JiliU

RBOH

r (T v

I , t ,, , .> !>< , f *, i t ' 'it.,

1 ,, y '' /-. A V /',/>,-/-'/ --, ,,

,,,>.,,, ,,/tfrf '/ //,-///'/

. i , , , , . , -i ,,, ,

SCIENTIFIC DISCCT

'.,

5 AND ART

F R J

,

DAVI1 A.

:

5 a VV A S H 1 M (i T O N S T K E E T .

LONDON:
TRUBNEK AND COMPANY,

12 PATERNOSTER ROW,

1855.

,

' ,., ,,,,,,,,/

ANNUAL

OF

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY:

OB,

-

TEAR-BOOK OF FACTS IN SCIENCE AND ART

FOR 1855.

EXHIBITING THE

MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN

MECHANICS, USEFUL ARTS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY,
ASTRONOMY, METEOROLOGY, ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, MINER-
ALOGY, GEOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, ANTIQUITIES, &c.

TOGETHER "WITH

A LIST OP RECENT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS ,' A CLASSIFIED LIST OF

PATENTS ; OBITUARIES OF EMINENT SCIENTIFIC MEN J NOTES ON

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DURING THE YEAR 1854:, ETC.

EDITED BY

DAVID A, WELLS, A. M.

BOSTON:
GOULD AND LINCOLN,

59 WASHINGTON STREET.

LONDON:
TRUBNEB, AND COMPANY,

12 PATERNOSTER ROW,

1855.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855,

BY GOULD AND LINCOLN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

WM. WHITE, Printer, 4 Spring Lane, Bostoii.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR

ON THE

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE DURING THE YEAR 1854.

THE sixth annual meeting 1 and eighth regular session of the Ameri-
can Association for the Promotion of Science was held in Washing-
ton, D. C., in the rooms of the Smithsonian Institution, during the
week commencing with Wednesday, April 20, 1854. The Presi-
dent, elected at the Cleveland meeting, was Prof. Jas. D. Dana. The
Association was divided into two sections the physical and the
chemical. The whole number of communications presented was 92 :
37 in Physics and Astronomy ; 12 in Meteorology ; 25 in Geology
and Mineralogy ; 12 in Chemistry ; 6 in Zoology.

Prof. Bache, from the Committee on the Constitution of the Asso-
ciation, reported a series of amendments, guarding more closely the
admittance to membership, making the President and General Sec-
retary ineligible for reelection, requiring that local committees shall
not arrange for excursions during the session before its opening,
enlarging the standing committees, and prohibiting the recommenda-
tion of books, instruments, institutions, or processes. These and
other amendments lie over until the next meeting, when they will be
taken up for discussion, acceptance, or rejection.

The election of officers for the succeeding year resulted in the
unanimous choice of the following: For President, Prof. John Tor-
rey, of New York ; for General Secretary, Dr. Wolcott Gibbs, of
New York ; for Treasurer, Dr. A. L. Elwyn. The Permanent Sec-
retary is Prof. Lovering, of Cambridge. The next meeting of the
Association, by invitation of Brown University, will be held at Provi-
dence, R. I., on the third Wednesday of August, (the 15th,) 1855.

The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the British Association for the

4 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

Promotion of Science was held at Liverpool, commencing September
20, the Earl of Harrowby in the chair. The meeting at Hull, in
1853, was so thinly attended, and exhibited such a lack of interest on
the part of the English savans, that the present meeting of the Asso-
ciation was looked upon by many as the crisis of its fortunes. Hap-
pily they have revived to a degree that promises well for the interests
of science. The meeting at Liverpool Avas numerously attended,
nearly all the distinguished promoters of science in Great Britain
being present, together with a large number of foreigners of reputa-
tion. The Committee, in connection with the Royal Society, to whom
was referred the plan of Lieut. Maury, of the National Observatory
at Washington, for the improvement of navigation, reported that the
English Government had established a department in the Board of
Trade, with the view of carrying out in every particular the recom-
mendations of the Royal Society and this Committee, in reference to
this important scheme for improving navigation, and accumulating
meteorological data to an extent far surpassing any thing which has
hitherto been attempted. The Government have also appointed Capt.
Robert Fitzroy, R. N., to be at the head of this new department,
which is in itself a guaranty that it will successfully carry out all
the important objects for which it has been established.

Scientific officers of the navy and mercantile marine will now feel
assured that the records of their valuable observations and surveys
will no longer slumber neglected amidst the dust of offices, but be
reduced and rendered available to science and mankind without any
unnecessary delay. The sum voted for the new department by the
House of Commons for the present year is 3,200/. ; but there can be
no doubt that this sum will be augmented in future years, if the ex-
pectations that we have been led to form as to the inestimable public
benefits likely to flow from the labors of this office shall be realized.

The " Kew Committee " reported that they had been especially en-
gaged in securing accuracy for the various implements of observa-
tion the thermometer, barometer, and the standard of weights and
measures. At the present time they have intrusted to them, for veri-
fication and adjustment, one thousand thermometers and fifty barome-
ters for the navy of the United States, as well as five hundred
thermometers and sixty barometers for the English Board of Trade,
the instruments which are supplied in ordinary commerce being found
to be subject to error to an extraordinary degree.

The thermometer is constructed of enamelled tubing, and the
divisions are etched on the stem with fluoric acid ; the figures are
stamped on the brass scale at every tenth degree, and each instrument
is fitted to a japanned copper case, with a cup surrounding the bulb, and

OX THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. f>

has a distinguishing; number. The cost, in consideration of the
quantity ordered from the makers at one time, including 1 the case, is
5s. 6d. ; and without the case, 45. 6d. for each thermometer. At the
suggestion of Sir John Herschel, they have also undertaken, by the
photographic process, to secure a daily record of the appearance of
the sun's disk, with a view of ascertaining, by a comparison of the
spots upon its surface, their places, size, and forms, whether any rela-
tion can be established between their variations and other phenomena.
The Council of the Royal Society has supplied the funds, and the
instrument is in course of completion. The same beautiful invention,
which seems likely to promote the interests of science in many
branches at least as much as those of art, is employed, under the able
direction of the committee, and of Mr. Welsh, the curator, to record,
by a self-acting process, something similar to that of the anemometer,
the variations in the earth's magnetism.

From the address of the President we make the following extracts,
as illustrative of the progress of science during the past year. In
respect to the progress of astronomical science, the large number of
planets and comets discovered of late years, while it evinces the dili-
gence of astronomers, has, at the same time, brought additional
laborers into the field of astronomical science, and contributed mate-
rially to its extension. The demand for observations created by these
discoveries has been met by renewed activity in existing observa-
tories, and has led to the establishment, by public or private means, of
new observatories. For instance, an observatory was founded in the
course of last year by a private individual at Olmiitz, in Moravia, and
is now actively at work on this class of observations. Various such
instances have occurred within a few years.

" In addition to the advantages just stated, the observations called
for by the discovery of new bodies of the Solar System have drawn
attention to the state of Stellar Astronomy, and been the means of
improving this fundamental part of the science. The following are
a few words on the existing state of Stellar Astronomy, so far as
regards catalogues of stars. Subsequently to the formation of the
older catalogues of bright stars, astronomers turned their attention
to observations in zones, or otherwise, of smaller stars, to the ninth
magnitude inclusive. Lalande, Lacaille, Bessel, Argelander, and
Lamont, are the chief laborers in this class of observations. But
these observations, unreduced and uncatalogued, are comparatively of
little value. The British Association did great service to astronomers
by reducing into catalogues the observations of Lalande and Lacaille.
A catalogue of part of Bessel's zones has been published at St.
Petersburg, and a catalogue of part of Argelander's zones at Vienna.

6 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

Lamont's zones have also been reduced in part by himself. The cat-
alogue of 8,377 stars, published by the British Association in 1845, is
founded mainly on the older catalogues, but contains, also, stars to the
seventh magnitude inclusive, observed once only by Lalande or
Lacaille. The places of the stars in this catalogue are, consequently,
not uniformly trustworthy ; but as the authorities for the places are
indicated, the astronomer is not misled by this circumstance.

" The above are the catalogues which are principally used in the
observations of the small planets and of comets. This class of obser-
vations must generally be made by means of stars as fixed points of
reference. The observer selects a star from a catalogue, either for
the purpose of finding the moving body, or for comparing its position
with that of the star ; but from the imperfection of the catalogue, it
sometimes happens that no star is found in the place indicated by it ;
and in most cases, unless the star's place has been determined by re-
peated meridian observations, it is not sufficiently accurate for final
reference of the position of the planet or comet. In catalogues re-
duced from zone observations, the star's right ascension generally de-
pends on a single transit across a single wire, and its declination on a
single bisection. This being the case, astronomers have begun to feel
the necessity of using the catalogue places of stars provisionally, in
reducing their observations, and of obtaining afterwards accurate
places by meridian observations.

" It will be seen by this statement that, by the observations of the
small planets and of comets, materials are gradually accumulating for
the formation of a more accurate and more extensive catalogue of
stars than any hitherto published. The modern sources at present
available for such a work are the reduced and published observations
of the Greenwich, Pulkowa, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge obser-
vatories, and the recently completed catalogue of 12,000 stars observed
and reduced by the indefatigable astronomer of Hamburg, Mr. Charles
Rumker, together with numerous incidental determinations of the places
of comparison stars in the ' Astronomische Nachrichten.'

" To complete the present account of the state of Stellar Astrono-
my, mention should be made of two volumes recently published by
Mr. Cooper, containing the approximate places arranged in order of
Right Ascension of 30,186 stars from the 9th to the 12th magnitude, of
which only a very small number had been previously observed. The
observations were made with the Markree equatorial, and have been
piintcd at the expense of Her Majesty's Government."

Some anxiety was felt by astronomers respecting the continuation
of that most indispensable publication the Astronomische JVachrichten,
after the decease of the editor, Mr. Petersen, in February last. This

ON THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. 7

has been dispelled by a recent announcement that the King of Den-
mark has resolved to maintain the Altona Observatory in connection
with that of the editorship of this work.

Generally, it may be said of Astronomy, at the present time, that it
is prosecuted zealously and extensively, active observations being now
more numerous than ever, and that the interests of the science are
promoted as well by private enterprise -as by the aid of government.

In regard to the progress of the departments of geography and
ethnography, Lord Harrowby remarks : " The great navigations which
are opening up the heart of the South American continent, by the
Paraguay, the Amazons, and the Orinoco ; that are traversing and
uniting the colonies of Victoria and South Australia by the River
Murray; the projected exploration of North Australia ; the wonderful
discoveries in South Africa by Livingston and Anderson; and the ex-
plorations of Central Africa by Barth and Vogel ; the pictures given
us by Capt. Erskine and others of the condition of the islanders of the
South Pacific, passing in every stage of transition from the lowest
barbarism to a fitness for the highest European and Christian culture ;
these, and a hundred other topics, awaken an ever-new interest in the
mind of the philosopher and statesman, in the feelings of the Chris-
tian arid the lover of his kind. What new fields for science ! What
new opportunities for wealth and power ! What new openings for good !

" It is happily becoming every year less and less necessary to press
these things on public notice. In an age of gas and steam of steam-
engines and steamboats of railroads and telegraphs, and photographs
the importance of science is no longer questioned. It is a truism
a commonplace. We are far from the foundation days of the Royal
Society, when, in spite of the example of the monarch, their proceed-
ings were the ridicule of the court; and even the immortal Butler
thought the labors of a Wallis, a Sydenham, a Harvey, a Hooke, or a
Newton, fit subjects for his wit."

The noble lord glanced cheeringly at the increasing facilities for
education in science which are being opened up in this country. " The
encouragements and assistance already given (he said) by the State to
the education of the people in various shapes ; the superior class of
trained and examined teachers who are spreading over the land, and
whose training has in no small degree been in physical science ; the
books provided for early education by our societies and by individual
enterprise, having the same character ; the every-day more and more
acknowledged connection between agriculture and science, showing
itself in such papers as enrich the pages of the journals of the Royal
Agricultural Society ; the establishment of the department of science
with its school of mines under the Board of Trade ; the improvement '

8 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

which is to be expected under the action of the charity commissioners
in the system of our old grammar schools ; the spontaneous action of
our old universities, not superseded, but facilitated and stimulated, by
parliamentary interposition ; these and such like changes which are
taking place, partly within the bosom of society itself, and partly by
the action of government, will shortly provide such means of scien-
tific education, although not systematized with the exactness of con-
tinental organization, as will, after our rough English fashion,
adequately provide for all our wants in that respect, and give us no
cause to lament over any deficiencies in practical results.

" But will there be encouragement to make use of these facilities ?
Are there rewards in prospect, whether of direct emolument or social
consideration, which will induce men ' to wear out nights, and live
laborious days,' in a service which has hitherto, in the world's eye at
least, appeared often to be ill requited ? Now, the real stimulant to
science has at all times been the delights of the pursuit itself, and
the consciousness of the great services rendered to humanity by every
conquest within the domain of truth ; but still these questions may
fairly demand an answer. To the questions of pecuniary rewards, I
will presently advert. They have certainly been miserably inadequate ;
but in regard to social considerations, I think there has existed some
misunderstanding. It has been often asserted, and made the subject
of lamentation or complaint, that men of science do not enjoy in this
free country the consideration which they do in some countries less
favored otherwise in their institutions than ourselves. Now, if by this
it is intended to express that men of science are not made Knights of
the Garter or peers of parliament ; that they are not often met with in
the hearts of wealth and fashion ; that they are not called into the
councils of their sovereign, or sent to represent her in foreign courts,
I admit the fact ; but, then, I doubt whether these are the natural or
fitting objects of ambition to the scientific man : and if it is intended
by the assertion that they are not, as a class or individuals, appreci-
ated by their fellow-citizens for their genius and honored for their ser-
vices, I cannot so fully admit the fact. I would ask any of those
whose presence adorns this meeting, Do they not find that their names
are a passport into any society, the proudest in the land ? Whose
doors that are worth entering are not open to them ? There are cer-
tain advantages, superficially considered, which will always belong to
mere wealth or power ; but are they such as the lover of science can
bring himself to envy or desire ? Wherever he is known, he is honored.

" Still, however, in regard to science, I must admit that there is one

great deficiency. For often may it be said of science, as it was said

'satirically of virtue by the poet, Laudatur et alget, It is praised and

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 9

starves. The man of science may not desire to live luxuriously ; he
may not, nor ought he, desire to rival his neighbors in the follies of
equipage and ostentation, which are often, indeed, rather a burden
imposed by the customs of society than an advantage or even a grati-
fication to the parties themselves ; but he must live, and for the sake
of science itself he ought to be able to live, free from those anxious
cares for the present and the future, or from the calls of a profession,
which often beset and burden his laborious career. Why was our
Dalton compelled to waste the powers of such an intellect on private
teaching ? As a teacher, a physician, or a clergyman, or more rarely
as a partner in a profitable patent, such a man may earn a competence,
and give to science the hours which can be spared from his other
avocations ; and it is, indeed, astonishing what results have been the
produce of these leavings of a laborious life, these leisure hours, if
so they may be called, of men who are engaged in arduous duties of
another kind. But this ought not to be ; and it will not long be, I
am confident. It must give way before the extended cultivation of
science itself. The means of occupation, in connection with our
schools, and our colleges, and our examinations, will increase ; and I
cannot but hope that a grateful country will insist upon her benefac-
tors in science receiving a more liberal share of her bounty than has
hitherto been allotted them. Nor have I any fear that the study of
science should ever become too exclusive, that is, should make us
too material, that it should overgrow and smother those more ethical,
more elevating, influences which are supposed to grow from the pur-
suit of literature and art.

" In the first place, the demands of science upon the patient and
laborious exercise of thought are too heavy, too severe, to make it
likely that it should ever become the favorite study of the many. In
art and literature the mind of the student is often comparatively pas-
sive, in a state of almost passive enjoyment of the banquet prepared
for him by others ; in those of science the student must work hard
for his intellectual fare. He cannot throw up his oars,

' And let his little bark attendant sail,
Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale ; '

but he must tug at the oar himself, and take his full share in the labor
by which his progress is to be made.

" Nor indeed, when I read the works of a Whewell, and a Herschel,
and a Brewster, a Hugh Miller, or a Sedgwick, and a hundred others,
the glory of our days, can I see any reason for apprehending that the
study of science deprives the mind of imagination, the style of grace
and beauty, or the character of its moral and religious tone, its eleva-
tion and refinement."

1*

10 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

It was voted to hold the next meeting of the Association at Glas-
go~w, Scotland, the Duke of Argyle being elected President for the
ensuing year, and Col. Sabine Secretary.

The whole number of papers presented at this meeting was 280.
Of these, 58 were upon subjects connected with mathematical and
physical science, 43 upon chemical science ; 34 treated of geology,
41 of zoology and botany, including physiology, 35 of geography and
ethnology, 24 of statistics, and 44 of subjects in relation to mathe--
matical science.

The meeting of the Association was closed with a grand dinner,
given by the Earl of Harrowby, the President, to the members and
friends of the Association. Sir R. Murchison discharged the duties
of chairman, and nearly 800 ladies and gentlemen were present. The
dinner was succeeded by a brilliant soiree at the Town Hall, given
by the Mayor to the members of the Association and the elite of
Liverpool and the neighborhood.

The thirty-first meeting of the Society of German Naturalists and
Physicians was held at Gb'ttingen, September 18, under the Presi-
dency of Prof. Baum. The meeting was well attended, most of the
distinguished scientific men of Germany being present. After the
formal opening of the session, and a few remarks by the President,
Prof. Wagner, (Hofrath,) of Gb'ttingen, read, according to usual
practice, a scientific address. The subject he had chosen was " On
certain Portions and Modes of Considerations of Anthropology."
A better title, he observed, would perhaps have been, " On the Crea-
tion of Man and the Substance of the Soul." The main objects of
his address were, 1st, the praise of Blumenbach; and 2d, a polemical
attack on the anthropological views of a modern author whom he did
not name, but who is supposed to be Carl Vogt, whose doctrines he
denounced as immoral and derogatory of human nature. After ex-
plaining Blumenbach's doctrine of the five races, which showed no
greater differences than the local and geographical varieties of the
same species in many of our domestic animals, and which had ben
confirmed by modern science, he stated that these views were still
further strengthened by the result of recent linguistic investigations.
Then comes the question, Are all men of one race, and are all de-
scended from one pair ? Notwithstanding partial assertions to the
contrary, the result of his scientific investigations had convinced him
that no argument could be drawn from the study of the natural
history part of the question against the existence of only one species ;
and, moreover, although it was difficult to adduce any direct proof
for or against the descent from one single pair, he was equally con-
vinced that there was no argument against such a view. He then

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 11

f

proceeded to discuss the other portion of his theme, and to consider
whether modern science, either as natural history or physiology, had
made any progress respecting the future life, or with regard to the
state and nature of the soul. Materialism in this respect had made
great progress in latter times ; and he vehemently attacked the views
of a modern author, who, amongst other things, asserted, that to assume
a spiritual soul dwelling in the brain, and thence directing the mo-
tions and actions of the body, was the greatest absurdity, and who
had also denied the truth of such a thing as individual immortality.
Were the views of this author, who also denied the existence of free
will, founded in truth, or even recognized as such, where would be
the use of all the exertions of those great, and good, and learned
men who for centuries have labored and worked for the improvement
and instruction of the human race ? There would be nothing great
or noble in man's nature ; there would be no reality in history, no truth
in faith. Where would be the result of all our scientific investiga-
tions ? He concluded by observing that, however difficult or even
impossible it might be to explain the nature of the soul, we must be
satisfied that the answer could not be one which was opposed to all
morality and all virtue.

At the German Scientific Association, held at Tubingen, in 1853,
in Wurtemberg, Prof. Karnat stated that Germany possesses coal
sufficient to supply the whole world with fuel for at least 500 years.
At the same Congress it was reported that a number of perfect hu-
man skulls with teeth in them had been found in the Suabian Alps in
the formation of the mammoth period, which leads to the conclusion
that man existed at the time when the mastodon and other of the
huger antediluvian animals flourished.

At the late meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, the
Ray Society held its eleventh anniversary, Sir Charles Lyell in the
chair. The report stated that a volume of Botanical and Physiologi-
cal Memoirs, including Alexander Braun's profound treatise on
" Rejuvenescence in Nature," had just been published. The follow-
ing works were on the table, and ready for distribution : Part VI. of
Alder and Hancock's " Nudibranchiate Mollusca," for 1851 ; the
second volume of Darwin's great work on " The Cirripedes," with
thirty plates, for 1852; and the fourth volume of the " Geological and
Zoological Bibliography," for 1854. It is the intention of the Coun-
cil to publish a supplement and index to the last work.

During the past season an Educational Exhibition has been held in
London for the purpose of illustrating the condition of Elementary
Education in the United Kingdom and its Colonies, Continental Eu-
rope, and the United States of America, by bringing together com-

12 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

plete collections of educational appliances and objects, such as, 1st.
Models of school buildings, arrangements and fittings, Books, Maps,
Diagrams, Models, Apparatus, &c. ; 2d. Specimens of the work done
in schools ; viz., Drawings, Writings, Needlework, &c. ; 3rd. Laws
of Public Instruction, Statistics of Education, School Regulations,
Time Tables, &c.

The exhibition opened in June, and continued for about three
months. It was entirely successful, and its results cannot fail of bene-
fiting the cause which it illustrated. Among the articles exhibited
were choice specimens of fishes, Crustacea, marine plants and vege-
table productions used in commerce, such as seeds, roots, fibres, &c. ;
models of school-houses, copy-books, school clocks, globes, stationery,
drawing and coloring materials, diagrams, prints, maps, hydrostatical
and pneumatical apparatus, Attwood's machine for illustrating the
laws of falling bodies, the geometrical solids, a machine for illustrat-
ing centrifugal force, sets of the mechanical powers, sectional models
of steam-engines, &c. Also, contributions of the asylums for the
blind, the deaf and dumb, and idiots, and specimens. of workmanship
executed by pupils of the Ragged Schools. The East India Company
exhibited a very interesting collection of articles comprising, among
other things, specimens of pottery, made at the Madras School of
Arts and Industry, cordage made of plantain and agave fibre, with
various models, &c.

America, especially the United States, was largelv represented with
various contributions, illustrating the progress of the common schools
within the last few years.

A society has recently been formed in England, under the title of
" The Palestine Archaeological Association," having for its object the
exploring of the ancient and modern cities and towns, or other places
of historical importance, in Palestine and the adjacent countries, with
a view to the discovery of monuments and objects of antiquity, by
means of researches on the spot. The prospectus runs as follows :
" Archaeological Research in the East having now attained such im-
portant results, in the discovery and acquisition of splendid monuments,
both Egyptian and Assyrian, and a great archaeological chain of in-
quiry having been thus established from Egyptian Thebes to the site
of Nineveh, it has been suggested that Palestine presents itself the
middle link in this chain, as being full of rich promise to researches
and inquiries of a similar character. If Egypt and Assyria have af-
forded so many valuable monuments to the truth of history and tra-
dition, it may reasonably be expected that Palestine would yield as
rich a harvest. Why should not the sites of the ancient cities and
towns of the Hebrews, and of the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan, be

ON THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. 13

explored ? And why might not the localities of important monu-
ments especially of the Hebrews be sought for, under the guidance
of scriptural authority and of tradition as, for instance, the Egyptian
coffins of the patriarchs at Hebron and Sychem ; the twelve stones set
up by Joshua at Gil gal and in the Jordan ; the monumental record of
the Law in the Stone of Sychem ; the sacred Ark, supposed to have
been concealed by the prophet Jeremiah in some recess ; with many
others which will suggest themselves to the biblical reader ? The
discovery, if not also the recovery, of these precious relics of Hebrew
antiquity might be accompanied or followed by the acquisition of va-
rious objects of historical importance, as coins, vessels, implements,
sculpture, inscriptions, manuscripts, and other documents, all illustra-
tive of the most interesting periods of remotest antiquity ; and that in
the Holy Land, the land of the Bible, such a treasure of archaeological
knowledge would possess a high degree of importance, as corrobora-
tive of the Sacred Writings, and would doubtless be so esteemed, as
well by the learned as by the religious world."

At a recent meeting of this Society, an address was given by Dr.
Turnbull, in which he stated that the idea of this Society was not bor-
rowed from any recent movements of a similar nature, much less in-
tended to rival them, but arose simply from the perusal of the Books
of " Genesis, Exodus and Joshua," and more especially from the cir-
cumstance recorded of the embalming and burying of the patriarch
Jacob, at Hebron, by his son Joseph, Viceroy of Egypt ; that the cof-
fin is in all probability remaining entire in the Cave of Machpelah, as
then deposited ; and that there can be little doubt, if examination, with
all proper attention to decorum, were permitted, we should find on the
exterior, and within the coffin, some characters, and, perhaps, some
emblems, not according to the idolatrous mythology of Egypt, but re-
lating to Jacob and his family and ancestry, and perhaps, also, relative
to the countries of Egypt and Palestine.

In reference to the coffins of the Hebrew patriarchs, he had formed
expectations of the most important discoveries. In that of Joseph he
did not see why tf-e might not find a papyrus, containing his own auto-
biography, together with other great historical documents, such as
have been found on opening tombs in Egypt. Who would have im-
agined that we should have found some of the rarest works of the Greek
classics in the tombs of Upper Egypt? Yet some of these we have
seen in lithographs of the papyri, as recently produced at a meeting
of the Syro-Egyptian Society.

The London Society of Arts have appointed a Committee of Indus-
trial Pathology for the purpose of inquiring into the nature of acci-
dents, injuries, and diseases incident to various bodily employments,

14 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

and of suggesting means for their prevention or relief. It is proposed
to select each year, for special and thorough investigation, a single
trade, or group of trades, or some particular kind of injury. Thus it
is contemplated to devote the remainder of the present session to as
complete an inquiry as the means at the disposal of the Committee
may permit into the injury to the eyes which unfortunately attaches
to many industrial occupations, and a synopsis of some of the
physical evils which attach to various kinds of industrial labor is to be
circulated among artisans and others for information. It is then pro-
posed to hold in the ensuing sessions an exhibition of inventions and
appliances for making such handicraft employment more healthy.

The London Geographical Society has received advices from the
travellers sent out under its auspices : Lieut. Burton and Dr. Wallin
are pushing their way in Arabia ; and Dr. Vogel, when last heard
from, was on the borders of Lake Tchad, which he describes as more
resembling a vast marsh than a sheet of water. The interior of
Africa, he says, is a " terrible country " to travel in. Were it not for
the importance of clearing up its geography and discovering its
resources, few would be found to explore it.

Among the various results of Dr. Vogel's scientific labors trans-
mitted to England, his astronomical observations to fix the position of
Kuka are of the highest importance ; for when the three coordinates
latitude, longitude, and elevation of this great central point of
Africa have been ..determined with definite exactitude, we possess a
beacon by which all other researches respecting Central Africa which
have been collected up to the present time, and the various journeys
and itineraries which have been performed in that region, will be rec-
tified and fixed upon the map. Dr. Vogel is the first professional
astronomer of acknowledged talent who has undertaken a journey to
Central Africa ; and so little reliance was placed on the observations
of his predecessors. even so justly celebrated travellers as Clapper-
ton and Denham, by writers on African geography, that every one
seems to have considered himself perfectly justified in improving
upon them and shifting them about ad libitum, hundreds of miles, to the
east or west.

The result of Dr. Overweg's astronomical observations of Lake
Tsad, backed by the opinion of Prof. Encke, clearly indicated that
Clapperton and Denham's position was too far to the east, but left the
precise distance undetermined. It was reserved for Dr. Vogel to
solve this vexata qurestio, which, for one of his age, (22 years,) is no
small merit. According to him, the position of Kuka is as follows :
12 55' 14" latitude N., 13 22' longitude E., from Greenwich.
Elevation above the level of the sea, 900 feet 50 feet above Lake

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 15

Tsad. This is a fact of no little importance, as such a height allows
no fall for any of its rivers, if connected, according to some writers,
with the Nile, or the Kowara, or Niger.

Respecting the botanical features of the country, Dr. Vogel was
surprised to find, among other plants, the Ficus elastica, the tree that
furnishes the caoutchouc, inasmuch as it was not noticed by any
previous traveller. It grows in considerable quantities in Bornu ; but
the inhabitants are not acquainted with the nature and use of the
product it bears.

It is known that M. Andersson, a young Swedish naturalist and
traveller, is making explorations in Central Africa. Letters just
received from him, via the Cape of Good Hope, announce that he had
succeeded in reaching the great Lake of Nigami. He is the first
European who has penetrated so far from the western coast.

Special reports by Sir Charles Lyell have appeared on the Geological
and Topographical and Hydrographical departments of the New York
Exhibition, which are highly valuable and interesting for the sum-
mary they present of what the United States contain and are capable
of in those important subjects. The facts adduced in matters
geological, owing to the vast extent of country, are truly amazing,
and the sources inexhaustible.

After passing the whole subject in review, Sir Charles concludes
by stating that " the natural distribution of these sources of wealth
and power, combined with the physical features of the entire country,
leave nothing to be desired with respect to the materials and incen-
tives for its physical progress and development." " If in a pecuniary
sense," says the editor of Chambers's Journal, " the American Exhibi-
tion was a failure, the loss has been largely compensated by the inter-
esting reports it has called into existence."

The following are among the prizes offered by the French Academy
during the past year :

For the year 1856. A vigorous and methodical investigation into
the metamorphoses and reproduction of the Infusoria, properly so
called, (the Polygastrica of Ehrenberg.)

2d. For 1855. An exposition of the laws governing the distribu-
tion of fossils in the different sedimentary strata in their order of su-
perposition ; and a discussion of the question of their appearance or
disappearance, successive or simultaneous.

A research into the nature of the relations existing between the
present and past states of the organic kingdom.

Another for 1856. The determination through the study of the
development of the embryo in two species, one taken from the class

16 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

of vertebrata, and the other either from the Mollucca or Articulata, of
the proper foundation for comparative embryology.

The prizes for either of the above is a gold medal of 3,000 francs.

A medal of gold, of the value of 800 francs, is decreed each to the
work, printed or in manuscript, which appears to have contributed
most to the progress of Experimental Physiology. A gold medal of
the value of 2,500 francs is oifered, for 1856, for the best work on the
mode of fecundation of eggs, and the structure of the organs of gene-
ration, in the principal natural groups of the class of Polyps, or that
of Acalephs.

The sum of 4,000 has recently been bequeathed to the French In-
stitute, to be given to the discoverer of a cure for the Asiatic cholera,
the annual interest of the sum to be awarded to those who may do
most to relieve the terrible malady.

The Royal Scottish Society of Arts offers prizes, varying from 10
to 30, for " any thing new in the art of clock or watch making,"
for inventions or new appliances in the useful arts generally, and for
"means by which the natural productions of the country may be
made more available." And the Scientific Society of Leipsic an-
nounces prizes for papers on commerce, astronomy, and political
economy, to be written in French, German or Latin. The Royal
Academy of Berlin offers two hundred ducats to whomsoever shall
furnish a satisfactory reply to certain inquiries touching the well
being of a State. It wishes to know, among others, whether Adam
Smith's leading doctrine work makes wealth can be identified
with the prosperity of a people. The Royal Institution of Great
Britain makes known that the Actonian prize of 105 will be ready
in 1858 for the author of the best essay on the " Wisdom and Benefi-
cence of the Almighty, as manifested by the Influence of Solar Ra-
diation." So much knowledge has been gained of this subject within
the past few years that materials are abundant, and we ought to
have an essay of more than ordinary interest.

The " Societe Medico-Pratique de Paris " offers a prize, in the
form of a gold medal worth three hundred francs, for the best disser-
tation on the mode of action of the principal purgatives used in medi-
cine, with the special indications for their use.

The curious effects attributed to the extract and various other prep-
arations of the Canabus Indicus, as used in Egypt, has induced the
above Society to offer a prize of one thousand francs for the best
analysis of the cannabis.

The Society of Arts, London, offers a premium of fifty guineas to
any person who will furnish them with modes of operation, models,
and specifications of machinery by which tha New Zealand flax,

ON THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. 17

Phormium Tena.T, maybe dressed at a cost not exceeding 5 per
ton, (this price to prepare the flax as a raw material,) reckoning the
wages of an ordinary laborer at 4s. per diem, and of artisans at 6s. to
6s. 6d. The machine to be of two kinds one analogous to the old
spinning-wheel, that may be used in every cottage or shepherd's hut,
and the other suitable for more extensive operations.

The New York Academy of Medicine, through the liberality of a
few of its members, offers a prize of $100 for the best essay on " The
Nature and Treatment of Cholera Infantum," to be presented during
the ensuing year. The trial for the prize is open to the profession
throughout the country.

The National Education Society, at its session at Pittsburg last
August, offered a reward of $500 for the best philosophical work on
education. That Society adjourned to Washington city, August 8,
1854.

The French Government has decided that a periodical, containing
reports and papers of scientific and literary societies, accounts of
missions, &c., shall henceforth be published under the title of Bulletin
des Societes Savants.

At the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society the Found
er's medal was presented to Admiral Smyth, for his able and all but
exhaustive work on the Mediterranean Sea. A medal was also pre-
sented to Capt. McClure for his discoveries in the Polar Regions.

The office of superintendent of the French National Observatory
has been given to M. Leverrier.

A petition, drawn up j)y M. Vattemare, has been addressed to the
American Senate. Its purpose is to induce that body to examine the
French metrical decimal system for weights and measures, and adopt
it, or a similar one, in the United States. In France the monetary
system is decimal, and has been since the revolution of '93 ; the
thermometer is decimal, since Napoleon established the centigrade ;
and measures of length, surface, solidity, capacity and weight, have
been obligatory decimal since 1840.

At the recent Congress of the learned societies of France, the sub-
ject of the acclimatization of useful plants and animals received con-
siderable attention. It was stated that, from what has already been
done and what is now doing, there is every reason to expect that
several sorts of vegetables, fruits, plants, birds, fish, and animals
heretofore confined to Asiatic or American countries, will before long
become completely naturalized in France, and will in time form an
important part of the people's food, or will add to the conveniences or
pleasures of life.

A new tuber, the Chinese Yam, has been introduced in Paris, from

18 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

China, which experimentists say possesses all the requirements of the
potato, and may take the place of that plant as a culinary vegetable.
Specimens have also been introduced in England, where they thrive
well. It has been domesticated and is perfectly hardy in Paris. Its
root is bulky, rich in nutritive matter, eatable when raw, easily cooked
either by boiling or roasting, and then having no other taste than that
of flour.

An attempt is about to be made to introduce the Angora goat into
Cape Colony, South Africa, an enterprise which promises great success.

A new species of silkworm, from Assam, Southern Asia, has been
introduced within the past year into Malta and some parts of Italy.
It feeds on the leaves of the castor oil plant.

During the past year the Earl of Clarendon, Foreign Secretary,
has not only introduced into Great Britain numerous living plants of the
" Argan " tree of Southern Morocco, (celebrated for yielding fodder
for cattle in the husks of the fruit, oil similar to olive-oil in the nuts,
and a beautiful wood in its trunk,) but he has also imported, in the
finest state for germination, large quantities of seed, which have been
freely distributed throughout the country and in the Colonies.

At the last Annual State Fair of New York, three Cashmere goats
were exhibited by Dr. Davis, of South Carolina. It is the animal of
Ayhich the Cashmere shawls are made, the value of which does not
depend, as many suppose, upon their rarity, but upon the fact that the
material surpasses every other like article in its capacity for wear.
The Cashmere goat was introduced into South Carolina several years
ago, by Dr. Davis, from the interior of Asia Minor, and the breed has
since been carried into the adjoining States of North Carolina, Geor-
gia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida, and mixed with the native
goat. The hair of the animal, which is pure white, is most beautiful.
It somewhat resembles in appearance the finest portion of the fleece
of the Chinese sheep, a few of which are on exhibition. It is curly,
soft in texture, and brilliant in appearance. The animal is extremely
delicate in shape, though hardy. A sock made from the hair was
shown with the goats. We learn that the meat is white and deli-
cate, and is preferred in the parts of South Carolina where they are
reared to mutton. A herd will protect itself against dogs, which con-
stitutes a great advantage over sheep in localities where dogs are
troublesome. Throughout South Carolina the ordinary animal has
risen largely in price from the facility with which the breed is im-
proved by this cross.

The Garden of Plants, at Paris, has also recently received for the
purpose of acclimation and propagation in France a number of Yaks
from China an animal which Buftbn says " is more precious than all

ON THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 19

the gold of the new world." In Thibet and China this animal serves
as a horse, an ass, a cow, and a sheep ; it bears heavy burdens,
draws large loads, supplies milk, has flesh which is excellent, and hair
which can be wrought into warm cloths. To naturalize them, therefore,
in Europe would be an immense service to mankind ; and as they bear
cold bravely, the French naturalists have every hope that they will be
able to do so. Some Chinese have been brought over to attend the
Yaks, and they will teach the French the way of treating them and of
curing them in sickness. The Yaks are of lowish stature, are singu-
larly shaggy, and have tails more bushy than those of horses.

It is to be hoped that the people of the United States will take
their share in endeavoring to accustom Asiatic and African animals
to our climates. It is not very creditable to our boasted nineteenth
century, that in this respect it is far behind the old Romans. Out of
the many thousand species of which the animal creation consists, only
between forty and fifty are, in fact, domesticated.

Some attempts to introduce the new system of breeding fish have
been successfully made in the United States. Mr. R. L. Pell, of New
York, in a recent communication to the Farmers' Club of the Ameri-
can Institute, stated that he had taken the spawn from the female
shad and impregnated it with the male shad, and that the eggs pro-
duced shad in great numbers. He has numerous fish ponds, in which
there are forty-five varieties of foreign and native fish, thousands of
which come at the ringing of a bell to be fed out of his hand. Stur-
geons nine feet long may be seen in his ponds.

Mr. Pell has made arrangements to import the Ova of the Tench,
Barbel and Carp from Europe, for his ponds, and likewise the spawn
of the famous Turbot and Sole.

At the State Agricultural Fair of Ohio, specimens of trout propa-
gated artificially were exhibited.

The electrical loom, invented by Bonneli, as a substitute for the
Jacquard, excites much attention in Europe. Some reject it out and
out ; others consider it as an important invention. An improvement
in the Jacquard loom has also been made by a Mr. Acklin. He has
succeeded in substituting paper for the pasteboard patterns, which
produces an enormous economy in the use of the Jacquard loom.

When the Pilgrims came to New England, they may be said to
have brought over with them their Universities, so early did they in-
stitute the Universities of Cambridge and New Haven. The same
blood warms in the veins of the Oregonians. Their territory is yet
but a babe so small that every additional company's arrival, by sea
or over the plains, is chronicled as matter of important bearing on its
growth. Still it is old enough to lay the foundations of a school for

20 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

instruction in the classical languages, and all the branches that are
taught in the highest Eastern "institutions. It is organized under the
name of the Pacific University, at Tualatin, O. T.

The State of Tennessee has ordered a geological survey of its ter-
ritory, and appointed to the work Prof. J. M. SafFord, of Cumberland
University, Tennessee. Prof. S. is well prepared for his duties, and
his final reports will beyond doubt prove both valuable and honorable
to the State and to Science.

Dr. William Kitchell, of Newark, Secretary of the New Jersey
Natural History Society, has received the appointment of Superin-
tendent of the Geological Survey authorized by a recent act of the
Legislature of that State. Mr. Henry Wurtz has also received the
appointment of chemist and mineralogist to the survey. The work
has been entered upon and vigorously prosecuted during the past
season.

The geological survey of Illinois, under Dr. Norwood, has revealed
numerous localities of marble of great beauty and value. Among
these is a variegated variety, suitable for any description of in-door
and ornamental work, as mantels, table-tops, &c. It is from Southern
Illinois, and will compare favorably with most of the imported marbles
used for such purposes. It resembles most nearly some varieties of
Egyptian marble. A beautiful Oolitic marble, from Hardin county, re-
ceives a fine polish, and appears to be harder and better able to stand
the effects of the weather, than a similar rock from St. Genevieve,
Missouri, which has been used to some extent in St. Louis. The
structure of this rock is as curious as the wrought samples are beau-
tiful. In Pike county a variety of marble conglomerate, resembling
the " Potomac " marble of which the pillars in the Capitol at Wash-
ington are constructed, also occurs abundantly.

In the United States, great additions to the fossil botany of the
carboniferous formation have been made by Dr. Ne wherry, of Cleve-
land, Ohio. A severe loss to science in this department was sustained
in the death of Mr. Teschmacher, of Boston, who had done much
towards elucidating the question as to the character of the plants
comprising the mass of the anthracite and bituminous coals.

A new work on American Geology, with full illustrations of the
characteristic American fossils, with an atlas and geological map of
the United States, has been commenced by that veteran in science,
Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, of Albany, N. Y. The first number only has
as yet been published. The work is to be exclusively American in
all its illustrations and descriptive fossils. This work merits, and
from the ability and known attainments of the author will doubtless
receive, the attention of all interested in geological progress.

ON THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. 21

Within the past few years great attention has been bestowed
in the United States upon the study of the microscope, and its
application to anatomy, physiology and pathology. " Most of the
young physicians," says Dr. Holmes, of Boston, in a late communica-
tion to the Boston Medical Journal, " who complete their studies
in Europe bring home a ' Natchet ' or an ' Oberhauser,' and a certain
amount of skill in handling it, which they find abundant leisure to
improve in the early times of their practice.

" There are now many good instruments among us in the hands of
those who know how to use them, and many of the highest excel-
lence. Our microscopists are beginning to be known somewhat be-
yond their own immediate circle. Dr. Dalton and the late Dr.
Burnett have been honored by two of the four prizes conferred by the
American Medical Association for essays based in great part wholly
on microscopic investigations. Other observers are at work, who will
be heard from in due season ; and it would not be surprising to find,
in ten years from this time, that there were more microscopists in
America than in Europe. In the mean time attention has been drawn
in this country to the art of making the instruments upon which so
many departments of medical science are more or less dependent.
Mr. Spencer's labors and triumphs are well known."

Mr. Alvan Clark, of Boston, and Mr. J. B. Allen, of Enfield, have
also constructed instruments which compare favorably with the best
of imported glasses of similar power. Thus there is growing up
amongst us a market for microscopes and all that belongs to the
microscopic art, and skill which has never failed to show itself when-
ever it has been called for will find a new channel in providing for
this want.

The art of minute injection, and the preparation of objects for
microscopical preparations, has been until of late very little practised
in this country. Specimens of great, beauty have been prepared by
Dr. John Neil, of Philadelphia ; and Dr. Durkee, of Boston, has also
succeeded, after many trials, in acquiring, to a great extent, the skill
Avhich is almost confined to a few persons abroad, who make a business
of preparing objects for microscopists.

" The microscope," says the author above referred to, "is of all
philosophical instruments the most unfailing and untiring companion.
The astronomer tells us that hardly more than a dozen nights in"a
year are adapted to his observations. He must watch all night, ex-
posed to cold and damp, surrounded by costly and cumbrous ma-
chinery. The microscopist sits down at his fireside or his window
with a little instrument before him, a mere toy to look at a giant
mightier than the slave of the lamp or the ring in its power of trans-

22 NOTES BY THE EDITOR

formation. All that he wishes to observe upon Nature is ready to
furnish him. Nothing is too precious or rare for him to covet ; he
wishes bat a mere speck, a particle, such as the Koh-i-noor could spare
him. Nothing is repulsive, examined in its infinitesimal shape.
The disease which infected the wards of a hospital does not betray
itself in the narrow apartment where he studies all its intimate
details. He may study and work until practice comes and takes him
off his feet and floats him away into a world of other cares and duties,
and, year after year, every day will bring him something new
to examine. I will say nothing of the utility, even the necessity, of
the microscope to the practical physician and the surgeon. As a
mere illustrative companion to scientific study, as a mere intelligent
plaything, it is the most precious gift to all who love to look at the
universe as its inner life is revealed to the senses."

In a recent sitting of the Natural History Society of Bonn, M.
Von Siebold, an eminent naturalist, read an interesting paper "on
the State of the Natural Sciences amongst the Japanese." Their
knowledge of these sciences is much more extensive and profound
than is supposed in Western Europe. They possess a great many
learned treatises thereupon, and an admirable geological map of their
island by Buntsjo. They are well acquainted with the systems of
European naturalists, and have translations of the more important of
their works. They have a botanical dictionary, in which an account
is given of not fewer than 5,300 objects, and it is embellished with a
vast number of well-executed engravings. The flora of their own
island is admirably described in a work by the imperial physician,
Pasuragawa.

The practicability of inter-oceanic communication by the construc-
tion of a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Darien, between Caledonia
Bay, on the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of San Miguel, on the Pa-
cific, has long been a subject of much speculation and controversy
among men of science and learning. The magnitude of the work
and wonderful influence which its successful accomplishment might
exert upon the commerce of the world, and more especially upon the
intercourse between our Atlantic and Pacific possessions, induced
the United States government to despatch Lieut. Strain, U. S. N., on
a tour of exploration, accompanied by a party of officers, engineers
and civilians. The expedition arrived at Port Escocean, Caledonia
Bay, in January, 1854, and proceeded at once to the discharge of the
duty assigned. The majority of the members of the expedition suc-
ceeded in crossing the Isthmus and returning, after enduring great
hardships and sufferings. A few of the party, unable to bear up un-
der the fatigue, expired on the way. The opinion arrived at by

OX THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. 23

Lieut. Strain is, that the work is totally impracticable, and his report is
considered as settling the question forever.

The return of Dr. Rae, from an expedition despatched by the Hud-
son Bay Company in search of Sir John Franklin, has furnished con-
clusive evidence respecting the fate of the lost navigator and his gal-
lant companions evidence that leads to the conviction that the end
of these hapless adventurers was of the most horrible description.
As told by Dr. Rae, it would appear that he fell in with some Esqui-
maux in Pelly Bay, who possessed many small relics of the exploring
party of the Erebus and Terror watches, silver spoons, telescopes,
and other things ; and the account they gave of how and where they
found these relics was to the following effect : In the spring of
1850, about forty of the ships' companies were seen by some Es-
quimaux not Dr. Rae's informants on the ice near the north shore
of King William's Land. They were going south, and dragging a
boat with them over the ice. They looked worn and emaciated ; they
signed to the natives that their ships had been crushed by the ice,
that they were short of food, and were then in search of deer. The
natives sold them a small seal, and they went their way to be seen
no more alive. Later on in the year, but before the breaking of the
ice, the Esquimaux again came tfn their encampment, but not a single
soul was living. The story was, however, plainly pictured to their
eyes. Thirty bodies were found, some partly buried ; some in the
tents where they had died ; some under the boat which they had over-
turned to form a shelter. They had all perished of starvation, and it
was thought that some of the survivors had been driven in the ex-
tremity of hunger to the last act of maddened human beings.

Such is the dismal story told to Dr. Rae by the Esquimaux, by way
of accounting for their possession of the watches, plate, spoons, and
other things.

The Secretary of War, in his recent report to Congress, adverts to,
and succinctly describes, the improvements which have been made of
late in muskets and rifles. He says, " Though our arms have here-
tofore been considered the best in use, recent inventions in Europe
have produced changes in small arms which are now being used in
war, with such important results as have caused them to be noticed
among the remarkable incidents of battles, and indicate that material
modifications will be made in the future armament of troops. The
superiority of the grooved or rifle barrel and elongated ball, in range
and accuracy of fire, has long been known ; yet the difficulty of load-
ing this weapon has hitherto, for most military purposes, counter-
balanced its advantages. To overcome this difficulty, two methods
have been proposed. The first, by loading the piece at the breech,

24 NOTES BY THE EDITOR.

has been for some time in use, but has defects which all the ingenuity
expended on it has failed to entirely overcome. The second method,
which has produced the important results above indicated, is to use an
oblong ball of such diameter as to be readily introduced into the
piece, but which afterwards is expanded so as to fill the caliber.
This was at first done by providing a rest or support at the junction
of the chamber with the bore, as in Capt. Delvigne's method, or by
means of a solid pillar in the axis of the barrel, upon which the
ball rested and was expanded by blows from a heavy rammer.
This was the plan of Col. Thomenin, of the French army, and is
known as the system ' d la tige? which has been extensively used
in their service. The same object was subsequently attained by in-
serting into the rear part of the ball a conical iron cup, which, being
driven into the lead by the explosion of the charge, acted as a wedge
to expand the ball. This is the plan known by the name of its in-
ventor, Capt. Minie, of the French army. Still more recently in
England the ball has been improved so as to expand by the force of
powder alone, without the aid of the cup. This is known as the
Pritchell ball, having been brought into use by Mr. Pritchell, a gun-
maker of London. This idea also had been suggested by Capt.
Delvigne. My attention being drawn to the subject, I directed ex-
periments to be made by the Ordnance Department, both as to the
proper shape of the ball, and the best mode of grooving the barrel.
In the course of these trials some important conclusions were reached,
agreeing, as was afterwards ascertained, with the results of the in-
vestigations then making in Europe. Although our experiments have
been confined to our service rifle, and are yet incomplete, they con-
firm the great superiority claimed for this invention abroad. They
show that the new weapon, while it can be loaded as readily as
the ordinary musket, is at least equally effective at three times the
distance ; and the foreign experiments indicate a still greater
superiority of the new arms. These results render it almost certain
that smooth-bored arms will be superseded as a military weapon."

The obituary of 1854 includes the names of many distinguished
in science, whose loss will be severely felt Melloni, Edward
Forbes, Prof. Jameson, Prof. Petersen, of Altona, the successor of
Schumacher, Dr. Newport, Waldo I. Burnett. The last of the year
brings intelligence of the death of that intrepid African traveller, Dr.
Barth, who has fallen a victim to the climate near Timbuctoo. Dr.
Overwey, his companion, it will be remembered, died in 1853. The
scheme of Central African exploration seems likely to terminate as
fatally as that of exploration in the polar regions. Man is forbidden
to reach that inhospitable limit of the earth's surface.

.

-i>R *

THE

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

IMPROVEMENTS IN NAVIGATION.

DURING the past year, the British Government, acting under the sug-
gestions of the British Association and the Royal Society, have organized
a department for the collection of statistics, publication of charts, &c. &c.,
substantially on the plan originated and carried out by Lieutenant Maury,
of the United States National Observatory.

/

This department has been placed in charge of Captain Fitzroy, who at
the last meeting of the British Association, furnished the following com-
munication relative to this subject.

The maritime commerce of nations having spread over the world to an
unprecedented extent, and competition having arrived at such a point that
the value of cargoes and the profits of enterprise depend more than ever
on the length and nature of voyages, it has become a question of the
greatest importance to determine the best tracks for ships to follow, in order
to make the quickest as well as the safest passages. The employment of
steamers in such numbers, the general endeavor to keep as near the direct
line between two places (the arc of a great circle) as the intervening land, '
currents, and winds will allow, and the improvements in navigation, now
so prevalent, have caused a demand for more precise and readily available
information respecting all frequented parts of the oceans. Not only is
greater accuracy of detail required, but much more concentration and
arrangement of very valuable, though now scattered, information. Be-
sides which, instrumental errors have vitiated too many results, and have
prevented the greater portion of the meteorological observations hitherto
made at sea from being considered better than approximations. "It is
one of the chief points of a seaman's duty," said the well-known Basil
2

26 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Hall, " to know where to find a fair wind, and where to fall in with a fa-
vorable current ; " but with the means at present accessible, the knowledge
of such matters can only be acquired by years of toil and actual experi-
ence, excepting only in the greater thoroughfares of the oceans, which are
well known. Wind and current charts have been published of late years,
chiefly based on the great work of the United States Government, at the
suggestion of, and superintended by, Lieutenant Maury ; and by study-
ing such charts and directions, navigators have been enabled to shorten
their passages materially ; in many cases as much as one-fourth, in some
one- third of the distance or time previously employed. Much had been
collected and written about the winds and currents by E,ennell, Capper,
Heid, Redneld, Thorn, Piddington, and others ; but general attention was
not attracted to the subject, however important to a maritime country, till
the publication of Lieutenant Maury's admirable observations. Encour-
aged by the practical results obtained, and induced by the just arguments
of that officer, the principal maritime powers sent duly qualified persons
to assist at a conference held at Brussels, last year, on the subject of me-
teorology at sea. The report of that conference was laid before Parliament,
and the first direct result of it was a vote of money for the purchase of
instruments and the discussion of observations. All the valuable meteoro-
logical data which have been collected at the Admiralty, and all that can
be obtained elsewhere, will be tabulated and discussed in this new depart-
ment of the Board of Trade, in addition to the continually accruing and
more exact data to be furnished in future.

