNIA.

Tue editor of the Pacific News thus describes the existence of a
lar e deposit of carbonate of magnesia in the California territory.
n Pitch (or Pitt) river, the principal affluent of the Sacramento,

GEOLOGY. 295

and about five days’ journey from Goose Lake, there is a hill of pure
carbonate of magnesia, one hundred feet high. Much of it is per-
fectly white, while some is more or less discolored with iron, as if a
painter had been striving to give effect by a coloring of light and
shade. Large masses are easily detached, which, rolling down into
the river that washes its base, float off as light and buoyant as cork,
until they become saturated with water. A thousand wagons could
be loaded in a very short time, and there is enough to supply the
whole world. For three days’ travel below, the soil seems to be im-
pregnated with it, and the banks of the river are formed of it.’’

DISCOVERY OF PITCHSTONE ON LAKE SUPERIOR.

Dr. C. T. Jackson read a description and analysis of pitch stone,
obtained by him at Isle Royal, Lake Superior, as follows :— During the
summer of 1847, while engaged in the U. 8. Geological Survey of the
mineral lands bordering upon Lake Superior, I discovered upon the
shores of Isle Royal some rounded pebbles and boulders of jet black
color, which appeared to be identical with pitchstone porphyry, like
that of the Isle of Arran, in Scotland. One of these pebbles, which
had been mislaid, I have found since I made my report to the govern-
ment, and have submitted it to chemical analysis, which has proved
my original opinion — that it is pitchstone — to be correct, and it has
sinee been confirmed by Mr. Teschemacher. This mineral has not, so
far as I know, been discovered before in the United States, and it may
therefore be interesting to mineralogisis and geologists to know of its
occurrence on the shores of Isle Royal, in Lake Superior. I have not
had an opportunity of searching for the mineral in place, and it is
doubtful whether it occurs in the trap rocks which compose the prin-
cipal part of that island, or derives its origin from porphyry, erratic
boulders of which are so common in the drift and among the shore
pebbles of Lake Superior. — Proc. Bos. Nat. Hist. Society.

ON THE METEORIC MASS DISCOVERED AT SCHWETZ.

a ro Pac

M. G. Ross gives to the Berlin Academy the following account of a
newly discovered meteoric mass:—JIn the spring of 1850, while
removing a hill of sand, in the grading of a railway near Schwetz, on
the Vistula, a mass of iron, about four pounds in weight, was found at
a depth of four feet, at the limit where the upper sand covers the sub-
jacent clay. The mass sent to Prof. Rose is somewhat prismatic in
shape, about nine inches (Prussian) long, with the thickness of five
and a half and four inches, a line around it lengthwise being 24 inches
long, and transversely 174 inches. The whole mass weighs about 43
pounds (livers). There is a fissure cutting it somewhat diagonally.
The outer surface is rounded and covered with hydrated oxide of iron,
and so also that of the fissure. A surface cut and polished and acted
upon by an acid, exhibited fine Widmannstattian figures, much like
those of the Texas iron. There is a mixture of some large and small
grains of sulphuret of iron. M. Rose has detecied in it nickel.

296 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

METEORIC HILL IN NEW MEXICO.

In the course of a discussion on meteorites before the American
Association, Albany, Dr. Le Conte stated some interesting circum-
stances relative to the existence of a meteoric hill in New Mexico.
While passing through the village of Tucson, in February last, he
observed two large pieces of meteoric iron which were used by the
blacksmiths of the town for the purposes of an anvil. He was unable
to procure any specimens from these bodies, but was guided to a cafion
between two mountain ridges, in the immediate vicinity, from which
both pieces had been taken, where the masses of the meteorites were so
abundant as to have given name to the cafion. He had not before
heard any account of this remarkable circumstance, and had consid-
ered it an interesting subject for observation.

METALLIFEROUS DISCOVERIES AND WORKINGS IN 1851.

Goxp, in considerable quantities, has been discovered during the
past year in Australia, near to the town of Bathurst. Great numbers of
persons have been attracted to the ‘‘ diggins,’’ which are similar in
character to the California deposits. In the month of August the
receipts per week from the various mines were thought to exceed
£20,000. Lumps weighing several pounds had been found in several
instances. From Sidney papers we learn that the existence of gold
was first predicted by Rey. W. B. Clarke, who had long been engaged
in investigating the geology of the country. His opinion was based
upon his knowledge of the character and position of the rocks, and he
early recommended exploration in the main Australian range along
the meridian of 149°, where gold has been found. Rey. Mr. Clarke
states the singular fact that just 90° west of the auriferous range in
Australia, we find an auriferous band in the Urals; and just 90° west
of the Urals occur the auriferous mountains of California.

Several new mining deposits of gold have been discovered upon the
river Chaudiére, Canada. The quantity found thus far has in most
cases proved insufficient to remunerate the operatives.

The editors of the New Orleans Bee state that they have seen a
number of specimens of gold obtained in Arkansas, in the bed of the
White River, some miles above Batesville. The largest lump was a
mass of quartz, of a dirty white color, profusely penetrated with the
precious metal, and in some places so completely mingled with it that
the gold seemed like an integral part of the rock. The amount of gold
in all the specimens exhibited could not have been less than five or six
ounces. ‘The existence of gold in Arkansas was predicted some time
since by Mr. Snell, of New Orleans, from observations on the geologi-
cal character of the formations.

A scientific expedition sent out from Denmark, in the spring of.
1851, for the purpose of exploring the mineral resources of Greenland,
have already met with some encouragement. Copper in considerable
quantity has been found, with some traces of other metals. From the
direction and character of the mountain ranges, deposits of the pre-
cious metals have been thought to exist in this country.

GEOLOGY. ’ 297

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF GOLD.

A writer in the London Athenzeum estimates the supply of gold, for
the year 1851, at twenty millions sterling. This amount is made up
of fifteen millions from California, four from Russia, and one from
Australia. What may be the results for 1852 it is impossible to say.
The supply of gold for the present must be considered as unlimited ;
and whether five or fifty millions are to be picked up in the course of a
twelve-month, depends wholly on the number of heads, hands, and
machines devoted to the business of gold-finding. It is quite certain
that during the three years in which the California ‘‘ diggins ’’ have
been in operation, a quantity of gold equal to somewhere about thirty
millions sterling has been added to the former amount of that metal
in existence in the markets of the world; and it is also certain that
no corresponding or equivalent increase has taken place in the supplies
of silver. The question then arises: where has this new thirty mil-
lions of gold gone to? The stock of gold in the Bank of England is
not higher than at recent periods anterior to the California influx —
the price of silver as measured in gold is not sensibly higher than it
was —and the prices of commodities, far from being higher, are
decidedly lower. The explanation of all this seems to be very simple.
There has been immense absorption of gold into the currencies of
America and of France ; and in France, at least, there has been an
enormous liberation of silver from the currency in consequence cf
the introduction of gold. In both America and France the standard is
what is called ‘‘ double ;”’ that is to say, both gold and silver coins are
legal tender according to a certain scale of proportion established
by law between the two metals. In America a goid eagle is declared
to be equal to so many silver dollars, and in France a gold Napoleon
to so many silver francs. The consequence is this, —all debtors pay
their debts in the cheapest metal. If gold bears an agio, silver of
course is used, and gold coins are scarce. If the agio on gold disap-
pears, and is transferred to silver, then gold coins are used and silver
coins are melted into bullion. This is precisely what has taken place
both in France and in America during the last two years to a very
great extent. The increased supply of gold has first removed the agio
from gold, and then silver has been rapidly abandoned as currency,
and gold introduced. Some returns have been published from the
French mint, which strikingly show the effect of the change in France.
We learn from these that while the coinage of gold in France was less
than half a million sterling for some years previous to 1848, it rose in
that year to one and a half millions sterling, — in 1849 to two mil-
lions, —in 1850 to three and a half millions, —and in the first ten
months of 1851 to no less than ten and a quarter millions. In America
the facts, we imagine, would be still stronger. We are enabled,
therefore, with this evidence before us, to account pretty satisfactorily
for the twenty millions of gold already yielded by California.

SIR R. MURCHISON ON THE GOLD DEPOSITS OF CALIFORNIA.

Sir R. Murcutson, at a recent meeting of the London Geological
Society, expressed an opinion that the central culminating ridge of

298 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

granite of the Sierra Nevada was entirely devoid of any deposits of gold
ore. The chief and original matrix of the gold being unquestionably the
quartz rock, which is in juxtaposition to the granite, and which rises
higher on the sides of the chain than any of the slaty rocks with
which it is associated, there could, he said, be no doubt that the im-
mensely rich and vast accumulations of coarse drift, which were piled
up like gigantic mole-hills on the slopes below the quartz, had all been
derived by ancient convulsions and great former debacles from the
auriferous veins in that rock. Whilst he admitted that the wealth of
these vast heaps of ancient rubbish did, through the hacking down
and trituration of the mountain side, afford a very copious supply of
gold, which it would probably take many years to exhaust, he still
retained his opinions, as expressed at various public meetings in the
last two years, that the idea, now becoming prevalent in America, that
the mining in the solid rock would be found more profitable than dig-
ging in the drift, would prove fallacious, and that, on this point, the
gold veins of California would prove to be similar to those of all other
countries, in being richer toward the surface than when followed down
to great depth.

PRODUCTION OF THE RUSSIAN GOLD MINES.

We find in the Triester Zeitung a letter from St. Petersburg, which
gives exactly, and apparently from the best sources, the yield of the
gold mines in the Russian Empire. In the year 1823, the product was
105 puds, or $3,937,500, the pud being worth $37,500; in 1833, it
had risen to 379, and in 1843, to 1,242 puds. Since then it has been
as follows : —

MSGS vig ce an vb BUT Pus AP AB4B yates (x oh EMR ea.
TONS Pit oe bei LSet oneal BAD, < agers tent nee alee
BSAE ivr soar smd Go. S Wide OUbwrnnen meee ne Ceol te

1847, 3 a EE 73, 58 1851, . not yet known.

With respect to the present year, (1851,) during the first six months,
the mines in the Ural yielded 170 puds, or the same as in 1850. Ac-
cording to this, the gold crop of the empire will not exceed $57,000,000
for the year ; a falling off of seven and a half millions from 1848. This
is caused by a tax laid since then upon the yield of private mines. This
tax varies from five to thirty-five per cent. upon the produce ; and, as
nine tenths of all the mines are carried on upon private account, the
result is a very considerable diminution in their working. This tax is
in addition to that for the support of the police and military force kept
up in the gold region, which averages one quarter of the value of the
gold extracted.

THE QUICKSILVER MINES OF CALIFORNIA.

Tux richest mine yet discovered is located in the Santa Clara Valley,
about twelve miles from San Jose, which is worked by an individual
company, who hold possession under the old Mexican title of ‘‘ de-
nouncement.’”’? At this mine a large number of furnaces are in opera-

GEOLOGY. 299

tion. These furnaces resemble in appearance a long steam boiler, set
in brick, with fires underneath. The ore does not require to be crushed
except to a convenient size for the boilers. The mine is worked by
Mexicans and Chilians, who carry the ore in raw hide sacks, upon
their shoulders, from the bottom of the vein to the opening above, a
distance of between three and four hundred feet. The mine is proba-
bly the richest in the world, and with the same facilities and ma-
chinery used elsewhere would yield most enormously, far beyond even
what is now produced. At one time during the past season there
were 8,000 cargas, or mule loads, of the ore, lying at the mouth of the
mine, each carga being 300 pounds, or an aggregate of 2,400,000
pounds. Atan average yield of fifty per cent., the product would be
1,200,000 pounds of pure quicksilver, which, at a market yalue of $1
per pound, would yield the enormous sum of $1,200,000. This finds
its way to market in one direction and another, but its value is en-
hanced by the fact that California itself affords a good market, large
quantities being used in separating fine particles of gold from the sand
and dirt, and which cannot be procured by the ordinary process of
washing.

In addition to the quicksilver mine to which we have particularly
referred, there are three or four others in the same valley, though not
worked to the same extent, yet are reported to be equally as rich in
yield of ore. It is said, by a correspondent of an eastern paper, that
the aborigines had known and resorted to these deposits of cinnabar
for centuries, for the purpose of procuring coloring materials; and it
was by following their trail that a knowledge of the existence of this
valuable mineral was obtained.— Pacific News.

SCARCITY OF PLATINUM.

At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, July, 185],
Mr. Teschemacher alluded to the fact that a very important article to
chemists and manufacturers, platina, was becoming scarce, from the
exhaustion of the localities from which it has hitherto been procured.
Tt was a well known fact that most of the gold from California had
more or less of this mineral in combination with it. Mr. Tesche-
macher had estimated that as much as 5,300 ounces of it must have
been brought in this way to the Atlantic States. This would be a
very important amount for scientific purposes. Its value in the market
is now about $15 the ounce.

Platina has been found at only two places in South America ; namely,
at Choso, in New Grenada, and at Barbacoas, between 2° and 6° north
latitude. Previous to its discovery in California,* this metal had never
been found north of the Straits of Panama. It occurs in South Amer-
ica, associated with palladium and iridium, in diluyial soils. — Edvtor.

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, p. 298.

3800 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE PRODUCTION OF COPPER.

Messrs. Foster and Whitney, in their report on the geology of Lake
Superior, state, ‘‘ that they consider the mining interest of this section
of country to be yet in its infancy. When it is considered that nearly
the entire copper region of Lake Superior is an unreclaimed wilderness,
the miners’ settlements appearing like mere dots on the surface, cov-
ered with a dense growth of trees, through which the explorer with
difficulty forces a path; and that, except where the streams have
worn their beds in the rock, or the hills terminate in bold and cragey
ledges, the ground is covered with a thick carpet of mosses and lichens,
effectually concealing every trace of veins, it is surprising that such an
amount of mineral wealth has been revealed within so short a period.
This region had occasionally been traversed by the trapper, and the white
man had coasted along its rock-bound shores, at intervals, for nearly
two hundred years ; but, up to the year 1841, when Houghton made
his reconnoissance, we have no evidence that a really productive vein
had been observed. To him is to be ascribed the credit of having first
pronounced on the yalue of this region for mining purposes, and delin-
eated its geological outlines,

‘* As the country becomes opened, and the means of exploration be-
come increased, new sources of mineral wealth will undoubtedly be
revealed. There will be an increase in the products of these mines
from year to year, until the national supply will exceed the national
consumption. For certain purposes in the arts, the copper of Lake
Superior stands unrivalled; in density and tenacity it surpasses all
other ores of copper. The estimated product of the mines for the year
1849, was 1,200 tons, and for the year 1850, 2,000 tons. The average
value of copper imported into the United States slightly exceeds
$1,708,000. Assuming the price of pig copper to be 18 cents per
pound, and sheathings to be 22 cents, the annual consumption would
be less than 5,000 tons. The product of the Lake Superior mines, for
the year 1851, will probably reach one half this sum, or 2,500 tons.”

According to the estimates of M. Leplay, Secretary of the Commis-
sion of Mining Statistics in France, the whole amount of copper pro-
duced in the world is equal to 52,400 tons. This, however, does not
include portions of the Asiatic continent, with regard to which we
have no statistical knowledge, but of which the mineral produce is
entirely consumed within its own borders. According to the same
authority, this amount of copper is consumed in the following manner :

Tons. Tons.
Great Britain, . . 10,600 | Other Statesof Europe, . 6,600
France, . ; : 9,200 | America, (U.S., 5,600,). 6,100
German Customs Union,. 5,400/ Asiatic Continent, (India
Austrian Empire, . . 2,600/ and Oceanica,) .. . 8,300

Russian Empire, .. > . 2,000)/Japany.. ~~. =. . - 1,200
Sweden and Norway, 400
Total, . ; : 52,400

GEOLOGY. 301

LEAD MINES OF GALENA, ILLINOIS.

Tue Galena Gazette furnishes the following account of a vast ore-bed
recently opened about two miles from Galena city. The locality is
upon a side hill, where a shaft has been sunk forty feet in limestone,
and about as far in ‘‘ méneral.’”” ‘‘The mineral now stands up in a
perpendicular sheet, about thirty-eight feet in height, between walls
of limestone rock, and varies from twenty inches in width to four feet,
averaging about thirty-five inches the whole distance. The narrowest
ey in the crevice are filled with solid, clear, heavy mineral, looking
ike a mass of conglomerated cubes, measuring from one to six inches
on the side. If the rock was cleared away, between which it is
wedged, masses, tons in weight, would be instantly detached. Where
the crevice opens wider, the cubes of mineral are smaller, and the masses
lie detached, between which there is a yellow, ochreish earth and clay.
One gets some conception of the vastness of the wealth of our mines in
such displays as this. How far these masses of mineral extend, or
what is the length or height of this perpendicular sheet, beyond what
is visible to the eye, it is impossible to determine; it may not ex-
tend twenty feet, but the evidence is, when compared with similar
leads that have been formerly wrought, that it will run some hundred
or even thousand feet. In the latter case, its value is hardly apprecia-
ble. About 160,000 pounds have been taken out already, and the lead
is considered to have been safely proved for 1,000,000 pounds. Per-
haps the best idea we could give miners of the value of the land, and
of the size of the sheet, is to say that the owners have drifted about
eighteen or twenty feet only westward from where the lead was first
struck, and from this space they have raised the 160,000 pounds afore-
said. <A lead that yields a thousand pounds. to a foot is considered a
good one ; this, so far, has yielded more than 8,000 to that distance.”’

METAMORPHIC CONDITION OF A PART OF THE LARGE VEIN OF FRANE-
LINITE, IN NEW JERSEY.

Tue following communication was made to the American Associa-
tion, Albany, by Mr. A. C. Farrington.

During the summer of 1848, while engaged in exploring the metallif-
erous veins upon what is called Mine Hill, near the Franklin furnace,
New Jersey, my attention was arrested by the difference in structural
arrangement presented by the opposite sides of the large vein of Frank-
linite, at different places along its extent. While much the largest
portion of the mass appeared to consist of imperfect octahedral crystals,
compacted or cemented, other parts appeared like an aggregation of
their lamina, its crystals resembling tabular spar. This latter portion
was highly magnetic, and, in pulverizing, I found the hammer would
take up large quantities of it. Knowing that other parts of the vein
did not exhibit this property, I pursued my investigation for the pur-
pose of ascertaining how much of the ore presented this magnetic
property. The result was that it was found only where the tabular
erystals prevailed, eae cnly where the vein was in contact with

a

302 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sienite, and in tracing across the vein ina right line, magnetic action
was not perceptible for more than four feet. I repeated my experiments,
and found four feet three inches was the maximum distance that the
ore was found magnetic. I broke off fragments in a line across the
vein, at the distance of three inches from each other, and, after pulver-
izing, weighed one hundred grains from each parcel, and applied a com-
mon magnet to them. The magnet would take up all or nearly all of
the powder from such parts as came from the side of the vein nearest
the igneous rock, and gradually diminished as they receded from it.
I failed in establishing any regular series or ratio for the diminution
of magnetic action, but inferred from the results that the iron of the
Franklinite, in the parts of the vein in contact with sienite, was a pro-
toxide, while the mass of the yein was a peroxide ; and intermediate,
for the distance examined, as before stated, there was a mechanical
mixture of the two oxides. In presenting these facts, an important
geological question arises: —Is the metamorphism of this metallic
vein attributable to the agency of the intrusive rocks in contact with
it; and, if so, should we not infer that the igneous intrusive rock is
more recent than the vein of Franklinite ?

COAL DEPOSITS OF IOWA AND OREGON.

From the forthcoming report of Dr. D. D. Owen, U. S. Geologist, on
the geological survey of lowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, we derive the
following facts in regard to the coal formation in Iowa : —

‘* Between Johnson and Iowa counties, an uplift of carboniferous
sandstone is encountered, which is probably near the eastern limit of
the Des Moines coal-field. The Iowa river meanders near the eastern
margin of this coal-field, but the seams presented on the river are of
inferior quality. It is upward of two hundred miles in the direction
of the valley of the Des Moines across this great coal-field. West-
wardly it extends from Des Moines river nearly across the State of
Towa, and includes a considerable portion of Missouri. The entire area
of this coal-field, in Iowa alone, cannot be less than 20,000 square
miles, in all, embracing a country nearly equal in extent to the State
of Indiana. Although of so great an area, this western coal-field is
comparatively shallow in Lowa, probably hardly exceeding fifty fathoms
in thickness. It consists of three well-marked divisions — a lower cal-
careous, about one hundred feet thick ; a middle argillaceous, from
fifty to one hundred feet thick ; and an upper silecious, from eighty to
one hundred and twenty-five feet thick. The beds of coal at present
discovered are confined to the middle division, and are hence, probably,
not over one hundred feet in thickness.”’

The district of country embraced in the surveys, made under the
superintendence of Dr. Owen, comprises about two hundred thousand
square miles, lying both east and west of the Mississippi, and occupies
an area six times as large as the State of New York. Ninety-one
streams have been explored, one fourth of which were navigated from
their mouths to their sources, in bark canoes.

Coal in Oregon.— Samples of bituminous coal, obtained near Puget’s

GEOLOGY. 3038

sound, Oregon, have been transmitted to the Navy Department. The
samples were selected from a considerable quantity dug up within three
feet of the surface, the vein having a dip west towards the near hills
and mountains, thus indicating its existence in great quantities. This
coal has been examined by Prof. W. R. Johnson, of Washington, who
pronounces it to be one of the purest American coals which he has yet
seen. It has a specific gravity of 1.315, and will require on board a
steamer about 424 cubic feet of space to stow one gross ton. It con-
tains in every 100 parts, 40.36 per cent. of volatile matter, 56.84 per
cent. of fixed carbon, and 2.80 per cent. of earthy matter. After the
luminous flame ceases, the coke burns with a bright glow, and leaves
a light brick-red or deep salmon-colored ash. Under a well-constructed
boiler, this coal ought to produce from 7% to 84 pounds of steam from
212° to one pound of coal burned. The importance of a discovery of
this character cannot be over-estimated when it is remembered that
we have heretofore failed to obtain coal from any part of our Pacific
territories. The explorations of geologists have shown, conclusively,
that there is no coal in California, and, until this discovery was made,
none was known to exist in Oregon. There are inexhaustible deposits
of this valuable mineral at Vancouver’s Island, but that island belongs
to the British government. Puget’s Sound is the nearest point in
Oregon to Vancouver’s Island, and it is probable the coal obtained there
is of a similar character to that derived from the island.

COAL IN CHINA.

Tue following notices of coal in China have been forwarded to us
by Dr. D. J. Macgowan, of Ningpo. — Editor.

Coal deposits exist to a greater or less extent throughout the different
mountain ranges which girt the great plain of China. On its northern
boundary it is met with in numerous localities, on the Celestial moun-
tains, on the Mongolian steppes, and various offsets of the Altai range,
the most productive of which are in Shingking and Shans{. There are
several smaller deposits in Chihli and Corea. Unskilful mining and
the want of suitable means of transport enhance the cost of the min-
eral, and limit its consumption. Except for culinary and manufacturing
purposes, it is little used; the inhabitants trusting to furs and skins
for protection from the extreme rigor of their winters. The best coal
brought to the capital is from Pingting, in Shansi. Chinese cosmogo-
nists, drawing on mythology, gravely state, that in one of the Pingting
mines the furnace still exists in which Nitkiva fused stones for repair-
ing holes in the heayens.

Those deposits which have been mined for the longest period, with
which we are best acquainted, and are the most productive, lie in the
middle and southern parts of the empire.

That branch of the Himalayan range known as the Yun-ling has
the carboniferous system superimposed on a granitic base through a
great part of its extent, in numerous sections of which the coal meas-
ures exist, generally interstratified with beds of slaty clay and lime-
stone. Those best known lie in the basin of the Kan in Kiangsi,

304 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

reposing on old red sandstone and gray compact limestone, in close
connection with deposits of iron ore. Those in the valleys of the Siang,
_ Tsz’, and Yuen in Hunan, the western slope of the terminal ridges of
the Yun-ling, and the southern aspect of the same range in Kwang-
tung, all present analogous geological relations. This vast carbonifer-
ous tract appears to be continuous in a measure with that of Assam
and Burmah. ‘The coal most in demand in central China is called ‘‘ the
Kwang coal.”’ It is brought from various districts in Hinan. It is
black, very compact, specific gravity 1.34, columnar structure, occa-
sionally iridescent, and, from the large quantity of carbon it contains,
is analogous, though inferior to the American anthracite : it burns in-
tensely with a small blue flame, its ashy residuum being of a reddish
color. That in use at Shanghai is of this description. It is brought
from Stichau to Ningpo, where it costs $12 per ton, about one third
more (the dealers say) than at Shanghai. Its consumption is very
limited, being almost wholly confined to the manufacture of brass
tobacco pipes. In anumber of the provinces, coal, iron, and lime occur
most advantageously for the manufacture of iron. The coal measures
in other places are in close proximity to the disintegrated granite of
which the celebrated porcelain is fabricated: The furnaces at Kingteh-
chin, the great seat of this branch of industry, are chiefly heated by
coal from adjacent mines.

A variety of coal called the ‘‘ wood coal’? is much valued, and is in
extensive use. This ‘‘ wood coal’’ is generally reduced to powder,
formed into cakes with mud, and employed in furnaces for culinary
purposes, and in chafing-dishes for warming public offices. It is used
to some extent by blacksmiths. Coal cakes are much used at Hang-
chau, in the liquor shops, in order to keep warm rice-whiskey on hand
at all hours of the day ; and in the tea shops, where boiling water is
in constant requisition. The furnaces are certainly primitive, consist-
ing of a few bricks, making a close square or circular chamber, gen-
erally about four inches in diameter, with a small grate below, and
inclosed above. When the cakes are perfectly ignited by a few chips,
and the smoke ceases to rise, the top is covered over with mud, through
which, before drying, an orifice is pierced, half an inch in diameter.
The vessel containing whiskey is then placed over the hole, and is thus
kept hot all day without further care, at a cost of a cent and a half.
The same rude apparatus, with slight modifications, is in general use,
wherever coal from its proximity is not expensive. Sometimes the brick-
work is enclosed in boards, elaborately carved and varnished. Were
grates or fireplaces constructed with suitable flues and chimneys, coal
would be found a more useful article, be in greater demand, and the
mines consequently be better worked. Even the miners find it more
convenient and cheaper to burn the shrubs and grass of their sterile
hills, than the coal they dig from their bowels.

The wood coal referred to exhibits, where it is laminated with the
fibres of the bituminated vegetable, a distinct, bright, conchoidal frac-
ture ; at all other points it presents a dull, coarse-grained, segregated
texture. Specific gravity, 1.29. It burns with some smoke, and
cakes ; emitting a small quantity of hydrogen gas, leaving light colored

GEOLOGY. 305

ashes. It possesses a much larger proportion of carbon than ordinary
bituminous coal.

The total annual produce of the China coal mines is estimated by
Dr. Macgowan at 820,000 tons, valued at about six millions of dollars.
The paucity of the supply is owing, not to the poverty of the mines, but
chiefly to the want of those facilities for mining which the steam-
engine can alone supply. Mines, often, when they become most pro-
ductive, are suddenly filled with water and rendered useless.

To appreciate rightly the value of the vast coal deposits extending
from Corea to Siam, regard must be had to the increasing commerce
of the Pacific, to the revolution which seems on the eve of taking place
in the route of communication with western nations, and the prospective
greatness of the Anglo-Saxon states springing into existence on its
eastern shores. Of their capacity, aided with the appliances of foreign
skill and capital, to supply all demands which the steam-engine may
make upon them, both for manufactures and navigation, there can
exist no doubt. Nor have these primeval forests been stored upon
the continent alone ; they abound in more accessible situations, isolated,
as it were, expressly for steam navigation, in the islands of Japan,
Formosa, and Borneo. Before the application of steam and coal to
navigation, a sceptical philosophy might. have questioned the utility
of deposits of this mineral in the torrid zone, and immediately under
the equator ; but the design of the Omniscient Artificer of this beautiful
sphere is now obvious, affording another evidence that He left nothing
to fortuitous circumstances, and another lesson fraught with instruc-
tion for reflecting minds.

IMMENSE COAL BED.

Mr. J. Dit, of Ohio, in a recent communication to an Ohio journal,
says : — ‘‘ Reports of an immense structure of coal, in the vicinity of
this place, have long been circulated in Central Ohio. I first heard of
it in the winter of 1848-9 ; it was then reported to be about ninety
feet thick. Further examinations ascertained the thickness of the
uncovered part, in the face of a deep ravine, at 112 feet. A few days
since a gentleman of high standing informed me, that an acquaintance
of his, with some others, had stripped the upper surface of the bed
and bored through the coal stratum to ascertain its thickness, and
found it to be 138 feet.”’

Mr. J. W. Foster, U. 8S. Geologist, in a letter to the editors of Silli-
man’s Journal, in reference to the above communication, says :—
** Although this extent is at variance with all other previous knowl-
edge of carboniferous deposits, yet I have no doubt that, in the main,
it is true. I conversed with several intelligent persons who had seen
the deposit, and all concurred in representing it as one of unparalleled
thickness. It is exposed for several miles in the banks and along the
bed of a small stream — one of the tributaries of the Hocking river.
Like most of the coals of Ohio, it is highly bituminous, and is more or
less impregnated with iron pyrites, which, for manufacturing purposes,
impairs its value. ne deposit, instead of being one bed, may be

*

306 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

regarded as a repetition of beds; for, at intervals of a few feet, we
meet with thin seams of shale, forming natural divisions. Altogether,
it may be regarded as the most wonderful deposit yet brought to
light.”

ANALYSIS OF BITUMINOUS COAL-ASHES.

Ar the meeting of the American Association, New Haven, 1850,
analyses of anthracite coal-ashes were presented,* by Mr. Bunce, of New
Haven. At the Albany meeting, 1851, similar investigations of bitu-
minous coal-ashes were communicated by Mr. Wyman, of the Yale
Laboratory. .

The coal from which the ash was obtained was procured at Pitts-
burg, Pa., and is the same as is generally used there. It was burned
in a large furnace, where the heat was intense, and every precaution
was taken to have it free from impurity. The fire was allowed to
burn for a day, and then thoroughly raked out before any ash was
taken. The mean of three determinations of ash, &c., in the coal,
gave the following results : — pls:

Bitumen, . : ‘ : ; : : : 32.32
Carbon, - . ; : é : : . 64.34
Ash, . : : : ‘ : : ; : 3.04

100.00
Three determinations of amount of ash soluble in water and hydro-
chloric acid, gave these results : —

First Determination. Second. Third. Mean.

Soluble in water, . . 38.40 3.41 3.42 3.41
«¢ hydrochloric acid, 8.53 8.36 8.46 8.45

fé insoluble, . . 88.06 88.06 89.79 88.63

99.99 99.83 101.67 100.49

The amount soluble agrees very nearly with the solubility of the
anthracite ash, while that soluble in acid is only a little more than
half as much.

A qualitative analysis detected: the presence of silica, iron, alumina,
lime, soda, potash, sulphuric acid, and chlorine. Separate qualitative
analyses were made of both the portions soluble in water and soluble
in hydrochloric acid. -All the alkalies existing in the ash could
not be dissolved out with water, and about a third of them was deter-
mined in the acid solution. The ash was washed with water until the
water gave no tache. The alkalies existed, undoubtedly, in the state
of silicates. But the slightest trace of phosphoric acid was detected
in the bituminous ash. By comparing this ash with that of the
anthracite, we find that this is much more rich in alkalies. In the
anthracite they amount to about .4 per cent., while here they exceed
one per cent. The lime is also about twice as much. No magnesia
was detected. ‘The absence of phosphoric acid in this ash lowers its
value as manure, but the presence of so large a quantity of alkalies

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, p. 805.

GEOLOGY. 307

compensates in some measure for its absence. These results fully con-
firm the value of coal-ashes and their applicability as a manure.

ALBERT COAL, HILLSBORO’, NEW BRUNSWICK.

In the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1851, p. 307, the mineral
deposit at Hillsboro’, New Brunswick, was described as asphaltum.
Further investigations, carried on by Drs. Jackson, Hayes, and others,
show conclusively that this curious mineral product, although resem-
bling asphaltum in its external features, is yet a true bituminous coal.
The strata in which it occurs are inclined at an angle of from 70° to
80°, the coal seam being parallel to the strata. The depth of the shaft
now worked is about fifty feet. The coal occurs columnar and loose,
so that it cannot be worked in the usual way by undermining it, but is
taken out by a series of horizontal grades. It requires no blasting,
but may be easily detached with a pick. The mine affords evidence
that the strata were once horizontal. Black and white gypsum are
found in the adjoining rocks.

The strata adjoining the coal beds are a very fine-grained shale.
They contain rounded masses, like pebbles, principally made up of
scales of gaoid fishes and coprolites. Many of the most beautiful
impressions of fishes and of plants, belonging to the coal formation,
which we have ever noticed, have been taken from these shales, by
Dr. C. T. Jackson. In the vicinity of this coal deposit, very numer-
ous specimens of fossil trees, such as stigmaria, sigillaria, &c., of great
size, have been found. — dior.

ELECTRICTY OF BITUMINOUS COAL.

At a meeting of the Boston Natural History Society, February,
1852, Dr. C. T. Jackson stated that an attempt had been made to
confound the highly bituminous coal of Hillsboro’, New Brunswick,
with asphaltum, on the ground that it possessed electric properties
when rubbed with woollen or silk. It has been also asserted that
asphaltum alone possessed this property, and that true coals did not.
In order to test this hypothesis, Dr. Jackson had made numerous
experiments. Several varieties of cannel coal, from Virginia and Ken-
tucky, on being rubbed, readily attracted and repelled light substances,
as paper, cotton, kc. The electric properties of these coals were in
no way diminished by roughening their surfaces, or increased by polish-
ing. Digested for a considerable length of time in pure benzole, and
in alcohol and ether, they were found to be wanting in any soluble
bituminous or.resinous matter. Their electric properties, therefore,
do not depend upon the presence of bitumen in the state of asphaltum.

On trying Scotch cannel coal, it was found to be non-electric, as
were also several varieties of Nova Scotia and Ohio bituminous coals,
and the Pennsylvania anthracites. The electric coals from Virginia
and Kentucky break with a broad conchoidal fracture, are very
tough, and possess a laminated structure, which corresponds to the
stratification of their beds. Their lustre is dull on the broken sur-

308 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

face, like the cannel coal of Scotland, burning with a large yellow
flame, and without softening.

ON THE TRACES OF VEGETATION IN COAL.

Ar the Boston Natural History Society, August, Mr. Teschemacher
stated the results of his study respecting the traces of vegetation in
coal. This communication, given below, is one of the most important
contributions to our knowledge of the character and composition of
coal ever laid before the public.

Mr. Teschemacher said :— ‘‘ My observations have been entirely con-
fined to the traces of vegetation in the coal itself, omitting those in the
shales accompanying the coal. A previous study of these latter was,
however, indispensable. I believe, however, that the investigation of
the former branch, hitherto almost untouched, will lead to by far the
most interesting results. One of the most striking points in this
investigation was the appearance, on cleavage, of forms entirely simu-
lating those of well known vegetables of the coal period, yet without a
trace of the vegetable, being in fact homogeneous coal. Such are
these specimens of peacock-eye coal, resembling the roots of Stigmaria,
these perfect resemblances of the leaves of Neuropteris and Cyclopteris,
eyen to the course of the veins. Such, also, are those masses of yes-
sels which have hitherto been thought to be scratches caused by slid-
ing, but of which I have several specimens on which a small portion
of the plant remains ; and one on which there is a portion of a cylin-
drical form of cones of these vessels, symmetrically arranged, sur-
rounded by a clearly organic bark or rind. Something of this nature
may be seen in a transverse slice of a recent Equisetum. These ap-
pearances are not unfrequent, and each in its class is constant ; their
outlines are also perfect. Such conditions admit alone of the sup-

osition that during the consolidation of the coal the mass was ina
iquid state, and that each particle of the liquid mass sustained
an equal pressure in every part, so that there could be no motion
whatever amongst these particles by which the outline of form could
be destroyed, and, consequently, that all disturbing action took place
posterior to its consolidation. The finely polished surfaces are also
unquestionably the surfaces of the vegetable. Of the same striking
nature are the fissures so frequently found on the surfaces of the
vegetable imprints, but seldom on the general mass. At first, I
considered them, as others have done, as mere effects of shrinkage ;
but, after close examination of some thousand specimens, observing
them only on yegetable surfaces, sometimes containing carbonized
vegetable matter, differing from all around, on other specimens,
curved in peculiar ways, so as to shut out the action of any general
dynamic law, it occurred to me that the determination of these fissures
must have been caused by rupture of the weak annular vessels crossing
the leaves, like those traversing the leaves of almost all the palm tribe.

‘* Now this opinion involves the decision of the mooted question, of
the existence of the palm tribe in the fossil flora of the coal period. My
own idea is, from this as well as from other appearances, that the

GEOLOGY. 809

palm tribe formed a large portion of the coal, and was a large source of
the hydro-carbons of that period. I think that my specimens completely
prove the existence of fungi in great quantities in the coal period, and
that other appearances, extremely puzzling to me at present, will turn
out to be the remains of large plants of this peculiar growth. Gceppert
has stated, in some of his recent works, that the remains of filices are
seldom or never found in the coal itself; there are, however, fine
impressions of the veins of the Cyclopteris, and perhaps of Neuropteris,
on the coal itself; and they are so clear and distinct as to forbid any
idea of motion in the mass, until the whole had taken a solid form.
Specimens of Sigillaria and Lepidodendra are by no means uncommon
in anthracite. All the surfaces have the well known beautiful polish.

““T am quite persuaded that much light will be shed on the subject
of the coal formation by the pursuit of this nearly untrodden path ; but
to arrive at just conclusions requires a considerable knowledge of
dynamical causes, and also of physiological botany, particularly of the
vegetation of tropical countries. In the course of my own studies, I have
had rather to depend on specimens of recent palms, ferns, &c., which I
could dissect myself, than on anything to be found bearing much on
this subject in publications ; and I am convinced that the personal
examination and comparison in this and in every other subject of natu-
ral history is the only way that leads to discovery or truth.”

