SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE,
MECHANICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES.

NEW YORK, MARCH 29, 1879.

Vol. XL., No. 13. [New Series.]

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VOL. XL., No. 13. [New Series.] Thirty-fourth Year.

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1879.

Contents.

(Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT
No. 169,
For the Week ending March 29, 1879.

Price 10 cents. For sale by all newsdealers.

I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.—The Herreshoff Torpedo Boat,
recently built at Bristol, R. I., for the British Government. The novelties
in the placing of the screw, etc. The Peculiar Boiler. 4 figures.—Improved
Hopper Steam Dredger. 2 figures.—The St. Gothard Tunnel.—The
Beacon Tower of Lavezzi. 3 figures.

II. ARCHITECTURE.—Bath Abbey Church. Full page illustration.

III. TECHNOLOGY.—The Achison Stone Cutting Machine. 1 engraving.—The
Deep Mines of the World.—Shoemakers’ Wax.—Gruber’s New
Method of Germination. 1 engraving.—Improved Process for Treating
Wood, etc., for Paper Manufacture.—Bronzing Plaster of Paris Casts.—Sal
Soda for Unhairing Hides and Skins.—Sieburger’s Paste.—To Tan
Lace Leather with Softsoap.

Practical Dyeing Recipes: Blue white zephyr, Scotch blue on worsted,
Scotch green on worsted, jacquineaux on worsted, drab on worsted,
gold on venetian carpet yarn, red brown slubbing, scarlet braid,
slate braid, light drab on cotton, blue on cotton, brown on cotton,
chrome orange on cotton carpet yarn, black on common mixed carpet
yarn for filling, black on cotton and wool mixed yarn.

Damar Varnish for Negatives.—To Make Vignetters by Means of
Gelatino-Chromate.—Resorcine Colors.—Phosphate Soaps.—Substitution
of Different Metals in Ultramarine Colors.—A Harmless Green for
Paper Hangings.—Siegwart’s Bath for Etching Glass.—Composition of
French Bronzes.—A New Enemy to the Tea Plant.—The Bradford Oil
Sand.

IV. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY.—Apparatus for Titration, 1
figure.—Palladium.—Hæmocyanin.—Test for Alcohol in Ethereal Oils
and Chloroform.—Reaction of Tartaric and Citric Acid.—A Peculiar
Observation.—Insolubility of Iodate of Lead.—Mode of Preventing the
Contamination of Water with Lead.—Separating Phosphorus from
Iron and Steel.—Production of Alcohol without Fermentation.

V. ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, ETC.—Some Facts in regard to Telescopic
and Stereoscopic Vision.—The Centenary of the Birth of Sir
Humphry Davy. His boyish days. His first chemical experiments.
His first lecture at the Royal Institution. A very entertaining biographical
sketch.—Light and Heat in Gas Flames.—Nickel Needles for
Compasses.—The Nature of the Elements.—A New Compound Prism
for Direct Vision Spectroscopes.

VI. MEDICINE AND HYGIENE.—Filaria in the Eye. By Chas. S.
Turnbull, M. D.—The Species of Tapeworm now Prevalent.—Nitrous
Oxide under Pressure.

VII. NATURAL HISTORY, GEOLOGY, ETC.—A Gigantic American
Deep-sea Crustacean, 1 engraving.—Glaciers in the United States.—The
Toulomne Cave.—Achæological Explorations in Tennessee. By F. W.
Putnam. 6 figures.—Memorably Cold Winters.—Life at Timber Line.
By Professor C. E. Robins, Summit, Colorado.—The Walled Lake in
Iowa.

VIII. ASTRONOMY.—Is the Moon Inhabited? By Camille Flammarion.
The various opinions that have been held in regard to the moon. The
best we can do with our present telescopes. The means we possess
for judging of the condition of the moon. Recent changes on the
moon. Photographs of the moon and their defects. Facts that have
been observed by the persevering eyes of astronomers.

A NEW STEAM TILLER.

Steam is now made to perform almost everything in the
way of heavy labor, to the saving of muscle and energy that
may be more profitably employed; and since inventive
genius has devised means of governing steam with absolute
accuracy, there seems to be no limit to its economical application.

A recent invention in steam engineering, which exhibits
in a marked degree the controllability and adaptability of
steam, is Mr. Herbert Wadsworth’s
steam tiller, an engraving
of which we present
herewith.

This machine (Fig. 1) is provided
with a steam cylinder,
similar to the cylinder of a
steam engine, containing a piston,
the rod of which is attached
to a crosshead, A, that slides
on ways, B, secured to the
bed supporting the cylinder.

The tiller, D, as it is carried
to starboard or port,
slides through a socket, E,
pivoted to the crosshead.

The motion of the rudder
is communicated to the steam
cut-off by means of the shaft,
C, crank, J, rod, K, crank, I,
and the hollow valve spindle.
When the tiller is amidships
the valve handle, H, is at right
angles to the cylinder, and
parallel to the tiller. By moving
the lever, H, to right or
left, steam is admitted to one
end or the other of the cylinder,
which, acting on the tiller
through the piston, piston
rod, and crosshead, moves the
rudder; and when the rudder
reaches the desired position
the cut-off will have been
moved the amount necessary
to prevent further entrance
of steam. When the rudder is influenced by the waves or
by the expansion or contraction of steam, the cut-off alters its
position in relation to the valve and automatically arranges
the steam passages so that the piston is returned to its proper
position. The details of the cut-off are shown in Fig. 2;
the valve, G, which covers the cut-off, F, acts like a four
way cock. The spindle of the cut-off, F, is connected with
the lever, I, and is moved by the rudder, as already described.
By enlarging or gradually narrowing the ends of
the steam ports great rigidity or elasticity may be given to
the hold of this engine, according to the requirements of the
particular vessel.

Few and simple as are the parts of this machine it is possible,
by balancing the valves and suiting the diameter of the cylinder
to the work to be performed, to overcome great resistances
with a slight effort. The inventor says that this system of
valves is considered by experts to be novel and very valuable.

In Fig. 3 is shown a pattern of a slide valve suited to special
purposes. Its working is
essentially the same as that of
the valve already described.
The ports are set side by side,
parallel with the sides of the
valve. The supply port is in
the middle, the other ports
lead to opposite ends of the
cylinder.

In Fig. 4 is shown another
application of the controlling
valve and cut-off described
above. Two oscillating steam
cylinders are employed in
working the rudder. They
are placed on opposite sides
of the chest, A, and are supplied
with steam through the
controlling valve, B. The
piston rods of the two cylinders
are connected with
cranks placed on opposite
ends of the shaft, C, at right
angles to each other. Upon
this shaft, half-way between
the pillow blocks which support
it, there is a worm which
engages a toothed sector, D,
on the rudder-post, E. To
an extension of the rudder-post
is secured an arm, F,
which is connected with the
arm, G, of the controlling
valve. By shifting the lever,
H, the supply of steam to
the two cylinders may be increased
or diminished, or its direction may be changed, so
that the engines will be reversed or stopped. This engine
is remarkable for its simplicity. The cylinders may
be detached and changed if required, one size of bed answering
for three different sizes of cylinder, which may vary only
in diameter, the stroke being the same, so that the castings
for engines of different power are the same except in the
matter of the cylinders and pistons, and all the parts are interchangeable—a
feature of modern engine building that
cannot be too highly valued.

Further information may be obtained from Herbert Wadsworth,
26 Merchants’ Bank Building, 28 State street, Boston,
Mass.

HOW OUR PATENT LAWS PROMOTE AND IMPROVE
AMERICAN INDUSTRIES.

On another page we print in full a most suggestive paper
recently read before the Manchester (Eng.) Scientific and
Mechanical Society, by Mr. Frederick Smith, a prominent
builder of that city, contrasting the qualities, styles, and
prices of American and English builders’ hardware—a
paper which the Ironmonger pronounces one of the most
serious indictments yet preferred against British workmanship
in that department.

The field covered by the paper—the supplying of house
builders’ hardware—embraces a multitude of conveniences,
but no real necessities. Why is it that America has been
prolific in novel devices and clever improvements in this department
of manufacture as in so many others, while England
has gone on stolidly copying ancient forms, changing only
to cheapen by the introduction of poor material and sham
construction? Mr. Smith mentions several reasons that
English manufacturers have given him for the state of
things he, as an Englishman, so greatly deplores; but evidently
he is not satisfied with any of them, and very justly;
for none of them touches the real cause—the radically different
attitude of the public mind toward inventions, characteristic
of the two countries.

In England the user of household inconveniences accepts
them as matters of fact; or if he grumbles at them he never
thinks of trying to change them. It is not his business;
and if he should devise an improvement, ten to one he could
not get it made. To patent it is practically out of the question,
for if it were not condemned off-hand as trivial, the
patent fees would make it cost more than it was likely to
be worth. The mechanic who makes such things is trained
to work to pattern, and not waste his time on experiments.
Besides, if he should make a clever invention he would not
be able to raise the necessary fees for a patent, or to get any
one to help him thereto. The manufacturer “makes what
his customers call for.” Why should he spend his money
and spoil his plant to introduce improvements? So things
go, until some pestilent Yankees flood the markets with
better articles at a lower price; and British consumers suddenly
discover that they want something that the native
manufacturer cannot make. The need was there; but invention
did not follow. How happened it that the American
manufacturer did not pursue the same uninventive course?
What produced the radically different attitude of the American
mind toward newfangled notions out of which inventions
proceeded and flourished?

No doubt several causes have been at work: freedom of
thought and action; popular education; a blending of races;
and the tide of adventurous spirits naturally resorting to a
new and free land. These have had their influence undoubtedly;
but all these have existed, more or less completely,
in other new lands, without that outburst of creative
energy which has made America the nursery of inventions,
great and small. The determining cause, the one
condition that prevailed here and not elsewhere, was the
circumstance that almost from the start new ideas were
given a market value in this country. Unlike all others,
the American patent law directly encouraged independent
thinking in all classes. The fees were low and the protection
offered fairly good. Men soon found that it paid to
invent; that one of the surest roads to competency was a
patented improvement on something of general use. If a
household utensil or appliance went wrong or worked badly,
every user was directly interested in devising something
better; and, more than that, he was interested in making
his invention known and in securing its adoption. The
workman at his bench had an ever-present inducement to
contrive something at once cheaper and better than the article
he was hired to make. He could patent his improvement,
or the wholly original device he might hit upon, for a
few dollars; and his patent would count as capital. It would
make him his own master, possibly bring him a fortune.
The manufacturer could not rest contented with the thing
he set out to make, for the meanest hired man in his employ
might suddenly become a competitor. He must be
constantly alert for possible improvements, or his rivals
would get ahead of him. The result is a nation of inventors,
at whose hands the newest of lands has leaped to the leadership
in the arts, almost at a bound.

There is talk of changing all this; of emulating the conservative
spirit of the Old World; of putting inventors under
bonds; of stopping the rush of industrial improvement—to
enable a few short-sighted yet grasping corporations to get
along without paying license fees for such inventions as
they happen to approve of. They profess to want inventors to
go on making improvements. They are willing to ascribe
all honor to the successful inventor; but they are determined
not to pay him for his work. Still more they are determined
to change the attitude of the public mind toward
inventors and inventions, if such a change can be wrought
by plausible misrepresentations. The fact that they were
able to inveigle one branch of the American Congress into
assenting to their unjust and mischievous scheme is one of
the anomalies of our recent history. It should be taken as a
timely warning of impending danger to all the industrial
interests of the country. It is outrageous that the
inventors of the land, after having raised their country to
the first rank among industrial nations, should have to defend
their constitutional rights against Congressional invasion;
but the fact exists; and the defense should be made
a matter of personal interest and effort not only by every inventor
and manufacturer, but by every honest citizen.

PLEURO-PNEUMONIA.

The cattle plague, which is creating so much anxiety
throughout the Eastern States, is a contagious fever, affecting
cows chiefly, characterized by extensive exudations into
the respiratory organs, and attended by a low typhus inflammation
of the lungs, pluræ, and bronchia. It has prevailed
in Europe for ages, at times developing into wide-spread
scourges, causing incalculable loss. It was imported into
England in 1839, and again three years later; and it was estimated
that within twenty-five years thereafter the losses by
deaths alone in England had amounted to $450,000,000. In
1858 the disease was carried to Australia by an English cow,
and, spreading to the cattle ranges, almost depopulated them.

In 1843 an infected Dutch cow brought the disease to Brooklyn,
where it has since lingered, slowly spreading among the
cattle in Kings and Queens counties. In 1847 several head
of infected English cattle were imported into New Jersey,
and, spreading among a herd of valuable cattle, made it necessary
for them all to be slaughtered, the only certain method
of stamping out the disease. In 1859 four infected cows were
imported into Massachusetts from Holland; the plague spread
rapidly, and was stamped out only by persistent effort, the
State paying for over 1,000 slaughtered cattle. Since 1867
the disease has not been known there. Meantime the pest
had invaded Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland,
where it has since prevailed in isolated localities. The
absence of large herds of moving cattle in these districts,
except for speedy slaughter, has prevented the disease from
developing into a general plague.

The recent action of the British Council in forbidding the
importation of American live cattle is likely to prove of inestimable
benefit to this country, in forcibly calling attention
to the grave risk that the presence of the disease on Long
Island and elsewhere constantly entails. Fortunately the
drift of the cattle traffic is eastward, and as yet there has
been no propagation of the poison in the great cattle ranges
of the West. Unless summarily arrested, however, the disease
will surely reach those sources of our cattle supply, and
occasion losses that can be estimated only in hundreds of
millions of dollars.

The experience of all countries into which this disease has
gained access appears to prove that there is only one way of
getting rid of it—namely, the immediate killing of all infected
cattle, and the thorough disinfection of the premises in which
they are found.

The disease is purely infectious, and is never found in regions
where it has not gained a foothold by importation.
Palliative measures have in every instance failed to eradicate
the disease, and are only justifiable, as in Australia,
after the plague has reached dimensions utterly beyond the
reach of any process of extermination.

Professor Law, of Cornell University, one of our best informed
veterinary surgeons, most emphatically opposes every
attempt to control the disease by quarantining the sick or
by the inoculation of the healthy. “We may quarantine
the sick,” he says, “but we cannot quarantine the air.” To
establish quarantine yards is simply to maintain prolific
manufacturers of the poison, which is given off by the breath
of the sick, and by their excretions, to such an extent that
no watchfulness can insure against its dissemination. Besides,
the expense of thorough quarantining operations would
amount to more than the value of the infected animals whose
lives might be saved thereby. Inoculation is still less to be
tolerated at this stage of the pest.

The Professor says: “Germany, Holland, Belgium, France,
and England, have been treating the victims of this plague
for nearly half a century, but the result has only been the
increase of disease and death. Our own infected States have
been treating it for a third of a century, and to-day it exists
over a wider area than ever before. Contrast this with the
results in Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the disease
has been repeatedly crushed out at small expense, and there
can be no doubt as to which is the wisest course. As all the
plagues are alike in the propagation of the poison in the
bodies of the sick, I may be allowed to adduce the experience
of two adjacent counties in Scotland when invaded by the
rinderpest. Aberdeen raised a fund of £2,000, and though
she suffered several successive invasions, she speedily crushed
out the poison wherever it appeared by slaughtering the sick
beasts and disinfecting the premises. The result was that
little more than half the fund was wanted to reimburse the
owners for their losses, and the splendid herds of the county
were preserved. Forfar, on the other hand, set herself
to cure the plague, with the result of a universal infection,
the loss of many thousands of cattle, and the ruin of hundreds
of farmers. Finally the malady was crushed out in
the entire island by the method adopted by Aberdeen and
other well advised counties at the outset.”

And again, “Cattle have been inoculated by the tens of
thousands in Belgium and Holland, and of all Europe these
are the countries now most extensively infected. France,
Prussia, Italy, Austria, and England have each practiced it
on a large scale, and each remains a home of the plague.
Australia has followed the practice, and is now and must
continue an infected country. Our own infected States have
inoculated, and the disease has survived and spread in spite
of it, and even by its aid. Whatever country has definitively
exterminated the plague (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holstein,
Mecklenburg, Switzerland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut),
that country has prohibited inoculation and all
other methods that prevail on the principle of preserving the
sick, and has relied on the slaughter of the infected and the
thorough disinfection of their surroundings. So will it be
with us. If any State adopts or allows any of these temporizing
measures, that State will only repeat the experience of
the past alike in the Old World and the New, will perpetuate
the disease in the country, will entail great losses on its
citizens, will keep up the need for constant watchfulness
and great expense by the adjoining States for their own protection,
and will indefinitely postpone the resumption of the
foreign live stock trade, which, a few months ago, promised
to be one of the most valuable branches of our international
commerce.”

We are persuaded that the position taken by Professor
Law, and other similar-minded veterinary surgeons, is the
only safe one. The disease can be stamped out now with
comparatively small loss. If trifled with, and tolerated, it
cannot but result in a great national calamity.

SPAIN A FIELD FOR MACHINERY AND PATENTS.

From a too lengthy communication to admit in full to our
columns, a resident of Madrid communicates to the Scientific
American some facts relative to the fertility of the
soil of Spain, her necessity for improved agricultural and
other implements, and closes with the assertion that it is a
good field withal for patents. We cull from the letter as
follows:

I have lived, says the writer, for a number of years in this
beautiful country, so little understood by foreigners, so little
appreciated by its own inhabitants. The Spain of romance,
poetry, and song, is the garden as well as the California of
Europe. But it stands in great need of the health-giving
touch of the North American enterprise. We have here the
same mineral treasures, the same unrivaled advantages of
climate, that made Spain once the industrial and commercial
emporium of the world.

But Spain is awakening. She is endeavoring to shake off
her lethargy. The late Exhibition of Paris has proved this;
and those who are familiar with the past history and present
condition of Spain have been astonished at the result
of this effort. A new era has commenced for the country,
and it is everywhere evident that a strong current of enterprise
and industry has set in. But it is with nations, as with
individuals, when they have remained long in complete inaction,
brain and muscles are torpid and cannot at first obey
the will. Spain needs the assistance of other nations hardened
and inured to toil.

The plows now used to till the land are precisely such as
were those left by the Moors in the unfinished furrow, when
with tears and sighs they bade farewell to their broad fields,
their mosques and palaces, whose ideal architecture is still
the wonder of the world, to go forth as outcasts and exiles
in obedience to the cruel edict that drove them away to the
deserts of Africa.

I doubt whether there is an American plow in Spain,
much less a steam plow. Sowing and reaping machines are
here unknown, and grain is tread out by oxen and mules
just as it was in Scripture times, and cleaned by women,
who toss it in the air to scatter the chaff. Everything is
primitive and Oriental here as yet.

Spain could supply all Europe with butter and cheese,
and, on the contrary, these articles are imported in large
quantities from England, Holland, and Switzerland. The
traveler crosses leagues and leagues of meadow land where

not a tree is to be seen, nor one sheep pasture, and which are
nevertheless watered by broad rivers that carry away to the
ocean the water that would, by irrigation, convert these fields
into productive farms. There are many places in Spain
where the wine is thrown away for want of purchasers and
vats in which to keep it. In the Upper Aragon, the mortar
with which the houses are built is made with wine instead of
water, the former being the most plentiful. Aragon needs
an enterprising American company to convert into wholesome
table wine the infinite varieties there produced, and
which our neighbors the French buy and carry away to convert
into Bordeaux.

We want American enterprise in Galicia and Asturias,
where milk is almost given away, to convert it into the best
of butter and cheese; and also in those same provinces,
where delicious fruit is grown in such abundance that it is
left on the ground for the swine.

Spain needs many more railroads and canals, all of which,
when constructed, are subsidized by the government; the
railroads at the rate of $12,000 a kilometer, and many more
additional advantages are offered for canals.

With regard to commerce with Spain, we have to lament
the same indifference on the part of the Americans. I have,
for instance, an American double-burner petroleum lamp.
All who see it admire and covet it, but they are not to be
had here. If we except one American in Madrid, who
brings mostly pumps and similar articles on a very small
scale, we have no dealers in American goods here. Wooden
clothes pins, lemon squeezers, clothes horses, potato peelers,
and the hundreds of domestic appliances of American invention,
elsewhere considered indispensable, are in Spain
unknown.

We had confidently expected that the new Spanish law on
patents would draw the attention of American inventors toward
this country, that to-day offers a wide field for every
new practical invention, but I am sorry to see that, with the
exception of Edison and a few others, the Americans have
not yet availed themselves of the easy facility for taking
patents for Spain, where new inventions and new industries
are now eagerly accepted and adopted. And while the
Americans are thus careless as to their own interests, the
French take out and negotiate, in Spain, American patents
with insignificant variations.

Let American inventors be assured that any new invention,
useful and practical, and above all, requiring but little capital
to establish it as an industry, will find a ready sale in
Spain.

I could enlarge to a much greater extent upon the indifference
of American inventors, merchants, manufacturers,
and business men, as to the market they have in Spain in
their respective lines, and upon the importance of building
up a trade with this country, but to do so would require
more space than I think you would feel justified in occupying
in your columns.

PETER COOPER AS AN INVENTOR.

The successes of Peter Cooper’s long and useful life are
well known. Not so many are aware of his varied experience
in the direction of failure, particularly in the field of
invention. More than once he has found his best devices
profitless because ahead of his time, or because of conditions,
political or otherwise, which no one could foresee. He possessed
the rare qualities, however, of pluck and perseverance,
and when one thing failed he lost no time in trying something
else. Before he was of age he had learned three trades—and
he did not make his fortune at either.

In a familiar conversation with a Herald writer recently,
Mr. Cooper related some of his early experiences, particularly
with reference to enterprises which did not succeed.
His father was a hatter, and as a boy young Cooper learned
how to make a hat in all its parts. The father was not successful
in business, and the hatter’s trade seems to have
offered little encouragement to the son. Accordingly he
learned the art of making ale. Why he did not stick to that
calling and become a millionaire brewer, Mr. Cooper does
not say. Most probably the national taste for stronger tipple
could not at that time be overcome, and ale could not
compete with New England rum and apple-jack. The young
mechanic next essayed the art of coachmaking, at which he
served a full apprenticeship. At the end of his time his employer
offered to set him up in business, but the offer was
not accepted, through fear of losing another’s money. He
felt that if he took the money and lost it he would have to be
a slave for life. So he quit coachmaking and went to work
for a man at Hempstead, L. I., making machines for shearing
cloth. In three years, on $1.50 a day, Cooper had saved
enough money to buy his employer’s patent. Immediately
he introduced improvements in the manufacture and in the
machine, which the war with England made a great demand
for by excluding foreign cloths. At this time Cooper
married. In due time the family numbered three, and the
young father’s inventive faculty was again called upon.