A very large number of ships, chiefly American, are now engaged in
observations, stimulated by the advice, and aided by the documents so
liberally furnished by the United States government, at the instance of
Lieutenant Maury, whose labors have been incessant.

Not only does that government offer directions and charts, gratis, to
American ships, but also to those of our nation, in accordance with certain
easy and just conditions.

In this country, the government, through the Board of Trade, will sup-
ply a certain number of ships which are going on distant voyages with
"abstract logs," (or meteorological registers) and instruments, gratis, in
order to assist effectively in carrying out this important national under-
taking.

In the preface to a late edition of Johnston's Wind and Current Charts,
published last June, at Edinburgh, Dr. Buist says: "It has been shown
that Lieutenant Maury's charts and sailing directions have shortened the
voyages of American ships by about a third. If the voyages of those to
and from India were shortened by 110 more than a tenth, it would se-
cure a saving, in freightage alone, of 250,OOOJ annually. Estimating the
freights of vessels trading from Europe with distant ports at 20,000,OOOJ
a year, a saving of a tenth would be about 2,000,000^; and every day
that is lost in bringing the arrangements for the accomplishment of this
into operation occasions a sacrifice to the shipping interest of about 6,000^,

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 27

without taking any account of the war navies of the world. It is obvious
that, by making a passage in less time, there is not only a saving of ex-
pense to the merchant, the shipowner, and the insurer, but a great diminu-
tion of the risk from fatal maladies, as, instead of losing time, if not lives,
in unhealthy localities, heavy rains, or ealras with oppressive heat, a ship
properly navigated may be speeding on her way under favorable circum-
stances. There is no reason of any insuperable nature why every part of
the sea should not be known as well as the land, if not indeed better
than the land, generally speaking, because more accessible and less varied
in- character. Changes in the atmosphere, over the ocean as well as on
the land, are so intimately connected with electrical agency,) of course in-
cluding magnetism,) that all seamen are interested by such matters, and
the facts which they register become valuable to philosophers. Meteoro-
logical information collected at the Board of Trade will be discussed with,
the twofold object in view of aiding navigators, or making navigation
easier, as well as more certain, and amassing a collection of accurate and
well-digested observations for the future use of men of science. As soon
as the estimate for meteorological expenses had passed, steps were taken
to organize a new branch department at the Board of Trade. On the first
of August, Captain Fitzroy was appointed to execute the duties of this
new office, referring to Dr. Lyon Playfair, of the Department of Science
and Art, and to Admiral Beechey, of the Marine Department, for such
assistance as they could render. As soon as registers and instruments are
ready, and an office prepared, Captain Fitzroy will be assisted by four or
five persons, whose duties he will superintend. It is expected that several
ships will be supplied with ' abstract logs ' (meteorological registers) and
instruments in October, and that the office will be in full work next No-
vember. The admiralty have ordered all the records in the Hydrographi-
cal Office to be placed at the disposal of the Board of Trade for a sufficient
time. All other documents to which government has access will be simi-
larly available ; and the archives of the India House may likewise be
searched. There will be no want of materials, though not such as would
have been obtained by using better instruments on a systematic plan.
Captain Fitzroy ventures to think that the documents hitherto published
by Lieutenant Maury present too much detail to the seaman's eye ; that
they have not been adequately condensed ; and therefore are not, practi-
cally, so useful as is generally supposed. His Instructions, or Sailing
Directions, (the real condensed results of his elaborate and indefatigable
researches,) have effected the actual benefits obtained by mariners. Re-
flecting on this evil, which increasing information wotild not tend to
diminish, Captain Fitzroy proposes to collect all data, reduced and meaned,
(or averaged,) in a number of conveniently arranged tabular books, from
which, at a subsequent period, diagrams, charts, and ' meteorological dic-
tionaries,' or records, will be compiled, so that by turning to the latitude
and longitude, all information about that locality may be obtained at
once, and distinctly."

28 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND STEAMERS.

During the past year a steam-vessel, involving some new principles of
construction, has been built in Scotland, to be used in deep-sea fishing.
The vessel is 100 feet long, with engines of thirty-horse power. Externally
there is nothing to distinguish it from a sailing vessel, except the presence,
on each side of the hull, of a curved pipe 10 inches in diameter, termed a
"nozzle," communicating with a water-tight iron case inside. In the
bottom of the vessel are apertures admitting the water into the water- tight
case with a horizontal wheel fixed on a crank-shaft attached by piston-
rods to the engine, and on the steam being applied, the water-wheel
revolves with velocity, and the water is discharged by the nozzles on
each side of the vessel. These form the only propelling power, and the
invention is remarkable for its simplicity and effect. These nozzles also
are of service in navigating the vessel, which, according to the angle of
depression or elevation, turns in any direction, or stops altogether, even
with the engines working at full power. Although capacity rather than
speed was studied in the construction of the vessel, it easily attained
1 1 knots an hour. Economy of fuel, freedom, from vibration, light draught,
and a high rate of speed, are among the advantages of the invention. The
vessel is being schooner-rigged, and when fitted with boats and fishing
gear, it will proceed to the fishing-ground in the Firth of Forth, and by
lowering the boats and crews, will be able to conduct the fishing operations
with safety and celerity.

A new propeller, called the "Brandon," has recently been built at
Glasgow, Scotland, which is fitted with engines of a somewhat novel and
peculiar construction. The Brandon has four engines, all double-acting,
and standing in a vertical position at considerable distances apart in a
massive framing of cast-iron. In the forward pair the port engine receives
the fresh steam from the boiler and discharges it into the starboard and
larger one, while in the after pair this arrangement is reversed, and the
starboard is the smaller or high-pressure cylinder. The two starboard
engines are connected to cranks keyed at right angles on the ends of a
stout shaft lying horizontally fore and aft overhead. The port engines are
connected to a similar shaft, and each of these shafts carry large wheels
nearly opposite each other with wooden cogs, which mesh into a smaller
pinion on the propeller shaft below. The steam is admitted into the smaller
cylinders at a pressure of about 20 pounds above that of the atmosphere,
and expanding by the lap of the valve merely diminishes its pressure to
about 15 when the stroke is completed, at which time the valve opens,
admitting the steam to the same end of the corresponding low-pressure
engine, then on the opposite centre. This second engine is designed to
expand the steam to as low a pressure as is economically practicable, the
stroke of piston in all the engines being three feet and the diameter of the
high-pressure 41, while that of the low-pressure is 64 inches. The ratio

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 29

of the capacities of the high and low-pressure cylinders being about as one
to two and a half, the steam, may be supposed to be finally expanded in
about that ratio, and the effect of each pair is theoretically equal to that
of a single cylinder of 76 inches diameter, in which the steam, is cut off at
two-fifths of the stroke and expanded through the remainder. There are
two vertical air-pumps, one on each side, worked by eccentrics on the
upper shafts. There are many details of considerable novelty, among
which may be mentioned a set of small valves or cocks suitably connected
for working, or rather for " warming " the engines by hand.

The immense steamship contracted for by the Eastern Steam Navigation
Company (England) is in the course of completion, by Mr. Scott Russell.
The extreme length on main deck will be 700 feet, being 430 feet longer
than the Himalaya steamer; extreme length of keel, 680 feet; extreme
breadth of beam, 83 feet; depth of hold, (forming four decks,) 58 feet;
length of principal saloon, 80 feet ; height of ditto, 15 feet ; tonnage,
10,000, or builders' measurement, 22,000 tons ; stowage for coals, 10,000
tons ; stowage for cargo, 5,000 tons ; 500 first-class cabins, with ample
space for second and third-class passengers, besides troops, etc., while her
screw and paddle engines will be of the aggregate nominal power of 2,800
horse. She will also carry an immense quantity of sail. " The principle of
construction, as designed by Mr. Brunei, will be similar to that of the tube
of the Britannia Bridge. Her bottom, decks, and sides are to be double,
and of a cellular form, with two feet six inches between. She will have
fourteen water-tight compartments, also two divisional bulk-heads running
her whole length. The great length of the ship, it is contended, according
to all present experience, will enable her to pass through the water at a
greater velocity, with a similar power in proportion to her tonnage, than
ordinary vessels now require to make ten knots an hour, and that speed is,
in fact, another result of great size. The immense proportions will admit
of carrying sufficient fuel to accomplish a voyage round the world.

The largest ocean steamships (says the Sailors' Magazine] now plying
on the Atlantic, bear precisely the proportions in length, breadth, and
depth, that are recorded concerning Noah's Ark. The dimensions of the
Atlantic steamers are : length, 322 feet ; breadth of beam, 50 feet ; depth,
28i feet. The dimensions of the Ark were : length, 300 cubits ; breadth,
50 cubits ; depth, 30 cubits. The Ark, therefore, was nearly twice the
size, in length and breadth, of these vessels, the cubit being twenty-two
inches ; both had upper, lower, and middle stories. After all the equip-
ments of forty-two centuries, which have elapsed since the Deluge, the
ship -builders have to return to the model afforded by Noah's Ark.

At the last meeting of the British Association, Mr. Scott Russell gave
a lecture upon the progress of naval architecture and steam navigation,
including a notice of the large ship of the Eastern Steam Navigation
Company. It was mainly in respect to speed that the great improvements
in the last twenty years had been made. Within that time the principle
and the means of gaining speed had become definitely known, and this

30 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Association had had a great deal to do with the establishment of that
principle, which consisted mainly in the particular formation of the water
lines of the vessel. The old ships had a round, bluff, duck's-breast bow,
with a sloping narrow stern. At length the idea was arrived at of making a
boat with a bow, the water lines of which should correspond with the wave
of the sea itself, which should gently and gradually divide the particles of
water, which would then give a quiet and easy passage to the vessel enter-
ing, whether propelled by steam or by sails, without resisting their progress,
and heaping a mound of water before the bows, as in the case of the old
bluff, round-built vessels. It seemed now to be universally admitted, in
Europe and in America, that if a ship-builder wanted to have a very easy
and fast-going ship, he must give her bow, not the round convex line
formerly adopted, but a fine, long, hollow line, such as the meeting might
observe for themselves in all the recently-built vessels. Practical men,
when they desired to build a fast ship, saw that they must now no longer
use the convex water line, but they must build with a hollow water line
at the bow, and in this consisted the great revolution which had taken
place during the last twenty years. Whereas formerly the broadest part
of the vessel was only a third part from the bow, the broadest part was
now nearer to the stern than to the bow in the proportion of two to three,
so that the shape of the ship under the water was very nearly reversed.
The ship out of the water might remain very nearly the same, but where
she cut the water, the lines were as he had described. It was on this
principle that American clipper ships and English ships which happened
to be very fast were built, and upon which he would say, without fear of
contradiction, every vessel, to gain any thing like sixteen miles an hour,
must be built. Now, there was, in addition to this, another very import-
ant principle which had been discovered. That was the virtue of the
length. It used to be a dogma in the time of his pupilage, that no steam-
boat could ever, by any possibility, go faster than nine statute miles an hour.
He was born and bred in that belief. Nine statute miles an hour was the
creed of his instructor in ship-building. At that time they had very short
vessels, and they endeavored, by putting enormous power in them, to
compel them to go through the water, whether they would or not. He
remembered being present at the trial trip of a vessel out of which had
been taken fifty-horse power engines, and engines of seventy-horse power
substituted. It was a most extraordinary fact, that she only gained some-
thing like a quarter of a knot an hour by that enormous addition to her
power and fuel, because she had not sufficient length to go by any force at
a high speed ; and the more she was driven through the water, the greater
was the resistance made by the water which she raised before her. The
princ'ple was ascertained, that if you wanted the particles of water to go
out of the way of the vessel when going very fast, you must give the
particles more time to do so. Now, this might appear a contradiction in
terms, but the faster the vessel was to go through the water, the more time
must be allowed to the particles of water to give way. It was found that

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 31

it was more easy to push a vessel with an elongated body through the
water, at great speed, than the short vessels which had been in use. This
was reduced to a regular principle, the result of which was, that it was now
certain that 24 feet of length in the entrance lines of a vessel would give
eight miles an hour easily ; to go at sixteen miles an hour, the entrance
lines should he nearly 96 feet long. To give twenty-four miles an hour,
the entrance should be 213 feet long ; so that they could not expect to get
twenty-four miles an hour until they had made up their minds to build
ships something like 400 feet long. From, all the experiments he had
made, and had seen made, these facts were undoubted. The clipper
ships and fast steamers had lengthened their bow-lines until they had
got the necessary length for speed ; and if those present looked at any
vessel which had got the reputation of going sixteen miles an hour,
he believed they would find that to be the fact. Indeed, he did not
believe there was in existence a vessel shorter than one hundred and
eighty feet which could go sixteen miles an hour ; and if there were
any such vessel forced to go more than sixteen miles, it was an expen-
diture of power which was perfectly preposterous. They would there-
fore perceive why such a large vessel as the Himalaya had such great
speed. The Himalaya had a length of three hundred and fifty feet, and
should have the greatest speed for the smallest power of any merchant
vessel hitherto. If, in like manner, they looked at the large clipper ships
of two thousand and three thousand tons burden now built, they would
find that the principle was taken advantage of, and that their bows were
elongated to a great length. But what else was being done ? The owners
of the clipper ships were finding out that, by the lengthening of the bow
and making the lines more hollow, they could reduce the sails and spars,
and yet preserve their speed, finding that the ships could now do in the
water what force of canvas could never alone accomplish. Like every
truth, the shape of a vessel had been long since found out and lost again.
The old London wherry was built as perfectly upon the lines he had
described as if it had been mathematically constructed upon them. In
India the boats were made precisely upon that form, and they were the
fastest boats in the world, as a class. The Turkish caiques had the same
shape, and they were very fine vessels. In Spain they had arrived by some
means at a form not very different, and throughout the whole of the last
war the Spanish vessels were the best vessels, and the best England took.
The smugglers, because they risked their necks upon the speed of their
ships, quickly found out what shape was best, and some of the most
beautiful ships that ever came into our possession in that way were built
in that form. The Americans had made very early an experiment of the
kind in steamboats. They lengthened their steamers at a very early period,
and they now generally built upon this plan and with the hollow lines.
They had done wonders in this way, and he believed in England wonders
were also being done. It was not easy to carry the elongating of the
vessels much further in wooden ships, because they could not get timber

32 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

large enough, and it was impossible to make it strong enough by joining ;
but he believed Professor Fairbairn had discovered the means of joining
iron so as to make it equal in strength to solid metal. Having alluded to
the building of the Great Western, and subsequently of the Great Britain,
and the prophetic doubts expressed at first regarding the fate of each, the
speaker proceeded to describe the great vessel now being built by him upon
the Thames, for the Eastern Steam. Navigation Company, to trade with
India and Australia. He showed how the difficulty of carrying coals, and
having to stop for them and buy them at high rates at St. Vincent and the
Cape of Good Hope, and sometimes the Mauritius, created such an expense
that no freights could cover ; he showed how it became necessary to con-
struct a vessel large enough to carry her own coals all the way. When,
therefore, he told them that the vessel being constructed was expected to
make the voyage to Australia in 30 days, carrying a sufficient freight,
with 600 first-class and 1,000 second-class passengers, having three large
tiers of decks, eight feet each in height, that she was 675 feet long, 83
feet beam, 60 feet deep, when he told them that he had just measured
St. George's Hall, and found that it would not fairly represent this
ship, being only 169 feet instead of 675 feet long, that up to the top of
the hall it was only 82 feet high, and up to the spring of the arch about
the height of the ship, that the breadth of St. George's Hall was only
77 feet, being six feet narrower than the hold of the ship, it would give
them the nearest approximation he could convey to the size of the vessel.
Mr. Russell concluded by a prediction, in eloquent terms, of the glorious
effects to civilization which would ensue from the noble rivalry existing
at present among individuals and nations in the advancement of science.
In reply to a question afterwards put to him, he stated that the huge ves-
sel which he had described would draw twenty feet when light, and thirty
feet loaded.

Mr. Fail bairn had no hesitation, judging from the drawings he had seen,
and from the principle of the vessel, in saying, that she would be perfectly
suitable, strong, and calculated to carry out the object for which she was
designed. When they were able to construct the Britannia Bridge, 460
feet long, without any support in the middle, and could run a train
through it, there could be no doubt that such a vessel as had been de-
scribed could carry the weight and resist the opposition necessary.

FISHER'S VENETIAN SCREW-PROPELLER.

The object of this propeller is to prevent the retardation which occurs in
an ordinary screw-propeller, by the tendency to produce a vacuum at the
back of the blades of the propeller. To effect this, Mr. Fisher makes slits
in the blades to allow the water to pass through, and thus to supply the
place of the fluid which is drawn backward as the screw turns round.
These slits give the propeller somewhat the appearance of a Venetian blind,

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 33

and hence its name. Mr. Granthara said the propeller had been tried in
the Birkenhead Docks with good effect. Proc. British Association.

CUNNINGHAM'S PLAN FOR REEFING TOPSAILS.

This plan consists of an arrangement by which the yard-arm is made to
turn round as it is lowered by a pulley fixed to the mast, and the slit in
the centre of the sail through which the rope passes, to effect that move-
ment of the yard-arm, is closed by a sail-cloth valve that preserves the
action of the sail intact.

APPLICATION OF THE SCREW-PROPELLER TO SHIPS OF WAR.

The following extract from a report to the Secretary of the Navy, by
Lieutenant Walker, on the applicability of the screw-propeller to existing
ships, will be found interesting :

One of the most interesting and important subjects to which I directed
my attention while abroad, was the results of the trials that have been
made in France to test the applicablity of the screw-propeller to ships of
war of the largest class. Many of these results have not yet been publicly
made known, and I found many obstacles in the way of a thorough inves-
tigation of the subject. The officials to whom I applied for information,
with a great deal of outward politeness and apparent readiness to oblige,
were evidently indisposed to afford an officer of a foreign service all the
desirable means of becoming acquainted with improvements from which
they hoped to reap advantages. I succeeded, however, in obtaining some
reliable information upon this important subject, and now subjoin the
results of my investigations ; but I think it necessary to remark that more
extensive personal examination and observation, both in France and Eng-
land, than I was permitted to make, is necessary, in order to enable the
department to judge of the eventual success of the experiments in both
countries.

The French have afloat eight ships-of-the-line, five of which have
already been fitted with propellers, and the remaining three are now
receiving their machinery. Of these, the Charlemagne, the Napoleon,
and the Montebello have been at sea, and have performed so well that the
most sanguine hopes are entertained that the adaptation of the screw to
ships-of-the-line will vastly increase the effective force of their navy.

The Napoleon is the only one of these ships constructed especially for a
propeller. Her dimensions are as follows ;

Ffet.

2H2

Inches
6

At load line, .......

234

Beam,

i

p

53
6

8

Height of lower port still above water line,
Depth of hold,
Diameter of cylinder, ....
Length of stroke,
Diameter of propeller,

2 *

7
26
8
5
19

2
9
2
3

34 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ShQ is supplied with eight boilers, each having five furnaces ; and at
fvill speed, which is about twelve knots, consumes one hundred and two
tons of coal per diem.

The boilers and machinery take in the length of the hold, 82 feet, which,
for a nominal power of one thousand horse, is considered excessive.

The results of the trial of the Napoleon have sufficiently established the
fact of the practicability of so adapting a propeller to a ship of the largest
class as to insure great speed, and form a most effective man-of-war, for cer-
tain purposes and in certain situations ; but when the great weight of the
engines and coal is considered, and the great space they necessarily occupy
in the vessel, (thereby diminishing the stowage of provisions and water,)
and when we further reflect that after the coal is expended the ninety- gun
ship has only the spars and sails of a sixty-gun ship to rely upon, we are
forced to the conclusion that, however useful such a vessel may be for
short passages, and in those seas where her supply of coal and provisions
may be constantly replenished, yet that her sphere of action must be very
limited, and that she could not be relied upon for the long cruises and
various service on which an ordinary line-of-battle-ship is employed.

A ship constructed on the model of the Napoleon, for the sake of gain-
ing a speed of ten or twelve knots per hour for the distance of about 2,400
miles, is compelled to sacrifice a great part of her efficiency in several
other most important particulars.

In time of war, at short distances from port, for the defence of harbors
and bays or the Florida Channel, and for the general purpose of defending
a coast, to force a blockade, or for the speedy transport of troops to an
adjacent territory, such a vessel would undoubtedly be a most valuable
acquisition to our navy ; but her employment must necessarily be confined
to such situations and circumstances, for should she be unlucky enough
to fall in with a hostile squadron with her coal expended, or with her
machinery rendered useless by any of the numerous accidents to which
steam machinery is constantly exposed, with her comparatively light rig
and her want of stability, the consequence of losing so great a weight of
coal, she would prove any thing but a formidable antagonist ; and it is
much to be feared that she would be compelled to strike to any vessel of
her class that should attack her.

In France and England the question of adapting propellers to their men-
of-war already existing, particularly to line-of-battle-ships, has excited
the deepest interest, and has been discussed in all its bearings. In both
countries great efforts have been made to ascertain how this adaptation
could be effected at the least expense, without injury to the sailing quali-
ties and capacities of the ships, and to discover the best general plan for
the necessary alterations.

After a series of the most careful trials, made at the naval station of
Roche-fort, it was found that there were insurmountable objections to
placing an engine of six hundred and fifty-horse power on board a hun-
dred gun-ship. It was then determined to try the experiment with the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 35

Austerlitz, a ship-of- the- line of the same class, then on the stocks at Cher-
bourg ; but after the maturest consideration, the constructors and engineers
were compelled to decide that this could not be done under any reasonable
conditions ; that it would be necessary to cut her in two and lengthen her
floor ; that her stern must be taken down and rebuilt ; and that, after all,
these great and expensive alterations promised no satisfactory result.

In consequence of the unfavorable report of the officers upon this sub-
ject, the minister of marine directed that an engine of five hundred-horse
power should be substituted for that of six hundred and fifty-horse power,
which it had been intended to place on board the Austerlitz, in order to
ascertain if, with this less powerful engine, and without any reduction in
her battery, spars, or other equipment, it was possible to attain a speed of
not less than four and a half knots under steam.

The attempt has been made to execute the order of the minister ; the
stern of the ship has been entirely rebuilt, (with the addition of a " trunk "
or "well,") at the cost of 400,000 francs, and on the 14th of September,
1842, she was launched; but it was found quite impossible to comply with
all his requirements in relation to the armament and equipment of the ship.

I cannot, of course, give any very minute detail of those particulars in
which it was found necessary to deviate from the plan of the government,
but I have ascertained that her battery has been reduced to eighty- eight
guns ; that her munitions of war have been diminished one-fourth part ;
that her spars and sails have been cut down to those of a sixty-gun ship ;
that she cannot now stow more than one month's water and two months'
provisions ; and that she has been so lightened by the removal of one
hundred tons of ballast and eighteen tons of cables and anchors, as to
render her stability under sail, after the consumption of her coal, highly
problematical.

ON AN INSTRUMENT FOR TAKING SOUNDINGS.

The following communication from the Philosophical Magazine, (vi. 344,)
is by F. Maxwell Lyte, Esq.

I see, from what Dr. Scoresby has brought before the Association at
Hull, that there seems to be some difficulty about obtaining correct sound-
ings in places where the currents are strong and flow in different direc-
tions at the different points of depth, causing the line to assume different
curves in its descent ; and when it comes to be measured over, after the
weight has reached the bottom and been hauled up again, the measure-
ment gives no approximate idea of the real depth. Now it is plain that
this mensuration of the depth of water might be as well made by estimat-
ing its vertical pressure, as, in measuring the height of mountains, we
measure the barometical pressure of the air ; and so I would propose to do
it by an instrument constructed as follows :

An accurately constructed tube of gun- metal or brass, or some metal
not very easily corrodible by salt water, has a glass tube fitted on to it on

36 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the top, by a screw joint, and again on the top of the glass tube is fitted a
strong hollow copper ball by a similar screw joint. The lower tube,
which we will call a, has a well-turned piston fitted to it, from which runs
a rod which is only a trifle longer than the tube, a, and just enters the
tube, b, when the piston is at its lowest point. A well-made spring is
placed in the tube, a, above the piston, and the tube, a, being narrowed at
the top so as just to admit the free passage of the rod, and the rod having
a little button at its top the piston is kept at its lowest point by the spring,
except when sufficient pressure is applied from below to compress the
spring. The glass tube has a small ring fixed in it, just so as to stick at
any point to which it is pushed, and the button at the top of the rod
serves to push the ring straight, and the ring thus forms an index of the
degree to which the spring has been compressed. The ball on the top
serves as a mere reservoir of air to equalize the action of the apparatus as
much as possible. The whole of this apparatus is enclosed in a wire cage,
for the sake of protection from blows. To graduate this apparatus, I let
it down in a known depth of water, say ten fathoms, and having observed
the point to which the ring in the glass tube is pushed, and having marked
this point off, the ball is to be unscrewed, and with a small ramrod the
ring is to be pushed down till it rests on the top of the piston rod. The
ball being replaced, the apparatus is sunk in twenty fathoms ; after a sim-
ilar manner it is sunk in thirty, and next in forty fathoms. This will test
the accuracy of the apparatus ; and the marks made on the glass tube, b,
after each trial, will give a scale from which the whole tube may be grad-
uated, even to thousands of fathoms, if the tube be long enough or the
spring strong enough. I have been induced to make this communication
011 account of the great use which may be made of such an apparatus.

SHOAL WATER INDICATOR.

Mr. Edwards, of her Majesty's dock-yard, Pembroke, has recently pat-
ented an invention which is to indicate when a vessel, under steam or can-
vas, comes into water at any given depth. The apparatus is to be employed
chiefly in fogs and at night time, and is intended to afford a more certain
means of ascertaining when the vessel employing it is nearing a coast or
shoal, than is provided by the ordinary soundings. This invention con-
sists of a copper or iron rod, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter,
and of any desirable length say three fathoms. This rod is attached by
an eye or other contrivance to the under side of the keel, and is kept in a
vertical position by the stays, to which a grapnel and weight are attached,
by a line, and which is secured on board the vessel to a lever that has
connected to it a weight sufficiently large to counteract the tension pro-
duced upon the line by the resistance of the water against it. By means
of this, line soundings may, if deemed necessary, be taken, the ordinary
lead line being dispensed with. When the rod or grapnel takes the
ground, the line slipping from the lever will cause the reel to revolve,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 37

when a hammer strikes a bell, indicating thereby that the vessel is in shoal
water ; the grapnel and weights can be lowered to any depth that may be
necessary, or according to the circumstances of the vessel. The whole
apparatus is very simple, and can be readily unshipped when not in use.

MACHINE FOR SAWING SHIP-TIMBER.

Sometime in the last century a reward of something like 60,000 was
offered by the government of Great Britain for the successful introduction
of machinery for shaping ship-timber, and under this liberal inducement
Gen. Samuel Bentham so much noted for his improvements in general
wood- working machinery and the elder Brunei, designed machines which,
at one time, promised a tolerable degree of success. These were succeeded
by a very massive cast-iron apparatus constructed under the direction of
Prof. Farey. The difficulties to be overcome in a machine of this charac-
ter, are certainly many and serious. We are not aware of the work having
been attempted in any other manner than by sawing. The ordinary saw-
mill must be modified in two important particulars. The cut must be
capable of adapting itself to any required curve, and also to any required
degree of "bevel." The timbers near the centre of a ship are simply
crooked, but from this point forward and aft, every " futtock " is beveled
in a greater or less degree, and this continually varying, even at different
points in the same frame. Some pieces near the stern are beveled in
various degrees and even in opposite directions, within the length of a
single stick.

Bentham's and Brunei's machines were in some degree analogous to that
now employed in light "scroll" sawing. The machine of Prof. Farey
was so constructed that the movement of the saw-frame, or gate, could be
inclined in any required degree, but both devices were abundantly cum-
brous and impracticable. The only full-size machine ever constructed on
either principle is now standing idle at the Chatham dock-yard a useless
mass of heavy castings. A machine has however been lately introduced
by Mr. James Hamilton, of New York, which appears to combine nearly
or quite all the elements of success.

In this machine the curves are described by a lateral movement of the
saws, while the bevels are produced by a partial rotation of the timber.
The stick to be sawn is suspended between centres, and controlled in its
position by suitable machinery on i"1.9 "tail-block." The sawgate is a
compound affair, and consists, first, of one principal gate, moving vertically
between slides in the usual manner. The crossbars forming the top and
bottom are polished bars of round iron, between which are stretched, with
liberty to move laterally, two inner frames, each carrying a saw. The
saws are so connected to the inner frames, by vertical pintals, that they
may be freely turned so as to present their teeth or cutting edges in any
direction. This apparatus, with various admirable arrangements of detail,

38 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

constitutes the invention which promises completely to supersede the broad-
axe and bevel-rule.

Both sides of the timber are cut at the same moment. The rough timber,
properly marked with the required curves upon its upper surface, is fed up
to the saws in the usual manner. The saws once fairly entered in the
wood, and controlled in their position by the hands of the attendant,
readily follow (by the free lateral movement of the inner within the main
gate) the most difficult curves ever required in practice. Even a transverse
cut may be readily made by a proper manipulation of the saws. The
devices for controlling the amount of bevel are capable of effecting the
most delicate gradation from one end of the stick to the other ; and in this
respect, as indeed in every other, the work of the machine exceeds in
accuracy that of the ordinary tools.

BENDING SHIP-TIB1BEE.

Machinery for giving different curves and increased strength to heavy
timbers used in ship-building and for other purposes, has recently been
constructed by the well-known inventor, Thomas Blanchard, of New
York. The principle upon which the force is exerted is very simple. An
iron model, with a large groove corresponding to the shape of the knee,
passes in its whole length under a cogged wheel, whose cogs fit into corre-
sponding grooves in the surface of the model, and performs a semi-circular
revolution. It receives into its anterior extremity, which starts under the
wheel, the stick of timber to be bent, and fits over it as it lies upon the
horizontal frame which supports the machinery, receiving the stick into its
groove up to the spot where the curve begins, where the model rises from
the frame as the knee of the ship rises from the water. The horizontal
framework has also a groove into which the stick is received, and at its
further end an iron plate is forced against it steadily by a screw, giving a
strong and uniform "end pressure" in the direction of its length. It
lies upon a flexible iron band, which is attached to the end of the model,
where the stick rests. As the anterior end of the model passes under the
cogged wheel and rises to a right angle with the frame, carrying with it
the stick of timber bound in its groove by the flexible iron band, its pos-
terior extremity descends fitting over the timber until it is level with the
frame. The stick of timber has now taken the shape of the mould, and
when cold, retains its shape with as much tenacity as if it had grown into
it. It is very evident that when a straight stick of timber is bent into a
semi-lunar shape, the fibres of the wood upon the inner side must be
packed more densely. The wood is steamed for from half to one hour for
each inch of thickness, and put into the machine warm and moist, and as
it takes its bent position the inner fibres are impacted without destroying
the tissues of the wood, but only increasing slightly its density on the
inside of the curve.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 39

It is stated by the inventor that timber thus bent is much stronger and
will bear greater pressure than that which has a natural curve. By a
slight modification of the moulds or models, which are intended to be
made in sections, great diversity of shape, even to a double curve, can be
given ; and the immense variety of purposes to which this invention can
be applied will at once suggest themselves to the mind. It will give
increased strength and lightness to furniture requiring curves of wooden
material. The principle of making timber flexible by the aid of heat and
moisture has been long known and practised upon ; and when we see the
wonderfully perfect results of such simple but effective machinery, it
appears strange that its application should never have been made before
the present time. It is supposed that this invention will effect a very great
reduction in the cost of ship-timber, and increase the buoyancy of vessels
by giving equal strength with a lesser weight of timber. The largest sticks
that have yet been bent are but ten inches in diameter ; but there appears
no reason why sticks of much larger size should not be handled with
almost equal facility. The only difficulty to meet would be the increased
strength and size of machinery.

IMPROVEMENTS IN RAILROADS AND RAILROAD LOCOMOTION.

Rices Improved Break. This break is in r the form of a shoe, is located
between the wheels, and is intended to act upon the rail, instead of upon
the wheel. It is worked by levers, in precisely the same manner as the
present wheel breaks. It is composed of a substance softer than the rail,
so that there can be very little expense on account of " wear and tear."
When the train is in motion, the " shoe," which^turns up at each end, so
as to avoid hitting bluntly, any slight unevenness, is about a quarter of
an inch from, the rail, and when the lever is applied, the " shoe ~" is pressed
down in such a manner as to lift the wheels from the track. The con-
trivance is simple, but effective. The cost of the shoe break is small, and
can be easily repaired or replaced. In' case a wheel gives, it would not
only stay the motion of the train, but would tend to support the car.

Improved Method of Fastening Rails to Cross-Ties. A method of
securing rails to cross-ties without the use of rnetal fixtures, has been
introduced on the Strasbourg Railroad, France. The inventor places the
rails directly upon the cross-ties, and secures them by means of two short
wooden braces, each bearing with one end against the rail, and with the
other against a shoulder cut into the cross-ties ; the braces are fastened
with wooden pins or iron spikes. It is exceedingly cheap ; it secures the
rail in the most perfect manner ; it is easily kept in repair ; the rails are
much easier laid down and adjusted ; the whole fastening being of wood,
it affords, consequently, more elasticity, produces no jarring, and the deaf-
ening rattling noise, caused by the friction of the rails upon the iron chairs .
is entirely avoided.

4-0 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Improved Railroad Track. The improvement of Mr. D. C. Grinell, of
New York, consists in making the track of four rails instead of two, or
one gauge within another. Each car has trucks of two widths, and there
is a double safety against running off. The weight of the locomotive being
borne on the double track, may also be greatly augmented, and a much
higher rate of speed attained than is now possible. It is estimated, that a
road built in this manner, might be traversed with security, at from 100
to 150 miles per hour. The expense would not be double that of aii
ordinary track, as lighter rails may be used.

An invention of M. Gluckmami, to establish a communication between
the breakmen of trains by means of electricity, has lately been tried with
success, on the Birmingham and London Railroad. The apparatus con-
sists of two batteries, each one secured within a box, and placed at the
opposite ends of the train, connected by a wire, which passes under the
cars, and is joined to bells which can be set ringing whenever the attention
of the brakemen or conductors is required. The great merit of this in-
vention lies in its simplicity and rapidity of action.

G. K. Douglas, of Chester, England, has patented some improvements
in the permanent way of railways. In this invention, the chair is made
with two pair of jaws, which are cast together in the usual manner, and
are sufficiently wide apart at the top, to admit the rail. Between the
jaws and the body of the rail is a plate, enlarged between the jaws, in
order to strengthen it, and another plate is held in contact with the other
side of the rails, by vertical wedges. These plates and wedges the inventor
piefers to make of cast-iron, but they may be made of wood. When the
wedge is of wood, it is requisite to have a hole in the chair, through which
the wedge can be forced when the rail has to be removed. Scientific Amer-
ican.

At the late fair of the Maryland Institute, a gold medal was awarded to
a locomotive engine exhibited by Mr. John Cochrane, the constructing
engineer of the Union Iron "Works, of Baltimore. The chief peculiarities
of this engine consist in the use of a double set of cylinders and driving
apparatus, together w r ith an arrangement of the axles, whereby the motion
over curves is greatly facilitated. The inventor thus describes it :

" The wheels of the Binary engine may be considered as divided into
two sets, viz : Front and back drivers, each set being operated by a sep-
arate pair of cylinders, making four cylinders in all. The pair of cylinders
beneath the smoke-box, operate the truck drivers by means of cranked
axles, and the outside pair the back drivers by means of crank pins in the
wheels. Each pair of cylinders, with their connections and wheels, form
a complete system, but are not capable of independent movement, for both
systems are so combined together, as to secure a simultaneous action in
starting, working, and stopping, and in all the various manipulations nee
essary to the management of the engine. This is accomplished by com-
bining the outer and, inner cylinder of each side respectively, by means of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 41

one steam-chest and valve, which produce a perfect unity of action in
both systems." Scientific American.

Oblique Railroad Wheels. One of the most interesting sights in Paris,
is the railroad from the Barrier d'Enfer to Sceaux. It is but seven miles
long, and was built as an experiment upon a new system of wheels. The
engine, tender, and hindermost car of the train are furnished with oblique
wheels, under the ordinary upright ones. AVhere the track is straight,
these do not touch the rails ; but at the curves they come into play, rat-
tling along the inner edge of the rails, and preventing the train from
running off the track. The road was, therefore, made purposely tortuous,
and the most sudden and seemingly dangerous bends were introduced at
frequent intervals. The two stations are circular, and the train, as it
receives its passengers, is doubled up into a ring of oO feet radius. The
smallest curve upon the road is 68 feet radius, and over this the train goes
at full speed. The corners of the cars are cut off, so that the vehicles, in
following the curves, do not infringe upon each other. Sceaux is upon
an eminence, which the road ascends spirally, with something like a mile
of track it only going, in advance, a hundred feet. The invention
which, by the way, is ten years old has proved, practically, very suc-
cessful ; but it has never been applied to any extent.

Ruttans Car Ventilator. In this invention, which is highly commended,
the fresh, pure air is caught, by a projecting box or cap on the centre of
the roof, and conveyed down a passage on the inside of the car, through
the floor, to a shallow tank beneath. Spreading out here, it deposits its
cinders, ar.d, to a considerable degree, its smoke and dust, after which it
rises through the stove which is of peculiar construction, on the princi-
ple of a hot-air furnace and is projected, in every direction, from the top
of the stove into the car. The opening for its escape again, from the
interior to the open air, is near the floor, and the current of warm, foul
air, is conveyed under the entire length of the car, completely protecting
the feet of the passengers from the influence of the external cold. Having
completed this circuit, it is carried up through suitable passages, and
allowed to escape from a cap on the top. These ejecting caps are at each
end of the car, to allow of running in each direction, and are closed by
light, self-acting valves, opening outward. The current induced by the
rapid motion through the air, closes the valve on the forward, and opens
that on the hinder one, and each valve is so balanced, by a short loaded
lever or tumbling-bob, that the weight tends equally to hold either open
or closed. It results from this contrivance, (which may appear paradoxi-
cal to some, but is easily constructed by any mechanic,) that whichever
position the valves may assume in the most rapid motion, will be main-
tained until the motion is reversed. The openings from, these ejectors or
exhausting boxes, into the cars, are controlled by hand, but the only effect
of exhausting direct from either end, may be an unpleasant cooling of the
floor.

42 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ANTHRACITE COAL FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

The following article is from the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Its author is A. Pardee, Chief Engineer of the North Pennsylvania Rail-
road. The subject la one of increasing importance to our railroad com-
panies, and we wish to give it that extent of circulation which it deserves.

" The use of anthracite coal as fuel, was commenced on the Beaver
Meadow Railroad, in 1838, in engines built by Eastwick & Harrison, and
has been continued, to the present time, in a portion of their engines.

" On the Hazleton road, we commenced its use in 1838, in the ' Lehigh.'
engine, built by Eastwick & Harrison, and in 1839, in the Hercules,' by
same makers. Both engines have been in constant use during the season,
of navigation, say eight months per year, up to and including 1852, when
the ' Lehigh ' was taken into the shop to be rebuilt. The ' Hercules ' is
still in use.

" Both engines had, originally, copper flues, which were replaced by
iron ones after about two years' use, the copper having been worn out at
the end next to the fire-box, by the particles of coal drawn in by the draft.

" Both engines have now the same fire-boxes with which they were
turned out of the maker's shop, excepting aboiit one foot of the lower
part, which has been once renewed. The iron flues now in use, are those
put in to replace the copper never having been renewed, either in whole
or in part. Altogether, we have in use eight locomotive engines, three
built by Eastwick & Harrison, one by M. W. Baldwin, and four in our
own shops at Hazleton.

" We have never used other fuel than anthracite coal, excepting for the
purpose of kindling fires. The engines have been in use, during the sea-
son of navigation, from two years ago, (when the last were built,) up to
the time of the oldest engines named above, and we have never renewed a
fire-box or set of flues, except the repairs to the two engines named. As
far, therefore, as our experience goes, anthracite coal for fuel is not so
destructive to fire-boxes and flues as has been generally argued and sup-
posed. "We wear out two sets of grate bars in the same season's use of
an engine.

As to the Character of the Road, In starting from the Lehigh at Penn
Haven, we had, while using a part of the Beaver Meadow road, an ascend-
ing grade, averaging 80 feet per mile, for five miles ; then 140 feet per
mile for one and three-fourths miles ; then 60 feet for three and one-half
miles, and then a grade of 12 feet per mile, for three and one-half miles,
to the intersection of the various branches to the mines. In descending,
as you will perceive, mostly by gravity, the coal fire remained entirely
inactive, having no artificial draft, by fans or otherwise, except that caused
by the exhaust steam ; while in the ascending with a load of empty cars,
equal to the whole power of the engine, the tire to generate the necessary
steam, must be stimulated to the most intense activity ; thus making,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 43

apparently, a far more unfavorable state of things for the use of coal, than
on a road where the grades are more uniform, and in consequence, the
fire acted upon by a more uniform draft.

" I am aware that it has been said, that coal might do for short roads,
but that on long roads, the continuous intense action of the heat would
destroy the fire-box and flues.

" Now it strikes me as absurd, to suppose that on a road of any length,
a fire need be made more intensely hot, or that any part of the boiler
could be more heated, than is necessary to drive an engine and full train
up ten miles of such grades as are specified above, or that a continuous
equable heat, for eight or ten hours, can be worse than continuing the
same heat for an hour, then a moderate fire for an hour, and so on alter-
nately, with the consequent expansion and contraction, and this continued
day after day, for eight months, annually, during fifteen years.

" I have entered on this subject, perhaps, to a somewhat tedious length,
my object being, to satisfy yourself and others, that anthracite coal has
been used, successfully, for a series of years, in this region, as fuel for
locomotive engines not differing materially from the ordinary mode of
construction."

The Xew Bedford Mercury gives an interesting account of an experiment,
which has recently been made, under the direction of Wm. A. Crocker,
President of the Taunton Branch Railroad, and S. M. Felton, President
of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad, for the purpose of thoroughly
testing the feasibility of using anthracite coal in locomotives. For this
purpose, they had an engine built at Taunton, in the most thorough man-
ner, and it has been run, for about two months, on the Taunton and New
Bedford Railroad, without losing a minute in time. It was then taken to
the Worcester and Western roads, for further experiment. On the first
trial on the Worcester road, towards the conclusion of the trip, owing to
the want of skill in the fireman, the engine was behind time at Worcester,
but then rallied, and went over the Western road to Springfield, losing
only nine minutes. The engine then ran, for several days, between Spring-
field and Worcester, taking the usual heavy freight trains. On the 13th
of October, it ran from Springfield to Worcester, taking the accommoda-
tion train, and arrived in good time, making an average of 28. G miles per
hour. On the same day, returning, it took the Albany express train to
Springfield in 1 hour and 18 3-4 minutes, averaging 42 miles per hour.
As a further specimen of its performances, the Mercury states, that it ran
over a heavy, continuous grade of 11 miles, on the Western Railroad,
taking it in 17 minutes, and having 100 ibs. of steam upon the summit.
Of the peculiarity in the construction of this engine, and the economy in
its use, the Mercury says :

" The peculiarity of this locomotive consists in the construction of the
boiler. To state this plainly, we may say that the water comes to the
fire, instead of the fire going to the water. This passes through the tubes,
instead of the fire, as in locomotives of the old construction, and is con-

44 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tinually circulating about the fire-box. In this way, a moderate combus-
tion generates the necessary amount of steam, and the lire-box not being
subjected to that violent heat, which has been the real difficulty with other
engines for burning anthracite, is preserved, while it has been burned out
in all other engines in a few weeks.

" The economy of anthracite engines is now in process of proof by par-
ties interested, and the result will doubtless be given to the public. Mr.
Cummings, the engineer of the Anthracite, informs us, that for its day's
work, of eighty-four miles, it requires 3,500 Ibs. of coal, being kept stand-
ing upon its fire about two hours and a half, in New Bedford.

" Besides economy, there are several other considerations which should
recommend the coal engines. Smoke, dust and cinders are all avoided.
This not only adds greatly to the comfort of the passengers, but wood
standing upon land adjacent to the road, is not in danger of fire, which, in
dry weather, is often comnrunicated by sparks from the ordinary engine."

RAILROAD AND STEAMBOAT ACCIDENTS COB1PARED.

From a record of all the railroad and steamboat accidents, for a period
of fourteen and a half consecutive months, ending March, 1854, the follow-
ing results have been obtained : The whole number of railroad accidents
was 190 ; killed, 268 ; wounded, 624. The whole number of steamboat
accidents during the same period was 48 ; killed, 691 ; wounded, 225. It
would thus appear that in the above-mentioned time, the number of acci-
dents upon railroads has been 396 per cent, in advance of those upon
steamboats. The number of wounded upon railroads has been 270.07 per
cent, in advance of those from steamboat accidents, while the number of
deaths resulting from steamboat accidents is 260.50 per cent, more than
upon railroads. From this it would appear that railroad travelling is more
prolific in accidents, but less serious in deaths, than steamboat travelling.

WETHERED'S IMPROVEMENT IN THE APPLICATION OF STEAM.

The principle of this improvement is very simple, and is neither new in
its application nor construction, a similar contrivance having been used with
success at Lowell some years since, under the direction of Dr. A. A.
Hayes, of Boston. As it has attracted considerable attention during the
past year, we copy the following published statement :

The purpose sought to be attained is, an augmentation of the propelling
power of the steam, by combining it with another current of steam which
has previously traversed the highly heated atmosphere of the boilers, and
thus raising it to a higher temperature.

To arrive at this result, the steam, as it escapes from the boiler, is con-
centrated in the conducting pipe, whence it is taken by two other pipes
which, dividing it into two portions, lead it off in different directions one
directly into the steam-chest, and the other, by an interior chimney, through

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 45

the boilers, and in its turn into the steam-chest, after becoming super-
heated. When the two portions reunite, the combined steam is at a very
high temperature some four hundred degrees higher than usual. The
movement is given to the engine in the ordinary way, but with a vastly
increased force.

A series of experiments, made under the direction of Mr. Collins, is
said to have established the economy of this process, in respect to fuel the
savings in which is said to be about 70 per cent. By burning six hundred
and sixty-six pounds of coal an hour, the simple steam gives nineteen and
three-tenths double strokes of the piston per minute ; whereas the combined
steam gives twenty and one-tenth, with four hundred and forty pounds of
coal only.

The Journal of the FranJdin Institute for April, 18-54, contains a
report from Mr. Isherwood, Chief Engineer United States Navy, on the
proposed new plan of Messrs. Wethered. The claim in the patent obtained
by them, reads as follows : " What ice claim as new is, the combining steam,
and super-heated^ or surcharged steam for actuating engines, token generated^
the elasticity increased, and operated as set forth." From this claim, says
Mr. Isherwood, it will be seen, that the patent does not intend the use of
steam simply surcharged by heat ; that is to say, having a higher tempera-
ture than is normal to the same pressure of saturated, or ordinary steam ;
but it intends the use of a mixture of saturated and surcharged steam. I
prefer these terms of saturated and surcharged steam to those of hydrous
and anhydrous steam, or to those of steam and stame, because they are
proper and their meaning already understood ; ordinary steam being
saturated with water, or of maximum density for the pressure ; and sur-
charged steam being ordinary steam surcharged with heat, having less than
the maximum density for the pressure, and therefore not being saturated
with water.

The idea of the patentee is, that if a certain quantity of saturated steam
be withdrawn from the boiler, and heated (out of contact with water) to
a high abnormal temperature, then mixed with a certain quantity of satu-
rated steam, and this mixture used to actuate the engine, a greater power
can be derived from it with a given weight of fuel than could be derived
from the use of saturated steam alone, generated by the same weight of
fuel.

The mode of obtaining the "mixture" for practical use is very simple,
and as follows, viz. : from the steam- chimney, or drum of the boiler, an
usual steam-pipe, furnished with the necessary stop-valves, conveys exter-
nally from the boiler, the saturated steam to the valve- chest ; another similar
pipe, with stop-valves, etc., from, the same steam- chimney or drum, but
starting within the smoke- chimney, conveys saturated steam down the
smoke- chimney, through the flues and through the furnaces, passing
immediately over the incandescent fuel, and then having become highly
surcharged in its passage, it is led out of the front of the boiler to the same
valve- chest, where it is mixed with the saturated steam. From the valve-

46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

chest the mixture passes to the cylinder of the engine, and actuates the
piston in the usual manner.

The results attained to by Mr. Isherwood, in a series of experiments,
were briefly as follows :

Using the steam simply surcharged, produced, with the same fuel, an
increased effect of sixty-five per cent, over what was obtained with the
saturated, or ordinary steam alone ; while an increased effect of one hun-
dred and six per cent, was produced by the use of the mixture. Also, the
increased effect of the mixture was twenty-five per cent, over what was
obtained from the surcharged steam alone.

NEW PLAN FOR USING STEAM EXPANSIVELY.

Mr. B. F. Day has presented to the Franklin Institute, a plan of an
engine for using steam expansively in a second cylinder. The difference
between this engine and others operating on the same principle that have
preceded it, is in contradistinction from allowing the steam to pass directly
from one cylinder to another ; the taking of the steam from the receiving
cylinder to steam-chests provided with valves and posts, by and through
which the steam is admitted to, and exhausted from, the second cylinder,
by which means it is claimed, that a longer expansive action of the steam
is retained. Another difference consists in surrounding the second cylin-
der, when used in connection with a receiving cylinder, with a flue, through
which the unconsuined combustible gases are passed after leaving the
furnace, by which any loss from radiation will be avoided, and the steam
in the cylinders will, to some extent, be reached by caloric.

ON BOILER EXPLOSIONS.

r

At the British Association, a communication on boiler explosions gave
rise to a discussion on the causes of such explosions, and on the effect of
percussion in weakening the strength of iron, in which Mr. Fairbairn,
Mr. Roberts, Mr. Hopkinson, Mr. Oldham, and other members took part.
Mr. Fairbairn said, that, so far as his experience went, the explosions of
boilers generally occur at the moment the engines start, in consequence
of the sudden generation of steam by the increased motion given to the
water. With respect to the weakening of railway axles by use, he con-
ceived that effect to be produced rather by the continuous bindings of the
metal, however small they may be, which give a set to the fibres and
increase the liability to break. Boiler-plates are also frequently injured
by the operation of punching for melting. Mr. Roberts attributed boiler
explosions in most instances to the defective construction. He was of
opinion that in riveting boiler-plates the rivets are seldom made large
enough, large rivets being much stronger than small ones. Mr. Clay said
the crystalline structure of wrought iron acqxiired by long continued per-
cussion might be restored to the fibrous state by reheating. Mr. Oldham

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 47

considered it would be of advantage to reheat the axletrees of locomotive
engines after they had run for some time, so that the fibrous structure*
from whatever cause it was rendered crystalline, might be restored. Mr.
Roberts was not disposed to admit that any change is produced in the
quality of iron by wear. If the iron were of good quality and perfect at
first it would remain so till it was worn out. He observed that bars of
iron are frequently different at their opposite ends, for whilst one is tough
the other may sometimes be broken with a slight stroke of the hammer.