In a communication to Silliman’s Journal, Sept. 1851, Mr. Tesche-
macher inakes some additional remarks on this subject. In 1846, the
Natural History Society at Haarlem, Holland, adjudged a prize to Dr.
Goeppert, for a dissertation on the prize question proposed by them :
‘* Whether the beds of coal were composed of plants which grew on
the spots where these coal beds now exist, cr whether the vegetation
grew in other places, and was floated or brought there by other means.”’
A copy of this dissertation, with the plates, is now in the library of the
Boston Society of Natural History, and from its examination it appears
that Dr. Goeppert, for the purpose of elucidating the subject, has been
pursuing the same course with the coal from various beds in Germany,
as Mr. 'T'eschemacher has with the coal of Pennsylvania since 1843. And
although the main question has received the same solution from both,
namely, that the plants grew where the beds of coal now exist, and
were solidified amongst other conditions under that of absolute rest, yet
some differences in regard to minor points exist between the two ex-
perimenters. In relation to these Mr. Teschemacher says : — ‘‘ Without
the inspection of regular series of specimens, presenting various details,
it is impossible to arrive at satisfactory conclusions on many points
of this occult subject, and it has several times occurred that a single
specimen has thrown unexpected light, not obtained by the inspection
of fifty others of nearly the same appearance. My specimens of Sigilla-
ria, Lepidodendra, and Sagenaria, are numerous, and there are various
appearances, representing the internal structure of some of these gigantic
vegetables, which, if they can be recognized as such, would cause consid-
erable astonishment. When this subject shall be taken up and studied
by scientific men, whose minds are well prepared, and who are pos-

310 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sessed of sufficient leisure, I am sure that most interesting facts and
consequences will be developed by their observations.”

DISCOVERY OF FOSSIL FISH IN THE COAL FORMATION OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

Dr. C. T. Jackson, during the past year, has discovered a large number
of well preserved specimens of fossil fish in the coal formation of Albert
county, N. B. Ina letter to the editors of Silliman’s Journal he says : —
‘‘ You may feel interested in knowing that I have made out some of
the genera, and found new species of fossil fishes, and that the
Paleoniscus occurs abundantly associated with aquatic plants; also
that Lepidodendron, near if not exactly identical with the L. gracile,
Br., is found, with the fishes and with scattered fish-scales in the same
piece of the shale. Broad flat leaves, like those of palms, occur also in
the fish-shales of the coal mine, and a curious blistered leaf is extremely
abundant in all parts of the fish strata. These I at last traced to a
stem. They appear to be new species, and remind me of our aquatic
floating plant, the bladder-wort of our ponds.

‘¢ The occurrence of immense quantities of well preserved coprolites of
fishes confirms the idea of Agassiz, that the heterocercal-tailed fishes
swam close to the bottom ; for, otherwise, the form of such materials
could not be preserved ; for they were entire in the mud which ulti-
mately enveloped them. There are herbivorous fishes associated with
those that ate them, and the excrements of some tell the tale that some
of the fishes were carnivorous. Some of the coprolites I have seen
connected with the anus of the fish, appearing as if extruded by com-
pression of the fish. Some of the fish appear to have been dead and
partially putrid when they were enclosed in the strata ; others evidently
struggled hard against adverse fortune, erected their fins strongly to
guard themselves from some imagined swallower ; while others wiggled
and squirmed in vain to free themselves from the tenacious mud which
embalmed them in their last struggle. In fact, these fishes are literally
embalmed, and not petrified, the bitumen which so richly charges the
marly or soft clay slate or shale preserving in the most delicate manner
every scale, fin, and the minutest markings; the scales retain their
silvery hue, slightly tinted yellowish brown by the bituminous mat-
ter.”

At the Boston Natural History Society, June, Dr. Jackson stated
that at the South Joggings coal mine he had had an opportunity of
comparing the Stigmaria with the roots of Sigillaria, and had found
them unlike each other. The Stigmaria also is found in the sand-
stone, not in the under clay.

Dr. Jackson described the interesting appearance of the shores of
the bay at this locality, through a distance of five miles, presenting a
complete geological section of the strata. These are inclined at an
angle of 20°, and show the trunks of trees imbedded in them at various
depths. He himself saw a flattened stem of Sigillaria, 20 feet long,
and he was assured by the miners that it extended at least 40 feet
further into the rock. As there is no sign of decomposition, it would
seem that the sand must have been rapidly deposited upon them ; and

GEOLOGY. 311

as the trunks of the fossil trees are always at right angles to the strata,
the latter must have been lifted since they grew. The formation con-
sists of alternate marine shales and beds of coal. The coal seam
which is worked is four feet in thickness, and, on going into the mines
with a lamp, one passes directly beneath the roots of fossil trees.

FOSSIL FISH IN THE COAL ROCKS OF OHIO.

Mr. J. W. Fosrer, in a communication to Silliman’s Journal, Sept.,
states: —‘‘ While at Zanesville, recently, I discovered a locality in
the carboniferous series, rich in the remains of fishes. Associated
with them were several species of molluscs and corals, and even the
delicate fronds of the Neuropteris. I have never before observed a
locality where the forms of animal and vegetable life were so confusedly
mingled. I have also succeeded in procuring beautifully preserved
teeth from the limestone of Cambridge, belonging to this series — the
existence of which I had known for several years. Within the last
few years it has been proved that the occurrence of the remains of
fishes in many of the western groups of rocks is by no means rare.
In the Clinton group, at the base of the Upper Silurian, as developed
in the Lake Superior district, we have detected markings similar to
those in the same group in New York, made by some vertebrated ani-
mal, probably a fish. Mr. Joseph Sullivant has observed the remains
of fishes, consisting of teeth, scales and fins, in numerous instances, in
the cliff limestone of Columbus, (Upper Silurian,) and Prof. Agassiz,
in a recent visit to the quarries, was enabled to collect numerous speci-
mens, and we may hope, ere long, to receive exact information as to
the character of these ancient species.

ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF CRINOIDEA IN THE WESTERN STATES.

Tue following is an abstract of a communication made to the Amer-
ican Association, Cincinnati, by Dr. Yandell, of Louisville, Ky., on
the ‘‘ Distribution of Crinoidea in the Western States.”’

For several years past, said Dr. Yandell, I have been engaged, con-
jointly with Dr. Shumard, in collecting the Crinoids of the Western
States, with reference to the continuation of the work undertaken on that
subject by the late lamented. Dr. Troost. We have already collected
about thirty genera and more than two hundred species, showing that
our country is richer than any other part of the world in the remains
of these curious tenants of the deep.

They are found in the oldest rocks which retain any vestiges of or-
ganic beings. Dr. Shumard has discovered them in the sandstones of
Wisconsin and Minnesota, which correspond to the Potsdam sandstone
of New York. At first they are few in number, and occur in frag-
ments ; but in the later formations they become abundant in the equiy-
alents of the Niagara group, and attain their full development in the
carboniferous system. ‘They are of limited range, a species often be-
ing found in only a single locality, and rarely extending over an_ area
of many miles. Not one is clearly common to this country and Hu-

312, ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

rope, though one or two are claimed by both continents. Not one is
common to two geological systems. ‘Those of the Lower Silurian differ,
not only in species, but for the most part in genera also, from those
which occur in the Upper Silurian system, and these again from those
found in the Devonian, while the genera and species of the carbonifer-
ous era were different from those of the earlier ages.

ON THE PALEONTOLOGY OF THE LOWEST SANDSTONES CF THE NORTH-
WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Art the meeting of the American Association, Cincinnati, May, 1851,
Dr. D. D. Owen, of the U. 8. North-west Geological Survey, presented
a paper ‘‘ On the Paleontology of the lowest Sandstones of Wisconsin,
Iowa, and Minnesota,’’ of which the following is an abstract : —

The occurrence of highly fossiliferous strata, much lower in the

eological formations than had been previously observed in the west,
is one of the most interesting facts connected with the paleontology of
the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries in Wisconsin and Min-
nesota.

This discovery, which throws an entirely new light upon the zoologi-
cal character of the oldest fossiliferous beds of the west, was made in
1847, during the first year of the survey of that country. Leaving out
of view the as yet problematical Taconic system, only two species
of lingulas had been discovered, up to that time, in this country, in
strata of the age of Potsdam sandstone, with perhaps an associated
Orbicula, and some obscure bodies, referred to a sub-genus of fucoides,
and noticed in the reports under the name of Scolethus. _ These were
considered the oldest fossils then discovered in the United States; so
that Mr. Hall, in his preface to the Paleontology of New York, after
remarking on this fact, says : — ‘* We find ourselves forced, therefore, to
commence our comparisons with European formations, from the Tren-
ton limestone.”’ De dehncr

In August, 1847, while descending the St. Croix, I observed multi-
tudes of Lingulas and Orliculas disseminated in strata abutting against
the south-west side of the trap range that crosses that stream at its
falls. In tracing out the geological position of these beds, during the
succeeding months of the same year, they were found to be only a
portion of highly fossiliferous beds, lying toward the base of the lowest
sedimentary strata, that rest and abut upon the igneous rocks of that
country ; all of which occupied a geological position beneath the Lower
Magnesian limestone, containing Ophileta and other fossils of the Cal-
ciferous sandstone of New York.

At the same time, it was observed that Lingulas and Orbiculas were
by no means the only genera characterizing these rocks, but were
accompanied by other brachiopoda, and several forms of crustacea,
some of which could be traced down six hundred to seven hundred fget
below the bottom of the Lower Magnesian limestone, and even beneath
lingula beds, containing apparently Lingula prima and Lingula antiqua,
that characterize the lowest fossiliferous beds of the Potsdam sand-
stone of New York. In October, of the same year, I found beneath

GEOLOGY. 318

F
this lingula grit a species of obolus, very much like those obtained
from the lowest sandstones of Russia ; and in similar beds, ten miles
below Mountain Island, I discovered a remarkable trilobite, provided
with spines, which project backwards from the pygidium. The com-
bined labors of the succeeding year (where minute stratigraphical and
paleontological sections were undertaken) developed beneath the Lower
Magnesian limestone at least six different trilobite beds, separated by
from 10 to 150 feet of intervening strata. ee

The Menominie trilobite grit, situated about forty or fifty feet above
the lowest trilobite bed, is characterized by a minute species of trilobite,
chiefy remarkable on account of a spinous appendage, which has its
origin at an angle in the middle of the posterior part of the glabella,
and projects upward and backward in the median line of the body.
The glabella in this species has only one distinct transverse furrow,
immediately in rear of the origin of this spinous process. To convey
an idea of the abundance of this species in the grits of the Menominie
river, it may be stated that, on a specimen measuring three inches
square, more than a hundred individuals ean be counted.

In 1849, Dr. Shumard found in green sandstones above the level of
the Mississippi, near the head of Lake Pepin, and also on the Wis-
consin river, the remains of Crinoidea. ‘This encrinital bed lies some
forty feet below the St. Croix trilobite bed. Specimens of both Orthis
and Spirifer occur at a lower level, between these crinoidal beds and
the Mineska trilobite grits. A fuller description of these various spe-
cies of trilobites, which belong, probably, to more than one genus, is in
course of preparation for the final report on the geology of the North-
west. The object of this notice is merely to show, in connection with
the specimens exhibited, that crustacea do actually occur in Wisconsin,
Iowa, and Minnesota, even as low down in the unaltered sedimentary
strata as any organic relics haye yet been traced; and that the oldest
sandstones of that country contain also Spirifer, Orthis, Obolus, and
remains of Crinoidea, besides Lingulas and Orliculas.

a

FOSSILS OF THE SILURIAN EPOCH.

At a meeting of the Boston Natural History Society, January, 1852,
Professor Rogers stated that Mr. Salter had recently demonstrated in
London the fallacy of Hugh Miller’s argument for the deterioration of
species, based on the supposed existence of fishes, in some of the older
rocks, of a higher organization than those of a more recent period. One
of the specimens from which the argument was drawn, was shown to
be a piece of a trilobite, and another a zodphyte. Prof. Rogers remarked
that the only evidence remaining of vertebrata in the Silurian system,
was a single occurrence of foot-prints in the sandstone of the St. Law-
rence Valley. With regard to the nodules, like coprolites, occurring in
the Barlow limestone, Professor Rogers suggested that the same source
which could supply phosphate of lime to coprolites, might supply it in
the form of concretions to the geological formation itself; so that the
occurrence of such nodules merely was not positive proof of the exist-
ence of fishes at that time.

314 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE EXISTENCE OF TRACKS AND TRAILS ON THE ROCKS OF THE
LOWER SILURIAN.

Tue following description of some supposed reptilian foot-prints from
the oldest rocks of the Lower Silurian series, is taken from the appendix
of Sir Charles Lyell’s address before the Royal Geological Society of
England. He says : —

‘‘We are indebted to Mr. Logan, now at the head of the Govern-
ment Survey in Canada, for having carefully determined the position
of the rocks containing them. ‘The locality is the village of Beauhar-
nois, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, twenty miles above Mont-
real. ‘The rock, a fine-grained whitish sandstone, quarried for build-
ing, belongs to the group called the Potsdam sandstone of the New
York system, and lies at the base of the whole fossiliferous series of
North America. Assuming the Chelonian origin of these foot-prints,
they constitute the earliest indication of reptile life yet known; and
are not only anterior to the most ancient memorials of fish hitherto
detected, but agree in date with the first known signs of well defined
organic bodies, such as Lingule, met with in the same rock. Prof.
Owen has examined a slab of sandstone, on the upper surface of which
the foot-prints are impressed, together with a plaster cast of the re-
mainder of the continuous trail, in all 124 feet long, brought to London
by Mr. Logan.”’ ‘The following description of these impressions is given
by Mr. Owen : — ‘‘ The impressions are more numerous in regular suc-
cession than any that have been previously discovered ; so that the eyi-
dence of their haying been made by successive steps, afforded by this
succession of corresponding prints at regular intervals, is the strongest
we possess. ‘They are in pairs, and the pairs extend in two parallel
lineal series, with a groove midway between the two series. The outer
impression of each pair is the largest, and it is a little behind the inner
one. Both are short and broad, with feeble indications of divisions
at their fore part. They succeed each other at intervals much shorter
than that between the right and the left pair. The median groove is
well defined, and slopes down more steeply at its sides than towards
the bottom, at some parts of the track. I conclude, from these
characters, that the animal which left the track was a quadruped, with
the hind feet larger and wider apart than the fore feet ; with both hind
and fore feet very short, or impeded by some other part of the animal’s
structure from making any but short steps; that the fore and hind
limbs were near each other, but that the limbs of the right and those
of the left side were wide apart ; consequently, that the animal had a
short but broad trunk, supported on limbs either short or capable only
of short steps ; and that its feet were rounded and stumpy, without
long claws. As to the median impression, that may be due either to
a thick heavy tail, or to the under surface of the trunk dragged along
the ground. The shape of the body and the nature of the limbs, indi-
cated by the above described characters of the steps, accord best with
those of the land or fresh-water tortoises; and the median groove
might haye been scooped out by the hard surface of a prominent plas-

GEOLOGY. 315

tron. The disproportion in the size of the fore and hind feet is such
as we find in some existing terrapins —e. g., the Emys geographica.”’

At the meeting of the American Association, Albany, Mr. T. S.
Hunt, of the Canadian Geological Survey, stated, that during the past
summer, similar tracks have been discovered, in large numbers, in dif-
ferent beds, and at distances several miles apart. ‘here is a great
diversity in their size, but they agree in their general characters. The
beds containing them are lying at a very small angle, and are overlaid
by undoubted calciferous sandstone, while to this formation succeeds
the Trenton limestone with its characteristic fossils.

CN SOME REPTILIAN FOOT-MARKS OF THE INFRA-CARBONACEOUS RED
SHALE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Pror. H. D. Rogers exhibited to the geological section of the Amer-
ican Association, Albany, specimens of impressions on the infra-carbona-
ceous red sandstone of the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, and sub-
mitted a description of their forms. ‘These marks are of at least three
species. They are all of them five-toed, and in double rows, with an op-
posite symmetry, asif made by right and left feet, while they likewise
display the alternation of fore foot and hind foot. In other words, they
are evidently quadrupedal. One species, the largest discovered, presents
a diameter for each foot-print ofabout two inches, shows the fore and hind
feet to be nearly equal in dimensions, displays a length of stride of about
nine inches, and a breadth between the right and left treads of nearly four
inches, and it shows the hind feet very little in the rear of the fore feet.
This disposition of the footsteps, and other features described, were
deemed, by Prof. Rogers, to ally the animal which made them rather to
the saurian reptiles than to the batracians or chelonians ; but he wished
to speak doubtingly of a point so difficult of decision in the present state
of our information. Another series of smaller impressions displays also
the quadrupedal indications, there being the same alternation of fore
and hind, and of right and left feet; but the intervals between the
fore and hind feet are about equi-distant. In this species, the width
between the right and left feet is more than half the length of each
stride. Associated with these footmarks are all the evidences of a sub-
aerial exposure of the surfaces on which they are impressed, as sun
cracks, rain-spotting, and the signs of the tricklings of a wet, sandy
beach. All these associations confirm the inference, from the form of
the foot-prints themselves, that the animals imprinting them belonged
to air-breathing, and not to aquatic races.

Professor Agassiz was disposed to combat the views advanced, that
these were the foot-prints of some tribe of reptilian animals, and he
ventured to conjecture that they might more probably have been made
by articulated animals. He indicated how certain families of fishes
imprint the wet sand over which they swim, leaving marks somewhat
resembling reptilian footsteps. His arguments were, however, dissented
from by other members. ‘The quadrupedal arrangement of the Penn-
sylyania foot-prints was again adduced by Professor Rogers, in evi-
dence that these, at least, could not have been left by worms, nor even
by fishes. :

816 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE REPTILIAN FOOT-PRINTS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

In former numbers of the Annual of Scientific Discovery,* some
account has been given of reptilian foot-prints in the rocks adjacent to
the coal measures of Eastern Pennsylvania, discovered by Mr. Isaac C.
Lea, in 1849. As the exact position of these remains in the geological
series has been called in question, we copy, from the proceedings of the
Philadelphia Academy, the following remarks of Mr. Lea on this sub-
ject :—
ie The geological position of this reptilian quadruped is of great
interest, from the fact that no such animal remains have heretofore
been discovered so low in the series. Those discovered by Dr. King,
in Westmoreland county, and described by Mr. Lyeil, in Silliman’s
Journal, July, 1846, are in the western coal-field, only 800 feet below
the surface of the coal formation. (No. 13 of Prof. Rogers, the State
Geologist.) The position of the Pottsville ‘ foot-marks’ is about
8500 feet below the upper part of the coal formation there, which is
6750 feet thick, according to Professor Rogers, and they are in the
‘red shale,’ (his No. 11,) the intermediate silecious conglomerate
(No. 12) being stated by him to be 1031 feet thick at Pottsville.
These measurements would bring these foot-marks about 700 feet below
the upper surface of the old red sandstone. A mass of coal-plants exists
immediately on the northern face of the heavy conglomerate, here tilted
ten degrees over the vertical, and forming the crest and ‘ back-bone ’
of Sharp Mountain. ‘This conglomerate mass is about 150 feet thick
at the western side of the road, below Pottsville. On the same road
side, about 1735 feet from these coal-plants, is the face of the rock,
tilted slightly over the vertical, and facing the north. It is proper to
state, that the limestone of the old red sandstone exists here, about two
feet thick, and underlies these ‘ foot-marks” sixty-five feet.”

The foot-marks in question are six in number, and very distinct.
They assimilate remarkably to those of the recent Aligator Mississippi-
ensis, and are somewhat analogous to the Cherotherium. The name
proposed for them by Mr. Lea is Sauropus primevus.

NEW ENGLISH FOSSILS.

Mr. Bowerrsank, at the Britisn Association, exhibited some few
specimens of the remains of a once gigantie bird, found in the London
clay, near Sheppy. He also exhibited drawings and restorations of
several species of Pterodactyles from the chalk formation, showing that
the great species of the chalk (P. Cuvier?) must have had a spread of
wing equal to 16 feet 6 inches ; whilst a second large species (P. com-
pressirostris) was estimated at 15 feet. The largest species previously
well known, the P. macronyx of Buckland, from the lias, was only
computed at 74 inches from tip to tip of its expanded wings.

At a meeting of the London Geological Society, Dec., Dr. Mantell
exhibited a fossil lizard, about six inches long, which had been sent him
to examine and describe by Mr. Duff, who discovered it near Elgin.

* See Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1849, p. 281, et 1850, p. 314.

GEOLOGY. 317

In the same strata Capt. Brickenden found a track of 20 footsteps of a
chelonian or turtle ; and in the lower beds of the Devonian, in Forfar-
shire, fossil eggs of frogs and aquatic salamanders have been discovered,
specimens of which were placed before the society. The great interest
of these discoveries is the fact that previously no vestiges of any rep-
tiles whatever had been found in the old red formation. Dr. Mantell
has named the reptile YTelerpeton Elginense, to indicate its remote
antiquity and the place from whence it was obtained.

NEW FOSSILS FROM THE DRIFT OF NORTHERN AMERICA.

Some additional fossils have, within a very recent period, been dis-
covered in the drift deposits of the northern portions of this country.
On the 29th of Jan., 1852, the laborers on the Great Western Railroad,
on Burhngton Heights, Canada West, found part of the head and the
tusk of an elephant beneath the strata of gravel. The tusk measured
six feet nine Inches in length, and thirteen inches in circumference.

FOSSIL EGGS OF SNAKES.

Pror. Brum communicates to the Quarterly Journal of the Geological
Society, England, an account of some curious bodies found in the fresh-
water limestone of Beiber, near Offenbach, Germany, and which he
supposes to be fossil eggs of snakes. In size they are 8—10” long and
5—6” thick. The ends taper off in so nearly a uniform manner, that
one end scarcely appears broader than the other. They are altogether
more cylindrical than the eggs of birds. Some specimens are here and
there somewhat compressed, which is easily accounted for by the soft
condition of the shell in a recent state. Externally, the surface is for
the most part rough, like a wrinkled skin. These bodies consist, gen-
erally, of calespar, a thinnish rind of which supports the outer surface,
while the inside is more or less hollow, and covered with little calespar
crystals. In one specimen, some of the calcareous matrix, in which
the eggs are found, has penetrated into the inside. In another, it
constitutes the whole substance of the fossil. These fossils are found
in a brackish-water limestone, easily distinguished, by its soft loamy
nature, from the strata above or below, and occur singly or in groups.
They are associated with the shells, Paludina, and one or two species of
Helix. By some, these fossils have been supposed to be concretions,
but from their characters and contents, and from the conditions under
which they exist, all idea of their inorganic concretionary origin must
fall to the ground. Coneretionary bodies are formed from within out-
wards, but in these exactly the opposite has taken place ; lime in solu-
tion has permeated the parchment shell of the egg, and has been
gradually deposited on the inside, and thus preserved the form of the
egg after the organic substance itself had disappeared. I consider
these fossils, therefore, to be eggs of snakes, perhaps of a coluber, de-
posited originally in, caleareous mud, where an increase of calcareous
matter not only prevented the hatching, but furthered the petrifaction
of the eggs.

27*

318 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE BONES AND EGGS OF A GIGANTIC BIRD IN MADAGASCAR.

M. Sart Hiname has recently communicated evidence to the French
Academy of the existence, at Madagascar, geologically recent, of a
gigantic bird, entirely new to the scientific world. ‘The discovery of
the evidence was made in 1850, by M. Abadie, captain of a merchant-
man. During a stay at Madagascar, he one day observed, in the hands
of a native, a gigantic egg, which had been perforated at one of its
extremities, and used for domestic purposes. ‘The accounts which he
received concerning it soon led to the discovery of a second egg, of
nearly the same size, which was found, perfectly entire, in the bed of
a torrent, among the debris of a landslip which had taken place a short
time previously. Not long afterwards was discovered in alluvia, of
recent formation, a third egg, and some bones, no less gigantic, which
were rightly considered as fossil, or rather, according to an expression
now generally adopted, as sub-fossil. These were all sent to Paris;
but one of the eggs was unluckily broken. The others arrived in safety,
and M. Saint Hilaire has presented them to the Academy. ‘These eges
differ from each other in form: one has its two ends very unequal ; the
other approaches nearly to the form of an ellipsoid.

The dimensions of the latter are : — Largest diameter, 13% inches ;
smallest diameter, 84 do.; largest circumference, 334 do. ; smallest
circumference, 283 do. The thickness of the shell is about the eighth
ofaninch. This great Madagascar eg would contain about seventeen
English pints, and its gross volume is six times that of an ostrich egg,
and equal to 148 ordinary hens’ eggs. To carry out the comparison
still further, one of the eggs of the Madagascar bird would be equal
in bulk to 50,000 eggs of the humming-bird.

The first question to be decided was — Are these the eggs of a bird
orofa reptile? The structure of the shells, which is strictly analogous
to that of the eggs belonging to large birds with rudimentary wings,
would have sufficed to determine the question; but it has been com-
pletely set at rest by the nature of the bones which were sent with
them. One of them is the inferior extremity of the great metatarsal
bone of the left side ; the three-jointed apophyses exist, two of them
being nearly perfect. Even a person unskilled in comparative anatomy
cannot fail to see that these are the remains of a bird.

M. Saint Hilaire assigns to this bird the generic name of A:pyornis,
and to the species, maximus. It cannot be classed with the Orni-
thichnites on the one hand, or with the Ostrich and allied genera on the
other, but it is the type of a new genus in the group of the Rudipens,
or Brevipens. Its height, according to the most careful calculations
made by comparative anatomists, must have been about twelve English
feet, or about two feet higher than the largest of the extinct birds
(dinornis) of New Zealand. According to the natives of the Sakalamas
tribe, of Madagascar, this immense creature, although extremely rare,
still exists. In other parts of the island, however, no traces of belief
in its present being can be found. But there is a very ancient and
universally received tradition amongst the natives, relative to a bird of
colossal size, which used to slay a bull, and feed on the flesh. To this
bird they assign the gigantic eggs lately found in their island. That

GEOLOGY. «819

this tradition is wholly a fable, is evident from the character of the
bones found, which clearly show that the bird in question had neither
talons, nor wings adapted for flying, but must have fed peaceably on |
vegetable substances.

M. Saint Hilaire considers it quite probable that the Epyornis has
had an existence within the historic period, and that it has even been -
referred to by two French travellers at different times, viz., by M.
Flacourt in 1758, and by another at a later period. These accounts
have heretofore been regarded as wholly fabulous. It is not, however,
improbable, that the Eastern story of the Roc may have had its origin
in a knowledge of the existence of the bird of Madagascar. It could
not, as before Y observed, have possessed any of the ferocious characters
ascribed to this fabled bird.

ON THE EPOCH OF THE MASTODONS.

At the Boston Society of Natural History, June, the President,
Dr. Warren, brought before the society the subject of the epoch of the
Mastodons, with the view of eliciting, he said, the opinions of mem-
bers on the subject. He thought that great importance was due to
the condition in which the remains of the food of these animals had
been found in its bearing on this subject. Relics of the food of
Mastodons had been found, in several instances, in such relation to
them, as to leave no doubt of its real character. It was unfossilized,
and in fragments of one or two inches in length, parts of it in coiled
masses, as if shaped by the intestines. The vegetable structure could
be distinctly made out under the microscope. ‘The President, like-
wise, alluded to a tradition of the Indians, quoted by Mr. Jefferson,
which he thought might have reference to the Mastodon. From these
circumstances, “he was inclined to the belief that Mastodons may have
existed within the human epoch, possibly within 1000 or 2000 years.

Dr. Gould remarked that the remains of these animals had been
usually found in bogs of peat, a substance particularly well calculated
to preserve objects “buried in them from decomposition. Most of the
fragments of wood, also, which had been found with Mastodons, were
resinous, and, from their very nature, capable of resisting, for a long
time, the tendency to decay. Mr. Lyell, from his study of the forma-
tions at Niagara, has been led to the opinion that at least 20,000
years must have elapsed since the epoch of the Mastodons. They are
found in formations below all the works of man, even the earth works
of Ohio. Dr. Gould thought that if these animals had been known to
the Indians, some trace of them would have been found in their vari-
ous utensils, or in their pictures ; but no such trace existed.

Dr. Cabot thought it not impossible that Jefferson’s tradition might
refer to the Mastodon. That such gigantic animals might be slain | by
the Indians, was evident from the fact that the Cafirs of the present
day are able, with their primitive weapons, to kill elephants, almost as
large. Such an event as the expulsion of the last of the race would
be Tikely to be commemorated, and handed down from one generation
to another. Bones of Mastodons were found at Big Bone Lick, in

320 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

company with those of the buffalo. <As for the circumstance of no pic-
tures of Mastodons having been found on Indian robes or tents, he was
inclined to attach little importance to it, as such memorials were very
perishable. He alluded to the frequent occurrence, among the ruined
cities of Yucatan, of monstrous heads, each furnished with a proboscis,
sometimes pendant and sometimes turned up, which it was not impos-
sible might have been intended to represent the heads of Mastodons.

In a discussion which took place at the American Association, Cin-
cinnati, on the question whether the American Mastodon existed
before or after the drift period, Major Owen said that he could bring
forward one fact, from personal observation, which might throw some
light on the subject. At the Blue Lick Springs he had obtained some
remains of the Mastodon, found near the tusk, nine feet long, which
had been sent to Peale’s Museum, in Philadelphia. He had searched
diligently in the black bog earth, in which the animals had evidently
been swamped, while crowding to the brine springs, (from which, up
to the present day, salt can be made,) but had found no shells to
characterize the epoch. Fourteen miles, however, from that place,
while searching for gigantic mammalian remains in yellow clay, (from
the abrupt bank of which, after heavy rains, bones were frequently
seen to project,) he found no bones, but found an ambonychia, imbed-
ded fifteen or twenty feet below the surface. This, on examination,
seemed to be identical with the ambonychia amygdalina, described by
Prof. Hall, in his ‘* Paleontology of New York.’’ It had consequently
been derived from the adjoining limestone or Silurian formation, either
by agencies which had detached it from the limestone and carried it
to the clay, or by haying the loam of the drift, or a yet later period,
wash down into the mammalian remains, bringing with it the debris
and fossils of the surrounding Silurian rocks. From the same locality
he obtained, a few weeks afterwards, a grinder of the Elphas primo-
genius, or mammoth.

In other localities, where no such disturbance had taken place, the
imbedded shells, accompanying similar remains, had been pronounced
by Lyell, on his late visit to the United States, as showing the loam
bluffs of the West and South to be contemporancous with the drift ;
whereas, in Canada and New York, some lacustrine and swamp
deposits of marl and bog earth, including the bones of extinct quad-
rupeds, were decidedly post-glacial.

MASTODON ANGUSTIDENS.

Ar a recent meeting of the Boston Natural History Society, Dr.
Warren, the President, exhibited a cast of a Mastodon’s tooth, an allu-
sion to which he had happened to meet with some years since. It had
been dug up from the banks of a stream about twelve miles distant from
Baltimore, under the direction of Dr. Ducatel, State Surveyor. After
having possessed it a considerable time, Dr. D. showed it to Mr.
Charlesworth, who judged it to have belonged to Mastodon Longiros-
tris. Sir Charles Lyell having seen it, was disposed to believe it to be
a tooth of M. Angustidens, and in this opinion concurred Drs. Hays

GEOLOGY. 821

and Harlan of Philadelphia. The President said that, being in Balti-
more, he sought for this tooth, and ascertained it had disappeared some
time before, in a manner wholly unknown. Some time after, being in
the Museum of the Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia, looking
over a fine collection of Mastodon teeth, in company with Dr. Hays,
this gentleman discovered a tooth which had all the characters of the
lost Baltimore specimen. Dr. Wilson, who had given it to the Acad-
emy, on being inquired of, said that it was purchased by his brother
in London, as a supposed American fossil. On examination it appeared
to have none of the characters of the tooth of the American Mastodon
giganicus, but evidently belonged to the narrow-toothed group, either
Angustidens, Longirostris or Humboldtius. Furthermore, whatever
was its species, it was a Miocene fossil, and, of course, was derived
from a deposit that had never presented any relic of M. giganteus, in
this country. Being an insulated fossil, since none belonging to the
same species or group had ever been seen among thousands of Masto-
don specimens met with in North America, it was of course an object
of great interest, and he had been led to investigate its history with
all possible exactness. All the evidence he could obtain concurred in
supporting the opinion that it was the tooth actually possessed by Dr.
Ducatel, and which was brought to light in the manner he had
described. On a recent visit to Europe, the President said he had
taken with him a cast of the tooth, colored, under the direction of
Dr. Wilson, exactly as when discovered, and exhibited it to Sir Charles
Lyell and Mr. Charlesworth, who were fortunately in London. Both
of these gentlemen distinctly recognized it as the tooth they had for-
merly seen in America. On exhibiting it te Professor Owen he
thought the fact of its being an insulated fossil ought not to be consid-
ered an objection to its being a native of America, since every newly
discovered species would be liable to the same difficulty. He consid-
ered it as decidedly belonging to the narrow-toothed group, and
thought it probable that other portions of a skeleton might hereafter
be found in the southern parts of the United States. ‘The President
said he had taken every opportunity to call the attention of Paleon-
tologists in this country and in Europe to this specimen, in the hope
of obtaining such facts and opinions as would dissipate the doubt
which existed in regard to it, and either restore it to the Old World, or
establish it as a native inhabitant of the New

FOSSILS FROM THE POST-PLIOCENE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Srrupson has given to the Boston Society of Natural History a
list of fourteen different varieties of shells obtained from the post-plio-
cene deposits of Point Shirley, near Boston. These fossils occur in
the upper part of a stratum of blue clay and pebbles, which crops out
from under the coarse drift, at the clifis on both sides of the hill. On
the east side the stratum is at an elevation of fifty or sixty feet above
high-water mark; on the west side it is but two or three feet above
the same level. At some little distance from this site, a stratum of
clay, probably the same, containing shelis, was met with in digging a

$22 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

well, at a depth of fifty feet below high-water mark, showing the great
inequalities of the ancient sea bottom. With regard to the species
found at Point Shirley, Mr. Stimpson remarked that those most com-
mon in this deposit are inhabitants of deep water,,and of northern
origin. With one exception they may all be obtained in a living state
by dredging within a mile of the locality where they are now found
fossil.

The state in which they occur would seem to furnish evidence in
favor of Lyell’s theory of the drift being deposited from the melting of
icebergs, by which the materials had been transported. The shells are
almost invariably broken, but not worn, their angle of fracture remain-
ing sharp.

‘Mr. age said that it had been thought that the coarse drift near
Boston was glacial in its origin. The fact that shells had been found
in it had been offered as an objection. This had been explained by
the supposition that a glacier had entered the sea at the point where
the shells had been found in the drift. The existence of a layer of
clay containing shells beneath the coarse drift at Point Shirley, would
seem to indicate a quiet deposition at variance with the glacial theory.

BOP A Ney.

HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE OF SOME CULTIVATED VEGETABLES.

Ar the American Association, Cincinnati, a paper was presented
from Dr. T. W. Harris, of Cambridge, ‘‘On the Nomenclature and
History of certain cultivated Vegetables ;”’ the object of which was to
show, that the cultivated vegetables of this country, which haye been
generally ascribed to an Eastern origin, are by no means European,
but purely American, and only introduced in Europe since the set-
tlement of the northern part of this country. The following abstract
embraces the result of Dr. Harris’ investigations : —

The errors that have grown and spread, and multiplied with the
Japse of time, in this neglected field of research, says Dr. Harris,
require to be cleared away. Decandolle remarked that the species
of the genus Cucurbita ought to be worked out anew. The names of
the pumpkin and squash are no longer used precisely in their original
sense. In general, they are the fruits of the plants belonging to the
miscalled genus Cucurbita, as now restricted by Meisner and End-
licher. The illustrious Linnzeus, following in the steps of his botani-
cal predecessors, for whose errors he is not to be held accountable,
gave the names of Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita melopepo to those
kinds of pumpkins and squashes that had been longest and best known.
He added to the list one more old species, the verrucosa, and a new
one, the ovifera, said to have been brought by Lerche from Astrachan.
Several more species are now enumerated in scientific works, some sep-
arated from the pepo of Linnzeus (C. maxima and C. moschata), and
others more recently detected and characterized. Most of the pump-
kins and the squashes that are cultivated in the United States as
articles of food, have been referred to the Linnzean species. Ever since
the time of Caspar Bauhin, whose ‘‘ Pinax’’ seems to have served as
the basis of botanical nomenclature, it has been taken for granted that
pumpkins and squashes were the pepones and melopepones of the Greeks
and Romans. If this be admitted, it must follow that pumpkins and
squashes were not only well known to the ancients, but that they were
natives of the eastern continent, to which, indeed, the most common
kinds are actually assigned by modern botanists. Dr. Harris, however,
shows that the pepones and melopepones of the Greeks and Romans
were not pumpkins and squashes; that the latter were unknown to
the ancients ; that they did not begin to be known in Europe until

824 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

after the discovery of America; and that they are natives of America.
He traces out, in this paper, a detailed account of the ancient vegeta-
bles; proves that the musk-melon is still known and cultivated in
Greece, and that the modern Greeks call it peponz, a word derived from
the ancient name of the fruit ; that the monuments of Egypt, though
containing representations of many other plants, have none that can be >
referred to the peculiar products of which this paper treats ; and that
writers on Materia Medica enumerate four kinds of cold and demulcent
seeds, namely, those of the citrul, cucumber, gourd and melon; but
make no mention of those of pumpkins and squashes, which are included
in the list by modern physicians.

The common nomenclature of the cucurbitaceous plants, in the
languages of Hurope, has become very much confused, many of the
names now embracing species, and even genera, to which they did not
originally belong. The European gourd, or calabash, originally a
native of southern Asia, took its names mostly from the Latin cucurbita.
It was known to the Anglo-Saxons, and was by them called cyrfoet.
Though long cultivated by the Romans, by whom, perhaps, it may
have been carried to Britain, it was not generally introduced in West-
ern Kurope till the time of Charlemagne, who greatly encouraged its
cultivation. ‘Tragus, who wrote in the early part of the sixteenth
century, gave the first good figure and intelligible description of it.
The French call it courge; the English, gourd; the Germans and
Swedes, kiirbis; the Dutch, kauwoerde ; the Spanish, calobaza, and the
Portuguese, cabaca ; all which names are derived from cucurbita. The
old names, abébora and abébara, by which it was known in Portugal,
and the Danish greskar, are of uncertain origin. Zucche and zucca,
the Italian names for the gourd, are probably derived from the Greek
sikua. Citrouelle was the old French name for the water-melon, which
is equivalent to the English citrul, and to the pharmaceutical cetrullus.
All these names were afterwards applied to gourds, pumpkins, and
squashes.