“In those days,” said Mr. Cooper to the reporter, smiling
as the remembrance came to his mind, “we kept no servants
as they do nowadays, and my wife and myself had to do all
that was to be done. After our first child was born I used
to come into the house and find my wife rocking the cradle,
and I relieved her from that while I was there. After doing
that for a few days I thought to myself that I could make
that thing go of itself. So I went into my shop, and made a
pendulous cradle that would rock the child. Then I attached
a musical instrument which would sing for it, and at the
same time the machine would keep the flies off. The latter
was very simple; by hanging something to the cross bar, as
the cradle swung under it, backward and forward, it would
create wind enough to drive away the flies. The machine
was wound up by a weight, and would run for nearly half
an hour without stopping. I took out a patent for it, and
one day a peddler came along with a horse and wagon, as they
do in the country, and saw the cradle. He struck a bargain
with me and bought the patent right for the State of Connecticut,
giving for it his horse and wagon and all the goods
he had with him. They afterward made some there, but nothing
like as good as mine. It was a beautiful piece of furniture,”
said Mr. Cooper regretfully, as he thought of it as a
thing of the past. “They afterward substituted springs for
the weight movement, but that kind was not so good.”

About this time the war with England ended and the market
was spoiled for the shearing machines. Then, we believe,
Mr. Cooper tried his hand at cabinetmaking, but that
failed, and he set up a grocery store where the Bible House
now stands. While selling groceries Mr. Cooper made an
invention which ought to have made his fortune, but it did
not. The story is best told in Mr. Cooper’s own words:

“It was just before the Erie Canal was completed, and I
conceived a plan by which to tow boats by the use of all the
elevated waters on the line of the canal. To demonstrate that
that was practicable I made with my own hands a chain two
miles long, and placed posts 200 feet apart in the East River
from Bellevue dock down town about a mile. These posts
supported grooved wheels to lay the chain in, forming an
endless chain. The whole was moved by an overshot waterwheel
placed at the Bellevue dock. A reservoir twelve feet
square and three deep held the water to turn the wheel.”

At the suggestion of Governor Clinton Mr. Cooper tightened
his chain and pulled up the end post just before the
grand trial of his device was to come off. He succeeded in
getting stone enough to anchor the post, however, and the
experiment went off swimmingly. The boat was hooked on
to the chain, and the passage back and forward—two miles—was
made in eleven minutes.

“I ran that boat some ten days,” says Mr. Cooper, “to let
people see what could be done, and carried nearly a thousand
people. Part of the time I ran two boats. Once I counted
52 people in one boat. I made the whole chain myself and
planted the posts. As I could find no wheels to suit me I
made the moulds and cast the wheels myself out of block tin
and zinc. It was no small job, I can tell you.”

This was unquestionably a grand invention. In itself it
was a perfect success; but it was not used. Mr. Cooper tells
why:

“It demonstrated completely that the elevated water
power along the line of the canal and every lock in the canal
could be made use of to drive the boats. Governor Clinton
gave me $800 for the privilege of buying the right to the
plan in case he should want to use it on the Erie Canal. In
making the canal he had promised the people along the route
that as soon as it was finished they could sell their horses to
tow the boats, their grain and fodder to feed the horses, and
their provisions for the passengers. On reflection he thought
that if he took all that away from them he would have to run
the gantlet again, and he could not afford to do that. There
never was anything done with the plan until a few years ago,
when Mr. Welch, president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad
and Canal, invented exactly the same thing and put it
in practice on his locks on the canal. He found it saved half
the time and great expense. He went to Washington to take
out a patent for it, and when he got there he found that I
had patented the same thing fifty-three years before. My patent
had run out, so he could use the plan on his canal. It
has also been used on one lock on the Erie Canal. If they
could have used that chain on the whole length of the Erie
Canal it would have saved many millions of dollars.”

This would not be a bad place, were there room for it, to
speak of “undeveloped” and therefore worthless inventions;
and the assumption that if an inventor does not make his invention
immediately profitable it must be good for nothing,
and should be dispatented. But the moral goes without telling.

Mr. Cooper’s next attempt at invention was made about the
same time, but in quite a different direction. It was during
the struggle of the Greeks for independence, and wishing to
do something for their assistance, Mr. Cooper undertook to
make a torpedo boat for them. Mr. Cooper says:

“It was a small one that could be taken on board ship and
used to destroy any vessel that came to destroy them. It
was fixed with a rotary steam engine and a screw wheel to
propel it. It was intended to be guided from the ship or the
shore. There were two steel wires fixed to the tiller of the
rudder, and the operator could pull on one side or the other
and guide the vessel just as a horse is guided with reins. It
was so arranged that at night it would carry a light with its
dark side toward the object to be destroyed, and by simply
keeping the light in range with the vessel it would be sure to
hit it. The torpedo was carried on a little iron rod, projecting
in front of the torpedo vessel a few inches under water.
Contact would discharge the torpedo and bend this iron rod.
This would reverse the action of the engine and cause the torpedo
vessel to return right back from whence it came, ready
to carry another torpedo.”

Unfortunately the torpedo boat was not ready in time to go
with the ship carrying the contributions for Greece. It was
stored in Mr. Cooper’s factory (he had then turned his attention
to glue) and was destroyed by the burning of the factory.
It seems to have been quite a promising affair for the time.
Mr. Cooper says:

“I experimented with it at once to see how far it could be
guided. I made a steel wire ten miles long and went down
to the Narrows to test the matter. I had steel yards fastened
to one end of the wire, and to the other end the torpedo vessel
as attached. It got about six miles away when a vessel
coming into the harbor crossed the wire and broke it.
Although the experiment was not complete it showed that
for at least six miles I could guide the vessel as easily as I
could guide a horse.”

Mr. Cooper’s work as the pioneer locomotive builder
in this country; his later inventions and improvements in the
manufacture of railway iron and wrought iron beams for fireproof
buildings; his application of anthracite coal to iron
puddling, and his other successes are almost as widely known
as his philanthropic efforts for the education and advancement
of the industrial classes of this city.

After all, we are not sure but the story of his long and varied
and always honorable career, told by himself, would not
be worth, to young people who have to make their way in
life through many difficulties, more even than the advantages
of the noble institution which bears his name.

Taste for Reading.—Sir John Herschel has declared
that “if he were to pray for a taste which should stand under
every variety of circumstance and be a source of happiness
and cheerfulness to him through life, it would be a taste
for reading.” Give a man, he affirms, that taste, and the
means of gratifying it, and you cannot fail of making him
good and happy; for you bring him in contact with the best
society in all ages, with the tenderest, the bravest, and the
purest men who have adorned humanity, making him a
denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all times, and giving
him a practical proof that the world has been created for
him, for his solace, and for his enjoyment.

Africa Crossed Again.

Information has been received by way of Lisbon, March
12, that the Portuguese explorer, Pinto, has succeeded in
traversing Africa from west to east, and has reached Transvaal.
The latitude of his course across is not mentioned.

CURIOUS FACTS IN MAGNETISM.

At the meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences
February 17th, the article in the March number of Harper’s
Magazine, entitled “Gary’s Magnetic Motor,” was incidentally
alluded to, and Prof. C. A. Seeley made the following remarks:
The article claims that Mr. Gary has made a discovery
of a neutral line or surface, at which the polarity of an
induced magnet, while moving in the field of the inducing
pole, is changed. The alleged discovery appears to be an
exaggerated statement of some curious facts, which, although
not new, are not commonly recognized. If a bar of iron be
brought up, end on, near a magnetic pole, the bar becomes
an induced magnet, but an induced magnet quite different
from what our elementary treatises seem to predict. On the
first scrutiny it is a magnet without a neutral point, and only
one kind of magnetism—namely, that of the inducing pole.
Moreover, the single pole is pretty evenly distributed over
the whole surface, so that if iron filings be sprinkled on the
bar they will be attracted at all points and completely cover
it. Now, if while the bar is covered by filings it be moved
away from the inducing pole, the filings will gradually and
progressively fall, beginning at the end nearest the inducing
pole and continuing to some point near the middle of the bar;
the filings at the remote end will generally be held permanently.
When the bar is carried beyond
the field of the inducing pole it is
simply a weak magnet of ordinary properties—i. e.,
of two poles and a
neutral point between them.

A plausible and simple explanation of
this case is that the inducing pole holds
or binds the induced magnetism of opposite
name, so that it has no external
influence; the two magnetisms are related
to each other as are the positive and
negative electricities of the Leyden jar.
Let the inducing pole be N.; the S.
of the bar will be attracted by it and
bound, while the N. of the bar becomes
abnormally free and active. On moving
the bar from the pole the bound
magnetism is released and a part becomes
residual magnetism. Now when
the residual balances the free magnetism
which is of opposite name, we are
on Gary’s neutral line. In a restricted
sense there is a change of polarity over
the half of the bar contiguous to the inducing
pole; on the other half there is
no change of pole in any sense. Experiment
with a shingle nail in the place of
the filings, à la Gary, bring the nail to
the induced bound pole, and it may be
held, except at the neutral line. Now
if one will read the magazine article
with such ideas as these he will feel
pretty sure that the writer of it has used
words recklessly, that Gary has not
made an original discovery, and that the “neutral” line,
whatever it be, has only an imagined relation to the “principle”
of the motor.

The Gary Motor as a perpetual motion scheme, of course,
is not worthy of serious notice from a society devoted to science.
It has no noteworthy novelty of construction or
conception. Mr. Gary is afflicted with the very old delusion
of the cut-off or shield of magnetism, which is to cost less
than what comes from it. His cut-off is a sheet of iron,
which we know acts simply as an armature.

A New Phenomenon in Statical Electricity.

M. E. Duter, in a paper read before the French Academy
in December, showed that when a Leyden jar is charged with
either positive or negative electricity its internal volume increases,
and that this effect is a new phenomenon, unexplainable
by either a theory of an increase of temperature or of
an electrical pressure. The experiment was performed by
means of a flask-shaped Leyden jar with
a long tube attached to its neck, and containing
a liquid which served as the inner
armature. The author’s attention had been
called to the fact that this phenomenon had
been observed ten years ago by M. Gori.

His researches, just made public, leave no
doubt of the accuracy of M. Duter’s view,
that the glass of the jar really expands.
According to the theory of elasticity, the
effect of an internal pressure in a hollow
sphere is in the inverse ratio of its thickness.
M. Duter, therefore, had three flasks
made of the same volume, but of thicknesses
of 4 mm., 0.8 mm., and 0.5 mm.
respectively. They were filled with water
and enveloped by tin foil. Each carried a
capillary thermometer tube, in which the
variations of the height of liquid served to
measure the changes in volume due to
electrification. He found that these
changes were imperceptible in the thick
glass, very marked in the flask of mean
thickness, and rose to 30 mm. in the thinnest.
The variations in volume were very
nearly in inverse ratio of the square roots
of the thicknesses.

A NEW ORE CRUSHER.

The accompanying engravings represent an improved ore
crusher, which is said to be very effective and economical
in the use of power.

Fig. 1—BROWN’S ORE CRUSHER.

Fig. 2—HORIZONTAL SECTION.

A short vertical cast iron cylinder, A, having in one side
a discharge opening, H, contains all of the movable
parts.

The upper portion of the cylinder is lined with chilled iron
plates, L, and an inclined chute, X, leads to the discharge
opening, H.

A rigid shaft, B, carries the circular crusher, C, and
moves in a ball and socket joint at the upper end, and extends
eccentrically through the boss of a bevel wheel, G, at
its lower end, and rests on a step supported by a lever that
may be adjusted by the screw, R. The wheel, G, is driven
by the pinion, P, on whose shaft there are a pulley and a fly-wheel.

The double gyratory motion of the crusher, C, causes it
to approach all portions of the lining, L, crushing whatever
lies between.

It is said that this machine is capable of crushing 10
tons of the hardest ore per hour. Its weight is 6,500 lbs.—Musée
de l’Industrie.

RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS.

Enos Richmond, of Troy, N. Y., has invented a steak
tenderer, having a plunger studded with chisel-pointed rods,
and arranged in a case in connection with an elevating
spring. A blow upon the knob at the top of the plunger
forces the chisel-pointed rods through holes in the casing
into the meat, the casing resting on the surface of the
steak.

Messrs. A. W. Southard and Volney R. Sears, of Falls
City, Neb., have patented an improved invalid bedstead,
which is provided with ingenious mechanism for placing
the invalid in different positions.

An improved spring attachment for carriage tops, which
is designed to prevent the rear bow from being bent by the
weight of the top when turned back, has been patented by
Mr. Robert E. McCormick, of Doylestown, O.

Mr. Espy Gallipher, of Schellsburg, Pa., has devised an
axle journal having a groove lengthwise upon its upper side
which extends back upon the surface of the axle and communicates
with an oil cup. A sliding rod occupies a portion
of the groove; when this rod is drawn out it permits the
oil to fill the groove; when it is pushed into the groove in the
axle, the oil is ejected and a further supply is cut off.

An improved pill machine, invented by Messrs. W. N.
Fort and R. R. Moore, of Lewisville,
Ark., is adapted to the manufacture of
pills in large quantities. The machine
has mechanism for grinding and mixing
ingredients, a grooved wheel and
trough for forming the pills, and a
device for applying powder.

An improvement in millstone adjustments
has been patented by Mr.
Stephen P. Walling, of South Edmeston,
N. Y. This invention consists in
a screw applied to the end of the mill
spindle on which the stone is rigidly
held, so that the running stone may be
forced by the screw away from the
stationary stone and held against the
action of a spring at the opposite end
of the spindle, the object being to
prevent the stones from becoming
dulled by contact with each other.

An improved attachment for sewing
machines for soaking or waxing the
thread as it passes the needle, has been
patented by Mr. Pedro F. Fernandez,
of San Juan, Porto Rico. The invention
consists in a frame secured to the
arm of a sewing machine by a thumb-screw,
and provided with a clamping
device for holding wax or soap.

A novel combination of a toggle and
springs and levers for operating a drag
saw has been patented by Mr. Harvey
Hughes, of Wheat Ridge, Ohio. The
saw, while properly guided, is free
to move up or down without affecting the leverage.

An improvement in filters, which consists in re-enforcing
the felt disk with a backing of wire cloth to enable it to
resist heavy water pressure, has been patented by Mr. B. P.
Chatfield, of Aiken, S. C.

A basket having light sheet metal sides attached to a
wooden bottom by crimping the edges over a rib on the
periphery of the bottom, has been patented by Mr. Samuel
Friend, of Decatur, Ill. The handle and lid may be easily
removed to permit of packing and storage.

An improved cross bar for fastening doors, patented by
Mr. Richard Condon, of La Salle, Ill., has a spring acted
portion which engages a socket on the door casing, and is
retained in that position by a spring catch.

A NEW IRONING TABLE.

The accompanying engraving represents a convenient and
inexpensive table recently patented by Mr. Albert H. Hogins,
of Morrisania, N. Y. It is more especially
designed for ironing, but it may be
used for other purposes when closed up.
The top is made in two tapering sections,
A B. The section, B, is narrower than
the other, and is pivoted at its wider end
to a bar, E, which slides into a socket
formed in the table. The table has five
legs, one of which, D, is attached to a
sliding rail that supports the narrower
end of the movable part of the top. The
table is provided with a drawer in one end
and with a tray, C, for containing blankets,
etc.

HOGINS’ IMPROVED TABLE.

The convenience and practicability of
this table for general laundry use, will
be apparent without further explanation.
The board, B, when drawn out will be
used for ironing skirts, shirts, and other
garments requiring a board of this character,
and when the table is closed together
and fastened by the hooks, it may
be used in ironing larger articles. When
closed it presents the appearance of an ordinary
table and may be used as such.

Further information may be obtained
by addressing the inventor as above.

A NOVEL ENGINE REGULATOR.

The accompanying engraving represents two different
styles of regulator, invented by Mr. Stenberg, in which the
effect of centrifugal force is utilized. In a vessel, A, of parabolic
shape is placed a disk, C, which floats on glycerine contained
by the vessel, and is attached to the walls of the vessel
by an annular membrane, so that it may rise and fall in a
vertical direction as the glycerine is carried with more or
less force toward the edge of the vessel by centrifugal action.
The inner surface of the vessel, A, is provided with
radial grooves, by which the rotary motion of
the vessel is communicated to the glycerine.
To the center of the disk, C, is attached a vertical
rod, which extends downward through
the hollow shaft and is connected with governor
valve. An increase of speed throws the
glycerine toward the periphery of the valve,
and, raising the disk, C, closes the steam valve;
a diminution of speed permits the glycerine to
fall back, when the disk descends and the
valve opens.

STENBERG REGULATOR.

The disk, C, has a small aperture for the
admission and escape of air, and the apparatus
is adjusted by pouring lead into the groove
in the disk.

The regulator shown in Fig. 2 operates upon
the same principle, but it is adjusted by means
of a spring.

This apparatus is manufactured by Blancke
Bros., Magdeburg.—Musée de l’Industrie.

A Strange People.

Botel Tobago is an island in the South Seas
which has lately been visited by a party of
United States naval officers. They were surveying
a rock east of the South Cape of Formosa,
and called at this island. They found
a curious race of Malay stock. These aborigines
did not know what money was good
for. Nor had they ever used tobacco or rum.
They gave the officers goats and pigs for tin
pots and brass buttons, and hung around the
vessel all day in their canoes waiting for a
chance to dive for something which might be thrown overboard.
They wore clouts only, ate taro and yams, and had
axes, spears, and knives made of common iron. Their canoes
were made without nails, and were ornamented with
geometrical lines. They wore the beards of goats and small
shells as ornaments.

Such is the account of these strange people given by
Dr. Siegfried, in a letter read at the last meeting of the
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.

REMEDY FOR THE NEW CARPET BEETLE.

Noticing a statement made by Mr. J. A. Lintner, to the effect
that the Persian insect powder would probably prove unavailing
as a remedy against the ravages of the new carpet
beetle (Anthrenus), W. L. Carpenter, of the U.S.A., was led
to institute some experiments with this well known insecticide,
the results of which he communicates to the current
number of the Naturalist. A small quantity of the powder
was introduced, on the point of a penknife, under a tumbler
beneath which various insects were consecutively confined.
The movements of the insects brought them in contact with
the poison, which readily adhered to their body; in endeavoring
to remove it from their appendages a few particles
would be carried to the mouth and thence to the stomach,
with fatal effect. The results were briefly thus: A honey
bee became helpless in 15 minutes; a mad wasp in 8 minutes;
a small ant in 5 minutes; a large butterfly resisted the effects
for over an hour, and apparently recovered, but died the next
day; a house-fly became helpless in 10 minutes; a mosquito
in 15; and a flea in 3 minutes. In experimenting on beetles,
an insect was secured as nearly the size of the carpet beetle
as could be found. It was easily affected, and became helpless
in 12 minutes.

In these, and experiments with various other insects, the
scent from the powder did not produce any bad effect on
those subjected to its odor where actual contact was not possible;
but when carried to the mandibles the effect was to
produce complete paralysis of the motor nerves. The experiments
prove that all insects having open mouth parts are peculiarly
susceptible to this popular insecticide. As a result,
the writer does not hesitate to recommend the powder to
housekeepers as an infallible agent in destroying the carpet
beetle and preventing its ravages. The Persian insect powder
liberally sprinkled upon the floor before putting down a
carpet, and afterward freely placed around the edges, and
never swept away, will suffice to preserve a large sized carpet.
No ill effects from its use need be feared by the householder,
since the drug is poisonous to no kinds of animals except
insects.

Banana Flour.

The banana has recently found a new use in Venezuela.
It has the property of keeping the soil moist round it, in a
country where sometimes no rain falls for months; so it has
been employed to give freshness, as well as shade, to the
coffee plant, whose cultivation has been greatly extended
(Venezuela produced 38,000,000 kilogrammes of coffee in
1876). The Venezuelans can consume but little of the banana
fruit thus furnished, so that attention is being given to increasing
its value as an export. At the Paris Exhibition
were samples of banana flour (got by drying and pulverizing
the fruit before maturity) and brandy (from the ripe fruit)
The flour has been analyzed by MM. Marcano and Muntz.
It contains 66.1 per cent of starch, and only 2.9 of azotized
matter.

NEW STENCIL PEN.

The accompanying engraving shows new form of stencil
pen invented by Mr. J. W. Brickenridge, of La Fayette, Ind.
In Fig. 1 the entire apparatus is shown in perspective; Fig.
2 is a longitudinal section of the pen; and Fig. 3 is a vertical
section of a portion of the driving apparatus. In this instrument
compressed air is used as a motive force for driving
the perforating needle. The inverted cup, shown in detail
in Fig. 3, has its mouth closed with a flexible diaphragm,
which is vibrated rapidly by a pitman having a convex end
attached by its center to the middle of the diaphragm. The
pitman is reciprocated by a simple treadle motion, which will
be readily understood by reference to Fig. 1.

BRICKENRIDGE’S PNEUMATIC STENCIL PEN.

The cup has a small aperture covered by a valve to admit
of the entrance of air when the diaphragm is drawn down.
The pen, shown in detail in Fig. 2, has a cup and flexible
diaphragm similar to the one already described. The diaphragm
rests upon the enlarged end of a bar which carries at
its lower end a perforating needle. The pen is connected with
the driving mechanism by a flexible tube. The needle bar
is pressed lightly against the diaphragm by a spiral spring.

When the treadle motion is operated the impelling diaphragm
is rapidly vibrated, and through the medium of the
air contained in the flexible tube it communicates motion to
the pen diaphragm and consequently to the needle bar and
needle. If, while the needle is reciprocated in this way, the
pen is moved over the surface of the paper, a line of fine perforations
will be made. With this instrument stencils may
be made for making multiplied copies of maps, drawings,
and manuscripts.

Origin and Progress of Ocean Telegraphy.