NEW METHOD OF ADJUSTING VALVES OF LOCOMOTIVES.

H. "W. Farley of East Boston, has invented a method of setting the
valves of locomotives, which is at the same time cheap, simple, and very
economical of time, space, and manual power. The invention applies
only to the method of obtaining a rotary motion for the wheels. The
setting of the valves correctly, is a matter of vital importance, and it is
necessary in its accomplishment to revolve the wheels many times. This
is usually done by moving the locomotive along on the track, a method
quite inconvenient on account of the space required in the shop. Mr.
Parley places a suitable shaft just beneath the floor, on which shaft are
two wheels, at distances corresponding to the gauge of the track. The rail
being cut away at that point, these rollers are placed with their upper
surfaces flush with the top of the rail, and by so locating the locomotive
that the driving-wheels rest on that point, any desired motion may be
given by rotating the shaft. For engines with a single pair of driving-
wheels, the operation is exceedingly simple, but when (as is now almost
universally the case) two pairs are coupled together, either the side rods
are to be disconnected or the hinder pair lifted so as to turn clear of the
rails.

IMPROVED STEAM COCK.

Mr. O. C. Phelps of Boston, is the inventor of a cock designed to take
the place of the ordinary ones in almost every situation where considerable
pressure is experienced. The object is to compel the pressure of the fluid
to keep the device always tight. In passing through this cock the fluid,
whether steam, water, or gas, turns a right angle, and the axis of the plug
is in line with that part of the pipe through which the fluid is received.
The plug is conical and partially hollow, the larger and hollow end being
preserved for the reception of the fluid, which is of course discharged
through a hole in the side. From, this description it will be evident that
the plug must be inserted from the inside, the stem to which the handle is
attached being merely a continuation of the smaller end. This invention
appears to be particularly applicable as test cocks in high-pressure boilers.

48 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF SAL AMMONIAC TO PREVENT INCRUS-
TATIONS IN STEAB1-BOILERS.

The employment of sal ammoniac to prevent incrustations in steam-
boilers, to remove them when formed, has formed the subject of a series
of experiments undertaken by M. Conrad, Director of the corps of
engineers, Holland. In his report, he says : The experiments which have
been tried on locomotives on the Holland railways, have demonstrated
that it is an excellent means to detach and dissolve the calcareous incrus-
tations of boilers, and dispose of them so far that the boilers may be com-
pletely rid of them. To prove this, there was introduced 60 grammes (a
Trench gramme is the one-thousandth part of a kilogramme, or 2.2
pounds) of sal ammoniac in powder into a boiler, immediately after being
filled with water. This was left until the evening of the next day, after
the locomotive had done its service. Tfhe boiler being found not dirty, it
was run still another day, at the end of which it was emptied, and the
boiler appeared perfectly clean. The water taken out was generally, in
proportion to the calcareous matters containe-d in the boiler, a solution
more or less saturated with sal ammoniac and lime, which amounted to
one eight-hundredth the weight of the solution. Later, there were formed
paillettes of lime, which easily passed off by the discharge-cocks. After-
the boiler had thus been, during fifteen days or a month, purged of incrus-
tations, it sufficed to introduce once or twice per week, 60 grammes of the
salt, to keep it entirely clean. A more attentive examination showed that
the water, after one or two days of service, did not give a single trace of
iron or copper in solution.

It is certain, then, that the quantity of salt indicated cannot in the
least shorten the duration of the boiler ; but, on the contrary, may aug-
ment that of the fire-box and tubes, by preventing destructive incrusta-
tions ; and it also decreases the quantity of combustion, as the incrusta-
tions are very bad conductors of heat. Again, the decreased quantity of
fuel used tends of course to make the boiler last longer. It is probable
that the sal ammoniac, in combining with the lime, forms chlorhydrate of
lime, and that by this combination the ammonia is set free ; at least, this
is what is conjectured by the odor of the steam.

Rejjort of If. C. Scheffer. " At the commencement of the year 1847,
experiments were undertaken on the steam-boiler at the royal saw-manu-
factory of Rotterdam with sal ammoniac, to ascertain to what point they
could succeed by this means to prevent the injurious effects of incrusta-
tions on the sides of this boiler. This boiler is low-pressure, the tension
of the steam being scarcely one-tenth of an atmosphere above the ordinary
atmospheric pressure, and puts in movement a machine of sixteen-horse
power, of Maudslay's. The water employed is that of the Meuse, which
according to the analysis of M. Muller, contains much calcareous matter.
From the 26th March there were introduced, three times a week, 100

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 49

x

grammes of sal ammoniac into tnis boiler, after having been cleaned of all
previous incrustations. Four months after ward, I submitted to an exami-
nation the sides of this boiler, and I found a tolerably regular accumula-
tion of incrustations on the vertical sides, while above the furnace this
crust was much less. Its thickness was evidently less everywhere than
usual, aaid nevertheless, during all this period, it had been heated on the
average 14 hours per day. The boiler was cleaned anew, and about 4. 5
pounds of incrustations removed. I at once commenced a new trial, and
as I did not know exactly the proportion of salt necessary to completely
prevent the evil, I resolved to double the former trial, and to use 200
grammes, which, was thrown twice a week into the boiler. After more
than five months of work, there were still some incrustations, and princi-
pally, as in the first trial, on the vertical sides ; but the experiments go to
show that, by the use of this salt, incrustations may be very much dimin-
ished, sfnd perhaps totally prevented, and it is of great importance to pur-
sue these experiments further."

The following is for the most part an abstract of a recently published
work by Dr. Eisner, German :

On the means hitherto employed in preventing the production of scale
in steam-boilers, with the addition of some original observations upon this

subject.

Potatoes. Of these, one- fiftieth of the weight of the water is said to be
sufficient to prevent the incrustation. According to Eisner, crusts already
formed are not removed by potatoes. The action is mechanical ; the cal-
careous particles, when separated, becoming coated with the slimy matter
of the potatoes, which prevents their forming a coherent deposit.

Fatty Oils, Talloic. Oil, when poured into the water, is Said to prevent
incrustation. According to Kennedy, the inside of the boiler should be
well rubbed with a mixture of three parts of black lead and eighteen parts
of tallow. Newton recommends one part of tallow, one part of black lead,
and one- eighth part of powdered charcoal. The statements as to the
degree of protection afforded by this agent are satisfactory.

Sawdust. A patent was obtained in this country about eight years ago, -
for the exclusive use of mahogany sawdust introduced into the boiler.
Indian meal introduced into the boiler has aln) been tried with success.
Ira Hill replaced the mahogany dust by oak~ dust, and any other wood
will serve equally well. The disadvantages of this prevention is the
readiness with which the sawdust may be carried into the pipes, cocks,
valves, etc., where it might produce evil consequences. The action of the
sawdust is also mechanical.

Clay, free from sand, and worked up "with water, is recommended by
Chaix. Aldefeld found that this agent prevented the formation of scale ;
but that, 011 the other hand, it produced a slimy coating in the pipes, and
rendered the steam cylinder rough. Its action is also mechanical.

Ammoniacal Compounds. Kitterbrand, in 1844, patented certain amrno-
niacal compounds, especially muriate of ammonia. Eisner regards this
3

50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

proposition as the most deserving of notice. As much muriate of ammo-
nia is added to the water as it contains carbonate of lime in solution. This
agent also softens old incrustations, but for this purpose something more
than the quantity just mentioned is required. Its action is chemical ;
from the muriate of ammonia and sulphate or carbonate of lime, are
formed chloride of calcium and sulphate or carbonate of ammonia. The
latter salt is somewhat volatile ; if the steam is to be employed in heating
color baths, it is necessary to ascertain whether the volatile alkali will have
an injurious action. Eisner states that one pound of muriate of ammonia
is sufficient for twenty cubic feet of well-water containing gypsum.
Muriate of ammonia is preferable to carbonate of ammonia. In the
Verhandlungen des Hollandischen Ingenieurferei/ts, there are two papers on
the employment of muriate of ammonia. The first, by A. A. C. de
Vries-Robbe, shows, that in the locomotives on the Dutch railways two
ounces of muriate of ammonia for each boiler is sufficient to clean incrust-
ed boilers in a few days. This quantity, put in twice a week, keeps the
boiler quite clean ; iron and copper are not dissolved by it. The second
paper, by C. Schefter, states that in the royal wood-cutting establishment
of Holland, a perfectly clean boiler was supplied weekly for four months
with two-tenths of a pound of muriate of ammonia, when forty potinds
of scale were found to have been deposited. The boiler was worked four-
teen hours daily, with water containing gypsum.

"With the addition of four-tenths of a pound of muriate of ammonia
twice a week for five months, with the same amount of daily work and the
same water, sixty pounds of scale had deposited. In both cases, the de-
posit was more upon the sides than upon the bottom of the boiler, and
much less than without the use of sal ammoniac.

Mixture of Extract of Tannin. J. Delfosse patented a mixture of
twelve parts chloride of sodium, two and one-half parts caustic soda, one-
eighth extract of oak bark, one-half of potash, for the boilers of stationary
and locomotive engines. The principal agent in this appeal's to be the
tannin of the extract of oak bark. Eisner recommends the roughly cut
root of the common tormentil for this purpose, on account of the large
quantity of tannic acid it contains.

A patented process is now in use in England, which must be mentiored
here. Spent tanner's bark is put into the boiler. To avoid the chance of
the bad result already referred to with* the sawdust, the bark is put into a
perforated vessel, which is suspended near the surface of the water, and
kept in the right position by means of a float. The bark is renewed from
time to time. The patentee supplies the whole apparatus for about 2
105, and publishes many testimonials to show that his process is perfectly
successful.

According to Cave, pieces of oak wood, suspended in the boiler and
renewed monthly, prevent all deposit even from waters containing a large
quantity lime. The action must depend principally upon the tannic
acid.

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 51

Starch- Sugar, Molasses, Syrup.' Gunion. put into a boiler, seventeen and
a half feet long, and three and a half feet in diameter, five kilogrammes
of molasses every two months ; he found that this completely prevented
incrustation.

Guimet proved the advantage of this process, but employed brown
starch syrup, three pounds every six months for a boiler of eight-horse
power.

Tin salt (chloride of tin) is recommended by Delandre ; it is similar in
its action to muriate of ammonia ; but as it is cheaper it is to be preferred.

Soda and potash have been recommended by Kuhlmann, and more
recently by Fresenius. According to the latter, the property of forming
crust occurs more with water containing gypsum than with that contain-
ing chalk.

Kuhlmann recommended the addition of 100 to 130 grms. of soda
monthly, to every horse-power with water containing sulphate of lime.
Eisner observes that too much soda might injure the solderings and joints.
Zimmer, of Frankfort, who long employed this method, found that the
boiler was strongly acted upon ; he ascribes this to the presence in almost
all sodas of cyanide of sodium, which possesses the power of dissolving
iron. Scientific American.

NEW FORM OF SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

At a recent meeting of the Franklin Institute, Mr. "William Reed ex-
hibited a model of an improved form of suspension bridge. He forms a
hollow, truss-beam of plate iron, with cast-iron ends the whole length of
the span. In this, the wire is suspended from the upper end of each
extremity, and passing towards the lower margin, near the centre, the
cable and tube being well supported by truss braces, which effect the
double purpose of bringing the weight of the truss, and the superstructure
of the span, on to the cables, and holding the truss-beam in proper shape,
acting as the ribs to a vessel. The height of the truss-beam, and the
thickness of the iron of which it is made, are to be governed by the
length of the span. The upper part of the truss-beam must contain suffi-
cient material, to resist the compression of the superstructure and load,
and the two feet of the lower edge of the truss-beams, with the cables,
are to support the whole tension. Where the span is long, and breadth
of beam is required, in order to save material, the top, and two feet of the
lower edge of the beam, may be made of plate iron, and the intermediate
space filled in with wrought iron bars, riveted from the top to the bottom,
crossing each other, forming a lattice so as to preserve the stiffness of the
tube or beam. Where footways are wanted, the floor-beams can be ex-
tended out for that purpose. By this arrangement, the whole amount of
the tension of the wire can be obtained, while the peculiar form of the
truss-beam will cause any weight that may be brought on any part of
the bridge, to communicate to all parts of the span.

52 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMMUNICATING ROTARY MOTION.

At a recent meeting of the Franklin Institute, Mr. Jones called the
attention of the members to a simple contrivance for communicating rotary
motion, without the aid of toothed wheels, or belts, invented by Mr. Joseph
Thatcher, of Philadelphia. It is believed to be new, and consists of a rigid
bar whose ends are fitted to the pins of cranks secured on the shafts that
are intended to transmit and receive the motion. In the middle of the bar
is a slotted hole, of a length rather more than the throw of the cranks. A
stationary pin is secured in line with the centres of the two shafts, and (in
the present instance) equi- distant from them. Upon this pin the slotted
lever is free to slide, in the direction of its length. When one shaft is
turned from right to left, the crank pin carries the attached end of the bar
with it ; the fixed pin in the slotted hole, preventing any motion sideways,
the other end of the bar is obliged to move in an opposite direction, or
from left to right ; the motion of the bar gradually changes from a vibra-
tory, to one in the direction of its lengths, and vice versa. The model
shown worked freely, no undue friction being apparent. Jour. Frank.
Institute, August, 1854.

REMOVAL OF THE WRECK OF THE UNITED STATES FRIGATE

MISSOURI, AT GIBRALTAR.

One of the most difficult, and at the same time successful, sub-marine
operations ever undei taken, was the removal of the wreck of the U. S.
Steam Frigate Missouri, which was burned and sunk some years since, in
the harbor of Gibraltar. She careened as she went down, and laying
upon her beam ends, presented one of her shafts upwards, very near the
surface of the water. This mass of iron was 19 inches in diameter, and
of course, offered a dangerous obstruction to the bay. The existence,
moreover, of so vast a body as the sunken frigate, at the bottom of a har-
bor in which the tides ebbed and flowed, and strong currents continually
shifted the sand, was not to be tolerated in a port, so important to the
commercial and war marine of Britain, as was Gibraltar. The British
government accordingly presented the case to the cabinet at Washington,
and requested the removal of the obstruction. This was at once agreed to
by the authorities at Washington. The British Secretary, conceiving the
job to be a very bad one, kindly recommended to our government, as very
suitable engineers of the work, Messrs. Lovi and Marshall. These gentle-
men had acquired a great reputation in England, by raising the line-of-
battle-ship, the Hoyal George, which sank so suddenly, at Spithead, and
carried down with her hundreds of men and women. Our Navy De-
partment employed these engineers to raise the Missouri. They went to
Gibraltar, and worked faithfully for three long years, at the noble hulk
under water and then reported to the Department at Washington, that

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 53

the Missouri could not be raised by human means. They abandoned the
enterprise and returned to England.

The necessities of the case induced Mr. Webster to take hold of the
matter, and find a man who would free Gibraltar harbor of that obstruc-
tion. He applied to Mr. John E. Gowen, of Boston. When asked by
the Secretary, if he could remove the wreck of the frigate, as she lay
there in forty-one feet of water, he said he could. When asked if he
would enter into $50,000 bonds for the performance of a contract to raise
her, he said he would. When asked if he would bind himself to have
every stick of the frigate out of the way within three years, he said he
would bind himself to accomplish it within six months. A contract was
immediately made. Mr. Gowen was already equipped with his subma-
rine armor. The removing apparatus remained for him to construct. On
reflecting, he decided to blow the frigate to pieces, and lift and remove
the fragments in detail.

The case, on full inquiry and investigation, proved to be one of peculiar
difficulty. The sand had accumulated upon the wreck. It was fifteen
feet over her. Moreover, the English engineers had hurt the job, and
made it much more difficult, by using vast quantities of powder at ran-
dom, among the engines and iron work. They had twisted and tangled
up the machinery badly. Above the fifteen feet of accumulated sand,
was a depth of twenty- sixt feet of water to work through.

Mr. Gowen devised metal cases, to contain his charges of powder, and
which, of course, had to be placed under the frigate's bottom, and through
that fifteen feet of sand. These cases were of cast-iron, six feet long,
fourteen inches in diameter, and held a charge of two hundred and fifty
pounds of powder. At the conical end was a large thread, like that about
a post ariger, cast on the case, and to be used in boring into the sand as
with an auger. This lower end was cast in a chill, and was so hard and
strong, that it stood, in one instance, the test of being bored through a
McAdam Street, six feet into the earth. Mr. Gowen took out with him
twenty-four of these iron powder cylinders. He used only twelve of
them. His divers descended in their armor, pointed the cylinders prop-
erly ; these were turned by shafts worked from above, and when located
under the vessel's bottom, were fired by an electric battery.

The quantity of 43,000 pounds of powder was consumed in the work.
Of this, full two-thirds were used in blowing off the iron centres and arms
from the shaft. She was a side- wheel steamer, and had upon each of the
outboard shafts 96 iron arms, which weighed 350 pounds a piece. To
break up this complicated mass of powerful iron work, and reduce so as
to be lifted, was really the labor to be accomplished. But the work was
accomplished, and the utmost stick, and the last visible spike of this great
steamer was taken up and carried away. Nothing was left for the sand to
form a bar upon, and five months from the day Mr. Goweii began the
work, he fully completed and performed his contract. About 1,600 tons
of iron was raised, with a large number of oysters that had attached them-

54 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

selves to the wreck. The iron, by the action of the sea-water, was nearly
worthless. The arrangement of the submarine apparatus employed was
so perfect, that no accident of any description, occurred to any of the
divers during the prosecution of the work, the men frequently remaining
under water for twelve hours.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF WATER-METERS.

The following paper on the theory and construction of water-meters,
was recently presented to the Society of Arts, London, by Mr. J. Glynn,
P. R. S. After alluding to the necessity for some correct measurer of
water, now that there was a very general demand for the constant supply
system, the author described what he thought were the essentials of a good
water-meter. These were, 1. That it should correctly measure and show
the quantity of water delivered under varying heads or pressures ; 2. That
it should not be liable to get out of order ; 3. That it should be easily
cleaned, oiled, or adjusted ; and 4. That the cost be not too great, so that
it may be generally used by householders. The majority of those hitherto
invented had, he considered, been deficient in one or more of these essen-
tials, and the Jury of the Great Exhibition did not award even honorable
mention to any meter, though five different contrivances were exhibited
there. He then explained the leading features of the several plans which
had been proposed, commencing with the double cistern, to be emptied and
filled by turns, the contents of which being known, and the ebb and flow
of the water registered, a very simple and compact meter for water delivered
in large quantities, at a low pressure, might thus be made. The same idea
of twin vessels and a reciprocating action by means of a diaphragm, or
flexible partition, had been further elaborated, something like the gas meter
upon that principle. The reciprocating motion of a piston in a cylinder
like that of a steam-engine had also been proposed, but some head of water
was required to overcome the friction of the mechanism in this case. Other
forms of the steam-engine had also been suggested, such as the disc-engine,
which combined the rotary with the reciprocating action. The water-
wheel on a small scale, and revolving in a circular case, had been tried in
various ways, and was a favorite scheme, but not a successful one. The
clepsydra, or water-clock, had also been tried to measure water ; and after
this came drums of many shapes, some receiving the water at their centre,
others at their circumference. Of those taking the water at the centre,
some resembled a fan blast, some were like Appold's pump, and one was
like Barker's mill, which had ingenious contrivances for obviating friction,
for continual lubrication, for straining the water as it entered, and for pre-
venting acceleration of the drum or mill part of the machine, for which
Mr. Siemens had a patent. Another type was the insertion in a pipe of
something like a screw-propeller, which would register at the rate at which
the water flowed past ; and there were modifications of it in portions of
screws, drums with spiral vanes, and so forth. Mr. Siemens had a patent

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 55

of this kind, in which two or three spirals revolved in opposite ways to
prevent acceleration. The author then described a meter invented by Mr.
Chadwick, of Salford, which had recently been brought under his notice,
and which it was stated only varied five per cent, between a head of water
of one foot and one of 300 feet. In this meter a wire gauge or sieve was
introduced between the supply pipe and two inlet passages situated in the
bottom of a cylindrical vessel. These passages opened into two vulcanized
India rubber bags, which were bedded and laid fiat on the bottom of the
vessel, and there were openings at the other extremities of the bags for
allowing of the exit of the water into the meter. Ou the water entering
these bags it set in motion three conical rollers attached to a central spindle
in connection with the ordinary counting wheels and dial, each revolution
of the rollers, registering exactly the contents of the bags. About two
years ago the Corporation of Manchester advertised for a water-meter capable
of measuring correctly under variable and great pressure. This was
responded to by a large number of persons, and among others by Mr. Taylor,
who had had his attention for some time previously directed to the subject.
His meter consists of a cylindrical vessel or cistern, of a size proportioned
to the bore of the pipe that was to receive and discharge the water. Inside
the above-mentioned vessel there was a drum revolving on its axis in a
vertical or upright position, and the stream passing through the meter was
distributed upon the drum at each side of the meter. The registration was
given by a train of wheels connected with the drum, and carried to the
indicator. The first meter made on this principle was fixed up at the
extensive cotton mills of Messrs. Birley, Manchester, and had been working
almost a year and a half without the slightest disarrangement, measuring .
from 3-5,000 to 36,000 gallons per day. There was one with a twelve-inch
bore pipe now working, measuring the water supplied by the Corporation
of Manchester to the township of Dukinfield, to the satisfaction of both
parties concerned ; and there were as many as betwixt one and two hun-
dred meters working in various parts of the country.

IRON COFFER DAM.

In a report of the proceedings of a semi-annual meeting of the Corn-
wall Railway Company, in England, embracing the report of Mr. Brunnel,
the Engineer, on the works of the Saltash Bridge, on a part of the line of
unfinished railway between Truro and St. Anstell, we find a description
of a coffer dam of a novel construction, sunk in a very deep part of the
river, to facilitate the construction of a pier for the support of the centre
of the bridge which forms a necessary part of the line. The dam in ques-
tion is not only of a novel structure, but it is made to shut out water to a
greater depth than any other work for a similar purpose that we have before
seen any account of, viz. : a pressure, under high tides, of 70 to 80 feet.
It is so constructed as to act on the principle of the diving-bell, in case the
water should find its way into the inclosure. But it seems to have tlms

56 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

far served its purpose, without a resort to this apparatus. The structure is
thus described :

It consists of an iron cylinder 37 feet in diameter and 85 in height,
containing* within itself all the arrangements of air chambers, passages,
etc., necessary for using it either as a large diving-bell or simply as a coffer
dam, as circumstances might require, and so constructed as to be afterwards
divided into two parts vertically, and removed after the pier shall have
been built within it. The whole, weighing upwards of three hundred
tons, was safely launched and floated into place, where it was raised per-
pendicularly, and pitched upon its lower edge in the centre of the river.
The river is at this point upwards of 50 feet deep at low water of neap
tides, and except for a short space on the turn of the tide, there is a con-
siderable current ; under such circumstances, this cylinder, drawing 50
feet of water, was pitched upon its lower edge accurately that is, within
three or four inches of the exact point required. Since then the work has
been carried on at the bottom of the cylinder, as in a diving-bell, against
a pressure of water occasionally of 70 and 80 feet. The mud and other
deposits forming the bed of the river for 10 feet or 12 i'eet in thickness,
have been removed, and the cylinder is now resting on the rock, and pre-
parations are making for excavating the rock into level beds for receiving
the masonry.

ACTION OF SEA-WATER ON CEMENTS.

M. M. Malaguti andDurocher, have lately devoted much attention to
the action of -sea-water on hydraulic cements, and have discovered that
" Parker's," which contains a considerable portion of the oxide of iron,
stands the best. They formed several kinds of puzzolanas by making
mixtures of silica and a little lime with alumina and oxide of iron, and
tien studied the action of sea- water on these mixtures, previously heated to
a dull redness. After immersion for some time, these substances augmented
in volume, and possessed the most remarkable characters. Each of them
divided itself into two distinct compounds, one of which attached itself to
the bottom of the flask, and had gained considerable cohesion and adher-
ence ; whilst the other assumed a flocculent aspect ; it swelled out more and
more, and rose above the bottom. In analyzing these different com-
pounds, they have found that the quantity of lime precipitated is inde-
pendent of the presence of alumina, whilst it is augmented by the pres-
ence of oxide of iron. Further, they have recognized that the flocculent
compound was the richest in alumina, and that the concreted deposit was
richest in oxide of iron.

These synthetical experiments having apparently demonstrated that oxide
of iron is not an inert constitutent of hydraulic cements ; they believe that
the presence of this oxide would contribute to give stability to mortars and
cements immersed in sea- water. It remains, however, to be ascertained
whether cements or artificial hydraulic limes, formed by the addition of

MECHAXH'S AXD USKI-TL AKT>. 57

lime to ferruginous clays, or mixtures of clay with hydrated peroxide of
iron, or even mixtures of clay and substances capable of generating oxide
of iron, \vill not be attacked by sea-water. But these experiments require
a considerable time, and in the meantime, it may do good to give publicity
to the results which they have obtained, as they may be useful to those
engaged in the construction of hydraulic works, and because it is of the
greatest importance that they should be verified by experience.

ON THE FATIGUE OR CONSEQUENT FRACTURE OF METALS.

At a recent meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a paper was
read on the above subject, by Mr. Braithwaite, C. E.

Many accidents, the causes of which have been pronounced "mysteri-
ous," having professionally engaged the author's attention, he had care-
fully examined the circumstances of each, and the condition of the
fractured metal, in all cases, and at length arrived at the conclusion, that
almost all the accidents might be ascribed to a progressive deteriorating
action, which might be termed the "fatigue of metals"

Metal in a state of rest, although sustaining a heavy pressure or strain,
as in a beam, or girder, and exhibiting only the deflexion due to the super-
posed weight, would continue to bear that pressure without fracture, so
long as its rest was not disturbed, and the same strain was not too fre-
quently repeated. But if either of these cases occurred, a certain disturb-
ance of the particles took place ; the metal was deteriorated, and that
portion subject to the reiterated strain was so far destroyed that it ulti-
mately broke down. This might also arise from, sudden concussions,
when the metal was under. a certain strain, and those concussions might
be caused by the girder being suddenly unloaded. Several examples were
given of accidents of the kind that had been alluded to ; for instance that
of a vat in a London brewery, carried on cast-iron girders, by which it
had been supported for some years ; but suddenly, without any apparent
cause, they broke, and killed and wounded some workmen. In this' case
it was shown that the girders were not sufficiently strong for the load, and
therefore, the intermittent load of the vat, which was sometimes full, and
sometimes empty, caused a constantly recurring deflexion, and a subse-
quent corresponding effort to regain its natural position, by which the
composition of the metal was disturbed, and fracture ensued. Other
examples of the same nature were given, and it was shown that the
repeated buckling of the tube-plate of a locomotive, arising from the
action of the pistons, had a tendency to cause fracture mechanically, and
also that the side strains and vibrations to which suspension- rods of the
ash-pans of locomotives were subjected, had produced very serious
results, which it sufficed to point out forcibly to guard against the recur-
rence of.

The author contended, that presuming adequate dimensions to have
been given to girders, and the stipulated weight not to have been exceeded,
3*

58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the chances of accident were remote; but that any repeated deflexion,
either at intervals, or continued so long as to induce a permanent
depression, must be productive of danger, which could only be adverted
by altering, or replacing the parts deficient in strength, and maintaining
a rigid supervision, whether of beams when loaded, or of parts of
machinery, or of railway stock after working. By such means, accidents
woiild be prevented, and a greater degree of confidence be established in
structures in which metal was employed. Loud. Mechanics' Magazine.

DILATATION OF CAST-IRON BY SUCCESSIVE HEATINGS.

The remarkable phenomenon that cast iron presents after being
heated, of not returning, on cooling, to its original dimensions, but of
presenting constantly an increase of this volume, and by consecutive
heatings and coolings, of acquiring a permanent volume, larger and larger,
was first observed by Prinsep, in 1829. This chemist found that a retort
of cast-iron, of which the capacity had been measured with care by the
weight of mercury it contained, gave the following results. Before ever
being heated, the retort contained 9.13 cubic inches of mercury; after the
first heating and cooling, the contents were increased to 9.64 cubic inches ;
and after three successive heatings to the fusing point of silver, the con-
tents were 10.16 cubic inches. The cubic dilatation produced then was
11.28 per cent., or a lineal dilatation of nearly 3.73 per 100. Since this,
there has been occasion to observe more frequently, and to investigate this
property of cast-iron. It has been remarked, in effect, that all grate-bars
which sustained a high heat became curved, little by little, that they elon-
gated more and more, until finally they would push out the bars that sus-
tained them.

M. Brii, in a work he has recently published, entitled Researches on the
Calorific Power of the Principal Combustibles found in Prussia) has made
known some experiments on this subject. By the aid of numerous
measurements, he has found that its permanent length augments after a
heating, but that this augmentation was so much the less as the bar had
been heated more often, and finally ceased. Thus, a grate-bar of 3.5
feet in length, after three days of a moderate fire, had taken a permanent
elongation of three-sixteenths of an inch, (equal to 0.446 per cent. ;) at
the end of seventeen days, this elongation was seven-sixteenths of an
inch, (1.042 per cent,) and at the end of thirty days had reached thirteen-
sixteenths of an inch, (nearly two per cent.,) and did not yet appear to
have attained its maximum. Another bar, of the same kind, after a long
service, had preserved a permanent elongation of 1.2o inches, or nearly
three per cent. The bars, while in the fire, experience another elonga-
tion, whicli is temporary, and contract as the heat is diminished ; and it may
hence be concluded with M. Brix, that it is proper to give to each new bar
a play, longitudinally, of about one twenty-fifth of an inch,' or four per
cent., to allow for this permanent and temporary elongation. In all cases,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 59

it is necessary to make it long enough, that when cold it may not fall
between the supports, but in general it seems that not sufficient play is
given to bars supported in this manner. Technologist, May, 18o4.

MANUFACTURE OF IRON FOR SHIP-BUILDING.

Robert M. Garvin, of Glasgow, has devised the following method for
preventing the adhesion of barnacles, and other animal matter?, or forma-
tions to the bottoms of iron ships when afloat. He accomplishes this end
by adding to, or mixing in the iron, of which the ships are to be built, a
small proportion of arsenic. This admixture may be effected, either when
the iron is in a state of fusion, or at any other suitable or convenient stage
in the manufacture of the metal, such as in the puddling or blooming
processes, when the metal is soft and plastic.

The effect of such admixture with the iron is, that the resultant, gradual,
feeble solution of the poisonous matter in the water, destroys, or prevents,
the adhesion of all barnacles, and marine animal productions, of every
kind ; and thus no hold is afforded for the foreign matters which ordina-
rily cling to the fundamental animal formations.

By adding the poisonous matter to the mass of metal, during the process
of the manufacture of such metal, the latter becomes thoroughly incorpo-
rated with the poisonous ingredient, so that the whole of the exposed iron
of which a ship is built, retains its poisonous qualities until actually worn
out, instead of losing such qualities by surface wear. In practice, it has
been found necessary to add as much of the ordinary white or yellow
arsenic of commerce as the iron will fairly receive, without suffering any
deterioration in its quality. This necessary amount of arsenic varies from
two to five per cent, of the iron, according as the quality of the latter
varies. It is preferred, to effect the admixture of the poisonous matter in
the puddling furnace, the addition being made just before the metal begins
to boil ; or, instead of this routine, the poisonous matter may be placed
between the metal blocks, before the latter are heated for the rolling pro-
cess. By pursuing this last plan, little or no loss of the arsenic ensues.
The patentee also finds it necessary, to sprinkle the outside plate, whilst it
is red hot, with a little arsenic in addition, the sprinkling to be performed
before completing the rolling as, for example, before the last two
entrances to the rollers. The poisoned plates are then well cleansed with
strong acid, and are scrubbed with holystone, and are immersed in a mix-
ture of arsenic and spelter, tin, lead or zinc. It is obvious that this sys-
tem of treatment is applicable to the metal employed in various details
concerned in naval construction.

Iron plates treated in this way, have been tested by immersion in sea-
water, as well as by building them into the hulls of sea-going ships, with
the most favorable results. Mechanics Journal, London.

60

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

THE VALUE OF IRON.

To show how cheaply iron is obtained, and how the mechanical skill
and labor expended upon it totally overshadow the price, a number of the
British Quarterly Review gives the following curious and instructive calcu-
lation :

Bar iron, worth 1 sterling, is worth, when worked into horse shoes,

Table knives, .

2s T eedles,

Penknife blades,

Polished buttons and buckles,

Balance springs of watches,

Cast iron, worth 1 sterling, is 'worth, when conver ed into mac iiner3>-

Larger ornamental work, .

Buckles and Beriin work, .

Neck chains, .

Shirt buttons,

71

657

897

50,000

4

45

2 10
36

600
1,386
5,896

Thirty-one pounds of iron have been made into wire upwards of one
hundred and eleven miles in length, and so fine was the fabric, that a part
was converted, in lieu of horse-hair, into a barrister's wig. The process
followed, to effect this extraordinary tenuity, consists of heating the iron,
and passing it through rollers of eight inches diameter, going at the rate of
four hundred revolutions per minute, down to No. 4 on the gauge. It is
afterwards drawn cold, down to No. 38 on the same gauge, and so on,
till it obtains the above length in miles.

COMPOSITION OF STEREOTYPE METAL.

Persoze, the French chemist, has published the following table, of va-
rious fusible alloys used in producing stereotypes :

Xo.

Lead.

Tin.

Bismuth.

Antimony.

r

Character.

1

9.3

0.5

,

Hard and sonorous.

2

32,0

30.0

8.0

Fusible at 156 centigrades; somewhat soft,

verv malleable.

3

83.0

24.0

80

Fusible at 148 centigradcs; harder than

No. 2.

4

8.0

20

Fusible, very brittle and very hard.

5

16.0

24.0

8.0

_

Fusible at 150 centigrades, very hard and

very malleable.

6

9.5

0.5

Hard, very malleable.

7

10.0

40.0

10.0

Very hard, very malleable, excellent, but

less fusible.

8

9.5

0.29

0.29

Very hard and very malleable.

9

5.0

30

8.0

Very fusible, very good, but dear.

10

100.0

0.24

20.0

Less brittle than ordinary type metal.

MECHAXKX .\XD USEFUL ARTS. Gl

ON THE COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF LEAD AND TIN PIPE.

As the substitution of block tin pipe in place of lead, is rapidly taking
place, for the conveyance of water, the following results of experiments
instituted by Dr. W. H. Ellet, of New York, on the comparative strength
of the two metals, to resist hydraulic pressure, will prove interesting. Dr.
Ellet, in his report, says : For the purpose of determining the power of
tin to resist pressure, absolutely, as well as relatively, to that of lead, I
caused to be manufactured coils of pipe of the two metals, of precisely the
same dimensions. They were made, by hydraulic pressure, with the
same machine, the metals being urged through the same die, and passed
over the same mandril. The interior diameter of these pipes, was five-
eighths of an inch, the exterior seven-eighths, and their thickness was, of
course, one-eighth of an inch. The lead pipe was tried first. A pressure
of 50 Ibs. to the square inch, was applied, without any sensible effect.
The pressure was now gradually increased, and when it had risen to some-
where about 200 Ibs. to the inch, the pipe began to swell uniformly. Con-
tinuing to increase the pressure, the dilatation increased likewise, until
having reached a force of 397 Ibs. to the inch, a sort of aneurismal tumor
appeared at one point, where the metal rapidly thinned out, and at length
parted, with a longitudinal fissure, having sharp edges. The dilatation in
the rest of the pipe, had increased its diameter from seven-eighths of an
inch to one and one-eighth.

The tin pipe was next put under trial. The initial pressure here was
that at which the lead pipe had given way, viz. : 397 Ibs. to the inch. On
increasing the pressure rapidly, dilatation was not observed until the force
employed was somewhere between 800 and 900 Ibs. to the inch. The pipe
burst at the pressure of 1,212 Ibs. to the inch, presenting, at the point of
rupture, piecisely the same appearance as the lead had done. The gener-
al dilatation had increased the diameter, from seven-eighths of an inch to
precisely one inch. These experiments show, most conclusively, that the
strength of tin pipe to resist internal pressure, is more than threefold that of
lead.

The greatest pressure on the distributing pipes of the Croton, in the city
of New York, does not exceed SO Ibs. to the square inch.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IROX.

Mr. H. Leachman, of Islington, England, has patented an invention,
which consists in treating iron by means of certain materials, or a certain
combination of materials, for the purpose of producing more plastic and
malleable iron than heretofore. For this purpose, common brick- dust,
salt, black oxide of manganese, and pig-iron, are employed, as herein-after
mentioned. The first three mentioned materials are mixed together, in the
following proportions, that is to say : Common brick-dust, 120 Ibs.; com-

62 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

mon salt, (pounded fine) 600 Ibs.; black oxide of manganese, 280 Ibs.
1,000 Ibs. These three materials are to be thoroughly intermingled, and
reduced to a state of powder, and used in the boiling process to which pig-
iron is usually subjected. When the metal is thoroughly melted, and
commences to rise, the powder is to be added, in quantities varying from
4 Ibs. to 10 Ibs. weight, according to the quality of the metal. If the
metal is of a very poor quality, 10 Ibs. weight to the heat of 420 Ibs. of
metal, is used ; and as the quality is superior, so less is to be used propor-
tionally, up to 4 Ibs., in doing which, the manufacturer must be guided
by experience. The powder should be added to, or thrown into the
metal, all at once, at the same time stirring briskly about, so that the
whole gets thoroughly mixed, and the iron is then ready for use. Cal-
cined clay may be used instead of brick-dust. The patentee claims the
treating of iron by or with a compound of materials, as above described.

DURABILITY OF COPPER AND ITS ALLOYS.

The following extract from Layard's Discoveries in Ancient Nineveh and
Babylon, (Appendix iii., page 670, note 3,) evidently shows that copper
and its alloys are durable in connection, when so united as to prevent a
galvanic current ; but when in mere mechanical connection, such as bolts
of iron coming in contact with a ship's sheathing, are destroyed. The
specimens collected by Mr. Layard have stood at least three thousand
years.

" This was a very remarkable specimen. It was a small casting, in the
shape of the fore-leg of a bull. It formed the foot of a stand, consisting
of a ring of iron, resting on three feet of bronze. It was deeply corroded
in places, and posteriorly fissured at the upper part. A section was made,
which disclosed a central piece of iron, over which the bronze had been
cast. At the upper part, where it had been broken off, the iron had rusted,
and so produced the crack above-mentioned. The casting was sound, and
the contact perfect between the iron and surrounding bronze. It was evi-
dent, on inspection, that the bronze had been cast round the iron, and
that the iron had not been let into the bronze ; and in this opinion I am
confirmed by Mr. Robinson, of Pimlico, who has had considerable expe-
rience in bronze casting.

Composition.

Topper, 88.37

Tin, 11.33

99.70
" Some interesting considerations are suggested by this specimen.

" The iron was employed either to economize the bronze, for the purpose
of ornament, or because it was required in the construction. If the for-
mer, iron must have been much cheaper than bronze, and * therefore,
probably more abundant than has been generally supposed. No satisfac-
tory conclusion can be arrived at on this point, from the fact, that bronze

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 63

antiquities are much more frequently found than those of iron ; for the
obvious reason, that bronze resists, much better than iron, destruction by
oxidation. Although, I think, there are reasons for supposing that iron
was more extensively used by the ancients than seems to be generally ad-
mitted ; yet, in the specimens in question, it appears to me most probable
that the iron was used because it was required in the construction. And
if this be so, the Assyrians teach a lesson to many of our modern archi-
tects and others, who certainly do not always employ metals in accordance
icitk their special properties. The instrument under consideration, it will
be borne in mind, was one of the feet of a stand, composed of an iron
ring resting xipon vertical legs of bronze. A stand of this kind must
have been designed to support weight, probably a large cauldron ; and it
is plain that the ring portion should therefore be made of the metal having
the greatest tenacity r , and the legs of metal adapted to sustain vertical or
superincumbent u-eight. Now this combination of iron and bronze exactly
fulfils the conditions required. I do not say that a ring of bronze might
not have been made sufficiently strong to answer the purpose of the ring
of iron ; but I do say that, in that part of the instrument, iron is more
fitly employed than bronze. Moreover, the contrast of the two metals,
iron and bronze, may also have been regarded as ornamental."

CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF IRON SPIKES, COATED WITH COPPER,
BY THE PROCESS PATENTED BY E. G. POMEROY.

The following is a report of a chemical examination of the above arti-
cles, made by Dr. A. A. Hayes, of Boston :

This invention presents some peculiar features, when compared with
the ordinary modes adopted for coating metals. It is well known that tin
plate is manufactured by dipping thin sheets of clean refined iron into hot
melted tin, until, by repeated immersions, the surface of the Iron becomes
more or less thickly coated. The particles of tin adhere to the iron, with-
out any more than the most minute film of alloy of iron and tin being
formed. By the process of Mr. Pomeroy, the surfaces of the clean iron
spikes have first a coating of copper deposited on them galvanically, and
this covering adheres in consequence of a polarized condition of the par-
ticles of the iron. If the iron were absolutely pure, a perfectly uniform
crystalline covering of copper would exist over every part of the surface.
The metal is then protected by a coating or flux, and is immersed in a
bath of pure copper, or yellow metal, kept perfectly fluid, until its sur-
face is covered more or less thickly with copper or yellow metal. In this
way, reliance is not placed upon a mere coating by adhesion, which could
be easily removed ; but the unlike metal, iron, is previously covered with
copper, and this new surface unites to the metal in a fluid state, precisely
as amass of copper would, if it were immersed in a melted portion of the
same metal. This method forms the basis of a new art in working metals ,
and the value of a single application has been tested, as follows :

04 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

1. A spike, taken without selection from a lot of several thousand
pounds, was driven its length into sound white oak timber. A block, in-
cluding the spike, was exposed alternately to diluted muriatic acid, and
air, several days. Every minute opening in the copper was thus found,
the iron reached, and a portion dissolved. The resulting salt of iron, and
the tarmic acid of the wood, gave a bluish black discoloration to the wood.
Exposure to the air caused the formation of hydrate of peroxide of iron,
which, filling the minute openings, prevented further action. Oa splitting
the block, it was found that the general surface of the spike was unaltered ;
the iron having been dissolved from those points only where pores or
openings had existed, remained as a salt adhering to the spike. -

The destruction of iron in sea- water takes place through the absorption
of oxygen ; the exfoliation of the oxide permits the action to continue,
until the strength and size of a bolt become reduced. In the case of these
spikes, as the copper remains firm, only minute surfaces of the iron are
reached, and where oxide forms, these little orifices which are first made,
become closed, and no further action occurs.

In this experiment the acid was a thousand times more powerful than
sea- water is, and the effect, in point of time, was greatly increased.

2. Into vessels adapted for the collection of hydrogen, iron bars and
copper coated spikes were separately placed. A mixture of muriatic acid
and water was added in like quantity to each. The hydrogen which would
in this case be evolved, being measured for a given time, denoted the com-
parative rapidity of solution, for equal surfaces. It was soon found that
the iron, of nearly equal surface, evolved so much greater volume of hy-
drogen, that the quantity of surface could be much reduced ; and Avhen it
equalled only one -fourth the surface of one spike, and four such spikes
were used, the spikes gave one volume, while the iron afforded nineteen.
This experiment was varied, and continued six days, and a mean result
for rapidity of solution, where the iron was one-sixteenth the volume of
the spikes, was as one to nineteen and five-tenths. If the iron surface of
the copper- covered spikes at the pores in the copper dissolved with the same
rapidity as nail-rod does, the exposed surface of spikes would there-
fore require 304 times as many days for destruction in this way, as iron
ones would.

Under any conditions to which these spikes can be exposed to corrosion,
they will have at least the comparative duration of nineteen times that of
iron pikes not coated, in sea-water ; and as they retain their size unaltered,
they will remain firm in their places.

TIN FOILS CROOKE'S PATENT.

My invention consists in such improvement in the manufacture of tin
foils and sheets, that by it I accomplish the reduction of the cost, though
retaining those qualities which are essential to the purposes for which such
foil or metal is required This I effect by combining the baser and cheaper

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 65

metal, lead with tin, not, however, in the form of an alloy or mixture, but
so that each metal will be kept perfectly distinct, the tin or superior metal
being only exposed, while the lead or inferior metal is encased within. In
order to make such sheets or foils, a peculiar ingot or slab must be first
made, by which the whole amount of metals to be contained in the in-
tended sheet or foil must be joined at their surfaces, and retained in such
position that the subsequent action of the rolls shall not be able to dis-
place or extend one metal more rapidly than the other, for it is evident
that the lead, by reason of its being the softer and more yielding metal,
would be squeezed out in an undue proportion to the tin, were it not con-
fined on all sides by the tin. I therefore make the ingot or slab for roll-
ing, in the following manner : First, a metallic mould is made, which
shall determine the size of the slab to be cast ; the cavity in such mould may
be, say six inches wide, one inch thick, and ten inches long ; then prepare
a slab of lead, as much less in size than the cavity in the mould, as is de-
signed for the different proportions of the metals, say of the following
dimensions : five and one-half inches wide, nine and one-half inches
long, and half of one inch thick. This, when suspended in the centre of
the mould, will leave a clear space all round, and the tin can then be poured
in. To accomplish this suspension properly, I prepare small blocks or
posts of tin, of a length equal to the space left between the lead and the
sides of the mould, and by placing these around on all sides, I sustain the
slab of lead exactly in the centre. The surface of the lead being properly
clean, or properly fluxed or coated with an alloy of lead and tin, the mould
is ready to receive the tin which is poured in, until the whole of the space
is filled, the lead being then completely encased within it. The posts of tin
of course combine with the fluid tin poured in, and form part of the solid
mass. The slab is now ready for the rolls, and may be extended into
sheets and foils of any degree of thinness. From this construction of the
slab or ingot, it is evident that the lead cannot escape from the tin, but
must extend and be pressed out with it, in exactly the same manner, and
at the same rate, thus insuring perfect equality in regard to the given pro-
portions first adopted, as to every part of the sheets, no one part having
more lead in combination with it than another. Thus, foils or sheets are
produced, which, for many of the purposes to which those of pure tin are
applied, such as for wrappers of tobacco, caps for bottles, &c., are fully
equal in the qualities required to those of pure tin, while they are fur-
nished at a greatly reduced cost. Scientific American.

*

TEMPERING AND GRINDING STEEL.

Mr. Chesterman, of Sheffield, England, has lately invented and patented
several vaiuatle improvements in hardening and tempering steel, and in
grinding, glazing, buifing, and brushing steel and other metallic articles.
The process of hardening and tempering apply principally to thin steel,
such as is used for saw-blades, for example, The hardening is effected in

G6 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the following manner : The inventor takes a strip, say frbni ten to thirty
feet long, and winds it into a circular cast-iron case, of about the same
depth as the width of the steel. In the side of the case is a grate or aper-
ture, through which a small portion of the outer coil of the steel is made
to protude. He then puts a cast metal lid on the top of the case, so as to
cover the whole of the steel, and places the case in a furnace, and allows
it to get red-hot, when it is removed by one workman, while another
seizes hold of the protruding end of the steel, and draws it through a pair
of cold steel, metal, or stone dies or plates, by which the steel will be hard-
ened, coming out fiat. The dies or plates are to be kept cold, by having
cold water applied to them, or they may be made hollow, and a stream of
water be caused to flow through them. Shorter and stronger lengths, such
as steel saw-blades, &c., are hardened, by placing them in a furnace, and
allowing them to get red-hot, and then quickly introducing them and sub-
jecting them to pressure between two dies or plates, mounted in a frame,
so as to form a press, by which means they are both hardened and pre-
vented from warping or buckling care being again taken to keep the
dies or plates, whether of metal or stone, cold by the application of water.
He tempers these articles in the ordinary manner, and the tapes or strips
as follows : After the strip or length of steel has passed through the dies
or plates, it is removed to a stretching- table, where one end is made fast
between screw-clamps, or otherwise, while the other end is clipped be-
tween another pair of screw-clamps attached to a leather strap, which is
fastened to a drum or roller turning in bearings, and furnished with a lever
or arm, which is weighed so as to produce a gentle strain on the steel.
The steel is then oiled or greased, and heat is applied to it from a portable
furnace or gas-light, attached to a flexible tube, or from any other source,
so as to blaze off the oil or grease, whereby a fine spring temper will be
imparted to the article operated on, and it will be left flat and straight.
Or a fixed gas-furnace is employed, and the steel drawn from the harden-
ing dies or plates, direct through the gas-furnace, thus becoming hardened
and tempered at one continuous operation.

For the purpose of grinding both sides of a flat article, or the entire
periphery of a circular or similarly-shaped article, the inventor fixes upon
a central tube or axis, a grindstone in the form of a roller or cylinder, and
makes this stone plain or indented, with semi- circular or other grooves,
according to the shape of the article to be ground ; and over this grind-
stone roller he mounts another similar to it. Upon rotary motion being-
imparted to the rollers, and the end of the article to be ground being in-
serted between them, they will draw it through, but without grinding it ;
the article is then to be drawn or pushed by the workman, in a contrary
direction to the rotation of the rollers, and the grinding will then take
place in its passage between them. The sides of one of the rollers, when
the articles to be ground are flat, are also provided with collars formed of
grindstone, and of a larger diameter than that of the rollers, whereby the
edges, as well as the sides of the metal article, may be groiind, when re-
quisite, at the same operation. Means are provided for adjusting these

MECHANIC;? AND USEFUL ARTS. 67

rollers to suit the thickness of the "articles to be ground, and also for ad-
justing the stones on the central tube or axis. For the purpose of grinding
one side only of a steel or metal article at a time, a plain wooden roller
is substi tilted for one of the grindstone rollers ; and combined with this
arrangement are guide-rollers, for cross-grinding. Scientific American.

f

WELDING STEEL ON SHEARS' BLADES.

The welding of steel upon iron is a very particular operation, and one
which requires great experience and care to perform. An improvement
in machinery for welding steel on the blades of shears, and finishing them,
has been made by Robert Dawson, of Huntington, Connecticut. The
principal operating parts are two dies, one being of the form required for
the back or outer side of the blade, and the other of the face or inner side
of the same, when finished. The former die is arranged in a sliding bed,
the latter on a roll above it, the former receiving and forming a solid bear-
ing for the whole of the iron part of the blade, and the latter having a flat
face to rotate in contact with, and press upon the steel, for welding it to
the iron properly, both being caused to move together by gearing between
the bed of the lower die, and the roll of the upper die. Scientific American.

MALLEABLE IRON CASTINGS.

Mr. H. A. Brooman, of London, lias taken the patent for an invention,
which consists of an improved method of preparing wrought iron, so that
it may be capable of being poured or cast into moulds, for the production
of malleable castings, or articles which shall have all the strength and
qualities due to wrought-iron. The invention is designed chiefly for the
manufacture of railway wheels ; but it is equally applicable to the produc-
tion of other articles. Scrap or wrought-iron may be employed, or bars
or plates cut into small pieces, and it must be melted into crucibles, such
as are used for melting blister steel. To a charge suitable in amount to
the crucible, one-half of one per cent, of charcoal, by weight, one per
cent, of manganese and one of sal ammonia are added. The whole is
covered from the atmosphere, and melted in a temperature of about 1,500
Fahrenheit, which temperature is maintained for three hours. The metal
is then poured into moulds. Other carbonaceous matter may be substi-
tuted for charcoal. The iron thus cast will, it is stated, be malleable, so
as to be capable of being treated under the hammer in the forge, and
formed into other shapes, and thus also part of the iron may be shaped in
moulds, and part completed by forging, so as to produce intricate shapes
and ornamental work.

