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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 488




NEW YORK, MAY 9, 1885

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XIX, No. 488.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.

       *       *       *       *       *




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


                                                               PAGE
I.   CHEMISTRY.--Notes on Three New Chinese Fixed Oils.--Tea
     oil.--Cabbage oil.--Wood oil.--Paper read by R. H.
     DAVIES before the Pharmaceutical Society of Great
     Britain.                                                  7798

II.  ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--A Visit to the Creusot
     Works.--Giving a description of the works and the
     projects undertaken by the proprietors.--With full page
     of engravings illustrating the Hall of Forges and the
     100 ton steam hammer.                                     7784

     Le Creusot.--Extract of the report of the visit of the
     American Gun Foundry Board to these works.                7784

     Plan for the Elevated Railway at Paris.--4 figures.       7785

     Engineering Inventions since 1862.--By Sir F. J.
     BRAMWELL.--Bridge construction.--Pneumatic
     Foundations.--Construction of tunnels.--Canals and river
     improvements.--Military engineering appliances.--Uses of
     cement.--Preservation of wood.                            7787

III. PHYSICS, ELECTRICITY, ETC.--Electric Light Apparatus for
     Military Purposes.--With engraving.                       7790

     Electricity and Magnetism.--By Prof. F. E.
     NIPHER.                                                   7790

     The Hydrodynamic Researches of Prof. Bjerknes.--By C.
     W. COOKE.--5 figures.                                     7791

     Electrotyping.--With a full description of the process.   7793

     A New Seismograph.--With engraving.                       7793

IV.  ART AND ARCHITECTURE.--The Cathedral of the Incarnation
     at Garden City.                                           7787

     Movable Market Buildings.--7 figures and engraving of
     movable flower market at Paris.                           7788

     Dinocrates' Project.--With three engravings of landscapes
     showing human profiles.                                   7789

     The Babylonian Palace.                                    7798

V.   HORTICULTURE.--The Stone Pine (Pinus Pinea).--With
     engraving.                                                7797

VI.  HYGIENE, ETC.--The Otoscope.--With engraving.             7794

     State Provision for the Insane.--By C. M.
     HUGHES, M.D.                                              7794

VII. MISCELLANEOUS.--The Xylophone.--2 engravings.             7793

     The Courage of Originality.                               7795

     A Circular Bowling Alley.--With engraving.                7795

     Patent Office Examination of Inventions.                  7795

     The Universal Exposition at Antwerp, Belgium.--With full
     page engraving.                                           7797

     The Art of Breeding.                                      7798

       *       *       *       *       *


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

We give in this number of our SUPPLEMENT several articles with
illustrations, for which we are indebted to _La Nature_. They are
entitled Electric Light Apparatus for Military Purposes, The Otoscope,
A New Seismograph, Dinocrates' Project, The Xylophone, Plan of an
Elevated Railway for Paris.

       *       *       *       *       *




A VISIT TO THE CREUSOT WORKS.


Here we are at the great forge (Fig. 1), that wonderful creation which
has not its like in France, that gigantic construction which iron has
wholly paid for, and which covers a space of twenty-four acres. We
first remark two puddling halls, each of which contains 50 furnaces
and 9 steam hammers. It is in these furnaces that the iron is puddled.
The ball or bloom thus obtained is afterward taken to the hammer,
which crushes it and expels the scoriae.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE GREAT HALL OF FORGES AT THE CREUSOT WORKS.]

The puddler's trade, which is without doubt the most laborious one in
metallurgy, will surely soon be lightened through the use of steam.
Two rotary furnaces actuated by this agent have been in operation for
a few years at Creusot, and each is yielding 20 tons of iron per day.

We have but a court of 130 feet in width to cross in order to reach
the rolling mill. At the entrance to this we enjoy one of the most
beautiful sights that the immense works can offer. For a length of
1,240 feet we perceive on one side a series of rolling machines, and
on the other a row of reverberatory furnaces that occasionally give
out a dazzling light. In the intervals are fiery blocks that are being
taken to the rolling machines, in order to be given the most diverse
forms, according to the requirements of commerce.

The iron obtained by puddling is not as yet in its definite state, but
the rolling mill completes what the puddling hall does in the rough.
Five hundred and fifty thousand tons of iron, all shaped, are taken
from the forge every day. To reach such a result it requires no less
than 3,000 workmen and a motive power of 7,000 horses.

But do not be appalled at the cost of the coal, for, thanks to
ingenious processes, the heat lost from the furnaces nearly suffices
to run the boilers. If we remark that a power of one horse does in one
hour the equivalent of a man's labor per day, we conclude that these
machines (which run night and day) represent an army of 160,000 men
that lends its gratuitous aid to the workmen of the forge. This is
what is called progress in industry.

We have just seen that iron is obtained in small masses. These can be
welded upon heating them to 1,500 or 2,000 degrees. It is impossible
to manufacture a large piece exempt from danger from the weldings.
Cast iron always has defects that are inherent to its nature, and
these are all the more dangerous in that they are hidden. Steel is
exempt from these defects, and, moreover, whatever be the size of the
ingot, its homogeneousness is perfect. This is what has given the idea
of manufacturing from it enormous marine engines and those gigantic
guns that the genius of destruction has long coveted.

Ah, if the good sense of men does not suffice to put a limit to their
increasing progress, bridges, viaducts, and tunnels will take it upon
themselves, if need be, to bar their passage. But, in order to forge
large ingots, it became necessary before all to increase the power of
the steam hammer. The Creusot establishment, which endowed metallurgy
with this valuable machine, had allowed itself to be eclipsed, not by
the number (for it had 57), but by the dimensions of the largest one.
In 1875, the Krupp works constructed one of 50 tons, and their example
was followed at Perm, St. Petersburg, and Woolwich. It was then
that Mr. Henry Schneider put in execution a bold project that he had
studied with his father, that of constructing a 100 ton steam hammer,
along with the gigantic accessories necessary (Fig. 2). It became
necessary to erect a building apart for its reception. This structure
covers a surface of one and three-quarter roods, and reaches a height
of 98 feet in the center. As for the hammer, imagine uprights 25
feet in height, having the shape of the letter A, surmounted with a
cylinder 19 1/2 feet in length and of a section of 31/2 square yards.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE CREUSOT ONE HUNDRED TON STEAM HAMMER.]

The piston which moves in this cylinder, under a pressure of 5
atmospheres, is capable of lifting a weight of 100 tons. The hammer,
which is fixed to this piston by a rod, has therefore an ascensional
force of 88,000 pounds. It can be raised 16 feet above the anvil, and
this gives it a power three and a third times greater than that of the
Prussian hammer. Large guns can therefore be made in France just as
well as in Germany.

This enormous mass is balanced in space at the will of one man, who,
by means of a lever, opens and closes two valves without the least
effort. This colossal hammer required an anvil worthy of it. This
weighs 720 tons, and rests upon granite in the center of 196 feet of
masonry.

The hammer is surrounded with four furnaces heated by gas, and duty
is done for each of these by steam cranes capable of lifting 350,000
pounds. These cranes take the glowing block from the furnace, place
it upon the anvil, and turn it over on every side at the will of the
foreman. Under this hammer a cannon is forged as if it were a mere
bolt. The piece is merely rough-shaped upon the anvil, and a metallic
car running upon a 36 foot track carries it to the adjusting shop.
There the cannon is turned, bored, and rifled, and nothing remains but
to temper it, that is to say, to plunge it into a bath after it has
been heated white hot. For this purpose an enormous ditch has been dug
in which there is a cylindrical furnace, and alongside of it there is
a well of oil. The car brings the cannon to the edge of the ditch, and
a steam crane performs the operation of tempering with as much ease as
we would temper a knife blade.

In the presence of such engines of attack it was necessary to think
of defense. The hammer that forges the cannon also gives us the armor
plate to brave it. This time the ingot is flattened under the blows of
the hammer, and even takes the rounded form of the stern, if it be so
desired. Thus is obtained the wall of steel that we wish.

Will it be possible to keep up the fight long? In order that one may
get some idea of this for himself, let us rapidly describe an entirely
peaceful contest that took place recently upon the coast of Italy. Two
rival plates, one of them English and the other French, were placed
in the presence of the Spezia gun, which weighs 100 tons. These plates
were strongly braced with planks and old armor plate. Three shots were
to be fired at each of the plates.

In the first shot the ball was of hardened cast iron, and weighed
1,990 pounds. The English plate was filled with fissures, while the
Creusot did not show a single one. The ball penetrated it about seven
inches, and was broken into small pieces.

In the second shot the projectile was the same, but the charge was
greater. The shot may be calculated from the velocity, which was 1,530
feet. It was equal to what the great hammer would give were it to fall
from a height of a hundred yards. The English plate was completely
shivered, while the French exhibited but six very fine fissures
radiating from the point struck. The ball entered 8 inches, and was
broken as in the first experiment.

The third shot fired was with a steel ball, against the French plate,
the English being _hors de combat_. The penetration was the same; the
ball was not broken, but was flattened at the point like the head of a
bolt.

We should like to speak of those magnificent workshops in which the
immense naval pieces are adjusted, where the shafts of helixes 60
feet in length are turned, and of the boiler works, where one may see
generators that have a heating surface exceeding 2,000 square feet,
for it requires no less than that to supply 8,000 H.P., and thus
triumph over the force of inertia and those colossal iron-clads. But
how describe in a magazine article what the eye cannot take in in a
day?

Despite all our regrets, we have to pass over some things, but our
duty will not have been performed if we omit the history of the works.

Creusot, which to-day is a regularly-built city with a population of
28,000 souls, was in 1782 but a poor hamlet called Charbonniere. The
existence there of a coal bed had long been known, and iron ore had
been found not far off. But how establish works in a locality deprived
of a water course, and distant from the large ways of communication?

In 1782 the steam engine, which Watt had just finally improved,
removed the first difficulty, and the second was soon to disappear,
thanks to a projected canal. An iron foundry was then established
there under the patronage of Louis XIV., while the Queen had
glassworks erected.

As long as the war lasted the foundry supported itself through casting
cannons and balls, but after the year 1815 it became necessary either
to transform the works or sell them. It was decided to do the latter.
The Messrs. Chagot, who became purchasers in the sum of $180,000, were
in turn obliged to sell out in 1826. Creusot was then ceded to Messrs.
Manby & Wilson, who already had works at Charenton. At the end of
seven years of efforts this firm made a failure, and, finally, in
1836, after six million dollars had been swallowed up, Creusot was
bought for $536,000, by Messrs. Adolphe & Eugene Schneider & Co. The
period of reverses was at an end, and one of continued success was
begun.

The new managers had seen that carriage by steam was soon to follow,
and open up to metallurgy an entirely new horizon. The works were
quickly transformed and enlarged, and in 1838, the first French
locomotive was turned out of them. After locomotives came steamboats.
It was then that the necessity of forging large pieces gave the idea
of a steam hammer.

By a coincidence that can only be explained by the needs of the epoch,
the English came upon the same discovery almost at the same time, and
the Creusot patent antedated the English one by only two months.

Two years afterward, frigates such as the Labrador, Orenoque,
Albatros, etc., of 450 H.P., were rivaling English vessels on the
ocean.

After the death of Mr. Adolphe Schneider, on the 3d of August, 1845,
his brother Eugene, left sole manager, displayed an activity that
it would be difficult to exceed. He made himself familiar with the
resources and productions of foreign countries and of France, and then
made up his mind what to do. He desired to make his works the finest
in the world, and it has been seen from what precedes that, after
twenty years of effort, his aim has been attained. What a rapid
progress for so short a time! In 1838, the first locomotive that was
not of English origin appeared to us like a true phenomenon; a few
years afterward the Creusot locomotives were crossing the Channel in
order to roll proudly over the railways of a rival nation.

A general, no matter how skillful, could not conquer with an
undisciplined army, so the education of the workmen's children was one
of the things that the founder of this great industrial center had
constantly in mind. Mr. H. Schneider has continued the work of his
father, and has considerably extended it, at Creusot as well as in the
annexed establishments. The number of pupils who frequent the schools
exceeded 6,000 in 1878.

The work is not confined to educating the children, but a retreat is
afforded the parents, without putting them under any restraint.

After twenty-five years' service a workman receives an income of $100
if he is a bachelor, and $150 if married, but upon one condition,
however, and that is that he is a Frenchman. For $1.20 a month he is
lodged in a pretty little house surrounded with a garden, and, if he
is sick, he is attended gratuitously.

These benefits are not addressed to ingrates, as was proved by the
profound sorrow that reigned in the little city when the death of the
benefactor of Creusot was learned.--_Science et Nature._

       *       *       *       *       *




LE CREUSOT.


The members of the American Gun Foundry Board visited these works in
1883, and give the following in their report: The most important steel
works in France are situated at Le Creusot, and bear the name of the
location in which they are situated. These works have advanced year by
year in importance and in magnitude since their purchase by Mr. Eugene
Schneider.

This gentleman's death, in 1875, was a source of mourning to the
whole town, the inhabitants of which looked up to him as a father. The
grateful people have erected to his memory a monument in the market
square.

Under the administration of his son, Mr. Henry Schneider, the fame of
the products of the works has been enhanced, and the proportions
of the establishment have been much increased. The whole number of
workmen now employed here and at other points amounts to 15,000; and
it is the great center of industry of the adjoining region. At no
other place in the world is steel handled in such masses.

It would be foreign to the purpose of this report to dwell on the many
objects of commerce which are supplied from these works, but it is
safe to say that no proposed work can be of such magnitude as to
exceed the resources of the establishment.

For the preparation of metal for cannon and armor-plates Le Creusot
is thoroughly equipped. The iron is produced on the premises from the
purest imported ores, and the manufacture of the steel is carried on
by the most approved application of the open-hearth system with the
Siemens furnace; the chemical and mechanical tests are such as to
satisfy the most exacting demands of careful government officials; and
the executive ability apparent in all the departments and the evident
condition of discipline that pervades the whole establishment inspire
confidence in the productions of the labor.

The capacity for casting steel is represented by seven open-hearth
furnaces of 18 tons each, equal to 126 tons; and the process of
casting large ingots is a model of order and security. Ladles capable
of holding the contents of one furnace, mounted upon platform cars,
are successively filled at a previously determined interval of time
and run on railways to a convenient position over the mould; before
the first ladle is exhausted the supply from the succeeding one has
commenced to run, and so on to the completion of the casting, the
supply to the mould being uninterrupted during the entire process. The
precision with which the several ladles are brought into position in
succession makes it entirely unnecessary to provide a common reservoir
into which all the furnaces may discharge. By this process the casting
of a 45 ton ingot, which was witnessed by the Board, was effected in
23 minutes.

The process of tempering the gun-tubes was also witnessed by the
Board. The excavation of the pit is, as at St. Chamond, 15 meters
deep, with the furnace at one end and the oil tank (100 tons) at the
other. One side of the upright furnace is constructed in the form of a
door, which, by a convenient arrangement for swinging, is made to turn
on its hinges. Thus, when the tube is raised to the right temperature,
it is seized by the traveling crane, the door of the furnace swung
open, and the tube at once advanced to the tank in which it is
immersed.

All tubes are immersed in oil the second time, but at a temperature
much below that to which they are raised at the first immersion. This
process constitutes the annealing after tempering.

The manufacture of steel-armor plates is a specialty of Le Creusot,
which is engaged in an active competition with the manufacturers of
compound armor. Plates up to 60 centimeters in thickness and 3 meters
wide are forged here; they are tempered after forging, but what
subsequent treatment they receive was not explained.

The tempering pit for the plates consists of an excavation of
convenient size, in the center of which is placed a tank containing
180 tons of oil. At the four corners of the pit are furnaces in which
the plates are raised to a proper temperature. When sufficiently
heated, a plate is seized by a walking crane and immersed in the oil.

Hoops for cannon are manufactured here in large quantities. They are
cut from solid ingots, and those for guns up to 24 centimeters are
rolled like railway tires; those for larger calibers are forged on a
mandrel. Jackets of large size are also manufactured; these are made
from solid ingots, which, after being forged, are bored out.

At Le Creusot a remarkable test of hoops was witnessed, which
exemplifies not only the excellence of the manufacture of the steel
but also the exacting character of the French requirements. The hoops
for naval guns are made with the interior surface slightly conical.
When forged, turned, and brought under a hammer, a standard mandrel of
steel, conically shaped to suit the form of the cone in the hoop, but
of a slightly increased diameter, is introduced, the smaller end
of the mandrel being able to enter the larger end of the hoop. The
mandrel is then forced in by the hammer until its lower edge has
passed through the hoop. The blows are then made to operate on the
upper edge, detaching it from the mandrel. Careful measurements are
taken of the diameter of the hoop before and after this test, and it
is required that the measurement subsequent to the operation shall
show that the hoop has partially, but not entirely, returned to the
diameter that it had before the entrance of the mandrel. This would
show that there is left to the metal a small margin within its elastic
limit. A system of manufacture which can comply with such a refinement
of exactitude must be very precise.

Perhaps the most striking feature at Le Creusot is the forge, where is
assembled an array of steam hammers not equaled in the world, viz.:

  One 100 ton hammer with a fall of 5 meters.
  One 40 ton hammer with a fall of 3 meters.
  One 15 ton hammer with a fall of 3 meters.
  Two 10 ton hammers with a fall of 2 1/2 meters.
  One 8 ton hammer with a fall of 2 1/2 meters.

As the 100 ton hammer at these works is the largest in the world, some
particulars concerning it will be appropriate.

The foundations are composed of a mass of masonry laid in cement
resting on bed rock, which occurs at a depth of 11 meters, an anvil
block of cast iron, and a filling-in of oak timber designed to
diminish by its elasticity the vibrations resulting from the blows of
the hammer. The masonry foundation presents a cube of 600 meters.
Its upper surface is covered with a layer of oak about one meter in
thickness, placed horizontally, on which rests the anvil block.

At the Perm foundry in Russia the anvil block for the 50 ton hammer
is made in one piece, moulded and cast on the spot it was intended to
occupy. Its weight is 622 tons. At Le Creusot, however, this idea
was not approved, and it was determined to construct the block in six
horizontal courses, each bedded upon plane surfaces. Each course is
formed of two castings, except the upper one, a single block, which
weighs 120 tons and supports the anvil. Thus formed in 11 pieces, it
is 5.6 meters high, 33 square meters at the base, and 7 square meters
at the top. Its entire weight is 720 tons.

The space between the block and the sides of the masonry in which it
rests is filled in solidly with oak. The block is thus independent of
the frame of the superstructure.

The legs of the frame, inclining toward each other in the form of an
A, are secured at their bases to a foundation plate embedded in the
masonry. They are hollow, of cast iron, and of rectangular cross
section, each leg in two pieces joined midway of their length by
flanges and bolts. The legs are also bound together by four plates of
wrought iron, which, at the same time, holds the guides. The height of
the legs is 10.25 meters, and their weight, with the guides, 250 tons.
The binding plates weigh together about 25 tons, and the foundation
plates 90 tons.

The entablature of the frame work weighs 30 tons; on it is placed the
steam cylinder, single acting, made in two pieces, each 3 meters
long united by flanges and bolts. The diameter of the cylinder is 1.9
meters, giving a surface of 27,345 square centimeters (deducting the
section of the rod, which is 36 centimeters in diameter); which, for
5 atmospheres, gives a pressure under the piston of about 140 tons.
As the weight of the hammer is 100 tons, it is evident that it can be
raised with great velocity.

The stroke of the piston in the cylinder is 5 meters. This height
of fall, multiplied by the 100,000 kilogrammes of the mass, gives a
working force of 500,000 kilogrammeters, or about 1,640 foot tons. The
width between the legs is 7.5 meters, and the free height under the
cross ties 3 meters, thus providing ample space for maneuvering large
masses of metal.

The entire height of this colossal structure from the base of the
masonry foundation to the upper part of the steam cylinder is 31
meters (102 feet), but notwithstanding this unfavorable condition for
stability and the enormous effect resulting from a shock of 500,000
kilogrammeters, everything is so well proportioned that there is but
slight vibration.

The workman who maneuvers the hammer is placed on a platform on one
of the legs, about 3 meters above the floor. He is here protected
from the heat reflected from the mass of metal during the operation of
forging.

       *       *       *       *       *




PLAN FOR AN ELEVATED RAILWAY AT PARIS.


Elevated railways have been in operation for a long time in New York,
Berlin, and Vienna, and the city of Paris has decided to have recourse
to this mode of carriage, so indispensable to large cities. The
question of establishing a line of railways in our capital has been
open, as well known, since 1871. During this period of nearly fourteen
years this grave subject has at various times given rise to serious
discussions, in which the most competent engineers have taken part,
and numerous projects relating to the solution that it calls for have
been put forth.

The problem to be solved is of the most complex nature, and the
engineers who have studied it have not been able to come to an
agreement except as regards a small number of points. It may even be
said that unanimity exists upon but a single point, and that is that
the means of locomotion in Paris do not answer the requirements of
the public, and that there is an urgent necessity for new ones. The
capital question, that of knowing whether the railway to be built
shall be beneath or above ground, is not yet settled; for, up to the
present, no project has been prescribed in one direction or the other.

While some extol the underground solution as being the only one
that, without interfering with circulation in the streets, permits
of establishing a double-track railway capable of giving passage
to ordinary rolling stock and of connecting directly with the large
lines, others, objecting that such a road could not give satisfaction
to the taste of Parisians, and that it would necessitate work out of
proportion to the advantages gained, conclude upon the adoption of an
open air railway.