At the celebration in this city of the twenty-fifth anniversary
of the formation of the company for laying the
first Atlantic cable, Monday, March 10, the projector of the
enterprise, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, spoke as follows:

Neighbors and Friends: Twenty-five years ago this
evening, in this house, in this room, and on this table, and
at this very hour, was signed the agreement to form the
New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company—the
first company ever formed to lay an ocean cable.
It was signed by five persons, four of whom—Peter
Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O.
Roberts, and myself—are here to-night. The
fifth, Mr. Chandler White, died two years
after, and his place was taken by Mr. Wilson
G. Hunt, who is also present. Of my associates,
it is to be said to their honor—as might
have been expected from men of their high
position and character—that they stood by
the undertaking manfully for twelve long
years, through discouragements such as nobody
knows but themselves. Those who
applaud our success know little through what
struggles it was obtained. One disappointment
followed another, till “hope deferred
made the heart sick.” We had little help
from outside, for few had any faith in our
enterprise. But not a man deserted the ship:
all stood by it to the end. My brother Dudley
is also here, who, as the counsel of the company,
was present at the signing of the agreement,
and went with Mr. White and myself
the week after to Newfoundland, to obtain
the charter, and was our legal adviser through
those anxious and troubled years, when success
seemed very doubtful. At St. John’s the
first man to give us a hearty welcome, and
who aided us in obtaining our charter, was
Mr. Edward M. Archibald, then Prime Minister
of Newfoundland, and now for more
than twenty years the honored representative
of Her Majesty’s Government at this port,
who is also here to-night. It is a matter for
grateful acknowledgment that we were spared to see accomplished
the work that we began; and that we meet now,
at the end of a quarter of a century, to look with wonder
at what has been wrought since in other parts of the world.

Our little company came into existence only a few weeks
before the Western Union Telegraph Company, which is entitled
to share in our congratulations, and has kindly brought
a connecting wire into this room, by which we can this
evening communicate with every town and village from the
Atlantic to the Pacific; and by our sea cables, with Europe,
Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, and
South America. While our small circle has been broken by
death but once, very different has it been with the Atlantic
Telegraph Company, which was formed in London in 1856,
to extend our line across the ocean. At its beginning there
were eighteen English and twelve American directors, thirty
in all, of whom twenty-nine have either died or retired from
the board. I alone still remain one of the directors.

Many of the great men of science on both sides of the Atlantic,
who inspired us by their knowledge and their enthusiasm,
have passed away. We have lost Bache, whose Coast
Survey mapped out the whole line of the American shores;
and Maury, who first taught us to find a path through the
depths of the seas; and Berryman, who sounded across the
Atlantic; and Morse; and last, but not least, Henry. Across
the water we miss some who did as much as any men in
their generation to make the name of England great—Faraday
and Wheatstone, Stephenson and Brunel—all of whom
gave us freely of their invaluable counsel, refusing all compensation,
because of the interest which they felt in the solution
of a great problem of science and engineering skill. It
is a proud satisfaction to remember that while the two Governments
aided us so generously with their ships, making
surveys of the ocean, and even carrying our cables in the
first expeditions, such men as these gave their support to an
enterprise which was to unite the two countries, and in the
end to bring the whole world together.

Others there are, among the living and the dead, to whom
we are under great obligations. But I cannot repeat the
long roll of illustrious names. Yet I must pay a passing
tribute to one who was my friend, as he was the steadfast
friend of my country—Richard Cobden. He was one of the
first to look forward with the eye of faith to what has since
come to pass. As long ago as 1851 he had a sort of prophet’s
dream that the ocean might yet be crossed, and advised
Prince Albert to devote the profits of the great London
Exhibition of that year to an attempt thus to unite England
with America. He did not live to see his dream fulfilled.

But though men die, their works, their discoveries, and
their inventions live. From that small beginning under this
roof, arose an art till then scarcely known, that of telegraphing
through the depths of the sea. Twenty-five years ago
there was not an ocean cable in the world. A few short
lines had been laid across the channel from England to the
Continent, but all were in shallow water. Even science
hardly dared to conceive of the possibility of sending human
intelligence through the abysses of the ocean. But when we
struck out to cross the Atlantic, we had to lay a cable over
2,000 miles long, in water over 2 miles deep. That great
success gave an immense impulse to submarine telegraphy
then in its infancy, but which has since grown till it has
stretched out its fingers tipped with fire into all the waters
of the globe. “Its lines have gone into all the earth, and its
words to the ends of the world.” To-day there are over
70,000 miles of cable, crossing the seas and the oceans. And,
as if it were not enough to have messages sent with the
speed of lightning, they must be sent in opposite directions
at the same moment. I have just received a telegram from
Valentia, Ireland, which reads, “This anniversary witnesses
duplex working across the Atlantic as an accomplished
fact”—by which the capacity of all our ocean cables is
doubled.

Who can measure the effect of this swift intelligence passing
to and fro? Already it regulates the markets of the
world. But better still is the new relation into which it
brings the different kindreds of mankind. Nations are made
enemies by their ignorance of each other. A better acquaintance
leads to a better understanding; the sense of nearness,
the relation of neighborhood, awakens the feeling of brotherhood.
Is it not a sign that a better age is coming, when
along the ocean beds strewn with the wrecks of war, now
glide the messages of peace?

One thing only remains which I still hope to be spared to
see, and in which to take a part, the laying of a cable from
San Francisco to the Sandwich Islands—for which I have
received this very day a concession from King Kalakaua, by
his Minister, who is here to night—and from thence to Japan,
by which the island groups of the Pacific may be brought
into communication with the continents on either side—Asia
and America—thus completing the circuit of the globe.

But life is passing, and perhaps that is to be left to other
hands. Many of our old companions have fallen, and we
must soon give place to our successors. But though we
shall pass away, it is a satisfaction to have been able to
do something that shall remain when we are gone. If in
what I have done to advance this enterprise, I have done
something for the honor of my country and the good of the
world, I am devoutly grateful to my Creator. This has
been the great ambition of my life, and is the chief inheritance
which I leave to my children.

Correspondence.

The Gary Motor.

To the Editor of the Scientific American:

In your article on the “Gary Motor,” issue of March 8,
page 144, you say: “There is no neutral line in the sense
that polarity changes when Mr. Gary moves his piece of
sheet iron with its attached shingle nail across the pole or
near the pole of a magnet.” “The most delicate instruments
fail to detect such a change of polarity,” etc. Mr.
Gary’s claim of a neutral line is of course absurd, but you
are wrong in saying that the polarity does not change under
the conditions described in the Harper’s Monthly article.
Mr. Gary is perfectly correct in claiming a change of polarity
in that experiment, although his other claim of deriving
from this change of polarity a continuous motion without
consuming energy are manifestly absurd.

The change of polarity is easily explained. If a bar of
soft iron, whose length is two or
three times the distance between
the poles of the horseshoe magnet,
be placed in front of the latter as
in the sketch, and at some distance,
poles will be induced, as shown by
the letters N S. Now let the bar
approach the magnet. When
within a short distance consequent
points will be formed and the polarity
at the ends will be reversed,
the bar having four poles, as in the second sketch. The
bar of soft iron must have certain dimensions depending
on the size and power of the horseshoe
magnet. By using a powerful
electro-magnet in place of a
permanent one, a soft iron bar of
considerable size may be used, and
the change of polarity exhibited by
showing the repulsion in one case for
the south pole and in the other for
the north pole of a heavy permanent
magnet. When in the proper
position a very small movement of
the soft iron bar is sufficient to produce the change.

Wm. A. Anthony.

Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., March 2, 1879.

Gary’s Neutral Line.

To the Editor of the Scientific American:

I have just read the article in the issue of March 8, on the
Gary Motor, and cannot refrain from offering a suggestion
on the subject. When I read the article referred to in Harper’s,
I formed the same opinion of the so-called invention
that the writer in the Scientific American has expressed,
and, in the main, such is my opinion still. I, however,
tried the experiment by which Gary claims to prove the existence
of his neutral line, and soon found the same explanation
that the writer in the American has given. I then,
curiously enough, modified the experiment in precisely the
manner he suggests, placing the magnet in a vertical position,
and using first a piece of sheet iron and then an iron
wire under it. This was before seeing the article in the
Scientific American. My experiment is well illustrated
by the writer’s diagram, except that the nail should be at
the end of the iron wire, where its polarity is of course
most strongly marked. But the result is not as he states it.
For, as the wire is brought up toward the magnet, the nail
drops off before the wire touches the magnet. When the
sheet iron is used, the point at which the nail drops off is
farther from the magnet than in the case of the wire, and
when it is brought nearer it will again pick up the nail,
which then continues to cling until the iron touches the
magnet and afterwards. Thus the existence of a line in
which the soft iron, or induced
magnet, does not attract the
nail, and above and below which
it does attract it, is demonstrated.
That the polarity of the induced
magnet is reversed when it
crosses this line may be demonstrated
as follows: When it
is held beyond (or below) this line
(Fig. 1), the negative pole of the permanent
magnet, the positive being
kept at a distance, may be made to approach the iron and
touch it, without causing the nail to drop. (Fig. 3.) But when
contact occurs, the whole of the iron must possess the polarity
of that part of the magnet which it touches, namely,
negative. Hence in the position indicated in Fig. 1, the polarity
of the induced magnet does not correspond with that of
the permanent magnet, but is
as indicated by the letters.
On the other hand, if the positive
pole alone be made to approach,
the nail will drop; but when it
is very near, or in contact, it
again holds the nail, and the
iron is now positive; and if the
negative pole also be now
brought into contact, the polarity
of the soft iron will correspond with that of the magnet,
as shown in Fig. 2.

These experiments should be performed with the soft iron
under both poles of the magnet, and the ends of the former
should extend somewhat beyond the poles of the latter, or
the nail is liable to jump to the magnet as the “neutral”
line is crossed. The position of the letters in Fig. 1, of the
previous article, represents the polarity
of the induced magnet to
be the same as that of the permanent,
which is true only within (or
above) the line described; and this,
together with his statement that no
such line can be discovered, appears
to indicate that the writer relied
upon his knowledge of the laws
of magnetism to state what would
be the result, without testing it experimentally.
It is probable that this reversal of polarity is
susceptible of explanation by the known laws of magnetic
currents, but if it has hitherto escaped observation, its discovery
is certainly deserving of notice, and may lead to
valuable results. Of the fact, any one may easily convince
himself by the simple experiments above described.

G. H. FELTON, M.D.

Haverhill, Mass., February 28, 1879.

Pneumatic Clocks.

To the Editor of the Scientific American:

In the description of the pneumatic clock, copied from La
Nature, and published in your journal of date 1st of March,
the invention is credited to me. Such is not the case. By an
arrangement between Mr. Wenzel, Mr. Brandon of Paris, and
myself, patents have been obtained in France, England, etc.,
for the clock, and issued in my name; but the honor of the
invention belongs exclusively to Hermann J. Wenzel, of San
Francisco.

Yours faithfully,

E. J. Muybridge.

San Francisco, Cal., February 27, 1879.

The Ice Cave of Decorah, Iowa.

To the Editor of the Scientific American:

Some years ago I visited the “Ice Cave” of Decorah,
Winneshiek county, Iowa, and having since been unable to
receive any explanation of the wonderful phenomenon exhibited
by it, I write, hoping that you or some correspondent
may explain the paradox.

The thriving town of Decorah lies in a romantic valley of
the Upper Iowa River, and the cave is almost within its corporate
limits. Following the left bank of the stream, one
soon reaches the vicinity, and with a hard scramble through
a loose shale, up the side of a precipitous hill, forming the
immediate bank of the river, the entrance is gained—an opening
5 feet wide and 8 feet high. These dimensions generally
describe the cave’s section. From the entrance the course is
a steep decline—seldom less than 40°. At times the ceiling
is so low that progress on hands and knees is necessary.
About 125 feet from the entrance the “Ice Chamber” is
reached. At this spot the cave widens into a well proportioned
room, 8 by 12 feet. The floor is solid ice of unknown
thickness, and on the right hand wall of the room a curtain
of ice drops to the floor, from a crevice extending horizontally
in the rock at the height of one’s eyes. Close examination
discovers the water oozing from this crevice, and as it
finds its way down the side it freezes in the low temperature
of the chamber. Singularly this one crevice, and that no
wider than a knife edge, furnishes this, nature’s ice house,
with the necessary water. It was a hot day in August, the
thermometer marking 80° in the shade when the visit was
made, and comparatively the cold was intense. In common
with all visitors, we detached some large pieces of ice and
with them hurriedly departed, glad to regain the warmth of
the outside world.

The most remarkable fact in connection with this wonder
is that the water only freezes in the summer. As the cold of
actual winter comes on the ice of the cave gradually melts,
and when the river below is frozen by the fierce cold of
Northern Iowa, the ice has disappeared and a muddy slush has
taken the place of the frigid floor. I would add that the ice
chamber forms the terminus of the cave. Beyond a shallow
crevice in the crumbling rock forbids further advance. The
rock formation of this region is the Portland sandstone.

Why should the temperature of the ice chamber be such
as to freeze the water trickling into it? And above all,
why should the ice disappear with the cold of winter?

Mansfield, O.         H. M. W.

THE WRITING TELEGRAPH.

On the evening of February 26, 1879, the writing telegraph
of Mr. E. A. Cowper, of London, was exhibited in operation
before the Society of Telegraph Engineers, in
that city. It is a curious and remarkable invention.
By its use the handwriting of the
operator may be transmitted, but a double
circuit, that is, two telegraph wires, are used.
The operator moves with his hand an upright
pointer or stylus, with which he writes the
message on paper. The stylus has two arms
connected with it, one of which arms, when
the stylus makes an upward movement,
causes a current to be sent over one wire,
while the other arm causes a current to pass
over the other wire when the stylus is moved
laterally. These two motions are, at the receiving
end of the line, made to operate on
the needles of galvanometers, and the latter
are by silk threads combined or connected
with a delicately suspended ink tube, from
which a minute stream of ink falls upon the
strip of paper below it; the arrangement
being such that the combined motions of the
galvanometers so move the ink pen as to
make it correspond to the motion of the
stylus at the sending end. The apparatus is
said to work very well, and it is expected that
it will form a useful adjunct to the art of
telegraphy. We present herewith a facsimile
of writing done by this new instrument,
which has been worked with success over a
line of forty miles length. It is hardly probable
that it can compete in rapidity with
some of the telegraph instruments now in use;
but for many purposes it is likely to become
important, while in point of ingenuity it is
certainly a great achievement, and the author
is deserving of the highest credit.

A Rare Geological Specimen.

Rev. R. M. Luther, while absent in attendance
upon the Missionary Convention, held in
Addison, Vt., obtained through the kindness
of the Rev. Mr. Nott a rare and curious geological
specimen from the shores of Lake
Champlain. It is a slab of limestone, about
eleven inches long by six inches wide, which
seems to be composed almost entirely of fossils.
There is not half an inch square of the
surface which does not show a fossil. There
are many varieties, some of which have not
been identified, but among those which have
been are many remains of the Trinucleus conceniricus,
some specimens of Petraia, fragments
of the Orthis, a number of Discinæ,
several well preserved specimens of Leptenæ,
and impressions of Lingula. The latter is the
only shell which has existed from the first
dawn of life until the present time without
change. The specimens of existing Lingula
are precisely similar to those found in the
earliest geological formations. There are
also in the slab several rare specimens of
seaweed, remains of which are seldom found
at so early an age in the geological history
of the world. The slab belongs to the lower
Silurian formation, the first in which organic remains are
found. It is probably from the Trenton epoch of that
age. If geologists can be trusted, at the time the little animals,
whose remains are thus preserved, were living, the
only part of this continent which had appeared above the
primeval ocean was a strip of land along the present St. Lawrence
River and the northern shores of the great lakes, with
a promontory reaching out toward the Adirondacks, and a
few islands along what is now the Atlantic coast line.—Bennington
(Vt.) Banner.

COWPER’S WRITING TELEGRAPH.

The most recent of the brilliant series of telegraphic marvels
which has from time to time, and especially of late,
engaged the attention of the world, is the “telegraphic
pen” of Mr. E. A. Cowper, the well known engineer of Great
George street, Westminster. This ingenious apparatus,
which constitutes the first real telegraph, was publicly
shown by its inventor at the meeting of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers on Wednesday, February 26.

There had been no lack of copying telegraphs hitherto.
We have Bakewell’s, Casselli’s, Meyer’s, and D’Arlincourt’s,
so recently tried at our General Post Office by Mr. Preece.
All of these instruments telegraph an almost perfect copy of
the writing or sketch submitted to them by means of synchronous
mechanism. But the process is necessarily complex
and slow; whereas by the new device a person may
take the writing pencil in his hand, and himself transmit
his message in the act of writing it.

The principle which guided Mr. Cowper to a solution of
the problem which he has successfully overcome, is the well
known mathematical fact that the position of any point in
a curve can be determined by its distance from two rectangular
co-ordinates. It follows, then, that every position of
the point of a pencil, stylus, or pen, as it forms a letter, can
be determined by its distance from two fixed lines, say the
adjacent edges of the paper. Moreover it is obvious that if
these distances could be transmitted by telegraph and recombined
so as to give a resultant motion to a duplicate pen,
a duplicate copy of the original writing would be produced.
But inasmuch as the writing stylus moves continuously over
the paper, the process of transmission would require to be
a continuous one; that is to say, the current traversing the
telegraph line, and conveying the distances in question (or
what comes to the same thing, the up and down, and direct
sidelong ranges of the stylus) would require to vary continuously
in accordance with the range to be transmitted.

Mr. Cowper effects this by employing two separate telegraphic
circuits,
each with its
own wire, battery,
sending, and
receiving apparatus.
One of
these circuits is
made to transmit
the up and
down component
writing of
the pencil’s motion,
while the
other simultaneously
transmits
its sidelong
component. At
the receiving
station these two
components are
then recomposed
by a pantograph
arrangement of
taut cords, or
levers, and the
resultant motion
is communicated
to the duplicate
pen at that place.
The plan adopted
by Mr. Cowper
to transmit
each continuously
varying component
is to
cause the resistance
of the circuit
to vary very
closely with the
component in
question. Fig.
5 shows how the
apparatus is
theoretically arranged
for this
purpose. P is
the writing style, which is held in the writer’s hand in the ordinary
way, while he shapes the letters one by one on paper
pulled uniformly underneath by means of clockwork. To
P are attached, at right angles, two arms, a a, one for each
circuit; but as it is only necessary to consider one of the
circuits, say that sending up and down motions, we will confine
our attention for the present to the arm, a. One pole
of the sending battery, B, is connected to the arm, a, the
other pole being connected to earth. Now the arm, a, is
fitted with a sliding contact at its free extremity, and as the
pencil, P, is moved in writing, a slides lengthwise across
the edges of a series of thin metal contact plates, C, insulated
from each other by paraffined paper. Between each
pair of these plates there is a resistance coil, C, and the last
of these is connected through the last plate to the line, L.
It will be seen that as a slides outward across the plates the
current from the battery has to pass through fewer coils,
since a short-circuits a number of coils proportional to its
motion. But the fewer of these coils in circuit the stronger
will be the current in the line; so that the extent of the motion
of the arm, a, in the direction of its length, that is to
say, the direct component of the motion of the pencil along
the line of the arm, a, is attended by a corresponding change
in the current traversing the line. If the pencil makes a
long up and down stroke there will be a strong current in
the line, if a short one there will be a weak current, and so
on. A precisely similar arrangement is used to transmit the
sidelong motion of the pencil along the line, L.

Fig. 5.

The current from the line, L, flows at the receiving station
through a powerful galvanometer, G, to earth. The galvanometer
has a stout needle, one tip of which is connected
to a duplicate pen, P, by a thread, t, which is kept taut by
a second thread stretched by a spring, s‘. The current from
the line, L’, flows through a similar galvanometer, G’, to
earth. The needle of G’ is also connected to the pen, P, by
a taut thread, t‘, stretched by means of the spring, s. Now,
since the needle of each of these galvanometers deflects in
proportion to the strength of the current flowing through its
coil, the points of these two needles keep moving with the
varying currents. But since these currents vary the motions
of the sending pen, the receiving pen controlled by the
united movements of the needles will trace out a close copy
of the original writing. We give on another page a facsimile
of a sentence written by Mr. Cowper’s telegraph.

THE COWPER WRITING TELEGRAPH.

The receiving pen is a fine glass siphon, drawing off aniline
ink from a small glass holder. There are thirty-two
coils, C, in each circuit, with a corresponding number of
contact plates, c, so as to get accuracy of working. A few
Daniell’s cells are sufficient to operate the apparatus, and
writing has been already sent successfully over a line 40
miles in length. The writing may be received either of the
same size or larger or smaller than the original, as the case
may be. At present the writing must not be too hurried,
that is, unless the characters are bold and well formed; but
further improvement will, of course, quicken the working of
the apparatus.

The engravings, Figs. 1 to 4, illustrate the actual apparatus.
Fig. 4 is a plan of the sending instrument, with the
writing pencil, a, the traveling paper, b, the light connecting
rods or arms, d (which correspond to a in the theoretical
diagram above), the series of metal contact plates over
which these arms slide, the resistance coils connected to
these plates, and the battery and line wires. It will be seen
that each arm, d, is connected to its particular battery, and
each set of contact plates to its particular line. Fig. 3
is an elevation of the sending instrument, in which
a is the pencil as before, c c the contact plates over which
the arms, d d, slide, f f the coils, and b the traveling slip of
paper.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the receiving instrument, in which h h
are the light pivoted needles surrounded by coils of fine insulated
copper wires, i i, and controlled in their zero position
by the electro-magnets, j j j j, placed underneath, the
whole forming a pair of galvanoscopes or current detecters,
one for each line. It will be understood that the varying
currents from the lines are allowed to flow through the coils,
i i, so as to deflect the needles, and that the deflections of
the needles follow, so to speak, the variations of the currents.
The electro-magnets are magnetized by a local battery;
permanent magnets might, however, take their place
with a gain in simplicity.

Now the writing pen, k, is connected to the nearest tip of
the needle, h, of each galvanoscope by threads, n n, which
are kept taut by the fibers, o₁ o₂ o₃, the springs, o, and the
pins, o₄. In this way the motions of the needles are recombined
in the motion of the duplicate pen upon the paper, p.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the receiving instrument, in which
i i are the coils as before, j j j j the controlling electro-magnets,
k is the writing siphon dipping with its short leg into
the ink well, m, and l is the bridge from which the writing
siphon is suspended by means of a thread and spring. The
long leg of the siphon reaches down to the surface of the
paper, p, which is pulled along beneath it in contact with
the film of ink filling the point of the tube. When the siphon
is at rest its point marks a zero line along the middle
of the paper, but when the receiver is working, the siphon
point forms each letter of the message upon the paper as it
passes.—Engineering.