NEW MACHINE FOR ROLLING IRON.

At the British Association, Mr. Clay produced and explained the model
of a machine used for rolling taper iron, by which an iron bar may be

68 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

rolled of any length, and tapered to any required degree. The principle
of the action of the machine consists in keeping one of the rollers fixed
on its bearings by hydraulic pressure. A valve, regulated by a fine screw,
permits the water to escape, and thus, as the operation proceeds, the rollers
become more and more separated, and the iron bar less flattened. By regu-
lating the valve, so as to allow of greater or less escape of the water, the
degree of tapering can be very accurately adjusted.

NEW PROCESS OF WHITENING PINS AND NEEDLES BIADE OF IRON ,

AND STEEL.

It is well known that pins made of brass wire, are deficient in strength
and elasticity, and accordingly they have been replaced by pins made of
iron or steel ; but it is necessary to tin them over. This operation, how-
ever, cannot be performed equally well with iron as with brass ; the pins
have a rough, uneven surface, which renders them inconvenient to use, as
they are liable to tear the cloth.

Messrs. Yantillard and Leblond, wishing to avoid this defect, formed
the idea of first covering the iron with a thin coating of copper, or other
metal having a greater affinity for tin than iron has ; but in order that this
result should be satisfactorily attained, it is necessary to polish and pickle
the pins before coppering them. The above- named manufacturers have
most ingeniously effected the polishing, the pickling, and the coppering,
by one single operation. To treat, for example, 2 kilogrammes, (a little
more than 4 pounds Qh ounces,) 4 litres (about 7 pints) of water, 300
grammes (10 ounces 9 drachms, avoirdupois, by weight) of oil of vitriol,
30 grammes (15 ounces, 13 grains, avoirdupois) of salt of tin, 40 grammes
(1 ounce 4 drachms 17 grains) of crystalized sulphate of zinc (white cop-
peras), and 7 grammes (about 108 grains avoirdupois) of sulphate of copper,
are mixed together; this mixture is allowed to dissolve during twenty-four
hours. The bath being thus prepared, it is to be introduced into a barrel
of wood, made pitcher-like, and mounted upon an axis. Into this barrel,
which has a capacity of about thirty-five pints, the pins are now to be put ;
it is then turned rapidly during half an hour, when the pins will be found
to have received a pickling, a polishing, and a slight coppering. After the
lapse of this time, 20 grammes (about 10 drachms 8 grains, avordupois)
of sulphate of copper, in crystals, (blue stone,) are to be added, and the
barrel again turned during ten minutes, when a solid coppering will be
effected, with a finely-polished surface. This done, the liquid in the bar-
rel is to be decanted off, and may be used repeatedly for the same purpose ;
the pins are washed in cold water, then put in a tray containing a hot solu-
tion of soap, and agitated for about two minutes. The soap lye is decanted
off, and the pins put into a bag, with some fine sawdust, and shaken, by
which means the coppered surface assumes a brilliant appearance. The
pins thus prepared may be tinned in the ordinary way. The articles made
in this way are far more beautiful and useful than those made in the ordi-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 69

nary way. This process -is the more deserving of attention at present,
quite independent of the superior quality of the pins, in consequence of
the exceedingly high price of brass wire. Bulletin dc la Sociefie d'Eti-
couraffement,

ON THE APPLICATION OF THE GASES OF BLAST FURNACES.

Mr. Xowel, in a recent communication to the Socity of Arts, made
some statements of interest respecting the practical application of the gases
of blast furnaces. It was shown, on the authority of Bunsen and Play-
fair, and from calculations deduced from data furmshed by the posthu-
mous papers of Dulong, that of the heat produced by the combustion of
the fuel in a coal-fed blast furnace, only 18.5 per cent, is realized in
carrying out the processes of the furnace, the remainder, 81.5 per cent,
being lost. This loss, in well-conducted establishments, is no longer per-
mitted. The gases are now collected at the mouth of the furnaces and
conveyed, by large pipes, underneath the boilers of the engines and round
the hot-air stoves. The principle has been carried out in great perfection
at Cwm Celyn. : the pipes gffe six feet in diameter, and are lined with fire-
brick ; and the gases from two furnaces only more than suffice for the sup-
ply of seven boilers, and for the hot blast for both furnaces, at a saving of
full ten thousand tons of coal a year.

NETV ENGLISH STANDARD WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

It will be remembered, that the destruction of the Houses of Parlia-
ment by fire, in 1831, proved fatal to the standard yard and pound. A
commission was subsequently appointed to consider the steps to be taken
for the restoration of these standards, the members of which were all
Fellows o the E,oyal Society.

The late Mr. Baily took a very active part in the preparation of a
standard yard ; which, however, although constructed most carefully,
deteriorated in such a manner as to be unworthy of confidence. Since
Mr. Baily's death, the Rev. Mr. Sheepshanks has been engaged on the
very difficult and delicate task of constructing a standard yard, while
Professor Miller, of Cambridge, undertook to make a standard avoirdupois
pound. The liberality of government placed at Mr. Sheepshanks' com-
mand apparatus for his purpose far superior to that possessed by his prede-
cessors. His labors were carried on in the lower tiers of cellars in Somer-
set House, which are very favorable to the work on account of their
slow-changing temperature.

After an infinite number of experiments and comparisons, two stand-
ards have been constructed. The originals have been inclosed in one of
the walls of. the new Houses of Parliament ; and perfectly accurate
copies have also been placed in the custody of the Royal Society.

The standard yard measure is defined by the interval between two lines

70 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

upon a bar of gun-metal. The bar is about thirty- eight inches long, and
one inch square ; it is supported in a horizontal position upon eight brass
rollers, which are carried by levers so arranged that the pressures upon the
eight rollers are necessarily equal. The lever frame, with the bar resting
upon it, is placed in a box of mahogany wood. The bar is prevented
from moving endways by weak brass springs attached inside to the ends of
the box, and is prevented from moving upwards by wedges of paper placed
under three inverted stirrups. Near to each end of the bar, a cylindrical
hole is sunk from the upper surface of the bar to the depth of half an
inch, and at the bottom of each cylindrical hole is inserted a gold pin,
upon which are cut three fine lines in the direction transversal to the bar,
and two fine lines parallel to the axis of the bar. The limiting points of
the yard measure are those points of the middle transversal lines which
are midway between the longitudinal lines. On the upper surface of the
bar the following inscription is engraved :

Copper. .......... 16 02.

Tin ........... 21-2

Zinc ........... 1

Mr. Baily's metal.
Standard yard at at 62.10, Farenheit, cast in 1845. Troughton & Sirnms, London.

It is necessary to observe that, although the bar was cast so long ago as
1845, the standard yai\d has been completed only very lately.

The standard pound weight is made of platinum, representing, when
weighed in vacuo against the last standard Troy pound, 6,999.9,975 grains,
of which the last standard contained 5,760 grains. The form of the weight
is a cylinder, with a groove surrounding it a little above the middle of its
height for the insertion of the fork which is used in lifting it. On the
upper end of the cylinder is engraved the following inscription :

No. 2.

P. C.t 1844.
1 Ib.

The box containing the weight is mahogany, and when its portions are
screwed together the weight is fixed immovably. This mahogany box is
placed in a second mahogany box, the lid of which bears the inscription :

Standard Pound, 1853.

ON THE CONSUMPTION OF SMOKE.

The following is an abstract of a paper read before the Society of Civil
Engineers, on the consumption and prevention of smoke, by Mr. C. "Wye
Williams.

The object of this communication was, to endeavor to remove the mys-
tery which had hitherto obscured, what was asserted to be one of the
simplest and best understood processes of nature namely, the combustion
of the gaseous products of coal. The nature of flame and smoke was
examined, showing that the intense heat caxised by the combustion of the
hydrogen, was the direct cause by which the temperature of the carbon
was raised to that of white heat, Avhich produced the luminosity of flame.

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS.

71

This process was illustrated, by reference to the mode of producing the
intense heat and luminosity required for the oxy-hydrogen microscope. In.
the latter, the piece of lime or carbon on which the heat was projected,
was instantly raised to the temperature of extreme luminosity, neither the
lime or carbon, however, suffering rapid combustion. In the former, the
carbon of the gas was raised by the same means, (the combustion of the
hydrogen), to the high temperature, but could not suffer combustion until
it was brought into contact, in its turn, with its equivalent of the oxygen
of the air. If, however, that supply of air was not provided before the
carbon lost its high temperature, it returned to its previous and natural
state of a black substance, and gave the black character to the products
called smoke.

In effecting the combustion of the gas generated from the coal in a fur-
nace, the first process was merely mechanical, and consisted in bringing
the atoms of the gas, and those of the air, into the most intimate state of
mixture ; such mixture being the sine qua non of subsequent chemical
union. The mode or means by which this chemical admixture could be
effected in the most rapid and intimate manner, involved all that art or
human ingenuity could do, towards producing perfect combustion. Refer-
ence was then made, to the area recommended by some authorities, as
being sufficient to allow the quantity of air to enter a furnace. It had
been considered, that even half a square inch of aperture, for each square
foot of furnace grate, was sufficient for the combustion of the fuel. This
was, however, stated to be insufficient for practical purposes, the proper
area for admission being from four to six square inches for each foot of
grate, according to the extent of draught and the nature of the coal. This
serious difference was supposed to have been caused, by an erroneous cal-
culation of the rate of the current of air entering. For if half a square
inch of area was all that was allowed, the air must have a velocity ten
times greater than could be shown to have been ever attained. Thus,
supposing a furnace to be four feet by two feet six inches, equal to ten
square feet of bar surface, this would effect a combustion of 2 cwt. of
coal per hour, and require, for the gas alone, a supply of 10,000 cubic
feet per hour, or for 20 cwt. of the coal, 100,000 cubic feet. The following
comparison of velocities, of the entering air for the supply of the gas, gave
some idea of the cause of underrating the required area of admission :

Air Aperture
per square
foot of grate.

! Telocity of draught
per second.

Quantity of air
per hour.

Quantity
for each ton
of coal.

6 sqr. inches
6 " "

at 5 ft. per second.

: at 10 ft. "

i

7,500 cubic ft.
15,000 " "

75,000
150,000

Then, if the area were reduced to half a square inch, it would require a
velocity of 80 feet per second, to provide for the admission, within the

72 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

given time, of the necessary quantity. By close observation, by means of
an aerometer, the velocity of the entering current was estimated at from
8 to 10 feet per second, if the draught was good ; and from 5 to 8 feet
when it was but moderate. Again, it was observed that, by admitting
the air through numerous thin iilms or divisions, the velocity was neces-
sarily reduced, by mere friction, through so many half-inch orifices, as
were exhibited in the models and drawings on the table. In the admis-
sion of air to the furnace it was shown, that the great object to be effected
was, the division of the air on its admission to the furnace so that no
more atoms were brought into contact with the atoms of the gas, at any
one moment, than were required for their sxiccessive union and combus-
tion. If this were the case, combustion and heat would be generated
continuously, as the gas and air came into contact. If, however, the air
entered in a body, or even in a film, in larger quantities than could be
taken up by the gas before the temperature was lowered, a refrigeratory
effect must be the consequence, smoke would be formed and fuel would
be wasted. It was asserted, that the phrase " burning smoke" was im-
proper, inasmuch as the smoke did not exist until the gases had left the
furnace. Previously to the introduction of the tubular, in place of the
flue system, in marine boilers, it had been supposed, that the introduction
of the air, on the Argand principle, by a perforated plate, behind the
bridge, satisfied all that nature required in producing perfect combustion.
The tubular form of boiler, however, rendered a different arrangement
absolutely necessary. This was occasioned by the run, or distance between
the bridge and the tubes, being so very short, and consequently, the pass-
ing along that distance being so limited in time, that the mixing and com-
bustion could not be adequately effected. This, after numerous trials and
expedients, led to placing the orifices of admission in the front, or at
the door-way end of the furnace. The system adopted by boiler-makers,
of contracting the door- ways of marine boilers, much impeded a success-
fill application of the Argand principle. The enlarging the door-way
opening, however, afforded sufficient space for the required number of
three-fourths or one-half inch" orifices. By this arrangement, the length
of the furnace, from the door to the bridge, was thus, as it were, added to
the length of the run. By this mode of construction, the Argand princi-
ple had been applied, with great success to marine boilers. With refer-
ence to the supposed necessity for skilful firemen, the paper stated, that
the only duty that should be required from the firemen was, the keeping
the bars fully and uniformly covered : for if the back end, or the sides of
a furnace were left uncovered, the air would pass through them instead of
passing through the air- distributors, as that passage offered the hottest and
shortest route to the chimney. In fact, it was stated, that unless the bars
were well and equally covered, it was impossible to regulate or to control
the admission of the air. As to the use of self-acting valves, to regulate
the admission of the air, it was stated that after numerous plans had been
tried, during the last ten years, all had been discarded in practice, being

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. io

found to be worse than useless. The generation of the gas and the admis-
sion of the air through the uncovered portion of the bars, created such
irregularity as to defeat all efforts at uniformity, and it was impossible, by
any self- acting valves, to obviate the effects of such irregularity.

ON A NEW SMOKE-CONSUMING FIRE-PLACE.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Arts, Dr. Arnott, F. R. S., read
a p:iper " On a New Smoke Consuming and Economical Fire-place, with
additions for obtaining the healthful warming and ventilation of houses."
The author commenced by stating that the great evils connected with the
common coal fires were : 1. Production of smoke ; 2. Waste of fuel ; and
3. Defect of warming and ventilation. After reviewing the evils arising
from smoke in the interior of houses and in the external atmosphere
which in the washing of clothes alone cost the inhabitants 1,500,000?.
more than the same number of families residing in the country, besides
being inimical to health the question of waste fuel was examined, and
the opinion of Count Kumford was quoted, who declared that five-sixths
of the whole heat produced in an ordinary English fire went up the
chimney with the smoke to waste. This estimate was borne out by the
facts observed in countries where fuel was scarce and dear, as in some parts
of Continental Europe, where it was burned in close stoves, that pre-
vented the waste, and with these a fourth part of what would be con-
sumed in an open fire sufficed to maintain the desired temperature. The
axithor then proceeded to observe that if fresh coal, instead of being placed
011 the top of a fire, where it must unavoidably emit visible pitchy vapor
or smoke, be introduced beneath the burning red-hot coal, so that its pitch
in rising as vapor must pass among the parts of the burning mass, it
would be partly resolved into the inflammable coal-gas, and would itself
burn and inflame whatever else it touched. Various attempts had been
made to feed fires in this way, of which the most important was that intro-
duced by Mr. Cutler about thirty years ago. He placed a box filled with
coal immediately under the fire, with its open mouth occupying the place
of the removed bottom bars of the grate, and in the box was a movable
bottom supporting the coal, and by pressing which the coal was lifted
gradually into the grate to be consumed. The apparatus for lifting, how-
ever, was complicated and liable to get out of order, which, with other
reasons, had caused this stove to be little used. In Dr. Arnott's new
fire-place, the charge of coal for the whole, day was placed immediately
beneath the grate, and was borne upwards as wanted by a piston in the
box, raised simply by the poker iised as a lever, and as readily as the wick
of an argand lamp was raised, and the fire was under command as to its
intensity almost as completely as the flame of a lamp. To light the fire,
wood was laid on the upper surface of the fresh coal filling the box,
and a thickness of three or four inches of cinders or coked coal left from
the fire of the preceding day was placed over it. The wood being then
4

74 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

lighted, instantly ignited the cinders above, and at the same time the pitchy
vapor from the fresh coal beneath rose through the wood flame and cin-
ders, and became heated sufficiently to inflame itself, and so to augment
the blaze. "When the cinder was once fairly ignited, all the bitumen rising
through it afterwards became gas, and the fire remained quite smokeless
for the remainder of the day. In this grate no air was allowed to enter at
the bottom, and combustion therefore only went on between the bars.
The unsatisfactory results of some other attempts had been owing, in part,
to combustion proceeding downwards, owing to the admission of air
below.

ON THE CONSUMPTION OF FUEL AND THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE.

At the British Association, Mr. Fairbairn, in a communication 011 the
above subject, explained the principles on which the perfect combustion
of fuel depends, and expressed his opinion that by proper attention, and
by the adoption of the means already known ard practised, the issuing of
smoke from steam-boiler furnaces might be effectually prevented. The
great secret is to have sufficient capacity in the boiler ; and if the boilers
had double their usual capacity, the perfect combustion of the fuel, and,
consequently, the prevention of smoke, might be readily accomplished.
He referred to the steam-engine furnaces of the Cornish mines to prove
that when there is a sufficient inducement to the proprietors by the saving
of expense, and of incitement to the engineers by competition, the emis-
sion of smoke is prevented without any special arrangement to produce
that effect. Mr. Fairbairn then described a furnace which he conceived
offered great facilities for the more perfect combustion of fuel. It consists
of two furnaces united into one, the gases issuing from the coals being
mixed together in a single chamber, and then passed in a heated state over
the bridge of the furnace, where they are ignited. By this means, and by
kepping the fire-bars clean for the admission of air, the combustion was
rendered very complete.

An improvement in smoke-consuming stoves has been made by E. A.
Hill, of Joliet, Illinois. The fire-box of the stove is divided into two
compartments, each having a separate smoke pipe, and both fire-places so
connected together that the smoke from one can be thrown over the sur-
face of the other fire alternately by a damper, so that the products of the
combustion of both fires pass up the same pipe. For burning bituminous
coal, the improvement appears to be an excellent one ; for it is designed
that one of the fires shall always be full, red and glowing, when the other
is supplied with fresh fuel, so that the black smoke (carbonic oxide) which
arises when new coals are put on shall be carried over the top of the
glowing fire, and mixed with a portion of fresh-heated air, by which
means it will ignite flame up and be consumed ; in other words, form
carbonic acid. This stove will not only consume the smoke, but save
considerable fuel. Scientific American,

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 75

THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF SMOKE.

A writer in the London Times argues in favor of the sanitary effects of
smoke. He says that smoke, being nothing more than minute flakes of
carbon or charcoal, the carbon in such a state is like so many atoms of
sponge, ready to absorb any of the life- destroying gases with which it may
come in contact. In all the busy haunts of men the surrounding air is, to
a certain extent, rendered pernicious by their excretions, from which invisi-
ble gaseous matter arises, such as phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydro-
gen, cyanogen and ammoniacal compounds, well know by their intolerable
odor. Now, the blacks of smoke (that is, the carbon) absorb and retain
these matters to a wonderful extent. Every hundred weight of smoke
probably absorbs twenty hundred weight of the poisonous gases emanat-
ing from the sewers and from the various works where animal substances
are under manipulation.

SELF-ACTING DRAFT-CLOSER.

A simple and effective apparatus has been devised by Professor Tread-
well, of Cambridge, for regulating the draft in ordinary hot-air furnaces.
This apparatus acts by the expansion of the furnace itself, so that, when-
ever the combustion is established and carried to a certain point, the
expansion that must attend that state of the combustion moves a catch,
and the damper closes with absolute certainty. The contrivance is as sim-
ple as an old-fashioned door latch, and no more likely to get out of order.

COOKERY FOR SOLDIERS.

A new method of cooking and heating, the invention of General
Dembinski, has recently been introduced into the French armies. The
principle of the invention is very simple, but the applications of it are
numerous. A cylinder made of zinc, copper, sheet iron, or any other
metal, with an inner cylinder containing sand or small stones, is connected
by means of two tubes with a very small vessel, which is placed on a fire, or
over a gas light or a lamp. The space between the two cylinders, which
is small, is filled with cold water. The vessel on the fire, which is mode
of very thin metal, is filled with water, which boils almost immediately.
As the water boils it rushes by one of the pipes to the cylinder, and by
the other pipe the water in the cylinder returns to the vessel over the fire,
and this process goes on until the whole of the water boils, which is in
one-fourth of the time that would be required to bring it to the boiling
point if placed in a large vessel over the fire in the usual way. The pro-
cess is continued until the sand or stones in the inner cylinder have
become perfectly heated. Two cocks, close to the cylinder, are then
turned, and the pipes being unscrewed, the cylinder is carried by means of

76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

handles to any room which it is intended to warm. The temperature of
the room is increased several degrees by the use of this cylinder, which, of
course, gives out neither smoke nor smell, and at the end of five hours
the heat in. the cylinder is still so great that the temperature of the room
is very nearly what it was when the cylinder was first introduced. This
fact is hardly credible, but the experiment has been made several times
with the same result. If more than one cylinder be wanted, the genera-
tor remains over the fire, and other cylinders can be attached to it, and
successively removed. The economy, convenience, and wholesomeness
of this mode of heating may readily be conceived. The cost of an ordi-
nary apparatus complete does not exceed twenty-five francs, and the only
part of it subject to wear and tear is the generator, which does not cost
one franc. If meat is to be boiled or stewed, a cooling vessel is attached
to the cylinder. When the meat is cooked this is withdrawn, and the
cylinder can be detached for the purpose of heating a room. This appa-
ratus appears to be admirably calculated for railroad and other carriages,
as a small cylinder will for several hours give warmth without an
unwholesome emanation of any kind.

ON THE RE-CUTTING OF THE TEETH OF FILES.

The following method of re-cutting, or renewing the teeth of old files,
has been patented by Edward Gilbert, of London. The teeth are renewed
by a corrosive agent applied to the surface of the file. The files are first
cleaned from any superabundance of greasy matter, and then placed in a
rack inside a bath composed as follows : With one pound of unslaked
lime mix two pounds of potash in one gallon of water, stir the whole inti-
mately together, allow it to remain till three-fourths the liquid have passed
off by evaporation, draw off the remaining quarter of a gallon of liquor,
and allow it to cool. In this liquor the files are to remain four hours, and
are then to be removed and brushed, cleaned in clean water and made
quite free from grease, and then immersed in a vertical position in a mix-
ture of one part of sulphuric acid, diluted with two parts of water. The
biting action of the acid attacks the whole surface of the files immersed ;
the continued effect of which is to deepen the several cavities between the
cutting points of the teeth, which become as sharp as they were originally.
The files must be immersed for from three to six hours or upward, accord-
ing to the fineness of the files and the strength of the liquid. The files
must be withdrawn and brushed from the oxide formed five or six times
during the process. The patentee states that the process is at once com-
paratively inexpensive, and removes so little metal that it may be repeated
three or four times on the same file, and thus it will render it advantageous
to wear files rrmch less than usual before renewing.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 77

FORBES' ROTARY DREDGER.

This machine consists of a hull of suitable size to carry the machinery.
In the middle of the boat ath wart-ships, and near the bow, running fore
and aft, there is a well-hole, about three feet -wide, and twenty-six feet
long. In this hole works a wheel, carrying upon its periphery the buckets
or scoops, made in the usual manner, with a hinged bottom, secured by a
latch. The wheel has ten hubs, and ten sets of arms, stiffened with diago-
nal braces, to prevent lateral motion ; upon each side of the wheel is a seg-
ment spur-wheel, into which is geared the pinions driven by the engines.

The journals of the scoop-wheel shaft work in boxes, that can be raised
or lowered by a chain and windlass, to suit the depth of the bottom to be
operated upon. In a frame at the bow of the boat there are two hinged
schutes, one of which, when the machine is in operation, is kept at one
inclination ; the other, situated above, and leading into the rirst, to which
it is hinged, is raised by each bucket as it passes upwards ; as the wheel
revolves, the bucket passes beyond the reach of the schute, where the end
next the wheel falls beneath the bucket, striking a trigger that opens its
bottom, leaving the contents free to fall into the schutes, and be conveyed
by them into the transporting scows alongside.

This machine, for some kinds of work, must supersede all others. Where
a long stretch can be had, such as a bar of a river, the bottom of a canal,
&c., the performance must prove admirable. No time is lost except that
spent in replacing the loaded scows with empty ones, and that, by practice,
m.iy be reduced to almost nothing. As the material is cut away, the boat is
drawn forward by a rope anchored ahead, and passing round a barrel on
the wheel shaft ; the rate of progress for each kind of cutting being regu-
lated by the proper sized windlass barrel wheel, which can be quickly
taken off and replaced by another.

It is said that a machine of the third class, having a wheel 24 feet in
diameter, with four buckets, has dug 1200 cubic yards of gravel bottom
in a day. Jour. Frank. Institute.

HAMILTON'S IMPROVED DREDGING MACHINE.

This machine consists substantially of a number of scoops, hung in
nearly a horizontal position, in a frame which is arranged to be raised or
lowered at pleasure, between two firmly- connected boats. As used in
lowering shoals and sand-bars, the whole apparatus is to be towed by a
steamboat backward and forward, discharging the dirt each time in the
deep water which is assumed to be adjacent. The forward end of the
frame is armed with joints projecting downward, the effect of which is to
harrow up the bottom. Each scoop is so connected to the frame that its
forward edge is capable of being raised and lowered to a considerable ex-
tent, forming, when raised to a horizontal position, a nearly water-tight

78 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

box, to prevent the escape of the contents. A few or the whole of these
scoops may be thus .brought into action at any given moment, the proper
depth of water being indicated by a long rod, loaded with a suitable weight,
to dredge on the bottom behind. It is well adapted to operating on a soft
bottom, when there is deep water conveniently near, in wliich the mud
may be dumped.

PRATT'S DITCH DIGGER.

At the recent State Agricultural Fair of New York, Mr. R. C. Pratt,
of Caiiandaigua, exhibited a new machine for digging ditches, which ap-
pears to combine all the elements of success. By its aid, one man and two
horses have frequently dug 150 rods of ditch, three feet deep, in one day,
and from 50 to 150 (according to the nature of the soil) is considered a
day's work. The machine consists substantially of a scoop and revolving
wheel, the scoop scraping, and the wheel carrying up the dirt, until at a
sufficient height it is tumbled out upon the sides, at a little distance from
the ditch. Several repetitions of the operation are required before the
ditch is sunk to a sufficient depth.

The specimen exhibited at the late fair was all of -wrought iron, and
weighed between 700 and 800 pounds. The diameter of the main wheel
was five feet, and the breadth of the diggers or lifters fixed thereon, and
that of the scoop or curved channel in which they rise, is about nine
inches. Although the lifting apparatus is thus -narrow, it is practicable,
and, indeed, desirable, to make the small ploughs or cutters which pare the
side cuts somewhat wider, so that a ditch of any width, from nine to fif-
teen inches, may be excavated by the same machine.

The weight of the dirt which is being lifted, the curved channel, and, in
fact, of the whole machine, rests on the diggers, which, like the floats of a
paddle-wheel, project from the periphery of the main wheel. As the
machine is drawn forward by the horses, the diggers are successively forced
into the earth, and compel the wheel to rotate, thus carrying up and dis-
charging from the top all the earth caught by the scoop, which is in imme-
diate contact behind. On the extreme rear of the whole are adjusted two
cutters or small ploughs, which pare the sides, and tear the earth to a suita-
ble distance below, ready for the next passage of the machine, so that, after
the first passage, the diggers are always pressed down into the ground,
already loosened to a depth of from two to ten inches, which loosening
maybe supposed to regulate the depth to which they .will be likely to
sink. The wheel and its accompaniments being of considerable weight,
great muscular exertion would be required of the attendant to pre-
vent its falling on one side, but for a simple and very effectual provision
for its support. The stout iron shaft on which the main wheel freely re-
volves is prolonged some two or three feet on each side, and provided with
a light carrying wheel, mounted loose, as in a common carriage axle, to
run upon the ground. These wheels are to maintain the upright position

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79

of the machine ; but the -weight must at all times, when in operation, be
allowed to rest on the diggers. In short, the main wheel and the whole
machine must be allowed to sink down into a ditch, or rise to the surface,
while the carrying wheels simply run lightly on the surface at the sides.
This end is accomplished by bending the axle into the form of a large crank
at each side, and releasing it from all connection with the machine, except
that of passing loosely through the centre. A catch is provided, by which
the attendant (who is supposed to be grasping a pair of handles in the
rear) may make the connection a fixed one at pleasure; and when desiring
to leave the field and travel the road, the weight may, by this means, be
thrown entirely upon the carrying wheels.

ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WATER IN FILLING UP DEEP BORE HOLES

IN BLASTING OPERATIONS.

In working the great deposit of magnetic iron ore which occurs under
peculiar circumstances in the granite at Moravitza, in the Banat, it has
been found necessary, in consequence of the hardness of the rock and ore,
to use bore holes, from two to two and a half inches in diameter, and
thirty-six to forty inches deep. The packing of such holes with clay be-
ing a very tedious operation, Mr. A. Keszt endeavored to substitute water
for the clay, with considerable success. One of Bickford's safety fuses,
which burns in water perfectly, is attached to the cartridge, and fastened
with thread ; this cartridge is let down to the bottom of the hole, and
about one and a half to two inches of clay firmly packed over it, the re-
mainder of the bore, nearly to the top, being filled with water. In the
case of very oblique bores, where the pressure of the water upon the bottom
was small, he plugged up the orifice of the bore with a plug of wood,
driven with considerable force into it, through a slit in which the fuse
passed. More recently still he had used, instead of a small quantity of
clay first introduced, to keep the cartridge from becoming wet, a mixture
of tar and pitch, which most effectually preserves the powder from damp.
Great numbers of trials have convinced him that the blasts fired with this
arrangement lose nothing in force, whilst there is a great saving of time,
and, consequently, of expense. Osterr. Zeitschrift far Ber-u-Huttemcc-
sen.

MARTIN'S IMPROVED JACQUARD LOOM.

In Martin's new Jacquard machine, the object had been to substitute
for the heavy cards a sheet of prepared paper, punched with given aper-
tures, like the cards of the old machines ; but instead of being a series of
pieces, two and one half inches wide, laced together, the punched paper
formed a continuous band, only three-quarters of an inch wide, thus so
diminishing the bulk that the weight of the new band, as compared with
that of the old cards, was in the proportion of one to eleven. The method

80 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

by which this desirable result had been attained was chiefly by an arrange-
ment, which permitted the four hundred spiral springs on the needles,
used in the old machine, to be dispensed with, when, as a consequence,
the force and wear and tear due to their resistance would be done away
with, and fine and light wires could be made to do the work of strong and
heavy ones.

LOOMS FOR WEAVING BAGS.

A very excellent improvement has been made in looms for weaving
seamless bags by George Copeland, of Lewiston, Me., who has taken
measures to secure the same by patent. This invention does not change
the general character of the loom from those commonly employed for
weaving plain or twilled fabrics, but consists chiefly in certain modes of
constructing, arranging, and operating some of the parts which require to
be duplicated. A loom constructed according to this invention requires
two sets of harness, either for plain or twilled weaving, according as a
Tjlain or twilled bag is required, and all the mechanism necessary to oper-
ate the two sets of harness, independently of each other. It also con-
tains two shuttle races, placed one above the other, in front of the same
reed, and employs two shuttles, which are both in operation at all times.
In weaving a bag, though only one warp is used, two independent sheds
are opened, one above the other, and the two shuttles follow one another
through the upper and lower sheds, and thus produce a fabric composed
of two parts united at the edges, one -half of the warp from which the up-
per sheds are formed composing one-half or one side of the bag, and the
other half from which the lower sheds are formed composing the other
half of the bag, the two parts of the fabrics thus formed only requiring
to be united at certain intervals, corresponding with the required depth of
the bags, to form a continuous web of bags, which, when finished, only
require to be cut across at proper intervals to separate them. The bot-
toms of the bags are formed without any stoppage of the weaving, by the
harness, and all the changes are effected by mechanism, which works with
the loom, the whole being self-acting. Scientific American.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FLOUR BARRELS.

Mr. Thomas Pearsall, of Tioga county, N. Y., has taken a patent for a
barrel especially adapted, as he thinks, to secure flour or meal from sour-
ing. His theory is, that the contents of the ordinary barrel commence to
heat in the centre of the mass, and that such heating might be prevented
by inserting a hollow tube in the centre of the barrel. His barrels are
made like those in ordinary xise, (except that they must be larger, to allow
of the same contents,) and the heads are bored with a three or four-inch
auger. The barrel is then taken with one head out ; a hollow tube fitting
the hole in the head, and open at both ends, is inserted in the remaining

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ART*. 18

head, and stands upright in the barrel, around which the flour or meal is
placed. The other head is then put on, the tube protruding three-quarters
of an inch, and the latter is then clinched or battered down on the outside,
leaving a hole the diameter of the tube, entirely through the centre of the
barrel. If the theory noted above is correct, and if the tube, which is
made of sheet iron, will allow the same evaporation and escape of heat at
the sides of the barrel, then Mr. Pearsall's invention may prove a valu-
able one.

A NEW MODE OF MANUFACTURING PAINT BRUSHES.

A very simple and effectual mode of manufacturing paint brushes,
without involving the necessity of driving the handle through the centre of
the brush, has been invented by Adonijah Handel, of Williamsburgh, X.
Y. The nature of his invention consists in placing the hair of which the
brush is to be made in a metal ring, and securing it therein by cementing
or sizing the roots, so as to prevent the escape of the hair, and then uniting
the back end of the ring, by riveting or other wise, with a back plate, which
receives the handle. The hair is most effectually secured in. this manner,
and it forms a solid brush ; it is easily constructed, durable, and more
convenient than those in use.

WIRE GAUZE FOR BANDAGES AND SPLINTS.

Specimens of this article have been exhibited before the London Medi-
cal Society, by Mr. Startin, the inventor. The material employed is
flattened copper or iron wire, and costs about Is. -id. per square' foot ; and
if the expense were not an object, the, materials might be plated. The
usual mode of application is, first to obtain a pattern for the splint by
means of cartridge-paper, and then carefully to cut the sheet of gauze to
the pattern. The splint further requires that the edges should be cut
.transversely at intervals, and the free edges covered with thin lead or
adhesive plaster. Folds of linen, wet with water, are placed upon the
limb underneath the splint, and the whole apparatus is kept in position by
rollers or tapes. The merits of the invention were said to be those of
lightness, cheapness, coolness, and affording the opportunity of readily
applying lotions without disturbing the bandages. It was recommended
in fractures, resections of the joints, and, indeed, in almost all instances
in which cradles and splints are ordinarily employed.

VICE'S SELF-REGULATING WIND-MILL.

Mr. T. C. Vice, of Rochester, X. Y., has recently invented a self-reef-
ing wind-mill, designed to operate on a large scale. The arms and
frames are as usually constructed, but the canvas sails are filled with
hanks or rings at each end running loosely on an iron rod, also with rods

4 *

82 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and loops at suitable distances along its length, so that the sail is prevented
from slatting, while at the same time it is at perfect liberty to be extended
or contracted by suitable cords. The main shaft of the mill is hollow,
and through it leads a light shaft, which carries on its end, and in front of
the centre of the wind-mill, a bevel wheel. This wheel gears into power
wheels keyed on the end of light shafts which extend the whole length of
each arm, having bearings at proper intervals along its length. Revolv-
ing these shafts in one direction, contracts the sail by shortening a set of
cords leading directly to t- 3 leech or edge of the sails, while revolving
them in the other directi n releases these cords and contracts another set,
which are rove through sheaves or through staples on the opposite side,
and serve to extend the sail. When all is right, the small shaft in the
centre of the main driving shaft is allowed to turn with it ; but if the wind
freshens and the mill moves too fast, the small shaft must be retarded,
which will have the effect, by revolving the bevel wheels, to reef or con-
tract the sails. As the weather moderates, and more sail becomes desira-
ble, the surface may be extended by giving the regulating or central shaft
a greater velocity.

This arrangement is easily adapted to employment with a governor, so
as to be literally self-adjusting, and in any event will, if successful in.
practice, save much of the most disagreeable labor in attending wind-mills
that of reefing in cold and wet weather. A forty horse-power mill, or
one the sails of which are each thirty-three feet long and six feet wide,
would probably require considerable power to extend the sails thus simul-
taneously ; but it may be recollected that this operation will usually be
performed when the wind ia light, the action in reefing being merely that
of a brake to retard the wheel, and the action of the cords on the sails is,
in this case, direct. Mr. Vice has provided means for making the mill
itself supply the power for this purpose, and considers the whole suscep-
tible of complete control by an ordinary governor.

An improvement in wind-mills has also been made by Daniel Halladay,
of Ellington, Connecticut. This consists of the attachment of wings or
sails to rotary movable spindles furnished with levers. These levers are
also attached to a head which rotates with the sails upon the same shaft.
Another lever is attached to the head. This is connected to a governor,
which slides the head upon the shaft, so as to cause the levers to turn the
wings or sails. The necessary resisting surface being thus presented to
the wind, a uniformity of velocity is attained. The proper regulation of
the obliquity of the sails, so as to adapt them to the varying motive force
of the atmosphere, is represented by the inventor to be thus secured,
without difficulty, to a degree which renders his mill more constantly
available than those hitherto employed. The mill built by him has five
feet wings ; that is, the diameter of the wind wheel is ten feet ; and it has
been in operation for six months, without a hand being touched to it to
regulate the sails. It is so contrived that nothing but a squall of great
severity falling upon it without a moment's warning can produce damage.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 83

The mill mentioned has drawn water from a well twenty-eight feet deep,
one hundred feet distant, and forced it into a small reservoir in the upper
part of the barn, sufficient for all farm purposes, garden irrigation, and
" lots to spare." The cost of such a mill will be $50, and the pumps and
pipes about $25. It is elevated on a single oak post a foot square, the
turn circle being supported by iron braces. The wings are made of one
longitudinal iron bar, through which run small rods : upon these rods,
narrow boards half an inch thick are fitted, holes being bored through
from edge to edge, and screwed together by nuts on the ends of the rods.
This makes strong light sails, but, as will be seen, are fixtures not to be
furled or clewed up ; but they are thrown up edge to the wind by a very
ingenious arid simple arrangement of the machinery, which obviates the
great objection to wind-mills for farm use the necessity of constant
supervision of the sails to suit the strength of the wind.

Wind is undoubtedly the cheapest power that a farmer can use ; and,
notwithstanding its inconstancy, if this improvement operates as well as it
bids fair to in the single mill erected, it will be applied to many valuable
uses.

WELLMAN'S SELF-STRIPPING TOP CARDS.

An improvement of no inconsiderable importance, considered by many
second to none which has appeared since Arkwright's invention of the
rotary cylinder, has been lately introduced in the carding department of
the cotton manufacture by Mr. George "Wcllrnan, of Lowell. Mr. Well-
man appears to have accomplished what several others have repeatedly
attempted ; he has attached to the top cards of an ordinary carding
machine an automatic stripper, which carefully lifts each card from its
place, strips it by a movement closely resembling that of the hand stripper,
but much more gentle, equable and effective, and returns it to its place,
accomplishing the work with any necessary degree of rapidity, and at a
considerably less expense for cards than in the present destructive method.
Mr. Wellrnan's invention dispenses with a great part, if not the whole, of
the gang of strippers heretofore indispensable, and the expense of stripping
is reduced to that of a much less frequent stripping even of the cylinder.
It has been adjudged desirable to make the carding machine larger than
usual in cases where this invention is to be applied, not from any necessity,
but as a matter of economy, the attachment, which by the way may be
applied to any cards now in use, costing no more for a large than for a small
card, and the presence of large cards adding considerably to the amount
of. work done on a given area of floor. Mr. Wellman's machine has been
set in practical operation but in one case, a single machine in the works
of the Merrimack Company, Lowell, where it has succeeded so completely
during a trial of a little more than eleven months as to secure the favor of
cotton manufacturers from all portions of the country. The Merrimack
Company have now in course of construction three more machines from

84 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the same pattern, the expense of repairs being found to be, in consequence
of the slow motions and the equal distribution of the wear, much less
than was anticipated. The number and variety of the motions in this
device are said to exceed even that of the famous card-sticking machine,
the operations of which have been several times exhibited in the mechan-
ical department of the various fairs in our principal cities. This com-
plexity of the mechanism has been endured rather than to involve the
immediate working parts in any motions except those absolutely necessary.
Several devices have been patented by other parties at various times for
stripping top-cards by automatic apparatus, but they have failed chiefly in
this point, viz. : that the motions to which the cards were subjected were
found to render almost utterly impracticable the delicate adjustment which
is necessary in this species of mechanism.

Wellman's machine lifts, strips, and replaces the cards with a motion
very closely resembling that of the hand ; and having originated with a
thorough practical carder, who has given this machine his enthusiastic
attention for several years, it may safely be judged worthy of the
immediate attention of all interested in the rapidity and cheapness of
the cotton manufacture.

NEW MORTISING MACHINE.

A very light and efficient machine, equally well adapted to mortising,
ganing, or tenoning, in either soft or hard wood, has been recently
patented by Messrs. Plumb, of Honesdale, Pa. The inventors appear to
have stepped boldly out from the beaten track, and to have produced a
device novel in several important respects, and worthy of admiration, 011
account not less of its obvious convenience than of its smooth, accurate
and rapid performance. The machine, when driven by hand- power, is
readily moved to any desired point on the timber a quality which of itself
sufficiently commends it to the favor of practical workers in heavy
lumber. Unlike the ordinary varieties of mortising machines, this is
capable of cutting very close to the edge or end of a stick, the great
distingtiishing feature of the invention consisting of the employment of a
species of miniature plane-iron, to shave rather than chip down the
material. Two chisels of proper width play vertically at proper distances
apart to mark the ends, while a stout arm projects downward and travels
to and fro between them. This arm, which receives by very simple
mechanism a motion precisely adapted to its purpose, dovetails into a
small steel cutter, or double-lip chisel, which planes in either direction
with each movement of the slide. The machine proves itself adapted to
every kind of heavy work, being capable of sinking mortises from two to
ten inches long to a depth of eight inches, and of any breadth from three-
eighths of an inch to three inches, according to the chisels and cutter
employed. Ganes or rectangular cavities 011 the corners of stuff are
executed with equal facility, the fixing of the machine in any required
position being readily effected by the aid of a simple clamp.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 85

HUTCHINSON'S IMPROVED STAVE-JOINTER.

Mr v C. B. Hutchinson, of Auburn, N. Y., who has heretofore devised
several important improvements in machines for the manufacture of staves,
has recently invented a machine which joints the staves entirely by sawing ;
and the means by which the proper swell is given to the bilge, and the
proper bevel to the edges of staves, of any width, make it an object of co)i-
siderable curiosity. A narrow stave may be succeeded by a wide one, and
this again by one extremely narrow, a single and easy motion of a lever
(supposed to be always held in the left hand of the attendant) being
sufficient to adapt the parts in every respect. The saws, two in number,
are circular, and mounted side by side, although on separate shafts or
arbors. Each arbor is carried in bearings on a movable carriage, so that
the saws may be made to approach or recede from each other. The
motion of the carriage is controlled by grooves bent vertically in such a
manner that the saws would fit face to face if brought quite together, but
become inclined as they separate, the upper points being always nearer
than the lower. These two carriages are connected by links to the afore-
said lever, so that they approach or recede simultaneously, from which it
follows, that, whatever their distance apart, the bevel in which they cut is
always closely approximating to that desired. The method by which the
bilge or swell in the middle of the stave is produced is perhaps still more
admirable, it being perfectly .self- adjusting. The lever, and consequently
the position of the saws, being held stationary during the jointing of a
stave of any given width, if the wood was fed up in a rectilinear line it
would be sawn in the proper bevel, but of equal width throughout. The
means by which the proper swell in the middle is attained in this machine are
simply that of allowing the stave to be moved forward in a curved rather
than a straight line. The feed apparatus is in fact a species of endless chain,
the links being equal to that of the longest stave ever required, and the
wood being held between hooks on the links, which tighten by their own
motion. The joints or hinges of the chain being carried in guides, nearly
horizontal, but curved so as to be highest in the middle position, or be-
tween the saws, the stave is in fact a chord of an arc, and the middle
passes the saws at a lower point, and where the saws are wider apart, than
do the ends. By properly proportioning the curve given to the guides, any
amount of swell may be given as required. A set of Hutchinson's ma-
chines, as now perfected for cutting, jointing and crozing, are stated by the
proprietor to make from 800 to 1,000 barrels per day.

MELLEN'S CIRCULAR PLANER.

It frequently occurs in the operations of the machine shop that portions
of cranks, arms, straps, cams, &c., requiring to be elegantly finished in a
curvilinear form, are so connected to other plane surfaces or projecting
portions as to preclude the possibility of their execution by any of the

86 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

tools ordinarily employed. A circular planer, designed to supply the want
thus daily rendered apparent, has been patented by Mr. D. F. Mellen, of
Went worth, N. II., planing to any radius between one inch and twenty
feet by means which, avoiding technicalities as far as possible, may be
explained as follows : A rack is secured on the inner side of one of the
posts, and into this mesh the teeth of a gear-wheel, which latter is
mounted 011 a vertical axis on the carriage or " plate " of the planer.
On the same vertical axis is fixed a second gear-wheel, which may be of
either greater or less diameter than the first, and into this second wheel
mesh the teeth of a second rack. The latter is attached by an eye at the
extremity to a pin on the under side of a circular plate which lies in a
horizontal position a few inches above the face of the ordinary carriage.
On this circular plate, which is free to rotate or oscillate in a horizontal
plane, the article to be planed is secured in the usual manner, while the
gear-wheels, by locking on one side into a fixed rack, and on the other
into a rack which may be connected to the circular or face plate at any
point desired, compel the work to rotate or oscillate with every motion of
the carriage. The adjustment of the machine to planing in any curve
required is further facilitated by providing a set of wheels having a
variety of ratios each to the other, any of which may be mounted on the
vertical axis at pleasure.

WOOD- SCREW ROT^feY MACHINE.

Messrs. Wilson and Wiley, of Providence, Rhode Island, are the joint
inventors of a machine for making wood- screws, which equals in rapidity
of execution four of the best nachines now employed in that branch of
manufacture. The machine is termed the Wood- Screw Rotary Machine, all
the principal movements being of a continuous rotary character. Wood-
screws, termed screw-nails by some English authors, are usually completed
in three machines, one only of which is termed a " wood-screw machine."
The first takes wire from the coil and transforms it into " sere w- blank " by
motions closely analogous, if not identical, with those of the common
rivet- machine. Another machine saws a shallow score across the top of
the head, while the main machine, on which all the study and inventive
skill are necessarily bestowed, seizes the blank and cuts the proper thread
thereon. The thread of a wood-screw is all produced by removing the
metal between, there being none of the metal squeezed up as is done by
the ordinary dies of the machine shop, so as to make a screw of greater
total diameter than the original wire. The blanks being fed in by self-
acting mechanism, are successively caught by a pair of jaws in a revolving
chuck, held firmly by the head, and compelled to rotate steadily in one
direction, while a properly- shaped tool is repeatedly pressed against its
side and moved towards the point. Several reciprocating movements are
thus necessary, even with a sharp and keenly-adjusted tool, before the
thread is sunk to the required depth. Such, although usually concealed
with some care from the gaze of the uninitiated, is believed to be the method

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL AETS. 87

by which these useful instruments are generally prepared, and it is cer-
tainly that employed in the new machine, excepting with regard to the
cutting tool and its movements. The new machine, like the older varieties,
completes the deep spiral crease only by a repetition of shallow cuts, each
scraping deeper than its predecessor one main point of difference lying
in the fact that the new machine carries the tool, or rather a series of tools,
on a slowly-revolving horizontal wheel the movement being continu-
ously rotative. This arrangement not only saves the time otherwise lost
in the return motion, but avoids the employment of much complex
mechanism. A point of equal or perhaps greater importance is gained in
dividing the destructive effect on the edges of the cutters between eight
tools, (that number being employed in each series,) so that, other things
being equal, this machine, once adjusted, would remain sharp eight times
as long the other. The simplicity and compactness of the rotary, how-
ever, allow four machines, so to speak, to be combined in one with
decided advantage, so that one of the ponderoxis constructions, which are
some four feet square and three feet high, throws out the finished article
with four times the rapidity, and remains in order, from the principles of
its construction, something like eight times as long as the older devices.

THE SILK MANUFACTURE IN ENGLAND.

All the silk heretofore manufactured in England, either into cloth or
spun yarn, has been from raw silk imported in the hank state, that is,
wound off the cocoons into hanks by the natives of those countries from
which the silk was imported. It was supposed that the winding off from
the cocoons could never be performed by machinery ; and as hand labor
was so much cheaper in China, India, and Italy than in England, it was
held by the English manufacturers that the cheapest way for them to obtain
it was in the state of raw silk yarn. We learn by the London Artisan, that
in all likelihood the English manufacturers will hereafter import all their
silk in cocoons, and wind it off themselves, at a great saving. This has
been effected by the invention of a new machine invented by John
Chadwick, a silk manufacturer in Manchester, and T. Dickens, a silk dyer.
The machine consists of an iron framework, about four feet wide, four
feet high, and four yards long. On each side there is a row of thirty
bobbins, arranged vertically, about eighteen inches from the floor. They
are furnished with the ordinary fliers for encircling them with the thread
as it is produced ; and to each of the sixty bobbins there is a motion, by
which each can be thrown out of gear independently of the others. Over
the bobbins there are on either side thirty copper tioughs or basin*,
containing water at a temperature of about 120 degrees. In each of the.>e
troughs float six Syrian cocoons, and the silk reeled" from these 360
cocoons by means the least complex in their nature. The continuous
fibre does not lie in circles upon the cocoon, but describes a form very
similar to the figure 8, placed on tiie surface in a longitudinal direction,

88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

thus, co. As the filament is drawn off, the cocoons have a slight oscillat-
ing motion in the water ; and to keep them from entangling one another,
the basins are provided with brass wires, of proper shape, a little above
the surface of the water. Nearly a foot above each basin there projects a
wire, about three inches long, covered with some soft woollen or other
substance ; and over this material each set of six filaments is drawn, the
effect being to cleanse them from superfluous moisture, and from any
impurities which may adhere to the slender thread. To perform this
object, the throwster (in a second stage) resorts to a special winding, the
thread being drawn through a groove : since, however, it is then in a dry
state, the slight impurities are not likely to be so easily removed from the
fragile fibre as when it is moist. After descending from the cleansing part,
the six filaments pass through a small curve made of glass, and are
received by the flier, and spun upon the revolving bobbins. By this
treatment the winding into hanks, as performed by the silk growers
abroad, the winding on bobbins from the hank, and also the cleaning
process, as heretofore performed in England by the throwster, are entirely
dispensed with ; a perfect thread of silk, twisted or spun, being furnished
at one operation ; so that, if the silk be intended for organzme or warp, it
only requires the further process of doubling and throwing ; but if for
tram silk, one process is sufficient, as thread can be easily varied in thick-
ness by simply increasing or decreasing the number of cocoons placed in
the basin.

One young girl can easily superintend thirty troughs, and a continuous
thread can be produced to fill a bobbin, free from knots or piercings ; for,
as any single filament breaks, the new end has simply to be placed in
contact with the other five, and becomes one with the thread ; and, as the
cocoons end at different places, the whole is produced in the same number
of fibres. A bobbin of China silk was inspected of double the fineness
of any China silk imported, equal to the finest French thrown silk, and
calculated to be worth more by 85 or 10s per pound than the same kind of
silk would have been if reeled from the cocoons in China a prior
process of preparing cocoons for the reeling is carried on in the same
room. They are placed for a few minutes in a solution of soap and hot
water. By means of a perforated ladle they are then removed to an
adjoining trough of warm water ; and here, with surprising facility, the prin-
cipal end of the silk on each cocoon is found by the hand of t^e girl who
discharges that duty. The water detaches the end, and she catches it
from the floating surface, sometimes taking up half a dozen such ends of
silk at a time. A little is drawn off, and then these cocoons are placed in
a basin, the ends hanging over the side. The two girls who superintend
the reeling fetch them as they may be required, and place them in a
trough at the end of the reeling frame, from which they remove them to
the respective basins, to substitute the cocoons as they become exhausted
of silk. The apparatus strips the silk very perfectly in fact down to the
tliin covering which encloses the chrysalis. It is stated that four pounds'

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 89

weight of cocoons abroad or in Prance (where reeling lias been performed
for a few years with an instrument nearly the size of this for two sets of
cocoons) will produce one pound of silk, but that by this process more
than one pound weight is obtained. A new channel in the business will
require to be opened that of importing the cocoons. These have never
been supplied, because they have never been demanded ; but we suppose
they would follow the usual law in this respect which rules other mer-
chandise, and find their way to a good market.