Preferences generally are evidently for this latter solution.

We have received from a learned engineer, Mr. Jules Garnier, a
project for an elevated railway, which appears to us to be very ably
conceived, very well studied out, and which we hasten to make known.

(1.) The system is characterized by the following fundamental points:
The up and down tracks, instead of being laid alongside of each other,
as in an ordinary railway, are superposed upon two distinct platforms
forming a viaduct, which is consequently so arranged as to permit of
the laying of one of the tracks at its lower part and of the other at
its upper.

(2.) The system of constructing the viaduct is so combined as to be
capable of giving passage upon the road to the rolling stock of the
large lines during the stoppage of the daily passenger trains.

(3.) The tracks are connected at the extremities by a curve that has
the proper incline to compensate for the difference in level between
the two, and which has a sufficiently large radius to allow the <DW72>
of the track to be kept within the limits admitted. The running of the
trains is thus uninterrupted.

(4.) When two lines of different directions bisect one another, a
special arrangement permits the passengers from one line to pass to
the other by means of what is called a "tangent" station, without
the trains of one line crossing the tracks of another, the purpose of
which arrangement is to avoid those accidents that would inevitably
occur through the crossing of a track by the trains of a transverse
line.

(5.) The rolling stock is arranged in a manner that allows the
entrance and exit of the passengers to be effected with great
promptness.

In ordinary avenues, comprising a roadway and two sidewalks, the
elevated railway is placed in the axis of the roadway at a sufficient
height to prevent it interfering with the passage of carriages, say
14 3/4 feet above the surface, while in boulevards or avenues of great
width, having _contre-allees_[1] bordered by a double row of trees, it
is installed in one of the _contre-allees_.

   [Footnote 1: Paths parallel with the public walks.]

In the first case (Fig. 1), the viaduct is wholly metallic, while
in the second it comprises masonry arches surmounted by a metallic
superstructure. The viaduct is formed of independent spans supported
by metallic piers that rest upon masonry foundations (Fig. 2).

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--PROJECT FOR A PARISIAN ELEVATED RAILWAY.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--LONGITUDINAL ELEVATION.]

The line will have three kinds of stations, intermediate, "tangent,"
and terminal ones. It is at the latter that the two superposed lines
are connected by the circular inclined plane.

The waiting platforms of the intermediate stations will be formed
simply by the widening of the span corresponding to the station.
Access to these platforms will be had by stairs running up from the
edge of the sidewalk. The passengers will make their exit by means of
corresponding stairs on the opposite side. (Figs 3 and 4.)

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--A STATION.]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--TRANSVERSE SECTION OF STATION.]

The tangent stations are placed at the meeting point of two lines,
which, instead of crossing each other, are bent inward like an X, the
two parts of which will be tangent to the central point. Through
such arrangements the running of the trains will be continuous, and
a traveler reaching one of these stations will be able, upon changing
train, to take at his option any one of the three other directions.

As may be seen, Mr. Garnier's project presents conditions which
are very favorable to the establishment of an elevated road in the
interior of Paris. Far from injuring the aspect of the great arteries
of our metropolis, the viaduct, as it has been conceived, will
contribute toward giving them a still more imposing look. If the
beautiful is, as has been said, the expression of the useful, an
elevated railway, well conceived, may be beautiful. The project of
a subterranean railway is attended with great drawbacks, not only
as regards the great expense that it would necessitate, but also the
difficulties of constructing it. And there is a still graver objection
to it, and that is that it would oblige travelers to move like moles
in dark, cold, and moist tunnels. At Paris, where we are accustomed
to a pleasant climate and clear atmosphere, we like plenty of air and
broad daylight.--_La Nature._

       *       *       *       *       *




ENGINEERING INVENTIONS SINCE 1862.[1]

   [Footnote 1: Address of Sir Frederick Joseph Bramwell, F.R.S., on
   his election as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
   January 13, 1885.]

By Sir F. J. BRAMWELL.


I propose to devote the very limited time at my disposal to the
consideration of some of the most important of those improvements
which are obviously and immediately connected with civil engineering.
I am aware of the danger there is of making a serious mistake, when
one excludes any matter which at the moment appears to be of but a
trivial character. For who knows how speedily some development may
show that the judgment which had guided the selection was entirely
erroneous, and that that which had been passed over was in truth the
germ of a great improvement? Nevertheless, in the interests of time
some risk must be run, and a selection must be made; I propose,
therefore, to ask your attention while I consider certain of
(following the full title of Division I.) "The apparatus, appliances,
processes, and products invented or brought into use since 1862."
In those matters which may be said to involve the principles of
engineering construction, there must of necessity be but little
progress to note.

Principles are generally very soon determined, and progress ensues,
not by additions to the principles, but by improvement in the methods
of giving to those principles a practical shape, or by combining in
one structure principles of construction which had been hitherto
used apart. Therefore, to avoid the necessity of having a pause, in
referring to a work, by finding that one is overstepping the boundary
of principle, and trenching within the domain of construction, I think
it will be well to treat these two heads together.

If my record had gone back to just before 1851 (the date of the great
exhibition), I might have described much progress in the principles
of girder construction; for shortly prior to that date, the plain
cast-iron beam, with the greater part of the metal in the web, and
with but little in the top and bottom flange, was in common use; and
even in the preparation of the building for that exhibition, it is
recorded that one of the engineers connected therewith had great
difficulty in understanding how it was that the form of open work
girder, with double diagonals introduced therein (a form which was for
years afterward known as the exhibition girder), was any stronger
than a girder with open panels separated by uprights, and without any
diagonals. But, long before 1862, the Warren and other truss-girders
had come into use, and I am inclined to say that, so far as novelty
in the principle of girder-construction is concerned, I must confine
myself to that combination of principles which is represented by the
suspended cantilever, of which the Forth Bridge, only now in course
of construction, affords the most notable instance. It is difficult to
see how a rigid bridge, with 1,700 foot spans, and with the necessity
for so much clear headway below, could have been constructed without
the application of this principle.


BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.

Pursuing this subject of bridge work, the St. Louis Bridge of Mr. Eads
may, I think, be fairly said to embody a principle of construction
novel since 1862, that of employing for the arch-ribs tubes composed
of steel staves hooped together. Further, in suspension bridges there
has been introduced that which I think is fairly entitled to rank
among principles of construction, the light upper chain, from
which are suspended the linked truss-rods, doing the actual work of
supporting the load, the rods being maintained in straight lines, and
without the flexure at the joints due to their weight. In the East
River Bridge, New York, there was also introduced that which I believe
was a novelty in the mode of applying the wire cables. These were not
made as untwisted cables and then hoisted into place, thereby imposing
severe strains upon many of the wires composing the cable through
their flexure over the saddles and elsewhere, but the individual
wires were led over from side to side, each one having the length
appropriate to its position, and all, therefore, when the bridge was
erected, having the same initial strain and the same fair play. Within
the period we are considering, the employment of testing-machines has
come into the daily practice of the engineer; by the use of these he
is made experimentally acquainted with the various physical properties
of the materials he employs, and is also enabled in the largest of
these machines to test the strength and usefulness of these materials,
when assembled into forms, to resist strains, as columns or
as girders. I of course do not for one moment mean to say that
experimental machines were unknown or unused prior to 1862--chain
cable testing-machines are of old date, and were employed by our past
President, Mr. Barlow, and by others, in their early experiments upon
steel; but I speak of it as a matter of congratulation that, in lieu
of such machines being used by the few, and at rare intervals upon
small specimens, for experimental purposes, they are now employed in
daily practice and on a large scale.

In harbor work we have had the principle of construction employed by
Mr. Stoney at Dublin, where cement masonry is moulded into the form
of the wall for its whole height and thickness, and for such a length
forward as can be admitted, having regard to the practical limit of
the weight of the block, and then, the block being carried to its
place, is lowered on to the bottom, which has been prepared to receive
it, and is secured to the work already executed by groove and tongue.

It would not be right, even in this brief notice of such a mode
of construction, to omit mention of the very carefully thought out
apparatus by which the blocks are raised off the seats whereon they
have been made, and are transported to their destination. It is no
simple undertaking (even in these days) to raise (otherwise than
hydraulically) a weight of 350 tons, which is the weight of the
blocks with which Mr. Stoney deals. But he does this by means of
pulley-blocks attached to shears built on the vessel which is to
transport the block, and he contrives to lift the weight without
putting upon his chains the extra strain due to the friction of the
numerous pulleys over which they pass. The height of the lift is only
the few inches needed to raise the block clear of the quay on which it
has been formed, and this is obtained by winding up the chain by steam
gear quite taut, so as to take a considerable strain, but not that
equal to the weight of the block, and then water is pumped into the
opposite end of the vessel to that upon which the shears are carried,
this latter end rises, and the block is raised off the seat on which
it was formed, without the chains being put to work to do the actual
lifting at all. The vessel, with the block suspended to the shear legs
and over the bows, is then ready to be removed to the place where
the block has to be laid. A word must here be said about an extremely
ingenious mode of dealing with the slack chain, to prevent its
becoming fouled, and not paying out properly, when the block is being
lowered. This is accomplished by reeving the slack of each chain over
two fixed sets of multiple sheaves.

A donkey-engine works a little crab having a large drum, the chain
from which is connected with the main chain, and draws it round the
multiple sheaves so as to take up the slack as fast as the main crab
gives it out. The steam is always on the donkey, which is of such
limited dimensions that it can do no injury to the chain even when its
full power is in vain endeavoring to draw it any further; directly,
however, the main crab gives more slack, and the chain between it and
the two sets of sheaves falls into a deeper catenary, and one which
therefore puts less opposition to the motion of the donkey-engine,
that engine goes to work and makes a further haul upon the slack, and
in this way, and automatically, the slack is kept clear.


PNEUMATIC FOUNDATIONS.

A noteworthy instance of the use of pneumatic appliances in cylinder
sinking for foundations is that in progress at the Forth Bridge. The
wrought-iron cylinders are 70 feet in diameter at the cutting-edge,
and have a taper of about 1 in 46. They are, however, at a height of 1
foot above low water (that is, at the commencement of the masonry work
of the pier) reduced to 60 feet in diameter; at their bottoms there is
a roofed chamber, into which the air is pumped, and in which the men
work when excavating, this roof being supported by ample main and
cross lattice girders. Shafts with air-locks and pipes for admitting
water and ejecting silt are provided. The air-locks are fitted with
sliding doors, worked by hydraulic rams, or by hand, the doors being
interlocked in a manner similar to that in which railway points and
signals are interlocked, so that one door cannot be opened until the
other is closed. The hoisting of the excavated material is done by a
steam engine fixed outside the lock, this engine working a shaft on
which there is a drum inside the lock, the shaft passing air-tight
through a stuffing box. A separate air-lock, with doors, ladder, etc.,
complete, is provided to give ingress and egress for the workmen.
I have already adverted to one Scotch bridge; I now have to mention
another, viz., the Tay Bridge, also now in course of construction.
Here the cylinders are sunk, while being guided, through wrought-iron
pontoons, which are floated to their berths, and are then secured at
the desired spot by the protrusion, hydraulically, of four legs, which
bear upon the bottom, and thus, until they are withdrawn, convert the
pontoon from a floating into a fixed structure.


SUBAQUEOUS ENGINEERING.

I regret that time will not admit of my giving any description of the
modes of "cut and cover" which have been proposed for the performance
of subaqueous works; sometimes the proposition has been to do this
by means of coffer-dams, and with the work therefore open to the
day-light during execution, and sometimes by movable pneumatic
appliances. Consideration of subaqueous works necessarily leads the
mind to appliances for diving, and although its date is considerably
anterior to 1862, I feel tempted, as I believe the construction is
known to very few of our members, to say a few words about the diving
apparatus known as the "Bateau-plongeur," and used at the "barrage"
on the Nile. This consists of a barge fitted with an air-tight cabin
provided with an air-lock, and having in the center of its floor
a large oval opening, surrounded by a casing standing up above the
water-line. In this casing, another casing slides telescopically, the
upper part of which is connected to the top of the fixed casing by
a leather "sleeve." When it is desired to examine the bottom of the
river, the telescopic tube is lowered till it touches the bottom, and
then air is pumped into the cabin until the pressure is sufficient to
drive out the water, and thus to expose the bottom. This appears to be
a very convenient arrangement for shallow draughts of water.

Reverting for a moment to Mr. Stoney's work, I may mention that he
uses for the greatest depths he has to deal with, when preparing the
bed to receive his blocks, a diving apparatus which (while easily
accessible at all times) dispenses with the necessity of raising and
lowering, needed in an ordinary diving-bell to allow of the entrance
and exit of the workmen. Mr. Stoney employs a bell of adequate size,
from the summit of which rises a hollow cylinder, furnished at the
top with an air-lock, by which access can be obtained to the submerged
bell. Beyond the general improvement in detail and in the mode
of manufacture, and with the exception of the application of the
telephone, there is probably not much to be said in the way of
invention or progress in connection with the ordinary dress of the
diver.


THE FLEUSS DIVING APPARATUS.

But one great step has been made in the diver's art by the
introduction of the chemical system of respiration, the invention
of Mr. Fleuss. He has succeeded in devising a perfectly portable
apparatus, containing a chemical filter, by means of which the exhaled
breath of the diver is deprived of its carbonic acid; the diver
also carries a supply of compressed oxygen from which to add to the
remaining nitrogen oxygen, in substitution for that which has been
burnt up in the process of respiration. Armed with this apparatus,
a diver is enabled to follow his vocation without any air-tube
connecting with the surface, indeed without any connections whatever.
A notable instance of a most courageous use of this apparatus was
afforded by a diver named Lambert, who, during one of the inundations
which occurred in the construction of the Severn tunnel, descended
into the heading, and proceeding along it for some 330 yards (with the
water standing some 35 feet above him), closed a sluice door, through
which the water was entering the excavations, and thus enabled the
pumps to unwater the tunnel. Altogether, on this occasion, this man
was under the water, and without any communication with those above,
for one hour and twenty-five minutes. The apparatus has also proved to
be of great utility in cases of explosion in collieries, enabling
the wearer to safely penetrate the workings, even when they have been
filled with the fatal choke-damp, to rescue the injured or to remove
the dead.


CONSTRUCTION OF TUNNELS.

With respect to the subject of tunneling thus incidentally introduced,
in subaqueous work of this kind, I have already alluded to that which
is done by "cut and cover," but where the influx of water is a source
of great difficulty, as it was in the old Thames tunnel (though in
this case for water one should read silt or mud), I do not know that
anything has been devised so ingenious as the Thames tunnel shield;
improvement has, however, been made by the application of compressed
air.

In the instance of the Hudson River tunnel, the work was done in the
manner proposed so long ago as the year 1830 by Lord Cochrane (Earl
Dundonald) in that specification of his, No. 6,018, wherein he
discloses, not merely the crude idea, but the very details needed for
compressed air cylinder-sinking and tunneling, included air-locks
and hydraulically-sealed modes for the introduction and extraction of
materials. I may, perhaps, be permitted to mention that some few years
ago I devised for a tunnel through the water-bearing chalk a mode of
excavation by the use of compressed air to hold back the water, and
combined with the employment of a tunneling machine. This work, I
regret to say, was not carried out. But there are, happily, cases of
subaqueous tunneling where the water can be dealt with by ordinary
pumping power, more or less extensive, and where the material is
capable of being cut by a tunneling machine. This was so in the Mersey
tunnel, and would be in the Channel tunnel. In the Mersey tunnel, and
in the experimental work of the Channel tunnel, Colonel Beaumont and
Major English's tunneling machine has done most admirable work. In the
7 foot 4 inch diameter heading, in the new red sandstone of the Mersey
tunnel, a speed of as much as 10 yards forward in twenty-four hours
has been averaged, while a maximum of 11-2/3 yards has been attained;
while in the 7 foot heading for the Channel tunnel, in the gray chalk,
a maximum speed of as much as 24 yards forward in the twenty-four
hours has been attained on the English side; and with the later
machine put to work at the French end, a maximum speed of as much as
27-1/3 yards forward in the twenty-four hours has been effected. In
ordinary land tunneling since 1862 there has been great progress, by
the substitution of dynamite and preparations of a similar nature
for gunpowder, and by the improvements in the rock-drills worked by
compressed air, which are used in making the holes into which the
explosive is charged. For boring for water, and for many other
purposes, the diamond drill has proved of great service, and most
certainly its advent should be welcomed by the geologist, as it has
enabled specimens of the stratum passed through to be taken in the
natural, unbroken condition, exhibiting not only the material and the
very structure of the rock, but the direction and the angle of the dip
of the beds.

Closely connected with tunneling machines are the machines for
"getting" coal. This "getting," when practiced by manual labor,
involves, as we know, the conversion into fragments and dust of a very
considerable portion of the underside of the seam of coal, the workman
laboring in a confined position, and in peril of the block of coal
breaking away and crushing him beneath it. Coal-getting machines, such
as those of the late Mr. Firth, worked by compressed air, reduce to
a minimum the waste of coal, relieve the workman of a most fatiguing
labor in a constrained position, and save him from the danger to which
he is exposed in the hand operation. It is a matter of deep regret on
many grounds, but especially as showing how little the true principles
of political economy are realized by working men, who are usually well
informed on many other points, that the commercial failure of these
machines is due to their opposition. In connection with colliery
work, and indeed in connection with explosives, in the sense of a
substitution for them of sources of expansion acting more slowly,
mention should be made of the hydraulic wedges. The employment of
these in lieu of gunpowder, to force down the block of coal that had
been undercut, is one of the means to be looked to for diminishing the
explosions in collieries. Another substitute for gunpowder is found in
the utilization of the expansion of lime when wetted. This has given
birth to the lime cartridge, the merits of which are now universally
recognized, but it is feared that trade prejudices may also prevent
its introduction. While on this subject of "accidents in mines," it
will be well to call attention to the investigations that have been
made into the causes of these disasters, and into the probable part
played by the minute dust which prevails to so great an extent in dry
collieries.

The experiments of our honorary member, Sir Frederick Abel, on this
point have been of the most striking and conclusive character, and
corroborate investigations of the late Macquorn Rankine into the
origin of explosions in flour mills and rice mills, which had
previously been so obscure. The name of Mr. Galloway should also be
mentioned as one of the earliest workers in this direction. At
first sight, pile driving appears to have but little connection with
explosives, but it will be well to notice an invention which has been
brought into practical use, although not largely (in this country at
all events), for driving piles, by allowing the monkey to fall on
a cartridge placed in the cavity in the cap on top of the pile; the
cartridge is exploded by the fall, and in the act of explosion drives
down the pile and raises the monkey; during its ascent, and before the
completion of its descent, time is found for the removal of the empty
cartridge and the insertion of a new one.


CANALS AND RIVER IMPROVEMENTS.

In the days of Brindley and of Smeaton, and of the other fathers
of our profession, whose portraits are on these walls, canals and
canalized rivers formed the only mode of internal transit which was
less costly than horse traction, and, thanks to their labors, the
country has been very well provided with canals; but the introduction
of railways proved, in the first instance, a practical bar to the
extension of the canal system, and, eventually, a too successful
competitor with the canals already made. Frequently the route that had
been selected by the canal engineer was found (as was to be expected)
a favorable one for the competing railway, and the result was, the
towns that had been served by the canal were served by the railway,
which was thus in a position to take away even the local traffic of
the canal. For some time it looked as though canal and canalized river
navigations must come to an end; for although heavy goods could be
carried very cheaply on canals, and with respect to the many works and
factories erected on the canal banks, or on bases connected therewith,
there was with canal navigation no item of expense corresponding to
the cost of cartage to the railway stations, yet the smallness of the
railway rates for heavy goods, and the greater speed of transit, were
found to be more than countervailing advantages. But when private
individuals have embarked their capital in an undertaking, they do not
calmly see that capital made unproductive, nor do they refrain from
efforts to preserve their dividends, and thus canal companies set
themselves to work to add to their position of mere owners of water
highways, entitled to take toll for the use of those highways, the
function of common carriers, thus putting themselves on a par with the
railway companies, who, as no doubt is within the recollection of our
older members, were in the outset legalized only as mere owners of
iron highways, and as the receivers of toll from any persons who might
choose to run engines and trains thereon, a condition of things
which was altered as soon as it was pointed out that it was utterly
incompatible either with punctuality or with safe working. This
addition to the legal powers of the canal companies, made by the acts
of 1845 and 1847, has had a very beneficial effect upon the value
of their property, and has assisted to preserve a mode of transport
competing with that afforded by the railways. Further, the canal
proprietors have from time to time endeavored to improve the rate of
transport, and with this object have introduced steam in lieu of horse
haulage, and by structural improvements have diminished the number of
lockages. Many years before the period we are considering, there was
employed, to save time in the lockages and to economize water, the
system of inclined planes, where, either water-borne in a traveling
caisson, as on the Monklands incline, or supported on a cradle, as
in the incline at Newark, in the State of New Jersey, the barges were
transferred from one level to another; but an important improvement on
either of these modes of overcoming a great difference of level is the
application of direct vertically lifting hydraulic power. A notable
instance of this system was brought before the Institution in a paper
read on the "Hydraulic Canal Lift at Anderton, on the River Weaver,"
by S. Duer,[2] and another instance exists on the Canal de New Fosse,
at Fontinettes, in France, the engineers being Messrs. Clark and
Standfield, who have other lifts in progress. This system reduces the
consumption of water and the expenditure of time to a minimum.