The old botanists, by whom these fruits were first described, were
chiefly Brunfelsius, Tragus, Fuchsius, Cordus, Matthiolus, Turner, Do-
donzeus, Lobelius, and Dalechamp — all of whom, except Lobelius, died
before the year 1600. It is worthy of note, that John Eliot, the apos-
tle of the Indians, in his translation of the Bible into the language of
the Massachusetts Indians, which was first printed in 1663, and was
the first Bible printed in America, could find no other words for cucum-
bers and melons, occurring in Numbers xi. 5, than askootasguash and
monaskootasguash, hereby indicating that these fruits were unknown to
the Indians by name. It seems, however, that the Indians had a name
for gourd ; for Elict renders this word guonooask, in Jonah iy. 6, 7,
9, and 10. Several of the French missionaries in Canada have men-
tioned the citrowelles cultivated by the Indians. A number of extracts
from early voyagers were cited by Dr. Harris, in this connection, which
prove that the vegetables alluded to were in common use among the
aborigines through the whole extent of country from Florida to Can-
ada, and probably far to the west ; and hence they could not have been
nah from Europeans, even if they were not originally indigenous to
the soil.

BOTANY. 3825

ON THE: PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE WHEAT PLANT.

Some curious experiments on the productiyeness of the wheat plant
have been instituted at Buckingham, England, bya gentleman by the
name of Stowe. On the 13th of July, 1850, a single grain of wheat
was sown inthe garden; the plant came up in ten days, and grew
luxuriantly till the 13th of September; it was then taken up and
divided into slips, and replanted. The plants lived and flourished tilt
the 13th of November, when they were again raised, divided and
replanted, and suffered to remain till the 16th of April of the present
year. The weather then becoming unfavorably wet, they were all
taken up again and divided into not less than 114 plants; these, being
planted, were permitted to stand till the month of August, when they
were productive of the amazing number of 520 ears of wheat, many of
them of full size, containing more than 50 grains of corn. Whether
the result of this trial will strengthen the opinion of those who contend
for the thin sowing of wheat in ordinary field cultivation, must be left
to the judgment of more practical agriculturists ; but of the amazing
productiveness of the wheat plant, under such treatment, any one may
easily satisfy himself by repeating the experiment.

VITALITY OF SEEDS.

Pror. Henstow, at the British Association, stated, that during the
last year he had planted several seeds sent to the committee appointed
to report on this subject, and out of those he had planted two had
grown. They both belonged to the order Leguminosx, and one was
produced from seed seventeen, and the other from seed twenty years
old. On the whole, it appeared that the seeds of Leguminosz retained
their vitality longest. ‘Tournefort had recorded an instance of beans
growing after having been kept a hundred years, and Wildenow had
observed a sensitive plant to grow from seed that had been kept sixty
years. The instances of plants growing from seeds found in mummies
were all erroneous. So also was the case, related by Dr. Lindley, of a
raspberry bush growing from seed found in the inside of a man buried
in an ancient barrow.

Mr. Babington related a case in which M. Fries, of Upsala, suc-
ceeded in growing a species of Hieracium from seeds which had been
in his herbarium upwards of fifty years. Desmoulins recorded an
instance of the opening of some ancient tombs in which seed was
found, and on being planted they produced species of Scabiosa and Helio-
tropium. Recently some seeds from Egypt were sown in Cambridge,
which were thought to have germinated ; but on examining them they
were covered with a pitchy substance, which had evidently been
applied subsequent to their germination, and thus they had preserved
the appearance of growth through a long period of time. Dr. Cleg-
horn stated that after the burning or clearing of a forest in India, inva-
riably there sprung up a new set of plants which were not known in
the spot before.

28

326 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

TOBACCO AND ITS RESULTS.

Mr. Rozerr Exuis, in editing the official catalogue of the Great Ex-
hibition, makes the following remarks concerning tobacco : — ‘‘ The
total quantity of tobacco retained for English consumption in 1848,
amounted to nearly 17,000,000 lbs. North America alone produces
upwards of 200,000,000 lbs. he combustion of this mass of vegetable
matter would yield about 840,000,000 Ibs. of carbonic acid gas; so
that the yearly increase of carbonic acid gas from tobacco smoke alone
cannot be less than 1,000,000 lbs., a large contribution to the annual
demand for this gas made upon the atmosphere for the vegetation of
the world.’’

VALUE OF FLAX TO GREAT BRITAIN.

Ir is estimated that there is yearly consumed in the linen and other
manufactures of Great Britain, 100,000 tons of fax. Of this quantity
75,000 tons are imported, the remaining 25,000 tons being the pro-
duce of the British isles. The total yalue of all the articles of British
manufacture, in which the flax fibre imported is employed, exceeds
£5,000,000 annually.

Flax-seed for sowing and crushing is imported annually into Great
Britain, to the amount of £1,820,000, taking the quantity imported
650,000 quarters, at 7s. per quarter ; 70,000 tons of oil-cake, for feed-
ing of cattle, having a value of £600,000, are also imported yearly.

VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.

MM. Cloés and Gratiolet, in some experiments upon aquatic plants,
as species Potamogeton, Conferyas, and the like, obtain the following
results: Influence of light. —'The disengagement of oxygen from
the green part of plants is very rapid in full solar light, insensible in
diffuse light, and null in darkness; and in the last condition no car-
bonic acid is disengaged, contrary to an old opinion, but now for some
years correctly understood. With glass of different colors, the effect
was greatest with colorless glass, and diminished in the order, red,
green, blue. Influence of temperature. —'The decomposition of car-
bonic acid by aquatic plants, exposed to light under a temperature of
+ 4° C., does not commence until the temperature is raised to 15° C.,
and has its maximum at 30° C.; and if the plants are in a temperature
of 30° C., then, on its reduction, action continues even to 10° C. This
result corresponds with Chevreul’s on the circulation and ascension
of the sap of plants. Influence of the composition of the surrounding
waters. —In river water, deprived of air by ebullition, and containing
only carbonic acid in the same proportions as the waters of the Seine,
the water being frequently renewed, the decomposition is at first
active, but afterwards diminishes, and ceases after four or five days ;
and by this time the green color of the plant has become paler. At
first the gas produced is mixed with some nitrogen, the quantity of
which goes on diminishing; so that when decomposition ceases, the

BOTANY. Sat

air disengaged is almost wholly pure oxygen. The total volume of
the nitrogen disengaged is much more considerable than the volume
of the plant; and, on submitting this plat to elementary analysis, it
is found that, for equal weights, it contains much less nitrogen than a
portion of the same plant not subjected to the experiment. The facts
show that, in the act of growth, in submerged plants, nitrogen proceeds
from the decomposition of the elements themselves of the plants ; that
consequently are-supply is necessary, and, consequently, nitrogen, free
or combined, is essential to the life of the plant. In the experiments
instituted by Cloés and Gratiolet, a ten thousandth of ammoniacal
salts dissolved in water always proves injurious. The decomposition
of carbonic acid diminished and ceased after some hours ; whence the
conclusion that the plant assimilates directly nitrogen in solution in
water. They have also found that whatever may be the position of the
leaves of Potamogeton in water, carbonate of lime is decomposed by
the superior surface of the leaves, and never by the inferior. They
have also ascertained that the oxygen produced by the decomposition
of the carbonic acid has a definite course; that it descends inya-
riably from the leaves towards the roots. Thus, when the stem is
placed horizontally in water, the emission of gas always takes place
nearest the root of the plant. — Institut.

INFLUENCE OF THE POISON OF THE RATTLESNAKE ON PLANTS.

Tue following facts were communicated to the American Association,
Albany, by Mr. J. H. Salisbury. In June, 1851, a large female rat-
tlesnake, which had been caged in the New York State Cabinet of Nat-
ural History, died. On dissection, its stomach and intestinal canal were
found entirely empty, as much so as if they had been scoured out with
soap suds. ‘The sack in which the poison is emptied was laid open,
and the virulent matter (of which there was but little) carefully re-
moved and placed in a porcelain capsule. About five minutes after its
removal, four young shoots of the lilac, a small horse chestnut of one
year’s growth, a corn plant, a sunflower plant, and a wild cucumber
vine, were vaccinated with it. The vaccination was performed by the
dipping the point of the penknife into the virulent matter, and then
inserting it into the plant, just beneath the inner bark. No visible
effects, in either case, of the influence of the poison were perceptible,
till about sixty hours after it had been inserted. Soon after this, the
leaves above the wound, in each case, began to wilt. The bark in
the vicinity of the incision exhibited scarcely a perceptible change ;
in fact, it would have been difficult to have found the points, if they
had not been marked, where the poison was inserted. Ninety-six
hours after the operation, nearly all the leaf-blades in each of the plants,
above the wounded part, were wilted and quitedead. On the fifth day
the petioles and bark, above the incisions, began to lose their freshness,
and on the sixth day they were considerably withered. On the seventh
day they were about as they were on the sixth. On the tenth day
they began to show slight signs df recovery. On the fifteenth day,
new but sickly-appearing leayes began to show themselves onthe lilacs,

328 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and the other plants began to present slight signs of recovery in the
same way. Neither of the plants were entirely destroyed. It was
interesting to mark the progressive infiuence of the poison. The first
indication of derangement of the healthy functions of the plants was
observed in the leaves. These began to wilt and die at their edges and
apices, and this death gradually and uniformiy advanced on all sides
towards the mid-rib and petiole till the whole or nearly the entire leaf
was destroyed. It is an interesting fact in physiology, that the plants
first exhibited signs of death in the leaves situated on the side in which
the incisions were made. ‘The facts naturally deducible from these ex-
periments, are : — That the effects of the poison of the rattlesnake upon
plants and animals, when introduced into their circulation by a wound,
are similar, ‘That it requires a much longer time to affect a plant than
an animal. [It should be stated, in order to show that animals were
readily afiected by the poison of the snake, that, a short time previous to
its death, a rat bitten by it died in about two hours.] That the effects
were invariably exhibited on the part above the wound, and in no case
afiected the leaves below it. [This was probably owing to the small
quantity of the poison introduced in each instance.] That it invariably
affected first the leaves on thé side of the plant in which the incision
was made. ‘That its influence was invariably first rendered visible on
the edges and apices of the leaf-blades.

ABSORPTION O# INORGANIC POISONS BY PLANTS.

CurvaLtier has communicated several observations respecting the
absorption of mineral substances by plants. Pepper-wort (Lepodium
sativum) was planted in earth, and watered with an aqueous solution
of tartar emetic, blue vitriol, and sugar of lead ; antimony, copper and
lead were found respectively in the stalks of the plants, but only copper
or lead in the seeds. He found lead in plants grown in a white lead
manufactory, and he likewise confirmed the observation that chloride
of sodium is absorbed by plants. The action of arsenious acid upon
plants has been investigated by Chatin. He states that this acid is,
to a certain extent, absorbed by plants, and that, if they are not de-
stroyed by the influence of the poison, it is at a later period again
ejected by the roots. He has examined the conditions which favor
either the action of the poison or its secretion. We mention here only
that the action of the poison on the various kinds of plants exhibited
a remarkable difference — phanorogamia dying earlier than the erypto-
Se te and the dicotyledons sooner than the monocotyledons. Fithol

as confirmed the statements of Chatin ; and he has moreover minutely
investigated the unequal distribution of the arsenic absorbed through-
out the various parts of the plants. He finds that arsenic acid, em-
ployed in the same proportion, and in an equal state of dilution, has
@ more poisonous action on plants than is exhibited by arsenious acid.
— Liebig’s Report. ,

BOTANY. 329

ON THE FREEZING OF VEGETABLES AND PLANTS.

From an interesting paper submitted to the American Association,
Albany, on the above subject, by Prof. J. Leconte, we make the follow-
ing extracts : —

The author commences by citing the opinion of John Hunter, before
the Royal Society, in 1775, that animals must be deprived of life before
they can be frozen ; and that plants must be deprived of the principle of
vegetation before they can be frozen. But these generalities have been
since contradicted, for Sir John Franklin, and others, have noticed that
fishes and reptiles have been found in a frozen state, and have afterwards
been restored to life. If this generalization is inapplicable to animals, it
might naturally be expected that plants, in which the functions of
vitality are still more obscurely manifested, should be endowed with
the power of resisting cold in a greater degree. Yet writers on vege-
table physiology seem to be very generally decided that ‘‘ the complete
solidification of the fluids of a plant must necessarily and inevitably
result in itsdeath.’? In corroboration of the opinions above stated, the
author cites Decandolle, Prof. Henslow, &e. Modern vegetable physi-
ologists have been so impressed with the fundamental idea of Hunter,
that they have rather sought for causes which might prevent the juices
of plants from freezing, then endeavored to overthrow the principle
which they thought established.

Prof. Leconte stated that, until quite recently, he had participated
in this fundamental opinion, and that when he commenced his inyves-
tigation, all his prepossessions were in favor of the theory already es-
tablished. But from the examinations made during the winter of
1850-51, he had become satisfied that plants might be frozen without
the slightest injury. During that winter he had noticed roses, pines,
and other plants, which had become frozen so that they snapped off
like pipe-stems, yet they were uninjured by this intense freezing. After
making a series of experiments on plants, such as the elder, with consid-
erable pith, and which it might be supposed extreme cold would affect
readily, he was forced to the conclusion that freezing has little or no effect
on them. Instances were cited where trees have been known, as in Hud-
son’s Bay, Canada, and Maine, to have been frozen so that the physical
qualities of the wood appeared to be altered, yet still the trees lived
and throve with unabated vigor on the return of warm weather. The
observations of Erman, Von Humboldt, and others, have abundantly
proved, that in Siberia the ground is frozen toa great depth, so that
even the fibres of the roots and the roots themselves must be a solid
icicle. Indeed, the larches in Siberia not only have their roots resting
on a frozen substratum all the year round, but are themselves frozen
for nearly eight months in the year. Nor are these facts confined to
the larch forests of Siberia. Large portions of both Europe and North
America, lying north of the isothermal line of 32° Fahr., support ex-
tensive forests of birch, spruce, larch, Scotch fir, &c., where the ground
ice is perpetual.

It may be objected to this that trees are known to split with the cold.

To this it may be remarked, that young trees are hardly ever known
23*

,

330 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

to split ; while the aged and unyielding trunks of aged trees are those
that suffer most in this way. Some facts are cited to show that the
splitting and rending of trees by freezing is occasioned by the unequal
contraction of the layers of wood caused by a sudden application of
cold; for observation leads to the belief that the congelation of the sap
alone does not produce this effect.

In conclusion, it must be admitted that the analogy between plants
and animals is very perfect. There are genera of both, in which all the
fluids may be frozen without perceptible injury, while both appear to
be able to withstand a high degree of cold in a dormant state.

PROBABLE EFFECTS OF VEGETATION ON CLIMATE.

In the Secretary’s report of the proceedings of the Bombay Geo-
graphical Society, for 1850, some interesting facts are given in regard
to the influence of vegetation on the amount and distribution of moist-
ure, and the consequent effect on climate.

It was early remarked by Humboldt, that men in every climate, by
felling the trees that cover the tops and sides of mountains, prepare at
once two calamities for future generations — the want of fuel and a
scarcity of water. Trees, by the nature of their perspiration, and the
radiation from their leaves in a sky without clouds, surround them-
selves with an atmosphere constantly cold and misty. ‘They affect the
copiousness of springs, not, as was long believed, by a peculiar attrac-
tion for the vapors diffused through the air, but because, by sheltering
the soil from the direct action of the sun, they diminish the evapora-
tion of the water produced by rain. When forests are destroyed with
an imprudent precipitation, as they are everywhere in America, the
springs entirely dry up, or become less abundant. The beds of the
rivers, remaining dry during a part of the year, are converted into tor-
rents whenever great rains fall on the heights. The sward and the
moss disappearing with the brushwood from the sides of the moun-
tains, the waters falling in rain are no longer impeded in their course ;
and, instead of slowly augmenting the level of the rivers by progressive
filtration, they furrow, during heavy showers, the sides of the hills,
bear down the loosened soil, and form those sudden inundations that
devastate the country. Hence it results, that the destruction of forests,
the want of permanent springs, and the existence of torrents, are three
phenomena closely connected together. In India, their effects are very
appreciable. At Dapoolie, the climate is much more hot and dry than
formerly ; streams now dry up in December which used to flow until
April or May. This is attributed to the destruction of forests which
formerly covered the neighboring hills, now barren and desolate. In
southern Coucan, within the space of fifteen years, the climate has
been greatly deteriorated by the diminution of vegetation and conse-
quently of rain. ‘The people of Pinang have memorialized government
against the destruction of their forests, feeling sure that the result by
its continuance will be the ruin of the climate. The dreadful droughts
which now 60 frequently visit the Cape de Verd Islands are avowedly
due to the removal of their forests; and in the high lands of Greece,

BOTANY. 331

where trees have been cut down, springs have disappeared. In India, a
few years since, a proprietor, in laying down some ground, well watered
by an excellent spring, for a coffee garden, at Genmore, despite the ad-
vice of the natives, cleared the adjacent ground, when the supply of
water vanished. Cases are also cited, where the clearing of jungles
was followed in every case by an almost immediate diminution of water ;
when the jungle was allowed to grow again, the water returned, the
springs were opened and flowed as formerly. The St. Helena Almanac,
for 1848, gives particulars of the increase of the fall of rain for the last
few years, attributable to the increase of wood; within the present
century the fall has nearly doubled. The plantations seem to have
performed another service to the island. Formerly, heavy floods,
caused by sudden torrents of rain, were almost periodical, and fre-
quently very destructive ; for the last nine years they have been un-
jnown. On the mountains of Ferro, one of the Canary Islands, there
are trees, each of which is constantly surrounded by a cloud ; their
power of drawing down moisture is well known to the people. The
natives call them gaw/, the Spaniards santo, from their utility. The
drops trickle down the stem in one unceasing stream, andare collected
in reservoirs constructed for their reception. The whole of this beau-
tiful process depends upon the simple laws of temperature, condensa-
tion and evaporation. ‘Trees shade the soil from the sun. They give
oif vapor during the day, and so mitigate heat, while they obstruct the
direct rays from above ;— they radiate heat out during the night, and
occasion the precipitation of dew at night—many plants being en-
dowed with this faculty to such an extent as to collect water in large
quantities from the air.

In a discussion which occurred in the British Association, on the
influence of forests on climate, Capt. Strachey said he could not agree
with those who thought that forests had much influence on climate.
Tt was a notion that they encouraged rain ; but it was more probable
that rain was the cause of forests. He alluded to districts in India,
in which the forest vegetation was just in proportion to the fall of rain ;
being small and diminutive where there was little rain, and abundant
and gigantic where there was much rain. In temperate climates forests
might produce an efiect, but certainly not in the tropics. With regard
to the economical question, there could be no doubt that it was foolish
to destroy what was valuable, but we had not the power to arrest the
present destruction of the forests in India. Mr. Bunbury enumerated
several instances where forests did not exist, and yet there was much
rain, and others, where forests existed, and there was little rain.
Humboldt was our great authority on this subject, and he had recorded
his opinions of the infiuence of forests on climate. In many districts
where forests were cleared and single individuals left, these latter soon
died from the want of the influence of their neighbors. Dr. Lankester
pointed out that, according to the laws of vegetation, plants must be
supplied with water in a liquid or vaporous form for their growth, and
that all the facts which had been mentioned, and which at first sight
appeared opposed to each other, might be explained. That forests did
not always grow in rainy districts, arose probably from the waters

- 382 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

accumulating and forming morasses in which forest trees would not
grow. In districts where there was not much rain, there might be
much moisture in the atmosphere ; rain in general supplied only a very
small quantity of the water required by plants. Vegetable physiology
afforded no explanation of the effects on climate, attributed by some
observers to forests.

THE OPIUM TRADE.

From an essay published by Dr. Nathan Allen, on the history, ex-
tent, and effects of the opium trade, as carried on in India and China,
we compile the following information in regard to this demoralizing
traffic: — Opium, as is well known, is the production of the plant
Papaver somniferum, called in English the Poppy. This plant was
originally a native of Persia, but is now found growing as an orna-
mental plant in gardens throughout the civilized world. It is most ex-
tensively cultivated in India, where it is estimated that more than
100,000 acres of the rich plains of that country are occupied for this
purpose, giving employment to many thousands of men, women and
children. Its cultivation throughout is very simple. The seed is sown
in November, and the juice is collected during a period of about six
weeks in February and March. The falling of the flowers from the
plant is the signal for making incisions, which is done in the cool of
the evening, with hooked knives, in a circular manner, around the cap-
sules. From these incisions a white, milky juice exudes, which is
concreted into a dark-brown mass by the heat of the next day’s sun ;
and this being scraped off every evening as the plant continues to ex-
ude, it constitutes opium in its crude state. India, it is said, produces
forty thousand chests of opium annually, each chest varying in weight
from 125 to 140 pounds. Two of the principal localities for the culti-
vation of this drug, in Bengal, are subject to the East India Company,
and the manufacture and traffic in it is a strict monopoly of the govern-
ment. In the others, there is a most oppressive system of espionage
established over the natives, to an extent which throws the control of
the traffic into the hands of the same Company. On that which is
raised in Malwa, a province lying in the western part of India, beyond
the East India Company’s control, and which, in order to reach Bom-
bay, the principal market, has to pass through certain territories of the
Company, a transit duty of 400 rupees is levied. The income from
this tax, in 1846, was £1,000,000, which, with the revenue received
the same year at Calcutta from the article, makes the sum total of
income to the Company from it £3,000,000.

The idea of sending opium from Bengal to China originated in 1767.
From this time to 1794, the trade in it met with but poor success. In
the latter year the English succeeded in stationing one of their ships
laden with opium at Whampoa, where, for more than a year, she lay
unmolested, selling out her cargo. In 1821, owing to the difficulties
attending the sale at these places, the opium merchants withdrew all
their vessels from Whampoa and Macao, and stationed them under the
shelter of Lintin Island, in the bay, at the entrance of Canton river,

BOTANY. 333

which henceforth became the seat'of extensive trade. From these ves-
sels it was taken in Chinese junks and smugglers’ boats, and retailed
at various ports along the shore. In 1847, it is said about fifty vessels
were engaged exclusively in this trade, besides a greater or less number
which were only partially freighted with the drug. Itis stated that
two and a half millions of dollars’ worth of opium is annuaily imported
into Foo-chow, from whence it finds its way into the interior. In that
city alone there were, in 1848, one hundred houses devoted to the
smoking of the drug, while as many retailed the poison in small quan-
tities.

As respects the progress and present extent of the trade, it is said
that from 1794 to 1820, the amount exported to China varied from
3,000 to 7,000 chests per year. In 18357, it amounted to between
39,000 and 40,000 chests, valued at $25,000,000. From 1838 to 1842
the trade was almost entirely interrupted by the war, which grew out
of the attempts on the part of the Chinese government to suppress it.
At the conclusion of the war, the trade was resumed with renewed
vigor. For the year 1848, the amount imported into China from Bom-
bay was 19,111 chests, and from Calcutia 36,000 chests, which, at an
average of $550 per chest, would amount to $32,000,000 expended for
this single article of trade. ‘Then the Chinese pay an advance on the
sum of several millions more, which goes into the hands of the mer-
chants as the fruits of their investment and labors in the trade. All
this sum has to be paid in specie, or Chinese sycee, which is the
purest of silver.

The principal use made of opium by the Chinese is in the form of
smoking ; a practice to which they become most passionately addicted.
The wealthier orders do their smoking in their own dwellings, but for
the poorer classes there are thousands of shops fitted, in many of the
Chinese cities, with accommodations expressly for smoking. Many of
these shops are represented to be the most miserable and wretched
places imaginable. Rev. Mr. Squire says of them ; — “‘ Never, perhaps,
was there a nearer approach to hell upon earth than within the pre-
cincts of these vile hovels, where gaming is likewise carried on to a
great extent.”’ It is stated that there are one thousand of these opium
shops in the city of Amoy. All classes in the community are addicted
to the practice. The effects of this drug upon the consumer are thus
described by a distinguished Chinese scholar : —‘‘ It exhausts the ani-
mal spirits, impedes the regular performance of business, wastes the
flesh and blood, dissipates every kind of property, renders the person
ill-favored, promotes obscenity, discloses secrets, violates the laws,
attacks the vitals, and destroys life.’’ This statement is confirmed by
other natives, and also by foreign residents; and it is asserted that,
as a general rule, a person does not live more than ten years after
becoming addicted to the use of this drug. The Chinese government
have made strong efforts to cut off or restrict the traffic in this drug.
Public attention was directed to its injurious effects in 1799, and in
1809 an edict was issued requiring all ships discharging their cargoes
at Whampoa, to give bonds that they had no opium on board. Still
more stringent laws were adopted in 1820. In 1834, an edict was

334 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

issued, declaring that the injury done by the influx of opium, and by the
increase of those who inhaled it, was nearly equal to a general confla-
gration, and denouncing upon the seller and smoker of the poison the
bastinado, the wooden collar imprisonment, banishment, confiscation
of property, and even death by public decapitation or strangulation.
But, notwithstanding all this, the trade kept increasing, until at length ~
an imperial commissioner was appointed, clothed with the highest
authority and powers, to proceed to Canton and: endeayor to effect an
utter annihilation of the trade. In carrying out this determination, he
seized and destroyed some 20,280 chests of opium, and. compelled the
merchants to sign a bond that they would forever cease trading in the
article. ‘This bold and decided measure on the part of the commissioner
led to the war with England, which is commonly known as the opium
war, the result of which is well known to all our readers. One result
of the war was the ceding of the island of Hong Kong to the English.
In this island, after passing into the hands of the victors, the trade in
opium was legalized, and twenty shops for its sale immediately licensed,
within gun-shot of the Chinese empire, where such an offence is pun-
ishable with death. ‘Thus the war, instead of putting an end or check
to the system, through the cupidity of the English resulted in afford-
ing greater facilities than ever for its prosecution. 'The Chinese dare
not impose the penalties affixed to a violation of their laws restricting
the trade, which have never been abrogated or repealed, for fear that,
if they should do so, it might be made the groundwork for another war,
which would result in their being despoiled of still larger portions of
their territory and possessions.

It is stated, upon the highest authority, that the British government
in India could not be sustained without the immense revenue derived
from this trade. This revenue, for the last six years, it is said, has
amounted to nearly $80,000,000. It is also estimated that the im-
mense sum of $400,000,000 of specie has been drained from China to
pay for this single article alone, within the last half century. That
this pernicious contraband traffic is upheld mainly by the British goy-
ernment, through its agent, the Hast India Company, all are aware ;
and the stain of its conduct towards the Chinese, in forcing this
‘‘ flowing poison ”’ upon them, is held up to the detestation of the civil-
ized world. Money, not morality, has been its governing principle ;
and to increase its own resources and power, it has legalized and up-
held this trafic, which is destroying, morally, socially, and politically,
the whole Chinese nation, and which threatens to blot it out from
among the nations of the earth. Well does the author of the pamphlet
before us ask, ‘‘ What must be the verdict of future generations, as they
peruse the history of these wrongs and outrages? Will not the page
of history, which now records £20,000,000 as consecrated on the altar
of humanity to emancipate 800,000 slaves, lose all its splendor and be-
come positively odious, when it shall be known that this very money
was obtained from the proceeds of a contraband traffic on the shores of
a weak and defenceless heathen empire, at the sacrifice, too, of millions
upon millions of lives ?”’

BOTANY. 385

SUBSTITUTES FOR QUININE.

Tue present high price of quinine, and the threatened extinction of
the supply of cinchona, haye led to the publication, in the French jour-
nals, of various propositions for substitutes. Among these, arsenic
deservedly enjoys most favor, especially since the publication of
Boudin’s papers upon its employments, his report being confirmed by
many practitioners, though demurred to by others. Valuable a medi-
cine as it is, however, we fear that, as a general. rule, it is very inferior
to quinine as a febrifuge in certainty and rapidity of action, and the
less liability to relapse, said to be consequent upon its employment, is
anything but proved. A medicine recently introduced by Dr. Band,
under the name of hydro-ferrocyanate of potassa and urea, has excited
considerable attention. The Academy appointed a commission to
investigate its claims, and 30 cases of ague were treated by it, who had
had recourse to various means without success. Of these, 26 were
cured, confirming M. Band’s favorable statement, founded on 200 cases
that had been treated by himself and others.

M. Ossian Henry has assisted M. Band in the production of this sub-
stance on a large scale, but its exact composition has not been. made
known. From a complex organic product like this, the transition is
great to so simple a one as common salt; and yet, according to M.
Piony, given in doses of from four to eight drachms per diem, it effects
very rapidly what no other succedaneum of quinine that he has tried
does, a diminution of the size of the spleen. Recommended to the
Academy, M. Piony promptly cured six out of eight cases in which he
employed it.

Another practitioner of high repute, M. Gendron, has published an
account of the great effacy of an indigenous solanaceous plant, the
alkekenge, found among vines and shady places in France, Spain, and
Italy. Of forty cases it failed only in five or six. It seems almost
trenching on the ludicrous to repeat that two practitioners, residing,
one at Naples and the other in Sardinia, are quoted in the “‘ Réyue
Médicale’? as recommending, as based upon sufficient experience,
spider’s web, forty grains being given in divided doses. Dr, Ruspini
states, also, that economy would result from the substitution of a neu-
tral sulphate for the present bibasic salt ; for he and other practitioners
have found such neutral sulphate or per-sulphate as useful as the
bibasic in a half or quarter the dose —a fact easily understood in con-
sequence of its great solubility. Computing, with Chevallier, the
annual consumption of yellow cinchona in France at 140,000 kilo-
grammes, valued at 3,360,000 francs, the substitution of the neutral
salt would reduce the quantity to 55,580 kilogrammes, and the price to
1,333,920 francs. Although quinine still holds its vantage ground, the
importance of these investigations, as to the discovery of possible sub-
stitutes and the greater economizing of present supplies, are impressed
upon us by the unfavorable report of M. Weddel, after five years’ inves-
tigation of the sources of supply, and the high price which places the
article beyond the reach of the poorer classes, and the rapidly increas-
ing adulteration it is subjected to.

336 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

THU POTATO DISHASE.

Amone the various causes assigned by different observers as to the
origin of the potato disease, that of insects has been extremely common,
both in this country and in Europe; but apparently without reason.
The following is the opinion of Dr. T. W. Harris, the eminent ento-
mologist of Harvard University, as given in a published letter, answer-
ing inquiries in relation to this subject.

After adverting to various species of insects which have been
charged by various persons as the authors of the potato disease, viz.,
the larve of Crioceris trilineata, the Coccinella, black-bugs and others,
Dr. Harris says: I could enumerate, at least, half a dozen more
kinds of insects that are occasionally or always to be found, in their
season, on the potato vines, — insects varying in size from the minute
black Haltica and small bugs, to the big potato-worm, or Sphinx
quinquemacula, —all of them destructive according to the extent of
their powers, but innocent of the great ofience, which might be charged
to them with as much propriety as to other insects, of causing the
potato disease. I will only advert to one more, namely, the Baridius
trinotatus, an insect for whose history we are indebted to a lady, Miss
Morris, of Germantown. In the larva state it lives in the stems of the
potato, where it is finally transformed to a little gray beetle, having
three black dots on its shoulders. This insect, though common enough
in the Middle States, I have never seen in New England, in the course
of 30 years of observation, and am confident that it must be rarely found
here, if at all. Miss Morris, when she first discovered its habits,
thought she had detected the real culprit, but has become convinced
that the potato-rot is not caused by it, though the ravages of this insect
are admitted to be very considerable. A year or two after the potato
rot appeared in England, a Mr. Smee thought he had discovered the
cause of it, in the attacks of certain plant-lice, or aphzdes, and he wrote
a work on the subject, and dedicated it to Prince Albert. British
naturalists, however, did not sustain him in his views.

As the potato-rot had spread over Europe, and prevailed there to an
alarming extent, before it reached America, and as the disease found
here occurs with precisely the same symptoms and results as in Europe,
it must, wherever and whenever it appears, have one common specific
cause. If occasioned by insects, then the insects causing it must be of
the same kind or species in all regions where the disease has extended.
It would be entirely unphilosophical, and contrary to all analogy and
all experience, to attribute the disease to one kind of insect in one
country, and to an entirely different kind of insect in another country ,—
to aphides in England, to ‘‘ black-bugs’’ in America, to lady birds in
Massachusetts, and to the Baridius trinotatus in Pennsylvania. It is a
well-established fact that the insects of America and of Europe are not
edentical, excepting only in those few cases where some one species of
one country has been introduced, by the intervention of man, into the
other country. It has never been shown, and I think will never be
proved, that any one species of insect, of sufficiently destructive powers
to prove extensively injurious to the potato crop, is to be found alike
on the potatoes of Hurope and of America ; and, until such proof is pro-

BOTANY. 337

duced, I shall continue to maintain the opinion that I have ever held,
that insects have no concern or connection with the potato disease.

VICTORIA REGIA, OR THE SOUTH AMERICAN WATER-LILY.

Tus magnificent plant was discovered in one of the rivers of British
Guiana, in 1837. Various attempts to introduce it into Europe were
made by Sir Robert Schomburg, but all to no purpose, until the year
1849, when some seeds, sent to Sir J. W. Hooker, at the Royal Gar-
dens, at Kew, England, gave germs of active vitality. They were
immediately sent to Chatsworth, where, under the care of Sir Joseph
Paxton, the plants grew and flowered. The germs were planted in a
large tank, prepared especially for the purpose, in loam and fine sand.
The water was kept, by means of hot-water pipes, at a temperature of
75° to 90° F., and, in order to place the plant, as far as possible, under

‘the same conditions in which it exists naturally, a small water-wheel
was placed in the pond to produce gentle undulations, as in the Guiana
rivers. The leaves of the plant measure from five to six and a half feet
in diameter, the petioles being from eight to twelve feet in length. The
development of a leaf, on first rising to the surface of the water, pre-
sents a most curious sight, not easily described. Rolled into a body
of a brownish color, and covered with thorny spines, it might readily
be taken for some large species of sea-urchin. The under side of the
leaves, as well as the long stems by which the flowers and leaves seem
anchored in the water, are thickly covered with thorns, about three
quarters of an inch long. The colors of the lily are white and pink,
the outer rows of petals being white, and the inner a rich pink. The
entire flower is from nine inches to a foot in diameter; it is of short
duration, opening only on two successive evenings ; but there is a con-
stant display of flowers throughout the season. The petals always
open early in the evening, and partially close about midnight. During
the daytime, therefore, the Victoria Regia is seldom seen in its fullest
splendor, unless when removed from the parent stem.

If the development of the leaves presents such a singular appear-
ance, the successive movements or changes in the flower are not less
extraordinary, and are far more beautiful. The crimson bud, which,
for several days, has been seen rising, at last reaches the surface of the
water, and throws off its external investment in the evening, soon after
which the flower petals suddenly unfold, the expanded blossom, like a
mammoth magnolia, floating upon the surface of the water, decked in
virgin white, and exhaling a powerful and peculiar fragrance, which
has been compared to the mingled odors of the pineapple and the
melon. On the morning of the second day, another change is observed,
and the outer petals of the flower are found turned backward, or re-
flexed, leaving a central portion, of a conical shape, surrounded by a
range of petals, white on the outside, but red within. A slight tint of
pink is discernible through the interstices of these petals, which
increases as the day advances. In the evening, about five o’clock, the
flower is seen to be again in actiye motion, preparatory to another pro-
duction. The white petals which were reflexed in the early part of the

a

338 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

day, now resume their original upright position, as if to escort their
gay-colored companions surrounding the central cone to the limpid
surface below. After this, the immaculate white of the first bloom
changes to gay and brilliant pink and rose colors, Finally, a third
change ensues, marked by the spreading of the petals further back-
wards, so as to afford the enclosed fructifying organs liberty to expand.
These are soon seen to rise, giving to the disk of the flower a peach-blos-
som hue, the stamens and pistils assuming, at the same time, a figure
not unlike a crown. On the third day the flower is nearly closed.
All the petals seem suffused with a purplish pink ; the coloring matter,
which was originally only seen in the centre, having apparently pene-
trated the delicate tissues of the entire flower.

During the past year, the Victoria Regia has been introduced into the
United States, by Mr. Cope, President of the Pennsylvania Horticul-
tural Society. This gentleman has succeeded in bringing the plant to
a greater perfection, as regards the size of the flowers and leaves, than
has been attained to in England. He has also succeeded in raising the
lily under glass, without the aid of stove-heat.

ZOOLOGY.

REGISTRY OF PERIODICAL PHENOMENA.

Tue following observations on the registry of periodical phenomena
have been issued in a circular by the Smithsonian Institution : —

The Smithsonian Institution, being desirous of obtaining information
with regard to the periodical phenomena of animal and vegetable life
in North America, respectfully invite all persons, who may have it in
their power, to record their observations, and to transmit them to the
Institution. The points to which particular attention should be di-
rected, are, the first appearance of leaves and of flowers in plants ; the
dates of appearance and disappearance of migratory of hybernating
animals, as Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c. ; the times
of nesting of birds, of moulting and littering of mammalia, of utterance
of characteristic cries among reptiles and insects, and anything else
which may be deemed noteworthy. The Smithsonian Institution is
also desirous of obtaining detailed lists of ad/ the animals and plants of
any locality throughout this continent. These, when practicable,
should consist of the scientific names, as well as those in common use ;
but when the former are unknown, the latter may alone be employed.
It is in contemplation to use the information thus gathered, in the con-
struction of a series of tables, showing the geographical distribution of
the animal and vegetable kingdoms in North America.

ON THE INFUSORIA OF DUST SHOWERS AND BLOOD RAINS.

Tue infusorial character of the dust occasionally transported by
winds is one of the most wonderful of Ehrenberg’s discoveries. His
investigations have been reported from time to time since 1844, but a
recent publication contains the details of all his researches, with full
illustrations. The plates contain not only the figures of all the forms
observed in each case, but a sketch of a portion of the dust as it lay
under the microscope, exhibiting to the eye the relative prevalence of
different forms, and the colors they presented. Ehrenberg favors the
view of the atmospheric origin of these showers, and speaks of their
relation to the fall of meteorites. Chaldini, in his work on meteorites,
observes that the stones which fell between 1790 and 1819 amounted
to not less than 600 weight; while for the single dust-shower of
Lyons, in 1846, the material that fell was full 7200 weight. The Cape

3840 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

de Verd shower of 1834 had a breadth, according to Darwin, of more
than 1600 miles, and extended from 800 to 1000 miles from the African
coast. This gives an area of 960,000 to 1,648,000 square miles. The
surface of Italy and Sicily is about 100,000 square miles ; a single dust-
shower covering both these countries, like that of 1803, or of Lyons
in 1846, would deposit 112,800 weight of dust in a single day. With
such facts before us, Ehrenberg asks, how many thousand millions of
hundred weight of microscopic organisms have fallen since the period
of our earliest record of such events? He adds, ‘‘ I can no longer doubt,
that there are relations, according to which living organisms may
develop themselves in the atmosphere ;’’ and he speaks of this as a
selfdevelopment, and not a production from introduced ova. He sup-
poses it probable that the atmospheric dust-cloud region is of vast ex-
tent, and is above a height of 14,000 feet. These facts may seem in-
explicable on any other hypothesis ; yet much more investigation will
be required before an opinion, so contrary to received principles, can be
generally adopted.