The patent is draAvn so as to secure to the patentees the entire ground of
reeling or winding (either with spin or without) direct from the cocoons,
on bobbins or any other surface, so as to dispense with the loose skein of
raw r silk ; and it is not improbable, now the ground is broken, that
other machines, with the license of these patentees, may be applied to the
same object.

The silk made by this machine is stated by the Artisan to be twice the
fineness of the China silk which is usually imported, and worth two
dollars more per pound, and a greater quantity of good silk is obtained
from the cocoons there being less refuse than by the hand process, or
by another apparatus which has been in use for two years in France.
Scientific American.

GILDING SILK, COTTON, OR WOOLLEN THREAD.

The following is an abstract of a patent granted to Albert Hock, of
Paris, for gilding silk, cotton, or woollen thread. Some things not men-
tioned in the patent are here given, in order to impart a complete under-
standing of the w T hole process.

Description. Take a roller of wood, of about 3^ inches in diameter, or
of such thickness that the metal leaf intended to be used will pass around
it, to avoid waste of leaf. The length of this roller must depend on the
quantity of silk or other thread to be wound thereon. The silk or thread,
before it is placed on this roller for gilding, must be run upon one long
reel, and run through a box containing some gilder's size, made of parch-
ment cuttings, or a weak solution of gum, on to another reel, passing
through a slit in a piece of cloth, after leaving the box, to wipe off the
superfluous size. The thread must be run upon the second reel in such a
manner that one thread shall not lie on the top of another, but be laid
along spirally, from end to end. It is there suffered to dry, and is then fit
to be run on the roller, on which the metal leaf is laid. It is run upon
this roller also, spirally, -with a space between each thread of its thickness,
to allow the leaf to be pressed down and between each. When the thread
is run on the metal-leaf roller, the whole is subjected, for a few seconds,
to the vapor of soap-suds ; then metal leaf is laid upon the thread, and
pressed firmly do\vii with a pad of dry cotton, when the metal leaf is found
to adhere to the thread, which may then be run off on a spool, passing to
the same, between glass or bright metal surfaces, to burnish it.

90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

In some cases, the metal leaf is only applied to parts of the silk or other
thread, leaving the other parts uncoated ; or different metals, gold and
silver leaf, may be applied in sections, or different colored leaf of the same
metal may be applied, by which means varied and beautiful fabrics may
be produced, especially in using such thread for weft, and weaving it into
cloth fabrics.

Care must be exercised to have the thread perfectly coated with size or
gum before it is run on the roller of metal leaf, and it will answer per-
fectly if the gummed thread itself is only slightly damped, to make the
leaf adhere. Scientific American.

MANUFACTURE OF WOODEN WARE.

The general tendency of Yankee ingenuity is towards labor-saving ma-
chinery. As a race, the Yankees cannot, perhaps, be considered lazy ;
they, nevertheless, evince a wonderful propensity for dodging hard work
in every possible way. Steam power, wind power and water power are
put to the most menial services, as well as to those of the greatest magni-
tude ; and machines are contrived for almost every occasion of life, from
the weaving of cloths and carpeting to the churning of butter by dogs or
sheep. Hand labor is becoming daily less and less direct in its application
to manufactures, and might in time become, perhaps, entirely obsolete,
were it not that the increase in the means of acquiring comforts and luxu-
ries begets a corresponding increase in the demand for them. New wants
are being constantly def eloped; and what was but yesterday a luxury, to
be enjoyed only by the few, becomes to-day an imperative necessity for
the million.

Thirty years ago, tubs, pails, and other articles of wooden ware, which
hold so conspicuous and important a place among the household utensils
of every family, were made entirely by hand. The thrifty Yankee far-
mer, having garnered his crops in the fall, and made ample preparation for
the long New England winter, would, when driven, in doors by the drift-
ing snows, retire to his , little cooper-shop, set off from, the wood-shed, or
attached to the barn, and improve the season of rest from agricultural
labors by turning out a few dozen of pails, or " nests " of tubs, which he
would exchange at the country store for West India goods, or calicoes, or
peddle around among the inhabitants of the neighboring villages. This
mode of manufacturing was called, in common parlance, "set work."
Wooden-seated chairs, settees, broom and mop handles, clothespins, trays,
card boards, boxes, &c., were also manufactured in the same manner, to a
large extent.

The commencement of the manufacture of wooden ware to any con-
siderable extent, as a regular branch of business, dates about the year 1825.
A "patent pail " manufactory was about that time established in Keene,
N. H., and others in Troy and Brandon, Yt., were started soon after. The
next year, several manufactories were commenced in Massachusetts and

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 91

New Hampshire, and the business began to assume some degree of conse-
quence. In the year 1831, the first " patent tubs" -were manufactured in
Fitzwilliam, N. H. At this time there were not more than $20,000 worth
of wooden ware annually manufactured in all New England ; but soon
after extensive manufactories were established in \Vmchendon, Gardner,
and Hingham in this State, and in various parts of New Hampshire, &c.
In 1845, the manufacture of strictly wooden ware in Massachusetts was
estimated at nearly half a million, and probably exceeded that amount ; at
the present time, the manufacture extends more or less to every State in
New England, and amounts to three or four millions of dollars annually,
most of which finds its way to this market.

A large amount of the wooden ware manufacture of Ma ine and New
Hampshire is carried on on Boston account, but there is also a considera-
ble portion of the articles manufactured in Worcester County which finds
its chief market in Rhode Island. The bulk of the articles manufactured,
in proportion to their value, operates as a hinderance to their seeking distant
markets ; yet the amount of this description of goods annually shipped to
distant ports is quite large, and is rapidly increasing.

The following statement, furnished us by a friend who is' thoroughly
conversant with this important branch of trade, will give an idea of the
rapidity with which the business has hitherto increased, and furnish some
data for estimating its future growth :

Number of Dealers in Boston in 1831, - - - - -

Capital invested, ---. $10,000

Probable amount of business, ------ 40,000

Number of Dealers in Boston in 1844. - 10

Capital invested, 250,000

Probable amount of business, 1,500,000

The manufacture of corn brooms constitutes a part of this business,
which is by no means to be overlooked, amounting, annually, to about a
million of dollars, and half the trade concentrating in Boston. We have
heard the opinion expressed, that the number of brooms used in any com-
munity furnishes the surest criterion from which to judge of its moral
advancement; and considering the important part which this insignificant
little instrument sustains in regard to domestic comfort and neatness, the
opinion may be correct. According to this standard, the American nation
must be in the most exalted stages of moral development and progress ; but
in communities where feminine difficulties are customarily settled by test-
ing the strength of broomsticks, we imagine the rule will hardly hold good.

As is the case in all other branches of manufacture, the wooden ware of
New England excels in cheapness and excellence. In some of the South-
ern and Western States, attempts have been made to introduce the manu-
facture by machinery ; but, hitherto, the Eastern manufacturers have been
able to compete successfully with them in. their own markets, both in
regard to the cheapness and excellence of workmanship of their wares.
Boston Atlas.

92 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

NEW METHOD OF EXTRACTING COLORING MATTERS.

At a recent meeting of the Society of Civil Engineers, M. Loysel
exhibited a simple and ingenious apparatus for extracting coloring matters
from dye-woods, and also for obtaining infusions or extracts of vegetable
substances for medicinal or other purposes. The principle of action was
that of direct hydrostatic pressure, applied by a simple and inexpensive
apparatus. The substance to be operated upon was placed within a cylin-
der whose bottom was finely perforated ; a similar pierced diaphragm was
placed over it, so as not to produce any pressure ; the liquid, either cold or
hot, was poured into an upper reservoir, whence it descended by a centre
tube to beneath the lower diaphragm, and was forced upwards by. the press-
ure through the superposed substance, every particle of which is saturated
in its passage, expelling the air, and carrying before it all the finest portions
to the upper strata, against the under side of the upper diaphragm. When
a sufficient quantity of liquid had been passed, or the infusion was com-
pleted, a cock was opened, which permitted the infusion to return from
above, by its own specific gravity, through the substance already operated
upon, thus completing the abstraction of any coloring or other matter not
previously taken up, and at the same time filtering the liquid. By a
second and similar process, any thing still remaining in the substance could
be extracted. It was practicable, by varying the height of the column, to
give any degree of pressure ; and by the application of a lamp, or, in a large
apparatus, of a coke fire, the temperature of the decoction could be main-
tained as might be desirable. By another modification, the steam generated
in a small boiler regulated the action of the apparatus. The system was
described as being adapted to very numerous purposes, and the familiar
application of it to making coffee was exhibited ; the apparatus consisted
of one vase, either of glass, china, or metal, whose cover, on being reversed,
formed the reservoir and pressure column, and in a very few minutes clear
strong coffee was produced.

CARYL'S FLAX- CLEANING MACHINE.

In this machine, the flax straw is fed upon an endless apron, and passed
between several pairs of fluted rollers, to break the wood, thence through a
pair of feed rollers, armed with coarse cards, the teeth being hooked towards
the fluted rollers, to prevent the flax from being thrown too rapidly into
the machine by the picker.

The picker is a cylinder four feet in diameter, having on its periphery
from sixteen to thirty-two bars, three feet long. On each of these bars is
a row of teeth, and between each of the bars are rods at a distance of three-
quarters of an inch apart, which rods hold the flax up to the cards above,
but at the same time permitting the dirt to fall through them. Above this
picker are cards three inches wide and three feet long, through which the

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93

flax is drawn by the picker. The flax is carried upward and over to a
point opposite the feed roller, where it is met by a brush cylinder revolv-
ing downward towards the picker, and with twice the speed of the picker.*
Below the point of contact between the teeth and the brush is a tin spring,
which presses slightly against the face of the brush ; the brush, revolving
downward, reverses the position of the ends of the fibres, thus pulling off
the flax from the teeth and passing it between itself and the tin, pressing it
half round itself, where it is met by a blast of wind from a fan blowing in
an opposite direction to the rotation of the brush, and by which it is
stripped from its surface in a state ready for the market, and suited for
immediate use in the carding mill.

This machine, it is stated, can break about 3,000 pounds of straw per
day, delivering its product in a finished shape, and requiring the attend-
ance of two men and three horse power.

IMPROVEMENT IN 'THE PREPARATION OF HEMP.

The hemp, after being stripped, is put into a vat or tub, with a sufficient
quantity of water to cover it. The water is kept at a temperature of about
50 or 60 degrees for fifteen hours, when it is drawn off and replaced by
other water, containing two pounds of soda and two pounds of soft soap
dissolved in it for every 100 pounds of hemp. The heat of this liquor may
be 100 degrees, or it may be boiled in it for five hours. The hemp is then
taken out and dried in the open air, or in a stove room, at a low tempera-
ture. When it is dry it is passed between fine fluted rolls, whereby it
acquires the softness of flax without losing its original strength. This
treatment of hemp, it is said, enables it to be spun like flax.

MACHINE FOR SOFTENING FLAX.

Robert Boyack, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has invented an improved
machine for softening flax. The improvements consist in having a vertical
reciprocating plate with a slot through it, winch works between two pairs
of fluted rollers. The flax to be operated upon and softened passes from a
feed trough, between one pair of the fluted rollers, and through the slot in
the reciprocating plate, and from thence through the other pair of fluted
rollers. The reciprocating plate subjects the flax to a rubbing frictional
action, which renders it soft and pliable, without injury to its fibre.
Scientific American.

CLOCKS FOR CHINA AND JAPAN. *

The latest pieca of Yankee clock ingenuity is a clock for the Japan and
Chinese markets, that measures time as the hours are counted in China
and Japan, the hands making a diurnal revolution within twelve Chine. c
hours. The characters upon the dial plate are Chinese. The inside circle

94 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

has four characters, showing sunrise, meridian, sunset and midnight. The
next circle exhibits the odd and even hours ; the even hours are designated
by a bold figure, and the odd hours by smaller ones. The dial there has
the common minute marks, and on the extreme outside was the Chinese
numerals, running from one to twelve.

FRAME FOR GRAPE VINES.

Mr. S. O. Cross, of Sandy Hill, N. Y., has invented a very convenient
frame or trellis for grape vines. The advantage of the frame is, that it is on
hinges at the bottom, so that it can be raised and lowered, pitched at any
angle, and either laid upon the ground or made perpendicular. By this
means the posture of the vine can be changed according to the weather
and the season, without in any way .injuring its vigor and fruitfulness.

MATERIALS IN THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

In a lecture on China, Dr. Bo wring said it had been calculated that if
all the bricks, stones and masonry of Great Britain were gathered together,
they would not furnish materials enough for a work such as the Wall of
China ; and that all the buildings in London put together would not have
made the towers and turrets which adorn it. Builder.

IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY LAMPS.

After the invention of the wire- gauze safety lamp of Davy, certain
imperfections began gradually to reveal themselves. In the first place, it
was found to give so little light that the pit-men seized every opportunity
of removing the gaiize, finding, in point of fact, that their work could not
be done with the imperfect light. And, in the second place, the great fact
began to be developed, that this lamp, however secure in a still atmos-
phere, was not safe in a current. An account of the various attempts
made to remedy the defects of the Davy viz., insecurity in a current and
deficiency of light would fill a volume. Until within a recent period,
however, two lamps only had been devised, which were able to supersede
the Davy, viz., of Clanny and Museler. Dr. Clanny found that if the
lower part of a lamp were made of thick glass, and the wire-gauze
cylinder retained above this, two things arose 1st. The current of air
descended to feed the flame in converging curves, and the gaseous products
of combustion ascended in diverging curves. And, 2d, owing to the
use of the giass, the gauze, being no longer required to give light, could
be made much finer, and even doubled and trebled. The Museler lamp
differs from the Clanny only in having a chimney in its interior just above
the flame. There were two objections to the Clanny lamps viz., the
liability of the glass to fracture on being heated, from a drop of water
tailing upon it in this state, and also its liability to fracture from mehcani-

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95

cal causes. To remedy these defects as far as possible, a lamp has been
invented by Dr. Glover. Instead of the single glass cylinder of the
Claimy lamp, a double cylinder was used. The outer cylinder was a
quarter of an inch thick, the inner one a good stout glass, a full eighth of
an inch thick. The air to feed the flame entered at the top of both,
through wire-gauze, and passed downward between them, entering the
inner cylinder through gauze. The double cylinder, kept packed as it
were together by the gauze, was thus much stronger than a single one
would be ; and if either cylinder be broken, the lamp was still a safe lamp.
The current between the glasses kept the outer cylinder cool, so that it
could always be held in the hand, while a Museler or Clarmy got soon so
hot that it would burn the flesh. The light was even superior to the
Clanny, owing probably to the more perfect combustion, the air entering
the inner cylinder at the bottom.

IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS.

Important experiments with new artillery have recently been made in
England, in the presence of military and naval commanders. The
practice commenced with a sixty-eight pounder gun, ten feet long, and
weighing 95 cwt., on Lancaster's principle of the bore, being oval instead
of round, which gives the largest guns all the advantages possessed by the
best rifle, when shot or shells of a particular description are used.
Excellent practice, it is stated, can be made with rifles at considerable
ranges ; but until the experiments with Lancaster's oval guns or egg-shaped
shells, correct aim could not be taken at the astonishing distance of 5,000
yards, the range of the practice with Lancaster's invention. The long
period which elapsed during the flight of the destructive projectile, weigh-
ing upward of 88 pounds, owing to its elongated form, caused, according
to the account given, a feeling of great suspense ; but when it fell at a
distance of 5,000 yards, and in no instance did the shells fall wide or short
of the target, the spot where it fell and burst presented the appearance of
the eruption of a volcano, the sand being raised to a great height in the
air. Experiments were also carried on with Moorsom's shells at 3,000
yards, and the practice with them and with shot is described as very good.
Several other guns have been made of smaller bores, on Lancaster's
principle, for the purpose of carrying on experiments with them.

During the past year, the United States War Department have ordered
Maynard's primer and fixtures to be substituted in place of the percussion
lock on all muskets hereafter made at the national armories, as also on a
part of the old muskets now on hand at the different depositories. Thus
the metallic cap, which was of itself a great improvement, is superseded
by a still greater one, and will soon go out of use on all fire-arms.

An improved rifle has recently been invented by Mr. Durell Greene, of
Cambridge. Its peculiar excellences consist in its simplicity, in the safety
of all its movable parts from the action of the powder, in the superlative

96 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

/

ease with which it can be cleaned, and, above all. in its arrangement for
making absolutely impossible the escape of gas at the joint between the
barrel and the breech. This latter is accomplished by a " self- ad justing
thimble," which is forced and held upon its seat in the breech-piece by
the reaction of the explosion.

HOW GUNS ARE SPIKED.

A correspondent of the Morning Herald says : " Spikes are about four
inches long, and of the dimensions of a tobacco pipe ; the head flat ; a
barb at the point acts as a spring, which is naturally pressed to the shaft
upon being forced into the touch-hole. Upon reaching the chamber of
the gun, it resumes its position, and it is impossible to withdraw it. It
can only be got out by drilling no easy task, as they are made of the
hardest steel ; and being also somewhat loose in the touch-hole, there is
much difficulty in making a drill bite as effectually as it should do. Its
application is the work of a moment, a single tap on the flat head with the
palm of the hand sufficing. This can be easily done, even if it is ever so
dark."

NEW GREEK FIRE.

The war in the East has stimulated the zeal of those in Europe who
are interested in improving the art of destruction. Projects the most
remarkable and curious are proposed. Being persuaded that one of the
means of preserving peace to humanity consists in perfecting our methods
of destroying life, and not desiring, in this respect, that one nation should
be more favored than others, we mention here some of the projects which
rest on serious principles.

The Greek fire has, at different times, engaged attention, without its
being exactly known in what it consists. In 1755, a goldsmith of Paris,
named Dupre, discovered an inflammable liquid which burned under
water. Louis XV. allowed him to make experiments in the canal at Ver-
sailles, and then in different seaports, to try the power of the liquid in
setting vessels on fire. It is said the results produced were terrific. How-
ever, the king believed it his duty to refuse the advantages which the
invention promised. He withheld Dupre from publishing his discovery,
and gave him a pension. D upre died, and carried off his secret.

In the month of April last, the photographer, Niepce de St. Victor,
while studying benzine as an ingredient of a varnish, observed that this
carburet which is very inflammable in the open air, and at a low temper-
ature, by the simple contact of a small flame, while being insoluble in
water, and having a density of 85 has, eminently, the property of burn-
ing upon water. He then remarked, that 011 throwing on water some
benzine containing a fragment of potassium, or of phosphuret of calcium,

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL AETS. 97

either of these substances set fire " promptly to the benzine, by becoming
inflamed through contact with water.

In two experiments, made each time with 300 grammes of benzine, and
halt' a gramme of potassium, contained in glass vessels, the breaking of
these vessels, as they floated on the water, caused the benzine to spread
over a large surface ; the potassium taking fire, produced an immense
flame, which was very hot, and continued for about one minute, notwith-
standing a strong wind in one case, and a smart shower of rain in the
second.

By request of the Minister of War, M. Xiepce undertook to' examine
into liquids susceptible of burning when used in the interior of hollow
projectiles. He set himself at work, and obtained the following results :
A mixture consisting of three parts of benzine, and one of sulphuret of
carbon, bting put into a hand grenade, previously heated to a temperature
below that of boiling water, produced a disengagement of vapor, which
took fire on contact with a small flame ; and a fine jet of flame was
obtained, much less smoky than that of pure benzine, and which con-
tinued to burn until the whole was consumed. For heating this hollow
projectile, either a moment's immersion in boiling water, or contact with
burning coals, may be employed. This mixture of benzine and sulphuret
of carbon, of the proportions mentioned, floats on water, and its flame has
remarkable burning ._ properties when the sulphuret has some phosphorus
in solution ; and it is proposed to use it in setting fire to wood. Oil of
naptha and oil of petroleum, highly rectified, are nearly as inflammable as
benzine, and burn on water as readily ; but their flames are not so hot.
The oil of petroleum, benzine, and sulphuret of carbon, as they are not
expensive, it is proposed to use in war, either for burning an enemy's ves-
sel, or for defending a place.

Coupled Cannons, This is another weapon of war, the effects of which
may be terrible. Two cannon have the same breech, and diverge at a
given angle ; they have a common charge of powder, a single touch-hole
and a single cap. In each of these cannons, which are accurately bored
and polished, a piston of a cylindrical form is fitted, having the same
caliber as the cannon, carefully turned, polished and greased. These two
pistons are xmited together by an iron cord or wire, when used with a
musket, or an iron chain from a meter to a hundred meters in length, when
with cannon. These pistons serve as projectiles ; when fired, they straight-
en the chain between them, and flying through the air, they sweep every
thing before them. Sillimans Journal, Paris Correspondence.

THE COURAGE OF SCIENCE.

Courage in the battle-field is celebrated in history and in song, but little

is said of the courage exhibited in pursuing scientific investigations, though

often displaying more real elements of bravery than ever were called into

action in war. It is said that when Arago and Dulong were employed

o

98 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

by the French Government to make experiments upon the subject of the
construction and safety of steam boilers, the task executed by the two
philosophers was one of as much danger as difficulty. The bursting of
boilers, to which they were constantly exposed in a limited locality, was
more hazardous than that of shells upon a battle-field; and while military
officers who assisted them men of tried courage in the conflict grew pale
and fled from the scene, the savans proceeded coolly to make their calcula-
tions, and observe the temperature and pressure upon boilers almost at the
very point of explosion.

PRICE OF SCENTS.

Piesse, in his annals of chemistry, says : " The wealth of England is
aptly illustrated by showing what Britannia spends, and the duty she pays
to the Exchequer, for the mere pleasure of perfuming her handkerchief.
As flowers, for the sake of their perfumes, are on the continent principally
cultivated for trade purposes, the odors derived from them, when imported
into this country, in the form of essential oils, are taxed with a small duty
of Is. per pound, and are found to yield a revenue of just 12,000 per an-
num. The duty upon Eau-de Cologne, imported in the year 1852, wasy
in round numbers, 10,000, being Is. per bottle upon 200,000 flagons im-
ported. The duty upon the spirits used in the manufacture of perfumery
at home is at least 20,000, making a total of 42,000 per annum to the
revenue, independent of the tax upon snuff, which some of the ancient
Britons indulge their noses with. If 42,000 represent the small tax
upon perfuming substances for one year, ten times that amount is the very
lowest estimate which can be put upon the articles as their average retail
cost. By these calculations (and they are quite within the mark) we dis-
cover that Britannia spends 420,000 (about $2,000,000) a year in per-
fumery."

MANUFACTURE OF PARAFFINE OIL.

By the Edinburgh Witness, we learn that at a lawsuit lately prosecuted
in London, one of the parties, James Young, of Bathgate, on being sworn,
deposed, that "he manufactured and sold at the rate of 8,000 gallons a
week " of the Paraffine oil, which is procured from the Torbanehill new
mineral. 8,000 gallons a week are 416,000 gallons a year, and accord-
ingly Mr. Young's counsel, Mr. Bramwell, stated that his client sold (in
round numbers) " 400,000 gallons of this oil yearly," Mr. Bramwell
adding, " at 5s. per gallon." That is, Mr. Young stated, while his counsel
repeated the statement, that from the chemical works near Bathgate, which
prepare the Paraffine oil procured from the Torbanehill mineral, there are
sold of that valuable oil 100,000 (nearly $500,000) worth yearly, and it
is to be borne in mind that the greater portion of this very large yearly
bum is clear profit. It was also added, that Mr. Young was only one of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 99

many parties in Europe who ordered and obtained this mineral for
making oil and producing gas. This mineral is only obtained from a
small district in Scotland, and, from the foregoing, some idea of its immense
value, in a commercial point of view, may be obtained.

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF OILS.

Although gas made from coals is coming into more general use in our
cities, c., thus doing away with the necessity of using oil, still the
demand for oil is becoming greater every day. Enormous quantities of
it are now being used on all our railroads for lubrication, thus entailing

O ' O

a great working expense on such systems of travel. Any discovery
therefore to increase the quantity, improve it, or render it cheaper, becomes
of great importance to the community for the people pay for all these
things. We have therefore selected the two following specifications of
recent foreign patents, granted for manufacturing oil and lubricating
materials :

Treating Oil Matters. G. F. Wilson, of London, patentee. This
invention consists in diminishing or removing the smell and color from
the oily matters that are produced by the destructive distillation of resin,
and in combining them with the oleine of palm and other neutral oils. The
resin oily matters are distilled, or repeatedly distilled, with the air excluded
the matters, in some cases, being treated with powerful agents, such as
sulphuric acid, before this distillation ; or they are exposed to heat, to drive
off their more volatile part. The purified resin oily matters are mixed
with the other oily matters by means of agitation or boiling up with free
steam.

In carrying out his invention, the patentee has recourse to a preparation
for mixing the resin oil with the oleiue of palm oil and other neutral oils.
The resin oil is first caused to be heated for about four hours, in a close
vessel, by means of heated steam keeping the temperature to about 350 deg.
Fahrenheit ; and it is then to be distilled with the air excluded. Accord-
ing to the state of purity desired to be obtained, the distillation is to be
performed again and again ; and, for this purpose, steam, heated to a high
degree after it leaves the steam-boiler, is employed, as is well understood.
If the resin oil be very impure, about two pounds of sulphuric acid are
stirred into 112 pounds of resin oil. The same is then to be washed in
water, and submitted to the process of heat.

Having thus prepared the resin oil, it is to be mixed with a neutral oil ;
and, for this purpose, the oleine of palm oil is preferred. The best
mixture will be found to be in about equal quantities, but this may be
varied ; and, in order intimately to mix these matters or oils, they are
boiled by the aid of free steam, by which a most intimate admixture is
effected ; and such combined oils will be found very useful for lubricating
heavy machinery.

100 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Lubricating Materials. Francois Moiifrant, of Paris, patentee. This
invention consists in the employment, for the manufacture of lubricating
materials of all fatty oils, (with the exception of coleseed oil,) which are
dis-acidified by means of milk, and are then caused to blend and intermix

r

with fat or a fatty body, by means of resin or a resinous composition.

In preparing the said lubricating materials, the patentee employs a large
boiler or heating vessel, heated either by fire, or by steam, or hot air, or
otherwise. In this vessel, the oil to be operated on is placed, and heated
to such a temperature that the hand can just bear it when immersed.
The lard or other solid fatty body is then added, (care being taken to stir
the mixture well with a spatula from this time to the end of the operation,)
and also resin of the ordinary description, or resinous body, in the propor-
tions necessary to produce the several compositions hereinafter specified,
or other like proportions. When these two bodies are perfectly melted,
and an intimate commixture has taken place, pure fresh milk is added, in
the proportion of at least two pints for every 100 kilogrammes (220 Ibs.
about) of oil ; and the greater the impurity of the oil, the larger must be
the proportion of milk added to it. In the event of milk not being
procurable, the same proportion of albumenized w T ater, (prepared by adding
the white of one egg to a pint of water,) or of alkaline water, containing
five grammes,) (three and one-fourth dwts. of crystals of sub carbonate
of soda to a pint of water,) or even water alone may be used ; but milk is,
in all cases, to be preferred. The mixture is allowed to be heated to
boiling, or until the bubbling produced by the evaporation of the aqueous
matters has ceased ; and, in order to ascertain when the operation has
been carried on to a sufficient extent, a slice of new bread is placed in the
heating vessel ; and, when this well browned, the operation is complete.
It must be observed, that the stirring should be continued throughout the
operation ; and, in the case of the more solid compounds, even after the
boiling is completely finished. When the operation is terminated, as has
just been described, the mixture is allowed to repose for several hours, and
is then drawn off, before packing it for storage or use, by means of a hand-
pump or a common syphon. The results of the different operations
described are, that, by the boiling, all the moisture of the milk, and other
foreign bodies, is entirely dissipated as vapor ; and that the acid principles
of these substances, combined with the casein of the milk, are rendered
insoluble and precipitated, while the oil, separated from the deposit which
they form, contains no acid, and the deposit itself is, in some measure,
carbonized, and is easily removed from the vessel. All the products, by
being boiled together, are thoroughly incorporated ; so that there is no
danger of the lard arid oil becoming separated, a result to w r hich the
resin or resinous body undoubtedly contributes. If the operation is to be
carried on continuously, it will be needful to have tinned iron vessels,
into which the clear contents of the boiler can be transferred, to cool and
settle before being packed away.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS, 101

No. 1. Compound for the finer carriage-work, &c. Resin, two and a
half -per cent, of the quantity of oil. Lard, 50 to 75 per cent, of the
quantity of oil, according to the degree of solidity required.

No. 2. Compound for copper, steel, fire-arms, the more delicate kinds
of machinery, &c. Resin, none ; but, instead of it, two per cent, of
common yellow wax. Lard, 25 to 50 per cent, of the oil employed.

No. 3. Compoxind for lubricating oil for machinery. Resin, two and a
half per cent, of the oil employed. Lard, five per cent.

No. 4. Compound for the woollen manufacture, &c. Resin, none.
' Lard, three per cent, of the oil employed ; but, for this purpose, it is
indispensable that the lard should be qxiite fresh.

No. 5. Compound for paint, oil, &c. Resin, one per cent, of the oil
employed. Lard, two per cent.

As before observed, these proportions may be greatly varied. The more
lard used, the harder will be the compound. The weather also aifects the
proportions to be used, and more lard must be employed in summer than
in winter, to produce a like effect. The lard may be composed of half
hog's lard and half mutton or other suet or fatty matter. The lard should
be freed from all skin, &c., and cut into small pieces ; and it is better also
to remove from it any portions of fleshy matter that may be mixed with
it ; and if the fatty bodies employed, whether lard, mutton suet, beef suet,
or other fatty matter, are used in the raw state, they should be first partly
melted, before being added to the mixture in the heating vessel, by any of
the means ordinarily adopted for such purpose. The products, obtained
as before mentioned, can be employed with advantage to replace all the
oils employed as lubricators, such as animal oils, lard oil, olive oil, &c.
They possess, moreover, the merit of being perfectly unctuous, and of
containing no kind of acid ; they do not act prejudicially on metals, nor
form any residuum through friction ; they neither turn rancid from age,
nor do they harden from contact with the air ; and, lastly, their compo-
nent parts do not separate from each other, but continue always in
intimate commixture. Newton's London Journal.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANDLES.

F. Capiccioni, of London, patentee. When the tallow for making the
candles is melted in the kettle, about one seven- thousandth of its quantity
by weight, of the acetate of lead, is added, and well stirred among the
whole for fifteen minutes. The heat is then lowered, but the tallow is
still retained in a liquid state. About one thousandth part by weight, of
turpentine, and a little of any of the perfumed resins, are then thrown in
and all well stirred until the whole are thoroughly incorporated together ;
this takes about two hours, one hour for stirring, and one hour of rest for
the uncombined impurities to settle to the bottom. The acetate of lead, it
is said, makes the tallow hard, and much superior to tallow not so treated >
and upon the whole, the composition makes very superior candles.

102 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

EXTRACTING JUIOE FROM SUGAR CANE.

Messrs. Manifold and Lowndes, patentees, Liverpool. The patent
obtained is simply for reducing the cane into very minute pieces, then sub-
jecting these pieces to the action of steam in close vessels, and after this
pressing out the juice in a hydrostatic press. The sugar cane is reduced
to fine pieces, like dye-wood chips, by a series of circular saws.
/

COLORATION OF HORN.

The following is from the " Polytechnisches Centralblatt," by Prof. A.
Lindner, (German) : The process employed in France to stain horn in
imitation of tortoise-shell, by which a fiery-red color is produced, which is
exceedingly agreeable by transmitted light, is quite different from the old
method with lime, soda, and red lead. The horn is first prepared by soak-
ing in dilute nitric acid, consisting of one part of acid and three of water,
at a temperature of from 88 to 100 degrees Fahr. It is then treated with
a mixture, consisting of one part of fresh burnt lime, two parts of carbon-
ate of soda, and one part of white lead, for not more than from ten to
fifteen minutes, in order that the spots shoxild only assume a yellowish
brown tint, and not a dark brown. The pieces of horn are now washed
with water, and wiped from adhering moisture with a cloth, and intro-
duced into a cold bath, consisting of a decoction of Brazil wood, marking
10 degrees of Baume's hydrometer, and one part of caiistic soda, marked
20 degrees. As soon as the color is properly developed, it is to be re-
moved and washed with water, and carefully pressed between cloths, and
laid aside from 12 to 16 hours, and then polished. The decoction of dye-
wood may be made by boiling one pound of the Brazil wood in two to
three quarts of water, and the caustic soda may be obtained from any soap-
boiler, or it may be produced by heating a solution of carbonate of soda
to the boiling point, and adding slaked lime in powder, until a drop of
the liquid, on being filtered, does not effervesce, and setting it aside, care-
fully covered, until the sediment has deposited. If a little oxide of zinc
be added to the white lead employed as a mordant, bluish-red shades will
be obtained, while salts of tin give fine scarlet tints. Archil may be used
instead of the dye-woods, and still finer tints may be produced with cochi-
neal. The characteristic feature of this process is the use of the caustic
soda in the dye-bath ; and this fact accounts for Prof. Wagner not having
been able to succeed in staining horn with any vegetable or animal dyeing
material.

SAL-AMMONIAC FROM GAS WORKS.

The Industrial Society of Mxilhausen offers, annually, a number of
prizes for inventions and improvements made during the year : and it

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 103

also offers a prize to those who intrcduc? a new branch of industry into
the department of the Haut- Rhino. This last prize was taken by MM.
Moerhlin and Stoll, who manufacture sal-ammoniac from the ammoniacal
liquid of gas works. The main difficulty in the operation consists in sep-
arating the tar-like material which it contains. The following is the
process adopted :

The ammoniacal liquid is mixed with slaked lime ; then submitted to
distillation in a boiler heated by steam ; the parts volatilized pass into a
worm, in which the larger part of the tar is deposited ; the ammonia
passes on into a Wolff's apparatus, where it leaves the foreign substances
present, and finally is carried into cold water, where it is condensed. In
this state it is nearly free from its impurities ; it is neutralized with chlo-
rohydric acid, and evaporated in a lead boiler. As it deposits, it is with-
drawn by means of a wooden rake ; it is allowed to drain, and then
introduced into a brick mould, and subjected to strong pressure. Blocks
of sal-ammoniac are thus obtained, which are dried in an oven heated by
part of the heat furnished by the evaporating furnace.

IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVING.

Messrs. Parker & Co., Engineers, England, have recently introduced a
novel system of construction for the pavement of roads, bridges, &c. Pro-
ceeding 011 the principle that the inequalities in the best of pavements are
first caused by the partial collapse or sinking of the foundation, or sub-
strata, they have to a certain extent rendered the finished portion of
the road independent of the homogeneity and solidity of the concrete
beneath. The plan consists in easting in sections of three feet square a
series of iron boxes, beds, or chambers, eight inches long, three broad,
and four deep, into each of which a block of wood is placed, with the
grain in a vertical position, or a block of granite, made to fit with moderate
exactness, and standing about two inches above the iron framework. By
this arrangement the total rmrnber of sectors being made to break joint,
and firmly keyed together, gives great solidity, avoids all tendency to par-
tial sinking in holes, secures a good foot-hold for the horse, whether gravel
is used as an upper casting or not ; and as one or more blocks, more soft
than others, show signs of wear or decay, they may be instantly and with
great facility removed and replaced by others. Another peculiar feature
may be noticed, which will prove a source of economy ; it is proposed to
make the compartments for streets of the greatest thoroughfare the deepest,
and for secondary streets less deep, and for third class more shallow
still. By this means, when the blocks are so worn as to require removal
in a first-class street, they may be removed to another street. London
Mining Journal.

104 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

TRIALS OF REAPERS.

A trial for a premium of $1,500 offered by the State Agricultural Society
of Illinois took place during the past season at Belvidere, in that State,
between Manney's Reaper, and Atkin's Self- Raking Reaper, to test their
respective merits. The last-named reaper is distinguished in the report as
Wright's, the name of the manufacturer. The trial lasted several days,
and the report of the timpires gives the following as some of the results :
Wright cut 20 22-100 acres, in 12 hours and 55 minutes.
Maiiney cut 20 22-100 acres, in 10 hours and 3 minutes.
Time consiimed in reaping, binding, and shocking :
Wright's first field, 3 37-100 acres, bound in 18 hours and 25 minutes
Wright's second field, 4 31-100 acres, bound in 25 hours and 30 minutes.
Shocked in 4 hours 38^ minutes.

Manney's first field, 3 89-100 acres. Raked and bound in 25 hours and
47 minutes. (This included the time of the raker who stands on the ma-
chine.) Shocked in 4 hours and 40 minutes.

The umpires refused to decide between the two reapers, declaring the
contest so close as to render it impossible to say which was the best.

Russet's Mowing Machine. In this machine the cutting bar is attached
to the frame of a pair of small cart wheels, and the motion given to the
cutters by a cam. driven by cogs on the driving wheel, working into a small
pinion, so that the machinery has the smallest possible amount of friction.
The cutting is different from any other : without crank motion, the bar
that holds the knives only sliding 2| inches, and yet the knives each have
a drawing cut of 1^ inch, and are so fixed that, when one end is dull, they
can be changed end for end in five minutes.

ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION.

Among recent English inventions, Dr. Marcet's apparatus for artificial
respiration promises to be useful, as it has the advantage over other con-
trivances of the same kind, of being self-acting. It has a double cylinder
into which air is compressed ; and each by an alternate filling and dis-
charge, with the end of a slender tube inserted into one of the nostrils,
causes the lungs to go through the process of expiration and inspiration.
It has been tried on asphyxiated dogs with perfect success, and there re-
mains now to test its capabilities on human beings.

PAPER AND PAPER MAKING.

The enormously increased consumption of rags and other materials
used in the manufacture of paper, with the consequent increased scarcity
of the raw material, and the enhancement of the price of paper, have
caused much attention to be given to this subject, both in England and

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 105

the United States, during the past season. Efforts have accordingly been
made to introduce new materials to serve as paper stock, to improve the
method of working old materials, and to diminish the cost of the me-
chanical operations. The cause of the scarcity of paper-stock, in spite of
an increased demand, would appear to depend on the circumstance, that
the raw material of paper making is, in reality, the product of the wear
and tear of a substance of very advanced manufacture, and depending for
its quantity on the collateral causes which produce a greater or less activ-
ity in the latter. Hence, the stoppage or partial suspension of cotton and
other textile manufactures is sufficient to account for occasional, and
especially for local, scarcity.

It would appear, also, that, apart from occasional depressions of the
manufactures, or the wear and tear of which the raw material of paper
chiefly depends, the demands of the paper makers have been greater than
can be supplied by the less increased rate of consumption of the manu-
factured products. While this has been the case, other consumers of the
raw material have come into existence, railroads and steamboats now
exhausting a very large quantity of cotton and other waste for wiping
machinery.

The disadvantage of the raw material of paper making being dependent
upon manufactures, having no immediate relation to its supply and de-
mand, and the fact, also, that the growing thirst for literature is at a greater
rate than the increase in the manufacture of cotton and flax, seem to fur-
nish adequate reasons why the supply of rags does not meet the increased
demand.

Before noticing the various improvements that have recently been
brought forward or suggested, let us glance at the present actual condi-
tion of the business of paper making in the United States.

We find that there are, in the United States. 750 paper-mills in actual
operation. Allowing 4 engines to each mill, and calculating that each
engine will make 300 pounds of paper a day, the quantity of paper made
in the year will be as follows :

Number of mills, 750 ; number of engines, 3,000 ; number of pounds
of paper per day, 900,000 ; number of pounds of paper in the year,
allowing 300 days to the year, 270,000,000 ; value of this paper, at 10
cents a pound, $27,000,000.

It is estimated that one and a half pounds of rags are required to make
one pound of paper. Adopting these data, we find that 405,000,000
pounds of rags are consumed in one year ; their value, at -i cents a pound,
being $16,200,000.

The cost of labor is one and a quarter cents upon each pound of paper
manufactured, and is, therefore, ;f 3,375,000 a year ; and the cost of labor
and rags united is $19,575,000 a year.

The cost of manufacturing, aside from rags and labor, estimated from
adding together the cost of felts, wire-cloth, bleaching powders, fuel, ma-
chinery, interest and fixed capital, insurance expenses, &c., we find to be

106

ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

$4,050,000. Adding this to the cost of rags and labor, we find that $23,-
625,000 is the total cost of manufacturing paper worth $27,000,000, a
measure of profit by 110 means unreasonable, and which might even be
considered small, were not the manufacture comparatively free from, those
sudden changes that affect the manufacture of cloth and metals.

Light as we may esteem it, there are few branches of business of more
importance than the rag trade. No other country in the world, strange to
say, is more dependent upon rags than the United States ; and this is, in a
great measure, attributable to the immense consumption of paper in the
publication of newspapers, magazines, and works of all kinds, besides
what is used for commercial and mercantile purposes.

The following table shows the quantities of rags imported into the
United States during the years 1852 and '53, the sources from whence
obtained, with their value :

1852.

1853.

No. Ibs. Value.

Xo. Ibs.

Value.

Danish West Indies, -

15,250 $S50

Hanse Towns, -------

1,088,663 27,880

It'l " Qi^ft Qfl l\('C

2,103.331

il */v IIMSi

$61,259

n i i *"K

.Scotland,

,Oll,OOb 3y,l)DO

431,619 14.009

-,Oot),UUO

1,373,481

74,1 (5

77,OS6

British West Indies, -

197.600 3 482

161,332

4,161

British American Colonies, - - - -

186,210

3,613

172,830

3,846

Canada, --------

488,095

10,116

801,971

15,653

France on the Atlantic, ----.-

810

IS

Teneriffe and other Canaries, - - - -

1,380

41

31,016

523

Italy, - -

7,161,301

271,572

4,301,127

179,811

Sieily, ---------

1,889,685

60,277

1,848,279

76.6*9

Trieste and other Austrian ports, -

2,161,938

113,352

3,428,441

186,358

Turkey, Levaut v etc., -

1,445,625

30,551

882,053

17,917

Ha.vti, - -

25,888

243

7,496

169

Dutch West Indies, ------

940

26

Malta,

213,082

6,423

,

__

Spain on the Mediterranean, - - - -

17,998

542

Cuba,

222,565

4,804

253,976

8,288

Otlier Spanish West Indies, - - - -

800

20

Sardinia, --------

11,5,637

4,856

301,287

10,739

Russia, --------

47,853

1,901

97,170

3,74S

Gibraltar, --------

37,702

1,868

France on the Mediterranean, -

25,534

593

_ -,

Tuscany, --------

892,029

30.236

4,291,859

261,293

Chili, "

4,500

138

38,162

961

Peru, ---------

4,575

137

Total --------

18,288,458

.sH.'6,799

22,766,001

982,837

For the four years, 1850, '51, '52, '53, the quantity of rags imported into
the United States amounted to 97,816,035 pounds, costing $3,262,000, or
about three and a third cents per pound.

In 1850 we imported rags from nineteen countries; in 1852 from thirty-
two ; which increment seems to have arrived near the ultimate limit, as
we were only able to add Peru to the list in 1853.

Italy seems to be the great source of supply. In 1850 we obtained
nearly half as many pounds from there as from all other places, while the
amount paid exceeded half the whole sum. In 1851, the quantity and

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

107

price of Italian rags only exceeded one-third of the amount by a trifle.
That is the only year in the four that Prussia and Denmark furnished
any rags. Holland, British East Indies, France on the Atlantic, Mexico,
are only in the receipts of 1850. Gibraltar and France, on the Mediter-
ranean, only appear in 1852.

The point most worthy of note is the regular falling off in the receipts
from Italy from 1850 to '53. Thus we have ten million?;, nine millions,
seven millions, four millions of pounds per annum. It is this that has driv-
en dealers to scour all other countries likely to afford the necessary supply.
In this they succeeded in 185 1, gaining a little over five millions of pounds
upon the year previous ; but the next year they fell back seA r en and three-
quarter millions of pounds ; and, notwithstanding the very largely
increased demand for paper within four years, the imports of 1853 are
only a trifle over two millions of pounds more than 1850. One thing in
the above table strikes us as somewhat curious : that is, that we import
rags largely from England ; and we see by her Custom-House returns,
that the imports into that country last year were 9,687 tons 21,098,880
pounds and her exports 2,462 tons 5,414,880 pounds. Our imports
from England the same year were 2,866,005 pounds.

The cost per pound, of our imported rags, has been as follows : 1850,
3 61-lOOc. ; 1851, 3 46-100c. ; 1852, 3 42-100c. ; 1853, 3 46-100.

The following table shows the amount of our exports and imports of
paper, and imports of rags, from 1838 to 1850 :

Exports Paper.

Imports Paper.

Imports Eags.

1838.

SW,335

$164,179

- ' 5 41-

1839.

80,149

186,418

588,318

1840.

76,957

146.790

564,639

1841.

83,483

60.193

496.227

1^42

69,862

92.771

468,220

184:3.

51,391

19,997 -

* 79. 853

1844.

83,108*

104,1

295,586

1845.

106,190

98,009

421,0.50

1846.

124,597

194,220

304,216

1847.

83,731

195,571

385,397

1848.

--.507

415,668

626,607

1849.

Mi, 827

395,773

524,755

1850.

99,696

486,563

748,707

* Duty began to be enforced oil rags, 1843.

In 1853, there were 304 paper-mills at work in England, 48 in Scotland,
and 28 in Ireland. The duty (three half pence per pound) amoxinted to
upwards of 925,000, so that the annual value of paper manufactured in
those countries could not be less than 3,700,000, the average value of
paper being estimated at sixpence per pound.

France, with a population of 36,000,000, turns annually into paper
105,000 tons of rags. Of these, 6,000 tons are imported. In that country
the exportation of rags has been prohibited by law since 1850.

108 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

England, with 28,000,000 inhabitants, requires yearly 90,000 tons of
rags, 15,000 of which are imported.

The consumption of paper in the United States is said to be that of
England and France added together. There are used here 6,000 tons of
straw for wrapping paper and paste boards, and during the last few years
the importation, of rags has averaged 10,000 tons. In 1850, Italy sent to
this country 5,000 tons, and in 1853 only 2,000, this deficiency being
compensated by importation from new places, such as Russia, Chili, and
Peru.

The above clearly shows that industrious or rich nations require more
paper than they can make with their own rags, and that the deficiency of
home supply is made up by purchase from their less advanced neighbors.
But progress is going on every where very rapidly, and every where, as it
seems to be the case with Italy, the exportation will go on diminishing.

Many attempts have been made to furnish new raw materials for paper,
but hitherto with only partial success. The failure generally results from
one or more of three causes, (a.) Some fibres require so much cost to bring
them to the state in which they are oifered to paper makers, in the form
of rags or cotton waste, that in point of economy they cannot enter into
competition with the latter, (b.) Certain fibres lose so much weight in
bringing them to this state, that they cease to be economical, (c.) Certain
fibres, which are well adapted on account of their texture for the paper
trade, present so many difficulties in bleaching them as to render them
unfit for white paper.

In the United States, if new materials are to be introduced for the manu-
facture of paper, the difficulties to be overcome are for the most part chemi-
cal, and not mechanical, in their nature. The mechanical departments of the
manufacture of paper have attained to an astonishing degree of perfection,
until the whole process, from the time when the boiled rags enter the
engines until they are reproduced as paper, is almost automatic. But the
chemistry of the operation, the cleaning, the boiling, the sizing, and the
bleaching, are yet rude and imperfect. And what is true of paper-making,
is true of almost every other branch of manufacturing in this country.
The departments in which progress has been made are mechanical, and it
is only here that a high degree of perfection has been attained to. And
this result is a natural one; our mills and our workshops are filled and
surrounded with an intelligent population, trained by example from their
youth up, and continually stimulated to invent. Their mechanical educa-
tion, acquired almost instinctively, makes them ready to perceive and appre-
ciate mechanical principles, and their minds and energies are constantly
directed towards the economization. of power, to the application of force by
new methods and for new purposes, or for the improving and perfecting
of old plans and arrangements. But with chemistry it is altogether clirTer-
ent. Its principles cannot be acquired by observation, but only by long
study and practical working. The science itself is regarded by many as a
collection of unsystematized facts, and to some extent this is undoubtedly

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 109

true. Therefore it is that toe chemical department of American manufac-
turing is far inferior to the mechanical. Until within a recent period, there
has been no applied chemistry in the United States our processes are
foreign, learned from foreign books, and oxir chemical artisans are also
foreigners. And here it may be remarked, that chemical improvements of
practical value, originating in Europe, do not find their way into text-
books and magazines for the information of the many until they have
been long known, to private manufacturers, or have been replaced by other
improvements of greater value.

Empirical experiment rarely leads to success in chemistry. The ma-
terials from which paper can be manufactured exist in abundance ; but
this avails nothing so long as the cost of converting them into paper
exceeds a certain limit. The attempt to convert straw into white paper is
an example. That it can be effected is no question, but that it can be
effected profitably is yet to be demonstrated. The process as ordinarily
pursued is a simple one, and not covered by any patent. The heads, grain,
and all knots and joints must be removed by chopping and winnowing ;
a process involving considerable expense, and much loss in weight. The
silica investing the straw, together with much gum and coloring matter,
must be then removed by the action of a caustic alkali. The alkali effects
the separation of these substances by uniting with them and forming
soluble silicate of soda, or potash and soluble soaps. It is claimed that a
large part of the alkali so expended may be recovered by evaporating the
residuary liquors and calcining the deposited matters. Theoretically this
can be done ; practically, with economy, it cannot. In these operations,
and in bleaching, the straw suffers a depreciation in weight of at least 60
per cent., and is then inferior to rag stock. From long and careful expe-
rience, we are convinced that white paper cannot profitably be manufactured
from straw, or analogous materials, by any of the processes now in use.

The direction in which improvements in the manufacture of paper are to
be sought for is in diminishing the waste which the ordinary stocks now
used experience in their manufacture, in availing ourselves of the refuse
fibres of the hemp and flax plants, (thousands of tons of which are now
, annually wasted in the United States and India,) and in discovering a
method of bleaching and working the fibres of various endogenous plants,
as rnanilla, sisal hemp, and the fibre of the corchorus (gunny), the Sun
Hemp (Crofu-taria'), and the " Coir" fibre.

The ordinary method of cleaning rags and "cotton waste" from the
dirt and other impurities, is by boiling them under steam pressure, with a
mixture of caustic lime and a little soda-ash, for twelve to twenty-four
hours. In this treatment, the most violent and powerful among chemical
reactions, the lime is often used in the solid, or pasty state, as well as the
soda-ash, by which 110 small portion of the cellulose is absolutely' de-
stroyed, converted in soluble compounds, to be washed away in the first
engine. By this treatment some varieties of rags lose fifty per cent, in
weight after washing, and on ordinary cotton waste the depreciation is

110 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

nearly as great. In the last case it should be remembered that the ma-
terial is new, possessing its full strength, and has not been subject to
depreciation by use. Here then, in these instances, one-half of the
material is needlessly destroyed at the commencement of the operation.