   [Footnote 2: Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C. E., vol. xlv., p. 107.]

With respect to canalized rivers, the difficulty that must always have
existed when these rivers (as was mostly the case) were provided with
weirs to dam up the water for giving power to mills has been augmented
of late years by the change in the character of floods. It has
frequently been suggested that in these days of steam motors in lieu
of water power, and of railways in lieu of water carriage, the injury
done by obstructing the delivery of floods is by no means compensated
by the otherwise all but costless power obtained, or by the
preservation of a mode of transport competing with railways. It has
thereupon been suggested that it would be in the interests of the
community to purchase and extinguish both the manufacturing and the
navigating rights, so as to enable the weirs to be removed, and free
course to be provided for floods. It need hardly be said, however,
that if means could be devised for giving full effect to the river
channels for flood purposes, while maintaining them for the provision
of motive power and of navigation, it is desirable that this should be
done. The great step in this direction appears to be the employment
of readily or, it may be, of automatically movable weirs. Two very
interesting papers on this subject by Messrs. Vernon-Harcourt and E.
B. Buckley were read and discussed in the session 1879-1880. These
dealt, I fear exclusively, with foreign, notably with French and
Indian, examples. I say I fear, not in the way of imputing blame to
the authors for not having noticed English weirs, but because the
absence of such notice amounts to a confession of backwardness in the
adoption of remedial measures on English rivers. An instance, however,
of improvement since then has been the construction by Mr. Wiswall,
the engineer to the Bridgewater Navigation Company (on the Mersey and
Irwell section of that navigation), of the movable Throstle Nest weir
at Manchester. It does seem to me that by the adoption of movable
weirs, rivers in ordinary times may be dammed up to retain sufficient
water to admit of a paying navigation and water for the mills on their
banks; while in time of flood they shall allow channels as efficient
for relief as if every weir had been swept away.

But the great feature of late years in canal engineering is not the
preservation or improvement of the ordinary internal canal, but the
provision of canals, such as the completed Suez canal, the Panama
canal in course of construction, the contemplated Isthmus of Corinth
canal--all for saving circuitous journeys in passing from one sea to
another; or in the case nearer home of the Manchester ship canal, for
taking ocean steamers many miles inland.

But the old fight between the canal engineer and the railway engineer,
or, more properly speaking, between the engineer when he had his canal
"stop" on and the same individual when he has his railway "stop"--you
will see that I am borrowing a figure, either from Dombey & Son, where
Mr. Feeder, B.A., is shown to us with his Herodotus "stop" on, or,
as is more likely, I am thinking of the organs to be exhibited in the
Second division, "Music," of that exhibition of which I have the honor
to be chairman--I am afraid this is a long parenthesis breaking
the continuity of my observations, which related to the old rivalry
between canal and railway engineering. I was about to say that this
rivalry was revived, even in the case of the transporting of ocean
vessels from sea to sea, for we know that our distinguished member,
Mr. Eads, is proposing to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by
means of a ship railway across the Isthmus of Panama. He suggests that
the largest vessels should be raised out of the water, in the manner
commonly employed in floating docks, and should then be transferred
to a truck-like cradle on wheels, fitted with hydraulic bearing blocks
(this being, however, not a new proposition as applied to graving
docks), so as to obtain practical equality of support for the ship,
notwithstanding slight irregularities in the roadway, while he
proposes to deal with the question of changes of direction by the
avoidance of curves and by the substitution of angles, having at the
point of junction of the two sides turntables on which the cradle
and ship will be drawn; these can be moved with perfect ease,
notwithstanding the heavy load, because the turntable will be floating
in water carried in circular tanks.

The question of preserving the level of the turntable, whether
unloaded, partially loaded, or loaded, is happily met by an
arrangement of water ballast and pumping. I cannot pass away from the
mention of Mr. Eads' work without just reminding you of the successful
manner in which he has dealt with the mouth of the Mississippi, by
which he has caused that river to scour and maintain a channel 30 feet
deep at low water, instead of that 8 feet deep which prevailed there
before his skillful treatment. Neither can I refrain from mentioning
the successful labors of our friend Sir Charles Hartley, in improving
the navigation of that great European river, the Danube. I am sure we
are all rejoiced to see that one of the lectures of the forthcoming
series, that on "Inland Navigation," is to be delivered by him, and I
do earnestly trust he will remember it is his duty to the Institution
not to leave important and successful works unreferred to because
those works happen to be his own.

I regret that time does not admit of my noticing the many improved
machines for excavating, to be used either below water or on dry land.
I also regret, for similar reasons, I must omit all mention of ship
construction, whether for the purpose of commerce or of war, a subject
that would naturally follow that of rivers and of ship railways and
canals, and would have enabled me to speak of the great debt this
branch of civil engineering owes to the labors of our late member,
William Froude, and would have enabled me also to deal with the
question of material for ships, and with the question of armor
plating, in which, and in the construction of ordnance, our past
president, Mr. Barlow, and myself, as the two lay members of the
Ordnance Committee, are so specially interested.


MILITARY ENGINEERING APPLIANCES.

The mention of armor plates inevitably brings to our minds the
consideration of ordnance, but I do not intend to say even a few words
on this head of invention and improvement--a topic to which a whole
evening might well be devoted--because only three years ago my
talented predecessor in this chair, Sir William Armstrong, made it the
subject of his inaugural address, and dealt with it in so masterly
and exhaustive a style as to render it absolutely impossible for me
to usefully add anything to his remarks. I cannot, however, leave this
branch of the subject without mentioning, not a piece of ordnance, but
a small arm, invented since the date of Sir William's address. I mean
the Maxim machine gun. This is not only one of the latest, but is
certainly one of the most ingenious pieces of mechanism that has been
devised. The single barrel fires the Martini-Henry ammunition; the
cartridges are placed in loops upon a belt, and when this belt is
introduced to the gun, and some five or six cartridges have been drawn
in by as many reciprocations of a handle, the gun is ready to commence
firing. After the first shot, which must be fired by the pulling of
a trigger in the ordinary way, the gun will automatically continue
to send out shot after shot, until the whole of the cartridges on the
belt are exhausted; and if care is taken before this happens to link
on to the tail of the first belt the head of a second one, and another
belt to this, and so on, the firing will be automatically continuous,
and at a rate anywhere between one shot per minute and six hundred
shots per minute, dependent on the will of the person in charge of the
gun, the whole of the operations of loading, firing, and ejecting the
cartridge being performed by the energy of the recoil. This perfectly
automatic action enables the man who works the gun to devote his whole
attention to directing it, and as it is carried on a pivot and can
be elevated and depressed, he can, while the gun is firing, aim the
bullets to any point he may choose.

Since 1862 the power of defending seaports has been added to by the
application of submarine mines, arranged to be fired by impact alone,
or to be fired on impact when (under electrical control) the firing
arrangement is set for the purpose, or to be fired electrically from
the shore by two persons stationed on cross-bearings, both of whom
must concur in the act of explosion. These mines are charged with
gun-cotton, the development of which owes so much to Sir Frederick
Abel, while for purposes of attack the same material, not yet in
practical use for shells, is taken as the charge for torpedoes, which
are either affixed to a spar or are carried in the head of a submerged
cigar-shaped body. By a compressed air or by a direct steam impulse
arrangement these weapons are started on their course and are
directed, and then the running is taken up by their own engines
operating on screw propellers, driven by a magazine of compressed
air contained in the body of the torpedo. Means are also provided to
maintain the designed level below the water surface. The torpedo may
either be projected from the war ship itself or from one of those
launches which owe their origin to our member, Mr. John Isaac
Thornycroft, who first demonstrated the feasibility of that which was
previously considered to be impossible, viz., the obtaining a speed
of twenty miles and over from a vessel not more than 80 feet long.
Experiments have been carried on in the United States by Captain
Ericsson to dispense with the internal machinery of the torpedo, and
to rely for its traverse through the water upon the original impulse
given to it by a breech-loading gun, carried at the requisite depth
below the water level in a torpedo boat. This gun, having a feeble
charge of powder at a low gravimetric density, fires the torpedo, and,
it is said, succeeds in sending it many yards, and with a sufficient
terminal velocity to explode the charge by impact. Also, in the United
States, experiments have been made with a compressed air gun of
40 feet in length and 4 inches in diameter (probably by this time
replaced by a gun of 8 inches in diameter), to propel a dart through
the air, in the front of which dart there is a metallic chamber
containing dynamite. Although no doubt the best engineer is the man
who does good work with bad materials, yet I presume we should not
recommend any member of our profession to select unsuitable materials
with the object of showing how skillfully he can employ them. On
the contrary, an engineer shows his ability by the choice of those
materials which are the very best for his purpose, having regard,
however, to the relative facilities of carriage, to the power of
supply in sufficiently large quantities, to the ease with which they
can be worked up or built in, and to the cost.


USES OF CEMENT.

Probably few materials have been found more generally useful to
the civil engineer, in works which are not of metal, than has been
Portland cement. It should be noticed that during the last twenty-two
years great improvements have been made in the grinding and in the
quality of the cement. These have been largely due to the labors
in England of our member, Mr. John Grant, to the labors of foreign
engineers following in his footsteps, and to the zeal and intelligence
with which the manufacturers have followed up the question, from a
scientific as well as from a practical point of view, not resting
until they were able with certainty to produce a cement such as the
engineer needed. I do not know that there is very much to be said in
the way of progress (so far as the finished results are concerned) in
the materials which Portland cement and other mortars are intended to
unite. Clean gravel and ballast and clean sand are, I presume, very
much the same in the year 1884 as they were not only in the year 1862,
but as they were in the year 1. The same remark applies to stone
and to all other natural building materials; and, indeed, even the
artificial material brick cannot in these days be said to surpass in
quality the bricks used by the Romans in this island nineteen hundred
years ago, but as regards the mode of manufacture and the materials
employed there is progress to be noted. The brick-making machine and
the Hoffmann kiln have economized labor and fuel, while attempts have
been made, which I trust may prove successful, for utilizing the clay
which is to be found in the form of slate in those enormous mounds
of waste which disfigure the landscape in the neighborhood of slate
quarries. Certain artificial stones, moreover, appear at last to be
made with a uniformity and a power of endurance, and in respect of
these qualities compare favorably with the best natural stone, and
still more favorably having regard to the fact that they can be made
of the desired dimensions and shape, thus being ready for use without
labor of preparation.


PRESERVATION OF WOOD.

Reverting to natural materials, there remains to be mentioned that
great class, timber. In new countries the engineer is commonly glad to
avail himself of this material to an extent which among us is unknown.
For here, day by day, owing to the ready adaptability of metals to
the uses of the engineer, the employment of wood is decreasing. Far,
indeed, are we from the practice of not more than a hundred years ago,
when it was not thought improper to make the shell of a steam engine
boiler of wooden staves. The engineer of to-day, in a country like
England, refrains from using wood. He cannot cast it into form, he
cannot weld it. Glue (even if marine) would hardly be looked upon as
an efficient substitute for a sound weld; and the fact is, that it is
practically impossible to lay hold of timber when employed for tensile
purposes so as to obtain anything approaching to the full tensile
strength. If it be desired to utilize metals for such a purpose,
they can be swollen out into appropriate "eyes" to receive the needed
connection; but this cannot be done with wood, for the only way of
making an enlarged eye in wood is by taking a piece that is big enough
to form the eye, and then cutting away the superfluous portion of the
body. Moreover, when too much exposed to the weather, and when too
much covered up, wood has an evil habit of rotting, compared with
the rapidity of which mode of decay the oxidizing of metals is
unimportant. Further, one's daily experience of the way in which
a housemaid prepares a fire for lighting is suggestive of the
undesirability of the introduction of resinous sticks of timber, even
although they may be large sticks, into our buildings. Many attempts,
as we know, have been made to render timber proof against these two
great defects of rapid decay and of ready combustibility, and, as
it appears to me, it is in these directions alone one can look for
progress in connection with timber. With respect to the first, it was
only at the last meeting of the Institution we presented a Telford
medal and a Telford premium to Mr. S. B. Boulton for his paper "On the
Antiseptic Treatment of Timber," to which I desire to refer all those
who seek information on this point. With respect to the preservation
from fire of inflammable building materials, the processes, more or
less successful, that have been tried are so numerous that I cannot
even pretend to enumerate them. I will, however, just mention one, the
asbestos paint, because it is used to coat the wooden structures of
the Inventions Exhibition. To the employment of this, I think, it is
not too much to say those buildings owed their escape, in last year's
very dry summer, from being consumed by a fire that broke out in an
exhibitor's stand, destroying every object on that stand, but happily
not setting the painted woodwork on fire, although it was charred
below the surface. I do not pretend to say that a surface application
can enable wood to resist the effects of a continued exposure to fire,
but it does appear that it can prevent its ready ignition.

(_To be continued._)

       *       *       *       *       *




THE CATHEDRAL OF THE INCARNATION.


The Cathedral of the Incarnation, at Garden City, N. Y., the memorial
of Mrs. Cornelia M. Stewart to her husband, Alexander T. Stewart, was
opened April 9, 1885, by impressive religious ceremonies. At precisely
11 o'clock the chimes in the cathedral tower rang out a clear and
resonant peal, and the people thronged into the building through its
tower and transept entrances.

The effort has been made to reproduce in the cathedral a pure type of
the Gothic architecture of the thirteenth century, without its ruder
and less refined characteristics. The strained and coarse images
designed to illustrate "the world, the flesh, and the devil,"
which seem so strange and unapt to American visitors to the
great Continental cathedrals, are almost entirely omitted in this
reproduction. The carving, too, in deference to the more sensitive
tastes and better skill of this age, is far more artistic and natural
than in the old originals. Flowers in stone are made to resemble
flowers, and heads are fashioned after a human pattern, and clusters
of figures are modeled in a congruous and modern manner. But aside
from changes of this kind, the new and magnificent edifice upon
Hempstead Plains is a perfect example of the elaborate and picturesque
Gothic structures of mediaeval days.

It is built of brown sandstone raised in colossal blocks. The spire,
floriated richly and graduated with a precise symmetry, rises to an
extreme altitude of 220 feet 6 inches. The extreme length is about 170
ft. The massive oaken front doors are carved handsomely, and contain
the arms of the Stewart family, the Clinch family (Mrs. Stewart's
maiden name), the Hilton family, and those of Bishop Littlejohn,
the Episcopal head of the Long Island Diocese. The porch or tower
entrance, which is the main entrance to the building, is paved with
white marble. In the center of the floor the Stewart arms are enameled
in brass, showing a shield with a white and blue check, supported
by the figures of a wild Briton and a lion. The crest is a pelican
feeding its young, and the motto is "_Prudentia et Constantia_."
These heraldic figures are made a special feature of the main aisle.
Directly in the center of the auditorium floor the Stewart and Clinch
arms are impaled, enameled in brass. On the floor in the choir the
Hilton arms are placed. They bear the patriotic motto "_Ubi libertas
ibi patria_," with a deer for a crest. The floor of the ante-chancel
presents the arms of the diocese. Its insular character is especially
prominent. The shield of barry wavy contains three crosslets, the
peculiar sign of the cathedral. It is supported by dolphins. The crest
is a ship, and under all is the sacred motto, "I will set his dominion
in the sea." The workmanship of all these arms is superb.

By far the most wonderful works of art in the edifice are the windows
of stained glass and the musical facilities. Every window presents a
theme suggestive of the Incarnation. The windows of the porch present
several of the Old Testament characters and events which prefigured
the birth of Christ, and over the door leading to the nave are figures
of Adam and Eve and of Abraham and Sarah. The four windows on the
south side of the nave show the Annunciation, the dream of Joseph, the
salutation of Elizabeth, and the refusal of the stable to the parents
of the infant Redeemer. In the first window of the transept is
presented the inn-keeper's refusal of refuge to Joseph and Mary. The
great window of the south transept, in all about thirty feet high, one
of the largest windows in the world, shows the family of Jesse, the
ancestor of Jesus. Jesse is resting at full length; above him is King
David, and all around are figures of his descendants leading up to the
Virgin Mary with the Holy Child in her arms. Above all, in the apex
of the windows, are the emblems used in prophecies of Christ's coming.
The third window of the south transept shows the Nativity, with the
Babe in the manger. Two windows in the choir are chosen with special
reference to the regular service of the church. The first represents
the appearance of the star in the east to the shepherds of Bethlehem,
introducing the "Gloria in Excelsis," and the second shows the
presentation of Christ in the temple, suggesting the "Nunc Dimittis,"
the "Magnificat," and the "Benedictus." Then beautiful representations
are given in the north transept windows of the Magi bringing gifts to
the infant Saviour, and the wise men before King Herod. The windows
of the nave show the flight into Egypt, the massacre of the innocents,
and the return to Nazareth.

The north window of the transept is the most magnificent of all. It
presents Christ in glory, thus suggesting the "Te Deum." Jesus sits
enthroned with the angels and archangels, prophets, apostles and
martyrs of the church in all ages bending in adoration before Him,
while the heavenly choir are waving palms and chanting music in
honor of Heaven's King. The smaller windows under the roof show the
hierarchy of heaven indicating by music and dances the joy of the
celestial world at the scenes of the Incarnation depicted below. Upon
a bright, sunny day the cathedral is made exquisitely beautiful by
the mellowed radiance of these windows. They were designed and
manufactured by Clayton & Bell, of London, and are esteemed to present
the perfection of their work. Their colors, rich and varied, blend in
perfect harmony, and the intricacy of the groupings makes each one as
interesting as an oil painting.

Six different organs have been built in different parts of the
building. The most important of these is the great organ in the
north apse. It is furnished with four keyboards and 124 stops, with
twenty-four combination stops that admit of more than a million
combinations of sound. On either side of the choir is another organ,
with a fourth of great power in the crypt, a fifth in the tower, and
an echo organ built under the vaulting of the roof. This produces a
soft and weird music. All the organs are operated from the keyboard of
the great apse organ, which also plays the chimes of thirteen bells
in the tower. The choir instruments are made to correspond by means
of iron tubes filled with wind by a bellows engine in the crypt of the
apse. A second engine in the crypt of the tower operates the bellows
that inflate the instruments in the crypt, the tower, and the
vaulting. All the organs and the chimes are connected by electric
wires, about twenty-six miles of which are employed, supplied with
electricity by a motor in the tower engine room. Sublime and grand are
the only terms which can suggest the effect of the volume of harmony
produced by these instruments in united action. They were made by
Hilborne L. Roosevelt, of this city.

The ante-chancel contains the bishop's throne, the dean's seat, and
the stalls of the clergy and canons, all of carved mahogany. A superb
work of art is the altar, in the chancel, which is separated from
the ante-chancel by a heavy bronze railing. The altar is of statuary
marble manufactured by Cox & Sons, of London. Its corner columns are
of black marble, supported by others of flecked marble, with panels
of Sienna and Griote. Between the panels are rich carvings, done
in Antwerp, representing the temptation and fall in Eden; Abraham's
offering of his son Isaac; Moses raising the brazen serpent in the
wilderness; the annunciation to the Virgin; the birth scene in the
stable; the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The slab of the altar
is inlaid with five crosslets, representing the five wounds, and the
symbol "I. H. S."

None of the cathedral windows are richer than those which circle the
chancel. They present Christ as the Good Shepherd and the apostolic
college. An excellent piece of chiseling is done by Sibbel, the
sculptor of this city, in the panels over the credence. They are
figures of the high priest with a slain lamb, the type of the bloody
sacrifice, and Christ with sheaves of wheat and clusters of grapes,
the unbloody sacrifice. Beneath them is the text, "Thou art a prophet
forever after the order of Melchisedec." The chancel is paved with red
and yellow Sienna marble as center pieces, flanked with squares of
red Griote and white marble, the whole bordered with strips of red and
black marble. The ante-chancel is paved with blocks of red Griote and
verd antique. Two magnificent pieces of statuary stand on either side
of the transept. The first represents Religion holding a little model
of the cathedral. The other is an image of Hope. They were done by
Park, the Florentine sculptor.

In the south apse is the baptistery, built with a tower furnished with
chimes. Its supporting columns are of Languedoc marble clustered with
smaller ones of Sienna and verd antique. Six columns support the dome.
Each is of a different marble, crowned with sculptured capitals in
high relief. The windows are appropriate in theme. They represent Noah
with the ark; the building of the ark; Moses holding the tables of the
law; the passage of the Red Sea; John the Baptist; the Baptism of
the eunuch; St. Philip, the deacon; and the Baptism of Christ. In
the center of the room stands the font upon an octagonal base of two
steps. Its pedestal and bowl are traced with symbolic carvings. Over
it is a canopy of elaborately carved mahogany drawn into a spire
bearing a gold crown, studded with rubies and amethysts.

At the foot of the chancel is the pulpit, of bronze, designed by
Sibbel. Its base is surrounded by figures representing hearers of
the Word. Mr. Sibbel has incorporated an anachronism in one of these
figures that will be exceedingly interesting in coming years. It shows
the features of Henry G. Harrison, of this city, the architect of the
cathedral. The lectern stands on the other side of the ante-chancel,
representing Christ blessing little children. Superb bronze columns
with brass coronas of natural flowers support the roof of the
building. The triforium is carved in the richest style with passion
flowers, fuchsias, roses, and lilies.