The number of dust showers which Ehrenberg records is in all 340;
81 before the Christian era, 249 after. The first instance he adduces,
is the plague of blood inflicted upon the Egyptians, as related in the
Mosaic history, which continued throughout all the land of Egypt for
three days.and three nights. The second occurred about 1181, B. C., in
the time of Aineas and Dido, as related by Virgil, Aineid, iv. 454, ‘* Hor-
rendum dictu, latices nigrescere sacros visaque in obscenum se vertere
vina cruorem.’’? Many other instances of subsequent date are also re-
corded, the information respecting which is not of as doubtful a char-
acter as with those referred to before the Christian era.

Ehrenberg remarks that these showers appear to prevail most
within a zone extending from the part of the Atlantic off the west coast
of Middle and North Africa, along in the direction of the Mediterranean
Sea, reaching a short distance north of this sea, and continued into Asia
between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. They seldom reach
north as far as Russia and Sweden. This zone, in the North Torrid
Zone, has a breadth of 1800 miles. The reddish color of the dust, as
well as the organic forms, show that the dust is not of African origin.
Moreover the storm-winds and Sirocco are found to afford the same
species of organisms. The whole number of species of organisms ob-
served is 8320. A simultaneous occurrence of dust-showers and falls of
meteoric stones has been observed in probably eighteen instances before
the Christian era. During the Christian era, fourteen coincidences have
been observed, making thirty-two in all. — Compiled from Silliman’s
Journal.

STRUCTURE AND GROWTH OF ZOOPHYTES.

A sINcULAR degree of obscurity has been thrown around the growth
of coral zoophytes and coral formations, through the various specula-
‘ tions which have been offered in place of facts; and, to the present
day, the subject is seldom mentioned without the qualifying adjective
mysterious, expressed or understood. Some writers, scouting the idea

|

ZOOLOGY. 341

that reefs of rocks can be due in any way to ‘‘ animalcules,”’ talk of
electrical forces, the first and last appeal of ignorance. Others call in
the fishes of the seas, suggesting that they are the masons, and work
with their teeth in the accumulation of the calcareous material. Very
many of those who discourse quite learnedly on zoophytes and reefs,
imagine that the polyps are mechanical workers, heaping up these
piles of rock by their united labors; and science still retains such
terms as polypary, polypidom, as if each coral were the constructed
hive or house of a swarm of polyps, like the honeycomb of the bee,
or the hillock of a colony of ants.

It is not more surprising, nor a matter of more difficult comprehen-
sion, that the polyp should form coral, than that the quadruped should
form its bones, or the mollusc its shell. The processes are similar,
and so the result: in each case it is a simple animal secretion, a
formation of stony matter from the aliment which the animal receives,
produced by certain parts of the animal fitted for this secreting pro-
cess. This power of secretion is the first and most common of those
that belong to living tissues; and, though differing in different organs
according to their end or function, it is all one process, both in nature
or cause, whether in the animalcule or in man. Coral is never, there-
fore, an agglutination of grains made by the handiwork of the many-
armed polyps; for it is no more an act of labor than bone-making in
ourselves. And, again, it is not a collection of cells into which the
coral animals may withdraw for concealment, any more than the
skeleton of a dog is its house or cell; for every part of the coral of a
polyp in most reef-making species is enclosed wethin the polyp, where
it was formed by the secreting process. It is important that this point
should be thoroughly understood, and fully appreciated.

The reproduction of coral by buds is a process so similar to the
production of buds in vegetation, that a remembrance of the latter
will aid much in conceiving of it. The bud generally commences as a
slight prominence on the side of the parent ; the prominence enlarges,
and soon a circle of tentacles grows out, with a mouth at the centre ;
enlargement goes on, till the young finally equals the parent in size.
Thus, by budding, a compound group is commenced ; and it is evident
that if the parent and the new polyp go on budding again, and so on,
the compound group may continue to enlarge. This is the fact in
nature. ‘The polyps, one and all, continue propagating by buds, until
in some instances thousands, or hundreds of thousands, have pro-
ceeded from a single one, and the colony has spread to a large size.
Such is the Madrepora and Astrea. There are modifications of this
process, analogous to those in vegetation, but we need not dwell upon
them in this place.

It is obvious that the connection of the polyps in such a compound
group must be of the most intimate kind. ‘The several polyps have
separate mouths and tentacles, and separate stomachs; but beyond
this there is no individual property. They coalesce, or are one, by
intervening tissues, and there is a free circulation of fluids through
the many pores or lacunes. The zoophyte is like a living sheet of
animal matter, fed and nourished by numerous mouths and as many

P 20%

342 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

stomachs. In some species the coalescence is confined to the lower
half of the polyps, or to a still less part ; and in this case the animals
project above the general living surface. Polyps thus clustered,
spreading at summit a star of tentacles, constitute the flowering
zoophytes of coral reefs. Those coral animals which do not bud are
to all external appearance true actiniz. The existence of coral in the
living coral zoophyte is nowhere apparent, and would not be suspected
if not previously known; for, as before stated, it is wholly internal,
and the visible exterior is the fleshy skin of the polyp.— Prof. Jas.
D. Dana, Geology of the U. S. Exploring Expedition.

FORMS OF ACTINOID ZOOPHYTES.

ZOOPHYTES imitate nearly every variety of vegetation. ‘Trees of
coral are well known; and although not emulating in size the oaks of
our forests, — for they do not exceed six or eight feet in height, —
they are gracefully branched, and the whole surface blooms with coral
polyps in place of leaves and flowers. Shrubbery, tufts of rushes,
beds of pinks, and feathery mosses, are most exactly imitated. Many
species spread out in broad leaves or folia, and resemble some large-
leaved plant just unfolding: when alive, the surface of each leaf is
covered with polyp flowers. The cactus, the lichen clinging to the
rock, and the fungus in all its varieties, have their numerous repre-
sentatives. Besides these forms imitating vegetation, there are grace-
fully modelled vases, some of which are three or four feet in diameter,
made up of a network of branches and branchlets and sprigs of flowers.
There are also solid coral hemispheres, like domes among the vases and
shrubbery, occasionally ten, or even twenty feet in diameter, whose
symmetrical surface is gorgeously decked with polyp-stars of purple
and emerald green. All the many shapes proceed in each instance
from a single germ, which grows and buds under a few simple laws of
development, and thus gives origin either to the branch, the broad
leaf, the column, or the hemisphere.

But the more massy forms would not exist, and others would be of
diminutive size, were it not for a peculiar mode of growth which
characterizes most coral zoophytes. Life and death are here in con-
current or parallel progress, a condition favored by the existence of
coral secretions. In some instances, a simple polyp, while growing at
top and constantly lengthening itself upward, is dying at its lower
extremity, leaving the base of the coral bare, and destitute of any
living tissues. The polyp thus continues rising in height, and death
progresses below at the same rate, till at last the live polyp may be at
the extremity of a coral stem many times its own length. In species
which bud and form large groups, the same operation takes place. In
some instances the summit polyp or polyps bud and grow, while, at a
certain distance below the summit, the work of death is going on, and

olyps are gradually disappearing. There is thus a certain interval of
ife, the length of which interval is different for different species. The
death of the polyps about the base of a coral tree would expose it seem-
ingly to immediate wear from: the waters around it, and especially as

ZOOLOGY. 343

the texture is usually porous. But nature is not without an expedient
to prevent a catastrophe that would be destructive to a large part of
growing zoophytes, and would prevent the indefinite increase just
explained. ‘The dead surface becomes the resting-place of numberless
small incrusting species of corals, besides Nullipores, Serpulas, and
some mollusks. In many instances the lichen-like Nullipore grows at
the same rate with the rate of death in the zoophyte, and keeps itself
up to the very limit of the living part. The dead trunk of the forest
becomes covered with lichens and fungi, or, in tropical climes, with
other foliage and various foreign flowers: so, among the coral pro-
ductions of the sea, there are forms of life which replace the dying
polyp. The process of wear is thus entirely prevented.

The older polyps, before death, often increase their coral secretions
within, filling the pores occupied by the tissues, and rendering the
corallam more solid; and this is another means by which the trees of
coral growth, though of slender form, are increased in strength and
endurance.

The facility with which polyps repair a wound, aids in carrying for-
ward the results above described. The breaking of a branch is no
serious injury to a zoophyte. There is often some degree of sensibility
apparent throughout a clump, even when of considerable size, and the
shock, therefore, may occasion the polyps to close. But in an hour,
or perhaps much less time, their tentacles will have again expanded ;
and such as were torn by the fracture will be in the process of com-
ae restoration to their former size and powers. The fragment

roken off, dropping in a favorable place, would become the germ of
another coral plant, its base cementing by means of coral secretions to.
the rock on which it might rest; or, if still in contact with any part
of the parent tree, it would be retinited and continue to grow as before.
The coral zoophyte may be levelled by transported masses swept over
by the waves ; yet, like the trodden sod, it sprouts again, and continues
to grow and flourish as before. The sod, however, has roots which are
still unhurt ; while the zoophyte, which may be dead at base, hag
a root — a source or centre of life —in every polyp that blossoms over
its surface. Each animal might live and grow if separated from the
rest, and would ultimately produce a mature zoophyte.— J. D. Dana,
Geology of the U. S. Exploring Expedition.

ON THE HOLOTHURIDZ OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST.

Mr. Ayres, of the Boston Natural History Society, who has recently
been engaged in the careful study of the Holothuridz of the New
England coast, has given the following as the result of his inyestiga-
tions, as communicated to the society : —

Thirteen species have been described, included in eight genera. Of
these, three genera and eight species are believed tobe new. The fol-
lowing list gives, with the name of each species, the depths through
which it has thus far been observed to range: Synapta tenuis, Ayres,
— littoral to six fathoms; Chirodota arenata, Gould —shoal water :
Sclerodactyla briareus, Le Sueur — littoral to four fathoms; Thyoni-

344 - ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

dium elongatum, Ayres —thirty fathoms to forty; T. musculosum,
Ayres —twenty fathoms; JT. glabrum, Ayres— thirty fathoms to
forty ; Stereoderma unisemita, Stimpson — eighteen fathoms to forty ;
Botryodactyla grandis, Ayres — seventeen fathoms to fifty ; B. affints,
Ayres — one fathom to fifty ; Cuveria Fabricu, Duben and Koren — six
fathoms to twenty; Psolus levigatus, Ayres— sixteen fathoms to
twenty-five; P. granulatus, Ayres —thirty fathoms; P. phantapus,
Lin. — sixteen fathoms to twenty.

A glance at this catalogue is sufficient to show that, with a single
exception, no European species is included in it. One type of the
genus Psolus resembles so much the Linnean phantapus, that, until the
point can be settled by direct comparison of specimens, it is not deemed
advisable to impose a new specific name. Still, even here, we shall
probably find that they are only allied forms. Of the other species,
but one can be said to exhibit much resemblance to European types.
In this respect a marked contrast exists between the Holothuridze and
other divisions of the Radiata. It will be noticed, also, that most of
the species here designated inhabit deep water, and that of some the
range is quite extensive. The depths, however, as given above, can-
not at all be considered absolute ; the numbers only represent the lim-
its of our knowledge at the present time. Every additional opportu-
nity for observation brings to light habits and localities previously
unknown, and we have entire reason to believe that species hitherto
obtained only in deep water, will yet be found in other circumstances
within the range of the tide. The species which still remain unde-
scribed will also illustrate the same point.— Proceedings Boston Natu-
ral Eisiory Society.

CUMING’S CELEBRATED COLLECTION OF SHELLS.

Ir is not, perhaps, generally known, that one of the most splendid
collections of shells in the world is, at this moment, in the possession
of a private individual in London, — Mr. Hugh Cuming. It consists
of upwards of 19,000 species, or well marked varieties, from all parts
of the world. Of many of the species and varieties there are several
specimens ; making in all about 60,000 shells, perfect in form, color,
texture, &c. Professor Owen states that no public collection in Eu-
rope possesses one half the number of species of shells that are now in
the Cumingian collection ; and that, probably, one third the number
would be the correct statement as regards the national museums in
Paris and Vienna.

This collection has been made by Mr. Cuming in almost every part
of the known world. ‘‘ Not restricting,’ says Professor Owen, ‘his
pursuits to the stores and shops of the curiosity-mongers of our sea-
ports, or depending on casual opportunities of obtaining rarities b
purchase, he has devoted more than thirty of the best years of his life
in arduous and hazardous personal exertions — dredging, diving, wad-
ing, wandering — under the equator, and through the temperate zones,
both north and south, in the Atlantic, in the Pacific, in the Indian
Ocean, and the islands of the rich Archipelago —in the labor of col-

ZOOLOGY. - 345

lecting from their native seas, shores, lakes, rivers, and forests, the
marine, fluviatile, and terrestrial mollusks ; 60,000 of whose shelly
skeletons, external and internal, are accumulated in orderly series in
the cabinets with which the floors of his house now groan.”

EFFECT OF PRESSURE OF THE SEA ON FISHES.

Dr. Wi1tiams has shown that a gold fish, when the water in which
it was placed was subjected to a pressure of four atmospheres, became
paralyzed. He also states the following conclusions, as deduced from
his own experiments : — 1. That round fishes, having an air-bladder,
cannot, without injury, be exposed to a pressure of more than three
atmospheres. 2. That the use of the air-bladder is not so much to
regulate the specific gravity of the animal, as to resist the varying
force of the fluid column, and thus to protect the viscera and abdomi-
nal blood-vessels against excess of pressure. 3. (Though in this case
the results are less striking,) flat fish exhibit a limited capacity only
for sustaining pressure. From these observations, Dr. Williams infers
that the condition of pressure regulates the distribution of fishes in
depth.

EXTINCTION OF SPECIES OF SHELLS IN OHIO.

Ar the American Association, Cincinnati, Dr. Kirkland, of Cleve-
land, Ohio, stated some interesting facts, in relation to the extinction
of species of fresh-water shells within a comparatively recent period.

It has been alleged that geologists are sometimes compelled to draw
alittle on their imaginations, in order to supply time for the accom-
plishment of all the revolutions that seem to have taken place in the
structure of the earth. Within the memory of individuals now living,
the recent vegetable and animal kingdoms of Ohio have undergone
changes almost sufficient to mark a geological period. Numerous spe-
cies, once abundant, are now very rare, or have become extinct.
Other species have, in some instances, supplied their places. No class
has suffered more extensive and fatal changes than our mollusca.
Forty-one years since, when I was first acquainted with this State,
every durable pond, lake and river, abounded with fluviatile bivalves.
Ohio, at that day, probably contained a greater number of species than
could be found on all the globe, North America excepted. With the
clearing and cultivation of our lands many disappeared ; the depreda-
tions of swine, during low stages of water, have destroyed immense
numbers ; the wash of cities, manufactories, and barn-yards, is still
more fatal to them ; and, in several instances, epidemics have extir-
pated immense numbers. After the construction of our canals, many
of the rarer species rapidly increased for a few years, and our conchol-
ogists flattered themselves that these thoroughfares would preserve their
favorites ; but experience has shown that the accumulation of filth in
the canals is fatal to most of the species. A few, especially Anodon-
tas and Alasmodontas, continue to thrive and increase, while the finer
species of Uniones have perished. Ten years since, the Unio truncatus

346 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and cornutus were common in the canal near Cleveland. At this
time a living specimen can hardly be found.

During the present season we have seen workmen excavating por-
tions of mud, that contain great numbers of dead shells of these and
other scarce species. Perhaps, in another age, similar operations may
expose to view similar remains, which may puzzle the geologist to tell
at what period they existed.

ON THE SEXES AND HABITS OF SOME OF THE ACEPITALOUS BIVALVE
MOLLUSCA.

Tue following is an abstract of a communication presented at the
meeting of the American Association, Cincinnati, by Dr. J. P.
Kirtland :—

The fluviatile bivalves of North America are principally embraced by
the genera Unio, Anodonta, and Alasmodonta, and are appropriately
arranged in the Lamarkian family of Naiades. In the waters of the
State of Ohio are found sixty-four or five species ; perhaps a larger
number. Most naturalists and anatomists have considered them as
hermaphrodites, though some discrepancy of opinion has been enter-
tained. A familiarity with their habits, and a series of dissections,
long since convinced me that the commonly received opinion was
incorrect.

This conclusion was founded upon the facts, that very many species
present, in their shells, two varieties of forms, in about equal numbers,
and that, with one form, is associated animals with oviducts, which,
at certain seasons, teem with young, while the inhabitants of the other
form remain permanently barren. Subsequent investigations have
shown, that it is applicable to about two thirds of the American spe-
cies. In a few others, no difference in form is discernible between the
shells of the prolific and barren varieties. If minute dissections, aided
by the microscope, have discovered and demonstrated the existence of
both male and female organs in the same individuals, of course I must
abandon the position I have taken; but if their hermaphrodite struc-
ture be a mere matter of inference, as I suspect it is, drawn from the
failure to discover any anatomical difference between the prolific and
barren individuals, then the probabilities are in favor of their being
dioecious.

The several families of mollusca present examples of all modes of gen-
eration ; some are hermaphrodite, others are dicecious. Several pos-
sess the faculty of self-impregnation ; others, though hermaphrodite,
require a reciprocal coitus ; and the mode of fecundating, in those in
which the sexes are distinct, is not, in all instances, understood. The
animals of the Cephalopoda are distinct, the male and female organs
being found in different individuals. The Pleropoda are all hermaphro-
dite, and their sexual organs are discoverable. In some of the Gaster-
opoda the sexes are separate. in others united. Though the fourth
class of Cuvier’s mollusci — the Acephala — have generally been con-
sidered as hermaphrodite, analogies are equally in favor of their being
dicecious ; or, like the third class, perhaps some species may be her-

ZOOLOGY. 347

maphrodite, while in others the sexes may be separate. If the affirmative
of this question be established, some other cause for the occurrence of
the two forms of shells must be sought. It would, however, be an
anomaly in nature, if one half of the individuals should prove barren,
and of no use whatever, in a family where she has provided so care-
fully for the increase and perpetuity of the species. So prolific, indeed,
are fertile individuals, that they produce annually their young in num-
bers almost too great to admit of enumeration. Mr. Lea calculated
the oviducts of an Anodonta undulata to contain 600,000 young shells.
This, it will be recollected, is a small species, and does not produce a
tithe of the young contained in a prolific Anodonta plana. The barren
members of a colony of honey-bees, (the Apis mellifica,) might, at
first view, seem to afford an analogy; but they subserve a useful pur-
pose. On the products of their labor are sustained all the members
of their community. Ifthe barren mollusci do not fulfil the purposes of
the male, it is difficult to discover of what use they are in creation.
It may be proper to state a fact in regard to the habits of the U. gib-
bosa, and its allied species, the Unio rangianus, which may have some
connection with the subject before us. During the months of April
or May, according to the state of water in the streams, and warmth
of the weather, the females may be seen lying upon their beaks on
gravelly ripples, with their heads directed up stream, and the valves of
their shells extended to their utmost capacity. At this time they are
heavy with their young. The pure whiteness of their bodies and
appendages renders them conspicuous objects, seen through the limpid
water; and their position and appearance would lead to the conclu-
sion that they were dead, and the valves were expanding as their trans-
verse muscles were relaxed. An attempt at taking a specimen into
the hand will at once show that it still abounds in vitality. The
object of assuming this position at this particular period of the year, I
could never discover, but suspect it to have some connection with the
process of fecundation. In the immediate vicinity are always found
more or less males ; but as their shells remain closed, they are not so
readily recognized. The female, U. ventricosus and fasciolus, may
sometimes be seen throwing out of their shells the prolongations of
their mantles, and playing them about the water, during clear and
warm days in autumn. At the same time male individuals may
always be found very contiguous, and it has often been observed by
collectors, that, at this season, these species seem to be associated in
airs.
E On several occasions I have seen the females of various species of
these mollusci discharging their young progeny. At that period of ex-
istence they are perfectly formed shells, as may be discovered by the
naked eye, if they are placed in the sun for an hour; or by the aid of
a microscope when first obtained. They are agglutinated together with
a secretion, probably of mucus and albumen ; and the mass conforms
to the shape and size of the branchial cell. The contents of one cell
are thrown off at a time, by a jet of water, issuing rapidly through a
syphon or contracted aperture, formed by the posterior margins of the
mantle. The mass, on being evacuated, falls upon the bottom of the

sie

348 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

stream, and soon begins to crumble in pieces by the action of the
water and collision of the sand, till at length each minute individual
becomes free and is left to take charge of itself. It then begins to
exert volitions for its own safety and provision. Many, if not all, of
the species, in this condition, spin from their bodies, near the foot, a
filament resembling silk, by which they attach themselves to adjacent
objects which are fixed and solid, such as shells, sticks and stones.
have frequently seen them anchored to their mothers. This filament
is deciduous, and disappears as they advance in age and size.

ON THE BORING POWER OF THE PHOLAS DACTYLUS.

Mr. Joun Rosertson, Brighton, England, communicates to the Edin-
burgh Journal the following observations on the boring power of the
Pholas dactylus : — ‘‘ I have endeavored during the last six months to
discover how this molluse makes its hole or crypt in the chalk: by a
chemical solvent? by absorption? by ciliary currents? or by rotatory
motions? My observations, dissections, and experiments set at rest
all controversy in my own mind. Between twenty and thirty of these
creatures haye been at work in lumps of chalk, in sea-water in a glass
and a pan, at my window, for the last three months.

The Pholas dactylus makes its hole by grating the chalk with its
rasp-like valves, licking it up, when pulverized, with its foot, forcing
it up through its principal or branchial siphon, and squirting it out in
oblong nodules. ‘The crypt protects the Pholas from conferve, which,
when they get at it, grow not merely outside, but even within the lips
of the valves, preventing the action of the siphons. In the foot, there
is a gelatinous spring or style, which, even when taken out, has great
elasticity, and which seems the main-spring of the motions of the
Pholas dactylus.

ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF THE SKIN OF THE WHITE PORPOISE.

Mr. T. S. Hunt, of the Canadian Survey, presented a communication
to the American Association, Albany, on the ‘‘ Economical Value of
the Skin and Oil of the White Porpoise,”’ the uses of which have re-
cently been brought before the public by M. Tetu, of Canada.

This cetacean, the Delphinus leucas, is a native of the Arctic Seas,
particularly of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson’s Bay, where it
attains a length of from twelve to twenty feet. Its color is of a nearly
uniform creamy white. The fisheries of these animals, already some-
what extensive, are principally in the lower St. Lawrence. ‘The oil
extracted from them is extremely valuable, furnishing purer oleine
than that obtained from any other natural source. In good seasons, a
porpoise of twenty feet yields 150 gallons. This oil is now employed
exclusively for the light-houses of the lower St. Lawrence, the Board
of Commissioners having, after a careful trial, given it a preference over
all other oils for illuminating purposes. The skin of this porpoise,
freed from its epidermis, and a thick mucous layer which underlies it,
has been found to be capable of being made into leather of a very
superior quality. This process is, in many respects, very different from

ZOOLOGY. 3849

that which is required for the manufacture of other skins, and is the
result of a long series of careful experiments, by Mr. Tetu, of Riviere
Ouelle, who has recently obtained a patent for the invention. The
leather, in its ordinary form, has the thickness of sole-leather ; but its
peculiar and valuable property is the uniformity and closeness of its
texture, which enables it to be split into three or four parts, each of
which, when dressed, has the smoothness and uniformity of surface
which usually belongs to grain leather. Thin sections of it resemble
the finest kid, and are employed for the fabrication of gloves. Other
important characters of this leather are its great strength when com-
pared with calfskin; a peculiar elasticity, which obviates the ordinary
tendency to wrinkle and fold; and, to a great degree, imperviousness
to water. Such are the general features of this discovery, which, from
the abundance in which the animals are found, promises to be of very
high importance in an industrial and commercial point of view. The
new process of M. Tetu has also been successfully applied to the skin of
the common whale of the gulf, which yields an excellent coarse leather.

ON THE HABITS AND LOCALITIES OF THE WHALE.

An official statement has been issued by Lieut. Maury, of the Na-
tional Observatory, giving information to the whaling interest, of great
value, in relation to the habits and localities of the whale at different
periods of the year. This information is published preparatory to the
issuing of a chart, now in the course of preparation. ‘The facts have
been gleaned from the log-books of many of our whale-ships, and show
when and where our whale-men have searched for whales, when and
where they have found them; with what abundance, and whether in
schools or alone. The chart divides the ocean into districts of 5 deg.
latitude by 5 deg. longitude ; perpendicularly through each of which
districts are twelve columns for the twelve months; and horizontally
through each of which districts are three lines: one to show the num-
ber of days that have been spent in each month in eyery district, and
the two others to show the number of days in which whales, sperm or
right, have been seen.

In regard to the information afforded by the chart, Lieut. Maury
remarks : ‘*‘ As to whether the right whales are to be found in the high
northern latitudes in our winter, or in high southern latitudes in our
summer, when the whalemen do not visit such latitudes, of course the
chart does not show. Thus, between 50° and 60° N., 130° and 155°
W.., we only know that whales are abundant from May to September,
inclusive. We know not as to the other months, because the night
and cold then drive the whale-men from this part of the ocean,
and we cannot say anything as to the numbers in which the fish resort
there then. The charts are therefore silent on the subject. It is the
same at the south, in its seasons; that is, when it is winter there the
whalemen abandon the high latitudes, and seek their game in more
genial climates. E

‘* But, seeing the abundance of whales in the Greenland and Arctic
seas In our summer en and seeing that they have not heen sought

350 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

for in similar latitudes south, I inyite the attention of whalemen to the
subject of southern whaling in south summer time. Below the parallel
of 50° S.—indeed, with here and there an exception, I might say
below the parallel of 48° S.—the whale chart is a blank; conse-
quently, few vessels go beyond that parallel. The indications to the
chart are, that somewhere to the south of these parallels, and between
these meridians, as given below, whales are probably to be found in
considerable numbers, if not in greater quantities. I haye reason to
believe that the right whale of the southern hemisphere is quite a dif-
ferent animal from the northern; that the two are separated by (to
them) an impassable barrier. I have also reason to suspect, from
results that have been elicited in the course of these investigations,
that the same whale which is taken in Behring’s Straits is taken in
Baffin’s Bay also ; and, if this be so, these investigations prove, beyond
question, that this animal cannot pass from one region to the other
except through the Arctic ocean ; and hence we are entitled to infer
that there is, at times at least, an open water communication be-
tween these Straits and Baffin’s Bay; in other words, that there is
a north-west passage.

ON THE STORY OF THE PAINTING BY ZEUXIS.

Tue following anecdotes prove, I think, that the ancient story of
some fruit having been painted by Zeuxis, which birds were deceived
by and pecked at, may be quite true, and yet, that the inference may
be wrong that has been drawn from the fact, viz., that they were well
painted ; for it appears to be more probable that the birds were at-
tracted only by the bright spots of color in the painting. Swainson,
in his zoological illustrations, gives a description of the Trichoglossus
Swainsoni, a beautiful bird of Australia, which feeds on the honey it
obtains from the blossoms of the Eucalyptus tree. In describing it he
says, that ‘‘a tame bird, on being shown the colored drawing of a
native plant, tried to suck the flowers, and it even made the same
attempt with a piece of cotton furniture.”’? I have seen an insect in the
same way deceived by bright spots of color. In a room rudely sten-
cilled with imitations of bright colored flowers, the genus or species of
which it would not be easy for the most skilful botanist to decide, I
saw the moth of the Sphinx convolutz repeatedly fly along the wall, and
dart at every bright spot of color, as if taking it for a real flower.
These anecdotes would also tend to show, that some animals are guided
to their food more by sight than by scent.—Sir W. Trevilyan.

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE SPINAL CORD IN BATS.

Cuvier has stated, as a general law, that the size of the bulging por-
tions of the spinal cord is in proportion to the force of the limbs
opposite to them. JBut, in birds, the posterior enlargement is the
largest, while the wings are more muscular and stronger than the legs,
except in a few instances. In bats the anterior enlargement extends
through the lower cervical vertebrae and some distance down the dor-
sal. Jt has been a question whether these bulgings of the spinal cord

4

ZOOLOGY. 301

are to be considered centres of sensation or motion. In birds, it is
found that the greater area of sensitive surface in the legs corresponds to
the greater enlargement of the cord. Cuvier and Spalunzani observed
that bats are able to fly through intricate passages in the dark without
touching the walls, a faculty thought to be due to a minute net-work
of nerves distributed throughout the wing, arising from the superior
enlargement of the spinal cord. Thus it would seem that these portions
of the cord are intended to reinforce the function of sensation rather
than that of motion; a view which agrees with the theories of recent
physiologists, that the spinal cord is a centre as well as a conductor of
neryous influence. — Prof. Wyman.— Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. His.

SEVENTEEN YEAR LOCUSTS.

THE seventeen year locusts appeared in great numbers in various
parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania, during the months of May and
June, 1851. The following description of the first appearance of the
insect above ground, and its transition to the winged state, is given by
Dr. Smith, of Baltimore : —

‘‘ When they come up from the earth — always about day-light or a
little before — they immediately climb the first object they meet with,
a tree, a bush, or stake, anything two or three feet. hey then lay
hold of the bark, fixing themselves firmly by their claws, and commence
working themselves out of their cld shell, which is done by rupturing
it on the back, between the shoulders, and drawing themselves out.
As soon as they get fairly out, they seize hold of the old shell with their
claws, raise themselves, and begin to expand their wings. Their bodies
and wings at this time are exceedingly delicate, white and moist; but
a few minutes’ exposure to the air dries and hardens them, so that, by
the time the sun is fairly risen, they are perfect, and can fly. The
wings, before sloughing, are beautifully folded up, and it is a beautiful
sight to see them unfolded, and, in a few minutes, changed from the
most soft and delicate tissue to the firm and rigid wing of the perfect
insect. If it bea wet or very cloudy day they are apt to perish in the
operation of sloughing and drying.”’

At the Boston Natural History Society, in June, Dr. Burnett fur-
nished an account of some observations recently made by him on the
structure of these locusts. He had found that, in the male, in many
instances, there is scarcely a trace of a digestive canal, or biliary appa-
ratus, whereas, in the female, both are fully developed. This arrange-
ment is adapted to the peculiar wants of each; the male living but a
few days, and the female much longer. The female, on emerging
from the earth, has about 500 eggs in her abdomen, of about one thir-
tieth of an inch in diameter, which is only about half their size at the
time they are deposited. The development of the eggs accounts for
the necessity of food and her complete digestive system. As the lo-
custs appear in about the same numbers at every period of their return,
it follows that only two of the eggs, on the average, are developed. It
would thus appear, supposing the production of these insects to have
always followed the same law, that there must have been originally a

352 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

multiplicity of individuals. The male is about one third larger than
the female. The drumming apparatus of the male, Dr. Burnett had
made the subject of careful microscopic study. He had found it to be
integumental in its nature, not presenting any relation, either by
structure or analogy, to the respiratory system. It is situated on each
side, between the thorax and abdomen, the head of the drum being
just under the attachment of the wings to the body, and of the size of
a marrowfat pea. It consists of a tense, dry, crisp membrane, crossed
by cords or bars, produced by a thickening of the membrane, which
meet on one side at the point of attachment of the muscles, which, by
their contraction, keep it stretched. The sound is produced by a series
of rapid undulations, running from the contracting muscles across the
drum. The upper part of the abdomen seems to act as a sort of sound-
ing-board ; when a portion is removed the sound is sensibly diminished.
A dry condition seems to be necessary to the perfect action of the
drum, as, on wet days, or when it is moistened, the sound is very much
diminished. ‘The drumming sound is heard four or five hours during
the day, principally between the hours of twelve and two. In the
female there is no drum, nor any trace of the muscular apparatus be-
longing to it. As an illustration of the immense numbers in which
these insects appear, Dr. Burnett stated that he saw an oak tree, on
every leaf of which were six or eight individuals.

ON THE ECONOMY OF SEVENTEEN YEAR LOCUSTS.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper read before the American
Association, Albany, by Dr. W. I. Burnett, of Boston : —

A careful analysis of the conditions of animal existence has led some
to believe in the special creation of the separate faunas in the locali-
ties in which they are found. Prof. Agassiz has traced the various
phases under which this question may be considered, and in it may be
found reasons for the particular creation of such fauna and its immu-
tability through any period of time. A question allied to this, but
based upon a different, and, perhaps, more enlarged view of life, is the
one of the primitive numbers of each species. In this we call to our
aid embryology and its allied branches, but the influences which ciyil-
ization has wrought, both directly and indirectly, upon the ratio of
mortality of animal life, affect much the validity of our conclusions.
Nevertheless, the general tenor of all such inquiries is to show that the
number of each species must have been pretty near that which we find
in its natural and undisturbed state, instead of a single pair, as other-
wise viewed. In a locality the natural relations of which to animal
life have not been disturbed by the agencies of man, we have a right
to infer that the existing state of destructive elements of life is a fair
expression of the past, and also that the present rate of the mortality
of a species is that to which it has been subjected during past times.
If, in a term of human experience of one hundred or a thousand years,
the natural prolicity of any well known species only keeps pace with
its relative mortality, so that the number of that species, at the end of
that time, is about the same, it is very difficult to comprehend how,

ZOOLOGY. 853

even with species of limited numbers, the same power of prolicity
could enable a single pair to reach the present numbers under any ex-
isting climate of the earth.

Were it so, we should expect to find a very correct ratio subsisting
between the present numbers of any undisturbed species and its powers
of reproduction. But, since attention has been called to the subject,
and, with many of the lower animals, the ova counted, not only is
there no reason for supposing that such relation is present, but, in
many instances, the very opposite is true —a fact of the truth of which
I have lately been the more and more convinced, from counting
the ova of many insects, and comparing the result with their well-
known habits and conditions of life. There are examples in which
there appears no escape from conclusions of this character. And, al-
though I might detail many taken from the ranks of lower animals,
yet, from its well marked character and recent occurrence, I select
that furnished in the seventeen year locust as the subject of this
paper.

The present year, (1851,) may be noted as containing an episode of
insect life of more than ordinary interest and value, for in it has oc-
curred the grand appearance of the locust. The regularity and prompt-
ness with which this insect appears at the end of an interval of seven-
teen years is well known in science. Justly does it excite our aston-
ishment that the conditions of its economy should be so unique.
During the last of May, I had the good fortune to witness their grand
appearance in the interior of Pennsylvania. They came forth in their
usual and almost incredible numbers, and a fine opportunity was given
me to learn something about their conditions of life. The insect ap-
pears in its perfect or zmago condition simply for the preservation of
its species ; its period of life in this state is, therefore, quite brief.
Both male and female go about their functions immediately on escap-
ing the earth, after which they die. Their existence is, therefore,
almost entirely subterranean, and, considering the depth to which
they descend, almost as isolated from the agencies of civilization as
those of the tenants of the ocean. It appeared evident, from what I
saw of their movements, that, unless swept away by violent currents,
they remain generally in the locality of their birth, so that the comers
of this year may properly be said to be the lineal descendants of those
which there appeared fifty or more years since. This is important as
to our determining whether or not they really increase in number. [
made strict inquiries of several men who had witnessed this their fourth
appearance through the same tract of country, and their replies always
were that they did not think their numbers to vary materially either
way. Being men of sense and farmers, I thought them able to judge
of this matter, since they regarded the ravages of this insect with no
common eye. We will now look a little to its powers of reproduction.
The female has about 500 eggs, which, from certain relations of the
other sex, which I have made out microscopically, are, probably, all or
nearly all fecundated. We have, then, for every two individuals which
have appeared this year, a deposit of 500 embryos, for the generation
to appear 17 years oy Now, from what has just been stated about the

*

354. ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

uniformity of their numbers each time, it appears that, from the liabil-
ities of destruction during the long term of seventeen years, out of
these 500 embryos only two appear certain of life and appearance in
their perfect state; that is, just replacing the two parents. The
chances of life, therefore, with this insect, are, in round numbers, two
in five hundred. This calculation may seem strange to some, but, if
we reflect, it can scarcely be otherwise ; for, suppose the chances were
double, that is, four in five hundred, then we should have at each time
just double the numbers of their last time, which observation has
shown to be untrue, and which would augur much evil for the future
condition of the vegetable world in the localities of their appearance.
Even if their chances were three to five hundred, or half again the orig-
inal stock, agriculturists would quickly perceive the difference. ‘To
sum up the matter, then, we have here an insect whose economy and
conditions of life are so unique that it is almost entirely isolated from
human destructive agencies, and which is obliged to deposit five hun-
dred chances for the certainty of securing two. The ovaries have
been formed with this capacity, and the whole internal economy is of
a corresponding character.

From these data we can draw two valuable conclusions : — 1st. The
evidence of design in Nature in thus balancing numbers against chances
of mortality for the preservation of the species. 2d. The plurality
origin of this species, instead of a single pair. In the first, such evi-
dence I regard as of the highest zoological character, and quite free
from many of those objections belonging to the analogous evidence
generally. As to the second, it is quite difficult to conceive how the
Papen myriads could have arisen from a pair, even if their chances of
ife were increased twenty or thirty per cent., which we cannot believe
possible with the present climate of the earth. Regarding, then, these
insects, from these data, as of a special local creation, and whose orig-
inal numbers were nearly as great as at present, we find the same
view supported by different grounds. I refer to the fact of the differ-
ent years in which they make their appearance in different portions of
the country. Although, during the present year and the past ones,
indivisible by the number 17, have been those of its greatest appearance,
yet the appearance of smaller numbers at different years has been
noticed in various or even in the same portions of country. In the
southern portion of New England, difierent parcels have appeared at
irregular periods ; and, in some of the Middle States, there are locali-
ties that have four distinct appearances of this insect. Now, as there
1g no evidence for our thinking that they are ever unfaithful in their
time, appearing at the end of a longer or shorter interval than 17 years,
we are forced to the belief of not only their special local creations, but
special creations at different periods in the same locality. The ground
of such inferences is, I think, equally as tenable, as much as in geology
and paleontology, and certainly is in accordance with many of the rec-
ognized principles of zoological science.