ALUMINUM.

The splendid exhibit of the French aluminum manufacturers
at the late
Exhibition has
again called attention
to that
metal, which is
so admirably
adapted to many
purposes on account
of its great
lightness and its
stability under
the influence of
the atmosphere.
While aluminum
industry has
heretofore been
thought to be
confined to
France solely,
we are now
told by Mr. C.
Bambery, in the
Annual Report
of the Society of
Berlin Instrument
Makers,
that for some
years past aluminum
has been
extensively manufactured
in
Berlin.

Three firms especially
(Stückradt,
Häcke, and
Schultze) are engaged
in this
branch of industry.

The articles manufactured
principally
are nautical
instruments,
as sextants, compasses,
etc. The
German navy is
supplied throughout with aluminum instruments. As a
proof of the superiority of German aluminum, it may here
be mentioned that the normal sets of weights and balances
used by the International Commission for the regulation
of weights and measures, which lately was in session at
Paris, were obtained from Stückradt, in Berlin, and not
from any of the firms at Paris, the reputed seat of aluminum
industry.

Aluminum is, in Berlin, generally used pure, and cast
pieces only are composed of aluminum containing about 5
per cent of silver.

Nevertheless the use of aluminum will remain limited,
even in case the cost of manufacturing it could be materially
reduced, until some method shall have been discovered by
which aluminum may be soldered.

This difficulty has, in spite of all efforts, not yet
been overcome, and for some purposes, to which the
metal would otherwise be well adapted, it remains so far
unavailable. Here then is a chance for some ingenious
mind.

AN IMPROVED DOOR BOLT.

The accompanying engraving represents, in perspective
and in section, an improved door bolt, recently patented by
Mr. Thomas Hoesly, of New Glaras, Wis.

HOESLY’S DOOR BOLT.

The principal features of this bolt will be understood by
reference to the engraving. On the plate or body are cast
two loops or guides for the bolt, and the plate is slotted under
the bolt, and a lug projects into the slot and bears against
a spring contained by a small casing riveted to the back
of the plate. The end of the bolt is beveled, and its operation
is similar to that of the ordinary door latch. Two
handles are provided, one of which is of sufficient length to
reach through the door, and a pawl or dog accompanies the
bolt, which may be attached to the door with a single screw,
and is to be used in locking the door. The bolt is very simple
and strong, suitable for shops, out-buildings such as
barns, stables, etc., and some of the doors of dwellings.

Further information may be obtained by addressing the
inventor, as above.

Chimney Flues.

Messrs. W. H. Jackson & Co., of this city, whose long
experience in treating refractory flues gives weight to their
opinion, communicate to the American Architect the following
useful information:

To secure a good draught the chimney should be of sufficient
size, should be carried up above surrounding objects,
should be as straight as possible throughout its length, and
should be as smooth as possible inside, to avoid friction. As
a draught is caused by unequal temperatures, the chimney
should be so arranged as to
avoid a rapid radiation of
heat. If in an exterior wall
there should be at least 8 inches
of brickwork between
the flue and the exterior surface.
For country houses it
is much better to have the
chimneys run up through the
interior, as the flue is more
easily kept warm, and the
heat that is radiated helps to
warm the house. The most
frequent cause of a “smoky
chimney” is the insufficient
size of the flue for the grate
or fireplace connected therewith.
The flue should not
be less than one eighth the
capacity of the square of the
width and height of the grate
or fireplace. That is, if the
grate has a front opening 20
inches wide and 26 inches
high, the flue should be 8 in.
x 8 in.; or, with an opening
36 inches wide and 32 inches
high, the flue should be 12 in.
x 12 in.; and, to get the best
result, the opening into the
flue from the grate or fireplace
should be of a less number
of square inches than the
square of the flue, and never
larger, as no more air should
be admitted at the inlet than can be carried through the flue.
Where there is more than one inlet to the same flue, the sum
of all the inlets should not more than equal the size of the
flue. A number of stoves may be connected with the same
flue, one above another, if this rule is observed.

A square flue is better than a narrow one, as in two
flues containing the same number of square inches the
square flue would have the smallest amount of wall surface,
and consequently less friction for the ascending currents,
and less absorption of heat by the walls. Chimneys should
be closely built, having no cracks nor openings through
which external air may be drawn to weaken the draught.
If they could be made throughout their length as impervious
to air as a tube of glass, with interior surface as smooth,
one cause of smoky chimneys would be removed. A downward
current of air is frequently caused by some contiguous
object higher than the chimney, against which the wind
strikes. This higher object may sometimes be quite a distance
from the chimney, and still affect it badly. A good
chimney top constructed to prevent a down draught will
remedy this difficulty. Each grate or fireplace should have
a flue to itself. Under very favorable conditions, two grates
or fireplaces might be connected with the same flue, but it is
not a good plan. We have known grates and fireplaces connected
with two flues, where they have been built under a
window for instance, and, owing to there being insufficient
room for a flue of suitable size, a flue has been run up on
each side of the window. This is a very bad plan, and
never can work well; it requires too much heat to warm both
flues, and if the room in which the grate or fireplace is situated
should be pretty close, so that there was no other entrance
for air, there is danger that it would circulate down
one flue and up the other, forcing smoke out of the fireplace
into the room.

IMPROVED FURNACE FOR BURNING GARBAGE.

The refuse matter and garbage of large cities is in the main
composed of animal and vegetable offal of the kitchens; of
the sweepings of warehouses, manufactories, saloons, groceries,
public and private houses; of straw, sawdust, old bedding,
tobacco stems, ashes, old boots, shoes, tin cans, bottles,
rags, and feathers; dead cats, dogs, and other small animals;
of the dust and sweepings of the streets, the condemned fruit,
vegetables, meat, and fish of the markets, all of which compose
a mass of the most obnoxious and unhealthy matter that
can be deposited near human habitations.

The inventor of the furnace shown in the accompanying
engravings aims to produce a change of form and of chemical
nature and a great reduction in bulk of all such refuse
and garbage within the limits of the city where it accumulates,
without screening, separating, preparing, or mixing,
without the expense of using other fuel, without any offensive
odors being generated in the operation, and to produce
an entirely unobjectionable residuum or product that may be
made useful.

Fig. 1.—FOOTE’S FURNACE FOR BURNING GARBAGE.

As a rule organic matter largely preponderates in the refuse,
being as high in some instances as 94 per cent. There
is always more than enough to generate sufficient heat to fuse
the earthy or inorganic portion, which is mainly composed
of sand, clay, and the alkalies from the coal and vegetable
ashes, etc.

By producing a high degree of heat in the combustion of
the organic portion of the refuse with a forced blast or forced
draught, the non-combustible elements are fused, and form a
vitreous slag, which is entirely inodorous and unobjectionable,
and which may be utilized for many purposes.

The upper section or cone of the consuming furnace is built
of boiler iron, and lined with fire brick resting upon an iron
plate, which is supported by iron columns.

The hearth is made of fire brick, and is in the form of an
inverted cone, being smaller at the bottom and larger at the
top, as shown in Fig. 2.

The sides of the hearth are perforated near the bottom with
arches for the tuyeres or blast pipes, and also in front for the
special blast pipe and the tapping hole. The top of the furnace
is closed with an iron plate, provided with a circular
opening, through which the hopper enters the top of the
furnace.

At the left in the larger engraving is seen an elevator, operated
by a steam engine, for conveying the garbage and refuse
to a platform, whence it is projected into the furnace
by an inclined plane or chute.

Gas or smoke conductors convey the gas from the top of
the furnace to the furnace of the boiler and to the heating
oven, where it is used in heating air, which is conveyed
through the iron pipes passing through the heating oven into
a wind box, from which it enters the furnace at several points
near the bottom by means of the tuyere pipes.

SECTION OF FURNACE.

The consumption of the garbage is effected near the bottom
of the furnace, where the air is forced in, and is continued
as long as the blast is applied, and while burning at the base
it is continually sinking down at the top, so that it is necessary
to keep filling all the time. The odoriferous gases and
the hot products of such combustion are forced upward
through the superimposed mass, and escape to the fires of
the boiler and heating oven, and, being largely composed of
carbonic oxide and the hydrocarbon gases distilled from the
animal and vegetable offal of the garbage, are thoroughly
consumed; and it is said that by this means not only are all
the offensive odors destroyed, but the heat generated is utilized
for making steam and heating the air used for blast.

The refuse in its descent through the high furnace is exposed
to the drying action of the hot gases of distillation and
the hot products of combustion, its temperature increasing in
its descent the nearer it approaches the tuyeres, and becomes
completely desiccated and combustible when it reaches the
blast. The high heat in this
way obtained by the combustion
of the organic portion
melts all of the inorganic
portion, forming a vitreous
slag or glass, which may be
allowed to run continuously,
or by closing the tap may be
allowed to accumulate, and
can be drawn off at intervals.
If there is an adequate supply
of clay and sand in the refuse
to combine with the ashes, the
slag will run hot and free.
The combination of silex or
alumina and an alkali in
proper portions always yields
a fusible, easy-running compound.

The molten slag, as it runs
from the furnace, may be discharged
into tanks of cold
water, which will pulverize
or granulate it, making it like
fine sand, or as it pours over
a runner, through which it
flows, if struck with a forcible
air or steam blast it will
be spun into fine thread-like
wool.

The furnace once lighted
and started may be kept
running day and night continuously
for days, months, or
years, if desired; but if it
becomes necessary to stop at any time, the tuyere pipes
may be removed and the holes all stopped with clay,
so as to entirely shut off the supply of air, and it will then
hold in fire for many days, and will be in readiness to start
again at any time the pipes are replaced and the blast
turned on.

This furnace is the invention of Mr. Henry R. Foote, of
Stamford, Conn.

AN ANCIENT GREEK VASE.

The vase shown in the accompanying engravings must not
be classed with ordinary ceramic ware, as it is a veritable
work of art. It is the celebrated cup of Arcesilaus, which
is preserved in the collection of the library of Richelieu
street after having figured in the Durand Museum. It was
found at Vulsei, in Etruria. It was made by a potter of
Cyrene, the capital of Cyrenaica, founded by Greeks from
the island of Thera. It is remarkable that Cyrene, removed
from the center of Grecian manufacture, should possess a
manufactory of painted vases from which have come so
many works of art. The traveler, Paul Lucas, discovered
in the necropolis of Cyrene, in 1714, many antique vases,
both in the tombs and in the soil. One of them is still
preserved in the Museum at Leyden. The Arcesilaus, who is
represented on this vase, is not the celebrated skeptical philosopher
of that name; it is Arcesilaus, King of Cyrenaica,
who was sung by Pindar, and who was vanquished
in the Pythian games under the
80th Olympiad (458 years B.C.).

The height of this vase is 25 centimeters,
its diameter 28 centimeters. The paste is
very fine, of a pale red. It is entirely coated
with a black groundwork, which has been
generally re-covered with a yellowish white
clay, baked on.

According to M. Brongniart, this piece has
been subjected to the baking process at least
two or three times, thus indicating that the
ceramic art had made considerable progress
in Cyrene even at that remote epoch.

The following description of this vase is
given in the catalogue of the Durand Museum:
The King Arcesilaus is seated under a
pavilion upon the deck of a ship. His head is
covered with a kind of hat with a large brim,
and his hair hangs down upon his shoulders.
He is clothed in a white tunic and embroidered
cloak or mantle, and he carries a scepter in
his left hand; under his seat is a leopard, and
his right hand he holds toward a young man,
who makes the same gesture, and he is weighing
in a large scale assafœtida, which is being
let down into the hold of the ship. We know
that he deals with assafœtida because one of
the personages (the one who lifts up his arm
toward the beam of the scale) holds in his
right hand something resembling that which
is in the scale, and the Greek word traced
near it signifies “that which prepares silphium.”
Assafœtida, the resinous matter of
the silphium, is used largely by the Greeks in
the preparation of their food. The Orientals
to-day make frequent use of it and call it the delight of the
gods; while in Europe, because of its repulsive odor, it has
long been designated as stircus diaboli.

Fig. 1.—ANCIENT GREEK VASE.

Fig. 2.—TOP OF GREEK VASE.

Snow-Raised Bread.

Somebody thinks he has discovered that snow, when incorporated
with dough, performs the same office as baking
powder or yeast. “I have this morning for breakfast,” says
a writer in the English Mechanic, “partaken of a snow-raised
bread cake, made last evening as follows: The cake when
baked weighed about three quarters of a pound. A large
tablespoonful of fine, dry, clean snow was intimately stirred
with a spoon into the dry flour, and to this was added a
tablespoonful of caraways and a little butter and salt. Then
sufficient cold water was added to
make the dough of the proper usual
consistence (simply stirred with the
spoon, not kneaded by the warm
hands), and it was immediately put
into a quick oven and baked three
quarters of an hour. It turned out
both light and palatable. The reason,”
adds the writer, “appears to
be this: the light mass of interlaced
snow crystals hold imprisoned
a large quantity of condensed atmospheric
air, which, when the
snow is warmed by thawing very
rapidly in the dough, expands enormously
and acts the part of the carbonic
acid gas in either baking powder
or yeast. I take the precise
action to be, then, not due in any
way to the snow itself, but simply
to the expansion of the fixed air
lodged between the interstices of
the snow crystals by application of
heat. This theory, if carefully
followed out, may perchance give a
clew to a simple and perfectly innocuous
method of raising bread
and pastry.” And stop the discussion as to whether alum
in baking powders is deleterious to health or otherwise.

NEW AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS.

An improved gate, invented by Messrs. P. W. McKinley
and George L. Ellis, of Ripley, O., is designed for general
use. It is operated by cords and pulleys, and can be opened
without dismounting from the horse. It is constructed so
that it cannot sag, and is not liable to get out of order.

An improved apparatus for pressing tobacco has been patented
by Mr. F. B. Deane, of Lynchburg, Va. It consists
mainly in the construction of a suspended jack, arranged to
travel over a row of hogsheads, so that a single jack gives
successively to each hogshead the desired pressure.

An improved combined harrow and corn planter has been
patented by Mr. M. McNitt, of Hanover, Kan. In this machine
the opening, pulverizing, planting, and covering teeth
are combined with a single frame.

A machine, which is adapted to the thrashing and cleaning
of peas and seeds, and for cleaning all kinds of grain, has
been patented by Mr. J. J. Sweatt, of Conyersville, Tenn.

Mr. Amos M. Gooch, of Farmington, W. Va., has patented
an improved corn planter, which drops the fertilizer
simultaneously with the seed, and is provided with a device
for pressing the soil around the seed, leaving over the seed
a portion of loose earth.

An improved machine for harvesting cotton has been patented
by R. H. Pirtle, of Lowe’s, Ky. This machine carries
two vertical cylinders armed with teeth or spurs, and
two inclined endless belts provided with teeth. The teeth
of the cylinders and the belts remove the cotton from the
plants, and deliver it to a receptacle carried by the machine.

Messrs. Julius Fern and Samuel Bligh, of Oneonta, N. Y.,
have patented an improved power for churning and other
purposes where little power is required. It consists in the
combination of a drum and weight, a train of gearing, and
a pallet wheel arranged to oscillate a balanced beam.

An improvement in the class of feed cutters in which two
or more knives work between parallel bars attached to the
cutter box, has been patented by Messrs. J. N. Tatum and
R. C. Harvey, of Danville, Va. The improvement consists
in arranging the knives so that one begins and finishes its
cut in advance of the other.

Mr. William Bradberry, of Darrtown, O., has invented an
improvement in reciprocating churns. The aim of this inventor
is to utilize the resistance of the milk as a source of
power. To accomplish this a peculiar combination of mechanism
is required, which cannot be clearly described without
an engraving.

Reading and Eyesight.

M. Javel, in a recent lecture, tries to answer the question,
“Why is reading a specially fatiguing exercise?” and also
suggests some remedies for this fatigue. First, M. Javel
says reading requires an absolutely permanent application
of eyesight, resulting in a permanent tension of the organ,
which may be measured by the amount of fatigue or by the
production of permanent myopy. Secondly, books are
printed in black on a white ground; the eye is thus in presence
of the most absolute contrast which can be imagined.
The third peculiarity lies in the arrangement of the characters
in horizontal lines, over which we run our eyes. If we
maintain during reading a perfect immobility of the book
and the head, the printed lines are applied successively to
the same parts of the retina, while the interspaces, more
bright, also affect certain regions of the retina, always the
same. There must result from this a fatigue analogous to
that which we experience when we make
experiments in “accidental images,” and
physicists will admit that there is nothing
more disastrous for the sight than the prolonged
contemplation of these images. Lastly,
and most important of all in M. Javel’s
estimation, is the continual variation of the
distance of the eye from the point of fixation
on the book. A simple calculation demonstrates
that the accommodation of the eye to
the page undergoes a distinct variation in
proportion as the eye passes from the beginning
to the end of each line, and that this
variation is all the greater in proportion to
the nearness of the book to the eye and the
length of the line. As to the rules which M.
Javel inculcates in order that the injurious
effects of reading may be avoided, with reference
to the permanent application of the
eyes, he counsels to avoid excess, to take
notes in reading, to stop in order to reflect or
even to roll a cigarette; but not to go on
reading for hours on end without stopping.
As to the contrast between the white of the
paper and the black of the characters, various
experiments have been made in the introduction
of colored papers. M. Javel advises
the adoption of a slightly yellow tint.
But the nature of the yellow to be used is not
a matter of indifference; he would desire a
yellow resulting from the absence of the blue
rays, analogous to that of paper made from
a wood paste, and which is often mistakenly
corrected by the addition of an ultramarine
blue, which produces gray and not white.
M. Javel has been led to this conclusion both
from practical observation and also theoretically from the
relation which must exist between the two eyes and the
colors of the spectrum. His third advice is to give preference
to small volumes which can be held in the hand, which
obviates the necessity of the book being kept fixed in one place,
and the fatigue resulting from accidental images. Lastly,
M. Javel advises the avoidance of too long lines, and therefore
he prefers small volumes, and for the same reason those
journals which are printed in narrow columns. Of course
every one knows that it is exceedingly injurious to read with
insufficient light, or to use too small print, and other common
rules. M. Javel concludes by protesting against an invidious
assertion which has recently been made “in a
neighboring country,” according to which the degree of
civilization of a people is proportional
to the number of the short
sighted shown to exist by statistics;
the extreme economy of light, the
abuse of reading to the detriment
of reflection and the observation of
real facts, the employment of Gothic
characters and of a too broad
column for books and journals, are
the conditions which, M. Javel believes,
lead to myopy, especially if
successive generations have been
subjected to these injurious influences.

Phosphorescence.

M. Nuesch records, in a recent
number of the Journal de Pharmacie,
some curious observations regarding
luminous bacteria in fresh
meat. Some pork cutlets, he found,
illuminated his kitchen so that he
could read the time on his watch.
The butcher who sent the meat told
him the phosphorescence was first
observed in a cellar, where he kept
scraps for making sausages. By
degrees all his meat became phosphorescent, and fresh meat
from distant towns got into the same state. On scratching
the surface or wiping it vigorously, the phosphorescence disappears
for a time; and the butcher wiped carefully the
meat he sent out. All parts of the animal, except the blood,
acquired the phenomenon over their whole surface. The
meat must be fresh; when it ceases to be so, the phosphorescence
ceases, and Bacterium termo appear. None of the
customers had been incommoded. It was remarked that if
a small trace of the phosphorescent matter were put at any
point on the flesh of cats, rabbits, etc., the phosphorescence
gradually spread out from the center, and in three or four
days covered the piece; it disappeared generally on the sixth
or seventh day. Cooked meat did not present the phenomenon
but it could be had in a weak manner, from cooked
albumen or potatoes. No other butcher’s shop in the place
was affected. The author is uncertain whether to attribute
the complete disappearance of the phenomenon to the higher
temperature of the season, or to phenic acid, or to fumigation
with chlorine.

The Charms of Natural Science.

The Earl of Derby, in an address at the Edinburgh University,
said: “Of the gains derivable from natural science
I do not trust myself to speak; my personal knowledge is
too limited, and the subject is too vast. But so much as this
I can say—that those who have in them a real and deep love
of scientific research, whatever their position in other respects,
are so far at least among the happiest of mankind.
…. No passion is so absorbing, no labor is so assuredly
its own reward (well that it is so, for other rewards are
few); and they have the satisfaction of knowing that, while
satisfying one of the deepest wants of their own natures,
they are at the same time promoting in the most effectual
manner the interests of mankind. Scientific discovery has
this advantage over almost every other form of successful
human efforts, that its results are certain, that they are
permanent, that whatever benefits grow out of them are
world-wide. Not many of us can hope to extend the range
of knowledge in however minute a degree; but to know
and to apply the knowledge that has been gained by others,
to have an intelligent appreciation of what is going on
around us, is in itself one of the highest and most enduring
of pleasures.”

The Vesuvius Rail Way.—The Italian Ministry of Public
Works, in union with the Ministry of Finance and the Prefecture
of Naples, has issued the concession for the construction
of the Vesuvius Railway. The line will run along that
part of the mountain which has been proved, after the experience
of many years, to be the least exposed to the eruptions.
The work is to be commenced immediately, and it is believed
that it will come into use during the present year. A
sufficient number of carriages are being built to convey 600
persons during the day. The line is to be constructed upon
an iron bridge, built after a patented system.

The Pottery Tree.