In the crypt below are the robing rooms of the clergy and the choir
and the Sunday-school room. Its windows show the arms of every
American diocese. Beneath the choir is the chantry, furnished in
carved oak. Adjoining this room is the famous mausoleum erected to the
memory of Alexander T. Stewart. It is constructed of statuary marble,
and consists of fourteen bays, at the angles of which are triple
columns of the most richly  imported marbles arched above
the elegantly carved capitals, with open tracery, through which the
headlights of the  glass are seen. The subjects of the thirteen
windows relate to the passion, death, resurrection, and subsequent
appearances of Christ, and are executed in admirable design and color.
They were made by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, of London. Above the window
openings rises a dome-shaped ceiling, in carved marble, with a pendent
canopy in the center. The pavement, of black and white marbles,
radiates from the center of the sides of this polygonal structure, and
a large white urn, delicately draped after Sibbel's designs, stands
under the pendent canopy. It bears Mr. Stewart's name. The two
entrances to the mausoleum are guarded by open-work bronze gates of
elegant design and workmanship.--_N. Y. Tribune._

       *       *       *       *       *




MOVABLE MARKET BUILDINGS.


The furnishing of food supplies has always been a question of great
importance to cities, and there are few of the latter, great or small,
where the establishment of markets is not the order of the day.

At Paris especially, by reason of the massing of the population, which
is annually increasing, the multiplicity of the wants to be satisfied
renders the solution of this question more and more difficult. The old
markets, some of the types of which still exist in various parts of
Paris, were built of masonry and wood. They were massive structures
into which the air and light penetrated with difficulty, and which
consequently formed a dangerous focus of infection for those who
occupied them, and for the inhabitants of the neighboring houses. So
the introduction of iron into the construction of markets will bring
about a genuine revolution whose influence will soon make itself felt
in all branches of the builder's art.

The Central Markets were to have been built of masonry, and the work
had even been begun, when, under the pressure of public opinion, the
architect, Mr. Baltard, was led to use iron. Evidently, the metal that
permits of covering vast spaces with the use of distant bearing points
that present a small surface in plan, and leaves between them wide
openings that the sun and air can enter in quantity, was the only
thing that was capable of giving the solution sought. So it has
been said, and rightly, that the Central Markets are, as regards the
distribution and rational use of materials, the most beautiful of the
structures of modern Paris. This system of construction at once met
with great success, and the old markets are everywhere gradually
disappearing, in order to give place to the new style of buildings.

Notwithstanding their number, the Parisian markets long ago became
insufficient, and wants increased with such rapidity that it became
impossible to supply them. The municipal administration was therefore
obliged, especially in populous quarters, to tolerate perambulating
peddlers, who carried their wares in hand carts. This system has the
drawback that it interferes considerably with travel, and especially
in streets where the latter is most active. Moreover, the merchants
and their goods are exposed to the inclemency of the weather. In
other places, where large spaces were utilizable, such as squares and
avenues, very light structures, that could be easily put together and
taken apart, were erected, and markets were opened in these once or
twice a week. This method presents serious advantages. Iron markets,
in fact, despite the immense progress that they mark, present
disadvantages that are inherent to all stationary structures. It
is necessary to erect them in populous centers, where land is
consequently of great value; and the structure itself is costly.

The result is that the prime cost is very great, and this forces the
city to charge the merchants high rents, and the consumer has to pay
for it. With movable markets, on the contrary, the city can utilize
large areas of unproductive ground, and find new resources, although
renting the stalls at a minimum price. The expense connected with the
structure itself is very small. In fact, the distinguishing character
of such structures is their portability--so that the same shed can be
used in any number of different places.

The principal expense, then, will be for carriage; but it is easy to
see that there will always be an economy in their use. This is a fact,
moreover, that practice has verified, for it is well known that Paris
does not get her expenses back from her stationary markets, while the
movable ones yield a revenue.

On another hand, as stationary markets are costly, it results that
they cannot be multiplied as much as necessary, and so a portion of
the inhabitants are daily submitted to a loss of time in reaching the
one nearest them.

Finally, from a hygienic standpoint, movable markets present a
very great advantage over stationary ones. The latter, in fact,
notwithstanding their large open spaces, never get rid of the vitiated
air that they contain, and the bad odors that emanate from them are
also a source of annoyance and danger to the neighborhood. In movable
ones, on the contrary, when the structure is taken apart, the air,
sun, and rain disperse all bad odors, and the place is rendered
wholesome in an instant.

We have now demonstrated what great advantages the city of Paris and
her population might derive from the establishing of movable markets.

It is easy to see that well established structures of this kind would
render great services in small towns also. They might entirely
replace stationary iron markets, the high cost of which often causes
municipalities to preserve their old, inconvenient, and unhealthy
structures. As a general thing, market is held but once or twice a
week in small towns. In the interior the structure could be taken
apart, and the place rendered free.

The question, then, is to have a system of construction that shall
satisfy the different parts of the programme that we have just laid
out, that is to say, strength, lightness, rapidity of erection,
and ease of carriage. The shelters that are at present employed
for movable markets at Paris are very primitive, and are wanting in
solidity and convenience. They consist simply of wooden uprights to
which are affixed cross-pieces that support an impermeable canvas.

In order to render it possible to extend the system of movable
markets, it became necessary to first find and study the proper
material.

During the year 1883 the city of Paris resolved to make some
experiments, and the Direction of Municipal Affairs commissioned Mr.
Andre, director of the Neuilly works, to submit to him a plan for a
structure that could be easily taken apart. The plan finally proposed
seemed to meet all the requirements of the case, and a group of
ten structures was erected. The trial that was made of these proved
entirely satisfactory. The city then made concession to the Neuilly
company, for six years, of the market in Boulevard Richard-Lenoir,
of those of La Reine Park, and of the Madeleine flower markets. A six
months' trial has shown the great resistance of the materials that we
are about to describe in detail.

The structure is supported by cylindrical hollow iron uprights that
are firmly connected with the ground as follows: At the places where
they are to be fixed, small catches are inserted in the ground so that
their upper surface comes flush therewith. These catches consist of
two cast iron sides bolted together, and of a bottom and ends formed
of flat iron--the end pieces being bent so as to form cramp irons.
Each of the sides is provided internally with a projecting piece, and
an inclined plane as a wedge. In case the catch becomes filled with
dirt, it can be easily cleaned out with a scraper. The iron upright
terminates in a malleable cast iron shoe, which is screwed on to
it, and which is provided beneath with a projection in the form of
a reversed T, the upper part of the horizontal branches of which is
beveled off in a direction opposite that of the inclined planes of the
catch. This projection enters through the slit and fits into the two
wedges, and a simple blow of a hammer suffices to make the adherence
perfect.

The front and hind uprights differ only in length, and the roof
timbers are joined at their upper extremities. The figures so well
show how the parts are fitted together as to render an explanation
unnecessary.

The dimensions of these structures vary from 6.5 to 5.75 feet in
length by 6.5 in width and 6 in height. The rafters are prolonged so
as to project 4.25 feet in front, in order to form a protection for
the purchaser. This part of the rafters, as well as the longitudinals,
is supported by three curved iron braces, which are put in place as
follows: The timbers are provided with a ring fixed by a screw, and
one extremity of the brace is inserted into this, while the other is
held against the upright by a sliding iron socket. The longitudinal
timbers are supported between each two uprights by an iron rod that
rests upon a block of stone fixed in the ground.

The front ends of the rafters are connected by a longitudinal, 18 feet
in length.

The structure is covered with waterproof canvas held in place by
wooden rods, to which it is attached.

The wood employed is pitch pine.

An entire market of 300 stalls can be put up in three hours by one
workman and four assistants.--_Le Genie Civil._


[Illustration: THE MOVABLE MADELEINE FLOWER MARKET AT PARIS.]
               FIG. 1.--GENERAL VIEW OF A MOVABLE MARKET.
               FIG. 2.--SHOES.
               FIG. 3.--MODE OF JOINING THE ROOF TIMBERS.
               FIG. 4.--IRON SUPPORT.
               FIG. 5.--SECTION OF A SHOE INSERTED IN THE CATCH.
               FIG. 6.--CATCHES.
               FIG. 7.--WATERPROOF CANVAS.]

       *       *       *       *       *




DINOCRATES' PROJECT.


Vitruvius relates that the architect Dinocrates proposed to
Alexander the Great to carve Mount Athos in such a way as to give it
the shape of a man, whose one hand should support an entire city, and
whose other should carry a cup which received all the waters from the
mountain, and from which they overflowed into the sea.

Alexander, charmed with the idea, asked him if this city was to be
surrounded by land capable of supplying it with the grain necessary
for its subsistence. Having ascertained that the provisioning could
only be done by sea, Alexander said: "Dinocrates, I grant the beauty
of your project; it pleases me, but I think that any one who should
take it into his head to establish a colony in the place you propose
would run the risk of being taxed with want of foresight; for, just as
a child can neither feed nor develop without the milk of a nurse, so
a city cannot increase without fertile fields, have a large population
without plenty of food, and allow its inhabitants to subsist without
rich harvests; so, while giving the originality of your plan my
approval, I have to say to you that I disapprove of the place that you
have selected for putting it into execution. But I want you to stay
near me, because I shall have need of your services."

This gigantic project had doubtless been suggested to the Macedonian
architect by the singular forms that certain mountains affect. It is
not rare, in fact, to see human profiles delineated upon the sky,
and this phenomenon especially happens in countries where the folded
limestone strata have been broken up in such a way as to give rise to
deep valleys perpendicular to the direction of the chain. If we look
at these folds from below in an oblique direction, we shall see them
superposed upon one another in such a way as to represent figures that
recall a human profile.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. LANDSCAPE BY FATHER KIRCHER.]

In the seventeenth century, Father Kircher conceived the idea of
taking up Dinocrates' plan upon a small scale, and composed the
landscape shown in Fig. 1. The drawing remained engraved for a long
time upon a marble tablet set into the wall of Cardinal Montalte's
garden at Rome. Later on, artists improved and varied this project, as
shown in Figs. 2 and 3. By looking at these cuts from the sides of the
page, it will be seen that they form human profiles. Fig. 2 represents
an old woman, and Fig. 3 a man whose beard and hair are formed by
shrubbery.

[Illustration: FIGS. 2 AND 3.--LANDSCAPES SHOWING PROFILES OF
HUMAN FACE.]

We do not think that these conceptions have ever been realized,
although Heron in his treatise on Dioptra, and Father Scott in his
Parastatic Magic, have described instruments that permit of making the
necessary outlines to cause grounds to present a given aspect from
a given point. These instruments consist essentially of a vertical
transparent frame upon which is drawn a vertical projection of the
landscape that it is desired to obtain.

       *       *       *       *       *


In the island of Goa, near Bombay, there is a singular vegetable
called "the sorrowful tree," because it only flourishes in the night.
At sunset no flowers are to be seen, and yet after half an hour it is
full of them. They yield a sweet smell, but the sun no sooner begins
to shine upon them than some of them fall off, and others close up;
and thus it continues flowering in the night during the whole year.

       *       *       *       *       *




THE CRUTO INCANDESCENT LAMP.


An electrical exhibition on a comparatively small scale was opened in
Paris, March 22, 1885, with considerable eclat, the President of
the Republic being present. Engines to the extent of 200 H.P. are
employed to work the lights. Among the exhibits is the Cruto
light. _Engineering_ says: At the first glance it presents the same
appearance as an Edison lamp, having the same form of globe, and
apparently a similar luminous filament. But this latter is made in
an entirely different manner. A platinum wire is employed, 1/100 of
a millimeter in diameter. This is obtained by the Wollaston process,
that is to say, a piece of coarse platinum wire is covered with a
stout coating of silver, and drawn down till the outside diameter
is 1/10 millimeter. The silver coating is then dissolved in a bath of
nitric acid, and the platinum wire is left behind. This wire is then
cut into lengths, bent into a U form, and placed in a glass globe, in
which circulates a current of bicarbonated hydrogen obtained by the
action of sulphuric acid on alcohol. This gas, previously purified,
circulates around the platinum filament, through which an electric
current is passed sufficient to bring it to a red heat. This
decomposes the gas, and a thin coating of absolutely pure carbon is
deposited on the wire. The operation is continued until a sufficient
thickness of carbon has been deposited for each type of lamp, and the
method of regulating the amount of deposit is effected very
simply, and, in fact, almost automatically. Indeed, one of the most
interesting features of the process is its great simplicity, although
it is somewhat more costly than the ordinary methods of producing
incandescence lamps. After having been subjected to the action of
the gas for two or three hours, the filament is taken from the glass
globe, its diameter is carefully measured, the length is calibrated,
and it is set on a platinum support, to which it is soldered by a very
ingenious process. The filament is then introduced into a second
glass globe charged with bicarbonate of hydrogen; it is placed between
pincers that hold the carbon near its union with the platinum, and the
platinum some millimeters below. These pincers are then thrown into
circuit, and a powerful current is passed through the part which is
to be soldered. The platinum and carbon become incandescent, the
bicarbonate is decomposed, and a fresh deposit of carbon solders the
filament to its support. The system thus mounted is placed within the
permanent globe, and a vacuum is obtained in the ordinary way, while
the testing and finishing details present nothing of special interest.
The finished lamp is then photometrically tested, and placed on a
support something like the Edison mounting. Upon it are engraved
the working constants. As an ordinary practical result, these lamps,
working with 50 volts and 1.15 amperes, give a luminous intensity of
20 candles, or the equivalent in luminous spherical intensity of 1.1
Edison A lamps. This result is interesting, especially as the life
of the lamp ranges from 900 to 1,100 hours, as was demonstrated by
various careful tests made with some 250 lamps; the most valuable
trials having taken place at the Turin Exhibition. After prolonged
use, a diminution in the fall of potential is produced, to a more
marked degree than in the Edison lamp, and the light can be maintained
constant by increasing the strength of the current in a proportion
that can be determined by means of resistances. The Cruto filament
examined under the microscope appears to be uniformly magnetic, and
is very regular, except at the curved parts where the diameter is
slightly diminished, and it is here that rupture generally takes
place. The great structural regularity of the filament probably
accounts for its high durability, and from the fact that it may
be worked with a higher current than probably any other form of
incandescence lamp. M. Desroziers in a series of experiments obtained
as much as 250 carcel spherical luminous value per horse-power; this
characteristic is one likely to be of great value in electric lighting
by incandescence of high intensity. At present only 20-candle lamps
are made on the Cruto system. The carbon filament, when properly
prepared, is gray in hue and of metallic appearance; it is built up
in very fine laminae indicating the mode of manufacture. The results
obtained with these lamps vary as much as 25 per cent., according to
the care bestowed in producing the filament. If traces of air exist in
the globe, they very quickly manifest themselves by the surface of
the glass becoming blackened, while an increased energy is required to
maintain the brightness of the light.

In the early days of this lamp it was thought necessary to remove
the delicate platinum wire which forms the core of the filament, by
raising the strength of the current sufficiently to destroy it in the
course of manufacture. This, however, was given up, and the platinum
now remains either as a continuous wire or as a series of small
separated granules.

       *       *       *       *       *




ELECTRIC LIGHT APPARATUS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES.


In the first period of the siege of a stronghold it is of very great
importance for the besieged to embarrass the first progress of the
attack, in order to complete their own armament, and to perform
certain operations which are of absolute necessity for the safety of
the place, but which are only then possible. In order to <DW44> the
completion of the first parallel, and the opening of the fire, it is
necessary to try to discover the location of such parallel, as well as
that of the artillery, and to ply them with projectiles. But, on their
side, the besiegers will do all in their power to hide their works,
and those that they are unable to begin behind natural coverts they
will execute at night. It will be seen from this how important it is
for the besieged to possess at this stage of events an effective means
of lighting up the external country. Later on, such means will be of
utility to them in the night-firing of long-range rifled guns, as well
as for preventing surprises, and also for illuminating the breach and
the ditches at the time of an assault, and the entire field of battle
at the time of a sortie.

[Illustration: ELECTRIC LIGHT APPARATUS FOR ARMY USE.]

On a campaign it will prove none the less useful to be provided with
movable apparatus that follow the army. A few years ago. Lieut. A.
Cuvelier, in a very remarkable article in the _Revue Militaire Belge_,
pointed out the large number of night operations of the war of 1877,
and predicted the frequent use of such apparatus in future wars.

The accompanying engraving represents a very fine electric light
apparatus, especially designed for military use in mountainous
countries. It consists of a two-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse
and carrying all the apparatus necessary for illuminating the works
of the enemy. The machine consists of the following parts: (1) A field
boiler. (2) A Gramme electric machine, type M, actuated directly by
a Brotherhood 3-cylinder motor. (3) A Mangin projector, 12 inches in
diameter, suspended for carriage from a movable support. This latter,
when the place is reached where the apparatus is to operate, may be
removed from the carriage and placed on the ground at a distance of
about a hundred yards from the machine, and be connected therewith by
a conductor. Col. Mangin's projector consists of a glass mirror with
double curvature, silvered upon its convex face. It possesses so
remarkable optical properties that it has been adopted by nearly
all powers. The fascicle of light that it emits has a perfect
concentration. In front of the projector there are two doors. The
first of these, which is plane and simple, is used when it is desired
to give the fascicle all the concentration possible; the other, which
consists of cylindrical lenses, spreads the fascicle horizontally, so
as to make it cover a wider space.

The range of the concentrated fascicle is about 86,000 feet. The
projector may be pointed in all directions, so as to bring it to bear
in succession upon all the points that it is desired to illuminate.
The 12-inch projector is the smallest size made for this purpose.
The constructors, Messrs. Sautter, Lemonnier & Co., are making more
powerful ones, up to 36 inches in diameter, with a corresponding
increase in the size of the electric machines, motors, and boilers.

The various powers make use of these apparatus for the defense of
fortresses and coasts, for campaign service, etc.

The various parts of the apparatus can be easily taken apart and
loaded upon the backs of mules. The only really heavy piece is the
boiler, which weighs about 990 pounds.

       *       *       *       *       *




ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM.[1]

   [Footnote 1: Introductory to the course of Lectures on Physics at
   Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri--_Kansas City
   Review._]

Prof. FRANCIS E. NIPHER.


It was known six hundred years before Christ that when amber is rubbed
it acquires the power of attracting light bodies. The Greek name for
amber, _elektron_, was afterward applied to the phenomenon. It was
also known to the ancients that a certain kind of iron ore, first
found at Magnesia, in Asia Minor, had the property of attracting
iron. This phenomenon was called magnetism. This is the history of
electricity and magnetism for two thousand years, during which these
facts stood alone, like isolated mountain peaks, with summits touched
and made visible by the morning sun, while the region surrounding and
connecting them lay hidden and unexplored.

In fact, it is only in more recent times that men could be found
possessing the necessary mental qualities to insure success in
physical investigation. Some of the ancients were acute observers, and
made valuable observations in descriptive natural history. They also
observed and described phenomena which they saw around them, although
often in vague and mystical terms.

They, however, were greatly lacking in power to discriminate
between the possible and the absurd, and so old wives' tales,
acute speculations, and truthful observations are strangely jumbled
together. With rare exceptions they did not contrive new conditions to
bring about phenomena which Nature did not spontaneously exhibit--they
did not experiment. They attempted to solve the universe in their
heads, and made little progress.

In mediaeval times intellectual men were busy in trying to set each
other right, and in disputing and arguing with those who believed
themselves to be right. It was an era of intellectual pugilism,
and nothing was done in physics. In fact, this frame of mind is
incompatible with any marked success in scientific work.

The physical investigator cannot take up his work in the spirit of
controversy; for the phenomena and laws of Nature will not argue with
him. He must come as a learner, and the true man of science is content
to learn, is content to lay his results before his fellows, and is
willing to profit by their criticisms. In so far as he permits himself
to assume the mental attitude of one who defends a position, in so far
does he reveal a grave disqualification for the most useful scientific
work. Scientific truth needs no man's defense, but our individual
statements of what we believe to be truth frequently need criticism.
It is hardly necessary to remark, also, that critics are of various
degrees of excellence, and it seems that those in whom the habit of
criticism has become chronic are of comparatively little service to
the world.

The great harbinger of the new era was Galileo. There had been
prophets before him, and after him came a greater one--Newton. They
did nothing of note in electricity and magnetism, but they were filled
with the true spirit of science, they introduced proper and reasonable
methods of investigation, and by their great ability and distinguished
success they have produced a revolution in the intellectual world.
Other great men had also appeared, such as Leibnitz and Huyghens; and
it became very clear that the methods of investigation which had borne
such fruit in the days of Galileo were not disposed of completely
by his unwilling recantation; it became very clear that the new
civilization which was dawning upon Europe was not destined to the
rude fate which had overwhelmed the brilliant scientific achievements
of the Spanish Moors of a half century before.

Already in 1580, about the time when Galileo entered Pisa as a
student, Borroughs had determined the variation of the magnetic needle
at London, and we have upon the screen a view of his instrument, which
seems rude enough, in comparison with the elaborate apparatus of our
times. The first great work on electricity and magnetism was the "De
Magnete" of Gilbert, physician of Queen Elizabeth, published in
1600. Galileo, already famous in Europe, recognized in the methods of
investigation used by Gilbert the ones which he had found so fruitful,
and wrote of him, "I extremely praise, admire, and envy this author."