ZOOLOGY. 305

EXTRACTION OF THE TUSKS OF AN ELEPHANT.

Tuts novel operation was performed with success, during the past
summer, upon a large elephant belonging to a menagerie in Paris.
The animal having given strong symptoms of insanity, and being very
valuable, a consultation of surgeons was held upon his case. These gen-
tlemen gave as their opinion, that the animal was attacked by hypo-
chondria in consequence of caries at the root of his tusks, and advised
the removal of them, which were a yard and a half each in length. To
aid in this attempt, the proprietor endeayored to put the animal to
sleep by means of opium and chloroform, but though administered in
immense quantity, they had no apparent effect, and they were com-
pelied to employ a windlass to hold him down. The operation took
place July 7th, before thirty of the pupils of the veterinary school, and
a crowd of veterinary surgeons. The animal was alternately placed on
each side for the diferent teeth, and with the aid of a saw and forceps,
and cords attached, the teeth were cut off, and the rvots extracted,
which alone weighed 18 pounds.

ON THE POISON OF THE COMMON TOAD.

Ir is an ancient and common opinion that toads and salamanders
possess a subtile venom; this, however, has generally been deemed
fabulous by those engaged in scientific pursuits. MM. Gratiolet and
Cloez, ina recent report to the French Academy, show that there is in
reality some foundation for the current belief, and that toads and sala-
manders do secrete a deadly poison. They inoculated small animals
with the milky fluid contained in the dorsal and parotid pustules of
these animals, and found it productive of fatal effects in a short space
of time. A turtle-dove, slightly wounded in the wing with the liquid
secreted by the salamander, died in terrible convulsions in eight min-
utes. Five small birds inoculated with the lactescent humor of the
common toad, (Rana bufo,) died in five or six seconds, but without con-
vulsions. ‘The liquid of the pustule of the toad kills birds, even after
being dried, though not with the same rapidity as when fresh. The
mammiferous animals experimented on had convulsions, but these con-
vulsions were not mortal. — Répertowre de Pharmacie.

ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS IN CALIFORNIA.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper presented to the American
Association, Albany, by Dr. J. L. Le Conte. The author first draws
attention to the fact that in early spring the beauty and variety of the
flowers is so great as to give the country the appearance of a well-cul-
tivated garden. But the peculiarity of the vegetation is in the distri-
bution of the species. Particular plants are confined to limited dis-
tricts, so that a constant variety is presented to the traveller almost
from day today. Such being the fact among vegetables, the author
wished to ascertain whether this novel feature was extended to the
animal kingdom, and upon directing his attention to this point, he
ascertained the remarkable fact that a limited number of insects are

346: ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

found at any one point. Thus, about 200 species of coleoptera, and a
somewhat smaller number of the other orders combined, were found at
a single locality in three months, a period which would have yielded
three or four times this number in the Atlantic portion of the United
States. On removing to a second locality, two or three hundred miles
distant, the same fact will be repeated, with a difierent set of species,
among which the commonest kinds of the former locality may not be
found — the species common to two adjoining localities not exceeding
eight per cent. This is the more remarkable, since, on the Atlantic
side of the continent, common species are found from New England to
the Gulf of Mexico. These facts are the more curious, as they cannot
be referred to climate, or other physical causes. The author cites —
various examples to sustain his views, several of the results of which
are as follows : — A comparison of the animals of California with those
of the other portions of the continent disproves the idea that similar
physical conditions will be accompanied by similar animals. California,
although a peculiar zoological district, belongs to the general region of
the continent, and is subdivided into a number of well defined sub-dis-
triets. The local distribution of a few species extends to the islands of
the eastern Pacific, so that this must be regarded as the characteristic
of that region as the wide range of many species is the peculiarity
of the Atlantic side of the continent.

ON THE ORIGIN AND EXISTENCE OF MAN AND THE CONTEMPORANEOUS
ANIMALS.

By the creation of’a species, I simply mean the beginning of a new
series of organic phenomena, such as we usually understand by the
term ‘‘species.’? Whether such commencements be brought about by
the direct intervention of the First Cause, or by some unknown second
cause, or law appointed by the Author of nature, is a point upon which
I will not venture to offer a conjecture. ‘That some of these species or
series of vital phenomena occasionally come to an abrupt termination
in our own times, as they have done in every preceding geological
epoch, is no longer ‘disputed : and the arguments of those who imagine
that new creations entirely ceased from the moment that man was in-
troduced into the globe, (the destroying agencies continuing in full
activity while the renovating power was suspended,) appear to me un-
certain and premature. It would be presumptuous to assume that the
presence of the human race upon the land could affect, still less utterly
change, those laws which have governed the organic world in the ocean
for millions of years ; and if we enlarge our ideas respecting the an-
tiquity of man, and concede those ten thousand or eyen twenty thou-
sand years, w hich some ethnologists demand in order to account for
the early civilization of nations and the origin of their languages, we
must hesitate before we affirm that such a period has been one of stag-
nation, or diminished fluctuation in the animate world.

The ‘identity of the fauna and flora of England and the continent of
Europe, requires us to assign a very distant date to the period when
the existing species of animals and plants began to spread themselves

ZOOLOGY. 357

over the lands which we inhabit. At the period of such migrations,
this island (England) was still united with the continent ; but a large
number of the existing species of mollusca, and some other tribes of
marine animals, can claim a much higher antiquity ; ; so much so, that
they were already created during the “drift or glacial epoch, when the
anaes geography of Europe bore no resemblance to that now estab-
ished. If, therefore, ten or twenty thousand years were added to the
chronology of the human period, it would still constitute a mere fraction
of that vast geological division of time during which the species, now
our contemporaries, have been coming into existence. But how small
is the progress yet made by us in ascertaining the order in which the
mammalia now living were created! Some species are so ancient as
to have coéxisted with a fauna of which nearly all the species have
died out ; while others may be coeval in their origin with man, and a
few, perhaps, ofa more recent creation. Man himself has been mul-
tiplying on the earth since he entered upon it, and enlarging the range
of many animals, both intentionally and against his will. ‘These species
occupy, together with the human population, the places left vacant by
such as are exterminated from time to time. Whether the amount of
change in those ten or twenty thousand years which immediately pre-
ceded our own times, has been greater or less than the average muta-
tion during equal periods of the past, from the Silurian to the Pliocene
era, is a point on which, in the present infancy of the science, it would
be idle to speculate. of this, however, we may feel assured, "that the
reater the identity of the system of terrestrial changes, present and
future, organic and inorganic, with that which has prev ailed through-
out past time, the more faithfully shall we be able to interpret the rec-
ords of creation which are written on the framework of the lobe.

In the first publication of the Huttonian theory, it was declared that
we can neither see the beginning nor the end of that vast series of phe-
nomena which it is our business, as geologists, to investigate. After
sixty years of renewed inquiry, and after we have greatly enlarged the
sphere of our knowledge, the same conclusion seems to me to hold
true. But, if any one should appeal to such results in support of the
doctrine of an eternal succession, I may reply that the evidence has
become more and more decisive in favor of the recent origin of our own
species. The intellect of man, and his spiritual and moral nature, are
the highest works of creative power known to us in the universe ; and
to have traced out the date of their commencement in past time, to
have succeeded in referring so memorable an event to one out of a
long succession of periods, each of enormous duration, is perhaps a more
wonderful achievement of science, than it would be to have sunply dis-
covered the dawn of vegetable or animal life, or the precise time when,
out of chaos, or out of nothing, a globe of inanimate matter was formed.
— Sir Charles L1 yell’s Address before the Royal Geological Society.

DOCTRINE OF SPECIFIC ORGANIC CENTRES.

Tux actual zoology and botany of the earth’s surface exhibit several
distinct regions, in each of which the indigenous animals and plants

358 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

are, at least as to species, and to a considerable amount as to genera,
different from those of other zoological and botanical regions. They
are respectively adapted to certain conditions of existence, —such as
climate, temperature, mutual relations, and, no doubt, other circum-
stances of favorable influence which men have not yet discovered, and
which may never be discovered in the present state. These conditions
cannot be transferred to other situations. The habitation proper to
one description of vegetable or animal families would be intolerable,
and speedily fatal, to others. Kven when, as in many parts of the two
hemispheres and on the contrary side of the equator, there is appa-
rently a similarity of climate, we find not an identity, but only an
analogy of animal and vegetable species. These opinions have met
with violent opposition from some prejudiced minds; but the more
these views are examined, the more self-evident they become: whence
Sir Charles Lyell’s observation, that naturalists have been led ‘‘ to
adopt very generally the doctrine of specific centres; or, in other
words, to believe that each species, whether of plant or animal, origi-
nated in a single birth-place.’’ M. De Candolle has suggested twenty-
seven of these independent regions for plants, and the Rey. J.S.
Henslow forty-five. For the inferior animals D. Prichard proposes
seven regions, Mr. Swainson five, Prof. Hitchcock eleven, Mr. Water-
house also eleven, but with some geographical differences; and Sir
Charles Lyell, Prof. Agassiz, and many, if not all, the continental
zoologists of the present day, are united in sentiment on this principle.
How unjust, therefore, it is to attempt to brand as infidels those who
adopt an opinion irresistibly derived from an examination of the truths
of nature, and which has the sanction and support of such names as
we have enumerated! It is necessary, however, to add, that most of
these authorities make the human species an exception, and the sole
exception, to this doctrine of independent creations.

EXPLANATION OF THE RAPID DECREASE OF THE NATIVE POPULATION OF
POLYNESIA.

Tue fertility of hybrid races, originating in the intermixture of two
races whose affinity is most remote, is a fact of which there can be no
doubt whatever; and there is strong reason to believe that these
hybrid races, the parents of which are Europeans on one side, and the
aborigines of any country on the other, are generally destined to
become the dominant population of those countries. For, on the one
hand, these ‘‘ half castes’? very commonly combine the best attributes
of the two races from whose admixture they spring, namely, the
intelligence and mental activity of the European, and the climatic
adaptation of the native ; and they are also in general distinguished
for their fertility, when paired with each other, so that they are rap-
idly rising into numerical importance. On the other hand, this very
intermixture, taking place, as it usually does, between a European
father and a native mother, tends to diminish the number of the native
population in a very remarkable manner; for there is now a large
amount of evidence, that when a native female of the Americans or
Polynesians has once been impregnated by a European male, she

ZOOLOGY. ; 859

thenceforth loses all power of conception from intercourse with the
male of her own race. This was first pointedly stated by that very
intelligent traveller, the Count de Strezlecki, who has lived much amon
different races of aborigines, the natives of Canada, of the United
States, of California, Mexico, the South American republics, the Mar-
quesas, Sandwich and Society Islands, New Zealand and Australia,
and who affirms that in hundreds of cases of this kind into which he
has inquired, and of which he preserves memoranda, there has not
been a single exception. As regards Australia and New Zealand, this
statement, strange as it seems at first sight, has been fully borne out
by independent evidence ; and it offers the most complete explanation
yet given of the very rapid decrease in the native population of the
various islands of Oceanica, in which European races have been long
established. — Dr. Carpenter.

THE FOUR DEGREES OF HYBRIDITY.

Tue following remarks are from a recent work of the late Samuel
George Morton, of Philadelphia : — Hybridity, whether in plants or
animals, has been singularly neglected by naturalists. It has gener-
ally been regarded as an unit, whereas its facts are as susceptible of
classification as any other series of physiological phenomena. Hence,
I have proposed four degrees of hybridity.

The first degree is that in which the hybrids never reproduce, — in
other words, where the mixed progeny begins and ends with the first
cross. The second degree is that in which the hybrids are incapable
of reproducing, znéter se, but multiply by union with the parent stock.
The third degree is that in which animals of unquestionably distinct
species produce a progeny which is prolific znter se. The fourth degree
is that which takes place between closely proximate species — among
mankind, for example, and among those domestic animals most essen-
tial to their wants and happiness.

ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTIC CAT.

Dr. Ruprett decided that all our varieties of the domestic cat were
derived from one species, (Felis maniculata.) Fischer and Schink, who
are among the latest authors on synoptical mammalogy, refer the
above species, (which is yet wild in Nubia, and appears to have been
the parent of the common Egyptian house cat,) and the domestic cat
of Europe, to different species ; and Fischer further calls the F’. manz-
culata *‘ the parent of some varieties of the domestic cat.’”? Temminck,
after admitting the Egyptian species as the common ancestor of our
house cats, adds, that ‘it is altogether probable that the crossing of
the Egyptian race with the wild one of our forests may have given
rise to an intermediate breed,’’ but which, he adds, it would be im-
possible to prove by demonstrable evidence. Again, ‘‘ It appears to
me probable that our house cats are derived from Egypt; but that the
original race of Russia, known by the name of the Angora Cat, has
been produced from another wild type, yet unknown, and inhabiting
the northern regions of Asia. Milne Edwards and the learned editors

860 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

of the New Faune Francaise, still insist on the identity of the wild
cat of Europe and the domestic animal ; and, should this view of the
case ever be substantiated, we shall have to admit at least three wild
species for the source of our familiar variety. But the difficulty does
not end here. M. Blaimyille states that, among the numerous series
of cat mummies brought from Egypt by the French commission, he
has identified not only the I. maniculata, but also the F’. chaus, and
the F’. bubastis, —all indigenous African species, and all reduced, in
ancient times, to the domesticated state. And I was the more grati-
fied at this discovery because I had already observed, in the Chevalier
Bunsen’s Hieroglyphic Alphabet, three different cats, each possessing
a different symbole value. I do not pretend to have any evidence of
hybrid crosses between these animals; but these and other facts show
us that we may yet have to modify some of our zoological impressions
from a study of the catacombs and monuments of Egypt. — Dr. S. G.
Morton.

ANCIENT REMAINS OF MAN FOUND IN OHIO.

Ar the American Association, Cincinnati, Mr. Charles Whittlesey
exhibited two ancient human skulls, and other bones, found in a cave
near Elyria, Loraine Co., Ohio; their position being such as to give
them a probable age of 2,000 years. The cavity of the brain in both
skulls was entire, showing all the developments. Mr. Whittlesey
remarked, that it was evident that both of them belonged to persons
of very low intellectual force, having low, narrow, and shallow fore-
heads ; and that the animal propensities were largely developed. Prof.
Agassiz thinks they belong to the present race of Indians. What ren-
ders them worthy of notice is the fact that they are unquestionably
ancient; and if skulls of Indians, it will be proved that that race has
long been the occupant of this region. If they are not Indian crania,
and belong to another race, it becomes interesting to decide to what
race, and thus, whether they belong to the ‘‘ Mound-builders.”’

The position in which these remains were found was in a caye on
the banks of the Black River, in the ‘‘ grindstone grit,’’ about thirty

feet above the water. On account of the hard and imperishable nature ©

of the grit, it.resists the wearing action of the elements ; and the shale
beneath it being soft, there are in consequence numerous cayes and
sheltered places, where the sand rock projects far over the base. It
was in one of these places that the skulls lay, covered by four feet of
the accumulated bones and earthy remains of wolves, bears, deer, rab-
bits, squirrels, fishes, reptiles, snakes, birds, and other creatures not
yet determined. Jvery shovelful thrown out contained more or less
of the bones, teeth, jaws, scales, etc., of animals, until finally, at the
bottom, resting on clean yellow sand, the parts of three human skele-
tons were found lying in confusion, as though they had perished or
been placed there violently, and not by a process of burial. Although
the place was perfectly sheltered from the weather, and dry, the bones
were so much decayed, and were so porous, that they would scarcely
bear their own weight. One of the skulls is evidently that of a female,

ZOOLOGY. 2 861

of under size and very old. The other is that of a male below the age
of majority, and possessing better mental developments than the
female. Of the third skeleton, only a few fragments were found.

It appeared as though they had been killed by the falling of some
loose rocks from the roof, while they lay asleep inthe cave. A stone
of fifty or sixty pounds’ weight lay on the head of one of them, and a
still larger piece on the breast of the other. The substance which had
accumulated above them was principally the dirt and earthy powder of
animal remains, and their bones, with which were occasional remnants
of fires and burnt stones. Indian arrows of flint were found from top
to bottom. ‘I'he skulls lay at the remotest part of the cave, and were
left there before it was occupied by men. It is probable that the hu-
man remains were at first covered by the remnants brought by animals
into the place, and that it was used also for shelter and a place for
cooking by whoever inhabited the country previous to the whites.
The extent of sheltered space filled with bones is about fifteen feet by
fifty ; and as very little vegetable matter was found in it, the accumu-
lation must have been due principally to the residue of animals.

CRANIAL CAPACITY OF THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.

Dr. Wyman recently presented to the Boston Natural History Society
the result of some investigations, undertaken with a view of determin-
ing the comparative cranial capacity of the distorted skulls of the Flat-
head Indians. Actual measurement of this capacity of eleven flattened
crania from different Oregon tribes gave an average of 813 cubic
inches. The capacity of the skulls of the American Indians generally, as
stated by Dr. Morton, from the measurement of 161 crania, gives an
average of 84 cubic inches. It does not appear that the Flatheads are
less intelligent than other North American savages. Dr. Pickering
describes them as even more intelligent, and as having made greater
advancement in the arts, than the hunting tribes of North America.

MEN WITH TAILS.*

Count CastEennav, a French savant, has lately communicated to the
Geographical Society of Paris the result of some personal inquiries at
Bahia, in South America, respecting a race of human beings with tails.
‘**T found myself in Bahia,” he says, ‘‘ in the midst of a host of negro
slaves, and thought it possible to obtain from them information of the
unknown parts of the African continent. I soon discovered that the
Mohammedan natives of Soudan were much further advanced in mind
than the idolatrous inhabitants of the coast. Several blacks of Haoussa
and Adamawah related to me that they had taken part in expeditions
against a nation called Niam-Nzams, who have tails. They traced their
route, on which they encountered tigers, giraffes, elephants, and weld
camels. Nine days were consumed in traversing an immense forest.
They reached at length a numerous people of the same complexion and

* See me of Scientific Discovery, 1850, pp. 318, 319.

we

362 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

frame as themselves, but having tails more or less long (3 to 4
inches in length). This member is described as smooth and without
the power of motion. The Haoussas massacred these unfortunate peo-

le, and among the slain were found the bodies of several females bear-
ing the same appendage. All were entirely naked. The Haoussas
remained six months in that country, which they describe as covered
with rocks of great height ; the greater part of the Niam-Niams lived
in caves, although some had built themselves huts of straw. They
cultivate rice, Indian corn, and other grain, unknown in the country
of the Haoussas. They have small oxen without horns, sheep, and
goats. The only thing in the shape of furniture which they possessed
were benches furnished with holes to accommodate their tails. This
region is situated south-west of Lake Tchad.

‘*T saw seven or eight blacks who assured me that they had been on
these expeditions, that they had seen the tails, and had cut them off in
some instances, &e. I give the facts as they were stated to me, with-
out in the least being responsible for their truth.”

We afterwards find, in the minutes of the society, that on M. de Tré-
meax observing, (in answer to these remarks of M. de Castelnau,) that
during his residence in Soudan he had heard of certain tribes who
clothed themselves in the skins of animals, the tails of which passing
through their legs seemed to make part of the body, and that probably
such appearances had given rise to the report of the blacks, —M. de Cas-
telnau added that in the accounts he had received it had been stated that
the Niam-Niams go naked, and that the blacks whose deposition he had
taken asserted that they had attentively examined those killed in bat-
tle, and found that they had real tails. M. de Castelnau was then
requested to put in writing this interesting communication. — Bulletin
Geo. Soc. 4th series.

ON THE ARSENIC-EATERS OF AUSTRIA.

Ar a late poisoning trial in Vienna, some curious facts were disclosed
relative to the existence of a class of persons who habitually, for various
reasons, eat arsenic. The following evidence in relation to the subject
is given by a Dr. Von Tschudi: — ‘‘In some districts of Lower Aus-
tria, and in Styria, especially in those mountainous parts bordering on
Hungary, there prevails the strange habit of eating arsenic. The
peasantry in particular are given to it. They obtain it, under the name
of hedri, from the travelling hucksters and gatherers of herbs, who, on
their side, get it from the glass-blowers, or purchase it from the cow-
doctors, quacks, or mountebanks. The poison-eaters have a twofold aim
in their dangerous enjoyment: one of which is to obtain a fresh,
healthy appearance, and acquire a certain degree of embonpoint. On
this account, therefore, gay village lads and lasses employ the danger-
ous agent, that they may become more attractive to each other ; and
it is really astonishing with what favorable results their endeavors are
attended, for it is just the youthful poison-eaters that are, generally
speaking, distinguised hy a blooming complexion, and an appear-

ZOOLOGY. 863

ance of exuberant health. Out of many examples I select the fol-
owing : —

‘* A farm-servant who worked in the cow-house helonging to :
was thin and pale, but nevertheless well and healthy. This girl had
a lover whom she wished to enchain still more firmly ; and, in order to
obtain a more pleasing exterior, she had recourse to the well-known
means, and swallowed every week several doses of arsenic. The de-
sired result was obtained ; and in a few months she was much fuller
in the fieure, rosy-cheeked, and, in short, quite according to her lover’s
taste. In order to increase the efiect, she was so rash as to increase
the dose of arsenic, and fell a victim to her vanity : she was poisoned,
and died an agonizing death. The number of deaths, in consequence
of the immoderate enjoyment of arsenic, is not inconsiderable, especially
among the young. Every priest who has the cure of souls in those
districts where the abuse prevails could tell such tragedies ; and the
inquiries I have myself made on the subject have opened out very sin-
gular details. Whether it arise from fear of the law, which forbids the
unauthorized possession of arsenic, or whether it be that an inner voice
proclaims to him his sin, the arsenic-eater always conceals as much as
possible the employment of these dangerous means. Generally speak-
ing, it is only the confessional or the death-bed that raises the veil
from the terrible secret. The second object the poison-eaters have in
view is to make them, as they express it, ‘better winded !’ — that
is, to make their respiration easier when ascending the mountains.
Whenever they have far to go, and to mount a considerable height,
they take a minute morsel of arsenic and allow it gradually to dissolve.
The effect is surprising; and they ascend with ease heights which
otherwise they could climb only with distress to the chest. The dose
of arsenic with which the poison-eaters begin, consists, according to
the confession of some of them, of a piece the size of a lentil, which
in weight would be rather less than half a grain. To this quantity,
which they take fasting: several mornings in the week, they confine
themselves for considerable time ; and then gradually, and very care-
fully, they increase the dose according to the effect produced. The
peasant k , living in the parish of A g, a strong, hale man
of upwards of sixty, takes at present at every dose a piece of about the
weight of four grains. For more than forty years he has practised
this habit, which he inherited from his father, and which he in his
turn will bequeath to his children.

‘‘It is well to observe, that neither in these nor in other poison-
eaters is there the least trace of an arsenic cachexy discernible ; that
the symptoms of a chronic arsenical poisoning never show themselves
in individuals who adapt the dose to their constitution, even although
that dose should be considerable. It is not less worthy of remark,
however, that when, either from inability to obtain the acid, or from any
other eause, the perilous indulgence is stopped, symptoms of illness are
sure to appear, which have the closest resemblance to those produced
by poisoning from arsenic. These symptoms consist principally in a
feeling of general discomfort, attended by a perfect indifference to all
surrounding persons and things, great personal anxiety, and various

364 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

distressing sensations arising from the digestive organs, want of appe-
tite, a constant feeling of the stomach being overluaded at early morn-
ing, an unusual degree of salivation, a burning from the pylorus to the
throat, a cramp-like movement in the pharynx, pains in the stomach,
and especially difficulty of breathing. For all these symptoms there
is but one remedy—a return to the enjoyment of arsenic.

‘« According to inquiries made on the subject, it would seem that the
habit of eating poison among the inhabitants of lower Austria has not
grown into a passion, as is the case with the opium-eaters in the East,
the chewers of the betel-nut in India and Polynesia, and of the cocoa-
leaves among the natives of Peru. When once commenced, however,
it becomes a necessity.

‘In Vienna, the use of arsenic is of every-day occurrence among
horse-dealers, and especially with the coachmen of the nobility. They
either shake it in a pulverized state among the corn, or they tie a bit
the size of a pea in apiece of linen, which they fasten to the curb
when the horse is harnessed, and the saliva of the animal soon dis-
solves it. The sleek, round, shining appearance of the carriage horses,
and especially the much-admired foaming at the mouth, is the result
of this arsenic feeding. I¢ is a common practice with the farm ser-
vants in the mountainous parts to strew a pinch of arsenic on the last
feed of hay before going up a steep road. ‘his is done for years with-
out the least unfavorable result; but should the horse fall into the
hands of another owner, who withholds the arsenic, he loses flesh im-
mediately, is no longer lively, and, even with the best feeding, there
is no possibility of restoring him to his former sleek appearance.”’

In relation to this subject, the editor of Chambers’ Journal remarks :
‘‘Arsenic is said to be harmless in the quantity of one sixteenth part of
a grain ; and in the cure of agues it is so certain in its effects, that the
French Directory once issued an edict, ordering the surgeons of the Ital-
lan army, under pain of military punishment, to banish that complaint,
at two or three days’ notice, from among the vast number of soldiers
who were languishing under it in the marshes of Lombardy. It would
seem that no poison, taken in small and diluted quantities, is imme-
diately hurtful, and the same thing may be said of other agents. The
tap of a fan, for instance, is a blow, and so is the stroke of a club; but
the one gives an agreeable sensation, and the other fells the recipient
to the ground. In like manner the analogy holds good between the
distribution of a blow over a comparatively large portion of the sur-
face of the body and the dilution cr distribution of the particles of a
poison. But the misfortune is, that poisons, swallowed for the sake of
the agreeable sensations they occasion, owe their effect to their action
on the nervous system ; and the action must be kept up by a constantly
increasing dose till the constitution is irremediably injured. In the casa
of arsenic, as we have seen, so long as the excitement is undiminished,
all is apparently well ; but the point is at length reached when to pro-
ceed or to turn back is alike death. ‘The moment the dose is dimin-
ished or entirely withdrawn, symptoms of poison appear, and the vic-
tim perishes because he has shrunk from killing himself. We trust
this vice will never be added to the madnesses of our own country.

ZOOLOGY. 3865

Think of a man deliberately condemning himself to devour this hor-
rible poison, on an increasing scale, during his whole life, with the
certainty that if at any time, through accident, necessity, or other
cause, he holds his hand, he must die the most agonizing of all deaths !”’

ON THE TEMPERATURE OF MAN WITHIN THE TROPICS.

In continuation of some researches on the temperature of man, Dr.
Davy has communicated to the Royal Society the results of his observa-
tions on this subject, during a period of three years and a half, chiefly
at Barbadoes, where the mean annual temperature of the atmosphere, he
states, is 80° F’., and the range of temperature throughout the year from
about 10° to 18° in the open air. The observations were made three
times a day ; the temperature of the body being noted, with that of the
external air, the pulse, and the number of respirations per minute ; all
of which are duly set forth in elaborate tables. The chief general results
are the following: — 1. That the average temperature of man within
the tropics is a little higher —nearly 1° — than in a temperate climate,
such as England. 2. That within the tropics, as in cooler regions, the
temperature of the body is almost constantly fluctuating. 3. That the
order of fluctuating is different from that in a cooler climate ; the min-
imum degree being early in the morning, after a night’s rest, and not -
at night. 4. That all exertion, whether of body or mind, except it be
very gentle, has a heightening effect on the temperature ; while pas-
sive exercise, especially carriage exercise, has a lowering tendency.
5. That heavy clothing, especially if tight and close, tends to raise the
temperature unduly, especially under active exercise ; and that close,
ill-ventilated rooms, particularly when crowded, have in a marked
manner the same tendency. 6. That when the body is in a healthy
state, it rapidly recovers its normal condition as to temperature. 7.
That when laboring under disease, however slight, the temperature is
abnormally elevated, its undue degree being some criterion of the
intensity of the diseased action. 8. That within the tropics there is
comparatively little difference of temperature between the surface of
the body and the internal parts; the skin is more active in its func-
tions, and the kidneys are less active. 9. That the effect of wine,
unless used in great moderation, is commonly lowering as to tempera-
ture, while it accelerates the heart’s action, followed, after a while, by
an increase of temperature. 10. The tendency of sea-sickness, like
that of disease, is to elevate the temperature. 11. The tendency of a
sea-voyage, apart from sea-sickness, is to equalize the temperature
without permanently elevating it. 12. That even at sea, with a change
of atmospheric temperature, there is a tendency to change of tempera-
ture of the body, increasing towards the tropics. The most interest-
ing facts, however, are the changes of temperature depending on
changes of health or disease, and the lowering influence of wines and
ordinary Pe a ee Transactions, 1850.

31"

866 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

EXTERNAL SYMPTOMS OF STARVATION, AS OBSERVED IN THE FAMINE
DISTRICTS OF IRELAND.

In grown-up persons, besides an amount of attenuation, which
seems to have absorbed all appearance of flesh or muscle, and to have
left the bones of the frame barely covered with some covering which
has but little semblance to anything we would esteem to he flesh, the
skin of all the limbs assumes a peculiar character ; 1t is rough to the
touch, very dry ; and, did it not hang in places in loose folds, would be
more of the nature of parchment than anything else with which I can
compare it; the eyes are much sunk into the head, and have a dull,
painful look ; the shoulder-bones are thrown up so high that the col-
umn of the neck seems to have sunk, as it were, into the chest; the
face and head, from the wasting of the flesh and the prominence of
the bones, have a skull-like appearance ; the hair is very thin upon the
head ; there is over the countenance a sort of pallor, quite distinct
from that which utter decline of physical power generally gives in
those many diseases in which life still continues after the almost entire
consumption of the muscular parts of the body. In the case of the
starved young — and we saw many hundreds — there are two or three
most peculiar characteristic marks, which distinguish them from the
victims of other mortal ills ; the hair ona starved child’s head becomes
very thin, often leaves the head in patches, and what there is of it
stands up from the head; over the whole brow, in many instances,
over the temple in almost all, a thick downy sort of hair grows, some-
times so thick as to be quite palpable to the touch ; between the fin-
gers there are sores; very often there is anasarcous swelling of the
ankles. In the majority of famine cases, there is either dysentery or
chronic diarrhoea. Such is to-day, drawn in no exaggerated colors, the
condition of Connaught. The devastation had been long preparing,
and it is complete. — Times, Sept. 24th, 1850.

TRANSFUSION OF BLOOD. —

Tue practice of the transfusion of blood from the veins of a healthy
individual into those of one diseased, with a view of restoring health,
was, it is well known, followed to some extent in times past. During
the past year the practice has been revived again at Paris, in a par-
ticular instance, at the Hospital of St. Louis. A young woman, during
her accouchement, had suffered from severe hemorrhage, and from the
loss of blood was sinking rapidly. Under these circumstances, the
director of the hospital, M. Nelaton, made up his mind to try the oper-
ation of the transfusion of blood. One of the hospital assistants offered
to supply the necessary blood. A vein in his arm was, therefore,
widely opened, for the purpose of obtaining rapidly the requisite quan-
tum. This blood was receiyed into a basin kept at a temperature of
about 95° Fah:, and transferred without loss of time to a hydrocele
syringe similarly warmed. In the mean time, M. Nelaton discovered,
by the aid of an incision of two centimeters, the median cephalic vein,
which was dissected and raised with a loop of thread. Taking hold,

ZOOLOGY. S67

then, with pincers, of the superficial coat of the vein above the loop,
which held it up, the operator, provided with scissors, divided obliquely
the vessel, in the half only of its circumference, so as to form a small
opening in the form of a V, the upper part of which was directed to
the outer extremity of the vessel. Matters being thus arranged, the
assistant, who had received the blood, cleared away, with the nicest
care, the globules of air and froth which the syringe contained, and
inserted its tube underneath the small valve of the venous coat, which,
being raised up by the pincers, formed a sort of funnel for its reception.
As the tube was conical in shape, it was sufficient to insert it so deeply
into the vein that the coat lapped exactly over its surface, and pre-
vented the reflux of the injected liquid. The piston being then gently
eee the whole contents of the syringe, that is to say, about two
sundred grammes of blood, were made to penetrate into the venous sys-
tem. At the expiration of five minutes, a new injection, similar to the
former, was made, transferring to the vein nearly one hundred and fifty
grammes. The little wound on the arm was immediately closed, by
means of a bandage. During the course of this operation no particular
phenomenon was manifested. The patient, who was, moreover, in a
state of absolute insensibility, exhibited no sensation. Her pulse, how-
ever, felt from time to time, appeared, after a quarter of an hour, to
be a little more firm, a little less quick ; at the same time, the patient
made it understood by signs that her respiration was rather less diffi-
cult. A week after, the patient was in a favorable condition ; but sub-
sequently sank away gradually, and died.

In regard to this operation, the editor of a foreign medical journal
makes the following remarks :—‘‘It was in France that the bold
attempt of the transfusion first took place. In 1667, Jean Denis in-
fused the blood of an animal into a man’s body; and shortly after-
wards, Tardy, who was at the head of the faculty of medicine in Paris,
did the same from one man to another. These early efforts were
crowned with such entire success, that they brought about the frequent
practice of this operation, always a difficult one, and always danger-
~ ous, unless due precautions are taken, and the requisite arrangements
made for ensuring its success. It was thus that it was adopted at
Paris, with the son of the Swedish minister, who was given up by his
medical attendants, and in whose intestines mortification had already
commenced ; also at Rome, with a man whose constitution was en-
tirely broken down. In both these cases death very rapidly ensued.
The Chatelet of Paris then thought ita duty to interfere, and by decree
of the 17th of April, 1668, forbid the practice of this operation, unless
with the sanction of the faculty, which was not yery easily obtained.
Thus, after enjoying a repute but little merited, this transfusion fell
into neglect equally blamable; the prejudices of the many, and the
timidity of the few, soon told against it; and at last the wit of Per-
rault gave it the finishing stroke. ‘It would be rather too droll,’
said he, ‘that a fellow could change his blood as he changes his
shirt.’ The operation then was scarcely known, save by the learned,
when some experiments, made thirty years ago, by Messrs. Prévost
and Dumas, upon animals, again drew the attention of the scientific

368 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

world to this valuable resource. These gentlemen demonstrated that
the injection of blood into the veins of an animal exhausted by hemor-
rhage, reanimated and restored the quasi-corpse, provided that the blood
thus introduced was derived from an individual of the same species,
and that it consequently was endued with the same physical and chem-
ical properties. Under the influence of these beautiful and conclusive
experiments, several trials of the transfusion took place in England and
in Germany, between 1825 and 1834. We can reckon up ten; others
have perhaps escaped our recollection. In all, of which we have been
able to consult the records published by the profession, death appeared
imminent and unavoidable ; and in all, under the influence, apparently
at least, of the transfusion of youthful and healthy blood, the patients
were restored to life, more or less promptly, but in general very rapidly.
In all cases, with one exception, the operation was applied to young
women, sinking in consequence of excessive loss of blood.”’

EXPERIMENTS ON CADAVERIC RIGIDITY, BY BROWN SEQUARD.

Fottowinc up the researches on which he has been for some time
engaged, the author has ascertained that if a current of arterial blood
be reéstablished through muscles in which cadaveric rigidity has al-
ready begun to show itself, they cease to be rigid and recover their
irritability. He found that when he connected the aorta and vena
cava of the body of a rabbit in which the cadaveric rigidity had already
manifested itself for between ten and twenty minutes, with the corre-
sponding vessels of a living rabbit, so as to reéstablish the circulation
in the lower extremities, the rigidity disappeared in from six to ten
minutes, and that, in two or three minutes afterwards, muscular con-
tractions took place when the nerye-trunks were irritated. These ex-
periments have been repeated in various ways with the same results ;
and they fully justify the opinion of those who maintain that cadaveric
rigidity is a vital phenomenon, and not an indication of the death of
the muscles, which does not take place until the rigidity passes off.
He has even succeeded in removing the cadaveric rigidity from the
muscles of the decapitated body of a criminal, thirteen hours after ex-
ecution, and two hours after the supervention of the rigidity. By the
infusion of blood fresh from his own veins into the radial artery, at a
slight distance above the wrist, the muscles of the hand, which had
before been rigid, became pliant and irritable. Of the nineteen mus-
cles of the hand, twelve regained a very lively irritability, and three of
them became so irritable that, under the influence of mechanical excita-
tion, they contracted throughout their whole length. The irritability
thus reawakened at nine o’clock, lasted until midnight in the greater
part of the muscles. On the morrow morning at six o’clock death was
definitively confirmed, and new injections could produce no efiect. —
Gazette Medicale.

REMEDY FOR NEAR-SIGHTEDNESS.

Amone the countless inventions of the day is a curious contrivance
by Mr. J. Ball, of New York, for the cure of imperfect vision. The

ZOOLOGY. 869

instrument consists of a circular cup, attached to an India rubber ball.
The cup is placed over the central portion of the globe of the eye, the
eyelids being closed, and the air of the ball is pressed out so as to form
a vacuum ; the ball is then allowed to expand, thus producing a strong
compression on the globe, by which the capillary vessels are speedily
filled with blood. It operates precisely on the principle of the ordinary
cupping glass. It is well adapted to that condition of the eye — too
great flatness of the globe —which is a frequent cause of imperfect
vision ; and to chronic weakness of the eye from deficient circulation.

EXISTENCE OF LIVE ANIMALS IN THE HUMAN STOMACH.

Ar the Boston Society of Natural History, June, Dr. Durkee reada
letter from Dr. J. B. Johnston, Sherbrooke, Canada, detailing the case
of a girl, a patient of his, who had been suffering for several months
with gastric difiiculties and a cough, which were suddenly relieved by
the vomiting, as she alleged, of a specimen of Salamandra symmetrica.
The account was accompanied by the specimen preserved in alcohol.
The letter stated that the patient, being suddenly seized with nausea,
hurried to the door, and, discharging the contents of her stomach on
the door-step, the salamander was observed in the mass. On being
taken up it was very sluggish in its movements, and of a light color.
It was kept living in water for a week, in which time it assumed a
darker hue. It was about two inches and a half in length.

Prof. Wyman doubted the facts in the case. He thought it impos-
sible for this animal to exist in the human stomach alive ior any length
of time. He knew of an instance in which a toad had been swallowed
alive by an insane man, and was ejected dead within half an hour. A
few years since, a man in Reading was reported to have vomited a snake,
and by this act to have been immediately relieved of a chronic disease
of the stomach. The fact being doubted, the point was settled by
opening the stomach of the snake, when its only contents were found
to be another snake, proving incontestably that 1t could not have been
an inmate of a human stomach. The supposed vomiting of the rep-
tiles, in both instances, was the result of an accidental coincidence,
such as might very readily account for the story without impugning
the veracity of the witnesses.