The only valuable improvement recently brought out for the improve-
ment of paper- making, and which is designed to meet and obviate the
difficulty above alluded to, is embraced in a patent granted, in 1854, to
David A. Wells, of Massachusetts. His improvement, based upon some
of the simplest and most beautiful of chemical reactions, is as follows :
It has been found that a caustic alkali, in solution, if kept below a cer-
tain limit indicated by the hydrometer, is capable of dissolving and holding
in solution caustic lime, or other alkaline earths.

If a certain limit of strength be exceeded, the alkaline earth is precipi-
tated. Remembering that potash and soda form, with gum, grease, oils,
coloring matters generally, and siiicia, soluble salts, and that the alkaline
earths form with the same substances insoluble salts, let us suppose a
solution of an alkali containing lime, as described, to act on a mass of
material, as cotton- waste, for the purpose of cleansing the same. The
solution being heated, the alkali attacks the grease, and becomes converted
into soap. In ordinary cases, the operation would here terminate. The
atom of alkali, joined to the atom of grease, is inert to remove and render
soluble any other atom of grease, and is therefore lost. But when the
caustic alkali has lime dissolved with it, the case is different. No sooner
has the alkali seized and liberated from its combination with the fibres one
atom of grease, than the lime, by virtue of its forming with the fat acids
insoluble salts, takes grease from the alkali, leaving the alkaline particle to
repeat its work, and again be renewed. The result is, that weak alkaline
solutions can thus be made to do the work of strong ones, and the expense
falls almost wholly on the cheap alkaline earth, leaving the dearer alkali
almost untouched and unimpaired.

India as a source of materials for the manufacture of paper. At the
request of the English Board of Trade, Dr. J. Forbes Royle, distinguished
for his acquaintance with the vegetable productions of Southern Asia, has
published the following information respecting the fibrous materials of
India, which may be rendered serviceable for the manufacture of paper :

" In reply to the reference from the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, requiring my opinion respecting increased supplies of
raw materials for paper making, I beg to be allowed to observe, that it is a
subject on which I have of late been frequently constilted, and have
communicated much of the following information :

The fibrous parts of many lily and aloe-leaved plants have been converted
into excellent paper in India, where the fibres of tiliaceous, malvaceous,
and leguminous plants are employed for the same purpose as in the
Himalayas, one of the lace bark tribe is similarly employed, and in China
one of the mulberry tribe, and the iicltle in Holland. I mention these
various sources, t-.i'r.ni :o pi.-nit - belonging to the same families as the above

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. Ill

abound in India and other warm countries, and are capable of yielding a
very abundant and never- failing supply of sufficiently cheap and very
excellent materials for paper making of all kinds. Some may be used
without any further process of bleaching, but all are capable of having
any color they may possess destroyed by chemical means, as I would not
except the jute canvas or gunny bagging, because I have seen specimens
of jute of a beautiful silky white, both plain and manufactured into
fabrics for furniture, c., as shown at the East India House. As the
Chinese make paper of rice straw and of the young shoots of the bamboo,
while the Hindoos make ropes of different grasses, (such as Saccharum
Munja and Saccharum Sara,) strong enough for their Persian wheels, as
well as for towing lines, it is evident that these, and probably many others,
contain a sufficiency of fibrous material for paper making. The cultivated
cereals cannot well be turned to much account, for their straw forms the
chief food for cattle ; but as the country abounds with grass jungles,
which are in the autumn of every year burnt down in order that the
young blades may spring up and afford pasturage for cattle, it is evident
that there are many situations where a sufficiency might be cut down
before it has become perfectly dried up, and converted into half- stuff for
paper makers.

Of the sedges, also, some are, in India, employed for making ropes, as
the Bhabhur or Eriophorum Cannabuiura, for making rope bridges for
crossing some of the hill torrents. The papyrus, we know, was used by
the Egyptians for making their paper, but it was by cutting the material
into thin slices and making them adhere together under pressure. But
others of the genus, as the Cyperus legetum, are used in India for mat
making. As these plants, as well as rushes, grow together in large
quantities, it would be quite possible in many places to turn them, to
profitable account.

Many parts of the world abound in the lily and aloe- leaved plants
which have been alluded to above, and of which the leaves contain much
easily separable fibrous materials. These belong to the genera Agave,
Aloe, Yucca, Sansiviera, Bromelia, and others, all of which abound in
white- colored fibres, applicable to various useful purposes, and of which
the tow might be used for paper making, and considerable supplies
obtained. Paper used to be made from the Sanseniera in Trichinopoly,
and some made of the unbleached agave alone, and also mixed with old
gunny bass.

Among cultivated plants there is probably nothing so well calculated to
yield a large supply of material fit for making paper of almost every
quality as the plantain, (Musa Paradisaica,) so extensively cultivated
in all tropical countries on account of its fruit, of which the fibre-
yielding stems are applied to no useful purpose. The plant, as every one
acquainted with tropical countries knows, is common near the poorest huts
and in the largest gardens, and is considered to yield by far the largest
quantity of nutritious matter. Its fruit in many places supplying the

112 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

place of bread, and in composition and nutritious value approaching next
nearly to the potato, may, if produced in too large a quantity, be preserved
in the same way as figs, or the meal may be separated, as it resembles rice
most nearly in composition. Each root-stock throws up from six to eight
stems, each of which must be yearly cut down, and will yield from three
to four pounds of the fibre fit for textile fabrics, for rope making, or for
the manufacture of paper. As the fruit already pays the expenses of the
culture, this fibre could be afforded at a cheap rate, as from the nature of
the plant, consisting almost only of water and fibre, the latter might easily
be separated. One planter calculates that it could be afforded for 19 13s.
cL per ton. Some very useful and tough kinds of paper have been made
from the plantain, and some of finer quality from the same material in
France.

All the plants which have been already mentioned are devoid of true
bark, and are called endogenous in structure. Simple pressure between
rollers and washing would appear to be sufficient for the separation of
the fibres of most of them. But the following families of plants are all
possessed of true bark, which requires to be stripped off, usually after
the stems have been steeped in water, before their respective fibres can be
separated from the rest of the vegetable matter.

The flax plant abounds in fibre, but this is too valuable to be converted
into paper. India, however, grows immense quantities of the plant on
account of its seed, (linseed,) which is both consumed in the country and
exported in enormous quantities ; but nowhere is the fibre turned to any
account. This i?, no doubt, owing to the climate not favoring the forma-
tion of soft and flexible fibre ; but the short fibre which is formed, and
might be easily separated, would be valuable for paper making, and might
add to the agriculturist's profits without much additional outlay.

So some malvaceous plants are cultivated on account of their fruits being
used as articles of diet, as okhra (hibiscus esculentus) of the West Indies
and of the United States. The ram-turai of India is closely allied to it,
and is cultivated for the same purposes. Both plants abound in fine
flexible fibre, which is not, but might be, easily separated, and afford a
considerable supply, especially if the cultivation was extended in the
neighborhood of towns. Paper is made from a species of hibiscus in
Japan, and hibiscus sabdariffa is cultivated in India on account of its jelly
yielding calyxes. Numerous other species of hibiscus, of lida, and of
other genera of this family, abound in warm climates ; several are culti-
vated in different countries, as hibiscus camabinius in India, and lida
titia-folia in China ; more might be so. They grow quickly, and to a large
size, and abound in fibrous material of a fine, soft, flexible quality, on
which account they might be cultivated with profit, and the tow be useful
to the paper maker.

The filiacese are likewise remarkable for the abundance and fine quality
of fibre which many of them contain. Filia Europa produces the enor-
mous quantities of bass exported from Russia. Corchorus olitorius and

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 113

corchorus capsularis, the leaves of both of which are used as a vegetable,
yield the large supply of jute imported into this country, as well as the
gunny cloth and bass exported even to America. Several species of
greivia yield edible fruit, on which account they are cultivated. Others
abound in the jungles, and most would yield a valuable fibre, as some of
them already do, for commercial purposes. Some paper is made from
gunny bass. Some of the leguminosa also abound in valuable fibre.
Crotalaria juncea yields the common sunu of India. Scebania cannibana
yields the drauchi of Bengal, while banlirnia racemesa is used for making
rope bridges in the Himalayas. The fibre of Parkinsonia aculeata was
sent to the exhibition in 1851 expressly as being fitted for paper making ;
though colorless, it wants strength.

Several plants produce large quantities of a silky cotton-like substance,
not applied to any use, such as the silk-cotton tree, the nradar of India,
and several species of saccharum, which might be collected where labor is
cheap, and would no doubt be well fitted for conversion into pulp for
paper.

Among the nettle, the mulberry, and bread fruit tribes of plants, there
are many which seem well calculated to yield material for paper making.
The Chinese, we know, employ the inner bark of morus, now Bronpone-
tia papyrifera. This, no doubt, produces some of the Chinese paper,
which is remarkable for toughness. I believe that the refuse cuttings of
the bush cultivation of the mulberry in Bengal might be turned to
profitable account. The barks of many stinging (Urtica) and cf stingless
(Bochmeria) nettles abound in fibres remarkable for strength ; the tow of
these might be converted into paper stuff, if not required for mixing with
wool.

The weeds of tropical countries which grow in such luxuriance, and
among which are species of sida, of greivia, of corchorus, of triurnfelta,
and of many other genera, might all yield an abundance of fibrous
material if the refuse of the above cultivated plants was found not to be
sufficient. Some simple machinery for separating the fibre would greatly
facilitate operations, while the expenses of freight might be diminished by
compression, or, as suggested, by packing the material as dunnage ; and
the cheapness of labor, as of every thing else, in many of these countries,
would enable material for paper making to be brought here in great
abundance and at a sufficiently cheap rate, if ordinary pains were taken
by the consumers "in Europe to encourage the planter or colonists of a
distant region."

As has been already remarked, it has been found impracticable to
convert many of the East India fibres, gunny and manilla, into white
paper, on account of the difficulty experienced in bleaching. The cause
of this difficulty, as ascertained by a course of careful experiments by the
writer, is this : The fibres contain a vegetable acid coloring matter, united
to a salt of iron, existing naturally in the plant, and probably set free and
changed in character by the course of preparation, and by the decompo-

114 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

sition which the fibre undergoes. This acid is probably crenic or some-
thing analogous, and as its combining proportion is enormously crc-it
compared with that of iron, a small amount of bass, therefore, proves
sufficient to saturate it. Under these circumstances, the fibre is as it were
artificially dyed with a fast color, bit in with an iron mordant ; and until
this difficulty is overcome, the bleaching of these materials is next to
impossible.

The following are some of the recent improvements in relation to paper
making which have appeared during the past season.

The following is an extract from the specification of a patent granted to
Messrs. Lavender & Lowe, of Baltimore, for preparing a material for
paper from the southern cane :

We take the article called Reeds, in the Carolinas used for fishing poles,
and farther South and West called Cane, and by botanists called the
Arundinaria Macrosperma of Michaux. These are first passed through
rollers, so as to crush them flat, and cut into convenient lengths of three or
four feet, and then laid compactly in a suitable vessel we prefer a tub or
vat of yellow pine plank, because it is a wood not easily affected by acid.
Muriatic or sulphuric acid, of a strength of about eighteen degrees Baume,
diluted with an equal quantity in weight of water, is then poured upon
the cane, enough to cover it. Suffer the cane to remain in this position
until fully disintegrated, which is ascertained on trial, by the fibres easily
separating and being very tender. The time required for maceration is
two or three days. Then draw the acid off for future use ; then add
cream of lime, or any carbonated or caustic alkali, in quantity sufficient to
neutralize the acid absorbed by the cane, with water sufficient to cover it,
and let it remain in this alkaline solution ten or twelve hours. Let the
solution then be drawn off, and take the cane out carefully as it is tender,
and dry it in the most convenient mode. When thoroughly dry, the
fibres, though they separate from each other easily, yet retain their
original strength and tenacity. Pass the cane then through a brake simi-
lar to that used for breaking flax and hemp, and clean it, and it becomes
fit for use, and should be put up with the fibres laid out straight and reg-
ular, as Kentucky hemp is prepared for market, unless it is put up
expressly for paper making, in which ca?e it is unnecessary to use such
care in putting it up straight.

Paper from Peat. ,T. Lallemand, of Besaneon, France, patentee. The
inventor first washes the peat thoroughly, to separate all the earthy from
the fibrous portions, and then places these latter in a strong caustic lye,
where they are suffered to soak for twenty-four hours. They are then
removed, and placed for about four hours in a bath of weak, hydro-
chloric acid, and kept constantly agitated. After this they are washed in
clear water, and then placed in a Aveak alum solution. After this they
are bleached with chlorine, and mixed with from five to ten per cent, of
rag pulp, and then go through the other common processes for making
paper.

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 115

A patent for the manufacture of paper from wood has been taken in
England, by 11. A. Brooman, of London. In this, the machinery pre-
ferred to be employed, for the purpose of obtaining the fibres of wood and
woody substances, consists of a millstone or millstones, or metal roller,
cylinders, or rasps with roughened surfaces, which are caused to act upon
blocks or pieces of wood held in a frame, always in the direction of the
grain thereof, a current or stream of water being directed on to the stone
or other reducing agent immediately before its contact with the wood. A
gauge is provided, to prevent the passage with the water of such portions
of the wood or woody fibres as may not be sufficiently reduced. The
fibres come from the stones, rollers, cylinders, or rasps, in a state of pulp,
and are passed through sieves of different gauges, from which they are
taken, to be applied to the manufacture of different qualities of paper.
The pulp thus obtained may be mixed with rag pulp, and with various
other ingredients now employed in the manufacture of paper ; and the
pulp is subjected to form it into paper. The wood pulp may be bleached
by any ordinary process, or by means of the following process : Mix the
pulp, in the first place, with a solution of carbonate of soda or soda ash,
and subsequently with a solution of alum ; the strength of these solutions
being regulated by the degree of whiteness required to be given to the
pulp. The relative proportions of the two chemical bodies in their re-
spective solutions are about two to one ; that is, the quantity of carbonate
of soda contained in its solution should be about double the quantity of
alum contained in the solution of that salt. The total quantity of both
required, is about one-tenth by weight of the pulp operated on.

The patentee claims, first, the manufacture of paper from wood and
woody fibres, reduced to fibrous pulp by means of mechanical agents,
acting in the direction of the length or grain of the said fibres, and paral-
lel thereto ; together with water or other suitable liquid, applied in the
manner described. And, second, the particular arrangement of machinery
described, for reducing wood to fibrous pulp suitable for the manufacture
of paper.

The following notice of another improvement is taken from Newton's
Journal, George Stiff, of London, patentee :

In carrying out his invention, the patentee makes use of straw, or grass,
" gunny bagging," and "hemp bagging," preferring, however, the em-
ployment of strav,'. When straw, grass, or vegetable fibre of any similar
kind is employed, the first process made use of is, to cut the straw or
fibre into lengths of about half an inch, which may be done in a chaff-
cutting machine, or any similar apparatus heretofore employed for the
purpose ; after which, the straw or fibre is winnowed, by any suitable
contrivance, in order to separate the knots and other portions of the fibre
which could not be readil}^ reduced to the consistency of pulp. The straw
or fibre thus treated, or the guany bagging, or hemp bagging, after hav-
ing been suitably prepared, is placed in a boiler or vessel, together with a
sufficient quantity of clear water to cover the fibre or other material, and

116 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT,

boiled for the space of one or two hours. This boiler or vessel is furnished
with partition or diaphram, finely perforated, or composed of gauze or
similar material, through which the water may be drained off from, the
fibre or other material, and carried away through a discharge-pipe, which
is brought into connection with the lower surface of the boiler or vessel.
After this process, the fibre or other material is to be immersed in lime-
water, in the proportion of about 1 cwt. of lime-water to every cwt. of
material, and to remain so immersed for the space of about twenty-four
hours, the mixture being occasionally stirred. After the expiration of
this time, the lime-water is to be drained off, and a fresh solution poured
on, which is again drained off as before. "When, this operation "has been
continued during about three days, the fibre or other material is to be
placed in water, to which alkali has been added, in the proportion of about
10 pounds of alkali to every 1 cwt. of water, and boiled for the space of
two or three hours ; the alkaline solution is then drained off in the man-
ner before described. After the fibre of the material has been thus treated,
it is washed and bleached in the same manner as when bleaching rags ;
that is to say, by running it into tanks or vessels, with a quantity of
chlorine or bleaching powder sufficient to bleach it to that degree of
whiteness which is required for the quality of paper to be made. After
being thus bleached, the straw, or other fibre or material, may be washed
and beaten, and reduced to pulp or half stuff, in the usual manner ; and
the pulp or half stuff may be converted into such paper as shall be re-
quired by the process heretofore in use.

The patentee claims the substitution of lime-water for other alkaline
solutions heretofore employed in the maceration of straw, grass, or other
vegetable fibre, or gunny bagging, or hemp bagging, used to form the
pulp or half stuff, in the manufacture of such descriptions of paper as are
produced from the aforesaid materials. Newton's London Journal.

Manufacture of Paper from Coiv-dnng. The following communication,
by Dr. Lloyd, of England, is published in the Journal of the Society of
Arts :

Attracted to the subject of paper-making by an accidental circumstance,
and aware of the very great variety of vegetable substances that have,
from time to time, been proposed to be so 'employed, and of those which
are actually in use, wholly or in part, as substitutes for the costly, " filthy
rags," I was induced to make trial of the fibre derived from some of our
common grasses, lleflecting, too, upon the condition of the fibre of the
flax plant -having undergone all the destructive chances and changes,
during a course from the living plant to the almost decayed fragment of
rag, and contemplating the wonderful tenacity and endurance of the fibre
in resisting the destructive agency of all the repeated mechanical and
chemical operations to which it is subjected up to the period of its be-
coming fair linen cloth, and afterwards, through the incessant action of
wear, and the no less destructive operations of the laundress, and the
transition through the rag-bag to its committal to the paper-mill, in which

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 117

the fibre is finally resolved into extreme tenuity ; and observing that the
fibre of many plants passes, uninjured, through the alimentary canal of
the cow, I concluded that the straw of the flax plant might be advan-
tageously employed in the manufacture of paper, having previously yielded
a considerable amount of nourishment as food for cattle, which, in the
ordinary treatment of the plant, is entirely wasted. I accordingly insti-
tuted some experiments, both in the use of flax- straw as food for cattle,
and in the conversion of the same straw, after its passage through the
alimentary canal, into paper.

Assuming the straw of the flax plant to contain the same nitrogenous
elements as the seed-vessels, it appeared probable that, when cut into chaff,
and mixed in varying proportions, either with the chaff of certain grasses,
selected for their strength of texture, as common dog's-tail grass, (cynosu-
rus cristatus,} or with that of common hay, it would, in the process of
mastication and digestion, yield a considerable portion of flesh-making
nutriment; and by the same natural process, ail or the greater part of the
soluble matter being thus separated, the pure fibre would remain in the
excreta, which, being retained in convenient receptacles under the feeding-
stalls or boxes, which should be "boarded," or perhaps half-boarded, and
the liquid portion being separated by pressure, after a certain degree of
dilution with water, would be preserved as manure to be returned to the
soil.

We have thus at command a natural and most economical " rag-en-
gine" for the separation and comminution of the fibre in the jaws and
teeth of the ruminant machine a series of macerating vessels in the
stomachs and alimentary canal, in which the soluble matters are detached
and removed, not as waste, ,but destined, not only to keep in repair the
machine itself, but, by increase of weight, to add most materially to its
value.

As the present purpose is not so much to treat of the feeding qualities
of flax-straw, or of the value of the liquid portion of the excreta thus
obtained for the purposes of manure, but rather to show that a useful
and economical paper can be made from the solid portion, it will be suffi-
cient to state, that, in the experiments undertaken last year, the nutritious
properties of the flax-straw were very evident, notwithstanding the
increased time and labor in chewing the cud of such tough material
demanded ; and with respect to the value of the liquid manure, nothing
need be added to the remark, that its qualities will, of course, greatly
depend upon the nature of the food from which it is in part derived ; so
that, whatever be the value of flax -straw when so used, as compared with
other substances, the value of the excreta, as manure, will be in the same
proportion. One remark may, however, here be made with respect to the
money value of the straw, which, to cultivators, is of prime importance.
A good crop of flax, such as spinners would give the best price for, would
be too valuable for a farmer to use as food for cattle only ; and even in
reference to the ultimate use of the fibre, when freed from the soluble,

118 "ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

nutritive matter for paper-making, in the manner here proposed, the cost
might, perhaps, be too great at present ; but the quality of straw that
would be of the highest value for making yarn would not be that which
would be preferred for food ; and for paper-making, the inferior would, in
all probability, be quite as useful. It is a common complaint of persons
attempting to grow flax in new districts, that they cannot find a market
for it, and consequently many have been deterred from growing this plant
by having no use for it, nor being able to sell it advantageously. Now,
though the cultivators of flax generally will not be able to derive the full
advantage of the proposed novel use of the straw by becoming paper-
makers, yet it may oftentimes induce them to decide in favor of its culti-
vation, to know that both the straw and seed may be used profitably as
food, and that an irregular or "ragged" crop, which would be of com-
paratively little value to sell to the flax -spinner, would still prove remu-
nerative to the grower.

The liquid portion of the cow- dung having been separated by mechani-
cal pressure, and conveyed into tanks, to be from thence distributed upon
the land, the solid matter undergoes a washing in. water, and is then
subjected to the action of steam in closed vessels ; it is afterwards allowed
to macerate in water for some days, (the length of time varying according
to the atmospheric temperature,) so as to admit of a certain degree of
fermentation, and again washed, by which means the fibre is more perfectly
freed from adventitious matter, which, being present, not only deteriorates
the color of the paper, but greatly interferes with its quality in strength
and softness. In this state it may be regarded as in the condition of what
the manufacturers call "half-stuff;" and so far, the work of the rag-en-
gine has been performed by the living machine ; and the material is
bleached, by means of seme of the ordinary compounds of chlorine, to
whatever extent may be desired.

NEW METHOD OF PRESERVING WHEAT.

A Mr. Adams, in a late number of The Journal of the London Society
of Arts, has made a suggestion for a new kind of granary, by which he
thinks that grain may be safely and effectually preserved for any number
of years. The great difficulty now is the naUiral moisture contained in
all grain, and which it is never entirely divested of, by exposure to the
atmosphere at the common temperature, this being the cause of much of
the sour, musty flour found in market.

The following are Mr. Adams's observations upon the subject :
" There does not seem to be any difficulty in the matter, if we divest
ourselves of preconceived ideas of the notion that a granary or grain
receptacle must necessarily be a building with a floor or windows more or
less multiplied in altitude. We may reason by analogy as to what is the
cheapest and most effective means of securing perishable commodities
frpm the action of the atmosphere and vermin. In England we put our

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 119

liour in sacks. Brother Jonathan puts his in barrels, which does not
thoroughly answer. * * * If Brother Jonathan wishes really to pre-
serve his flour or his ' crackers ' undamaged, he makes them thoroughly
dry and cool, and hermetially seals them in tin cans. This also is a
common process to prevent goods from being damaged at sea.

" There can be no doubt that if we were to put dry wheat in an her-
metically sealed tinned case, it might be kept as long as the famed
'mummy wheat' of Egypt. This will readily be admitted, but the
expense would be queried. Let us examine into this. A canister is a
metallic reservoir : so is a gasometer ; so is an iron water-tank in a ship,
at a railway station, or elsewhere ; and a cubic foot of water-tank on a very
large scale will be found to cost very much less than a cubic foot of
canister on a small scale. And if a bushel of wheat be more valuable
than a bushel of water, it will clearly pay to put wheat in huge canisters
of iron. The wheat canister, in short, should be a wrought or cast metal
tank of greater or less size, according to the wants of the owner, whether
for the farmer's crop or the grain-merchant's stock.

" This tank should be constructed of small parts, connected by screw-
bolts, and consequently easily transported from place to place. The
internal parts should be galvanized, to prevent rust, and the external part
also, if desired. It should be hermetically tight at all the points, and the
only opening should be what is called a man-hole that is to say, a
canister-top where the lid goes on, large enough to admit a man. When
filled with grain, the top should be put on, the fitting of the edge forming
an air-tight joint. Wheat put dry into such a vessel, and without any
vermin, would remain wheat any number of years. But an additional
advantage to such a reservoir would be an air-pump, by the application
of which, for the purpose of exhaustion, any casual vermin would be
killed. If the grain were moist, the same air-pump might be used to
draw or force a current of warm air through it, to carry off the moisture.
By this process, and subsequently keeping out the air, the grain might be
preserved for any length of time. As the reservoir would be perfectly
air-tight and water-tight, it might be buried in the ground with perfect
safety ; and thus cellars might be rendered available for granaries, econo-
mizing space of comparatively little value. The grain would be easily
poured in from the surface ; and to discharge it, an Archimedean screw
should be used. The size of the reservoir should be proportioned to the
locality, and it should hold a specified number of quarters, so as to serve
as a measure of quantity, and prevent the expense of meterage. * * *
If constructed above the ground, a stair or ladder must communicate with
the upper part, and the lower part must be formed like a hopper, for the
purpose of discharge. For many farm localities this arrangement might
be best, and wheat might be thrashed into grain direct from the field and
stored. * Granaries of this description would occupy less

than one-third the cubic space of those of the ordinary description, and
their cost would be less than one-fifth. * With this security

120 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

for storing safely, a farmer would have less hesitation in sowing great
breadths of land. He would not be driven to market under an average
value, and might choose his own time for selling. The fear of loss being
dispelled, people would buy with less hesitation, and the great food stores
of the community would, by a wholesome competition, insure the great
mass of the community against a short supply. But as long as uncer-
tainty shall prevail in fhe storage of grain, so long will it be a perilous
trade to those engaged in it, and so long will the food of the community
be subject to a very irregular fluctuation of prices. There is nothing
difficult in this proposition. It is merely applying existing arrangements
to unusual cases. There needs but the practical example to be set by
influential people, and the great mass will travel in, the same track. To
the wealthy agriculturist it will be but the amplification of the principle
of the tin-lined corn-bin, that keeps out the rat from the oats of the stable.
* * * Were this mode of preserving grain to become general, the
facility of ascertaining stocks and crops after reaping would be very great.
The granaries being measures of quantity, no hand-measuring would be
needed, and the effects of wet harvest weather might be obviated."

CAKBONIZATION OF WOOD.

Extensive experiments under the direction of the French Government
have recently been made by Mr. Yiolette on the carbonization of wood.
He has found that the carbonization of wood, effected by means of hot
steam, commences at 150 deg., centigrade, but that coal gets friable and
suited for the manufacture of the finer qualities of gunpowder only when
the temperature of the steam reaches 280 deg. At 350 deg. the coal be-
comes black, but at 1,000 and 1,500 deg. it gets very black, exceedingly
compact, and very slightly inflammable. At the temperature when pla-
tina melts, it gets so hard that it is difficult to break it ; it has a metallic
sound, and ceases to burn as soon as it is removed from the flame of a
candle ; it is then like anthracite. At 280 deg. 40 per cent, of charcoal is
obtained ; at the highest degree of temperature it yields only 15 per cent.
Slow carbonization produces more charcoal than a rapid one. The coal
obtained at 270 deg. contains 70 per cent, carbon, 27 water, and 1.6 hydro-
gen. Charcoal produced at 350 deg., and suited for common cannon
powder, contains 77 of carbon, 20 of water, and 2 of hydrogen. From
that degree up to 1,500 deg. there is no more water found in the coal, and
only few traces of hydrogen. When the steam is admitted into the retort
containing wood, he was enabled to prodiice at 422 deg. charcoal of the
same nature as coal carbonated in the ordinary way at 1,200 deg. The
steam assists the decomposition of the wood, and carries off all the volatile
substances. In closed retorts wood becomes almost fusible, resembling
stone coal, but differing from it only in its composition. In closer
retorts, at a temperature of 180 degrees, the same kind of coal may be
obtained as in a common way at 280 degrees. The absorption of moist-

MECHANICS AST) USEFUL ARTS. 121

ure by coal diminishes in proportion to the teruperatxire employed in
its carbonization, but its power of conducting heat grows with the
higher degree of temperature employed ; the power of conducting elec-
tricity is also much increased by a higher temperature, and the electric
light is more brilliant. In proportion as the density of coal increases, the
facility of burning decreases. Coal obtained at a low degree of heat is
more inflammable than that carbonized at a higher degree. While coal
obtained at a low degree of heat burns at 340 deg., coal for ammunition
powder requires 370 deg. ; coal made at 1,000 and 1,200 deg. bums only
upon tin heated to cherry-red heat. Sulphur burns only at 250 deg., but
it occasions the deflagration of saltpetre at 432 deg., while coal produces it
at 380 deg. Thus in burning your powder it is the sulphur which first
takes fire ; it ignites the coal, which in its turn communicates fire to the
saltpetre.

It is to be remembered that carbonization referred to by M. Yiolette
was effected in closed retorts, by means of dry heated steam. The tem-
peratures referred to are the centigrade.

The improvements in the manufacture of powder, introduced at Es-
querdes, in France, under the direction of M. Yiolette, and which have
given to the products of this manufactory a reputation exceeding that of
any other, depend on a new method of preparing the charcoal, which is
obtained by calcination of the wood by means of a current of overheated
steam. This charcoal, called carbon roux, has but one objection its price.
To overcome this difficulty, M. Gossart has devised a method of executing
this process by heating with gas, which saves about 80 per cent, of the cost
of the process for heating the steam.

It is apparent that this method is not only applicable to steam and to
carbonization, but maybe employed with advantage whenever a fluid is to
be heated. But the author has had in view specially the making of red
charcoal, (carbon roux,~) and on this point it has been examined by the
Committee of the Ordnance Department of France. The following is an
extract from the report of this Committee to the Minister of War :

"With the apparatus proposed 100 kilogrammes of wood may be car-
bonized at once. The following is the method : The water for evaporation
is injected through a pump whose piston is charged with a weight little
above the force of tension desired for the vapor. The pressure causes the
water to rise through a graduated orifice, in a series of tubes arranged, like
a ladder, and enclosed in tubes of larger bore. These last convey the gas,
and also serve for the condensation of the steam after it leaves the carbon-
izing apparatus. The circulation goes on from above downwards. By
this arrangement the cold water of the tubes will absorb the greater part of
the heat of the gas and of the condensed water, thus heating itself more
and more in its upward movement ; it finally reaches the temperature of
ebullition, and is in part turned into steam, in a serpentine with parallel
tubes arranged so as to cover the top and sides of the furnace. The water
vaporizes in these tubes, and is overheated in its passage across the metal
6

122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

turnings or granulated metal with which they are filled. The steam thus
overheated is conducted into a reservoir of cast iron, furnished with a ther-
mometer and manometer indicating its heat and tension ; then it passes to
the carbonizing apparatus. To pass out of this apparatus, the steam and gas
are conducted in. the enveloping tubes mentioned above ; the condensed
water and the gas, now nearly cold, pass out, to be rejected by an arrange-
ment for this purpose at the lower part of the apparatus. The air for pro-
moting the combustion is heated by passing along a portion of the walls
of the chimney and the vent holes before arriving under the grating, by
which means heat is economized. The following are the advantages of the
method :

1. Only one fire is used for producing the overheated steam ; and a sin-
gle fireman suffices.

2. Only the amount of water actually necessary for producing the steam
is heated, and just as it is required.

3. The greater part of the heat is utilized, which was before carried off
by the steam and gas and totally lost.

4. The use of metallic furnaces renders it easy to multiply the heating
surfaces, and at little cost.

5. The heating is regular, the temperature very equal, and the products
obtained are uniform.

6. The best heating effects are obtained by the arrangement for bringing
the hot air under the grating.

The Committee hence recommend an appropriation to enable the powder
establishment of Esquerdes to make these arrangements. The appropria-
tions have accordingly been authorized."

GIGANTIC CLAY MODELS.

Among the novelties of the new English Crystal Palace, are clay models
of various forms of extinct animals, constructed of the natural size, and
perfect in all their anatomical details and in the characteristic features
peculiar to the living animals. Some of these models contain thirty tons
of clay, which have to be supported on four legs, as their natural history
characteristics would not allow of recourse being had to any of the
expedients for support allowed to sculptors in ordinary cases. In the
instance of the Iguanoclon, this was no less than building a house upon four
columns, as the quantities of material of which the standing Iguanoclon is
composed consist of four iron columns nine feet long by seven inches in
diameter, 600 bricks, 650 five-inch half-round drain tiles, 900 plain tiles,
38 casks of cement, and 90 casks of broken stone, making a total of 6-10
bushels of artificial stone. This, with 100 feet of iron hooping, and
20 feet of cube inch bar, constituted the bones, sinews, and muscles of
this large model, the largest of which there was any record of a casting
having been made.

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS. 123

NOVEL CHIMNEY CONSTRUCTION.

The Boston Gas Company have recently erected a chimney upon a
somewhat novel plan. The chimney has two levels, and is 170 feet high
from the lower one. It is well known that the draught depends mainly on
the warmth of the flue. At the base, of course, in ordinary chimneys,
the air is warm, and the smoke ascends lightly, but on reaching a con-
siderable height the air becomes cold and the draught ceases. To improve
the draught, this principle is employed. The chimney is circular, and is
incased by a square structure, which rises from the base to the top of the
chimney ; this case or exterior wall is hollow, filled with air, and hermeti-
cally sealed, and, according to a well-known philosophical principle,
becomes filled with hot air ; this air space of course keeps the flue warm.
The chimney will probably cost about $-5,000.

MANUFACTORY OF BEET ROOT SUGAR IN FRANCE.

The quantity of sugar made from beet root, to the end of the fourth
month of the season, February, 18-54, was 73,987,419 kilogrammes, being
very nearly equal to the entire season of September, 1852, to September,
1853. Xo branch of commerce in France has been so successful as the
fabrication of sugar from beet root. The original discovery of the
process was due to M. Thiery, a common clerk in the office of the prefect
of Lille, and who shortly after became director of the first beet root sugar
factory erected in France at Passy, and who, as a reward for his valuable
invention, received from the Minister of the Interior, in the year 1810, the
sum of three hundred francs. Brussels Herald.

Schuetzernbach, a French manufacturer, well known by his improve-
ments in the beet sugar manufacture, has lately made a very important
improvement in this branch of industry, which is spoken of with enthu-
siasm by the French papers, as insuring great economy in the manufacture
of sugar. The improvement consists in a new mode of lixivating or washing
the pulp instead of pressing it by means of hydraulic presses an apparatus
large enough to work 100,000 to 120,000 pounds of beet-pulp in twenty-
four hours can be constructed and put up for $1,200 ; the same quantity
of pulp would require six hydraulic presses, costing $5,000. The cost of
keeping these presses in repair averages about 20 per cent., whereas in
the new apparatus the repairs will amount to about five per cent. To work
six hydraulic presses requires six-horse power ; the new plan requires but
two. This improvement affords not only great economy in the first
establishment of a sugar manufactory, in keeping it in order, in horse
power and manual labor, but |it enables the manufacturer to extract 20
per cent, more sugar from the same quantity of pulp than by the old
process.

124 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

SOAP AS A MEANS OF ART.

Dr. Ferguson Branson, of Sheffield, 'writing in the Journal of the So-
ciety of Arts, says : " Several years ago, I was endeavoring to find an
easy substitute for wood engraving, or rather to find out a substance more
readily cut than wood, and yet sufficiently firm to allow of a cast being
taken from the surface when the design was finished, to be reproduced in
type-metal, or by the electrotype process. After t trying various substances,
I at last hit upon one which, at first, promised success, viz. : the very
common substance called soap ; but I found that much more skill than I
possessed was required to exit the fine lines for surface printing. A very
little experience with the material convinced me, that, though it might
not supply the place of wood for surface printing, it contained within
itself the capability of being extensively applied to various useful and
artistic processes in a manner hitherto unknown. Dye- sinking is a tedious
process, and no method of dye-sinking that I am aware of admits of free-
dom of handling. A drawing may be executed with a hard point, on a
smooth piece of soap, almost as readily, as freely, and in as short a time
as an ordinary drawing with a lead pencil. Every touch thus produced
is clear, sharp, and well defined. When the drawing is finished, a cast
may be taken from the surface in plaster, or, better still, by pressing the
soap firmly into heated gutta percha. In gutta perch a, several impressions
may be taken without injuring the soap, so as to admit of ' proofs ' being
taken and corrections made a very valuable and practical good quality in
soap. It will even bear being pressed into melted sealing-wax without
injury. I have never tried a sulphur mould, but I imagine an impression
from the soap could easily be taken by that method." Dr. Branson has
also employed beeswax, white wax, sealing wax, lacs, as well as other
plastic bodies ; and in some of these cases, a heated steel knitting needle,
or point, was substituted for the ivory knitting needle. He has sent sev-
eral specimens to the Society of Arts, which show that, from the gutta
percha or plastic cast, a cast in brass may be obtained, with the impression
either sunk or in relief.

THE NEW PROCESS OF PRINTING FROM NATURE.

The Director of the Imperial Printing Office of Vienna has invented,
and broiight into successful working, a means of producing embossed fac-
similes of objects, which it is attempted to make subservient to the pur-
poses of natural history illustration. Substantially the same invention
has also been made and patented in England, (See Annual Scientific Dis-
covery, 18-51, pp. 95-97,) and introduced into practical working, by
Bradbury & Evans, of Manchester. More importance has, however, been
attached to this invention than it is fairly entitled to ; but, so far as
regards its economy and usefulness, in such cases as the production of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 125

pittern-books for lace manufacturers, we see no reason to doubt its success.
It can never supersede the work of the draftsman in books of science.
Messrs. Bradbury & Evans's folio plates would form an admirable substi-
tute for an herbarium, if they could produce fac- similes in relief of all
plants alike, with their botanical detail in its natural condition ; but the
objects represented have to be submitted to an amount of pressure which
destroys all the parts not hard enough or flat enough to resist it, so that
we have merely representations of crushed plants. The process is as fol-
lows : The specimen is placed on a polished steel plate, and upon this is
placed a polished plate of soft lead. The plates are then passed, sandwich-
like, between the cylinders of an ordinary copper-plate printing press,
subject to a pressure of 800 to 1000 hundred weight, and the softer of the
two metal plates, being sensitive of the faintest impression, affords a beauti-
ful matrice for the casting of a type-plate, from which a fac-simile of the
object may be printed. The embossed printing for the use of the blind
sxiggests a resemblance. Impressions of hard subjects, such as fossil fish,
have been procured by taking a cast of them in gutta percha, and sub-
mitting that to the sandwich-pressing process in place of the object. A
very clever fac-simile of a crushed plant is produced, and all the detail
that can resist crushing is impressed on the lead with a fidelity and
promptness quite beyond the reach of manipulation ; but it is obvious that
only such thin and delicate subjects as sea-weeds or macerated leaves can
escape destruction in the process. No sufficient detail of the flower or
fruit of a plant can be produced for botanical purposes.

GLYPTOGRAPHY.

This art is the invention of Mr. John Doulevy, of New York, and its
object is to produce colored impressions at a comparatively small expense,
and with a precision and elegance of finish which have hitherto been
unattainable by the processes of engraving or lithography. Its principal
characteristic is the use of intaglio types instead cf the ordinary types in
relief, combined with peculiar plastic processes, by which colored plates,
adapted to every variety of chromatic effect, can be printed by the operation
of the common typographic press. Hitherto typography has been limited to
impressions of a uniform color, without aiming at illuminated letters or
pictorial embellishments. In Chromo-glyphotype, the process is directly
the reverse of ordinary typography, or printing in relief. The relief
types are raised above, the intaglio types are sunken into, the surface of
the plates. The impression produced from relief type is taken from the
letter, leaving it without back-ground. The impression produced from
intaglio type is taken from the entire surface of the block in which the
letter is engraved, presenting the letter in the midst of a back-ground, either
plain, or with any variety of ornament, as may be desired. Thus is given
a uniform, unbroken, equally-tinted surface, in which the letters appear
as if they were etched upon a copper plate, sunk into the body of a wood

126 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

engraving, or drawn upon a colored lithographic stone the only difference
being the accuracy and beauty of the impression. But this is not all.
The method just described is connected -with another invention, based 011
the typographic principle of combination and distribution, but in which
an alphabet of artistic forms is combined and distributed instead of
letters.

THERMOGRAPHY.

This is the designation bestowed by M. Felix Abate on a method lately
discovered by him for transferring figures and tracings, whether natural or
artificial, to wood, calico and paper, directly from the objects themselves,
provided these possess, or are capable 'of being converted into, plane
surfaces. This invention is an offshoot of the mode employed in Birming-
ham and Sheffield for transferring raised patterns, such as lace to metal,
by means of pressure ; but instead of this transfer of the figure from the
natural object, say a feather, to the soft metal, thence to an electro-
copper plate, and at last to the paper, M. Abate proposes to print directly
from the objects themselves, and has exhibited to the Society of Arts some
imitations of veneer and of inlaid work taken on sheets of wood, calico
and paper, and which he states were procured by the following process :
The sheet of veneer or inlaying to be copied is to be exposed for a few
minutes to the vapor of hydrochloric acid. The inventor names also
sulphuric acid vapors ; but this must be a mistake, this acid not emitting
fumes at common temperatures ; or it is to be damped with either of these
acids diluted, and the excess of moisture carefully wiped off. The sheet of
veneer is then laid upon one of calico or paper, and an impression struck off
by a common printing-press ; this impression remains invisible until, as
with many of the sympathetic inks, it is exposed to the action of heat,
which is to be applied immediately after the sheet is printed off, when a
perfect impression of all the marks, figures, and convoluted lines of the
veneer is instantaneously produced. This may be repeated for an almost
indefinite number of times, wetting the veneer occasionally -with the dilute
acid, without the impression growing fainter. The designs thus produced
all exhibit a general wood-like tint, most natural when oak, walnut, maple,
and the light- colored woods have been employed ; the darker woods, as
mahogany, rosewood, &c., may be printed on cloth or paper, dyed or
stained to a light shade of the ground color of the particular wood.

These impressions show an inversion of tints in reference to the original
wood the light parts being dark, and vice versa ; but this does not
interfere with the general effect. Should, however, a true image be
desired, the inventor damps the wood-surface with a solution of ammonia,
and then prints on the cloth or paper previously wetted with the dilute
acid, and exposes to strong heat as before, when, he states, the eifect will
be a true representation of the wood.

Tins process will undoubtedly prove useful in decoration, since it

MECHANICS AXI) USEFUL ARTS. 127

obvinu<ly affords us the means of multiplying, at very little cost, accurate
copies of rare and costly woods, marquetrie, mosaic, and inlaid work
generally, the which may be vised for paper hangings, as wainscoting and
panelling ; or, if well varnished, with hard varnish, serve for many
descriptions of "occasional furniture," toys, and boxes of various kinds,
for which purpose choice veneers are now employed ; thus furnishing
a great variety of cheap and tasteful things at a cost within the reach of
people of limited means.

M. Abate also describes another process he call? metallography t or print-
ing on metallic surfaces from engraved wood blocks. In. this process the
block is damped with a solution of such salts as are decomposed by
contact with certain salts ; as, for instance, the salts of copper, antimony,
&c., applied to the block and printed on zinc and tin ; or of hydro-
sulphuret of ammonia, on copper, brass and silver ; salts which deposit
either an adherent metallic pellicle, a film of colored metallic oxide, or
stain the metal by the formation of a sulphuret ; thus producii)g the figure
cut on the block as in ordinary printing.

Galvano-plastie Niello. Xielio, a peculiar style of enamelling, consists
in engraving or stamping figures on a plate of silver or gold, and then
filling the incised lines, or impressed pattern, with a sort of enamel,
differing, however, from true enamel, which is a kind of glass, by being
formed of a mixture of the sulphurets of lead, silver and copper. This
mixture is of a black color hence the name niello, from nigellum, derived
from, niger, black and when melted into the intaglio parts of a plate,
gives it somewhat the appearance of an inked engraved copper plate. A
new kind of niello work has lately been introduced on the Continent, in
which, however, the figures are not produced by an enamel of sulphuret
of silver, as in the true niello, but by a different colored metal : tints on a
plate of gold may be produced fine engravings, the lines of which are in
silver, and so on. * * * Many highly ornamental and useful appli-
cations might be made of these processes, especially in the manufac-
ture of church furniture. Instead of simply engraving the r.ame and
legend upon pieces of plate presented to persons, it might be put in letters
of gold at very little more expense. Jlining Journal,

GREAT ORGAN AT LIVERPOOL.

The following particulars of interest are published concerning the
monster organ recently placed in the Town Hall of Liverpool, by Mr.
Willis :

The instrument consists of four rows of keys, from G to A, i. e._ GG to
A in aitissimo, C3 notes ; and two octaves and a half of pedals, from C to
F, i. e. CCC to F, 30 notes. There are 108 stops and 8,000 pipes, varying
in length from 32 feet to three- eighths of an inch, ten octaves apart. The
grand source of wind is from two immense bellows, each having three
feeders, placed in the vaults below the floor of the hall. These are blown

128 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

by a steam-engine, consisting of a pair of oscillating cylinders. There
are besides twelve other bellows, or reservoirs, each giving its own appro-
priate pressure of air to those stops or pipes which it supplies. The pneu-
matic lever is applied to each of the manuals distinctly, and also distinctly
or separately to the manual couplers. To the pedal organ there is a double
set of penumatic levers ; but the most elaborate use of this power is found
in its application to the combination of stops ; here we have it exhibited
in a compound form to each organ individually, and to the whole collec-
tively, where by one operation the player is enabled to produce a combi-
nation of stops upon the entire instrument at once. This movement
appears in a series of six handsome gold- gilt knobs, placed immediately
under each set of manuals, at about two keys' distance from each other,
occupying a central position, always within reach of one or other of
the performer's thumbs. The pneumatic lever is also applied to the
opening and shutting of the swell louvres and some other less important
purposes.

ON THE COLLECTION AND VALUE OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION.

The Earl of Harrowby, President of the British Association, in his
annual address, thus adverts to the labors of the statistical section of that
body ; his remarks apply to all societies of like character, and especially
controvert the position of those who regard the accumulation of such
information as of little or no value :

" Who shall separate political altogether from the influences of physical
geography, or ethnology from physiology, or the destinies of man upon
this globe from the study of his physical nature ? By its employment of
the doctrine of probabilities, one branch of statistics is brought into imme-
diate contact with the higher mathematics, and the actuary is thus enabled
to extract certainty in the gross out of uncertainty in the detail, and to
provide man with the means of securing himself against some of the worst
contingencies to winch his life and property are exposed. In fact, statis-
tics themselves are the introduction of the principle of induction into the
investigation of the affairs of human life an operation which requires the
exercise of at least the same philosophical qualities as other sciences. It
is not enough, in any case, merely to collect facts and reduce them into a
tabular form. They must be analyzed as well as compared ; the accom-
panying circumstances must be studied, (which is more difficult in moral
than in material investigations,) that we may be sure that we are (that is
to say, in reality calling the same things by the same names) treating of
the same facts under the same circumstances ; and all disturbing influences
must be carefully eliminated before any such pure experiment can be got
at as can fairly be considered to have established a satisfactory conclusion.
In some cases this is easier than in others. In regard to the probabilities
of life or health, for instance, there are, at least, no passions or prejudices,
no private interests at work, to interfere with the faithful accumulation of

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. lliU

the facts ; and if they IDG numerous enough, it might be supposed that
their number would be a suHicient protection against the effect of any
partial disturbances. But even litre, caution, and special as well as exten-
sive knowledge, are required. There are disturbing influences even here
habits of life, nature of employment, immigration or emigration, igno-
rance or mis-statement of age. local epidemics, Sec., which leave sources of
error in even the most extended investigations. Still results are attained,
errors are more and more carefully watched against, and allowed for, or
excluded, and more and more of certainty is gradually introduced. And
here I should not omit to notico the valuable services of the Society of
Actuaries. They discuss all questions to which the science of probability
can be applied, and that circle is constantly extending ; assurance in
all its branches, annuities, reversionary interests, the laws of population,
mortality, and sickness ; they publish transactions, and, what is of the
greatest importance in this, as indeed of any branch of inductive science,
they hold an extensive correspondence with foreign countries. In fact,
they are doing for the contingencies of human life, and for materials
apparently as uncertain, something like what meteorology is doing for the
winds and waves.

What shall.I say cf the statistics of crime, of education, of pauperism,
of charity, at once and reciprocally the effect and the cause of that
increasing attention to the condition of the people which, so favorably
distinguishes the present age ? Who can look at the mere surface of socie-
ty, transparently betraying the abysses which yawn beneath, and not desire
to know something of its secrets, to throw in the moral drag, and to
bring to the light of day some of the phenomena, the monstrous forms of
misery and vice, which it holds within its dark recesses. And who can look
at these things, no longer matter of conjecture, but ascertained, classed,
and tabled, without having the desire awakened or strengthened to do
something towards remedying the evils thus revealed, and without feeling
himself guided and assisted towards a remedy ? Yet here, more than in
other cases, should a man suspect himself ; here should he guard himself
against hasty conclusions, drawn from, the first appearance of the results ;
for here are disturbing influences most busily at work, not only from
without, but from, within ; not only in the nature of the facts themselves,
but in the feelings, passions, prejudices, habits, and moral constitution of
the observer.

Still, the tabling of the facts is of infinite importance. If they disturb,
as they are sure to do, some feeling, some prejudice, some theory, some
conviction, it will be felt that, any how the facts have to be accounted for,
further investigation will follow ; and if it appear that no correction is
required, the truth will be established, and the hostile theory will, sooner
or later, give way and disappear. In these tilings it is, of course, more
than usually important that the facts to be selected for collection should
be such as are, in their own nature and under the circumstances, likely to
be ascertained correctly, and that the business of collection should be in
6*

130 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the hands of those who have no bias to do it otherwise than fairly, no
interest in. the result.

Nor can I, while speaking of statistics, avoid referring to the Statistical
Congress which took place at Brussels about this time last year ; which
had mainly for its object, to produce uniformity among different nations,
in the selection of the facts which they should record, and in the manner
of recording them ; without which, indeed, no satisfactory comparisons
can be established, no results can safely be deduced. To bring about such
a uniformity absolutely, is, I am afraid, hopeless ; inasmuch as the grounds
of difference are, in many cases, so deeply embedded in the laws, the insti-
tutions, and the habits of the different countries, that no hammer of the
statist is likely to remove them.

To understand, however, the points of difference, even if they are not
removed, is, in itself, one great step towards the object. It at least pre-
vents false conclusions, if it does not fully provide the means of establish-
ing the true ones. It gets rid of sources of error, even if it fails of giving
the full means of ascertaining truth. Take, for instance, the case of crim-
inal statistics. We wish to ascertain the comparative prevalence of differ-
ent crimes, either at different times or in different countries. For tin's
purpose, must we not know under what heads the jurists and statists of
the times or countries to be compared array the various offences which
are recorded ; with what amounts of penalty they were visited ; and with
what rigor, from time to time, the penalties were enforced ?

That which is called manslaughter in one country, and assassination in
another, is called murder in a third. That which, in one country, is pun-
ished with death, in another is visited by imprisonment. The bankruptcy
which, in one country, is a crime, in another is a civil offence. The juve-
nile offences, which in one country are punished by imprisonment, and
swell the criminal calendar, in another are treated, as they should in many
cases be, only as a subject of compassion and correction, take 110 place in
the criminal calendar at all.

Indeed, it is one of the difficulties which beset a large proportion of
these investigations, whether into morals, health, education, or legislation,
and which must always distinguish them from those which deal either
with matter or denned abstractions, that, in using the same terms, we are
often uncertain whether we mean the same thing ; whether, in fact, when
we are using the same denominations, the same weights and measures are
really employed. Such conferences, however, as those of Brussels, tend
much to limit the extent of error.