Gilbert made many interesting contributions to magnetism, which we
shall notice in another lecture, and he also found that sulphur,
glass, wax, and other bodies share with amber the property of being
electrified by friction. He concluded that many bodies could not be
thus electrified. Gray, however, found in 1729 that these bodies were
conductors of electricity, and his discoveries and experiments were
explained and described to the president of the Royal Society while on
his death bed, and only a few hours before his death. If precautions
are taken to properly insulate conductors, all bodies which differ
in any way, either in structure, in smoothness of surface, or even in
temperature, are apparently electrified by friction. In all cases
the friction also produces heat, and if the bodies rubbed are exactly
alike, heat only is produced.

An electrified body will attract all light bodies. This gutta percha
when rubbed with a cat's skin attracts these bits of paper, and this
pith ball, and this copper ball; it moves this long lath balanced on
its center, and deflects this vertical jet of water into a beautiful
curve.

If a conductor is to be electrified, it must be supported by bad
conductors. This brass cylinder standing on a glass column has become
electrified by friction with cat's-skin. My assistant will stand upon
this insulating stool, and by stroking his hand you will observe that
with his other hand he can attract this suspended rod of wood, and you
will hear a feeble spark when I apply my knuckle to his.

Du Fay, of Paris, discovered what he called two kinds of electricity.
He found that a glass rod rubbed with silk will repel another glass
rod similarly rubbed, but that the silk would attract a rubbed
glass rod. We express the facts in the well-known law that like
electricities repel each other, and unlike attract. For a long time
the nature of the distinctions between the two electricities was not
understood. It was found later that when the two bodies are rubbed
together they become oppositely electrified, and that the two
electricities are always generated in equal quantity; so that if the
two bodies are held in contact after the rubbing has ceased the
two electricities come together again and the electrical phenomena
disappear. They have been added together, and the result is zero.
Franklin proposed to call these electricities positive and negative.
These names are well chosen, but we do not know any reason why one
should be called positive rather than the other. The electricity
generated on glass when rubbed with silk is called positive.

Let us now examine the distinction between positive and negative
electricities somewhat more closely, aiding ourselves by two cases
which are somewhat analogous.

Two air-tight cylinders, A and B, contain air at ordinary pressure.
The cylinders are connected by a tube containing an air-pump in such a
way that, when the pump is worked, air is taken from A and forced into
B. To use the language of the electricians, we at once generate two
kinds of pressure. The vessels have acquired new properties. If we
open a cock in the side of either vessel, we hear a hissing sound, if
a light body is placed before the opening in A it would be attracted,
and before the opening in B it would be repelled. Now this is only
roughly analogous to the case of the electrified bodies, but the
analogy will nevertheless aid us in our study. If the two vessels are
first connected with the air, and then closed up and the pump is set
to work, we increase the pressure in B and diminish the pressure in
A. To do this requires the expenditure of a quantity of work. If the
cylinders are connected by an open tube--a conductor--the difference
in pressure disappears by reason of a flow of gas from one vessel to
the other.

If we had a pump by means of which we could pump heat from one body
into another, starting with two bodies at the same temperature, the
temperature of one body would increase and that of the other would
diminish. If we knew less than we do of heat, we might well discuss
whether the plus sign should be applied to the heat or to the cold,
because these names were coined by people who knew very little about
the subject except that these bodies produce different sensations when
they come in contact with the human body.

Furthermore, we find that whether the hand is applied to a very hot
body or to a very cold body, the physiological effect is the same. In
each case the tissue is destroyed and a burn is produced. Shall we now
say that this burn is produced by an unusual flow of heat from the hot
body to the hand, or from the hand to the cold body, or shall we say
that it is due to an unusual flow of cold from the cold body to the
hand, or from the hand to the hot body?

Logically these expressions are identical; still we have come to
prefer one of them. It is because we have learned that in those bodies
which our fathers called hot, the particles are vibrating with greater
energy than in cold bodies, that we prefer to say that heat is added
and not cold subtracted, when a cold body becomes less cold.

Now to come back to our electrified bodies. Let us suppose that this
gutta percha, and this cat's-skin are not electrified. That means that
their electrical condition is the same as that of surrounding bodies.
Let us also suppose that their thermal condition is the same as
surrounding bodies, ourselves included--that is, they are neither hot
nor cold. We express these conditions in other words by saying
that the bodies have the same electrical _potential_ and the same
temperature.

Temperature in heat is analogous to potential in electricity. As
soon as adjacent bodies are at different temperatures, we have
the phenomena which reveal to us the existence of heat. As soon as
adjacent bodies have different electrical potentials, we have the
phenomena which reveal the existence of electricity. As soon as
adjacent regions in the air are at different pressures, we have
phenomena which reveal the existence of air.

Bodies all tend to preserve the same temperature and also the same
electrical potential. Any disturbances in electrical equilibrium are
much more quickly obliterated than in case of thermal equilibrium,
and we therefore see less of electrical phenomena than of thermal. In
thunder storms we see such disturbances, and with delicate instruments
we find them going on continuously. Changes in temperature occurring
on a large scale in our atmosphere, occurring in these gas jets,
in our fires, in the axles of machinery, and in thousands of other
places, are so familiar that we have ceased to wonder at them.

If we rub these two bodies together, the potential of the two is no
longer the same. We do not know which one has become greater, and in
this respect our knowledge of electricity is less complete than of
heat. We assume that the gutta percha has become negative. If we now
leave these bodies in contact, the potential of the cat's skin will
diminish and that of the gutta percha will increase until they have
again reached a common potential--that of the earth. As in the case of
heat and cold, we may say either that this has come about by a flow of
positive electricity from the cat's skin to the gutta percha, or by
a flow of negative electricity in the opposite direction, for these
statements are identical.

In case of our gas cylinders, the gas tends to leak out of the vessel
where the pressure is great into the vessel where it is small. The
heat tends to leak out of a body of high temperature into the colder
one, or the cold tends to go in the opposite direction. Similarly, the
plus electricity tends to flow from the body having a high potential,
to the body having a low potential, or the minus electricity tends to
go in the opposite direction.

       *       *       *       *       *

[ENGINEERING.]




THE HYDRODYNAMIC RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR BJERKNES.

BY CONRAD W. COOKE.


[Illustration: FIG. 1.]

We have in former articles described the highly interesting series
of experimental researches of Dr. C. A. Bjerknes, Professor of
Mathematics in the University of Christiania, which formed so
attractive a feature in the Electrical Exhibition of Paris in 1881,
and which constituted the practical development of a theoretical
research which had extended over a previous period of more than twenty
years. The experiments which we described in those articles were,
as our readers will remember, upon the influence of pulsating and
rectilinear vibrating bodies upon one another and upon bodies in their
neighborhood, as well as upon the medium in which they are
immersed. This medium, in the majority of Professor Bjerknes earlier
experiments, was water, although he demonstrated mathematically, and
to a small extent experimentally, that the phenomena, which bear so
striking an analogy to those of magnetism, may be produced in air.

Our readers will recollect that in the spring of 1882 Mr. Stroh, by
means of some very delicate and beautifully designed apparatus,
was able to demonstrate a large number of the same phenomena in
atmospheric air of the ordinary density; and about the same time
Professor Bjerknes, in Christiania, was extending his researches to
phenomena produced by a different class of vibrations, namely, those
of bodies moving in oscillations of a circular character, such, for
example, as a cylinder vibrating about its own axis or a sphere
around one of its diameters; some of these experiments were brought
by Professor Bjerknes before the Physical Society of London in the
following June. Since that time, however, Professor Bjerknes, with the
very important assistance of his son, Mr. Vilhelm Bjerknes, has been
extending these experimental researches in the same direction, and
with the results which it is the object of the present series of
articles to describe.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.]

The especial feature of interest in all Professor Bjerknes experiments
has been the remarkably close analogy which exists between the
phenomena exhibited in his mechanical experiments in water and other
media and those of magnetism and of electricity, and it may be of some
interest if we here recapitulate some of the more striking of these
analogies.

(1.) In the first place, the vibrating or pulsating bodies, by setting
the water or other medium in which they are immersed into vibration,
set up in their immediate neighborhood a field of mechanical force
very closely analogous to the field of magnetic force with which
magnetized bodies are surrounded. The lines of vibration have
precisely the same directions and form the same figures, while at the
same time the decrease of the intensity of vibration by an increase of
distance obeys precisely the same law as does that of magnetic
intensity at increasing distances from a magnetic body.

(2.) When two or more vibrating bodies are immersed in a fluid, they
set up around them fields of vibration, and act and react upon one
another in a manner closely analogous to the action and reaction of
magnets upon one another, producing the phenomena of attraction
and repulsion. In this respect, however, the analogy appears to be
inverse, repulsion being produced where, from the magnetic analogy,
one would expect to find attraction, and _vice versa_.

(3.) If a neutral body, that is to say a body having no vibration of
its own, be immersed in the fluid and within the field of vibration,
phenomena are produced exactly analogous to the magnetic and
diamagnetic phenomena produced by the action of a magnet upon soft
iron or bismuth, its apparently magnetic or diamagnetic properties
being determined by the specific gravity of the neutral body as
compared to that of the medium in which it is immersed. If the neutral
body be lighter than the medium, it exhibits the magnetic induction of
iron with respect to polarity, but is nevertheless repelled; while
if it be heavier than the medium, its direction is similar to that of
diamagnetic bodies such as bismuth, but on the other hand exhibits the
phenomena of attraction.

In this way Professor Bjerknes has been able to reproduce analogues of
all the phenomena of magnetism and diamagnetism, those phenomena which
may be classed as effects of induction being directly reproduced,
while those which may be classed as effects of mechanical action, and
resulting in change of place, are analogous inversely. This fact has
been so much misunderstood both in this country and on the Continent
that it will be well, before describing the experiments, to enter more
fully into an explanation of these most interesting and instructive
phenomena.

For the sake of clearness we will speak of magnetic induction as that
property of a magnet by which it is surrounded by a field of force,
and by which pieces of iron, within that field, are converted into
magnets, and pieces of bismuth into diamagnets, and we will speak of
magnetic action as the property of a magnet by which it attracts or
repels another magnet, or by which it attacks or repels a piece of
iron or bismuth magnetized by magnetic induction.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.]

The corresponding hydrodynamic phenomena may be regarded in a similar
manner; thus, when a vibrating or pulsating body immersed in a
liquid surrounds itself with a field of vibrations, or communicates
vibrations to other immersed bodies within that vibratory field, the
phenomena so produced may be looked upon as phenomena of hydrodynamic
induction, while on the other hand, when a vibrating or pulsating body
attracts or repels another pulsating or vibratory body (whether
such vibrations be produced by outside mechanical agency or by
hydrodynamical induction), then the phenomena so produced are those of
hydrodynamical action, and it is in this way that we shall treat the
phenomena throughout this article, using the words _induction_ and
_direct action_ in these somewhat restricted meanings.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

In the hydrodynamical experiments of Professor Bjerknes all the
phenomena of magnetic induction can be reproduced directly and
perfectly, but the phenomena of magnetic action are not so exactly
reproduced, that is to say, they are subject to a sort of inversion.
Thus when two bodies are pulsating together and in the same phase
(i. e., both expanding and both contracting at the same time), they
mutually attract each other: but if they are pulsating in opposite
phases, repulsion is the result. From this one experiment taken by
itself we might be led to infer that bodies pulsating in similar
phases are the hydrodynamic analogues of magnets having their opposite
poles presented to one another, and that bodies pulsating in opposite
phases are analogous to a presentation of similar magnetic poles; but
it will be seen at once that this cannot be the case if three magnetic
poles or three pulsating bodies be considered instead of only two. It
is clear, on the one hand, that three similar magnet poles will all
repel one another, while, on the other, of three pulsating bodies,
two of them must always attract one another, while a third would be
repelled; and, moreover, two similarly pulsating bodies set up around
them the same lines of force as two similar magnetic poles, and two
oppositely pulsating bodies produce lines of force identically the
same as those set up by two magnets of opposite polarity. Thus it
will be seen that there is a break in the analogy between the
hydrodynamical and the magnetic phenomena (if a uniform inversion
of the effects can be called a break, for it is, as far as Professor
Bjerknes' experiments go, without an exception); and if by any means
this inversion could be reinverted, all the phenomena of magnetism and
diamagnetism could be exactly reproduced by hydrodynamical analogues;
there would thus be grounds for forming a theory of magnetism on the
basis of mechanical phenomena, and a very important link in the chain
of the correlation of the physical forces would be supplied.

While the experiments of Professor Bjerknes upon pulsating and
rectilinearly vibrating bodies and their influence upon one another
illustrate by very close analogies the phenomena of magnetism, those
upon circularly vibrating bodies and their mutual influences bear a
remarkable analogy to electrical phenomena; and it is a significant
fact that exactly as in the case of magnetic illustration, the
analogies are direct as regards the phenomena of induction, and
inverse in their illustration of direct electrical action.

If we examine the figure produced by the field of force surrounding a
conductor through which a current of electricity is being transmitted
(see Fig. 1), we see that iron filings within that field arrange
themselves in more or less concentric circles around the conductor
conveying the current. From this fact Professor Bjerknes and his
son, reasoning that, to produce a similar field of energy around a
vibrating body, the vibrations of that body must partake of a
circular or rotary character, constructed apparatus for producing
the hydrodynamic analogue of electric currents, in which a conductor
transmitting a current of electricity is represented by a cylinder to
which oscillations in circles around its axis are given by suitable
mechanical means, so as to cause the enveloping medium to follow its
motion and make similar rotative vibrations. In some of the earlier
experiments in this direction, cylinders carrying radial veins (A,
Fig. 2) or fluted longitudinally around their surfaces (B, Fig. 2)
were employed with the object of giving the vibrating cylinder a
greater hold of the liquid in which they were immersed; but it was
found that these vanes or flutings had but little or no effect upon
water or liquids of similar viscosity, and Professor Bjerkes was led
to adopt highly viscous fluids, such as Glycerin or maize sirup, both
of which substances are well adapted for the experiments, being at the
same time both highly viscous and perfectly transparent and colorless.
In seeking, for the purpose of this research, a fluid medium which
shall possess analogous properties to the luminiferous ether, or
whatever may be the medium whose vibrations render manifest certain
physical phenomena, it might be considered at first sight that
substances so dense as glycerin and sirup could have but little in
common with the ether, and that an analogy between experiments made
within it and phenomena associated with ethereal vibrations would be
of a very feeble description: but Professor Bjerknes has shown that
the chief requisite in such a medium is that its viscosity should be
great, not absolutely, but large only in proportion to its density,
and if the density be small, the necessary viscosity may be small
also. Neither is it necessary for the fluid medium to possess great
internal friction, but what is necessary to the experiments is that
the medium shall be one which is readily set into vibration by the
action of the circularly vibrating cylinder; this property appears to
be possessed exclusively by the more viscous fluids, and is, moreover,
in complete accord with what is known of the luminiferous ether
according to the theory of light.

The property is rather a kind of elasticity, which ordinary fluids
do not possess, but which facilitates the propagation of transverse
vibrations.

One form of apparatus for the propagation of rotative oscillations is
shown to the left of Fig. 3, and consists of a cylinder, A, mounted on
a tubular spindle, and which is set into circular oscillations around
its axis by the little vibrating membrane, C, which is attached to
the axis of the cylinder by a little crank and connecting rod shown
in detail in Fig. 4. This membrane is set into vibration by a rapidly
pulsating column of air contained in a flexible tube M, by which
apparatus is connected to the pulsation pump which was employed by
Professor Bjerknes in his earlier experiments. In Fig. 5, a somewhat
similar apparatus for producing horizontal vibrations is shown, and
marked N H C, the only difference between them being one of mechanical
detail necessitated by the change in the position of axis of vibration
from the vertical to the horizontal.

If circularly vibrating cylinders, such as we have described, be
immersed in a viscous fluid and set into action, the following
phenomena may be observed: 1. The effect upon the fluid itself,
setting up therein a field of vibration, and corresponding by analogy
with the production of a field of force around a wire conveying an
electric current. 2. The effect upon other circularly vibrating bodies
within that field of force corresponding to the action and reaction
of electric currents upon one another. 3. The effect on pulsating and
oscillating bodies similarly immersed, illustrating the mutual effects
upon one another of magnets and electric currents. The first of these
effects is one of induction, and, from what has been said from an
earlier part of this article, it will be understood that the analogy
between the hydrodynamic and the electric phenomena is direct and
complete. The effects classified under the second and third heads,
being phenomena of direct action (in the restricted use of the word),
are uniformly analogous to the magnetic and electric phenomena which
they illustrate.

(_To be continued._)

       *       *       *       *       *




THE XYLOPHONE.


Like most musical instruments, the xylophone, had its origin in very
remote times. The Hebrews and Greeks had instruments from which the
one of to-day was derived, although the latter has naturally undergone
many transformations. Along about 1742 we find it widely in use in
Sicily under the name of _Xylonganum_. The Russians, Cossacks, and
Tartars, and especially the mountain population of the Carpathians
and Ural, played much upon an instrument of the same nature that they
called _Diereva_ and _Saloma_.

It appears that the xylophone was played in Germany as early as the
beginning of the 16th century. After this epoch it was in use for
quite a long period, but gradually fell into oblivion until the
beginning of the present century. It was toward 1830 that the
celebrated Russian Gussikow undertook a grand artistic voyage through
Europe, and gained a certain renown and received many honors due
to his truly original productions. Gussikow possessed a remarkable
_technique_ that permitted the musical instrument which he brought
into fashion to be appreciated for all its worth.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--METHOD OF PLAYING UPON THE XYLOPHONE.]

As the name, "instrument of wood and straw," indicates, the xylophone
(which Fig. 1 shows the mode of using) consists of small pieces of
wood of varying length, and narrow or wide according to the tone that
it is desired to get from them. These pieces of wood are connected
with each other by cords so as to form a triangular figure (Fig. 2)
that may be managed without fear of displacing the parts. The whole is
laid upon bands of straw designed to bring out the sounds and render
them stronger and purer. The sounds are produced by striking the
pieces of wood with a couple of small hammers. They are short and
jerky, and, as they cannot be prolonged, nothing but pieces possessing
a quick rhythm can be executed upon the instrument. Dances, marches,
variations, etc., are played upon it by preference, and with the best
effect.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--PLAN VIEW OF THE XYLOPHONE.]

The popularity of this instrument is making rapid progress, and it
is beginning to be played in orchestras in France [as it has been in
America for many years]. A method of using it has just been published,
as well as pieces of music adapted to it, with piano, violin,
orchestra, etc., accompaniment.

       *       *       *       *       *




ELECTROTYPING.


This eminently useful application of the art of electrotyping
originated with Volta, Cruickshank, and Wollaston about 1800 or 1801.
In 1838, Spencer, of London, made casts of coins, and cast in intaglio
from the matrices thus formed; in the same year Jacobi, of Dorpat, in
Russia, made casts by electro deposit, which caused him to be put in
charge of the work of gilding the dome of St. Isaac at St. Petersburg.

Electrotyping for the purposes of printing originated with Mr. Joseph
A. Adams, a wood-engraver of New York, who made casts (1839-41) from
wood-cuts, some engravings being printed from electrotype plates in
the latter year. Many improvements in detail have been added since,
in the processes as well as the appliances. Robert Murray introduced
graphite as a coating for the form moulds. He first communicated his
discovery to the Royal Institution of London, and afterward received a
silver medal from the Society of Arts.


BLACKLEADING THE FORM.

The process of electrotyping is as follows: The form is locked up very
tightly, and is then coated with a surface of graphite, commonly known
as blacklead, but it is a misnomer. This is put on with a brush, and
may be done very evenly and speedily by a machine in which the brush
is reciprocated over the type by hand-wheel, crank, and pitman. A
soft brush and very finely powdered graphite are used; the superfluous
powder being removed, and the face of the type cleaned by the palm of
the hand.


TAKING THE MOULD.

A shallow pan, known as a moulding pan, is then filled with melted
yellow wax, making a smooth, even surface, which is blackleaded. The
pan is then secured to the head of the press, and the form placed on
the bed, which is then raised, delivering an impression of the type
upon the wax.

The pan is removed from the head of the press, placed on a table, and
then built up, as it is termed. This consists in running wax upon
the portions where large spaces occur between type, in order that
corresponding portions in the electrotype may not be touched by
the inking roller, or touched by the sagging down of the paper in
printing.


MAKING THE DEPOSIT.

The wax mould being built, is ready for blackleading, to give it a
conducting surface upon which the metal may be deposited in the bath,
superfluous blacklead being removed with a bellows. Blacklead, being
nearly pure carbon, is a poor conductor, and a part of the metal of
the pan is scraped clean, to form a place for the commencement of
the deposit. The back of the moulding is waxed, to prevent deposit of
copper thereon, and the face of the matrix is wetted to drive away
all films or bubbles of air which may otherwise be attached to the
blackleaded surface of the type.

The mould is then placed in the bath, containing a solution of
sulphate of copper, and is made a part of an electric circuit, in
which is also included the zinc element in the sulphuric-acid solution
in the other bath. A film of copper is deposited on the blacklead
surface of the mould; and when this shell is sufficiently thick, it
is taken from the bath, the wax removed, the shell trimmed, the back
tinned, straightened, backed with an alloy of type-metal, then shaved
to a thickness, and mounted on a block to make it type-high.