Among the various economic products of the vegetable
kingdom, scarcely any hold a more important place than
barks, whether for medicinal, manufacturing, or other purposes.
The structure and formation of all barks are essentially
very similar, being composed of cellular and fibrous
tissue. The cell contents of these tissues, however, vary
much in different plants; and, for this reason, we have
fibrous or soft, woody, hard, and even stony barks. To explain
everything which relates to the structure of bark
would lead us into long details which our space will not permit.
Briefly stated, the bark of trees (considering,
now, those of our own climate) consists
of three layers. The outermost, called
the “cortical,” is formed of cellular tissue,
and differs widely in consistency in different
species; thus, in the cork oak, which furnishes
man with one of his most useful commercial
products, the cortical layer acquires extraordinary
thickness. The middle layer,
called the “cellular” or “green bark,” is a
cellular mass of a very different nature. The
cells of which it is composed are polyhedral,
thicker, and more loosely joined, and filled
with sap and chlorophyl. The inner layer
(next the wood), called the “liber,” consists
of fibers more or less long and tenacious. It
is from the liber that our most valuable commercial
fibers are obtained. In some plants
the fibrous system prevails throughout the
inner bark; but what we wish to refer to
more particularly at present is a remarkable
example of the harder and more silicious
barks, and which is to be found in the “Pottery
Tree” of Para. This tree, known to the
Spaniards as El Caouta, to the French as Bois
de Fer, to the Brazilians as Caraipe, is the
Moquilea utilis of botanists, and belongs to the
natural order Ternstrœiaceæ. It is very
large, straight, and slender, reaching a height
of 100 feet before branching; its diameter is
from 12 to 15 inches; and its wood is exceedingly
hard from containing much flinty matter.
Although the wood of the tree is exceedingly
sound and durable, the great value of the tree
to the natives exists in the bark for a purpose
which, to say the least, is a novel one in the
application of barks—that of the manufacture
of pottery. The Indians employed in the manufacture
of pottery from this material always keep a stock
of it on hand in their huts for the purpose of drying and seasoning
it, as it then burns more freely, and the ashes can be
gathered with more ease than when fresh. In the process
of manufacturing the pottery the ashes of the bark are powdered
and mixed with the purest clay that can be obtained
from the beds of the rivers; this kind being preferred, as it
takes up a larger quantity of the ash, and thus produces a
stronger kind of ware. Though the proportions of ash and
clay are varied at the will of the maker, and according to
the quality of the bark, a superior kind of pottery is produced
by a mixture of equal parts of fine clay and ashes.
All sorts of vessels of small or large size for household or
other purposes are made of this kind of ware, as are also
vases or ornamental articles, many of which are painted and
glazed. These articles are all very durable, and are able to
stand almost any amount of heat; they are consequently
much used by the natives for boiling eggs, heating milk, and
indeed for culinary purposes generally. A brief glance at
the structure of the bark will show how it comes to be so
well adapted for this purpose. The bark seldom grows more
than half an inch thick, and is covered with a skin or epidermis;
when fresh, it cuts somewhat similar to a soft sandstone,
but when dry, it is very brittle and flint like, and
often difficult to break. On examination of a section under
the microscope, all the cells of the different layers are
seen to be more or less silicated, the silex forming in the
cells when the bark is still very young. In the inner bark
the flint is deposited in a very regular manner, the particles
being straight and giving off branches at right angles; that
of the porous cells of the bark, however, is very much contorted,
and ramifies in all directions. In the best varieties
of the tree, those growing in rich and dry soil, the silex can
be readily detected by the naked eye; but to test the quality
of the various kinds of bark, the natives burn it and then
try its strength between their fingers; if it breaks easily it
is considered of little value, but if it requires a mortar and
pestle to break, its quality is pronounced good. From an
analysis of this singular bark, that of old trees has been
found to give 30.8 per cent of ash, and that of young 23.30
per cent. Of the different layers of old bark, the outer gave
17.15 per cent, the middle 37.7, and the inner 31. The wood
of the tree, in comparison with the bark, is relatively poor
in silex, the duramen of an old tree giving only 2.5 per cent
of silex.

GLASS SPONGES.

The natural history of sponges had, up to the middle of
this century, been comparatively neglected. Until 1856,
when Lieberkuhn published his treatise on sponges, very
little or nothing had been written on the subject. Later,
Haeckel did much to determine their exact nature, and it
is now universally admitted that sponges form one of the
connecting links between the animal and the vegetable kingdom.

Sponges, generally considered, consist of fine porous tissue,
covered, during life, with viscid, semi-liquid protoplasm,
and are held in shape and strengthened by a more or
less rigid skeleton, consisting chiefly of lime or silica. The
tissue consists of a very fine network of threads, formed
probably by gradual solidification of the threads of protoplasm.
The inorganic skeleton is formed by larger and
smaller crystals and crystalline threads. In the various
families of sponges the quantity of inorganic matter varies
greatly; some sponges are nearly devoid of an inorganic
skeleton, while other families consist chiefly of lime or silica,
the organic tissue being only rudimentarily developed.

As observed in their natural state, sponges are apparently
lifeless. When, however, a live sponge is placed in water
containing some finely powdered pigment in suspension, it
will be noticed that in regular, short intervals water is absorbed
through the pores of the tissue and ejected again
through larger openings, which are called “osculæ.” Following
up these into the interior, we find them divided into
numerous branches, the walls of which are, under the microscope,
found to be covered with minute cells, fastened at
one end only and oscillating continually. By means of these
cells the sponge receives its nourishment.

Sponges with very rigid inorganic skeletons may be divided
into two classes—calcareous and silicious—according
to whether the skeleton is chiefly composed of lime or silica.

Our engravings represent two species of the latter kind,
which are, on account of the peculiar appearance
of their skeleton, called glass sponges.

Fig. 1 represents the “sprinkling pot
sponge,” Eucleptella aspergillum. It is generally
found in very deep water throughout the
Pacific. Specimens were found over fifty
years ago, but, as they had to be brought up
from depths between 500 and 800 fathoms,
they remained very scarce and sold at fabulous
prices.

Fig. 1.—SPRINKLING POT SPONGE.—(Eucleptella aspergillum.)

The skeleton is formed by small crystals
and long threads of vitreous silica, cemented
together, during life, by protoplasm. They
are arranged in longitudinal and annular
bands so as to form a long curved cylinder,
about nine to twelve inches long, the walls of
which are about one inch in thickness. The
threads and bands are interwoven with the
greatest regularity, and when the skeleton is
freed from the adhering organic matter, it
looks extremely beautiful.

The mode in which the intersecting bunches
of crystals are connected is shown in Fig.
2. The upper end of the cylinder is closed
by a perforated cover, which probably has
given rise to the name of the sponge. The
upper portion of the cylinder is surrounded
by a few irregular, annular masses of organic
tissue, which adheres loosely only to the
skeleton. The lower end is formed by a
bunch of long threads, rooting firmly in the
ground.

Fig. 2.—SPONGE CRYSTALS MAGNIFIED.

Up to about ten years ago the price of
specimens of this sponge was very high. At
that time, however, a colony of Eucleptellas
was found near the cities of Cebu and Manila,
in the East Indies, in a depth not exceeding
100 fathoms, and since they have appeared in
larger quantities in the market. It is remarkable that, contrary
to their habits, these organisms have immigrated into
regions to which they were totally unaccustomed. Yet it
must be regarded as a greater curiosity that they have been
accompanied to their new abode by a few animals living
in equally deep water and never met with before at depths
less than three or four hundred fathoms. Among these animals
is a Phormosoma (water hedgehog), noted for its long spines.

Glass sponges are not confined to tropical regions. They
are met with in latitudes as high as the Färöe Islands,
where the beautiful Holtenia Carpentaria abounds. It is
represented in Fig. 3. Its cup-shaped skeleton is similar in
structure to that of the Eucleptella; numerous crystalline
needles protrude from the surface of the upper part. Lately
some specimens of Holtenia have been found on the coast of
Florida.

Fig. 3.—HOLTENIA CARPENTERIA.

Glass sponges serve as dwellings for numerous animals,
especially crustaceæ. A small shrimp inhabits the tubes of
the Eucleptella, a male and a female generally living together.
They are shut up as in a prison in their crystalline
home, as they are generally too large to pass through the
meshes formed by the bundles of crystals. It was formerly
believed that these skeletons had actually been built by
the shrimps, and we can find no explanation for this curious
circumstance, other than that the shrimps entered these
habitations while very small and became too
large to leave them.

Plants Protected by Insects.

Mr. Francis Darwin, in a lecture on “Means
of Self-Defense among Plants,” delivered
lately at the London Institution, said that one
of the most curious forms of defense known
is afforded by a recently discovered class of
plants, which, being stingless themselves, are
protected by stinging ants, which make their
home in the plant and defend it against its
enemies. Of these the most remarkable is
the bull’s-horn acacia (described by the late
Mr. Belt in his book “The Naturalist in Nicaragua”),
a shrubby tree with gigantic curved
thorns, from which its name is derived. These
horns are hollow and tenanted by ants, which
bore a hole in them, and the workers may be
seen running about over the green leaves. If
a branch is shaken the ants swarm out of the
thorns and attack the aggressor with their
stings. Their chief service to the plant consists
in defending it against leaf-cutting ants,
which are the great enemy of all vegetation
in that part of America. The latter form
large underground nests, and their work of
destruction consists in gathering leaves, which
they strip to form heaps of material, which
become covered over with a delicate white
fungus, on which the larvæ of the ants are
fed, so that literally they are a colony of
mushroom growers. The special province of
the little stinging ants, which live in the thorns
of the acacia, is, therefore, to protect the
leaves of the shrub from being used by the
leaf-cutters to make mushroom beds. Certain
varieties of the orange tree have leaves
which are distasteful to the leaf-cutters, this
property of the leaves thus forming a means
of defense. Other plants are unaccountably
spared by them—grass, for example, which,
if brought to the nest, is at once thrown out
by some ant in authority. The bull’s-horn
acacia, in return for the service rendered by
the stinging ants, not only affords them shelter
in its thorns, but provides them with nectar
secreted by glands at the base of its leaves,
and also grows for them small yellow pear-shaped
bodies, about one twelfth of an inch
in length, at the tip of some of its leaflets,
which they use as food. These little yellow
bodies are made up of cells containing protoplasm
rich in oil, and afford the insects an excellent food.
When the leaf unfolds, the ants may be seen running from
one leaflet to another, to see if these little yellow bodies are
ripe; and if they are ready to be gathered they are broken
up by the ants and carried away to the nest in the thorn.
Several small birds, also, build their nests in the bull’s horn
acacia, thus escaping from a predatory ant which is capable
of killing young birds. The trumpet tree, another plant of
South and Central America, is also protected by a standing
army of ants; and, like the above mentioned acacia, grows
for its protectors small food bodies containing oil, but instead
of secreting nectar in its leaves it harbors a small insect
(coccus), whose sweet secretion is much relished by the ants.
Dr. Beccari mentions an epiphytal plant growing on trees in
Borneo, the seeds of which germinate, like those of the mistletoe,
on the branches of the tree; and the seedling stem,
crowned by the cotyledons, grows to about an inch in
length, remaining in that condition until a certain species of
ant bites a hole in the stem, which then produces a gall-like
growth that ultimately constitutes the home of the ants. If
the plant is not fortunate enough to be bitten by an ant it
dies. These ants, then, protect their plant home by rushing
out fiercely on intruders, and thus are preserved the sessile
white flowers which, in this plant, are developed on the
tuber like body.

Advance in Iron.—At a meeting of the Philadelphia
Iron Merchants’ Association, March 11, prices of all descriptions
of merchant iron were advanced fully 5 per cent.

The Aneroid Barometer.

The aneroid barometer was invented by M. Vidi, of Paris.
It consists essentially of a circular box, the face of which is
made of thin elastic metal, rendered more elastic by being
stamped and pressed into concentric circular wave-like corrugations.
This box is nearly exhausted of air, and its elastic
face supports the pressure of the atmosphere, and yields
to it with elastic resistance in proportion to the amount of
pressure. Thus, if the atmospheric pressure increases, the
face is pressed inward; if atmospheric pressure diminishes,
the elastic reaction of the metal moves the face outward.
These movements are communicated to an index by suitable
and very delicate mechanism, and registered in largely magnified
dimensions, by the movements of this index upon the
face of the dial.

Aneroid barometers are now made of pocket size, compensated
for temperature, and with double scales, one reading
the height of the barometer column, the other the elevation
obtained. I have, says Prof. W. M. Williams, used one
of these during many years, and find it a very interesting
traveling companion. It is sufficiently sensitive to indicate
the ascent from the ground floor to the upper rooms of a
three-storied house, or to enable the traveler sitting in a
railway train to tell, by watching its face, whether he is
ascending or descending an incline.

Such slight variations are more easily observed on the
aneroid than on the mercurial barometer, and therefore it is
commonly stated that the aneroid is the more sensitive instrument.
This, however, is a fallacious conclusion. It is
not the superior sensitiveness of the movements of the instrument,
but the greater facility of reading them, that gives
this advantage to the aneroid, the index of which has a
needle point traveling nearly in contact with the foot of the
divisions; the readings are further aided by a needle point
register attached to a movable rim, which may be brought
point to point against the index, thus showing the slightest
movement that human vision may detect. A magnifying
lens may be easily used in such a case.

It should be understood that the aneroid barometer is not
an independent instrument; it is merely a device for representing
the movements of the mercurial barometer. It is
regulated by comparison with the primary instrument, and
this comparison should be renewed from time to time, as the
elastic properties of the metal may and do vary.

An adjusting or regulating screw is attached to the
back of the instrument, and is usually movable by a watch
key.

Besides this, the magnified reading of course magnifies
any primary error, and is largely dependent on the accuracy
of the mechanism.

The Albo-Carbon Light.

We need hardly remind our readers that numerous unsuccessful
attempts have been made at various times to enrich
ordinary coal gas by the aid of volatile oils. Upon the present
occasion we have to place before them particulars of a
process having the same object in view, but which is so far
dissimilar in that it deals with a solid substance instead of a
liquid oil. The invention has been brought into its present
practical shape by Mr. James Livesey, C. E., of No. 9 Victoria
Chambers, Westminster, in conjunction with Mr. Kidd,
with whom it originated. The process consists in the employment
of a substance called albo-carbon, which is the solid
residuum of creosote. This material is moulded into the form
of candles, which in large lamps are placed in a metallic vessel
or receiver near the gas burner. The albo-carbon is
warmed by the heat of the burning gas, the heat being transmitted
to the receiver by a metallic conductor. Upon the
albo-carbon being raised to the necessary temperature it volatilizes,
and as the coal gas passes over it to the burner its
vapor becomes mingled with the gas, and greatly raises its
illuminating power. Of course when first lighted the coal
gas only is burned, but in a few minutes the
albo-carbon communicates its enriching vapor
to it. The only alteration necessary to the
present gas fittings is the vaporizing chamber,
which is of simple construction, although at
present the details of the various arrangements
necessary for the different kinds of
lights have not yet been fully worked out.
This invention is now being tried experimentally
in the eastern section of the Westminster
Aquarium, where we recently examined
it, and found it to afford a marked improvement
upon the ordinary system of gas illumination,
although a smaller number of burners
is being used. Tried alternately with ordinary
coal gas, the higher illuminating power
of the albo-carbon light was very remarkable.
It appears that there are 200 burners fitted at
the Aquarium with the new light, and these
successfully take the place of 500 ordinary gas
burners previously in use. The illuminating
effect is stated to be doubled, with an additional
advantage as regards economy. The
reduction of cost arises from the smaller quantity
of gas consumed with the albo-carbon
process than without it, and the very small
cost of the enriching material. According to
our information, 1,000 cubic feet of ordinary
gas as generally used will, by the albo-carbon
appliance, give as much illumination as 3,000
cubic feet without it, and the cost of the material
to produce this result is only 1s. 6d.
Experiments have been made with this light
by Mr. T. W. Keates, the consulting chemist
to the Metropolitan Board of Works, who reports
very favorably upon it, as does also Dr.
Wallace, of Glasgow, who has obtained some
very satisfactory results with it. It is claimed
for the albo-carbon material that it is perfectly
inexplosive, safe and portable, that it causes
no obstruction and leaves no residuum, and
that the receivers can be replenished almost
indefinitely without any accumulation taking
place, so perfect is the evaporation of the albo-carbon.
On the whole the display at the
Aquarium speaks greatly in favor of the new
process of gas enrichment, which, other things
being equal, bids fair to find its way into practice.—Engineering.

English and American Hardware.

Mr. Frederick Smith, Manager of the Union
Land and Building Company (limited), recently
read a paper on the above subject before the Manchester
Scientific and Mechanical Society. Mr. H. Whiley,
Superintendent of the Manchester Health Department, presided.
The following is the text of the paper, as given in
the London Ironmonger. The lecturer said:

A spectator in any of our courts of justice will generally
be struck with the amount of hard swearing which is given
to the court, under the name of evidence. He will find one
set of witnesses testifying, under oath, to one thing, and
another set, also under oath, to the very opposite. Some
prove too much, some too little, some are of a totally negative
character, proving nothing, and some are of no character
at all, and therefore are willing to prove anything. To
some extent the same phenomena are to be observed in reference
to the question of foreign competition. On the one
hand the manufacturers hold up to our affrighted vision
the picture of our mills stopped, our machine shops standing
empty and idle, our hardware trade slipping through our
fingers, our ships rotting in our own and in foreign ports, and
our greatness as a producing nation for ever passed away.
On the other hand, the journalists who take the labor side of
the question, the trades-union leaders, and a large number of
the workmen themselves, hold that we have little or nothing
to fear from our foreign rivals; that the depression, like those
atmospheric ones of which our American cousins are constantly
warning us, will pass away, and leave us with better
times to follow. I will, therefore, as far as possible, keep
out of the region of speculation, give you a few facts, show
you some examples, and leave you to draw your own inferences.
Some two or three years ago ordinary axle pulleys of
English make were difficult to get; the price was scandalously
high, and the quality as scandalously low. Out of a dozen
probably four would not turn round without sticking, and
the casting was—well, simply vile. I show you a sample
rather above the average, and the retail price for this inferior
article was 22s. per gross. All at once the Americans
deluged the English market with the pulley which I now
show to you, and it needs no explanation of mine to satisfy
the mechanical minds present of the superiority of the
transatlantic article; but when we also bear in mind that
the price of the American was from 25 to 33 per cent less
than the English pulley, you can understand how the builders
exulted, and how the Volscians of the Birmingham district
were fluttered. Then, and not till then, would the English
maker condescend to believe that it was possible to improve
upon the wretched things which he had foisted upon
his customers, and he at once commenced to copy the American
pulley. He has not yet succeeded in producing such a
beautiful casting, but I venture to say that he has improved
the quality more in the last eighteen months than in the previous
eighteen years.

Now take the ordinary door furniture. For generations
the English builder and householder has had to be content
with the stereotyped, with all its aggravating propensities.
First, the little screw (so small as to be scarcely perceptible
to touch or to sight) shakes loose from its countersunk depression
in the spindle, gets lost, and lets the knob go adrift;
or next, the knob itself, formed of a bit of sheet brass, turns
round on its shank and the door cannot be opened, or the
shank, not having a sufficient bearing on the spindle, works
loose, and the whole thing is out of repair. It is the same
thing to-day as it was when it tormented my grandfather;
for, of course, no improvement could be made until Uncle
Sam sent us his cheap, strong, serviceable, and sensible
“Mineral Knob.”

The English maker says: “But look at the many devices
which we have invented for door furniture.” Granted, and
some of them very good, but none of them so good as this—for
the money. Plenty of them well adapted for extraordinary
use, but none of them cheap enough and strong enough
to be placed in competition with this in fitting up the dwelling
of the ordinary Englishman. The spindle and furniture
of a lock is the portion which is liable to and receives the
most rough usage.

I have here an ordinary cheap set of china furniture of
English make, which I dare not drop lest I should break it,
but as you see, I dare throw its Yankee competitor the
whole length of this room. The retail price of this English
set is ninepence—the price of the American is less than sixpence.
The English spindle is fitted with the usual little
screw, the knob is loose, the roses are china, and liable to
break with the least strain or blow. The American set, as
you see, has a long shank; the form of the knob is a very
oblate spheroid, giving a good grip and free play for the
fingers between the knob and the door. The rose is japanned
iron, and has small studs or teeth projecting on its inner side
effectually preventing it from turning round with the spindle;
the screw is strong, and is tapped through the spindle
itself, insuring both security and perfect steadiness. Several
small washers are supplied with each spindle, enabling
the slack to be taken up perfectly, and at the same time preventing
the spindle from sticking with any ordinary amount
of friction.

I will now show you a cheap American rim lock. First,
you will notice that both sides are alike. Next, that by pulling
the latch forward it can be turned half round, and is
thereby converted from a right hand to a left hand, or vice
versa, in an instant. This is an important point to a
builder, but our lockmakers do not seem to know it. Several
attempts have been made to introduce locks of this kind,
but the fancy prices put upon every article which departs, in
ever so slight a measure, from the antediluvian patterns
mostly used, practically prohibits their adoption. The carcass
of the lock is of cast iron; the casting, like all the small
American castings, is simply perfect; bosses are cast round
the follower and keyholes; the box staple is one piece of
metal, neat and strong.

But there is another point, and, to my mind, the most important
one. Whatever opinions may be held as to the relative
quality of this lock, whether it is better or worse than
an English one, it is at least an honest article. It makes no
pretensions to be any better than it is. It does not entrap the
unwary purchaser by pretending to be a first-class article,
when at the same time it may be a swindle.

I will now show you an ordinary 6 inch rim-lock of English
manufacture. At a short distance it looks like a superior
article; the follower and keyhole appear as if they were
bushed with brass. But let us take it to pieces, and see
what we can find. The follower is a rough casting, not
turned at the bearings, and is in no sense a fit. The screw
holes are not countersunk, but merely punched in; the key is
of the roughest and worst fitting description; the inside is as
rough and cheap as possible; the key is cut so as to deceive
the purchaser into the belief that there are twice as many
wards in the lock as is really the case, and the bushes prove
to be thin plates of brass riveted on, and not bushes at all.
In short, the whole article is a vile fraud, and the maker was
a swindler. This is strong language, but I think you will
agree with me when I maintain that it is not stronger than
the circumstances warrant.

But there are still its defects of bad design and useless
workmanship. The lock is of the usual form given to the
English rim-lock, that is, it has a flange which requires to be
let into the edge of the door. I have fixed hundreds of them,
and have never yet been able to see a use for this flange. It
is one great obstacle to the general introduction of a reversible
lock; it adds to the labor of fixing without adding to the
security of the door, for if the door is to be forced from the
outside, the box staples give way first; if from the inside, the
unscrewing of the box staple is all that is necessary to give
egress; if the door requires easing, it effectually prevents it
being done—in fact, it is a nuisance, and nothing but a nuisance.
But our lockmakers do not appear to give these things
a thought; their doctrine seems to be, “As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.”