SEA-SICKNESS.

Ar the late meeting of the British Association, a paper was read by
Mr. J. Atkinson, ‘‘ On Sea-sickness, and a remedy for its prevention,’
from which we make the following extracts : —

‘* Let a person on shipboard, when the vessel is bounding over the
waves, seat himself, and take hold ofa tumbler nearly filled with water
or other liquid, and, at the same time, make an effort to prevent the
liquid from running over, by keeping the mouth of the glass horizontal,
or nearly so. When doing this, from the motion of the vessel, his
hand and arm will seem to be drawn into different positions, as if the
glass were attracted by a powerful magnet. Continuing his efforts to

.

370 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

keep the mouth of the glass horizontal, let him allow his hand, arm,
and body to go through the various movements — as those observed in
sawing, planing, pumping, throwing a quoit, &¢., — which they will be
impelled, without fatigue, almost irresistibly to perform ; and he will
find that this has the efiect of preventing the giddiness and nausea that
the rolling and tossing of the vessel have a tendency to produce in in-
experienced voyagers.

‘“‘Tf the person is suffering from sickness at the commencement of
his experiment, as soon as he grasps the glass of liquid in his hand,
and suffers his arm to take its course and go through the movements
alluded to, he feels as if he were performing them of his own free will ;
and the nausea abates immediately, and very soon ceases entirely, and
does not return so long as he suffers his arm and body to assume the
postures into which they seem to be drawn. Should he, however, resist
the free course of the hand, he instantly feels a thrill of pain, of a pecu-
liarly stunning kind, shoot through his head, and experiences a sense
of dizziness and returning nausea. From this last circumstance the
author of the paper infers it as probable that the stomach is primarily
affected through the cerebral mass, rather than through the disturb-
ance of the thoracic and abdominal viscera ; and he is of opinion that
the method of preventing sea-sickness just described, (which he has
found by experience to be effectual,) depends on the curious fact that
the involuntary motion communicated to the body by the rolling and
tossing of the vessel are, by the means he adopts, apparently converted
into voluntary motion.”’

PINE BARRENS OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

At the Boston Natural History Society, November, the following
paper was read by Dr. Burnett, on ‘‘ The Pine Barrens of upper South
Carolina :’’—

The sand hill region of the upland portion of this State is situated
about 121 miles westward of the sea coast, and intermediate between
the low country of South Carolina on one side, and that of Georgia on
the other. Its maximum elevation is about 700 feet above the sea.
It is covered with pines, which extend like one vast sea of evergreen
on every side. This district is quite thinly populated, and, at distances
of 16 or 20 miles, will be seen little villages, nested as it were in
the bosom of this extensive wilderness. The general features of the
country have little variety. The soil is of a light, porous, sandy nature,
poorly adapted for strength or luxuriance of vegetation, but at the same
time rendering the climate dry, mild and equable. With the excep-
tion of the small creeks, which on the sloping sides enter the rivers,
there is no water, and wells are dug from 60 to 80 feet. I should men-
tion, however, that there are here a number of circular depressions
scattered over the surface, and these form a peculiar feature of this
region. Mr. Tuomey, in his Geology of the State, has given them
notice. They consist of concavities of a quarter to one mile in diame-
ter, filled during the greater part of the year with water from two to
three feet deep; and, as they are probably fed by intermittent springs,

ZOOLOGY. 371

they are dry at one time and full at another, without any apparent
external cause. They subserve excellently well as breeding places for
aquatic insects and reptiles, and were it not for them, their numbers
must be materially diminished.

The fauna of the pine barrens presents some peculiarities of interest,
which have heretofore been scarcely noticed. Among peculiarities of
domestic animals, I may allude to those of the hog. These run at
large in the woods, and their thin form and length of leg not only give
them an almost incredible fieetness, but show their half-famished con-
dition. rom force of hunger they often become purely carnivorous,
and I have seen them run down domestic fowls and young goats, which
they kill and devour like dogs. Squirrels are quite rare in this region,
the pines affording little means of subsistence. The wharf-rat is found
only along the line of the railway, and the Florida rat exists in the
back country in great numbers, being granivorous and destructive. As
for the rabbit, it is quite common, the light soil affording it great facil-
ities for life, and it is quite hurtful to gardens. The opossum, also, is
common, and the male and female live in separate burrows, two or
three rods apart.

The insects of this pine barren region may be said to be quite pecu-
liar. One cannot but be struck with the great numbers of wood-eating,
boring beetles. These certainly are the most numerous of all, the ecar-
niyorous and anthophagous insects being comparatively few. The
Buprestide, of which I recognized no less than ten species, are the
pine-boring insects, and small as they are, they form a most formidable
enemy to the luxuriance of the pine. The insidious yet certain work
of destruction the myriads of these insects carry on, can only be appre-
ciated when we consider that tracts of pines miles in length yield be-
fore them, and the most stalwart trees, that never have even noticed
winds or currents, gradually bend before them. On some of the fallen
trees, I counted the holes of the insects’ exit to the number of 100 or
more over the space of a square foot. By several of them boring for
a year or two, the tree is so weakened that the next strong wind breaks
it off, sometimes five, and sometimes fifty feet from the ground, or the
tree may die in a standing position.

There is another insect which, from its great numbers, deserves men-
tion : I allude to the ant-lion, (Mynmilion,) which, from the fineness
of the sand in many places, lives with ease. The habits of this re-
markable insect are well known. With its abdomen it excayates in
the fine dry sand an infundibuliform cavity of an inch or so in depth.
To the bottom or apex of this cavity the insect retires, burying all but
its powerful jaws, which are there exposed wide open. An ant, or
some other small insect, walking along, treads on the edge, the sand
rolls, and ina moment it is at the bottom, in the jaws of the enemy.

The turkey buzzard is constantly seen flying about, seeking dead
animal matter. I suppose the question as to whether it discovers its
food by sight or smell, has for some time been settled in favor of sight.
I had many opportunities to try their skill, of which I took advantage.
If a dead dog was dragged into the woods and carefully covered up with
pine boughs, it might remain there any length of time untouched ; but

372 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

if fully exposed, it would remain but a few hours. And to show how
acute their sight is, I need only say, that a snake hung upon a twig
will be removed in less than twenty-four hours.

The blue-bird has three broods in a season, beginning to nest as early
as February. It need spend no time in seeking outa place for nesting,
for the holes in dead pine trees, left by the past year’s woodpeckers,
are taken up. The dead pine trees, therefore, contribute to this bird’s
increase. ‘Che mocking-bird here gives a charm to these places, soli-
tary as they may be. Entirely unmolested, they gather around the
dwelling of the inhabitant, seeking apparently to make his life pleasant
by their ever varied and varying notes. They celebrate their connubial
state with more than usual joy, and, during the warm days and nights
at the opening of summer, the male sings through the whole twenty-
four hours; and many a night after midnight have I been awakened
by what exactly resembled a man whistling for his dog, directly under
my window.

The great number of woodpeckers here seen must be noticed by every
one. Not only does every species known in the United States here
reside, but great numbers of each, and especially the red-headed and
golden-winged, which meet your view on every side.

Their great numbers are in exact accordance with many conditions
to which we have alluded ; for they seem always to follow on the track
of the wood-hboring insects. For not only do these insects destroy the
pines so that they can easily nest in them, but they are themselves ex-
cellent food for these birds. And thus it would appear, that they are
the enemies of those very beings which indirectly afford them the
means of easy propagation and life. Did these destructive insects not
exist, there would not be sufficiest inducement for the woodpeckers to
live here ; and while they may be considered as very subservient in
thus destroying the energies of the pine, they are at the same time
eating up the very conditions, as it were, of their own existence.

An enumeration of the fauna of the pine barrens gives the following
numbers :— Mammalia, 17; birds, 43; reptiles, 40. Of both birds
and reptiles, many more may be found to reside here fora little while ;
but, in giving this list, I believe I include nearly all which make this
their permanent habitat.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY.

NEW PLANETS DISCOVERED IN 1851.

A new planet, a member of the group of asteroids, was discovered
by Mr. J. R. Hind, at Bishop’s Observatory, London, on the 20th of
May, 1851. In number, it is the fourteenth of the ultra-zodiacal
planets, and is the fourth discovered by Mr. Hind; the other three
being Iris, Flora and Clio. This new body has received the name of
Trene, from the goddess of Peace ; its symbol being a dove with an
olive-branch and star on head. The brightness of this planet is that
of a star of the eighth or ninth magnitude; the light being of
a bluish color and steady. It appears to be surrounded by a faint,
nebulous envelope, which was not perceptible at the time of its dis-
covery about any of the stars in its vicinity. The distance of Irene
from the sun proves to be 2,554, and its period 1491 days; coming
very close to the last previouslv discovered asteroid, Egeria, the numbers
for which were respectively 2,579 and 1513. An interesting feature
in this history of the discovery of this planet, is the fact of its having
been independently seen only four days later by the active Neapolitan
astronomer, M. Gasparis.

On the 29th of July, another planet was discovered by Gasparis,
having the appearance of a star of the ninth magnitude. It has
received the name of Eunomia.

COMETS IN 1851.

Two new comets have been discovered in 1851. The first was by
Dr. D’ Arrest, at Leipsic, on the 29th of June. This comet Villaceau
finds, from his observations, is a periodical one, and its time of revo-
lution is about eight years. There is some probability of its identity
with the comet observed 1678, and computed by Douwes.

The second comet was discovered by Mr. Brorsen, August Ist, at the
Seuftenburg Observatory, Germany. It was also seen at Cambridge,
Mass., August 23d, 26th, and 27th, and its elements computed.

NEW SATELLITES OF URANUS.

Mr. Lasset, of Liverpool, on the 24th of October, discovered evidence
of the existence of two new satellites accompanying the planet Uranus.

2

3T4 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

On the 3d of November his supposition was confirmed, and he now
states confidently that Uranus has two satellites interior to the closest,
suspected by Sir William Herschel. This had a period of five days ;
but the two new ones have for their time of revolution four days and
two and one half days respectively. ‘‘ These new satellites,’’ says Mr.
Lassel, ‘‘ are very faint objects, probably much less than half the bright-
ness of the conspicuous ones, and, generally, the nearest has appeared
the brightest. All four were steadily seen at one view, in a twenty
foot equatorial, with a magnifying power of 778, in the more tranquil
movements of the atmosphere. The finest definition of the planet, and
freedom from all loose light in the field of view, are necessary for the
scrutiny of these most minute and delicate objects.”

These discoveries of Mr. Lassel make the whole number of satellites
accompanying Uranus to be six, the number predicted by Sir John
Herschel many years since. A late writer, speculating on the satel-
lites of Uranus, a few weeks before the discoveries of Mr. Lassel, says,
‘‘If we suppose the satellites of Uranus to be of the same order of
magnitude as our moon or Jupiter’s moons, it seems almost incredible
that they should be seen by light which has gone eighteen hundred
millions of miles before it has been reflected, and afterwards retraced
its steps through another eighteen hundred millions of miles before it
entered the telescope of the observer. The observations, however, upon
the two brightest satellites agree extremely well.”’

THE NEW RING OF SATURN.

Tue following abstract account of the new ring of Saturn, and the
opinions entertained respecting the constitution of all the rings, is
taken from an article furnished by Messrs. Bond, of Cambridge, and
published in the Boston Traveller of June 16th, 1851.

The first diagram which the Messrs. Bond were enabled to make of
the new interior ring was on the night of the 11th of November, 1850.
On the 15th, measurements were made, the new ring being sharply
defined. Subsequently, continuous observations were made at the
Cambridge Observatory, until the 7th of January. The appearances
noticed by the Messrs. Bond were seen by the Rey. W. R. Dawes, at
his Observatory, near Maidstone, in England, on the 25th and 29th of
November, and subsequently by Mr. Lassel, of Starfield, near Liverpool.
In relation to this new discovery, the authors of this communication
remark : — The question of the multiple divisions of the ring of Saturn
has engaged the attention of astronomers from an early period. Cassini
appears to have been the first to notice the primary division, though
he has placed it midway between the inner and the outer edges. This
interval is always visible with a good telescope, but much nearer to
the outer edge than Cassini describes it to be. Short, next, with a
telescope of twelve feet focus, probably a reflector, saw two or three
divisions outside of the centre of the ring. In June, 1780, Sir W.
Herschel noticed on four different nights a division near the inner edge.
From its never, either previously or subsequently, having been seen by
him, it is probable that the subdivisions are not permanent; otherwise

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 375

they could scarcely have escaped detection under the scrutiny to which
he subjected everything appertaining to the system of Saturn for thirty.
or forty years. Quetelet, at Paris, with an achromatic of ten inches’
aperture, saw the outer ring divided, in December, 1823. On the
17th of December, 1825, and, on the 16th and 17th of January, 1826,
at least three divisions were seen on the outer ring by Captain Kater.
At Berlin, on the 25th of April, 1837, the outer ring was seen by Prof.
Encke, with perfect distinctness, divided into two nearly equal parts,
and several divisions were recognized on the inner edge of the inner
ring. The great equatorial of the Berlin Observatory was used with
an achromatic eye-piece. On the 28th of May, the place of the outer
secondary interval was determined. The great optical capacity of the
telescope, and the eminence of Professor Encke as an observer, give the
highest value to these observations. On the 7th of September, 1843,
a division of the outer ring was detected by Messrs. Lassel and Dawes,
at Starfield. They employed a Newtonian reflector of nine inches’
aperture.

The newly discovered inner ring of Saturn cannot properly be classed
with the subdivisions of the old ring, as it les within its inner edge.

We have, then, the best assurance, in the number and reputation of
those who haye described the phenomena in question, that to set aside
these appearances by referring them to some optical deception on the
part of the observer, or to some defect in his instrument, is an explana-
tion altogether insufficient and unsatisfactory. On the other hand,
we know that some of the best telescopes in the world, in the hands
of Struve, Bessel, Sir John Herschei, and others, have given no indi-
cation of more than one division, when the planet has appeared under
the most perfect definition. The fact, also, that the divisions on both
rings have not usually been visible together, and that the telescopes
which have shown distinctly several intervals in the old ring have failed
to reveal the new inner ring, while the latter is now seen, but not the
former, may be taken as some evidence that the difference is not prob-
ably owing to any extraordinary tranquillity or purity of the atmos-
phere, nor to any peculiarly favorable condition of the eye or instru-
ment, but rather to some real alterations in the disposition of the
material of the rings. Admitting this, the idea that they are in a
fluid state, and, within certain limits, change their form and position
in obedience to the laws of equilibrium of rotating bodies, naturally
suggests itself. There are considerations to be drawn from the state
of the forces acting on the rings which favor this hypothesis. For
instance, on the assumption that the matter of which the ring 1s com-
posed is in a solid state, we may compute, for any point on its surface,
the sum of the attractions of the whole ring and of Saturn. The cen-
trifugal force, generated by its rotation, may then be determined from
the condition that the particle must remain on the surface. Now, in
the case of a solid ring, particles on the inner and outer edges must
have the same period of rotation. This condition limits the breadth
of the ring, for, if it be found necessary for the inner and outer edges
to have different times of rotation, this can be accomplished only by a
division of the ring into two or more parts. In this way Laplace has
inferred the necessity of there being several rings.

316 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

To the supposition of a large number of small rings encircling the
planet, there are various objections.

Any intervals permanently existing so large as one half, or even one
third, of that usually seen, could not escape observation. Moreover,
if the subdivisions are numerous, the width of the intervals must be
proportionably diminished, because the whole area occupied by them
goes to diminish the amount of light reflected, and to increase the
density of each ring, both of which are already large. The light of
the ring being sensibly brighter than that from an equal area on the
ball, it is not probable that any considerable part of the light of the
sun is transmitted through intervals. And to preserve the same mass,
if the intervals are large, the matter must be compressed, as it is not
allowable to give a thickness greater than is indicated by observation.
To avoid the hypothesis of a reflective power, and a density greater
than we are warranted in assuming, we must, therefore, consider the
intervals to be very narrow. We may take, then, the width of all but
the known interval as certainly less than 0.01, which is one half of
the width of the known interval. -From the blackness of the shadow
of the ring upon the ball, which would be diminished in intensity were
a considerable part of the sun’s rays transmitted, we may infer that
the intervals which reflect no light at all cannot occupy an area so
large as one fourth of the average breadth of the rings.

It is known, in the case of a single ring, that, if it were perfectly
uniform in every part of its circumference, the slightest exterior dis-
turbance would precipitate it upon the body of the planet. To avoid this
catastrophe, we must suppose each ring to be an irregular solid, its
centre of gravity not coinciding with its centre of figure, but having a
motion of rotation about the body of Saturn. In addition to this, a
number of regular concentric rings are in a position of unstable equi-
librium, by virtue of their own mutual attractions. The slightest
inequality in the intervals would have the effect of throwing the whole
system into confusion. Let us suppose, for instance, that the inner
ring deviate, by ever so small an amount, from an exact central posi-
tion with reference to the ring outside it. The nearest sides commence
moving together, until they come in contact. All the others must
follow. ‘The consequence of such a conflict of these masses, each urged
by different velocities, corresponding to the different times of rotation
of the several rings, must be fatal to the whole structure.

It is, therefore, again necessary that the rings be not of regular
firure or density. But if these irregularities are small, there will be
only a feeble resistance opposed to their tendency to fall upon the body
of the planet. On the other hand, if they be large, they will become
the source of mutual disturbances, which must end in their destruction,
by causing them to fall upon each other. ‘The smallness of the inter-
vals between them, and the near equality in the period of rotation of
two adjacent rings, will make the danger of the latter event imminent,
if not wholly unavoidable. The nearness of the rings will, in any
case, render it impossible that they can assume a figure of equilibrium
permanent or nearly so. The hypothesis that the whole ring is ina
fluid state, or at least does not cohere strongly, presents fewer diilicul-
ties.

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 377

There being no longer any unyielding coherence between the par-
ticles of the inner and outer edges, they have not necessarily the same
period of rotation about Saturn. A continual flow of the inner par-
ticles past the outer may be supposed, by which centrifugal force will
be brought into equilibrium with the other forces. And even should
an accumulation of disturbances, of which the absence of inequalities
lessens the probability, bring the rings together, the velocities at the
point of contact will be very nearly equal, and the two will coalesce
without disastrous consequences. If in its normal condition the ring
has but one division, as is commonly seen, under peculiar circum-
stances, it might be anticipated that the preservation of their equilib-
rium would require a separation in some regions of either the inner or
outer ring ; this would explain the fact of occasional subdivisions being
seen. Their being visible for but a short time, and then disappearing,
to the most powerful telescope, is accounted for by the removal of the
sources of disturbance, when the parts thrown off would reunite.
Finally, a fluid ring, symmetrical in its dimensions, is not of necessity
in a state of unstable equilibrium with reference either to Saturn or to
the other rings.

At the meeting of the American Association, Cincinnati, the follow-
ing remarks were made by Prof. Peirce, of Harvard, in relation to the
discoveries made by the Messrs. Bond, and the supposed fluidity of
Saturn’s rings : —

1. The author of the Mecanique Celeste proved that Saturn’s ring,
regarded as solid, could not be sustained about the primary, unless it
had decided irregularities in its structure. But the observations of
Herschel and others have failed to detect any indications of such ir-
regularity ; and Mr. Bond’s observations have finally convinced him of
the utter improbability of any serious irregularities, and he has, there-
fore, adopted the conclusion that Saturn’s ring is not solid, but fluid.
Mr. Bond’s argument is chiefly derived from observation ; but a new
investigation of the mechanical conditions of the problem has led me
on a step farther. I am now satisfied that there is no conceivable form
of irregularity, and no combination of irregularities consistent with an
asireal ring, which would permit the ring to be permanently main-
tained by the primary if it were solid. Hence it follows, independent
of observation, that Saturn’s ring is not solid, but fluid. Adopting as
the basis of the calculations the mass of the ring which was deter-
mined by Bessel, the thickness from Bond, and the other dimensions
from Struve, the density of the ring will be found to be about one
fourth greater than that of water. The ring of Saturn is, then, a stream
or streams of fluid, rather denser than water, flowing about the pri-
mary.

2. Mr. Bond next undertook a series of very curious and novel com-
putations, in order to determine, from theoretical considerations alone,
whether the ring was one or many; and arrived at the remarkable
result that neither hypothesis could be maintained. He is, therefore,
disposed to reconcile the discrepancies of observation in this respect,
by supposing the constitution of the ring to be variable; and that,
although the waneipal division, which has been always observed, is

*

878 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

permanent, the other divisions are constantly annihilated by the
mutual concussion of the rings, and again re-produced by some process
which he does not undertake to define. ‘This bold and ingenious theory
is fully sustained by my own analytical investigations, and not only do
my researches exhibit the possibility of this strange phenomenon, but
they even go farther, and, exhibiting the precise mode of action, show
that it must be the case of nature. If the ring had been originally
one, it would soon have divided itself at definite points, which can be
exactly computed, into portions of a determinate width. ‘The disturb-
ing causes must, after a time, have driven these separate rings against
each other. There would then have followed an interchange and mov-
ing of currents, a mutual retardation, a momentary state of equilibrium,
as one ring and then another broke off, when the same process would
be again repeated.

3. But even a fluid ring could not be permanently retained hy the
direct action of the primary, for, whatever may be its general figure,
the velocity of its current must be slower at the points which are more
remote from the planet ; so that there must be an accumulation of fluid
at these points, and no exact analysis shows that the accumulation
precisely balances the greater distance, so that the ring must be at-
tracted equally in every direction by the planet. The resulting action
upon the motion of the centre of gravity is, therefore, cancelled, so
that it must continue to move uniformly in any direction in which it
may have begun to move —under any foreign influence to which it
may have been subject — until the mass of the planet will at length
come into collision with the edge of the ring and destroy it. Why,
then, has not Saturn’s ring been long ago destroyed? It is simply
because the disturbing forces have always counteracted their own
effects. These disturbing forces are the actions of the satellites, and
it is by means of these satellites that the ring is held in its place.
‘They are at once the disturbing and the sustaining agents of the ring,
and if there were no satellites there could be noring. If the satellites
were removed, the ring would soon strike against the primary, and be
broken to pieces, or resolve itself into satellites. The theory of the
action of the satellites in sustaining the ring admits of various forms
of illustration. In the first place, each particle of the ring may be
regarded as a satellite, which the other satellites disturb in such a way
as not to vary, in the least, the mean distances from Saturn, and the
disturbance of the eccentricity can only reach certain definite limits,
after which it must diminish. Secondly, in consequence of the attrac-
tion of the satellites, Saturn describes an orbit about the common cen-
tre of gravity of the system; each particle of the planet tends to
move in this same orbit, and also the centre of gravity of the ring tends
to describe nearly the same orbit. The orbit would be precisely the
same if the attractions of the ring for the satellites were the same as if
the mass of the ring were accumulated at its centre of gravity ; but the
deviation from this orbit may be safely referred to the laws of periodi-
cal perturbations.

4. It follows from what precedes, that no planet can have a ring,
unless it is accompanied with a sufficient number of properly arranged

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 319

satellites. Saturn seems to be the only planet which is in this cate-
gory; and the only one, therefore, which could sustain a ring. Our
sun, also, does not seem to have satellites properly disposed for sup-
porting a ring, and the only part of the solar system where such a
phenomenon might have been expected, is just within the powerful
mass of Jupiter. But if there had ever been a ring at this part of the
system, it must have been subject to such extraordinary perturbations
that it would, in the course of time, have been made to strike against
its next interior planet, Mars, and in this way have been broken up
into the asteroids with their eccentric orbits.

5. But suppose that, from any cause whatever, the sun had, at one
period, been surrounded by a ring of a large radius; and, in order to
escape the planetary influence, we may suppose the plane of the ring
to have had a large inclination to the ecliptic. The result wonld have
been, that the centre of gravity of the ring would have soon begun to
move in some direction or other, and would continue to move until its
inner edge was brought in collision with the sun. But during this
motion, and in consequence of the solar action, the matter of the ring
would have accumulated at the most remote part, so that if the sun
were a mere point, it would happen that, on the very instant of its
meeting the ring, the whole ring would have escaped from the point
of contact, and it would be a comet in its aphelion !

If, however, the ring were supposed to be a large, gaseous mass, of
a circular figure, the condensation which would occur at the point of
aphelion might lead to chemical action. Precipitation might ensue,
and the necessary consequence would seem to be a constantly acceler-
ated accumulation at this point, which would terminate in the produc-
tion of a planet. Under this modification, the nebular hypothesis may
ae be free from some of the objections with which it has justly

een assailed. But in approaching the forbidden limits of human
knowledge, it is becoming to tread with caution and circumspection.
Man’s speculations should be subdued from all rashness in the imme-
diate presence of the Creator, and a wise philosophy should beware
lest it strengthen the arms of atheism by venturing too boldly into so
remote and obscure a field as that of the mode of creation which was
adopted by the Divine Geometer.

Prof. Mitchel suggested whether there were not a possibility that
this alleged fluid ring, in its changes of configuration, might run into a
fluid sufficiently thin to give the possibility of the transmission of light
through it. Ifit really changes its form and becomes several rings, it
seemed that in the act of passing from one single ring to two, before
it divided, it must become so thin as to allow the light to penetrate
and come to us refracted. If this should prove to be the case, the Pro-
fessor considered it of the utmost importance, and every observer
should carefully observe the occultations. He considered it a very
strange and curious doctrine.

Prof. Peirce replied that it was of course almost impossible to answer
the question of Prof. Mitchel. He supposed, however, that at the
moment of separation, a sinking takes place, producing a depression at
the point where the separation takes place, and that rapidly after it

:

380 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

begins, it goes on to the reduction of two rings. It was doubtful
whether the refraction would be sufficient to reach the earth.

ON THE ZODIACAL LIGHT.

Pror. D. OtmstEap, at the meeting of the American Association,
Albany, submitted the results ofa series of observations on the zodiacal
light, made at Yale College during six years, from 1833 to 1839. He
adverted to the general ignorance prevalent respecting this body, and
enumerated several causes which render continual observations diffi-
cult, such as the presence of clouds, of the moon, of Venus and
Jupiter, as also the low angle which the direction of the zodiacal light
makes with the horizon at certain seasons of the year. The Professor
next proceeded to inquire into the nature and constitution of the zodi-
acal light, as its length, its direction, its motions, and the material of
which it is constituted. It appears that the length, or elongation
from the sun, varies much at different seasons of the year, and not
only apparently, but really, being sometimes below 60° at one time,
and again reaching, in a few and rare instances, to 120°. An elonga-
tion of 90° from the sun implies that it reaches to the earth’s orbit,
and it must of course sometimes reach far beyond it. ‘The direction
of the axis of this body was supposed, by Cassini and others, to be
that of the solar equator ; but the professor showed that that direction
varies at different times of the year, the vertex sometimes terminating
in the ecliptic itself. The motions of the zodiacal light are such as to
indicate a revolution around the sun, and this point was shown to be
accordant with the views of Laplace. The material of which this
body is constituted appears to have great analogies to that which
forms the tails of comets, included under the general appellation of
nebulous matter, being like that in its tenuity, transparency, shape,
and even shade of color. Finally, Professor O. proceeded to the ques-
tion whether or not the zodiacal light is the origin of the periodical
meteors of November and August, particularly those of November.
He says that he does not assert, positively, that this is the body which
affords the meteoric showers. He had inferred, from all the facts of
the great meteoric shower of November 13th, 1833, independently of
all hypothesis, the existence of a nebulous body ; and now the ques-
tion 1s, is the body in question such as to identify it with that? In
answer to this question, he, with great deference, offered the following
presumptions in favor of the idea that this is the body which affords
the periodical meteors. 1. It isa nebulous body. 2. It lies over the
earth’s orbit in such a position that the earth might pass through or
near it at the time of the meteors of November. 3. Like the sup-
posed ‘‘nebulous body,’’ it revolves about the sun. 4. Like that, its
ae time must be commensurable with the earth’s period. 5.
‘inally, the meteors actually are seen to come from the visible extrem-
ities of the zodiacal light.

LONGSTRETH’S LUNAR FORMULA.

Pror. Peirce, at the American Association, Albany, read a paper
entitled ‘‘ An account of Longstreth’s Lunar Formula.’’ The Professor

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 3881

stated that the title of the paper was probably sufficient to tell what
he meant to say. But he wished it distinctly understood that he only
intended to give an account of a discovery by a man who was as
remarkable for his extreme modesty as for the eminence of the position
which he occupied among the scientific benefactors of the age. This
was intended for an account of Mr. Longstreth’s discovery, and was
not his own. The very modest manner in which Mr. Longstreth had
announced his discovery was worthy of remark. He would read from
the preface to the published tables all that Mr. Longstreth had himself
said in relation to this great discovery. It was as follows :—‘‘ The co-
efficients deduced from theory by Damoiseau, Plana, Pontecoulant,
and those deduced from observation by Burckhardt, (though diffefing
considerably,) give the moon’s place with nearly the same accuracy.”
Previous to this tabular formula prepared by Mr. Longstreth, there
was no method of testing a theory. All will remember the celebrated
dispute between Newton and Flamstead, as to the investigation of the
formulas for the longitude of the moon. Longstreth had obtained
results which involved the true theory of variations of the moon’s lon-
gitude. The resulis of observations, now that we had a tabular for-
mula to compare them with, when spread over sufficient ground, would
be sure to be confirmed by theory subsequently. The Professor exhib-
ited the tables themselves, showing where Damoiseau and Plana
agreed, and where they began to differ, and stating that Prof. Airy,
of England, had compared the results obtained by Longstreth. By
means of Longstreth’s formula we are sent back to the theories of
Damoiseau and Laplace. The difference had been ascertained to be
greater between Plana and Laplace than Laplace and Damoiseau. We
are therefore travelling backward to the theory propounded by Laplace,
while the supposed advances made by latter physical astronomers are
assuming their true position.

Mr. Longstreth’s observations are now to be used in the American
Nautical Almanac. This alone renders that work of the utmost im-
portance to navigators of every nation, as well as of this country.

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, JULY 23TH, 1851.

Tre following description of the total eclipse of the sun, which
occurred July 28, 1851,is by Mr. G. P. Bond, of the Cambridge
Observatory, and was first published in the Boston Traveller. Mr.
Bond, in order to obtain a favorable position, visited Lilla Edet,
Sweden, a point crossed by the central line of the eclipse : —

‘<The evening which preceded the day I have looked forward to with
so much anxious expectation, closed in without the slightest prospect
that the clouds and incessant rain of the last week would not con-
tinue, and effectually prevent our seeing the grand phenomenon which
had been the sole object of our journey. The morning was dark, with
heavy clouds drifting from the wonted quarter, and the rain, whieh had
ceased the night before, commenced falling again, as if the idea was a
new one, and it liked the novelty of it. We had nothing to do but
look as gloomy as the weather, and fancy how dark it would be when

382 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the eclipse came on. [I entirely gave up all hope, and determined to.
stay in the village, and watch the effect of the darkness .on the inhab-
itants. Mr. C. went to a station we had selectea on the opposite side
of the river, to set up his telescope at ali events, as he required some
hours of previous preparation before he would be ready, in case of an
unexpected change in the weather. This was about eleven o’clock,
and though the rain had stopped, the clouds were still as heavy as
ever. On the first day of our stay at Lilla Edet, we had chosen a spot
near the village, very well fitted for our purposes. This I was to occupy
if there was the least chance of seemg the sun. It was now two
o’clock, an hour only before the eclipse ; patches of blue sky here and
ther® were increasing in area and number; our hopes revived, and
everything was made ready for whatever chances should offer. The
elevation which I occupied is a bold, precipitous, rocky hill to the east-
ward of the town. It stands about one hundred and fifty feet above
the river. My telescope I placed on the very summit, but afterwards
removed it under the shelter of a large rock, to avoid the annoyance
of a brisk breeze from the south-west, which was at one time trouble-
some ; but the coming on of the darkness seemed to produce the sin-
gular effect of hushing the winds into silence; for the moment of
totality was preceded by a calm, like that which often marks the
approach of a thunder-storm. For the first contact, which presented
little interest, I watched a long time in an uneasy position: after
losing the sun once or twice in the clouds, I observed it tolerably well.
Meanwhile the sky was clearing delightfully ; a heavy bank of cirro-
stratus in the west was rising so slowly that it was now nearly certain
that we should have a fulfilment of all that we could wish. ‘The tele-
scope was placed close to the ground, and made perfectly firm with
stones piled on its tripod. As the time drew near when the moon was
to completely cover the sun, the clouds dispersed entirely from its
neighborhood, leaving a thin veil of cirrus, which, without question,
often accompanies the most perfect vision. A few cumuli were gath-
ered round the horizon. The awful, unearthly aspect which these
assumed before the darkness, was a fitting precursor of what was to
follow. Until about five minutes before the time of total obscuration,
I had leisure to watch the general effect, on the landscape, of the
increasing darkness. It is a common error, though a great mistake,
to suppose that the darkness of a total eclipse is of the same kind
with that of night of equal intensity. An ordinary starlight night,
when the moon and twilight are absent, is much darker. But the
thickest darkness that ever shrouded the earth is joy and gladness com-
pared with the peculiar light emanating from the corona which encir-
cles the moon when the eclipse is total. The outline of the lunar
mountains was finely projected in profile upon the sun; and these, as
the crescent of light narrowed, produced a singular appearance on the
southern cusp. Presently, as I watched intently, the edge of light was
broken up into beads, moving towards the point. The complete cover-
ing of the sun’s disc by the moon succeeded instantaneously. Up to
this point I may say that I was in a great measure prepared for all
that I saw. I had seen other eclipses, and this was like one of them

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 883

‘

on a great scale. The change which takes place in less than a tenth
of a second so entirely alters the scene, that the second which pre-
cedes the instant of total obscuration gives one no idea of what is to
follow. Some seconds elapsed before [ had my thoughts sufficiently
about me to remove the screen from the eye-piece. What I then saw,
it is utterly beyond my power of language adequately to express. The
corona of white light which encircled the dark body of the moon
resembled the aureola, or glory, by which painters designate the per-
son of the Saviour, its radiations extending from the circumference to a
distance equal to about one half of the sun’s diameter. I suppose it
must be some peculiarity in its light which gives such a strange
aspect to all natural objects seen by it. How shall I attempt to
describe those other wonders? The rose-colored flames, which, at the
same instant with the corona, appeared on the sun’s edge. The sight
filled me with unmingled, inexpressible admiration. An arch of light
like a rainbow connected two of them, not so bright as they were.
The scene was as surpassingly beautiful as it was awful and grand. In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it bursts upon the sight — the
most sublime of all that we are permitted to see of the glory of the
material creation. An hour before I should have been as sceptical
about all this as many others may now be. Without seeing what I
did I should never thoroughly have believed. I had a vague concep-
tion, founded on what I had read of the eclipse in 1842, that some-
thing unusual would take place at the moment when the sun disappeared.
But had a new sun appeared in the heavens, I could scarcely have
been more taken by surprise than I was when I saw these flame-like
prominences projecting from the inner edge of the corona. My eye
was at the telescope, with the exception of a glance or two about me
at the landscape shrouded in darkness, the whole time during which
the total phase continued. They were seen, however, by many with
the naked eye. Before the end of totality, the left hand flame disap-
peared entirely ; perhaps was coyered by the advancing limb of the
moon. Those on the side which the moon was first to leave increased,
until the moment before the edge of the sun appeared ; when the rosy
light was suffused over the limb of the moon, near where the sun-light
first broke forth, and then all vanished as quickly as it had first
appeared. The light of day had no sooner returned than I went to my
room to record all I had seen. I only stopped to notice the shadow of
the moon to the south-east, where the sky was black as night, while
we were already in the sunbeams. I had scarcely reached my lodg-
ings, long before the last contact, when the sun entered the bank of
clouds in the west, and was soon concealed from our sight ; but all
that we could desire was secured already. It was noticed that during
the eclipse the flowers of the ‘ Hesperts matinalis,’ which give forth
their perfume only at evening, smelled sweetly during the period of
darkness. Some of the cows and horses were stupid enough to feed
quietly through the whole. Of the birds, the swallows were most
affected, seeking to hide themselves in great numbers in the bushes,
and under the eaves of the houses.”’

ood ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Prof. Smyth, in the Edinburgh Phil. Magazine, states that the eclipse
seems to have been, on the whole, very fully observed, the weather
being clear and the definition good at a great number of the stations.
The various English observers, in order to guard against the false im-
pressions of what had been seen which often result from conversation
with others, agreed each to communicate their results separately to
the Astronomer Royal, and not to tell each other what they had seen.
The beads of light which occur at the beginning and end of the totality
of the eclipse, and which are generally known as “ Bailey’s Beads,”’
were very markedly seen by most observers. The reason of their
occurrence, viz., the serrated edge of the moon, combined with the
irradiation of the sun’s light seen in the hollows, seems to be so clearly
settled, that the phenomena are no longer subjects of wonder, and
hardly worthy of particular notice.

The red prominences appear also to have been well seen, and to have
been decidedly proved to belong to the sun and not to the moon. On
the occasion of the eclipse of 1842, they took observers so much by
surprise, that they were not prepared with any instrumental means to
ascertain the nature of these strange appearances, and the several ac-
counts varied alarmingly as to the number, size, and position of these
appendages. On the present occasion, however, from more attention
having been paid to the subject, the statements are much more uniform,
and observers seem positive to having seen the red prominences occul-
tated by the moon, which they regard as proof of their being solar phe-
nomena, being, in fact, masses of rose-colored light on the sun’s surface,
upwards of 20,006 miles high. Prof. Smyth suggests the probability of
these red appendages being a kind of mirage produced by the action
of the sun’s light on the surface of the moon; at the same time he
admits that the weight of all the evidence on this subject is in favor
of the eclipse-flames being real appendages to the sun, and in that case
must be masses of such immense size as to play no unimportant part
in the economy of the sun, and even of the system itself. No true theory
now, therefore, of the sun can be attempted, without including these
monstrous flames; and if we can only see them in the few and far
between intervals of total eclipses, thousands of years must elapse be-
fore we become much wiser. Mr. Nasmyth has called attention to the
subject of rendering these flames visible by some artificial total eclipse ;
and has proposed a method by which the sky in the vicinity of the
limb of the sun may be examined in comfort and comparative darkness.
A telescope being arranged in a dark room, in camera-obscura fashion,
is to throw the sun’s image, not on to a white screen, but into a black
box, the sides of which will absorb all the light, while a sheet of card-
board, (white, blue, or green, to bring out the pink light,) with a hole
in the middle just large enough to allow the sun to pass through, being
placed on the top, will receive the image of the surrounding part of
the sky, into which the red flames from the sun are supposed to protrude.
This method has been tried at the Edinburgh Observatory, and found
to succeed completely so far as the destruction of the sun’s light in the
dark box was concerned, but nothing in the shape of red flames was
seen on any occasion. This, however, could hardly have been expected,
on account of the excessive brightness of the adjacent portion of the

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 885

sky, caused by the multitudinous reflections of the sun’s light in the
atmosphere outside of the observatory, and therefore altogether irreme-
diable by any contrivances within. It is an evil only to be met by
establishing the telescope on the top of a very lofty mountain, as on
some of the inhabited parts of the Himalaya range, 16,000 and 18,000
feet above the level of the sea, where there would be but halfthe quan-
tity of atmosphere to battle against, and that of a much purer and more
transparent quality, and free from a cause which was very disturbing,
on some oceasions, even within the observatory, — atmospheric dust.