A RECENT IMPROVEMENT.

has been introduced in which there is added finely pulverized tin to
the graphite for facing the wax mould; the effect in the sulphate of
copper bath is to cause a rapid deposition of copper by the
substitution of copper for the tin, the latter being seized by the
oxygen, while the copper is deposited upon the graphite. The film is
after increased by the usual means. Knight's expeditious process
consists in dusting fine iron filings on the wet graphite surface of
the wax mould, and then pouring upon it a solution of sulphate of
copper. Stirring with a brush expedites the contact, and a
decomposition takes place; the acid leaves the copper and forms with
the iron sulphate a solution which floats off, while the copper is
freed and deposited in a pure metallic form upon the graphite. The
black surface takes on a muddy tinge with marvelous rapidity. The
electric-connection gripper is designed to hold and sustain the
moulding pan and make an electric connection with the prepared
conducting pan of the mould only, while the metallic pan itself is out
of the current of electricity, and receives no deposit.


BACKING-UP.

The thin copper-plate, when removed from the wax mould, is just as
minutely correct in the lines and points as was the wax mould, and the
original page of type. But it is obvious that the copper sheet is no
use to get a print from. You must have something as solid as the type
itself before it can be reproduced on paper. So a basis of metal is
affixed to the copper film, and this again is backed up with wood
thick enough to make the whole type-high. To get this, a man melts
some tinfoil in a shallow iron tray, which he places on the surface
of molten lead, kept to that heat in square tanks over ordinary fires.
The tinfoil sticks to the back of the copper, and on the back of this
is poured melted type-metal, until a solid plate has been formed, the
surface of which is the copper facsimile and the body white metal. The
electro metal plate, copper  and bright on its surface, has now
to go to the


FINISHING ROOM.

Here are two departments. In one the plates are shaved and trimmed
down to fit the wood blocks, which are made in the other department.
Some of these operations are done by hand, but it is very interesting
to see self-working machines planing the sheets of metal to precisely
the required thinness with mathematical exactness. A pointed tool is
set to a certain pitch, and the plate of metal is made to revolve
in such a way that one continuous curl shaving falls until the whole
surface (back) has been planed perfectly true. The wood blocks are
treated in the same way, after being sawn into the required sizes by a
number of circular saws. Another set of workmen fit and join the metal
to the wood, trim the edges, and turn the blocks out type-high and
ready for working on the printing press.


A WET BLACKLEADING PROCESS.

In Messrs. Harper's establishment in New York, an improved wet process
of blackleading is adopted. The wax mould is laid face upward on the
floor of an inclosed box, and a torrent of finely pulverized graphite
suspended in water is poured upon it by means of a rotary pump, a
hose, and a distributing nozzle which dashes the liquid equally over
the whole surface of the mould. Superfluous graphite is then removed
by copious washing, an extremely fine film of graphite adhering to the
wax. This answers a triple purpose; it coats the mould with graphite,
wets it ready for the bath, and expels air bubbles from the letters.
This process prevents entirely the circulation of blacklead in the
air, which has heretofore been so objectionable in the process of
electrotyping.


A NEW FOREIGN PROCESS.

The galvanoplastic process of M. Coblence for obtaining electrotypes
of wood-engravings is as follows: A frame is laid upon a marble block,
and then covered with a solution of wax, colophane, and turpentine.
This mixture on the frame, after cooling, becomes hard, and presents a
smooth, even surface. An engraved wooden block is then placed upon the
surface of the frame, and subjected to a strong pressure. The imprint
on matrix in cameo, having been coated with graphite, is then placed
vertically in a galvanoplastic bath, and a cast, an exact reproduction
of the wood-engraving, is obtained. The shell is then backed with type
metal and finished in the usual way.--_Printer and Stationer._

       *       *       *       *       *




A NEW SEISMOGRAPH.


All the seismographs that have hitherto been employed have two grave
disadvantages: they are either too simple, so that their indications
are valueless, or too complicated, so that their high cost and
delicacy, and the difficulty of mounting them and keeping them in
order, tend to prevent them from being generally used.

Seismology will not be able to make any serious progress until it has
at its disposal very certain and very numerous data as to telluric
movements registered at a large number of points at once by accurate
instruments. I have endeavored to construct a simple apparatus capable
of automatically registering such facts as it is most necessary to
know in scientific researches on the movements of the earth. After
numerous experiments I believe that I have succeeded in solving this
delicate problem, since my apparatus, put to the test of experience,
has given me satisfactory results. I have consequently decided to
submit it to the approval of men of science.

My seismograph is capable of registering (1) vertical shocks, (2)
horizontal ones, (3) the order in which all the shocks manifest
themselves, (4) their direction, and (5) the hour of the first
movement.

[Illustration: CORDENONS' SEISMOGRAPH.]

The apparatus is represented in the accompanying cut. The horizontal
shocks are indicated by the front portion of the system, and the
vertical ones by the back portion. The hour of the first shock is
indicated as follows: The elastic strip of steel, C, is fixed by
one of its extremities to a stationary support, d. When, as a
consequence of a vertical motion, the free extremity of this strip
oscillates, the leaden ball, x, drops into the tube, c, and, on
reaching the bottom of this, acts by its shock upon a cord, i, which
actuates the pendulum of a clock that has previously been stopped at
12. The other strip, B, is very similar to the one just described,
but, instead of carrying a ball, it holds a small metallic cylinder,
u, so balanced that a vertical shock in an upward direction causes
it to drop forward into the anterior half of the tube to the left. A
second vertical shock in a downward direction causes it to drop into
the other half. The cylinder, u, and the ball, x, are regulated in
their positions by means of screws affixed to a stationary support.

The portion of the apparatus designed to register horizontal
(undulatory) motions consists of four vertical pendulums, z z z z,
each of which is capable of moving in but one direction, since, in the
other, it rests against a fixed column.

Telluric waves, according to modern observations, almost invariably
in every region follow two directions that cross each other at right
angles. When the seismograph has been arranged according to such
directions, no matter from what part the first horizontal shock comes,
one of the four pendulums will be set in motion. If, after the first
undulation in one direction, another occurs in the opposite, the
pendulum facing the first will in its turn begin to move; and if other
undulations make themselves felt in diametrically opposite directions,
the other pendulums will begin to act. These pendulums, in their
motion, carry along the appendages, e e e e, which are so arranged
as to fall in the center of the marble or iron table, one upon
another, and thus show the order according to which the telluric waves
manifested themselves. The part of the apparatus that records vertical
shocks has a winch, r, which falls at the same place when the lead
ball drops.

The apparatus as a whole may be inclosed in a case. When it is desired
to employ it, it should be mounted in a cellar, while the clock that
is connected with it can be located in one of the upper stories of the
house.--_F. Cordenons, in La Nature_.

       *       *       *       *       *




NOTES ON THREE NEW CHINESE FIXED OILS.[1]

   [Footnote 1: Read at an evening meeting of the Pharmaceutical
   Society of Great Britain, Feb, 4, 1885.]

By ROBERT H. DAVIES, F.I.C., F.C.S., General Superintendent
of Apothecaries' Hall.


The three oils that form the subject of the examination detailed in
this paper were consigned to a London broker, with a view to their
being regularly exported from China if a market could be found for
them here: it was, therefore, necessary to ascertain what commercial
oils they resembled in character, so as to estimate to what uses they
might be applied.


TEA OIL (_Camellia oleifera_).

In color, transparency, and mobility, this oil considerably resembles
olive oil. The odor and taste, though characteristic, are not easy to
describe.

(1.) _Specific Gravity._--The specific gravity at 60 deg. F. is 917.5),
water at 60 deg. F. being taken as 1,000.

(2.) _Action of Cold._--On subjecting to the cold produced by a
mixture of pounded ice and salt, some solid fatty matter, probably
stearine, separates, adhering to the side of the tube. It takes a
longer exposure and a lower temperature than is necessary with olive
oil. I did not succeed in solidifying it, but only in causing some
deposit. Olive oil became solid, while almond and castor oil on the
other hand did not deposit at all under similar circumstances. The
lowest temperature observed was -13.3 deg. C. (8 deg. F.), the
thermometer bulb being immersed in the oil.

A few qualitative tests, viz., the action of sulphuric acid, nitric
acid (sp. gr. 1.42), and digestion, with more dilute nitric acid (1.2
sp. gr.) and a globule of mercury, were first tried.

When one drop of sulphuric acid is added to eight or ten drops of tea
oil on a white plate, the change of color observed is more like that
when almond oil is similarly treated than with any other oil, olive
oil coming next in order of similarity.

When a few drops of tea oil are boiled with thirty drops or so of
nitric acid in a small tube, the layer of oily matter, when the brisk
action has moderated, is of a light yellow color, similar in tint to
that produced from almond and olive oil under similar circumstances.
When the oil is digested with an equal volume of nitric acid (1.2 sp.
gr.), and a globule of mercury added, the whole becomes converted
into a mass of elaidin in about two hours, of the same tint as that
produced from almond oil when similarly treated.

These tests point to the fact that the oil may be considered as
resembling almond or olive oil in composition, a conclusion which is
borne out by the subsequent experiments.

(3.) _Free Acidity of Oil._--The oil was found to contain free acid
in small quantity, which was estimated by agitating a weighed quantity
with alcohol, in which the free acid dissolves while the neutral fat
does not, and titrating the alcoholic liquid with decinormal alkali,
using solution of phenol-phthalein as an indicator.

It was thus found that 100 grammes of the oil require 0.34 gramme of
caustic potash to neutralize the free acid. Mr. W. H. Deering (_Journ.
Soc. of Chem. Industry_, Nov., 1884) states that in seven samples of
olive oil examined by him, the minimum number for acidity was 0.86 per
cent., and the maximum 1.64 per cent., the mean being 1.28 per cent.
Tea oil compares favorably with olive oil, therefore, in respect of
acidity, a quality of which note has to be taken when considering the
employment of oil as a lubricating agent.

(4.) _Saponification of the Oil._--Considerable light is thrown on the
composition of a fixed oil by ascertaining how much alkali is required
to saponify it. In order to estimate this, a known excess of alcoholic
solution of potash is added to a weighed quantity of the oil,
contained in a stout, well-closed bottle (an India-rubber stopper is
the most convenient), which is then heated in a water oven until
the liquid is clear, no oil bubbles being visible. Phenol-phthalein
solution being added, the excess of potash is estimated by carefully
titrating with standard hydrochloric acid solution.

It was thus found that 1,000 grammes of oil would require 195.5
grammes of caustic potash to convert it entirely into potash soap.

Koettstorfer, to whom this method of analysis is due, gives 191.8, and
Messrs. F. W. and A. F. Stoddart the numbers 191 to 196, as the amounts
of caustic potash required by 1,000 parts of olive oil. The numbers
given by niger seed, cotton seed, and linseed oils are very similar to
these. These oils differ from olive and tea oil, however, in having a
higher specific gravity, and in the property they possess of drying to
a greater or less extent on exposure to air.

(5.) _The Fatty Acids Produced._--A solution of the potash soap was
treated with excess of hydrochloric acid, and after being well washed
with hot water, the cake of fatty acids was dried thoroughly and
weighed. These, insoluble in water, amounted to 93.94 per cent, of the
fat taken. The proportion dissolved in the water used for washing was
estimated by titration with alkali; the quantity of KOH required was
insignificant, equaling 0.71 per cent, of the fat originally used.
This portion was not further examined.

The insoluble fatty acids amounted, as last stated, to 93.94 per cent.
Pure olein, supposing none of the liberated acid to be dissolved in
water, would yield 95.7 per cent. of fatty acid.

The acid was evidently a mixture, and had no definite melting point.
It was solid at 9 deg. C., and sufficiently soft to flow at 12 deg. C.,
but did not entirely liquefy under 22 deg. C. To test its neutralizing
power, 0.9575 gramme dissolved in alcohol was titrated with decinormal
alkali; it required 34.05 c.c. This amount of pure oleic acid would
require 33.95 c.c.; of pure stearic acid, which has almost the same
molecular weight as oleic acid, 33.71 c.c.; or of pure palmitic acid,
37.4 c.c. This, taken in conjunction with the way in which the acid
melted, makes it extremely probable that it is a mixture of oleic and
stearic acids.

Additional evidence of the large proportion of oleic acid was
furnished by forming the lead salt, and treating with ether, in which
lead oleate is soluble, the stearate and palmitate being insoluble. In
this way it was found that the oleic acid obtained from the ethereal
solution of the lead salt amounted to 83.15 per cent. of the oil.

This acid was proved to be oleic, by its saturating power and its
melting point, which were fairly concordant with those of the pure
acid.


CABBAGE OIL (_Brassica, sp._).

_Appearance, etc._--The sample was of a deep brown color, of a
fluidity intermediate between olive and castor oil, and possessed a
strong, rather disagreeable odor.

_The Specific Gravity at 60 deg. Fahr._, 914.0.--The specific gravity of
rape oil and colza oil, both of which are obtained from species of the
genius _Brassica_, varies from 913.6 to 916.

_Exposure to Cold._--This oil by exposure to a temperature of -12 deg.
C. (10 deg. F.) becomes solidified in course of an hour, a bright
orange-yellow mass resulting.

_Qualitative Examination._--The three reagents before indicated were
applied to this oil.

_(a.) Sulphuric Acid._--The color produced was very marked and
characteristic; it differed considerably from any of the others
simultaneously tested, the nearest to it being olive end rape oil.

_(b.) Strong Nitric Acid._--The reaction was more violent than before,
the stratum of oil after cooling being darker in color than in the
three cases before mentioned. The reaction with rape oil was similar
in all respects.

_(c.) Elaidin Test._--The solid mass of elaidin formed was of a darker
color than that from olive, almond, and tea oil, but closely resembled
that from rape oil.

_Free Acidity._--This was estimated as above described. 100 grammes of
oil would require 0.125 gramme caustic potash. The samples of rape oil
examined by Deering (loc. cit.) were found to require from 0.21 to
0.78 KOH per 100 grammes oil.

_Saponification of the Oil._--Upon saponifying with alcoholic potash,
it was found that 1,000 grammes of oil required 175.2 grammes of
potash for complete saponification.

The number obtained by Koettstorfer for colza was 178.7, by Messrs.
Stoddart for rape oil, 175-179, and by Deering for rape oil,
170.8-175.5. The only other oil of which I can find figures resembling
these is castor oil, which requires 176-178 grammes per kilo (Messrs.
Stoddart). The difference in specific gravity between this (cabbage)
oil and castor oil and the solubility of the latter in alcohol point
to a wide distinction between them. Hence I think the numbers above
given conclusively demonstrate the resemblance between this oil and
rape oil in composition.

_The Fatty Acids._--The acids produced by adding HCl to the potash
soap were almost entirely insoluble in water. The actual amount of
potash required to neutralize the acid in the wash water equaled 0.20
per cent. of the oil originally taken.

The insoluble fatty acid amounted to 95.315 per cent. of the oil
taken. It was evidently a mixture of two or more fatty acids. On
trying to take its melting point, I found that it commenced to soften
at 17 deg. C., was distinctly liquid at 19 deg., but not completely
melted until 22 deg. C.

According to O. Bach (Year Book Pharm., 1884, p. 250), the fatty acids
from rape seed oil melt at 20.7 deg. C., which is fairly concordant with
the result obtained for cabbage oil acids.

The neutralizing power of these acids was then tested. 0.698 gramme
dissolved in alcohol required 20.52 c.c. decinormal alkali. It is a
singular coincidence that brassic acid (C_{22}H_{42}O_{2}), which is a
characteristic acid of colza and rape oils, would have required almost
exactly this quantity of alkali for neutralization, 0.698 brassic
acid theoretically saturating 20.69 c.c. of decinormal alkali. I
am disposed to regard this as a coincidence, since a subsequent
experiment showed that the lead salts formed were partially soluble in
ether, whereas the lead salt of brassic acid is said to be insoluble
in this liquid.


WOOD OIL (_Elaeococcus cordata_).

_Appearance, etc._--This oil has a decided brown color and a
persistent and disagreeable odor. It is rather more fluid than castor
oil. Glass vessels containing it soon show a film of apparently
resinous material, which forms whenever a portion of the oil flows
from the lip or edge down the outside of the vessel, and is thus
exposed to the air in a thin stream. This drying power is one of its
most prominent characters. If a few drops be exposed in a flat dish,
in the water oven, the oil dries rapidly, so that in two hours the
gain in weight will be appreciable, and in four hours the whole will
have become solid.

_The Specific Gravity at 60 deg. Fahr._, 940.15.--This is an unusually
high gravity for a fixed oil. The only two which exceed it are castor
oil, which is 960, about, and croton oil, which is very similar to
this, 942 to 943 (A. H. Allen). It is interesting to note that both
these oils are yielded by plants of the natural order _Euphorbiaceae_,
to which the plant yielding so-called wood oil belongs.

_Exposure to Cold._--This oil is apparently unaffected by exposure to
a temperature of -13.3 deg. C. (8 deg. F).

_Qualitative Examination._--The action of sulphuric acid is
remarkable. When a drop comes in contact with the oil, the latter
apparently solidifies round the drop of acid, forming a black envelope
which grows in size and gradually absorbs and acts upon so much of the
surrounding oil as to assume the appearance of a large dried currant
of somewhat irregular shape.

When a drop of the oil is added to nitric acid, it solidifies, and
on heating very readily changes into an orange yellow solid, which
appears to soften, though not to liquefy, at the temperature of
boiling water. This substance is readily soluble in hot solution of
potash or soda, producing a deep brown liquid, from which it is again
deposited in flocks on acidifying. I have not yet found any solvent
for it. The action of nitric acid with linseed oil is more similar to
this than that with any other oil I have tried, but the nitro products
of the two, if I may so call them, are quite different from one
another. That from linseed oil produced as indicated remains liquid at
ordinary temperatures, as does the oil upon its addition to the acid.

_Elaidin Test._--By the action of nitric acid in presence of mercury,
a semi-solid mass is produced of a much deeper color than in the
preceding cases. A portion of the oil remains in the liquid state, as
is usually the case with drying oils.

_Free Acidity._--By the method indicated, it was found that 100
grammes of oil required 0.39 grammes caustic potash to neutralize the
acid occurring in a free state.

_Saponification of the Oil._--The oil saponifies readily on being
heated with potash in presence of alcohol, and the amount required to
convert it entirely into potash soap was 211 grammes of caustic potash
per thousand grammes of oil. There are no saponification numbers for
oils that can be considered close to this. I can find no record of
any having been obtained between 197 and 221, so that the further
examination on which I am now engaged may show this unusual number to
be due to this oil containing some new fatty acid in combination.

_The Fatty Acid._--The acids produced by adding acid to the potash
soap formed in this case a cake on cooling, of a much deeper color
than I have before obtained. After washing well they amounted to 94.10
per cent. of the oil. The amount dissolved by the water in washing
was in this case also very small, the potash required for neutralizing
equaling 1.02 per cent. of the weight of oil.

I found that the cakes of acids were solid at 36 deg. C., and were
completely melted at 39 deg.

On solution in alcohol, and digestion for two days with animal
charcoal, the color was much diminished, and on the liquid being
filtered and cooled to 0 deg. C., an abundance of small white
crystalline plates separated out, which, when dried, melted at 67 deg. C.

The crude fatty acids turn black with sulphuric acid, as the oil
does, and yield a similar substance with nitric acid. It is similar
in appearance, but differs in that it melts at about 50 deg. C., and
is soluble in glacial acetic acid, which is not the case with the
substance from the oil.

These fatty acids crystallize on cooling, in a most characteristic and
beautiful way, forming wavy circular plates totally unlike any that I
have seen before.

The above experiments may, I think, be taken as conclusive as to
the nature of tea oil and cabbage oil. The former may certainly
be considered a useful lubricating agent for the finer kinds of
machinery. The work upon wood oil is not yet sufficiently complete to
show us the nature of its proximate constituents. I am continuing the
examination of this oil. Perhaps I need scarcely add that there is no
connection between this "wood oil" and the Gurgun balsam, the product
of _Dipterocarpus turbinatus_, which is also known as "wood oil."

       *       *       *       *       *




THE OTOSCOPE.


Prof. Leon Le Fort has recently presented to the Academy of Medicine,
in the name of Dr. Rattel, a new otoscope, which we illustrate
herewith.

The first person to whom the idea occurred to illuminate the ear was
Fabricius d'Acquapendentus (1600). To do this he placed the patient in
front of a window in such a way as to cause the luminous rays to enter
the external auditory canal. It was he likewise who conceived the
idea of placing a light behind a bottle filled with water, and of
projecting its concentrated rays into the ear.

In 1585 Fabricius de Hilden invented the speculum auris. This
instrument was employed by him for the first time under the following
circumstances: A girl ten years of age had in playing introduced
a small glass ball into her left ear, and four surgeons, called in
successively and at different times, had been unable to extract
it. Meanwhile the little patient was suffering from an earache that
extended over almost the entire head, and that increased at night
and especially in cold and damp weather. To these symptoms were
added strokes of epilepsy and an atrophy of the left arm. Finally, in
November, 1595, De Hilden, being called in, acquainted himself with
the cause of the trouble, and decided to remove the foreign body. To
do this, he selected, as he tells us, "a well lighted place, caused
the solar light to enter the ailing ear, lubricated the sides of the
auditory canal with oil of almonds, and introduced his apparatus."
Then, passing a scoop with some violence between the side of the
auditory canal and the glass ball, he succeeded in extracting the
latter.

At the beginning of the 17th century, then, physicians had at their
disposal all that was necessary for making an examination of the ear,
viz.: (1) a luminous source; (2) a means of concentrating the light;
and (3) an instrument which, entering the auditory canal, held its
sides apart.