Again, notice that the edges of the iron which lie against
the door and the sham bushes are ground bright. Here is
labor wasted, for as soon as the lock is fixed these polished
portions are hidden for ever. Next, take the box staple. As
is usual, it is fearfully and wonderfully made up of sheet iron,
square iron, and brass; the outcome of which is that the
showy brass striking piece comes unriveted, the door comes
unfastened, and the tenant’s temper comes unhinged. Why,
in the name of common sense, could they not substitute a
neat malleable casting? In our own houses I have long since
discarded the ordinary box staple for draw-back locks, and
find it cheaper to buy a cast iron staple, and throw away the
one supplied by the English lockmaker.

Bear in mind that I have shown neither of these locks as
samples of high-class goods, but as samples of the furniture
fixed in the houses of the working and middle classes of this
country; and when I tell you that the American lock, fitted
with the mineral furniture, is at least 25 per cent cheaper
than the English abortion I have shown to you, you will begin
to realize what our English markets have to fear from
the Americans.

Here is a common, cheap English mortise lock, and you
will naturally ask why the outside of this lock is ground
bright, when it is buried in the door and never seen except it
has to be taken out for repairs. I have asked the same question,
and for 20 years have paused for a reply. This lock is
not reversible, the follower is not bushed, and the inside is
rough and cheap. Contrast it with this neat American lock,
and notice again the bosses to receive the wear; notice also
that the bolts are brass; the latch-bolt is, of course, reversible—I
never saw an American lock which was not. The body
of the lock is cast iron; and, seeing that there are no strains
upon a mortise lock, it is quite as good as if it was of wrought
iron. There is no unnecessary grinding, but the iron is
japanned, and the japan is as much superior to the English
compound as is the lacquer ware of the Japanese to that
which is executed in Birmingham and palmed upon the ignorant
buyer as Japanese work. In fact, as you can see for
yourselves, the English japan looks almost like gas tar beside
the American. This American lock is a two-lever, and
there is no sham about the key, which is made of some kind
of white metal and is small and neat. This lock is only 2½
per cent higher in price than the English.

Before leaving these locks, let me say a word or two upon
the relative wear upon their different portions, and their relative
safety. The English maker appears to ignore the
fact that nineteen-twentieths of the wear of a lock is upon
the latch, spindle, and follower; the amount of actual wear
upon the rest of the lock is comparatively slight. Let any
of you consider the number of times you open and close a
door, compared with the times you lock it. Our drawbacks
and large rim locks are used about once a day; the great
bulk of our mortise locks are not used, except as latches,
once a week. One argument used by our manufacturers
against the American lock is that, being made by machinery,
there is necessarily a great duplication of parts, and a consequent
lowering of the standard of security; while their own
locks, being made by hand, are not alike, and therefore cannot
be so easily opened.

Let any of you put this argument to proof, by trying how
many front doors you can open with one key in a row of
workmen’s dwellings such as are found in Manchester, ranging
up to £25 rentals, and the result will astonish you. If
our own manufacturers made their locks sufficiently well to
give this security, there would be some force in what they
say; but so far as security is concerned, they might as well
make their locks by machinery as make them in the way
they do.

I now show you two thumb latches, one of American and
one of English make. Notice the general finish of the
American latch; the shape, the mode of construction, and
everything about it proves that brains were used when it
was designed and made. The English “Norfolk latch,” on
the other hand, is ill designed, uncomfortable in hand, clumsily
finished, the japan hangs about it in lumps, the latch is
clumsy, the catch is clumsier, and the keeper, a rough piece
of hoop iron, seems as if designed to “keep” the latch from
doing its duty. In this case the American latch is 25 per
cent cheaper than the English one; and the English latch is
of the same pattern as the one that was in use when I was
a boy, only that it is a greatly inferior article.

I will now introduce you to the well known nuisance
which we have been accustomed to use for fastening our
cupboard doors—the cupboard turn—and without further
comment, ask you to compare it with this neat and simple
latch of American make, costing about 5 per cent more,
twice as efficacious, and five times as durable. In this case
no improvement has been made in the English fastener. It
is just as it was when I went to the trade, about 28 years
ago, and although many attempts have been made to improve
it they have added so much to its cost as to prevent
the improved articles from coming into general use.

The difference between the English and American inventor
and designer seems to consist in this—that while an Englishman
devotes all his energies to the improvement of an
existing shape, the American throws the old article under
his bench and commences de novo.

I think I have made out a case against the English hardware
manufacturer, but when I have pointed these matters
out to merchants and ironmongers, I have been met with
various reasons for this manifest inferiority. I do not know
how far these excuses may be valid, but one man says
that the reason, as regards locks, is somewhat as follows:
The locksmiths of the district wherein they are made in
many cases work at their own homes; one man making one
part of a lock, while other men make other parts. This
goes on generation after generation, and the men become
mere machines, not knowing how the entire lock is constructed,
and not caring to know. Another attributes it to
the influence of the trades-unions, and says that if a manufacturer
wants a different kind of lock, the price for the
work is immediately put higher, even though the actual
labor may not be increased. A third says it is due to the
drunkenness of the hands, and their consequent poverty and
physical and social demoralization, which prevents them
from rising to such an intellectual level as will enable them
to see the evils of their system, and adopt the right means
to remove them. A fourth boldly says, “We make these
goods because our customers want them.” How far the reasons
assigned by the first three are correct I am unable to
say, but for the fourth, the extent to which the builders of
England have patronized the Americans is a complete answer.

This defense, “Our customers want them,” is as old as
the hills, and has been used to cover every kind of deception
and inferior article ever manufactured. Our Lancashire
manufacturers use it when they are charged with sending
china clay and mildew (and call it calico) for the mild Hindoo
and the Heathen Chinee to dress themselves in. Our butter
merchants use it when they make up grease and call it
butter; and our hardware merchants use it when they send
us sham locks, and call them brass bushed, etc.

It is the duty of the manufacturer to invent for his customers,
and it is preposterous to say that the builder would
prefer that embodiment of fraud—the English rim-lock, which
I showed to you—to the American lock, which, at any rate,
was an honest article, especially when the latter had the
great advantage of being considerably cheaper. I am afraid
that the swindling and greed of our merchants is having the
effect of thrusting us out of the markets of the world, including
our home markets; and when it is too late, these men
who are making the name of English goods a byword and a
reproach, even among the Hindoos, the Chinese, and the untutored
savages of the South Sea Islands, will find that
“honesty is the best policy.”

We have been accustomed to hear a deal of buncombe talked
about the honesty of the Englishman, and the want of honesty
of the Yankee; about the enterprise of our manufacturers
and the skill of our workmen; but if what I have
shown to you is to be taken as a specimen, it is time we set
our house in order. Since commencing the paper I have
read the discussion between Messrs. Chubb and Hill, and am
at a loss to know why Messrs. Chubb entered into the arena.
If all the English makers tried to reach Chubb’s standard we
should keep our markets, at least so far as high quality is
concerned; and to see Messrs. Chubb acting as champions of
the English lockmakers is something like seeing Messrs.
Horrocks taking up the cudgels for those people who manufacture
china clay and call it calico, the proportion of fiber
in the material being just a little greater than that found in
hair mortar.

In conclusion, I wish it to be understood that I bring
these facts before you in no exultant spirit. I am an Englishman,
and the future welfare of myself and my children
depends very much upon the future of English manufactures;
but we cannot be blind to the fact that the apathy
and conservatism of our manufacturers, the greed of our
Merchants, and the ignorance and drunkenness of our workmen,
are weighing us so heavily in the race for trade that a
member of our own family, whose leading business should
be to produce food for us, is outstripping us with the greatest
ease. Our boasted supremacy as a manufacturing people
is leaving us, and leaving us under such humiliating circumstances—and
if the men of Birmingham and the district are
content to dwell in their present “fools’ paradise,” it is the
duty of every lover of his country to speak as plainly as possible
to them.

Of course I am prepared to be told that as I am not a lockmaker
my opinion is worthless; but I have been about 28
years as man and boy, employer and workman, in the building
trade, and if I have not got to know something about
builders’ hardware during that period, I have made but a
poor use of my time. I do not know if I have added to your
stock of knowledge, but deeming the subject an important
one, I have done the best I could in the time at my
disposal.

In the discussion which followed the opinion of the members
present was unanimously in favor of the American articles
shown to them.

A high Indian official reports that the people of Cashmere
are dying of famine like flies, and at the present rate of mortality
the province will be nearly depopulated by the end of
the year.

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The Lathes, Planers, Drills, and other Tools, new and
second-hand, of the Wood & Light Machine Company,
Worcester, are to be sold out very low by the George
Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St., New York.

Hydraulic Presses and Jacks, new and second hand.
Lathes and Machinery for Polishing and Buffing Metals
E. Lyon & Co., 470 Grand St., N. Y.

Solid Emery Vulcanite Wheels—The Solid Original
Emery Wheel—other kinds imitations and inferior.
Caution.—Our name is stamped in full on all our best
Standard Belting, Packing, and Hose. Buy that only.
The best is the cheapest. New York Belting and Packing
Company, 37 and 38 Park Row, N. Y.

Pulverizing Mills for all hard substances and grinding
purposes. Walker Bros. & Co., 23d & Wood St., Phila., Pa.

Portland Cement—Roman & Keene’s, for walks, cisterns,
foundations, stables, cellars, bridges, reservoirs,
breweries, etc. Remit 25 cents postage stamps for Practical
Treatise on Cements. S. L. Merchant & Co., 53
Broadway, New York.

Needle Pointed Iron, Brass, and Steel Wire for all
purposes. W. Crabb, Newark, N. J.

Manufacturers of Improved Goods who desire to build
up a lucrative foreign trade, will do well to insert a well
displayed advertisement in the Scientific American
Export Edition. This paper has a very large foreign
circulation.

Band Saws, $100; Scroll Saws, $75; Planers, $150;
Universal Wood Workers and Hand Planers, $150, and
upwards. Bentel, Margedant & Co., Hamilton, Ohio.

The best Friction Clutch Pulley and Friction Hoisting
Machinery in the world, to be seen with power applied,
95 and 97 Liberty St., New York. D. Frisbie & Co.,
New Haven, Conn.

C. M. Flint, Fitchburg, Mass., Mfr. of Saw Mills and
Dogs, Shingle and Clapboard Machines. Circulars.

Blake’s Belt Studs; strongest, cheapest, and best fastening
for Leather or Rubber Belts. Greene, Tweed &
Co., New York.

No gum! No grit! No acid! Anti-Corrosive Cylinder
Oil is the best in the world, and the first and
only oil that perfectly lubricates a railroad locomotive
cylinder, doing it with half the quantity
required of best lard or tallow, giving increased
power and less wear to machinery, with entire freedom
from gum, stain, or corrosion of any sort, and
it is equally superior for all steam cylinders or
heavy work where body or cooling qualities are
indispensable. A fair trial insures its continued
use. Address E. H. Kellogg, sole manufacturer, 17
Cedar St., New York.

The unprecedented demand for Kinney Bros.’ New
Cigarette, Sweet Caporal, is a good recommendation as
to their merit.

Wheels and Pinions, heavy and light, remarkably
strong and durable. Especially suited for sugar mills
and similar work. Pittsburgh Steel Casting Company,
Pittsburgh, Pa.

Deoxidized Bronze. Patent for machine and engine
journals. Philadelphia Smelting Co., Phila., Pa.

For Sale.—4 H. P. Vertical Engine and Boiler (New
York Safety Steam Power Co.’s make), as good, and in
some respects better, than new. Address H. M. Quackenbush,
Herkimer, N. Y.

Wood-working Machinery, Waymouth Lathes. Specialty,
Wardwell Patent Saw Bench; it has no equal.
Improved Patent Planers; Elevators; Dowel Machines.
Rollstone Machine Company, Fitchburg, Mass.

Galland & Co.’s improved Hydraulic Elevators. Office
206 Broadway, N. Y., (Evening Post Building, room 22.)

The only economical and practical Gas Engine in the
market is the new “Otto” Silent, built by Schleicher.
Schumm & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Send for circular.

Dead Pulleys that stop the running of loose pulleys
and their belts, controlled from any point. Send for
catalogue. Taper Sleeve Pulley Works, Erie, Pa.

Vick’s Illustrated Monthly Magazine is one of the most
beautiful magazines in the world. Each number contains
a chromo of some group of flowers, and many fine
engravings. Published monthly at $1.25 per year. Address
James Vick, Rochester, N. Y.

Notes & Queries

HINTS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

No attention will be paid to communications unless
accompanied with the full name and address of the
writer.

Names and addresses of correspondents will not be
given to inquirers.

We renew our request that correspondents, in referring
to former answers or articles, will be kind enough to
name the date of the paper and the page, or the number
of the question.

Correspondents whose inquiries do not appear after
a reasonable time should repeat them.

Persons desiring special information which is purely
of a personal character, and not of general interest,
should remit from $1 to $5, according to the subject,
as we cannot be expected to spend time and labor to
obtain such information without remuneration.

(1) S. Q.—The speed of a circular saw at
the periphery should be from 6,000 to 7,000 feet per
minute. The number of revolutions per minute will of
course vary with the diameter of the saw.

(2) T. J. F. asks (1) for the best way to
fasten emery on a wooden wheel, to be used in place of
a solid emery wheel. A. Cover the wheel with leather
devoid of grease, and coat the leather surface, a portion
at a time, with good glue; immediately roll the glued
surface in emery spread out on a board. 2. How can I
fasten small pieces of looking glass on iron? A. Use
equal parts of pitch and gutta percha mixed together.

(3) W. C. asks: 1. What is the power of
the simple electric light described in Supplement No.
149? A. When supplied with a strong current it is equal
to 5 or 6 5-foot gas burners. It is designed for temporary
use only. 2. What is the cost of manufacturing
the dynamo-electric machine in Supplement No. 161?
A. The one shown in the article referred to cost about
$35.

(4) L. D. asks: 1. Which is the better conductor,
silver or copper? A. Silver. 2. And the comparative
resistance offered to the electric current by
water and the above? A. Taking pure silver as
100,000,000, the conductivity of distilled water would be
0.01.

(5) H. J. F. writes: In Supplement 162
a simple electric light is described. I wish to light a
room 20x20x10 feet. 1. How large is the bell glass? A.
2½ inches. 2. Can I use battery carbon? A. Use a carbon
pencil made for electric lamps. 3. How can I make
tray water tight after putting wire through? A. With
gutta percha. 4. I have one large cell Bunsen and one
Smee. How many more and of what kind shall I get?
A. One of the batteries described in Supplements 157,
158, 159, will do, probably 8 or 10 Bunsen elements would
be the best.

(6) W. B. F. writes: I tried to make an
electric pen, like the one described in your Scientific
American, of February 22d, 1879, using a Smee’s battery,
a circuit breaker, and an induction coil, but it did
not work. Is there anything wrong, or is a condenser
different from an induction coil? A. A condenser consists
of a number of sheets of tin foil separated from
each other by larger sheets of paper. One half of the
tin foil sheets are connected with one terminal of the
primary coil, the other half with the other terminal; the
tin foil sheets connected with one terminal alternate
with those of the other terminal. The condenser is
essential to the working of the coil. For complete directions
for making induction coils, see Scientific
American Supplement No. 160.

(7) J. De F. asks: 1. Knowing the resistance
of a wire of given conductivity, length, and diameter,
will the resistance of any other wire be in proportion
inversely? A. Yes. 2. Is there heat enough developed
in the secondary coil of an induction coil to prevent
the use of paraffine as an insulating material? A.
With proper battery power, no. 3. How high in the
list of non-conductors does paraffine stand? A. It is
one of the best. 4. Will a cotton insulator soaked in
paraffine answer as well as silk? A. No, because it
renders the covering of the wire too thick. 5. Can you
recommend any insulating material for making induction
coils which will dry rapidly? A. Alcoholic shellac
varnish. Rosin to which a little beeswax has been
added is an excellent insulator; it must be applied in a
melted state. 6. What is the composition of the black
material covering the Leclanche porous cell? A. Gutta
percha. 7. Is the magneto-electric machine described
in the Scientific American Supplement patented? A.
To which do you refer? Most, if not all of them are patented.

(8) B. V. F. writes: With reference to
item 8, on page 139, of Scientific American, March 1,
1879, I think there is some mistake about the coal you
think required to heat 1,000 cubic feet space. I burn
some 8 tons coal to heat, in the whole year, such part of
my house as must exceed 25x20x18=9,000 cubic feet.
We keep up a moderate heat at night. Ventilate more
than most families do; take part only of the cool air, and
only in part of the coldest weather, from the cellar,
which at such times is opened into the main entries.
House wood, back plastered, and stands alone. If 100 lbs.
coal would heat 1,000 feet one day, I ought to burn 900
lbs. a day, or nearly 14 tons in December and 14 more in
January. A. We are glad to receive these data, which
correspond quite closely with some obtained by recent
accurate experiments. The estimate given in the Scientific
American also agrees well with experiments
on the use of hot air heaters for very small buildings or
rooms. Of course, the larger the space to be heated,
the more economically it can generally be done.

(9) W. M. S. asks: Will the coil described
in Supplement No. 160 do for the electric pen described
in a recent number of the Scientific American?
If not how must it be changed? A. It is too large; make
it one half the size given.

(10) B. G.—In reply to your inquiry as to
Mr. Stroh’s telephone experiment, we give the following,
which we clip from the English Mechanic: A singular
experimental effect, of special interest just now
from its possible bearing on the theory of the source
of sound in the Bell telephone, has just been observed
by Mr. Stroh, the well known mechanician. If a
telephone, T, with the circuit of its coil left open, be
held to the ear, and a powerful magnet, M, be moved
gently up and down along the length of the magnet, as
shown by the arrow, and at a distance of an inch or two
from it, a faint breathing sound will be heard, the recurring
pulses of sound keeping time with the up and
down motion of the magnet. The sound may be aptly
compared to the steady breathing of a child, and there
is a striking resemblance between it and the microphonic
sounds of gases diffusing through a porous
septum as heard by Mr. Chandler Roberts. We understand
that Professor Hughes is investigating the cause
of this curious sound by help of the microphone.

(11) “Enterprise” asks: What part of its
volume will iron expand in passing from a temperature
of 60° to melting temperature? A. The cubical expansion
of iron for each degree (C.) between 0° and 100° is
0.00003546 of its volume, its volume being 1. This ratio
however, increases somewhat at higher temperatures,
since the mean coefficient of expansion for each degree
between 0° C. and 300° C. is 0.00004405. The question
you ask has probably never been settled. You may form
an approximation by the use of the above ratios, knowing
the melting point of the iron.

(12) P. L. O. asks for a good chemistry
for a beginner to study without a teacher. A. Fownes’
“Chemistry;” Gorup-Besanez, “Inorganic, Organic
and Physiological Chemistry.”

(13) L. E. M. asks: What is the best
method of keeping fine guns from rusting, and what oil
should be used? A. For the outside, clear gum copal 1
part, oil of rosemary 1 part, absolute alcohol 3 parts.
Clean and heat the metal and apply a flowing coat of the
liquid by means of a camel’s hair brush. Do not handle
until the coat becomes dry and hard. For the inside of
the barrel a trace of refined sperm oil is as good as anything,
but an excess should be avoided.

(14) A. H. B. asks how much weight, falling
10 feet, will be required to produce one horse power
for five hours? A. One horse power for 5 hours = 33,000
× 300 = 9,900,000 foot pounds—so that the weight required
is 9,900,000 ÷ 10 = 990,000 lbs.

(15) A. D. R. asks: 1. In renewing a Leclanche
battery, do the zincs have to be amalgamated?
A. They are usually amalgamated. 2. Will two cells
large size Leclanche battery give any light, using the
simple lamp described in Supplement No. 162? A. No.

(16) H. L. J. writes: In a recent issue of
the Scientific American you state that the floating of
solid iron on melted iron is on the same principle as
the floating of ice in water. I do not quite understand
how it can be. Please explain. A. Solid iron, at an
elevated temperature, floats upon molten iron for the
same reason that ice floats upon molten ice-water—because
it is specifically lighter. You will find the subject
discussed at length in Tyndall’s “Heat as a Mode of
Motion.”

(17) J. W. will find full directions for canning
corn, etc., on p. 394 (4), vol. 39, Scientific American.

(18) “Amateur” writes: I wish to make
some small bells that have a clear ring. What metal
or metals can I use that I can melt easily? A. Use an
alloy of tin and antimony. See Scientific American
Supplement No. 17.

(19) H.—A nutritious mixed diet is unquestionably
the best, care being taken to avoid an excess of
meat.

(20) W. F. writes: I have made an engine,
and would like to find out what size of boiler it will require.
The cylinder has 2¼ inch bore and 3 inches
stroke. A. It depends upon pressure and speed to be
maintained; probably a vertical tubular boiler, 15 inches
diameter, and 32 to 36 inches high, would suit you.

(21) R. G. (Salt Lake).—Please send full
name.

(22) J. M. G. asks: If two persons each
pull one hundred pounds on opposite ends of a rope,
what will be the strain on the rope? A. The strain on
the rope will be 100 lbs.

(23) W. M. M. asks: In laying off a mill
stone in furrows, what draught is given? What amount
of the space of a stone is given to furrows and what to
grinding surface? A. There is considerable difference
in the practice of various millers, and we
would be glad to receive communications from those experienced
in the art of dressing millstones.

Minerals, Etc.—Specimens have been received
from the following correspondents, and
examined, with the results stated:

S. (New Orleans.)—The powder consists of a mixture
of zinc oxide and finely powdered resin. A quantitative
analysis would be necessary to determine the
proportions.

Any numbers of the Scientific American Supplement
referred to in these columns may be had at this
office. Price 10 cents each.

[OFFICIAL.]

INDEX OF INVENTIONS

FOR WHICH
Letters Patent of the United States were
Granted in the Week Ending
February 18, 1879,
AND EACH BEARING THAT DATE.

[Those marked (r) are reissued patents.]

A complete copy of any patent in the annexed list,
including both the specifications and drawings, will be
furnished from this office for one dollar. In ordering,
please state the number and date of the patent desired,
and remit to Munn & Co., 37 Park Row, New York city.

TRADE MARKS.

DESIGNS.

English Patents Issued to Americans.

From February 18 to February 21, inclusive.

Advertisements.

(About eight words to a line.)

Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate
per line, by measurement, as the letter press. Advertisements
must be received at publication office as early
as Thursday morning to appear in next issue.