PROFESSOR MITCHEL’S SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Ar the meeting of the American Association, in 1850, at New Ha-
yen, Prof. Mitchel, of Cincinnati, announced some important improye-
ments effected by him in the observing of right ascensions and declina-
tions. In regard to these improvements along and spirited discussion
took place, the practicability of the plan being doubted by some mem-
bers. To settle the question, a committee of investigation was appointed,
with instructions to examine the apparatus of Prof. Mitchel, and report
at a future meeting of the Association. The committee consisted of
Profs. Peirce, Coffin and St. John, Sears C. Walker, and Capt. Wilkes.
At the meeting of the Association, in Cincinnati, May, 1851, the fol-
lowing report was submitted and accepted : —

1. Professor Mitchel’s apparatus for observing right ascensions is
thought by the committee to sustain all his claims in regard to its sim-
plicity, accuracy, facility and despatch. It is a fine specimen of ingen-
ious contrivance, and the best proof of its superiority in this respect
is the fact that, notwithstanding the roughness of construction to which
the inyentor has been forced to submit by his limited resources, it rivals
in the accuracy of its results the most finished specimens of skilful
workmanship. By the use of two pens he has ayoided all possibility
of the peculiar error which must constantly arise whenever the same
pen is used for recording the observations and the clock-beats. By re-
cording upon a dise with a pencil, which makes a slight dot at a single
swift stroke, he has reduced to a minute quantity the perturbations in
the motion of the dise which arise from the act of recording. The
methods for adjusting the dise and reading its record exclude all dan-
ger of error from imperfect centring, while the ingenious apparatus for
reading admits of great nicety and rapidity in the execution of this
task. The attention which has been paid to the determination and
elimination of minute sources of error, such as armature, time, and the
like, deserves high commendation.

2. In regard to the apparatus for observing declinations, the com-
mittee report, in some respects, with less confidence, because the series
of observations, although quite various, is not yet sufficiently extensive.
They think, however, that they may venture to report upon the proba-
ble capabilities of the apparatus, and the limit of accuracy which it
may be expected to attain, and which it may already have attained.
The principles of its construction are regarded by the committee as per-
fectly correct, and as eens a happy combination of ingenuity and

386 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

originality. They are surprised and delighted at the simplicity with
which all danger of error from eccentricity or flexure is avoided, as a
partial equivalent for which, it may be important not to overlook any
short lateral motion of the pivot of the telescope in its socket. In its
present form, the apparatus must be considered to be purely differential,
and to depend upon other fundamental observations for the absolute
determination of the length of its are. With this condition, the meas-
urement of differences of declination may extend to the degrees, and
perhaps much further, without any loss of accuracy. The principal
feature which characterizes this apparatus, and distinguishes it from all
others, consists in its admitting of the observation of ten different hor-
izontal wires during a single transit ; and these observations are made
with great facility, without mental tension, and so close to the meridian
as to involve no difficulty in their reduction to the meridian.

By an additional piece of mechanism for some observations, these
may be conducted with unsurpassed rapidity, and sufficient exactness,
without risk of confusion or any perplexity of thought on the part of
the observer.

Finally, the committee are not aware that the history of astronomi-
eal science exhibits a more astonishing instance of great results pro-
duced with what would seem to be wholly inadequate means. With
the ordinary tools of a common mechanic, and with insignificant pecu-
niary outlay, an isolated individual has aspired to rival the highest
efforts of the most richly endowed institutions, upon which sovereigns
and governments have showered their inexhaustible patronage, and his
aspirations have been crowned with success. ‘The committee are per-
suaded that under more propitious circumstances, and with more gen-
erous opportunities, Prof. Mitchel’s plans of apparatus will lead to still
more admirable results, and contribute yet further to the advancement
of astronomical science.

At the conclusion of the report, Prof. Bache remarked, that the value
of this report was enhanced by the cool, investigating character of the
members of the committee, and the practical and theoretical knowledge
which they had brought to their task. The circumstances attending
the reception of the description of Prof. Mitchel’s invention at the New
Haven meeting further increased its value. It was not surprising that
those versed in the methods of astronomical observation in established
use should be sceptical in regard to the performance of an apparatus
avowedly constructed with imperfect means, and startled when its
results were stated as vying with those of perfect instruments imported
or made at a great cost. ‘The committee has carefully and with great
minuteness investigated the whole apparatus, its action and its results ;
and they unanimously report that they are satisfied that the claims
set up to this method as a marked improvement are real. It goes out,
then, with the stamp of this Association ; it has passed a critical or-
deal, and stands by its merits as one of the most remarkable steps ever
made in our country in the progress of astronomical observation.

The instrument and apparatus of Prof. Mitchel are of too complex a
character to admit of a description in this place. It suffices to say,
however, that by their aid the astronomer can now accomplish more

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 387

work in one night, and execute the same with greater accuracy, than
he could previously in many weeks of continued observation. — Editor.

THE AURORA BOREALIS OF SEPTEMBER, 1851.

Srvce the grand aurora of November 17, 1848, (which was distin-
guished for its great extent, being seen in nearly equal splendor from
Odessa on the east to California on the west,) we have had no exhibi-
tion of the highest class like those which occurred from 1835 to 1839,
inclusive, but the month of September, 1851, was signalized by three
grand auroras, occurring respectively on the nights of the 3d, the 6th,
and the 29th. An aurora borealis of the highest class is distinguished
by the presence of all the more striking characters of the phenomena
combined, or at least exhibited in rapid succession, such as arches,
streamers, a corona and waves. Lach of the late auroras was charac-
terized by marks of the greatest intensity, especially in the complete-
ness and grandeur of the corona, and of the auroral waves; and that
of the 29th was remarkable for passing to a great distance beyond our
zenith, presenting a well-defined and very luminous arch, whose point
of culmination was within 30° of the southern horizon. What is quite
unusual, this meteor was visible throughout the southern states, and
presented a striking and splendid appearance as far south as Charleston
and Savannah.

INFLUENCE OF THE AURORA UPON THE WEATHER.

Mr. J. L. Henpricr, of Litchfield, Conn., in furnishing the Regents
of the University of New York with a series of observations on the
occurrence and intensity of the aurora borealis during the year 1850,
makes the following remarks on the fancied connection between this
phenomenon and changes in the weather. ‘‘ These observations con-
firm me in the belief that the aurora is not an indication of any future
change in the weather, but an effect of a previous change, or of a
certain state of the atmosphere. Of those that occurred during the first
six months, every one (8) was preceded by rain or snow within two days
preceding that in which the aurora borealis occurred, while only six
were followed by either within three days after. During the next six
months 11 were preceded and 8 followed by snow or rain. A change,
however, that occurs three days after the phenomenon hardly deserves
to be counted, as so many things may interfere to effect the result. If
we take the same number of days selected at random throughout the
year, we should doubtless find as many of the selected days followed,
ii not preceded, by changes of weather, as we find among those dis-
tinguished for the appearance of the aurora. The greatest number of
the more remarkable occurred in April, May, September and October.”’

ON THE CLOUDS AND EQUATORIAL CLOUD RINGS OF THE EARTH.

Tue following is an abstract of a paper read at the meeting of the
American Association, Albany, by Lieutenant Maury, of the National
Observatory : — ~

388 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC : DISCOVERY.

Sailors have opportunities of making observations on clouds, and the
various phenomena accompanying them, which no other class enjoy.
The sailor, bound in his ship to the southern hemisphere, enters the
region of the north-east trade winds, and frequently finds the sky mot-
tled with clouds, but generally clear ; continuing his course south, he
observes his thermometer to rise as he approaches the equator, until,
entering the equatorial region, he finds the weather to become murky,
close and oppressive. He then enters the south-east trades ; and, on
looking at his log-book, he is surprised to find that, notwithstandin
the oppressive weather of the rainy latitudes, both his barometer an
thermometer stood lower in them than in the clear weather on either
side of them. In passing that rainy latitude, he has passed a cloud ring
which encircles the earth.

Lieut. Maury then proceeds to give a description of the various
changes which this great equatorial cloud ring undergoes, and of its
effects on the climate over which it hangs, the laws which control its
shifting, sometimes to the north and sometimes to the south of the
equator, and the accessions it receives from the more temperate lati-
tudes, while the ring itself is the great source of supply of moisture to
regions of the earth very distant from the equator. Thus this cloud
ring modifies the climate of all places beneath it; overshadowing at
different seasons all parallels from five degrees south to fifteen degrees
north. It may be asked, where do the vapors come from which are
condensed and poured into the sea as rain? They come from the trade
wind regions under the cloud ring, then rise up, and as they rise they
expand, and as they expand they grow cool and are condensed. There
is, therefore, a ceaseless precipitation going on under the cloud ring.
Evaporation under it is suspended nearly the whole year round. This
ring is formed by the meeting of the N. E. and S. E. trade winds; the
vapors which each bring from northern and southern regions meet and
ascend. Our knowledge of the laws of nature will tell us, therefore, that
the atmosphere will be cooler under this ring than on either side of it,
without consulting the thermometer. Were the clouds which overhang
this belt luminous, and could they be seen by an observer from one of
the planets, these clouds would present an appearance not unlike the
rings of Saturn. He would also observe that this ring had an appar-
ent movement contrary to that of the earth ; for though it moves with
the earth, the motion of the ring is relatively slower, and the earth slips
from under it, giving the ring an apparent slow motion from east to
west. This ring would be unlike those of Saturn in another respect.
Its edges would appear very jagged and rough and uneven.

Navigators are now learning to tell by the barometer when they
have passed the cloud ring. In the log-book of an American captain,
in a voyage round the world, in 1850-5], recently forwarded to the
National Observatory, I find the following remarks : — ‘‘ I here pre-
dict,” he says, before reaching the equator, ‘the barometer will
remain below 30 in. until we get without the influence of the rainy
latitudes.’? After having crossed a belt of five or six degrees of lati-
tude, within which such remarks are frequent as, ‘‘ warm and sultry ;”’
‘heavy rains ;’’ ‘very murky and close at times ;”’ ‘‘ quite oppres-

:
|

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 389

sive ;’’ ‘‘rain,’’ &c. ; on the seventh day he remarks, ‘‘ Assuming the
settled weather of the ‘ trades,’ only requiring a rise of barometer to
assure me of that fact.’’ The day after, I find in his column of re-
marks, ‘‘ Fine weather, every appearance of trades — barometer up.”’
This remark is made the 5th of March, 1850, in 6° south lat. Had he
passed this cloud ring in August, he would probably have made the
same observations in 6° north lat., indicating that he had passed from
under the influence of this equatorial“cloud belt.

It is thus we arrive at a new application of the barometer, which
thus informs the nayigator, when other means fail, when he leaves
and when he enters the trade winds.

ON THE EQUINOCTIAL STORM.

Tue following views respecting the occurrence of a periodic storm,
known as the Equinoctial, were communicated, by Prof. Loomis, to the
American Association, Albany : — .

** About twelve years ago | made asomewhat extensive comparison
of meteorological observations, for the purpose of testing various popu-
lar notions with regard to the weather. My object particularly was
to determine whether any connection could be traced between the fall
of rain and the phases of the moon, or the seasons of the year. The
result of this investigation was, that many popular -proverbs, with
regard to the fall of rain, have little foundation in truth. One of the
popular beliefs is worthy of note here, for many of the most scientific
men have faith in the fall of heavy rains at or about the period of the
equinoxes.

‘<T propose to inquire whether rain is unusually prevalent about the
time of the autumnal equinox? The register to which I first refer,
for an answer to this question, is that of the Royal Society of London,
which has been accurately kept for a period of 64 years. Comparing
the observations for the month of September, including 1920 days,
shows that there is annually in London a fall of rain greater by one
fifth for the last half of the month than the first half. This may be
adopted, therefore, as the law for London. But there is no indication
that there is a greater fall of rain than might be occasioned by the
change of season, and that no particular day can be pointed out in the
month of September where there ever was, or ever will be, a so called
equinoctial rain. If the number of rainy days, instead of the quantity
of rain, is taken into consideration, we arrive at the same result. I
will not attempt to conceal that the amount of rain for the five days
embracing the equinox is greater than for any other period of five days
throughout the month ; but if any one should be disposed to attach
any special importance to this circumstance, I would remark that the
amount of rain for the last five days of the month falls short of the
preceding five days by less than three per cent., and that this quantity
is too small to afford any satisfactory basis for a conclusion in a re-
search of this kind. Certain it is, that the difference is too small to be
detected, without a most careful observation of the rain-gauge, and
inasmuch as the popular belief on this subject was certainly never

30*

390 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

derived from meteorological journals, I do not hesitate to conclude that
the common opinion of an unusual fall of rain at London, about the
time of the autumnal equinox, has been taken up without reason. I
now proceed to inquire what foundation there may be for a similar
opinion in the United States. And here we encounter a difficulty
arising from the want of a continuous register of the fall of rain at a
single locality for any long period. In this country, accurate observa-
tions extend only over a period of 25 years. And these are only known
at one point, which is at Albany. ‘These were taken under the direc-
tion of the regents of the University. But the great inequalities
of these observations show that the period of observation is too
short to elucidate any correct results as yet; and that, before arriving
at any correct conclusion, we must extend these observations over a
long series of years. If the first five days of the month of September
be taken, we find 20.62 inches to have fallen; the next five days only
8.81 inches; the third group of five days 13.34; the fourth group
of five days 13.82; the fifth 17.16; the sixth 13.48 inches. It will
thus be seen that more rain fell on the first days of September than on
any other part of the month. From these figures it would be prepos-
terous to come to the conclusion that the first week in September
would be wet, and that the second. would be peculiarly dry. Another
fact worthy of notice is the recorded fact that, for 23 successive years,
no rain has fallen on the 6th of September in Albany, yet no popular
proverb is prevalent in that vicinity noticing the fact. In order to sup-
ply, as far as possible, the want of a series of observations sufficiently
long, I have had recourse to the journal of Dr. Holyoke, kept at Salem,
Mass., from 1786 to 1828, in which it was recorded, each day, whether
it was fair, cloudy or rainy, although the amount of rain was not
registered. I have taken the sum of the rainy days for each day of
the month, and have appended to this the Albany register, making
thus a continuous record for 65 years. The greatest number of rainy
days on any one day of the month, for the entire period, was 25, on
the 5th, and the least number was 12, on the 6th. So far, then, as
these observations indicate any influence of the day of the month upon
the amount of rain, they lead to the conclusion that the first five days
of September are unusually rainy, and the second five days unusually
dry. Still, it would be premature to draw definite conclusions from
these facts. On the whole, we may conclude that there is as much
reliance to be placed on a storm happening inthe New England States
at the equinox as at the annual meeting of the Quakers; or, in the
language of the poet,
“Tf the first of July be rainy weather,
*T will rain more or less for forty days together.”

Prof. Guyot said that he was not surprised that there should be doubts
as to the prevalence of any storms at the season of the equinoxes in the
United States ; that opinions relative to it came, as he supposed, from
Kurope, in the central portions of which certain atmospheric changes
had a regularity which did not prevail in Great Britain, which stood
at the extreme verge of the area over which these periodic changes

ie

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 391

prevailed. -In referring to periodic changes of the atmosphere, we
should not be guided, in this country, by observations made in Europe,
where very different conditions of the atmosphere prevailed.

Mr. W. C. Redfield remarked that nothing could be more unfounded
than the traditional notion of an immediate or special connection be-
tween the equinox and the storms of that period. The meteorological
records which he had examined afford no ground for this very preva-
lent opinion, as will equally appear whether we view the fall of rain
above as constituting the storm, or consider the rain as but a common
though not essential feature of a storm or gale.

ALTERNATION OF COLD AND WARM SEASONS.

Tue idea of a cycle of good and bad seasons has often been mooted
by meteorologists, and has frequently recurred to my thoughts when
endeavoring to find a reason for the ease with which, at some periods
of arctic discovery, navigators were able to penetrate early in the sum-
mer into sounds which subsequent adventurers could not approach, and
to connect such facts with the fate of the discovery ships. But neither
the periods assigned, nor the facts adduced to prove them by different
writers, haye been presented in such a shape as to carry conviction
with them until very recently. Mr. Glaisher, in a paper published in
the Philosophical Transactions for 1850, has shown, from eighty years’
observations in London and at Greenwich, that groups of warm years
alternate with groups of cold ones, in such a way as to render it most
probable that the mean annual temperatures rise and fall in a series of
elliptical curves, which correspond to periods of about fourteen years ;
though local or casual disturbing forces cause the mean of particular
years to rise above the curve or fall below it. The same laws
doubtless operate in North America, producing a similar gradual
increase and subsequent decrease of mean heat, in a series of years,
though the summits of the curves are not likely to be coincident with,
and are very probably opposed to, those of Europe ; since the atmos-
pherical currents from the south, which, for a period, raise the annual
temperature of England, must be counterbalanced by currents from the
north or other meridians. The annual heat has been diminishing in
London ever since 1844, according to Mr. Glaisher’s diagram, and will
reach its minimum in 1851. It can be stated only as a conjecture,
though by no means an improbable one, that Sir John Franklin entered
Lancaster Sound at the close of a group of warm years, when the ice
was in the most favorable condition of diminution, and that since then
the annual heat has attained its minimum, probably in 1847 or 1848,
and may now be increasing again. At all events, it is conceivable
that, having pushed on boldly in one of the last of the favorable years
of the cycle, the ice, produced in the unfavorable ones which followed,
has shut him in, and been found insurmountable.— Sir J, Richardson’s
Arctic Expedition.

392 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ARCTIC CLIMATE.

Sir Joun Ricuarpson, in the history of his late expedition, gives the
following facts with regard to the climate of the arctic regions. He
says : — ‘‘ The power of the sun this day, in a cloudless sky, was so
great, that Mr. Rae and I were glad to take shelter in the water while
the crews were engaged on the portages. The irritability of the human
frame is either greater in these northern latitudes, or the sun, notwith-
standing its obliquity, acts more powerfully upon it than near the
equator; for I have never felt its direct rays so oppressive within the
tropics as I have experienced them to be on some occasions in the high
latitudes. The rapid evaporation of both snow and ice in the winter
and spring, long before the action of the sun has produced the slightest
thaw or appearance of moisture, is made evident to residents in the
high latitudes by many facts of daily occurrence ; and I may mention
that the drying of linen furnishes a familiar one. When a shirt, after
being washed, is exposed in the open air to a temperature of 40° to 50°
below zero, it is instantly rigidly frozen, and may be broken if violently
bent. If agitated when in this condition by a strong wind, it makes a
rustling noise like theatrical thunder. In an hour or two, however, or
nearly as quickly as it would do if exposed to the sun in the moist cli-
mate of England, it dries and becomes limber. In consequence of the
extreme dryness of the atmosphere in winter, most articles of English
manufacture, made of wood, horn, or ivory, brought to Rupert’s Land,
are shrivelled, bent and broken. The handles of razors and knives,
combs, ivory scales, and various other things kept in the warm rooms,
are changed in this way. The human body, also, becomes visibly
electric from the dryness of the skin. One cold night I rose from my
bed, and, having lighted a lantern, was going out to observe the ther-
mometer, with no other clothing than my flannel night dress, when, on
approaching my hand to the iron latch of the door, a distinct spark was
elicited. Friction of the skin, at almost all times in winter, produced the
electric odor. Even at mid-winter we had three hours and a half of
daylight. On the 20th of December, I required a candle to write at
the window at ten in the morning. On the 29th, the sun, after ten
days’ absence, rose at the Fishery, where the horizon was open ; and,
on the 8th of January, both limbs of that luminary were seen from a
gentle eminence behind the fort, rising above the centre of Fishery
Island. For several days previously, however, its place in the heavens
at noon had been denoted by rays of light shooting into the sky above
the woods. The lowest temperature in January was 50° Fah. On the
ist of February, the sun rose to us at nine o’clock and set at three,
and the days lengthened rapidly. On the 23d I could write in my
room without artificial light from ten A. M., to half-past two Pp. m., mak-
ing four hours and a half of bright daylight. The moon, in the long
nights, was a most beautiful object ; that satellite being constantly
above the horizon for nearly a fortnight together in the middle of the
lunar month. Venus also shone with a brilliancy which is never wit-
nessed in a sky loaded with vapors ; and, unless in snowy weather, our
nights were always enlivened by the beams of the aurora.”

ASTRONOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 393

SNOW PHENOMENA.

Pror. Dove, of Berlin, in a recent publication on meteorology, gives
a curious illustration in relation to the formation of clouds of snow over
plains, which are situated at a distance from the cooling summits of
mountains. On one occasion a large assembly had gathered in the
concert hall of a northern residence. It was one of those icy, starlight
nights, which are so aptly called ‘‘iron nights’? in Sweden. In the
room, however, there was a fearful crowd ; and the heat was so great
that several ladies fainted in consequence. An officer who was pres-
ent sought to end this distressing state of things by attempting to open
a window ; but this was impossible, so hard was it frozen to the sill.
As a last resort, he broke a pane of glass; and now what happened?
It snowed in the room! It is needless to add any comment on this, as
the phenomena explains itself.

CURIOUS METEOROLOGICAL FACT.

Ir will be recollected that in January and February of the year
1851, the changes of the barometer were very frequent, and the eleva-
tion in New England greater than had been noticed for twelve years.
On the 19th of January, the barometer at Portsmouth, N. H., rose to
30.83; on the mhorning of the 13th of February to 31 inches; and to
the same height on the 19th of February. The Boston Traveller, of
February 14th, gives the following notice of the remarkable state of the
barometer that week :—

‘*The barometer, Thursday morning, February 13, at nine o’clock,
attained the extraordinary altitude of 31.02, reduced to the tempera-
ture of 50, and to the mean level of the sea. This is the zhird extraor-
dinary condensation of the atmosphere in this vicinity, within the last
three and a half weeks, and as such, we believe, unprecedented even
here, where the barometer is believed to rise as high as in any other
part of the earth. The last time it rose to 31 inches was on January
1, 1839, viz., to 31.11, which is supposed to have been the highest
recorded at any place at the above level.”’

Advices received subsequently from India show that, at the same
time, within a day of the greatest elevation of the barometer here,
there was the lowest depression in India. Here it was three days
rising to the maximum, there it was three days sinking to the mini-
mum. The Bombay Times, of March 3d, says: —‘‘A remarkable
instance of atmospheric disturbance, of simultaneous occurrence over a
vast region of space, and which will, in all likelihood, have been ob-
served in Europe, occurred on the 12th of February. On this day the
barometer reached its minimum at Bombay and Calcutta, 1,200 miles
apart, after a synchronous descent of three days ; it continued to fall
at Madras till the 16th.’? Violent storms and floods prevailed all over
India about this time, doing immense damage in various quarters, es-
pecially in the Punjaub.

From the foregoing statement it will appear that sympathetic undu-
lations of the barometer sometimes extend around the world ; in this
case a converse change taking place at the same epoch in the opposite
hemisphere.

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES.

EXPLORATIONS IN EASTERN AFRICA. |

Dr. Knosiecuer, the Pope’s Vicar-General in Central Africa, has
recently returned to Europe, and published an account of his discoveries
and travels. He has been further into Soudan than any previous trav-
eller, having penetrated on the White Nile, or Bahr-el-Abiad, as that
river is called in Arabic, to within four degrees of the Equator. At
this point the traveller ascended a mountain called Logwek, and saw
the Nile trending away in a south-westerly direction, until it vanished
between two mountains. ‘The last natives he met with, the Bary ne-
groes, informed him that beyond those mountains the river came straight
from the south. The Nile was in 4° 45’ north latitude, 200 French
metres broad, (about 625 English feet,) and from three to five metres
deep.

Stich an abundance of water in the dry season indicates with toler-
able certainty that the river rises at a great distance, in some unknown
range of mountains, probably beyond the Equator. Even if we assume
the origin of the Nile to be a great lake or internal sea, as the obscure
but unconfirmed tradition declares, the existence of such a lake cannot
be supposed without the vicinity of a lofty range of mountains, whose
springs and brooks feed it in the dry season. Dr. Knoblecher saw
from the summit of Logwek, on the furthest edge of the horizon, a
range of heights whose exact form was lost in the distance.

Doctor K. and his associates have founded a missionary establish-
ment at Khartoum, the junction of the White and Blue Nile, from
which point other expeditions are to be sent to the interior.

EXPEDITION INTO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA.

Ir will be remembered that early in 1850, Mr. Richardson, an agent
of the British Government, together with two German sayants, and a
select escort, started from Tripoli on an expedition to explore the in-
terior of Africa. Intelligence of the party has been received up to
August, 1851. Mr. Richardson died in the kingdom of Bornou, in
March ; the other members of the party were well. The expedition
had passed through many dangers and difficulties, with no greater mis-
fortune than the loss of a little property, of which it was robbed by

GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 395

the Tuariks. This is a powerful tribe who inhabit oases in the Sahara,
or Great Desert, and are noted for their inhospitality to travellers. Dr.
Barth, one of the German gentlemen accompanying, mentions a vast
tract of fertile land through which he passed in the region of the Great
Sahara, and which has remained entirely unknown to travellers and
geographers. He describes it as being of considerable extent, beauti-
fully wooded, with a number of small rivers passing through it, and
susceptible of the highest degree of cultivation. It is inhabited only
by animals, among which he mentions the elephant, buffalo, lion,
giraffe, &c.

At the latest date, Messrs. Barth and Overweg, the German gentle-
men, had reached Kuka, Central Africa, and Dr. Barth had proceeded
onward to the kingdom of Adamowa, a country never before visited by
a white man. Dr. Overweg was engaged in the exploration of Lake
Tsad. The boat brought from England, and which for twelve months,
with immense trouble, had been carried in pieces on camels across the
desert of Sahara, had been put together and launched upon the lake.
The travellers in this vicinity had everywhere been treated with great
kindness by the natives. The dimensions of the lake were found by
Dr. Overweg to be much smaller than those given by Denham, being
about 60 miles from east to west, whereas in Denham’s map it is
more than double. These apparent discrepancies, however, may find
their explanation in the remarkable nature of the lake ; it being an
immense body of water, which is greatly augmented in the rainy sea-
son, but in the season of drought evaporates so much that it seems at
times to dry up entirely.

CURIOUS RELICS FROM BABYLON.

Wirurn the last few years, Col. Rawlison and Mr. Layard have
added to the antiquarian treasures of the British Museum certain curi-
ous bowls made of terra cotta, and found buried some twenty feet deep
amidst the ruins of Babylon. These bowls are upwards of fifteen in
number, and generally six inches broad and thre® or four in depth.
Most of them have inscriptions inside, commencing at the bottom and
extending in a spiral line towards the left, till, after some revolutions,
ranging from five to ten in number, they close at the brim. The characters
and language of the inscriptions have hitherto baffled all our antiqua-
rians. We are informed, however, that very recently both have been
satisfactorily explained by Mr. Thomas Ellis, who is engaged in the
Oriental Manuscript of the British Museum. The language is Chaldee,
and the characters somewhat resemble the Phoenician or square
Chaldean. At the same time, there are found certain words and
terms peculiar to the Jews only; and thence Mr. Ellis infers that the
inscriptions must either have been written by the Jews during their
captivity in Babylon, or by a remnant of that people who never
returned from Assyria. — London Atheneum,

y

396 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ANCIENT CLOTH FROM THE MOUNDS OF OHIO.

Tue following discription of some samples of ancient cloth from the
mounds of Ohio was given by J. G. Foster, Esq. U.S. Geologist, at
the American Association, Albany : —

As far back as the year 1838, (said Mr. Foster,) I procured from a
person residing in Jackson Co., Ohio, several fragments of cloth, mostly
decayed, which he had taken from a low mound in that vicinity.
This fact was so novel in itself, and so at variance with the prevail-
ing ideas as to the degree of civilization and the knowledge of the arts
among the mound-builders, that I hesitated about making it public,
fearing that it might have been a modern substitution, and that, by
publishing, I might be the means of propagating error. But within
a recent period I have received from Mr. John Woods, of Ohio,
additional samples, accompanied with evidence, and a description of
the circumstances under which they were found. A quantity of charred
cloth, (says Mr. Woods,) was dug out of a mound on the west side of
the Great Miami River, in Madison township, Butler Co., Ohio. Its
height was originally twenty feet, but when first seen by Mr. Woods,
thirty years ago, it was probably sixteen feet high. It was covered
fifty years ago with large forest trees, as we are informed by the old
settlers. The Cincinnati and Dayton Railroad runs through one side of
the mound, half of which has been cut down for the track. The workmen
have found an arrow and a considerable quantity of charcoal, cloth and
bones. A quantity of this cloth was preserved by Mr. Woods, in
nearly the same condition in which it was found in the mound. The
bones were few and small. Very little earth appeared to be mixed with
the coal and cloth, which were evidently in the position in which they
had been placed when burned and covered up. ‘The charcoal appeared
to be on the outside of the cloth.

The only question which arises in my mind, (says Mr. Woods,) as
to the time when the charcoal and cloth were deposited in the mound,
is whether the mound erected by an anterior race may not have been
made a burying-place by the Indians, and that they had wrapped their
dead in the cloth, and after partially burning the bodies, or the bones
and cloth, had covered up the fire. I thought of this question at the
time, and was careful to examine, as fully as was then practicable, the
condition of the earth around and over the relics which I dug out, and
it appeared to me that the original formation could not have been dis-
turbed, after it was placed in the mound, There is no evidence, ac-
cording to Mr. Foster, (whose language is now resumed,) that the
North American Indians possessed the art of spinning and weaving,
when first known to the white man. An art so conducive to the com-
fort and convenience of man, when once acquired, would not become
lost ; nor would it be rational to infer that this cloth was a European
fabric, obtained by the Indians, and substituted in the mound, within
comparatively recent times, for the following reasons: In the Butler
Co. mound, the semi-stratification described by Mr. Woods indicates
no disturbance ; and the material of this cloth is not-such as a civil-
ized race would manufacture to traffic with a barbarous one, it being
more costly than wool, and less adapted to the purposes of clothing.

PATENTS.

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PATENTS, REISSUES, DESIGNS AND

ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS, GRANTED AT THE PATENT OFFICE IN
WASHINGTON, DURING EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR 1851.

. = £4 . 1
Pa a nN ey a P= 2 3 |
SISIS\E\BISIS/21E181/E/818

= a 5 SS oS =i mR 3
Bis) eS 48 16 dS) 2 6 le
Wotal: Patents; genase ineer sees 55| 39) 44) 66) 57| 58) 68) 57) 73| 76) 72) 69)734
HRCRISSUESS 25, ah wl. chs kee der whack Pe Ale A -_ ot, Dis 2) LO Oh. ete 1s
Designs mfg OE OMe “es Ee 4; 4) 8] 6 9| 7 4! 1) 10) 5) 5) 4 67
Additional Improvements, ..... |__ (tke Jae AR GON Ca a eg Iv eg
59! 45| 56! 73) 71! 66| 74! 58! 84! 82) 79] 74821

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PATENTS ISSUED TO CITIZENS OF DIF-
FERENT STATES DURING THE YEAR 1851.

MENG ost se ee 20. Vireiniace. oie sriek ot Ge” Oi Michieam 732 et icon spc ool
Vermont, ... - «+. %&Q9{North Carolina, . ... %2| Indiana, cite. aioe eke
New Hampshire,. .... 15 {South Carolina, .... 4/|{Milinois,........ 9
Massachusetts, .. . . 182 | Georgia, St ate vas gy Of MISSOUrTS Ra eg i cae
Rhode Island, + ..5 ©. =, «,:14:| Alabamas eens os 7 oo 2 Mloriday as 4 aus 0
Gonnechent,.. 6-272" 0, Dos PNUISSISSIDDIe ch wage) oe) VO WEXAS.0 We Gis 6c) els 5 al
New York, ... . . . 282 | Louisiana, Sa he et te At Seek Wels: « - a Meaty
NewJersey, 00) a6 <6” 1b? | tAwkansas. 2a) gal @/) (Wisconsinye 2” srs ‘ell ee’e 3
Pennsylvania, ... . . 89 | Tennessee, ros 5| District of Columbia, . . 11
DelaWARG, a. esl of st oo CDE yan a ie mt at ia) OFCIETT. © tet erie Vane ome
Marylanders eric elec oO | OlOsr a, etal Guat eu al arto GO| RObay or cae ceeoerent sara 2 821

Patents, relssues, designs and additional improvements, are all included in this Table.

OBITUARY

OF PERSONS EMINENT IN SCIENCE. 1851.

John James Audubon, the eminent ornithologist ; aged 76.

John Broadhead Beck, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica, N. Y. College of Physicians.
M. Beudent, Member of the French Institute, Professor of Geology, College of France.
Edward Binns, M. D., of Jamaica, W. I., author of the Anatomy of Sleep.

Marshall Dede de la Brunerie, constructor and engineer of the fortifications of Paris.

398 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

oe

Peter Clare, Secretary of the Manchester (England) Phil. Society.

Charles Coquerell, for many years reporter of the French Academy of Sciences.

Sir James Graham Dalyell, an eminent naturalist, and President of the Society for pro-
moting the Useful Arts in Scotland.

M. Daguerre, the discoverer of the Daguerreotype ; aged 62. -

T. S. Davies, an eminent English mathematician, Professor in the College at Woolwich.

James De Kay, an eminent American naturalist, editor of the ornithological portion of
Natural History of New York.

Federick Fernbach, at Munich, inventor of the style of painting which bears his name.

Dr. Frachn, the oldest member of the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburgh, and a dis-
~ tinguished oriental and numismatic scholar. He left a collection of 20,000 rare Eastern coins.

Dr. Gauladet, celebrated as an instructor of the Deaf and Dumb.

‘Dr. B. Goldschmidt, Director of the Observatory at Gottingen, Germany.

Dr. Haviland, Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Cambridge, England.

Giovanni Inghirami, a celebrated mathematician and astronomer of Tuscany, Italy.

William Jacob, ¥. R. §., an English writer on scientific agriculture.

Dr. Jacobi, an eminent German mathematician.

Dr. Kidd, Regius Professor at the University of Oxford, England, and -author of one of
the Bridgewater Treatises.

Charles Koenig, keeper of the Mineral Department of the British Museum.

Dr. Lachmann, Professor of Philosophy, University of Berlin, Prussia.

Conrad Langenbeck, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the University of Gottingen.

Pierre Lapie, one of the geographical celebrities of France.

Baron De Leiderer, a celebrated Russian botanist ; aged 65.

M. Lavy, Member of the Academy of Turin, and of the Council of Mines, Sardinia.

Dr. Leuret, Physician of the Bicetre, France, well known for his works on mental derange-
ment, and on the anatomy of the brain.

D. Link, Professor of Botany, University of Berlin, Prussia.

Dr. Mackness, of Hastings, England, author of several elaborate scientific works.

William Martin, of England, inventor of the High-level Bridge.

Joshua Milne, London.

Dubois de Montpereuz, the first geological explorer of the Crimea, Caucasus and Arme-
nia, Professor in the University of Neufchatel, Switzerland.

Samuel George Morton, M. D., President of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadel-
phia, and distinguished for his researches and publications on ethnology.

Dr. Patrick Neill, Secretary of the Wernerian Society, England.

William Nicol, of Scotland, the inventor of the single image prism of calcareous spar,
known as “ Nicol’s Prism.”

The Marquis of Northampton, late President of the Royal Society of England.

Professor Oersted, a Danish philosopher, celebrated for his discoveries in electro-magnet-
ism, &c.; aged 74.

Lorenz Oken, of Zurich, Switzerland, the originator of the theory of cranial homologies,
and one of the most celebrated naturalists of the 19th century ; aged 79.

Richard Phillips, a celebrated English geologist.

Count Stanislaus Plater, of Poland, a geographical writer of distinction.

James Richardson, the explorer of Central Africa; died at Bornou, March.

Dr. S. Smyth Rogers, for some years Prof. of Chemistry in Trinity College, Conn.

Edward C. Ross, Prof. of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, N. Y. Free Academy.

Count Alexander Saluzzo, President of the Academy of Sciences in Turin.

C. M. Sander, a celebrated German surgeon, and writer on philosophy, archeology, &e.

M. Savigney, Member of the French Academy, well known for his scientific labors during
the French expedition to Egypt. -

M. Schumacher, the celebrated astronomer of Altona, died December 31st, 1850.

Baron de Silvestre, Member of the French Academy.
we S. Skinner, Editor of the Plough, Loom and Anvil; accidentally killed at Baltimore,

Rev. John Pye Smith, an English Congregational minister, distinguished for his geolog-
ical publications and pursuits.

William Sturgeon, a celebrated English electrician.

R. Thorpe, M. D., a well-known English anatomist.

Richard C. Taylor, an eminent geologist and mining engineer ; author of “Statistics
of Coal,” &c.

Samuel Veall, a distinguished meteorologist and promoter of science, England.

James Wallace, Professor of Mathematics, Columbia College, N. Y.

M. Wahlenburg, a distinguished Swedish geologist and botanist.

W. West, F. R. 8., a chemist of some distinction in England.

Martin Wilcox, Professor of Mathematics, Cleveland University, Ohio.

John Wilmot, of England, a distinguished horticulturist.

LIST OF BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c.,

ON MATTERS PERTAINING TO SCIENCE, PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
DURING THE YEAR 1851, oi.*

Accompanying Documents of the President’s Message, for 1850-51.

Address before the American Institute of New York. By C. 'T. Jackson, M. D.

Agricultural Report to the Legislature of Massachusetts, for 1850-51.

Agriculture for Schools, by Rev. J. L. Blake. Newman, New York.