The improvements which succeeded were connected with each of these
three points. To solar light, an artificial one has been preferred.
D'Acquapendentus' bottle has given way to the convex lens, and to
concave, spherical, and parabolic mirrors, etc. De Hilden's speculum
has been replaced by cylindrical, conical, bivalve, and other forms of
the instrument.

The apparatus that we illustrate herewith offers some arrangements
that are all its own as regards the process of concentrating the
light. It is lighted, in fact, by a small incandescent lamp of
2 candle-power, placed within the apparatus and supplied by an
accumulator. The reflector is represented by a portion of an ellipse
so calculated that one of the foci corresponds to the lamp and the
other to the extremity of the instrument. A commutator, B, permits of
establishing or interrupting the current at will. A rheostat added
to the accumulator makes it possible to graduate the light at one's
leisure and cause it to pass through all the shades comprised between
cherry-red and incandescence. Finally, the orifice through which the
observer looks is of such dimensions that it gives passage to all
the instruments necessary for treating complaints of the middle and
internal ear.

[Illustration: RATTEL'S OTOSCOPE.]

This mode of lighting and reflection may be adapted to a Brunton
otoscope, utilized for examining other natural cavities, such as the
nose, pharynx, etc. Elliptical reflectors do not appear to have been
employed up to the present.

       *       *       *       *       *




STATE PROVISION FOR THE INSANE.[1]

   [Footnote 1: Remarks following "Definition of Insanity,"
   published in the October number of _The Alienist and
   Neurologist_, and read before the Association of Charities and
   Corrections at St. Louis, Oct. 15, 1884.]

By C. H. HUGHES, M.D.


We live in an age when every uttered sentiment of charity toward the
insane is applauded to its remotest echo; an age in which the chains
and locks and bars and dismal dungeon cells and flagellations and
manifold tortures of the less humane and less enlightened past are
justly abhorrent; an age which measures its magnificent philanthropy
by munificent millions, bestowed without stint upon monumental
mansions for the indwelling of the most pitiable and afflicted of the
children of men, safe from the pitiless storms of adverse environment
without which are so harshly violent to the morbidly sensitive and
unstable insane mind; an age in which he who strikes a needless
shackle from human form or heart, or removes a cause of human torture,
psychical or physical, is regarded as a greater moral hero than he
who, by storm or strategy of war taketh a resisting fortress; an age
when the Chiarugis and Pinels, the Yorks and Tukes, of not remotely
past history, and the Florence Nightingales and Dorothea Dixes of our
own time, are enshrined in the hearts of a philanthropic world with
greater than monumental memory.

Noble, Christlike sentiment of human charity! Let it be cherished and
fostered still, toward the least of the children of affliction and
misfortune, as man in his immortal aspirations moves nearer and
nearer to the loving, charitable heart of God, imaging in his work the
example of the divinely incarnate Master!

But let us always couple this exalted sentimentality with the stern
logic of fact, and never misdirect or misapply it in any of our
charitable work. Imperfect knowledge perverts the noblest sentiments;
widened and perfected knowledge strengthens their power. A truly
philanthropic sentiment is most potent for good in the power
of knowledge, and may be made most powerful for evil through
misconception of or inadequate comprehension of facts. As we grow in
aspirations after the highest welfare of the insane, let us _widen our
knowledge of the real nature of insanity and the necessities for its
amelioration, prevention, and cure_.

It is a long time since Grotius wrote, "The study of the human mind is
the noblest branch of medicine;" and we realize to-day that it is
the noblest study of man, regardless of vocation. Aye! it is the
imperative study of our generation and of those who are to follow us,
if we would continue, as we wish to be, the conservators of the good
and great, and promoters of advancing capability for great and good
deeds in our humanity.

One known and acknowledged insane person to every five hundred sane
persons, and among those are unreckoned numbers of unstably endowed
and too mildly mannered lunatics to require public restraint, but none
the less dangerous to the perpetuation of the mental stability of the
race, is an appalling picture of fact for philanthropic conservators
of the race to contemplate.

The insane temperament and its pathological twin brother, the
neuropathic diathesis, roams at large unrestrained from without or
that self-restraint which, bred of adequate self-knowledge, might come
from within, and contaminates with neurotic and mental instability the
innocent unborn, furnishing histogenic factors which the future will
formulate in minds dethroned to become helpless wards of the state or
family.

The insane temperament is more enduringly fatal to the welfare of
humanity than the deadly _comma bacillus_ which is supposed to convey
the scourge of Asia to our shores. The latter comes at stated periods,
and disappears after a season or two of devastation, in which the
least fit to survive of our population, by reason of feeble organic
resisting power, are destroyed; while resisting tolerance is
established in the remainder. But _this_ scourge is with us always,
transmitting weakness unto coming generations.

It is the insanity in chronic form which escapes asylum care and
custody except in its exacerbations; it is the insanity of organism
which gives so much of the erratic and unstable to society, in its
manifestations of mind and morals; it is the form of unstable mental
organism which, like an unstrung instrument jangling out of tune and
harsh, when touched in a manner to elicit in men of stable organisms
only concord of sweet, harmonious sounds; it is the form of mental
organism out of which, by slight exciting causes largely imaginary,
the Guiteaus and Joan d'Arcs of history are made, the Hawisons and
Passanantis and Freemans, and names innumerable, whose deeds of
blood have stained the pages of history, and whose doings in our day
contribute so largely to the awful calendar of crime which blackens
and spreads with gore the pages of our public press.

We may cherish the sentiment that it were base cowardice to lay hand
upon the lunatic save in kindness; and yet restrain him from himself
and the community from him. We may couple his restraints with the
largest liberty compatible with his welfare and ours; we may not
always abolish the bolts and bars, indeed we cannot, either to his
absolute personal liberty in asylums or to his entire moral freedom
without their walls, yet we may keep them largely out of sight. Let
him be _manacled when he must and only when he must_, and then only
with silken cords bound by affectionate hands, and not by chains.
We may not open all the doors, indeed we cannot, but we can and do,
thanks to the humanitarian spirit of the age in which we live, open
many of them and so shut them, when it must need be done, that they
close for _his_ welfare and ours only; that he may not feel that hope
is gone or humanity barred out with the shutting of the door that
separates him from the world.

We may not always swing the door of the lunatic as facilely outward as
inward--the nature of his malady will not always admit of this--but we
should do it whenever we can, and never, when we must, should we
close it harshly. And while we must needs narrow his liberty among
ourselves, we should enlarge it in the community to which his
affliction assigns him, to the fullest extent permissible by the
nature of his malady.

Liberty need not necessarily be denied him; and to the glory of our
age it is not in the majority of American asylums for the insane,
because the conditions under which he may safely enjoy liberty, to
his own and the community's welfare, are changed by disease. The free
sunlight and the fresh air belong as much to him in his changed mental
estate as to you or me, and more, because his affliction needs their
invigorating power, and the man who would chain, in this enlightened
age, an insane man in a dungeon, because he is diseased and
troublesome or dangerous, would be unworthy the name of human.
Effective restraint may be employed without the use of either iron
manacles or dismal light and air excluding dungeons.

The insane man is one of our comrades who has fallen mentally maimed
in the battle of life. It may be our turn next to follow him to the
rear; but because we must carry him from the battlefield, where he may
have fought even more valiantly than ourselves, we need not forget or
neglect him. The duty is all the more imperative that we care for him,
and in such a manner that he may, if possible, be restored. Simple
sequestration of the insane man is an outrage upon him and upon our
humanity. "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye
even so to them," is the divine precept, which, if we follow it as
we ought, will lead us to search for our fallen comrades in the
alms-houses and penal institutions and reformatories, and sometimes in
the outhouses or cellars of private homes, to our shame, where errors
of judgment or cruelty have placed them, and to transfer them to
places of larger liberty and hopes of happiness and recovery. The
chronic insane are entitled to our care, not to our neglect, and to
all the comforts they earned while battling with us, when in their
best mental estate, for their common welfare and ours.

Almshouses and neglected outhouses are not proper places for them.
They are entitled to our protection and to be so cared for, if we
cannot cure them, as that they may not do those things, to their own
harm or the harm of the race, which they would not do if they were
sound in mind. Society must be protected against the spread of
hereditary insanity, hence such kindly surveillance, coupled with the
largest possible liberty, should be exercised over them as will save
posterity, so far as practicable, from the entailment of a heritage
more fatal than cancer or consumption.

The insane man is a changed man, and his life is more or less
delusional. In view of this fact, we should endeavor always to so
surround him that his environments may not augment the morbid change
in him and intensify his perverted, delusioned character.

Realizing the fact that mind in insanity is rather perverted than
lost, we should so deport ourselves toward the victims of this disease
as in no wise to intensify or augment the malady, but always, if
possible, so as to ameliorate or remove it.

Realizing that the insane man in his best estate may have walked the
earth a king, and in this free country of ours have been an honored
sovereign weighted with the welfare of his people, and contributing of
his substance toward our charities, we should, with unstinting hand,
cater to his comfort when this affliction comes upon him.

We should give him a home worthy of our own sovereign selves, and such
as would suit us were we providing for ourselves, with the knowledge
we have of the needs of this affliction, pending its approach to us.

That his home should be as unirritating and restful to him as possible
it should be unprison-like always, and only be an imprisonment when
the violent phases of his malady imperatively demand restraint.
An hour of maniacal excitement does not justify a month of chains.
Mechanical restraint is a remedy of easy resort, but the fettered
man frets away strength essential to his recovery. Outside of asylums
direct restraint is often a stern necessity. It is sometimes so in
them, but in many of them and outside of all of them it may be greatly
diminished, and asylums may be so constructed as to make the reduction
of direct restraint practicable to the smallest minimum. Direct
mechanical restraint for the insane, save to avert an act of violence
not otherwise preventable, is never justifiable. The hand should never
be manacled if the head can be so influenced as to stay it, and we
should try to stay the hand through steadying the head.

Every place for these unfortunates should provide for them ample room
and congenial employment, whether profitable to the State or not, and
the labor should be induced, not enforced, and always timed and suited
to their malady. A variety of interesting occupations tends to divert
from delusional introspection.

Most institutions attempt to give their patients some occupation, but
State policy should be liberal in this direction.

Deductions are obvious: Every insane community of mixed recent and
long standing cases, or of chronic cases exclusively, should be a
home, and not a mere place of detention. It should be as unprison-like
and attractive as any residence for the non-criminal. It should have
for any considerable number of insane persons at least a section
(640 acres) of ground. It should be in the country, of course, but
accessible to the supplies of a large city. It should have a central
main building, as architecturally beautiful and substantial as the
State may choose to make it, provided with places of security for such
as require them in times of excitement, with a chapel, amusement hall,
and hospital in easy covered reach of the feeble and decrepit, and
accessible, without risk to health, in bad weather.

Outhouses should be built with rooms attached, and set apart from the
residence of trustworthy patients, for farmer, gardener, dairyman,
herdsman, shepherd, and engineer, that those who desired to be
employed with them, and might safely be intrusted, and were physically
able, could have opportunity of work.

Cottages should be scattered about the ground for the use and benefit
of such as might enjoy a segregate life, which could be used for
isolation in case of epidemic visitation. Recreation, games, drives,
and walks should be liberally provided.

A perfect, but not direct and offensive, surveillance should be
exercised over all the patients, with a view to securing them the
largest possible liberty compatible with the singular nature of their
malady.

In short, the hospital home for the chronic insane, or when acute and
chronic insane are domiciled together, should be a colonial home, with
the living arrangements as nearly those which would be most congenial
to a large body of sane people as the condition of the insane, changed
by disease, will allow.

It is as obvious as that experience demonstrates it, that the reigning
head or heads of such a community should be medical, and not
that medical mediocrity either which covets and accepts political
preferment without medical qualifications.

The largest personal liberty to the chronic insane may be best secured
to them by provision for the sexes in widely separated establishments.

It is plain that the whole duty of man is not discharged toward his
fallen insane brother when he has accomplished his sequestration from
society at large, or fed and housed him well. The study of the needs
of the insane and of the duty of the State in regard to them is as
important and imperative a study as any subject of political economy.

       *       *       *       *       *




THE COURAGE OF ORIGINALITY.


Most of us are at times conscious of hearing from the lips of
another, or reading from the printed page, thoughts that have existed
previously in our own minds. They may have been vague and unarranged,
but still they were our own, and we recognize them as old friends,
though dressed in a more fitting and expressive costume than we ever
gave them. Sometimes an invention or a discovery dawns upon the world
to bless and improve it, and while all are engaged in extolling it
some persons feel that they have had its germs floating in their
minds, though from the lack of favorable conditions, or some other
cause, they never took root or became vital. An act of heroism is
performed, and a bystander is conscious that he has that within him by
which he could have taken the same step, although he did not. Some one
steps forward and practically opposes a social custom that is admitted
to be evil, yet maintained, and by his influence lays the ax to
its root and commences its destruction; while many, commending his
courage, wonder why they had not taken the same course long ago.
In numberless instances we are conscious of having had the same
perceptions, the same ideas, the same powers, and the same desires
to put them into practice that are shown by the one who has so
successfully expressed them; yet they have, for some reason, lain
dormant and inoperative within us.

When we consider the waste of human power that this involves, we may
well search for its cause. Doubtless it sometimes results from the
absorption (more or less needful) of each one is his individual
pursuit. No one can give voice to all he thinks, or accomplish all
that he sees to be desirable, while striving, as he should, to gain
excellence in his own chosen work. Conscious of his own limitations,
he will rejoice to see many of his vague ideas, hopes, and aspirations
reached and carried out by others. But the same consciousness that
reconciles him to this also reveals much that he _might_ have said or
done without violating any other obligation, but which he has allowed
to slip from his hands to those of another, perhaps through lack of
energy, or indolence, or procrastination. The cause, however, most
operative in this direction is a strange disloyalty to our own
convictions. We look to others, especially to what we call great men,
for thoughts, suggestions, and opinions, and gladly adopt them
on their authority. But our own thoughts we ignore or treat with
indifference. We admire and honor originality in others, but we value
it not in ourselves. On the contrary, we are satisfied to make poor
imitations of those we revere, missing the only resemblance that is
worth anything, that of a simple and sincere independent life.

We would not undervalue modesty or recommend self-sufficiency. We
should always be learners, gladly welcoming every help, and respecting
every personality. But we should also respect our own, and bear in
mind, that "though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of
nourishing corn can come to us but through our toil bestowed on that
plot of ground which is given to us to till." To undervalue our own
thought because it is ours, to depreciate our own powers or faculties
because some one else's are more vigorous, to shrink from doing what
we can because we think we can do so little, is to hinder our own
development and the progress of the world. For it is only by exercise
that any faculty is strengthened, and only by each one putting his
shoulder to the wheel that the world moves and humanity advances.

There is nothing more insidious than the spirit of conformity, and
nothing more quickly paralyzes the best parts of a man. A gleam of
truth illuminates his mind, and forthwith he proceeds to compare it
with the prevailing tone of his community or his set. If it agree not
with that, he distrusts and perhaps disowns it; it is left to perish,
and he to that extent perishes with it. By and by, when some one more
independent, more truth-loving, more courageous than himself arises
to proclaim and urge the same thing that he was half ashamed to
acknowledge, he will regret his inglorious fear of being in the
minority. We are accustomed to think that greatness always denotes
exceptional powers, yet most of the world's great men have rather been
distinguished by an invincible determination to work out the best
that was within them. They have acted, spoken, or thought according to
their own natures and judgment, without any wavering hesitation as to
the probable verdict of the world. They were loyal to the truth that
was in them, and had faith in its ultimate triumph; they had a mission
to fulfill, and it did not occur to them to pause or to falter. How
many more great men should we have were this spirit universal, and how
much greater would each one of us be if, in a simple straightforward
manner, we frankly said and did the best that we knew, without fear or
favor? Soon would be found gifts that none had dreamed of, powers that
none had imagined, and heroism that was thought impossible. As Emerson
well says, "He who knows that power is inborn, that he is weak because
he has looked for good out of him and elsewhere, and so perceiving
throws himself unhesitatingly on his thought, instantly rights
himself, stands in the erect position, commands his limbs, works
miracles, just as a man who stands on his feet is stronger than a man
who stands on his head."--_Phil. Ledger._

       *       *       *       *       *




A CIRCULAR BOWLING ALLEY.


The arcades under the elevated railroad which runs transversely
through Berlin are used as storehouses, stores, saloons, restaurants,
etc., and are a source of considerable income to the railway company.
The owner of one of the restaurants in the arcades decided to provide
his place with a bowling alley, but found that he could not command
the requisite length, 75 ft., and so he had to arrange it in some
other way. A civil engineer named Kiebitz constructed a circular
bowling alley for him, which is shown in the annexed cut taken from
the _Illustrirte Zeitung_. The alley is built in the shape of a
horse-shoe, and the bottom or bed on which the balls roll is hollowed
out on a curved line, the outer edge of the bed being raised to
prevent the balls from being thrown off the alley by centrifugal
force.

[Illustration: A CIRCULAR BOWLING ALLEY.]

The balls are rolled from one end of the alley, describe a curved
line, and then strike the pins placed at the opposite end of the
alley. No return track for the balls is required, and all that is
necessary is to roll the balls from one end of the alley to the other.
A recording slate, the tables for the guests, etc., are arranged
between the two shanks or legs of the alley.

It is evident that a person cannot play as accurately on an alley of
this kind as on a straight alley; but if a ball is thrown with more
or less force, it will roll along the inner or outer edge of the
alley and strike the group of pins a greater or less distance from the
middle. A room 36 ft. in length is of sufficient size for one of these
alleys.

       *       *       *       *       *




PATENT OFFICE EXAMINATION OF INVENTIONS.


_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_

It is with considerable surprise that the writer has just perused
the editorial article in your issue of March the 28th--"Patent Office
Examinations of Novelty of Inventions" It seems to me that the
ground taken therein is diametrically opposed to the views heretofore
promulgated in your journal on this subject, and no less so to
the interests of American inventors; and it appears difficult to
understand why the abolition of examinations for novelty by the Patent
Office should be recommended in face of the fact that the acknowledged
small fees now exacted from inventors are sufficient to provide a
much greater force of examiners than are now employed on that work.
If inventors were asking the government to appropriate money for this
purpose, the case would be quite different; although it may be shown,
I think, that Congress would be fully justified in disposing of no
inconsiderable portion of the public money in this way, should it ever
become necessary.

Recognizing the fact that the patent records of all countries, as well
as cognate publications, are rapidly on the increase--and particularly
in this country--making an examination for novelty a continuously
increasing task, and that the time must come when such an examination
cannot be made at all conclusively without a vastly increased amount
of labor, from the very magnitude of the operation, it is nevertheless
true that this difficulty menaces the inventor to a much greater
extent, if imposed upon him to make, than it can ever possibly do an
institution like the Patent Office.

Dividing and subdividing patent subjects into classes and sub-classes,
and systematizing examinations to the extent it may be made to reach
in the Patent Office, may, for a very long time to come, place this
matter within the possibility of a reasonably good and conclusive
search being made without additional cost to the inventor, provided
what he now pays is all devoted to the furtherance of the Patent
Office business. If, however, we hereafter make no examinations for
novelty, an inventor is obliged to either make such a search for
himself--with all the disadvantages of unfamiliarity with the best
methods, inaccessibility to records, and incurring immensely more work
than is required of the Patent Office examiner, who has everything
pertaining thereto at his fingers' ends--or blindly pay his fees and
take his patent under the impression that he is the first inventor,
and run every risk of being beaten in the courts should any one
essay to contest his claims; the probabilities of his being so beaten
increasing in proportion as the number of inventions increase.

The inventor pays to have this work done for him at the Patent Office
in the only feasible way it can be thoroughly done; and the average
inventor would, or should, be willing to have the present fees very
largely increased, if necessary, rather than have the examinations
for novelty abolished at the Patent Office; for, in the event of their
abolition, it would cost him immensely more money to secure himself,
as before the courts, by his own unaided and best attainable methods.

The inventor now, however, pays to the Patent Office, as you well
know, a good deal more money every year than the present cost of
examinations, including of course all other Patent Office business;
seeing a part of what he pays yearly covered into the Treasury as
surplus, while his application is unreasonably delayed for the lack of
examiner force in the Patent Office.

Let the government first apply all the moneys received at the Patent
Office to its legitimate purpose, including the making of these
examinations, and, when this proves insufficient, you may depend
that every inventor will cheerfully consent to the increase of fees,
sufficient to insure the continuance of thorough examinations for
novelty, rather than attempt to do this work himself or take the
chances of his having reinvented some old device (which it is very
well known occurs over and over again every day), and being beaten
upon the very first contest in the courts, after, perhaps, investing
large amounts of money, time, and anxiety over something which he thus
discovers was invented, perhaps, before he was born.

For an inventor to obtain a patent worth having, and one that is
not more likely to be a source of expenditure than income to him, if
contested, it goes without saying that examination for novelty must
be made either by himself or some competent person or persons for him;
and it is strictly proper and just that the inventor should pay for
it; and it is too self-evident a proposition to admit of argument that
the organized and systematized methods of the Patent Office can do it
at a tithe of the expense which would be incurred in doing it in any
other way; in point of fact, it would be impossible to do it by any
other means so effectually or so well within any reasonable amount of
cost.