A Rare Opportunity, on Easy Terms.

To be sold at Auction, at Charleston, South Carolina,
on Tuesday, the first day of April, 1879, the Taylor Iron
Works, complete and in operation, together with all
stores, stock, and work on hand on day of sale.

The above is a large, first-class engineering establishment,
complete within itself for all kinds of work, comprising
iron and brass foundries, boiler shop, machine
shops, pattern and millwright shops, with a large stock
of patterns for local machinery, and Taylor presses.
Connected with the works is a large, well-stocked engineer
and mill supply store. All departments have the
best of modern tools in thorough repair. Buildings
comparatively new, and conveniently arranged on large
grounds. The business was established 1844; has always
done a large business and maintained a high reputation.
The present works, built since 1866, have ample facilities
to work 200 men. At present about 100 men are employed.
For further particulars apply to the works or to JOHN
F. TAYLOR, Sharon Springs, N. Y., who will meet parties
at Albany, N. Y., by appointment, or New York, if
preferred.

LARGEST ASSORTMENT IN THE WORLD

of Plays, Dramas, Comedies, Farces, Ethiopian Dramas,
Plays for Ladies only, Plays for Gentlemen only. Wigs,
Beards, Moustaches, Face Preparations, Burnt Cork,
Jarley’s Wax Works, Tableaux, Charades, Pantomimes,
Guides to the Stage, and for Amateurs Make up Book,
Make up Boxes, New Plays. SAM’L FRENCH & SON,
38 East 14th St., Union Square, New York.

Catalogues sent FREE!!!

50 Latest Style CARDS. Bouquet, Lawn, Floral, etc., in
case, name in gold, 10c. SEAVY BROS., Northford, Ct.

☞ RARE OPPORTUNITY. ☜

The proprietor, advanced in years and desirous of
retiring from active control of business, would sell at a
bargain, or convert into a joint stock company and retain
an interest himself, a Foundry and Machine Shops, with
all their machinery and fixtures complete, and now
crowded with custom work, having cost upwards of sixty
thousand dollars, and the only ones of magnitude for
120 miles on the Mississippi River, on various points of
which may be seen specimens of work of these shops at
Stillwater, Winona, McGregor. Dubuque, Fulton,
Lyons, Clinton, Muscatine, and on many of the boats.
For particulars, address the proprietor at Clinton, Iowa.

A. P. HOSFORD.

FOR SALE—GEAR CUTTER.

Been in use only eighteen months; will cut gears, both
Spur-Bevel-Miter and Spiral, from four feet to one inch
in diameter. Is complete with counter-shaft and several
cutters. Machine made by Pond, of Worcester. Index
made by Browne & Sharpe. Cost $900. Will sell for $250.
Address J. G. STOWE, 126 Main Street, Cincinnati, O.

THE TRIUMPH NON-CONDUCTOR

weighs but 1½ lbs. to the square foot, and saves daily
four pounds of coal. (Asbestos saves but 2 lbs.) Price
15 cts.—5 cts. cash and 10 cts. after satisfactory trial.
Agents wanted. For circulars showing WHY fuel is
wasted and HOW 25 to 50 per cent., can be saved; also,
HOW to construct reduction works for mineral ores of
half the present weight and cost, to do three times the
work with the fuel now used, and save 98 per cent. of
assay; also, the opinions of distinguished engineers,
address B. F. SMITH, New Orleans, La.

PHOTO VISITING CARDS—Now all the rage in
Paris. One dozen beautiful gilt edged (round
cornered) Cards with your name and photograph, only
60 cents; 2 dozen, $1. Full particulars and a 50-page
book free. E. NASON & CO., 111 Nassau St., New York.

“BELL” TELEPHONES. Any one can make in
fifteen minutes. Send three 3c. stamps
for “Where to get the Parts, Prices
(Total $3.60 per pair), and how put together.”

A. H. DAVIS, 30 Hanover St., Boston, Mass.

CATARRH. A Sure Cure. Samples by mail,
10c. GEO. N. STODDARD, Buffalo, N. Y. It cures
others. It will cure you. Sample will prove.

ANY NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES

to buy what you want or sell or exchange what you don’t
want, in the Property Journal. Send 5c. for copy.

ANDERSON & CO., 252 Broadway, New York.

NOVELTIES, NOTIONS,

Watches, Cheap Jewelry, Stationery Packages.

Agents and country stores supplied. Illustrated circular
free. J. BRIDE & CO., Manufacturers, Salesroom,
297 B’way, New York. Address letters to P. O. Box 2773.

FOR UNIVERSAL LATHE DOGS, DIE DOGS, ETC.,
send for circular to C. W. LE COUNT, S. Norwalk, Ct.

ICE-HOUSE AND COLD ROOM.—BY R. G.
Hatfield. With directions for construction. Four
engravings. Supplement No. 59. Price, 10 cents.

Send for our Priced and Illustrated Catalogues.

Part 1st—Mathematical Instruments, 160 pages;
contains list and prices of Drawing Instruments,
Drawing Materials, Pocket Compasses, Surveying
Compasses, Engineers’ Transits and Levels, Surveying
Chains, Tape Measures, Pocket Rules, and Books
relating to Drawing, Engineering, and Mechanics.

Part 2d—Optical Instruments, 144 pages; contains
list and prices of Spectacles, Eye Glasses, Lenses,
Spy Glasses, Telescopes, Opera and Field Glasses,
Graphoscopes, Stereoscopes, Camera Obscuras, Camera
Lucidas, Microscopes, Microscopic Preparations,
and Books on Optics and Microscopy.

Part 3d—Magic Lanterns and Slides, 112 pages; contains
list and prices or Magic Lanterns for Toys, for
Public and Private Exhibitions, Sciopticons, Stereopticons,
Scientific Lanterns, and accessory apparatus
to be used with them; Magic Lantern Slides,
both colored and uncolored.

Part 4th—Physical Instruments, 188 pages; contains
list and prices of Instruments to illustrate Lectures
in every department of Physics and Chemical Science,
Air Pumps, Electric Machines, Galvanic Batteries,
Barometers, Thermometers, Rain Gauges,
Globes, Spectroscopes, Auzoux’s Anatomical Models,
and Books relating to Scientific Subjects.

JAMES W. QUEEN & CO.,
Optical and Philosophical Instrument Makers,
924 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.

Wood-Working Machinery,

Such as Woodworth Planing, Tonguing, and Grooving
Machines, Daniel’s Planers, Richardson’s Patent Improved
Tenon Machines, Mortising, Moulding, and
Re-Saw Machines, and Wood-Working Machinery generally.
Manufactured by

WITHERBY, RUGG & RICHARDSON,
26 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Mass.
(Shop formerly occupied by R. BALL & CO.)

THE DRIVEN WELL.

Town and County privileges for making Driven
Wells and selling Licenses under the established
American Driven Well Patent, leased by the year
to responsible parties, by

WM. D. ANDREWS & BRO.,
NEW YORK.

MINING MACHINERY. Engines. Boilers, Pumps,
Coal and Ore Jigs, Dust Burning Appliances. Drawings
and advice free to customers. Jeanesville Iron Works
(J. C. Haydon & Co.). Address HOWELL GREEN,
Supt., Jeanesville, Luzerne Co., Pa.

IT PAYS to sell our Rubber Hand Printing Stamps.
Goods delivered in any country. Circulars free.

G. A. HARPER & BRO., Cleveland, O.

FOR TEN DOLLARS CASH,

we will insert a seven-line advertisement one week in a
list of 269 weekly newspapers, or four lines in a different
list of 337 papers, or ten lines two weeks in a choice of
either of four separate and distinct lists containing
from 70 to 100 papers each, or four lines one week in all
four of the same lists, or one line one week in all six lists
combined, being more than 1,000 papers. We also have
lists of papers by States, throughout the United States
and Canada. Send 10 cents for our 100 page pamphlet.
Address Geo. P. Rowell & Co., Newspaper Advertising
Bureau, 10 Spruce Street, New York.

MACHINERY AT VERY LOW PRICES.

2d hand Lathes, Drills, Planers, Hand Tools for Iron
Work, new Woodworth Planing Machines, Resawing,
Tenoning, Moulding Machines, Scroll Saws, Portable
Steam Engine. Jos. R. Blossom, Ass’e, Matteawan, N. Y.

The George Place Machinery Agency

Machinery of Every Description.
121 Chambers and 103 Reade Streets, New York.

60 Chromo and Perfumed Cards [no 3 alike], Name in
Gold and Jet, 10c. Clinton Bros., Clintonville, Ct.

ROOF PAINTING.
For $5, by Post Office Order
or express, I will send the
recipe for making Langhorne’s English Gum Coating
Paint and other mineral paints, with full instructions
for roof and sidewall painting. This paint is used by the
U. S. Government. Address M. LANGHORNE,
708 E Street, Washington, D. C.

FOR SALE.—LETTERS PATENT OF
Wilhide’s Celebrated Noiseless Self-setting Rat and
Mouse Traps. Thoroughly introduced. Traps sold by
all dealers. Address Owners and Manufacturers,
J. T. WILHIDE & BRO., York Road, Carroll Co., Md.

IMPORTANT FOR ALL CORPORATIONS AND
MANF’G CONCERNS.—Buerk’s Watchman’s
Time Detector, capable of accurately controlling
the motion of a watchman or patrolman at the
different stations of his beat. Send for circular.

J. E. Buerk, P. O. Box 979. Boston, Mass

N. B.—The suit against Imhaeuser & Co., of New York,
was decided in my favor, June 10, 1874. A fine was
assessed against them Nov. 11, 1876, for selling contrary
to the order of the court. Persons buying or using
clocks infringing on my patent will be dealt with according
to law.

SPARE THE CROTON AND SAVE THE COST.

Driven or Tube Wells

furnished to large consumers of Croton and Ridgewood
Water. WM. D. ANDREWS & BRO., 414 Water St., N. Y.,
who control the patent for Green’s American Driven Well.

A New and Valuable Work for the Practical
Mechanic and Engineer.

APPLETONS’

Cyclopædia of Applied Mechanics.

A Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering and
the Mechanical Arts.
Illustrated by 5,000 Engravings.

Edited by PARK BENJAMIN, Ph.D.

This valuable work is now being published in semi-monthly
parts, at fifty cents each. Active agents wanted.
For terms and territory address GEO. W. DAVIS, care of
D. APPLETON & CO., New York.

CAVEATS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADE
MARKS, ETC.

Messrs. Munn & Co., in connection with the publication
of the Scientific American, continue to examine
Improvements, and to act as Solicitors of Patents for
Inventors.

In this line of business they have had OVER THIRTY
YEARS’ EXPERIENCE, and now have unequaled facilities
for the preparation of Patent Drawings, Specifications,
and the Prosecution of Applications for Patents in the
United States, Canada, and Foreign Countries. Messrs.
Munn & Co. also attend to the preparation of Caveats,
Trade Mark Regulations, Copyrights for Books, Labels,
Reissues, Assignments, and Reports on Infringements
of Patents. All business intrusted to them is done
with special care and promptness, on very moderate
terms.

We send free of charge, on application, a pamphlet
containing further information about Patents and how
to procure them; directions concerning Trade Marks,
Copyrights, Designs, Patents, Appeals, Reissues, Infringements,
Assignments, Rejected Cases, Hints on
the Sale of Patents, etc.

Foreign Patents.—We also send, free of charge, a
Synopsis of Foreign Patent Laws, showing the cost and
method of securing patents in all the principal countries
of the world. American inventors should bear in
mind that, as a general rule, any invention that is valuable
to the patentee in this country is worth equally as
much in England and some other foreign countries.
Five patents—embracing Canadian, English, German,
French, and Belgian—will secure to an inventor the exclusive
monopoly to his discovery among about ONE
HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLIONS of the most intelligent
people in the world. The facilities of business and
steam communication are such that patents can be obtained
abroad by our citizens almost as easily as at
home. The expense to apply for an English patent is
$75; German, $100; French, $100; Belgian, $100; Canadian,
$50.

Copies of Patents.—Persons desiring any patent
issued from 1836 to November 26, 1867, can be supplied
with official copies at reasonable cost, the price depending
upon the extent of drawings and length of
specifications.

Any patent issued since November 27, 1867, at which
time the Patent Office commenced printing the drawings
and specifications, may be had by remitting to
this office $1.

A copy of the claims of any patent issued since 1836
will be furnished for $1.

When ordering copies, please to remit for the same
as above, and state name of patentee, title of invention,
and date of patent.

A pamphlet, containing full directions for obtaining
United States patents sent free. A handsomely bound
Reference Book, gilt edges, contains 140 pages and
many engravings and tables important to every patentee
and mechanic, and is a useful hand book of reference
for everybody. Price 25 cents, mailed free.

Address

MUNN & CO.,
Publishers SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN,
37 Park Row, New York.

BRANCH OFFICE—Corner of F and 7th Streets,
Washington, D. C.

Practical Draughtsman’s Book of

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

AND MACHINISTS’ & ENGINEERS’

Drawing Companion.

Forming a Complete Course of Mechanical,
Engineering, and Architectural Drawing. From the
French of M. Armengaud the elder, Professor of
Design in Conservatoire of Arts and Industry, Paris,
and MM. Armengaud the younger, and Amoroux,
Civil Engineers. Rewritten and arranged with additional
matter and plates, selections from and examples
of the most useful and generally employed mechanism
of the day. By William Johnson, Assoc. Inst. C. E.
Illustrated by fifty folio steel plates, and fifty wood
cuts. A new edition, 4to    $10

Among the contents are: Linear Drawing, Definitions,
and Problems. Sweeps, Sections, and Mouldings, Elementary
Gothic Forms, and Rosettes. Ovals, Ellipses,
Parabolas, and Volutes. Rules and Principal Data.
Study of Projections. Elementary Principles. Of Prisms
and other Solids. Rules and Practical Data. On coloring
Sections, with applications. Conventional Colors,
Composition or Mixture of Colors. Continuation of the
Study of Projection—Use of Sections—details of machinery.
Simple applications—spindles, shafts, couplings,
wooden patterns. Method of constructing a
wooden model or pattern of a coupling. Elementary
applications. Rules and Practical Data.

The Intersection and Development of Surfaces,
with Applications.—The Intersection of Cylinders
and Cones. The Delineation and Development
of Helices, Screws, and Serpentines. Application of the
helix—the construction of a staircase. The Intersection
of Surfaces—applications to stop cocks. Rules and Practical
Data.

The Study and Construction of Toothed
Gear.—Involute, cycloid, and epicycloid. Involute,
Cycloid. External epicycloid, described by a circle rolling
about a fixed circle inside of it. Internal epicycloid.
Delineation of a rack and pinion in gear. Gearing of a
worm with a worm wheel. Cylindrical or Spur Gearing.
Practical delineation of a couple of Spur wheels. The
Delineation and Construction of Wooden Patterns for
Toothed Wheels. Rules and Practical Data.

Continuation of the Study of Toothed Gear.—Design
for a pair of bevel wheels in gear. Construction
of wooden patterns for a pair of bevel wheels. Involute
and Helical Teeth. Contrivances for obtaining differential
Movements. Rules and Practical Data.

Elementary Principles of Shadows.—Shadows
of Prisms, Pyramids, and Cylinders. Principles of
Shading. Continuation of the Study of Shadows. Tuscan
Order. Rules and practical data.

Application of Shadows to Toothed Gear.—Application
of Shadows to Screws. Application of
Shadow to a Boiler and its Furnace. Shading in Black—Shading
in Colors.

The Cutting and Shaping of Masonry.—Rules
and Practical Data. Remarks on Machine Tools.

The Study of Machinery and Sketching.—Various
applications and combinations: The Sketching of
Machinery. Drilling Machines; Motive Machines;
Water wheels. Construction and Setting up of water
wheels. Delineation of water wheels. Design of a water
wheel. Sketch of a water wheel. Overshot water
wheels. Water Pumps; Steam Motors; High-pressure
expansive steam engine. Details of Construction; Movements
of the Distribution and Expansion Valves; Rules
and Practical Data.

Oblique Projections.

Parallel Perspective.

True Perspective.—Elementary principles.
Applications—flour mill driven by belts. Description of the
mill. Representation of the mill in perspective.

Examples of Finished Drawings of Machinery.

☞ The above, or any of our Books, sent by mail, free
of postage, at the publication price.

Our new and enlarged Catalogue of Practical and
Scientific Books—96 pages, 8vo.—sent free to any one
who will furnish his address.

Henry Carey Baird & Co.,
Industrial Publishers and Booksellers,
810 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

STEAM PUMPS.

HENRY R. WORTHINGTON,
239 Broadway, N. Y.    83 Water St., Boston.

The Worthington Duplex Pumping Engines for
Water Works—Compound, Condensing or Non-Condensing.
Used in over 100 Water-Works Stations.

Steam Pumps—Duplex and Single Cylinder.

Price list issued Jan. 1, 1879, with a reduction exceeding
30 per cent.

Water Meters. Oil Meters.

THIS NEW
ELASTIC TRUSS

Has a Pad differing from all others, is
cup-shape, with Self-Adjusting Ball
in center, adapts itself to all positions
of the body, while the BALL in the
cup PRESSES BACK the INTESTINES
JUST AS A PERSON WOULD WITH
THE FINGER. With light pressure
the Hernia is held securely day and night, and a radical cure certain.
It is easy, durable and cheap. Sent by mail. Circulars
free.

Eggleston Truss Co., Chicago, Ill.,

THE

HANCOCK
INSPIRATOR

TESTIMONIALS.

Office of the Hancock Insp. Co.,
London, Eng., Feb. 11, 1879.

I have just received an order from the English Government
for 22 Number 15 Inspirators—making 24 machines
in all for the Government this month.

B. H. WARREN, Agent.

Office of H. S. Manning & Co., 111 Liberty St.,
New York, Feb. 26, 1879.

Gentlemen: We have authority from Mr. Martin,
Chief Engineer Union Ferry Co., Brooklyn, to state that
they have 17 Inspirators at work on 17 of their boats,
feeding their main boilers, and all giving satisfaction,
and to refer any one to him. Yours truly,

H. S. MANNING & CO., Agents.

☞ Illustrated and Descriptive Circulars
sent on application to

Hancock Inspirator Co.,
52 CENTRAL WHARF,

BOSTON.

THIS NEW

MOSELEY IRON BRIDGE AND
ROOF CO.

CORRUGATED IRON

Buildings, Roofs, Shutters, Doors,
Iron Sashes, Skylights, etc.

5 Dey Street, New York.

THIS NEW

BLAKE’S STONE AND ORE BREAKER AND CRUSHER.

For breaking hard and brittle substances to any size. Endorsed by the leading Mining,
Manufacturing, and Railroad corporations in the United States and Foreign Countries.
First Premium wherever exhibited, and hundreds of testimonials of the highest character.

A NEW SIZE FOR PROSPECTING AND LABORATORY USE.

☞ All Stone Crushers not made or licensed by us, containing vibratory convergent jaws
actuated by a revolving shaft and fly-wheel, are infringements on our patent, and makers and
users of such will be held accountable. Address

BLAKE CRUSHER CO., New Haven, Conn.

PULMOCURA

AN ABSOLUTE AND UNFAILING REMEDY FOR

CONSUMPTION

and all other diseases of the Lungs and Throat.
Mailed free on receipt of $1. A. A. MARTIN, Pulmocura
Man’f’g Co., sole depot for the U. S., 60 East 12th St., cor.
Broadway, New York.

Soft, Strong,
and Smooth
Iron or Brass

CASTINGS

Plain, Galvanized,
Bronzed or Nickled
to order promptly.

Also patterns and models. Light work a specialty.
LIVINGSTON & CO., Iron Founders, Pittsburg, Pa.

NEW STEEL HORSE SHOE

With Level Spring Platform—Continuous
Calk. The best in the world. Cures Tender
and Contracted Feet, Corns, Interfering, Quarter-crack
Lameness, and all evils resulting from
the use of the common shoe. Responsible
men can make money selling this
Shoe. Send for pamphlet. Trial set
with nails, $1.00. To measure, place
foot on paper, and draw pencil around.

The JOHN D. BILLINGS PATENT
HORSE SHOE COMPANY
265 Broadway, New York.

LAP WELDED CHARCOAL IRON

Boiler Tubes, Steam Pipe, Light and Heavy Forgings,
Engines, Boilers, Cotton Presses, Rolling Mill and Blast
Furnace Work.

READING IRON WORKS,
261 South Fourth St., Phila.

PHOSPHOR-BRONZE
BEARINGS,
PUMP-RODS,
AND
SPRING WIRE.

Apply to
THE PHOSPHOR-BRONZE SMELTING CO., Limited,
2038 Washington Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.

Lathes, Planers, Shapers

Drills, Bolt and Gear Cutters, Milling Machines. Special
Machinery. E. GOULD & EBERHARDT, Newark, N. J.

THE BEST STEAM PUMP in AMERICA
THE DEANE

Made by HOLYOKE MACHINE CO.

More than 4500 in use.

Send for reduced Price List.
Deane Steam Pump Works
85 LIBERTY ST.,
    NEW YORK.

Small Tools of all kinds; GEAR WHEELS, parts of
MODELS, and materials of all kinds. Catalogues free.
Goodnow & Wightman, 176 Wash’n St., Boston, Mass.

Fine Pamphlets printed for 75c. a Page
per 1,000. 1,000 Fine 9×12 Circulars, $2.50. Price list or
estimate and samples for stamp. 250 Bill Heads, $1.

“Local” Printing House, Silver Creek, N. Y.

$77 a Month and expenses guaranteed to Agents.
Outfit free. Shaw & Co., Augusta, Maine.

LEFFEL WATER WHEELS.

With recent improvements.

Prices Greatly Reduced.

7000 in successful operation.

FINE NEW PAMPHLET FOR 1877

Sent free to those interested

James Leffel & Co.,
    Springfield, O.

109 Liberty St., N. Y. City.

J. A. FAY & CO’S
WOOD WORKING MACHINERY

was awarded at the Paris Exposition over all competitors
THE GOLD MEDAL OF HONOR. Also highest
award at Phila., Santiago, Australia, and Vienna. It is

Original in Design, Simple in Construction,
Perfect in Workmanship, Saves labor,
Economizes lumber, and Increases
products of the highest standard
of Excellence.

Railroad, Furniture, and Agricultural Implement Shops,
Planing Mills, etc., equipped at short notice, and the lowest
cash prices. Send for Circulars.