American Almanac. Little & Brown. Boston.

American Gardener’s Calendar. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia.

American Muck Book, by Browne. Saxton. New York.

Analytical Geometry and Calculus, by Loomis. Harpers. New York.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History. New York.

Annual of Scientific Discovery, for 1851. Wells and Bliss. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.

Annual Report on the Canals of New York.

Appendix to Duggan’s Stone, Iron and Wood Bridges. .

Army Meteorological Register, from 1842 to 1851. Washington. Pub. Doc.

Book of the Telegraph, by Davis. Boston.

Brain, Ray on the. Ticknor & Co. Boston.

Calculation of Excavations and Embankments. Trautwine. Philadelphia.

Chemistry, Stockhard’s, 5th Edition, by Pierce. Bartlett. Cambridge.

Chemistry, Elementary, by A. F. Olmstead. Babcock. New Haven.

Chemistry, Elementary, by Youmans. New York.

Chemistry, Outlines of, Gregory. Amer. Ed. by Sanders. Derby. Cincinnati.

Chemistry, Organic, Principles of. Loewig. Translated by Breed. Hart. Philadelphia.

Chemistry and Familiar Science, by Davy. E.H. Bender. Albany. New York.
2 Bo of Science. Pamph. By Rey. H. H. Richards. Walker & James. Charleston.
be .
{Te of Natural Philosophy for the General Reader, by Olmstead. Babcock. New

aven.

Controversy touching the Old Stone Mill at Newport, R. I. Hammett. Newport.

Course of Creation, by Anderson, D. D. Moore & Co. Cincinnati.

Cosmos, vol. 3d, by Humboldt. Harpers. New York.

Cotton Spinners’ Companion, by Baird. Wart. Philadelphia.

Cyclopzedia of Industry of All Nations, by Knight. Putnam. New York.

Dictionary of Architecture, by Stuart. Hart. Philadelphia.

Dictionary of Mechanics, by Adams. Appleton. New York.

Dispensatory of the United States, by Wood and Bache. 9th Edition. Lippincott & Co.,
Philadelphia.

Elementary Treatise on Astronomy. Gummere. Revised Edition, by Kendall. Biddle.
Philadelphia.

Elements of Agriculture. Translated from French, by F. 8. Skinner. Saxton. New
York.

Elements of Algebra, by Loomis. Harper & Co. New York.

Elements of Electro-Metallurgy, by Smee. American Edition. Wiley. New York.

Elements of Latin Pronunciation for the use of Students in Science generally, in which
Latin Words are used, by Professor Halderman.

Elements of Analytical Geometry, by Church. Putnam. New York.

Elements of Natural Philosophy. Bartlett. Barnes. Philadelphia.

Encyclopedia Iconographic. Garrigue. New York.

Engineering, Civil, by Mahan. Revised Edition. Wiley. New York.

Engineers’, Millwrights’ and Mechanics’ Tables, by Newton. Carville. New York.

Episodes of Insect Life. English Reprint. Redfield. New York.

Ephemeris of Neptune for 1852, by S. C. Walker. Smithsonian Contributions.
e oe of Creation, or Scripture Contrasted with Geological Theory, by Lord. Scribner.

ew York.

Ether and Chloroform, by Flagg. Lindsay & Blakiston. Philadelphia.

Explosiveness of Nitre, by Dr. Hare. Smithsonian Contributions.

Exploring Expedition, United States. Wilkes. New Edition. Putnam. New York.

400 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Familiar Science, by R. E. Petersen. Philadelphia.

Farmer’s and Planter’s Encyclopedia of Rural Affairs. Johnson. Edited by Emerson. Lip-
pincott & Co. Philadelphia.

Field Practice in laying out Circular Curves for Railways. Barnard. Philadelphia.

Fishes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, by M. H. Perley. :

Footprints of the Creator, by Miller. New Edition. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.

Frost’s Lessons in Botany. A.§. Barnes & Co. Philadelphia.

Gas, Comparative Value of, manufactured in New York and Philadelphia. Pamph., by
Messrs. Ellet, Torrey & Chilton.

Geological Chart, by Professor James Hall. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.

Geological Chart, by Professor James Hall, Key to, by Hall. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.

Geology, Elements of, by Professor St. John. Putnam. New York.

Geology, Religion of, by President Hitchcock. Phillips & Sampson. Boston.

Geological Observer, by De la Beche. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.

Geology and Resources of California, by General Persifer Smith, and others. Minifie & Co.
Baltimore.

Grain Tables, by Elwcod. Baird. Philadelphia.

Half-yearly Abstract of the Medical Sciences. Rankin. Lindsay & Blakiston. Philadel-
phia.

Hand-book of Science, by St. John. Putnam. New York.

Hand-book of Natural Philosophy. Lardner. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.

History, Construction and Statistics of Plank Roads, by Kingsford. Hart. Philadelphia.

History of Propellers and Steam Navigation. Macfarlane, C. E. Putnam. New York.

Histrology, or Structure and Mode of Formation of Animal and Vegetable Substances, by
Quecket. Balliere. New York.

Human Body, The, and its Connection with Man. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia.

Hybridity, Notes on. §.G. Morton. Pamph. Philadelphia.

Indian Tribes of the United States, by Schooleraft. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia.

Inquiry into the Cause of Natural Death, by Dr. Bostwick. Stringer and Townsend.
New York.

Inventors’ Manual, or Guide to the Patent Office, by G. T. Curtis. Phillips & Sampson.
Boston.

Investigations in relation to the Winds and Currents of the Sea, by Lieutenant M. F.
Maury.
Pi agiitk on Materia Medica, by Dr. J. Beck. Edited by Gilman. Woods & Co. New

ork.

Lectures on Materia Medica, by Carson. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.

Letters on Animal Magnetism, by Gregory. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.

Libraries of the United States. Jewett. Smithsonian Contributions.

Manual of Elementary Geology, by Lyell. Little & Brown. Boston.

Manual of Modern Geography, by Putz. Appleton. New York.

Manufacture of Steel, by Overman. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia.

Marine Boilers of the United States. Bartol. Philadelphia.

Marine and Naval Architecture, by Griffiths. New York.

Mechanics and Natural History. Dr. Mayo. Putnam. New York.

Mechanics for the Millwright, Engineer and Machinist, by Overman. Lippincott & Co.
Philadelphia.

Mechanical Drawing Book. Minifie. Baltimore.

Medical Lexicon. Dunglison. New Edition. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.

Meteorology of the United States Exploring Expedition, by Wilkes.

Microscopic Anatomy of the Human Body, by Harsal. Edited by Vanarsdale. Pratt,
Woodford & Co. New York.

Microscope, Quecket on. Balliere. New York. =:

Microscopist, The, or Manual of the Microscope, by Wythes, M. D. Lindsay & Blakiston. .

Philadelphia.

Miller and Millwright’s Assistant, by Hughes. Baird. Philadelphia.

Mineral Springs of Virginia, by Dr. Burke. Norris & Co. Richmond, Va.

Molluscs, Terrestrial, Air-Breathing, of the United States and the adjacent Territories of
North America, by Amos Binney. Edited by Dr. A. A. Gould. Little & Brown. Boston.

Monuments of Central America, by Hawkes. Putnam. New York.

Moulders’ and Founders’ Guide, by Overman. Hart. Philadelphia.

Muck Manual. New Edition, by Dana. Lowell.

Mural Map of the World, constructed by Guyot. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.

Natural History of the Human Species, by Smith, with Introduction by Kneeland. Gould
& Lincoln. Boston.

Negro Mania, or an Examination of the falsely assumed Equality of the various Races of
Men, by Campbell. Campbell & Power. Philadelphia.

New Rig for Ships and other Vessels. R. B. Forbes. Boston.

Nicaragua, its Monuments, &c. Squier. Putnam. New York.

Occultations visible in the United States in 1852, computed by John Downes. Smithsonian
Contributions.

4

LISI OF BOOKS, ETC. 401

Old Red Sandstone, by Miller. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.
On the Probable Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the Atmosphere, by
Lieut. Maury. Washington.
Patent Office Report, Mechanical and Agricultural, by Ewbank. Pub. Doc. Washington.
Philosophy of Mathematics. Comte. Translated by Gillespie. Harpers. New York.
Philosophy of the Mechanics of Nature, by Allen. Appleton. New York.
: ap Treatise on, by Hunt. American Edition, enlarged, by 8. D. Humphrey.
ew York.
¥ Physico-Physiological Researches, by Reichenback. Ed. by Ashburner. Redfield. New
york.
Physiology, Principles of. Carpenter. Lea & Blanchard. Philadelphia.
¥ Pocket Companion for Machinists, Engineers, &c., by Byrne. Dewitt & Davenport. New
york.
Popular Anatomy. Lambert. Leavitt & Co. New York.
Practical Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology, by Lambert. Leavitt &Co. New York.
Practical Mineralogy and Assaying, by Overman. Lindsay & Blakiston. Philadelphia.
Practical Model Calculator, by Barnes. Baird. Philadelphia.
Practical Metal-workers’ Assistant, by Overman. Baird. Philadelphia.
Primary Astronomy and Mathematics. Huntington & Savage. New York.
Principles of Zoology. New Edition, Agassiz and Gould. Gould & Lincoln. Boston.
Proceedings of the American Association forthe Advancement of Science. New Haven
Meeting, 1850. Putnam. New York.
Proceedings of the American Asssociation for the Advancement of Science. Cincinnati
Meeting, May, 1851.
Quadrature of the Circle, by R. G. Parker. Benedict. New York.
Recent Improvements in the Chemical Arts. Booth & Morfit. Smithsonian Contributions.
Reconnaissances in Texas and New Mexico. Pub. Doc.
Report on the Albert Coal Mine of Hillsboro’, New Brunswick, by Drs. Jackson, Hayes,
Bacon and others.
Report on the Mechanics’ Fair, Boston, 1850.
Report to the Massachusetts Legislature, on the Establishment of an Agricultural School.
Report to the Legislature of California in favor of a Geological Survey of that State. Ran-
dall. San Francisco.
Report to the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the Continuance of the Geological Survey of
that State.
Report on the Comparative Value of Milk formed from the Slops of Distilleries, and other
Food, by A. K. Gardner, M. D. Austen. New York.
Report of the Regents of the University of New York, 64th Annual.
Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 5th Annual. Pub. Doc.
Report on Meteorology, by Professor Espy. Pub. Doc.
& Report on the Meteorology, Vital Statistics, &c., of Louisiana, by Dr. Barton. New
rleans.
Report on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Lake Superior Land District, by Messrs.
Foster & Whitney. Pub. Doc.
Report on the Coast Survey. Bache. Pub. Doc.
Report on the Semi-Anthracites of the Shamokin Coal Basin of Pennsylvania, by Dr. A. A.
Hayes, and Prof. H. D. Rogers.
Retrospect of Practical Medicine. Braithwaite. Adee. New York.
Sanatory Report of Massachusetts, by Lemuel Shattuck. Leg. Doc.
Serpent Symbol in America, by Squier. Putnam. New York.
Shells of New England, by W. Stimpson. Boston.
Stones of Venice. Ruskin. Wiley. New York.
System of Modern Geography, by Anderson. Redfield. New York.
Taylor, R. C., Deposition in regard to the Hillsboro’, N. B. Coal. Baird. Philadelphia.
Technology. Knapp. Vol. 3d. Balliere. New York.
Telescope and Microscope, by Dick. New York.
Theory of Bridge Construction, by Haupt. Appleton. New York.
Thoughts on the Original Unity on the Human Race, by Caldwell. James & Co. Cin-
cinnati.
Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. Ist. Wood & Co. New York.
Transactions of the American Oriental Society, vol. 2d. Putnam. New York.
Transactions New York State Agricultural Society.
Treatise on the Steam Engine and its Applications, by Bourne. Appleton. New York.
Treatise on Statics, by Monge. ‘Iranslated by Baker. Biddle. Philadelphia.
Treatise on Tanning and Leather Dressing, by Morfit. Baird. Philadelphia.
Treatise on Railway Curves. Trautwine. Philadelphia.
Turners’ Companion. Baird. Philadelphia.
Universal System of Meteorological Observations, by Lieut. Maury. Pamph. Washington.
Year Book of Facts for ed Timbs. Hart. Philadelphia.
%

GENERAL INDEX. .

. PAGE
Ether, luminous, hypothesis relating

to, 122
Africa, expedition into the interior of, 394
‘¢ expedition into Eastern, 394
AGaAss1zZ, PRor., 271
Agricultural machines, 84
Air, use of, for the purpose of convey-
ing mechanical power, 82
Alabama, natural bridge in, 281
ALEXANDER, M., 86
Aliments, nature of, 222
Alum, improvements in the manufac-
ture of, 194
Ammonia, assumed existence in the
general atmosphere, 234
Amphitypes, 133
Anesthetic action, 205
Analyzer, new elliptic, 135
Ancient remains of man found in
Ohio, 360
Angles’ of crystals and other substan-
ces, improved method of measuring, 147
Animals, distribution of in California, 3595

Anticlinal axes, passage ofinto faults, 245

Antiquity of repeating fire-arms, 55
Apothecaries’ Hall, first public, 230
Ararat, Mt. , ascent of," 279
Arctic ‘climate, 392

Arsenious acid, changes of structure
observed to take place in, 171
Arsenic and antimonial spots, some dis-

tinguishing reactions of, 214
Arsenic-eaters of Austria, 362
Arsenic in plants, 215
Asia, Central, geography of, 251

Astronomical observations, Professor

Mitchel’s system, 386
Atmosphere, height of,

moisture in, new method

of determining, 234

Atomic volumes, observations on,

Aurora, effect of upon the weather, 387
Aurora of September, 1851, 387
Axles, railway, improvements in, 27
AYRES, Mr., 343
Azoic system, the, 253

PAGE

Babylon, curious relics from, 395
Bacue, Pror. A. D., 153
BAcHELDER, Mr. J. M., 109
BarLey, Pror. J. W., 211
Barometer, alarm, 159
ee Bourdon’s improved, 159

ge gigantic, 14
Bats, structure of the spinal cord in, 350
Beads, Bailey’s, 384
Beaumont, M. E. pe, 244

Bird, fossil bones and eggs of a, found
in Madagascar,
BuakeE, Mr. W. P., 291, 292
Blood, transfusion of, 367
Bodies, consideration of the probabil-
ity that some, so-called elementary,

may be decomposed, re. 167
Bocarpnus, Mr., age 39
Bohemia, silurian system of, 255
Boilers, incrustations, 50
Bourdon’s improvements in gauges,

&c., 159
Brass, malleable, 180
Brick, new machine, 71
Bridge, railroad, gigantic inGermany, 35

‘« and viaduct over the Wye, 35
“Wheeling suspension, 3
Bromhydric ether, 205

Broom-corn, machine'to cut and assort, 85
Building for the Great Exhibition, 3
Building for the Great Exhibition, com-
pletion and opening of, 8
Building for the Great Exhibition, dec-
orations of, 7
Building for the Great Exhibition, gen-
eral appearance of, 8
Buildings, horticultural, Paxton’s im-
provements in, 2
Bunce, Mr. J. B., 217
Burpick, Jason, 74
Burnett, Dr. W.L., 351, 552, 370
Butter, modifications of the method of
preparing, 221
Calico, new method of contracting the
fibres of,
California, distribution of animals in, 355

- > S “n »
GENERAL INDEX. . 403
California, geysers in, 289 ; Colors, classification of, 120
gold deposits of, 297 | Compass, effect of funnels of steamers
§ quicksilver mines in, 298 upon,
Cameras for daguerreotypes, improve- Conglomerates, origin of, 248
ment i 134 | Cooperage, machinery for, 51
Candles, Ri facture of, 206 Copper ores, certain method of assaying, 180
Canals, ‘steam- power on, 23 ‘certain method of assay-
Caoutchouc, its properties and appli- ing by electro-chemical
cations, 96 action, 182
Carbonic acid exhalations, latest re- £q production of, 300
searches explanatory Comets discovered in 1851, 373
of, 288 | Coral reefs of Florida, 271
* exhalations, 223 *¢ island, the completed, 277
Carbonic oxide, pernicious effects of, 211 | Cornstalk harvester, 84
Carpet, Berlin wool, at the Great Ex- Cranes, wrought-iron tubular, 40
hibition, 13 Crinoidea, distribution of in the West-
Cars, improvements in railroad, 28 ern States, 311
** wrought-iron railroad, 48 Daguerreotypes, enamel for, 131
Casks, metallic, 48

Castings, metallic, new method of ob-
taining elaborate, 50

Cat, domestic, origin of, 359
Cave, Mammoth, observations on, 280
Centrifugal action, application of to
manufacturing purposes, 63
Changes of structure observed to take
place in arsenious acid and other
bodies, 171
Cuannine, W. F., 106
CHASE, JOHN, 81
Check-signal, railroad, 27
Chemical and general effects of inter-
ments in vaults and catacombs, 202
Chioroform, preservative influence of, 201
Chimneys, ventilation by, 86
Churns, atmospheric, 76

Clay, granite, fire, 292

CuaussEn, M., 188
Climate, effects of ceeciehae on, 330
‘¢ —egametic, 392
Clinochlore, a new species, 291
Clocks, American, cheapness of, 76
«¢ electro- magnetic at Berlin, 108
‘¢ ~ Hutton’s patent, 76
«¢ in the Great Exhibition, 15
Cloth, ancient, from the mounds of
Ohio, 396
Clouds, and equatorial cloud rings of
the earth, 387
Coal, Albert, Hillsboro’, N. B., 307
bed, immense in Ohio, 305

ue bituminous, analyses of the ashes
of, 306

>
‘* bituminous, electricity of, 307
‘* deposits in Towa and Oregon, 302
‘¢ formation of New Brunswick,
discovery of fossil fishes in, 310

‘¢ formation of Ohio, discovery of
fossil fishes in, 31

‘© in China, 303
‘* oil, use of rectified, 201
‘* production of artificial mineral, 200
‘* traces of vegetation in, 308
‘* yalue of different kinds for steam
purposes,

Collodion, substitute for, 199

Color of substances and their magnetic
properties, connection between, 116

improvements in cam-
eras for, 1
in colors, 126
of the sun and moon, 135
4

ce
ce

DamseL, H.L.,

Dana, Pror. Jas. D., 279, 340, 342

Davis, LIEvT., 262
Dead, fashions for, 79
Desor, M., 250, 251

Diluvial agencies in earlier geological
periods,

Doctrine of specific organic centres,

Dolomite, formation of, by action of

357

magnesium vapors, 171
Donarium, a new metal, 176
Douctas, St1r Howarp, 56

Drift deposits, parallelism between
Europe and North America, 250
*¢ of North America, fossils from, 317
Dumas, PRor., 167, 211
Dunes, existence of on the shores of
the North American lakes,
Earth, clouds and cloud- rings of,
demonstration of the | rotation of
by means of a pendulum,
‘¢ demonstration of the rotation of
by means of two pendulums,
‘¢ new method of demonstrating

251
389

155
158

the rotation of, 158
f¢ Wylde’s model of, 80
Earthquakes, on, 283
reported in 1851, 285

Earthquake in Chili, phenomena at-
tending, 287
Eclipse, total solar, of July 28, 1851, 381

Eggs and bones of a gigantic bird found

in Madagascar, 318

‘¢ fossil of snakes, 317
Electric light, Staite’s patent, 99
Electro-magnetic locomotive, Page’s, 99

Electro- -magnetic traction on "railways, 100
Elephant, execu of the tusks of

355

$s fossils from the drift of
North America, 317
Emmons, Dr. E., 222
Engine, caloric, - 18
& carbonic gas, 35
Ls double piston, steam, 21
ee electro-magnetic, Page’s, 100

ov

GENERAL INDEX. .

PAGE
Ether, luminous, hypothesis relating
to, 122
Africa, expedition into the interior of, ae
‘¢ expedition into Eastern,
AGASSIZ, PRoF.,
Agricultural machines, 84
Air, use of, for the purpose of convey-
ing mechanical power,
Alabama, natural bridge in,
ALEXANDER, M., 86
Aliments, nature of,
Alum, improvements in the manufac-
ture of, 194
Ammonia, assumed existence in the

general atmosphere, 234
Amphitypes, 133
Anesthetic action, 205
Analyzer, new elliptic, 135

Ancient remains of man found in
Ohio, 360

Angles of crystals and other substan-
ces, improved method of measuring, 147

Animals, distribution of in California, 359

Anticlinal axes, passage ofinto faults, 245
Antiquity of repeating fire-arms, 55
Apothecaries’ Hall, first public, 230
Ararat, Mt., ascent of, 279
Arctic climate, 392
Arsenious acid, changes of structure
observed to take place in, 171
Arsenic and antimonial spots, some dis-
tinguishing reactions of, 214
Arsenic-eaters of Austria, 362
Arsenic in plants, 215
Asia, Central, geography of, 251

Astronomical observations, Professor
Mitchel’s system, 386

Atmosphere, height of, 160
moisture in, new method

of determining, 234
Atomic volumes, observations on, 167
Aurora, effect of upon the weather, 387
Aurora of September, 1851, 387
Axles, railway, improvements in, 27
Ayres, Mr., 343
Azoic system, the, 253

PAGE

Babylon, curious relics from, 395
Bacue, Pror. A. D., 153
BACHELDER, Mr. J. M., 109
BAILEY, Pror. J. We 211
Barometer, alarm, 159
Bourdon’s improved, 159

ee gigantic, 14
Bats, structure of the spinal cord in, 350
Beads, Bailey’s, 384
BEAUMONT, M. E. DE, 244

Bird, fossil bones and eggs of a, found

in Madagascar,
BLAKE, Mr. W.P., 291, 292
Blood, transfusion of," 367
Bodies, consideration of the probabil-

ity that some, so-called elementary,

may be decomposed, 73 167
Bocarpus, Mr., ~ es 39
Bohemia, silurian system of,
Boilers, incrustations, 50
Bourdon’s improvements in gauges,

cee 159
Brass, malleable, 180
Brick, new machine, 71
Bridge, railroad, gigantic inGermany, 35

©” ‘and viaduct over the Wye, 35

‘¢ Wheeling suspension, 36
Bromhydric ether, 205

Broom-corn, machine'to cut andassort, 85
Building for the Great Exhibition,
Building for the Great Exhibition, com-
pletion and opening of, 8
Building for the Great Exhibition, dec-
orations of, ‘
Building for the Great Exhibition, gen-
eral appearance of, 8
Buildings, horticultural, Paxton’s im-
provements in, 2
Bunce, Mr. J. B., 217
Burpick, JAson, 74
BuRNETT, Dr. W.L., 351, 552, 370
Butter, modifications of the method of
preparing, 221
Calico, new method of contracting the
fibres of,
California, distribution of animals in, 355

£,

California, geysers in, 289
e gold deposits of, 297
= quicksilver mines in, 298

Cameras for daguerreotypes, improve-
ment i

Candles, n Ri ticture of," 206

Canals, ‘steam- power on, 23

Caoutchouc, its properties and appli-
cations, 96

Carbonic acid exhalations, latest re-
searches explanatory
of, 288

exhalations,

Carbonic oxide, pernicious effects of,

Carpet, Berlin wool, at the Great Ex-
hibition,

Cars, improvements in railroad, 28
** wrought-iron railroad,

Casks, metallic,

Castings, metallic, new method of ob-
taining elaborate, 50

Cat, domestic, origin of,

Cave, Mammoth, observations on,

Centrifugal action, application of to
manufacturing purposes,

Changes of structure observed to take
place in arsenious acid and other
bodies, 171

ce

Cuannine, W.F., 106
CHASE, JOHN, 81
Check-signal, railroad, 27
Chemical and general effects of inter-
ments in vaults and catacombs, 202
Chioroform, preservative influence of, 201
Chimneys, ventilation by, 86
Churns, atmospheric, 76
Clay, granite, fire, 292
CuaussEn, M., 188
Climate, effects of es on, 330
antic. 392
Clinochlore, a new species, 291
Clocks, American, cheapness of, 76
«© electro-magnetic at Berlin, 108
«¢ Hutton’s patent, 76

«¢ jin the Great Exhibition, 15
Cloth, ancient, from the mounds of

Ohio,
Clouds, and equatorial cloud rings of

the earth, 387
Coal, Albert, Hillsboro’, N. B.,

bed, immense in Ohio,
Ee bituminous, analyses of the ashes

of, 306
‘* bituminous, electricity of,” 307
‘¢ deposits in Iowa and Oregon, 302
‘* formation of New Brunswick,

discovery of fossil fishes in, 310

‘© formation of Ohio, discovery ‘of
fossil fishes in, 311

«¢ in China, 303
‘* oil, use of rectified, 201
s production of artificial mineral, 200
‘* traces of vegetation in, 308

f¢ value of different kinds for steam
purposes,

Collodion, substitute for, 199
Color of substances and their magnetic
properties, connection between, 116

_ GENERAL INDEX.

Colors, classification of,
Compass, effect of funnels of steamers

120

upon, 108
Conglomerates, origin of, 248
Cooperage, machinery for, 51

Copper ores, certain method of assaying, 180
certain method of assay-
ing by electro-chemical

action, 182

fq production of, 300
Comets discovered in 1851, 373
Coral reefs of Florida, 271
“« jisiand, the completed, 277
Cornstalk harvester, 84

Cranes, wrought-iron tubular,
Crinoidea, distribution of in the West-
ern States, 311
Daguerreotypes, enamel for, 131
improvements in cam-
eras for,
in colors, 126
of the sun and moon, ie

279, 340, 342
262

“
ce

DamsEL, H.L.,
DANA, Pror. JAs. De
Davis, LI£EUT.,
Dead, fashions for,
DEsor, M., 250, 251
Diluvial agencies in earlier geological
periods,

Doctrine of specific organic centres,
Dolomite, formation of, by action of

357

magnesium vapors, 171
Donarium, a new metal, 176
Douctas, Sir Howarp, 56

Drift deposits, parallelism between
Europe and North America,

*¢ of North America, fossils from, 3
Dumas, Pror., 167, 211
Dunes, existence of on the shores of

the North American lakes, 251
Earth, clouds and cloud- rings of,

demonstration of the 1 rotation of
by means of a pendulum, 155
‘¢ demonstration of the rotation of
by means of two pendulums, 158
‘¢ new method of demonstrating

the rotation of, 58

‘¢ —Wylde’s model of, 80
Earthquakes, on, 283
€ reported in 1851, 285

Earthquake in Chili, phenomena at-
tending, 287

Eclipse, total solar, of July 28, 1851,

Eggs and bones of a gigantic bird found

in Madagascar, 3138

‘¢ fossil of snakes, 317
Electric light, Staite’s patent, 99
Electro-magnetic locomotive, Page’s, 99

Electro- -magnetic traction on railways, 100
Elephant, exec ie of the tusks of

355

ef foastls from the drift of
orth America, 317
Emmons, Dr. E., 222
Engine, caloric, - 18
carbonic gas, 35
«double piston, steam, 21
ce electro-magnetic, Page’s, 100

406

Microscope, new mode of facilitating

the dissection of objects under, 145
Microscopes, comparative value of -
various, 146
EE Spencer’s ‘American, 147
Mineral theory of Liebig, 226
Minerals, artificial formation of, 170
Minot’s rock lighthouse, destruction
of, 67
Mirrors, construction of for reflecting
telescopes, 141
Mitchel’s, Prof., system of astronomi-
cal observations, 5
Model of the earth, Wyld’s, - 80
‘“* of aman, expanding, 98
Mollusca, sexes and habits of some
acephalous bivalve, 346
Monument, Bunker Hill, effect of heat
upon its perpendicularity, 143
Moisture of the atmosphere, new
method of determining, 234
Muck and peat, 228
Murcuison, Sir Rospert, 297

Musket, cost of at the U. 8. Armory,
at Springfield, 59
Muskets, manufactory of at the Na-

tional Armory, at Springfield, 57
Nasmytu, Mr. J., 25, 119, 178, 384
Nasmyth’s absolute safety-valve, 25

Nature and source of the sun’s light
and heat, 118

Navigation and ship-building in the
U.S

Ups 30
Near-sightedness, remedy for, 368
Niece, M. 127, 133
Nile mud, fertility of, 227
Nitrates and nitrites, test for, 212
Nitric acid, new test ‘for, 211
Nitrogen, sulphide of, 220
Nomenclature, chemical, of organic

compounds, 169
Norton, Pror. J. P., 228
Nova motive, 26
Novel method of sinking piles, 65

‘¢ yudder of a ship, 33
Oil, influence of on water, 193

‘* Jubricating, for machinery, 198
“ coal, rectified, 201
OtmstEAD, Pror. D., 380
Opium, test for, 213

Fe trade, 332
Oregon, coal in, 303
Organic bases, molecular structure of, 229

ve bodies, effect of high-pressure
steam on, 30
Origin and existence of man and the

cotemporaneous animals, 396
Owen, Dr. D. D., 302, 312
Oxygen, magnetism of, 113

rf new method of determining

the amount in the atmosphere, 232
Oxygen, new method of obtaining from

the atmosphere, 231
Ozone, observations on, 241

‘¢ — Schonbein’s, 236
Ozonic odor, produced by the attrition

of siliceous surfaces, 239
Pace, Pror., 76, 99, 100
Paper, patent safety, 187

r
ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

- +»

Pavements, iron, 42
PAXTON, Sir JOSEPH, 2,4, 5,6
Paxton’s improvements in horticultu-

ral buildings,

Peat and muck, 228
Pendulum, demonstration of the rota-
tion of the earth by

means of, 155
ef demonstration of the rota-
tion of the earth by

means of two, 158

é¢ self-adjusting, 76

Percussion caps, machine for the man-
ufacture of,
Phenomena, registration of periodical, 339

Pholas Dactylus, boring power of, 348
Phosphoric acid, quantitative separa-
tion and determina-
tion of, 217
ee ee volatility of in acid
solutions,
Phosphorus, new allotropic modifica-
tion of,
Photographic i images, instantaneous, 131

Photography, gutta percha i in, use of, 133

improvements in, 131

Pierce, Pror, B., 2, 374
Piles, foundation, ’ pneumatic, 64
«©? novel method of sinking, 65

‘¢ sustaining power of, 67
Pin manufacture in the U. S. 83
Pitchstone of Lake Superior, me . 295
Planets, new, discovered in 1851, 373

Plants, absorption of inorganic poi-
sons by, 328

‘¢- arsenic in, 215
‘¢ influence of the poison of the
rattlesnake upon, 336
¢ and vegetables, freezing of, 329
Platinoid metals, 177
Platinum, scarcity of, 299
Plough, proper form of the mould-
board of,
PiuckeEr, M. 113

Poisons, mineral, presence of in the
nervous system, 215

Polarized light, Arago on, 121

Polarization of the chemical rays of
light,

Polynesia, rapid decrease of popula-
tion in, 58

Porpoise, white, economical use of
the skin of,

Potato disease, origin of, 337

Potash and soda, separation of,

Powders, new method of preparing to
be used in medicine, 231

Preservation of bodies, 202
Printing, imperial establishment at

Vienna, 75

se press, improved, 74

Pump, Gwynne’s centrifu zal, 63

Quicksilver mines of California, 293

Quinine, substitutes for, 335

Railroad cars, improvements in, 28

ts ‘« wrought-iron, 48

fe check signal, 27

Bg improvement, 29

‘¢ switch, self-adjusting, 29

GENERAL INDEX.

Railways, progress of in the U.S.,

Railway axles, improvement in,

Rain-drop impressions, in the carbon-
iferous and triassic formations, in-
ferences deducible from,

Rattlesnake, influence of the poison of
3

upon plants,

Recognition of a mathematical law in
geological science,

Red prominences upon the sun, seen

during an eclipse,
REDFIELD, W. C., Mr.,
Remedy for near-sightedness,
Removal of obstructions in ‘Hell
Gate,.’’ Long Island Sound,
Reptilian foot-prints in Eastern Penn-
sylvania,

ce ce

in the infra-car-
bonaceous red shale of Pennsylva-
nia,
Reynoso, M.,
Rigidity, cadaveric, experiments on,
Rifles, Jennings’ patent,
‘¢ ~ Maynard’s self-priming,
Ring, new, of Saturn,
Riveting machine,
Rocks, not formed by infusoria,
*« “ solidification of, of the Florida

244, 245, 313,

reef,
Rocers, Pror. H. D.,
Roofing, new,
Rudder, duplex and screw,
of metallic,
ae of a ship, novel,
Safe for the Koh-i-noor diamond,
Safety-lamp, improved,
Safety-valve, Nasmyth’s,
Salt-lake of Utah,
SANDERS, Maysor,
Sandstones, age of the Connecticut
river,
of Lake Superior,

ce
ce

est in the Northwest,

Sapphire, red,

Satellites, new, of Uranus,

Saturn, new ring of,

Sawyer and Gwyne’s static-pressure
engine,

Scu@rrer, Mr. G. C.,

Screw vs. paddle,

Screw propeller and duplex rudder,

Seasons, alternation of cold and warm,
29

Sea-sickness,

Seeds, vitality of,

Sewing machine, Singer’s,

Szanarp, M. Brown,

Shells, Cumming’s celebrated collec-
tion of,

Shells, extinction of species in Ohio,

SHEPHERD, Pror. ForEsT,

Ship-building and navigation in the
United States,

largest, in the world,

Ships and steamers, improvement in
the construction of,
Sittiman, Pror. B., Jr., 280,

Silurian epoch, fossils of,

te

paleontology of the low- 3

29
27

316

315
217
368
54
55
374

325
71
367

344
34
289
30
3

a
vo

283
313

~

Silurian, lower, tracks and trails in,
«* ‘system of Bohemia,
Smalt, manufacture of,
Smiru, Dr. J. LAWRENCE,
Snakes, fossil eggs of,

314

— 192
145, 147, a
17

Snow phenomena, curious, 393
Soap and turpentine, improvements in

the manufacture of, 197
Soda, new process for the manufacture

of, 195
Soda and potash, quantitative separa-

tion of, 17

Solar eclipse, July 28th, 1851, 3381
Sound, determination of the velocity
of, by the method of coinci-

dences, 53

‘¢ intensity of, in the rarefied air

of high mountains,

‘¢ limit of perceptibility of, direct —
and reflected, 153
fe velocity of, 152
Sounding machine, new, 72
Soundings, deep sea, 270
South Carolina, pine barrens of, 370

Spectral appearances, reality traced to
natural causes,

Speed, illustrations of locomotive, 165
‘* of the magnetic current, 104
SpenceR, Mr. CHARLes A., © 147
Spike machine, improved, 51
Spring, Tuscarora sour, 281
Stalactites and stalagmites, organic
matter in, 224
Starvation in Ireland, external symp-
toms of, 366
Static-pressure engine, ‘ 34
Steam boilers, improvements in, 23
‘¢ engines, improvements in, 21
* "6 nominal horse-power
of, 163
«gauges, 24
‘¢ high-pressure, effect upon or-
ganic bodies, 230
‘¢ power on canals, 23
us ** used at a distance, 22
STANLEY, HENRY, 71
Steel, chemical character of, 178
<¢ “manufactures of Sheffield, Eng., 49
Stereo-chromie, 186
Stimpson, Mr., 32L

Stomach, existence of live animals
in 369

PI

Storm, equinoctial, 389
Strata, plication of, 244
| Stratification, origin of, 246
, Submarine explorer, 86
| Suez, Isthmus of, 243
Sugar, detonating, 221

‘¢ “improvements in the manufac-
turing of, 195
‘¢ Melsen’s process, 195
*¢ machine, Hurd’s centrifugal, 62
Sulphur, detection of, 1l

Sun’s light and heat, nature and source ;
of,”
rays, a machine substitute for,
Superior, lake, lithological characters
of the sandstones and trap of,

i4

408

ae

ee

Sup ior, lake, report on the geology

e land district of, 258
Sweden, aejevation of the coast of, 243
Swirt, Carr. W. H., 68
Switch, self- adjusting railroad, 29
Syphon- filter, , 64
Tatcorr, Carr. ANDREW, 143

Telegraphic communication twenty
years ago, thoughts on, 102

Telegraph, electric, insulator for, 109
submarine, between Eng-

land and France, 104

a system of fire-alarms, 106
Telescopes, construction of mirrors for

reflecting, 141

ue improvements in, 143

ne new reflecting, 144

ee zenith, 143

Tennessee, comparison of the strata of —
the silurian basin with those of New
York, of the same age, 256

TESCHMACHER, Mae I. T., 299, 308

2

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC iui

Vesuvius, present condition of, 287
Victoria Regia, 337
VIRDIN, Mr., * 21
Vitality of seeds, 325
Volcanoes, mud in Utah, 385
Warren, Dz. J. C., 319, 320
Washington, Mt., height of, 279
Watches at the Great Exhibition, 15
Water, air-bubbles formed in, 154
‘« conduction of electricity
through, 104
‘¢ effects of pressure upon the
freezing of, 150
J ae apparatus for boring
or
*« origin of the sound formed in,
agitated, 155
‘¢ “metre, Ericsson’s, 61
‘¢ metre, new, 60

«¢ well, alteration which it under-
Zoes, ;
Wave principle of marine architect-

Thoughts on telegraphic. communica- ure, 30

tion twenty years ago, 102 | Wetts, D. A., ~ 175, 224, 246
Tide, flood, law of deposit of, » 262 Whale, habits and localities of, 349
Toad, common, poison of, 355 | Wheat, productivenes of, 325
Tobacco and its results, 326 | Wheel, fan-paddle, , 31
Topaz, artificial, 290 *¢ turbine, facts in relation to, 80
Tracks and trails, existence of inthe —_—| WuiTTLEsEy, Mr. CHARLES, 360

lower silurian, 314 | WurpPrLe, Mr. J 135
Tungsten, phosphuret of, 219 | Winds, ele agency of, 263
TUOMEY, ‘PRoF. 28] Wricut, JosEPH, 79
Type- -composing and distributing ma- Wyman, Dr. J., 351, 361, 369

chine, 73 | YANDELL, Dr., 311
Uranus, new satellites of, 373 | Zeuxis, on the story of the painting by, 350
Utah, mud volcanoes of, 285) Zinc compound, not injurious to

<¢ salt lake of, 283 health, 180
Valve, Nasmyth’s absolute safety, 25 ‘* effect upon iron, 177
Vegetable physiology, 326 *¢ to coat iron with, 179
Vegetables, history and nomenclature ‘Zoophytes, actinoid, forms of, 342

of some cultivated, structure and growth of, 340
Vegetables and plants, freezing of, 329 | Zodiacal light, 380
Vegetation, effects of on climate, 330

THE END.

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