Your summing up of the case should, instead of the way you put it,
read: The Commissioner of Patents attempts to perform for two-thirds
the sum paid as fees by inventors what he is paid three-thirds to
accomplish, so that one-third of it may go to swell the surplus of
the United States Treasury, and finds it an impracticable task to
ascertain the novelty of an invention in a reasonable time for such a
sum. To perform it, however imperfectly, he feels authorized to delay
the granting; of patents, sometimes for several months, simply because
Congress will not allow him to apply the moneys paid by inventors to
their legitimate purpose.

I have had, for several years, always more or less applications on
file at the Patent Office for inventions in my particular line, and
now have several pending; and probably there are few, if any, who
have suffered more from the great delays lately obtaining at that
institution than myself, particularly in connection with taking out
foreign patents for the same inventions, and so timing the issue of
them here and abroad as not to prejudice either one. But great as the
annoyance and cost have been in consequence of these delays, I would
infinitely prefer that it were ten times as great, rather than see the
examinations for novelty abolished by the United States Patent
Office; and, so far as I know and believe, in this preference I most
completely voice that of inventors in general.

                                                   JOHN T. HAWKINS.
  Taunton, Mass., March 28th, 1885.


The writer of the above communication gives a very clear statement of
our original premises. He sees as we do the difficulty, every year
on the increase, of making satisfactory searches in the matter of
novelty. But his deductions vary from ours. To us it appears on its
face an impossibility for satisfactory searches to be made in the case
of every individual patent by the Patent Office. The examinations
have repeatedly been proved valueless. We know by our own and
others' experience that the searches as at present conducted are of
comparatively little accuracy. Patents are declared to be anticipated
continually by our courts. The awarding of a patent in fact weighs for
nothing in a judge's mind as proving its originality. The Commissioner
of Patents is really exhausting the energies of the Office employees
over a multitude of searches that have no standing whatever in
court, and that no lawyer would accept as any guarantee of novelty
of invention. If every inventor would search the records for his own
benefit, we should then have twenty thousand examiners instead of the
present small number. This would be something. But if it be advanced
that the inventor is not a competent searcher, then he can engage an
expert to do it for him. Every day, searches of equal value to the
Patent Office ones are executed for but a fraction of the government
fees on granting a patent.

Our correspondent speaks of an evil that he thinks would be incidental
to the system we proposed in our article criticised by him, namely,
that were the Patent Office to make no search an inventor would "run
every risk of being beaten in the courts should any one essay
to contest his claims." The fact is that in spite of the Office
examination for novelty this risk always has to be encountered,
and forms a criterion by which to judge of the exact value of that
examination. Furthermore, we take decided issue with our correspondent
when he says that the present is the only feasible way of executing
these searches thoroughly. They are not so executed as a matter of
fact, and could be done better and cheaper by private individuals,
experts, or lawyers, engaged for the purpose by inventors.

We agree that all money received by the Patent Office should be
applied to its legitimate end. It seems to us a great injustice to
make one generation of patentees accumulate money in the Treasury for
the benefit of some coming generation. Application of the whole of
each year's fees to the expediting of that year's business would be
simple justice. But we do not lose sight of our main point, that were
the inventor unable to make a satisfactory search, it could be done
for him by private parties better and cheaper than it is now done in
the Office.

We are very glad to have the question so intelligently discussed as
by our correspondent, and we feel that it is one well worthy of
consideration. The future will, we are sure, bring about some change,
by which inventors will be induced to bestow more personal care on
their patents, at least to the extent of securing searches for novelty
to be made by their own attorneys, and even at a little additional
expense to abandon any blind dependence on the Patent Office as a
prover of novelty.--Ed. Sc. Am.

       *       *       *       *       *




THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT ANTWERP (ANVERS), BELGIUM.


Never before was there so striking and remarkable an example of what
can be accomplished by private enterprise when applied to a great and
useful object. Last year some prominent citizens of Antwerp--justly
proud of the rapid and marvelous progress made by their
city--conceived the idea of inviting the civilized world to come and
admire the transformation which, in half a century, had converted the
commercial metropolis of Belgium into the first port of the European
continent. This audacious project has been carried into execution,
and the buildings of the Universal Exposition, including the Hall of
Industry, the Gallery of Machinery, and the innumerable annexes, cover
2,368,055 sq. ft. of ground. Even this large space has proved too
limited. These buildings are shown in the accompanying cut.

All nations have responded to the call of the citizens of Antwerp,
who are supported by the patronage of a sovereign devoted to progress,
Leopold II., King of the Belgians. Among the countries represented
in the exposition, France takes the first rank. She is represented
by over 2,000 exhibits, and her products occupy one-fifth part of the
Hall of Industry and the Gallery of Machinery. The pavilion of the
French Colonies is an exact representation of a palace of Cochin
China.

Belgium is represented by 2,400 exhibits. The French and Belgian
compartments together occupy one-half of the Hall of Industry and
the Gallery of Machinery. This latter building represents a
grand spectacle, especially in the evening, when it is lighted by
electricity. In excavating under this gallery, ruins were brought to
light which proved to be the foundations of the citadel of the Duke
d'Albe, the terrible lieutenant of Philip II. of Spain. Thus, on the
same site where once stood this monument of oppression and torture,
electricity, that bright star of modern times, will illuminate the
most wonderful inventions of human progress.--_L'Illustration._

[Illustration: BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION AT
D'ANVERS, BELGIUM.]

       *       *       *       *       *




THE STONE PINE.

(PINUS PINEA.)


Although not such an important tree in this country as many other
conifers, the Stone pine possesses a peculiar interest beyond that of
any other European conifer. From the earliest periods it has been the
theme of classical writers. Ovid and Pliny describe it; Virgil
alludes to it as a most beautiful ornament; and Horace mentions a
pine agreeing in character with the Stone pine; while in Pompeii
and Herculaneum we find figures of pine cones in drawings and on the
arabesques; and even kernels of charred pines have been discovered.
The Pinaster of the ancients does not appear to be the same as that of
the moderns; the former was said to be of extraordinary height, while
the latter is almost as low as the Stone pine. No forest is fraught
with more poetical and classical interest than the pine wood of
Ravenna, the glories of which have been especially sung by Dante,
Boccacio, Dryden and Byron, and it is still known as the "Vicolo de'
Poeti."

The Stone pine is found in a wild state on the sandy coasts and hills
of Tuscany, to the west of the Apennines, and on the hills of Genoa,
usually accompanied by, and frequently forming forests with, the Pinus
pinaster. It is generally cultivated throughout the whole of Italy,
from the foot of the Alps to Sicily. It is not commonly found higher
than from 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet, but it occurs in the south of
Italy as high as 2,000 feet. It is found, according to Sibthorp, on
the sandy coasts of the Western Peloponnesus, in the same conditions,
probably, as in the middle of Italy; it is also met with in the
island of Melida. Cultivated, it is found on all the shores of the
Mediterranean. In northern Europe, and especially in England, its
general appearance is certainly that of a low-growing tree, its
densely clothed branches forming almost a spherical mass; but in the
sunny south it attains a height of 75 feet to 100 feet, losing, as it
ascends, all its branches, except those toward the summit, which, in
maturity, assume a mushroom form.

Seen in the soft clime of Italy in all its native vigor, the Stone
pine is always majestic and strangely impressive to a northern eye,
whether in dense forests, as near Florence, in more open masses, as at
Ravenna, in picturesque groups, as about Rome, or in occasional single
trees, such as may be seen throughout the country, but rather more
frequently toward the coast. In these isolated trees their imposing
character can be best appreciated, the great trunk carrying the
massive head perfectly poised, an interesting example of ponderous
weight gracefully balanced. The solid, weighty appearance of the
head of the tree is increased by its even and generally symmetrical
outline, this especially in the examples near the coast, the mass of
foliage being so close and dense that it looks like velvet, and in
color a warm rich olive green, strangely different from the blue
greens and black greens of our northern pines. The lofty or normal
type with the umbrella-formed top is almost peculiar to Central and
Southern Italy. In other parts of the south of Europe, though often
attaining large dimensions, it remains more dwarf and rotund in shape.

[Illustration: THE STONE PINE (PINUS PINEA) AT CASTEL GANDOLFO, IN
ITALY.]

This pine has not been much planted in this country, owing, no
doubt, to its slow growth and want of hardiness in a young state.
Consequently there are not many large specimens, and certainly none to
compare with those of Italy for size or picturesque beauty. Mr. A. D.
Webster, the forester at Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, who has kindly
sent us a fine cone of this pine, writes thus respecting it: "A
fair-sized specimen of this pine stands on the sloping ground to the
southwest of Penrhyn Castle. It shows off to advantage the peculiar
outline of this pine, which is so marked a characteristic of those
grown in the Mediterranean region. The trunk, which is about 4 1/2 feet
in girth at a yard up, rises for three-fourths its height without
branches, after which it divides into a number of limbs, the
extremities of which are well covered with foliage, thus giving to
the tree a bushy, well-formed, and, I might almost add, rounded
appearance. At a casual glance the whole tree might readily be
mistaken for the pinaster, but the leaves are shorter, less tufted,
and always more erect. The bark of the Stone pine is somewhat rough
and uneven, of a dull gray color, unless between the furrows, which is
of a bright brown. That on the branches is more smooth and of a
light reddish brown color. When closely examined, there is something
remarkably pleasing and distinct from the generality of pines in the
appearance of this tree, the leaves, which are of a deep olive-green,
being, from their regularity and usual closeness, when seen in good
light, like the finest network."

There is a moderately large specimen in the arboretum at Kew, and if
this is the tree which Loudon in his "Arboretum" alluded to as a "mere
bush," it has made good growth during the past thirty years. According
to Veitch's "Manual of Coniferae," a fine specimen, one of the largest
in the country, is at Glenthorn, in North Devon. It is 33 feet high,
and has a spread of branches some 22 feet, while the trunk is clear
of branches for 15 feet. Loudon enumerates several fine trees in these
islands at that date (1854), only one of which was 45 feet high. This
one was at Ballyleady, in County Down, and had been planted about 60
years. Even where planted in the most favored localities, we can never
expect the Stone pine to assume its true character, and that is the
reason why so few plant it.

As a timber tree it is of not much value. Mr. Webster says, "The wood
is worthless except for very ordinary purposes. The timber grown
here (Penrhyn) is, from the few specimens I have had the chance of
examining, very clean, light, from the small quantity of resin it
contains, and in color very nearly approaches the yellow pine
of commerce. It cuts clean and works well under the tools of
the carpenter. In its native country the wood has been used for
boat-building, but is now, I believe, almost entirely discarded." This
pine thrives best on a soil that is deep, sandy, and dry. It should be
well sheltered and nursed, as it is rather tender while in its young
state. It is best to keep the seedlings under glass, though they may
be planted out in the open air after their fourth or fifth year.

The cones of this pine supply the "pignoli" of commerce. The Italian
cooks use these seeds in their soups and ragouts, and in the Maritozzi
buns of Rome. Sometimes the Italians roast the barely ripe cone,
dashing it on the ground to break it open, but the ripe seeds of the
older cone when it naturally opens are better worth eating. They are
soft and rich, and have a slightly resinous flavor. The empty cones
are used by the Italians for fire lighting, and being full of resinous
matter they burn rapidly and emit a delightful fragrance.

_Description._--Pinus pinea belongs to the Pinaster section of the
genus. In the south of Europe it is a lofty tree, with a spreading
head forming a kind of parasol, and a trunk 50 feet or 60 feet high,
clear of branches. The bark of the trunk is reddish and sometimes
cracked, but the general surface of the bark is smooth except on
the smaller branches, where it long retains the marks of the fallen
leaves, in the shape of bristly scales. The leaves are of a dull
green, but not quite so dark as those of the Pinaster; they are
semi-cylindrical, 6 inches or 7 inches long and one-twelfth of an inch
broad, two in a sheath, and disposed in such a manner as to form a
triple spiral round the branches.

The catkins of the male flowers are yellowish; and being placed on
slender shoots of the current year, near the extremity, twenty or
thirty together, they form bundles, surmounted by some scarcely
developed leaves. Each catkin is not more than half an inch long, on a
very short peduncle, and with a rounded denticulated crest. The female
catkins are whitish, and are situated two or three together, at the
extremity of the strongest and most vigorous shoots. Each female
catkin has a separate peduncle, charged with reddish, scarious,
lanceolate scales, and is surrounded at its base with a double row of
the same scales, which served to envelop it before it expanded; its
form is perfectly oval, and its total length about half an inch.
The scales which form the female catkin are of a whitish green; the
bractea on the back is slightly reddish on its upper side; and the
stigma, which has two points, is of a bright red. After fertilization,
the scales augment in thickness; and, becoming firmly pressed against
each other, they form by their aggregation a fruit, which is three
years before it ripens. During the first year it is scarcely larger
than the female catkin; and during the second year it becomes
globular, and about the size of a walnut. The third year the cones
increase rapidly in size; the scales lose their reddish tinge, and
become of a beautiful green, the point alone remaining red; and at
last, about the end of the third year, they attain maturity. At
this period the cones are about four inches long and three inches in
diameter, and they have assumed a general reddish hue. The convex
part of the scales forms a depressed pyramid, with rounded angles, the
summit of which is umbilical. Each scale is hollow at its base; and in
its interior are two cavities, each containing a seed much larger than
that of any other kind of European pine, but the wing of which is, on
the contrary, much shorter. The woody shell which envelops the kernel
is hard and difficult to break in the common kind, but in the variety
fragilis it is tender, and easily broken by the fingers. In both the
kernel is white, sweet, and agreeable to the taste. The taproot of the
stone pine is nearly as strong as that of P. pinaster; and, like that
species, the trees, when transplanted, generally lean to one side,
from the head not being correctly balanced. Hence, in full-grown trees
of the Stone pine there is often a similar curvature at the base of
the trunk to that of the pinaster. The palmate form of the cotyledons
of the genus Pinus is particularly conspicuous in those of P. pinea.
When one of the ripe kernels is split in two, the cotyledons separate,
so as to represent roughly the form of a hand; and this, in some parts
of France, the country people call _la main de Dieu_, and believed
to be a remedy in cases of intermittent fever if swallowed in uneven
numbers, such as 3, 5, or 7. The duration of the tree is much greater
than that of the pinaster, and the timber is whiter and somewhat more
durable. In the climate of London trees of from fifteen to twenty
years' growth produce cones.

There are no well-marked varieties of the Stone pine, though in its
native districts geographical forms may occur. For instance, Loudon
describes a variety cretica, which is said to have larger cones and
more slender leaves. Duhamel also describes a variety fragilis, having
thinner shells to the seeds or kernels. Neither of these varieties is
in this country, so far as we are aware. There are various synonyms
for P. pinea, the chief being P. sativa of Bauhin, P. aracanensis
of Knight, P. domestica, P. chinensis of Knight, and P. tarentina of
Manetti.--_The Garden._

       *       *       *       *       *




THE ART OF BREEDING.


From a paper read by C. M. Winslow, Brandon, Vt., before the Ayrshire
Breeders, at their annual meeting, in Boston, Feb. 4, 1885:

Sometimes we meet with breeders whose only aim in their stock seem to
be to produce animals that shall be entitled to registry. To such I
have little to say, as their work is comparatively easy, and has but
few hindrances to success; but to those breeders who are possessed of
an ideal type of perfection, which they are striving to impress upon
their stock, I have a few words to say upon the hindrances they may
find in the way of satisfactory results. It is a law of nature that
the offspring resembles some one or more of its ancestors, not only in
the outward appearance, but in the construction of the vital organism
and mental peculiarities, and is simply a reproduction, with the
accidental or intentional additions that from time to time are
accumulating as the stock passes through the hands of more or less
skillful breeders.

The aim of the breeder is to not only produce an animal which shall
in its own person possess the highest type of excellence sought, but
shall have the power to transmit to its offspring those qualities
of value possessed by himself. A breeder may, by chance, produce a
superior animal, or it may be the result of carefully laid plans and
artfully controlling the forces of nature and subjecting them to his
will.

It is comparatively easy to accidentally produce an animal of value,
but to steadily breed to one type is the test of the skill of the
breeder and the value of his stock. However well he may lay his plans,
or however desirable his stock may appear, his ability to perpetuate
their desirable qualities will depend upon the prepotence of the
animals, and this prepotence depends, to a great extent, upon the
length of the line in which the stock has been bred with one definite
end in view. A man may, in his efforts to breed stock excelling in a
certain line, produce stock that shows excellence in other qualities,
but this will not compensate for a deficiency in the qualification he
is attempting to impress, nor is it safe to breed from any animal that
does not show, in a marked degree, those desired qualities.

There is one qualification without which there can be no success,
and that is a sound, healthy constitution, with good vital organs and
vigorous digestion; and any amount of success in other directions will
not compensate for lack of constitution, and disappointment is always
sure to attend the breeder who does not guard this, the foundation of
all success....

The very finest type of breeding and surest plans of success may be
entirely defeated by improper feed and care. A valuable herd may be
entirely ruined by a change of food and care; for those conditions
which have conspired to produce a certain type must be continued, or
the type changes, it may be for the better or it may be for the worse,
since stock very readily adapt themselves to their surroundings; and
it is just here that so many are disappointed in buying blood stock
from a successful breeder; for a successful breeder is necessarily a
good feeder and a kind handler, and stock may give good results in
his hands, and, if removed to starvation and harshness, quickly
degenerate. So, too, stock that has been bred on poor pasturage will
readily improve if transplanted to richer pastures and milder climate.

Therefore he who would prove himself an artist in moulding his herd at
will, must not only bring together into his herd many choice lines
of goodness, but must ever seek, by kind treatment and good care,
to change their qualities for the better, and by right selection and
careful breeding so impress these changes for the better as to make
them hereditary. If this course is persistently adhered to, the stock
will gradually improve, retaining the good qualities of the ancestry,
and developing new ones, generation by generation, under the hand of
the artist breeder.

       *       *       *       *       *




THE BABYLONIAN PALACE.


In a recent lecture on "Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities," at
the British Museum by Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, the architecture and
ornaments of a typical palace were described. The palace, next to the
local temple, was, the lecturer said, the most important edifice in
the ancient city, and the explorations conducted by Sir Henry Layard,
Mr. Rassam, M. Botta, and others, had resulted in the discovery of the
ruins of many of the most famous of royal residences in Nineveh and
Babylon. The palace was called in the inscriptions the "great house,"
as the temple was "God's house," though in later times it was also
named "the abode of royalty," "the dwelling-place of kings," while
the great palace of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon, the ruins of which are
marked by the Kasr mound, was called "the wonder of the earth." The
arrangement of the palace was one which varied but little in ancient
and modern times, the same grouping of quadrangles, with intermural
gardens, being alike common to the Assyrian palace and the Turkish
serai.

The earliest of the Assyrian palaces were those built in Assur, which
dated probably from the nineteenth century before the Christian era;
but the seat of royalty was at an early period transferred from Assur
to Calah, the site of which is marked by the great mounds of Nimroud
at the junction of the greater Lab and the Tigris. Here large palaces
were erected by the kings of the Middle Assyrian Empire, the most
lavish of royal builders being Assur-nazir-pal and Shalmanisar; while
a third palace was built by Tiglath Pileser II. (B. C. 742). Mr.
Boscawen described the explorations carried out by Sir Henry Layard on
this site.

The most important chamber in the building was the long gallery or
saloon, which had been called the "Hall of Assembly." The various
parts of this palace included the royal apartments, the harem, and
the temple, with its great seven-stage tower or observatory. The
very extensive and systematic explorations carried out by the
French explorer M. Botta had restored the remains of one of the most
beautiful of the Assyrian palaces. The usurpation of the Assyrian
throne by Sargon the Tartar in B. C. 721 placed in power a new
dynasty, who were lavish patrons of the arts and who made Nineveh a
city of palaces. Probably on account of his violent seizure of the
throne, Sargon was afraid to reside in any of the existing places at
Nineveh--though he appears for a short time to have occupied the
old palace; he built for himself Calah, at a short distance to the
northeast of Nineveh, the palace town of Dun Sargina, "the fort of
Sargon," one of the most luxurious palaces--the Versailles of Nineveh.
The ruins of this palace were buried beneath the mound of Korsabad,
and were explored by M. Botta on behalf of the French Government,
and the sculptures and inscriptions are now deposited in the Louvre.
Compared with all the Assyrian palaces, later or earlier, this royal
abode of Sargon stands alone. The sculptures were more magnificent,
while warmth and color were obtained by the extensive use of 
bricks. Some of the cornices and friezes of painted bricks, of which
Mr. Boscawen exhibited drawings, were most rich in ornament. The chief
colors employed were blue and yellow, and sometimes red and green.
Having described the general construction of this remarkable building,
Mr. Boscawen proceeded to speak of the character of Assyrian art
during the golden age (B.C. 721-625), and he illustrated his remarks
by the exhibition of several large drawings. One of the most elaborate
of these was the embroidery on the royal robe. The pectoral was
covered with scenes taken from Babylonian myths. On the upper part
was Isdubar or Nimrod struggling with the lion; below this a splendid
representation of Merodach, as the warrior of the gods armed for
combat against the demon of evil, while the lower part was covered
with representations of the worship of the sacred tree. The general
character of Assyrian art, its attention to detail, and the wonderful
skill in representing animal life, as exhibited in the hunting scenes,
was next spoken of, and Mr. Boscawen concluded by a brief description
of the royal library, a most important part of the great palace at
Nineveh.

       *       *       *       *       *

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End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Scientific American Supplement, No.
488, May 9, 1885, by Various

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