With regard to the statistics of agriculture, the main object is, to pro-
cure such a knowledge of the facts as shall guide the operations of the
consumer and the merchant. I would suggest that they should be taken
and published at two periods of the year, once in the spring, recording
the extent of soil devoted to each kind of grain, a fact easily ascertained ;
the second time as soon as the harvest is concluded, announcing the
amount of the crop, as ascertained on several specimen fields, under differ-

MECHANICS AXD USEFUL ARTS.

131

ent circumstances of soil and climate, and applying it, in due proportion,
as a multiple to the acreage already published. A really accurate census
of the harvest is, I believe, impracticable, at least within the period which
would alone make it valuable for present use ; and the approximation
which I have suggested would, I conceive, be adequate to the purpose."

CURIOSITIES OF THE ENGLISH CENSUS.

The English census of 1851, it is well known, by a most careful and
pre-arranged method, was taken over the whole kingdom, during a single
day and evening, viz., that of the 30th of March. The complete returns
furnish much information of a curious as well as useful character. The
total population of the kingdom was found to be as follows :

Males.

Females.

Total.

England, .

8,281,734

8,640,154

16,921,888

Scotland, .

1,375,479

1,513,263

2,888,742

Wales,

499,491

506,230

1,005,721

Islands, .

66,854

76,272

143,126

Army, Xavv. and)
Merchant Service, j

162,490

162,490

Totals,

10,386,043

10,735,919

21,121,967

The census illustrated this 21,000,000 of people by an allusion to the
Great Exhibition. On one or two occasions 100,000 persons visited the
Crystal Palace in a single day; consequently 211 days of such a living
stream would represent the number of the British population. Another
way of realizing 21,000,000 of people was arrived at by considering their
numbers in relation to space : allowing a square yard to each person, they
would cover seven square miles. A further illustration ; if all the people
of Great Britain had to pass through London in procession four abreast,
and every facility was afforded for their free and uninterrupted passage for
12 hours daily, Sundays excepted, it would take nearly three months for
the whole population of Great Britain to file through at quick march, four
deep. The excess of females in Great Britain was 512,361, or as many as
would have filled the Crystal Palace five times over. The proportion be-
tween the sexes was 100 males to 105 females, a remarkable fact when it
was considered that the births during the last 13 years had given the
reversed proportion of 105 boys to 100 girls. The annexed statement ex-
hibits the population of Great Britain at each census from 1801 to 1851
inclusive :

132

ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Years.

Males.

Females.

Total.

1801 . . .

5,368,703

5,548,730

10,917,433

1811 . . .

6,111,261

6,312,1- ."9

12,424,120

1821

7,096,053

7,306,590

14,402,643

1831

8,133,446

8 ; 430,692

16,564,138

1841

9,232,418

9,581,368

18,813,786

1851

10.336,048

10,735,919

21,121,967

The increase of population in the last half century was upwards of
10,000,000, and nearly equalled the increase in all preceding ages, notwith-
standing that millions had emigrated in the interval. The increase still
continued, but the rate of increase had declined, chiefly from accelerated
emigration. At the rate of increase prevailing from 1801 to 1851, the
population would double itself in 52^ years.

The rmmber of persons absent from Great Britain on the night of the
30th of March, 1851, was nearly 200,000: viz., army, navy, and mer-
chant service, 162,490 ; and British subjects resident and travelling in
foreign countries, 33,775.

The number of the houseless classes, i. e. of persons sleeping in barns,
tents, and the open air, on the night of the census, was 18,249. The
following table gives the number of these classes, together with those
sleeping in barges and vessels :

Persons sleeping in

Males.

Females.

Total.

Barges, .

10,395

2,529

12,924

Barns,

7,251

2,721

9,972

Tents or open air,

4.614

3,663

8,277

Vessels, .

48,895

2,853

51,748

Totals, .

71,155

11,766

82,921

The following table gives the number of houses in Great Britain in

1851:

Inhabited.

Uninhabited.

Bui 'ding.

England,

3,076,620

144,499

25,192

.Scotland,

370,308

12,146

2,420

Wales, .

201,419

8,995

1,379

Islands,

21,845

1,095

203

Totals, .

3,670,1<;2

166,735

29,194

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS.

J

oo

About 4 per cent, of the houses in Great Britain were iinoccupied in
1851, and to every 131 houses inhabited or uninhabited there was one in
course of erection. In England and Wales, the number of persons to a
house was 5.5 ; in Scotland 7.8, or about the same as in London ;. in Edin-
burgh and Glasgow the numbers were respectively 20.6 and 27.5. Sub-
joined is cd statement of the number of inhabited * houses and families in
Great Britain at each census, from 1801 to 1851, also of persons to a
house, excluding the islands in the British seas.

Years.

Inhabited
Houses.

Families.

Persuiis to a

I I

1801, .

1,870,476

2,260,802

56

1311, .

2,101,597

2,-U,215

5.7

1821, . . .

2,129,630

2,941,383

5.8

1331, .

2,850,937

3,414,175

5.7

1841, . . .

3,446,797

(Xo returns.)

54

1851, .

3,643,347

4,312, 3 33

5.7

The number of inhabited houses had nearly doubled in the last half
century, and upwards of two million new families had been founded.
67,609 families, taken at hazard, were analyzed into their constituent parts,
and they gave some curious results. About 5 per cent, only of the families
in Great Britain consisted of husband, wife, children, and servants,
generally considered the requisites of domestic felicity ; while 893 families
had each ten children, at home, 317 had each eleven, and 64 had each
twelve. The number of each class of institution, and the number of per-
sons inhabiting them, are annexed :

Class of Institution.

Number
of Insti-

Xo. of Persons inhabiting them.

tutions.

Males.

Females. ! Total.

Barracks,

174

44,833

9,100

.53,933

Workhouses, .

743

65,786

65,796

131,582

Prisons, .

257

24,593

6,369

30,959

Lunatic Asylums, .

149

9,753

11,251

21,004

Hospitals,

118

5,893

5,754 11,647

Asylums, etc.,

573

27,183

19,543

46,731

Totals,

2,017

178,041

117,815

295,856

Of these 295,856 persons, 260,340 were inmates, and 35,516 officers and
servants. The excess of males in the prisons arose from the fact that
crime was four times as prevalent among males as among females.

It was mentioned as a curious trait of gypsy feeling, that a -w^iole tribe

134 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

struck their tents, and passed into another parish, in order to escape enu-
meration.

The number of cities and towns of various magnitudes in Great Britain
was 815 : viz., 580 in England and Wales, 225 in Scotland, and 10 in the
Channel islands. The town and country population was equally balanced :
10^ millions against 10i millions. The density in the towns was 3,337
persons to the square mile ; in the country only 120. The average popu-
lation of each town in England and Wales was 15,500 ; of each town in
Scotland, 6,654. The average ground area of the English town was four
and three-fifths miles.

In 1851, Great Britain contained 70 towns of 20,000 inhabitants and
upwards. There was an increasing tendency of the people to concentrate
themselves in, masses. London extended over an area of 78,029 acres, or
122 square miles, and the number of its inhabitants, rapidly increasing,
w-as 2,362,236 on the day of the last census. A conception of this vast
mass of people might be formed by the fact, that if the metropolis was
surrounded by a wall, having a north gate, a south gate, an east gate, and
a west gate, and each of the four gates was of sufficient width to allow a
column of persons to pass out freely four abreast, and a peremptory necessity
required the immediate evacuation of the city, it could not be accomplished
under four-and-twenty hours, by the expiration of which time the head
of each of the four columns would have advanced a no less distance than
seventy -jive miles from their respective gates, all the people being in close
file, four deep.

The 624 districts of England and Wales classed in an order of density
ranged from IS persons to the sqxiare mile in Northumberland, to 185,751
in the East London district. In all London there were 19,375 persons to
the square mile. In 1801 the people of England were on an average 153
yards asunder, in 1851 only 108 yards. The mean distance between their
houses in 1801 was 362 yards, in 1851 only 252 yards. In London the
mean proximity in 1801 was 21 yards, in 1851 only 14 yards. The
number of islands in the British group was stated at 500, but inhabitants
were only found on 175 on the day of the census.

The precautions taken by government to secure extreme accuracy were
very great ; they involved the final process of a minute examination and
totaling, at the Census Office, of 20,000,000 of entries, contained on
upwards of 1,250,000 pages of the enumerators' books. The latter were
upwards of 38,000 in number.

In the collection of the census, the first step taken by the enumerators
was to deliver to every occupier of a house or tenement a householder's
schedule. Upon this schedule inquiry was made as to the name, relation
to head of family, condition, sex, age, occupation, and birthplace of
every person in Great Britain, and also as to how many of them were
blind, or deaf and dumb. For the use of the poorer native population of
Wales, a certain number of the forms was printed in the language of
that country. The total number of schedules forwarded from the census

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 135

office was 7,000,000, weighing nearly 40 tons ; or, if the blank enumeration
books and other forms be included, upwards of 52 tons. The schedule
was to be filled up on the night- named. No one present on that night
was to be omitted, and no person absent was to be included, except police-
men and others on night duty ; and miners, potters, and other work-
people usually engaged at their labor during the night, and regularly
returning home in the morning ; persons travelling were enumerated at
the hotels or houses at which they might stop 011 the following morning.

At the same time that these schedules were distributed, the enumerators
delivered forms for collecting information respecting places of worship,
scholastic establishments, and miscellaneous institutions, but it was
optional with the respective parties to decline making these returns if
they thought proper.

When a house was uninhabited, or in process of building, the enumera-
tors made a note of such a case upon the schedule last collected, by which,
means the unoccupied houses, and houses in course of erection, were
enumerated. The number of inhabited houses was indicated by the
number of householders' schedules rilled up.

Having collected all the schedules, and copied them into books prepared
after a certain form, the enumerators summed the various total* in their
respective districts. The totals thus obtained expressed the number of
persons who were inmates of dwelling-houses on the night of the census,
with the special addition of certain classes on night duty ; but several
classes had yet to be enumerated viz. : the persons who, on the night
named, slept or abode either in barges, boats, or other small vessels remain-
ing stationary on canals or other navigable streams, in barns, sheds, and the
like, and in tents or in the open air. The number of these in each district
was estimated by the respective enumerators ; the estimate, however, was
not to include people in coasting or other sea-going vessels, as they would
be dealt with by other means yet to be described.

The enumerators were allowed one week for the transcription of the
contents of the householders' schedules into the enumeration book, and
for the completion of the various summaries and estimates. The schedules
and book, together with the retuins relating to schools and places of
worship, were then forwarded to the respective registrars, and the duties of
the 38,7-iO enumerators terminated. The census returns were now in the
hands of 3,2 20 registrars, or dividers of districts.

The registrars immediately commenced a careful and systematic exami-
nation and revision of the documents described, directing their attention,
according to instructions, to nine specially defiued points in respect to
them. They then prepared a summary of the statements of the enume-
rators in their respective districts, and transmitted them, together with the
enumeration books, to the superintendent-registrar, for a further revision,
by that officer, forwarding the householders' schedules and returns for
places of worship and schools direct to the census office. T \Vith the
completion of these duties, for which a for'tnight was allowed, the

136 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

functions of the 3,220 registrars, or dividers of districts, ceased. The
summaries and enumeration books (as far as England and "Wales were
concerned) were now in the hands of 624 superintendent- registrars.

The chief duties of the superintendent-registrars were to expedite the
investigation, but they had also further to revise the summaries and
enumeration books, and to transmit them to the census office, there to
undergo a still further revision before the commencement of the abstracts.

o

CURIOSITIES OF THE AMERICAN CENSUS.

Prom the statistics collected under the seventh census of the United
States, the following interesting facts have been deduced :

1. Law of Growth. This has been so uniform that the general ratio is
a well-known fact ; but the mode in which that growth has been made is
very little known. Many persons have given too much weight to immigra-
tion, and others have supposed the increase of the African race more rapid
than it is. Mr. Darby, in his " View of the UnHed Strifes," gave the law
of population to the year 1940, which, although published twenty years
ago, gave the population of 1850 but a million and a half beyond what it
is ; and the whole error was in the estimate of the African race, which lie
made 5,700,000, when it is really but 3,636,000. There has been a
tendency at all times to exaggerate the increase and importance of the
African as well as the immigrant population. Neither of them can ever
occupy any thing but a subordinate position in a nation whose whole
genius and institutions are so completely Anglo-American. This fact the
census demonstrates..

The number of inhabitants prior to the Revolution cannot be obtained
with accuracy ; but since 1780 we have it with great exactness. Taking
the decimal periods, we ascertain a very uniform law of progression, thus :

In 1790 3,929,827

In 1800 5,305,925 Increase 35 per cent.

In 1810 7,239,814 Increase 36 per cent.

In 1820 . . 9,638,131 Increase 33 percent.

In 1830 12,866,920 Increase 33 per cent.

In 1840 17,062,566 Increase 32.J per cent.

In 1850 23,191,876 Increase 36 percent.

The law of growth has, for sixty years, been but slightly variant from 34
per cent. This is so fixed and certain that, allowing for a very little dimi-
nution of ratio, we may assume 33 and one-third per cent, (or one-third the
existent population) as the decimal increase of growth for the next half
century. We may predict, with almost certainty, that in 1910 (sixty
years) the American Republic will have one hu.i-ln'd and twenty millions
of people an empire which, when its vigor, resources, and institutions are
considered, will in power exceed any thing which exists, or has existed,
among nations.

MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 137

2. The Law of Numerical Relation between the Sexes. There is a natural
law of relations between the sexes, -which is found to vary at different
ages, according to the different dangess to which they are exposed. This
is one of the most curious of the natural laws, and one of the most
interesting demonstrating the admirable economy of adaptations between
the several parts of the natural system. If the number of males and
females born was exactly equal, the result would be, that, before they
reached middle age, the female sex would be reduced too low, and become
inadequate to the purposes which it has to fill. In fact, the number of
males born is always greater than the females by about four per cent. To
illustrate the changes in the numerical relations perfectly, take the follow-
ing example from the last two censuses :

In IS 10, under five years of age . . . 1,270,750 males.
In 1840, under five years of age . . . 1,203,349 females.

Excess (o per cent.) .... 67,4-41 males.
In 1850, under five years of age . . . 1,472.052 males.
In 1850, under six years of age . . . 1,424,325 females.

Excess (4 per cent.) .... 47,727 males.

Now, let us pass on to the age of puberty, and see what a change has
taken place :

In 1850, from 15 to 20 years .... 1,087,GOO females.
In 1850, from 15 to 20 years .... 1,041,116 males.

Excess (4 per cent.) .... 46,484 females.

The females have now passed the males ; but let us go 011 and see what
influence motherhood has had on females :

\

In 1850, from 30 to 40 years .... 1,288,682 males.
In 1850, from 30 to 40 years .... 1,128,257 females.

Excess (14 per cent.) .... 160,425 males.

At 70 years of age, the females are again in advance, and the same fact
is developed in each census. Above we see an immense change in this
relation. From birth to 20 years, the loss of males to females by death was
nearly 2 to 1 ; but from 20 to 40, the death of females was much the great-
est so that the males are again the most numerous. Bast 40, the deaths of
females are the smallest. The numerical law of the sexes, then, is this :

1. There are more males than females born by about 4 per cent.

2. At 20 years of age, this preponderance is entirely lost, and there are
more females than males.

3. At 40 years, the balance is again the other way, and there are more
males than females.

4. At 70, the sexes are about even, and the ultimate age of the human
being is reached without any decided advantage to either sex.

138

ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

Both the censuses of 1840 and 1850 prove the law. Between 70 and 100
years of age, there are 15,311 more white women than there are males;
being more than 5 per cent, of the whole number. Beyond the age of 40
years, the probabilities of longevity are much greater, for American women,
than that of men. This contrasts singularly with the fact that the physique
(relatively) of American women is inferior to that of American men.
That fact, as I have shown, however, tells tremendously on women be-
tweeii the ages of 20 and 40, when their mortality is very great.

The longevity of some women is very extraordinary. There are four
hundred and thirty American women above one hundred years of age !

3. The Growth of the White Race. The law of growth in the races is

/

something different. The ratio of increase, at each successive decennial
period, has been respectively 36 37 35 35 35 38 per cent. This
gives us a decennial growth of about 36 per cent, for the white race. The
growth of the white race i--, therefore, decennially, about 2 per cent, greater
than the growth of the whole ; consequently, leaving a diminution, to a
corresponding extent, in that of the colored population.

4. The Grou-th of the African Race. The colored race have advanced,
decennially, very nearly as 373230292527 per cent. The par-
allel between the growth of the White and African races, for the last 40
years, has been thus :

White.- Colored.

I?10tol820 y.5 3D

1820 to 1830 35 29

White. Colored.

1830 to 1840 28 25

1840 toitol).. ..38 27

5. The Law of Relation in the Growth of the Races. As seen in the
preceding paragraph, the growth of the white race exceeds that of the col-
ored race, by nearly 10 per cent., in the corresponding ratios. But, we
must remark, it seems that the conditions of their growth are not parallel.
The white race is continually receiving accessions from Europe. In the
last 10 years, (1840 to 1850,) the United States received about 1,500,000
white immigrants. Of these, about 600,000 died in the 10 years; so that
900,000 of the nearly 20,000,000 of white population were immigrants
thus added to the national increase. The actual increase of whites was
about 5,000,000 ; from which, deducting 900,000 immigrants, leaves 4,100, -
000 for the natural increase, which is about 28 1-8 per cent. In the same
time, the growth of the African race was 27 per cent.; so that, in fact,
there is very little difference between the ratios of natural increase in the
two races, although there is some difference, and that in favor of the whites.

6. The General Law of Increase, (independent of immigration,) by nat-
ural causes alone, is 28 per cent, decennially. This is 8 per cent, below
the average increase of the whites, and 10 per cent, below that from 1840
to 1850. AVhile the number of born foreigners in the United States is
less than 9 per cent., the number in the comparative increase of a single
year is large rising, in the last two or three years, to about half the
whole increase. The original immigrants, however, rapidly die, while
their children are born on the soil.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

ELECTRICAL DISCOVERIES.

SIGXOR PALMIEHI, of Naples, has inrented a movable conductor a disk
of wood, bearing metallic points, rotating on an axis, which enables him
to correct the errors of former observers of electrical phenomena. The
idea of negative rains or cloud?, he says, must be given up, because the
differences observed are due only to time : for instance, the atmosphere
will be negative when a shower is approaching, positive while the rain is
actually falling, and negative again as it passes away. He hopes, by
means of his new instrument, to arrive at some of the laws which govern
the fall of rain in European latitudes. A curious fact has been noticed
also with respect to gutta-percha, which may be interesting to electricians.
This substance, as is well known, acquires a bluish tinge after having
been kept some months ; and when in this state, it can no longer be
negatively electrified, as before, by almost any substance with which it
may be rubbed. Its electricity is found to be positive ;. and the only
substances which will electrify it negatively are mica, diamond, and fur.

M. Palagi, of Bologna, and M. Tolpicelli, of Home, sustain the opinion
that the change of distance between two bodies constitutes them in differ-
ent electrical states, as they are removed from or advanced to each other.
M. Volpicelli, while endeavoring to frame the experiment which shall
exhibit this phenomenon, has discovered a singular electro- static property.
When ail insulating stick of glass, or sealing-wax, or sulphur, is placed
on an insulated or non- insulated support, (e. $., sliding through one or
several rings,) the natural electricity of the stick is distributed by the
rubbing, which rises from the motion in a singular way ; the electricity
accumulates in one of the extremities of the stick, at the same time
diminishing in the other, so that there is a point between the two extremi-
ties in the normal state. If the stick is of glass, the extremity which is on the
side towards which the motion is operated presents positive electricity, and
the other extremity negative electricity ; the contrary takes place if the
stick is of wax or of sulphur. The new electro-static polarity manifests
itself in the extremities, even when the rubbing takes place only on a very
small part in the midst of the insulating stick, and when the extremities
themselves have no share in the rubbing.

140 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

ON TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICITY.

Prof. Farraday has recently completed some experiments on the first
effects of a current admitted into an insulated conductor, and to ascertain
the causes of the excessive differences which exist between the several ascer-
tained velocities of electricity. It is a fact, that in Mr. Wheatstone's ap-
paratus it travels at the rate of 100,000 leagues a second, while in the wire
connecting London and Brussels, Mr. Airy found it required more than
that time to traverse a thousand leagues. As the company for the manu-
facture of submarine telegraph wires placed their wires at Mr. Farraday's
disposal, he had an excellent opportunity to pursue his researches. The
mode adopted by Mr. Statham, (the superintendent of the company,) to
ascertain the degree of insulation the gutta percha coated wires possess, is
to lay them along large floating frames, in such a way that they shall be
completely submerged, with the exception of their two ends, which are
kept in the air ; two hundred of these wires are submerged together ; their
total length is forty leagues, when they are connected together by their ex-
tremities, (which is very easily done.) A battery of 30 pair, connected with
the earth by one of its poles, while the other communicates by means of
a galvanometer with the submerged wire, is the test employed ; if
the gutta percha coating is not perfect, there is a loss of electricity,
which is indicated by the galvanometer. I may premise, the submerged
wires may be taken out of the water and suspended in the air at the will
of the experimenter. Mr. Farraday found the wires, when submerged,
acted precisely as though they were a Leyden jar, the wire playing the
part of the tin foil coating, the gutta percha the part of the glass, and the
water the part of the exterior tin foil coating ; as one electricity was en-
gaged in the submerged wire, its major part was dissimulated by the con-
trary electricity, which, flowing from the earth, fixed itself in the water in
contact with the gutta percha coating, where it accumulated until the ten-
sion became so great that the apparatus refused to receive further charges,
notwithstanding the play of reciprocal influences. In this state of things
all communication established between the wire and the earth reunites the
two coatings as an exciter ; but as some time was required to charge the
wires, the discharge likewise requires a corresponding time. In the air, of
course, (for the water is wanting,) the wire becomes incapable of taking
sensible charges. These negative and positive results furnish a striking
proof of the identity of static electricity, furnished by the machine, and
dynamic electricity, furnished by the battery. This delay the constitution
of the submarine telegraph superinduces in the propagation of a current
allowed Mr. Farraday to easily make a very beautiful experiment : he sent
electrical waves in the wires ; he even sent several, one after the other ; and
they did not confound themselves together. But these waves have a ten-
dency to diffuse themselves as they advance; for if, after having established
the contact between the battery and the end of the wire, the experi-

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 141

menter places the latter in communication with the ground, new phe-
nomena appear. A portion of the electricity which had penetrated in the
wire returns, giving a retrograde current ; and if the head of the wave
has had time to reach the other extremity of the line, it gives rise to a
contrary current, so that the wire pours out its electricity at both ends, by
two inverse currents ! All of these phenomena disappear when the wires
are suspended in the air. Mr. Farraday holds, that the velocity of elec-
tricity is not absolute, and that it varies with its source : " it varies with
the tension of its first urging source."

ELECTRIC ILLUMINATION.

There have been recently some attempts made at Paris towar ds illumi-
nating the bottom beneath water. At the Lake d'Enghien, M. Duboscq,
the successor of Soleil, performed an experiment of this kind before
marry competent observers. The electrodes of carbon were placed in a
glass globe, being connected with one of Duboscq' s regulators, which
communicated with the battery by means of a copper wire covered with
gutta-percha. The globe, submerged to a depth of five meters, spread
light over a circumference of about ten meters radius, and it remained
constant for about ten hours, after which the carbon reqiiired replacing.
The idea of this process was suggested to Duboscq by an agent of a
company engaged in exploring the bottom of the Mediterranean where
the battle of Navarino took place. The diver usually remained beneath
the water three-quarters of an hour, after which he came tip to breathe
and rest ; his light was an oil lamp, placed on the head of the diver, and
fed with air proceeding from his respiration, whence it was in a variable
current, and was often extinguished, requiring him to go up and re-light.
Duboscq's arrangement was devised to avoid these inconveniences. It is
light, so that the diver may carry it in his hand, and at the same time it is
strong and well secured hermetically, to resist a pressure of fifty or sixty
meters of sea water. It consists of a cylinder of strong glass secured to a
brass foot, and surrounded with a gutta-percha sac. The light passes out
through a large plano-convex lens, the convexity inward, the focus being
so arranged that the rays escapen early parallel. As the lamp is movable,
the diver walks about with it, and places it where he wishes to make any
search ; and as it is only necessary to tring the electrodes near one another
to light it, the diver need only turn a small screw to contiruie the light ten
hours, which is more than twice as long as he can remain, at the bottom.

To illumine the bottom at small depths, Deleuil uses a Fresnel lens,
and this is daily in operation in a bathing establishment constructed on
the Seine in Paris. The regulator, and also the light, are ten meters above
the surface of the water, and the light penetrates sufficiently far to enable
us to see the swimmer at a depth of from two to three meters, and follow
all his movements.

142 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

LIGHTING BY ELECTRICITY.

During the past summer, in the prosecution of some public works at
Paris, it was thought expedient to urge the work by night, as well as day, and
the aid of the electric light was resorted to with great success. M. Regnault,
who took charge of the lighting, communicates to the Comptes Rendus
the following statement of the expense. The apparatuses, which worked
regularly with great success for four consecutive months, were composed
each of a battery of fifty Bunseii elements of large size.

The expense per day was as follows :

Wages of the workmen, ..... 4.50 francs.

Mercury v 5.00 "

Zinc, ......... 4.oO "

Charcoal points, . . . . . . .1.50 "

Nitric acid 1.80 "

Sulphuric acid, 1.84 "

Totals, 19.04 $3.80

Two sets of apparatus being employed, the expense of lighting 400
workmen was then 38.08 francs $7.62, per evening, or 1.9 cents per man.
The economy is considerable, and the work can be done without danger,
and with a regularity which cannot be obtained by any other means.

ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS.

At the British Association, Mr. Kasmyth described a Lightning Con-
ductor for Chimneys, which he conceived affords more perfect insulation,
and is therefore safer, than those in common use. The present practice is
to fix the conductor outside the chimney by metal holdfasts, by which
means during severe thunder-storms chimneys are often damaged by the
lightning entering at the points of attachment and displacing the bricks.
In the method of fixing the conductor recommended by Mr. Nasmyth, the
metal rod is suspended in the middle of the chimney by branching sup-
ports fixed on the top. A conductor of this kind had proved efficient
in storms which had severely injured other chimneys in the neighborhood
that were protected in the usual manner. An experience of eighteen years
had tested the superiority of the plan.

Prof. Farraday, on being called on for his opinion, said that he recom-
mended that lightning conductors should be placed inside instead of out-
side of all buildings. He had been consulted on that point when the
lightning conductor was fixed to the Duke of York's Pillar, and he ad-
vised the placing it inside ; .but his advice was not taken, and the rod was
fixed outside, to the great disfigurement of the column. All attachments
of metal to or near the conductor are bad, unless there be a continuous
line of conduction to the ground. He mentioned the instance of damage

XATUPxAL PHILOSOPHY. 143

\

done to a light-house in consequence of part of the discharge of lightning
having passed from the conductor to the lead fastenings of the stones.
The practical question for consideration was, how far they could safely run
lead between the stones of such a structure ; for if it were done partially,
leaving- a discontinuous series of such metallic fastenings, there would be
great danger of the stones being displaced by the, electric discharge. When
such fastenings are used, care should be taken that they are connected
together and with the earth by a continuous metallic conductor. Some
persons conceived that it is desirable to insulate the conductor from the wall
of a building by glass ; but all such contrivances are absurd, since the dis-
tance to which the metal could be removed from the wall by the interposed
insulator was altogether insignificant compared with the distance through
which the lightning must pass in a discharge from the clouds to the earth.
On being asked whether a flat strip of copper was not better than a cop-
per rod, Professor Farraday said that the shape of the conductor is imma-
terial, provided the substance and quality of the metal are the same.

NOTICE OF SOME EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES INTO THE APPLI-
CATION OF THE VOLTAIC BATTERY TO THE IGNITION OF
GUNPOWDER.

Capt. Ward having been requested by Sir John Burgoyne, Inspector-
General of Fortifications, to carry out some experiments for determining
the best form of voltaic battery for military purposes, he made himself
fully acquainted with the labors of Ohm, Wheatstone and others, and,
whilst verifying many of their theoretical researches, made them, the bases
for his own inquiries. After a most careful comparison of several bat-
teries, he adopted a Grove's Battery the solid elements being zinc and
platinum, and the liquid nitric acid and dilute sulphuric acid ; and he
finally ascertained that plates, only two inches square, were, perhaps, the
most satisfactory as regards work and cost. These he arranges in small
elementary batteries of six pairs, which, with the containing box, occupy
a space of only seven inches long, four inches wide, and four inches deep,
so that eight or nine of these elementary batteries, capable of igniting
gunpowder at the greatest distances likely to be required for military
purposes, would be arranged in a space of 1' 2" by 1' 4", or 1' 9' by 1'
4". In carrying out his experiments, and especially in determining the
relative value of each form of battery, and the effect of any modification.
of the battery or of the conducting wires in respect to the calorific effect,
Capt. Ward found that the deflection of the needle of the ordinay galva-
nometers was so great as to render it unfit for the estimation of differ-
ences in the electro -metric force in such powerful currents ; and he,
therefore, constructed a very simple instrument, by which he is enabled to
interpose one, two, cr more pieces of thin platinum wire in the circuit,
and, using this instrument, in conjunction with Prof. Wheatstone's Rheostat,
to determine the relative force of any battery, as well as the resistance of

144 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the platinum wire itself, by the calorific effect exhibited on the fusion of
the platinum wire. These researches are now preparing for publication in
the Professional Papers of the Corps of Engineers. Proc. British Associ-
ation.

ON THE APPARENTLY MECHANICAL ACTION ACCOMPANYING ELEC-
TRIC TRANSFER.

Mr. A. Crosse, in a paper before the British Association, stated that he
had found that by electrifying a sovereign positively in close contact with
a piece of carbonate of lime, under nitric acid diluted with fifty times its
quantity of water, that a portion of the milled edge of the coin was struck
off in pieces, some of which were large enough to retain the milled edge
upon them distinctly. The voltaic action was kept up for fifty hours ;
and at the expiration of that time the coin had lost three grains in weight,
and a ground glass rod that was used to keep the coin in contact with the
limestone was permanently gilded ; and this took place at the positive
pole. The weight of the portions removed from the coin exactly corre-
sponded with the deficiency. The solution being tested contained nitrate
of lime, but no gold or copper. I likewise found on repeating this
experiment with sulphuric acid, similarly diluted the voltaic action being
kept up for ninety hours that six grains of gold were removed from the
edge of the coin ; and the pieces broken off weighed the same. A strip
of glass being placed on the edges of the jar containing the dilute acid,
and half an inch above its surface, and in a line with the electric current,
had its lower part covered with crystals of sulphate of lime, each one of
which was at right angles to the electric current. The friction of the
carbonic acid gas liberated from that part of the limestone in contact with
the coin was apparently the mechanical cause of the removal of the
edges. The author stated that he had tried various experiments both
with frictional and voltaic electricity upon different substances, which in
his opinion proved the effects of the mechanical action accompanying
electric transfer.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE AURORA BOREALIS.

M. de la Rive, the celebrated Genevan natural philosopher, has recently
published a long memoir on the Aurora Borealis, and which he has
attempted to account for, and apparently with success. Perhaps no
phenomenon in the world is more beautiful than " these magnetic tem-
pests," (Von Humboldt,) which in the Arctic regions fill the heavens
with a sea of flame. M. de la Rive attributes them to electro-magnetic
causes. The terrestrial globe, he says, uniformly acts as a large magnet,
and its magnetic poles do not coincide with its poles of rotation ; further-
more, the atmosphere is continually charged with positive electricity,
which is accumulated in its superior regions, and this electricity (whether

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 145

>

it is disengaged by the vegetation of tlie earth, or the continual evaporation
caused by the solar heat, philosophers have not yet determined) must be
expended and neutralized, or the electrical tension of the atmosphere,
instead of being contained within its actual limits, would go on constantly
increasing. In our latitudes, and under the equator, this discharge is effect-
ed by thunder-storms, rains, winds, and water- spouts ; but these do not
suffice ; they are purely accidental, and Nature is obliged to resort to a more
regular and constant method of operating the electrical neutralization.
He supposes that the positive electricity which abounds in the superior
regions of the atmosphere moves with perfect liberty in them, from their
extreme rarefaction, and that it takes advantage of this facility to go to the
nearest pole. Here it returns to the earth by a sort of continual, gentle
flow, (ccoulcmentt') which is greatly aided by the immense quantity of
frozen particles floating in the air. Here, instead of returning to the
ground in a single flash as we see it, through clouds of liquid particles, it
reverts to the ground by gradually passing from frozen particle to frozen
particle, exciting by partial discharges innumerable small aigrettes, which
singty are invisible, and yet whose total seen together presents the beauti-
ful appearance of the Aurora Borealis, and which having once reached
the earth give rise to different currents, which react in turn on the magnetic
needle. It may be asked why the phenomenon is concentrated around
the circumference of a circle, and is prolonged in parallel columns, and is
placed on the line of the magnetic axis of the globe, and why it is ani-
mated with an undulatory motion going from the West to the East, (for
all these phenomena accompany the Aurora Borealis ;) this question is
solved by a slight change introduced into the well-known experiment of
the " electrical egg," which consists in transmitting electricity from one to
the other pole in a receiver from which the air has been exhausted. M. de
la Hive magnetizes at will one of the two poles ; when neither is magnetized,
the common phenomenon takes place ; but as soon as he magnetizes either
of them, the light is distributed so as to form a ring, which is very much
like the form of the Aurora Borealis, and like it animated by a gyratory
motion. En resume, M. de la Hive holds that the Aurora Borealis is owing
to electrical discharges taking place in the polar regions, between the terres-
trial globe and the atmosphere, by means of icy particles suspended in it
there, while the charge takes place in the equatorial regions by the direct
or the indirect action of the sun. These electrical discharges taking place
constantly, but with varying intensity, according to the state of the atmos-
phere, the Aurora Borealis must be a daily phenomenon, although with
differing intenseness ; its visibility extends consequently to varying
distances, and depends also upon the transparency of the atmosphere
during the night.

146 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

VIEWS ON THE ORIGIN OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM.

The following paper is comimmicated to Silliman's Journal by M.
Nickles, of Paris :

The earliest view of terrestrial magnetism supposed the existence of a
magnet at the earth's centre. As this does not accord with the observa-
tions on declination, inclination and intensity, Tobias Meyer gave this
fictitious magnet an eccentric position, placing it one- seventh part of the
earth's radius from the centre. Haiisteeii imagined that there were two
such magnets, different in position and intensity. Ampere set aside these
unsatisfactory hypotheses by the view, derived from his discovery, that the
earth itself is an electro-magnet, magnetized by an electric current circu-
lating about it from east to west, perpendicularly to the plane of the mag-
netic meridian, and that the same currents give direction to the magnetic
meridian, and magnetize the ores of iron ; the currents being thermo-
electric currents, excited by the action of the sun's heat successively on
the different parts of the earth's surface as it revolves towards the east.

A long time before the discovery of electro-magnetism, Biot was occu-
pied with this subject, and regarded the terrestrial magnetism as the prin-
cipal resultant of all the magnetic particles disseminated in the earth. M.
Gauss adopts this view, as an interpretation of the fact, without explain-
ing it. An observation made some years since has directed my attention
to this subject. It related to the fall of a cylindrical meteor, whose position
was sensibly in the plane of the magnetic meridian. Many luminous
meteors have been observed in this same position, or near it.

The special position of the meteor observed by my brother and myself
was not fortuitous ; it was determined by the magnetic action of the earth,
an action which may be powerful in its influence on meteorites, consisting
essentially of the magnetic metals, iron and nickel. In our view, the
terrestrial magnet, the earth, decomposed by influence the normal fluid of
the meteoric mass, and so gave the meteor thus polarized the direction of
a compass-needle.

In generalizing from this fact, and recalling the experiment of Arago
on the magnetism developed when a magnet acts upon a turning disk, we
ask w r hether the magnetic polarity of our planet may not be due to a like
cause. Considering it as proved, that the sun is polarized magnetically,
like the earth the sun will then be the inductor magnet, the agent which
decomposes the magnetic fluid of the terrestrial globe ; it will be to the
earth what the earth was to the meteor. This explanation does not resolve
the difficulty, as it does not say whence comes the magnetic polarity of
the sun. It implies the intervention of a magnet whose intensity is
superior to that of the sun, acting on this last by induction, and impressing
a polarity which the sun transmits to other planets of the system. It is
the hypothesis reversed of the central magnet, for it places in space the

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 147

i

magnetic mass wliich some physicists have supposed to exist within the

earth.

The real cause of the magnetic polarity of the planets is, in my view,
the same for all, and Arago's experiment conducts to it in a straight line.
It results even from the condition of their existence. Each star, turning
around a central axis, and in determinate curves, is influenced by the mass
of these stars and their velocity at the circumference ; in a word, the
agent decomposing into two fluids, the normal magnetism of the earth and
the other planets is their rotation. A geometer examining this opinion,
would find, we believe, that the declination, inclination, and the perturba-
tions of the magnetic needle, are explained on this hypothesis much better
than on any other.

Since my researches on circular electro-magnets, and in general on
bodies in rotation, I have sought much for experimental demonstration of
this theory, and have now the conviction that this is impossible, as it is
not possible for us, while upon the earth, to remove ourselves from the
action of its own magnetism. Whenever a development of magnetism
under the influence of rotation is observed, it is common to attribute it to
the inductive action of the earth, rendered so striking by the experiments
of Arago and Mr. Barlow.

Alongside of the different sources of magnetism mentioned in Treatises
on Physics, friction, pressure, percussion, torsion, we should add rota-
tion, a mechanical action of equal title with the preceding, and whose
effects, produced through a sub-division, like that of magnetic polarity,
are found grouped at the extremities of the axis in rotation, in the same
manner as the poles develop at the extremities of a bar of iron when it is
subjected to torsion.

NEW TELEGRAPHIC BATTERY.

At a recent meeting of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Dr.
Turnbull exhibited a new form of telegraph battery, devised by C. T.
Chester, Esq., of New York. Dr. T. remarked that this battery, while
it does away entirely with local action, employs the cheapest materials and
the most convenient arrangement of Darts. Its cells are lars;e, of strong

O J. O ' fJ

glass, and they are insulated from the shelves by a partial coating of elec-
trophorus. Its metals are amalgamated zinc, and a peculiar platinized
and peculiarly insulated plate, the result of much study and experiment.
The plates are supported by metal clamps and thoroughly insulated wood.
The construction is such as to secure perfectly against any cross-fire.
The plates can be removed and cleaned separately, without stopping the
working of the battery. The solution used to excite it is a dilute sul-
phuric acid. How free it is from local action, may be inferred from the
fact that it has been in constant use five months without being taken
down, and that the zincs last such an unprecedented time. The relative
cost of working the Grove, Darnell's, and the new battery, without taking

148 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

local action into consideration, supposing each equally free from local
waste, is as follows,^ and the estimate is made up from actual experiment,
by computing the destruction of battery material in each necessary to
accomplish a given equal amount of work, say the deposition of a pound
of silver in the decomposition trough, Grove's, 32.^ cents ; Darnell's, 61 ;
Chester's, 21.

NEW APPLICATION OF IBIDIUM.

Mr. William McRea, of Philadelphia, has recently made a valuable
application of iridiiim, which consists in the construction of electro-
receiving magnets, with their contact surfaces of iridium. The metal
heretofore used for that purpose is platinum, which, although competent
to resist the action of the atmosphere, fuses quickly when exposed to the
electric spark from a powerful battery in a short circuit. As soon as the
platinum surfaces become in a slight degree oxidized, the points adhere to
each other, even when the main circuit is broken. This we may set down
as one of the causes of mistakes which sometimes occur in the transmis-
sion of a message by the Morse Telegraph, the alphabet of which consists
of dots, spaces and lines. It is evident, therefore, that if the points of
contact of the receiving-magnet, where the main circuit of the line is
broken by the transmitting operator for the purpose of making a space,
be impaired, that a dot and line, or dots alone, may run together, thereby
forming upon the paper a letter or character quite different from the one
intended by the transmitting operator.

Iridium being the most indestructible of metals, the advantages of its
application in this instance are, that the surfaces of contact will last for
a much longer time without requiring any change, and will secure a more
perfect and unvarying surface of contact for the passage of the curi ent,
and prevent the adhesion of the points of contact together. Journal
Franklin Institute, July, 1851.

IBIPKOVEMENT IN TELEGRAPHIC INSULATION.

An improvement of value has recently been made by Mr. Dealing, of
England, in respect to the insulation of wires intended for telegraphic
communication. Heretofore, in constructing electric telegraphs where the
whole circuit has been made of metal, and also where the conducting
property of the earth has been employed as a part of the circuit, it has
been considered necessary to cause the wires to be thoroughly insulated
each from the others and from the earth ; the consequence of which has
been, that the expense of laying down electric circuits for electric tele-
graphs has been very great, particularly where the same have crossed the
sea, or other waters, where not only have the wires been insulated one
from another, and from the water or earth, but, in order to protect the
insulating matter from injury, great expense lias been caused by the use

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 149

of wire rope, or other means of protection. The present patentee has
discovered that a metallic circuit, formed of wires, either wholly uninsu-
lated, or partially so, may be employed for an electric telegraph, provided
that the two parts of the circuit are of such a distance apart that the
electric current, or a portion of it, would meet with more resistance in
passing from one wire to the other, by the water or the earth, or by
imperfect conductors which the wires may be attached to or suspended
from, than in following the wire. For this purpose he causes the two
wires, (which may be of plain galvanized iron, either uninsulated or
partially insulated by a coat of varnish or otherwise,) of which a circuit of
an electric telegraph is to be formed, to be placed in the water or earth, at
a distance apart proportionate to the total length of the circuit. These
wires he insulates where they approach one another, to communicate with
the instruments and battery or source of electricity, or with a continuation
of conductors for carrying on the current, in order to prevent the current
passing through the diminished space between the wires. And in the case
of intermediate stations, the wires are insulated in each direction from, the
instruments, in order to insure the current making the circuit of the
instruments, and not passing in a large proportion through the earth or
water, or other conductors, between the insulated parts of the wire on each
side of the station. By these means the cost of the laying down of electric
telegraphs, whether submarine or otherwise, is by means of this invention,
of employing distance between the conductors as a means of insulation,
reduced to little more than the mere cost of the conductors for the current,
together with that of an insulated wire at each end of the line to complete
the circuit between the extremities of the insulated conductors ; and the
numerous difficulties which attend the insulation of long lengths of wire
are avoided, as also the chances of the communication being interrupted
by accidents to the insulation.

ON THE MAGNETIS3I OF ROCKS.

At a recent meeting of the French Academy, M. Regnault communi-
cated the result of some new researches into the magnetism of rocks. He
has found out that, besides being feebly attracted by the magnet, they have
polar magnetism, which makes them capable of acting by attraction and
repulsion on the poles of a neighboring magnet. M. Melloni attributes
the tardiness of this discovery to the great weakness of the repulsive
action, which renders it necessary that the experiment should be made at
a very short distance from the magnetic needle, and this proximity
develops in the nearest parts of the mineral attractive forces of reaction,
whose intensity is greater than the repulsive action natural to the rock.
To exhibit the feeble magnetism of mineral substances, he urges experi-
menters to use an instrument he has invented, and which he calls the
maguetoscope.

150 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT.

VARIATION OP THE MAGNET.

Sir J. Ross stated before the Mechanical Section of the British Associa-
tion, in proof of the effect of every description of light on the magnet, that,
during his last voyage in the Felix, when frozen in about a hundred miles
north of the magnetic pole, he concentrated the rays of the full moon on
the magnetic needle, when he found it was five degrees attracted by it.

VARIATION OF THE COMPASS IN IRON SHIPS.

At the last meeting of the British Association, the Rev. Dr. Scoresby
contributed a paper of great interest on the loss of the Tayieur, and the
change in the action of the compasses in iron ships. Recapitulating the
facts connected with the wreck of the Tayieur, which, it will be remem-
bered, was an iron, ship, the lecturer remarked that her compasses (three
adapted for guidance) were all " adjusted," previous to sailing, by large
and powerful magnets, on the principle suggested by the Astronomer
Royal ; and Mr. Grey, who had charge of the adjustment, reported that
they were quite correct. On the third day of the voyage it was discovered,
for the first time, that there was a material difference between the com-
passes. Judging from one of them placed near the helmsman, the captain
was under the impression that he was sailing down almost mid- channel,
or, at all events, that he was in a good position for navigating the Irish
Channel ; while the second showed a difference of almost two points.
Not knowing which of these was correct, the captain assumed, from cer-
tain indications he had noted, that the wheel compass was accurate rather
than the other. The result showed that neither was correct, and the Local
Marine Board of Liverpool reported to the Board of Trade their belief
that the wreck was caused by " a deviation of the compass, the cause of
which they have been unable to determine." Now, he, (Dr. Scoresby,) at
the meeting of the British Association at Oxford, in 1847, had called atten-
tion to the instability of the magnetic distribution in ships built of iron.
So far back as 1819 he had shown that the adjustment of the compasses of
iron ships by fixed permanent magnets was not only delusive, but danger-
ous ; and he now said, referring to the case of the Tayieur, that it was an
incidental (for he did not contend that it was a necessary) consequence of
such an adjustment in this case that the vessel had been brought into so
dangerous a position. If the compasses had not been corrected by perma-
nent magnets, the captain would have been in a very different position for
securing the safety of the ship. It was a matter well known, not only
that iron became magnetic by virtue of the inductive influence of the
earth, but that magnetism might be controlled, altered, or destroyed by
mechanical action. An iron bar, entirely neutral as to its molecular mag-
netism, as shown by its being devoid of influence when placed horizontally
in an east and west line near a compass, became strongly magnetic when

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 151

placed upright or proximately so, had its polarity reversed by turning it
with the contrary ends downwards, and again became neutral when placed
on the horizontal east and west line. If the same bar, while held in an
upright position, or inclined in the axil direction of the earth's magnetism,
were subjected to percussion, or other mechanical violence, not only did
its magnetism become much more powerful than that of simple induction,
but it strongly exhibited its augmented polarity when placed in the east
and west neutral or equatorial position, and, however it might be reeved
about or swung round, its polarity remained the same. Having proved
these two propositions by experiment, Dr. Scoresby went on to apply
them to the case of iron ship?, and to point out that, in consequence of
the percussive action to which the material was exposed while the ships
were in course of construction, it became as intensely magnetic as it was
possible for malleable iron to be. This augmented magnetism, however,
was not permanent or fixed, but, under different circumstances as to the
relative deviation of the ship's magnetism and that of the earth, was easily
changeable, and liable necessarily to be changed. The magnetism devel-
oped by mechanical violence could readily be neutralized or changed,
under a proper change of conditions, by other processes of mechanical vio-
lence. If the bar of iron magnetized by hammering were held in the
reverse direction from that in which the magnetism had been developed,
and again hammered, the polarity would not only be altered, but reversed.
Again, after well hammering the bar in a vertical position, let it be quickly
reversed, the lower end, as hammered, now being upwards, and let one of
its extremities be then presented to a delicate compass ; the deviating
influence in this case would be but small, perhaps a few degrees only, from
the influence of the earth's magnetism, it being now augmented by the
increased magnetism of the bar. If, while held in this position, a single
blow were struck on the bar with a hammer, the needle would be seen to
fly round as if by magic, and settle at a point of deviation perhaps four or
six times as great as before. The result of another experiment which had
been made with elongated plates of iron, to elucidate the phenomena of
mechanical violence or vibration, had been still more remarkable. Take a
couple of iron plates laid together ; it was found when their condition was
neutral, that held within two or three inches of a compass, horizontally
east and west, there was no action whatever on the needle ; but, holding
the plates upright and bending them, or shaking them with the hand, or
merely giving them a vibratory shake, and then presenting them as before
to the compass, the iron was found to have become very strongly magnetic,
the end which was downward repelling the north pole of the needle.
Reversing the position of the plates, while held upright, let the vibratory
action be repeated, and the end formerly repelling will now be found to
attract the north end of the pole. Repeating the vibratory action, while
the plates Avere held horizontally in an east and west line, the magnetism
would be found, on bringing the plates to the test, to have disappeared, all
action of the compass haAdng gone. To meet probable objections, he had

152 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

made experiments on rolled iron plates, of the same kind as those of which
ships were generally built, and had ascertained that the magnetism in
these also was changeable and controllable like that in bar iron, under the
requisite change of position, by vibratory or percussive action. lie had
also made experiments on a portion of a plate cut out of the side of a ship
recently built, and the result of his observations was to establish the fact
that, besides the two denominations of magnetism ordinarily received, that
of simple terrestrial induction and that of permanent independent mag-
netism, there was another denomination corresponding with neither ; not
being absolutely controllable, like the former, by terrestrial influences, nor
capable, like the latter, of resisting all kinds and modes of mechanical vio-
lence. To this third denomination he gave the name of "retentive mag-
netism." Dr. Scoresby then exhibited experiments with three sets of
plates, two of iron and one of steel, for the illustrating of these several
qualities of magnetism : 1. That of simple terrestrial induction by
iron plates free from polarity, which became magnetic, or changed their
magnetism, according to the position in which they were held. 2. Reten-
tentive magnetism, as illustrated by similar plates, which had been pre-
viously magnetized by bending and blows, such magnetism appearing
as if permanent wheii the plates were moved about, without being vibrated
or bent. And, 3rdly. Permanent magnetism, as illustrated by an elastic
steel plate, which, however violently it was bent, or struck, or vibrated, or
in whatever position, still preserved its magnetism unaltered. >Tow, this
retentive magnetism was the quality which had been prevalently considered
as permanent ; which he was prepared to show, both by experiments on
iron and facts of experience, was by no means a fixed quality. The
vibration of a ship in a heavy sea was sufficient to change the original
magnetism developed and augmented in the course of her construction.
A great deal depended on the position in which the ship had been built.
In the case of the Tayleur, when he first heard of the catastrophe and read
the evidence, he had stated to some friends at Torquay that he would ven-
ture to predict that she had been built with her head to the north. He had
found, on inquiry, that she had been built with her head nearly northeast.
Here, then, were the precise circumstances for expecting a change in the
ship's magnetic distribution. Having been built with her head to the
northeast, she had a certain magnetic distribution ; and when she began to
strain with her head to the southwest, that distribution was necessarily
changed, and the first effect of it had been to alter the two compasses
adjusted by fixed magnets. If the captain had been aware of the changes
which might, and most probably would, take place when the ship began to
strain in a different position from that in which she had been built, if he
had known that the compasses might vary as much as two, or three, or
even four points, he would have known, of course, that he must place no
reliance upon them. It did not follow, however, that compasses were of
no use because, under circumstances, they were liable to change. They
ought to be, and were, of great use for all that. But what he wished to

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 153

impress upon them was, that, by attempting to adjust a transient influence
by a permanent influence, they were only aggravating error ; that captains
ought always to bear in mind this liability of their compasses to mislead
them two or three points ; that they should be always looking after their
correction and verification whenever the sun or a star was in sig^ht ; and

D '

that, by keeping a compass aloft as far as possible from the iron of the
ship, they would always have a standard to which they would be able to
refer, and which he, in his Arctic voyages, had always found to be correct.
At the conclusion of Dr. Scoresby's paper, an animated discussion took
place, in which an opposite position from that taken by Dr. S. was
assumed by Mr. Grantham, of Liverpool. lie said, that the effect of the
arguments of Dr. Scoresby, if they made any impression at all, would be
to put a check to one of the greatest improvements of modern times. If
the idea should get abroad that wooden vessels only must be made the
medium of communication, and that iron ships were dangerous, the
mercantile marine of this country would be greatly injured. They all
understood and admitted that there was an immense amount of local
attraction disturbing the compasses of every iron ship, but he contended
that sufficient was done to correct these errors ; and he himself, from an
experience of twenty years, closely watching the subject, and employed
professionally to examine these very compasses, declared his opinion that
the impressions left upon the minds of many, where a single case, like that
of the Tayleur, was brought before their notice, were altogether erroneous.
Dr. Scoresby had alluded to the cases of the Tayleur and the Birkenhead
in depreciation of iron ships. He (Mr. Grantham) would ask him to take
equal pains to ascertain the scientific reasons which had caused so many
ships wooden ships to go ashore in the Irish Channel and in the Solway
Frith. If equal logic had been made use of to show how these losses
arose, instead of taking one or two isolated cases, and forgetting altogether
the total amount of human life lost in wooden ships, they would find the
losses of iron ships were very much less than the losses of wooden ships,
in proportion to their comparative number. Dr. Scoresby had instanced
the increased polarity of a bar of iron when its form was changed, or
when it was struck with a hammer. But this argument was founded on
the supposition that an iron ship was a single bar 'of iron, and that she
should receive a blow from a mighty instrument in a certain position.
There would, no doubt, be some alteration in the ship's compasses, if such
a thing was possible ; but he would ask the question how and when a
ship could get such a blow. Dr. Scoresby also maintained that, if a bar of
iron was bent, it would alter its polarity, but they must therefore suppose
the ship to be twisted and bent about. If she did so, every plate would
open, and she would inevitably founder. He called upon them to look at
the channel, full of iron ships, and those kind of ships most liable to
vibration that is, long ships, with most powerful engines on board of
them. If those present had, like him, looked over those vessels twice a
year, they would see how little they were affected, comparatively. One
7*

154 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

result of his inspection was, that he found that the compasses of iron, as a
whole, were quite as correct as the compasses of the same number of
wooden ships. He (Mr. Grantham) had been employed by the Admiralty
to examine the place where the Tayleur was lost ; and his impression was,
that she was not lost through any error in her compasses. He believed
that no prudent captain, knowing the Channel, would venture to beat
about in it for three or four days during a heavy gale without using the
lead ; and it was proved that Capt. Noble had neglected this precaution.
As to the loss of the Birkeiihead, was there 110 ship ever before run upon
the point of a reef by " cutting it too fine " ? In his experience for twenty
years, in close connection with the building and management of iron ships
and steamers, he was confirmed in the belief that there was nothing to
prevent them from being navigated as safely as wooden ships. And he
believed that, in general, the compasses of iron ships were more correct
than the compasses in ordinary wooden ships, simply because more atten-
tion was paid to them. Under these circumstances, he wished to caution
the mercantile community not to allow themselves to be influenced by
particular and striking cases such as had been alluded to, but to look at
the whole subject to look at the mass of iron ships that had been built
and worked, safely worked, for years and years and then see whether the
combined information to be derived from ail that were properly managed
at all bore out the inferences likely to be drawn from the statements which
had unfortunately, he thought, been so elaborately made.