J. A. FAY & CO., Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.

L. F. STANDISH & CO.,
Screw Manufacturers,

Builders of Small Machinery and Fine Tools.

26 Artisan St., New Haven, Ct.

Emery Wheel.

NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING COMP’Y.
The Oldest and Largest Manufacturers of the Original
SOLID VULCANITE
EMERY WHEELS.

All other kinds Imitations and Inferior. Our name is stamped in full upon all our
standard BELTING, PACKING, and HOSE.

Address NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING CO.,

NEW YORK.

JOHN H. CHEEVER, Treas.

THE SEVENTH

Cincinnati            
Industrial
            Exposition

Opens for the reception of goods August 20th.

Opens to the public September 10th, and continues
open until October 11th, in the

NEW PERMANENT BUILDINGS
ERECTED FOR THE PURPOSE.

Machinery Tested and Fully
Reported upon.

Send for Rules and Premium Lists after April 1.

H. McCOLLUM, Sec’y.

THE FORSTER-FIRMIN
GOLD AND SILVER
AMALGAMATING COMP’Y
of Norristown, Pa., will grant
state rights or licenses or
easy terms. This system
works up to assay, and recovers
the mercury rapidly.
Apply as above.

THOMAS’S CONCENTRATED DYE
Stuffs. (138 Recipes SENT GRATIS.) (See Scientific
American Supplement, March 15, ’79.) Address

N. SPENCER THOMAS, Elmira, N. Y.

Baker Rotary Pressure Blower.

(FORCED BLAST)
Warranted superior to any
other.

WILBRAHAM BROS.
2318 Frankford Ave.
        PHILADELPHIA

“The 1876 Injector.”

Simple, Durable, and Reliable. Requires no special
valves. Send for illustrated circular.

WM. SELLERS & CO., Phila.

The fact that this shafting has 75 per cent. greater
strength, a finer finish, and is truer to gauge, than any
other in use renders it undoubtedly the most economical.
We are also the sole manufacturers of the Celebrated
Collins’ Pat. Coupling, and furnish Pulleys, Hangers,
etc., of the most approved styles. Price list mailed on
application to

    JONES & LAUGHLINS,
Try Street, 2d and 3d Avenues, Pittsburgh, Pa.
190 S. Canal Street, Chicago, Ill., and Milwaukee. Wis.

☞ Stocks of this shafting in store and for sale by

FULLER, DANA & FITZ, Boston, Mass.
Geo. Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St., N. Y.

VEGETABLE AND FLOWER SEEDS
WE SELL EVERYTHING FOR THE

GARDEN

Descriptive Catalogues of 175 pages sent Free
PETER HENDERSON & CO.
35 Cortlandt St., New York.
FLOWER AND FRUIT PLANTS

L. SMITH HOBART, President.     JOHN C. MOSS, Superintendent.

TYPE-METAL RELIEF PLATES.
A SUPERIOR SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD-CUTS
AT MUCH LOWER PRICES.

Persons desiring illustrations for Books, Newspapers, Catalogues, Advertisements, or
for any other purposes, can have their work done by us promptly and in the best style.

Our Relief Plates are engraved by photo-chemical means; are mounted on blocks
type-high ready for use on any ordinary press, and will wear longer than the common
stereotype plates.

They have a perfectly smooth printing surface, and the lines are as deep, as even, and as
sharp as they could possibly be cut by hand.

Electrotypes may be made from them in the same manner as from wood-cuts.

Copy. The engraving is done either from prints or pen-drawings. Almost all kinds
of prints can be re-engraved directly from the copy, provided they be in clear, black lines or
stipple, and on white or only slightly tinted paper.

Pen drawings, suitable for engraving by us, must be made with thoroughly BLACK ink,
on smooth, white paper. They should usually be made twice the length and twice the width
of the plates desired.

When such drawings cannot be furnished us, we can produce them from photographs,
pencil sketches, or designs of any kind accompanied with proper instructions. Photographs
taken in the usual way, and of any convenient size, we can use.

Change of Size.—Wood-cut prints of the coarser kind may often be reduced to
half their lineal dimensions, while others will admit of very little reduction, and some of
none at all.

Most lithographic and steel-plate prints will admit of no reduction.

Very fine prints of any kind may be enlarged moderately without detriment.

Any prints which cannot be satisfactorily reduced or enlarged may be redrawn and
thus brought to any desired size.

In all cases of reduction and enlargement, the relative proportions remain unchanged.

Proofs.—Whenever desired, we will furnish tintype proofs of the drawings made
by us, for approval or correction, before engraving. A printed proof is furnished with
each plate.

Time.—We cannot usually engage to fill an order for a single plate in less than from
three to six days; larger orders will require longer time.

Estimates will be promptly furnished when desired. That these may be definite and
correct, the copy to be used—whether print, photograph, sketch, or drawing—should
always be submitted for our examination, together with a distinct statement of the size of
plate wanted, and of any other details to be observed.

Terms.—To insure attention, all orders must be accompanied by an advance of half
the price charged, the balance to be paid on delivery.

Electrotyping and Printing.—We have recently added to our establishment
excellent facilities for making electrotypes, and also three power presses specially fitted for
printing plates of all sizes in the finest manner.

Artificial Light.—We have just introduced this most important facility, which
enables us to prosecute our work in cloudy weather, and to push forward hurried orders in
the night.

References.—Our plates are now used by the principal publishers in this city, and
by most of the leading houses in every State in the Union.

Our General Circular contains a few specimens of the various kinds of our
work, and will be sent on receipt of stamp. We have just prepared five special circulars,
as follows:

These will be furnished at ten cents each.

Advertisements.

Inside Page, each insertion—75 cents a line
Back Page, each insertion—$1.00 a line.

(About eight words to a line.)

Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate
per line, by measurement, as the letter press. Advertisements
must be received at publication office as early
as Thursday morning to appear in next issue.

ADJUSTABLE INCLINE PRESSES.

STILES & PARKER PRESS CO., Middletown, Conn.

136 pages beautifully illustrated, mailed to all applicants
inclosing 10 cents. Regular customers free.

Bliss’ Illustrated Amateur’s Guide to the Flower
and Kitchen Garden, with colored chromo; 216
pages, price 35 Cents.

Address

B. K. BLISS & SONS,
P. O. Box 4129, New York City.

TO LARGE CONSUMERS OF FINE LIGHT
Malleable Iron Castings, we can
offer special inducements in the way of VERY SUPERIOR
QUALITY GUARANTEED, and at fair prices. Being ourselves
large consumers and requiring the most perfect
castings, other work is insured the same attention.

MALLORY, WHEELER & CO.,
New Haven, Conn.

THE PHILADELPHIA LAWN MOWER

Stands “Head of the Class.” Descriptive Circulars and
Price Lists sent on application. GRAHAM, EMLEM &
PASSMORE, Patentees and Manufacturers, 631 Market
Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

SHAFTING PULLEYS, HANGERS, etc.
a specialty. Send for Price List to
A. & F. BROWN, 57-61 Lewis Street, New York.

AIR COMPRESSORS,
HOISTING ENGINES and OTHER
MINING MACHINERY;
MANUFACTURED BY
GRIFFITH & WEDGE. ZANESVILLE, OHIO.

Mill Stones and Corn Mills.

We make Burr Millstones, Portable Mills, Smut Machines,
Packers, Mill Picks, Water Wheels, Pulleys, and
Gearing, specially adapted to Flour Mills. Send for
catalogue.

J. T. NOYE & SON, Buffalo, N. Y.

HOW TO SELL PATENTS.—This little book fully explains
how all patents can be sold for good prices. Price
25 cents. L. D. SNOOK, Barrington, Yates Co., N. Y.

Pond’s Tools,

Engine Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c.,

DAVID W. POND, Worcester, Mass.

EDMUND DRAPER,
Manufacturer of First-class Engineers’ Instruments.
Established in 1830. 226 Pear St., Phila., Pa.

J. LLOYD HAIGH,

Manufacturer of

every description, for Railroad and Mining Use,
Elevators, Derricks, Rope Tramways, Transmission of
Power, etc. No. 81 John St., N. Y. Send for price list.
Plans and Estimates furnished for Suspension Bridges.

THE DINGEE & CONARD CO’S

BEAUTIFUL EVER-BLOOMING

ROSES

THE BEST IN THE WORLD.

Our Great Specialty is growing and distributing
these Beautiful Roses. We deliver Strong Pot
Plants, suitable for immediate bloom, safely by mail
at all post-offices. 5 Splendid Varieties, your
choice, all labeled, for $1; 12 for $2; 19 for $3;
26 for $4; 35 for $5; 75 for $10; 100 for $13.

☞ Send for our New Guide to Rose Culture—60
pages, elegantly illustrated—and choose from over
Five Hundred Finest Sorts. Address

THE DINGEE & CONARD CO.,
Rose Growers, West Grove, Chester Co., Pa.

HOW TO SELL PATENTS.

We send our
100 page book
of instruction, containing valuable information, free.
Send us your address. Geo. C. Tracy & Co., Cleveland, O.

Manufactured only under the above Trade-Mark, by
the

European Salicylic Medicine Co.,
OF PARIS AND LEIPZIG.

Immediate Relief Warranted. Permanent
Cure Guaranteed. Now exclusively used by all celebrated
Physicians of Europe and America, becoming a
Staple, Harmless, and Reliable Remedy on both continents.
The Highest Medical Academy of Paris report
95 cures out of 100 cases within three days. Secret—The
only dissolver of the poisonous Uric Acid which exists
in the Blood of Rheumatic and Gouty Patients. $1.00 a
Box; 6 Boxes for $5.00. Sent to any address on receipt
of price. Endorsed by Physicians. Sold by all
Druggists. Address

WASHBURNE & CO.,
Only Importers’ Depot. 212 Broadway, cor.
Fulton St., New York.

19th Annual Statement of the EQUITABLE Life Assurance Society of the U. S.

HENRY B. HYDE, President.

For the Year Ending December 31, 1878.

DISBURSEMENTS.

ASSETS.

Risks assumed in 1878, 6,115 Policies, assuring $21,440,213.00

N. B.—For the details of the above statement, see the Society’s “Circular to Policy Holders,” and other publications
for 1879.

JAMES W. ALEXANDER, Vice-President.
E. W. Scott, Superintendent of Agencies.
SAMUEL BORROWE, Secretary.

BOLT CUTTERS.

Send for Catalogue of
Schlenker’s Automatic Bolt Cutters and
Screw Cutting Machines.

HOWARD IRON WORKS, Buffalo, N. Y.

BIG PAY to sell our Rubber Printing Stamps. Samples
free. Taylor Bros. & Co., Cleveland, O.

FIRE INSURANCE EXCLUSIVELY.

TRUSTEES IN NEW YORK:

LOUIS DE COMEAU, Esq., of De Rham & Co.
CHAS. COUDERT, Jr., Esq., of Coudert Bros.
CHAS. RENAULD, Esq., of Renauld, Francois & Co.
JULIEN LE CESNE, Resident Secretary.
T. J. TEMPLE, Manager for the Middle States.

WESTERN UNION BUILDING, N. Y.

THE
Eclipse Engine

Furnishes steam power for all
Agricultural purposes, Driving
Saw Mills, and for every use
where a first-class and economical
Engine is required.
Eleven first-class premiums
awarded, including Centennial,
’76. Refer to No. 7, issue of
’77, No. 14, issue of ’78, of Scientific
American, for Editorial
illustrations.

FRICK & CO., Waynesboro, Franklin Co., Pa.

When you write please name this paper.

THE

CAMERON STEAM PUMP,

Also known as the “SPECIAL” PUMP, is the standard of
excellence at home and abroad. For Price Lists, address

CAMERON PUMP WORKS,

Foot East 23d Street, New York.

SHEPARD’S CELEBRATED
$50 Screw Cutting Foot Lathe.

Foot and Power Lathes, Drill Presses,
Scrolls, Circular and Band Saws, Saw
Attachments, Chucks, Mandrels, Twist
Drills, Dogs, Calipers, etc. Send for
catalogue of outfits for amateurs or
artisans.

H. L. SHEPARD & CO.,
333, 335, & 337 West Front Street,

Cincinnati, Ohio.

Established 1844.
JOSEPH C. TODD,

Engineer and Machinist. Flax, Hemp, Jute, Rope,
Oakum and Bagging Machinery, Steam Engines, Boilers,
etc. I also manufacture Baxter’s New Portable Engine
of 1877. Can be seen in operation at my store. A one
horse-power portable engine, complete, $125; two horse-power,
$225; two and a half horse-power, $250; three
horse-power, $275. Manufactured exclusively by

J. C. TODD,
10 Barclay St., New York, or Paterson, N. J.

Send for Catalogue

Steel Castings,

From ¼ to 10,000 lbs. weight, true to pattern, sound and
solid, of unequaled strength, toughness and durability.
An invaluable substitute for forgings or cast-iron requiring
three-fold strength. Send for circular & price list.
Chester Steel Castings Co., Evelina St., Phila, Pa.

Shafts, Pulleys, Hangers, Etc.

Full assortment in store for immediate delivery.
WM. SELLERS & CO.,

79 Liberty Street, New York.

THE LEHIGH VALLEY EMERY WHEEL CO.,
WEISSPORT, Carbon Co., Pa.

Manufacturers of Wheels and Machines.

CENTENNIAL AND PARIS MEDALS.
Mason’s Friction Clutches and Elevators.
“New and Improved Patterns.” 20 per cent. off list.
VOLNEY W. MASON & CO., Providence, R. I., U.S.A.

RUFFNER & DUNN, Patentees
and Sole Manufacturers of the Excelsior Steel Tube
Cleaners. Price $1.00 per inch. Send for circular.

SCHUYLKILL FALLS, PHILA., PA.

WOODWORTH SURFACE PLANERS, $125. Planers
and Matchers, $350. S. C. HILLS, 78 Chambers
Street, New York.

The Columbia Bicycle,
Made by THE POPE M’F’G CO.,
89 Summer Street, Boston.

A practical road machine, easy to
learn to ride, and when mastered
one can beat the best horse in a
day’s run over an ordinary road.
Send 3c. stamp for price list and 24-page
catalogue with full informat’n.

BRADFORD MILL CO.
Successors to Jas. Bradford & Co.,
MANUFACTURERS OF
French Buhr Millstones,
Portable Corn & Flour Mills,
Smu Machines, etc.

Also, dealers in Bolting Cloths and
General Mill Furnishings.

Office & Factory, 158 W. 2d St.
CINCINNATI, O.
J. R. Stewart, Pres. W. R. Dunlap, Sec.

☞ PRICE LISTS SENT ON APPLICATION.

SECOND-HAND BOILERS AND MACHINERY
FOR SALE.—Boilers from 30 to 70 horse
power, 15-horse power portable Engine, one 60-inch
Lathe, two Upright Drills, Blowers, etc., etc. For prices,
etc., address JAMES F. MANN, Utica, N. Y.

WETHERILL & BROTHER,
PHILADELPHIA.
Pure White Lead

ROCK DRILLS.
National Drill and Compressor Co.,
95 LIBERTY ST., NEW YORK.
AIR COMPRESSORS to be run by Steam, Water Power,
or Belt.

BARNES’ FOOT POWER MACHINERY.

13 Different machines with which
Builders, Cabinet Makers,
Wagon Makers, and Jobbers
in miscellaneous work can
compete as to Quality and
Price with steam power manufacturing;
also Amateurs’ supplies.
Machines sent on trial.

Say where you read this, and send
for catalogue and prices.

W. F. & JOHN BARNES,
Rockford, Winnebago Co., Ill.

NAT’L BOLT & PIPE MACHINERY CO.,

Mfrs. of Hand and Power Bolt and Pipe Cutters, Bolt
Pointers, Bolt Headers, Hot and Cold Pressed Nut Machinery,
Taps and Dies, etc. Send for Cir. Cleveland, O.

BOILER COVERINGS.
WITH THE “AIR SPACE” IMPROVEMENTS.
THE CHALMERS-SPENCE CO., Foot E. 9th St., New York. Sole owners of the Air Space Patents.

THE TANITE CO.,
STROUDSBURG, PA.
EMERY WHEELS AND GRINDERS.

LONDON—9 St. Andrews St., Holborn Viaduct, E. C.
LIVERPOOL—42 The Temple, Dale St.
GEO. PLACE, 121 Chambers St., New York Agent.

PATENTS at AUCTION.

Regular Monthly Sales. For terms, address N. Y.
PATENT EXCHANGE, 67 Liberty Street, New York.

Holly’s Improved Water Works.

Direct Pumping Plan. Combines, with other advantages,
over older systems, the following: 1. Secures by
variable pressure a more reliable water supply for all
purposes. 2. Less cost for construction. 3. Less cost
for maintenance. 4. Less cost for daily supply by the
use of Holly’s Improved Pumping Machinery. 5. Affords
the best fire protection in the world. 6. Largely
reduces insurance risks and premiums. 7. Dispenses
with fire engines, in whole or in part. 8. Reduces fire
department expenses. For information by descriptive
pamphlet, or otherwise, address the

HOLLY MANUFACTURING CO., Lockport, N. Y.

Every Man
HIS OWN
Printer.

THE EXCELSIOR

$3 Press

Prints labels, cards
etc. (Self-inker $5) 9 Larger sizes
For business, pleasure, young or old
Catalogue of Presses, Type, Etc.,
for 2 stamps.

KELSEY & Co.
Meriden, Conn.

Pyrometers. For showing heat of
ovens. Hot Blast Pipes,
Boiler Flues, Superheated Steam, Oil Stills, etc.

HENRY W. BULKLEY, Sole Manufacturer,

149 Broadway, N. Y.

Machinists’ Tools.

New and Improved Patterns.
Send for new illustrated catalogue.

Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c.

NEW HAVEN MANUFACTURING CO.,

New Haven, Conn.

HERMETICAL SANITARY CLOSET
GUARANTEED ABSOLUTELY WATER & GAS TIGHT
SEND FOR CIRCULAR
John S. Leng,     4 Fletcher St. N. Y.

Cigar Box Lumber,

MANUFACTURED by our NEW PATENT PROCESS.

The Best in the World.
SPANISH CEDAR,                
MAHOGANY,
                POPLAR.

Also thin lumber of all other kinds, 1/8 to 1/2 in., at corresponding
prices. All qualities. Equal in all respects to
any made, and at prices much under any to be obtained
outside of our establishment. Send for price list.

GEO. W. READ & CO.,

186 to 200 Lewis Street, N. Y.

BOGARDUS’ PATENT UNIVERSAL ECCENTRIC
MILLS—For grinding Bones, Ores, Sand, Old
Crucibles, Fire Clay, Guanos, Oil Cake, Feed, Corn,
Corn and Cob, Tobacco, Snuff, Sugar, Salts, Roots,
Spices, Coffee, Cocoanut, Flaxseed, Asbestos, Mica,
etc., and whatever cannot be ground by other mills.
Also for Paints, Printers’ Inks, Paste Blacking, etc.
JOHN W. THOMSON, successor to JAMES BOGARDUS,
corner of White and Elm Sts., New York.

THE WATSON PUMP, FOR ARTESIAN, OR DEEPWELL
PUMPING, PISTON ROD, PLUNGER & WELL
ROD IN DIRECT LINE MACHINE SIMPLE, EFFICIENT.
JAMES WATSON. 1608. S. FRONT ST. PHILA.

FARM LAW. ADDRESS OF HON. EDMUND
H. Bennett, delivered before the Massachusetts
State Board of Agriculture. This is an essay embracing
complete and practical information, valuable not only
to the farmer but to every one. Showing how to Buy a
Farm: Bargains that are not Binding; Boundaries, and
where they are in Streams, Ponds, Lakes, or on the Seashore;
what a Deed of a Farm includes; Rights in the
Road. Farm Fences: their Legal Height, etc. Railway
Fences. Stray cattle; Cattle on Railways; Impounding
Cattle. The Farmer’s Liability for his Animals. The
Law on the Dog. The Farmer not Liable for his Dogs.
Water Rights and Drainage; Damming; Diverting the
Course of a Stream. Surface Water; Underground
Water. Trespassing, in Summer and in Winter. Hunting
and Fishing. Fruit Trees on Boundary Lines, etc.,
etc. Contained in Scientific American Supplement
166. Price 10 cents.

THE UNION IRON MILLS. Pittsburgh, Pa., Manufacturers
of improved wrought iron Beams and
Girders (patented).

The great fall which has taken place in the prices of
Iron, and especially in Beams used in the construction
of FIRE PROOF BUILDINGS, induces us to call the special
attention of Engineers, Architects, and Builders to
the undoubted advantages of now erecting Fire Proof
structures; and by reference to pages 52 & 54 of our Book
of Sections—which will be sent on application to those
contemplating the erection of fire proof buildings—THE
COST CAN BE ACCURATELY CALCULATED, the
cost of Insurance avoided, and the serious losses and interruption
to business caused by fire; these and like considerations
fully justify any additional first cost. It is
believed, that, were owners fully aware of the small
difference which now exists between the use of Wood
and Iron, in many cases the latter would be adopted.
We shall be pleased to furnish estimates for all the Beams
complete, for any specific structure, so that the difference
in cost may at once be ascertained. Address

CARNEGIE, BROS. & CO., Pittsburgh, Pa.

ICE AT $1.00 PER TON.
The PICTET ARTIFICIAL ICE CO.,
LIMITED,
Room 51, Coal and Iron Exchange, P. O. Box 3083, N. Y.

Liquid Paints, Roofing, Boiler Coverings,
Steam Packing, Sheathings, Fire Proof Coatings,
Cements, &c. Send for Descriptive Price List.
H. W. JOHNS M’F’G CO. 87 MAIDEN LANE, N. Y.

$10 to $1000 Invested in Wall St. Stocks makes
fortunes every month. Books sent
free explaining everything.

Address BAXTER & CO., Bankers, 17 Wall St., N. Y.

The “Scientific American” is printed with CHAS.
ENEU JOHNSON & CO.’S INK. Tenth and Lombard
Sts., Philadelphia, and 59 Gold St., New York.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Table of Contents: Article named “Buffalo, the domestication of” page 197 was not included in the original.

Table of Contents: Article named “Steamship, ocean, large” page 196 was not included in the original.

Table of Contents: Article named “Specimen, a rare geological” page 196 was not included in the Table of Contents.