Mr. Towson said that he had, equally with Mr. Grantham, had the
opportunity of observing the workings of compasses in iron ships, and he
had never found that after going a long voyage they were in a proper state
of adjustment. No one believed more than himself in the importance of
the progress of iron ships to the mercantile progress of the country, but he
considered it impossible at present to obtain a correct compass in an iron
ship.

In the course of the discussion which followed, Admiral Beechy ex-
pressed a belief that the best precautions against accident would be the use
on board every ship of an azimuth compass, and the taking of frequent
observations.

Dr. Scoresby, in reply, owned that the subject he had chosen involved a
considerable shock to the feelings, as it affected Liverpool and iron ships.
But they ought not to be afraid of the truth, or to shirk it for fear of the
consequences. By going to the root of the thing, they might be in hopes
of arriving in time at a practical remedy.

OPINIONS OF PROF. AIRY, ASTRONOMER. ROYAL, ON THE DEVIA-
TION OF COMPASSES IN IRON VESSELS.

The above paper of Dr. Scoresby, and the discussion and attention it
excited in the British Association and among the maritime public, have
called forth a communication from Prof. Airy, the Astronomer lloyal of

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 155

Great Britain, on this subject. In this communication, published in the
London At! e ucuni, he says :

I have deep satisfaction in remarking that the great principles upon
which I founded the method of correcting the compass are entirely recog-
nized by Dr. Scoresby, and even that some minor modiiications of those
principles (which, as will appear in the remarks below, I had anticipated
as probable) have now been established by Dr. Scoresby 's beautiful experi-
ments. In the estimation of the actual extent and rapidity of the changes
produced by these modifications, I may perhaps differ in some measure
from Dr. Scoresby, and I may be disposed to recommend a practical
course slightly different from, that which he would propose. Still I am
happy to find that upon the fundamental points of the theory we are in
complete accordance.

1. It may perhaps be advantageous to give a few steps of the history of
this subject. The law, that the greater part of the disturbance of the
compass produced by an iron ship depends upon its polar, and not upon
ts induced, magnetism, (in the ordinary sense of the word induced,) was
established by me in a paper printed in the " Philosophical Transac-
tions" for 1839. The experiments themselves had been made in 1838. In
page 212 I observe : " The most remarkable result, in a scientific view,
from the experiments detailed above, is the great intensity of the perma-
nent magnetism of the malleable iron of which the ship is composed. It
appears, however, that almost every plate of roiled iron is intensely
magnetic." (It is to be noted that I used the term permanent magnetism
as equivalent to polar magnetism.) I then allude to experiments on the
magnetism of plates of wrought iron ; and these experiments were the
last with which I had any acquaintance until I saw some of Dr. Scoresby's
beautiful illustrations of the change of magnetism of iron plates. In page
213 I remark: "It seems sufficiently probable that the independent
[polar] magnetism of the ship will change with time. This consideration
enforces strongly the necessity of perio'dical examination as suggested
above." This is all that was printed by me in reference to the change of
the polar magnetism of ships and their occasional examination ; but it is
not the only instance in which I endeavored to bring them before the
notice of the proper authorities. In 1839, July 20, I submitted a memo-
rial to the Board of Admiralty on the advantage of a supervision, by the
government, of the correction of the compass in iron ships, in which
occur the following remarks : " There is no reason for presuming that
the magnetic state of the ship (especially in the case of steam-ships) will
remain invariable for many years ; and there is reason for supposing that it
will vary." " Experiments of various kinds and in various localities
should be made on the same ship, for ascertaining whether there is sensible
change in different parts of the earth." And with regard to the magnets :
"The important results lately arrived at by Mr. Scoresby, and wholly
unknown to the persons commercially engaged in the fabrication of
magnets, show that attention to those points on which the permanency of

156 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

the magnetism depends cannot be expected from common tradesmen."
The Admiralty (I believe in accordance with precedent and with the rules
of the department) declined to undertake the supervision for commercial
ships ; and, as no other iron ships then existed, this decision amounted
practically to a refusal to enter on the matter. Had the subject been then
taken up by the government, it might perhaps have been advanced several
years. I did myself endeavor to collect information, and I took notes of the
position in which one ship was built ; but the occupations of a laborious
office compelled me to desist. I may mention, that in almost every instance
reported to me, in which the correction failed after a time, I had reason to
think that the failure arose from change, not in the ship, but in the correct-
ing magnets ; and this consideration, combined with the feeling of want of
leisure, prevented the extension of my inquiries.

2. I am deeply struck with the beauty and the importance of Dr.
Scoresby's experiments ; and if I bring to notice the circumstance, that the
polar magnetism of iron plates, and the possibility of change in the magnet-
ism, were first strongly insisted on by myself, I trust it will not be under-
stood that I mean to say that those experiments are unessential to our
present knowledge of the subject. Still, as the first who examined into and
speculated upon this subject, I claim the right of criticizing the name which
Dr. Scoresby has proposed: and I express my opinion that " retentive"
(" retained" would be better in a grammatical sense) does not exactly rep-
resent the characteristics o the magnetis n of wrought-iron plates. The
latter appears to me to differ very little from the magnetism of hard steel
bars. A steel bar is magnetized by induction (as in an iron plate) a
steel bar may have its magnetism weakened or reversed : if immersed in
the sea- water, it would probably lose its magnetism sooner than an iron
ship would. But as, in practice, the magnetism of an iron ship is slightly
more liable to change than that of a steel magnet very carefully preserved,
it may be desirable that a name, expressive of that idea, should be gtven
to it. I would propose to call it the " sub-permanent polar magnetism of
wrought iron."

3. I think it likely that the striking character of Dr. Scoresby's experi-
ments produces an impression of the extent of their applicability to iron
ships far greater than is warranted by careful consideration. We may
speak poetically of the shocks which a ship receives from the waves ; but,
in reality, the plates of iron of which a ship is composed sustain no such
shocks. The direct effect of the most violent sea upon them is this : that,
in the course of two or three seconds of time, the plate is plunged five or
six feet deeper in the water, and sustains the corresponding hydrostatic
pressure. This is very different, indeed, from the raps or slaps in Dr.
Scoresby's experiments, in which it is essential that the blow be of the
nature of impact, occupying a very small fraction of a second of time.
Probably the strain of extension to which the plates are subjected may
produce a greater effect : on this, however, experiments are wanting. But,
even here, the change in the state of extension is not sudden, but gradual.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 157

The tremor produced by steam-power is more likely to affect the plates in
some parts of the ship. It is evident that there are causes in action tend-
ing to produce effects like those exhibited in Dr. Scoresby's experiments,
and it is equally evident that the action of those causes must be exceed-
ingly slow. On one point, however, I trust that a consideration of Dr.
Scoresby's experiments will disabuse many persons who have not been
well acquainted with the nature of induction and sub-permanent magnet-
ism. The change to be expected in a ship's sub-permanent magnetism, in.
sailing from England to the Cape of Good Hope, does not essentially
depend on her passing into another magnetic hemisphere. It does depend
mainly on this circumstance : that, supposing her to have been built with
her head to the north, or in the line of boreal magnetism, she is then
turned with her head to the south, or in the line of austral magnetism,
and is so kept, exposed to slight tremors, for one or more months. If she
had been moored off the coast of Portugal for the same time,^m the same
position, and exposed to the same tremors, I apprehend that her magnetism
would have undergone nearly the same change (as regards horizontal
deviation of the compass) as in the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope*

4. I think the selection of the loss of the Tayleur, as the text for the
principal discussion on iron ships, with all its attendant horrors, (having
no application whatever to the matter under discussion,) was unfortunate.
When the feelings are excited, the judgment of the speaker, as well as of
the hearers, is very liable to be perverted. The question at issue is the
very abstract one : Is it likely that in two days the magnetism of a ship
could be so mush changed that the compass would be disturbed through
an angle of t\yo points? I unhesitatingly answer: It is not likely ; and,
speaking with our present knowledge on the subject, it is not possible. I
have already stated, that I conceive the causes pointed out by Dr. Scores-
by to be wholly inadequate to produce such a rapid change. And I aver,
that there is no known, instance of such a change ; and I do not believe
that an instance can be produced of a rapid change of one-fourth or one-
tenth part of this amount. I believe Jhat information on these matters
is not wanting : a single firm in Liverpool have " corrected " the compasses
in several hundred iron ships, and they cannot fail to have received notifi-
cation of any such changes as those mentioned above.

Before dismissing this subject, I will advert to two sources of error, not
essential to rny method of correcting the compass, but to which it may be
liable if due care is not exercised. The first is, that captains are hardly
aware that a very trifling disturbance in the position of the compass (for
instance, a change of a quarter of an inch in the height) may very greatly
disturb the neutralizing influence of the magnets. The second is, that the
artists who correct the compasses are too much inclined to place the cor-
recting magnets in the position called " end-on." In this position, the
magnet exerts greater deflective power, but it also introduces a force per-
pendicular to the ship's deck ; and this force, when the ship heels,
produces an imcorreeted horizontal disturbance. While the building in

158 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

iron was principally confined to paddle steam-ships, this was not impor-
tant; but now, when so many screw steam-ships and sailing ships are
built of iron, this arrangement ought never to be used. I know not
whether the compasses of the Tayleur could have been affected by either of
these causes.

5. The question, however, which immediately presses, is : What (under
all circumstances) is it best to do now ? In answer, I assert in the first
place, and I am supported in this by Dr. Scoresby's experiments, that the
source of local disturbance and its laws are perfectly well known ; that
the disturbance can be neutralized, by well-known means, to the greatest
exactness ; and that this neutralization is perfect during change of time
and change of place, until the ship herself undergoes an organic change.
In the next place, I protest strongly against the system, now in use (I
believe) in the lioyal Navy, of using a table of errors, and thus constantly
making numerical corrections instead of once making a mechanical cor-
rection. (1.) It is bafiiing to the mariner. (2.) It is liable to exactly the
same errors, in the event of a change in the ship's sub-permanent magnet-
ism, as the system of relying on the mechanical correction. (3.) It is liable
to errors peculiar to itself, which would be entirely avoided by the use of
mechanical correction. In illustration of the last remark, I will refer to
the table, in page 104 of the late Capt. Johnson's book, on the " Devia-
tions of the Compass," second edition, a work in many respects highly
valuable. Capt. Johnson has given the observed deviations of the com-
pass on board three iron steam-vessels in different parts of the world ; and
I select the last, (the Trident,) because its deviations were the largest.
The deviations in the Thames ranged from 22 15' E. to 21 12' W. The
deviations of the same compass at Malta ranged from 15 29' E. to 14 21'
W. Now, the proportion of the terrestrial, horizontal magnetic forces, in
the Thames and at Malta, is as 52 to 75, very nearly. Therefore, if the
ship's sub-permanent magnetism remained unaltered, the tangents of the
angles of deviation in the Thames and at Malta would have been in the
proportion of 75 to 52. On computing the Malta deviations from those in
the Thames by this proportion, we obtain 15 50' and 15 3', agreeing
with those observed more nearly than observations can be made with a
ship's compass. The whole of the deviations recorded by Capt. Johnson,
for the Bloodhound, the Jackal and the Trident, at Lisbon, Constantinople,
the Piraeus, and Malta, can be computed in the same way from those in
England, and the results are equally accordant. (The terrestrial horizon-
tal forces, on the same scale of proportion, are, Lisbon, CO ; Constantinople
77 ; Piraeus, 76.) It follows from this, that the ship's sub-permanent
magnetism, in each case, was unaltered, and its effect would have been
exactly compensated, at every locality, by a permanent magnet. And thus
the captain of the Trident, using Capt. Johnson's table, would have had
errors of nearly seven degrees ; whereas, if he had used my correcting
magnets, he would have had no perceptible error in the whole voyage. I
pointed out this result to Capt. Johnson ; I know not with what effect.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 159

(4.) In extreme cases it cannot be used at all : thus, in the Greenland seas
the compasses would sometimes turn round with the ship ; whereas there
are in the Greenland ,seas several iron ships with my correcting magnets
effecting their purpose (I am informed) successfully, (o.) In cases not so
extreme, the inconvenience is intolerable ; thus, in one instance which
came under my own eyes, the compass changed 100 with a very small
motion of the ship ; and the directive intensity in one position was only
one-tenth of what it was in another position ; these inconveniences are
entirely remedied by my correcting magnets.

On considering the whole matter, I am led to give the following as my
opinion : For voyages of moderate duration, as, for instance, not farther
than to the Mediterranean or to the northern parts of North America, I
do not tliink that any improvement can ,be made in the existing system,
except in details, to which I have alluded. The " end-on " position of the
magnets ought to be forbidden ; and some attention ought to be given to
the ship's sub -permanent magnetism, in the direction perpendicular to the
deck. For voyages of greater duration, as to the Plata, the Cape of Good
Hope, &c., I think it desirable that means should be provided for enabling
the captain to make the small changes which may be required in the cor-
recting magnets. I am confident that I can point out a practical course
by which this can be effected ; and I am satisfied that, with the sanction
of one liberal ship-owner, the aid of one intelligent captain, and the com-
mand of one ship for a few days, I can arrange every thing with good
hope of complete success.

6. The remarks above are intended by me to apply only to iron-built
ships, in which the sensible part of the disturbance of the compass is pro-
duced almost entirely by the ship's sub-permanent magnetism. In wood-
built ships, in which the induced magnetism is the principal disturbing
power, the rules of correction are necessarily different. On these, at
present, I have only to make the same general remark which I have made
above ; that I disapprove of the use of a table of errors, and that I prefer
the use of mechanical corrections ; the nature of which, as applicable to
the neutralization of induced magnetism, is perfectly understood.

ON IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINE AND SUBTERRANEAN TELE-
GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS.

At the British Association, 1854, Mr. C. F. Yarley explained experi-
ments lie had made with gutta-percha covered wires, varying from 30 to
1,500 miles in length, and showed a diagram drawn by the electric currents
themselves, decomposing solutions of ferro-cyanide of potassium and
nitrate of ammonia with which the paper had been saturated. These
experiments showed that the electric current did not appear suddenly at the
extreme end ; but, the wire becoming charged by induction like a Leydeii
jar, the current commenced gradually, and did not reach its maximum
power through 1,500 miles of wire until seven seconds of time had

160 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

elapsed, and continued flowing out seven seconds after contact with the
battery had ceased ; that with the ordinary telegraphic systems sucli a
wire would require 15 seconds of time to make each signal ; and as several
signals are required for a letter, only one average word could he trans-
mitted per three minutes. Mr. Varley showed that, with the submarine
and subterranean wires between Holland, London, and elsewhere, the
Bain and Morse instruments would work too slow for commercial
purposes ; but, with the aid of his apparatus, these wires are now and
have been working for six months at the required speed, viz. : 25 words
per minute, for which 300 alterations of current per minute are required.
The effect of the former two telegraphs with these wires, when working
fast, is to run all the marks together, because the first electric impression
has not been completed when the second is given ; but his apparatus, by
spilling the charge and reversing the current at every movement of the
key, produces rapidly alternating currents through the wire, which, though
very weak at the extreme end of the wire, are quite sufficient to actuate
his galvanometer relay, which actuates a local battery to produce the
marks. The little arm on the axis of the relay, instead of striking against
a dead stop, rubs obliquely against a gold spring, filing off the little film of
air which would otherwise prevent the instant completion of the local
circuit. So sensitive is this apparatus, that four elements of a copper
and zinc battery have been found sufficient to work from Manchester to
London. He added, " Its advantages over the needle systems are, it
requires only one wire, gives a printed record of all communication,
requires but one-fourth the power to actuate it, and is not interrupted by
comparatively defective insulation. It gains these advantages : 1st. By
discharging the line wire at every move of the key. 2d. Gravity aiding
the electricity in making the relay contact, thus using the same instead
of the difference of the forces. 3d. The sliding action of the relay contact,
by rubbing off the thin film of air, gives sure and instant contact with a
small amount of battery power. 4th. It will work through a considerable
amount of leakage from one wire to the other, because there is a curren t
always flowing through the wire, rendering this apparatus peculiarly
adapted for wires suspended in the air, and which leak from one to the
other in damp weather, the surfaces of the intended insulators becoming
coated with moisture."

The following are Mr. Varley 's conclusions : 1st. If a wire could be
suspended in an unbounded non-conductor, or atmosphere with 110 con-
ducting body near it, the transmission of an electric current through it
would be instantaneous, no matter what may be the length of the Avire.
2cl. The approach of any conducting body to this wire would (by
induction) reduce the speed of the transmission, as shown in the 1,500
mile experiment. 3d. In the case of a wire covered with a non-conduct-
ing substance, (such as gutta-percha,) the induction decreases in the same
proportion that the thickness of the coating is increased. 4th. The con-
ducting power of a wire is in proportion to its substance, the induction in

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 161

proportion to its surface. A copper wire one-sixth of an inch in diameter,
coated with gutta-percha to the depth of nearly half an inch, would be
found capable, by aid of my apparatus, of transmitting 2o words per
minute 3000 miles. To work the ordinary telegraphs, the copper wire
must be three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and coated with gutta-
percha three-fourths of an inch, making a total diameter of about two
inches.

ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A SUBMARINE TRANSATLANTIC TELE-
GRAPH.

The following communication, on the feasibility of constructing a sub-
marine line of telegraph across the Atlantic, has been addressed to the
Secretary of the Navy by Lieutenant Maury :

g IK : The United States brig Dolphin, Lieutenant Commanding O. H.
Berry man, was employed last summer upon especial service connected
with the researches that are carried 011 at this office concerning the winds
and currents of the sea. Her observations were confined principally to
that part of the ocean which the merchantmen, as they pass to and fro
upon the business of trade between Europe and the United States, use as
their great thoroughfare. Lieutenant Berry man availed himself of this
opportunity to carry along also a line of deep sea soundings from the shores
of Newfoundland to those of Ireland. The result is highly interesting, in
so far as the bottom of the sea is concerned, upon the question of a
submarine telegraph across the Atlantic ; and I therefore beg leave to make
it the subject of a special report.

This line of deep sea soundings seems to be decisive of the question as
to the practicability of a submarine telegraph between the two continents,
in so far as the bottom of the deep sea is concerned. From Newfoundland
to Ireland, the distance between the nearest points is about 1,600 miles ;*
and the bottom of the sea between the two places is a plateau, which
seems to have been placed there especially for the purpose of holding the
wires of a submarine telegraph, and of keeping them out of harm's way.
It is neither too deep nor too shallow ; yet it is so deep that the wires, but
once landed, will remain forever beyond the reach of vessels' anchors,
icebergs, and drifts of any kind, and so shallow that the wires may be
readily lodged upon the bottom. The depth of this plateau is quite
regular, gradually increasing from the shores of Newfoundland to the
depth of from 1,500 to 2,000 fathoms as you approach the other side.
The distance between Ireland and Cape St. Charles, cr Cape St. Lewis, in
Labrador, is somewhat less than the distance from any point of Ireland to
the nearest point of Newfoundland. But whether it would be better to
lead the wires from Newfoundland or Labrador is not now the question ;
nor do I pretend to consider the question as to the possibility of finding a

*From Cape Freds, Nc-wfoundlarid, to Erris Hesd, Ireland, the distance is l,fill miles;
from Cape Charles, or Cape St. Lev. is, Labrador, to ditto, the distance is 1,601 miles.

162 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

time calm enough, the sea smooth enough, a wire long enough, a ship big
enough, to lay a coil of wire 1,600 miles- in length ; though I have no fear
but that the enterprise and ingenuity of the age, whenever called on with
these problems, will be ready with a satisfactory and practical solution of
them.

I simply address myself at this time to the question in so far as the
bottom of the sea is concerned, and as far as that the greatest practical
difficulties will, I apprehend, be found after reaching soundings at either
end of the line, and not in the deep sea.

A wire laid across from either of the above-named places on this side
will pass to the north of the Grand Banks, and rest on that beautiful pla-
teau to which I have alluded, and where the waters of the sea appear to
be as quiet and as completely at rest as it is at the bottom of a mill-pond.
It is proper that the reasons should be stated for the inference that there
are no perceptible currents and no abrading agents at work at the bottom
of the sea upon this telegraphic plateau. I derive this inference from a
study of a physical fact, which I little deemed, when. I sought it, had any
such bearings.

Lieut. Berryman brought up with Brooks's deep-sea sounding apparatus
specimens of the bottom from this plateau. I sent them to Prof. Bailey,
of West Point, for examination under his microscope. This he kindly
gave ; and that eminent microscopist was quite as much surprised to find
as I was to learn that all these specimens of deep-sea soundings are filled
with microscopic shells ; to use his own words, " not a particle of sand or
gravel exists in them." These little shells, therefore, suggest the fact that
there are no currents at the bottom of the sea whence they came that
Brooks's lead found them where they were deposited in their burial place
after having lived and died on the surface, and by gradually sinking were
lodged on the bottom. Had there been currents at the bottom, these
would have swept and abraded and mingled up with these microscopic
remains the debris of the bottom of the sea, such as ooze, sand, gravel and
other matter ; but not a particle of sand or gravel was found among them.
Hence the inference that these depths of the sea are not disturbed either by
waves or currents. Consequently, a telegraphic wire once laid there, there
it would remain, as completely beyond the reach of accident as it would be
if buried in air-tight cases. Therefore, so far as the bottom of the deep
sea between Newfoundland, or the North Cape, at the mouth of the St.
Lawrence, and Ireland, is concerned, the practicability of a submarine
telegraph across the Atlantic is proved.

In this view of the subject, and for the purpose of hastening the comple-
tion of such a line, I take the liberty of suggesting for your consideration
the propriety of an offer, from the proper source, of a prize to the company
through whose telegraphic wire the first message shall be passed across
the Atlantic.

I have the honor to be, respectfully, &c.,

M. P. MAUIIY, Lieut. U. S. Navy.

Hon. J. C. DOUBIN, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 163

TRANSATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

In a recent communication to the Journal of the Frankln Institute, on
the subject of trans-telegraphic Atlantic communication, Dr. L. Turnbull,
well known for his acquaintance with telegraphic operations, presents the
following points respecting the consummation of this great enterprise :

1st. " To find a time calm enough and a sea smooth enough to lay down
a telegraphic cable." In my own mind, this first difficulty can be over-
come as easily as the observations of Lieut, Berryman were made ; if times of
calm are found for such careful observations as he has conducted, by means
of a twine string so as to let down a cannon ball of sixty-four pounds, and
then raise a tube filled with shells and earth of the depths of the ocean,
we are almost certain a time calm enough and a smooth sea can be found
to stretch a wire from cable from land to land.

The second difficulty is, a " wire long enough." On this point we have
accurate data to follow. The cable from Calais to Dover is twenty-four
miles long, and consists of four copper wires, through which the electric
currents pass, insulated by coverings of gutta-percha. These are formed
into a strand and bound round with spun-yarn, formings core or centre,
around which are laid ten iron galvanized wires of o-16th of an inch in
diameter, each welded into one length of 24^ miles, and weighing about
15 tons per mile. The rope weighs altogether about ISO tons. It formed
a coil of 30 feet diameter outside, ID feet inside, and 5 feet high, and was
made, in the short space of twenty days, by a machine invented for the
purpose. The transatlantic cable, if the machinery is multiplied and
sixteen machines are employed, could, we have little doubt, complete the
cable in six or seven months.

The third difficulty is, " a ship big enough." This can be no difficulty ;
for if one would not do, twenty would. What is the objection to sending
it by trips, or in pieces ? Could it not be attached, as it was laid down, to a
buoy ? A vessel of 1,000 tons could surely carry 400 tons of coil, for our
cable would not exceed 12,000 tons.

Another important matter to be determined is, to what extent a galvanic
current can be sent on an insulated wire. This has been also determined ;
for, in favorable states of the atmosphere, lines in this country have been
so insulated as to work in one circuit from 800 to 1,000 miles. The great-
est distance that any of the lines have ever worked in one circuit was
from Boston to Montreal, via New York, Buffalo, and Toronto a distance
of about 1500 miles. This was done when the earth was frozen and the
lines insulated by frost. The entire length of the telegraph line from Xew
York to New Orleans is 1,906 miles, via Charleston and Mobile ; and even
this distance has been worked in one circuit by the aid of an instrument
termed the connector, the effect of which is to cause one circuit to work
the other tlirough the entire series, thus producing a result similar to
working through, the entire line in one circuit

164 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

As kte as December, 18,53, despatches were written direct through from
New Orleans to Philadelphia and New York, the weather being cold and
the earth frozen. In so doing, the only connector or repeater used was an
insulated screw on the back of the register, invented by Mr. McRea, of
Philadelphia. But this distance would require at least 30 Grove's cups,
of a pint each, for every 100 miles; making about 480 cups, or 240 each
side. If a copper and zinc battery were employed, the number would
have to be increased to about 30 or 40 cups, every 100 miles ; but, even
with this large battery, the expenses would be less than with Grove's bat-
tery. In preparing the batteries, it is even possible to determine mathe-
matically beforehand the amount of resistance and the force necessary to
overcome it, and thus to proportion the number and size of the plates to
the distance to which the wires extend. Large wires are better conductors
than small ones ; copper is a much better conductor than iron ; and as a
thinner wire answers the purpose of conduction, it may be much more
easily insulated. The several conditions may all be calculated from the
beautiful formula of Ohm.

In some recent experiments of Prof. Farraday, that distinguished philoso-
pher, by some of the experiments he obtained, has thrown much liglit
upon the action of voltaic electricity in the submerged wire of the electric
telegraph.

He first determines by actual experiment, that when copper wire is per-
fectly covered with gutta-percha, so high is the insulation, that in 100
miles of such wire, when fully charged by an intensity battery of 350 pairs
of plates and submerged in water, the deflection of a delicate galvanome-
ter was not more than 5. The great perfection in the covering of the
wire may be judged of by this fact alone. The 100 miles of wire were one-
sixteenth of an inch in diameter ; the covered wire was four-sixteenths ;
the gutta-percha on the metal was considered as 0.1 of an inch in thick-
ness. There could not be any better proof than this, that gutta-percha is
one of the best ins ulating agents we have.

He experimented with the subterraneous wires which exist between
London and Manchester ; and when they were all connected together so as
to make one series, they made almost the distance as determined by Lieu-
tenants Eerryman and Maury between the Irish coast and Newfoundland,
being 1,500 miles ; and having introduced galvanometers at intervals of
about 400 miles, he found that, when the whole 1 ,500 miles were included, it
required two seconds for the electric stream to reach the last instrument
which was placed at the end. In this instance the insulation was not as
perfect ; still the result shows that it will require a little over two seconds
to cross the Atlantic by telegraph, which is about the rate of 750 miles in a
second, which result is far below those obtained by the London and Brus-
sels telegraph, which is stated at only 2,700 miles in a second, even with a
copper wire ; while it will be remembered that Wheatstone, in 1834, with
copper wire, made the velocity of the electric current 288,000 miles per
second a considerable difference.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 165

The -whole of this difference, according to Professor Farraday, depends
upon the lateral induction of the wire carrying the current. " The pro-
duction of a polarized state of the particles of neighboring matters by an.
excited body constitutes induction, and this arises from its action upon the
particles in immediate contact with it, which again act upon those contigu-
ous to them ; and thus the forces are transferred to a distance. If the
induction remain undiminished, then perfect insulation is the conse-
quence ; and the higher the polarized condition which the particles can.
acquire or maintain, the higher is the intensity which may be given to the
acting forces. In a word, insulators may be said to be bodies whose parti-
cles can retain the polarized state ; whilst conductors are those whose
particles cannot be permanently polarized." And in regard to long cir-
cuits such as those described, their conducting power cannot be under-
stood ; whilst no reference is made to their lateral static induction or to the
conditions of intensity and quantity which then come into play.

The conducting power of the air and water wires are alike for a constant
current. This, according to Farraday, is in perfect accordance with the
principles and with the definite character of the electric force, whether in
the static, or current, or transition state. When a voltaic current of a
certain intensity is sent into a long water wire, connected at the farther
extremity with the earth, part of the force is in the first instance occupied
in raising a lateral induction round the wire, ultimately equal in intensity
at the near end to the intensity of the battery stream, and decreasing gradu-
ally to the earth end.

In the report of Farraday, which is given in the London Philosophical
Mayazine for March, he there, in conclusion, refers to the terms intensity
and quantity. These terms, he remarks, or equivalents of them, cannot be
dispensed with by those who study both the static and dynamic relations
of electricity. Every current, where there is resistance, has the static
element and induction involved in it, whilst every case of insulation has
more or less of the dynamic element and conduction ; and we have seen that
the same voltaic source, the same current in the same length of the same
wire, give a different result, as the intensity is made to vary with varia-
tions of induction around the wire. The idea of intensity, or the power of
overcoming resistance, is as necessary to that of electricity, either static or
current, as the idea of pressure is to steam in a boiler, or to air passing
through apertures or tubes ; and we must have language competent to
express these conditions and these ideas.

In conclusion, I trust that a cable may be laid across the briny deep,
and I am happy to find the matter taken hold of by intelligent and scien-
tific telegraphic engineers ; and its completion will be one of the wonders
of the age.

In relation to the ultimate completion of the transatlantic submarine
telegraph, Mr. Shaffner, a gentleman who has had considerable experience
in submarine telegraphic lines during the last five years, employs the

166 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

following language, in regard to this enterprise, in the first number of a
journal of which he is the editor :

" Tides may ebb and flow ; the billows may surge with mighty power ;
the icebergs may tower their white-mantled forms high in the skies, and
sink deep in the briny sea ; the heavens may let loose their loud- rolling
thunder, and the earth heave up its fiery lava ; but, just so sure as these
elements exist and worlds revolve, Europe and America will be connected
with an electric cord."

In a paper presented to the British Association by Mr. Eakewell, oil
" Telegraphic Communication between England and America," he pro-
posed to effect stich a communication by employing a single galvanized
iron wire sufficiently strong to be self-protective, and to be insulated with
gutta-percha or other non-conducting substances, covered with tarred
hempen yarn. Such a wire, it was stated, might, from its comparative
lightness and flexibility, be readily stretched across the Atlantic at a cost
of 100,000^. A single wire would, in the first instance at least, be
sufficient to supply the want of telegraphic communication, if the telegraph
were kept in constant work. Mr. Bake well alluded to the difficulty that
had recently been discovered in transmittirg telegraphic signals through
an insulated wire immersed in water, and to the means that had almost
as quickly been devised for overcoming the unforeseen obstacle. He
expressed a confident expectation that, should other difficulties arise in
prosecuting such an enterprise, they would also be as readily vanquished.

Dr. Lardner states that, in the experiments made by him and M. Lever -
rier in electric transmission, messages were sent over a space of 1,000
miles of wire without intermediate battery power, and with a terminal
battery of very limited power; 336 miles of the wire iipon which the
current was transmitted were iron, a very indifferent conductor, and the
remaining 746 miles were copper wire of exceedingly small diameter. It
is certain, therefore, that by reason of the inferior conducting power of the
one part, and the very small transverse section of the other part, this
length of 1,082 miles offered a much greater resistance to the transmission
of the current than would 1,600 miles of copper wire such as is usually
selected for submarine cables. Nothing would be easier than to give the
copper wire enclosed in the cable such a thickness, and to apply to it such
batteries as would insure the transmission of a current of sufficient
intensity.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH BETWEEN EUROPE AND AFRICA.

At the British Association, in a communication on the above subject,
presented by Mr. Brett, the eminent telegraph engineer, the author
proceeded to give an account of the difficulties and prejudices they
encountered in establishing the first submarine telegraph, which has now
been successfully working for three years between France and England,
and stated that he had established the submarine telegraph between

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 167

England and Belgium with equal success, which had been in operation since
the 1st of May, 1853. He then explained some of the difficulties he had
encountered in laying down the two submarine lines in the Mediterranean
in July last, especially in passing a depth exceeding, by 100 fathoms,
what had previously been ascertained to exist on the route between
Piedmont and Corsica. The depths encountered between England and
France, and England and Belgium, did not exceed at their maximum 30
fathoms ; whereas the submarine cable was laid down in the Mediterranean
at a depth of 3oO fathoms, exceeding about eight times that of the English
Channel. It was the general impression that the submarine cable would
part by the great strain it would encounter in passing these great depths ;
for which reasons he was strongly advised, and more particularly by one
of the most able and experienced officers of the Sardinian Government,
who accompanied and aided the undertaking, to make a d-itour of about
eight miles by the Islands of Gorgona and Caprija, where the soundings
were known not to exceed 100 fathoms ; but the great point to be
considered was, whether he would not incur the risk of a total loss of the
cable by not doing so. The prudence of these arguments, Mr. Brett said,
he fully admitted, but that it was a question he was determined to solve
at once ; for as this telegraph was not a telegraph to Corsica, but part of
a line to India, to be shortly completed to Africa, where still greater depths
must be encountered, it was necessary to test the fact. He then explained
the difficulties they encountered in paying it out, when, after the line had
been paid out, as he believes, along the top of a submarine mountain for
some miles at a depth varying from 180 to 200 fathoms, it suddenly, as he
believes, came to the edge of a precipice, making a total of 3oO fathoms,
(exceeding by about 100 fathoms any depth marked in the various charts
on this route,) where it ran out with frightful velocity ; and had the cable
been less strong, the whole must, of necessity, have been lost ; and they
were compelled, nevertheless, to anchor by the electric cable all night, to
restore the injury that had occurred; but he felicitated himself upon the
experience thus gained from his determination in taking the deepest route,
as it had led to many valuable suggestions necessary to successful opera-
tions in great depths ; and the able commander, the Marquis Ricci, who
up to this time had been in doubt of its success, then admitted that this
kind of cable contained such remarkable elements of strength in its form
and combination, that he believed only certain improvements to be
necessary (on which we had been consulting) to successfully lay it down
even in the greater depths of the Atlantic.

Mr. Brett, in conclusion, explained his reasons for selecting this line to
India, via Egypt, in preference to the line by the Italian peninsula, which
would ever be impeded by the jealousies and restrictions of the petty
States ; whereas, to the shores of Africa, the Mediterranean Telegraph
passed through only the States of France and Sardinia, which had encour-
aged it by liberal guaranties, and admitted that all communications, in
whatever language, should pass unrestricted through their states. From

168 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC BISCOYERY.

Africa he stated he had two plans in contemplation for its extension to
Egypt one, a line dropped in the Mediterranean, in the shallow line near
the coast, and another buried in the sand along the shore, both of which
he was satisfied might be laid secure from derangement of any kind. He
then concluded with a statement of the labor and attention he had given
for many years in preparing for the telegraph to America, and of the
depth, on the proposed line, as recently ascertained by Lieut. Maury, of
the United States, with some estimates of the weight and cost, and stated
that a return of 100/. to 1501. per day would give a fair interest on the
necessary capital ; that his plan comprised several lines of communication ;
and that he entirely deprecated the idea of a single line of communication,
which he believed could not be done.

ELECTRIZATION BY INFLUENCE.

The French Academy has recently received a memoir of great interest
from M. Melloni, on the subject of electrization by influence. The
hypothesis which has hitherto prevailed to explain the general character of
the phenomena relative to static electricity consists in admitting the exist-
ence of two imponderable principles, of two fluids endowed with reciprocal
attraction each for the other, and with repulsion for themselves ; and by
this way the speculative philosopher obtains two agents possessing opposed
properties, and susceptible under many circumstances of being disguised,
or of being concealed by each other. At the first they were called vitreous
and resinous electricity ; and then, to exhibit more forcibly the antagonism
of the way by which they acted, they were styled positive and negative
electricity. No data having fallen into the philosopher's hands that might
authorize him to define the absolute quantities of -these fluids which might
exist together in bodies, it has been supposed that ponderable matter
contained infinite quantities of them, or at the least, quantities which may be
regarded as infinite in comparison with the amount that may be excited in
experiments. Notwithstanding this inexhaustible quantity of fluids
contained in bodies, it suffices that one or the other is in the predominance
to urge it to the surface, and to exhibit there the properties which are
peculiar to it. This accumulation of the fluid in excess on the exterior
surface constitutes the phenomenon, of electrization. Consequently a
body may be electrified by two different and opposite manners, as one or
the other fluid predominates on its surface ; in every case, the fluid in
excess will exercise to escape a pressure, which is " electrical tension,"
properly so called. When the tension is great enough, the electricity
appears in the form of a spark, whose dimensions may vary in enormous
proportions. Between the phosphorescent sparkling of the stick of
sealing wax raoidly rubbed and the dazzling lightning which rends our

*< o o

temples in sunder there is no difference other than a difference in degree.

The explosion of the spark is invariably preceded by electrization by

influence, a so important phenomenon as to warrant some explanations.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 169

If we remain faithful to the hypothesis of the fluids, the most simple way
to electrify a body would assuredly appear to be by taking the fluid where
it exists in a free state, and to communicate, to pour it out (if the expres-
sion may be allowed) as it were by a direct contact. This we see constantly
used, when we witness a conductor sustained by some insulating support,
placed in contact with an electrical machine previously charged : commonly
the operator has not the time to place them in contact, for before they
touch the spark leaps forward, and the division is made. And if the
operator pleases to employ some known methods of observation, it may
be seen that, during the period the two machines are being brought together,
a change takes place in the state of the conductor, which greatly precedes
the explosion of the spark. By the influence exerted within a certain
radius of distance by the supposed machine charged with positive elec-
tricity, the natural distribution of the fluids is troubled ; each of them,
has yielded to the disposition which characterizes it : the negative fluid
advancing towards the positive fluid which attracts it, and the positive
fluid of the bodies taking refuge in the parts of the surface farthest from
the machine. The result is, the different points of this surface are
iiiequally and differently electrified ; in the hypothesis of a complete
isolation, this state, which constitutes electrization by influence, would
persist for an indefinite period. If, on the contrary, the machine be
removed, or its charge be dissipated in the ground, the influence having
disappeared, the conductor would immediately return to its natural state.
Thus electrization by influence differs essentially from that which results
simply from the accumulation of one or the other fluid. Here the same
electricity is in the preponderance throughout the whole extension of
the surface of the bodies ; the tension is in every respect positive or
negative, as is exhibited by the usual experiments of the electroscopic
pendulum, and the plan tfepreuve, where neither the pendulum nor the
body can regain their natural state, except by losing its fluid in excess, or
by gaining the contrary fluid. There, on the contrary, electrization by
influence divides the surface of the body into two distinct regions one
of the positive tension, the other with the negative tension ; and these two
regions are separated by a neutral line where the tension is null. Besides,
the fluids thus localized in two distinct regions exist in proportions meet
for the reformation of the neutral fluid, so that the operator has but to
remove the acting cause to obtain this recomposition and to reconstitute
the body in its natural state.

A clear distinction of the two phenomena is necessary to a perfect concep-
tion of the positions of Melloni. He commences his paper with recalling
sententiously, as suited with his learned audience, these facts as having
been definitively admitted in science, and as forming the foundation of the
theory of static electricity ; and then he announces that he has before
him. results from experiments which make a great breach in the funda-
mental theorem of electrization by influence.

According to Melloni, the plan d'ejjreuve and the electroscopic pendu-
8

170 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

lurn, commonly employed to study the distribution of tlie electricities of a
body electrified by influence, are not suitable to furnish exact indications,
because they themselves are effected by the influence of the active body ;
and to protect them against this cause of error, he has imagined the expe-
dient of interposing a metal plate, communicating -\vith the common
reservoir ; the operator then has a body charged with an electricity acting
by influence upon a neighboring body through the plate, which is a sort of
screen to the organs of exploration. In these new conditions, Monsieur
Melloni observes that the electricity on the surface of the body influenced
is of the same nature and has the same appearances as that of the acting
body, and he concludes : " This experiment dissipates the illusion hitherto
formed, touching the contrary electric tensions developed 011 the opposite
extremities of the influenced body."

These new ideas do not meet with the support of many others who
have experimented upon this subject ; they cannot admit that the metal
plate introduced into the experiment acts simply as a screen ; and some
have suggested that the whole controversy rests on a misunderstanding,
and that his reasoning follows somewhat the following course : dissimu-
lated electricity is not the electricity of tension ; but, in a body influenced
within the radius of a given distance, one of the fluids is dissimulated ;
therefore, the other fluid alone retains its tension. But in reality, it is said,
the two fluids retain their respective tensions, the instruments attest it ;
and in the opinion of natural philosophers, the true method of treating the
question is invariably to consider the body as symmetrically placed between
two contrary influences.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ENGRAVING.

This machine is somewhat on the principle of the well-known planing
machine. The drawing to be copied and the plate to be engraved are
placed side by side on the movable table or lid of the machine ; a pointer
or feeler is so connected, by means of a horizontal bar, with a graver, that,
when the bar is moved, the drawing to be copied passes under the feeler,
and the plate to be engraved passes in a corresponding manner under the
graver. . It is obvious that in this condition of things a continuous line
would be cut on the plate, and, a lateral motion being given to the bed, a
series of such lines would be cut parallel to and touching each other, the
feeler of course passing in a corresponding manner over the drawing. If,
then, a means could be devised for causing the graver to act only w r hen the
point of the feeler passed over the portion of the drawing, it is clear we
should get a plate engraved, line for line, with the object to be copied.
This is accomplished by placing the graver under the control of two electro
magnets, acting alternately, the one to draw the graver from the plate, the
other to press it down on it. The coil enveloping one of these magnets is
in connection with the feeler, which is made of metal. The drawing is
made on a metallic or conducting surface, with a rosined ink, or some

NATUilAL PHILOSOPHY. 171

other non- conducting substance. An electric current is then established,
so that when the feeler rests on the metallic surface it passes through the
coils of the magnet, and causes it to lift the graver from the plate to be
engraved. As soon as the feeler reaches the drawing and passes over the
non-conducting ink, the current of electricity is broken, and the magnet
ceases to act, and by a self-acting mechanical arrangement the current is
at the same time diverted through the coils of the second magnet, which
then acts powerfully and presses the graver down. This operation being
repeated until the feeler has passed in parallel lines over the whole of the
drawing, a plate is obtained engraved to a uniform depth, with a fac-simile
of the drawing. From this a type-metal cast is taken, which, being a
reverse in all respects of the engraved plate, is at once fitted for- use as a
block for surface printing. The machine is the invention of Mr. "NYilliam
Hausen, of Gotha. Journal of the Society of Arts.

SPECIFIC HEAT OF GASES.

M. Regnault has presented to the Academy a very long memoir on the
Specific Heat of Gases under constant pressure and variable volume, and
under constant volume and variable pressure. After detailing the history
of this important question, M. Eegnault explained in a brilliant lecture
his method of observation, the arrangement of his apparatus, and the
important results he had obtained results which entirely change the pres-
ent state of the science, being in complete discordance with the theory of
Laplace and Poisson, and with the observations of Desormes, Gay-Lussac
and Dulong.

It has heretofore been admitted, that the capacity for heat under constant
pressure is always greater than that under constant volume; and the
ratio of these capacities is equal to unity plus a fraction, which, in air, is
338,000 according to Dulong, 375,000 according to Gay-Lussac, 421,000
according to Poisson, &c., &c. By operating in an entirely new mode,
and under conditions that he thinks better, M. E,egnault seems to have
shown that the difference between these is nothing, or infinitely small.

Conceive two concentric globular vessels, one whose capacity is a litre
filled with gas, air for example, under a pressure of ten atmospheres, the
other with a capacity of ten litres. This system of two vessels is immersed
in a water bath kept at a constant temperature, if, after having made a
vacuum in the second globe, we allow the air to enter it from the first, so
that it now occupies a bulk ten times greater, there is neither elevation nor
depression of the temperature. There will be, however, a depression of
the temperature, if, at the same time that the air enters the larger globe, a
small quantity is allowed to pass out by an- orifice in the globe ; and the
amount of depression of the temperature is constantly proportional to the
mass of gas which has escaped into the atmosphere. If the air which
escapes is made to do work, as for instance to move a turbine, re-action
wheel, or pump, the cooling increases in proportion to the work done ;

172 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

and we in consequence find here what has been determined in steam-
engines, in which the useful work done is more nearly expressed by the
heat lost in the fall of temperature, in proportion as the machines are more
perfect.

M. Regnault shows clearly how much his new experiments are opposed
to the old hypothesis, which made caloric a fluid, at one time in the latent
state, at another disengaged and sensible ; he shows, on the other hand,
how easily they are explained on the theory which attributes heat to a
vibratory motion ; the principle of the preservation of moving forces then
suffices to account for all the transformation of heat into work, and vice
versa. After insisting upon the fact, that the theory by which Laplace
corrected Newton's formula for the velocity of the propagation of sound in
air, and explained the considerable differences between the calculated and
observed velocities, is no longer admissible, he expresses an ardent desire
to see some new series of experiments on the velocity of sound in air,
water and solid bodies, taking advantage of all the recent progress of sci-
ence and the mechanic arts.

ON THE VIBRATION AND TONES PRODUCED BY THE CONTACT OF
BODIES HAVING DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES.

The following is an abstract of a paper read before the E, oyal Institution
by Prof. Tyndall, F. K S. :-

In the year 1805, M. Schwartz, an inspector of one of the smelting
works of Saxony, placed a cup-shaped mass of hot silver upon a cold
anvil, and was surprised to find that musical tones proceeded from the
mass. In the autumn of the same year, Professor Gilbert, of Berlin,
visited the smelting works and repeated the experiment. He observed
that the sounds were accompanied by a quivering of the hot silver, and
that, when the vibrations ceased, the sound ceased also. Professor Gilbert
merely stated the facts, and made no attempt to explain them. In the
year 1829, Mr. Arthur Trevelyan, being engnged in spreading pitch with
a hot plastering iron, and once observing that the iron was too hot for his
purpose, he laid it slantingly against a block of lead which chanced to be
at hand ; a shrill note, which he compared to that of the chanter of the
small Northumberland pipes, proceeded from the mass, and, on nearer
inspection, he observed that the heated iron was in a state of vibration.

Professor Faraday, after giving the subject some attention, referred them
to the tapping of the hot mass against the cold one underneath it, the taps
being in many cases sufficiently quick to produce a high musical note.
The alternate expansion and contraction of the cold mass at the points
where the hot rocker descends upon it, he regarded as the sustaining
power of the vibrations. The superiority of lead he ascribed to its great
expansibility, combined with its feeble power of conduction, which latter
prevented the heat from being quickly diffused through the mass.

Professor Forbes, of Edinburgh, then took up the subject, and rejects

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 173

the explanation supported by Professor Faraday, and refers the vibrations
to "a new species of mechanical agency in heat" a repulsion exercised
by the heat itself on passing from a good conductor to a bad one. This
conclusion is based upon a number of general laws established by Pro-
fessor Forbes. If these laws be correct, then indeed a great step has been
taken towards a knowledge of the intimate nature of heat itself, -and this
consideration was the lecturer's principal stimulus in resuming the
examination of the subject. He had already made some experiments,
ignorant that the subject had been further treated by Seebeck until
informed of the fact by Professor Magnus, of Berlin. On reading
Seebeck's interesting paper, he found that many of the results which it
was his intention to seek had been already obtained. The portion of the
subject which remained untouched was, however, of sufficient interest to
induce him to prosecute his original intention. The general laws of
Professor Forbes were submitted in succession to an experimental
examination. The first of these laws affirms that "the vibrations never
take place between siibstances of the same nature." This the lecturer found
to be generally the case when the hot rocker rested upon a block, or on the
edge of a thick plate of the same metal ; but the case was quite altered
when a thin plate of metal was used. Thus, a copper rocker laid upon
the edge of a penny-piece did not vibrate permanently ; but when the coin
was beaten out by a hammer, so as to present a thin sharp edge, constant
vibrations were obtained. A silver rocker resting on the edge of a half-
crown refused to vibrate permanently ; but en the edge of a sixpence
continuous vibrations were obtained. An iron rocker on the edge of a
dinner knife gave continuous vibrations. A fiat brass rocker placed upon
the points of two common brass pins, and having its handle suitably
supported, gave distinct vibrations. In these experiments, the plates and
pins were fixed in a vice, and it was found that, the thinner the plate
within its limits of rigidity, the more certain and striking was the effect.
Vibrations were thus obtained with iron on iron, copper on copper, brass
on brass, zinc on zinc, silver on silver, tin on tin. The list might be
extended, but the cases cited are sufficient to show that the proposition
above cited cannot be regarded as expressing "a general law." The
second general law enunciated by Professor Forbes is, that " both substances
must be metallic." This is the laAV which first attracted the lecturer's
attention. During the progress of a kindred inquiry, he had discovered
that certain non-metallic bodies are endowed with powers of conduction
far higher than has been hitherto supposed, and the thought occurred to
him that such bodies might, by suita